See you again this evening. And
as we've said before, and thankfully are able to say again. How we thank our God, our Lord,
our Savior. For allowing us the privilege.
To be able to assemble ourselves together. In his name. This is a miracle of God's grace
that there's a place where we can come. People think that you
can just go anywhere and hear the gospel preached. It's just not so. The wonder of this blessed message,
free grace, sovereign grace, We're here this evening to remember
our Lord. We're going to. Lord willing. Partake of the Lord's table in
a few minutes. Before you before we do, I'd
like to read a passage of scripture. We'll ask the Lord's blessing
and I want to make a few comments. Turn with me to Matthew 17. I'd
like to read verses one to five. Matthew 17. Matthew 17 verse 1, And after
six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,
and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured
before them. And his face did shine as the
sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there
appeared unto them Moses, and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter and said
unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If Thou wilt,
let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the
cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye Him." Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank You this
evening for the privilege to read Your Word and for a heart
that would hear. We thank You that You have permitted
us this evening to assemble in the name of the blessed Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, Your Son, that we can assemble ourselves
together in obedience to His command to partake of the table,
the bread and the wine in remembrance of Him. Lord, would You bless
Your Word to our hearts cause us to hear, cause us to rejoice,
comfort our hearts. Without You we can do nothing.
For Christ's sake we ask these things. Amen. The only way that we can remember the Lord, the Lord said, we'll
read that passage of Scripture again in a moment, This do in
remembrance of me, speaking of His death. The only way we can remember
is to first be taught, be taught, and then have the Spirit of God
bring to our remembrance, bring to our memory the things that
the Lord Jesus Christ has said. Now we've got five verses tonight
that I want to just make a few comments on and then we'll eat
at the Lord's table. And I pray that through these
five verses we learn something of His glory, His honor, His
sovereignty. After six days, Jesus taketh
Peter and James and John his brother, and bringeth them up
into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them,
and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white
as the light." Three of his disciples were at
the transfiguration. He was transfigured. He was unveiled. Now these three
men, Peter, James, and John, were also going to be present
with Him at Gethsemane. Those were the three that He
would take with Him. Now, from this verse, we behold
the mercy of our Lord to prepare these men for what they were
going to witness. They were going to be with Him
in that great evening of trial while He was under great suffering and He allowed them the privilege
to be able to see Him transfigured before them and to allow them
the privilege to behold something of His indescribable glory. Our Lord is merciful, merciful
to His people. We are going to go through trials
and tribulations. If you be without chastisement,
you're none of His. Do you know why we suffer? Do
you know why we go through trials, agonies, and afflictions? It is that He might prove to
you His sufficiency. He'll keep you. He's faithful. Without Him, we can do nothing.
He's faithful. He's going to show you the sufficiency
of His grace in keeping you in the midst of trials and tribulations.
There's nothing that proves the faithfulness of God like trials
and tribulations. Here the Lord was pleased to
manifest Himself in both of His natures. Peter later wrote in 2 Peter
1.16, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when
we made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. That's what Peter
said. I saw Him. I was there. I was on that mountain. So we
learn, first of all, in remembrance of our Lord, His sufficiency,
His grace, His mercy. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. And here He was preparing them. He knew what they were going
to go through. He knew what they were going to witness. He knew that they would be there
at His crucifixion. Though they would stand afar
off, though they would later flee, He never left them. He doesn't
leave His people. I'm telling you, Almighty God
is faithful, faithful, faithful. And when you behold the wonder
of His sustaining grace, the Spirit of God teaches you that.
He keeps you, sustains you, holds you. And you're comforted in
that. Have you ever watched a believer
go through a great trial? Maybe for yourself, but for me
it's always, I see a believer go through a great trial. And
I see that the joy, the sustaining grace of God, and it comforts
me. I'm comforted. The Lord keeps
His people. Well, while they were on that
mountain of transfiguration, it said in verse 3, And behold,
there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, Elijah, talking with
him, talking with the Lord. Now there they were, the Lord
before their very eyes. See, Scripture says His face Did shine as the sun as raiment,
was white as the light. And there was Moses and Elijah talking
with the Lord. Now Moses had been dead at this
time almost 1,500 years. And Elijah about 900 years. Now here's what we're taught.
from that Scripture right there, verse 3. First of all, that there
is a glorious existence for God's people, God's elect, those that
He's everlastingly loved, those that He said, I'll never leave
you and I'll never forsake you. There's a glorious existence after this life, after they leave this world. This is what Luke said concerning
Moses and Elijah. Luke 9, 30, 31, And behold, there
talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared
in glory, that is, in a glorious state, and spake of his decease,
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Now, as to this glorious state,
they appeared in glory, Luke said. Now, of that glorious state,
now, there's no way in the world that we can speak expressly. I mean, I don't know, I can't
tell you exactly That state. I can read the words. They appeared
in glory. John, who was there, wrote this
in 1 John 3. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And I don't doubt for one second
that when he wrote this, he wrote this thinking, being taught. He was there and he saw. He said there was two men there,
Moses and Elias. There appeared unto them Moses
and Elias, talking with the Lord. John said, Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear. That means it
is not fully revealed. What we shall be, but we know
that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall
see Him as He is. So here's what I know. Here's
what I know. Here's what I can remember concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. He, the Lord Himself, shall make us fit, or proper,
after we leave this world, to live with Him forever. Now, we're
in a, right now, We're in a body and it's fitted to live in this
world. We're breathing air and we're
eating food. This body is suited. It doesn't
yet appear what we shall be, but we know. For all those that
Almighty God has everlastingly loved, chosen in Christ, Christ
redeemed, those that He's set His affection on everlastingly,
He's going to make them to be like Him. Paul said in Philippians 3, 20
and 21, for our conversations in heaven From whence also we
look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue
all things to Himself." So I know this from that verse 3 right
there. There appeared unto them, Moses
and Elias, talking with Him. I know that there is a glorious
existence. For God's people, God's elect,
it's going to be like Him. That's what Paul said. He's going
to change our vile body and it's going to make it just like His. Also, from that verse right there,
verse 3, we can conclude this, that the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ all those that God has given
Christ, all those that He gave to the Son in electing grace,
the Church, the Bride, His Beloved, all of them shall rise in Christ. They will be raised, and they are going to know each
other. They will know each other. You know, one after another, We've experienced this recently. We've had brethren that the Lord
has gloriously promoted and taken out of this world. What a blessing. What a glorious
blessing. We're not as others that have
no hope. I'm telling you, we are convinced
absent from this body, present with our Lord. So one after another,
as the Lord removes out of this state, we bury those. We bury, well, the Scripture
calls it a vile body, a body that is sown in weakness, a body
that is powerless, corruptible. And we don't see that body anymore. That body returns to the dust.
That's what Scripture says. But let me ask you this. Will they really live again? Will we really see them again? Will the grave really give back
the dead in that last day? That's what Scripture says. This
body sown in weakness, raised in power, raised in glory. And
it's going to be changed. It's going to be changed. And
here was two men. If you had no other Scripture,
someone must say, well, yeah, but that's the only Scripture
that's in the Bible that even talks about two people that had
ever died and was standing there Peter, James and John saw them
and they were talking to the Lord. That's the only one that's
in there. How many times do you have to
say it? There was two men that had died. One of them was taken up in a
chariot of fire, a whirlwind, Elijah. Moses died and God buried
him. Nobody ever saw where he was
buried except God. And here they are. standing here in glorious bodies, that's what
Luke said, standing there in glory, and had long separated
from this world. And Peter, James, and John knew
them, never met them, and they knew who they were. I'll tell you though, unseen
to us now, Almighty God sees. And the third thing I know from
that third verse is that we'll have intimate communion with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here they were. Talking. Moses and Elijah talking
to the one that had everlastingly loved him. And would never forsake
him. They said, how can you? How can
you? Call to memory all the reasons. How can you explain all this?
I don't explain any of it. I'm telling you that the Scripture
says that, Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking
with him. What we do is we bow. There was two men right there
that Almighty God had shown mercy to. Mercy and compassion. And there they were talking. Luke says, concerning the Lord's
decease, we're talking about His death, that He should accomplish
in Jerusalem. Intimate. Intimate communion. Think about this. The One that
walked this earth almost 2,000 years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ
that Peter, James, and John saw, heard, handled with the Word
of Life. You're going to see Him. You'll see Him. And be with Him. Be as He is. 1 Thessalonians 4 17, Then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever
be with the Lord. And I looked it up. It means
a companion will ever be with Him. Verse 4 says, Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If
Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and
one for Moses and one for Elias. I don't doubt for one second
that these three men were in awe of what was going on in front
of them. Can you imagine? These men were just like us. They were just men. Believers. Saved by the grace of God. And
before their very eyes, the Lord Jesus Christ was transfigured.
And there He was. And then there's Moses and Elijah
standing there. been gone hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years. And they were listening to Moses
and Elijah talk to the Lord about the Lord's death. And Peter spoke up and he said,
Lord, if you will, we could make three tabernacles,
one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. I don't doubt for a second that
he spoke before he thought. But here was Moses. Picture, type of the law. There's the Lord of glory that
fulfilled it. It was ended with him. And here
was Elijah, representative of all the prophets. And there was
the fulfillment. Fulfillment of all the prophecies. There He was right there. Can
we make three tabernacles? One for you, Moses, Elijah. There were three men that witnessed
the glory of the Lord, the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter
said, We beheld His glory. No one, surely no one, would
ever behold His glory. Surely no one would ever see
Him like that. No one would ever actually see
as Moses and Elijah. No one would ever look at that
and then deny Him, would they? Surely not. And I'm telling you, it wasn't
very long. Now, you remember, this is Peter. Lord, it's good
that we're here. It's good that we're here. Let's
make three tabernacles. And not long after this, the
Lord told Peter, when Peter told him, he said, I'll never deny
you. I will never, never deny you. And the Lord told him, he said,
Peter, before the cock, Crows twice this night, tonight. You'll deny me three times. It was Peter that saw His glory, saw His majesty,
sat there and watched Moses and Elijah talk to Him. Men that
had been dead for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.
And there the Lord allowed them to see something, had their eyes
opened to behold something that they couldn't have seen that,
except He showed that to them. And Peter made that statement,
let's build three tabernacles, Lord, if you will. And not long
after denied Him, do you know Him? I don't even know the man.
A maiden came up to him. Your speech betrays you. I said,
I don't know him. Another one came up. You were with him. I saw you
were with him. And he swore. I said, I don't know him. About
that time, that rooster crowed that second time. And one of
the riders says, and the Lord looked at him, I thought to myself, do you think
he wanted to crawl in a hole? It was Peter that wrote these
words after what he learned. This do in remembrance of me.
It was Peter that wrote these words. 1 Peter 1.5, who were
kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to
be revealed in the last time. Peter learned that from experience.
Let me ask you this. How many times have we denied
Him? How many times have we failed? How many times through sins of
omission or commission? How many times who are kept by
the power of God? Well, Peter was talking. He was talking, Lord, it's good.
Let's build three tabernacles, one for You and one for Moses
One for Elias in the Scripture says, verse 5, And while he yet
spake, while he was speaking and not thinking, while he was
speaking, God was listening. The Father
heard, and the Father spoke, and they heard. The scripture
says, While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them,
and behold, a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my
beloved Son. Three glorious truths. I'm going
to just tell you what they are right quick. Set forth in that
last verse, This is my beloved Son. Here's the glorious truth
in remembering Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, I'll tell you something. I can't enter into that, into
the depth of that. I believe it. Our Savior is Almighty
God. Our Husband is Almighty God. Our righteousness is the righteousness
of God. I'm not talking about the righteousness
that I can produce. I possess the righteousness,
I believe in five points of Calvinism. I believe in these five precious
doctrines. But I'm going to tell you something.
My righteousness is not found in knowing five doctrines, five
points. It's in the God Almighty of whom
those doctrines speak. I heard Brother Henry say one
time, he said, I heard someone say that prayer changes things.
Prayer doesn't change anything. The God to whom we pray, He does. He works all things. after the
counsel of his own will. This is my beloved son. The Lord Jesus Christ is one
with the Father. He said, You see me? You've seen
the Father. I and my Father are one. Can
you explain the Trinity? I can't. I cannot. Hebrews 1.3 says, Who being the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,
and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had
by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high. That's too glorious for me to
enter into. It does not yet appear. In the beginning was the Word.
And the word was with God and the word was God. Can you explain that? I tell
you what I can do. I can bow and I can say, Lord,
in my little fickle mind, I can't. I come to you, Lord, help me.
Help me. The Jews got mad at him, John
5, 18. Therefore, the Jews sought to
kill him because he had broken, not only broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. Because he is God. This is my
beloved son. Here's the second thing I know. In whom I am well pleased. In
whom I am well pleased. In whom. The Father is pleased with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
I'm going to tell you something. We know, and it goes without
saying, you know as God He's pleased with God because He's
God. But I'll tell you something else.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. In verse 14 of John 1 says, And
the Word was made flesh, and He dwelt among us. We beheld His glory. And he did
always only those things that pleased his father. And he is
the God-man mediator. And he walked totally God, totally man. One person. God-man. And he fulfilled every jot and
every tittle of the law As our federal head, he came into this
world to represent, to live for, and to die for those that the
Father had given him. He came into this world to seek
and to save his people, his sheep. That's who he lived for. That's
who he died for. And that which he did and accomplished
in this life as our representative, the representative of the church,
the bride, the elect, the chosen, His people, God's elect. He lived
for them and fulfilled every jot and tittle of God's law.
He obeyed God's law and He's the end of the law for righteousness. As I said last week, what's left
for you to do? Nothing. What's left for you to do for
righteousness before God Almighty? in the fulfilling and obeying
of God's law. Nothing. Nothing. Christ is the
end. I was walking, and this is a
wall. That's as far as I'm going. He's
the end of the law. That's it. He's the end of the
law. The law has no call for obedience toward me. Christ is
the end of the law. But I'm a sinner. And that which
I've done before Almighty God is going to be paid for. And
the law demands, demands justice. The law demands justice. And
He hath made him sin, who knew no sin. He hath made
him sin for us, who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. I'm telling you, I needed obedience
to the law. He is my obedience to the law. And I needed the law to be satisfied
for that which I've committed. And He's both of them. And without Him, I can do nothing. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. The Father entrusted the Lord
Jesus Christ with the souls of all that the Father had set His
affection on. And He looked to the Son. He
looked to the God-man mediator. He looked to His blessed Son
for obedience to His law. And He said, I do only, always,
those things that please Him. And the Father's epitaph to Him
in whom I'm well pleased. And you know He's well pleased
with him. But I want you to look at that phrase there one more
time. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. He's satisfied with everybody
in Him. in whom, this is my beloved Son, in whom He's satisfied with
Him and He's satisfied with His people. He's satisfied with His
elect because His righteousness is imputed to them. When He obeyed,
being found in Him, we obeyed. When He lived, we lived. When
He walked, we walked. When He died, we died. When He
was buried, we were buried. When He was raised, we were raised. I'll tell you this. Who shall
separate us from the love of God? Here's the third and last remembrance. Hear ye Him. Hear ye Him. Being God, man, mediator. The one who alone Jehovah is
pleased with. Listen to no other. I want you to just look at two
verses of Scripture. Romans 1, verses 1 to 3, and
then one in Galatians. Romans 1. I've said this before. If somebody were to come up and
ask you by and large, you say, Do you believe the gospel? I'd
say, yeah, oh yeah, I believe the gospel. And you'd ask, well,
what is it? Do you believe the gospel? I
believe the gospel. Tell me what the gospel is. Tell
me what the gospel is. Here it is right here. Romans
1, verses 1 to 3. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which
he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
Here it is. Here's the gospel. It's concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. The gospel of God is the declaration. It's the declaration of what
Almighty God has eternally purposed to do according to His will and
His counsel and His goodness, His choice, is what God Almighty
has purposed to do in the accomplishment of the redemption of His people
by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And He accomplished it
in Him when the Lord said, It's finished, it's finished. Almighty
God saves His people. He saves His
people. It's not left up to their little
fickle ability of free will. God Almighty saves them. I shall
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people. He shall save His people. And
this declaration is set forth, the gospel, the good news. God
has a purpose. God has a will. God loves a people. God has chosen to save a people
and to redeem them by the blood of his blessed Son who would
be made flesh in time, eternally though. He saw that bloodshed
slain from the foundation of the world, an almighty God. saves His people. Now, when I said it's that part,
I'm reading, hear ye Him. Look at Galatians 1.8. And we'll eat together. Galatians
1.8. What did I just read in Romans
1, verses 1 to 3? Paul was separated unto the gospel
of God, and this gospel is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, of the
flesh. God who does as he will, when
he will, how he will. Now listen to Paul speaking of
these Galatians. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we preached
unto you, let him be accursed. There is but one true gospel. It is the gospel of God's grace,
the gospel of God's will, the gospel of God's purpose. And
when you hear Him, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well
pleased, you hear Him. He was the one that said, All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out." You hear that? It was the Lord Jesus
Christ that looked to some Pharisees, Gary, and said, you believe not
because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. My sheep
hear this report. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. Everyone that Almighty God calls
out of darkness is going to believe this gospel. Someone might say, well, are
you saying that unless I believe the gospel of God's free grace,
are you saying that unless I believe this gospel right here, that
I'm not going to be converted unless I believe this gospel
and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ as He's revealed in this?
Is that what you're saying? I said, no, that's not what I
said. That's what God said. That's
what God said. The Holy Spirit moved upon Paul
the Apostle to say this, though we are an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've preached
unto you. Let him be a curse. You hear him. Does it matter
what you hear? Yes, sir, it matters what you
hear. His voice is heard in the preaching of the gospel, his
voice is heard in the preaching of that which magnifies him. Salvation is of the Lord. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. You hear Him. Now this evening,
we're here to eat and drink in remembrance of our Lord. And
we bow before Him with thankfulness and appreciation that we can
remember Him. This is the way that He said
that we remember Him. And this ordinance, this is an
ordinance. A person that the Lord calls
out spiritual darkness and reveals to them their need of Him, they're
to be baptized. They confess the Lord openly
in baptism. And for baptized believers, We
eat of the Lord staple. I'll ask the man if they'll come.
We'll really.