Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See on the portals he's waiting and watching, watching for you and for me. 

Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, oh sinner, come home. 

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, mercies for you and for me? 

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me. Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me. 

Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, oh sinner, come home. 

Oh, for the wonderful love he has promised, promised for you and for me. Though we have sinned, he has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me. 

Come home, come home, ye who are weary, come home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, oh sinner, come home. 

Thank you, Sue, for that good song, that message, really, that expresses the heart of God, his desire for every man to come home, to be saved.

Well, good morning to everyone. Good morning. A little rainy morning today, but we had some nice days, praise the Lord. I'm sure you're able to get all your fall work done, so now you're ready for winter, and it's coming.

We're going to be looking at Acts 20. I was thinking about, as Pastor Red from John 15, I have that actually in the message this morning as well, the idea of abiding, what it means to remain, to stay with Jesus, really the essence of the Christian life. As Paul articulates so well in Galatians 2:20, but always when I think about that, what abiding means, it reminds me of when I was in India with Sharon in Chennai, and we were going to go shopping to buy some of those cheap silk scarves for our wives, you know, and we went down to the store in the city.

And it's hard to explain, if you've never seen it, the traffic there, but at this intersection in the city where we walk down this street, it's a city of 10 million people, there were three lanes coming from four different directions into an intersection. And there are no street signs, no lights, apparently no rules. And there are bullocks with carts, and city buses, and guys on motorcycles, and everybody's just running and zooming, and I'm looking at this and I'm thinking, there's no way we'll ever make it to the other side. 

And Sharon's holding my hand and she's grabbing me and she says, stay with me, and I thought, I'm staying with her. And all of a sudden, go now, stay with me, and we went and we made it. But I always think of that because I want to stay with her, and get flattened by one of those things.

We're going to be looking at Acts 20 this morning, and one of the great blessings that we found through the course of the teaching of the book of Acts is the example of the life and ministry of Paul. And last week we honed in on this and we saw the example of Paul shown in his love for the brethren and his dedication to the gospel in those first verses of chapter 20. 

We've been sort of gleaning these things as we watch Paul go from city to city, as we observe how he conducts his ministry and what it is that's important to him, what his purpose is, what his method and means are. We see in the life of Paul an example to us that gives us a tremendous amount of instruction and understanding as to what the call of an evangelist and pastor teacher is, and also the call to all believers to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. 

Today in our text, we have affirmation of all this gleaning that we have been doing, these applications we've taken the liberty to make. In the last half of Acts 20 we see explicit instruction from the apostle to the elders of the church in Ephesus. What is it that is true about the ministry of the gospel? What are the challenges we face? What are the dangers? What is it that we are to be focusing on? What is our purpose? And how then should we live and how should we conduct ourselves in our ministries of the gospel of Jesus Christ? 

Paul answers all these questions in our text this morning, and we've been taking example from the life of Paul through Acts, and here we will take the explicit instruction. And I think this is such a rich, important passage for us to study and understand.

One of the great truths that we see from the life and from the exhortation of Paul here is that he was a man that was passionate about the truth. He believed that truth, that doctrine, mattered. He was willing to fight, to contend, to call out those who taught doctrines contrary to Christ, as he implores us to do even in Romans 16:17. And he was passionate concerning the scriptures. The word of God was the content of his preaching and the defense of his gospel. Paul was committed to the truth like no man we have ever seen before. He was committed to the truth like no man we have ever observed. 

And he believed the word of God was the answer. The grace of God was the sufficiency and the person of Christ was the explanation of his faith. But at the same time, this fiery preacher who would never compromise, would call out these false teachers, would stand toe to toe even with the great Peter, his brother and fellow apostle when it was necessary. This man who had such a passion for doctrine, for truth, for the word of God was so filled with love that it exuded out of him in every word that he wrote, in every sermon he preached, in every tear that he shed. 

And I think the summary statement from Paul on this that comes back to my mind and fills my heart again and again is at the end of that great list of sufferings that Paul experienced in 2 Corinthians 11. I want you to listen carefully to these familiar words again and think of the life and ministry of Paul. He says, "Now that's quite a list of physical suffering, of pain and anguish and fear and trembling, but notice the emphasis, what really burdened Paul, what he cared most deeply about was not all these persecutions, these things did not move him one bit. What really troubled Paul daily was his deep concern for all the churches."

My brothers and sisters, I want to share with you today that my heart resonates with Paul. I've not experienced the great persecutions that Paul did, the physical sufferings, the fear, the beatings, the trouble everywhere he went, not even in a small way. I know none of that, for better or worse, I'm not sure. 

But I do share the heart of Paul because of the love of God that has been poured out into my heart by the same Holy Spirit. I do share the burden daily for the churches, for the believers. And this burden, this concern, this desire for men to be saved, for believers to grow, to be fruitful, to glorify God is what drives me to stand for the truth, to preach the whole counsel of God, to stay meticulously fixed on the words of God, in their context, in their flow, cutting the pieces straight and doing my level best to say what God says, to speak truth into every opportunity I am given and to live it out by the grace of God one day at a time. 

It's not easy to do sometimes in this world. In this day and age where a mood has enveloped the church like a fog settling in, where we all just want to get along, where truth and doctrine really don't matter, where men just want to set doctrine aside and not think about it, not worry about it because it causes all kinds of problems as it confronts the sin and error and misguided thinking of each and every believer through the process of sanctification. Sometimes it's hard to be the bad guy, the one who won't go along to get along. 

But my wife sent me a meme the other day that encouraged me. It said, if you want most of all for everyone to like you, then don't be a leader, sell ice cream. What I want you to see in our text this morning, my friends, what I want you to take home from this passionate display of the love of Paul for the church, for the elders, which drives him to exhort them to take heed to themselves and to the flock by holding fast to the truth and being alert to error by depending wholly and fully on the word of God and the God of his word, is that our obligation, our ministry, your ministry, is first to God, to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

My aim is to please Him. My aim is to obey Him. My aim is to glorify Him in all that I do, to trust solely in Him. And my faith is in His revealed word in this book, the Bible. And my sufficiency is found in His grace, His life in me. I'm not here, I have not been called in the fulfillment of my ministry to please men, but to first and foremost and forevermore focus on pleasing God. That is how I am to fulfill my ministry, and that's true for each and every one of you as well. 

Let's look at our text in Acts 20, verse 17. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus. Remember, he was sailing past Ephesus because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem, he didn't want to spend a lot of time there, but he sends for the elders. 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 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 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. 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've 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."

It's a moving scene here in Miletus. And I've given you six points. I gave up on alliteration because that's too many points. First we see example, the second we see ministry, and I've just lifted these out of the text to kind of guide us through it. A whole counsel, take heed, watch and remember, and trust.

Well, first we see again in our text Paul's example. And we see this really in the first three points of our outline and down through verse 27. And I want to just work together through the text to see the mind of Paul, the understanding of Paul as to what he was to be doing to fulfill his ministry, to finish the race set before him. 

In verse 17, again, it says he called for the elders and when they came to him, he says to them, "When I came to you, you know what manner I lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials." Here we see the sum of Paul's ministry, what he thought was vital. We see the manner by which he lived among them, he came preaching the gospel, serving the Lord with all humility and many tears and trials. Paul was humble. 

What does that mean? What does it mean to be humble? He knew that the Lord was his sufficiency, that the gospel was the power of God unto salvation. As he wrote to the Corinthians, I did not come to you with wisdom of words and fine-sounding speech. Paul's confidence was not in some higher education or theological training, it was not in his own ability to articulate the great philosophies of men or to make a great and moving speech. He desired to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He preached Christ crucified. He was made a minister of the gospel and his trust was in God and His grace for sufficiency to carry out this work.

In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul wrote, "And we have such trust through Christ toward God," listen to what he says, "not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life." He served in all humility. This word in essence is having a right estimation of yourself. The point in this context is that I am not sufficient. I am not able to accomplish the work that God has given me in my own power or wisdom. Just as Jesus said in John 15, without me you can do nothing.

I am wholly dependent on Jesus Christ, His grace, His power, His life lived out through me but through Christ, I can accomplish all things. I can fulfill my ministry by abiding and trusting in Him, depending on Him. This is conducting ourselves in all humility. Our trust is in Him, our faith is in the Word, His truth, which will accomplish His will. 

And in the ministry of Paul, there were many trials and many tears. Trials speak of those outside troubles, those struggles like we read about in 2 Corinthians 11, there were plenty of those for Paul. And sometimes we experience similar trials as well if we live godly in an ungodly age, if we speak truth into the darkness of this sin-filled world, there will be resistance. But I think the greater struggle, especially for us, is one within, bringing many tears. 

These are the burdens that we bear in our heart, in our guts, my friends, for unsaved loved ones, for brothers and sisters who do not have a desire for the truth, for doctrine, for teaching about Jesus, for those who have gone astray in sin, who are reproached to Christ, for all the injustice and danger and fear in this world. This is a daily battle in our hearts and minds and emotions as we seek to fulfill our ministries in this world. And our only sufficiency, as exampled by Paul, as expressed explicitly by Paul, is Jesus Christ. He is our life. He is our salvation. He's our all-in-all. 

So we see again the example of Paul in tears and trials, but we also see an example of Paul in teaching and testifying. Look at verse 20. He says, "How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly 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 received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." 

What is Paul's method? What is his example to us in how he carries out his ministry? It is consistently, repetitively teaching and testifying. He said, "I taught publicly from house to house. I just keep teaching the Word, the truth about Jesus and testifying that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of the living God. The whole counsel of God is what I give you, the Word rightly divided, putting the pieces together to form the whole of divine truth as revealed in the Word of God. 

This was Paul's passion. This was his trust, his method to teach. And his ministry to the lost was to testify, to preach Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, risen again and faith in Him alone for salvation, to receive the righteousness of God. His unwavering belief, as exampled by his life, was that it is the gospel that is the power of God, the salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. He had a laser focus on truth, on doctrine, on preaching and teaching and testifying about Jesus from the Word of God. 

How else are you going to testify about Jesus? How else do you know anything about Jesus than by what God has revealed to us through His Word? This is the example he gave us to follow in order to fulfill our ministries. His message was about faith in Jesus Christ and His full payment for our sins on the cross. His message was about repentance toward God, a turning from whatever we were trusting in, turning to Jesus and Jesus only by faith alone. 

Paul was selfless. He was fearless in the face of persecution if he could only find another opportunity to preach Christ, to exalt Jesus, to call men to believe Him, to Him, to turn to Him, to trust Him. This is the example of Paul and how rich it is for us. 

We see also in verse 24 the nature of the ministry he had as he understood it. He said, "None of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." He says, "The ministry that I have, I received from the Lord Jesus." We see that clearly in Galatians 1. He called me. He gave me explicit instruction to do one primary thing, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 

And this is what Paul did. His great desire was to please his Savior and Lord, to fulfill that ministry given to him and to go and preach the gospel, to teach and to testify. And I love Paul's summary words of his ministry written to Timothy as he came to the end. What an amazing privilege to be able to say what Paul said about his life on this earth. 

Turn over to 2 Timothy 4 with me, please. 2 Timothy 4 verse 1. "I charge you, therefore, this always strikes me, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables. 

But you, be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved His appearing." 

Paul was ready to go to be with Jesus, to receive His reward, because he did finish the race with joy. Many pains, many sufferings, hardship, constant concern for all the churches, but with joy, with faithfulness to never waver from His purpose, His method, to preach and teach the truth, proclaim the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and faith in Him. Paul could say that he was innocent of the blood of all men, note this, because he declared to them the whole counsel of God. 

His method for evangelism was preaching Jesus Christ crucified, but his method for discipleship for the believer to cause growth and fruit and holy living in the body of the church was to declare the whole counsel of God, to diligently teach and preach the word of God. And this he did fervently, consistently, unwaveringly, with trust in the Lord to make it work. 

So this is Paul's example to us. And now beginning in verse 28, we see his exhortation, his explicit instruction to the leaders in Ephesus and to us, instruction consistent with his example. Look at verse 28, please. 

"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. I feel like I should stop and preach a whole sermon on that right there, 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." 

The key instructions here are to take heed and to watch and remember. Paul said it is a reality, it's a fact, there's going to be false teaching. False teachers, errant doctrine will come. This is inevitable. Peter says in 2 Peter 2, there were false teachers among them, there will be false teachers among you. So what are we to do about false doctrine and error and those who purvey it? We are to first take heed to ourselves, our lives, our faith, our trust, our minds. 

We are to be continually renewing our minds to the truth of the Word of God. We are to be involved in fellowship with like-minded believers, hearing, speaking, studying, consuming the Word of God. We are to build one another up, exhorting, correcting, loving one another and pointing each other back to Jesus continually. 

Listen to Paul's words to the young pastor Timothy in Ephesus. He says, "Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you." 

First we must take heed to ourselves, and then Paul says to the leaders, take heed to the flock. Elders, pastors, and teachers are to be overseers, to be ministers and servants to the flock, to the people of God. And we are to follow Paul's example in this. The church is a place for exalting, teaching about, proclaiming Jesus Christ. And this is done through the Word of God, through teaching, through declaring the whole counsel of God. 

By laying down a foundation of the apostles' doctrine, making clear and continually reminding the believers of the truth of God's Word. And these indicatives are to give rise to the imperatives, the commands, the foundation of truth is to be the foundation for living it out. We are to exhort the believers to live out the truth of who they are in Christ by the grace and power of Jesus' life in us through faith. This is the primary role of the pastor-teacher, and Paul wants to make this abundantly clear to the elders in Ephesus. 

There's a clear role for the pastor to shepherd, to teach, to oversee, to battle error with truth for the hearts and minds of the believers. And because this is the reality, they are to watch and they are to remember. This speaks of being alert, recognizing error, and warning about it, and this is accomplished as we take heed to ourselves, immerse ourselves in the study of the Word of God in prayer and dependence on Jesus. 

Turn back to Acts 6. You please, just to remember an important passage and lesson back in Acts 6. It says, "Now in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, it is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. Therefore brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, who we may appoint over this business." 

Look at verse 4. "But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word." It seems to me that most pastors today are spending an amazing amount of time serving tables, organizing and running programs, reading books written by men, in meetings and committees, all kinds of things. But not in the study of the word and prayer, giving themselves entirely to these most important and necessary things. 

This is what Paul did. This is what he is exhorting the elders in Ephesus to do, and this is how we should see the obligation and the need of the pastors and teachers today. Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." 

You see, the faithful work of the pastor-teacher in the word and in prayer, giving himself entirely to them is profitable for you, for the body, for growth and edification through the preaching and teaching and application of the word of God. I'm not sure how profitable all the programs and parties are, I'm not sure how much edification theological books and systems bring to the body, but I am confident, yes certain, that the study of the word of God, prayer and dependence on Jesus and the preaching and teaching and proclamation of these things brings fruit, brings benefit and growth to the believers and is manifest in their lives and their ministries. 

And thus this is Paul's heart, not only for his own ministry, but that of all men called by God to be overseers. Take heed to yourself and to the flock, watch, be alert, warn, exhort, teach. And remember the example of Paul. This is what we see from Paul, his heart for these men who would now pastor and shepherd the church in Ephesus. 

And finally we see perhaps the most important truth of all in verse 32. "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." Ultimately in doing all these things, in fulfilling our ministry as Paul has set the example in the way that God has prescribed in his word, we entrust ourselves to God. 

In Jude 1:24 it says, "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." Listen to Ephesians 3:20, "Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us." 

Second Corinthians 3 again, "And we have such trust toward… such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves but our sufficiency is from God." John 15:4, "Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing." 

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." 

Our brothers and sisters, just as much as justification is by God's grace through faith alone, sanctification is by God's grace through faith alone. Reckoning, believing what he says in his word and trusting him to work it out through us for his glory. Ultimately, in all that we do in every day of life, we must choose to believe, to trust God. That's the battle of the Christian life. 

And in trial and tribulation, we must not defend ourselves or seek out retribution but rather entrust ourselves to the one who judges righteously. Jesus is our example. He had total faith and trust in God the Father. He always did what pleased the Father. The Father did the works through him as he was abiding in him. And as he trusted in the Father, the Father worked to accomplish mighty works and miracles. 

Paul commended these men to God and to the word of his grace, knowing this is the way that they could be fruitful, to be built up and to keep their thinking straight, renewing their minds to the truth of the word of God. He was leaving. He would not see them again. He'd done all that he could do, teaching, preaching, warning night and day for three years with tears. 

He'd shown them by example in his life and ministry, how they could fulfill their ministry which God had called them to. And he had given them explicit instruction here, the most important vital things for them to remember, to take heed to themselves, to give themselves entirely to the word and to prayer, to take heed to the flock, to care for them, teaching them, exhorting them and warning them of false teaching. And he had entrusted them to God as he would now go away. 

He would no longer be there to answer their questions, to correct their error, to lead them down the straight and narrow, but he knew that God was able, that God is faithful, that he would build them up and make them fruitful and so he could entrust these men, this church in Ephesus and all the churches to the care of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What a moment, my friends, as they all fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, so filled with sadness that he would never return, but how thankful they must have been to have known him, to be taught by him, to have fellowshiped with him and ministered together with him. They had a good foundation and God would continue to uphold them as long as they looked to him and his word and trusted in him and his grace for their sufficiency. 

May we do these things continually here at Living Hope Church as well, following this great example of the man, Paul, as we seek to fulfill the ministries that God has given to each one of us. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for the simplicity that is in Christ. Thank you for the commission that you've given us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Thank you for the sufficiency that you have given to us in Christ, that you have given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Help us, Lord, by your power, by your grace, as we abide in you and trust you to live out who we are, to live a life worthy of our calling, for a witness to this world and for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray.