Sunday, April 27, 2025 AM

Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we give you the praise for showing us how faithful you are, how good you are. We thank you for the rain. We thank you for the measure of it and the reminder by it of how good and generous you are and how undeserving we are to receive blessing from you.

And we thank you for this word that you have given to us that is nourishment to us, that it is it is not dead, but it is living and active by your spirit, speaking of your son, fashioning and informing us.

According to your image and for your glory, so we give you thanks. And we ask that we would receive this blessing without complaint and that we would rejoice in your truth today. And we thank you for your love for us that you have so thoroughly and fully displayed.

We give you the praise and all these things and ask for these mercies in the name of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.

Amen.

Paul’s Last Words to the Ephesian Elders

I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts, Chapter 20, and we'll be looking at verses 28 through 31, but we'll be reading through verse 38 this morning. So we consider the last words of Paul to the Ephesian elders, the parting words, knowing that they would never see his face again.

He would never see their face again. This was the last opportunity for him to minister to them in a direct fashion. These are his last words, and so they are precious words. It is interesting to think about how many times we have last words in the book of Acts.

There are the last words of Christ to his disciples on earth in Acts 1 .8, where he says, "'You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.'".

Last words. The last words of Stephen as he was being martyred, where he called to the Lord and said, "'Lord, do not charge them with this sin,' after having said, "'Lord, receive my spirit.'". And then the last words that we have recorded of both Paul and Luke, where Paul in the city of Rome in Acts 28 says,.

"'Therefore, let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it.'". And we're proof positive of that today. And then at the last words we have recorded of the beloved physician Luke, where he writes,.

"'Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.'".

And here in Acts 20, the last words of Paul to the Ephesian elders. If you'll stand with me, we'll read God's Word and read these gracious words. "'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 upon 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.". This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Just how important are last words? We weigh them rather heavily, don't we? So connected to the last breath, the last thought that we can convey.

Our judicial system views dying declarations to be admissible evidence, not to be discounted as hearsay. So important are last words. Collections of last words have been gathered into books, perhaps of famous historical individuals of various types.

And we will sometimes scour these anthologies for meaningful statements full of human emotion, the culmination of a life's wisdom pressed into the final moment, refined by the pressure of one's last ebbing moments.

And then sometimes there's Oscar Wilde, whose final words are famously reported as, my wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us must go. And perhaps there are innocuous last words.

We look to a philosopher for some sort of meaning, and they say something rather meaningless. Or ironic, as in JFK's last words, no, you certainly can't. An answer to the Texas governor's wife, John Connolly, when she had just remarked, you certainly can't say that the people of Dallas haven't given you a nice welcome.

So whether innocuous or intense, insane or ironic, we are very often interested in last words. I think the Ephesian elders are interested in Paul's last words. You see how sorrowing they were, how sorrowful they were, primarily because he said, I'm not going to see your face again.

So how vital then are these last words to them, the last time they get to hear directly from their beloved Paul? Here was all the wisdom, all the love, and all the truth that Paul could compress into these last moments with them.

And you'll notice that these words are gracious words, gracious words. Last words should be gracious words, and gracious words meet the need of the moment with the hope of eternity. Paul's last words focus the Ephesian elders upon Christ.

He wants to unify them in love, and he wants to seek to serve them with these practical and vital exhortations, and we're going to look at the first one this morning, where he wants them to heed his warning about false teachers.

This is very much upon his heart that they would heed his warning about false teachers, especially in light of how precious the church of God is, as he says in verse 28. Now, we've looked at verse 28 already some weeks ago, but hear it again.

Paul says, "...therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock.". Pay attention to yourselves, and pay attention to the flock. Keep track of where you are at. Keep track of where they are at. For the Holy Spirit has put you among them.

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. They are the elders. The Holy Spirit has made them overseers to pastor.

So, we have those three terms used interchangeably in the New Testament, but they come together and have their coherence in the identity of the church that they are serving and the master whom they're serving.

This is the flock. These are the sheep whom the great shepherd has purchased by his own blood. For them, he has laid down his life. Therefore, heed the warning. Take heed to yourselves because there is great potential for wolves.

And that's what he says in verses 29 through 31. He says, "...take heed to yourselves and to the flock, so precious to God. Why? For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you.".

He's just said the Holy Spirit has made you overseers among the flock. And now he says wolves will come in among the flock, not sparing the flock. Why take heed to the flock? There may be wolves coming in among them.

Why take heed to yourselves? Verse 30, "...also from among yourselves men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore, watch.". He says, "...take heed," verse 28, verse 31, "...therefore, watch and remember that for three years," Paul says, "...I'm your example in this.

For three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.". So this command to the elders to take heed, to remember their role as overseers, to be shepherds among the flock of God, is to be done in light of the church being purchased by the Lord's own blood and the kind of watch that they need to keep.

Initially, the most important thing is to protect the flock that Christ has purchased. There is a warning here about wolves, wolves coming in among the flock and wolves arising from amongst their number that harkens back to the instructions of Christ Himself in Matthew 7, verse 15, where Jesus says, "...beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.".

This is the imagery that Paul is using. Paul is talking about savage wolves, ravenous wolves that are among the flock. How did they get there? You must pay close attention because wolves will come in sheep's clothing, appearing to belong, but then not spare the flock, they will savage the flock.

So beware. So what Paul is saying to the elders is that they must be on guard, taking heed, keeping watch against threats both foreign and domestic, and he gives them a pattern in his own life in that his warnings came with tears.

They must keep watch with tears. Let's think about these three parts to Paul's warning. First of all, the threats foreign. Paul is confident that threats from outside the church are going to try to worm their way in.

He says, I know this. I know this is going to happen. My departure, my leaving this region, my lack of influence here. I've seen it before. I know how it happens. When I'm gone, savage wolves are going to come in amongst the flock.

You, the elders, you are responsible to keep watch. You shepherd a flock of sheep precious to Christ. He purchased them at the cost of his own blood. How valuable are they then? So you must keep watch.

Now, Paul is correct in his prediction. Is it a prophecy? He just knew it was going to happen. Perhaps just the principles of wisdom helped him to identify this, but he identifies this in 2 Timothy 1, verses 13 through 18.

As he writes to Timothy in regards to Timothy's ministry in Asia, very often centered in Ephesus, and he writes to Timothy in verse 13 of 2 Timothy 1, hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Steady on, Timothy. Keep with the sound doctrine. Keep with the pattern that I've given you. Keep with Christ. Verse 14, that good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit, not your own strength, but the power of the Spirit who dwells in us.

Now, why is he exhorting Timothy in this way? Why is it so important that Timothy keep the sound doctrine, keep the faith, and continue on? Paul explains the problem going on in Asia at the moment where Timothy is based.

Verse 15, this you know, that all those in Asia, which Ephesus was the centerpiece, all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. Who were these men? They once were with Paul, now they've turned away from Paul.

Is it possible that these men were amongst those who met Paul and Miletus? They're somehow important to Paul. It's heartbreaking to Paul that they turned away from him. He's warning Timothy about their departure.

Departure not because they are not the personal friend of Paul anymore, not that they're not giving him adulation and praise. They've turned away from Paul in the sense of what he's already said to Timothy.

Follow the pattern of sound doctrine that I gave you. Follow the Christ-centeredness, that pattern that I gave you. To turn away from Paul, therefore, is to turn away from that sound doctrine that he had laid out for Timothy to follow and for Phygelus and Hermogenes.

In contrast, Paul writes in verse 16, the Lord grant mercy to the household of Aeneas for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me.

The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that day, for you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus. So in a sense, Paul's saying, all have turned away from me, but Onesiphorus, thank God for Onesiphorus.

But we see that there was some turning away. We see that there were indeed wolves, perhaps, that came in and turned others away from Paul or from sound doctrine. So the elders must protect the flock. Who are we protecting the flock against?

Notice that savage wolves are described as those who do not spare the flock. How do you know a wolf? They don't spare the flock. And that's how you know. That's the problem. If a wolf guarded the flock, if the wolf was obedient to the shepherd, came when he whistled, you have a border collie.

But the canine that doesn't spare the flock, the wolf is identified as one who shreds the flock, who slaughters the flock, who savages the flock. This is the problem. Wolves don't spare the flock. They use it.

They don't serve it. They consume it. They don't give to it. They harm it. They don't build it. Why? Well, we'll see in verse 30. It's because they're not serving Christ, they're serving themselves. Threats foreign are tied to threats domestic in verse 30.

Wolves are wolves, whether they show up at the border of the forest coming at the flock or they appear in the midst of the flock, a wolf is going to do what a wolf does. Verse 30, also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves, after themselves.

So we're not identifying wolves as only those who are coming in from the outside, newcomers. A newcomer might be a wolf, but that's not the only identifier. It's those who do not spare the flock. There may be some from among, from within the local church who are not sparing the flock, and they are to be considered wolves as well.

Just because they have a history of belonging doesn't mean they're not a wolf. The savagery here, the not sparing here comes by, notice, speaking perverse things. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up drawing attention to themselves, having some sort of focus and authority, but they are speaking perverse things, twisted things, strange things, strange doctrines, which draw away the disciples after themselves.

What kind of perverse things might they be going on and on about? In 2 Timothy 3 verses 5 through 9, I think we have a good example. Again, Paul writing to Timothy, again, a context of a ministry in Asia, often centered in Ephesus, concerning these wolves that teach strange things.

Paul notes that they have a form of godliness in verse 5 of 2 Timothy 3, having a form of godliness, a form of godliness, but denying its power, and from such people turn away. For of this sort are those who creep into households.

Notice, wolves come in among you. You ever see a wolf stalk something? There's a slinking, there's a sneaking, it's not going to be full of bold barking and noise. Hey, I'm a wolf, I'm here. There's a sneaking in who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Paul is such a misogynist, isn't he? Actually, Paul is noting how wolves work, an acknowledgement with how God has made men and women. I don't know if you've noticed this, that men tend to be stronger than women.

You notice that? Intentional failure to notice that is part of the chaos of some culture in which we live today. His identifier here is not demeaning women. He's saying the wolves go after the weakest.

You've watched the nature documentaries. You know it's true. Any kind of pack animal trying to savage a flock goes for the weakest. The sick one, the young one, the unable one, that's where they go. Satan didn't tempt Adam, he tempted Eve.

The distinction between men and women was from before the fall. And we have here a concern, a pastoral concern, that the wolves will go after those who are weakest, who are without help, without great strength, who are most likely to be led astray.

Paul is just being honest because he's trying to be a good pastor. So he says they do not spare, they are savage because they speak perverse things. Now these perverse things, whatever they turn out to be, of course they're not biblical things, but notice that they are drawing away the disciples after themselves.

When you draw away disciples, you cause a division between the disciples that were once together. By drawing some away, you cause division, sowing discord among brethren. When you draw them to yourself, it's because you're making yourself the center, and that's egotistical.

And having made the division and drawing them over to yourself, being very egotistical, it means that you're isolating people, getting them away from spiritual authority, getting them away from the reinforcement and love and edification of the body.

So it's divisive, it's egocentric, and it's isolating. It's DEI. And when you think about it, divisiveness and egocentrism in isolation is pretty much DEI. That would be a perverse thing to teach, wouldn't it?

Also we have not just threats foreign and domestic, and of course we ought to pay attention and be concerned about that, but notice the way in which Paul warned the church in Ephesus. He did so with tearful watches.

He says, therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. He says, I took the night watch and I warned you with tears. I took the day watch and I warned you with tears.

Paul was bivocational in Ephesus. He was tent making in the real sense of the word. He was making tents and laboring, and so in the evenings he was teaching at the school of Tyrannus, and in the day he was making tents, and all the while he was teaching and discipling and warning.

He didn't let up, meaning it wasn't a time where he wasn't standing guard, and how could you let your guard down in a place like Ephesus, the capital of witchcraft in the ancient Near East? So Paul is saying to the elders, plural, you as a group do what I did individually there at the beginning.

All of you together watch and remember it's a night and day thing, and don't forget the tears. Watch like Paul watched, be steady, eye to the boundary, perched on the fold wall, keeping your eyes open, but with tears.

Why tears? Well, why were the Ephesian elders weeping as Paul was leaving? Because they loved him, and he was leaving. They were going to see him again. They were going to be able to fellowship with him directly again.

They were going to see him ever again this side of heaven, and so that was a real loss to them. It was a real sorrow to them, and so they were weeping because they were going to be parted from Paul. That's why Paul was weeping when he was warning them, because he knew if they didn't heed the warning, they would be parted as well.

We're going to lose something here. If you don't heed these warnings, if you don't stay away from those wolves, if you allow yourselves to be taken by the wolves, then our fellowship is going to be parted.

We're going to be divided. You're going to be isolated. Our fellowship is going to be disrupted, so he warns with tears. Sometimes we don't know how to warn someone. I think the Bible recommends tears.

You encounter a hard-hearted person steeped in their falsehoods, and it doesn't seem to make any progress. Think about what lies ahead of them. The reality and righteousness of the judgment of God warned them with tears.

As we think about the relationship that Paul is describing here, we see how important words are. The wolves that come in among them and are savage and not sparing the flock, they're not actually physically assaulting the church members.

That would be horrible, but that's not what Paul is talking about. Paul is talking about them doing something dangerous and destructive with words. What is the counterpoint to that? How do you fix that?

With words, warning them, instructing them, teaching them. That's what Paul says. That's the example, and that makes sense given how God has made us. Remember that God made Adam in his own image. He made him by his words and breathed the breath of life into him and immediately gave him his words.

Instructions to follow, and the instructions out of the gate to Adam were to keep the garden, to tend to it, to keep the garden and tend to it. Keeping meaning keeping watch, keeping like having a guard, the very same word used the Levites who were encamped in a ring around the tabernacle to keep it, to keep watch and keep guard.

And so the faithful keeping of what is precious to God, the garden that he made, all of the beauty that he put there, what he called very good, he says to Adam, you keep it, and that is godly to do so.

That is godly to do so, to keep that which is precious to God. And in this, there will need to be consistency, day and night. It should be continual throughout the course of the day and the week. There must be courage because there will be threats to that which God has made that is precious.

In other words, Adam, play the man. Guard that which is precious to God, keep it, that's godly. And someone is meant to be responsible and that someone is a man. These elders, the brethren, are being charged with the task of keeping.

Adam did not do his job, but Jesus Christ has and is and will. And in like fashion, men, we are to guard that which is precious to God, that which has been entrusted to us. Men bear responsibility and thus they lead.

Women bear life and thus they nurture. It's good. It's good. That's how God designed us. And in this case, Paul is writing, is speaking to the elders and he is saying, it is godly that you keep what is precious and you must keep watch as I keep watch, even if it comes by tears.

Remember that the attack upon humanity came by perverse speech. The perverse speech of the enemy. The devil is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. How did he kill Adam and Eve? Except by his savage words.

The wolfish ways are amongst the seed of the serpent. And when did the watchfulness end? The watchfulness in the garden ended when the affections changed. When the affections changed, when the attention went away and the desire changed.

This is when the watchfulness ended. And so it is vital that the affections of the elders are to be put upon Christ, who purchased the church with his own blood. Put your attention there. See how good Christ is.

See how precious the church is in his eyes. Have that point of view and your watchfulness will continue. And so God is gracious to us. When God made covenant with man in the scriptures, it was always centered around the Word.

Because the image of God is both shaped by the Word and reshaped by the Word. The image of God is shaped by the Logos and reshaped by the Logos. John chapter 1. God gives promise and then he brings fulfillment.

He gives direction and he shows himself faithful. And remember that all of God's covenant men, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, were all shepherds. They're all shepherds. Leading up to the one who is greater than them all.

The great shepherd of the sheep. The good shepherd. And so in his reflection, so also elders we are to shepherd, fathers we are to shepherd, men we are to shepherd, husbands we are to shepherd. Jesus Christ, who is the Word, is the good shepherd.

These two things come together. How does Jesus Christ successfully shepherd his sheep? He does so as the Word of God in human flesh. He keeps us by his Word. The good shepherd teaches us about the needs of the sheep.

What does he say to Peter? How do you take care of my sheep? Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Take care of my sheep. How? By the ministry of the Word. Feeding, tending, nurturing by the Word. Now, I want us to think about this language of wolves coming in amongst us and then wolves appearing from in our midst and the need to keep watch day and night.

And I want to talk about it in light of a broader reading of Scripture so that we have a good application. Concern for strange doctrine, concern about false teachers should be driven by the preciousness of Christ's flock given that he has shed his blood for us.

That ought to be the motivation. So we are to be careful for the flock for Christ's sake. Keeping watch day and night, that's hard to do. What's the motivation? The blood of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the glory of Christ.

Day and night with tears. And aren't we to keep watch anyway, all believers? Aren't we supposed to keep watch for Christ? And what kind of watch are we supposed to have? Our vigilance will be expressed by our diligence, won't it?

Servants ready for our Master's return because we bring diligent. But what happens if our watch is done in our own name? Well, as long as what this is, this teaching or these ideas or this latest trend or fad, as long as it's not making me look bad, I'm fine with it.

Right? It's no impact on me. I still look pretty good. Or, you know, we may not care as much as we should, or we may overreact in pride. You're listening to who? I'm a better preacher than he is. What do you mean you've read this book and that book and you've watched this person?

I'm the one, I'm the teacher here. I'm the one who's putting in the time to study the text. We may overreact in pride. In fact, we may act the wolf ourselves. How? Drawing others away from us, not sparing the flock.

Isn't that what happened in 3 John? 3 John verses 9 and 10. I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words, perverse words, and not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.

Paul says, wolves may arise from among you. And all of a sudden, there may be, because there's an attention to the self and egocentrism, that wolfish ways emerge. That's what happens if we don't keep watch in Christ's name, but in our own.

We either don't care enough, or we care way too much about our own selves. Secondly, I would note this, that Paul's apostolic insight into the Ephesian church's crisis, their coming crisis, that wolves will come in among them and greatly disrupt them, is not an exact prediction of our own context.

So, don't take this passage, what Paul says to the Ephesian church, and say, all right, everybody, get ready for the wolves. And if you even, if I even get a whiff of wet dog off of you, I'm coming after you, right?

We are not in an action movie. We're not in a theological action movie, okay? We are not to be the, you are not to be the Jackie Chan of doctrinal combat, haphazardly tumbling into one theological sparring contest after the other.

That's not what we're called to do when we are leading and caring for the flock. It's keeping watch with tears. And while much focus is often put upon theological distinctions, well, what peculiarity are you?

Where's the focus of Scripture about these strange teachings, these strange doctrines? Well, consider what he says in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. Now, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, remember the chronology of the New Testament, the latter times, the end times, is the very last days of the Old Covenant.

And this was very true. Now, the Spirit expressly says that in latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. That sounds awful. Doctrines of demons?

What are we talking about? The denial of the Trinity? The denial of salvation by grace alone? Those denials would be doctrines of demons, but what does Paul list? Verse 2, speaking lies in hypocrisy. Speaking lies in hypocrisy is doctrines of demons, teachings of demons.

To lie as a hypocrite is to teach as a demon would, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. I don't feel anything anymore. Here's a doctrine of demons. Forbidding to marry. Forbidding to marry is a doctrine of demons.

I didn't see that one coming. I thought it would be something about the inspiration of Scripture. Commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Oh, a return to dietary laws from the Old Testament. Doctrines of demons. Well, so often the focus is on theoretical flashy things rather than on the practical things. What is being taught? Also, there is a category, I hope you understand this, there is a category of antagonism and a category of rivalry within the body of Christ that is not wolfish.

So this passage is not the total picture. It's not like the whole world is made up of wolves and sheep. You're either one or the other. Paul talks about this in Philippians chapter 1, verses 15 through 18, that there were some who preached Christ out of jealousy, out of competitive nature, how they wanted to show themselves as more excellent than Paul was.

And he says, okay, fine, as long as Christ is being preached, which is a great way of humbly caring for that, but he didn't say they are false teachers. He didn't say that they are false prophets. He didn't call them wolves.

He didn't say they were anti-Christ, did he? Know that there can be some disagreement, some antagonism, even some opposition within the church of Christ. It doesn't mean that somebody who opposes you, who doesn't see the same thing as you do, is a wolf by default.

Now, given all those qualifications, this warning is very instructive. First of all, watchfulness is absolute, is a never-ending duty of the shepherds. Shepherds never get a day off, never get a day off.

And it's amazing how many pastoral ministry books are on my shelf that have absolutely nothing to say about watchfulness against wolves. Zero. Nothing. And it's one of the major duties accorded to the elders in the scriptures.

I will say this, the flock will often be more initially alarmed by the shepherds than by the wolves when the shepherds take action, because you don't know what's happening. Sometimes, you're just in the car and you have no idea why the driver just hit those brakes real hard or jerked really hard to the right.

You have no idea what was going on. And you're upset about the driver and not the idiot on the road who almost hit you. That happens. Shepherds must not sleep at our posts nor fail to act. We must spare the flock.

Wolves don't spare the flock. We must spare the flock. We may not be able to spare ourselves, but we had better spare the flock. And in days of peace and safety, cautions must continue as well as training.

Paul says three years, day and night, I warned you with tears, and it wasn't that there was a wolf every day and night. The cautions continued even when there was nothing pending. Wolves from without and wolves from within are those who do not spare the flock.

We've defined this already. Not every wrong-headed zealot is a wolf trying to shred to the flock. God's Word of grace has great sanctifying effect. This is the promise in Jude. In Jude 1, verses 22 and 23, it says, on some have compassion, making a distinction.

It's okay to make distinctions. Others say with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. Wolves use perverse words, strange doctrines, doublespeak, and so on, because they want to obfuscate the truth, make the Bible hard to understand as part as possible, make it unclear.

They want to separate the flock. They want to isolate the sheep. They want to desolate the faith of the saints. Wolves are not always TBN preachers or preacherettes. Sometimes they're just run-of-the-mill antagonists.

Thirdly, about this warning, the waywardness here that is of great concern is one that moves away from Christ, who is the greater, to all matters and men the lesser. Like, what you really need to be concerned is about the Sabbath.

What you really, really ought to be concerned about is with this strange little verse over here in Job. This is the key to understanding everything. Or this prayer to Jabez. Or is it of Jabez? I forget.

This veneration of Jabez. Now, in this waywardness, why is there waywardness? Because of discontent. Discontent is the fertile ground for an enemy sowing discord among brethren. We find this in Hebrews 12, 15.

Beware, beware, beware of the discontent, the malcontent, the bitterness, because this sets many astray. Self-promotion is the sign of the wolf. Affirm me. Follow my path of thinking. Agree with me or else you ain't right.

You're not good. You're not true. You're not holy. That's a sign of a wolf. And following after such a one will always lead you away from the flock, always lead you away from love and communion, always away from resting in Christ.

Finally, the warning in God's grace, the warning about wolves is actually a warning to wolves and turns them to Christ in humble repentance and faith. Remember, the warning was not just about wolves that might come in from the outside.

The warnings were given again and again to the church among whom wolves arise. So, they were warned. They received the word of God that they may repent. And the warnings given with tears show the loving and humble desire to turn selfward people Christward.

James chapter 5, verses 19 and 20. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

And so, the warnings have this gracious purpose. Best case scenario, may God be pleased to so build us up in the word of grace that having been thoroughly and lovingly warned about potential wolves that when such a wolf appears, not only does he or she find no discontented stray to steal, but the wolf receives clear and proper biblical rebuke that God may use that in their life for repentance and faith.