Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 20. Acts 20. We'll begin in a minute. Verse 17. A conversation between the Apostle Paul and
a group of elders from the church that was at Ephesus has graciously
been recorded by Luke under the inspiration of God's Spirit. He has allowed Luke to write
something down and be a help to us, I pray tonight. This conversation actually sets
forth the love of Almighty God for His own and His good purpose
to sustain them, to keep them, to teach them, help them through
a faithful preacher. The last verse we looked at last
time, verse 16, it said Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus
because he would not spend the time in Asia. He hasted if it
were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. He was on his way to go to Jerusalem. to be able to have an opportunity,
I don't doubt, to preach the gospel. He didn't know what would
happen, but he knew God's Word would not return void. It was
going to accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. But he
called a group of the elders, verse 17, from Ephesus. And this calling, Him asking
them to come to where He was, and Him talking to them, teaching
them, was in direct obedience to that Scripture we looked at
just a while back when the Lord asked Peter, Do you love Me? If you love Me, then feed My
sheep. Give them food. Teach them. Help them. Pray for
them. Shepherd them. Be an under-shepherd
too. That's what Paul is doing here. Feeding the sheep. So from Miletus,
he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. 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." Now, the apostle absolutely wants
to establish with these elders the grace of God that was manifested
in him, in Paul. You know, he said in my conversation,
you know what manner of man I have been with you, how I have conducted
myself." He didn't say that to commend any honor to himself,
but he did it to the glory of Almighty God who calls and keeps
and sustains. What he told them is, you know,
by the grace of God, that's what he's saying, you know the manner
that I was with you at all times. conducted myself as a proof of
God's grace to me. I know that all men by nature
are sinners, but God's grace makes a man gracious. Love from
Almighty God that is imparted by the presence of the Lord Jesus
Himself, Christ in you. the Spirit of God that dwells
in you. God is love, and that love is manifested toward the
brethren. You know what it is. So Paul
is setting forth the evidence of himself as a minister, but
actually the grace of all God's people toward each other. By
this shall all men know that you are my disciples. You have
love one for the other. wanted to establish, he said,
you know the manner in which I was with you. And all says,
you know why he said that? The Lord had warned in Matthew
7, 15, beware of false prophets. No, if there were not false prophets,
the Lord would have never said that. But beware of them. Be alert. Be alert to the fact. that men will come to you in
sheep's clothing. They'll appear at first, or won't
appear at first, to be a sheep, but inwardly they are ravening
wolves, and you shall know them by their fruits." Paul said,
you know how I behave. The way that you know a false
prophet is this way. what he says and how he acts
in accordance with the Scripture. False prophets are not faithful
students truly seeking and proclaiming the truth of God's grace. They're
not. So Paul says, you know the manner
in which I was with you. Now, verse 19, serving the Lord
with all humility of mine and with many tears and temptations
which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews." Now, I was looking at that, and I
began to think on that. He said, You know what manner
of man I was. All these seasons, how I acted
around you. Serving the Lord. I began to think on that a little
bit more deeply today, and I got to thinking, you know, that is
a statement that we hear a lot of, serving the Lord. And when you first hear it, number
one, it's so honorable a statement because it's scriptural, serving
the Lord. But if you stop for a minute
and someone would say, What does it mean to serve the Lord? It's one of those questions where
you'd almost have to just take a minute, just step back and
say, well, and then you began to start guessing, you know,
serving the Lord. That's what Paul said, serving
the Lord. The word actually, the heart
of it is going to be from a servant. serving the Lord, and actually
means a slave. Paul said, I am a bond slave,
willing slave of Christ, whose heart and whose business it is
to devote himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. I had no doubt
about that. The Almighty God, to His kingdom,
to His people, to His gospel, devoted to Him a server. A yielding to His Word, to His
providence, to His good pleasure. I know those things are so. But
still, when it comes right down to it, to actually tell me, what
does the Scriptures say about a servant serving the Lord? I know some characteristics of
it. I can see those things. But how does a man come about
to be in that position? Servant, serving the Lord. What
does the Scriptures say about serving the Lord? Here's the
first thing I know about serving the Lord. Honorable service. Now, I'm weighing these words
very carefully. because of the second point that
I'm going to make in just a minute. But the first point I want to
make is this. Honorable service. If it's a servant, then there's
service. If there's a slave, then there's
commitment to. I mean, honorable service to the Lord Jesus Christ is foreign
to the natural man. Now, you know that. Titus 3 says,
For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. A servant of the Lord Jesus Christ
remembers what that nature that is within him is. Paul said,
O wretched man that I am. And he also remembers before
he was converted the lack of any heart whatsoever to bow to,
to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's thankful that
he has been made what he is. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. He knows that before God called
him out of spiritual darkness, the only service that he ever
rendered was to sin. Now a believer sees two natures,
one that serves the law of sin and one that serves the law of
God. So I know this, that a servant,
an honorable servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is foreign to the
natural man. He can't be. Secondly, This is
what I know about a servant. Serving the Lord has to do with
God's will, God's purpose, and God's pleasure to manifest His
attributes. Now, I'm going to share something
with you that until today I had never seen. I've looked at scriptures
concerning a servant, service, serving the Lord. That's what
Paul said, serving the Lord. Serving the Lord has to do with God's will, God's
purpose, God's pleasure to manifest God's attributes. I want you
to turn to Psalm 119. I want to show you something.
This is what I'm going to share with you, something that I just
maybe had read it. I may have read it. I don't know.
But I can tell you this, until today, it just never hit me.
Psalm 119, verse 89. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is
settled in heaven. Now, that scripture right there
is going to settle that issue. God's Word stands sure. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. Thou hast established, has established
the earth, and it abideth. They, that is, all generations,
Continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are
thy servants. Unless thy law had been my delight,
I should have perished in mine affliction. I will never forget
thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. I am thine,
save me, for I have sought thy precepts. The wicked have waited
for me to destroy me, I will consider thy testimonies. I have
seen an end of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding
broad." Here is what the psalmist said in that 91st verse. All generations continue this
day according to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Now this is consistent with what
we know is so. Almighty God has made all things
according to his good pleasure. Now you know that. The potter
has the right to make one vessel under honor and another vessel
under dishonor. He does as he will in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And no man stays
his hand. No man has the right to question
Him, to second-guess Him. God Almighty does as He will.
The Scripture says, "...forever thy word is settled in heaven." Now, all things are either going
to show His right to judge or His right and pleasure to show
mercy. But all things. All are His servants. All. If Almighty God is pleased
to leave a man to himself to serve sin, that rebel shall exalt
God's righteousness to punish that sin. But if Almighty God
has shown mercy in choosing and calling and regenerating and
keeping one of His own, that man serves as an example of God's
compassion. Therefore, in light of mankind,
all are His servants. Thirdly, for the believer, serving
the Lord. That's what Paul said back here
in Acts 20, 19. Serving the Lord. knowing that
all serve the Lord, either as objects of His wrath left to
themselves or objects of His mercy. But they all set forth
the attributes of Almighty God. All things are going to praise
Him. All men are His servants. Satan himself is God's servant. but for a man or a woman called
out of darkness to serve the Lord. All men are
servants, but to serve the Lord and be found in His infinite
mercy and grace and pleasure. Here's how they began to understand
something of being called a servant unto Him. They hear His voice. In time, all are servants, but
in time, my sheep hear my voice, the Lord said, and they follow
me. They hear His voice through the
preaching of the gospel of God's free grace, the Scriptures, and
the Spirit of God convicts them and convinces them of the power
of Almighty God, and they love and follow Him as the shepherd
in providence. And they do so joyfully. Psalm 100, verse 2, serve the
Lord with gladness, which brings me to my fourth point. Our service
as servants of God is for His glory and the bride's good. Turn
over just a few pages to Romans 1. Now realize this. All men are God's servants. Some
are vessels of dishonor made that way for God's good
pleasure to show His wrath. They're the servants of God.
Some are servants of His mercy and grace. Vessels of honor made so that
God might set forth, I'm a compassionate God. But look at Romans 1.1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ that was called to be an apostle.
But he was a servant of God. He was a servant of Christ. Servants
do not choose their duty. The Master does. I will tell
you this, every person in this room tonight is a servant of
God, called either objects of mercy or objects
of wrath, but all servants, all. We've got a congregation of many
here that sit here, I'm convinced, objects of God's mercy. Some are called, as the Scripture
says, to be feet. They're all part of this body.
Some are ears. Some is an eye. Can the ear say
to the eye, because I'm not an eye, I'm not a part of the body
of Christ? Almighty God calls every one
of His own to serve in the capacity that He dictates. When a believer
thinks upon serving the Lord, Remember this, it pleased Almighty
God to allow you to serve Him. As a manifestation of His mercy
and compassion, He made you what you are. He has placed you where
you are and He has given you a love to be there. And He is
going to keep you and bless others through your service and it will
redound to His glory. As His servants, we bow to Him
who is Jehovah's servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, who made Himself
no reputation, a servant of Almighty God. But you know, a servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ is always aware of his own weakness. Here
we are. The apostles said when we've
done all that we could do, we're just unprofitable servants. What does that mean? That means
we didn't add one thing to His glory, Neal. Not one. Servants. Unprofitable servants. Didn't add profit to. All the
profit was His. We serve Him in the capacity
in which He's placed us. And what happens is, Almighty
God who calls each one of us to whatever capacity it is, every
one of God's elect regenerated by His grace, Gary is effective. You say, well, I just don't see
the effect that I'm having. Thank you every time you come
up here and leave this thing. Thank you. Ken, thank you every
time you take care of those books. Thank you. Let me tell you something. Your very presence here is a
witness of God's mercy and grace. You say, well, I'm just sitting
here. I don't really do anything. You're a servant of the mighty
God and evidence of His indescribable mercy and grace that you're even
here. You're serving the Lord's attribute of His goodness and
power and mercy and grace to call one of His own out of darkness. What do you mean it's no big
deal? It's a big deal. Here sits a servant of the mighty
God. Doing what? Worshipping Him. Hearing His Word. Thankful that
they're here. A servant of God. Paul says back
in Acts 20, 19, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, not
having a desire to lord over God's heritage, here to help
them, here to remind them who they are, who their master is,
who their representative, who their substitute is, who their
advocate is, their mediator. God's preachers are aware that
the sheep are God's sheep. You love me, feed my sheep. Mine. Serving the Lord with all
humility, Paul says, and many tears. You know, a minister,
the Son of God, is sympathetic to those that he teaches. Knowing the parable of the sower,
thinking on those four grounds that that seed falls on. I know this. There's some that's
going to hear and they don't care. I know that. How do I know that? The Scripture
says the sower once sowed. Some fell by the wayside. I know
that. But some believe there's some
good ground and it falls Those that believe, they walk. And they walk consistently. And
they're severely tried and they're proven faithful by the Lord's
providential hand of chastisement. But there's even times when believers
are found to walk in a way unbecoming. Paul said in Galatians 6, 1,
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in the fault, ye which are spiritual,
Restore such one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted." Believers are servants. Redeemed children
of God indwelt by the Spirit of Almighty God. Holiness. Both
flesh and weak. In every believer there is that
motion of sin. If a brother stumbles, Make every
effort, Paul says in Galatians, to restore and to recover and
to settle a brother back to that place of fellowship. And lastly,
Paul said in serving the Lord, he said, first, with humility
of mind, with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the lying in wait of the Jews. A believer knows that carnal
man hates what he believes. The reason the world hates what
God's Word sets forth is because it exposes the unbeliever first. He exposes his God to be a false
God. He knows also until the Lord
is pleased to remove him from this earth, he's still an invincible
servant. God's timing is God's timing. It's appointed unto man. to die. Paul says, I served the Lord,
not wanting to lord over God's heritage, with many tears. I am convinced that Almighty
God is going to call out His elect. I believe that before
the foundation of the world, Brother Scott just read this
a minute ago, we're bound to give thanks to you, brethren
and beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of spirit and belief in the truth.
God's got a people. He's going to call them out.
I'm convinced of that. I'm convinced that the preaching
of the gospel of free grace is the power that God Almighty is
going to bless, is the message that God's going to bless and
empower to the calling out of those sheep. I know that. But as I've told you before,
I've got some in my family. that obviously don't believe.
And that's a tender area for me. You say, well, they're just
not one of God's elect. I know that. I know that. If they don't believe, they're
going to perish because they rebelled against God. I know
that. I know that. As I've said before, if I would
ever get a phone call from one of my family that said, another
one of my family that has evidence that they have no interest whatsoever
in the gospel. And I knew that they left this
world without a substitute, without a mediator to answer for them. It would break my heart. And it does yours too. I know
it does. Almighty God has called all men made all men,
ordained all men to be servants, all men, either to serve as the
objects of His wrath in the display of His righteousness, or they
are serving as the objects of His grace to display His mercy
and compassion. Romans 9, 17, For the Scripture
saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised
thee up, that I might show my power indeed. and that my name
might be declared throughout all the earth." Do you think
that Pharaoh was a servant of God? Yeah. God raised him up to show his
power. Psalm 76, verse 10, "...surely
the wrath of man is going to praise Thee." But to some, God
is the merciful and gracious Partner, has been pleased to
leave some men to display His mercy. Some He calls them out to honor. And some of them have been Apostle Pauls. There have been
some that have been faithful preachers of the gospel. Faithful,
faithful, faithful preachers of the gospel. of the Most High
God that wouldn't deviate one bit. And some have been widows that
stood off on the side somewhere and threw in two mites in an
offering box, and nobody saw them but the Lord. And they were
His servants, objects of His mercy and grace. Who's to say? what the servant of the Almighty
God does. They all serve Him. He calls
them and He keeps them. And they are His servants. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ. And in that day, that final day
of judgment, I can tell you this, all that he has graciously blessed
and called to faithful servants, he is going to say, Come, ye
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. What is a servant of God? Well, it is that one that is
going to manifest either His wrath or His mercy and compassion
and grace. But all men are His servants.
Some He leaves to be the servants of sin, and He judges them. Oh, but to some He's called them
out of darkness, and He's given them a heart for Him. And those
faithful servants Faithful according to his standard because he views
them and sees them in Christ, the faithful servant. And his
righteousness is imputed to them. You ask them about their faithfulness
and they'll say, oh, let's talk about somebody else. Let's don't
talk about me. Let's talk about somebody else
that's more faithful than me. And that one over there, that
faithful servant will say the same thing. Paul says, serving
the Lord with all humility. God makes His servants to be
humble before Him. By His grace and by His mercy,
He calls some servants in His compassion. And for that, I'm
thankful.