If you would, turn to Matthew
chapter 14. My text is going to be in Matthew 17. But my pastor
growing up told me, my pastor now reminded me, he said, have
the best notes you can and try not to use them. And I'm in uncharted
territory tonight. But thankfully, it's just us.
I thank the Lord. The Lord blessed me. I read this
in Matthew 17 a few weeks ago there at service. I had to have
Scripture reading. I saw it the day before I was
reading and it just blessed my heart so much and it just sat
with me. Just the Lord's language, the
way He speaks to His children, the way He speaks. It's not the
way we speak. I was in a job a long time ago
and the leader told me, he said, Kevin, don't have weak words.
Our Lord doesn't have weak words, does He? He's not a weak Lord.
He's a strong Lord. He is the Lord. But the simple
things, always grab a hold of me. In Matthew 17, that text
just hit me, and I couldn't shake it for a long time. And then
I was studying, and I thought I had my notes ready. Us men
met this morning for breakfast, and we were chatting, and just
speaking of our lives, how our day-to-day events unfold for
us. And I went home, and I started
reading. I thought, well, I need to have a little bit back to
show the context of that. that passage. And I started going
a little further back. And I started going a little
further back. So we're going to start in Matthew 14 and work our way
to Matthew 17. Don't be afraid. We'll get through
it quick. And this may take 15 minutes. It may take an hour.
I don't know. But just bear with me and we'll get through it.
But we got it. It's just us. We'll be all right,
won't we? I'm convinced of myself, not you. All right. Matthew 14.
There in verse 13, this is after Christ, it says, when Jesus heard
of it, He learned of the death of John the Baptist. He knew
it happened. when they informed Him, when
His servants came to Him. They said, He departed thence
by ship into a desert place apart. He was sanctified. He was set
apart. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed
Him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw
a great multitude and was moved with compassion towards them,
and He healed their sick. That's compassion. If I'm sick
and the Lord heals me, when I'm truly sick, He's compassionate. And when it was evening, verse
15, His disciples came to Him saying, this is a desert place
and the time has now passed. Send the multitude away that
they may go into the villages and buy themselves victuals.
That's where we get the word vittles. They had to go buy dinner,
didn't they? Now this is where this grabbed
me. Have you ever been in trouble?
Has the Lord ever brought you down and corrected you? put you through a trial and then
lifted you back up and you see Christ and you learn something
new of him and then everything's fine. And then what happens? We come down again and we have
to learn again. We have to learn again. Before,
when we were getting ready to come here tonight, I had all
the children, you parents know what I'm talking about. I had
these children, I got them in the room there before we left
and I gave them a talk. So you're going to be on your
best behavior. Now you think I've gave that
to them before? I give it to them a bunch, haven't I? Especially
the older ones. They've heard it a hundred times. And the youngest
one has a whole lot. But what's my job? I have to
keep training them, don't I? We ain't no different than them
children. If we're fortunate and the Lord gives us grace,
we are up to little children, aren't we? But here these disciples
told them, He said, it's getting late, the time's come, send them
away, it's dinner time, go let them eat. And Christ says there
in Matthew 14, 16, but Jesus said unto them, they need not
depart, give them to eat. And they say unto him, we have
here but five loaves and two fishes. We ain't got enough to
feed them people, that's 4,000 or 5,000 men, not counting the
women and children. Christ said, Bring them hither
to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down in the grass. And
they took the five loaves and the two fishes. And looking up
to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples
and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were
filled. And they took up from the fragments
that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten
were about five thousand men and besides women and children.
That was probably 10,000 people or more. They had just those
fish and that bread, and they took up 12 baskets full. That was the leftover. The disciples,
the apostles there with him, they saw that. First-hand experience. That's a witness. You have to
see something to witness it, don't you? Right after that,
Matthew 14, 22, Jesus walks on the sea. He told them, he sent
them away to the other shore. He said, you get on the boat
and leave and I'll come to you. He sent the multitudes away and
stayed there. And the disciples went on the boat. And of course,
the storm came. It says there in verse 26, and they
were worried. But straightway Jesus spake unto
them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. And Peter
answered him and said, Lord, Be thou, bid me come unto thee
into the water, and he said come." A lot of bluegrass songs there
in Kentucky, they talk about poor Peter, poor erring Peter. It's a hook they use when they're
writing the lyrics a lot. And everyone talks about how
poor Peter is, and they feel so sorry for him. I'm so thankful
for Peter. He gets picked on a lot, don't
he? I put myself in his shoes. What kind of questions would
I have? What kind of things would I see and not pay attention,
not remember? But Peter walked out there, and
he saw the wind, bolsterous, and he was afraid, and beginning
to sink, and he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately
Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him. And He said unto
him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? That
happens often, doesn't it? We doubt. But what happens? The
Lord reaches out His hand and He gets a hold of us. In Matthew
15, those scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus and they said,
Your disciples transgressed the traditions of the elders, for
they wash not their hands when they eat bread. They don't wash
their hands before they eat dinner. And in verse 3-9, Christ lays
a law down for them. He gets on to them and he tells
them, you hypocrites, and well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying,
these people draw nigh unto me with their mouth and honor me
with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And it says
there in verse 10, he called the multitude and said, hear
and understand. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth
the man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth
the man." He spoke to those scribes and Pharisees and shot them down.
And then he got the multitude and he said, do you understand
what had just happened? And he explained it to them.
This happens a lot in the parables. He who has ears, let him hear.
In verse 12, then came his disciples and said unto him, Knowest thou
that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?
Lord, don't you know you hurt those Pharisees' feelings? I can't look down on a man that
would say something like that. I don't have enough sense to
even speak out loud to him, much less to correct him. But these
men, they corrected the Lord, didn't they? And you know you
hurt their feelings. And Christ answered in there
in Matthew 15 verse 13, Every plant which my heavenly Father
hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch. Then answered Peter. And he said
unto him, Declare unto this this parable. Lord, I don't understand.
What do you mean by that? That's what he's asking. Verse
16, and Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do
not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth into the mouth, goeth
into the belly, and is cast out into the rock? But those things
which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and
they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed
evil through thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man." Peter
didn't understand what the Lord was talking about, and he asked
him. But the Lord didn't say, leave him. He didn't walk away
from him, did he? No, he answered him. He scolded
him a little bit. He said, you don't understand
this? How do you not understand this? And he explained it to
him. Our Lord is a patient Lord with us, isn't He? I'll thank
for it. This Canaanite woman there in chapter 15, verse 22,
said, Behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and
cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son
of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And she called on the Lord and
said, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. But she had a reason. My daughter is vexed with the
devil. It says there in verse 23, But he answered her not a
word. Lord, have you paid attention to her. And His disciples came
and besought Him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after."
Those disciples lifted up again. They're back to feeling pretty
good about themselves. The Lord just won't bother them.
Send her away. Get her out of here. And He answered
and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Now, if I was one of those disciples, I would be pretty
puffed up. I'd be proud. So I told you to
get rid of her. And you hear what he said? He
said, I'm on here sent for the lost sheep. Oh, I'd stand up
straight. I knew I was right. That's me.
That's my nature. Then came she and worshipped
him and said, Lord, help me. There's a lot of people who cry
for help. They want help. They don't want saved. But they want help,
don't they? What did the Lord say to her?
She said, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it
is not meat to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. That's a rebuke. And she said,
true Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their
master's table. She went from, I need some help
and I've got a reason. Lord, help me. I don't need you
to save me, but help me out here. I mean it. To I'm a dog. She
was brought down low. And what did the Lord say to
her? There in verse 28, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto
thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. What a blessing to be brought
low. The Lord brought her down quick.
Now all these disciples, they keep being brought up, they keep
seeing something, a characteristic of the Lord, learning of Him.
And just like I do, I get a little puffed up. I get a little proud
that I learned something new. And that fast, the Lord knows
wisely to bring me down. It's a roller coaster. There's
hills and valleys constantly. That's what I was talking about
this morning. I feel like most of the time I'm in a valley.
But here and there, there's times when the Lord shows you something
of His character, of His countenance. And when you see that, oh, it's
like a shiny new diamond, and you want to show everybody. And
then you start to get a little proud of that diamond you're
holding, that knowledge you have, and He brings you right back
down again. There again, the 4,000 are fed in chapter 15,
verse 32. He's going to have compassion
on them. Matthew 15 verse 33, and his disciples said unto him,
when shall we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill
this great multitude? How are we going to feed all
these people? He just fed 7,000. He's got 4,000 now. That's how
I am. I forget so quick. Tell me that
old, old story, for I forget so soon, don't I? I've told you,
before I wake up in the morning, I think, oh, I want to serve
the Lord today. And I'm going to read. I'm going to spend an
hour reading. And I'm going to do this, and I'm going to do
that. And then I bump my toe on the edge of the bed, and my
whole day's gone. Henry used to say, man has free will until
a fly comes in the room. I'm going to concentrate. And
then, oh, that's us. We're like a small child with
a piece of candy, ain't we? Jesus asked them there, said to them,
How many loaves have ye? He didn't get on to them and
rebuke them, did he? And they said, Seven, and a few
little fish. And he commanded the multitude
to sit on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the
fishes and gave thanks and break them and gave them to his disciples.
And they handed it out. And they did eat and were filled.
And they took it up. And what was left was seven basketfuls. And they that ate were four thousand
men besides women and children and he sent them all to his way
and took a ship. Chapter 16 of Matthew, the Pharisees
asked for a sign, it seems like I'm getting repetitive here,
but bear with me, this is the pattern I want us to see, the
pattern of being brought low and the Lord lifting us up and
letting us see a part of Christ's glory and being brought low.
It just keeps happening. The further I went back, I thought,
well, I can't read the whole chapter, but I'm getting the bulk of it,
I guess. Chapter 16, Matthew. Those Pharisees asked for a sign.
And the Lord rebuked them. He said in verse 4, A wicked
and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall
no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
And he left them and departed. Now those that aren't his, he
leaves and departs. But these that are his, he doesn't
leave. Watch what happens here with
the disciples. It's in verse 5, And when his disciples were
come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
They've had a lot of issues with bread lately, haven't they? Then
Jesus said to them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the
Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned amongst themselves
internally. They did not have a committee.
Inside their own bodies, they said, is it because we've taken
no bread? Is that why the Lord said this
to us? We've got to beware of their
leaven? We forgot to bring bread. I didn't think to bring bread.
And then in verse 8 it says, which when Jesus perceived, He
didn't hear them, He perceived them. He knows their hearts,
don't He? He knows their minds. He said, O ye of little faith,
why reason ye among yourselves because ye have brought no bread?
Do you not understand, neither remember the five loaves of the
five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Don't you remember
what just happened twice? We've been through this, haven't
we? He said in verse 11, how is it that ye do not understand
that I speak not to you concerning bread, that you should beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." Now, did
He leave them? Like He did those Pharisees? Look here in verse
12. Then understood they how that He bade them not beware
of the leaven of the bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees. The Lord's effectual when He
teaches His children. I try. I try to do things. I try to raise my children, but
I fail. My Lord doesn't. He doesn't fail.
When he raises this child up, he raises him exactly the way
he wants. Now, I might think he's not doing a good job. A
child always thinks he can do a better job than his parent
does, but that parent knows better, doesn't he? My Lord knows better.
Alright, I'll say the rest of verse 16 there. I'll just touch
it quickly in verse 13. Lord willing, I'll preach from
this tomorrow, but they call it Peter's confession of faith.
Peter's been with this group just up and down, up and down.
And Christ asked him, said, who do men say that I am? And he
said, well, some say you're John the Baptist, some Elias, other
Jeremias, and some of the prophets. They have good things to say.
They don't say you're the God-man. He said, but who do you say that
I am? And Peter answered. He said, thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He said, blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed that unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. That'd be good. Peter's brought
back up again, isn't he? Then in verse 21, chapter 16,
after the Lord Lifts Peter up some there, but
he's telling him the whole time, which I'll touch on tomorrow,
that the Lord is what's given to you. His Father in heaven
gave you that knowledge. You're taught from above. It
says in verse 21, From that time forth began Jesus to show his
disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many
things of the elders, and the chiefs, priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and raised again the third day. He was telling
of the crucifixion that was taking place, the payment, He had to
make atonement. He had to satisfy the justice
of Almighty God on our behalf. That's what He was sharing with
them, teaching them. Then Peter took Him and began to rebuke
Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord. This shall not be unto Thee. But he turned and said to Peter,
Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense unto me,
for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those things
that be of men." Talking about hurt, the Lord rebuked him publicly
and harshly right then. That would be a sad, sad place,
and how quick or how worse off would I be? But like those Pharisees
and Sadducees, did the Lord leave them behind? Did He say, let
them alone? No. We pick up here in chapter 17 and verse 1. It says, 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 Christ. 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, one
for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake..." This is
the hardest rebuke I've seen yet in the Scriptures. 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. And when the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And
Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. So I told you all that
to read those first eight verses. That's my text. Now that I'm
there. The life of a believer is up
and it's down. We think we have something wonderful
and then we look to ourselves and not to Christ and we're quickly
brought down. He's a loving Father that corrects
us. And we're brought love. Like that Canaanite woman, we
go beyond saying we need help. We say, I'm a dog. I'm a worm.
And the Lord blesses that. The Lord brings you down and
you think, I'm a worm, I'm a worthless dog that's deserving crumbs.
He will be faithful. He will take care of you and
provide for you. But we'll look here in Matthew 17. It says there,
the Lord takes us and brings us apart. And after six days,
Jesus taketh Peter, James and John, his brother, James' brother
John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart. He elected
those men. He chose those men out of all
the apostles. Out of all those multitudes,
all that group that was following Him, He picked three people.
Who's to question the Lord? Does others get mad at Him? That's
the Lord's business that He picked those. We don't know why. He
does. He did it on purpose. Our Lord is the God of election.
Galatians 1.5 Paul wrote that when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son in me. That's when we say Christ revealed
in you. That's the Lord's business. The natural birth and a spiritual
birth are a whole lot alike. You didn't have nothing to do
with it. You don't remember it happening. It happened. And then
over time, gradually, we learn more of what happened. You all can quote this, but it's
good to read along. Let's look in Ephesians chapter
1. Or in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will." That's the reason. It was the
pleasure of His will. and to the praise of the glory
of His grace. We will sing the praises of His
grace for eternity. Wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. And that's how we're made accepted.
The Lord does those things. He chose people. When He says
He takes you and He brings you, it's not by accident. Those are
strong words. That's not weak words. He didn't
ask them. He didn't invite them. But did
He do something? Did He pick these three? Because
it's something they've done. Was there some type of pride
that they could have in their heritage? Or as they say, pride
in grace or face, right? Is there something in them that
He picked these people? Let's look in Deuteronomy chapter
7. Deuteronomy 7, verse 7. The Lord did not set his love
upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than
any people, speaking of Israel, for you were the fewest of all
people. But because the Lord loved you
and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto
your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand and
redeemed you out of the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh
the king of Egypt. That's why He's done it, because
of His love upon us. Do we keep these gifts of life
once He reveals it to us? And who's responsible party of
keeping it? Is it my responsibility once the Lord gives me life and
He takes me apart? He sanctifies me, sets me apart
from the judgment? Do I have to do something to
keep that? Once it's already been completed, who's in charge
of that task, that covenant? I've read this to you before,
1 Samuel 12, it says, for the Lord will not forsake His people
for His great namesake. That's why He won't forsake us,
for His glory, not mine. Because it hath pleased the Lord
to make you His people. That's confidence, that's assurance
that what keeps me Who takes me, who brings me, and who sets
me apart is the same One that keeps me. And it's for His name,
not mine, not something in me. I can change. Alright, back there in our text,
Matthew 17. We are shown, once He takes us,
once He gets a hold of us, we're shown His glory, Christ's glory.
It says there in verse 2, And He was transfigured before them,
and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white
as light. Matthew 28, it says, "...his
countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow."
That would be something. The God-man who came and lowered
himself, came lower than the angels. He was clothed in human
flesh. Many of them thought he was over
50 years old at the time. The Pharisees told him that.
He had aged. Just being around the sin, that fleshly body had
worn him so hard. What he had to bear. Much less
during the crucifixion. what he went through, just physically.
But he showed himself to those people, not just the man that
stood there, that wasn't attractive, had no comeliness about him.
He showed his glory to them. His raiment, his face, his countenance
was like lightning. Like Simeon said, my eyes have
seen the Lord. Now it's okay for me to die.
That's how we feel when the Lord takes us apart and shows us who
He is. Oh, it's satisfaction. Satisfied with this life. I'm
ready to leave this world. I have the Lord. He's faithful. He can keep me. Let's turn back
to Exodus chapter 34 real quick. I'll try not to keep you much
longer. Exodus 34. This Mount of Transfiguration
was a completion of the prophets, which we'll get to here, of the
Old Testament. In Exodus 34, 29, it says, It
came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with two
tables of testimony in Moses' hand, and when he came down from
the mount, that Moses whisked not, he didn't know, that his
skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when
Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the
skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh unto
him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers
of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with
them. And afterward, all the children of Israel came nigh,
and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken
with him in the Mount Sinai. Until Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a veil on his face, He was in the presence
of the Lord, and that was a reflective glory. His skin shone. He had to put a veil over. But
when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, He took
the veil off until He came out. And He came out and He spake
unto the children of Israel that which He was commanded. And the
children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses'
face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until
He went in to speak with them. Just being in the presence of
the Lord had affected Moses so much. But to fulfill that Old
Testament prophecy, our Lord went up and He was the light.
That wasn't a reflective glory. It wasn't a reflective light
like the moon reflects the light of the sun. He is the sun. He
was that. We see one small gem of His character
at a time. And each time we're taught something
new of His grace, of His glory, of His holiness, and we feel
as if we've never known Him before. There's been many times I've
heard sermons and they were just, the Lord is exactly what I needed
at that time, and I thought all that was precious. And I don't
know if I knew the Lord before. Maybe tonight's the first night
I heard Him. And then I'll get kind of puffed up on whatever
I learned, and then I'll go back to being brought down again. Turn over to Exodus 33. Here's something I read a long
time ago. We're no different than Moses. It's in Exodus 33, 17. The Lord
said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken,
for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by
name. And Moses said, and he said, Beseech thee, show me thy
glory. And the Lord said to him, I will
make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. Period. I was about 15 years
old when I saw that period. And I said, that's the Lord's
glory. He'll be gracious to whom He'll be gracious, and He'll
be merciful to whom He'll be merciful. The Lord is sovereign.
He is. That's an aspect. That's one of His characteristics.
But that's not where our comfort comes from. And I fought tooth
and toenail. I was an apologetic, apologier
or something. I was ready to fight everybody
and tell them, oh, the Lord is sovereign. That's what He is.
He'll be gracious to whom He'll be gracious. But that's a truth. But I didn't
see Him. I just saw a truth, didn't I?
Look what the Lord showed Moses, though. Verse 20, Exodus 33,
verse 20, and he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall
no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there
is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Who's the
right hand of the Lord, that rock? That's Christ. And it shall
come to pass from my glory path that's by, that I will put thee
in the cleft of the rock and cover thee with my hand while
I pass. And I will take away my hand, and I shall see my back
parts, but my face shall not be seen." We're put in the cleft
of the rock. Lord God Almighty, we're not allowed to see Him
face to face. We're unworthy and unclean, but
it's able. We're able to see the back parts. Why? Because
He put us there. There was a rock beside Him.
He put us in there, covered us, and then we're allowed to see
Him. He's just and the justifier. So he could still be just and
we have that separation, but he's the justifier because he's
the one that established the rock and he's the one that puts
us in there. Alright, I got off on a tangent. Matthew 17, verse
3. It says, And behold, there appeared
unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Now Moses here is a
picture of the law. And Elias is a picture of the
prophets. Old Testament law and Old Testament
prophets. And most folks can agree on that. The cross fulfilled
all the Old Testament prophecies and he fulfilled the law. It
says over in Luke that that's what they were speaking of. How
he has to go for the sacrifice. He's going to die and that will
be the fulfillment. That will be the completion of
the law and the completion of the prophets because he died
according to the scriptures. Some folks will argue that. We
remember the story of the two who were walking on the road
to Emmaus after the resurrection. And Christ was with them and
it said their eyes were holding that they should not know Him.
They didn't know it was Christ and He was talking to them. He
said, what's wrong with you? Why are you all sad? And they told Him and it said
in Luke 24, 27, And beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. That was about the Lord, wasn't
it? Each one of them. And when He was eating with the
disciples after the resurrection, there in Luke 24-44, He said
unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while
I was yet with you. This is what I already told you
while I was before the crucifixion. That all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. It's the hymn book. It's all about hymn. Alright,
those trials, those corrections will come and they'll keep coming. There's false teachings in almost
every church in this nation. of health and wealth religion. If you come walk down this aisle
and get in a kiddie pool and promise to like Jesus today and
you'll have a better car and you'll be healthier and we'll
start walking with you and exercise and I don't know. They promise
all these things. That's not according to the scriptures.
Lord said trials will come. And he sends them. Historically
we've got a record of it, don't we? The whole book of Matthew.
And I have a record of it. We were talking before about
we are the testament. We are the epistle of Christ.
Each believer's... My whole life is a book declaring
that Christ is all and of His accomplishments. When I'm out
of this world, I look back and say, look at all the times He
took care of me, and He gave me this trial, and He took the
trial away, and He gave me knowledge, and He watched out for me, and
He hedged me about. I'll be a living example, a testament of Christ's
accomplishments, of His works. But those trials will come. The
good times. If you're having a good, easy
life, and there's no bumps in the road, you've got more troubles
than you think you have. The Lord corrects His children. I went through the purpose of
the parables. There were several times Peter asked him and the
other disciples, he said, Lord, we don't know what you're talking
about. He said, if the others have ears, let them hear. He
said, what do you mean by that? And what does our Lord do? He
sets down and He taught them, didn't He? He does that for us.
But each time we're corrected, we're brought low and we're afraid,
just like these brethren here in verse 6, after the Lord speaks. Peter erred by saying, let's
build a tabernacle for these Moses and Elias with you Lord
for the law and the prophets you see Christ and you understand
that but we cling to those grave clothes We hold on to those laws
and we hold on to those prophecies. What's going to happen next?
We keep looking ahead. What's the sign of the times?
When's when's the Lord coming back or any of those things something
new something other than that simplicity that's in Christ and
while Peter spoke That cloud descended. God the Father spoke.
But here in verse 5, it says, This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. The Lord spoke from the heavens
before about that, during Christ's baptism, but that was the general
call. We talk about a general and effectual call. That was
a general call. The Lord said, This is my Son
in whom I am well pleased. And that's the only way the Lord,
God the Father, is pleased is in Christ, if you're in Him.
But here there's a semicolon. It says, Hear ye Him. It's a continuation. That's a
commandment. That's an effectual call. And
what did it do? It said in verse 6, And when
the disciples heard, it's in italicized, the Lord said, Hear
ye Him, and they heard. That's what happens. They fell
on their face and they were sore afraid. Proverbs 13. God the Father audibly speaking
to these apostles had to scare them absolutely, that they collapsed.
They were prostrate before the Lord. They fell on their faces.
But, the Lord chastens His children. Proverbs 13 it says, He that
spareth his rod, hateth his son. But he that loveth him, chasteneth
him betimes. Proverbs 23 says, Train up a
child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will
not depart from it. Hebrews said, now no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous while you're doing it
it doesn't feel good but it's grievous nevertheless afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby we know those things as parents don't
we train those children up and it's good for them and in the
end it'll be good for us they'll take care of me when i'm old
i hope But all three of these texts I just read to you, they're
profitable to the flesh. They're profitable worldly. This
is a book, you can have an easy life if you do these things.
It'll help you out. But people look at the scriptures
as self-help books, don't they? But everything that we have that
is beneficial in this life, it's patterned from the Lord. Marriage
is patterned from Christ in the church. It's a picture of that.
The father disciplining a child in his home being instructed
for me to discipline those four children, that's a pattern of
our Heavenly Father chastening us, correcting us, and training
us up as we should go that we would not depart from it, isn't
it? How thankful that He's our example, that He will keep us
from departing. But there in Matthew 17 and verse 7, we get
afraid, we get chastened, we get brought down again after
multiple times, Matthew 17, 7, And Jesus came and touched them,
and said, Arise, and be not afraid. It tells us often to not be afraid. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man. They didn't see Moses, and they
didn't see Elias. They saw no man. They didn't
see the law. They didn't see that no more,
in addition to Christ. They didn't see the prophecies,
in addition to Christ. They saw Christ. They saw no
man save Jesus only. That's our comfort, is that He's
the Comforter. Now every time, I hope the Lord
goes easy on people. It's hard to say, Lord be rough
on people. Lord be rough on me. Send me
trials. Be harsh with me. We don't ask for that, do we?
We have enough sense for that, but the Lord will be. And we
hate it for our brethren when they suffer through trials, physical
or emotional When the Lord's dealing with them over a doctor
or something, it's easy for us to say, Lord, take that from
them. But our wise Father does that on purpose, and He'll bring
them back. If they're His, He won't leave
them. Not like those Pharisees and Sadducees. He won't leave
them alone and let them be. He'll stay with them, and He'll
train them up. But know that after that, those of you that's
lived a while with the sound of this Gospel, it's going to
come again. There'll be more trials. But
what's the answer? What's the cure for those trials?
Christ will touch you. He'll come to you and He'll tell
you, be not afraid. He's the one that's able to keep
you from being afraid. He's the reason we aren't afraid,
isn't it? And He comes to us. Anyway, I hope that's a lesson
to you. Let's pray together. Father, we're thankful for this
time you've given us to gather Oh, Lord, we're thankful that
You're patient with us. Make us thankful for the trials
that You send us and let us know that You're the one that sends
them. You head us about. You provide for us. You keep
us. It's not our work, Lord. It's not our striving. Let us
rest in Christ. Let us know that He's accomplished
everything for us and He protects us. He will pull us through and
at the end He will calm us and tell us not to be afraid. Let
us do that for our brethren, Lord. Let us comfort those that
suffer by pointing them to Christ and give us the patience to act
with them as you act with us. Thank you for this time of fellowship,
Lord. Bless the meal to us. Let's have a time of fellowship
and enjoy each other's company and enjoy crossing in one another.
It's in His name that we ask. Amen.