It Gets Worse

It Gets Worse 2022 02 27

Acts 8:1 – 4

 

My mother had a friend who said, “This, too, will pass.  Then something worse will come along.”  Sometimes things happen that just don’t seem fair at all.  You work really hard and conscientiously to make sure that everything is done well, orderly, and completely, only to have someone come along and ruin all your hard work.  Then, as if that isn’t enough, they keep on going making a real mess out of everything.  It happens with children and their siblings, or their peers, but also can happen on the job or anywhere and anytime in life.  When life becomes unfair, look out!  It can get worse, because there’s always someone making a mess, and the devil is the worst of them.  But God our Creator who is still in control and always in control said, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

 

Acts 8:1 – 4

 

Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, had just been hauled before the council on false charges.  He did not back down, but preached a remarkable, powerful, and convicting sermon to his accusers.  They were not converted but were so convicted that they fell upon him in a rage and stoned him to death.  A young man named Saul who watched their outer garments while they stoned Stephen agreed to his murder.

 

I  It Got Worse

  1. After Stephen, the first listed deacon, a man who was FULL of faith and the Holy Ghost, was put to death by stoning, devout men took his body and had a traditional religious funeral for him, complete with great lamentation.  The Greek word translated lamentation is kop-et-os’, a beating of the breast in grief, which was what the Jews normally did at funerals.
  2. The death of Stephen, while horrifying and terrifying to the young Jerusalem church, was not the end of it.  It got worse.  There was great persecution against the church.

           

II  The People Were Scattered

  1. The persecution was more than many people could bear, and they were scattered all throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, to the north.  People moved out and away from the city to escape the persecution, and often brought whole families with them.  There was a mass exodus of Christians from Jerusalem.

 

III  The Apostles Did Not Run Away

  1. The apostles did not run away but stayed on in Jerusalem to continue looking after the church there and evangelizing the city. These were the same men who ran in fear when Jesus was arrested.  But now, they had seen their Saviour risen from the dead, and had received the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, who gave them great boldness and power to preach.
    1. The Holy Ghost still indwells every believer, today, and is the same Holy Ghost as He was then. He is God and does not change.
    2. The difference between those who run and those who stay is often the level of influence we allow the Holy Ghost to have in our lives, which is directly tied to the level of our faith. The level of our faith is directly tied to our relationship with Jesus Christ, which is tied directly to our Bible reading, prayer life, and church attendance.

 

  1. Remember that the apostles had said in Acts 7:4, “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”
  2. The apostles spent a great deal of time in the presence of God in prayer.
  1. Stephen was full of faith and the Holy Ghost, so was so confident in Christ that he was willing to lay his life on the line.
  2. But when faith is divided between God and what we can see with our eyes, we begin to quench or push aside the Holy Ghost, and then our faith begins to fail even more. That’s why we are told in 1Th 5:19 “Quench not the Spirit.”  Don’t ignore Him, don’t push Him aside, don’t continue in willful sin, but walk in obedience.
  3. In an even stronger passage, the Bible says not do anything that is offensive to God the Holy Ghost. 4:30 says, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”  Do what God says and avoid sin.
  4. Don’t rely on your senses to give you the big picture and settle your decisions. The Bible says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  2Cor 5:7. Proverbs 3:5 tells us, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”  As soon as we stop walking by faith and start walking by sight, our faith begins to fail even more.
  5. The apostles did not run away, because they trusted God, being full of faith and the Holy Ghost. They knew they were where God wanted them to be, and they obeyed God.

 

IV It Got Worse

  1. So, what happened after Stephen was buried and the excitement of that early persecution died down? It got better, right?    It got worse!  One thing that Christians must be VERY aware of is that this world is not fair.   The god of this world is the devil, and everything he does is contrary.  God’s world was peaceful.  God gave dominion of that world to man, but man gave dominion over to Satan when he sinned.  Satan’s way is the way of corruption, misery, and death.
    1. Satan never fights fairly. He always takes full advantage where he can.  He will kick a fallen man when he’s down.
    2. The persecution in Jerusalem was enough to drive the majority of the Christians out of Jerusalem, but that was not enough.
  2. After the death and burial of Stephen, as many of the saints of Jerusalem were scattered throughout the towns and villages outside of Jerusalem, it got much worse. Saul made havock of the church in Jerusalem. In other words, he went about making a mess of the church, a devastating mess.
  3. Saul went house to house, dragging any Christians he found, both men and women, to prison. There was no safe place in Jerusalem for Christians.

 

V  God’s Purpose Was Achieved

  1. Through this terrible time, God’s purpose was achieved in a marvelous way.  Our passage says in verse 4, “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.”
  1. The persecution pushed believers out of their comfort zone and out into the surrounding countryside. Where prior to this time, the gospel was being preached only in Jerusalem, suddenly, it was being preached in towns and villages all over Judea and Samaria!
  2. God had a purpose, that His Word would be preached in all the earth, and to do that, Christians couldn’t all stay in Jerusalem.
    1. The Bible says in Romans 10:13 & 14, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”
  3. Where the devil was trying to destroy the church in Jerusalem, God used the persecution to send out Christians with the word of God and caused many new churches to begin outside of Jerusalem!
  4. As you discover from reading the book of Acts, the church in Jerusalem was far from dead. God still had plans for that church, and it actually flourished.
  5. But because of the persecution that was brought against the church, the gospel began to flourish outside of Jerusalem, and new churches began to be planted everywhere.

 

Conclusion

What do you see when adversity comes your way?  Do you simply see circumstances and perhaps people making a mess of your life?  Or are you walking by faith, seeing God’s hand at work, knowing that this fits into His plans and that He is going to work it all for good for you?  Don’t be afraid when troubles come.  The Bible clearly says it will if you are a child of God.  But remember what the Bible also says about these things: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.

Trust God, knowing that He is in control of history and that He loves you!