The First Martyr part 2
Notes
Transcript
Last week we started looking at the death of Steven.
We looked at the dichotomy between the man Steven was and the God that he followed verses the Men who made up the Sanhedrin, and the God they follow (which was nothing at all when you look at it.
They were following Laws and traditions more than God.
This morning we are going to continue looking at this difference in the 2 in this story.
Death and Love (vv 58-59)
Death and Love (vv 58-59)
This was not a Legal death sentence because it was not carried out by the Romans.
This was an angry mob killing someone because he loved them enough to risk his life to tell them the truth.
The Jews could not carry out their own executions because they were under Roman rule.
This is why Jesus was crucified, rather than stoned to death.
14 “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
The ones who has brought the accused up on charges must be the first to cast the stones. Deut 17:7
7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
People do not want to hear the truth when they are happy doing the wrong thing.
The love that Steven had for his brothers and for His Savior gave him no room but to tell the truth.
No matter how hard it is we must tell the truth about the Gospel and not just let people live the way they want to live.
Hate and Love (vv 60-8:1)
Hate and Love (vv 60-8:1)
The people poured out their hatred for Steven on Him that day.
They did not like hearing that they were the ones in the wrong that they are the ones that put to death Christ.
But even in his dying moments Steven was pleading with the Lord to not hold this sin against His people.
Only Christians can show Christ like love: Rom 5:5
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
It gets hard to show this love all the time but it is what we must do because that is what has been shown to us.
The Seed was planted (v58)
The Seed was planted (v58)
Saul stood there that day watching and look at all that was going on.
He will go on to bring down terror on the church but the seeds of faith were planted in his head that day.
The harvest that would be reaped by Him and his writings are still going on today.
But it was the love of Steven that planted that seed and it was his death that would lead to the conversion of the greatest missionary of all time.