Good to see you. Glad to be here.
I know I speak on behalf of Brother Marvin. that we're just so glad
to be able to, so happy to be able to help Gabe out this morning. Been a very busy time for him
and Hannah, as you know. So we're just happy to, I'd rather
be, we'd rather be sitting and listening to him. But we're happy
to help out. Turn with me to the Gospel of
Luke chapter six. The Gospel of Luke chapter six. This story, this book, this gospel,
the whole Bible book is about Jesus Christ. It all speaks of
him. This is a him book, it really
is. Read with me the text, what we're
gonna look at this morning, beginning with verse 12, Luke 6, verse
12 through 19. It came to pass in those days
that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night
in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called
unto him his disciples, and of them he chose 12, whom also he
named apostles. Simon, whom he also named Peter,
Andrew, his brother, James, and John, Philip, and Bartholomew,
Matthew, and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called
Zelotes, and Judas, the brother of James, And Judas Iscariot,
which also was a traitor, and he, Lord Jesus Christ, came down
with them and stood in the plain in the company of his disciple. And a great multitude of people
out of all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre
and Sidon, far away, which came to hear him, and to be healed
of their diseases. And they that were vexed with
unclean spirits, and they were healed. The whole multitude sought
to touch him, for there went virtue out of him and healed
them all. Did you notice how many times
it said he, him, his? To him give all the prophets
witness. Romans 11 says of him. and through
him and to him are all things, to whom that is him be glory
forever and ever. God the Father said, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. Let all the angels, scripture
says, of God worship him. Scripture says, all that dwell
in the earth shall worship him. This is a hymn book. It's all
about hymn. Eternal life is to know hymn,
hymn, to believe hymn, to be found in hymn. And so what do
we preach? Not what, hymn. We preach hymn. That's who your pastor preaches,
not what, hymn. We preach hymn. We sing of hymn,
don't we? We pray through him. Someone, our Lord invented English,
the English language. At the Tower of Babel is when
languages were changed all over the earth. And our Lord made
the English language, and this is no accident, no accident. that he had someone give this
word that describes spiritual songs of praise and thanksgiving. We called him, we sing what?
Hymns. That's no accident, that's provident.
So we preach hymn, this is a hymn book. I wasn't much interested
in math in school, although, My wife depends on a calculator
and others, and I can pretty much add and subtract in my head.
But I was interested in English. I now know why. Why? Because
words and speaking is now my vocation. But I do know this
about the English grammar. There are pronouns, what are
called pronouns. First person pronouns, I, me, and my, right? Second person is you, yours.
Third person pronouns are he, him, and his, right? There are no first person pronouns
here in this story. I, me, and my. It's all he, him,
and his. 20 times in the first 19 verses,
20 pronoun, third person pronoun. It's all about him. That's the
subject of this book and every other book. It's about him, he,
him, and his. This is his story. Look at verse
13. When it was day, he called unto
him his disciples. And of them, he chose 12. In this story, it will be very
clear to those who know him and understand the truth. Who it
is that does the saving, who it is that did the choosing,
who it is that did the calling, who it is that saves sinners,
it's him. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. All
right, let's begin in verse 12. Just go verse by verse and word
by word. Verse 12, it came to pass Now
stop right there. All words are significant, and
I know you've dwelt on that. It came to pass. All that is
written of him is, shall, come to pass. Has, is, and shall come
to pass. And it's all written of him.
Of him give all the prophets witness. Listen to that. Isaiah
14, 24. The Lord of hosts hath sworn,
saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. As I have purposed it, so shall
it stand. The Lord of hosts hath purposed
it, who shall disannoy it? His hand is stretched out, who
shall turn it back? So it came to pass. Everything
concerning our Lord Jesus Christ has, is, and shall come to pass. In the volume of the book, it's
written of him. They're singing right now unto
Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. This is a hymn book. Look at
verse 12. It came to pass in those days, the very days which
God purposed before time began, before there were days. The very
days which God purposed before time for Christ to come and do
His work, He came. In the fullness of time, He came. He came. And there's coming a
day when Christ shall come again. And these are those last days.
So in those days he came, he came to do his work. Verse 12,
it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain
to pray. I'll stop right there. He came
into a mountain. It's fitting that he who dwelled
on high should dwell in the mountains when he came down here. It's
a fitting place, isn't it, for the lofty one? Listen, Zechariah
14.4, his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. Listen to Isaiah, how beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. Isn't it fitting that he should
dwell in the mountains in a lofty place? That's fitting, a fitting
place for the king. And yet the highest place on
earth, the highest place on earth is condescension for him who
left the heavens, who sat on the right hand of the majesty
on high. To come down to this place, the highest place on earth
was infinite condescension for him. And yet he deserves the
highest praise and the highest blessing. All right, verse 12.
And so it came to pass in those days, he went out into a mountain
to pray and he continued all night in prayer to God, all night
in prayer. Though he was in the Father,
one with the Father, he prayed, he prayed. Though knowing all
things that would come to pass, though he purposed all things,
he prayed, he prayed. How much more should we pray?
Doesn't he tell us that men ought always to pray? Doesn't the scriptures
tell us to pray without ceasing? He did, he did. What did he pray? Why did he pray so long? Why
did he continue all night in prayer? What was he praying of?
Oh my, the magnitude of the work that was before him. All that
he must do by himself. all that he must fulfill, every
jot and tittle of the law, by his knowledge, scripture says,
shall my righteous servant justify many. This is his work, this
is what he came to do by himself. He prayed all night, all the,
oh, the magnitude of the work before him, all the people, all
the sheep that he must seek and find. He said, other sheep I
hather, not of this fold, them I must bring. All the sheep he
must seek. All the sheep he must find. All
the people he must call. All that he must do to save his
people. It's all him. And so he prayed
all night long. And he was a man. He was flesh
and blood, like us. He grew weary. Amazing. He took on the the likeness of
sinful flesh, yet without sin. And he grew weary, touched in
all points like as we are. He grew weary and he needed strength. So he called upon the Father
to strengthen him, to help him in this work that he was to do.
How much more? Do we need to call and pray without
seeing sin? He continued all night. How much
more should we do so? So he continued all night long
in prayer. And even now, scripture said,
he ever liveth to make intercession for us. That's something that
he continued all night. Look at verse 13. So when it
was day, stop right there. The sun arose. The sun arose,
which speaks of who? Him, who is the son of righteousness,
arisen with healing in his wing. What we need to do every day,
is everything on this earth, all creation, speaks of who?
Him. And when the sun rises, and we
see that sun first thing in the morning, we need to speak of
him. We need to pray through him.
He's the son of righteousness. When it was day, the sun arose,
all right? He was in the night, at dark,
and it says in verse 13, when it was day, daylight, he called
unto him his disciple. And it was day, he called unto
him his disciple. Look at Mark chapter three with
me. Gospel of Mark chapter three. This is another account, Mark's
account of this same story. So it was dark and it became
day and he called his disciples. Well this is he who in the beginning,
when darkness was over the face of the water, what happened? He said, let there be light.
He called light out of darkness. And he's about to call his disciples
out of darkness into his marvelous light. He calls his disciples. Look at Mark chapter three. I
love this. I'll never forget the first time
I read this. Verse 13. He goeth up into a mountain and
calleth unto him whom he would. It's His choice and it's His
calling. And what happened? They came. Where'd they come? Unto Him.
Unto Him. And He ordained 12 that they
should be with Him. That's what salvation's all about.
And verse 14 says, and that He might send them forth to preach.
Well, what did He send them to preach? Him. Him. Go back to the text now, Luke
chapter 6. So He called unto Him. Now look who He called and
He named them apostles. He chose 12, verse 13 of our
text, and he named them apostles, his messengers, messengers of
Christ, apostles preached Christ. Look at it, verses 14 through
16. Simon, whom he also named, he changed his name to Peter,
rock. Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew. Matthew and Thomas, James, the
son of Alphaeus, Simon called Zelote, Judas, the brother of
James, Judas Iscariot, which also was a traitor. He chose
all of them, and he even chose his traitor. He chose who would
betray him. But he's the one that called
them. He's the one that chose them. He's the one that named
him. These are his elect. John 10 verse three says, he
calleth his own sheep by name, and he leadeth them. He leadeth
them. Now these were different men,
weren't they? Men, mind you. Different men,
had different names, different kindred, and he calls from all
over the world, different tongues, different nations, had different
personalities, but they all had one thing in common. He chose
them. He called them. He saved them. Okay, they were different, and
they became his disciples. It says, he called unto him his
disciple. They're all different, but they
have this one thing in common. They're his elect, they're his
chosen. In the revelation, it says those
that are with him are called, chosen, and faithful. Faithful
to what? To him, to his glory, his honor.
But they're different, different personality. I thought about
this. You know, who are these men?
Well, Peter and Andrew, his brother, are fishermen. James and John,
they're fishermen. And Matthew was a publican. He
was a CPA, an accountant. What do you think they thought
of each other before he called them? Don't you think Andrew
and Simon Peter looked down on old Matthew, that tax collector? He ain't never caught a fish
in his life. He doesn't know nothing about nothing. Well,
that's what Matthew thought about them. They smell like fish. They
don't know anything. They can't count. They don't
know anything about money and finance and all that. They maybe
despised one another, had nothing in common, looked down on one
another, but grace changed all that, didn't it? Grace is the
great leveler. Now they're all nothing, and
he's everything, Christ is everything. Now they're nothing but sinners
saved by the grace of God. You see your calling, brethren?
Not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. Oh, it's him. It's his working. Now look at
verse 17. And this is where I wanna finish
this message out and dwell on. This is wonderful. Verse 17. And he came down with them. And he came down. He was in the
mountain. He who dwelled on high came down
on the mountain to dwell with these lowly sinners. Isn't that
grace? Isn't that mercy? Listen to Ephesians
chapter four. It says, when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive, gave gifts unto men, preachers,
pastors, and so forth, apostles. Now, that he ascended, what is
it but first that he also Descending into the lower parts of the earth,
what condescension that Christ would come down to this place. Why did he come down? To be with
them, to be with us, to dwell among the sinner. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world. Scriptures calls it this present
evil world. to save sinners, to be with them,
to stand for them. And it says, he descended the
same who ascended far above all things that he might fill and
fulfill all things, he first descended into this earth. And for Christ to come to this
place and live here for 33 years, it's infinite condescension.
It's like for us to dwell in a septic tank. for 33 years. That's a fact.
That's a fact. Everything was an offense to
His holy nature. But He came down here for sinners.
He came down to them. He came for us. He came where
we are to, our text says, to be with them, to dwell with them. This is God manifest in the flesh. The Lord of hosts is with us,
Psalm 46 says. that God of Jacob is our refuge,
he's with us. And his last words in Matthew
were this, what? Lo, I'm with you always, even
to the ends of the earth. He came down to be with them,
and he did, and he never left. We say he did, no he didn't.
I'm with you always, even to the ends of the earth. And He
saved these people to bring them unto Himself that we might be
with Him forever in glory. Verse 17. So He came down with
them and stood in the plain. He stood. Listen again, Zechariah
14.4. His feet shall stand in the latter
day upon the earth and that day upon Mount Zion. He stood upon
this earth. The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifested
in the flesh, stood on this earth. Why? He came down here to stand
for his people. To stand, he stood in the stead
of his people. He stood before God as our covenant
head, the second Adam from above. He stood before the law, perfect,
whole, complete. He stood before the adversary.
Before he called his disciples, he faced our adversary by himself. This is the woman seed. who would
crush the serpent's head and have his heel brewed. This is
he who stood before the adversary, who stood before men and stood
before angels, stood in our stead, stood for his people, the substitute
for sinners. He stood upon this day. Where
do we stand? In him, in him. He stood for
us. Look at these words. He stood
in the plain. This may be a play on words,
but yet scripture speaks of it. He stood in the plain. He was
a plain man. He had flesh and blood, plain. In fact, he was so plain there
was no form or beauty about him that anyone should desire him.
You could not outwardly distinguish him from any other sinner on
this earth. He's not a sinner. but he's in
the likeness of sinful flesh. If you look at a crowd, you could
not pick him out from a crowd. He's just like everybody else,
outwardly, just like that tabernacle in the wilderness. It was a plain
brown tent, wasn't it? It was covered with badger skin,
brown. Our Lord had a brown skin body. He disguised his true person. He covered his glory, his honor,
his Shekinah glory with a plain brown wrapper. And one day he
took up on the mountain three chosen disciples to show them
who he really was and peeled back that robe of flesh, that
covering, and they couldn't look upon him. He who dwelled in light,
which no man can approach unto. They saw him as he is. We will
someday, as he is, but we can't with this robe of flesh. But
he robed himself in a plain, brown wrapper or flesh, like
that tabernacle in the wilderness, that badger skin. And the people
of the world saw no beauty in that tabernacle that they should
go in there. What are all those Israelites,
what are all those Jews so excited about? What are they gathering
around about? That just looks like a tent.
It's not glorious like our temples and our great cathedral. What
are they gathered around about? You gotta come on the inside.
You gotta see what's on the inside. You go through and only those
that are called, those that are chosen go on the inside to see
the glory on the inside. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He stood in plain, a plain man, a plain man. Oh, but God said
he's altogether lovely. All right, now his people see
it. He reveals to his people, his chosen, just like the three
on the mountain, who he really is, his glory, his beauty. Oh
my, the Shekinah glory of God. And he stood in the plain. He
stood, that's a valley is what that is. He came down from the
mountain and stood in a valley. He walked in the valley of the
shadow of death. Why? to be the death of death. That's why he came. He came down
in this valley of the shadow of death to be the death of death,
the substance of his people. And look at this word. It says
he came down to be in the company of his disciple. Company. Heard with me in closing, Psalm
119. Psalm 119. I love these verses,
and I've always applied them to myself, which they do, which
every believer can say this. Our Lord came down in the company
of his disciples. The word company comes from companions,
companion. His companions were his disciples. That's who he spent all his time
with, not the world. He was in the world, he was not
of the world. His companions were those whom he came for.
And those are my companions. Those are our companions, aren't
they, Brother Tony? These people. Well, that's who our Lord's companions
were. But I've always applied these
verses strictly to myself, David. But no, look at it. Psalm 119,
verse 62. He says, at midnight I will arise
to give thanks. He prayed all night, remember?
at midnight I will arise and give thanks unto thee because
of thy righteous judgment. Verse 63, I am a companion of
all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts.
He's in the company of his disciple. Look at verse 73. Verse 73, thy
hands have made me, a body hast thou prepared me, and fashioned
me, give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments.
Christ had to fulfill every jot and tittle of the law, didn't
he? Look at verse 74, and they that fear thee will be glad when
they see me. Oh, they'll be glad when they see
me. Verse 79, let those that fear thee turn unto me. and those that have known my
testimony. So he came down, in our text,
he came down with them, stood in the plain, the company of
his disciple, and a great multitude of people, then and now, and
throughout eternity, They came to hear him, it says. They came
to be healed of him, of their diseases. They came, they were
vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed. By who? By
him, all of them. It says, the whole multitude
sought to touch him. Oh, that we came here today,
as your pastor prayed, that we might hear him, that we might
be touched of him. Why? Because virtue comes out
of him. And everyone that came for that
reason, he healed them all. This is a hymn. It's about him,
he, him, his. Are you one of his? I pray that
you are. May the Lord bless that in his
glory and our, amen.