Book of Acts
The Book of Acts—Chapter 6
Week 13
WOLVES
Close your eyes. Envision yourself late at night on a long road trip. Very dark, remote area. You’re tired, you’re hungry, you still got quite a ways to go, and your car starts giving you trouble. Eventually you lose power, pull over to the side of the road, and it’s dark. And you’re hoping, anticipating that someone’s going to drive by, pick you up, take you to the next town a few miles down the road. You wait what seems like a very long time. The car won’t turn over, you’re getting cold, a little frustrated, impatient. You decide, “I’ll throw my coat on and walk the few miles into town.”
You start walking. Pretty soon you can’t see your car behind you; you can’t see anything in front of you. You’re walking along the shoulder of the road trying to stay close to the white line. And then you hear this: [wolf howling]. [Congregation laughs.]
OK, open your eyes. OK, you laughed because you’re not there, but hypothetically, you’re there. What do you do? “Run,” says the dead person in the third row. Because what did we just hear? A wolf.
What do you do when a wolf comes? What do you do when a pack of wolves comes? What do you do when a howl is responded to with a series of howls, and they’re around you? What direction do you go?
One of the story lines of the Bible is that God is a Good Shepherd. Jesus says he’s the Good Shepherd. The church is a flock of sheep. We are like sheep.
Some of you say, “I’m tough.” For a sheep, maybe you’re tough. But if I change the story to, you’re walking alone late at night and you see a flock of sheep, you would pet them. They’re not terrifying.
God is good a shepherd, Christians are like sheep, and the church is like a pen where we have some protection together. Pastors and other leaders are supposed to be shepherds.
Conversely, there are wolves, they run in packs, they devour flocks, and they attack shepherds. It’s in the Old Testament, the teachings of Jesus, and the New Testament.
Empowered by the Spirit to face wolves.
What’s happened is that the Lord Jesus has come for his flock as the Good Shepherd. As he promised, he laid down his life as the Good Shepherd for his flock. The wolves surrounded him, they attacked him, they crucified him, and he laid down his life for the sheep. After his resurrection, he commissioned his leaders to be shepherds, to care for his people. He ascended back into heaven, and we saw Christianity early in the book of Acts exploding and expanding, and lots of people became the people of God. So the flock is growing, the church is growing, the number of shepherds is increasing. One of them who is appointed is named Stephen.
Now today, we see that the wolves are coming, that they are fast approaching, that they are planning and plotting, that they soon will be attacking. So we pick up the story in Acts 6:8–15, and herein, we meet the wolves.
8And Stephen—this man who was just appointed to leadership earlier in the chapter—full of grace and power,—that’s Luke’s language for the Holy Spirit. The third member of the Trinity who empowered the life of Jesus empowers the life of Jesus’ people.
,was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
So here, the Holy Spirit works in and through Stephen in a supernatural way. He’s a natural man with a supernatural enablement. He’s like you, and he’s like me. He’s just a regular guy until the Holy Spirit fills him, and he yields and submits himself to the person, the presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Great wonders and signs are done, people are healed, the Bible is taught, people become Christians, demons are cast out.
9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called),— these are people who were slaves and then freed, and they apparently had made their own synagogue. What you’re going to see here are a bunch of packs. Here come the wolves. Each pack has its alpha. It has its leader, the strong one, who in every way leads the pack to encircle Stephen, the shepherd, and they’re going to attack him.
9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—there’s a pack—and of the Cyrenians—another pack—and of the Alexandrians—another pack—and of those from Cilicia—another pack—and Asia—more packs—rose up—with their alphas—and disputed with Stephen. The alphas are going after the shepherd.
10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he was speaking. That’s the Holy Spirit.
11 Then they secretly instigated men who said, ‘We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.’ 12 And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes. More packs, more alphas, more packs, more alphas. And they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council. They’re attacking him. 13 And they set up false witnesses You’re not supposed to bear false witness. Here, they’re violating one of the Ten Commandments. who said, ‘This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place’”—the temple—and the law’—the Bible—14for we have heard him say—remember they are lying—that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” 15 And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
The goal is very simple. Discredit the minister to destroy this ministry. That’s it. This is always Satan’s plot and plan.
Oftentimes, Christianity is presented as just a self-help scheme for you. Today, I want you to care about the whole church. Not just our church, every church that loves Jesus and believes the Bible—every flock that is under our Good Shepherd.
Here come the packs of wolves, and they start by seeking to discredit Stephen. They bring charges against him that don’t hold up. They argue with him, but they can’t win the argument because he’s filled with the Holy Spirit and he speaks words of truth and wisdom. They lose their public relations attempt to cause him to be discredited. He defends himself, and he holds his ground. So, they’re not done.
They then turn to false witnesses and false charges. They make things up that he didn’t say, or they take things that he said, and they say them in ways that he didn’t intend. They’re doing the same thing to Stephen that they did to the Lord Jesus. These are the same kinds of people.
It started by arguing with him. When they lost the arguments, then it was instigating him. And when they couldn’t win the fight, then it was false accusations against him by false witnesses.
In the middle of it all, Stephen, like the Lord Jesus, is maintaining his integrity. He’s serving for God’s glory, and it says that his face was like the face of an angel. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t vengeful, he wasn’t defensive, he wasn’t accusatory or derogatory.
But they were not done.
I’ve wrestled preparing for this section of Acts wondering, “Lord, should I take it all at once since it’s a unit of thought, or should I break it down because it’s so incredibly long?” I’ve chosen to deal with the entire narrative so that we could see it all in context.
This may be Stephen’s first sermon. It is assuredly his last sermon. He has just officially entered into a leadership position in the church, and he is now going to preach his own funeral and it’s a long sermon.
Oftentimes when we get a sermon in the Bible, it’s a snippet or a summary. This is actually an extended, maybe an exhaustive transcript of what he had to say.
Acts 7:1
Here’s Stephen, surrounded by wolves.
1And the high priest said, ‘Are these things so?’
2 And Stephen said: Here’s his sermon:
“Brothers and fathers, —he’s respectful—hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
He’s deep into Genesis.
9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph,--he is at the end of Genesis--sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.
11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. -Now he is in Exodus-- 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
Same as Stephen. The Holy Spirit was upon him as well.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel—perhaps even Jesus, I would add-- appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’—That was a prophecy of Jesus-- 38 This is the one who was in the congregation—or the church-- in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39 Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
43 You took up the tent of Moloch
and the star of your god Rephan,
the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
The prefiguring of the temple is next.
44 “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,
49 “‘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?
50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
You may be seated.
KNOW JESUS, KNOW THE WORD
You never know when you’re going to need to know your Bible. There’s no indication that Stephen was given advanced warning that this moment was coming. He knew the Scriptures, and as a result, when the time came for him to speak, he was prepared and ready.
Peter says something similar:
1 Peter 3:15 English Standard Version
15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Stephen is ready, and when the moment comes, he respectfully—calling them brothers and fathers—walks them through the Old Testament. And he is leading everything to the person and work of Jesus. They would have known these biblical stories, they would have studied them as children, but their problem was they had missed Jesus.
You can know the Bible, but if you don’t know Jesus, you don’t know the Bible.
Jesus himself said that he came to fulfill all Scripture. He said that the Scripture was about him in John 5:38–39.
John 5:38-39 English Standard Version
38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Jesus himself taught a Bible study after he rose from death—two, in fact—at the end of the Gospel of Luke, showing how the whole Old Testament was about him.
The whole Bible is all about Jesus. And they knew the Word, but they didn’t know the Word because they didn’t know Jesus. And so what Stephen is doing is taking the Word that they know and leading them to the Word, Jesus that they do not know.
ABRAHAM & HIS SON
He starts with Abraham, whom they would have called their father. And he reminds them that Abraham was a pagan. He did not start as a Jew. He circumcised himself and became the father of the Jewish people. But he was a pagan, living apart from the Lord, coming from a godless family, and God chose him. Before Abraham ever chose God, God chose him, elected him.
The Lord made a promise to Abraham: “You’re going to become a father.” He and his wife were barren and elderly. They had no children and no capacity to have children.
“And through your line will come a nation of sons, the nation of Israel, and through that nation will come a particular Son.”
I’m summarizing a ton of Scripture here. But it was a promise that this promised Son of miraculous birth would be a blessing to the nations of the earth. Ultimately, the Lord Jesus Christ comes. He is the son of Abraham, and he is the Son of God. He is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. God gave Abraham the son Isaac. His name means “laughter” because God always gets the last laugh. And then through Isaac came the Patriarchs, whom he has just mentioned. Through them came the nation of Israel. It started as a family of around seventy at the end of Genesis. By the beginning of Exodus he says it’s a nation of a few million.
Through these people comes one person. God becomes a man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the descendant of Abraham. He is the promised Son also born of a supernatural miraculous intervention and birth by God. And he is not just any man’s son—he is the Son of God. And Jesus is the fulfillment of the blessing that was promised to the nations of the earth through Abraham.
JOSEPH & THE GREATER JOSEPH
Then he proceeds to Joseph. And he says that Joseph was hated, and despised, and betrayed by his brothers. He ultimately was thrown in a hole and left for dead. Joseph got out of that hole and rose up from poverty to luxury and went from a place of obscurity to a place of great leadership and prominence. And as a result, Joseph used his position as a mighty ruler with lots of resources to feed, care for, love, and ultimately save people. Not only that, he forgave his brothers, and his great reconciliation with them,
Genesis 50:20 ESV
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should kept alive, as they are today.
Jesus is the greater than Joseph.
Think about it, Jesus was betrayed by his own brothers. Jesus was thrown into a hole and left for dead. Jesus maintained a love for his Father, and his Father maintained a love for him, as was the case with Joseph.
Jesus got out of that hole, and he rose to a leadership position at the right hand of the king, much like the Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father. And he used what was intended for evil, the murder of God on the cross, for good and the saving of many lives including our own, and he reconciles with us, and he makes us brothers. He looks us in the eye with love and says, “You murdered me, but what you intended for evil has been used for good and the saving of many lives.”
MOSES & THE GREATER MOSES
He moves from Abraham, to Joseph, and then he tells the story of Moses. In that day, God’s people lived in Egypt. They were far from home. And God’s people were under oppression, and there was a man who was the Pharaoh, and he ruled over them as a cruel taskmaster. He had no grace, he had no love, he had no mercy for God’s people.
So, God raised up this man Moses, put the Holy Spirit upon him, and empowered him for preaching and for miraculous works, signs, wonders, and deeds. And Moses as a prophet of God rebuked the Pharaoh, calling him and the nation of Egypt to repentance. And the more he preached, the harder their hearts became. The result was that ultimately God, through a series of miraculous supernatural events, delivered his people from slavery and bondage to freedom and worship.
Jesus comes as the greater Moses. Jesus comes as the prophet that was promised to come through the line of Moses. Jesus comes to face our pharaoh, Satan. Jesus comes to free us from slavery to sin that we might be free to live new lives as his joyful people, worshiping him.
This is his sermon, and it’s all about Jesus. Abraham is about Jesus, Israel’s about Jesus, the patriarchs are about Jesus, the Exodus is about Jesus, Moses is about Jesus, Joseph is about Jesus, David is about Jesus, Solomon is about Jesus, the temple is about Jesus, the priesthood is about Jesus, kingship is about Jesus. It’s all about Jesus. Even the shepherd boy David pointed to Jesus, our Good Shepherd. It’s all about Jesus.
YOUR FIGHT IS ULTIMATELY WITH HIM
The wolves have come. Stephen, by the power of the Holy Spirit, stands boldly with God’s humility, speaking truth and love and he’s preaching his funeral to the wolves and their packs. And then who joins this momentous occasion? None other than the chief Shepherd.
Here are the final words of Stephen. Acts 7:51–60
51 “You stiff-necked people—the wolves are the congregation for this sermon. Can you imagine how difficult this was? He is brand-new to ministry. This is his rookie season. Stiff-necked means stubborn.
You ever try to walk a dog with a stiff neck? You realize the dog’s trying to walk you. You ever try and ride a horse with a stiff neck? Can’t make it go where you want. God says that his people are often, or at least sometimes, like that, just stiff-necked.
, uncircumcised in heart and ears, Now, the men were all circumcised, but not in their heart and not in their ears. They weren’t listening, and they weren’t loving. You can go through a lot of religious ritual, but if it’s only external and not internal, all you are is a religious hypocrite with a stiff neck.
Here’s the bottom line:
you always resist the Holy Spirit. He’s convicted you, he’s taught you, he’s led you. “You know what you’re supposed to do; you know what you’re not supposed to do. And your fight is ultimately,” Stephen is saying, “not with me, it’s with him.”
“As your fathers did, so do you.” He’s insulting their dad because their dads and their granddads had been warring against God for thousands of years. Circumcised, Sabbath-keeping, rule-abiding stiff-necks.
But ultimately,” Stephen is saying, “It is not a battle with me. It’s a battle with God.”
52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
Stephen is saying, “I’m like Elijah. I’m like Jeremiah. I’m preaching and you’re persecuting.”
And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, —that’s Jesus—whom you have now betrayed and murdered, You murdered God.
53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” The angels brought you the Old Testament and you murdered Jesus, the entire point of the entire Scriptures.
54 Now when they heard these things they were—what? enraged, Maybe if he would have said it differently, they would have responded differently. Maybe Stephen just wasn’t very winsome.
and they ground their teeth at him. You ever seen a dog—hair up, teeth out, what do you know? You’re in danger. It’s an involuntary response of a dog who is preparing to bite, devour, and attack. These men now, demonically inspired, are like animals. They are wolves, and their teeth are showing.
55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit Stephen was a great man because he submitted to a great God. Apart from submitting to a great God, there is no such thing as a great man. He is now going to be like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit as Jesus was empowered., gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears They would listen no more. and rushed together at him. Like a pack of wolves. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. There’s the leader of the pack, the alpha wolf.
59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He’s saying the same thing as Jesus, isn’t he? “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”—the Lord Jesus said from the cross—
60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
That’s the Bible’s language for a believer who dies. When a believer dies, they fall asleep. Their body lays in the ground until the resurrection of the dead. When a believer and an unbeliever die, for the believer it is death, physical and spiritual. For the believer, it is physical death but spiritual life. They fall in a sleep and one day that dead body will rise with Jesus.
These are Stephen’s final words. He is on his knees because the men have encircled him. The wolves have come for him, and they’re going to stone him. You need to know that there is no indication that this was legal. This is illegal. They had challenged him and failed in their argument. They had brought charges against him that did not stick. They brought false charges against him that did not remove him from ministry.
So now they’re going to murder him, and they don’t seemingly have any legal right to do so, and there is no trial. This is mob violence. This is exactly what was done to the Lord Jesus. Argue with him, can’t win. Accuse him, nothing sticks. Falsely accuse him, does not discredit him. Therefore, to silence him, we must kill him. And Stephen is on his knees and rocks are flying at him.
Today, the Lord Jesus is as Stephen saw him, in glory not humility, being worshiped by angels, being adored by departed saints. And Stephen has clarity because he saw Jesus. There is no clarity down here unless we see him up there. Unless you know that Jesus is alive, that Jesus is God, that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is ruling, that Jesus is reigning, that Jesus is in glory, that Jesus sees all, knows all, judges all perfectly, until you have that kind of clarity, nothing here is clear.
Stephen had that clarity.
It was customary in that day that in court the judge would sit, hear the case, and render the verdict. The witnesses would stand to testify. Here, the Lord Jesus is standing. He’s gotten off of his throne for Stephen, to honor Stephen and to serve as a witness saying, “I’ve seen it all. I know it all. I will judge all.”
JESUS IS YOUR WITNESS
You need to know that not only is Jesus your judge, he’s your witness. He sees and knows all—all that you do, and all that has been done to you. He sees the evil that you and I have done, and he sees the evil that others have done to us. He’s not only the judge; he’s the witness. And either he died in our place for our sins, or we die in our place for our sins, but there is justice for all.
And it says the Lord Jesus got off of his throne from being seated at the right hand of the Father, and he looked down at Stephen, telling him, “I am witnessing all of this, and I will welcome you.”
His arms are out to welcome Stephen home. And Stephen closed his eyes in death, and he opened his eyes to see the Lord Jesus face to face, to feel his embrace, and to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest.”