Brothers and sisters, let's stand together for the reading of God's Word. This is Part 7, the final sermon in this final farewell that Paul gives here with the Ephesian elders at Miletus. We're looking at verses 36 through 38 and considering sorrow and tears and the mingling together of sorrow and joy and the path of contentment. It's a beautiful thing. I'm going to read from verse 17 through verse 38 of chapter 20. Please listen carefully because this is God's holy and infallible word. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me, but none of these things move me. Nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to 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. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, from among yourselves, men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore, watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night and day, with tears. So now, 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 amongst all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who are with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship. Thus ends the reading of God's word. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. So for the seventh time now, be reminded of Paul's ministry at Ephesus and how it had ended so abruptly, that great riot that had been initiated there by those who were opposed to the gospel. So really no time to enjoy a final unthreatened farewell. He just departed after the uproar was over. He called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia. So even then, there was the physical embrace There wasn't time for the fullness of the goodbye. No time for this more extensive farewell that we are looking at in Miletus. What did he talk to them about? What did he do? First of all, he talked to them about his past in Asia. He referred to himself and This encourages each of us to ask ourselves, what would you say to beloved loved ones if you knew this would be your last interaction with them? You knew that you would never see their faces again, their deathbed, if you will. And would your past life with your loved ones serve as an influential foundation, a springboard, if you will, to encourage them, to exhort them and to warn them to follow the Lord. Or if you're honest with yourself, would you see instability, selfishness and hypocrisy that would undermine your final farewell? Next, Paul points to the future, his future plans for joy. And we have to ask ourselves, what would you say to those loved ones about their future, about your future, about what moves you, about what is your purpose and how trials impact your thoughts and your future plans? How would you teach them to find joy every day? He tells them about his plans for joy, that his life is not more dear to him than obeying God, that he loves Christ and the completion of a life of faithfulness to Christ more than anything else. And this is the plan for joy. And we ask ourselves, what is our only comfort in life and death? He speaks to them next of his fellowship and invites them into his fellowship of innocence. And the question came to us, recall, do you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, understand the basic duty that you have toward others in your life? Are you innocent of their blood? Or have you held back the word of God from them, shying away from certain hard parts of the Bible in their lives? And what do you expect of your church leaders? Do you desire the preaching and application of the whole counsel of God's Word to your life? Or do you want your preachers to hold back the hard parts? Or do you want your soul to be exposed to the fullness of God's expectations for you? How did Paul motivate the Ephesian elders? What one tool did he emphasize in their efforts to save the lost and rebuff deceivers? The Word of God. So he pointed to not withholding any of the word of God from them as evidence that he was innocent of the blood of all men. And he wanted them to shepherd the people at Ephesus the same way. Do we want this as well? Next, he goes on and he gives the specific shepherding command for elders. And in this is this implicit call for the elders to imitate him. And so could you call others to imitate you as you imitate Christ? In this context, the question came to you as church members. Do you pray for your church leaders souls, especially for their humility to take heed of their own souls first, that they will be walking close to Christ and going on? Do you pray for and desire for your church leaders to take heed of your soul, to closely consider your own soul as an act of love towards you as a shepherd and the souls of your family members and the souls of every other member of this church? And do you pray for and desire your church leaders to provide you this pastoral care and assistance within the context of your own needs and your own struggles so that your church leaders know the story of your life? And that this would be taking place not just via the scheduled ministry on Sundays, not just via our scheduled prayer meetings and other scheduled events, but that you would invite them into your home like Paul went home to home shepherding. And in that context, I asked you to reach out to me and make it easy for me to shepherd your soul by scheduling a time with me, offering me times in your calendar between now and the end of July that I could come be in your home. And that this you should have in your hearts as an expectation for what good shepherding looks like. And this is love. This is the paraclete. This is the coming alongside. This is being together in one another's midst. Have you ever shed mourning tears as you consider the Word of God and the threats to His church like Paul did? Do you desire and pray for your church leaders to have this heart of love and care for you, this passion, this vehemence in prayer, this tearful prayer for you, for your family members, and for your fellow church members? Next, Paul talked to them about God's church and the Word of His grace, and he commended them to God. And there's this sense of rest that he displayed to them and trusting God. Are you able to rest together in the almighty power of God and his word of grace to preserve us, to build us up, to keep us, to enrich us and to sanctify us to the end? If not, you will give way to manipulative, controlling tactics to try to achieve the ways of God. Do you attempt to know and love God apart from his word? Paul spoke of God and the word of his grace preserving them. Do you attempt to understand God's Word apart from God Himself helping you? Do you see the Lord's Word as a word of grace to you, hearing His voice proceeding from a bright countenance toward you? Do you read God's Word as a word of grace towards you? And do we fully entrust those we love into the Father's care, trusting in Him and trusting in His Word of grace? If we don't, we will like faith and that will give way to fear and we will implement controlling methods in our lives. We'll be manipulative people. And we use fleshly means to try to squeeze out the behavior we want from others. And it is an unpleasant thing. It is not the aroma of grace when we're like that. Next Paul talked to them about remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, and certainly that's the best way to end any sermon, this little sermon of farewell, or any sermon. Specifically, that we are to remember the weak, and we are to remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive. And so what barriers are in your soul that keep you from becoming more like Christ in this way? Helping the weak the way he did. Helping the weak like Paul did. Are you lazy and covetous? How much has materialism wrapped its nasty fingers around your soul? And how much have you made peace with that? And are you in bed with that? Do you work only for yourself or also so you can be generous to the weak? Why do you work? And we asked ourselves, do we see the connection between being covetous and being lazy, and particularly a warning to young men? We look to Jesus Christ to help you in your weakness, to bring you to a new level of sacrifice and service toward the weak, the needy, the poor, the downtrodden, the homeless, the naked, the endangered, the starving and the oppressed. And he ends with this and it stands out to us as it really should be a mark, a key mark always present in the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and save such as have a contrite spirit. The broken ones will seek out to give help to other broken ones. So today we move into this final part of this final farewell. Precious parting tears. These treasures that ran down their faces. We see kneeling and praying and weeping. We see hugs and kisses. The piercing pain of love when we part from one another is on display. The long farewell, the waving goodbye, until only the heart can see the loved one who has finally faded from view. Commentary says, after the parting sermon that Paul preached to the elders of Ephesus, which was very affecting, we have here the parting prayers and tears, which were yet more affecting. We can scarcely read the account here given of them and meditate upon them with dry eyes. And if we can, then there's something wrong with us. If our hearts are not affected by this, if we do not long to have hearts more alive like what we see here, then we have been misled by what it means to be a Christian. We're more like the Stoics than we are like Jesus. I think a great example of this is shown by John Patton writing 40 years later about his departure from home as a young man. He relates the sweet details of that final farewell that he had with his father as he went off to be in training to be a missionary overseas. My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday. and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so, we walked on together in almost unbroken silence. My father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, his lips kept moving in silent prayers for me, and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain. We halted on reaching the appointed parting place. He grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately, he said, God bless you, my son. Your father's God prosper you and keep you from all evil. Unable to say more. His lips kept moving in silent prayer. In tears, we embraced and parted. I ran off as fast as I could and went about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me. I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I'd left him gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I rounded the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for time. And then rising up cautiously, I climbed the dike to see if he yet stood where I had left him. And just at that moment, I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dike and looking out for me. He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly in my direction for a while, he got down, set his face toward home, and began to return, his head still uncovered and his heart, I felt, sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears till his form faded from my gaze, and then, hastening on my way, now listen, vowed deeply and often by the help of God to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given to me. You can read this full story in his book, Missionary to the New Hebrides, an autobiography. It's definitely worth taking the time to read it if you haven't already. It's an example of Christian love and the fruits of it and the pain of it and how we are pierced through Today we'll look how the transition goes from words to prayers, and we'll see them kneeling and praying together, and then going on to unrestrained corporate weeping together, and in this, the sharing of corporate tears and hugs and kisses, and the anguish of love, and you know it not until you've been pierced through by it. And this is to the end, as we will see them accompany him to the ship. And then some questions to know and to love and to obey God. Verse 36 says, And when He had said these things, Hope you'll see here that liturgy is life when we go through the process of worshiping God, the way he's called us to. We learned how to live, not just how to worship God. All of life is structured according to the worship of God. There's the welcome. There's the embrace of hello, the confirmation that we are forgiven and that all is well between us. The exchange of words to build up, to encourage, to grow in Christ together as we share smiles and words of encouragement around good food and a happy table of peace. The prayers together, the goodbye until we meet again. There is this natural flow to relationship and it is according to God's design. And here we see it only natural to go from words for one another to words for God, from our souls to God's souls. Paul did not leave prematurely. Take note of this. He had a message to deliver to these men, and he completed the message before he left. He knew this piercing moment of tears would be a part of it. And he did not truncate his stay to avoid the pain and tears. He could have just sailed on by Miletus and sent them another letter. He had written plenty. But he did not. Brings to us the question, in what ways do we try to short circuit completing things the way we need to? There's many ways to communicate, right? We see how Paul communicated in person. That is needful sometimes. So it comes to you, how do you deal with the reality of coming parting tears? These precious parting tears that you know are coming. There are dates on the calendar that show us these things. Do you turn your heart off? get into the ditch of apathy and try to smooth it over with claims of trusting in God's sovereignty, when in reality what you're doing is turning off your heart and refusing to feel the pain of the loss of face-to-face communion with this person that you love so much. I mean, really, the question is, do you complete what God has called you to finish? Or has your fear of true and deep mourning kept you from doing this? Do you finish strong? Or do you draw away now in order to avoid the pain then? And if you set that as a pattern of life, you can deceive yourself into believing that you're trusting God when, in fact, you're closing off your heart and misusing doctrine to do so. C.S. Lewis said about his relationship with Joy Davidson, or Davidman, the pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal. The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. And so especially when these times are coming, whether it's cancer and the certain loss of a loved one like C.S. Lewis was experiencing, or this prophetic work of God in Paul's life where he knew he would never see them again, or whether it's the marriage of a child who will move away and things will change dramatically. You know, these things challenge our faith because we don't want to feel the piercing pain. So what happens next? So he completes his words, and because liturgy is life, he knelt down and prayed with them all. We need to look at this. First of all, there's this corporate kneeling that takes place. And so what happens here is it demonstrates the state of his soul towards God. These are the poor in spirit being blessed together on their knees And this kneeling shows Paul's glad submission. It is a double statement. It's his glad submission to Christ his Savior and Christ his King. It is a posture of both obedience and adoration. And so we also kneel. We probably don't kneel enough. How often do you kneel together in your homes? How often do you kneel together when you say goodbye? So Paul here, along with these Ephesian elders, recall these are Jews and Gentiles mixed together, former Jews and Gentiles who've come together in this church. Along with every saint throughout history and including us today, this is a fulfillment. What we see here is a fulfillment. See, there's a lot of ways to think about this scripture being fulfilled, but you need to see it fulfilled the way Paul and the Ephesian elders fulfilled it. Isaiah wrote of this, Look to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. The Lord gave him this prophecy. I have sworn by myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. Here's what God told Isaiah, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. And the details of this are opened up for us by Paul in Romans 14 when he wrote about this fulfillment. Another place it's fulfilled is on the judgment day. But why do you judge your brothers or why do you show contempt for your brothers? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall. in our brother's way, every knee and every tongue shall confess on that day, believer and unbeliever alike. And then writing to the church at Philippi, Paul goes on and gives us clarity as Christians. Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Our prayers now. Always will be proclaiming Jesus as our Lord for the sake of the glory of God, the Father. So the meaning then when we bow on our knees before God is a postural proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord. We have kept ourselves, kept ourselves, put ourselves, put ourselves under his feet. So that God, the Father, ultimately gets the glory. And if we could go lower, we prostrate ourselves. If we would go lower, we'd go into the dirt. If we would go lower, we would keep going lower and lower. when He brings us into the experience of His glory and His grandeur. So they're all kneeling, and they all prayed together. Do you hear that? This is every tongue taking an oath, like what we said in Isaiah. This is every tongue confessing to God, like we read in Romans. And this is confessing that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul understood what he was doing when he got on his knees. Paul understood that he was part of the fulfillment of this great and glorious prophecy. So the focus of their prayers and of our prayers is to confess, to agree with God that Jesus Christ is our Lord, to bow to Him in obedience and adoration with hearts and words that cry out for the glory of God the Father. So the message that Paul had just completed, proclaiming Christ as Lord and His Word as their rule of faith and life, and calling for loving obedience to God and His Word of grace, unto being transformed in the image of Christ, being like Him in laying down their lives to help the weak, would surely have also filled up these prayers to God together. Don't you often hear the preacher praying for the Word of God to be brought to fruition in the lives of the hearers once the sermon is over? So they prayed to God, they thanked God, they cried out to God and surely would have been asking for the outpouring of his spirit. Not just that they would be the ones kneeling, but that the whole world would be kneeling and every tongue would be confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. Matthew Henry says, no doubt it was a prayer every way suited to the present mournful occasion. He committed them to God in this prayer, as he had done, we see already with his words, prayed that he would not leave them. That is God. but continue his presence with them. And as they knelt together, they prayed together. Certainly we can expect that Paul would have led, but they all prayed. It was a joint prayer. He not only prayed for them, the commentary says, but prayed with them, prayed with them all, that they might put up the same petitions for themselves and one another that he put up to God for them all, and that they might learn what to ask of God for themselves when he was gone. The posture also shows the nature of our prayers. We don't tell God to do anything. We humble ourselves. We have reverence and awe towards him. Commentary says it was a humble and reverent prayer. This was expressed by the posture. He kneeled and prayed with them, which is the most proper gesture in prayer and significant both of adoration and petition, especially petition for the forgiveness of sin. Paul did this in Ephesians 3. It's made me ponder, changing things a little bit in liturgy so that at our time of consecration we would also kneel. We're praying this prayer. Listen to what Paul says about when he prayed it. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now Paul probably prayed this kind of prayer regularly, but what we're seeing here is Paul took time to get on his knees to pray this prayer. It's really important to see how he chooses to end his time together with these men He ends with humble prayer to God together with them. The finish of his message, the content is worth noting, and the finish of his time with them. It is good to end our precious partings with prayer. We know this. It is good to do this like Jesus did with his disciples on the night before he was crucified. So this was a parting prayer, the commentary tells us, which might be likely to leave lasting impressions as the farewell sermon did. It is good for friends when they part to part with prayer, that by praying together just as parting, they may be enabled to pray the more feelingly one for another when they are separated, which is one part of our Christian duty and an improvement of the communion of saints. The Lord watch between us and watch over us both when we are absent from the other is a good parting prayer, Genesis 31, 49. And also that our next meeting may be either nearer heaven or in heaven. Paul here followed the example of Christ, who when he took leave of his disciples, after he had preached to them, he prayed with them all in John 17. And we have, this is a tradition here at our church, when folks whom we love transition to other churches, we set aside a time of fellowship and encouragement and prayer together at that parting, as we'll do this coming Sunday, as we enjoy the time of saying goodbye to Jessica. And what happened next? They wept freely. They wept freely. So there's no there's no effort here for these men to stop the tears. OK, so the floodgates are opened and there are times for this. There are times for this. And it's not like they were like squeezing out these tears because they saw others doing it, it appears to be a divine overflow of their hearts. So having humbled themselves together before God on their knees and shared prayers, now it appears arising refreshed in God's love and care together, having tasted of God's goodness together in corporate prayer together, their fullness of spirit is overflowing with unrestrained weeping together. It seems likely the tears probably began even as they were praying together and continued until Paul was, as we'll see, probably continued until Paul was out of sight in that beautiful Aegean Sea. Commentary says, note those that are most loving are commonly best beloved. Paul, who was the most affectionate friend himself, had friends that were very affectionate to him. These tears at parting with Paul were a grateful return for all the tears he had shed in preaching to them and praying with them. He that watereth shall be watered also himself. This is a sad conviction that can bring regret to the souls of those who have not been friendly, especially to parents who don't see much tears as their children part from them. We have to look back and, of course, acknowledge God's sovereignty in that, but also be honest about were we like Paul to our children, living in such a way that the bonds of love were created by the father through our faithful lives so that we could be like the father that John Patton had. And where we are not that today, it is not too late to repent. and to be those who water as parents and as friends. These elders clearly had more grief than gladness that they would not see Paul's face again. Can can we do we live this way as well? You know, it's worth pausing and reflecting on the tears of Jesus Paul said to imitate him as he imitated Christ. We are exposed to a lot of teachings, psychobabble about emotions. We have a lot of sinful responses to pain. We need Jesus to show us the way. John 11, then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She's in pain. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. And the Jews said, See how he loved him. And some of them said, could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus, again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. And then Jesus said, take away the stone. We know what happened next, don't we? Jesus wept tears from his eyes as he groaned in his spirit. He groaned within himself this deep negative emotion that he was experiencing because of the loss of Lazarus and the pain of his friends. And he was troubled within his soul. He could cry out with David in Psalm 42. Why are you downcast, oh my soul? There is a way to suffer like this that is not sinful. Jesus, the perfect man, he felt pure and perfect emotions here when he experienced the death of his friend Lazarus. His hatred for death and for sin in his groaning and the pain that it brings to humanity made to know him and enjoy him. the misery of the estate of sin experienced in his own soul before us. He observed his other friends grieving so deeply over their perceived permanent loss of Lazarus in this life. One of them did say, You are the resurrection and life, knowing there is some hope here. Jesus also wept over the people of Jerusalem. In Luke 19, as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes, for days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you, enclose you in on every side, and level you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not know the time. of your visitation. So these people and their children in that city would be leveled under Roman armies, dead, suffering greatly, starving. And his compassion overflowed with tears and with words as he mingled his word about peace with his tears Jesus didn't shy away from the pain of this world. And these are only two example of a life of tears. He was a man of sorrows. This was not an uncommon experience. This was his daily experience because he saw the world for what it is. Because this world is a place of sorrow and honest hearts embrace this. for the joy set before them like Jesus. This gets to the mingling of sadness and joy that is ours in this life. Listen to Hebrews 5 describing Jesus in the days of His flesh when He had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death. and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son. Yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered." If he learned obedience by the things he suffered, do you think our path will be any different? No, it will not. He tells us to take up our cross and to follow him. If you want your best life now, you better be prepared to be pierced through with sorrow right now. In this world, Jesus shows us how sincere and perfect love responds to sorrow and suffering. Jesus did what? He turned to God, his father and ours. That's what Jesus did. And he offered up prayers and requests to God in the midst of his suffering and sorrow. His prayers were filled with his passion. Do you cry out to God? not as some display for people around you, but because you can't help it, because your heart is crushed, because your heart is crushed down by the sadness of this world and your own sin. Oh, you are no mature Christian if you just walk around like a stoic all the time. Jesus was vehement in his tone and his tears unto God as he was suffering. And he did this unto the only one who was able to save him from death, to deliver him from the grave. And he is the only one who can deliver you. If you are not praying like this, you're not sensible to the suffering of this world. You're anesthetizing yourself probably with other things, whether it's comfort, or money, or academic pursuits, or sex, or lust, or whatever it might be. Brothers and sisters, Paul and these Ephesian elders felt the pain of this parting. Jesus, this was described by Isaiah as well. Who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and listen now, acquainted with grief. You know, we pretend so often we put on our masks, we act like everything's okay and it's just not. We have burdens to bear together. Going on with Isaiah, as we hid and we hid as it were our faces from him, he was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. This is Jesus. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. but He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His strikes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgressions of my people. He was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked, but with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. Jesus, brothers and sisters, was a man of sorrows. And Paul was a man of sorrows. And to follow Jesus is to be a person of sorrows. You should be known as a man of sorrows. You should be known as a woman of sorrows if you are a Christian. Do you think that Christianity has been sent to you by God to free you from experiencing sorrow? You're deceived if you believe this. You're sorely mistaken. And what will happen here is you will be easy, easy, easy prey for discouragement until you learn this lesson. When you feel the natural sorrows of your own sin and this fallen world, you won't know how to sort it if you don't expect it. You see, we can be deceived to think that heaven starts now. and that because Jesus died on the cross and that we are freed from all sin and suffering, that that starts now. It does not start now. We still have sin within us. We still live in a sinful world and it will pierce you through until you die. Now, of course, you can blind yourself to it. You can anesthetize yourself. You can try to get drunk on the comforts that God gives to you to help you through this life instead of just making peace with the sadness and experiencing it as he gives it to you, drinking it down as he gives it to you. Because when you do, there will be tears that come and these tears are cleansing and they bring forth rejoicing. Commentary says Paul, that was so often in tears while he was with them, no doubt shed many at parting. So watering what he had sown among them. Do you hear that watering what he had sown among them? But the notice is taken of their tears. They all wept sorely. There was not a dry eye among them, and it is probable the affectionate expressions Paul used in prayer set them a weeping. These were tears of love and mutual endearment like those of Jonathan and David, when they were forced to part and wept one with another until, as if they wept for strife, David acceded. That's from 1 Samuel. So what happens next is we see corporate tears, hugs and kisses. Luke goes out of his way to tell us about this. This was no small thing. He wanted us to see this. So these tears were not shed from a distance. They could have prayed and stood up crying and not embraced one another. It seems these tears were shed and shared close up, mingling together on one another's faces and necks as they bid one another farewell. These close times of sharing tears together, everybody knows that tears are salty. The closeness of the weeping is on display for us here. Commentary says Luke reports a threefold reaction of the elders to Paul's address and his prayer. They wept, they embraced, and they fell upon his neck and they kissed him. And this public kiss among Christians signals the freedom of the Christians to express without inhibition to all the people of whatever background, rank or gender, the ardor of love in any context. It's great affection that they had for one another. The mutual kiss of Christians violated several cultural traditions. In public, the kiss is a gesture of reverence by an inferior person or of the gracious favor of a superior, and thus serves the confirmation and demonstration of hierarchical structures, which are ignored when Christians of all genders, ethnic identities, and social backgrounds kiss each other. Go home for homework and count how many times were told in the scriptures to greet one another with a kiss. How often they kissed one another. Oh, well, Dr. Clark, that's just cultural. I don't think so. Maybe so, but I don't think so. I think there needs to be more kisses. This scene, the commentary says, is clearly emotional, hardly surprising given Paul's final farewell, dramatically expressing all of these elders' love and concern for Paul. We see this in the prodigal son's father who is given to us as a representation of God the Father when the prodigal returns. He rose and came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. It shows us the anguish of love. The text says, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. This is sorrow that causes intense pain. The meaning of this word is anguish, torment, to be distressed in one's soul. I remember laying in my bed when I was a kid, this hit me, that my father was going to die someday. It pierced me through. I'll never forget that night, the first time I realized death is coming for my dad. We fished together, coached all my ball teams. God knit our hearts together. You know, He helps me. His love for me helps me to trust in my Father in Heaven's love for me. This is real, this is real stuff. The children in this room, you know your parents are gonna die someday. We're gonna, you're gonna, Lord willing, you're gonna throw dirt on the boxes with our bodies. And there will be anguish on that day if there is love on this day and future days. So they were in anguish at the thought of never seeing Paul again in this life. They much enjoyed, they're talking about seeing his face, they much enjoyed seeing his face, being in his presence. And they would have said the same thing if they could have Zoomed across the world as well. You know what I mean, the virtual thing? No, in his presence. And they had gravely profited from his service and his love in their midst as he taught them the way. Now I'm sure, you know, Paul would have used the internet, right? Okay, I'm not saying it's a bad tool, but there's no replacement for being in person. And there are certain things that just need to be done in person. They wanted to see his face and they couldn't any more and they were in anguish. And really the question is, why would anyone want to sign up for such a thing? Why would anyone want this kind of, the word is anguish. It is torment. It is getting a hold of your soul and just wringing it out. It's like, oh, please stop. I mean, if it doesn't make you wonder about how many children you want to have, then you're not living in reality. Because every time they arrive in the world into your hand, you need to be understanding that the goodbye is coming. These are not our children, right? They belong to God. We're stewards. And so this is why. The reason why is because, brothers and sisters, it's the only path to joy. It is the only path to joy. You can have a numb heart if you want. You can numb your heart, go right ahead, the Lord will still let you in, but you'll miss out on a lot of things in this life because you can't have a numb heart and still experience the joy. That's what it comes down to. The path to God's right hand passes at some point for every follower of Jesus, just like Jesus, through the shadow of death, their personal Calvary. Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. And will you? Right? Because see, look what happens next in Isaiah 53. We see this also in Hebrews 12. Coming to a close. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Do you want the pleasure of the Lord to prosper in your hand? He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. So Jesus, for the joy set before him, right? He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He'll see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. He justified His people and all the spoils belong to Him. So this path to pleasure and to fruit, you have to be pierced through. You have to have the seed of grief, the seed of sorrow planted in your soul for it to rise up and bear the fruit of joy in your life. The author of Hebrews summarizes it this way. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. So this is where we see the sorrow and the joy being mingled together. And we can have this. We can know this. It's exquisite. It hurts. It's like getting a tooth pulled. But it's great afterwards. And it's great during even. It's really great that we're going through this book by Jeremiah Burroughs right now, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. And just this morning, part of what we studied, Burroughs made this statement, but grace does teach such a mixture, does teach us how to make mixture of sorrow and a mixture of joy together. And that makes contentment. The mingling of joy and sorrow, of gracious joy and gracious sorrow together. Grace teaches us how to moderate and to order an affliction. As so, so as there shall be a sense of it and yet for all that contentment under it. So this is what these Christians appear to be displaying to us there on the shores of the Aegean Sea there in the first century. So the tears maybe are slowing a bit and, you know, tears on sleeves at this point from wiping. And they're walking now. It says they accompanied him to the ship. So just as they stretch their eyes to watch Paul's ship fade from view, Their faith is stretched forward to the day in glory when they will see the Lord face to face and once again also enjoy the presence of Paul. Time tends to shrink when we look at God and consider heaven. And what we think of long times become short times. I was talking to my son one time, Jonathan. I said, son, I would love to have, I'd love to live 900 years like the people before the flood. I'd love to learn architecture and really study architecture throughout history and all of its forms. And I just, I'm fascinated by this. I really wish I could know that. And he looked at me and said, dad, we're going to live forever. I said, oh. So that's, you know, when you see, if I'm distracted in heaven, it may be because I'm studying about architecture. So suddenly time changes and there's this sense of contentment that you know these men rose up with and that their sorrow gave rise to joy and contentment as they went forth to do their duty and Paul went forth to do his. We too look to that great day like they did. We do. There'll be partings in our lives and we can learn how to look to Christ and not ourselves. Because, you know, it doesn't matter how you feel. In terms of doing your duty, you just need to do your duty. It's really not ultimately about how you feel. Yeah, we can't get to contentment without feeling the grief, but that's not what it is all about. It's not all about how you feel or how I feel. It's about loving him and serving him and walking in his ways, obeying him, going on the path that he calls us to go on. And this is what Paul and these men do. They don't give way to their feelings. They give way to God's affections, God's desires, God's call. And the way we do this is the same way that Jesus did for the joy set before us. Contemplation of God's faithfulness every day, that he will reveal more of himself to us every day, and that someday we will see him face-to-face. And there will be a time where we will never stop seeing him face-to-face. And we will always have access to one another face-to-face. Commentary says they accompanied him onto the ship, partly to show their respect for him, they would bring him on his way as far as they could, and partly that they might have a little more of his company and conversation. If it must be the last interview, they will have as much of him as they can and see the last of him. And we have reason to think that when they came to the waterside and he was about to go on board, their tears and embraces were repeated. For loath to part bids oft farewell. For loath to part bids oft farewell. But this was a comfort to both sides, and soon turned this tide of passion that the presence of Christ both went with him and stayed with them. You've heard me say, I'm sure as you've left my home, watch out for deer. It carries a lot in that phrase. It's the southern goodbye has eight stages to it. It's a little funny joke that goes around. And it's not over until somebody says, watch out for deer. And there's a sense that we just don't ever want to say goodbye. And that's what it means to be Christian. You'll probably see Samuel from time to time running up to the well house on our land and scaring you and waving goodbye to you one last time as you're driving away. You thought, OK, the clerks have finally finished the goodbye that would never end. But there's Samuel up there, barefooted, waving at you, saying goodbye. They accompanied him to the ship. And I think we understand what that means, don't we? We look forward to heaven and the day when there will be no more partings. Let us pray. Almighty and gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for this example of love. Lord, we acknowledge that we do not like to feel this kind of pain. Lord, we thank you for this pain. We ask that you would expand our faith, expand our hearts, Lord, that we would be like Jesus, able to feel the fullness, to be fully sensible of our afflictions and our losses, and then bless us, Lord, to be fully sensible of the joy that is in you. Oh, that we would know the pleasures of your right hand. In Jesus' name.