Acts 20, I'm going to begin reading an extended portion of this passage, starting in verse 17 and read through the end of the chapter. I don't want to go back over the last message, but I will just remind you that Paul is on this last part of this journey. He is heading towards Jerusalem. He has taken a very, uh, what might be considered a wayward or, or circuitous route. Yet he is. heading towards Jerusalem. And though we haven't read the next chapters yet, you might just understand as we begin to read this, that these verses really, in this next chapter, are really Paul's last few moments as a free man. For the rest of his life, he will not be free again. So I'm going to begin reading in 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 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 into 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 in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify of 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 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 to give you an inheritance among all of them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, you yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things. how that so laboring ye 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, 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. Now the emotion of this passage is obvious. As a familiar scene plays out there at the end, the scene of a goodbye. And as Paul has already told them, this is a last goodbye. The last moments that he will see the face of these Ephesian elders whom he had loved so well and loved so much, had spent three years of his life laboring among them. And as the weight of the moment began to press upon all of them, they all began to weep as they kneeled down together and pray together in sorrowing because they will see his face no more. The emotion of the passage is helpful to understanding the message of the passage, what's happening here in this passage. And really, this is not a difficult passage to understand. This is not one that needs a lot of, uh, in-depth study and exposition and searching of the word of God, word studies and whatever it might take to understand what God is speaking to us. What God is speaking is very clear here in this passage. We might break this passage down like this, uh, in verse 17 through verse 27, Paul just gives an account of his ministry to these Ephesian elders. He gives an account of his three years of ministry to them. And then in the last from 28 through 35, Paul charges them in regards to their ministry. And then of course, in the last three verses, they have the farewell, the goodbye, the sad goodbye. So this is not a difficult passage to understand. And in fact, it's not difficult to even see what Paul is getting at here. This passage is he's, he is, he desires greatly to see these men faithfully carry out their ministry. But I think it would be helpful for you to understand this passage and to really understand and grasp and embrace the weight of this passage and the importance of this passage. It might be helpful to understand this by understanding the gospel that's in this passage. The good news of what God has done for sinners in Christ Jesus is the gospel. The good news for sinners. is the news of what God has purposed and has executed, starting from eternity past, carrying down all through the days of our lives, and will ultimately make its glorious realization when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. That's the good news. The good news of what sinners could not do for themselves and of their state without Christ, but of God intervening on behalf of sinners through Jesus Christ in the gospel. is right here in this passage. And to help you see that, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Jude, the book of Jude. Jude. That one chapter book right before Revelation. There are two verses that I want to read to you from Jude. The last two verses of Jude. I want you to see how this relates to Acts 20. Paul's last message to these Ephesian elders. Jude verse 24, now unto him, that's God and God alone, now unto God and God alone, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. And all the people say, amen. Now, we're not going to Exposit this passage this morning, but just consider for a moment what verse 24 says. Now unto him, listen to this, that is able to keep you from falling. Now unto him that is able to present you faultless. before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. There's so many directions we can go from that, right? We can think about the glory of that promise, the idea that there is one who is able to keep you from falling, and one who is able to then present you before the presence of the august, reverential, Holy Majesty of God present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. That's the joy of God and the joy that you have as well. Presented before God with exceeding joy. The glorious promise. But we also have to consider that a promise that is not executed is an empty and vain and cruel promise, right? The idea that God is not only able to promise that, But God is able to execute on that. This is not just some vain campaign slogan, but instead it is a very real, solid confidence that we live by faith on, right? We live by faith on the confidence that God has both desired, He has both willed, He has both purposed, and He has and is executing all the parameters to make this promise come true. And then we can think about some of the ways that God has executed on this promise. We can go back to eternity past and God's choice before the world began that arose out of His own grace and purpose, not finding anything in us to draw us to Him, but out of His own goodness, out of the reservoirs and the fountains of His own grace and kindness, God began to both promise this and execute this promise by just a choice, a sovereign, free, undriven, unprovoked choice outside of his own goodness and purpose and grace. And we'll not waste this hour, but we'll spend this hour quickly just thinking about that. But I want you to see this is what God has determined for you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, this is God's promise for you. God is able and God is determined to present you to both keep you from ultimately falling. The righteous fall, the just men fall, yet He rises again. It's happened times, right? I mean that God will not allow you to fall out of His grasp. God will not allow your faith to perish. God will not allow the seed of life that He has wrought within to ever be quenched. God will not let you fall, believer. And God will present you faultless. for the presence of his glory. Now, what in the world does this have to do with Acts chapter 20? And it has everything to do with that. You see, in Matthew chapter 9, don't turn there for time, Matthew 9, we see that this desire, this will, this execution of this promise is forefront, is front and center on the mind and the heart of Jesus Himself. That when Jesus came to earth, not only was the cross the ultimate goal, and the goal of the cross was to present us faultless, but the very life of Jesus, the very heart of Jesus as He lived on this earth, the very life of Jesus was focused, was centered on this same thing. To execute everything that it would require to present you faultless, Brother Gerald. And we see this coming to fruition in Matthew 9 in one way, one very important way. That Jesus observes a multitude of people. And he notes two things about them, and these two things in Jesus provoke a spirit of compassion in Jesus. Isn't that something? That when Jesus sees something lacking in the multitude that he loved, they provoke a sense of compassion. And here's what he sees. He sees that the people, the multitude is fainting. They're hungry. They're not fed. They're in need of food because the food will strengthen them, will give them vitality, will give them life, will give them energy, will help them to continue. And they're destitute of food. And then he sees that they are a sheep that are scattered. A lot of things in that. Here's hungry, fainting sheep. They are not able to find wherever the food is. They need someone to guide them to the food. And they are scattered. In their scattered state, they are not together. And there is strength in numbers. There is strength in the group. There is vulnerability. There is threat when they are scattered. Jesus responds with compassion. And you know what happens next, right? Jesus then calls these men as apostles, as ambassadors of His grace, He calls these men and He commissions them to go and shepherd these scattered hungry sheep. Friends, that is nothing more and nothing less than Jesus working out the promise of God to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy and to keep you from falling. Yes, election is a part of that plan and execution, and so is redemption, and so is the ministry of the gospel. And so turn to Acts 20 again, because this is a message this morning about ministry. Really, this is a message about leadership. And if we only see ministry, if we only see leadership in terms of that somebody always getting in my business, that somebody always telling me what I'm doing wrong, that somebody always pushing me to achieve great, they will never let me rest. If that's the only way we see leadership, that's the only way we see ministry. We will begin to resent ministry and we will become as scattered sheep, hungry, fainting sheep, right? But if we can see leadership, the leadership that God has designed in terms of the gospel. This is all about Jude 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling. How does he do that? He does that by providing for you, by providing for his sheep, by providing for his church, ministry, leaders who will lead faithfully. So this morning as we talk about leadership, we think about leadership. I'm praying for several things, among them are these. One of the things that I'm praying for is that God will bless you to once again, or maybe just in a fresh and new way, praise God for the gift of godly leadership. To treasure the gift of godly leadership. to freshly commit, to submit your lives and submit the events of your lives and the decisions of your lives to the leadership of God, through the word of God, as delivered through his ministers, his shepherds, his sheep. But I'm also praying this. You see, what Paul says to These men of God, as they are leaders of the church at Ephesus, though this is a very specific exhortation, we understand also that God has set up as a grace to our lives leadership in almost every sphere of life. The church is not the only place where God calls upon people to be leaders and calls upon people to follow leaders. He calls upon fathers and husbands to lead their homes. He calls upon men to lead their communities. He calls upon all of us as Christians to lead by example, by being salt and light to the earth. And so I'm praying this morning that this will be a great provocation to all of us to lead in the manner that God, to assume with submission, to assume the role of leadership that God is calling upon us to assume. No entity can survive outside of good leadership. The times demand, all times, particularly these dark times, demand faithful leaders. As we think about this in terms of the church, let me say this. The health of the congregation is directly related to the minister's view of ministry. What is this all about? And to your view and your relationship of the ministry as well. The health of every congregation, the health of every family depends upon how you view leadership. So let's look at this passage. I'm not going to go through verse by verse, but I want to look at the passage as a whole and see what God is teaching us here. Now, this call for godly leadership is not just a call that was in a vacuum, but Paul calls these men to faithful ministry. with the backdrop of the realities of life. You see, this is why ministry is more than just academic achievement. This is why we cannot just sit here and, over a series of discourses, teach you everything about God, and then you graduate and you have no more need for leadership. But the backdrop of the realities of life is that we have dangers around us. We mentioned Wednesday night. I just want to mention these dangers very quickly. Look in verse 19. Paul says, You have seen me these last three years. I have been 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. This is outside opposition. Those who are opposed to the Gospel of Christ. Those who are directly opposing the truth that Paul has been preaching. In our day-to-day, we live in the same environment. In fact, the environment is increasingly growing in its opposition and the volume of its opposition against truth and against godliness. That's where we live. We live in real life. And in our real lives, we are marked by a sin-corrupted world and a world that is growing more brazen and arrogant and feeling itself to be made of Teflon and just growing and growing and growing in its willingness to oppose the things of God. That's where we live. Then in verse 29, he says, 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. So he mentions three things in this passage. The Jews opposing from the outside in verse 19. In verse 29 and 30, he mentions wolves among you, grievous wolves in the midst of the flock who will not spare the flock. And in verse 30, he mentions false teachers, false prophets who will arise and draw away disciples after them. So while I don't want to spend a great time on the opposition today, I do want you to turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7. Because in Matthew 7, Jesus Christ talks to us about the reality of opposition, and particularly the reality of wolves. Wolves that are in the flock, whose goal is to destroy the flock. So you should know that there are at every time and at any time within the flock of God, there are those who are not sincere, there are those whose thoughts are designed to destroy even from within. Whether this is ungodly men, wicked men, or false teachers, Jesus says, be aware there are wolves around you all of the time. And so he says in verse 13 of Matthew 7, he says, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them, not every one. that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. I just read that to you so that you will hear the words of Christ in regards to wolves. There are two things I think that we should note about wolves. First of all, wolves are predators of opportunity. They're looking for opportunities. They're looking for the vulnerable. They're looking for the weak, looking for those who are standing on the edge of the flock, those who are not found in the safety of the numbers being led faithfully by the shepherd. The wolf is a predator of opportunity. But the second thing you must note is this, is what Jesus expressly says in this passage is that a wolf comes in sheep's clothing. The wolf is a deceiving animal, a deceiving predator. He clothes himself with sheep's clothing, and by his appearance, as Jesus says, many that say, Lord, Lord, speaking spiritual platitudes and spiritual things, he says, you must understand that everyone that says, Lord, Lord, is not a part of the kingdom of heaven. They may be a wolf, and so how do you recognize them? How do you know if you have a wolf in your midst? And he says, you will know them by their fruits. By their fruits. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. By their fruits, you watch their actions. By their fruits, ye shall know them. So Jesus provides us the information that we need to be aware and to be safe in the midst of this vulnerable world that we live in. And another part of Christ's provision for the wolves is the reality of leaders. Leaders to teach the truth, to point out the wolves. He calls for leaders. So back to Acts 20. As Paul talks about the presence and the realities of life and the presence of opposition of many different sorts, I want to notice with you just a word that he uses in verse 18. This is what ministry is to be about. In verse 18, he says to them, you know that from the first day that I came into Asia, After what manner I have been with you, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. Faithful ministry, you'll see in a few minutes, is all seasons ministry. I just wanted to, at the outset of this message, just to notice that word seasons with you for a minute. Could have been the word times or many other words would have sufficed to make Paul's point, but God has preserved this word seasons. This word has the idea of something that's been fixed, something that is certain, something that is appointed. When you think of the word seasons, you normally think of the weather, right? Fall gives way to winter, which gives way to spring, which gives way to summer. It happens just like clockwork. It's something that's sure. Though the specifics may vary, you can be certain of what to expect at any time of the year. Can you not? Do you know why you can? You do, don't you? Because there's a God who is governing over the seasons. And God gives us a spring, and God gives us a summer, and God gives us the fall, and God gives us the winter. as a testimony of his faithfulness, as a reminder of his renewal, as each new season, for most of us anyway, each new season is met with a great deal of joy and anticipation and renewal. And yet, towards the end of the season, we find ourselves growing weary of either the heat or the cold. And God is there to step in and to faithfully refresh us with the new changing of the seasons. It's fixed. It's appointed. When Paul speaks here of seasons in Acts chapter 20, he is not talking about the summer and the winter and the fall and the spring. He's talking about life, the seasons of life. And I want you to know, brothers and sisters, as a result of what God has revealed about himself, that the seasons of life are just like the seasons of nature. Oh, they're different. They bring different challenges and they bring different joys, but they are fixed and appointed by the God of heaven for his glory and for your benefit. And you can be sure that whatever season that you may be in right now and you're longing for change, that God will bring the needed change and the needed new season at the right moment for you. But you can trust in God. He's the God of seasons. Let's move along. As we think about Paul's account of his ministry and his exhortation to these Ephesian elders, we see that Paul is weighted down with the need and the necessity of godly, faithful leadership. He reminds the men in verse 28 that God has called upon you to be overseers. In fact, this last meeting where Paul changes his plans and calls for the elders to come meet him in Melaleutis, this last meeting is a demonstration that something else has got to be said. Paul is demonstrating good leadership right here. This is important, men. I've been with you for three years, but you've got to understand this. You've got to understand that you must be faithful leaders or this will not go well. So let me just say again. Our times demand leadership. Young men, I want you to know that God is planning. God's purpose for you is to develop into leaders. You see, we live in a culture in which Leaders are, well, let me say it this way. We live in a culture that we call postmodern. And part of this postmodern idea is that there are no absolute rights and wrongs, right? There are no truths, there are no fundamental truths that people need to base their lives upon. And so what that does, in effect is, what it does is everyone just sort of finds their own way, right? It's left up to everyone to find their own way. And in the midst of finding their own way, you see many people just sort of drift because they're finding their own way. There's no leaders. There's nobody following. People aren't being led. Men aren't assuming roles of leadership. They're just people just finding their own way. And God, really the whole history of the Old Testament and the decline and fall of Israel is traced back to a vacuum of leadership by God. We won't turn to all the passages, but let me just give you a couple that you look up later. Isaiah 9, verse 14 through 16. Hosea 4, verse 9. Hosea 4 says, it says, like people, like priests. Why are the people acting this way? Why are the people forgetting God? Because the priests have forgotten God. Why are the people in idolatry? Because the priests are saying okay to idolatry. In Isaiah 9, a very vivid passage, it says, they're all going to fall. They're going to fall because they have not listened to my chastisement. And it says that they're going to fall from the head to the tail. It says the ancient and honorable old people are the head. They're the people at least trying to do the right things. You know what it said? It said the prophets were the tail. And you think, wait a minute. That's backwards. The tail's wagging the dog. And that's exactly what he's saying. He said, it's all backwards. When the prophets should be standing before the people, they should be leading the people well and telling them the truth. The prophets are just like a tail wagging from a dog. Just, just, just sort of willy nilly, just saying, whatever, as long as you feed me. Right? He says, your destruction is going to come upon all. You're going to find at the end, the tail is wagging from the dog. The prophets are at the tail. They do cause my people to err because they won't lead. In Matthew 15, verse 14, Jesus says, the Pharisees, the leaders, he says, just let them go. They're just blind leaders of the blind, and they're all going to fall into a ditch. Just let them go. Let them alone. So if you hear nothing else in this passage than this, know this. that the story of history will be repeated in every single church and in every single family and in every single entity where leadership is called for if we do not heed. As leaders, God's call to lead, and if we do not heed, as followers, God's call to listen. You see, it's the two sides of the coin here in this message. Leaders must lead, but followers must follow. Right? So let's just consider a few things from this passage that Paul outlines regarding godly leadership. Look in verse 18 and 19 again with me. When they were come to him, he said to them, you know that 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 and weight of the Jews, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable to you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house." Now, brothers and sisters, there are books on leadership, more books on leadership than you can ever imagine. And they are filled with innumerable traits and characteristics of leadership. And no doubt, many of those things are good. Many of those things are worthwhile. Many of those things are important. And yet, I will also say, many of those things are unnecessary. Because I believe, I speak as a man who is ill-equipped of my own self to lead. And I speak to other men who, no doubt, feel yourselves or know yourselves to be ill-equipped to lead wherever God has called you to lead. And you can get lost in despair in reading about what all should be required from leadership. I want to point you to what God's Word says in regards to leadership, or what Paul's example was in regards to leadership. Listen to what Paul says here. Verse 19 is very simple. He says, you know where I've been? I have been serving the Lord with all humility of mind. Know this, that first, primary, the fundamental necessity of godly leadership is you must have leaders who are servants of God. Now the good news is any man can do that who knows God. The requirement is that you know God for who He is and you know yourself for who you are. Over and over throughout Paul's messages to his people, Paul identified himself in one particular way. Paul, the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bond slave. of Jesus Christ. You know the beautiful Old Testament reference to the bond slave, where that when it was time for the slave to be allowed to go free, if they saw that their master was a master that did well to them, that treated them right and benefited them, they could go to the master and they could commit themselves to the master for life by boring the hole through the ear, marking themselves as a perpetual servant of this good Master. That's exactly what Paul is saying when he says, I am the bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have found that the Lord Jesus Christ is a better Master than any other Master that I could follow, including myself. And so I am committing myself to serving, to following the Lord Jesus Christ and it is His agenda that I am pursuing at all times. Now brothers, let me say this. That's good news because he says nothing here about being good speakers. In fact, Paul, in other words, I am not a good speaker. My weakness is obvious before all. He says nothing about eloquence, nothing about command with words, nothing about a dynamic personality, nothing about a good humor. nothing at all about any intrinsic trait whatsoever. And so today, if you are sitting in the pew, and you are convicted because you have shirked your duty as a leader to your home, to your wife, to your children, to wherever else God has called you to lead, and you feel yourself to be incapable, praise God, you can repent and start today leading. All you have to do is commit yourself to serving God. It's taking the mantra of Joshua and saying, you do whatever you want to do, but as for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord. Children, I cannot argue with you about everything that you are, I may not be able to logically convince you of why we're doing what we're doing, but I want you to know this, this family is going to serve the Lord. It also mentions nothing here about those who are thirsty for leadership. who desire to be heard, who need their voice to be heard, Paul drives down to something that is far more pure, far more fundamental, far closer to the heart of God. He says, I have been serving the Lord with you at all seasons. You have seen me. You know that that is what I'm about. I am serving the Lord. You see, Paul recognized in his faithful ministry to the Ephesians, Paul recognized when he reminded the people of in verse 28, he says, listen, your job is to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. The reason that I've been with you publicly and from house to house with tears and warnings and temptations night and day, the reason for that is, is because Jesus Christ bought you. You belong to Christ. And I'm his bond slave. And so, fathers, the reason you persevere your children, whether or not they've been bought by the blood of Christ manifestly, is because they belong to Him. And He gave them to you as a steward and an overseer over their lives. So the reason you persevere with them and you love them and you continue to instruct them and to chastise them is because they belong to God. And you're a follower of God. And the reason that you limit things in your home or say no or say yes or go the extra mile, the reason you do that is to be clearly understood to all your family is because family, we are servants of God. And pastors, The reason that we have difficult conversations with you at times, the reason that we push one another to not shun, to declare to you things you need to hear, and to deal with hard cases must be first and foremost because we are the servants of God and these people belong to God, not to us. And the reason that we will Persevere with tears night and day. It's because we're servants of God. They belong to Him and not to us. And the reason you don't faint, the reason you don't give up, the reason you don't stop, is what Paul says in verse 32. Brethren, I commend you to God and the word of His grace. We're servants of God, but we also rely on God. We have confidence in God. And we believe in God. And we believe in His ability. And we believe in His cause. We believe in His word. We believe in His truth. We believe in His plan. And we believe that He is able to present you faultless even when we don't see any way that will ever happen. So brothers, be leaders, but not through your own skills, let me say it this way, be servants of God. Serve God. In congregation, follow, listen, heed those men who by their appearance and by their words are servants of God. You know the good news here? The good news of the gospel is this, that Christ has established the church as the way through the ministry that you will be presented thoughtless for the presence of his glory. That's good news because the reality in real life is that not every dad's a good leader. Not every father, not every husband is a faithful leader. So praise God, you are not exempt from faithful leadership. You don't lose out on the faithful leadership. If you're a husband or if you're, if, if, if, if your father is not a godly man, if you're a part of the church of God, because God has equipped men to be faithful and equipment to be servants of God. Moving along, but closely related to this, we think about leadership in this passage. What's required of leaders? First of all, they'd be servants of God. Secondly, they'd be personally invested in all seasons ministry. Personally invested in all seasons ministry. What I mean by that is this. Godly leaders are not men who are removed from the dirt and the reality and the stickiness of real life. If you want somebody just to stand over you and make a pronouncement or analysis, that's not what God's talking about. But godly leaders, real leaders, are men who don't just stand to the side and make a pronouncement, but men who get into the muck with you and live with you. and love you in the midst of the pain, in the midst of the difficulty, in the midst of the hard. Listen to what Paul says here in verse 19 and 21. Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying and weight 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. Then in verse 31 he says, Remember that I cease not to warn every one night and day with tears. I love this view of ministry. I love this view of leadership because it's one that I can draw close to. You see, there's a reason that Paul was able to warn every one night and day. Effectively, there's a reason that Paul was able to say hard things to them. Here's what it was. He was able to do that because he was an all seasons proven man. In other words, he was with them. They saw him work with his own hands. They saw him not shrink away when danger came up. They saw him rushing in to be with them when they were being threatened. They saw him going with tears, warning and pleading and begging. They knew that Paul was invested in their lives, not just a judge over them. He talks about his ministry here, he says, listen, I've taught you publicly, I've preached to you again and again and again and again and again. Then he says this, and I have been with you from house to house. And what Paul is saying, he's not saying I've done visitation. Paul is saying is that I have taken this ministry, I've taken this word of truth, I have taught it to you and then I've gotten into the, I have taken it from the group, from the presentation and I've taken it to the application. I have come to you in your individual needs and I begin to apply the word of God and the grace of God and the truth of God to your individual case. You can call this counseling, you can call this admonishment, you can call this whatever you want to call it. What it is is that Paul was not content to only proclaim the word, but Paul's investment in the people was such that he wanted the people to actually get it and be able to apply it to their lives and find sanctification through the application of the word to their lives. He was invested, personally. even though oftentimes he no doubt was disappointed, even though oftentimes he was flummoxed, even though oftentimes he was rejected, Paul was personally invested. Brothers, if you're not a pastor today, you're still a leader today. This is what God is calling upon you. Wherever your sphere of leadership is, you must be personally invested. They must know that you will Walk with them. I warned you night and day with tears, he says. So Brother Lewis, Brother Tommy, others who are considering the ministry, you need to know this. If you want to have an effective ministry, there's one thing you must know, but under serving the Lord, you must know this. You must love the church. You cannot have an effective ministry if you do not love your church. Husbands, you can't have an effective leadership if you don't love your wives. You can't be an effective father if you won't love your children. You must love. This is what is the heartbeat of a personal investment. Moving along. I wanna give you two more points from this passage. Leaders must be servants of God. Leaders must be personally invested in all seasons ministry, not just in the summertime, but also in the dead of winter. And this is what is most prominent in this passage. Leaders must be committed to the word of God, to the ministry of the word of God. It's one thing to say, that's right, I'm a servant of God. I'm on God's team. I'm on God's side. But if you're not committed to the word of God, committed to the ministry of the word of God, what I mean by that is, let me just read what I mean by that. Verse 26. Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. Now consider that for a minute. What does that mean? I am pure from the blood of all men? This is a statement of responsibility. Perhaps we don't talk about responsibility enough, but here's the reality regarding responsibility. I will personally one day, I don't know how it's all going to happen, but I will stand, this is a heavy thought, I will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and I'm going to be asked about my ministry to you people, every one of you. I will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and I will give account for my ministry. That's responsibility. Every husband will stand before God and will give an account for your marriage. Every father will stand before God and will give an account for your stewardship of your children. That's what verse 26 is talking about. And Paul says, I am pure. In other words, I'm exonerated. Now, before I pressure you more than you can possibly bear, listen to this. There is one path to being pure, to being exonerated before the judgment seat of God, and that is this. Listen to what he says. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. You will stand there, brothers, but what you will actually be held accountable for is not the actions of the people, ultimately. What you will be held accountable for, what I will be held accountable for is, did I hold back? Did I withdraw? Did I shun? Did I decline? to declare the full counsel of God. Now does that mean did I preach 66 books? No. Because a man who dies at my age can never make that, right? And a man who lives to be 200 can never make that either. So it's not saying that I preach verse by verse through every passage in the scriptures. It's also not saying did I Did I preach the doctrines of grace well enough that the people understood exactly every fine-tuned point of the doctrines of grace? Or the doctrine of God, or whatever doctrine? No, it's not what it's saying. It's what it's saying. It's saying that God has a counsel, God has a purpose, God has a will. This word actually means consultation. Listen to that thought. A consultation. Did you preach the consultation, the will, the counsel of God to the people? Or did you withhold it? In other words, friends, as we go through life, there are constantly a series of decisions and of steps taken, of paths gone down. And at each one of those, God has something to say about it. Right? At each one of those, there's a consultation, there's a doctor's appointment with God. Each one of those. And at each one of those, he says, were you faithful to give God's will? Were you faithful to declare God's thoughts? Were you faithful to declare God's words? Now, in a sense, it is unthinkable. Think about this. It is unthinkable to think that the God of heaven, whose mind is immense, whose thoughts are always right, it's unthinkable to think that we might skip a consultation appointment with God, right? And yet there have been more appointments skipped with God throughout history than you'd like to stick at. Sometimes, because the one who was to deliver the message refused to deliver the message. In my Bible reading this week, I was reading in Jeremiah this one story that really stood out to me. It's a story of Hananiah. Hananiah was a prophet. Jeremiah was a prophet. This is near the end of Judah's time. They were about to fall into captivity. And we use the word captivity and just kind of move on about they were about to get slaughtered. You read the last chapter of 2 Chronicles, it is a horrific scene. It says not young men or old men, not children or old women, nobody was spared. This is right before that. And what had happened was that Nebuchadnezzar had come and he had taken it from Babylon and he had taken the king of Israel, Jehoiakim, he had taken him captive. And he had also taken not all the things from the house of God, but he had taken some of the most precious, goodly vessels out of the house of God, and he carried them back captive to Nebuchadnezzar, I mean, to Babylon. And Jeremiah is weighted down with this reality and by the refusal of Judah to listen to him. And so Jeremiah, under God's direction, begins to walk around with a wooden yoke on his shoulders, like a yoke that you might put on oxen. And he's walking around with this wooden yoke on his shoulders and he's telling people, you better repent and you better do whatever Babylon says because we are in trouble right now. And Hananiah comes to the temple and says, God has spoken to me. And here's what God says. God says that in two years, all of these vessels are going to be returned back to the house of God and everything's going to be hunky-dory and good again. Don't worry about what Jeremiah is saying. And he takes some kind of an instrument and he breaks the wooden yoke off of Jeremiah. What's he doing there? What he's doing there is he's shunning to declare the full counsel of God. Why is he doing that? Well, why do we do it all the time? Fear of man, the desire to not stir up waves, intimidation, popular opinion. And God speaks to Jeremiah and says, Jeremiah, you tell him this. He says, that wooden yoke, that was tough. But the bad news is, because they've listened to Hananiah, they're going to have a yoke of iron instead of a yoke of wood. And following up shortly on the hills of Hananiah's prophecy, that was no prophecy, he was struck down dead. And a short time after that, you know what happened? Jerusalem was slaughtered. slaughtered outside of those few people who listen to Jeremiah. Brothers and sisters, for your everlasting good, you must pray that you have leaders that will not shun to declare unto you the full counsel of God. It is for your good. And the responsibility or the culpability balances on whether we will declare the whole counsel of God. On the other hand, if it is our duty to declare, it is your duty to listen. Turn to Proverbs 1 for a moment. Proverbs 1. You see, there was a two-pronged problem in Israel of old, and there's a two-pronged problem in our world today. We've already mentioned one of them. One of them is the men who will not declare the counsel of God. On the other hand, there are faithful men who will declare the full counsel of God. They will not hold back. They'll tell you the truth. And listen to what it says here in Proverbs 1. This is one of the most chilling passages in Scripture. Of course, Proverbs 1 is wisdom is being lauded and the son of Solomon is being exhorted to hear wisdom. He talks about how that wisdom speaks and wisdom speaks and wisdom speaks. And he talks about how that the young man should close his ears to the voice of the scoffer who is seeking to bring him into their midst and to lay and wait for blood and at the end thereof is death. Then Solomon says in Proverbs 1 verse 20, wisdom is crying. She's uttering her voice in the street. She's crying in the chief place of concourse. What Solomon is saying here is that, listen, the truth is being spoken somewhere. The truth is being spoken. Wisdom is calling out to you. Then in verse 22, it says, how long you simple ones? Well, you love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. And then he says, because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand to no man regarded, but you have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof. I will also, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction as a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, they shall not find me, for they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would none of my counsel and despised all my reproof." And the reason I turned to that passage was just that phrase, none of my counsel. We think about shunning. We have not shunned to declare the counsel of God. We also must think of this. When the counsel of God is being given to you, what do you do with it? What a sad scene in Proverbs 1, they would none of my counsel. That's kind of like when I say, Asher, you want some greens? I want none of the greens. I want nothing to do with the greens. Not those greens. No, that's not attractive to me. That's not tasteful to me, tasty to me. They would none of it. And here's what Solomon says happens to the fool as wisdom cries. So brothers and sisters, if we will be led, if we will be good leaders, we must be leaders committed to the ministry of the word. That's true of fathers, true of husbands, true of pastors. Finally, let me close in this one last point. The leadership called for in Acts 20 is men who will be servants of God, Men who are personally invested in all seasons ministry. Men who are committed to the ministry of the word. And then finally, what I just called Psalm 115 verse one leaders. What does God want from you? Brothers, brothers, isn't that encouraging? It should be encouraging to all of us. What God is requiring for us is not above our ability to serve God. Love people. Love your people. Believe the word. And finally, Psalm 115, one leaders. Here's what Psalm 115 verse one says, not into us, not into us. Oh Lord, be glory. I'm sorry. None to us, none to us, but into that name, be glory. God's glory. God's glory. That's why worship is so important. God's glory must be our chiefest aim, our chiefest desire. I get this from Paul's personal testimony in Acts 20 verse 22. He's telling them about his plans to depart. Here's what he knows. And now behold, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there say that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide thee, but none of these things move me. That's an astounding testimony, isn't it? Here's what he's saying. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I just know this, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt a lot. Because the Holy Spirit has witnessed to me that it's going to hurt a lot. And his next thought is, and that does not move me at all from what I'm pursuing. Brothers and sisters, can you say that? When you think of the future and you think of the possibly the reality of pain, difficulty in your future, if that's what God is showing you, Can you say, and that reality does not move me from what I know that God is telling me to do, because, here's what he says, because I want to finish my course with joy. How will that happen? As I testify the gospel of the grace of God. I want my life, he's saying, to reflect the grace of God miraculously leading me, protecting me, guiding me, preserving me, keep me. I want my life to reflect the grace of God in my life much more than I want my life to reflect my self-preservation skills. That's what he's saying. I could go somewhere else, he's saying, but I'm not. Because I am determined to testify the gospel of the grace of God. That's a leader. But it's a leader who can only do that with the help and the lifting of this God of grace. And that's exactly what this God of grace promises to do to those who reach to him and say, God, I must have your counsel. My counsel doesn't work. And God says, wherever I take you, you will finish your course with joy. because you'll be able to testify the grace of God was sufficient for me. And so Paul would close by saying, brethren, I commend you to God. I point you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance. You're not losing, you're gaining an inheritance among them who are sanctified. I pray that God would add his blessings to what I may have said wrong or not well, that God would add his blessings to this message. Thank you for listening to this message. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by the messages and the daily devotional blog on sermon audio from Ripley Primitive Baptist Church. We would love the opportunity to be of greater service to you and your walk with Christ. In other words, we would like to get to know you better. Do you have need of counsel, of a home church, or can we just pray for you? please feel free to contact us by phone at 662-837-8590 or visit our website at www.ripleypbc.com.