WEBVTT 00:00:03.886 --> 00:00:09.314 And the children who would like to go down to Children's Church are dismissed at this time. 00:00:09.314 --> 00:00:15.413 Just go out the doors and follow your teacher downstairs for a Bible lesson down there. 00:00:15.413 --> 00:00:17.602 Anybody who would like to leave can do so. 00:00:17.602 --> 00:00:37.848 Now we are in a sermon series in the book of Acts on Sunday mornings and there is a sermon outline available if you'd like one. 00:00:37.848 --> 00:00:39.118 If you didn't get one or would like one, just raise your hand. 00:00:39.118 --> 00:00:42.182 Our church would be happy to help you out. 00:00:55.755 --> 00:01:19.427 Here's a fun fact Every time you light a lighter, your lighter, your lighter gets lighter and lighter until your lighter gets so light it won't light. 00:01:19.427 --> 00:01:26.719 Fun fact, fun fact. 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:38.365 What's strange is that a lighter is the exact opposite of those who are disciples of Jesus, because the scripture says Proverbs 4, 18,. 00:01:38.365 --> 00:01:46.831 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until full day. 00:01:46.831 --> 00:01:56.188 In the book of Acts, the new Christian disciples were like the light of the dawn the more they grew, the more they shone. 00:01:56.188 --> 00:02:05.980 They shined the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to others and the disciple Stephen who we introduced last time was one of those shining lights. 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:11.509 Out of the hundreds of disciples assembled in the church in Jerusalem. 00:02:11.509 --> 00:02:18.784 Stephen was one of the seven they chose for a special service in the body of Christ in Jerusalem. 00:02:18.784 --> 00:02:24.110 Luke tells us that Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. 00:02:24.110 --> 00:02:35.993 He was willing to serve those in need, specifically those Greek-speaking widows who were neglected in the congregation. 00:02:35.993 --> 00:02:43.729 Stephen had other spiritual gifts too, which we'll see, including preaching and teaching the Word of God. 00:02:43.729 --> 00:02:56.951 There was something very special about Stephen because Luke, the writer of Acts, devotes most of chapter 6 and all of chapter 7 to him. 00:02:56.951 --> 00:03:02.587 There's so much material here. 00:03:02.587 --> 00:03:10.792 I introduced him last time, we're going to look at him today and we're going to finish looking at him next time. 00:03:10.792 --> 00:03:19.215 I hope you'll be here for the climactic finish as we look at this amazing disciple of Jesus, stephen. 00:03:19.215 --> 00:03:28.254 But first let's reacquaint ourselves with Stephen and his ministry in Acts, chapter 6, beginning in verse 7. 00:03:29.061 --> 00:04:06.973 As 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 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 Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Sicilia 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. 00:04:06.973 --> 00:04:15.742 Then they secretly induced men to say we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. 00:04:15.742 --> 00:04:23.906 And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came to him and dragged him away, brought him before the council. 00:04:23.906 --> 00:04:44.110 They put forward false witnesses who said this man incessantly speaks against this 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. 00:04:44.110 --> 00:04:52.528 And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the council saw his face like the face of an angel. 00:04:55.302 --> 00:05:06.752 As I mentioned last time, luke singles Stephen out as an exemplar of what a disciple of Jesus is and what a disciple is all about. 00:05:06.752 --> 00:05:08.927 He believed in Jesus. 00:05:08.927 --> 00:05:11.468 He came to faith in Jesus when he heard the gospel. 00:05:11.468 --> 00:05:16.271 He surrendered his life to Jesus as Lord and King. 00:05:16.271 --> 00:05:19.269 He was filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:05:19.269 --> 00:05:31.031 He served in the body of Christ, exercising his gifts where it was needed, and he knows and understands the Bible very well. 00:05:31.031 --> 00:05:35.634 As he preached the word and shared his faith in Jesus. 00:05:35.634 --> 00:05:45.762 He knew the scripture so well he could easily answer questions from those who brought arguments to him and so on, objections. 00:05:45.762 --> 00:05:56.694 People brought about Jesus, he quite easily says they could not stand with his wisdom. 00:05:56.694 --> 00:06:07.779 They were unable to cope with it and the spirit which he was speaking with it, in the spirit in which he was speaking Now. 00:06:07.860 --> 00:06:14.490 As a result of that, the Jewish leaders were frustrated in their attempt to discredit Stephen and try to argue no, jesus isn't the Messiah. 00:06:14.490 --> 00:06:25.793 Somehow a Jewish sect called the Synagogue for Freedmen came on the scene. 00:06:25.793 --> 00:06:30.687 I don't know whether they solicited them to come and argue with Stephen or what you know. 00:06:30.687 --> 00:06:39.026 The Synagogue for Freedmen, as we understand it, was a nationalistic Jewish party in Israel. 00:06:39.026 --> 00:06:48.636 It was going to squelch anything that's coming opposed to the Jewish faith in whatsoever. 00:06:48.636 --> 00:06:50.341 That was their mission. 00:06:50.341 --> 00:07:00.060 So this nationalistic Jewish party came and tried to stop him from speaking the good news about Jesus. 00:07:00.060 --> 00:07:04.267 Let me read that again Acts 6, 11 to14. 00:07:04.648 --> 00:07:09.095 They secretly induced men to say the synagogue of Freemen. 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:13.430 We've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, against God. 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:16.869 They stirred up the people, the elders, the scribes. 00:07:16.939 --> 00:07:20.139 They came to him and dragged him away and brought him before the council. 00:07:20.139 --> 00:07:27.113 The council is the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders in Israel. 00:07:27.113 --> 00:07:36.706 Basically, nothing's done in the Jewish faith in Jerusalem without their approval, without their say-so, the Sanhedrin, the council. 00:07:36.706 --> 00:07:44.110 They put forward false witnesses who said this man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law. 00:07:44.110 --> 00:07:51.048 We've heard him say that this Nazarene Jesus will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. 00:07:51.048 --> 00:07:58.887 The synagogue of Freedmen gathered these false witnesses, charged Stephen with blasphemy. 00:07:58.887 --> 00:08:07.088 Then they drug him before the council to stand trial for blasphemy, which was the death penalty. 00:08:11.701 --> 00:08:15.872 That brings us to the beginning of chapter 7, acts, chapter 7. 00:08:15.872 --> 00:08:25.055 In Acts 7-1, as Stephen stood before the council, the high priest asked him one question Are these things so? 00:08:25.055 --> 00:08:29.413 The high priest asked him one question Are these things so? 00:08:29.413 --> 00:08:33.523 Are the charges that brought against you true? 00:08:33.523 --> 00:08:40.850 Stephen answers the high priest's question in chapter 7, which we're going to look at next. 00:08:41.572 --> 00:08:44.615 Look, I don't know whether to call this a speech or a sermon. 00:08:44.615 --> 00:08:49.065 It's probably both, chapter 7. 00:08:49.065 --> 00:08:53.020 Let's look at Stephen's speech, acts, chapter 7. 00:08:53.020 --> 00:08:59.813 The hardest thing about preaching the story of Stephen is this incredibly long speech. 00:08:59.813 --> 00:09:09.827 I don't think it's as long as one of my sermons, but it's long and it's hard to preach through it. 00:09:09.827 --> 00:09:13.187 It's the longest in the book of Acts. 00:09:13.187 --> 00:09:16.086 So here's what's going to happen. 00:09:16.086 --> 00:09:20.932 I'm not going to tear apart the finer details of chapter 7. 00:09:20.932 --> 00:09:28.423 It's such a long passage so I encourage you, you go home read it on your own to get the flow. 00:09:28.464 --> 00:09:30.893 I'm going to try to highlight some things today. 00:09:30.893 --> 00:09:43.524 I'm going to try to summarize what Stephen says to the council in his defense, but even that is hard to do because of all the things that he is saying. 00:09:43.524 --> 00:09:49.908 But to help us understand what Stephen is saying, he's answering the two charges brought against him. 00:09:49.908 --> 00:09:56.623 The first charge is are you speaking against the temple, the holy place? 00:09:56.623 --> 00:10:06.056 The second charge are you speaking against the law handed down to us from Moses? 00:10:06.056 --> 00:10:11.230 Stephen answers those two questions and here's how he does it. 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:21.475 He goes through the history of Israel and related scriptures to make his argument. 00:10:21.475 --> 00:10:29.971 And his answer to the first charge is basically this I don't think we need a temple to worship God. 00:10:29.971 --> 00:10:34.427 Come with me, let's look at Israel's history. 00:10:34.427 --> 00:10:42.905 Then, to prove it, he begins going through Israel's history, beginning with Abraham, acts 7, verse 2. 00:10:42.905 --> 00:10:46.791 Stephen said Hear me, brethren and fathers, he's very respectful. 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:53.432 The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in the Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. 00:10:53.432 --> 00:11:08.509 What Stephen is saying is Abraham didn't have a temple, yet God still appeared to him and met with him and had fellowship with him, made a covenant with him without a temple. 00:11:08.509 --> 00:11:17.448 And Stephen talks about the patriarchs Jacob and Joseph, who didn't worship God in a temple either. 00:11:17.448 --> 00:11:26.525 Then he mentions Moses, who didn't have a temple and yet God appeared to him in a burning bush in the wilderness. 00:11:26.525 --> 00:11:36.024 He tells them that when their fathers worshipped God in the wilderness, they did so in a tabernacle, a tent, not a temple. 00:11:36.024 --> 00:11:51.240 David even wanted he mentions David David even wanted to build God a temple, and God said no, the temple wasn't even built until King Solomon had it built. 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:57.933 Yet somehow God's people still knew, believed and worshipped the Lord without a temple. 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:25.562 Stephen, then, to kind of close up that particular charge, stephen quotes Isaiah, chapter 66, which says God doesn't live in a temple temple, not in a temple built by human hands. 00:12:25.562 --> 00:12:26.442 Acts, chapter 7, 48 to 50,. 00:12:26.442 --> 00:12:30.370 Stephen says, however, the most high does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says, isaiah 66. 00:12:30.370 --> 00:12:34.683 Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. 00:12:34.683 --> 00:12:40.288 What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or where will my resting place be? 00:12:40.288 --> 00:12:43.489 Has not my hand made all these things? 00:12:43.489 --> 00:12:59.552 Stephen is saying basically, you're placing too much emphasis on the physical temple when it has not been one of God's priorities through our history. 00:12:59.552 --> 00:13:10.005 So his answer to the first charge is that when they're charging him for speaking against the temple, he says we don't really need a temple. 00:13:10.005 --> 00:13:19.400 Basically is what he's saying In answer to the second charge that he's speaking against God's law given to them by Moses in essence. 00:13:19.721 --> 00:13:21.605 Let me summarize his answer this way. 00:13:21.605 --> 00:13:26.996 He says yes, we need the law God gave us. 00:13:26.996 --> 00:13:32.306 It is holy, but you don't keep it. 00:13:32.306 --> 00:13:39.778 You have never kept it and you are not even able to keep it. 00:13:39.778 --> 00:13:40.919 That's his argument. 00:13:40.919 --> 00:13:48.480 The law was given to our ancestors by moses, but they didn't obey the law under moses and aaron. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:53.847 And then here's what steven says about that acts 7, 39 to 40. 00:13:53.847 --> 00:13:58.294 But our ancestors refused to obey him. 00:13:58.294 --> 00:14:02.451 Instead, they rejected him in their hearts and turned back to Egypt. 00:14:02.451 --> 00:14:06.551 They told Aaron make us gods who will go before us. 00:14:06.551 --> 00:14:11.229 As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don't know what happened to him. 00:14:11.229 --> 00:14:13.173 That was at Sinai. 00:14:13.173 --> 00:14:14.243 That was at Sinai. 00:14:14.243 --> 00:14:25.631 Stephen says in essence you guys who haven't kept the law of Moses are charging me for speaking against the law of Moses. 00:14:25.631 --> 00:14:27.225 That's hypocrisy. 00:14:29.581 --> 00:14:36.510 As Stephen goes through Israel's history, in Acts chapter 7, he picks this is where this is amazing. 00:14:36.510 --> 00:14:42.030 So they bring these two charges. 00:14:42.030 --> 00:14:46.706 He answers their charges just looking at Israel's history, god's work through their history. 00:14:46.706 --> 00:15:06.490 But then, as he does that, he does something very amazing, really astounding observation he makes to them this is what got him killed, which we'll look at next time, by the way, I'm not going to look at that today. 00:15:06.490 --> 00:15:24.431 Stephen, as he's going through Israel, picks up a pattern in Israel's history and it's not related in any way to what the council asked him. 00:15:24.431 --> 00:15:27.048 He's putting it in so they can see it. 00:15:27.048 --> 00:15:43.429 He's putting it in so he can bring his speech to a climax on Jesus, the pattern he sees in Israel's history. 00:15:43.429 --> 00:15:45.306 If you just look at it, read through it. 00:15:45.306 --> 00:15:48.586 He's walking it through and he points it out to them. 00:15:48.759 --> 00:16:00.626 And Israel's history is every time the people of Israel were in trouble, god sends them a deliverer and Israel rejected him. 00:16:00.626 --> 00:16:08.945 Every time Gives examples and what they did. 00:16:08.945 --> 00:16:10.570 God sent them a deliverer. 00:16:10.570 --> 00:16:12.306 They persecuted the deliverer. 00:16:12.306 --> 00:16:14.485 The very people did that. 00:16:14.485 --> 00:16:21.179 Who he was sent to save, the very people did that, who he was sent to save. 00:16:21.760 --> 00:16:24.990 Stephen mentions Joseph, appointed by God to save his family during the famine. 00:16:24.990 --> 00:16:47.610 But his brothers you see, who would later become the 12 tribes of Israel despised Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt where he had for years a miserable, painful experience suffering in Egypt until God raised him up to deliver Israel. 00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:53.905 But his brothers initially despised him, forsook him, sold him. 00:16:53.905 --> 00:17:06.252 Then he mentions Moses in Israel's history, whom God sent to deliver his people from the bondage in Egypt. 00:17:06.252 --> 00:17:14.711 And Moses, they rejected Moses and he was disowned by his own people. 00:17:14.711 --> 00:17:20.830 So let me read this part Acts, chapter 7, 25-29. 00:17:20.830 --> 00:17:29.471 Stephen says Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 00:17:30.541 --> 00:17:33.660 The next day Moses came upon the two Israelites who were fighting. 00:17:33.660 --> 00:17:38.349 He tried to reconcile them, saying Men, you're brothers, why do you want to hurt each other? 00:17:38.349 --> 00:17:44.106 But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said who made you ruler and judge of us? 00:17:44.106 --> 00:17:48.567 Are you thinking of killing me, like you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 00:17:48.567 --> 00:18:01.125 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons Abandoned, rejected, pushed out, sent to deliver them. 00:18:02.260 --> 00:18:12.665 Then Acts 7, 35-39, again, he mentions Moses, this same Moses they had rejected with the words who made you ruler and judge? 00:18:12.665 --> 00:18:18.863 He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through an angel who appeared to him in the bush. 00:18:18.863 --> 00:18:25.404 He led them out of Egypt, performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for 40 years in the wilderness. 00:18:25.404 --> 00:18:34.252 This is the Moses who told the Israelites God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from his own people, from your own people. 00:18:34.252 --> 00:18:43.188 He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our ancestors, and he received living words to pass on to us. 00:18:43.188 --> 00:18:49.571 But our ancestors refused to obey him. 00:18:49.571 --> 00:18:55.009 Instead, they rejected him and, in their hearts, turned back to Egypt. 00:18:55.009 --> 00:18:59.126 Do you see the pattern? 00:18:59.126 --> 00:19:06.769 Stephen says look, look back, look at any of the prophets or deliverers whom God sent. 00:19:06.769 --> 00:19:09.467 The fathers rejected them all. 00:19:09.467 --> 00:19:22.011 Now we come to the climax of Stephen's speech, his conclusion, acts 7, 51 to 53,. 00:19:22.740 --> 00:19:25.549 You stiff-necked people. 00:19:25.549 --> 00:19:31.192 Your hearts, your ears are still uncircumcised. 00:19:31.192 --> 00:19:34.910 You are just like your ancestors. 00:19:34.910 --> 00:19:39.351 You always resist the Holy Spirit. 00:19:39.351 --> 00:19:43.304 Was there ever a prophet? 00:19:43.304 --> 00:19:53.343 Your ancestors did not persecute, they even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one. 00:19:53.343 --> 00:20:04.272 And now you've betrayed and murdered him, you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it. 00:20:04.272 --> 00:20:11.805 Smoking, wow. 00:20:15.750 --> 00:20:22.359 In chapter 751 and 53, stephen addresses the problem with his people. 00:20:22.359 --> 00:20:28.359 He tells them you're stiff necked, you always have been. 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:30.417 What does that mean? 00:20:30.417 --> 00:20:33.078 They're stubborn and proud. 00:20:33.078 --> 00:20:40.459 They don't want to bow down to anybody, not even the deliverer who God sends. 00:20:40.459 --> 00:20:45.601 He tells them they're uncircumcised of heart and ears. 00:20:45.601 --> 00:20:49.497 That basically means you're hard-hearted, you don't listen to God. 00:20:49.497 --> 00:20:58.194 You do all the rituals, but your heart far from God, as Isaiah told them. 00:20:58.194 --> 00:21:05.573 Then, in 753, stephen tells them that they received God's law as ordained by angels, yet they didn't keep it. 00:21:05.573 --> 00:21:09.080 Of course he's highlighting their problem. 00:21:09.080 --> 00:21:23.244 He's highlighting their problem, a problem they've never been able to conquer Pride, hard-heartedness, rejecting the prophets, the word of God, refusing to listen and obey it. 00:21:23.244 --> 00:21:27.118 That's a problem. 00:21:27.118 --> 00:21:35.442 And right in the middle, in verse 52, stephen gives them the solution to that kind of insurmountable problem. 00:21:35.442 --> 00:21:42.559 He gives them the problem and a solution, and it's also our solution. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:52.384 He's leaving us with to all who hear this when he mentions the righteous one you haven't kept the law. 00:21:52.384 --> 00:21:54.156 You've never kept the law. 00:21:54.156 --> 00:21:58.494 You are unable to keep God's law because you're hard hearts. 00:21:58.494 --> 00:22:00.660 You know what you need. 00:22:00.660 --> 00:22:12.537 You need a new heart, and God can give you one from the one who did keep God's law the righteous one. 00:22:14.730 --> 00:22:18.993 Here's the summary of everything Stephen has been saying Verse 52,. 00:22:19.034 --> 00:22:21.173 I'll say it again Was there ever a prophet? 00:22:21.233 --> 00:22:35.903 Your ancestors did not persecute, they even killed those who predicted the coming of the righteous one, and you now have betrayed and murdered him, just like you always have. 00:22:39.830 --> 00:22:43.957 The righteous one is kind of a well? 00:22:43.957 --> 00:22:48.785 Stephen's answer in his speech is we need the law. 00:22:48.785 --> 00:22:51.134 The law is holy and good. 00:22:51.134 --> 00:22:53.000 We need to keep God's law. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.920 Truth is, we aren't keeping it and we cannot keep it. 00:22:56.920 --> 00:23:09.104 Our only solution and hope is in the righteous one you killed. 00:23:11.111 --> 00:23:13.819 It's unusual for Jesus to be called the righteous one. 00:23:13.819 --> 00:23:14.951 We don't often see that. 00:23:14.951 --> 00:23:19.701 Of all the ways to refer to Jesus, why does Stephen choose that? 00:23:19.701 --> 00:23:23.471 Because of what he's trying to say about the law. 00:23:23.471 --> 00:23:26.056 We can't keep it. 00:23:26.056 --> 00:23:31.602 Somebody did, though, the guy you just killed. 00:23:31.602 --> 00:23:43.762 The righteous one is the answer to the problem of our sinful, disobedient, proud, erring hearts. 00:23:43.762 --> 00:23:48.279 So Jesus is the point and climax, really, of Stephen's speech. 00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:53.855 The righteous one, the only one who ever fulfilled God's law completely. 00:23:53.855 --> 00:23:58.775 How did Jesus fulfill God's law? 00:23:58.775 --> 00:24:02.977 Well, how do you fulfill any law? 00:24:02.977 --> 00:24:11.513 By obeying it, or you fulfill it by paying the penalty for not obeying it. 00:24:11.513 --> 00:24:12.057 That's how you fulfill it. 00:24:12.057 --> 00:24:13.630 By paying the penalty for not obeying it. 00:24:13.630 --> 00:24:16.076 That's how you fulfill it. 00:24:16.076 --> 00:24:28.740 Example when you come to a stoplight, the law says you must stop. 00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:32.818 By the way, it's something I highly recommend you do. 00:24:32.818 --> 00:24:41.219 But if you don't obey it, you're going to get a ticket and you're going to pay the penalty for not obeying it. 00:24:41.219 --> 00:24:45.018 But that law is going to be fulfilled. 00:24:45.018 --> 00:24:52.176 You see, jesus came. 00:24:52.176 --> 00:24:54.738 God sent him to be our deliverer. 00:24:54.738 --> 00:25:01.320 He lived a perfect life and fulfilled the law of God completely, the only one who ever did. 00:25:01.320 --> 00:25:10.842 He is the righteous one, one One. 00:25:10.842 --> 00:25:20.955 But then Jesus went to the cross, he was betrayed, he was rejected, he suffered and he died. 00:25:23.811 --> 00:25:25.619 Here's Stephen's point, I think. 00:25:25.619 --> 00:25:38.124 When he did that, the righteous one took the penalty we deserve for not obeying God's law. 00:25:38.124 --> 00:25:39.736 He fulfilled the law for us. 00:25:39.736 --> 00:25:53.063 So when we believe in Jesus as the righteous one sent to save us, the gospel says he actually becomes your righteousness before God. 00:25:53.063 --> 00:25:56.317 His righteousness is imputed to us. 00:25:56.317 --> 00:26:03.701 His righteousness becomes our righteousness when we believe in him. 00:26:03.701 --> 00:26:12.680 And so Jesus is the righteous one who fulfilled the law by keeping it himself and by paying the penalty for our not keeping it. 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:26.200 Jesus fulfilled the law by being the whole climax of the pattern of saviors who are always being rejected in Israel. 00:26:26.200 --> 00:26:29.877 Here's why Jesus is the climax. 00:26:29.877 --> 00:26:31.316 There's nobody else coming. 00:26:31.316 --> 00:26:36.036 Stephen knows that. 00:26:36.036 --> 00:26:59.104 But every other savior God sent Joseph, moses, david delivered the people in spite of when they were rejected and suffered, but Jesus delivered his people through his rejection and suffering. 00:26:59.104 --> 00:27:06.903 Jesus was rejected and died to fulfill God's law on our behalf. 00:27:06.903 --> 00:27:08.271 We can't keep it. 00:27:08.271 --> 00:27:09.454 We never could. 00:27:09.454 --> 00:27:11.519 We are not ever able to do that. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:22.555 But Jesus did, and now would love to give you his righteousness to stand before God completely, no condemnation. 00:27:22.875 --> 00:27:24.473 I love what Paul says about this. 00:27:24.473 --> 00:27:26.015 Think about this. 00:27:26.015 --> 00:27:28.480 Go home and meditate on this. 00:27:28.480 --> 00:27:30.878 Two verses in Romans 8, 3 and 4. 00:27:30.878 --> 00:27:31.281 Paul nails it. 00:27:31.281 --> 00:27:31.644 Meditate on this. 00:27:31.644 --> 00:27:32.509 Two verses in Romans 8, 3 and 4. 00:27:32.509 --> 00:27:33.692 Paul nails it. 00:27:33.692 --> 00:27:44.796 It says For what the law could not do, weak as it was, through the flesh, god did. 00:27:44.796 --> 00:27:46.994 How did he do it? 00:27:46.994 --> 00:27:52.694 He's sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin. 00:27:52.694 --> 00:28:01.602 He condemns sin in the flesh so that listen to this, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. 00:28:01.602 --> 00:28:03.776 He's taking our place. 00:28:03.776 --> 00:28:12.700 We get his fulfillment of the law on our behalf who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 00:28:12.700 --> 00:28:15.596 That's profound. 00:28:15.596 --> 00:28:21.955 He's the righteous one, the only one. 00:28:21.955 --> 00:28:25.176 There ain't no more coming. 00:28:25.176 --> 00:28:32.694 We not only have sinned and not kept God's law, we're not even able to. 00:28:32.694 --> 00:28:35.159 That's really Stephen's argument. 00:28:35.159 --> 00:28:38.035 We need the law. 00:28:38.035 --> 00:28:38.778 The law is holy. 00:28:38.778 --> 00:28:40.796 We got a big problem. 00:28:40.796 --> 00:28:48.953 Fortunately for us, god sent the righteous one, jesus, to fulfill it. 00:28:48.953 --> 00:28:50.479 Fulfill God's law. 00:28:50.479 --> 00:28:52.758 He did it and he did it for us. 00:28:52.758 --> 00:28:57.278 That's why he was sent to save us. 00:28:57.278 --> 00:29:06.561 You know, I'm telling you we need Jesus, our righteousness for our righteousness, to save us. 00:29:06.561 --> 00:29:16.441 When we believe in Jesus, you see, god from that moment on, sees us differently in him. 00:29:16.441 --> 00:29:26.459 We're in him, and Jesus Christ at that moment becomes for us the wisdom from God. 00:29:26.459 --> 00:29:31.682 It becomes our righteousness, sanctification and redemption. 00:29:31.682 --> 00:29:43.259 So finally, I hope you can hear the conclusion of this amazing servant, disciple of God, of Jesus, stephen, next week. 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:48.477 It's very powerful. 00:29:48.477 --> 00:29:54.519 There's a reason Luke singles him out as this exemplar disciple. 00:29:54.519 --> 00:30:02.419 Everything he says, everything he does is exactly what would please Jesus. 00:30:02.419 --> 00:30:08.430 I invite you today to receive Jesus as your Savior. 00:30:08.430 --> 00:30:18.058 If you never have done that In prayer, open your heart to God and say I believe in Jesus, who you sent to save me. 00:30:18.058 --> 00:30:21.198 I open my heart to Him, I want to receive Him. 00:30:21.198 --> 00:30:22.434 I want to be born again. 00:30:22.434 --> 00:30:28.453 I want forgiveness of sins through His name and to receive the gift of eternal life. 00:30:28.453 --> 00:30:31.402 If you do that, that's the beginning of a brand. 00:30:31.402 --> 00:30:34.858 If you do that, that's the beginning of a brand new life in Jesus. 00:30:34.858 --> 00:30:36.316 I pray that you would do that. 00:30:36.316 --> 00:30:38.778 If you have never done that, let's pray together. 00:30:38.778 --> 00:30:43.394 Father, thank you today for sending your son, jesus, to save us. 00:30:43.394 --> 00:30:54.938 Your word says that by your doing by your doing not ours Jesus became to us righteousness, sanctification, redemption when we believe in him. 00:30:54.938 --> 00:31:09.457 Now, father, I ask you, please help us not only to believe in Jesus, but to be his disciples, like we see in Stephen, to treasure Jesus in our hearts and, with gratitude, glorify him in the way we live every day. 00:31:09.457 --> 00:31:17.941 I pray that you would do this in our lives, in our church, and I commit these things to you today in Jesus' name, amen. 00:31:39.315 --> 00:31:45.740 We've come to the time of the service where we can worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings. 00:31:45.740 --> 00:31:48.823 Amen, the many ways that you've provided for us. 00:31:48.823 --> 00:31:50.403 We pray, lord, that you would take these gifts. 00:31:50.403 --> 00:31:55.186 As we return them to you, we'd use them to grow your kingdom here, locally and around the world. 00:31:55.186 --> 00:31:55.748 Amen.