EPHESUS sat in heathen darkness before the light of the Gospel shone in its midst. The inhabitants worshipped the goddess, Diana, and considered her greatness imperishable. When the Apostle Paul went to that city to declare the Gospel of Christ, “who is the image of God,” many were persuaded that they were no gods which are made with hands, and therefore turned from the worship of the “great Diana” to serve the true God, whose greatness is unsearchable and immutable. The apostle continued for a time at Ephesus, preaching the kingdom of God. The result was that a large Church was founded, over which presbyters were appointed. After various journeys undertaken by Paul, he was at this time hastening, “if it were possible for him to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.” He could not thus conveniently visit the Ephesian Church, but sent for the elders to meet him at Miletus. They readily complied with his request, and went. In his parting address to the “overseers,” one observes how incessantly, affectionately, and faithfully the apostle laboured for the salvation of sinners. He was convinced that there was no other Gospel of salvation than that which he proclaimed. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Furthermore, knowing the dangers to which the Church was exposed through her adversaries, he warned the elders to watch over themselves and the Church of God, which is so precious, being bought with the blood of Christ.
I.—Let us consider, first, the Purchaser. He is Christ, the Son of the living God.
Here we have a mystery. The angels desire to look into the unfathomable wisdom of God manifested in it. How ought we, therefore, who are more immediately concerned with “the mystery of godliness,” be exercised in divine contemplations of it? Such knowledge is undoubtedly high for finite creatures to comprehend, yet the Spirit, who knows the deep things of God, has revealed the excellency and majesty of Immanuel in the Holy Scriptures.
Christ, as the Son of God, is equal with the Father in every respect. All the attributes communicable (such as holiness, justice, etc.) and uncommunicable (such as omniscience, omnipresence, etc.) subsist in the Son. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the great, the mighty, One, whose greatness is unsearchable. He is the Creator of all things. The number of the angels is “ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.” Every one of the angelic host was called into being by Him. He also created the heavens and the earth. “For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Col. i. 16). He constantly upholds all His works by the word of His power. What a word is this! “By him all things consist.”
The glorious Creator is infinitely higher than all the works of His hands. It is an act of condescension when He looks on anything that is not Himself. He, therefore, humbles Himself “to behold things that are in heaven, and in earth.” He looked upon the world before time was, and His delights were with the sons of men. When the Psalmist considered the heavens, the work of God’s fingers, he asked the question, “What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man that thou visitest him?” Though God be high, yet He purposed to “dwell in very deed with men.” God, the Father, willed to send His Son into the world. The Son was willing to humble Himself. “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psalm xl. 7-8). At the time appointed in the decree of God, the Word was made flesh. He was conceived in a supernatural manner in the womb of the Virgin. His conception was without sin. The humanity of the Son of God was an “holy thing.” “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke i. 35). Though He assumed human nature, He ceased not to be what He was—the Eternal Word. He continued to be the Beloved of the Father. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The angels rendered their wonted homage to Him. “When he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him.” The Church saw “his glory; the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” What a mystery, that the Word by whom all things were made should be made flesh and tabernacle among men! Christ, therefore, whose riches are unsearchable, is the elect of the Father to be the Purchaser of His Church.
II.—We will observe, in the second place, those whom He purchased—”the Church of God.”
The Church of God does not include all mankind, though many would make it universal. It consists of those whom the Father has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. He gave them to His Son to redeem. “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” To them only will He give eternal life. “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John xvii. 2).
The elect were not by nature deserving life, but death. They were, like others of the human race, sinners—ungodly and unjust. There was not any good thing found in them towards God. There were none good; “no, not one.” Hence they were in a miserable condition. How did they come to be in such a lamentable state? When God created man He made him very good. He, being holy, righteous, and good, delighted in the blessed Creator and in His holy law. While he continued doing what God commanded him he enjoyed the favour of the Lawgiver. No sooner, however, did he transgress than the righteous displeasure of God was revealed against him. Sin will not pass unobserved by God. Adam sought in vain to conceal himself among the trees of the garden from the Omniscient One. He was summoned to appear before Him against whom he had sinned. “And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?” Instead of acknowledging his sin, man endeavoured to plead “Not guilty.” When the righteous Judge examined him regarding his action he was found out to be an offender, and hence guilty. His sin not only implicated himself but also his posterity “descending from him by ordinary generation.” Men may seek to free themselves from the guilt of Adam’s first transgression, but it is impossible. The fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and other places in the Word of God, prove our connection with Adam’s first transgression. All are brought in guilty before God. “Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation” (Romans v. 18). The chosen people were therefore sinners by nature and by practice. They, being the servants of sin, were in bondage. “For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Peter ii. 19).
Moreover, by sin, the elect were by nature under the curse and divine wrath. Men may despise the law of God and defiantly say, as it were, “What have we to do with thee, O law?” But they cannot say, “What hast thou, O law, to do with us?” The holy law of God has to do with every man. It denounces the transgressor with its curse. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. iii. 10). Therefore every one of the Church of God was, by nature, exposed to the curse. Consequently destruction was in their ways. The wrath of God was revealed against them on account of sin. His wrath proceeds from His holiness and justice. It is, therefore, righteous, despite the cavils of ungodly men against it. The divine anger, manifested in earth or hell, is accompanied with justice. “The righteous Lord loveth righteousness” (Psalm xi. 7). Justice requires the punishment of sin. Among men a crime may pass with impunity, but no sin shall thus pass. God is angry with sinners, and His hand will find them out. “Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies” (Psalm xxi. 3). The Church, as children of disobedience and of wrath, could not escape had not God been pleased to think of their deliverance from “the wrath to come.”
Further, the elect, as fallen creatures, were justly condemned to die. The sentence was pronounced, “Thou shalt surely die.” “Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned” (Romans v. 12). Sinners desire to banish thoughts of death from their mind. Though they should endeavour to do so, death will come as the king of terrors to them. The sentence of death may be delayed, but it will be executed at the appointed time. “The soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezekiel xviii. 4). Death, with all it implies, would have overcome the chosen as well as others, had it not been that One was found who would abolish death for them. Moreover, by sin, the elect were justly imprisoned. If you saw one confined in a prison and enquired what brought him there, the answer would be “Guilt.” Guilt, therefore, brought all to imprisonment. This world may be compared to the outer court of the prison, where sinners go about chained by “the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.” The devil, as Pharoah did with Israel in the house of bondage, holds them fast, and will not let them go. If deliverance reaches not sinners in this world, they will be shut up in the horrible pit of outer darkness, where there is “weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.” God, however, purposed to deliver His people from the pit of eternal death. To effect this, the righteous Judge had to be satisfied. Justice demanded the payment of a ransom of infinite value before the prisoners could be liberated. No one was able to pay such a price but the glorious and powerful Redeemer—Jesus Christ.
III.—We will now consider the price paid for the purchased—”His own blood.”
Christ, as the Creator of the world, knew its worth. “The world was made by him” (John i. 10). He weighed the world and the soul of man in the balances, and declared that the soul is the more precious of the two (Mark viii. 36). The whole world, therefore, though offered to save a soul, would not be accepted by the Supreme Judge as a ransom. “For the redemption of their soul is precious; and it ceaseth for ever” (that is, as far as man is concerned) (Psalm xlix. 8). How vain it is, then, for those who expect that by their wealth they can obtain salvation! The Church was not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold (1 Peter i. 18).
Furthermore, all the sacrifices offered under the Old Testament dispensation were not able to redeem. The priests ministered and offered frequently the same sacrifices, but they were ineffectual to take away sins (Hebrews x. 11). The blood of those sacrifices, being that of mere creatures, could not remove sin. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews x. 4). As sin, therefore, was not thus purged, the divine wrath was unappeased. The sacrifices were only types of the great ante-typical sacrifice to be offered by Christ, who was foreordained and called of God to be a Priest for ever. Justice could not find satisfaction in the sacrifices which were shadows; and therefore Christ says, “Sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God” (Hebrews x. 8, 9). It was the will of the Father to send His Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of His chosen people. It was the will of the Son to come. Though the Son knew all things He should have to do and suffer, He said, “Lo, I come.” The will of the Father was the delight of the Son. As the Son could not have suffered in His divine nature, a body was prepared for Him in the fulness of time. The two natures—human and divine—are distinct in the person of the Son. The Son became incarnate that He might suffer for sins and pay the price of redemption for His people. He therefore came under the law which they transgressed, to give a complete obedience to its commands. He, being holy, just, and good, gave a perfect obedience to the holy law of God. Christ fulfilled all righteousness. He loved the Lord His God with all His heart, with all His soul, with all His mind, with all His strength, and His neighbour as Himself. Greater honour could not have been put on the law of God than that Christ, the Son of the living God, should have come under it. There was infinitely more value in the obedience of Christ than though Adam and his race should have continued to do all the commands of the law, for the obedience of Christ was not that of a mere man, but of the God-man. He magnified the law and made it honourable (Isaiah xlii. 21). In paying the price, He had not only to obey but also to bear the curse of the divine law. He bore the sins of the elect by imputation. “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah liii. 6). He, as Turretine says, offered Himself to bear sin, and bore sin to take it away. As He took upon Himself the guilt of the sins of His people, He had to endure the punishment due to sin. He was therefore wounded, bruised, afflicted for the transgressions of His elect. He was made a curse for them, so that they might not be eternally under the curse of God. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal. iii. 13).
Furthermore, He had to pay what justice demanded. It said, as it were, “Pay me what thou owest.” The elect could never pay the debt; but Christ, their Surety, paid all. The sword of divine justice smote the Surety. “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd,” etc. (Zech. xiii. 7). Christ endured not only the finite, unrighteous, and sinful wrath of men and devils; but also the infinite, righteous, and holy wrath of God as Judge. The flaming sword awoke, at the command given, and rested not until its devouring flames were quenched in the blood of Immanuel. When justice was satisfied, the sword was put up in its scabbard; it is at rest; it is still. Never, never shall it receive a charge against any of those for whom Christ died. When Christ died, all were dead. “If one died for all then were all dead” (2 Cor. v. 14). He, having shed His blood, expiated the guilt of His Church. There was peace in heaven, for God was reconciled through the propitiatory sacrifice, namely, Christ himself, offered without spot to God. The blood speaks peace. For, as Dr. Love said, the sound of the blood has gone upwards, to the heavenly places, addressing Him who sits on the throne thus, “O thou justly offended majesty, withdraw thy wrath, be propitious to miserable sinners.” The precious blood of Christ is the price of redemption. It is an evidence that, Christ having given His life, gave a sufficient ransom to God, because “the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant” (Hebrews xiii. 20). Christ paid the price and obtained eternal redemption for the Church. He saved His own from the curse and wrath of God, and liberated them from the power of the devil and the other miseries in which they were. “As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water” (Zech. ix. 11). All the blessings also, bestowed on His people were purchased with His blood. They may see by faith that the gifts received by them are through Christ’s death. What a price was therefore paid for the elect! Its value is eternal. How precious are those bought with the price of blood! God cares for them, and it behoves the overseers of the flock to watch over them.
IV.—We will observe, in the last place, the duties incumbent on the overseers.
They owe a duty to themselves.
They must take heed. “Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves.” Christ frequently inculcated this exhortation on His disciples. He knew the necessity of it. Enemies lurk on every side, within and without, to take advantage of any unwatchfulness. The deceitful heart, the world, and the devil, lie in wait to assail the overseers and the flock. They have, therefore, to watch constantly unto prayer, seeking to hold “the faith and a good conscience.”
Furthermore, they owe a duty to the flock.
They are accountable to God for the manner in which they discharge their duties. Every true watchman of Jesus Christ watches for the souls of the people. “For they watch for your souls as they that must give account” (Heb. xiii. 17). When the apostle exhorted the Ephesian elders, he knew that the Church was to be subjected to a sore trial. Grievous wolves were to enter among them, not sparing the flock. So likewise, in Scotland, wolfish men have secretly crept into the Church by assuming a friendly appearance. They disguised their motives until a favourable opportunity presented itself to accomplish their fell purpose. There are many, at the present time, under the guise of Presbyterianism, sapping the foundations of the Reformation in order to set up Papacy again. Dr. Wallace Williamson, Ex-Moderator of the Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr. Whyte, Principal of the New College, Edinburgh, and others, have, by word and deed, unmasked themselves so far, that it is plain that Presbyterianism is to them a thing apart, and that their proclivities are Romewards. They speak so glibly of Rome that the unwary are apt to be misled. It is our duty, as watchmen, to warn the people of the Jesuitical intrigues practised, lest souls should be engulfed in the vortex of ruinous error. “Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head” (Ezekiel xxxiii. 4).
Moreover, we, as the Ephesian presbyters, must take heed when men arise “speaking perverse things.”
God has given us the touchstone of His Word to try what is said by men. If they speak not in accordance with truth, their doctrines are to be rejected. “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah viii. 20). Our land is overrun with false teachers. Instead of Churches exercising the arm of discipline against them, they only raise them to the highest posts. They have got them as professors in their colleges, where they can disseminate their erroneous views regarding the inspired Word of God. Men are given up to strong delusions that they believe a lie. We may say, as the Rev. John Brown of Wampfray said on one occasion, “Alas! the clouds are not now gathering, but our horizon is covered with blackness, and great drops are falling, that presage a terrible overflowing deluge of error and apostacy from the truth and profession of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be at hand.” This deluge is upon us. And may we be kept by the power of God from being carried away by it.
When there are such ravening wolves and speakers of perverse things abroad, it is the duty of the overseers to take heed and feed the Church of God. The Church is to be fed with Christ and Him crucified. He is the bread of life. His flesh is meat indeed and His blood is drink indeed. There is an infinite fulness in Christ to satisfy all the needs of a hungry soul. “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalm cvii. 9). In our preaching we set forth the person, two natures, and mediatorial offices of Christ. We also have to declare that He is to be the Judge. “And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead” (Acts x. 42). The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The servants of Christ therefore preach the Gospel, seeking that sinners may be drawn to the Lord’s Christ in a day of His power, and that the Church may be fed with the sincere milk of the Word. “Feed my lambs; feed my sheep” (John xxi. 15-16).
How lamentable is the state of the blind, dumb, and treacherous ministers in our day that feed not the flock! God has denounced a woe against them. They fear not God; they seek not for Him; and they pervert the Word. “For the pastors are become brutish and have not sought the Lord; therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered” (Jer. x. 21). They imagine that they shall have peace; “but their damnation slumbereth not.”
On the other hand, the true overseers shall receive a crown of glory when Christ shall appear. We will conclude with the apostolic exhortation and encouragement. “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” May we be found faithful unto death! And to His name be praise for evermore. Amen.