Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19971012.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING MEN
Part XIV: The Need To Stick To Biblical Convictions Though Opposed To The Death
(Acts 7:54-8:1a; 26:14)
  1. Introduction
    1. From the human perspective, much that appear to be setbacks in God's work due to godless opposition to the truth are really not true setbacks at all, but are actually spiritual advances in disguise.
    2. Nowhere better is this seen than in the martyrdom of Stephen as follows:
  2. The Need To Stick To Biblical Convictions Though Opposed To The Death, Acts 7:54-8:1a; 26:14.
    1. From the human perspective alone, Stephen's martyrdom seemed to be a tragic failure, Acts 7:54-60:
      1. Following his convicting sermon against the sinfulness of Israel's religious leaders, Stephen looked up and claimed to see Jesus standing at the right hand of God, Acts 7:54-56.
      2. Such a claim, falling on the heels of Jesus' crucifixion at the instigation of this same Sanhedrin, and on the heels of Stephen's critiquing sermon easily seemed the "last straw" that would inflame these men.
      3. Accordingly, they cried out with a loud voice at Stephen's apparent blasphemy, rushed upon him, and proceeded to kill him by stoning him to death, Acts 7:57-58, 60c.
      4. Thus, from a human perspective, it seemed that a gifted man got carried away with his testimony and unwisely said the wrong thing in the wrong company at the wrong time, producing a tragic death!
    2. However, from the spiritual perspective, Stephen's martyrdom was a launching platform for real progress:
      1. When Stephen began his defense, his face shone before those witnessing his speech like Moses' face had shined upon his receiving the Law at Mount Sinai, cf. Acts 6:15 with Ex. 34:29, 35.
      2. Coupled with this evidence of God's presence and support was Stephen's gracious intercession in behalf of his opponents as they stoned him to death, Acts 7:60a,b. Such a grace-laden prayer revealed that Stephen was convinced he was right, and had a presence of mind indicative of the Spirit's presence.
      3. The obvious shining of his face with his dying intercession of grace for his killers gave powerful credence to Stephen's claim of seeing Jesus as Messiah in glory at the right hand of the Father, 7:55-56.
      4. Thus, though Saul, a chief proponent of Stephen's martyrdom, was fully consenting to Stephen's death, these factors played a grating, gnawing chord on his conscience:
        1. Saul, a young member of the sanhedrin, was the witness at whose feet the stone throwers laid down their outer garments so they could carry on with their execution, Acts 7:58.
        2. This meant that Saul was an ardent supporter of Stephen's martyrdom, Acts 22:20.
        3. However, Stephen's powerful sermon, coupled with the evidences of his shining face and gracious intercession in dying so bothered Saul's conscience that he tried to drown out his conviction by increasing his persecution against believers. We know this from Paul's later admission that when Jesus confronted h im on the road to Damascus to find and persecute more believers, Jesus likened his efforts of persecuting believers as kicking hard against sharp pricks! The harder Paul persecuted, the harder his conscience bothered him in light of the massive witness begun by Stephen, Acts 26:14!
      5. Accordingly, Saul, whose name became Paul at his conversion, was won to faith in Christ, and became an apostle who wrote 14 of the 27 books in the New Testament. (51.85%)
Lesson: No matter how counterproductive or tragic a loss it may seem from man's perspective for us to do right or to stand for what is Biblically correct, we should always abound in that stand for the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labor in doing so is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Cor. 15:58!

Application: (1) What may appear from the purely human perspective to be a no-win loss in one's standing for what is right, God has His ways of providing evidence of the correctness of that stand to counter discouragement: (a) God provides evidences independent of the believer's efforts (Stephen's face shining) as well as (b) evidence via the believer's GRACIOUS ATTITUDE while under extreme fire (Stephen's intercession in his dying words). Thus, we should always view such difficult stands th rough the eyes of the spiritual that we may function effectively as did Stephen. (2) When we DO take the stand we should, Christ will empower us to succeed IN it if we are right, cf. Acts 7:55-56!