Let's begin by turning to Psalm
118. We are going to be in Acts tonight,
but something very pleasant was blessed in my heart and pray
the Lord will bless it to all of us right now. had something told to me a few years ago. It was a word
of encouragement and I pray I never lose sight of it. I was just
sitting here thinking about this ministry just a minute ago. Hannah
was playing and here we all sit Few in number, the Lord has brought
us all here. I was just thinking, the Lord
brought me here. Then I looked over and I thought,
the Lord brought him here, and the Lord brought them here, and
the Lord brought them here, and the Lord brought all of us here.
And here we are. We're the local assembly. We
love each other. So glad to be here. And we're
small in number. And that's great. It's great. It's the perfect number. It's
always going to be the perfect number. But I don't want to ever
lose sight of the fact. As long as the Lord would have
me to be here, I don't want to ever lose sight of this fact. A dear pastor was telling me
about some of the things that happened in the gospel 30 years
ago, 40 years ago. and told me about the churches
that were raised up and the different believers that were converted
and how the Lord used them to establish those churches. Just
wonderful things that the Lord did. And my response to it was,
I wish I could have been around back then. And he looked me right in the eye
and said, God is not out of business. God is not out of business. I wrote that dear pastor a letter
yesterday telling him how much I was rejoicing over the confession
that God wrought last Sunday night. God did it. I was rejoicing
over what God did. God did something. Here we are
and God did something. And as I was writing that letter,
I thought, you know, it has been proven to us. It has been proven
to us. God is not out of business. He
is not out of business. He is still showing mercy to
sinners like me, still. He is still establishing his
church, still, just like he always has. There's no telling in the
near future what he's going to do with the sinners he's laying
hold of right now. No telling. Verse 1 right here
in Psalm 118 says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for he is good
because his mercy endureth forever. It endures forever. It endures forever. He is so
good because, here's the reason He's good to us. It's because
His mercy endures forever. I mean forever. Forever. Verse 2 says, let the sinner
say it. Israel. Verse 3 says, let the
preacher say it. House of Aaron. Verse four says,
let every soul that fears the Lord say that his mercy endureth
forever. You know what motivates me to
keep preaching this gospel? It's the absolute belief that
God is not out of business. That's what it is. It's the absolute
belief that he is going to still show mercy to sinners. He's going
to. He is good because His mercy
endureth forever. That's what our text is telling
us tonight. The text I just read a minute
ago. That's what it's telling us. He's good because His mercy
endures forever. Now go with me over to Acts chapter
20. In this account, we have a young
man named Eutychus. And the middle of verse 9 says,
being fallen. That's what he was, being fallen. And that's every one of us in
this world, isn't it? Fallen. We live in a fallen world. It's just a fallen place. Everything
about it is fallen. Fallen into the sleep of death. This flesh sleeps the sleep of
death. That's what it does. It just
sleeps the sleep of death. And this young man, he represents
all of us. It says in verse 9, being fallen,
it goes on down to say he fell. Being fallen, he fell. That's what it says. But God
had mercy on him. And the reason God had mercy
on him is because he's good. And his mercy endureth forever. Now let's just read these verses
up to this man. Verse 1 says, And after the uproar
was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced
them and departed for to go into Macedonia. I can imagine what
he was feeling at that moment in time. I can imagine what he
was feeling at that moment in time. After the uproar, we looked
at it last Wednesday night, this man Demetrius, he was a silversmith. He was worried about his money.
And so he got all the men who were in the same trade as him.
And he started an uproar. And he laid hold of a man named
Gaius, a man named Aristarchus, a man named Alexander. These
were companions in travel with Paul, companions in the ministry.
And they thrust these men into a theater. And Paul would have
gone in. But the disciples said, no, don't
worry about it. We got it. You go study. We'll take care of the troublemakers.
So Paul didn't go in. Verse one says, and after the
uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced
them. Thank you, my brothers. Thank you. Thank you for your
help and your labor in the cause and the defense of the ministry.
I can imagine what he was feeling, I really can. Verse 2 says, and
when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation. Preaching the gospel does involve
reproof, which means proving, convincing. And it involves much
rebuke, but it involves much exhortation. Much, much. That means to call near, to comfort,
to console. It needs much exhortation. God's people truly are persecuted. Wait and see. Wait and see. Every child of God will be persecuted
for His truth's sake. Every one of them. And they're
cast down. They're fallen. And the only
thing that will pick us up is hearing what Jesus Christ has
done for us. It's the only thing that picks
us back up. Here's why. It causes us to realize none
of that matters. That's all that does. We get
so torn up about frivolous things, things that don't matter. People,
places, things. And then we come into here and
through the preaching of God's gospel, He causes us to realize
none of that stuff matters. I'm safe. I'm safe. All eternity. And that's all
that matters. We come in here to hear about His mercy that
endureth forever. That's all I needed to hear.
That's it. The help that we have in Him.
Well, Paul had given them much exhortation and he came into
Greece, it says in verse 3, their abode three months. And when
the Jews laid wait for him, they wanted to kill him, but they
couldn't. When the Jews laid wait for him,
as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return
through Macedonia. And there accompanied him into
Asia, Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus
and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus
and Trophimus. These going before tarried for
us at Troas." Now those were men that were loved, dearly loved. Faithful men God had called to
the ministry of the gospel. And when we see names that we
don't know, it's hard to enter into them. Tickicus, we don't
know much about him. And sometimes we look up their
meanings and sometimes I just like to put names in there I
do know. Traveling with him was Tom of Pikeville. Of the Tennesseans,
it was Chris and Donny. Of Mexico, it was Walter and
Cody. Loved those men. cause of the ministry. Verse
four, verse five rather, these going before tarried for us at
Troas. And we sailed away from Philippi
after the days of unleavened bread and came unto them to Troas
in five days where we abode seven days. And upon the first day
of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,
Paul preached unto them ready to depart on the morrow and continued
his speech until midnight. They were gathered on the first
day of the week. When our Lord arose on the first
day of the week, all the disciples used to stay home on Saturday,
their Sabbath. That was their day. But when
our Lord arose on the first day of the week, all the disciples
came together to worship Him and to break bread. amongst the
disciples, and it's recorded in the word. They called it the
Lord's Day, the day he arose. And that's what we're still doing
to this day. We meet together on the Lord's Day, the first
day of the week, the day that he arose. And Paul, they were gathered
together. He knew he was leaving. It says
that, ready to depart on the morrow. And he didn't know if
he was going to see him again, when or if he was ever going
to see him again. And he preached everything that
God put in his heart. Every single thing God put in
his heart. I have a lot of things in my heart for you and I don't
tell them every time we meet because we can't retain it. We just cannot retain it. We
get to them as we get to that verse of scripture. There are
things that I'm already thinking about for 2 Corinthians, and
that's going to be three years from now. But Paul thought this is probably
the last time I'm going to see him, and Paul told them everything
God put in his heart. You imagine the blessing of God's
Holy Spirit. This was the last time he was
going to get to preach the gospel to these people. And you think
about how God blessed him. This was a God-spirit-filled
message. He was not just being long-winded.
He didn't want to just hear himself talk. God gave him something
to say. And he ended up preaching until
midnight. Verse 8 says, And there were
many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.
Now I believe that verse says two things. Hold your place right
here and look at James chapter 1 with me. James chapter 1, look at verse
17. And every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is
no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He's called the Father
of lights. God is light. In Him is no darkness
at all. God in us, Christ in us is the
hope of glory, isn't He? Christ in us. When Christ takes
up residency in a center, that center becomes a light. God said,
the Lord Jesus Christ said, you are the light of the world, didn't
He? Why did He say that? Because Christ is in you. We
don't produce our own light, we are just reflecting His light.
The moon, the stars, they don't produce their own light, they
are just reflecting the light of the sun. But He's the Father
of Lights, Christ in us. I was driving down the road one
time and passed a believer on the road. We waved at each other
and it just hit me. I live in a dark world full of
dark people and there went a light. That was a light. It went right
down the road past me. Father of Lights. So back in
our text, the first thing that we see in this verse is there
were many believers gathered together reflecting the light
of Christ, feeding on the light. But in spite of all that light,
right in the middle of all that light sits a man in absolute
darkness. Here's a group of believers,
little lights, the house was full of lights, little lights. But bless his heart, here sits
a man in his own darkness." Is that not horrible? Terrible. Verse 8 says, there were many
lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being
fallen into a deep sleep, the sleep of death. When God told Adam in the garden,
in the day that you eat of that fruit, you're going to surely
die. There's a marginal reference right there. It says, dying thou
shalt die. Dying thou shalt die. There sat
in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being fallen into
a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching,
he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and
was taken up dead. That does not mean he was considered
to be dead. That means he was dead. The man
died. He fell from the third loft and
he died. And that's every one of us by
nature, isn't it? That's every soul that has come from Adam
since. Dead. Absolutely dead. He fell from the third loft.
Didn't Paul say that he was carried up into the third heaven? That
was carried up into the third heaven. We have a firmament.
Birds fly in it. Airplanes fly in it. The heaven.
And then there's an outer space. That's the heavens. But somewhere
beyond that, somewhere, is a place where God dwells. The third heaven. Man fell from God. That's what
happened. He fell from the presence of
God Almighty. Father, Son, Spirit, man fell
from all three and was taken up dead. And there's
still so much death around us, so much death on us, in us, so
much death. But here's the thing, the Lord
is good. And the reason is because his
mercy endureth forever. His mercy endureth forever. Look
at verse 10. It says, and Paul went down. That's Christ. That's Christ. This young man was not interested
in what Paul had to say. He didn't listen to what Paul
had to say. He went to sleep. The only thing he deserved was
to be left in the state he was in. Just a sinner who fell. But Paul went down. He left the third loft. Christ left glory itself. He
left glory itself. Came all the way down to the
ground. All the way down to the earth. This dead sinner was laying there.
He had no ability to come back up to the third loft. He was
dead. Absolutely dead. So Christ came down. He came
all the way down, didn't he? To where he was, verse 10 says,
and Paul went down and fell on him. Paul fell on him. He didn't come down and ask him,
are you alive? Which is what we would all do.
Are you okay? Are you okay? Help. Someone call
911. First thing you do. Are you alive? Can you hear me
at all? Is there any life in you at all? If there is, move your finger.
Show me some life and I'll help you. If you're worthy of it,
if there's any life in there at all, I'll help you. He was dead. Paul went down and
fell on him. That word fell means seized. He seized him. And that's what
Christ did for every fallen child of God. Jesus Christ reached
way down for me. I was lost. I was undone. I was without God's precious
son. But he reached down his hand
for me. Verse 10 says, and Paul went
down and fell on him and embracing him. He embraced him. It means he
hugged him. He went down and he fell on him
and he hugged him. And Christ fell on his bride
and hugged her. Christ embraced all of her sins. He embraced it all. He took it
all. He willingly, lovingly embraced
us. Isaiah 40 says, he shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom. Verse 10, and Paul went
down and fell on him and embracing him said, trouble not yourselves
for his life is in him. Let me ask you this question.
What is our life? It's Christ. Don't be afraid. Christ is in him. The root of
the matter is in him. He's alive. He may look dead. He may act dead, but he's alive. Christ liveth in me. That's my
salvation. Oh, what a salvation this. Christ
liveth in me. Christ has seized me. That's
all my hope, all my desire. Christ has seized me. Verse 11
says, when he therefore was come up again and had broken bread
and eaten and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he
departed. And they brought the young man
alive and were not a little comforted. They were a lot comforted. Every
time God raises a sinner from the dead, every single time God
raises a sinner from the dead, so much comfort, so much encouragement
comes to all of God's people, every single one. those who are
also alive. When God causes one more sinner
to become living, alive, they give thanks unto the Lord for
He is good, for His mercy endures forever. We rejoice, just like
those angels in glory, we rejoice over one sinner that God causes
to repent, don't we? He's good and His mercy endures
forever. Now, let's end this message tonight
with an exhortation. Here's an exhortation from these
verses right here. We just said a minute ago that
there were two things we could see in verse 8. The first one
is, there were many believers gathered there, many lights.
The second thing is this, this young man fell asleep, but he
had no good excuse for it. He had no good excuse for it. It was not a dark, inviting atmosphere
for sleep. It was bright as day in that
place. It says in verse 8, there were many lights in the upper
chamber where they were gathered together. It was all bright.
This guy wasn't sitting over here in the dark. He had no excuse. It was bright. Daylight, almost. Midnight, but light. And God's apostle is standing
there delivering this good news of Christ. Can you imagine what
those people heard for four or five hours? I thought about our
Lord in the garden. He went and prayed, Peter, James,
and John. He said, could you not watch
with me for one hour? If he prayed out loud, can you
imagine what they would have heard God say to his father during
that one hour? Can you imagine the blessing?
You think the Spirit was there? But this young man went to sleep. And the fact that he went to
sleep, that's what caused him to fall. The fact that he went
to sleep. If God truly quickens us from
death to life, if we belong to Jesus Christ, We cannot fall
into death again. As some people say, lose your
salvation. You cannot. You cannot. But there is a spiritual slumber
that we must guard against. We must guard against it. There's
a spiritual slumber that we must guard against. Okay, now I'm
going to illustrate this to you. I'm going to tell you something
that happened, and while I'm telling it to you, let's think
about the spiritual application. I'm telling you this because
of a spiritual application, alright? I have almost fallen asleep at
the wheel once. Alright, we were just talking
about this. I was 18, 19, 20 years old. I was coming back
from Nashville, headed back to Franklin where I lived. I-65,
it's a pretty straight interstate. It was way too late or way too
early in the morning, one of the two. I was out too long.
And I was driving back, and there was one other car I could see
on the road, and I could see his red taillights, a good ways
up, but I could see two taillights. And I started nodding off. And
at first, I did not know I was nodding off. All right, now think
about the spiritual application there. But have you ever nodded
off at the wheel? It takes a minute before you
realize, I'm nodding off. You nod off three or four times
before you know, wait a minute. So I'm nodding off, and I can
see his red taillights, and I'm nodding off. I'm trying as hard
as I can to keep my eyes open. And I know the exit he gets off
on. The exit turns all the way back
around and makes a U. He does not make a U. His car
goes off the exit, and he starts bouncing. He went off the road. It scared me so badly. It was before cell phones. I
went to a pay phone. I called 911. I have never forgotten
that. To this day, when I'm driving
down the road, especially at night, if I at all remotely start
to feel tired, I think about that situation. I think about
what happened to that guy. It causes me to realize that
at this exact moment in time, for this brief moment, I was
not but 10 miles from home. At this moment in time, I'm in
a life and death situation. Soon, I will be in a place where
I can let my guard down. But right now, my life is on
the line, the life of my wife is on the line, and the life
of my children are on the line. Wake up. Wake up. Have you ever done this?
You know what I'm talking about? You know, don't, you know, you
get your head back on the headrest like that. Think. Focus. Be alert, be on guard, be on
the defense. See what's in front of you. Know
what's going on around you. I need to keep my eyes focused
right there. Right now I need to stay focused
right there. May our God cause us to set ourselves. Set ourselves. May he give us
the resolve and the ability by your grace, by your help, by
your doing Lord. I don't want to go to sleep.
I don't want to go to sleep. I'm not just talking about closing
my eyes. My eyes could be wide awake. I don't want to sleep
that spiritual sleep. I could literally be wide awake.
I'm not talking about sleep. I'm talking about something right
here. I don't want to sleep that spiritual sleep. Lord, don't
let me fall. Don't let me fall. That slumber
brings a fall. Don't let me go so far, it said
sunk down with sleep that I have to fall before I can be brought
back. This man slumbered, fell, and
he was brought back and we will always be. The reason is because
he's good and his mercy endures forever. He's good, but anyway, we're
going to close with this. Turn with me to Ephesians 6 and
we're going to close. Ephesians 6 verse 10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood." Well, see, here's why I'm tired. It's because I've
been working so much. That's not it. Sit at home on
the couch and watch episode after episode and see if it's the same
sleepiness. Two hours in the movie theater of a warm, dark
place, no. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of darkness, of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Our Lord said, don't turn, just
listen to this. Our Lord said over in Mark 4
verse 14, the sower soweth the word. And these are they by the
wayside where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan
cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. So right here in Ephesians 6, he says, verse 13, Wherefore
take unto you the whole armor of God. What is that? It's Christ. that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth." What is truth? Christ. He said, I'm the truth.
Having on the breastplate of righteousness. What's righteousness? Christ, He's our righteousness. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. What's the gospel of peace? What's
the good news of peace? Christ. Prepare us. Make us ready to
hear the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith. Where does all our faith come
from? Christ. Wherewith you shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take the helmet of
salvation. Christ. And the sword of the
Spirit. Christ. Which is the word of
God. Who is the word of God? Christ.
He said put all of that on. How do we do that? Verse 18,
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. And for me, pray for me. that utterance may be given unto
me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that
therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." Pray for me. Pray for you. I'll pray for me. I'll pray for you. We'll all
pray to God that he would send us the Spirit of Christ and quicken
us. Keep us, and I tell you this,
if He'll do that, if He will do that, we all will not be a
little comforted. We'll be a lot comforted. This
will be a very comforted place in Christ, in His Word, in His
Spirit. Okay, you're dismissed.