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 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶ But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. ⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. ¹⁶ For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; ¹⁹ and taking food, he was strengthened. (ESV).

I don’t know how many times I have read the account of Saul’s conversion, but it fills me with wonder today more than ever.

Life can turn on a dime. Things can change ”suddenly” for good or for ill. This change for the good (31) was sudden and dramatic, occurring in the midst of a season of ravaging persecution. Do not lose heart; someone (or something) you have been praying for could change in a moment.

There is something here about the church, the body of Christ. What we do to Christians we do to Jesus (4,5; Hebs.6:10 ). Saul’s real issue was with Jesus. It was Jesus he was fighting. But no one can fight the Lord and win. Saul was utterly broken in this encounter with the risen Jesus. He starts out here full of strength, but this is quickly taken from him.

Thank God for Ananias’ ”Here I am, Lord” (10) – for his availability (after an initial and understandable reticence). This is a fine example of God working ‘at both ends of the line’. Both Ananias (10) and Saul (12) had preparatory visions, and the Lord orchestrated their meeting. Isn’t there something beautiful about the words, ”Brother Saul” (17)? (‘Take care not to entrench yourself too strongly in your prejudices. Be mobile to Christ’s touch, while you are strong against all others.’ F.B.Meyer)

Saul’s conversion was a sovereign act of God, for the glory of God (15,16). As my wife, Jilly, pointed out, Saul’s priority was baptism (18) before food (19). He was ”praying” (11) – truly praying; he was alive in Christ, a ”new creation” (2 Cor.5:17), with a destiny to fulfill. He was now ‘under new management’ and would live the remainder of his days under the Lordship of Christ (6b).

‘When God needs captains for His army, He not unseldom takes them from the ranks of the enemy. The foremost persecutor became the foremost leader of the Church. The conversion of Saul was due to the personal interposition of the living Christ. It was the pierced hand that arrested and apprehended him.’ F.B.Meyer

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. ²⁷ And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” ³⁰ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
    and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he opens not his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. ³⁹ And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (ESV)

This wonderful story is a fine example of what we often call a ‘Divine appointment’ – one God wrote in Philip’s diary. The evangelist was lifted out of a ‘revival’ situation in Samaria to meet with one sincerely seeking soul in the desert. The Lord’s instructions were specific and clear.

Individuals matter to God. After preaching to crowds, Philip was guided to just one man – one whose heart was being prepared by God. Philip started where this man was and answered his question (35). Once the man was converted, Philip was moved on. (It seems Philip was Elijah-like in being ‘transported’ by the Spirit). The Ethiopian didn’t have the company of Philip any more, but most importantly he had the companionship of Jesus. May we be similarly led by the Spirit, even though it may be to strange places.

‘How certain these Spirit-filled men were of the heavenly impulse! Every appearance suggested that this man of God was needed in the city, but the inner voice was the deciding factor, and his journey was so timed as to bring him in contact with a soul that was groping its way toward Christ.

The Bible is good as a traveling companion. Take it on your journeys. Read it as other men do their newspapers; not exclusively but boldly. There are many stories afloat of bullets being stopped by pocket Testaments; and it is certain that many a desperate thrust of the devil has been warded off by the Word of God being hidden in the heart and worn as a breastplate. Live in touch with God, and He will put you in touch with souls. This conversion of a son of Ham was a worthy fulfillment of Isaiah 56:3-8 .’ F.B.Meyer

And Saul approved of his execution.

And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. ² Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. ³ But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Yesterday we were introduced to the young man Saul, who guarded the clothes of those who were murdering Stephen. At the opening of chapter 8 it is definitely stated that he ”approved of his execution” – something we had already concluded. But it is now spelled out. He then went on the rampage, arresting and incarcerating believers. He really had the bit between his teeth. ‘  During those terrible days scenes were enacted which were destined to fill the heart of the future Apostle with most poignant sorrow.’ F.B. Meyer. Who would have thought that this man was the divinely chosen candidate to become the early church’s foremost theologian, evangelist and church planter? But he was, and his story will dominate the rest of ‘Acts’ from chapter 9 onwards. He too will find himself at the sharp end of persecution: beaten, imprisoned, suffering much.

Some years ago, a speaker at our church House Party kept saying, ‘Things can change!’ Indeed they can…and, by the grace of God, so can people!

⁵⁴ Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷ But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. ⁵⁸ Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ 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.

Bishop Thomas Ken wrote: ‘Teach me to live that I may dread, the grave as little as my bed.’ Amidst the savagery, venom, barbarity and murderous cruelty of this scene, there is something beautiful about how it ends: peacefully, for this radiant man of God. In fact, it seems he was given very special grace as he faced the end of his earthly life. He saw heaven just fractionally before stepping into it. What a glorious gift. Also, how lovely it is to witness the Christ-like way Stephen both lived and died.

As we have noted previously, ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see.’ Stephen’s opponents were furious, and unwilling to hear (57), like little children physically putting their hands over their ears because they don’t want to do as they are being told.

The mention of Saul (58) prepares us for a dramatic turn to come in the progression of the story, just one chapter later. This young man also was violently opposed to the gospel, but, thanks be to God, people can change!

³⁵ “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶ This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷ This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹ Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰ saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴² But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³ You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵ Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, ⁴⁶ who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. ⁴⁷ But it was Solomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸ Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹ “‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
    or what is the place of my rest?
⁵⁰ Did not my hand make all these things?’

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, ⁵³ you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (ESV)

Look at the repetition of ”This Moses…This man…” He was only a man, but God worked mightily through him – and when he was elderly. This must encourage those of us who are older. We should not write ourselves off. Neither should churches minimise the potential in their aged members.

That is a telling comment in verse 39 that ”in their hearts they turned to Egypt”, for where our hearts go the rest of us will follow.

When we come to verses 51-53 we get to the thrust of the whole sermon, which is to show that in the rejection of Jesus there is a repetition of a pattern evident throughout their long history. (Jesus makes a similar point in Matthew 23 – see especially verses 29-31)

²³ “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶ And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷ But the man who was wronging his neighbour thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸ Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹ At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰ “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹ When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³² ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴ I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’ (ESV)

How does God come down to deliver His people? By sending Moses! As E.M. Bounds observed, ‘God’s methods are men.’ He uses people in forwarding His purposes. But He takes His time to prepare His servants. He is by no means in a hurry (as we so often are) At the age of 80, Moses’ greatest mission was to begin. At 40 he tried to do it his own way, by 80 he was ready for God’s way. ‘ It is when we come to the end of ourselves that we arrive at the beginning of God. The world has ever to learn what God can do by those who are wholly emptied of self-confidence but yielded to His hand.’ F.B. Meyer.

Here are a couple of other things I note in this account of Moses:

• Supposition can cause us all manner of problems! (25);
• Example is so important to gaining a hearing (28).

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ² And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, ³ and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ ⁴ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died,  into this land in which you are now living. ⁵ Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. ⁶ And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. ⁷ ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ ⁸ And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹ “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him ¹⁰ and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. ¹¹ Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. ¹² But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. ¹³ And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. ¹⁵ And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, ¹⁶ and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷ “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸ until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹ He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰ At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, ²¹ and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²² And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. (ESV)

I noticed, first of all, that Stephen was tender and respectful in his address (2), even though he was also forthright and direct, as we will see later.

We are going to read through this sermon in three sections, because there is so much material to cover, but just a general comment here on the sermon as a whole: he takes them on a journey; gives them a potted history of their nation, and its halting, limping, often straying relationship with God. He takes them through facts which would be well known to them. The depth and breadth of his understanding, and his ability to communicate these details to his contemporary situation is breath-taking. The whole sweep of it shows that ‘History is His (God’s) Story.’

‘The drift of the whole speech, which must be borne in mind as we read it, is that again and again the Chosen People had rejected their God-sent deliverers and prophets, and had taken their own evil courses. The rejection of the Saviour was only a parallel to that of Joseph by his brethren, and that of Moses by the nation. Israel had always been stiff-necked and froward, and ought not history to warn Stephen’s hearers against taking a similar attitude towards Jesus of Nazareth?’ F.B.Meyer

Just one little thing to leap out at me in the section about Abraham is the comment that ”God removed him from there” (4). May the Lord direct our paths and choose our homes.

PRAYER: ‘Yea, choose the path for me, although I may not see, the reason thou dost will to lead me so…’ – from the hymn ‘Thy blessed will divine’)

8And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. 10But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. 11Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, 13and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, 14for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel. (ESV)

Stephen’s ”wisdom”, ”grace”, ”power” (and ”faith” v.5) came from ”the Spirit”. He was, we might say, an anointed man, and the sense of God’s presence about him gave him a supernatural glow. It inevitably makes one think of Moses, and how he shone on his return from the mountain where he had met with God, but he didn’t realise it. (Interestingly, Moses is mentioned in verses 11 and 14, and there will be several more references to him in the next chapter).

However, being a man of the Spirit – one who walks with God – will put you out of step with the world. Like Jesus Himself, Stephen was treated falsely and unjustly. His enemies deliberately lied about him. Instead of graciously bowing to the obvious truth of Stephen’s words, they set out to eradicate that truth. They really did not want to hear. They set themselves against it.

PRAYER: Lord, I do not ask for popularity, but I do ask that my light will shine for you in this dark world.