The Martyred Messenger

Thank you, and once again good morning to students and teachers of the word of God. Our lesson this week is called “The Martyred Messenger,” and deals with the first New Testament martyr following the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, Stephen. The word “Stephen,” by the way, “Stephanus,” means “a crown.” This is the first man in the New Testament following the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who earned the martyr’s crown.

As James says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.” And the writer of Revelation chapter 2 verse 10 says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

Stephen, of course, did not get eternal life by being faithful unto death, as eternal life is the free gift of God, and is given by the grace of God freely. But the earned reward, the crown of life, is given as a reward to a martyr. And this is “The Martyred Messenger”– Stephen.

Our basic text is Matthew chapter 10, verses 24-31, and the main part of our lesson, of course, is found in Acts chapter 6 and chapter 7.

This passage of Scripture is one of the most crucial passages in the New Testament, because it shows how the Lord concludes His dealing with the nation of Israel in the city of Jerusalem. If you study the Book of Acts you will notice that there are three “breaking-off” points there, where the Lord ceases His dealing, first of all, with the nation of Israel in Jerusalem, and this takes place in Acts chapter 7. Then He begins to move away with His dealings with the Jews in the land of Palestine as a whole group along about Acts chapter 13. Then He begins to move away from His dealings with the nation of Israel on the Asiatic mainland along about Acts chapter 18, and the European mainland along about Acts 28.

This transition shows the gospel gradually going from the Jew to the Gentile, or, as the Bible says, “to the Jew first, and to the Gentile.”

In our lesson today, we’ll take up a study of Stephen’s message. Of course, we’ll have to study very briefly and in a very abridged form, because the chapter runs for over 60 verses. And we’ll talk mainly about the charge brought against God’s messenger in chapter 6, the condition of God’s messenger in chapter 6, the content of God’s message in chapter 7, and then finally what happened at the conclusion of this message given by the martyred messenger.

All right now, in our study for today, we’re dealing with Stephen, the martyred messenger. First of all, we want to notice the charges brought against him. These are found in chapter 6. In chapter 6, verse 13, we read that the false witnesses, set up against Stephen, said, “This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.”

In verse 11 we read, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.”

So the charge brought against Stephen is the charge brought against Jesus Christ. This charge also is the charge brought against Naboth, if you remember your studies in the Old Testament. Naboth, one of the greatest types of Christ in the Old Testament, was accused of blaspheming both God and king, and was taken out and stoned to death, so Ahab could steal his vineyard.

One must never forget, when the Lord Jesus Christ was brought up for trial, and brought up before the Sanhedrin, they said in Mark chapter 14, verse 64, “Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.” The Lord Jesus Christ was accused of blasphemy–that’s the thing. That is, an attack on the holiness of God, or the sacredness of God’s word, which constitutes blasphemy. This is the charge, as I said before, brought against the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is amply apparent by the passages given in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Notice when the same bunch is after Stephen, the same bunch who tried to shut up Peter and James and John, and the same bunch had Jesus Christ in their hand, they said in Matthew 26:65, “He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.” Who said that? The high priest! Matthew 26, verse 65–same bunch. It’s the same crew any time you pick them up. Never has changed, never will change.

You say, “Well, you can obviously spot those wicked, bad men.” You’d be amazed how much trouble people have today, spotting the wicked, bad men who are out to destroy the preaching and teaching of the word of God. You’d be amazed how much trouble people have spotting them.

Why, this bunch back in Christ’s day were the most pious-talking bunch of the whole bunch! Why, they were the ones who were standing up for orthodoxy! They were accusing the people who were speaking the truth of speaking blasphemy.

“We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.” That’s interesting, isn’t it? Look at the order of preference. They were more worried about what he said that didn’t agree with Moses than what he said that was against God. Now, the reason for that, if you know history, is the fact that the Jewish people, at this time, had their Talmud, and of course their Midrashim and the Gemara, the Mishna and the Kabala. And there are many oral traditions handed down that Moses was supposed to have said that are not written in the first five books of the Penteteuch. So, by saying that he spoke blasphemous words against Moses, you could get Stephen on the grounds of the fact that he didn’t agree with something that somebody said that Moses said, where Moses may or may not have said it.

But, when you talk about blasphemy against God, then you’ve got to hold him down to the words of God.

Notice, too, the order of preference in Acts 6:13. They’re more worried about the blasphemous words spoken against “this holy place”– which God burned to the ground–then they were the blasphemy against “the law.”

Notice, again, the preference in verse 14; they were not just concerned about blasphemy against what God said, but they’re worried about the traditions and customs delivered to them, which were supposed to have come from Moses. They changed “the customs which Moses delivered unto us.”

That is, they pretend that Stephen is a first-rate criminal. He’s not only blasphemed God, but he has attacked Moses and he’s attacked the Mosaic law, and more than that he’s attacked the customs, the body of tradition that came down from Moses.

You’ll have to watch this, of course, because you’ll remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ about these matters. Jesus Christ said to these chief priests and scribes and Pharisees, “Do not think that I will accuse you of the Father. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?” I’m quoting from John chapter 5, verses 44-47.

I say that because the charge against Stephen that he perverted the customs of Moses is not necessarily a charge to be taken seriously. Because these fellows themselves didn’t pay attention to Moses when they didn’t want to pay attention to Moses anyway. That is, it was more the kind of a thing, you know, just said for convenience’ sake, for they knew that the people honored Moses. The people had respect for what Moses said; the people had respect for the law. So they knew if they accused Stephen of this they’d have a mark they could shoot at, before the eyes of the people–not that they themselves gave a flip about what Moses said. And, according to what the Lord Jesus Christ said, they didn’t give a flip about what Moses said.

As a matter of fact, according to the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew 23:2,3, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”

So these people who are complaining about Stephen’s misuse or his abuse of Moses and the law of Moses and the customs of Moses are a little two-faced. Or, as we say in the modern vernacular, more subtly, “inconsistent.” I believe that’s the polite way to say it.

All right, now, look at the condition of God’s messenger, this man Stephen. Notice, first of all in chapter 6 verse 8, the man is “full of faith and power,” and “did great wonders and miracles among the people.” Why? Because this man is a man converted under the Apostles’ ministry; and in apostolic times, the signs that were given to Israel, the signs that follow them which believe, are mentioned to be “wonders and miracles” in Mark chapter 16. So, Stephen is a man in verse 5 “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” full of power, and that isn’t all–in verse 10, “They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.” And that isn’t all; in verse 15, his face looked like it had been the face of an angel.

Now, here is a deacon (chapter 6, verse 5). Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, who is a Spirit-filled minister of the word of God. The apostolic signs that follow the ministry of the Apostles in the Book of Acts follow this young man. And during apostolic times, they’re dealing with Israel, and the signs are for Israel, because the Jews seek for a sign. Stephen manifests these signs, and the people who argue with him can’t get to first base with him. They can’t “resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.”

So, what do they do? They lie about him. That is, they can’t meet with him and deal about the issues they’re talking about. Why? Because he’s got the goods on them. That is, Stephen is dealing with Bible truth and Bible fact from God. And this bunch here is dealing with the customs of Moses and worrying about their holy place, that they got their salary from.

Well, then, Stephen starts. Now, there wouldn’t be time to go into this message and cover on a broadcast of less than an hour and a half, so we’ll content ourselves with noticing certain things about the message.

Now, the first thing about the message is this: That is, the messenger here has been called to condemn the highest religious court of appeal in his generation. This is Stephen standing before the Sanhedrin, the senate of Israel, the council, which includes the priests, the high priest, the scribes, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. And this bunch is the bunch who controls the governor. That is, the religious-political bosses control the government of that particular state.

So you see that Stephen has been given quite a task to preach to this bunch.

Now, if there is any doubt in your mind about the control that these priests had over the governor, then don’t forget to go back to Matthew chapter 28. And in Matthew 28, notice in verse 11, “Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And…they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.” They controlled Pontius Pilate!

And this is the bunch that Stephen has been called to preach to.

Isn’t that a commission? Now, let there be no doubt in your mind as to the control this bunch exercised over the governor. When Jesus Christ is brought up before Pilate and is declared to be innocent three times, you know what this bunch says? I’m in the Gospel of John now, chapter 19, at verse 12. And I’m showing you that the task that Stephen is called upon to do is a monstrous task, and a task which could only end in the tragic results that it ended in–his martyrdom. He is called to bring a negative message to the leading religious council of his day that controlled the local political government. That’s his calling.

Now, if there’s any doubt in your mind about their power over Pilate, look at this business that went on back in John chapter 19, when Jesus Christ came up before Pilate. John 19:12: “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The CHIEF PRIESTS answered…” I’m reading John 19:15. “…The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

Caesar was king of Rome. Now that’s the bunch we’ve been dealing with Acts chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6. And, if you’ve been with us the last four weeks, you’ve noticed that it’s exactly the same bunch every single time. It’s the same bunch in opposition, with the same method, with the same way, while operating under the table, behind the closed door, and controlling the political setup in that particular area.

Now, did you know that’s worth knowing, if you’re a Bible believer? I mean, that’ll help you to be loyal to your Lord, and be obedient to your Lord, and avoid a lot of unholy alliances and compromises which otherwise you would make for the sake of making a living.

Let me appeal to you Christians personally as individuals, for just a minute. I wonder how interested you are in really pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ? I’m not talking about getting along with anybody. I wonder sometimes when I preach to a congregation how many of them are really anxious to please Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about making friends, or keeping the friends you have. I’m making no reference to the Second Commandment. I’m talking about the First one.

Now, listen. If you want to be a friend of God like Abraham was, and walk with the Lord in the light of His word, you had better know what His word says about some of your friends and some of your associates and some of your contacts! And when God gives you light, you’d better clear the deck, if He has spoken unfavorably of those matters. That is, if you want to please Him, Christian, if you want to please Him.

How can some of you Christians sit in the pew and sing, “Oh, how I love Jesus, Oh, how I love Jesus, Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me,” when you won’t read what He said, believe what He said, and put it into practice where it goes across your own grain? See what I mean?

You begin to talk about some of these things, and you begin to talk about a cross-bearing Christianity, the deal involves self-denial where it’s gonna hurt you. It may hurt your pocketbook. It may hurt your attendance. It may hurt your enrollment. But it’s just a matter of who you’re trying to please.

And, boy, when you get ahold of Stephen, you’re dealing with a fellow who’s got his eye on heaven and his ears to the ground to get the vibrations. He knows what’s going on, how it’s going on, what the trouble, why the trouble’s there, and what’s to be done about it. And, taking his life in his hands, he lays his life on the altar as a living sacrifice, and he puts the bowl over the plate waste-high, and they kill him! They kill him, just like they killed his Saviour.

Now, this message in Acts chapter 7 runs along here for 53 verses. And this message is a review of the history of Israel. It begins with the calling out of Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia, in chapter 7, verse 2. It goes through the business of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s progency in verses 8-9. It talks about Joseph’s sojourn in the land of Egypt in 9-11. It speaks about Jacob coming down to the land of Egypt with his household (11-15). It speaks about the new king enthroned down in Egypt who hated the Jews (verses 17- 20). Then it talks about Moses bringing them out and bringing them into their own land (verses 21-31). Then it talks about the kings David and Solomon, and especially Solomon in verse 46.

And in that message of 53 verses–count them–out of 53 of those verses, 15 are negative; 38 are positive. That is, that message delivered the outstanding message that sealed the destiny of the nation of Israel in the capital of their country. That message was 42% negative! That’s “the martyred messenger.” Fifteen verses out of 53 are negative. Now that’s something, isn’t it? There are 38 positive verses in the passage.

All right, coming down to the end of this message, Stephen lays it on the line, and what he does is accuse the leaders of Israel–the Sanhedrin, the chief priests, scribes, Sadducees and Pharisees–of not being as high and mighty as they think they are. And what he does in this message is call their attention to the fact that even though there are many great and honorable things about the nation, because of its election and calling from God, and even though there are many wonderful things about the nation, because of its chosen position in God’s favor and God’s blessing upon it, that throughout that nation, from the very start of its history, going clear back to the sons of Jacob (verse 9), that envy (verse 9), ignorance (verse 25), idolatry (verse 43), and murder (verse 52) have been present in that nation.

And, of course, Stephen is telling the truth. Anybody who reads the Old Testament knows the Old Testament is one of the greatest indictments ever written against a nation by its own people. If I only had one good reason for believing the Bible was the word of God, aside from the mathematical reasons, which are just as prominent if not more so than other reasons, it would be the fact that here was a Book that was delivered to the Jewish people. The oracles of God are delivered to the Jew, and these oracles are given to the Jew; the Jew himself wrote as a testimony against his own nation. You don’t find people writing books like that! You don’t find historians of Germany, native-born Germans, gettings together and writing the history of Germany, where all the bad things are mentioned. They make their heroes heroic. But not with this Book! This Book tells the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

And Stephen is one of those preachers. And when he gets to the message in Acts chapter 7, the invitation is not designed to win anybody to Christ. The invitation is not designed to share his experience with anybody, or tell anybody about God’s love. It’s not even in the message! Here is the invitation, verse 47:

“But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.”

Every head bowed, every eye shut! Is there a hand for prayer?

Now, I point this out only to point out a sort of a “balance” type of thing. I realize that much of the material we give you in these studies is very negative, probably very depressing to some of you who are used to a more cheerful, buoyant type of Christianity. But you’ll have to admit that a balance is needed, and God knows there’s enough “cheerful buoyancy” and enough positive, “I’m all right, you’re all right, everybody’s all right” going on these days. So you need a little balance.

By that I mean this. I mean, we all recognize the fact that God so loved the world (past tense) that He gave His only begotten Son (past tense), and that Christ shed His blood for us (past tense), and that God loved us and we didn’t love Him (past tense), and that at Calvary God showed His love for lost mankind by what He did (past tense) for unsaved sinners. We all agree upon that.

Where we disagree is how much truth a preacher should preach if he’s called to preach the truth. That’s the disagreement. The modern approach seems to be that the only truth that the preacher should preach is positive truth, and negative truth should be carefully put away out of sight. And the reason why, in these studies, you very often get a great deal of negative truth, which you might not get in some other publications or radio broadcasts, is because God has different ministries for different people along different ways and different means. And these studies are Bible believers’ studies for students and teachers of the word of God. These studies are not primarily just for Christians who want to share experiences or build monuments. These are not studies for Christians who want to get along with people, or just win souls. These studies are Bible believing broadcasts, sponsored by a Bible institute, for people who want to study and teach that Book. And if you’re going to study and teach that Book, you’re going to hit negative truth almost every time you turn around.

Now the problem is, what are you going to do about it when you find it? And our position is the position of Stephen. Our position is, we’ll preach it! And we’ll preach it until we’re dropped in our tracks like Stephen was, or until the Lord takes us home.

Now, the Lord gave Stephen the shortcut! Verse 54: “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.” Verse 57: “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears…” They turned him off! They turned the dial; they couldn’t stand it! “They stopped their ears…And cast him out of the city, and stoned him….And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

So this is the end of God’s martyred messenger. He is martyred for bringing a message here that is about 42 percent negative–and it’s aimed again at the very bunch that slew Jesus Christ, the bunch that arrested Peter, James, and John, the bunch that had Simon Peter thrown in jail, the bunch that persuaded the governor to cut off James’s head, the bunch that persuaded the governor to let Barabbas go and crucify Jesus Christ–same gang, same bunch!

And Stephen is faithful unto death. Far from being a preacher who is just trying to run new attendance records or report the number of baptisms in a year, Stephen is one of those God-called laymen who is called to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and, brother, he preaches it!

It is my own personal conviction and opinion–I don’t say this with Scriptural backing–that if a man is called to preach the word of God, and it’s the truth of God, that man’s whole life should be dedicated primarily to the discovery or discernment of truth in every form, and his entire lifetime should be dedicated to finding truth in any form and publicly proclaiming or explaining that truth at the appropriate time with the appropriate Scriptural backing.

I never thought for a minute that when a man was called to preach, he was simply called to preach John 3:16. John 3:16 is a precious truth. There are 5,000 others, and at least 10 of them are just as important!

May God help you as a teacher of the word of God or a student of the word of God to love the word of God, for as Jesus said, “Sanctify them with the truth; thy word is truth.” “He that is of God heareth God’s words.” And Christ said, “If a man love me, he’ll keep my words.” May God help us to do just that.

May the Lord bless you, and good day.