Acts chapter 20. Now this sermon, I call this message,
I commend you to God and to his word. I commend you to God and
to his word. And this sermon is especially
meaningful. And I believe it will be a blessing
to you for many reasons. The first of which is this. The
Apostle Paul had called together the elders of the church at Ephesus. And they came, I think, a distance
of about five miles. And Paul presided. He preached. to them when they gathered together. It says in verse 17, and from
Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called, he personally called
the elders of the church. Now Paul had been the human instrument
that God used to preach and to teach the gospel to all of these
brethren, almost all of them. sat under the ministry of the
Apostle Paul. And according to the Scriptures,
this was the very last time that Paul would meet with them, because
he would go to Rome and be put in prison, and he would not preach
to them again. If you look at verse 25, it says,
And now, behold, I know that you all among whom I have gone
preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more. Verse 36, And when he had thus
spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they wept
sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most
of all for the words which he spake, that they would see his
face no more. So this is the last time that
he will speak with them, and this carried special weight for
these men, very special weight. And then at the end of the message,
if you look at verse 28, he issued a solemn warning to these elders
regarding the future. He said in verse 28, Now take
heed, therefore, to yourselves. First take heed to yourself and
to your doctrine, and to your conduct, and to your lifestyle. Take heed to yourselves. And then take heed to all the
flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers. These
were brethren, but they were special brethren because they
were elders. They had been chosen to lead
God's people and to be overseers of the church. So he said, you
take heed of yourselves and take heed of the flock over which
the Lord has made you an overseer to feed the church of God. That's
your calling. That's your responsibility. That's
what God's called you and given you to do, to feed the church
of God, to feed God's sheep. That's what the Apostle Peter,
when the Lord encountered him in John 21 beside the sea, he
said to Peter, do you love me? And Peter said, you know I love
you. He said, well, feed my lambs, my little ones. And he asked
Peter the second time, do you love me? He said, Lord, you know
I love you. Well, feed my sheep. And he asked
him the third time, do you love me? And Peter was grieved that
he should ask him three times. One reason he asked him three
times is because Peter had denied him three times beside another
fire. And he said, he asked him again,
do you Do you love me? Lord, you know everything. You
know I love you. Then feed my sheep. That's the responsibility of
pastors and elders and preachers and missionaries, is to feed
the church. Preach the word. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of
season. Preach God's word. Get up here
and preach God's word. We're not responsible for the
effect that the Word has, that's in God's hands. But we respect,
we're responsible to teach the Word, preach the Word, be true
to the Word of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Then the second thing he said in verse 29, now know this, and
this is what our Lord talked about over in Matthew. He said,
beware of false prophets, false preachers, which come to you
as wolves in sheep's clothing. They appear as God's sheep, but
they have sheep's clothing. They're not sheep, they're not
really God's brethren. So beware of them, beware of
them. And that's what he's talking
about here, beware after my departing should grievous wolves enter
in among you, not sparing the flock." Now these are unsaved
people. These are just people out in
the, away from the church. But now
in the next verse though, he talks about brethren. He said,
now also of your own selves, for various reasons. Most of
them are good, because many of us think we're doing things the
right way and sometimes we're not. So of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away followers
after themselves. He's talking about men of your
own persuasion, of your own selves, of your own church and your own
fellowship that a fellow gets out of line. and he leads folks
away after him. So he said in verse 31, so watch,
watch, be sober, be vigilant, be sober, be vigilant, your adversary
as a roaring lion seeketh whom he
may devour. Don't ever be the one responsible
for causing a rip in the congregation among the people of God. Just
don't be responsible for that. So watch and be careful and be
diligent. Well, over in Ecclesiastes, Solomon
says there's no discharge in this war either. We signed up for the duration,
there's no discharge. You're always a soldier. You're
always a minister. You're always an elder. You're
always a preacher. You're always responsible. There's
no discharge. You can't quit. God didn't call
you to quit. So watch and be sober. Now the space of three years,
I cease not to warn you. Every day. You have to warn us
every day. Every day. Every day. Every day
and every night with tears. All right, let's go back to the
first part of that message. Go back to verse 18. And when
they would come to him, you see, he sent for the elders of the
church, and they came to him. And he said to them, You know
from the very first day that I came to Asia, after what manner
I have been with you. at all seasons, serving the Lord,
serving the Lord. I believe that's the way Paul
summed up his ministry, serving the Lord. This is our calling. We're serpents of God. We're
bond slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the master and we
serve him. That's our responsibility and
that's our That's what he's called us to do, be servants of the
Lord. Not of ourselves. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord. I serve your servants for his
sake. And not as men-pleasers. Paul said, if I please men, I'm
not the servant of Christ. And not using this world, or
abusing it, but diligently as a servant of God. I found a statement
by an old preacher one time that I think is superb, talking about
serving the Lord, a servant of God. We serve Christ best when
we serve others. That's the best service you can
render for Christ. He said, inasmuch as you've done
it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me.
We serve our Lord best when we serve His people. He said, secondly,
we are most free. We're free men. We're free servants. But we're most free when we're
most His. That's when I have perfect freedom
is when I belong to Him. full freedom, I belong to Him. I'm most free when I'm most His. And then thirdly, he said, you'll
never stand, you'll never stand so straight as when you bow to
Him. You'll never stand so straight.
Everybody says, having done all to stand, yeah, you'll never
stand so straight. is when you bow to him. You see,
he says here, serving the Lord with all humility of mind. You
see, my friends, who makes you the death brother? What do you
have you didn't receive? And if you received it, why would
you boast as if you hadn't received it? You see, our minds are enlightened
only by his grace. It's only by his grace that our
minds are enlightened, that we have the ability to think and
to preach and to study. And our hearts only love by his
grace. And I, listen to this, and our
lips only speak that which is good when it's touched with a
cold from the altar. Our lips are not capable of saying
anything worthwhile before God unless it's touched with a cold
from the altar. That's what Isaiah said. He said,
I took a cold from the altar and touched your lips. When you
left, I heard that sermon. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3 for a moment. This is what, this is the way
Paul looked at himself. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse
5. Verse 4, listen to this. 1 Corinthians
chapter 3 verse 4. One, for one said, one said,
I am of Paul. And another said, well, I am
of Apollos. Are you not carnal? Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Only ministers
by whom you believe, even as the Lord gave to every man. All our gifts are borrowed, and
they can be replaced or removed anytime. That's right. As God hath given to every man,
I have planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase, so really,
honestly, so then neither is he that planteth anything, and
neither is he that watereth anything. Certainly not of himself, but
it's God that giveth the increase. All right, let's look at Paul's
next verse here. That's our manner of life. We're servants of God. Servants
of God. And then he says here in verse
20 and 21, And I've kept back nothing that was profitable unto
you, but I've showed you and I've taught you publicly from
house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. Two things, repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the Lord's
servants are men. They're men with emotion, they're
men with feeling, they're men with desires, they're men with
compassion, they're men with love for people, but they're
just men. And Paul's fear of God kept him
from fearing me. That's what keeps a man from
fearing me, because he fears God. That's it. Paul's love for Christ
and the gospel was greater. He had a love for himself, of
course he did. Of course he loved his family.
brothers and sisters. He had no wife or children. He
loved his family and friends, but his love for Christ was greater
than his love for anyone else, and that kept him true to the
gospel. Our Lord said that if any man
loved husband, wife, brother, sister more than me, he's not
worthy of me. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. That fear of God kept Paul from
fearing the end. And that love for Christ was
greater than his love for himself, for his family, friends, or others. And Paul's conviction and confidence
in the gospel delivered him from ever compromising
that gospel. He loved the gospel. He believed
the gospel. He rested in the gospel. He preached
the gospel. And that love for the gospel
of Christ kept him from ever, ever, ever compromising that
gospel in any way. And then Paul's ambition. He
had ambition. He had a goal. He summed it up
there in Philippians 3. He said, Oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. That's my ambition, that's my
goal, to win Christ and be found in Him. What is his goal? His goal is to win Christ and
be found in Him, and to attain unto the resurrection of the
dead, and to see others come to know Him. So he could say
here in verse 20, I kept back nothing. Not for gain, not for
favors, not for covetousness, I kept back nothing from you.
I've told you, I've warned you, I've preached to you, told you
the truth. Because I fear God. I love Christ. I love the gospel. And I got
one ambition, to win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my
own righteousness, which is of the law. that which is of the
faith of Jesus Christ the Lord. That's it. That's it. And then he summed up his gospel,
his message in verse 21, testifying, listen to this now, testifying
to the Jews and also to the Greeks two things. Repentance toward
God. Repentance. There's got to be
a repentance toward God. That prodigal son, he left, he
sinned greatly, he wasted everything his father gave him on righteous
living, cared nothing for anybody or anything. But one day he came
to himself, he realized that he was a fool, a fool. He said, how many hired servants
in my father's house have so much more than I have? I'm just
going to go home and tell my father, I'm a sinner. I've sinned
under heaven, against God, and in your sight. I'm not fit to
be called a son. Don't call me a son. Make me
a hired servant. I'll work for you. I'll be the
best servant you ever had. That's the way he came back.
That's the way he came. And that's repentance. And that's
the way any man is going to come to God. in repentance, in brokenness,
in confession of sin, in confession of foolishness, in confession
of everything of which he's been charged or held guilty, he's
going to repent now. Change his manners, change his
methods, he's going to change. Attitude, down, down, down. That's what's missing. Repentance. If there's no repentance, there's
no genuine faith. Old Philip Henry, that was Matthew
Henry's father, Philip Henry. He had a preacher friend, they
called him Pastor Dodd. And Philip Henry's called Pastor
Dodd, Old Mr. Repentance and Faith. That's
what he was, Old Mr. Repentance and Faith. That was
his name for Mr. Dodd. Why'd he call him Old Mr. repentance and faith, because
he preached on it all the time. Paul said he testified to the
Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ
also all the time, just like this old pastor died. Somebody
said, well, why do you preach repentance and faith so much?
This was his reply. If I die in the pulpit, I desire
to die preaching repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if I die out of the pulpit,
I desire to die practicing repentance towards God and faith in our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's a pretty good idea to
repent, just repent, just repent and believe the gospel. Let me
give you a sermon outline on repentance and faith. Repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sorry. Before God. That's got to start. I believe
in Christ. All right. Where there is true
repentance, there has to be true faith. You can't have one without
the other. This sheet of paper has one side,
it has another side. It can't have just one side,
it's got to have two sides. And if you have repentance, you
have faith. If you repent toward God, if you turn from your idol,
you turn to God. Secondly, both repentance and
faith are the gifts of God. God gives it. No man repents
of his own of his own self. God, the goodness of God leads
you to repentance. And it's not the wrath of God
that leads you to repentance, it's the goodness of God. The scripture tells us in the book of James, it tells
us to be brethren, be slow to speak, slow to be slow to speak
and slow to wrath, because the wrath of God does not work the
righteousness of God. It doesn't do it. It's the goodness
of God. It's the goodness. Both are the
gifts of God. Repentance, the goodness of God, leads us to
repentance, and faith is the gift of God. Not of works, this
and imagination. Then the third thing about repentance
and faith, both of them are heart works. Both are wrought by the
Spirit of God in the heart. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. With the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. It's got to be the heart. With
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. With the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. And then the fourth thing Repentance
and faith both acknowledge God's right to do with his own what
he will. And the last, true repentance
and true faith will continue. If I have repented, I will repent. If I have believed, I keep on
believing. Repentance and faith continue. All right. Testifying both to
the Greeks and to the Jews, repentance toward God and faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. All right. And now, brethren,
here's Paul's future. And now, brethren, behold, I
go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will
befall me there. You know, someone asked one time,
The Apostle Paul talked about the conflicts, and the Lord called
this faith and repentance and believing as warfare. And someone
asked, does the warfare and contending for the faith, does it get any
easier? Is there not a time when the
battle is over? Doesn't the enemy ever admit
defeat? Are troubles and trials and tribulation
ever ended? Yes. When? When you behold his
face in righteousness, when you stand in his presence, and when
you awake with his likeness. That's when all the battle will
be over, all the warfare will cease. and all the conflicts
and trials and tears and tribulation and suffering going to end when
you stand in his presence and awake with his likeness and see
his face in righteousness and not to live. Because Paul right here in a
few verses warned and told these elders, watch now I warn you,
it's not over. Not over by any means in this
world. So look at verse 24. So, verse
24, but none of these things move me. These conflicts, troubles,
trials, enemies, they don't move me. What does he mean they don't
move me? They don't change my gospel. They don't change my commitment.
They don't change my direction. I'm pressing toward the mark
of the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ our Lord, not
changing. Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize
and sailed through bloody seas? No. None of these things move
me. Then he said, neither can't I
my life dear to myself. I don't count my life dear to
myself. It's dear to Christ. My life
is dear to Christ. He said precious in the sight
of the Lord is the death of his saints. That's right. But I tell
you this, but his glory and his comfort and his ease, it'll be
by his grace. He said, I know how to abound. I know how to prosper. Paul saw
many times prosperity and abounding and good times. But he said,
I know how to be abased. I know both of them. So I don't
count my life dear unto myself. But I tell you what I do count.
So that I may finish my course with joy. and the ministry. I want to finish my course. I
want to fulfill my ministry with joy. And I will, by the grace of God,
will finish what he began. Because, he says in the next
line, because I received it of the Lord Jesus. So that's a given,
isn't it? None of these things move me,
the trials, tears, and temptations. I don't count my life dear unto
myself, it's dear to Him. And when it's over, it's over
by His grace. So that I might finish my course
with joy. And the ministry which I have
received of the Lord, He gave it to me. He received it, He
gave it to me, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Paul's over here in 2 Timothy,
if you look over there for a moment, this was when he was realizing
that his time was to leave was very shortly. He says in 2 Timothy chapter
4 verse 6, I'm ready to be offered. I'm ready to be offered. The
time of my departure is at hand. It's at hand. I've fought a good
fight. I've finished my course, kept
the faith. That's what he's saying here.
I want to finish my course with joy and the ministry which I've
received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the
grace of God. Now, I want to give you this
before I quit. verse 26, wherefore I take you
to record this day, I take you to record this day, that I'm
pure from the blood of all men, and I've not shunned to declare
unto you the gospel. Paul said my ministry is coming
to a close, and that I will not preach again
to these He'd be preaching in Rome for a little while, a couple
of years, but I won't preach to these men anymore. But I'm
comforted, greatly comforted, and he gives us two reasons,
verse 26 and 27. The first one is this, Therefore
I take you to record this day, I am pure from the blood of all
men. I have preached the truth. That's
right. So therefore I'm pure from the
blood of all men. I preach the truth of the gospel. And secondly, I have not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now Paul is not saying
that he declared the whole counsel of God, all the counsel. No man
knows all the counsel of God. Christ is our counselor. But
I'll tell you that which he knew, he told me. I haven't shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. I haven't backed down. If God
taught it to me, I'm going to preach it. If he revealed it
in his word, we're going to preach it. We're not going to shun and
hold back on any of the counsel of God if we know it, if God's
revealed it to us. Not fear, not ambition. And not covetousness would keep
me from preaching this gospel. He
goes down here in verse 33. Listen, I have coveted no man's
silver, gold, or apparel. Neither fear, nor ambition, nor
covetousness will keep Paul from preaching this gospel. A lot
of times those three things will enter in to compromise fear,
ambition, and covetousness. Don't be afraid
of men. Don't be ambitious. Let the ministry
come to you. Don't you go to it. They come
to you. Don't be ambitious, except for
His glory. I'm talking about human ambition.
And stay away from filthy lucre. Stay away from covetousness.
That's right. Christ is our counselor. And
here's the closing comments here in verse 32. And now brethren,
this is the way I entitle this message. Now brethren, I commend
you to God. I love this statement. I commend
you to God. In other words, he says, that
is, I deposit you to his charge. Every one of you, I commend you
to God. You're his child, not mine. You belong to him, not me. He's
your master. Don't you call anybody your master.
One is your master, the Lord Jesus Christ. One is your father,
the father which is in heaven. That's right. I commend you to
God. You know, the old reformers,
our young people learned in Bible school, the old reformers contended
for five things. Scriptures alone, Christ alone,
grace alone, faith alone, and the glory of God alone. But there's
a sixth one. that the old reformers continued
for and fought and died in a constant battle with Catholicism. And
that is the right of private judgment. The right of private
judgment. We teach you, but God owns you. We minister to you with salvations
of the Lord. Salvation is when you're in Christ.
There's no counselor or father, or padre, or monk, or priest between
you and Christ, the right of private judgment. Don't ever
let it slip away. That's right. These others are inseparable, faith alone, grace
alone, Christ alone. and the glory of God alone, the
scriptures alone, but the right of private judgment. I believe
because God revealed it to me, and I believe Him. Whatever the
whole world does, wherever the whole world goes, between me
and my Lord, that's right. That's what he's talking about,
the right of private judgment. So I commend you to God. The Ethiopian unit walked off. He didn't need Philip anymore.
He left with Christ. He left with Christ. That's all
he needed. Left with Christ. That's all
he needed. That's all you need. These others
will come in and they'll come for a while and then go and somebody
else will come and go. He's always there. So the second
thing he said, and I, I commend you to God, and to the word of
his grace, the word of God. I commend you to the word of
God. To Christ, the incarnate word, and Christ the written
word. That's my legacy, my faith, my
confidence, everything. Christ and his word. Because,
listen, Because I commend you to God and to the word of his
grace, it's able to build you up, build you up, and give you
an inheritance, your rightful inheritance purchased by Christ
among all them that are sanctified. What an inheritance! What a blessing! So Paul's leaving them. He said,
Brethren, I commend you to God. And I commend you to His Word. And His Word in your hands and
in your heart will build you up. I try to build you up and give you your rightful place
and inheritance. among those that are sanctified. That's who I want to be with
when the saints go marching in with him. Alright, God bless
you.