where scripture reading turned
with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. I'm going to limit what I read. The first part of this chapter
is about Paul moving from place to place. Then he tells us in
verse 17, 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, ye know from the first day that I came into
Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. I've lived openly. You've seen
me. There's no secrets. I'm not trying
to hide anything. serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by
the lying in wait 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 in the
Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall
me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions abide in 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 men. 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 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 cease 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. I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. The book of Acts, just hold your
place there in Acts chapter 20. The book of Acts is quite different
from the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Quite a bit different
from those. And there's quite a bit of difference
between the Book of Acts and the New Testament officials. The Book of Acts is a divinely
inspired account of the acts of the apostles. That's why it
was written. That's what it does. It tells
us something of their actions. Tells us what they did, who they
were, what came to pass. It's a preserved and accurate
account of the events and circumstances which took place shortly after
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He said, you go
to Jerusalem. And do what? Don't do anything.
Don't do anything. You wait till you be endued with
power from on high. At that point, you'll know what
to do. The Acts of the Apostles is an account of the beginning
of the New Testament Church. Now, I know that the Church is
the Church. His Church existed in the Garden
of Eden. His Church is shown and declared
throughout the Scriptures. I know that. But what I'm trying
to show you the church after his death and resurrection. The
New Testament church. And the church in the Old Testament
was set forth in figure as a nation of people chosen of God. He tells us spiritually that
we're a holy nation. Now what he says over in the
book of Peter, you're a holy nation. As they were in type,
you are in spirit. You're a holy nation. It was
a nation of people chosen of God, delivered out of bondage,
preserved in the wilderness, and established in a new kingdom.
Isn't that what we are? We're the same thing. It was
just typified in the Old Testament. And their worship was also typical.
They had a tabernacle, a priesthood, animal sacrifices, ceremonial
days, weeks, and years. Testament economy, Christ has
come and fulfilled all these types. He's the bread. I'm the bread. That's what they
were. They knew about the bread. They knew about the shoe bread.
They knew about the manna that came down from heaven. They knew.
He said, I'm the bread. I'm the bread. My father sent
me. Just as he sent that bread to
you in the wilderness, he sent me to you in the wilderness.
I'm the bread. He's come and fulfilled all types.
He's the bread come down from heaven. He's the scapegoat. The
high priest would confess the sins of Israel over that one
goat and turn him loose. A strong man can carry him out
and turn him loose out in the wilderness. He's the scapegoat. He's the
sacrificial lamb. He's the year of jubilee. Year
of restoration. All things restored. He's the
city of refuge, and he's the savvy. Two things in our day
that I just don't understand. They're willing to get rid of
all the law except for two. Tithing, huh? Isn't that one of them? And the
savvy. They want to hang on to them too. Why? Christ fulfilled
those, didn't He? Isn't Christ our rest? He's our
Sabbath. We enter into eternal rest in
Him. There's no reason to keep a day anymore. We have the fulfillment of the
day. We have Christ, the one that day pointed to. In tithing, we don't have a priesthood
to support. We don't need to tithe. And I'm
going to tell you something else about tithing. Tithing is 10%. That's what it is. Everything
you have, 10%. We give ourselves. Not 10%. All of ourselves. We don't use these things in
worship, except as I'm doing right now to show you the person
and work of Christ. And the book of Acts records
the transformation of the church from natural to spiritual. That's
what it's all about. From outward to inward, from
ceremony to spiritual revelation. I'm not just looking at a priest
anymore, I'm looking at him who fulfilled his office. You see
what I'm saying? That's a revelation. I have not
seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of mankind. the
things that God hath prepared for them that love him, but God
hath revealed them unto us." Where? In Christ. In Christ. It records the transformation
of the church from natural to spiritual. It was a day, the
day, I'm talking about not one single day, but the day, the
era. It was a day of manifest grace
and mercy. Thousands, thousands converted. And God chose 12 apostles. He gave them special gifts, special
power to confirm their office and calling. Think about it.
Thousands of years they've had a priesthood, animal sacrifices,
prophets. They've had all of these things,
now all of a sudden somebody comes along and says, no, we're
not going to do that anymore. What? Who are you? I'll go down
to the Catholic Church and say, I know y'all been doing this
hundreds of years, but we ain't going to do it no more. You think
there ain't going to be trouble? Who are you? God said, I'll show
you who they are. I'm going to confirm these men.
You're going to know that these men are of me. They're going
to raise the dead, Russell. Boy, we got people today. We're
going to show evidence. Boom. You're cured from your
cold. Now, let's go out to the cemetery. Let's go out there. Let me see
you raise the dead. Here's a blind man. Give him
eyes. Here's a leper. Cleanse his lips. Oh, we don't use these things
in our worship, except like I'm doing right now in the book of
Acts, records this transformation of the church from natural to
spiritual, from the outward to the inward. And they were wondrous
days, and yet they were awful days. These were days when thousands
were saved in a single day by gospel preaching. One man stands
up there and preaches, And thousands, Russell, thousands come unto
him. All of them want to be baptized,
every one of them. But they were also days of cruel
and heavy persecution. To be baptized in that day, Paul
said, was to mark yourself out for martyrdom. Now, am I going
to get in the water? If I do, if I do, I'm drawing
a giant bull's eye on myself. Huh? Boy's a lot different now,
ain't he? There were days of cruel and
heavy persecution, stonings, beatings, incarceration, public
ridicule. You follow these men, you can
forget about having a job. They'd see to it you was fired.
They'd run you out of town. All of the apostles were martyred
except one, John, and he was exiled out to a penal colony
on Patmos. God bore witness through these
men, laying the foundation of the New Testament church, and
in the words of men, he turned the world upside down with these
few men. These few, these few, they complained,
and turned the world upside down. Boy, that'd make me sit up and
take notes. I can't turn the individual around.
These men turned the world upside down. This book is an accurate account
of the gospel age and what the scripture calls the last days. The last days. And I don't mean
by that that the gospel wasn't preached in the Old Testament.
Sure it was. He tells us that over in Hebrews chapter 4. Unto them was the gospel preached
as well as unto us, but it did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it. The gospel was preached. What I am saying is that we're
living in the last days, and these are the days in which the
revelation of God in Christ are at their clearest. There's more evidence, more fulfillment,
and greater clarity than at any other age in history. And what
a wondrous day we live in in 2025. Years have passed. We ought to be on our tiptoes
looking for Christ. Do you know that after 2,000
years, God He changed everything and went
about this, and then 2,000 years later he did it again, and now
2,025 years has passed. We ought to be on our tiptoe. He could appear at any minute.
There's nothing holding him back except the calling out of his
elect. And yet I look and I see my own
children. I'm seeing their children. live
out their days without any hope of salvation, act like nothing's
going on, act like nothing's ever been said, like nothing's
ever been fulfilled. This ain't a story I set in my
study and made up yesterday. This thing's been recorded for
thousands of years, thousands, not 1,000, thousands of years. Everything it says has come to
pass. And yet I ignore it like it doesn't
mean anything. What's wrong with this picture?
Huh? We're living in the days of grace
and mercy and so long as the sun rises and sets, so long as
there's a night and day, a winter and a summer, there's hope. Isn't there? Hope for lost sinners.
There's no other reason for him to continue. No other reason
for him to allow this world to exist. or for us to exist in
it except that God has purposed to save sinners and they are
all not saved yet. Maybe salvation will be for one
of my children. Huh? Maybe for one of yours.
We'll have hope. We'll be looking. We'll be searching.
We'll be excited. And boy, we ought to fear. We
ought to fear. We're living in the days of grace
and mercy. And it tells us that God's still
saving sinners. Oh, great God in heaven, don't
let this poor sinner lose sight of the day in which he lives.
Today is what? You could define this day by
a thousand things, but the scripture only defines it one way. Today
is the day of salvation. That's what it is. Today. Not tomorrow. It may not be tomorrow.
The promise of God, His promise to save a people and His Son,
to glorify His name and the salvation of sinners, He said, is to you. That's what Peter said, is to
you. And it's to your children. And to
all that are far off, even as many as the Lord thy God shall
call. He's going to call sinners. How's
he gonna do it? Effectually. I call Senator and
they just look around the room. Boy, not when he calls. I tell
you, when he calls, you'll shiver in your boots. You'll sit up
and take notes. Your ears will perk up. We had a a dump dog out on our
road and we took it in and had a bunch of pups. We wound up
with two of them and a mama. And she gets them to do different
things. She gives them what she calls
a cookie, one of them little dog biscuits she'll give to them.
And boy, I got a little candy dish up on my desk with them
things in it and all I got to do is barely wiggle that lid.
They're all the way around my chair, all of them, looking up
at me. Oh. They know what it means. They
know what it means. Even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. He willingly did, you know what
it means. I have four things this morning
concerning this age we live in and the ministry we're called
to. And I pray that the Lord will press these things upon
your hearts and minds so that we'll give ourselves wholly to
them, completely to them, for whatever days that you and I
have lived. Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Paul said everywhere he went,
the Holy Spirit bore witness that what was waiting on him
was suffering. Suffering. Didn't care where he went. But he said, none of these things
move me. They don't move me. They don't
prevent me from preaching. People call me a cult leader.
All sorts of ugly things. Paul said, that don't move me.
That don't move me. Neither count I my life dear
unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy." Now
listen, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus,
what is that? What is this ministry? Here it is, to testify the gospel
of the grace of God. That's what it is. Paul said,
that's what he gave me. That's why I don't count my life
dear. That's why none of these threatenings and all of this
pain and all this suffering don't mean anything to me. He'd given
me something that he don't give everybody. He gave me the ministry
of the gospel of the grace of God. That's what he's given to
this church. Yes, he has. If he hadn't, he
wouldn't have sent you a pastor. He's given us the ministry of
the gospel of the grace of God, the grace of God. Saved by grace. And the chief end of the ministry
to which we've been called is to testify this gospel, to get
it out. And there's nothing between you
and I in eternal hell except the grace and mercy of God. It's
not like we're not deserving of it. We're not deserving of
grace. But he showed us grace. Paul preached this gospel to
the saints at Ephesus, telling them that God had quickened them
from spiritual death and trespasses and sins, and that their state
of being was by nature children of wrath, even as others. But
he said, but God. That's where it's at. God, who
is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even
when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ. Quickened us together with Christ.
Made us one with Him. Raised us up as He did Him. When He ascended into heaven,
we ascended with Him. When He sat down, we sat down.
We're one with Him. That's our hope, brothers. I
ain't got any other hope. Well, I just hope I can do the
best I can. Boy, you better not hoping that. You better not hoping
that. I'm doing the best I could one
day in the kitchen. I was trying to cook something.
We were having a fellowship up here, and I was just cooking
away on it, and I was so proud of it. And I left something out,
and it flopped big time. That's the best you can do. Oh, you don't want that. You
want grace. That's what you want. I want grace. How does God save
sinners? Well, first of all, by an eternal
act of grace in election. Nobody is going to be saved apart
from election. Nobody is going to be saved whose
name is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life and in Revelation. 20 verse 15, it said, and whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire. Revelation 17, 8, he tells you
when these names were written before the foundation of the
works. Election. That's how your name got on the
book. Election. What kind of election? An election
of grace. And you better know this. God's gracious, but he said,
I'm sovereign. My grace is sovereign grace.
I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and to whom I will
I'll harden. Were it not for election, Paul
said, we'd have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. God would have
just turned us over to ourselves. We went down and had a big time.
Got all successful. become philosophers, sit around
and had discussions and decided that sexes didn't mean anything? That don't mean anything. That's
just an old ancient book there. That don't really mean that. God just turned you over to yourself.
And boy, when he does, read about it in Romans 1. He'll tell you
exactly what you'll do. You'll turn into a philosopher.
That's what you'll do. You'll sit around and you'll
say, well, that don't really mean that. That'll define your
whole life. That don't really mean that.
I don't really have to do this. I don't really have to eat this. How did God save sinners? By
eternal election. He made provision for sinners
by way of a covenant union with His Son. What's that mean? That
means by His sworn testimony and decree, He made them one
with His Son. That's what that means. He put
us in His Son. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. There's no other way to get there. No other way to get there. But
there is a way to know if you are there. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what Christ said. All
that the Father has given me. Boy, that's what I want to know.
Am I one of them? How do you know? They all come
to me, Christ said. Boy, that throws out coming to
the front, don't it? He made provision for chosen
sinners by way of a covenant union with the Son. It says in the book of Hebrews,
God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise
the unchangeableness, the immutability of his counsel confirmed it with
an oath, that by two unchangeable things in which it was impossible
for God to lie, God's promise and God's oath, he said, I'm
going to save sinners. And here's their names. I'm going to write them on your
heart, son. Yvonne Rich wrote that on your
heart. Walter Whitey wrote it on his
heart and on his shoulder. That's an election. That's an
election. You have to quicken who's dead. Oh, people say election, that's
not fair. Fair to a sinner? To a criminal? You gonna go down to the prison
because this man don't have a color TV? You gonna say, well, that's
not fair now. What? Oh. Salvation is not about being
fair. It's about receiving mercy and grace from God. That's what
it's about. If I was to go to the cemetery,
dig up Kathy and give her life and leave Nathan there, would
I be unfair? No, they're all dead. Everybody
out there is dead. Oh, that'd be mercy. That'd be
mercy. Everybody in that cemetery is
dead. You had to question who was dead. By grace, ye are saved. How? God put me in his Son. Made
provision for me. Because of our election in Christ
and our covenant union with Christ, Christ came into the world to
fulfill all the demands of that covenant. He must live for the
sinner a life that that sinner could never live. Is that too hard? You can't live
a life pleasing to God in the flesh. It's impossible. Isn't
that what the Scripture said? Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Impossible. So, he must live a life for the
sinner, a life that the sinner could never live. He must die
for the sinner, a death that the sinner could never die. Why
do people die forever? Hell's forever. Hell's everlasting
suffering. Why? because you can't satisfy
God with your death. That's why. You'll suffer forever because
your suffering can never satisfy God. This one man, one man, died
for his people and his death satisfied God. And that's what
I'm telling you. He came into this world because
of that covenant union, because of the grace of God in election,
And this man came in and lived a life for us that we could never
live and died a death for us that we could never die. And
I'm going to tell you something else. He raised you then from
the grave. Who's going to rise, raise up
themselves? I live right beside a cemetery
and they used to tell me, don't that bother you living right
next to a cemetery? No, I'm more afraid of the live
ones than I am of the dead. I'm yet to see anybody dead just
sit up. Huh? See it on TV, but you ain't
gonna see it in real life. They ain't coming back. And those
that know God don't want to come back. Oh. Raised us up together, made us
sit together with Him in heavenly places. He saved sinners by the
election of grace. He saved sinners by representation
and substitution. And God saved sinners by the
gift of faith of his own will begat he us with the word of
truth. God did. Why, David, why do you
believe the truth and the neighbors out around there don't? Why is
that? I look around at my family. There was nine in my family.
Myself, my older sister, and my dad, the only ones in the
family that I know of who believe. Why ain't there? Of his own will
begat he us with the word of truth. By an arrangement of destiny,
you might say, by an arrangement of his providence, he sends you
a preacher. How you gonna hear without a preacher? I didn't
say that, God did. How you gonna enter? Oh, I just lock myself up in
the closet, and that's where you'll die. In the closet. You're
not gonna hear from God in a closet. You're gonna hear from God, and
God says, I will. I will. He's gonna put you in,
and he ain't even gonna seek God. There's none that seeketh
after God. That's what Romans 3 says. And then he goes on and
says, You'll find God when you seek for him with all your heart.
But there's none that seeketh after God. What does that mean? That means God has to give me
a new heart or I'll never seek him. That's what that means.
It's an arrangement of destiny. It's an intervention of God.
He finds that chosen sinner that he put in Christ and he marks
out this preacher over here and he lets him preach for a little
while and then he connects him with this man, whoever he is.
They're going to cross paths, and he's got a message for that
sinner, and that sinner's got ears to hear. And he saves his
soul. He does something inside the
sinner that he can't do for himself. It's an inward work of grace,
and it makes him willing. That's what David said. My people
shall be willing in the day of my power. His power, not yours. You can't
muster it up, you can't stir it up, you can't make it happen,
but he does. He does. And I tell you this,
I know how he does it through the preaching of the gospel.
That's why I encourage men to come. I don't think, I ain't
got no special power to do anything. The power's in the gospel. It's
the power of God under salvation. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. How did
God save sinners? Well, He lets them go for a little
while, and then He shows them the difference between right
and wrong, and He leaves them to make a decision to follow
Him or not, and lets them make up their mind to either go back
out into the world or walk with God. It allows them to make up
for the wrong that they've done. with the right that they hope
to do it. No, that's not how God saves sinners. That's how
religion deceives sinners. God saves sinners by his grace
through the preaching of the gospel. How does he do it? Opens up revelations that this
world has never seen. Huh? He hath revealed them unto
us. Have you not come in here on
a certain day and just been absolutely overwhelmed with the meaning
of something? Somebody just told me this morning. I've looked
at that verse over there in James a hundred times. I didn't know
it was talking about the condemnation of men. Well, welcome to the
club. I didn't know it either. It's
a revelation. The Holy Spirit of God opens
things to us that He don't open to the world. How come they don't
believe? It's not given to them. That's
what our Lord said. It's not given to them to understand
these mysteries, but it's given to you. Given to you. Oh, it's a work of God. Alright, secondly. The second
thing I want us to see in these verses is having preached this
gospel to them, they have no excuse, no recourse, no point
on which to charge God or His servants for their continuation
in unbelief and sin. You're without excuse. Listen
to this, verse 26. Paul said, I take you to record
this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. That word men is in italics.
I'm pure from the blood of all. I told you the truth. I told
you the truth. All who heard me, all who preferred
faith, having heard me and all that heard me and walked away.
I can't imagine a more horrible curse than to hear the gospel
of God's sovereign grace and ignore it, set it aside, act
like it meant nothing. You ignore this sacrifice, Paul
said, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin for you. This
is it. This is the only sacrifice acceptable
to God. And to hear and embrace it and
go on living in worldly lust and chasing worldly dreams and
living in worldly pleasures, Paul said, let no man deceive
you with vain words. Because of these things cometh
the wrath of God on this world. Let it not be named once among
you of baptism. You're without excuse. You've
heard the gospel. And then thirdly, I see and know
by these verses that without faithful men to watch for your
souls, grievous wolves are going to come in. Paul said, when I'm
gone. He knew these people. He preached these people for
years. He knew every one of them. And he said, I'm telling you
right now, when I'm gone, Grevious wolves are gonna come in here
and they're not gonna spare the flock. They'll blow this little
gathering to smithereens. And not only that, if you can
keep the wolves out of your own cells, oh my, surely not. Surely not those we've shaken
hands with and ate with Met with, yeah, of your own selves, will
rise up false prophets, perverse men, leading away disciples after
themselves. Having listed all his sufferings
and perils, Paul adds this to the list, that which comes upon
me daily, the care of all the churches. He cared. He cared. Paul loved those he preached
to, and for the most part he was loved by them. He preached the gospel that had
no gray areas, no vacuums, it wasn't a yay or nay gospel. And
oh, how Satan can work so close to the truth, and yet miss it. You haven't learned it yet, you're
going to. He can get so close. and yet miss it altogether. Somebody
said rat poison is 99% good food. It's the 1% that kills the rat. That's the way it is in the gospel.
He says a lot of good things. That ain't enough. That ain't
enough. The gospel of the grace of God
is a gospel that delivers men out of Egypt. It doesn't save
them any. It pulls a brand from the burning
like it did lock. It doesn't preserve him from
burning by leaving him inside. Oh, it brings his elect out. Let me ask you something. Do
I need to come to your house and tell you that you're living
contrary to the grace of God? Doesn't the gospel tell you that? Doesn't Christ show you that
by example? Doesn't his saints recorded in
this book not only tell you that, but by their own lives set that
out before you? I don't need to come to your
house, I tell you these things every week and because I love
you I'm going to keep on telling you about the grace of God. It's
the gospel of the grace of God. And I fear for any congregation
that ignores the commandments of God to get along with the
world and to please their own flesh. And then lastly, when
a minister of the gospel of the grace of God is faithfully carried That man can rest commending
his here souls to God and the word of his grace. Paul said,
I've done everything I could do and now I commend you to God. Huh? I commend your souls to
God. I'm not going to be here. I'm
going to Jerusalem and probably going to die. This is going to
be the last time you see my face. It might be today. It might be
the last time you see my face. If it is, I commend your souls
to God. I did everything I know to do
to preach to you the gospel of the grace of God. Look at this here, verse 32.
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 to you an
inheritance among all them which are sanctified. And here's the
question, have I done all I can do? You think I don't ask that question
to myself a hundred times a day? Have I done all that I can do? I have if I preach the gospel
of the grace of God. I shun not to declare unto you
all the counsel of God if I preach the gospel of His sovereign grace.
Oh, I pray, Father, help this preacher to say what needs to
be said, do what needs to be done, pray for the mercy and
grace of God to effectively work among this people. I ask it for
Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you.