Work of the Spirit: Sin vs. Righteousness – Judgment
2Samuel 23-24 / Acts 7-9
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OT
23:1-4 These are the last words of David: “David, the son of Jesse, speaks– David, the man to whom God gave such wonderful success, David, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Spirit of the LORD speaks through me; his words are upon my tongue. The God of Israel spoke. The Rock of Israel said to me: `The person who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of the morning, like the sunrise bursting forth in a cloudless sky, like the refreshing rains that bring tender grass from the earth.”
NT
7:51-60 “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? But your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One–the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, though you received it from the hands of angels. The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” Then they put their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, they rushed at him. They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. The official witnesses took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
OT Flash Points
Last words of David.
Judgment
This passage forces us to dig past our own understanding to get God’s definition of judgment
His anger burned against Israel again and caused David to harm them by taking a census
David feels the guilt, watches the plague take 70,000 of his people and is given the job of a priest to offer a sacrifice at the threshing floor where God stopped the angel of death
David reveals the nature of sacrifice, I cannot present to God what costs me nothing
The LORD answered his prayer and the plague was stopped
That, in all its parts, was the judgment that God purposed for Israel
We have a hard time seeing all the parts as the whole of one thing, specific judgment
We aren’t told the specific reason God was angry with Israel, we can guess from their history, but He clearly wants to instruct us about something very personal in His eternal and sovereign nature – something about the creative way He designs correction for His children
NT Flash Points
Stephen’s message and death
Saul, who watches Stephen’s death, becomes Paul, the Holy Spirit’s replacement for Judas
Perspective
The delight of despair – prostrate before Him and feeling His hand, raising you up