 Acts chapter 7. I'm going to be teaching obviously in chunks rather than the verse by verse manner, which I normally do, just to be prepared for that. So beginning at verse 1, then the high priest said, Are these things so? And he said, Brethren and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Heron and said to him, Get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you. Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Heron. And from there, when his father was dead, he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, he promised to give it to him for possession and to his descendants after him. But God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them 400 years. And the nation to whom they will be in bondage, I will judge, God said. And after that, they shall come out and serve me in this place. Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot the 12 patriarchs. And so what we have here in chapter seven is a report of the first Christian martyrdom. It's the martyrdom of a man by the name of Stephen. Now you remember that in Acts chapter six there had been a situation that had to be dealt with. There was a problem between the Hebrews and the Hellenists, the Greek cultural and language Jews versus the ethnic Hebrews. And it related to taking care of the widows and all. And so there was a big problem. We looked at that last time we were together. And as the solution, the apostles told the people to select from themselves seven men with certain qualifications. One of those men that was chosen to be one of the first deacons in the church is a man by the name of Stephen. Stephen we're told it's found in verse eight of chapter six was full of faith and power and he did great wonders and signs among the people. And so Stephen was a man who was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and he got into a discussion, a debate with people who were in opposition and as a result of the debate, the argument because they could not win the argument they began to make false charges against him. They brought up false charges with the intent of having him put to death as one who blasts fiends. And so as that was taking place he has an opportunity to stand up and give a defense. And so that's what we're going to be looking at here in chapter seven. And it's been called Stephen's defense. I've chosen to refer to it as Stephen's last message. And so that's what we're looking at today as we look at that particular portion of scripture. And so as this is going on an accusation has been made. You see the accusation in verse 13 where it says this man, this is the accusation this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law where we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. And so that's why in verse one the high priest says are these things so? And so Stephen begins his defense and Stephen preaches his final message. Interestingly enough there's only two messages that we're aware of that he gave. He gave a message that isn't really even recorded in chapter six but this is what has been called his final message. Now here's a couple things I want to lay a foundation for you and it may not seem obvious to you and may not even seem necessary to you but let me tell you it is necessary for me to lay this particular foundation. I would ask a couple questions as we look at this. I would ask first who is this message being given to? Who is this message being given to? Here is this message is being given to Jews. So the second question I would ask is is it proper or even necessary to give the message of salvation to Jews? Now the reason I ask you that is because there are modern theologians who are alive today who are saying it isn't necessary to evangelize Jews. In August of 2002 there was a document that was written stating that it is unacceptable to evangelize Jews. The document is entitled Reflections on Covenant and Mission. It states that the Biblical covenant between Jews and God is valid and therefore Jews do not need to be saved through faith in Jesus. A man by the name of Robert Leichend he is the New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League. Robert Leichend reportedly stated that the bishops have indicated once and for all that Jews have an authentic relationship with God. Therefore there is no reason for or logic in trying to evangelize Jews. So once again the question will be asked is it necessary or even proper to give the message of Christ Messiah to the Jews? Do Jews have a saving knowledge of God without Jesus? Well, a couple of questions I would add to that then is if Jews do not need Jesus in order to be saved then why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem? In Matthew 23, 37 through 39 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing. See your house is left to you desolate I say to you you shall see me no more till you say blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. If it wasn't necessary to preach the message of salvation to the Jews then why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem? Why did he say in Mark 16 verse 15 go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Why did Jesus say in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Why is it that Paul said in Romans 1 16 I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek. It is necessary of course to lovingly and encouragingly share the gospel with the whole world which of course again includes the nation of Israel and Jews. So what we have here is a message of salvation being offered to Jews. And Stephen has given a defense of the faith to the Jewish Supreme Council called the Sanhedrin. As we look at this his defense is basically simply Jewish history. It's a rendition of the history of how God has worked in the nation of Israel. One of the things though that we see as we introduce this is that his message demonstrates a thorough knowledge of Scripture and Jewish history. That is necessary to say because perhaps as they were looking at this young man and all their thinking that he can't possibly understand what he's speaking about. He's obviously a Hellenistic Jew. He's not a Hebrew Jew. He's a Hellenistic one who's been infected they could say with the Greek culture and Greek philosophy and all. So what you have here is a defense of somebody who articulates the essentials of the history of Israel and it's very important because he's actually cutting his own legs out from underneath himself. He cannot plead a defense of ignorance once he finishes this particular message that he gives. When we look at this I'll say this briefly but we're going to divide this message into three basic sections. You're going to see that in verses 2 through 16 he begins to speak about what is called the patriarchal period of Jewish history verses 2 through 16 then verses 17 through 43 we'll look at that. That is called the Mosaic period and then verses 44 through 50 it will be the period of the Tabernacle and then he reaches a conclusion at the end of the chapter. Again he's culturally Greek but he reveals a deep understanding of Jewish scripture. Now he's already been referred to as one who's filled with faith and power. He's filled with the Holy Spirit and under the influence of the Spirit of God he's going to give a very clear presentation of the Gospel message. His motivation was to be true to God's word his motivation is to preach the message of salvation. In 1 Thessalonians Paul said it like this in chapter 2 verses 3 and 4 the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives nor are we trying to trick you on the contrary we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the Gospel. We are not trying to please men but God who tests our hearts and so that is the motivation for your proclamation and he begins with the patriarchal period verses 2 and 3. It says there brethren and fathers listen the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he dwelt in Heron and said to him get out of your country and from your relatives and come to a land that I will show you. Notice how he begins he refers to Abraham the father of believers and his original condition his original condition was of paganism. Somebody said Abraham was in the favor of God and served him before he ever saw the land of Canaan before the law was given to Moses before the temple was built therefore it could not be blasphemy to believe that God might be served without those ceremonies and worshiped elsewhere than in the temple in Jerusalem. You see he begins to emphasize here Abraham's call. Abraham's call and this is important if you take notes Abraham's call was to separation. Abraham's call was to separation separation from idolatry and faith in God. When the scripture tells us to be separated you are separated from something and you are separated to something. So you're separated from idolatry and you're separated to a right relationship with God. And so what we see in him first and foremost is though he was a pagan a worshiper of idols when God called him God called him to be separated. Joshua tells us in chapter 24 verse 2 this is what the Lord the God of Israel says long ago your forefathers including terror the father of Abraham and Nahor lived beyond the river and worshiped other gods. Abraham was from a family of idolaters but God called him out and he went. So this is a very important part of biblical teaching and preaching. It's a call to separation. Second Corinthians 6 17 says come out from among them be separate sayeth the Lord do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. So in the proclamation of the gospel there is a call to separation and even as Stephen begins to preach he is calling them to separation by reminding them that Abraham the father of the Jewish nation had been called and was separated from the idolatry that he had been raised in. It says in verse 4 he came out of the land of the Chaldeans dwelt in Heran and from there when his father was dead he moved him to this land in which you now dwell. God gave him no inheritance in it not even enough to set his foot on but even when Abraham had no child he promised to give it to him for a possession and to his descendants after him but God spoke in this way that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them 400 years and the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge said God and after that they shall come out and serve me in this place. He gave him the covenant of circumcision so Abraham begot Isaac circumcised him on the 8th day Isaac begot Jacob and Jacob begot the 12 patriarchs and so you see what he's doing he's going through their basic history beginning with father Abraham now when he speaks about him dwelling in Heran out of the land of the Chaldeans land of the Chaldeans is also referred to as Mesopotamia he's going to go 500 miles northwest of what is called Ur of the Chaldeans Ur of the Chaldeans would be in modern Iraq and he's moving up towards what would be Mosul and it says in verse 5 that God gave him no inheritance in it not even enough to set his foot on and so here's a point of application obedience to God's call very often is done without immediate reward from God obedience to his call very often occurs without an immediate reward in other words God calls you to do something and you do it and it may be a week it may be a month it may be years it may be sometime just before you die the reward may come for obedience but it doesn't always come the moment that you're obedient you see he moved out without receiving the promise immediately as a matter of fact the only land that he ever owned according to Genesis 23 is his burial plot when the writer of Hebrews writes about this in chapter 11 he says it like this in verses 8 through 10 he said by faith Abraham when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance obeyed and went even though he was going by faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country he lived intense as did Isaac and Jacob who were heirs with him of the same promise for he was looking forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God so he went out in faith into a land he had never seen just expecting God to honor his promises God according to verses 6 and 7 he had spoken this way that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land it's interesting how he puts it because he says that they in verse 6 would be in bondage they'd be oppressed for 400 years he's speaking about the Egyptian time that they were there the time that they were in Egypt and he rounds off their time to 400 years though according to Exodus 12 verse 40 they actually were in Egypt for 430 years there remember with me as God brought judgment when it says in verse 7 the nation to whom they will be in bondage I will judge well remember that God had poured out the plagues on the nation of Egypt and Israel left and ultimately they did worship God in the land he gave them according to verse 8 the covenant of circumcision so once again he's referring to obedience to the covenant God had given to Abraham and verse 9 the patriarchs becoming envious sold Joseph into Egypt but God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh king of Egypt he made him governor over Egypt and all his house now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt he sent out our fathers first and the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to the Pharaoh then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him 75 people kind of like a Mexican family and a Mexican in case you don't know I can say that I'll get somebody all mad anyway so Jacob went down to Egypt and he died he and our fathers and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamer the father of Shechem so what we have here is a condensation of religious and religious heritage as you read through the book of Genesis you see that Jacob had sons several sons one of the sons that Jacob had was Joseph Joseph was very special to him as a matter of fact he was so special that the other brothers were envious of him and what they did is they got tired of him because he began having dreams even mockingly referred to him as the dreamer and he had had a dream he told his brothers that he was seeing himself as a sheaf of wheat and then they were also sheaves of wheat and they were bowing down to him and it got the brothers really uptight they didn't like him in the first place and now they hate him a little more then he has another dream and this time the stars and the moon and the sun are all bowing down to him and Jacob his father gets a little uptight over that what will your mother and I bow down to you too and so his brothers didn't like him an awful lot and so on an occasion when they found opportunity Jacob had given to his son a coat of many colors a coat that really was reflective of the authority that he had and just the spirit his father had towards him that was it for them and so he comes his father sends him out to go seek for his brothers who are out in the fields and all and Joseph goes out to find them he's 17 years old at the time and when he locates them they said here he comes let's just take care of him now I'm sick of him and so what they do is they throw him in a pit and they intend to put him to death but Reuben his brother he is the father of the tribes from Mexico but Reuben I'm sorry Reuben I don't know where it comes from okay I'm sorry it just I don't I really don't it just does Reuben defends him he says no we ought not to kill him what they end up doing is they sell him into slavery and they there's some Ishmaelites were coming by who are traders and they just basically sell the brother and off he goes and he ends up in Egypt you know the story of Joseph in Egypt and he's there for 13 years and it goes through such hardship he goes through various things I won't give you lots of details at the moment but ultimately what happens there's a famine where his family is and they know that there is food that they can purchase in Egypt so they come and purchase some food and when they come they don't recognize Joseph because he's now second in command under Pharaoh and they thought a long time ago that they were rid of this guy so obviously they're not expecting to see him and he looks like an Egyptian and so he recognizes them you know the story when he sees them he goes into another room and begins to weep because it's his brothers and he comes back out and over the course of the way they relate and all he gives them the grain that they came to buy but he also hides their money inside well I won't go into all the detail because you know so many other things that happen but what happens they ultimately have to return and when they return a second time for more grain as this is taking place he revealed himself to them and they see that Joseph was actually alive and that's when he made that very famous comment what you intended for evil God intended for good and God sent me ahead to preserve life and so the story of Joseph that is being spoken of here reminds us that God actually honored the covenants that he had made with Abraham as well as with the patriarchs and that's basically what he's saying he's saying God has been faithful God was faithful to Abraham God is faithful to the patriarchs and so he's speaking about how the Lord has done that so let's take this up speaking of what would be called the mosaic period in verse 17 when it says when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham the people grew and multiplied in Egypt till another king arose who did not know Joseph another pharaoh arose who did not recognize all that Joseph had contributed to the land of Egypt and oppressed our forefathers making them expose their babies so that they might not live what he was saying is the male children should be placed out and allowed to die when they're born that's called exposing the baby they would take them and just leave them out but there were two Hebrew midwives who would not allow that to take place with Moses it says in verse 20 at this time Moses was born to God and he was brought up in his father's house for three months but when he was set out Pharaoh's daughter took him away brought him up as her own son Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds I'm going to point something out in just a moment when he was 40 years old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel seeing one of them suffer wrong he defended and avenged him who was oppressed struck down the Egyptian for he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand but they did not understand the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting tried to reconcile them saying men you are brethren why do you wrong one another but he noticed verse 27 he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away saying who made you a ruler and a judge over us do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday then at this same Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian where he had two sons the sons names were Gershom and Eliezer and when 40 years had passed an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush in the wilderness of Mount Sinai that made him 80 years old when Moses saw it he marveled at the sight and as he drew near to observe the voice of the Lord came to him saying I am the God of your fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob Moses trembled dare not look the Lord said to him take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt I have heard their groaning down to deliver them and now come I will send you to Egypt a couple of things here you know the story you saw the movie when you see Moses when you see Moses you need to understand something about him when the scripture says at verse 22 that Moses was learned and all the wisdom of the Egyptian was mighty in words and deeds I don't know what your mind conjures up when you consider the man Moses but let me give you some things that perhaps you don't know about him when Moses saw the Egyptian taskmaster harming one of his brethren and came to his defense the bible tells us in that particular event that Moses looked to the left and the right saw that there was nobody watching and just killed him and when you read about that it's easy just to read that move on because sometimes that's what we do in our reading let me fill in something for you so you might understand what actually was taking place when the scripture says that he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians he was going through their academies so he was somebody who was educated in everything and Egyptian prince would be educated in so he was a man who was thoroughly educated higher than probably anybody else in the kingdom but it also speaks of him being mighty in words he was eloquent and mighty in deeds one of the things about Moses that you might find interesting which I did when I was reading study in his life and all was Moses was a very very bad man he was a delta force bad man he was you know the delta force you know I highly respect naval seals highly respect the naval seals delta force calls them lifeguards delta force fighters are amazing warriors so when you many of you didn't know this because you weren't military but when you begin to look at the strata of soldiers and competence of training you're looking at the delta force these people are amazing warriors Moses was delta force that's why when he saw the taskmaster now you need to know something about taskmasters the taskmasters were the brutal and they were bad they were bad people they themselves were MMA fighters that's what they were trying to bring it into contemporary perspective okay they were heavyweight MMA fighters they weren't afraid of anyway the reason they brought these Egyptian taskmasters to over the Jews was to control them through intimidation and force so the Jews would not respond to the taskmaster because he was brutal so you need to put this in perspective you have an Egyptian taskmaster who is a brutal warrior who has been harming the Jews and you have Moses taking a walk to visit his brethren and he sees something take place and he doesn't think for a moment he knows what he's going to do I'm going to take this punk out now that's not in the Hebrew but that's pretty much what he's saying I'm going to take him out I'm going to take him out the only thing I want to make sure of is that nobody sees me do it that's the image you have here and so when you see Moses he was mighty in word indeed he was eloquent in speech he was notches above the average person so he had the ability to rely on his own strength he had the ability to rely on his own wisdom and his own training he had the ability to value all that had been placed in him through his Egyptian upbringing and the finances and all that that would mean to him he had the ability to rest and rely on all of that he had no one that he was afraid of he looked to the left and he looked to the right but he didn't look up there should have been a person there was nobody there watching him but there was somebody there watching him interesting enough secondly it's interesting how Stephen points out that he sees the person he delivered because that's what's taking place you see when it says in verse 26 the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting and tried to reconcile them in men your brother and why do you wrong one another but he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away saying who made you a ruler and a judge over us do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday wait a minute Moses had looked to the left and looked to the right and there was nobody there so who do you think is talking to him the one he delivered the guy that he had just delivered turned on him that's how that took place he turned on mode because there was nobody there except the one who was being delivered and he he was going to kill me like he killed the Egyptian and those words came to the ears of Pharaoh and that's why Moses fled Moses fled out to the wilderness now while he's there in the wilderness he was 40 years old when he left he became according to verse 29 a dweller in the land of Midian and there he got married he had two sons notice verse 30 when 40 years had passed an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush in the wilderness at Mount Sinai 40 years old and he's basically exiled into the wilderness the age of 40 Moses felt they should have known he's come to deliver them but they didn't because he tried to deliver them the arm of flesh all of these qualities that he had all of this self-confidence and all of this training had to be removed in a sense the attitude had to be removed from him by 40 years in the wilderness 40 years in the wilderness at the age of 40 he knew that he was they should know him to deliver at the age of 80 he said and that's what the Lord does to us by the way he takes that which we are proud of all the things that we think are really benefiting us and he has a tendency of removing our confidence in ourselves so that we finally come to the point of realizing that without him I can do nothing that that is a very important lesson to learn without him I can do nothing Moses before said they should know I'm the deliverer now he says when the Lord spoke to him and said take off your sandals you're standing on holy ground I'm going to use you to deliver the children of Israel who am I Lord that you should send me I can't even speak I'm slow of speech now wait a minute we were just told that he was mighty in words and deeds what are you saying my confidence in myself is gone I can't do this it's beyond me to do that when you get to the point in your life of knowing that the task is greater than you you're usable because God will be exalted and you won't that's a very important place to be you get saved you say oh God is sure lucky he got me look at all my talent and it just has a way of removing those confidences that you have in your natural abilities so that you finally realize that it's his power it's his word it's him strengthening it's him working he gets all the glory that's a very important thing to understand you know he did have a lot of advantages but those advantages had to be removed so that he would finally realize that it is all about God now it's interesting I want to point something else out to you here notice in verse 33 the Lord said to him take your sandals off your feet the place where you stand is holy ground when you're in the presence of God there is going to be reverence and not flippant familiarity need to understand that there have been times I've seen those who are referred to as gospel preachers who are pretty much arrogantly boasting of their own accomplishments listen when you're in the presence of God there's one thing that you will learn and that is he is everything and you are nothing you do learn that do you want to learn that it's the question but you will learn that I am nothing all glory goes to him and not to man we need to understand that because today I believe that the church is making a huge mistake in exalting pastors and instead of worshiping the God the pastor is presenting and it's a very dangerous place because we can lift up men and men always have clay feet we all fail to understand never fails and that's Jesus and that's why the gospel message needs to be a center of all preaching that's why and so when you're in the presence of the Lord there will be humility a second thing I want to point on in verse 34 where God said I have surely seen the oppression now notice I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt I have heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them but notice and now come I will send you which is interesting though God delivers he does use someone to do the work and that's what he was going to do with Moses now he says in verse 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 now here now this was taken from Deuteronomy 18 verse 15 it is what is called a messianic prophecy a messianic prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ in verse 38 continuing he says 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 whom our fathers would not obey but reject it 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 don't know what has become of him they made a calf in those days offered sacrifices to the idol rejoiced in the works of their own hands 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 40 years in the wilderness oh house of Israel you also took up the tabernacle of Moloch the star of your god Ramfan images which you made to worship and I will carry you away beyond Babylon so he speaks about what took place and again you know the story of how Moses was there receiving the commandments and as he was there with Joshua there was a sound below and it sounded like like war in the camp and that's what was said there seems to be some kind of fighting going on and that's not the sound of war that's the sound of partying and what had happened is because he had been gone they're receiving the law the children of Israel began to rebel against Moses you know the story and they spoke to his brother and said make us a god they worshiped in Egypt and so his brother had them bring all their gold and they melted it down and made a golden calf and they began to dance and party and when you look at the at the story they were having a sexual orgy it was like norleans during you know their festivals that they have around Lentinol and it was like that they were in sexual sin and it was just a horrible thing and so that's what was taking place they began to worship this golden calf and when Moses saw it he asked his brother what is this that I see and he says well he said we threw a golden in the fire and this calf just popped out you know and so so that's what he's referring to how easy it is for us to turn our hearts from the things of the Lord and to turn them to evil and so he's speaking about the history of Israel a nation that had the law a nation that had Abraham but a nation that kept rejecting God verse 44 our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness and he appointed instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen which our fathers having received it in turn also brought Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David who found favor before God and asked to find dwelling for the God of Jacob but Solomon built him a house however the most high does not dwell in temples made with hands as the prophet says heaven is my throne, earth is my foot still what house will you build for me says the Lord has my hand not made all these things so he moves into what is called the tabernacle period and he speaks of this portable tent that God had given him instructions concerning that they would meet with the Lord as this tabernacle was was taken from place to place what he's doing is he's Stevens defending himself against the charge of blaspheming the temple and he says no I'm very familiar with the history of the tabernacle and the temple you see the tabernacle was a portable tent but it was in David's heart King David who was a man after God's own heart it was in David's heart to build God a temple it isn't right he said that I should dwell in this palatial house well God's Ark is in a tent and so he had originally planned to build out a temple for God and originally his personal prophet Nathan had said to him whatever's in your heart feel free to do that's a good thing but the Lord spoke to Nathan and said you go back and you speak to David and say this say to him that the planning in your heart is a good thing but you're not the one who's going to build it now why David why are you not going to be able to build the temple you are a man of war and your hands are filled with blood and it doesn't allow you to do it so when you read your bible and you read concerning the building of the temple you see that David was given the ability to give the to drop the plans and from his personal treasure he was able to give billions of dollars towards the building of the temple but the one that got allowed to build it was his son Solomon and Solomon built that temple and Solomon built him a house but he goes on in verse 48 however the most high does not dwell in temples made with hands as the prophet says heaven is my throne earth is my footstool what house will you build for me says the Lord or what is the place of my risk has my hand not made all these things can you build him a house that is worthy of the glorious God of the universe who has made all things and that's the point that he's making nothing on earth nothing on earth can contain the glory of God no building on earth can ever contain the glory of God you see the temple was temporary it was never intended to be a permanent dwelling place that's because again nothing on earth can contain his glory so what did God choose to do God chose to come and dwell amongst men men would want to go into the temple to worship and meet with God but God said when it comes to the creation of a place that has my glory there's nothing you can ever do to do that so God chose to tabernacle amongst men it's interesting when you read John 114 in John 114 speaking of Jesus it says the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us when you look in the original language the word dwelt is tabernacled Jesus tabernacled amongst us we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth so we cannot build him a temple you know what he did he dwelt amongst us and not only that this is also a New Testament beautiful thing he made his own temples Paul says know you not that you are the temple of the spirit of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you there is nothing on the face of the earth that a man can build that is more beautiful to the Lord than a human being and God dwells in you you are his temple what kind of temple can you build no he created your bodies and he dwells in you and he has fellowship with us and so these things were temporary but God demonstrated his true glory through Jesus Christ and now we get to his charming conclusion verse 51 you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hardened years you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so do you which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute and they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you now have become the betrayers murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it you have always resisted the spirit that is a very strong word isn't it you are stiff-necked and you are uncircumcised in heart you do always resist the Holy Spirit your fathers did and like father, like son you are the same way you are rejecting God this is his conclusion this does not win friends and influence people you aren't going to see this message on Christian TV you're not because it is so direct and so powerful but it's true you always are resisting God's spirit and God is going to deal with you you have been guilty of this all along and you continue being so even now when they heard that verse 54 they were cut to the heart they gnashed at him with their teeth but he being full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and he saw the glory of God in Jesus standing at the right hand of God said look I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God they cried out with a loud voice stopped their ears ran at him with one accord cast him out of the city stoned him the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul and they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God he received my spirit then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice Lord do not charge them with this sin and when he had said this interesting how he puts it he fell asleep he fell asleep Stephen the first martyr but not the last when you look at church history and the traditions that are related to others who were martyred church tradition holds that James Apostle James was beheaded well we know this the scripture in Acts 12 says James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa church tradition says that Philip was crucified in AD 54 in Upper Asia that Matthew was killed with a battle axe in Ethiopia in AD 60 that James the less at age 94 was beaten stoned and had his brains bashed out by a Jewish mob Matathias traditionally was stoned and beheaded in Jerusalem Andrew was traditionally crucified on an X shaped cross in a place called Edessa Mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria Peter traditionally crucified upside down in Rome under Nero Paul was beheaded under Nero Jude was crucified in Edessa Matthew was beaten to death in India Thomas was thrust through by a spear in India Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece by a pagan priest Simon the zealot was crucified in Britain every one of these were martyred every one of them so Stephen was the first but he's only the first in a long line of faithful to the end believers the effect of the persecution is that we become steadfast persecution has a tendency of purifying our faith and persecution has a tendency of purging from the church hypocrisy stories told of of a church meeting that was taken place in a communist country when the door opened up during the prayer meeting and three men came in with automatic weapons and said if this is a Christian meeting then every one of you are going to die but we're going to give you an opportunity if you're not a Christian you can leave and we'll spare your life so everybody got up and left except for a handful and the men put their guns down and they said we just want a fellowship with real Christians but you know persecution has a way of purging hypocrisy it really does you discover what you really believe when you're put to the test what you really are is going to be revealed when pressure is put on you you know and so your faith is going to spill out when people begin to bump into your life and so these men that I just mentioned and Stephen being the first in a long line of martyrs their faith was put to the test to the very end you see enduring persecution demonstrates the mark of a real believer in Christ in Matthew 10 22 Jesus said it like this you shall be hated by all men for my name's sake but he who endures to the end shall be saved well he says Lord do not charge this against them I want to close by reminding you these are the words of men filled with faith and filled with power in a time when we have a tendency of thinking that people who are filled with faith and filled with power are also you know always always very rich and never sick when you look at the Bible you begin to see that faith and power very often are demonstrated through enduring the pain because that's where your faith is refined and that's where your faith is demonstrated now am I saying let's all go out and try and start some trouble so we'll be persecuted no I'm not saying that what I'm saying is when people begin to reject you and when people begin to verbalize it sometimes they can even physically accost you that's when your faith is demonstrated that's when it's revealed for what it is purified when you learn to turn that other cheek when you learn to refrain from responding when you learn the right way to deal with people who are oppressing you it's demonstrating that you really do know the Lord and that you really do understand you're passing through there's something greater than the right here and right now and Stephen is the great example of that because as they were stoning him they would stone you they're huge rocks they're not small stones they're huge rocks and they would bash you to death with them they would throw them put you in a pit and they would bash you to death until your body is covered with these huge stones that's how he died and what is it that he said he said Lord do not charge them with this sin and he said it it says he fell asleep it's just another way of saying he peacefully passed into eternity and the Bible teaches us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father but here it says he was standing waiting to receive his martyr into his presence he stood to welcome Stephen isn't that beautiful that's beautiful