Acts chapter 20 and verse 17. And this is the account of the
apostle Paul speaking with the Ephesian elders. And he has come
to a place called Miletus. So Acts chapter 20, 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,
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
I've showed you and I've 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 he
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 ceased not to warn, every one
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 have coveted no man's silver
or gold or apparel, yet ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered
unto my necessities and to them that were with me. I have showed
you all things, how that soul labouring, he 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 unto
the ship. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. Thank you. The Apostle Paul is coming to
the end of his third missionary journey. So we've tried to follow
a little bit, we've even used some maps from time to time,
and we followed round how the Apostle went from Jerusalem or
Antioch, up round through Turkey, back down through the Mediterranean
Sea. Then he went on a second trip
and followed back round, went to all the churches and then
again went on a third missionary trip, entered into Europe and
there preached the gospel in Europe as well. And he's coming
to the end now of this third and final missionary journey.
Years have passed and he has been faithful to the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly amongst the Jews and the Gentiles. He has preached in the synagogues
wherever he went and he has been preaching also to the inhabitants
of these cities when he has been there. He's heading back to Jerusalem
and it does appear as if the Apostle has some spiritual insight
and understanding of what awaits him there. He is realising that
these trips that he has been making around the churches are
likely coming to an end. So he wishes to make a brief
stop at Ephesus in order to see the people that are there. Ephesus
was a very blessed city. And when we think about Ephesus
in scripture, it's a city that, well, the Apostle Paul preached
there for three years. And there it was that he met
those 12 disciples, not the Lord's 12 disciples, but the other 12
disciples that appeared to have formed the kernel of a church
in that place. Then amongst the converts that
Paul made, there was a church established and grew. And later,
Paul would write a very valuable letter, his epistle to the Ephesians,
to this church. Timothy would go and preach there. It seems that the apostle John
went and preached there in that city in Ephesus. And would you
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ himself wrote a personal letter
to the Ephesians? And we can read that in Revelation
chapter 2, verses 1 to 7. And the apostle Paul had great
affection for the people there in that city. He had made good
friends there. but it seems as if the Lord had
shown him that this was the last time that he was ever going to
see their faces again. And perhaps it was for time,
that just the sheer time that it took to make the journeys
prevented him from going personally to Ephesus, or perhaps it was
the emotion of the moment. But rather than risk going there
and not being able to get away, he rather calls the elders of
the church to come and meet him at Miletus. It was probably 50
miles that they had to journey, so there was several days waiting
by the time the messenger went up to Ephesus from Miletus and
then came back down with the elders. And when they arrived
to see Paul, he preached them a sermon. And that's what we
have in these verses here. Paul begins by reminding these
men of his own dependence upon the Lord Jesus. He tells them
that he has been dependent on Christ and they have to follow
his example, being dependent also. And he shows them that
when the opposition comes against them, as indeed it would, and
when people would come and say to the Ephesians, you've not
to listen to Paul, you've not to take heed to his message,
He tells them of the earnestness and sincerity with which he declared
all things that were needful for their spiritual well-being
and held nothing back to them. And so these men heard the apostle
speak and they saw that he had been an example to them in the
way in which his ministry had unfolded in their midst. And
we don't know what the future holds. None of us can tell what
a day or a week or a month or a year will bring. And we must
take care how we deal with one another and how we engage with
one another. The likelihood of them never
meeting again that side of eternity seemed to weigh heavily upon
the hearts of them all. But I'm delighted to see how
the Apostle Paul describes his role and his ministry and the
ministry of these elders in the church in Ephesus. He speaks
of a profitable ministry and in verses 20 and 21 he tells
them there how that ministry has been good for their souls
and good for their spirits. He speaks of repentance towards
God and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, emphasising where
the heart of any gospel ministry must lie. And sure, there are
many things that we will speak about. And sure, there are many
things that we're concerned about. But the principal purpose of
any ministry must be the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. what Paul calls the gospel of
the grace of God. Think about those words for a
moment. The gospel, the good news. of the grace, the mercy,
the kindness of the eternal God to make a way of salvation and
deliverance from hell and judgment and damnation and sorrow and
pain and culpability and conscience for men and women like you and
like me. God's done that. And that is
the grace of God. We have no claims upon God except
his grace, except his mercy. And this is the gospel of the
grace of God. This is the good news of the
grace of God. This is faith toward him. And it is to do with the way
in which we are following after him. So here we see that the
message and the ministry of the Apostle was the whole counsel
of God, because all the blessings of God come to sinners through
the Lord Jesus Christ. No one would remember the quality
of Paul's tent making. No one would talk about the good
sewing that he did or the way in which the canvases fitted
well together, but they would remember what he spoke to them.
They would remember what he declared to them. They would remember
the gospel that he preached. He says, I am pure from the blood
of all men. It is a great responsibility
to preach the gospel. Some of those men who go down
to the rescue mission are aware of that. And he says, I am pure
of the blood of all men. It is not to be taken lightly
to stand before men and preach to them eternal things. nor is it something that is to
be desired easily without weighing the burden rightly that it brings
upon an individual. Paul says, I am pure of the blood
of all men because he had preached the proper gospel. There are
many, many men, and we have to say women these days, who are
not free from the blood of all men because they don't preach
the gospel properly. He says, I will be profitable
to you only insofar as I preach to you the whole counsel of God. And you will be profitable to
this community only insofar as you persist in enabling the preaching
of the whole counsel of God. Let us endeavour together to
maintain that preaching of repentance toward God and faith towards
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 20, verse 35,
he says, I have showed you all things, how that soul labouring
ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of
the Lord Jesus Christ, how he said, it is more blessed to give
than to receive. I don't know where Paul heard
that. I don't know where he heard that. The Lord didn't say that
in the gospel accounts that we are given. So maybe he heard
that from one of the disciples who mentioned it to Paul at some
stage, that that had been declared by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or
maybe the Lord had spoken these words to him himself. But what
a beautiful testimony that the apostle here leaves with these
Ephesian elders. This is his testimony to the
ministry that he performed. He was going to Jerusalem and
there he would be imprisoned and then he would be sent to
Rome. His life was probably coming to an end. He had a few years
left yet, but he would not be a free man and he would not be
able to go where he wanted to go. So these are a few of the
final episodes of the Apostle in his life and in his ministry,
at least under Liberty and at large. And here he mentions again
that his principal purpose was preaching grace. It was gracious
preaching. It was speaking about the kindness
and the care of the soul and the body of those around about
him. And that is Christian action
at work for the glory of our God. Amen.