Stephen and Saul
“And cast him
out of the city, and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down
their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was
Saul.”-Acts 7:58.
When we see the martyrdom
of Stephen we don’t see the pain and the suffering of Stephen as the Holy
Spirit doesn’t tell us, however the Holy Spirit takes another line, that is to
show the triumph of the martyr.
Acts 6: 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
The
martyrs entered into a heavenly peace. However,
in this instance, the Holy Spirit allowed
the pen of
Luke to record that the witnesses laid down
their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. According to the Jewish
law, the witnesses were first ones to throw the stones. They were the leading
executioners, for they gave evidence against the person whom they
accused, then the witnesses will kill with their stones. For them to throw the
stones, they will have to take their long flowing robes off and they will lay
it down in the one who is in charge of, in this case it was young Saul. He is
the one who is in charge of and one who will be delighted to see the death of
Stephen, that person in this case was young Saul.
I would like to show you the contrast of
Stephen and Saul.
They were both sincere men. There was no
hypocrisy about Stephen. You could see that the words that he spoke came from
his heart. Neither was there any hypocrisy about Saul. He really thought that
he was doing God’s service in what he did. He was quite as sincere, in his own
way as he thought he was doing something good for God as he wanted to kill the
one who was in opposition to Jewish tradition.
Both had strong convictions, Stephen had strong convictions of his
belief in Christ Jesus and Saul had strong convictions of his belief in Jewish
belief, then they both showed their convictions, they had a great zeal of their
convictions. As both had a zeal for God.
Saul would take care of the executioners garments, by doing so he
thought he was doing a great work for God’s glory. They were both sincere in
their beliefs.
But now let us observe their differences.
Saul was a man of self righteousness. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews and a Pharisee
of Pharisees.
Philip 3: 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Saul thought he was without fault, he thought he was accepted before God because he was without fault, he was watching Stephen’s with all the pride of self righteousness. On the other hand Stephen trusted in Savior, Messiah, Christ Jesus who bled and died on Calvary. He was righteous not a righteousness he received from the law but the righteousness of Christ. He did not draw comfort of what he did but what Christ did on the cross.
What a great difference of these two men. These men represent two religions, one religion that says you need to be good to go to heaven, the other religion that says, sinners can go to heaven if they repent and trust in Christ Jesus. One religion is of the way to heaven by keeping the law and their good works, the other is purely on the grace and the mercy of God. Even in churches today there are people of these two beliefs.
Look at Saul, he was a ritualistic, a formalist, he would love the Old Testament every letter of it and he had the outward holiness. Saul would love the temple, he was the fleshly man, on the other side Stephen was the spiritual man, he saw the inside how a man’s heart needs to be changed, this was done not by observing the Old Testament law but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Both these classes are here today.
Stephen is defending Christ at the cost of his life and Saul was opposing Stephen with all his might. Saul heard the sermon of Stephen, it was a great sermon, very convicting one. Did Saul’s heart get convicted of Stephen’s sermon, no, not at all. Here Saul heard the sermon what Christians belief and this sermon made him more angry with the Christians. Saul was an enemy of Christ as Jesus did not fit the agenda of the Pharisees.
Acts 8: 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.
On the other hand Stephen was filled in the Holy Spirit and full of faith. But the young man Saul saw something else, he saw a Christian die a triumphant death. There are some who were enemy of the gospel but converted by the dying words of a martyr. But not with Saul. Stephen was put to death but Saul was yet breathing out threatening and slaughter of the disciples of the Lord.
We see today men like that, our goal is to bring all to Christ, do all you can do to bring men and women to the cross of Christ, for them to receive salvation. However if they are lost of saved you are not responsible for salvation, you are called to do what Christ commanded to witness to others of Christ, give them the gospel. Once you have told a person the way of salvation, even if he is not going to believe you, you are not responsible, you have done all you can now you give that person to the Lord, trusting in God alone that may God do a miracle.
Now Stephen is dead, was it a great loss to lose a such man full of the Holy Spirit? Seems like it was a great loss but not from God’s perspective. Sometimes it looks like a big calamity of the church when the best of men who are full of the Holy Spirit is taken home. In this case it looks like God took Stephen when he was most useful to the church. Why would God ever do a such a thing? Stephen was fully ripe for God’s glory and it was the Master in heaven who would pick up the ripe ones for his glory. Don’t be amazed, God therefore can take most useful men to heaven.
But
now Stephen is gone home, who would take Stephen’s place? Witnesses had laid
their clothes at Saul’s feet. Remember Elijah
left his mantle to Elisha and so the mantle of Stephen was lying at the feet of
Saul. When a great Christian dies God always bring another great
successor. Remember John Huss was burnt
to death for preaching the gospel to peoples own language. John Huss was a
great man of God, when he died seems like a great loss. Yet, Martin Luther was
the man to follow John Huss and God raised Martin Luther in due time.
The believes in Jerusalem did not know where Stephen’s successor was, but God saw him among Stephen’s enemies, and it was Saul who was a mightier apostle than Stephen could ever have been. The Church lost Stephen, but she gained Saul, and that was a very good exchange. Yes, it was that young man Saul, when he was converted he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. No other apostle taught the way how apostle taught the great doctrines of God, the sovereign grace of God. It was Paul who said, Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
If Saul had not been there, he would have
missed the benefit of Stephen’s sermon; and Stephen’s
sermon is the text from which Paul preached
all his life. If you examine it carefully, you will find that Stephen’s speech
is the root out of which, through the blessing of the Spirit. Of God, Paul’s
theology grows. Stephen
sermon allowed Paul to remember the about
Sarah and Hagar; (Epistle to the Romans)
and all that discussion about father Abraham being justified by faith is
there in Stephen’s speech. Probably Stephen’s speech was recorded in Paul’s
mind as Paul traveled with Luke, Paul told Luke what Stephen had said as
Stephen’s sermon went deep into Paul’s soul and helped in writing the other
epistles.
Saul became Paul, the Holy Ghost has caused for Paul to remember his sins.
Acts 22: 19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’ 21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
It is very good for us to remember our old sins, because it will keep us humble.
1 Timothy 1: 12 I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Look at the pit from whence you were digged,
and when God gives you any special mercy, say to yourself, “What a miracle of
grace is this, for I was amongst the most undeserving of all. This sin of
Paul’s was always in his mind, and so it continually increased his love. He was like the woman who loved much
because she had had much forgiven, — like the debtor who, although he owed the
most, was most grateful because his lord had freely forgiven him all. Who was
so zealous as Paul? He counted all things but loss for the glory of God.
Philip 3: 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
This sin of Paul was recorded in the Bible,
and retained in his memory, because it kept him to the doctrines of grace. Paul
was not converted by his own free will but God’s own will, Paul was going on
his own way persecuting the church when Christ knocked him down, Paul was saved
by God’s sovereign grace. It was not by the salvation of works but by God’s
grace alone.
Gal 1: 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born.
His life was divided into two periods, —
first he was persecutor, and then he was persecuted. When he had been driven
from city to city, and many times stoned, how he must have thought of Stephen, and
the stones that fell on him. When he had been hated of all men for Christ’s
sake, he might well have despaired of the gospel ever spreading had he not
said, “Ah! As God’s sovereign grace
converted me, it can convert others. You never find Paul drawing back or
flinching, but he went preaching almost to the ends of the earth, feeling
himself to be a debtor both to Jew and Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond and
free, because, said he, “I obtained mercy”
Lastly both Stephen and Saul both are in heaven, it would be pretty amazing for Stephen to see Saul in heaven and Saul would tell Stephen I am here because of God’ grace and mercy alone. There would be a great joy of both meeting in heaven in the righteousness of Christ alone.