Stephen’s Final Hour

[00:00:00] Let's turn to acts. Acts, chapter seven. We want to finish Acts, chapter seven tonight, if the Lord's willing. And we want to look at the final hour of Stephen. The final stephen's final hour, starting in verse number 54. [00:00:16] Starting in verse 54 down through verse number 60. So let's read that. [00:00:22] Bible says when I when they heard these things, they were up to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. [00:00:45] Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. All right, let's pray one more time. Lord in heaven, I pray for Your blessing upon Your word that you would give Your people just exactly what they need from Your word. And guide me, Lord, that I might be able to say what they need and that you would take control of Our service. And especially as we focus upon what You've said, what I say doesn't matter. But, Lord, what you've said does matter. And I pray it would truly edify and strengthen Your people, lord, please do among us, Lord, what only you can do because we ask in Jesus name. Amen. [00:01:44] All right, so in chapter seven, verse 54, one thing that's really that we kind of got to start with in verse number 54 is that Stephen is filled with the Spirit. What does that mean? We've already studied the filling of the Spirit and so we understand Doctrinally, what that means. It's such a powerful influence of the Spirit of God that the Spirit of God is controlling a person. Now, by control we don't mean in the same way that you see demonic spirits controlling people. When demonic spirits control people, they have no volition of their own. [00:02:23] The devil is in complete control of everything they do. However, with the Spirit of God, what it is, is compared to alcohol, it's an influence whereby the individual who is filled with the Spirit is still present, is still there, is still in control of themselves. But that influence is so strong that the Lord is just kind of carrying them along and guiding them and directing them. And even when a person is filled with the Spirit of God, it is possible to instantly grieve the Spirit of God because the person still has their will. [00:03:01] But what we see here is that Stephen is filled with the Spirit. So what we find is, because he's filled with the Spirit, whatever he says and whatever he does, we know that it is done under the influence of God. [00:03:15] So in that way, we can look at what he's saying and we can understand that. There's no room for us to say, well, maybe Stephen this, maybe that. For instance, the Bible says that he looked up Stefas into heaven and he saw Jesus. All right? He saw Jesus. I read a commentary today or yesterday that said that he didn't see Jesus. [00:03:38] Why would you even say that? Why would you even say that? What's? That just can't help it. You just got to be smarter, right? Got to be smarter. [00:03:47] He did actually see Jesus, and it was a miraculous event. But think about it. [00:03:53] Think about it. [00:03:56] This event in which he saw Jesus Christ being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. So he not only sees him, he talks to Him, right? He sees him enough to talk to him directly. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, he says. [00:04:24] So what is amazing about this is we know that the Jews are the ones. Throughout the Old Testament history, there's often times where God gave visions to prophets where they saw things. You think of the whole book of Ezekiel is basically a vision, right? The vision of Isaiah or Jeremiah, different things like that here. So these Jews are used to this idea of men being seen special things because God reveals it to them. And here Stephen is having a vision. But I think this is more than a vision. This is Stephen. Stephen is actually peering directly into heaven. [00:05:01] God is opening heaven and allowing him to see into heaven. And Stephen, I got to thinking, why did God do this? [00:05:10] And it occurred to me he did it for the Jews. [00:05:15] He didn't do it for Stephen. Stephen's about to meet the Lord. He did it for the Jews. This vision where Stephen sees and then testifies to what he sees was a witness to the Jews. Remember, Paul later is going to have the same experience. Essentially, he's going to see Jesus in heaven. [00:05:40] So Stephen has the same experience. [00:05:44] That is one of the requirements to be an apostle of Christ, even though he's not an apostle. He had that same experience right before he died as a testimony to the Jews. Remember, Paul had that experience, as I said, and then he used that experience to talk, to tell the Jews about Jesus. This is what happened to me. I was on my way to Damascus, and I saw a light from heaven, and I saw Jesus. That was how he testified. So this is a testimony. What a powerful testimony. What a powerful final appeal to the Jew. [00:06:18] Now, you go into chapter eight, things are changing fast. Chapter 8910, things are moving fast. You get to chapter 13. There's missionaries going out to the to the Gentile world. I mean, just a few chapters later, not much time, this is God's final appeal to the Jews as a nation, right? Because remember, he's speaking to the council. [00:06:40] But notice, as I said, he was filled with the Spirit of God. And so that's one way we know that whatever he said was true. It wasn't imagining it. No, the Lord was in control of what Stephen was saying and doing. Now think about this influence of the Spirit of God and how it affected him. [00:07:02] That means, again, I'm repeating myself a little bit. But remember, to be filled with the Spirit of God means that God is influencing you to such a degree that he is essentially controlling what you say and do, all right? It's a powerful thing. This is not a common thing. [00:07:23] And Stephen doesn't appear to have any fear. [00:07:27] Even though there were great causes of fear all around him. There were people gnashing on him with their teeth. He knew that whole room hated his guts and wanted nothing more than his blood spilled. He doesn't appear to have any fear being filled with the Spirit of God. He mimicked the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in two ways. He actually basically quotes Christ twice. [00:07:51] See, when a person is filled with the Spirit of God, they do what Jesus did. I know that's a cliche, right? Do what Jesus did. And everybody that used to wear those bracelets in the 90s never did what Jesus did. [00:08:05] That's just a fact, is it not? They wore the bracelets, do what Jesus what would Jesus do? And I'm going to do the opposite. And that's exactly what they did. [00:08:14] But when he's filled with the Spirit, he actually does what Jesus does. [00:08:19] And when a person is filled with the Spirit, that's exactly because remember, Jesus was filled with the Spirit in this same way all the time. [00:08:27] It wasn't come and go, it was all the time. [00:08:32] All the time. [00:08:34] And being filled with the Spirit, he loved those that rejected him and hated him. He said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. [00:08:47] Our Lord did that too. [00:08:50] Now hold your place here really quick. Turn fast if you can, to Luke chapter nine. I want to show you something about that, about this in particular, before we move on to another point of Stephen's final hour. Luke nine, verse 54. [00:09:04] The disciples go into the village of the Samaritans and verse 53 says, and they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. So Jesus goes into these village of the Samaritans, they reject him they don't want to have anything to do with him. Verse 54 and when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them even as Elias did. Let me ask you a question. [00:09:36] Is that what Jesus did when Jesus was rejected? Did he seek the destruction of those rejectors? No, he says, but he turned and rebuked them and said, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of, for the Son of man has not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. [00:10:03] When Peter tried to cut the head off of Malchus, the high priest's servant, what did Jesus say? He rebuked him. He said, Put your sword back in its sheath. Paraphrasing. [00:10:15] You don't know what spirit you're of. [00:10:18] And here, see, here's the thing I want you to understand. [00:10:22] What is our natural tendency when we're done unjustly, when we're treated unfairly, when we're maligned and mischaracterized, is anger. [00:10:34] But that is not spiritual. [00:10:37] That is not spiritual. When we are mistreated to be angry. That is natural. [00:10:44] That is carnal. [00:10:47] You say, Well, God was angry. [00:10:50] Well, there's one little problem with that, is that you and I are not God. [00:10:58] God can be angry and be holy. We rarely can be both at the same time. I would almost say never. [00:11:08] But Stephen, being filled with the Spirit of God, is not angry. [00:11:12] He prays for those that reject him. You see the difference in the Spirit. When the disciples are with Christ, destroy them. [00:11:21] Stephen being filled with the Spirit, the disciples, of course, were filled with the Spirit as well, prayed for their forgiveness, for their pardon. [00:11:30] See, that's why you got to be careful about politics. I listen to the radio and often I'm in my car and I'll be like, Lord, what I do is this is what I say. I get so frustrated. Things I hear things. I see. Observe. [00:11:49] And it's like, Lord, look upon it. [00:11:52] Look upon it. That's what I say. [00:11:57] But you know what? Those kinds of things, the anger that sometimes you'll see that kind of spirit, it'll infiltrate churches in the way we interact with people that don't know the Lord. This patriotism and our desire for justice and law, it'll infiltrate the church. And now Christians are having the same attitude and tone as the conservative commentators and the YouTube channel artists and all that kind of stuff. But what did Jesus have Stephen filled with the Holy Ghost? What was his spirit toward those that rejected him? It was not hatred. [00:12:36] In fact, the contrast between these two groups is startling. [00:12:40] You have these people who are who are I mean, they're religious to the nth degree. They're religious to the nth degree. The numbers of laws and rules they had to follow, both the Pharisees and the priests, the sadducees, it was just unbelievable. And as religious as they are. It was their whole life, it was their whole identity. And yet they are filled with satanic hatred. [00:13:05] Somebody could be so religious, but yet so full of the devil, so full of hate. And that's what the Bible says. They were full of the devil, just like Cain was when he killed his brother. And by contrast, you see Stephen filled with a spirit full of love. [00:13:25] You know why? Because that is a fruit of the Spirit, even though he had great reason to hate. [00:13:32] It's amazing the contrast between these two. [00:13:40] Now look at verse 58 nine. The Bible says, and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul, and they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, lord Jesus, receive my spirit. [00:13:54] Look at Hebrews chapter eleven, real quick. [00:14:02] Here you have a man who is filled with the spirit. This is what the Bible says of him in this passage. He's filled with the spirit. [00:14:15] He has a vision in which he actually sees Christ with his eyeballs. [00:14:21] He commits his spirit to Jesus, he prays for his enemies forgiveness. He imitates Christ in every way. I mean, you think this man is if there ever was an know, exemplary Christian, this man is that. And yet he's killed. [00:14:38] You see this idea that floats around Christianity in our day, especially because our day is a day of liberty and prosperity, it floats around this idea, the Joel Osteen idea that if I follow the Lord, all will be well with me. I won't get sick, I won't have misfortune, I won't lose money, I won't have a car accident, I won't get a disease, DA DA DA DA DA. I won't be persecuted. That is all faults. [00:15:13] That is all faults. And Stephen, this one example, if there were no others, proves that here stephen is probably way better of a believer, as far as that goes, than we'll ever dream of being. And yet he is being executed. [00:15:29] So much for your best life now. [00:15:33] But you know what? This applies to all other areas of our life as well. And you know what? That's one reason it's so important for us to know church history. [00:15:42] Because church history is riddled with faithful people who suffered for the Lord. That is not the exception. Stephen is not the exception, it's the rule. [00:15:54] And so if we believe the subtlety, the subtle doctrine that gets into churches and Christianity mostly because of channel 16, do they even have that now? WGGS. And that's where a lot of these kinds of preachers come on now, it's all on YouTube, same basic thing. [00:16:15] If we let that come into our mind when suffering and persecution and those things come to our lives, it will disillusion us. It'll make us think we're not right with God. It'll make us think that somehow something's not right maybe we're doing something wrong. [00:16:35] It'll dampen our hopes and it'll disappoint us. And you know what? That causes people to draw back from the Lord. It really does, because they come at it with a wrong expectation. But Stephen, stephen's case shows you can be faithful to God, and that doesn't mean you're going to escape suffering. [00:16:55] Hebrews chapter eleven. The hall of Faith. I'm going to read verse number 34 35. Look at what it says. And this proves my point. Says this who through faith. Verse 33. Subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. All the prosperity preachers love these verses. They had faith and so they did this and they quenched the violence of fire. They escaped the edge of the sword. Out of weakness they were made strong, wax valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women receive their dead, raised to life again. And then they stop at this colon and they don't read anymore. These same people that were full of faith, that are in the hall of Faith, that are noted for their faith, read the rest of the verse. [00:17:40] And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had a trial of cruel mockings and scourgings. Yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stones. Think, Stephen. They were sawn asunder sawed in half, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. They wandered in deserts verse 38 and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. But they're in the hall of Faith too, and it didn't turn out good for them. [00:18:21] So this idea needs to go away from our mind. None of us like suffering. That just goes without saying. [00:18:30] But in this life it is not to be expected that we will escape it. [00:18:38] And it is not a mark that somehow we're not following the Lord. Now, if you're in a rebellion to the Lord, you can expect suffering to come and he's going to correct you. But if you're not, that doesn't mean that every day is going to be smooth sailing. [00:18:53] As much as we want that, let's keep going back in Acts because there's a couple of other things I want to show you. [00:19:01] Verse number 59. The Bible says this, and they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Now we'll not go back and look at it in Luke, chapter 23. But when Jesus is on the cross, what does he say in Luke? Those of you who've been in my Sunday school class, you better know, what does he say? One of the seven sayings is, father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. [00:19:28] Notice Jesus prayed to the Father, and commended or committed his spirit to the Father. And now Stephen says essentially the same thing, but not to the Father, but to Jesus. [00:19:45] So Jesus has taken the place of the Father in the same prayer. [00:19:52] This is one of those nuggets you might overlook easily. This is demonstrating that Jesus and the Father are equal because the Lord Jesus Christ is serving in the same capacity as the Father was when Jesus was on the cross. [00:20:09] But that's not all. [00:20:14] Notice in verse 59, they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, lord Jesus, receive my spirit. [00:20:22] Now, just as when Jesus is on the cross, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. What did Jesus expect, based upon which was his final saying, what did Jesus expect when he died? [00:20:42] What did he expect would happen to him? [00:20:47] Yeah, exactly. In fact, John 13 says exactly that. John 13, let just hold your place here, because I can get to it pretty quick. And then we'll come right back to Acts. John 13, verse one. Listen to what Jesus says about this. [00:21:04] Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. [00:21:13] You see that? So when Jesus died, based upon him saying, into thy hands I commend my spirit, he believed, he knew he was going immediately to be with the Father. Stephen, he says, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. What is Stephen expecting? [00:21:32] He's expecting that the moment that he dies, he is going to be with Jesus. [00:21:39] Right. [00:21:42] That's what that demonstrates. Listen, there are people that believe that when you die, you don't go to be with Jesus. [00:21:48] And that's wrong, that's error. [00:21:52] And someone might look at this and, well, look at the end of the chapter. Verse 60 says, he fell asleep. You see, that's what we mean, soul sleep. But no, hold on. This is body sleep. This isn't soul sleep, because he says, lord Jesus, my spirit, that is my inner man. The immaterial part of man is going to you. The body's going to be asleep. Right? So don't get this confused. [00:22:20] There's a couple of verses I want to read to you two. Corinthians. Look at second Corinthians, chapter five, really quick, as well as Philippians, chapter one, two corinthians, chapter five. And Philippians. Chapter One two. Corinthians, chapter five, verse six, says this therefore, we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. So that means if I'm here in my body, I'm not with the Lord. [00:22:59] For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. This verse clearly says, when a person is absent from the body, that's speaking of physical death, they are present with the Lord just the same as when they're not with the Lord, they're in the body. In verse six, look at Philippians. I think Philippians is actually even more clear. [00:23:30] Philippians, chapter one, verse 22. [00:23:38] The Bible says this but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I walk not I don't know, for I am a straight, for I am in a straight betwixt. Two having a desire to depart. What's he talking about? [00:23:56] He's talking about death and to be with Christ, which is far better. Now, what people that believe in soul sleep, what they say is, well, basically, when you die, it's like you go to sleep and then at the Resurrection, if you're saved, then at the Resurrection, you rise again, you go be with Christ. Problem is, that's not what this says. [00:24:21] The problem is this says when you depart, you go to be with Christ. There's not like an intervening span of time. You leave. To depart means to leave, right? You leave this body and you take a journey and your destination is Jesus. [00:24:40] Now, the reality is, though, the reason why people might believe in this idea of soul sleep is it affects another doctrine, which is usually referring to the doctrine of hell. That's really what it's about. [00:24:57] That's what they want to avoid. It's not that they have a problem with a Christian going to be with Jesus when they die immediately. It has to do with an unbeliever going to hell fire. Because if a Christian goes to be with Jesus, then it also stands to reason that a sinner dies and immediately goes away from Jesus to hell fire. And actually, that's what Luke Chapter 16 says exactly, which is a historical account. All right, last thing I want you to see is this term sleep. Let's look at Acts seven again and we'll be done. [00:25:34] Verse 60 says, and he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, lord, lay not this sin to their charge. [00:25:42] And when he had said this, he fell asleep. [00:25:46] Oftentimes when Lazarus died, the Lord referred to his death, physical death, as sleeping. [00:25:56] Often the Lord, even in the Old Testament, sometimes death was referred to as sleeping. But here's the thing I want you to understand. [00:26:03] Referring to death as sleeping is something that is exclusive to a believer, especially when you look at the New Testament, and it's often associated with the resurrection. [00:26:20] Here's why. [00:26:21] By using the term sleep, think about what's happening with Stephen. Think about what's happening. This is a violent death. [00:26:32] This is a violent death, but yet his death is called sleep. [00:26:38] The two mix, it just doesn't seem to go together. [00:26:42] But when because the Lord uses the term sleep to describe the Christian's physical death, it reminds us of this first, that there's an expectation of awaking, right, by using the word sleep. Sleep is a temporary state, and every one of us wants to go to bed tonight and wake up in the morning. So there's an expectation of awaking, which is the resurrection. That's why it's referring to the body, not the soul. Because there's an expectation of a waking at the resurrection. And if you look, we won't look at it. But in one Corinthians 15, the great passage about the resurrection of Christ, and first thessalonians chapter four about the Rapture. You see, the word sleep is used in both of those because the context is the resurrection of the body, even though first, thessalonians four says that those that sleep in Jesus God will bring with him. That means they're with Him and he's bringing them from heaven when their body is awakened. [00:27:44] You see, it makes perfect biblical sense when you look at all the verses related to that. But using the word sleep, it tells us there's an expectation of awakening. [00:27:56] Number two, it tells us that physical death to a Christian is most similar to a peaceful rest. [00:28:10] Now, I'm not going to ask you, but if I were to ask you to be honest, how many of you are afraid to die? [00:28:17] Some of you would probably raise your hand. [00:28:23] To a child of God, death is like taking a nap. [00:28:30] That's why the term is used. [00:28:34] So number three, the Lord uses the term sleep to describe a Christian's physical death because it reminds us that there is no cause for alarm in a Christian's death. [00:28:48] It is not something to be feared. [00:28:53] Have I ever died? No, I haven't. I've never died. [00:28:58] Does my own death is it something that will give you pause to think about? Yeah. [00:29:07] But just like every other thing in our life as a believer, literally every other thing, we read the verse just in passing a minute ago in two, corinthians says, we walk by faith, not by sight. And just like every other aspect of our life as a believer, we face it by faith. That is, we take what God says about it and we rest in that. That's what it means, right, to walk by faith. [00:29:36] And you know what God says about it? He says it's like going to sleep. [00:29:43] I don't know about you to you, but to me that's pretty comforting. [00:29:49] If something is alarming and it causes you great anxiety, you know what that does? It takes sleep away from you, right? How many of you have ever lost sleep because of anxiety? [00:29:59] Well, the Lord says death to a believer is like sleep. In other words, there's nothing to be anxious about. [00:30:09] When you don't have a dream or anything, what's it like? You lay down there, you don't ever know the moment that you fall asleep unless you have one of those jerk moments. You know what I'm talking about? [00:30:21] One of those jerk moments wake the whole neighborhood up. [00:30:25] But you never know the moment that you fall asleep. [00:30:30] All of a sudden you're laying there and the last thing you remember is the last thought that you had. And the next thing you remember is, what, that stupid alarm going off? [00:30:41] No, the next thing you remember is you're awake. [00:30:46] So think about as a believer. This is how God describes it, not me. [00:30:51] How can I speak authoritatively on this subject? I can't. This is how God describes it. So the believer, he gets to that point where he's going to die. The Lord is calling him. [00:31:04] He doesn't know exactly when that happens, but all he knows is the next thing he knows, he's with Jesus. [00:31:12] That's comforting. [00:31:16] Let's pray.