Revive Us Again | Week 6 | Acts 6-7

Acts 7: Stephen’s Martyrdom and the Church’s Expansion

If you will, at this time, please take your copy of the Scriptures and turn with me to Acts chapter 6. No, excuse me, Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, we will consider verses 54 through 60. Acts chapter 7, verses 54 through 60.

Let's pray.

O God, Father,.

Son, and Holy Spirit, God, I beg you, I plead with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, whom you sent as a propitiation, the payment for our wrongdoing. Lord, through your Spirit, I ask in his name that you speak to your people today through this broken vessel.

Lord, use me as you have before to speak forth your word and truth. I pray this in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. All right, so let's read that text. Acts chapter 7, verses 54 through 60.

It says, Now when they heard this, they become furious in their hearts, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. And being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven, and he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens open up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

But crying out with a loud voice, they covered their ears and rushed at him with one accord. And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him. And the witnesses laid aside their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees, and he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And having said this, he fell asleep.

The Need for Revival and Passionate Evangelism

So our overarching theme for this book, the Book of Acts, has been Revive Us Again. So as y 'all know, we normally do exposition, and we're going through the Gospel of John. We went a little over one year in the Gospel of John.

We made it to Chapter 9, and so now I want to take just, it might be a few months, and we're just going to go through this book, this Acts of the Apostles, the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, and we're going to see how revival occurred.

We're going to see what the Holy Spirit did through broken individuals like you and I who are filled with power, power from on high, the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to see how they used uneducated men and women to accomplish great things in the earth, things that if it had not occurred, you and I would not be here today.

And so we're looking at this as Revive Us Again. We want to say, well, what did revival look like then? Just in case it comes, we'll know how to identify it. Right? We want to see the markers of what took place.

What did they do? What were they told to do, and did they obey the Word of God? So we know what we're told to do because we are a part of that same church, and are we, you and I, obeying the Word of God, which has been very challenging, right?

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Right? It's been some stuff, you know, to quote Bodhi Balcombe, if you can't say amen, say ouch, because it's been stepping on all of our feet, right? This has been really challenging.

We had a conversation last week after the service, and I mentioned, I said, imagine growing up somewhere where there were no churches. Maybe in Allen, and maybe anywhere. Just imagine growing up in a place where there were no churches, and you stumbled across a Bible, and you read that Bible, and you've read that Bible, and you've read that Bible, you've read, read the Bible many, many times, and you're reading this Bible and you're seeing what's taking place in Acts.

You're like, man, I cannot wait to actually walk into a building that has believers like this, and to be a part of something like this, because your whole life you haven't been, but you've had this Bible, and you've read it, and then you come to America, or wherever it is that you are, and there's churches, and you walk in, and you're like, what is this?

What is this? Most of us when we become Christians, when we became Christians, we were very passionate, right? We were very passionate about telling people about Jesus Christ, about His gospel, and the problem is, is we didn't lose that passion.

So I was speaking with Jerry last week. We didn't lose that passion. The problem is, is we started going to church, and no one else had the kind of passion that we had. Again, Bodie, thank Bodie, can't say amen, say ouch.

Right? We had this passion for God, and the gospel, and everyone that we met, we started telling people about it, and the next thing you know, we start going to the church, and nobody is passionate about God, and about the gospel, and about reaching the walls, and guess what happens?

We become not passionate about God, the gospel, and reaching the lost. The people as Christians, the problem is the people inside the Christians, they do not have this passion any longer. The Christians that we fellowship with in the church can sometimes stomp out the fire, the passion that we have for God and for the lost.

Now I have been fortunate in my life over the many, many years, 20-something years of being a Christian and being in church, that I have had a small group of individuals that I've fellowshiped with outside my congregations who did evangelism.

And so I have always done evangelism. And I've been fortunate in that. But I can tell you that there's times where that fire was gone, and being around this group of men would reunite that fire in me.

And there's times with them where that passion, that fire was gone, and being around us men who were passionate about it came back, right? A fire needs air in order to spread. In order for a fire to go, it has to breathe.

You have the power of the Holy Spirit inside of you, but the problem is that you're not fanning the flame. You need the other individuals around you. That's why it says to not forsake the gathering of ourselves together as the assembly, right?

So we can stir one another up to love and good works. The greatest work you can do is the work that Jesus left us to do, and it is to go and make disciples of all nations, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And we ought to teach those who have been made disciples, who have been baptized, to bring them into the church, and to teach them what we should not do is put out the fire. I say this to optimize. Doing evangelism has been one of the scariest, and yes it's scary, the scariest and yet most rewarding things I've ever done in my life.

I read this on Facebook. I'm going to give him the credit. His name is Ryan Deaton. He wrote this, quote, Reformed theology and low energy churches, sermons, outreaches should be a contradiction in term.

So what's going on? This is proof that theological knowledge alone isn't enough. We must have God's spirit, end quote. Knowing right theology isn't enough. One of the main reasons why people gather in Reformed Baptist or Reformed Presbyterian churches is because you're tired of being spoon-fed sermons that talks about people's lives, and they don't dive into the Scriptures.

Alright, so people who are wanting something more, they attend Reformed churches because we teach the book. Right? But a lot of these Reformed churches, they have no fire. They have no passion for the lost.

Right? Amen? Hallelujah? Holla back. To quote Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of the, I love Martin Lloyd-Jones. I sometimes get teared up listening to his messages. Passionate man for God, Presbyterian. He says this, we are living in an age hopelessly below the New Testament pattern, content with a neat little religion.

We are living in an age hopelessly below the New Testament pattern, content with a neat little religion, end quote. One of the present dangers in a Christian's life is contentment. It's to be content with where we're at.

Don't ever be content. Our theme for this Lord's Day is Stephen's best life now. Stephen's best life now. And whatever you might face for the cost of Christ, understand this, this is the best situation for you or for them.

Whatever persecution might come to you for the sake of Christ, that is the best thing that could ever happen to you. Whether it's stoning or being skinned, whether it's being sawed in half or dragged by horses, it is the best thing that could ever happen to you.

That's something foreign from an American mind. For Stephen, Stephen was stoned. We just read about that. But Stephen was the first Christian martyr of the New Testament. Stephen finds himself in an intellectual conflict that ends with him being stoned to death.

You say, well, how is that his best life now? He saw heaven open. God on the throne. Jesus stands from the throne of David. And the moment he fell asleep, he was dancing where angels tread. If one of the disciples could by chance enter into heaven and say, Stephen, come back, he would say, mind your business.

I am living my best life. There's something that we don't understand when it comes to the saints, right? We should not mourn as others mourn. When it comes to someone we know has gone into glory, we should not mourn as others mourn.

The Bible says that God does not delight in the death of the wicked. But it says that he takes delight in the death of the saints. Yes, we should mourn over the wicked. But the mourning over the wicked should look different than the mourning over the saints.

Because let me tell you something, as bad as you might want your loved one back who has gone to glory, they would tell you to mind your business. Do your thing. I am dancing where angels tread. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person, not even death by stoning, but death without Christ.

That is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone is to die, to leave this life without Christ. To die with Christ no matter how the death occurs is grace this side of heaven. And to die without Christ no matter how peaceful is punishment.

It's punishment. It's a punishment that we all deserve because of our sin. There's a saying in church history about Christian martyrdom. It's coined by an early church father from the second century named Tertullian.

And it is this, quote, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church, end quote. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Take one of us out and our blood will spill, hit the ground and five more Christians will rise from the dirt.

There's never been a greater church growth strategy than to kill a saint. For the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church. Throughout church history this has been the main ingredient for Christian growth.

The main ingredient for Christian growth. And we're going to see from this one act, the stoning of Stephen, the church leaves Jerusalem. They begin to obey the marching orders given to them by Jesus to go into all the world.

Up until this point they have been in Jerusalem. The church has been growing. But now after what takes place from this text, they leave Jerusalem. So in our outline today we're going to see what caused the stoning of Stephen.

We've got three points. We've got the calling of Stephen, the accusations against Stephen, and Stephen's answers. Answers, yep. So point number one, the calling of Stephen. Point number two, the accusations against Stephen.

And point number three, Stephen's answers. And as we transition, turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew. Look at chapter 16 and we're going to look at verses 24 and 25. Jesus says, well, then Jesus said to his disciples, listen, if anyone wishes to come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Although Stephen just lost his life for the sake of Christ, he found Christ. He found Jesus. He's in the presence of the beloved. If anyone wishes to come after Jesus, he must deny himself.

It's not about you anymore. It's about Christ. He must take up his cross. He must look to Jesus Christ in faith and you must follow him because he is the light of the world. When you're not following Christ, you're walking in darkness.

What is Christ trying to do? He's trying to reach the world. We as his people are called to reach the world. I know a lot of us have had heart aches. I know I did leaving the circles that I come from and we're scared to say things like we're called to be world changers.

But it's true. Just not in the mix up of the controversy that's taking place. When you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit calls you to keep God's commands. What's the one command Christ gave to us?

To go out into the world. To be his witnesses. And that's what we're called to do. We're called to follow Christ by being the hands and feet of Christ. The church is known as several things. One of them is the bride of Christ.

The wife submits to the husbands. Wives are called to submit to the husbands. The husband is called to lay down his life for his wife. Christ lay down his life for his bride. We his bride are called to submit.

We're also called the body of Christ. If Christ was physically on earth right now, what would he be doing? You know the answer. You need me to tell you? You know the answer. He'd be reaching the lost.

You and I who are in Christ the church, we're called the body of Christ. We are his hands and feet. Today I stand before you as a mouth. This Saturday I will be hands and feet trying to reach the lost.

Please come. We are called to be the body of Jesus Christ. The bride of Christ who submits to her husband. Point number one, the calling of Stephen. So this takes place in chapter two. And I want you to understand that this is a very complicated message that I stand before you today because I'm used to preaching sometimes one word, sometimes a few verses.

Today I'm preaching two chapters, which is why Jerry read such a long passage for us. So this is very challenging for me. So please be in prayer for me in my study and even while I'm up here today to try to break this down to you and make it intelligible.

Let's take it from Acts chapter six. And in this section we're going to look at four subheadings. Subheading A, the problem. Hellenistic Jews were being overlooked in the daily distribution. Look at verse one of chapter six.

In those days while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenistics against the Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily servings of food. Now this is dealing with two different types of Jews.

All right? You had the Hebrew Jews and the Hellenistic Jews. So what took place is whenever the Greeks conquered the world, right, and Rome conquered the world, everything had become Hellenized. Everything had become Greek speaking.

The Greek language had taken over the known area of the world. Whenever we read in Acts chapter two that all these Jews were traveling to Jerusalem because of the day of Pentecost and these disciples of Jesus and this group of 120, they were speaking in tongues.

It says that each person that was there were able to hear them in their own languages. They were all Jews from different parts of the world, different languages. They had been Hellenized. And so right here you're seeing the difference between there seems to be favoritism shown to the Hebrew Jews and not to the Hellenistic Jews, those that have been traveling, those that left their homes to be a part of this Christian set.

And they did not go back. They sold everything they had to be a part of this Christian set, this movement that's taken place that's going to change the way the world sees religion. Subheading B, the solution.

The disciples chose seven men to oversee them. Look at verse 2. Then the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, it is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God and to serve tables.

So it's not...those that are teaching the word of God should not stop teaching the word of God to make sure that these other widows are being fed. Therefore, brothers, select among you seven men of good reputation, full of the spirit and wisdom whom you may put in charge of this need.

But we, the disciples, the teachers, will devote ourselves to prayer and to serve in the service of the word. Stephen was one of the men in charge I want to say much more, but I'm time constricted. I'm sorry.

Stephen is one of the men in charge of making sure that these Hellenistic widows are not overlooked. Making sure that they get as much on their plate as the Hebrew widows get on their plate. So there's a certain thing in Scripture when you read the Scriptures you see that we are to take care of widows and orphans.

Widows and orphans. The Bible makes it clear, if a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat. We have to be responsible with our money and do what the Bible tells us to do. But when it comes to widows and orphans, those that cannot take care of themselves, the church is supposed to take care of them.

Which is another thing that the church has failed at and our government has manipulated. Again, to our detriment. Section, subheading C, Stephen. One of the men chosen. He is described as full of faith and truth.

We're going to read verse 5a in verses 6 and 7 for the time. Verse 5a. And this word pleased the whole congregation and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. Verse 6. And these stood before the apostles.

After praying, they laid their hands on them. That means they ordained them to this position. Verse 7. And the word of God kept, listen, kept spreading and the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem.

And a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. Verse 7 here is key. Don't miss this. Verse 7. We'll read it again. And the word of God kept on spreading. They were told to stop preaching the word of God.

So this tells us that they did not stop. They were not obedient to man. They were obedient to God. The word of God kept on spreading and the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem.

This tells us that they were still in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests, leaders of the old covenant system were becoming obedient to the faith. You're talking about causing trouble. You see the problem?

They kept preaching. They kept preaching the faith. People coming to the faith and the priests were coming to the faith, which brings us to subheading D. How does this take place? A part of his ministry was signs and wonders.

Look at verse 8. And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Remember what I said signs and wonders were for, right? Answer to validate the message and the messenger.

So Stephen was performing miracles. These miracles were drawing a crowd. Once the crowd drew near, Stephen would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the miracles would validate for them that this message was from God.

John chapter 3, Nicodemus says, we know that you are from God because no one could do these mighty works that you are doing unless they are from God. The miracles validate the messenger and the message.

If I was able to tell you something and you didn't believe me, but I could turn a pig into a man, you'd say, well, I better believe this guy, right? That's what the miracles were for. The miracles would validate the message and the messenger.

False Accusations and Stephen’s Defense Before the Sanhedrin

So point number two. I'm trying to get through this quickly. We don't have much time. The accusation against Stephen. This also takes place in Acts chapter 6. In this section, we're going to look at two subheadings.

Subheading A, a dispute with the synagogue of the free man. We see this in verse 9. But some of the men from what is called the synagogue of the free man including the synagogue of the free man. Let's just stop right there.

So we see right here that many people are coming to Christ. They did not stop preaching. Many people are coming, even the priests. So a synagogue gets involved. They get a synagogue upset. A synagogue is a place of worship.

The text tells us that these men rose up and were arguing with Stephen. Now I believe they were arguing with Stephen because Stephen was drawing a crowd through signs and wonders and was preaching to them, the people, the gospel.

And also as some of these synagogues were drawing near, they had priests that were involved and the priests would hear the message and God would grant to them faith. Things wasn't going the way the old covenant system, those that were still ruling under the old covenant system wanted them to go.

But this is exactly how God had it to go. So subheading B, the false accusations. The false accusations come from the synagogue of the free man. Stephen was accused of four things. The first two have to do with blaspheming.

Speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God. We see this in verses 10 and 11. But when they were unable to oppose the wisdom and the spirit by whom he was speaking, then they strictly included men to say, so having some liars on the scene, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.

The next two things have to do with the temple and the law. They were accused of speaking against the temple and the law, verse 12. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and they came up to him, dragging him away and brought him to the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin is 70 members. You have the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They corporate together as the meeting in the courts of the Sanhedrin. And there was 70 in total, equal in number between the two.

And the high priest would be the final vote, just in case they could not resolve a matter, verse 13. And after they put forward false witness, liars, who said this man never ceases to speak against the holy place, the temple, and the law, the Decalogue.

For we have heard him say that this Jesus, the Nazarene, will destroy this place and.

The temple, and the law, and the law.

And the law and the law. And after.

And alter the customs which Moses handed down to us, verse 15, and fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting there in the Sanhedrin saw his face, the face of an angel. Basically, what he is being accused of, what they're accusing him of is changing the times, which is funny because it is God who is changing the time.

Stephen is just being the messenger of what's taking place. The old covenant is ended. Do this and live. You want to be right with God? Keep the law and live. If you break the law, there's a sacrificial system in place so you can sacrifice an animal and have atonement.

Oh, you've murdered someone. You've committed adultery. You've blasphemed. Hold on. Grab the stones because this man is going to die. And it all had to do with the land. It was all land promises. If you broke one of the major laws and it would cause for death, they would put you to death.

Keep the law and live. Also, it had to do with the land. The sacrificial system was there for them to properly ordain in such a way that by breaking the law, they would not be removed from the land. This sacrificial system was basically a blanket that they threw over their sins to hide their sins from God because the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy, cannot grant true forgiveness of sins.

I love what verse 15 says. It says that the Sanhedrin, they all fixed their face. They all was gazing upon Stephen and they saw that his face was like an angel. I can just imagine if they were in their right mind, they would say, this reminds us of Moses.

When the law was given to Moses and he came down and his face shone with the glory of God and they said, could you cover that? You mind putting a veil over your face because we don't want to see all that.

The Jews always ran from God. Have you read the Old Testament? They tell Moses, you go up to the mountain. We're going to stay right here. We don't want to hear his voice.

You go. We'll stay here.

When Moses would travel to the tent of meaning to visit with God, they wouldn't even leave their tents. They stare out their tents and intently seeing what was going on, but they were afraid to leave their tents because they knew that God was speaking with Moses.

They wanted no portion with God, only the prophets. All this will make sense in a little bit. I'm sorry. Point number three, Stephen's answer. This is taken from chapter seven, which was read in our hearing.

And again, there's just no way with the time I'm allotted to read through that and walk through it. This is definitely the hardest sermon I've ever preached, trying to get all the information in a time-constrained fashion.

I hope I'm able to do so. It's 60 verses, okay? So I'm just going to summarize as we walk through this a little bit. So Stephen begins with Abraham and how Abraham and how God called Abraham to follow him.

In Genesis chapter 15, which is the Abrahamic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant was cut. God revealed to Abraham that his offspring, according to the flesh, were going to be enslaved for 400 years. This takes us to the story of Joseph and how his brothers rejected him as God's chosen leader, and they reject him by selling him into slavery.

And I believe that this right here shows us how the Jews have always, always rejected God's leader for them. He announces Joseph is going to be their leader. His brothers couldn't stand that. So in jealousy, they sell their brother into slavery.

And after the death of Joseph, there rose up a king, a pharaoh, that knew not Joseph. So Joseph is sold into slavery. Joseph makes it because God's favor, he's actually put into second in leadership. The pharaoh that was alive in the time of Joseph loved Joseph, would do anything for Joseph.

That pharaoh dies. Joseph dies. Joseph's family has been in Egypt. They've been in Egypt. They done planted seed. There's a ton of them there. This pharaoh raises up and he does not know Joseph. The pharaoh was threatened by the number of the Jews, and he decided to enslave them.

The Jews at this time were under harsh persecution, and under this harsh persecution, God raises up for them from among the Jews. That's important, but you can't forget that. God raises up for the Jews from among them a man named Moses.

Moses was born a Jew. At this time when Moses was born, they were trying to kill all the male babies. Moses' mother puts Moses in a small ark and sends him off into the water. He's found by Pharaoh's daughter, and he's raised by Pharaoh's daughter.

That's all I can say about him right now. Stephen points out how the Jews rejected Moses, whom God appointed to them as a leader. When Moses first attempted to help, when Moses first attempted to help, so Moses is seeing that the Jews are being mistreated, he goes out there and he tries to keep somebody from mistreating them.

He ends up killing somebody in Pharaoh's army. The next day he comes back and he sees two Hebrews fighting among themselves, and he tries to break them up, and they reject him as their leader. And by them rejecting him as their leader, they reject God.

Stephen was accused of rejecting Moses and God. Stephen, in this message, as Jerry was reading in chapter seven, Stephen, what he's doing is he's pointing to them and says, no, no, no, you are the ones that rejected Moses and God.

And he's including himself in this, because he is a Jew. Stephen's a Hellenistic Jew. He says, you, the Jews, are the ones that rejected Moses and God. But when Moses appeared 40 years later after their rejection with signs and wonders, under the ministry of Moses, the Jews were freed from the bondage of Pharaoh, the Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.

Now let's pick up in chapter seven. Hopefully it'll slow down for a minute. Look at verse 35. We'll read through verse 35 through 50. This Moses they disowned, saying, Who made you ruler and judge? Is the one whom God sent to be both ruler and deliverer with the help of the angels who appointed him to appear to him in the bush.

This man led them out doing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for 40 years. This Moses said to the sons of Israel, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.

And we know in the New Testament hindsight that he is speaking about Jesus Christ. Verse 38. This one among, this one, hold on real quick. So notice Moses, God raised up Moses, someone from among the brothers.

Moses prophesied that God's going to do the same thing. He's going to raise up one from among them, speaking about Jesus. Verse 38. And this, and this is the one whom in the congregation of the wilderness was with the angels who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai with our fathers, the one who received living oracles to pass on to our fathers who were unwilling to be obedient to him, but rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

He's saying that you, even after he's taken them out of the wilderness, they rejected him. He went up to the mountain to receive the tablets. They began to look back to Egypt and began to worship the gods of Egypt, forming for themselves a goading calf to dance around, saying to Aaron, make for us gods who will go before us for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.

We do not know what has become of him. And at that time they made a calf and brought in and sacrificed the idols and were rejoicing in the works of your hands. But God turned away and delivered them to serve the host of heaven.

For as it is written in the book of the prophets, did you not present with a slain beast and sacrifice 40 years in the wilderness of the old house of David? You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the stars of the god Erephraim and the image which you made to worship.

I also will remove you beyond Babylon. Our fathers had the tabernacle and the testimony in the wilderness, just as he has spoken, spoke to Moses direct to him to make according to the pattern which he had seen.

And having received it, in turn our fathers brought it with Joshua with a dispersion in the nation whom God drove out before the fathers until the time of David. For David found favor in the sight of God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the god of Jacob.

But Solomon built a house for him. However, listen, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says, Heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord?

Or what place is there for my rest? Was it not my hand which made all these things? All right. So they accused Stephen of blaspheming Moses and God, and Stephen points to them, them as a people, the Jews, as the one who rejected Moses and God.

They accused Jesus of speaking against the holy place, the temple, and Stephen tells them that God does not dwell in houses made with hands. And he uses scripture. He points to Isaiah 66, verse 1 and 2.

And he shows them that Heaven is God's throne, and the earth is his footstool. And as I was reading this, I was reminded of Psalm 115, verse 3, which says,. But our God is in the heavens, and he does whatever he pleases.

All right. Our God is not constrained by temples. All right. If you here today have received Christ, you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, right? You've been regenerated. You have the Holy Spirit in you.

You have God in you. But guess what? God is not constrained by your body. God is in the heavens, and he does whatever he pleases. All right. How is it that God is in me, and he's in you, and he's in you, and he's in you?

How can he do this? Because he is all-powerful. Yes, God was in the temple, but if you think for one second the holy of holies with those golden walls have captured God, and he could not get out, you are wrongly mistaken.

This is what Stephen is telling them. He is preaching to them their own history. And I guarantee you, so much of what he was saying, those Jews were like, yeah, you know, he's at a point. He's right right there.

Yeah, what he just said is right. But whenever he turns it back to them and says it's you, you're the one that's rejecting God. You're the one that's blaspheming God. You're the one that's blaspheming Moses.

You're the one who is speaking against the holy place by saying this building can contain God. It cannot contain God. They accuse Stephen of speaking against the law. And Stephen, listen, this is what really gets him in big trouble.