We have been continuing our study in the book
of Acts, and this week we come to verses 25 through
27. Paul says this, And now, behold, I know that
all of you, among whom I went about preaching
the kingdom, will no longer see my face. Therefore
I testify to you this day that I am innocent
of the blood of all men, for I did not shrink
from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
We see a break taking place, or a shift taking
place in this text in many ways. Paul has been
alluding to the fact that he is leaving. He's
going to depart. He's going to Jerusalem. And
he's going to suffer. And now he straightforwardly
says, you're not going to see me anymore. You
will no longer see my face. And then interestingly
enough, immediately following this, he makes
known the state and condition. of his own conscience
with regards to his ministry. He declares that
his conscience is clean with regards to the discharge
of his preaching and teaching and his apostolic
ministry among the church at Ephesus and among
the elders of Ephesus. And he gives the reason
for this. In verse 27. Or the basis for this
clean conscience. The fact that he did not shrink
from declaring to them the whole purpose of God.
He didn't recoil at speaking difficult truths
to the people of God. But he did proclaim the
full counsel of God to the people. Today we're
going to consider, in examining this text, the
solemn occasion for Paul's testimony concerning
his conscience. We see this in verse 25. We're
going to consider the clear state of Paul's conscience.
We see this in verse 26. And then we'll also
consider the basis for his clear conscience in
verse 27. beginning with the first in verse 25.
Paul, in this text, puts forward the fact that
he will no longer be among the people of God
and the elders in Ephesus. He will no longer
be seen. He will no longer be able to be interacted
with. He will no longer be preaching and teaching
to them. He will no longer be ministering to
them. He's putting forward the fact that this
is it with regards to his relationship with the
Ephesian elders and the Ephesian church. Notice
that there's a sense of finality with Paul and
his words to the Ephesian elders. And now, behold.
I know that all of you among whom I went about
preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.
Now we think about the relationship between Paul
and the church at Ephesus and those elders. We
know that he ministered there for two years.
He worked alongside the brothers and sisters
in Ephesus. He had a good relationship with him.
He was successful there. The Lord built the church.
He established a church there. We saw miraculous
things take place in Ephesus. Imagine the bond
between the Apostle Paul and his co -labors in
Ephesus. Remember, he's talking to the elders
of Ephesus. One thing you learn about... pastoral
ministry is that the more you're in the trenches
together, the more you labor together, the more
you work together, the more you suffer together,
the more you hurt together, the more of a bond
and a fellowship and a community takes place
among brothers and sisters in Christian service.
So we imagine Paul. And the trials he endured
in Ephesus and these elders of the church of
Ephesus, the bond that was present there. And
here he is clearly saying, you will no longer
see me. It's as though he's giving his final
will and testament with regards to the church
of God in that place. It carries a certain...
Weight and gravity to it. But also, see how he
characterizes his time among them. He says this
in verse 25, among whom I went about preaching
the kingdom. So Paul characterizes the whole
of his ministry, the whole of his time in Ephesus
as preaching the kingdom. The reality that the
Lord Jesus is the Messiah, that he's come and
he has inaugurated the kingdom of God, and that
one day it will be fully and finally consummated
at his return invisibly. It will be known to
the entire world. He went about preaching and
teaching the people of Ephesus alongside These
elders and preaching and teaching and raising
up and training and equipping the elders themselves.
So in many ways, we have to ask the question,
why is Paul making known the state of his conscience
here? On this solemn occasion, why is this the
thing that he wants to make sure that he emphasizes
to them? Well, I think there's a few reasons
that he makes known the state of his conscience,
the fact that he is innocent of the blood of
all men. He wants to make known the fact that
he can leave the people of God in that place
with a clear conscience, knowing that he has
performed his duty and he has done what he needs
to do in that place, and he can leave. free of
guilt, knowing that he has been faithful to his
commission in Ephesus and among those people.
But also we see, I think, a transition that Paul
is wanting to emphasize. He wants to make sure
the Ephesian elders know, listen, I'm not going
to be in charge anymore. You, as the elders of
the church, will now have sole responsibility
for administering the word of God and administering
the ministry of the word to the people in Ephesus.
He's saying, I will no longer have anything to
do with this. It's going to be on you. But he
also wants to clarify the fact That he has no
known culpability on his conscience. No known
guilt or shame. Because he has proclaimed the
gospel rightfully. And that when men reject the
gospel. Or men apostatize. Or men rise up to
be false teachers. As we see he speaks of later.
That. guilt falls on those individuals not on
him who proclaimed the gospel or on the elders
who would faithfully Lord willing discharge their
responsibilities as well. He wants the elders
of the church at Ephesus to know that when men
reject the gospel and you have rightfully proclaimed
the gospel it falls on the individual and the
one responding. He wants them to move forward
without Him, understanding and grasping that
reality, that they might not become disheartened.
We read this a little bit later in verse 29,
or we'll start in verse 27, 28. He says this,
Be on guard for yourselves. and for all the flock,
among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased
with his own blood. I know that after my departure,
savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing
the flock. And from among your own selves, men
will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw
away the disciples after them. Paul wants to
make clear to the elders, and he wants the elders
to understand in their own hearts and their own
minds, that when men apostatize from the faith,
that is on those who apostatize from the faith.
That is not on them or the church. He wants to
communicate this clearly and fully. to the people
of God. Now, Richard Baxter said this with regards
to his preaching. He said, I preached as never
to preach again, and as a dying man to dying
men. We think about that quote. What is this
old Puritan saying, brothers and sisters? This
old Puritan is saying that every time he preaches
the word of God, he does so with a certain urgency.
Because we're not promised tomorrow. So though
there's no transition taking place like Paul
and the Ephesian elders, though nobody's leaving
or departing, there is ample application for
us. in this text, brothers and sisters, because
you and I ought to always come to the Word of
God with a certain urgency. Do you know why?
Because you and I are not promised tomorrow.
I'm not promised next week. There is no guarantee
that I wake up on Saturday or Sunday next week
to preach the Word of God. The Lord may see fit
to take me home any day. And the same is true
of each of you. So, how does that inform our
mutual approach to the Word of God as preacher
and hearer? If we don't know, That we will hear
the Word again. That we are dealing with eternal
realities and never dying souls. How ought we
to preach it? And how ought we to hear the Word
of God? Should there be a degree of anticipation
and eagerness and expectation of looking forward
to hearing from God's voice and to hearing what
God has For me this week. Should there be an
urgency. With regards to the truth. Knowing.
That we are dealing with never dying eternal
souls. And that any one of us. Can die any day.
And go and be with the Lord. There always ought
to be. A sense of gravity. And urgency. As we
approach. The word of God. Paul knew this. He
understood this, brothers and sisters. And it's
something for us to meditate and consider as
well as those who are creatures of habit. It
is such a blessing that God is ordained that
we worship Him every single week. Because we
need to worship God every single week. And His
worth and His value to be worshiped has never
diminished and it never will diminish. But brothers
and sisters, as people, when we do things over
and over and over, there's a tendency to just
settle into a routine and not think about what
we are doing and the significance of what we
are doing. We have to always consider. The significance
of worshiping the living God week in and week
out. The great priority and privilege of this
reality, but also the sobriety and the reverence
and the joy and the hope that God has allowed
us and commanded us to partake in as a result
of worshiping Him week in and week out. Now,
the second thing we have to consider is the clear
state of Paul's conscience. We see this in verse
26. Therefore, I testify to you this day that
I am innocent of the blood of all men. Now, what
does it mean when Paul says that he is innocent
of the blood of all men? He is saying that he
has a clean conscience with regards to the ministry
that Christ has entrusted to him. It means that
his conscience is not accusing. His conscience
is not antagonistic towards him and the way that
he has conducted himself among the people of
God and the way that he has carried himself and
the way that he has preached. The word of God
among the people of Ephesus. His conscience is
clean. Paul's understanding of a clean conscience
with regards to his apostolic ministry is informed
by the Old Testament, I believe. If we turn to
the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33, we read of the
watchman's duty. And here's what Ezekiel says.
Or here's what the word of the Lord says. And
the word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of
man, speak to the sons of your people and say
to them, If I bring a sword upon a lamb and the
people of the land take one man from among them
and make him their watchman and he sees the sword
coming upon the lamb, and he blows on the trumpet
and warns the people. Then he who hears the sound
of the trumpet and does not take warning, and
a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will
be on his own head. In verse 5, He heard the
sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning.
His blood will be on himself, but he had to take
warning. But had he taken warning, he would have
been delivered. He would have delivered his life.
But if the watchman sees the sword coming and
does not blow the trumpet, and the people are
not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person
from them, he is taken away in his iniquity,
but his blood I will require from the watchman's
hand. So what's the imagery that Ezekiel is conveying?
It's the Lord brings an invading army against
Israel. And Israel takes one man, the prophet
of God, and puts him up on a wall. And the prophet
of God is up watching the borders of Israel.
Looking for invaders. Looking for threats. Looking
for dangers. And he sees the invading army coming.
And the watchman, the prophet, blows the trumpet
because he sees the threat. And he warns the
people. And the people hear the trumpet. And
men ignore it. And they're taken and blood is
shed. Whose head is that blood guilt on? The
individual taken. Because they did not heed the
warning. But. If the people take the prophet,
put him on the wall, he sees the danger, yet
he fails to warn the people. Someone is taken,
then whose head is that blood guilt on? The watchman.
The prophet of God. This is what Paul is drawing
from. He's saying that he has been like a prophet.
He's been like the watchman who's seen the danger,
seen the warning. He's been given the truth.
He's been given the message. He's blown the trumpet.
He's proclaimed the truth. And he's free of all
men's blood. Now Paul is also building off of
the teaching of the Lord Jesus himself. In Matthew
chapter 10. Verse 14, we read this. Starting
in verse 12. As you enter the house, give it
your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it
your blessing of peace. But if it's not worthy,
take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does
not receive you, nor heed your words, as you
go out of that house or that city, Shake off
the dust of your feet. Truly, I say to you, it
will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for
that city. The Lord Jesus taught the same thing
that's taught in Ezekiel 33. That when the gospel
message is proclaimed and men reject it, their
blood guilt is upon their own head. And what
is the symbolic action that they are to do? Shake
off the dust of their feet. Now, Paul has historically
implemented this same thing in his own ministry.
We saw the very thing that we are speaking of
take place in Acts chapter 18, two chapters prior
to Acts 20. We read this in Acts chapter 18,
verses 1 through 6. After these things, he left
Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a Jew
named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently
come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because
Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave
Rome. He came to them, and because he was of
the same trade, he stayed with them, and they
were working, for by trade they were tent makers.
And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath
and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when
Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul
began devoting himself completely to the word,
solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was
the Christ. And then listen to this in verse
6. But when they resisted and blasphemed, He
didn't just take his sandals. Listen to what
Paul does. He shook out his garments and said
to them, Your blood be on your own heads. I am
clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.
The same exact practice that Paul has always
held to. This is what he is conveying to the
Ephesian elders. This is what he wants them to
understand. That his conscience is clean of shame
and guilt with regards to how he has administered
and discharged his ministry among them. Why was
this so important to Paul? Was this a significant
aspect of his life and his ministry? A clean
conscience? Why is it necessary? Why is it important?
Well, we find throughout the book of Acts that
this is actually something that was very, very
important to the Apostle Paul. Keeping a clean
conscience with God and men. We read in Acts
chapter 24, verse 16. The Apostle says this.
In view of this, I also do my best to maintain
always a blameless conscience both before God
and before men. And then we read in chapter 23,
verse 1, Paul, looking intently at the council,
said, Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly
good conscience before God up to this day. Notice
in that text he includes his prior life to conversion
and his life as an apostle. So Paul was scrupulous.
He was strict with regards to his conscience.
He knew that it was vitally important that he
maintain his conscience before God and men as
a minister of the gospel. and as a believer in
Jesus Christ, because he knew that Jesus Christ
alone is Lord of the conscience. He always worked
towards this. He always strived for this. And
just as it was important to the Apostle Paul,
brothers and sisters, maintaining and valuing
and keeping a clean conscience, Ought to be important
to every single believer in Jesus Christ. Every
single one. Not just ministers of the gospel.
Not just apostles in the first century. But everybody
who knows the Lord through Christ. Ought to value
keeping a clean conscience. Do you know why?
Because God has given us our conscience. Because
Jesus Christ died, his sacrifice is applied to
the people of God to cleanse the conscience from
dead works, to serve the living God. One of the
great blessings. of the sacrifice of Christ being
applied to a person is to have their conscience
cleansed of guilt and shame. No longer to live
in misery and contradiction and antagonism of
that internal voice condemning you by the law
of God. Christ frees a Christian from that. when
he grants them faith and repentance and gives
them a new ruling nature in regeneration. It
ought to be important for every single believer
because God has given it to us and the conscience
has a distinct purpose in the life of God's people.
Just as cars have warning signals, Just as cars
have warning signs that pop up that warn us when
something's come bad or wrong. They usually work,
not always. The conscience is a warning signal
that God has given to the believer to keep them
within the bounds of that which pleases God.
Now, here's... Something important to understand
about our conscience. It's not infallible. Meaning
the conscience is actually malleable and it can
be formed and shaped. It is not an infallible
guide like the Word of God is. So that brings
us back to why it's important that Christians
take care of their conscience. If our conscience
can be formed and shaped, if our conscience can
be molded to be more in line with the law of
God, or less in line with the law of God, and
the scripture even tells us that a person's conscience
can be seared. Like someone's taking a branding
iron, And stuck it on there and seared it off
to where it no longer functions. It no longer
has any sensory to it. It no longer has any response
to it. It's seared. It's burned. But that doesn't
always take place in one thing. That can take
place in gradations. In degrees. So why is it
important that you watch your conscience? That
you value your conscience as a believer in Jesus
Christ? Because if you're not careful, and you
consistently live against your conscience, or
consistently live against the Word of God, there
is the possibility that you, as a blood -blood
believer, can lose your true north. That's a
scary thought, isn't it, brothers and sisters?
That you can think that you are right, You're
headed in the right direction, but all the time
your conscience isn't working as it ought because
you've been suppressing it in favor of corruption
and carnality or pride and arrogance or whatever
it might be. Believers can get off track because
their conscience is not infallible. The conscience
must be formed continually and consistently according
to and by the word of the living God. There are
believers in this room, I am confident, that
are not living in accordance with their conscience.
They are doing things in their life that their
conscience says don't do. And there are believers
in this, who are not doing things that their
conscience says do. You are suppressing and you
are pushing the conscience back. You are fighting
against it as an antagonistic. Brothers and sisters,
that is a dangerous, dangerous place to play.
You're not dealing with a dollar bill that you
just toss over, you crumble and you lose it and
it's insignificant. You are dealing with a God
-given apparatus. in your being that he has given
for your good and your holy living to honor him.
You do not want to live in the place where you
are rejecting your conscience because sooner
or later, if you continue in that path, its voice
will get less and less and less. And you will
grow harder and harder and harder. You will become
more and more calloused. You will become less
and less sensitive to the work of the Spirit
of God within you, to the voice of God through
the Scriptures in your life. So if you are in
that place, whatever reason it might be, get
out! Stop what it is you're doing. Get out of
it. Change your life. way that your conscience
is informing you to do. The way the word of God
directs you to do. So, if that's you, what do
you do? Brothers and sisters, you cry out to
God. Lord, forgive me of my sin. I repent of
my sin. Lord, renew the sensitivity of my conscience.
Lord, remove the shame. Remove the sense of guilt
in my life. Help me to live for Your honor. Help
me to live for Your glory. And I know that Christ
and His righteousness alone is the basis of my
good standing in Your presence. Don't stay in
that place. It is dangerous. If you continue
going down that road, There is the very real
chance that you will never recover in this life
as you ought to. You will never serve the Lord
as you ought to serve the Lord with a seared
conscience. You will never sing praises to God
in the worship of God if you have suppressed
the sound of your conscience. As you ought to.
You will never be able to go to the throne of
grace as you ought to. You will never be able
to spend time with the Lord as you ought to.
You will never know the power of the Holy Spirit
and vitality of His influence in your life if
you are constantly rejecting and denying the
work of the Spirit of God in your life in and
through the conscience that God has given to
you. Get out of that place. Turn to God in repentance
and Christ in faith. Reorient your life and determine
that you will live unto God for His glory no
matter what and saturate yourself in the Word
of God. Reshape and reform your conscience according
to revealed, infallible, inerrant truth and doctrine
in the word of God. So it's very important that
we think and care and consider the state of our
own conscience before the living God. Now for
Paul, what was the basis of his clear conscience?
This is the last thing we have to consider. Why
was he able to say, my conscience is clear with
regards to his ministry? We read in verse 27,
For I did not shrink from declaring to you the
whole purpose of God. Paul explains that the
basis for his clear conscience is not perfection,
but faithfulness in the ministry that Christ
has given to him. That he proclaimed the truths
of Scripture regardless of what it was. That
he proclaimed the whole purpose, the whole counsel
of God. Now this term, we'll expand on it more
next week, Lord willing. But it means the whole
breadth of Revelation. Every part of Revelation.
All that God has made known. It's boule in Greek.
The whole boule of God. Of God's counsel. Not
God's mind. But the revealed. purpose, redemptive
purposes of God. Now, in this, it's interesting
that Paul says he proclaims the whole counsel
of God, but at the heart of that, what is it?
The gospel. He says in verse 25, he says in verse
24, I apologize. But I do not consider my life
of any account as dear to myself, so that I may
finish my course and the ministry which I receive
from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the
gospel of the grace of God. So, Paul, in his
apostolic ministry, proclaims the entire counsel
of God to these people. Yet, He proclaims the
gospel specifically in relation to all the counsel
of God. That was the heartbeat of his message.
Was Christ and his redemptive work and its relation
to the whole counsel of God. So Paul ministers
and he administers the word of God. Faithfully.
He can say, I have performed my duty to God and
men. I am innocent of the blood of all men. Likely
meaning Jew and Gentile that has heard the gospel
as he proclaimed it. Now we think about this
entire section. We think about the solemn occasion.
We think about the clear state of the apostles'
conscience. And we think about the fact that
Paul is faithful to his calling that Christ has
given to him, that he wants to honor Christ and
to live unto the glory of God. It's really remarkable
when you think about it. This whole section is
in stark contrast. To the person Paul used to
be. If we think about Acts chapter 8. And Acts
chapter 9. What do we find of Saul of Tarsus?
We find that he hated the church of the living
God. We find that he was actually breathing hatred
and murderous wrath essentially. Against them.
He certainly had the guilt of men on his account.
He approved wholeheartedly and stood around and
approved of the stoning and the murder of Stephen.
And he sought out to bring other Christians to
their death, to squash this movement called the
way. He did it with his whole being. his whole
mind, everything that he possessed in and of
himself, he hated Christ and he hated the church
of God. Yet, here we find, he is able to say,
I am innocent of the blood of all men. Brothers
and sisters, how is that possible? How is it
possible that a man who is responsible for the
death of innocent disciples Genuine believers
in Jesus Christ can say, I am innocent of the
blood of all men. And how is it that this man
who once hated the church now wholeheartedly
and willingly serves Jesus Christ with every
fiber of his being? How is that possible? What
is this stark contrast put on full display, brothers
and sisters? It puts on full display the forgiveness
of God, the free pardon of the gospel, and the
transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Do you know why Paul can say, I am innocent of
the blood of all men? Because his sins are forgiven
in Christ. There is no condemnation for Paul
any longer. And it shows, brothers and sisters,
that he has been pardoned completely and wholly
of every single transgression that he has ever
committed against the living God. But it also
shows the power of the gospel to drastically
change and transform an individual. This man
who hated the church and opposed the church and
persecuted the church is now serving Christ and
he loves the church and even says, I would lay
down my life for the gospel. What's happened
to this man? Christ has given him a new nature
and he has transformed him and he has made him
new. Brothers and sisters, if you are in this
room, And you have committed terrible sins. You
have done horrible things. You have thought horrible
things that dishonor God, that make Him angry.
They are an abomination before Him. You live
in open rebellion and hatred against the living
God. I'm here to tell you that your sins can
be forgiven. Your sins can be pardoned. In the
gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm here to tell you.
That though you may be a wretch now. If God chooses
to set his grace upon you. You will be made new.
And you will be transformed. And you will be
made a new creature in Christ. And you will long
to live. For his glory. You will long to be faithful
to him. And he will make you faithful to him.
We see the gospel. And the power of the gospel.
on display in Paul's ability to say, I am innocent
of the blood of all men. If you are here today,
and you don't know Christ, and you are living
a life of sin, if you will turn from your sin,
and you will trust in Jesus Christ, then you
will be made new, brothers and sisters, or sinner
who doesn't know Christ. So the exhortation is
to come to Christ and have your conscience cleansed
from dead works to serve the living God. There's
only one place that can take place. Men can work
and strive and go on throughout their life trying
to quiet Their conscience as unbelievers. Trying
to persuade themselves that they are good enough
for God and they are good enough to be accepted.
My so -called righteousness is good enough for
a holy God. That won't work. If you've sinned
one single time, you have broken the entirety
of the law. And you are condemned eternally.
to suffer under the wrath of a holy and a righteous
God. And you will. But if you wholeheartedly
put your faith in Jesus Christ, His life, death,
resurrection, and His person, then you will be
spared of wrath, and you will be given eternal
life, and you will know joy and hope and peace,
and you will love God, and you will seek to be
faithful to Him.