From
Acts to Revelation
Part
16 – Stephen Arrested
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
Up to this point in
the Book of Acts, we have seen;
- Christ Give
instruction to the Apostles before His ascension
-The Apostles
obeying Christ and waiting in Jerusalem for the Promise of the Father (Holy
Spirit)
- They had their
first church meeting, replacing Judas
- The Day of
Pentecost came, and they received the Holy Spirit
- They preached the
Gospel to ALL God fearing Jews who had come to Jerusalem from all over the
world to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost
- Peter and John
taught outside the Temple daily
- They healed a man
cripple from birth
- They were arrested
for this and warned to stop preaching Christ
- They continued to
preach, and were arrested again
- They were beaten,
warned and released
- They continued to
preach the Gospel
- The church picked
Deacons to take care of the congregational needs
And now, we see the
continuing battle between Christ's church, and the Sanhedrin, which Jesus
referred to as the synagogue of Satan, calling those who were part of it the
children of Satan.
Today in scripture,
we will read how the Sanhedrin continue to deny the teachings of Christ, refuse
to accept the fulfillment of what the old Testament teaches will take place,
and how they were willing to commit sin, breaking the command, “Thou shalt not
bear false witness...” to try and stop the plan of God from saving mankind.
What we will also
see in a few weeks as we get deeper into the word, is a story about a man named
Saul, and how he, who was a high ranking member of the Sanhedrin, and an
official of the Synagogue, whom Jesus called the synagogue of Satan, and Saul a
child of Satan, turned his life around. Saul was transformed by meeting with
Jesus Christ, and converted because of the power of God, from a murderous
covenant breaker, to one of the most powerful followers of Christ we read about
in the New Testament!
Thus teaching us,
no matter how wicked a man is, the power of God is greater, and can transform
any heart willing to accept Jesus as their Lord and savior.
SCRIPTURE READING
Acts 6:8-15 Stephen Arrested
8 Now
Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous
signs among the people. 9 Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of
the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the
provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, 10 but
they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.
11 Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have
heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”
12 So they stirred up the people and the elders and the
teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the
Sanhedrin. 13 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow
never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. 14 For
we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and
change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at
Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
I. THE
ONGOING CONFLICT BETWEEN GOD AND MAN
1.
Who was Stephen?
1.
A man full of faith and power, who did great wonders and miracles
among the people.
2.
He was knowledgeable in the Word, and no novice to Christ
2.
The Synagogue leading the attack against
the Church
1.
The Synagogue of the Libertarians was a group of Jews who were
once slaves in Rome to the Roman Empire, but were now free.
2.
They, along with other Synagogues, disputed with Stephen
regularly.
3.
One of these were the Synagogue from Cilicia, of Tarsus, where
Saul (who later becomes Paul) lived and served in the Synagogue persecuting
followers of Jesus Christ.
3.
The Synagogue was out-matched
1.
We see the Sanhedrin resort to violence and sin again and again,
and each time it is brought about because they are no match for the wisdom of
the Holy Spirit speaking through the followers of Christ.
2.
With each argument, they are stopped by the Holy Spirit's reason.
3.
This frustrates a people who are unwilling to change.
4.
Since they are out-matched by God's reason, they decide they need
to get rid of the messenger, since they are unable to stop the message.
II. MAN'S
PLAN OF ACTION AGAINST GOD'S PLAN
1. This was not a fight of man against man,
but man against God
2. Gamaliel warned the Sanhedrin about
fighting against God
1.
Acts 5:38-39 “If
this is of mans doing, it will go away on its own. But if this of God, you are
not fighting against men, but God, and you cannot stop it.”
3. The Synagogue planned and schemed against
Stephen
1.
They must have tired of arresting Peter and John, unable to refute
their teachings, they singled out another...Stephen.
4. They stirred up others with false witness
1.
Breaking one of their Laws they said they love so much, and were
supposedly defending by attacking the followers of Christ, they bore false
witness against Stephen, and stirred up the people.
2.
Stirring up the people, and the Elders, and the Scribes.
3.
They wanted the same support they got when they crucified Christ.
5. The lies they told
1.
This man will not stop speaking blasphemy against this Holy Place,
and the Law.
1.
Why did they play the blasphemy card?
2.
Because in scripture, it's the ONLY unforgivable sin.
3.
Did Stephen speak against the Temple?
1.
Yes, because the New Covenant is exactly that, a NEW agreement
between God and man.
2.
The teaching of Christ does not negate the teaching in the Old
Testament, but fulfills it!
4.
Did Stephen blaspheme against the Temple and the Old Covenant as
well as the Law of Moses?
1.
No, fulfillment of prophecy is of God, and not blasphemous at all!
5.
They had more to say;
1.
“We heard him say Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place.”
2.
This was probably from Jesus' mount of Olives discourse in the
book of Matthew.
3. Matthew
24:1-2 “1 Jesus left the
temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his
attention to its buildings.2 “Do you see all these things?” he
asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another;
every one will be thrown down.”
4. Jesus was
prophesying of the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple which would
take place approximately 35 years later...and it did!
6.
They also said they
heard Stephen speak about Jesus shall change the customs which Moses delivered
to them. (The Old Covenant)
1. What they failed to
understand is that the Old Covenant was never meant to save men, the Law ONLY
brings death (Romans 7:5)
2. The Old Covenant
was only meant to serve as a covering for sin, until the coming of the Savior,
the Messiah, who would remove the sin, and bring with Him salvation. This is
the New Covenant that was prophesied of in the Old which was ALWAYS MEANT to
replace the Old Covenant.
III. THE SET
UP
1.
They arrested Stephen
2.
They twisted his words and lied
3.
They were ignorant of the Word of God, and thus, they were going
to die without salvation because they rejected the Truth.
1.
My
people die because they lack knowledge – Isaiah 5:13
4.
And they looked upon Stephen, and saw his face as it had been a
face of an angel.
1.
The glory of the Lord was shining, and they all saw it...but
refused to accept it.
CONCLUSION
We see from scripture here that
even when we live our lives full of power and faith as Stephen, we will still
meet opposition in this world.
There are wicked powers at
work, and they want to put a stop to anything doing with Christ.
We see Satan working in the
Synagogue among the leaders and scribes, using them to do his bidding...and
today we can see Satan at work in the church, among the leaders, trying to do
the same thing as 2000 years ago, destroy the name of Christ.
Man may fight against God, but
he will never win.
Don't resist God's love,
kindness, forgiveness. Accept his free gift of Salvation, and receive the Holy
Spirit, and God will transform you, not into the person you think you should
be, but into the person that God created you to be!
If you are facing trials in
your life like Stephen, come forward and I will pray with you.
If you are facing struggles
with your faith like the Sanhedrin, or Saul, come forward and I will pray with
you.
As it says in James 5, if any
among you are sick, let the Elders lay hands on you, anoint you with oil and
pray for you so that you may become well.
