Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 263. The Lord's our rock, in Him we
hide A shelter in the time of storm Secure whatever will be
tied A shelter in the time of storm Oh, Jesus is a rock in
a weary land A weary land, a weary land Oh, Jesus is a rock in a
weary land A shelter in the time of storm Pay shade by day, defense
by night, A shelter in the time of storm. No fears alarm, no
clothes of fright, A shelter in the time of storm. Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary
land A weary land, a weary land Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary
land A shelter in the time of storm The raging storms may round
us be, A shelter in the time of storm. We'll never leave our
sacred tree, A shelter in the time of storm. Oh, Jesus is a
rock in a weary land, a weary land, a weary land. Oh, Jesus is a rock in a weary
land, a shelter in the time of storm. Rock divine, O refuge
dear, A shelter in the time of storm. Be thou our helper ever
near, A shelter in the time of storm. Oh, Jesus is a rock in
a weary land, a weary land, a weary land. Oh, Jesus is a rock in
a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
226. two twenty six I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know that
His right hand is one who is my Savior. I take Him at His word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read. For in my heart I find a need
of Him to be my Savior. That he should leave his place
on high And come for sinful man to die You count it strange,
so once did I Before I knew my Savior And though that he fulfilled
may see The travel of his soul in me, And with his work continued
be As I with my dear Saviour. Yea, living, dying, let me bring
my strength, my solace from this spring, that he who lives to
be my king must die to be my savior. Acts 20. Acts 20. And ladies lunch this Friday. Ladies lunch this Friday, first
Friday of the month. Ladies lunch this Friday. I'm gonna start reading at verse
13 and read down to Verse 27, I'm gonna try to preach
the whole chapter if I can, and I hope I can get through it,
but if I can't, I won't. Starting verse 13, you remember
last week that Eutychus fell out, Paul preached all night
long, midnight. God fell out of the window and
died. God raised him from the dead
and they gave him back to him, and then Paul preached till the
daylight. daylight. And then he says this
in verse 13, And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos,
there intending to take in Paul. For so he had appointed, minding
himself, to go afoot. And when he met with us at Assos,
we took him in, and came to Mytilene. And we sailed thence, and came
the next day over against Chios, and the next day we arrived at
Samos, and tarried at Trogillum, and the next day we come to Miletus. For Paul had determined to sail
by Ephesus, because he would not spend time in Asia, for he
hasted, if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day
of Pentecost. And 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, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and
with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying
weight of the Jews. and how I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught
you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there. say that the Holy Ghost witnessed
in every sinner saying that my bonds and afflictions abide me
or wait for 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 the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold,
I know that ye all, 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 from the blood of all, for I
have not shunned declaring to you all the counsel of God. Our great and glorious and blessed
God. Oh, Lord, you're in heaven. And
we can't grasp eternity, can't get our minds into eternity.
Just we know that it is. We know that eternity has no
beginning, no end. And yet, Lord, you say that you
inhabit eternity. The great and glorious God of
heaven and earth inhabits eternity. You live in eternity. That's
where you dwell. And one of these days, by your
blessed grace and because of the blood and righteousness of
your son, who came for us, lived for us, died for us, rose again
for us, sits at the right hand of God even now, that one of
these days we'll enter into eternity. We'll go where you dwell. We'll
go what you inhabit. And oh, blessed day, blessed
day that will be. Father, we come into your presence
to ask for your, for this to enable me to speak, enable the
saints to hear. And we pray for those who are
not with us because their bodies are frail and bodies are weak.
We pray for them, Lord, that you'd strengthen them, encourage
them, and Lord, make a way for them to come worship with us
if it would please you. And for those who watch us and
listen to us, we ask for your blessings and mercies upon them. May Christ be glorified in this
service tonight. Please be merciful, gracious,
pitiful towards our lost loved ones. We ask these things in
our Lord Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Hymn number 75. Number 75. with me. Or quit, be abide When other
helpers fail and comforts flee. Help of the helpless, Swift to its close, there's a
blight still o'er us. Limits, glories pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. thou who changest not abide with
me. I need thy presence every the tempter's power. Who like thyself, my God and
Satan be? Through cloud and sunshine, O
abide with me. Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and Earth's
faint shadows flee. In life, in death, who would
abide with me? Our Lord does abide with us,
never leaves us, never forsakes us. I'm gonna try to go through these
verses a little at a time. And the first thing I want you
to see, Paul called the Ephesian elders together. And when he
did, he did it to give them a farewell message.
And he gave a personal testimony when he did it. But I want you
to see here that before, you know, after they left Ephesus,
after that uproar there in Greece and in Troas, we went before
the ship and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul.
For he had so appointed mindful himself to go afoot. They got
in a ship to go over to Assos. Paul said, I want to walk. I
want to walk. I'll meet you there. I'll meet
you there when the ship gets there. When you all are there,
I'll come there." But he wanted to walk. You've got to wonder
why in the world he wanted to walk that distance. I think maybe
he wanted to consider his future because he wants to go to Jerusalem.
Maybe he wanted to have some real, real precious time with
the Lord by Himself, walking along, conversing with Christ,
praying, trusting the Lord, telling the Lord what was going on in
His heart and in His life, His fears and the things that He
was facing, and oh my, and I tell you what, and He started out
this way, and you know, maybe even on the way He had a place
to preach, I don't know. But I hear he's walking on this
road by himself, everybody else in the ship, they're gonna meet
him over there. And you know, this is what's so wonderful about
the presence of the Lord. We said, abide with me, that
no matter where you are, you can enjoy the presence of the
Lord. You can enjoy God's presence, whether you're walking like Paul
was, whether you're on your job, whether you're sitting on your
porch, whatever you're doing, you can enjoy the Lord's presence.
Only thing you got to do is you got to think of Him. But when
you start thinking about God, trying to address Him as He is,
think of Him as He is, He gets so great and so glorious and
so full that you get lost when you start thinking about how
great and glorious He is. And that's when you have really
have real worship. And Paul probably walked along
here worshiping the Lord. And then look what it says here
in verse 14. And then he walked in the ship,
they was on a boat and they went on with the ship. And when he
met with us at Assos, they took him in the ship. He got in the
ship with them and they went on down to Mytolene. Maddalene,
and we sailed from there and came the next day over against
Chios, and the next day we arrived at Samos, tarried at Trigillium,
the next day we came to Miletus. Now watch what he says here.
For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus because he would not
spend the time in Asia, for he hasted if it were possible for
him to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. And so, you
know, he told them, he said, I'll see you at Assos. And he
was a faithful man, and he witnessed exactly where he was supposed
to be, kept his appointment with those people, as anybody will,
and he was a very, very honorable man. And I tell you what, and
he was faithful, so faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
to save time, they sailed past Ephesus, it says they fell past
Ephesus and come to Mytilene. And the reason he did, He called
the Ephesians elders there. He didn t want to go back to
Ephesus. He knowed he d have a hard time getting away from
there. And he called them to give his last message, parting
message to them, to say farewell to them. He s going to leave
them, and in one place there he says, You ll never see my
face again. Can you imagine how that would
be, I ll never see your face again? And so that s what he
happens, and he called And then verse 17, He from Miletus He
sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. Oh my,
leave me partish message. And His words here in the form
of a personal testimony, He talks about Himself. And it's not because
He had a big ego. It's not because He thought very
highly of Himself. because he said, I'm the least
of all the saints. Started out the least of the
apostles, then the least of the saints, and then he became the
chief of sinners. He started out up here and kept
going down, down, down. And that's what I think the way
believers are. They start up here and they go down, down,
down, down. The more they know of Christ,
the more they see of Him, the less they see of themselves.
And I'll tell you, that's what he did. It wasn't, you know,
I tell you, He gives a picture of Himself, and here s the first
thing He said about Himself in verse 19. There s three things
He says about Himself here. He talks about His humility,
He talks about His tears, and He talks about His trials. And
here s the first thing He says, And I have been with you at all
seasons, know from the first day I came to you. I've been
with you, and no matter what went on in my ministry and what
went on in all of you all, I was with you, no matter of winter
or summer, no matter what the spiritual conditions were, I
was with you. And then look what I said in verse 19. Serving the
Lord with all humility of mind. Serving the Lord with all humility
of mind. And you know that's where it
starts. It starts up here. You know what the opposite of
humility is? Pride. Pride. The opposite of humility is pride,
and Paul didn t have that. In one place he says this after
he was caught up to the third heaven and he came back, he said,
Lest I be exalted above measure. He said, God sent me a thorn
in the flesh. So he, instead of being exalted,
he said, Lord, if you would take this thorn of flesh away from
me. He said, I ain't gonna do it, I ain't gonna do it, I ain't
gonna do it. That my strength is made perfect in your weakness.
And that's what happens here. Paul, when he says he had humility
of mind, then you know, and this is the thing about it. Once you
see somebody publicly, you don't know what they are before God.
You don't know what they are before God. You don't know what's
going on in their heart and life. And you know, and you see, and
Paul was a man mightily used of God. And here's the thing
about it. There's no room for pride. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said, come unto me, you learn of me, I'm meek and lowly. How
can a person who comes to Christ, who is meek and lowly, have pride
and feel real good about themselves? How could they do that? And oh
my, where Christ dwells in a man's heart, this has to be humility,
it has to be, it's the opposite of pride. And I tell you what,
the only way in the world you can actually, actually be in
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is in humility of mind.
David says, you know, that broken contrite spirit and the sacrifice
of a broken heart is acceptable to God, and God's gotta break
it Himself. And I tell you, you know your
spirit. Poor and blessed are they who are poor in spirit.
Oh, my. And I tell you what, his humility
seemed to lend him when he talks about working for his own support.
Look what he says down in verse 34. Shows you how his humility
here, his humbleness. He said, Yea, yourselves know
that these hands have ministered unto my necessities. He said,
I never charged you for anything. I never went to you and said,
I need a salary. You fellas need to take care
of me. That's not what he said. He says, you know that with my
hands, I've ministered unto what I needed, and not only my necessity,
but them that were with me. Them that were with me. So, oh,
no wonder he said, I'm the least of the apostles and less than
least of all the saints. And you know what he said? By
the grace of God, I am what I am. And then look what else it says
about him. Not only was he serving the Lord with all humility of
mind, and oh God, please help us have that kind of a mind,
heart, and with many tears, many tears and temptations, that befell me by the lying in
wait of the Jews. He was a very, very compassionate
man. He served the Lord with tears,
lots and lots of tears. He tells us here, you know, that
He supported these, He poured out tears to these people. He
said, I've come to you, and I didn't shun declaring them, I came with
tears. He said, you know, He told the
Philippians, I know them that are enemies of the cross of Christ,
but I even tell you now, weeping, weeping. And he wasn't what you'd
call a real emotional man, but many tears. He was, he had a
heart. He had a heart for the gospel.
He had a heart for the people he preached to. He had a heart
for folks in the condition they were in. He understood that men
desperately needed Christ. And I'll tell you, he ceased
not to warn everyone. He said, ain't that what he said?
Cease not to warn day and night, day and night. Oh, my. He served. His preaching wasn't
cold. His preaching wasn't formal. And it certainly wasn't heartless.
He had heart in it. Oh, his words had the love of
Christ in them and the moistness of his tears with them. And all
preachers would get up, and I'd do it all the time. I said, I'll
tell you all. But I tell you, can I tell you even weeping?
Can I do that sometimes? I hope and pray that I do that
sometimes. And I tell you, it's an awful
thing, you know, for a man to get up and be heartless and use
the wisdom of man's words instead of the truth of the gospel. Todd
was telling me about three preachers that's going to be together in
Lexington. One of them told Todd he was
the most obtuse preacher he'd ever been. Todd didn't know what
it meant. He had to look it up. Obtuse
meant that you're dense. You don't get it. You don't understand. You're not sharp as I am. You're
not smart as I am. You're too thick. You ain't got
the brain I got. That's what it means. Paul, you know, Todd don't preach
like that. I hope I don't preach like that,
and certainly Paul didn't preach like that. He preached to people,
you know, and the scriptures tells us, oh, how he wept so
many, he said about his own brethren, his kinsmen after the flesh,
he said, I could wish, I could wish myself a curse from Christ
for my brethren, my brethren, my Jewish brethren. If they could
be brought to Christ, if they would trust Christ, God cut me
off if you'll save all these people. He was willing to, Lord,
cut me off so you can save my people. Of course, He couldn't
do that, but it was His heart. That was in His heart to do that.
Oh, my. I tell you, we can weep over
our own sorrows and our own losses, but oh, my, do we ever weep over
the over Christ and the things that happens in people, the way
they treat the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, my. And then not only that,
but he had these great trials, look what it says, and temptations
and trials, temptations, trials, he's talking about, which befell
me by the lying in wait of the Jews. You know how many times,
everywhere he went, he had to leave because of the Jews. They would, you know, he was
at Thessalonica. They come up there and said,
he's turned the world upside down. In Ephesus, that's where
they started out great, is the goddess of Diana. And when he
got, every place he went, the Jews got so mad and they went
everywhere he went and accused him of being a false prophet,
lying on God, taking the law and going against Moses and doing
everything. They accused him of everything.
And they laid in wait for him. One time they said, well, listen,
we're going to kill this fella if we can get our hands on him.
We're going to kill this fella. So he had these temptations.
Everywhere he went, there's Jews after him. And he was a Jew. He's a Hebrew of Hebrews. And
oh my, and then look what else it says about him. In verse 20, and I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you. He is faithful. He was faithful. If it's profitable for you, I
didn't keep back anything. I didn't pick and choose what
I ought to preach. I didn't pick and choose and
I didn't show favoritism. Love for some and not love for
the others. That's not what he said. He was faithful. I kept
back nothing that would profit you. And you know the only thing
that he talked about profiting somebody with was the gospel.
That's the only profitable thing they are. And that's why he says,
you know, Jews and Greeks both. Oh, he was a profitable, he was
faithful. I kept back nothing that was
profitable to you. And he taught, look what he said.
He preached publicly. He said, I've showed you, Prophet
Elijah, and have showed you and have taught you publicly. He
said, I preached publicly. I preached publicly out in the
synagogues. I preached publicly in the marketplace.
I preached publicly wherever I got an opportunity. I preached
publicly. And then, I not only preached
publicly, but I preached privately. When I got in your house, I preached. I warned you, I preached the
gospel to you, I taught you, I gave everything that was profitable
to you. If I was in your home, if I was in the public, private,
from house to house, and when he went from house to house,
he was faithful with the gospel. Faithful with the gospel. Oh
my. And I'll tell you what, and here's
his message, look at his message. He said, I preached what was
profitable to you. And this is the thing about him.
Here's the thing about him. If it's not profitable to us,
why do it? Why say it? You know, there's
lots of things that people say and do that's not profitable
to anybody. But when we're gathered with the Lord's people, no matter
whether they're in our homes or whether we're in public or
wherever we're at, we ought to have our conversation as much
as we possibly can about the Lord Jesus Christ. around him,
and Paul said, and here's his message, and this is what I taught
you from house to house and showed you publicly, testifying to the
Jews and also to the Greeks. He said, it didn't make any difference
to me. All men's the same. Everybody's the same. And he
says, testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks, here's
his first message, repentance toward God. Repentance toward
God. That's what John the Baptist
come preaching, repentance. Flee from the wrath to come.
And repentance, he says, you have a different view of God
than you've got. Don't go to the God of the law.
Don't go to the God that set about a bunch of rules and regulations
for it. Repentance toward God as He's
revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance toward God. Change
your mind about God and come to faith and believe the Lord
Jesus Christ whom God set forth. Now, I tell you what, you're
talking about a missing note in today's preaching. How many
preachers have you heard preach on repentance toward God? Repentance toward God. We're
all talking about faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. But oh
my, a man's mind has got to be, a man's mind's got to be changed
concerning God Almighty. That's the first thing that talks
about repentance toward God. A lot of people say repentance
is turning from your sin. Well, if that's so, then I ain't
turned to God yet, because I still got plenty of rottenness in me. But I tell you what it means
is that my mind has been changed about God, and you know what
it's been changed about about God? That God gave His blessed
Son, and I come to believe Him and trust Him and Him alone for
my salvation and for my righteousness. That's what He's talking about
here. And oh my. And down here I think it is in
verse 27, look what he says, For I have not shunned, shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, what does he mean
here? He said all the will of God, all the counsel of God,
all the purpose of God. So I mean he was there for over
three and a half years. He done a lot of preaching, a
lot of preaching. And he said, I didn't, you know,
when I come up to something about God, I faced it and faced you
with it. I did not shun anything in God's
word to deal with you. Not anything, anything. And you
know, when he wrote to church in Ephesus, you know, the first
thing he said was, all spiritual blessings are in heavenly places
in Christ. according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the Father. That's where we started at. So
that's what He's teaching His people here. Oh, I tell you, Paul didn't have
no theories. He didn't get up there and come
up with a bunch of theories and a bunch of intellectualism or
anything like that to defend something. No, no, he got up
and declared the gospel. He got up and declared repentance
toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell
you one thing, a man that seeks popularity and the praise of
men, he's not fit to be a preacher. He's certainly not fit to be
a pastor. He's certainly not fit for anything
if he seeks the praise and praise of men and not the glory of Christ. And that's what Paul did. More
than anything else is the glory of Christ. And you come across
a person that won't do that, give the whole counsel of God,
shun the whole counsel of God, not give it all. I've heard people tell me, I
believe in election, but I don't think we ought to preach it.
I believe in God's sovereignty, but we don't need to go to seed
on it. Well, I tell you what, evidently I'm going to seed on
it, because it's everything to me. If God's not God, what in
the world are we worshiping? Oh, my. But I tell you, man,
he's a traitor to Christ who don't declare the whole counsel
of God, don't deal with the Word as it comes to it. And I mean
that tells God's will and purpose in Christ. And I tell you what,
and then look what else it says about him. He was interested in the will
of God and submissive to the will of God. He said he wanted
to be at Pentecost at Jerusalem by Pentecost. And look what he
says here in verse 22. And now behold, I go bound in
the spirit. unto Jerusalem. What spirit is
he bound by? By his own spirit. I've got to
go to Jerusalem. The spirit of God's not doing
that. He wants to go. He wants to go so much that he's
bounded in his spirit that I've got to get to Jerusalem. I've
got to get there. And he says, and not knowing
the things which shall befall me there. I don't know what's
going to happen to me when I get there. I don't have a clue what's
gonna happen to me. But listen to what else he says.
He said, I do know this, that everywhere I go, everywhere I
go, the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions abide me or wait for me. When I get to Jerusalem,
I'm gonna be held in bondage. They're gonna bind me, they're
gonna jail me, they're gonna mistreat me, and I'm gonna have
lots and lots and lots of afflictions. That's what he says. But look
what else he says now. But none of these things move
me. Oh my goodness. None of these things move me.
You're gonna have trouble, Paul. You're gonna be bound up, Paul.
They're gonna bind you. You're gonna have all kinds of
afflictions. Don't bother me a bit. That's what he said. He
said none of these things move me. I'm not moved by them. I'm
not troubled by them. Here's a man who actually wrote
in Romans chapter 8, we know that all things work together
for good to them that are called to them that love God and called
according to his purpose. Oh, he believed that. He said,
I don't care what happens to me. He said, it don't bother
me, I don't move me. So I get in bonds, okay. I get
in afflictions and they afflict me and they beat me, whatever
they do, I don't know. But I know this, it does not
move me. And listen to this, what else
he said? Neither count I my life dear unto myself. My life, my life absolutely don't
mean anything in light of Christ and what I have in Him. He said,
I don't even count my life dear unto myself. If they take my
life, I just get to go to Christ. That's the way he looked at things.
And this is why he says, I don't count my life dear unto myself.
And here's the reason. Oh my, listen to this. Here's
the reason. He said, here, you know, bonds
and afflictions. And so He said, I count my life
that I might finish my course with joy. You know, God gives
all of us a course. Every one of us who are saved
by the grace of God. God started us the day He saved
us by His blessing and grace. He already had our course picked
out for us. Where we'd go and how we'd live
and everything about our lives already predetermined by God.
And that's why Paul said that I might finish the course. God
laid out a course for me. And look what he says. When I
might finish it with joy. Joy. If my life ends, I want
it to end with joy. And the ministry, oh, listen
to this now. And the ministry I have received
of the Lord Jesus. He said, God gave me this ministry.
I received this ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is
what he said. I said, I have received the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ to testify of the gospel of the grace of
God. So I mean this man, this man,
he was so enraptured with Christ and the gospel, and he didn t
count himself to be anything but Christ to be his life. It
really truly was his life, and oh my, and he says, you know,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God. When somebody testifies,
then you expect them to tell the truth. You reckon he told
the truth about the Lord Jesus and the gospel of the grace of
God? Like there was some other gospel? Oh, my! I tell you, his meat and drink
was to do the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Redeemer. And
I tell you what, he was more willing and more glorified Christ
more than anything. And oh, my! And that's what he
says. You know, remember in 2 Timothy
where he said, I fought a good fight. I kept the faith and I
finished my course. You know what's waiting for me? Crown of life, crown of life. And he said, I'm ready to depart. He's ready to depart. Oh my. You know, Jeremiah said this. God said it through Jeremiah
the prophet. Seek not great things for yourself. A man that seeks
great things for himself, he's unfit. He is absolutely unfit. When our Lord said, if any man
comes after me, let him deny himself and follow me. And then
look, oh, listen, he wasn't afraid of nothing. He was a courageous
man. And he says in verse 27, for
I've not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.
You know, Paul had no fear of man whatsoever. None, none, none,
no fear of God. He had a gospel to preach. And
I tell you, this man, I tell you, he had a gospel to preach,
and he intended to preach that gospel. And the gospels preached
in love. He said, you know, our Lord Jesus
said, and Paul said, oh, said, speak the truth in love, speak
the truth in love. And that's what he did. And he
had that heart, you know, The Holy Ghost is shed abroad in
a man's heart. And he did have the Holy Ghost
shed abroad, the love of God in his heart. And he loved the
Lord Jesus and he loved the souls of men. And I tell you, he shunned
everything else that went with it. And let me hurry up and tell
you a few things. I'm gonna pick up the, I'm gonna
deal the, there's three verses here I'm gonna read to you and
then comment on them, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock. Now he turns on them. He's giving
them an exhortation. Take heed therefore unto yourselves.
That's the first thing he says. You take heed to yourself. Don't
take heed to somebody else. You take heed to yourself. You
take heed to yourself before you do anything else. And look
what he says now. And to all the flock. First start
with yourself and then watch the flock. Over which the Holy
Ghost hath made you seer. These fellas just didn't decide
I'm gonna be a preacher. Holy Ghost made them overseers
of the church of God. And feed the church of God. Which
he hath purchased with his own blood. Christ purchased us, the
church, with his own blood. And listen to this now. This
is astounding to me. I almost wept today when I read
this. For I know I know this, I know
this, that after my departing, after I leave, and after I'm
gone a while, grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. He said, there'll be men in here,
there'll be men in here, They don't care about God's sheep.
They don't care about the Lord's sheep. They don't care about
Christ and His sheep and what He paid for them. They don't,
He don't care about that. All He wants is to be recognized,
to be somebody. Oh my, and then listen to this. And then He turns around, you
talking about fearless man. He's talking to these fellows
here. These fellows are in charge and they're the elders in the
church of Ephesus. and also of your own selves, also out of
your own, some of you out of your own selves, out of your
group, out of this church, out of this body of believers. Oh,
shall your own selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse
things, Twisting the scriptures, speaking
perverse things, and here's the only reason to do it, to draw
away disciples after them. You know why there's so many
church buildings and so many preachers and so many congregations
just in Cumberland County? I think somebody told me there's
over 200. You know why? Somebody told a young preacher,
he got up and got the preacher, said, boy, I sure do like to
hear you preach. I think you're a better preacher than the preacher.
Oh, my goodness, I sure enjoy you. Well, next thing you know,
he thinks, man, I need to be the preacher here. Well, folks,
you know, don't agree with that. So what he does, he takes his
four, and his five, and his family, and his wife, and his daughter,
and takes three or four people, and he goes off and starts up
a church. And that has happened countless times over the years. I could tell you how many times,
I don't know how many times I know it's happened. But oh, they wanted to draw disciples
not to Christ, but away from Christ, to themselves. Counting numbers, counting numbers,
you know, So many churches count numbers.
Oh my goodness, they count numbers. They're really interested in
numbers. I was talking to a fellow the other day, and he says, we
was talking about business meetings. I said, boy, I said, you know,
I tell you, you gotta have a high sheriff and two deputies, boy,
to have a business meeting in some of these Baptist churches.
He said, well, yeah, yeah, but it's not that way where we are.
Our preacher does a good job. I said, we ain't had a business
meeting in 30, since we've been in this building, we ain't had
a business meeting. And he said, how in the world y'all do things?
I said, we just get together and talk things out. And people,
when you love people, you trust them. You don't have to meet
with a whole bunch of people to decide how much tissue you're
going to buy, how much toilet paper you're going to buy, how
much money you're going to spend in the budget, on this, that,
and the other, and all that stuff. No, no. But that's what these
fellas, they want to draw disciples after themselves. And oh my, what a warning he
gave these people. Take heed to yourselves. And
then look what he says there in verse 31. He said, therefore
watch, you fellas watch. I mean, I want you watching.
You watch one another. You watch the church of God.
You watch the flock. You watch, and remember this,
that by the space of three years, three years, I ceased not to
warn everyone night and day with tears. I wanted you all to know
Christ. I wept over your souls. And I
love this right here. Listen to this now. He said,
now brethren, he said, look what he says now. Now brethren, he
calls them brethren, I commend you to God. Here, Lord, they're yours. I
commend you to God. Lord, we'll give them up to you.
Then look what he says. And to the word of his grace,
God, in the word of his grace, which is able to build you up,
strengthen you, build you up in the faith, build you up in
grace, build you up in Christ. And listen, not only to do that,
but to give you an inheritance, give you an inheritance among
all them which are sanctified. And then one thing I tell you
about him, he wasn't a greedy man. He wasn't a covetous man. He says this in verse 33, I coveted
no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. I didn't want anything
you got. Didn't want anything you got.
And there's no doubt some people there had some money. Had some
money. I remember years ago, when there
used to be a lot of different missionaries, they'd come to
a church and things like that, and they would just get to them.
They'd find out who had the money and they'd just endear themselves
to them people. Endear themselves to them people.
You know, because they coveted silver and gold. But Paul said,
I don't need your money. I don't need your gold. I certainly
don't need any clothes. He said, you know how? When I
needed something, I worked for it with my own hands. That's
what he said. When I needed something, I did
it with my own hands. And not only for me, but everybody
that was with me, the preachers that were with me. And then look
what he says now. And I have showed you all things,
how they're so laboring And when he's talking about his own labor
now, so laboring you ought to support the weak. If there is
weak among you that's not able to do things for themselves,
and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it's
more blessed to give than to receive. Till you labor to be
able to help them that are in need. And oh my, this is so sad
right here. And when he had thus spoken,
look what he'd done, he knelt down. And I think everybody,
all them men that were there with him, they knelt down with
him. Luke was there, I mean all these
men that traveled with him, he knelt down after he spoke all
these things. He knelt down and prayed with
all of them. They, what a prayer meeting.
Wouldn't you love to have been there and heard that prayer? Oh my.
And he knelt down and prayed with them. And listen to this.
And they all began to weep. Oh, they wept. And who says wept
sore, I mean that just, they just wept profusely and fell
on Paul's neck. Every one of them went to hugging
him, falling on his neck, went to hugging him and kissing him,
hugging and kissing him. They loved him so much, they
hugged his neck. And they was all crying, they was all crying.
And they all, tears, they left their tears on his cheeks. They
left their tears on his clothes. They left their tears. where
they kissed him. And here's what they said, sorry
most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see
his face no more. That's what bothered them. Well,
Lord, we'll never see you again. And they followed him. They said,
well, we'll walk with you back to the ship. We'll walk with
you back to the ship." And then he said, you know, you'll never
see me again. Never see me again. Can you imagine
these folks that loved him so much and he loved them? What
a sorrowful, sorrowful thing it was. Our Lord and our God, the precious
name of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for your
precious word. We thank you for men like this
apostle who gave his personal testimony, gave warnings. And Lord, I don't know how many
other need these things, but I need them. Being a preacher,
being a pastor, I need these things to warn me, strengthen
me, encourage me, Oh, Lord, please, you set a watch. David says,
set a watch on my mouth. Set a watch on my heart. Don't
let us be double-hearted or double-minded. Let us be single-hearted, single-minded,
single-eyed, only for the glory of Christ and the blessed good
of his people while we live in this world. Oh, Lord, we need
you. As we sung that song this evening,
oh Lord, abide, abide, abide. All around, change and decay
I see. Oh, thou who changest not, abide
with me. Bless these dear saints and keep
them. For Christ's sake, amen, amen. Good night and God bless
you. See you Sunday, Lord willing. you