I want you to open your Bibles
again to the book of Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Now I've spent not just preparing messages,
but for my personal encouragement and edification, much time in
this particular chapter. in this particular part of the
scriptures. Acts chapter 20, beginning with
verse 17. And I'll tell you the reason.
There are several reasons. This scripture especially interests
me, first of all, because it's a meeting of pastors and preachers
and elders. It's a gathering together of
men who teach the Word, who preach the Word, who are responsible
to tell others about Christ. And this meeting of pastors and
preachers and elders is presided over by Paul himself. That interests me. I can just
visualize this group of men. I don't know how many were there,
whether there were 15 or 20 or 40 or 50 or how many. But they were from Ephesus and
I think the regions round about there and they had come here
because Paul sent for them. Paul had sent for them and they
came and they gathered out there before him and Paul presided
over this meeting. That makes it special and of
special interest to me. And then I think the second thing
that interests me about this scripture is that Most of these
men had heard the gospel from Paul. He was the instrument that
God used to teach them the gospel. He had a special love for them.
There was a special relationship between them. They had a special
love for him. You know, between Paul and Timothy,
there was a very special love, because Timothy was his son in
the ministry. Paul was his father in the gospel. And these men who were gathered
here around the apostle Paul were his sons in the ministry
and in the gospel. God used him to bring them the
gospel. And the third thing that interests
me about this meeting, somebody said that the last words that
people say is generally very important. important to them. They realize that they're speaking
for the last time to that particular group. Paul knew that. He said
it twice. You'll see my face no more. I
won't preach to you again. You won't ever hear me again.
What I've got to say now is the last thing I'll say. And people's
last words are important to them. If I thought, and who knows it
may be, But if I thought this was the last time that I'd ever
preach to you, ah, it'd be awfully important, wouldn't it? Well,
Paul knew it was the last time he'd ever preach to them. And
if you knew this was the last sermon you'd ever hear, ever
hear, from me or from anyone else, I'd just imagine you'd
listen with a little more interest than ordinarily. So that gives special weight
to his words. See, verse 25 says, Now, behold,
I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom
of God, will see my face no more. And then, fourthly, in this address,
and I hope you come to a greater appreciation for it, as I have. I hope I'm able to present what
I see here. But in this address to these
preachers, these beloved brethren, Paul literally takes these men
into his heart. This is not just a theological
presentation. This is not just a sermon. This
is not just rehearsing some doctrine. Paul seems to just reach out
to them and take them into his heart. You'll see that in a few
moments. He takes them into his secret thoughts. He says things
that that ordinarily he wouldn't say. And he lays bare his motives,
he lays bare his feelings and his fears. You know, something
interesting I note over here, if you'll turn for the moment
to 1 Timothy. This is interesting here, 1 Timothy
chapter 1, verse 12. The Apostle Paul is called in
this passage of Scripture a pattern to those who believe. You know
what a pattern is? You women do, and you carpenters
know what a pattern is. The pattern is first established,
and then the other parts are cut to match the pattern. Well,
in 1 Timothy 1, verse 12, Paul said, I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry. who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy. I didn't earn
it, work for it, merit it, I obtained it because I did it ignorantly
and unbelief. And the grace of our Lord, the
grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love
which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. I'll be it. Now watch
this verse. For this cause I obtain mercy,
that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on him the eternal life. He's our pattern. You know what
he's saying? The pattern of conversion. He's a pattern. His conversion
is a pattern to those who would hereafter believe. Well, if that
be true, Would not His ministry also be a pattern for me and
for you who preach the gospel? For those who minister the Word,
who preach the Word, who teach the Word, who support the preaching
of the Word, would not all then be a pattern of those who preach
the Word to them? Well, with that in mind, let's
look now at the text, Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. And the first thing Paul deals
with, Paul, our pattern, Paul preaching his last message
to these people, Paul put into the ministry by
the grace of God. The first thing he deals with
in verse 18, and when they would come to him, he said to You know
from the first day that I came into Asia, the first day that
I set foot on this continent, after what manner I have been
with you at all seasons, or what my manner of life is. And here's
the key, summed up in one phrase, serving the Lord. Serving the
Lord. This sums up Paul's ministry,
serving the Lord. He called himself a servant of
Jesus Christ. I'm a servant, and the term is
stronger than that. It's bondslave. I'm a servant.
I'm a bondslave of Jesus Christ. I'm His slave. I'm His servant. He's my master. Where I live,
what I do, with whom I labor, and whatever He gives me or provides
for me in gifts, in talents, in possessions, That's his business
because I'm his servant. That's what he said. This is
my manner of life. I'm a servant of the Lord. I'm a servant of
the King. This is my calling. This is my
concern. My calling and my concern is
His glory, His kingdom, His gospel, His church, His body, not myself. I'm His servant. I serve the
Lord. I serve the table of the Lord.
I serve the body of Christ. I'm his servant. I'm not the
king. He's the king. I'm not the master.
He's the master. I'm his servant. This is my calling. This is my concern. I serve not
myself. Paul said on another occasion,
we preach not ourselves. I'm not here to present me to
you. I'm not here to call disciples after myself. That's what the
false prophets do. That's what he said. Down here
in verse 30, that those false prophets will do. They'll rise
up and draw disciples after them. The servant of God has no interest
in disciples following Him. He wants them to follow Him,
follow Christ. We preach not ourselves. We're
not here as men-pleasers. He said down here, I've coveted
no man's silver or his support. I've coveted no man's gold or
his glory. I've coveted no man's apparel
or approval. We're not the servants of men.
We're only the servants of men as we serve Christ. The best
I serve Him, the best I serve you. As I serve Him, I serve you best. We're not servants serving men. We're not men-pleasers. If I
please men, I'm not His servant. No man can serve two masters. Our calling and concern is not
our world, or making our world a better place in which to live.
Don't misunderstand me, but that's true. The passion of this world
shall pass away. We serve Christ. That's what
he says here in Acts 20. He said, You know my manner of
life. What is your manner of life, Paul? I'm a servant. I'm the Lord's servant. I'm a
slave. I'm the Lord's slave. And when we serve Him best, we
serve ourselves and others best. How do I serve Him? Look at verse
19 again. I serve the Lord. It's not where am I going to
live, it's where would He have me live. It's not how much money am I
going to be able to make, it's how much money is he going to
provide for me and for my family and for my ministry. I live on
what he provides. If he provides little, we live
on little. If he provides much, we live on much. Paul said, I
know how to abound and I know how to be abased. I've been both
places. I'm his servant. I serve the
Lord. I serve the Lord. It's not a
question of what about my family, what about this, what about my
future. It's what about his future, I'm his servant. You get what
he's saying? You know my manner of life, I'm his servant. I'm his servant, I'm his bond
slave. I serve not myself, nor men, nor the fashion of this
world. How do I serve him? Listen, with
humility, with all humility of mind. I'm, Paul said, not worthy
to be an apostle. Any man who thinks he's worthy
to preach is not worthy. I'm not fit to be an apostle,
that's what he said. I'm not worthy to be an apostle.
There's nothing in me that would equip me to be an apostle by
nature. He said, well, I'm less than
the least of all the saints. The preacher's not in the pulpit
preaching the gospel of God because he's better than men. He's less than the least of all
the saints, and he knows it. Paul said, though I be not one
whip behind the chief apostle, I'm nothing, nothing. It seems like the preachers in
our day are clamoring to be recognized, to be renowned, to be, to have
all kind of titles and credentials and recognition. The apostle Paul wasn't clamoring
for that at all. He said, I serve God with humility
of mind. I'm the chief of sinners. I'm
nothing. Who is Paul, he said? Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is Cephas? Nothing but instruments
by which you heard ministered, by whom you heard the gospel.
Instruments that God uses to hoe his people. Anybody got their hoes and rakes
enshrined in glass? No, but you sure are proud of
your tomatoes. When somebody comes to see your
garden, you take them and show them, now this is my hoe. See
the mud on my hoe? And this is my rake. I'm not
interested in your hoe or your rake. I'd like to see your fruits.
Oh, God doesn't show off his hoes and rakes. He shows off
his fruit. You are my joy, Paul said. in
my crown and my rejoicing. I served the Lord with humility.
Look, read on, and with tears. With tears. Don't be ashamed
of tears. Paul said he, Paul wept over
himself. Wept over himself. Wept over
his sin. Wept over his inability. Wept
over his conflicts. Wept. He said, oh, how do you,
when he said, oh, wretched man that I am, you think he was laughing?
He wept over the people. He said, I have great sorrow,
continual sorrow in my heart for you. He said, I could even
wish myself a curse from Christ for you. You reckon he was crying? I know he wasn't laughing. Our
Lord said, weep for yourselves and weep for your children. Don't
weep for me. I served the Lord with tears, tears
for myself and tears for you, and I served the Lord in temptation. Temptation, yes, trials. And
most of these trials, you know from whence they come? He said,
trials which befall me by the lying in wait of the Jews. Who
are these Jews? They're the religious leaders.
They're the legalists, and they're the moralists, and they're the
organizers, and the ceremonialists, and the ritualists, and they're
the folks that have got religion all fixed up, who think they've
got a corner on God. And God's true minister, and
true preacher, and true prophet, and true apostle, and true missionary,
and true evangelist, and true gospel preacher, they just lie
in wait to trap Him, and to hurt Him, and to wound Him, and afflict
Him. He said that's where it comes from. These trials and
tribulations don't come from God's people. They come from
religious folks who don't know God. That's where they come from. So my manner of life, he said,
you know it, you know my manner of life. The first day I set
foot here, I'm a servant of God. The preacher doesn't need to
entangle himself. He doesn't need to entangle himself
in civic affairs. He doesn't need to entangle himself
in political affairs. He doesn't need to entangle himself
in social affairs. He doesn't need to entangle himself
in educational affairs at all. A man that woreth does not entangle
himself. And when he does, he's neglecting
the God. He's a servant of God. He's not
a servant of the school. He's not a servant of the town.
He's not a servant of the people. He's God's servant. God's bond
slave. That's right. He serves the Lord. He serves about the temple, Joe,
doesn't he? He serves about the things of
God. He serves the table of the Lord. And that's where he better
stay. That's where he better stay. Oh, that's his manner of
life, a servant. We're nobody now. You're not
going to be anybody. You're not going to be recognized.
You're just a bunch of old dirty hoes and rapes. That's all. God used you to cultivate the
land and plow the land and do those things, and he's the Lord
of the harvest, but you're not going to be recognized now. Forget
it. Forget it. But you're not looking
for it anyway. John the Baptist said, I must
decrease, he must increase. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory, saving the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. I guarantee
you this, while you're living, the more you are known, the less
Christ you preachers know. You can write that down. And
I'll tell you this, most preachers, the more people think of you,
the less they think of your Lord. That's generally true. If the
enemies of Christ can brag on you, you're not preaching Christ.
If the enemies of Christ love you, you're not preaching Christ.
Now watch the next thing, verse 20. Paul talks about his courage
and conviction. He's talked about his manner
of life, now his courage and conviction. He said, and I kept
back nothing that was profitable unto you. But I've showed you
and taught you publicly, openly, boldly, Publicly, from house
to house. I know a lot of preachers who
are strong grace people in the study, but you get them out publicly,
they're not so strong. I know a lot of preachers. A
friend of mine in Cincinnati, Cubbington, Kentucky, he calls
them restaurant Calvinists. They'll discuss grace over a
cup of coffee, but they won't preach it over their pulpits.
Paul said, I've taught you publicly. boldly, publicly, from house
to house, and I kept back nothing profitable, and I testified to
the religious and to the world. I had the same message for everybody.
The same message for everybody, saved and lost, living and dead,
religious and worldly, educated and whatever. And that message
is repentance toward God, conversion, regeneration. and faith for our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul was a man of certain
emotions. I've got certain emotions, and you have. I've got certain
emotions. I suppose I have every emotion
that you have. I have an emotion of love and
hate. I have an emotion of fear. I have ambitions. I have desires, don't you? I
wouldn't be a human being if I didn't have these emotions.
Preachers have these emotions. He takes his Bible and steps
up here to the pulpit and faces a congregation. He has certain
emotions. He loves his children like you
love yours. He doesn't like to be hated any
more than you do. He has certain fears and cares and concerns
and ambitions and desires and pride and all these things. But listen, Paul's fear of God
kept him from fearing me. You're going to fear somebody.
Now, fear is an emotion, all right? Fear is an emotion. You're
going to fear somebody. Because we're just not that big. We're
not that strong. We're not that mighty. I can't
whip the world. I can't do it. I'm a needy creature. I'm dependent. I'm either dependent
on God or me or somebody. I can't raise everything I eat
and make everything I wear. So I'm going to fear somebody.
Is that right? Well, if you fear God strongly
enough, you'll never fear a man. If when you get up to preach,
the fear of God so possesses you, and the glory of God so
grips you, you don't fear all the armies of the world, or the
deacon boards, or the ladies' missionary societies, or what
anybody can do to you. You don't fear them. Now, I'll
tell you something else. Love, if you love Christ, Paul's
love for Christ exceeded his love for himself. You're not
doing yourself right. But I don't love myself, I love
Christ. You're not treating your family right. Joe, you're moving
your family clear to Iowa. That's a long ways from the grandparents,
and that ain't right. You love Christ more than you
love them. That makes the difference. They told Walter Gruber, when
he took his family to Mexico, he had five little children,
the least one was just a few months old. They said, do you
hate your family? No, but I love Jesus. That's the difference. And that
puts down, you see, that's what Paul is saying here. He's saying,
my courage and conviction is not born of a hatred for you,
it's born of a love for Christ. is not born of the fear of men,
it's born of the fear of God. That's what does it. And my faith
in the gospel of God's grace delivers me from ever preaching
works. I say if a man has ever seen
the grace of God, he'll never preach salvation by works again.
He can't. Of course, Paul came to this
conclusion, if salvation, if righteousness come by the law,
Christ died in me. That's how strong it is with
me. Do you believe this gospel of
grace? If you do, if you do believe
it, it suppresses any temptation. I'm not tempted to preach anything
else, but the grace of God, because I know it's so. I know it's so. It has to be so. God has to be
God. Christ cannot fail you. How could
I possibly preach anything else? My ambition. Do I have ambition? Sure, I have ambition. But that
ambition is to win Christ and be found in Him. That's my ambition.
Won't you ask your ambitious pastor to pass to a larger congregation
and have people coming here from all over the world and all this
sort of thing? That'd be nice. But I wouldn't want to do that
in this Christ, would you? That's what bothers me. I wouldn't
argue it. But if you just curb it a little
bit now, soften it down a little bit. Don't be so plain. You don't
have to preach particular redemption so strongly. You don't have to
preach election, election, election. I thought you preached election.
All right. I'm glad you heard it. Predestination. Just soften it a little bit.
Curb it a little bit. They'll come to hear you. I don't
want them to come hear me if they don't want to hear from
God. I don't want to go to hell. I don't want to miss Christ.
You want to miss Christ? I tell you, when you become a bond
slave and sell out to God Almighty, you ain't for sale for men anymore.
And that's to include your wife and your children and your kinfolks
and your mama and your daddy and everybody else. You ain't
for sale. You've been bought. And they can do what they want
to do. If they want to follow Christ, praise the Lord. If they
don't, praise the Lord anyhow. Is that right? That's not being
hard. You see, he said, I kept back
nothing profitable unto you. Turn to 2 Timothy 3.16. Look
at this. 2 Timothy 3.16. Profitable. That's an interesting word. Preachers,
get your concordance when you get home and look up profitable.
2 Timothy 3.16. Profitable. You know, he said
good godliness is profitable. Profitable. He said good works
are profitable. He said, bring Mark to see me.
He's awful profitable. He said to Philemon, he said,
Onesimus, he's profitable. But here in 2 Timothy 3.16, listen,
all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and all Scripture is
what? It's profitable. It's profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, instruction, and
righteousness. Let me ask you this. Paul said, I kept back
nothing profitable. That's what some people would
have you to be successful, to be acceptable, to be renowned
and regarded and recognized in the community and among the religious
people. Some people would have you trim
your message, cut down a little bit. Don't emphasize this scripture,
that scripture, that other scripture. Now wait a minute, let me ask
you. Is not the character of God profitable? I've got to know
God. And I've got to know the living
God and the true God. So what I've got to do for you,
if it's profitable, is preach to you the character of God,
holding back nothing. He's sovereign, almighty, eternal,
omnipotent, omniscient. He'll save whom He will. He said,
none can stay my hand. My arm is not short, it can't...
Now, I've got to tell you that truth, haven't I? That's profitable.
All right, let me ask you this. Is not what happened in the garden
profitable? You better know what happened
in the garden. The consequences of sin, the corruption of sin,
the curse of the sin, the condemnation of sin, is that not profitable?
I've got to preach it. That's profitable to you. Tell
me this, is not His covenant mercies profitable? When King
David, the man after God's own heart, the sweet psalmist of
Israel, the son of Jesse, lay dying, This man who wrote over
a hundred psalms, this man who walked with God was a man at
God's own heart. On his deathbed chose as his
foundation for comfort God's covenant. David, do you know anything about
it? You say, yes, I do. You know why? I told you about
it. And other preachers who stood here because we knew it was profitable.
But now you can go to a lot of places in this town, and they
never mention that word. That's a dirty word. Covenant grace,
covenant mercies, covenant atonement. Isn't that right? That's profitable. Tell me this, is not the glorious
person and work of Christ profitable? Danny stood here this morning
and thanked God for a righteousness. You got a righteousness? Yes,
you have. In whom? In Christ. Somebody
told you that one day, because they thought it was profitable.
Aren't you glad they did? What if they hadn't? You'd have
gone to hell thinking you had a righteousness. Profitable? Paul said, I'm going to keep
back these things. Election, is that not profitable if God
chose a people? The death of Christ, his substitutionary
work. I once was lost, but now I'm
found, and by God's grace I'm heaven-bound. But my only plea,
my only hope, my only plea is when he died, he died for me.
He shed his blood. That's particular redemption.
That's effectual redemption. That's sufficient redemption.
That's redemption of the body of the Church. That's my hope.
Is that not profitable? Is not the Spirit's work in regeneration
profitable? Born of God, born of the Word,
born of the Spirit, regenerated, born again. Is that not profitable?
What is the new birth? Men don't go to church to be
born again. Like Brother Donnie Bell said, you're not going to
accidentally run into God somewhere. If you know God, He's seeking
you, and He'll find you, and He'll reveal Himself to you.
You're not going to run into Him. The only time you'll ever
run into God is at the judgment. But if you ever come to a saving
knowledge of God, it's because He sought you, and He called
you, and He met you, and He arrested you, and He crossed your path.
That's right. All right, let's look quickly at something else
here. Verse 22, Paul talks about his future. His future. He says in verse 22, Somebody
said, well, preacher, doesn't this business of contending for
the gospel and the faith and the grace of God get any better?
Doesn't this thing get any better? You're 61 years old. You've been
battling here in Ashton, Kentucky with preaching grace in other
parts of the country. You've been having this conflict
and difficulty all these years, almost 40 years. Isn't there
a time when the battle's over? Isn't there a time when the enemy
admits defeat? Isn't there a time when trouble
and tribulation end? Yes, sir. There is. When you lay in the
casket and your soul's in the front of the Lord, it'll all
be over. But till then, it's not going
to let up one day. Here's old Paul on his last leg,
preaching his last sermon. And what's he talking about?
Verse 22, And I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem. not knowing
the things that shall befall me there, except that the Holy
Ghost said to everybody in every city that barns, and cows, and
afflictions, and enemies, and difficulty, and burdens, and
fights, and battles, wait for me. They're waiting for me. They're waiting for me. But watch
what he says. Now listen, I'll hurry. These
things, none of these things, these battles, conflicts, afflictions,
they don't move me, trouble me, or change my message. They don't
change my message. Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of Eve while others fought to win that prize
and sail through bloody seas? Listen here. Neither count I
my life dear unto myself. My life's dear to Christ. but
it's not dear to me. When you start thinking about
your comfort, and your ease, and your reputation, and your
glory, and your success, you're in trouble. Neither count I my
life dear unto myself, because I want to finish my course with
joy. I want to finish this course
that God laid out for me. And I want to finish it not like
these fellas in 1 Corinthians 3. It might do well to read that
sometimes. Wood, hay, and stubble. Burned
up. But I want to finish my course,
my course with joy and the ministry. Watch this now. The ministry
which I received of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to testify
of the grace of God. The gospel of the grace of God.
That's my message. Now, here's consolation, and
that'll be it. Verse 25, And now I know that
you all, among whom I've gone preaching the kingdom of God,
will see my face no more. Now, here's Paul's comfort right
here. Watch it now. Of course, Christ is our consolation,
and Christ is our comfort, our peace. But Paul knew that his
ministry was drawing to a close. And these people would see his
face no more, and he was comforted in his heart to be able to say,
to be able to say, listen, I take you to record this day. I am free from the blood of everybody
that's ever heard me preach, because I have not shunned either
from fear, I have not shunned from ambition, I have not shunned Either because I was looking
for another place, I'm not shown, even though I was tired of fighting,
I'm not shown to declare unto you all the counsel of God. The counsel of God. You know,
when we talk about the counsel of God, we're talking about the
plans and purposes of God. You know what we're talking about
counsel? The counsel of God. You have rejected my counsel,
God said, and then you know Christ is the counselor. He's called
his name Wonderful John Counselor. So I've not shunned declaring
to you, going way back into eternity, God's counsel, God's purpose,
God's covenant, God the mystery of the gospel that includes all
that Christ is and does and has done and why he did it and where
he is now. He'll come again. I'm interested
in the counsel of God. We're not interested. We love
our young people, but entertaining them is not our calling. Edifying
them is. I'm interested in your friendship,
but I'd rather covet your fellowship in Christ. In Christ. And Paul said, I don't covet
you, or yours, I covet you. For Christ's sake. So that's
my consolation, coming to the end of this whole thing. No man's
going to stand at the judgment and say, you didn't tell me the
truth. Yes, I did too. Yes, I did. I didn't shun, no
matter what it cost. And it's cost some of you too.
You know what I'm talking about. You're still paying the price.
But I've not shunned declaring to you the counsel, the counselor
of God.