Would you please open your Bibles to the book of Acts, the book of Acts chapter 7. We'll begin reading at verse 54 and continue on to verse 60. Find here a very well-known passage of the stoning of Stephen. Acts 7, verses 54 to 60. This is the Word of God. When they had heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. At this, they covered their ears, and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. When he had said this, he fell asleep. So far the reading in the Word of God. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you that we could gather together once again this evening to look at your Word. May your Word speak to us through the power of your Holy Spirit. Please fill me, your servant, with your Holy Spirit, that the words I proclaim may not be my own, but yours. And fill us all with the Holy Spirit, that we may hear what you have to say to us. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, jumping right into the middle of Acts maybe seems a difficult task, but really when we look at the book of Acts, What it is, is a tale of Christ building His church after He has left this earth. And that is exactly what we see in the narrative of Stephen. Christ is building His church through the Holy Spirit. Now I must say, initially, that's not why I chose this passage. I chose it for a class where we're preaching through narratives and I chose it because Stephen's one of my favorite biblical characters. And in studying this section and preparing for this sermon, I had to ask myself, why is Stephen one of my favorite biblical characters? And really, I think the reason initially was because he's sort of a superstar of the New Testament, a superstar of the faith. What a great story. This man is introduced as a man with great wisdom and great faith, full of the Holy Spirit. And he comes to this tragic end, professing the truth of the gospel. And I think we as Americans, and I think if you look back in history, many cultures have appreciated this type of figure. There's a reason Braveheart did so well in the box office. There's a reason Gladiator was such a popular movie. We like martyrs, we like people who go up against tremendous odds and fight for what's right and tragically die while they're still fighting with their last fleeting breath. But beloved, I would say that is not why Stephen is such a great figure. Certainly it is an amazing tale of a man who dies, but something I said earlier is what I think is the main focus of why we should like this narrative of Stephen and why we should like Stephen so much. Because Stephen is filled with the Holy Spirit. From the very first introduction we have of Stephen in chapter 6, verse 5, it introduces him as a man filled with the Holy Spirit. And what that means is when we talk about Stephen, we talk about the Holy Spirit using him for his ends. So the message when looking at Stephen is not Stephen. The message when looking at Stephen is Stephen's message. This message that points us to the Son. And what we see in this narrative of Stephen is Christ building His church through the Holy Spirit. And we see this in three ways. First, the Holy Spirit works through the words of His messenger. Secondly, the Holy Spirit works through the death of His messenger. And finally, the Holy Spirit works through the successors to His messenger. So first we look at what this means to say the Holy Spirit works through the words of his messenger. Because this may strike you as odd at first glance, because where are the words of Stephen? Well, they're before the section we read. From verses 2 to 53, Stephen is preaching to the people. And we see in these words the content of his words and the response to his words. The words of the Holy Spirit's messenger. At the beginning, or I should say at the end of chapter 6, Stephen is accused. He's accused before the Sanhedrin. They say this fellow never stops speaking against the holy place and against the law. And so what does Stephen go on to do? He basically sums up the entirety of the Old Testament's redemptive history in 49 verses. From verses 2 to 50, he gives the Gospel in the Old Testament form. And he says, basically what Stephen's saying is, here's what I believe. And can you find any fault in this? And from what we see, the Jews could not have found fault. Because the message he proclaimed was right in line with what they would proclaim. He talked about Abraham and the covenant that came to him. How Isaac was maintained. Jacob, the twelve patriarchs. How the Lord maintained Joseph in Egypt and rose up Moses out of Midian. And Joshua to take them into the promised land. And gave King David and Solomon to build the holy temple. So he gives all this to say to the Sanhedrin, what is your accusation? I'm proclaiming the same things you proclaim. I've never spoken against the law. And as to the other accusation, against the holy place, he quotes Isaiah 66 verses 1 and 2 when he says in verse 49 of chapter 7, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? And it's here where Stephen is turning to say, I'm not speaking against these things, but I'm saying they have been fulfilled. Why do you seek for an earthly holy place? God says that His holy place is everywhere. And that has been brought to bear by Jesus Christ coming and dying. He is the temple. And so he presents the gospel to his accusers in the content of his words. And then in verses 51 to 53, he rebukes them. Which you'd have to think is pretty gutsy. When you have a room full of men who are just waiting for an excuse to kill you. He doesn't back down. And again, it's not because of any might that he has in himself. But right now these men have no weight over him because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. He does not fear them, so he brings a rebuke. You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. This is a great phrase because he's showing how they're stubborn. This was often a phrase the prophets would use when coming to the Israelites, when they weren't hearing the Word of God. you stiff-necked people. And then he points to the fact that they hold these signs above what the sign pointed to. You may be uncircumcised in the flesh, you may be circumcised in the flesh, you may have that covenant sign, but you're uncircumcised in heart and ears. And I think that can be a warning even to us today, that sometimes we look at coming to church and taking communion and being baptized as these signs that are great in and of themselves. But we must remember, we must not be like these people, these stiff-necked Israelites. Remember that these signs, hearing the Word of God proclaimed, coming to the table of the Lord, presenting our children for baptism, are only good if we look to what they point to, If we see what the sign signifies. So these are the contents of Stephen's words that lead us to this narrative. The words of the messenger of the Holy Spirit. And then we see the response to his words. It's not a surprising response. They reject the truth that he proclaims. We read, when they heard this, they were furious and they gnashed their teeth at him. Gnashing of the teeth is often a sign of anger, an image we see often in the Bible. They were furious at Stephen. They did not want to hear what he had to say. And so what does Stephen do? What is his response to their response? Does he flee? Does he run? Does he apologize? Does he beg for their forgiveness? No. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Look, he said, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. The words of the messenger stay true because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Remember, that's how he's introduced in Acts 6 verse 5. As a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. And beloved, we are filled with this Holy Spirit. So when adversity comes to us, let us respond as Stephen did. Not in fear, not in doubt. But in confidence, because we too are filled with this Holy Spirit. And we see because this man, Stephen, is filled with the Holy Spirit and will not forsake or abandon the words that he proclaims, he is killed. But we see that the Holy Spirit even uses the death of his messenger. And that's our second point. The Holy Spirit, we saw first, has worked through the words of his messenger. And secondly, he works through the death of his messenger. Now, the question we might ask might sound odd, because I think all of you would give an audible no if I asked you to respond. Is this a righteous judgment? What happens to Stephen? And the reason I ask it is because certainly the men throwing the stones thought that it was. In Leviticus 24, verse 14, we read a charge, Take the blasphemer outside the camp. And then later, the entire assembly is to stone him. And in Deuteronomy 17, verses 4 and 5, Investigate it thoroughly. If it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death. And it's ironic because we can find two verses here that would seem to give warrant to what the Israelites were doing. But clearly, they were doing exactly what Stephen had rebuked them for. In that passage where he calls them stiff-necked people, he says, You are like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one. And now you have betrayed and murdered him. And they were falling right in line with doing it again with Stephen. In the Old Testament, we find references to true prophets being killed quite often. In 1 Kings 18, Jezebel goes on a killing spree. And Obadiah has to hide. Tradition would have it that Isaiah was killed. And we see record of John the Baptist's death in Matthew 14. His head being brought on a platter. The one who proclaimed the coming of the righteous one. And certainly his words are true that they killed the righteous one, Jesus Christ, when he came. And here Stephen is treated with those same words. He almost gives prophetic words. I mean, he almost prophesies his death a couple minutes before it happens. He knows what's coming. He says, you killed the prophets who proclaimed Christ. You killed Christ himself. What do you think is going to happen to the one who comes after Christ proclaiming to these same people hard of heart? So obviously this wasn't a righteous judgment against Stephen. They were unbelievers who showed their hardness of heart. In 57 we read, at this they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. This is murder. This is not just execution. But in the midst of an unrighteous judgment, we see the picture of the righteous judge. Jesus is interceding. Stephen says, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. He is standing, beloved. That's not a small thing. So often we think of Christ seated at the right hand of the Father. But in this instance, He's standing because He's interceding for His servant Stephen. He's standing. Witnesses in the New Testament had to stand in the courtroom to defend themselves. The priests who offered sacrifices for intercession stood in the Old Testament when they were interceding. And here Stephen looks up to heaven and he sees Jesus Christ interceding at the hand of the righteous judge. So as a result, Stephen has the comfort of a believer's death that in itself is still proclaiming the message the Holy Spirit would have him proclaim. First of all, we see that his death is abounding in peace. In verse 59, he says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. There's no fear of judgment. There's no doubt. Because he sees Jesus Christ interceding at the right hand of the Father. So his words can echo the words of Christ on the cross. In Luke 23, verse 46, Into your hands I commit my spirit. So his death is abounding in peace, and it's abounding in love. He has no anger towards his murderers. In verse 60, he says, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Which echo the words of Christ in Luke 23, verse 34. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. These are the words that Stephen can cry out because he has no fear and he has no hatred towards these men. He only pities them and prays that they would not have these sins held against them. But what's interesting is one saying that Christ had on the cross that is absent from the lips of Stephen is found in Matthew 27, 46. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Those words never pass Stephen's lips. He never thinks he has been forsaken or forgotten. Because Christ has already cried these words out. These are words that Stephen does not need to say. Because one has come before him and already said them. And beloved, that is encouragement to us. We'll never have to cry that phrase out. because Christ already has. So we see that even in the death of this servant Stephen, the Holy Spirit is working to build his church through Jesus Christ. And finally, we see the Holy Spirit working not only through the death of his messenger, not only through the words of his messenger, But finally, the Holy Spirit works by the successors to his messenger. We read immediately after this a few verses that would seem discouraging, that persecution broke out on the church. And Saul went from house to house, driving people out. But then in 8 verse 4 we read, Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed Christ there. Get the idea that all these people weren't running frightened and scared. Stephen is dead. Our cause is lost. The church has gone down in flames. But no, they go forth preaching. And the term we find there is the same term for the Gospel. Literally, they went around gospeling. They spoke about the Gospel wherever they went. May that encourage us that in the midst of persecution, there is no persecution so great that it can take the gospel away from us. We may always go forth preaching the gospel. And what we also see is that the Lord, though Stephen has died in this way, the Lord is preserving his church, preserving his other messengers. I've been making a lot of reference to Acts 6 verse 5, where Stephen is introduced. Well, the name that follows Stephen is Philip. Philip is appointed as a preacher as well. And the passage brings us back to this man, Philip. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. And you almost get this impression that you've knocked off Stephen, but now Philip's going forth. And if you knock off Philip, the man after Philip will rise up. So we see that amongst His scattered messengers, the Holy Spirit is working by sending them as successors to the messenger Stephen. But that's not all, beloved. In the successors, we also see His surprising messenger. In verse 58, we read, The witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. This almost seems a passing reference, sort of, what's the point of mentioning this guy? But that's often an indication that it's very important. If something seems like a passing reference that you can just throw away in the Bible, chances are it's very important, and it's very true here. Because we see that this man Saul was the very man who would be called on that road to Damascus and become Paul and would be one of the greatest apostles in the New Testament. What was Saul doing? That's sort of an odd statement. They laid their clothes at his feet. Well, in Acts 22, verse 20, Paul explains this a little more furtherly. He says he was guarding the clothes of those who were going to kill him. He was the coat man of Stephen's murderers. They said, Saul, could you watch my clothes for a minute? I'm taking off my jacket to go stone this man, this blasphemer. And he was happy to do it, giving his approval. And then the following verses to this narrative show that the Saul that was mentioned in passing in verse 58 is very prominent. In 8 verse 1 we read, Saul was there giving approval to his death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem. And all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them into prison. From this picture, who would have thought that this man would be the church's next great leader? Well, with man it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. And that's what we see with this man, Stephen. Because in chapter 9 of Acts, the Holy Spirit accomplishes his task. On the road to Damascus, Jesus Christ confronts this man. This is the worst character we've seen in Acts thus far. And the Lord takes him and makes him a great apostle. The Holy Spirit brought this man from death to life. And it's an interesting thought because Saul was probably standing at this stoning and thinking, what a fool this man is, dying for this message. And where is his God now? Because as he kneels being pummeled with stones, he is dying and I stand here alive. But after Saul's conversion, he realizes the truth. That man kneeling down, being pummeled with stones, was truly alive. Where Saul stood there, a dead man. And this same man who stood at Stephen's death would ultimately have the same attribute that Stephen did. There was nothing in him, not any wisdom, not any might, not any beauty, not any riches. but a man filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 9, verse 17, Ananias speaks to Paul saying, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit. This man, Paul, who stood at Stephen's death, would later say these words in Philippians 1.21. They were at the top of the handout we sang last week. For me to live as Christ and to die as gain. And this simple verse is a description of the life of Stephen. A life proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. He could do no other. And when he looked to heaven, and when he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, he did not see death as loss, but as gain. And beloved, we can almost be jealous of Stephen's vision. That he looked to heaven, and that he saw Jesus Christ. Well, this evening Christ gives us that vision. In the bread and the wine, we see the body and blood of Jesus Christ before us this evening. So let us come to the table that we may see Christ and be filled with His Holy Spirit. Amen. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You for Your gospel truths. We thank You that the message of Your servant Stephen is not his own might and strength, but that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Please fill us with Your Holy Spirit, Lord, that when times of testing should come, we would not deny You, but that we would look to the words of Paul and say, for me to live as Christ and to die as gain. We thank You for these words. May they encourage us and give us comfort throughout this coming week. And please be with us, Lord, as we come to your table to take of the bread and wine. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. This we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.