Is it on? You'll never know how much I
appreciate you giving up Saturday morning cartoons for me. The title of my message this
morning is two words. Two words. Turn with me if you
please to Mark chapter 9. Our Lord speaking, and he said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here
which shall not taste death, a taste of death, till they have
seen the kingdom of God come with power. And after six days,
Jesus take with him Peter and James and John, and leadeth him
up to a high mountain apart from by themselves, and was transfigured
before them. And his raiment became shining,
exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white
them. And there appeared unto them
Elias and Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter
answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here.
Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses
and one for Elias. where he wist not what to say,
for they were so afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed
them and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my
beloved son, hear him. And suddenly when they looked
around about, there was no man, no man anymore, save Jesus only
with themselves. Now in the context in which we
find this passage is the account of the transfiguring of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And one would be hard-pressed
to find so much instructive content as is found in the first eight
verses of this chapter. This is a veritable graduate
study in what God has to say to men concerning making himself
known to men. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
verse 1 is many things to many men. Our Lord promises here is
that this prophecy will be fulfilled. But many men see it as a prophecy
of the Holy Ghost coming at Pentecost. That could be it. Others make
this verse to have to do with eschatology or the doctrine of
the last days when the Lord said, There shall be some of them that
stand here which shall not taste death until they've seen the
kingdom of power or kingdom of God come with power. But the
context explains the text without any venture into prognostication
in the future. These men are privy to the fulfillment
of this very prophecy just six days after the prophecy is made. The word and is a connective
conjunction, and it connects these two things together. What
Peter, James, and John, some of the men standing there, saw
six days after our Lord say it, they saw the kingdom of God come
with power on the Mount of Transfiguration. This culminates in the singular
message of God. What God has to say to men. At
the Tyre of Babel, He divided the language. And men separated
because of language and created culture and religion out of those
languages. But now in these last days, He speaks just one language. And that language is Jesus Christ. God hath in these last days spoken
to us in Son. not in His Son, in Son. That
is the language that the Lord speaks. And in verse 8 we find
two words that sum up everything that God has to say to His people. It's all found in these two words.
It says in verse 8 of chapter 9, And suddenly when they looked
round about, they saw no man any more save Jesus only. Two words. Jesus only. What is the power of God? What
is the power of God? It is figuratively and metaphorically
and symbolically declared in the transfiguration of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But remember, the Bible says
that that's not really the demonstration of His power. that is actually
the hiding of His power. That's what it says back in Habakkuk.
You don't have to turn there. I'll read it to you. It says
in verse 3 of chapter 3 of Habakkuk, God came from Timan, that is
the south, and the holy man from Mount Paran, Sila. His glory
covered the heavens. The earth was full of His praise.
His brightness was as the light. He had horns coming out of His
hand. And there was the hiding of His
power. Not the demonstration. So when
Jesus Christ came in power and these men saw this prophecy fulfilled,
that wasn't the display of God's power. That was the hiding of
God's power. The display of God's power was
when nothing was left on that mount save Jesus only. That was the displaying of that
power. What took place here is that
our Lord began to shine. to glow, as it were, with a great
bright light. Brighter, as one writer said,
than the noonday sun. Here in the other gospel accounts,
his raiment shone brighter than the noonday sun, whiter than
snow, whiter than the fuller or a bleacher of fabric could
make them. And this is the proclamation
of the gospel. The gospel is the light of God.
the light of God. In the beginning, when God created
heaven and earth, and the earth became void and without form,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit moved
upon the waters, the first thing God says was, let there be light. That wasn't the sun. That wasn't
the moon. That was created days later.
What's he talking about? He's talking about Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world. John said, I came
to bear witness of that light. He's the key of knowledge. We
don't understand anything in this book unless we know the
Lord Jesus Christ. Out of Zion, Scripture says,
our God has shined. He has revealed His power one
way, and one way only, and that is in the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is the word of His power,
spoken of in Hebrews chapter 1, that upholds all things. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. He said,
I'm not ashamed of it. Not like men think, you know,
when I was growing up in religion, they'd read that verse and say,
well, don't you be ashamed of Jesus. You know, when you're on the
fishing boat fishing and the opportunity arrives or somebody
cusses or something, you be sure you tell them about Jesus. Don't
be ashamed of Jesus. If you're ashamed of Jesus, he'll
be ashamed of you. That's not what he's talking about. Paul
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because that's what saved
me. It's the gospel that saved me,
the power of God that saved me. Now those who are ashamed of
the gospel are those who say it's not the power of God that
saves them, but it's themselves that saves themselves. It's by
their own will that they're saved. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel and you won't be ashamed of the gospel if that's what
saves you. But if you believe you had something to do with
your salvation, the gospel will be second, third, fourth on your
list. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power and the
wisdom of God, Paul told to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 verse 22 through 24. It is the power and the wisdom
of God. Peter saw this. And it must have been an amazing
sight, don't you think? To see the Lord transfigured
this way and shining and then have Moses and Elijah show up.
He saw this firsthand. But he realized that that wasn't
the power of God. God told him. But he realized
that wasn't the power of God. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
1. Or rather, excuse me, 2 Peter chapter
1. In 2 Peter chapter 1, in verse 16,
Peter says, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, When
we made known unto you the power and the coming of the Lord Jesus,
we were eyewitnesses of it. We saw Him there. We saw that. And we're not, this ain't no
fairy tale we're telling you. I was there in person. He says,
for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there
was such a voice to him from the excellent glory saying, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice
which came from heaven we heard when we were with Him in the
Holy Mount. Say, well alright, well that's it, that's all you
need. That's the power of God. No, it's not. That's the hiding
of it. What's the power of God? Read
the next verse. We have also a more sure. Sure than actually
seeing. Surer than experience. We have
a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that you
take heed as unto a light that shineth out of darkness, until
the day dawn and the day star, that is Christ, arise in your
hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is a
private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but the holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We have a more sure word
of prophecy. We got it better. You and I have
it better than Peter and James and John had it when they saw
Christ in that resplendent glory on the Mount of Transfiguration.
We got it better. Why? We got this. We have this, the more sure word
of prophecy. Don't ever count on what you've
seen because it ain't going to last. Everybody has experiences. We all have them. I've had experiences.
You've had experiences. They're fine. Experiences are
okay, but don't count on your experiences. There was a preacher
that came to hear me preach years ago. Came several times. And
said he was a grace believer. He was a doctor. Not of theology. He was a doctor of eyes. He was
one of my doctors. I think he was. But he came to
hear me many times. And then one day I happened to
preach from Ephesians chapter 1. In verse fourteen, after you
believed, after, after, after you heard the word of truth. Nobody believes before that. You believe when you hear the
truth. And he got really upset with me. cornered me on the front
porch of the church and yapped for a while and I just listened
to him and dismissed him. And then he called me up a couple
days later and he said, I'll never be back. Like that was
going to make me feel bad, you know. I'm never going to be back.
People say, well, you know, a lady one time told me, she said, I
don't, I don't believe in God. I told her, I said, he don't
lose no sleep over it either. And he don't. But he called me
up and said, I'll never come back. He said, because I was
at my mother's bedside and he gave me this spiel about when
he was saved. He hadn't even heard the gospel.
But he believed in Jesus then and all that. I said, let me
ask you this. I said, have you ever told a lie? He said, of course. I said, well,
has God ever told a lie? He said, no. I said, well, who
should I believe in this thing? You or God? You're holding your
experiences against what the scripture says. Donny Bell used
to say that a man will give you his wife, his car, his home,
and everything else before you give up that old profession.
And that's the truth. You believe after you hear the
word of truth. This is the word of God. This is the light that
shines in a dark place. This is what we do when we stand
up here. We cut on the light. That's all we're doing. Don't
cut it off and then curse the darkness. This is the light of
God. This is the power of God. This
book, the power of God. I don't understand it. I can't
even see it. And I don't want to see it because I'm allowed
to take some credit in it. I can't see it happening. But if God
shines his light in your heart through this word, he's going
to make you alive to Jesus Christ. But it's going to be through
this Word and it's going to be for some fellow he has saved from grace
and called out of the dung heap and stood him up on his hind
legs and he's going to tell you something. And it's going to
be a wonder and you're going to say, why in the world, how
in the world can a person believe hearing something from that man?
He's not believing because he hears it from that man. He's
believing because that man is speaking God's Word. It's all
going to be of grace. It's all going to be of grace.
This is the light of the Gospel. In verse 4, our Lord declares
the subject of subjects. Back in our text. And there appeared unto him Elias
and Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. It is the singular,
singular theme of Scripture. God reaches back in time, brings
Moses and Elijah, across the realm of the time-space continuum
to converge on a hill and converse with Christ in his bright and
shining glory. One question that often is the
fodder of great minds that have too much time on their hands
is settled here. Folks say, well, we know each
other. Will we know each other in heaven? Well, Moses is Moses
and Elijah is Elijah still, aren't they? So I'll let you do the
math on that. Both of them recognized, or were
recognized by Simon Peter. He recognized them. He wasn't
living with Moses, but he recognized them anyway. He recognized them.
The subject of their conversation with our Lord is the subject.
The subject of heaven, the subject of earth, and it is the subject
of eternity. The subject of eternity. This
is what occupies the verbal intercourse of glory, of eternity, then what
else might be worthily said to occupy our minds? Moses and Elijah
just came back and talked with the Lord Jesus Christ about something
specific. What else should occupy our mind?
This is the subject. Up there in glory, and I use
the word up there because, you know, that's how it's kind of
described in scriptures, the heavens, and we think of the
heavens as up. I don't know all about that. But where God is,
and where the angels reside and the spirits of just men made
perfect, where they're there, the subject is this subject,
the same subject that Elijah and Moses spoke of to the Lord
about. In Luke chapter 9 and verse 30,
it says, they spake to Christ of the decease which He should
accomplish at Jerusalem. That's the subject. When you
get to heaven, you're not going to talk about watermelons being
as big as Volkswagen's or trout being as big as Moby Dick. It's
not going to happen. You're not going to talk about
celestial things and green fields and little cabins in the corner
of glory. There's a single subject there. It says the angels are
going by preaching the everlasting gospel. This is the subject of
subject. This is the only subject that's
worthwhile on the face of the earth. They didn't talk about
the woeful estate of partisan politics. They didn't talk about
the evils of abortion. They didn't talk about cellular
technology, or cloning, or stem cell research, or AIDS, or drinking,
or smoking, or chewing, or drugs, or homosexuality. Any of those
things. That's not the topic. That's
not discussed in glory. Any of the myriad subjects that
occupy the mind of conservative and liberal religion of ludicrous
ridiculousness. They did not talk about anything
but Christ. They did not discuss the law
and the believer's life. They didn't even talk about how
to grow a church. They didn't talk about seminaries
or degrees of theology. They spake of the decease, of
his death, which he should accomplish in Jerusalem. The two ordinances
that he's given to the church, that's what they're about. The
death, the accomplished at Jerusalem. We take the Lord's table, why
do we take it? To show forth his what? Death, until he comes
again. Why are we baptized? Baptized
unto what? His death. The whole scheme of
baptism speaks of death. When one of you is baptized,
when Bill is baptized in one of you, you put your life in
his hands. I mean, really think about it.
That's what you're doing. He takes you and he puts you
into an element that you, of yourself, cannot survive in.
You're as good as dead. When you're under that water,
you don't have gills. You can't breathe. If he don't
bring you up, you're a goner. Sure, you're as good as dead.
You're baptized unto his death and you're brought out of that
water and you're alive. That's a picture of why we baptize
people and how we baptize people because it's a baptism unto death.
We're saying when he puts us under, I died in Jesus Christ
and I rose in Jesus Christ. That's what that's all about.
The dead. They speak of the death which he should accomplish at
Jerusalem. There's nothing more important
in all the world than that. The subject that occupied the
mind of those who had so long been in the presence of God.
How long had Moses been there? A long time. How long had Elijah
been there? A long time. What were they talking about?
What was the subject that occupied their minds? The accomplishing
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the subject of the Law
and the Prophets. All the Law and the Prophets
gave witness to Christ. That's what the Scripture said.
Our Lord said it in Luke, and Peter said it in Acts chapter
10. He said all the Law and the Prophets gave witness of Christ.
Christ is the subject of this book. When Peter, James, and
John, and the Apostles, even our Lord Jesus Christ, and John
the Baptist preached the Gospel, they didn't have the New Testament.
It hadn't been written yet. They preached the gospel from
Genesis chapter 1 all the way to Malachi. They preached the
gospel. They preached Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. When the Ethiopian eunuch was
reading Isaiah chapter 53, going back to his home in Ethiopia
to be a servant of Candace, he was reading and he didn't understand
it. And it says Philip was called out and sent and said, go join
a man on a charity. And he went up and beside him
said, you understand what you're reading? He says, how can I?
He said, some man tell me. He says, what you're reading?
He said, I'm reading here from this thing I bought here in Jerusalem. A
scribe wrote down for me. And I bought this because you
see that those things cost money back then. They were expensive
to have a book. If you had a page of a book, you was really a pretty
well-to-do person. And he was reading from Isaiah
53 where this fellow was bruised for our iniquities and so forth
and so on. And he says, who's the prophet
talking about here? Is he talking about himself or
is he talking about somebody else? And he says from that passage,
he preached to him Jesus. How? Because that's what that
passage is about. It's what this whole book is about. I think
sometimes of the children of Israel that were converted under
Christianity through the preaching of the gospel. I think of the
book of Hebrews, what it must have been like for the writer
to... I picture a young man walking,
a young Jewish man who's just come to know Christ, raised in
Jewish religion like Peter was, walking down the street and there's
the temple. Oh, he's always loved the temple.
It's always been a special place. And the writer said, well, that's
not really the temple. Wait a minute. No. The real temple
is Jesus Christ. And he sees one of the priests
walking down the street, always honored the priest. They were
the servants of God. The writer says, that's not really the priest.
Christ is our high priest. And you are the priest too. Wonder
how that must have been for everything to simply be turned upside down.
Well, here it's turned upside down. All the prophets gave witness
to Christ. They weren't talking about Israel. They were talking
about true Israel. They weren't talking about the
temple. They were talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. They weren't
talking about a lamb. They were talking about the lamb.
All the ceremonies, the sacrifices, the law, all of it represents
and points to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those today
who read this book, who love this book, who care a great deal
for this book, who don't know Jesus Christ. They spend their
life in this book and they don't know Jesus Christ. And they read
the Old Testament and they don't see Him. And yet that's what
the prophets are talking about. They're talking about. Men can
love this book. I've used the illustration before.
They're like a sparrow on a telephone line. Got a grasp on the telephone
line but don't have any idea what the message going through
the line is. They got a firm grasp on this
book. They loved the Bible. As old, I think it was Oliver
Green used to say, from kibber to kibber. Love it from kibber
to kibber. He loved it. I'm not sure he
understood it, but he loved it. He loved it. This is the book. This is the
Word. What is it? Jesus only. Back in our text in verses 5
and 6, we see the bent of natural humanity. Peter answered and said, Master,
it's good for us to be here. Let us make thee three tabernacles.
One for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias. For ye wist
not what to say, for they were sore afraid. The other account,
another account is that while he was yet speaking these words,
a cloud rolled in. Fog rolled in. And God spoke. and said, this is my beloved
son. You hear him. Wait a minute, I've been listening
to Moses and Elijah all my life. You hear him because they speak
of him. Humanity, when They see something or experience
something that's overwhelmed, they're afflicted with diarrhea
of the mouth because they feel like they ought to spew out something
when they actually have nothing to offer at all. And Peter was
like that. They ought to keep their traps
shut. The Lord said, be not rash with thy mouth. Be not rash with
thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything
before God. For God is in the heaven, and
you are upon the earth. Therefore let thy words be few.
But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent.
Peter would have been better off shut up. But Peter is a converted
Jew, and he's still holding on to all those trappings. I know
how he feels. I wish I could unlearn the junk
I learned in false religion, don't you? Unfortunately, our
brain stores it and it pops up at the most inopportune moments. So don't get too mad at Peter
for acting like a fool. If we had been there, we'd probably
done the same thing. We also see that humanity desires to
have something tangible as a proof of faith. Proof of faith, that's
an oxymoron. The very basis of faith is that
it cannot be proven. I can't prove to you that I have
faith. I can't. Faith is invisible. It operates
in a realm where no man can see. The just shall live by faith
and not by sight. Faith operates in a realm of
believing what's been written. Only what's been written, not
anything visible. Only what God has said. What
kind of crazy people are they? God's crazy people. You have
faith? Have it to yourself, Scripture
says, because that's where you have it. You say, well, surely
there's some evidence of faith. No, faith is the evidence itself,
and it can't be seen. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for, the substance of things not seen. You can't prove to
me you have faith while I go to church. So does everybody.
Well, I pray. So does everybody. Get them in
a tight spot, everybody's gonna pray. I guarantee it. Well, I
give. There are a lot of philanthropic
people in this world. Well, surely there's some evidence
that I have faith. Show me. You don't have any.
If you have faith, you know you have it. I don't know you have
it. If I have faith, I know I have it. But you don't know I have
it. Peter wanted to show everybody
that he believed on Jesus and Moses and Elijah. Let's build
three big tabernacles. I know people like stuff. They
like aids to worship, they call it. They ain't, but they call
it that. Things that remind them of God.
Crosses and pictures and bumper stickers. I especially like those
fish bumper stickers. My favorite is the one with the
little plus sign that is I suppose that's supposed to be a cross,
but I can't tell Debbie it looks like a trout that's been knocked
out. You remember the old cartoons
where somebody gets knocked out and they put plus signs over their eyes? That's
what it looks like, a knocked out trout. That's what it is.
But people like that sort of thing. It's contraband. And they
believe they need it so they can believe. Listen, if you need
something other than what God has given you, that is faith,
to believe, then you're not believing at all. This is clearly declared
in the reaction of the words from our God in reference to
Peter's ignorance utterance. He said, Peter, this is my beloved
son. Remember what Peter said in 1
Peter? The Lord spoke from heaven. I was there. The Lord spoke from
heaven. I heard it. This is my beloved son in whom
I am. Well, please hear ye him. Peter got a sign. A stop sign. Just stop right here. Don't go
no further. Now, our text for this hour is
these two words in verse 8. That was my introduction. Boy, they hate it when I say
that at home. Our God here narrows everything
He narrows the scope to a singular and an absolute truth. A singular
and an absolute truth. The gospel is the doctrine of
reduction. It's a doctrine of reduction.
Suddenly, Peter is confronted with the evaporation. of Moses
and Elijah, the evaporation of the law and the prophets. His
plans for a resort or religious treat or a theological theme
park are cast upon the waste heap of mortgage foreclosure
and before him is the single and absolute glory that is the
glory of God, Jesus only. That's it. That's all that's
left. This is a lovely reduction because it makes things so very
plain and so very simple. This is simple to understand. Hard, no, impossible to swallow
if you don't have faith, if God has not given you faith. They
saw nobody else but Jesus only. Jesus only. Would to God that
this would be my epitaph on my tombstone. All he saw was Jesus
only. Scott Richardson told a story
one time of a woman who had been in church a long time under his
ministry, and she just quit coming. She was there for years and just
quit coming. He didn't know why, and one day he saw her on the
street and he says, how come you stopped in the church? And
she reached into her purse and pulled out a notebook. She had
kept notes of his messages for all those years she had been
in there. She should have listened instead of keeping notes, but
she was keeping notes. And she opened up that book and
she says, looky here. This message here. It's all about Christ. This message, nothing but Christ.
This message, nothing but Christ. Just kept flipping through the
pages, all about Christ. She says, all you did, all the time
I was there, was talk about Christ. He said, put that on my gravestone. What a thing. What an accusation.
I'd like to be accused of that. I really would. Jesus only encompasses
the whole of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This simple phrase is the message
from God to men. Men love to debate semantics. Some would say it is the person
and not the work. Others I've heard say they major
on the work and not the person. Some say that it's the doctrine.
Others diminish the doctrine by saying it's the person and
the work. These are useless, vain efforts. to wrongly divide
the Word of Truth. It's like philosophers trying
to figure out how many angels can stand on the head of a pen.
It's stupid. Let's just call it what it is.
The fact is, now listen very carefully. I want to say this
so you'll understand what I'm saying. The fact is there is
no knowing Jesus Christ without doctrine. You can't even say His name and
not be doctrinal. You can't even say His name.
Also, there is no knowing doctrine without Christ. How's that work? Like electricity, real well. That's how it works. There is
no value to the work except by whom it is performed. And there
is no defining the person without the work. It's an impossibility. One cannot even say His name
without declaring the person and the work that He is and has
done. Mark it well. When you have finally
seen Christ, when you have finally revealed Christ, when all your
play pretties and your religious doodads and your sacred contraband
and your paraphernalia are dispersed to the four winds like the chaff
that they are, when you are met on your path to destruction,
with the truth. That truth will be two words.
Jesus only. Jesus only. And suddenly, when
they looked round about, they saw no man anymore save Jesus
only. That's it. That's it. The world
will consider it foolishness. They want you to come up with
something. Please. Give me some theological discourse. Tell me about election and predestination.
Teach me those things. Everybody knows about election
and predestination. People say they don't. It's just liars. They understand it very well.
They don't like it, but they understand it. Everybody's a
predestinarian by nature. That's one of the images, one
of the part of the image of God that we retain to a T. Everybody
here, how many times did you predestinate something since
you got up this morning? Heck, let's start last night
before you went to bed. Set your alarm clock? That's predestination. Get in your car? Did you just sit there or did
you turn on the key? Once you turn on the key in the
AC, did you just sit there or did you actually start moving?
Where was you going? You was going here. That's predestination. Everything we do, election, people
say, I don't understand it. Oh, you do too. You make choices
all the time. Every one of you husbands chose
your wife. Every one of your wives chose your husband. We choose who we want to be with.
Say, well, that makes us prejudiced. No, it don't make us prejudiced.
It makes us choose who we want to be with. Wilt Chamberlain said one
time, I don't never hang around with short people. Was he prejudiced
against short people? He said, no, it's just, you know,
I'm tall enough as it is. It makes me look ridiculous when
I'm hanging around with short people. Don't get in a theological discussion
with people. You might be able to convince
them of your theology, but you'll never get them to know Christ. It's Jesus only. What's my hope?
Jesus only. What's my peace? Jesus only.
What's my joy? Jesus only. What's the Bible
about? Jesus only. What is it to be
a Christian? Jesus only. That's so simple, isn't it? So
singular, so absolute. We've already seen that concerning
hearing the word of God, it is Jesus only, and that the gospel
is Jesus only. That all we have in earth and
heaven is Jesus only. David said, whom have I in heaven
but thee, and whom on earth beside thee? That the subject of the
law and the prophets is Jesus only. And I want us to consider
three things quickly this morning. Well, maybe that was my introduction. These three things are the battleground
upon which the war for the defense of the gospel is engaged every
day. Jesus only is where the battle is enjoined. Here is the
ground where the false teachers of freewill legalistic religion
still are endeavoring to build a memorial to Moses and Elijah.
Here is where the God of all glory has stationed his troops
at the very gates of hell. Three things. Jesus only. First
of all, Jesus only for justification. Jesus only for justification. Men and women are justified by
Jesus only. How impossible this is for a
man to believe apart from a work of sovereign grace in his heart.
When our Lord went to the cross of Calvary 2,000 years ago, gave
up His life, was buried, and rose again from the dead, all
for whom He performed this work were immediately, completely,
and summarily justified. They were justified. No human
input or fingerprints can be found around that place or found
upon this glorious work. Though the Bible teaches that
we are justified by faith, it is not faith that justifies.
Faith embraces the report of an already accomplished justification. It is God that justified, and
that by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before we existed,
ere we breathed our first breath, or conjured up our first cogent
thought, or any synapses snapped in our brain, We were fully and
completely justified if we were counted in that number for whom
He died. In fact, there's a very real
element that teaches that we were justified before God made
the worlds. Because Christ is the Lamb of
God slain from the foundation of the world. Paul told Timothy,
God has saved us. and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world
began. How did we get it when we didn't
exist? We got it because in God's mind and purpose we did exist.
We just hadn't come to fruition at that point, hadn't been born
into this world. We were given that. What? Justification. It is God that justifies. Man
is not justified by works of the law, he's justified by Jesus
only. That's what the book of Galatians
and Colossians are written about. By the faith of Jesus Christ.
That means by the work, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this flies in the face of the morality purveyors of religion. And though they may gripe and
moan and put forth their warped teaching, nothing is ever changed. This is how it is. On that cruel
tree, Jesus Christ justified his people. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised for our justification. That's a done
deal. A done deal. When were we justified? When God justified us. Before
the foundation of the world on Calvary Street. We're justified by Jesus only.
No other justification. Secondly, it is Jesus Christ
only for sanctification. Sanctification. Sanctification
is the act of God whereby he declares that all for whom Christ
died are holy. They are. You can look at old
Bill. You know what he is. You know
what he's like. Debbie could tell you some things. You're looking at one whom God
looks at and says, there's one of my holy children. He's holy. Completely holy. Not on the way to it. Not progressing
every day. He is holy. Men balk at this
because it removes that notion that they are somehow progressing
and getting better. People think I'm getting better.
You're not getting any better. Adam will never get better. Adam's a pig. You can put lipstick
on him if you want to, but he's still going to be a pig. The
snake sheds his skin, but underneath he's still a snake. That's what
we are by nature. God's children do grow in the
grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's clear in
Scripture. But they do not get better. They do not get any better
than they are. Not any better than they were
made at Calvary. Because they were made holy. And that's not a matter of grease.
There's no grease of holiness. You can't get holier. God doesn't
command His people to progress in holiness or to get holier
or try to be holier. God says, be holy. That's a state
of existence. That's a state of being. Be ye
holy, for I am holy. Christ is the believer's holiness.
God said, Be ye holy. Well, how's that going to be?
Look at me. God has made Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Right now, you're as holy as
you're ever going to be. When you get the glory, you ain't
going to be no holier. Only thing is, you're going to
leave some stuff behind. You're going to leave your flesh
behind, your carnal nature behind. But you ain't gonna be more holy
before God. You're perfectly holy right now. You are holy in Christ. Let men
cavort on the playground trampolines of progressive sanctification
as they want to. I know a lot of them that do. But they are
under the law when they do that. And therefore, according to Scripture,
they are still under the dominion of sin. And they are without
Christ. That's the language of Scripture.
Paul says sin no longer has dominion over us. Why? Because we've progressed
in holiness. Did he say that? Sin no longer
shall have dominion over us because we're getting better every day.
We're becoming super-Christians. We're going into a deeper life
and a higher life. We're reaching ethereal planes
of glory as we walk upon the face of the earth. Paul says,
we're not under the dominion of sin. Sin no longer has dominion
over us because we're under grace. Under grace, the unmerited favor
of God. So what does that mean when we
hear the words, grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ? What does that mean? That's an oxymoronic phrase. You think about it. We think
of growth as this way. And if you grow in grace, which
is unmerited favor, it's this way. Grow in unmerited favor. Grow in unmerited favor. Donny
Bell said it the best way I know how. I can't say it as good as
he did. He says, growth in grace is like a cow's tail. It gets
longer, but it gets closer to the ground. That's what it is
to grow in unmerited favor. Christ is my holiness. And before God, I am a holy man. That's almost too much to get
a hold of, isn't it? Two wonderful four words. The
name whereby he shall be called is the Lord our righteousness.
The name by which she shall be called is the Lord our righteousness. Thirdly, it is Jesus only for
the object of life. For the object of life. We can
trace almost all of our problems to the fact that our view of
this life and in this life is mostly horizontal. Almost all
our problems. You know this to be true. When
you're here and Brother Bill is preaching and you're worshiping
God, you got any problems? Think about it. You're seeing
Christ. You don't care about nothing
but that. That's all that matters. You're rejoicing. You're happy.
You're at peace because you're seeing Him who's altogether lovely.
You're seeing Him. All this stuff's going on out
the world. You've got to walk through those doors and face
it again. But in those moments, when you're worshiping God, when
you're bowed down to Him, when you're giving praise and thanksgiving
to His name, nothing's wrong in the world. Everything's right
in your mind and your heart. Why, you could just be taken
to heaven right now. Who would care? And then we take our eyes off
of Him. And problems ensue. Oh, Scott, you say, oh, if I
could just fill my vision with Christ. my peripheral vision,
what I see behind me, what I see before me, what I see, if I could
just feel my vision with Christ, there would be no problems in
this world. There would be. Christ only is
the object of life. And we are thrust into sorrow
and depression by about everything we see. We curse second causes,
unfortunately. and forget the first cause of
all things is God. We go through trials and tribulations
and troubles and we think, how can I make it through this? How
can I make it through this? Problem is we're looking at the
trial. And we're that way, we will.
We will. It's Christ only. The reason for everything is
not on this earth. It is elsewhere. It is in divine providence. It
is the purpose number of breaths of every creature, the hairs
on their head, the events of life. Shakespeare was not far
off when he said that the whole world was a stage and men were
just actors playing parts. Providence is nothing more than
God using all that He has made to bring all things to their
appointed end, and the Lord of Providence is Jesus only. He's the Lord of Providence.
Our Lord said, when some men mocked His preaching because
He was too kind, they said, He's like playing a flute. Ain't much
to him. And they mocked John the Baptist preaching because
it was so harsh. He said, oh, he wants us to mourn.
We ain't going to mourn. We ain't going to do that. We're
going to not dance to Jesus too. We're not going to mourn because
of John. Our Lord lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
Lord of glory, thank you. that you have hidden these things
from the wise and the prudent, and have given them unto babes.
Even so, Lord, it seemed good in thy sight." John the Baptist,
who never did a miracle, but everything he said about Christ
was true, it says in Scripture. John the Baptist says God has
put everything in the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are in Him. He loves the Son. He'd given
Christ authority over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as God has given Him. Look over to Ecclesiastes just
for a moment. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, we
were talking about there was someone at the table last night.
I can't remember. It might have been Kitty. I believe it was Kitty. I don't
remember, but I think it was. Verse 11 says, he hath made everything
beautiful in his town. How can that be? Think about it. Think about what's
going on in our land of America today. Right now, there's people gathered
at the Capitol building, Lincoln Memorial. Fellas gathered a whole
bunch of people there to talk about the honor, restoring honor
to America. And I hope it works. Boy, do
I hope it works. Things are going haywire. We're
pulling our troops out of Iraq. More are going into Afghanistan.
There's all kinds of trouble in the world. How does God describe
that? It's beautiful. In this time. Everything. We don't get it. But we're not
supposed to get it. You see, what we deal with is
God's hinder parts. We can't see Him face to face.
We can only see His hinder parts. That which He's done, we can
understand and appreciate. That's what is in this book.
What He's doing, you can't get into that. You don't want to
know what He's doing. I'm convinced. I don't want to know what he's
doing. I know people like to say, well, God's working on that
fellow. You don't know that. I can tell by the look on his
face. He's got a sad look on his face. Well, he might have
a stomachache or a toothache. God's working on him. You don't
know that. What's God doing? I don't know.
And I don't want to know. Because I'm convinced if he told
me what he's doing, I'd probably be really mad at him. Of course, some things happen
in this world I don't particularly like as a human being, but it's beautiful before God because
it's all the plan working out just as He sees fit. And ain't nothing new. Ain't
nothing new. Look down at verse 15. That which
has been is now. That which has been is now. Well,
that sounds kind of philosophical. Well, if you want to make it
that you can, it's just God's Word. That which has been is now. And
that which is to be has already been. And God required that which
has passed. That which happened years ago,
centuries ago, eternities ago, is now. That which is now, that's already
happened. What does that mean? Everything's beautiful. Why? Because everything's in Jesus
Christ. That's where God's put everything. Where he put everything. This is life, you see. Set your
affection on things above and not on things of the earth. Look
to where Christ is, at the right hand of the Father. He is our
life. And when He who is our life shall
appear, we shall appear with Him also. That's what the Scripture
says. Mortify your deeds of the flesh.
How? By looking at the deeds of the flesh. Well, I have a
problem with this. I'm going to look at this problem. No. Look to
Christ. The deeds of the flesh are not
mortified by looking at the deeds of the flesh. That's things of
the earth. He said, don't look down here, look up yonder. Well, how are these mortified
if we don't mortify them? You mortify them, they're mortified
by looking to Christ because they're starved for affection. We don't give them any time.
Because we're looking at Christ. When we're looking at Christ,
we don't have problems with the flesh. I'm telling you, we don't
have problems with the flesh. So, well, I have so many problems.
Well, you're looking at the wrong place. Christ as the object of our life,
the object of our vision, Jesus only. God has invested all that
is in time and eternity into this glorious, singular, wondrous
person. Be about the business of looking
to Him. Look to Him. Go vertical. The object of life is Jesus only. Sanctification is Jesus only. Justification is Jesus only. Oh, I wish I believed that, don't
you? God bless you.