WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.599 Today's text is from Acts chapter 7, beginning in verse 17. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:19.359 But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:26.879 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:40.399 At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:47.520 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and in deeds. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:59.840 When he was forty years old it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel, and seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:07.920 He supposed that his brothers would understand what God was giving them, that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:16.799 On the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling, and tried to reconcile them, saying, Men, you are brothers, why do you wrong each other? 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:22.480 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, Who made you ruler and judge over us? 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:25.760 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:33.359 At this resort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:45.120 Now when he was forty years old now, when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire and a bush. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:49.359 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and he drew near to look. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:55.920 There came a voice of the Lord, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.879 And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:04.560 Then the Lord said to him, Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:11.680 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.520 And now and now come, I will send you to Egypt. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:16.960 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:18.240 Thanks be to God. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:24.000 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:25.280 My name is James Rathman. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.599 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:29.439 It's great to gather together with you all. 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:40.319 We are continuing in our series in Acts, and we are continuing in what is sort of a sub-series in Acts right now, which is Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:46.560 Two weeks ago, we saw Stephen was arrested for proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:52.159 He was arrested by the Sanhedrin after a sort of smear campaign was launched against him. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:03:01.360 And now he gives a speech before the Sanhedrin, leading up to his martyrdom after they will condemn him to death. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.360 Last week we covered the first part of that speech. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:15.120 And in the first part of that speech, he relays the story of Abraham and the story of Joseph and how the people of God ended up in Egypt. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:20.240 Here we pick up after that, where Stephen begins to tell the story of Moses. 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:21.759 And he will tell the story of Moses. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.560 That will be that this is the central part of his speech. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.639 Before we move into that, let's pray. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:32.319 I forgot about praying. 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:33.759 Just started preaching. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.599 You know how you ever do that? 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:40.240 So before we move into this, let's let's pray together. 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:47.280 Lord God, we pray, we praise you for your loving kindness towards us and for the grace that you have shown to us in your son. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:52.000 Lord, what a joy and a refreshment to get to cry out together as a church. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.080 Son of David, have mercy on me. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:03.039 And like the blind man who cried that out, Lord, we know that you hear us and that you will deliver us from sin and death, and that you have, Lord. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.680 We praise you for hearing our cry. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:14.400 Lord, we ask that you would work into our hearts that we might hear and understand the grace of God in truth. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:22.480 And that in hearing and understanding the grace of God in truth, that it might multiply among us just as it does throughout the whole world. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:38.879 Lord, we pray that as the gospel is proclaimed all over Denver this morning, right now, in so many churches across our city, Lord, I pray that it would be heard and understood, that the grace of God would be heard and understood in truth in the congregations across our city. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:47.120 And Lord, as it's being proclaimed now in the whole world, we pray that we would hear and understand the grace of God and truth. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:05:05.439 That the proclamation that's given to us by Stephen's speech this morning would be the one that enlivens our hearts, that wakes us from the dead, that comforts and encourages, Lord, that disciplines us as your children, and Lord, that we would become more and more like your son as we hear and understand the grace of God and truth. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:06.959 We lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:07.839 Amen. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:18.639 So there also we need to keep in mind, there are two charges that are brought specifically against Stephen. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:25.439 And the two charges that are brought against him are that he is saying that Jesus will destroy the temple. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:27.279 That's charge number one. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:35.040 And secondly, that he is seeking to change the traditions of Moses that have been handed down to them. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:38.639 So destroy the temple and change the traditions of Moses. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:44.959 But these two charges are against the backdrop of the smear campaign which was launched against him. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:57.199 In Acts 6.11, it says, They then they secretly instigated men who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:03.040 So this is the smear that's taking place against Stephen. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:08.800 That they, if you heard rumors about Stephen around Jerusalem, you would think, yeah, I've seen him. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:14.240 He's sort of like reasoning aga uh with people, he's proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:20.720 But isn't that the guy that isn't that the same guy that is, isn't he actually blaspheming Moses and God? 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:22.000 That's what I've heard about him. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.480 He's one who's blaspheming Moses and God. 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:30.879 So this is one of the, this is sort of the background charge to all the charges that are against him. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:40.319 And so that's why Stephen makes central to his speech, his defense, the honoring of Moses. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:50.079 He makes central to his speech, so much of his speech is a description of Moses' life and the wonder of what Moses' life was. 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:56.079 And you can't listen to him speak and consider that this lie that's been told against him has any truth to it at all. 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:02.399 Because when you heard, when you hear his own defense, you see this this man isn't blaspheming Moses. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:06.480 He's telling the same story of Moses that we've all been telling. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:25.759 The second thing that he's doing is as he tells the story of Moses, he's explaining it, the details that he's highlighting are highlighted in such a way so that the listeners are forced to make the connection that Moses, his life, is just like Jesus' life. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:33.360 That the things that they honored about Moses are the very things that are fulfilled in Jesus. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:47.600 And then the third thing that he's demonstrating as he tells the story of Moses' life is that Moses was rejected in the same way that they are rejecting Jesus. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:08:06.480 So that as he tells the story of Moses' life and the rejection that he experiences by the Hebrew people, his own people, whom he came to deliver, if they pay attention to the story, they'll recognize that throughout it, they are the ones that would have rejected Moses. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:13.360 And so there's this wonderful sort of sleight of hand in the way that Stephen is telling the story of Moses. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:26.720 Because what he's exposing, what they think is happening in the trial, is if someone like Moses showed up again, the Sanhedrin think, we would certainly be the ones that accepted him. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:29.519 Because we are the ones that know how to honor Moses. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:33.519 We are the ones that keep the temple, we are the ones that keep the law. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:40.799 But what Stephen shows as he tells the story of Moses is you are the ones who would reject him. 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.600 Because when Moses came the first time, he was rejected by his people. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:52.480 So suddenly the Sanhedrin rejection becomes evidence of the validity of Jesus Christ. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:54.960 It's a very, very clever move. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:09:02.720 So let's go ahead and look through this speech that mo that Stephen gives regarding Moses. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:24.960 In Acts 7, 17 through 18, Stephen says, But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:26.879 You'll recognize this. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:29.840 This is the beginning of the Exodus story. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:39.519 And what happens at the beginning of the Exodus story is the people of God are driven by a famine into Egypt, and that's where they live, and they multiply while they're in the land of Egypt. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:45.039 The land of Egypt becomes a gr a place of great growth for the people of God. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:50.240 And this is exactly what God had promised to Abraham. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:10:01.279 God promised to Abraham that his people would be driven into Egypt, that they would live under cruel masters, but while they were there, they would greatly multiply. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:07.519 And then after 400 years, the Lord would deliver his people out from under their oppression. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:31.519 And so that's why Stephen begins this retelling of that story with, but as the time of the promise drew near, he wants us to recognize that what is taking place through the whole story of redemptive history that Stephen is recounting, what he's really recounting beneath this all is the promises of God. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:39.519 What's taking place in redemptive history is the realization of the promises of God. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.840 This is the drama of Scripture. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:57.840 The drama of Scripture takes place because we hear the promises of God given, and then we follow the story of the people of God, and in the background, we should be thinking all the time: is the promise going to be realized? 00:10:58.080 --> 00:10:59.679 Is the promise going to happen? 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.039 Will the promise work? 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:03.440 That's where you should feel the drama. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:05.360 You know, I don't what's that? 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:09.840 It's the um uh who used to make all those old horror movies? 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:10.960 Alfred Hitchcock. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:12.639 Alfred Hitchcock, great. 00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:22.799 Uh and he has this thing where he says, if you uh have show people having a 10-minute conversation and on screen, and then at the end of the 10-minute conversation, a bomb goes off. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:33.279 Well, when the bomb goes off, that's uh you know an exciting, thrilling thing that happens in the uh movie, but that 10 minutes of conversation was a low drama conversation. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:47.519 But if right before the conversation you zoom the camera below the table and you show a ticking bomb with a timer on it, now the whole conversation is full of drama, right? 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:50.639 It's a great insight for movie making. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:57.360 Which is the if any of you are working on a screenplay, then you can include this tip. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:00.559 Well, that's the way that the Lord writes his scriptures. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:07.360 What he does is he takes his promise and he shows it to you at the very beginning. 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:11.279 And now we're in the drama through the rest of the story. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:21.600 You know, he tells Abraham and Sarah, your offspring will become nations, and your offspring will be a blessing to the whole world. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:26.159 And now it's not just a story of an elderly couple honoring God. 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:31.759 Now it's, are they gonna, every time they don't get pregnant, we're in the drama. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.320 We're in the drama of the story. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:37.279 That's where that's where the drama of scripture takes place. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:44.559 And so what is required of the characters when they know the promise of God? 00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:50.720 What is required of us when we, prior to them being realized, know the promise of God? 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:54.720 How do we participate in the story that God is telling? 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:57.519 It is, of course, by faith. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:00.240 That's why we talk about faith so much. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:03.840 You see, faith is not just like a nice thing to have. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:09.360 It's not like a, you know, the one sign next to your sign that says gather in your kitchen. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:15.679 Faith is the central element of the story. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:20.720 It must be, because the story is based on the promises of God. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:23.519 The promises of God are what uphold the world. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:29.039 And our ability to participate in them is by the mechanism of faith. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:35.919 Now, that means that our relating to God, our knowing Him, our coming to Him is always through the element of faith. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:39.039 And so how do we describe our relationship to God? 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:47.919 The way we describe our relationship with God is He makes covenant promises to us, and by faith we participate in those promises. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:52.799 This is the way all relationships work, by the way, implicitly or explicitly. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:55.759 They are shaped in terms of a covenant. 00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:01.919 That means the explicit terms of how we as parties relate to one another. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:04.559 You can see this, of course, in marriage. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:15.120 When you make vows to one another, oaths to one another in marriage, when you are faithful to those vows, then the marriage goes well and it's good. 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:20.080 And there's not a there's not a drama of the of the marriage in a good way. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:25.360 But why is marriage so exciting and so so risky and so intense? 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:33.759 And why why is that why does marriage have an intensity that, you know, little flings and talking and and situationships don't have? 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.360 There's no drama in those. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:40.240 There's apparent drama, there's anxiety, but there's no drama in those sorts of things. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:45.919 There's drama in marriage because there's this background risk the whole time. 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.639 Could the vows be broken? 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:50.879 Could the vows be broken? 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:54.080 And when they are, then the marriage is annulled. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:57.440 The marriage comes to an end, it ceases to exist. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:14:59.840 That relationship in those terms is over. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:02.080 Such is our relationship with God. 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:08.000 He makes a covenant with us, and he describes the terms of that covenant to us. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:17.039 And the whole story of Scripture is about this interplay between this perfectly faithful God who makes a covenant with us who are faithless. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:20.399 And the drama is how could such a covenant exist? 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:22.720 How could that take place? 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:27.279 So it's not like the covenant of marriage that we make with one another. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:29.679 This is not a covenant among equals. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:34.480 This is a covenant from God to his creatures. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:43.120 The Westminster Confession, chapter seven, is titled Of God's Covenant with Man. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:47.120 And it's a chapter about God's covenant with man. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:56.000 And the first paragraph of that, section 17.1, I think I wrote 1.1. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:01.440 Just imagine that the line on that first one is a little longer on the top, you know. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:35.279 The distance between God and the creature is so great, the confession says, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto him as their creator, yet they could never have any fruition of him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God's part, which he hath been pleased to express by way of a covenant. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:51.679 The distance between God and the creature is so great, it's so great, that we could never ascend to him to establish a relationship with him. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:57.440 We can't climb from here into the heavens. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:03.679 But he is our blessedness and reward. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:08.240 We were made so that God would be our blessedness and reward. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:10.240 That's how he created us. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:14.559 That our only blessedness and reward is him. 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:22.319 Augustine famously says, our hearts are restless until they rest in you. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:26.000 You have a restless heart? 00:17:27.839 --> 00:17:34.000 It will be, it will be a restless heart until it rests in God. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:36.319 That's the very design of your heart. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:38.480 So you think, well, what do I do? 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:42.799 How do I climb up to God so that I might rest in him? 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:49.200 And the answer is you can't climb up to God so that you might rest in him. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:52.400 He must condescend to you. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:59.759 He must come down to you to establish the terms of this relationship. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.519 And the glorious news of the scriptures is that he did. 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:05.039 He did. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:18.400 Do you know what it would mean to God in terms of his joy or his delight in being God to turn his back on all of his creatures and on all of creation? 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:23.599 He would be just as joyful, just as satisfied. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.200 You know what God loves being? 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:30.480 He loves being God all the time. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:32.720 He likes it all the time. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:36.160 He's perfectly satisfied with him being God. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:45.039 So he requires nothing of us for his joy, for his reward, for his blessedness. 00:18:45.440 --> 00:19:02.480 Yet, because of his great love towards us, because of his great love towards his people, he condescends to us so that we might come to him by his covenant, his promises. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:08.799 The first covenant that God establishes with man is the covenant of works. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.640 This is the covenant that God establishes with Adam in the garden. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:21.359 And the covenant of works is called the covenant of works because the success of it hinges on the works of Adam. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:26.160 You know the covenant, you've heard of it, and you might have breezed past it and thought, I didn't know that. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:30.079 It didn't sound very much like a marriage ceremony to me. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:39.920 It sounded more like all the trees in the garden are yours, eat them, delight in them, enjoy, take dominion over the whole world, subdue it, multiply. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:45.279 There's one tree in the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:47.599 Do not eat from that one tree. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:51.119 If you eat of it, you will surely die. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:58.400 There are two outcomes from the covenant of works: life and death. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.680 Those are the two outcomes of the covenant of works. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.279 Life and death. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:08.640 Life for obedience, death for disobedience. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:15.200 Now, when we get the shape of this, this this are very ordinary terms. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.960 This is the way life works. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:23.279 It's one of the ways that you can you can tell like a good heuristic for like, is this true or not? 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:25.200 You could think, like, well, does it work? 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:28.559 If it works, that doesn't necessarily mean it's true, you know. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:30.400 But at least it's some evidence. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:40.480 Well, this is the way that life works, obviously, because you can see it in marriages and friendships and in any sort of relationship or any commitment that you make to something in the future. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:43.039 When you are faithful to it, it exists. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:46.720 When you are not faithful to it, it ceases to exist. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:51.119 Now you consider what does that mean to the giver of life? 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.359 You're relating to the giver of life. 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:57.119 If you are faithful to him and his word, you live. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:03.759 If you do not remain faithful to him in the covenant that he has established with you, you die. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:06.559 This is not some strange thing. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:07.920 This is this is close to us. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:08.880 We we know this. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.839 We know this is an ordinary way for things to work. 00:21:13.119 --> 00:21:15.440 But we also know what happens. 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.319 You know what happens with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:19.279 They eat from the tree. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:21.920 They're deceived by Eve is deceived by the serpent. 00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:29.359 Adam eats from the tree of his own accord, and mankind falls into death. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.680 All of Adam and all of his posterity. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.640 I can see a bunch of Adam's posterity from where I'm standing. 00:21:39.440 --> 00:21:43.279 That means we have all fallen into sin and death. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.079 We are all covenant breakers. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:48.799 That is the ordinary place that we begin. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:59.599 This is the this is the only place that we begin as covenant breakers, which means that we are cursed to death, to punishment outside of God, the just rewards. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.599 Of our covenant breaking. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:06.079 But there's a whole lot more Bible after that story, right? 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:08.960 And so what's what's we're gonna need something new. 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:17.119 If the story was just recounting the events of the covenant of works, then we're it's like three chapters are sufficient for that. 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:21.839 But there's many more than three chapters in the Bible, so what are we recounting? 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:28.079 Well, God establishes a covenant with his people after the covenant of works. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:31.759 He establishes what's called the covenant of grace. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:34.960 Do you hear the difference even in the words? 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.119 The covenant of works. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:38.720 Why is it called the covenant of works? 00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:42.559 Because life and death hinge on the works of Adam. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:50.160 But a new covenant is given to people, even to Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:54.160 And this new covenant is called the covenant of grace. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:54.720 Why? 00:22:54.960 --> 00:22:57.359 Because what does it hinge on? 00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:59.759 What makes it efficacious? 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:02.240 The grace of God. 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:06.640 The grace of God is what makes it efficacious. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:20.799 And the covenant of grace is this promise that by faith in the effective work of Jesus Christ, we will be saved. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.799 We will be given new life. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.480 That is the promise of the covenant of grace. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:32.319 And that story spans the whole rest of the Bible. 00:23:32.559 --> 00:23:34.480 The whole rest of redemptive history. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:37.359 And how do we remain faithful to that covenant? 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:42.400 We remain faithful by placing our faith in the work of Jesus Christ. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:44.240 Now, what is the work of Jesus Christ? 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:45.440 What does he do? 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:52.480 He fulfills the conditions of the covenant of works on our behalf. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:54.400 That's how you're saved. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.119 Does the covenant of works go away? 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:57.839 No. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:23:59.680 It's fulfilled. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:01.200 How is it fulfilled? 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:07.839 We are given a new Adam, a new man whose father is God. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.559 You know whose father Adam is? 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.039 Adam's, you know who Adam, you know Adam's father? 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:13.680 It's God. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:15.839 He was there, it's God, you know, he made Adam. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:17.680 You know Jesus' father? 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:20.400 You remember, remember the story? 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:22.160 The virgin birth? 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:25.039 That's not just like an interesting part. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:30.559 You know, this is essential for the mechanism of our salvation. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:38.880 That he would be directly the Son of God, that he might stand as a new representative of all humanity. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:45.440 And as a new representative of all humanity, he fulfills the conditions of the covenant of works. 00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:50.559 How does he fulfill the conditions of the covenant of works, especially now that it's been broken? 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:54.799 Well, he perfectly passes the test in the garden. 00:24:55.039 --> 00:25:14.799 Remember when Jesus is weeping in the garden and bleeding blood with stress as he is about to show his obedience to God, to obey the terms that the Lord had given him, he passes the test in the garden where Adam failed. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:24.240 But then Jesus, who is perfectly sinless, fulfilling the requirement of obedience for the covenant of works, he goes to the cross to die. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:26.799 Why does he go to the cross to die? 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:28.480 He was sinless. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.559 The covenant of works should bless him with life. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.559 Why does he go to the cross to die? 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.359 Because what does the covenant of works require of us? 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:47.920 Of those people who he says are my people. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:26:01.039 Jesus says, I will take their sin upon me, so that he fulfills both sides of the covenant of works. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:10.960 He dies the death that we deserve for the covenant of works, and he blesses us with the life that he had earned from the covenant of works. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:12.880 Now, how do we receive that? 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:14.319 How do we relate to that? 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:18.880 Well, how do you relate to your, how do you relate to God? 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.400 You trust his promises by faith. 00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:31.200 So we place our faith in Jesus Christ and we say, his work was sufficient for me. 00:26:31.920 --> 00:26:38.400 I am no longer Adam's posterity, but by faith I am Christ's posterity. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:49.200 So that just as Christ looked at God the Father and called him Father, so too can I, because by faith I am in Christ. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:56.559 This is the covenantal shape of the whole story of Scripture. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:03.119 Jesus fulfills the requirements of the covenant. 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:06.960 It all follows these promises. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:08.319 Now, back to Moses. 00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:10.640 That's who we're talking about today. 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.400 The Sanhedrin accuse Stephen of dishonoring Moses. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:28.960 But what Moses, but what Stephen is going to show is that he is the only one there who is truly honoring Moses. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:35.519 But he's honoring Moses by showing the one that Moses pointed to. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:56.480 And the one that all of Moses' life pointed to was the one who is the object of the promise that God had given that there would be a true Savior who would draw his people back to God. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:27.440 And if you miss that, if you think Moses is the end, and you think instead that Moses was a republication of the covenant of works, if you think that the law of Moses was a second opportunity for the people of God to fulfill the law by their own work and by their own effort, and therefore be saved by the fulfilling of the law, then you will miss who Moses is completely. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:49.920 Instead, Stephen will show he is the one who is pointing towards, Moses is pointing towards, the one who truly will fulfill the law on our behalf, so that we will be saved by grace alone, by the mercy and love of God alone. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:57.440 And we will be God's people only because of his mercy and to the praise of his glory. 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:03.680 So let's continue on and see how Stephen explains this in the story of Moses. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:09.440 In Acts 7, 19 through 20, it says, he continues on in the in the Exodus story. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:12.079 He says, He dealt shrewdly with our race. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.880 That's the Pharaoh that didn't remember Joseph. 00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:23.440 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants so that they would not be kept alive. 00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:33.359 At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in his father's house. 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:41.599 Now, we hear this and we think, okay, he's just telling us this part of Moses' story, but look at the details that he selected. 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:43.519 You know it would be in the room. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:49.200 The story of Jesus is fresh in the room that he is speaking to. 00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:52.640 And so what did he just describe? 00:29:52.960 --> 00:30:03.680 Moses is born at a time when all of the infants, all of the Hebrew infant boys are being murdered by the king. 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:07.920 That's the time that Moses comes into the world. 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:10.559 It is a time of infanticide. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:14.799 Jesus is born at the same time. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:18.400 Jesus takes up the story of Moses. 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:23.759 During Moses' time, Pharaoh was killing all the Hebrew boys, remember? 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:35.839 And that's why Moses had to be hidden in the basket, and he was hidden among the reeds in the basket so that he would be able to survive, because he was supposed to have already been killed by his parents. 00:30:36.559 --> 00:30:40.880 But instead, he's hidden and he survives and he escapes by being hidden in Egypt. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:48.000 Jesus is born when King Herod is seeking to kill all of the Hebrew baby boys, and he's hidden. 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:50.480 And where is Jesus hidden? 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:52.400 Egypt. 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:53.759 Egypt. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:59.039 Taken there by his father, Joseph. 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:01.839 Probably doesn't mean anything. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:07.279 Same name as the reason that Moses is in Egypt. 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:10.000 Probably doesn't mean anything, I wouldn't read into it. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:16.880 It is typical of pagan cultures to murder their children. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:21.920 It is typical of pagan cultures to murder their children. 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:28.559 This is an ordinary expectation we should have for all cultures that turn from God. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:39.519 Now the reason is because the ordinary pattern of sacrifice outside of Christ is to sacrifice the future for the benefits of the present. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:43.680 That's the ordinary sacrifice that people make. 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:48.720 To sacrifice the future for the benefits of the present. 00:31:49.119 --> 00:32:02.960 Our culture, as it becomes more godless and forgets the heritage that's been given to us in Christ, sacrifices the future for the sake of the present. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:05.920 This is the very shape that abortion takes now. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:11.680 That is the ordinary mode of operating for all pagan cultures. 00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:14.400 It's the ordinary mode of operation. 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:20.960 And so Jesus and Moses are born into these same environments. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:28.480 They are the threatened son who barely escapes with his life. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:36.480 This is because Christianity, uniquely among all religions, has a future. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:38.559 I really mean this. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:44.079 The only other religions that have a future like Christianity are variations on. 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:51.440 They come after Christianity, and they're taking Christianity and they're trying to turn it into something else. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:55.599 Communism is another religion that has a future. 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:02.160 But that's because it's taking from Christianity in order to develop this pattern. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:05.200 It's because it grows up in these in these Christian worlds. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:06.960 That's the shape of it. 00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:13.119 But it takes, it of course takes a materialist demonic view of the future. 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.119 Christianity uniquely has the future. 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:17.920 That's why Christianity loves children. 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:20.720 It loves protecting them. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:22.880 It loves seeing them happen. 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:27.680 Because we believe that there is a hope and a future. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:33.279 So Jesus is just like Moses in the beginning. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:39.680 Then it continues on in Acts 7, 23 through 24, telling the story of Moses. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:46.240 When he was 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:55.359 It came into Moses' heart when he's uh forty years old to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:58.880 He's growing up royalty in the palace. 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:09.199 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 00:34:10.639 --> 00:34:17.679 So this is that story of Moses, which is one of, it's an off, you know, when we retell the story of Moses, we often sort of forget this part. 00:34:17.920 --> 00:34:32.320 That part where he sees an Egyptian who is being cruel to his, this oppressed Hebrew brother of Moses, brothers because they're both Hebrews. 00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:37.199 And Moses comes in and he avenges the Hebrew by murdering the Egyptian, by killing. 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:39.039 I think it was a just killing. 00:34:39.360 --> 00:34:41.760 Think this was the right thing for Moses to do. 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:44.800 He saves the life of the Hebrew. 00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:50.559 He saves his life by striking down the Egyptian. 00:34:52.159 --> 00:34:55.119 In Acts 7, 25, it says why he does this. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:35:04.960 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:09.199 This is the first act of deliverance that Moses enacts. 00:35:09.360 --> 00:35:11.440 He frees this oppressed man. 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:15.519 And he assumes that his brothers will see it. 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:21.920 Look, we you had a Hebrew in the castle the whole time. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.480 You had a Hebrew in the palace the whole time. 00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:29.360 And he came down out of the palace and he's beginning to free you. 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:34.400 Don't you see that God is working on your behalf that you might be freed? 00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:38.480 This is what Moses expects the reception to be. 00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:42.880 But they do not understand that God is using them to free him. 00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:44.639 In fact, they reject him. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:46.880 They reject him in a very particular way. 00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:51.679 Moses comes up later and he sees two Hebrews fighting each other. 00:35:51.920 --> 00:35:54.000 Two Hebrew people fighting each other. 00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:55.760 And he seeks to bring peace between them. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:58.159 He says, Why are you treating your own brother like this? 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:15.920 And then the instigator, the wicked Hebrew man who's being mean to the victim in the story, turns to Moses and he says, it's recounted in by Stephen in Acts 7, 28 to 29, Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday? 00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:24.239 At this retort, Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons. 00:36:24.639 --> 00:36:32.960 See, what that Hebrew man is saying to Moses there is he's saying, You want to keep pressing this, or should I turn you over to Egypt? 00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:38.000 And what that Hebrew is really saying, you know whose side I'm really on? 00:36:38.239 --> 00:36:39.519 The Egyptians. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:43.519 I'm on the side of the status quo. 00:36:45.199 --> 00:36:50.719 I'm on the side of things remaining exactly how they are and continuing to remain exactly how they are. 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:53.840 I'm on the side of no deliverance, no change. 00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:56.559 I would like things to remain exactly as they are. 00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:04.960 And that means that there is a great threat to you, Moses, because you've left the palace and identified with us. 00:37:05.199 --> 00:37:13.119 And the Hebrew says, I will identify with the palace so that it might kill you, like it would kill one of us. 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:14.960 Strange, isn't it? 00:37:20.400 --> 00:37:44.719 So Moses comes to free his people initially, and then he is turned over by his own brothers to the Egyptians, just like Joseph was turned over by his own brothers to the Egyptians, just like Jesus was turned over by his own brothers to the Romans. 00:37:46.639 --> 00:37:48.960 Do you hear the story in the background? 00:37:49.199 --> 00:38:01.440 To us it feels like it's just recounting a history, but as he's hitting these details, he's provoking in the room the thing that's most present in the room, who is the story of Jesus. 00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:15.920 And because the story of Jesus is most present in the room, when he tells the story of being turned over by his own brothers to the Gentiles to be murdered by them, the room knows what just happened. 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:25.119 The Sanhedrin is thinking, we just turned over Jesus to the Romans so that he would be murdered by them. 00:38:28.239 --> 00:38:35.119 They must start to think, I wonder if we aren't the characters in the story we thought we were. 00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:46.159 In Acts 7.30, it says, Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. 00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:54.400