An Address to Young Christians Acts 20:7-12: Part 3

Acts 20:7‑12  •  6 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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Part 3
There is a young man in this picture—Eutychus. Eutychus means fortunate. It is a strange thing for a young man to have the experience this one did; we would think he had better be called “unfortunate.” Sometimes things that seem like dire misfortune come to us in our lives, which may be the greatest contribution to our welfare.
Here was this young man, in the right place, but he went to sleep there. Just being in the right place isn’t going to keep you. Be sure it is the right place; don’t esteem it lightly, but never depend upon the right place to keep you. It takes watchfulness; you must give heed to these things. If you become indifferent and neglectful, you needn’t be surprised if you get a fall.
Here was Eutychus, “fortunate,” and he was a fortunate young man to be there; that was the most blessed place on the face of the earth, to be there gathered around the Lord Jesus, listening to such marvelous ministry, for it was in connection with the
Assembly that God was pleased to give this ministry, but dear Eutychus became heavy with sleep; he became indifferent to the ministry. What a fall he had!
Dear young folks, take heed! Take heed to this truth that you receive; receive it believingly in a good heart and exercised conscience, for we don’t come to these meetings just to hear something; we come here that our hearts might be fed upon the truth of God, and that we might be aroused, and that we might have fresh purpose of heart to walk in the truth that is ministered to us.
This poor young man went to sleep, and down he fell, clear down from the third loft right down to the ground floor—to the street level! O, it is sad. It is sad when believers, young or old, fall from their high calling, fall from that place where the truth puts them, fall down, as it were to the street level of this wretched world. Young folks, watch—watch and pray. See to it that your heart be not overcharged with the cares of this life. Heed the warning, dear young people; keep close to Christ; value the fellowship of the saints of God; value the opportunity to listen to the truth, and listen with your hearts, and not with your heads.
Well, this young man, down he went. Paul was long preaching, and he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up (for) dead.
Sometimes Christians, young and old, get into such a backslidden condition, that there is no evidence of life at all.
Look how far he has fallen—the depths to which he has gone! It took divine perception to see that there was life, but the Apostle Paul went down and fell on him, and embracing him, said, “Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.” There was life there. A child of God may, through neglect and carelessness fall away, but thank God! his life is in him—life is still there.
Perhaps the Apostle here, coming and falling on him, and bringing about that animation to his body, is figurative of the power of the Word of God to restore one who has gotten away from the Lord, and then the next thing is, he is back upstairs, back where he was before. I guarantee you, that that young man didn’t go to sleep again that night! It was a humiliating experience, but he came back upstairs, and the next thing we hear about, is, the breaking of bread.
I have thought many times in reading this that there is a mystical allusion to how the church fell down to the street level of this world, and how in the goodness and grace of God, the truth came along in the ministry of the Apostle Paul, that line of things given in Ephesians and Colossians, that precious, heavenly ministry that takes us up to the third heaven, and sets us in Christ—that Pauline ministry—that although seemingly dead—no life at all, under that gracious ministry, O, what a blessed reviving there was! We find the church re-instated, back in the third heaven as it were. So the very next thing we hear about, when the Apostle goes back and this young man with him, is the breaking of bread.
They may have been a little negligent or careless, perhaps so taken up with the Apostle’s ministry, that they postponed the breaking of bread; be that as it may, in the 11th verse we read, “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.”
When is the “break of day” coming for us? How soon is it coming? Some of us feel it is near—the break of day. What is around us today? Darkness on every hand. Young folks, remember, this darkness around is going to increase. I know there is talk about a world-wide revival. I would be thankful to see one; indeed I would, but when I read the Word of God, and see the picture that that Word gives before the end of this world, I see nowhere anything of a world-wide revival, but of a world-wide apostasy. That is where we are drifting. It behooves every one of us to be warned; to be on our guard. Paul’s ministry continued until the “break of day.” That precious, heavenly ministry, the truth of Christ, and the church is going to remain until the “break of day.” Is it precious to us? or are we tempted to give it up—let it slip? Dear young Christian, it is worth holding on to.
One of these days we are going to hear that summons to see and be with the Lord who died for us, and I verily believe it is going to be a precious thing in His sight if you and I have by His grace, been enabled to “Hold that fast which we have.” It is worth suffering for; it is worth being misunderstood, that we might maintain that truth. God has a place of blessing for us; may we have the grace to value it, and hold fast that which He has given. It is in the atmosphere to let the thing slide—to let go—but it doesn’t come from above, from that blessed One in the glory. He says, “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Rev. 3:11).
(Concluded)