In the sermon titled 'Stephen's Manner of Life in the Face of His Persecutors,' Scott Brown discusses the remarkable life and testimony of Stephen as depicted in Acts chapters 6 and 7. Stephen, full of grace and power, performed wonders and preached the gospel with wisdom that his opponents could not withstand. Despite false accusations and hostility, Stephen's face shone like an angel, reflecting his deep faith and connection to God. His sermon recounted the history of Israel, culminating in the call to recognize Jesus as the awaited Messiah. Stephen's life exemplifies the transformative power of the gospel, impacting his relationships, message, and ultimately his martyrdom. His death marked a pivotal transition in the early church, leading to a widespread persecution that paradoxically resulted in the further spread of Christianity. Brown contrasts Stephen's spirit of grace and truth with modern ideas of martyrdom, emphasizing the Christian call to communicate the gospel with love, even in the face of opposition. Stephen's story is a testament to the authority of Christ in a believer's life, showcasing how faith, grace, and the Holy Spirit empower believers to face trials with serenity and courage.

Acts chapter 6, beginning verse 8, reading to the end of chapter 7. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some of the men, from what was called the synagogue of the freed men, including both Cyrenians 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 things, words against Moses and against God.

And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they came up 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 that his face was like the face of an angel. The high priest said, are these things so? And he said, 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 said to them, leave your country and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you. Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him moved 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 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 will 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, and 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 twelve patriarchs. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, yet God was with him, and rescued him from his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household. Now a famine came over all Egypt 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 the first time. On the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family was disclosed to Pharaoh. 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 a sum of money from the sons of Hamor and Shechem.

But at the time of the promise was approaching, which God had assured 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 our infants and they would not survive. It was at this time that Moses was born, and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father's home. And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of Egypt, and he was a man of power in word and deeds.

But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, 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. And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand. 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?

But one who is injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, who made you a ruler and judge over us? You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you? At this remark, Moses fled and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in the 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 the voice of the Lord. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and 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 in which you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their groans, and I have come down to rescue them.

Come now, and I will send you to Egypt. This is Moses, whom they disowned, saying, who made you a ruler and judge, is the one whom God sent to be a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. 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. This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angels and who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai and who was with your fathers, and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him in their hearts and 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, we do not know what happened to him. At that time, they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 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 Moloch and the star of the god Rompah, the images which you made to worship. I also will remove you beyond Babylon." 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 upon dispossessing the nation whom God drove out before our fathers until the time of 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, heaven is my throne and the earth is the 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? You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit, and you aren't 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.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 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. And they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven out of the city they began stoning him and the witnesses laid aside the robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

They went on stoning Stephen as he called to 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 them. Having said this, he fell asleep." What we have just seen in this reading are a number of things, but particularly we see the effect of the centrality of the gospel in the early church. We see the effect of the gospel in an individual's life, that we see the effect of the gospel on his message, particularly Stephen's message. We see the effect of the gospel on his relationships.

And there are so many things in this passage of Scripture, like how about this one, how do you think about martyrdom, how do you think about suicide bombers, and zeal and dying for Christ? Well there's a lot here in terms of direction for how to think and how to live regarding these areas. This chapter brings us to a transition in the book of Acts. The first six chapters have found their focus really on the growth of the early church and particularly on Peter. And we're in the midst of a transition now to a really an overwhelming focus on the ministry of Paul.

But bridging the gap is Stephen right here before our eyes. And So far in our study of Acts we've encountered these wonderful personalities, Paul, Barnabas, we've learned much from Ananias and Sapphira. And now we come to Stephen and we'll find Stephen coming to us this morning and he'll be mentoring us in the proclamation of the gospel, he'll be mentoring us in suffering persecution, he'll be mentoring us in how to communicate the gospel and It's a very rich testimony here. Stephen's name means a crown or a garland. The Greek word was sometimes used for the reward given to a civic leader or to a dominating athlete in the Olympic Games.

So his name really bears witness to his value in the early church and to the accomplishments of his life. Now what we'll be doing is we'll be dividing this passage of scripture into two separate messages. Maybe three, but at least two. And the first will be Stephen's manner of life in his preaching the gospel in this hostile world that he is living in. And then the second message will focus on Stephen's message in preaching the gospel in a hostile world.

It's the longest sermon in the book of Acts. But we're breaking it down in these two segments. His manner of life will be this morning. And we'll look at the way in which, the manner in which, Stephen carried the gospel message. And what we see from Stephen is that not only was he carrying the gospel but the gospel was also carrying him in his very manner of life.

The gospel coursing through his heart and soul gave him a manner of life And his manner of life was consistent with the very gospel that he was preaching. It's so significant to see that. So often, you know, in the communication of the gospel, because our personalities are so marred by the fall because we have so many poor patterns of Speech and relationship and reaction we get red-faced we do all kinds of things and we're communicating the gospel But here we have a great mentor in Stephen who? Communicates the gospel in the power of the very gospel that that he preaches. You know I trust that all of these instructions from the book of Acts would just continue to make us a gospel centered people and that not only that we we bring the words of the gospel but that the gospel is the very bedrock of our character because the Lord God has sent the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to us for the salvation of our sins but he's also sent us the message of the gospel so that it would transform everything.

Every relationship we ever had and will have should have its reflection in the gospel. You know, like for instance, let me give you a couple of examples. What are the implications of the gospel in your marriage? Husbands and wives, wives with their husbands, and then parents to their children. The very message of the gospel has so much to say regarding how a husband would treat his wife.

We know that from Ephesians 5, but we also know it just from just from reading the the accounts of the beauty of the gospel and the way that it works. It's the messages of the gospel and how these should be the foundations of our relationships. What are the implications of the gospel in your work? What are the implications of the gospel in your relationship to government? What are the implications of the gospel in the words that we use as we speak to one another?

Or what is the implication of the gospel in our dress? What does modesty have to do with the gospel? It has a lot to do with the gospel. It has to do with the communicating of the beauty and the purity of God. Everything in life finds itself dovetailing down to the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And here we find Stephen, such a beautiful example. We see him not only carrying the gospel, but we also see him being carried by the gospel in all of his conflicts and difficulties in life. Now in each of these areas in Stephen's manner of life and his message of life, you see him such a great illustration of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was full of what? Grace and truth.

His manner was grace And his message was truth. And you see Stephen just like this. And he's such an exciting example for us in all of the everyday areas of life. Now You also see in Stephen a contrast. It's interesting, we're going to be going by a number of personalities in the book of Acts.

But placing these personalities side by side helps us to see the different ministries that they have. They are expressing the gospel to different kinds of people and in different kinds of ways. They actually bring the gospel to ears that think in a particular way. It's exciting to see how they take the gospel and form it to those particular inclinations that people have. For instance, I'll give you some examples.

Peter's ministry seemed to be focused on ministering to the Jews in Jerusalem. It was a highly Jewish message. In contrast, Paul's message was to the Gentiles. You see him on Mars Hill. You see him in a number of contexts as he brings the gospel to the Gentiles.

Now Stephen's ministry seems to be to the Jews who had been scattered abroad in the diaspora and had come back to Jerusalem. And his message is particular to these people. Stephen was relating to a different kind of Jew than the Apostle Peter was. Many of his heirs had been imprisoned in Rome and had been released and had come to Jerusalem as faithful Jews. Stephen spoke Greek to these people.

Stephen, when he quoted scripture, did he quote the Hebrew Bible? No, he quoted the Septuagint, which is, of course, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And It was Stephen's sermon to these people, these people who had been scattered, which would lead to an even further scattering of the church. It's a very significant sermon here because what happens as a result of this sermon leads to a massive deportation and absolutely the greatest persecution and death of believers in the history of the church up to that point. Tradition has it that Thousands were killed in this persecution that was touched off by this sermon that was just read just a few moments ago so We're introduced to Stephen of course in chapter 6 And he was one of those who was selected by the congregation to serve widows.

And he was a marvelous man. And he became for us, has become for us, the first Christian martyr. And when he died, the church had lost a dear brother, and they grieved greatly at his death. And in 8 2 we read that the devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and they made a loud lamentation for him." And perhaps the people in Jerusalem that day grieved in the same way that Jesus grieved when he heard the news that his friend Lazarus had died. And we have the shortest verse in the Bible from this incident where it's recorded that Jesus wept.

And the church in Jerusalem wept when Stephen died, and it was a loud lamentation because of the loss of this noble brother, this just wonderful man who had been chosen among thousands of believers to serve the widows. So Stephen is a dramatic example of so many different things that we could camp on. It's been difficult for me to think of where do we sink in here? How do you capsulize this whole message? But one thing is sure is that this situation here in Acts 6-8 gives us a beautiful illustration for how the trials and the reversals of life bring glory to God.

The worst things that seem to be happening are not the worst things that have happened, because they always give birth to something wonderful. And here we find the attacks, the slanders against a man leading to his death, and the scattering of the church, but also the spreading of the gospel and the salvation of millions of whom we are In number of those who have been saved as a result of this scattering and this deportation that took place This Section of acts is it sets the stage For this major major persecution that takes place. It's interesting that you have all these contrasts in Acts. We've just come off a section where a man is healed at the beautiful gate, he's walking and leaping and praising God. And then we find the people, they're taking their meals from house to house with gladness and sincerity of heart, and they're rejoicing with one another, and now they're raising a loud lamentation for their dear brother Stephen who has just been killed.

And even though there's this walking and leaping and praising God, lurking in the background is hatred toward the gospel, a vicious hatred toward the gospel. Earlier we saw Gamaliel wanting to hold back the persecution and he asked everyone to just wait and see that maybe this message would die Like all cults do, they just die eventually. The light goes out because they're based on an insanity. But his counsel was to wait. And what he is finding now is that it's gaining strength that's not dying out.

And the intolerability of the gospel is rising in the community to such a degree that we're going to we're going to face our first death in the Christian community in the book of Acts. So with this passage we see the second persecution of the church. We saw the first persecution which led to Peter and John's imprisonment. That was mild. Now we have something more stringent coming upon God's people.

And what you see is the response of a man who has the gospel coursing through his veins and we learned so much about the effect of the gospel And I hope it will teach us. I hope honestly that we would become like Stephen. His mentorship toward us this morning would be very, very effective. Because we'll face probably not things as difficult as this. But we'll face them maybe in milder ways.

Typically, though, when we face mild persecution, we have a great reaction, whereas Stephen faced great persecution, and he had a very godly mild reaction. Okay, so here's what happens. Stephen is accused of blasphemy, and this is all couched in this dispute in the synagogue of the freedmen. And F.F. Bruce tells us that there were about 480 synagogues in Jerusalem.

Well, we don't know if that's absolutely true, but there were a number of synagogues and a number of different kinds of educational expressions in Jerusalem at that time. The Jews had taken on a Greek pattern of education and they incorporated into the synagogue. And there were three synagogues mentioned here. The synagogue of the Freedmen, the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia. Now, there may have been maybe just two synagogues.

It's hard to figure out exactly. But there were a number of synagogues, at least three, that were gathering together to face off with Stephen and to confront him. It's interesting here that this last one that is listed, Cilicia And in Asia, remember the capital of Cilicia was Tarsus. You remember who was from Tarsus? Paul, Saul was from Tarsus.

It's quite possible that the apostle Paul was here in this debate. But at least he was from this capital. And he was in league or lumped with, as a Hebrew of Hebrews, one who is from the outside area and was part of this Greek synagogue in Jerusalem. And we see here that Stephen was accused of blasphemy. We'll pursue this a little bit more deeply next week as we talk about the message.

And Was it blasphemy? Were the accusations accurate? There's a very interesting look at that as we go through this. But the synagogue of the freedmen perhaps were former slaves, freed slaves, perhaps of descendants of Pompeys, prisoners of war, but they were perhaps Roman slaves that had been released and were now free and were in Jerusalem and desiring to be godly and to worship God. Now there were two forces at work here.

The first thing that you see is Stephen's wisdom Again, Stephen is our example. He is our mentor in persecution and in debate It's it's interesting that people today don't really know how to debate anymore. They don't know how to debate with grace. They can only debate with knives and anger and vicious attacks. People don't know how to do this anymore, but Stephen knew how to do it.

And here's how he did it. It tells us exactly what was in his heart as he was debating. He was full of faith, and he was full of the Holy Spirit, he was full of grace, he was full of power, and one of our men on Tuesday morning when we had our Bible study said he was full of holy boldness. I like that. I think that summarizes a lot of what you see here.

It's holy and it's boldness. It's not just boldness, it's holy boldness. And Stephen gives us that. Now the wisdom of Stephen was obviously not his own. Stephen was not full of himself.

Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He had a center. The Gospel was the center of his life, and it was out of that center he communicated. He was drawing from faith, he was drawing from the Spirit, he was drawing from grace of God, he was drawing from divine power and it was this well that was welling up within him and giving him a message. And He had a faith that caused him not to rely upon himself.

And for this reason, he was a trustful man. He was a happy man. You see him with the face of an angel before his accusers. He obviously was made happy by the grace of God in the midst of all of his trials. You know, in contrast, you know, the man who's full of himself has much to say of his own opinions, and people often mistake his confidence for wisdom when in fact it's just human confidence.

But in actuality he's full of insecurity Because he only has himself to consult with and therefore he's a very independent but lonely man Because he's drawing upon himself. He's drawing from the resources of his own soul This is this is the most this is the driest way to live. This is the, if you want to destroy happiness in your life, just start drawing from yourself. Get into yourself. Get to know yourself and you'll be the unhappiest of all disciples and perhaps some of the least useful disciples.

But men full of themselves, they get a corresponding reward. They get more of themselves and less of God, not Stephen. He is a beautiful fulfillment of 1 Peter chapter 411. If anyone speaks, let him speak the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Christ Jesus, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Like the Apostle Paul who spoke to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, he said this to them. He said, we have such trust through Christ toward God that not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. Or as he said in that same book, for our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you. Here is Stephen just like this, his gaze is toward heaven, he's not drawing from himself, he's not into himself, he is, he has his gaze fixed upon God And he is full of faith here. In 6.5, as we see, as he is said that he was full of faith.

The word full of faith that Luke uses is the word play race, which just means to be filled up. He was just absolutely filled up with faith. Most of us at any given time are either filled up with fear or we're filled up with faith and it's really pretty black and white isn't it honestly you know there there are there are many times when you know when the jig is up for Scott Brown And his wife will say something that will make it very clear that he's filled up with fear and not faith. And Stephen was full, he was full of faith and not fear. I just believe that if we would be found on the side of faith, that God would pour out his blessing in ways that we can't even imagine.

Is there anyone fearful today here? Is there anyone worried about the future? Is there anyone full of fear rather than faith? Well, I know that when Stephen was in a very difficult moment here, he was full of faith. And let him lead the way for us.

Steve had trust of the Lord in all the situations of his life. And this is perhaps why he was placed in the position as deacon. You know, he was chosen among thousands of men in this church. I believe one of the reasons was he was a rock of faith in Christ Jesus. Says he was full of the Holy Spirit.

Says he's full of grace. In 6.8, hate did not control him. He only had a desire to submit to God, he would not be controlled by any man's attitude toward him. Let me just say that again, he would not be controlled by any man's attitude toward him. But he was full of grace.

And I'm confident that he had just as much grace for the widows that he was taking care of as he had for those black widow spiders that were stinging him. He was full of grace. Nothing could destroy his grace. It's easy for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be snuffed out through anger and rejection and things like that. But here we have a man leading the way, really following the Lord Jesus, emulating the Lord Jesus in this, and helping us to go down his track.

Says He was full of power, he was performing great wonders and signs among all the people, he was looking to God and the signs and wonders were coming from God. So the first force at work was that he was full of spiritual wisdom, he had a center and the gospel was filling the center of his life. And then the second thing that's going on, the second force, is that there are behind the scenes forces at work that were causing hatred for Stephen to rise. And there was politicking going on in a pretty large scale. There were men who were secretly inducing other men to say that he was a blasphemer and they were going to other men and saying we've heard him say blasphemous things and then they would pick up the story and carry it on and and believe me it was a firestorm of of gossip and misrepresentation.

It was such a firestorm that thousands died the very same day. The word was spreading as one man would tell another man what Stephen said, misrepresented, and then cause it to bring out its effect. Of course, it wasn't all slander. Some of it was true because it was the gospel, and the gospel was crashing in on the forces of darkness that had gripped the culture at that time, and there was great resistance toward it. But the truth is, Stephen was not blaspheming.

And it was spreading that he was blaspheming. And it was being done through cowardice. And these accusers were going to other men and not bringing them before Stephen, apparently, from all we can gather. So on the other hand, you have these accusers that are going about, and at the same time, priests are coming to the faith. This is pretty staggering if you think about it.

What does it mean that these priests were coming to faith? Here's what it means. It means that they realized they were out of a job and they cheerfully accepted it. They had been employed in the service of the sacrifices. And when they came to faith, they lost their income.

They lost their jobs. They didn't have anything else to do. And so it was pretty remarkable. There are all these wild contrasts here in this passage. The priests are coming to faith, lots of them.

They're losing their jobs one by one. The unemployment rate is rising dramatically in Jerusalem. At the same time, there's anger toward the preaching of the gospel. Then we see action is taken, Stephen is seized by the elders and the scribes. The people had been stirred up, and the elders and scribes took it before the council.

They made an accusation. The accusation was a trivialization of the message. And so what started out as a theological debate turned into something completely different. Let me give you what four elements of what you'll see in the book of Acts for persecution. You'll see debate, then you'll see slander and cowardice and manipulation, you'll see imprisonment and you'll see violence.

Most of the time you'll see all of them. Every once in a while you'll see one of these dropping out of the picture but pretty much this is the pattern of what you'll see in persecution in the book of Acts. You shouldn't expect anything different. We shouldn't think that something strange is happening to us if any of these things happen to us. These are the normal categories that come to the surface for us when we preach the gospel.

And then we see, and we're in a deal, we're a deal more in depth with the message that tripped for, tripped all these, all these things. But for now we're really trying to focus on Stephen's manner of life. And his manner of life is most clearly depicted in the example of Christ lived out in his very own life. And in verse 15, we read that all who sat in the council were looking steadfastly at him, and they saw his face as a face of an angel. What did that mean?

What is the face of an angel? Here's what Matthew Henry says about it. Perhaps it intimates no more than that he had an extraordinarily pleasant, cheerful countenance, and there was not in it the least sign either of fear for himself or anger at his persecutors. He looked as if he had never been better pleased in his life than he was now when he was called out to bear his testimony to the gospel of Christ, thus publicly, and stood fair for the crown of martyrdom. Such an undisturbed serenity, such an undaunted courage and such an unaccountable mixture of mildness and majesty.

I love the way that Henry explains this. There was in his countenance that everyone said he looked like an angel. Enough surely to convince the Sadducees that there are angels when they saw before their eyes an incarnate angel. What a life, what a manner of life is this? Would that God would give us this manner of life in all of the difficult conversations that we might find ourselves in regarding the gospel.

All of our manner of life in the church, all of our manner of life in the church, all of our manner of life outside the church, that it would be characterized by this manner of life. His grace is displayed in the most vicious attack on his life. And now he has been persecuted verbally in the synagogue of the freedmen. He has been taken away and now he's taken to be stoned and his character rises even more vividly in his stoning and we'll fast forward to now to his stoning verses 54 to 60 we see his manner of life concentrated in this amazing moment when they heard these things they were cut to the heart they gnashed their teeth but he being full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God and said, Look, I see the heavens opened in the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord, and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen as he was calling out to God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he said this, he fell asleep. Well, the qualities that we see in him are like the ones that we've seen in him before.

He's filled with the Spirit, his gaze is toward heaven, toward the glory of God, he sees the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Now this is interesting. Everywhere else in scripture, where is Jesus? He's sitting at the right hand of God. What is this?

What about that? He's now standing. I don't know if we should make much out of this, but it is different. And I don't know if the Lord Jesus has risen from his seat on the throne of God to stand in honor of his brother. Elder brother honoring younger brother in the faith, standing at the right hand of God.

And then he is blessing his enemies, he's blessing his persecutors, And he's a living illustration of the holy boldness and the love of Christ. He says the same thing that Jesus said when he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. It's really just the same old thing repackaged in his own words for the moment, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Well, let me move to some applications. First of all, this manner of life challenges us, challenges our view of length of life.

Stephen's ministry was not long in time, but it was very far-reaching, much like David Brainerd, who died in his 20s, much like men who were cut off relatively young in life, like Spurgeon and Edwards, or like my dear friend Jim Fitzgerald, who was cut off as a young man yet his inspiration just continues to live on in the men that knew him. It's not the length of time in a man's life that matters but his usefulness to God and the patterns that he encourages in his descendants. And Stephen did not have much time in the Jerusalem church, but his ministry far outlived him, and he was a gospel-centered man, and it did have an effect. When we renounce the world and we really do rest our whole weight on the gospel, it's meaningful. We do live on the success that we think that we might have by living contrary to that does not compare with what total abandonment can mean for those around us and those who will outlive us.

And similarly, it challenges our view of fruitfulness. And I want to just identify the fruit of Stephen's martyrdom. He was killed in due time. Many, many followed his example. Many of you have read Fox's Book of Martyrs.

I have a 3, 000 page edition of Fox's Book of Martyrs. And you know what? Here's one of the conclusions that hits you in the face with almost every martyr of the church, from the time of Stephen to the last martyr in the Reformation. And that is this. They have the same spirit as Stephen.

They often use the same words as Stephen, who use the same words of Christ. This man's legacy for all the martyrs that would come after him is astounding. They just, they follow him in his manner of life. The other thing that we see in our view of fruitfulness is that we learn something that I think is really important. And that is that we are incapable of saving anyone by our good life.

We're incapable of saving anyone by our good arguments. No one was able to cope with Stephen's arguments, that was plain, but that had nothing to do with their salvation. And sometimes great sermons have positive responses and other times they don't. But God is responsible for salvation And we are responsible for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the words. We are responsible for the grace on the one hand, the manner of life, and the truth, the message.

This is our responsibility. It is God's responsibility to break out revival. And would that God would give us that. But God is responsible for it. We also see in this fruitful life, we see how the authority of Christ works itself out in a man's life.

Isn't it beautiful? If anyone would resist the authority of Jesus Christ, they would be making a huge mistake. Look at what the authority of Jesus Christ does in your life. Who would not want it? Who would not want to be like Stephen at a time like this, to rise above the cacophony of fear and attack.

He was a real man and he was a real man because he was under authority. His life was regulated by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and it was it was beautiful. He finished, he finished well and he died with the praises of Christ on his lips. You know just two weeks ago our family was standing at the grave of Adoniram Judson on Burial Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. And we were standing, I was standing there with Claudia looking, taking pictures of the grave of Adoniram Judson.

And then we went to the place where he set sail to go to Burma. It was very interesting. Well, Adoniram Judson died in the same way that Stephen died. And his last words were, I go with gladness as a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ.

This is the authority of Christ. I feel like a schoolboy. I'm like a deer bounding across the pasture. I feel so strong in Christ, " he says. Edwards, on his death, says, "'Where is Jesus, my never failing friend?' This is the fruit of the authority of Jesus.

Let us have, let us give, as a people, could we not give him authority in the areas that he's desiring to penetrate. I know they're in all of our lives, in many areas where the Lord Jesus desires to express authority that we've not allowed him. But here we find a man who did. Well thirdly, This helps us define Christian martyrdom. You know, with the presence of suicide bombers and Islamic terrorists in our current time, people who are willing to go to their death.

What is this about? How should we think about going to our death? Should we be willing to go to our death? Well, certainly. But how?

How do we think about being a martyr for Christ, a witness, a martyrian for Christ? How do we think biblically about this? Is our model the Islamic martyr? How do we keep our wits about ourselves and think properly about martyrdom? Let me give you a few points right here, okay?

Christian martyrs do not seek death, Okay? You do not see Christian martyrs seeking death. That's in sharp contrast to some modern models of martyrdom. They, Christian martyrs instead of seeking death, they seek to communicate the message. And they plead for the message.

Death is not the goal, and death is not the proof of anything for the Christian martyr. Number two, Christian martyrs reflect the mercy of Christ. Muslim martyrdom is marked by calling down curses upon the infidels and then killing them with a violent death. Muslim martyrs would be just as happy to crash their own airplane with 500 people in it with them as to do anything. But Christians, this is not a Christian view of martyrdom.

Christians save lives, not destroy them. There's a tremendous difference here. Believers are loath to see a soul enter into a Christless eternity. Christians desire to preach until their last breath, and to keep them alive for as long as they can so that they can respond to the gospel that God might have mercy on them. Thirdly, Christian martyrs are rewarded with the presence of Christ.

He is their reward and not materialistic rewards that we commonly hear that are longed for with the Islamic martyr. Fourth, Christian martyrs expect rejection and they joyfully accept it as the sufferings of Christ. Remember about a year ago some cartoons were written that were you know kind of belittling Mohammed and there are these riots and I'm telling you people died because of the outrage from these cartoons. This is not a Christian response. Christians respond to persecution with love.

That's what we do. When we're persecuted, We don't kill the persecutors. That wasn't Jesus' pattern. That wasn't Stephen's pattern. And it's not our pattern.

We do not rise up in hatred against our persecutors. In fact, what do we do? What are we commanded to do? We bless those who persecute us. We don't have a riot because they write cartoons about our leaders.

We expect the curses of the world. It's not unusual for us to receive. It shouldn't make us, it shouldn't give us a, you know, mess up our equilibrium because the Christian martyr joyfully accepts the sufferings of Christ. I've been reading a book to my family by Jonathan Edwards called Charity and its Fruits. It's his exposition of 1 Corinthians 13.

He has a chapter in the book called Charity Disposes Us Meekly to Bear the Injuries Received from Others. I'm going to say that again. Charity disposes us meekly to bear the injuries received from others. This is one chapter in this book. Here's a quote, here's what he says, the love of love to God disposes men to have regard to the hand of God in the injuries they suffer, and not only to the hand of man, and meekly to submit to his will therein.

Love to God disposes men to see his hand in everything, to own him as the governor of the world and the director of providence and to acknowledge his disposal in everything that takes place. And the fact that the hand of God is a great deal more concerned in all that happens to us than the treatment of men is, should lead us in a great measure not to think of things as from men, but to have respect to them chiefly as from God, as ordered by His love and wisdom, even when their immediate source may be the malice or heedlessness of a fellow man. And if we indeed consider and feel that they are from the hand of God, then we shall be disposed meekly to receive and quietly to submit to them, and to own that the greatest injuries received from men are justly and even kindly ordered of God, and so be far from any ruffle or tumult of mind on account of them. It was with this view that David so meekly and quietly, before the curses of Shimei, when he came forth and cursed and cast stones at him, saying that the Lord had bid him to do it, and therefore forbidding his followers to avenge it." This expresses so well the manner of life of Stephen.

And he reflects the glory of God in the same way that Moses reflected the glory of God in his face shown, in the same way that Christ in his own death said the same things that Stephen said. The gospel is always expressed in a certain manner of life. Christ was crucified, He made atonement for our sins so that we would have fellowship with Him. Now, as He sits at the right hand of God for all eternity interceding for us that his likeness might be in us and that we may be like him and that we might be well instructed by his dear brother Stephen. Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord, the richness, the beauty of these words that you've given to us in this scripture, oh Lord, that it would help us. That it would help us to trust you with all of our hearts, to have a manner of life consistent with the Lord Jesus Christ and all of His servants after Him. In Jesus' name, Amen.