Commended to God (Quality: Good)

[0:00] will you turn now to the Acts of the Apostles chapter 20 chapter 20 and to the 32nd verse Acts chapter 20 and the 32nd verse and know brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified this is the verse that I would seek to speak a little from this evening but in preparation it seems first of all necessary to establish this verse in its setting to take this text in its context we've got to notice in the first place that it occurs in what is called the fair well address of the Apostle Paul to the elders of the church at Ephesus he met them at Miletus as he was journeying on to Jerusalem and he had spent a ministry a period of ministry there of almost three years years and he had known great blessing in his ministry in Ephesus the word of God we are told mightily grew and prevailed but it is time for various reasons to take farewell and this is the unusual somewhat unusual circumstances that as he is passing Ephesus he calls the elders together in order to speak to them and to exhort them and you see that in verses 18 to 27 in verses 18 to 27 there is a personal vindication when he comes to take farewell of the elders he is able to speak of his own ministry in their midst without a sense of shame he had a conscience as he says in another place void of offense before God and men certainly wouldn't be always the case that ministers could vindicate their ministry in taking farewell they would have to own their many deficiencies and their oft times lack of faithfulness to the gospel but not the apostle and in these verses 18 to 27 there is this personal vindication he speaks of his life and the integrity of his conduct and his behavior which he so often had to establish in his letters because of all the evil things that were spoken against him and you see in verses 18 and 19 and then also at the end in verses 33 to 35 adding these verses in how he speaks of his own life and conduct the integrity of his testimony of life in their midst he says you know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner

[4:00] I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in weight of the Jews verses 33 on the I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel yea you yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me I have showed you all things how that so laboring he ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive personal vindication the integrity of his life than the faithfulness of his doctrine in verses 20 to 27 though we will not include 22 to 25 but if you're following it in the chapter you see in that portion beginning at verse 20 the faithfulness of his doctrine how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our

[5:24] Lord Jesus Christ and he says in verses 26 and 27 wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God the apostle is there such an example to those that would minister the word of God in all subsequent generations both from the integrity of his life and the faithfulness of his doctrine and then you see this exhortation that he makes in verse 28 to those elders of the Ephesus church take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood they are to be feeders of the flock they are to be pastors shepherds of God's flock

[6:29] God's sheep they must take heed then to themselves and he reminds them of the need to take most seriously and solemnly this responsibility of taking heed to themselves and to the flock and he brings to them the solemnity of the charge from the person that lays it upon them he says the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers they had their ministry of oversight from the Holy Spirit himself and this is a remarkable verse for the way that it shows to us the oneness of the persons of the Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the chapter of Ephesus chapter 4 of the Ephesian letter he speaks there of

[7:32] Christ giving those gifts to the churches those for the work of the ministry and the perfecting of the saints Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers the feeders of the flock of God received their charge and office from Christ but what did we say just a couple of lords days ago in the evening that Christ at the right hand of the father has his representative in the Holy Spirit upon the earth and it is the Holy Ghost says the apostle that have made you overseers but it is Christ that has made them there is no difference there is that oneness there is that oneness in the ministration and the intention and the purpose of the Godhead in the things concerning salvation it's an interesting verse to see this identity and this union and communion between these two persons of the

[8:39] Godhead and then you see the same brought out in the expression the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood and the church of God alone in the New Testament indicative of the father and yet how can it be said that the church is that which is of the father which he hath purchased with his own blood and this is that remarkable expression there are those that speak like this in looseness and in ignorance as though the father shed his blood Paul is such a precise theologian there is no inaccuracy it is rather the vivid concern of his expression here to show the dignity of the office of those who are feeders of the flock of God that he speaks of the church as being that which is from God it originates of God and that is true the election is of the father and then they are given to the son and it is the son but the son is God and the son has purchased them with his blood and if the blood speaks of the humanity the nature which he assumed of humanity yet we must remember that there can be no separation of the natures and while the blood shed speaks of the humanity of Christ yet it is not to any violation of the deity of Christ he is the

[10:09] God man and this verse then brings us into deep mysteries and reminds us of that sacred and sublime doctrine of the trinity and the persons of the Godhead in their distinction and yet in their unity and in that way that they are all involved in the salvation of poor lost sinners what an office this is then to which they are called the dignity of it the importance of it it might be that which men look with derision upon but it is that which is the feeding of the flock of God it is to do with those things in the church of God could anything be higher than that and they are to be taking heed to themselves and to that flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers from the person charging them the solemnity is to be seen of this exhortation from the price that is paid the blood of

[11:17] God and also from the peril that the flock was in verses 29 to 31 for I know this after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears there are these solemn responsibilities brought again to the attention and laid upon the hearts of the elders of the Ephesian church and it is noteworthy that in that commendation years later that is recorded and written to the Ephesus church in the second of the revelation the first letter of the seven letters to the churches the church at Ephesus is commended for its doctrine there is that want of life and love there is that want of the freshness and vitality of first love but they are commended for their faithfulness in doctrine and that they did not put up with those that were false and they did not credit the false apostles and I believe that that is indicative that those that took this charge to heart they sought to be faithful in the resisting of the errorists and the rooting out of the false teachers and they didn't carry them along with them they didn't say that well we must be tolerant of error and we must not put these people from us they perhaps will improve if they just remain in our midst they treated them with great care and they realized that but for their oversight and the responsible oversight there might be great inroads made of the enemy into the sheep of

[13:26] God's pasture so there is the exhortation and then there is in verses 22 to 25 if you go back to them the prediction of future sufferings the persecution that he knows is in wait for him now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city in every city I come to there is this testimony born to me that bonds and afflictions await me abide me but none of these things move me neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God prediction of future sufferings persecution the servants of God will ever be opposed and there are times and situations when it is an open persecution that they meet with and the result of this in verse 25 is now behold I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more they will know more of his presence with them which they have had for these three years that's the first consequence of these things he has to go there are persecutions awaiting him the consequence of all this is that they will know more of his presence they will accordingly miss his counsel as he has taught them so faithfully and as he has instructed them and encouraged them they will miss all of that and they will have that sadness that they no more have him in the midst which sadness is surely expressed in these last verses after he kneels down and prays with them they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more and they accompanied him unto the ship and then there is this farewell commendation in verse 32 now now now brethren

[15:56] I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified in the light of all that no he says

[17:10] I commend you brethren to God in view of the future and the many difficulties and the dangers that face them and no he says brethren I commend you to God this very word that he uses to describe them is a word that speaks surely of his affection towards them we are to love Peter says 1 Peter 3 8 love us brethren we are brothers we are in the family of God we are of the household of faith there is no standing upon his apostolic office or dignity although there are times when he must do that in order to enforce his credentials and that his authority might be respected because God has commissioned him God is speaking through him but here he is not standing on office he is referring to them as his brethren he is near to them he is nigh to them there are great figures so called even today in the so called church that are distant figures and remote figures and you cannot get near to them and there are pastors of congregations that are aloof figures and remote figures and you cannot get near to them but you could get near I believe to the apostle and that's why they all came very near to him and they fell upon his neck and kissed him there when he had to take his leave of them there was a bond between them there was that relationship established by the grace of God that caused a deep union and a deep love to be felt one to the other and he calls them brethren it was a real relationship in the spirit of God brethren in Christ we are brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ we are of this one family and household of faith here my friends my kindred dwell and he addresses them thus in affectionate language and now brethren and then in the third place he says

[19:26] I commend you to God I commend you to God and our English word command has one or two different uses it can be simply used in the sense of praise if somebody is commended for his work he is being praised for his work the teacher may commend the pupil who has done a good exercise and submitted it he is commended for that piece of work it can be used in the sense of praise I praise you and it can be used also in the sense that comes from that of a recommendation a commendation there were letters of commendation when Christians travelled in these days from place to place and came where they had not been before and where they were not known they had these letters of commendation commending them recommending them to the care and to the love and to the pastoral oversight of those other churches can be used in that sense of praise and recommendation but it can also be used in a sense of committing to the care of and there is that commending of one to the care of another that the other will look after that person's interests and this is the sense surely here it is not that he is praising them to God or recommending them to God he needed not to do that but he is commending them to God that's an entirely different thing and now he says and now brethren

[21:07] I commend you to God I commit you to the care and to the keeping of God notice it's not that he is commending God to them like so many in their view of things today they go about in their view of the gospel and the communication of the gospel it's trying to commend God to men to men we are not making God acceptable we are rather seeking that we might proclaim who God is and what God has done and what God has said to men it is that man might be made acceptable it is that man might be made reconciled to God by the sovereign workings of the spirit upon the gospel but it is altogether a travesty of the gospel to so deal with it that it's all commending God to men watering down the message making God as if he were just one of many around us in order that men might not be offended that they might not be put off that they might listen to us and accept what we have to say if that's our view we've got nothing worth saying and it doesn't matter whether they accept it or whether they reject it it's not a commending of God to men rather the apostle here is commending men to God there's a great wealth of difference in that we don't put God in the care of the church he has no hands but our hands no feet but our hands that's not our view here if that were the case there would be nothing done but thanks be to God he he uses his instruments but he'll never lack an instrument and if there's no instrument even to speak his name he'll raise up a stone to cry out the very stone from the wall will speak his message to men he is a sovereign God and let us never forget it for a moment he is not limited he's not brought down to our level but thanks be in the preaching of the true gospel men are lifted up there's a view that partakes of the whole evolutionary and humanistic ideas that pertain today that brings

[23:26] God down to men but thanks be there's still the preaching of the true gospel and that elevates that lifts up men that are dead in trespasses and in sins that are in the pit and in the miry clay that lifts them out and establishes them upon the rock that's the gospel we need that's the view of God that we would have that's the truth of the matter and Paul is in no doubt then he is commending them and now brethren I commend you to God whom better to commend them to than God from whom all blessings flow the blessings of creation from God in whom we live and move and of our being the blessings of his providence his holy and wise governing of all his creatures and all their actions we cannot do better than to commend as the apostle does one another to God and also to the word of his grace says the apostle

[24:36] I commend you to God and to the word of his grace that is the gospel the word of God's grace is the gospel thank God it is the gospel that Paul has testified verse 24 the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God the word of his grace is the word of the gospel we might have been forced to hear a word that was not good news gospel means good news we might have heard a word of bad news we might have heard intimation of judgment and wrath but instead of that while there is such a thing as judgment and wrath there is the good news of the gospel and grace is God's way for his people whereby they will know no condemnation in the day of judgment and that wrath which should otherwise have crushed them eternally will never be visited upon them because it has been visited upon

[25:48] Christ in their place in their stead it's a gospel it's good news that he preached and it is the word says Paul the word of his grace I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which Paul had testified all through his ministry from the first day to the last in their midst this had been his message the good news of grace appointed by God in the covenant of grace announced to our first parents in the garden of Eden that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head appearing in the incarnate word when the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and preached amongst the Gentiles believed on in the world it's the gospel of grace and he commends them to the God of all grace the God from whom this grace originates and this is the direction of his commendation

[26:58] I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up which is able to build you up it could equally be translated who is able to build you up the God who is able to build you up or the word of grace of this God who is able to build you up which is able to build you up it matters very little whether it is of God or whether it is of the word if it's the word it's the word that proceeds from God if it's God it is by the word of grace that we are built up and the main thing is that the God to whom Paul is commending them is that God of grace and whose grace is sufficient for all those who are his and he is the God of ability he is able able to build them up there couldn't be a building up without

[28:04] God there will be no building up without the word of his grace but overall it is the ability of God the God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think who now works effectually in us who believe that is the God who is able to build us up God to whom they are commended is the God who by the word of his grace is able to build them up and to give you an inheritance the saint not only desires grace and needs grace but having been given grace he desires glory grace leads to glory the Lord will give grace and glories as the psalmist grace is glory in the buds as the purity and if we've got true saving grace we long for glory the inheritance that is ours reserved in heaven for you that are kept by the power of

[29:13] God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time and not withstanding all the difficulties and the false teachers who will be as wolves to rend and hurt the flock of God despite all that the world may bring against them also there will be in the commending of them to this God and to the word of his grace ability both to build them up and to give them an inheritance among all them which are sanctified only God can give this inheritance and it is given notice it is given heaven is not earned by merit we don't on the work of Christ and it is given to us it is an inheritance that is given to us given by grace the Savior said it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom to give you the kingdom what our word this is then that shows us that that inheritance that we desire after having received grace through the word that

[30:26] God is able to bring us into that inheritance to give us an inheritance among all them which are sanctified that is amongst them that are all sanctified amongst all the heavenly hosts those elect angels that are holy of whom there are those that continually express before God holy holy holy Lord God of hosts the great design of God and the effectuality of grace is this that there will be an inheritance given amongst all those that are sanctified what a vista that is that opens the faith the great praising host angelic beings and ransomed sinners declaring the glories of God through the ages to come able to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified among them that are all sanctified that is those who are the heavenly host but amongst them will be all of you they all can be viewed in different ways and developed in different aspects the inhabitants of heaven are all holy they are all sanctified but the

[31:50] Lord's people when they are given their inheritance they will also be sanctified and that through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ because Christ also hath loved you and given himself for you unto God an offering and a sacrifice for a sweet smelling savor because of that Christ of God made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption we will all be sanctified but there will be not a heaven that we enter and we are unworthy to come there or unfitted to dwell there we shall be made like we shall be prepared for we shall be as we should be in that day perfected in glory and this is what the apostle says a simple verse and it brings out all these deep riches it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom to give you that inheritance among all them which are sanctified it was love divine we were singing that sanctified in

[33:05] Christ that church for which he died in him her holiness was given her meekness for the joys of heaven well there is the context of the verse here is the verse itself this verse of commendation let us look at it in the way of application that is say first of all it is every minister of the gospel's duty to follow the example of the apostle in this respect namely that he should commend to God his brethren and now brethren I commend you to God and the word of his grace I say that it is every minister's duty by virtue of the responsibility given to him by Christ and communicated to him by the Holy Ghost that he should commend to

[34:07] God those that are put into his charge not just when leaving them not just when a farewell is taken but continually in the exercise of his ministry and you cannot for a moment as you read that thirty second verse conclude that the apostle had not been doing this over the previous years that he had been with them his prayers for them continually night and day with tears concerned for them he is simply doing again and in expressing it to them in his farewell address that he is commanding them to God unto the word of his grace ministers are to do this for their brethren not just following the example of Paul here but even a greater example the example of Christ in the 17th of John he is commanding those that the father has given him to the care and keeping of his father that he might keep them he has kept them while he was in the world now as he goes by the way of the cross back to heaven he commands them to to

[35:22] God he commands them to the father that they may be kept and there is this duty then upon every minister but would we leave it at that would we say that it is only the duty of the ministers of the gospel to be commending to God his brethren this is brethren that are addressed if it is brethren that are addressed and Paul would judge himself to be one with them then it is not just that the ministers are commending the brethren but surely there is a place for the brethren to be commending the ministers and for the brethren to be commending one another to God and to the word of his grace often times and continually through the time that they are together in the bonds of Christian fellowship how best perhaps it can be done is in prayer and yet how difficult it is for ministers of the gospel to pray

[36:30] I attempt to pray for you all I find it to be that which is most difficult to maintain but I see increasingly the place of it and the need of it it is part of the ministration we will give ourselves to the word of God and prayer and prayer is part of that work of the ministry and in the praying for his people there is a commending of them to God and the word of his grace and in the prayers of the Lord's people one for another and for their ministers and for in church oversight oh this is of great worth this is the most needful thing we are those that need these prayers the prayers one for another how ministers in these days in every day but certainly in these difficult times they need the prayers of all

[37:31] God's people and I know that one and another expresses to me how he or she prays every day for me I can only say that not only is it most humbling still to be prayed for but all it is that which is good to know and I have sometimes gone to preach in other places and you said that I will be praying and it's made a world of difference and I believe these prayers have been answered at the throne of grace and one has been kept through some of these preaching trips and in many services one upon another one has been kept through them all and I'm sure that prayer has its part in this prayer appointed heard by God there is something then to consider at the very outset in the practical application of this verse ministers to commend their people the brethren where they have been given and those that they seek to serve in the gospel that they should commend them to

[38:37] God and the word of his grace but all that the brethren might also commend the ministers brethren says Paul at the end of Ephesians pray for us we need the prayers of the Lord's people so in prayer what are we doing we are commending one another to God we've seen that we are commending also one another to the word of his grace since it builds us up it's the word that builds us up we're commending men and women to the word we're praying that the word of Christ might dwell in them richly that the grace that is theirs in Christ might be more and more granted to them that they might have that sufficiency of grace in all their difficulties that they might know grace abounding in all their circumstances and situation and subduing their iniquities especially that are within them this is what it means commending to

[39:40] God unto the word of his grace is it it builds us up it gives us heaven the hope of heaven it builds us up and the hope of heaven you see is is also got that note of perseverance the commanding unto God and the word of his grace is the means by which we are enabled and kept until glory not one of the elect will miss heaven none will be missing when the inheritance is made over in the heavenly state and that is because God keeps and the prayer then is that he might keep those committed to him we commit one another we command one another into the keeping of God and by the word of his grace that they might be built up in the present and enabled to persevere until journeying journeying days are over and there is that entrance into the celestial city

[40:43] God in all his gracious purposes towards his elect is that that we're looking to as we pray for one another we're praying to God in all the plenitude of his gracious purposes towards his people the God who is able to supply all our need according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus now then let this minister that stands before you tonight in closing attempt to commend you to God and the word of his grace to do it in three respects three particulars to commend you to his special love my dear brethren I commend you to his special love there is a general goodness of God to all men but there is a special love to his own or that you might know it you've known it hitherto but or that you might know it in the present

[41:46] I would commend you to God and to the word of his grace that he might build a special love and that special love is that which will enfold you and keep you and be the pledge and guarantee that you will receive your inheritance you are kept by the power of God and you are kept by the love of God the love of God is that great original from which all flows to us and his power is that which implements what his love dictates or that we the love of God about us that it might be as a great ocean in which we are found not just to paddle in or to go up to knee height or to the thighs but that we might go deeply into waters to swim in of the love of God oh that we might know something of that how wonderful that is you're facing problems and difficulties you've got fears there's fainting seasons or that in commending you to

[42:57] God and to the word of his grace you might have that special awareness of his love he loved me and gave himself for me it sweetens every bitter cup and there's many a bitter cup that's got to be drunk by God's people in this life sweetens every bitter cup it lightens every burden that we carry it comforts us in every trial and affliction that is called forth that we have to pass through what do we care if we have God's love and a felt sense of God's love to us what do we care if all seem to be against us if God is so lovingly for us what are men if God is for us if God be for you who can be against you a sense of his special love in your circumstances reaching into your heart into your life

[43:59] I commend you to God and the word of his grace that he might be pleased to give it to you that he might give you that special awareness of his love to break the shackles of bondage to depression and to discouragement and all that fetish you that you might be delivered for love delivers perfect love casteth out all fears may we rise above our fears and our dreads Lord says the psalmist lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us I commend you to God and the word of his grace that you might be specially sensible of his love to you from all eternity from everlasting to everlasting we need this we need it in our church we need it collectively here at Salem that we might have that sense of the special love of God to us in in in these days there there's a word I came across in

[45:00] Daniel 9 and 17 so applicable cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake there have been desolations in this sanctuary but we cry to God I command you to God and to the word of his grace that he might be pleased to give us here together unto this little house of prayer the light of his countenance upon us if he smiles upon us what are the frowns of men if he speaks the words of life to us what care we how others speak of us we want if God is pleased to give it to us and in the sovereignty of that it is his to bestow but it is ours to ask that we might receive it I command you to God and to the word of his grace that he might build you up by a special disclosure of his love toward you underneath and all round about you the covenant love of

[46:08] God all to have a sense of it this night and then I commend you to God and to the word of his power that you might have a special sense of his care and keeping I commend you to his special care and keeping we thought about it last Lord's day morning Psalm 91 11 he shall give his angels charge over thee and he has done that I believe these angels ministering spirits to them that are ears of salvation he is doing so much for us of which we are unaware because the things are unseen what has he already in place about us what already is he performing how already is he opening doors for us and we have no awareness yet that it is so he is closing other doors preventing us from going into some of these avenues of sin that will only harm us and yield us no fruit he is doing these things

[47:15] I pray that we might have a special sense of his care and keeping and that even if we don't have a sense of it that he might specially do it that he might watch over us and that he might in these days prove himself to be the keeper of his people in all that means we need to be kept we are so weak we are so prone to wander we are so ready to stumble we stumble mentally we stumble in heart we lose heart so quickly we are prey to fears and dreads we stumble also in the doing of things we ought not to do in the leaving undone of the things we should do or that he might keep us holding us up in our goings that our footsteps slip not he may give angels to work some of these things for us but even if he does he is the Lord of hosts he is the

[48:16] God of the angels and we look to him he is the savior of all men says Paul in 1 timothy 4 10 but especially of them that believe he is in a sense preserving all men good unto all men as the Lord he is a savior in that sense and it is part of the word savior to be a deliverer he delivers all men in some respect in some period of their life many and many a time he delivers them but not in the same way as he views his people and as he acts for them especially to them who believe we're to do good unto all men but especially to them who are of the household of faith for there is God's special care and God's special concern may you have a sense of that his special love to you his special keeping and watching over you and then also this

[49:18] I commend you to God and to the word of his grace that you might know his blessing for time and for eternity in your present situation that you might know his help and his blessing in all the burden in all the difficulty in all the strain and the stress physical problems difficulties family problems and difficulties work problems and difficulties and all the many other things that come to us in the lives that we live or that you might know God's blessing upon you but you might know God as a present help in these times of trouble but you might know that he will be with you to keep you and to strengthen you that he will bring you through though there be so many of these difficulties about you in the present and in the future the future you understand not what the future holds but

[50:22] God who holds you and the future in his sovereign hands he will make these things come to pass he will see you through why do we fear why do we tremble why do we say what shall we eat or what shall we drink or where with all shall we be clothed your father knoweth that you have need of all these things and I pray that you may have that sense that the Lord will provide are the things that are shadows upon the future are the things that you never thought you would have to come and confront them and decide about them may you have that sense I command you to God and to the word of his grace who is able to build you up that you might be assured of his presence and his help and his sustaining grace for things present and for things to come and that the future is as bright as

[51:26] Adoniram Judson in his the missionary to Burma put it our future is bright as the promises of God they may say that we are dismal and pessimistic who believe free grace let them say what they want we of all people have reason to believe that the future is bright as the promises of God he will not only build us up but he will give us an inheritance among all them that are sanctified may we know then that special love that special help and God's nearness to us in what is about us now and what will face us tomorrow says Paul to the Ephesians as he takes farewell of them and and now brethren I command you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified

[52:31] God is able creation proves it providence proves it we have been kept by the power of God thus far and we shall be until we come into the very presence of Christ and see him as he is God is able and God is gracious I commend you to God and to the word of his grace and if you're not a believer I commend you to God and to the word of his grace that you hear that word of grace there's no other gospel you can listen to though men claim this or they claim that there's only one God given gospel and it's only that which is the word of grace that will do us any good that speaks of God's love to his people that speaks of Christ who has obtained a righteousness for his people and shed his blood that they might be his the word of the truth of the gospel is that we are sinners and

[53:40] Christ is savior of his people sinful though they be and if you have been brought in any measure or in any way to feel your need of him it's a sign of God's goodness and God's grace may he go on to be gracious unto you and bring you to a deep conviction and having brought you to a deep conviction of your need to show to you all the fullness and the freeness of the gospel which is in his dear son who has done it all for his people there's nothing they have to do there's nothing that they have to contribute there's nothing that is now done in part but later it's up to them to make it good it's all free and sovereign grace and it's for every sinner who feels his need of it what comfort can a savior bring to those that never felt their woe may you feel your woe and know that you have been given to feel it sinner is a sacred thing the holy ghost hath made him so and if we have been brought to this dear savior we esteem that word of grace all the more this night we seek to adorn the doctrine of god our savior in all things we seek to walk worthy of such a vocation to which we have been called we seek to trust our god for all that's to come and we seek to praise him for all that's past

[55:17] I commend you to god and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified god bless his word and give us these choice blessings and favors for his name's sake amen