Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
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Anger
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Full of Anger vs. Full of the Spirit
having defended himself against the trumped up charges of blasphemy Stephen turned his attention to the hypocrisy of his accusers
spoke the truth to them although it was painful and even offensive for them to hear
Stephen loved these wicked men enough to confront their sins (proof: he prayed for their forgiveness!)
if sinners are never confronted with their sin how will they know what to repent of?
apart from repentance there is no salvation
no one who refuses to repent will be forgiven and without forgiveness there is no salvation
The Council Enraged
when Peter & John witnessed to them in ch.5
when hauled before the council to answer for disobeying their command to stop preaching the famous response: we must obey God rather than men
their response when confronted with their sin:
contrast with those who heard Peter’s preaching at Pentecost who also had been “cut to the heart” (2:37)
humility, repentance, what must we do?
when confronted with their sins it was as if they had been stabbed in the heart or sawn in two
why?
suppressing the truth is the natural thing for non-christians to do
Jesus to the Pharisees:
unable to bear the truth of their sinful state the council became enraged
the veneer of their false spirituality was torn away and they were exposed as the hypocrites they really were
this also happens when the Word is faithfully preached
how do you respond when confronted by the HS through the Word?
the response of the council: “they ground their teeth at him” (v.54)
to clench and/or grind teeth
example of hitting finger with hammer
grinding of teeth at that time was an expression of disrespect, hatred and malice
in doing this they set themselves in the camp of sinners who oppose the righteous
this will be the reaction of those upon whom the bowl judgments of Revelation are poured out (Rev 16:8-11, 17-21)
the most awful judgments to fall on the earth will not be enough to cause stiff-necked sinners to repent
instead they will angrily gnash their teeth as they blaspheme God
also describes the attitude of those who are consigned to hell
a place of weeping a gnashing of teeth
some have interpreted this as remorse or shame at rejecting Christ
this is not how the scriptures describe those who remain obstinate against the command to believe on the Lord Jesus
as enemies of God on earth they resist and fight against him and they carry this attitude with them into hell
a place of weeping for the loss of their sinful pleasures
they grind their teeth in anger against God, frustrated that they cannot escape their suffering
they do not weep and grind their teeth because they wish they had accepted the offer of salvation
having hardened their hearts throughout their lives on earth God hardens their hearts in hell where they will suffer in anger and hatred against God
even though this was now the third time the Sanhedrin had been privileged to hear the gospel they remained stiff-necked, hard of hearing and understanding, resisting the HS
how gracious the Lord is to unrepentant, hell deserving sinners!
even though they had put Jesus to death God faithfully sent witnesses to them!
rather than soften their hearts, the grace of God had the opposite effect
their anger escalated with each encounter with the truth of the gospel
first they commanded the disciples not preach (4:18), second they commanded again not to preach and beat them (5:40), now they are about to kill Stephen
having rejected the offer of the gospel over and and over again Stephen rightly compared them to their wicked forefathers
a sobering fact that when people repeatedly harden their hearts God steps in and hardens them
see also Ex 8:15,19,32; 9:7,34 vs. Ex 10:1; 11:10
Stephen, Full of the Holy Spirit
Acts 7:55a
But he, full of the Holy Spirit ...
while his accusers became enraged and ground their teeth at him Stephen remained calm, fully yielded to the control of the Holy Spirit
note that it says he was “full of the HS”
this was one of the things that characterized Stephen in his ministry in 6:5: a man full of faith and of the HS
he was full of the Spirit before he was chosen to minister to the widows and he was full of the Spirit as he ministered to them
when violent persecution came he was still full of the same Spirit
having made it his habit to let the scriptures dwell richly in him the HS filled him making him holy and useful
being full the the Spirit he was able to calmly stand against his enemies without fear or malice
when the storm of fury and anger surrounded him he enjoyed calm assurance
a very powerful witness when words no longer penetrate
God often uses the suffering of faithful believers as a witness to unbelievers
Spiritual Sight vs. Spiritual Blindness
because he was full of the Spirit Stephen looked up
fixed his eyes on what is unseen rather than his enraged enemies
looked where he would find comfort and strength
the HS gave Stephen the ability to see the glory of God
Moses, Isaiah and others were given this rare privilege
how they responded depended on their individual context
for Isaiah his vision of God was terrifying because he had been called to speak against the sins of Israel
seeing his own sin he fell down and said
Isaiah’s vision of the glory of God caused him great fear and shame
when Moses asked God to show him his glory Israel had broken the covenant and God had said he would no longer be with them lest he destroy them
Moses needed reassurance that he still had favour before God and thus asked God to show him his glory
God caused all his goodness to pass before Moses
Stephen was about to be killed for his faithful witness, so God opened his eyes to see his glory that he might be strengthened to go through the ordeal of being stoned
when God showed Stephen his glory he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, not sitting
Jesus waiting to receive Stephen
contrast this with what Jesus said to the council
Jesus said they would see Jesus sitting, a posture of judgment
Stephen’s description of Jesus as “the Son of Man”
Jesus used this title more than “Son of God” to emphasize his humanity rather than he deity
focus on weakness and frailty
Paul described how Jesus became the Son of Man in Php 2:6-8
Jews focused on the glory and the conquering power of the Messiah
the thought of Jesus as the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God was unthinkable
why did this description of Jesus cause his accusers such alarm?
it took the Sanhedrin back to the mock trial of Jesus,
When Stephen saw Jesus at the right hand of God and called him the Son of Man they either had to admit they were wrong in killing Jesus or execute Stephen as a blasphemer as well
Spiritual Blindness of the Sanhedrin
the Sanhedrin refused to hear
covered their ears and cried out with loud voices in order to drown out what they considered Stephen’s blasphemies
man’s natural reaction to the truth!
just as Stephen had said, they were just like their forefathers who rejected Joseph and Moses and persecuted and killed the prophets
“rushed” is the word used to describe the mad stampede of the demon possessed herd of pigs into the Sea of Galilee (Mk 5:13; Mt 8:32)
in their stubborn hardness of heart they were reduced to frenzied murderous mob
Death vs. Life
The Council Stoned Stephen
cast him out of the city in accordance with Lev 24:14
stoning the penalty for blasphemy
so having closed their ears and hardened their hearts the frenzied mob went about its grisly work of stoning Stephen
method of judicial vs. mob stoning:
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