Stephen: Defender Of The Faith
Introduction
This is the longest message in the book of Acts and one of the most important. Before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the three great pillars of popular Jewish piety were the land, the law, and the temple. In this message, Stephen reviewed the history of Israel and the contributions made by their revered leaders: Abraham 2-8, Joseph 9-17, Moses 18-44, Joshua 45, and David and Solomon 46-50. But this message was more than a recitation of familiar facts; it was also a refutation of their familiar facts; it was also a refutation of their indictments against Stephen and a revelation of their own national sins. Stephen proved from their own Scriptures that the Jewish nation was guilty of worse sins than those they had accused him of committing.
Stephen knew what Richard Baxter said to be true: "I preach as a dying man to dying men and women as if never to preach again."
Let me relate this truth personally and concisely to us. We wonder about the approach Stephen took when he was given the opportunity to speak. It would appear that he took a very long period of time recounting the history of Israel and telling at great length about personalities of the Old Testament about whom the Sadducees and Pharisees had heard thousands of times since they were old enough to understand. But had they understood? Did they have any idea of the deeper meaning, the purpose, the fulfillment, and culmination in the Messiah? Stephen carefully selected the events he retold, each one to build to the one point he wanted to make. Stephen established his credentials as a faithful Hebrew student who knew his faith. Further, he wanted to show the faithfulness and goodness of God all through Israel's history, leading up to the gracious and forgiving gift of His Son.
I. His Defense Before The Sanhedrin 1 ff
"are these things so" - proper protocol allowed the accused to respond to the charges; are these charges true? How do you plead?
5:11 "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God" 5:13 "against this holy place and the law"
We are to be able to defend our faith.
1 Peter 3:15, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear."
"answer" - word for apology, where we get our word "apologetics" - a speech in defense of something
Titus 1:9, "holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict."
"to convict" - to refute those who contradict
In Phil 1:17, Paul spoke in the defense of the gospel: "For I am appointed for the defense of the gospel"
A Defender of the Faith is also a Presenter of the Truth!
Acts 17:2-3, "Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.'"
Jude 3, "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."
II. His Devotion To The Scriptures 2-44
A. Abraham And His Call 2-8
Instead of blaspheming God, He glorified God.
v.2 "The God of glory" - Stephen's message opens with "the God of glory" and closes with the glory of God. (v.55); and all the time he spoke, his face radiated that same glory. His glory is the composite of all His attributes.
The Jews greatly revered Abraham and prided themselves in being his "children." But they confused physical descent with spiritual experience and depended on their national heritage rather than their personal faith.
The Jews were blind to the simple faith of Abraham and the patriarchs, and they had cluttered it with man-made traditions that made salvation a matter of good works, not faith. God has no grandchildren. Each of us must be born into the family of God through personal faith in Jesus Christ.
John 8:33, "They answered Him, 'We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free'?"
Principle: Abraham was saved, not because he was circumcised, kept a law, or worshiped in a temple. Abraham was saved by grace, through faith; He believed the promises of God and it was this faith that saved him.
The Jews prided themselves in their circumcision, failing to understand that the rite was symbolic of an inner spiritual relationship with God.
Philippians 3:3, "For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
Colossians 2:12-13, "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses."
B. Joseph And Moses And Their Comission 9-44
1. Joseph 9-16
Joseph and Moses were God-sent deliverers. They would both be rejected as deliverers the first time, but were accepted the second time. These truths illustrate how Israel rejected Jesus Christ.
Stephen now changed his angle of attack to show that the Jewish people, right from the start, had resisted God's plan for them. Their unbelief had begun with their treatment of Joseph, one of the great types of Christ in the Old Testament. As the Sanhedrin had rejected Jesus, so the patriarchs rejected Joseph, and for the same reason - envy.
The sons of Jacob united to get rid of Joseph. The children of Israel united to get rid of Jesus.
The patriarchs resented Joseph because of his goodness. Their "badness" was highlighted by that "goodness." As a jeweler will place a diamond on black velvet and shine a bright light upon it so that its faces and facets might blaze against the light-absorbing background, so Joseph's goodness stood out in brilliant contrast to their wickedness.
Stephen had no need to draw the obvious parallel with Jesus.
Joseph was rejected of his brethren, sold for the price of a slave, handed over to Gentiles, falsely accused, and made to suffer for sins not his own. He was cast out by the Gentiles and put in the place of death.
He took possession of the keys of the prison and ruled there as he ruled everywhere.
Nor could that place of death hold him. He came forth in triumph to be exalted to the right hand of the majesty. He was given a name that was above every name, that at the name "Savior of the
World," (Gen. 41:45), every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he was lord, to the glory of the Pharaoh.
Stephen had no need to tell the story or to make all the obvious applications of that story to Christ.
God was able to take their rejection of Joseph and make it, in the end, an instrument of worldwide salvation.
Gen. 50:20 reminds us that what "You meant for evil, God meant it for good."
This is just what God did through Jesus at Calvary. The cross represents the greatest tragedy in man's dealing with God, the final expression of sin. At the same time, it represents the greatest triumph in God's dealings with man. For God took our sins and, in Christ, nailed them all to the tree.
Colossians 2:14, "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
John Phillips:
"In the meantime, God set in motion a chain of circumstances designed to bring Joseph's kinsmen to his feet. The rejection of Joseph meant the beginning of sorrows for the chosen people. A famine came. The time of Jacob's trouble came. The circumstances of life frowned upon the chosen people, and they began to look for a savior. And, also unknown to them in their unbelief, they were being driven to Joseph."
Remember, when Joseph was exalted, it was with a Gentile bride to share his exaltation.
2. Moses 17-44
Stephen has given defense against blaspheming God, and now he takes up Moses.
v.17 "the time of promise" - refers to the time when God would fulfill His promise to Abraham. It is fulfillment of Acts 7:5.
Stephen portrays Moses as "well-pleasing to God" or "lovely in the sight of God." After telling the detailed story of Moses, Stephen says in v.35.
Acts 7:35, "This Moses whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' is the one God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush."
This was a constant pattern in Israel's history - spiritual pride coupled with spiritual ignorance that causes them to reject the deliverers God sends them.
It is sometimes argued that Jesus could not have been the Messiah, or else Israel would have recognized Him. Stephen reminds us they rejected Joseph and Moses. The Jews response to Moses' life, like their response to Joseph's, parallels their response to Christ.
Great Truth:
It was Moses that predicted Messiah would come, in Deut. 18:15.
Acts 7:37, "This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.'"
John 6:14, "Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, 'This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.'"
They were doing again what their fathers had done - rejecting the God-sent deliverers. Only this was more serious than all the others combined! This was the Messiah they were rejecting!
Had the Sanhedrin been willing to consider the facts, they could not have missed the parallels between their nation's history and their behavior toward Jesus.
Note: Moses humbled himself by leaving Pharaoh's Palace. Jesus humbled Himself by becoming a man.
Moses was rejected at first - so was Jesus. (John 1:11)
Moses was a shepherd----Jesus, "the Good Shepherd."
Moses redeemed his people from bondage in Egypt. Jesus redeemed men from bondage to sin.
The history of Moses foreshadows the history of Jesus Christ. Truth About Rejecting The Law:
Note v.38-42
Acts 7:38-42, "This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us, whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, 'Make us gods to go before us; as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: 'Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?'"
v.42 God turned and "gave them up..." This describes the judgment of God when He takes His hands off and permits sinners to have their own way.
Stephen then quotes Amos 5:25-27 in vv.42-43 to remind them that in outward form they were worshiping Jehovah, but in their hearts they were worshiping foreign gods.
C. Joshua, David, And Solomon Their Contribution 45-50
Joshua speaks of the tabernacle in the wilderness which served as a constant symbol of God's holy presence. Yet, they persisted in falling into idolatry.
David desired to build God a house, but Solomon was allowed. The transitory nature of both lead to Stephen's point.
Acts 7:48, "However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says"
Solomon understood this:
1 Kings 8:27, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!"
Stephen was not guilty of blaspheming the temple - they were, for confining God to it.
III. His Declaration About The Savior Before The Sanhedrin 51-53
Three ways in which the Holy Spirit can be opposed:
1. Quenched.
By allowing men to usurp His authority, by refusing to follow His leading, or by allowing evil to take root.
2. Grieved.
It is a love-word. We can grieve only someone who loves us and who stands in a special relationship to us.
Both those who quench and grieve the Spirit are those who are Spirit-indwelt believers
3. Resisted.
Speaks of their persistent and continuing opposition to God.
v.51: Their sin had never been forgiven. They were unclean before God as uncircumcised Gentiles. That was the ultimate condemnation.
v.52-53: They were without excuse, since the law and the prophets pointed to Christ.
John 5:39, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."
John 5:46, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me."
Matthew 23:28-32, "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt."
"Just One" - Righteous One; Messiah