I need to tell our visitors that we are in the midst of a lengthy study of the Book of Acts.
This is that New Testament book which details the work of the Apostles after the resurrection of Christ.
You who are NOT visitors, may be thinking that we are taking a break from our study of Acts.
We are – but we aren’t.
I want to comment on what happened to Deacon Stephen by taking a brief look at the Second Psalm.
Most of the people of the world wonder why we bother studying the Bible at all.
I’m talking about today’s cell phones with satellite internet access and an internal digital camera,
Because both Acts and Psalms are God’s message for people in every place and every age,
AND because the pictures that we find on this miniature screen are images of us.
If we didn’t know better we’d be apt to think that this would be well-received by those priests and rabbis.
And the people to whom he was preaching were among the most religious in all the world.
Self-righteous people don’t mind historical, non-personal sermons, so things went along just fine.
He reminded those learned men that their history was actually one of rebellion against God and rejection of the revelation of God.
His audience exploded, and the end result was the murder and martyrdom of this humble servant of God.
Now let me take you back to Acts 4.
Peter and John had also been arrested, but for healing a crippled man – and for telling a large crowd of people that it was the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ which healed him.
Please remember that he was talking to the same group of people to whom Stephen was addressing in Acts 7.
For those of you who have your Bibles let’s read Acts 4:23-28.
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.”
We have Biblical authority to look at Psalm 2 and not only compare it to the unholy war of the Book of Acts, but to the on-going spiritual struggles of the 21st century.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD, and against his anointed.”
On the one side there is Jehovah and His Anointed.
The word “LORD,” when spelled in all capital letters, as it is here, is “Yahweh” or “Jehovah.”
And the Hebrew word translated “his anointed,” is “ma-shi-yach” ( maw-shee’-akh ) or “Messiah.”
On one side in this spiritual battle are God the Father and God the Son – the Lord Jesus Christ.
And on the other side is an army of sinful human beings.
David first refers to the “heathen“ – a word almost always referring to non-Hebrew idolaters.
But right on the heals of “heathen” he refers to “the people.”
It could be talking about Israel, because the Bible quite often calls them “the people.”
Or this could be just a poetic reiteration of the heathen.
Or it could be talking about common people in contrast to their rulers.
Whoever the leader in Acts 4 happened to be, he was directed by the Holy Spirit to interpret this for us.
For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.”
There are occasions when that religion is more open than at other times.
But in reality everyone is religious to some degree all of the time, in their own individual way.
Again I point to Israel, two-thousand years ago.
They didn’t have churches at every intersection, but they had religious laws and precepts covering every step of their lives, even to the point of having them written on their gates and door-posts.
Just as they had done with dozens and dozens of his predecessors.
And we are included in the fight.
Some of us are business rulers, employing others.
If we aren’t of Israel then we are heathen.
YOU are a soldier, and in some cases a casualty in this conflict.
Some of you are saints and some of you are Sanhedrin .
First, God is absolutely holy, and the Lord Jesus is absolutely impeccable and sinless.
Secondly both the Father and the Son can be characterized by pure and perfect love.
Even though a man denies the existence of God and rejects His name, the Lord puts food in his mouth and breath in his lungs.
That God is all-knowing, or that he is omnipresent aren’t inherently antagonistic towards us.
That God is eternal or that He is omnipotent aren’t things for man to be angry about.
And there are a great many reasons why God claims this authority over us.
For example, by the act of creation God has the right to direct human traffic.
And He has authority to destroy the pot that He Himself created.
After these we could come up with a good sized list of other things which prove the Lord’s authority.
One of which is the fact that God is God, and deity cannot be separated from divine authority.
The reason that there has been war between the Lord, the heathen and the nation of Israel –
The problem is that man has somehow decided that he deserves to be God.
There is a voice in every human heart that whispers a desire to usurp God of his divine authority.
“We will not have this anointed one to rule over us. Crucify him, crucify him.”
Sure, Satan encouraged them, but the responsibility is entirely ours – beginning with Adam.
The Lord had told him, “Adam, in day that you eat this off-limits fruit, you will become a casualty of war.”
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
And when the Lord sovereignly chose the nation of Israel, He redeemed them & delivered them from Egypt.
Then at the foot of Sinai, He gave them His law, which was actually a revelation of God’s own heart.
At first Israel, shouted praise to the Lord and agreed to follow every precept of that law.
But in a matter of days, they joined the heathen in shouting, “Let us break their asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”
And that was, generally speaking, what Stephen was telling the Sanhedrin in Acts 7.
That was the theme of the prophets of God from the days of Samuel through to Malachi.
This is why John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus preached repentance, & it was also why they were killed.
Repentance was also Peter’s theme
And if Stephen had the opportunity to conclude his sermon he would have preached the same thing.
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”
Psalm 2 gives us a few of the details of the sinful rebellion against God.
It comes from all nations, all ranks of people, and we can see that it also comes from all generations.
It is often deliberate and planned.
It is obstinate and persistent even in the face of warnings against it.
And it is often comes in an united front and effort.
Every religion which refuses to bow before the revealed Word of God is a part of this rebellion.
Every individual who knows to do right and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin and rebellion – James 4:17.
The confusing multiplicity of Bible versions is a part of this war.
Every strip-joint, gin-joint and joint of weed points to a victim or a battle.
Every skipped church service, every church drop-out, every Bible sermon unheard through a mist of sleepy-headedness is part of the problem.
There is a battle raging around us; there is a battle raging within us.
Peter and the Baptist were right: “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.”
This unholy war has been raging now for over 6,000 years, but it will not go on forever.
Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Thus far in the Book of Acts I don’t recall any of the preachers using Psalm 2 as their sermon text, but they could have.
On the Greatest of Pentecost in history Peter declared:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
In Acts 5 Peter declared: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
David, the writer of Psalm 2, said that the Lord has decreed to establish His King upon the throne of Zion.
Some might say that David was speaking about himself, but that was not the case.
Prove this to be speaking of the Lord Jesus.
And that means that all this rebellion against God is FUTILE.
“Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.”
But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all; And charged them that they should not make him known:
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.”
Verse 20 says, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”
Verse 14 says, “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”
The lamb of God will be a lion and shall put down all opposition.
I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”
We know where this war will end, and we know Who will be the winner.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
This is where Stephen was trying to go before the rulers of Israel clapped their hands over their ears.
This was the message of Peter, the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”
The wages of this sin is eternal death;
The end of this rebellion is to be “cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”
“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.”
“To kiss” in this sense, is to bow before the Son of God – the King.
It is to pledge allegiance to his flag.
It is to subject ourselves with every corner of our lives to his benevolent sovereignty.
The Lord wants our love and a simple child-like faith in Him.
He wants the rebel to trust his mercy and to love His grace.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood loose all their guilty stains.”