Sermon Tone Analysis

He is Risen!

The most joys words that we can speak.

There are three days in the year that I always look forward to and it has everything to do with the celebration of the meaning behind those days.

Of course Christmas is one of those days, it is be far one of the brights and joys days in the middle of the dark cold months.

Then there is the darkest day of the year, which we just observed on Friday night.

It is the darkest day because it is the day Son of God had to die for the sins of the World and as we saw on Friday night, for three hours Jesus hung on the cross in darkness, the sins of the world being poured down on His body.

The joy in this darkness is the fact that Jesus took it all, all of our sins.

The joy in this is also knowing that this morning He has risen.

We can rejoice immensely in the fact that Jesus has risen and sadly some only think of Easter as a day to rejoice in the Resurrection when the truth is if we have trust in Christ as Lord and Savior we can celebrate the Joys of His Resurrection every day and in fact we do so every Sunday.

I know what your thinking, 'how can I rejoice in His resurrection everyday, you don't know what I am dealing with.

You don't know what is going on in my life.'

It's easy for you to say rejoice in the resurrection but if you only knew what how people treated me or how I feel each morning.

You can' possibly understand how hard it is for me to rejoice in the Resurrection.'

Well you're right if you think I can't possibly know how you feel and what can keep you from rejoicing in the resurrection.

So I am not going to venture to go there myself, instead we are going to look at the Joys of the Resurrection through the eyes of an amazing Godly man in Scripture.

We are not going to a gospel this morning to find out about having joy in the resurrection we are instead going to continue our study of the book of Acts and we are going to look at the very first martyr of Christendom, Stephen.

And we are going to see that no matter what you are going through in this life it pales in comparison to what Stephen endured but boy did he have JOY.

Turn with me please to Acts 7:54-60,

Acts 7:54-60

As we look at this text we will see the Joys of the Resurrection.

The Joys of the Resurrection

Let me set the scene for you.

In Acts the gospel message has been spreading like wildfire.

Since Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit has been moving through the apostles and God has been adding to the church believers in mass quantities.

The gospel message has spread throughout all of Jerusalem, Israel's capital and center of worship and it has stirred up the religious leaders.

They are at a boiling point and this morning we will see them explode.

This scene we are entering right now is a trial.

This is a trial, the charge is blasphemy, the defendant is a man named Stephen.

Those who preside over the case are 71 men, made up of religious leaders, scribes, (lawyers) and well respected elders of the community.

Stephen is asked in verse 1 if the charges are so and instead of providing a yes or no answer Stephen defends himself through the looking at Israel's history.

His defence is not about himself but about God and who God is and what God has done.

Stephen as we saw last week not only clearly defended God, but also pointed out that the man who sit and judge him are the true blasphemers of the law of God and God's temple.

He has placed the blame on them as the One who have rejected God and God Messiah, Jesus Christ, and even more then that they murdered Jesus Christ the Righteous One.

He points out the truth of who Jesus is and their sin and as we see in verse 54 these men are fools.

Verse 54 reads, 'Now when they heard this they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.'

They were cut to the quick, another way to say it is, they 'were sawn in two.'

To say they were enraged is an understatement.

Their hearts were not just pierced by the truth it was cut open and laid bare.

Their sin and their hypocrisy was being called out and they didn't like it.

Proverbs says that if a person doesn't like discipline he is a fool and here we find the leaders of the Jewish religious system being fools and despising God instruction to them.

So here we find Stephen standing before these been who are seething and who have steam pumping out of their ears like a coal burning factory and all because of the truth that Stephen spoke.

Stephen is in a very difficult situation, you want to measure hardship here is his hardship, you think you have it rough, he has it very rough and guess what he does.

He doesn't compromise he doesn't back petal, he sees the steam, he notices the anger but still Stephen's focus isn't on the situation or even their anger.

Let's look at the next verse shall we.

Verse 55, 'But being full of the Holy Spirit,' 'But being full of the Holy Spirit.

Here we have it the first cause for our joy doesn't lie in our circumstances but in the Holy Spirit.

We need to have Joy in the Spirit.

Joy in the Spirit

Notice how the text says that Stephen is full of the Holy Spirit.

What this means is the One who was controlling Stephen was the Holy Spirit.

To have true deep joy in the resurrection which carries over into all of life no matter what your hardship is, is to let go of control.

You are not in control of anything.

You are not in control of your situation and you never will be.

You are not in control of what other people say, what other people think or how people will react.

Since you have no control and if you know Christ as your Savior let the Holy Spirit be the One who is in control.

Stephen is a stark contrast to the religious leaders who sit in judgment over him.

They are lost in the control of their own foolishness, they are being controlled by their emotions.

This is exactly what happens when you try to control things yourself, this is what happens when you hear the truth of God and just because you don't agree you decide not to listen.

You want to loose control of a situation then put yourself in the drivers seat and you will loose control every time.

Now when you look at your situation and you allow the Holy Spirit who resides within you to be in control then even it all looks bleak you will have joy.

we see this contrast spelled out quite well.

Paul provides two lists here the first one is in verses 19-21, look at this list with me.

19"Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, drunkeness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

People who fall under this list are people who are controlled by their sin.

They are not under the control of the Spirit of God.

Let me tell you something you are either under the control of the Holy Spirit or you are under the control of Satan.

Everything that is in this list here is all the things that Satan dangles in front of our face so that we turn away from God, so we turn away from the Spirit.

Each one of these things on this list leads to despair and it is all the mark of those who are destined to be separated from God for all eternity.

When we think we are in control we really are not, and when we are being controlled by the Spirit, when we are filled with the Spirit, this is what we look like.

Verses 22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 'see that, see what is second on the list' joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

The true fruit of the Spirit is not just external performances the come from the inside out.

Genuine conversion lends itself to a love for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and a genuine love for God means we have a genuine love for His Word.

You can't fake that, you can't fake what is in your heart.

Some people think they can and then they are placed in a situation where what they really believe comes out.

Paul continues here and I love how these three verses here, 24 "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another."

If the Spirit is in control of your life then have joy, rejoice because the joy that is expressed is a joy that isn't coming from you, it comes from the Spirit of God.

Jesus was crucified and if you belong to Him then your flesh, and all of the control your flesh wants has been nailed to the cross.

It is dead, stop falling to the control of the flesh and submit to the control of the Spirit.

Jesus told His disciples if you are going to follow after Jesus you must deny yourself take up your cross, daily and follow Him.

Having joy in the Spirit is all about humility and self-denial.

James the half brother of our Lord says this about joy in difficult circumstances,

See your difficult situation if you are being controlled by the Spirit should leave you in despair but the situation is their to strengthen your faith, and for producing endurance.

I love to work out, it is enjoyable for me anyway.

And it is at times very difficult putting up those last few reps because the weight begins to feel heavy and there are times that I just give up, then there are those times that I take a deep breath pause for just a second and give it one last push.

When the weight hits the rack you feel the strain on your muscles and you are trying to catch your breath but when it is all said and done when your moving to the next exercise there is a sense of joy, not just because you accomplished what you set out to do but because you endured and you know the next time because of that endurance you will be able to put up more weight and do one more set.

If people who work out and people who train for sports push for endurance and can rejoice in that then how much more can we rejoice when we are in the midst of trials and when we come out in the end our walk is stronger and our faith is deeper.

This only happens when we have joy in the Spirit, and this only happens when we submit to His control over our lives.

Stephen had this.

Stephen stood before this court, before these angry men with steam pouring out of their ears and the veins on their heads about to pop and he is completely at peace and filled with the Holy Spirit and there is joy on his heart.

The Holy Spirit controlling Stephen turned Stephen's eyes upward.

There was a joy in the Spirit and as Stephen looks upward we see there is also a joy in God's Glory

Joy in God's Glory

As we continue in verse 55 we read, "he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God." Stephen stood before his accusers and as he stands there being condemned by them in their hearts Stephen looks into the sky, heaven as Luke rights here.

And what does he see but the glory of God.

He is staring at the face of God, the shining radiance that makes up who God is.

Luke in his gospel by the same name writes this,

This is the visit of the angel to announce the birth of Jesus Christ and what shines around the angel and the shepherds, the glory of God.

In Acts 9 we find that Saul who is better known as Paul is riding on a horse to the town of damascus with a letter in his hand that gives him the power to arrest, beat and drag Christians back to Jerusalem, he is through off his horse and blinded.