All right. I want to bring a message this morning from this passage of scripture. And it's entitled, A Farewell Message. A Farewell Message. Maybe I should have said, Paul's Farewell Message. Somebody had seen this title this morning. They said, you're going somewhere. And I said, maybe I should have been more thoughtful in titling it. You know, every message we preach, we probably should think of it and consider it as possibly the last one. The last one we preach, an importance, importance of God's word.

Look again at verse 22. Paul says, and now behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. He goes bound. And he said, I don't know. And you know, truly, when we walk out the doors of this building, we don't know what's next for us. We should consider the time. He says, I don't know what awaits me in Jerusalem. Don't know whether he'll suffer there. Don't know whether he'll live. Maybe he'll die.

Verse 23, he says, save that the Holy Ghost Witnesses in every city as I travel, this is what I hear, that bonds and afflictions abide me." Read on, he says, but none of these things move me. None of these things move me. They don't move me from the hope of the gospel. They don't move me from the ministry of the word. They don't move me knowing that I'm heading to Jerusalem. It didn't shake his faith. It didn't cause him to fear. These things did not change his purpose, his desire.

Paul says, neither can I my own life dear unto me. It's interesting to see that Paul here is heading to Jerusalem bound. You know, it wasn't too much time prior, before his conversion, that a man named Saul was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples to the Lord. And he went to the high priest and he desired of the high priest, he asked that high priest letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of the way that he's now in, if he found any, that he might bring them the same manner, that he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. And now it's Paul. It's Paul that's going bound to Jerusalem. And he said, I don't count my own life dear. Paul rejoiced that he was worthy, that he was counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

Read on in verse 24. He said, so that I might finish my course with joy. Paul writing to Timothy, he said, I fought a good fight. I have finished my course. kept the faith. Well again, look here in Acts 20, 24, Paul says, that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received. A ministry that I received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. This ministry It's not something that a man takes upon himself. Paul said, it's a ministry that I received. And these, listen, these things that Paul's talking about here, obviously these are important words because he knows this could be the last time he speaks. to these people. And led by the Spirit of God, one of the things he points out to them is that this, this ministry, he said, it's a ministry I received. A ministry received.

In 1 Corinthians, turn there with me, 1 Corinthians, I believe it's 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse three. Paul says, I delivered unto you. First of all, what did he deliver up to? He says, that which I also received. He was placed in the ministry and the Lord gave him He said, I'm telling you what I received. And what did he receive? How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. We boldly declare that Christ died according to the scriptures. What's our merit for that? It's the word of God. That's the message he gave.

And listen, he said this in another place. He said this gospel that I preached, he said, it's not after men. In Galatians 1.11, Paul wrote, I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. There were those that would argue that Paul had no authority as a disciple, that he had no authority to preach. And Paul said, this is what I'm telling you. Listen, it's not of me. It's not after man. It's of the Lord. He said, I neither received it of man, I wasn't taught it by man, but by the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was revealed to him through God's Word. I received it of the Lord.

And if we read on in Galatians 1 in verse 15, he said, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. that I might preach him among the brethren." I immediately conferred, not with flesh and blood. He said he called me by his grace. He revealed Christ in me. Paul didn't thrust himself into the ministry. He didn't stand up and say, I'm the man. He said this to Timothy, he said, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, and he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. The Lord put him into the ministry. God called him to it, and God gave him the message. Well, what was that message? Turn back to Acts 20, in verse 24. He says here in verse 24, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I received of the Lord Jesus to testify, to charge, to solemnly affirm, to give testimony, just as if you were called to court to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Paul said, that's what I'm gonna do. He said, what I'm telling you is the truth to testify. He said, listen, this isn't my opinion. I'm not giving you my opinion here. I'm not taking God's word and telling you something I want to tell you by picking out just a few different scriptures to say that. What it says is what it says.

To testify, and he says, the gospel. What? The gospel of the grace of God. It's by His grace. It's all by His grace. It's by His grace that we preach the grace of God. We testify the gospel of the grace of God. It's by the grace of God that we shall be saved. Scripture says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Salvation by the free and sovereign grace of God.

This gospel of the grace of God, it concerns his son. And it does not declare what is left to be done. It declares a finished work. This gospel declares what's already been done. Our Lord said that on the cross. He summarized it in just a few words. He said, it is finished. If something's finished, there's nothing left to be done. It's the gospel by which we're saved. And it's all of God's free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And listen, there's only one gospel. Scriptures are clear, very clear about that. There aren't many Gospels. There's many false Gospels, but there's only one true Gospel. If any man preach any other Gospel unto you, let him be accursed. Any other Gospel than that which we have preached.

In Romans 9-11, Listen, this gospel of grace, just a few things here. One is election. That's a familiar word, isn't it? Election. Election is all of grace. It's all of grace. In Romans 9-11 it says, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works, not of works lest any man should boast. If we could just take one inkling of credit for it, we would, wouldn't we? It's not of works, it's all of grace.

Listen, the choice of Jacob, think about that. Jacob was an object of God's mercy. And that choice was made before those boys were ever born, before man knew anything about them. The choice was made before they had done any good or evil. And that choice was made, listen, not by Jacob, not by Esau, not even their parents. That choice was made according to the purpose of Almighty God. Even so, Even so, at this present time also, there is a remnant. According to what? The election of grace. God has a people. Isn't that encouraging? God, Almighty God, has a people. And they're His people. They're His elect. And He saves them by His grace.

We declare, listen to this word, justification. Justification. It's all of grace. Romans 3, 24, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We're just the believer. The believer is justified in the sight of a holy God. Is that by my actions? Is that by my deed? Is that by my doing or dying? Let's be clear about this. God's Word says, by the deeds of the law. By the deeds of the law. There shall, what is it? No flesh. Not some, not a few. There shall no flesh be justified by the deeds of the law. None. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. In fact, he goes on to say, you're falling from grace. No flesh, no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. We might justify ourselves in front of our families. We might put on a good show and justify ourselves, maybe some of our coworkers or friends. But God sees all things. No flesh shall be justified in his sight by the deeds of the law.

But yet the believer is justified. We have the holiness and the righteousness of his son as if it were our very own. We're made something that we could never be. Now unto him, scripture says, unto him that is able to keep you from falling. I love this passage of scripture. Unto him that is able to keep you from falling and present you as what you are. How does he present us? Faultless, faultless. before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. You ever have to present somebody or introduce somebody and you really just wanted to tell the absolute truth about them and just literally just burn them up? Imagine what could be done with us. Imagine what could be said about us. And yet, He presents us faultless. And He does it not with a grudge. It says, with exceeding joy.

Justified. Justified freely by His grace. What about our calling? We read of an effectual call. It's all by His grace. When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace, according to His own purpose and grace. Second Timothy 1.9, let me read it, it said, speaking of God, who hath saved us and hath called us with a holy calling, again, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given in Christ Jesus before the world began.

The Lord. The Lord God, by His grace, He chose us. He chose us in Christ. He gave us His beloved Son to redeem us. He didn't leave us in our sins, but He called us to Himself, and He has made us accepted in the beloved.

made us accept it, and listen, He keeps us. Continually keeps His people by His power. What about in believing? Is that by His grace? It's all. It's all by His grace. It's by faith that it might be by grace. Again, by grace are you saved, but not of yourselves. For by faith, not of yourselves. It's the gift, it's the gift of God. Even faith is the gift of God.

Believe in God. We can't believe God apart from His grace. Regeneration. It's according to His mercy. Titus 3.5 says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Scripture says we're born of water, we're born by the Spirit. That the Spirit is what regenerates us. Through the Word of God, through hearing the Word of God, we're washed and we're cleansed. Our hearts purified by faith, our consciences purged. Our guilty, wicked conscience purged by the blood of Christ. And He gives us a perfect nature.

There's only one way to explain that. It's Christ in you. Christ dwelling in the believer. We're made meet. We're made fit. We're made qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. I'm dead in trespasses and sin. He must. He must regenerate me. He must give me life.

How about hope? How about hope? Surely if there's anything we can take credit for, it would be hope. I hope for a lot of things. Do you? In the book of Lamentations, we read this. It's good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the Lord. Do you have good hope? Has he given you a good hope?

Paul writing to the Thessalonians, he said, now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, God, even our Father, which hath loved us and given us an everlasting Consolation. What else? And a good hope. A good hope through grace. Through His grace. A good hope through grace. All these things. Election. Justification. Believing. Regeneration. Hope. It's all of Him. It's all by His grace.

What's that song we sing? Saved by grace alone. This is all my play. That's it. Jesus died for sinful men. The Lord Jesus Christ died for me. Well, let's read on. Back here in our text, again in Acts 20. Look at verse 25. 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. I'm pure from the blood of all men. I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. to feed, to feed the church of God.

How is the believer fed? It's by his word. We read his word, we hear his word preached by his word. The Lord asked Peter, he said, do you love me? Remember that? Three times he asked him that, do you love me? Peter said, you know I love you. What was the command he gave him? Feed my sheep.

It's by his word. It's by the word of God that our souls are fed. You know, naturally speaking, if I'm not fed, if I get hungry, Abby and the kids can testify of this. They can confirm this. I get irritable. Sometimes I feel weak, tired. You know, I've read that people who aren't fed, they eventually, they grow cold. They grow cold.

We have some goats at home. And if they have good food, they thrive. They do well. But if they don't have good food, they'll eat just about anything. One time, there was some manure that got into their food. They just went ahead and ate it. They got pretty sick as a result of that. I say that to say this, we must be fed. Our souls must be fed and not just anything, not just anything will do.

I need Christ, the bread of life. I need the sincere milk of the word. I need to hear more of Christ, the water of life. I need to hear Christ, the bread of life. What did he tell Peter? Feed. Feed my sheep. And we eat, don't we? We eat his body and we drink his blood. Feed the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

It's the church of God. That's the word described here. Those called out of darkness and into His marvelous light. And listen, we read here, it's the church of God which He purchased. He purchased. You know when you buy something, there's a price to be paid, isn't there? Every now and then somebody will buy something I'm interested in and I might even ask, you ever do that? What'd you pay for it? What'd you pay for it? What did it cost you?

Our Lord purchased his church. He paid the redemption price in full. He purchased his people, he purchased his elect, he purchased his church. We ever considered what the cost of that was? What he paid? The purchase price, we're told, you're bought. You're bought with a price. For God, It cost him the life of his dear son. Scripture says, for God so loved the world that He gave, He gave His only begotten Son.

What did Christ pay? What did the Lord Jesus Christ pay? He bought me. He redeemed me from the law. He redeemed me from the justice of God with His precious blood. His own blood. I'm not my own. We're not our own. We're bought. We're purchased with a price. purchased with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, that sacrificial lamb, without spot, without blemish.

Scripture says He shed His own blood. Human blood. Christ was made a man. But his blood is much different than ours because there's no sin in it. It's the blood of, listen, Christ's blood is the blood of one who is not only man, but he's also God. And that blood was freely shed for his people. It's the sufficient price for redemption because of who he is. because of what he did, because of why he did it, because of where he is now. It's precious blood. It's precious to the believer, but it's also precious to the Father. A priceless, a priceless purchase.

You're not redeemed. Scripture says you're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers. What was that purchase price? What was that redemption price? The precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot and without blemish.

I've heard people say this, and I'm guilty of it as well, to say something like, Yeah, that's my church, right? That's my church. And I know what we're saying when we say that, right? Physically, that building is where we assemble, and that's where we worship. But the church, it only belongs to one. It's his church. He paid the price for it, didn't he? He purchased it. He owns it. It's his. You're not your own. You're bought. Bought with a price.

I pray he would use these words, these last words. It could be our last message. I hope it's not. It could be our last message. Pray and use it to speak peace to our hearts, to teach us, to teach us from his word, to comfort us through his word. Above all things, to reveal, to reveal his son to us.

All right, Isaac, come lead us in closing.