Turn with me this evening to the book of Acts. The book of Acts, chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. We'll pick up the reading in verse 17. Acts 20. Verse 17, let's hear the Lord's Word. 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 unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me, but none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that 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 ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. Now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring he ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. And the Lord will add his blessing to his own word for his sake. Let's bow our heads in prayer, please. Let's all seek the Lord together. Father in heaven, we do come now in the name of Christ to ask for the Holy Spirit, that anointing that he alone can give, that divine enabling, that spiritual energy that the servant of God needs every time he opens the book to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that thou wilt abide with us this evening, that we would know what it is to draw nigh to thee, And we would certainly sense the Lord has drawn nigh to us. Give the man a Lord that's so needful. Enlighten the minds, O Holy Ghost, we pray, that it might be understood. Pray that thou would bring the piercing application that only thou canst bring. We ask God tonight that this will be a word from the Lord for this church. They will know it's a word from God, and they will cherish this word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen and amen. It was 17 years ago this month that I took up the pastorate of Covenant Free Presbyterian Church, and the time has now come to step down from that pastorate. Some think I'm retiring. That word has been used, even had an email today saying that the Lord would bless me in my retirement. I'm not old enough to retire yet. I might look it, but I'm not old enough to retire, nor am I rich enough to retire, so that's just not on the table. But I am stepping down. You will understand that I did not come to this decision lightly. Unbeknownst to any of you, I had been wrestling with this matter before the Lord and within my own heart for many months. Over the past 30 years of preaching, I have continually encouraged the Lord's people to stay the course, to be steadfast and immovable, to never give up, never give in, never quit. It was not just something that I preached, but one that I have sought to put into practice my whole ministry. The Lord's servants are often brought to places in the work of God where their resolve to stand fast is put to the test, to see if it's just preaching that they're doing, but not practicing what they preach. And I was no exception. Within six months of taking up the pastorate, my first pastorate ever in Orlando, Florida, four of the original five families that had professed that they wanted a free church in that city had left. I was brought very quickly into the fire to see if I was going to plow on or pull out. Thankfully, the Lord enabled me to keep my hand to the plow. The Lord put that same test before me again a number of years later in that work when, at a very difficult time, the man who had been such a godsend to the work informed me that he and his family were moving to another state. I have to say I was absolutely floored. It caught me broadside. I was not expecting it. I began immediately to wonder, since he was so critical to the work of God there, was the Lord telling me that my work was through? It was through the very text that the Lord had originally called me to the work in Orlando that he reaffirmed that call to me. and enabled me to believe that the work was going to go on with or without that dear brother. It ended up that he didn't leave after all, but it was still an intense test of my resolve to continue on. Yet again, I found myself facing in that work another river that seemed to be uncrossable, a mountain that I could not tunnel through. And yet again, the Lord did the very same thing I thought would never be done. And He assured me that that was where He wanted me. That was where I was to labor. And that's how the Lord taught me and sustained me for almost 14 years in the Orlando work. Part of me wishes I could say that when the Lord called me to Columbia and I took up the pastorate here, that those testings of my callings and my resolve never appeared again. The truth is that they became more intense, more difficult, more complicated than anything I had faced in Orlando. Those of you who have been here from the beginning will know something of what I'm referring to. We have gone through many difficult times as a church. We've had, it seems, almost the whole gambit of troubles that can befall a church and test the resolve of any pastor and any congregation. We've never had an easy go of it. But I said that part of me wishes that these testings had never come, because the other part of me is very thankful they've come. Very thankful for what you and I have learned about ourselves and about our God and about people and about the work of God. It has been worth it all. By the grace of God, This church has stood fast and kept the faith. Sola Deo Gloria. All glory to God. You will understand why my stepping down from the pastorate of this church was such a difficult one for me. I feared that just entertaining the thought of resigning would put me in the camp of quitters. So the struggle with all of this went on in my soul for months. Back toward the end of last year, I read a statement from a book written by Warren Wiersbe. in a chapter that was designed to encourage those who are facing difficulty in their work for the Lord. He wrote—this is the phrase that caught my eye—so I say it again, keep serving as long as you can. So I stand before you as your pastor for the last time and I tell you lovingly and honestly and painfully that I have served here as long as I can. You know the condition of Kim's health and you know that I cannot fulfill my responsibilities to you and to her. She must come first. And I say that with absolutely no regret, as if it's just my duty as her husband. I love you all, but I love her more. If I am to love her as Christ loves the church, then my calling to take care of her overrides my calling to take care of you. None of that means that saying goodbye as your pastor is easy. It's not. The closer I have gotten to this day, the greater has been my sadness at the thought of leaving. although I must leave, I don't want to leave you without a parting word. I could think of no better word to leave you than the word that Paul left to these Ephesian elders when he took his leave of them for the last time. My text is found in verse 32. Now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. The word commend means commit or to entrust. I entrust you, I commit you to God and the word of his grace. Paul was entrusting the care of these believers into the hands of God, and that's the best thing that he could do for them, and that's the best thing that I could do for you. As we look at those parting words of the Apostle, I want you to see first the context of Paul's committing them to God. The context of Paul's committing them to God. By context, I mean what was it that led Paul to feel the need of entrusting them into God's care? Why did he say this? The picture he's been painting is not a very bright one, a very sobering one it is, and the thing he said that moved these elders more than anything was that they would never see him again. So verse 25, I know that you all shall see my face no more. That wasn't a statement to arouse feelings of sadness or to produce tears in those men. But it was, in part at least, a revelation of the difficulties that they would be facing. They would be facing the difficulties without Paul. I'm not going to be here anymore. I'm gone. And in the midst of all of those difficulties, there would no longer be apostolic care. That's a big thing, you know. To have an apostle right there to call upon. An apostle. They were living, and their church was in the city of Ephesus, where there was a very high concentration of superstition and idolatry. they had only really recently been delivered from that superstition and that idolatry. Remember Diana, great as the goddess of the Ephesians? They lived. They would no longer have the apostle to guide them, to instruct them, to feed them as only an apostle could feed them. He tells them that after his departure, that grievous wolves—literally savage or fierce wolves—will come into the church and not spare the flock. Even from their own selves, he says, men would arise within and teach corrupt doctrine, perverse doctrine, in order to take away disciples to themselves. They wanted their own followers. That's the context of the apostle entrusting these believers into the care of God. There were real dangers that they were going to face, and there was very real deception that they had to face, and there were real threats to the life of the church. He wasn't pulling any punches. But God, In the face of all the danger, the deception, the threats, God was removing him from that position and they would never see him again. You can understand, can you not, why Paul would say to them, and now brethren, I commend you or I commit you to God. I trust the application is clear. Just so you know, I think you would know it anyway, I am not for one moment putting myself on par with the Apostles, or for any Apostle, for that matter. They're in another group altogether. But if Paul would say that he was less than least of all the saints, I can surely say that I am less than that. But as far as my being your pastor, my being the minister of this church, you will see my face no more. If by some hand of providence down the road I come in to preach, I will not come as your pastor. A preacher I will be, but not your pastor. Preachers you will have. Good preachers. Men who will open up God's Word, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, declare to you the whole counsel of God, preach the same messages that I've preached. But they will not be your pastor. They will not come as the one who knows you like I know you, and the one that the flock knows so well. Until the Lord sees fit to call a man to this work, having a pastor is something that will be missing. And the fact is that will bring with it its own set of difficulties and dangers. I'm not saying, as Paul did, that wolves are going to come in after my departure and not spare the flock, but I am saying that any church faces certain dangers and difficulties when they don't have a regular pastor. when their pastor is removed by the Lord. And that's the context. That's why I will and I must, like Paul, commit you and the care of this congregation to God. Secondly, look at me, with me please, at Paul's confidence in committing them to God. His confidence. He's painted a pretty foreboding picture as to their future. Savage wolves, men within the church who would rise up and make themselves important, all in order to get a following. persecution of the church was only going to increase. And if that was enough, they would no longer have the help of Paul's ministry among them. It was unique, you know, to have that man for three years. To have the Apostle Paul—can you imagine having the Apostle Paul for three years? were going to be hard. But in spite of all that, Paul has complete confidence that they will be cared for, that they will be just fine. But why is he so confident? Because Paul believed that in spite of all of these difficulties and dangers and deceptions, in spite of the fact that he would no longer be around, they were not without God, and they were not without the word of his grace. That's why he's so confident that in spite of all the dangers and all the problems that are coming down the road, he's gone, but his confidence was in God and the word of his grace. He had no doubt at all in God's ability to build them up through the word of his grace. That word build—basic meaning speaks of the building of a house in a slow process, step by step, and seeing it completed. And Paul uses that word to speak of them being established and made firm and permanent. And that which will establish them and keep them firm In the face of his departure, in the face of the deceptions and the dangers, is the Word of God. Here it's called the Word of His Grace. It's the Word of the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. all the other doctrines that flow from that word of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. He knew, he knew that that's what they needed more than him. It's very true that the Holy Spirit is the one that guards and sustains the spiritual life of the church and of the believer. He is the one who instructs us. He is the one who enlightens our understanding, so that when we read the Word of God, we get it. And we get the application that was designed for us. We look at the Word, and we see it as a mirror, and say, oh, that's me! What in the world do you think's happening when you look into the Word of God, and you say, that's me the apostle's talking about. That's me the prophet's talking about. That's my situation right now. That's just the Holy Ghost making personal application to you in order to establish you, confirm you, build you up. The Holy Ghost does that. he carries on that work through his Word that he breathed. It's through his Word. God works through his Word. Paul knew that He knew right well that anyone who would carefully learn and rightly use and faithfully keep the word of God, the word of his grace, will never make shipwreck of the faith. They're going to be secure, no matter what enemies rise up. They won't be taken away. They won't fall away if they make a right use of the word. This book is the revelation of God's redemption. That's the main theme. It is the theme of redemption from cover to cover. It is the key to studying the Word of God—redemption. The story of God rescuing men Satan's captive chains and bringing them out of darkness into his marvelous light? Paul knew. Paul knew. This book will teach them how to live and teach them how to die. And you need to know that. how to worship, how to pray. It's the word of his grace that will show us how to overcome the world and overcome the evil one, and how to discern false teachers and their false doctrine. The word alone is sufficient. By this word, You have been strengthened. This Word is the only sword of the Spirit. It's the Word of God, and the Word of God alone that liveth and abideth forever. Not my words, not my sermons, but God's Word. So why wouldn't Paul, that being true, why wouldn't Paul have absolute confidence in committing them, turning them over, as it were, into the hands of God's care and the care of the Word of his grace? And I can do no better than Paul. than that right there. I will miss—I don't know yet how it will feel, because it hasn't happened yet, but I know one thing. I'm going to be sitting in a pew in Greenville, wishing I was here opening up the Word of God and preaching. That's just fact. I will miss that. I will miss teaching you the Scriptures. But, you see, I also know something else. God does not need me to build you up. I commend you to God and the Word of his grace, which is able to build you up. and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified." I tell you, Paul had far, far more confidence in the power and efficacy of God's Word than most preachers today. Just the Word of God. I should remind you, I think, that the vast majority of the New Testament, when he spoke this, had not yet been written. And I imagine that since these—we're talking about Ephesus, so a large contingency of Gentile believers, most of them would not be able to read the Hebrew Old Testament. Surely part of what Paul had in mind was the spoken word that he had preached and taught them as an apostle of God—the spoken word! Therefore, how much more confident we who have the written word—what Peter called that more sure word of prophecy—are that God is able to establish and edify and bring you to glory without me. So I will tell you once again what I have told you hundreds of times. Read the Word. Read it. Study it. carefully. Don't be content with just reading it. Study it. Meditate upon it. Memorize it. Hide it away in your heart. Paul believed it had such power, didn't need an apostle to be there to build them up and to bring them to glory. You see the preeminence he gave to God's Word? God's Word in the hands of God can do anything. Did I say obey God's Word? Won't do a whole lot of good if for all your reading and studying and memorizing and meditation, if you don't go out, and seek to live according to the Word of God. This is God's means of building you up in your most holy faith. Do you really believe that? Do you really believe what I have just said? Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works." It is put, the faith is given the acid test when it comes down to work. Doing. We believe this to be so true. Then we will read and we will study and we will memorize and we will meditate and we will obey Surely you see that in doing that you're built up, you're established, you're strengthened, you're equipped. You see what Paul is implying here. by seeing, and saying, I should say, they would see his face no more. He says that, you'll see my face no more. Therefore, I commit you to God and the word of his grace. What he's actually implying there is that it's often a good thing, and it's a very needful thing that God removes his ministers from his churches. I say that because congregations can be taken up more with what their pastor says than what the Word of God says. When you get in that department, when what the pastor says is the gospel truth, and you don't even know what the Word of God says, you're in trouble already. How will you know with what the pastor says is the truth? Well, I trust him. I'm glad. I'm glad I have your trust. I'm glad I have your confidence. I think you would believe that I'm not going to preach heresy. But the fact is, pastors, ministers, preachers, may become at times more of a hindrance than a help in the ministry of the Word. They get in the way. It's not that this is done deliberately. But church history affords plenty of examples where God's people have forgotten that it's not the preacher's thoughts, it's not the preacher's comments, it's not his sermon structure, it's not his sermon material that has the power. It's not what he says, it's what God says in his Word that has the power. It's not my comments on it. not any theologians comments on it that has the power it's not any commentator what they say that has the real power it is this book God breathed alone that's infallible inerrant that has the power always so why do you think there is such a in frequent reading and memorizing and meditation and study of God's Word by the church today. They live week by week on a sermon. Now it's gotten down to one sermon a week, because that's all church. One sermon, Sunday morning, and that's it. That's whatever the pastor says. Wasn't that a nice message? They don't even know. They don't even know if what he has said is biblical. Because they've not read and they've not studied. Because if they had, I think they'd be shocked many a times that what I've heard this morning from the pulpit is absolutely contradicted by the Word of God. But they don't know that. They do not know that. Paul was confident. It's good. You'll see my face no more." The Lord just loves, at times, to take away all props, just so that His people will lean upon Him and His Word. So is it not a good thing that the Lord is removing me from this congregation if it drives you to a greater firsthand acquaintance with God and his word? Well, like any minister, you know I have a certain way of looking at things in scripture. I have a certain way of putting things, of explaining things. You who've been here the longest know that. Some of those things you might like, some of those things might just get under your skin, but, you know, that's just me. And for 17 years, some of you, that's what you've heard week by week, and month by month, and year by year. You've grown accustomed to my views, accustomed to my voice, my style of sermon, my outlines even. And you know that can be a real hindrance. I've never forgotten Many years ago now, I was reading one of Spurgeon's sermons and he was giving an illustration of what I'm talking about, people getting accustomed to hearing him preach and thus lose his effectiveness with it. He told the story of a young man who was hired for a company that built these large boilers, metal boilers. And his first day on the job, this particular position, he was on the inside of this big metal boiler, and if you can imagine the racket that was being made on the outside with all the hammering and the rivets, he felt like he was going mad. Miss Burton said, after a while, that man could, at his lunch hour, lie down and take a nap with the same noise going on. He got used to it. like Spurgeon said, the dog that can go asleep under the anvil of the blacksmith while he's hammering away and the sparks are flying. It's like water off a duck's back, just because they've gotten accustomed to it all. So there are times when it's a good thing for the Lord to silence the voice of a minister, that his people might better hear the voice of the Lord himself from the Word. Hear it for themselves from the Word. Not be dependent on the messenger. I saw this in living color one time. I was preaching a week of meetings at one of our churches in Canada. The series in Romans 7 is a battle with sin. And the response was very good. People thoroughly enjoyed and felt the Lord had spoken to them. And he saw all of that happening, and he said to me in private, you know, I preach those same doctrines, same truths you've taught, but I don't get that kind of response. You know, it wasn't me, it was just a different voice saying the same thing in a different way that got their attention. So it's good. Paul had this tremendous confidence that they would not be at a loss because he would see their face no more. He commits them to God and the word of his grace. The third and final thing I want you to see is Paul's care in committing them to God. That word, command, A rough, wooden, literal translation, it means to place someone or something down from off yourself. The picture is one of Paul carrying a heavy burden. He speaks of that in 2 Corinthians 11. The burden of the churches are on him daily. He uses this word commended to take something from off himself and to lay it down. He had many, many, many anxious cares for this church. He knew what they were facing. He saw the trouble that would arise. And what does he do with that heavy burden that he knows he will no longer be able to carry? He lays it down beside God. That's what he does. He lays it down beside God. He casts his care upon the Lord. He puts that church into the care of God. I imagine we all have anxious cares about this work. in light of my departure? What will happen to this church? Will it continue? Will God call a man to come and pastor this little flock? Will people leave because the pastor has been taken away? Will a spirit of discouragement and defeat set in? Those are the kinds of cares that weigh in upon the soul at times like this. So what am I to do? The only thing I can do I commend you to God. The burden of this work is no longer mine. God has seen fit to remove me. But I know what to do with that burden. I lay it down right beside God and say, Lord, here it is. It's your burden. It's your care. My work is done. There's nothing I could do, I don't believe, that could better show my love and my care and my concern for you than to do that very thing. just turn you over to the Lord. I have confidence in His care, and I have confidence in His Word. Let us all cast our care upon the Lord, and the promise is He will sustain us. He will do that. And I know that God will bless that Word. to your hearts for His own namesake. Thank you. With all of my heart, thank you for affording me the opportunity to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, for coming back to hear this man who thought he was never worthy to stand behind this desk. I love you, and I will continue to pray for you. Continue to pray for us. Difficult days are ahead, but the Lord will be there as he'll be with you. Let's bow in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to the end of the Lord's Day evening, the end of this sermon, the end of my ministry here. We bow before the sovereign will of God, Thou doest all things well. And Lord, I do pray Thou wilt show this congregation how much Thou dost care for them, far more than a pastor could ever care for them. I cast them upon thee. Sustain them, I pray. Preserve, guard, guide their every step. Use thy word to be the light for their path, the sword of the spirit for their warfare. the sanctifying water to their souls, and the very thing that points them again and again to Jesus Christ. In His worthy and all-prevailing name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen and Amen.