act 20v24 What Is The Gospel Worth To You

 

 

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL WORTH TO YOU? Acts 20:24

With the full knowledge that bonds, imprisonment, and death awaited him, Paul was determined to go to Jerusalem (Acts 21:11-13) preaching the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. He said to his friends at Ephesus, "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." In comparison with the great object of preaching the gospel, Paul did not consider even his life to be a precious thing. Paul was a man separated entirely to the gospel.

1.                    HERE IS A MAN WHOSE LIFE WAS CONSECRATED TO THE PURSUIT OF ONE OBJECT - "That I might finish my course with joy...to testify the gospel of the grace of God." He did at times labor with his hands to make tents. But he never gave himself to the pursuit of building a tent business. He did not work for the luxuries of life, or even the comforts of life. Paul worked to feed and clothe himself, and his fellow laborers, so that he might preach the gospel. He considered it his life's business to make the gospel known to all men (Rom. 1:16).

2.             PAUL REGARDED THE GOSPEL AS A SACRED TREASURE COMMITTED TO HIS TRUST - "The ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus" (See II Cor. 4:7). God has entrusted to our hands the light of the gospel. It is our responsibility (mine as a preacher, yours as a believer, ours as the church of Christ) to do whatever we can to carry the light of the gospel into this dark world in which we live.

3.             PAUL WAS RESOLVED TO BE FAITHFUL TO THAT TRUST, FAITHFUL IN DECLARING THE GOSPEL, EVEN IF IT COST HIM HIS LIFE - "None of these things move me...I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die...for the name of the Lord Jesus." This is my heart's prayer: "Lord God, give me a heart so separated and committed to the gospel that nothing else is of any value to me. Enable me, by Your grace, to give myself and all that I have, down to life itself, for the furtherance of the gospel."