Fulfilled Promises

Introduction

There is a battle that takes place when crafting sermons

my goal is to be faithful to the text,

what was the intent when written

we know that Acts is a history book, so it is to tell a story

how does this passage connect to the gospel

all of scripture leads us to the gospel of Jesus Christ

what is the main point I want to get across

this is not just a rolling commentary

what do we want to leave here with

how can we apply this in our lives

the bible is applicable, not just for hearing and feeling good about ourselves

but to live by throughout our lives, in every situation

it is the last two that takes a lot of prayer

there is a temptation to offer up opinions

a place where you really have to be careful not to take the text someplace it does not go

this was the hardest part this week

Today - Fulfilled Promises

I believe that Christianity will be entering a time of persecution

the dislike and distaste for Christianity is growing in our nation

so the temptation is to tell you to stand and fight

grab your Bible and your guns and be ready for the fight

do not let anyone push you around, stand for your God!

Jesus told us throughout his ministry on earth that believers will be persecuted

that the world will hate those living for Jesus because they hated Jesus first

but we cannot read in an American fight plan

we cannot believe in a political party or candidate to prevent a persecution from coming

We can hold onto the promises that the Bible gives to us through persecution

many people believe we are seeing the end times come, this is not something that we are to be afraid of

but the Lord gives us warnings so that we will not be afraid and trust in the promises that he has given us

The story of Stephen’s death

one of the seven from last week appointed to help take care of the widows and oversea the daily distribution

full of wisdom, full of the Spirit and power

Acts 6:8–8:3 (CSB)

8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.

9 Opposition arose, however, from some members of the Freedmen’s Synagogue, composed of both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, and they began to argue with Stephen.

10 But they were unable to stand up against his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking.

11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”

12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.

13 They also presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and the law.

14 For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

15 And all who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

1 “Are these things true?” the high priest asked.

2 “Brothers and fathers,” he replied, “listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

3 and said to him: Leave your country and relatives, and come to 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 land in which you are now living.

5 He didn’t give him an inheritance in it—not even a foot of ground—but he promised to give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he was childless.

6 God spoke in this way: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and they would enslave and oppress them for four hundred years.

7 I will judge the nation that they will serve as slaves, God said. After this, they will come out and worship me in this place.

8 And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

9 “The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him

10 and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.

11 Now a famine and great suffering came over all of Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food.

12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there the first time.

13 The second time, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.

14 Joseph invited his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all,

15 and Jacob went down to Egypt. He and our ancestors died there,

16 were carried back to Shechem, and were placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

17 “As the time was approaching to fulfill the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people flourished and multiplied in Egypt

18 until a different king who did not know Joseph ruled over Egypt.

19 He dealt deceitfully with our race and oppressed our ancestors by making them abandon their infants outside so that they wouldn’t survive.

20 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was cared for in his father’s home for three months.

21 When he was put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.

22 So Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his speech and actions.

23 “When he was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites.

24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian.

25 He assumed his people would understand that God would give them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

26 The next day he showed up while they were fighting and tried to reconcile them peacefully, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you mistreating each other?’

27 “But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?

28 Do you want to kill me, the same way you killed the Egyptian yesterday?

29 “When he heard this, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.

31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he was approaching to look at it, the voice of the Lord came:

32 I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look.

33 “The Lord said to him: Take off the sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34 I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt; I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. And now, come, I will send you to Egypt.

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?—this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

36 This man led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.

37 “This is the Moses who said to the Israelites: God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.

38 He is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors. He received living oracles to give to us.

39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

40 They told Aaron: Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what’s happened to him.

41 They even made a calf in those days, offered sacrifice to the idol, and were celebrating what their hands had made.

42 God turned away and gave them up to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: House of Israel, did you bring me offerings and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness?

43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship. So I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.

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

45 Our ancestors in turn received it and with Joshua brought it in when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before them, until the days of David.

46 He found favor in God’s sight and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.

47 It was Solomon, rather, who built him a house,

48 but the Most High does not dwell in sanctuaries made with hands, as the prophet says:

49 Heaven is my throne, and the earth my footstool. What sort of house will you build for me? says the Lord, or what will be my resting place?

50 Did not my hand make all these things?

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 Saul agreed with putting him to death. On that day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the land of Judea and Samaria.

2 Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

3 Saul, however, was ravaging the church. He would enter house after house, drag off men and women, and put them in prison.

Pray

Even in persecution and death, God never fails to keep his promises.

The Holy Spirit Will Empower Us to be Witnesses

We like the word power

it has been very popular to go to Acts 1:8 and break down the word power

dunimas - dynamite - an explosive power in you when you receive the Holy Spirit

then look at all the things that are done by the apostles and early church and declare, you have this power inside of you

I believe that the spirit can do anything that the spirit desires through its people

Acts 1:8 (CSB)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Yes, Stephen was one put in charge of the daily distribution, but all believers are called to share the gospel

this proclaiming of Jesus put Stephen in a place of contention

Jesus said that this same spirit would give us the words to speak in times of persecution

Luke 12:11–12 (CSB)

11 Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say.

12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”

Spirit gave words at freedmen’s synagogue

what is freedmen’s synagogue

believed to be freed slaves as well as hellenistic jews

who would have been attending

Cilicia is an important region that is listed here

this would be where Saul is from

most likely who is arguing with Stephen and a debate that Saul would have lost

Saul is not a gracious loser and is not convinced at this time that Jesus is the Messiah

Spirit gave words to speak truth to the Sanhedrin

The truth of the OT

accused of blasphemy he is now speaking for his life

Not defensive at all

no I did not blaspheme - which he did not

they are making up lies - which they were

Stephen preaches using the OT to show that Jesus is the messiah that has been murdered by these men standing in front of him

The boldness to call Sanhedrin to Repentance

it wasn’t simply proclaiming Jesus but the pronouncement of sin

this is about the fourth time this has been said in the book of Acts

it was said twice in sermons to the congregation and it has been said to the Sanhedrin

Now they are tired of hearing it a mob ensues

they gnash their teeth, cover their ears and begin screaming

they rush him out of the city and to stone him

same gate, same hill, where Jesus died

but the mob mentality did not go through the roman government

Spirit gave words to speak in love in a rock pile; “Father forgive them…”

There was no self preservation or condemnation

there is nothing in us that would desire the people killing us to be saved other than the Spirit of God

this is the same as Jesus… Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.

You do not just naturally have this spirit

it only comes by hearing and believing the gospel

Ephesians 1:13 (CSB)

13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.

Without the Spirit we will fall

we will run as soon as the persecution starts, like the seed that is sown among the thorns and dies quickly

Jesus Will Acknowledge Us Before the Father if We Acknowledge Him Before Man

It is easy to acknowledge Jesus, here, now

I was reading a survey that was recently published and the thought I had was that nobody answering the questions feared for their life due to answering these questions

it is only easier in our state in our communities

we can where our crosses, t-shirts and different things without fear

I do not think this is the type of scenario that Jesus was referring to when he said this…

in a place where our biggest threat to our faith is our own complacency

Matthew 10:32 (CSB)

32 “Therefore, everyone who will acknowledge me before others, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.

Jesus told the Sanhedrin you will see the son of man at the right hand of the Father

this was the final straw if you remember when Jesus is standing before the Sanhedrin on the night that he was arrested

they began to rip their clothes, spit on him and hit him

now, months later, the same group of men has somebody standing before them

he just accused them of murdering the messiah

Acts 7:54–56 (CSB)

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!”

we are entering a time when choices will have to be made

The question that preachers ask, are you willing to stand in persecution

I think that is the wrong question

The right question, are you willing to be led by the Holy Spirit

Stephen did not do this because he was willing to take a stand or because he prepared to take a stand

but because he was led by the Spirit

that is the only way that we will be able to stand for the Lord

you will not be able to do this without the Holy Spirit

must make sure that we are listening to the right spirit

many spirits that talk and try to lead away from God

the Holy Spirit will never lead you to do something contrary to the word of God

or speak contrary to the word

if we are following the spirit through the easy times, we will be able to follow the spirit through the hard times

The Father Will Use All Things for the Good of Those Who Love Him

This is a promise that so many love to quote

we do it at some very awkward times when we do not know what to say

something bad happens to somebody, All things work together for good

Romans 8:28 (CSB)

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

We like to hold this promise as something to make us feel better about bad things happening

last week… my story about gallbladder

how did God use that for the good… I do not know that he did

I see it as something dumb that happened to me because of my own stubbornness

by his grace, I was fine through it

Stephen’s death was as much his testimony, if not more so, as his life

He looked like Jesus through his death

Saul is the answer to Stephen’s prayer

we do not see it yet, but this one who is in charge of the mob who is killing Stephen is about to become radically changed

but this is not our concern, God is the one who knows all things and must work all things out

Question 1 of the Westminister Catechism

What is the chief end of man? (What is the purpose, why are we here?)

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

in my living and in my dying, may God be glorified,

and he will do so through his providence

Exalting Jesus in Acts Reflect and Discuss

From where did Stephen receive power?

2. How are the Spirit and wisdom related?

3. How is Jesus “greater than the temple”?

4. What impresses you most about Stephen’s sermon?

5. Could you narrate the Old Testament story that culminates in Christ if someone asked you to do so? If not, begin a reading plan that includes Genesis, Exodus, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and Matthew.

6. How does the vision of Christ’s standing at the right hand of the Father encourage you?

7. What about Saul’s involvement in these matters most resonates with you?

8. What is your reaction to Stephen’s willingness to forgive his murderers? Do you need to forgive some people in your life? What advice would Stephen give you?

9. How does Stephen’s story inspire you?

10. How does God display his sovereignty in persecution?