The Wonderful Matchless Grace Of Jesus Makes The Obedient Christian's Faith, A ‘Giving’ Faith

[0:00] He was prepared to die, to give his life. We're going to turn to Acts chapter 20, friends. The book of Acts chapter 20.

[0:18] Beginning reading at chapter 20, verse 17, if you have your Bible there. The reading, I assume, will be on the screen.

[0:31] But if there's a Bible near you and a pew there, you will probably need it during the message. To be able to look at what will be referred to. But this is us coming to Paul's farewell to the elders of the Ephesian church.

[0:48] And there's lots of tears and lots of fears and goodbyes. You know what the word goodbye means, don't you? It means God bless you. Y-E. Goodbye is shortened for God bless you.

[1:00] That's what it means. But we're such a godless society, you don't hear anybody saying that. They say goodbye. It actually means God bless you. And here are the goodbyes.

[1:14] And lots of tears. And they're begging him not to go. Because he says, I will never see your face again. This is an amazing man. The whole world virtually knows about.

[1:26] Let me read from verse 17 of Acts 20. From my leaders, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them, you know how I lived the whole time I was with you.

[1:41] From the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears. And in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.

[1:52] You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you. But I've taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance.

[2:07] And have faith in our Lord Jesus. And now, compelled by the Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem. Not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

[2:25] However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim is to finish the race, complete the task that the Lord has given me. The task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.

[2:39] Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.

[2:52] For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

[3:05] Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

[3:16] Even from your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

[3:32] Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

[3:44] I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know what these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak.

[4:00] Remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.

[4:15] They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

[4:27] After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Kos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.

[4:38] We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went on board and set sail. After sighting Cyprus and passing to the north of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.

[4:54] We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit, they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When it was time to leave, we left and continued our way.

[5:07] All of them, including wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. And there on the beach, we knelt to pray after saying goodbye to each other.

[5:17] We went on aboard the ship and they returned home. We continued our voyage from Tyre, landed at Ptolemus, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.

[5:30] Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist. One of the seven, he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

[5:50] Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, The Holy Spirit says in this way, the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.

[6:06] When we heard this, we and the people pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?

[6:18] I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, The Lord's will be done.

[6:33] After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea accompanied us and brought us to the home of Nason, where we were to stay.

[6:45] He was a man from Cyprus and one of the early disciples. It's a sad moment. They'll never see his face again. But what a guy.

[6:58] What faith. May God bless to us his too. But if you've been walking any time with the Lord.

[7:12] What is our response like to that love? With all our knowledge, all our Christian services, all the preaching, all the teaching, all the Bible, all the commentaries, all the attendance, all the evangelism.

[7:31] What are you like as a response to that love? Are we growing in love? Is what we do done out of love for him?

[7:47] I've coined a phrase that I'll ask Stephen to bring up.

[8:00] Just at the top of the page. Studying this passage. Thinking of my own life. As every Christian should.

[8:10] Before they think of others. What kind of testimony do you have? Bill Mordech. And I've put at the top of the page.

[8:23] The wonderful matchless grace of Jesus makes the obedient Christian's faith a giving faith.

[8:34] You can't have a giving faith without the grace of the Lord.

[8:49] Religiosity doesn't give you a new heart. We all know the acronym for grace.

[9:01] God's riches at Christ's expense. We say it very easy. God's riches at Christ's expense. Think about it, but.

[9:15] And when you read the passage, when we read the passage together, I should say, about the Apostle Paul's instruction to the elders of the church to care for the people in the church.

[9:26] And his goodbye. God be with you. God be with you. For he will be with me. That's his confidence. Even to death. He knows.

[9:38] Because he's got assurance. I don't understand a Christian that doesn't have assurance. I just don't understand it. The wonderful matchless grace of Jesus makes the obedient Christian's faith a giving faith.

[10:03] Faith is the offspring of trusting in Christ. He becomes the object of our faith. Not the church. Not the Bible. Him. And obedience is the offspring of your faith.

[10:18] If our life is not an obedient life, where is the grace? To overcome? To sacrifice?

[10:31] Lovingly? To love another Christian as Christ loved them? That was the command of the Lord. How did he love the others? He loved them sacrificially.

[10:43] He gave. The two texts there beneath that heading that I conned is from Acts 20, 35.

[11:01] We read it. Paul reminding them all what Jesus said. And the text below in 2024, before the top one, he says, I consider my life worth nothing to me.

[11:17] My only aim, my only aim is to finish the race, complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me.

[11:33] All Paul is doing all through his life is giving what he's already been given. That's all. That's all we do. The gospel is given to us.

[11:45] Then we give it to others. So our worship, the offspring of our worship, should be stewardship. Should be discipleship.

[12:00] And we should go on that ship every time we hear God's word. and nothing should stand in our way.

[12:12] If God calls us, he will enable. The apostle Paul, the task he has given me to run this race as a runner, to care for it as a steward, and testifying to the good news of God's grace.

[12:34] The gospel is free to every sinner on earth because Christ died and paid the price.

[12:44] It's free. What's the problem? We're offering somebody something that's free. We're not asking to pay for it.

[12:56] It's already paid for, friends. But the disciple, the apostle Paul, the sent man, his Christ-centered ways makes us very aware that if we're a believer and we're alert and alive to God, it won't matter what he asks us to give.

[13:30] We'll give it. It doesn't matter what it is. We'll give it because we know it's done out of love for the other sinners, for the other Christians.

[13:44] and God will have given us what to give them. Whether that's money, help, mission.

[14:04] God has already provided for the person he tells to give to other people. As you go back to that passage in your Bible, there, friends, bring up that second slide, Stephen.

[14:19] There's only two slides, friends. This slide just summarizes the passage that we read in terms of how Paul presents it to us from Acts 20 and 21.

[14:38] verses 18 to 21. If you look at the text, you will see that Paul reviews his past.

[14:51] It's in one sense one of the easiest passages in the Bible to interpret because it's about the past, it's about the present, and then it's about the future. It's really easy. I wish all sermons were that easy.

[15:03] Past, present, and future. That'd be fantastic. But this one is because this man knows he's going to Jerusalem. But he wants them to make sure that when he goes, they're going to carry on what he was doing.

[15:20] And then he lays out how he has ministered to them and said, but I'm warning you, when I leave, the enemy's going to come in.

[15:35] That's why I've had all the trouble I've had, and now you'll get it too. So he's preparing them for the future and he's prepared to die because the Lord will be with them.

[15:48] And if you look at verses 18 to 21 there, you'll see in the very last verse, verse 21 of that section, it's all about him calling on Jews and Greeks to turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

[16:07] That's what determines Paul's motive. That's what determines Paul's manner of service is the message.

[16:18] the message is repent. You can't be saved until you repent of your sins.

[16:29] Christ died for your sins. In his name, repent. God will forgive you. It's clear, Isabel. It's a gift.

[16:39] It's a gift. But his motives, no one could question his motives.

[16:49] They tried to at times if you read the letters of Paul and his manner is determined by that message that I was once like you.

[17:03] I want you now to be like me trusting in the grace of God. I don't care what it costs me. When did you last tell someone about Jesus?

[17:20] When did you last take a tract out of your pocket? Say, ask God to help you. Ask God. God could help you. Ask God to help you. And I'll pray for you.

[17:34] Leave it with him. Because that's what happened to me. I put it in my back pocket. And for four months I took it out and read it.

[17:45] Nobody knew. And four months later I was saved. So was Kathy. Do we give?

[17:58] The Christian faith is a giving faith. For God so loved the world he gave.

[18:13] His only begotten son whoever believes in him will not perish but have or will be given eternal life. I have eternal life right now.

[18:25] you if you're a born again person you have eternal life right now. You don't wait till you die to get eternal life. You have it now. So it's a living experience when he gives forgiveness in Jesus name because we have turned to him and said we're sorry.

[18:51] We're sorry. We're sorry. We're sorry. Religion's not doing it for me. I'm coming to you personally.

[19:08] I don't want to die without the peace of God. Sinners come to God in all sorts of ways in all sorts of situations but Paul here you see his past had determined how these people looked at the Christian life and so in the second case in verses 22 to 27 he presents his ministry to them in pictures.

[19:41] There's kind of pictures run all the way through it. Look at verse 26 he's a watchman I'm responsible for nobody's blood I'm not responsible for anybody's blood I've warned you what's coming and if you went to the book of Ezekiel and you read about the watchman you read about the watchman standing there with a horn the enemies are coming close the doors close the gates of the city the watchman's there Paul says he was a watchman proclaiming heralding forth so he's saying now you do the same when I leave for the sake of your church do the same you elders of the church and there's various pictures run through these verses and we've seen it in one of the texts on the previous slide the runner the race the task the steward he was not going back no matter who tried to get him to stay he was going to Rome and he was going to Jerusalem and he knew what was going to happen the third item there just as you look at that passage is about his future and his warnings for the church between verses 28 to 38 and I think it's worth pausing here because let me just go through these verses 28 to 38 he's warning the Christians that he's going to leave 28 to 38 keep watch over yourself and all the flock of which the

[22:02] Holy Spirit has made you overseers be shepherds of the church of God which he bought with his own blood I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock now these are a flock they are sheep wolves are their enemies the young are the most vulnerable they can't keep up they fall behind the devil what does James say like a wolf like a lion they're gone Paul is warning them I'm leaving I won't be back and that's why he's telling them you won't see my face again take watch over yourselves don't think when I leave the trouble is going to leave you are God's children he says see friends it's all about giving they have to look after each other and give to each other and pray for each other because the sheep are very vulnerable vulnerable they've got very poor eyesight but they've got good hearing and he's warning them he's warning them and he even says in verse 30 if you look at that verse there even from among your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them he sees people even in amongst them who are in some form or other diluting the

[23:47] Christian truth centered on Jesus now I could go into church history and all the things in the background but one of the biggest problems in the early church was Gnosticism which just means it's a Greek word for knowledge if you join us you're in a higher spiritual realm but don't think that Jesus became human no no no no no it just looked like he was human he wasn't really if he was God he can't be human because the body's evil so that mean God would become evil that's not Christian that's Gnosticism Gnosticism still exists and he's aware that he's leaving and he's warning the elders the overseers be careful who you ask to preach who you ask to teach I'm going to tell you something experience that comes to my mind in

[24:50] Springburn Baptist Church when I was there in the 80s I said to a Sunday school teacher one morning that's an interesting book you've got I sent for it Bill I said I thought you used scripture press I yeah we do everybody uses the scripture press we used to use scripture you never use scripture press I said so where does that one come from and she dilly dallied do you know where it came from the Mormons and she was using it the Sunday school class now that didn't tell me she had knowledge that told me that she was ignorant and I said to her do you realize do you realize how subtle the enemy is she'd been in that church all her life you shouldn't use that come on we'll go and talk to the superintendent does he know and we talked to the superintendent she said that was no

[25:53] I thought anyway the way it put it she was all lovely and nicely put it was a Mormon booklet and she's using along with scripture press obviously something hadn't got in in all the preaching today the same thing the same thing can happen friends don't think for a minute that everybody walks in Bell Baptist Church has got sound doctrine that's a crazy assumption that's why there are teachers and preachers in any church someone can be passing on stuff you have to be alert and aware of the truth if it's not

[26:55] Christ centred it's probably not biblical centred Paul was concerned of the wolves and among themselves but here's the interesting thing he ends up by talking about things people not coming in or being already there but things within ourselves he didn't miss the mark look at verses just after there's a new paragraph in my bible verse 32 now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace which can build you up now notice that word build you up that means will edify as an edifice a wall to build you up if the word of God is not allowed that's preached from this pulpit isn't allowed to build us up we will be a shallow

[28:02] Christian there will not be the depth there should be he's warning them about shallowness in themselves and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified you see I was saying to someone recently a situation I was saying to him that I read this gentleman wrote what the ct stud solitary Christianity is not Christian you know what I'm talking about solitary Christianity is not Christian fellowship is a very important thing worship is a very important thing because from the ministry of that fellowship and that worship those who are not shallow who want to grow in grace and knowledge of the

[29:20] Lord they will not be isolated Christians they will be amongst the believers so that they can learn and grow and he's absolutely right you won't find any thing in scripture that says it's okay to be on your own as a Christian tell people you're a Christian but never go near church or never go near worship that's completely contradictory to what the Bible teaches from Jesus on and away before he never ever said where one of you gather for prayer so it shall be done in heaven where two or three gather in my name I shall be there in the midst because fellowship saves us from being isolated and therefore insulated and the enemy getting in and for all sorts of crazy reasons I'll just be alone it's not

[30:22] Christian what's the point of fellowship and if you go to verse 33 you'll see he talks about coveting the last of the ten commandments desiring that which belongs to another and you'll remember I'm sure from Exodus 20 the words to some degree from that last part of the ten commandments coveting and he gives his own example of how he lived he says the reason in verse 35 is to help the weak and so remember the works of the Lord Jesus it is more blessed to give than to receive nobody can argue with that so it's interesting that he gives a big picture about his past amongst them then addresses the elder of the church and presents his own ministry in these different pictures then talks about the future and the warnings for the church things like wolves coming in dangers amongst us dangers within us carelessness shallowness covetousness laziness selfishness and then he stands out as a contrast he's not boasting he's boasting about the

[32:07] Lord in verse 24 I consider my life worth nothing to me my only aim is to finish the race complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace nobody could deny that looking at that man's life what he suffered for the Lord here I close you read or you followed me through Acts 21 1 to 16 and I put the word misunderstood I know what that feels like personally because my family misunderstood when I said I had become a Christian and then when I said I was leaving my trade to go to Bible college how is the family going to live you're a tradesman after six years of apprenticeship they misunderstood no sense of trusting believing in

[33:19] God what I would have done without that fellowship in Drum Chapel Baptist I do not know they were so faithful and so supportive my own family were like scratching their head don't understand this there you see in chapter 21 there Paul being misunderstood and I want to tell you in closing William Bourdain was a millionaire in America there it's at the bottom of the slide and William Bourdain became a Christian when he was young his father and mother were Christians but they were millionaires and when he graduated from Yale College they gave him a world tour as a present so he went to Asia he went to Europe he went to the Near East when he came back they couldn't believe how hurting he was hurting they said what's wrong there are hurting people all over this world

[34:26] I had no idea there were so many hurting people he felt the Lord called him to China he had such an influence in Yale College that out of the 1500 students he had a thousand of them meeting in prayer groups when he left and they said not to go he died in Egypt at 25 years old he contracted spinal meningitis and died in Egypt at 25 but in his bible he had written three phrases and the other there no reserve no retreat no regrets and when they wrote his biography that was the title of it no reserve no regret no retreat no regrets that was

[35:35] Paul there he is Acts 21 14 the people said the Lord will be done you see friends Paul couldn't get away from the fact that God had given him his son so that he could belong to him and now there was nothing else but to give his own life in return we always say that don't we we love him because he first loved us so we are saying we first give for him we give for him because he first gave to us it's pretty logical reasonable but how much do we put it into practice if we manage to get Shanti on you're going to be listening to a man who's a lawyer and a pastor and who started a faith mission a mission on faith there's no state support for good youth ministry in India they live on the contributions of other people

[36:44] Shanti being a lawyer he can hold it together and for 40 years almost I remember they have been running this indigenous mission for their own people in southern India and every two years for nearly 40 years they've spent six weeks in the UK hoping people will support them for one reason only to take the gospel to the Indian people the evangelists go into these villages on bicycles no turning back no turning back no reserve no retreat no regrets and God has blessed them God has blessed them and they've got hundreds of children hundreds of widows people and if we went to their worship this morning you couldn't get a seat when I looked at this passage that phrase of the talk that I couldn't put together was basically how it came to me the wonderful matchless grace of

[38:07] Jesus makes the obedient Christians faith a giving faith when things are difficult this is why I chose the final hymn how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear if your Christian life is difficult think of the words of this hymn how this should comfort you same kind of comfort Paul would have gotten from thinking of Jesus who like him went to Jerusalem no matter what anybody said knowing he wasn't coming back dear father just pray your blessing and ask for your grace for all of us make us aware your grace is a living thing bless us as we close our worship thank you that you've given us this opportunity hear us and help as we pray guide us we ask in Jesus name Amen