30
Acts 7:1-5
GOD A GOD OF GLORY
Introduction:
The
Jewish leaders of several synagogues at
stirred up trouble for Stephen, one of the
newly ordained deacons of the church.
They arrested him and brought him before
the Sanhedrin Council and made false
charges against him. They charged him with speaking against God,
against Moses,
against law of Moses and against the
temple.
In
our text today Stephen answers that first charge against him --- the
charge of speaking against God. He seeks to show that he had a very high
regard
for God.
In his view, God is a God of great glory.
I.
Stephen questioned by the high priest
V.
1, “Then said the high priest, Are these things so?” The high priest
asked Stephen if these charges against him
were true. In other words he said,
“How do you plead --- innocent or
guilty?”
One
of the basic principles of justice is that the accused is allowed to
face his accusers and seek to show the
fallacy of the charges. This privilege
is denied a man who is falsely accused by
means of gossip and backbiting. This
is a terrible injustice in society
today. Gossip and backbiting is a sin of
which Christians ought not be guilty
The
sad thing about Stephen’s trial is that he had no chance for a fair
trial.
It was this court that had falsely accused Jesus and was responsible for
His death.
It was this court that had commanded Peter and John not to speak any
more in the name of Jesus. It was this court that wanted to kill all 12
of the
apostles and had beaten them
unmercifully. They already had their
minds made up
about Stephen. They would allow him to speak in his own
defense, but they would
not believe what he said.
The
Devil has a great host of people who are willing to falsely accuse
Christians. He has lot of lies which they can use in
making the false
accusations. One of the big lies that the Devil tells is
that all Christians
are hypocrites. How can one defend himself against that kind
of lie? And how
can one defend himself against
gossip? He usually does not know that
the lie
has been told on him because it is told
behind his back. Nor does he know who
has accused him.
II.
The true attitude of Stephen toward God
V.
2, “And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory
appeared unto our father Abraham, when he
was in
Charran.”
Stephen spoke about God calling Abraham to leave
and he referred to God as “the God of
glory.” This expressed Stephen’s true
attitude toward God. To him God is a God of glory. Back in Acts 6:8 Luke said
that Stephen was a man of faith in
God. Stephen was not a man who would
speak
against God. He was a man who spoke for God.
Stephen
further said that the God of glory extended a glorious call to
Abraham.
V. 3, “And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and come into the land which I
shall shew thee.” He does not say how
God communicated with Abraham, but he did
say that God did communicate with him.
God told Abraham to get out of the country
in which he lived and to go to a
place which God would show him as he
traveled. In otherwise God promised to
go
with him and to lead him every step of the
way. That is marvelous. In a sense
that is what God does for every
Christian. God has promised to go with
the
Christian all through life and God has
promised to lead the way.
Stephen
said that God was glorious in His dealings with Abraham for
Abraham’s disobedience to God. V. 4, “Then came he out of the land of the
Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from
thence, when his father was dead, he
removed him into this land, wherein ye now
dwell.” God had told Abraham to
leave his kindred behind, but Abraham took
his father with him to Charran
(Haron).
God could have refused to go with Abraham and refuse to lead him
because of that disobedience. But God went with him and led him to
Charran.
Then God left him at Charran and did not
lead him further until Abraham’s father
died.
In this way God patiently taught Abraham to be obedient. He has that
same kind of patience with all who are
saved.
Stephen
said that God was glorious in His promise to give the land of
Canaan to Abraham and to his seed even
before his seed was born. V. 5, “And he
gave him none inheritance in it, no, not
[so much as] to set his foot on: yet he
promised that he would give it to him for
a possession, and to his seed after
him, when [as yet] he had no child.” Abraham had no children at the time God
made that promise. In fact, even after a son was born to him by
Hagar God
refused that son as an heir, but God still
stood by the promise that He had
made.
He would give the land to Abraham and to his seed. In fact, the heir was
not born to Abraham until Abraham was 100
years old and his wife, Sarah, was 90
years old.
This was long past the usual childbearing age for either of them.
Then after Isaac, the promised son was
born God still did not give the land to
Abraham and Isaac. He allowed them to live within the land, but
He did not
allow them to possess the land. They only sojourned in the land, but God
still
stuck by His promise. God said that the land of Canaan belongs to
Abraham and
to his seed.
III.
God still a God of glory
God
is still a God of glory today. He is a
God of splendor, a God of
beauty, a God of might and power, a God of
infinite knowledge and wisdom, a God
of matchless love and grace. The Apostles Peter and John got a limited
view of
that glory when Jesus was transfigured
before them on a mountain. The Biblical
record says, “His face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the
light,”
Matt. 17:1-2.
God
still keeps His promises even though some of His promises are so
marvelous that it seem that it would be
impossible to keep them. He has
promised to cleanse us from all sin if we
repent of our sin and trust in His Son
to save our souls. He has promised to produce within us a new
spiritual birth.
He has promised to save us and to keep us
saved. He has promised to raise our
mortal bodies from the grave and to make
them immortal bodies. He has promised
to melt this old earth and to make it into
a new earth. He has promised to
bring a huge new city down from heaven to
the new earth and to sit on His throne
in that city and to dwell forever in that
new earth with the redeemed. He has
promised that He will take all of His
enemies and cast them into a Lake of Fire
and Brimstone where they will suffer
forever.
God
is a God of exceedingly great glory and some day all will see His
glory and be judged by Him. It was said concerning Jesus Christ the Son
of God
that every eye shall see Him and that
every knee shall bow before Him and that
every tongue will confess that He is
God. But that will be too late for many
people.
Only those who will repent of their sin and trust Jesus in this
lifetime for salvation will get to live
with Him in glory.
Oh
that every man, woman, boy and girl would believe in Him now and trust
Jesus Christ now and serve Him now! Oh that every saved man, woman, boy and
girl would truly worship Him now and serve
Him now!
Conclusion:
1.
I am going to ask every person present to acknowledge God as the
Highest,
most noble, most powerful and most
wonderful being in existence in
heaven and earth.
2.
I am going to ask every person present who has never prepared to meet
God by
repentance of sin and faith in Jesus
Christ for salvation to get ready now to
meet Him.
Repent of your sin. Trust Jesus
to save your soul.
3.
I am going to call upon every Christian to renew your commitment to God
now.
4.
I am going to ask you to come forward during the singing of this hymn
and to
present yourself to this church in token
of your faith in Jesus and your
commitment to Him.