The Church Persecuted

Alright, if you would go ahead and take your copy of God's Word and turn to Acts chapter seven. We're going to get out of chapter two tonight. We're going to fast forward all the way to Acts chapter seven. Thank you for those of you that have prayed for my voice. I think by tomorrow it'll be good. But we'll be done. At least I will be and I'll be headed home. But thank you for praying for me. And again, just let me say I ate lunch with your pastor today. And I told him that I have been renewed this week. In your spring renewal, I hope that you have as well. But it has been a joy to be here.

Just a fellowship with all of you, to worship with you. The music has been wonderful. I wish I had the voice to use during it. I haven't had that. But so thankful for what God is doing here in Brookhaven. Just to be completely honest with you, when Chris called and asked me to come and preach, I had no clue where Brookhaven was. I had fellowship with you guys a lot at True Church Conference. And I had said to my youngest daughter, I said, "Hey, you want to go with me? You got friends?" And it's just a couple hours away. She was like, "Dad, it's almost six hours away. I can't go.

I'd miss school." I said, "I didn't know, but it's just been a joy to be here. And I've been encouraged by you, by your willingness to be here, to be involved, to see that you are actively serving the Lord together as a church body. And I hope that you have been encouraged from the Word of God as well." So Acts 7, we started on Sunday morning and we saw the church waiting, waiting on the person of the Holy Spirit to come to fill God's people with His presence, to clothe them with power so that they might do gospel ministry. And then, of course, we saw that gospel ministry begin to take place.

And we saw that in the church preaching as the Holy Spirit filled the people of God. Particularly we see Peter stand up and begin to preach the Word of God. And he preached the gospel. He preached an accurate portrayal of Jesus. He preached an accurate portrayal of man in his sin. And so we saw the church waiting for the person of the Holy Spirit. And then when the Holy Spirit comes, He empowers them for gospel preaching. And then when you have the Holy Spirit empowered preaching of the Word of God, you have the church multiplying.

And so we looked at that a couple of nights ago on how the Lord began to build His church through the Spirit empowered preaching of God's Word. And then last night we shifted gears a bit and we began to look at some defining characteristics of the church. Things that should mark the church. Things that should define the church. When the world or when other churches look in at Grace Life Church of Brookhaven or Grace Life Church of the Shoals, there are some constants, some principles of truth that should always be there.

Not in perfection because none of us are perfect Christians, but things that we should be striving by God's grace, pursuing by God's grace to be a part of in the local church. So wonderful things have been happening in the book of Acts. And the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always drawn reactions that at times have been exceedingly good. We've seen some of those. In Acts 2.41 in one of the sermons we looked at, we saw that 3,000 people received the Word of God and were baptized and welcomed into the church family there in Jerusalem. And then last night in Acts 2.46 and 47 we saw things like unity among God's people.

What a wonderful reaction to the preaching of the gospel. We saw praise among God's people. We saw so many good reactions that God was doing, was working into the lives of those who were coming and joining the church. In Acts 5.14 this is right on the heels of the practice of church discipline if you will with Ananias and Sapphira. This is this, and all the more right after this church discipline and all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number. Now we talked a little bit about church growth the other night.

The church growth gurus would tell you, "Look, if you do something like discipline, the Lord can't build a church." Here in Acts 5, the Lord disciplined Ananias and Sapphira by putting them to death and more disciples were made as a result of it. Acts 5.13 right before the verse we just read there, it said that even the people outside the church were beginning to hold the Christians in high esteem. They didn't necessarily want to associate with them all the time, but they knew who they were and that they were real and that they were genuine and they held them in high esteem.

Now there are many other accounts in Acts that we could look at if we had time and examine them to see God working to make the gospel known and multitudes of people responding to the gospel with joy and with gladness, praising God and coming to Him in repentance and faith. Good, joyous reactions to the gospel and to the church. However, there has also always been an opposite reaction to the gospel that at times has been exceedingly bad. Now we know that any rejection of the gospel message is exceedingly bad for the eternal soul of He who rejects Christ. That is not the bad I am referencing in this text we are looking at tonight.

The bad reaction to the church and her gospel we will see tonight manifests itself in acts of persecution directed toward the church. Down through the history of the church, God's people have always had those who would oppose them. Contrary to what the health and wealth and prosperity gospel preachers would say, persecution has always been a part of any church that was genuinely living to glorify God. They would oppose them not just by rejecting the message, but as we will see tonight, but also by violently attacking the messengers. The Apostle Paul spoke of this in 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14-16.

There the word of the Lord says, "But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we the church, God's people, are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." Listen to what he says. To the one, an aroma from death to death, and to the other, an aroma from life to life. To some, the gospel fragrance of Christ from the church and from his gospel is life. But to some, the gospel fragrance of Christ is a stench of death. They are repulsed by it. They hate it.

They hate it to the point that they persecute those who bring that message of the gospel. So what do we learn from the early church and some of her persecutions that can apply to the modern church life for us today? Let's read our text for tonight and we'll attempt to answer that question. Acts chapter 7, beginning in verse 54. Now when they heard this, there should be a familiar phrase. See that phrase often. We read in Acts chapter 2, you actually see it a number of times in Acts. Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick. Now remember in Acts chapter 2, it didn't use those exact terms, it said they were pierced to the heart.

This group it says is cut to the quick. And they began gnashing their teeth at him. Him is Stephen who was just preached. Verse 55, "But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirits.' Then, falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' Having said this, he fell asleep." Chapter 8, verse 1. Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day, a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women.

He would put them in prison. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for all of the times that we have had in your word during this spring renewal. Father, we pray that your word would not return void in our lives. We pray that you will continue to use it. Not just tonight, but tomorrow and next week and next month and next year, Lord, that the word of God will continue to bear fruit in our lives for your glory and for the good of your church.

And, Father, as we think of a very sobering text here tonight on the church persecuted, I pray that we would not leave here discouraged, or that we would not leave here downtrodden, that we would not leave here dejected, Lord, but rather we would leave here knowing that no matter what may come against your church, you will build your church. Lord, this is not the end of the story in Acts. Yes, persecutions may come, but, Father, you are faithful. So teach us from your word tonight, from where we are in need of being taught. We pray these things in your son's name. Amen. Point number one tonight, let the message and not the messenger offend.

Let the message and not the messenger offend. Again verse 54, "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him." It is very clear what it is in Acts 7 that ultimately leads to this group of people killing Stephen by stoning him to death. It is not because Stephen was being a jerk, or because he was mean-spirited in any way in his evangelistic efforts. Rather, it is because of the message that Stephen preached that persecution came his way. The text here says, "When they heard this is when they began gnashing their teeth at him." What was it that they had heard from Stephen?

Well, Stephen had begun there earlier in chapter 7. We won't go back and read it. Stephen had given a brief account of Old Testament history. It is actually an exquisite sermon. If you ever just want to read one, it is an exquisite sermon. He started all the way back in the Old Testament with Israel, and he brought it all the way forward to the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had given them the truth of the gospel, just as Peter had done in Acts 2, just as apostles would do in the remaining chapters of Acts. That is what Stephen had done. He had preached the gospel to this group of people.

Toward the end of his sermon, he had compared Israel's rejection of her past prophets to the current rejection of Jesus Christ. Let me just read verses 51 through 53, the conclusion of his sermon, if you will. He says, "You men," you men of Jerusalem that he is speaking to, "you men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.

You who received the law as ordained by angels and yet did not keep it." So what has Stephen done? He's done exactly what we've already seen in Acts. He has preached the gospel, the truth about God and the Lord Jesus Christ, and he has preached the truth about man, their sinfulness, their wickedness, and their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has once again shown that spirit-empowered preaching is the primary means to reach the loss for the Lord Jesus Christ. Similar to Peter's sermon, different in some ways, but much the same. You know what church? God's Word has given us a real skinny playbook for gospel ministry, has he not?

Real skinny playbook. Preaches the Word, in the power of the Spirit, pray for God to work, trust Him with the results. I told Pastor Chris, I used this illustration the other day, it's like novocaine, just give it time, it always works. Spirit-empowered preaching plus the prayers of God's saint, he ultimately will build his church through that. So this is what Stephen has preached, and Stephen was not doing anything that the apostles had not already done as far as preaching the message of the gospel was concerned.

Again, he wasn't trying to be mean, he wasn't trying to be hurtful in his demeanor, but was simply declaring the message of the good news of Jesus Christ. You know, brothers and sisters, it's important for us to remember, I believe at times, that it should not be our goal to be a martyr when we engage in evangelism with the lost. We shouldn't try to be unnecessarily offensive in our manners, in our language, in how we deal with the lost. We should just lay the gospel out there and trust the Lord to do the rest. We are not to set out to interact with the lost in a way that is offensive.

Now we are certainly not to preach a false gospel and remove the offense of the gospel out of the fear of man. We're not looking to become a martyr so that we may wear some sort of badge of honor around other believers. You know what, believe it or not, we've had some folks at Grace Life Church of the Sholts before that have done just that. They go out on a Wednesday night visitation, and it's almost like their goal, that they want to go out and they just want to be the one that's in the face, and they just want to be the one that's shaking the fist, and they want to be the one that's really going hard for the gospel.

And you know what, sometimes it's like, brother, don't be unnecessarily offensive toward the lost. There's no need for that. That's not what we see in the New Testament. That's not what we see from Stephen. You know, 1 Corinthians 13, verse 3 says this, "And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned," in other words, if I give myself up as a martyr for the gospel, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Here's the portrait of God's servant from 2 Timothy 2, 24 through 25. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome.

Again, it's another reason why sometimes I'm just not sure about some of the whole, the apologetic ministries. There's some good brothers who are out there doing that, but for so many of them it just seems like they just want to quarrel. And I just don't know that that's what God desires from us. God's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth. Here's a description of who Stephen was, Acts 6, verses 1 through 5.

This is where we see those first deacons in the local church coming into play, and Stephen is one of those men. Acts 6, verse 1, "Now at this time all the disciples were increasing in number, and complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food." So they need some helpers. They need some servants. They need some deacons who can help with this need. So the 12, that's the disciples, summoned the congregation of disciples and said, "It's not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables.

Therefore brethren, select from among you." Now here's Stephen's character qualifications. "Select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and of wisdom," so full of the spirit and full of wisdom, "whom we may put in charge of this task, we will devote ourselves to prayer unto the ministry of the Word." The statement found approval with the whole congregation. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. How is Stephen described here? He's not described as some guy who's trying to just go out and stir up trouble.

He's not described as some guy who wants to go get in the face of every lost person and beat them over the head with the Bible and the gospel until they get saved. He's a deacon, so he's described as a servant, as a man of good reputation, as a man who's full of the spirit, as a man who's full of wisdom, and as a man who's full of faith. Here's my point, brothers and sisters.

As a church, whether it's Brother Chris or someone else preaching from this pulpit or whether it's you out in the community sharing the gospel with those that the Lord puts you around, if we will just preach and share the gospel clearly and boldly and humbly, we will not have to go looking to earn martyr points. The message is one that in verse 54 we are told, "Cut these people to the quick." Not the messenger, but the message itself, cut to the quick these people who were listening. You know that little phrase, cut to the quick, it literally means to Saul in half. Wasn't Stephen working to Saul in half, it was the gospel that he preached.

When the gospel is preached, it does pierce to the heart, Acts chapter 2. It does cut to the quick. Here in Acts chapter 7, it does Saul in half. It does do what Hebrews 4, 12 says, it divides down to the soul and the marrow that is within a lost person's heart and soul. Listen, our gospel is a powerful one. At times, it is the aroma of life to sinners and it regenerates the hearts. At times, it serves as an aroma to death to sinners, only hardening their hearts toward it and believers. Friends and sisters, we are not to soften the message.

It's definitely not what we're saying here, but neither are we to harden the message, but simply proclaim it as it has been written in the scriptures. Let us proclaim the message boldly, just as Stephen has done here, but at the same time have a heart filled with love for the sinners whom we are proclaiming the gospel to. Let the message and not the messenger offend. Point number two, we see that the messenger must keep his eyes on Christ. The messenger must keep his eyes on Christ. Again verse 54, they heard this, they were cut to the quick and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

Verse 55, "But being full of the Holy Spirit, he that Stephen gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Now I don't know about you, maybe this is strange of me, but I have often thought of how I would respond if ever placed in a situation similar to Stephen. I don't know why I think of that from time to time. I've never been faced with something as dire as what Stephen is facing here in Acts chapter 7. I've wondered, "Lord, what would I do?

How would I handle that type of situation?" I've wondered how and if I would find the strength to stand for Christ in the midst of knowing that myself or my family's lives might be at risk. Now it doesn't have to be a life or death situation. Do you have wondered, "How would I stand if I began to be persecuted at my work?" Or young people, "How would I stand if I began to be persecuted among my peers and at my school? How would I handle that? Would I have the strength to stand like Stephen does here in this text?" Well, I think Stephen has left us with an example of what we must do if we are to remain faithful in times such as these.

Brothers and sisters, let's be honest. I believe we have more times such as these, maybe again not life or death, but more times where we are going to continually be ostracized from the mainstream of society as our culture here in our world continues to change. There are going to be more seasons where we have to think soberly about how we are going to stand in our current socio-political climate and some of what's being valued now as opposed to what was valued 50, 60, 70 years ago. I believe Stephen has left us with some truth here from Acts chapter 7 on how he was able to persevere. Let me give you just a couple of things here.

Number one, he was able to persevere because he was full of the Spirit. Have you learned this week that the life of the Spirit is important in the work of the church? The Spirit is everywhere in Acts. He was full of the Spirit says there in Acts chapter 7 that verse 55, "He being full of the Holy Spirit gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God." You know there was no abnormal preparatory work done by Stephen prior to this incident. We are told earlier that he was a man filled with the Spirit. It's mentioned again here in verse 55 that he is filled with the Spirit.

"Stephen was a man who lived his life under the controlling influence of the Spirit of God." So many of us are weak at times when facing trial and tribulation and possibly persecution because we are more influenced by the fear of man rather than by the Spirit of God. John MacArthur said it this way, "Being filled with the Spirit was a way of life for Stephen." He didn't have to make any adjustments to his life when the time came to be faced with persecution. He lived in the controlling influence of the Spirit of God. Let me ask you, are you walking under the influence of the Spirit of God? What does that mean?

Well maybe we could ask it this way. Are you saturating yourself in the Scriptures? Because the Spirit of God speaks to us through the Scriptures. Are you saturating your mind and heart with the Scriptures? Is your heart daily flavored by the marinade of God's words? Colossians 3, 16, words it this way, "Does the Word of God fill your hearts?" As the Word of God fills our hearts, we are brought into submission and under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God. And as that happens, we will be equipped to remain faithful in the times of persecution and trial in our lives by daily being faithful in the times of ease.

You know, the time to prepare to stand for the Lord Jesus Christ during persecution is not when that persecution arises. The time to prepare is when we are just daily living walking under the influence of the Spirit of God. Years ago, years ago. I had a brother at Grace Life Church that was a runner, a much better runner than I am. And he came up to me and he said, "Brother Matt, let's run a half marathon." And I said, "You know, brother, I don't know if that's my speed. Oh, come on, Brother Matt. Come on, it'll be fun.

Let's do it." And so I reluctantly said, "Okay, we'll do it." And so we put our money on the half marathon and once I put money on it, I'm like, "Okay, I'm in." I said, "No backing out now. I can't waste my money." And you know, I had good intentions of training for that half marathon. I got a plan together and I was going to work that plan. But you know, a month went by and I just didn't get around to it and a couple of months went by and I just didn't get around to it.

And a few months went by and finally it was about a week before the half marathon and I decided, "You know, I might want to start running." So I think I got a good three-miler in a few days before the half marathon and the time for the race came and I did finish it. It was not fun. It did not feel good. My friend enjoyed it much more than I did. But here was the problem. For some reason, I thought, "You know, I can just do a quick preparatory run right before that half marathon and I'll still do okay." That was a bad way to think about it. So aren't we that way in our Christian walks sometimes?

Rather than daily plodding along, saturating our hearts with the Word of God, being in the Scriptures, sitting under the preaching of God's Word, being a part of the local church family, being involved in the local church, we kind of think, "We know I'll just kind of catch up whenever I need to." And then when persecution comes or trial comes, what normally happens if that's been our pattern? We falter. We fail. We shrink away. We need to follow the example of Stephen. He didn't have to do any extraordinary preparatory work because he was daily walking filled with the Spirit of God under the influence of the Spirit of God in his life.

And when the time came for him to stand and boldly proclaim the Word of God and even face people that were gnashing their teeth at him, Stephen stood because that's what he did every day. So Stephen was able to persevere because he was full of the Spirit, but also he was able to persevere because he kept his eyes focused on Christ. Again in those verses he was full of the Spirit and he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God.

And Jesus standing at the right hand of God and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." Now Stephen here has given a unique vision of Christ that I'm not saying that all of us are going to have. We're not all going to be given this vision of Christ standing there at the right hand of the Father. However if you and I were able to see Jesus at his throne when being persecuted then it would encourage us to persevere. The principle of Stephen looking to Christ can be true of us as well even if our vision of Christ is not exactly in the same vein as Stephen.

We get our vision of Christ through the Scriptures. Yes we are not having some sort of vision where we look up into the heavens and see God but we actually may have something better and that is we have the finished Word of God in which we can cast our eyes to day in and day out and see Christ for all of who he is. Scripture tells us in Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, it says, "Therefore since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus." How do we fix our eyes on Jesus?

By fixing it on the Scriptures? That is where we get our glimpse of Christ. That is where we learn of the glories of Jesus is from his Word. Hebrews 12, 2 says, "As we are fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we will learn of him that who for the joys set before him endured the cross." As we learn of Jesus in the Scriptures, we learn that he in his joy endured the cross on our behalf and thus we are encouraged to endure whatever persecutions we may face for his glory as well. Are you fixing your eyes on Jesus daily?

Colossians 3, 1 through 2 says this, "That we are to keep seeking the things above." That we are to set our minds on the things above. By fixing our eyes on Jesus, we are reminded that we are not here for our glory and for our comforts. We are reminded that this world that we live in is not our permanent home. We are reminded that even though persecutions may come our way in this world, that we have an eternal life with him that awaits us. Luke 9, 23 through 26, Jesus reminded the disciples and he reminds us that these times will come.

Here speaking to his disciples, he was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me, in my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." I don't know where each of you are in your life, but some of you may be facing some persecution.

I hope it's not to the level of Stephen. Maybe someone in your family. Maybe someone in your work. Maybe a neighbor. Maybe a teammate. I don't know and they're pressing in on you, beginning to, maybe mock, persecute you in some way. How can you remain faithful? Well, you must be full of the Spirit. You must keep your eyes on Jesus. He has set the example that we can follow. Look to him for comfort and strength when enemies come against you. Look to Christ that you may follow his example. Use your attention toward heaven in the midst of your persecutions. It's a sobering text, right? Sobering text for us here.

So he has fixed his eyes on Jesus. Now we move on. Let's read our text. Verse 57. "But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him. And the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirits.' Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord do not hold this sin against them.' And having said this, he fell asleep." Point number three. The messenger must follow the example of his master.

Stephen after catching a glimpse of Jesus in heaven does indeed follow the example of his heavenly master in how he responds to those who put him to death. There are two prayers of Stephen offered up to the Lord that give us an insight into how he follows Christ's example in the midst of his persecution. The first of those prayers comes from verse 59.

"They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord," here's the first prayer, "and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirits.'" Our Lord uttered a prayer very similar to this during the time of his crucifixion to his heavenly Father, Luke 2346, and Jesus crying out with a loud voice said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirits." And having said this, he breathed his last. Stephen knows that even though these murderers may stone him to death, that in reality as a child of God, not a hair on his head will perish.

He knows what the Apostle Paul knew in Philippians 1.21 when Paul said, "To live is Christ and to die is gain." He knew what Peter and John knew in Acts chapter 4, a text that we didn't get to look at, but there they are warned by the governing officials of the day that if they were to go on continuing preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, that there were going to be dire consequences for them. And Peter and John looked at those authorities and said, "You know what? Whether or not you think we're supposed to preach, we can't say, but we must go on preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ." They knew that to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Church for the Christian, even death is not to be feared. For the Christian to be killed is only for them to gain by going to be with Christ. As we turn our eyes to Christ, as we keep an eternal perspective on life, as we entrust our future to the Lord, we are enabled to persevere even in the midst of the most difficult of persecutions. Death was not the end for Stephen. In Acts 7 verse 60 there, it simply describes his death as him falling asleep. An accurate description of the death of the saint's physical body, his soul went to be with the Lord. One day we know he will receive a glorified body fit for all eternity.

John Dagg said this about the death of the believer, "Death," he says, "to the departing saint is not a journey through a solitary way. He is no sooner separated from earthly friends than he finds himself in a company of celestial spirits who offer themselves as his attendants and guides to his eternal and blissful home." Stephen knew, "Yes, they may stall me. Yes, they may kill me, but it simply brings me into the presence of the Lord whom I've just seen." One more did it this way. Although Stephen was killed, he was not the victim. He was the victor in this episode.

There had to have been a strange peace that only the Lord can grant us as he was about to die. A peace in knowing that the fate of his soul resided in the hands of the Lord Jesus who was standing at the right hand of the Father witnessing his death. The second prayer that Stephen uttered that shows that he was following the example of his master is there in verse 60.

"Then falling on his knees as the stones and rocks are beginning to rain down upon him, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.'" Again, we look to the gospels and see Jesus pray a similar prayer to his father as he was being crucified, Luke 23, 34, but Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." By God's grace, Stephen responds to these who are hurling rocks at him, not with an attack of his own against his enemies, or with angry or insulting or vindictive words toward those who were coming against him, but rather with a prayer to Jesus for mercy on those who persecuted him.

Only the Spirit of God can grant us the ability to do that. Only the Spirit of God. This is fitting because of what the Scriptures teach us concerning our enemies. In Matthew 5, 43 through 47, the word says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" That's exactly what Stephen's doing. He's simply being obedient to the Scriptures here. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" In other words, the Lord is saying, "I'm calling you to live in an entirely different way than those in this world." Those in this world would say, "Yeah, if they love you and they do good to you, you can do good back to them. But if they're your enemy, you hate them." The Lord says, "No, love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you." And Stephen demonstrates this at the most dire of times. In Romans 12, 20, and 21, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him.

And if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heat burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Brothers and sisters, we are called to love our enemies, to pray for our enemies, to not seek vengeance on our enemies. And you know what? We need to be careful. In our day and time, as the culture begins to change and as sinful ways and sinful ideologies are beginning to be welcomed on a more mainstream level, we need to remember that we're not to fight fire with fire. We're to be gospel ambassadors. We're not to hate those who are our enemies. We are to love them.

We are to pray for those who persecute us. And we are to continue to take the gospel to those very people that we disagree so vehemently with over so many subjects. John Stott said, "If the cruel torture of crucifixion could not silence our Lord's prayer for his enemies, what pain, pride, prejudice, or sloth could justify the silencing of ours?" The messenger must follow the example of his master. And then our last point for tonight, point number four, remember that martyrs and murderers may meet in heaven. Remember that martyrs and murderers may meet in heaven.

Verse 58, "When they had driven him," that's Stephen, "out of the city, they began stoning him and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul." That's our murderer. Chapter 8, verse 1, "This same Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him, Stephen, to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him.

But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house and dragging off men and women he would put them in prison." You see, this account is not just about Stephen. It is also about the power of the gospel. Who would have ever thought that Stephen, a man full of the Spirit, who loved the gospel, would end up meeting a man in heaven who was in hearty agreement with putting him to death? Who would have ever known? I'm sure it didn't cross Stephen's mind as the rocks were raining down on him that he would be meeting one of his murderers in heaven one day. I mean, we read the account of Stephen's martyrdom and we shudder with terror.

You think of these descriptions, they rushed at him, they gnashed their teeth at him, they began to stone him. And then here's this guy who's watching all over all of it and he's in hearty agreement and he's saying, "Look, I'll watch your coat. Go grab another rock." Then we learned that that same man, once Stephen had been killed, went over and said, "You know what? I'm going to go house to house and I'm not only going to get men, but I'm also going to get women. And I'm going to throw them in jail. I'm going to persecute them." In the words of the Scriptures, he began to ravage the church.

And we were repulsed at the thought of such a display of hatred. And there's probably a bit of us that upon first reading that, we would say, "We want justice for Stephen. We want God to come down and bring judgment on all of these people." The last thought that we think of is that one of these persecutors will be granted mercy by Jesus. But then we notice this man named Saul inserted into our narrative, who was a part of this heinous death of Stephen.

In Saul's own words, later on in Acts, chapter 22, verse 4, he says, "I persecuted this way, this way of the gospel to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons." In Paul's own words in his letter to Timothy, "I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor." Saul, if there would have been such a thing, would have been selected as least likely to convert and follow Jesus. Least likely to convert and follow Jesus. Here's what we learn. It's only Jesus. Only Jesus.

Only the gospel that could take a man that was literally doing all that he could to destroy God's church and turn him into the greatest missionary that the world has ever known. Only the Lord, only the gospel, only Jesus can do that. And he did it to the degree that when Paul wrote his letter to the churches of Galatia and gave them something of his testimony, he said this, "You have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism. How I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ, but only they kept hearing, and here's his testimony in a succinct sentence, only they kept hearing, he who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.

Verse 24, "And they were glorifying God because of me." Only Jesus can change a man in this way. Can you imagine Stephen and Paul's greeting in heaven? What was that like? I guess maybe on one hand, Stephen realizes the Lord had answered his dying prayer. He had exercised mercy towards one that was there persecuting him. What a meeting that had to be. Listen church, here's kind of the takeaway that I want you to be left with. Don't give up on the most hardened sinner that you know. Saul had to be that.

We all know people that are hardened in their sin, but here's a guy that was actively, violently, aggressively seeking to destroy the church of Jesus, and God in his grace saved him, and made him new, and used him, maybe more than any other human instrument in the history of redemptive history. Don't give up on even the most hardened sinner, because you never know. Even if you're a martyr, you may meet your murderer in heaven one day. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for your grace.