So let's turn in our scriptures.
As I've said, this is one of the most moving passages in all
of the scriptures. One of the most moving farewells
that we have. And Paul. says that he was bound
in the Spirit. Verse 22, we'll begin. And now,
behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the
things that shall befall me there. Abraham was told, wasn't he?
He was told to leave the idolatrous Iraqis, leave Ur of the Chaldees. Where are you going, Abraham?
I don't know. So we're in Acts chapter 20,
verse 22. So God's people have a path they walk in this
world and it's a path in which every footstep is ordained by
our Heavenly Father and those footsteps are ordained from before
the foundation of the world. And we don't need to know what
lies before us. because we live by sight and
not by faith. What we know is that the One
who directs our paths is a Sovereign God, a Sovereign God who loves
His people infinitely and never ever leaves them nor forsakes
them and so we cannot go on a path where He is not. I love that
verse in John chapter 12, where it says, the Lord Jesus said,
in John 12, 26, he said, if any man serve me, let him follow
me. And then he says this remarkable
statement, which is the opposite to what we think. We think if
we go somewhere, the Lord Jesus will come along beside us or
after us and be there to sort of pick up the pieces of the
mess that we make all the time. But he says, if any man serve
me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also
my servant be. Isn't that amazing? Brothers
and sisters in Christ, he is there all the time. If any man
serve me, him will my Father honour. Paul didn't know where
he was going. Say that the Holy Ghost witnesses,
verse 23 of Acts 20, say that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, but none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself. so that I might
finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of
God." So if someone has a ministry from the Lord, there are several
things that are going to happen. Their life is no longer meaningful,
isn't it? Neither can I my life dear unto
myself. And they have a course. They
have a course that they will finish. And they'll finish it
with joy by trusting and just simply walking in the paths that
the Lord has ordained for them. And the ministry which I have
received of the Lord Jesus, if there is a ministry received
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's a ministry which will testify
to the gospel of the grace of God. And any ministry that doesn't
testify to the Gospel of the Grace of God is not a ministry
that God puts his seal upon. It's not a ministry that's received
from God. All of the ministries throughout
the Scriptures are ministries that testify to the Gospel of
the Grace of God. Moses wrote about the Gospel
of the Grace of God in Genesis. The first words in the Scriptures
are words of the Gospel of the Grace of God. In the beginning
God, in the beginning God, in the beginning God in creation,
in the beginning God in salvation, in the beginning God in sanctification,
in the beginning God in glorification, in the beginning God in everything.
And God's people love it that way. Verse 25, and now behold,
I know that ye among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of
God shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record
this day that I am pure of the blood of all men, for I have
not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. All the counsel of God is going
to be described in the next verses, but all the counsel of God is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All the counsel of God is wrapped
up in who the Lord Jesus Christ is. I'm so thankful when we sang
that song that Paul said, I know whom I have believed. He didn't
say I know what I've believed, he said I know whom. And if you
know the whom, then all of the things about the whom will be
delightful to you. You'll love the fact that the
Whom that we talk about is God over all. We love the fact that
He is absolutely sovereign over all things. We love the fact
that He chose a people, a people were given to Him by His Father
in eternity and He holds them in His hands and He's fully responsible
for all of their sins and He's fully responsible for all of
their righteousness before God. We love the fact of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is as declared in the scriptures. We are testifying
to the gospel of the grace of God. And we don't hold back on the
character of God. There's an article in your bulletin
about the fact that we magnify the character of God and God
is not embarrassed or ashamed of his character. Then he says
to these elders, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed
the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
That is just one of the many, many, many declarations in the
Scriptures of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is God, it's
the Church of God. This church's origin is in God,
and it's a church that he has purchased with his own blood.
It is the blood of the eternal sovereign God that was shed on
behalf of all of His people when God the Father made Him sin.
And He's purchased it. It means that He owns it. It
means that He's reserved it. It means that He preserves it.
And so the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, this Church that
is going to be assailed and assaulted by all the false teachers and
all the weapons that Satan can bring against it, is perfectly
secure. brothers and sisters, it is perfectly
secure. The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is as secure as the very existence of our Saviour in heaven. He's perched it with his own
blood. For this I know, for I know this, that after my departing
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things
to draw away disciples after them. That word perverse is to
twist, isn't it? These men all would have looked
attractive and they all would have been extraordinary in their
knowledge of the scriptures and they all would have had an external
morality that they wanted you to look at and to esteem. But also, given all of that sheep's
clothing that covered them, they would then speak perverse things.
They would twist the word of God. It only has to be ever so
slightly twisted. It's likened to a little bit
of yeast in a whole batch of dough. Verse 30. Also of your own selves
shall men arise speaking to those things to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of
three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. The whole issue of the false
teaching is an issue that should draw emotion from us. It draws anger from us. It draws
despair from us. But the whole issue of salvation
is intensely emotional. The Lord Jesus Christ had built
a bond of love in the three years that Paul was in Ephesus, and
it was a real and meaningful bond of love. And Paul didn't
need to be a prophet to see over the horizon the promises of the
Lord Jesus Christ were that this flock was going to, and like
all the flocks, they were going to be assaulted by Satan. But Paul, knowing those things,
rather than it causing him to be hard-hearted, caused his heart
to burst and his heart to well up in love for them. He had been
through those trials himself. He knew what lay before these
people in large measure. And here's the answer. When we
think about these false teachers, and I'll be looking at more of
this after I've had a cup of tea, but he says, and now brethren
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 among all them
which are sanctified. Then he speaks personally, I've
coveted no man's silver, gold or apparel. You yourselves know
that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them
that were with me. I have showed you all things,
how that so labouring you ought to support the weak, and to remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed
to give than to receive." What a remarkable giver our God is. What a remarkable giver. What
a remarkable giver of that grace gift he brings amongst his people. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. And when he had thus spoken,
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 spoke, that they should see his face no more,
and they accompanied him unto the ship. They all wept sore, fell on Paul's
neck, and kissed him. Such is the love, such are the
bonds of love. They may not be always expressed
in those terms, brothers and sisters in Christ, but such are
the bonds of love that the Lord Jesus Christ brings into the
hearts of his people. It is that love, isn't it? That love that constrains us,
he says, and that love that compels us. And it's a love that he has
wrought in them. It's a reflection of his love. Turn back to Ephesians chapter
1 just briefly and we'll look at these wonderful words. He says, he begins in chapter
1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. It was love, wasn't it? It was
love for His bride, love for the glory of His Father. Love
drove the Lord Jesus Christ, for God so loved the world that
He sent And the Lord Jesus Christ came with great willingness,
having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself. See, this love draws these people
to himself. It was the love that drew Paul
to Ephesus. It was the love that drew these
people together. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved. What a great word. That word
accepted is the same word for grace. It's to be graced in the
Beloved, to be accepted. We're accepted in Him. God accepts
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the resurrection's
about. God accepts Him back into Heaven. And everything that the
Lord Jesus Christ did as the Christ of God and as God, He
did not as an individual, He did it as an us. He said to John,
it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness. What was John doing about fulfilling
all righteousness? Nothing at all. It becomes us
to fulfil all righteousness. It was the Lord Jesus Christ's
righteousness that he was going about. made us accepted in the blood,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Wherein he has
abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence. He abounds toward
us. These grace gifts of the Lord
Jesus Christ aren't drawn from Him by our exertions and our
activities. They flow naturally from our
God. And verse 9 says, having made
known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure
which He has purposed it Himself. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times ye might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his will." Why are you here today? It's according to the working
of all things after the counsel of His own will that we, think
about this brothers and sisters, that we should be to the praise
of His glory. We'll see in our time in a little
while that not only Not only is the Lord our inheritance,
we are His inheritance. And Simon read to us those wonderful
verses in Colossians chapter 2. It says of our Lord Jesus Christ,
for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. How fully
God was the Lord Jesus Christ. In every possible way He was
fully God. And then verse 10 says, and you
are You are, right now brothers and sisters, you are complete
in Him. You are complete in Him. How complete are you in Him?
You are as complete in Him as He is completely God. How much of the fullness of the
Godhead dwelled in Him bodily? all the fullness of the Godhead.
That same word for fullness is the word for complete in the
next verse. We're completing Him. To go back to Ephesians
chapter 2 for a second, the result of this in the experience of
God's people, verse 13 of chapter 2, but now in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were afar off, We were a long way away, weren't
we? We were far off from God. As far off as we could possibly
be. Dead is how far off we were at
the beginning of Ephesians 2. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. We were far off, a maid nigh. Let's go back to that scene in
Acts. Those men hugged each other and they wept and the tears ran
down each other's cheek and onto their shoulders. See, they were
far off, weren't they? Paul was as far off from those
Ephesian idolaters as you could ever wish to do. He wasn't allowed
to sit at a table with them. He wasn't allowed to do anything
with them. They couldn't go into the temple
except on the pain of death. Paul was as self-righteous and
religious as you could possibly wish someone to be, and the Ephesians
were as idolatrous and as wicked as you could possibly wish to
be. And what are they doing on that beach at Miletus? They're falling on each other's
neck and crying tears of sadness and tears of thankfulness. And
what are they doing now, those 20 men? What are they doing right
now? As we sit here, what are they
doing right now? They're around the throne of God. All the tears
have wiped from their eyes. And they're singing the songs
of heaven right now, aren't they? Paul and these Ephesian elders.
He's not above them, brothers and sisters in Christ. He's there
with them. And they sing, verse 9 of chapter
5 of Revelation, they sang a new song saying, thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof. He takes the
book. He has every right to take the
book. He has every right to open the seals of it. Those seals
are what we read in Ephesians 1.11, isn't it? All the counsel
of God, all of the eternal purposes of God, he has them in his hand. He has his church in his hand.
He has you in his hand. Open the seals thereof for, because
thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God." So they're drawn
by the Lord Jesus Christ to Him, and they're drawn by the Lord
Jesus Christ to God, and therefore they're drawn by the Lord Jesus
Christ to each other. You've redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation,
and has made us unto our God kings and priests. And we will
reign. We shall reign on the earth.
In that new creation, we'll reign. But we reign right now, brothers
and sisters. Paul says that we are seated with him on a heavenly
throne right now, accepted in the beloved. May the Lord bless
his words to our heart. Let's have a cup of tea and then
a break.