You can turn in your Bibles to Acts 7 again. We finished off reading to verse 43. We'll pick up reading at verse 44 of chapter 7. Acts 7, verse 44, the word of the living and true God.
Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness as he appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David, who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him a house. However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool.
What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these things? You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit.
As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the Law by the direction of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at Him with their teeth.
But He, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus, standing at the right hand of God, and said, Look, I see the heavens opened. and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his death.
At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.
Therefore, those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Amen. Well, let us again pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in this text of scripture.
We rejoice in that promise being fulfilled, that Christ would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. We do pray that you would help us now as we consider the martyrdom of Stephen. We pray that you would bless us in this exercise, both preacher and hearer, that we might be the better for having gathered, and that we might learn well from our God and from Your Word. We might leave this place instructed in the truth and living to go forth and to live in light of the gospel of saving grace.
So be with us now, Father. Might all that is done be done to Your glory. And we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, this morning and this evening, we're going to look at this passage. I know it is the Lord's Supper this evening, So this morning our consideration will be the Stephen of Christ, and this evening the consideration will be the Christ of Stephen. So we remember tonight the Lord Jesus Christ, and we remember him with regards to the Lord's Supper. No doubt there is much of our Christ in this passage to avail of that we might fill our minds, that we might have a burning remembrance of our Savior.
But this morning we want to look at the Stephen of Christ. Who is this Stephen? What is he marked by? What are his characteristics?
What can we glean? What can we gain by a consideration of this, the first martyr of Christianity? Just first off, by way of introduction, what is the Book of Acts? What is the book of Acts?
We're parachuting into Acts 6 and 7, but what is this book? We could say that this book of Acts is the narrative record of the fulfillment of Christ's promise in Matthew's gospel, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Acts is the narrative record of that being fleshed out in time and in history, following our Savior's death, His resurrection and His ascension, we have this record of that promise being brought to fruition. We have in Acts 1.8, for example, this language of Christ Himself that serves as an outline for the entire book.
In Acts 1, in verse 8, we read this, beginning in verse 7, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And so the book follows that again as a narrative record of Christ building his church in power and in great victory. This Acts 6 and 7 passage, we could call it the Stephen Pericope.
Perhaps you've heard that word before. It's not pericope. It's not periscope with the S taken out. Pericope.
It simply means a section of a book. In the studies of the scriptures, it means a self-contained portion of text. And here, you see, in the book of Acts, we have largely the story of Christ building his church through Peter and then through Paul. But we have this Stephen Pericope joining together almost those two sections where there is an account of this Stephen, and what is this Stephen pericope designed to do?
We may say it is designed to show that Christianity is of God. That is the design behind the Stephen pericope, to show that Christianity is of God. If you back up to Acts 5, verse 38 and verse 39, This is the section that precedes the Stephen Pericope. Notice what we have there in Acts 5 at verse 38.
Remember, this is Gamaliel and his advice to the gathered council. Notice what we read in Acts 5, 38. And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing.
But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God. So we come to the Stephen Pericope, and that's its design, to show that this is not of men, this is of God. Because what do we see in Acts 8, following the stoning of Stephen? Verse 4 of Acts 8, went everywhere preaching the word.
You see, if this movement, this way, this Christianity was of men, then it would have been brought to nothing. The stoning of Stephen could have been the punctuated end of Christianity, but you see, it was of God. And so this stoning of Stephen, rather than bringing an end to Christianity, rather is something owned and blessed by God for its advancement. And that's what the Stephen pericope is designed to do, to show that Christianity is of God.
Here, in the account of Stephen, we have the fulfillment of Christ's prophecy in Matthew 23. I will send you scribes, prophets, wise men. Some of them you will scourge, some of them you will crucify, some of them you will persecute from city to city, so that on you all the blood, righteous blood shed on the earth, will be vindicated. We have this reality brought forth.
Stephen is, as much as he is the fulfillment of Christ's words to build his church, he is also the fulfillment of that reality that Christ would send prophets into the world to speak concerning the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Well, we want to look at the Stephen of Christ under three headings and three subheadings in each. If we can follow this and if the preacher is able to handle his time well, we're going to look at these three things. Those three things are his constitution as a Christian, his characteristics as a preacher, and his Christ-likeness as a martyr.
Constitution as a Christian
So first, his constitution as a Christian. In examining the Stephen of Christ from this passage, we want to look at his constitution as a Christian, And for that, let's move back to Acts 6 and notice, firstly, under his constitution as a Christian, he was full of faith and power.
Full of Faith and Power
Notice Acts 6 and verse 8. This pericope, if you will, begins especially here by noting that Stephen was full of faith and power and did great wonders and signs among the people. His first characteristic as a Christian is that he was full of faith and power. Just for a moment, we need to understand that there are differences here between Stephen and us.
Stephen was full of faith and power. That's not to mean that we are not full of faith and power, but there is a special... Stephen finds himself in a special place in redemptive history where God was using a spirit wrought wonders and signs among the people in order to confirm and attest to the validity of Christ and His Gospel. We have that at the end of Mark's Gospel, noting that these signs and these miracles and these wonders are such that attest to the validity of the Christian message.
We, on this side of a finished canon, are not blessed with such spirit-wrought signs and miracles and wonders. Those former ways of God revealing His will unto His Church now being ceased, our Confession says. But you see, we do have similarities here. characteristic as a Christian being marked by full of faith and power. That's true of each and every one of you if you profess the name of Christ.
You're full of faith and power. Now, you might not be equipped to do wonders and signs and healings and miracles among the people. In fact, you won't be. But nevertheless, every Christian, from the beginning of Christianity, from the first believer after the fall to the last believer when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again, will be full of faith and power.
We will be full of the reality that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we rest upon the promises of God. Stephen peculiarly here, when it talks about full of faith, now other manuscripts will have full of grace, but what we have here is the reality of what is previously brought out in his description in verse 5, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Stephen, peculiarly here, is strong in belief in Christ, his understanding of the truth, and in the understanding of the certain promises of persecution for the people of God. He is resigned to that fact, and I believe we see that at the end of this account in Act 7, where he calmly and in great peace says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
He was resigned unto the reality of persecution, evidenced again by the fact that he doesn't answer the blasphemies and the false witnesses by a defense of himself, but rather by a glorious opening up of the gospel of Jesus Christ as fulfilled through the life and times of the people, places and things of Old Covenant religion. We are like Stephen, though, brethren, to be full of faith in this regard, in a strong belief in Christ. Are you full of faith? Do you believe in Christ?
There is the simplicity of the gospel summons, which is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Do you believe? Do you believe in the Savior? Can you say with Peter, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God?
Can you say with Peter, thou hast the words of everlasting life? Can you say with every one of the believing saints in the holy scriptures, I believe on this blessed one who came and who died? rose again and ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. I'm a follower of the Lamb. We are to be full and strong in the belief in our Christ and in the understanding of his truth.
How is this the case? We are given faith as a gift from God. And what are we to do subsequently, but by the aid of the Holy Spirit, seek to nurture and to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord. How can we do that?
Do we need to buy a book, 37 and a half ways of growing in the faith and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus, the Lord? No, we don't. We come to the scriptures and we see means ordained by God whereby we can grow in the grace and in the knowledge of God. There is no special formula.
There is no special book, save for the Bible. There is nothing that we need to do to avail of in any sort of mystical or involved way other than what our confession simply summarizes from the biblical witness, the grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the spirit of Christ in their hearts and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word, by which also and by the administration of baptism in the Lord's supper, prayer, In other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened. Stephen was one called from among his brethren, recognized as one full of faith and power. That means he was one who attended to the means that God ordained to grow in his faith, to be nurtured in his walk with the living and true Savior.
And so we, brethren, are, like Stephen, full of faith and power at this particular point, that we've been saved by God and we've been brought to a place of belief and trust in the everlasting God of heaven and earth. What do we see here peculiarly with regards to Stephen at the point of full of power? Gil notes this with regards to what it means for him to be full of grace and power. He was full of power to preach the gospel. and teach it to the people, which He did with authority, to defend it and oppose the adversaries of it, to bear reproach and indignities for it, and even death itself, and to do miraculous works for the confirmation of it." You see, I think we narrowly define power and full of the Spirit when we come to the Scriptures and say that it only pertains to the doing of signs and wonders and miracles.
What do we have with regards to Stephen being full of faith and power? Well, in the pericope, it's specifically these things that preceded the miracles and the works and the confirmation of it, with authority preaching the gospel, defending it, and opposing adversaries. Brethren, while we may not be Stephen, we nevertheless have been given the wisdom and the power from God in order to defend the truth of Christianity, haven't we? We might.
We are not going to, you know, raise the dead. We are not going to heal with our hands or with our shadow or with a touch of our garment, the infirm. We are not going to speak in tongues and prophesy and have words of knowledge from God. But brethren, we have the power from on high to vigorously defend the truth of Christianity against those who oppose with a calmness and a zeal of Stephen to say, listen, and then to preach the glorious gospel of the blessed God, and if need be, to indict those who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in their heart and ears, who always resist the Holy Spirit, never bending a knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Brethren, we might not be Stephen in that sense of power, but we are Stephens in this, that we have faith, that we have belief in the Savior, and that we have the wisdom and power to defend our blessed Christ and the truth. would to God that every saint, not just theologians, not just pastors, but every saint, would take the charge to know the scriptures, to know our Christ, to know truth, to hold it tight, and to speak it well. He was full of faith and power. Brethren, this is something that the Apostle Paul prays for, for the Ephesian Christians. Turn there now, just before we move on to the next point, turn to Ephesians 1, because faith and power Belief, strength of belief and understanding of the truth and power in the Holy Spirit.
Is what the Apostle Paul prays for in Ephesians one notice at verse 15, therefore, I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints do not cease to give thanks for you. making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. You see, Paul prays that the Ephesian Christians would have faith and understanding and power from on high. You see, we talked about this a little bit this morning. You see, these Ephesians were once worshipers of Diana.
They were once such who would go to their magic books and their scrolls of incantations in order to try and gain power. But you see, having been saved by such a God, by amazing grace, through the working of Christ in the Spirit, they've now been brought to a place where they go to the only one who can dispense power and faith to people, the triune God of heaven and earth. And so Paul prays that they would receive faith and power.
Spirit-Wrought Wisdom
Finding our way then back to Acts 6 and 7, notice secondly under his constitution as a Christian, he had a spirit-wrought and spirit-empowered wisdom. In Acts 6, what do we read in verse 10 with regards to this counsel that was brought before Stephen? Verse 10 says, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Isn't this a wonderful, a wonderful text that speaks to the strength of our apologist Stephen, the strength of our great Christian defender Stephen, the strength of this blessed martyr Stephen.
They could not resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spoke. The opponents of Stephen could not answer his reasoned arguments, which arguments came from the scriptures. Make no mistake, when we read here, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke, that wisdom and that spirit is found here, in that he exegeted the Old Testament scriptures in order to argue with perfect truth that Christ was the glorious intended terminus of all that came before him. The people, the places, the ceremonies, the articles of Old Covenant religion, the temple, the tabernacle, the temple, all of these things were Christ-ward in their trajectory.
And so Stephen was arguing from their Old Testament scriptures, from his Old Testament scriptures, and saying that this Christ was promised. This one whom you rejected. This one whom you betrayed and murdered by hanging on a tree. He was the one that all these things pointed forward to.
The opponents of Stephen, the Sanhedrin, the Synagogue of the Freedmen, this council could not answer his reasoned arguments, which arguments came from the Holy Scriptures. Brethren, this brings us to an application that we are to know our Scriptures. We're to know the Scriptures. We're to be Stephens in this regard.
We are to know the scriptures. We're to have such a measure of wisdom and presence of the spirit that while people may reject the arguments, they have no reasoned ground wherewith to argue with any validity because we have the spirit of God and the word of truth. And we bring arguments that cannot be refuted. The scripture, our only guide for faith in life, the truth from on high, the infallible, inerrant, inspired word. is that which Stephen used and is that those arguments that flowed from that could not be refuted, could not be answered by the enemies of truth.
God Was With Him
Thirdly, his constitution as a Christian is seen in that his God was with him. Notice verse 15. Backing up to verse 13, they also set up false witnesses who said this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.
And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. His God was with him. What does this mean, they saw his face as the face of an angel? It means that he had the divine, supernatural confirmation that he was under divine favor, and the council was most certainly not.
It's like Moses when he came down from Mount Sinai. When Christ came back from the Mount of Transfiguration, there was a supernatural glow. I'm not saying all three are the same, but there is a similarity we can glean here. God was with all of these.
And we have here the confirmation that Stephen's arguments are right. Stephen is right, and the council is wrong. You see, these false witnesses were brought against him, and they weren't false witnesses in the sense that what they said was wrong, necessarily. But as Bruce says, by coming up against a messenger of God, they were ipso facto false witnesses, because they opposed God's messenger.
You see, when we read here, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words. Of course, they weren't blasphemous. Against this holy place and the law, there's truth to that. Stephen, no doubt, like Christ before him, would have preached that this temple will be destroyed.
There will not be one brick upon another that God will, from on high, destroy this place, this temple. No doubt he would have preached, Stephen would have preached, the end of the ceremonial law, the end of places and things that were only temporary in their Christward pointing, Stephen would have preached that. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. That's not false.
That's true. But you see, the council was wrong not to understand that what Stephen preached was true. They likewise should have known that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. Probably their customs delivered to us speaks to the yoke of the ceremonial law that was the peculiar yoke of the Jewish church prior to Christ's coming into this world.
Christ fulfills the ceremonial law. He takes it away. Those things being typical of him, the Lord Jesus Christ, when the true came, the copies were to be no more. All of that to say, this reality, that they saw his face as the face of an angel, proved that his God was with him.
The supernatural light of divine favor upon Stephen proved that the council was wrong and that this Christianity is of God. Brethren, we may not have a supernatural light. Our faces are probably never going to glow like that of an angel. A lot of us might look a bit untoward.
But we have here, brothers and sisters, the reality that nevertheless, while our faces might not glow with the supernatural light of divine favor, we will always have this truth that our God is with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us. When we defend his truth like a Stephen, When we are in the faith, like our Stephen, when we have a spirit-wrought and spirit-empowered wisdom, wherever we are as Christians, our God is with us, will never leave us nor forsake us. Brethren, there's also an element here, though, of innocence.
Of innocence. They saw, looking steadfastly at him, they saw his face as the face of an angel. Divine favor and confirmation that he spoke no blasphemies, And he was innocent of the charges that they're bringing against him. He was only ever preaching that which was true.
And so there is a measure of innocence here. Brothers and sisters, this could bring us to an application where we are to seek after the light of God's countenance, his divine favor and approval. Are you harboring sin? Are you living with sin undealt with?
Are you harboring unrepented sin and you need to come to the fount that has opened up for sin and for uncleanness to repent and find forgiveness in Christ Jesus the Lord. You see, when we are in the way, when we are walking in the old paths, where the good way is, it is as if we have faces as of an angel because the light of God's countenance is with us. But when we sin, you see our bones grow old all the day long. We're weary.
You ever had that where the guilt of sin for unrepented sin weighs down upon your soul? where it's not just spiritual, you physically feel the weight and the guilt of having broken the law of God. You see, that's why David says that in Psalm 32, because the guilt of sin, the light of God's countenance being removed because of unrepented sin, weighs down on us, and it's physical, brothers and sisters. When I kept silent, my bones grew old, Psalm 32.3. Through my groaning all the day long, for day and night your hand was heavy upon me.
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah." You see, the light of God's countenance is removed from David in that instance. But when he finds forgiveness and when he acknowledges his transgressions, the light of God's countenance is restored and it is as if then the light of God. alights the face as of the face of an angel." Notice this language of our confession at this very point. And brethren, if anybody ever charges the confession of faith as being dry in its theology, they're wrong.
I find, in my own opinion, nothing more devotional than the confession of faith. Notice this, chapter 18, paragraph 4. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation, diverse ways shaken, diminished and intermitted, as by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the spirit, by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God's withdrawing the light of His countenance, and suffering even such as fear Him, to walk in darkness and to have no light. Yet are they never destitute of the seed of God and life of faith, that love of God and the brethren, that sincerity of heart and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may in due time be revived, and by the which, in the meantime, they are preserved from utter despair." What a blessed thing we have in the assurance of grace and salvation.
Brothers, all of that to come back to this. Brothers and sisters, the reality that we are to seek after the light of God's countenance. If we've fallen, if we've stumbled in our walk with Christ, if we have sin unrepented of that we're harboring and dwelling with, pray God to mortify that and to live unto righteousness and to have the light of his countenance restored. We may walk in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives.
His God was with him. Gil says his face might shine as Moses did, when he came down from the mount, or in some degree as Christ did at his transfiguration. And this might, as it ought to have been, taken as an acquittance of him by God from the charge of blasphemy, either against God or Moses. His God was with him.
Stephen had the light of God's countenance confirming the truthfulness of his testimony. Well, that's his constitution as a Christian.
Characteristics as a Preacher
Let's now move to his characteristics as a preacher. His characteristics as a preacher, because Stephen preaches here, doesn't he? He preaches a wonderful sermon. Many have seen as a prototypical of the Christian apologists that would counter the Jewish church after him.
Many Christian apologists going toe to toe with the Jews of the day, arguing for the validity that Christianity is of God.
Zeal Tempered by Patient Control
Notice first in his characteristics as a preacher, he has a zeal that was tempered with patient control. He has a zeal that was tempered with patient control. Notice first off, in a sense working backwards, Acts 7.51. There is this proclaiming zeal that Stephen has for the glory of God, the splendor of Christ, the holiness of God's law, and against the sinfulness of man.
Notice Acts 7.51. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. A strong, zealous preacher, isn't he? You see, he did not shy away from the fact that his end was nigh.
He probably felt, you know, we can't assume too much, obviously, but we have the text that follows that they stoned this innocent Stephen to death. We have the reality that Stephen here is no doubt getting the idea that these were rejecting his conclusions concerning Christ. You see, up until verse 50, they're tracking with them. They're tracking with them.
It's the history of Israel. It's the history of the Old Testament. It's reflecting upon Israel's national religious history. But you see, now he brings it to this, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised and hardened ears and brings to bear the Christological reality of that Old Testament.
He transfers from verse 50 to verse 51. as some commentators say, because he probably detected the venom building as he was drawing his conclusions concerning Christ. He is a zealous preacher. He doesn't shy before the tyranny and the oppression of the opponents of Christ, but rather preaches well of his Christ, strongly, indicting his audience, calling them betrayers and murderers, saying that they are just like those that they would always swore that they were not like, their fathers who persecuted the prophets, everyone that was sent. His zeal is strong as a preacher.
But you see, it was balanced, brothers and sisters. Notice the beginning of his sermon. We have to import the weight of this to verse 2 of Acts 7 from what precedes it, because they brought in false witnesses against him. They brought in witnesses to charge him with blasphemy and preaching against God and Moses.
But you see, what do we have Steven answer with? All of these witnesses are brought forth. He's undergoing this mock trial, which should never happened, which should have never happened at all. And we see verse two.
And he said, Brethren and fathers, listen. You see, his zeal was tempered by a patient control. He didn't launch into a Peter to Malchus ear chopping thrust in his preaching physically and figuratively. He didn't do that.
What does he open with? Brethren and fathers, listen. You see, it's to collect, it's to collect the air of the moment, the seriousness of the moment, and to bring it to the calmness of a Christian preacher bringing to bear the truth upon an audience. Hopefully, brothers and sisters, we have such zeal marked by a patient control.
You see that we can, we can, we can, Christians can sometimes get a, professing Christians can sometimes get a whiff of truth, throw the truth in a laser gun and just shoot everybody down. Their zeal, as if they're defending the truth in a wholesome manner. You know, some young people, not just young people, but you see them out there on the internet, they get a hold of Calvinism. And they're the biggest jerks to walk the earth with their Calvinism, beating up every Arminian that's out there.
We need to have a zeal marked by self-control. We need to have a balance. Yes, we defend the truth with a vigor unmatched by any philosophy or epistemology on the face of the earth. But we don't do it like jerks, throwing the truth in a gun and shooting everybody down.
We do it like Stephen. Yes, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. But also, listen to me. Listen, because the truth deserves balance.
Peter learned this well, didn't he? Remember, only 50 days had passed between his chopping off of the ear of Malchus and him on the day of Pentecost with a Stephen-like balance. Notice Peter on the day of Pentecost in verse 22 of Acts 2. Remember, he's preaching to an audience that put to death the Lord of glory. just like Stephen.
But you see, with his proclaiming zeal, he nevertheless begins this section, Acts 22, by saying, men of Israel, 222, men of Israel, hear these words. You see, Peter had come a long way from in a zeal unqualified by any patient self-control when he lopped off the ear of that servant, Malchus. for coming after the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's come a long way from that, and from standing before those who put to death the Lord of Glory, saying, men of Israel, listen. And so we have that in our Stephen, zeal, met with a patient control.
Brethren, in your defense of the truth, in your speaking to friends, and to family, and to co-workers, and to anyone out there, if you're on a blog on the internet, wherever you are, As often as you're able to, try to stay off those. But I'm not going to bind your consciences. Good conversations can happen on the internet. A lot of the time, really bad ones can.
But wherever you find yourself speaking of our Christ and defending the gospel of our blessed God, do it with a Stephen-like balance. Yes, a zealousness for the truth, an uncompromising defense. The doctrine of Jesus Christ and the glory of God is revealed in the scriptures. But do it with that flavor of listening.
Brethren and fathers, listen. He had a zeal that was tempered with patient control.
Thorough Knowledge of Scripture
Secondly, he had a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. Hopefully that's evident. You see, that whole section that we read in our New Testament scripture reading was long, wasn't it? It's long because Stephen is mounting a defense.
He's mounting a defense of the truth. He is not, as Bruce would say, issuing a forensic defense as if to seek acquittal before the Sanhedrin, but it is rather, as Bruce says, a defense of pure Christianity as God's appointed way of worship. And he knew his scriptures. You see, he doesn't just launch into some generic statement of, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, but that's a wonderful summons that should follow upon the heels of any gospel preaching.
But you see, he goes through an involved, scripturally rich defense that Christianity is of God. Hopefully, brothers and sisters, while we might not have the acumen of a Stephen from 2,000 years ago, hopefully we know our Bibles and we can speak in such a way. The Old Testament spoke concerning Christ. The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, they all spoke concerning me, Christ said.
Hopefully we can understand that the Old Testament is not some haphazardly slapped together collection of morals, but rather in there we have those books all containing Christ-word looking text. that announces his coming, that speaks typologically, foreshadowed by all these things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ who would come. Stephen had a knowledge, a thorough knowledge of the scriptures. And notice that his presentation comes, maybe you don't notice this, but his presentation does come in the rabbinic tradition. You see, he is answering a gathering of rabbinic scholars, his council, the synagogue of the freedmen, the Sanhedrin, et cetera, and Stephen's defense, his rebuttal, if you will, comes in the tenor of that rabbinic tradition.
Bruce notes, Stephen has his reply ready, verses two and three. It takes the form of a historical retrospect, that is a looking back at history. a form well established in the Jewish tradition. The protestation of faith is, in the Old Testament, often associated with a recital of the divine intervention in the life of Israel. God in history was the underlying basis of rabbinic optimism.
The declaration at the beginning of the first fruits, Deuteronomy 26, 5-10, is paralleled by Psalms 78 and 107. Stephen's address in Acts 7 is thus in the true form. It is in the sequel that he differs from Hebrew models. In other words, he's in the rabbinic tradition, and so far he is with historical retrospect rehearsing the nation of Israel and its religious history, but in the sequel, that is, in the proclamation to these who would reject the Christological interpretation he brings Christ to bear and say, all these things spoke concerning Christ.
All these things pointed forward to this blessed, blessed Redeemer. He knew his scriptures and he knew them at the point of that they pointed forward to the Lord Jesus Christ and the splendor of his saving work. So he had a zeal that was tempered with patient control. He had a thorough knowledge of the scriptures.
Christocentric Biblical Proclamation
And thirdly, under his characteristics as a preacher, He was Christocentric in the presentation of biblical truth. This is hopefully obvious from what we've said already, but what does that mean, kids? Christocentric means Christ-centered. So when we say he was Christocentric in the presentation of biblical truth, that means his preaching had Christ at the center.
Christocentric preaching. Christian preaching should be Christocentric preaching, or else it is not Christian preaching. Nehemiah Cox says this with regards to the Christocentricity of the Bible and its implication for preaching. No doubt, God, whose works were all known by him from the beginning, has in all ages disposed and ordered the revelation of his will to men, his transactions with them, and all the works of his holy providence toward them with reference to the fullness of time and the gathering of all things to ahead in Christ Jesus.
So in all our search after the mind of God in the Holy Scriptures, we are to manage our inquiries with reference to Christ. Therefore, the best interpreter of the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the new. There we have the clearest light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining on us in the face of Jesus Christ. There is something out there in in, you know, under the banner of Christianity that some have called therapeutic moralistic deism.
Maybe you've seen that out there on the internet. It's out there in the social media world. Therapeutic moralistic deism. That's what some have reduced Christianity to.
A set of morals that will help you along in your day. You know, they'll uplift you when you rise up from the pillow, and all you need are these sets of principles and morals to help you skip along through this lower world. If Christianity is reduced to that, then we have lost Christianity. Christianity is the revelation of the will of God in Christ Jesus, the Lord, who came into this world to live, to die, to rise again, so that sinners might have everlasting life.
And Christian preaching and the recognition of God's will in the revelation of him to us is to be Christocentric. It's to have Christ first. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ himself, post-resurrection, teaches his, he eats broiled fish and honeycomb with his disciples.
What does he do? He gives them a Bible study, opening up their eyes to the scriptures by saying, The law, the prophets, and the Psalms all spoke concerning me. He would have gone to Genesis 3.15 and said that the hero born of woman who would crush the serpent with his heel, that's me. He would have gone to this statement by this text that Stephen himself cites, Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord our God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren, him you shall hear, that's me. would have gone to Isaiah 53, the suffering servant who's bruised for the iniquities of all of his people.
That's me. Brethren, Stephen was Christocentric in his presentation of biblical truth. We are to be as well. Are we to bring morality to our children and to the people that we preach to and confess to?
Absolutely. The Bible speaks with regards to Christian ethics. The Decalogue, the law of God. We are to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
What does that mean? We're to have a Christian ethic. We live in light of the truth and we follow after God's law with a cheerful obedience. But you see, if we only bring therapeutic, moralistic deism to our children, we're sending them to hell.
We need to come with the glory of a Christocentric message that says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. God forbid, or God bring an end. to anyone who flies the banner of Christianity and brings a moralistic message that is Christless. Save that church, God, or end that church, God. Because Christianity, its namesake, obviously, is Christ.
Christ, Him crucified, Him risen again for the salvation of sinners.
Christ-Likeness as a Martyr
Lastly, then, with regards to the Stephen of Christ, we want to note his Christ-likeness as a martyr. So we have his constitution as a Christian, his characteristics as a preacher, and now his Christ-likeness as a martyr. Remember that Christ promised that in this world you will have persecution. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
The Bible is replete. The New Testament, you could say, is replete with promises that Christians will have persecution. Stephen, full of faith, would have known that well. What we have here in this Stephen pericope, this narrative concerning the stoning of Stephen, is that he is just like his master Christ in his martyrdom.
Wholesome Severity Without Malice
Notice first, with regards to his Christ-likeness as a martyr, he was not afraid to exercise some wholesome severity. What do we see Christ doing in Matthew 23? Not just Matthew 23, but Matthew 23 for one example. We see Christ bringing to bear some wholesome severity against a venomous crowd.
Notice what we read in Matthew 23 at verse 31, Jesus Christ speaking, pronouncing woes upon these hypocrites. Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your father's guilt, serpents, brood of vipers. How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth. Jesus Christ could bring wholesome severity upon his audience, couldn't he?
You see, there is an unwholesome severity. Christ never brought that. He's wholly harmless and undefiled. But you see, he's not a meek and mild redeemer or political revolutionary that just skips through the tulips of Jerusalem, he's one who brings wholesome severity upon his crowds for having violated his holy law, for having persecuted the prophets just like their fathers, for having been witnesses against themselves that they were filled with guilt.
Stephen, in Acts 7, 51, is like his master in his martyrdom, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. He brings wholesome severity upon his audience. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. And it doesn't necessarily have to be at the point of Christian apology. Christian apologetics. But when something is right and when something is true, and when someone rails against what's right and true, isn't it a blessed thing to observe someone indict somebody properly for their disobedience, their sin, and their madness?
Hopefully your souls are stirred by our Stephen here. Great vigor and strength and in wholesome severity, just like his master indicts his sinful audience.
Not Reviling in Return
Secondly, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. Isn't that the rehearsal by Peter of Christ Jesus the Lord? Remember when Peter is writing to his audience in his first epistle, he's writing to slaves to render proper obedience to their masters and not to be complaining wretches, if I can paraphrase.
And he brings before them the Lord Jesus Christ as the supreme exemplar, the chief example of that sort of humility. And he says, with regards to Christ, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But what did he do?
He went valiantly and diligently to the cross. Not complaining, not saying stop it, not issuing some sort of defense to get him out of this, to get him acquitted. But rather, when he was reviled, he did not return that reviling. When he suffered oppression and persecution by the hands of both the Romans and the Jews, he did not threaten them.
But rather,
Committed to the Righteous Judge
he committed himself to him who judges righteously, his God. Stephen does the same thing here. Notice the text in verse 57. Well, in fact, We see it first of all in 7.2, what we've noted already.
Brethren and fathers, listen. There is that control that he exercised. But notice as well in 7.55. Well, what does this have to do with not reviling in return?
Well, verse 54, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth. Just like his master, the Lord Jesus Christ, prior to his death, he doesn't try to escape from the madness of man. He doesn't try to assail them or issue some sort of weak apology, but rather turns away from persecution and, in this case with Stephen, looks upon the risen Christ. Wonderful thing to do in the face of opposition here for Stephen in his particular case.
He doesn't respond with their gnashing, He doesn't respond with any venom in answer to their venom, but rather looks and sees his risen Christ and finds strength in him. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. We see this as well in verse 60. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin.
Does that ring any bells with regards to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ? What did the Savior say? Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do. You see, if we want to follow after someone, Christians want to follow after anyone.
It's the Savior, isn't it? What are Christians identified as in the book of Revelation? Those who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. Stephen is a perfect example.
It's this first martyr following his master, the Lord Jesus Christ, even unto death. And lastly, his Christ-likeness as a martyr. He committed himself to him who judges righteously. Again, in that text from Peter, that's what is the ending exhortation.
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. But what's the remedy? What's the answer then?
Committed himself to him who judges righteously. He put himself in the hands of the Father. And here now, it's Stephen committing himself to the risen and exalted Christ. And they stone Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
You see, he doesn't revile in return, he doesn't do anything like that, but he commits himself to his Christ. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. The blessed example, Stephen, is here of Christ-likeness in the face of difficulty. Brethren, hopefully this sort of example, with the weight of that 1 Peter 2 language, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten. Hopefully we can demonstrate that. Brothers and sisters, we probably will never come before a stoning, but we will demonstrate our Christ-likeness in the face of affliction, in the face of opposition, in the face of trial, if we have this sort of mindset. We demonstrate a Stephen-like, which is a Christ-like resolve to commit ourselves to Him who judges righteously.
Rather than lash out in venom, rather than lash out in vitriol against those who are opposed to us, we calmly, And with meekness, commit ourselves to Him who judges righteously, that we might bear a Christ-likeness in this lower world. Well, brethren, hopefully a rehearsal of Stephen helps us to come to a conclusion with regards to our own walk in this lower world. Hopefully we will seek to be full of faith and power. Not power like Stephen and that ax sense of miracles, wonders, and signs, but being full of faith and power that we might with strength hold our Christ, understand the truth, and even understand that certain promises, that those certain promises of persecution.
Hopefully we will have spirit-wrought and spirit-empowered wisdom. You know, to know the Scriptures is such a blessed thing. For so many reasons, because our Christ is therein, because God's truth is therein revealed. But practically speaking, brothers and sisters, just thinking about this this morning, It is wonderful to know the scriptures at the point of anthropology that is the doctrine of man and the doctrine of sin as it concerns sinners.
Imagine, you know, I'm just thinking about a parent with a child. You know, if we didn't have the knowledge of total depravity from the scriptures or we had an errant view of sin, man, if we had some of the children that some of us parents have to deal with sometimes, we would think they're possessed of a demon and we'd lock them up until they're 29. You see, the Bibles, knowing the Scriptures, having a spirit-wrought and spirit-empowered wisdom, we come to the Scriptures and we see the hearts of men are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
We see that we are to commit ourselves to Him who judges righteously, to be anxious in nothing, but with prayer and supplication, bring your requests to God who will answer with peace. You see, we come to the Bible and we have practical answers. So if you have a demon child, there is great hope. There is the knowledge of the scriptures, and there is the knowledge of our God.
Insert any practical example here, where you're assailed by trial, by trouble, by affliction, whatever it may be. We are to have a spirit rod and a spirit-empowered wisdom. We don't go to man in the world for answers to our problems. We come to the living and true God and His perfect Word.
We are, brethren, to have a Christ-likeness. We are to have characteristics such as Stephen the preacher, whereby we have a knowledge of the scriptures, we have a Christocentric focus, we are tempered in our zeal with patient control. Let's come to these examples such as Stephen. insert ourselves, or take application from the text so that we might be like a Stephen, so that we might be like our blessed Master Christ. In this lower world, God, give us the zeal, give us the patience, give us the strength of faith, give us the power, give us all of these things that we might be good testifiers to the truth of God, that we might be good witnesses to the legitimacy of Christianity.
Though our faces might not shine with supernatural light, let us know the light of God's countenance, the strength of his grace. If you're here this morning and you're gonna leave these doors outside of Christ, don't leave these doors outside of Christ in unbelief. If you're here this morning, you're not a believer, you don't believe in this Christ of Stephen that we'll look at tonight, you don't believe the one that Stephen testified to, opening up the scriptures and the one who Stephen looked at with a faith-filled gaze, the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, You're not in a good place. Your lot is not good.
At the end of days, or at your death, you will be cast into the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels because you've sinned against the Holy God, and you've rejected the only remedy, the only answer, Christ Jesus the Lord. Young or old, you're here this morning, and you might not get everything about pericopes and, you know, historical retrospect and all of these big words that preachers use. But know this, there is a holy God. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.
Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners to save. Believe on Him. You will have everlasting life and the forgiveness of sins. And you'll with Stephen look with a faith-filled gaze upon the risen Christ.
Have all faith in Him. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in Your truth. We rejoice in the Scriptures. We thank You for this witness of Stephen, this account in our Bibles speaks to the strength of this preacher who spoke a good confession before his opponents. And we do pray that you would give us some of these Stephen-like qualities, that you would give us faith and power, spirit rock, wisdom.
We pray that you would give us a zeal tempered by knowledge and patient control. And we pray that we would have the strength of this apologist from so long ago in our Christian walk. When we are opposed, when we are persecuted, might we be Christ-like, in our answers and in our responses, and Lord God, might you strengthen us for this walk in this lower world. We pray that you would now strengthen these gathered here this morning, your saints, that you would encourage them, uplift them, and equip them for this upcoming week, and that you would now, by your grace, save sinners for your glory, that those entered in this place this morning outside of Christ would leave singing with his saints, hallelujah, what a savior.
And it's in Christ's name that we pray, amen.