WEDNESDAY March 15, 2023

A Forceful Rebuke

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”
Acts 7:51-53

Stephen suddenly stopped his historical discourse and boldly addressed the elders in the Sanhedrin who were interrogating him, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!” The word stiff-necked means “stubborn, headstrong, obstinate.” Stephen continued, “You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” The word resist means, “to be adverse, oppose, strive against.”

I like the heart of Stephen!” He strongly rebuked them! He really let them have it! Stephen did not hold back because in reality, he already knew that he was a dead man. He had called them betrayers and murderers to their face! He let them know how they were privileged to receive the Law of God, and to teach it, but they never obeyed it. Can you imagine his words stabbing right into their hearts and conscious’?

Think about it. What a sad thing it is for a person to continually resist the Holy Spirit. They hear the message of the Gospel, but they put off accepting Jesus Christ by saying, “Perhaps another time.” But with each rejection they are resisting the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Then there is a real danger of their hearts becoming hard and callous.

So when you sense a still, small voice in your soul–– and you have or you will––it is the Holy Spirit of God telling you that you’re not right with Him. Do not ignore the Voice. God is drawing you by His love––don’t pull away. When you quench the fire of conviction, you have rejected the Holy Spirit. So when you feel that tug, do not resist. Take hold of the living Christ, who will come and dwell in you.
~Billy Graham~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!