These are the Ephesian elders
that he's addressing. And in verse 18, he said, And
when they were come to him, he said unto them, You know from
the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I've
been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility
of mind and with many tears and temptations, which befell me
by the lying 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 bound 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 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 the 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 give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I've coveted no man's silver
or gold or a pair. Yet you yourselves know that
these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that
were with me. I 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 is more blessed
to give than to receive. 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, sorrowing most of all for
the words which he spake that they should see his face no more.
And they accompanied him to the ship. I invite you to turn again with
me to Acts chapter 20. Acts 20 is Paul's farewell message to
the Ephesian elders. And as far as he could tell,
he would not see them again in the flesh. He said, I go to Jerusalem
and I don't know what shall befall me there. But he had a good idea. He had a good idea. Life is full of first and last. Paul had a first message that
he brought to the Ephesian church. I love chapter one in his letter
to the Ephesians. I don't know of another chapter
in the Bible states election and the full redemption of Christ,
the full purpose of God, any clearer than Ephesians chapter
1. And he had a first message that
he preached in Ephesus and this one he felt like would be his
last. Life's full of these things.
We were rearranging my study at the house And I ran across
some sermon notes that had a note written on top, first message
as pastor at Walker Creek. And it was 1 Corinthians chapter
3 verses 5 through 13, the day shall declare it. That's what
I was thinking about when I had thoughts of being a pastor and
then being called as a pastor. Somebody said, well, how do you
know that you're a pastor? Because it came to pass. The
day declared it, didn't it? And so it is here with our professions
of faith, the day will declare it. God's going to prove His
work in man. He's going to prove it. This
is my work. Now I'm going to show the world that this is my
work and not yours. And He'll prove it. How's He
going to do it? He's going to pass you through the fire. And
the day is going to declare it. That was my first message as
your pastor and one day there will be a last message. It may
be today. It may be today. And I thought about you and I
thought about those who come here. I need to preach to you
every time. as though it were the last message
I'd ever preach. I need to pray about it, think
about it. I need to preach every message
as though it were my last. Because one day it will be. It
will be. And I'm going to tell you something
else. You need to listen as though it's my last message. It could
be the last message you ever get from God. I preached to Brother Scott Richardson. Far as I know, that was the last
message he ever heard. And those of you who know him,
he told me how much he preached. He said, I really liked that
message. And I said, well, thank you,
Brother Scott. And there were some other folks coming up the
aisle. and I went to let go of his hand to shake their hand,
and he pulled me, like only Scott would do, he pulled me in close.
He said, no, he said, I mean, I really enjoyed that message. As far as I know, it's the best
message he ever heard. Paul preached to the gainsaying
Jews at Antioch. who judge themselves according
to Paul's own word, they judge themselves unworthy of everlasting
life by casting away the message of Christ, even though they were
warned from the Scriptures ahead of time. I have a nephew that died a few
days ago. I've been listening at the comments
they're sending to me by email and on Facebook and so on. Things
like he's gone to be with the Lord and he's with mom and dad
in heaven. All his pain and suffering is
over. Typical, I hear it every funeral
I go to, I hear the same thing. This boy never donned the door
of any kind of a church, let alone one that told the truth.
Neither did his mom and dad. But now he died and everything's...
He gone to be with the Lord. Mom and Dad's up in heaven waiting
on him. You know, I hear these things
and I wonder, has anybody ever opened this book and read it?
You can't read this book and talk that way. You can't do it. This book doesn't have everybody
in heaven, everybody that dies. And yet everybody that dies automatically. I mean, I'm sure it was a funeral
home. They wrote up, you know, a little
thing to put in the paper and put on the internet. They wrote
up this little thing and they said he's gone to be with the
Lord. I listen to people say and I
wonder if they've ever opened a Bible and read it. And to my
knowledge, None of them. None of them had any interest
in God. And Paul said to the Jews at Antioch, before he preached
to them, he said, Beware, therefore, lest there come upon you that
come upon you which was spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye
despisers and wander and perish, for I work a work in your day,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man tell
it to you. You're not going to believe it.
I'm going to send a man, I'm going to gift him with the Holy
Ghost, I'm going to give him a sharp understanding of my word,
and he's going to tell you clearly, and you're just going to sit
there like nothing was ever said. He said, you better beware, because
it happens all the time. And it happened to them that
very day. What will you take home with
you today? What will you glean from what's
being said this morning? What will you take home with
you today? What will you take with you to the grave? You're
going to die. It's just a matter of time. What
are you going to take with you? How are you going to face that? What kind of hope do you have? What's your hope, your consolation,
your assurance? What pillow in that day will
you lay your head on? What's your hope? Do you have
a hope before God? Paul tells these people in verse
26, he said, I take you to record this day, not some day in years
gone by, this day, this day, I take you to record this day.
I'm pure from the blood of all men. I have not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God. Today, he said, if you hear his
voice, harden not your hearts. Exhort one another what's called
today, lest any of you should be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. And what am I saying? If this
were my last message from me to you, what would I talk about? What would I say? If I knew for
sure, Winston, this is it. What would I talk about? Well,
Paul said this, verse 24 in our text there in Acts chapter 20. He said he testified the gospel
of the grace of God. And then he finished his course,
and listen to this, he commended them to God and the word of His
grace. He said, that's what I testified
to you, that's what I preached to you. And now I'm going to
commend you to God and to the word that I preached to you.
I'm going to commend you to God. There's nothing more important
than what we're doing here today. Nothing. And there's three things
that I see in these verses for us to glean and lay by to feed
our hungry souls if we have an interest at all in Christ. I see here the word of his grace. Paul emphasizes this over and
over and over and over, the word of his grace. And then I see
the aim of the word, what was intended. What was Paul's intention
when he stood before men and preached this word? Did he preach
to see a reaction? Did he preach to see how many
people get upset and stomp at? What was his intention? He said
the Holy Ghost testifies everywhere I go of nothing but suffering,
suffering, suffering, suffering. Persecution after persecution.
Why? Why did He do that? What was
His aim? What was His goal? I want us to see that. And then
I want you to see the confidence. There's some confidence in what
He did. So let's look first of all at the Word of His Grace.
What is the Word of His Grace? What in the world is He talking
about? Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. The word of His grace is an explanation
of it. It's the definition of it. It's the declaration of it, and
it's the application of it. Paul calls it in verse 24 of
our text, the gospel of the grace of God. And then here in 1 Peter
chapter 1, he defines it as the seed of regeneration. Look here
in 1 Peter 1 verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, whatever it
is, that's being preached to God's elect serves as a seed
of regeneration. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth for ever. For all flesh is grass, All the
glory of man is the flower of the grass. He's like a dandelion. He comes forth and blooms in
his season and brightens the yard with pretty yellow flowers
and next thing you know there's nothing but white seeds and the
wind blows them away. Now he said that's the glory
of man. He comes forth and shines in his season, flowers in his
season, and then he blows away. But, verse 25, look at this.
But the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. This word of his grace,
this preaching of Christ, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That's the only way God's grace
could come to fallen man was through his son, a substitute
I represent you. This is the gospel of the grace
of God, and it's the very seed of regeneration. Nobody's going
to be born apart from this. It's not going to happen. The Word was made flesh, John
said, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory
is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And grace is a broad term. It
encompasses the whole work of salvation. Every part of salvation
is encompassed by the grace of God. Our election is called an
election of grace. And there in Romans 11 where
he states that, there's a remnant even now, according to the election
of grace. He divides it. He said, and if
by grace, then is it no more works. Otherwise, grace is no
more grace. But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Works and grace will not mix. It's like water and oil. You
can stir them all you want to. As soon as you quit stirring,
you can see it. It don't mix. Don't miss. And grace, he said, is the way
of salvation. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that faith, not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. When Paul writes to the Galatian
church about Jewish legalists trying to persuade them to be
circumcised. Oh, we believe you're saved by
grace, but you still have to be circumcised. You still have
to pay tithes. You still have to do this. You
still have to keep a day. We're going to get you under
the law. We might not get all of you under
the law, but we're going to get something. Because what are you
going to do? That's what a guy told me. He
said, don't get me wrong. He said, the gospel is very important. Really? The gospel is everything. It ain't just very important.
It's all. It's everything. And we're talking
about the Son of God. But he said we need a little
law. Do you need a little law to stay in line? You couldn't
walk in line if he built a fence on both sides of you. We're saved
by grace. By grace. And when Paul wrote
to the Galatian church about these Jewish legalists trying
to persuade them to be circumcised and so on, he tells them in Galatian
2.21, he said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness
come by the law, Christ died in vain. Now you think about
that. If man could be reformed, Through
the law, if he could be made godly through the law, why would
Christ die? And I don't know if you know
this, but the crowning work of Christ's obedience is his death
on the cross. He become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. That's our righteousness. And if a man can be saved by
his own obedience, then the crowning work of Christ's obedience is
nothing more than a vain show. And I'll tell you this, man has
to be shut up to the grace of God. I don't know any other way
to put it. He's going to shut you, he's
going to whittle away everything. You know, it's like that old
That old guy went into that station up in the mountains of West Virginia,
and they had one of these old visible tanks, you know, and
they'd fill up full of fuel so you could see how much you're
getting. And then when it filled up, he left that guy filling
the tank, went inside, and there's this man, he wanted to get something
from there, and he looked up there, and here's a hand-carved
hound dog, one of these old jade-clamping hound dogs, and that thing was
sitting there in them big ears hanging down. Man, he said, that's
the most real-looking thing I ever seen. Can you tell me who carved
this?" Well, when he come in, there's an old fellow sitting
out there with overalls on, an old shirt, and he had a piece
of firewood, and he's out there whittling. He said, yeah, old
Jed whittled it out there. He said, he made this? He said,
yeah. So he went out there, and he
said, Jed, my name's such and such. He said, you carved this
out of a piece of that firewood? He said, I sure did. He said,
how on earth did you come up with this out of that? He said,
well, I just cut off everything that wasn't a hound dog. That's what Christ's going to
do. He's going to cut off everything that's not like Christ. And he's
going to shut you up to the grace of God. You don't have anything in you
like Christ. Nothing. Nothing. And when he convinces you of
that, He'll shut you up to the grace of God. He'll shut you
up to Christ. Christ will be your only hope. Your only hope. Man has to be brought, one preacher
said, to the end of himself. That's what it is, the end of
yourself. Sin was revived and I died. That's what Paul said. He come
to the end of himself. See, no hope, no value, no potential. He says in Romans 3, What thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. And he said, Therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Jesus Christ came to save
sinners. Sinner is a man who cannot save
himself. That's a sinner. Think not that
I've come to call the righteous. I've not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Sin renders men and women helpless,
not physically and not even mentally. I look at the things that man
has invented and man has done and they're spectacular. And
I praise God for such a creation in a being that he could sit
down and contemplate how to build something and put a man in it
and take him up to the moon and bring him back. I find that amazing. And many of the other inventions,
it's not mentally, it's not physically, it's spiritually. Spiritually, man's spiritually
dead. It's sinners who cannot save
themselves, like the lepers, the blind, the deaf, the paralyzed. Their infirmities rendered them
helpless, and sin renders men and women helpless spiritually. When Christ came into this world,
he came as a substitute. for sinners. Let's say you died
for your own sins. Would your death satisfy God?
No way. How do I know that? Because hell
is forever. That's why. You'll never find
even a hint in the Word of God where anybody sentenced to hell
ever satisfied God. Their suffering is forever. Forever. And he don't just leave
it at that. He said forever and ever. Christ is another chosen to die
in our stead. He came as a representative man,
not only as a substitute. His death alone could satisfy
God. My death is not going to satisfy
anything. And then he came as a representative
man. As Adam was the federal head
of all mankind and caused our fall as well as his, so Christ
is the federal head of all his elect. By the offense of one,
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the
righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men under
justification of life. Justification is a gift. He doesn't look at you and say,
well, he's trying. I'm going to go ahead and justify
him, but I'm putting him on parole. He better not mess up. No, I
ain't. No, you justified. Christ was
delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification. 2,000 years before I was born. It says, as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. as by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. The word of grace is about the
salvation of sinners through the person and work of Christ,
which is altogether the gift of God's grace. Salvation is
in a person. It's in a person. I don't care,
we've got so much religious luggage, we're not even aware that we're
carrying it. And we're still carrying it around with us, and
every time we read something in the Word of God, it just seems
absolutely unreal. Doesn't it seem unreal to you
that you could be justified before you ever did anything? Before
you was ever born? Salvation's in a person. Everything
that's required of the sinner is provided in Christ. Everything. He entered in once, it said,
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. It's not something he's trying
to do. It's a done deal. It's a done
deal. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe it. There's nothing required from
the sinner that's not been provided in the Savior. You know, I think
about Christ Our Righteousness, and I'm not an art critic or
somebody who knows a whole lot about art. I don't. I was in
Washington, D.C. visiting with my son, and he
took me down in the center there where all these buildings are,
and you can see the plants, and you can, you know, and all these
things, and I went into this art gallery down there. And there's
art everywhere, you know, but I went into this one room, And
the title over the door was Dutch Masters. Don said, I thought
that was a cigar. Well, that's what I thought it
was until I went in that room. But these Dutch Masters were
famous painters, and they had paintings that, oh, they were
bigger than this cutout here. They would be longer than that.
And then they'd have a little bench over there about five or
six feet away, and you could sit on that and look at that
painting. Man, those paintings were so dimensional and so perfect. They were just unbelievable to
sit. Now I understand why people want
to sit and just gaze at a painting. It was amazing. And over there
by the door, this big old guy was standing like this with his
arms crossed, and he just kind of rocking back and forth. My
wife said, what's he doing? I said, when you reach in your
purse and get them watercolors and go up there to touch up that
painting, I said, you ain't going to make it from the bench to
the wall. He's going to take you down. But isn't that exactly
what we want to do with our righteousness, our self-righteousness? We want
to touch it up. Christ is the end. He's the goal. The law is just a shadow. Christ is the body. He's what's
making the shadow. And He came and fulfilled it
and manifested it and we saw it. And now we won't touch it
up. No, don't touch it up. Just receive
it. Just receive it because it's
perfect. Christ has exalted the law and made it honorable. Huh? And now you're going to
make it honorable through your... No. Just leave it like it is. Just look at it, marvel in it,
praise God for it. He's the head of the body. Alright,
here's the second thing I want us to see. The aim of it all. Why do we meet? Why do we preach? Because this is how God chose
to save sinners. Now I know what people say. I've
read the books and to be honest with you, you can burn most of
them. It's not what you think. It's
not what you draw a conclusion to. It's what He says. What He
says in His Word. And He says that it pleased Him,
it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Well, are we going to do what
pleases us or do what pleases God? Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. That's what the scripture says. Paul says in Acts 20, 20,
I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but I have
showed you, 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. Now there's thousands of ways
to perish. Thousands of ways and means to
die in your sins. But there's only one way to be
safe. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing
by the word of God. Now I say I come. Well, I don't
want to do it that way. Then you can't be safe. You can't be safe. This is how
it pleased God to save sinners. All that the Father has given
me, Christ said, is going to come to me. Why are they going
to come to me? Well, he tells you if you read
on down there in John, that's up there in verse 37. Read on
down, he'll say, they shall all be taught of God. One of them. How are they going to do that?
The way it pleased God to do it. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1. Paul said he was made a minister
according to the stewardship given to him of God to fulfill
the Word of God. That's what the Word of God taught.
And he fulfilled it in his ministry. Verse 26. God called him to preach
these things. Even the mystery, which has been
hid from ages and generations, but now is made manifest by his
saints, verse 27, to whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. What's your hope? Christ. Christ. Where? Out there? Right here. Christ in you. In you. That's my hope. I don't have
any other hope. Well, you gotta do this and you
gotta do that. I don't know. But I can tell
you this, you're not gonna have hope apart from Christ. Christ
is all. He's all. Christ in you. His person. His appointments.
His work. His atonement. His righteousness.
Christ alone. His blood alone. His righteousness alone. His
Lordship. One Lord. His rule. And salvation is resting in Christ
alone. You're going to go out and meet
God with one hope. Christ. If Christ is not my hope,
I'm a goner. Can you do that? That's harder. It ain't harder, it's impossible
apart from the Holy Spirit of God. To have no other hope. If I don't walk a step, do a
deed, say a word, Christ is all. Can I cling to that and go out
and meet God? Jesus Christ, who by the oath
of God was made a high priest after the order of Melchizedek,
he had no beginning, no end, and because he continueth ever,
he has an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able to save
to the uttermost all those who come unto God by him. He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. And knowing him were led to repentance
toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. A turning
to God. You turn to God from your idols. That's how Paul said he knew
the election of the Thessalonians. They turned to God. a moving of the heart, soul,
mind, and body, arrested in our ungodly course of life and turned
to God. We turn away from what we are.
We turn away from what this world is and we turn to Him. Let God
be true in every man and woman. In the Song of Solomon, chapter
5, verse 16, he says this, She's testifying, testifying
of her love, testifying of her Redeemer, her husband. And this
is what he tells them, he's altogether lovely. What is it that men despise in
Jesus Christ? There's nothing in him to despise.
He's altogether lovely. He loved a worm like me. You know anybody can love like
that? Think about it. He's altogether
lovely. And as soon as you realize that,
boy, you lay hold on him. What am I doing? Why am I? He's
altogether lovely. He's the brightness of the Father's
glory and express image of his person. And God cannot more fully
express His love and mercy and grace than He has in Christ. Give me an evidence. He did! Nor can you honor Him more than
to believe on His Son. But be warned, there is nothing
more abominable to God than to ignore, reject, or set apart
His Son. Don't do it. And then lastly,
I want you to see where the preacher has to stop. In verse 31 of our
text, Paul reminds them that over a three-year period, he
ceased not to warn everybody night and day with tears. And
now, brethren, he said, verse 32, I commend you to God and
to the word of His grace. which is able to build you up,
give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
When the gospel has been preached, when the scriptures have been
opened and applied, and when the word of His grace has been
set before your hearers, we commend our congregations, we commend
our hearers to God. We leave them where we know they
already are in His hands. To command is to submit for approval. That's what that word means.
To submit for approval or acceptance. And to command is to submit to
his trust. To his trust. I preach to you
the gospel as best I know how to preach it. And I submit what
I've said and you that have heard it. I submit that to His trust. He'll do with it what He will. And may He, for the glory of
His Son, make it real in your hearts. Amen.