Acts 7`

Acts_7
8/24/08

Acts_7
I. In our last study we were introduced to Stephen one of the first deacons of the early church.
A. We looked at seven characteristics of a mature Christian that we said were characteristics that Stephen possessed, that were the outflow of being full of the Holy Spirit.
1. Faithful Steward of Truth
2. The commitment and sacrifice of a soldier
3. The dedication and discipline of an athlete.
4. The patience and dependence of a farmer.
5. A workman approved through right dividing and use of God's word
6. A vessel made honorable through cleansing
7. A servant’s heart coupled with gentleness and compassion, which is the epitome of Christ-likeness.
B. As chapter-6 closed Stephen is standing before the council (Sanhedrin) accused of blasphemy, but through whom the Glory of God was shining.
1. The charge of Blasphemy had three prongs to it.
a. That Stephen had spoken against Moses.
b. That Stephen had spoken against the Law.
c. That Stephen had spoken against "this place 6:13" which is the Temple.
d. These form the background for for the defense Stephen makes.
2. So as we resume today in chapter-7 Stephen addresses the council in the form of a sermon (a sermon that greatly influenced the future preaching of no less than the Apostle Paul). (It has been said that you can find snippets of Stephens sermon given here, in everyone of the Apostle Paul's recorded sermons).
3. His sermon is given in the form of a history lesson, and what a history lesson it is.
a. Though his defense is really more a defense of the Gospel that it is of himself, he effectively dismantles the charges by showing that Israel is in fact guilty of all these charges on a grand and sweeping scale.
II. Stephen's Sermon
A. God calls out Abraham
Acts 7:1-8 (NKJV)
1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,
3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’
4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.
5 And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.
6 But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years.
7 ‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’
8 Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.
1. Notice he identifies with them (brethren and fathers, our father Abraham).
a. No elitism on his part.
(1) Their history is his history.
(2) He is not talking down at them.
b. The mark of a good leader (Nehemiah) - we not you have a problem.
2. The God of Glory
a. Appeared to "our father" Abraham
b. Two things God did.
(1) He spoke to Abraham, giving him instruction
(2) He gave Abraham a promise, which included a land but gave him no inheritance in it.
c. We see a progression in Abrahams life as we look here.
(1) God calls Abraham to come out from the land of his fathers and from amongst his relatives, and there is delay and partial obedience on Abrahams part.
(a) He didn't completely leave the land until his father died, he took his father part of the way with him, and when he did leave the land he took his nephew Lot with him, so he didn't leave his relatives behind.
(2) There is a progression in faith and obedience on Abraham's part.
(a) God gave a promise to Abraham, which Abraham believed in spite of the fact that he never owned any of the land!
(b) We see a progression in God's plan as He sets out to affect the world, first through one man, then through his descendants (the children of Israel/Jocob), and finally through all who are of the household of faith-Abraham is the father of all who have real faith in God...
Galatians 3:7 (NKJV)
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.


3. Stephen is making an eloquent argument for justification by faith, showing that Abraham was given guidance and had communion with God prior to circumcision (works or keeping the law).
B. Then he moves on to the life of Joseph as God takes the children of Israel into Egypt to incubate them into a nation.
Acts 7:9-16 (NKJV)
9 “And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him
10 and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.
11 Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.
12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first.
13 And the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to the Pharaoh.
14 Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people.
15 So Jacob went down to Egypt; and he died, he and our fathers.
16 And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.
1. The fulfillment of what was prophesied in vv-6,7
a. It was the envy of his brothers that God used to bring blessing.
(1) Joseph had an eternal perspective
Genesis 50:20 (NKJV)
20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
2. Stephen also had an eternal perspective
a. He is giving them an overview of their history, but it is chock full of contrasts and parallels to their own lives and actions.
(1) The chosen one rejected, the parallels between Joseph and Jesus being many.
(2) Israel has a history of not recognizing her deliverers when they are first sent, so in a sense Stephen says you accuse me of being contrary to what God is doing and who God has sent, but really we as a nation are guilty.
b. Joseph was rejected by his brothers, when God had raised him up to be a deliverer for them they didn't recognize the first time they met him, they not recognize Joseph until he revealed himself to them the second time, and in the mean time he took a gentile bride, after this Joseph preserved Israel through seven years of famine.
(1) Jesus was not recognized as by Israel in His first coming, but was hated and rejected by them, He then took a gentile bride (the Church), He will be recognized by Israel the next time He comes and He will preserve them through seven years of tribulation.

C. FROM JOSEPH HE MOVES TO MOSES, WHICH TAKES UP THE BULK OF THE DEFENSE HE IS MAKING.
Acts 7:17-43 (NKJV)
17 “But when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt
18 till another king arose who did not know Joseph.
19 This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live.
20 At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months.
21 But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son.
22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.
23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.
25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.
26 And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’
27 But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.
30 “And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai.
31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him,
32 saying, ‘I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and dared not look.
33 ‘Then the Lord said to him, “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
34 I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.” ’
35 “This Moses whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush.
36 He brought them out, after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
37 “This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’
38 “This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,
39 whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,
40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’
41 And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
42 Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: ‘Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You also took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of your god Remphan, Images which you made to worship; And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.’
1. Stephen is making the very clear point that Israel has a history of rejecting her deliverers the first time and receiving them the next.
a. They did it not once but repeatedly.
2. And just as they did not understand, about Moses, but rejected him, so they have not understood about the greatest deliverer of all, whom God had sent to them, that is Jesus, God's own Son.
3. Stephen again is in essence pointing out the fact, you say I have spoken against Moses and the Law, but the truth is that this Moses was rejected by your fathers and cast out, and the Law that God miraculously gave to you through Him, you would not obey!
D. The True Tabernacle
Acts 7:44-50 (NKJV)
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,
45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,
46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.
47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has My hand not made all these things?’
1. They had the Tabernacle built according to the pattern in heaven and given to Moses, they also had the Temple a house for God built by Solomon, but these did not keep them from rejecting God, or the special messengers He sent to them.
2. They had come to the place where they worshipped the Temple, but Stephen points out that you can't confine God to the Temple, He is too big for any Temple, nor should we as Christ to one place in our lives but must surrender all of ourselves to Him
E. Resisting God's Spirit. (With every sermon you want to make application- how should we then live- and here is where Stephen makes application.
Acts 7:51-53 (NKJV)
51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
1. His point, as Israel was in their history, so are you today.
a. You have become betrayers and murderers and while you may be proud of the fact that God gave the Law to you as a people, you as a people have not kept it


F. Their Response:
Acts 7:54-60 (NKJV)
54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.
55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
1. They were cut to the heart, truth hurts, it will perform surgery on us if we will let it, or it will drive us mad as we resist it.
a. They start growling at him, then he see Jesus standing in heaven ready to receive Stephens the first martyr of the church
(1) And that pushes them over the edge and they plug their ears and spoke aloud so that they could not hear him.
(a) They become enraged and pounce upon him to kill him.
2. And we see Jesus standing to receive this first Martyr of the church.
3. Being full of the Spirit, Stephen intercedes for his murderers, and for his people.
4. And there was a young man standing there as they stoned Stephen to death, Saul whom they laid there garments down at his feet to protect, while the killed Stephen.
a. That young man we know better as the Apostle Paul, whose life continues to impact scores of people all over the world.
III. Conclusion
A. Let me ask you this morning, are you rejecting Jesus and His influence upon your life.
1. Are you being stiff-necked toward your spouse, your responsibilities, Godly disciplines I urge you to yield this very day.
a. Just as Abraham mired down and was on hold until he obeyed so will you be on hold...
B. Are you rejecting Christ the Redeemer whom God has sent?
1. Respond today to that call of God and surrender to Him your heart!