ACTS 20:22-35 THE MESSAGE OF GODS GRACE IS WORTH IT2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 20:22-35 The Message Of Gods Grace Is Worth It

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Well, as we look at Acts chapter 20 this morning, I've titled the message, The Message of God's Grace is Worth It. This morning, I want to encourage you and remind you that the message of God's grace is worth it.

Here as we look at this message of the Apostle Paul, he's sharing with these elders from the city of Ephesus. These are really pastors of home Bible studies and home churches that have gathered together as he is journeying towards Jerusalem. They've met up with him one last time.

And he's really sharing his final words with them with kind of no expectation of being able to ever visit them again. He doesn't know what awaits him in Jerusalem exactly, but he knows it's trouble ahead. And so he is speaking these things and sharing these things as if it's, this is the last thing you will ever hear from me. And so we get this from the Apostle Paul, some really important and powerful words. We get some important things to understand knowing that he is sharing these things, recognizing that

I may never get a chance to speak to you again. And as he shares with this group...

I would encourage you to consider that we are part of that group in a way, that we belong in that group. He's sharing with a gathering of elders, and sometimes we might just exclude ourselves from that. That's a nice message for other people. But I would encourage you to consider that we all have the same message and ministry as the Apostle Paul and as those that he was sharing with on that day. Here in verse 24 says,

Paul goes on at the end of the verse to say, the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. When you boil it down, no matter what our role is in the body of Christ, no matter, you know, what our calling is in this life from the Lord, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have a ministry that we have received from the Lord. And the core of that ministry is

That ministry might take many shapes and forms, and it might look very different between us and the different giftings and callings. But the core of the ministry is to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. The word gospel means good news. It's a message of good news. It's a message of the grace of God. And for every one of us, we have that ministry from the Lord. We have that calling from the Lord.

to minister, to bring forth, to testify, to demonstrate, to be an example of, to declare in a variety of ways the grace of God. Now as we're working our way through the Bible in three years, we're getting close now to wrapping up the book of Acts. We'll be wrapping it up in the next couple of days and then heading into the book of Romans this week.

And the book of Romans is going to be an exciting book to go through, especially, you know, as we come out of this passage, because the book of Romans is all about the grace of God. It's a very elaborate and detailed and in-depth study of the gospel of grace.

And so I want to encourage you to consider these things and then join with us as we head into the book of Romans to further allow these things to minister to your heart that this is the ministry that you've been given, a ministry of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. And so here as Paul gathers with these elders, it's really not just with those elders, but with you and I this morning, those with similar calling, with similar ministry, with

You have a similar responsibility to testify of the grace of God. And Paul says, this is my last chance to encourage you as a leader, as a discipler, as a parent, as an example of a believer in Jesus. In verse 25, he says, Indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Paul says, there's things ahead that I don't know.

But here's one thing that I am pretty certain of. I'm not going to see you again. I'm not going to see you again. And just imagine for a moment what that might have been like for those Ephesian elders. They had spent several years with the Apostle Paul. They knew him well. They had learned the gospel. They had learned all the truth of the scriptures from the Apostle Paul. And now he's saying, this is my last time seeing you.

It would be similar if I were to come up and say, this is my last message. This is my last opportunity to speak to you. And I don't intend that to be so. But also at the same time, you and I, well, we always have to live with that understanding because it might be so. We may not make it till next week. And so there is that urgency that's required. And Paul here is saying, look, I might not have a chance to talk to you again. So here's some essential things. Here's some core things that I want you to consider and pay attention to.

And for you and I, as we consider these things, allow them to really have an urgency upon your heart that the Apostle Paul is addressing you. And you might have a different place in the kingdom of God, in the plan of God. You might be charged primarily with displaying God's grace in the community.

Or maybe your role is more central to the church and the gatherings of believers. Or you might be more like on the street corner, preaching the grace of God to the world. Or maybe your role is primarily within your home and you're teaching God's grace to your family. That there's all kinds of ways that God fulfills this role in this ministry in our lives. But again, the bottom line is, we all have been given the message of God's grace.

And here, as we look at what Paul shares, I would suggest to you and encourage you, remind you, the message of God's grace is worth it. Worth what? Well, whatever it takes, essentially. We'll look at a few points here as we work our way through. But essentially, it's this. Whatever it's worth for you to communicate, for you to testify, for you to demonstrate the grace of God, it's worth it.

It's a message that is so valuable, it's worth it no matter the cost. If it costs a life, it's worth it. And that's Paul's view as he shares with these Ephesian elders. And so we're going to work our way through these verses here, starting in verses 22 through 24 for point number one. Here's point number one this morning. The message of grace is worth suffering for.

You need to know, as we consider the message of grace that we've been given, that it's worth it if it requires us to suffer, to testify of the grace of God, to demonstrate the grace of God, to be an example, to share, to communicate the grace of God. It's worth it, even if it requires suffering.

Jumping into verse 22, it says, Now in the verses just prior to this, Paul reminds the Ephesians of the things that he went through while he was in their midst.

And he went through lots of tribulation, difficulty, suffering. He experienced all of those things. And yet he's reminding them, in spite of all that, I was faithful to minister to you the grace of God and the word of God. And so Paul here is reminding them of his pattern, of his history with them. And then going forward, he says, and look, and I'm continuing that. That hasn't changed. Now, as I go forward, I'm going to Jerusalem and I don't know what's going to happen to me there.

But here's something I know. The Holy Spirit has been telling me, in every city along the way, as I'm stopping at all these ports, the Holy Spirit has been telling me that chains and tribulation await me.

And we'll get to see that, or we did see that as we continued to read through the passages this week. In Acts chapter 21, there was a couple occasions, which are after this, but Paul's talking about things that happened before. So along this whole journey, he's describing every time he stopped, there was the gathering of believers, and the Holy Spirit would speak forth amongst the gathering and say, chains and tribulation await you. And it caused the church in Acts chapter 21 to beg Paul, please don't go to Jerusalem.

Don't go. All of these horrible things and awful things and hard things are going to happen. Please don't go to Jerusalem. But Paul, as he looks forward to what God has called him to, says in verse 24, none of these things move me. It doesn't matter if chains and tribulations await me. It doesn't matter if difficulties abound. It doesn't matter if there is an abundance of pain.

What matters to me, he says, verse 24, none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Paul says, my highest priority is not my comfort,

not my pleasure, you know, not my easygoing lifestyle or anything like that. My highest priority is to finish the race that God has given to me, to fulfill the ministry. My job is to testify of the grace of God.

And I'm going to do that no matter what it costs. I'm going to do that. It's worth suffering for. It's such an important message. It's such a powerful message. It's such a good message that it's worth it, whatever it takes. If it costs me my life, Paul says, no problem. That doesn't move me. That doesn't push me away from the grace of God or from my responsibility to testify of the grace of God.

This is a message that is worth suffering for. The gospel message is a message that is worth dying for. Pastor Charles Spurgeon one time said, if the gospel you preach is not worth dying for, then you need to get a different message. There's only one gospel, one way of salvation. There's only one opportunity for us to be right with God. And it's so important that

And there's so much at stake because all eternity is in the balance. It's worth it. If it costs me my life, Paul says, if I have to suffer, I don't count my life dear to myself. Here's what I want to do. I want to finish my race with joy. I want to finish the ministry that I received from the Lord. Paul here shows us a great example.

A great reminder, and I would encourage you to be challenged and allow the Lord to maybe stir up and provoke some things within you. The message of grace is worth suffering for. This is the message that you have been entrusted with. You probably have it fulfilled and implemented differently in your life than the Apostle Paul did. And your role in the kingdom of God is different perhaps than mine or the person's next to you. But you have the message of grace.

You've been charged to make disciples. You're a leader in various capacities. You have influence in people's lives. This applies to every single one of us. We've been given the ministry of testifying of the grace of God. And if it costs us, if it hurts, if there's suffering involved, it's worth it because the message is so important. Lives and eternity are at stake.

well moving on to verses 25 through 27 we get the second point to consider this morning and that is the message of grace is worth declaring fully it's a message that's worth declaring fully you ever get a voicemail and you hear the first couple seconds of it and you go this message is not worth listening to right you get the first couple seconds you know i don't need to listen to the whole message you can tell right off the bat i can cut it short the message of god's grace is not that kind of message

It's a message that's worth receiving in its entirety. And it will take some investment. It will take some time and attention and some work on our part. And yet at the same time,

It's worth it. It's worth it to fully receive, to fully understand, to fully declare the grace of God. Verse 25 says, 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.

In verse 25, he says, you're not going to see my face anymore. In verse 27, he says, I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. And so in the middle, in verse 26, he says, so I'm okay with this. I'm okay that this is our last conversation. I can walk away with a clear conscience knowing that I fully fulfilled my ministry of testifying to the grace of God. I have fully declared to you, Ephesian elders,

I have fully passed on to you the whole counsel of God. And so, yes, this is my last conversation with you. This is our last dialogue. And emotionally, that's difficult. But my heart is clear.

I'm not walking away thinking, man, if only I had one more time to teach. If only we had had a little bit more time to, you know, go through some other things about the gospel or about the scriptures. If only there was a little bit more opportunity to explore the things of God together. Paul says, look, I've given you the whole counsel of God. The whole counsel of the grace of God. Grace is an amazing subject because it can be summarized in 30 seconds, right?

the gospel of grace, that Jesus Christ, being God, became man and died upon the cross for your sin and my sin, that by believing in him, we might have everlasting life. You can summarize the message of God's grace in seconds, but that doesn't completely declare the full message of God's grace. It can take years to fully declare the grace of God, the whole counsel of God.

In fact, I would suggest it'll take eternity for us to understand the grace of God. It can be summarized in seconds. Years to learn. Eternity to understand. And yet at the same time, it can be experienced instantly by believing in Jesus.

and accepting the gift, the grace that he extends towards us. Receive God's grace. And instantly, even if you don't know it all the way, you don't understand it fully, all you know is the summary perhaps, but instantly you can receive the grace of God even though it could take years to declare it fully and eternity to fully understand it. In Acts chapter 19, we see some of the time of ministry that Paul had there in the city of Ephesus.

And it tells us in verse 9 and 10 that Paul spent several years reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. He says in Acts chapter 19 verse 9 and 10. After he moved on from the synagogue when the Jews rejected the message, he went to the school of Tyrannus. And for two years every day he taught the scriptures. He delivered the message of the grace of God for two years. Now later on he's able to say...

I delivered to you, I declared to you the whole counsel of God. What was he doing during those two years? He was declaring to them the whole counsel of God's word. He was declaring to them the whole counsel of the message of God's grace. There's much depth to the grace of God. When you think about the gospel of grace, you can think about the Bible that you hold or the Bible that you're looking at. The whole thing is the message of God's grace.

It's all part of it. And the whole counsel of God typically, you know, if you've been around for a while, our minds immediately go to, you know, the scriptures verse by verse, chapter by chapter, that kind of thing. And that's appropriate. That's all part of the gospel of grace. The message of grace that God has given to us found in his word, portrayed through Jesus Christ and extended to us by the goodness of God.

And so again, as we head into Romans this week, we'll be digging a little bit deeper into this message. And there's great depth there. In Ephesians chapter 2, Paul talking about this incredible grace that God has extended to us. He describes that God is rich in mercy and the great love with which he has loved us while we were dead in our trespasses. He made us alive together. He raised us up together, made us sit in the heavenly places together.

And then Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7 says that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. The riches of his grace are going to be shown throughout the ages to come. Again, it will take eternity for us to understand this message of grace, the extent of God's goodness towards us. It's a message that's worth declaring fully.

And so God's going to spend the rest of eternity fully declaring the message of grace demonstrated through our lives. And so it's a message that it can be summarized, but don't be satisfied with just the summary, either in receiving it or declaring it. Again, you've been entrusted. God has placed in your life people that he has called you to disciple, to encourage, to build up, to help them draw near to him.

And your responsibility, your charge is to bring forth the whole counsel of the message of the grace of God. Not the 30-second summary only by itself, but that's just the start. It's a message that's worth declaring fully and completely, cover to cover, from beginning to end. Because, a couple reasons, one reason is your opportunity is going to come to an end.

You need to think about the value of the whole counsel of God and understand your opportunity to minister to that person will come to an end. One way or another, your opportunity is going to stop. Paul says, you're not going to see my face again. I know I'm going on. I don't know what awaits me, but here's what I know. This is my last chance to talk to you. And I can walk away

Confident that I have fully declared the grace of God to you, the whole counsel of God. It's worth investing time. It's worth investing energy. It's worth investing attention for you to dig into the scriptures, to learn about the grace of God, to learn how to communicate the grace of God to those around you because you will have a stopping point where you will no longer have that opportunity. And so it's worth investing the time now.

Now is your chance. It's worth declaring fully because you're charged with the blood of others. Paul says in verse 26, I testify to you this day that I'm innocent of the blood of all men. There's some powerful things to consider here. It's a call back to what the Lord told Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 3, as well as Ezekiel chapter 33, where God gives the example of a watchman. And God says, look, if I send a watchman,

And I tell him to warn the people and he doesn't warn them. They're going to die as a result of their iniquity. But the watchman, he says, I'm going to require the blood at the watchman's hand. God says, I gave you a responsibility to pass on the alert, to pass on the message. And if you don't do it, their situation is still going to be their situation as a result of their relationship with God. But at the same time, God says, I'm going to hold you accountable.

Because I gave you that message for them and you didn't deliver it. Paul says, I look at this and I can rest easy. I know I delivered the message that God gave to me. I brought the whole counsel. So I'm clear. I'm innocent of the blood of all men. Because I know I brought to you the whole counsel of God. The message of grace is worth declaring fully. It takes some time. It takes some attention, some effort, time.

You're going to have to study. You're going to have to, you know, invest some time and have coffee with people and go out and spend time together. You're going to have to have hard conversations and work through difficult doctrine. Yes, all of that, it's part of the message of the gospel of grace. But it's worth it. It's worth it to be innocent of the blood of all men, to know the depths of the grace of God, to pass on to others.

The full message. While you have the opportunity, knowing that your opportunity will come to an end. Well, moving on to verses 28 through 30, we get the third point to consider this morning. And that is the message of grace is worth protecting. The message of grace is worth protecting. In verse 28, he says, Therefore...

Paul here reminds these elders, hey, the people that you're ministering to, God loves them so much, he purchased them with his own blood. Again, Jesus Christ being God became man, shed his own blood in order to purchase, to purchase, to purchase.

those who would follow him. He paid the price, the penalty for sin. Paul says people are so precious to him. He was willing to shed his own blood. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to the flock. Pay attention. Be alert. There's dangers and the message of grace is worth protecting and defending and holding round when it's attacked. He says take heed to yourselves and

The first part in protecting those that God has purchased is taking heed to yourself. You are charged, first of all, with your own spiritual health. Your spiritual health is your responsibility. It's not my responsibility primarily. It's not somebody else's responsibility.

It's your responsibility. You are charged. You have the responsibility to know God, to walk with him, to stay close to him, to hear his voice, to let him lead you and teach you and guide you. That's primarily your responsibility. Take heed to yourself because you have influence over other people that are so precious to God he was willing to shed his blood for them. You're charged with his people. So make sure you stay close to him.

Make sure you're not distracted by the things of this world. Make sure your view is not perverted and distorted by sin. Make sure you know the Lord, that you hear his voice and that you follow him. Paul told this to Timothy also in 1 Timothy 4.16. He said, You cannot protect the gospel message if you're not taking heed to yourself.

You cannot protect others if you're not taking care of yourself. Take heed to yourself, he says, because there's external threats. In verse 29, he says, after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. There's very real dangers, Paul says. Savage wolves. They don't care about people. They don't care that they're precious to God. They don't care about that. They're just out to destroy. Savage wolves. False doctrines, false teachers, false

In religious garb or in secular garb, political things, social things, all kinds of external threats come against the message of the grace of God. And you need to protect it. You need to be a barrier, a wall of defense for the people that God has entrusted to you to help protect them from those threats, from those false doctrines, from those who would rip them off and destroy them.

So take heed to yourselves, prepare yourself because you need to be their defense against those things that are savage and out to destroy them. But then there's also internal threats. He says in verse 30, also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. And so there's the attacks that will come from the outside, but there's also the attacks that will come from within, from amongst our gathering, from amongst our group.

This is a tough one because he's talking about people that you know and that you're friends with or maybe family with. And there's going to be attacks on the message of the gospel of grace from within our midst. It's going to cost relationships in some cases to defend against those threats because there are going to be those who challenge and say, follow me, don't follow Jesus. One of the battles that we always face as believers is the battle against legalism.

That's one method that this internal threat represents itself. But there's many others. And we can't track them all down and trace them all down right now.

But you need to be aware that there are internal threats. Protect the message of God's grace. Verse 31, therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. Watch, he says, again, these are very real threats, real dangers for you and for those that God has entrusted to you. The message of God's grace is worth protecting.

It's worth defending. It's worth dividing over. It's worth fighting about. We all have this same message in ministry. Your implementation of it and God's specific role and call in your life may look different than Paul's or the person's next to you, but you have people that God has entrusted to you. You need to defend the gospel. Protect the message of God's grace from those external threats, from those internal threats. It's worth it.

even if it costs you significantly. Verse 32 gives us point number four for this morning, and that is the message of grace is worth investing in. Verse 32 says, 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 those who are sanctified. This message of God's grace, Paul says, I'm entrusting you to God and this message.

Again, he says, my time's coming to an end. I'm not going to have further opportunity to help you develop and grow and continue down this path. And so I'm commending you to God. I'm entrusting you to God. I know God is able to speak to you and work in your life. And you have the whole counsel, the word of his grace. And so with that, you'll be able to handle the things that come up. You'll be able to work through the things that you experience. You'll be able to go forward in the way that God wants you to.

He says the word of his grace is able to build you up. You're going to be strengthened. You're going to be built up. You have the whole council, and this is interesting, right? You have the whole council, he said earlier, but the work is not complete. You're still going to need to be built up. You're still going to need to grow and develop, but you have everything you need for that. I'm entrusting you to God and his word, and God through his word will build you up and give you an inheritance, an inheritance of

undefiled, incorruptible, that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you. You have an inheritance through the grace of God. And so it's worth investing in. The work isn't over. The development isn't finished. There's more building to do in you and through you. It's an investment. Again, it requires time and energy and attention. But God, through his word, is able to build you up

So you can handle any situation. So that you are thoroughly equipped for every good work. Paul tells Timothy later in 2 Timothy 3. You have everything you need. And you have the promise of eternity, the inheritance that's given to you. It's worth investing in. It's worth investing your life, your time, your energy, and your attention. Well, finally, we'll finish it up in verses 33 through 35.

Here's point number five. The message of grace is worth working for. Let me try that again. The message of grace is worth working for. The message of God's grace is worth it. It's worth suffering. It's worth declaring fully and exploring completely. It's worth protecting. It's worth investing in. And it's worth working for, working hard for the message of God's grace. Verse 33 through 35 says this.

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. Paul again uses himself as an example. And he says, look, I haven't been chasing after people's money. I haven't been coveting their apparel.

He says, you yourselves know. Because while he was there in Ephesus, he was living this way. He says, my hands have provided for my own necessities. Paul taught consistently throughout his ministry the importance and the value of working hard for what you have. And here he says, look, I was ministering. And there's no taking away from other portions of scripture where the Lord makes it clear it's valid for a minister to

to receive his living from the ministry. It's valid. There's nothing wrong with it. It's part of God's design. Paul works through that in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and various other passages. But at the same time, Paul was a tent maker and he worked hard to provide for himself. As you read through the book of Acts, as you read through his epistles, you get the picture. You understand that he worked hard. He provided for himself.

He sustained himself so that he would not be a burden to the ministry, to those that he was preaching to. Now, Paul's circumstances were unique, but again, the example he sets is a really good one for us to consider. Again, full-time ministry, there's a validity to the minister being provided for. But Paul makes it clear in 1 Corinthians 9, he refrained from that right intentionally. He had the right to receive intentionally.

But he said, instead, I'm going to work and provide for myself. Now, as one who ministers and also works outside of the church, I can clearly say that that comes at a cost. That decision to refrain comes at a cost. There's a great cost of time and attention and difficulty and labor. There's a great cost that comes. But Paul says, I'm going to make that sacrifice. It's worth it for me.

to provide for myself and to live off of what I can make in that way and then continue on the side of that to minister the gospel of grace. Paul weighed out his options and he decided it will be really hard to work and provide for myself and minister, but it's worth it. You know, sometimes we're only involved in things if there's some, you know, immediate and visible benefit for us. But let Paul's example challenge you a little bit.

You work hard and you're tired at the end of the day. Yes, we all do. But it's worth it to go from that tired position, that tired condition, to then do a little bit more, even though you're tired, even though you're worn out, to do a little bit more to the ministry that you've been entrusted with. Yeah, you don't want to have that conversation. Yeah, it's exhausting and you're tired and it's been a long day and there was tough decisions and all these battles. And yes, absolutely. We all know what that's like.

but at the same time, it's worth it. Yes, you deserve to just go, you know, pop up the feet on the recliner and just relax. You deserve it. Sure, you have that right, but you also have the opportunity to refrain from that right and invest yourself in the ministry that God has called you to. Paul says, I've shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak. You must support the weak.

You must work hard and invest yourself in the things of the Lord. The message of grace is worth working for. It's not going to come just, you know, all easy and, you know, you just kind of kick back and relax and you get paid to do everything that you want to do. No, that's not how it works. You work hard, but it's worth it. You suffer, but it's worth it. It takes time to fully explore and declare it, but it's worth it.

There's battles that fight against it. There's enemies that come, savage wolves, but it's worth protecting. It has great results. It builds your life and establishes for you an inheritance. So the message of God's grace is worth it. Learn it thoroughly, fully. You're charged with your own spiritual health. So become healthy and strong spiritually. Dig into the things of God. Pursue the things of God so that you may then understand

Be active in the ministry, testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your grace, for your goodness that we could never earn or deserve. Lord, that we don't have to work to earn your love or to earn your salvation. But Lord, we can come to you in faith, believing you at your word.

believing in what you have done for us and accomplished for us at the cross. Thank you, God, for your goodness and grace and forgiveness in our lives. And God, I pray that you would help us to then respond, Lord, in a manner that is worthy of that grace that you've extended to us. Lord, not that it's required for our salvation, but Lord, knowing what it is that you've done, knowing the reality of your love for us. Help us, Lord, to then turn around and love you.

and love the people that you have placed around us, Lord, in a way that honors you and that testifies of your grace. And so, Lord, would you fill us with your Holy Spirit, lead us forward into all that you have for us and the ministry that you've called us to. Pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

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