READ: ACTS 7:51-8:3 TEXT: 7:58 [CLOTHES/SAUL'S FEET]
And cast him out of the city,
and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young
man's feet, whose name was Saul.
At first glance...what/matter where they set their clothes? Surely such a detail is hardly worth mentioning!
Events: dramatic enough:
A powerful detailed sermon/penetrating application arouses the
unbridled wrath/Jewish council and they rush the speaker out and stone
him/death, leaving behind a mangled bloodied corpse
All this/background: ongoing persecution against the people/God - great
persecution (8:1) - leading to a wide scale mass exodus
Christians/Jerusalem causing many/all and flee
Why then give a detail like this?
Great doors swing on small hinges
There is no detail too small for God who makes all things (Great/small) work together for good to them who love Him
If God numbers the hairs/head, determines the number in the roll/dice
and intervenes to prevent a worthless sparrow falling to the
ground...then a detail like this is pregnant with significance
In light of what followed...this little statement is one/most critical statements in the history/NT church!
4 main reasons will show us why it is so crucial:
1) IT IMPLICATED SAUL IN THE CRIME:
A/ By obliging the murderers in this simple way..
…Saul/Tarsus was part of the crime
If any scruples about what/happening... it was for him (at best) to
speak out (as Gamaliel: 5:38) or (very least) to walk away and
completely disassociate himself/event
But not only did he wait to look on...although he aided the killers
albeit in a small way, yet he was as guilty/those who cast/stones
B/ By removing their coats (long sleeved garments) they were unhindered in their action: No impediment in their deed
Again...Saul/tarsus was there - as vile/guilty as the rest
C/ Saul himself alludes to the situation: Acts 26:9-10
True...it is wider than Stephen
But such only incriminates him further
The Spirit/God puts him here
Those who cast stones are not named (although known to God)
The Spirit/God fingers Saul
Police parlance: We can connect him to the crime
As said...he later confesses his part- no use denying it.
Nothing here about bad company/other mitigating circumstances:
I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (26:9)
D/ These things ought to weigh heavy upon him
Speaking/time after he organised the death/Uriah...David:
For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer (32:4) and again:
Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. (38:4)
Does not follow: such was immediately
felt...but when there was an awakening...Stephen's martyrdom - this
man: full/Holy Ghost and faith... this fearless uncompromising
confessor of Jesus Christ would have crushed Saul/Tarsus
I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died (Romans 7:9)
Crushed by the weight/guilt of sin
E/ Lets move momentarily from Stephen to consider our own sins
Vital: Ever bear/mind enormity/our crimes against God
Do not hide behind/fact: We are small fry cf wicked Saul
Every sin carries the death penalty with God
We/as guilty as hell itself for each/many sins we committed
2) IT NECESSITATED SAUL BEING PRESENT:
States/obvious but this: no ordinary execution
As indicated: Stephen: no ordinary man (6:8)
We are especially interested in words of 6:10
Study the sermon (7:2ff) Word/God in all its naked power
A/ Likely Saul heard it word/word - Not without significance
B/ Saul witnessed Stephen's calm/heavenly frame especially in the light/murderous aggression (v54-55)
Not natural: there is a divine spirit at work here
Not a mere glance: Same word used in the Synagogue/Nazareth: all eyes: fastened upon him
C/ Heard Stephens word (v56)
Uses that title the Lord Jesus applied so much to Himself:
Son of Man standing on the right hand of God:
Not dead...not in hell as an apostate but where the Messiah is
The council knew its full implication and they cast him out of the city - giving time for Stephen to further reveal his faith
D/ Saul heard his prayer (v59)
His repetition re: Jesus Christ here carries great weight in the place/stoning now:
It was but possible if not probable before...but now it is certain
Stones are already in the hands. The clothes already removed
But still...he cries out and his prayer is no mere neutral fact...but a cry to Christ in his dying hour to receive his spirit
E/ Saul heard his Christlike prayer form his persecutors (v60) He prayed for Saul as much as any of them
All equally guilty
All this because Saul: there...because he kept eye/coats
Amazing what great things can accompany the smallest/acts
F/ Had another been there...history may have been so different:
Hypothetical: Saul was there – It was a very decisive moment
3) IT CO-OPERATED IN SAUL BEING CONVERTED:
An event in history
One murder out of many (26:10) but it was a vital/strong link in a chain which led to Saul's/salvation
A/ God ordains events
Chance is unknown to God
Word is used in Bible (Luke 10:31) but/sense: event unplanned/unknown to man
Not chance as far as God is concerned:
In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will: (Ephesians 1:11)
It was of God that Saul was here
No less responsible/guilty
Not coerced against his will or brought screaming/fighting...but he was there in this capacity because God planned it so
This thought is only frightening to a man determined to hold unto his sins
No one else need fear the decrees of all wise/loving God
B/ Saul's conversion did immediately follow afterwards
First mention of him...but it gets worse: 8:1-3
Although
seed/sown...took time to germinate (James 5:7) but it was all in God's
hands and when you get to chapter 9 it is God's time to personally
intervene
Story is well known...but soon Saul/Tarsus...hater of the lovely name/Jesus was drawn to say: "Who art thou Lord?"
And this once greater mass murderer came to serve the Lord
Look at the incontrovertible evidence: 9:19-22
C/ Saul was a changed man indeed: 2 Corinthians 5:17
His
wicked past (including the murder/Stephen) was all forgiven. He could
say himself: 1 Timothy 1:12-16 Redeemed/pardoned/justified etc.,
Humanly speaking...all because he stood watch over the coats of those who stoned Stephen/death
Something we could easily forget...let's get it down/record:
4) IT VINDICATED SAUL'S VICTIM IN HIS BRAVE STAND:
A/ Don't lose sight: Stephen being dead (8:2) yet speaketh
Men stoned him/death as an apostate, but God vindicates His life/ministry
His preaching was vindicated...his prayers were vindicated...his serene non violent life is all vindicated
B/ Must've seemed to the church that all was lost when Stephen was taken from them in such a way: Great lamentation (8:2)
Did they feel the cause had been dealt a mortal blow?
If so...not so!
Little did they think that Stephen's successor was the very man participating in his death
Surely we must conclude: there is hope for any sinner still alive?
C/ God's word did not return unto him void (Isaiah 55:11)
It never does
Here it proved to be a savour of life/life
There are quite a number of lessons we can draw:
* Let's see the mighty power/God
He is still on His throne!
And
I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne
and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; (Revelation 5:11)
A throne denotes complete sovereignty
This is a lost note in our man centred day
God is not dead nor dying
God is not retreating and making do
God is marching on as strong and as sovereign as ever
He is outworking His purposes and will emerge victorious/end
* There can be a high cost to be paid for faithfulness to God
Stephen readily paid it
He had many opportunities to back off
What a devastating effect that would have had/church
But Stephen counted not his life dear unto himself
Later on – the very man/persecuting him took the same position
Indeed (apart from the stoning) Paul’s Christian life almost mirrored the life/Stephen
Paul never turned back at any time
At last – he gave his life on the altar/Christian service
It never crossed Stephen’s mind ( or at least: no account) that he thought about drawing back
Evident that he was talented in so many ways
Why waste his life so early?
Might have argued that he would be better compromising here and gaining freedom and then regrouping to fight elsewhere
Compromise was not a word in his vocabulary
Once you start that game – there is no end to it
We know not what a day will bring forth for us
Perhaps great hardships await us
Our labour in this respect is not in vain in the Lord
Do not count waste by what the world counts waste
The world with its glitter constitutes the waste
* The sinner ought to see the worth of His soul when Christians would go to extreme lengths to secure their salvation
Whether we are looking at missionaries or great Reformers (many of whom were martyred at the stake) etc.,
Consider the Bible we hold in our hands
What did it cost to buy it – less than an hour’s wage
It might even have been given away for free
Our AV is about 90% from Tyndale’s Translation
Tyndale spent his life on the run from the RC authorities
He was eventually betrayed by a so called friend and burned alive
He could have contented himself with his own translation
His prayer at the stake: LORD! Open the King/England’s eyes!
That was to enable the Reformation to take hold
And this would get the Bible into the hands of those who needed it most i.e. lost, guilty, sinners who need a Saviour
Think of missionaries who sacrificed life, limb and health
One part of Africa was known as the White man’s graveyard
In earlier days – some missionaries sold themselves into literal slavery so that they could reach the slaves
Others went into leper colonies and witnessed to the inmates before they themselves succumbed to a horrible death
That doesn’t convey the thought that these things are only
matters of opinions – a pious subject for the chattering classes
No – the text that a faithful messenger/Cross can close every opportunity he has to witness with, is Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you, that I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy
seed may live:
* The sinner ought to see that no one is too wicked to be saved - Saul described himself as the chief of sinners.
His hands were stained with the purest/blood
In persecuting the Christians, he persecuted Christ Himself
He was certainly indicted/challenged with this crime in Acts 9
Yet he was saved/grace of God
Because there is wonderful power in the blood
Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6)
The guilty sinner does not need to fix himself up to be saved
He needs a new heart - not a new coat
This is what the gospel offers/gives him
Appeal