Title: Stephen is martyred / Acts 7:54-60
When I started talking about Stephen, I said, 'Stephen was a man like Jesus.' There are many similarities, and among them, his end is especially like Jesus.
When Jesus died, “Father, into your hands I entrust my soul” (Luke 23:46), Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul.”
When Jesus died, when he saw the people crucifying him, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). But Stephen said, “Lord, do not hold this sin on them. Come” he said.
Regarding this, it is said that ‘Stephen’s death coincided with that of Jesus’. It means 'showing similarities side by side'.
As you look at these things, I hope you will make a promise that you will do your best to become more like Jesus.
When Stephen died, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul.”
We, too, should pray like this when we die.
It is the basic principle of the saints to pray like this when we die. It can also be called a formula.
Just as worship ends with a benediction and prayer ends with ‘Amen’, so believers should end their physical life with the prayer, “Lord Jesus, receive my soul.”
We never know when or how we will die. In order to pray like this no matter when and how we die, we need to pray like this a lot on a regular basis.
This prayer must be ingrained in the body so that we can offer this prayer when we die.
Look at verse 54. When the people heard Stephen's sermon, their hearts were pierced.
What should I do if I am stabbed in the heart? You must repent.
But they grinded their teeth. This is the image of people with bad character.
They did not stop sharpening their teeth, they screamed loudly, covered their ears, and rushed to Stephen all at once. It has turned into a mob that has lost its sanity.
When talking about Stephen's martyrdom, the question is whether the execution of Stephen was justified with the permission of the council, or whether the execution was carried out arbitrarily in ignorance of the procedure.
According to the law, the cursed person was to be put to death outside the city (Leviticus 24:14). According to this rule, Stephen was brought out of the city and killed and witnesses were established. seems to have been ignored.
Everyone, when you get stabbed in your heart while reading the Bible, when you get stabbed in your heart while listening to a sermon, or when you hear someone's advice and get stabbed in your heart, you'll get a reaction like, 'Why is this talking to me like this!' Please do not look and repent.
Please fix what to fix. That is what saints do.
Look at verse 55. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and looked up to heaven.
Those who have received the Holy Spirit look up. I think of heaven.
Those who have not received the Holy Spirit look down. I think of earthly things, worldly things.
Everyone, I want you to be the ones who look up.
Stephen died early. But Stephen left much to be desired.
He left the image of an exemplary butler.
He left the image of an exemplary evangelist.
He left the image of an exemplary martyr.
It matters what people leave behind. Stephen left some really good things.
And there is one more thing left. What is it?
Paul's conversion was left behind.
In verse 58, Saul appears. “They threw them out of the city and stoned them, and the witnesses took off their clothes and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul”, 8:1 should be attached to chapter 7, “Saul deserved to be put to death.” Saul appears. This Saul later changes and becomes Paul.
Stephen's martyrdom had a profound effect on Saul's conversion.
As Augustine said, "It was the sight of Stephen praying for the slaughterers that ignited the doubts in Paul's heart."
As a Pharisee, Paul tried to strictly keep the law. ’ The question grew.
Then I heard Stephen's sermon and saw Stephen's moving death, and I got answers.
When Stephen was stoned to death, at first it seemed right, but he must have come to think, 'How could he die as if he slept so comfortably?
Conversion on the Damascus Road is the answer put into action.
Questions like this may arise. 'That's very strange. After hearing Peter’s sermon, 3,000 people repented at a time, but after hearing Stephen’s wonderful sermon, why did not one repent and instead get angry and kill Stephen?’
Through the sermons of Stephen and his martyrdom, God allowed Saul the persecutor to change and become an evangelist. And through that Paul, far more people came back to the Lord than those who repented of Peter's one sermon, and this work continues to this day. This is one of the ways God works.
I hope today will be a day to strive to live a life that resembles Jesus, a life that leaves many things behind.