Chapter 9. Who is sufficient for these things? God Almighty came to this earth God, whom scripture says, dwells
in light, which no man can approach unto. God, whom scripture says, no
man hath seen at any time, nor can see. God, who is a consuming
fire. God, who cannot be looked upon. came to this earth, and in order
to be looked upon, in order to be touched, in order to be approached
unto, had to veil himself. Scripture says he took on him
the likeness of sinful flesh. He had to put on, as it were,
a robe of flesh A body, he says, thou hast prepared me in order
that finite, sinful creatures like we are can see God, can
touch him, can hear from him. But he veiled himself with a
body, and his true essence, his true glory was hidden to the
human eye. And it's still hidden to most. Most still think of him as just
a mere man. But the Lord in mercy and in
revelation took three fellows here, three ordinary fellows,
three fishermen, up on a hill and unveiled himself, peeled back the plain brown wrapper
that he had clothed himself in, and they saw his glory. Someday
we will, too. But in a figure we have, in a
sense, a very real sense we have. This is called the Lord's transfiguration. That's not a biblical word, but this is how he was transfigured. We get the word metamorphosis.
You know what metamorphosis is, how that, well, a worm is changed
into a butterfly, a miraculous transformation or change. And that's what this means, when
the Lord changed from flesh back to glorious light. Now, there are many things to
see here, many things to see here. One thing we're going to
see here is that life doesn't end here. That life does not end here.
If a man—Joe, the oldest book in Scripture, asks the question,
if a man dies, shall he live again? Yeah. Here's Moses and Elijah back
to prove it. And the disciples saw these two
men. How did they know them? Well, that's my next point. Will
we know each other in glory? Yes, they knew Moses and Elijah.
And how did they know Moses and Elijah? They'd never met them
before. They didn't know what Moses looked like, or Elijah. But we'll know even as we've
been known. They, their spiritual discernment, all they knew. It
was revealed to them. We'll know those in glory. We
want to see here the spiritual dullness and deadness of man,
of the natural man. Disciples slept, disciples were
asleep in the presence of the most glorious one or thing that has ever been
known to man. More glorious than Moses standing
before that bush, more glorious than that Red Sea being parted,
more glorious than We're going to see here, man's
need, or his supposed need, he thinks he needs something, means,
to worship God. Man thinks he needs visible means
or forms of worship. He thinks he's got to raise three money, let's build
something. But the chief thing we're going
to see here is the reason for this story. We're going to see
his glory. We're going to see the subject of all saints for
eternity. All right, look at it again.
Luke chapter 9, verse 28. came to pass about eight days
after these things, he took Peter and John and James. Oh, don't
you see your calling, brethren? How not many wise men after the
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. Peter, James, and John
just got off a fishing boat, going up to see glory. Just got
off the truck, Joe. Just got off a highway, just
came out of the factory. They're going to see glory. That's who he shows glory to.
That's who really appreciates it. Takes a beggar off a dunghill
to see him among princes, and he sees glory. One who thinks
himself to be wise and mighty and knows something and sings
and thinks, he'll never see glory. But the nobodies and the nothings,
they see glory. Well, he took Peter and James
and John, went up into a mountain to pray. There it is, and he
prayed. We're going to see glory. Disciples were sleeping. What
should they have been doing? A little while later, when the
Lord went into the garden, do you remember what he said to
them? The Lord went into the garden to pray. He said, I'm
going in there to pray. Now, he said, what did he say?
Watch with me. What does that mean? Pray. They'd been praying with him. Well, it says, as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment
was white and glistening. We've been studying the revelation
of John. John, later on, on the Isle of
Patmos, saw a revelation of Christ in it, the revelation of Christ.
What did he say about it? He saw another revelation of
Christ, Henry. What was it? The same one he'd
seen before. The same Christ. He looked the
same. Why? Because he is the same. His rain was white and glistening. We'll see the righteousness of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Holiness is righteousness. Well, it said, Behold, they were
talking with him. Verse 30. They talked with him
two men, which were Moses and Elijah, Elias, Elijah. That's who that is. And it says
that they spoke with him of something. They were talking. Now, this
really happened. This really happened. This is
no—Peter said, we haven't followed cunningly devised fables when
we made known unto you the majesty and the power and the glory or
coming of our Lord. We haven't followed—we didn't
make this thing up. Ask John. John said, We beheld
his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Ask James. He said, We saw him.
I was there. Peter said, I tell you what, too, you have
a more sure word of prophecy yourself. Have you seen his glory? Some in here have seen his glory.
Very real. Well, Peter said, we haven't
followed cunningly devised fables. We saw him. And there were two
fellows with him. Moses and Elijah were with him.
And they were talking. All right? What do you think?
What are they going to talk about? We're talking about Moses, who
wrote the law, all the law. Genesis through number. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy.
Moses, who wrote that glorious law, full of wondrous things. Elijah, the greatest prophet. Elijah was truly the greatest
prophet, because our Lord likened John to Elijah. So this is Elijah
that was to come. What are we going to talk about? Well, it's Y2K's coming up. We're going to have to do something.
This thing's going to be bad. World events and world problems. Government's not... No problem
with the government, it's on his shoulder. No problem with Y2K, it's his
year. Just like Y1K, or No-K. That's all his year, in the year
of our Lord, right? What did they speak of? Not world
events, not prophecy. Look at it. It says they spake
of his decease, his death. They spake of his death. Paul,
the apostle, later on, he said, I was born as that one out of
due time. Born out of due time. And Paul said, I'm determined
to know nothing among you save Christ and him crucified. The
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. His death. So Moses and Elijah
and our Lord himself talked about Christ's death. Christ's death. They spoke of his death. And
look at what it says about it. It's no ordinary death. Look
at it. Verse 31. They appeared in glory. Now,
these fellows were glorified themselves, two men. And they
spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. They spake of his
death which he should accomplish. The accomplishment of his death
is what they spake of. Have you ever been to a funeral?
and stood around the casket while people talked. And, you know, you've heard them
say all sorts of things. Generally, they say, doesn't
he look good? Doesn't she look good? Now, Henry, you and I are
going to be laying there, and they're going to say, that's
the best I've ever seen him look. Boy, he looks good. Sure had
seen him, he didn't look that good before. Well, they sit around,
they talk, what do they talk about? Oh, he was such a fine
man. He was, he was, he was, he was. He did this, he did that. She
did this, she did that. Oh, she accomplished some great
things in this life. But it's over. Death is anything but an accomplishment
for people in the For mankind, it's the end of all things. Well,
he sure accomplished some things. He cut short in life, and now
he didn't get to finish. He didn't accomplish all he set
out to do. We hear Moses and Elijah and our Lord are standing
there talking about his death that he should accomplish, the
accomplishment of his death. Death is the end of the man.
Men speak of what men accomplish in life because death's the end
of it. Death is anything but an accomplishment for us. Death
is the ultimate confession of sin, really. Scripture says, Death passeth
upon all men for all have sinned. Death is anything but an accomplishment. You've never heard anybody say
this. Have you ever heard anybody say this at a funeral? Well,
he did it and he accomplished it. He died, didn't he? But for this man there, death
was an accomplishment. Death was an accomplishment for
many reasons. You see, we die, everyone in
here. It's appointed unto man once
to die. Men, women, young people. I've
seen young people die, as I've told you. My best friend at fifteen
years old, I held his dead body in my arms. Young people die. Why do we die? Why do people
die? Romans declares it because of
sin. Because of sin, death passed
upon all men. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, so we die. In dying, you shall die. A man
died in the garden, in Adam, spiritually, and he said, so
in dying, You'll die, you'll die physically too. Sin. We're sinners. Death is something
which is done to us, not by us. You see? Death is something done
to us. The Lord said, I kill. Somebody shoots themselves, who
killed them? The Lord said, I kill. That's something that's done
to us. Nobody catches God by surprise. The Lord killeth. It's appointed
unto man who wants to die, the Scripture says. It's appointed.
It's an appointment. It's not an accomplishment. It's
an appointment because of sin. God stopped in the day that he's
pleased, when our bounds are set and they cannot be passed,
and when that bound is reached, whatever day, whatever hour,
whatever moment it is, it could be any time, God says, that's
it, stop. He pulls the breath, he stops
the heart, you're dead. And you're going, the soul goes
back to God who made it. He gave the breath to give life
to begin with, and in the fullness of time, here's time, that's
it. Whatever the means may be, God's the one that did it. Death
is something done to us. Because we're sinners, we have
to die. But Christ wasn't a sinner. This
man wasn't a sinner. He didn't have to die. This is
a mystery, really, people. Now, according to Scripture,
as the natural man would call all this foolishness, But Christ,
you see, was not a sinner. Death had no claim on him. Death
had no claim on him. The Scripture says, This do and
live. The law says, This do and live.
A righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. Life.
Christ did. He lived perfectly. He can't
die. He had no sin. Death is the punishment
for sin. Christ had no sin. He can't die.
He cannot die. That's the reason our Lord kept
saying over and over again, no man taketh my life from me. How
many times they sought to kill him. They couldn't. They couldn't
touch him. Why? His hour wasn't yet come. What hour? The hour he decided
to die. He had to will himself to die. We say, this is what we say about
us. We say so and so has a will to
live. Now that's a lie too. But we say that, don't we? Oh, he had the will to live,
so he got through it, you know. They are foolish and how blasphemous
and how thankless this generation is. All these people that supposedly
survive cancer, they congratulate them like it's
something they did. People, you see them. You see
interviews with them and articles about them and advertisements
about, I'm a survivor. I did it. You didn't do nothing.
You live because God continues to give you breath. So-and-so
died because God took it. He has a will to live. No, he
has the God-given gift of life, breath to live, the God in whose
hands your breath is. Your will has nothing to do with
anything, especially your life, physical or spiritual. But Christ
now cannot die. Death had no claim over him.
He had to up and say, I'm going to die. He said, no man taketh
my life from me. I do what? I lay it down of myself. He had to will it. He had the
will to die. You never heard that said about
anybody, did you? Well, he has a will to die. Except maybe a
believer. Believers do that. I have a desire
to pardon me of the Lord, which is far better. But our Lord just
up and said, one day it's time to die. And that's the reason
the scripture says, he said, Father, into thy hands I commit
my spirit. And it says he bowed his head.
He didn't die from the loss of blood. He didn't die from the
torture he was inflicted upon him. He died because he said
it was time to die. It said he bowed his head. His
head didn't drop, as in, like that, as we see, you know, some
fellow on the movie gets shot. It's time to die, Father. In
thy hands I commit my spirit. Calmly, willingly, die. Accomplishment. Why? What is he talking about?
Accomplishment. Why did he die? Well, Jesus died for you. Christ died. Why? Most today don't. But let's look
at this. It says the death, the deceased,
he should accomplish. His death was an accomplishment,
a resounding success, an accomplishment. No failure? This wasn't the end
of his life? Goodness gracious! It's the beginning
of ours. No, he was no failure. He was
no mere martyr here. This is a sovereign, victorious,
successful accomplisher doing something here. He's doing something,
even in his death, even in bowing his head. I believe, Barbara,
what he's doing, bowing his head, is he's a curtain call. He's bowing. As the angels in
heaven and all the redeemed saints give him a standing ovation.
He did it. He accomplished something. What? Some say of their Jesus, you
know, this is the reason we know the true Christ. Some say of
the Jesus they're talking about today, he tries things. He tried to save you. Mine accomplished
it. He wants to do this. Mine willed
it. If you let him Mine says, I might
let you. Oh, he did all he could do. Mine
said, he accomplished everything there is to be done. The accomplisher. One of the last things he said
on that cross was, it is finished. Complete. Accomplished. Mankind accomplished. Just like God in the beginning
rested from all His works, it doesn't mean He was tired. It
means He finished the work. And when Christ accomplished
His death, it means the work of salvation was finished. What was accomplished? Well,
the law was accomplished. That's the reason Moses was there. Why do you think He invited Moses?
Well, let's see who we're going to invite here to talk about
that. Let's start where the Bible starts. Moses. The law. All right, let's see
what the law, what God has to say about the law, accomplished. Accomplished. The law was accomplished
by the God-man, our representative. It must be. Every jot and tittle. John Moses was there to see that
every jot and tittle hasn't been accomplished, hasn't been fulfilled. Has righteousness been established
for his people? Yeah, accomplished. Huh? Perfectly? Perfectly. Moses wrote. Now, God said, This
do and live. Did you do it? Yeah, accomplished
it. Did you do this? Every job. What about this? Every title. Complete? Accomplished. Nothing left to be done, not
one little hidden that they don't know about. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. If it was left up to our
knowledge of the law and ability to fulfill it, we'd come far
short. We do. But he knows the law. He wrote it. And he has the ability. And he did it. He did it. That's the reason Christ said,
Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote, this do and
live, we can't so we die. Christ did and he lived. But
he lived, he didn't do it for himself. He didn't come down
here just to show us how to live. Christ didn't come down here
as a man just to show us how it ought to be done. Did it? He didn't come down here saying,
now this is the way you ought to live. He said, I am the way.
I am the life. He said, now if you'll do what
I do, you'll have life. He said, no, I give unto them
eternal life. Didn't he? He said, if you do
as I do, I'll impute this righteousness to you. No, he said, because
what I've done, I'll impute it to you. If you'll sow you up a righteousness
now, you can cover yourself. No, he said, I've got a righteousness
here. The only one there is. And it'll
cover you. Christ did it. He was justified
by God. That's what that Scripture says,
great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, justified. That's the reason God, Deborah,
God out loud said it for everybody to hear. This is my beloved son,
I'm well pleased. He never said, God never said
that about anybody. God never from heaven, not one
time, ever spoke out loud for everybody here. So that's Moses.
I sure am pleased with him. Uh-uh, he's come far short. There's Abraham. He's one. Uh-uh. But, buddy, when Christ came,
he said, no, y'all sit up and take notice. I'm well pleased
for his righteousness sake, the psalm says. The Lord is well
pleased for his righteousness. He's well pleased with him, and
John is well pleased with me. Why? For his righteousness sake. Well pleasing. Peter, when he
stood at Pentecost, he said, listen to these words. Would
you listen to these words? Never been heard by human ear till
Pentecost. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. A man It's been
approved by God. A man's been approved of God.
And there's a man that walked into glory and sat down at the
right hand of God. A man! Not an angel, not a man. And looking under, there's a
whole train, a whole line of men and women behind him, sitting
with him. Because he's been approved. And
they're approved in him. Why are they there? They're in
him. They're with him. They're in
him. He accomplished the law for me
and for every believer. For me. But I can't do it. Well,
he accomplished God's Word. The reason I said—now, he had
Moses there, Vicki, and he had Elijah, too. That's the law and
the prophets in it. What else is there? That's all the Word of God in
it. Psalms. You better believe David wrote of him. David was
a prophet. The law and the prophets, God's
Word was all fulfilled, accomplished in Christ. Oh, Moses, Christ
said that. Moses wrote of me. And Moses
wrote of him. You know, John, he saw his day. Abraham saw his
day, and he was glad. But, you know, really, how much
did he know? Moses, Joshua, all the Old Testament
saints, They knew a lot more than we. They knew Christ. They knew that Christ was their
only hope of salvation. They knew God was God, man hopeless. Christ is their only hope. They
knew that. But they really didn't, you know,
who is the Christ? Where does he come from? God
brought Moses back to see the last chapter. Moses wrote the
first five. God brought him back to see the
last chapter. The last chapter of the book,
Moses, you wrote to me, didn't you? Well, here's the period,
the exclamation point, the final chapter in the book, it's me
too. It's all about me. The death I should accomplish.
All types, what all's accomplished, all types, shadows, pictures,
holy days, Sabbaths, accomplished. fulfilled, put an end to. You
know, there's people right now, right today, they're celebrating
Pentecost. In Richmond, Virginia, there's
a huge delegation of this denomination that's celebrating Pentecost. They didn't hear Peter at Pentecost
2,000 years ago, did they? Peter stood up at Pentecost and
said, They were sacrificing lambs,
and that's what we need to ask them in Richmond. Where's the
lamb? Is this Pentecost you all celebrate?
Yeah, it's Pentecost. Where's the lamb? That's what
they do at Pentecost. Passover is what Pentecost did.
Peter stood up and said, Hey, God's lamb came. One lamb, one sacrifice to put
away all sin, to put away all sacrifices, tithes, shadows,
holy days, new moon, Sabbath. Oh, that's a stitch in God's
nostrils anyway. Sabbath-keeping. This is the
Lord of Sabbath here. This is the fulfiller, the accomplisher
of the law, the end of the law. Jesus Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. You don't need
Pentecost, you need Christ. Go home! Rather yet, go where
Christ is being preached. Because all of this is an absolute
abomination to God. A lot of stuff and no Christ
in it. I'd rather have nothing but Christ and other stuff. We
worship God in spirit and joy and have no confidence in Him. Of course, an end in Christ,
an end. And if we observe days and months like the Galatians
did, Paul will say, I fear for you. I fear. Do Christians have a Christian
Sabbath? No sirree, Bob. Christ is our Sabbath. Every
day is a Lord's Day. A believer worships God every
day. Oh, we've set aside a time where we meet together and break
bread you know, and worship Him. But it's not just Sunday. We
eat on Wednesday. We observe the Sabbath on Wednesday. Don't we, huh? We observe Christ,
our Sabbath, on Wednesday. Sometimes we take the Lord's
Table on Wednesday, don't we? Is that a sacrilege? No, it's
just worship. I like to do it that way anyway,
because that's when the true worshipers come. Well, Christ
accomplished ultimately this is it. Now this is the whole
reason for all of this. They speak of his death which
he should accomplish. What he accomplished by his death
was the death of death. Christ made a full payment for
our sins. And now sin has no charge. No
charge against us. And that's the reason He said
you can't die. Isn't it? They say you'll die, but you
won't die. Death has no claim over you. Why, Christ died, you
see. The soul that sinned must surely
die. Well, I've sinned and come short
of it, but Christ died, and so my soul doesn't have to die.
My body will. But that's not me. This is just
a tent, just a tabernacle. But I won't die. I'll never die. He that believes in me will never
die. Do you believe that? Why do you believe that? Because
Christ died. He suffered hell for me. And
it wasn't a down payment, or else I owe some of it, don't
I? It wasn't a down payment. He
paid it all, didn't he? Everything out. Full payment. Complete. Accomplished. Payment
accomplished. There's not one note left. Not
one installment. Been paid in full. Paid in full. Stamped in red. Stamped in red. No attempt, but a completion.
An atonement. No possibility. Christ died to
make salvation possible. Well, did He make it possible?
Make it possible for man to be saved. Well, I'll tell you what
the Scripture says. It says, with man it's impossible. Well, He made
it possible. Now it's a possibility. But with
man it's impossible. Do you get that? He made it possible. But it's impossible with man.
I don't care if He made it possible. Do you get that? With man it's
impossible. But with God it's an absolute
certainty. He didn't die to make salvation
possible. He died to accomplish it. I'm on my favorite subject. And it's the favorite subject
of all of God's people. They're completely, 100% complete
in Him because of Christ's death. All God's people are completely
justified from all things. from which they could not be
justified by the law of Moses. Moses was there to attest to
that. And it was accomplished, the
salvation of his people. Love paid the price on Calvary's
man. Justice was met, the law satisfied,
mercy was borne. Why? The ransom was found. The ransom was found. This is
the only hope of every helpless sinner. The sovereign, successful,
completed, accomplished redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
tree. Absolute 100% accomplished. And these fools out there argue,
you know, the ramification or the extent of the atonement.
You know, what it could have, it could have saved all if it
was intended, but it wasn't intended for. Cease that nonsense. I like the sounds of those words,
don't you? The death he should accomplish. Moses and Elijah,
the law and the prophets came to bear witness of the death
he should accomplish. Let me ask you, have you ever...
I played sports growing up. Baseball, basketball, football,
tennis. We never, not once, did we ever
meet before the game and all of us say, now what are we going
to do to accept the trophy? Who's going to accept it? I tell
you what, Paul, you're the captain here. You will accept the trophy,
and Bill, you'll be with him to the winner's trophy. You'll
take it, and we'll all meet up. Now, pictures are going to be
taken for the winners. You don't talk like that. You understand what I'm saying?
We don't talk about things before they've happened. You don't plan your victory speech
until the victory's won, do you? Who's going to give the victory
speech? I will. I will. You know, you haven't fought
the game yet. Wait a minute now. You might
lose. But here's our Lord and Moses
and Elijah standing around. Before He ever went to the cross,
they're standing around talking about the death He should accomplish.
Lord, when you give your victory speech, we want to be there. OK. Accomplished. When you get it all done, that's
right. You know, there's a scripture
that says, Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself
as he that taketh it off. In other words, don't be bragging
until the war is over. Well, our Lord did. Yes, he did. They talk like it's a done deal
before it's ever been done. It was. The death he should accomplish. that he would. It doesn't sound
like there's any doubt about it, does it? There was not. Never
has been. Never has been. God's been saying
that through the first 39 books of the Bible. It's over. It's done. It's done. Don't count your chickens before
they hatch. That's what we say to them. Don't count your chicken
before they hatch. Our Lord counted every one of
His people before they were even born. Didn't it? Christ had his people
before the world began. He spake of his death as an accompaniment. It's over. It's just over. Dictum factum. Well, look at
this. It's real sad. Verse 32. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep. Now, people, what can you say? Peter had just, the Lord said,
who do you think I am? And Peter spoke up, you're crap. Well, if you'll come after me. Peter hadn't yet seen his glory.
He was asleep. And so it is with all men by
nature, dull and uninterested about Christ's glory. You know, Peter later on wrote
this. He said, these are things which
angels desire to look into. I know this sounds fantastic.
And I wouldn't say it if the word of God hadn't said it. That angels desire to listen
in to what we're talking about this morning. Doesn't it? I would say it. And
they don't need it. They don't need it. But we need
it bad. heavy with sleep, heavy with
sleep. Ah, but he knows our pain. You
know, man's asleep to the glory of God. You know, man, most men
and women are asleep right now to the glory of God. I'm not
talking about in this congregation. I'm talking about man by nature. He's asleep to the glory of God.
He's in a cloud. He can't see his glory like they
were. Look at it. It says they were
heavy with sleep. When they were awake, When they
were awake, they saw His glory. They didn't see His glory until
God awakened them. When they were awake, they saw
His glory. Nobody will see His glory until God awakens them. And why men, and why has religion
taken up with all this stuff? Why are they talking about this
stuff? Why are they talking about men and women, what people do,
and what, about their church, and about their, why are they
talking about this? Signs and wonders and miracles and all
this crap, huh? They hadn't seen His glory. God ever awakens a man? Boy,
if he's a preacher, he'll preach about Christ's glory. If he's a believer, if you talk
to him, he'll talk about Christ's glory. Peter and the boys did
from here on. When they were awake, they saw
His glory. And look at this. This is significant. I've got
to quit. He says, and they saw the two men that were with him.
They saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. If God
ever reveals Christ to you, you'll see Christ in all the law and
the prophets. You'll see how it all stands
with him. You'll see how the law stands
or falls with Christ. That the prophecies all have
their fulfillment in Christ. It all stands with him. It's
all with him. It's all concerning him. And you won't preach about Noah
and his ark and talk about Noah. If you see his glory, you won't
talk about Noah. You'll talk about that ark. If
you ever see his glory, you won't talk about Ruth and her faith.
You'll talk about Boaz, won't you? If you see his glory, you won't
talk about Abraham and Isaac and their faith. You'll talk
about that ram caught in a thicket. died in his stead. Well, this is my favorite story. Well,
it said, verse thirty-three, we can't leave this out. It came
to pass as Moses and Elijah were gone, that Peter, oh Peter, Peter,
Peter, Peter, This is me. I can just put my name right
here. Peter said unto Jesus, and over in Matthew's account,
Mark's account, said he was scared. Peter was shaken. He said he
was scared. He didn't know what to say, but
he had to say something. Why? Well, that's me. Got to say something. No, don't.
Be still. Just know he's God. Lord, let's build three tents.
Oh, Peter says he didn't know what he was saying, did he? Let's
build one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah, you
know. Oh, he had great esteem. He put Christ first. Well, put
Jesus first. Now, wait a minute. He's first
and last to the believer. Here's Moses. Here's Jesus. Here's
Moses. Here's Elijah. No, you just leave
Moses and Elijah out of this. If you're going to build a tabernacle,
build it to one. If you're going to put a memorial
name on your so-called church house, don't put Billy Bob Johnson's
name. Goodness gracious. You've seen
these. This is the Ethel Johnson Memorial
Baptist Church of the Heritage. Goodness gracious. If you're
going to put a name on it, put the name which is above every
name. Ethel didn't have anything to do with anybody. She didn't
die for anybody. Put the Jesus Christ Memorial
Church on there. Huh? Moses, Elijah, leave them
out of it. They had nothing to do with it. He didn't know what he was saying.
And these ignoramuses today don't know what they're saying either.
But when God, it says, while he was speaking, while he was
speaking, Lord, well, let's build a cloud and start covering it. Lord, let's build two, three
towers, one for you and And Matthew and Mark said, They hit the dust.
When the cloud finally got up, they hit the dust. And then a
voice spake, Out of the cloud, John. We looked at that, didn't
we? Out of the cloud. Verse 34, While
he thus spake a cloud, they feared as they entered in the cloud,
and there came a voice out of the cloud, saying what? The same
thing has been said from the beginning. The only thing God has to say
to mankind ever Look at this is my beloved son. You hear him. Don't look to Moses,
don't look to Elijah. Hear him. He that hath an ear to hear, better hear him. Better hear
him. Ah boy. It says when they woke
up, The voice was passed, verse 36, it says, Jesus was found
alone, and Matthew and Mark says there was no man with him. When
it was all over, when it was all said and done, when they
came out of the cloud, they looked up and they saw one. They saw
one. The Lord Jesus Christ, holy. O-N-L-Y, holy. Nobody with him. He stood alone. That's all they
needed to say. And from then on, they said,
Christ is all, isn't he? He is salvation of the Lord.
It's not Moses and Elijah helping out. It's Jesus Christ paid it
all, accomplished it all. That's what Moses and Elijah
talked about. And it says, well, they kept
it close. From that day forward, they kept it close. Oh, he that
keepeth my word, he that layeth hold, keepeth close, keepeth
close. The reason he said that, the
reason it was written that way, because, as we noted, if people would have thought
he was the Messiah, they would have come and tried to make him
king, but he had to die. He had to die to do what he came
to do. He didn't come to establish an
earthly kingdom, but to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
So he had to die. And he told him, don't go tell
anybody until I rise again. Then tell everybody. Tell them
what? Tell them what God told you.
Tell them what you heard. Tell them the things you've seen
and heard. And so Peter stood up and said,
hey, we've seen his glory. We heard him. And you need to. Know what. One point five one hundred twenty
five. uh...