8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen’s Speech
7:1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.147 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together2 at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Footnotes
[1]7:46Some manuscripts for the house of Jacob [2]7:57Or rushed with one mind
8 And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13 and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Stephen’s Speech
7:1 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said:
“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.147 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
The Stoning of Stephen
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together2 at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Footnotes
[1]7:46Some manuscripts for the house of Jacob [2]7:57Or rushed with one mind
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
Before we read, let me, kind of introduce you what we're going to read. We're reading a really long section of scripture tonight, a lot of chapter 6 and all of chapter 7. It's it's the longest speech we have in Acts and part of our thinking and the reason we wanted to read all of it in its entirety instead of just kind of picking and choosing is, is if Luke took the time to write it, we should probably take the time to read it and to listen to it, and it should be read and listened to as a unit. And so if you would go ahead and turn to acts chapter 6, and we'll begin reading in verse 7.
Speaker 2:
And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem. And a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freedom, as it was called, and to the Cyrenians, and of and the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking.
Speaker 2:
Then they secretly instigated men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council and set him and set up false witnesses who said, this man never ceases to speak words against his this holy place in the law for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Speaker 3:
And the high priest said, are these things so? And Stephen said, brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Harran and said to him, Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after this, his father and after his father died, God removed him from there into this land which in which you are now living.
Speaker 3:
Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect that his offspring after But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God. And after that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the 8th day.
Speaker 3:
And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs. And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt, But God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to pharaoh.
Speaker 3:
And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, 75 persons in all. And Jacob went down into Egypt and he died, he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor and Shechem. But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive.
Speaker 3:
And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
Speaker 3:
And on the following day, he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying, men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? And then, men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside saying, who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
Speaker 3:
Do you wanna kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of 2 sons. Now when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
Speaker 3:
Then the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I've heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt. This Moses, whom they rejected saying, who made you a ruler and a judge? This man, God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.
Speaker 3:
This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him but thrust him aside. And in their hearts, they turned to Egypt saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us.
Speaker 3:
As for this Moses who has led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And they made a calf in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, oh house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your God, Refn. The images that you made to worship The images that you made to worship, and
Joel Brooks:
I will send you
Speaker 3:
into exile beyond Babylon. And I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tint of witness in the wilderness just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find
Joel Brooks:
a dwelling place for the
Speaker 3:
God of Jacob. But it was to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands. As the prophet says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool.
Speaker 3:
What kind of house will you build for me? Says the Lord. Or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?' You stiff necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
Speaker 3:
Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.
Speaker 2:
Now when they heard these things, they were enraged and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Speaker 2:
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Joel Brooks:
You would pray with me. Lord, I realized when I when I approach a text like this that I'm going to fail. I'm going to. There's so much here. There is so much life changing, Christ exalting truth here that there's no way I can possibly adequately communicate this.
Joel Brooks:
So spirit, I ask that you would come and that you would speak, that you would make clear any confusion. Lord, that you would sharpen our minds, which have come in here so dull by the things that the world throws at us. By the way that we read the paper or that we read blogs or that we read emails, it's it's dulled our minds to the way we read and hear truth in which every word is important. So God allow us to focus in. Right now, Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:
But Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. And we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Just a couple of weeks ago when we were in chapter 5, we saw how the great Jewish rabbi, Gamaliel, he stood before the ruling Jewish Council, the the Sanhedrin, and he gave them some advice. He said, you know what?
Joel Brooks:
You shouldn't try to persecute these Christians. You shouldn't try to stop these Christians. Just just let them be. Everybody just calm down. Alright?
Joel Brooks:
Calm down. Just just let them be. We've seen movements like this come and go. If this thing is of God, it's gonna remain. If it's not, it's gonna fade away.
Joel Brooks:
So just calm down. And that was the advice that was given. The whole council said they they agreed with that vice advice. They thought that was good advice. And now we come one chapter later to the same people, and they have now become so enraged with Stephen.
Joel Brooks:
They're they're closing their ears and they're screaming and picking up stones to kill this Christian. And just I mean, just hardly any time at all has passed. It's gone from everybody be calm to let's riot and let's kill this man. What what happened in that time? And what happened was a speech.
Joel Brooks:
What happened with Stephen? It would be hard to overstate the importance of the passage that we just read in the history of Christianity. It would be hard. This is such an important text, such an important speech that Luke dedicates all of this time towards it. It's the longest speech we have recorded in acts and Stephen didn't even get to finish it before he was killed.
Joel Brooks:
After Stephen gives a speech, everything changes in the life of the church. Before this speech, there was little persecution in the church. After this, Stephen will become the first of many martyrs and persecution will flood the church. What was it here that made the speech so volatile? That that change kind of the landscape of Christianity forever.
Joel Brooks:
Paul, who is there, who apparently sanctioned the death of Stephen, we'll look at that in a few weeks. Paul will always remember this moment, and he will always remember this speech. I think later in life, it it both nourished him and it haunted him. It did both as he remembered what happened. Stephen's words will come out a number of times later in his writings.
Joel Brooks:
We're actually gonna see later in acts, when Paul is on trial, he is accused of the same things as Stephen. I think besides meeting Jesus, no, no event had more of an impact in Paul's life than this one. You're gonna find the author of Hebrews profoundly impacted by this speech. It's gonna come out in a number of those chapters in Hebrews. And so what we're going to do is we're going to take a couple of weeks to walk through this speech.
Joel Brooks:
This isn't going to be a, your typical 3 point sermon and a poem. I I actually, I don't know if I've ever done that, but it but it's it's not going to be that because that would do this in injustice. There is so much here. Steven didn't use a single illustration, didn't use an application. He just walks through this dense material, this life changing material.
Joel Brooks:
And we're going to, we're going to do that. But if you can, if you can hang with me, if you can follow this, this is a rock on which you can build your whole life. Last week, we were introduced to Steven. He was one of the 7 that was picked up, picked to not be a minister of the word, but to serve tables, to wait at tables. That was his job.
Joel Brooks:
He's described as a man full of spirit, the spirit full of faith. Luke also adds that he was full of grace and that he was full of power. Luke gives all these little details of of Steven. I I think he's he's holding up because he gives so many details and highlights such good character, Steven. He's kinda holding up Steven as this model Christian.
Joel Brooks:
This is somebody that that that we can look to and be inspired by that we should try to be like Steven, a man full of faith, full of wisdom, full of the spirit, full of grace. It was all of these things. He didn't have what we would call a glamorous role. He just wanted to serve the church however he could, if that meant waiting on tables, he would wait on tables. He had the servant's heart.
Joel Brooks:
But this was also a man of the word. I mean, he just walks through pretty much the entire old testament by memory. He gets up there and says, well, let me tell you something. And he starts with Abraham and just goes all the way through. I think as believers, all of us should should be able to do this.
Joel Brooks:
We should be able to walk through his word. It reminds me of, Jesus on the road to Emmaus when he's with his 2 disciples, and it says that he he pretty much opened up the entire old testament. And he said, do you see how this all points to me? We see Stephen doing this here, pointing to Jesus in this text. I think Stephen is a model for us and that we are to proclaim the truth of Jesus regardless of the consequences, regardless.
Joel Brooks:
He's a model of what it means to live a normal Christian life and living a normal Christian life is, is you're obedient. Here's a way I could serve. Here's another way I'm obedient here. And when the opp do you think Steven thought he was going to die that day? But the opportunity presented itself to declare truth, and he did, and it resulted in his life.
Joel Brooks:
And the world looks at him and says, he's a radical, and he would be saying, I'm just a normal Christian. I'm just a follower of Jesus. This is what's expected of us. And so when people came and threatened his life, Stephen didn't even flinch. Let's get to the speech here.
Joel Brooks:
Really, you need to understand chapter 6 verse 7 is kind of the, the hint or the clue that we have as to the reason and the direction of this speech. Says in the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Now that last line, there is a very unusual comment that great many of the priests, he singles out priests were becoming obedient to the faith. This is the first time a group has been targeted or pulled out and said, these people, these priests are being, are coming to the faith. And so what we're seeing here is the priesthood is being divided.
Joel Brooks:
You have some priests who are coming to know Jesus, coming to embrace Jesus, they're coming to the faith, and you have other priests who are getting really, really angry. So angry that they will kill. And so the priesthood is being divided here, and you're getting 2 camps. Something is being taught about the priesthood, something is happening about the priesthood to cause this huge division between the 2 camps. We can see from the accusations against Stephen kind of where this is going.
Joel Brooks:
He's accused of 2 things. Look at verse 13 says, and they set up false witnesses who said, this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us. Right there you see 2, 2 accusations. He's against the temple.
Joel Brooks:
He speaks against the temple, which is the holy place, and he is speaking against the law of Moses. And we're going to look at the first accusation this week and we're gonna look at the second accusation next week. When this, these accusations are made against Stephen, he's allowed to make his defense. So he, he steps up to the plate, opens his mouth, and he is not at all interested in He knows, especially as he's going on and he's starting to see the looks, he knows what's about to happen. But he sees this as a truth worth dying for, and the Sanhedrin sees this as a truth worth killing for.
Joel Brooks:
He begins his speech by giving somewhat of this history lesson of all the Old Testament. He he says, you know, we have Abraham. God told Abraham, you know, go to the land that I will show you. Then he goes to, Joseph and he says how Joseph was rejected by his brothers, but then later was vindicated and Joseph ends up saving all of Egypt, really, all of the known world in that region. And then he moves on and he goes to Moses, and he says, Moses tried to deliver the people.
Joel Brooks:
That's why he he killed that Egyptian task master. But the people said, who who made you a savior? Who made you judge over us? And so Moses had to leave. Moses meets God at the burning bush and is called back.
Joel Brooks:
And this time the people listen and they embrace Moses. And then Stephen goes through the Tabernacle and then he goes through the temple and then he's cut off. And what he's explaining here, he's weaving a certain thread here. He's saying, hey, Israelites, look at your history. God always sends somebody to save you and you reject it.
Joel Brooks:
Say, no. Joseph comes and the brother say, no. I don't care what dreams you had. I don't care what God's told you. No.
Joel Brooks:
We're gonna get rid of you, and we're gonna throw you in a ditch and get rid of you. But the second time they meet, Joseph is vindicated, and they repent, and Joseph saves them. Moses comes to them They said, who made you judge? Who made you savior over us? And so Moses flees.
Joel Brooks:
Moses comes 40 years later. They see him as God's instrument of salvation. They repent. They follow him. God saves them.
Joel Brooks:
And now Stephen is saying, do you get it? Do you see? Do you see God's pattern here, in your pattern? God brings forth somebody to offer you salvation, to save you, and then you reject him. You beat him up, you throw him in a ditch, you you in Jesus's case, you killed him.
Joel Brooks:
But he doesn't give up pursuing you, and he gives you a second chance. I'm giving you a second chance. Repent. Jesus has been vindicated. He has risen from the dead.
Joel Brooks:
And now, through his spirit, he is speaking to you again. Repent. And so he's laying that out before them. But we know what it's like when somebody tells you you've done something wrong. You you don't want a savior.
Joel Brooks:
You you don't want that. I mean, if if Lauren rightly points out, you know, something that I've said or something I've done wrong, I'm trying to think through if ever my initial response has been, thank you, dear. Thank you so much for pointing that out in my life. You're 100% right. I'm 100% wrong.
Joel Brooks:
I repent. Usually, truth is pointed out and I'm like, and I go, you know, I might snap at her. I might leave. Usually, I just kinda get quiet and I just kinda mull it over. But then then I come back and I repent.
Joel Brooks:
Stephen is saying, okay. That's how we respond, but don't miss your chance to repent. You need a savior, and it is Jesus. He has been vindicated. He has risen from the dead.
Joel Brooks:
Listen to him. So that thread is throughout this sermon, but that's not what got Steven killed. It's not what was draw drawing in the priest or driving them away. What got Stephen killed is when he started expounding about the temple. Really, the thrust of the sermon is about the temple and the priesthood.
Joel Brooks:
And, you know, he finally gets to the very end where he starts talking about the temple. And once people see the direction he's going, see what he's building to, they're not going to let him finish. They're not going to let him finish talking about the temple and they kill him there. And so the accusation against Stephen is, does he speak against the temple? If he does, it's a serious crime.
Joel Brooks:
It's actually the only crime in which the Jews can have the death penalty apart from Rome. Speak against the temple, you can be killed. That's why that was brought before Jesus, that he's, you know, he's, he speaks against this temple. When that didn't stick, they had to take him to Pilate. They had to take him to Rome in order to execute him.
Joel Brooks:
And he was executed for treason. But here they're trying to get this to stick. So is there truth in it? And I believe the answer is yes. Stephen did speak in a way that was against the temple.
Joel Brooks:
He certainly understood that with Jesus, the temple serves no function. Every gospel, records Jesus going to the temple. Everyone records him going to the temple. He goes during that week of Passover. 1 week before he gets killed, Jesus goes to the temple.
Joel Brooks:
You know, the Palm Sunday, there's this parade. And the first thing Jesus does in this parade, and he gets to Jerusalem as he heads straight to the temple. And during the Passover season, the entire temple would have been flooded with people, flooded with animals. Josephus, who is a historian, he wrote that at that time, during that week, over 200,000 sheep would be killed. At the temple, 1 week, over 200,000 sheep killed.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, the temple was essentially a slaughterhouse. That's what it was. It was just nothing but a sacrificial slaughterhouse. And Jesus, he marches right into what would have certainly been this chaotic scene of people buying and selling sheep, changing money. There's almost no time to even think as you take your, your sheep to the priest to sacrifice it, you know, you just, you gotta get it moving.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus goes there and He makes that chaotic scene even more chaotic. He goes and He starts overthrowing tables. The gospel of John says that he he makes a whip and he begins driving out people. The other gospels say that he would not allow anybody to carry anything through the temple. It's kind of hard for us to imagine that.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, the temple was massive. It'd be like going into the mall, and it's the only thing that I I could think of. You go into the mall, and you pick up a whip, and you drive out everybody who's selling everything in the mall. It's like, nobody put everybody put down their shopping bags now, And he just kind of throws them away. Everybody quit selling things, now.
Joel Brooks:
And he just makes a huge thing and everybody obeys. It's amazing. They're listening to him because he has authority, and he empties the place. And everybody is, is looking down to him as he, as he shuts down the temple and its most busy season. And now in that moment, you can no longer hear the, the bang of sheep.
Joel Brooks:
You can no longer hear the pigeons, any of the cattle. You can't hear any of that. It's only Jesus. It says he began to teach, he began to preach the gospel. He was there all week.
Joel Brooks:
And essentially, what Jesus is doing this, as he's driving out every pigeon, every sheep, every every cow, he's driving them all out, and it's only him. He is saying, listen, I am the final sacrifice. Okay? The whole business of the temple shuts down now. Priests are no longer needed, because I'm gonna be the priest.
Joel Brooks:
Sacrifices no longer needed, because I'm going to be the sacrifice. Alright? The function of the temple ends here. It all pointed to me, And it was only Jesus in that temple as the people flocked to him. So Jesus, he did not go to the temple as maybe, has been popularly told to just kind of reform it.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus was angry at, you know, the greedy money changers, and it was it's all about that. It's not what this is about. He didn't come here to reform the temple. He came to put an end to it. He is the temple.
Joel Brooks:
The temple no longer served any purpose. It it had a couple of purposes. It had two main functions. It's where people can meet with God, and it's where people had a would go and they would give a sacrifice to the priest so they can make atonement for them. So it was a place of sacrifice and there's a place to meet with God.
Joel Brooks:
But now both of these are fulfilled in Jesus. You have in the temple, if you if you grew up in Sunday school, I I can still see the really kind of cheesy illustrations of it, but I'm thankful for them because they're here, of of the temple and of their tabernacle. And in the temple, there was one room called the Holy of Holies. And in the Holy of Holies, it was a room, this special room in the very inner sanctuary where God's presence was to come and to dwell and it's where the priest will come and make his one sacrifice every year. And that room was surrounded by a veil or a curtain that was 6 inches thick.
Joel Brooks:
That's that's thick fabric. So thick that you can't hear anything. No light can come through. Can you imagine how terrified you would be as a priest as you walked in there, the curtains closed behind you? You can see nothing.
Joel Brooks:
You could probably hear your own heartbeat, and you were there to intercede for the people and meet with God. And all of Israel is waiting for that moment that the priest can go in and intercede. And hopefully, he will come out alive, and he would say, sacrifice was taken. Well, it says that when Jesus died, when he was crucified, it says that that veil, that 6 inch thick temple veil was torn from top to bottom. That's that's an impossible thing to do.
Joel Brooks:
It was it was torn from top to bottom. And what God is saying is there is no longer any distance. There's no longer any barrier to my presence. There's no longer any sacrifices needed. You don't have to put your hopes on some kind of earthly high priest to go in there.
Joel Brooks:
Now, as Stephen would declare later, heaven is open. I see heaven open. We have access. You don't need any priest. What you need is Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
Stephen understood this. He's not proclaimed that Jesus came to destroy the temple. Probably an analogy he would use is Jesus didn't come to destroy the temple any more than the sun rising destroys a lit candle. Yes, yes, a lit candle, you can have it when it's in the dark and it gives off a little light. It shows you what light is, but when the sun rises, there's no longer a need for it.
Joel Brooks:
And yes, the temple, the priest, the whole sacrificial system was a candle. But now we have Jesus, and there's no longer a need for it. He is the sun. And I think you have all these priests around, And they're hearing this and they're like, yes. Yes.
Joel Brooks:
That's right. I want to let go of the candle and I want to embrace the sun. And then you have these other priests who are going, we'll be out of a job. If we if we let go of the camp, don't you realize this is your job? There's 18,000 priests at this time.
Joel Brooks:
18,000, that's a that's a large corporation. If they embrace what Jesus taught, what Stephen is saying, they're without work. They don't have any function. There's no more sacrificial system there. They don't need to make intercession for the people anymore.
Joel Brooks:
And I think some of those priests embrace the sun, and some said, no, we we can't. And it became this dividing point. I think another reason so many priests came to know, or put their faith in Jesus is because when they looked at the church and they saw what the church was doing, they said, that, that's my calling. That's what I'm supposed to be doing. Look, it's they're taking care of all the widows.
Joel Brooks:
They're taking care of all the sick. They're taking care of all the poor. Don't you know that's a priestly job? That's what we're supposed to do. People give their offerings to us and we distribute it out.
Joel Brooks:
Now now you're do you're not qualified to do it. You're you're doing it all yourself. Then they're looking and they're like, but you're doing it so much better than us, because God's changed their heart. And they're looking at these normal Christians Wait wait wait wait wait a second. Don't you know, priests can't even know who do that.
Joel Brooks:
Just the high priest. And yet you're there without fear calling on the Lord, experiencing the Lord. And for some that revolted them, and for some others, it's like, yes. I want that. And they see this whole new community arising of Christians who are all priests, better than they could ever be.
Joel Brooks:
Interceding on behalf of the people, Talking boldly to God without fear. Giving and take to the to the poor and taking care of the needy and the widows. They're performing all these priestly functions. Indeed, Peter would later say that when you are a royal priesthood, we are a nation of priests as Christians. So I think the priests understood this.
Joel Brooks:
And so some embrace the light, and some of them said absolutely not, but it became the dividing point. So what does this mean for us? I think I can I can say this, and we'll look more at this next week? It's it's the end of religion as as we know it. There's no longer this place we go to to make a sacrifice.
Joel Brooks:
There's no longer that one place in which we have to go and get in the presence of God. That's provided for us in Jesus, who is our high priest, and he is our sacrifice. You know, the temple represented the Garden of Eden in many ways. So did the Tabernacle. And when man sinned, they were kicked out of the garden, they were kicked out of the presence of God.
Joel Brooks:
And we've all been trying to get back in, but we're all outsiders. We know we can't get back in because there's there's a chair there with a flaming sword. If you go through the tabernacle and you read how it was made, it talks about the cherubim woven all in the tabernacle. You go into the temple and it had cherubim in it, and what they're doing is guarding this presence of God. And so, no matter how much we want, we all feel like outsiders and all humans feel like outsiders.
Joel Brooks:
We all want to get back to Eden. We all want to get back into paradise in the garden of God, and to be with him. And we know there's that barrier. And that's what that veil represented. And Jesus says that barrier is gone.
Joel Brooks:
It is gone. Come back into the garden of Eden and come walk in my presence. And that's the gospel that we have before us. It is worth living for and it is worth dying for. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:
Lord, there's a lot to chew on there. God, I pray that this would not be seen as some empty theology. God, make this real to us. Ignite something in our bones so that we see this when we cry. Yes.
Joel Brooks:
Yes, this is worth dying for. I want to embrace the sun and I want to let go of my little candle of religion. I want to embrace the the priesthood of Jesus and the sacrifice of Jesus. And I want to go into that Holy of Holies. Lord, may we come to embrace that this week.
Joel Brooks:
Make it a reality in our lives. And I pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.