Would you turn back in your Bibles
to Acts chapter 20? I've entitled this message, Paul's
message to the elders. And it's a message to preachers. And there's more said about the
Christian ministry in this passage than any other passage in the
word of God. The requirements of a bishop
or an elder or a pastor are given in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, but
here we're given a look at what it looks like. And there is a
particular solemnity to this because he is addressing them
for the last time. He tells them, you're going to
see my face no more. So you can imagine the spirit
of this passage or this message as he's giving it to the Ephesian
elders. The Christian ministry. Let me
say right off the bat that it really bothers me to hear a preacher
use the phrase my ministry. I just don't like that. You don't
read that phrase in scripture. There's the ministry. And God
has put me in the ministry, but I do not like the term my ministry. It creeps me out, to be honest
with you. I just do not like that. But oh, I want to know
something about the ministry. And we are taught what the ministry
is in this passage of scripture. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 121
to please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Now that's what goes on in the
ministry, the foolishness of preaching the gospel. And Paul
also said in Romans chapter 10, quoting a passage from the Old
Testament, how can they preach except they be sent? Now here's
one thing that I want. I want to hear someone that God
has sent. I'm not interested in hearing
someone that has sent himself. I want to hear someone that God
has sent. And in this passage of scripture,
we get a look at what it looks like when God has sent a man
in the apostle Paul. Now look what he says in verse
17. And from Miletus, he sent to
Ephesus. That was a very large city. and
called the elders of the church. Now, the way I take that, Ephesus
was a huge city. They didn't have cars and automobiles. There were pockets of this church
with pastors, different churches, all part of this one church in
Ephesus, all over this huge city. And the Lord had blessed this
city immensely in sending Paul there for three years to preach
the gospel. Verse 18, and when they were
come to him, he said unto them, you know, from the first day
that I came into Asia, After what manner I have been with
you at all seasons. This is not just fit and start,
maybe this way one day, not this way the other. This is the manner
Paul says, I've been with you at all seasons. You didn't get any surprises
from me. I've been this manner in all seasons. And look what
he says in verse 19, serving the Lord. This is the first thing
about the ministry. You're not the servant of men.
Now, I wanna be your servant, you wanna be my servant as brothers
and sisters in Christ, but that's not really what he's talking
about when he's talking about serving the Lord here. He said in Galatians
chapter one, if I yet please men, if I was the servant of
men, if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
And that was his own testimony. He is serving the Lord. Now, he said, we're your servants
for Jesus' sake, This is not talking about a preacher not
being a servant to the church and a servant of the church.
It should be that way, but he lets them know, with regard to
me being with you, I was here as a servant of the Lord. Now
here's what I think is very interesting. What is the first way he describes
what it is to serve the Lord? Serve the Lord with passion?
Serve the Lord with obedience. Serve the Lord with zeal. Those
words would all be right, wouldn't they? Serve the Lord with love,
but what is the first word he uses to describe serving the
Lord? Serving the Lord with all humility. First thing he mentions, now
Lord willing, I wanna bring a message on humility next week. As a matter
of fact, I'd like to bring seven or eight messages from this passage
after we look at the whole thing. But the first thing he mentions
in serving the Lord is serving the Lord with all, all, in every
aspect, all humility of mind. Now what is humility? Humility is not low self-esteem or whatever it
is. I don't know what that is anyway, but that doesn't have
anything to do with what humility is. Humility is a just estimate
of yourself. Now you can write that down,
and that's what humility is. I'm a sinner. That's a just estimate
of myself, isn't it? I'm a sinner. I'm a sinful man. And it's only by the grace of
God I know that, but I'm a sinful man. I can't look down my nose
in judgment with regard to anybody because of what I know about
myself. I am a sinner. It's by the grace of God that
I know that. But whatever I am, it's by the
grace of God. I'm a God sent preacher. And
I know that's by the grace of God. I don't take pride in that
or think it's something special about me. I'm justified. And I know that's by the grace
of God. Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am. Now that's humility. There's
no room in the pulpit for a cocksure, arrogant, proud way of preaching. It's just not ever acceptable. He said, serving the Lord with
all humility of mind. And with many tears. Now tears
are the product of feelings. Feelings of joy, feelings of
pain, feelings of sorrow, feelings that go up, feelings that go
down. Now, we're not saved by our feelings, and I love that
song. Matt always sings, feeling comes,
feelings go, feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God,
not else is worth believing. I love that song, and I believe
that with all my heart. But wouldn't you hate to have
a religion that doesn't have any feeling? I would. Now I'm serving the Lord with
all humility and with tears. Now I'm not somebody that can
cry in front of people. You can ask my wife, I doubt
that you, I don't know that you've ever seen me cry. I don't cry
in front of other people. I just can't for whatever reason.
I'm not saying that's good, but that's me. But that doesn't mean I don't
cry in my closet. cry of joy over the awesomeness and the
freeness of His grace, the awesomeness and glory of His person that
He revealed Himself to me, tears of sorrow over my own personal
sin, my own personal shortcomings, my character flaws, tears over
the problems that are in every church, tears. I serve the Lord
with all humility of mind and many tears. And remember, tears
are the outcomes of feelings, feelings of joy, feelings of
happiness, feelings of sorrow. You might have, what's that? You cry because you can't shed
a tear. Your hearts are hard. I mean, that bothers you. There's
tears, tears. serving the Lord with many tears
and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the
Jews. Now this I know, that if I'm serving the Lord, I'm not
gonna get along with the religious world. He makes that clear. The Jews are waiting to attack
me. It's going to happen with many
temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. If I'm A preacher that the religious
community likes, I'm not preaching the gospel. You can just write
that down. Now he says in verse 20, and
how I kept back nothing that was profitable. And that word
profitable is the word that's generally translated expedient,
necessary. what you needed to hear. I kept
back NOTHING that was profitable to you. Look in verse 27, the
same word, here it's translated shunned. For I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, If somebody, if
a preacher, willingly does not preach something, keeps his mouth
shut in order to keep people happy, in order to keep from
offending people, God never called that man to preach. He said,
I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. I kept back nothing that was
profitable to you. And you can write this down.
A false prophet is identified more by what he doesn't say what
he shuns to declare, what he keeps back than what he actually
says. You know, it's easy to hear when
somebody's preaching free will or works, you know where they're
coming from, but if somebody's missing the mark in what they're
preaching. They're not preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
who He is, what He did, the completeness of the salvation that's in Him.
If they're leaving out something because they don't want to offend
somebody, whatever it is, they're not declaring the whole counsel
of God. But Paul said, I haven't shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. I've showed you and have taught
you publicly and from house to house. Now that means in the
true preaching of the gospel, true preacher, he's gonna have
the same thing in private that he has in public. What he says
publicly, he says privately. You know, I've come across preachers
who would say they believe what we believe privately, but they
won't preach it publicly because they know it would cost them.
But Paul says, whatever I preach publicly, I preach privately
too in your home. And whatever I say privately,
it's the same thing that comes from the pulpit, public and private. It is the same message. Now here
it is testifying. Verse 21, testifying. In true preaching, I'm giving
testimony to what the Lord has taught me from his word, but
it's something I've experienced. I've experienced, when I preach
grace, I've experienced my need of grace. When I preach man being
a sinner, I preach as one who knows he's a sinner. I'm giving
personal testimony. I'm bearing witness. I like what
Brother Mahan used to say, you can't preach what you've not
experienced any more than you can come back from a place where
you've never been. Can't be done. Testify. Testify. And what did he testify? testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks. Here's what it is to not shun,
to declare all the counsel of God, testifying both to the Jews
and to the Greeks, the religious and the unreligious, same message
to everybody. We don't adapt our message. Well,
I want to preach this message to this group of people in this
demographic and this other group, I want to bring a different message.
No, it's the same message, testifying both to the Jews and also to
the Greeks. Repentance toward God. And faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that's a summary of all true
preaching. One man said of this, I want
to die preaching this and practicing this. Repentance toward God. and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, if there's something that's
confounded by preachers, it's repentance. Repentance, and the
first thing they'll say is you need to repent of your sins.
Now, sin's never okay. Don't misunderstand me. We ought
not ever sin again. But you know, that phrase is
not found in the Bible, repent of your sins. What's that mean
anyway? Well, that means you're sorry
for them. Well, how sorry? Well, it means
you stop committing them. Well, which one of you's actually
plumb stopped committing? Name me one in your heart. That's
not what repentance is. Repentance is toward God. It's
toward God. Paul puts that out clearly for
us. It's a change of mind regarding
the God of glory. Now, I know for a fact that there
was a time when I did not like who God is. I didn't like his
absolute sovereignty. I didn't like his holiness. I
didn't like his way of saving. I didn't like the fact that he
elected a people before time began because there wasn't anything
I could do to make myself one of them. I thought it was unfair.
I didn't like that salvation was altogether out of my hands
and totally in his hands and he could do with me whatsoever
he pleased. I didn't see any safety in that.
I repent of that. I love it that way. I love God
as He is. I love every attribute of God.
There was a time when I didn't. I do now. I've had repentance
toward God. I've had repentance toward myself.
I used to think that there's something I could do if all the
circumstances were right and I was put in the right place,
there's something I could do. I could turn things around. Don't
believe it anymore. I've repented of my attitude
about myself. I know that in and of myself,
I am nothing but sin. And I used to think there's something
I could do to save myself. I've repented of that. I believe
Christ is salvation. Repentance toward God. It's a continual attitude towards
God, a change of mind concerning the God of glory. That's continual
in our preaching, that's continual, and we're finding a reason to
repent every day, aren't we? We're always having to change
our mind, and it's because our mind has been changed. The reason
your mind has changed is because he changed your mind. A change
of mind toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's the, other side of
the page of repentance where you got one, you got the other,
wherever you got repentance toward God, you have faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. You really believe that Jesus
Christ is all in salvation. You're relying on him. You really
believe he's the Lord. You believe that, don't you?
He's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He's the Lord of
providence. He's the Lord of salvation. He's Jesus. Now I
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. He's the Christ, he's God's prophet,
he's God's priest, he's God's king. You believe, you rely on
the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have anything else.
You have anything else that you bring before God? No, him only. Now that is the preaching of
Paul. Now look what he says in verse
22, and now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem,
not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the
Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions
abide me." Now I'm going to Jerusalem, and God the Holy Spirit has made
known to me that wherever I go, I've got bonds, I've got beatings,
I've got afflictions abiding me. Now can you imagine that?
That would be so difficult to go into a city and know, I'm
either going to be thrown into prison or I'm going to be tied
to a pole and be beat. I'm going to be beat with rods.
I'm going to be hated. He knew that was waiting on him.
But what did he say about this? He said in verse 24, but none
of these things moved me. Oh, would to God that we would
say that about everything. These things don't move me. They
don't move me. God's on the throne. They don't
move me. None of these things move me.
Neither count I my life dear unto myself. Oh, would to God
that that is the very Breathing that we have about our life.
Don't count your life dear to yourself You know people are
always trying to preserve themselves. Oh that the Lord would deliver
us from that and that we would deny ourselves Take up our cross
daily and follow the Lord Jesus Christ And he said I don't count
my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with
joy now I Do you hear what he's saying? The only way I'm going
to finish my course with joy is if I don't count my life dear
to myself. If you count your life dear to
yourself, you're going to make a mess of things. I'm going to
make a mess of things. I always grip my teeth when somebody
says, I just want to be happy. Watch out. What are they going
to do? The idea of being happy is not
the issue. The idea is I want to do his
will. That's the issue, not being happy. Now, Paul says the only
way I'm gonna finish my course with joy is by not counting my
life dear to myself, not being moved by these things. And the
ministry, there's the ministry. Notice he doesn't say my ministry,
he says the ministry. Now listen to me, every believer
is in the ministry, without exception, every believer. The ministry
which I've received of the Lord Jesus. In another place he said
he enabled me, putting me in the ministry. The ministry which
I've received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. Now there's another one of those
nuggets of truth that give us what the Christian ministry is.
It's to testify. The gospel of the grace of God,
the electing grace of God, the redeeming grace of God, the justifying
grace of God, the regenerating grace of God, the preserving
grace of God, the glorifying grace of God. That's that's our
job to testify. To bear witness to having been
saved by the grace of God. to testify the gospel of the
grace of God. And now verse 25, behold, I know
that you all among whom I've gone preaching in the kingdom
of God, you're not gonna see me anymore. You reckon that hit them? You're not gonna see me anymore.
Wherefore I take you to record this day that I'm pure from the
blood of every one of you. How, Paul? For I have not shunned
declaring to you all the counsel of God. He says it again, I've
not shunned. Now, if he did shun, those people
that were not saved, they'll be damned because of their sins. not because Paul didn't tell
them the gospel. Some people act like they're worried there
are going to be people that are going to be damned because we
didn't preach. No, God's elect will be saved.
We can be sure of that. God's elect will be saved. Those
who are not His elect will not be saved. We know that. That's
the uniform teaching in Scripture. But if I shun to declare all
the counsel of God, I will be held responsible, and I don't
mean by way of judgment. That's why Paul said, woe unto
me if I preach not the gospel. It's just gonna add to my damnation
if I shun. That's how serious this is, to
shun, to declare all the counsel of God. This is taught in the
book of Ezekiel, but Paul said, I'm clear from your blood because
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. of God. Verse 28, take heed therefore
unto yourselves. He's speaking to these elders
and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made
you overseers. And here's what the job is, to
feed the church of God. I love this verse of scripture,
feed the church of God, which he, God, purchased. with his own blood. Now here we have the gospel again
in such a simple but glorious statement. God purchased the
church with his own blood, the blood of the God man. Now that is high and holy and
glorious, yet simple truth. And if somebody doesn't preach
this, the absolute glory of the person who died, the success
of his blood, they're enemies. Feed the church
of God, which he purchased, which he completely purchased and paid
for and bought with his own blood. Now you take heed, make sure
this is what you're doing. that you feed the church of God
with the gospel which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Now look at these next words, for I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. You're going to have false prophets
coming in here when I'm gone, and they're going to be grievous
wolves. And look what he says next to
these men. He says, also, of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Now,
he was looking at this group of men, these elders. He said,
some of you guys, after I'm gone, here's what you're going to do.
You're going to speak perverse things trying to gain a following
for yourself. That's what you're going to do.
Now, that's a solemn thing to think about. I mean, it could
be somebody that I'm speaking to right now. will be one of
these people who will speak perverse things in order to draw away
disciples after them. Anytime somebody's trying to
get a following, watch out. Anytime somebody's just trying
to influence men, try to get people on their side, on their
bandwagon, watch out. And he says, there are gonna
be some of you that are actually going to do this. Verse 31, therefore,
watch, watch out for this. Be on your guard. by preaching
the gospel and maintaining the gospel and refuting anything
that's contrary to the gospel. Therefore watch and remember
that by the space of three years, that's how long he was in Ephesus,
I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. That's
what he did at this time. Every day I warned about this
and I did so with tears. Verse 32, and now brethren, I
commend you, and that word commend is commit. I commit you to God. Now, what a glorious thing. I mean, what if Paul was worried
about his ability to keep him, or his ability to keep himself?
It'd be trouble then, wouldn't it? But he didn't say anything
like that. He said, I commit you, I entrust you to God. Now I hope that's what you do
when you pray for me. You entrust me to God. And I
hope that's what I do when I pray for you. I entrust you to God. He's the one who can keep you
and preserve you and reveal himself to you. I commit you to God and
the word of his grace, the gospel, the grace of God that I testify
of, which is able to build you up. and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified, which is every believer, made
holy, declared to be holy by what Christ did on the cross,
chosen to be holy, made holy in regeneration. I love the word
sanctification. It's the word that most completely
describes God's salvation. It speaks of the work of the
Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
He says, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance,
joint heir with Christ, complete likeness to Christ among all
them which are sanctified. Now, he's not finished. This
is so important. He says, with regard to the ministry,
I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Now you have
a preacher with his hand out. God never sent him. God never
sent him. He said, I've coveted no man's
silver or gold or apparel. I'm not wanting your stuff. That's
not what I'm about. He said, yea, yourselves know
that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them
that were with me. Now, there were many times when
Paul went someplace and didn't have any support. And he'd have
to make tents. And what would he do? I think
it's always interesting when a young preacher, he thinks he's
supposed to just not work. If you're starting church, you
might have to work. And Paul did, and it's not like there's
anything wrong with that. Somebody says, well, a preacher
ought not work. Well, it's best if he doesn't, but if there's
not anybody to support him, how's he going to work? You know, I
mean, you got to work if that's the case. And that's what Paul
is saying. I wasn't in this about trying
to be supported. I wasn't in this about trying
to build something. He said, I've coveted no man's
silver or gold, yea, yourselves know how that these hands have
ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me.
I have showed you all things, how that so laboring you ought
to support the weak. Not to take from them, but it's
to support them. And to remember the words of
the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than
to receive. Let me ask you a question, and I'm
asking myself this. Would you rather give $1,000
or receive $1,000? The Lord says it's more blessed
to give than to receive. There's more joy in giving than
getting. That's what he's saying, and
that is the ministry of a true preacher. If this does not spell
out a man, if this is not true about that man, He's not somebody
that the Lord put in the ministry. He said, I've coveted no man's
silver or gold. I've worked with my own hands, showing you that
you ought to support the weak. And remember the words of the
Lord Jesus, how he said, it's more blessed to give than to
receive. Now, most preachers are what you'd call professional
preachers. What they're doing, they're doing during a paycheck.
And it's kind of, you know how, what is more, What is more disgusting
than a professional politician? A professional preacher. That
is. And that's what Paul is warning
against. And I also want to remember this. In this thing of salvation, Christ
is the more blessed. He's the giver. We're the receivers. I couldn't take that far enough,
could I? He's the giver. He's the more blessed. We're
the receivers. And when he had thus spoken,
he kneeled down and prayed with them all. Wouldn't you have liked
to have heard that prayer when he was praying at that time to
the Ephesian elders? He kneeled down and prayed with
them all, and they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed
him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that
they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him under
the ship, knowing that was the last time they would see him."
Now, that's the whole message, and the Lord willing, I want
to bring six or seven messages from that message. And the first
thing I want to deal with is try to preach a message on humility. Lord willing, we'll consider
that next week. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you that we're in your hands. Lord, how we thank you that the
word of your grace is able to build us up and to give us an
inheritance among all them that are sanctified. Lord, bless this
word. And Lord, as we look at it more
in the coming weeks, bless it that we might grow in grace.
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Once
again, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for this day. We pray that you would bless
what is said for the glory of your holy name. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen.