Please turn with me in your Bibles here tonight to the book of Acts. Acts 20. We have Paul's final farewell to the elders of the church in Ephesus. I think you're familiar enough with Paul's story and how he's called By the Spirit, the Spirit is pulling him away from his missionary journeys. He must go back to Jerusalem. He goes to Jerusalem even though he knows trouble awaits him there. He's not sure of what kind. He's arrested there. He's sent on to Rome where he spends the rest of his days in chains. But Paul here is heading back to Jerusalem and he wants to give his final farewells to a church where he has served for many years, the church in Ephesus. I think these are good words for us here tonight as well. Acts 20. We begin at verse 13 and we read through the end of the chapter, verse 38. Congregation, hear the Word of the Lord as it is read for you tonight. We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Asos where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. And when he met us at Asos, we took him aboard and went on to Miletus. The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. and from Miletus Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. And when they arrived, he said to them, you know how I lived the whole time I was with you. From the first day I came into the province of Asia, I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but have taught you publicly and from house to house I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. Not knowing what will happen to me there, I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. If only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again. And therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves. and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard." Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Now, I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak." Remembering the words, the Lord Jesus Himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. When He had said this, He knelt down with all of them and prayed. And they all wept as they embraced Him and kissed Him. What grieved them most was His statement that they would never see His face again. And then they accompanied Him to the shed. Thus far, the reading of God's Holy Word. May His Holy Spirit bless it to our hearts as we consider it together here tonight. I draw your attention to our text for this evening, specifically verse 32. Now I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Let's ask God's guiding hand upon His Word as it's brought forth here tonight. Father in Heaven, we do pray, We do pray that truly Your Word may build us up in the faith, even here this evening. And, Lord, we would ask that Your guiding hand of mercy would be upon both he who speaks and those who listen. For, Father, without Your Spirit leading and guiding us, these words would be meaningless and Your Word would make no sense to us. So, Lord, we pray work upon our hearts and help us to see that we are called to be Your people, living out Your Word in this, Your kingdom. Grant us such a blessing even here tonight. Remove any and all distractions. Speak to our hearts that we may go forth and be a vibrant testimony for You. In Jesus' name alone we pray all of this. Amen. Beloved congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, tonight we come to the conclusion of what for me and Denise have been ten wonderful years. God has richly blessed us by giving you to us and bringing us together. Many personal friendships have been made. Many close ties have been established and formed. And because of this, many hearts here tonight are aching. We part from you only with great difficulty. Understand this. It is, I think, very similar to the parting that we read about in our Scripture passage tonight. In those three years that Paul ministered to the Ephesian congregation, he too made many friendships, established close relationships. Hearts ached as well when he had to leave. And they parted only with great difficulty. In Acts 20 we read about the words that Paul has for his dear flock. Words that he wanted to say to them earlier, but he was prevented because of the riot that occurred in Ephesus. Remember your Bible history here. Put on your thinking caps a bit. That riot, you remember, was started by the silversmiths in the city of Ephesus because no one was buying their idols of Diana anymore, the pagan Greek goddess. Paul's preaching and work there in Ephesus had been so blessed by God, so many converts had been turning to the faith that the silversmiths were going broke. For three years, Paul toiled there in Ephesus until finally the pagans ran him out of town. He had no time to say goodbye. And after traveling further out through Asia Minor and into Greece, for about six months after that, Paul now returns back to Asia Minor. Not going to the city of Ephesus, the passage tells us here tonight, but to its port city on his way back to Jerusalem. Bible scholars believe that he does not enter the city of Ephesus itself probably because his safety could not be fully guaranteed. And so he stops at Miletus and asks for the elders of the church to come to him in order that he might encourage them and give them some final instructions. And in Paul's farewell discourse to these elders, he first of all attests to his own faithfulness while he was working there among them. Secondly, he warns them about the future. And finally, he commits them to God. Those three elements are found here in Acts 20 and those three elements I would want to lay before you here tonight as well. So look first with me tonight at Paul's attestation of faithfulness. Starting at verse 17 of this passage. Verse 17, from Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. And when they arrived, he said to them, you know how I lived the whole time I was with you. From the first day I came into the province of Asia. I serve the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus." And then drop down to verse 25. Verse 25, that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God." Now stop right there, beloved. Paul is using an analogy here from the Old Testament that the Jews in the Ephesian congregation would have immediately recognized. The analogy is from the writings of the prophet of Ezekiel who often spoke about being sent by God as a watchman over the house of Israel. And it was the responsibility of the watchman on the wall of the city that whenever he saw danger coming, to sound the alarm, to blow a warning on the trumpet. Now if he failed to give such a warning and people died, then their blood would be upon the head of the watchman. God would hold that watchman accountable for failing to do His job. But if that watchman did sound the alarm and the people chose to ignore it and they died, then their blood would be upon their own heads. They would have to give an account before the Lord as to why they did not listen to the warning of the watchman. And Paul here is saying in this passage tonight, I've been a faithful watchman over you. I have brought before you the whole counsel of God. I have warned you with tears. So have you listened? Have you properly responded? I've done my part, Paul here is saying. Now you will be held accountable for your own blood. And beloved, may I humbly submit before you tonight that I have tried to be a humble watchman, faithful watchman in your midst as well. And I believe that I too am innocent of the blood of all men. The whole Gospel of God has been presented to you over and over again. Warnings have been given. Gospel grace has been proclaimed. Are you listening? Have you heard the call of God upon your heart? What will you do with the Gospel? You see, beloved, verses 26 and 27 I believe really summarize the goal that I have had with you here as a minister of the Gospel. To be able to stand and to say on this day as I leave, ultimately to stand someday before God on the day that I die. To stand before Him and give an account of my life and be able to say that I've never soft-pedaled His Word in order to make anyone like me a little bit more. Or so that they might not be quite so offended at what the Gospel of Christ proclaims. You all know that about me by now, don't you, after ten years? You have your flat toes to prove that. A minister who is afraid of stepping on toes is not worthy of the name or the office. Because, you see, congregation, if he's afraid of people, he can never preach the whole counsel of God. God's Word is holy and pure. We as listeners are always sinners and imperfect. And so when His perfect Word comes up against our imperfect lives, something's going to give. Our toes will hurt. Our feathers will be ruffled. But beloved, the true minister must not be concerned about congregational feathers. He must be more concerned about God. And can he stand and say with Paul, I am innocent of the blood of all men? I've been a faithful watchman. Secondly tonight, congregation, Paul also tells us that part of being that faithful watchman for God means then that we bring a message of warning. Look at Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders. Verse 28, keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. Stop there, beloved. Paul here warns the Ephesian elders that wolves abound. Savage wolves, even from within their very midst, are standing taunt and alert, ready to attack the flock at a moment's notice. And beloved, as I leave you here this evening, let me say that there are some savage wolves amongst us as well. Forces that would love nothing better than to divide and to destroy this flock of Christ. Within every congregation and within every human heart, there is always the danger of the wolves of selfishness and vanity. Those who become easily indignant and offended when they're not paid the attention that they think is due them. Or when things don't go their way within the church. Wolves of complaint and bitterness. Those who are overly critical of anything and everything in the church who seem never happy with life. Wolves of indifference and apathy toward God and His Holy Word. Those who neglect the coming together of God's people or who bury their talents instead of using them for the Lord and for His Kingdom. Beloved, those are just some of the savage forces just waiting to attack this flock. And beloved, understand those forces are sin. And so congregation, if you know that some of those forces are affecting you, if some of those wolves are nipping at your heels, There's nothing but repentance and renewal in Jesus Christ that can cure you of this. Within God's church, some other forces center around and focus upon doctrine and theology. Others of these forces center around our worship style and the songs that we sing. In other words, how we show our praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. Let me warn you, beloved, here, that especially in this time of vacancy that lies ahead of you, And while the search is on for a new pastor, it's very easy for these wolves to come out and to have these differing forces line up into battle formation and try to reinforce their own positions by saying, well, we like this guy over here because he thinks like us. And the other people say, well, no, no, we want this guy because he's on our side. Beloved, let me tell you, God's church is not about sides. It is about Christ. This time of vacancy should not be about you reinforcing your position. It must be about you coming together and finding the man whom God has already chosen for you, who can lead you farther along into this road of sanctification and deeper into God's holy Word. And so let me ask you, beloved, please, use this time to ask for the Holy Spirit's leading in all of these ways. Use this time to focus even more upon Christ and the great Gospel of salvation that Christ has won so completely for us. Use this time to look for a man, a man who perhaps maybe can't even preach all that well, but a man who preaches Christ consistently. who brings before you the cross always, who preaches how great a sinner we are, but how we've been given an even greater Savior. That's the man you need. That's the one the Spirit will use to bless you. Look for that man who always points you to Christ. For Christ is who every one of us needs. No matter what our sides or our preferences or our desires. It's not about sides. It's about our Savior. Finally, here tonight, brothers and sisters in the Lord, I want to leave you with the words of our text. These words above all else that I've said here tonight, please remember. Verse 32. Now, I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." Paul here, as he leaves the city of Ephesus and the people of Ephesus, he's placing the church and its leaders and its people into the hands of Almighty God And he's also placing them under the Word of Christ. Take notice of this. He does this because, you see, he knows that a church will remain faithful to the Lord only insofar as that church remains faithful to God's Word. And this begins first and foremost with the elders of the church. And I must address you men specifically here. A tremendous responsibility falls upon you, elders, May it be your continual desire to desire God more and more. To have your life look more and more like Christ's life. To rule His church according to His Word. Elders, that must be your goal. Or this church, even now, is as good as dead. Feed upon God's Word. and the Holy Spirit will lead you. The congregation, that really shouldn't be any different of a goal than what each one of us should have, right? Every person here should have for their life this desire of trusting in Christ, of sitting under His Word, learning more of that Word and being led by that Word. Not just those who sit inconsistently or on the church council. All you men here tonight, then, let me ask you as the spiritual leaders of your home, God is calling you to be committed to Him and to His Word. And so are you then loving your wife and family selflessly? Are you leading them lovingly, closer to the Lord? You wives here tonight, are you helping or hindering your husband as he tries to live out that kind of life for the Lord. Ladies, it is the way you are following God's commands for your life making it easier or harder for your husband to follow God's commands for his life. To the young adults and the young people, let me ask you here tonight, are you committed to Are you wholly given over to God and to His Holy Word? In your life, is it obvious to your friends and to your co-workers that you're a follower of Jesus Christ or a follower of yourself? The Apostle Paul in our text as he leaves the Ephesian church is really relying on and trusting in the corporate, communal nature of the body of Christ. He knows that in God and in His Word of grace, the true church is unified. And this is why Paul then can leave them in God's hands. That no matter where Paul might go, or how many miles might separate them, that if he and they remain in Christ, then they will still be one. And people of God, let me emphasize this to you here tonight. That even as we part here this evening, we do not really say goodbye, for we part in the Lord. And so therefore, never really are separated. Even though many miles may soon separate us, God the great Ruler of heaven and earth and of each one of our lives, God is watching over us. We are one in Christ. And so we commit one another to Him and to His Word of Grace. Whatever may come in the future, our God is in control. Let me remind you that this was true. This common commitment and trust in God and to His Holy Word, that's what brought us together some ten years ago now, wasn't it? God knew back then what we both needed and He brought us together. And God knows now what we need as well. So that in His foreordained plan and for His good pleasure, He is taking us apart. And because we know that we as believers in Christ are committed to God, He will bless the years ahead of us just as He blessed these last ten years so much. He will bring you another pastor to lead you and to love you. He will take Denise and me to another congregation. But if we remain committed to God and to His Holy Word, and not to our own selves and our own wants and desires, then the Lord will fulfill the promises found in our text. Then we too will be built up in the faith. And we will receive the inheritance that awaits all those who trust in Christ alone. And so in conclusion here tonight, beloved, let me say thank you. Thank you for all of these years. Thank you for allowing me this time together with you. Beautiful and delightful years they have been. I can truly say that God has used you to help shape and fashion me and I thank you for that. You have caused me to grow in my faith and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And so, congregation of faith, united, reformed church, it is my hope and my prayer that the Lord may have caused you to grow in your faith as well. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we do thank You. We thank You for this time together that we could have. We thank You that ultimately we serve You under Your holy Word. For it is Your Word alone that can change hearts and lives. It is Your Word alone that guides us through the difficult and the easy times of life. It is Your Word alone that can see us through whatever the future holds. And Lord, I pray that You may have a blessed future for this congregation of saints. I pray that You would use them, guide them, and bless them I pray that You might take and use them. Use them well. Use them properly. Be with the elders as they lead and guide this church. Give them truly guidance from on high through the power of Your Holy Spirit to anticipate ahead what is needed and to do to stand faithfully for You. I pray that You would continue to raise up men who fear You and who are willing to serve Your name. I pray that You would bless each one of these families here. Some of them hurting greatly. Some of them greatly blessed. I pray that you would be with each and every one in whatever stand of life they may find themselves right now. Grant them your guidance. Be with each and every individual from young to old. May you draw them in to yourself. May you never let them go. That even though those fierce wolves will arise, not just from without, but even from within, Father, we pray, may Your Holy Spirit through Your Holy Word fight off those wolves and may this be a body that truly portrays Christ to the world. Grant Your guidance to them. Give them Your blessing. In Jesus' name alone we pray, Amen.