The Word Made Plain

Tony Clark: The real question is, are you bearing the fruit of the spirit in your life, which is evident that you are truly born again? Are you more loving, kind, gentle, faithful, patient? Do you exercise self-control, or do you still overeat now that you call yourself a Christian? Do you still get angry and blow your top like you once did, or are you more loving towards people that are ready to stone you like Stephen was facing in these verses?

Instead, Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. I want for you to notice where Stephen was looking when they gnashed at him with their teeth. He was looking up and gazed into heaven. Where are your eyes when you're faced with people gnashing their teeth at you? Are you looking at them with anger, saying, "Who in the world do you think you are talking to?" No, that wasn't Stephen.

He gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Stephen understood what the Apostle Paul would later write in Colossians 3:1-2, which says, "If you have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above and not things on this earth." Stephen looked up and gazed into heaven because that is where Jesus is, and he longed to be with him.

I know many you're going to say, "Yes." I kept talking; I didn't even give you a chance to really answer because I didn't want you to lie right here in church. I didn't want you to say, "Yes, I long to be with Jesus," when you don't spend time with him here on the earth. How can you long to be with him in heaven when you don't spend time with him here on the earth? You spend more time with friends and social media than you ever will spend with Jesus.

That's why I hurried up and kept talking, because I didn't want you to lie here in church and say, "Yes, I long to be with the Lord." Stop lying. You don't long to be with Jesus. You know you don't. You sure you can say it with your mouth, but you don't long with him. Stephen, on the other hand, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.

Stephen started his message to this council in chapter 7 verse 2 with the glory of God, and he ends here seeing the glory of God. This is important for us to see because whenever you're talking to someone about a certain quality of the Lord, by the time you're finished, you will experience that quality in your life. Many people say, "I don't have the joy of the Lord in my life," and I would say, "When was the last time you ministered to someone who was depressed?"

Or, "I am struggling with my faith in God," and I will say, "When was the last time you shared your faith with anyone?" It's a beautiful principle we see lived out in the life of Stephen. The very quality of God you talk about, you will soon experience that very quality. Then Stephen said at the end of verse 55 that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Many times in the Scripture, we read of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God in Psalm 110:1, in Mark 14:62, and in Colossians 3:1.

But here we see Jesus standing—not in anxiety, not worried, but to welcome Stephen into glory. Some scholars suggest that Jesus was standing because he couldn't wait to welcome Stephen home. What a beautiful thought that is. Then he said in verse 56, "Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man," which is a reference to Jesus, "standing at the right hand of God." This must have been some kind of sight for Stephen to see: the heavens opened to him. He got a glimpse into heaven before the Apostle Paul did, before John on the Island of Patmos did.

What's stuck in my mind and what I want to bring to your attention is the phrase "the heavens opened." The first time I see this phrase used is in Malachi 3:10 in connection to tithing, where God said that he would open up the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there would not be room enough to receive it. The question is, are you seeing this in your life? Are you seeing the overflowing of God's blessing in your life because you're obedient in the area of tithing?

Are the heavens open to you, and you're seeing an overflow in your life, or are you seeing where the ends never meet? There's always a financial struggle, always some financial issue, something breaking down that you have to pay for this and pay for that. Are the heavens opened to you in this area? I can honestly say this was a principle that was taught to me when I first became a Christian, and I feared God. Therefore, from the time I became a believer, tithing was something that was totally dealt with in my own life.

I can tell you now, I see an overflow of my life like never before. It is true that I don't have room to receive it all, the blessings that God has poured out in my life because the heavens are open to me in the area of tithing. Now, the question is, is it open to you, or are the heavens closed and you're struggling? I'm not saying that we never go through any struggles; those are just times of trusting God and God just sees us through. But the heavens are open in this area for me.

Then I see this phrase in Luke 3:21 when Jesus was baptized, and it said that while he prayed, the heaven was opened. Heaven is open to us when we pray. Is heaven open to you? Do you spend quality time in prayer to God? I don't want you to lie again because you already were about to lie the first time. I don't want you to do it again. Oh, if I can only convince us the need of prayer and spending quality time with God.

I find that I can't spend enough time with him. I find that whenever there's life things that must go on, I'm bummed because it's taking me away from spending time with God. I have to spend time with my wife, spend time with my grandkids, spend time with my children—I know I have to do that. But I'm longing to get away so I can connect back to the Lord, so I can practice the presence of God in prayer. It's a longing that is taking place. Are the heavens open to you in the area of prayer, or do you only pray when you want something from God or you're in trouble about something?

The third time we see the heavens opened is when we're facing death, like we see in the life of Stephen. People may not want to take our lives physically today, but because we told them the truth about their sin, they may want to see us fired. They want to see us hang, in a figurative sense, on the job. So, what was their reaction to what Stephen saw? He said he saw the heavens opened. What was their reaction? Look at verses 57 and 58.

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord, and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. In these verses, we see that the council could not take it any longer. Why were they so angry? Could it be when Stephen said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, it stuck a knife in their conscience and reminded them of what Jesus told this same council in Matthew 26:64?

Jesus said, "I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power," reference to God, "and coming with the clouds of heaven." So when Stephen said that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, they had heard enough. They had had it from him. They cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord, according to verse 57. The Greek word for "ran" is *hormaō*, and it means they rushed him.

This same Greek word was used to describe when Jesus cast the demons out of the man and they went into the pigs, and it said that the pigs rushed off the cliff. Well, that same Greek word is used here. It pictures a violent mob taking the law into their own hands. This is also a picture of what they are going to start doing to Christians here in America, I believe. It is happening around the world, and it will come here soon—the persecution against us because we identify ourselves with Jesus Christ.

There's a whole message I'm going to deal with, God's will, maybe next week or the week after next, that's going to talk about what form that persecution is going to start coming against believers today. They're going to start rushing us like this mob because of us speaking about Jesus Christ. You say, "Will that come here to America? I hear about that overseas." It will start. It's already started in some portions; you're just not hearing about it because that kind of news they don't want out right now. But it's going to come to us.

The question is, will you stand like Stephen, or will you cower? The question is, will you stand when it comes? Because it's going to come. This mob that made up of the council cast him out of the city in verse 58 and stoned him. Wow. And the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. This marks an important part of the book of Acts because it describes Saul, who later became the Apostle Paul. Saul was his Jewish name, and Paul was his Gentile name.

By Saul being in the front of this mob, it shows that he was one of the ringleaders. The purpose of casting him out of the city was what the Mishnah called for. The Mishnah is an explanation of the Jewish law, the oral law that the Jews had. The Mishnah was an interpretation of the Jewish law or how they were to carry out the Jewish law. The Mishnah says that stoning was executed by taking an individual to the cliff of the city that the city was built upon—no more than 10 feet—and you would cast the individual off the cliff.

If that didn't kill him, you would take large stones and throw them down upon them, preferably on their chest, on their very heart, until they died. It is very obvious that this incident with Stephen had a profound effect on Saul, and we're going to see this as we progress in this book. I say this because as they were stoning Stephen, notice what he says in verses 59 and 60. They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

In these verses, we don't see Stephen yelling and screaming at them, cursing at them, nor telling God to get revenge for him. He said in verse 59, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," which is a phrase he got from Jesus when he was on the cross. Jesus said in Luke 23:46, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit." Then Stephen said in verse 60, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin," and he was praying for their salvation since that is the only way God forgives sin.

This is another phrase he got from Jesus because Jesus said in Luke 23:34, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Can you pray for those who are crucifying and stoning you, like Jesus did and like Stephen is doing here? The only way that you can pray for coworkers stoning you or family members crucifying you is if you are looking up and seeing Jesus. If you're not looking up and seeing Jesus as Stephen did, you will give these people a piece of your mind or more.

But when you look up and see Jesus, you see the scars of the cross that he still bears. Many people say, "Well, why would Jesus still bear the scars of the cross in heaven?" So we can forever be mindful of the price he paid for us to be in heaven. That's why he will forever bear the scars of the cross, so we can be reminded what it took to get us to such a glorious place. We can look up and see those scars that he bears, which he received for your sin and my sin, your rebellion, my rebellion, your anger, my anger, your frustration, and my frustration.

When you see those nail prints that he bore for your sin, you can't help but say to those gnashing their teeth at you and throwing stones at you, "Father, forgive them like you did me. Don't hold this against them like you didn't hold my sin against me." When you can pray for your enemies like Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:44—he taught us to pray for our enemies—then you will know true freedom from anger and bitterness towards those crucifying and stoning you.

It's only then will you know true freedom. Many of you are bound and held prisoner by anger and frustration and unforgiveness, and you're a prisoner by it. Jesus wants to set you free from those things because it's not getting you anywhere. You're an angry person, frustrated over those who have stoned you in the past, those who have crucified you on some job, and you're still holding it against them. You take that to every job, you take that into every relationship, you take that into every marriage.

That's why you've been married two and three, four times—because you take the mess. You haven't been set free. When you realize Jesus died for your sin, then when people sin against you, you can be looking up and looking at those nail prints and say, "Lord, forgive them like you did me. Lord, don't hold it against them like you didn't hold my sin against me." It's only when you're looking up and you can see the cross, see the nail prints, and see the price he paid that you can say these things.

You will know true freedom. Many of you are angry, angry people. You're angry of what somebody did years ago. This is the root of a lot of racial mess in our country. Folks are angry, and they don't realize how much they have been forgiven. They don't realize the price Jesus paid for them on Calvary's cross. Because of that, they just go around angry. Just angry people. There's a world out there that's angry because they don't see the cross; they're not looking up.

You know what they're doing? They're looking around at people. Paul said, "I know no man after the flesh." What we look around and all we see is flesh. We see whether someone's skin is dark, whether it's light, whether it's yellow, whether it's brown, whether it's red. The Bible says man looks at the outward appearance, and that's so true. God looks at the heart. Folks are just looking at the outward appearance and angry over folks and angry over things that are going on. Your eyes are on the wrong thing.

You need to look up and see Jesus, see the scars that he bore for you. He paid the price for your sin, and he didn't hold it against you. Therefore, don't hold it against them who are crucifying and stoning you. That's the true mature Christian. The true mature Christian is looking up. What happened to Stephen after he said these things? The end of verse 60 says he fell asleep, or he died. We know that he immediately went to be with Jesus. Don't think in some soul sleep, that when we die, we just go to sleep and all of a sudden one day we wake up and say, "Oh, this is heaven. Okay, that was a good little nap."

No, stop fooling around. He immediately went to be with Jesus. Jesus was standing up waiting to receive him, according to verse 56, and because of what the Apostle Paul would later teach in 2 Corinthians 5:8, which says absent from the body, which is a term for death, is present with the Lord. Now, what happened to Saul? We find they laid the clothes at his feet as they stoned Stephen. What happened to Saul? Well, you've got to wait until next week to find out as we pick it up in chapter 8.

It's a fascinating thing that happened to Saul, and we're going to see. It ain't a pretty picture either, and we can learn some things about what happened to Saul. Let me conclude with this: looking up. It's only when we look up that we can truly see Jesus. When we do, we can respond in love towards those trying to stone or crucify us, like we see in Stephen's life. Keep in mind a true assessment of our Christianity is seen in the fruit of the spirit.

You can do all kinds of miraculous things at church, but if you're not kind to those at home, loving towards your spouse, patient towards your children, it doesn't mean a thing what miraculous thing you think you can do in church. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:1, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I have not love, I am nothing." It doesn't matter what miraculous things you think you can do for the Lord, but if you're at home and not showing the fruit of the spirit, it doesn't mean a thing.

If you don't have God's love flowing through you, then I'm going to ask you to come for prayer. There's going to be some people to pray with you. Ask the Lord to come into your life in a greater way because the Bible says God is love. 1 John 4:8 says God is love. One of the main things that we should be exhibiting in our lives as children of God is love—not eros love, not exotic, sensual love, not even phileo love or Philadelphia or brotherly love. We're talking about agape love, God's love, unconditional love.

It's a love that gives and expects nothing in return. It's a love with no strings attached. That right there is one of the first things that should be flowing from our lives: agape love. Does your family experience that kind of love from you? Do they experience that kind of patience from you? Are you living and you have self-control? These are the ways to gauge where we are in our walk with God, if these things are flowing from our lives.

If you don't see these things, there's going to be some people to pray with you. Maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you're just a churchgoer, but you're not a Christian, because this is one of the characteristics of Christ being in your life: the fruit of the spirit. There's going to be some people to pray with you for you to repent of your sin and get things right with God. Get it right with him. Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for your word. We pray, God, that your Holy Spirit will move in a greater way in our lives. We pray that your spirit would draw us to you. Lord, I just pray: move by your spirit. These are your people, Lord; they belong to you. Guide them, direct them. Lord, I pray that you would just bring them to the foot of the cross. You'll bring them to the altar that they may seek your face and cry out for your mercy, cry out for your forgiveness. Do a work, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.