WWUTT 2583 Stephen Testifies of Abraham (Acts 7:2-8)

Stephen said to the people who were falsely accusing him that he's not the one who's disobeying

God's word It's they who are disobeying God's word and they are just like their fathers who resisted the prophets when we understand the text

This is when we understand the text a daily study in the

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here. Once again is pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky in our study of the book of acts We come back to the speech of Stephen in chapter 7 where Stephen is responding to his accusers

Giving them a history lesson to show them that they are just like their fathers in the Old Testament Who resisted the prophets and the very

Word of God? let me read once again to act 7 verses 2 through 8 here the

Word of the Lord and Stephen said Hear me brothers and fathers the

God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and Said to him leave your country and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you

Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran from there after his father died

God had him moved to this country in which you are now living But he gave him no inheritance in it

Not even a foot of ground and he promised that he would give it to him as a possession and to his seed after him

Even when he had no child but God spoke in this way that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land and that they would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years and I myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved said

God and After that they will come out and serve me in this place and he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham was the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day and Isaac was the father of Jacob and Jacob of the 12 patriarchs

Now here we have a bookend on Stephen's speech I can't remember if I mentioned this yesterday or not

But here at the very beginning as he starts this history lesson to take his accusers through the

Old Testament narrative to show them all these occasions the major occasions at least when the people of Abraham rebelled against Those to whom

God had given his word prophets in particular So when God had spoken to his prophets to speak to the people

There were so many who were descended from Abraham that would resist that word and so what

Stephen is showing to them is that they Are just like all of their fathers Who resisted the prophets?

That's what they're acting like even though they have accused Stephen of Going against Moses and the law of God Stephen is pointing out to them.

That's actually you that's what you're doing You're the one opposing Moses and the very

Word of God Because the law and the prophets have been fulfilled in Christ What the

Apostles and prophets now are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ This is the

Word of God and when they resist this message They're just like those who resisted the prophets before remember that Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5

That blessed are you when they? Falsely accuse you utter all kinds of evil against you on my account rejoice and be glad For great is your reward in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you

So those who hate you because of the gospel. Well, they're just like those Who resisted the prophets in the

Old Testament whenever God would speak to his men to speak to the people and the people wouldn't listen to it

These people who are resisting the gospel are just like them And so again as I mentioned we have some bookends here

We we have a mention of the covenant of circumcision that was given to Abraham verse 8

He gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham was the father of Isaac now circumcision is mentioned again at the end of the speech when

Stephen says to his accusers you men who are stiff -necked and Uncircumcised in heart and ears you are always resisting the

Holy Spirit as your father's did So do you so circumcision mentioned at the beginning of this history lesson and at the end

Because the covenant of circumcision was meant to point to a greater spiritual reality You are circumcised in body in your flesh but even this is supposed to point to a deeper circumcision that we're supposed to have and That is the circumcision of the heart cut off from the world united to Christ And if we are not united to Christ, then we will be cut off from him

So we're to be circumcised of heart as the Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter 3

We are of the circumcision and he's talking to Christians there Specifically he's talking to Greek Christians there in Philippi so they would not have even been circumcised in their flesh.

Anyway we are the circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and Boasting Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh

Not in anything that we have done in our bodies that does not save us And of course the people that Stephen is talking to they believe they were saved because of who they were in the flesh

We're descendants of Abraham Jesus had already confronted them and John chapter 8 and had said you are of your father the devil and your will is to do

Your father's desires. They put Jesus to death They want to put the Apostles to death Stephen to death and so they're like their fathers

Who hated the prophets before them? we are supposed to be circumcised of heart and Everyone who is circumcised of heart they are the true people of God and so I just point that out that we have these bookends here with the mention of circumcision in verse 8 and Then Stephen comes back to that again in verse 51 showing to them that they are not of the circumcision because they are not

Circumcised in there in their hearts in their ears. They continue to resist the

Word of God Now speaking of the Word of God We have a number of Old Testament references in this speech if you're reading from the legacy standard

Which is what I just read from or the New American Standard then Old Testament quotes are put in all caps and right here

I think we've got four references to the Old Testament in these eight verses. That's in verse 3 in verse 5 and In verse 6 and in verse 7,

I think that's two different references in verses 6 and 7, I believe But anyway, let's let's come back up.

So we'll see how Stephen with such an incredible grasp of the Old Testament Scriptures, we'll see how he uses this to show the people who are listening to him that they are not on God's They actually stand opposed to God now even though they put him to death at the end of this speech his desire would be that they would be cut to heart and Repent, so he's using the

Word of God to bring them to an Knowledge and an awareness of their wrongness and that when we share the gospel with others

That's what we need to do. We need to show people how they've sinned according to what the Bible has said sin is so they will be cut to the heart and Desire the solution to their sin problem, which is only

Christ. It's only faith in Christ This is how you prepare the heart for the gospel and Stephen's doing a lot of that here

So he begins in verse 2 by saying hear me brothers and fathers the God of glory appeared to our father

Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran and Said to him leave your country and your relatives and come into the land that I will show you

Okay, and there we have our first quote now that quote comes from Genesis 12, but listen to what we have here in Genesis 12

This is Genesis 12 verses 1 through 4 okay Yahweh said to Abram.

This is when Abraham was called Abram before he was called Abraham go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land, which

I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great

So that you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you

I will curse and In you all the families of the earth will be blessed now before continuing on as I was talking there a moment ago about how?

Those who are circumcised of heart are truly the people of God. We're the ones who receive this particular promise

So we who are in Christ Jesus cut off from the world United to God in Christ We have received this promise that those who bless you.

I will bless those who curse you. I will curse. That's the church Now that's not to say that we should be going around cursing

Israel because they're not really the people of God No, remember what Paul says in Romans 11 do not be arrogant

Toward those branches that were cut off because you can be cut off as well So we need to have a respectful attitude

Toward those who are called Israel by ethnicity or by their nationality

We need to have a respect toward them to them were given the oracles of God as talked about in Romans chapter 3

They receive these things first We should desire we should long that they would come to hear the gospel and be saved because remember that Romans 116 says

I am NOT ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the

Jew first And also to the Greek it was given to them first so we should desire their salvation, but the true people of God are those who are in Christ and When somebody blesses the church, they will be blessed when somebody curses the church.

They will be cursed. So that That promise there in Genesis 12

Translates to us who are in Christ Jesus. Okay, but anyway, I come back to God telling

Abram to leave what he's got Depart from your father's house Go where I send you

Verse 4 says so Abram went forth as Yahweh had spoken to him and lot went with him now

Abram was 75 years old When he departed from Haran now, what did?

Stephen say Stephen said in his speech that God spoke to him Before he departed from before he even came to Haran This in Genesis 12 looks like that.

God is speaking to him in Haran. Let's go back to Genesis 11 And the reason why

I point all this out is because I've heard some people use this the discrepancy between Acts 7 and Genesis 12

To show that there are errors in the Bible So this this is the way that they would contest against the doctrine of inerrancy

So I'm just showing you this so that you can see it's consistent Don't let somebody throw this argue this this argument at you and then you'd be confused and you're like I didn't even know that was there.

Okay. So here you have the generations of Tara which leads to Abraham This is Genesis 11 verses 27 to 32 in verse 29

It says Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves The name of Abram's wife was

Sarai and the name of Nahor's wife was Milka the daughter of Haran the father of Milka and the father of Isca and Sarai was barren.

She had no child and Tara took Abram his son and lot the son of Haran his grandson or Haran and Sarai his daughter -in -law

His son Abram's wife and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to go the land of Canaan and that would have been in the region of Mesopotamia or The Chaldeans in the region of Mesopotamia in order to go to the land of Canaan and they came as far as Haran and settled

There. Okay. Now they're settling in Haran and the days of Tara were 205 years and Tara died in Haran.

Okay, and Then you have this being said in Genesis 12 Which appears as if God is saying to him?

Go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land Which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you

It looks like God is saying that to Abram in Haran but according to Stephen God said this to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran Why do we have this discrepancy what is with this difference?

Well, there's no conflict here. It's that God told Abram twice that he was to leave all of his possessions or leave his family rather leave his father and Go to the place where God sends him to go at first God told him in Ur of the

Chaldeans that he was supposed to go But he didn't he didn't depart from his father

He stayed with his father and they remained there in Haran until his father died and then

God says to him again He repeats this command To go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land which

I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and Make your name great.

And so you shall be a blessing. So it's it's really just given to him twice First Abraham up and left settled in Haran God told him again to get up and go to Canaan because Abraham didn't go far enough

So finally comes to the land of Canaan in this place where as Stephen points out

This is the land where you are now living verse 4 He left the land of the

Chaldeans settled in Haran from there after his father died now Absolutely consistent with what we just read that's

Genesis 11 into chapter 12 and then God had him move To this country in which you are now living.

So Stevens even pointing out here. This was given to him twice He was told at first when he was in Ur of the

Chaldeans and this is consistent with the Old Testament It's mentioned in Nehemiah 9 7. You are the

Lord God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, so that's where Abraham was

Originally and came out from there settled in Haran then from Iran to the land of Canaan So even

Stephen gives it in two stages He left the land of the Chaldeans settled in Haran from there his father died

God had him move to this country where we all are now because all of this is happening in Jerusalem verse 5

But he gave him no inheritance in it Not even a foot of ground and he promised that he would give it to him as a possession and to his seed after him

Even when he had no child and that's another direct Old Testament quote he would give it to him as a possession and to his seed after him and This is to speak of the incredible promise of God God was promising this to Abraham even when he was up there in age over 75 years old

Had no child of his own Sarah I was barren his wife Sarah could not have a child and yet God is promising your seed after you is

Going to possess this land and God promising this even when he had no child

So that the trust would be entirely in God. He would he would have to Trust God's Word what

God has said I will trust and I will do it and again Stephen is bringing this out because he's pointing out how the people who are listening here who have been falsely accusing

Stephen They don't listen to God's Word They do not trust what

God has said because they don't know that Jesus is the Christ who fulfilled all of this if God was able to bring a child out of barren

Sarah Then God can bring a child out of a virgin Mary So in verse 6

But God spoke in this way that his seed would be sojourners in a foreign land and they would be enslaved and mistreated for 400 years

Remember that God said to Abraham that the the sins of the Canaanites Have not yet come up to this place where they deserve to be wiped out.

So he was gonna let these sins continue in this land for several more centuries until finally

God would have enough and he would use the Israelites to come into the land and Strike them who had done so wickedly now

God did show his wrath upon the wicked when he destroyed Sodom So there was there was always a demonstration of what

God could do But he would wait here in this case for the entire land to reach like the full culmination of their sins

Before he brought Israel in to punish them and in the book of Deuteronomy God says to Israel don't think that you've done anything great to earn this land the reason why you're getting this land which belonged to God is because the people who live there were so wicked and Israel was going to be used by God to punish them and Inherit everything that had formerly belonged to them

So verse 7 I myself will judge the nation to which they will be enslaved So this is God promising hundreds of years before it happens that When the descendants of Abraham would be enslaved in Egypt God Would punish the land that had enslaved them and after that they will come out and serve me in this place

God says and he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham was the father of Isaac and Circumcised him on the eighth day and Isaac was the father of Jacob and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs and so we're gonna get just that far today and we'll pick up the rest of the speech next week when we come back to Acts chapter 7

But my friends we need to be circumcised in heart. We need to be cut off from the world not tempted by the world

Not not ensnared by our own flesh or Satan's devices going after the sins that we love so much

Enticed by the things that the world promises to us if we would just go along with what they tell us to do

There was just this week as a matter of fact, there was that that basketball player Jaden Ivy from the Bulls Refused to bow down to the

LGBTQ sex gods that the the NBA honors So much

I think is every single team every team in the NBA has a pride night and Jaden Ivy won't go along with it

He said that it's an abomination. It's wickedness. It's sin and he got cut from the Bulls and There was another basketball player.

I can't remember who this was. I don't watch the NBA exactly for for stuff like this I like basketball.

I don't watch the NBA and Haven't since 2020 when they were doing the whole Critical race theory stuff anyway, so there was this other basketball player who was asked about the t -shirt

He was wearing because he had faith mentioned on his shirt And he kind of laughed and he said he didn't want to go into it because of all the stuff that was going on with Jade and Ivy so now there are players that are afraid to speak up about their faith

Because Ivy got cut for sharing What the Bible says that homosexuality is an abomination

God's judgment will come down upon those Who value these things has said in Romans 1 32 though?

They know that those who do such things deserve to die They not only do them but give hearty approval to those who practice them that's the

NBA and every player that goes along with it and Ivy wouldn't go along with it and So he called it out and he got cut from the team as a result of that There are there there are other ways that the world is gonna say to us you need to put up or we're gonna put you out and We cannot go along with the world

We have to do as the Apostles said previously in Acts chapter 5.

We must obey God rather than men And we cannot go along with the world or be enticed by the world or be afraid of men

We must cling to Christ be cut off from the world united to Christ Circumcised of heart and all of us who are of the circumcision who are in Christ Jesus who who do not worship according to the flesh but in the

Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus we put no confidence in the flesh no confidence in the world

We know that our inheritance is not in a land that we're gonna possess here on earth but our hair inheritance is

Christ and his kingdom and So as Jesus said in Matthew 6 31 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all that you need

Will be added to you as well Heavenly Father we thank you for what we have read here and I pray that it does convict our hearts and draw us to you and your truth and your kingdom and all that has been promised to us in Christ We believe in Jesus who died on the cross for our sins who rose again from the dead all who believe will not perish but have everlasting life

Bring us into your kingdom keep us unstained from the ways of this world and Teach us to walk in the way everlasting.

It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen You've been listening to when we understand the text with pastor

Gabe Hughes Monday Tuesday and Wednesday Gabe will be going through a New Testament study then on Thursday.

We look at an Old Testament book on Friday We take questions from the listeners and viewers tomorrow.