ACTS | The Old and Long Story | Acts 6:8 - 7:60

So let's turn to the copy of our scriptures now. We are in Acts chapter six. We're going to look at verse beginning there in verse eight, and then we're actually going to read through the entirety of chapter seven. Acts chapter six, beginning in verse eight, reading through chapter seven.

And let's stand for the reading of God's word, and let's pray before we do that, Father, we thank you that you speak to us.

You've given us your word and help us to be people who love your word who are grounded in it. Lord, the grass fades and the grass perishes and the flowers fade away. But Lord, it is your word that stands and abides forever. Lord, I pray that you will feed us on it now that you will speak to us, help us to receive it. And that's in Jesus's name, we pray amen.

People of God, hear God's word for us from Acts chapter six, beginning in verse eight 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 freedmen, as it was called, and of the cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and 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. 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 they set up false witnesses who said, This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. And we have heard him say that this Jesus of 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.

And the high priest said, are these things so? And Stephen said, brothers and fathers, hear me, the glory of God appeared to our father, Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 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 his father died, God removed him from there ended this land in which you are now living, 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 would be sojourners and a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them for 400 years. 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 eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the 12 patriots 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 of 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. 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, and he and our fathers, and they were carried back to shekem and laid in the tomb of Abraham that that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamar and shekem. 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. 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. And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughters 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 words and deeds. When he was 40 years old, it came into it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel, and seen one of them being wronged. He defeated 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. 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? But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you want to 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 two sons. Now, when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai and a flame of fire in a bush.

When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and he drew near to look. There came the voice of the Lord, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and your of Isaac and of Jacob and Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, take off your 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 have 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 judge this man God sent as both ruler and Redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years.

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 as for this Moses who 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 to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness? Oh house of Israel, you took up the tent of Molech and the star of your God refhan, the images that you made to worship and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. 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. 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 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. 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, 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 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. Now, when they heard these things, they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him, but he was 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 opened 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 witness. Is laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

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. He who has ears, let them hear the Word of God, please be seated, preach, pray or die. That's a mantra that is often repeated by pastors or given to ministers as they graduate from seminary, or missionaries, of things, they must the three things that they must be ready to do at a moment's notice, preach, pray and die. And not all of you will be called to preach, though I believe some of you will, and I pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He will raise up among us, even some of our young men here to be called to the gospel ministry here in the United States and abroad, that the gospel might be preached. But even if the Lord hasn't called you to be in full time ministry in that way, he certainly has called you to be one thing. And you know this in our time of Acts, and that is to be a witness, you are to be His witnesses. Remember, that is why we are here as a church.

Remember, Jesus ascended, and why did he leave his disciples?

Because he gave them a charge.

You will be my witnesses. And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, that is indeed your calling, and that is your charge, even this day to you.

And do you know what the Greek word by chance for witnesses?

It's Mardis, which is where we get our English word, martyr. So in many ways, God has called you to be his martyrs, to be His witnesses. And we have just read the first recorded martyr of the New Testament era, and Stephen, Stephen is a witness, and he is murdered with great boldness and actually great joy, because he knows that his Savior lives, and so will he, as we read this account, I hope you get the sense that it is not a actual pitiful or sorrowful account as it relates to Stephen, it is sorrowful in the its response to Stephen. But Stephen himself is actually a story of victory.

This account is actually Stephen's gain, but it's also a warning in this text for all those who hear Stephen's message and the message that I hope to summarize again for you, that if you reject it, that brings death and damnation, not only now but for eternity. Beloved, are you willing and are you ready to be Christ's witnesses. Are you ready to be Christ's martyrs?

Hus Wycliffe, the Lollards, Tyndall, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, the covenanters in Scotland, the Huguenots in France, are all examples of those who have given their lives for Christ, and that list is much, much longer. Those are even just some of the references I've used here in the pulpit.

But if you remember at one moment, just in last week's text, Stephen is serving tables.

He He's serving the church, but then here in the next moment he is being stoned to death for his faith and one that he will not deny but proclaim. It can happen very quick. You know, Jesus said in John chapter 15, If the world hates you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the world that I said to you, a serve. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Are we greater than Jesus? Certainly not. We are not greater than our master.

John 15 · chapter mention

And if they persecuted Christ, we should have every expectation that we too will be persecuted for our witness of Christ. And I think this is something. To consider and even talk about at the lunch table, following, could it be that the church, especially here in the United States, is not persecuted all that much because we have failed to be that witness, failed to proclaim the particular truths of Christ as the only way the truth and the life, and that no man comes to the Father apart from him, because we have failed to deliver a message that says, if you die in your sins, if you do not repent, you will indeed perish. And what does it look like to be a witness. We talked about mirrors, how the law is a mirror showing us our sin but our the mirror in the law also points us to Christ. And I think actually what we see here with Stephen is actually kind of like a mirror, a mirror pointing us not to Stephen so much. But what does a life look like of someone who is devoted to Christ, a life of someone who is devoted to the apostles, teaching to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, that's what they were doing. Those are the the means of grace, and we saw, at least, it leads to generosity, letting the goods and kindred go. But also now this mortal life, also they're freed from greed, but also it's led Stephen to be a servant.

That's what he was called to do.

He was called to be a deacon. He knew that even Christ did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and so that's what Stephen's just doing in his ordinary life. He's serving the people. He's serving the widows.

He's He's serving those in need.

He's serving the elders of the church. We also hear in our text that Stephen is a man who is full. He's a full man in various ways. He is full of grace. He is full of the Spirit. And what does the Spirit do. What does the Spirit do? The Spirit points to Christ always. That's the job of the Spirit. If you hear people talk about the Holy Spirit, and Christ is not there or at the center. It's not the work of the Spirit. The Spirit will always drive you to the Lord Jesus, Christ. And that is Stephen, a man who is full of the Spirit, and therefore he is being driven again to the cross and to his savior. He is full of the Spirit, and so he's pointing to Christ. The Spirit is given so that Christ can be proclaimed correctly and boldly throughout all of the Scriptures and widely, not only to Jerusalem, but to the ends of the world.

And Stephen, in our text, we're told that he's been granted this ability to perform great miracles and wonders and signs.

But actually, that's not really the issue that they have with Stephen. They don't say Stephen don't do those signs and wonders. The issue that they have is with Stephen's words, what he says the scriptures, they have a problem with Christ.

And as you hopefully have noted through that long account, which is actually just a sampling of Stephen's entire sermon, like all of them. So Steven preach much, much longer, but his words are dripping with the Word of God. He's He's filled with the Word of God. And he's a Greek.

He's not even a Hebrew, and he knows the old, old and long story. And that's the sermon text. It's an old and long story. From the very beginning, this has been God's plan of redemption. We're told that he's telling this story of God's redemption to the synagogue of the freed men. These were slaves freed from Roman oppression, and are now leaders and teachers in this synagogue. This is Saul's synagogue. And the irony, really, of this text is that they are called the free men, but we will see that they are indeed enslaved. They're enslaved to their works and to their deeds. They're enslaved to sin, and they're not freed at all. And Stephen is proclaiming to them a message of freedom that they will reject they aren't freed at all. They said, This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law. 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. And there are two charges here against Stephen, primarily speaking against the temple and speaking against the customs of Moses, that is really the ceremonial law and everything that really surrounds the temple, and they're saying it's blasphemous.

Now let's get into what Stephen says. And this is another aspect of. Being a witness is opening up your mouth proclaiming Christ. Stephen doesn't just put on a miming, a show for them. He doesn't even do a musical number for them. He presents to them the word of God. He opens up the scriptures to them. He hmm, Stephen's sermon is grounded in the Word. He confronts them in their sin. He calls them to repentance and then obedience. His enemies create the smear campaign. They strongly encourage, or maybe even bribe people to stay that Stephen's been guilty of this blasphemy. They arrest Stephen.

They have these false witnesses.

And all of this should sound very familiar. This is what Jesus did as well. And what we see is Stephen is following in the footsteps of Christ. He's mimicking Christ. But there's also a difference here, actually, in what Stephen's about to say is Stephen gives a long statement here where Jesus is silent because Jesus came to die and to offer an atonement, but Stephen has the Holy Spirit.

And again, the Holy Spirit's job is to not be silent, but to be a witness, and that's what Stephen does. So okay, Stephen, his first response here is kind of against the charge against him in the temple and Moses. And he does the survey of redemptive history, and he looks at a few eras. He looks at Abraham, he then looks at Joseph, and then Moses and David. He's really kind of highlighting the big rocks in the Old Testament, isn't he, and he summarizes it.

And he has all this memorized, by the way, right? He's He's before them, and he's sharing all of this with them. And he begins in Abraham. And where was Abraham? Was Abraham in front of the temple? Was he in Israel, when God spoke to Abraham, he says, No, he's in Mesopotamia, but it was God with him, yes.

And he was then in Haran, before he was in Mesopotamia, was God with him in Haran, which is again, not in Israel, Yes, God was with him, did our great father, Abraham? Did he even own a foot of land in Israel? He did not. Was God with Abraham? Yes, God was with Abraham. How about Isaac and Jacob? Now, God gave them promises. God blessed them.

God gave them, as he did Abraham, that the sign and seal of circumcision. Were they in Israel? No, they weren't. All right. What about Joseph? Was Joseph in Israel? No, he wasn't.

Where was Joseph? Of all places, Egypt, oh, and by the, by the way, the our our patriarchs, who we have the 1212, tribes named after. They hated Joseph. They, they told him, in the slavery they, they thought he was dead, that they weren't supporting him or encouraging him. Uh, our fathers before rejected Joseph, and God, though was with Joseph, protected Joseph in Egypt, gave Joseph favor, gave Joseph wisdom before Pharaoh. How about Moses?

Did God spare Moses in Egypt? I mean, Moses wasn't even in Israel yet. Can God even work in Egypt? Yes, he can. God appeared to Moses in Sinai. Well, certainly Sinai must be in the boundary of Israel, right? No, it is not. But yet, God appeared to Moses in Sinai, and is Sinai holy? Is the mountain holy? No, the mountain is not holy. Why?

Why did God tell Moses to take off his sandals? Because He's holy. The mountain is not holy.

God's holy. And Moses in the presence of God. God was there.

God performed all these wonders and miracles in Egypt and delivered him out of that land.

Then did the people embrace Moses as their appointed ruler and Redeemer that God had set over them. You know, they they are finally delivered from slavery, and then they're they're being delivered, and they just grumble and complain constantly against Moses. They reject him constantly. God says, I'm going to raise up a prophet just like Moses. Moses was given the law. Did they obey it? No.

What did they do? They created something with their hands out of gold, the the golden calf, and that's what they celebrated, and that's what they worshiped.

And it's not until we get to David, who then asked God, can I make you a dwelling place in the temple that, uh. God relents, but David didn't even get to make the temple. It was Solomon who made the temple. Was God with David, even though there's no temple. Yes, Isaiah clearly says, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build me?

Says the LORD, or what is the place of my rest did not my hand make all these things okay. So here's the point. What's the point of the whole survey that he's doing? God has never been bound to the temple. God has never even been bound to the the land of Israel. It's once been said that God, God is not bound to a zip code. He's in foreign lands. He's an enemy territory, and but you have made the temple an idol. What you what our fathers did with that golden calf, and they fashioned it by hand, and they worshiped it.

That's what Stephen is accusing them. Now he's not on the defense, he's on the offense.

And he's saying, you have fashioned this temple, and you're worshiping the temple.

It's a holy temple. That's their that's their accusation against him. He speaks against this holy place. And Stephen says, No, it's a holy God that you should be worshiping not the temple.

You're missing it. You're relying on these outward forms and ceremonies as it relates to the temple. You're convincing yourselves that somehow you are right with God because you show up at church, convinced that you are right with God because you're associated with God's people in some way, and that you've done this or that work.

And the prophets, they tried to tell you this, it's not about the temple. The temple was always been a sign directing you to another Jeremiah tried to tell you, he says, Thus says the Lord, out of hosts, the God of Israel, and mend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words.

This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. And what Jeremiah is even saying back then, that this, this kind of form of mockery, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. And what Jeremiah is even saying, Don't trust just in the temple. It's not about the temple. It's always been about your hearts. It's always been about repentance of your sins and believing in the Messiah, in the Christ. And Stephen says, This is Jesus, the righteous one whom you should be looking at and trusting in, not the temple.

This is Jesus, whom the one that you just betrayed and murdered the temple. What did the temple represent? Why are they so fixated on the temple? Well, the temple was where God was going to be with us. But again, what does that point us to Jesus?

Because Jesus is God with us.

Jesus is the the true temple, the high priests in the temple who were the mediator between God and man. Again, that's pointing us to to Jesus. The curtain has been torn, the sacrifices, the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin, but the atonement of Christ, spilling his blood could it points to Jesus, the Mercy Seat being sprinkled, sprinkled with blood. Again, that's pointing us to Jesus, the ceremonial washings Only Jesus could cleanse us from our sins and make us pure. The lamp stands in the temple. Jesus is the light of the world, the bread. He is the bread of life in the temple, the incense, the sweet, swelling aroma. Well, guess who that points to Jesus.

It's not about the temple. Stop it with the temple. The true one has arrived. And so in many ways, Stephen is speaking against the temple. The temple is void and valid. Stop looking at the temple. Stop looking at the picture. The temple has always been about Christ. You know that I've used this illustration before, but I think it makes the point is, you know, imagine I have a picture of my wife, and I gaze at it. I adore it. I love it, but then I just fall in love with my picture, and my wife actually shows up, and I reject her, and I say, No, it's the it's the picture that I love, and that Stephen is saying, Stop it. The one that the temple is the picture of is right here, right here, and you're rejecting him. Why? Why would you be so foolish? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Look the. Christ. Everything is pointing to him. Tear up the picture. It's no more. You don't need it. He's here. Stephen is loving them by pointing them to Christ and telling them that their religion of Judaism, if it does not have Christ, it is a false religion. And this is the old and long story that Christ has had from the very beginning, from Genesis, that the snake Crusher would come. It's always been about Christ. The Old Testament has always been about Christ, and ever since Eden, man has been trying to find that its way back, their way back into the presence of God by self effort and self justification, something in my hands I bring and also to the cross, I will cling. That is usually what we like to say. But Stephen is saying it is Christ alone. And he says, You are stiff necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears.

You always resist the Holy Spirit. You are part of the Covenant family externally, maybe you're even a member of the church, but you have not inwardly embraced Christ. You have not been transformed by the Holy Spirit, because if you did, the Holy Spirit points to whom Christ, not the temple. You cut off flesh of your private parts for nothing. Stephen says, God is going to do the same to you.

You will be cut off, you will be discarded, and they are cut to the heart. But it's a very different cutting of the heart than what we saw in Acts.

Chapter Two, when they repent and say, What must we do to be saved? They are enraged. They grind their teeth. Verse 57 behold. Then Stephen says, I see the heavens opened in the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. God bears witness to the truthfulness of everything Stephen has just said by giving him a vision of the courts of heaven. And he sees Jesus, the Son of Man. Remember Jesus' favorite, a title for himself and found in Daniel chapter seven, and it's not just to verify Stephen's words, but also now, at this point, I think the comfort Stephen that Jesus is standing there, not as judge, but now to make intercession for Stephen, to welcome him home.

Jesus said to everyone who acknowledges me before men. I will also acknowledge him before my father, who's in heaven. And this is the Christian. This is the witness that we are to see through the circumstances of our life and look beyond and look above, to see Christ, to see His glory, to lift our eyes upward, to not get so fixated on the things of this world and the things that we see on the news.

We look above. We look to Christ, who is seated, and Will he ever be removed? No, he will never be removed. That's Psalm two, remember. And they scream even more at him. They plug up their ears like their children.

And it's not simply because they hate Stephen. They hate Jesus, and now they start to stone Stephen to death, verse 59 and as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold the sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Witnesses of Christ, disciples of Christ, that's our job to the very end, to our last breath.

And Stephen gave his life for that witness. There's no sense of defeat here as we begin.

There's no sense of a wasted life to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I like how it says he fell asleep. He's being pelted with stones, but it's described as peaceful because he is with Christ, and Jesus is standing to receive Stephen.

It's a victory for Stephen, it's a loss for them, and then the church will be scattered, and this was God's design for the church to go out. It's been said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, and the seed will now of the word will be spread further and further. And Steven's final words, I also think it's interesting, is not about himself, but others. It's not Lord help me here in this moment, but it's actually help them. It's an offer of mercy to those who have only earned judgment, and God actually would answer Steven's prayer at least one of those who murdered Stephen would. God would forgive someone who, with a murderous heart, who even has more wickedness to still do, will eventually be washed in the blood of Christ and be made new.

That's. All who will eventually go and evangelize the nations and become one of the best gospel preachers and witnesses of all time. And that gives us hope, because every one of us will die, and I'm going to end with this, every one of us will die. Some of us will die sooner, and some of us will die later, unless Christ returns, we only have a few more breaths. We only have a few more experiences before we stand before Christ as the judge. We confess he is coming to judge the living and the dead, and at that time, when you stand before Christ, all of your sins from the bottom of the seas of time will be cast upon the shore and presented before Jesus as the judge. And it will be a long list, a long list of accurate charges presented a list stubbornness, lust, deceitfulness, sloth, pride, greed, resisting the Holy Spirit. And the list is going to be long, and it's going to take a while, but you don't have anywhere to go, you'll be there, all presented, all on display.

That's a sad list. It's a shameful list. And if you have not embraced Christ, you will be found guilty of all of these things, and your sentence will take place, and you will be cast into the lake of fire that is hell for all of eternity. But if you hear my voice and the voice of Stephen through the power of the Spirit this morning, do not harden your hearts. There is free grace and free salvation that is found in Christ alone.

And this is what a true witness does? They repent and believe.

Because when you die, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of your sins are there before him as the judge he will then stand and say, pardoned. All of your sins have been paid in full. And then, in fact, another list will be presented, and it's a list of the active obedience of Christ.

It's a list of his perfection accepted righteous in His sight, your list is washed away. It's covered in the blood of Christ.

It's blotted out. It's cast as far as the east is from the west, and it is no more. And then you get this other list over here of everything that Christ has done, everything, all of his perfect works and his perfection, never resisting the Holy Spirit, always embracing the will of God, not stiff necked, obedient to death itself. And that is given to your account. And all you have to do for that right now is receive it by faith, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, rest upon him. Now that's what Stephen was trying to communicate, trying to tell these people who are stoning him, even the enemies of God, that is us. We have been the stiff necked people. We have resisted the Holy Spirit, and let us now repent that we might have life and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for giving us your spirit and for giving us messengers like Stephen to present Christ to us in scriptures to call us on account of our sin, to point the finger of guilt at us that we are indeed guilty of the blood of Christ, Lord. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ, Jesus, our Lord, Lord, I pray that you will indeed forgive us and cleanse us, wash away our sins and let us cast ourselves on the cross. And Lord we thank you not only that Christ takes away our sins, but thank you for his active obedience on our part, that we are made righteous and can stand before Your throne that is our only hope. Lord, be merciful to us sinners. In Jesus's name, we pray, Amen.