Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 855 | Phil Wakes Up with a ‘Sizzle’ & Jase Is Triggered by an Aggressive Church Marquee

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

Phil wakes up with something special buzzing in his brain, and Jase nearly wrecks his truck trying to fathom an overly aggressive marquee sign at a church. The guys look back on past episodes with surprise at how much they’ve accomplished since the first one as they dive into the deadly sermon of Stephen. Zach points out exactly what was so heretical about it that resulted in Stephen’s death, and Al and Jase connect the similarities between the Old Testament and New Testament events. In this episode: Acts 7; 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3-4; Hebrews 3, verses 1-6; Galatians 3, verses 16-18; Ephesians 4, verses 4-6  — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashame. We've been having quite the conversation. In the five minutes that has been your days, we have had quite the conversation. I feel the need for an apology of what we should have done from the beginning. We should have started in Luke in this podcast and then gone to Acts and then gone to Ephesians. That's what we should have done. Because that's the line of thought. But what we did was we started the book of John because Jace. I'll tell you. Jace came in late to the party because Jace wasn't even originally going to be on the podcast.

But then he came late to the party. He said, we got to do John. We got to do John. I did. I was emphatic. He was emphatic. And here's why. Because I thought if or when we get canceled, let's get the book of John in.

Because I think. Jay saw this bike Jay said so much faith in you out there Unashamed Nation he thought we would last about two months his glass is half his laugh is a quarter of the way empty

he only drinks out of glasses that are happy remember this God took our or I all speak for myself my negative view that this wouldn't last long and through our listeners we love you Unashamed Nation we're changing the world

to the power of the spirit, Declaration of Jesus. Not only did we not get canceled, we picked up a hitchhiker, who was my cousin, Zach. Who was just going to be the producer. I was just going to be a fill-in guest host

was my original thing. I will say this, to all of you long-time listeners, the ones of you that have been here from the beginning, you're going to get a chuckle of this because we've been doing this now a long time. This is, what is this, man?

This is 850-something, 8-55. And it was the only good thing that I can think. think of that came out of the COVID. That's right. Because people were sitting around. It was like, I got nothing to do. We're just listening to these guys.

So the, I still, I get an email about once a week or someone sends it to me of someone that has just started. And apparently way back in like episode 50, so we're not eight hundred episodes ago, I gave my email, so they'll send me an email. And they'll say, I just started this podcast. I can't wait to see where it goes. And I just thought, oh, man, you've got the journey. So those of you who have been with us the whole time, you can chuckle because there are people that won't hear this podcast for another two years.

If you make it to the afterlife and you haven't caught up, it's not going to be playing post-reservation. Would it be available? It's over. You missed it. Yeah. It should have, I don't know. You want to get this in before the Lord comes back is what Jason is saying, because it's over then, right? right? There's no more. It is.

No more episodes. Look, I'm not a rock thrower. We talked about that last time. I told you about me driving by the sign the other day, you know. Did I, when I pulled out of the house, I was on the way down here. There was, because I always, look at these flashing signs out in front of these church buildings. Because they're put out there to attract people that don't have a live intelligence. That's why you're drawn to them.

I didn't tell you all this story? No. Maddie? All right. So the last podcast, not the last one, the one before. So when I pulled out of my house, took a left, I'm thinking about, you know, I think it was, we were in like Act 6, what were we going? And this neon sign at this older church, one of the few church buildings I have not been at. And this sign comes up, it says, hell is real.

I mean, all bold letters. And I thought, ooh. And then I started looking at my rear view mirror, and I'm going through the little roundabout now. So now I'm putting my life in jeopardy because I thought, surely it doesn't end there. And I thought, look at the rear view mirror. I'm looking at the side mirror. And it says, repent now and follow Jesus. At least we got Jesus.

As you're entering the roundabout. And look, I don't necessarily disagree with that. No, it's true. But I'm just saying that doesn't make me want to pull in there and check it out because it's a little careful. The only thing less inviting than that sign into a church, and I've seen a few around town, is the chains up to keep people from driving into your parking lot except in your meeting time. I'm just going to tell you guys, I mean, like, it's just my opinion because you can do what you want. But chains on the parking lot do not say you're a welcome here. it's not a good look.

So I know some of you have done it. Maybe you had some people running around in your parking lot. I get it. Maybe you just had some long-term parkers there. If you're listening to this and there's a chain over your parking lot, I'm just telling you from Al's perspective, you are saying, do not come here. It's a fascinating thought, Al, because like when I need gas and I see bars on the window.

Or that yellow tape around the thing? I usually take my chances for the next place. Because I'm thinking if they have to put bars on the window, I'm just not sure I want to stop in here and get some gas because somebody might knock me in a head. I just don't think it's a good look, but it's totally my opinion. Because I know somebody's going to send me in nothing. You don't understand. These kids came in and, you know, tore up our grass. I know there's stuff that happens, but I'm just saying you want to be welcoming if you're trying to get people to come.

Well, I could chase a rabbit here so bad. I heard a. This is like an old dog down. Well, I mean, look, it's difficult to study acts. You have all these miracles going on. Stephen has the face of an angel. So when you start reading, you're like, well, are these things still happening? And people love to discuss these types of issues, you know, angels, miracles.

And I was listening to my old buddy McGuigan, who came from the church. of Christ, they've got to kind of where the... He was an instructor in the school that sort of birthed our school. So Jay's and I go way back with him. He told the funniest story. And the reason I've always liked him is because he helped me early in my faith, just listening to his material, helped me to understand that this is about a person in the Bible.

I have the Bible. I'm holding the Bible. This is about a being. And he's really focused on Jesus. And I don't know, he's the first person I ever heard speak that really got that point through. And his humor is kind of like mine. He never tries to be funny. But he says things that, and he's serious, but since I've listened to a lot of his stuff,

I can tell he's being funny without really acting like he's. It's almost like he's facetious. And he told the funniest story, because I was looking at all this. I said, I'm sure we're going to get into all this about do miracles happen today? And what is the definition of miracles? And it was kind of the same thing we've talked about before. That was kind of his lecture on it. So I felt good about that because I thought, well, he has the same problem.

But he told this story. He said, you know, he said, I don't have time to talk about nonsense. I want to tell you this story, though. And he said, but there was a guy who had done some work. in the Bible and I said I like the work he was doing so I kept listening to it he said but then he told me this story and he said I'm watching the program here and he says that he's driving down the road and all of a sudden his car starts having trouble and he doesn't know why at the moment and he and it just it stops running so he has to pull over on the side of the road well he looks down and he

realizes that he's at a, well, he said petrol. Maybe it was the way he was so. So I started getting chuckly, you know, and he said so, and he's fixed to go speak to a group of people. And he says, so the fellow, he's telling his story now. And, uh, and like I say, I'm impressed with him. And so I'm like, where's this going? And he said, then the fella, I'm not lying. This is what he says. He realized he's in a, he's in a tough spot here because he's out of petrol. And so he says, so I laid my hands on my car and prayed. And he said, then I got around in the driver's seat and he said, wouldn't you know it? It cranked up.

And he said, he took off driving. And he said, I'm listening to this story. And I want to believe him. He said, and I don't want to be rude. He said, but I got to tell you. The thought that went through my mind was, this guy's a ball-faced liar. He said, because not only did he drive, he's telling the story now, he drove that car for a week without petrol. And he says, I got to tell you, the man is a preacher.

He believes that that happened. He said, but I don't think it did. And I know it did. And he said, but I want to be charitable. So he said, I got to tell you. I think that man dreamed that. And it was such a vivid of a dream. So I tell you that, and it was about the hardest I've ever laughed in my life listening.

And I can imagine it in that Irish brogue makes it even funnier. It was. But his point was, look, don't miss the forest for the trees. I don't believe that happened either. And I'm fine by saying that. And what is the purpose of that? When you look at the purpose of the miracles, and there have been a lot of miracles. We have people speaking languages that they haven't studied in Acts 3.

People they were crippled for 40 years. And they continue to happen. But what you tend to see here is the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the miraculous gifts. And we can go through the definition of that at a later podcast. It doesn't mean that they didn't happen. We know that they happen, and we're reading about them, and we believe that they happen. And part of McGuigan's point of that whole lecture, because I feel like I've chased this rabbit, I need to at least give you his point.

But he was saying, when someone makes extraordinary supernatural claims like Jesus is, they need to back it up. When you make a claim that is supernatural and extraordinary, which is what Jesus did, and which is where we're at in Stephen's sermon. He believes that Jesus is the son of God and why? Because he made extraordinary claims. He fulfilled the law. He's the fulfillment of the tabernacle,

whatever you want to insert there, and he proved it by doing these supernatural acts. It wasn't like the gas in the car. I mean, he was healing people, but everything he did was to give you a glimpse of what God's power can do. All the miracles he did, they were great things. It showed his character, his deep-known character that he did

on loan from the Father via the Holy Spirit. And so that was the purpose of them. When you read Hebrews 2, it says that. So I just wanted to throw that in. We don't want to get sidetracked into not thinking that God doesn't work supernationally. He does. We pray and things happen.

But a miracle is something that's self-evident. It's something that would happen that you would say, there's no way this fits into the law of nature or physics. Like that, if that would have happened, if the gas would have been, you know, magically appeared, that would have been a miracle. Yeah. But I don't think it happened.

It doesn't reveal the character of God. And I think it's a rabbit chase. Because even the case where the people, in Acts we've been talking about, they couldn't deny the miracles performed, the guys that everybody had seen laying there for 40 years and now they're running around. They were like, we can't deny that, but we don't want this thing to spread. So they couldn't deny the miracle, but in their case, they still couldn't come to Jesus over the situation, but you can't deny the miracle.

The guys up running around. And Jesus talked about that a number of times. He'd say, why didn't you at least believe the signs? Remember when he said that? Yeah. Yeah. You should. And that's why I've made this statement.

I want to reiterate it and then Zach can rebut me. But the reason Jesus is better than miracles is two reasons. Because everybody who had the miracle, they eventually died. Yep. So that's one. And number two is because Jesus is alive. The resurrection, which is the theme, the death, barrel, and resurrection of Jesus is the theme of the message of the book of Acts.

He's alive. It is, in essence, the miracle that never stop, because it continues on to this very day. Let's take our first book. All right, Zach, go. I don't remember what I was going to say now. You were so many. He was so overwhelmed, Jay's by your path.

What does this have to do with Stephen? The reason, I guess, maybe the Holy Spirit, put this on my heart, is because we're fixing to read a story and a sermon that happened, and Stephen dies at the end. Well, why didn't he just save him? Yeah, because he does. Because he's already saved the other ones on more than one occasion, and will again.

Peter was tapped for execution when we get to chapter 12, and he sends an angel in to let him out. But he didn't, Stephen. There was a purpose here. And he gets now, go ahead, that. You remember what you doing? I do remember what I was going to say. I was going to say that when you look at the nature of the miracle throughout the entire New Testament, to your point, a lot of times they didn't believe the sign.

And so you would, you think that, man, if I only had that kind of evidence, I would believe. And it's just not true. Like, I mean, these people in the face of incredible miracles, a lot of these people are like, nope. In fact, some of them actually believe the miracle, but then they're, they attributed the work of the miracle to the devil because they couldn't deny the miracle. So they were so bent on preserving their own way and their own power structure that they were like, no, I see the miracle and it's impossible to deny the miracle. But you're actually doing that by the power of the devil as opposed to the Holy Spirit,

which that's what Jesus called blasphemy. And the reason why he said it was unforgivable, because if the role of the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus is to deliver the believer into all truth. It's to make what's God's known to us. And so if I reject the Holy Spirit, if I say I'm basically I reject the way that you're going to present truth to me, then there's no way that I can ever possibly find any real repentance or or anything. Because I'm not,

I'm rejecting the revelation that God would give me about any given situation, particular in my own situation, that I'm guilty before this holy God and that he offers forgiveness to me and he offers an invitation into his kingdom. And if I reject that, I'm rejecting the way that God's telling me, then, yeah, how would I ever be forgiven? There's no way that I'm going to turn to him. I'm saying, because it's like this. It's like he said, hey, here's the invitation of my kingdom. Here's the pathway in.

And then you're like, well, prove it. And then he proves it. You're like, no, I don't believe that. And you're sticking your fingers in your ear. You can't, if you, it's ultimately what it is, it's a rejection of truth. But we think that, man, if I just had those miracles. And then we go off. And I do think it's a problem in the Western Church is we seek the miracles for validation.

And we miss the main, the one that they're pointing to, which is synonymous with what's happening here. And it is, that's Stephen's message, basically. You've missed all this was pointing to him. and you focused on the thing, on the prophet, on Abraham, on Jacob, but you missed the one that he was, they were all pointing to you, you just missed him. Well, Jason has made this point before. If I believe in the miracles that are just in the Bible, I got plenty of good stuff I can believe in.

Oh, that's me. It impacted me in such a way. I've lived my whole life for the kingdom. So I don't, I mean, not that if a miracle happens, that's great. I mean, it'll just make me even stronger. But I got plenty to go from even here. I got asked that on stage. one night after I spoke somebody from the audience they were doing a Q&A and they were like do you

believe in miracles and I said absolutely I'd have big chunks of pages ripped out of my Bible if I didn't they're everywhere but then I explain it's the definition of the word which was McGuigan's point that causes us trouble you know when we we pray for someone I mean even I'm praying from my mom you know she's been in the hospital you know it wasn't looking good there for for a while yeah she's doing a lot better And so I attribute a lot of that to just the amount of people praying. Yep. And I'm like, yeah, I mean, it's exciting that you think, well, God's answering our prayer.

I wouldn't call that a miracle in the context of what a miracle was in the book of Acts. Or Hebrews, too, where it says this salvation came and they were confirmed by miracle, signs, and wonders, which he did among you. They were signposts. They were exercises of defiance to the laws of physics and nature that only God could do based on the claims that he made. But the greatest miracle was the resurrection of the dead by Jesus. I mean, because that shows you no matter what happens. It also helps explain why he's called us to suffer. it helps explain why when Stephen died, it actually, God used that because you literally see it to fulfill the Great Commission.

That persecution broke out, which all these things are bad for the believers in the short term, but it was fantastic for people like us 2,000 years down the road because the Word of Jesus spread because of that persecution. That's right. But think about it from Stephen's perspective, Stephen, as we have established, was a deacon. I mean, he was a guy tapped to do a task, help the church. He obviously had a lot going on because he was full of a lot of things. Remember we talked about full of grace, full of power, full of faith. He had all these things that were there. He was full of the Holy Spirit. But as a preacher, I mean, we hadn't read about Stephen preaching any time up until this point, but as a preacher, as a proclamer, I mean, I can't think. have a better way to go. You gave them your best sermon. You gave them the best thing you had, and at the end of it, they killed you. And you looked up into heaven and said, that's where I'm headed. I mean, is there a better way to go for a proclaimer than to go out with your best thing? I mean, it's like... Well, he certainly seemed to have... Would it be better in your bed late at night when you're old? And I think this is key, because we're talking about miracles, but, like, again, it could be anything of God. It could be the Old Testament prophets and the

prophecies. It could be the law. It could be the Bible itself. Like you can, you can elevate these things above the person of Christ, and then you miss him. And that is the point of Stephen's sermon here, his response here. And I actually encountered this when we were going through, we were preaching out of Isaiah. And one of my sermons, I had made this case out of Isaiah that he was talking about the coming destruction of the temple in 8070. And I had this gentleman came up to me and subtly, maybe not so subtly, rebuked me and basically told me that. Well, was it subtle or not so subtle?

It wasn't that subtle. You're trying to be nice. I get it. Well, he was like, yeah, you're preaching out of context. And I was like, well, no, I'm not. He said, yeah, you are. You're using the New Testament to interpret the book of Isaiah. I'm like, yeah?

He's like, that's out of context. I'm like, that's the whole point of the New Testament. And it's what Stephen's doing here. He's interpreting all of Israel's history, all of their stuff through the lens of Jesus. I'm like, if you're not interpreting the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament, I would say you're out of context. You're not interpreting it correctly. We interpret the Bible. We interpret the Old Testament prophecies through the lens of Jesus.

And we can't, I mean, I can't overstate that enough. He said, where did you get that from? well, we got it from, one of the guys we got it from was a guy named Stephen who reached this message here. And so made sense of the whole thing. You're reading, you're like, oh, yeah, of course that's what it meant. You know, you don't see it until you see it, though. Yeah, but I think. Well, Jason read Romans 1, 16.

I mean, it can't, everything flowed through the Jewish people because that's how God decided to do it. Because he wanted us to have a record of this and he laid it out. But it's always been about Jesus. Well, look. Jew first, Gentile next, all of us. That's where I was going with this. It seemed like I was chasing a rabbit. But when I read Acts 7 in his speech,

it was nothing we didn't know. But look, think back to what happened in Israel. Were there miracles back then? Sure. We had a donkey talking. That would have been enough for me. What's a donkey starts using the English language? which I'm like, whoever's riding this donkey, I'm following him.

That's what you would think. But what did the nation? We had a bottle of oil that never ran out. And every time they get up in the morning, it was full, like a petro in a car. The Red Sea, and I've gone over and looked at it, once that thing parted, I'm like, okay. Somebody here has got some powers that I need to pursue. And so you'd think, well, how come they didn't work? as a nation what'd they do they turn their back oh god over they forgot so why do we fast forward here

and they're so yeah that jesus is cool but let's talk about some miracles you know there's obviously a disconnect the miracles pointed to a being that being which jesus described which is a complex being because when Jesus said, go out and the whole world and preach the good news, whoever make disciples all nations, baptizing them the name of the Father, son, the Holy Spirit, which sounds like three,

but it's one God with three, however you want to describe that. It's a relationship-oriented aspect of finding God. That's why we say Jesus is better than miracles. They were pointing to him. I want to read this because you do see the apostle Paul, who saw in this moment, and I do think he carries on Stephen's methodology and how he presents the kingdom.

I mean, listen to how he opens the book of Romans, because we were talking about Stephen going back and reinterpreting the history of the Jews in the context of Jesus. But listen to how Paul begins his letter to the Romans. He says, Paul is serving of Christ Jesus called to be an apostle. set apart for the gospel of God. This is verse 2, which he promised beforehand through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by His resurrection from the dead,

Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations, including you who are being called belong to Christ Jesus. I mean, he anchors the beginning of Romans in what was written beforehand through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son. So he's about to go, Paul is going to take the same thing Stephen's doing. It's like, I'm going to go back to the Holy Prophets, or what the prophets said beforehand through the Holy Scriptures.

And now we're going to, I'm going to tell you what all of that meant. What it was all about, it was all concerning his son. Jesus, but these people were so focused on Abraham and Moses, which is why, by the way, their accusation was what? I do find it interesting. Their accusation was that he spoke against Moses and God. Moses first? Why not God first?

They secretly instigated the men who said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And so what he's going back is he's saying, well, let me tell you about Moses. Let me tell you about Abraham. Let me tell you about Jacob. But let me tell you about all the places, the promised land. Let me tell you about the temple. And then what he's doing is, as he's telling them about their patriarchs, telling them about their history, the whole time, he's just got one big finger pointing right to Jesus.

He said, it was all about Jesus. Love it. I'm going to see that and raise it. First Caribbean 15, one of the most famous passages in the Bible that we can all quote. and there's three little words, well, four, if you count the preposition, that we neglect. It says in verse three and four, first Corinthians 15, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. What scriptures are you talking about? Yeah.

That he was raised according to the scriptures, verse four. What scriptures are he talking about? He's not talking about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. they had been written it. What scriptures is he talking about? So let me read you this in Hebrews 3, which goes into the context of Stephen's sermon. So in Hebrews 3, in verse 1,

it says, Holy Brothers who share in the heavenly calling, that's the kind of calling you want to be involved in. Fix your thoughts on Jesus. The apostle and high priest whom we confess, he was faithful to the one, who appointed him just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Because this is the charge here.

You're blaspheming against Moses and God. And here's verse three, which is what led to Stephen's death. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses. That kind of statement would get you killed in that environment. That's right. Just as, I love this, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. Well, what's he talking about? Jesus is part of the Godhead.

He built this in Moses to reveal himself. That's his point. Verse four, every house is built by someone. That's a profound statement. Because it has a design. You know someone built it. But God is the builder of everything. This is about Jesus.

This is about a being. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house. That's right. Oh, man. I mean, that's just, that is one of the most profound statements.

in the Bible. We are God's house. It's not a building. We go to the building and say, oh, let's welcome God in. We are his house. He was there when you were driving. You were driving as part of the house of God. Yep. Because you house the Holy Spirit. Did you make a good point? Because Hebrews was written. Basically, it was Stephen's sermon written in a whole letter. for all the Jewish people. That was the purpose of the book of Hebrews. So since you raised, I'll call your raise. Re-raise. And re-raise back to Acts 7, which the reason why that Stephen starts with Abraham

is the same reason that Paul spent so much time talking about him in Romans 4 and in Galatians 3, and others that Jace has raised also in Hebrews 11, is that the interesting thing about it is that God introduces the concept of faith, from the very beginning before law came about, before the tabernacle, before the temple. What was there? It was faith. And so the whole story of Abraham is a picture of faith.

This was a man who had no heirs, who had no children, who had gotten too old to have children, along with his wife, and was given promises that could only have been seen through the heirs. So when you get over here to Galatians chapter 3, that's why Paul would write this. That's why I told you that little nugget that I read in the last podcast from Acts. 7, verse 5 about this, who are the heirs that he's talking about of faith? Here's what Paul would tell the Galation. This is in the context of his law better than faith. He says in verse 16, chapter 3, the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.

He said, well, yeah, well, that was Isaac, right? No, this was way bigger than just one man. The scripture does not say, and to seeds, meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person who is Christ. What I mean is this. The law introduced 430 years later does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise,

but God and His grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. And so he's established in very early on the Old Testament way back to the ancients. And that's where Stephen's going to start his whole, you know, exposition that it's about faith. Faith in who? Faith in God. But now and also now we realize now that Jesus here, faith in Jesus. He's saying it's a natural flow that makes perfect sense. And so whenever Abraham was called in Genesis 22 to sacrifice his only son, we know from Hebrews 11, he just thought, well, God's going to raise him up because how else are we going to get this promise done?

Jesus was always a part of the equation, which is how he starts to start. Yeah, and Romans 11 does it the same thing, which we don't have to go through it, but you can read that if you're interested in seeing how all that works together. It's all over. Abraham is everywhere. So I think that's why he starts with Abraham. And then he naturally goes to Isaac and Jacob. And I told you that little Jesus nugget was there because there's a little nod to what Paul

was going to say in Galatians 3 that I just read you when he says he didn't have a descend it at the time the promise was gave to him. And so he's saying, look, this is all part of my plan. I'm laying this out. So then you go to Isaac and Jacob. Well, and before you read that out, because I feel like you need to read Galatians 3, 26, and 27, because we don't want to leave it there. I mean, because we're all like, well, what does that mean to me? Because he says, we're all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all of us who were baptized into Christ, have closed yourself with Christ. That's why they were baptizing these people and you're going to get into these situations, whether it's Jew or Gentile, or whether it was someone who had been baptized

by John, John the Baptist, who hadn't even heard of the Holy Spirit. They're baptized in these people. You say, why? Because you've clothed yourself with Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. You're all one in Christ Jesus. But it started with Israel. Yes. Fast forward, you see God's, what we call the scheme of redemption in Jesus. Right. That would find its way to all people sharing together. So you're going to see these things pop up throughout.

That's why you don't mess with being baptized. Callback. That's a callback to the podcast. Paul's tax if he agrees with that. That's exactly right. Check with that. So we got Abraham and we got Isaac and we got Jacob 7, 2 through 8. And I'm kind of giving you the big picture.

You can read all specifics because, as Jay said, these are all things that we can read about in the Old Testament. When you get to verse 9 of Acts 7, he's going to bring up Joseph. And he says this in an interesting way. Now, Joseph, remember Jacob had 12 sons and they become the 12 tribes of Israel, which you're going to see all throughout the Old Testament history. and you'll even see some seeds of that in the New Testament. When Paul said, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrew from the tribe or Benjamin, he's even dating his heritage back to one of these 12 tribes. But one of the sons, Joseph, who's mentioned here, he says,

the patriarchs, his brother, sold him as a slave into Egypt, verse 9, but God was with him. So here again, you see this idea about God having providence and being with somebody and rescued him from all his troubles. And man, that's a great read, by the way. Genesis 25 through 50 is a fantastic read. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he made him rule over Egypt and all his palace.

So all this was to set up having his people in Egypt when he was ready to raise up Moses, who he's going to get to in the next section in verse 20, to then bring these people out. And even in that, you know what you see? You see a lot of Jesus. The whole idea of the Passover, the blood of the lamb on a doorpost. I mean, all these are things we're going to read about later in the New Testament that were pictures and copies there and then the true thing of Jesus as you go.

And it was real life. Look, when you read all these stories, there was sacrifice. There was slavery. There were times of hunger and pain and distress. All these things, but God was faith. faithful in all this. Well, fast forward that to what Jesus is going to do. It's not going to be any different.

Life is going to, when you come to Christ, it's not like everything's going to be rosy and blue skies and rainbows. In fact, he says just the opposite. And the end of this sermon, he's killed. So it's in one point, God revealing himself through history, but it's also showing you, yeah, the world is terrible. Bad things are going to happen as a result of being separated from God and just living in a world where there's evil forces and idols.

But God is still in control. And I think that's the key point because when people look around and they listen to this podcast or you read the book of Ephesians, you're like, well, it doesn't seem like Jesus is at the right hand of God and God is in control. Yeah. But that was the plan of God to work in an evil world with suffering, even bad things happening to you who are faithful.

But through that process, God's love is shown. But look at even just the first century brilliance of people. You remember Paul in 1st Corinthians 10? You mentioned the Red Sea earlier. He uses that as an illustration, because you're imagining. you're walking through and you get the red sea on both sides. You get these two walls of water. And then this cloud that has been going above them the whole time to keep them cool in the desert. And he compares that to them being baptized. He uses an illustration from 1st Corinthians 10 as this was the idea of him, them ushering out of slavery into freedom.

And he used that as an illustration for what happens to us. I mean, that that's bread when you think about it. But that's a first century guy that was raised as a Jew. And he already is. looking back and saying, look at what God was showing us, even from 2000 years ago. It's a, I love that term that we grew up here in that. I remember hearing that as a kid, the scheme of redemption. I don't know who came up with it, but you do kind of see what Stephen's doing here. He is building that case through the history of his people.

And that's why he, when he starts with Abraham, and he goes to verse 7, and he says, I will judge the nation that they serve, said God. After that, they shall come out and worship me in this place. And then he goes from there. So he's talking about a place. And he's talking about something's happening in a place where there's going to be some worship going on of God. And then he talks about circumcision that came to the covenant. Then he talks about Joseph.

Then he talks about Moses and the Exodus. Then he talks, I mean, he's just going down the whole thing. And Exodus, by the way, 258 is when. he talks about the mobile temple, and he even brings that up in here as well. He says, in verse 44, our fathers had a tent of witness in the wilderness just as he had spoke to Moses and directed him to make it according to the pattern that he had seen. This is talking about the tabernacle. Our fathers, in turn, brought in it with Joshua when they disposed the nations that God

drove up before our fathers, and then he goes in to the temple, the Solomon built, and this is in 1st King 6. He mentions that here in verse 47. It was Solomon who built the house for him. Yet the most high doesn't dwell in houses made by man's hands. So this whole thing that he's getting at is he is actually talking about the temple. He's actually, I think the whole point of this whole thing is he's taking this whole concept of the history of the Jewish people and it's coming to this moment where he's saying, you're so obsessed with the temple. Remember the accusation they made against him? What was the accusation? You said you're going to destroy the temple. He said, well, Let me tell you about that temple.

And he goes to their own history and he's using their own, their own scripture. What heaven, he uses Isaiah 66 when he says, here's the climax of this whole point is their own scripture. Isaiah 66 that says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did I not make all these things? You stiff-necked people. This is stuff that gets killed my way. conclusion here's the conclusion probably could have said that better he could have been a little more

diplomatic he took this out of feels play but hang on zay let's take her last i know why i woke up this morning and the verse that was sizzling in my head phil's got a verse sizzle there's one body one one one spirit one just as you were called to one hope when you were called one lord one faith faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who's over all and through all and in all. That's Ephesians for. That's a summation to me of great big nature, great nature. That's a good point, which is what this is all about. That's exactly what it's about.

All right, see, read the conclusion. It's so good. Here's the conclusion of Stephen's response. And he said, oh, about the temple. Here's where he lands. you stiff-necked people, uncircised in heart and ears. I remember how you started this, was talking about circumcision. Yeah, that was an ironic thing to say, but for a point.

Oh, yeah. Because it's read the book of Galatians, Philippians 2. It's more important to have your heart circumcised, not some kind of physical inclusion into the nation of Israel. Yeah, he would have gotten, he would have. stepped on some serious toes. It's called a mystery about four or five times. Well, he's revealing it. Yeah.

Go ahead. Yeah. And in Ephesians, by the way, that mystery is revealed as the inclusion of the Gentiles. You always resist, he says, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? Good point. A great point.

And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the righteous one, whom you have now betrayed and murdered. You have, you, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. He has just, I mean, that's the summation of the whole, like, he is, I mean, that's it. I mean, that, I don't know how you get more bold. I've had a few strong conclusions in my preaching history. I've never had one quite that strong. And well, and to dumb it down, uh, for just the common man, you say, well, what is the purpose of the temple?

What was the purpose of the temple? What happened in the temple? The reasons I'm saying, well, this was about the temple. Because what happened at a temple? It was the place where God and humans came together. Meet. That's right. So think about what Jesus is representing to go back to where this all started in, John, too.

He's like, you want to know where God and humans meet? Right here. That's it. and what should excite you about that is if you're just a person you know driving down the road listening to this you're like i can meet god in a real the creator of the universe the eternal god flawless god yes that's why jesus is so appealing pretty potent that's why we're the house of god when he said that hebrews three six we are his house it's jesus is where god and people is interesting because two things don't happen because of a man-made temple or tabernacle.

You don't hold God. You don't house God because he's bigger than anything, which is the point of Isaiah. And two, you can't take away our sins in that temple, which separates us from God. Because that's what they were tempted to do with these sacrifices. So he died and was buried and raised, and then by being exalted and pouring out his spirit, you then have his spirit. You can house his spirit. The presence of God can now combine with sinful man because of the- Which is, yeah, through the Holy Spirit, which is why he says, after making his case, what is his accusation?

You resist the Holy Spirit. You resist God dwelling with man. You resist that. You always have. And they resisted it also through the miracles, the signs that pointed to it because they had all the miracles. And they chose not to stick to that. So that's why I brought that up. So if we were making this into a movie, our ending would be,

the same one that was in Acts 237, these people would have said, oh man, we're cut to the heart. What should we do, Stephen? But that's not how they responded. When they heard this, this particular group, they were furious. They gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God in Jesus standing at the right hand of God. Wow.

Look, he said. It was his last comment. I see heaven open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. So God gave him a glimpse of beyond. Well, evidently, they didn't see it because at this, they covered their ears. I mean, this is something I did in junior high with my brother Willie all the time. Yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city, and began to stone him. And then here's our introduction to Saul.

meanwhile the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul and while they were stoning him Stephen prayed Lord Jesus received my spirit then he fell on his knees and cried out Lord do not hold this sin against them when he had said this he fell asleep and Saul was there giving approval to his death and if I'm not mistaken and I didn't study this but I think that's the first time we see the term falling asleep when it comes to death. The first time we see it mentioned is here. And that's going to be a theme throughout all the New Testament. And the idea to your point, Dad, you said before, is now this is a crossover.

Yep. You know, there's no fear of death anymore. And here was a man who was killed for a fantastic laying out of Jewish history to these Jewish people to try to convince them that they needed to follow God and follow Christ. Well, it also explains the fact. Stephen asked God not to burn the Bible. Behoa bunch of it. Isn't that something?

The people that are killing you? I mean, just like, again, just like Jesus. Just like Jesus. A lot of parallels. He wasn't worried about dying, but it also gives you a vision that we just have this wrong about God being a million miles away. And it's not about time and space.

They're in a non-time and space issue. It's just more of a dimension. And I really think, since he was so close to death, that he was literally seeing heaven and earth come together seeing Jesus at the right hand of God and it's going to be about that simple for all of us yeah that's a good point he was seeing what we'll all see yeah we're all going to see this he's going to be resurrected Stephen's going to be resurrected and and this is going to continue but even in that that little process of whatever you want to call it falling asleep or seeing Jesus at the right hand of God this is just a blip in the radar I mean we're getting our bodies back

We're going to live forever. I think it's encouraging, too, to think about the whole idea of us becoming like Jesus and walking with him and that we begin to smell like him. Because you read this story here, it's almost a mirror image of Jesus. Exactly. So how would he do that? This is someone who's clearly been walking in the spirit. He's full of the Holy Spirit. And when you're full of the Holy Spirit, you look like Jesus.

When you're not full of the Holy Spirit, the opposite of that is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, to reject truth. And I love how they classify that here. It is literally the fingers in the ear that I mentioned earlier. They stopped their ears and rushed together. They would not, they didn't want to hear it. They couldn't hear it. And I really believe, like you think, well, what does blasphemy mean? I don't want to do that thing.

I think it's a willful rejection of truth in the face of all of this. They didn't want to debate it. They didn't want to discuss it. They put their fingers in their ears and they said, the only thing we can do is kill this guy. And remember where we started. The first martyr was not one of the 12. It was one of the deacons he had tapped to serve widows who was full of faith,

full of the Holy Spirit, full of grace, and full of power. So if you say what do I need to do, I need to be full of those four things. You never know what God might ask you to do. All right, we're out of time. We'll see you next time. We'll get into Saul, Paul, the next Unashamed. Thanks for listening to The Unashamed podcast. Help us out by rating us on iTunes.

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