Acts 7

Recap:

Alright, what book are we in this morning? (Acts)

What chapter? (7)

And can someone tell me what the main idea of the book of Acts is?

The power of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of believers to build His church and spreads the gospel.

And last week we were introduced to a man, who is he?

Stephen!

And he is described in chapter 6 as being a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.

He was appointed along with 6 others to oversee the ministry that fed some of the jewish widows.

remember these 7 were appointed, because some arguments sprung out about some of the widows getting neglected in the distribution of food.

And Stephen doesn’t stop there, but God uses him greatly… not only to serve the widows at church, but also defending the Faith and spread the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ all over the streets of Jerusalem.

Now last week we made a few points of application… can someone give me one that they remember or wrote down?

1. We talked about how we need to stay focused on what God has called us too.

Remember back in v.3 and 4 of chapter 6…

how the apostles were not willing to leave ministering the Word of God and prayer to serve tables…

They recognized… not that were better than anyone else, or that they were too good to serve tables, but instead, they realized that it would distract them from serving in the area that God had called them into…

And likewise for us as believers we need to remember not to get distracted in our faith…

Business is one of the enemies favorite tactics at getting you away from spending time with Jesus…

but make it a priority, because your life depends on in.

2. The second thing that we talked about is how we like the apostles should be giving ourselves entirely to the word of God and prayer.

And we said in a busy life that looks like

1. praying constantly by having a constant conversation with God throughout your day…

and 2. memorizing scripture in order to think about it all day.

3. And then finally the third thing that we looked at is how Stephen reflected the glory of God…

it says in 6:15 his face was like the face of a what?

an angel!

And so we said that Stephen reflected the glory of God because of the time that he spent in the presence of the glory of God…

and likewise for us… the more that we spend in the presence of God the more that we reflect his glory!

Now as we continue on into chapter 7, I want us to consider 4 accusations that were made against Stephen, at the end of chapter 6…

remember that as Stephen was sharing the faith, many jews tried to argue and debate with him, but they could not resist his wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke…

And so they became upset and jealous and they utilize what is called an (ad hominem attack)-

Any guesses what an ad hominem attack is?

it is attacking a person’s character, motive or personal traits instead of the actual facts of the argument…

its bad, and when the jews couldn’t win their debate with Stephen now they attack who he is claiming falsely that he is blaspheming when is not!

Those 4 accusation are made in v.11 and 13

and they are…

He speaks blasphemous words against Moses.

He speaks blasphemous words against God.

He speaks blasphemous words against the Temple.

He speaks blasphemous words against the Law.

Now Stephen in chapter 7 is going to amazingly refute each one of those accusation through the Holy Spirit and through the Word of God…

As he just simply goes through the history of His people found in the Old Testament…

Lets pick it up in v.1 of chapter 7…

Read Acts 7:1-17

V. 1-17

Alright so in this chapter we are going to see 4 sections where Stephen defends against each of the 4 accusations of blasphemy that the Jews bring against him.

In verses 1-17, which we just read, Stephen defends against the blasphemy of God.

In verses 18-37, he defends against the blasphemy of Moses.

In verses 38-43, he defends against the blasphemy of the Law.

and then finally in verses 44-50, he defends against the blasphemy of the temple.

In each one of these sections not only does he show that he is not blaspheming but he also bring a point of conviction for the jews…

What does conviction mean?

something that points to their sin, and shows them they need to repent.

And this is amazing! because there is no way that Stephen could have come up with this on the spot, so he most certainly filled and being led by the Holy Spirit as he spoke…

and not only that but Stephen would have had to also know the scriptures extremely well in order to give this account from his memory, and so once against we see how this man has most certainly given himself to the study of the Word of God…

And this is what is meant when Paul says in 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;”

Okay so starting in verses 1-17…

Notice that Stephen opens up saying in v.2 “brethren and fathers, listen: the God of Glory appeared to our father Abraham”

Stephen addresses the Lord as the God of glory… showing that he believes that YHWH is a God who deserves glory…

and through this passage Stephen shows how God is a God who cares about people, makes promises to his people and he keeps them…

Notice in Acts 7:5 “But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him.”

God promised to bless Abraham with children and a possession of land

in verse 7 it says Acts 7:7 “‘And the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and serve Me in this place.’”

God promises to judge the nation that oppresses Abraham’s children

and in v.8-17 we see how God keeps his promise!

Abraham has the 12 patriarchs and v.9-10, God rescues Jospeh and… we are going to see that they will be rescued from Egypt and brought into the land as Stephen continues…

He is saying that God is a kind, loving, promise keeping God who is the God of glory, both glorious and worthy of receiving glory from us!

and in v.9 we see Stephen’s point of conviction…

the 12 patriarchs became envious of Joseph and sold him into Egypt

Just like the religious leaders because envious of Jesus and killed him and how they are becoming envious of Stephen and going to kill him as well.

Now continuing on lets look at v.18-37

V. 18-37

Here in this section we see Stephen defending against the blasphemy of Moses.

Now the Jews during this time loved and idolized Moses and so anything that was spoken against their precious Moses was certainly going to cause them to lash out.

Here we see Stephen just simply tells the story of Moses, his faithful journey from being a top leader in Egypt to then running away and spending time in the wilderness, and then finally coming back and bringing the nation of Israel out from Egypt.

Many people rightly say that Moses’ life is broken up into 3 sections…

First was when Moses was in Egypt in the house of Pharoah and he thought that he was somebody,

then God brought Moses to the back of the wilderness to teach him he is nobody,

and then God finally showed, Moses that he can take a nobody and do something amazing through them.

Stephen brings another point of conviction in v.35-37

Notice how it says that the people rejected Moses whom God sent be a ruler and a deliverer…

And like the Jews rejected Moses as the ruler and deliverer so they also rejected Jesus as the Lord and Savior.

Now v.38-43

V. 38-43

In this section Stephen defends against the blasphemy of the law.

once again, from heart Stephen recites the history of the giving of the Law back in Exodus chapter 20

And convicts them by bringing up how the Jews passionately broke and rejected the law, wanting to go back to Egypt and worshiping other God like Molech, Remphan, and the golden calf.

Likewise these jewish religious leaders made an idol out of tradition, the temple and looking good in front of the people instead of following the Law and the pursuit of God from the heart.

and then we see the final section in v.44-50

V. 44-50

Here Stephen defends against the blasphemy of the temple again restating the history to show the jews that he too believes and know what the word of God says about it and supports it.

But his area of conviction is found in v.48…

God does not dwell in the temple… why because he is simply to great, too big, to glorius to fill some small human made structure…

But they Jews held in such high esteem the temple that they almost felt like it is impossible to get close to God and know him unless you go to the temple…

sometimes christians make the same mistake… coming to church like its the only place you can get close to God…

though they miss the fact that God is near to every heart and mind that seeks after him. Jer 29:13

and then in v.51-53 we see one big overall conviction that he brings against the Jews:

V. 51-53

Here Stephen brings His 4 Accusations against the Jewish Religious leaders from the history of their ancestors:

They are stubborn just like their ancestors.

They are uncircumcised in heart and ears jsut like their ancestors.

Sinful in what is in their heart

Sinful in not listening to God (Jesus)

They have broken the Law just like their ancestors.

And so the Jews don’t like this and they respond in v.54-60

V. 54-60

and so we see that the council is “Cut to the heart”

the word is dee-ap-ree-o and it litterally means to saw in two…

specifically to have their heart sawn in two by anger or vexation…

They were convicted that what they did and are doing is wrong, they relize it and they are angry about it…

what should these jews have done?

Repented

But instead they drown out the feeling and remove the source.

Many people in the world today do this, they don’t like what they are hearing because they know its true but they want to keep living they way that are and so they ignore it, drown it out, or shut it up…

and eventually their heart becomes hard and they no longer possess the ability to hear God’s cry anymore.

they’ve hardened their heart…

so in closing if I can leave us with 3 points of application:

When you are convicted, repent.

Hear the word of God and pray!

Hosea 10:12 “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.”

Here is a really good illistration for you…

God is the potter and we are the clay, God wants to mold us, shape us, change us but we are resistant, hard and unmoldable…

But when the potter takes the water and puts it on the clay it softens it, allows it to be molded and shapes it into the image that the potter wants…

Allow God to take the water of the word of God and effect your life…

Be pliable to His shaping.

(if time ship illistration)

2. Like Stephen, fix your gaze on Jesus.

Stephen was in the middle of a terrifying situation that many of us hope and pray we never find ourselves in…

but he met the angry looks, the fierce accusations and questions with peace, calmness, joy, love and how did he do it?

Because he fixed his gaze on the Lord.

Remember back to v.2 when he made mention to the “God of glory”…

That is from Psalm 29:3, it is the only other place in the Bible that name of God is found, and if you look at the end of that verse you will see it says…

Psalm 29:10–11 “The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

Stephen knew that now matter what kind of flood of persecution or difficulty came his way, the Lord would provide strength and peace to him that will supply his need…

And as he fixed his gaze on the Lord, the Lord gave him just that… strength and peace.

and then finally point number 3. Prepare to give it all for Jesus.

Stepehen is the first ever Martyr of the church… he gave his life as a sacrifice for the name of Jesus Christ.

An essential part of the christian walk is pure devotion ot Jesus. So much so that you would be willing to die for him if it came to it…

Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Matthew 16:24–25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

But let me give you a step in between before you are going to die for Jesus you must live for Jesus.

Stephen before he died saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God…

But we know from many other scriptures that Jesus sat down at the right hand of God when he ascended to His throne…

So why did Jesus stand?

As a salute for the sacrifice of Stephen his child and to welcome him into glory as the first martyr.

I too want to see Jesus standing in pride and joy and the service I lay down for him as a good and faithful steward and son.

Pray.