The Spirit’s Wisdom vs False Witnesses

[0:00] your God reigns are actually the Gentiles speaking to the Jews because that's what the prophet said was to happen the day was going to come when the Gentiles would say to the Jewish people your God reigns you can look back over your history you can look after look back over the endless persecution endless suffering the holocaust the whole thing and you can still say your God reigns and the same is true of church history same is true for us brothers and sisters our God reigns it's present tense he didn't reign in the past and then suddenly abdicate he reigns our God reigns go home and look in the mirror and say our God reigns and if you can still do that without smiling I can't look in the mirror without smiling anyway these days but but if you can still look in the mirror and not smile when you say our God reigns then you haven't really got it yet but pray that God will enable you to get it okay let's I'm gonna turn things around a wee bit here let me let me just read the short passage of scripture that we have first and then pray before we begin to think about what God has laid before us today and to get the context of uh the the few short verses I'm going to be speaking from Acts chapter 6 verses 8 to 15 but let's just read the beginning of the chapter 2 so that we get the context here now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number a complaint by the Hellenists and the Hellenists were the Greek speaking Jews the the Jews who didn't live in the area of Jerusalem

[2:04] Judea Samaria Galilee they were the Greek speaking Jews and so they came basically they were in Jerusalem as a matter of international travel basically they had had to travel a long distance to be there a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution now that's interesting isn't it you've got a potential for division right at the beginning of the church's life because there's one community represented within the church that seems to not be getting a fair deal and the 12 summoned the full number of the disciples all of them it's not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables they said therefore brothers pick out from among you seven men of good repute full of the spirit and wisdom whom we will appoint to this duty now I wonder how many of us here would like to have a CV like that would you like that to be your CV that whatever you present before an employer the only thing he's looking for is to see if you're full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom but that was the CV that these men were required to have the apostle said we will devote ourselves to prayer to the ministry of the word and what they said pleased the whole gathering and they chose Stephen the one we're going to be reading about today a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit and Philip and Procorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and

[3:37] Nicolaus a proselyte of Antioch they set these before the apostles and they prayed and laid their hands on them and the word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith and Stephen full of grace and power was doing great wonders and signs among the people then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the freedmen as it was called and of the Cyrenians and the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and Asia rose up and disputed with Stephen but they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he was speaking then they secretly instigated men who said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council and they set up false witnesses who said this man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us and gazing at him all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel truly remarkable moment in in church history this is the moment when the first ever Christian is about to lose his life for his faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ so here's Stephen his life is on the line and let's just think about what's happening here because something there are two interesting verses in the little first section that we read that give us a real context for what's happening here one is that Stephen is a man full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom that's why he was chosen to be a deacon and the second thing that gives us a context is there are great many of the priests became obedient to the faith you can you can only vaguely from our distance imagine what a shock what a tremor that was that went right through the the the Judaism in Jerusalem in those days that the priests who served in the temple right in the very heart of Judaism the priests were actually beginning to be obedient to the truth of the gospel that Jesus Christ Jesus of Nazareth was actually the long-awaited Messiah of Israel you can't you really just can't exaggerate the shock that that must have been within Judaism itself to see that phenomenon happen and so a lot of what's happening here to Stephen is a direct reaction against that so here's Stephen he's full of grace and power and he's doing great wonders and signs and this is a man who fitted the description that was given to the people they were to look for a man full of the spirit and wisdom and they looked around and they saw seven men who fitted that description and Stephen was one of the people and he was one of the people who fitted that was one of the people who fitted that was one of the people and you think what was he doing was he was he selling t-shirts with his face on so that people could admire him and he could enjoy the celebrity status that t-shirts and fridge magnets tend to give

[7:37] people to the people these days no this was a man who kept drawing attention to Jesus Christ that's what a martyr does the word martyr that that we use in English act is a almost a direct translation or a transliteration of the Greek word martyros which actually means our witness so witnessing and the cost of witnessing are closely associated in in the new testament Stephen had already been noticed by the believing fellowship he was already doing what he was now being formally called and ordained to do as a deacon he was already caring for the poor he was already caring for the weaker members of the flock he was already trusted by the people and he was already serving he had a servant's harp that was Stephen you know when when Peter said to Cornelius we'll read that later on in chapter 10 he said he said to these Gentiles when he went to the house of Cornelius he said something quite interesting about Jesus that seems to be echoed now in the life of Stephen he said to Cornelius in his household you already know what happened throughout all Judea beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed and that was a baptism of repentance how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him now that could just be a description of Stephen couldn't it so here's a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Jesus Christ is that not supposed to be a description of a Christian hello is that not supposed to describe you and me if we're followers of Jesus grace and power wonders and signs you know I don't know how we managed to get here but there is a truth that seems to have escaped the modern church grace is never powerless grace is never powerless it would be a massive contradiction his love has no limit his grace has no measure his power no boundary known unto man it's his grace you see that's why grace is never powerless it's his grace you can't divide up God as though you've got a compartment of grace and a compartment of power and they don't somehow or other interact with each other it's his grace and therefore it's his power and the holy logic here is that if a servant of the Lord is full of limitless grace then he is also full of limitless power and I'd like you to say that to yourself when you look in the mirror when you go home those who are full of limitless grace and that's you and me brothers and sisters if we're trusting Jesus the grace of God has been poured out upon us in abundance because he does not give the spirit by measure

[11:07] God doesn't have a measure like they have in the pub he just he just pours it out God's giving is is broadcast he pours it out lavishly behold what manner of love the father has given us that we should be called the children of God God's love is lavish and his provision is lavish so if we are full of limitless grace we are full of limitless power now let's be careful here because power belongs to God it never belongs to us the power belongs to God and it's for God to determine where that power will work and when that power will work otherwise we'd all want to be like Paul when he spoke to Elamas the magician and said you're a child of the devil and an enemy of all that's good when will you stop trying to oppose the gospel and he struck the man with blindness can you imagine what a monster David Andrew would be if he could go out and just strike with blindness anybody who opposed what he was trying to do no brothers and sisters the power belongs to God not to us but we need to think of this the comfortable church in the west is only comfortable because it's ashamed of its weakness our culture despises weakness we are taught from infancy to be strong physically to be self-reliant mentally to measure our worth by the job we do and the salary that we earn the achievements that we can list in our CV but the Bible teaches us that we should boast about our weaknesses you know if God would only choose the right people

[12:57] I wouldn't be standing here preaching today do you realize that? if God would only choose the right people I wouldn't have a chance of being a preacher but he chooses all the wrong people to do these things isn't that glorious?

[13:14] isn't that wonderful? why is it that severely persecuted churches are growing? and they are make no mistake about it the church in Iran is having an absolutely horrible time right now you could not exaggerate the suffering of the Iranian church but it's growing it's growing so fast that the Mullahs are terrified but why is it that the severely persecuted churches are growing while the comfortable churches are dying?

[13:56] it's because the suffering Christian has absolutely nothing but weakness and has to rely on God's power the suffering Christian has no choice but to rely on God's power it's a faith versus unbelief issue really so Stephen's life was a witness to God specially and specifically to the presence of the Holy Spirit that's what people had seen in him that's why he was one of the seven chosen to be a deacon Stephen's service was visibly holy this was exactly what Jesus had said would cause his disciples to show that they were God's children and thus bring glory to the Father Jesus had said let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven he said by this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit showing yourself to be my disciples that's exactly what Stephen is doing so here's a man here's a man and I look at Stephen and then I look at myself and I feel shallow by comparison with Stephen

[15:20] I feel shallow by comparison with this man he's full of faith he's full of the Holy Spirit and full of faith by the way doesn't mean what a lot of people mean today I've heard people use that phrase of people and say oh he's you know he's having a horrible time in hospital but he's full of faith you know and you discover that he's not a Christian at all all it really means is he's an optimist with a stiff upper lip that's not full of faith faith in the New Testament is not stoicism it's not wishful thinking it's active trust in the Lord who has kept the one promise that matters if you wonder is God going to keep all his promises can we rely on these promises look at the promise he kept that really matters after three days he said

[16:23] I will rise and he kept that promise is there a hallelujah in the room I wonder is there hallelujah faith in the New Testament is always active trust in the risen Lord Jesus and this faith is described by the Apostle Peter when he was writing to persecuted Christians he said though you have not seen him you love him though you do not now see him you believe in him and you are filled with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls when Paul said to the Galatian believers keep in step keep in step keep in step with Jesus can you imagine the Holy Spirit being out of step with Jesus can you imagine the Son of God being out of step with the Father's purposes of course you can so to say keep in step with the Spirit as Paul said to the Galatians is just saying keep in step with Jesus keep close to the Saviour keep close to him it doesn't depend on you it doesn't depend on me depends on him and he's not just up there he's down here he's living and breathing and moving in you and me who believe you could not exaggerate the power and the presence of God in your life you couldn't exaggerate it please please

[18:10] I beg every single person here if you're a Christian don't underestimate the power and the presence of God in your life because as I said he does not give the Spirit by measure the whole believing community had recognised Stephen as a godly man whose life was habitually beneficial to the community that's why they chose him this man's already doing the job let's just he's one of the deacons let's put him in charge and by the way that is really that's the pattern for leadership in the early church they did not have offices like deacons and elders and ministers and priests and canons they didn't have all these offices in the church and then look around for candidates to fill the posts it didn't happen like that when they saw there was a need they would look for people to meet the need and the people who met the need were the guys who were already doing the job they had a proven track record and that's why

[19:30] Stephen was chosen he had a striking resemblance to Jesus so here's this kind man who is an offense he's an offense he's a lovely kind hearted generous caring loving man and he's an offense some of those who belong to the synagogue of the freedmen as it was called now the freedmen synagogue was actually a synagogue that was based in Rome these were former slaves who had been granted an amnesty by Rome at some time in history and they populated this synagogue they were former slaves and now they called themselves the synagogue of the freedmen so there were these people from as it were Jews from out of town they weren't used to the to being in the hub in Jerusalem and then there were the Cyrenians and the

[20:31] Alexandrians well they were from North Africa so again these were out of towners and likewise the people from Cilicia and Asia it's almost like there were three synagogues it was the the Romans the Roman Jews and then there were these North African Jews and then there were the Asian Jews from Cilicia and Asia and they rose up and they disputed with Stephen now Judaism centered on the magnificent Jerusalem temple made no secret of its disdain for other less pure forms of Judaism so the Jews at the center at the hub of things who spoke Hebrew and were and were everything was centered around the temple and the priesthood and the sacrifices they were somewhat disdainful of the Judaism that was outside of Jerusalem because of course these other synagogues from out of town could really only gather themselves around the word of

[21:32] God that was all they could do they didn't have access normally to the temple and the priesthood and the sacrifices Stephen was a Greek speaker he belonged to that out of town community attendance at the temple services really required international travel now if one of their own one of the Gentile or not the Gentile but the Greek speaking community of Jews was thought to be corrupting Judaism as Stephen appeared to be they would try to bring this renegade into line or at the very least they would try to protect their own community against inevitable criticism from the Hebrew speaking community so there's a bit of internal politics going on here and we can't underestimate how important that would be persecution is not always about the gospel message the world and the world's religions have got their own agendas they've got their own priorities we're actually told by scripture that the main reason they rose up against Jesus was jealousy nothing more complicated than that just jealousy and the same mechanism no doubt is at work here sometimes

[22:49] Christians are threatened for totally illogical reasons I mean for instance the Christians in Burma just now are having a horrible time of it and they are only 6.2% of the population only 6 in every 100 people is a Christian in Burma but the government is pouring all its resources into trying to extinguish the church and Christians are living in the jungle bringing up their children in the jungle because if they go to their homes they'll be burned down around them Stephen's critics rose up ironically it uses the very same word here that describes our Lord's rising from the dead but this was a very different kind of rising up and for very different reasons naturally their first thought was to try to have a sort of formal debate with Stephen and they thought the outcome of that would be a foregone conclusion no doubt because Judaism's best scholars thought they could just expose the heresy of

[23:52] Stephen in a formal debate and that was their first mistake they were working to a false assumption that their opponent was a mere man who had not their theological training or qualifications but this was no battle between equals let's be clear about this this was no battle between equals and their opponent was not Stephen they were shaking their fist at God himself the God they thought they were serving isn't this exactly what Jesus had said they will drag you before councils and if anyone kills you he will think he's serving God that's what's going on here so there is what we're going to see is there's a wisdom from above and there's another kind of wisdom we're told in verse 10 that they could not withstand the wisdom of Stephen or the spirit by which he was speaking and the question an obvious question arises why would they want to withstand the wisdom of Stephen why would they want to withstand this was a man of impeccable reputation his reputation was unsullied throughout the entire community he's only recently been appointed to a ministry precisely because of his reputation for kindness for integrity for doing good why would the religious authorities feel the need to withstand his message and the implications of this really need to be thought through brothers and sisters you see if

[25:29] Stephen was speaking with wisdom they could not answer and if he was speaking by a spirit they could not match this can mean only one thing it means that these very religious leaders of the Jewish people were getting their wisdom from a different place and they were speaking by means of a different spirit not the Holy Spirit James the Lord's brother in his letter describes it this way he says if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts do not boast and be false to the truth this is not the wisdom that comes down from above this is earthly it's unspiritual it's demonic for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there will be disorder and every vile practice every vile practice we're going to see in a moment the vile practice that was associated with this earthly unspiritual demonic wisdom he said but the wisdom that is from above is first of all pure it's peaceable it's gentle it's open to reason it's full of mercy and full of good fruit it's impartial it's sincere and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace that's the wisdom that Stephen was speaking by that's the wisdom that they could not match there are lots of examples of this from the underground church how many of you

[27:08] I wonder just stick up a hand if you have read Richard Wurmbrand's book torture for christ haha right good well if you haven't can I recommend it in the strongest possible terms for one simple reason by the way it's free you can you can get it online and if I'll try and remember at the end to give you an advert for that but but the book is free and it's about his experiences 14 years of persecution imprisonment beatings torture you couldn't exaggerate it's all off the scale but this is what he went through at the hands of the communists in Romania and there are a couple of examples here that come to mind Richard Wurmbrand said I heard one believer pleading with an atheist pleading with him suppose he said because the atheist was determined to prove that there was no afterlife and so here's this believer now most believers in the suffering churches have no access to Bibles they have no access to the word of

[28:22] God that you and I take for granted with Bibles all over our shelves but what they do is they use the atheist literature that comes out from the communists because the communists produce all these leaflets and tracts and they shower them into the population to prove that the Bible is a stupid book and in order to prove that it's a stupid book they put loads and loads of scripture references in their literature and the believers lap them up because they know the arguments are stupid but they love the scriptures and it's the only access to the Bible that they've got so they even they write into these communist printing houses and saying please can we have more of that leaflet that you gave us and the communists are providing scriptures for the believing community and they don't even know it but here's one believer speaking to an atheist who said there was no afterlife he said listen to this you know Jesus said I will give you a mouth and wisdom that no adversary will be able to oppose or contradict listen to this believer here who's got no access to the Bible he says suppose that we could speak with an embryo in his mother's womb and you told that embryo that the embryonic life is only a short one after which follows a real long life what would the embryo answer he would probably say what you atheists say he would probably say when you speak to him about as we as we speak to you about paradise and hell he would say to you well life in the mother's womb is the only one there is everything else is just religious foolishness there is no life outside of the womb it's all in here but what if the embryo was able to think through what's happening he would say to himself I've got arms growing on me but I don't need them

[30:30] I can't even stretch them why do they grow perhaps they grow for a future stage of my existence in which I'll have to work with them I've got legs growing on me but I have to keep them bent towards my chest why have I got these legs possibly there's going to be life in a larger world where I'll need to walk and I've got eyes growing but I'm surrounded by perfect darkness I don't need eyes what are these eyes for probably a world with light and colours is up ahead somewhere so if the embryo would reflect on his own development he would know that there is life outside of his mother's womb without having seen it and it's the same with us as long as we are young we have vigour but we don't really have the mind to use it properly when as the years advance we have grown in knowledge and wisdom there's a hearse waiting to take us to the grave why was it necessary for us to grow in knowledge and wisdom that we can't use anymore so it is with us here we grow here in experience and knowledge and wisdom for what follows we are being prepared to serve on the higher level that follows our death and that's a believer who's got no access to the Bible you see

[32:07] Jesus said don't worry what you're going to say because I will give you a mouth and wisdom that your adversaries will not be able to contradict so here's Stephen in formal debate bringing humiliation really he's not bringing the humiliation they're humiliating themselves by trying to prove this man wrong because his arguments are irrefutable Stephen's not getting his arguments from himself he's getting them from above and the council has no chance against that wisdom God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble why was the debate considered necessary at all I think the answer is really that it was essential to the religious people to prove that Stephen was wrong if he was seen to be right then the religious leaders were clearly wrong if Stephen was a true servant of God then they were opposing God they had to prove him wrong it's actually it's a very great mistake folks it's a very great mistake to assume that people who are religious are righteous all Stephen's critics here are religious people but they weren't righteous people and the people who shouted to

[33:34] Pilate crucify him were religious people don't let's fool ourselves into thinking that being religious means being righteous righteousness is something God gives religiousness is something we practice ourselves and we might or might not be sincere about it and even if we are sincere we never reach the standard of righteousness God requires because the standard is Jesus the standard is Jesus and God will not accept less God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him in him you see sinners have a different definition of religion from God James says that God's definition of true religion is this religion that is pure and undefiled before God is to keep oneself unstained from the world now notice

[34:39] James is not saying that we should care for widows and orphans to gain God's favour but because we already enjoy God's favour and we've been rescued by God to join his family and the proof that we are part of God's family is that we share his family characteristics and he cares for widows and orphans it's that simple so what we're seeing here as we conclude is that parentage will out and the question here is who belongs to which father in this incident here who belongs to which father these people it says secretly instigated men who said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God now excuse me folks but let's just stop for a moment and think about the enormity of this these are religious people who think they're serving God and they're accusing a perfectly innocent man whom they know to be innocent of blasphemy and blasphemy in the first century carried only one penalty it carried the death penalty so these men are secretly instigating accusers against

[35:59] Stephen in the full knowledge as they seek to serve God so they think that this man will be put to death if their accusations are proven in court is that not appalling to think that religious people of a religious mindset could be so convinced that they're serving God that what they're actually doing is planning the deliberate execution the judicial murder of an innocent man at the back of all this opposition we must not overlook something truly dark a really dark reality here Paul made clear to the first Christians that our struggle is not against flesh and blood there is a very sinister side to the story Jesus said to his critics who were almost certainly members of the same council that is now meeting to judge

[37:02] Stephen Jesus said to the same kinds of people you belong to your father the devil and you want to carry out your father's desire he was a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth there is no truth in him when he lies he speaks his native language because he's a liar and the father of lies is that not shocking is that not does that not really send tremors through you to think that Jesus the son of God the king of love could stand before religious people and said to them and say to them you are of your father the devil Paul said to the Colossian church that God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves God has rescued us from the kingdom the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves what does that mean folks it means that if you're a

[38:08] Christian you have a before and an after a Christian's testimony always has a before and an after and the before the before bit is truly awful the before bit is truly awful you could go home today and I could go home today and you could start to write your autobiography do you know what you could call it you could say the devil was my dad now I have no license to stand here and exaggerate but it is as bad as that when our brother David Pawson died in May of last year I remember thinking about him when he wrote his his autobiography you know what he called it not as bad as the truth that's how he described his life not as bad as the truth if you want somebody to write my biography he says they could tell it all works and all he says and it would not be as bad as the truth you see

[39:26] David Pawson understood what Paul said when he said I'm the chief of sinners and David Andrew is the chief of sinners and you can fight with me for that title if you want but the reality is we could write our autobiography and we could call it the devil was my dad or Satan was my father because before God rescued us we needed to be born again and that's what it is to be born again is to be brought into a new kingdom and into the household of a new father what's the point of rebirth if you have the same father as you had before notice the vocabulary of these people they secretly instigated there's secrecy going on here they stirred up the elders and the council they seized Stephen they brought him before the council they had to bring him before the council because you see if you're going to accuse an innocent man of something that he's not guilty of you need to know that you've got the law on your side and that's what they did they set up false witnesses this is all dark this is all devious this is deceitful this is underhanded this is not worthy of the name of the

[40:56] God of truth but these people think they're serving the God of truth by doing all this underhanded stuff against a man whose life is an open book of kindness and goodness and so lastly let's see if anybody remembers I don't know if you'll be able to cope with this Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light like a little candle burning in the night in this world of darkness so we must shine you in your small corner and I in mine now you won't forget that in a hurry but you see this is exactly what Stephen was doing he was shining with a pure clear light and that little children's song that we all learned decades ago is as true today as it was then gazing at him all who sat in the council in verse 15 all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel why did they see that what was it they actually were seeing

[42:28] I'll tell you what they were seeing they were seeing a man who kept company with God all the time they were seeing the presence of God amongst them that's why his face was shining you see the angels faces would shine with the the reflected radiance of the glory of God that is their natural habitat and Stephen's natural habitat habitat was the presence of God so his face was shining it's not surprising it's not illogical it's exactly what happened with Moses Moses spent so much time with God he came out his face was shining he put a veil over it because it was distracting the people what else did they see in Stephen's face they saw innocence they saw a man who had not a shred of guilt attached to his name for what he was accused of what else did they see in his face they saw fearlessness because you see when we get to the point of

[43:34] Stephen's martyrdom you hear him praying for his enemies and a man who's praying for his enemies isn't afraid of dying he's absolutely fearless he's completely bold you see in Stephen's face a quiet confidence I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard that for which that which I have entrusted to him against that day I know whom I have believed Stephen wasn't standing in front of his detractors saying let me give you my theology let me give you my doctrine let me tell you what I know about Jesus no he was just standing there quietly saying I I know Jesus personally he's my friend he's my savior he's my constant companion he's with me right now even as you guys say all these things about me you see his love for Jesus you see even his love for the enemy so I want to finish with a couple of stories that

[44:47] Richard Wurmbrand shares in his book and I hope it will encourage you to go and read the book because the underground church is in a different place from the rest of us a Russian army captain came to a minister in Hungary and asked to see him alone the young army captain was very brash he was very conscious of his role as a conqueror and when he had been led to a small conference room and the door was closed he nodded toward the cross that was hanging on the wall and he said to the minister he said you know that thing is a lie you know it's a lie it's just a piece of trickery that you ministers use to delude poor people to make it easier for the rich to keep them ignorant come now come on we're all alone here in this room admit to me that you never really believed that Jesus Christ was the son of God and the minister smiled but my poor young man of course

[45:49] I believe it it is true I won't have you play these tricks on me cried the captain this is serious now don't laugh at me he drew out his revolver and he held it close to the body of the minister he says if you don't admit to me that this cross and this religion and this faith and Jesus Christ is a lie if you don't admit that I will shoot you and the minister said I can't admit that because that wouldn't be true our Lord really is and truly is the son of God the captain flung his revolver on the floor and he embraced the man of God and the tears were flowing from his eyes as he said it is true it is true I believe so too but I could not be sure that men would die for this belief until I found it out for myself thank you thank you you have strengthened my faith and now

[46:58] I too can die for Christ you have shown me how now this is what they would have seen in Stephen's faith Stephen's faith Wurmbrand tells of another story he says when the Russians occupied Romania two armed Russian soldiers entered a church just imagine here we are sitting here right now and two soldiers come in these doors two armed soldiers enter a church with guns in their hands and they said we don't believe in your faith your faith is rubbish your faith is stupidity you can save your lives right now if you're prepared to abandon this faith and get out of here or you'll be shot if you're prepared to abandon this stupid faith move over here to the right well some of the congregation actually did they moved over to the right and the soldiers brandished the guns at them and said get out get out run while we're still prepared to let you live you should not have been in here get out and then they locked the doors behind them and when the two guards were alone with the remaining

[48:29] Christians they embraced them and said we're Christians too but we wanted to have fellowship only with those who were prepared to die for this faith as you see us Lewis said a man's faith isn't tested by what's in his creed but whether he's prepared to die for what's in his creed so the one other thing they saw in Stephen's face as we conclude here is the radiance of God's glory Jesus Christ the man of sorrows the lamb of God the full final sacrifice the lion of Judah who conquered death by dying and rising from the grave Stephen was innocent of the crimes he accused him of and Jesus was also declared guilty Isaiah said it would be so surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by

[49:32] God and afflicted but it was pierced for our transgression he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all this is the wisdom of God that makes fools of earths worldly wise people we preach and this church can say this we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks both intellectuals and religious people Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God for the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men may God be praised and make us all the

[50:42] Stevens of our day amen so let's hear about the perfect wisdom of our God Ruth and Cameron are going to bring us a lovely song it was written by Kirsten Getty the words are really quite special so enjoy this thank you boost