Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. Last time we focused on the first part of the chapter. We were talking about Paul traveling through Greece and then he spent some time at Troas and we look at the teaching there with the young man that fell out the window and was resurrected. And then there was the traveling thereafter that touched on Asia Minor. And so we talked about how that was kind of the Greek world, the Hellenistic world. And so there's Greece itself and the Aegean Sea, and the kind of the part of Turkey, modern-day Turkey, that touches onto that sea. Now, we talked about the fact that Paul, he's trying to travel. It's kind of a 50-day period. He has from Passover to Pentecost. He's trying to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost. And he knows, because of prophecies that he's been hearing, that he is going to be taken in chains from there when he goes to Jerusalem. So to some extent, he may be thinking, this is my last opportunity to go to Jerusalem. And he has a passion to be able to preach the gospel to the Jews, even though he is an apostle to the Gentiles. He has this longing to see Israel repent and turn to God. And so his concern is to get there and to be able to have a last opportunity to get the maximum possible audience. This Pentecost assembly is one of those required days where the Jews had to go to the temple. So this is an opportunity to speak to Jews from all over the world who are coming there for that feast and for that festival. Now, So his goal is to get there. So he has this quick stop in Miletus. He's asked for the elders from the church at Ephesus to come. And so we're picking up there with his speech there. So we'll be reading verse 17 to the end of the chapter. For Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know, From the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me. nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy. And the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore, watch. and remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities. And for those who are with me, I have shown you in every way by laboring like this, that you must support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship. There is much in this passage to commend itself to us. So I ask you to pay attention because there are many things to draw out of it. This is a gathering of the elders of the Church of Ephesus. I talked last time about the fact that this is an important passage in terms of thinking about church government. The idea that it's the elders of the church, that's the key phrase, the church at Ephesus. If you believe only in congregationalism, then you're going to have to say that there's one church, one assembly, one local church in Ephesus that everybody's a part of. And so Paul is calling all of the elders only from that one local assembly. However, we talked last time about some of the evidences against that. And this came up in the debate in the Westminster Assembly between the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians there. But what they said was that essentially the The Presbyterians took the position that there was an enormous number of believers based upon the fact that Paul spent so much time there, there was conversion that was occurring, and the enormous amount of dollar value, sorry for the inaccuracy, and the silver value of all of the things that were burned that were related to witchcraft. And so the things that were dealt with there, it all suggests that it's a large body. And so therefore, there are several local assemblies, because there would be difficulty in gathering in any one place. And so there are also biblical bases to understand that churches have a certain size. When you look at the Mosaic Law and how it teaches about the ordering of church officers, having one elder for every 10 men, every 10 households, and one per 50 households, it helps to establish for us the one per 100, the one per 1,000, it helps us to think about the grades of courts. And so you think that once you get to about 200 households, you're at four representatives going to the 50, which suggests that you're past what is ideal since the rule is to have two to three witnesses going. And so the principles, if we try to draw together the principles of the law, it kind of teaches us some of the things that would help us to understand what is a useful size for the church. Once you get to about 100 households, you have a mature size where you're able to have multiple elders working together. You're resilient as a body. Once you get to about 200, you're getting too big and you need to consider doing a church plant. And that's how you can spread out community churches throughout the town. So that's those are principles from the law. that help us to think about church size and that we see, even in the Old Testament law, they're not based upon ceremonies. It's based upon the reality of the principle that men can only effectively deal with so many relationships locally, and elders needing to be able to have a smaller kind of group to focus on. So that comes to Moses from his father-in-law, Jethro, and that's to help to deal with the limitations of human nature. that he can't govern everything by himself. And so that's what what is put forward there. And so there's no reason to end that going from the Old Testament to the New Testament. So that helps to establish those principles. So we look at these elders of the church and we we realize this is the Presbytery. This is the elders from all the local churches from the city of Ephesus, which was a large city at the time. And so these elders are coming and Paul is concerned for them. He wants to give them a parting message, having spent three years with them. Now, one other thing that's important about this in terms of church government is the reality that we have elders here. And look how the names of officers are kind of linked together. Verse 17, it says, and he called the elders of the church. Okay, so that's Presbyteros. Then we have another reference to overseeing okay so that is they're called overseers and that occurs in verse 28 verse 28 therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood so that word overseers is episkopos which is the greek word that is translated in latin as bishop and so these are all the same office historically the effort to draw out elders and bishops to be different uh... has been a way of centralizing power into a single individual the biblical system of government has multiple elders sitting together in a council they are equals and so there's not a difference between a bishop and an elder. So those two words are used of the same people. We see Paul clearly saying that the Holy Spirit set these people as overseers or bishops to shepherd the church of the Lord. And so from there, we also see the activities. In verse 20, it talks about proclaiming or preaching. It's the activity that is being done. That's what Paul has done. He has declared or preached, proclaimed the teaching that is profitable. And so he's setting this before them as an example of what they should do. And so this idea of teaching, sometimes people try to separate out, well, the head minister is somebody who's able to preach and other people aren't. Well, that's not true. This proclaiming or preaching is being done by all the elders. You'll have this idea of teaching as teaching the doctrine is something you need a special office for. Sometimes you'll say the doctor is forgiving doctrine. And so you'll have this separating of offices based upon that. And that is not the case. This teaching of doctrine is to be encouraged to all of these elders. Furthermore, the idea of taking heed to the flock. There's a word that is used repeatedly in this passage that's rooted in a word for a flock of sheep. It's poimeneo. And you have the activity of shepherding or pastoring. And it's poimenean. That's just taking the same root and turning it into a verb. And so the idea is pastoring or shepherding is just feeding the sheep. Peter is told, feed the sheep. The word pastor just comes from the word to feed. And so the idea is you're the person who's responsible for feeding. You're giving the word. That's how you feed is by giving the word. It's a spiritual feeding. So the activity of these officers, they are called to take heed to the flock, to feed the flock, to pastor the flock. So you can see how the elder is the bishop, and he's the one who is supposed to pastor the flock. So elders are pastors, are bishops. There is no distinction. Paul also uses the word for slave and the word for servant to refer to this. And that's where we get the word minister, which means to serve. To minister is to serve. And so the idea is that ministers are slaves of Christ, they are servants of Christ, they are servants of the people, and they are bound like a slave through covenant to obey Christ and also to serve the people. And so that idea, there is a binding of obligation to serve by feeding the flock, through oversight, as elders. And so what do those things all point to? They point to work. They point to dignity. They point to responsibility to guard and to provide. And so those things all point to the work. The office exists for the work. He who desires to be an overseer desires a good work. That's what we're told in 1st Timothy. And so that's what Paul is teaching us here. He is focusing on what is it that is to be done. So when you think about Paul's teaching on church office, we think about the pastoral epistles, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus, and we ought also to think about Acts chapter 20. And so we take those together and you have a very full view of New Testament teaching on office from the Apostle Paul. There are other places that teach on what officers should do, but those four places are full of wisdom. And so this helps you to be able to consider what it is that elders should do. If you're considering pursuing the office of elder, if you are trying to sit and to determine what kind of elders are, what kinds of men are qualified for the office of elder, what they should do, how to encourage them, And so this is the care that we should give. At the same time, this is applicable to, when you think about fathers and heads of households, your responsibility to care for the flock that you have. You are a pastor of your home, and it is your duty to serve and care for your own family. So now, I want to walk through the text. I've pointed out some of those things. Those are kind of the principles of church government. I tried to summarize for you what some of the debates were, so you have a sense of where this comes. I think it's very valuable. A lot of people say church government, who cares about that? Who wants to think about it? It's important to the life of the church. It's important. If you don't know it, then you're not able to judge one of the three marks of the church. We have doctrine, we have worship, we have government. You need to understand government so you can understand what the biblical forms are. You need to know where the scriptures teach about these things so that you can, when it matters, when there's conflict in the church, be ready to deal with it. Paul warns us about conflict. Let's walk through the text now. Verse 18 and 19 kind of start to lay out the example. Paul's trying to give a sense of an example that needs to be followed, the manner of life that he has. He's trying to draw attention and he's trying to say, elders, follow this example. So verses 18 and 19. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility." That word serving is rooted in the word for slave. Dula, so it's Duleon. And so what we have here is that I'm slaving. He's slaving to the Lord. Serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. So he's pointing out here that he served with humility, so he was not lording it over, he was not domineering, he was not trying to usurp authority, he was trying to make sure to use lawful authority to the honor of Christ, trying to do what his duty was, as opposed to an arrogant service or trying to take authority from Christ or from the people. He points to fortitude, right? He's sort of saying, I took pains, right? And those pains are, he's got tears, and trials, trials, just difficult things, right? So this is a display of fortitude in the service, right? Fortitude is strength of soul. And it displays, right, when you when you run into difficulty, it suffers difficulty without complaint. And in addition to that, it also faces risk or danger with courage. So we're going to see Paul's fortitude, which was necessary for him to be able to lead effectively. Officers who shrink back in the face of danger or difficulty are uninspiring. If anything, they inspire men to run away. You need men who are willing to go into the fight, who are willing to take risks for the cause of God and truth. And that will encourage other men to follow and to do the same. So Paul's fortitude is on display and then his courage which comes out of that fortitude against opposition, determined opposition by the Jews repeatedly over and over again. So what happens? We see he mentions that there is a plotting against him by the Jews. Now we know having read through earlier parts of Acts that's repeated So then he explains from there what he did as an officer. So there's a serving by doing what's fitting to his office. So he kept back nothing that was profitable. He proclaimed. Those are kind of positive and negative. And the rhetorical flow here, Paul is going to take things that are compliments of each other. There's a I didn't hold back, I did proclaim. I taught in public, I taught in private. I taught the Jews, I taught the Greeks. And that kind of represents Gentiles, right? So the idea is he's not holding back, but giving the positive. He's doing it in public, he's doing it in private. He's doing it to the Jews, and he's doing it to the non-Jews. And then he talks about repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus. So these are couplets that go together. So let's consider what's his point in each of these. So, first he says he kept back nothing profitable. Well, I wonder, what does Paul do to explain what things are profitable? Well, first, he tells us in this very passage that he preached the whole counsel of God. Also, in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 15 through 17, he teaches us about the things that are profitable to teach. Let me read that for you. and that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete. Thoroughly equipped for every good work. So he's teaching us that the doctrine is contained in the Holy Scriptures, that the whole counsel of God is given to us, that we have that, and he taught the whole counsel of God. He taught what the Scriptures contained to these people. He had three years, and he used that time well. Now, remember, we also have laid out for us here in this passage from 2 Timothy what the scriptures are useful for. They're useful for doctrines. There's giving of instruction. There's reproof or rebuke. So you say, put this off. Correction, put this on. And then lastly, there's the, there's the, it says instruction in righteousness. You could say, better would be training in righteousness. That's the padean in, righteousness. So training in righteousness, and that comes down to giving an example. And that comes down to kind of praising what is good and disciplining what is bad. And so we see that Paul is appealing to his example, back in Acts chapter 20. And so we have laid out in Acts chapter 20, him kind of giving us an example of how to do this. So we have the systematics laid out for us in 2 Timothy 3, 15 to 17. And then we have the example of how to do what he's telling us there in Acts 20. So those things relate well together. Now, at the same time, we need to remember what is said at the end of that passage of 2 Timothy 3, verse 17. What are the scriptures useful for? They're useful to make the man of God complete. So there's not something lacking in the scriptures because it's sufficient for man to be complete. It's not as though there's some equipment that's missing because it's sufficient to make the man of God thoroughly equipped. And it's not thoroughly equipped for some good works, it's thoroughly equipped for every good work. So there's that triple universal there about the sufficiency of scripture. So back to Acts 20. So Acts 20, verse 19. Serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials. So he's subjectively in pain, tears and trials. There's objectively painful stuff happening to him. Which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews. Now verse 20. How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you. and taught you publicly and from house to house. Sometimes people are afraid publicly to say things that the Bible clearly teaches. They're afraid of the backlash of the culture. They're afraid of what some of the people in the congregation might say. They're worried that other ministers might think poorly of them. Somebody has to be courageous enough to offend everybody in the congregation, to offend all of their peers, and then to offend the world. And that's the reality. Desiring an office of public preaching is desiring the opportunity to lose all your friends. Now, I say that tongue in cheek partly because the reality is the process of teaching should increase unity and therefore actually make you better real friends. Because as you grow together in the knowledge of the truth, your pursuit together of what is good should become closer and closer. Your commitment should increase and that should allow you functionally to do more together and to engage in a committing through covenanting that allows you to be able to bear up under difficulty, a promised loyalty first to Christ and then to each other. And so it is the duty of a minister to keep back nothing from the counsel of God, to proclaim the whole counsel. And not to just do it in private, because then you can kind of avoid being held accountable for that, but to say these things in public too, to say them in the day and in the night. And so to do that fully, to do it completely, to do it consistently, and to say it to all of the groups, to Jews and to Gentiles. And so we then go to the effect, which is to bring about repentance toward God and faith to the Lord Jesus. Now we've talked about how repentance, and the word here is just rooted in metanoia, which is just the turning of the mind, the turning of the mind, the changing of the mind. So it's going from believing one thing to believing something else, going from unbelief to belief. So repentance towards God, I think, points to the reality of the judgment of God and the fact that we are sinners, the fact that we are guilty in Adam, the fact that we are suppressing the knowledge of the truth, we are denying what is reasonable, we are denying what is clear, we need to affirm what is true, what is right, what is good, and so the natural tendency to suppress all of that. We are acknowledging that, that at a basic level we are denying God's goodness, we are denying God's definition, and we have to assert that. That's what we're pending from that unbelief. But when you believe that, when you believe the definition of God, when you believe what God says is good, right, that just puts you in a place of guilt. And so then there's this idea of the positive content of Christ, what Christ has done, who he is. And so you look at Christ is the God-man. Christ came to die. He's the lamb slain before the foundations of the earth. And so his death as a payment for sin to pay the whole of your guilt, the whole debt. And then also his perfect obedience. so that he provides a righteousness, having perfectly kept the whole law, so that we're counted as righteous, not just innocent, and so not getting punishment, but righteous, getting a reward. We're counted as worthy of reward because of what Christ did. So that's faith toward Christ, that he has actually solved the problem and has provided a solution for how do we have right standing, not just innocence, but right standing, being declared righteous before God. And so that's the guilt problem. And then also the power of sin, that we are saved from slavery to sin unto good works, unto slavery to Christ. So Paul, he talks about himself being a slave to Jesus, and he's commending us that rather than being slaves to darkness and slaves to Satan, the good life is to be a slave to the Lord Jesus Christ, because you are a slave of the one you serve. You can't avoid it. The question is, what are you serving? And so that's the negative, the putting off of your unbelief, that's the repentance, and the putting on of believing certain doctrines. And he lays that out for us in 1 Corinthians 15, he declares the gospel in detail. Now, this is going to be mentioned for us, he's going to talk about the spilling of the blood of God, right? Does God have blood? We'll talk about that in a second. Verse 22 through 24, And see now, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. He is bound, going to Jerusalem, bound in the Spirit. The idea is that he, as an apostle, he's receiving direct revelation. He has a desire to be obedient to the Lord. The Holy Spirit is causing him to go to Jerusalem. And so, rather than running away from his duty, he is going to go joyfully to suffer, even though he knows with great clarity that we'll be suffering. He's going down to Jerusalem to suffer with joy, counting his life worth less than the work, the ministry. His ministry, he views as more valuable than his own life, the work that he's to accomplish. Elsewhere, we see Paul talk about the idea that to live is Christ and to die is gain. And the idea there, life is suffering. You're either going to suffer because you need discipline for sin, or if you're righteous in this world, you're going to be persecuted to some extent. You're going to suffer. There's going to be testing and trials. And so there is suffering in this life. And so your options are to suffer as discipline, if you're a believer, is to suffer for discipline, so as to receive that chastening to bring about the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Or you can suffer for righteousness' sake. And Peter tells us that it's not profitable to suffer just for chastening. It's profitable in the sense that it can help you to stop sinning. But it's not profitable in the sense that you're not going to get reward for suffering in discipline. You get reward, additional benefit, additional dominion in the next life. The idea of those who receive talents and they use the talents well, and as a result, they govern more cities. There's an analogy there to show us this idea that there is an eternal weight of glory a blessedness without end that comes from good works that are done in this life. That doesn't mean you're justified. That doesn't mean you are counted acceptable before God based upon doing good works. But being counted righteous because of Christ, there is then an ability to gain reward by Holy Spirit-empowered works in this life. That's not you getting your standing before God. That is God giving us everlasting blessings out of the fact that he has also caused us to bear fruit. And so you want to pursue that and to then suffer for righteousness rather than suffering as discipline for sin. And so Paul is putting that before us, and he's giving this as an example. He's saying, as he says elsewhere, the idea that to live is Christ. The idea is to live is opportunity to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to display the Lord Jesus Christ's greatness in the world. And so, to make him known in the earth. And when you die, you do not have that opportunity any longer. It is gain in the sense that you have joy, you have your eternal reward, you're immediately in paradise, you're immediately enjoying blessedness. But you do not have the opportunity to add to the displaying of the glory of God in the created order here anymore. And so it's better to continue ministry in suffering than it is to die and to receive that reward. It is better to take our days, though they be numbered and limited, and seek to do the most, to dare to do great things for the glory of God at the risk of suffering and loss. And so he is commending that. He's giving his example. He's being testified to everywhere that there are trials he's going to have to go through. He's not doing this with his eyes shut. And the fact that he knows this magnifies the greatness of God all the more. The fact that he's aware that he's going to suffer in doing these things and chooses to do it nonetheless helps to show what he thinks is good. It shows the goodness and greatness of God. So his ministry, his service, is for the purpose of bearing witness to the gospel of the grace of God. How does that fit together? The grace of God is the crowning attribute of God. The grace of God is the crowning attribute of God. It is the last thing to be fully displayed because His power is shown in creating. His justice can be shown very quickly just punishing people, punishing demons. But His grace requires that Christ come as a substitute to pay our penalty for us. and requires that there be a saving of individuals throughout history. And then, ultimately, there's a resurrection and judgment where there is an accounting of people as innocent and as righteous, even though they themselves are wicked. That requires the whole of history, that the mercy of God is displayed at the end of history in its fullness. And so he is going around and declaring the glory, the greatness of God, by preaching about the victory of grace, by preaching about the fact that Christ has come to pay for the sins of his people, to save his people, effectively, powerfully, to save his people. And so he is preaching the gospel of the grace of God. Now, verse 25 to 26. This is about his clear conscience. And indeed now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. It's an example of how to have a clear conscience. If you want to be a workman who need not be ashamed, then what you need to do is you need to preach the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. That's what you want your life to be governed by, is speaking truth. And this is how you put duty on other people. Here's the problem, there's too much work to do. There's not enough people to do it. So, ministers who want to accumulate control to themselves, power to themselves, they're not putting responsibility on other people. And so there's a delaying of the picking up of work. There's too much work to do. So how do you make it so that other people pick up the plow? Make it so other people start doing what they're supposed to do? You say, hey, I tell you what. I've told you what's true. I've argued it to you. I've shown you what's clear. You now, you've heard it. So what are you going to do? I'm innocent of your blood. If you just wait around for judgment to come, your blood is on your own hands. Do you see how that makes you kind of take responsibility for yourself? As Paul's saying, I'm not going to be here anymore. I've told you the whole counsel of God, and you've got to do this work now. That's your job. Now, in Revelation, we have a letter That is Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 to 7. Jesus is talking to the churches. The church at Ephesus, it's pretty clear that they take some of Paul's warnings very seriously. We'll get to that, but this is effective. It's kind of what I want to say. There's going to be some things they fail at, we'll talk about that too, and how to avoid that. But that'll have to be next time. So, Paul here, he is explaining that he has a clear conscience. And so he being a disciple, being a student of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has sought to make disciples. That's what he's taught to do. The Lord Jesus Christ taught him to make disciples. And making disciples means you are making disciples. disciples, which means you're making other disciple makers, right? Because it's your duty to teach, to spread the knowledge of the truth. Just like we read out of Deuteronomy 6 today, this idea of speaking while you walk by the way, putting the word on things, governing your thoughts and your actions. You are giving example to a disciple maker who makes disciple makers. He's preaching the kingdom of God. This is, the word gospel has to do with the preaching of victory, declaring the good news, the news of victory, what Christ has accomplished. The kingdom of God, we're talking, that's a part of that good news. And there's a depth to that phrase, the kingdom of God, that we can't go into today. But this comes down to the church, but also the way in which they're just liberating from the kingdom of Satan. And so the removal of evil, the displaying of what is good, the filling of the earth with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea, that's the building of the kingdom, the spreading of the kingdom, the coming of the kingdom. And so we pray for that, a kingdom come. That's progressively occurring, that the kingdom of grace is advancing, and we wait for the return of Christ for the kingdom of glory, but there is this advancing of the grace of God throughout the world. The souls are saved and lives are transformed, and there is a more and more consistent application of the word in people's lives, homes, businesses, in the church, in the state, and so we see the word governing. So, on this grounds, that he has preached these things, he's innocent of their blood, he's warned. He has not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. I love, I love that phrase. He has not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. And so, that's in verse 27. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. that shunning, that shirking back, that being afraid, right? Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, first to the Jew and also to the Greek. It's a man of every kind. And so the gospel is the power of God to salvation. And salvation is a broad term. We're not just talking about being saved from the guilt of sin. We're talking about being saved from the power of sin. We're talking about being preserved. We're talking about the idea of glorification. We're talking about the benefits of adoption, the whole of salvation. The gospel comes powerfully to save people, to get the whole package of salvation. the whole golden chain that he lays out in Romans 8. And so he's declaring the counsel of God. He has not shunned to declare it. And so he's not shirking back. We need to be aware, Paul takes that as a theme, there's a danger of being ashamed, afraid to speak the truth. And he's emphasizing over and over again the importance of being willing to speak the truth. We live in a time with cancel culture. In Paul's time, cancel culture was they kill you. Cancel culture is not new. Cancel culture used to involve stoning people. And so Paul was beat repeatedly. He was stoned repeatedly. He was cast out of places repeatedly. He was kicked out of churches repeatedly. There's this repeated rejection that he went through. Cancel culture is not new. We cannot shun to preach the whole counsel of God just because we're afraid of reactions of people. Getting canceled in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is an honor. You get far more by having that happen to you than if you hadn't. Multiples over are paid back. So, we'll pause here in the middle of this and consider the Apostle Paul and his example he's given to us. The courageous preaching of the gospel and how giving the whole counsel of God, preaching the kingdom of God, is laid forward, laid out for our examination. And this is given to us so that we understand what ought to be done by faithful officers. Are there comments, questions, or objections from the voting members? Mr. Cordova? Thank you for your teaching this morning. My question is related to fortitude and how you were speaking about that and how Paul was explaining this. We're not being afraid of what you were just talking about, cancel culture and so on. I would suggest that fortitude is very much lacking especially in men these days, what can men do to build that up within themselves so that they can be more steadfast for the glory of God, for spreading the gospel, but also for, you know, I'll just leave it at that for those things. Absolutely. So the question is, the comment is, you think that fortitude is lacking in men, and you're asking how can fortitude be encouraged and increased in men so that they do not draw back in the day of battle. Okay, so the thing is, the principal thing is wisdom, right? So as we increasingly know God, we will increasingly be transformed after the image of Christ. increasing knowledge of God, increasing wisdom, increasing knowledge of his law, meditating on it day and night, so that we know what he has commanded, what he has told us is good, that will increase our perception of the value of the glory of God. And so, as our valuing of the glory of God increases, the comparative concern about the loss of other things diminishes. and allows us to risk and venture for the glory of God. It is the greatness of God in our own minds, our subjective acceptance of the reality of the greatness of God. It's objectively true that God is great, but until you subjectively get it, you will not have fortitude to advance the glory of God at the cost of even your own life. And so Paul's view of the greatness of God was so high that his own life seemed worthless in comparison. And so there's also lies that we believe about other things where we think they are satisfying or good. And seeing the deceitfulness of sin helps us to be freed from that. And so as we diminish false views of the good and increase our perception of the true view of the good, which is the glory of God, then the distance becomes greater and greater and our choice becomes more and more consistent as we, you know, in our moments of weakness where we're increasing in our perception of false goods and diminishing in our perceptions of true good. The issue is a kind of like, you know, our own subjectivity is such as kind of like two sine waves where we have a low point and a high point on our valuing of God's glory and we have low points and high points on our valuing of false views of the good. And so when the high points of our false views hit the low points of our true views, we invert them and we sin. We choose the lesser good. And so as we increase in wisdom, we become more consistent in keeping those things farther apart so we will make the right choice. So that's it, get wisdom. Thank you. Any other comments or questions from the voting members? Okay. Then let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word. We ask that you would help us to understand and believe these truths, to draw out inferences, implications, to be able to apply it. And we ask that you would give us strength to do these things, that you would help us to have fortitude, that we would not draw back, that we would not shun duty. And we pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.