Acts chapter 7. I’m going to begin in verse 51 because we’re really going to focus on the death of Stephen this morning. Stephen is wrapping up his sermon and now he’s driving the application home. He says

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.”

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.

Acts 8

1 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.

May God encourage us through this Word! It’s a sobering story, but it is a story of hope.

This past year of Covid has caused most of us to think about death more than we have in the past. Almost all of us have known people who have died from it. We have read some really tragic stories of young people in the news who’ve lost their battle to it. Almost all have experienced in some measure the sharp blade of this disease. So we’ve had more conscious thoughts about this sobering subject of death.

For the Believer, God has good purposes for these thoughts and for conversations about death. God never urges us to avoid the subject. It’s quite the contrary. We’re told to prepare for death. We’re told to be motivated by the certainty of it. Unless God places us on the Rapture Plan, and that’s a great plan to be part of, each one of us will unavoidably experience death. God doesn’t mute this great truth. He’s not quiet about it. He doesn’t put it off into some corner. Rather, He announces the reality of death with a megaphone. For instance, in Hebrews 9, He says

Hebrews 9:27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Much lack of zeal in living for Christ is caused by too little contemplation of our approaching end. We believe that tomorrow is going to be like today, and beloved, someday that just simply will not be true. Through neglect of this sober subject, we walk carelessly through our lives as though this world is home, as though this present life is all-consuming and most important. God purposes for our reflections upon death to fill us with hope rather than fear. Yet for many, thoughts about death, even for believers, bring only emotions of dread rather than sweet devotion. There are feelings of horror rather than hope.

While Covid laid me low these past three weeks, I realized that I was not in control of my body. Not at all! I realized that this virus which is causing so much misery could very easily attack my lungs. If it attacked my lungs, it could lead me to the hospital. If it led me to a hospital, it could lead me to a ventilator. If it led me to a ventilator, it could lead me out of this present world. So as my mind wandered down this path, and it did, the question I asked myself was, “Ritch, will these thoughts lead you to anxious concern? Or will these thoughts lead you to confidence in Christ? Will you experience the nearness of God as a result of this meditation, or will you experience the nakedness of your need?” In that moment, the Holy Spirit often urged me to fight the good fight of the faith. I love 1 Peter 1!

1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

We do want to engage our mind with the truth of God. We want to be serious about life and about death. This is one of those verses that God used to take my thoughts and not see death as an end, but rather, to set my thoughts on that future day when I stand before Jesus and He is revealed in all glory and the grace of God just comes showering down upon my life. The Gospel always pushes us toward hope in Jesus’ sufficiency and hope in Jesus’ victory. All through Scripture, there are so many passages where God brings up the subject of death and He pushes us toward hope. It’s this expectation of a future joy. It’s this expectation of something good about to happen. In Psalm 23, one of the most famous of all psalms, it says

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Death can’t touch my soul. It can’t bring about any damage in eternity. In Revelation chapter 2, to a suffering church, God writes

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He doesn’t say, “It’s going to be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen.” He says, “The devil is going to throw you into prison. It’s going to get even harder.” Yes, this might end in physical death, but be faithful unto death. Why? “I will give you the crown of life.” Death won’t hurt you. Death won’t rob you of eternal joy. I love Hebrews chapter 2!

Hebrews 2:14-15 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself [Jesus] likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

God became a man and took on flesh. Until Jesus died and rose again, we had a right to look at death and be afraid. But when Jesus died and rose again, now there is nothing to fear. He crushed death. He put death to death on the cross.

We open our Bibles this morning to Acts chapter 7. Stephen helps us to see that Jesus makes all the difference when death knocks on the door of our life. Stephen shows us how to prepare ourselves for that day. With the exception of Jesus, Stephen’s death is the only death described at length in the New Testament. The New Testament’s emphasis is on the way people live lives of faith. But God gives us Stephen as an example on how to die, and I think more importantly, how to prepare to die. Stephen, by way of example, teaches us much about how we can live so that when we die we can anticipate a glorious entrance into the presence of our great God. He teaches us that death is a doorway to our eternal home, toward the place where we belong. Death indeed, while it is still an enemy, it was not part of God’s original creation. It came as a result of sin. But it is a defanged enemy. It’s a defeated enemy that God actually uses to crown us with honor and glory.

The main idea that we’re going to trace through this is let’s prepare ourselves for a glorious death. Let’s take some time to prepare ourselves for a glorious death. We prepare for all kinds of things that are very temporal. We prepare for a big party, a group of people coming over to our house. We prepare for a wedding. We prepare for a career. We prepare for a sporting event. We prepare all kinds of things and we do it with diligence and discipline because whatever we’re preparing for seems really important to us. But the question I would ask you is are you preparing yourself to die? It’s the most important preparation. No other preparation will be as lasting as this one.

2 Peter 1:10 (NLT-SE) So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.

Make your calling and you’re election sure by submitting to the grace of God in your life.

2 Peter 1:10-11 (NLT-SE) Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I love the way the New Living Translation translates this! If we are to be saved, it is of God’s grace alone through Jesus alone. Yet, what we’re told in Scripture is that some believers who are delivered from condemnation receive a more grand entrance, a joyful welcome into the eternal kingdom, than others. Some spiritually limp into the eternal kingdom, while others bound like a deer on a mountain into the heavenly realm. Some believers die with sorrowful regrets. The day they die, they realize, “I blew it! I have wasted my life. All my life, I lived for the now. The now is over and I’m entering into eternity.” While others, as they die, they die with joy, knowing that they have lived a life bringing glory and honor to Jesus Christ, who is their Savior. The Apostle Paul cried out with triumph,

Philippians 1:21-23 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

He says to die, I get to be with Christ. That’s going to be wonderful! To continue living, that continues to be fruitful labor for me. That’s wonderful! But it’s a cry of absolute triumph of a person who is prepared to die. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul speaks of that future day of judgment and how there is a difference between one believer and another in their experience. He says

1 Corinthians 3:14-15 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

There is a reward for those who are laboring faithfully by God’s grace for the honor of Christ. If anyone’s work was not of value, he will suffer loss. He will be saved because salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ, but he’ll be saved as one snatched from the fire.

At Stephen’s death, Stephen is not one who is simply snatched from the fire. He gazes into heaven and he sees the glory of God in the face of Jesus. He sees Jesus Himself standing at the right hand of God. He was standing to receive him, standing to welcome him into heaven. What a glorious entrance into his eternal home Stephen experiences!

We might ask the question, I want to be prepared for a glorious death. How can I prepare myself for a day of great welcome and great joy on the last day that I live here on this earth? I’m going to give you five ways to prepare.

Preparation #1: Entrust yourself to Jesus’ care.

This is the most basic, the most fundamental, most necessary preparation that everyone must make in order to be ready to die. Apart from this step, not only are you not ready to receive a glorious entrance, you’re not ready to be received at all. The day of your death will be the most miserable day of all your existence. It will be the day of the most horror and terror because instead of landing in the precious love and grace of God, you land in the judgment of God and under His wrath because you die in your sins.

Stephen is described in Acts chapter 6, remember, as a man full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit who gives life. He’s the Spirit who regenerates and grants us life from above so that we can know God and walk with Him. So how is it that Stephen receives the Holy Spirit and becomes a man full of the Holy Spirit? We’re really not told Stephen’s testimony. We kind of have to piece it together on the story that has been told thus far of the early church. You remember on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells the apostles and those who were gathered there in Jerusalem and then Peter preached a sermon. He offers this gospel of grace to everyone. He tells all in this sermon that

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Somewhere along the line, Stephen heard this message. I’m a sinner. I need to be rescued and delivered from the guilt of my sin. This Jesus who died on the cross is the one who is able to deliver. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, will be recued. Peter went on to say in that same sermon

Acts 2:36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Jesus is God of very God and He’s also the Messiah, the deliverer; this Jesus whom you crucified. Then at the end of that sermon, Peter cuts to the chase.

Acts 2:37-38 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We’re not told Stephen’s exact testimony of exactly how he heard this message, but he heard it. He heard what every other person needs to hear in order to prepare for death. When he heard it, it rang true to his soul. He humbled himself before God and he believed. Peter would say in

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Friend, if you are to be prepared for the day of your death, the first step of preparation is to receive the free gift of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ. It is not enough that you believe that Jesus died on the cross. It is not enough that you believe that Jesus rose again. It is not enough that you believe that He ascended. It is not enough that you believe His sacrifice is sufficient to bring forgiveness of sins. You must make this very personal or you are not prepared to die. I would ask you, have you personally appropriated Jesus as your Savior to yourself and to your soul? God calls you in the most explicit of ways to repent of your sin and to believe in Jesus Christ. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Entrust your soul to Him. He’s the only one who can save you.

If you look throughout the history of mankind, there is no one who died and then conquered death other than Jesus. If you are to die, and we will one day, at that moment, we will be left to ourselves. Left to ourselves, we are powerless in the face of death to do anything about death. Death reigns. Death rules. Death crushes. Death remains unless we have Jesus. If we have Jesus, then we have one who died and rose again and who was able to take His life and make His life ours. He is our resurrection. He is our life. So I would ask you again the most fundamental question that I could possibly ask. Have you made Jesus your Savior by placing your faith in Him, by entrusting your soul to His care? In Jesus’ death, death dies!

Preparation #2: Proclaim the Gospel boldly.

Entrusting ourselves to Jesus ensures that we are forgiven, that we do have a home in heaven. But it does not ensure a glorious entrance, this kind of entrance that Stephen experienced into the presence of God, on the day of our death. Stephen shows us that it is vital that we live our lives with a bold proclamation of Jesus. No one who does not proclaim Jesus is prepared for a glorious death. God has given every disciple, every follower, every believer, a mission to accomplish in this world. If we are not busy doing that mission, our death will be like a man who began building a house and never finished it. That’s not glorious. It’s not glorious to have a half finished house sitting there for one year, two years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years, one hundred years. That’s a story of a diminished work. So for the believer, it is vital that we connect to the mission that Jesus gave to each one of us as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We are ready for a glorious death when we can say, “I have fulfilled the work God has given me to do. I have finished the race. I have fought the good fight.”

Listen to the apostle Paul. It’s the very words he said as he considered his life. He knows that he doesn’t have long for this world. The day of his death is fast approaching. He says

2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering,

In other words, my whole life has been about worship to God.

2 Timothy 4:6 …and the time of my departure has come.

I don’t know whether it’s days or weeks, but it’s not very long.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

He said this is available to y’all, to everyone who loves His appearing. This is everyone who looks forward to that day and lives life now in view that everything important is moving toward that day and we’re living our life in view of that day. He says there is a crown of righteousness. This is a preparation for a glorious death.

Remember that Stephen was first chosen by the Holy Spirit to simply distribute some food to some widows. It didn’t seem like it was that spiritual, that dynamic, that powerful or fruitful of a work. It was a necessary work, an important work in the church. But here Stephen is. While he is busy about a central part of his labors for the Lord and strengthening the church by caring for widows, he also recognizes that that work isn’t to be isolated from gospel witness, from gospel proclamation.

It’s my observation as a pastor for many years that sometimes the most bold, fruitful, able evangelists in the church are people whose main ministry in the church is very, very practical. It’s the people who serve coffee. It’s the ushers who greet the congregation, the workers who cut the grass and trim the bushes. It’s the custodians who prepare the building for use. These aren’t unspiritual works. Every saint God gives to the church is a precious gift whom God will use to impact the world through gospel witness, gospel proclamation. So Stephen doesn’t stay in his lane of simply delivering food to widows. His lane is much broader than that, as it is for every disciple of Jesus. As Stephen proclaims Jesus before people, this gentle, humble, loving man becomes an object of scorn, hostility and hatred.

We resume our story in verse 51. Stephen, after presenting the gospel now brings the hot iron of conviction to the congregation. He says

At this, you can almost begin to flinch. Ouch! This is not a seeker sensitive message, is it? If you were there that day and you happened to bring a friend to church and you heard him all of a sudden break out with “you stiff-necked people, you uncircumcised in heart. You murdered and killed the king of glory.” Would you think, “Maybe I should have asked my friend to come next Sunday when we’re talking about the marriage seminar or something”? This is pretty straightforward, isn’t it? It’s because always when the gospel is proclaimed clearly, it brings great conviction. That conviction does one of two things. It either breaks us in humility before the Lord. “Woe is me. I’m a sinner and I need to be saved.” Or it breaks us in our pride toward self-will. We become angry and even hardened by it. Stephen brings clarity about this key spiritual issue of sin. No one leaves Stephen’s sermon asking the question, “Hmmm. I wonder what he meant by that?” There is just a laser-like clarity to the conviction that he is bringing. Look at their response.

54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

That word “enraged” literally means they were “sawn in half.” Stephen’s preaching ripped open their false religiosity and exposed them as hard-hearted hypocrites. They could have humbled themselves before God and received grace and been men and women made new. Instead they leaned into their self-righteous pride and they ground their teeth at him in hatred.

Sometimes the preaching of the Gospel causes people to run farther from God. Sometimes witness for Jesus invites rejection from people we love. That response ought not to surprise us. God tells us to anticipate it. Yet Stephen is unfazed, isn’t he? We don’t have any second-guessing by Stephen. We don’t hear him say, “Well, maybe I should have said that differently. Maybe I didn’t say it right. Maybe I could have said it this way.” No, there was none of that. Stephen knows he is God’s messenger and he knows that the response of the heart of the hearer is up to the Holy Spirit’s work. His is just simply to be faithful, to bring clarity to the message and the conviction of our sin and the confidence of Christ.

The issue of rejection to the true Gospel always finds its root in the heart of the hearer. Beloved, let us be mostly concerned that we proclaim Christ clearly, and then we get out of the way and leave whatever outcome to the Holy Spirit. God alone saves! If that outcome means persecution for us, let us receive it in faith, knowing that God has good purposes. If the outcome is the salvation of souls, let us receive it with joy and give praise to God. But here’s the issue. If we never experience rejection because of our witness for Jesus, we’re not really witnessing for Jesus.

Now, not everyone will reject our witness. We’ve seen that in the book of Acts. But some will. Some will reject us with a great stridency. Some, when we bring Jesus even inside the church, they’re going to reject us. Some, when we bring Jesus to those who are outside the church, they’re going to hate us for it. Let’s be careful that we do not think so deeply about how to best witness that we never actually witness. Sometimes we get stuck there. We think, “I have to find out the exact right way because maybe I’ll say it wrong and they’ll get mad.” No, let’s just present Christ and trust Jesus with the outcome. We’re not prepared to die if we’re not proclaiming Christ. On the day we die, if we haven’t been proclaiming Christ, one of the messages that I believe will be stuck in our soul is “Why didn’t I tell more people about Jesus?” He’s worthy of being proclaimed and He’s needed to be proclaimed.

Friends, let’s beware of being afraid of the wrong things. Satan brings the fear that we might live only a short time on earth and then die as young men and women. But an early physical death doesn’t threaten the joyful future of our soul. What threatens the joy of our soul is not that somehow we might get sick and die early or we might be in an accident. Those thoughts begin to confuse us and they begin to bring anxiety and thoughts. We live in a fallen world and those things can happen, but that doesn’t destroy our future joy. What destroys our future joy is if we live without faith, we live without obedience, we live without worship, we live without purpose before the Lord. So here is the big concern. Am I living now so that I will experience glory forever and ever with my Lord Jesus?

I believe we live in days where hostility toward the Gospel is going to grow into a hot fury. That’s the way I read the times. I would encourage you to first pray for your own boldness, but pray for church leaders. Here, Stephen is a church leader. Church leaders often receive sort of the initial tip of the spear on persecution. Church leaders need to be ready; elders, deacons, deaconesses. We’re called to witness and we’re called to suffer. God has given us a number of young pastors in our church. Praise God for them! Pray for them! I believe these young pastors will experience far more persecution than I have in my life. They need to be prepared for that because we haven’t experienced it for some time. But they need to be prepared for that. Pray for them, for that moment.

Stephen didn’t know when he woke up that morning that this was going to be the day he was going to die, that this was the day that he was going to preach a sermon. It just is the way the Lord ordained this particular day. We don’t know either what day it will be where God calls us to make a witness where the fire of persecution falls down upon us. We don’t know. We just have to be ready for it. Like Stephen, we have to exult in it if God considers us worthy of such a thing. But let’s pray for these young guys.

Let’s also pray for us old guys. Quite frankly, I’ve lived all of my life and it’s been a pretty easy life to minister to the Lord in the United States of America. I don’t want that to change. It’s easy for me to say, “Maybe I’ll just try to ride it out so that I don’t have to actually experience persecution.” May God forbid that heart attitude ever come! But I need prayer and older pastors need prayer because it’s easy to say, “Let’s just ride it out. Let’s not rock the boat right now.” No! Every day, if we’re preparing for a glorious entrance, everything is laid down on the table for God to use for His glory.

Preparation #3: Fix your eyes upon Jesus.

I love how God gives Stephen a vision of Christ and of His glory.

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.”

Stephen did not despair of death because Stephen saw Christ. Whenever we see Jesus, our hearts will fill with hope. Despair is a consequence of not seeing Jesus clearly. Stephen is ready for this moment because he lived his life full of the Holy Spirit. That means he was fixed in his heart and his mind upon Jesus as Lord and Messiah. When persecution entered into his life and pounded away at him, he didn’t divert his eyes away from Christ and onto the rocks and the gnashing of teeth and the anger of man. Instead, he found his vision intensified in its focus upon Christ and God allowed him to see even more clearly His own glory and allowed him to see even more clearly Jesus Christ.

I don’t know whether this was an actual physical vision that God allowed him or whether it’s a spiritual vision wrought by faith. But it is nonetheless real. Whether it’s physical or whether it’s spiritual, it is real. Stephen knows that he has a mediator in Jesus, he has a shepherd in Jesus, he has a king in Jesus, he has a victor in Jesus. Stephen doesn’t call on Elijah. He doesn’t call on Mary. He doesn’t call on Peter. He doesn’t call on Michael the archangel. He fixes his eyes on Jesus. Here’s the truth. Our hope for our future rests upon our vision of Jesus today.

There are two big observations about Stephen’s hope that sustained him for this as he fixed his eyes on Christ. First, the Holy Spirit strengthens hope. Right before he talks about seeing the glory of God, it says Stephen is a man “full of the Holy Spirit.” Not one of us can create this vision on our own. We don’t have access to see Jesus or fix our eyes on Jesus or to live this kind of life that readies ourselves for death. It’s only the Holy Spirit. So we walk in dependence upon the Holy Spirit day by day to give us faith, to give us grace.

The second observation is that Jesus’ resurrection is the center of our hope. So Stephen, when he looks, he sees the risen Christ. Jesus ascended and He sat down at the right hand of God, indicating that the work that Jesus accomplished was completed. It was finished. There was no more work. It’s time to sit down. He took His place of honor. But I love this! As he sees Jesus, Jesus isn’t seated. Jesus is standing. Why would Jesus be standing in a moment like this? I believe it’s because out of great love for Stephen, Jesus is standing to welcome him.

It’s like if we had good friends that we hadn’t seen for a long time and they’re going to come over to our house. When we see their car drive into the driveway, oftentimes, what do we do? We open the door and we go out to greet them. We stand and we welcome them because we want them to know, “You’re loved. We are so glad you’re here.” This is our Lord Jesus’ attitude toward precious Stephen, who is proclaiming Him in the face of great hostility. He’s saying, “Stephen, I’m going to honor you. I’m going to show you my love for you. I’m going to stand to welcome you to myself.” The point is that Stephen is a man who is full of faith. His faith enabled him to see that which is invisible. I wonder, are we preparing our soul by fixing our eyes on Jesus? Hebrews gives us such a great command when it tells us

Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,

Let us live each day with Christ ever in view.

Preparation #4: Submit your plans and desires to God.

This perhaps is the most difficult step of preparation.

57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him.

Again, it’s just an angry mob mentality, ready to destroy, kill, and murder Stephen.

58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

They’re still concerned about making sure they fulfill the righteousness of the law. They can’t stone him inside the city. The law would forbid that. Isn’t that full of hypocritical nonsense?

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.”

Here’s Stephen. He’s a young man. He’s likely about the age of my oldest sons, about thirty. That’s young. The older I get, the younger thirty is. He’s thirty and he’s full of life. He’s full of commitment. He’s full of faith. He’s full of intentionality. He’s serving the church. He’s right there distributing food. He’s busy. He’s like any other thirty year old man. He has a lot of hopes and dreams for his life. He’s not thinking his life is going to end this day. He’s undoubtedly getting some education. He undoubtedly is thinking about family. He’s undoubtedly thinking about mission and ministry and all that’s ahead of him because life is ahead of him as a thirty year old man. But now he realizes that life is not ahead of him, not in this world. Life is behind him. His eternal life is ahead of him, but his temporal life is done and he doesn’t resist that.

I look at Stephen’s life and I think from a human standpoint, how many thirty year old guys do you have full of wisdom, full of the Holy Spirit, who have such a great reputation, who just simply want to serve? They’re just willing to do anything and they do it with great skill. They have great gospel zeal. They have great gospel knowledge. They are able to preach a sermon like this off the cuff. Does the church have too many of those guys? This is a young church. “God, why would you take this kind of a guy out of the church? Why not have him live for fifty years. Wouldn’t that have been a better plan?” God, in His infinite wisdom and sovereign grace said, “No. In my ultimate plan, it’s time to take Stephen home.” Frankly, sometimes we just don’t understand, but we trust. That’s where Stephen says, “God, my life is your life. I’m not holding onto my dreams and trying to argue out of this right now. I’m not crying out, God, don’t let this happen! I’m saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Care for me. I’m going to trust you.” Here, we find a man who is submitting his life and his plans and his desires to the Lord. He knows that it is not his life that he is living. He knows his life is on loan from God for God. Here’s what Paul writes in Romans.

Romans 14:7-9 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

I think this is something we have to come back to every day and submit our life again as a living sacrifice to God every day. Because it’s possible for us to have submitted our life at one point and then later kind of start taking back our plans and our desires and our will and saying, “No, I’m holding onto me and my future.”

I remember when I was a man of twenty years old, I was stung by a bee and I had a severe allergic reaction. I ended up being absolutely paralyzed. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t walk. Literally, I was trying to pump my hands and I couldn’t pump my hands at all. A farmer came upon me. If he hadn’t have come upon me, I believe I would have died there. At least that’s what the doctors tell me about the anaphylactic shock I was experiencing. I remember thinking, “Okay, Lord. I think this is it. I’m beginning to have a hard time breathing now. I can’t talk. I can’t move. I think this is it.” I do remember thinking, “Boy, Lord, it sure would have been nice to have been able to get married.” (Laughter!) That was the one little thought. But you know, at that time, the Lord had been working in my heart so that I was living a life that was submitted to Him. I can only say there was incredible peace at that moment. It was a peace that I didn’t understand, actually. I wasn’t freaked out. I was just like, “Okay, God. You have me.” I say that because that’s God’s grace in my life then and I want it to be God’s grace today. Because it’s actually possible to have experienced that as a twenty year old man and have a different experience as a fifty-seven year old, if that would happen. It’s possible to have our faith change in the wrong direction. God’s children must not look for our reward in this world. Our reward is with God in His house.

Stephen imitates our Lord Jesus when our Lord cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Stephen now says, “Lord Jesus.” That’s significant because what he is saying is that the Father and Jesus are one. They’re coequal and coeternal. Just as the Father can save and receive our spirit, so the Son does. He commits his soul to Jesus.

Preparation #5: Forgive those who wrong you.

We must not romanticize this scene. It’s a horrible scene. The narrative tracks the invisible part that no one else can see except Stephen. Then Luke gets access to that information as he writes it in Acts. But it’s part of the invisible part of the story of God’s ministry in the life of Stephen. No one else sees heaven open up. No one else sees the glory of God. They’re just experiencing this. There is a very real aspect to this of a young guy being dragged out with a mob shouting and cursing him, throwing him into a pit and then having these huge rocks; picking them up and beginning to throw them with all their might and those rocks hitting and cutting gashes on his body. It was a real big, bloody mess. This is not sort of a romantic, beautiful scene of a person just kind of floating up toward heaven. It’s a very violent thing. As this violence is being done to him, he says

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.

I think he remembers Jesus when Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” He’s imitating Christ through this. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Father, don’t hold this sin against them.” No one is prepared to die who is experiencing bitterness in their soul for a wrong suffered. Jesus teaches us to pray every day, “Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us!” In other words, to the Father who has through Christ, at great cost to Himself, forgiven us so much, it is very, very important that we learn to take that and be like the Father and forgive those who wrong us. Jesus even tells a parable where He says that if we can’t forgive the little thing after we’ve been forgiven so much, it’s an affront against the king who has forgiven us so much. Stephen doesn’t want to enter into heaven with bitterness and vengeance and anger on his soul. He gives expression to this forgiveness through a prayer for mercy, a prayer for deliverance from those who are even killing him at the moment.

Today, both inside and outside the church, there is a dangerous and deadly doctrine that many embrace. That doctrine tells you that the path to understanding life and moving forward is to discover who has wronged you and then to dwell deeply on those wrongs, deeply enough to understand the depth of the wrongs that you’ve suffered. Then you’re to act through your attitudes, your words, and your actions with retribution. The person who has wronged us may be our parents, or maybe an employer, or maybe a church leader, or maybe a person from a different group. What a deception that freedom from oppression comes from an angry, embittered response. We’re not ready to receive a glorious entrance into God’s heaven if we don’t have a forgiving heart of mercy. So I want to encourage you. I know some of you have been wronged in really terrible ways. Stephen has been wronged in a terrible way. Look to his example. But more, look to Christ.

God actually has a way for you to prepare for a glorious future so that when you die, you don’t die with all this corrupt anger and bitterness carrying your soul toward people. On that day, I think we’ll all of a sudden have a different perspective. First, we’ll understand the wrath of God. I think Stephen understands the wrath of God. He realized, “Here are my enemies and they’re not long for this world either. They’re going to experience the wrath of God and it’s terrible. I don’t wish that literally on my worst enemy.” So I think that perspective of the wrath of God helps him and helps us.

But also, I think turning our anger or resentment into a prayer. We can’t resolve this issue of bitterness. It’s only the Lord. “Lord, I’m going to pray your blessing upon those who have hurt me and I’m going to mean it. I’m going to pray it in faith.” Then, “Lord, I’m going to know that you’re sovereign and that I can trust you.”

At the end of the day, these guys didn’t hurt Stephen. He didn’t have to fear any evil. The Lord, his Shepherd, was with him. That day led him to instant joy forever and ever and ever and ever. We know who is sovereign and evil is not sovereign. Let me ask you, do you think Stephen’s prayer did any good?

So persecution intensified.

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.

God wants us to see the link between Stephen’s prayer and Paul’s conversion in Acts 9. I look at Stephen’s short life and I think, “Man, how much a young man like this could have accomplished if he were allowed to live longer.” God looks and says, “I purpose to use Stephen’s short life for the greatest impact possible.” He used a prayer of forgiveness, I believe, to connect Paul to the gospel of grace. God wants us to see that connection, that linkage. What did Paul do? You and I as westerners have heard the gospel and are redeemed because the Apostle Paul brought the gospel to the west. What if Stephen had not prayed for Saul in that moment? Thank God that we don’t even have to imagine that because he did pray.

So beloved, are you ready to die? Are you prepared? Are you ready to receive a glorious entrance? Entrust yourself to Jesus’ care. Proclaim the Gospel boldly. Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Submit your plans and desires to God. Forgive those who wrong you. In these ways, we know that the day of our death will be the most glorious and wonderful day. That is not to romanticize it. It is not to mean that it’s going to be easy. It is not to mean that we’re going to just sail on up to heaven.

My dad is the godliest man I know. When he died, it was terrible. He died on a ventilator. It was terrible, physically. I don’t know the invisible world, except I know on the basis of his testimony and his life that he received a glorious entrance. We’re not guaranteed that the day is going to be like this idyllic wonderful time. But we are guaranteed that through Christ, we can receive a glorious entrance that begins the rest of eternity for us. Praise be to God!