Heaven Is On My Side
Acts 7:54-60
Stephen is being stoned for preaching the gospel. As the stones begin to strike him, he looks toward heaven. He looked up “steadfastly.” He fixed his eyes intently on heaven. Recognizing the danger and the effect his speech had produced – seeing that there was no safety in the great council of the nation and no prospect of justice at their hands - he cast his eyes to heaven. When dangers threaten us, our hope of safety lies in heaven. When men threaten our persons, reputation, or lives, it behooves us to look towards heaven.
As Stephen looks towards heaven, he sees Jesus standing. Why is Jesus "standing" and not sitting, the posture in which the glorified Saviour is elsewhere represented? Clearly, to express the eager interest with which He watched from the skies the scene that was going on earth.
Why is Jesus standing? Because the Son of God has an intersest in what is going on. Heaven has an interest in the child of God.
How do I know heaven is on my side? How do that heaven has an interest in me. Heaven is for the child of God.
I. Because of my intercessor (Romans 8:34)
My intercessor puts all of heaven on my side.
F. B. Meyer wrote about two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn. They hired three guides and began their ascent at the steepest and most slippery part. The men roped themselves together in this order: guide, traveler, guide, traveler, guide. They had gone only a little way up the side when the last man lost his footing. He was held up temporarily by the other four, because each had a toehold in the niches they had cut in the ice. But then the next man slipped, and he pulled down the two above him. The only one to stand firm was the first guide, who had driven a spike deep into the ice. Because he held his ground, all the men beneath him regained their footing.
I am like one of those men who slipped, but thank God, I am bound in a living partnership to Christ. And because He stands, I will never perish.
Notice my intercessor:
A. His Person (32) the Son of God
Mount Moriah was the high point in Abraham’s experience as this pilgrim patriarch who began his walk with God by giving up his father ended it by giving up his son. Between these two crisis points in his experience he gave up the well watered plains of Jordan . However the giving up of Isaac was the greatest single act in his life as God Himself acknowledged. "Lay not thine hand upon the lad,’’ said God, "neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know
that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me" (Gen. 22:12). Now the word "withheld" is rendered by “spared” in other places in the Old Testament. Just as Abraham spared not Isaac, so God spared not His Son, Jesus. Paul may well have been drawing a deliberate parallel. It is difficult to believe that Abraham could ever held back anything from God after sparing not his son. How difficult it is to imagine God could hold back anything from us after giving up His Son for us.
A wealthy Roman had a son who broke his heart and a slave who commanded his admiration. He decided on his bed to disinherit his son and leave everything to his slave, Marcellus. He drew up the papers and called in his son to tell him what he had done. "I have deeded everything to the slave Marcellus," he said. "However, you may choose one item from my estate for yourself." "I’ll take Marcellus!" was the son’s reply. When we take Christ, we take all. Charles Wesley captured the idea and expressed it in his well-known hymn, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul."
Thou, 0 Christ, art all I want;
More than all in Thee I find.
B. His Position - (34)
Where is He? At the right of the Father...... heaven doesn’t say, “He was here, and He will be right back after a while.” NO..........He is ever near to the Father.
C. His Passion - (39)
What love He has for us, and nothing can separate us from that love!
II. Because of my infirmities (26)
Heaven is on our side because of our weaknesses. My infirmities include my:
A. Ignorance - “know not”
If you don’t know - you are ignorant of some-things. We are not as smart as we think we are. We are ignorant in our asking.
A father, walking past his 5 year old daughter’s room one night, proudly noticed she was on her knees in prayer. Listening in, he heard this curious prayer- "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"- repeated several times. When she was finished, he asked her what it meant: "God is really smart," she said, "when I don’t know what to pray about, I just say the alphabet and He figures it out for me"
B. Inabilities
Not able to acknowledge what we do have in Christ. We are unable to comprehend what we could have in our asking. See Ephesians 3:20. God’s power is bigger than we can think.
Sure it’s impossible…........sure it’s outside of your power......sure it seems hopeless…...sure it’s beyond your ability.... BUT OH PRAISE THE LORD… GOD IS BOTH Able and Willing.
God is able to do not only what we "ask" but also what we "think." He is able to do all that we ask or think, not merely some or even most, but even our loftiest conceptions. Furthermore, He is able to do above all that we ask or think, exceeding our highest aspirations and largest requests. Better still, He is able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would enable us to understand that and strengthen our faith to obtain a better grip upon it. Best of all, He is able to do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Human language is utterly incapable of expressing the infinite sufficiency and unlimitied bounty of the One to whom prayer is addressed.
As long as we are coming to God with our needs and burdens, there is hope.
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the affect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water, and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours.
Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope! Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should its effect be on our lives.
O what hope there is in coming to our God in prayer.
II. Because of my inheritance (I Peter 1:4)
If I have an inheritance reserved for me in glory, then heaven must of necessity be on my side
We as children of God are TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED.
See Romans 8:32 - “All things.”
Jesus Christ wrote us into His will, and He wrote the will with His own . He died so that the will would be in force; but then He arose from the and returned to heaven that He might enforce the will Himself and distribute the inheritance.
A. The inheritance has no limit- “all things”
B. The inheritance has no labor “freely”
You don’t have to work for it.
C. The inheritance has no loan
There is no payment book.
Conclusion
Heaven is on our side. Heaven is where I am heard, where I am helped, and where I am headed,
Heaven is on my side. I have got connections in a high, and holy place.
