Read Acts 7:54-60

“Then [Stephen] knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60)

It's been said that the most important words of a man are revealed on his deathbed. If this is true, which I believe it is, we see the heart of Christ revealed on full display in Stephen’s martyrdom.

As he was being violently executed by the religious mob of Jewish leaders, what were Stephen's words? Were they bitter and hateful? Quite the opposite! They were words of love, forgiveness and grace.

"Lord, do not charge them with this sin!" Are these words not reminiscent of Christ's dying words on the cross? "Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do." How fitting to see a heart full of Christ choose the very words of Christ in his martyrdom!

Truly, it takes a genuine love for Christ and a genuine love for sinners, as Christ had, for a man to die with such grace, whose face was like an angel (see Acts 6:15) and whose words were full of tenderness.

The Apostle Paul gently commanded the Colossian church:

“Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” (Colossians 4:6)

I cannot help but think that when Paul wrote these words, he thought of Stephen, whom he himself witnessed being killed with his own eyes, and heard with his own ears the his gracious words seasoned with salt. Could it be that Stephen's dying words were the very goads that Paul kicked against to lead him to Christ? (see Acts 9:1-5)

John Hus, an important figure in church history, followed in the footsteps of Stephen. He preached the Word of God to the poor villages across Bohemia in the early 1400s, but was placed in jail for calling out the pope's corruption and greed. He soon found himself the subject of the Inquisition, and was condemned as a heretic for teaching the truth of the Scriptures. Hus famously said, "I would not, for a chapel full of gold, recede from the truth."

On July 6th, 1415, as Hus was being led to the stake to be burned, they walked him passed the churchyard where his writings and books were in the flames of a bonfire. When they arrived at the execution site, he knelt down and prayed, much in the manner of Stephen, these words:

"O most holy Christ, draw me, weak as I am, after Thyself...Give me a fearless heart, a right faith, a firm hope, a perfect love, that for Thy sake I may lay down my life with patience and joy. I have never thought nor preached except with one intention of winning men... In the truth of the gospel... I will gladly die."

What words of love and faith and grace! Words, which like Stephen's, would diametrically change history. Stephen's words led to the conversion of the great apostle Paul, and John Hus's words laid the foundation for the coming Reformation.

Beloved, if there is any urgent principle for us to learn from this, it is that our words must have the grace of God upon them! — toward one another and especially toward those who are without Christ.

Lord, give us a heart for the lost and may our words reflect Your abounding grace for sinners that all might see You. Amen!

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