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Reading Acts 20:22-28 where the Apostle Paul continues his address to the elders at the pastor's conference in Miletus, charging them to preach what they were taught. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
The Apostle Paul addressed pastors at Miletus, and what he told them to do as shepherds of the flock of God was to hold fast to the Word of God, living by it and preaching it, when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to the pastors' conference at Miletus, the Apostle Paul addressing the pastors that he had gathered there from Ephesus, meeting him at Miletus, and giving them this farewell address.
I'm going to start reading again at the start of this sermon in verse 18 and go through verse 28. Here are the words of the Lord. You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with trials which come upon me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me.
But I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
Be on guard for yourselves and for 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. And we'll see if we get at least that far today in this message that Paul preaches.
The thing that he is calling these preachers to is the Word, that they would continue to proclaim the Word of God. And we see that come up most frequently in this sermon, that particular charge. He says, I testified to you, to both Jews and Greeks, about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is verse 21. And he says continually that you continue to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. Verse 24, testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. That was what Paul was committed to.
That's what he's charging them to do as well. He says to them in verse 28, shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. That is the message of the gospel. Beware of those that come speaking perverse things.
Verse 30, some of whom are even going to arise from among yourselves. I continue to admonish you. Verse 31, that's preaching the Word. Verse 32, I commend you to God and to the Word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified.
And so Paul, again and again, comes back to the Word of God. This is your responsibility as pastors, that you would proclaim the Word to his church and even proclaiming the gospel to those who don't believe.
For it is only by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ that we come into salvation and into the kingdom of God. So let me pick up where I left off yesterday. As I said, this is broken up into two parts.
We have Paul presenting himself autobiographically as an example to follow, which also verifies. He's giving verification of the ministry that he has committed himself to as truly being of God. You've seen these things of me.
You know what you witnessed in me. You know this is not the Word of man, but it is the very Word of God. So that's what we have in the first half, verses 18 to 24. And then the rest is a charge to the elders, those overseers at Ephesus, which would also be to every pastor and even application for everybody, whether you are a pastor or not.
You have that charge that's given to them. Here's your responsibility to teach the Word of God. I commend you to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and also give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified.
This is everybody. Pastors don't get any greater reward than anybody else. We can all ascend together to the holy place of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We will dwell with God forever on high because we believed in Jesus who gave himself for our sins, who died and rose again.
And only by faith in him are we forgiven. Now having put our faith in him, that we would also walk in his ways. That's what he's charging these elders to do. And be watchful of themselves and of the flock, not letting themselves go astray so that they may also keep the flock on the right path as well.
As Charles Spurgeon had once said, as goes the pulpit, so goes the church. Whatever's being preached from the pulpit, that's what you're going to see the rest of the gathering following after as well.
What's preached will be what follows. And so these elders especially must keep watch on themselves lest they lead the flock astray. So Paul again, referencing himself as an example, and he's talking to men that he had called to be with him.
So had invited them to come and follow him into the parts of Asia that they would go preaching the gospel of Christ, especially from Ephesus. That was kind of their central base of operations. We had read that Paul spent years there continuing to preach from the Hall of Tyrannus and then the gospel going out into other places, other churches being planted.
We know that the church in Colossae and the church at Laodicea were planted because of Paul's efforts there in Ephesus. If you'll remember at the start of chapter 19, Paul comes into Ephesus, the moment he sets foot in Asia, he finds disciples who know of the baptism of John, but they don't know the rest of the gospel.
So he teaches them. They come to faith in Jesus. They are filled with the Holy Spirit. And then they go along with him, about 12 men, even a little bit more than that. They go with him into the other places where he will continue to preach the gospel of Christ.
He served the Lord with all humility, with tears. The struggles that he had inside and out, and the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews. You saw me persecuted for this, and yet I endured, I persevered.
I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, all the different places where Paul went preaching. I taught you, I taught publicly, I went from house to house.
It didn't matter whether it was a great big crowd or he was speaking intimately with small families in humble settings. He would preach the gospel with everybody, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks, showing no partiality.
If he was willing to be impartial with Jews and Greeks, then he wasn't showing partiality with anybody. Even barbarians, Scythians, slave free, as he talks about in Colossians chapter three, with everybody, Paul would share the gospel of Christ.
Everyone has an opportunity to hear this message, to turn from their sin and be saved. And I testified about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now picking up there, verse 22, now behold, bound by the spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem.
Remember as we read back in verse 16, he's hurrying to be in Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost. So he has kind of a deadline to get there. That's one of the reasons again, why he doesn't want to go through Asia or stop in Ephesus, because there may be something that would happen there that would delay him.
So instead he's stopping at Miletus, he calls the elders to him and is delivering this message. The Holy Spirit solemnly testifies. He said, I'm on my way to Jerusalem. I don't know what's going to happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city saying that chains and afflictions await me.
Now we have some exceptions to that, because if you'll remember when Paul came into Corinth, there was an uprising against him pretty early in his ministry there, but God appeared to him and said, I have, I have many followers here, many elect in this city.
And so don't be afraid, but continue to serve here and no harm will come upon you. So Paul was in Corinth then for another year and a half. So there were occasions in which God would say to him, no danger will come upon you here.
But regardless, the Holy Spirit would testify to him that everything that he did was going to be dangerous. Sharing the gospel was dangerous. He was going to face persecutions from Jews and from Greeks.
The Jews hated that he was proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ and the Greeks or the Gentiles, they hated that Paul was proclaiming that there is only Christ, that there is no other way to gain eternal life, to reach God, except through Jesus Christ.
All of your false gods are false, not even real. They don't exist. Look at Christ to be saved. And the Gentiles hated that as we saw in Ephesus, because as they said, he's up, he's upsetting our entire culture.
He's turning the world upside down. He's upsetting our way of life. And so they meant to come upon him because he would proclaim Christ as the way of salvation. Every other way is going to lead you to the judgment of God.
The only way to be saved is to believe in Christ. Those that hated this message came against him and the Holy Spirit testified to him. Chains and afflictions await everywhere you go. We saw that we saw this in Philippi, where he and Silas were persecuted and thrown in prison just because they had cast a demon out of a demon-possessed girl.
And the people were saying, hey, he's proclaiming a different king, Christ. So they persecuted him, threw him in prison, an unjust trial because he was a Roman citizen, didn't really even get a trial at all.
So all of the afflictions that await him for proclaiming the gospel. You know, here in the United States of America, we have a lot more freedoms to proclaim the gospel than they do in most other places.
But you can find this kind of persecution anywhere. You probably aren't preaching Christ in certain places if you haven't been persecuted for it. I can go downtown on the street corner and just hold up a sign that says, Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved.
Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Every other way will lead you to hell. And just for holding that sign up, there's going to be people that will come up to me and fight with me. And I know that's the case because I've done it.
You've probably seen some of the videos that will be online from Abolitionist Rising, where they're proclaiming that abortion is murder, and they will use that to pierce the heart and lead people to Christ.
They preach the gospel while they're out there as well. It's not just the good news of, you know, save the babies. But rather, you are sinning, you are murdering, you are destroying those who have been made in God's image.
It would be good to be out there proclaiming the message that these babies are living people, deserving of rights. That's a good message. But they go beyond that, even to say, you must turn from your sin to Christ and be saved.
And if you've seen those videos of them out there holding those signs, man, they face all kinds of persecution. People throwing stuff at them, yelling and swearing at them. You know, if it wasn't for the law that protected their lives out there in public spaces, you know those people that are coming up to them and saying the awful, dreadful things that they say to them, they would put them to death if they could.
They would kill them right there in the public square if they could. So we have laws here in the United States that protect our rights to proclaim the gospel, even in public places. But you can still go places where you are going to face great affliction because you proclaim godliness.
You proclaim the way of life. As Paul had said to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3 .12, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. And he said this in the context of, you know what kind of persecutions that I have gone through for this gospel.
Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. There will be some kind of persecution that comes against you. Ridicule, being made fun of, even physical persecution. While evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed. And Paul is saying that same thing here to these elders at Ephesus. He says in verse 24, I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself.
Paul is not trying to make himself popular or famous or rich and comfortable off the message that he proclaims. We have already seen here in chapter 19 how Paul continued to labor with his own hands, making his own living, even while he was there at Ephesus.
Not taking anyone's silver or gold. So that he would give an example to them to follow. That they would see also this message is not about me. It is what you need. That you would turn from your sin to the Lord Christ and live.
I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself. As he said in Philippians chapter 3, I count all these things as rubbish for the surpassing greatness of the cause of Christ. Saying in that same letter, to live is Christ, to die is gain.
And to the Galatians, Galatians 2 .20, I have been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me. So that the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Going back to that letter to the Philippians, he says to them that, you know, if I were to die and go be with the Lord, that's better for me. But it's better for you if I stay here with you for your sanctification, for your account.
And that again, Paul saying, I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself. I'm here for your benefit, for God's glory and your benefit. That I may finish my course in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.
To testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. Paul testified to the gospel, he's charging these men, that is your commitment as well. As pastors, as shepherds of the flock of God, you must be committed to the gospel and proclaiming this, that is what your ministry must be about as well.
Paul's reward was not going to be in earthly fame or fortune. His reward was eternal. And do we understand that about ourselves as well? It's not about health and wealth. On this side of glory, what God has promised us in Christ is so much greater than anything that this world could give us.
And so we use our opportunities that we have with other people to share the gospel with them, that they may believe in Jesus and be saved. And now at this point in the letter, things turn toward the elders that Paul is addressing.
So he presents himself as an example to follow. You saw my conduct, you know the message that I proclaim, you are to live in this way, you are to preach in this way. And so then charging them, giving the exhortation upon them, that they would shepherd the flock of God that was among them.
Verse 25, and now behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face. Now, this is quite a turn in the sermon. And it says so even later on, after Paul preaches at the end, it says verse 37, they began to weep aloud and falling on Paul's neck.
They were kissing him, being in agony, especially over the word, which he had spoken that they would not see his face again. So you imagine Paul preaching this. This is his sermon to this pastor's conference that's been gathered there in Miletus.
And as he's preaching this, presenting himself as an example, then you have this turn in the sermon where he says, you'll no longer see my face. And you gotta believe, as much as he loved these men and as much as they loved him, that choked them up right there in the sermon.
Like they didn't know what this was going to be like. We're coming to Miletus because we love Paul. We're going to listen to him preach. I have no idea what else to expect, except I know we're going to hear the gospel.
And they come in there and now Paul is saying to them, they've journeyed from Ephesus to Miletus to hear him say, we are not going to see each other again on this side of heaven. And boy, that just racked their hearts.
We will not see one another again. So here's what you must do. I'm not going to get the chance to preach to you again, face to face. So this is my farewell message to you. But it is also this charge, which you must heed and continue in as shepherds of the flock of God.
He says in verse 26, therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all. Whatever ends up happening with you. If you do not continue in the faith, that's not going to be my fault because I taught you everything that you needed to hear and believe in for salvation.
If you lead others astray, that's not going to be my fault because you just introduced strange doctrines into what it was that I was preaching. It didn't come from me. It's going to be because you listen to a false spirit and brought those doctrines in that lead the flock astray into destruction.
So I'm innocent of the blood of all. Your blood is not on my head. None of the people that you might mislead would be upon my head. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
Again, Paul comes back again and again to understanding that it is the word of God that they must be committed to. That was what Paul was committed to. That's what they must be committed to teaching and following.
I testified about the repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The message of the gospel. Verse 21, I testified about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 24 again, I testified solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
And this is the very word that he is giving to these men, declaring to you the whole purpose of God, that you must shepherd the church. You've been made overseers of the flock of God. And what are you supposed to be doing?
Preaching the word of his grace, verse 32, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who have been sanctified. So again, Paul coming back to the message of the gospel.
It is the word of God to which you must be committed. And that's what you must preach. It is through the word that we are saved. It is through the word that we are sanctified, being made holy, that we may reach glory and be with Christ forever in his eternal kingdom.
Paul proclaimed preaching the kingdom of God. He pointed to the blood of Christ. Only by faith in him are we forgiven our sins and made right with God. That is a message that we must continue to cherish every day.
May it change our lives that we may walk in godliness until that day that we are with him forever in his glorious kingdom. Heavenly father, I thank you again for this word that we have read. And I pray it serves as a good reminder to us of the gospel of Christ.
We were undeserving of your mercy, your grace, your love, your favor upon us. And yet you have given your son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.
Lord, in this life, teach us to walk in a way that is pleasing to you. It's in Jesus name we pray.
Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .tt .com and click on the give tab in the top right corner of the page.
Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.