The God Who Saves 2

want to pick up this morning where we
left off last week the God who saves
part two and I want to blend it with our
ongoing series of studies in the book of
Acts and so our scripture reading is
Acts chapter 20 we're going to read the
verses 7 through 12 it is the story of
eutychus who falls out of the window and
who gets raised back to life
by the Apostle Paul just to put it again
in historical context Paul is on his
third missionary journey he is
revisiting all the churches that he
established in his first and second
missionary trips he traveled all the way
to Corinth planned to go back from
Corinth to Jerusalem heard about plots
of the Jews directed towards him changed
his plans and he backtracked all the way
to Philip I then he sent his companions
on ahead of him to Troas and then he and
Luke who had rejoined the party took a
boat from Philippi to Troas and throw as
is where we pick up the story this
morning let's read the verses together
Acts chapter 20 beginning at verse 7 on
the first day of the week we came
together to break bread Paul spoke to
the people and because he intended to
leave the next day kept on talking until
midnight now you know what I'd like to
do with that kept on talking until
midnight
there were many lamps in the upstairs
room where we were meeting seated in a
window was a young man named eutychus
who was sinking into a deep sleep as
Paul talked
and on when he was sound asleep he fell
to the ground from the third storey and
was picked up the dead Paul went down
threw himself on the young man and put
his arms around him don't be alarmed he
said he's alive then he went upstairs
again and broke bread and ate after
talking until daylight he left the
people took the young man home alive and
were greatly comforted let's pray before
we get into that passage father we're so
grateful for your word and we're
grateful for your power to move
mountains we're grateful for your
willingness to listen to the cries of
your people and we're so grateful for
your willingness to use us as your hands
and your feet and so as we take some
moments now to reflect on this passage
and on what I think you're wanting to
say to this community through this lord
help us to have eyes that see and ears
that hear may our lives be strengthened
in the Grace and the knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ and in the midst of
all the ups and downs of life that we
experience may we faithfully serve you
and walk before your face knowing that
in the Lord there isn't a mountain too
high there isn't a valley too deep and
there isn't a chasm too wide but in
Christ Jesus you have already assured us
that we are more than conquerors and
that is agents of your grace we can
bless others all around us so give me
the words that I need this morning Lord
all of us hearts to hear and to believe
and to step out in faith and may you be
honored and all that we do and all that
well I have a confession to make the
temptation
for me this morning after reading this
passage of how Paul went on and on and
board young Eutychus to death is to say
to you I never again want to hear you
complain about a long sermon or a
service that goes over time or the youth
that are bored because I want you to
know the Apostle Paul has got us all
beat big time that said I'll resist that
temptation because it probably could
come across as just a dead spouse
serving but it is intriguing to note the
spiritual hunger of these believers
internalizes who don't now I assume they
all were working folks and they had to
get up to next morning to go back to
work and yet here they were not only
till midnight but until daybreak the
next morning it shows you I think that
they understood that they probably would
not see the Apostle Paul again and they
wanted to absorb as much of his
spiritual wisdom and insight as they
possibly could and they were willing to
pay the price for that to happen I
compare that to sort of the
lackadaisical laid-back comfortable
self-serving interests of much of the
church in the Western world then I'm
convicted that we have a lot of growing
to do before we share a biblical hunger
for God and for God's truth wouldn't you
agree
how many of us are prepared to pay that
kind of price just to grow in our
walking in our relationship with the
Lord now what I want to say this morning
is that what I want to focus on is none
of that
what I want to focus on is the fact that
God uses Paul to raise Eutychus from the
dead and I want to do that in the
context of last week's message entitled
the God who saves and you might recall
that I put it out last week that the
troubles of this present world often
serve as a backdrop for God's saving
power God is a God who delights to save
Psalm 68 verse 20 our God is a God who
saves Psalm 74 verse 12 but you O God
are my king from a hold you bring
salvation upon the earth God wants to
make things better he wants to see his
creation restored and I put it out last
week that's rooted in two realities it
is rooted in the character of God he is
gracious and compassionate doesn't wish
any to perish and it's rooted in the
content that he made with Abraham and
with his offspring and God promised
Abraham and his offspring that he would
deliver him from the powers of hell and
death and he would restore to him the
inheritance of the earth that Adam and
Eve had lost because of their sin that
promise you know was fulfilled in Christ
who is king of kings and Lord of lords
and you and I through faith in Jesus
become heirs of the Covenant made with
Abraham and what that means is that when
life is difficult and Ruffing whatever
else comes at us we can boldly and with
confidence go to God knowing that he
will either avert all evil or he will
turn you to our good because he is a God
who saves us very anxious for us to
understand this is the heart
the character of God as revealed in the
person of Jesus Christ and mediated by
the power of the Holy Spirit now what I
want us to do this morning is build on
that and point out that while God is
perfectly capable of manifesting the
saving power all by himself he typically
uses people as the vehicle to accomplish
that in the here and now and that I
think is one of the significant points
of the story before us where Paul is
used in raising eutychus from the dead
you know the story we just read it
together it's pretty straightforward you
because is a young man he's getting
sleepy and he's getting sleepy I suspect
not only because he is bored
perhaps by Paul going on and on and on
but he's getting sleepy because the text
tells us the room is full of lambs what
does that tell you
think oil lamps think candles what do
you think was left of oxygen in that
room not a whole lot so what does
eutychus do climbs into one of the open
windows trying to get some fresh air
does it help him no it's past his
bedtime false fast asleep and if you've
ever worried about your kid falling out
of the upper bunk in the middle of the
night going thud hoping they didn't
break their little necks you can imagine
what a thud it was when he fell three
stories down so we pick him up and the
Bible says he's dead kind of brings the
meeting to a screeching halt as medical
emergencies tend to do in church you
might recall so they all go rushing down
Paul throws himself on the boy puts his
arm around him and lo and behold the boy
comes
back to life they all go back upstairs
and then they keep on going as if
nothing had happened until morning
breaks what we learn together from this
story this morning three or four things
let's see how far we can get
first of all accidents happen and they
happen sometimes even to God's people I
was talking just this past leaf to
somebody about Keith Green and his death
and that of two of his children in a
plane crash don't know how many of you
remember Keith Green he was a rising
star in the contemporary music world
back in the 70s and early 80s he and his
wife melody were soundly converted in
1975 felt a call then to open their home
to the last and the lost in the least
and as the year went by eventually they
had as many as 70 people living with
them of you can imagine that eventually
morphed into the last days ministry they
bought property in Linville Texas they
had a staff at that point of a hundred
people we talked to son-in-law keno he
was part of that ministry for a season I
have another friend who was there also
and in a July morning of 1982 they were
entertaining a young couple or a couple
that was moving out east to become
church planters and they had promised
their six kids that they would get an
airplane ride in Texas so they all piled
into this least two engine airplane the
couple their six children Keith Green
and two of his children plus the pilot
sadly the plane was over
by more than 400 pounds the center of
gravity was misplaced the plane never
got off the ground and hit the treetops
down the end of the runway and crashed
burst into flame and everybody died
terrible tragedy and I so remember it
because Keith Green was a shining light
in the contemporary Christian music
industry at the time and what made his
death particularly tragic apart from all
the other things you know that you that
you associated with the loss of husband
and two children was that he was on the
verge of launching a worldwide missions
tour calling people back to Jesus and
calling people back to repentance and I
remember the conversation in Christian
circles how can God allow this to happen
was it the devil that took out Keith's
Korean if it was the devil where was God
where was the sovereignty of God why
didn't God do something about it all the
questions that Christians always ask
when life is difficult and the reality
is that many times we don't know the
answer to that kind of question
sometimes we don't know that answer
until many years later and one person
whose life illustrates that I think is
another person whom you know and that
would be awesome
chambers Oswald Chambers is best known
for his devotional is that most for his
highest how many of you here have read
or have heard of his book see all kinds
of hands the book has been I never has
been out of print since it was first
published it's been translated into more
than 30 languages but of course Oswald
Chambers himself never saw it because
his wife compiled the book after his
death of his writings he was 43 years
old
serving as an army chaplain in World War
one in Egypt when he developed
appendicitis he refused to go to the
hospital because he didn't want to take
a bed which he thought was needed for
the soldiers by the time they operated
on him it was too late and he died
tragically snuffed out a brilliant
theologian a brilliant pastor a
brilliant leader would have been the end
of his life except that his wife Biddy
her real name was Gertrude
I think biddies probably better than her
trade no offense to Gertrude's my
but in her youth she had aspired to be
secretary to the Prime Minister of
England if you can imagine this and so
she took shorthand and developed a
phenomenal ability to write shorthand at
a rate of 250 words a minute so she took
notes of all his presentations at all
his preachings and all his teachings and
so after he died she collected his
writings put it into print his utmost
for his highest was the most popular
version of this but something like 50
editions of his speaking was published
by he by her after his death would have
never happened had he not died sometimes
it takes a long time before you see good
come out of what appears to be evil and
sometimes I suspect we won't see it
until the age to come my point is
accidents happen
yuuta kisses death was an accident
being a Christian doesn't automatically
make us immune to accidents even though
we know that God is sovereign and as
promised either to hurt all evil or
certainly turn it to our good that's one
less that I think that we learn here
second lesson that we learned is that
accidents can serve as a backdrop for
God's glory accidents can serve as a
backdrop for God's glory touched on this
a little bit last week but I want to
come back to it and expand on it just a
little bit what are the questions that
people often ask particularly when bad
things happen is why does God allow bad
things to happen if he's sovereign why
doesn't he stop yet and you can go back
all the way to the creation of the world
and the fall of Adam and Eve into sin
why did he not keep Adam and Eve from
sitting you ever think about that if you
haven't you ought to because that's a
big question look at all the trouble in
the world that could have been avoided
if God had just not let them see it well
the reality is that the brokenness in
the sin of the world serves as a
backdrop to reveal the fullness of God's
character I've talked about this before
I don't want to believe her it but God
cannot show his saving grace unless
there is something for us to be saved
from and so the bad things including the
accidents that happen in the world will
sometimes serve as a backdrop for God to
reveal a side of his saving grace and
power that we'd never experienced if
that reality were not true and as I was
thinking about that there are two
stories in the New Testament both in the
Gospel according to John that are
powerful illustrations of this
particular truth both of these stories
you will know I'm pretty sure the first
is the story of the man born blind in
John chapter 9 and you will remember
that the disciples came to Jesus
and they asked them who seemed was it
this man or was it his parents because
that was the paradigm of their theology
something bad happened to you it was
because you did a bad thing and
therefore you had to bear the punishment
of a bad thing that you did who
remembers the response of Jesus as
recorded in John chapter 9 verse 3
neither this man nor his parents sinned
so Jesus but this happened why read it
with me so that the work of God might be
displayed in his life say it again so
that the work of God might be displayed
in his life see it's one thing to heal a
blind person who used to see and now has
become blind because then at least you
know what used to work to heal a man
born blind is another story altogether
and serves as a further demonstration of
God's power because nobody's ever heard
of a man born blind getting his vision
back that wasn't just a psychological
block that kept him from seeing clearly
he was truly blind now the second story
that is very similar to this happens two
chapters later in John's Gospel and
you'll know this also and that is the
story of Lazarus whom Jesus raised from
the dead Lazarus and his two sisters
Mary and Martha were very close friends
of Jesus they were very wealthy people
they lived in a village called Bethany
two miles or kilometers away from
Jerusalem Jesus loved spending time with
them Mary was the one who poured out the
expensive ointment according to John's
Gospel and washed Jesus's feet with it
loved him intensely Lazarus got sick
they sent word to Jesus the one whom you
love is sick the implication
please come and help us and you know the
story Jesus didn't just go rushing into
the picture did it he hung around for
two days by the time he got there
Lazarus had already been dead for four
days
remember how he explained it to his
disciples before he went to Bethany John
chapter 11 verse 4 when he heard this
that is that Lazarus was sick jesus said
the sickness will not end in death no it
is for God's glory so that God said son
may be glorified through it for God's
glory that God Fund might be glorified
through it see it's one thing to heal
the sick I mean that's a pretty big
thing but to raise somebody from the
dead after they've been dead for four
days that is a much bigger thing and so
here's my point
cases I haven't made it clear enough
sometimes the bad things that happen in
life including accidents happen so that
God may use it as a backdrop to reveal
his power and his glory now here's what
we need to keep in mind this revealing
of God's power and God's glory in the
face of bad things can take the place
comes in two forms and we need to be
very clear on that
Lesly lose faith what it doesn't happen
the way that we anticipate one of the
ways in which it happens and that's how
it happens with eutychus that's how it
happened in these two stories is that
the glory of God can be seen in the
miraculous acts of God Paul says
concerning the gospel in 1 Corinthians
two four and five
my message of my preaching were not with
wise and persuasive words but with a
demonstration of the spirits power so
that your faith might not rest on men's
wisdom but on God's power God is very
interested in removing the blockages to
people's faith and so there will be
those times when bad things happen like
people are born blind or Lazarus dies or
unica's falls out of the window and gets
picked up dead
God will step in powerfully and
demonstrate his power by restoring life
we read in Psalm 98 the verses two and
three the Lord has made his salvation
known and revealed his righteousness to
the nation's he has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to the house of
Israel all the ends of the earth have
seen the salvation of our God and the
Bible in history are filled with
examples where God stepped in into an
impossible situation and he moved
powerfully and mightily to demonstrate
to the nation's that he is the true and
the Living God some of you will recall a
story that I shared with you previously
that comes from the ministry of watchmen
II he makes mention of it in his little
booklet sit walk stand sit walk stand is
an exposition of the book of Ephesians
or seated with Christ at heavenly places
we learn to walk with Christ and then we
learn to stand on the truth of his word
watchman II who was a Chinese evangelist
in the 20s 30s and 40s before he was
captured by the Communists and that
imprisoned to the end of his life for
being faithful to Jesus at one point
took a small team of six others to an
island off the coast of China for a
mission trip and as they were preaching
the gospel to this particular
population of about 20,000 people the
response to the gospel was very very
slow in coming they couldn't figure out
why are these people not turning to the
true of the Living God well it turned
out that they already had a God his name
was too long and he was a God who was so
faithful that every year they would hold
a procession in his honor and the God
would guarantee that there would not be
any rain on that particular day this is
during the New Year's holiday season in
China which lasted 15 days so they asked
the question when is the procession this
year the date given was January 11 and
they had this young fellow on their team
he was 16 years of age a barely a new
Christian and he comes out with well
this year it's going to rain on January
11th talk about freaking out the team
what are we going to do now well they've
got a prayer and they ain't a denies the
Lord is this of you or is this not of
you and and at some point the Lord comes
through prophetically speaks to watchman
Nee and says where is the god of Elisha
where's the god of Elisha and so they
conclude from that that God is going to
show his power over the evil spirit
along to this population so they go on
to another Island and they preach now it
is January 11 the day of the procession
they wake up in the morning and the Sun
is brightly shining a little bit of a
panic you think like God where are you
are we dreaming this and again the word
of the Lord comes where is the God of
Elijah so they're having breakfast
they're standing in faith sit walk stand
and lo and behold it starts to rain
it not only starts to rain it become
the torrential downpour the procession
in the honor of Taiwan washes out that
God the people that are carrying him
stumble the God gets broken they fix his
nose they keep on going until they are
defeated by the floods now what do you
think they did oh we got the day wrong
it wasn't January 11 it was January 14
so more preaching ever and the Lord says
where's the lot of Elijah now it's the
14th the procession is supposed to
happen at 6 o'clock the Sun is rightly
shining where's the god of Elijah God
you better come through it's true story
6 Allah comes around that clouds come
rolling in and it's even a bigger
downpour than before do you think after
that preaching the gospel might have
been simple indeed it was
and Lord the people come to faith
because you see God wants to demonstrate
that he is the truth and the Living God
don't ever question God's desire or
God's ability to demonstrate to
unbelieving hearts that he is the true
and the Living God and he hears the
prayers of his people even little
16-year old new converts who put their
foot in their mouth and you get
everybody into trouble now that said
it's very important to understand that
demonstrating his miraculous act is not
the only way that he makes himself real
in the face of tragedy or difficulty
there is a second way and that is God's
power can be seen in his sustaining
grace
that is to say his ability to help us
beer up under the most adverse and
difficult situations the story of course
that immediately comes to mind is that
of Johnny Erickson tada a lot of you
will have heard of her she was what an
eighteen or nineteen year old girl
diving into the Chesapeake Bay misgauged
the depth of the water hit her head on
the bottom broke her neck
was paralyzed from the shoulders down
terribly difficult tragedy and and the
cries of her heart the cries of God's
people were Lord wouldn't it be
wonderful if she could be healed
wouldn't it be a great testimony to your
power if she could get up and walk
around and say well you know this is
what God did for me and you can imagine
how discouraging it was for her and the
people are out there when the fact that
she's been a paraplegic for all these
many years but what's remarkable about
her story of course is that God has
manifested in her life his sustaining
grace she's written 38 books she has
recorded multiple albums she has starred
in a movie and wonder of wonders got
married to ken tada who has been her
faithful and supporting husband ever
since and God's power has been made
perfect in her weakness which she rather
have been healed then go through all I
would rather think so
has God's power in her life given glory
to God and encouragement to other people
who suffer from disabilities who clearly
have not received the healing hand of
God you bet your bottom daughter and the
Apostle Paul
who knows what it is to be used in other
people's lives by the power of God so
that people can come to a living faith
in the Living God himself know the
reality of experiencing that power in
his life here is how he describes it in
2nd Corinthians chapter 4 the verses 7
through 10 he says we have this treasure
in Jars of Clay to show that this all
surpassing power is from God and not
from us we are hard pressed on every
side but not crushed perplexed but not
in despair persecuted but not abandoned
struck down but not destroyed we always
carry around in our body the depth of
Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also
be revealed in our body you see the
contrast we carry in our bodies the
death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus
may also be revealed in us sometimes God
shows his glory by the big miracle and I
believe there are a lot more big
miracles that God is prepared and
willing to do than most of us ever have
enough faith for but I also know there
are instances where it doesn't matter
how much and how big your faith is God's
glory is going to come not so much
through the big miracle as it is through
the sustaining Grace and one day after
day we can put one foot in front of the
other and keep on going under the most
difficult of circumstances then God is
glorified in that tear because people
can see in us the resurrection power of
Jesus does that make sense
that's the balance that we need to keep
in the family of God a lot more that I
had planned to say about this I think
we'll stop here this morning pick it up
from here next week how God uses his
people to extend his saving power and
how the saving power of God produces
comfort for God's people so that we can
keep on going no matter what it is that
you