Why do people attack the messenger? In Acts 7, Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr — stoned to death for telling the truth. Dr. Toby Holt shows that God's people are often attacked not for what they do, but for what they say. Dragged before the council on false charges, Stephen walked them through Israel's history, showing how God's messengers were rejected again and again — and now they had done the same to Jesus. As they raged, he saw heaven opened and Jesus standing at God's right hand. Even as the stones fell, he prayed for his killers. Watching, and approving, was a young man named Saul.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why was Stephen killed? Not for any crime, but for boldly telling the truth about Jesus. Like the prophets before him, he was attacked for his message, not his behavior.

2. What did Stephen see as he died? Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, as if rising to welcome him home — God's assurance in his final moment.

3. How does Stephen's death echo Jesus' own? Like Jesus, he entrusted his spirit to God and prayed for those killing him. His death also scattered the believers and spread the gospel further.

"Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" — Acts 7:56 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.

Over the years, I've come to realize that the thing that causes the most conflict,

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the thing that causes the most drama, the most debates, the most offense, the most opposition, is this.

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When you tell someone something that they don't want to hear.

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When you tell someone something that conflicts with their worldview, or their presuppositions, or their identity.

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When you tell something to someone that they do not like.

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When you tell people truth who are accustomed to lies.

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tell people truth who prefer something else, pleasant fiction, that is the time when most

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conflict springs forward. There's all manner of things you can do in life, and very little of them

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will get you in as much trouble as telling someone something that they absolutely flatly do not want

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to hear. Now, throughout Scripture, this happened all of the time. The people who died in Scripture,

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the martyrs, the prophets of the Old Testament, the people in the New Testament, they very seldom

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died because of things they did. Now, they died all the time. Just look at the prophets. They

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were just killed to the right and the left, but it was very seldom, if ever, for things that they

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did. It was almost always for things that they said. When Moses, when he went to Pharaoh, Pharaoh

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despised him for what Moses had to say. Moses told Pharaoh that Pharaoh was not God, and there was a

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God above him, and so Pharaoh despised him. When Elijah brought similar truth to Ahab, repeatedly

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tried to kill Elijah. When John the Baptist brought truth to Herod Antipas about his relationship,

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his illicit relationship that herod was engaged in the response was to imprison and ultimately to

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behead him not because john the baptist was doing all manner of bad things he wasn't it was because

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of something he said when jesus came into this world the sweetest most gentle most loving most

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kind face this world has ever known the world that killed him not because of what he did but

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because of what he said in these cases and others again it's not the things that people accomplished

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the things they did that angered people. It's the words that came out of their mouth. If you look at

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Christ's background, if you look at his history, look at the Gospels. He did miracle after miracle.

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He healed the blind. He raised the dead. He cured lepers. He changed

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water to the wine. No one picked up a stone to throw at him when he did that stuff.

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However, when he opened his mouth to speak on

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multiple occasions, that's where people made ready to pick up stones

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to throw. In today's text, not only are

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stones going to be sought out, but they are going to fly. And they're going to fly against a man

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named Stephen. And the reason they're going to fly against Stephen is because what we've been

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saying for the past several minutes, because he told people the truth that they did not want to

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hear. Have you ever heard the phrase, the gospel truth? That's what Stephen taught. Stephen taught

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the gospel truth in Acts 7. He did so to an unrepented, hard-hearted audience. He told them,

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among other things that they were sinners in line for judgment and in response they gnashed their

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teeth and rushed at him as one and killed him moments thereafter whether it was in steven's day

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the prophet's day or our day never underestimate the horrific terrible response that the world can

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engender towards those who tell them the truth and if you doubt this go on social media anytime

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this week and declare the truth about christ is the only way about god's plan for the family about

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gender and the like see where that gets you all right let's talk about Stephen now let's look

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again verses 8 through 15 I'm going to read these verses we're going to talk about them then we're

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going to move selectively through chapter 7 with the time that we have available this morning all

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right verse 8 Stephen full of faith and power he did great wonders and signs among the people

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then there arose some from what's called the synagogue of the freedmen these are Roman slaves

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that have been set free Cyrenians Alexandrians those from Sicilian Asia and they disputed with

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Stephen. So he was preaching the truth, doing all sorts of cool stuff, neat stuff, wonders and the

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like, and people opposed him, most notably the synagogue of the freedmen. And they were not able

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to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. If you don't like the message, what do you

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do? You go with the man. They could not resist the wisdom and the spirit. They couldn't refute what

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he was saying, so they went at him. And we see how in verse 11, they secretly induced men to say,

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We've heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

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Notice the order there.

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It's almost like they were more offended that he was saying things

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that they saw as in conflict with Moses than with God per se.

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And in verse 12, they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes,

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and they came upon Stephen, they seized him, and they brought him to the council.

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Then they set up false witnesses who said,

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this man does not stop speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and law.

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We've heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place

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and change the customs which Moses has delivered to us.

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And all who sat in the council looked steadfastly upon him,

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and they saw his face as the face of an angel.

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All right.

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In verse 8, this man, Stephen,

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he's brought before the Jewish leaders on the charge of heresy or blasphemy.

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Now, we don't know a lot about Stephen.

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We know that earlier in chapter 6,

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He's introduced as what you might call the first deacon.

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That really wasn't an office at that time, but what you might call the first deacon.

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He was the first man listed of seven men that were appointed by the apostles in order to aid with the distribution to the widows and those in need among God's people.

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Now, when Scripture introduced Stephen earlier in chapter 6, back in verse 5, it identified him this way.

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It said, Stephen, a man full of faith.

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it referred to Stephen as one who was full of faith.

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That was the primary thing people knew about Stephen.

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If there's a man, if there's a villain somewhere,

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and then you say, that's such a hateful man.

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What that means is that that's the primary thing.

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He's full of hate.

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It's the primary thing that stands out about this guy.

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Well, Stephen was full of faith.

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And we see that back in verse five,

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but it's also repeated in verse eight.

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Multiple times, they referenced Stephen

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as a guy who was full of faith.

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Now, because he was full of faith,

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God gave him both the authority and the power to do certain deeds and also to speak and to share

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the gospel, which evidently he did on multiple occasions. However, not everyone liked it when

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he did so. Stephen ran into the same problem that Peter and Paul and really anyone else in the New

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Testament had, and that is that the minute they started talking about Jesus, they were refuted.

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The people did not like this, or at least a lot of people did not like it. And verse 11 says that

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some of these freed Roman slaves, the synagogue of the freedmen, they went around. They said,

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this Stephen guy, he's no good. This Stephen guy, you should hear the things he says. You should

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hear what he says about Moses. Oh my goodness. He wants to change everything up. This guy, he's not

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one of us. So they did that. They induced others. They dragged Stephen down. They didn't really deal

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with his ideas. They simply accused him of different things and they ran down his character.

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And specifically in verse 13, they said he doesn't stop doing this.

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He doesn't stop speaking blasphemous words against the holy place and the law.

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We have heard him even say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place

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and change the customs which Moses has given to us.

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Jesus is going to come and change something that Moses gave to us.

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And we all love Moses, don't we?

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That's what they were saying.

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Jesus was saying that this Stephen, he's running down everything we've had for centuries.

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Everything we thought was important that was given us by Moses.

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Stephen wants to mess that all up.

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He needs to die.

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We don't need Stephen.

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We don't need Jesus because we already got Moses.

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We don't need new temples.

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We don't need new customs.

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We don't need new covenants.

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We don't need any of that.

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We got what we need.

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Now, as they're doing that, so they're running this guy down.

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They're charging this guy with blasphemy.

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They're saying he wants to upend everything.

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Moses gave us all this cool stuff, and he wants to throw that all out.

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The irony, the supernatural irony, is at the very moment they were accusing this man of being an enemy of Moses,

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there in verse 15, it says that as they were speaking, his face began to shine as the face of an angel.

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It began to reflect God's glory the way the faces of the angels do.

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Now let me ask you a question.

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Does the shining of someone's face, a man's face, seem familiar to you?

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Is there anyone else in scripture, not Christ at the transfiguration, but is there any other

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man of flesh and blood whose face shined anywhere in scripture? Oh my goodness, you got it. Moses,

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absolutely. Moses' face shined. If you were to go back to the Old Testament, there was one guy

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whose face shined. So here, here they're charging Stephen with being an enemy of Moses and the

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customs of Moses, the Mosaic law and the temple and all that stuff. And God in this divine tattoo,

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he stamps on the face of Stephen in that moment. He gives him a face that shines. If ever there

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should have been something that caused these guys to go, ah, or stop talking, or go, something weird

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is happening here, you'd think it would have been that. Because the only historical context they

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ever had for the shining of one's face was when it happened to Moses. This is not an accident.

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Call it a supernatural irony, call it whatever you want, but this is a mark of divine favor being

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illustrated upon the face of Stephen, and they knew it not. They knew it not. So they continued

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to gnash their teeth against him. They grew red with fury. Even as he's serenely sitting there

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with his face shining, they are getting more and more entrenched. All right, at this point,

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as we look in chapter 7, Stephen is given an opportunity to respond, and he does respond,

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and he responds some more. He responds across a course of over 60 verses. Let me just read the

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first six right now. So the high priest said to Stephen, are these things so? And he said,

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brethren and fathers, listen, the glory of God appeared to our father Abraham when he was in

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Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, get out of your country and from your

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relatives and come to a land that I will show you. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans,

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he dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you

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now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot upon. But even

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when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for possession and to his descendants after

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him. But God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and they would bring

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them into bondage and oppress them for 400 years. All right, let's stop in there. In his first few

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verses, Stephen begins to recount the history of God's people. Now this is a history that everyone

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there probably understood and even acknowledged there's nothing he says in his first six verses

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or really for the first 49 verses that is controversial most of everything he says is a

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recapitulation of things that had happened here before and you don't see anyone picking up stones

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here because in a sense they're hearing their own history as he's talking about these things he

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talks about how god provided for the people he talks about different people god rose up there's

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abraham he's going to talk about joseph he's going to talk about moses and he's going to say look how

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God time and time again took care of his people. So far, so good. However, if the scribes and the

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Pharisees and the high priests were paying attention, they would have noticed across all

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these verses, which we don't have the time to read this morning, but across all these verses,

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they would have noticed that Stephen was also interweaving a social commentary. If they picked

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up on it, they would have seen that as Stephen is recounting the history of the people scattered

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throughout his overview, Stephen gives them reminders of how good God has been, how wonderful

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his provision has been, and how faithful he's been to the promises. But as he tells the story,

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he also reminds all those gathered there of how often the people were faithless and fickle,

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how often they have rejected God's word and rejected his leaders. So that's sewn into the

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history. Now they couldn't refute it. They knew that was the history, but he makes sure to bring

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it to their attention. Now, Stephen, as I mentioned before, he referred to a number of men, Abraham,

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we saw in verses 1 through 6, talks about Moses. He talks about Joseph. Joseph is an interesting

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choice for him to linger on. He talks about Joseph and Moses, and these two men are famous,

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among other things, for this. They were initially rejected by those that God had placed them among

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or sent them to. They were initially rejected as deliverers of God's people. They were initially

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hated, and they were only accepted later on. I think there's a point here. I think Joseph and

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Moses, had experienced a similar sort of rejection that the Pharisees and scribes had given to Jesus.

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They had rejected him early on, consigned him to death. And it's a rejection even Stephen himself

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is now enduring. See, the Israelites had this weird and long history. God loved the Israelites.

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God cared for the Israelites. God took care of them. He provided for them, whether it's manna

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in the wilderness or protecting them from the Philistines or doing any manner of things. God

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had always watched out over them. He made promises and he'd kept promises. He told Abraham, I'm going

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to give you this land, and he gave them the land. He did all this amazing stuff, and they recognized

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that. They knew that he did this stuff. They knew that their survival hinged on their God taking

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care of them. However, every time God sent them someone to talk to them, and to challenge their

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presuppositions, and to tell them the truth, they had this sordid history of killing the very ones

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that God would send. They did this on and on and on again. The prophets, they just slaughtered.

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You could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool with the blood of the prophets. They stopped up

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their ears. They refused to listen when God sent them someone. They would accept manna. If manna

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came down from the heaven, if God wanted to bless them and give them rains for their crops and take

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care of them, they took that without any problem. But God forbid he should ever come and give them

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a word. They should send them a prophet to tell them what to do. And they weren't going to like

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that. They were going to kill him. Let's look at verses 51 through 53. This is the transition point.

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This is the point where now Stephen's going to get real here. He's going to tell them, all right,

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I've given you the backstory. I've given you the history of the things you've done wrong.

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Now let's hear, now let's hear the consequences of this. Verse 51, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised

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and heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of

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the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the just

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one, of whom you now have become betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the

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direction of angels, but you have not kept it. All right, again, up to this point, he's been giving

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them a history lesson, but now he wants to apply it to them. He starts off by saying, you are

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stiff-necked and uncircumcised in your you resist God you resist the spirit you claim to keep the

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laws but you don't you kill the people that he sends to you you even killed the holy one that

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he sent to you you're betrayers and you are murderers now at this point if he didn't have

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everyone's full attention before he had it now now remember who is he talking to who's he talking to

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at this point well at this point he's before what you might call the Sanhedrin he's before what you

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might call the supreme court there's at least 70 guys probably some more who are the religious

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leaders of his day these are the dominant leadership of his day and these are ones who

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in the finery of their robes and tall pointy hats and all that sort of stuff they saw themselves as

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inheritors of the promises that were given to abraham and moses and the like and they knew

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they knew that one of the markings that they had that no other nation no other people had

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was that inheritors of the promise of Abraham, they also bore the mark of Abraham.

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They bore the mark of circumcision.

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This was something that God's people in Israel had that no others had.

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With that said, what did he say in verse 51?

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His first accusation, he says to this group of circumcised men, he says,

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you know what? You are uncircumcised in the one place it counts, in your heart.

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You are as filthy as can be in your heart.

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And that filthiness has been borne out through the way you treated Jesus

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and the way you treat everyone else that he might send.

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You are stiff-necked, you are hard-hearted as your forefathers were.

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When they killed the prophets, you have not learned their lesson.

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You resist the Holy Spirit, you murderers and betrayers,

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you receive the law, but you have not kept it.

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If you really wanted to get the goat of the Pharisees and the leaders of that time,

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you would tell them that they were uncircumcised,

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and you would tell them that they were not keepers of the law,

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which is exactly what he told them there.

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In these three verses, you could say that Stephen disabused, disabused those who were

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gathered around him, the religious leaders of his day, of every false pretense that they

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clung to and hung their salvation upon.

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But here's the thing.

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With every syllable that he spoke, he was right, and they knew it.

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With every syllable that he spoke, as he questioned their fidelity and their faithfulness and

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their love for God and their love for the law, everything that he said was right.

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it was right on the money, and it cut them to the heart. They knew on some level, there was a

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conviction that this man was right. And the proof that they knew he was right, you can see in the

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very next verses, in their reaction to him. Let's look at verses 54 through 56. When they heard

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these things, they were cut to the heart. The actual Greek translates more as like cut in half.

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They were cut to the heart. You could not have said things that would have gotten more to the

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center of who they were than this, than to question them on this basis. They were cut to the

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heart, and they responded by gnashing their teeth, which is an interesting phrase in and of itself,

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because usually when you see gnashing of teeth, it's usually in the New Testament related to

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those who are consigned to hellfire. They gnash their teeth. Well, here, this is what they're

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doing. They're gnashing their teeth. They're so angry at him. In verse 55, but he, being full of

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the Holy Spirit. Remember, his face is shining and he's got this serene disposition. He, being full

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of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven. He hears them rise. He hears their anger. He can hear the

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gnashing of the teeth. He looks up into heaven and then he sees something. Then he sees something.

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Verse 55 says he looks up and he sees the glory of God. Specifically, he looks up and he sees Jesus

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standing, standing at the right hand of God, and captivated by what he saw in that moment,

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even as they're pressing upon him, even as the anger, the voices are raised in that moment,

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he sees God, he sees Christ standing at the right hand of God, and he tells him in verse 56, he says,

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look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. All right,

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verse 54, again, they were cut to the heart when they heard his original words. He had preached

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this rather lengthy sermon. And the result of preaching this rather lengthy sermon, it must

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have been very effective because everyone there wanted to kill him when he was done. This was

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effective in some regard. It got to the heart of the sinners, that's for sure. But then when he was

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done and they rose up in accusation against him, at that moment God gives him a vision. And not just

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a vision of anything, but a vision of Jesus Christ standing, standing at the right hand of God the

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Father. Now we'll get to that vision in a moment, but I want us to remember something important

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first. You know, it wasn't that long ago, it wasn't that long before these events, that the Sanhedrin

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and the chief priest and these other individuals had gathered to conduct another show trial. Only

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this one was that of Jesus Christ. It wasn't that long ago that those had gathered here, Sanhedrin

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had gathered, the leadership had gathered to conduct a show trial of Jesus. Jesus and Stephen

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had both stood in roughly the same place under roughly the same circumstances, being tried for

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what was called blasphemy. Both Jesus and Stephen had faced the hatred and accusations of these same

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men. Now, do you remember when Jesus faced the gnashing of the teeth and the hatred and

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accusations of these guys? There was a moment right before the high priest ripped his robe

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in half and everyone rushed forward to beat Jesus and to spit on him. Do you remember what Jesus

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said? He said a lot of things to the Pharisees and the leadership in the Sanhedrin. But do you

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know the one thing he said? That at that moment, the high priest ripped his robe, and folks rushed

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forward and began to beat him and spit upon him. Do you remember what Jesus said that made everyone

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just absolutely lose it? Well, here's the thing. It was the same thing that Stephen said here.

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Specifically, Jesus said this. Jesus said, hereafter, you will see the Son of Man sitting

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at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. You will see the Son of Man,

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the Son of God, you will see Christ in the flesh at the right hand of the Father. It was at that

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moment the high priest and others lost it, and they came at him. Same thing with Stephen. When

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Stephen dared to make an allusion to Christ at the right hand of the Father, that was the moment

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when they lost it. Stephen saw Jesus at the right hand, not seated at this moment, but standing as

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if to welcome him, Stephen. Stephen looks up in this moment. He sees Jesus in the very place that

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Jesus had told the Sanhedrin he would go. Do you understand now why they lost it and they murdered

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him moments later? Because Jesus had told them, Jesus had warned them, Jesus had preached them,

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and Jesus had said, hereafter you'll see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power.

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Well, Stephen, when he has tried, he says the exact same thing. He says that this one, I see him even

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now and he fulfilled everything that he said to you what he told you moments before you ran at

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him and you beat him you spit on him i can verify he is at the right hand of the father well that

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must have been the most galling statement of all because it is this moment that their brains break

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and they rush forward to kill him let's look at verses 57 through 60 then they cried out with a

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loud voice. At that moment, he says this one thing. Then they cried out with a loud voice. They stopped

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up their ears and they ran at him with one accord. Can you picture this? Can you picture this? It's

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like, you know, a football day hike and the entire line starts rushing. That's what we see here. They

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cry out with a loud voice. They stop up the ears. They ran at him with one accord and they cast him

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out of the city and they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of

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a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus,

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receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and he cried out with a loud voice saying, Lord,

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do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said that, he fell asleep. I wonder,

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do you remember there was an occasion back in Mark 5 where God sent these demons into a herd

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of pigs, herd of swine, and then they did what? Remember the herd of swine? They rushed into the

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sea. These demons filled these pigs and then they rushed into the sea. Well, guess what? It's the

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exact same word. When they rushed into the sea, it's the exact same word in the Greek for what

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these Jewish leaders did when they rushed at Stephen. Exact same ferocity of intent. Verse 57

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says they even stopped up their ears. They could take it no longer. They were cut to the very heart

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and they wanted nothing more than his death.

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If you preach the truth loudly and soundly enough,

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it will draw opposition.

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That's exactly what happened here.

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Now, upon laying hold of him,

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they took him outside the city and they stoned him.

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With that said, there's two observations

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I want you to notice about what he said

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during this final encounter.

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First of all, notice that as Stephen was taken out

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to be stoned and even as he was dying,

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he cried out this.

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He says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

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Do those words remind you of, I don't know, something someone else said at some other time?

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Well, right before Jesus died in Luke 23, he said basically the same thing.

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He says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

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Upon the imminence of their death, both Jesus and Stephen said basically the same thing.

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Jesus says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

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And Stephen says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

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There is a great correlation between the spiritual impulses of Christ and Stephen in their final moments.

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secondly just as jesus while he was on the cross he looks down at those who are killing him just

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as jesus looks at those who are chanting for his death and the centurions and the spirits and all

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the like just as jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do stephen intercedes

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on behalf of his murderers in almost the exact same way he says lord do not charge them with

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this sin the relationship between the final moments of christ and stephen could not be

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more striking. At the very least, they were both concerned with the eternal future of the people

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who were responsible for their death. Now, the contrast, if you step back for a second and say,

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wait a second, in this scene, you've got two types of people. You've got Stephen, who is filled with

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faith and grace and shining face, and he's serene. Even as he's being killed, he's praying for his

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murderers. You've got this gracious guy, this wonderful gem of a man. And then, then you have

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all the religious elite that's gathered around him, and they're depicted in the exact opposite

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way as those who are red-faced, those whose teeth are gnashing, those who are furious,

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whose ears are stopped up. The distinction between God's man, even in the most hard situation

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possible, and the seed of Satan, those enemies of God and his kingdom, could not be more distinct.

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The man, the woman of God, can share God's word or type God's word with some peace and grace and

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confidence in these things, come what may, but it will not necessarily be received with that

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same grace. In fact, it is often not. Whatever the case, there was a significant contrast here

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between Stephen and his persecutors. Now, Stephen, that final prayer, it's interesting. He says,

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Lord, don't charge them with this sin. Now, at that moment, he was looking at real people who

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were heaving heavy stones or holding stones, and he says, Lord, don't charge them with what they're

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doing. Don't charge them with this sin. I wonder, of all those angry, red-faced, teeth-gnashing

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individuals, do you think that Stephen's prayer would have been answered for any of them? Do you

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think that any of those who are gnashing their teeth and red and furious and angry and consenting

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to the death of Stephen, do you think that any of them might be brought to faith as at least a

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partial function of the prayer Stephen offered here even as he was dying? Well, we know at least

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one was. We don't know about all of them, but we know at least one of the individuals that was

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there that day that was consenting to the death of Stephen, even cheering it on. We know that at

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least one of them was saved. One of them was spared. One of them was a recipient of the very

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grace that Stephen prayed that God would grant. And that was the man that we know as Saul. Saul

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in this scene, young Saul, he was there in the robes of those that are stoning. I guess in order

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to stone someone. You've got to take off your robe and really wind up and the like. Well they

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were laying down their robes to do what they were going to do and they did so at the feet of a man

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named Saul and he consented to their death. You can see that in the very first verse of the next

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chapter. He was cool with that. He didn't mind Stephen dying. In fact he thought that Stephen

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should die. Saul was right among those who was persecuting Stephen and Saul would go on to

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persecute others. This is the same Saul, same as Saul of Tarsus, who would go and persecute

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Christians, who would kill Christians, who would imprison Christians, who would breathe out threats

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and murder against Christians. And yet, in due time, possibly in partial response to God unfolding

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the prayer of Stephen into his own divine plan, in time, Saul of Tarsus was converted on the road

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to Damascus. This man who had been an enemy of the church and who had consented to the stoning of

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Stephen, he was spared by God from God's undivine wrath, and he was brought to faith. And he became

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the one we know as Paul. Paul the Apostle. Paul the Apostle could remember back when he was

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solitarsis and consented to the death of Stephen, but Paul the Apostle knew something. He knew that

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Stephen's death was the catalyst by which the church grew. See, here's the thing. Stephen's

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death caused the Christian community to understand that persecution was real, and so we had the

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dispersion. The Christians spread. They spread out to the Greek countries. They spread out to the

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northeast, southwest, they spread out in different directions. This event was accounts for the growth

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of the church in some faraway places. But what's interesting is that the man that God sent to

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minister in some of those faraway places was Paul. Stephen's death prompted the growth of the church

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in areas that might not otherwise have gone, or at least not otherwise gone so fast. It prompted

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people to flee and to leave and take their faith elsewhere. But then God sent Paul to go to them

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elsewhere to plant churches and to minister in these far communities. God is sovereign. God is

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in charge. God is in charge on our worst days. God is in charge of our best days. God can take even

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the worst, most terrible things in the world, like the death of one of his own, and use it to the

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greatest of ends. That has not changed. This morning, the final reminder I would give you is

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that Stephen, this man Stephen, there's a lot we can learn from him, but at the very least, we can

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learn this. He stood for truth when it mattered most. Stephen stood for truth, and because he

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stood for truth because he stood for truth even to the point of death jesus christ who we know in

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scripture is seated at the right hand of the father in the vision that stephen had he looked

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up and jesus was standing in order to receive stephen that's the outcome you want of your own

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walk you want to hear well done my good and faithful servant you want to be received in

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like manner this morning this day this week bear witness to the truth bear witness when it's easy

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bear witness when it's hard glorify god through your life through your breath glorify him in

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your death if need be this gives credit to your testimony to the faith you possess let's pray