Real Faith....

Along the way, along the path Christ is slowly guiding me through, I've come across today Acts 7:51-60.  In this passage, we come to the end of a very passionate address by Stephen among those from the "Synagogue of the Freedmen."  They had been in a great dispute with Stephen over his faith, the signs he performed, and the wisdom he spoke with.  Appearing to be avid Legalists, these "Freedmen" made all kinds of false accusations against Stephen, claiming he was blaspheming against Moses and God.  They even brought up from among the crowd people who would tell blatant and outright lies in order to make Stephen guilty. 
Stephen has a chance to speak and when he does, he gives them a speech (more like a hearty sermon) that verse 54 says "cut [them] to their heart."  They were convicted by what Stephen said, and they didn't like it one bit.  This is where we pick up, in chapter 7, verse 51:
⁵¹ “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, ⁵³ who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. ⁵⁴ When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ⁵⁵ 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, ⁵⁶ and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” ⁵⁷ Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; ⁵⁸ and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep."

These men were confronted with their sin; their transgression of God's moral Law and their wrongdoing in rejecting Jesus.  They also became guilty of resisting the Holy Spirit's tug at their heart.  They were cut to the heart by what Stephen said, indicating their guilt and conviction brought on by the Holy Spirit, and rather than repent.....they do what their ancestors did before them (and ultimately what they did to Jesus):  They remove the messenger to rid themselves of the convicting power of the message.


So the angry mob casts Stephen outside to stone him to death; a horrible way to die.  However, even in this heinous act, the faith of Stephen the Martyr shines through like rays of sunlight on a cloudy day.  Does he condemn them?  No.  Does he curse God for this terrible suffering?  No.  Does he curse himself and cry out for a speedy death?  No.  


He prays for them.


verse 60 - ^"Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin.'"  Despite the horrible pain and suffering, despite this great persecution that had come upon him because of his stance for Christ, Stephen remained faithful to the Lord.  He trusted God with the end results.  He knew that the message he had spoken would not return to the Father void.  

Stephen was born again through faith.  He lived a life with faith.  He died in faith.   And we know through Scripture that Stephen ultimately received eternal life with Christ in heaven because of faith.


Do you have this kind of faith?  Do you have real....Biblical....faith?
You never know what message your faith might send to others.  Did you notice who was standing amongst the crowd at the end of verse 58?  Saul, who would later become Paul; and we all know what eventually became of him......