Stephen's Sermon before the Sanhedrin

Well if you would, take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 7. Most of you know where we are in our study of the book of Acts, but tonight we will be in verses 1 to 53. Now some of you know that my habit is to cover 4, 5, 6 verses, maybe 8 or 10, but it's rare that I cover 53 verses. I promise we'll get out of here tonight. I promise we'll take a different approach with these verses. And I'll explain that here in a moment. But before we get into our verses and what we have here in these 53 verses, let me quickly explain where we are, who we have before us, and what's happening here.

I have said the past couple of messages that Stephen is the main character of chapter 6 and chapter 7. And we're going to see that more and more in these events, especially in this chapter. But back in chapter 6 verses 1 to 7, Stephen and another 6 Hellenistic Jewish Christian men, they were chosen by God, chosen by the church to serve the widows and other physical needs in the life of the church. And Luke singled out Stephen. Luke pointed out that Stephen was a man full of the faith and full of the spirit.

And he, and the point of verses 1 to 7 was the division that had come into the church and the solution that was brought about by appointing those seven men to serve those physical needs in the church. And I think it's safe to say that Stephen stood out as one of the spiritual leaders among the seven. And I say that because Luke does single him out. And then last week, we were in verses 8 to 15, we saw that Stephen's ministry evolved. It changed because of his great ministry to the Hellenistic Jews. And then ultimately he was arrested.

But in verse 8, we saw that Stephen was empowered by God to perform great miracles and to preach Christ powerfully as the promised Messiah of God. And verse 10 says that the Hellenistic Jews were unable to withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. And as a result, he was arrested, he was brought before the high priest and the council. That would have been the Sanhedrin, the religious ruling body over Israel. And he was accused of speaking blasphemy against Moses, God, the temple and the law. And verse 15 says that as he stood before the Jewish council, his face was like the face of an angel.

That is why I titled the message that we looked at in verses 8 to 15. God's servant with the face of an angel. But let's take a step back. Let's take a step back, kind of big picture and notice what we have here. Stephen clearly went from serving physical needs in the life of the church to going out into great evangelistic work, starting off with the Hellenistic Jews, and then ultimately to the entire Jewish ruling council. Stephen went from serving tables to preaching the gospel and defending the faith before the Hellenists, and then to preaching and defending the gospel before the entire Jewish religious body, the Sanhedrin.

And of course, that was in the middle of his arrest. And what we have here in verses 1 to 53 is this. Stephen's defense before the Sanhedrin. We have Stephen's sermon before the Sanhedrin. Because he's before the high priest and all of the Sanhedrin and all of the other Jews, I think they're looking on maybe the Hellenists and some of those other Jews. We have his defense, his sermon before the Sanhedrin and those other Jews. Now a few observations before we get closer to Stephen's sermon. Here we have the longest sermon found in the book of Acts.

And even though it can seem like a boring, even inconsequential recitation of the history of Israel, this is actually one of the most important, ingenious, and pivotal sermons in the book of Acts. This sermon was important in that Stephen presented Jesus as a promised Messiah of God to the religious leaders using their Old Testament scriptures. And he proved that the Jewish religious leaders were just like their Jewish forefathers, that they willingly killed Jesus and rejected God.

This sermon was ingenious in that Stephen used some of the most revered, most popular, most important things found in all of Judaism to declare the truthfulness of Jesus as the promised Messiah of God. And then on top of that, to prove their personal guilt in rejecting God, in rejecting Jesus, in killing Jesus. And this sermon was pivotal in that Stephen was killed for his witness and his stand before the Sanhedrin and the result was twofold. First a great persecution broke out against the church. And then second the church was scattered and the gospel was taken out of Jerusalem and then ultimately to the Gentile nations.

We can say it like this, the church in Jerusalem and the great commission work the church had and was responsible for was never the same after Stephen's sermon and death. God truly used Stephen's death as the event that brought this great persecution which scattered the church, scattered believers, and the gospel even into the Gentile lands. And Stephen's sermon here, 53 verses, was the spark which set off this chain of events. Now we're going to look into the sermon and we're going to read these verses as we go. And I want us to do four things here. First I want to point out what we have in the purpose of the sermon.

Second I want to point out the different ways some examine this sermon. And then third I want to show you how I want to approach the verses. And then fourth we will really divide and dive into verses 51 to 53. Now I've already touched on the point of Stephen's sermon. He was preaching Christ. He was preaching that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God as promised in the Old Testament. He was defending these things by and from the Old Testament. But we certainly need to see that this was more than a brief sketch of certain parts of the history of Israel. We need to see that this was more than a sermon of Jesus as the promised Messiah of God.

We need to see that he even offered an aggressive attack. He condemned them. He refuted the Sanhedrin. He indicted all of the Jewish religious leaders. He attacked them. And he condemned, refuted, indicted, and attacked the Jews and the Sanhedrin for doing three things. First, for resisting and rejecting God exactly like their forefathers. Second for killing Jesus by executing him on the cross. Third for breaking the very law of God that they believe they kept. So we need to see that in all that Stephen did and said in this sermon in a very aggressive way he attacked the Sanhedrin. He condemned the Sanhedrin.

He refuted them and he indicted them. And we will examine this attack. Really the attack is in verse 51 to 53. Honestly, if you call someone stiff neck, you're on the attack. Now when we look at how other scholars or commentators or writers approach this sermon, we see approaches really everywhere. But no matter the division, the outline, the approach that I came across the past couple of weeks, we see the same revered, popular, important things found in Judaism. We clearly see that Stephen spoke of the father of the faith, Abraham, and then he goes all the way to Joseph.

We clearly see that he spoke of Moses who along with Abraham was one of the most revered of the Old Testament patriarchs. We see that Stephen spoke of the law and the temple. And some scholars point out that he mentions the land, which would have been the land of the nation of Israel. Now this is going to be my approach. I want to borrow Warren Wiersby's approach because he doesn't get bogged down in the verses. He moves quickly and efficiently to point out the specific way Stephen was condemning the Jews with the sermon. He gets to the point first. But I think that's an efficient way to deal with these verses and this sermon.

So we'll look at several things here. Number one, I want us to see that Stephen confronted them by showing that they misunderstood their very own spiritual heritage. He confronted them and revealed to them that they misunderstood their very own heritage. I want to read verses 1 to 8. The Hellenists have already brought these charges up against him to the elders and the scribes and the religious leaders. So he's been arrested. He's before the entire Sanhedrin. Verse 1, "And the high priest said, 'Are these things so?' Talking about the charges. Stephen said, 'Brothers and fathers, hear me.' Talking about brothers and fathers in Judaism.

The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. And he said to him, 'Go out from your land and from your kindred that would have been your family and go into the land that I will show you.' Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans, lived in Haran, and after his father died, God moved him from there into the land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it. That would have been the land to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child.

Isaac had not been born yet." 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 400 years. We know he's speaking of Egyptian bondage and captivity. "But I will judge the nation that they serve," said God, "and after that they shall come out and worship me in the place." That would have been the land. And he gave him, that's Abraham, the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.

Here we see that Stephen reminded the Sanhedrin that God had revealed himself to their forefather Abraham, who truly was the father of the Jewish faith and their nation. Out of nothing but grace, God appeared to Abraham and called him out of paganism, out of a pagan land, to himself. And by faith and in faith, Abraham responded by leaving his family, leaving his land, leaving his paganism behind, and he followed God. God promised Abraham the land of Canaan to his descendants, and then he told Abraham that his descendants would be taken into Egyptian slavery to suffer before they would inherit and live and enjoy the land.

This promise was fulfilled. All these things took place. We know that. Stephen knew that. The Sanhedrin knew that. But Stephen continued. He reminded them that God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision and a son, of course that's Isaac, he became the father of Jacob and then Jacob the twelve patriarchs. Again, the promise and the promises of God that God gave to Abraham and his descendants were fulfilled. But this is how they misunderstood their spiritual heritage. The Jews, and especially the religious leaders, honored Abraham in a great way. And they took great pride in seeing themselves as Abraham's children.

But the grave mistake they made was confusing physical dissent with spiritual dissent. They missed having a true spiritual experience of being saved by grace through faith. Remember Abraham was justified by faith. And they depended on their physical descendancy, their physical heritage, to make them right with God. I've heard this many different ways from many different people throughout the years, but Wiersby points this out. He says that the Jews missed the fact that God has no grandchildren. So Stephen was exposing the Jews. He's just beginning now.

And he was confronting them on their grave, horrendous mistake of misunderstanding and even abusing their very own spiritual heritage. They had a physical heritage, but they didn't have a spiritual heritage. Now think about how this applies to us. We want to raise our children in the gospel. We want to raise our children in church. We want to teach them the gospel. But no matter how we teach them, no matter if they come to church all their lives, even if they become members by professing Christ and being baptized, if they're not converted to Christ, they cannot come into the faith by inheriting our faith. They must have a personal faith.

Then number two, Stephen confronted them by showing them that they rejected their God-sent deliverers. Let me say that again. Stephen confronted them by showing them that they, the Sanhedrin and the Jews in Israel, rejected the deliverer and deliverers that God had sent them. Here's where I want to read verses 9 to 36. In the patriarchs, jealous with Joseph. We studied this in small group not long ago. Sold him in Egypt. God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions. God gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler of Egypt and over all his household.

Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan, a great affliction. And our fathers could not find food. But when Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers the visit, the first visit. And on the second visit, Jacob, Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, 75 persons and all. And Jacob went down to Egypt and he died and he and our fathers. And they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly or sinfully with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house. And when he was exposed, Pharaoh's father adopted him and brought him up as her own. And Moses was instructed in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

When he was 40 years old, he came into his heart to visit his brothers. That would have been the Hebrews, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wrong, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day, he appeared to them and as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them saying, "Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?" But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside saying, "Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

Do you understand? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" At this retort, Moses fled. Mccain became an exile in the land of Median where he became the father of two sons. Now when 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight and as he draw near to Luke, there came the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your father, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And Moses trembled and did not dare look. And the Lord said to him, "Take off your sandals from your feet from the place where you are standing as holy ground.

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and I have heard their groaning and I have come down to deliver them and now come, I will send you to Egypt." This Moses, whom they rejected saying, "Who made you ruler and judge?" This man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. Now here, I like how Warner Wearsby combines really two sections that others can divide. Here we have two sections that pertain to two men. We saw it Joseph and Moses. But the point here is this, even though this is a lengthy discourse, it's really simple.

Both Joseph and Moses were rejected by their Jewish forefathers as the deliverers. We can call them earthly saviors that God had sent to save their people. Moses brothers were jealous of Joseph to the point where they hated him and they sold him into slavery. Later on, Joseph became their deliverer, their earthly savior and he delivered their family, but not just their family, the very plan and promises of God. Moses was rejected like Joseph. When he first tried to deliver the Jews from Egyptian slavery, they rejected him.

He had to run for his life, but just like Joseph, the second time he was presented to the Jews, he was accepted as their deliverer. And notice the point of this part of Stephen's message. This was so much more than a history. Now let me pause here. If these in the Sanhedrin would have heard this just as a history lesson, they would have been yawning. They would have been bored. They would have said, "We know this." But it's more than just a history and we'll see that. But by pointing out these events in their history, Stephen was illustrating right in their face just how they treated Jesus. Again, the heat will be turned up as we continue on.

Just like Joseph's brothers hated Joseph, just like the Jews rejected Moses, the Jewish religious leaders and the nation rejected Jesus. So Stephen was exposing them. He's beginning to expose them to their face, their grave mistake of rejecting the very Messiah and deliverer and savior that God had provided. Then number three, Stephen confronted them by showing them that they disobeyed their law. Stephen confronted them in building the cases he's confronting them by showing them that they disobeyed the law. He does this in verse 37 to 43. You'll see the transition.

This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, "God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers." This is the one who in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give us. Our fathers refused to obey him but thrust him aside. In their hearts they returned to Egypt saying to Aaron, "Make for us God's little G who will go before us. For this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." They made a calf in those days. That's the golden calf.

They offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship, over to worship the host of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Molech and the star of your God, Ravim, the images that you made to worship and I will send you in the exile beyond Babylon. Now here is where Stephen is in a way answering for one of their accusations against him before Stephen had been accused of speaking against the law of Moses.

But as we will see, Stephen points out that they were the ones who were guilty of this sin. But God gave his law to the Jews when they were in the wilderness at Mount Sinai. And here he pointed out that an angel of God mediated God's law to Moses. We see a reference to that in Galatians 3.19. But before the ink was dry, of course we know they were tablets of stone, but I'm using that to help prove a point. Until the ink was dry shortly, very shortly after they received God's law, the people of God broke God's law by asking Aaron to make for them an idol. We see that in Exodus 32.

So in that one event right after God had given them the law, the Jews, God's chosen people, they broke the first two commandments. And next, notice how Stephen progressed. In his sermon he quotes Amos chapter 5 verses 25 to 27. And in doing this he did more than quote the Old Testament prophet that they knew. Again, let me stop here. They knew these things. If this was just history, they would have yawned. They would have said, "Stephen, we don't need you to tell us these things." But he was telling these Jews and the religious leaders that they had been doing this for generations.

He was confronting them with the fact that they worship God externally in an outward form, but inwardly in their hearts they were actually worshiping foreign gods. One scholar points out here in the language something very interesting. In verse 42, Stephen asks a question. Look back at verse 42. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the hosts of heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets. Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices during the 40 years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? Now, here the very form of the question scholars tell us demands a negative response.

Simply the automatic answer to the question is no. They were not offering those sacrifices to the Lord. Now one specific that Wiersby points out needs to be seen. We must understand why God hated the pagan religions that surrounded the Israelites and why he called the Israelites to destroy him, why he called them to have no other gods before him. Wiersby says, and I'm quoting, "To begin with, these religions were unspeakably obscene in their worship of sex and their use of religious prostitutes. Their practices were so brutal, even to the point of offering children sacrifices to their gods, little gee.

It was basically demon worship and it opened up the way for all kinds of godless living on the part of the Jews. I thought about this. It's the same here today. It's nothing new under the sun. Nothing new under the sun. So Stephen was exposing and exposing more and more to their face, their great hypocrisy concerning their treatment of the Old Testament law. Although they promoted themselves as gatekeepers of the law and being the very ones who obeyed God's law, Stephen was showing them that they were simply law breakers. Sadly that goes on today.

Many who profess to know God's word, even teach God's word ultimately live contradictory lives and they don't live by God's word. But let's continue. Stephen confronted them by showing them number four that they actually despised the temple. Stephen confronted them by showing them that they actually despised the temple. Remember they accused Stephen of speaking against the temple in a blasphemous way. Verses 44 to 50. Our fathers had the tent of witness, that would have been the tabernacle, in the wilderness just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen.

Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they disposed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. That would have been the temple. David desired to build it. God wouldn't let David build it, but Solomon did. Verse 48. "Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says. One is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hands make all these things?" Now this one may be hard for us to see at first, but the Jews accused Stephen of working to destroy the temple. But actually they were the ones who would destroy the temple, but let me explain. Because the Jews rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah of God, God brought judgment upon the entire nation. And a part of that judgment would be the total destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and that happened in 70 A.D. But notice what Stephen pointed out here. Moses built the tabernacle, and the very presence of the glory of God resided in the holy of holies. We see that in Exodus 40.

Then Solomon built the temple, and the very presence of the glory of God resided in the holy of holies in the temple. But the history and the story of the Jews here was not very glorious. Over the generations, worship at the temple devolved into nothing but externals. It moved from external, it moved to external forms of worship, and that led to even pagan idols being brought into the temple. If you know your Old Testament, you know. We see that in 2 Kings 21 and Ezekiel 8, 7 to 12. And because the nation of Israel would not listen to the warnings of those prophets that God sent them, they were judged, they were destroyed.

Remember, they were taken into Babylonian captivity. So Stephen was still exposing now, but here he is exposing the Jews to their face that they are just like their forefathers. They actually despised the very temple that they said they were defending, and their own actions would ultimately bring destruction to their quote unquote glorious temple. Just like their forefathers before them now. So let me stop here. Let's look at what Stephen was doing in this sermon. There's really a lot going on, and sometimes with things like this we have to study over it and over it and examine it.

It doesn't just come to the surface real easy, but when we get to the end it'll all make sense. This was more than a sermon that consisted of a brief historical sketch of their great Jewish history. This was more than a presentation of Jesus as the promised Messiah of God and the defense of the Gospel. Stephen was using the Old Testament scriptures to expose the fact that the Jewish religious leaders completely misunderstood and abused their godly heritage. Just like their forefathers, they rejected God's promise, God's provided, deliverer and savior. That is Jesus.

He was exposing the fact that they broke God's law, the very law they prided themselves in protecting and keeping, and he was exposing the fact that they despised the temple that they revered because it was their very rebellion against God by rejecting Jesus that brought the destruction of the temple. Now what's the key to all of this making sense? What was the key to this moving from a brief historical sketch to them understanding, wait a minute, he's preaching to us. The key here, the teeth here, the bite here in this sermon was the working of the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was working, okay? So let's continue. Number five.

Stephen confronted them again by showing them that they resisted God, and I'm going to use a pretty contemporary term here because it has an R with it. They resisted God and they rubbed out God's Messiah. They killed him. We see this in verse 51 to 53. They resisted God and they killed, notice he holds them responsible, they killed God's Messiah. This is where he goes on the attack. You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as your forefathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?

And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one whom you have now betrayed and murdered. Notice he said you murdered the righteous one. You who received the law as delivered by the angels did not keep it. Now earlier I said that Stephen does a lot here in this sermon, but in the end he aggressively attacked the Sanhedrin and all of the Jews. This is the climax, this is the end, this is the point. If they had any doubt as to what Stephen was doing all along, it all came together now. He condemned them, he refuted them, he indicted them, and again he attacked them.

And in his attack I want us to see that he revealed them for who they truly were in three ways. First he revealed their true spiritual condition. He revealed their true spiritual condition. Look at the beginning of verse 51, then he bookends it in verse 53. You stiff-necked people uncircumcised in hearts and ears, verse 53. You who received the law as delivered by angels did not keep it. Right away I think we see the attack. As one commentator said it, these comments are loaded, loaded with attacking theological nuances. But notice he called them stiff-necked. They knew exactly where this came from.

This goes back to Exodus 33.5 and Deuteronomy 9.13. When the nation rebelled against Moses and God and worshipped that golden calf, God called them a stiff-necked people. And if you know the rest of that story, God said to Moses that they were a stiff-necked people and he'd just as soon kill them. Then notice he called them uncircumcised. And this goes back to Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 10.16, Jeremiah 4.4, Jeremiah 9.26, where God judged the apostates among the Jews as having uncircumcised hearts, which means unbelieving and rebellious hearts. Simply what Stephen was doing here was this.

He was telling them that they were apostates with rebellious hearts towards God and they were nothing more than being like a Gentile uncircumcised pagan. And get this, the Jews knew this language. They knew exactly what he was saying. Again, if in the beginning they weren't quite sure what he was doing, they knew now. Stephen was being brutal and they knew it. One commentator said, and I'm quoting, "And now," says Stephen, "speaking like a prophet of old, God's indictment rests upon you as it did upon your idolatrous and apostate ancestors." And then on top of all of that, in verse 53, he called them a bunch of lawbreakers.

So he revealed their spiritual condition. Again, this is the climax, this time all of it together. Second he revealed their true spiritual forefathers. He revealed their true spiritual forefathers. We see a transition in the beginning of verse, excuse me, the middle of verse 51. You stiff necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit as your forefathers did, so do you also. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? Here Stephen mentions the Jews of old who persecuted and killed the Old Testament prophets, and it was well known. This was well known information in Judaism that this took place.

We see it in the Old Testament scriptures, and in my reading and study I came across lots of scholars who point out extra biblical historical writing that point to the fact that the Old Testament Jews persecuted the Old Testament prophets. So there certainly was biblical and reliable extra biblical history that informed the Jewish leaders that the Jews of old persecuted and killed the prophets. But here Stephen was openly telling the Sanhedrin and the Jews that they were just like those Jews of old.

He says those were your forefathers, but instead of persecuting and killing the prophets, they were guilty of persecuting and killing the very son of God, God's promised Messiah, the one the prophet spoke of. So he revealed their true spiritual condition, a bunch of stiff-necked uncircumcised pagans, apostates, then he revealed their true spiritual forefathers. Then third, he revealed their true spiritual actions concerning Jesus. We see it in verse 52. You stiff-necked people uncircumcised in hearts and ears, 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 announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one? Notice your translation may have righteous and one capitalized. Notice whom you have now betrayed and murdered. Here Stephen pivots from saying that their forefathers persecuted and killed the Old Testament prophets who announced the coming of the promised Messiah. He pivots to saying that they actually betrayed and killed the very Messiah the Old Testament prophets announced. So notice, he confronted them, he attacked them, and he showed them how they resisted God and killed the Messiah.

He revealed their true spiritual condition. He revealed their true spiritual forefathers. He revealed their true spiritual actions concerning Jesus. So notice that Stephen confronted the Sanhedrin and the Jews. He condemned them, he refuted them, he indicted them, and when he got to verse 51, he aggressively attacked them by exposing the fact that they were in open rebellion against God, that they had wicked, sinful hearts. He aggressively attacked them by exposing the fact that they were just like their murderous forefathers and how they murdered God's holy and righteous one.

And as we will see, Stephen's sermon, his confrontation, his attack caused them to be so enraged, they violently attacked him and they killed him quickly. So look at what we've seen here in these verses. I told you I'd cover them. Stephen's sermon before the Sanhedrin. That's the title of the message. Stephen's sermon before the Sanhedrin. Now I want to close out by pointing out a few facts in these events. Simply these events were all a part of God's sovereign will, God's sovereign plan for his church. Now a few specifics here. First it was God's will and plan that Stephen preached as he did.

It was God's will for him to move from waiting on tables to this public ministry before the Hellenistic Jews, to preaching gospel before the Sanhedrin. It was God's will and plan that Stephen preach as he did. Second it was God's will and plan that Stephen be stoned as he was. You might say, "Pastor, I know it was God's will and plan. God ordained these things." Third, it was God's will and plan to use these events to bring about a great persecution against the church. If you see what happens, read ahead.

After this stoning of Stephen, persecution breaks out and it wasn't like the first persecution, it wasn't like the second persecution, it was violent. So it was God's will and plan to use this persecution to scatter the church and scatter the gospel all into the Gentile world. And we'll see that as we get into the study of Acts. Fifth, it was God's will and plan to use these events to prepare Saul for his salvation. If we look over, if we get to the end of the stoning of Stephen, we see that Saul was standing there giving approval. We know who Saul was. He later was converted to Christ. He became Paul and Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.

And then sixth, it was God's will and plan to use these events and the salvation of Saul to take the gospel to the Gentiles. I mentioned this before, Peter was the apostle to the Jews and Saul was the great apostle to the Gentiles. And we can say it all like this, the fire from which Saul was born again was the fire of this great persecution against the church. And the blood of Stephen, who was the first Christian martyr, was the spark that set the fire ablaze. You see? It was the spark that set this fire ablaze. Now I want to offer one lesson before we close.

We have to understand that sometimes in God's good and perfect will for his church, he does use sinful, wicked, even horrific things to advance the church, to advance the gospel, to advance the work of the church and the gospel in the world. Let me repeat that. We have to understand that sometimes God, in his good and perfect will for his church, he even uses great sin, great sinfulness, even great sinful people to do his work to advance the church and advance the gospel. And I say this from time to time, that's God's business. We just let God take care of his business.

We should be faithful to just preach the gospel and to do what the work of the church is supposed to do. And with that some of you might be saying, "Lord, please don't bring that kind of work in our church. It's all up to him now. It's all up to him."