The Contrast Between Faith and Religion

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Contrast Between Faith and Religion. He will be reading out of Acts 7:54 to 8:1.

I’m not asking you to be a person who is unaware of their circumstances, but I want you to see everything in the context of a spiritual battle, even as you are dealing with adversity, facing trials in your life, that you keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders. We want to welcome you to Hope Worth Having. We’re going to be in Acts chapter 7, covering verse 54 all the way to chapter 8, verse 1. I’ve entitled this message, The Contrast Between Faith and Religion.

So I want you to grab your Bible and let’s begin our study together. If you have your Bible this morning, I want you to join me in Acts chapter 7, Acts chapter 7, verse 54 through chapter 8, verse 1 is our main text this morning.

As we come to Acts chapter 7 and verse 54, I want to remind you the context of where we’re picking up, but if you remember, the Jews had arrested Stephen and they had put him on trial by false accusations.

He had preached that it was their ancestors that had resisted the Holy Spirit, that it was their fathers who persecuted the prophets. He had preached that the religious leaders had betrayed and murdered the righteous one, Jesus Christ.

He had stood strong and spoke up to this Sanhedrin court that they were the recipients of the law and yet they had not even kept the law. They had not obeyed the law. He reminded them of of Israel’s idolatry and he reminded them that they would be judged by the Lord.

It is in the midst of all that context that we come to verse 54. And I want you to see what the text says. When they heard these things, what things, the things I just told you? When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and ran at him with one accord and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at his feet, at the feet of a young man named Saul.

And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord, Jesus, received my spirit. Then he knelt down and he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep or he died.

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the apostles.

The Bible was very clear in this portion and section of the scriptures that there is a vast difference between Stephen and his attackers. What I want you to see in the text today is the contrast between faith and religion.

What I want you to note in the text today in verse 54, all the way through chapter eight verse one is how Stephen reacts and how his enemies react. Because it stands as a model for each of us and how we are to handle and respond when we find ourselves in a hostile situation or how we are to respond when we are encountering adversity towards our faith.

More and more we are going to see in our nation that there is gonna be pushback and there is going to be hostility towards those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It used to be if I said God created male and female, nobody got upset.

But now if I get up and say God created male and female, there’s only two genders. people start having meltdowns on me like there’s something wrong with me I never moved I never changed my position I always walked in alignment with what the Bible said and the Bible says there’s only two genders and so that’s what it is God said it and I believe it but how much has our society changed how much have they shifted you need to be alert and you need to be aware how do we handle these situations how do we respond well let’s look at the life of Stephen and let’s see the contrast between faith and religion the first contrast that I want you to note is that those religious leaders were filled with anger versus Stephen being filled with the spirit go back to verse 54 when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

How did they respond when Peter stood up and spoke up for the Lord Jesus Christ? How did they respond when he taught them truth? How did they respond when he called out their sin? They became angry and the Bible says that they gnashed at him with their teeth.

And I find that interesting because Jesus told us that hell will be a place where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. Instead of being submissive and repentant and thinking that somehow that you had made the wrong choice, those who end up in hell will not be submissive and obedient to God, but rather, they’ll become even more angry at God and they will gnash their teeth.

And we see the precursor to that here in verse 54, jump to verse 55. Here’s the contrast, but he referring to Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

Stephen was a man who ministered in the grace and the power of the spirit of God. I want you to back up just a few chapters, if you will, go back to chapter six. Let’s see how Stephen was a man who was full of the spirit and full of the power of God and the grace of God in his life.

In verse three of chapter six, remember that they were looking for a group of men to help solve a problem. And the Bible says that the apostles said, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business.

We jump down to verse five. And the saying please the whole multitude and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Look at verse eight of chapter six, Stephen full of faith and power.

did great wonders and signs among the people. Then we jump down to verse 10 of chapter six and we note again that they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. Now we come back to chapter seven and we’re looking at our text again and we see in verse 55 of chapter seven, he being full of the what?

Holy spirit. Steven ministered in grace and power because he was filled with the spirit of God. When he faced hostility, when he faced anger, when he faced persecution, he continued to respond filled with the spirit.

Being led by the spirit, Steven preached the word of God. Being led by the spirit, the Bible says that as he sat in that courtroom, and they were falsely accusing him that his accusers looked at Stephen and his face shined like an angel.

The glory of God was resting upon Stephen and he was a bold man and was willing to stand up for God because he was filled with the spirit. You don’t have time right now, but later this afternoon take time and read the entire message of Stephen in Acts chapter seven.

And when you read this message, you might ask yourself the question, would a man who is filled with the spirit be so provocative? And what I mean would he be so bold to say what he said? You note back in verse 51, he called the people stiff -necked or stubborn, uncircumcised in their hearts and their ears, resisting the Holy Spirit as your fathers did so.

What we see here is that a man who is filled with the spirit and yet at the same time being filled with the spirit, he spoke so bluntly and boldly for the Lord Jesus Christ. When we think about the fruit of the spirit that we are taught about in Galatians chapter five, the fruit being peace, joy, love and gentleness.

And we try to reconcile this with what Stephen was preaching and saying to them. And I think it’s important for us to understand because sometimes we think being filled with the spirit means that we’re non -confrontational.

Being filled with the spirit means we never confront truth. Being filled with the spirit means that we are easygoing and we’re laid back and we just kind of let people go as they want to. But the truth is that if we’re truly following the spirit of God, it is not the path of least resistance.

It is not a life of comfort. It is a mystery. stake in your heart to think that somehow if I am filled with the Spirit that I will never ever speak boldly and bluntly to people. Now God has not called us to be a people who are full of animosity.

He’s not called us to be a people who are angry at everybody. He’s not called us to be unbecoming of the witness of Christ. But we have to remember that there are times and there are moments when we are filled with the Spirit that God calls us to speak up, to stand up, and to confront sin, and to be willing to say what needs to be said.

And whether that is in your own life, or that is in your family, or that is in your church, or that is in your community, you cannot say well that person’s not filled with the Spirit because they are confronting sin.

I would say just the opposite. that someone who is confronting sin must be filled with the Spirit of God to be able to speak so boldly and to be able to stand so strongly for the Lord Jesus Christ. These religious leaders didn’t want to know the truth and they did not want to obey the truth.

Their attitude was that they became angry. Again, go back to verse 54. How did they respond to this truth? They heard these things and were cut to the heart, convicted of God, convicted of the Spirit and they gnashed at Him and their teeth.

I wanna send a warning out to all of us as believers and perhaps anybody here who might be an unbeliever. And that is how do you respond to the word of God? How do you respond to the truth? I see so many Christians get upset when the truth is preached or taught to them.

I see so many people get frustrated and upset that the word of God is shared with them directly and boldly as if there’s something wrong with that. And they begin to attack a messenger. They begin to attack the message because they do not like it.

And what you’re really revealing is that you’re not a person of faith, but you’re a person who’s just walking through the religious motions of the day. Your response to God’s word is a reflection of your heart.

And if you say, well, pastor, I do believe in Jesus Christ, that I encourage you to come to the house of the Lord, to come to your personal devotions and the word of God and to come to your Sunday school classes and Bible studies with a teachable spirit and saying, Lord, if there’s anything in my life that needs to be corrected or changed, I want you to bring it to my attention through the power of your word and through the power of your spirit.

I don’t want you to get caught up. And up. at the messenger. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 3a, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion in the day of trial in the wilderness. The warning is don’t be like the people of Israel who having left Egypt, having been delivered out of slavery, having crossed the Red Sea, having seen the power of God and see God work mightily in providing for them day after day that they rebelled against God.

It was such an uprising against God, it’s referred to as the rebellion. This can happen in our own hearts, that we can drift in our faith, we can drift in our walk with Christ, that we are no longer filled with the Spirit of God, but we are operating in the flesh and we are operating in religion.

Oh yeah, we might do all the right things on the outside, but inside our heart is far from God and we’re not truly hearing what God has to say, and any time, maybe a full maybe a friend, maybe a pastor, maybe a parent, maybe someone God puts in your path is trying to show you something that you need to work on, that you need to get better at, and rather than being submissive and teachable, we get defensive and angry and upset and we respond in such a way that it doesn’t even honor the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to be ready, always to examine our hearts. We don’t come here and assemble on Sunday morning because somehow we’ve arrived, or somehow we’re better than others that are out there. But we come here because we recognize that the house of the Lord is like a hospital to us and that we run to Jesus and we want him to restore us, we want him to reconcile us, we want him to change our hearts, we want him to work in the areas of our life that need to be dealt with.

You don’t go to the doctor and think, and man, I hope he doesn’t look at this problem I got. What would you think of a doctor who didn’t even ask you questions about your particular issue? You would say, man, they didn’t even ask me.

No, we want them to examine us. And when you come to the house of the Lord, when you come to your Bible studies and your classes, and when you come to your devotion time with the Lord, what you should be praying is, Lord, is there any sin in my heart that I need to confess?

Is there anything in my life I need to change? We need to be like the psalmist who said, search my heart, Lord, and see if there is any wicked thing in me. You don’t wanna wait till the weed has sprouted and spread throughout your heart and it’s difficult to get out of your life.

You wanna nip it in the bud and you wanna get right at it right at the beginning and you want the Spirit of God to deal with it and to change your life. That’s the contrast of faith and religion. The second contrast that I want you to see in this text is spiritual blindness.

Blindness versus spiritual sight. We’re still in verse 55. You’ll notice that the Bible says that Stephen gazed into heaven and he saw the glory of God. And Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And said, look, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

That’s what Stephen saw. That was his sight. That was his spiritual sight. But what was the spiritual blindness? What is the contrast? Look at verse 57. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and ran at him with one accord.

They stopped listening. They stopped hearing. You ever try to talk to someone and they just put their hands on their ears? They don’t wanna hear it. They didn’t wanna hear Stephen say, I see Jesus. I see the glory of God.

They didn’t want Stephen to declare the spiritual insight that God had given him. And that’s the uniqueness about people who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ, is that these are things that we see, that people do not understand, because the Spirit of God is working in us, and the Spirit of God is working through us, that we are blessed with a spiritual sight.

We look at all the trouble in the world, we see all the confusion of the world, and we don’t look at it through a blindness, but through a spiritual insight and understanding that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but that we are wrestling against principalities and powers of this earth and this world that come from the very pit of hell, and they are led by the demonic forces of the devil who is trying to destroy the kingdom of God.

It’s not just that they’re trying to destroy a nation, it’s not that they’re just trying to destroy a family. Literally, the devil wants the kingdom of Jesus Christ stopped in its tracks all around the world.

You see the chaos. Why is there war and rumors of war? Not only that it was prophesied, and that it is part of what is to come in the future on a higher scale, but there are wars and rumors of wars because the devil does not want the church of Jesus Christ to grow in other countries.

Doesn’t want to see people say, wants to see people isolated, divided, and attacking each other. Doesn’t want to see God’s people in the kingdom of Christ growing and flourishing for the cause of Christ.

That’s what you and I have. We see that spiritual insight. We see that. Ordinary people never see that. They think we’re weird. They think we’re conspiracists. They think there’s something the matter with us.

But we see on a higher plane. That’s what Stephen was doing. He said, look, I see the heavens. He’s being attacked, he’s being ridiculed, he’s being mocked, he’s being persecuted, he’s being falsely accused.

What does Stephen do? Does Stephen get out into the mud of the fight? Does he start slinging the mud? No, does he start wrestling with the skunk? No! Stephen rises above it and he sees the heavens and the glory of God.

He sees on a higher plane. You and I as believers, you’re only gonna be able to sustain your spiritual health and your spiritual formation and your spiritual growth if you see on a higher plane and you trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not to your own understanding, but acknowledge him in all your ways and he will direct your paths.

Can God’s people say amen? That’s the only way it’s gonna happen. You get down in the mud. You start wrestling with the problems of this world, and I’m telling you, you’re gonna become a emotional mess, a spiritual mess, a physical mess, and you’re gonna be melting down and your life is gonna be filled with anxiety, and you’re gonna be running to and fro trying to figure out what’s going on when all you need to do is open your Bible.

Because reading the Bible’s like reading the front page of the newspaper. All I’m trying to say to you, church, is to have that spiritual sight. Now I want you to note something that Stephen is not looking at his problems, he’s looking at his savior.

And every day we’re gonna have problems. The devil’s out there fighting against you. When you leave the house of the Lord, the devil’s gonna start fighting, even on the way out. He wants you to be defeated.

He doesn’t want you to be energized for the cause of Jesus Christ. He doesn’t want you to succeed in being a witness for the Lord Jesus. So I want you this morning to commit in your heart, I’m not gonna focus on my problems, I’m gonna focus on my savior.

I’m not asking you to stick your head in the sand. I’m not asking you to be naive. I’m not asking you to be a person who is unaware of their circumstances or the culture that you live in. I want you to be alert to all things that are around you.

But I want you to see everything in the context of a spiritual battle. And I want you that even as you are dealing with adversity, facing trials in your life, that you keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ.

You say, how do I do that, pastor? Well, I’ll tell you, it begins with prayer. You spend time in prayer with Jesus, keep talking to him, pray. How do I look to my savior, read the Bible, stay in church, stay with God’s people, get into a Sunday school class, a Bible study, get involved where you surround yourself with good and godly people who love Jesus.

And I want you to stay connected to the Lord Jesus Christ. the Lord as much as you can. That’s how you keep your eyes on Him. Now I want you to see something else in this text. I’m back in verse 55. He gazed into heaven.

He saw the glory of God. But did you note that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God? He saw Jesus standing. Now the Bible tells us in the Gospel of Matthew 26, verse 64, that Jesus himself said thou has said, nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the power and coming in the clouds of heaven.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus went to heaven and that he’s sitting at the right hand of the Father. The high priest never on the earth ever sat down in the Old Testament because the work of redemption and salvation was not complete.

But when Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected and ascended into heaven, the work of salvation was finished, it was complete, and therefore there was no need for the high priest to keep offering up sacrifices and to be standing in the Holy of Holies.

But now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. He is sat down because the work of salvation is done and it is complete. A little side note, there’s nothing you can do, there’s nothing I can do to add to the work of salvation.

You’re saved by grace. When you and I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we believe in what He did on the cross for us. We don’t believe in our good works, we don’t believe in our church attendance, we don’t believe in what we didn’t do or did do, we don’t believe in all the lift that somebody might come up with on how we’re supposed to live.

We don’t believe any of those things get us to heaven. What we do believe is what Christ did on the cross gets us to heaven, amen? So we got a theological dilemma. Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father because the work of salvation is done, but the Bible says that Stephen was standing at the right hand of God.

To help you understand this, consider this. If you and I were to go to a far country where they had kings, if we walked into the presence of the king, the king would never stand. If the king were to come visit us, we would stand in honor and respect.

What you are witnessing here is King Jesus having finished the work of redemption, looking and observing the suffering of Stephen and out of great honor and respect, He is showing concern for the hardship.

He is showing respect and honor. He is standing to honor the man who is honoring him on earth. In heaven, Jesus standing to honor. Stephen, who stood for Christ, who is standing for Christ, who will not bend, who will not buckle, who will not back down to the cause of Christ.

What you are witnessing here in this text is so unique and it is so different than what we have ever seen in the scriptures and what we understand theology to be. But Jesus is standing to honor the one who just honored him.

Now let me ask you a question. Is your faith so bold, so courageous that you would cause the Savior to stand for your stand on this earth? You see, so many Christians won’t take a stand. They won’t speak up.

They won’t say nothing. They just let it go. What we need is believers who will speak up and stand up for Jesus. How does this king of kings and the Lord of lords How does he stand up in heaven from the throne and look upon his servants when he sees each and every one of us being faithful, bold, and courageous for Jesus Christ himself?

When you honor the Lord on the earth, he will honor you in heaven. Remember that Jesus taught us that we are to remember him and that we are to respect him and we are to stand for him and not be ashamed of him.

And he said, if you are not ashamed of me on this earth, I will not be ashamed of you in heaven, but just the opposite is true. If you’re ashamed of me on earth, I’ll be ashamed of you in heaven. I wonder how the sitting Savior responds to your faith.

Is he ashamed because you’re ashamed of him? Is he honored and touched and moved to stand up because you honor him, because you’re bold for him, because you won’t back down? Jesus stands for Stephen because Stephen stood for him.

The third contrast that I want you to see this morning is death versus life. We come down to verse 58. They cast him out of the city. They stoned him and the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Verse 59, they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Stephen’s martyrdom is an example of a man who was a courageous warrior for God, who was willing to die for his faith.

Thanks for watching. We’ll see you next week. Bye -bye. Religion will never save you, but a relationship with Christ will. The Bible reminds us in Matthew 7 that Jesus said, I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity.

And so what is the key is that we have to know Christ as our Savior. We have to have faith. We have to be willing to turn away from our sin and to turn towards Christ in faith and believe what He did on the cross for us.

For our salvation, religion focuses on the outside, but faith focuses on the heart. So I hope that you understand those differences and that contrast. And I hope that you are inspired today to give your life fully and freely to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want to remind you that Hope Worth Having is streaming live in three different platforms. First, you can go to Facebook. or you can go to the YouTube channel or you can go to our website. All three of those are opportunities on Sunday mornings for you to participate in our morning worship service.

We never want you to use Hope Worth Having as a replacement for the church, but if you need a supplement or you’re not able to get out because of weather or sickness, please feel free to stream live with us on those different platforms.

And this is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.