I titled this message, The Lord's
Day. It might be better titled, The
Lord's Day. Don't Fall Asleep. I'm not talking English. That young man fell out the window.
That's what I'm talking about. That would be a good title, wouldn't
it? It's the Lord's Day. Don't fall asleep. You may miss
something. Oh, what a blessing you might
miss. That young man, there was a lot there he didn't hear. Fell
asleep and fell out of a window. But let's look at these verses. Paul leaves Ephesus. after this uproar had settled
down that Demetrius caused because the gospel that Paul preached
was affecting his income. And that really stirred him up.
It stirred up those craftsmen who messed with their pocketbook.
But Paul stayed there until it settled down. I have no doubt
he comforted the brethren And then he left there. He had other
places to preach. He had other sheep to attend
to. So he left there. He never sat down and just rested,
did he? This man was... And I thought
about this. It just hit me a little more
stronger this weekend as I was reading this. how Paul traveled
like he traveled, walked in a lot of places and then went by sea.
Very uncomfortable. We'd get in an air-conditioned
car and drive down the road or into an airplane and fly. I flew
up to Iowa a few months ago. Two hours, two and a half hours.
I was in Iowa. You know, air-conditioned all
the way. Got into an air-conditioned truck.
Got out of it into an air-conditioned home. And I mean, they had a
feast there for me for, I was there for three days. And I tell
you, they cooked and cooked and cooked. I must have looked famished,
I'm sure. I'm sure I looked famished. But
that's the love you talked about this morning. That's the love
of the brethren. Genuine. It was not a show, it was genuine.
You can tell it when you walk in. Even a dog knows if you like
him. And I knew they liked me. But Paul never rested. He wore
himself out. He wore himself out. And I thought
he is an example for us, for every one of us, and especially
for us who are preaching the gospel. And he left that place and he
went into Macedonia to preach. and to exhort the churches there. They were on His heart, always
on His heart. And He went to encourage them
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is so. It's real. He's real. What we have in Him is real.
Continue in the faith. Contend for the faith. When all
is said and done, we end up with Christ. And all this other stuff
is gone. So he encouraged him, and we
need to encourage one another. We need to do that. We meet together
here, and then we can meet together in each other's homes just for
fellowship. Encourage one another. You know, I enjoy that. I truly
do not enjoy the world. I can say that. I don't enjoy
the company of it. This is our joy. And from there, he went from
Macedonia, and from there he went to Greece. And he stayed
there for three months. And it says the Jews laid wait
to kill him. As Frank was telling us there
in the Bible study this morning, if it's not in the heart, it's
not in the life. And it's evident the grace of God and the love
of God was not in their heart. They laid wait since the magistrates
didn't do anything to him and the people didn't do anything
to him. They thought, well, we'll just take care of this matter
ourselves. So they were truly going to put
him to death. They were going to take his life.
Now, these are people who claim to believe God. These are people
who claim to know God. These are people who claim to
be the children of God. And they're going to kill God's
servant. Christ says, you killed the prophets.
You killed the prophets. And they went and laid wait to
kill him. But I tell you this, God knows
all things. What you and I do not know, God knows. That's an
understatement, isn't it? I cannot see what's behind that
door. God knows what to find that doing.
And God knew these men were laying wait, and He spoiled their plans.
He spoiled them. But our Lord said this, if they
hated Me, they'll hate you too. Don't be
surprised. They'll hate you also. The servant
is not above his master. Why am I suffering so much? Why
not? My master did. My Lord suffered the wrath of
God. I'm not going to suffer that.
You who believe the gospel, you're not going to suffer that. You're
not going to see death. Your body is, but you're not. You're going to be with the Lord. Be after from the body to be
present with the Lord. I'll never taste of death. Never
taste of it. Just be like going from one place
to the other. Leaving this world and going into paradise. Will
not taste of death. That's amazing. He tasted death
for every one of us. Every man, says everyone whom
he represented. He tasted that death. Death will not have a
bitter taste to a believer. It doesn't. I'm not going to
say we're going to have some fears. The Lord gives dying grace
when it's time to die. I'm not going to say that there's
not things we won't reflect on. But when we die, will not taste of death, the
bitterness of it, the awfulness of it. He took it away. He was the plague of death. He
destroyed death by his death. So the service God above is master.
We should not be surprised when the world, especially the religious
world, hates us. We ought to be surprised if it
doesn't. If it does. They laid wait for Paul, but
they couldn't touch his life, could they? Scripture says, our
life is hid with Christ in God. Can't find it. And then there
in verse 4 and 5, it gives Paul's companions. It says, they're
accompanying him into Asia, Sopater. I don't know if I pronounced
these right, but Berea. and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus,
Secundus, Gaius of Derbe, Timotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus, and Trophimus. These going before are tarried
for us of Troas." We all need helpers. That was my first thought. We all need helpers. No, no,
I don't need your help. You ever have anybody say that?
I don't need your help. I can do it by myself. No, I need your
help. I need your prayers. We need
each other's prayers. We can't do anything really alone. We need help. So Paul, after this, sailed away
from Philippi. After the days, it says, of unleavened
bread. Now, he did not stay to observe
that ceremony. First of all, it's just a reference
to time. I believe that's what it is, a reference to time. But
also, it's an opportunity of preaching the gospel. That's
why Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem. He was an apostle to the Gentiles,
but he continually wanted to go to Jerusalem. And the reason
he wanted to go to Jerusalem at these feast days was not to
observe these things, but to preach Christ from these things. You know, Wesley, we are going
to take the Lord's table, the bread and the wine. Well, what
an opportunity. What an opportunity to preach Christ. And that's
why, that's why Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem. He constantly
had that yearning, that craving desire for his brethren, according
to the flesh, to hear the gospel. He wanted them to hear it. Just
like you want your family members to hear it more than anybody
else. You wanted to hear it. And that's why he went. But here
we find him at Troas in verse 6. He's at Troas. He's there for seven days. And
it says in verse 7, On the first day of the week, this is called
the Lord's Day. This day to me is a special day
It's not a legal day that we have to keep. It is a special
day. I look forward to this, to our gathering together, reading
of God's Word, to singing of the songs and prayer, and to
be gathered as a family. Family reunion every week. That
loves one another. There's a family reunion you
don't want to go to every week. But this is a family reunion
every week that love to be here. Now, when I was a child, I hated
it. I did. When my parents quit making
me go, I quit going until I heard the Gospel. But I didn't want
to go. I kind of wanted to say, crap
my style. It was against everything I loved.
That's why we had to have a new heart and a new nature. To love
the things of God. Because that old man doesn't
love But on the first day of the week, the disciples came
together. And here's what they did. They
came together to break bread. They had the Lord's table. They
did it every week in the early church. They'd come together
and they'd have what they called a love fest. And then at the
end of it, and that's what we're having here, really, this is
a love fest. And at the end of it, they would
have the Lord's table. And this is what they did. But
they came together on the first day of the week, not the Sabbath,
that was over with. We are not Sabbath keepers. No. The old Sabbath, which was on
Saturday, was over with. That day that typified Christ,
our Sabbath, was fulfilled in Christ. Now, He's our Sabbath. Christ is our rest. If you do
not find Christ as your rest, well, you've got problems now.
You have problems. If He's not your rest from all
things, I'm trying to please God. He's our rest. Has God rested from all His works
in creation? And He rested on the seventh
day over there in Genesis? The believer. Rest in Christ
from all His works in order to be saved. Are you resting from Him? Trying to please God? Trying
to impress God? Not if you've come to know Christ.
No. Sometimes those grave clothes
come off. A little bit at a time. They don't always come off all
at once. Look over here in Hebrews chapter 4. In Hebrews chapter 4, let's read
this again. It says in verse 3, For we which
have believed, that is believed Christ, believed in Christ, looked
to Christ, do enter into rest. As he said, As I have sworn in
my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the world, the works of creation.
where he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from all his works of creation. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
must enter in, and they to whom it was first preached entered
not in because of unbelief." They didn't believe God. Again,
he limited a certain day, saying in David today, after so long
a time, as it is said, Today, if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts. For if Jesus Joshua had given
them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another
day. There remains therefore a rest to the people of God,
and that rest is Christ." It's not a physical day, it's Christ.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not keep a legal day of
rest. Well, that was under the old
God had to make him do it. He had to give him a command
to do it. We rest in Christ. This is the
Lord's day. We've gathered here today to
worship Christ, not to keep a day. Now, we are not gathering here
this morning to keep a legal day and go home. And this happens
the world over. Typical statement. Going to church
on Sunday. And they go, and they feel like they kept the day and
did the duty, and they go home. We've not come here this morning
to keep a day. We've gathered here to worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. And to hear from our Father.
That's why we've gathered here. All days are the Lord's days.
Are they not? And He don't make them all? Oh,
He is. But this day, This day is set
forth in the Scriptures as the day for the church to come together
and worship the Lord. And we should, and I say this,
we should guard it. I know there's times that you
have to work, I've had to work, there's times that that happens.
But as much as we can, this needs to be guarded. Look over in 1
Corinthians. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter
16, I'll show you that the church came together the first day of
the week. In verse 2, upon the first day
of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God
hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Upon that first day of the week. And there are several other scriptures. It's not a legal day, but it's
the first day. The Lord arose on the first day. Do you know any better way to
start a week? There's no better way to start
a week than this. With the Lord. They came together to break bread. Especially the bread of life. As I said, they would have what's
called a love fest. If you'll remember in Corinthians,
they abused it. Remember that over in Corinthians? They abused
it. They turned it into something it was not supposed to be. And
Paul had to correct them for it. Then they would have the
Lord's table. And then Paul preached to them.
He preached to them. And this is the happy preeminence.
Preaching is to have the preeminence. It is to please God by the foolishness
of preaching, not singing, and not foolish preaching, but preaching
to save them that believe. It is to have the preeminence.
And so he preached to them, and he preached to them a very long
sermon, a long sermon. And I believe he preached a long
sermon because he probably knew, or at least felt, he was not
going to see them again. If this were the last time that I thought
and believed that I would ever see you again, I'd probably preach
a little longer than 30 minutes. Maybe. But I probably would. And I tell you this, he preached
a long sermon because he had something to say. Now, I've heard
some long ones too that they didn't have anything to say,
but Paul had something to say. He had something to say. And I have no doubt he started
and began with the Lord's table and reached back to the fall.
Ruined. Tell those Gentiles, ruined by
the fall. Here's what happened. Again,
he told them. Here's what happened. Here's
what happened. We were ruined. Totally ruined. Dead to God. This is why the
Lord died. This is why His body is broken.
This is why His blood shed. Because of what happened back
there in the garden. And Adam all died, all of them. There is not one spark, and this
is what the natural man cannot believe, especially the religious
man, there is not one spark of spiritual life in a man or a
woman until God saves them. We have natural life, we have
this fleshly life, But we do not have the life of God in any
way, shape, or form before conversion, before regeneration. And he told
them there's none righteous, no, not one. The Pharisee is no more righteous
before God than the publican. He thinks he is. But what matters is truth, it's
not what I think. And I have no doubt he's told
them this. The whole world, I know you believe this, you
believe the gospel, but to tell this to a natural man, the whole
world lieth in wickedness. Now you're going to think I may
be exaggerating this a little bit, but everything outside the
gospel, has an underlying wicked influence to it. Everything written,
I'm telling you, you go like, well, you're paranoid. No, I'm not paranoid. It's truth.
Everything outside the gospel, everything outside the truth
of God has an underlying wicked tone to it. The scripture calls
it the mystery of iniquity. He said the mystery of iniquity
is already at work. He said, the whole world lieth
in wickedness. Now, if a wicked man or a wicked
woman writes a book or anything else, then it's just, what else
can it be? What else can it be? That's why
we go to the Word of God for guidance and truth. To really know truth, we go to
the Word of God. The whole world is at enmity
with God. I told a man one time I worked
with, I was 24 years old. He and I went to school together.
And I told him he hated God. And he didn't profess to believe
anything. This guy, he was rotten. He knew it. But boy, he got upset. This man had nothing to do with
going to hear the gospel preach. He wasn't even religious as far
as outwardly. He was into a lot of stuff. But
I told him he hated God and he got upset. I don't hate God just
because I don't go to church or just because I don't go to
worship service or because, no, you hate God. Oh, he got upset. The world, the whole world is
enmity against God. Even the left, even every one
of us at one time despised God. And if he had left us alone,
and if it were possible, we would cut his head off and take him
off the throne. If it were possible, we would have. They said, what
was it the Jew said? This is the heir. Come, let us
kill him. That's the thoughts of the whole
world. And then Paul preached the necessity
of redemption by the blood. There's the wine representing
his blood. This is necessary. His blood
must be shed. Redemption. We must be brought
back. The ransom price has to be paid. If you and I are to be saved,
Christ's blood has to be shed. It has to. And it has to be shed the way
God shed it. He preached the necessity of
redemption. And then he preached the person
of Christ. He's God. This one that died on the cross.
Now, this is no ordinary man. This is not an ordinary man. This is God. This is the Almighty
God. This is the Creator of heaven
and earth and all that is in it. You wonder what He's like? There He is. You want to know what God is
like? Read the Gospels. Find out who
Christ is and you'll know God. He preached His person. He's
Jehovah. He probably pointed out also all the deliverances
of Israel out of Egypt, throughout all their times in the wilderness.
I have no doubt He pointed out this is the One who delivered
them. This is the Deliverer. This is the one. And he preached
the necessity, the necessity of his manhood, the broken bread. He broke the bread. You know
what? We are going to do this, Lord willing, Wednesday night.
Do you understand what this means? Do you understand why his body
had to be broken? Do you understand why the bread
from heaven came down from heaven and had to be broken? Well, Paul
preached that too. He preached the necessity of
his manhood. The necessity of him being broken. In our place. He preached the
necessity of him being broken. A body, he said, hast thou prepared
me. Why did he prepare him a body?
So he could die. So he could be broken. That's
why. He also became a man. He can
be a high priest tussed with the feelings of our infirmities.
He can enter into everything you and I suffer. Everything
that affects us affects Him. Everything. Then He preached His ability
to redeem because of who He is. This is the kinsman redeemer.
This is our kinsman. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. He has the right to redeem you and me. He has the right
to do it. Christ redeemed his people from
their sins. He paid the price. It says in
Job, I have found a ransom. Set him free. Set the prisoner
free. I found a ransom. Christ said, I have come, not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my life
a ransom. A ransom price. That's what the
law demanded. It demanded a ransom price. You
want these? You pay a ransom. And he did. He did. And he preached the absolute
necessity of his sufferings of death in order for us to go free. He could not just set us free.
He had to suffer and die. The law demanded death. Justice cried out for it. Think
about this. You know the strict justice of
God. By one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. You imagine
justice crying out that Mike die. It says he's got to die. He's going to die. No, he has
to die. Justice crying out with your
name. He has to die or she has to die. And that's God's justice. It's
not our justice. It's not human justice. We play
with that. Plea bargain and everything else, but not God's justice. And it cries out for your death. And so God takes our place in
the person of His Son. Mercy and truth could not meet
together. Righteousness and peace cannot kiss each other over you.
apart from Him. Not at all. Satisfaction can never be rendered
apart from Christ. I cannot render satisfaction
to God's justice. Why do you think hell is eternal?
Because there is no satisfaction to justice. That's why it's forever. But Christ, being the Son of
God, being the perfect Lamb of God, the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God, by His one act of obedience, Many were made righteous. He
satisfied justice. And now we have eternal life
and not eternal death. And Paul preaches resurrection.
We worship the risen Lord. We're not worshiping someone
who died and stayed dead. We're worshiping the Lord Jesus
Christ seated at God's right hand who died, rose and is risen. See, that's who we worship. That's
what we're doing here today. We're not observing a day. We're
observing and worshiping a person. Christ, he's not dead. He's seated at God's right hand.
He's entered into the Holy of Holies. He has taken possession
of heaven for you. That's what he's done. My goodness. And we can fall asleep under
that. To think we could fall asleep under that. Paul preached his power to save
and to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever lived to make intercessions for. He's able to save. He's
preaching this to these people. And he preached his return. Are
you looking for him? Most gatherings this morning
are looking for an event. The church is looking for him,
who is the resurrection. Martha, he said, I am the resurrection
and the life. Quit looking for an event and
look to me. He's coming back. People can
think we're fools. They can think we're just out
of our minds. But I'm telling you this, I'm
looking for Him to come back. And we look with anticipation.
What you looking for, Amanda? You're looking for a return.
We have something to look for, don't we? We have someone to
look for. We're looking for him. If we're
looking for retirement, look for him. I tell you what, now,
it's people. I've worked out there in the
workforce a long time. And most of the conversation,
especially after you get past into your 30s, in your 20s, you're
not talking about it. You don't talk about retirement
in your 20s. A little bit when you're in your 30s. When you
hit 40, you're thinking, well, boy, I better start doing something
here. And it's just like it gets geared up for this thing of looking
to retirement. I tell you, retirement's called
death. And people are not prepared for
that, are they? They're not prepared to die. Prepared to meet what? My God! No. No, I'll tell you
what they want to do. It's like that old boy I heard
Boo Weakly. He's a character on the Pro Tour. He said, I just want to play
long enough so I can get enough money so I can hunt fish. That's
what this interview. That's all he wants to do. And
that's what retirement basically has become. It's become being
able to get it done early so we can play and enjoy the rest
of what's left. Of course, everybody thinks they're
going to live to be old. And I'll tell you this, as believers, we look for Him. Now, whether
I retire when, whenever, I'm going to retire very soon,
one day, totally, completely from this place. Looking for Him. He's coming
soon. He's coming soon. Scripture says,
look up where your redemption draws nigh. Look over here in James, chapter
5. Well, that's only been 33 minutes. James, chapter 5. Well, I know I've got it. James
5. In verse 8. Be ye also patient. Just wait now. Be patient. You
ever tell your kids that? Be patient. It's coming. It's
coming. Be patient. Establish your hearts
for the coming of the Lord Draw nigh. It's close. It's near. Those Israelites looked for 4,000
years. Since the fall of Adam, they
looked for 4,000 years. And He came. And now it's been 2,000 years.
And we're looking for Him to come again. They look for the
Messiah. We know who it is. We know who
He is. And we go out here and we work.
We do our business. We do what we need to do to make
a living, make an honest living. But all the while looking for
Him. Because He's coming back. He's coming back. And then He
preached the necessity. I have no doubt He preached the
necessity of the new birth. You must be born again. You must
be born of the Spirit. Why do I think he preached that? Because our Lord preached it.
It's the same message. He preached it. And because we
need a new heart and a right spirit, and we can't give that
to ourselves. And to put it in its proper perspective, and to
tell the truth about it, that new heart and right spirit is
of God. It's not because I straightened out. It's not because I I've
changed my ways and I've quit my bad habits. No, it's because
you're born of God. Born of God. And then we need
His comforts. Paul let everybody know there
at last. And you'll see as we go on in this chapter, he says,
you're going to see my face no more. There's going to be a time
that I'm not going to be with you. But there'll never be a
time that He's not with you. Never. And that's why he preached. The necessity of the new birth.
Because if you've been born of God, you have Him. He's in you. It's not just a head knowledge
of Him. He's in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. We need to know that we are not
alone, don't we? We need to know that. Christ said, I will not what?
I will not leave you comfortless. No. He wouldn't do that. Would
you do that to your children? How much more God? And then he preached the believer's
walk. He preached his walk. And we
heard that this morning. That's why it's so important,
I tell them frankly, it's so important to go verse by verse. That way
people like me won't get stuck in a certain area I won't get
hung up on a certain, I don't know if that's the way to say
it, but I won't get hung up on a certain doctrine or just zero in on this
one. No, there's Paul's, we'll see
this, we'll go on this chapter. Paul said, I have not shunned
to declare to you the whole counsel of God. From our election back in eternity
to our walk. Paul said walk even as he walked.
Look over in Ephesians chapter 5 and I'll wind this down. Over
here in Ephesians chapter 5, now you know the book of Ephesians.
You look in chapter 1, he talks about our election, he talks
about our redemption, he talks about what? Being sealed with
the Spirit. That's how I know, that's how
I know what he preached. He wrote it in all his epistles.
And then he gets over here, he gets over here in chapter 5,
he says, walk in love, verse 2, walk in love. As Christ also
has loved us and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savor. And he mentions these sins. And
he says, For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, religious words. For because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore
partakers with him. You can go on down and read all
that And he talks about the believer's walk. And then he goes on in
his chapter, and he says in verse 25, Husbands, love your wives. Wives, he says, be obedient to
your husbands. Submit yourself to your husbands.
And then he jumps over in chapter 6 and says, Children, obey your
parents in the Lord. And then he says, Fathers, provoke
not your children. Then he says, Servants, be obedient
to your masters. Then he says, Masters, take care
of your servants. Now that is a well-balanced ministry. For lack of a better word. That's
a well-balanced ministry. He spoke of Christ. He set forth
Christ. The doctrines of Christ. He spoke
with the believer's walk, his talk, his conduct. Well, that's the kind of ministry
you want to sit under. And Paul spent a long time preaching.
And a young man fell asleep. Old Eutychus fell asleep while
sitting in the window. I tell you, it's hard not to fall
asleep. Have you ever tried not to fall asleep? That's something
that's just, it's in you. The hardest thing to fight is
anything that's in you. Sin, thoughts, those are the hardest
things in the world to fight is that which is within. And
that young man, I've tried it before, I've been before, I have
driven sometimes too long and fall asleep at the wheel. You're
standing there, you're doing everything in the world, slapping
yourself in the face, turn the radio up, crank the windows down.
You can't keep from it. And old Eutychus sitting there,
he just fell asleep. But it cost him his life there
for a brief period of time. He fell out of that window. You
know how far? He fell three stories. Fell three stories. And Paul
went down and laid over him. And he says, don't worry, his life's
ending. It's like Elijah did that once and Elisha did that
once. But I thought this, I just jotted
this down last night. I thought God must kill us before
He can raise us. I bet that young man paid attention
when he got up. I bet you that whole congregation
paid a whole lot more attention. What Satan, I have no doubt,
what Satan probably, and was allowed to, If this was so, if
we could see into those realms that we can't see into, he probably
thought, I'll break this thing up. I'll cause a real problem
here. And then what turned out to be
a problem turned out to be a joy and a glory of God. Raised that
young man up, it fell from three stories. And they all listened
better. They all gave more attention,
especially that young man that fell out the window. God knows how to wake people
up. He knows how to get our attention. And I tell you this, may He keep
us awake. May the Lord keep us attentive in His Gospel. Just as I sat there this morning
and listened to you teaching that class, and it was such a
good study, I thought how precious, how precious this time is that
God would bring us together, let us open His Word, and speak the truth to us. We've got to go back out in the
world, but we're going out with understanding, aren't we? We're
not out there like a bunch of ignorant animals running around.
We know the truth. We're taught of God. Taught of
God. Well, it's the Lord's Day. Don't fall asleep.