LEARNING TO STAND ALONE
ACTS 7:54-60 Today we're talking about standing,
Now I thank God for the power that we have when we stand together. “One will chase a thousand, ten will chase ten thousand.” Thank God for the power that we have to stand together.
But wait a moment; you know the time may come when you are all by yourself. When you don't have your brothers and sisters in Christ round about you. And we're not going to be able to stand together. You're going to have to also learn to stand-alone.
The title of our message today is learning to stand-alone.
I mean there's coming a time when you are going to have to be one against the crowd. You're going to be all by yourself against great odds. It may be at school that you're going to have to stand-alone. You may have in your
college classes' atheists, agnostics for professors. You may be the only Christian in that class. You're going to have to stand up for the Lord Jesus.
Some of you will have to go back to work tomorrow you'll go back to the company and back to the office and where you stand you're going to have to stand-alone. Because there will be pornography. There will be obscenity.
There will be blasphemy. There will be dishonesty. There will be materialism.
And you as a Christian in the name of Jesus will have to stand-alone.
Some of you in your social life will have to stand-alone.
There were two couples that were out double dating and one of them
suggested that they stop at and go into a disco joint. And the young lady in the backseat said, “No I don't want to go in there. I have someone with me who would not enjoy that place.” And the boy who was with her said, “Oh, I wouldn't mind going in there.” She said, “I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about the Holy Spirit of God that is in my heart.”
There are times when we are going to have to stand alone because we are a twice born people living in a world of once born people and we're going to find ourselves standing a lone.
As we get closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we're going to find that the opposition is sharpening and the hostility is emerging more vicious and more furious than ever and we will have to stand-alone.
By the way, the Bible says that we are to stand. We are to take the whole armor of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand must stand.
Our job, our duty, our privilege is to stand for Christ.
I heard about a little boy who had a horse. And this horse was just a nag.
And a friend, an older man was kind of teasing the little boy and asking about his horse. And he said, “Son, tell me about your horse.” And the little boy loved his horse. He said, “Tell me about that horse. Can that horse run fast?” He said, “No, sir, but he can stand f a s t.”
Now listen, today that is the great need, to be able to stand fast.
The very name Stephen means crown. What a man this man was. He was one of the first deacons. The Bible says he was full of the Holy Ghost and power. And he preached one of the greatest messages ever preached. It was a message packed with spiritual dynamite and had such power and such wisdom in it that the people could not resist as we're going to see the wisdom and the power with which Stephen spoke.
Now remember he was a layman. He was a deacon, but he had mighty power. He had so much spiritual power in his life that he was able to perform miracles. Well the people were infuriated at the message of
Stephen, and they began to gnarl and to gnash their teeth and to rush on him to take his life.
Now that's the background of the passage of Scripture here and we begin reading in chapter 7, verse 54. “And when they heard these things.” Now when they heard these things it is talking about the religious leaders of that day. “They were cut to the heart.”
This is Acts 7, verse 54, “They were cut to the heart.”
You see the word of God is sharper than a two edged sword. They were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being filled with the Holy Ghost.” And that's the key. Underscore this phrase. “But he,”
that is Stephen, “being full of the Holy Ghost looked steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, Behold I see the heavens open and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice.
This is more than they can take. They stopped their ears and ran on 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.”
Now this is very important that you understand this. Saul, who is mentioned here, is later to become the Apostle Paul. And it's the key to the whole thing.
“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus received my spirit. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord; lay not this sin to their charge. Just like the Lord Jesus, when Jesus cried, he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” When they crucified Jesus. Stephen prayed for them when they stoned him. And when he had
said this he fell asleep.” That is, he died. Sleep is the Biblical description for the death of the Christian.
And so here is, is Stephen who died for the faith. And Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr. Now how was he able to do this? I mean what enabled Stephen to stand-alone and be willing to die for the lord in the midst of a viscous crowd
The Bible says that he had a face like an angel. That's the kind of a face that he had. You go back to chapter 6 and verse 15, “And all that set in the
counsel looking steadfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” What is there about this man Stephen that made his face appear to be like the face of an angel.
Well remember the Scripture that I read to you before and said he was full of the Holy Ghost?
Well look back in chapter 6 again and let's do a little review about what this man was like also.
In chapter 6, verse 3 they are selecting the first deacons and here's the requirements. Wherefore brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost.” There's that phrase again. Would you just underscore it? “Full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom you may appoint over this business.”
And verse 5, “And the saying pleased the w hole multitude and they chose Stephen.” They chose Stephen. Stephen was a man full of the Holy Ghost.
As a matter of fact, three times it said that he was full of the Holy Ghost.
I. Now, the secret to standing alone, learning to stand alone, first of all is to be full of the Holy Ghost.
What does it mean to be full of the Holy Ghost? To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be filled with God. Now I want to ask you a question. Are you filled with the Holy Ghost? If you are not, you will never learn to stand-alone for the Lord Jesus. The secret is to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Every Christian ought to be consciously filled with the Holy Ghost. Now don't get the idea that to be filled with the Holy Ghost is something for some few Christians, for the preacher for the evangelist, for the missionary, for the special singer.
ACTS 2:39 The promise is unto you and your children and as many as the Lord our God shall call.” And the Bible commands every one of us to be filled with the Spirit in EPHESIAN 5:18.
And if you're not filled with the Spirit you're disobedient to God. Sometimes we get the idea that a, a spirit filled Christian; he's a super Christian. He's different from the rest of us.
Friend, the average Christian may not be filled with the Holy Spirit, but the normal Christian is.
There was a shoeshine boy, he was shining shoes and a man said to him,
“Son, what's the average tip that you get.” He said, “One dollar.” The man thought that was kind of high, but he gave him a dollar. The shoeshine boy scratched his head and said, “Sir, you're the first man to ever come up to the average.”
I want to tell you something friend that we're not talking about the average, we're talking about the normal Christian. The normal Christian is someone who's been filled with the Holy Ghost.
Now what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit Well when you get saved the Holy Ghost comes into you. The Bible says in Romans 8, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his you don't even belong to Jesus if you don't have the holy Spirit in you because when you are saved you become a partaker of the divine nature and that divine nature is the Holy Spirit in you.
But listen, when you get saved he comes in as resident, but when you are filled he becomes president.
Now, it's one thing for you to have the Holy Ghost. It's quite another thing for the Holy Ghost to have you.
To be filled with the Holy Ghost means not only does he abide, but he
presides, he controls your life. And when he controls your life there are three other things that you are going to be full of. Now when you are filled with the Holy Ghost there are three other things that you are going to be full of and that's going to be the secret of standing alone.
Now I want you to notice, notice if you will, in chapter 6, verse3, “Wherefore brethren, look ye out among you, seven men full of the Holy Ghost,” now watch this, “and wisdom.” And wisdom. All right, when you are filled with the Holy Ghost you're going to be filled with wisdom.
Now notice in verse 8, “And Stephen, full of faith.” When you are filled with the Holy Spirit you're going to be filled with faith. “And power.” When you are filled with the Holy power you're going to be filled with power.
All right, do you have it? Filled with the Holy Spirit and because you're filled with the Holy Ghost you're filled with wisdom, filled with faith, and you're filled with power.
Now when you have that wisdom, the power, and the faith, then and only then are you able to stand-alone for God.
II. To stand alone, we need to be filled with wisdom to speak for Christ.
Now notice chapter 6 and verse 10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.”
Do you see that? Underscore it. They were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Now as you study the seventh chapter of this book of Acts you're going to find out that he gave a tremendous message.
And his message was a review of Bible history. It's a short course on Bible history.
Well anybody can memorize the facts of the Bible if they have a half way intelligent mind, but it's not his knowledge that they are talking about, it is his wisdom. Here was a man who had unusual, supernatural wisdom.
Where did he get that wisdom? It was a supernatural gift that had come from God. I mean they couldn't withstand the wisdom. It's not that this man had a PhD from the university.
He was just an ordinary man. These people were just common, ordinary people, but God gave them, this wisdom.
Luke 21, verses 12-15. Luke 21, verse 12, “But before all these things they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you. That means they are going to treat you rotten. When they lay their hands on you that means they begin to snatch you around. “They shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the
synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my names sake.”
That is, they are going to come get you. You are going to be brought before the magistrate. And it's because you love the Lord Jesus. It's because you won't bend, budge and bow that they are going to bring you.
And Jesus said, in verse 13 “And it shall turn to you for a testimony.”
This is going to be your big opportunity. You, Mr. Average Christian are going to have a chance to preach a message. You're going to be before the court. You're going to be in prison. You're going to be before the religious leaders and you're going to have to speak. You say, “Pastor, I am not ready.
I don't know what I'd say.” Suppose they say, “Deny Christ or we'll kill you.
Deny Christ or we'll kill your children. Deny Christ or we'll put you in prison.
Deny Christ are we'll take your goods.' You say, “Pastor, I don't know what I'd say.”
Jesus said, in verse 14 “Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you should answer.”
Don't go to bed and, and think tonight, “Oh, what would I say, oh, what would I say.” Jesus said, “Forget it. Don't worry about.” Just settle it in your
heart not to worry about it, not to meditate what to answer. And here's the promise, in verse 15 “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom.” Jesus said, “I'll do it.” When the time comes, when you need it, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist.”
I want to tell you that Scripture was fulfilled with Stephen right here. He was brought before the counsel and Jesus gave him a mouth and Jesus gave him wisdom which all of his adversaries could not gainsay or resist.
You're going to have an opportunity, perhaps sooner than you realize to speak for Christ. And you're not going to be prepared. There's no university that can prepare you. There's no seminary that can prepare you. But Jesus will supernaturally equip you and endow you and you're going to be amazed at what you hear yourself say. You're going to say, “Did I say that.” The Lord is going to give you the tongue of the learned.
ISAIAH 50:4 THE LORD HATH GIVEN ME THE TONGUE OF THE LEARNED, THAT I SHOULD KNOW HOW TO SPEAK A WORD IN SEASON TO HIM THAT IS WEARY: HE WAKENATH MORNING BY MORNING, HE WAKENETH MINE EAR TO HEAR AS THE LEARNED.
And you will hear things coming out of your mouth that are going to be supernatural. I want to remind you that the life of this man Stephen was a supernatural life. God gave him wisdom to speak for Christ and the Bible says they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
When you're filled with the Holy Ghost of God He's going to give you wisdom to speak. Now they may not like it at first, but still we'll give the message.
They didn't like it when Stephen spoke with wisdom. You know Jesus said,
“You are the salt of the earth.” He said, “Let your speech always be
seasoned with salt.” Now we know that salt preserves and salt cleanses and salt flavors, but I'll tell you something else salt does. It irritates, doesn't it.
Have you ever rubbed salt in a cut? It burns. And when you rub the salt of the gospel in the putrefying wounds of this old world they are going to hurt.
These people didn't like it, because what Stephen said was right. They couldn't resist the wisdom that he had. That salt will take it's effect. Now dear friend, salt at first may irritate, but it also penetrates and it also purifies. Thank God for the gospel, the wisdom that God gives us to stand alone and To speak for Christ.
But now listen, not only was he full of wisdom to speak for Christ,
III. He was full of power to stand for Christ.
Notice over here if you will please in Acts chapter 7, verse 51. ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your father's did, so do you. Which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted, and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just One of whom you have now been the betrayers and the murderers.”
Can you imagine that? He's standing before the counsel. He's standing before those who have the power to put him to death. And they eventually did put Him to death. They stoned him. But here he is with great courage.
Oh, he's speaking; he has the power to stand for Christ knowing that he's going to get in trouble. Knowing that it's not going to be easy with him. He's not taking the easy way out.
2 TIMOTHY 1:7 FOR GOD HATH NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF FEAR;
BUT OF “ POWER “, AND OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND.
Well you say, “He had a lot of courage naturally.” NO he didn't. He was just like you. Nobody likes the idea of being persecuted and put to death, and, and, and having people to be their enemies. Nobody likes that idea.
Let me tell you what Courage, Courage is fear that has said it's prayers.
You see, courage, real courage is not so much the absence of fear as it is the mastery of fear. Here is a man who has supernatural courage. So he's not afraid to tell the truth.
I heard of a man in a court of law he had been he had been battered and bruised and beat up by a man. And both of them were there in the
courtroom and the judge was trying to identify the assailant and he says to the victim, “Would you describe the man that beat you up.” He said, “No your honor, I'd rather not do that.” He said, “That's what I was doing when he beat me up.”
What Stephen is doing here is describing them. He says, “You stiff necked, you're uncircumcised in heart and ears, you resist the Holy Ghost, as your fathers did, so do you.”
But he is standing and he's standing alone.
Again, like his wisdom was supernatural, his courage was supernatural.
Matthew chapter 10 and verse 28 Here's what Jesus said, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, “but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
If you kneel before God you can stand before any man. That's the reason I said courage is just fears that is said it's prayers. Listen don't fear them.
Don't be afraid of them. “Well,” you say, “I'm not made that way.” Well folks, neither am I. But Stephen was a man full of the Holy Ghost. You see it was supernatural. His wisdom was supernatural. His courage was
supernatural.
Because he was filled with the Holy Ghost he was filled with wisdom.
Because he was filled with the Holy Ghost he was filled with power and therefore he could stand; he could stand alone for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now if you have fear, listen, if the devil can find fear in you, you will know that you'll never stand-alone. You will fold up when you ought to stand up.
Young Timothy was beginning to do that and the apostle Paul had to write to Timothy in II Timothy chapter 1, verse 7, and remind Timothy, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power.” You see, listen, Stephen was filled with power and therefore he was fearless. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner.
But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”
Now there's a forth thing that you'll need to stand-alone if you're going to be like Stephen. Not only did he have wisdom to speak for Christ, not only did he have power to stand for Christ, but my dear friend,
IV. He had faith to suffer for Christ.
We need Faith to suffer for Christ. The Bible also tells us that he was a man
“full of faith.”
Now, you know, we get the idea sometimes that if we are full of faith then we're not going to suffer, that our faith is going to get us out of all kind of difficulty.
Faith doesn't get you out of difficulty. It gets you into difficulty. Jesus did not come to get you out of trouble. He came to get into trouble with you. I want you to learn this. Faith will not keep you from suffering. It will enable you to suffer.
You see, here was a man who suffered. Look if you will, in verse chapter 7, verse 57, “And they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran on him in 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. And they stoned Stephen calling
upon God and saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” There's his faith, because dear friend, he knew he's seen the Lord. He understood that there's more to life than this world. And so he saw another world and that enabled him to suffer.
Now you can't suffer for Jesus if you're not that intimately acquainted with Him, if you don't know him, if you're not looking forward to life with Him.
But listen, some of us get the idea that if we take a stand for Christ that somehow God's going to deliver us and we will not suffer.
NO, I'm telling you it costs to serve Jesus. It costs every day. It costs every step of the way. It cost Stephen his life. If you're looking for a cheap way, an easy way, a lazy way to serve God, forget it.
You know, every now and then somebody says to me, “Oh this man was a great saint, a great Christian, why did he suffer?” Listen, the great question is not why some Christians suffer; the great question is why some Christians don't. For Jesus said, “All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall “suffer”
persecution.”
There are many that say I want to be Spirit filled like Peter, preach and get 3,000 people saved. Stephen was another Spirit filled man that preached, instead of 3,000 getting saved perhaps 3,000 got angry with him and stoned him. “And all that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Now let me tell you something here and I want you to pay attention. The word “witness” and the word “Martyr” are the same word in the Greek
language. Did you know that? In the Greek language witness and martyr are the same word. Now Stephen was the first Christian martyr, which is the first person to die for his faith.
He was not a martyr because he died for his faith; he died for his faith because he was a martyr.
Jesus said, “Ye shall be martyrs unto me.” You are to be my martyrs. Now whether you die or not makes no difference.
Persecution does not make martyrs. It only reveals them.
Stephen was not a martyr because he died for Christ. He died for Christ because he was a martyr. He had faith to suffer for Christ.
HEBREWS 11:32-38 32 And what shall I more say? for the time
would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the
aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins;
being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Remember Stephen was stoned? He was a man full of faith. Now you look at your pastor and I want to tell you something now if you want to stand-alone.
The great question is not do you have faith to escape. The great question is do you have faith to endure. The great question is not do you have faith to be delivered. The great question is do you have faith to die.
Stephen was a man full of the Holy Ghost and full of faith and he died and he died by faith. The great question is not do you have enough faith to be healed so you can praise God, the great question is do you have enough faith not to be healed and still praise God. Amen.
I'm not talking about faith to receive from God, but faith that is willing to endure for God. The time is coming we're going to have to stand-alone. I mean we're going to have to stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. And the way to do it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And when we are filled with the Holy Spirit we'll have wisdom to speak for Christ. We'll have power to stand for Christ. We'll have faith to suffer for Christ.
There's story of an atheist who was in a great auditorium. And he was speaking against the gospel, against Christ, against the Bible. He was a brilliant man. Learned. Charming. But he had a mind like a sharp sword and he was cutting up and slashing the Christian faith and doing a masterful job of it.
When he had finished there was a silence and then this man with a swagger about him said, “Is there anyone here who would like to stand up now and speak a word for the Christian faith?”
They all sat there with their heads bowed over until a little girl sitting up in the balcony, a teenage girl, stood up and she began to sing with a sweet and a pure voice, a melody in her heart. She began to sing this, “Stand up, stand
up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross; lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory his army shall he lead, till every foe is vanished and Christ is Lord indeed.”
By the time she'd finished singing that, there were others standing and singing with her. Some of them with tears in their eyes. She went into the second stanza. “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone;
the arm of flesh will fail you, you dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel Armor, each piece put on with prayer, where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.”
And by that time most of the people were standing and singing. And then she began the third stanza of this song. “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long. This day the noise of battle, the next the victor's song.
To him that overcomes, a crown of life shall be, he, with the king of glory shall reign eternally.”
By that time they were all standing and they were all singing and somebody said, “Where is the atheist? He had ducked his head and gone out the side door.
The time is now to stand up for Jesus. If you have to stand alone, stand- alone and let him give you wisdom to speak for Christ. Let him give you power to stand for Christ. Let him give you faith to suffer for Christ.
You look at the bruised, the broken and battered body of Stephen. It wasn't over then. He closed his eyes in sleep and the next moment Jesus was saying, “Welcome home Stephen, my martyr. Welcome home. Oh, thank you Stephen for not denying my name. Thank you, Stephen, for being true to me.”
I'll tell you something else. There was a young man there whose name was Saul who never got over what he saw. And Saul never found rest until he found rest in Jesus. And Jesus said,
“It's hard for you Saul to kick against the pricks isn't it?” And the greatest missionary and theologian that the world has ever known received life through the death of Stephen.
Stand up for Jesus!!!!
