Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. We'll continue
Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders, Lord willing
we'll finish it today. The name of the message is Watch
and Remember. Watch and Remember. Acts chapter 20. this wonderful book written about
the Acts of the Apostles after the resurrection of our blessed
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand up and read verses
28 to 32 together. Acts chapter 20, verses 28 to
32. 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. For I know this, that after my
departure, egregious 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 cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I command
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. Praise God. This will be part
of our text today. Lord, well, we'll be going all
the way to the end of the chapter. Now, from the closing verse last
week from Acts chapter 20, which was last week, was verse 28. I added it again this week. We see the words from Paul spoken
to the elders from the church at Ephesus. We read that preachers
are to feed the church of God. That's by preaching the gospel.
We, sheep food for God's sheep is the gospel being preached
and proclaimed. That's what it is. Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then look, look what he adds,
I love this, which he, being God, hath purchased with his
own blood. Beloved, we are a people purchased
by the blood of God, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
was purposed by God, planned by God, and executed by God. Isn't that wonderful? And all
that was planned and purposed in eternity. It's wonderful. Let's read verse
28 again. 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. So we see here, we're not only
to practice or to preach the gospel, we're to practice what
we preach. Take heed unto yourselves. Okay? That's why when I preach, I say
we, not you. I'm preaching to myself, too.
I remember when I used to teach in religion, it was always, you
sinners. Now it's, we sinners. There's a big difference, isn't
there? Because I'm just a sinner saved by grace like you are.
Isn't it wonderful? So the preachers to take heed
unto ourselves, too, and to all the flock, all the folks who
the Lord puts where we preach the gospel. over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood." I love that aspect right there.
These words are so wonderful, which he hath purchased. He did
it. Salvation's of the Lord. He purchased us. The salvation that we have is
all of God, all of the Lord. He purchased us. Doesn't say
we even did a little bit, does it? He purchased us. It's wonderful. It's all of grace, beloved, what
mercy and grace we've received. And notice the tenses in the
words, he hath purchased. It's past tense, isn't it? It's
not speaking of, well, he's gonna. He has purchased every one of
his sheep given to him by God the Father a number that no man
can number he hath purchased us all at the same time remember
that which was planned and purposed he's the lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world Right? Must come to time and pass. Must
come to time... Pass in time. Right? Must be executed in time. So,
he comes into this world to save his people from their sins. He
accomplishes that, and then he exits this world and goes back
up to glory. The God-man. He left as the Word
of God. He goes back as the God-man.
God in the flesh. And he's mediating for you and
I, Brother Tom, and all the saints that are still alive upon this
world. That's just amazing. See, Satan accuses us, right?
He's accusing the other brethren. And Christ just says, look at
my blood, Father. It's one of mine. They're one
of mine. She's one of mine. He's one of
mine. Oh, it's wondrous. Isn't it wondrous? It's glorious. It's glorious. So this is past tense. He's speaking,
he hath purchased with his own blood. And so let we who are alive at
this time, who are the sheep of God, let us be in awe. Let us be in awe that we were
purchased by the blood of Christ 2,000 years ago before we ever
sinned. And before we ever entered into
this world, Christ said about our sins, it is finished. Before we even committed a sin,
we were already purchased by his blood. And we were born into
this world just like everyone else, right? Dead in trespasses
and sins. And when our mamas and papas
held us in their arms, did they have any idea we were one of
the elect? Didn't even enter my parents'
mind. They didn't even think about that. When I was growing
up, and when you were growing up, did we think, oh, I'm one
of the elect? No. When we were out doing crazy
things that we shouldn't have been doing. in our 20s and 30s
and 40s, and even still, if the person I saved... Do you know
if it wasn't for the Lord's grace, I'd still be doing what I was
doing when I was 19 and 18? How do I know that? Because my
friends are still doing it. And I know the only thing that
made me differ from them is the grace of God in Christ. That's
it. We have much to be... Much to
praise our God for. But think of that. On that cruel
cross 2,000 years ago, God foreordained that wicked man would take Christ
and nail him to that cross to save us from our sins before
we ever committed one sin. So I ask you then, does the blood
of Christ cover past, present, and future sins? Well, yeah. How many of our sins
were future at Calvary Scrolls? All of them, weren't they? Isn't
God amazing? Isn't he glorious? Oh, my God,
so good. I'll tell you what. He's so good.
He's so amazing. Oh, my. 2,000 years ago, listen to this, which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of his glory. So he purchased us
with his precious blood, sends the Holy Spirit to us, which
is an earnest of our inheritance. We're gonna be in glory until
the redemption of the purchased presence. Now we're redeemed
right now, but there's gonna come a time in the sense that
we're gonna be redeemed from this body, aren't we? We're never
sin again, Brother Brian. My God, the Holy Spirit teaches
his born again blood washed children that the blood of Christ obtained
knows. Remember, having obtained eternal
salvation past tense. Christ obtained eternal redemption
for us by the shedding of his blood past tense. It's already
done. Isn't it amazing that our salvation
is a completed work, already finished, and religion will tell
you, well, you got to do this to be saved. Aren't you thankful that Christ
obtained our salvation 2,000 years ago? And then he gives
us faith to believe on him, but it's already a done work. And
I'll tell you what, Let's not be too hard on each other. Eric and I were talking this
week about something we've done in the past that hurt people.
And we still think about them, but we can rejoice, brother,
that all our sins are forgiven. They're gone. That's all bought
and paid for. Isn't that amazing? And we all
have darkness in our past, but rejoice, beloved of God, it's
all forgiven, 100%. We can walk out this door rejoicing
in Christ. Some of y'all used to tell me
sometimes, and I've been in churches like this in the past, sometimes
you'd be here and you'd hear preaching and you'd feel worse
leaving than you were when you come in. Right? But isn't it glorious
that we can leave rejoicing in Christ? That we can leave rejoicing
that all our sins are forgiven? That we're bought and paid for?
Do you know we're a purchased possession? You know, when a slave owner
would buy a slave, he'd purchase them. Christ, we're bond slaves
for Christ. He purchased us with his own
blood, which means his life, right? Because the life of the
flesh is in the blood. Do you know that if Christ had wanted
to, he never would have died? You ever think of that? You ever
think of that? It says the soul that sinneth,
it shall die, right? Well, he never sinned. But then it says in the text
that he willingly gave his life for us. He gave up the ghost. Do you see? Do you see the sacrificial
Lamb of God dying for sinners? That's amazing. That's absolutely
incredible. And this is who Paul preached.
Look to Christ. He's the only Savior of sinners
such as we. Oh, my. My. And God, in Christ, sealed our pardon with his own
precious blood, cleansing every member of his
church, everyone, from every spot and stain of sin. And we
say, praise the name of Jesus, don't we? It's true. We say, blessed Redeemer. And he fulfilled, the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfilled all the conditions of the eternal covenant of grace,
making us so acceptable in God's sight. Now let this sink in.
Making us so acceptable in God's sight that God says, I don't
remember your sin anymore. we saw on Sunday school. Now
that's worthy of praise, isn't it? That's worthy of reverence.
Let's give to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our Savior. See, He's a great Savior. He
saves us from our sins. I was talking to Marcia this
morning, and you were mentioning about people, those old-time
guys, used to preach on hell all the time. Well, hell's a
reality. Right? But hell's a consequence
of sin. It's a payment for sin. Right?
And we're all, we all deserve it. There's none of us that deserve
grace. But praise God, he gives it.
He gives us grace. And you know what the scripture
says? It says the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.
So I'm gonna preach Christ. I'm gonna preach the goodness
of Christ, that he saves sinners. Really? Yeah. Real, bona fide,
100% sinners. Right? That's us. My. And you know, whether you
were raised in church, or whether you weren't raised in church, whether you sat under the gospel
all your life, and whether you didn't sit under the gospel at
all, you're just as much a sinner as each other. and have just as much need for
a Savior. Isn't that amazing? You might
not think, oh no, I'm not that bad. Yes, you are. How do I know
that? Because I am. Right? And don't ever think that we
Christians are holier than thou. Don't ever think that about us,
please. Because we feel like the worst
of the worst. But praise God, I'm saved. I'm
washed in the blood of Christ. Isn't that glorious, beloved? And it's God's goodness that
caused us to repent. It's his grace and favor upon
us in Christ that we never even deserve or merit or could ever
work for. Oh, what a Savior is Jesus Christ.
He's the Savior of sinners. The question is, are you a sinner? God's people say, I'm a saved
sinner! Praise his mighty name. I'm saved. Oh, my. Oh. And one of the reasons that
the blood of Christ is referred to as the blood of the everlasting
covenant is God the Father has fully justified all those his
darling son suffered and bled for. He justified them all. Not one sheep shall be lost.
So Paul sets before them the preaching of the gospel, salvation
and redemption in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's
read here in verses 29 to 30. We're gonna see Paul gives a
warning to the Ephesian elders about the ungodly, self-righteous,
religionists and false teachers. Remember the unbelieving Jews
were casting teeth at them. Their own people were casting
teeth at them. They were just casting all kinds of stuff at
them. Oh my, but now here's a warning, he says false teachers are gonna
come. It's true for today too, isn't it? We got them all around
us, don't we? Got them all around us. People
tell you what you gotta do to be saved, instead of telling
you about what Christ has done. Look at this, 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
of them. Now look at this. So he's saying there's going
to be grievous wolves come in. And then he says they're going
to even be men among you are going to rise up and they're
going to speak perverse things to draw away disciples from them. My, people who say about the
preacher, well, he ain't preaching the gospel. Come with me, I know someone
who is. Oh, yeah? My. And we say, just let the gospel
go forth, don't we? And it's gone forth with glory
and honor and praise to the great King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the wolves, speaking up here in verse 29, they're not common
criminals. They're not people who are common
criminals. Somebody said, oh, it might be a common criminal.
Or a murderer or thieves or law-breaking insurrectionists like Barnabas
was. No, these wolves are much, much worse than that. Do you
know that? They're much, much worse than
a murderer or a thief or a law-breaking insurrectionist. They are deceivers who pretend
to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are... They are the ones, some of the
ones the Lord Jesus Christ warned his disciples about. With those
in Matthew chapter 7, he says this in verses 15 and 16, beware
of false prophets. Come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are raven wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. We know that apple tree over
here is an apple tree because it bears apples, doesn't it? We know the maple tree is a maple
tree. It bears them little helicopter things that fly around. Right? Yeah. They bear fruits. Don't go looking for fruit in
your own life, because all we see is our sin. Other people
see your growth, and other people will see your, you know, we may
feel like we're getting closer to the Lord, which is true, the
more we come to Him. But it says, ye shall know them
by their fruits. Do man gather grapes, or thorns, or figs of
thistles? My. thorns or thistles for the
ones who do not know Christ, and grapes and figs for the ones
who do, meaning that God the Holy Spirit will produce this
fruit in us. My. Now these false prophets,
they have no concern for the eternal soul of their hearers.
I have a concern for your soul. Whoever you are, when you come
here or listen online, I have a concern for your soul. Or as
the message goes out, I have a concern, I pray for the message.
We all do, don't we? We pray for the messages as they
go out. Lord, use them to draw on your lost sheep. Use them
to build up your sheep. We have a concern for souls here.
The eternal souls of God's sheep. And you know, there's only two
religions in this world. See, men have made all these
denominations, right? Really? We know at first they
were of one accord. They may have differences here
and there, but they were of one accord. Do you know it's man
that's made all these different denominations up? You know why? Because they go,
well, I don't think the Bible says that. I think it says this.
Or I think we should do this. And they get a bunch of men who
agree with them, and they start a denomination. Right? And look at Baptists and Presbyterians.
I love both of them. I love both of them. I do. I got some dear Presbyterian
friends, and I got some dear Baptist friends. But they can't
agree on baptism. But where should we agree upon?
The gospel. The gospel we agree on, don't
we? Praise his mighty name. Praise his mighty name. Mine. But there's only, do you
know, there's only really, you can boil down all the religions
in this world, whether they be professing Christianity, or real
Christianity, or just world religions. And you know, you can boil them
both down to grace or works. That's it. They fall into one
of two categories. Think of the obvious ones. Jehovah
Witness, the Mormons, Catholics. They fall into works. It's so
obvious, right? Seventh Day Adventist, Church
of Christ, who believe you have to be baptized to be saved. They
all fall into works. And then you have grace. You
have some Baptist churches, you have some Presbyterian churches,
you have some, you even have some churches that are, what
do they call that, non-denominational? Yeah, non-denominational, who
are preaching Christ. Right? Preaching the true gospel. Salvation through Christ alone.
They're few and far between, aren't they? As Eric and Sandy
have found out, going across this country. But they're out
there. My. And when you find one, stay
there. Because it'll be honey to your
soul if you're a believer. It's wonderful. So here's Paul. He's warning
God's preachers from Ephesus. And really, who's warning them
is the Holy Spirit of God. And notice, he warns them that
these wolves will come in steep clothing. They're going to enter
in among the brethren. Look at that fella from Moscow,
Idaho. Enter in among, become really big, and then preach works. And I'll tell you what, a pinprick
of works is no longer grace. A pinprick! you teach anything man has to
do, to stay saved until the end, or to be saved, and it's works,
period. I'm not ashamed to say it. It's
absolute works. We are saved by grace through
faith in Christ alone, by his perfect sin-atoning work alone.
That's it. That's it. It's all grace. So the Holy Spirit gives a warning
here. These wolves are going to come in, and they're going
to try to turn your eye away from faith in Christ. They're
going to use doctrine, maybe even good doctrine. And they're
going to say, well, what's that one fellow say? He says, well,
you're justified in Christ, but your final justification comes
by what you do. Well, you just twisted the heart
of the gospel. You just mutilated the heart
of the gospel. We're justified by faith through
Christ, and we're justified by Christ alone, not by anything
we do. If we could be justified by what
we did or what we will do, then Christ never would have come
to this earth. Right? But see, they use fancy words
and fancy language. They're subtle. They're so subtle. And they speak perversely. And
notice that he not only gave the warning to those wolves,
but he said of the ones that are within, which is that guy
from Idaho. He was within the movement, the
group of grace people. And then he started preaching
these lies. Remember that one guy we had? We had that one fellow
down in San Diego? One week he's preaching the clear
gospel, next week he's saying, if you don't believe in the flat
earth, you're not saved. That happened. That really happened. From within, you see? From within the group. We gotta
be on watch, don't we? We gotta be on watch. My oh my. Here's how to know if a man's
called to God to preach the gospel or to teach the gospel. It's
a very easy litmus test. People like litmus tests. Here's
a very easy one. You wanna know it? Of course you wanna know it.
Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? When a man
preaches the gospel, who gets the glory? Does Christ get it
all in his complete, finished, perfect work? Paul preached that.
He preached for the glory of God, didn't he? Was he trying to get a following?
No. Was he trying to be famous? No.
He's just preaching the word. Here we are in Alma. I stand
up here. I preach the gospel. Praise God. It goes out into
the world, does whatever the Lord wills it to do, and we are
amazed. And I'm called right here. Ain't
that wonderful? I'm called to share the rest
of my life with you guys. That's absolutely amazing, isn't
it? Ain't that amazing? I'm called to preach the gospel
to you. to proclaim Christ, the only
hope for sinners. Now, when you listen to any man
claiming to be a preacher, ask yourself, while you listen to
them, who gets the glory? It's a good way to see the difference
between a false preacher and a true preacher. A true preacher will preach Christ
for God's glory. He will present to you the finished
work of Christ. Week after week after week after
week. Do we ever get tired of it, Brother
Chris? No. Honey to our souls, isn't it,
Brother Brian? Oh, my. And think of this, too. If you
wish to know whether your religious experience is of the flesh or
of the Lord, ask yourself the same thing. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory in our lives?
God gets it all, doesn't he? We told our kids Christ is number
one. Growing up, we still tell them that. He's first. He gets
all the glory. He gets all the praise. It all
goes to Him. If you examine all your gifts and the
works and missionary efforts that you've been involved in,
ask yourself this, who gets the glory? God. He gets all the glory, doesn't
He? He gets all the honor and the
praise. You know God won't share his
glory with anyone? Nope. No one. He says in 1 Corinthians
1, 29 to 31, it says that no flesh should glory in his presence,
that according to his written, he that glorieth in him, let
him glory in the Lord. That's who we glory in. Oh my. And we have these wolves among
us. We have these wolves in sheep
clothing. Turn your TV on. See all kinds
of them on there. But you can't stomach it. You
can't stomach it. My. And these deceivers will
align themselves with local assemblies, with the true gospel of God's
sovereign grace as preached, and they may be among us for
years. They may profess that they love
Christ, but only God knows if they do, right? My. And foolishly thinking they're
more spiritual than God's ordained preachers and elders, they try
to promote their false doctrines with a desire to take away disciples
after themselves, to have people follow them rather than follow
Christ. Hmm. Now let's read verse 31. And beloved, let us in this local
assembly encourage one another to keep looking to Christ our
Lord, keep our eyes focused upon him, in every circumstance that
we find ourselves in. Let us look to Christ. Now let's
read verse 31. Therefore, watch and remember
that by space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears. So we see here in verse 31 that
Paul didn't just warn those ordained preachers for three years. No, he kept the true gospel before
his hearers, no matter who they were. And he preached the gospel night and day with tears. He
took it as a huge responsibility to proclaim Christ when he had
people in front of him, to only proclaim Christ. Lord, help me to not say, well,
I think the scripture says that. And instead say, look what the
Word says. My opinion don't matter, does
it? Neither does yours when it comes to the Word of God. Thus
saith the Lord is what matters, right? That's all part of us having
teachable spirits, beloved. So he took this charge to the
Ephesian elders seriously. He took charge of preaching the
gospel to those who heard him seriously, just like every true
preacher does. This is serious business. I'm preaching to you who have
eternal souls. And the destination of your soul
will either be heaven or hell. One or the other. My. I don't know if this is the
last time you're ever going to hear the preaching of the gospel.
You may be driving down the road and get killed. Maybe at an old
age, maybe at a really young age. We don't know. Therefore,
I preach the gospel to you that salvation is only found in Christ
and him alone. We are to continue in the faith
grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel which you've heard. And that gospel is found in Christ,
right? Listen to verse 29 to 31 in the
Berean Study Bible. It says, I know that after my
departure, savage wolves will come. Savage wolves. Come in among you and will not
spare the flock. Even from your own number, men
will rise up and distort the truth. That's what that fella
did, didn't he? He's distorting the truth, Brother
Eric. That's what anyone tells you.
If salvation's by Christ and something, even if it's a pinprick
of works, you do, they're distorting the truth. I don't care how famous
they are. I don't care how well-known they
are. I don't care if they call themselves theologians. They're
wrong. They're wrong. Even from your own number, men
will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples
after them. They want a following. Makes them feel good. They're not looking to the glory
of God. They're looking for themselves. They might say, oh yeah, I'm
going to give God all the glory. No, you're not. How do I know
that? Because the scripture says that
right there. Therefore, be alert and remember. Be alert. Watch. That's what
that word watch means. Be alert and remember. Remember
what? Remember the things we were taught.
Remember the gospel. Remember salvation's in Christ
alone plus nothing. Right? Keep rolling that around
in your head. Someone comes and says, well,
what about this? That's not the issue. Christ is the issue. Well,
what about this mode of baptism? That's not the issue. Christ
is the issue. What about the Lord's Supper? Should it be open
or fenced, or should we allow whatever age? That's not the
issue. Christ is the issue. Right? All that stuff has nothing to
do with salvation. Christ is the issue. Ain't that wonderful? My, don't
be tossed to and fro, carried away with every wind of doctrine
by the slight of man in cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
wait to deceive. Ephesians 4.14. That's those fellas here he's talking
about. My, oh, my. Now, let's read verse
32. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God, commend you to God, into the word of his grace, which
is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all
them which are sanctified. See the word commend, it means
to commit the keeping of. Paul's saying, I'm gonna commit
the keeping of you to God. And that's even what we do with
our loved ones, right? Who don't know Christ. Lord,
they're in your hands. Whatever you will. Saved or lost,
we commit them to the Lord, don't we? Yeah? And think of this, too. He's committing them to the only
one who can keep them. He's committing them to the wondrous,
merciful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. My. Committing them to the King. Now, It also means to trust for
protection. He's committing their protection
to God. Because they're his. God owns us. You say, well, I
don't like to be owned. I sure do. You have a problem with that,
Brother Eric, that he owns us? No, I don't have no problem with
that at all. Oh, he made us, and then he bought
us. We who are the redeemed. Isn't
that wonderful? We're his by creation anyways,
aren't we? And we're his by purchase of his precious, precious blood,
because God shed his blood to redeem his people. Peter made this plain about this
keeping, I commend you to God, and we see Paul address that
in the word of his grace, not just a written word, as the self-righteous
Jews had written, had the written word, and they didn't understand
it, but it says there, it says, and now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build
you up. Now, that's speaking of the written
word. The Jews had the written word, but it didn't profit them,
did it? It profits God's people. It builds us up in grace. Isn't
that amazing? And this grace is referring to
the gospel of God's grace. See how important it is to preach
Christ? See how important it is to keep the gospel in front
of our hearers? It's vital. If you say, well, you preach
too much Christ. Thank you very much. I really believe I can't preach
too much Christ. And if someone says that you
can, I want to talk to them. Because don't even the doctrines
we believe center around Christ? Don't even the church we believe
center around Christ? Don't even the tenets of faith
center around Christ? You know, you read the confessions,
they're centered around the scriptures. They point you to the scriptures,
which the scriptures are centered around Christ. Isn't it wonderful? It's amazing. Peter made this plain. He said,
the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. First Peter chapter
one, verse 25. My. So the word of God's grace is
the preaching of the gospel, is what God the Holy Spirit uses
to build up and to edify his people, to enable us to grow
in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And never forget, Jesus Christ
is the solid rock and our sure foundation, just as the songwriter
put it, right? He said, he said, my hope is
built on nothing less than Jesus. Blood and righteousness, I dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Mine. Our Lord Jesus is the one
who is building His church right now. You know that? Ain't that
wonderful? He hasn't stopped building. People
come and people go from the local assembly, but Christ keeps working,
he keeps moving, he keeps doing his, he's still saving people,
he's still drawing people. Do you know Jeremiah preached
and never saw one convert? Jeremiah the prophet. How much
have we profited from his words given to him by the Holy Spirit
of God? Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. Oh. Church is his blood-bought
church. He can save every one of his
sheep. And we're called out of darkness and united to Christ
by true saving faith under the preach of the gospel. Then we're
built up and edified by hearing the gospel preached and proclaimed
to us each week. The setting forth of Christ before
us. Oh. And we're sanctified by Christ. We're sanctified by Christ. It's
amazing. By God's perfect son, by his
redeeming grace, his perfect redeeming grace. We're sanctified
by God the Holy Spirit, by his life-given sanctifying grace
too, aren't we? Isn't that wonderful? It's amazing. Now let's read verses 33 and
34 of Acts chapter 20. I have 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. Well, we see in our text here
that God's preachers aren't beggars. We're not beggars. Nope. And it's God-given responsibility
of the local assembly to care for the preacher, right? You
guys do it amazingly. Amazing. You take that seriously. But God's ordained preachers
are sent to preach the gospel. And we are not to be covetous.
We are not to be covetous, beloved. We have a set Our affection on
things above. Not on this world. Things in
this world are nothing. They're just temporary. Everything
we look at, everything we have is just temporary. Even ourselves. One day we're going to leave
this tent, right? Our soul one day is going to leave this tent.
And this tent is going to go in the ground and our soul is
going to go to glory. Because that's all this is, like
a tent. for our souls. Scripture talks
about that. The true preacher of God is more
concerned for the glory of God and those who were redeemed by
his blood than we are of the things of the world. They don't
have the same appeal they used to. They don't. Before the Lord saved me, I was
one of those guys who wanted to do everything my brothers
got, I wanted to get it too. They got into collecting wildlife
prints, limited edition. I got into collecting wildlife
prints. So I'd say, hey, look at the one I got. You don't got
one like that. Just pride and arrogance. Just pride and arrogance,
my Lord. It was awful. Now, we preachers are no different
than anyone else. Our physical needs and the physical
needs of our families need to be met. We need food and clothing
and shelter. And just like Paul, we don't
covet other man's silver. If the Lord's given you a large
amount, that's fine. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. We don't covet other people's
money, other people's things. No, we trust our Lord Jesus Christ,
just like you are, to meet our needs. To meet our needs. Isn't that wonderful? To meet
the needs of this church, too. Right? And we're not afraid of
work, either. And I thank God that I'm able
to study. It's wonderful. All week. It's
a high privilege. But before I came here, I worked
full time. When we were out in Oregon, Vicki and I had a cleaning
business, and we went out after her schooling was done, and we
went out and we worked till sometimes 11 or 12 at night sometimes. Cleaning people's offices and
doing construction and did what we had to do, and then I'd preach
on Sundays, and then I'd go down to the gospel message and preach
down there. So God's preachers, we're not
afraid of work. No. Not at all. And we see that with
Paul, right? He's a tent maker. He's a tent
maker. My, oh my. So let we who are
the people of God always remember that our Lord Jesus Christ rules
and overrules every situation, right? Every situation we find
ourselves in. He's our divine protector. He
takes care of his sheep despite ourselves. I can get myself in
a heap of trouble, can you? He still takes care of us, doesn't
he? Isn't that wonderful? So that we who are the people
of God remember that he's ever watching over us. And here's
some good advice from Henry Mahan. Do not meddle in the private
lives and domestic affairs of others. That's a wise man, right? Now, I can bear your burden.
You come to me, you talk to me, and you guys have known that
it won't go nowhere. Vicki doesn't even know about
what you all tell me. I learned that from Norm. I learned that from Norm. And it's not my business to meddle
in other people's business, unless it affects the church, unless it affects the body. But
your private lives are your private lives, right? Now, do I pray for you all the
time? Uh-huh. Yeah, all the time. Each one of you. And I thank
God that you pray for me. Because I need it. My. And the reason we pray for
each other is because we love each other. We care for one another. Right? My. Instead of laying to heart, many
make it their business to meddle in private lives and domestic
affairs of others. In doing so, they promote anger,
strife, and cause division. That not being a peacemaker,
that's not being a peacemaker, is it? That's being a troublemaker.
How many times, and I know we've all experienced this from our
parents, okay? But how many times have we caught
ourselves with our kids giving unsolicited advice? I have to stop myself with my
son. He'll be telling me something, I say, well, son, I, oh, step
back. He's got to learn. He's got to
learn his way like I learned my way. Now I can say, Tom, I
can say to him, you know, there's trouble if you keep going that
way. But he's going to do it whether
I warn him or not, right? Or he might not. He might heed
it and go, okay, you know, dad was right. I don't, he's right. I've seen what he went through.
I don't want to go through that too. or he's told me what he went
through. I don't want to go through that too. You know, our parents
are a lot more wise than we think they are. I'm 61 now, and I realize
now my parents were some of the wisest people in the world, and
they weren't even saved. They were wise. Oh my. Tom, your
dad and your mom are really wise. Tom's told me some things his
dad told him. Man. And we're amazed, aren't we?
We take their word with high regard. My, look what the Holy Spirit's
setting before us. Let's take this word with high
regard. This is the King of kings speaking to us and the Lord of
lords. My, oh my. I was telling Vicki,
after my Hosea study on Wednesday night, I plan on going through
what people call children's stories. The Ark, David and Goliath, and
preaching them from a perspective of, this is scripture for us,
even as adults. David and Goliath, that's Christ
defeating the enemy. People say, well, does that mean
that in my life I'm going to slay Goliath in my life? It has
absolutely nothing to do with that. But see, religion loves
that. They say, oh, look at that. No, it has to do with Christ,
the overcomer. See, we're going to look at these
things all in light of Christ, beloved. And I think we're going
to be really blessed by it. Now let's read verse 35. I have
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's more blessed to give than to receive. Now, the
proud self-righteous Pharisees would kick those who were down.
I've seen that in religion. You ever seen that in religion?
Someone's down, they just start kicking them. We don't do that. We come to our brother's side
or our sister's side. Don't kick a brother or sister
when they're down. You know why? We could end up in the same situation.
But by the grace of God. My. My oh my. Our God is so great. He's so
wonderful. Now let's read verses 36 and
38. to 38. And 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, soaring most of all for
the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto
the ship. How would we be with people if we knew it was the
last time we were ever going to see them? Let us let those around us, our
friends, our family, our fellow brothers and sisters, let us
let them know how much we love them. Because we don't know if it's
going to be the last time we're ever going to see them again.
We have no idea. Last time I went and saw Newell,
oh, Newell was so dear to me. I went and saw him. I did not
know it was the last time I was ever going to speak to him. I did tell him I loved him, and
I loved Newell. Newell was a man's man. He's
like, I love you too, brother. He wasn't afraid to say that.
He wasn't afraid to let you know that he loved you. Isn't that
wonderful? My. We see Paul, like all of
us, was a man of prayer. Before leaving his brother and
his fellow laborers in the ministry, he prayed with them. But they
were most sad that they wouldn't see Him in the flesh anymore.
Now they had a hope they'd see Him in glory. This is why we weep when our
loved ones who know the Lord are taken away from us. Or loved ones even who don't
know the Lord. At least the ones who've been saved by Christ our
King, we're gonna see them again. We're going to see them by the
grace of God once again. And also note here that Luke
wasn't moved by the Holy Spirit of God to record Paul's prayer.
I like what, I think it was Robert Hawker or John Gill said about
this. He said the reason the prayer wasn't recorded was because
religious people would take it and then start repeating it.
And the Lord tells us not to pray in repetition, but he said
they would have taken that prayer and they would have idolized
it. It's true, isn't it? So the Holy Spirit doesn't have
it recorded, anything that he said. We know he prayed to God.
We know he probably prayed for protection for them, because
he said, I commend you to God. But we do not have recorded his
prayer. And then we see when Paul had
finished, look at this. Paul had finished praying, those
ordained preachers of the gospel fell on Paul's neck and kissed
him, soaring most of all for the words which he spake, that
they would see his face no more. Paul loved these men. These men would continue ministering
to the saints at Ephesus, and we say they loved him very dearly
too. Three years he'd been with them. I've been here 10 coming up,
or 11 coming up, 10 coming up, and my heart's knit to you guys.
Three years, man, it doesn't take long to have our hearts
knit together, does it? It's getting better and better,
isn't it? Isn't the Lord good? My. And you know what? This is just how Christian love
works, beloved. This is how the love of God that's
spread abroad in our hearts works. We express genuine sorrow when
a brother or sister leaves us. Sometimes, whether it be for
a few days or weeks, months or forever, we miss them. Sister D, I know
you love going to Florida, but we miss you when you're down
there. We miss you. We love you. We
miss you. But that's, it's wonderful for you to be able to go down
there. Right? Eric and Sandy, they go off to
wherever, going to Oregon. We're going to miss you guys,
because we love you. This is how it is, isn't it?
That's how Christian love works, isn't it? It really is. And think of this, if we knew
we'd never see their faces again in this life, I wonder how we
would react. And I personally believe that
our reaction, if we knew we were never going to see them again,
would be similar to Paul's. Just expressing his love for
them. So let us take this opportunity to plant a seed with a loved
one in the church, when they leave the fellowship for a little
while, whether because of health reasons or vacation. Let us express our love and concern
for them. We may never see them again.
Now, we rejoice when we see them again. Sister D, when you walk
in, you get hugs from all of us. And Brother Eric, you're
the same way. You and Sandy, we're, man, come
here, give me a hug. Right? We love seeing each other
again. And we see here, after their
expression of love, in heart-wrenching farewells. Now, this was heart-wrenching
farewells. These men, Paul had called from
Ephesus. Remember, he said, come and see
me. I've got to talk to you. And they accompanied him right
to the ship. And I imagine, I imagine they probably stood there and
watched till that ship faded off. I would think some of them
did. Maybe not all of them, but I
think some of them did. Some of them did. Waited till they
left and watched them off they go. Off Paul goes, tears streaming
down their face. Tears of joy, tears of sorrow. My, once again, this is how Christian
love works, beloved. This is how it works. We praise
God for our brothers and sisters in Christ, who we have the honor
and the privilege of knowing during our pilgrimage on this
earth. The only reason we know each
other, the only reason we have our hearts knit together in love,
is all because God ordained it. Isn't he wonderful? Praise his
mighty name. Amen and amen. Brother Eric, will you close
us in prayer?