Page 84 - Fundamentals Ebook

Do those words sound familiar? When Stephen was dying he said,
“Father, forgive them.” When Stephen was dying he said, “Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit.” Those were the words of a crucified man.
It sounds a lot like Jesus. When angry men are throwing stones at
you, you don’t say, “Father, forgive them.” You know the natural
heart like I know the natural heart. How could he do that? Was he
saying, “I’m a Christian and I’m supposed to turn the other cheek. I
better act like a Christian because I am a Christian.” That was not
possible.

Stephen’s heart was full of forgiveness. Stephen was not repeating
the words of Jesus. It sounds like Jesus because it was Jesus. Jesus
was in his heart and he now had the character of the Lord. That’s
fruit; when you are made like Jesus and when you are conformed
into His likeness. That takes a miracle. Stephen was not some
puppet that the Lord was putting words in his mouth.

I’m sure Stephen was so focused on Christ that he was distracted
from being stoned. This is an amazing miracle. Acts. 7:58 says that
they laid the robes of the ones who were stoning him at Saul’s feet,
“And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning
him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young
man named Saul.” When Stephen was dying, I don’t think he was
saying, “I hope the Lord uses this redemptively.” He was too busy
seeing Jesus. It was all automatic. It was fruit. Fruit is intuitive.
We don’t have to think about it. He didn’t think about forgiving.
He didn’t think about surrender. He was like Jesus. It came
naturally. He had a forgiving heart. He had a surrendered heart.

I don’t think Stephen saw who was holding the garments. I don’t
think he knew that the number one enemy of Christ was holding
some of the garments. The number one enemy of Christ was the
Apostle Paul and he became the number one friend of Christ.

If God has ever blessed you through the writings of Paul and his
thirteen epistles, bow your head and thank God for Stephen. God
used Stephen to lead Paul to Christ. That’s fruit. He wasn’t trying