[These are the notes of a sermon preached in 1983.  My Methodist upbringing, together with my reading of the Puritans and their successors such as Ryle and Spurgeon, had led me to assume the propriety of textual preaching.  Although I still think that there is a place for textual preaching, I do not regard the following effort as a shining example.  It’s a bit too ‘neat’.  Nevetheless, I am not ashamed of it.]

Acts 20:27 “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

A few years ago, when all the talk in the churches was about restructuring, a student said to the President of the Methodist Conference, “When the reorgani­sation has taken place, I suppose we shall then be able to get on with the job?” To which the President replied, “What job?”

It seems to me that a church anniversary is an excellent time for us to remind ourselves what we are about. What is the task of the church? More specifically, what is the message that God calls us to proclaim? We read in Acts 20 a moving account of the message that the apostle Paul proclaimed, and the manner in which he proclaimed it. “I did not shrink,” he says to the leaders of the church at Ephesus, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”

Let us consider, then, these two things: the message that the apostle declared, and the manner in which he declared it, praying that God would restore to us the same vision, the same thrill, the same confidence, that fired his church at the beginning.

1. First, THE MESSAGE THAT PAUL DECLARED. He describes his message as being “the whole counsel of God.” The whole plan of God;-the whole purpose of God:- ftlt is what Paul declared.

(a) We see here, for one thing, the SOURCE of Paul’s message. It is the counsel of God. It was not his own thoughts and ideas and opinions that Paul declared, nor those of any other man: he was convinced that his message was from God. Elsewhere he writes, “What we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as ” (2 Cor 4:5).

Now, if this is true, that the Christian message is from God, and not from man, then certain things follow:-

If the Christian message is from God, then it is true. What if unbelieving scientists say that the Bible is redundant? What if sceptical philosophers pour scorn on the Gospel? What if liberal theologians call the resurrection of Jesus a myth? “Let God be true though every man be false” (Rom 3: 4).

If the Christian message is from God, then it is authoritative. If I stood in this pulpit and preached my own opinions, then it would be very proper for me to be cautious and reticent. But if I preach the word of God, then I must preach with confidence or not at all. The great George Whitefield was preaching one day and he noticed that a man in the congregation had fallen asleep. Whitefield addressed them   with these words: ‘If I had come to speak to you in my own name, you might well rest your elbows on your knees, and your heads on your hands, and sleep…But I have not come in my own name. Not I have come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, and I must and will be heard.’

(b) So much for the source of Paul’s message. But this verse also indicates to us the SCOPE of his message. He declared the whole counsel of God. He refused trim or prune the message in any way. He preached ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,’ even if it cost him his reputation, his friends, his life.

Some modern teachers do not see it this way at all. If anything in the Bible seems to them to be difficult to understand or hard to accept, then it is discarded without ceremony. An eminent preacher a little while ago recommended taking a blue pencil and striking out great chunks of the Psalms, prophets, and NT epistles because they were to him offensive or incomprehensible. But this sort of attitude can only lead to one thing: an emaciated Christianity which is as unattractive as it is powerless. And we have empty churches to prove it. No, Paul’s conviction was that “all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

But ,,,if Paul refused to part with a grain of sacred truth for the sake of ease or popularity, then it is also true to say that he gave special attention to the centralities of the Gospel. Two of these basic essentials are mentioned in this chapter: “repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (v 21). Do these words sound old-fashioned to you? But there can no doubt that to Christ and the apostles they were of indispensable importance. John the Baptist came, preaching repentance. Jesus came, preaching repentance. The disciples were sent out, to preach repentance. And without faith, says the writer to the Hebrews, it is impossible to please God. So, where do repentance and faith figure in the life of this church?

Are they consigned to the museum, or do you regard hem, as Paul did, as belonging, to the very heart of true Christianity?

2. I have spoken about the message that Paul declared; let me move on to consider THE MANNER IN WHICH HE DECLARED IT. He says, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” He didn’t shrink; he didn’t hesitate; he didn’t falter.

(a) He declared his message CONSTANTLY.  He taught them both in public and groin house to house. For three years he did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. Paul is a great example of perseverance in proclaiming the Christian message. As for us, we rarely speak of the Saviour at all because we cannot see that it will make any difference. Or, if we do speak of him, we speak once, and then beat a hasty retreat. We need to take to heart the advice Paul gave to the young Timothy: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.”

(b) He declared his message CONSISTENTLY.  Someone once remarked to an insincere Christian, “What you do shouts so loud that I cannot hear what you are saying.” It was not so with the apostle Paul. He could say, “You yourselves know how I lived among you all the time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility.” if it is true that ‘actions speak louder than words. then we must labour too to declare the Christian message not in word only, but also in deed.

(c) He declared his message COURAGEOUSLY.  He speaks of the trials which befell him through the plots of the Jews. When he first came to Ephesus there was nearly a riot. And now he was continuing his travels, knowing that in every city trials and imprisonments awaited him. We want more people like Paul today, who said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith.” We want more people like Martin Luther, who said,”Here I stand; I can do no other; so help me God.” The world is perishing for want of men and women who will speak and act with courage in the cause of Christ. Some words of ‘3ishop Ryle, written a century ago, are particularly true today: ‘I fear much for many professing Christians. I see no sign of fighting in them, much less of victory. They never strike one stroke on the side of Christ. They are at peace with his enemies. They have no quarrel with sin.-I warn you, this is not Christianity. This is not the way to heaven,

We all have a part to play in declaring the message of Christ. In the pulpit, in the Sunday School, at home, at work,- everywhere. There are opportunities every day for sharing something of the Gospel with others.

Remember the SOURCE of the Christian message.

Remember th SCOPE of the Christian message.

Remember that the Christian message should be proclaimed CONSTANTLY, CONSISTENTLY and COURAGEOUSLY.