The text I would like to call your attention to this morning is Acts 7:51-53. We will be looking at the last part of Stephen’s great sermon. So far we have seen how Stephen defended himself against the false allegation of committing blasphemy against God, Moses, the Law, and the temple. At the same time he has reminded the Sanhedrin of some of Israel’s more spectacular sins like the betrayal of Joseph, the rejection of Moses and the Law, the golden calf, and how they worshipped planetary gods while in the wilderness. Although he is the one on trial, Stephen has been building a case against his audience. And now he’s about to drive home his main point. It is time for the crescendo. Let’s see how it unfolds.

Read Acts 7:51-53

Pray

Examine/apply

Verse

“51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,

Commentary

Stephen called them stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. What does stiff-necked mean?

Synonyms

Obstinate, headstrong, intractable, mulish, pertinacious, pigheaded, refractory, self-willed, willful, & unyielding.

Stephen pulled this derogatory term from Exodus 32:9. While the Israelites were worshipping the golden calf and engaging in lustful hedonism, God said this to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. The Israelites had been instructed to wait patiently for Moses to return from Mount Sinai but they grew impatient and then threw out God’s instructions and began to do things their own way. God called them stiff-necked. Children tend to be stiff-necked. We don’t call them that because it’s too ugly. We call them strong-willed. And in the eyes of the world it’s ok to be strong-willed. Being strong-willed is considered a good quality especially in the management or business realms.

The Bible shows that there is no value in being strong-willed or stiff-necked, especially in spiritual terms. Like stiff-necked little children the Israelites rejected their leaders and God and turned to their own ways. Stephen’s listeners were guilty of this just as their forefathers had been guilty. They rejected their leader, Jesus, and turned to their own ways. They rejected their Messiah and relied on their own works and goodness. Stephen called them stiff-necked for doing so.

Let’s talk about uncircumcised in heart. There are essentially two forms of circumcision in the Bible, circumcision of the flesh and circumcision of the heart.

Circumcision of the Flesh

Circumcision of the flesh was the outward symbol of belonging to God’s covenant family. It was the visible or physical symbol if you will. When Jewish parents had their male babies circumcised on the eighth day they were dedicating them to the Lord and they were vowing to raise the child in accordance with God’s law and to teach him to know, love, and serve God (Gen 17:9-13). Those who were not circumcised in the flesh were known as ouitsiders.

Circumcision of the Heart

Circumcision of the heart was the inward symbol of belonging to God’s covenant family. It was the spiritual symbol if you will. A heart that is circumcised is a heart that has been changed by God’s grace and truth through faith. Circumcision of heart would happen later as the child matured and as his comprehension grew and as he realized his great need of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and deliverance.

In the OT both forms of circumcision were required for an individual to be part of God’s true covenant family. One had to be circumcised in the flesh and in the heart. Sadly, many exhibited the outward sign only. Their bodies had been modified, but their hearts remained the same because they chose to rely on their own self-righteousness and works.

Deuteronomy 10:16
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”

Circumcision of the Ears

Circumcision of the ears is not a stipulation for covenant relationship. It is an expression used to describe a person’s unwillingness or inability to listen. Remember, circumcision is the removal of flesh. The idea here then is that a person who has uncircumcised ears has a layer of flesh over them which prohibits them from hearing.

Jeremiah 6:10
To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear?

Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.

Incredibly, verse 57 shows the accuracy of Stephen’s words. It says that his audience stopped their ears because they did not want to hear the truth any longer.

Let’s do a brief recap.

-Stephen called them stiff-necked.

Translation: You are obstinate, self-willed, self-reliant, and unyielding.

-Stephen called them uncircumcised in heart.

Translation: You are unchanged, unregenerate, faithless, and non-covenant people, outsiders.

-Stephen called them uncircumcised in ears.

Translation: You have a layer of flesh over your ears and you cannot and will not hear God’s truth.

This was the grandest of insults. After calling them what they were, he showed them their crime. This is what he’s been building up to. He recited Israel’s history and errors so that he could get his audience to this point. Let’s look at the rest of verse 51-53 together.

Verse

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 announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Commentary

Stephen begins by saying, “You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” The Holy Spirit is the revealer of truth. He is the One that does the miraculous work of giving people the ability to comprehend, understand, absorb, and apply God’s truth. Without Him none of these things are possible. Stephen said, “You always resist Him”. Resist is antipiptō in Greek and it means to oppose.

Stephen said, “You always oppose God.” When their forefathers opposed Joseph and Moses, they opposed the Holy Spirit who is God because He was in these men, guiding them and working through them. When Moses gave the Israelites the Law it was the Holy Spirit who is God was speaking through him. When the Israelites rejected the Law, they rejected the One who gave it to them, the Holy Spirit who is God. Moving on he gives them two more examples of how their forefathers opposed the Holy Spirit. Stephen said,

“Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?”

Israel had a long history of persecuting her prophets. Every time God sent a Holy Spirit filled man to direct the nation back to holiness the people came against them hard. Men like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Both warned the nation about her idolatry and a Babylonian invasion. Did the people listen to them? No. They persecuted them. They tried to starve Jeremiah to death by throwing him into a muddy well. Listen to these OT passages that affirm Stephen’s words.

1 Kings 19:10

Elijah said, “For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

2 Chronicles 36:16

15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Jeremiah 2:29-30

29 “Why do you contend with me? You have all transgressed against me, declares the Lord.
30 In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.

If Stephen’s audience were to answer his question truthfully the answer would be none because their forefathers’ persecuted all of the prophets in some way shape and form. He takes it further. He said, “And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One,”

Stephen reminds them of how their fathers treated the prophets that were sent to announce the coming of God’s promised Messiah. He essentially said, “And how did your fathers deal with the prophets who announced the coming Messiah, the Righteous One? They killed them!” Immediately Isaiah comes to mind here. Isaiah was a prophet during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the Kings of Judah. Isaiah not only announced that the Messiah was coming but he gave incredible details about him.

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Isaiah said this about His social status and appearance:

Isaiah 53:2

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

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Isaiah said that He would be rejected:

Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejectedby men; a man of sorrows,and acquainted withgrief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

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Isaiah said that He would not defend Himself:

Isaiah 53:7

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Isaiah said he would be beaten beyond recognition:

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Isaiah said that He would be beaten beyond recognition:

Isaiah 52:14

“As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—

Isaiah said that He would be executed next to law breakers:

Isaiah 53:12

“He and was numbered with the transgressors.”

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Isaiah said that He would bear the sins of His people:

Isaiah 53:12

“Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

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Isaiah said that crucifixion would be His means of death:

Isaiah 53:5

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.

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Isaiah said that He would be buried in a rich man’s tomb:

Isaiah 53:9

“And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death.”

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Out of all the prophets Isaiah was definitely the most descriptive about the Messiah.

After King Hezekiah died, his son, Manasseh, whom he made have shared his throne with, took full control. Manasseh very quickly reversed the reforms made by his father and reintroduced his kingdom to idolatry and pagan worship. He put up a carved image of Asherah, the Canaanite sex-goddess, in the temple. He burned his own son on the altar of Baal. He held séances and worshipped cosmic powers and took direction from the constellations and consulted the dead. 2 Kings 21:9 says that King Manasseh caused the Israelites to become more wicked than all the nations they destroyed and dispossessed. God was infuriated and warned that He would bring a level of destruction upon Jerusalem and Judah like never before. The news of what was coming would literally cause the hair on peoples necks to tingle.

So God sent prophets to rebuke and warn the people. Men like Isaiah. Isaiah railed against Manasseh, condemning his behavior and warning against impending doom and judgment. According to the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, Manasseh went after Isaiah. At some point he seized him and had him placed inside of a hollowed out tree and then had servants cut the tree and him in half. Hebrews 11:37 seems to affirm this. This is one example of how Stephen’s listeners’ forefathers’ murdered a prophet who had proclaimed the coming of the Messiah, the Righteous One. Stephen then makes an amazing statement, this is where he goes all in.

Again he said, your fathers killed the prophets of the Righteous One, and then he adds, but you yourselves betrayed and murdered the Righteous One! He said it this way, “whom you have now betrayed and murdered.” Stephen’s listeners were the guys behind Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Jesus’ blood was on their hands. They were guilty of betraying and murdering the Lord. Through his sermon Stephen has been building up to this point. He has shown how the people of Israel opposed their God given leaders and how they persecuted and murdered their God given prophets. He ends his speech with the ultimate and most devastating example of Israel’s opposition to God, the betrayal and murder of their God given Messiah, Jesus Christ.

But Stephen doesn’t leave them there. He makes one final statement that he hopes will lead his audience to repentance. He said, “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

He is referring to the Ten Commandments. What is the purpose of the Ten Commandments? The purpose is to show people that they come short of God’s standard of righteousness. The first four commandments show how we are to honor, love, and respect God. The last six show how we are to honor, love, and respect others. When a person gazes upon the commandments they quickly realize that they have fallen dramatically short of what is required of them. And the Bible teaches that God is just and that He will bring justice upon all who have broken His Holy Law. This includes everyone; all people. The Bible says that all people like sheep have gone astray. It says that no one is righteous, not one.

So according to the Law all people stand condemned and are in peril. But God, being the God of love, and the God of mercy and grace, devised a plan in eternity past, to send a Deliverer. One who would be perfect in every conceivable way. One who would come and obey the law fully and satisfy the Father’s expectation of righteousness. One who would come and die a vicarious death in our place on Calvary’s Cross. One who would transfer His perfect righteousness to our account and take our sins upon His body. One who would be buried in a tomb and three days later rise by the very power of God Almighty, conquering sin, death and Satan. This is the one whom Stephen called the Righteous One or the Apostle Peter called the Author of Life. I’m speaking of Jesus. He is the one that has accomplished these things.

Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Since perfect obedience to the law is required and yet impossible for fallen sinners to achieve they must turn to the alternative, Jesus Christ. The Law is a sign that shows us our imperfection and unrighteousness, the cross is a sign that shows us the alternative, Jesus Christ, who obeyed the Law perfectly and died on the cross in our place.

Romans 10:4 says,

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Immediately after telling the Sanhedrin that they betrayed and murdered the Righteous One Stephen tells them that they broke God’s Law. Which commandment do you think he had in mind? Commandment 6? “Thou shall not kill”?

Let’s recap:

After reminding Israel of her past errors and pointing out her current errors, after calling the Sanhedrin what they were; stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ear; after telling them that they betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, Stephen ties all of it together and essentially says, “You are the guilty ones because you have broken God’s Law which was entrusted to you.”

The Sanhedrin was now left with two options.

They could repent of their sin and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and as their only hope for deliverance from breaking God’s Law.

Or they could reject Stephen’s message, the truth, and continue in their opposition to God, in idolatry, and down the path of destruction.

These options are our options.  Each of us is faced with an important decision.  We are all law breakers.  Will we recieve the forgiveness and finished work of Jesus Christ who is our only hope for deliverance from sin and disobedience?  Or will we conitinue to reject the truth and head down the path of destruction?