Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

This is a poetic versification of Ezekiel’s warning to Zion’s watchman. I trow many preachers lose
their souls by faltering to meet this awful emergency, look people in the face and faithfully tell them
the whole truth as God has revealed and committed it to them to proclaim to a dying world.
28. “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock over whom the Holy Ghost has
appointed you bishops, to feed the church of God, which he purchased through his own blood.” The
word “bishop” here occurs in the Greek, episcopos from epi “over,” and skopeoo, “see.” Hence it
means persons charged with the spiritual oversight of the Lord’s people. Nothing but God’s truth
revealed in the Bible is soul pabulum. Consequently, millions this day are starving to death for the
bread of life. The precious Word is bread, meat, milk, honey and all the luscious fruits of Canaan.
The little sermonettes preached by the popular pastors have scarcely a scintillation of substantial
gospel truth. Sick people nauseate food, and the dead have no use for it. The masses of popular
churches consist of the dead, i.e., unsaved, and the sick, i.e., weak believers, who have never cut
their spiritual teeth so as to eat solid food. Hence the preacher provides aromatics for the dead and
sweet milk for the babies, having nobody on hand competent to eat the fatted calf, the bread and the
delicious fruits of Canaan. In all this the preacher sustains an awful responsibility for not bringing
to the dead the resurrection power and to the sick the healing efficacy of the infallible panacea, i.e.,
the Savior’s blood. I awfully fear Judas has a vast ministerial following gathering about him in the
regions of woe.
HERESY PREDICTED.
29. “I know that after my departure grievous wolves will come in unto you, not sparing the flock;
30. “And from you yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, in order to draw away
disciples after them.
31. “Watch, therefore, remembering that three years, night and day, I ceased not warning each
one of you with tears.” Paul was a weeping prophet, his tears giving a force to the truth as nothing
else could. I preached fifteen years with dry eyes. Then sanctification, breaking up the fountains of
my tears, made me a weeping prophet, so I have preached thirty years, my eyes flowing like rivers.
Rest assured the Holy Ghost can find the pent-up fountains of tears in the most arid soul. God help
us to be personal like Paul, looking our beloved in the face and telling them the whole truth, as here
you see he looks these Ephesian elders squarely in the physiognomy and tells them that some of them
will turn Satan’s wolves and lead off disciples after them. How signally true has this sad Pauline
prophecy been verified in the merciless laceration of the Apostolic church into six thousand sectarian
denominations, filling the world with confusion, i.e., Babylon. Entire sanctification, the only grace
adequate to fortify us against human leadership and put us where we will follow Jesus only, has for
this very reason been rejected and antagonized by the party leaders of all ages, from the simple fact
that it renders the people unmanageable by human manipulators and puts them where God alone can
lead them by His precious Word, instructing their minds, His sweet Holy Spirit illuminating their
spirits, and His gracious providence determining their environments. Glory to God, for His
wonderful triple leadership, actually infallible when duly appreciated. Sad will be the day for the
present holiness movement when captured and manipulated by human leaders. As God’s revivals
in by-gone ages, the Church of God is ruled by the Holy Ghost alone, having no laws, no creed and