Acts - 19

Acts - 19

Acts 7:1-53

Introduction

When I was in college, I did an internship at a church in Chesterfield, MO for student ministry. After a year, the church hired me on to the permanent staff. During the interview with the elders, my first church interview, I learned firsthand the tactics of how to interview. Chesterfield, MO is a swanky, wealthy west suburb of St. Louis. The elders consisted of a bank president, a couple of doctors, some investment guys, and as chairman we had Gary. Gary was the Vice-President of GE. He was a wealthy, intimidating man.

When they brought me in for the interview, I was shaking I was so nervous. But pretty quickly, the nerves went away. The elders proved to be laid back, funny, and genuinely interested in me. For about a half hour we exchanged personal stories, told jokes, and had a great time together. In the midst of the laughter, Gary asked me, “what is your favorite verse in the Bible?” I said Romans 12:1-2. Immediately his face changed to deadpan, he locked eyes with me with his cold black eyes and said, “Quote it.” Thankfully I did. Nailed it! And then we went right back to the fun and laughter. He totally set me up! The stories and the laughing disarmed me and opened me up to the sneak attack he had planned all along.

This is what Stephen does in Acts 7. Stephen, along with six other men, were chosen to administrate over the daily distribution of food to the widows in the Church. But his ministry expanded beyond that and he became a powerful preacher, attesting to the reality of who Jesus is to a hostile audience. The hostile Jewish leaders have arrested him and dragged him before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Senate of the day. His enemies have started the rumor mill to turn the crowds against him. In court, they bring in false witnesses who lie about him, claiming he has been undermining the Jewish faith.

Acts 6:13-14 - 13 And they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases speaking words against this holy place and the Law;

14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”

Stephen stands before a Jewish Senate, filled with hostile Jewish leaders, surrounded by a hostile Jewish crowd, accused of undermining the Jewish faith. Not a safe place to be. But he is not intimidated. He seems to be comfortable and confident.

Acts 6:15 - And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin saw his face like the face of an angel.

He sits there, focused on the Lord. And it even shows on his face. This is a sign of divine vindication by God. God stands with Stephen, not with the crowd. God endorses Stephen, not the Jewish leaders. And that is about to be proven without a doubt.

Acts 7:1 - And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”

In the field of preaching, there is a kind of sermon called an ‘inductive’ sermon. Think of it like a V. It starts out more general but then moves its way down to one specific point. It is in contrast to a ‘deductive’ sermon that starts out with a specific point and then expands the idea and explains it. Inductive sermons are, in my opinion, the most challenging sermons to write. It takes a tremendous amount of effort and energy to start general and then keep the audience with you all the way until you get to the point.

The inductive sermon is the preaching equivalent to what that elder did to me in that meeting. Keeps you engaged, disarms you, all the way until he brings the killer blow. Stephen, in response to all this, on the fly, preaches an inductive sermon. He engages the crowd with their own history. He reminds them of what they already know to be true. He puts himself on their side so they would see him as a friend, not an enemy. That is, however, until he unleashes the death blow at the very end. Let’s take a few minutes and engage with his sermon, pulling from it the glorious truth of the gospel he faithfully preaches to them.

Stephen covers four main epochs of Jewish history by giving short biographies of five different primary leaders throughout their history.

ABRAHAM - THE ORIGINATOR (V. 2-8)

Acts 7:2-8 - 2 And he said, “Hear me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’

4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

5 But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his seed after him, even when he had no child.

6 But God spoke in this way, that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.

7 ‘And I Myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’

8 And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham was the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac was the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

In Genesis 12, God did something new. Up until then, He had interacted with individuals like Noah. But with Abraham, God originates with him a new way of working in the world. Through Abraham, God is going to birth a new nation in the world. That nation, through no merit of their own, without having ever done anything to deserve it, will become God’s possession on the earth. God promises to bless them and to protect them. In fact, God is going to bless them so greatly that eventually the entire world will be blessed through them.

Abraham was faithful to the Lord. God called him to leave his country of origin, his pagan background, and to place his faith in the one, true God. Abraham trusts in God and points all future generations to the God who has chosen them. God makes a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to work in and through them for 1,000 generations.

It all begins with Abraham. What we know of all OT history, ancient Israel, and eventually the Lord Jesus coming into the world through that line, it all begins with Abraham. He is the originator of faith in the one, true God.

JOSEPH - THE SAVIOR (V. 9-16)

Acts 7:9-16 - 9 “And the patriarchs, becoming jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him,

10 and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he appointed him governor over Egypt and all his household.

11 “Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food.

12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time.

13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh.

14 Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.

15 And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died.

16 And from there they were removed to Shechem and placed in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

The back half of the book of Genesis is dedicated to the story of Joseph. An incredible story of betrayal, God’s providence, and forgiveness. Though Joseph is not the firstborn son, God gives him dreams of leadership and authority over his brothers. They don’t really like that, so they fake his death and sell him into slavery in Egypt. But through God’s miraculous working in Joseph’s life, he becomes second in power in all of Egypt. By the wisdom given to him by God, Joseph saves Egypt and the surrounding areas from the effects of a devastating famine.

Israel is affected by the same famine and Joseph’s own brothers, the very ones who had betrayed and rejected him, come to Egypt for help. They stand before Joseph, though they do not know it is him, and ask for the help only he can provide. It is a beautiful scene when Joseph reveals his identity to them and forgives them for their sins against him. By his grace, Joseph saves even those who rejected him.

MOSES - THE DELIVERER (V. 17-45)

This is the longest section of Stephen’s sermon. He rightly devotes most of this OT overview to Moses, the Lawgiver and Deliverer of Israel. While things started out well in Egypt under Joseph, over time Egypt turns the ancient Israelites into their slaves. They cry out to God after 430 of slavery. God answers by calling a man named Moses to deliver them to freedom. Moses faithfully and courageously stands up to Pharaoh, the most powerful man on the planet, who things he is a god. He fearlessly charges Egypt with their sins against God’s people and demands they go free.

Once God crushes Egypt with the ten plagues, the Israelites gather their belongings and execute an exodus from Egypt. God will now lovingly lead them out of slavery and into freedom. Moses will be God’s instrument of deliverance out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. But, just like with Joseph, Moses has to do this with people who rejected him.

Acts 7:39-45 - 39 Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.’

41 At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands.

42 But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘Did you present Me with slain beasts and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43 You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.’

44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He, who spoke to Moses, directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.

45 And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David.

Even though Moses had been used by God to deliver them, they longed for slavery again. As soon as they have opportunity, they fashion an idol and begin to worship it instead of the God who delivered them. But even then, in spite of their disobedience, God showed grace to them.

DAVID/SOLOMON - THE KING (V. 46-47)

Stephen goes from the longest section to the shortest section of the sermon. Here he just barely touches on the great kings of Israel.

Acts 7:46-47 - 46 David found favor in the sight of God, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built a house for Him.

King David was the greatest King over Israel, along with his son Solomon. God had promised David in 2 Samuel 7 that one of his descendants would occupy the throne over God’s people for all eternity. As part of their devotion to God, they wanted to build God a house for him to dwell within in the world. Though David wanted the honor of that, it was his son Solomon who built the temple in Jerusalem.

Do you see what Stephen has done? He has slowly brought them along with him for the ride through OT history, coming down to almost a singular point. But before then, he makes this point about the temple. Which is certainly relevant considering their original indictment against him of speaking against the temple. So before he makes his final and ultimate point, Stephen rejects their false indictment of him.

Acts 7:48-50 - 48 However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says:

49 ‘Heaven is My throne,

And earth is the footstool of My feet.

What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,

‘Or what place is there for My rest?

50 Was it not My hand which made all these things?’

God doesn’t need a house built by men. He created the heavens and the earth. He owns it all. He isn’t going to be held prisoner in some marble building in Jerusalem. The temple had become the central focus of the Jewish faith. God only lived there. Because God only cared about Israel. Or so they thought.

Think through what Stephen has just preached to them. Where was God during all of this? Not in Jerusalem. First, God was in ancient Mesopotamia calling Abraham to the Promised Land. Then He was in Egypt with Joseph and Moses. Then He was in the desert with the Israelites. It wasn’t until the very end of the long history that Stephen just gave that God landed in Jerusalem. God is not held hostage by their narrow beliefs, staying confined in one city. God is God over all the world. God’s concern is not just for Israel, but for all of His creation.

Now Stephen’s got them. He wooed them in with grand stories of their history. He engaged them, got them thinking he’s on their side. Now for the death blow. Now, after chronicling their history of rejection of God, he confronts them with a new rejection:

Acts 7:51-53 - 51 “You men—stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears—are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

52 And which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;

53 you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.”

Boom! Though they are in court and they offer an indictment of him, he turns on them and indicts them in their own courtroom. They are stiff-necked…obstinate, rebellious, stubborn. So set in their own ways that they reject that God may be doing something new. God had done a new thing with Abraham as the Originator of their faith, and was now doing something new again with Jesus, the Originator of the true faith. Hebrews 12:1b-2 - Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfected of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus is the author, the Originator of the faith. He is the true Abraham. He is the one used by God to now interact with the world in a new way. Through Jesus, God’s people are now in covenant relationship with Him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

They are uncircumcised in heart and ears. Though the Israelites were to be circumcised physically as a sign of being set apart from the world, the OT continually taught that circumcision was metaphorical. It was to show a cutting away of pride and sinful ways. But just because you have been cut on the outside physically does not mean you have cut away sin in your heart. They are ‘always resisting the Holy Spirit.’ Just as they had rejected God’s spokesmen in the past, they are doing so again. Just as they killed the prophets who foretold of the Righteous One, they have killed the Righteous One when they condemned Jesus to death on the cross.

Though they had received the Law they had disobeyed it. Again, do you see what Stephen has done? Their indictment against him was that he spoke against the temple and the Law. He already addressed the temple accusation. Now he turns the tables again. I haven’t spoken against the Law. You are the ones who have rejected God’s Law. You are the ones who have failed to see how it all points to Jesus. Again, at his own indictment, he indicts them in their own courtroom. Because, as Stephen’s sermon points out, the entire Law had led to Christ.

Just as Abraham was the Originator of the faith, so now Jesus is the true and better Abraham, the Originator of the true faith. Just as Joseph was the Savior of those who rejected him, Jesus is now the true and better Joseph, the Savior of all who place their faith in Him, even those who have previously rejected Him. Just as Moses was the Deliverer of God’s people out of slavery into freedom, Jesus is now the true and better Moses, the Deliverer of God’s people out of their bondage to sin and death and sets them free with forgiveness and eternal life. Just as David and Solomon were Kings over God’s people, Jesus is now the true and better David, the King who rules and reigns over all creation.

It all comes down to Jesus. It all points to Jesus. He is the centerpiece of the Bible. He is the centerpiece of the faith. If you make the mistake these Jewish leaders made, if you reject God’s clear word, you lose the opportunity for salvation. You stand condemned.

John 3:16-18 - 16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.