Good evening.
You don't know how relieved I am to
see you here tonight.
I began to wonder this morning if I
should go back again and look at that
partial rapture theory.
I never gave it much credence, but after
this morning I thought maybe I should take
another look at it, you know.
However, you've assured me now tonight that it's
only a theory and that you're back again
with us.
I want to read with you tonight three
passages from the scriptures, from the Gospel by
Luke, again, where we have been reading before.
And we will read in chapter 8, the
Gospel by Luke, chapter 8, reading from verse
40.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 8 and verse 40.
And it came to pass that when Jesus
was returned, that is, returned from Gadara, where
the Gadarene had been loosed from the demonic
oppression under which he was living, the people
gladly received him, for they were all waiting
for him.
And, behold, there came a man named Jairus,
and he was a ruler of the synagogue.
And he fell down at Jesus' feet and
besought him that he would come into his
house, for he had one only daughter, about
twelve years of age, and she lay dying.
But as he went, the people thronged him.
And a woman, having an issue of blood
twelve years, which had spent all her living
upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
came behind him and touched the border of
his garment, and immediately her issue of blood
stanched.
Now, turn the page, please, to chapter 9,
and we shall read from verse 28.
And it came to pass, about an eight
days after these sayings, he took Peter and
John and James, and went up into a
mountain to pray.
And as he prayed, the fashion of his
countenance was altered, and his raiment was white
and blistering.
And, behold, there talked with him two men,
which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in
glory, and spake of his decease, which he
should accomplish at Jerusalem.
But Peter and they that were with him
were heavy with sleep.
When they were awake, they saw his glory,
and the two men that stood with him.
And it came to pass, as they departed
from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it
is good for us to be here, and
let us make three tabernacles, one for thee,
and one for Moses, and one for Elias,
not knowing what he said.
While he thus spake, there came a cloud,
and overshadowed them, and they feared as they
entered into the cloud.
And there came a voice out of the
cloud, saying, This is my beloved son, hear
him.
When the voice was passed, Jesus was found
alone, and they kept it close, and told
no man in those days any of those
things which they had seen.
Then the next day follows with this very
interesting article.
Now, turn back, if you will, please, to
Matthew, chapter 26, reading
from verse 36.
Then cometh Jesus with him unto a place
called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
And he took with him Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee, and began to be
sorrowful and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, My soul is
exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.
Carry ye here, and watch with me.
And he went a little farther, and fell
on his face, and prayed, saying, O my
father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou
wilt.
And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth
them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could
ye not watch with me one hour?
Watch, and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh
is weak.
He went away again the second time, and
prayed, saying, O my father, if this cup
may not pass away from me, except I
drink it, thy will be done.
And he came and found them asleep again,
for their eyes were heavy.
And he left them, and went away again,
and prayed the third time, saying the same
words.
Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith
unto them, Sleep on now, and take rest.
Behold, the hour is at hand, and the
Son of Man is betrayed into the hands
of sinners.
Christ, let us be going.
Behold, he is at hand that doth betray
me, and while he yet spake, lo, Judas."
Now, this morning we were considering, again, one
of the I Am's.
Rather, there were two this morning in our
little study.
The I Am of Sychar's Whale, and the
I Am of the Living Bread, which came
down from Heaven.
And may I suggest to you that when
we read these statements of the Lord Jesus,
and they are prefaced so often by the
I Am, as we'll see others in the
time that we may have, we are not
reading that which was, but that which is.
And you may say, well, but then it's
almost two thousand years ago since the Master
said, for example, I am the light of
the world.
But the I Am, the light of the
world, is for today, because it's the I
Am who is speaking these things with that
present, eternal tense which reflects back on us
now as it did when it was given
to them so long ago.
So he still is the light of the
world.
And our study this morning was, in the
Gospel by John, the Lord said, I am
the true bread, I am the living bread
which came down from Heaven.
And then we went on to consider something
of the difficult passage, that if a man
does not eat, or if one does not
eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink his blood, he has no life
in him.
Now, the I Ams, then, were not for
yesterday or yesteryear.
They are for today.
The I Am and everything that he said,
as far as we're concerned, that he was,
he is.
And he ever will be.
Now, this evening I want to come back
to our study of the trilogies, and I
wish to consider one with you that is
quite common, that is to say we read
about it frequently.
And that sometimes it raises a question in
the minds of some when I say some
things regarding these trilogies, especially in this one
that we're going to consider tonight, as well
as others, that these were choices that the
Lord made.
And it concerns three of the disciples.
You will understand, won't you, that while there's
no exception of persons with God, the Lord
Jesus, when he was here, had his preferences.
He did prefer some things above others.
He did prefer some places above others.
He preferred Galilee over Judea.
He chose that the rendezvous with his disciples
subsequent to his resurrection should take place in
Galilee.
You remember we read about that later on.
He chose not only villages, but he chose
homes which he preferred to visit.
And you've noticed, doubtless, one of those that
stands out very clearly was the home in
Bethany.
And there is a trilogy in connection with
our Lord's visit to the home in Bethany.
There were three major incidents and major visits
that he paid to the home in Bethany.
In fact, you probably have noticed, too, that
the last week of his life he seems
to have never spent a night either in
his father's house, in the temple, nor in
the city of the great king.
It appears that he went out to the
Mount of Olives, or he went to Bethany.
And he spent the last week of his
life in Bethany.
Now, these are preferences.
The Lord preferred to do certain things and
not to do other things.
And what we're going to consider tonight, briefly,
is the fact that there were three of
his disciples that he preferred to take with
him on three occasions another trilogy that the
other disciples did not experience.
Do you remember now that one of the
three towns I think I mentioned this to
you earlier in our studies in Galilee, that
the Lord marked out one of the three
towns was Bethsaida and three of his apostles
came from Bethsaida Andrew, Peter, and
Simon, Simon, Peter, and John.
Now, you say to me, how is it
that the Lord pronounced such a I was
going to say a curse, but a sentence
of judgment on a city where 25%
of his 12 apostles were born and raised
there?
Philip, Andrew, and Peter, the three of them
all came from the town of Bethsaida and
Bethsaida was one of the three that the
Lord spoke in Matthew chapter 11 so scathingly
against.
And as I suggested to you on that
occasion he linked them with the three cities
of the Old Testament and that was Tyre,
and Sidon, and Sodom.
And the Lord has done this by preference.
The three passages we've read tonight that he
took these three disciples with him on three
occasions which the others did not experience.
And while it is difficult for us sometimes
to take this into consideration in the way
in which the Scripture has given it to
us nevertheless, it's very clearly, and I think
it's undeniably true that the Lord did have
his preferences.
He chose to be a carpenter's son.
He chose to be a carpenter.
Why did he choose to be a carpenter?
Why did he choose Nazareth for the place
where he was to be raised and spend
those three divisions of his life?
He had his preferences.
And so we have Peter, James, and John.
Now, the first instance that we read here
tonight concerns Jairus and his daughter.
Perhaps you've noticed, too, that when the Lord
came back from Gadara came out of the
boat on the other side of the sea
and the multitudes went to meet him Jairus
was one of the first to get there.
He seems to have been in a state
of desperation because he had a twelve-year
-old daughter and she was dying.
And he begged the Lord, he besought the
Lord on his knees before him that he
would go and heal his daughter.
It was his only daughter.
And she was twelve years of age.
Have you noticed that there were three occasions
when the Lord raised the dead?
And each of these occasions is specific.
There was one whom he raised from the
dead that had the most right to live.
There was another that he raised from the
dead who had the most need to live.
And then there was another that he raised
from the dead who had the most expectation
to live.
But they all died.
And these three the Lord raised from the
dead.
We are just told of the three.
And the first one was Jairus' daughter, a
twelve-year-old child.
And Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, came
to the Lord in a very humble attitude,
in a beseeching attitude, fell down at his
feet and he said, Lord, I have one
only daughter and she's dying.
And the Lord said, I will go.
And while he's going to a twelve-year
-old that's dead he meets a woman that's
been dying for twelve years.
And you know that story.
And how the people were thronging him and
pressing him and this woman had this incurable
disease and had been assaulting her for twelve
years.
Now the little one is only twelve years
old and she's dying and she's going to
be dead before the Master gets there.
The woman is evidently a mature person, but
she's been dying for twelve years.
And in each of these cases we find
the sufficiency of the Savior for every need
at all times and every step of the
way.
So he sets off for Jairus' house.
And as the people are thronging and pressing
on him, you remember the story, the woman
comes behind him in the crowd and she
touches the border of his garment and instantly
she is healed.
Twelve desperate years that were so heavily hanging
over her without any remedy, without any alleviation,
without any possibility of a cure all gone
in a split second of time.
She just touched the border of his garment.
But she had said to herself, in spite
of all the discouraging experience she'd had for
twelve years if I can just touch the
border of his garment, I know I will
be healed.
And it was as she had faith that
it would be.
Then you remember the story.
The Lord said, who touched me?
And everybody denied it, first of all.
First of all, everybody denied it.
And then the next thing, Peter protested and
he said, Master, you can see that the
throng is pressing against you constantly and why
do you say somebody has touched you?
He said, because I know that power has
gone out from me.
And of course then the woman came and
told him the whole story.
And while that was happening, someone came to
Jairus from Jairus' home and said, don't trouble
the master anymore because your daughter's dead.
Remember the story about Lazarus?
The Lord's on the other side of Jordan,
over at Beth-Avora.
He's over there because the Jews were going
to stone him in Jerusalem.
Never got talking about Jerusalem, did we?
And we didn't finish that story about Bethlehem,
did we?
Well, just take heart, we're not finished yet,
you see.
And I haven't forgotten it.
And when the Lord's away over there on
the other side of the Jordan and word
is sent to him from the sisters, Lord,
behold, he whom none loveth to save.
I just love the way they did that,
don't you?
They didn't say, Lord, you know our brother
loves you.
Come quick.
That would be the way we would say
it.
As though it were a justified request because
Lazarus loved the Lord.
Or would they say it?
They gave a much stronger appeal for him
to come.
They said, Lord, he whom thou lovest is
sick.
Not he who loves you is sick, but
he whom thou lovest is sick.
These two sisters are a very interesting study
of human nature and also spirituality.
So, the Lord gets the message over there,
if you recall.
By the time the Lord got the message,
Lazarus is dead.
If you figure out the chronology of it,
you can see that.
And it wasn't long after he had the
message, when he had talked a little with
his disciples, that he told them that Lazarus
was dead.
But he stayed there two days longer, which
was a very surprising thing for him to
do.
But it had a three-fold reason for
him doing it, as he himself explained later.
Now, in this case, it's a 12-year
-old girl, and the Master's been told, don't
trouble him any more, he's dead.
The Lord overheard the comment made to Jairus,
the father, and he said, do not despair,
just believe, and she shall be made whole.
Now, if you have watched where this expression
is used, and it's used more than once
in the scriptures, in the Gospels, it is
applied to physical needs, and it is applied
to spiritual needs.
It is sometimes translated to be made whole,
and other times it's translated to be saved,
but it's all one and the same expression.
And it's used to show us the all
-inclusive nature of the blessing which the Lord
brought to those who were physically ill, or
those who were spiritually ill.
And so, the Lord said, fear not, she
shall be made whole, or she shall be
saved.
You may translate it either way.
And so they went to the house of
Jairus, and I didn't read with you the
rest of the passage.
You didn't close Luke chapter 8, did you?
No, I can see it's open there in
your lap.
Now, let's read that last part.
When they said, in verse 49, While he
yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler
of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy
daughter is dead.
Trouble not the master.
But when Jesus heard it, he answered him,
saying, Fear not, believe only, and she shall
be saved.
She shall be made whole.
But she's dead.
When he came into the house, he suffered
no man to go in, say Peter and
James and John.
Why did he do that?
Because he chose to.
Was there any other reason required, if he
chose to take Peter and James and John?
I can't give you any personal reason, just
because of who they were in themselves.
There are some of the disciples I would
have thought might have been more qualified, if
qualification had anything to do with it, for
the special favors that the Lord showered upon
these three.
But no.
He made his own choice, and he had
his own preferences, and he left the other
disciples behind, or outside, and he took Peter
and James and John, and the father and
the mother and the maiden, and all wept
and bewailed her.
If you've ever been in one of those,
you know what this is like.
We have had some experience along this line,
and sometimes we travel hundreds of miles to
go to a wake, as it is called,
and I recall particularly a specific occasion when
there were five of our young people in
the assembly in Miami, Cubans they were, by
birth, and they were traveling home from a
Sunday school picnic, and an accident took place,
and the car flipped over the rail and
landed in one of the canals upside down.
And the two girls, first cousins that were
in the back seat were both drowned, and
another cousin was in the front seat with
two of, one of our brethren's sons there.
And we got worried up in Canada, and
so we hurriedly gathered everything together and took
off for Miami.
And when we got there, it was about
two o'clock in the morning, and the
funeral parlor was very still, very quiet, very
deftly.
And as soon as we opened the door
and walked in, then the wailing started.
We were met with a barrage of wailing.
And it tears something inside you, especially if
you have any close connections with the dead.
In this case, they buried the two cousins
side by side in two caskets, and it
was my task to have to conduct the
funeral service.
And as an interesting side light, the boy
that was driving that car was run over
in a hay wagon episode just one year
later and crushed to death.
And we had to go back for that
funeral.
And I remember the father said to me,
the father of the boy at the time,
he said, I want to say something if
you don't mind at this service.
I said, it's your service, it's your son,
whatever you want.
Well, he said, I said, do you think
you can handle it?
He said, I'll be sitting over to your
right, but the audience won't see me.
I said, look, I'll turn to you, and
if it's not okay you want to speak,
then I will introduce you, and if you
feel you can't at that moment, then that's
just fine.
Well, he did it, and he did it
admirably well, and he did it to show
the Christian believing parents of the two girls,
those two first cousins, that death for a
believer is not a necessary cause of endless
wailing.
He stood up to it, and he stood
up beside the casket, his son's casket, 19
years of age, and he spoke very well,
very lovingly about him, that God had loaned
him this son for these years, and that
they knew he had a bright testimony, and
God had called him now as he did
these two girls that were riding with him
just the year before.
This case that we have here is so
typical of that kind of thing, and it's
very moving, it's heart-rendering, and when the
Lord gets there with his disciples, you see
they're all wailing, lamenting, but watch how superficial
it was.
The Lord said, the damsel's not dead, she's
just sleeping.
Weep not.
And they laughed him to score.
They derided him.
They curled the lip, they snarled at him.
They just turned the thing off like that,
and they turned immediately against him because it
says here rather succinctly, doesn't it, they knew
that she was dead.
The Lord put them all out, took Peter
and James and John and the mother and
the father of the maid, and went over
to the bed, took her by the hand
and said, Maiden, arise.
Now unless you should wonder, the extent of
this body, this inert body at this time,
the scripture is very specific.
Was she dead or was she not?
They said she was dead.
The Lord said, she's sleeping.
But when he spoke to her, took her
by the hand and spoke to her and
said, Maiden, arise.
Look what the scripture says.
Her spirit came again.
No question whether she was dead or not.
James will tell you that.
If you're worried about clinically dead and other
kinds of dead being dead, well then just
forget it.
James says the body without the spirit is
dead.
Well it says here very clearly, you see,
in verse 55, her spirit came again.
Her spirit came again.
So she was dead, very definitely and decidedly
dead.
And her spirit had left the body and
the body without the spirit is dead.
But the master said, she's not dead but
sleeping.
He said about Lazarus later on, do you
remember, our friend Lazarus sleeping.
And I go to awaken him out of
his sleep.
And the disciple says, Lord, if he's sleeping
he'll get better.
That's one of the best medicines he could
possibly have.
His rest, if he was critically ill.
Any of you have read any of James
Harriot books, know he discovered that too in
his practice.
So, here she is.
She's definitely dead.
Lazarus was definitely dead.
But the Lord says, he's sleeping.
I'm going to awaken him out of his
sleep.
What is dead and what is death to
the parents of the child that was to
the master was asleep.
And he was going to awaken her out
of her sleep.
But her spirit was not there.
So she is gone.
Isn't it fascinating, isn't it intriguing and doesn't
it tell us something that in the three
cases of those whom the Lord raised to
life, not one word is given to us
of any experiences of anything they heard or
saw or did in the time between when
their spirit had left the body and when
they were called back again.
Now that's something that we all would like
to have known.
Because we're always reading about light at the
end of the tunnel.
Voices from the other side and voices from
the edge of eternity and so on.
You've read some of these case histories and
it's rather, I don't know, I was going
to say something else.
I shouldn't.
These people who know not God, know not
His salvation, know not what it is to
be alive in Christ, know what it is
to possess eternal life.
These are they who tell you that as
soon as the spirit leaves into what they
call astral travel, then they see a wonderful
light and there's a very warm feeling and
then they hear something calling them back and
they come back into the body.
Well, a scripture that knows best what goes
on between that moment when the spirit leaves
the body and comes back again, having been
called back by the Lord of life, has
said nothing as to what they did or
what they said or how they felt.
You see, my friends, the emphasis is all
on who raised them from the dead.
Who had the power to recall that spirit.
And this 12-year-old girl is lying
there and her spirit's gone.
But when the Lord spoke to her, the
spirit came again.
Who witnessed this?
Peter and James and John.
One of the trilogies of the disciples in
the preference that the Master gave to them.
Now let's look on because I want to
get over these three tonight if I may.
And we read later on in the same
chapter from verse 28 on about what is
known as the transfiguration.
I think you would be interested to know
that the word transfigured or to transfigure only
occurs three times and once is the occasion
that we're looking at here tonight and the
other two times is in reference to a
Christian.
And I'll just stop and think of that
for five seconds.
Transfigured.
Transfiguration.
Once in relation to our Lord and twice
in relation to the Christian.
And I'm sure you'll be interested to look
that up before you go to sleep tonight.
Just in case you might happen to be
transfigured before tomorrow.
Now, this is the story.
The Lord goes up into a mountain to
pray.
And he takes with him these three.
This trilogy.
I got thinking about this today and I
thought, you know, I could call this a
triad, couldn't I?
But I don't like the word triad because
it ends kind of heavy.
Triad.
I like trilogy.
It's kind of musical, isn't it?
Yeah, trilogy.
Sounds spirit enlightening, I think.
Triad.
Trilogy.
So, the Lord goes up into a mountain
and he goes up into a mountain to
pray.
And as he prays, the fashion of his
face, his countenance is altered.
And this evidently is a night scene because
you read in the passages where we have
this story given to us how the next
day they came down where the multitude was
and the father with the lunatic child.
And our Lord is up there and as
he prays, the fashion of his countenance is
altered.
That while one prays, oftentimes it's the fashion
of somebody else's countenance that's altered.
You know what I mean?
If you don't know what I mean, just
try and pray for someone whose countenance you
can hardly stand.
And pray positively for this person and you'll
discover that while you're praying the fashion of
their countenance will be altered.
But that's not the story we have here.
Our Lord is praying and as he prays,
his face becomes as the sun.
Now what is this transfiguration?
This is the reality of who he was
that had been veiled in this human flesh
that we're speaking about the other night in
connection with the virgin mother.
It has been veiled in human flesh, but
it is there.
And the face being the window of the
soul, when I say that, I hesitate because,
you know, I don't know what some souls
have to be like.
The face is the window of the soul.
I tell people that I couldn't be too
faced because if another one, I wouldn't come
up with this one.
But at any rate, if it's true that
the face is the window of the soul,
then what is going on here?
It's the real man, as he walks, suddenly
bursts through the veil of his humanity.
And the transfiguration takes place not because he
became what he wasn't.
He was always that same one.
And he was always conscious of who he
was.
There was never a time when he didn't
know who he was.
He always knew who he was.
And yet, that was veiled.
When Philippians 2 uses the word, he emptied
himself.
He didn't cease to be when he became
what he wasn't.
And always now will be what he became.
He took upon him the form of a
servant.
And you know he wasn't a servant before.
How could deity, how could this sovereign of
the universe be a servant?
Who would he serve?
And to what extent and in what way?
No, Philippians 2 tells us he took upon
himself the form or the nature of a
servant.
And he became a servant.
And he was here, as he said himself
in Matthew 20, I didn't come to be
served, but to serve.
To serve a ransom for many.
And then if you go to Luke's Gospel
chapter 12, there I am.
Speaking too fast again.
Sorry about that.
In Luke's Gospel chapter 12, you remember our
Lord said in the millennial kingdom, what he's
going to do?
He's going to gird himself with a towel.
He's going to come out and serve those
who are sitting at the table in the
marriage feast.
He is still going to be a servant
as he became a servant here.
Out of his countenance, who he really is,
it was altered, it became as the sun.
And then his raiment, what happened to his
raiment?
It was flashing like lightning.
What does the raiment speak of in the
Scriptures?
Well, it speaks of a man's office.
It speaks of who he is officially.
And he wears the robes which are corresponding
to the office that he holds.
And so, we even have that in our
courts of law, that certain raiment, certain clothing
is put on in keeping with the office
of the person, the judge or whoever it
may be in the court.
Now, our Lord wore garments, garments of humility,
garments of meekness, garments of service.
John chapter 13, when he got down to
wash the disciples' feet.
But his garments now are flashing like lightning.
Remember the high priest, what he did when
our Lord was standing in front of him
and he said, if you are the Messiah,
the Lord said, thou sayest it, and hereafter
you shall see the Son of Man sitting
on the right hand of power and coming
in the clouds of heaven.
And what did the high priest do?
He tore his robes.
And what did that indicate?
Well, you know when the robe was torn
in the Old Testament, often times it indicated
a cessation of the office.
When Saul took ahold of Samuel's garment and
he's given it to another, the kingdom, the
monarchy, the garment of the monarch was torn
and the office was lost.
Now here, and there never will be another,
never, never, never, ever will be another high
priest after the order of Aaron.
It doesn't appear anywhere in Scripture after that.
While you have a priesthood according to the
sons of Zadok in the temple of Ezekiel's
day in the Millennial Temple, there's no high
priest mentioned there.
No high priest.
Caiaphas tore his garment and that was the
end, the ultimate cessation of the Aaronic high
priesthood.
The only high priest there's going to be
now in the Millennial Kingdom is he who
is after the order of Melchizedek.
He will take the place of the high
priest for his people.
But here our Lord's garments are white and
glistening.
How does he fulfill his office?
How does he carry out his charge?
How does he really show that his garment
is the robe, the vesture of office?
And he is his is flashingly righteous in
every sense.
This is the Lord.
And who is witnessing this?
Moses and Elijah come and they come in
glory.
Moses, Moses, Moses, Moses, yes, yes, Moses.
What happened to Moses?
Oh, he was buried by Nebo's lonely mountain
on this side Jordan's way in the vale
in the land of Moab and no man
saw it there but the angel of God
upturned the sword and laid the dead man
there.
Yeah, but was he still there?
Was he always there?
No, he appeared in glory on the Mount
of Transfiguration.
Well, where did he come from?
Well, if we may draw some conclusions from
Jude's word, the day came when Michael had
to contend with the devil about the body
of Moses.
Why would Michael be contending with the devil
about the body of Moses?
He was buried by Nebo in a vale
in the land of Moab.
He died up on the mountain peak and
the Lord buried him there.
And then what happens?
Some contention takes place between Michael who stands
for the children of Israel and the devil
who holds the imperial power of death.
Doesn't Hebrews chapter 2 say that he had
the right or might of death?
And our Lord by his death rendered him
helpless.
And he brought this man out of the
grave to walk on the hills of Judea
with his Lord.
That's a very interesting story, brethren.
And look into it carefully when you find
out why God didn't let Moses into the
land.
I think we must interpret that passage.
However, here's Moses and here's Elijah on the
Mount of Transfiguration.
Moses who represented the whole Levitical system of
the sacrifices and offerings.
Elijah who has made and represented the whole
school of the prophets.
And what are they doing?
They're talking with the Lord about the departure,
his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
And all the value of the foregoing sacrifice
of the Levitical order only had value because
it came from the decease, the sacrifice that
he was going to offer at Jerusalem.
He was going to accomplish something by his
death.
And all the prophecies of the kingdom yet
to come that the prophets so glowingly pronounce
in various times and seasons, they're all going
to be fulfilled because of what?
Because of Calvary, because of his decease which
he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
This is what they're talking about.
Everything that Moses represented is dependent upon the
sacrifice of the cross.
Everything that the prophets ever promised in such
glowing terms for ages yet unborn for the
nation of Israel are all going to be
fulfilled because of his decease that he accomplished
at Jerusalem.
That's the topic of these three who appeared
in glory.
And where's Peter and James and John?
Where are they?
Fast asleep.
You see, it's like God, Moses told the
children of Israel, God didn't choose you because
you were the greatest of all the nations.
No.
Because you were the fewest of all the
nations.
And you were the most stiff-necked of
all the nations.
And you provoked him to wrath ten times
in forty-one stops in the wilderness journey
from Egypt to Canaan.
God never chose you because of your personal
greatness or worth.
He chose you because he loved you.
And the Lord chose Peter and James and
John because they were near to his heart.
And there they are in the wilderness.
And the Lord is transfigured.
And finally, something happens and they awaken out
of their sleep and they see Moses and
Elijah talking with the Lord.
And then what happens?
Peter gets up out of his sleep and
everything goes into gear as far as Peter's
concerned.
He always had things in gear as far
as talking was concerned.
And he says, Lord, it's really good for
us to be here, you know.
This is the millennium.
I'm sure this is the millennium now going
to be ushered in.
It's going to be inaugurated and Tabernacles will
get booze for you and Moses and Elijah.
Not knowing what he said.
Peter's had a large posterity.
He's had a lot of children since he's
dead and gone.
This he said not even knowing what he
was saying.
But he had to say something.
And when he said something which he never
should have said, Peter says, Lord, we're going
to make some Tabernacles.
We're going to have the feast of Tabernacles
right now.
And then what happens?
A cloud comes in.
And you begin to fear.
You tremble when you get into the cloud.
It's the evidence, of course, of the presence
of the Almighty.
And a voice comes out of the cloud
saying, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased.
That's one of the counts that says that
anyway.
Hear ye him.
Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about his deceit which he should
accomplish in Jerusalem.
Everything is moving towards that.
And everything emerges from that.
The cross is the center of all the
purposes of God.
In anticipation and in retrospect.
Some people have problems with the Jews offering
sacrifices in the millennium.
I don't know why they should.
The cross is the center.
And everything that subsequently comes out of that
is going to reflect back on that.
And so the voice from heaven says, hear
him.
They were afraid when they entered into the
cloud.
Peter and James and John.
And I've got two minutes and one more.
I'm going to have to talk fast now.
What's the last one?
The subject about which it's difficult to talk
fast.
It's Gethsemane.
And after they left the upper room.
He came down to the garden.
The Lord said to eight of his disciples,
you sit there.
And he took three of them.
And he took Peter and James and John.
He took them into the garden farther.
Just the three of them.
This trilogy.
And he said to them, now sit there
and watch with me.
I suggested to you this morning or last
night, I don't remember, that it's an interesting
thing to discover, to search out how many
times the Lord asked for something for himself.
And find out if he ever got it.
Here's one of the occasions.
Sit there and watch with me.
What's he taking them for?
Companionship.
They're the city.
And he goes a little farther in.
He falls on his face to pray.
He said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even
unto death.
And he goes forward and falls on his
face and prays.
And after he prays he comes back and
he sees the three, these favored three, these
preferred three.
He sees them asleep.
And he says, Simon, you who just said
to me outside the garden that you would
go to prison and to death for me.
But he didn't say it actually in those
words, did he?
But that's exactly what had happened.
Simon, could you not watch with me for
one hour?
You remember in Mark chapter three when the
Lord went up into the mountain to pray,
to find out, to decide who is going
to choose to be his twelve apostles.
And he came down.
You remember what he says he chose them
for the very first thing?
To be with him.
And then what?
Send them forth to preach.
What's the most important thing, my friend, in
our relationship with our Lord?
To be with him.
Simon, could you not watch with me just
one hour?
Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation.
And I was just given a new translation
of the New Testament before I came on
this trip.
And this gentleman who is highly recommended by
Professor F.F. Bruce, I never heard his
name before.
And he translates this The Ultimate Test.
And F.F. Bruce says of this author,
sure, he says, he has a very full
knowledge of the Greek language.
And when F.F. Bruce says that about
somebody, I'm willing to accept that.
And he translates this Watch and pray lest
you enter into the ultimate test.
And he goes away and prays again the
second time.
And he comes back again.
And he finds him asleep again.
There's one little addition made in one of
the stories that said they were sleeping for
sorrow.
For sorrow.
They were sleeping for sorrow.
He told them about the traitor.
He told them what was going to happen.
He had given them all the details in
increasing intensity after they left Galilee and came
down that eastern route through Jericho and up
to Jerusalem.
If you've noticed the times in which our
Lord spoke about his death, he added details
to it that increased the intensity of the
subject.
He told them all about that.
And now he's come to this point and
there's something is hanging upon the hearts of
these three.
And they're sleeping for sorrow.
And the Lord goes away again and comes
back the third time.
And he finds him asleep and he says,
Sleep on.
Take rest.
The matter is settled.
Lo, he that betrayed me is at hand.
Rise.
Let us be going.
This is the trilogy of the preferred three.
And the three occasions in which they shared
with the Master that which others did not
have the privilege of sharing.
Brethren, there are some lessons for us surely
in this.
And I think one of the lessons is
what we should perhaps ambition more than anything
else.
That the Lord might desire our presence.
And that we in turn might satisfy that
desire.
Remember he chose us to be with him.
Not with him only in the glory to
come.
But with him now.
He chose us for companionship.
May we realize the preference that's ours.
So we pray.
Our Father, we pause to remember that they
were but as we are.
And in the frailty of our spirits as
well as our mortality how often we have
failed.
How often our Lord who chose to be
one with us and chose us to be
one with him has found us sleek.
Touch our hearts.
Draw us nearer to the one who seeks
our affection and our companionship.
May thy word be a blessing to us
this night in his name.
Amen.