You Always Resist the Holy Spirit

Acts 7:1-60

Key Verse 7:51

“You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”

What did they want to do to the apostles? (5:33) Why? How is Stephen described? (See 6:3, 5, 8, 10, 15) What were the charges against Stephen? (6:13-14, Mt 26:61) Why? What was Stephen’s attitude before the Sanhedrin?

1) They wanted to put them to death.

2) Because disciples of Jesus did not listen to them but continued to preach the Gospel of Jesus and the opposing Jews felt guilty of Jesus’ blood because of their preaching.  In short, they loved the world rather than God.

3) v 3.  One of seven deacons who were full of the Spirit and wisdom

V 5. Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; 

V 8. Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and 

        miraculous signs among the people.

V 10. but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke

 4) Vs 13-14 They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.  For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

They accused him of saying that Jesus would destroy the temple, and that Jesus would change the Law of Moses.  In John 2:16-19, Jesus said, out of holy anger, seeing the temple having been changed into a market place, “Get these out of here!  How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”  “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”   But the temple he had spoken of was his body.  Also, in Matthew 24:2, Jesus said ‘I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’” Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Jerusalem temple was completely destroyed.  Regarding the Law of Moses, Jesus said in Mt 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  Jesus taught them many things including the true meaning of Sabbath.   So their accusation was groundless.  

 

5) V 15  All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that 

                  his face was like the face of an angel.

Read verses 2-8. How did God call and train Abraham?  What was God's purpose in choosing Abraham? (Ge 12:3b; 22:18)  How can we see God's providence in the life of Joseph? (9-16)

1) God called Abraham while he was an ordinary old man without any children living in an idol worshiping environment and trained him to live by faith and to put his trust in God alone.

2) Gen 12:3b “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

    Gen 22:18 “and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you  

                                     have obeyed me.”

3) The patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and they sold him as a slave into Egypt, but God rescued him from all his troubles and gave Joseph wisdom and blessed him to be used as God’s prominent instrument to serve 12 tribes of Israelites and many other people.  He lived as a foreshadow of Jesus who also was persecuted by other Jews, but lifted up by God. 

Read verses 17-19.  How did the Israelites’ life situation change? Read verses 20-29. How was Moses saved and trained? What was the people’s initial response to Moses?  Read verses 30-34. Why did God call Moses? What is holy ground?

For many years they lived a comfortable and pleasant life in Egypt, but a treacherous king came to power who mistreated and abused the people of Israel.

God saved Moses by moving Pharaoh’s daughter to accept him as her own son.  Thus, God made Moses a prince in Egypt, where he received a palace education.  

V 27b ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?

Moses decided to be with his people, but they rejected him and he had to flee to Midian

An angel appeared to him in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.  V 33-34 reads “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals; the place where are standing is holy ground. -----

God helped him to have a right holy attitude toward God by taking off what is worldly within him and to live as a shepherd for God’s people.

   

Holy Ground: A place where God is.  Holiness includes being consecrated to the Lord’s service and thus being separated from the common place.  Being in a holy place involves putting on the new person rather than the old person, and taking off that which is worldly, private, and selfish. 

Read verses 35-43. What did Moses do as a ruler and deliverer? What were the living words and the promise which Moses received and passed on to his people? How did the Israelites begin the history of disobedience and rejection? How did this continue and what was the tragic result?

He received the living words of God and passed them on to his people.  He led Israelites out of Egypt and did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

The Pentateuch.  V 37 “This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’

(Deut 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.)

Vs 39-43 They did not obey Moses.  Their hearts turned back to Egypt.  They made an idol in the form of a calf and brought sacrifices to it.  

They continued in idol worship throughout their history.  God had to send them into exile.  However, they still did not stop worshipping idols and eventually killed their Creator God. 

Amos 5:25-27 

25 "Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 

 26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god -- which you made for yourselves.  27 Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is God Almighty.  

** The shrine — A small, portable chapel, in which was the image of their god. Moloch was the planet Mars, which they worshipped under a human shape. Remphan, that is, Saturn, they represented by a star.

And I will carry you beyond Babylon — That is, beyond Damascus (which is the word in Amos) and Babylon. This was fulfilled by the king of Assyria ( HYPERLINK "http://www.christnotes.org/bible.php?q=2+Kings+17%3A6" 2 Kings 17:6).

5. Read verses 44-50. What was the history of the temple? What did Solomon, the temple builder, say about it? How does this answer one charge which was made against Stephen? What is the purpose of the temple? (44-50; Mk 11:17)?

The temple was built to house the tabernacle of the Testimony which God gave the Israelites in the desert.

Vs 48-50. “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?’” 

** No building can confine the living God. He came to dwell in the temple by his grace,      

     but his throne is in heaven and he rules the whole earth.

Stephen urges the religious leaders to see the God of the temple instead of the temple building itself.

  The primary purpose of the tabernacle, and later the temple, is to contain the word of God.  Jesus taught the word of God in the temple.  Jesus’ disciples stood in the temple courts and told the full message of the new life in Jesus. In so doing, they fulfilled the purpose of God for the temple.

       The temple was to be a place of prayer for all nations. But the Jewish rulers did not use 

       the temple as a prayer house for all nations.  They turned the temple into a market (Jn   

       2:16, Mk 11:17).

Joh 2:16  To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

Mk 11:17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?  But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Read verses 51-54. How did Stephen rebuke them?  How did they resist the Holy Spirit?  Read verses 55-60. How did Stephen testify to Jesus? What was his prayer? What do you think was the point of his whole sermon?  (Lk 23:34)  How can we avoid resisting the Holy Spirit and instead follow him daily?

Vs 51-53

They did not bow their heads before God. They did not repent, nor did they love God. They are a part of the history of rebellion against God and his servants. Their fathers killed the prophets who predicted the coming of the Righteous Christ, and they betrayed and murdered the Christ. They had received the law, but they never obeyed it.

Vs 55-56 He looked up to heaven and saw Jesus, standing at the right hand of God.

Vs 59-60

V 59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”  When he had said this, he fell asleep. 

Lk 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

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