1 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:05,120 My friends, I'd like to draw your attention to Acts Chapter 7 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,720 this morning, the back end to Acts Chapter 7. 3 00:00:07,720 --> 00:00:11,320 You might remember that Stephen has been dragged before the 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:15,480 council that is the religious and the political leaders of 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,200 Jerusalem. He is dragged before the council 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:21,120 and is accused of proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ in 7 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:23,440 defense. He highlights how the whole 8 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:30,000 scriptures point to Jesus Christ beginning in Chapter 7 verse 54. 9 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,200 Now when the council had heard all these things, they were 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:36,000 enraged and they ground their teeth at him. 11 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,760 But Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and 12 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,240 saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of 13 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:46,960 God. And he said, behold, I see the 14 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,320 heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand 15 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,160 of God. But they cried out with a loud 16 00:00:53,160 --> 00:00:56,080 voice, and stopped their ears, and rushed together at him. 17 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,800 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. 18 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:02,960 And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a 19 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,200 young man named Saul. And as they were stoning 20 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,960 Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. 21 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,760 And falling to his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, Lord, 22 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:16,920 do not hold this sin against them. 23 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:21,160 And when he had said this, he fell asleep. 24 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:24,120 And this is the word of the Lord. 25 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:27,360 Thanks be to God, the grass Withers and the flowers fade, 26 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,200 but the word of our Lord, it stands forever. 27 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:40,220 Please be seated. Today we are wrapping up the 28 00:01:40,220 --> 00:01:43,520 first part of the book of Acts. We're going to return to the 29 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,240 Book of Acts again next winter and can pick up the story from 30 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:49,400 where we are going today, but we are picking it. 31 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,960 We are closing up the first part of the book of Acts, which has 32 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:56,200 been focusing upon the spirit, the church, and the world. 33 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,640 In specific, the spirits, empowerment of the church to 34 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,880 reach the World. That's been our focus at this 35 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,400 point and over the past couple of weeks we have highlighted and 36 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:11,440 had purpose to highlight some of the satanic counterattack that 37 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:16,600 has occurred as the church has sought to be faithful to witness 38 00:02:16,920 --> 00:02:19,280 to Jesus Christ. As they have been filled by the 39 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,400 Spirit, there have been pushback. 40 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,000 That pushback has happened by virtue of their own moral 41 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,760 corruption. Think of Ananias and Sapphira 42 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,240 and how then Satan used that in order to force a division within 43 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:35,600 the church or with internal divisions that already happened. 44 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,160 Think about the Hellenistic and the Hebraic conflict that took 45 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,920 place between the widows and how the church had to handle that or 46 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:46,920 external opposition, the arrest and the beating of Peter and 47 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:50,520 John and the other apostles for witnessing to Jesus Christ. 48 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,160 So there have been external problems, there have been 49 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,440 internal problems, there have been moral corruption problems 50 00:02:56,440 --> 00:03:00,200 within their own hearts, and yet all of them culminate to some 51 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,120 extent in the experience in which we just read here in 52 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,560 Stephen's story. As we hear a little bit about 53 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,120 Stephen's story, we are essentially hearing about how an 54 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,480 individual, a central individual in the storyline of Jesus 55 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:21,560 Christ, argues for how we are to respond when we are challenged 56 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,760 and when we are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. 57 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,640 How do we respond in faith? Now? 58 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:33,760 There is very little possibility, I suspect, and I 59 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,200 hope and pray for each and one of us, that we will ever find 60 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,080 ourselves exactly in the situation that Stephen is in. 61 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,360 There is a frustration that Christians have in the American 62 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,440 Society that we are not well received by the world, where 63 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:53,560 there's a mocking that has to take, that has to be dealt with. 64 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,760 There's frustration that happens along other levels and 65 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,640 appropriately so many Christians get very frustrated about that. 66 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:05,280 But the possibility of persecution that results in 67 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,320 something like what Steven experienced here, a mob 68 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:13,600 execution, is hard to imagine in American Society as we exist 69 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,560 today. And because it is so far from 70 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,600 our thoughts, it might be very easy for you to assume that it 71 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:23,680 is far from that. This is a historical experience 72 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,240 that when we're reading about the martyrdom of Stephen, we're 73 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:29,080 reading about something that is far in the past, and we don't 74 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,920 necessarily have to focus our attention necessarily upon it 75 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,120 with any expectation that it is going to speak meaningfully into 76 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,480 our own lives. If so, we forget the reality 77 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:43,040 that it is a pretty easily demonstrated reality that more 78 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,000 Christians were martyred for their faith in the 20th century 79 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,240 than all of the previous centuries combined. 80 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,520 Now when we think of martyrdom, when we think of Christians 81 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,160 being eaten by the lions or going to being nailed on the 82 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,280 cross, we very frequently think of what happened during the 83 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,240 early Roman Empire. And that's certainly the case, 84 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,160 the suffering of the early church and persecution. 85 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,760 The persecution is not something that happens in the distant 86 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,400 past. It is something that the church 87 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:19,720 today experiences in the first decades of the 21st century. 88 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:25,200 There is an estimated 5005 thousand Christians who die 89 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:32,040 every year for their faith, 5000 per year. 90 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:37,840 Now, as I said, it's highly unlikely, God willing, that we 91 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:39,720 will experience that kind of persecution. 92 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,920 And so it's easy when we read a story like Stephen's story and 93 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,960 we hear it as an inspirational story of something that happens 94 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,760 in the past, something that maybe will happen around the 95 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:52,400 world. Maybe it's something that should 96 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,480 guide our hopes and our prayers for our brothers and sisters who 97 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,480 are scattered throughout this world, as Jerry so eloquently 98 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,200 LED us in our morning prayer for those people. 99 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,040 And yet maybe there's not a whole lot for us personally to 100 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:10,280 be gained in light of this. I would encourage you to take a 101 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:16,720 look at how Stephen responds to external persecution and realize 102 00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:23,680 that the tools that he employs, the methods that he uses to deal 103 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:29,120 with this horrific experience that again, by God's grace, none 104 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,560 of us will have to experience in that same way. 105 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,880 Nevertheless, are exactly the tools, are exactly the steps 106 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:39,480 that should guide us when we deal with our own moral 107 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,000 corruption that does happen every day. 108 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,480 The internal divisions that happen within this congregation, 109 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:54,280 and yes, even the subtle but real external pressure that 110 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:57,840 happens upon this church and upon you as a Christian from the 111 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:03,200 outside world, just because that subtle pressure is easy for us 112 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:07,120 to handle, it's easy for us to be dismissed over. 113 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,800 It might perhaps take us away from the godly example that 114 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:16,880 Stephen provides for us, for somebody who handles the 115 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:21,160 opposition of Satan when one seeks to be faithful to their 116 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,120 lives as a Christian. And that's what I'm encouraging 117 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,640 if you are going to be faithful as a Christian. 118 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:31,880 The Scripture itself says that we will be persecuted. 119 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:37,280 That is an internal persecution. A more morally corruption is 120 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:40,880 persecution of our own hearts or the persecution that happens 121 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:45,080 from the outside. It will happen to you if you are 122 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:48,320 faithfully following the Lord. The Scriptures proclaim that to 123 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,760 be true. How do we deal with that? 124 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:57,400 What Steven shows us is not simply how somebody survives a 125 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:02,680 stoning or how somebody survives spiritually, survives an 126 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:07,560 external execution, persecution, but rather it shows how 127 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,640 somebody, every one of us survives the kind of pushback 128 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:14,840 that happens if you seek to live a godly life. 129 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:17,880 So let's take a look a little bit of what Stephen does here. 130 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,680 In this case, if you look again in the book of Acts Chapter 7, 131 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:26,600 verse 54 and following, So what we have here is Steven is pulled 132 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,080 before the council and he is forced to defend himself for 133 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:31,920 proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. 134 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,720 And of course the Steve, the council, the council is both the 135 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,760 political and the religious leaders of that time and they 136 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:39,720 have all the power that you could imagine. 137 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:43,000 And they are asserting all this power against Steven, saying how 138 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,520 dare you proclaim this name when we have explicitly stated that 139 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,080 you are not supposed to do so. And Stephen then defends himself 140 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,280 and as he defends himself using the Scriptures to point to Jesus 141 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,400 Christ, saying, look, even the foundation of what you believe 142 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,120 should have led you to Jesus Christ. 143 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:00,280 And of course, that's the reality, the foundation. 144 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:02,440 We can say that about the Scriptures as a whole. 145 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:04,080 We can say that about all of creation. 146 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,720 We can say that about all of life, all of life, all of 147 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,160 creation, all of Scripture points towards Jesus Christ. 148 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:12,520 And Stephen makes that point. And instead, this is what the 149 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,000 this is how the council responds. 150 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,440 Now, when they had heard these things, they were enraged. 151 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,520 And the word is as strong, the word is as aggressive as you can 152 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:24,280 come up with in the in the Greek, it's like they were 153 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:27,480 enraged. They were enraged and they 154 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,360 ground their teeth at him. Now we use the term ground of 155 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,560 teeth or gnashing of teeth. That's a common phraseology for 156 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:34,960 us. It comes from the scriptures. 157 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:37,960 And what is it? It's it, what are they doing? 158 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,720 They're sitting there, they're grinding their teeth, they're 159 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,320 snarling, they're snarling. They begin to. 160 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:48,800 And here's a reality that as we see in contrast with Steven, his 161 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:51,360 opponents begin to lose their humanity. 162 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,640 They become like animals. They're burying their teeth and 163 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:58,680 they're snarling at Steven. They're becoming less and less 164 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:03,720 human as they are confronted by the gospel message of Jesus 165 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,040 Christ and they respond in unbelief. 166 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,600 They become less and less human. They become more and more like 167 00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:11,800 animals. They're baring their teeth at 168 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:16,600 Stephen and snarling at him. And in contrast, verse 55, but 169 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:21,520 Stephen full of the Holy Spirit, they're becoming like animals. 170 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:24,560 He is becoming what? Full of the Holy Spirit. 171 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:26,520 We don't need to dissect this term. 172 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,360 You know what it is. You feel it in your bones. 173 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,440 To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to become more and 174 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:38,320 more the man more and more the woman of God that he created you 175 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:42,720 to be he created you to be a human being, a full human being 176 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,360 and, and and nothing measures, nothing fulfills that that 177 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:50,480 humanity greater than the picture than the description 178 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:54,920 that you are full of the Holy Spirit here being filled with 179 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:59,960 the Holy Spirit. Stephen does what Stephen gazes 180 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:03,520 into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the 181 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:06,400 right hand of God. Now I want you to listen 182 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,440 carefully to that. He gazes into heaven. 183 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:13,080 You might have heard that if you're in the wilderness 184 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,120 wandering around somewhere and you run into a wild animal, what 185 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,400 are you not supposed to do? You're not supposed to look them 186 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:20,920 in the eyes. If you look a wild animal in the 187 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:24,120 eyes that that somehow sets them off, that threatens them. 188 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:26,680 They feel challenged. They're much more likely to 189 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:28,760 attack if they're if you're looking them in the eyes and 190 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:30,920 stuff like that. And here, so you've got these, 191 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:35,160 this pack of animals, human beings that are turning into 192 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,120 animals that are losing their humanity. 193 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:40,120 They're snarling at Steven, they're snarling at him. 194 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,280 And he does what now? I got to tell you, if 195 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:48,640 something's coming to hurt me, my eyes on them, I'm looking at 196 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:52,720 them, I'm paying attention, I'm slowly backing away, my eyes are 197 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,400 on them and stuff like that. Steven confronted with an 198 00:11:56,400 --> 00:12:00,880 opposition to the gospel message of Jesus Christ, challenged by 199 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,480 the satanic opponents of what God is doing in Stevens life 200 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,040 does what he doesn't look at them. 201 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:11,760 He doesn't focus his eyes upon the circumstances around him. 202 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,760 He doesn't look at his life and says, oh woe was he I'm I'm 203 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:17,440 overwhelmed with these difficulties. 204 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,160 He doesn't say how much he's struggling with different 205 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,920 things. He instead gazes where he gazed 206 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,520 into heaven. He gazed into heaven. 207 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,880 Why? Because he's looking at Jesus, 208 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:36,520 he gazes at Jesus. The first thing that Stephen 209 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:42,240 does that we have to learn to do is to fix our eyes on Jesus in 210 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,080 the midst of the difficulties that are around us, in the midst 211 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,440 of the satanic pushback or our moral corruption pushback or the 212 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,720 internal problems that we have or the struggles that I have 213 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:56,960 with other people. Every solution starts with the 214 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:02,200 fixing my eyes upon Jesus. And notice what he said that 215 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:05,600 says when he does that, he's fixes his eyes on Jesus and he 216 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,880 sees the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of 217 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,720 God. Now, this is a a common phrase 218 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,040 that's picked up in the Scriptures frequently whenever 219 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,160 we talk about the risen Lord Jesus Christ. 220 00:13:17,160 --> 00:13:19,320 Where is he? He is seated at the right hand 221 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,960 of God the Father. The right hand is the is the 222 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,400 position of power. It's a position of authority, 223 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:28,320 the position of honor. And so by identifying Jesus at 224 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:32,080 the right hand of God, there's identifying Jesus as the one 225 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:35,480 that is being honored, being glorified by the Father, being 226 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,200 the one given all authority and dominion over all things. 227 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:41,120 That's what it's the right hand. Usually in the Scriptures, 228 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,720 overwhelmingly everywhere, but here Jesus is seated at the 229 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,600 right hand of God the Father. I love the fact that Peter, 230 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:53,280 sorry, Stephen, repeats it twice, that twice he identifies 231 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,360 Jesus not as sitting at the right hand of God, but is 232 00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:58,280 standing at the right hand of God. 233 00:13:58,680 --> 00:14:01,240 And I think what we have here is we have Peter. 234 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:04,040 I don't know why I'm doing that, Stephen. 235 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:09,000 We have Stephen who is faithfully stood before the 236 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,560 world and proclaimed witnessed to Jesus Christ. 237 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:18,400 Now we have Jesus standing before God the Father advocating 238 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:22,160 for Stephen and for saying here this is my child. 239 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,040 I can imagine this or or the other picture is Jesus is 240 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,480 standing in the same way that I asked us to stand for the 241 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:30,800 scripture reading or something like that. 242 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:36,480 It out of respect, out of honor, welcoming Steven into the 243 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:39,040 Kingdom. It's the one point where where 244 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,880 Jesus is standing, not sitting at the right hand experiencing 245 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:47,200 all of the glories of of the Father, but standing there 246 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:49,680 welcoming Stephen into the Kingdom. 247 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,680 And this is made possible because Stephen is fixing his 248 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,120 gaze upon Jesus Christ. What does that do? 249 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,040 That puts everything in perspective. 250 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:08,720 Is Stephen on the cusp of a miserable experience, a horrific 251 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,680 experience, a terrible thing is about to happen to him? 252 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:17,080 Is Stephen into the spot where everything in life could be 253 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:19,320 looked upon as miserable and terrible? 254 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:23,680 And what is what happens if he looks at the animals that are 255 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,160 surrounding him? If he looks at the circumstances 256 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:29,800 that are weighing him down? If he is obsessed by his own 257 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,920 brokenness and sinfulness? If he's obsessed by the internal 258 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:35,160 divisions that are happening within the people of God? 259 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,320 If he's obsessed with this collapse of the moral structure 260 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,960 that guides and directs him? If he is obsessed with anything 261 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,360 else, he's overwhelmed. But instead, by fixing his eyes 262 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:54,640 on Jesus, the perspective is all set by his authority, by his 263 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,120 glory, by his goodness, and by the eternal promise that when 264 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,640 you fix your eyes on Jesus, he is the risen Lord. 265 00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:08,400 And that eternal perspective shapes and molds everything that 266 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:12,000 Stephen experiences. Now, what Stephen is 267 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:14,680 experiencing here is something that the church has dealt with 268 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:17,720 throughout its centuries. And so we have the passe. 269 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:21,720 It's, it's almost cliche. It's, it's an easy quip to say, 270 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,720 fix your eyes on Jesus. Just look to Jesus. 271 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:30,240 But it's, it's a common phrase because it's so true. 272 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,760 It is so very true that fixing your eyes on Jesus changes 273 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:41,240 everything, and Steven is not the only witness to that. 274 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:43,800 I know that there are people sitting in this room that can 275 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:45,880 witness to that. Is there anybody that can 276 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:51,360 testify to the fact that fixing your eyes on Jesus brings peace 277 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:56,520 and calm and a change? Your circumstances may not be 278 00:16:56,520 --> 00:17:00,560 any different, but everything changes when you fix your eyes 279 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,120 on Jesus. Now, if you stick your hand in 280 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:08,400 the air, you are inviting other people who will see you come up 281 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,720 to you and say, tell me about Jesus in your life. 282 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:16,599 I just warned you about that. But is there somebody here? 283 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:19,960 I'm not going to call on you to share, but is there somebody 284 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,240 here that has experienced the peace that comes by fixing your 285 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:26,160 eyes on Jesus in the midst of difficulty? 286 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:30,480 Hands up, look around everybody, look around. 287 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,400 That's the work of our Lord. Thank you very much. 288 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:38,120 So what happens, Jesus Stephen is here and he says, behold, I 289 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:41,440 see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right 290 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:45,240 hand of God. OK, a lot of that passes us by. 291 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:46,800 He's just repeating what he's seeing. 292 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:51,920 But he's, he is telling the council, look, this guy that you 293 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:56,000 killed, this guy that you said was blaspheming God, this guy 294 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,600 that you said is worthy of death is not just raised from the 295 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:05,040 dead, but he's raised from the dead and standing in God's own 296 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,720 glory. Everything that you thought you 297 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:12,760 were doing is being proven wrong by the fact that I can see in 298 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:16,960 heaven the resurrected Lord, not just the spirit of Jesus, not 299 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,520 no, it's the resurrected Lord that is standing there. 300 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,000 The Lord has by Jesus standing there before God. 301 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:30,720 God is supporting God is justifying everything that Jesus 302 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:33,640 went through the whole experience that he has. 303 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:39,280 And so when he communicates this in verse 57, but they cried out 304 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:43,760 with a loud voice and and again, don't they're not crying. 305 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:47,400 They're they're they're growling, they're screaming. 306 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,440 They're if you've had kids and when they get screaming, don't 307 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:52,760 you want to look would you use your words? 308 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:54,640 You know, just use your words here. 309 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,920 These, they're so worked up that they have reverted not to 310 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,400 children but to a pack of animals. 311 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,520 And so they cry out in a loud voice and they stop their ears. 312 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,320 They can't even hear it anymore. And they rush at him. 313 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,760 They rush together at him. The mob closes in upon Steven. 314 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,600 Then they cast him out of the city and they stone him. 315 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:16,120 There's so much to that. We could talk about stoning. 316 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:18,920 We could talk about the person, the nature of stoning, the idea 317 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:20,840 of it. The picture is that you dig some 318 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:24,640 kind of a pit or a valley and you stick the person in it and 319 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,800 then you fill that valley with stones you you know you're 320 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,200 throwing and the stones are not pebbles or anything like that. 321 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,240 The ideas would be good size. Think of a softball or something 322 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,880 like that, a softball sized stone and you pummel the person 323 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,560 with stones, not just to kill him and not just to torture him, 324 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,040 because let's face it, after the 4th or 5th hit your unconscious 325 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,960 or something like that. But in order to say, this person 326 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:52,120 is not worthy of being resurrected. 327 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,640 This person is not worthy of an, of an, of an afterlife pile of 328 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,880 stones upon him because he is so wicked and so guilty. 329 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:04,880 Now the, the, the Roman Empire had insisted that only Rome was 330 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,440 able to execute somebody. So this is an extrajudicial 331 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,800 execution. In other words, this is a mob 332 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:12,560 hit. This is a lynching. 333 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,440 And so they grab Steven and they drag him outside, and they stick 334 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,280 him in a pit, and then they start pummeling him with stones. 335 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,080 Then they stoned him, and witnesses laid down their 336 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,080 garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 337 00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:28,200 That Saul will show up later in the Scriptures as the apostle 338 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,760 Paul. And Paul will reflect back upon 339 00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,640 the stoning of Stephen and the witness that Stephen gave while 340 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:38,280 he was dying and while he was there and they caught and while 341 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:44,320 they were verse 59 and as they were stoning Stephen, he called 342 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:49,120 out, Lord, receive my spirit. If the first thing that you do 343 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:54,680 when you are confronted by these difficulties of life is fix your 344 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:59,120 eyes on Jesus, the second thing that you do is you entrust your 345 00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:02,800 life to Jesus. Some of you will recognize this. 346 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,880 What Stephen says here when he says, Lord Jesus, receive my 347 00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:10,440 spirit, sounds very similar to Jesus himself while he's hanging 348 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:13,440 on the cross saying, Father, into your hands I commit my 349 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,400 spirit. What is it? 350 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:21,000 It is an entrusting of yourself. It is a surrender of yourself. 351 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:25,240 It is a giving over of yourself completely and totally because 352 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:30,040 there are so many people that know who Jesus is that can look 353 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,760 at Jesus for as he is and yet still walk away saying, oh, I 354 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,440 believe in Jesus Christ. I understand what he's doing up 355 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,480 there, but I will hold I, but I'm still going to hold on to 356 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,400 this particular area of my life, raising my kids. 357 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,080 It's too important for me to surrender it over to Jesus 358 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:51,400 Christ. My job is too important to 359 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:53,160 surrender it over to Jesus Christ. 360 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,440 My marriage, my health, all of these kind of things that oh, 361 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,360 sure, we know who Jesus is and all these kind of things, but 362 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:04,720 when push comes to shove, we're holding on desperately seeking 363 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:06,640 to control certain areas of my life. 364 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,600 And Jesus here communicates to Steven that it is time to 365 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,720 surrender all that he has. And notice that this is not a 366 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,320 whimper. I like the verb that he uses 367 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,640 that he calls out. He he verbalizes in a way so 368 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:23,760 that everybody can hear. This is not Steven. 369 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,280 At the last vestiges of being pummeled by stones, kind of 370 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:28,680 whispering, Lord, into your hands. 371 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,560 I commend. This is not fatalism. 372 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:35,760 This is not an expression of the last voice of of a man dying. 373 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:40,840 This is an assertion. Lord, I surrender my life to 374 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:45,080 you, Not the just the living of my life, but the end of my life. 375 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:49,320 Not just the end of my life, but the living of my life. 376 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,640 We have people that can look at Jesus and can understand that He 377 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:57,400 holds eternity in His hands, understand that He is risen and 378 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,960 standing next to the Father advocating for us and still 379 00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:05,400 refuse to entrust their lives to Jesus. 380 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:11,920 And Stephen at the last seconds, last moments of his life, 381 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,200 reaffirms once again that Christ is not just something to believe 382 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:20,440 you believed in, but Christ is something to entrust yourself to 383 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:28,080 surrender all that you have to. Have you done that? 384 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:36,880 Would the people that know you best say, here's somebody that 385 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,000 has surrendered everything to Jesus Christ? 386 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,840 Because Stephen certainly does. And falling to his knees, verse 387 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:51,120 60, falling to his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, Lord, 388 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:52,640 do not hold this sin against them. 389 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,160 Falling to his knees. What is it? 390 00:23:56,160 --> 00:23:58,480 Well, the guy's getting pummeled by rocks. 391 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:00,760 Of course, you know, the first one hits him, he falls to his 392 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:05,080 knees. OK, maybe, maybe it's simply the 393 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,200 author describing what he sees. He just sees, you know, Steven 394 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:11,120 getting whacked by stones and he falls down onto his knees. 395 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,800 But I don't think so. What are you doing when you're 396 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,880 falling on your knees? What are you doing when you're 397 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:18,760 falling on your knees? Have you ever been on your knees 398 00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:23,200 before somebody? You are pleading, you are 399 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:28,400 begging. You are almost, in a Worshipful 400 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,120 sense, putting yourself before somebody. 401 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:35,400 And here Steven is thrown himself in a pleading sense 402 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,800 before God. Please picture this. 403 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,080 The guy's getting hit with stones or is about to be hit 404 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,440 with stones and he cries out in a loud voice. 405 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,760 This is not when I read it. I hope you that that struck you. 406 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,200 You know, I was reading along that I tried to read in really 407 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,120 loud voice. You know, Stephen cries out in a 408 00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:56,560 loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them, which 409 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,600 again, I'm sure you recognize from the cross of Jesus Christ, 410 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,440 where Christ himself said, Father, do not hold this sin 411 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,520 against them. Stephen captures that same idea. 412 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,400 Lord, do not hold this sin against them. 413 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:09,520 But he doesn't whisper it to Lord. 414 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:12,920 He doesn't say it just so that this is something that he shouts 415 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:15,720 out. He shouts out so everybody can 416 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,320 hear it. Lord, do not hold it. 417 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:26,640 That is radical forgiveness. You have to practice radical 418 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:34,040 forgiveness if you are going to confront to the opponents the 419 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:39,200 opposition of the gospel that is working in your life, your own 420 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:44,040 heart and the sin that is there. What do you need When you are 421 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,680 still filled with rage, when you are still prideful, when you are 422 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,000 still arrogant, when you are still obsessing over different 423 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,360 issues, what do you need? You need radical forgiveness, 424 00:25:55,640 --> 00:26:00,000 gospel driven forgiveness. What do you need when you're 425 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,040 confronted by the frustrations of functioning together as a 426 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:05,360 community like we are as a church? 427 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:08,960 When you have a broken senior pastor, when you have a broken 428 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:11,640 set of elders, when you have broken sets of, when we are 429 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,960 making mistakes so frequently, what do you need? 430 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,040 You need to practice radical forgiveness. 431 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,520 What do we need when we are experiencing hate from the 432 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,840 world, when the mockery is just not mocking? 433 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:29,760 Oh, you waste your time with that Christian stuff. 434 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:31,640 Oh, you really believe all that crap? 435 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:36,200 But it's real hatred that is involved. 436 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:45,240 You have to practice radical forgiveness just like Jesus, 437 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,280 because that's what the gospel is. 438 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:57,880 The gospel is fixing your eyes on Jesus, the author and 439 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:02,280 perfector of your faith. Not being overwhelmed by the 440 00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:07,880 circumstances that around you, but fixating upon Jesus Christ 441 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,520 and the reality that he shapes and defines for you. 442 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,760 A reality that is shaped by the fact that he is standing even 443 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,600 now, the risen Lord at the right hand of God the Father. 444 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,440 You fix your eyes on Jesus, you surrender yourself completely 445 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:26,560 and totally to Him. You give all that you have to 446 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,800 our Lord and our Savior. And finally, you practice that 447 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:36,240 core concept of the gospel message, the forgiveness that 448 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:42,040 God has given to you. How about that for a challenge 449 00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,840 when you're faced with the wild animals that surround us? 450 00:27:51,640 --> 00:28:01,640 Jesus Christ, we come to you in need to be directed to be shaped 451 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,840 and molded because of the brokenness in our own hearts, 452 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,240 because of the sinfulness that surrounds us, because of the 453 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:14,280 external pressures of Satan and his minions. 454 00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,800 Lord, under all of that, we could collapse if it were not 455 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:24,280 the reality that you are reigning in heaven and You have 456 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:28,840 blessed us with the ability to see you reigning there through 457 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:33,160 the Holy Scriptures. Lord, we thank you and we praise 458 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:38,440 you for blessing us with all that we need to, like Stephen, 459 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,480 spiritually survive. Not just spiritually survive, 460 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,320 but to spiritually thrive in the midst of the opposition that we 461 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:49,040 will experience each and every day. 462 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,880 Lord, we pray that you would hear us as we pray the way that 463 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,760 you taught us to pray. Our Father, who aren't in 464 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,760 heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be 465 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,200 done on earth as it is in heaven. 466 00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:10,000 Give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our debts, 467 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:14,920 as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not in temptation, but 468 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,400 deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and 469 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,600 the power and the glory forever. Amen.