The ministry of the Apostle Paul
was met at every turn by opposition. Paul had served in tears in many
trials because of this opposition. He experienced opposition everywhere
he preached. Now he's leaving Ephesus where
he had received much opposition. And he knew bonds and afflictions
awaited him in Jerusalem. So Paul is again warning the
elders at Ephesus that they will encounter this same kind of hostility,
opposition toward the gospel. And he reminds them that it's
only the word of God's grace that's going to profit them.
And the reason is because the reason for this opposition It's
because the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind
hates God. The natural man is not subject
to the Word of God, nor can it be subject to God's law, to His
Word. The things of God which the natural
man hates are the truth that Christ is the power and wisdom
of God unto salvation. By the word of His grace, Christ
Jesus saves His people. This is the word that must be
preached that He's going to use to save His people. Save His
people from our righteousnesses. That's our chief sin, our righteousness
of wisdom, our fig leaf covering of righteousness, our hiding
ourselves amongst the trees. Those things are our chief sins. He must save us from our wanderings,
from our fleshly desires, from our ignorance, from our way,
from our unrighteousness. He saves us from ourselves. And the dignity that man thinks
he possesses in himself is offended. That dignity that all men think
they possess is offended when they hear that salvation is completely,
totally beginning to end in a person who is altogether more righteous
than anybody among us." That person is Christ Jesus the
Lord, and the Word of His grace is the Word by whom it is Christ,
the Word of Christ, by whom He creates life and He gives us
access into the grace of God. It comes because natural men
who were born of the flesh love, love a form of godliness. Love to look into God's word. Love to take the things of God
and try to give themselves confidence that they have life by these
things. That's not the problem. The problem is men hate that
God is the power unto salvation. Don't mind the form of godliness,
but hate the power of God. And therefore, because men love
a form of godliness, and because men don't have a problem at all
with going to church. They don't have a problem at
all with looking into this Word. They don't have a problem with
sitting and listening to sermons. They don't have a problem with
doing whatever the preacher tells them to do. And therefore, Satan does his
best work in the pulpit and in the pew. And so Paul could say
with all assurance, he says, I know, Acts 20 verse 29, I know
this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock. Paul preached, turn from yourself
to God. Turn from yourself and trust
Christ Jesus the Lord. But he says the wolves do the
opposite of that. Verse 30. He says, also of your
own selves shall men arise speaking perverse 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. He said their doctrine is like
wind. It tosses men. He says that it's
highly esteemed among men, but it's the slight of men. It's
cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. He says
grievous wolves. The Lord called them ravenous
wolves, not sparing the flock. So you get the picture here,
don't you? Of a wolf crouching, lying in wait. lying in wait,
ready to pounce, ready to take away the word of grace. Question. Raise a question in the mind.
To turn God's people away from Christ to man. Micah encountered
this. He said, the good man's perished
out of the earth. There's none upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother
with a net. How can a flock of sheep, how
can a flock of sheep expect to survive in the midst of such
dangerous predators? There's only one way. There's
only one way. It's by the power of God through
the word of His grace. You know how we're going to survive?
By feeding. By feeding. That seemed contrary
to the flesh, contrary to everything man imagines about how you're
going to be, say, feeding. And so Paul says, verse 28, take
heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Verse 32,
he says, and now brethren, I commend you to God, I commit you to God
into his hand and to the word of his grace, which is able to
build up and to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified."
This word build up means edify. It means to grow up. Paul reminds
them again when he writes to them later in his letter to the
Ephesians. He said, speaking the truth in love, speaking the
truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things. If he's not the end of all things,
if he's not the end of our growing, if he's not the end of this edification,
we hadn't been built up, we hadn't been fed, we hadn't been edified.
The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the
mouth of the upright shall deliver them. The mouth of the upright
shall deliver them. the word of his grace. So back
in 28 there, he says first of all, take heed therefore unto
yourselves. He's talking to the elders. If
God's preacher is going to feed you, feed others, he must first
be a partaker of this soul strengthening bread from heaven. He's got to
feed. Paul told Timothy, take heed
unto thyself and unto the doctrine. continue in them, for in doing
so thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." You
know, an athlete practices and he's temperate. He's careful
about what he eats. He's careful about what he does
and how he He treats his body. He's careful.
He's temperate in all things. He submits himself to the word
of his trainers. He submits himself to the word
of his coach. He listens to what they say to
him. And he heeds their word. And he's temperate in all things.
Paul said they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. but we an
incorruptible. And he said, I therefore so run. He starts giving us some sports
analogies. And he said, I run not as uncertainly. Run, that's the word to the elder,
run. But don't run as one who doesn't
know the way. Not just running to be running.
not just doing to be doing, not just preaching to be speaking,
run as one that knows the way. Run as one that knows that Christ
is the way, that Christ is the one who put you in the way. He's
the one who put you in the race. He's the one by whom you have
access into the throne of God's grace through the Spirit. Know
that He's the way by whom you have access into this grace wherein
you stand. Know that He's the way who keeps
you in the way. Run the race. And he says, know,
know this, it's Christ who orders the steps. Isn't that what the
psalmist says? The steps of a righteous man
are ordered by the Lord? He orders the steps and though
you may fall, though you may stumble, you won't utterly fall
because the Lord upholdeth thee. You know that, you can run. If
you know him, you can run. He says, fight. But he says,
I don't fight as one that's just beating the air. You see a boxer
and he jumps into the ring and before the bell rings and the
match starts, he jumps in there and boy, he just goes to swinging
out into the air. Shadow boxing. He says, don't
fight as somebody that's just beating the air. Know that you
have a very real opponent and fight so that every word lands
a direct blow to your opponent. We don't wrestle against flesh
and blood. We wrestle against powers and principalities and
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. So put off the carnal weapons
and take unto you the whole armor of God. Having your loins girt
about with truth. That's very important. The loins,
the inner man, the constraining, the movement, the turning of
everything you do to be girt about by the word of truth. The breastplate to be covered
in righteousness, the heart, in righteousness, your feet protected
and prepared with the gospel of peace. You know whose feet
are beautiful upon the mountains? Those who publish salvation,
who say to Zion, thy God reigneth. Not thy God wants to reign, not
thy God would reign, he'd like to, thy God reigneth. Take the
shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit,
the Word of God. And when you take all these things,
know your utter insufficiency. Know you are absolutely insufficient. You don't have any sufficiency
for this work. Knowing that, you'll cast all
your care on Christ who cares for you. You'll pray with all
perseverance and all supplication for all saints that He might
keep them by His grace. That you might speak the Word
as you ought to speak it. that your body be kept in subjection
unto the Word of God, unto God Himself. Be kept in subjection
to this One who's going to save you, and carry you, and preserve
you, and keep you, and deliver you, and keep you turned from
this world and the lust of the flesh. Take heed to yourselves. Most of us all know that verse
in Jeremiah 13, Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard
his spots? The Lord said, then may ye also
do good that are accustomed to do evil. We all know that verse,
don't we? Have you ever read the chapter
Jeremiah 13 and looked at the context? I'd encourage you to
read it sometime on your own, but let me give you just an overview
of that chapter. The Lord came to Jeremiah and
he said, you take a linen girdle Paul just said, your loins are
girded about with the word of truth. That's what that linen
girdle represents. The priest went into the tabernacle
girded underneath all their raiment with a linen girdle. He said,
gird yourself about with a linen girdle. And then he told Jeremiah,
he said, now take that girdle off and go hide it. by the river
Euphrates. So Jeremiah went and hid that
girdle. And then the Lord said, now go back and get that girdle.
And Jeremiah went back and got the girdle. And it was marred. It had been left in just an old
damp, dungy, hidden away place where the waters could overflow
and it could just be under the water. And the girdle was rotten
and marred. And the Lord said, I gave my
people, I gave the princes, the judges, the priests, the prophets,
the inhabitants of Judah and Israel, all the people who should
have been teaching and leading, my people, my sheep, my flock,
I gave them all the oracles of God, all my word, the word of
my covenant. like this word of truth that's
wrapped around God's ambassador. He said, and they put it away
from me. They went and hid it, just like by that river Euphrates,
and they wouldn't trust my word, they wouldn't believe my word,
they wouldn't declare my word, they wouldn't teach others my
word, they wouldn't set forth my word. And because they hid
it away, they marred it. And he said, and I'm gonna reward
them according to their works. They hid my word, I'm gonna hide
my word. They marred my girdle, I'm gonna
mar them. And he said, now you go tell
them I'm gonna fill all the bottles with wine. And he said, when
you tell them that, they're so proud and they know everything
so much, they got their doctrine so lined out and their system
so organized, they're gonna say, we know that all the bottles
are gonna be filled with wine. We know that God's going to pour
out His Spirit and He's going to fill His people. And when
you begin to see this whole world running and carried away in religion,
know that the Word of the Lord's come to pass. It's a great falling
away. a great falling away. He said,
this is what I mean. Tell them this. I'm going to
fill them. They've been full of the drunken with their own
pride and rebellion against me. I'm going to fill them and get
them more drunk with it. So that the son dashes against
the father and the father dashes against the son until they're
all just a bunch of busted bottles and they've destroyed one another.
And he said this, what will thou say when he shall punish thee?
What are you going to say? He said, for thou has taught
them to be captains. You've taught them to be chief
over you. You taught them to rule rather
than to submit themselves to God and bow to God and trust
God. You taught them this. Can you
imagine running this way over people and teaching people, yoking
people, being a disciplinarian on people, and one day finding
yourself in hell with those people that you taught to treat somebody
that way, with all the restraints taken off of them so they can
treat you just like you taught them to treat others, in judgment
and wrath. Can you imagine that? That's
what he said. You did it. He said, Can the Ethiopian change
his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to this evil, to teaching men this evil, that
they can change their skin and change their spots. Jeremiah
said, My soul shall weep in secret places, mine eyes shall weep
sore and run down with tears, because by your pride the Lord's
flock is carried away captive. He's carried away captive. And
so he says, take heed to yourselves. Have your loins girt about with
truth, the gospel of peace, the word of his grace. I was out
this week, I was telling Scott this the other day. We got some
trees cut down at the house and I had a log splitter. The fellow let me borrow his
log splitter. It's a gas-powered log splitter, but
just the same, it has a wedge on it. And he had just had the
wedge sharpened. And I was out there working with
it, chopping this wood, splitting this wood, and I noticed that,
man, when that wood would hit that wedge, it just hardly didn't
have to have any pressure on it at all, and it just split
it. It just split the wood, no problem at all. And I got to
thinking about that, and I got to thinking about how that In
the churches that I know of and the places that the church I
sat in where the gospel was preached clearly, plainly, the word of
this grace was set forth. I never really heard any focus
put on these ministries of disciplining people and having to use some
strength and going to their houses and finding out why they weren't
there. People came. People came to hear the Word.
You didn't have to go find them. They were obedient people. They
were loving, giving, charitable, just loved the Gospel of God. And over the years, maybe two,
three times, there was an instance where somebody just had to be
called out and said, look, you're just disrupting the Gospel. We
can't hear the Word preached. It's being disrupted. And I got
to thinking, why is it in a place where the gospel set forth so
clearly, so fully, so plainly, that you didn't have all those
problems of discipline, and all those problems of disobedience,
and all those people wanting to hear, they were coming, they
were willing, they wanted to be there. Why is that? And then
in these places where they hide the Word away and just barely
declare the Word, it seems like all this strength and all this
force has to be used. And I came in, I looked up some
Scripture. Listen to this. Ecclesiastes 10.10 says, If the
iron be blunt, if the edge is dull, if the edge is dull, and
he do not wet the edge, it's not sharpened, then he must put
to more strength. He must use a lot of strength
to split that wood. But wisdom is profitable to direct. Don't take a lot of force at
all. You know, James said, he said, the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace. not strength of hand, not strong,
in peace. It's sown in peace of them whom
God blesses that Word to make peace in the hearts of His people.
The Lord said, not by power nor by might, but by My Spirit. That's
how this is going to happen. You know why? It's because the
Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword. It'll do the work. Remember that
analogy that Brother Don gave when he was here? Just light
the dynamite, throw it, and get out of the way. Stand back. It'll do the work. It's sharp. So he says, take heed to yourself.
You feed on this Word yourself. You experience this power and
this wisdom of grace yourself, and you'll be able to feed others
with it, trusting that this Word's able to say it, because you know
it. You've experienced it. And then he says, take heed to
all the flock. Take heed to all the flock. Let
me show you here in verse 28, Acts 20, 28. This is where the constraining
comes from. This is the constraining love
of Christ in remembering whose flock this is and why it's His
flock. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased
with His own blood." This is His church. It's God's church. It's His church by purchase.
It's His church because He purchased it with His own blood. It's His
church because He makes whom He will to be overseers of it. The Holy Ghost makes men overseers
of it. Men don't make themselves overseers
of His church. And He says, take heed to all
the flock, young and old. Weak or strong, rich or poor,
every believer in the flock, every believer in the flock is
a dying sinner. Struggling with his flesh, struggling
with sin, struggling with the same things that the preacher
struggles with. And feed them all. Feed everyone
of them the same, the same. And the sufficiency is being
upheld by this word of grace. is being upheld by His Word of
Grace. He says there in verse 32, I
commend you to God, I commit you to God, to the Word of His
Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance
among all them that are sanctified. Now, I want to give you something
here to show you how thoroughly This Word of Grace. What it is,
how full and sure it is, and how this Word of Grace is the
assurance of the believer. You who are His sheep. Christ is the Word. He's the
Word. The grace is in Christ the Word. It's the Word. Christ of His
grace is what this is. It's Christ Jesus the Word, the
Son of God. It's God's grace in Him that's
able to build you up and keep you. Now you consider this. His covenant is eternal. His
blessings are spiritual. His love is everlasting. Before
He made the world, in Christ the Word, if you're His sheep,
you that know Him, trust Him, love Him by His grace, He says,
He foreknew you. That is, He foreloved you. In
Christ the Word. It says, in Christ the Word,
He predestinated you, conformed to the image of His Son. In eternity,
in Christ the Word, God did this. Predestinated you. He did it
for the sake of His Son. That His Son might be the firstborn. Have many brethren and be the
firstborn among those brethren. He's the first. He's the first. And in Christ the Word, in eternity,
He called you. Do you know that? I thought that meant He called
me in time. He called you in eternity if
you're His. He gave you His name. Sons of
God. When He put you in Christ. And
in Christ the Word according to His purpose. The purpose that's
unchangeable. The purpose that knows no boundaries
of time. Those things that weren't yet
so in time, they were so in God who is eternal. When He put His
children in Christ Jesus, He justified His people. When He
put them in Christ. You saying eternally justified?
Eternal justification? That's exactly what I'm saying. You were holy and without blame
before Him in the Beloved. Accepted in the Beloved where
He put you. Christ the Word, in Christ the
Word according to the good pleasure of his will, having chosen his
sheep in Christ, having blessed him with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places before he ever founded the world, he glorified
you. What's glory gonna be? It's going
to be being in Christ, being with Christ, being at the feet
of Christ, it's going to be being a son of God, being conformed
to the image of Christ. That's what he did. He said he
blessed us with all spiritual blessings according as he chose
us in Christ. And he did it by free grace,
eternal everlasting covenant. How is it eternal? Because everything
in this Word, in this Word of Grace is everlasting. It's eternal. It cannot possibly be resisted. It can't possibly go without
being fulfilled. It can't possibly be changed
or thwarted or resisted because this is God who changes not. This is the Word of His Grace.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. The
same was in the beginning with God. And then when you go from
John 1 verse 2 to John 1 verse 3, before you get from verse
2 to verse 3, then the Word made the world. That He's going to
fulfill this, accomplish this eternal covenant, this Word in
time. And then all things were made
by Him. Without Him, the Word. Without Him, there was not anything
made that was made. And in Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. When Adam sinned against God
in the garden, and he plunged all the select seed into sin,
and death, and separation from God. You know why God didn't
just fold it all up right then, and be done with it? Because
God doesn't change. All those elect were accepted
in Christ. And God's looking at Christ.
And He upheld all things by the Word of His power. The Word of
His grace. The Word of His covenant. The
Word of His promise. It's sure. It's a sure Word.
God's glory is resting in His Son, in the Word, in Christ,
that He'll fulfill this. And that word is so sure that
when Adam had plunged that elect seed into death, God didn't destroy
this world. He said, I'm God, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob aren't consumed. Because I don't change. And in the fullness of time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. John said, and the Word
was made flesh. And He dwelt among us. And John
said, we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Turn over to John
chapter 10. Now, let's hear the Word. Let's
hear the Word of the Word. Let's hear the Word of grace
spoken by the Word Himself concerning this flock, concerning how they're
going to be built up and edified and kept and preserved. John 10, 11. He says, I am the
Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth His
life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, he seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he's a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. But he said, I'm
the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. Look down at verse 27. Verse
27. He said, And my sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. What did God put in you in Christ
in eternity? When God, He put His people in
Christ in eternity, but what He promised in eternity, what
He did in eternity, when He put them in Christ, the Word, who
promised, the Word in whom everything was sealed from the beginning,
that Word came forth and He accomplished in time everything that He promised
by His Word to accomplish in eternity. And this price to purchase
this flock, this price to purchase this church, given to Him before
the world began, the price to redeem each and every individual,
particular, elect, chosen child of God that was given to Him
was He had to pay with His own blood. Without remission of sin,
there is no forgiveness. That is, the wages of sin is
death and without Christ laying down His life, giving His life,
there'd be no forgiveness of sin. And so, when He had fulfilled
everything written of Him, when the Word had fulfilled everything
that the Word said about Him, in the prophets that He sent
with His Word, in the law that He gave to be proclaimed, to
declare the Word, in the Psalms that were written to declare
the Word. When the Word had fulfilled everything
that was written of Him, God made Him sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And He laid down His life. And Scripture says, And when
He had by Himself purged all the sins of His flock, when He
had purged all the sins of His flock, He sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. He purchased His church with
His own blood. And because He called them in
eternity, He called them in time. Every one of them by His Word
of Grace. That's this Word. I want you
to see this Word of Grace. It started in eternity. And it's
upheld all things. And it's the Law and the Prophets
and the Psalms. He sent His Prophets declaring,
declaring this Word of Grace. Christ the Word in whom all God's
Grace is. And then the Word was made flesh
and came. And the Word went to the cross
and He put away our sin. And then the Word. The Word calls. He calls. He speaks a Word into
the hearts of those that He's redeemed. Paul was on the road
to Damascus and he heard, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Why do you persecute me? You
know, I I'm just going to guess here. This is, I don't like to
speculate, but this is sort of two things I'm wondering about.
I put together the other day and I didn't say it the other
day. You know, he said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
It's hard to kick against the bricks. You remember when he
said, the Lord said, you're going to know the false prophets. Men
don't gather grapes from a thorn tree. Saul was a thorn tree. He was going trying to be thorny
and trying to prod and prick and move people by his own strength.
And when the Lord spoke in power, he said, now it's hard to kick
back now, isn't it? You can't kick against this. And He said, therefore, He sent
me forth with humility of mind. He built me up by bringing me
down. He made me a servant by making
me to fear Him instead of fearing men. And He sent me forth with
humility of mind to bear witness of this power and this wisdom
by which I've been called. This word of His grace. He said,
I gave no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.
He said, by pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness,
by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the
power of God, I've held nothing back with all humility of mind. What's that mean? Paul said in
another place, I labored more abundantly than they all, yet
not I. but the grace of God, the word
of grace, which was with me. He said, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. He says to the elders, now as
fellow laborers, I beseech you that you receive not the word
of this grace in vain. Feed the church of God which
He's purchased with His own blood." Feed them with what? With this
word of grace. He said, it's able to build you
up. It's able to build you up. It's
able to call out. It's able to bring down. It's
able to strengthen. It's able to edify. It's able
to grow. It's able to preserve. It's able
to keep. It's able to resurrect. It's able to glorify in the end.
This is the Word of God whereby you're going to be brought to
the inheritance with all them that are sanctified. This is
the Word that's going to do it. I'm thankful. Paul told Timothy,
he said, Consider my words, take heed
to my words. Consider my advice now. He gave
Timothy a laundry list of things. But I'm glad he didn't stop with
that word. He said this, and the Lord give thee understanding
in all things. That's what he says here. Now
brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace
which is able to build up. Turn over with me to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2. Hold your place there in Acts
20. Look at Ephesians chapter 2 in
closing. What do we say to this? What
do we say to this? If you don't know God, if you
don't believe God, if you never trusted God, believe Him. Turn from yourself and believe
on God. That's what Paul came preaching.
Repentance from everything else, you, to God and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. We were forgotten in the beginning
by the will of God with the Word of Truth. We're going to be built
up by this Word of Grace. And He says here, through this
Word of Grace, He's going to give you an inheritance among
all them that are sanctified. This is the Word of His Grace.
It's His promise to us because He purchased us with His own
blood. Now watch this. You watch and you wait and you
remember, believer. Remember this. Verse 14, or verse 13, the end
there. You were sealed. You were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest. You know
what an earnest is in this sense of the word? An earnest is, it's
the foretaste. of heaven divine. It's the first
tasting of it. You've been given the spirit
to enter into this word of His grace that He bought you with
His own blood. This eternal word of grace. And
you taste what it's going to be like. But He says this word
is able to deliver you. It's the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption, until He comes back. and brings to himself
this purchased possession. The purchased possession that
he bought, that he's paid for, that belongs to him. And when
he does, you know what we're going to sing in glory? Do you
think we're going to sing a different song? It's going to be a new
song because all things are going to be new. We're not going to
behold in a dim glass anymore. Faith's going to be no more.
We're going to see with sight. The song's going to be new. It's
going to be a new voice, new creatures, a new creation, a
new heavens and a new earth. All things new. All things created
in righteousness and holiness by God through this Word of Grace. But you know what we're going
to be singing there the whole time? His Word of Grace. His Word of Grace. If you don't
like it now, you won't like it then. You wouldn't
like it then if you don't like it now. But I guarantee you His
saints that's been called by this Word, they love it now. And they just gonna love it more
and more and more to the praise of the glory of God's grace. That's our song. That's our gospel. That's our hope. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Amen.