When Grace Prevails!
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How do people reject God?
Intro
Intro
Jesus: The parable of the tenants
“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
Matthew 21:33-
Problem: How can Christ allow such a good deacon to be stoned for telling the truth?
How is it that some people become Christians and others do not?
How could people reject
Drama
Drama
Stephen had spoken the truth about the Jewish leaders rejection of Jesus as the Son of God, Messiah.
Stephen presented an OT lesson for them to see that the gospel offered in Jesus was the same as what the Patriarchs believed
The charge:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
“uncircumcised in heart and ears” - people outside of the covenant
Their response was from their depravity - murder of a man of God
“Ground their teeth” - idiom that denotes their anger and hatred
The stoned him
Saul was present - persecutor of the church - believers in “the way”
Notice who Stephen sees when he looks up
Imagery:
Heavens and Earth collide and Jesus is seen by Stephen:
2 Request: 1) Receive my Spirit and 2) forgive the sinner
Doctrine
Doctrine
Election: those not elect cannot hear the gospel
Man chooses to reject God due to our depravity and sin
“Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts.
Ez 12:2
Jesus assumes rejection
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Matt 11:15
Man rejects God unless he intervenes!
God chooses whom he will save
For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
Micah
“I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”
Dr. Kelly - We ask the wrong question when we ask “Why does God only chooses some?”
We should ask: “Why does God choose any at all?”
Holy Spirit Quickens
God sends his Spirit to those who he chooses to reverse the effects of sin
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
Ezek 36:27
God’s Kingdom is one in which Men reject unless he sends his spirit to quicken their hearts and ears to hear and believe.
“Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.
In this Kingdom we must remember we are in a spiritual war!
We are still at war.
Spiritual War: Satan is attempting to stop the gospel and all belief in it
You are in that war, the world will despise and reject God
They will reject you a they rejected Stephen
We are in a spiritual war
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
App: As Christians we need to be balanced living in the physical but aware of the spiritual.
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
Jesus tells us that the Kingdom will be spiritual and hard to see with eyes.
We are to be Kingdom minded people!
Grace: Unmerited favor
Stephen clings to God’s grace in Jesus Christ
And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Acts 7
Stephen seeks mercy for those who hate him
And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7:60
Learn to live in God’s Grace
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
App: When we believe ourselves to be special outside of the gospel we fool ourselves.
Unity in a diverse culture
Diversity training: Starbucks, US Navy
Christianity is the only truth that answers the tough question of diversity and how we should approach it.
Doxology
Doxology
Praise God that you have heard the gospel.
Some of us still walk around and act as if we have never heard or believed the gospel
“Turn your frown upside down.” Toys R Us
Praise God that Jesus is King
We are in a war but we know how it ends and Jesus has already won the victory
This is how Jesus can stand there and watch Stephen being stoned to death
He knows how it all ends and that the final day of judgment is to come
Illus: There is a scene in LOTR: The Return of the King that I love. Aragorn the King who is wrestling with his call to be the King of men stands before an altar which contains a broken sword. The sword reminds him of the fall of man from the past and the potential to reunite all of the kingdoms and realms under his rule. He stands as a man conflicted.
As I have read and watched the movies I have a different perspective. I know that these shards will be reunited into a new sword and that he will bring people together to stop Sauron and destroy the evil in the world.
Tow perspectives: Aragorn is distressed and stuck in the past wondering what he should do. I know the ending and know that he makes the right choice.
While life isn’t a movie, the ending is set and Jesus knows how it ends. We do too, if we hav read the book of Revelation. We know our King prevails.
App:
Cling to King Jesus and His victory to respond to the things of this world:
Speak Boldly the truth about Jesus Christ
Be ready to lay down your life for Jesus Christ
beat down spiritually
Show the world grace and mercy
This is how Grace prevails over everything else in this world.
God extends his grace to men
Men extend their grace toward other men by the holy Spirit