Acts 20:28-31 Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers… I. THE CHURCH OF GOD. 1. The body of His people in all ages, whom He has called out and separated from the world. 2. Always has been, and always will be, represented by a visible organisation in the world. 3. In God's apprehension not bounded by, nor identified with, the visible organisation by which it is represented. II. THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO GOD. 1. Belongs to Him as His purchased possession. His peculiar, not His odd or eccentric people, but the people who belong to Him. 2. Under His government and instruction through officers Divinely appointed. "Over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers." 3. To the Church God has committed the truth and treasure of the gospel, together with the sacraments, and all the means of grace, as instruments for the conquest of the world. III. THE PRICE GOD PAID FOR THE CHURCH EVEN HIS OWN BLOOD. 1. The blood of Christ is the blood of God. 2. In the person of Christ the Divine and human natures, though distinct, are so united, that His one Person may be designated and described by the attributes of either nature. 3. The sacrifice of Christ derives an infinite value from His Divine nature. It was "the Lord of glory" who was crucified (1 Corinthians 2:8). Application: We are bound to belong to the visible Church as the representative of the invisible; to love it, and to labour for its advancement. It is not the gospel, but the Church, by means of the gospel, which is to conquer and reform the world. (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. |
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