A Jeep, A Boat, & A Helicopter

Chapter seven. I probably should have shared this for us to be in prayer for during our time of prayer, so you might note this as well, and we'll just lift them up in our private prayer times later, but I received an email from Pastor Alan Esses, who is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Moscow in Russia this past Thursday, and he wanted to let us know that Tuesday evening this past week was Christmas Eve in Russia. They celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January, and so the 6th was their Christmas Eve, and where they meet they had a Christmas Eve service, and he says our service was disrupted last night by some people. We were completing a song of the worship portion of our service, and a

man came in and tried to disrupt the service from the back of the room. Others of their group said it was their room and that we must leave immediately. I prayed a silent prayer and asked the Lord for his help in his leading. I felt the Lord saying to me for us to finish the worship part of the service, and I said, please, can they wait five or ten minutes until we finish the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, as this is Christmas Eve, and he reluctantly agreed.

Now, property over there is not like it is here, and so you just don't have a place that's yours, you know. It's yours unless somebody else wants it, and a minute or two later, he says, the leader and the other members of the group came in, and the leader started to become louder and louder. We, as one body in Christ, continued to praise the Lord in song as the worship team continued. None of us needed to say anything to each other as we continued in worship to our Lord. We were all praying and worshiping the Lord at the same time. As

they were talking in my face, I told them Jesus loves them. A man responded, we don't believe in God. I continued to sing praises to the Lord. Some of the other dialogue that they said while in my face isn't necessary to talk about here. They used no profanity, but blasphemed the Lord. There were many other things that occurred, but it's difficult to describe everything. I also noticed that they were

in the face of one of the other people. It was so sad. So much went through my mind and the minds of the others in the body of Christ. Some of our brothers and sisters closed their eyes, trusting in the Lord, and continued to worship Jesus. As we continued to praise the Lord in Russian and English, the other group seemed to get angrier and angrier. The congregation continued to praise the

Lord. As we were standing as one body in Jesus Christ, they started to remove all the chairs that were in the room, including the ones we were standing in front of, and our belongings they put on the floor. My Bible was on my chair, and I picked it up as a woman removed my chair. I almost sat down, but the Lord told me to leave it, to let it go, and to praise God. As they were in my face and telling us to

leave, I was praying and felt the Lord was telling us to continue to worship Him, to keep our eyes on Jesus. Through the battle, there was a peace. The worship leader shared later that when all this was happening, she said to herself, let's get out of here. She thought they would use violence, but she felt the Lord was telling her to continue. She was praying, Lord, help us to trust in you.

Many of the congregation mentioned later that the Lord was saying to pray for me. Praise God no one was physically hurt. Praise God for their prayers. God gave us peace in the midst of the storm. We couldn't believe the hatred against our Lord and their rejection of Him. Words seemed inadequate to describe what happened. I thought I was back in the ministry in West Hollywood.

Paul said, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. As I felt led by the Lord, I nodded to the worship leader to finish the worship. We completed our worship and packed up and started to leave, remembering the love of Jesus as we went. The other group wasn't happy, but at the end, one of the women of their group asked who we were. I answered, we were Christians. She said

that she was very sorry and apologized as others in her group looked on angrily and were in surprise. God showed us so much. I wanted to cry for these lost people. We prayed for them. One of the congregation today mentioned how the story of Stephen strengthened them. Through the trial, Stephen continued to proclaim and praise God and our Lord Jesus. It was through God's grace and God's strength that he was able to do what God called

him to do. There's a lot more here, but just remember Calvary and Moscow, if you would, in your prayers through this time. I also thought it was interesting that they mentioned that about Stephen, since that's the section in Acts that we're in as well. As we consider this section this morning, I want to start by sharing something with you that may be old hat to you. You've heard the story

about the fellow that lived in this house in an area that was prone to flooding. One day a storm was moving in and so the ranger in that area drove up in a jeep and told the guy that he needed to leave because the potential storm was going to be dangerous enough that it could flood that area. The guy said, oh no, I have faith in my God. I trust the Lord. He'll give me strength. My

God shall deliver me. The ranger left and the storms came and the water started rising and it got up to the first level of the house and the guy moved up to his second story. A little while later a rescue team and a boat came by and hollered at the guy and told him that the storm didn't show any signs of quitting and that he needed to come with them or he'd perish. He said, oh no, I trust in the Lord. My God will

deliver me. So the boat left and the water kept rising and finally filled the second story and the guy ended up standing on his roof. A rescue helicopter flew up and over the speaker they said that they were going to drop a ladder and he needed to climb aboard because the storm was still raging and it was definitely going to cover the house and he's going to drown and he said, oh no, I'm trusting in the Lord. My God will deliver me. And so the helicopter flew off and

the waters rose and the guy drowned. He went to heaven and he's standing before the Lord and he said, Lord, what happened? I trusted in you. I've been witnessed for you. I told the people that I didn't need their help, that my God was sufficient and he would deliver me and where were you? And God said, I sent you a jeep and a boat and a helicopter and if you were too foolish

to be delivered with that help, then so be it. This is the message that Stephen is presenting to the Sanhedrin as he shares this story of the history of the Jews in chapter seven. And I use that illustration, it's an old one, it's old hat, simply for you to maybe remember what chapter seven is all about. You can hang as a memory hook that the message of chapter seven you relate back to God sent a jeep and God sent a boat and God sent a helicopter and they still refused.

Now also, I want to relate it to where you are today because maybe you're facing a particular difficulty and in your heart you really are saying, I know that God's going to deliver. I know that the Lord's going to provide and yet the storm just seems overwhelming. Well, the Lord's moving in the midst of your difficulty and he's sending a jeep and he's sending a boat and he's sending a helicopter and he will deliver you. Many times the Lord will deliver out of a particular circumstance to where you don't have to go through it.

And praise God if that's the case. Maybe he'll bring a healing. Maybe he'll bring an end to a situation before it really begins. But more often than not in scripture we see that God brings us through situations. He'll give you grace and strength to bring you through a disease or through a difficult time on your job or through a particularly difficult time with where your finances are concerned.

But in all of those, the Lord will deliver if you trust him, if you realize his grace is sufficient. Now all of this is going to sound like old hat, just like that illustration. And that's initially what the Sanhedrin must have thought when Stephen starts making his defense. This is old hat. This is stuff we know. But I've come to realize in my older age that the things that are old are the

things to be cherished, both in furniture and vehicles and parents and grandparents and God's Word that you've heard before that's become familiar. It's old hat. But if we take time to really chew on it, just take some time with the Lord with it, it's really cherishable. Now Stephen's been accused, remember, back in chapter 6 verse 11 is the first charge that's leveled against him. They accused him of

blaspheming Moses and God. That's the first charge. The second charge in verse 13 is that he blasphemed the holy place. He blasphemed the temple, spoke against it, said that Jesus was going to tear it down. And then the third charge is also in verse 13 of chapter 6 that he spoke against the law. He blasphemed the law of God. And so as we come to chapter 7 verse 1, the high priest asks Stephen concerning these charges,

are these things true? Are these charges true? Now Stephen is like a good attorney. You ever ask an attorney a direct question, he'll give you a vague answer at the beginning. He won't answer you directly. Sir, is this so? Well, it depends on certain situations, you know. It's never yes or no. It's always... But Stephen's not evading the situation. Stephen is giving the background that's

going to demonstrate to these religious leaders how he hasn't blasphemed God or Moses. He hasn't violated what God intended for the holy place, for the temple. He hasn't spoken against the law. In fact, they have. They're the ones that have violated it. And so Stephen begins to run through a quick history of Judaism. And as you look at chapter 7, unfortunately, I think many people look at it as a historical review.

And as happens with such things like that in the Word of God, historical reviews, genealogies. I mean, how much time do you spend in 1 Chronicles? You know, so and so begat so and so who was the family of the father of the clan of the tribe of whatever. You know, let's skip over to chapter 19 and find out and over to chapter 26. And here's something really worth reading, you know. And we can tend to do

that with certain sections of the Word. And chapter 7 is one of those sections. You kind of read over and you go, I know about Abraham and I know about Joseph and I know about Moses and I know about Stabernacle. So let's go on into chapter 8 and get to some real good stuff. But as you look at chapter 7, why did why did Stephen do this? Why did he pick those three? I mean, how many

how many stories could he have told if he was going to review the Old Testament for them? How many different people could he have shared about? How many of the patriarchs could he have listed and told the stories of their lives? Why these three? Well, again, let me suggest to you that Stephen is presenting to them that God brought them a jeep and a boat and a helicopter to deliver

them from the bondage of sin. And they rejected it. The first thing Stephen does is present to them the beginning of their ancestry, their heritage itself, beginning with Abraham. Are these charges true to this? Stephen replied, verse 2, Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia before he lived in Heron. Leave your country and your people, God

said, and go to the land I will show you. So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Heron. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. And he gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way,

Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated 400 years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, God said, and afterward they will come out of that country and they will worship me in this

feeling, and he does that usually when it's produced into a play or a movie, whatever he's written in, and the inflection then comes out, and the feeling is communicated. So when you study the word of God, when you read the word, more than just praying for God to give you understanding, pray that, because he will, but ask him to share with you the emotion of what's written. Lord, how was this intended? What emotion did you want to bring out?

How did Stephen present this? And you'd be amazed at how God will answer that and kind of give you some insight. Not that that's absolutely, this is absolutely how he did it, but it will help make it clearer to you. What's Stephen saying concerning Abraham as he begins here? Well, the first thing he does, and he skips over a whole lot of stuff, I mean, you'll notice that as he goes through this, stuff that they knew

and he didn't bother to delineate for them. But the thing I want you to see, two things I want you to see here about Abraham is, first of all, that God promised him descendants. God promised him he'd possess the land. Even at that time, verse 5, Abraham had no child. What Stephen is beginning to establish for these leaders that are accusing him of blaspheming God

and blaspheming Moses and blaspheming the law and the temple is that Abraham began by faith in God's grace, period. This whole nation, guys, that you're accusing me of blaspheming began by God's grace, believed by a man by faith named Abraham. As you consider this, as Stephen was hoping they would, when God chose Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12, there were no inherent qualities in Abraham that God looked at and said, boy, nice guy there, just needs some help. Got a lot of good qualities inside, I'll just reach down and pull out those good qualities and he'll be an all right guy. Abraham lived in Ur,

which was the foundation of the nation of Babylon, which God, back in chapter 11 of Genesis, had to disperse because they were seeking to become like God, the people were seeking to become like God and God scattered them. So Abraham lived in the midst of an idolatrous nation, one that had had recently been rebuked by God. There were no inherent qualities in Abraham that God looked at and said, boy, I really like this guy, I can see the potential that's there, I want to bring this potential out and establish him. God looked and saw a man that was nothing, that was steeped in sin, that was steeped in idolatry and God loved him, period. And God spoke and called to Abraham to come out

because he wanted to bring him his grace, he wanted to bring him his redemption through his grace, to fulfill his promise of redemption through Abraham, not because of any qualities that Abraham possessed but simply because God loved Abraham. That's true with you and that's true with me. God looked at us and he saw nothing inherently good about us, he saw no potential about us and we'll see that a little more when we get to Moses. He simply loved us, he simply loved us, he looked at you and he simply loved you. You see, what's exciting about that is you don't have to live up to

anything now, you know, some quality that God saw in me and I just didn't make it, that's how the world exists. You know, you had the potential to take the Dallas Cowboys to the Super Bowl, Mr. Switzer, but you didn't do it, so you're out of here. And all of us in the world live that way, we try to live up to this potential, what's, you know, what's seemingly expected of us or we're going to be rejected and God doesn't love you that way.

God loves you, period, because he loves you and he sought to redeem you, period, because he loves you and that's what he did with Abraham and Abraham responded to God's grace by faith, period, before he had descendants, before he had the land, he never owned the land there that God promised him other than he bought a cave there to bury his wife, period. He simply responded to God's grace by faith and God blessed him. Now secondly, I want you to notice that it says there that God told him that his descendants would spend some time in a foreign land, in a foreign country. Verse 5 gave him no ground of inheritance there, not even a foot of ground, but God promised him that he and his descendants after him

would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way, your descendants will be strangers in a country, not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated 400 years, but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward they'll come out of that country and worship me in this place. So God foretold Abraham what was going to happen before he ever had kids. You're going to have kids, Abraham's old right here, 70 some years old, but you're going to have kids and your kids are going to have kids and those descendants of you're going to spend some time in a nation that's going to enslave them, but I'm going to deliver them

and bring them back here and they'll worship me at this place. God is telling Abraham what's going to happen before it ever comes to pass and Stephen starts laying that out for the elders of the nation of Israel, just reminding them that God was in control of this whole situation. He called Abraham by his grace and Abraham responded in faith. That's how the nation got started. God told us what was going to happen before

it happened. No different today, brothers and sisters. God calls us today by grace. You respond by faith. You receive his Holy Spirit as you receive the grace of the shed blood of Jesus Christ into your hearts and through God's Holy Spirit, God gives you insight. He opens unto you the area of the spiritual realm and you can look around and you can understand

the world situation somewhat. You may not be a political science major, you may not know all the intricacies of world affairs, but you can look at the world situation and realize God said that was going to happen in his word. He said conditions were going to be just like this towards the latter days, towards the time of his coming. He talked about how the world was going to be at that time and how there was going to be an upheaval in the seas and in the seasons. The seasons were going to tell us that the

time was coming and we see the things happening in our world today. He tells us what's going to happen before it happens, no different than he told Abraham. Now at the end of that section in verse eight, he says, talks about circumcision. Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision and Abraham became the father of Isaac, circumcised him eight days after birth, and later Isaac became the father of Jacob and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.

And what Stephen is doing there is emphasizing the fact that the sign of the covenant came after Abraham responded by faith to God's grace. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant. That happened after Abraham responded to God's grace by faith. That's how salvation works. You and I respond by faith to God's grace. And the sign that we have as believers of the covenant is baptism. We're baptized, Jesus said, go out into

all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism is the mark of our covenant relationship with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But how we have turned that around, just like they had turned it around. The emphasis at this time was on circumcision. You weren't a Jew unless you were circumcised. It got to be so much the emphasis that

later when Paul goes in and evangelizes the different areas of Asia, the Judaizers came right behind him and said to the people, it's nice, nice that you believe that Jesus is God, that Jesus is the Redeemer, but you better be circumcised or you're not really saved. I don't know if you realize it, but today you can believe in Jesus. You know that he died for you. He's your Lord and Savior and you can go fellowship in another facility, another church building and people will say to you, well, you've been baptized, you haven't been baptized in our church, you've been sprinkled or immersed, you haven't been baptized the right way. And they're focusing on the mark

of the covenant rather than on the method, just like they did here. And Stephen's showing them, you got it all backwards, you got it all wrong and God sent you a jeep, Abraham, who responded by faith to God's grace and got blessed as a result. Then he says, God sent you a boat, Joseph verse 9, because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt, but God was with him and rescued him from all of his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So

he made him a ruler over Egypt and all his palace. Then a famine struck all of Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering and our fathers could not find food. Now notice this, every time you see that in here, if you want a good Bible study method, go through and circle repeated words or repeated phrases and go back and count them. Many times you'll be amazed at how many different references there are.

Stephen is referring several times here to our fathers, our patriarchs, the patriarchs who are our fathers, because the Sanhedrin would relate to that, they're identifying with that. And he's just drawing them right in to show them how they missed it. So, and our fathers could not find food, verse 12, when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family. Now,

just with my reading that, that way I read over something that's really important and that's why it's necessary as you read and you study that you ask God to show you what he wants you to know. What do you want me to see Lord? Show me things, let things stand out. From verse 12 to verse 13 are two visits. Why did he mention them that way? Now you know the story, it's old hat to you, just as it would have been to

these leaders in the Sanhedrin. Joseph's brothers, our fathers, our patriarchs, beat him up and sold him into slavery, but God was with him. Even though they rejected him, God was with him. Now Joseph is a type of Christ, he's a picture of what Jesus is like. And in just laying this out, Stephen is saying, you know, just like the Redeemer that's been sent and our fathers rejected, you rejected him,

he's going to get to that. They sent him to Egypt, he comes high into Pharaoh's court and our people, our fathers, went through a time of famine and they went to Egypt the first time to get food. What's he saying? What's he saying? They had a need and how did they seek to fulfill that need, the need for food? Well, they did it in their own strength. They loaded up their wagons with

treasures and stuff to take down and trade in Egypt for grain. They went down in their own strength to seek their redemption from famine, to seek their redemption from starvation, from food. And what happened? You remember the story. When they got down there, Joseph recognized him. They didn't recognize him. And he said, I'll tell you what, you leave the youngest brother here

with me and you go back and tell your father that, you know, I'm going to keep him here because, remember, he planted the the goblet in Benjamin's saddlebag and was accusing them of trying to steal stuff from him. And they get all worked up and the oldest son says, oh no, I'll stay here. Let him go. He's my father's beloved son. The other son that he had that he really

loved was killed by wild animals, which was really Joseph. And if we don't come back with this one, he's going to die and he's going to kill us too. Remember that? You remember the story. That's what happened the first time they went down. But then it says here in verse 13, on their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was and Pharaoh learned about Joseph's family.

Now, what happened on the second visit? Well, the brothers go back to dad, back to Jacob, and they tell him what had happened. And Jacob rips his clothes and throws ashes all over his head and wishes that he could die because now both Joseph and Benjamin have been taken away from him. And the family's really busted because of that event. And Jacob just falls before God and says, okay,

okay, take Benjamin. I missed that one. Bring Benjamin down and we'll get the food. We'll just have to trust God on this one that God will deliver. Now, how did they go down to Egypt the second time? Not in their own strength, not in their own power with the jewels and the treasures to trade for Pharaoh. They went down broken, giving up their only, the only son, Benjamin, giving up by faith, trusting in God's grace to deliver.

And God did. God blessed as a result. You see, that's how God always wants us to respond to the situations that we face. Whatever situations you face right now, maybe it's relational with somebody, a relationship with someone else, or maybe it is a health-related problem. Maybe you have someone that's ill in your family or maybe you're sick. Maybe you have a financial trial, a

particular struggle that you're facing and you just don't know how to handle it. Initially, what we try and do is handle it in our own strength. Buck up, you know, stiff upper lip. We'll do it. We'll meet that thing head-on. And what usually happens is like Joseph's first trip. We fall flat. We're broken. We just, what we thought we were trusting in our resources are removed from us. Our

strength is removed from us. And we are just flat, broken before God. And that's exactly where he wants us because we then trust in his grace by faith. And the brothers come back down to Egypt. Joseph reveals who he is. After this, verse 14, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, 75 in all. And then Jacob went down to Egypt where he and his fathers died. And their bodies were

brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money. Now, what's that mean? Well, it's showing that God was faithful even after their death. God was faithful to move. God was faithful to take care of the situation after they died. God has now sent a jeep and a boat. He's shown that he

will deliver if we trust in his grace by faith. Now he sends the helicopter, verse 17. And as the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt greatly increased. Then another king who knew nothing about Joseph became ruler of Egypt. He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our forefathers by forcing them to throw out their newborn

babies so that they would die. At that time, Moses was born and he was no ordinary child. For three months, he was cared for in his father's house. And when he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him in and brought him up as her own son. Now, you know that story too. They knew that story well. It was old hat to them. They knew where Moses came from. They knew the story behind Moses.

But Stephen began telling that in such a way as to bring about, again, the evidences of God's grace. And they're trusting in his grace by faith. You remember the story that at the time Moses was born, the pharaohs had come and gone and there was a pharaoh now that was ruling in Egypt that didn't remember Joseph, didn't know.

In a way that if a male child was born, they were forced to take that child and throw him into the river, take him and throw him into the Nile, that they could deplete the population of Israel, of the nation of Israel that was living there in Egypt. Well, Moses was born and God's grace intervened and the midwives that delivered him refused to throw him in the river. And they trusted God and God blessed them with children. You remember the story. Well,

Moses was placed in a basket on some fields and he was on some reeds and sent down the river by his sister. His sister followed the basket and it ended up being brought in by Pharaoh's daughter and Moses was then raised in the house of the pharaoh. And for 40 years, it says in the next verse, he was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. They couldn't have planned that. Stephen

setting him up. It was God's grace and their faith, trusting the Lord, that even allowed Moses to live. Verse 23, when Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites and he saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian. So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.

You remember that when Moses was found by Pharaoh's daughter, Moses' sister came running up and asked if she wanted a woman to be able to nurse the child. And she said yes. So she went and got Moses' mother. And so the whole time Moses was growing up, his mother was there and nursing him and then educating him as he became able to understand about his history, about his heritage, about the fact that God had promised to send a deliverer and that God had spared Moses' life. And

you know how we are. Well, if A equals B, then A plus B must equal C. If God's planned to send a deliverer and God spared my life and I'm in Pharaoh's household, i.e., I must be the deliverer. And so Moses went out to try and deliver his people in his own strength. Again, that's what we do all the time, isn't it? We're going to help somebody. By golly, we're going to go out there and

help them in our own strength. We're going to go out and do this. We're going to do it in our own strength. We're going to start this work and it's going to be in our, you know, we're going to go out head full of steam. And I see some of the guys that are coming out of the Bible college and they're ready to go out and plant a church, you know, and they're ready for all this wonderful activity of God's miracles and blessing,

and they don't realize what's ahead. And they go out there and they try and they try to do revivals, and they try to build a church, and they try to start programs, and they just fizzle out like a 4th of July Roman candle. And that's it. And that's the way we we tend to do everything, is in our own strength at first. And that's what Moses did. He goes out and kills this Egyptian that was

beaten up on an Israelite. And then the next day, verse 26, he comes on two Israelites who were fighting. And he tried to reconcile them by saying, men, you are brothers. Why do you want to hurt each other? The man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, who made you ruler and judge over us? You want to kill me? Did you kill the Egyptian yesterday? When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled

as a foreigner, and had two sons. Ran away, broken, finally in Midian for 40 years. After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush. Now, you're going to see that several times in this section. An angel appeared to Moses in the flames. An angel gave the law unto Moses. An angel spoke to Moses. But as you even read through this text, you'll find that that is a reference to

God. God's going to speak to Moses through the burning bush. You'll see this reference to an angel, Angelos, and the Greek is simply a messenger. It's simply the word for messenger. In Hebrews, it's interesting, the book of Hebrews, because it mentions that the law was given to us by angels. Now, some people kind of, you know, fizzle out on that. They go, I don't know, were

angels there? Probably, because God was there, and the angels are there, you know, the cherubim around, surrounding him. But this is probably a reference to what is called a pre-incarnate picture of Christ, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, or a Christophany in the Old Testament, where Jesus actually appeared to Moses. When Moses received the tablets, and he says he received them from an angel, we see Jesus many times in the Old Testament mentioned as the angel of the Lord.

Joshua was coming up on Jericho, and the angel of the Lord's hosts Midian. That's a picture of Jesus in the Old Testament, before he was born in the flesh. And so this is probably what he's referring to here.

will send you back to Egypt. Here in this brief history of Moses, Stephen is bringing out some magnificent truths about doing things in our own strength, or trusting in the grace of God by faith, and realizing that God will deliver. Three things I want you to underline or circle in your Bible, if you haven't gotten them done already, is there in verse 34, where he says that God says, I have indeed seen the oppression of my people. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to set them free. The responses of God. God said he'd seen the

oppression. He'd heard their groanings, and he's responding. He's come to set them free. That's the way God responds to his people. That's the way he responds to... When you pray, many times you don't think God hears or is responding, because you don't see any immediate activity. But know, brothers and sisters, that if Jesus Christ is truly your personal Lord and Savior, if you have

asked him to come into your life and set you free, cleanse you from your sin, that every time you... He even knows your thoughts. But every time you pray, he sees your oppression. He sees what you're going through. He's heard your groanings, and he's come to deliver you, to bring you through whatever it is that you face, just as he did with Moses, as Moses trusted by faith in God's grace.

That's exactly what God does today. Same way. Verse 35, this is the same Moses whom they had rejected with the words, who made you ruler and judge? He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt, and he did wonders and miraculous signs in Egypt at the Red Sea and for 40 years in the desert. Now, something else you can notice, and it's a repetition.

Back in verse 23, it says Moses was 40 years old. So he had been raised in Pharaoh's household for 40 years. Then down after he is rejected by his people and he runs to Midian, verse 30 shows us he spent 40 years on the backside of the desert in Midian. And now we see in verse 36 that he spent 40 years in the wilderness leading the children of Israel. Pastor Chuck Smith brings out an

exciting application of this in line with what we're talking about, about trusting God's grace. You see, Moses didn't trust in God's grace at the beginning either. He knew that God had called for a deliverer, and he was saved from destruction, so he must be the deliverer, and he went out in his own strength to deliver. And so he spent 40 years in Pharaoh's palace thinking he was something. But the people rejected him, and so he fled to Midian, the

backside of the desert, and was a shepherd. And for 40 years he realized he was nothing. But then God called him and sent him to lead out the children of Israel, and he spent 40 years then in the wilderness with God, God showing him that he can take nothing and make something out of it. And that's exactly what God does with us, especially by the time we get to be, no offense, teenagers, that's about the point where we think we know it all. I remember, I

was there, I remember exactly how I felt. I felt like my parents had lost it somewhere, you know. They were off in the twilight zone, and I knew what was happening, and I knew what I needed, and I knew where I wanted to go, and they were simply hindering my progress. And as soon as I could, I was going to book it for the places that I knew were where I needed to be, because I knew it. I

could see, I could understand these things. Why couldn't they? And so I spent X amount of years like Moses thinking I was something. And then I hit the walls with alcohol, and I flunked out of college, and I was in a period of despair realizing I was nothing. And then the Lord reached down, and by his grace showed me who Jesus was. And I reached out by faith and embraced that. And he spent the

rest of his time now showing me that he can take nothing and do something with it. And that's what he does with each of us. That's what he did with Moses, and Stephen's showing them that. And that he sent Moses back, now not in his own

received living words to pass on to us. But, verse 39, our fathers refused to obey him. Now here he's answering their first charge, as far as Moses is concerned, that he's blasphemed Moses. Or he's answering their second charge, I'm sorry, that he has blasphemed, yeah, I'm sorry. The first charge is he begins answering concerning Moses back in verse 20 about blaspheming Moses. Now he's

answering the second charge, which is actually, it actually has to do with the law, that he's blasphemed the law. It says it's been handed down through angels, but our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him, and in their hearts, they turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt, we don't know

what has happened to him. That was a time they, our fathers, made an idol in the form of a calf, and they brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. So here he says, they had the law, but they rejected it. They had the word of God, but they rejected the word of God

and sought to really make themselves God when they made the idols in the desert, made the golden calf in the desert. And really, that hasn't changed at all. I'm sure you've been aware of in the news this past week about the geneticist, the physicist who says that he intends to clone a human within the next year and a half, physicist Richard Seed. Been interviewed on the different programs.

He's been interviewed by different periodicals. The story was even carried in the Traveler. And the quote that really stuck out to me was where they quoted Dr. Seed as saying, quote, I've said many times that you can't stop science. God made man in his own image. God intended for man to become one with God. Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA is the first serious step in becoming

one with God. They've had the law. They've had the word of God, but they've rejected it, turning in their own hearts again to idols. So we see the same thing happening today. And then Stephen quotes from the book of Amos here. He says, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 40 years in the desert, O house of Israel? You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your God

Rephin, the idols you made to worship. Therefore, I will send you into exile beyond Babylon. Let me let me split this in half because he talks. He's talking about two separate things that they did. They brought him sacrifices and offerings and they've lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of Rephin. I want to talk about those things for just a second as he brings those up. What

does he mean when he says when he quotes Amos is saying, did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 40 years in the desert, O house of Israel? If you go back to Amos chapter five, you read that and you find that God is saying more or less, why? Why? What was your purpose? Why did you do it? I mean, you were just going through the ritual of the thing. You were just bringing the

sacrifices, but your heart wasn't in it. Your heart was back in Egypt in the Washington post on the 28th of December. There was an article called that's neat stuff. It says, while most of us realize that there is a church to meet the needs of every type of person, sometimes you have to wonder if things have possibly gone too far. James Kelly of Washington DC is part of a small

group in his local church who are enthusiastic Episcopalians who say they do not believe in God. We all love the incense, the stained glass windows, the organ music, the vestments and all of that. It's drama. It's aesthetics. It's the ritual. That's neat stuff. I don't want to give all that up just because I don't believe in God, said Kelly. We come here and there's neat stuff. We

like the worship, like the music. We like the casualness. You can even wear shorts here. We like the fellowship. We like it that they don't pass a plate. We like all that stuff, but still sitting here there are those who like all the stuff and they come. They don't believe in God. They've never trusted in his grace by faith. They trust in the mark of the covenant. I've been baptized. I

take communion. They like the stuff, but they've never trusted in God's saving

you've lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your God, Refin. And if you're reading King James, it says you've lifted up the tabernacle of Molech and that's accurate. And that's more of the play on words that Stephen was looking for. Because if you look down in verse 44, he talks about our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony. So he's contrasting the two tabernacles. The

word tabernacle in the Greek means to dwell, to dwell. So what he's saying here is you brought the sacrifices. You like the stuff. You came and did the ritual, but your hearts were dwelling in the tents of Molech. You were dwelling in Molech. Remember Molech was the God of pleasure in the land of the Canaanites, the God of pleasure, sensual fulfillment, immorality. Let me read you another

article. It's from the Colorado Springs Gazette. It says a recent poll released by the Pew Research Center reported that 71% of Americans believe in the existence of God. 71%. Ten years ago, the figure was 60%. Hallelujah. 11% more people believe in God now than they did 11 years ago or 10 years ago. The poll also found that 53% believe that prayer is important to daily life, while only

41% made that same claim in 1987. So 12% more people in this country evidently pray more now than they did back in 1987. The article goes on to say, but at the same time, the United States is in the midst of a morality crisis. Americans lack a moral framework, said radio talk show host Laura Schlesinger on a recent Meet the Press. She also said that, quote, the clergy bears responsibility too. I

yell at the clergy all the time. I think the clergy, with all due respect, have become more like camp counselors than leaders. What they're doing is saying, I want the people to come back next week. You can't challenge them too much, can't ask too much, can't tell them that religion demands something of them. God does demand something of you. And since they're not doing that, it's like the

inmates are running the institution, end quote. So we have an increased response in people who say they believe in God and pray, and yet we have a morality crisis in our country. It's because the people are bringing the sacrifices, but their hearts are dwelling in the tents of Molech. The people are coming here because they like the stuff, but then they go out and live like the world to fulfill their sensual desires, living in immorality, cohabitation without the

referencing the fact that they're looking to the stars for their deliverance, for their guidance, for their wisdom rather than to the Lord. And woe is me. Could we be doing that today? All the emphasis on extraterrestrial, UFO, something out there that's from another star. Definitely not God. Some other intelligence out there. Same thing happened today that Stephen's accusing

our forefathers of going through. Our fathers had the tabernacle. Now he's coming into their other charge about the fact that he blasphemes the holy place. Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony with them in the desert. They had it right there in their midst. It had been made exactly as God directed Moses, according to the pattern they had seen. Having received the tabernacle,

our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations. God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built the house for him. So he's established where the tabernacle came from, turned into the temple. Now, I'm not

blaspheming that, Stephen says, but let me just tell you one thing. The Most High, verse 48, does not live in houses made by men, as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of a house will you build for me, says the Lord? Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things? They were worshiping the mark of the covenant rather than the

method God used, His grace by faith in establishing the covenant. They were worshiping the law ritual itself rather than realizing the blessing of relationship that God had shown them through the law, His grace received by faith. And they were worshiping the building rather than the God who designed it to show them how to approach Him in worship by faith in His grace. Stephen wasn't guilty of blasphemy. They were. And he says, you stiff-necked

people with uncircumcised hearts and ears, you are just like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered Him, you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it. God sent you a jeep

and a boat and a helicopter. He sent you the law and the prophets and the Redeemer Himself, but you've rejected it. You haven't obeyed it. Brothers and sisters, God has shown us in His Word how to perceive the times. We don't know the day or the hour Jesus is coming again, but He told us to be aware of the seasons. We could know the times. We could know we were in the last days. And from His Word,

we're in the last days. We know that His coming is soon. And He's warning, just as He did from the very beginning. He's warning, get ready, be prepared. And people are saying, no, I've got time. And the jeep is coming and going. Times are getting more fervent. The nations around the world are in great upheaval. The stock market this past week again plummeted as there's uncertainty in the

eastern markets. The eastern markets will affect the markets in London and in the United States. It's been like a top that's losing its speed, and eventually

and more frequently, more and more intense, look up. Your redemption is drawing nigh. Maybe there's somebody here as we close that you come because you like the stuff. You like friends you're with. You like the music. You like the casualness. You don't have to feel like you're forced to give anything. This calls for you. The helicopter's here, and this is it. Father, help us in the time

that we have.