"A Study of the book of Acts" by Neal Pollard - Part 4

Good morning. If you turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 6, we have a lot of ground to

Acts 6 · chapter mention

cover today. We're looking at the challenges that the church faced in the book of Acts

and how they overcame them. The challenges they faced are in some ways very different

from our challenges, but in some ways, at least in application, it was as if, think

about this, it was written for us, and it is, and we can learn so much from that. So

look at Acts chapter 6. We're going to look at the first seven verses, which reveal to

Acts 6 · chapter mention

us the first of four challenges that we're going to look at today from Acts 6-8. It says,

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists

arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.

And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, It is not right that

we should give up preaching the Word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick

out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we

will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of

the Word. And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full

of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Procurus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and

Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch. Now these were, they sat before the apostles

and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the Word of God continued to increase

and the number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests

became obedient to the faith. We are seeing a challenge that's, or a cycle rather, that's

recurring throughout the book of Acts. Remember, the church is still at Jerusalem. It was established

on the day of Pentecost, not a long time before the events we're reading in Acts chapter 6.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Apostles came from every nation under heaven. They've settled here. They came before the

day of Pentecost to worship under the old law. They have been taught the gospel of Christ.

They've been obedient to the gospel. We see how they grew and continued together and began

to strengthen and grow, became known to the community. In Acts chapter 2, verse 42-47,

Acts 2:42–47

there's been opposition that has arisen, Acts chapter 3, 4, and 5. In the middle of that,

Acts 3 · chapter mention

they've had to respond to financial challenges, practical problems that have arisen because

folks have been displaced from their homes. We're going to see a different kind of a problem.

We've already had one internal problem, right, in the church at Jerusalem. What was the first

problem that the church faced from within? I saw it last week. So, Ananias and Sapphira is the

specific challenge they faced from within. What was the problem? Immorality. Okay, so there's sin

within the body of Christ, and this challenge was responded to by Peter and the rest of the

apostles, and Ananias and Sapphira are the most direct recipients of church discipline that the

church had or will ever know, perhaps, and as a result of that, the church grew. There's a challenge

that arises after every success, and then they give a God-honoring solution to that, and the church

continues to grow. So, we have our second internal problem in Acts chapter 6, and what is it? What

Acts 6 · chapter mention

we just read? Alright, so there's all the widows. Which ones? Alright, so the Hellenists, depending on

your translation to Greek. How did this happen? Okay, Russell says a little bit of prejudice. What kind of

prejudice? Alright, so we have, who are the Hellenists? Somebody said Greek. Okay, so we might call them the

transplants, right? They have come from other, they're part of what they call the Diaspora. These are Jews that

have been spread out throughout time. Some of that would have been through the various captivities of the

Old Testament. Some of that would have been through some of the succeeding world empires. Some of that would

have been because of trade, but for whatever reason, they're practicing Jews who were devout enough to

have come to Jerusalem or come back into Palestine, but they're not local. They have Greek customs. They

have Greek ways about them. We're going to see some folks that are going to be a problem for Stephen, who were

Jews, but were Greek in their language and in their thinking and their culture and their customs. We're going to

see that they even had their own synagogue in the city of Jerusalem, but these are Christians now, and they're

the Greek-speaking Jews who are being overlooked. They're being overlooked, but who's not being

overlooked? So the Hebrew Christians, the Palestinian Jews, and I want you to notice something that there's

no response except guilty as charged. This has brought the leadership, and they're saying that we have, of our

number, these Greek-speaking widows who are not being taken care of like the Hebrew-speaking widows are, and it's

not fair. The leaders did not ignore it. They did not try to defend themselves, but they get busy to try to handle that

problem, and we're going to see something about that. Just by the way, the first time the word disciple, which is a

very important word in the book of Acts, first time it's used is right here in Acts chapter 6. Who is a disciple? A

Acts 6 · chapter mention

follower or a student? Now we look at disciples in the first century. They ate with, they lived with, they walked

with, they studied not just the words of the rabbi, but the rabbi himself, and so they didn't just want to know what

the rabbi knew. They wanted to be who the rabbi was, and so it makes sense that here are disciples who are together.

They're continuing to stay together because of their desire to want to know the Christ who the apostles are

appointing them to, and so they need to be together, and as a result of this, there's a practical problem that arises,

and they've got to be able to eat every day. You remember that Barnabas and certain other Christians at the end of

Acts chapter 4, and even it was a great impulse on Ananias and Sapphira's part to sell their possessions to provide

Acts 4 · chapter mention

money so that the folks who had needs could have that met. Acts chapter 4 and verse 32. And so in the midst of this, the

Acts 4 · chapter mention

money is apparently there, but there's an oversight that takes place. Is it ever the case that Christians in the local

church have complaints that they bring to the leadership? It never happens, does it? Now it's a rarity, but if it did,

here you go, you have Acts chapter 6 to give you some guidance on that. It is very instructive, and it is kind of a side

Acts 6 · chapter mention

effect or a casualty of growth. A lot of times, a church that's in decline or that's spinning its wheels and is not really

growing doesn't have as many of these types of problems. Perhaps resources are plenty, and people are so few, you can

isolate who they are, but I want you to keep this in the context of the church is continuing to mushroom and grow, and so

these needs are beginning to spiral, and they've got to have a way. And by the way, apparently, the apostles filled with the

Holy Spirit were not fully aware that this is going on in their midst until it's brought to them. And so it's helpful for us to

see how they respond to that. Now, remember, challenges come after success. What's the success that the church is having

when this problem arises? Alright, so what's just happened? Kevin says growth. What brought about the growth?

Citywide campaign? Community loves the church? What has just happened? Alright. Yes, ma'am. Now, Ms. Laura just read chapter 5, verse 42,

and I love that. These chapter divisions are arbitrary. They're not inspired. Why don't we go back one more verse before that even?

What does verse 41 say? Okay, so two things. They were true to Christ even with suffering, even when they are pushed to stop

preaching Christ, and they said they can't do that. And so they have a no matter what mentality. We're going to continue to be

faithful to Christ. And as a part of that, we see the second thing that they did. They kept on preaching and teaching the Word of God.

They're not coasting. They're not resting on their laurels. They're moving the gospel forward, and as a result of this, the success is

revealed for us in verse 1 that the disciples continue to grow in their number, and as a result of that, this challenge that we've

talked about has been exposed. Now, I want you to notice what they did. This is the first challenge, the challenge of a complaint.

That's Acts 6 verse 1 through verse 7, and here's how they responded to that. Number one, there was discretion. Verse 2 and verse 4, you

Acts 6:1

have Peter and the rest of the apostles who are brought this problem, and as they do that, they look and they see we already have a

full-time job. What is the full-time church work of the apostles? Preaching the Word, teaching. What else? Prayer. Alright, so that is an

important, vital work, and it apparently was consuming enough that they could not both do that and provide for this practical issue that

has resolved, and so they're discerning. They discriminate. They think, okay, we can't do this, and so there's got to be a solution that's

brought to the table, and the way they handled this was delegation. How does the delegation process go? What do they say? Alright, so that's the

first fact. You pick out from among yourselves, who? Okay, worthy men, alright, and we're going to see more about who they are and who they should be

to do what? Whom we may what? To serve tables? I'm thinking ESV, so I don't know. It depends if your version made a difference. Whom we can appoint

over this work? Does your version say something like that? And what does verse 5 say? It pleased them, and then what? They chose. This is the delegation

process. The apostles say, this is not our work, to serve tables, to take care of these Grecian widows who have a problem, and so you, congregation, call out

from among yourselves, or pick out from among yourselves, individuals who are worthy whom we may appoint over this work. They did that, and as a result of this, they chose

the seven men that we're going to look at. Then there's a determination that's made. They picked a certain number. I wonder why seven? Does that tell you anything?

It's certainly, in numerology, it's a perfect number, and there may be some significance to that. The Bible doesn't tell us. It's a lot of work to do. How many deacons do we have right now?

21, 22, something around that number? Can you imagine one-third of them having a work so big that they had, now think about it, the church at Jerusalem is a little bit bigger than the church at

Cumberland Trace, but they had a full-time job, seven of them, so there's a practical side of this, that there needs to be enough men who are delegated this work so that they can get the job done

sufficiently. We want to make sure that this problem doesn't continue and that we remediate it. Now, there's a practical side, but there's also a spiritual side. What's the spiritual side?

Not just any guy could do it. So there had to be individuals who met qualifications. Then there's a devotion. The apostles aren't going to let this physical, material struggle get them off of what God has them there to do.

It can be so difficult. As we said, there are practical problems that come to the leadership of the church. We put that in a 21st century context. There are problems the elders are made aware of all the time. The way the Lord has the church organized is to have men who are deacons to be appointed that work that they may oversee that and get that done.

There needs to be staying in the lanes. The elders need to continue to do the spiritual work and the deacons may do that work. They said, we're going to devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Then there's the delight. I want you to see this. When problems are handled in a way that pleases God, then there is success, there's joy, the work goes forward.

It pleased the people. So on the front end, they go, hey, this is a good plan. We can put this to work and let's make this happen. And on the other side of that, verse 7, we're going to see that the successful plan led the church to continue to grow. And that's significant. Why do you think this worked?

Faith grow when they see people's faith and confidence in the Lord. Does that make sense?

We're going to have success. And so it builds our confidence in God. Isn't it incredible? You plant seed, what's going to happen? Even in the most untoward circumstances, there's going to be results. When we follow what the Lord says, we're going to have our greatest success, the greatest inroads that we can make. And so it builds, it inspires our confidence in God. But is there confidence in those other than God in this context?

Isn't there confidence in the apostles? We're not reading about elders yet. So these men kind of serve in the stead, at least at this point, of the elders that are very quickly going to be appointed in congregations. And so they're pleased by this plan. It builds their confidence in the leaders of the local church.

They are spiritual men who are doing the work that God has given them to do. And it also builds confidence in these seven men. We don't have any details about what that looked like when Stephen and Icahnor and Timon and Parmenas and these guys are going in amongst and building relationships with these Grecian widows and they're making sure, hey, have you gotten your food today? Or how are you doing? How's your family? But look at the unity that's forged. And we see in verse seven that there's going to be great success on the other side of this.

Even though they're feeling some external pressures and even though they're having internal problems, I mean, the immorality of Ananias and Sapphira, how might that have impacted the church? And now a segment of their congregation is being discriminated against. And the leadership says, this is not going to stand. We're going to get on this immediately and we're going to resolve that. And by the way, it's never a problem in the church in Jerusalem again.

And no wonder, even in unfavorable circumstances, there's delight. Anything else that you see there? Did you have a comment, Joe? You're just stretching your finger. All right, there you go.

Then there's a dedication. They prayed and they laid their hands on them, verse six. Now, I think maybe there's two things going on here. We see what happens when the apostles lay their hands on believers. Acts chapter eight is going to be another example, perhaps the most vivid example in the book of Acts.

Okay, they're able to impart spiritual gifts. And when we think about the apostles, they're able to impart this. We don't see any other examples of the New Testament of disciples who are able to pass on spiritual gifts to others. What about Stephen? He's able to do great wonders and works. How did that happen? Perhaps it's this laying on of the hands here.

Philip, it's going to be revealed for us there that Philip's going to be demonstrating these things. So perhaps this is in the first century context, they're laying their hands on them in order to impart these gifts. But there'd be another reason why.

Anytime you see anointing or delegation, you see some kind of a formal ordination, you see an entrusting. And so this laying on of hands is signifying these are the individuals that we are giving this work to, and we're going to let you know that this is an endorsement, this is a sending, and they send them out. So they dedicate them for this.

And then, as you might expect, there's a development. The church is going to continue to grow. We're going to see the word spread, the numbers are going to increase, and many priests are going to be obedient to the faith. And so here's the pattern, you've already mentioned it. You identify the problem, you offer a biblical solution, you get the right people in play in order to get the thing handled, and the church grows.

That pattern's going to continue all the way through the book of Acts. Just a question really quick. What kind of men are appointed to the work? Spiritual men, men who are trustworthy, men who can handle that job. Are these men deacons?

They are servants. They're going to be serving tables. So we don't want to draw conclusions the Bible doesn't warrant. We don't have elders in the church yet, we're not seeing this working on church organization until a little bit later.

In fact, as we are going to see the missionary journeys taking place, we realize that there have already been elders appointed in Jerusalem, Acts chapter 15. But when that happens, we're not exactly told where we're going today. The church is about to leave Jerusalem for the first time. They're going to have to.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

So, but do these men look like deacons? Let me just point out a couple of, I think, some strong parallels. Both are servants, verse 2. 1 Timothy 3 verse 8, calling them a deacon, deaconia, deaconos, is the idea of service or deacons serving.

1 Timothy 3:8

Number 2, both need to meet spiritual qualifications, verse 3. Full of the Holy Spirit and power and wisdom. And of course we know there are the qualifications in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 8 through verse 12. And number 3, both would be given greater opportunities to serve as the result of the work that they're doing.

1 Timothy 3:8

Does that happen for these seven men? Are they given greater opportunities? Okay. What's Stephen's greater opportunity? Preach the word and die. Alright. Can't wait to develop here. Who else? Philip. Alright, we'll say more about that when we get to Acts chapter 8. He's also going to go and serve.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

They're humble enough to do the menial task and they're holy enough to do spiritual work. May I suggest that when we look at the men who would serve a congregation as deacons, with these parallels in mind, that they ought to be men who are not just men who can do physical things, but men who are holy enough to spread the gospel and be trusted for spiritual things.

That's not opinion. That's baked into the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3, 8 through 12. Yes, sir.

It helps us to understand that we can serve on an official level. That's what Jesus did.

It can be picked up by observation. Open a bulletin. Look at page 3. If we all dedicated ourselves to page 3 of our bulletin every week, there would be a whole lot more work being done than is currently being done.

Because there's a lot of different ways. You don't have to wait for anybody to tell you to do those things that you see there.

Encourage new Christians. Have them over for a meal. Take them out to eat. Spend an hour with them. Get to know them. Folks who are in the hospital or in the nursing home who are shut in. That's an ongoing thing.

And it helps the church to grow. Because these men, what are they doing? They're serving tables. They're meeting the food requirements of the widows in the congregation. Not glamorous, but it's through this that the church grows.

And so there is no task too small, too menial, but that our doing it helps the church to be stronger and to grow.

Any other thoughts on verses 1 through verse 7?

Yep.

For sure.

Absolutely. And so maybe as a result of those seeds being planted there and the apostles fulfilling the work that they're doing, they're able to bring in folks, use their influence in order to bring those priests to be obedient to the faith.

Good point. Alright. I know I sound like an auctioneer, but I got four challenges in three chapters and I want to be a better manager of time.

Second challenge is the challenge of a dispute. In verse 8 through 15, we won't take the time to read that, but I did want to share this with you.

Yahoo Finance had a national survey that was released earlier this year in which they said that 85% of Americans had avoided at least one conversation in the last month because it might lead to conflict.

61% said it's just not worth getting into difficult discussions, and 42% said that their first instinct is to change the subject or to end the conversation so as not to get into a dispute.

Stephen had not had privy to this survey at all.

How does that jive with what Scripture tells us when there's a dispute, a conflict that's afoot?

Does Scripture give us a pattern for how to deal with difficulties that we have with one another?

Now, keep in mind what I'm about to say is a pattern for those within the body of Christ, but Stephen is on the move now.

He's been working in the church. Now he's given a different field of opportunity and he's spreading this to the community.

I'm going to try to show you that he's not the troublemaker he's sometimes pointed out to be, but he's not afraid to stand where the Lord wants him to stand, and what a convicting example that is for us.

The Lord always wants us to try to, as directly and as simply as possible, deal with one another when there's conflict between us.

In Matthew 18, 15 through 17, we are to go one-on-one and try to get that thing resolved.

Galatians 6, verse 1, if we're spiritual and someone is caught up in a trespass, we're going to go to them.

Galatians 6:1

Ephesians 4, 15, which is perhaps more on point to what we're about to see here, is that we are to speak the truth in love.

And I believe that's what Stephen does, but he's got an uphill climb.

And so we've had one challenge, the challenge of the internal problem, the needs not being met.

They follow God's pattern. The need is remedied and the church is growing.

And now Stephen is taking the gospel out of the building, into the community, and as a result of this, he finds himself in conflict with those religious leaders that Peter and John had encountered in Acts chapters 3, 4, and 5.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

And as we see that, we see him doing wonders and signs among the people.

And Stephen is going to connect his ability to do these things to the source of his power, and that's Christ.

And it leads to our next challenge.

Now I think the challenge is explained for us in the verses that we see here.

There are these groups that dispute with him.

They're trying to debate him.

They don't believe that what he's preaching about Christ is true, and so they want to call him on that.

And there are all these different groups.

Let me just say this about the freedmen.

These are folks that have been taken by Pompeii probably 60 years before Christ was born.

Some of them are coming back.

They purchased their freedom and they come back to Palestine.

They are Greek-speaking, and so they have their own synagogue, the Synagogue of the Freedmen.

These four groups of people that Luke mentions tell us they're probably from North Africa,

and that's where they had gone to.

Some of them have gone to Rome, but they've come back.

So they're Greek-speaking Jews, and they are disputing with Stephen and his message.

They don't like what he's having to say.

They can't withstand his message.

He is telling them the truth, and they don't have the ability to be his equal in this debate.

And so what they do is they round up secretly these false witnesses that they're going to gin up against him,

depending on how things go.

And these freedmen stir up all the people, including the religious leaders, to be upset with Stephen.

What is Stephen doing in all of this?

For all we can see, he's continuing with this withering message that they can't withstand.

They physically assault him, they restrain him, and then they set up those false witnesses.

And back in step two, those false witnesses that they had instigated,

they bring them here and they are going to hold Stephen to account.

Now what I want you to see about this is that this dispute is not resolved.

This challenge is not resolved.

It leads to a third challenge.

So first challenge, physical needs need to be met.

That is addressed, and on the other side of that, the church grows.

Now there's a dispute.

These Jewish leaders are calling Stephen into account, and he's going to have to give trial.

He's going to be on trial.

He's going to have to give a defense for himself.

And in 7 verse 1, the high priest is going to say, what do these things mean?

So it leads us right into the third challenge.

And that's the challenge of angry listeners.

And there's no way in the world we can read Acts chapter 7,

Acts 7 · chapter mention

but a lot of it is a sermon in which Stephen, or a defense,

in which he reviews Jewish history and he's going to show some certain themes

that recur throughout time to make the point he's going to make about Jesus.

And when we see this challenge, I want you to notice some things about this.

I want you to notice that Stephen, in his response,

is trying to be reasonable with some folks that aren't reasonable.

They're not impartial. They're not fair-minded.

We just saw the steps that they took to work around justice and righteousness,

all in the name of religion.

Wouldn't you think that people who profess belief in Christ ought to be,

or believe in a Christ, they don't believe the Messiah is Jesus,

but they believe the plan.

They believe the Old Testament is pointing ahead to a Messiah.

They are religious people. They serve the same God.

They have the same religious heritage.

Wouldn't you think of all people that religious people ought to be

impartial and fair-minded and open-minded?

Is that your experience?

Why not?

Why can religious people get irate, enraged, and upset?

Lose their cool and get to a point where they can't even rationally discuss the subject?

Not at all trying to be sarcastic.

It's a fair question because obviously it happens.

Why does it happen?

Okay, a loss of control for them, for the religious leaders.

A change of the way things are done in which they have...

This is the Sanhedrin Council that Stephen is standing in front of.

The governing body of the Jews.

The ones who have the influence and the sway over the people.

And so the message, they're getting it.

They're connecting the dots.

If Christ has brought about a change of the law,

and things aren't like they were under the old law,

then that's going to mean something different for them.

Yes, ma'am?

Okay.

They think they're right.

And they believe that they're the ones that have to stand up,

or the truth is going to suffer.

Now, I know in your mind maybe you're applying that outwardly in the religious world,

and that's a fair application.

Is that a human tendency?

Aren't there...

Let me just ask you this in kind of a broad sense.

Have you ever held a position that you were certain was right,

and somebody came along and showed you something different?

What'd you do?

Oh, okay, nobody ever explained to me that way.

Sure, fine, I'm right there with you.

Is that how you handle it?

If you are, you're exceptional.

A lot of times,

and the more certain we are that we're right,

and somebody's telling us that we're not,

the more upset we get.

Why?

Well, there's a lot of things.

Yes, it could be personal vested power.

It could also be,

this is what my mom, my dad believed.

This is what our community has always felt and thought,

and we have sacrificed.

We have lived in such a way.

Now, look, the difference between Acts chapter 7,

Acts 7 · chapter mention

although the Pharisees had distorted the law a while back,

Jesus pointed that out,

but they're in substance, they're right,

but there's a new right teaching in the eyes of God.

But whether that's the case or not,

what is Stephen doing to confirm his message?

Miracles and wonders and signs.

Is it inconsistent with what the Old Testament was pointing to?

No, but they're blind.

They're blind by prejudice,

and so I'm setting the stage,

get you in just a second, Mike.

I'm setting the stage for how Stephen's challenge is so great

to try to speak the truth to angry listeners,

where they already got their hackles up,

they're already on edge,

they already think, man, there's something about you suspicious,

and I'm disinclined to believe that you're right.

Now, go.

See, that's tough.

All right, yes, sir.

How do we react to the word control?

Who did the Bible say is the first king of Israel?

Who did the Bible say?

I answered the first one.

I answered the second one.

David and Ish-bosheth.

I was marked wrong for both of us

in the book of Judges.

The men of Shechem made him king for three years.

If you study and know anything about Israel,

David didn't immediately follow Israel.

Ish-bosheth was appointed for seven years and served as king.

And someone mentioned to me, well, yeah,

but in Judges it doesn't say God.

So the question is, in this crowd here,

do you believe that Bimelech is the first king over Israel?

Do you believe that David and Ish-bosheth

reject the other two?

That's a good example.

Yeah, well, I think Stephen probably would have exchanged that one

for what he's teaching.

He's teaching Christ is the Messiah,

and they are definitely not ready to receive that.

Being receptive to truth is important.

Let me show you what he does.

First thing he does is he seeks connection.

Verse 2, how does he seek a connection?

How does he address them?

Brothers and fathers, I guess I'd missed that before.

How have they been addressing him?

How have they been dealing with him before this time?

They're trumping up false witnesses.

They're putting him on trial.

They've not been fair with him.

Do you notice the kindness and the decorum?

And I want you to notice if you'll walk through the sermon

that he does a lot of this.

He says, our fathers.

Well, first of all, our father Abraham.

And then I think it's eight times in this defense,

from verse 11 to verse 45, he says, our fathers,

talking about our ancestors.

And then I think it's about verse 19, he says, our race.

I think there's a great tactic for us to keep in mind.

When we are trying to share sensitive truth with people

who maybe are not quite ready to receive it

and who may be upset with us,

it's to try to seek connection.

So something to keep in mind is

when you are dealing with somebody

who might be upset potentially,

speak in terms of us and our.

Try to be careful about you and your, what you have done.

You see how he wraps as much as he can?

Building rapport is important, and that's how he begins,

is let's see what we have in common.

What do they have in common?

They have a common family, a common heritage,

a common community, and he's leveraging that.

There's great wisdom.

When you're dealing with angry listeners, build connections.

All right, the second thing he does

to try to deal with angry listeners is he emphasizes God.

It is hard to read this defense without coming,

if you take a highlighter and you highlight

the names of deity as you go through,

21 times in this sermon are explicit names of deity found.

Lord and God and Righteous One and Holy Spirit,

not counting the pronouns.

They can't go very far in listening to him

before they hear him talking about God,

and the emphasis on God is an important lesson for us.

He mentions God's nature.

He's the God of glory, verse 2.

A hearkening maybe to Psalm 29 and verse 3,

the God of glory thunders.

And if you go to that psalm, you'll see how it speaks

of God's omnipotence and his omniscience.

But what we see more is how, we see his glory, by the way,

at the burning bush as well, as Stephen mentions that.

But the thing about God that Stephen emphasizes the most

is what God does.

There's who God is, his glorious nature.

But Stephen is emphasizing the work of God

throughout each one of these places

that he stops on the road of Israelite history.

He talks about what God did.

Look, in verse 2 and verse 30, he appeared.

Verse 4, he removed.

Verse 6, he spoke.

Verse 7, he said.

Verse 9, he is with Joseph.

Verse 17, he granted.

He's giving, verse 25.

He sent, verse 35.

He's gonna raise up, verse 37.

He drove out, verse 45.

So what does this tell them about God?

I mean, an emphasis like that all the way through,

he's driving it down home.

He's in control.

God has been at work through the ages.

God has not been detached from all of this.

He has been involved through the lives of all of these patriarchs,

all of these people in your history.

That's who God is.

And so what you're seeing now is a continuation of God

who had been consistent with his nature,

and he's brought Christ into the world.

And that's what you're presented with.

That's what you've got to deal with.

What we know is right

is all that we can say that's faithful to the word about God,

who he is and what he's done.

When you're dealing with angry listeners,

take it out of the realm of me and you

and put it in the realm of God

because a right thinking, a right theology about God

is going to lead to right results.

All right, number 3, he appeals to history.

Yes, ma'am, go ahead.

Okay, what has happened to me in the past

is that I'm always afraid to say,

you're wrong, this is right,

because I know what their opinion is.

So I, and this is probably not good,

but I have said, well, this is how I read it.

But at what point do I just say,

no, you're wrong?

Okay, so Kim asked a great question,

and we're going to get there here in just a minute,

is what point do you get to the point

where you say something a little bit more pointed,

like, you're wrong?

And I think what we can say before we get there

is the Bible says,

because there's this tendency,

and I think it's to soften the blow,

how I read it.

Maybe if we say, let's notice what the passage says.

And a lot of times what you can do is say,

as they do it in Scripture,

how does that read to you?

What is that telling you?

Take it off of your plate and put it onto theirs.

Not what do I feel or think,

what have I been taught,

but what does it say?

And that's exactly what Stephen is doing here.

But he's going to get to the point

where that's not going to work anymore.

The appeal to history, by the way,

is to show the scheme of redemption.

Whenever we talk about Scripture,

historically, it is his story.

And that's exactly what Stephen is doing here.

He's also showing a pattern.

There's a pattern that exists

that he shows throughout the entire defense.

And here they are.

All the way through, here's the themes.

God raised up a deliverer.

Number two, God's people initially reject the deliverer.

And number three,

God vindicates and exalts the rejected person,

making him the means of salvation.

Well, show me that.

Joseph.

How is Joseph dealt with?

Remember Joseph and his dreams?

What happens with him when that happens?

The brothers reject him.

They sell him into slavery.

And then what happens?

God uses that in order to save them.

How about Moses?

How does Moses,

how does that work with him being among the people?

Remember the slave?

The two of them are fighting.

Stephen appeals to this and he says that Moses went,

he thought that they knew he was going to deliver them.

What do they say?

No thanks.

Yeah, we saw what you did.

You're not going to be a leader over us.

But at least when he comes back in the last 40 years of his life,

at least now they're ready to listen to him.

Remember the wilderness wandering,

how compliant and wonderful the Israelites were during that time?

Stephen brings that up to say,

here's another example.

He gives a third example, the prophets.

God keeps sending the prophets to them.

And what do they do with the prophets?

From Abel to Zechariah.

They kill them.

They hurt them.

They persecute them.

But what's God doing through the prophets?

Sharing his message.

And they're vindicated.

They're shown to be right.

In fact, do you remember in Jesus' day,

how did the Pharisees in Matthew 23,

how did they feel about the prophets?

If they had been alive with their fathers,

would they have killed the prophets?

According to them?

According to them, the Pharisees?

No.

But Jesus says the fact that you notice this

makes you complicit with them.

You garnish the tombs and so forth.

By the way, Jesus says that to the Pharisees in Matthew 23.

What happens two or three days later?

They crucify him.

Stephen says all this.

What's going to happen to him in a few minutes?

It's going to be the end.

But he's showing them a pattern.

By the way, the other pattern we don't have time to look at is

they vested everything in Jerusalem, in the temple.

And Stephen shows this pattern throughout the sermon to say

God appeared to these great people you revere

in places far from Jerusalem.

Where does he appear to Abraham?

In Mesopotamia.

Where does he appear to Joseph?

In Egypt.

Where does he appear to Moses?

First at Midian when he's tending sheep at the burning bush

and then in the wilderness.

Where does he appear to the Israelites?

Out in the wilderness.

And so he shows them the pattern.

Then we get to the part that Kim's talking about.

He convicts of sin.

He has tried every way to connect them, to emphasize God,

to try to appeal to their hearts, to show them what the truth is.

I don't know if he sees something in their face, but it changes.

He does change his tactic from our fathers.

In verse 51 and 52, he says, your fathers.

And for a particular reason, he's saying what your fathers did to the prophets.

It's how you're acting.

Here's what he does when he convicts them of sin.

He says, you stiff-necked people.

It's an agricultural metaphor.

I thought Larry Mills might be in here.

I don't know because I'm not one.

I have a dairy cow.

Anybody that's ever dealt with, and I guess I never dealt with beef cattle.

Maybe they're the same way.

If a heifer's not halter trained.

Anybody ever tried to pull a cow that didn't want to go to the barn?

They stiffened their neck.

I like to think I'm kind of strong.

But if it doesn't want to go, it takes more than I can do.

He is saying that you're stiff.

That's what you've done with the will of God.

You've stiffened your neck.

You uncircumcised.

That's going to really raise the temperature of heart and ears.

Jeremiah 4 and verse 4.

Remove the foreskin of your hearts.

Don't be disobedient.

You always resist the Holy Spirit.

And we'll close out on here.

How do they resist the Holy Spirit?

There's the wonders and the signs.

But how's the Holy Spirit communicating on this occasion?

Through Stephen's message.

They're resisting that.

You're just like your fathers.

Ouch.

And you didn't keep the law.

Is there anything he said that's ugly, unfair, unkind?

Isn't it true?

But he's crossed the line of safety.

And it's going to cost him his life.

I believe I'm next week.

So we'll just pick up in chapter 8 and clean up a little bit here in chapter 7.

But this challenge is going to have a resolution.

As bad as it seems right now.

Thanks very much for your attention this morning.