Sermon Tone Analysis

Stephen’s Defense (1): A Pattern of Faith

(Acts 7:1-8)

October 3, 2021

Read Acts 7:1-8 – Stephen is a perfect example of what the Lord asks of all of us in I Pet 3:15b: “Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”

Stephen did both with extreme passion and grace.

He’s on trial for his life for preaching Jesus, specifically for speaking against the temple and against the law.

He will answer those charges, actually turning them against his accusers.

Along the way he will also speak truth into other errors of his audience – the idea that salvation is by merit, that God is limited to Jewish land and temple, and that Jesus was not the Messiah, Savior and Lord He claimed to be.

Stephen’s philosophy is, the best defense is a good offense.

That’s what he does, respectfully -- “Brother’s and fathers, hear me.”

Stephen will show that far from disrespecting God, the Law or the temple, he actually honored them.

And he respected God’s Word, seen by the fact that much of his defense consists of allusions and quotations from the LXX.

Along the way he will demonstrate that God cannot now, nor was He ever, confined to a particular land or place.

He is a God who is always on the move, always calling His people to new adventures and accompanying them.

He will also show that his audience is merely following the mistaken footsteps of countless generations of Jewish people, who despite being favored with God’s revelation, consistently rejected His message and His messengers.

He does this with an enthralling history lesson -- a journey that points persistently to Jesus and which is so intense, it holds his audience spellbound right to the end.

He’ll show they are the latest in a long line of Rejecters of God’s truth.

But he begins at the beginning – with Abe – the first Jew – describing a pattern of faith that should have been followed by all, but was not.

The Jews of Jesus’ time were all confused when it came to salvation.

They thought being Jewish gave them a huge leg up.

They believed keeping the Law would seal the deal.

But they revered tradition more than Law, traditions that defined the Law in a way they could strive for.

Three great lessons fall out from Abe’s life regarding salvation that would have served previous generations of Israel well – as well as Stephen’s generation – as well as ours.

I. Salvation is By Grace Alone

Stephen’s first phrase lays a great challenge before His listeners.

They had become so outward and stifling in their religion they believed God was only found in their land and in their temple; yet, to gain His favor, they must keep the traditions.

This defined their existence.

Any concept of a relationship with God was long gone.

And Stephen begins: “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham.”

This is an immediate challenge to their way of seeing things.

God is a God of glory -- splendid and radiant.

And He appeared to Abe, not in a temple, not in Jerusalem, not even in Palestine, but in Chaldea – 500 miles to the east.

He appeared to Abe, not bc he was keeping the traditions – not even bc He was seeking God.

He wasn’t!

God told Israel in Josh 24:2b: “Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates (Chaldea), Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.”

Abe was worshiping other gods, along with his father and brother.

He wasn’t even a monotheist; he was a polytheist, whose main god was a moon god.

There was nothing in Abe to commend him to God.

Abe was a moonie when God called him.

So why did God choose him?

To display undeserved, unmerited grace.

Grace is all over Abe’s life.

For no deserved reason, God appeared to him, and promised a land and offspring.

Stephen notes in 7:8b: “And so Abraham become the father of Isaac.”

Stephen’s audience knew it wasn’t that simple.

Abe got the promise and then 10 years of nothing.

So, by the custom of the times, he had a son by Hagar, Sarah’s maid, considered Sarah’s child.

God rejected that child, and then another 15 years of nothing.

Why the wait?

Heb 11:11: “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age.”

Abe’s own body “was as good as dead” (Rom 4:19b).

Both are past the age of fertility, and boom!

Here comes Isaac.

What’s the point?

Why did God wait?

To show it was all of grace.

No human merit involved.

Over and over and over again God makes the point, salvation is by grace alone.

Out of the whale’s belly, Jonah prayed Jonah 2:9d: “Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

It is not yours to attain; it is not mine to earn.

It is pure grace from beginning to end.

It cannot be earned, bought, ritualized or inherited.

It was a result of God’s grace in Abe’s life; it is a result of grace in your life.

Paul prays in Eph 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love 5) he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”

Do you think you chose God this morning?

Only because He chose you first.

I Jn 1:9: “We love because he first loved us.”

When it comes to salvation, grace is the beginning, middle and end.

Temples, traditions, laws, works, rituals, human merit have no place at that table.

Salvation is of God alone.

He chooses whom He chooses.

If you are His today, it is only because God graced you – not because you deserved it.

You didn’t and neither did I. Jesus says in Jn 6:40: “Everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life.”

That’s the human side.

But right after Jesus says in Jn 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

Grace is the most wonderful thing in the world because without it – no one would be saved.

Rom 3:11b: “No one seeks for God.”

If God didn’t call us, no one would be saved.

His grace ought to fill our hearts with love for Him.

This is what the cross is all about.

Rom 5:8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

It was not we who sought God, it was He who sought us.

When we were helpless to pay the debt of our sin, He sprang into action by sending His own Son to pay our penalty.

Adam and Eve, having had perfect fellowship with God, fell into sin.

So, they ran to Him for forgiveness?

No.

They ran and hid.

They would have had no hope but by the grace of God, He tracked them down and forgave them based on the promise of a coming “seed of the woman” – a redeemer.

But it was all grace.

Without grace, we’ll all be lost.

We run from God, not toward him.

George B. Shaw stormed out of a meeting one night where the cross was preached as Jesus paying our debt.

He left shouting, “Thank you.

I’ll pay my own debts.”

And tragically – unless he repented, he will.

But the only way we can pay for our offenses against an infinite God is by infinite separation from Him.

All sin must be paid for.

Justice demands it.

The character of God demands it.