How to Defend the Faith Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on How to Defend the Faith Part 2. He will be reading out of Acts 7:1-13.

You and I have a responsibility to present the plan of salvation. The gospel is good news that must be preceded with the condemnation that is upon all who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. How simple is the plan of salvation?

It’s as simple as A -B -C. Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders. I’m delighted to welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio program this week. We’re excited about sharing God’s Word with you as a source of inspiration and encouragement for you as you go through your journey of faith.

Today we’re going to be in the book of Acts chapter 7. We’re continuing our study on how to defend the faith. So I want you to grab your Bible and pencil and paper and let’s learn together on this important topic.

The evangelist preached and he preached one night and he said if you have a sense of calling on your life then I want you to come and surrender and I went forward that night at 16 years old and I just said Lord I’m fully surrendered to ministry whatever you want me to do.

Now had God said now Mike I’m going to send you to Chambersburg, PA. I might have ran like Jonah. We love it here. Don’t you be discouraged. Don’t you be defeated. I mean I do wish the sun shined a little bit more and there was a little bit warmer weather.

How about that? Would you guys like that a little bit more? I’m okay with global warming. I’m just going to be honest with you. I mean I’m like bring it on. But I understand people are frightened by it.

But here’s the thing that I want you to know is that this is how God works and then when I got up I told my pastor hey I want to be in ministry I believe God’s calling me and he said Mike a call to ministry is a call to preparation and he sent me off to Bible college and little by little God has revealed through the years to my wife and I what is his will and that’s how he works in your life.

It’s not that he’s going to split the heavens and he’s not gonna write it on a wall, but he is going to slowly but surely as we obey him and follow him and trust him, reveal his perfect will for us moment by moment.

And that’s exactly what happened to Abraham. The course of God’s saving work in history to the Jewish people began in the life of Abraham. And Stephen brings this to their attention in verse 1 through 7.

He reminds them of an Abrahamic covenant that was given in Genesis chapter 12 that was ratified in Genesis chapter 15 and was reaffirmed to Abraham and chapter 17 was renewed to Isaac and Jacob in chapter 26 through 28.

It is an everlasting covenant. that has been consummated in the death and resurrection of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. What are the elements of this covenant that God has made to Abraham that Stephen wanted them to understand?

God had promised an inheritance to Abraham. Remember that Jesus taught us in the gospel of John that salvation is of the Jews. And that it first begins there. Paul taught us that we are first to go to the Jewish people, then to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.

Galatians 3, 16 reminds us that there is a promise and a covenant that God has made with Abraham. And the Bible says, now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, he sayeth not and to the seeds as of many, but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ.

The first element of the promise and covenant to Abraham was a seed, was the promise of a Messiah, that out of his lineage, out of his family history, would come the one, the Messiah, who would bring true salvation to all who believe in him.

The second element of this covenant was a land, chapter 15 of Genesis and chapter 17, give more details of that. But God promised to give Abraham descendants and he promised to give them a land that they might possess.

The family of God is not limited to borders and it is not limited to a nation and it’s not limited to a land. But unto Abraham was promised a land. And that is why we’re so adamantly at the open door church, pro Israel, and we stand with them and we want to see the blessings of God emanate from them because we know what God is.

God has promised us that if we would, we would bless the people of God out of the nation of Israel, that he would bless us. The third element of this, as we’ve mentioned, is that there is a nation that God would provide in Genesis 12, verse two.

God would provide Abraham with a nation, and the fourth element is a divine blessing and protection that would come upon him. The covenant, the covenant that God made with Abraham was a covenant that had conditional terms on it, and it was responsible that they must obey God, follow God, and that they must continually live for God.

And that is the story that is unfolding in Genesis. That is the story that we find in first and second kings and first and second chronicles. It is the story that we see unfolding time and time again that the people of God are blessed by God when they love God and they make him supreme in their life.

but when they reject God and they put him on the back burner and they follow other gods and they follow other dreams and ambitions, that God would bring judgment upon them as a nation. I want you to understand that for Stephen to articulate God’s redemptive work and glory in history through the life of Abraham was so compelling to those who were listening in that room that day of the Sanhedrin court that they did not even interrupt him.

They did not even cut him off, but as he was sharing that beautiful story of how it all began in Abraham and how God was calling a people to him and raising up a nation in which the entire world would be blessed, they listen with great anticipation.

In verses nine through 16, he takes them to Joseph. I want you to look at verse nine and notice he says, and the patriarchs becoming envious sold Joseph into Egypt. But here’s the key, God was with him.

Abraham has a story. It is a redemptive story of God’s glory. Joseph has a story betrayed, lied to, sold into slavery, forgotten while in prison, lifted up out of the mess, seems to be prospering well.

He’s lied about, his character is attacked, he’s thrown back into prison, he’s falsely accused. Joseph has a redeeming story, he’s forgotten. And then finally God elevates him to be second in charge in Egypt of all places, a superpower of the day.

But yet God would use all of Joseph’s sufferings and all of his struggles to prepare a man. who would save the nation of Israel from famine. And God would use this man, Joseph, to carry on the redemptive story of what God was doing in the people of God.

Stephen is explaining to us how Israel not only came to Egypt, but that even though Joseph enduring jealousy, that God was with him enduring suffering, he had favor and wisdom, and God prepared him to preserve the people, all that you and I face, all that we deal with, it’s so easy to get caught up in the weeds, it’s so easy to get lost in the forest and forget what God is doing.

What is God doing in your suffering? I don’t have all the answers of why. If I could explain every hurt and pain in your heart, I would be a millionaire, and trust me, I’m not. Let me tell you this, overarching in what God is doing in this world, and even specifically in your life, is that He is drawing people to Him.

He is working effectively somehow in your loss, somehow in your suffering, somehow in your struggle to bring people into a true knowledge of Christ. That’s why it’s so essential how we respond to suffering, that we do not suffer as the world, it’s not that we can’t weep, it’s not that tears cannot flow from our hearts and our eyes, but it’s that we suffer with hope.

We grieve with hope because we have the hope of Christ that continues to stimulate us and motivate us, and that as we walk through the valley, as we walk through the struggles of life, we have the confidence that in the midst of all that we’re dealing with, there is a Savior who has not forgotten us, and we are part of this grand redemptive story.

And you say, how do I defend my faith? You live a life that even as you suffer, there is hope in your heart, because that’s the most powerful message that you can send forth, because the world is watching how you handle suffering, the world is watching how believers deal with struggles, and anybody, anybody can love God when they have a job, and anybody can love God when everything’s going wonderful in their life,

but how many of us can love God when everything has fallen apart, and the rug is pulled out from underneath our feet? How many of us can love the Lord Jesus Christ and say, as Job said, the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

And I’m not saying that you feel it, because I hear you. But what I am saying is you believe it and you’re called and I’m called to live by faith not by explanations. If you spend your life trying to answer all of what your questions are and all of your struggles in life are, then I tell you you’ll be like the dog chasing the tail and you’ll never be able to be that joyful warrior for Christ.

You’ll never be able to move forward in your life. You must come as Joseph did. How did he? How did he turn all that was evil and all that was hurtful and all that was painful in his life? How did he flip it into something that became so profound and such a powerful message in his day to a message of of hope and joy?

It all is summed up when Joseph’s brothers stepped into the room as they were seeking help in the midst of the famine. In Genesis chapter 50, and Joseph realizes it’s them, it’s my brothers, he’s so overcome with emotion that he steps out of the room, he weeps, he lets loose of every hurt and pain in his heart.

He gathers himself together. He walks back into the room. And he reveals himself as being their brother. His brothers knowing that they took advantage of Joseph, anticipating revenge. Joseph says to his brothers, what you meant for evil, God has meant for good.

Every suffering, every betrayal, every lie, every hurt, every time you were forgotten, let down, disappointed, what others have meant for evil in your heart. There is an overarching redemptive story that God has meant for good.

That’s how you turn it around, church. That’s how you turn it around and not absorb that hurt and become a bitter, hateful Christian. That’s how you rise above the maliciousness. That’s how you rise above the negativity and live in the land of your disposition of joy is understanding that God has meant it for good.

Somehow, some way, the best of God’s servants will suffer. Joseph was a great man of God. And Stephen was a great man of God. And the best of us can endure tremendous pain and persecution. But even in the midst of all that, Stephen’s face shined as the appearance of an angel.

Stephen’s argument to his critics is that Joseph overcame because God had a work to do, a redemptive work in saving his people. And no matter what you face, there is a purpose behind every detail. There is a message behind every struggle that there is a message of mercy and grace and hope of all that you are encountering in life.

And I don’t want you to miss that because that’s how you defend your faith. We come to Acts chapter 17 and we see the life of Moses. In verses 20 through 22 of chapter 7, Stephen takes him through the different periods of Moses’ life.

Moses’ life can be divided into three sections, all being 40 years. The first 40 years of Moses’ life, verse 20 through 22. The next section of Moses’ life from 40 years old to 80 years old is in verse 23 through 29.

And the final 40 years of Moses’ life is described in verses 30 through 43. But what can we see in the life of Moses again? Is that a people who were oppressed for over 400 years, that God did not turn a deaf ear to their cries to heaven, that God did not abandon them, though through the years they must have surely felt that God had given up on His people, and that somehow this great cause and this great purpose and this great glory that was to be reflected in the life of the people of God had been forgotten and overshadowed by the darkness of the world.

But Stephen shows them that even in the life of Moses, God’s purpose will be fulfilled, and that He will save His people. And God raised up a man named Moses, who at the outset they wanted him to be killed, but He preserved Moses as a little baby, and then developed him and helped him to grow.

And I want you to see something, because I think sometimes we have such a misunderstanding about the life of Moses, I want you to come to verse 23 of chapter 7, and I want you to see the Bible says now he, referring to Moses, was 40 years old, it came to his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.

Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand.

But they did not understand. The next day he appeared to two of them. They were fighting and they tried to reconcile them saying, men, you are the brethren. Why do you wrong one another? But if he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away saying, who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Moses had it in his heart to be a deliverer. God had been preparing Moses to be this great leader. You say, pastor, how do you know that? Just back up a little bit again. And I want you to see in chapter seven, I want you to see in verse 20, the Bible says that at this time that Moses was born, he was well pleasing to God.

He was brought up in the father’s house. for three months. But when he was set out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was learned. Would you underscore that in your Bible?

Moses was learned. That means he was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And was mighty in words and deeds. I know your picture of Moses is from Sunday school. And Moses, he’s got a stuttering problem.

Moses is scared to death. And he’s saying to God, God, I could never do this. Let me tell you something. Moses was groomed to be the next Pharaoh. He went into the best of schools that Egypt had to offer.

Moses was a mighty man. He had mighty words, mighty deeds. He was an educated man. He was a skilled man. And what you see taking place in Exodus chapter three is not Moses, truly. It’s Moses pretending that he’s incapable, insufficient to do the job.

But God had raised up this man named Moses. And God had called him to be a deliverer. And Stephen walks them through how Moses delivered them and how Moses would be called of God and that he would become this great man of God who would deliver the people from God.

Now, I want you to come and I want you to see that now Stephen is taking them to Christ as he has walked them from Abraham. He has taken them to Joseph. He’s taken them to Moses. He addresses the temple, but he wants them to see Jesus Christ.

He wants them to see that Christ is the true temple. He is the one who brings the true salvation to all. We pick up in verse 48. However, the most high does not. Well in temples made with hands as the prophets say heaven is my throne earth is my footstool What house will you build for me says the Lord and what is the place of my rest has my hand not made all these?

things He then says in verse 51 you stiff necked Now my friends if you’re trying to win friends and influence people that’s not a good word But what he is literally saying he say it’s just a simple translation of being stubborn They rejected the prophets they rejected the patriarchs they wouldn’t listen and now they’re rejecting Christ and he says to them and uncircumcised in your hearts and your ears.

You always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one. That is Christ. He’s bringing them to understand the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the fulfillment and he is the promise of all that has been made.

He is the one who has fulfilled the law. He is the one that is a part of the culmination of this redemptive story that is being told. So as we are defending our faith, we are not only articulating, it’s important for us to understand the purpose of God’s redemption, but as we are defending our faith, we are presenting God’s promises.

Stephen is pointing out to the people that just as the people of God had rejected the prophets and the patriarchs, they have rejected Christ. And Christ is the righteous one. Jesus is the one who has fulfilled all that was promised.

And I don’t have time to break it all down because time is not my friend, but hold on to this, that the promises of God are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And when you and I think of the promises of God, what we need to remind people as we are articulating our faith and defending our faith that there is a promise and it’s wrapped up in that simple verse of John 3 .16 that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever what in him should not what,

but have everlasting what, that’s a promise from God. What we’re pointing people to is the promises of God that he promised he will bring eternal life, that he will bring salvation to all who believe in him and that he is the one.

I want you to back up to Acts chapter three. Just real quickly, we’ll get through here very shortly, but hang in there with me, Acts chapter three, verse 20. because we see that Peter does the same thing as he is defending the faith and proclaiming the message of the gospel.

In Acts chapter three verse 25, he says, you are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed, to you first, to you first, God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you, and turning away every one of you from your iniquities, the promise of salvation, the promise of forgiveness,

the promises of God are all fulfilled in Christ. And then finally, as we are fulfilling and defending our faith, we must unveil God’s perfect redemptive plan. What Stephen does in these final verses before he is martyred for the cause of Christ is lay out for them.

The plan of salvation, in Acts chapter seven, in verse 37, the Bible says, this is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren, him you shall hear.

Who is that prophet? Christ. Christ is that prophet. Unfortunately, the people rejected and they refused to believe, but you and I have a responsibility to present the plan of salvation. The gospel is good news.

It’s good news that must be preceded with the understanding of bad news of our sin and the bad news of the condemnation that is upon all who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. How simple is the plan of salvation?

How simple is it to unveil this to others, whether it’s family or friends? It’s as simple as A, B, C. Do you have a burden for your children? Do you have a burden for your grandchildren? Do you have a burden for your neighbor, for your friends?

Could you share with them A, B, C of the gospel that you have to acknowledge that you’re a sinner? Stephen says you’re stubborn. You’ve been rejecting what God has been saying. You’re not listening. You’re now rejecting the Spirit of God.

The first way to salvation is to always be willing to admit. If you and I have a friend who’s struggling with drugs, if we wanna see them recover from those drugs and that addiction in their life, they have to be willing to admit.

There’s a lot of people who won’t go see the doctor. They won’t get help from a physician. Why? Because they’re not willing to admit, to prideful to admit some of the problems that they’re dealing with physically or in their health or even mentally.

It’s the same thing true spiritually. The plan of salvation is to admit that I am a sinner. It is to admit that I fall short, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is to admit that the reason the good news is so good is because the bad news is so bad.

The bad news is that we’re all sinners in need of a savior. The plan of salvation is so simple. A, admit B, believe. Believe that Christ died for your sins. God did not abandon you. God did not leave you.

He is the fulfillment of all that has been prophesied and proclaimed by the patriarchs and the prophets. He is the one that we’ve been waiting for and by Him going to the cross and what this week means to us, it is the fulfillment of all that the prophets and the patriarchs have prayed for and longed for and the angels have leaned over the balcony of heaven according to the Lord.

the apostle Peter and have inquired to understand and know of this grace that has been bestowed upon all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to believe that Christ died for you. It is to believe that Christ resurrected.

He died for your past and he came out of that tomb for your future. He is the living one. He is the anointed one, the Christ, the Messiah, of the Savior. We are to unveil this plan and it is finally wrapped up in confessing or calling.

It is that we not only believe, but we activate that head knowledge to a heart knowledge and we call upon the Lord to forgive us of our sins and to be our Savior as we confess Him as Lord and Savior in our life.

My friends, I’m telling you, you defend your faith by unveiling the plan of God. You don’t have to be this great, brilliant person. You don’t have to be this educated person. You just have to be committed to the Lord and letting your life shine like a light and letting your words articulate the simplicity of the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I leave you with this question. Am I trusting in God’s promised Savior alone? Or am I trusting in the traditions of the church or the different forms of worship and styles to save me? Or am I truly trusting in Christ as my Savior and what He did this week for me as He gave His life willingly, obediently that I might have true salvation.

We live in times where there is a lot of opposition to the faith, to the gospel, to what we believe. It’s essential that we are equipped to be able to defend our faith, know what we believe, why we believe it, and to be able to articulate that in a way that people around us can understand it.

So I hope the principles you’re learning are very applicable to your life and are helping you to be stronger in defending the faith. The Apostle Peter told us that we’re to be ready, and so I hope that this message is helping you to be ready.

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Take advantage of that and check us out. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and push the alert button, and every time we upload a new series. segment you’ll be one of the first to be a part of that. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.