Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1916-03-03
INTERNATIONAL
SUNlMSO1OOL
LESSON
By e. o. SELLERS. Acting Director OF
Sunday School Course, Moody Bible
Institute.)
Copyright. 1915. Western Newspaper union.)
LESSON FOR MARCH 5
THE DEATH OF STEPHEN.


death and will give thee the crown OF
life.-Rev 2:10
This lesson closely follows thai of
last Sunday. There are some battles
OF life that are not fought with fists
or weapons. The boy who holds lis
temper is more manly than, the one
who goes into fight simply to win.
Paul tells us how and what to fight
(Eph. GIL, 12). We must show the
scholars clearly the two great bat.
ties Stephen fought and the victory
he won as described in todays les
son. The charges made against
Stephen were made by false wit
nesses." This does not mean men
who invented false words, but men
who took isolated statements, distort-
ed them and by innuendo used them
for their own ends. Stephen was
charged with three things: (a) Bias
phemy against God (6:11-13), (b)
That he had said Jesus would return
and destroy the temple GID, (c)
That he claimed that Jesus would de-
stroy or abrogate the law (6:14. This
great passage OF Scripture is so pro-
found and so closely connected that
we hesitate in trying to separate it
into divisions or sections. We much
prefer to note the logical argument
and presentation Stephen the Spirit
anointed deacon made to the Sanhe-
drin.
!. Stephens Defense. Stephen was
Grecianized Jew, whose name
means "a crown" He answered the
charges of these foreign accusers,
made before the Sanhedrin, seriatim.
His point of contact was to respect
fully remind the council that he
was an orthodox Jewish believer and
worshiper ". p. He called the coun-
ell Men, brethren and fathers" They
were common believers and all were
standing before the God-appointed
leaders of Israel Stephen in his re-
ply showed that he reverenced God
and Gods prophet Moses, thereby an.
swering the first charge ". III, and
while he reverenced the temple he
showed that it was not essential to
worship (7:47:49). This last was in
answer to their second charge (6-1D.
In answer to their third charge Ste
phen then turned upon his enemies
and by direct and indirect charges he
convicted them Of certain facts In
directly, by skillful repetition of Jew
ish history, and a review of the
prophets, he discloses the vacillation
and sinfulness Of Gods chosen people
(23, 29). Directly he accuses these
leaders of having been subservient to
certain customs as being superior to
the law they protested to obey. Ste
phen's accusers were, as we have
seen, from without Jerusalem (6:9,
10), and his first battle was concern
Jag the truth about Jesus. His second
great battle, and one of his ultimate
victory, was with these avowed enc
mics of Jesus (6:11-S:3).
II. Stephens Death. The real con-
test of this occasion was Satan VS..
the Holy Spirit. Stephen put to rout
these men from the foreign synagogue,
hence the Jewish authorities deter
mined to take hold of the problem
themselves and put stop to this
Christian teaching. Stephens sud-
den application of the Scripture to his
judges caused intense anger. He
preached the word of God in the DEM
onstration of the Holy Spirit, and such
preaching always either produces con.
viction of sin, or else arouses anger
at the preacher. These men could not
deny the truth OF his accusation; they
therefore turned upon him in anger.
Being full of the Holy Spirit" is an
abiding condition and inevitably in.
wolves a conflict with Satan. 1t led
Stephen to look up and not about
him. and in his hour Of testing he saw
wonderful vision of heaven-"The
glory of God and OF Jesus standing"
Let us accept the testimony of this
dying man as literal fact This
sight strengthened him for his suf
fering and for his witnessing. Death |
had no more terror for Stephen and
he was faithful and steadfast to the
end.
~. Stephens Burial. These men
overreached themselves, for persecu
ton simply scattered those who gave
the Christian testimony wider and |
q more effective hearing t11:19-21). |
This force of circumstances thrust the |
early church forth from Jerusalem |
Now, after a period of perhaps five
or seven years, we see the beginning |
Of the literal fulfillment of the Pente |
costal program (Acts 1:S). During
this storm of persecution the apostles
remained at their posts in Jerusa
lem.
Sauls rage knew no bounds, and |
not content with disputations in the |
synagogues he prosecuted the church, |
sparing neither sex nor age (S:1.3). |
Stephens success was in his per.
sonal life and his answering testt
UnOUY t.5l ~ u. .Uf'n