Do not resist the Holy Spirit - A Biblical Theology
Notes
Transcript
Do not resist the Holy Spirit - A Biblical Theology
Do not resist the Holy Spirit - A Biblical Theology
9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Yes our opening text is not from Acts, even though this sermon series has us in the book of Acts. So why did I chose this as our opening text? Because this text is seen in fulfillment in our story from Acts today. Before we can talk about what is going to happen to Stephen as he gives a defense for his arrest, we must first see that God not only ordained and decreed from eternity past everything that would happen, but that Jesus is actually prophesying about something specific.
has a lot to say about the signs of the times in the last days and has application for Christians through the ages, especially those who will be martyred, and even for us. but it is first and best seen in the book of Acts and especially here in .
I use a couple commentaries when studying, and two men I highly respect have written a lot on this text today in , John MacArthur and Al Mohler.
But MacArthur does an excellent job of explaining why we all should care about what we are going to hear from Stephens defense of the gospel.
So before we do what amounts to a lot of reading in hearing Stephens defense, I need you to see that this is not just a humans response to man, but a human who is empowered by the Holy Spirit who is speaking through Stephen, is making a response.
If we understand that the Holy Spirit is the one who is speaking through Stephen, then when we get to the end of what Stephen says and his indictment on the crowd, it will make much more sense of what is happening here in the text.
I use a couple commentaries when studying, and two men I highly respect have written a lot on this text today in , John MacArthur and Al Mohler.
But MacArthur does an excellent job of explaining why we all should care about what we are going to hear from Stephens defense of the gospel.
Here is what J-Mac said...
Stephen is the first person besides the Apostles that we see performing sings and wonders among the people. He is at a synagogue and gets confronted by people who want to disprove the gospel and his signs, so they debate him but they cannot match his wisdom because the Holy Spirit gives him a wisdom they can’t beat. They then conspire to lie about him and trump up some charges to bring him before the3 sanhedrin or religious leaders of that day. While they are falsely accusing him his face begins to glow like an angel right before their very eyes. Now it is time for him to answer to the charges. And what were those charges?
To reach the world effectively with the gospel, believers must be able to defend their faith. This was the motivation for Paul instructing Titus to ordain elders who are qualified and capable.
9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
They said Stephen was blaspheming God, Moses, the law and the temple. There is no more serious charges that a Jew can be brought up on. Not only is blaspheming God worthy of death, but Moses is their greatest prophet who delivered the nation of Israel out of Egypt, the Law was the pinnacle for their lifestyle of attaining worth with God and the Temple was at the center of worship and seen as the place where God was with them in a physical way.
Paul goes on to say
How will Stephen get out of this one? He must show them that he understands their history, their Law their Temple’s importance
10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.
So faithful elders are supposed hold firm to the Word so that they can instruct others with sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it. there are empty talkers who must be silenced. And all of this is for the people of God, because they need to be trained to do the same. Peter instructs believers in general in this way...
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Peter
Sadly many Christians are unable to do that, having little or no understanding of what they believe. If we lack a solid foundation for our faith, with we are devoid of Sound Doctrine as taught by faithful men who give an account for our souls, we will be like those Paul describes in .
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
John MacArthur said it this way...
“Tormented by doubt and ignorant of the faith, Christians can be ineffective witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ”
So it is paramount that we as believers know what the Bible says and can defend it when we are challenged. And today in we get one of the best pictures of Biblical Theology from all of scripture. So what is Biblical theology? Theology means the study of God or your understanding of God. But when we say biblical theology we mean more than, I found this verse in the Bible and know I know God. It is more than an understanding from any one portion of scripture, rather it is an understanding from the WHOLE of scripture, cover to cover.
Biblical theology makes sense of ALL of scripture and shows how it all works and fits together making it one cohesive story about God and his redemption of humankind through Jesus Christ. Stephen will show these Jews who are questioning him, that they are missing the point as their fathers did. And we are meant to see it and not repeat the same sinful mistake they did. Stephen will make sense of the whole of scripture up until that point. It is a long explanation, but it is absolutely necessary for every believer to be able to follow along with him if we have any hope of making sense of God’s Holy Word.
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1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
What things? Remember they were lying about him and they trumped up charges in order to bring him up on the most serious accusations they could. They said Stephen Blasphemed God, Moses the Law and the Temple. There is nothing more serious than this, anyone guilty of this must die. If anyone would be exonerated from such charges they must be able to show that they know their history, they understand the holiness of God, the importance of the Law and the idea that they believed the temple was the physical presence of God at the center of their worship.
So… Now we read. A lot!
2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
Ok there is so much here that this could be a whole sermon in and of itself, yet this whole chapter is one sermon when Stephen preaches it, so we are keeping it in that format. But there is a lot to pay attention to here, I will point out the highlights and try to not get stuck in the weeds.
First thing to notice is how he addresses the council and starts by acknowledging God.
Stephen refers to them as “Brothers and Fathers”. Please notice that he starts off in a winsome tone with much respect. He knows that he will have to say hard things and he needs to not lose them right away. And while i am not trying to make this about us at all, there is some practical application here.
Let the gospel be an offense to its audience before we are offensive to them.
Let the gospel be an offense to its audience before we are offensive to them.
I, admittedly need help here myself. But we must remember that the gospel is offensive to the sinner, and we were all offended by it at one point… usually the point of when it calls us out for sin that we have willingly committed.
none the less this is not the main point at all. Look at how Stephen addresses God.
“The God of glory”. He is intentionally recalling the divine glory that God revealed to his people in many ways and specifically through Moses. Remember he is supposedly guilty of blaspheming against God and Moses. It is like he was Saying, God, Who showed you his glory through a pillar of fire and night and a cloud by day… The God who thundered on the mountain where are fathers trembled, and the God who unleashed his glory in the tabernacle… this is the God we are talking about.
Right away he has their attention. He is talking about their God. Then he says this God appeared to their father, Abraham. And he is careful to acknowledge that this did not happen in the temple, or even the old temporary mobile tabernacle that moved with the people. God did not just appear to Abraham within the confines of their designed worship gatherings based on the law. God appeared outside of all they know and this is no moot point. He is saying you cannot contain the God of glory.
To understand temple worship truly, you must understand what the temple and the law are all about. They are all about the worship of God. In fact...
The worship of God is the ultimate goal for all humanity
The worship of God is the ultimate goal for all humanity
Everything about God that we know, is given to us to rightly worship him and only him in all things!
Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
From the Westminster shorter catechism.
Stephen is declaring from the start of his sermon that God cannot be contained and even their first knowledge of him through their father Abraham came from outside the religious system they were defending. Stephens argument shows them that God’s presence in the OT was never confined to the temple or even the promised land.
So, Stephen moves on to talk about Abraham and show that God’s redemptive plan starts through a promise of an inheritance to the offspring of Abraham. That God Made a covenant with Abraham before, “Even a foots length” of the promised land was given to them. Yet he was “with” Abraham. And that through conflict and slavery God would be “with” his people and would Judge other nations. That his people would be allowed to worship him.
By verse 9 Stephen goes into depth at explaining the story of Joseph. He points out how his brothers were jealous of him and sold him into Egypt. Look at 9-10
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
So even though Jospeh was despised by his brothers, God was WITH him, and rescued him out of his afflictions, giving him favor and wisdom and position.
Remember that Stephen is here giving an answer to charges about him blaspheming God, Moses, the Law and the Temple. But it all started him doing signs and wonders among the people in order to Preach the gospel to them. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ the long awaited messiah. He is suffering because he was preaching Christ, and they wanted to bring him up on charges that are unrelated to Christ because they do not want to hear anymore about Jesus. But notice how Stephen is retelling their history by pointing out key people and problems that all point to someone greater who was the true fulfillment of these men.
Here is what I mean… Over the course of the rest his sermon here, Stephen will point out Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David. All of these Chosen prophets of God were mistreated by God’s people. Jesus was the last in a long line of God’s prophets, and he too was not only persecuted, but was out to death. Notice Stephen is building a case that their current behavior with him being arrested and persecuted, is nothing different than what their people have always done. And this isn’t really about Jospeh.
Jospeh was a signpost that point to Jesus as the Messiah
Jospeh was a signpost that point to Jesus as the Messiah
And though he waits till later to say Jesus is the Messiah, he is making a comparison here. Let me show you how...
Both Joseph and Jesus were from the nation of Israel and were delivered up out of envy from their brothers. Jesus was condemned to death from a false witness, Jospeh was imprisoned because of false accusations from Potiphar’s wife. And even as God freed Jesus from the prison of death and exalted him, he also freed Joseph from prison and exalted hin to a high office. Jospeh was able to deliver his sinful brothers from physical death in the time of famine, but Jesus delivers his brothers from spiritual death.
Stephen masterfully talks about Joseph, because the Holy Spirit is making an appeal to these brothers through Stephen.
But it doesn’t end here, not even close… This was just his defense about his understanding of God, the first charge against him. Next he moves to Moses.
17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ 35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and 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 your brothers.’
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So Stephen now talks about Moses and he breaks his story up in three 40 year parts. Moses first 40 yrs, in vs 20-22. Here he describes him as a man that was qualified to lead people. He shows respect for Moses by telling them, “He was mighty in words and deeds” in vs 22.
The next part of Moses life is Stephen is making it clear that Moses, who like those that came before and those that will come after, he was rejected by the people of Israel. He specifically points out in vs 25 that Moses thought his brothers would understand, BUT THEY DID NOT!
Stephen is not trying to bore them with details they already know, he is pointing out very specific details that are painting a story. Moses ends up in the wilderness for this next 40 yrs because the people tell him, “who made you ruler and judge over us?”
But the last 40 yrs of Moses that Stephen describes, pulls all the elements of a smoking gun of evidence in a trial to light. In recounting the story of the burning bush and being sure to point out this very famous line.
33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
My notes in the reformation study bible points this out...
God’s presence in the burning bush made that place in the Sinai desert holy, so to suggest that the Jerusalem temple has become obsolete (if Stephen did so) is not to blaspheme God.
Stephen is clearly not coming up with this all on the spot. It has to be the Holy Spirit giving him the right words, just like we read from Mark in the beginning of this sermon, because this is masterful!
Stephen not only makes this point but so much more… But wait there’s more!
Notice vs 35.
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
Stephen points out that their fathers didn’t want Moses and rejected him, but God sent him. this has to play into their minds as they are rejecting the preaching of the gospel about Jesus as the Christ. And then he piles it on thicker even with he next verse.
36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.
Stephen points out that Moses did signs and wonders, just like Jesus did, and just like he was doing in preaching the gospel to the hellenists. Stephen is drawing a close association with their love for Moses and pointing out the same things that he is in trouble for. Their hypocrisy is showing...
And now that he used Moses as an example of how God’s presence is outside the temple too, and he was closer to looking like Jesus than they want to acknowledge, he puts it this way...
37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’
This is Moses… and he said look for another to come! That is what he leaves them with thinking about Moses. And yet there are more charges, so Stephen cannot draw it to a conclusion yet.
38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “ ‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
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Next indictment against Stephen was the law… He was trying to undermine the Law that Moses gave them.
What more needs to be said in that he points out to them how they have never handled the Law right. Stephen is not denying the law but rather he is upholding the Law. He is showing them that the Law was intended to show them their inability of living a life of obedience. They quickly turn to idols and forsake the law, because they can’t keep it. And this may seem like a mean tactic, as if he is just saying “well you can’t keep the law anyways”, but that is not what he is doing here. He is starting to point them to their need for a savior, and that the law pointed to that Savior!
Gospel preaching should point out our need for a Savior
Gospel preaching should point out our need for a Savior
Even in his lengthy explanation of the history of Israel, he is using examples to point them to Christ. “Men like Joseph, and Moses, were only types of the Messiah: their lives foreshadowed a coming Savior who would also be rejected by Israel” AL Mohler
So, he is pointing out the insufficiency of their fathers and Prophets to save them from their lack of being able to keep the Law, which also exposed to their need for saving. But he doesn’t leave it there. He actually makes the case that they are the law breakers by making idols out of the law rather than letting it point them to God in worship. And though we haven’t mention the temple yet, Al Mohler puts it this way when talking about Stephen here.
“In fact, by turning the Law and Temple into ends themselves, and by failing to see the true purpose of the law and temple, Israel had become idolatrous.” Al Mohler
Stephen makes a compelling case that it is not he who has treated the law wrong, it is them and always has been, since they first recieved it. But he cannot drive this home without responding to the temple accusation.
44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, 49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
acts7.44-
Stephen now makes the case that the Temple was not an end unto itself, but rather that it pointed to something beyond itself. the tent in the wilderness was a visible place of holiness for God to be with his people, and the history will trace it to a more permanent home at the temple built by the hands of men, promised by David and completed by Solomon.
But if they think that speaking about the temple is bad because that is where God lives, as if he can only be there, and without that he is somehow less God, then they need to hear this. They are so very wrong. Stephen has used a Biblical Theology, meaning he starts at the beginning and shows how it is all connected up till now, that they are wrong in what they know about God. God cannot be confined by the temple, he cannot be appeased by their law keeping, he gave them men like Moses and Joseph to point to the same thing the law and the temple itself pointed too.
And there is no doubt that in that room tensions are rising as he is going through painful case after case where their father rejected God and his people, that he is now ready to bring it home and point out the most obvious of all rejections in the most damning of ways. Stephen gives his final arguments before he rests his case...
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
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Wait a minute, who is he saying they killed? Who is this righteous one? Well, who is it that they have told Peter and John not to preach about? Who is it that these hellenists needed to hear about that the church in jerusalem had been established on?
Jesus Christ is the messiah that they have rejected and killed! And he calls them “stiff necked and uncircumcised in the hearts and ears”??? They could be circumcised in their flesh but carrying a sign in your flesh and not believing it in your heart or being willing to hear the truth of it in your ears is what he is getting at.
They, like their fathers killed God’s people, and denied the law the recieved even though they liked to pretend they were made righteous by it. But this was not the worst thing Stephen tells them...
They ALWAYS RESIST the Holy Spirit. How? He proved that they believed wrong things about God and he cannot be contained to an area for worship. He proved that the very people they pride themselves on being in their heritage of were only ever pointing to the coming promised one who would deliver them for real, and yet they reject every thing they hear over and over. But how were they doing it now???
The same way we resist the Holy Spirit till this day. We hear the evidence stack up. We see God’s people believing his word and listen as the case is laid out against us as sinners. We hear the stories of God’s grace to his people and his Holiness in wrath on those who oppose him. We see these miracles, signs and wonders they did and ask for more because we can’t touch it ourselves. He hear the gospel preached and we do not believe it and so we like them and they like their fathers before them always resist the Holy Spirit.
Resisting the Holy Spirit means rejecting Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord of all.
Resisting the Holy Spirit means rejecting Jesus as God, Savior, and Lord of all.
They failed to see it because they were not circumcised in their heart. This means they did not believe what they proclaimed about God.
They would rather keep going their own way than to repent and turn to Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. The bad news of us being sinners worthy of judgement from a Holy God is a necessary part of the message of the gospel, which means good news.
“We must exercise tact and care, but we must also, like Stephen, boldly tell our friends and neighbors that sin is an obstinate refusal to obey God, and thus is offends God. We are under God’s wrath and deserving of his just judgement. In light of those truths, but only in light of those truths, the Gospel is infinitely good news. It is only as we sense the depth of our sin and inevitability of our condemnation that will we have any true sense of the glory and majesty of God’s grace found in the gospel of Christ”
Stephen used all of scripture to show them and we today have heard the same argument… What say you? Have you been resisting the Holy Spirit? Have you been rejecting the belief in Jesus as the Savior and only hope for humanity and more importantly for you personally?
Have you heard of the Perfectly Holy God who will not allow sin into his presence? Have you heard of the humble servant who came and suffered in your place for your sin so you can be made right with God and not fall under his divine wrath and just judgement? Do you find reason to reject this story as a fable or a fairy tale. Has it been seen a crutch for weak people and manipulation for the masses to be controlled by a few corrupt men?
Can you sense what every man woman and child knows to be true… - says God has placed eternity in the hearts of men, but we can’t fathom it. We know it is there, that there has to be more to life than this, but we just can’t seem to find out the real answers within ourselves or by looking to those around us. It is haunting and yet stands in our consciousness as a means of grace that the Holy Spirit uses in moments like this to point us to the real answer… JESUS.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
The God-man they tried to kill, he is the chief cornerstone that the builders rejected… He is Jesus.
1 And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
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Jesus’ story was the short version of what Stephen told them that day, but they will still reject him. The question is, will you?
Question 1 - How did Jospeh point to Christ?
Question 1 - How did Jospeh point to Christ?
I went through a list in the sermon, and Stephen was really identifying Joseph’s brothers rejecting him with these men who rejected Jesus. But can you recall what is the most unique ways of seeing this in both Jospeh and Jesus?
Question 2 - How did Moses point to Christ?
Question 2 - How did Moses point to Christ?
Thinking of his raising in the palace, His identity with his people, he wilderness journey, his call by God, His deliverance of god’s people from Egypt, and his standing between God and the people in the wilderness… How does this point to Jesus?
Question 3 - How does the Law point us to Christ?
Question 3 - How does the Law point us to Christ?
Do we recognize our own inability to be perfect and following and obeying God’s word at all times in all things? If all we have is the Law do we have any hope for salvation? Should we reject the law now that we are in Christ?
Question 4 - How does the Temple point to Christ?
Question 4 - How does the Temple point to Christ?
God’s presence with his people has been a big thing since Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden. To this day people in churches are known as presence seekers. Can you spot how the Temple pointed to Jesus and they missed it?
Question 5 - What does it mean to resist the Holy Spirit?
Question 5 - What does it mean to resist the Holy Spirit?
Perhaps the best way to answer this is to ask, “Have I submitted myself to the Holy Spirit?” Do I Believe the gospel, or do I only have the appearance of one who does? They were circumcised in their flesh but not in their heart and ears. How about you, and how do you know?