If you would, please turn to
Acts chapter 20, 2-0, and I want to begin reading in verse 28.
Walter, I think you mentioned this last
week, and it kind of got in my head, at least the last part
of it. Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Take heed, therefore, unto
yourselves and to all the flock, over which the holy goath hath
made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples
after them. Therefore, watch and remember
that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. And I'm going to stop right there,
because it's a good place to stop. My title is Watch and Remember.
Watch and Remember. Now this incident here. is the last meeting between Paul
and the Ephesian elders. It takes place not in Ephesus,
but in Miletus, which is Ephesus was a city of Ionia and Miletus
is another city of Ionia. So they're fairly close evidently,
but Paul called these fellows to him because he wanted to speak
with them one last time. He said, I'll probably never
see you again. And he was right. Unless they visited him in Rome.
He didn't see any of these people anymore, face to face. He did
write him a nice letter, a real nice letter. But he called to
speak to them about the present, about actually the past, the
present, and the future. And I can tell you this, believers
are the only ones that have a future worth talking about. Now in this meeting, You'll see,
if you read the whole thing, and I'm gonna go back just a
little bit, Paul told these elders three things. First, he told
them what he had done while he was there. Secondly, Paul gave
them a warning about who and what was coming. And the third
thing was he told them two very specific things to do. Paul here was acting in person
as their shepherd, as their minister, one last time. Like I said, he's
never gonna see him again in person. And here, I believe we
have what we call a textbook illustration of what it means
to be a minister and what ministers are to do and to say. Yes. Believers have some things
to do. I mean, that's, we, we try to
be very plain about that. People will call us antinomian
because we believe salvation is totally by grace without any
help from man. And we do, and we preach it. Walter's last message last week
on the election of grace was wonderful. I have anything to
do with the election. I don't have anything to do with
grace, except receive it. And the only reason I receive
it is because he gives it. And his grace, he gives to whom
he will. We are very clear on that, but
James is always clear. Also, faith without works is
dead. Now a lot of people like to throw
that up in your face and you say, amen, that's true. But if
you read James, and if you read the context, he's not talking
about you showing God your works, and he's approving of them. That's
not what he's talking about. He says, you show me your faith
without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. Okay, there's a saying. When all is said and done, more
is said than is ever done. That's the way it is with a lot
of religion. There's a lot of going about,
but there's no doing. And what they're doing is not
anything that's in this book. James wrote it, faith without
works is dead, and that's just as true with this. Works without
faith is also dead. We are saved by grace through
faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, but we
are his workmanship created unto good works and it's ordained
that we should walk in them. There's no such thing as faith
without the resulting works. I'm not talking about the religious
works of this world. but I'm talking about what he
puts in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And
number one among them is believe him. But anyhow, Paul started out
in verses 18 to 21, you can see it. He told them what he had
done. And when they were come to him,
he said unto them, ye know from the first day that I came unto
Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. Always saying, you know how I
came, you know what I did when I came and you know, I was the
same all the time. Paul was not two faced. He was
after the same manner all the time. That's very important because
there should be And there is a consistency with the people
of God and certainly there needs to be a consistency with the
ministers who are sent to minister to the people of God. And hear
what Paul says, serving the Lord. If you're not serving the Lord,
you're not the minister. with all humility of mine and
with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying
in wait of the Jews. I had problems. I had opposition,
and boy did he. We don't have opposition like
the Apostle Paul had opposition, and to be honest, I really don't
want it. I'm cool, I'm cool, you know? and how I kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and
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. You saw my manner, you heard
my words. And I preached the gospel to
you, it says for three years, it says it later on. And I preach
repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ. I served
you as a minister from the first day to the last, at all times,
in all seasons. And I told you everything profitable,
publicly and from house to house. Again, Paul's not two-faced. He didn't have a public message
and then a private message. It was the same gospel, right?
Repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. What did he
tell him? And another one Corinthians,
I've determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. This is the ministry of the apostle
Paul and it was the ministry when he was with Ephesus for
three years. He told them what he had done, established his
bona fides, if you want to, but these guys knew him. But then
in verse 28, he starts with a bit of a warning. Take heed, take
heed. Therefore unto yourselves and
to all the flock. These are some general instructions. We'll get to the specific ones
later. But he says, take heed to yourselves and to the flock. There is a difference between
the minister and the flock. There's a difference. There's
a difference of job, vocation. There's a difference of responsibilities. And he was talking to these elders
here in Ephesus. He told them, this concerns the
flock. and this concerns you. Now one
reason for sure is because the minister is part of the flock.
If you're not a sheep, you can't be a minister. The elders from Ephesus were
part of the flock. And then he says, hold the counsel
of God. That's what I put. Take heed. Hold the counsel of God. I preached
unto you all things that were profitable to you. Hold the counsel
of God. There, verse 27, right before
this, excuse me. For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed. Take heed of this
counsel. Take heed of the words of the
Lord. Take heed of the words that I
have spoke to you. Take heed of the manner in which
I was with you. and to all the flock, take it
unto yourself, but also take it unto the flock. Pay attention,
bring it to yourselves, keep it in your hearts and minds.
And I like the way he put it, he says, to yourself and to the
flock. Because yes, it does say it. The flock over which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers. That's plural also, Walter, how
about that? To feed the church of God. But
you have been made, these men have been made overseers of the
flock. But you gotta take heed to yourself
before you can take heed to somebody else. That's just the way it
works. I can't preach to you something
I don't know. I can't give a warning if I don't
know what the warning is. I can't preach a text unless
I know what that text means, at least to some extent. I'm
not going to know everything about it, but I do the best I
can with what I've been given. Yes, I'm an overseer, but yes,
I am also part of the flock. I've got to learn the same as
you people. There's no difference that way. And I have to know
what I'm talking about, at least I really should. Know what I'm talking about before
I try to present it to the flock. Now, I know many try, and I'll
tell you this just for free, you can see it on television
every Sunday morning, because I wrote this down because of
what Earl used to say about Sunday schools, that fellow told him.
On television on Sunday morning, it's Sunday school on a much
bigger level. There's a bunch of people out there that don't
know anything about God, Trying to teach a bunch of people who
don't care anything about the true and living God. They care
about their God. Or they care maybe very sincerely
about their God. But the fellows that are preaching
to them don't know anything about the true and living God. And
the ones that are listening don't want to hear about the true and
the living God. But my job here is to speak. the counsel of God
that he has revealed to me, to you, and concerning this passage,
this scripture. I have a responsibility here
to myself, but also to you, not as an overlord, but as an overseer. And there is a difference. We
are not lords over God's heritage. But I have to know what I'm talking
about before I can say it Because what I'm to do here is
told me by the Apostle Paul feed the Church of God Feed the Church
of God now. I did look this word feed is
not just give food this feed is tinned That's what the word
means to tend as a shepherd, to take
care of, to be concerned with, to help and to fellowship with.
A shepherd is supposed to spend a good bit of his time with sheep. And the shepherd is not above
the flock. There is no clergy or laity here. There's no difference between
my salvation and your salvation. There's only one salvation. Just
as there's only one gospel, there's only one faith, there's only
one baptism. Because there's only one Lord. But the word feed here means
much more than just feed, but it does include feed. And oh yeah, it is the church
of God and he did purchase it with his own blood. The blood
of Jesus Christ is said to be the blood of God. They make light of this in other
places and on television. But I'm here to tell you, without
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. What's that mean? Well, without
shedding of blood, There is no purchase. What Paul says here,
he hath purchased, and he purchased it with his own blood. You're
not purchasing anything with anybody else's blood. There'd
been all kind of bloodshed all throughout the world in the name
of religion, for whatever reason, and it's not of one single bit
of value. I've been watching them on TV,
on the news, and they're having that discussion about radical
Islamic terrorism. Now, I'm not going to get political,
because I'm going to get religious here. I ain't worried about that
part of it. They don't like it. Some of them
don't like it, because what it does is it throws some Islamic
people in a bunch with a bunch of people who really aren't all
that Islamic. They're just really violent terrorists.
That's their discretion. Well, I feel the same way about
that when I look back and I see, oh, the Christians went through
the Crusades and killed all them Muslims. Now, trust me, folks,
they still remember that history. They still teach that history.
But I'm here to tell you right now, that wasn't Christian folk.
That was Catholic. And I don't care whether you
like it or not, that's the facts. Because you look in your history
books, a lot of times whenever it says Christians did this,
Christians did that, it ain't the Christians, it was the Catholics.
And y'all can take that with a grain of salt. That's just
the way it is. But without the shedding of his
blood, there was no purchase of his church. But that's also
true. With the shedding of his blood,
his church was Purchased past tense it's done. There's no more blood if he is
gonna be shed either That redemption is complete That
redemption is done He offered once his offering to the father
and the father said sit down you're done with that There's
more to come, there's more to do, but right here, sit down
until I put your enemies under your feet. I'm gonna make your
enemies your footstool. I like that, I like that. Then Paul continues on, for I
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock. Here's the warning now. He's
telling you, take heed, pay attention to what I've said and what I've
done. But here's the specific warning.
After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. You understand, there are wolves
coming, is what Paul said. He didn't say they might come.
He didn't say maybe they'd come. He didn't say they could come.
He said they shall. And boy was he right. Sometimes
you hate it when he's right. Because grievous wolves are grievous
wolves. And the word there is burdensome wolves. Guess what? A shepherd is not to be a burden
to the sheep. These are wolves in sheep's clothing.
It says it elsewhere, but it doesn't say it here, but that's
what we're talking about. There are greedless wolves coming in
and trying to take from the sheep. The shepherd is not to be a burden. And you can take that however
you want to. These wolves will be a burden
to the sheep if the shepherds aren't on guard. The minister is to minister. What'd he say here? Serving the
Lord with all humility of mind. That's the way a shepherd's supposed
to work. You're serving the Lord by serving the flock. A minister
is to minister unto the flock. He's not to be a burden. These
don't spare the flock because they're not trying to spare the
flock. That's Paul's point. They're
burdensome wolves because they want to give you a burden. It's
a known adage, an old saying, called fleecing the sheep. And it used to be in the old
black and white movies or television shows I used to watch, they talk
about somebody trying to fleece someone. That's what they said
a con man would do to a person. He fleeced them. That's what
these men want. They want what the sheep have.
They want to be a burden. because they want somebody to
carry their burden. They don't spare the flock because they're
not trying. And the shepherd is supposed to put the flock
before himself. That's what it means to minister.
You put the welfare of the sheep before yourself as an overseer. That's the way it's supposed
to be. Our Lord Jesus Christ called himself the Good Shepherd. And what did he say? I lay down my life for the sheep. He told them, I didn't come here
to be ministered unto. Jesus Christ said that. The Lord
of glory, God manifest in the flesh, did not come here to be
ministered unto, but to minister. And that ministering of the Lord
Jesus Christ included the sacrifice of his life and the shedding
of his blood. What for the sheep, the good shepherd came here to
minister to his flock. He called them my sheep. He called
them my sheep, my sheep, hear my voice and they follow me. These grievous wolves are not
here to spare the flock." But he didn't stop there. These were
talking about some coming from without. And here it says, also
of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things
to draw away disciples after them. There are wolves here. There are wolves all around us. Peter said it John said it John
said the Spirit of Antichrist is already here Peter said There
are false prophets. There were false prophets in
the Old Testament denying the Word of the Lord Speaking against
the prophets of God and guess what? There's false prophets
now doing the very same thing And we are surrounded by them
And what does it say here that wolves do? Now this goes for
the grievous wolves from the outside and the ones that arise
from the inside. They speak perverse things. There is danger to the church
from within and without. There's danger to the sheep.
Now we do have the good shepherd over us, but we are to take heed
as overseers. And you are to take heed as sheep
against wolves who what? Speak perverse things. And we've had people come here
and we've had people go. And we've had people brought
up in here and we've had them go too. And I can tell you this,
where it all lies is in what is said from this pulpit. It's
reinforced by what y'all talk about at dinnertime and stuff
like that. And by our fellowship together.
But here's where it lies, right here at this pulpit. I'm not
saying I preached anybody out, but sometimes, see there were
people that came here who wanted to speak. And Earl didn't let them, Walter
didn't let them, and I didn't let them. Because we didn't know
them. We are very careful. and always have been and will
try always to be about who you let behind this desk. Not that
it can hurt you, but we want to make sure it helps you. And
there are some people I won't listen to. Why? Because we're afraid people
you don't know will speak perverse things. They'll preach another
gospel. They're doing it all around us.
They preach another gospel all around us. And it's not another. What is it? It's a perversion. Second Corinthians, I'm going
to say it right here in a minute. Chapter 11. I want to read just
a couple of things because I want to tell you who these wolves
are. Second Corinthians chapter 11.
and one day I'll get there. Oh, I had it marked, dopey. 2
Corinthians chapter 11 verses 13 to 15. For such are false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ and no marvel. For Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Now they can be transformed into
ministers of righteousness, but I can tell you this, it won't
be the righteousness of God and Jesus Christ that they preach.
Oh, they'll preach a righteousness. They'll preach a righteousness.
Just like a few weeks ago, Walter preached that message where he
said, guess what? Jesus Christ said, I didn't come
to call the righteous. I'm not saying there isn't a
righteousness, but it's not his righteousness. It's not Christ's
righteousness. It's not God's righteousness.
It's anybody else's, but it's not theirs. It's your
righteousness they might preach, the righteousness of man. And
sometimes they have a tendency to speak really highly of themselves. They know nothing of the righteousness
of God. And according to Paul here, they
are the ministers of Satan. And their end shall be according
to their works. That's where grievous wolves end up. They're out there. And Paul warned
them, they could be in here. Because a little leaven leavens
the whole lump. Because it can start small and it will grow
bigger. Debbie and I were talking yesterday about what all came
out of what was originally called the, or is called now the primitive
Baptist church. I think it just used to be the
Baptist church. But the Campbellites split, and you have reformed
Baptists, and you have regular Baptists, and then you have independent
fundamental Baptists, but all of this stuff all came out and
it all come out and it all split off primarily from what was said
behind the pulpit. From a perversion of the gospel. Because you look at them and
you'll see how far they have drifted from what this book actually
says. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm
not trying to be divisional. but that's just the way it is.
That's what happened. Earl used to say, I can take
you to the place and spit where Alexander Campbell left the Baptist
church. Now I can't take you there cause I haven't been there,
but I don't worry about it. I know what they preach now. I heard
him. It ain't the truth of God in
Jesus Christ. Right. Now we get to the specific warning.
Therefore watch and Remember that by the space of three years,
I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. Now here are the two specific
things he told these Ephesian elders to do. Watch and remember. To watch means to keep awake,
to pay attention while you are awake. Watch what? On this case, it's
two things. You gotta watch what, but you
also gotta watch who. He didn't say, he didn't give
them his history here just for no reason. You need to watch
the manner, and you need to watch what they say. We are to watch those that come
in, and we are to watch those that come up from within. That's
the way it is. Because they have come. They've
come before, they'll come again. And they've come up before, and
they'll come up again. And it says watch. Watch for
them and watch what they say because a little leaven does
leaven the whole lump. So it starts with little things,
it always has. And some had been with us for
years, others not so much. Paul came, he said it, in humility,
in serving the Lord. Not boasting of himself, but
boasting of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Watch for them,
watch for their manner, and watch for their words. Paul preached repentance toward
God and faith toward Jesus Christ. Paul preached Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Paul preached just like he wrote because Paul exalted Christ and
in so doing when you exalt Christ you're putting man down about
where he belongs. Wolves speak perversely and they
will exalt man. They'll exalt themselves in particular
and man in general. I still remember that sermon,
who was it, Jimmy Swagger preached when he gave his outline. And
the last, the third thing of his outline was this. Free will
is your passport to salvation. I'm gonna tell you something,
that passport ain't gonna get you anywhere. That's what I mean by perversion.
Because if it ain't God's will, it's not gonna happen. Well,
God willed if you will. No, the Bible doesn't talk that
way. The Bible doesn't say anything close to that. It says he's in
the heavens and he's done whatsoever he hath pleased. Jesus Christ
came and said, I came to do the will of the Father. Watch, therefore. Watch. And then he said, watch and remember.
These are two things. Remember what? Remember Paul's
manner? Remember what Paul said? Remember the gospel? Remember
the Lord who purchased his church with his own blood? Remember that Paul preached all
the counsel of God Not just the parts you like What did Paul write to the Ephesians
the letter he wrote Well, he wrote the election of grace from
before the foundation of the world He wrote the predestination
of the people of God in Jesus Christ he wrote the redemption
of his people whom God purchased with his own blood and And he
wrote of the mystery of his will to do his pleasure according
to, what? His purpose. Paul preached the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'm gonna tell you something, anything less is a
perversion. You understand, Paul wasn't dumbing
anything down for anybody. He did speak to all men where
they were. He didn't speak to the Jews the
way he spoke to the Gentiles. He didn't speak to the Gentiles
the way he spoke to the Jews. Because we are Gentiles. But
this is different, OK? When Paul was speaking to Gentiles
here, he was speaking to idol worshipers. If Ephesus was the
city of Diana, great is Diana of the Ephesians. They had the
great temple of Diana. That was one of the seven wonders
of the world. I've seen pictures of it where they drew what it
was supposed to look like. Massive building with these huge pillars,
and I mean there was like hundreds of these pillars And now you
get a picture of it now. There's one pillar left That's
all there is But Paul was speaking to these
people he didn't speak to him the same way, but he did speak
the same message and Nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified Remember what Paul said Remember his manner the
humility the serving of the Lord the taking care of his flock But I also want to state this
very very plainly if I can because it is watch and remember We have to realize that it is
both. You can't watch so single-mindedly that you forget to remember.
And you can't be dwelling on so much stuff remembering that
you forget to watch. He wants you to do both. I do want to mention this. This is not a license to ostracize
or to offend. I'm not trying to offend anyone.
I may have, but I'm not trying. I'm not saying we have to agree
on every single thing, because there are times when we haven't.
But watch the manner. Watch what people say. Walter
and I haven't always agreed on everything. And Earl and I didn't. But I believe that he preaches
the same Jesus Christ that I know. I know, I believe Earl preached
the same Jesus Christ that I know. This is not something to say,
well, if you believe, and we got that letter, Paul, if you
believe that anyone in an Armenian church is saved, you're lost.
It's not what we're talking about here. We are talking about watching
and remembering, but it's what we're looking for is perversion,
not a difference. This is not a license to ostracize
and to offend people. Apollos in Acts chapter 18 came
to Ephesus and he spoke with passion and he spoke as best
as he could, but he only knew at that time, the baptism of
John. So Aquila and Priscilla took
him aside and expounded the things of the Lord more clearly to him. Earl used to have a saying, do
you have an interest in these things? In these things. Walter and I didn't agree at
all when we first started talking. He was preaching in an Armenian
church. but we still talked because he had an interest in these things
and I had an interest in these things. Paul talked with some
others. All they knew was the baptism
of John and he told them of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that
John was speaking of that was coming has come. We do have to know the same Jesus. Watch and remember. And now brethren, I commend you
to God and to the work of his grace, which is able to build
you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. There's a reason we come to preach
here every week. And Walter, I believe Paul's
right here. We come to declare the counsel
of God. That's what we try. We come to
warn. I don't like being negative.
One of the reasons I don't like being negative about stuff, preaching
against stuff, is because it's really easy to get fired up about
it. But sometimes you have to. And there are warnings to be
given. There are things to watch for, people to watch for. And
we always need to remember the one who purchased us with his
own blood. That's why we come here. And that's why I'm here today.
And by God's grace, that's why I'll be here next week. Heavenly Father, we are thankful
for this time, this place, but most of all, for your word. Thank
you for what you have given us. Your gospel, your message, your
life, your blood that was shed. Everything we have been given,
by the Father has been given through you, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you, Father, for all these good and perfect gifts. In Christ's
name, we do pray.