He prayed with me, Father, we ask that you would visit us from on high. Although it is you with grandest of spirit, that you might open our eyes, that we may see wondrous things from your word. Lord, would you uncover our eyes and stop our ears? Would you renew our minds and live in our hearts, restore our will?
Look at me, I love you and honor you and cherish you. Lord, might we see Christ even as He was promised in the old? Would help us. We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. This is God's word again beginning in Acts chapter 7 verse 1. Let us hear. And the high priest said, are these things so?
And Stephen said, brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia. Before he lived in Huron and said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into a land I will show you. Then he went out from the land of the Caudians and lived in Huron.
And after this, his father died. God removed him from there into this land in which you were now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no job. And God spoke to this effect that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others who would enslave them and afflict them for 400 years.
But I will judge the nation that they serve, said God, and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place. And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs, the grass withers and the flower falls.
And what if our God stands forever and ever? Thanks be God. Now, again, we considered last week the Pharisees and religious leaders were forced to nefarious and deceptive means to besmirch Stephen and cast doubt upon the gospel message that he proclaimed. They disagreed with his teaching, if you recall their playbook.
They designated false testimonies and witnesses and were determined to silence Stephen in the proclamation of the gospel. And so to remind you of the context of this passage, recall the charges that the religious leaders were bringing in Stephen. They said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place in the law of the temple.
But we have heard him say that this Jesus and Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses delivered to us. And so the accusations against Stephen are these, that he challenges the great prophet Moses and so the law which was delivered through Moses. And he blasphemes against the temple, delighting in his destruction, so they say, and it's desecration, right? Speaking against the temple, speaking against its worship and speaking against its law.
And so Stephen is in the dock, so to speak he's taken the stand and he addresses these charges. But what we find in these verses is that it's really Israel who stands convicted. It's really Israel who is being accused, in fact it's Israel that's being condemned. One commentator notes that Stephen is not only a witness for Jesus, but a witness against Jewish unbelief.
And narratively speaking, this is the last scene before Luke's attention turns away from Jerusalem. Another commentator says that Stephen's speech as the effect of showing that the Jews, whom the gospel was first preached, had rejected it. And thus of the opening the way for the church to turn away from Jerusalem and the temple and to evangelize further afield and ultimately among the gen cops. So what does Stephen begin?
If he's being charged with blaspheming the Hebrew faith, what he reveals to us of the Old Testament is sufficient to point us towards Jesus. And in a masterful way he begins to use God's word to reveal to us what we call written history. He traces Christ throughout the Old Testament to the fullness of time. Even that point when Christ would be raised again, the glory.
And so he begins with Abraham. And his first point here is before Moses, there was Abraham. Before Moses, there was Abraham. And while the Pharisees charged him with breaking ranks with Moses, Stephen appeals to the patriarch of the Hebrew people.
Consider how Stephen begins, brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Huron. And said to him, go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you. And then he went out from the land of the Cauvians and lived in Huron.
One thing that underpins the authenticity of the scriptures is that it always gives realistic depictions of people. And Stephen alludes to the origins of the Hebrews. And it's no accident that he begins with Abraham's pagan ancestry. It's almost as if Stephen is suddenly reminding his audience to not forget where they came from.
For Abraham, worshiped other gods. The Hebrews heritage is out of an idolature, one that was rescued and one that was redeemed and one that was called out, who our God set his covenant love upon him, but an idolature nonetheless. The Hebrews heritage is idolatry. And Stephen's emphasis here is the nature of this revelation of God.
The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia. And for all the pride of the Pharisees and for all their treasuring their heritage, it's by God's mercy alone, according to his sovereign will, that he would set his covenant love upon the Hebrew people. This is the stuff of Duerangay's setting, right? Whenever a Jews of the first century would beat their chest and consider their heritage and pride in their heritage, they should have close at hand due to the Hanumae 7, where God reminds the Hebrews and the Israelites.
He says, for you are a people, holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, and of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. That sounds great, doesn't it? But he goes on to verse 7, it was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord said is a love on you and shows you.
For you are the fewest people of all, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. The Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. No, therefore, the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments without his generations, and who pays for their face those who hate him by destroying him. God humbles the Israelites.
They were small, they were weak, they were nothing, and yet God shows to set his covenant love upon them. In fact, John Stott says you can't miss Stephen's emphasis on divine initiative. It was God who appeared. It was God who spoke.
It was God who sinned. It was God who promised. It was God who punished, and it was God who rescued. And this is Stephen's opening salvo.
We do not merit any grace ourselves. We owe everything to God. And what Stephen does is he begins with history. In fact, rather boldly, before the perceived experts of the Scriptures, he begins to argue that as the Pharisees who have misunderstood of all people, just how important Abraham is to the overall history of redemption.
Remember, the charges against Stephen were associated with the law, with the temple and with Moses, and by this time, a Pharisee of oral tradition and their understanding of the Torah would have been dominant. Again, it's reflected by their drumming of charges against Stephen, right? They accuse him of what's important to them. I can't help but think that this is an implicit charge that they've forgotten grace, the very means by which the people of God become the people of God.
Stephen's speech at least was death, ultimately at the end of this passage. And if you recall that there's someone present at the starting of Stephen, we'll get there when we get there. But it was Saul who held the coat to the executioner, Saul who would become, you know, Paul, Saul, his Hebrew name, Paul, his Greek name, right? Zealous for the law and proud of his heritage, as he has himself said, and yet he did not understand grace.
This Saul that held the coats of the Pharisees and those Jews that would stone Stephen would go on to write in the book of Ephesians by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, but a gift of God, not a matter of works, so that no one would boast. Revelling of the salvation granted to him by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and proclaiming that it was Abraham to whom it was credited righteousness because he believed before he was circumcised. We could go on and on to see how Paul would be gripped by grace, but the question is what of you?
What if you hold tightly in your hand? What if you hold out before God? What if you think will earn your place and glory? Well, might it be that we point to Jesus who lived perfectly on our behalf, who obeyed the law completely, and submitted himself to even death upon a cross?
It would be that we point Christ and that we boast in the Lord. Secondly, what we want to see from this passage is before the temple there was worship. Before the temple there was worship. And so Stephen also addresses the matter, the temple, and worship.
And for the Jews of the day, the temple was a sacred place where they met with Yahweh, where he was pleased to meet with his people. But this only bolster their religious pride for not only were they God's people, descendants of Abraham, but Jerusalem was God's dwelling place. And how dare Jesus reference the destruction of the temple, even though it would soon be destroyed in 7 AD. But Stephen calls the Lord the God of glory here in this passage.
He's saying that he appeared to Abraham while in Mesopotamia. And this glory is what is referenced as settling upon the tabernacle and in Solomon's temple, which is synonymous with his presence. And so that's been known by others. The presence of the Lord is tied to neither a specific set of coordinates nor is it code.
In fact, it was this presence of the Lord that was with Abraham, even as Stephen notes here as he sojourned thousands of miles. To quote dare time, as Stephen wanted his listeners to understand that the God who revealed himself in Mesopotamia was no less a revelation of God than the one given in the holy place at the temple. Jesus references this as he addresses the woman at the well in John 4. In a seeming attempt to dodge questions about her relationship situation, she tries to provoke Jesus with an age-old debate between Samaritans and Jews.
Where is the appropriate place to worship Jesus? She asks, where is the appropriate place to worship? And she says, our fathers worship on this mountain, but you say in Jerusalem is a place where people ought to worship. You recall how Jesus responds.
He says, woman, believe me. The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor on Jerusalem will you worship the Father. The hour is coming and it is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father and spirit and truth. And not only was there time when Yahweh was worshipped prior to the temple, but Jesus clearly reveals to the Samaritan woman and by way to us that worship is no longer central to Jerusalem and no longer central to the temple.
In some of the words of the water, the temple is therefore not eternal nor immutable. It's not everlasting or unchangeable or ever-present. And what Stephen knows to be true by way of Jesus is that worship is in him and in him alone. In fact, it's God's dealing with Abraham that pointed forward to the fulfillment of God's promises in Jesus.
Abraham longed for a day in which not only would his descendants inherit the land of promise, but would it be that they would worship the God of promise? Having been redeemed from Egypt, they might worship the Lord and even more so having been redeemed from being enslaved to sin. And yet it's not in the temple where the Lord would ultimately reveal himself in the fullness of time, is it? But in a lowly place, a manger that the God of the universe would come and would dwell among his people.
And so the Jews were driving forward, okay? The Jews were driving forward all the while looking in the rearview mirror. And is it any wonder they fail to recognize the Lord was with them in Jesus Christ? Right, even more after his life, his death, his resurrection and ascension.
And here Stephen stands to their testimony about the glory of the Lord among them was with Abraham and is within. And yet they're blind to see and deaf to hear and lame to walk. They misunderstood the worship by faith that the Lord would not only desire but command. And while Christ is exalted to the heavenly places, it makes us ask a question, right?
Where might we turn to seek the presence of the Lord? Where is it that the Lord dwells? Well Paul tells us in Romans 8 that we have been made alive and we so live in the Spirit. He says to you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.
And if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him, but if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And now there's a lot in the sources. But the answer to this question, where do we find the presence of the Lord if not the temple?
Well, the answer is in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He dwells within us. Paul tells us. But we are living stones as Peter said, being built up into the temple of God.
His perpetual presence is with you and in you by his Spirit. And even more to the Spirit that Jesus communicates and grants and causes his benefits to flow to you. We need not the temple. My Abraham, for the Lord, was with him by faith and beloved.
He is also with you by faith. You are in him. Our last point here is before the law, it was promise. Before the law there was promise.
And so Stephen gets to our identity as the people of God. We are a people of promise. And Stephen recounts from Genesis, right? He gave him Abraham the covenant of circumcision.
And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob the 12, patriarchs. And God granted Abraham and his offspring circumcision to signify and seal his covenant of promise. And again, to quote John Stott before, there was a holy place, the temple, there was a holy people.
And Stephen tells us that this promise was made and confirmed with Isaac and then Jacob and the 12 patriarchs. In fact, it was made and confirmed with every Hebrew male submitted to this right, that God's promise was for them. And Abraham's believing this promise is faith, is what we call faith, even as the author of Hebrews paints it. Who says by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.
And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob heirs with him of the same promise. He was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. And yet even here Paul unpacks Abraham's believing as being means through which it was counted to him as righteousness, receiving this promise by faith.
And so Paul goes on to say this in regards to the law in faith. He says, now before faith came we were held captive under the law imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came. In order that we might be justified by faith, but now that faith has come we are no longer under a guardian.
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Neither is there June or Greek, neither is there slave nor free, there is no male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to Christ.
Now what does this mean? Lots of proof texting. But the simple point from Paul's words is that the law was never the means that we would be accounted righteous. It was intended by God to keep us, to guard us, to reveal our sin, to reveal God and His perfection and His holiness to us, to train us and again to reveal to us the coming glory and Christ.
It points towards Jesus. And so Stephen picks up on this. Identity, as people of promise through which is received by faith in the promise that God made not in the sign that God gave. That's another way.
What makes a Christian a Christian? We're tempted to add so much criteria to the Bible's answer to this question. The particularly external criteria. I'm a Christian because my parents are Christians or I'm a Christian because I was baptized or I'm a Christian because I go to church.
I'm a Christian because I give. I'm a Christian because I never miss a Sunday. I'm a Christian because I'm always in Christian education. I'm a Christian because I come back again to Sunday on Wednesday evenings.
But they may confirm, these things may confirm, they may assure, they may point, they may reveal who we are but they're not grounds for belonging, body and soul to Jesus Christ. But it's the finished work of Christ received by faith, is itself a gift given freely that makes a Christian a Christian. The result of God's eternal will and his election. And when you begin to see the train of Stephen's argument here, he's going to be challenging the Jewish leaders.
What makes a Hebrew a Hebrew or a Jewish man a Jewish man? Here he points to the thing that circumcision signified rather than the sign itself. I'm from South Carolina and you may not know this, you've probably never driven up and down on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on on and on on are pointing you to a wonderful place called the south, they said what I'm talking of in everywhere, you see the signs they point for this place. This.
There's tourist traps that speak where they want you to buy all of their themed merchandise and they want you to spend your money and get gas and they want to take you for every dollar guy. But it's the thing maybe it's the bucket sign that you said you don't stop and behold a bucket sign. You don't stop and behold a south of the border sign. You guy man that's a really nice sign, but you want to be hold it signifies it waves points to you want to get the brisket sandwich right.
behold all that Bucky's is. And here the point is for Stephen is don't be distracted by the sign, but behold the thing the sign points to. Or as Derek Thomas put today, we're glorifying in the flesh, they were pointing to things like circumcision, making it a national badge of ethnic identity that signaled their favorite status. Abraham, however, viewed circumcision as a sign of God's promise of something that transcended this world and time and space.
You see, their hope was in obedience to the law, which was not given to save us, but the point is to the one who keeps it and who saves us. I want to end here by just reminding you there's a really a plain and but poignant point of application here. In the Sanhedrin and the Jews of Stephen's day had all the outward marks of belonging to God, but none of the internal realities. It might be search our own hearts and heed the implicit warning here that we may have every outward mark even belong to the church and neglect that the Lord requires our hearts broken and contrite, loving mercy and justice, walking humbly with the Lord, delighting in his law and his command.
I love him. Stephen points us to the gospel according to Abraham that we are people of promise that have been secured and rescued through the blood of Jesus Christ, is shed for you. Let us not neglect this. Let us not trust in the efforts of our hands.
Let us not trust in who we are externally as Christians. It might be that God has gripped our hearts so we have so believed upon him and has such saving faith in him. Let's pray. Father, thank you.