Now let me ask you if you have a Bible available to you, it will be helpful as we turn to the word of God once again. And I would like to ask you to turn with me to the book of Acts and the 20th chapter, the 20th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. And for the two remaining sermons that I am scheduled to preach to you, I want to take up this narrative here in Acts 20 where Paul has come to Miletus on his third missionary journey. He's summoned the elders of the church at Ephesus to meet with him. He's about to leave them and to say farewell. And as he does so, he's reviewing his own life and his own ministry before them. So he's looking back over the years and he's looking forward to the end of his life and to the end of his ministry. And then he addresses these elders in particular and he charges them to continue in the work of the gospel and to shepherd and to care for the flock of God. It's one of the most solemn, one of the most moving passages to be found in the whole of scripture. Very deeply moving portrait of a faithful servant of God. And it has all the drama, all the pathos that you find when people who have been bound together in bonds of love and fellowship are about to say farewell. Well, let's read together in Acts chapter 20, and I'd like to read from verse 17. Verse 17 of Acts 20. From 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 Christ. 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 have received 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." And there is a debate about that. He didn't realize that he could well be coming past Ephesus once again, and it's probable that they did meet once more. But he didn't know it at the time. 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 were 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. Well, let us bow together in prayer. Let us all pray. Our gracious God and our loving Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the privilege of being able to be here in worship this morning. We thank you that you are a God who is worthy to be praised, as we have been focusing our minds upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. And now we turn to your holy word of truth, and we ask that you will grant unto us the help of your Holy Spirit as we come to it, that we may love you more fervently, that we may know you more fully, and that we may follow you more zealously throughout the years that are remaining to us in this life. Draw near to us now, we pray, and grant that we may hear your voice speaking to us, both preacher and hearer alike. We ask it in our Savior's worthy name. Amen. If I can just ask you to turn to that passage with me, and you may be puzzled this morning because I've asked you to turn to this particular passage. Sometimes in Christian circles we hear people say something like this, that such and such a person is the greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul. They may be referring to Spurgeon or Whitfield or maybe Dr. Lloyd-Jones and they'll say he's the greatest preacher since the Apostle Paul. So when we ask the question, What kind of preacher was Paul? Well, we don't have far to go to find the answer because he tells us himself. In 2 Corinthians 10, he says that when people heard him preach, this is what they said. They said that his bodily presence is weak and his speech is contemptible. Now those descriptions are far removed from the image that we might have of him. So the question becomes all the more interesting, what kind of preacher was Paul? And here the address to the Ephesian elders gives you the answers. And you may feel quite rightly that this is a passage which is primarily for those who are pastors or elders. It's Paul's address to the elders of the church at Ephesus. So what kind of application or relevance does it have for me? Well, I want you to understand that what Paul is dealing with here, although it can be applied strictly and legitimately to elders, nevertheless it contains teaching that applies to every Christian. So if you're a church member, then you should be concerned that your pastors are the kind of men that Paul is speaking about here. If you're engaged in any form of Christian service, then what Paul is saying here applies to you. The principles that he's outlining have relevance to every Christian in their life, in their Christian walk, in their Christian service. Now, I don't know whether you recognized when we read through the passage that there are three main sections in the address. And what I want to do is to look at two of them this morning, one of them mainly and then the second one briefly, and then next week we'll look at the third. And the sections are seen from verse 17 to verse 27, you have Paul's own personal reflections before these men. And then from verse 28 to verse 31, you have his solemn charge to these elders. And then from verse 32, you have his unchanging confidence when he commends them to God and to the word of his grace. And we'll focus upon that next week, God willing. Well, let's look at Paul's personal reflections. He's looking back over his past ministry, he's looking forward to the future prospects, and he is revealing to these people the key secret of his life. Look at what it says in verse 17. Verse 18, 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, taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 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 received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." So he's looking back and he has this profoundly moving statement to make and he is setting down his own life and his own ministry before these elders and he is saying I want you to look at my life and my ministry as an example. And he is urging them to be the kind of men that will tell for God in the future. And so he's reflecting on his own ministry as an example for them. And as you look at that section, you'll see that there are certain marks in Paul's life and his ministry that these men would have been able to observe what he is speaking about. He is saying to them, you know how I lived. My life has been like an open book. Every one of you has been able to read my life like an open book. And you know how I lived among you from the very first day. Now that's the challenge that he's bringing to them. So let me point out some of the characteristic marks of his life that he mentions in these reflections. First of all, look at verse 18 where he speaks about his consistency. You know from the first day that I came to Asia in what manner I always lived among you. Now keep in your mind that he's mentioning these things for the simple reason that he is going to charge these men to keep watch over themselves. He's urging them to keep watch over their own life and over their own character. Because for the Apostle Paul, that is the fundamental thing in the service of God. It is not what you do But what you are when you are doing it, that matters more than anything else in the world. And the most powerful influence for God in Christian life and service is Christian character. And here's the first mark of it, Paul says, it is consistency. You know from the first day that I came among you how I always lived among you. So what is he saying? Well, he is saying that he wasn't one thing in one set of circumstances and another thing in another set of circumstances. He wasn't putting on an appearance to suit a certain occasion or to suit certain people. He was a man with inner integrity of character because he was absolutely consistent And I believe that the reason for that is quite profound. It is because God, in his character, has an inner consistency. God is absolutely unshakable. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And that is the reason why you can trust Him. That is why you can have absolute faith in God. because he is absolutely consistent. And that is why Paul tells them in verse 32, I am commending you to this God, this God who is consistent. And because God is absolutely consistent, and when he begins to work in our lives, what is he going to do? He is working in our lives to bring about the glory of his own character in our lives. so that we might know something of that same consistency that is there in God. Now that is extremely important, especially if you're engaged in any kind of Christian service. I have a quotation in the beginning of my Bible here from an old Puritan. And the old Puritan says this, and I have it right in the front of my Bible. I am resolved that when I address a large meeting, I shall remember that God is there, and that will make it small. I am resolved that when I address a small meeting, I shall remember that God is there, and that shall make it great. And what that Puritan divine is saying is what Paul is speaking about here. It is a matter of Christian consistency. To be just as careful, just as studious, just as diligent, just as prayerful, when you are ministering to a handful of people, as when you are going to minister to a large company. Just as faithful, diligent, hardworking, prayerful, when you're teaching three or four Sunday school children. as if you were addressing a large crowd of a thousand Christians. Now that's what Paul is speaking about. Here is the man who has traveled sea and land in the cause of Christ He's been imprisoned, he's endured starvation, he was flogged almost to death, he never gave up, and yet he was always the same man. He was never one man in one place and another man in another place. Wherever you met him, he was the same. Whether he was a hard-working tentmaker or whether he is preaching in Ephesus or Corinth or Athens, he is always the same man. He never made any concessions for anyone. He always remained true to the truths of the Word of God. He never magnified one doctrine into a mountain, and he never reduced another doctrine into a molehill. He always presented the full-orbed, harmonious gospel of the grace of God. He would never lower the cost of commitment to any man. He was always consistent, always steady, always reliable, always true. Now it is that consistency that Almighty God wants to etch into our character that we might be like Him, that we might be dependable and consistent. Now the second mark of His character is seen in verse 19, and it is the matter of humility. He says, you know how I was serving the Lord with all humility. Now remember that he's saying this to these men who for three years had watched his life closely. They know that what he is saying is true. He was a humble man. He's not being false. He's speaking about genuine humility. The very same idea as he himself gives us in Ephesians 4, I beseech you, walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all loneliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love. Now, I believe that that's a primary element in Christian godliness and in Christian character, and it is a primary qualification for Christian service. It is humility. Of course, a very, very difficult thing to talk about, because immediately we become self-conscious when we were talking about humility. But the roots and the genuine nature of true humility is grounded in biblical theology. The reason that true humility is the mark that a person is really walking with God is that that person has discovered something that they had never seen before. And they have proved the fundamental and basic truth that no flesh can glory in the presence of Almighty God. The very faculty that we have of boasting to people or glorying in front of people, that very faculty has been given to us by God that you are able to boast, you are able to glory. But God has given that faculty to us that it might be directed to Him and not to us. you are to glory in the Lord. So this very ability that we have to give praise and to give glory and to give commendation, given to us by God so that we might focus it upon Him, it is basically a spirit of self-forgetfulness. But what sin has done is that sin has come into our lives and it has taken that faculty and that ability and sin has twisted it and distorted it so that that faculty is now focused upon ourselves. And we glory in ourselves, we glory in our achievements, we glory in our appearance and so on. Self-centeredness. The glorying in the ego is the very essence of what sin really is. And that is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And then he says, let him who glories, glory in the Lord. But our tendency so often is to glory in the flesh and to glory in ourselves. How often did our blessed Savior speak about this kind of things to his disciples. Come unto me, he said. Learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. In that significant chapter 10 of Mark's gospel, do you remember how the disciples were disputing who's going to be the greatest? Let me be on your right hand, let me be on your other. And they were having an argument about it, full of self-sufficiency, full of self-assertion, full of self-aggrandizement. We want to be the chief men, one on either side of you. And they came and asked him, who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? And they were filled with self-importance. And you remember that that was a sinful trait that our Lord had to deal with. And He took a little child and He set the child in front of them. And He said, except you become like this little child, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And then you remember how the mother of James and John came to him, and she'd obviously heard him say before, if two of you agree upon the earth concerning the things they desire, it shall be done for them. She comes and she says, well, I've thought about this. I've got something that I want to ask of you. Will you give my sons prominent places in your kingdom? And you remember that Jesus said, you don't know what you're asking. Those places are reserved. for those to whom the Father will give them. And then immediately afterwards, and they're on the road to Jerusalem, and the disciples are arguing who is going to have the most important place in the kingdom. And James and John then come after their mother has been. And they ask, can we have the most prominent places? And you remember the reply, Jesus said to them, you know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles, they lord it over them. And their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. The rulers of this world, he says, they spend all of their energies, all of their efforts to get to a place of prominence. Having got there, they can make the lives of everybody around them miserable. and inferior simply by throwing their weight around and simply by having this self-sufficient pride. Those who are supposed to be the rulers over the Gentiles, instead of being true leaders, they lord it over them. They're proud and they're disdainful and they're inhuman. But, said Jesus, it shall not be so among you. That is not how it is in my kingdom. In my kingdom true greatness is seen in the outpouring of yourself in the service of others for the glory of God. It means taking the lowest place, doing the most menial task, becoming a servant to others. And then you remember that astonishing statement, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. He didn't come into this world that people might serve Him. He came into this world in order to serve. Now you remember that that title, Son of Man, was used whenever our Lord was self-conscious, when He was thinking of Himself. He described Himself as the Son of Man. It describes His humanity. but it also describes his deity. It is the title that is given to him in Daniel 7. He is one who is equal with the Ancient of Days. He is equal with the Father, even the Son of Man. The one who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The one who is the Son of Man. The one who is the center of the bliss of heaven. The one who is the object, the sole object of worship by the angels. So you begin to see what our Lord is saying here. Here are these men, frail creatures of dust, seeking great things for themselves. Let me be on your right hand and me on your left hand. And Jesus said, this is what true greatness is all about, even the Son of Man. And it's only as we grasp the greatness of who He was that you begin to understand the greatness of what He did and what He accomplished. So that is our Lord's estimate. And he's dealing with pride in the heart of these disciples, which was the first sin. The devil was cast out of heaven. He is a fallen angel. Why? Pride. I will ascend into the heavens. I will make my throne there. I will be like God. And then, you remember in the upper room, you all recall the scene when they got to Jerusalem. And there'd be no household servant there to do the foot washing. And they're all reclining at the table. They're all conscious. They've all been engaged in this row, this argument. And they're not speaking to one another. And nobody's going to take the basin and the towel and wash the feet of the others. It's as if they're all looking at one another saying, well, let him do it. And Jesus rose from the table. and he took the towel and he took the basin and he washed their feet. Even Judas Iscariot, he washed his feet. Knowing, says John, knowing that the Father had given everything in this universe into his hands, in the full knowledge of where he had come from, his pre-existence in eternity, and knowing where he was going to, in the full consciousness of all that, he took the towel, he took the basin, and he washed their feet. And that is the wonder and the glory of the Christian gospel. That the one who was so high became so low. Marching towards Jerusalem, setting his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. Even the Son of Man, the one who is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, the one who was begotten and not created, here He is, the Son of Man. washing the disciples' feet, the very opposite of pride. Now listen to what Paul says. You know how I lived among you. From the first day I served the Lord with great humility. That is not a boast on his part. What he is saying is that he served the Lord with a single-minded aim, and that aim was the glory of God. Now, just as there are different kinds of pride, so there are different aspects to humility. And in many ways, you can only assess Paul's humility when you consider the areas in which he might have been proud. He could have been extremely proud of his learning. He had a massive mind. He knew the Old Testament scriptures inside out. He could have been proud of his religious devotion. He could have been proud of his lifetime of costly service. As he reviewed the past and thought about the influence that his powerful preaching has had in the then known world, how under God he had been able to establish his churches all over the place. But he says that he counted all this as filthy rags, all his good works as dross or as dung, that he might be able to say, God forbid, that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's saying I would gladly lie at the foot of the cross in dust and ashes and confess myself to be the chief of sinners and the least of all saints and the amazing thing is that he meant it And these elders at Ephesus knew that he meant it. I am the chief of sinners, the least of saints, and I have served you with all humility. Very difficult to speak about your own humility, isn't it? You know, like the man who wrote How I Achieved Humility and how I attained it and wrote a book about it. Well, you can't do that kind of thing. But the great question is, how is that kind of humility attained? And the thing that produces that kind of humility is not by concentrating upon yourself and thinking that you are in a position where you are humble. And then you try to project your humility toward other people, and that becomes an inverted form of pride, and it can become kind of flattering, smarmy, ingratiating, groveling yourself with other people to let them know that you are humble. Well, that's not the way to achieve biblical humility. You achieve biblical humility by focusing upon God and glorying in Him and magnifying His grace. That is how the Lord dealt with His disciples. He made them aware of who He really was. And the more we know of Christ, and the more we ponder his greatness and his glory and his majesty, the more we will enter into the mystery of the incarnation, and we will discover something. And the thing that we will discover is that we are really nothing. We are nothing. There is nothing in us, there is nothing about us that we have to glory about. And then you begin to see something of the beauty of Christ. And you have to bow before Him, and you have to say with John the Baptist, He must increase, I must decrease. Now that is the very thing that we were created for. That's the very thing that we were redeemed for, so that we might glory in the Lord. And I want to say this. to those of you who are in any kind of position in this church. What this really means is this, that the privileges of leadership within the church of God are not the privileges of status. They are the privileges of service. It is the highest privilege to be able to serve God in His church. So the marks of Paul's life and ministry were consistency and humility. Then the third element is compassion. You see that in verse 19, where he says, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears. You see it again in verse 31, where he says, watch and remember that for three years I didn't cease to warn everyone, night and day, with tears. Now that's a reference to his compassion. He wept tears of compassion for these people. And that's the opposite of the hardness and harshness of spirit that can often be found in professing Christians. But you will remember that that was part of the character of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are told that He looked at the city of Jerusalem and He wept over them. He saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion. It says that He saw them as sheep having no shepherd. Now what is Paul saying? He is saying to these elders at Ephesus, remember how I cared for you. with humility and with tears. Now you be like that as the shepherds of God's people in Ephesus. Now, these are not so much the tears of nature. These are the tears of grace. And there is a difference between the two. There are tears of compassion. There are tears of grace. And only Christians can weep them. There are tears of nature that we all share. The tears of sorrow, the tears of bereavement, the tears of loss and disappointment and separation and so on. We weep those tears because we are human and some of us are more prone to weep them than others. But the tears of grace are different from the tears of nature. You think about the tears that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. The natural man would have gone out and looked at the city of Jerusalem and wouldn't have seen anything to make his heart break. The natural man would look at our Lord and wonder, what on earth is he weeping about? Listen to what Paul says in Romans 9 about his fellow Jews, his own people of his own race. I tell you the truth in Christ, I'm not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. Do you see what he's saying? He's saying something very profound, extremely moving. I have continual grief and anguish and sorrow. I am weeping over my fellow countrymen because they are not saved. Most of you or many of you have heard of the ministry of Robert Murray MacChain, one of the godliest ministers in the land of Scotland. He died at the early age of 29. I remember a number of years ago visiting the church in St. Peter's in Dundee and standing in MacChain's pulpit A few years after M'Cheyne died, a young English minister visited St. Peter's to discover what he thought was the secret of Mr. M'Cheyne's influence. And the old sexton, the caretaker who had served under Mr. M'Cheyne, he took the man into the vestry and he pointed to some of M'Cheyne's books still lying on the table. And he said, now sit down there. And then the old canny man said, sit in that chair that Mr. McChane used to sit in. And then he said, now put your elbows on the table. And the young man obeyed. And then he said, now put your face in your hands. The young man did. And then he said, now let the tears flow. Now let the tears flow. That's what Mr. McChain did. Let the tears flow. Then he took him into the pulpit, did the very same thing. Put your elbows on the pulpit. Now put your head into your hands. And now he said, let the tears flow. That's what Mr. McChain used to do. These are tears of grace. And so it's not surprising that God poured out his spirit in Dundee in those days when hundreds and hundreds were brought into the kingdom. There are tears of nature, there are tears of grace, and there are tears, I believe, of jealousy. Do you remember what Paul says to the Philippian church? Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and even now I tell you weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. So what was it that made him weep? Because of those things that were going on, that were producing enmity to the cross of Christ. Things that were rubbing God of His glory. And it struck at Paul's heart. The very same kind of thing that you find in Jeremiah. Jeremiah known as the weeping prophet. He wept because he knew that men and women were disobeying God. They were robbing God of His glory. And Jeremiah was jealous for the glory of God. Look at what Paul says in verse 24. 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 I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify of the grace of God. He's saying my life is like a race to be run, and the aim of any runner in a race is that you might reach the finishing line. And so he says, I will spurn the ground beneath me. I will spurn those distractions around me. I care for no obstacles in the way. My aim is the finishing line. And so here you've got once again his wholeheartedness, his self-sacrifice. This is the level of this man's commitment. And this is what made him the effective servant that he was. And at the end of the day, That is what Christian life and service is all about. It is about your level of commitment. The level at which you are able to say, I don't count my life dear to myself. There is nothing in the world that matters to me so much as living for God and serving him and finishing the work that he has given me to do. Do you not recall, is there not an echo of the words of the Lord Jesus in that? I have come to finish the work that my father has given me to do. And he set his face as a flint, determined to fulfill the will of his father, fully committed to the will of the father. That is how it is with the Apostle Paul. And it is that level of commitment and self-sacrifice which makes a man or a woman of God. And I am bound to say this to you this morning, that I feel that we see so very little of this kind of thing today. And the Lord knows that I'm speaking to myself before ever saying it to you. But that spirit, I don't count my life dear to myself. There's nothing in the world that matters to me so much as living for God and serving him and finishing the work that he's given me to do. That is wholeheartedness. So you have consistency, humility, compassion. And ringing through, there are these two major notes of faithfulness and thoroughness. Verse 20, I kept back nothing. that was helpful to you. To both the Jews and the Greeks I declared that they must all turn to God in repentance and faith. I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. That is Paul's faithfulness. He knew that there is a body of truth. There is the whole counsel of God which has been given to him in the gospel. So as he's reflecting his own life and ministry, he is asserting, I have not hesitated to proclaim it, to teach it, and to broadcast it wherever I have gone. And he has done it in absolute faithfulness. Verse 20, I kept back nothing that was helpful. Proclaim to you both publicly and from house to house. Verse 21, remember that for three years I didn't cease to warn everyone. Verse 34, you yourselves know that these hands are provided for my necessities for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak. So what's he saying? He's saying that faithfulness to the word of God is an essential. We must never hold back anything. He was ready to proclaim the whole counsel of the Word of God. And we are living in days when we are being told that we are living in different times, and so there must be a different approach. And that we are living in days where people are so sophisticated that we need a different emphasis. We've got to have more attractive worship, more attractive singing, more attractive music, and so on. Or we mustn't kind of stress certain truths, because there are intellectuals in our congregation, and they cannot accept creationism. And so you have to pare off the rough edges, so that these people will be more inclined to listen. Well, I side with the Apostle Paul. And although there are certain aspects of the Word of God that can give offense, we are to keep nothing back. He says, I have done that with thoroughness and with hard work. And whether that was because I needed to work with my hands as a tapemaker, or whether I had to plead with you and teach you, he says, I have given myself to you thoroughly in the service of God. Absolutely thoroughly. And there is nothing worse than having to plead with the Lord's people and persuade them and cajole them and coax them into doing something for the Lord. Nothing worse than that in church life. But when you find people with absolute commitment, what a blessing it is. When people are prepared to engage in the hard work and to do it with thoroughness and diligence and carefulness, it's a great, it's a glorious thing. Now look what he says in verse 22. 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 of the gospel of the grace of... Now, later on, after he leaves these people, he is determined to go to Jerusalem. And there were various people who were trying to persuade him otherwise. And do you remember what he said to them? What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And you can sense the passion that this man has for Christ, even as he mentions the name of Christ. He's never forgotten what Christ has done for him. He's never forgotten that Christ could love him, and that Christ could forgive him, and that Christ could call upon him to serve him. And he never forgot what it cost Christ to do that. He realized that it was God Himself who had come down to suffer and to bleed and to die in order to save him. He knew all about the darkness at Calvary. He knew about that terrible utter cry of despair, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He knew that the Lord Jesus Christ in that moment had gone outside the camp bearing his sin in order to save him. And Jesus had come, as it were, and said, no, Paul, you can't go out into that darkness. You could never stand it, but I'll go into the darkness for you. I'll stand in for you. And now he says, I'm ready to not only be bound, but to die for him at Jerusalem. And when we begin to get something of that realization, I tell you this, you'll not just be able to sing it, but you'll be able to live it. We're the whole realm of nature, mind. that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my life and my soul and my all. Now that is what he is saying to these people. He's reflecting on the past, he's summing up his ministry among them, all that he's been through, all that has happened. And then he looks forward, not knowing what's going to await him in terms of trial, tribulation, death. What he's saying is this, The message of my life and my ministry is this. And I think if Paul was standing in this pulpit this morning, this is what he would say to you. The message of my life and ministry is live so that you have no regrets. Live so that you have no regrets. And he's saying to these people, I have no regrets. I have to confess that I've often said to people, I said it to somebody just the other week at the back of this room, I seek to live in order to be missed. And I've tried to make that a goal in my life. And maybe I've been mistaken. Perhaps this is a better way to live. Live in such a way that you will have no regrets. That at the end of the day, you'll be able to look back and say that I counted my life, that it was lived only for one thing, and that is that it was lived for Him. And I obviously am looking back at this point in my life, and it is my greatest desire that I've lived only for Him. Let me speak to some of you young people, and some of you children. Let me ask you, because I won't have many more times to ask you, What is it that you are living for? What are you devoting your life to? Are you devoting your life to something that is flimsy? Something that's passing? Something that's superficial? Or are you devoting your life to something that is worthwhile? And the only worthwhile thing you can do is to devote your life to Christ. So I urge you, live now so that you have no regrets when you're at my age. And live now so that you'll have no regrets when you stand before Christ in the day of judgment. You can say, I've lived for him. These are his personal reflections. Let me just briefly look at the charge in verse 28 to verse 31. And bear in mind what I said at the outset. that these words are not simply for the elders, they are for everybody. They are for the elders. And they are for everybody for the simple reason that the condition of any elder in the church is of paramount importance to every member of the church. Anybody who is set apart by a fellowship of God's people is accountable before God. And any church that sets a man apart, they should be concerned about the state of his soul. And it is for this reason that God has committed the spiritual care and well-being of his people into the hands of men who are described as elders, overseers, pastors, shepherds of the flock. So that as we pray for the Church of Christ, which he's building in this world, not only in Florida, but throughout the whole of the world, we ought to be able to take words such as these and plead them before God. and pray that God would raise up such men of this caliber within the Church of Christ in our day. Because the health of any church can be measured and discerned by the health and the well-being of its eldership. And we all need to bring ourselves right into the heart of what Paul is saying here. And think of the solemnity by the language that he uses. how he regards his own ministry, verse 25, verse 26. It's as if Paul sees himself before the judgment seat of God and he's saying, before the judgment seat of God I have to declare my innocence for the blood of all men. And so he's saying, I regard my ministry in the light of that day with immense seriousness. And notice the factors that make up the seriousness. He says, you must be watchman, take heed, keep watch. That is the responsibility of the elder. That is the responsibility which is taken up from the Old Testament where that watchman was a familiar figure. And so the idea of the watchman is being brought over into the New Testament in the role of the elder or the overseer. And he is engaged in precisely the same engagement as the watchman in the Old Testament. What was the watchman doing? The watchman was there, he stood in the watchtower, he kept watch against the enemies that would come against the people. Now says Paul, you are watchman, you are overseers, you are exactly the same figure as the watchman in the Old Testament. You are there to watch for the flock, to guard the flock, to care for the flock, to look out for the flock. Be on your guard, he says in verse 31. Watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night and day. There are always the dangers that will threaten the flock, and so the elder is to keep watch. Read when you have time, Ezekiel 33. It was a responsibility. It was a position that had solemn accountability. And Paul says, I'm innocent of the blood of all men. Why? Because he'd been faithful. He discharged the responsibility that God had given to him as an overseer. And he says, I pleaded with you. And I plead with you now because there is a day coming when both you and I will give an account. So I understand, I trust that you will understand the seriousness of setting a man aside as an elder in a local church. It is a matter of great solemnity. Think of the origin of their appointment. The Holy Spirit has made you overseers. in the same way as Paul and Barnabas were made overseers. And the Holy Spirit said, set aside Paul, set aside Barnabas, for the work to which I have called them. So they were sent forth by the Holy Spirit. So how are men to be appointed as elders in the church? They must be appointed by the Holy Spirit. That is, that there must be evidence in the life of a particular man that God has been molding him and shaping him as an elder in the church. So the qualities and the gifts and the graces which have been formed by the Holy Spirit, it is the task of the church to recognize those things in those men. And that's precisely what happened at Ephesus. It's not a matter of looking down a list of men whose names are on the church list and say, well, now who do you think we should appoint in the hope that he will become an elder? It's going about it in the opposite direction. The proper way is that the church needs to get together as they did in Antioch. And they began to pray, to call upon God that he would produce men with these gifts in their church. And that's what we always need to do. And then we need to look out for such men. And as we do so, we will discover, well, God has been at work in this man's life and in that man's life. Now that man may not be of the stature of Paul, he may not have the oratory of Peter, he may not have the dynamic of the Apostles, but if he is a man of character and wisdom and seriousness and thoughtfulness and faithfulness, then it will be possible for us to say it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit to appoint this man to this work. And to be appointed by the church is a solemn responsibility for any man, and he must be accountable to the church for that. But to be appointed by the Holy Spirit is far more serious. It means that you're accountable to God, and that is no light thing. And then you will notice who it is that you are to care for. Verse 28, shepherd the church of God, which he purchased or bought with his own blood. The church of God has been purchased with the blood of Christ. And that theme of the redemption price of the people of God is throughout the whole of the Bible. And what is being stressed here is that the company of people over whom God has set elders or pastors or shepherds is a company of people that He has bought. And He has bought those people at the extraordinary price of His own blood. And so Paul's compassion was the compassion of Christ. And it is now focused upon the church which he describes as the flock of Christ. And so he's anxious about what the wolves might do to the flock of Christ. And some of us have seen in our lifetime what the wolves can do to the flock of Christ. And it can break your heart. And Paul is the one who says that the church is Christ's bride. And Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. So we have to be very careful if we say anything about that church. You don't want people saying things about your wife. She is the bride of Christ. And if you start saying things that are derogatory about the church of Christ, it's his bride. It is also his body. and like any person his body is precious to him and I know that there are local churches and they may not appear to be attractive and they may not appear to be desirable to other people or to outsiders who come in among us but the church is precious to him it is his I remember vividly years ago when I first went to Scotland we had a couple in the church and they had a little girl was born without any kind of mental capacities, thin, emaciated, no mental recognition whenever you went to see her. I think she was about six or seven when I started visiting her. And I used to visit her regularly and I used to talk to her. And I did so until she died. And people looking at that little girl, they would not see a pleasant sight. But she was beautiful in the eyes of her mother. And her mother used to sing to her, you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey. And she loved that child. And I remember sitting in the limousine with them both, with the casket on our knees, and she loved that child. And that child was the very means of that woman's conversion. It was her child. Think of the father of the prodigal. People might have looked at the prodigal coming home in the state that he was in, and looked at the father. What on earth is he forgiving him? Why is he reinstating him? It's his son! It's his boy! Do you remember what happened in Genesis chapter 3? When Adam sinned, and God came after him. And what does he say? Where are you? Was that a castigating voice? Was he severely chastising him? Was he accusing him? No! It's the words, it's a question of a loving, caring, compassionate God. Adam, where are you? What have you done? That's how God thinks about people. That's how Christ thinks about his church. And when you think of the state of the nation, and when you mix with people in South Florida, and when you look at the state of the professing church, ask yourself this question, do I find any kind of concern like that in my heart? Does it affect me in any way? Does it affect me that my children are unsaved? Does it affect me that the people I work with are unsaved? Does it affect me in any way? God takes these things seriously. The church of Christ, which he purchased with his own blood. And so Paul stresses that with great solemnity to these men in office. And it applies to anybody who is a Christian. And if you're in Christian service, to appreciate the solemnity of what you are doing. and yet to have immense joy in being given that task. And I know that there are some of you and you've already met with the kind of subtle opposition which ridicules the kind of things that we stand for in this church. And you are laughed at and your doctrine is held up for ridicule. And if you simply mention the name of John Calvin or any of the reformers and any of the Puritans, And if you mention certain kind of books that you read, or if you speak about the doctrine of election, and you will meet with sarcasm and even persecution. And oh yes, sometimes it will come in a light-hearted manner, but there is a deep seriousness underlying it. And you're in the midst of it, and there are times when you may be tempted to say that, no, I don't hold to those things, when all the time you know that you do. And that's part of the dilemma. And you may be tempted to compromise and give way. because you can't stand the laughter or the ridicule. Oh yes, and your friends in work will say, well, they didn't mean to hurt you. But at the same time, they're pulling you down, and they're denigrating the very truth of God that you love. Well, my prayer is that God will make us like Paul, so that at the end of the day, we can say, 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 I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify of the grace of God. And pray God in that moment when we see him, he'll say, well done. Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. Well, let us bow together in prayer. Let us all pray. O Lord, our God and our gracious Heavenly Father, we do bow before you, moved as we've been reading your word and the testimony of your apostle, and astonished at the work of your grace in his life. And there are those of us, and we look inwardly at ourselves, and we remember what we were, and we are astonished at what you have done in us and through us. And we would say, not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto your name be all the glory. Give us a new vision of Jesus. Give us a vision that we've never seen of him before, and grant that we may be all the more determined to live so that we have no regrets, and that we may hear your voice saying, well done, at the end of the day. Bless your word to all of our hearts, we pray. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.