Jesus is God, if you like it or not.

Jacob Winters

Acts • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Acts 7:51–60

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Transcript

Introduction

Good morning LaFayette Baptist Church and happy father’s day. If you would all please go ahead and turn in your Bible’s to Acts 7, Acts 7:51-60. will be our sermon text today. For the sake of time today, we are going to do just like we did last week, and hop right into the scripture today. So,

Scripture

If you would all please rise for the reading of God’s Word today. The words to the scripture will be on the screen, please read along with me as we are reading. When I am done I will say “this is The Word of The Lord” if you will all please respond with “Thanks be to God.” Let’s Practice that for a second. Also, there are a few hard words to pronounce in the reading today. So, we are all just going to give it our best shot, no worries if we say it wrong. First, let’s pray.

Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us in this place. Mold us, Makes us, change us, rearrange us more perfectly into the image of Christ. Help us to all that you have ordained for us in all our places and walks of life. Help us to see Jesus in everything and help us to share Jesus with everyone. Today though, we especially ask that as we are about to enter into Your word today, that You refine us with Father. Help us put anything and everything that we might, any distraction, aside, because we want to see, know, understand, and hear from You today. Open up our hearts, our ears, our minds, our hands and everything about us so that we can receive whatever it is You are trying to show us about Yourself, and help us apply that in the way you have for us. Help us in this, it’s these things that we ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and Precious name that I pray, Amen.

51 “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit. As your ancestors did, you do also. 52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. 53 You received the law under the direction of angels and yet have not kept it.”

54 When they heard these things, they were enraged and gnashed their teeth at him. 55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

57 They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep. [1]

Context

Today we finish up Chapter 7 in the book of Acts. Just to give you a quick update, Emily and I will not be here next Sunday and this Wednesday. My good friend Daniel Milner will be here to share The Word with us this Sunday, it will be his 3rd time ever preaching, so please make him feel welcome. He will continue in sermon series, begin Acts chapter 8, so please go ahead and keep reading through Acts in your personal devotional time this week.

Today we move into the final few paragraphs of the ministry and martyrdom (meaning someone who died for the cause of Christ) of Stephen. As you will recall a few chapters back, he was ordained into ministry with the other 7, including Phillip who we will learn more about in the coming weeks. While ministering to the community he was called to, Stephen came into opposition against a group of people (or rather, a group of people came into opposition of God through Stephen and his ministry). This caused him to be arrested and put on trial, and last week’s sermon covered his sermon that he gave to the Sanhedrin in response to their charges, pointing out that the nation’s history had been full of people continually turning their back on God and worship false God’s, and that the same can be seen today (just look at it, he’s on trial because of it). Today though, we move into the final comments and actions of Stephen in his life, before he went to be with Christ.

Much like last week, we have lots to observe from the end of Stephen’s sermon and final moments, and the actions of his false accusers, that we can read into our lives as well. All to often, we make mistakes or misunderstand who Jesus is and what His divinity and Lordship and forgiveness means in every decision we make in life (big or small). So, From the text today, I want you to observe these truths about Jesus as we see that Jesus is God, if you like it or not.

Message

The first truth to observe is: Jesus foretold about and rejected

Remember the scripture we went through last week. Stephen went through much of Israel’s history. Looking at the times of Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon. He pointed out one glairing truth to them, this is that through out all of their people’s history, they had a rich of history of turning their backs on God, forgetting about Him and wanting to turn back to the old gods and comforts that the true God had rescued them from. Stephen continues here, and calls them something that should have stuck out and struck them right in the heart. He calls them stiff-necked, which God called them Himself when they had the golden calf made to worship and then to further things, Stephen points out their circumcision, a sign of their covenant and relationship with God was not heart deep, meaning it was surface level at best, they were not actually committed to God. Rather, this crowd, and leaders of the people were committed to their own prides and wants and comforts just as the beloved ancestors were. In the past, the unrighteous leaders killed and betrayed and persecuted God’s prophets (His appointed spokesman) now this generation has went so far as to kill the Righteous One, God Himself Jesus the Son…. Once again, here we are, Stephen points out, denying and rejecting God even though we knew He was coming.

Jesus himself gave parables on this idea, that He would be rejected by people that shouldn’t be rejecting Him, people that should know better. One he gives in Matthew 21, in this parable there is a man who buys a vineyard. He hires tenant farmers to work it. When it came time to harvest it (as would have been normal and expected) the owner sent to get his fruit., at first the owner sent some of his servants, but the farmers beat some of the servants and killed others. Then he sent another group of servants, and the same happened to them. Then, the owner sent his son, thinking that surely these tenant farmers would not reject the son and would honor the authority and rank he has as my son. Non the less, the wicked farmers, saw him coming and killed him, with the intent of taking the field for themselves. Jesus said, and you would expect, that the next time he or someone comes for him, he will have the wicked men destroyed.

Well, in essence, this is exactly what happened with Jesus. God sent his prophets, and they were killed, then He sent His son, who was also in turn killed. God gave and gives opportunity after opportunity for forgiveness and being made right, but those that do not seek forgiveness (which can only be found by accepting Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross to pay for your sin, will be destroyed and will receive the wrath and destruction that they deserve. Make no mistake, we must consider this too. We have to consider this when we look around, when we look at ourselves, and when we go out and about in our day. Everyone who does not turn to Jesus, will be destroyed. The bible tells us that everyone can perceive that there is a God, even so, many reject Him. What’s worse, those that have been halfway paying attention and have searched the scriptures know that Jesus came and offers forgiveness of sins, but still reject His free offer. Unfortunately, even those with the knowledge but not the faith, still have destruction waiting for them. I urge you, if you have the knowledge but not faith, find the faith fast and if you have the faith, share it with others…. So, that was Jesus foretold about and rejected.

A second truth to observe is: Jesus at His rightful place

Hearing this sermon, the Sanhedrin (the ruling elders at the trial) were not happy. They were mad, super mad, couldn’t contain their anger mad. Stephen, in that moment was blessed in a way that no person had ever been before, he got to see Jesus. He got to see Jesus standing at his rightful place, standing directly at the right hand of God the Father. What does this mean? It means he saw Jesus at his appropriate and correct place of authority, a place that the crowd would have, well let’s just say, wanted very badly to disagree and show that He couldn’t have been their, let alone admit that Jesus is was and will always be divine. In a moment, of what I could only imagine as joy, Stephen shouts out, look, I see Jesus! There He is, right next to God the Father! Sitting in His rightful place as our God and Savior!

All to often, it’s easy to put things or keep things in the wrong place, and this is damaging especially when it is something that should be of greater importance. A small example, that pails in comparison to the importance of Christ being put in the right place in our hearts, is our car keys. Keys are such a small and normal and everyday thing, that often we think of them as unimportant. But doooooon’t they become important when you lose them. Just think about it, when you are trying to leave the house, and you can’t find your car keys, what do you do? You stop everything and spend all your time and effort trying to find them, because they are a critical (but often overlooked) step to whatever it was you were leaving the house to do. So, you look for them and look for them, and hopefully you find them. Which raises the question, why couldn’t you find it? Well, most likely because you didn’t put them in the place that they belong. For me, it’s this drawer right next to the front door, so every time I walk in the house, the first thing I do is put the keys in there. For you, it may be something like that or a key hook. Either way, it all stands the same, if you don’t give these important things the attention that they deserve and put them in their rightful place, bad things are sure to happen.

Just imagine how much worse it is for us, much worse then keys, when we don’t put Jesus at the rightful place in our lives. Where is the rightful place? Well, the only correct answer is the most important place, the central place, the place that influences every decision and action that you do. Now many may have Jesus in a good place, or a prominent place. Let me be clear, THIS IS NOT AN APPROPRATE OR ACCEPTABLE PLACE FOR JESUS IN YOUR LIFE. The only acceptable place is THE BEST place, THE MOST PROMINENT place. Everywhere and anywhere else shows that you have idols, you have false Gods that you worship over Him. For us, this could mean holding onto bitterness or anger for something in the past. It could be that you don’t like change and want things to always remain and so you oppose anything that you don’t already know without ever considering it. It could be that taking care of others or even yourself is the most important. If these cases are yours and many more are out there, and it happens for everyone at some time or another, than it means you have a need to turn from that sin and turn to Jesus for forgiveness, which will be given to you. Because everyone is personally responsible for putting Jesus at His rightful place in your life.

The next truth to observe is: Jesus always gets a reaction

Here it comes, here comes the big reaction in action. What did they do? They yelled as loud as they could, they covered their ears, trying not to hear what Stephen was saying. They came up to him, grabbed him , dragged him out of the city to stone him. To give Him a brutal and terrible death, that was historically reserved for blasphemers. How strange, that it was them casting the stones, when if they had really followed God and His law, they should have been the ones stoned themselves……. We are then briefly introduced to Saul (who would later be known as Paul). Then, as the stones were being thrown and the punishment inflected, Stephen called out to Jesus to receive him. He then knelt down and begged His Lord to not hold this sin against them. How is that for true and complete love? Stephen loved the people who were murdering them, even the to the point of asking God to not give them the punishment and consequence that they deserved for their treacherous actions. Then, Stephen died. Note how the text reads that he fell asleep, why did it say he fell asleep rather than died? For this reason, because we know as believers we have eternal life in Christ Jesus, his body at this time fell asleep, but we know that in the age to come we will be given new and beautiful bodies. This distinction is made, because we know that God has a plan for eternity.

One thing is for certain, no matter who or where it is, if you say or mention the name of Jesus, some kind of reaction is to follow. This reaction from the crowd, reminded me a lot of a reaction I saw on video of a street evangelist and preacher. Now, there are many good and bad street preachers, and I think often they get a bad wrap for being people who just holler at people about the hate of God, but not about the love of God. This was not that street preacher, now he was a little firm, but he was also fair and not trying to attack the crowd. But, the crowd took to attacking him, not physically but verbally. Now, it was this man’s custom to allow an “open mic” question time. One young lady got up and asked the question. You know, “if you Christians say you are supposed to love people, then why aren’t you doing it? Why don’t you help with adoptions and caring for children and the elderly and the poor? I never see that.” Now, and rightly so, this street preacher was able to point out (and with statistical research and data) that as a group in America, Christians give to these types of causes and needs more than anyone else by a long shot. She didn’t know this, it was news to her and she needed to see the sources to believe it, and that’s fair. Our thing is, we aren’t looking to get a reaction from our good deeds, we aren’t trying to make ourselves look good. Rather, we try to make our savior look good from our charity, which the world doesn’t want to show (how often do you hear about churches and Christians giving in the media? Very rarely compared to how often it happens).

Why? Because the world, Satan, and sin doesn’t want a good reaction to Christ, rather the deceiver wants everyone to focus on the negatives of the faith and believers to try to tarnish the name of the savior. Satan does this, because He knows that every time Jesus is presented or the gospel is given to someone, it requires some sort of reaction. It can be yes, right now. It can be yes, but later. It can be no. It can be maybe, it can be “I need to know more.” No matter what, Satan knows that with every reaction comes another possibility of “yes,” which he doesn’t want. So, he tries to hide the savior or give Christ a bad persona in lost minds and hearts. We need to keep this in mind, whenever you go out, that the name of Jesus is going to get some kind of reaction. Why? Because Jesus is God, if you like it or not. As such, His name requires a response, hopefully it is yes Lord, but often we will find it is “no way” or “im not ready to give what I have up” or even “I don’t believe that.” No matter the reaction you get, just like Stephen did, don’t fear the reaction. Rather, honor your God, honor your savior and do not fear sharing Jesus with others, because (and just as even in this case with Stephen, God was with him). As the Bible tells us, do not fear what man can do to our flesh, but fear what can harm the eternal soul; and we know that when you are in Christ you are sealed with Holy Spirit and as Paul writes, nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus.

Conclusion

Beloved, I hope you see these things and reflect on them and what it means in each of our lives; that Jesus is God, if you like it or not. Don’t forget that we knew he was coming and if you are here today you know that Jesus was foretold about and rejected, don’t reject Him yourself. Because no matter if you do or don’t Jesus is always at His rightful place on the right hand of God. But, is he in the appropriate place in your life? And know that both as we go and share and as we work on our own sanctification that Jesus always gets a reaction. In your own sanctification work hard that your answer will always be yes Lord. When you are sharing, know that Jesus will get a reaction, and sometimes it will not be fun and often unpleasant, but don’t worry about that. God is with you through it all, and it’s not our job to make a believer, just to share the word with others.

When looking back and considering Jesus’ Lordship and Divinity this week, I came across this old poem about Jesus from one the of church fathers, Gregory of Nazaianzus, he writes about Jesus that,

“He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world. Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.” Let us always remember Jesus and who is and what He has done in everything that you do.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2020, p. Ac 7:51–60. [2] Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2020, p. Ac 7:51–60.

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