The Sermon of Stephen
Acts 7:1-53
June 10, 2012
Alright, fasten your seatbelts and throw away your watch,
We’ve got a long way to go tonight.
But if you are one who thoroughly enjoys a good sermon then pay attention, because tonight we get the sermon of Stephen.
Earlier, when Peter was brought before the Sanhedrin we talked about
The necessary attitude by which a person should face such situations.
1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”
Well tonight we most certainly get another example of that.
Stephen is not only on trial before that same council that tried Peter
But is also standing before the representatives of synagogues
From northern Africa and southern Asia.
Stephen is called to give an account.
And Stephen will do well, with one of the greatest sermons ever preached.
And before we get into what he said, let me remind you that
There are two main things that allowed Stephen to preach like he did here.
One is obvious and we have talked about it over and over.
1) HE WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
We never want to get away from this point.
Stephen was a man full of the Spirit.
He did not walk in his own strength.
He did not speak from his own logic.
Matthew 10:19-20 “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. “For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
To put it mildly, Stephen is abiding in the vine.
God is dwelling in Him, and Stephen is resting in His strength.
We never want to miss that, we never want to let go of that.
We are nothing apart from the Holy Spirit of God.
We will fail miserably without Him.
2) STEPHEN WAS A STUDENT OF THE WORD
This walks hand in hand with being filled with the Spirit.
In fact, as we recently studied, Paul taught us to “let the word of Christ richly dwell within you”
To him that was the same thing as being filled with the Spirit.
But it is important to understand that Stephen was a student of the word.
As we said last time, Peter, John
And the rest of the apostles were eye-witnesses.
1 John 1:1-3 “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life — and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us — what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Not Stephen.
He was not an eye-witness, Stephen was a disciple.
When we read about the new church after Pentecost:
Acts 2:41-42 “So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
He was devoted to learning the truth.
Not only that, but he was devoted to studying the Scriptures.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
THIS IS THE FLIP SIDE.
Yes, be filled with the Spirit, but be devoted to knowing the truth as well.
Later on in the book of Acts we find Philip:
Acts 8:30-31 “Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”
Later consider Apollos
Acts 18:24-26 “Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”
And certainly you get the idea.
Be filled with the Spirit, and be devoted to the truth of the Scripture.
If all we had to do while being a witness was depend on the Spirit apart from any human effort, then why did God give the Scriptures, and why did He gift and appoint men to explain them?
Be filled with the Spirit and be a student of the word.
Stephen was both.
And that is the key to his tremendous sermon here before the council.
So let’s look at his sermon
(we see it all because it is one thought)
What I want you to see is 5 things
Stephen brings to the table here before his accusers.
This is not a history lesson, this is a calculated account
Meant to bring a very specific revelation to the mind of the council.
#1 THE RETAILING OF JOSEPH
Acts 7:1-16
It begins with the high priest asking, “Are these things so?”
He is referencing the accusations made against Stephen up in chapter 6.
Acts 6:13-14 “They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”
So they are accusing Stephen of not only blaspheming God
But of also disregarding the temple and the Law.
The Priest is asking Stephen, “How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?”
“Is it true that you blaspheme God, disregard the temple,
And disregard the Law?”
And Stephen begins his answer in verse 2.
Now I told you that there are 5 points to Stephen’s sermon.
The first four can all be broken down the same way.
1) Selection
2) Rejection
3) Suspension
• They all start with a sovereign act of grace on the part of God to give a people what they did not deserve.
• It moves from there to that same group of people rejecting the gracious provision that God has made.
• And from there we see that their rejection of God’s provision caused the coming blessing to be suspended or put on hold.
And the first place we see that is in his reference to Joseph.
Now he doesn’t start with Joseph, he starts in the beginning
With God’s gracious selection of Abraham.
(2-5) “And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’ “Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. “But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM.”
We really won’t revisit all of these references that Stephen makes,
It is enough that you get the gist of the story.
But Stephen begins with a tremendous act of grace on the part of God.
“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham…”
That alone is amazing.
That alone is gracious.
Why Abraham?
Why in the world would the God of glory choose to make Himself known to anyone, let alone Abraham?
It is a sovereign act of grace.
And if that is not enough He tells Abraham He has a better country for him
(5b) “He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.”
And so God did a tremendously gracious thing in selecting Abraham.
Now we also notice that God knew what type of people He was selecting,
For God already knew what was coming.
(6-8) “But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. “‘AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.’ “And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.”
God chose Abraham, but it is apparent that
God knew what type of people He was choosing.
God knew about the slavery in Egypt long before it occurred.
That is why He asked Abraham to enter “the covenant of circumcision”
And declare himself to be God’s and God’s alone.
His people were entering a foreign land,
Circumcision would be a permanent distinction of who God’s people were
But the first thing you see is the selection.
Then comes the rejection.
(9-10) “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.”
And you remember the story.
Joseph was the son of Rachel whom Jacob loved most,
And therefore Jacob loved Joseph more than the other boys.
And we know all about the jealousy
And them throwing Joseph down the well and selling him to the caravan.
But there is something important we must remember about Joseph,
Before all that happened, God selected Joseph to be Israel’s deliverer.
Genesis 37:5-11 “Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.”
God selected Joseph to be a ruler and deliverer of Israel,
But the rest of Israel (his brothers)
Rejected the notion and shipped him away to Egypt.
But that didn’t stop God from giving wisdom to Joseph and making “him governor over Egypt and all [Pharaoh’s] household.”
Joseph was going to ascend to power and rule the land,
The only question was which land would he rule?
Because he was rejected he became ruler of Egypt.
And so we see the Suspension
(11-16) “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. “But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. “On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh. “Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all. “And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. “From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.”
Now here is the point.
WHAT IF JOSEPH’S BROTHERS HAD NOT REJECTED HIM?
Joseph was God’s chosen leader and Joseph
Would have risen to power in Canaan instead of Egypt.
(It was Joseph that turned Egypt into a powerhouse)
Remember the result of people coming to Pharaoh for help?
Genesis 47:20 “So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.”
What if Joseph had stayed in Canaan?
Jacob would have owned it all, not Pharaoh
Israel’s decision to reject their leader cost them 430 years in Egypt.
Their blessing of inheriting the land was suspended for 430 years
Because they rejected the leader God had for them.
Not a high point in Israel’s history.
Let’s move on to Exhibit B
The Retailing of Joseph
#2 THE REJECTION OF MOSES
Acts 7:17-34
So Israel blew it and they were forced to spend 430 years in Egypt.
And these were not glory years.
(17-19) “But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH. “It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.”
So the decision to reject Joseph was a bad one.
BUT GOD WAS GRACIOUS WITH HIS SELECTION ONCE AGAIN.
(20-22) “It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. “And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.”
God raised up a new deliverer.
• A man “lovely in the sight of God”
• A man “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians”
• A man “of power in words and deeds.”
I mean this sounds more like a super-hero than anything else.
Moses was the super-deliverer for Israel.
And God raised him up to set his people free.
(23-25) “But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. “And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.”
God called this Moses out to be a deliverer.
That is what Stephen meant by “it entered his mind”
Moses left the courts of Egypt and came to the aid of his countrymen.
He killed an Egyptian, “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him”
So once again God has selected Israel
And raised up a leader / deliverer.
And Israel should have understood, but they didn’t.
So here comes the rejection.
(26-29) “On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ “But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US? ‘YOU DO NOT MEAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?’ “At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons.”
And so once again raised up a leader and Israel rejected him.
And instead of leading the children of Israel,
Moses “became the father of two sons.”
Joseph could have led Canaan, but his retailing caused him to lead Egypt.
Moses could have led Israel, but his rejection caused him to raise boys.
A selection a rejection and so naturally a SUSPENSION.
(30-34) “After forty years had passed, AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH. “When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. “BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ‘TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND. ‘I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM; COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.’”
40 years.
What if they had listened to Moses immediately?
What if they had followed this 40 year old leader / deliverer?
But no, they rejected him and it cost them 40 more years of slavery
Until God showed grace again and sent him back to rescue His people.
And so there is yet another bad piece of history in Israel’s legacy.
They could have had the ruler of Canaan but they retailed him.
They could have deliverance from Egypt but they rejected him.
The Retailing of Joseph, The Rejection of Moses
#3 THE REPLACEMENT OF GOD AND HIS LAW
Acts 7:35-43
God sends a deliverer again.
(35-38) “This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. “This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN.’ “This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.”
So again God raises up a man “to be both a ruler and a deliverer”
• And this Moses “led them out”
• And this Moses performed “wonders and signs in the land of Egypt”
• And this Moses parted “the Red Sea”
• And this Moses “received living oracles to pass on to you.”
So even though they had rejected God twice
He still returned and took those people out from Egypt.
And this time, in order to show them how to live,
God gave them “living oracles” that they might know what He expected.
And so God selects again.
But you know the routine.
Here comes the REJECTION.
(39-41) “Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, SAYING TO AARON, ‘MAKE FOR US GODS WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.’ “At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.”
What a statement!
• “unwilling to be obedient”
• “repudiated him” (refused to recognize or obey)
• “in their hearts turned back to Egypt”
They got out and once God gave them the Law
They chose Egypt and slavery over obeying God.
And then they replaced God.
“saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us…”
And you know all about the golden calf and the story that follows.
God sends them another deliver and again they reject it.
And so, again came SUSPENSION.
(42-43) “But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? ‘YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’”
Israel had an idolatry problem from that day onward,
Until the day that Babylon destroyed the temple.
What you may not have realized is that idolatry problem
Was a direct consequence of the decision they made at the foot of Sinai.
God gave them over to idolatry that day.
Romans 1 speaks of this type of thing.
Romans 1:21-25 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
This time Israel was suspended for over 800 years.
• Yes they entered the land.
• Yes they had a temple.
But they never had a truly intimate relationship with God
Because they always had idols that led them astray.
And so once again the blessed life in the Promised Land eluded them
Because they continually rejected those whom God sent to deliver.
They Retailed Joseph They Rejected Moses They Replaced God
#4 THE REVERENCE OF THE TEMPLE
Acts 7:44-50
Now this point begins to make a transition
To Stephen’s answer of the accusation against him.
Remember they accused him of blaspheming God,
Or rejecting the Law and of speaking against the temple.
The high priest wanted to know if it is true.
Stephen is just about to answer the question.
But first he comments a little on this temple that they are so fond of.
And the point here is that
They have completely missed the point of the temple.
Now here was the history of the temple.
(44-47) “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. “And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. “David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. “But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.”
And the clear point was that God always chose to dwell with the people.
This is selection once again.
You will remember that after the golden calf incident
The first answer was that I’m not going with them.
But Moses interceded and God agreed.
And so God did for Israel what He had never done for another nation.
• He dwelled in their midst.
• They had the tent of meeting.
• Eventually they had the temple.
And the whole point was that God was there.
BUT WHAT DID ISRAEL DO?
They forgot God and started to reverence the temple.
(48-50) “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: ‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord, ‘OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE? ‘WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’”
The temple didn’t become the place of God’s presence,
It became a prison for God’s presence.
And the people started to reverence the temple like it was the treasure.
We all remember back in Jeremiah 7
When the people thought God wouldn’t judge them because
They had “the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord”
And they had turned God’s house into a “den of robbers”
They had so completely missed the point
That they had forgotten God in order to reverence the temple.
And so yet again we saw a rejection of God
Simply for love of the temple.
And this leads to Stephen’s answer.
The Retailing of Joseph, The Rejection of Moses, The Replacement of God,
The Reverence of the Temple
#5 THE REALIZATION THAT IT IS YOU
Acts 7:51-53
So here we are on trial.
The high priest looks at Stephen and says, “Are these things so?”
And Stephen answers, “I’m not the one blaspheming God and rejecting the Law and disregarding Moses – YOU ARE!”
You are the “stiff-necked”
• It was a phrase indicating one who would not bow down to God.
• They wouldn’t lower their head.
• They wouldn’t submit.
You are the “uncircumcised in heart”
Jeremiah told the people:
Jeremiah 4:4 “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”
It meant to remove the carnality of your heart.
These men had clean hands and dirty hearts.
They were dishes only clean on the outside.
You are the one with ears “always resisting the Holy Spirit”
And what a horrible way to be described.
Whatever God wants to do you are against it.
“You are doing just as your father’s did.”
HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT?
Because their fathers killed those who announced the Messiah
And they actually killed the Messiah.
(52-53) “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
And just like that Stephen turned that council on its head.
YOU ARE STILL KILLING GOD’S DELIVERER!
They were people with opportunity after opportunity
And yet they continually rejected their opportunity
And suffered the consequences of it.
See Joseph was a foreshadow of Jesus.
• A deliverer,
• Rejected by His brethren,
• Who one day would be their ruler and deliverer.
Moses was a foreshadow of Jesus.
• A man who left his home to deliver his people,
• Who was first rejected and then delivered.
And both of those men first went and delivered Gentiles
Before the returned to deliver Jews.
Joseph delivered the Egyptians
Moses fathered two sons by a foreign woman
And now Israel had done it again.
• The Millennium was ready…
• Times of refreshing could come…
But they rejected the Messiah
And now that blessing was once again suspended.
And Stephen let them know about it.
How did he deliver such a convicting sermon?
• He was filled with God’s Spirit
• He was a student of God’s Word
Certainly that is an example for us to follow.
But we would be remiss if we didn’t also take his sermon
And apply it to our own lives.
How foolish is it to have an opportunity from God
And then reject that opportunity?
Israel was given opportunity after opportunity to have a leader,
All they had to do was submit to God’s will through them,
But because they wouldn’t time after time the blessing was suspended.
So we today have a leader, it is the Holy Spirit.
He is the one that the religious leaders were “resisting”
And nothing good comes from that.
Don’t be “stiff-necked” don’t be “uncircumcised in heart”
And don’t have “ears [that] are always resisting the Holy Spirit.”
• Submit to God.
• Be filled with His Spirit
• Study God’s Word
• And be ready to give an account
1 Peter 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”
