Stephen and the Lord Who Received Him

1:46 a theologian, a holy man filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith, the same way Stephen was. He taught at the University of Leiden, and in 1650 on Christmas Day, he preached when he was 77 years old, and he became very, very ill, and within two weeks he died. And he tells the story of what happened between the day of his falling ill and the day of his death and how God ministered to him in a mighty way. And I want to read you what he said in the way God, by his spirit, took death and turned death from an enemy into a servant in this man's life. Here's what he wrote. The sense of divine favor increases in me every moment. My pains are tolerable and my joys inestimable. I am no more vexed with earthly cares.

2:41 I remember when any new book came out, how earnestly I have longed after it. But now all that is dust. You are my all, O Lord. My good is to approach you. Oh, what a library I have in God, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You are the teacher of spirits. I have learned more divinity in these ten days that you have come to visit me than I did in fifty years before. In other words, God had taken death, the enemy, and had transformed him into a teacher, sanctifier, inspirer of worship for this man, Andrew Reve. I remember the death of Zeke Rudolph.

3:39 Zeke was in Noel's class at Wheaton, a year behind me. He got, or at least they discovered, multiple sclerosis of a very severe kind in his college days. And in August of 1969, three months after he graduated, he died. His father was my advisor, Erwin Rudolph, in the literature department. And I remember writing to Dr. Rudolph when I heard about this. And he wrote to me in one of the sentences I can remember him writing today. And I was thinking about it yesterday as I prepared this, because I don't think I'll ever forget this sentence. He said, Zeke in the last hours called death sweet names.

4:29 Zeke in the last hours called death sweet names. And as soon as I say that, I hear an objection. and the objection if it's given in the right spirit is a legitimate one and so let me accept it, affirm it, and then I'm going to go back and qualify it. The objection is no, death is an enemy.

4:54 It's a curse. Paul said Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. We were not created by God to die. Rather, sin came into the world and death by sin. Romans 5.12 We were created to live forever. Death is a curse and an enemy. But, while I want to affirm and agree with that, lest we be naive, romantic, glamorous, embellishing to this horrible enemy death, I want to say, oh, brothers and sisters, let us affirm even more strongly than that biblical truth, another biblical truth, namely, oh, death, where is thy victory? Oh, death, where is thy sting?

5:53 The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ, not death. This enemy, this wicked, ugly, cursed enemy is defeated, chained, and bound. And you know what more?

6:17 We are not only conquerors over him in Jesus Christ, but we are more than conquerors. Shall tribulation, persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword separate us from the love of Christ? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now what does that mean? More than conquerors of death. How can you be more than a conqueror? A conqueror is a conqueror. Or is it? Here's what I think Paul means by more than a conqueror. A conqueror has, by some power, in our case, the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, gained a victory over an enemy. And the enemy has fallen, defeated, he's been bound, chained, taken captive. Now, if you stopped right there, you'd be a conqueror.

7:14 But that's not where God stops, with death. You know what God does with this death, this chained enemy? He binds him and so works on him as to put him into the service of the saints. Let me show you where I get that idea. 1 Corinthians 3.21 says, Let no one boast of men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come. All are yours. You are Christ's and Christ is God's. Now boil that down to these three. Death is yours. You are Christ's. Christ is God's. What does that mean? Death is yours.

8:03 Well, what does it mean that you are Christ's? It means you exist for Christ. You serve Christ. You glorify Christ. You exalt Christ. Well, what does this mean? Death is yours. It exists for you. It serves you. It glorifies you. It exalts you. It blesses you. It is in your service, bound, chained, subdued by God through Jesus Christ's resurrection. Therefore, you are more than a conqueror. It is more than being burned and leaving you alone. It must, by God's design, serve you. Therefore, it was not naive romanticism when Zeke Rudolph called death sweeten days. I get angry when I hear the truth of the enmity of death exalted above the triumph over death. I have been to Christian funerals where they exalt the enmity of death too highly.

9:03 And I have been to those that do not reckon with its enmity. But I want to stress above the enmity of death, the triumph over that enmity, and not only the triumph but the super triumph which puts it at your service. It was not some kind of romantic embellishment of death when Andrew Reve said, I have learned more divinity in the face of this so-called enemy-turned-tutor of heaven than in 50 years of study. Now, what I want you to see this morning and feel is the encouragement of how God made death serve Stephen. All right? Three ways that God made death serve Stephen. I say God did it because I begin with this phrase in verse 55, Stephen filled with the Holy Spirit.

10:03 he's filled with the Holy Spirit as he comes to the end of his great message there and being filled with the Holy Spirit God has freedom now to transform the enemy of death staring him in the face into something of a servant now let me stress at the outset this is not exceptional Thank you. The particulars may be exceptional, but the principle is not exceptional. You may anticipate God coming to you in an extraordinary way to help you die. I'll give you two texts where I get that idea. The one you know. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for... Now finish it.

10:57 For? Now that's for you, alright? God promises to every sheep that the shepherd will not say, See you later when you start through the dark valley. Here's my other text. I preached a sermon on this a few years ago, And I was just thrilled when Marty Wade referred to it the other night when he was at my house. Oh, somebody remembered a sermon I preached.

11:29 1 Peter 4.13, I preached a sermon that says the Spirit will help you die. And the text was simply this. When you suffer with Christ, the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. There is, I believe, a dying grace given to believers. Haven't you asked, like I have asked as I've read the stories, like I wrote in the Star this week, about dying saints who've had to suffer? Could I do that? Like the one who had to stick out his tongue and they screwed down a clamp on his tongue and then burned it with a hot iron so it would swell so he couldn't get his tongue out, so that when they burned him at the stake that afternoon he couldn't witness?

12:06 Could you do that? And the answer, of course, that we all feel is no. And it's okay, all right? Because here's the truth that fills us with gladness. No, given what we have in our resources right now, perhaps not. But that's not the resources you will be limited to in that hour. In that hour, God will come down. God will draw near. There will be the Spirit of glory and of God resting upon you. 1 Peter 4.13 When you walk through the valley, the Lord will go with you. It will be an extraordinary time. And you will have what you need. I remember Corrie Ten Boom saying, she asked that question, remember that story? And her father said, now when I give you the ticket to get on the train, do I give it to you three weeks ahead? Or do I give it to you as you get on the train? And she said, well, you don't give it to me three weeks ahead. And he said, why? Because you might lose it.

13:01 I give it to you just when you need it. And that's the way the Holy Spirit comes in the hour of our death and trial. Now, let's turn to Stephen and see three ways in which death is made to serve him. Number one, as the enemy death draws near to Stephen, open its jaws to consume him, the Holy Spirit turns the jaws of death into a window of heaven. The Holy Spirit turns the jaws of death into a window of heaven. Verse 55, but Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. So you see what death is trying to do. Death is trying to threaten Stephen by saying, I'm going to strip you of that beautiful sunshine. You'll never see it again.

13:53 I'll strip you of all those green buds on the trees. I'll strip you of that warmth on the skin. I will strip you of the night sky. I will strip you of everything you love in this life. and I will take away from you all glory. And as it opens its mouth to say that, God in His glory appears. I love it. And you know what the glory of God is? It's the source of all glory. It's the source of spring mornings and buds on the trees and warmth on the skin and stars at night. You lose nothing when you die in Jesus. it threatens Stephen maybe he had a wife I don't know if he's married or not it threatens him with things like you'll never see them again her, your children, your friends your ministry is over man you blew it in that sermon you went too far and the next thing he sees is Jesus standing at the right hand of God standing at the right hand of God Come on in, Stephen.

15:00 I approve. Of course they don't approve. I approve. And I've stood to meet you. So the first means by which the death is made the servant of Stephen is that it becomes a window of heaven onto the glory of God. Second, the Spirit enables Stephen to see through death a place of fellowship in the presence of Jesus. In other words, death becomes not merely a window onto glory, it becomes a doorway into glory. Verse 59, and as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. So the Holy Spirit opened the eyes of Stephen not only to see the triumph of Jesus, the glory of God at some distance sort of out there to be perceived, but he opened his eyes to see the welcoming face and perhaps outstretched arm of Jesus so that he freely was able to offer up the prayer, Dear Jesus, receive my spirit and move right through death into the fellowship of the Lord Jesus.

16:21 My picture of the triumph of God in death is something like this. You're in a cottage in the woods. And you're alone and there's a door leading out into the woods. And you're dying. And the door is death. And you're moving inch by inch toward this door. And as the door opens and you move toward it, there's this horrible, huge, ravenous wolf with bared fangs and blazing eyes, just gnashing, ready to break on you.

16:56 And at first you're terrified. And you can't believe you're going to have to go through that door. And then the Holy Spirit opens your eyes and behind this wolf there stands Jesus. And his face is shining like the sun in full strength. And his face is smiling as though he can't even see that horrible thing standing there in front of him. And his hand is stretched out to you like this with this awesome smile on his face. And you look at him sort of puzzled as though, don't you see that there's a wolf standing there? And he's just looking at you. And then you notice in this left hand that's just hanging at his side, there's a brass chain in his fist. And it's taut. And the other end is hooked against an iron collar around the wolf. And Jesus is waiting for you to put your foot in the doorway. And you take heart by his face.

17:51 And the moment you put your foot in the doorway, he just goes, and flings that wolf out of sight. And the door's open and clear and all there is is Jesus. And that's my picture of the triumph of the Holy Spirit in the hour of death over the real enemy, death. Finally, the Spirit makes death serve Stephen by drawing out of him beautiful Christ-likeness in the hour of his death. Verse 60. and he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. Now for everybody who knows the story of the death of Jesus, that is meant by Luke, I'm sure, to remind you of Jesus. Because Jesus in Luke, that's no mistake, Luke 23, 34, said, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

18:55 Now do you see what's going on here? The devil's design for death is not only to destroy your body, but to destroy your soul, to destroy your holiness, to destroy your goodness, to destroy your Christ-likeness. You know what the devil wants death to do to you? He wants it to make you despairing and hopeful and bitter and self-pitying and angry. Angry to everybody. Angry at the nurses. Angry at the doctors. Angry at medicine. Angry at the family. Angry at your parents. angry at God. Oh, what success the devil has when we are like that.

19:34 God's design for death is very different. He takes this enemy. He binds the enemy. He shoots the mouth of the enemy. He puts that enemy on a leash. And He causes that enemy by His Holy Spirit power to draw out of us not bitterness, not anger, not rage, not self-pitying, but words like these. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Lord, do not lay this sin to their charge. And you can imagine how Satan rages. I didn't mean that. That's not what I intended to happen. Death is supposed to make him vicious, bitter, angry. Where did that come from? It came from God, who comes down with the spirit of glory upon us when we die. Now let me close by showing you that the connection between these three services of death is a connection that makes them the way to live as well as the way to die.

20:43 If you're ready to die, you are ready to live. If you're not ready to die like this, you're not ready to live tomorrow morning at work. Let me just close by summing it up like this. The first service of death is that we are granted to see the glory of God. The glory of God shines forth. And in that glory we see Jesus risen, standing, triumphant. So that's the first thing that has to happen to us. No, it doesn't happen for us exactly the same way for Stephen. But you've got to see the glory of God. You've got to see it in Jesus. It has to come and minister to your soul. And then secondly, the Holy Spirit grants you not only to see at a distance the glory of the Lord, the triumph of Jesus, The Holy Spirit grants you an inclination to say, there's no place I'd rather be than with you. Would you receive my spirit? I see in your face a loving acceptance and I'm ready to yield my whole life over to you. Would you take me?

21:37 And of course he takes you. That's the whole meaning of the gospel. He takes you, sinner that you are, and forgives and cleanses and embraces. That must happen if you're going to be ready to die and ready to live. And then the third thing that happens is out of that fullness of glory, fullness of the triumph of Jesus, and that acceptance into his presence, receive me, Jesus, flows a Christ-likeness, which the Bible calls the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, meekness, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, and the world sees and knows the glory of God is real. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us, not death, the victory through Jesus Christ.

22:43 Let's pray. Father, I pray that you would teach us to die well, that we might live well. Show us your glory. Reveal the triumphant, risen Christ to us. Receive our spirits into fellowship and cleanse them and forgive them. And out of our rest in you and our love for your glory and our delight in your triumph, let there flow a river of Christ-likeness in forgiveness and kindness and love and service and patience and meekness and joy. Lord, perform that now in many lives through your word, by your power, for your glory.

23:46 And all the people said, amen. Thank you for listening to this episode of Light and Truth, where we are committed to providing God-centered preaching to help you see Christ.