Conviction, Courage and Consequences

Our campuses that are worshiping with us this morning, so good to be with all of you. And would you join me as we pray, as we prepare our hearts to hear God's living and active word among us. Our Father in heaven, we give you glory, honor, and praise. You and you alone are worthy of all that we are and all that we have, and we bring our best to you this morning. Lord, we thank you for the worship and the ability to sneak your face in prayer. And Lord, now we're ready to hear you speak because we as a people believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed, that it is you who are speaking. So our prayer this morning is speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen. Amen. Conviction and courage have a way of changing a culture. Conviction and courage have a way of shaping what's going on in society. But when you have conviction and courage,

there are consequences that result and you can't decide what the consequences are gonna be. But conviction is important. We love stories of people that have conviction that display courage. We love it if we follow sports and one of our favorite athletes goes down with some sort of knee injury, but he has a conviction, he needs to continue playing and he takes courage and finishes the game and we say, wow. Or something more close to home and she'll be like a husband or a father when an intruder breaks into the house and the conviction is, nobody's getting between me and my family and stands firm because of his conviction and courage in the moment, right? And while you can't dictate what the consequences are gonna be, we always appreciate it when people have conviction and then operate in courage. Or take a fireman. I mean, most of us, when we see a building burning, if we're in it, we're running from it. Firemen are running toward it because of the conviction they have that this needs to be put out and the courage that they display by doing it. Last week, we celebrated Veterans Day, this past week

and in our services last week, we had everybody stand who's served in our service and we love stories of conviction from the soldiers that are so convicted to protect our nation, but then the stories of courage that they display because of their conviction. Some have lived, some have died because when you have conviction and courage, you can't dictate the outcomes that's going to happen, but living with conviction and courage is important. What about how the gospel meets when it meets a complacent culture? How do we live with conviction for the Lord? How do we live with courage for Jesus when we're not sure how the consequences are gonna turn out? How do we share the gospel with family members that are coming into town for Thanksgiving or Christmas when we know if we do or if we live out our faith, it's gonna cause some problems? How do we do it with our coworkers? How do we do it at school? How do we live with conviction and courage in our sphere of influence? And if you ever wondered how to do that, I believe the Lord has a word for you today. I wanna encourage you to open up your Bibles to Acts chapter six. We're gonna begin in verse eight.

Acts chapter six, verse eight. And while you're turning there, what we've been talking about is the story that preceded it and the story that preceded it was where there was a food distribution problem in the church among the widows. The Hebrew widows were getting served more food, the Greek widows were not getting served the food, and so they appointed seven men filled with the Spirit that had integrity. They put them in charge, but the apostles said, we must dedicate ourselves and devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. And when the leadership in the church devotes themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word, and the church raises up Spirit-filled men and women that are serving the church, you get what happens at the end of this passage, which says, the word of God kept on spreading and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. God was using the church in spite of challenges when everything was prioritized. And today we're gonna hear about a man which was one of the seven that were selected named Stephen, and we're gonna go through this whole story. We're one of the few churches in America,

I know, that can handle 68 and a half verses on a Sunday morning, you're one of them. So I hope you have your Bible with you and we're gonna tear through this today. But I want you to see this, because if we break it up, you're not gonna see the conviction and the courage and the consequences and all those things that I want you to see here today. So let's start in verse eight, it says this, and Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some men from what was called the synagogue of the freedmen, including both the Syrians and Alexandrians and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen, but they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came to him and dragged him away and brought him before the council. They put forward false witnesses who said. This man incessantly speaks against the holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.

And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel." And here is that story begins. I wanna highlight just a couple of things, but I need you to understand this first and foremost. I'll give you three truths today. And the first is this, that conviction triggers panic when identity is threatened. Conviction triggers panic when identity is threatened. When people have conviction and they're living it out, it threatens those who don't have their identity rooted in what is truth. Conviction will always do that. Notice this, it starts off by saying that Stephen was full of grace and power. Now we know from verse three that he was of good reputation. He was full of the spirit and wisdom. So he had grace, wisdom, power, spirit. I mean, this is the man who's walking with Jesus. And keep this in mind too. Stephen would have been considered one of the first servants in the church. Some say he was one of the first deacons. We don't know if he was given the title deacon. Deacon just means servant, that's all it means. But certainly he was serving. He was helping out with the food distribution problem. And for many people in church,

they look at that as their title and that's what they do. You should never look at your title in the church and what you do. You should be living for God outside the circle of what we're doing here in the church. You should be living for Christ in your sphere of influence everywhere you go. It's not, well, I'm a deacon at the church so I don't have to do these other things. Stephen was living his life among the people that he lived with for Christ. And it says this, that he was doing great signs and wonders among them. Just file this away, because there's some people that say only the apostles did things like that. But it says this, that Stephen in verse eight was performing great wonders and signs among the people. I think what it means is this, God can use anybody anywhere at any time to get done anything that he wants to do. God's not impressed by earthly titles. Did you know that? And so when I hear people get their PhD on, well, that didn't happen after that. I'm not interested. God can do whatever he wants to do. God's bigger than what you think, amen? And so there's a synagogue and it was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen.

That meant either their dads or their granddads had been, they're Jewish, but they were slaves of Rome and they had been set free. And this group of people had come together in that synagogue and so that's something that they all had in common. And it says they came from Syrians and Alexandrians. That was Northern Africa. You may remember when Jesus was going to carry his cross and he couldn't do it because of the weight of it and how badly he'd been beaten. And they had Simon the Cyrene carry his cross. He was from North Africa. That's where he was from. That's the man that would have carried his cross. And then you have Cilicia and Asia. Cilicia is where Tartus was, where the apostle Paul, who started off as Saul, who we'll read about later, this was likely his congregation. This is likely who he was with. And notice what it says in verse 10. They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking. Listen, Jesus told his disciples when he commissioned them in Matthew chapter 10, don't worry about what you're gonna say because the spirit will tell you what to say when you get there, right? What was Stephen doing? He was living for Jesus in his sphere of influence and nobody could argue with him

because he was arguing truth. Nobody could argue with him because he was using spirit-filled wisdom. People can argue and debate with you. You're human. People cannot debate with the spirit of God, right? And God will give you the words to say at just the right time. I know there's a lot of people that say, well, what if I get in this conversation and they ask me this? I don't know the answer to this. Just get in the conversation. You'll be amazed at what God does. I mean, have you ever had one of those conversations with somebody where you're talking to them and they're asking you questions or you're having this dialogue and things come out of your mouth as you're telling them stuff? You're like, man, that was so good. I need to take notes on that. That was, have you ever had that before? That's the spirit of God. That's the spirit of God inside of you bringing out what needs to happen. And nobody could debate him. They were having trouble. And when people of conviction speak with boldness, it triggers panic when their identity is threatened.

And so what they do is they secretly induce some men to come and they said to him, we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. He didn't speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. You're gonna see him talk about Moses and God throughout this whole text. They're trying to stir up falsehoods. And notice this, when they were stirring up the people, the elders and the scribes, they came to him and they dragged him away. That means they violently seized him and they brought him before the council. This council is the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was made up of 71 leaders in the community and they dragged him before. And notice verse 13, they put false witnesses who said, now notice this, they make it clear, it's false witnesses. They're saying false things. Who says this man incessantly speaks against the holy place and the law. Now, here's the problem. When you talk to religious people about Jesus, there's two things. people hold on to, where they worship and what they do when they're there. That's really, really important to them. Like, here's where we go and here's what we do. If you start talking about Jesus,

it really doesn't matter where you go and what you do. It matters that he's the Lord of your life. It matters he's with you everywhere you go. It matters he's ruling and reigning over every area and fiber of your being and you're gonna give your allegiance to him. Religious people don't want to give allegiance to Jesus. Religious people just want a place and they want a routine. I call it routine, rhetoric, and religion. They like to talk about things. They like to repeat things. They like to do things. They like to tell you they're religious. When you talk about Jesus, it carves all that out. So when they're talking about the law and they're talking about the temple, you need to understand this. Jesus gave the law. The law is an exact representation as to who he is. The law is perfect. There's nothing wrong with the law. The only problem with the law is no human being can keep the law, right? And what Stephen was telling them is Christ is the fulfillment of the law. So if you have Christ, you don't need the law. You have Christ who's fulfilled it and you're gonna be obedient to Christ. The temple housed the presence of God. Keep in mind, the temple didn't house God.

The tabernacle didn't house God. God's bigger than anything made by human hands. His presence dwelled in the holy of holies, but God didn't dwell in the holy of holies. But what you understand as a believer is when Jesus died, the temple curtain was rent from the top to bottom. It opened up signifying, hey, the holiness of God is available to everybody, anywhere, at any time, if you come through the person of Jesus. So what they were hearing Stephen teach was the gospel, that Christ died for sinners, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. They were hearing that God made him who knew no sin to become sinner on our behalf so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. They were hearing for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. He was proclaiming Jesus. And he was saying, if you have Jesus, in him is the fulfillment of the law and in him is the fullness of God. And therefore the law is pointing to Jesus. And therefore the temple is pointing to Jesus, but it's all about Jesus. And these people cared more about their religion. So they were lying and saying, he doesn't like the law

and he doesn't like the temple. And he said, he's not for it. Just the same way they told Jesus. Jesus, we heard him say he was gonna destroy this temple and rebuild it in three days. But in John 2, 21, what's it say? He wasn't talking about the temple. He was talking about his body, right? Your body, if you're in Christ, is a temple of the Holy Spirit. He was sharing the gospel and religious people are trying to fit the gospel into their religious system and you can't do it. It's when you meet with somebody, you know they're religious when they start, when their first play is, what denomination they are. I'm Baptist, I'm Catholic, I'm Lutheran, I'm Protestant, I'm, you know, whatever it is, that's religion, right? It's, I'm a born again believer. Jesus Christ saved me by his blood. His death on the cross did everything. He was buried and raised. He's the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the father except through him. So that's what he's been saying. And so false witnesses are speaking out against him and they're saying all these things. Now picture this, he's in this Sanhedrin of 71 people. Do you remember who else was in that Sanhedrin of 71 people just a few weeks earlier?

Jesus Christ himself stood there in front of that group of people just weeks earlier. Now it's Stephen with that same group of people and they're gonna start questioning him, but notice what it says about him. And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face was like the face of an angel. Do you remember when Moses went up on Mount Sinai to get the law and he spent time in the presence of the Lord and he came down and his face was glowing so much he had to put a veil over his face because people couldn't even look at him? When you spend time with Jesus, your face may not glow, it may not change colors, but when you spend time in the presence of the Lord, there's a presence about you, streams of living water flow through you to other people. When they saw Stephen, they didn't see a man in front of him that was scared to share his conviction. What they saw was a man that was at peace with his Lord and Savior. They saw a man that was filled with joy, saw a man that was filled with love and kindness. They saw somebody they didn't expect to see. Now why is Stephen gonna be able to do this? Because he has conviction that Jesus is the Christ. Now we like to teach our young guys in our internship, conviction is not what you grip, it's what grips you.

Like you don't say I'm gonna become convicted about that. One day I'm gonna become convicted about the Bible. You'll get convicted when it absorbs and consumes who you are. I'm convicted about the Bible because I know the Bible's true. From Genesis 1, 1 through Revelation 22, 21, all of it's true, all of it's authoritative, all of it's inerrant, all of it will live forever. I'm convicted by it. If you ask me if I believe God created the world in six literal days, yes. If you ask me if Jonah was swallowed by a real fish, yes. If you ask me if Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead, yes. If you ask me if God created everything out of nothing, yes. If you ask me if God created two genders, yes. If he created one race, yes. Why? Because I'm so convicted that God's true, right? I mean, it's conviction. It's not, well, I think I'm gonna try to believe this. It's got a hold of me. And here's what he's trying to say. If you have conviction, don't be surprised when it doesn't go well for you all the time. You need to know when God calls you, he blesses you. Now listen to me really, really close. If you're born again by the Spirit of God because you placed all of your faith, hope, and trust

in the Lord Jesus Christ, death, burial, and resurrection, you're blessed. Let me tell you just how blessed you are. All your sin, past, present, and future's washed away with. Your future in hell that you deserve, it's gone. The Spirit of the living God dwells inside of you. God promises he will never leave you or forsake you. He'll walk with you all the days of your life. He designed you and ordained you and predestined you for great works that you will walk in in this life. Your future that's coming is so beyond blessed that no one can take it away. It'll never spoil, perish, or fade, and it's all kept in heaven for you. I mean, that's just the beginning. You are so blessed. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. However, because you're called and blessed, you're also gonna face trials and persecutions. 2 Timothy 3.12 says anyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Or take a look at what our Lord and Savior told his disciples and all future disciples that we're gonna follow after him in John 15, starting in verse 18. Here's what Jesus said.

If the world hates you, and he's talking about the world system, right? If you're not gonna bow to the world system and love what the world loves, the world's gonna hate you. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. What's he saying? Hey, listen, I'm the Christ. I mean, how do they treat Jesus? I hear people say all the time, man, if God could just come and show himself and let people see how loving he is, he's already been here. Jesus Christ came and what did we do? We killed him, we put him to death, we didn't want him. And Jesus is saying, if they did that to me, why would you expect any different treatment? Why do you expect the world system to just embrace you? The world hates me and if you're gonna follow me, the world at some point in time is not gonna like you either, right? And so we're not to be surprised,

but that's why we need conviction, because conviction is what changes the world, amen? I mean, we love stories of conviction, like when we hear a story of an employee, some gal that won't lie for the sake of their company and stands on the truth. My man, I love that she did that. Now we're not there for the consequences when she gets fired, but we really appreciate the fact that she stood. Or when there's some guy that stands or a soldier that say, we love stories like that. Conviction changes the world. Here's my question, what are you convicted about? Are you convicted that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God? Are you convicted he's the way, the truth, and the life? I'm so convicted by this. And I know every single person who takes a breath, I don't care what the color of your skin is, what pigment you have, whether you're a boy or a girl, whether you grow into a man or woman, wherever you live, whatever nationality you are, I know that if you don't have Jesus as the Lord of your life and you die in your sins, you will be carted off to an eternal hell. I believe it, why? Because God screams that on every single page of the scripture. But he also shares that anyone

who would wanna repent of his or her sin and place their full trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus can have life and have life to the full. And this is what Stephen was preaching. Stephen was preaching Christ. He was telling them about Christ. They're not getting it. They care about their religion, they care about their place of worship, they care about their rituals, they care about the temple, they care about the law. They don't want Christ because if Christ is real, the temple and the law is not needed anymore. And so they're fighting against it. And friends, people will fight against Jesus all the time because they prefer religion to Jesus. But I'm telling you, live with conviction. While it may trigger panic when it exposes their identity and their identity is threatened, keep living with conviction. Now, once conviction puts you on fire, it takes courage to keep going. So the second point I wanna tell you is that courage, when you start acting with courage, courage creates conflict when idols are exposed. Courage will create conflict when idols are exposed. So what Stephen's going to do is he's gonna talk to these brothers about, and I say brothers, I'm not talking Christian brothers,

I'm talking about his Jewish. family about what's really important. He's gonna start pointing them to Christ through what they know. So notice chapter seven, verse one. It says, the high priest said, are these things so? It's really interesting. It's probably the same high priest Caiaphas that was trying Jesus. The same high priest that didn't like the answer to the question when he said, are you the Christ? Are you really? You know, are you not gonna answer me? What did Jesus say? I am, and the next time you see me, you will see me as the son of man coming on the clouds in judgment. What was he saying? He's quoting Daniel 7, 13. He's like, here's the irony. You think you're judging me and you can do that because I've given you authority to do that, but the next time you see me, I'm the prophesied son of man. I'm the one who's coming in judgment for the whole world. Not only am I judging the world, but I'll be judging you. Pretty awesome. So with this guy having the courage to stand up before Stephen, I mean, he's probably stuttering on his words a little bit

because the last time he tried this, it didn't go so well for him. And he said, are these things so? Are what these people saying about you true? And notice what he says. And he said, hear me, brethren and fathers. He's appealing to them. He's not talking down to them. He's not being rude to them. Hear me, brethren and fathers. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. And he said to him, leave your country, your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you. That's Genesis 12, verse one. Then he left the land of the Chaldeans, which is also Babylonians, and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. But he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground. And yet, even when he had no child, he promised that he would give him as a possession, he would give it to him as a possession and to his descendants after him. But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be aliens in a foreign land and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years, and whatever nation

to which they would be in bondage, I myself will judge, said God. And after that, they will come out and serve me in this place. And he gave him 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 of the 12 patriarchs. Now you might say, what kind of sermon is this? It's a sermon directed at the Sanhedrin that knew all of the Hebrew scriptures. They're incredibly familiar with this story. And why is he pointing them there? He's pointing them there because you're saying I'm lying about the things I'm saying. I'm gonna use the very scriptures you say I'm lying about to point you to Jesus. And so he begins by talking about Abraham. Because for Jews, Abraham is it. He's the father of the nation. Now, here's what people will ask. Why did God select Abraham? And why did God select the Jews? Because he's God and he can pick whoever he wants. That's the answer. See, why are you saved? Because he picked you. Right, I mean, we come into this world and whether we live for 10 years or 50 years

or 75 years, we have ideas as to who God should be, how we should relate, how we should save, how we should do things. And that's why we have to read the word because it goes contra to everything we think. God's bigger than your thoughts. His ways are higher than your ways. And God gets to do whatever he wants. And nothing that happens is apart from his sovereignty. He's involved in all of it. So if you're saved, why are you saved? Because he picked you. He selected you. Why did he pick Abraham? Because he selected him. Why did he pick Israel? Because he selected them. Well, then why am I responsible? Because you are, because you're 100% responsible for everything too. How do those things come together? I don't know. I just know they're both true. I know God does it all and you're 100% responsible and both those things fit perfectly in the scriptures. Amen? So here's what he's doing. He's taking them back to Abraham. Now why? Because he's gonna tell them.

I mean, do you see the story in Abraham? That God called a man to go to a foreign land and represent him and then established a covenant with his people? Does that remind you of anybody else in the New Testament? Jesus left heaven and he came to this earth to represent God. And then before he left, he established a covenant. For Abraham, it was the covenant of circumcision to show they were part of the family of God, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through them. For Jesus, what was the covenant? The new covenant. This covenant is the new covenant in my blood, which was shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Abraham was a type of Christ. It was a picture and a shadow of what was to come. They say, you all believe in Abraham. You all believe that he's your father. Notice this, he's the one who was to come. And God said, all these things were gonna happen. God said they were gonna be mistreated. God said they were gonna be enslaved, which they were in Egypt for 400 years. And God said he was gonna deliver them, and he did. God said to Abraham, I'm gonna make you a nation that's so great, it will outnumber the grains of sand. It'll be more than the stars in the sky.

But can you imagine Abraham at a party, sitting around a fire at like age 99, sharing with his buddies? Yeah, God spoke to me, and I'm gonna be the father of an awesome nation. And it's gonna have more descendants than the sands on the sea, more than the stars in the sky. It's gonna be incredible. And they were like, bro, you're like 99. Your wife's 89 right now and you don't even have a child. Don't you think that'd be like a prerequisite to having a great nation? So he took matters into their own hands. He had relations with Hagar and they had Ishmael and God's like, that's not how we're gonna do it. The promise seed comes from me and your wife will get pregnant and you're gonna have a son, you're gonna name him Isaac. And what happens? Happens just like that. When he's 100 years old and Sarah's 90, she delivers him a son, Isaac, the promised one. Remember that son? Do you see a foreshadowing of Christ? Who when God told him to sacrifice his son, put wood on the back of his son, had him come up a hill to be the sacrifice as he was gonna kill him. And God said, don't lay a hand on the boy and provided an animal to sacrifice in his place.

Why? Because one day there was gonna be a man that was gonna walk up a hill with a beam on his back and he was gonna be the sacrifice, the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world. Amen? I mean, that's what he's trying to tell them. And then we see Jacob and Jacob had 12 sons. Jesus had 12 apostles. Judas Iscariot hung himself, Matthias ended up joining, but you see types and shadows of everything that's to come. And courage creates these conflicts when idols are exposed. So notice verse nine, it said, the patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yeah, God was with him and rescued him from all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt and made him governor over Egypt and all his household. So in two verses, he shares the whole story of Joseph. You remember Joseph? His dad gave him a coat of many colors. He was the 11th child born out of 12. He flaunted it with all his brothers. Like, hey, don't you guys think this coat is awesome? Don't you wish dad loved you as much as he loves me? And by the way, I've been having these dreams

and one day all of you are gonna bow down to me. And it didn't go well because he was sold off into slavery. And even when he got there, he was favored. Why? Because when you're called, you're always favored. But then what? Potiphar's wife lied about him, said he was trying to sleep with her. He got thrown into prison for a number of years. But when he came out, what was he exalted to? He was exalted to the number two position in all of Egypt and helped spare the land. Does that remind you of anybody who came to this earth, who was mistreated by his brothers, who was put on the cross, who was killed? And when he came out, he was given the name that's above every name as the second person of the Trinity that sits at the right hand of the throne of God. I mean, everything in the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of Christ. And that's what you see here. And then it goes on to talk about his story just a little bit. And remember what happened? It said, now famine came over all of Egypt on verse 11 and Canaan and great affliction with it. And our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt,

he sent our fathers there, his sons, for the first time. On the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. So you remember that they ran out of food and Jacob's like, we're starving here, but we hear there's food in Egypt. Go there, see if they'll give you some grain. On the first trip, Joseph did not reveal himself. But on the second trip he did and their eyes were opened. Does that remind you of anything? On Jesus's first trip to earth, the Jews eyes were closed. They were cut off. When Jesus comes back this time, their eyes will be opened. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what Romans 11 is trying to say. So notice this verse 14, then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob, his father and all his relatives to come to him, 75 persons in all and Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb, which Abraham had purchased for some money from the sons of Hamar in Shechem. So the whole family moves down there. And what happens in this time is it grows to about 2 million people. But here's the problem. Verse 17, but as the time of the promise was approaching, which God had assured to Abraham,

the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose another king over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph. It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive. It was at this time Moses was born and he was lovely in the sight of God. And he was nurtured three months in his father's home. After he'd been set aside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all learning of the Egyptians and he was a man of power in word and deeds. So think about this just for a second. Why is he doing all this? He's talking about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He's talking about Joseph. He's talking now about Moses. And he's going through saying, I'm not saying anything false. I believe all the same things you believe. I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here's what I know. Here's what it is. And he says, you'll remember when we got to 2 million people, here's what began to happen. Years went by and nobody remembered Joseph.

Nobody remembers that story. Nobody remembers who we are. And so we were mistreated as slaves for 400 years. And people were crying out for 400 years for a deliverer. Now think about this, when the Pharaoh got word that there was gonna be a deliverer and that the Jews were hoping for a deliverer, what was his plan of action? It was to kill all the infants that were born at that time. Satan's great strategy is to always kill infants before the deliverer does something great. Fast forward to the New Testament, anything like that ring a bell? When Jesus was born and King Herod learned that there was gonna be a king in the land, what did he do? He had every boy under the age of two slaughtered. One of the devil's greatest strategies is to slaughter the young when he knows the deliverer's about to come. Right now in our culture, we will slaughter unborn babies at the rate of about a million a year in our country and about 73 million worldwide. Now think about this just for a moment, okay? Think about this, if that statistic's true and it's close to being true and some of you are more accurate on those statistics, but if we say that the greater Denver area is about three million people,

that's like losing 24 Denver Colorados a year of infants. Why? Because the deliverer's about ready to come back. And I'll say this, for those who have had an abortion here or for those who caused a woman to have an abortion or whatever, there is mercy and grace and forgiveness and love and hope for any sin that you've ever committed. You just need to know that, amen? There just is, okay? But we have to tell the truth. What the enemy wants is to slaughter the young, to misinform the young, to take the next generation. And God wants nothing of that. God wants us to stand firm in his word. And notice this, it was interesting because when Moses was born, I remember the Pharaoh was talking, we won't have anybody born under my reign. We'll never have the deliverer born to me. I'll kill them all. And God's up in heaven kind of laughing like, not only will I put the deliverer there, but I'm gonna raise him, you're gonna raise him in your own household. I mean, it's your daughter that's gonna raise him. And he's gonna know all the ways of Egypt and you're gonna be responsible for taking care of him. And that's exactly what happens because God always gets done what God wants to get done. And that's what happened with Moses. But it was interesting because in verse 23,

as he had grown in power and word and deeds, we would get to see the call that God had on Moses' life. And he didn't realize the call. And for many of us, sometimes we wonder, what's the call in my life? What am I supposed to be doing? I don't know. And whether you're 12 or 26 or 44 or 55 or 72, there's this thing where you ask, like, what was I supposed to be doing? Here's what it is. It's whatever you're convicted about. It's not what you read in a book. It's not, well, I think I'll try that. It's what you must do. I can't not do this. I have to, this is a need. I can give my best to this. I'm gifted for this. I'm serving in this way. That's what it is. And this is what it was for Moses. He was a deliverer, he just didn't know it. Verse 23 says, but when he was approaching the age of 40, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. I mean, he's been growing up in Egypt. Now he's gonna go visit the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed

by striking down the Egyptian. So he goes and visits the Israelites, sees one being mistreated by an Egyptian. He's got such rage in his heart. He's got a deliverer call on his life, but he acts in the flesh and he kills the Egyptian. He's like, I'm not gonna let anybody hurt my people. That's what he was saying. Now notice what happens next. And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they didn't understand. I mean, Moses was thinking, certainly now they know I'm the deliverer. Certainly now they know I'm the leader. They're gonna listen to me. And it says on the following day, he appeared to them as they were fighting together. And he tried to reconcile them in peace saying, men, you are brethren. Why do you injure one another? So the next day he saw two Jews fighting each other. And he's like, hey, well, why are you fighting? I get that Egypt wants to keep you down, but we're Israel, we're family, we're together. Why would you do that? And notice what happened. But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away saying, who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?

Are you gonna kill me the same way that you killed him? Is that what you plan to do? And at this remark, Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. So he goes to help the Jews, kills one Egyptian. Next day he's out like, man, this is good. They know I'm the deliverer. Comes, they're fighting. Hey, why are you guys fighting together? You guys are brothers. I'm like, well, are you gonna kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday? Like we all know you're a killer and it freaked him out so bad. He fled Egypt, he went to Midian. He's now in the middle of a desert. He's in a wilderness experience and he's gonna be there for 40 years before his ministry gets started to come back and be the deliverer. Do you know of anybody else that you can think about in the Bible that started their ministry in the wilderness before they went and did what they were called to do? Well, Jesus did, because he spent 40 days in the wilderness, you know, fasting and praying and sneaking the Father's face before he went public with his ministry. Moses is foreshadowing everything that Jesus is. And notice this, so Moses fled. After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to him

in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of a burning thorn bush. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. And as he approached to look more closely, there came a voice of the Lord. He said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. See that? He's like, I believe this. I believe the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses saw him at the burning bush. And the unique thing about the burning bush is thorn bushes burn in the desert all the time. This thorn bush was burning, but it was not being consumed. So Moses said, what a strange sight. I'm gonna go see this. And when he got there, God told him who he was, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. But the Lord said to him, take off the sandals from your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and have heard their groans and I've come down to rescue them. Come now and I will send you to Egypt. Now you remember that in Exodus chapters three and four, Moses spent the entire time of that saying, you got the wrong guy.

I'm not gonna do that. I've already been there. They don't like me. I'm not a man of good speech. Maybe send my brother Aaron. I mean, God was furious with Moses at the end. I mean, Moses was like, that's his call. That's what you're designed for. Yeah, I don't wanna do that. I got other plans for my life. I mean, that's why we have to pay attention to what God wants us to do, amen. Notice verse 35, then Moses, this Moses whom they disowned saying, who made you a ruler and judge is the one God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. That was the pre-incarnate Christ. Notice verse 36, this man led them out performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. When he was saying that in Deuteronomy, what was he saying? One day from your brethren will come the Messiah. That's what he's setting up. He's wanting them to know Messiah is coming. You believe a Messiah is coming. Moses prophesied a Messiah is coming.

And I've been telling you about the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, I've told you about Joshua. I've told you about all the, I'm just telling you, I believe the whole Old Testament and it's pointing to Christ. And he didn't even get into all the things. Do you remember the last plague that was sent to the Egyptians? Was the death of the firstborn. Do you remember how they had to stay alive? They had to take the blood of a spotless lamb, paint it on a wood beam over their door to make it visible for everybody to see so that when the angel of death came in, he would pass over. What do you see in the New Testament? You see the same provision provided through Christ, the spotless lamb who once for all died for the sin of the world. We didn't put blood on the beam, we put the Savior, our Lord and Savior on a beam who bled out on that beam so that anyone who looks to the cross of Christ who died for you can have life in his name and death will pass you over and you'll live forever. I mean, everything in the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus. It's all screaming, Jesus is the Christ. He's the son of the living God. So this man led them out, he performed all the signs and wonders.

Notice verse 38. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, who was with our fathers and he received the living oracles to pass to you. He was given the law. That's why we have the law. That's why we know who God is. That's why we know what God requires because we believe that the law is good and holy and righteous. But notice verse 39. This is where the sermon's gonna start taking a turn and it's gonna get even stronger. He says, our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, saying to Aaron, make for us gods who will go before us for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, for we do not even know what happened to him. At that time, they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing at the works of their hands. What was he saying? You celebrate Moses, you celebrate all he did, but let's talk about our dads. Let's talk about your dads for a second. None of them did what God wanted. Even when Moses was up talking to God,

even when Moses was getting the oracles God wanted, what did you do? He was only gone 40 days and you gathered all your jewelry and belongings and formed a golden calf and worshiped to the golden calf and had orgies and all these different things. That's what your daddies did. So if there's anything true about our history, it's that the fathers, your fathers, my fathers, none of us served God. We have all the history of God, but none of us have been obedient to God. We haven't done it right. And you say, well, you know, good thing we don't live in that age. Like I'd never make like a shrine to a cow and worship it. No, but we give our allegiance and money to other things and we spend our time, our effort and energy. And we give that which is ultimate to something that is not ultimate. Can I just... Can I just tell you what an idol is? An idol's anything that gets in the way of full allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's anything. Sports can be an idol. It's not necessarily an idol, but it can be an idol. Vacations can be an idol. Not necessarily an idol, but can be an idol. Money, not necessarily an idol, but can be an idol.

Your marriage, not necessarily an idol, but can be an idol. Pursuit of relationships, not necessarily an idol, but can be. How do you know it's an idol? Because if God were to take it away, you'd be bothered. It would change your allegiance to Christ if he did. Now, yes, if my wife died, I would be in pain. Yes, if my wife died, I'd be in tears. Yeah, I get all that. It would change things, but it wouldn't change my allegiance to Jesus Christ anyway. It would only cause me to press into him even more. But for some of us, we like our idols and we bring all of our idols to Jesus. And like I did, when I first got saved, we got, if you bless me in sports and if you bless me like this, and if you give me a lot of money, I'm gonna just keep worshiping you. This is gonna be great. And God's got to kick all those idols to the ground where he's like, no, it's just me and you. And if I do nothing else, we're good, right? And it's a lifelong journey on that. Like, where do you give your time? Like, if you look at your calendar, if you look at your checkbook, if you look at your time, like where you go, like that's what you value.

Where do you spend your time? Who do you spend your time with? What do you spend your money on? What do you give your eyes to? What do you give your heart to? What do you listen to? What are you focused on? That's your God, right? And he's exposing that. He's saying, you guys say all the right things that you believe in all the things that happened in the Hebrew scriptures, but your dads never were obedient to it, and neither are any of you. That's what he was trying to communicate. And he was saying this, that God judged that. Because notice verse 32, but God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets, it was not to me that you offered victims and sacrifices 40 years in the wilderness, was it, O house of Israel? You also took along the tabernacle of Molech and the star of the God, Rompha, the images which you made to worship, I will also remove you beyond Babylon. What was he saying? I'm gonna judge you for these things. What does he say in Romans one?

When we start worshiping the creation rather than the creator, God says, okay, then you go your way. Friends, we're living in Romans one right now, where the wrath of God is being poured out on our society. Because we've started worshiping what we wanna worship rather than worshiping the living God. Now, the good news is all throughout the Old Testament, even the New, return to me and I'll return to you. Repent, come to me, I'll wash you clean. I mean, when a culture or individual turns to Christ, everything can change in a moment. But if we keep going the way that we are, God's like, you don't want anything to do with me? You wanna do it your way? Go ahead, have your way. And what you see in that is you see God's judgment through the sexual revolution, through the homosexual revolution, and then you see an absolute depraved mind. You say, what's that mean? Just watch the news, that's what you see. Nuts, people are saying things like, that doesn't even make sense. Like, how can you even say, there's zero foundation for that. And everybody's like, oh, that's so smart. I'm like, idiot. It's a depraved mind, right? I mean, that's where we're at as a culture.

And courage creates conflict when we step up and confront that. Notice what he says in verse 44. Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua under dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers until the time of David. Hey, we had the presence of God in the tabernacle. Remember when we crossed over the Jordan, we put the tabernacle out in front and God parted the water, so we all crossed over. I mean, we've always had that. God's always been with Israel in spite of our unbelief. And he talks about David. David found favor in God's sight and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. However, the most high does not dwell in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says. What's he saying? Remember where David's like wanted to build God the temple and God said, no, you've shed too much blood. Your son's gonna do it. So Solomon built it,

but it's not as if God dwelled in temples. Why? Because Isaiah 66, one, and we read it here in verse 49, says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool of my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or what place is there for my repose? Was it not my hand which made all these things? How can you build a house for God? I mean, how could you build a house for God? I mean, God is spirit, but if God had an eyeball and he opened it, his eyelashes would cover the front range. I mean, and that wouldn't even be big enough. I mean, God is so vast, so big, so powerful. Like, how are you gonna build a place on it? Well, we're gonna build a house for you, God. He can't dwell in it. He's too vast. He's too big. He's too mighty. However big your view of God is, it's too small. My view of God is too small. God's vast. He's big. He's infinite. He's great. And this is where the sermon is gonna get very. because I want you to see this. It's the climax of his sermon.

I mean, here's what he's been talking about. I mean, think about this for a second. I mean, Abraham, he was the promised seed for a nation. Christ is the promised seed for us. Isaac put wood on his back for the sacrifice. Christ was the sacrifice son. Joseph was rejected by his brothers, became number two in command. Christ was the rejected deliverer and sits at the right hand of God and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord. Moses was the deliverer of Egypt. Christ is the deliverer of sin through the cross. The Exodus was freedom from bondage. The cross and Christ was the redeemer for the forgiveness of sins. The law was the standard for godly living. Christ is the fulfillment of godly living. The tabernacle was God living with his people. John one says that Jesus tabernacled among us. The temple was the presence of God. Christ is the presence of God. The prophets, they killed those who promised the Messiah and then they also killed the promised one. I mean, we see all these things and this is what it's culminating in. I mean, notice verse 51 and following. This is where it's gonna get very intense. Now he's done telling them history.

Now he's done teaching text. Now he's teaching application. What's this mean for me? Here's what he thinks. 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. What's he saying? He's like, do you get it? You stiff necked, hard hearted men. Every single time God has sent someone to our nation to prophesy about what God wants, your fathers killed them. Now he sent us the Messiah, you betrayed him and killed him. The very promised one in the Hebrew scriptures that came to the world, you're responsible for his own death and God gave you the law and none of you keep it. You have a worthless religion, all of you are of the devil and all of you are going to hell. That's what he was saying. They didn't like it.

They didn't like it. Says now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, which means they were just pierced in their heart and they began gnashing their teeth at him. Let me give you the final truth here. When you're sharing the gospel, you need to understand that consequences confirm unbelief when Christ is rejected. Consequences confirm unbelief when Christ is rejected. I mean, when you're sharing with your family and they get mad at you or they're like, we're not coming here for Thanksgiving anymore, that's the last Christmas we ever, it's just confirming their unbelief, that's all it is. Or when they get mad at you, and I'm not telling you yell at your family. Don't be a jerk. I mean, some people, when they share their faith, they're like, man, they didn't listen. I'm like, well, you're a jerk. I mean, don't be a jerk. Be loving, be kind. Stephen has the ability to say all this because he knows all these people. They've met. He knows them. They've been involved in the other apostles' lives. He's familiar with everything they are. He's teaching them the truth.

And he's saying, I love you enough to tell you you're just like your fathers. You're celebrating your dads when they didn't know God and you don't know God either. That's what he was telling them. But consequences are what happened. So notice what happens. They began gnashing their teeth at him, but being filled with 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 is standing at the right hand of God. It's almost as if Stephen thinks everybody can see this and they can't. God's given him a vision. There's about nine or 10 others, depending on how you count, in the New Testament where God gives a vision to somebody kind of of this nature. Doesn't happen all the time. He had one of them. Stephen had one of them. And he's looking up while they're getting ready to kill him. And he's like, I see the Lord. And he's standing. Well, where did Jesus go after he completed his work and ascended to heaven? He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

His work was completed. He sat. Hebrews tells us he sat. What's he doing now? He's getting up off his throne. He's standing because he's about ready to welcome Stephen home. And Stephen's like, I see the Lord. I see the heavens open. The one I'm telling you about, he's right there. Do you see him? He's standing. They couldn't see him. They thought he was a nut. Thought he was crazy. But they cried out with a loud voice and they covered their ears and they rushed at him with one impulse. And 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. Keep that in mind. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against him. And having said that, he fell asleep. Now, listen, this was a unfair trial, just like it was for Jesus.

Jesus was not rightly tried. He was falsely accused and crucified. Stephen was too. The reason you know this is because stone somebody in the first century, they would throw them off like a 10 or 20 foot parapet hoping that they'd break their neck. If they didn't, they'd throw a huge stone on them just to crush them. If that didn't work, then they would start pelting them with stones until it was done. Not Stephen. They just started pelting him right away. They were laying their cloaks down at the Apostle Paul's feet. Who wasn't the Apostle Paul at the time, he was Saul of Tarshish, who was giving hearty approval to his death. And as they were pelting him with stones, here's how he was responding. We know he didn't break his neck because he goes down to his knees. And as he's on his knees, he's talking to Jesus. And there's two statements we have that he recorded that he said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Remind you of anybody else? When Jesus was on the cross, what did Jesus say? Into your hands I commit my spirit. What about this one? Lord, do not hold this sin against them.

Remind you of anybody? Father, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing. And then it says this, having said this, he fell asleep. Now, nobody's come back from the dead to tell me what martyrdom's like, but I kind of get the feeling that if you have to exercise the gift of martyrdom at some time, God just mercifully takes you home, right? And for those of you that will exercise the gift of martyrdom someday, if the Lord ever has you do that, the good news is you only have to do it once. Then you never have to worry about doing it twice. But Stephen fell asleep. And when he falls asleep after being pummeled by stones, which you can imagine how gruesome that would be, verse 8-1 says, Saul was in hearty agreement, putting him to death. The apostle Paul, who wrote 2 3rds of the New Testament, who was the foremost missionary evangelist in the history of the church, is watching this happen, and he's like, yes, this guy's a mess. And I'm gonna give my life to destroy people just like him. And then what happened? God got ahold of his life. And if you can read this story through Paul's lens when you're reading the New Testament, you'll read it different. Because when he says, for me to live is Christ

and to die is gain, how does he know that? Because when Stephen was being pummeled by stones, he said, I see the Lord. When he says, you know, I haven't achieved it yet, but forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, what is he saying? I know what I was giving approval to before I became a believer, and I'm forgetting all that, and I'm straining towards what is ahead. Why? Because he lived it, which tells me this, no matter who you are, no matter how wicked you've been, no matter how far you've strayed from God, if God gets ahold of your life, he can change you in a moment for all eternity. That's the gospel. It's good news. I mean, Hebrews 10, 27 says, for it's appointed unto man to die once and after that face judgment. John 3, 36 says, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God will remain on him. Acts 4, 12 says, there is no other name given unto heaven by which men must be saved. I mean, what's the whole point of this? The whole point is, if you believe in Jesus, then live with conviction, live with courage, take whatever consequences come because it will only make you stronger in the Lord.

And if you don't know the Lord, here's the truth, no matter who you are, Jesus loved you so much, he left heaven to come here for you on a rescue mission. He came to this earth to fulfill the law, which you could never do. And before he left the earth, he took the full measure of the wrath of God for all your sin, if you would repent and trust in him. And even if you don't, it doesn't change God's love. That's just a loving God. But here's the truth. I'm not asking you, when you get to heaven, please don't tell God you're Baptist or Presbyterian or I went to brave, it won't matter, right? What you wanna tell him is this, I believed while I was on the earth that Jesus, you're the God man, and you died on the cross for all my sins and you were raised from the dead and I placed my entire allegiance on you. You forgave my sins, you washed them all away and I wanted life in your name. That's the only reason I have life. And if that's your truth, you are blessed beyond belief. And if that's not your truth, make that truth today because whether you think it's your truth or not, it's truth. You will stand before the resurrected Christ to give an account for your life. And the only thing that you can say is,

you did it, Lord. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for me. And you wanna make sure you said that before you meet him, amen? So I'm gonna invite you to stand and we'll pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this word. I know it's a little longer today, God, but I just trust that you're gonna use it in the hearts of our people. And Lord, I pray today for anyone who's here who's never trusted in Christ, if you want Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you wanna get rid of your idols, you wanna put him number one, you can simply pray like this, Lord, save me now. I wanna turn from my sin and I wanna trust you. Come into my life and make me new. And Lord, for those of us that know you, Lord, let us live with conviction and courage in our sphere of influence, taking whatever consequences come, knowing that even when we deal with difficulties. We're becoming more and more like Jesus every single time we give you all the glory honor and praise and it's in Jesus name We pray amen and amen. Could we give God praise first word today?