Address—Steve Stewart
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Could we sing #200?
And 20.
200.
And 20.
Let's look through our garden father for help.
Our God and our Father, we look to thee this afternoon.
We thank thee for.
What thou hast brought before our souls and the opportunity privilege to give thanks to thee this morning with my beloved son.
And we pray that as we take up the Holy Scriptures this afternoon, that.
That he would be glorified and on him in the reading of Thy word. And so we just pray for help.
That he would be glorified thy Saints would be edified that.
The thoughts would be clear, expressions simple.
And the time constraints.
It all would fit in and so we just asked thy help.
Now and give thee thanks to for thy love and thy grace and thy goodness. To us the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lord's help, I'd like to.
Speak a little this afternoon on some of the dispensational ways of God.
And.
The transitional time in the beginning of the book of Acts.
That take us from the dispensation of law into the day of Grace.
And to speak to some of the glories of our Lord Jesus Christ connected with that.
And of our place and portion in Christ. And so I really enjoy the very broad.
Landscapes of Scripture Brother last year was here expressed the same thing, and so one of those very broad backdrops is in Second Peter in the third chapter.
Second Peter Chapter three, we get three worlds.
Verse 6 Whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished, but the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment. And then in verse 13 nevertheless we.
Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
There are three worlds in Scripture given to us in this chapter. One is passed. It was overthrown with a flood.
One is yet to come.
New heavens and new earth. And there are similarities between those two worlds.
Neither have distinction of nations or languages. Neither.
Had government in the sense of restraint and rule.
Upon men, there may be other similarities as well.
But the world that now is, is the world in which the dispensations of God unfold in all his ways and his dealings with men on this earth.
And in the book of Genesis, when Noah stepped off the ark, we get the beginning.
In this present world, the world that's reserved in judgment, fire is stored up for that day. And Peter says the elements of this present world are going to melt with fervent heat.
But until that point, the dispensations of God unfold in this world, and the first principle we'd like to look at is in Genesis.
In the 8th chapter.
Genesis Chapter 8.
And verse 21 Noah having offered burnt offerings, the Lord smelled a sweet savour. And the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again smite anymore every living thing as I have done and then.
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In Chapter 9 and verse 5. And surely your blood of your lives will I require at the hand of every beast, will I require it and at the hand.
Of man at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
God had left man to himself in that world that was overthrown with a flood. There was really no order dealing of God with man at that time. And he said all the end of all flesh has come before me and he said I will destroy. And so he did. And Noah steps off into a new world and God says I cannot take this new world up.
On any other principle. But then the fact that man is evil from his youth.
Every imagination of his heart. And so God is going to operate on that principle from that point forward in this world. And if we mistake that principle, we mistake what this world's all about, and we mistake even the very character of God.
And so he says, I'm not going to let man just go on his own as I did before the flood. And he institutes in principle with Noah government.
Man is responsible to restrain man. If he murders like Cain murdered Abel, then man was responsible to deal with the murder of the offender and in principle government is given to Noah.
That principle developed overtime as God came down and divided man by languages and nations developed and governments developed in those nations.
Families are of God.
He told them to spread abroad in the earth by their families.
Nations are of God, though through judgment He divided men into nations.
Evil may come in now, and so that man would not be bound to those institutions of evil should come into family or nation. God introduces another principle, and we're going to look at that in Genesis chapter 12.
Verse one now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee, And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.
As time went on in, nations developed, idolatry came in.
And in those families spread abroad on the earth, corruption came in.
Now since those institutions are of God.
Except this principle that we get in chapter 12 had been introduced. Man would be bound to those things and to go on with the evil that might come into them.
And so he brings another principle in the call of God.
And this man Abraham is Abraham is called by God, and he's called to get out of those very things that God had established.
To leave them where they are, not to reform them, and he leaves them where they are, in any interest that he might have in them.
And he is called out.
And the principle, the dispensation, we might say, of calling, is introduced, at least in principle, Now connected with calling is something else.
Promises.
And so as soon as God calls Abram out, he gives him promises, I will make him be a great nation.
And these two great principles go on through scripture government.
And the call of God and the promises that are attendant upon that call.
They are developed.
In a nation, later on in the scripture, and that nation was Israel.
When Jacob's family went down into Egypt and they multiplied and they became a great people, the time came for the birth of that nation.
And then Hosea 11 we read out of Egypt.
And I called my son.
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And that's what it means in Romans, that at 9:00 that to them pertains the adoption sonship. They had a place nationally as God's son. No other nation had that. God separated them out from all the nations on the earth, and He called them.
Out as his own.
And in First Chronicles 29, when Solomon is crowned.
He said on the throne of his father David. But it says there then Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah.
And God brings the seed of his government in this world and puts it in that nation, Jerusalem being its capital. And now this principle of government, this dispensation of government, and this dispensation of the call of God, are brought together in the nation, the people of Israel.
And they are the heirs of the promises made to Abram.
Because along with promise along with calling goes promise.
But God brought something else in.
Let's look at Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians, chapter 3.
And verse 19.
Wherefore then serveth the law, It was added because of transgression, till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made.
God was going to test man.
In these times of his dispensational ways.
And he's going to test man under the law.
In his dispensation of government and calling.
And in that time he dispensed judges.
And he dispensed priests, and he dispensed kings.
And the law tested man to see if he could produce anything for God.
In the world before the flood, the end of all flesh had come before God.
But now in the world, the present world, the world that now is under the restraint of government.
Under the blessing of the call of God, man is tested.
A principle of law. Would he produce anything for God?
And we know the history of Israel.
As to their failure under that law, those judges, those deliverers, we have them listed there in the Book of Judges. Go on and on until finally, the very last one needs a deliverer himself, Samson.
The priesthood as we see it in Eli, in the beginning of Samuel and his wicked sons, God has to judge.
And both father and his sons are slain in one day.
Looking onwards, Saul is made king.
And God has to reject him and say I'm going to choose a man after my own heart, but I'd like to turn to.
A verse.
In First Samuel.
When God pronounced judgment on the priesthood in its failure.
He gave a prophecy to young Samuel.
First Samuel, Chapter 2.
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And verse.
35.
Let's read verse 34. And this shall be assigned unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons on haphony and finnaas in one day.
They shall die, both of them, and I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
Turn over for one more verse in Zachariah and the 6th chapter.
Zechariah 6.
In verse 13, Speaking of this same one that God would raise up.
Even he shall build the temple of the Lord.
Zechariah 613 Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the council of peace shall be between them both.
I know we're passing over volumes just to give a little outline to come to the place I would like to annex.
Man tested under the law.
Failed, and God had to take Israel, and he had to cast them out of that land that he had given to them.
The law came in, We read in Galatians in between the giving of the promises and the fulfillment of the promises, and it came in because of transgression. It came in to fully show what man was, not only that he sinned, but that he had a root nature that wanted to sin. He wanted to transgress. He not only had bad fruit, he had a bad root, and the law came in.
To illustrate that and prove.
What man was?
And so God cast him out, cast Israel out of that land of promise.
They had failed.
Under judges, the priesthood had failed and we know the history of the kings. Mr. Darby sums it up quite nicely.
In the synopsis he said. I can't quote it exactly, but.
The the sum of the history of the kings of Israel and Judah goes to show one thing that the first man cannot hold the scepter in righteousness.
But what of this priest that had been promised, spoken of, prophesied of this king?
And we find out in Zechariah it's one person who is both priests and king.
That will build the temple of the Lord.
That is going to.
Be in the place of those who had failed, one who would be holy for God.
One upon whom the glory of God could rest.
Well, he's given in type in a man named Melchizedek in the book of Genesis who came out and blessed Abraham, says Melchizedek was the king of Salem and he was the priest of the Most High God.
Let's turn over to the book of Hebrews in the 7th chapter and just get a few details.
On this one who was a foreshadow of Christ.
Hebrews Chapter 7.
Verse one for this Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most High God, who my neighbor returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him to whom also Abram gave a tenth part of all first being by interpretation king of righteousness. That's what Melchizedek means.
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King of righteousness.
After that, also King of Salem, he was literally the king of a place called Salem.
Salem means peace, so he goes on to say, which is king of peace without father. We don't read of him having a father, mother without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days or end of life, but made like unto the Son of God abideth the priest continually.
This priest, that God was going to raise up that young Samuel.
Received a prophecy about.
A faithful priest that Zachariah speaks of. He'll set a priest upon his throne was foreshadowed by this man Melchizedek, who was both king and priest king of righteousness.
And King of Peace, Priests of the Most High God. Most High God is a millennial title of God when it's going to be evident that God is the only God above all else. That man ever worshipped in this world, he is the Most High God.
It's a millennial title.
And the priesthood is a millennial priesthood, a priesthood that is going to be.
The one upon in in the person of Christ, in which all the promises are brought in and made good.
And Melchizedek comes out in that day of Abraham's victory, and he brings forth bread and wine.
And Christ is going to come forth in that millennial day.
As Melchizedek did, and he's going to bring bread and wine. Not literally, but he's going to bring and be in his person, the one who sustains this whole earth like they call bread, the staff of life. He's going to sustain this whole world in that day. And wine that speaks of joy he is going to be.
The one who supplies joy and blessing to the whole earth and that millennial day.
In Isaiah 32 it says Behold, a king shall reign.
And righteousness and the effect of righteousness is going to be peace.
Quietness and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in peaceable habitations when he reigns, a priest upon his throne, King of righteousness, the effect of righteousness in this world is going to bring peace.
And so Melchizedek, a fit picture of the Lord King of Righteousness and King of Peace Sustainer.
Of the whole world.
And so the Old Testament prophecies looked on.
To that coming.
Anti type of Melchizedek the Lord Jesus Christ.
But there was a further test yet to come.
And that was a test, not under law.
But under grace.
And we had read to us this morning.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Grace and truth. The fullest display of grace and truth that this world has ever had and ever will have. We beheld His glory, the glorious of an only begotten with the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is my son. Surely they will reverence my son.
But all we know what they did to that one who was the full divine revelation of grace and truth. They took him and nailed him to a cross of wood.
They said we will not have this man to reign over us and God tested man and grace.
And that test came to its end.
At Calvers Cross.
They produce nothing for God under the law and finally had to be cast out of their land. God brought a remnant back in order that Messiah would be born in that land according to prophecy, but when presented to them, they rejected him, cast him out, nailed him to a crossover wood.
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You know in.
Anticipation of.
And in knowing his rejection the Lord in Matthew 23, he's in the temple.
And he convicts them of their sin of stoning the prophets, and all that God had sent to them to reach their conscience. And they were about to put him on that cross.
And he longs over them, and he says, how often I would have gathered thy children under my wings, or gather thy children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But ye would not.
And he's like the glory cloud in Ezekiel in the time when Israel was going to be cast out of the land because of their failure and their sin against God and their idolatry.
And Ezekiel sees in the Spirit the glory cloud, the Shekinah glory in the temple, just like the Lord Jesus was in the temple there in Matthew 23. And the glory cloud is restless back and forth in the temple.
And Ezekiel has shown the wicked abominations that were taking place in that temple. And finally the glory cloud crosses the threshold. It goes out of the east side of the city and up to the mountain on the east side, and it's gone.
And in Matthew 23 the Lord convicting them of their sin.
And expressing in his heart for them, he lingers over them, and he finally crosses the threshold of the temple. He turns back with one hope. He says, you'll not see me again till you say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And then he leaves, and he goes out of the temple. In chapter 24 he goes through the city, out the east side, up to the mount of Olives, where the glory cloud.
Left and they didn't, and they won't see him again.
Till they say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, the glory.
Had departed.
Their house was left unto them desolate.
He was not there.
Well, we know glorious truth that after the cross, he was raised from the dead. Let's turn to Acts Chapter One.
Acts Chapter one.
After the Lord was raised from the dead, he continued with the disciples, says 40 days, and verse 3 verse four, and being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but he shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time?
Restore again the Kingdom to Israel.
At this time, at the time of the pouring out of the Spirit of God, would he restore the Kingdom to Israel? Perhaps they thought of the Old Testament prophecies.
God would pour out His spirit upon all flesh, their sons and daughters prophecy.
It's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up.
In a cloud received him out of their sight, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went out. Behold, 2 men stood by them in white apparel.
Which said also, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come.
In like manner as you have seen them go into heaven.
That Shekinah, Glory Cloud and Ezekiel went up on the Mount of Olives and it was gone and the Lord Jesus here.
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On the Mount of Olives because it says they returned. In verse 12, from the Mount of Olives he went up into heaven.
And Zachariah, Chapter 14, we read that in that day he's going to stand again upon that very mountain.
And that's what the angels mean when they say he's going to come in like manner. He's not going to have some spiritual and visible return. He's going to come physically, personally and stand on this world in the same way that he left it.
But he had worked for them to do.
And he and their thoughts are directed towards that work. They were to wait for the promise of the Father in Jerusalem.
The Sakina glory went back to heaven. The promises of God made to Israel are in advance. They wait a coming day to be fulfilled.
The principle of calling and promise involved in that? What about the principle the dispensation of government?
Jehovah's throne was number longer in Jerusalem.
They had been cast out of that land long before.
And we read in Daniel that that authority, that sword, that responsibility, and that way of government is transferred to the gentile powers.
In Romans 11 and verse 29 we read that the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, whom God has called and to whom he has made promises, He will not change his mind.
Though they may be in advance, but he doesn't say that about government. And so government, the sort of government.
Departs to the Gentiles, but the glory went back to heaven. It didn't go to another city. Zion was the place that he had chosen to place his name.
That was what was in his heart, and that place was where the promises would be fulfilled.
Well, the Lord Jesus has gone back to heaven here in the book of Acts, and the apostles are directed to some work that the Lord has for them. We're going to read a parable in Luke that gives us that work in a picture that the disciples.
Were going to take up.
Luke, Chapter 13.
The backdrop in Luke 13 is that the Lord had spoken to them, that judgment was coming because of the rejection of him in chapter 12, and they needed to really get right with God before that judgment fell. They needed to repent. When he spoke of repentance, there were some that said, oh, what about those Galileans that Pilot slew? They probably needed a repentance. He says no.
If you don't repent, you're going to perish too, and that is verse 5.
I tell you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise.
Perish. The promises are in abeyance. The glory cloud has gone back to heaven.
But the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. And God is going to bring Israel into blessing again, but it's going to hinge upon their national repentance for their sin of crucifying their Messiah.
It hinges upon that.
And God is going to work that in his time.
Here's the parable.
Verse six He spake also this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in a vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. And he said also unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none. Cut it down. Why cometh at the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it. And if it bear fruit well, and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
The work of the disciples.
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That.
They were directed to.
Was a work of calling Israel to repentance.
And it was going to be carried out in the power of the Spirit of God.
And so in Acts chapter 2, the Spirit of God comes down.
And he takes up his abode and those disciples, well, we know from other scriptures the church was formed at that time. That's not my purpose to take that up.
The Lord had said to them to tarry in Jerusalem, till they be endued with power from on high, ye shall be my witnesses.
And that's the first thing they did.
They went out and began to preach.
And they were a witness to Christ, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, his glory.
And in Acts chapter 2 upon the preaching of Peter, let's look at a few verses.
Verse 23 Him being delivered by the determinant council and foreknowledge of God, you have taken him by wicked hands of crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. Verse 30 the end of the verse he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
Verse 32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having shed forth, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and has shed forth this which he now see and hear. Verse 36 Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, and ye have crucified both Lord.
And Christ all they were pricked in their hearts, Men and brethren, verse 37 What shall we do? Peter said unto them, Repent.
Repent.
Not only individually.
But as a nation?
Their blessing hinged upon their repentance.
While many believed verse 41 glad they received the Word and were baptized 3000 souls.
Verse 47 praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church or added daily such as not were saved.
Should be saved.
There was judgment hanging over that nation because of the guilt of crucifying our Messiah.
And not only were these saved in their soul, but they were going to be saved from that judgment to come. They were standing on a new ground, having received Christ and been baptized. They were to be saved from that coming wrath.
And then in chapter 3 again the preaching of Peter.
Verse 14 He denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murder to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.
Verse 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times, or so that the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive, until the times of the restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
What is he saying? If they would repent nationally?
Of their sin and crucifying the Lord of glory, the Prince of life.
God would send Jesus, who is in heaven, back down to this earth to establish that Kingdom and bring all the promises of God.
Connected with the call of Israel.
Into fruition.
The times of refreshing that great Jubilee, when everything would be put back as it ought to be, the time of the restitution of all things, the subject of all the prophecies of the Old Testament, is that he would come and do just that. Would they repent?
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Oh God, was done testing man at the cross.
Don't think he's testing, man now.
In what we call the Day of Grace, that was done at Calvary, and nor is he testing. Here we read the parable word. The fig tree was digged about and done to see if it would bear fruit. It was not a test of man in these chapters to see if he would bear fruit for God, but it was a picture of the work of the Spirit of God.
On Israel to produce repentance.
That God might bring the blessing in. He was done with testing man at the cross. It's not a test.
He proved what man was already.
But it's the efforts of the Spirit of God. He's like that man digging about that fig tree to try and produce repentance.
Chapter 6.
One of those witnesses was a man named Steven.
And in their opposition to the testimony He bore, they drew him before.
The Council.
It says in chapter 6.
Verse 10 They were not able to resist the Wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.
Verse 15 And they that said, and the council looked steadfastly on him, and saw as it had been.
His face, as it had been the face of an Angel.
I want to pause there. I hope this isn't going to make it confusing.
I want to pause there before we look at Chapter 7.
And go back in our thoughts when the Lord Jesus was received out of their sight.
In that cloud, what happened on the other side of that cloud?
No human eye but.
His observed it.
But we get it in the scriptures.
Let's turn to Hebrews.
In the 5th chapter.
Hebrews Chapter 5.
Per SE, though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, called of God and high Priest, after the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord Jesus is creator of all. Everything is his. He created it.
He's the son of God and consequently the heir of all things. It's all his. He's the son and heir.
But when he went to Calvary's cross.
That which had fallen under Satan's power. Through man's sin he won.
Through the victory at Calvary, everything is his by right as Calvary's victor and son of man.
Everything is his. Every blade of grass. Everything. The entire created universe is his. Through the work of Calvary, he bought it all.
In Numbers 25.
Sin had come into Israel in an awful way. Fornication.
And the children of Israel committed that sin with the Moabites, and there was a man who brought a Midianitis woman into his tent.
To sin with her. And it says there were many there in the congregation of Israel weeping before the Tabernacle, and Moses was there.
What an affront to God. Moses was God's representative.
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The people helpless.
But here comes a man named Finna has, and he takes a javelin in his hand, and he goes into that tent, and he thrusts both of them through, and he puts away sin from the sight of God. In Israel he was a priest.
He was a warrior priest.
And God says, But Finna has because he was zealous for my sake, he shall receive an everlasting covenant of the priesthood, and it shall be his and his sons. And in the millennial day, the sons of faithful Finnaas through the line of Zadok are going to minister before the Lord in the Millennia Temple.
He won an everlasting covenant of the priesthood because he was zealous for God and put away sin before the sight of God in Israel with that javelin. You know our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was son and heir and Creator, and all belonged to him, and those are his glories. Yet he won glories as Son of man at Calvary's cross that he did not have before through the victory of Calvary, and it was not.
With a javelin in his hand.
But his spear pierced his side.
And forth was king morale, blood, and water. And he triumphed over death and hell, and the enemy of our souls, and put away sin from the sight of God and all its awfulness. He'd rather die than let sin subsist in the sight of God.
And what was the response of God? He raised him from the dead, and the disciples saw him ascend up into the glory. And on the other side of that cloud, think of that scene.
When he was Son of God left that place. Now he comes back in all the glories of a finished and accomplished work at Calvary, and all the sweetness and fragrance of his own person. As Son of Man, he steps into the glory.
What a hush in the vault of heaven.
His God rose up to greet his son.
Saluted of God.
Is how that verse could be translated. It's a greeting of greatest formality in which a title of honor and glory is conferred upon his son, saluted of God, High Priest forever.
After the order of Melchizedek, he won an everlasting covenant of the priesthood to the cross.
What an acceptance.
For that glorified Son of man.
And he's invited by God, sith thou, on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And so we get it in the 110th song. Thou art priest forever.
After the order of Melchizedek.
All on the other side of the cloud.
His eye alone saw it was there, one knee, and all of the created intelligence in heaven that was not bowed.
When God greeted that glorified.
Son of Man, who so glorified him the hours of darkness at Calvary.
Let's go back.
To.
Acts 7.
Read in Hebrews, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross.
He's entered into that joy.
But Stephen being taken by the Council in Chapter 7 of Acts.
And the things whereof he was accused by them as to disrespect for Moses, the Law, the Temple.
He really addresses all of those things.
And then the end of Chapter 7.
He really brings home their sin.
Verse 51 E Stiff, necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you'd always resist the Holy Ghost as your father's dead. So do ye.
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All that dinging about of the fig tree of Israel.
That effort of the Spirit of God through the testimony and witness of the disciples.
Did not bring Israel to repentance.
They resisted the Holy Ghost, which of the prophets have not your Father's persecuted, and they have slain them, which showed before the coming of the just one, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers.
Who received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it, when they heard these things that were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him.
With their teeth.
All resisted spirit.
Broken Law, Crucified Messiah.
Stone prophets.
They refuse their own blessing and that offer of repentance to Israel as a nation. Would they just repent and God would send Jesus? That door was closing.
They were closing it.
On their own blessings.
Verse 55.
Or 54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. They gnashed on him with their teeth, but he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God.
Oh, think of it. That's where the Glory cloud had departed.
He looks up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus.
Standing on the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Now that scene that had been closed to every human eye is open to faith.
The angels had directed the disciples attention back to the earth. Why stand ye gazing up? Don't stand gazing up. You've got work to do.
But now by the Spirit.
He looks up into the open heavens, and the Spirit directs his gaze upward.
The offer to Israel is done.
And they were about to seal their sin with the blood of Stephen Christ martyr.
But he looks up and he sees him in his place of power and honor.
In glory.
And acceptance at the right hand of God.
The glorified Son of man.
They cried out with a loud voice, and stomped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 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, All Saul.
Saul so anxious.
So anxious to make sure everything was done according to the law.
Don't stone him yet. The witnesses need to be first.
Let's do this right.
And they laid their clothes at the feet of Saul.
And Stone, Stephen.
While he called on the name of the Lord.
But his gaze was still upward.
And beholding the glory of the Lord, he was changed into the same image from glory.
To glory from glory and he says.
To the Lord Lord Jesus receive my spirit, and he becomes more like his master who said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit from glory to glory. And then he says, Father, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge again an imitation of his glorified master.
Who said father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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Changed into the same image from glory to glory.
And then he fell asleep, and he's yet going to imitate his master again.
In resurrection.
And then Stephen the Church received her pledge that this earth was not her portion.
That glory was her portion.
That the man at God's right hand, his place was her place.
His inheritance was her inheritance.
His home was her home.
She had inherently calling. She was not of this earth. She belonged to that place.
For that glorified man was the right hand of God.
And she has a heavenly formative object.
In the glorified man, Christ Jesus.
That's the object for your heart and mind.
Our look is to be ever upward.
We're never going to be more like Christ because we want to be.
Are only going to be more like him as we gaze upon him.
In glory.
As were occupied with him there, we too will be changed.
Into the same image Philippians 3.
Philippians 3.
Verse 13, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do.
Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth under those things which are before.
I press toward the mark for the prize.
Of the high calling of God.
In Christ Jesus.
All that man at whose feet they laid their clothes, God picked them up as a chosen vessel.
Made on his own, he said. You're going to fill Stevens shoes?
And now we see in here, he says. I've seen Christ in glory. It's eclipsed. Everything else. There's only one thing I want.
And I don't care what it takes to get there, even if it's by death. I want to know the fellowship of his sufferings because that's the path that led to the glory. Peter says I was a witness of this sufferings. I look forward to the glory. Paul says I was a witness to the glory and if it means sufferings to get there, then that's what I'll take.
The call of God.
Albeit be taken up and government in this earth in Christ and Israel, and Israel once again reign over the nations, and he shall set as a priest upon his throne, and he will make good all the promises of God, as we read in Psalm 22. He will pay his vows before the great congregation. The sword is with the Gentile powers till that day, meanwhile you and I.
Have been called by God.
A heavenly calling?
That, like Abram of old, rises above every other claim upon us. We are gods. We are Christ.
It's a high and a holy calling.
And it has an object, a prize before our souls. Christ in glory #35.
Our God and our Father, we ask thy blessing on Thy precious word. May Christ be made more precious to us. May we each behold him in glory and be changed into the same image. So no, it's the work of Thy Spirit We commit ourselves to thee. And the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.