Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Acts chapter 20 and beginning
verse 27. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. 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's all I'm going to read
right now. We named this assembly building
that we have here the Sovereign Grace Chapel. And we did that
on purpose. A lot of people may not understand
the difference, but I think we do. In the scriptures, the word
church has been translated from the word ecclesia. The church
of God, which Paul is referring to here, is the people of God. That's what the church is, the
ecclesia. I'm not against places being
named churches. The place we were at before this
was called Calvary Baptist Church. But when it came time to move
and to rename this assembly, we used the word chapel. And
we did it on purpose because we don't want to have the confusion.
Most people think the church is the building. The church ain't
the building. The church is not the denomination.
A lot of people go that way. Oh, because I go to a Lutheran
church here, and then I come down to a Lutheran church in
Georgia. And they think it's going to be pretty much the same,
and maybe it is. But that's not the church according
to the scriptures. I want to be clear on this. The
chapel, a chapel, is a place. The church is his assembly. The church is made up of believers. We believers are the members
in particular of his body. That's what also the scripture
says. The church is his body and it is made up of many members,
not many buildings. He, Christ Jesus, is the head
of the body, which is also what the church is called, which we
believers are his body. And he is our head. So, I wanna preach Christ this
morning, but I wanna preach about the church. This is the title,
Paul. purchased purchased Now I'm not
going to keep you long, and I'm not going to preach anything
new because all this stuff is pretty old It's the old story,
and it doesn't change and it never will change But I began
reading with the last verse of the former paragraph where Paul
had been talking to these Ephesian elders He called them to come
to him. He was on his way to Jerusalem He couldn't make it
to Ephesus, but he wanted to talk to them. And this is what
he ended his statement to them, this paragraph here. For I have
not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. First thing I want to point out
is that Paul called the Ephesian elders plural. Having more than one elder in
an assembly Seemed to be normal in those days, Walter. But he was telling these people,
these elders, these overseers, I preach to you who and what
Jesus Christ has revealed unto me. I kept back nothing profitable,
nothing profitable. You know, some people say we
shouldn't preach some things to sinners. Maybe you ought not
preach election. That's usually what comes up.
I believe election, but I can't preach it. People say that. Now I know why they won't preach
it, and so do they. I'm not gonna really go into
it now, but they're gonna afraid that people are gonna get mad
at it and leave. And cut down on their numbers.
This is what some preachers worry about. But I can tell you this,
Paul preached to these Ephesians. Election. He preached unto them. He preached unto them, I was
listening to a sermon by Henry Mahan the other day. on Ezekiel,
he was preaching on Ezekiel and his very dry bones, and he made
this point. And what he said was, Ezekiel
preached to those dry bones, to those very dry bones, two
things. Well, he preached the word of
the Lord, which is what the Lord told him to preach. But here's
the word of the Lord to those very dry bones, dead dry bones. I will, and you shall. That's it. God will and you shall. We ought not preach the sovereignty
too hard. People can't take it. Sinners
won't like it. Of course they won't like it.
Jesus Christ preached it and they left him. But he preached
it nonetheless. Because those that would hear
him will listen to what he has to say. He told those dry bones, Ezekiel
did what God said. God said, I'll cause breath into
you, and you'll breathe. You'll breathe. If God puts breath
into you, you'll breathe. I'll lay sinews and flesh and
skin and put breath in you. And you know what? You shall
live. You shall live. The sovereignty
of God is not in question. except from seriously too many
pulpits. In the Bible, the sovereignty
of God is never in question. He wills, and you shall. The difference is believers love
to have it that way. You understand? I don't want
to be in charge. Not of your destiny, not of your end, or
mine. I don't even want to be in charge
of mine. Why? Because I also believe that thing
about there's none good, no not one. And that means me. There's
none that doeth good. There's none that seeketh after
God. And I still don't naturally. But by his grace, he wills, and
I shall. And that blesses your heart if
you know him. That blesses your soul if you're a sinner. Because
you understand, we're going to try and preach a God who saves. Not one that's trying to save.
Not one that's made salvation possible. Not even once, what
was the new word? Not even one that's made salvation
available. No, no. I need a God whose arm
is not short that he cannot save. I need a God who can save. And
that's what Paul declared to these Ephesians. And he says,
I didn't shun to tell you anything that God had told me. There's the counsel of God. He
will, and you shall. But then he says this. This is
what I want to talk about. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves
and to all the flock. I love how Paul wrote this, well
Paul said it, Luke wrote it down, what Paul said. Take heed, he's
talking to the elders now, take heed unto yourselves and the
flock. You understand, pastors, preachers,
are no different than the flock. We are members of this assembly. And I need to take heed for myself
and for the flock. But I've got to take heed for
myself. Take heed, what's that mean? Pay attention. Pay attention. Think about what you're doing.
Think about what you're saying. And yes, I will admit, I have
a great deal of problem with that sometimes. Too much comes
out of my mouth without enough up here. But the elders' needs are exactly
the same as the flock. The elders' needs. You know why
I say that? Because the elders are in the
flock. They are part of the flock. Now. I do want to mention this about
the word flock here. Because I got to looking at it,
and whenever you start talking about the flock of God, you start
talking about the flock. It's a reference to sheep. So
what do we think of? I am the good shepherd. John 10.16 says this, and other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
and they shall, I will, and they shall, hear my voice. And there
shall be one fold and one shepherd. Well, I was looking at this.
And the first fold in that statement, he says, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold. That's one word. But when he
gets down to the other part, there shall be one fold and one
shepherd, that word fold, there's a different word. The first word
is fold. It's a place, a gathering for
the sheep. It could be in a courtyard, a
yard. But the second word, the actual
word translated here from the Greek is the exact same word
that Paul uses here. He says, other sheep I have that
are not of this fold, them I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one, and the word is this, flock,
and one shepherd. I like that, I like that. Because
you understand, the flock moves with the shepherd. You understand? And it's the
shepherd's responsibility to keep the flock together. Now, yes, we are to be overseers. We are to be bishops. Now, it
does say overseers and not overlords. Bishops, pastors, teachers, we
are to be that. But there's only one flock. There's
one foal, and there's one flock, and there's only one good shepherd. And I'll throw this in for free.
Did you ever think about that where he says, this is the words
of Christ, he said it, I am, okay, the good shepherd. Now
did you ever think about that in relation to when he spoke
to that rich young ruler, the one who had many goods, and
the one who kept the Ten Commandments up for my youth? No, he didn't,
but anyhow. That young ruler came to Christ
and said, good master. And Christ looked at him and
he said, why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. Now, what does he say in here? I am the good shepherd. There's none good but God. There's
none good but God. Jesus Christ told us he was God.
And I'm going to tell you something, he's God's shepherd. And we are
the sheep of his pasture. We are the sheep of his fold,
and we are the sheep of his flock. And he's bringing in his sheep.
I like that. And it says here also, take heed
therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which The
Holy Ghost has made the overseers. 1 Timothy 3 and 1 said this.
This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of
a bishop, the overseer, he desireth the good work. But here's the
truth also. That's true. It is a true saying.
It's the Holy Ghost that makes overseers. We are not to take things to
ourselves. We have the guidance of this
book and the spirit of God. And we are to be overseers, again,
I'll say it, not overlords. I know people who say, I'm lord
of my house and my church. Pastors have said that. Well,
I'm not. I'm not in either place really
wanna know the truth about it. Here's the thing, I'm not to
be Lord. I've got a Lord. We have a Lord. I'm to be an overseer. Paul said it. The Holy Ghost
makes overseers. In Romans he asked the question,
how shall they preach except they be sent? The Holy Ghost
makes overspheres. But he makes them for a purpose.
To feed the church of God. That's what my statements were. That's why I picked that song
this morning. The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ our
Lord. That's the only foundation we
have. That's the only foundation we have. And when it says that
in that song, the church is one foundation, that is his body. That is the body of believers
who know Christ, who have been, had Christ revealed to them,
and they believe him. We are to take care of the church
of God. And that word to feed, This is
another word relating to sheep. The word is to tend, to tend
my sheep, to tend the church, to take care of the church of
God, the people of God, the overseer, the bishop, the elder, the pastor
teacher, is to tend to the needs of the assembly of God. Now there's another word where
it just flat out says feed, fodder, pastor. This word is more than
that. This is to tend, this is to care. Excuse me, this is to bind up
wounds, to watch over the sheep so that they don't injure themselves.
And this includes themselves also. We are our own worst enemies
most of the time. I don't normally need any help
getting into trouble. I tell people at work, and they
sort of think I'm joking, and I sort of am, but I'm not. They
asked me how I'm doing. I said, well, I'm trying to stay
out of trouble. And then I'll look at them, I'll say, that's
a lot harder than it sounds. And I mean it, because I know
to a degree how much trouble I can cause myself. But this word means to tend,
and you can't tend the flock of God without feeding it. It's
not possible, that is part of it. It is part of that word. So how is the church of God fed? Preach the word. Preach the word. Be instant in season and out
of season. What did he just say before this?
Well he says, feed the flock, feed the church of God. I have
not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. I don't know exactly how to say
this other than flat out. The bishop, the pastor, the preacher
is not The primary job of the overseer
is not to feed the world. It's not to tend to the world.
It's to tend to the church. I know a lot of people, and they
talk a lot about social justice, and I'm glad somebody is. But
you understand social justice has never saved anyone. Christ
saves. Christ alone saves. And you understand when you're
talking about the church of God, you're talking about believers.
Trust me, we've got the world all around us. This is where
we gather to hear about our Lord. This is what we are concerned
about. And when I talk to Walter on the phone, or we text back
and forth with Paul and others, I wanna talk to you about Christ.
because I can't talk to anybody else about him. Well, I can,
but it's like having the conversation with this wall. They don't get
it. They don't understand it because
they don't know him. Paul tells us in that previous
verse, declare the counsel of God, and here's the counsel of
God, Jesus Christ and him crucified. Because all the counsel of God
is a person. All the counsel of God is the
person of God. God manifests in the flesh. We don't know anything about
the Father apart from what the Son tells us. And we don't know that very well. Like I said. The primary job
of the overseer, of the bishop, of the pastor, is to feed the
church of God. Now, we will preach right now
up there. We will preach to anyone who
will listen. We will speak. Anyone here is
welcome to come here to hear us preach, but you understand
It's only food for believers. To some, we are the saver of
life unto life. To God, we are the saver of life
unto life. And to others, we're the saver
of death unto death. There are not two messages, one
for the church and one for the world. There's only one message, Jesus
Christ, Him crucified, and Jesus Christ who saves sinners. If you don't know your center,
I can't help you. But we are to preach Him, Jesus Christ,
and Him crucified, and that, this, is food for the believer. Because that's food for the Church
of Christ, the Church of God. And now we come to this part
where I got stuck a little bit. Which he, he hath purchased with his own
blood. And the he being God. God has purchased his And I looked,
and it is definitely in the past tense. Understand, God is not purchasing
his church now. He purchased it. We're talking
about redemption here, folks. I'm not talking about salvation
in time, which will come. Other sheep I have, them I must
bring. And he's bringing them. But here,
when we're talking about the purchase here, and that word
is something. God purchased his church. This is the work of God entirely. This is the work of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Understand this, man hasn't purchased
anything. The only thing man's got, he's
earned, and that's the wages of sin. which is death. And I looked at this word, when
I looked at this word purchase, and I was pretty much expecting
to see the same word that is translated redeemed or purchased
in other places. There are two main words translated
redeemed in the New Testament. One of them means redeemed, purchased. The other one means ransom. That's
another word that is translated redeemed. He's ransomed us, bought
us. The illustration is to like purchase
with money. There is another word they translate
redeemed. And actually, and I like this one, it means to go to the
market and purchase. I like that one, Walter. What's
that? Jesus Christ came here to buy
us. Jesus Christ came here to purchase the church of God. That's good. Those are great
words. But this word is only used in
two places in the New Testament, where it says, which he hath
purchased with his own blood. This word purchased here means
this. Well, the secondary meaning of
it is to buy. The primary definition of this
word purchase is to make around One's self. And man, that hit me pretty good.
I like that. The church of God. The church
of God. Which God has made around himself. Around himself. Ah, I like that. Other sheep I have, them I must
bring. And there's going to be one flock
and one shepherd. Where's that flock going to be?
It's going to be around him. He's made them around himself. He's made them around himself. Wow. Because there's a bit of
creation in this word. He takes those things which are
not and says that they are. And he takes us who all we had
was a dead sinful nature and brings us in, gives us life
and brings us in around himself.