God's Guidance for the Tragic Times

Acts 7:54-8:4

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Nov. 3, 2013

*The death of a loved one is one of the hardest things we ever have to go through in life. Most of us have already been there, and if we live long enough, all of us will. But through Stephen's brutal death, God's Word shows us how to cope in the tragic times of life.

1. First: We must trust God to be working in the right way.

*There could be some doubt about that here, because terrible things were going on in these verses. In Acts 7:54, when the judges heard Stephen's testimony against them, "they were cut to the heart (in a murderous rage), and they gnashed at him with their teeth."

*Then in vs. 57-58:

57. . . they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;

58. and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

*And in Acts 8:1-3, we see some more terrible news:

1. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

*We might think: "If I was God, there is no way I would have allowed those wicked judges to stone Stephen! He was too good to die that young. He was doing too much good for the Kingdom of God. He was one of the greatest heroes of the early church. They needed him." We might think that way, but are we better than God? -- Of course not! God is infinitely better than we have ever been on the best moment of our best day!

*Think back to when Abraham prayed to the Lord about destroying Sodom. In Genesis 18:23-24, Abraham started by asking:

23. . . "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24. Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?"

*Then in Genesis 18:25, Abraham said this to God: "Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?''

*"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" That's a good question, and we know the answer. God is infinitely good. He proves it every day, and He proved it best when He died on the cross for us.

*But some people are tempted to turn away from God on this point: If God is good, how could He let Stephen be stoned to death? If God is good, how could He let Saul drag the new Christians off to prison? And how could He let so many evil people do so much harm in the world today? If God is good, why would He let both James Christopher Allums and his little sister Elizabeth have Fanconi Anemia? It's a terrible disease that leads to bone marrow failure.

*In our limited understanding, there are some reasons to doubt God's goodness, but we must trust God to work in the right way. It helps to look at things from God's point of view.

[1] Think about the Lord's attitude.

*Sometimes the very things that make us sad make Him very glad. For example, Psalm 116:15 says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." When a believer dies and goes home to be with the Lord, it's a "precious" thing to God. That means it's a valuable, splendid, glorious thing. That was the Lord's attitude toward Stephen's death.

[2] But also think about the Lord's actions.

*We can see part of what God was doing in Acts 7:55. There the Bible says this about Stephen: "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

*Please notice the great things that God did here. First, He filled Stephen with His Holy Spirit. By His Spirit, God was right there with Stephen, and He has promised that He will be with us! Then God opened the curtain of Heaven, so that Stephen could be comforted by seeing the Lord. And Jesus stood to welcome Stephen home!

*The Lord helped Stephen, and we can trust Him to help us! No matter how bad it gets. No matter how bad it hurts, we can trust God to do the right thing for us, because He already did the best thing when He died on the cross for our sins. Jesus died for us. He took our eternal death, so that we could have His eternal life.

*And when it comes to death, we can trust Jesus Christ, because He has already been there. William Hinson saw a picture of this truth in a new puppy he got for his young children. It was a tiny Peekapoo. When they got home, William agreed to build a dog house for the new pet, but he said, "The only kind of dog I knew very much about was a really big bird-dog, so when I built the dog house, I built a very large house. In fact the house was too large for the small dog."

*The size of the dog house scared the little puppy. And no matter what they did, the little dog would not go near the dog house. They would put his food in there, and the dog would go hungry. They put the puppy's water in there, and the dog would not drink. Dr. Hinson later admitted, "In exasperation, I would shove him in and hold my hands over the door. But the minute I would move, he would run out, unbelievably frightened."

*In disgust one day, Dr. Hinson went in the house and sat down in the den, while his daughter, Cathy, stood outside crying over her dad's impatience and the refusal of her puppy to cooperate. But after a while, Cathy got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the dog house herself. When she did that something wonderful happened. That little puppy trotted right in beside her, and stretched out on the dog-house floor.

*Before too long the dog was taking a nap. All the shadows now stood still for the little dog, and all the fear was taken out of the darkness, because the one whom he loved and trusted had preceded him into that dark and frightening place. It no longer caused him fear. (1)

*This is just one of the wonderful things that Jesus did for us when He died on the cross. He went into death, and came out safe on the other side. Jesus showed us that we don't have to be afraid. We can trust Him. We can trust in Him.

2. When a godly person dies, trust God to be working in the right way. -- Also remember that our pain is their gain.

*Stephen reminds us of this truth for all Christians: Our pain is their gain. So, what did Stephen gain in this Scripture?

[1] First, he gained a revelation

*And we see Stephen's revelation in vs. 55-56:

55. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

56. and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!''

*Many times, the Lord blesses His people in a special way just before they die. He will give them a revelation that brings strength and joy. I have heard and read dozens of stories not all that different from Stephen's.

*I got to visit with Mary's dad just a few hours before he died in 1989. Pap Pap had been on a ventilator in the ICU at St. Francis for almost a month, but that morning there was something different. I remember the smile on his face, and the look of joy he had that morning! I thought, "Wow! He's doing better!" And he was, but not in the way I thought. I didn't realize it at the time, but I believe Pap Pap had a God-given revelation of what was about to happen. And that's what happened to Stephen.

[2] Stephen gained a revelation. -- Then in vs. 59, he gained a rescue.

*There, "they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'" I guarantee you, that is exactly what Jesus did!

*Jesus received Stephen, because Stephen had already received the Lord. Stephen realized that he was a sinner in need of a Savior. Stephen knew that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, the Holy One who came down from heaven to live a perfect life, and die on the cross for our sins.

*Stephen believed that Jesus rose again from the dead, and Stephen had received Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. That's why the day of Stephen's death was the greatest day of his life. And it will be for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ. If we receive Jesus, then one day, He will receive us just like He received Stephen. And we don't have to worry about dying.

*We can be like Reford Wilson. He was once the director of Foreign Missions for Free Will Baptists. When Reford went into the hospital for the last time, the doctors told him that his chances of survival were small. Surgery might help, but the surgery was very risky, and his chances of recovery were slim. When Reford heard that, he looked at his doctor with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. Then Reford said, "Either way, Doc, -- I win." (2)

*Reford fully trusted in God's promise of an everlasting home in Heaven. And we need to remember that when a godly person dies, our pain is their gain.

3. Stephen's death helps us see how to handle the loss of someone we love. Remember that our pain is their gain. -- And don't feel guilty about your grief.

*Some Christians believe that grieving over the loss of our loved ones is somehow wrong for us. And it's true that 1 Thessalonians 4:13 teaches us that we shouldn't grieve like people who have no hope. But that doesn't mean we don't grieve at all.

*Christians in the Bible certainly grieved. We see this truth in Acts 8:2, which tells us that "devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him." These men were suffering. We can understand that. It hurts to lose someone you love. And the pain of grief is just the natural result of losing someone we love. We usually don't grieve over people we don't know or love.

*And since grief is a natural result of love, then we don't have to feel guilty about grieving, as if our grief shows weak faith or some flaw in our character. The men in Acts 8 were not disobeying God when they grieved. Verse 2 tells us that they were "devout" men. They were good, reverent men, devoted to the Lord.

*But they made great lamentation over Stephen's death. The word picture there is beating your chest in grief. Their weeping was loud and passionate. Sure, they knew that Stephen was in heaven with Jesus, but he was gone from them. They loved Stephen, and they were going to miss him. God didn't condemn these men for their grief, and He won't condemn us.

4. When you lose someone you love, don't feel guilty about your grief. -- And don't try to bear your burden alone.

*Don't suffer alone. Get the help you need. And we can get it, because as Christians, we have the greatest sources of help the world will ever know! We have the best friends in the world!

*The men in Acts 8:2 carried their burden together. That was true physically, but it was even more so emotionally and spiritually. And if we have received Jesus as Lord and Savior, we have devoted friends like the men in this verse. And they will help us when we suffer.

*Evangelist Leighton Ford lost his son Sandy when Sandy was only 21. Sandy had served as a summer missionary in France. And part of Leighton's comfort came from the man who had supervised Sandy in France. That godly man wrote the Fords a letter describing his thoughts when he first found out that Sandy had died. And he said, "I was stunned, -- 21, -- so many gifts to use. I thought, 'What a waste.'" Then he said, "Leighton, I realize we are so earthbound. Sandy's highest service has only begun." (3)

*That one truth gave great comfort to Leighton Ford in the loss of his son. And God will send Christian friends to help us too. On top of that, as believers we also have the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was talking about His Spirit in John 14:18 when He said, "I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you."

*Christians, we also have a Heavenly Father, who knows what it's like to lose His only Son in death. God and His followers will help us with our grief, so don't try to suffer alone. Take your grief to Jesus! He will give you the strength you need when you are in the grip of grief.

5. So don't try to bear your burden alone. -- And press on for the cause of Christ.

*We can see the early church pressing on in vs. 3-4:

3. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

4. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.

[1] This Scripture reminds us that God's work is invincible!

*Nobody can stop God's church! No matter how hard Satan tries, he will never destroy the church of Jesus Christ! Satan may be able to push it down over there, but God will raise it up over here and there and there! God's work must go on! And it will! But we must be inspired to do our part.

*Indonesia is a one of the hotbeds for Christian persecution by Muslims. I remember the grisly attack that took place in October of 2005. Three teenage schoolgirls were beheaded, and a fourth was seriously wounded in that savage attack. The girls were walking to school when they were assaulted.

*To help overcome the temptation to give in to the persecution and deny Christ, a number of churches put a wooden or metal rooster on the top of their steeples. Those roosters looked a little like weathervanes. But they were there to remind those Christians about Peter on the night before the cross. In Matthew 26:34, Jesus gave this warning to Peter, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.'' And Peter did deny the Lord. The Indonesian Christians don't want to fall into the same trap. (4)

*May God help us to press on for the cause of Jesus Christ!

[2] We must press on, because God's work is invincible. -- And because His work is incredible.

*If you had taken a survey in Acts 8, either in the church or among the enemies of the church, who would be the last person you would pick to trust in Jesus Christ? Who would be the last person you would pick to spread the good news all over the Roman Empire? Who would be the last person you would pick to write more New Testament books than any other man? -- It would surely be Saul, who in verse 3 "made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison."

CONCLUSION:

*Don't ever underestimate the miraculous life-changing power of Jesus Christ! God can save the hardest hearts, so don't give up on the hard cases in your life. Press on for the cause of Jesus Christ! Even when you lose someone you love the most, press on.

*Let's ask the Lord to help us as we go to God in prayer.

(1) TRIUMPHANT LIVING IN TURBULENT TIMES by William H. Hinson - Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1993, pp. 119-120 - Source: Sermons.com sermon "Roll Call" by King Duncan - Matthew 5:1-12

(2) Robert J. Morgan, Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes - Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000 - p. 191

(3) Leighton Ford, "Hope for a Great Forever," Preaching Today, Tape No. 96. - Source: The Bible Illustrator, Topic: Death - Subtopic: Of the Righteous - Index: 2160 - Date: 4/1998.1741 - Title: Highest Service Begins with Death

(4) Sources:

Sidney Morning Herald smh.com.au - 10/292005

The Voice of the Martyrs, December 2005, p. 3 - Source: "IN OTHER WORDS" - September 2006 #1 - Produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net