Stephen's Defense: The God of Glory Who Will Not Be Stopped

A study of Acts 6:8–7:53 from Priceville Baptist Church | Sermon 15 in “A Forty-Week Journey Through the Book of Acts”

There is a kind of courage that does not raise its voice. It does not shout, and it does not run. It simply stands still and tells the truth, even when the room is filled with people who want it to stop. That is the courage we meet in a man named Stephen.

Last week we watched the church choose seven men to serve the widows and keep the family united (Acts 6:1–7). Stephen was the first name on that list. He was picked to wait tables. But God had something bigger in mind. The man chosen to carry food would soon carry the boldest sermon in the whole book of Acts. And it would cost him his life. This week, before we get to that cost, we listen to what he said.

A Man Full of Grace and Power

Luke tells us, “And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8, NASB95). Those two words matter. The Greek word for grace is charis. The word for power is dynamis — it is where we get our word “dynamite.” Stephen was not powerful because he was loud or clever. He was full of charis and dynamis because he was full of the Holy Spirit.

Some men from a local synagogue began to argue with him. But “they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (Acts 6:10). They could not win the argument, so they decided to win another way. They found men to lie about him. They stirred up the crowd. They dragged Stephen before the council and accused him of speaking against the temple and the law of Moses (Acts 6:11–14).

Then comes one of the most beautiful sentences in the chapter. As they stared at him, ready to condemn him, “they saw his face like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). The room was full of anger. Stephen’s face was full of peace. That is what the Spirit does in a person who belongs to God.

The Sermon That Tells the Whole Story

The high priest asks one question: “Are these things so?” (Acts 7:1). Stephen answers with the longest speech in Acts. But he does not defend himself. He preaches. He walks the council through their own history, from Abraham to Joseph to Moses to David and Solomon. It is like watching someone flip through an old family photo album, page by page.

And as he turns the pages, a pattern shows up again and again. God keeps coming to His people. God keeps sending leaders, rescuers, and messengers. And the people keep pushing them away.

God called Abraham and kept His promise, even when Abraham had no land and no son (Acts 7:2–8).
God was with Joseph even when his own brothers sold him as a slave (Acts 7:9–16).
God raised up Moses to rescue the people — and the people said, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us?” (Acts 7:27, 35). They turned their hearts back to Egypt (Acts 7:39).

Do you see it? The very heroes Israel now bragged about were the same kind of men their fathers had rejected. Stephen is gently holding up a mirror.

He also answers the charge about the temple. They accused him of being against God’s house. So Stephen reminds them that God does not live in a box. “The Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). The temple was a gift, not a cage. God is the God of glory (Acts 7:2), and glory cannot be locked inside walls.

The Words That Stopped the Room

For most of the speech, Stephen sounds like a patient history teacher. Then the tone changes. He looks at the council and says:

“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.” (Acts 7:51–52, NASB95)

The phrase “stiff-necked” comes from the Greek word sklerotrachelos. It is a farming picture. A stiff-necked ox is one that will not bend its neck to take the yoke. It locks up. It refuses to be led. That is how Stephen describes hearts that have heard God a thousand times and still will not turn.

He goes further: “uncircumcised in heart and ears.” Their bodies carried the mark of God’s people, but their hearts had never been opened. And the word for “resisting” is antipipto — to fall against, to push back, to run the opposite way. Stephen is saying: God’s Spirit keeps pulling, and you keep pulling the other direction.

This is the big idea of the whole passage: All through history, God has been faithfully at work among His people, yet again and again His people resisted the Holy Spirit and rejected His messengers — until at last they rejected and killed the Righteous One Himself. Stephen’s sermon is not really about the temple or the law. It is about the human heart, and what it does when God comes near.

Reflection: Questions for an Honest Heart

Stephen’s words were a mirror for the council. They can be a mirror for us too. Sit with these slowly:

Where in your life have you heard God clearly — through Scripture, through a friend, through your own conscience — and quietly pushed back?
Is there a part of your heart that is “uncircumcised,” still closed off, that you have never let God open?
Stephen could face an angry room with a peaceful face because he was full of the Spirit. What would change in how you handle pressure if you depended on the Spirit each morning?
The people honored dead prophets while ignoring the living God. Are there ways we admire faith from a distance instead of obeying it up close?
Stephen saw God’s faithfulness running through every generation. Where can you trace God’s faithfulness through your own life story?

A Week in the Word: Daily Readings

Walk through the heart of Stephen’s sermon one step at a time this week.

Monday — Acts 6:8–15: A man full of grace and power, and a face like an angel.
Tuesday — Acts 7:1–16: Abraham and Joseph — God keeps His promises through hard years.
Wednesday — Acts 7:17–43: Moses the rescuer the people rejected.
Thursday — Acts 7:44–50: God does not live in a building — He fills heaven and earth.
Friday — Acts 7:51–53: Stiff necks, closed hearts, and the call to stop resisting.
Saturday — Jeremiah 4:4 and Deuteronomy 10:16: “Circumcise your heart” — the Old Testament roots of Stephen’s words.
Sunday — Romans 2:28–29: True circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit.

Where This Points: The Story Continues

This sermon does not stand alone. Two weeks ago the church set apart seven Spirit-filled servants, and Stephen was first on the list (Acts 6:1–7). The man chosen to serve quietly is now standing boldly. That is what God’s Spirit does — He takes ordinary servants and makes them faithful witnesses.

And the story is not finished. Stephen’s last words in this passage are not his last words in Acts. Next Sunday we come to Acts 7:54–60, where the council’s anger boils over and Stephen becomes the first person to die for the name of Jesus. But even there, you will see the same peaceful face, the same full heart, the same God of glory. Stephen will die the way he lived — looking up.

A Call to Respond

If you have not yet trusted Jesus: Stephen’s sermon ends with a hard truth. The same heart that resists God’s messengers will finally resist God’s Son. But here is the good news hidden inside the warning. The “Righteous One” Stephen spoke of (Acts 7:52) is Jesus — the One who died for sinners and rose again. A stiff neck can be softened. A closed heart can be opened. The Spirit who was “resisted” is still calling today. You do not have to push back any longer. Turn from your sin, and trust in Jesus alone. If God is tugging at your heart as you read this, do not wait. Come talk with us. We would love to walk with you.

If you already follow Jesus: Ask the Lord to search your heart for any stiff-necked place — any area where you have heard Him and resisted Him. Confess it. Then ask the Spirit to fill you the way He filled Stephen, so that you can stand with grace and speak with peace, even in a hard room. God is still faithful. He is still the God of glory. And He is still looking for witnesses.

Join us this Sunday, June 28, at 11:00 AM at Priceville Baptist Church, 713 North Feemster Lake Road, Tupelo, Mississippi, as we open Acts 6:8–7:53 together.