The Book of Acts 20:1-38 Paul at Macedonia, Troas & Miletus

And titling the lesson, Paul's at Macedonia, Trus, and Melchus. The map I've got up here kind of outlines where we're at geographically today. So you have in your handout what you can see better than here. We're starting at Ephesus. Remember last week we talked about the uproar at Ephesus and all the issues that relate to that. Paul's out of Ephesus today. He's going to be traveling. If you look at the map, the numbers are useful.

So Ephesus four and five is Macedonia up at the top. So he's headed up that way. And then he's going to go down into Achaia, which is Greece really. So Achaia is the more traditional historic term for Greece. And it's on the map. He's there for three months and the scripture validates that.

And then interestingly enough, he went to get back to Jerusalem, remember, and obviously to get from Greece to Jerusalem, the best way is through the Mediterranean, but there are issues that come up. And those issues really force him to return to Macedonia. So he goes back up to Macedonia. And then he ends up in Troas. And then finally, in today's lesson, Meletus, 14 at the bottom. So the numbers 4 through 14 is the trafficking pattern we're going to see for Paul here today.

I've divided this into a series of sections. We're not going to read the entire section. That's 38 verses. And we're used to dealing with large sums of scripture here. So we're going to divide this into sections. And we'll look at some verses as we go through this. So the title of the first six verses is not very intellectually hollow.

Macedonian Greece. So this is the early part of this travel. So this is after the uproar in Ephesus, and embracing the disciples, which is in the text, Paul is on his way to Jerusalem by a circuitous route through Macedonia. And again, look at the map. If you want to get to Jerusalem, which is down at the lower right part of your map, and you're in Greece, you're going to sail on the Mediterranean, but that's not the way it goes. Yeah, Tom?

You could actually say, instead of singing, here we go loop-de-loop past Achaia. Here we go loop-de-loop. Who did that song? It's an old doo-wop song. Anyway, go ahead. That's all. Oh, that's all you have to add. OK. All right, good. So having likely stopped at Troyes briefly.

This is kind of subjective, but nevertheless, I think it's likely true. Let's turn to 2nd Francian 2, 12, and 13 and take a look at those verses. in terms of maybe providing evidence that he stopped at Troyes on the way. And you have to kind of believe that maybe he did. The text doesn't indicate that. I mean the map doesn't indicate that because you go from four to five and five is in Macedonia. But there's some evidence he may have stopped at Troyes. So Doris, do you have that? Do you have that? It's like the Corinthians 2, 12. And 13, yes.

Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord. I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went from Thence unto Macedonia." Okay, so he's on his way to Macedonia, and Titus and he hooked up a couple of times in Troas. You know the thought is that maybe he did stop in Troas even though the text doesn't specifically indicate that. So he traveled to and exhorted the body of believers and we'll come back to that in a second at Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea.

Remember Paul already been to these places and now he's kind of stopping by on his way to Macedonia. And he heads towards Greece and he's going up through the northern part into Europe. Keep in mind this is Europe now. Macedonia is Europe, not Asia. So we divide not only country from country, but continent from continent.

What was this exhortation? Don't we think it was probably to stand firm on what they'd already been taught? I think typically that's what exhortation is. We're looking at verse 2, and when he had gone through these parts, he had given them much exhortation, went on to Greece. So I think, yeah, I mean he's already founded the churches there, and ultimately now exhorting them is to encourage them to do what they know. And we're going to see that theme of returning to do what you know later on in this chapter, chapter 20.

So I think the exhortation is just an encouragement, an uplifting, and kind of challenging them to be found in the truth, which he's already planted, and continue the ministry there. His time in Greece, the text says, is limited. It's three months. So what he did there is a little less than clear. But nonetheless, that's the temporal sequence.

And here he likely meets Titus. So let's look at 2 Corinthians 7, 5-7, who in fact delivered Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth. So Titus, remember, took the first letter to Corinth, and now he's in fact meeting with Titus in Greece. 2 Corinthians 7, 5-7. For when we were coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side without refidings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God, that comforted those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.

Alright, so he and Titus meet up, and this is in Greece, and this is the only time likely that this would have been temporally accurate for them to touch base. Also, this is the place and timing of the second letter to the Corinthian church, also delivered by Titus. So we're talking about now him being in Troas. Remember, that's where he and Titus had hooked up.

So this is likely the timing of the second letter to the Corinthian church, and we're unclear as to whether the second letter was delivered by Titus or not. That's speculative. Titus took the first letter from Paul to the Corinthian church. The first letter to the church at Corinth, and there's a lot of problems at Corinth. We could go through much of the epistle to the Corinthians in the first book that he wrote, or letter he wrote, and find all kind of issues going on there. The second letter was more of encouragement and uplifting. So different themes.

Whether Titus delivered the second letter or not is clear. And this is likely where the epistle of the Romans was written in Troas. Look at Romans 15. or is it 25-27? Let's look at that. Just to correct and make sure you understand, his time in Greece was three months, but by the way, he's in Provest now writing these letters, and that's where he and Titus crossed paths. Who's got Romans 15, 25-27?

But now I'm going to Jerusalem serving the saints, for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. But now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints.

Paul went to Jerusalem, do you remember from last week? He's collecting dues from all the other churches. This European continent is a lot richer. Ephesus is a very wealthy city. He's going up to Ephesus and then through Europe and he's collecting coins, he's getting offerings to return to Jerusalem.

I think that's neat because the Romans text at the end of the chapter suggests that the epistles have actually been written from Troas. So the timing is very, very significant here. And I think, keep in mind, the Epistle of the Romans was written fairly late. Although in terms of theology and New Testament theology, the Book of Romans is after Acts. And there's a reason for that theologically. There's no better chewing gum to chew on in terms of understanding church doctrine than the Book of Romans. So interesting. It's an interesting time period, historically.

And when he was about to sail, the Jews likely threatened to kill him. And we don't need to look up these verses, but in Acts 29, 22 to 25, and then in verses 29 and 30, the Jews, there's all kind of havoc going on with the Jews in terms of Paul. And this refers back to the Jewish sentiment, at least among some Jews, of really wanting to execute Paul, because they thought he was bearing false doctrine. So he's ready to sail, and the Jews are likely threatening to kill him.

And his route to Jerusalem was altered from a sea path directly to Syria to returning back to Macedonia. Keep in mind, now he's in Greece. So the last section of our lesson today deals with his time in Troas, which relates to the letters. But now he's in Greece for three months. And now his intention is to go back to Jerusalem, which we read last week was really an intention that Paul had to meet the needs of the Jerusalem church. But he's not going to sail to Syria.

Look where Syria is on the map. Go back to your first case. Syria is north of Israel. And Jerusalem is at the bottom of your map in the right hand corner. And Syria is more towards the top. Presumably the sea route to Syria was perhaps an easier route in terms of some of the currents that were, I'm just speculating there, I don't know. But it would seem to me you wouldn't want to loop around and go up to Syria before you come down to Jerusalem. But it may be related to the Mediterranean in terms of the nature of, again, the currents, et cetera.

Well, he's decided against this. And I think largely it was because of the threat of the Jews. And if you look at the earlier verses that I have stated there, the Jews who established an opposition to Paul were actually stationed in Israel. So he's concerned about this threat.

And ultimately, going back through Syria, he would have met with difficulties, presumably, earlier than he would have had he gone to Macedonia. We don't have enough detail there to really say for sure. But the interesting thing here, he's joined by brethren. So who are these brethren?

There is Scythidur of Borea and we can see him potentially referenced in Romans 16.21. There is Aristarchus in Secundus.

Aristarchus is referenced in Acts 19.29. Remember we looked at that last week. Aristarchus was mentioned last week. But, Secundus is mentioned nowhere else in Scripture, so we have no other reference to him.

There's Gaius of Derbe, who we referenced him last week in Acts, and also mentioned in 3 John 1.1. There's Timothy, Acts 16 1-4, and the fifth is Hypatius, referenced in multiple places, Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Timothy. So these people are just not showing up once in a time, except for Secundus, all these other people are people who are referenced elsewhere in scripture and part of the evangelistic brethren at the time of Paul.

Yes, Tom? I look at my wristwatch and I decide that's really pronounced tikkikus. Tikkikus. Tikkikus. That's from your wristwatch. We're going to not substantiate that, Tom. Tikkikus. I think that's right. All right. Moving on. Today I'm watching them. No ticking at the time. All right.

And this group gets to Troas before Luke and Paul, so they're sent on ahead. So remember your map. Go back to your map. Troas, he's going to come back to on his way back to Asia. And these brother apparently are sent on ahead before Luke and Paul. Notice Luke and Paul. Let's look at that for a second. So Luke joins up with him. Look at verse 6. And we sail away from Philippi. Who wrote that? Luke. Who's we? Paul and Luke.

When we see references back to that in Acts 16.12. This is the last time they were together and actually the time is amazing. This is six or seven years earlier when Luke and Paul were together. So all of Paul's travels, his first and second missionary travels are related to some time separation between the time he and Luke were last together. Alright, so that's the first section.

Paul travels to Macedonia and then to Greece and now he's on his way back. So the second section, 7-12, Paul raises Eutychus, or as Tom might say, Eutychus, in Troas. Is that correct? Eutychus. Okay, let's call him Eutychus. Whatever. Okay, let's call him Eutychus.

Notice they're kneading and breaking bread. So this is kind of what was going on at the time of the Pentecost. Acts 2, we can look back at that, but we don't need to. And being preached to on the first day of the week. Now in the italics, remember, when I put something in italics, I'm lifting it directly out of the text.

So let's look at 1 Corinthians 16.2. That's an easy one to look at. anybody. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him and store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

First day of the week, this is one of the references that's used that the first day of the week is perhaps Sunday, but that was potentially established really at the time shortly after the resurrection. Anyway, the Seventh Day Adventist could claim the first day of the week to be Saturday. This is one reference to the first day of the week. So this is the first day of the week which historically in Jewish tradition is Sunday. So Sunday is the day we meet and that's not something we live and die for. But nevertheless, they were gathering the first day of the week. And this is after Paul gets back to Christ.

And they're in an upper room. What's the significance of that? I think it's kind of interesting that they're in the upper room of this place of trust. But don't you think that's where the home churches probably met was in an upper room? Wherever they were. Possibly for a low key effect. Yeah. So that other people, because remember, there was no glass in the windows. These were open buildings. Apparently, according to scripture, this was a whited room. Probably larger than the lower rooms too.

That's right. Yeah. OK, good. Remember the women, the Jewish women, the new church Jewish women met by the river, right? We had a couple of sections earlier, Jax. Anyway, they're in the upper room, and it's kind of neat that this is the early church, and they're meeting in the upper room. They're breaking bread, being preached to the first day of the week. I think it's kind of neat that that's the upper room. That kind of relates back a bit to the last events.

Now, it says the preaching, which in the Greek is a continuous action term. Preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, preach, until midnight. and it was interrupted by this guy who fell asleep and fell out the window. They were preaching until midnight and I had a question to the girl, are you awake? I'm sorry Paul, but you've got to be pretty dynamic to keep me awake preaching until midnight.

I guess maybe eutychus or eutychus or eutychus ultimately got kind of bored here. So he fell asleep. He got sleepy. And he fell three stories to pursuing death. So he's by the window. The idea is he got sleepy and fell out and then killed himself. He died and then fell out of the window.

I guess we don't have the gory details. This could be front page news. I can see this. And the journalists, he or she is going to be speculating as to whether he died and then fell out the window. No, but it doesn't say he died. No, I know it doesn't. He didn't die. No, he got sleepy and fell out of the window.

The question is, had the building code been by? The building inspector had been by. They don't have glass in the windows. They're all open. So he didn't cut himself on the way out the window? No, he just fell. By the way, three stories is not what we consider three stories. I mean, we saw those buildings. They're shorter. They're real short. People were small. So the buildings were not tall. Particularly his head. I don't know. Anyway, on with without speculation here.

So, but the text does say, and Paul fell on him and restored his life. And this kind of reminds you of something out of the Old Testament, Elisha and the Shunammite son. So let's turn to 2 Kings 4. That's not what mine says. Mine says, And Paul went down and fell on him, and embracing him, said, Trouble not yourself, for his life is in him. It doesn't say that he brought him back to life. Well, you get the idea that he restored his life. You might have heard a heartbeat though. I don't get that idea here.

Look at 2 Kings 4, 32-35 because that's referenced by about everybody in terms of a similar event in the Old Testament. What is it 2 Kings? 2 Kings 4, 32-35. Gives us a chance to look at the Old Testament too. He was taken up to be dead. So the idea that they felt he was dead. I guess Paul got there. You get the idea that he was presumed dead and Paul went down, fell on him and embracing him said make you no do for his life. Could be that he never died. I mean, yeah, go ahead, Tom. And we know Aisha had come into the house. Behold, the child was dead, laid upon his bed.

He went in, therefore, and shut the door upon him, twain, and prayed unto the Lord. And he went up and laid upon the child and put his mouth upon his mouth and his eyes upon his eyes. And his hands upon his hands, and he stretched himself upon the child, and the flesh of the child waxed warm. And then he returned, and walked into the house to and fro, and went up and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. And he called her, and when she had come in unto him, he said, Take up thy son. And she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground, and took up her son, and went out.

OK, so their death is clearly documented. Or in fact, perhaps you could say here that the evidence for death is not there. But nevertheless, I mean, the falling on him. I mean, in in the second king's account of the election, Shimonite's son, presumably mouth to mouth resuscitation was given.

I don't know the government for him. So where was Luke at this time? What's the doctor? Yeah, and Luke gave us all the details. He felt he was taken up as dead. Let's look at taken up in terms of what the Greek term is for that. Maybe that will be helpful here. You know, if he had died, the meeting probably would have broken up. So it's a good thing that he didn't because then they could go back to what they were doing.

Right? I mean, you know. Let's look at take it up, which I didn't do actually. Yeah, because I don't know. Not that it matters. Well, it says actually in another interpretation, another Bible version was picked up dead. So take it up is not perhaps an accurate term. So to raise up, to remove, to carry off. So I guess this is the American standard now, not the new King James. What's taken up is maybe better translated as picked up.

Apollonus here in the creek was overborne sleep by a deep, just word for word. Eutychus on the windowsill being overcome sleep by a deep, this is in consecutive order. Lecturing Paul for a longer time, having been overborne from the sleep, he fell from the third floor down and was taken up dead, necros dead. yet taken up, again that's the issue with the Greek verb. Here it says picked up or declared dead. Anyway, whether or not this is one of many miracles that Paul performed or not, I think we can leave unsettled. We know that miracles were being carried out at this time in the apostolic age. Nevertheless, Eutychus was restored to life.

And what happens to him then, he's taken up to the upper room. And by the way, breaking of bread was repeated. I just wonder whether or not printing continued at that point. And my question to the group is, was the breaking of bread in celebration and praise, do you think? Yeah, they're happy he didn't die and they could keep going.

That's pretty late to be eating. It's after midnight, right? It's kind of like a midnight snack, right? You can have coffee. You can have milk. It's a snackiness. Wake them up. What's that? That was wake them up, maybe. There's a long ways to go for chocolate if they try it.

Unicus was an example of what not to do when Paul was preaching. Don't sit by the window. Exactly, Holly. If you're going to do this, don't sit by the window, please. And presumably the windowsill was quite low. Right. All right. Let's let's move on here. We dealt with that. So first is 13 to 16 on the leakage of knowledge. So first to ask us to go back to your map.

And from Athos, he goes then to a series of islands. Now, all these are islands. Mycenae, Chios, Samos, Pergillum. Before then, he gets back on land. And Miletus, or Miletus, is on land. And he's now back in Asia. So this is really, again, in terms of getting from Greece back to Jerusalem, really a very secure history. There's no intent of stopping at Ephesus. Why is that? Remember last week, he left Ephesus under kind of dire circumstances. So he's not going to hang out in Ephesus on this trip, although he could have easily stopped there on his way back.

So now most of the rest of the chapter are entitling Paul's farewell to Ephesus. So in a sense, he's close to Ephesus. Keep in mind that Miletus is around 40 miles south of Ephesus. So, you know, that'd be kind of like, my trip to work each morning. The distance isn't great here, so he could have easily foot trafficked or even sailed up to Ephesus. But nevertheless, he's not in Ephesus, he's in Melchizedek. And at the end of verse 18, Paul is speaking. So this is important now, because now we're not reading what Luke says. This is Paul himself speaking.

And this takes a turn in terms of what Acts is all about. And I think it's important to kind of note this. This is described as the closest section in Acts to Paul's writings in his epistles, because these are the words of Paul. I mean, this is not Luke any longer. This is now Paul speaking. And apparently, these words that he's speaking are ones of encouragement and warning and exhortation.

And I've divided this section into three basic parts. Acts 20, 18-21 is a review of what's been occurring. 22-24 is kind of a present plan going forward. And 25-38, although I've entitled this section 17-35, is Paul's farewell. The last three verses are more concluding remarks. And actually, that's 32-38. So there's a little bit of a contradiction there, but don't get hung up in that.

So these are future things about Paul himself. to the church at Ephesus, and again, the concluding remarks. Now, all of these sections within this text here, from verses 18 through 38, or particularly through 35, are introduced by ye know, or and now behold. The kind of concept of, look, you've been taught this stuff. And he's talking to the brethren now.

He's talking to actually elders and deacons of the church, because these are people who are going to remain behind as Paul returns to Jerusalem. So don't forget what you know. And the Greek term for know is eido, which is, remember, there's eido, there's gnosis, and there's epinosis. So what do the three Greek terms stand for in terms of knowledge? Eido. What kind of knowledge is eido? hearing knowledge?

Yeah, this is what we see and hear. This is facts. You know, Holly Hill's final church is on Holly, right? So that's facts. We can locate it geographically. This is what they know factually from what Paul's taught them. Gnosis, experiential knowledge, right? I've been there, I've done that, I kind of understand this. I've been to Holly Hills many, many times. I have a head knowledge that's there, but I know what it's about because I go there, I'm fellowshipping there, that's an experiential knowledge. And epinosis is kind of the epiphany of experiential knowledge. So this is head knowledge.

I've taught you, these are the facts of the doctrine of the gospel, and you're going to be the leaders to wake up So let's look at 18-21. Paul is boasting in weakness to bring about God's glory. So let's look at 18-21. It says, And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what man I was with you at all time, serving the Lord with all lowliness in mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews."

Remember, we dealt with this a little earlier, the Jews still have plots against him. And he's concerned about this return to Israel. Now, how I shriek not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that befall me there.

So this is how Paul's boasting in weakness for God's glory. So why? Why would he boast in the weakness and trials and tribulations he's been facing? So that it's never Paul. It's never about Paul. Okay. So if he said, I'm all that, then it would turn to people following Paul, versus when it's like, it isn't me, it's Christ, so that he never takes on any of the strength or anything himself. Well, good, and we're going to see before we close the lesson today that Paul goes back and reminds them that it's not him, in a different kind of way.

So, the answer is, because weakness is the best way to display God's glory and sufficiency, isn't it? And we looked at this verse, the 2nd Corinthians 1, 8-10 last week, but let's look at it again. These are great verses. So if someone could pick that. And maybe you got your Bible. Could you look at 2nd Corinthians 3, 5? It kind of builds on the same thing. So 2nd Corinthians 1, 8-10.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, for our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. So, indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, he on whom we have set our hopes, and he will yet deliver us. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

It ain't me, babe. It ain't me. It's kind of, you know, when things get tough, we're on our knees. I mean, I'm using that kind of disfiguratively, but when things are going well, we tend to tend to ignore who we are. And I hope that that's so true of all of us that we're giving God glory for even the good things. But nevertheless, there's nothing like need and weakness that brings out the Lord's presence in our lives. Remember, our citizenship is not here. It's in heavenly places.

We looked at these verses last week, the 1 Corinthians 1.8-10 verses, and indicated that maybe Paul was a little bit down here. There's a room for the believer to be down at times. And I think there is, but it's got to be transient, because your citizenship is in the Lord Jesus Christ. His presence in our lives really is the life we walk and live by faith. And that's grace played out.

But nevertheless, we do get down at times. But when we get down, we get too focused on ourselves, not focused on God's ability to be sufficient in our circumstances. So that's what Paul's reflecting here. This is the past. I've been there. We've been through things. And he's going to go through more.

But yet he's reminding them and exhorting them that this is who they are in Christ and kind of expect this going forward. And Paul reminds them that he has taught them openly, not keeping from them anything but repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the message. Repentance, meaning always being before the Lord in who we are, and faith going forward that the Lord has fully established them in the new creation of Christ Jesus.

And this is for their benefit, but God's glory is of primary importance. We need to get out of the way of what by faith, I say that kind of I've got this conquered and none of us do. We all fall short because we've got an old man, a sin nature that has us falling short and we get so dependent on the things of this earth. But yet it's God's glory and it's of primary importance.

So we take a step back, we respond by faith and when that life gets lived out of us, these earthly events tend to become the tale. It's easily said, not easily done, but it's all faith. Do we believe what God has revealed to be sufficient to us for our circumstances? Acts 20, 22-24, the present.

Paul's being led into Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit. By the way, we're going to see some people questioning whether he needed to go back to Jerusalem or not. And that's an interesting story we're going to evolve, I think, in subsequent weeks. So Paul's being led unto Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit, so he says. Now, again, this is Paul's perception that the Holy Spirit is taking him back to Jerusalem. Not knowing what belies him there, but confident that his witness will prevail despite his bonds and afflictions. So Paul is going about his present activities in full expectation there's trouble ahead.

And we don't look for trouble, but it tends to show up, doesn't it? Sometimes so unexpectedly. And I've got a situation with a person working for me now that just is never ending, that ultimately is an ongoing crowd affliction. It's another story. So you might pray about that if you think that.

Verse 24 is neat, though. But not that these things move me, neither count I my life dearer unto myself, Holly, so that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I've received of the Lord Jesus. to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Look at the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God. What's grace?

The unlimited unmerited favor. Some people think that's a short call. Unlimited unmerited favor. I mean it's kind of like, you know, does the sun come up all in the east? I mean, I'm not, it's okay, but what's the ultimate Not getting what you deserve.

Well, that's mercy. Okay. Based on the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross. Alright. And so, it's undeserved benefit, right? So mercy is sparing punitive responses to what we deserve, and that's sparing that, but grace is giving us everything beyond what we do deserve. Alright, notice with joy.

Hebrews 12.2. Has anybody had that memorized? I did many times, but I'm not sure I can quote it exactly. For the joy that was set before him, right? Gary, did you get your text?

Could you look up Hebrews 12.2? And this sometimes is a verse that comes up, and again I had it memorized once upon a time, but I have to go back and relearn it again. Thinking about Christ and the joy that was set before him, what's this all about?

So Paul's trying to enter into that joy. Jeremy? Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And Paul in Christ, I think, is identifying with that joy. Because he's walking by faith in the gospel of grace, And the joy that was the Lord's to be crucified and ultimately buried for the sins of the world is the joy as believers we need to be sharing as we go through the trials and tribulations here.

And I was just saying to the class, can we identify with Paul in this walk of his? I think we can to some extent. But Paul says, be ye followers of me as I am also of Christ. Followers of him isn't walking in Paul's footsteps, it's looking at Paul in terms of his faith in the gospel of grace in which he stood.

He is human. He has a sin nature. The Lord Jesus Christ had no sin nature. So we are not walking in Christ's footsteps. We are walking in his new creation in each one of us by faith. That is what Paul is talking about here. In joy. Joy? That is not how I define joy. And if we're not walking, then why not?

Because it's simply a lack of faith. And what's faith? Define faith. What's faith? Believing what the Lord reveals. Thank you. That's a great definition of faith. Believing what God has revealed. That simple. It's not Hebrews 11, what faith is the evidence not seen and all that. I mean, that's nice in terms of a detailed description of faith biblically. But the simple definition is believing what God has revealed.

And for Adam and Eve, it was very simple. For Moses, it was a bit more difficult. And then for Daniel and Ezekiel, it was even more challenging, bad times perhaps. But for us today, we've got it all written. And God has revealed himself and sequentially, dispensationally, over time, given us additional to build our faith on.

All right. The future. What does Paul mean when he states, I am innocent of the blood of all men? What verse is that? Let's go down and pick that up. 26. Wherefore I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. What do you mean here, Jeremy? Well, I mean, right after that it says, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. And I think this goes back to, I don't know if he's thinking of this, but there's that passage in Ezekiel. the truth that I've revealed, then you're guilty, and their blood's basically on your hands.

But if you tell them, and they refuse to listen to you, then that's not your fault. So I think that's kind of what he's saying. He has been faithful in declaring the truth that God has given to him, and he's not responsible for whether people respond, but he is responsible for giving people the truth that God has given him. Yeah, I mean, he's not accountable to do anything that spreads the word.

And remember to whom and what he's addressing. To whom is he addressing these elders right now? To the church, to the brethren. To the church leaders. This is kind of, if you will, a retreat for the elders and the deacons of the day, who are going to remain behind in Ephesus, continue to preach and teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is he addressing?

He's addressing the truth of the gospel, and I think Jeremy said it well. He presents it, he leaves it, let the spirit do the work, and he's not guilty of any consequences from that point forward. It's kind of like us planting the seed. We don't necessarily see that seed ultimately growing to be a saved person, but nevertheless we plant it. What, Tom? Germinate. Yeah, germinate. Good.

Alright, what task and warnings is Paul giving them? Take heed, verse 28, unto yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which ye purchased. And I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And he goes on about that. So what message is he giving these leaders?

To be diligent and to watch out after the church. The teaching. Make sure the teaching is what he's already taught them. And because he's made them already realize, look, I've told you this, you know this, that knowledge and confidence in what he's taught ultimately allows the warnings to be heeded and dealt with in terms of the way God would have them deal with it. So the rule of overseers, we could look at all these verses, but just Trust these verses are really documenting what an elder or a deacon or a bishop is all about in terms of their responsibilities.

These are leaders. These are people in the church who in fact are spiritually mature and advanced. These are not new believers. These are people established in the faith. And for this time, these people would have had to grow pretty quickly because the church is young and the experiences would be very short. Jeremy? I think we see in a lot of the other passages Elders are primarily about claiming the truth. But then there's also the idea of they're walking alongside us as we grow in the faith.

But I think specifically here, he's talking about the doctrine, because when he mentions, you know, there are going to be wolves coming in. I think the indication there is there's going to be people that are going to be teaching false doctrine. So it's your responsibility, just as I have being careful to proclaim the truth that God has given me. So now you also need to proclaim the truth to defend against these wolves that are going to come in and try and deceive the flock.

Well, in a sense, you and I, Roger, share that responsibility for this class, don't we? I mean, we're not elders. We have a teaching role in this body of believers, but we're here to represent the truth. And I think there's nothing like teaching and to have responsibility for validating the truth as best the spirit gives us. James says, you know, you decide to be teachers and understand exactly the responsibility involved with that. It's a pretty heavy responsibility. Good. Any other thoughts, Steve? OK, good.

Alright, The Warning of Wolves, that's not unique to this section of Scripture. By the way, remember in Acts, Acts is not a doctrinal book, and Paul's admonitions and exhortations to these church leaders, this is kind of doctrine. So we're seeing a hint of doctrine in Jeremy, we touched on a bit of doctrine entering in here and there that Luke brings forward too. But this unequivocally is doctrine in Paul's in a specific manner of explanation. So this warning of wolves is in John, it's in 1 Peter, it's in 1 John.

The idea is that there are going to be people creeping in to the midst, into the body that ultimately do not aspire to or believe in the gospel and can be distracting. And you can think of today's Protestant church in terms of how how much breadth there is in denominational doctrine and lack thereof. Only each person, him or herself, knows whether they have a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And there can be people in doctrinally very unsound churches who are saved, and there can be people in very biblically based churches that are non-denominational who are not saved. But the point is that this is watching out for these wolves, people who are not founded in faith or saved, who are bringing false doctrine into the body.

And then in verse 32, I love this, Paul states, so now brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, notice his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. Now Paul exhorts them of this truth, but how does the body respond to this? If you're listening to Paul and you're going to be hanging back in Ephesus after Paul's back in Jerusalem, how do we respond to God and to his word of grace? Do you see yourself crucified, dead, and buried, and risen with him in the newness of life? Do you see yourself positioned above where the source of all truth and wisdom comes? Are we looking in the mirror and seeing the Lord Jesus Christ reflected in ourselves?

We don't put metrics. There's no yardstick here. It's just a confidence and atmosphere of walking above, despite our earthly circumstances. And again, we all fall short. But that's because we're not trusting sufficiently by faith the grace in which we stand. Why does Paul need to deny motives of self-interest?

Let's look at verses 33 through 35. He says, I coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel, that new three-piece suit or that lovely new evening gown. You yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. And in all things I gave you an example that so may bring you out to help the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said it was more blessed to give than to receive. So verse 33 says, I'm coveting no man's silver, gold, or apparel.

Why does he even have to bring this up, do you think? Well, he's collecting money. I mean, if they're thinking that he's going to be using it for himself. Well, yeah, he is. We don't find any details about his collecting the money, but we know that's what he's about.

Acts doesn't say, well, he went here Not this much, but I would think that if he's kind of in that position, people are really trusting him that he's going to be taking it where it needs to go, so he has to go out of his way to show that he's making tents and providing for himself. But Holly, here I am, I'm walking in the Spirit, I'm uplifted by the Lord, do I need to tell you that I'm not doing that on my own behalf? Evidently. He does say it. And there has to be a reason why he says it.

There's going to be people who say in a pig's eye, unless you tell me, I'm not going to go along with this. How easy for the wolves to say, you know what, he's using that money for himself. But I would claim that if I'm proclaiming that I have no love of silver or gold and I don't need this three-piece suit, I mean, Why do I have to tell you that? You must not be convinced of this. Is my telling you that or am I really validating that that's not what I'm about?

Anyway, I find this kind of interesting. I would say moreover, they had to grow up in a hurry and they're still probably rough edges and they need to be just a little bit build up that one area and that's why Paul said what he said. Being transparent. I'm not going to be overly critical of him saying this, I just think it's kind of interesting to look at this and say, why does he have to tell them that?

Isn't his walk evident? That this isn't about him, but it's about the Lord Jesus Christ? He may be saying that, it's like we said before, be ye followers of me as I am of Christ. He's setting the example to these elders that it's not about whatever earthly rewards, that he's saying, you know, As we talked about, with the power of the spirit, he's not seeking his own fame or glory or any material blessing.

Maybe he's saying it to admonish them, saying, go and do that likewise. Don't worry about collecting for yourself. It's scriptural, it's purposeful, we don't need to second guess, but it's kind of fun to think about this in terms of whether it's really necessary. Alright, the last point today is, picture if you can the parting events of verses 36-38. So let's look at these.

And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. Not an inappropriate thing to do. And they all wept sore, meaning a lot, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. Sorrowing, most of all, for the word which he had spoken, that they should behold his face no more. And they brought him on his way under the ship. So they get ready, they get back on board, and sail back to Jerusalem.

So, my question to the class. There are lots of emotions here. A problem, and if not, when might it be? Gotta cut the cord sometime. Well this is a very emotional event, don't you think, from what Scripture has to say? I mean, why all the tears? Why all the hugging?

Well, they know they're not going to see him again. He's making it very clear. Plus, during that time, you know, distances were far, and they knew he was going a long way, and maybe he was leaving all of them there, and the way he was talking to them was that they were going to be in charge. He was not going to be back again to be with them. Well, how did they know that? They didn't, but their presumption was they wouldn't see it again. And they did, actually.

What else? What about emotions in believers? Human. Right. Some people really criticize emotions as the driving force among the way we feel and what we do. Is there anything inappropriate about what's going on here? I don't see anything wrong with it, do you? But when my emotions carry us away? When they're first. What's Verne's thing, the train on the track? Yes. Yeah. We go by what we feel. Faith in the facts is like the train on the track. Right.

Okay, other thoughts? Give me an example when emotions may be the driving force and really the doctrine or the truth is not. Well, it would be like if they were so upset that Paul's leaving because they feel sad he's going and then they put those emotions first and then when Paul leaves they just fall back because they're like oh since I was so sad when he left it must be him it must be Paul that's the one rather than saying like okay he's leaving I'm sad and now we move on to business of you know. Yeah I mean I think that's possible here I think that ultimately I'd like an example that's maybe not related directly to this scripture here.

I think this is all appropriate for all I can read. The church leaders bonded with him. They wanted his ongoing exhortation and teaching. He's leaving, they may not see him again. This all seems very human, but yet all very appropriate. I'm getting the example of the apostolic church of our age, where emotions drive the gospel, right?

And it's your experience that ultimately is most important, not necessarily what the truth of the world is. Well, I know I have a friend who had told me some years ago, because he had never spoken in tongues, he must not be saved because he couldn't speak in tongues. He never could speak in tongues. And I said, why do you think that is the benchmark of whether you're saved or not? Who told you that?

The buzzer has sounded, that lovely buzzer. Let's go. Father, we're grateful that we gathered here today. Again, the prayer beads have been mentioned and lifted up and there are many more that we might heed. We're thankful for the teachings of Luke and of Paul in Acts 20 and we'll finish this journey at least in part next week. We look forward to re-gathering at that time. May the Spirit lead as we move into the service now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.