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We're in the Acts of the Apostles, 
chapter 7. Remember, this is Stephen's defense 
before the Sanhedrin or the religious council. And the way that he 
calculates or orchestrates this defense is by giving a history, 
a redemptive history of the nation of Israel. He focuses on several 
of the main players, the key men involved in that history. 
And this morning, we'll look at the section dealing with Abraham. 
So I'll begin reading in chapter 7 at verse 1. Then the high priest 
said, Are these things so? And he said, Brethren and fathers, 
listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he 
was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Haran and said to him, 
Get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a 
land that I will show you. Then he came out of the land 
of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his 
father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now 
dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set 
his foot on. But even when Abraham had no 
child, he promised to give it to him for possession and to 
his descendants after him. But God spoke in this way, that 
his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they 
would bring them into bondage and oppress them 400 years. 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. Then he gave him the covenant 
of circumcision. And so Abraham begot Isaac and 
circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac begot Jacob, and 
Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father 
in heaven, we thank you for the written word. We thank you for 
this history of Israel. We thank you, God, that you have 
given us not only the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well. 
And all of that Scripture testifies to the same glorious God, Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. And we pray now for the ministry 
of the Holy Spirit as we survey this section of Scripture. Again, 
forgive us for our sins and its darkening influence in our minds 
and hearts. And we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
Now remember, the high priest presides over this council, over 
this Sanhedrin, and so it comes now, the formal charges have 
been laid, hinging on false witnesses, and now the high priest said, 
are these things so? And what he means, are the charges 
laid against you so? And the two charges, in essence, 
are that he has spoken blasphemous words against Moses and the law, 
and that he has spoken blasphemous words against the temple of God. 
Last week we looked at an overview and tried to show how Stephen's 
response as a whole answers those charges. Now this morning, as 
I said, we're going to focus on Abraham, and this material 
comes obviously out of the book of Genesis. It's not typical 
that our Wednesday night sort of jives with what we're doing 
on Sunday morning, but we are in Genesis in our Wednesday night 
Bible study, just having finished chapter 13. So some of the material 
that we cover this morning will also be reminiscent of what we've 
covered thus far in Genesis. So I want to look at three things 
this morning with reference to these verses. First, the call 
of Abraham in verses 1 to 4. Secondly, the promise made to 
Abraham in verses 5 to 7. And then finally, the covenant 
with Abraham in verse 8. But notice Stephen's response 
to the high priest question. Verse 2, he says, brethren and 
fathers, remember, he's going to end the sermon by calling 
them stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart. He's going to tell 
them that they always resist the Holy Spirit, that they are 
similar to their fathers, those fathers who executed the prophets 
they have fallen lockstep with. But initially, as he starts the 
sermon, he says, brethren and fathers, he appeals to them as 
equals. They share the same history. 
And he's showing respect for the fathers, those men that make 
up this 71 member Sanhedrin or religious council. And then notice 
he refers to our father, Abraham. He says the God of glory appeared 
to our father, Abraham. Notice, he's been accused of 
speaking blasphemous words against God. He starts his address by 
highlighting the God of glory. He starts his address by highlighting 
the reality that this God they profess, this God that they claim, 
is in fact the God of glory. And he presented himself, or 
he appeared to, our father Abraham. Again, this shared history. They've 
taken radically different approaches when it came to the Messiah, 
the revelation of Jesus Christ, but they share in common Abraham, 
and he appeals to them at this particular level. He is not a 
blasphemer. He is rather one who extols the 
God of heaven and earth. And in the language of one commentator, 
he says, Abraham is the topic in verses two to eight, but the 
key to Israel's history is not ultimately Abraham, but the God 
of glory. And that's what he is suggesting. 
Matthew Poole says, by this and what follows, St. Stephen would 
show that he honored the true God and thought respectfully 
of the law, the temple and the patriarchs whom he was accused 
to condemn and disgrace. So he recognizes Stephen's defense 
throughout is about defending himself in terms of those charges 
that he spoke blasphemous words against the law of Moses and 
against the temple of God. And Abraham is his first exhibit, 
exhibit A in terms of Israel's history. Now note the call of 
Abram. or Abraham in verse 2. It says that the God of glory 
appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before 
he dwelt in Haran and said to him, get out of your country 
and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you. Now, there are two calls. I believe 
God called Abraham twice. When he was in Ur of the Chaldeans, 
that's when Abraham and his father, Terah, went to the land of Haran. 
And from Haran, after the death of his father, Terah, Abraham 
is then called to go into the land of promise, the land of 
Canaan. that place that God had promised 
to give to His people. So the text here jives with what 
we read in Genesis. We need to assume, as just about 
everybody in the church ever has, and those outside the church, 
that there were two calls, one in Her of the Chaldeans, and 
then again in Herod. But then notice, with reference 
to the specifics of the call of Abram, verse 3, God said to 
him, get out of your country and from your relatives and come 
to a land that I will show you. Turn back to Genesis chapter 
12. Genesis chapter 12, where we see that call of Abraham to 
come out of the land of Mesopotamia and to enter into the promised 
land, Canaan. The first thing I would direct 
our attention to in chapter 12 at verse 1 is the now the Lord 
had said to Abram. We considered this at the Wednesday 
night Bible study and marveled at the grace of God here. We 
marveled at the grace of God because prior to this point in 
the book of Genesis, you have the fall of man. You have the 
murder of Abel by Cain. You have the flood that came 
and was designed to purge the earth of the corruption and the 
wickedness that was then on the earth. And then post-flood, what 
do you have? You have these tower builders 
at Babel trying to make a name for themselves. They're throwing 
off the very constraint of God and trying to raise up into heaven 
on their own. It's a vile and it's a foul sort 
of rebellious act against the living and the true God. And 
God easily dismisses them by confounding their lip, by giving 
them different languages. It causes them to disperse. Man 
can no longer engage in this humanistic utopian enterprise 
where he's going to bring heaven on earth. It's simply not going 
to happen. So after that act of judgment 
by God, in Genesis chapter 12 at verse 1 we read, Now the Lord 
had said to Abram. And what God says to Abram has 
in mind redemption. It has in mind the expression 
of grace. It has in mind the rest of the Bible, specifically 
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. This is amazing grace, and I 
think it's very similar to what we see in Ephesians 2, 1-4. In 
Ephesians 2, 1 to 3, you have this description of what man 
is apart from God's saving grace. He's wretched, he's vile, he's 
lifeless, he's helpless, he's hopeless, he's Christless. And 
then in verse 4 we read, But God, who is rich in mercy, because 
of the great love wherewith he loved us, he saved us by his 
grace and for his glory. I think this, now the Lord had 
said to Abram, functions in a similar capacity. This is the divine 
response to the human mess created in Genesis chapters 3 to 11. 
The call of Abram is significant. The call of Abram concerns the 
Lord Jesus Christ. The call of Abram concerns us, 
men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We're the 
nation that God said to Abram, I'm going to make out of you. 
But then notice not only grace, but the demand with the call. 
Look at what God tells Abraham in verse 1. Now notice what Abraham's 
being asked to give up. This is pretty common today, 
you know, you share the gospel with somebody, you tell them 
about Jesus, and that person says, well, do you mean that 
if I come to Jesus, I can no longer have five girlfriends? 
If I come to Jesus, I can no longer, you know, get drunk every 
weekend? If I come to Jesus, are these 
the sorts of things that I have to give up? That's the way people 
often assume Christianity is. Now, obviously, when somebody 
is converted by God's grace, they don't want to have five 
girlfriends anymore. They don't want to get drunk 
every weekend. They don't want to do the sorts of things that 
God condemns in His Word. But brethren, look at what God 
is telling Abram. Get out of your country, from 
your family, from your father's house. Remember, his father was 
an idolater. We learned that in Shechem, in 
Joshua 24, at a covenant ratification ceremony. He refers to Terah 
as having been an idolater. I would assume that Abraham was 
an idolater as well. As the father goes, so does the 
son. So Abraham is told to forsake his gods, forsake his father, 
forsake his family, forsake everything that is near and dear to you, 
and come. Again, we hear that and we say, oh wow, that's a 
lot, that's a big demand. But what's on the other side? 
What is it that we gain? What is it that we get? We get 
Jesus Christ, who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. 
Later in Genesis chapter 15, God says to Abraham, I am your 
shield, your exceedingly great reward. Brethren, we don't preach 
Christ as the one you have to give up all the stuff you really 
like so that you can come to him. We preach Christ as the 
altogether lovely, as the one who is most blessed, most glorious, 
most excellent, that one who is able to restore us to God, 
that one who brings us into heaven, that one who gives us all things 
necessary for life and salvation and blessedness. We don't preach 
Christ as something, oh, it's gonna be tedious, it's gonna 
be a real hassle, it's gonna be a real hardship in your life. 
No, people should want to give up everything for Jesus. He really 
is the pearl of great price. He really is the altogether lovely. 
He really is the chief and the darling of heaven. He is what 
heaven is all about. And so Abram is told here to 
get rid of all those things, to turn his back on everything 
near and dear to him, and to embrace the living and the true 
God. This answers to, or is consistent 
with, our Lord's words in Matthew 10. He who loves father or mother 
more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter 
more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take 
his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who finds 
his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake 
will find it. And we're not saved because we forsake. We're not 
saved because we get rid of. We are saved and then, by God's 
grace, we gladly forsake. By God's grace, we no longer 
want to be in those relationships. By God's grace, we no longer 
want the things that once allured us and captivated us. No, by 
God's grace, when we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as 
Savior, we willingly, happily follow Him. This idea out there, 
and I think it's often in the hearts of the Christian people 
as well, it's a miserable thing to follow Jesus. Really? It's 
the most blessed thing in the world. If you're not a saint 
this morning, and by saint I don't mean somebody that's really awesome. 
I mean somebody that's a believer in Jesus. If you're not a believer 
in Jesus this morning, I want you to know that he's worth everything. 
He is worth following. He is most excellent. He is most 
glorious. He is the one that is to be desired, 
more than any other thing. And that is precisely what God 
says to Abram, you need to get out. Now notice, Abram does that. Verse four tells us, so Abram 
departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. That obedience of Abraham is 
displayed there in verse 4. God said, leave everything. He 
left everything. But the apostle in the book of 
Hebrews tells us that disobedience to God was a consequence of his 
faith. Now, I want to try to make this 
very plain. You're not going to be saved 
this morning by obeying God and then gaining salvation as a reward. That's not the emphasis in the 
gospel. The gospel is not in the first 
place a command to do something, get better, reform yourself, 
don't have five girlfriends, don't have five boyfriends, don't 
have crack cocaine, don't engage in embezzlement of your company. 
That's not the good news. The good news, obviously, is 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's believe on the one who 
never had five girlfriends. who never engaged in crack cocaine, 
who didn't embezzle from his employer. He did everything according 
to the law. And this idea that if I obey, 
God will reward me with salvation, that's Roman Catholic, it's Pelagian, 
it's humanistic, but it's not the gospel. The gospel is Christ 
obeyed. And everybody, by grace looking 
to him in faith, will have everlasting life. So you see, Abram's obedience 
to leave his land comes as a result of the faith that he had in God. 
Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. 
Hebrews 11.8 says, By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to 
go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. 
And he went out not knowing where he was going. Matthew Poole says, 
Abraham had as great a love to his kindred and native country 
as others have. I like that. Poole recognizes 
patriotism. Now, I know we are citizens of 
heaven and we are simply, you know, living as colonists on 
this earth. But there's a sense where people 
do like their countries. There's a lot to like in our 
particular country. We've been blessed tremendously, 
and we ought to appreciate God in that. Persons who hail from 
America are often patriotic. Persons that hail from Britain 
are often patriotic. And Poole's argument is that 
Abram, there was everything in him to like Ur of the Chaldeans. 
There's everything in him to like Aaron. There's everything 
in him to like those sort of attachments that one forms on 
earth. So he says, Abraham had as great 
a love to his kindred and native country as others have, but he 
had greater faith, which made him yield to God's call and command 
and follow from place to place the will of God. You may not 
understand all that I'm trying to tell you, but this much I 
want you to know this morning. If you're not a believer in Jesus 
Christ, the way of salvation is not by your obedience. The 
way of salvation is by faith in Jesus. And then your obedience 
will come. It's the glory of the gospel 
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Every other system out there 
tells you, do, and then you'll be rewarded. Christianity says, 
I'm going to save you. Now go out and do. Not because 
you're earning it, not because you're gaining it, not because 
you are acquiring it through your own efforts or merits, but 
no, I've saved you freely by my grace, therefore go now and 
live in light of that salvation and do the will of God. That's 
what we see in Abraham. He believes God and then in consequence 
to that, he obeys God and follows his command to go into the land 
of Canaan. Now, going back to the book of 
Acts, we ought to appreciate, secondly, the promise made to 
Abraham. Notice in chapter 7, verse 5 
says, God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set 
his foot on, but even when Abraham had no child, he promised to 
give it to him for possession and to his descendants after 
him. The land of Canaan, Israel, this land in which you dwell, 
is the land that Stephen is talking about. And notice that he says 
Abraham got no inheritance. What does that mean? God gave 
it to him. God promised it to him. It's sort of like with David. 
Remember when David is initially anointed as the king of Israel? 
That happens in 1 Samuel chapter 16. But he doesn't actually occupy 
the throne until Saul is dead. He's given it by right, but not 
in practice. And Abraham remained a resident 
alien within the confines of Canaan. Later on in the next 
section, it's going to talk about this tomb that Abraham bought. 
So he did own a piece of property within Canaan itself. It was 
a burial ground. And he purchased it. It's a conspicuous 
transaction. He pays for it. So as far as 
Abraham is concerned, he didn't actually own the land. As far 
as Abraham is concerned, he doesn't actually have the title to it 
in terms of actuality, in terms of living in it, having his own 
mansion, having his own servants, having all that stuff. He doesn't 
have it. And this is one of the emphases of Stephen. He is highlighting. that God comes to Abram outside 
of Israel. God comes to Abram, again, within 
Israel, but it's not even the case that he owns property in 
that particular land. And then notice what Stephen 
goes on to highlight. He speaks of this lack of inheritance, 
and then he speaks of this possession given to his descendants. This 
is incredible. Verse 5, God gave him no inheritance 
in it, not even enough to set foot on, but even when Abraham 
had no child, he promised to give it to him for possession 
and to his descendants after him. So we have, in this particular 
instance, this lack of inheritance, but this promise that this land 
would be occupied by his descendants. Now, I often assume that everybody's 
read these narratives, they understand what's happening in Genesis, 
but remember, Abraham didn't have a son at this particular 
point. Imagine if you, 18 years old, your parents said, OK, I'm 
going to give you this for you and the many descendants that 
you're going to have. You'd probably kind of raise 
your eyebrow and say, well, I'm not sure. How do you know that 
I'm going to have this number of descendants? How do you know 
that I'm going to be that? procreatively active. How do 
you know that I'm going to do that part in terms of, you know, 
being fruitful and multiply? How do you know these things? 
Well, your parents ultimately don't know. They might have wishful 
thinking, hopeful thinking, whatever the case. But when God tells 
Abraham, you're going to have a great number of descendants, 
Abraham always operates in trusting God. But nevertheless, there 
are these challenges to his faith along the way. Just before that 
call narrative in Genesis chapter 12, we read that Sarah, his wife, 
is barren. And now God is saying, I'm going 
to give you this land, and your descendants are going to fill 
this land. Abraham is asked to believe God in some things that 
aren't always the easiest to believe. We often look at the 
trial of Abraham in Genesis chapter 22. That's when God tells him 
to take Isaac, his son, his only son, the son that he loves, up 
to Mount Moriah and offer him up as a sacrifice to God. We 
see that as a test to Abraham's faith. The very outset of Abraham's 
call is a test to Abraham's faith. You're going to inherit this 
land, but you're not going to have it. You're going to have 
all these descendants, but you're barren at this particular juncture. 
You're going to have all these good things, Abraham, but the 
physical eye isn't able to see it. Do you see what it said in 
Hebrews chapter 11? He didn't even know where he 
was going. Now, God doesn't typically do 
that sort of a call for us. We are called to come to Christ, 
to believe on Him, and to have everlasting life. God doesn't 
typically say, well, if you're a Canadian, you need to move. 
You need to get out of your country. If you're somebody that likes 
land, you need to forsake your home. If you're somebody that 
wants a bunch of descendants, you just need to believe that 
I'm going to get These are hard demands that are placed upon 
Abraham. And I don't know that we always reconcile with that. 
We come into this new covenant setting and we say, boy, I can't 
believe I'm having these trials. I can't believe I'm having these 
difficulties. I can't believe I'm having these challenges to 
my faith. The challenge of not knowing where he was going. That's 
a big thing, isn't it? Sometimes in our own lives. I 
don't want to moralize. I don't want to psychologize. I don't 
want to get all psychoanalytic on us. But there is that sense, 
right? There's that unknown that sort 
of freaks us out a little bit. We've got to make a step in our 
lives. We've got to do something that's out of the ordinary. We've 
got to leave a place, perhaps, of security that we've known 
and loved. And we've got to venture out in faith. We just think, 
wow, this is very tough. Yeah, it is tough. And it was 
tough for Abraham as well. But as well, this reality that 
I'm going to take you to this land, but you're really going 
to just live as a resident alien there. That's got to be tough 
as well, right? You receive this promise that 
this land is being given to you and your descendants, but for 
you, Abraham, you really can't get too tied down to it. It's 
kind of like Moses. Moses got to go up to Pisgah, 
and he got to see the promised land, but Moses never entered 
into the promised land. I mean, that's the mysterious 
ways of God Almighty, isn't it? Moses, that man who led this 
rabble out of Egypt, now it was God ultimately, the power in 
the exodus, but Moses was the second cause, the human agency, 
the intermediary that had to deal with the whining and the 
grumbling and the complaining, and he didn't even get to enter 
the land. Sometimes, brethren, as Christians, life doesn't always 
work out the way that you and I want it to. And what do we 
do? We whine, we grumble, we complain. 
We never comfort ourselves with Chapter 5 of our Second London 
Confession of Faith. It says, everything falls out 
according to the will of God for the good of His people. We 
cite Romans 8.28 when a brother or sister is going through some 
hardships and trials, and we like to pontificate and tell 
them, you know, God's going to work this out for good in your 
life. And yet when bad things happen to us six months later, 
it seems we've forgotten Romans 8.28. Brethren, if you want to 
ever be encouraged about the life of faith and the trials 
and the challenges and the difficulties, Abraham is your man. It's not 
just Genesis chapter 22 that's a challenge to his faith. It 
is every step of the way. Every step of the way. He receives 
this land according to Genesis 12, 1 to 9. What's the next thing 
we read in verse 10 in Genesis 12? There's a famine in the land, 
so he has to go to Egypt. And then you go to Egypt with 
Abraham and you'll see that he's not perfect. I'm not saying we 
should be encouraged by that, but we should be encouraged by 
that. He's not a perfect man. It's not the case that to come 
to Jesus Christ means you're going to be perfect. That has 
never happened in the history of the church. No one's ever 
come to Jesus Christ and become perfect. Abraham struggled. Abraham had trial. Abraham didn't 
always respond positively. When he gets into Egypt, he tells 
his beloved bride, tell them you're my sister so they don't 
kill me. What are you doing, Abraham? 
You're compromising your beloved bride. Don't do that. You see, 
brethren, the life of faith isn't one of bluebirds and rose petals. It's not a Disney movie. It's 
not a fairy tale. It's not a singing our way into 
the heavenly Jerusalem. It is marked by trial and hardship 
and difficulty and affliction. But the reality of the scripture 
is, is that God is to be trusted even in the midst of it, like 
Abraham. Don't claim to be of Abraham 
and be a whiner when it comes to affliction. Don't claim to 
be of Abraham and then be a sniveler and a complainer when it comes 
to affliction. Man up. My wife likes to say, 
put on your big boy pants or your big girl pants and deal. This is a tough world. In this world, you will have 
tribulation. The master promised, but be of 
good cheer. I've overcome the world. If you're 
not a believer here, you might think, man, this guy's not making 
a very good case as to why I should come to Jesus. He's really making 
it the thought of coming to Jesus? Come on! As I said earlier, there's 
nothing better. There's nothing more glorious. 
There's nothing more wondrous than to be able to say with David 
in the 23rd Psalm, yea, though I walk through the valley of 
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with 
me. You ever consider what a confession 
or what a testimony of David's faith that is? I will walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death. I'm not gonna get mired down 
in there. I'm not gonna live in there forever. But the confidence 
that he has is in the reality that Christ is with him. Your 
rod, your staff, they comfort me. That's what the Christian 
has. That's what Abraham had. And 
that's why he is the father of the faithful. He had the challenge 
of a barren way. If you can have a great number 
of descendants, My wife is old. My wife is barren. And you know 
the narrative, 199. They weren't spring chickens 
when Isaac came along. There was all these times along 
the way. What does Moses or Abraham says? He says, can it be Ishmael? 
Can he be the son of promise? And God said, no, you're going 
to have an Isaac. He didn't tell him the name before, 
but that was the emphasis. And back to our text, the challenge 
in the land. He's given this land, and as 
we're working our way through that section in Genesis right 
now, what happens? There's famine, chapter 12, verse 
10. He goes back to the land in chapter 
13, and what happens? Lot's men and Abraham's men are 
starting to fight and argue because there's not enough land to sustain 
their livestock. And so Abraham, the conciliatory, 
Abraham, the wise, Abraham, the older, Abraham, the more Christ-like 
figure, says to Lot, you go ahead and pick whatever it is. If you 
go left, I'll go right. You go right, I'll go left. He 
gives him that blessed opportunity. Lot, of course, chooses the most 
lush in terms of the lay of the land, but it's also filled with 
wicked people. And then in chapter 14, Lot gets 
abducted. Lot gets a capture. And what happens? Abraham has 
to go after him and liberate him. In other words, when he 
gets to the land, it's not like you can just put your feet up 
and relax. Every step of the way was a challenge 
in Abraham's life. And he's our example here in 
Acts chapter 7. Notice, with reference to the 
promise of land and descendants, 5b, he promised to give it to 
him, that's the land, and to his descendants after him. Abraham 
had no child at that particular time, but God's promise to him 
was that he would have a lot of children, a great multitude. 
And I won't sort of replicate the material from Wednesday night, 
but if you look at the narratives concerning Abraham, several times 
along the way, God promises him land. Several times along the 
way, God promises him descendants. And God uses metaphor to tell 
him how many his descendants will be. It will be like the 
dust. It's a lot of descendants. He 
tells them it'll be like the stars of the heavens. It's a 
lot of descendants. He tells them it's going to be 
like the sand on the seashore. That's a lot of descendants. 
It's a lot of emphases by God concerning this land and concerning 
the amount of descendants that you're going to have. And again, 
along the way, there were those times where Abraham questioned. 
There were those times when Abraham said, you know what? I just don't 
know that this is going to happen. It's a time where Sarai actually 
laughs about it. There's no way. Shall I find 
pleasure in my old age, Sarai says? Is this really going to 
happen for us? So while they believed, they 
still had those struggles. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 
4 that Abraham, contrary to hope, in hope believed the promises 
of God. It's truly an amazing story concerning 
this father of the faithful. But notice as well what Stephen 
announces, and this owing to the particular point in his defense. Notice in verses 6 and 7, Stephen 
says, "...but God spoke in this way, that his descendants would 
dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into 
bondage and oppress them for a hundred years." That is the 
reference to the exile. This is Genesis chapter 15. It's 
another place where God makes these land promises and seed 
promises to Abraham. And he also tells Abraham that 
there's going to be a time in the future of your posterity 
where they're going to go into a foreign land. They're going 
to be in exile. They're going to go to Egypt. 
There's this promise of restoration from Egypt. So what God is doing 
with reference to Abraham is announcing to him the future 
of his people. And that's the emphasis that 
Stephen draws out now so that he can illustrate something in 
service of his defense. Notice in verse 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. They shall come out and serve 
me in this place. This is a reference to Genesis 
15, 14. This reference to, they shall serve me in this place, 
is Exodus 3, 12. In Exodus 3, 12, we read, so 
he said, I will certainly be with you, and this shall be a 
sign to you that I have sent you. This is Moses. When you 
have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on 
this mountain. Now, with Stephen, he says, instead 
of this mountain, he says this place. What's the point in Stephen's 
defense here? The point is simply this. God 
appeared to Abraham outside of the land, outside of the temple. 
He's not confined to land. He's not confined to temple. 
But as well, God's purpose with reference to the Exodus was this 
place. this land that you now occupy, 
and this temple. These aren't bad things. Stephen 
is not anti-temple. Stephen is not anti-Moses. Stephen 
is not anti-law. Stephen says, however, that the 
way they've approached the temple is sin. They have turned it into 
an idol. But in the program of God, this 
place was always the purpose for God to meet with his people. 
But when his people reject him, you cannot suggest that somehow 
the temple by itself is magic. And you also have to consider 
something in terms of the exodus. Again, I'm assuming that you 
know what that means. The exodus is that grand deliverance of 
the people of God out of Egypt into the promised land. They 
go into bondage the way God says in Genesis 15. They go into Egypt. They're there for a period of 
400, 430 years. And then God uses Moses to bring 
them out and to bring them back into the land of Canaan. Why? 
For worship. Something I don't think we value 
as we ought, but this is the purpose. Why the Exodus? So that the people of God can 
worship the God that has redeemed them. Have you ever looked at 
the book of Exodus and thought, boy, the longest part deals with 
the building of the tabernacle. You've got demand, or rather 
you've got deliverance initially, you've got from Exodus 1 to about 
19, you've got the deliverance from the land of Egypt. And then 
you have demand from chapters 20 to 24. That's God's word on 
how they're supposed to function now that they've been liberated 
from Egypt and they've come back into the land of promise. But 
then from 25 to 40, you get this detailed legislation on how to 
build the tabernacle. Now, most New Covenant Christians 
read that and they raise their eyebrows and say, boy, oh boy, 
this is boring, learning about the construction of this tabernacle. 
Boy, oh boy, I'd rather watch a home show and see the construction 
of some mansion on a lake. Somehow that's okay, but not 
this detailed instruction concerning the tabernacle. But what is the 
emphasis in the passage suggesting? It's all about worship. It's 
all about adoration. It's all about praise. Yeah, 
God vindicated, God liberated, God delivered. And in response 
to that, the people of God obey chapters 20 to 24. But in response 
to that, they express the gratitude revealed in their worship. In 
other words, this whole thing occurs such that God brings them 
out of Egypt back into the land of Canaan so that they can be 
His people and He will be their God and they can worship Him. 
Again, I think this serves Stephen's point in terms of his defense. 
It's where God or what God had purpose with reference to the 
nation of Israel. Now that the nation of Israel 
had sacrificed that, had rejected that, had refused the one to 
whom the temple appointed, even the Lord Jesus Christ, don't 
hold on to this earthly temple thinking that somehow this is 
what it's all about. So this is Stephen's point here 
with reference to the whole exodus, worship. Now, I wouldn't ask 
anybody to do this, but I would like to know, you to ask yourself, 
have you ever read through those latter parts of the book of Exodus 
and felt it a bit tedious? Or the first part of the book 
of Leviticus? I think I've shared before, I saw in a catalog once, 
somebody actually wrote a book, how to make it through the boring 
parts of the Bible. Who would go into print with 
a title like that? It just seems completely insane 
to me. how to get through the boring parts of the Bible. What 
a terrible thing to say. What a horrible thing to say. 
But perhaps in the hearts of God's people, there might be 
a, well, how do you? How do we make it through 1 Chronicles 
1-9? How do we make it through those 
laws of sacrifice in Leviticus 1-9? How do we make it in Exodus 
25-40 in terms of this detailed description of the tabernacle, 
and the furnishings, and the holy of holies, and the holy 
place, and all these sorts of things? The emphasis there, brethren, 
is on worship. This is God's point in liberating 
you from the bondage of Egypt. It's so that you'll worship Him. 
It's so that you'll praise Him. It's so that you'll honor Him. 
It's so that you'll glorify Him. This is what Peter says, that 
God calls us out of darkness into marvelous light to do what? 
To proclaim His excellencies. What's Paul's point after summarizing 
and expounding and explaining the Christian gospel in Romans 
chapters 1 to 11? With chapter 12, he says, therefore, 
my beloved brethren, by the mercies of God, I beseech you, I beseech 
you to worship God, to present your lives as living sacrifices, 
which is your acceptable or rational or reasonable service unto God. 
The grand purpose behind the Exodus was not to show us for 
subsequent ages how slaves should deal with their masters. It's 
rather to show us how God liberated his people so they could come 
into the land of promise and bow before him in worship. And then notice finally this 
reference to the covenant of circumcision. Stephen here is 
saying, I don't have a problem. with the law of Moses. I don't 
have a problem with the law of Moses because it's the law of 
Moses that enshrouded this covenant of circumcision that was given 
to our father Abraham. You see, Stephen knows where 
these things point. Stephen knows where these things 
go. The Jews in his audience did not. They saw the temple 
as the end in itself. They saw circumcision as the 
end in itself. They saw these things as the 
badge of their identity. Stephen said, no, these were 
for a time, until the time of Reformation, the coming of the 
Lord Jesus. These things pointed to him. 
Now that he's here, we don't have need for those things. So 
he is defending his case with reference to these charges. But 
in terms of this covenant with Abraham, notice in verse 8, it 
says, Now there's a lot, obviously, that can be said about this covenant 
of circumcision in Genesis 17. And the Lord willing, we'll say 
that when we get there on our Wednesday night Bible studies. But I just wanted to direct your 
thoughts to two particular instances of covenant with Abraham. Now, 
there's this covenant in verse 8 that refers to Genesis 17. 
It's called the covenant of circumcision. The parties involved in the covenant, 
God and Abraham. And then, of course, Abraham's 
descendants. The particular promises with reference to that covenant, 
land and seed. Land, seed, blessing. Stipulations 
connected to that covenant or conditions, you have to be circumcised. All the males that are born in 
Israel have to go through that particular rite. This wasn't 
something only done in Israel. This was done among peoples of 
the ancient Near Eastern world, but it has religious significance 
with reference to babies in Israel. But then there's this sanction 
or threat. Anybody who does not get circumcised 
in the flesh is going to be cut off. In other words, he's not 
part of the covenant people because he didn't subscribe to the covenant 
condition. It's difficult to maintain that 
the Abrahamic covenant is the covenant of grace. No, it isn't. The Abrahamic covenant operates 
at two particular levels. Again, when we get there in our 
studies on Wednesday night, I hope to clarify. But there's this 
other covenant that we see. If I would have turned you to 
Genesis 15, I did it because of the sake of time. But in Genesis 
15, that's where God says that they're going to go into Egypt, 
they're going to be oppressed, they're going to go into this foreign 
land, but ultimately they're going to return. That's in the 
context of a covenant God made with Abraham. And in the context, 
Abraham questions God. Abraham says to God, how do I 
know that the things you are saying are going to come true? 
Notice what God doesn't do. How dare you, Abraham, to ask 
me, the living and true God, something like that? Get out! 
He doesn't do that. He doesn't do that for a moment. 
I'm not suggesting, like some of the psychologists and some 
of the weird Christian preachers, get mad with God, get angry with 
God, ask all your... No, don't do that. Don't do that. God is in the heavens and he 
does whatever he pleases. Our task is to be humble before 
him. Our task is to be reverent toward 
him. Our task is to honor and glorify 
him. But in terms of this historical 
redemptive condition or situation, Abraham hears the promises of 
God yet again and he says, how do I know this is going to happen? 
So what does God do? He answers by covenant. Not the 
covenant of circumcision, but again, something that he does 
in Genesis 15 that's truly remarkable. Basically, what happens in the 
covenant ceremony that you see there in Genesis chapter 15 is 
that you gather up a whole bunch of animals. And when you gather 
up those whole bunch of animals, you cut them in half. And then 
you take the halves of the animals and you put them on either side. 
So you'd have the cow head here and you'd have the cow rear end 
over here. And you line them up and the parties to the covenant 
walk through the pieces together. Now, the significance behind 
this is that when they get to the end, it is testified by their 
action that if one of us renege on our covenantal obligations, 
then what happened to these animals, may it happen to us. Does that 
make sense? It's kind of like signing the 
dotted line. If you don't make the payment, we're going to take 
the car. You don't make the payment, you 
default on the loan. There's a condition attached, 
right? There's a penalty involved. And so when these two parties 
in the covenant walked between the pieces of animals, it was 
a tacit admission that if I fail on my side to hold up my part 
of the covenant, then may I be cut in half the way these animals 
were. John Gill explains it. It being 
usual, this is why the language in the covenants Very often, 
how does the Old Testament tell us you make a covenant? You cut 
a covenant. You cut a covenant. And probably 
behind that is this ceremony. He said, it being usual in making 
covenants for the covenanters to pass between the parts of 
a creature slain, signifying that should they break the covenant 
made, they deserve to be cut asunder as that creature was. Now, the very interesting thing 
about this, Maybe you're saying, boy, that's pretty interesting. 
I didn't know that. I never knew that. It's always nice to learn 
something new, isn't it? But the really amazing thing 
about that particular ceremony in Genesis chapter 15 is that 
only one party passed through, and it wasn't Abraham. It was 
God. You see what God does? God takes 
upon himself the obligations for covenant keeping, not only 
on his part, but on our part. This is the significance of Galatians 
3.13. Christ became a curse for us. We couldn't fulfill the obligations. 
We couldn't comply with the law. We couldn't render perfect obedience. So Christ as our surety, Christ 
as our substitute, Christ as our sacrifice stands in our place. He takes the punishment and the 
penalties affixed to covenant breaking upon himself. It really 
is an amazing testimony concerning how gracious and how glorious 
our God is. In the ratification ceremony 
with Abraham, Genesis 15, 17 says, And it came to pass, when 
the sun went down, and it was dark, that, behold, there appeared 
a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those 
pieces. That was an emblem of the divine 
presence. That was an emblem of God Most 
High. That was an emblem of the reality 
that the promise made to Abraham was sure, not because of Abraham, 
but because of God. So in conclusion, I think that 
this defense or this section on Abraham serves Stephen's defense 
by highlighting that he is not anti-temple. He recognizes that 
God is not confined to temple or to land, but rather he appeared 
to Abraham in the land of Mesopotamia. As well, he's not anti-law. He's 
not anti-Moses. He recognizes the lawful place 
of circumcision as having been given to Abraham. But he realizes 
that with both circumcision and temple, they have a terminus, 
they have a telos, they have a purpose, and it's Jesus Christ. And now that Jesus Christ has 
come, it's not Stephen who is inconsistent with the prophetic 
word before him, but it's these religious leaders. It's the Sanhedrin. It's these lawless men that are 
in concert with the fathers who murdered the prophets before 
them. It's a masterful defense that 
Stephen launches using their own shared history to show how 
it inevitably led to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that Stephen, 
following Christ, was following Abraham. Stephen, following Christ, 
was following the patriarchs. Stephen, following Christ, was 
following Moses and David and Solomon. He was following all 
that they said that they held near and dear. He's showing them, 
it's not me that's got the problem, it's you that's got the problem. 
Secondly, we ought to appreciate the grace of God in the call 
of Abraham. It is the divine response to 
the human tragedy of Genesis 1 to 11. What's Mandu left to 
himself? He builds towers, trying to make 
a name for himself, trying to climb up into the very heavens 
if he can. He finds that camaraderie among men in rebellion against 
God. You see, in Genesis chapter 11 
is the socialistic dream and the humanistic dream that's being 
preached to us in politics today. There's no way man will develop 
utopia on earth because man is sinful, man is wretched, man 
is in rebellion against the living and true God. Do you realize 
all it took for God to stop this rebellion was to confound their 
language, to confuse their lip? to strike them in that particular 
vantage point, and that caused the dispersal? You see, brethren, 
God in grace calls Abraham. God in grace calls sinners out 
of darkness into marvelous light. We need to appreciate thirdly 
the faith of Abraham. I think I've, you know, touched 
on that in several places, but I just want to bring it home 
one more time. He had faith. It wasn't obedience that brought 
him to heaven. It was faith. And it wasn't faith in some nebulous, 
undefined Messiah in the future. What's Jesus say to the Jews 
in John chapter 8? He says, Abraham rejoiced to 
see what? To see my day. And he saw it 
and he rejoiced. You say, well, how did Abraham 
know that? Well, Genesis 3.15 announced 
a seed that would crush the serpent. Genesis 22, Abraham learned about 
substitutionary atonement, didn't he? He was told to take Isaac, 
your son, the only son of your love, take him up to Moriah and 
sacrifice him. Isaac's a pretty sharp kid, probably 
a late teenager. And Isaac says, we have the wood, 
we have the fire, but we don't have the sacrifice, dad. And 
what does Abraham say? He says, the Lord will provide. 
See, Abraham knew more than we give him credit for. Abraham 
had the promises of God, and Abraham held to those promises 
of God. And such, when Abraham is going 
to bury the knife in the sun, the son of his love, his only 
son, the angel of the Lord stops him. And then they turn around, 
and what do they see? They see a ram caught in the 
thicket. There's your substitution. There's your pointer to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. You see, it wasn't nebulous. It wasn't undefined. 
Stephen I think in essence is saying the very one that Abraham 
announced on that trip to Mount Moriah is the one that you crucified, 
the one that you betrayed, the one that by lawless hands you 
murdered. Stephen knows their history a 
thousand times better than they know it and Stephen is proving 
his point with his referencing Abraham. And then finally, if 
you're not a believer here this morning, a lot of this may have 
confused you. If you have questions, and you want to email, you want 
to call, you want to text, you want to set up a time to talk 
about these sorts of things, I'm happy and willing to do that. I'm happy to meet with you afterward, 
because there's nothing more important than this question. 
How do I come to know Abraham's God? How do I come to know this 
God that this man Stephen is preaching in Acts 7? How do I 
go from the place of guilty, vile, helpless? How do I go from 
the place of rightly being liable to the judgment and the wrath 
and the condemnation and curse of God? How do I go? How do I move? How do I get or 
escape this horrible condition? It's by grace through faith in 
Christ. So when Abraham is told, seed, it ultimately hinges upon 
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's because 
of Christ. And the various descendants that 
Abraham's gonna have, yeah, there'll be a lot to people Israel, there'd 
be a lot to live in that promised land of Canaan, but he's really 
speaking about what we sang in that hymn just prior to the sermon. 
We're Abraham's seed. We're the people of God. We're 
heaven-bound, not because of our goodness, not because of 
our righteousness, but because of the God of Abraham, who sent 
his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to do what you and I could never 
do. And the gospel says, believe on him and you shall be saved. 
Again, if you want to talk, call, write, text, carry your pigeon, 
fax, do whatever, let's communicate the glorious truth of gospel 
grace. Because apart from it, you will 
suffer the very wrath and fury and judgment of God Almighty. 
These Jews knew that. They understood the implications 
of Stephen's sermon. That's why, at the end, they 
stop their ears, they gnash them with the teeth, and they drive 
him out of the city, and they kill him. Because they couldn't 
get to God, they are going to take care of Stephen, his servant. 
This is the reality that you and I face. There is a heaven, 
there is a hell, and the only way to heaven is through the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you so very much for this section in the book of Acts. 
We thank you for the book of Genesis and what it tells us. 
Yes, about Abraham, but even more importantly about the God 
of glory. We ask, Father, that you would help us to see these 
things, to see how these old covenant shadows and types pointed 
forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that in Him all the promises 
of God are yea and amen. We thank you for that. We thank 
you for salvation, for redemption. We thank you for the forgiveness 
of sins. And our desire is that a multitude of others would come 
today to confess Him as Lord and Savior. And we pray this 
in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's take our Trinity 
hymnals and close our service by singing the doxology. You 
can find it on.