All right, go with me back to
Acts chapter 20. I want us to begin this message. I don't know if you were able
to enter into the scripture reading what it said, but it's pretty
serious. It's pretty serious. And I want to begin this message
by all of us resting on the solid rock. That's where I want us
to start. I want us to start tonight on
our sure foundation. We have a sure foundation. We have a sure foundation. Remember
that as we go through this message. We have a sure foundation. Look at verse 32. I want to begin
reading verse 32. Acts 20 verse 32. He said, Now brethren, I commend
you to God. I commend you to God. The word
commend means to place alongside. It means to present and it means
to deposit as a trust for protection. I do that every time I drive
through the bank. To deposit as a trust for protection. He said, I commend you to God. God Almighty. I deposit you to
him as a trust for protection. If the God of heaven and earth
is protecting you, you're safe. You're safe. You're absolutely
safe. Verse 32 says, and now brethren,
I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. I commend
you to the word of his grace. I present you to the word of
his grace, the promise of his word. He said in this word that
he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it. He will perform it. Verse 32,
and now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his
grace, which is able to build you up. Are you down at all? Downcast for any reason? Well, here's what I present to
us all. Get in the Word. Get in the Word. It's able to
build us up. It's able to build us up. And
he goes on in verse 32, and to give you an inheritance among
all them which are sanctified. set apart by God. That's what
sanctified means. When Moses led Israel out of
Egypt, they were slaves. And I'm sure they were thinking,
this is not going to go well. We're just going to march right
out of here. And this is not going to go well. The Lord said,
you don't be afraid. He said, I have put a difference. And he said, not even a dog will
bark at you. You're set apart. Before we get into this, I want
us to understand that if we all look to Christ, if we all trust
Christ, we're safe. We're safe. If we're looking
to him for his ability, not mine, that's where I'm going to go
wrong in just a minute. If I go wrong, I'll be looking to my
ability. If we look to His ability to keep us and protect us, we're
safe. We're safe. He is able. He's able. Not one soul who trusts
Christ to keep Him will be ashamed. Not one soul who trusts Christ
to keep him will be ashamed. We have his word on that and
I commend us all to his word. Now turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
5. First Peter chapter 5 verse 10
says, but, now here's the reality we're
going to face in this life. It says, but the God of all grace
who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, After
that ye have suffered a while, he'll make you perfect and he'll
strengthen you, he'll establish you, strengthen you and settle
you after you've suffered a while. Trials are going to come back
to back. They're going to come back to
back as we finish out our way here on earth. I got a letter
not too long ago from a dear man and his wife. And they said to me in that letter
that they were enjoying their lull between trials right now. That's how they said they were
doing. We're doing fine. We're enjoying
our lull between trials. That sounds like a believer who's
been around a little while. And I thought, what a good way
to view this life. We're enjoying our lull between
trials. There will be personal trials. There will be family trials. And there will be congregational
trials. And that's the one Paul is dealing
with in the text. Congregational trials. Now right
here in 2 Peter, 2 Peter 1 verse 1 says, Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. That's who Peter is writing to
in this whole epistle right here. He's writing to those who have
obtained like precious faith. Now look at 2 Peter chapter 2.
2 Peter 2 verse 1 says, But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall
be false teachers among you. Now the you he's talking to is
those who have obtained like precious faith by the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. He's talking to believers. And
he said, There shall be false teachers among you. who privately
shall bring in damnable heresies, the word heresies means disunion,
division, and he said they're damnable, damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, and that means damnable ways, by reason of whom the way
of truth shall be evil spoken of, and through covetousness
they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you, whose
judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth
not." Now, I want to tell you all something. I'm going to leave
my notes for a minute. I believe this is of the Lord. I have been
so passionate about telling you this message. This is, I've titled
the message, A Serious Warning for God's Local Church. And I
am struggling, and it's about to end. I'm struggling to enter
into it. I'm struggling to preach this.
I'm struggling to think about what I'm trying to tell you.
We're wrestling with spiritual matters. We're not wrestling
with flesh and blood. I'm not just tired. I'm fine.
I'll be up till 1030 tonight. Lord, help us to enter into this.
What I'm about to tell us is so serious. So pray for me, all
right? Pray for me that the Lord will
help me enter into this right now. And let's see what he has
to say. What I just read to us is this.
There shall be false teachers among you. There shall be false
teachers among you. those who have obtained like
precious faith from the righteousness of God Almighty. He said, there
shall be false teachers among you and many shall follow their
damnable ways. And with famed words, that means
molded, artificial, fictitious words, they shall make merchandise
of you. That's pretty serious, isn't
it? That's serious, that is sobering.
A serious warning for God's local church. There is not one true
gospel ministry that has not or will not at some point along
the way be exposed to false prophets. There's not one true gospel ministry
that has not or will not at some point be exposed to false prophets. Sometimes they come through the
pews. Sometimes they come through the
pulpit. Now for our comforts, Peter said
right here in verse 9, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptations. The Lord knows how to do that.
As we go through this, let's keep looking to Christ. Let's
see what He has to say and then let's look to Christ. Let's see
what He has to say, the reality of what He has to say, and then
let's look to Christ. Let's keep our eyes on Him. He
knows how to deliver the godly. He knows how to. Peter is saying
it right here. Paul told the Corinthians, but
there must be heresies among you. Heresy means division, disunion. There must be disunion among
you. Now go with me to our text, okay?
Acts chapter 20. Paul is speaking right here to
the elders of the church at Ephesus, the pastor, the preachers, the
teachers. He said in verse 20, I kept back nothing that was
profitable to you. He said at the end of verse 24,
I've testified the gospel of the grace of God. He said in
verse 26, I'm pure from the blood of all men. He said in verse
27, for I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
But here's what he told him in verse 25. He said, you shall
see my face no more. You're never going to see me
again. This is my last time to speak
to you. You're never going to see me
again. Bonds and afflictions await me. The Holy Ghost hath
witnessed that I must leave and trials await me. So he's telling them, I'm going
to leave you with this. Let me leave you with this. A serious warning
for God's local church. Verse 28, take heed therefore
unto yourselves. He's talking to the elders. Pastor,
let's start it right here. Pastor, preachers, teachers,
start by taking heed to yourself. Take heed to yourself. Start
by examining yourself. We could be spared from so much
heartache if we would examine ourselves. Examine ourselves. Verse 28, he said, 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. That's who you feed and
that's what you feed them with. That's who you feed, that's what
you feed them with. He said, you examine yourselves
first. You make sure you're feeding
God's sheep. Make sure you're not just standing
up there whipping goats. Make sure you're not doing that.
Make sure you're not just challenging the intellectuals. That doesn't
feed God's sheep. Make sure you're not arguing
with the doctrinals, you know, those who are just hung up on
doctrine, arguing doctrine all the time. You feed God's church,
the one he purchased with his own blood. That's who you feed,
the one he purchased with his own blood. How do I feed them? You keep reminding them that
he purchased them with his own blood. He purchased you with
His own blood. Now here's the point of this
message. Heresies are coming. That's division. False teachers are coming. And the point is, watch therefore.
And let's keep our eyes on Christ. Because He is able to keep us. He's able to keep us from these
things. He purchased us with His own
blood. Do you think He would let us go? He purchased us with
His own blood. When the trouble comes, let's
look to Christ. When the trouble comes, when
the fear comes and the worry comes that I can't keep myself,
I can't keep myself, let's look to Christ. Verse 28, he said,
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. For I know
this. He didn't say I have a strong
suspicion. He didn't say there is a chance,
there's a really good chance. He said, I know this. I know
this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." That's serious. That's serious. That's a serious warning for
God's church. He said, I know this, grievous
wolves are going to enter in. And here's the sad part about
it. They don't look like wolves. They don't look like wolves.
They look like harmless sheep. Over in Matthew 7, you can turn
if you want to, but we read this Sunday. This is our Lord speaking. Matthew 7 verse 15, He said,
Beware of false prophets which come to you. Now here's what
I want to tell you. The world can do whatever the
world wants to do. Whatever they want to preach over there, that's
fine. That's their business. The part that I really want to
watch for is that they don't come in here. He said, Beware
of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing But
inwardly, they are ravening wolves. The word ravening means to pluck. It means to seize. That's what
the word ravening means. A serious warning for God's local
church. Once God exposes a wolf, and
here's what a wolf is, it's someone who wants to bring in heresy,
disunion, It's someone who wants to go through the pews, creating
disunion between the believers. And he's someone who wants to
try, he can't, but he wants to try to discredit the Word of
God. That's a false prophet. Someone
who brings in heresy and lies on the Word of God. And once
God exposes a wolf, stay away from him. Stay away from him. Stay away from him. don't have
any dealings with him, don't have any communication, any conversation
at all. God himself said, beware of false
prophets, they are ravening wolves, seizing wolves, plucking wolves. Paul said, they will not spare
the flock. Peter said, they'll make merchandise
of you. They'll make merchandise of you.
Are you saying that even though God saved me, they can still
pluck me away from Him? No. No. Listen very carefully to this. Peter said, the Lord knoweth
how to deliver how to deliver the godly out of temptation. But they have to be in a temptation
for him to deliver them out. If Christ died for us, he will
not let us go. In the end, just like that prodigal
son, he went out and in the end, God will bring us back. He will
bring us back. But between now and then, now
in that time that he does that, If we would like for our world
to be absolutely turned upside down, totally turned upside down,
utter turmoil, inner spiritual turmoil. If we would like all
of our rest and all of our peace and all of our comfort to go
right out the window. Just misery, a life of misery. If we would like to have that,
all we have to do is allow ourselves to become involved with a wolf. A wolf. Someone who just wants
to divide God's people and discredit His Word. Now go with me back
to our text in Acts chapter 20. Verse 30. The warning becomes more heartbreaking. Also, Paul said, I know this,
also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things
to draw away disciples after them. Also of your own selves. Isn't that heartbreaking? Isn't
that absolutely heartbreaking? Of your own selves shall men
arise speaking perverse things, and that means distorted and
misinterpreted things, to draw away disciples after
them. I don't want you to be my disciple. I don't want that. We all need
to follow Christ. When we're all following Christ,
there's unity, there's harmony, there's peace. Psalm 41 prophesied
of Judas. The Lord said in Psalm 41, my
own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath
lifted up his heel against me. Heartbreaking, isn't it? Heartbreaking. Paul said, I know that it's going
to be that way for us because it was that way for our Lord.
If we would do it to our Lord, we would do it to each other.
It's heartbreaking isn't it? It's a serious warning. I want to say continually, may
we all say continually, Lord, is it I? Lord, is it I? Lord, is it me? Let it not be
me who divides your sheep, my brethren, denies you, David said,
search me, oh God, and know my heart. See if there be any wicked
way in me, and please get it out of there. Please get it out
of there. Verse 31, he said, therefore,
watch and remember that by the space of three years, I ceased
not to warn everyone, night and day, with tears. With tears. Warnings are no fun. They're
no fun. They're just no fun. But he said,
I did it night and day with tears. He said, I was serious about
this. Let's be serious about this.
Let's take this to the Lord as a matter of prayer from the heart. He said, with tears from the
heart. Lord, watch over us. Watch over this little flock.
I don't have any protecting power. I can't protect myself. Lord,
watch over this little flock. Send your Spirit into this flock.
Lord, hedge us about. Lead us not into temptations. Verse 32, he said, And now, what
that means is, okay, we gave the warning. We gave the warning. We've seen the seriousness of
watching, waiting, praying. Verse 32, and now, brethren,
I commend you to God. Let's get the focus back on God. There's a whole bunch of mess
out there. Let's get the focus back on God.
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. Let's remember that we have been
deposited to Him as a trust for safe keeping. As soon as we take
our eyes off of Christ, it's bad. It's bad. But as soon as we see Him again,
we're safe. Absolutely safe. He said, verse
32, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,
which is able to build you up. Let me tell you the safest place
we can be. It's in this word. It's in this word. It has all
the warning, all the encouragement, all the promise that we need. It's able to build you up. Paul
said, put on the whole armor of God, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand. Build us up. Verse 32, build
you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. He said in verse 33, I've coveted
no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me. He said, I haven't coveted any
gold, silver, or apparel, and I've taken care of whatever I
needed to take care of myself. He tells them that for two reasons.
The first one is he wants them to know the character of a true
gospel preacher. He does not covet gold, silver,
or apparel. He covets God's glory and the
good of the sheep. The good of the sheep. He says,
watch. Keep your eyes on Christ. Look to Christ. Don't veer off,
little sheep. Come back. You don't want to
talk to Him. God's glory and the good of His
sheep. And the other reason He told them is because of what
He said in verse 35. He said, I've showed you all
things, how that so laboring 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. He told them to give. He said, I'm leaving. I'm leaving. These are my parting words to
you. Preach the gospel. Watch. Watch therefore. Watch and be sober and give. Preach the gospel. Watch and
give. Give everything you are, everything
you have to the ministry of the gospel, where the truth is, where
salvation is, where safety is. Commit your all to Christ and
His word, every ounce of it. Our time, our heart, our talent,
our sweat, our love, our money, Everything we have. The only
way that a man can stand up and tell other people this is by
proving to them, I don't covet your gold. I don't covet your
silver. I don't covet these things. Paul
said, I don't covet yours, I covet you. I covet you. I covet your being blessed. And
he's saying, the last thing I want you to know is I want you to
be a blessed people. And here's what I want to say,
okay? I want you to be a blessed people. I want this congregation
to be a blessed people. I want you to be safe. I want you to be safe. I don't
want you to be plucked. I don't want to be plucked. I
don't want anybody to say, Gabe Stoniker used to be a gospel
preacher. There's a lot of guys that have
their name in that sentence. Don't let it be me, Lord. Keep
me, keep me. I want you to be blessed. I want
you to be blessed. I want you to be blessed. And
here's what Paul is saying the Lord said, it's more blessed
to give than to receive. The one who gives is the one
who receives a blessing. So let's be givers. In giving,
we become a little bit more conformed to our Lord's image. We look
a little bit more like Him. All our Lord does is give. That's all He does is He gives.
And He gives and He gives. He's given us every single thing
we have. Everything I have, He's given
it to me. We all know that he gave us his body. He gave us
his blood. He gave us his life to redeem
our souls, didn't he? That's where we started this
in verse 28, which he hath purchased with his own blood. So out of
thanks, out of love, let's be givers. Let's provoke each other
to love through giving, through giving. When one believer gives
to another believer, even if it's not me, when one believer
gives to another believer, I love him. I can't help it, it endears
me to him. I love him. And so in the vein
of unity, in the vein of obeying God's word, not in heresy which
is disunion, False prophets trying to discredit God's Word for the
sake of unity and obeying His Word. Let's be givers. It's better
to give than to receive. Verse 36, 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 spake, that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him unto the ship." Love is so beautiful. It's so beautiful. I thank God for love. God is love. God is love. And when our God is among his
people. Love reigns there. It really
does. We can see so much love right
here. They loved Paul. He loved them. 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 spake, that he should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him under that ship. They put him on that
ship, and they knew, we're never going to see you again. And they loved him. So here's a closing exhortation
for God's local church. Let's keep our eyes on Christ. At all times, let's keep our
eyes on Christ. Let's ask him to save us. Lord, wash me in your blood. Let's ask him to keep his hand
on us and protect us. He's able. Keep us, Lord, protect
us, and cause love and unity to reign here. Not heresy, not
false teaching, not false doctrine. Love. Keep all that far from
us. Lord, keep heresy far from us. Disunion, keep it far from us. Let the truth remain clear here. Let's ask Him that. Lord, let
the truth remain clear here. Let it be declared very plainly
so that when anything false comes along, it'll be obvious. You're going to hear a false
preacher at some point. A man's going to stand up in this pulpit
and he's going to dupe me and I'm going to say, yeah, you can
preach for us. And then he's going to stand up and lie to
us. But if God will make the message
clear and plain, if God will send His Spirit, if God will
keep us, protect us, quicken us, it will be obvious and we
won't be deceived. It will be obvious and we won't
be deceived. So Lord, we look to You. We just
look to You. Keep us, help us, save us, love
us. For Christ's sake, we only look
to You. Alright, let's all stand together.