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Meditations From The Holy Mountain | Mark 9:9-13 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Mark 99 reads, and as they were coming down the mountain, he
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  charged them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of
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  Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to
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  themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might
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  mean. And they asked him, Why do the
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  scribes say that first Elijah must come?
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  And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all
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  things. And how is it written of the Son
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  of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with
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  contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has
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  come, and they did to him whatever they pleased.
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  As it is written of Him, Lord, we sincerely ask for the
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  assistance of the precious Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds
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  concerning this portion of Holy Scripture.
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  We asked, Lord, that there would be a grace upon the transmission
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  of this Word, and that Lord, it would be done with your great
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  power and wisdom, and that, Lord, our hearts would be made
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  ready. And we know, Lord, that there is
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  the evil One who is ready to snatch away the seed of the Word
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  from our hearts. We know that he is conniving and
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  clever, and that he even now will seek to try to rob us of
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  this truth. And so we pray for divine
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  protection. We pray that you would silence
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  him, and that you would cancel any assignment against us in
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  this meeting. For those who are prone to
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  distraction, would you give us a grace?
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  For those who are anxious in heart and disturbed in their
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  souls, would you speak peace to them so that they may hear you?
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  Lord, we trust you that this word is spirit in life and that
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  we would be transformed through it.
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  In the name of the living Christ, we pray.
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  Amen. Amen.
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  We've seen this before, haven't we?
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  We've seen the Lord Jesus on different occasions ask of those
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  who are recipients of his miraculous power to remain
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  silent about the matter. And unfortunately, in many of
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  those occasions they did not take heed.
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  And now the Lord Jesus Christ looks to his inner circle and he
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  asked them the same, to keep what they have witnessed to
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  themselves. And I can just imagine the
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  temptation that these three felt when they saw what they saw.
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  That spectacular sight of the glory of Jesus Christ, the
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  appearance of Elijah and Moses, the visitation of God's glory
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  through a cloud, the voice of the Heavenly Father himself
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  speaking directly to them. You can imagine what grace was
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  needed to keep them from going to the mountaintops and
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  declaring to the masses what they have seen with their own
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  eyes and what they have heard with their own ears.
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  Regardless, regardless of the privilege, regardless of the
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  splendor, regardless of the opportunity that they had
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  received, the charge of the Lord Jesus Christ was clear.
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  Do not say anything about what you have seen.
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  And with that, the Lord does not give a reason.
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  He doesn't explain why they should keep this to themselves.
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  He doesn't elaborate. He doesn't try to satisfy
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  perhaps their curiosity with such a strange instruction.
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  He simply tells them what to do. And it reminds me how often that
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  when we are in a certain circumstance or situation and we
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  understand God's wisdom or will for that particular situation,
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  How it doesn't necessarily satisfy our reasonings in that
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  very moment. How?
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  When we are faced with something, we believe at times
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  that it's our way, our wisdom, our understanding that should
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  prevail even at the expense of Christ's word.
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  And there are times where you will have an opportunity to
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  either obey or disobey, to trust and not to trust.
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  And in those moments, would you do what these disciples are
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  about to do? And that's simply believe what
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  Christ has to say, even though you don't understand it.
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  To simply continue on the path of obedience, even though you
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  are being tempted in one way or another, stay on the path of
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  obedience. Stay on the path of trusting
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  Him. The answer will come.
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  You can never go wrong in trusting the Lord.
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  You can never go wrong and believing His word, even though
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  it may seem to contradict human wisdom.
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  We often think what we know is better for ourselves.
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  We often, even sometimes think what we think is better for
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  Christ. What?
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  I'm trying to help you out here. What?
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  I'm trying to promote you here. What?
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  I'm trying to give you a better image here.
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  He doesn't need our help. He wants your obedience and
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  mine. And So what will these disciples
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  do? Will they follow in the pattern
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  of so many who've been told to remain silent and instead went
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  on to declare what they were told to keep to themselves?
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  Oh, you might be surprised because the disciples have
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  disappointed us on many occasions, but not here.
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  What do we read in verse 10? So they kept the matter to
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  themselves. They did it.
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  They actually obeyed. They actually trusted.
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  And they might have not known why, but we know why.
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  We know why the Lord told the disciples.
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  I know it was amazing. I know it was glorious.
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  But keep it to yourselves. Do you know why?
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  Because these, the disciples who had witnessed the glory of the
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  Messiah were also the disciples who were not ready to accept the
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  suffering of the Messiah. And until they were ready to
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  accept the suffering, the death, and the resurrection of the
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  Messiah, they had no right to declare who the Messiah is and
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  what He would do. How do we know that?
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  Look at the rest of verse 10, questioning what this rising
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  from the dead might mean. So they still didn't get it.
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  They still didn't understand and the Lord knew this about his
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  own, so he told his own just don't say anything.
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  And he doesn't need to explain because he is the all knowing
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  one. But the command was not simply
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  for them to keep this to themselves, because it was not
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  the will of Jesus Christ for this to be privatized forever.
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  No. There was a time where they
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  could make it known. And this is what the Holy Spirit
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  says in verse 9 says here. He charged them to tell no one
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  what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
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  You will share what you have witnessed at a particular point.
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  When I conquer the grave, when I overcome, when I rise, then you
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  can declare what you have witnessed on this holy mountain.
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  So this command is really twofold.
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  Don't say anything, but there's a time where you can and you
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  will say this. Did the disciples obey the
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  latter portion? Yes.
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  Do you know how we know? Through the writings of Peter.
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  Turn your bibles with me. The Second Peter chapter One.
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  Look at second Peter, chapter one, verse 16.
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  Did Peter write this long after Jesus rose from the dead?
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  Yes, he did. And look what he wrote.
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  Second Peter 116 reads For we did not follow cleverly devised
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  myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord
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  Jesus Christ. Pause.
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  He's assuring the readers of his epistle, hey, the the teachings
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  that you heard from us concerning the return of Jesus
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  Christ, the triumphant return of the Lord who will judge everyone
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  and establish His Kingdom. That is not source from myths.
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  This is not man made, and he gives his apologetic to why He
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  gives his reason why. But we were eyewitnesses of His
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  Majesty. We were eyewitnesses of His
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  Majesty. At what point he tells us of
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  verse 17. For when he received honor and
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  glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the
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  majestic glory. This is my beloved Son with whom
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  I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very
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  voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy
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  Mountain. Remember what Jesus said in Mark
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  9/1. He had promised some of his
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  disciples, Well, all of them. But he assured that some of them
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  would not taste death until a selected few would witness the
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  coming of the Kingdom of God in power.
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  You remember that right? And we agreed that that prophecy
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  that Jesus made was fulfilled on the mouth of Transfiguration.
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  It doesn't teach that the Kingdom of God has already come
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  in power. Usually people believe that
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  happened at 70AD. Nor does it convey that some of
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  the disciples are yet still alive because the King of God
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  has not yet come with power. No, we know that what happened
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  on that mountain fulfilled that promise, and Peter confirms that
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  again. He's saying We taught you about
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  the second coming of Christ when He will come in power and glory.
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  And do you know how this is true?
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  We were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
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  In other words, Peter is saying that we saw a glimpse of the
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  Kingdom of God coming in power. We received a sample of it.
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  This is why this is important. If Peter believed that what he
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  saw, Jesus unveiling his glory fulfilled the promise he made
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  that some of you will not die until you see it, then why are
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  we hesitant to believe it ourselves?
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  Why are we going here and there with different teachings about
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  end times when Peter himself here and Second Peter says no,
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  no, no, we were eyewitnesses of that same glory, that majesty.
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  And there's so much else to say here.
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  But did you notice how Peter refers to the location of that
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  experience? Look at verse 18 again.
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  We ourselves heard from this very voice born from heaven, for
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  we were with them on the holy mountain.
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  Can I ask you something? Was there anything intrinsically
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  holy about that mountain? This, this mountain is is not
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  even named to us. There's debate about which
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  mountaintop Jesus transfigured on, so we don't even have the
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  exact geographical location. But was there anything about
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  that mountain that was inherently sacred?
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  No. Did Jesus choose a specific
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  summit that would be appropriate to host that demonstration of
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  his beauty and glory? No.
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  It wasn't that Jesus took the disciples to a holy mountain.
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  It was that Jesus in his glory made that mountain holy.
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  It was where he was and what he did on that mountain that
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  sanctified it. In a sense that made it
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  something special. And when I thought about how
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  Peter says this mountain was holy because of the Holy One who
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  was there at that time and did something spectacular and
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  majestic. I think about you and I.
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  Is there anything inherently holy about you or me?
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  We can all say no, far from it. In fact, the Bible tells us we
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  are the very opposite of that which is holy.
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  But because Christ shown in our hearts, because He has given us
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  the gift of the ceiling of the Holy Spirit, you and I now are
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  holy. We are sanctified.
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  We are consecrated. We are different, not because of
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  you, but because of what He's done in you, because of what you
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  do, but because of how you and I identify with Him and how He has
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  identified with us. You and I before Christ were far
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  from holy. Not just ordinary, no, no.
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  We were evil, wicked, depraved, ugly, in light of the holiness
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  of Christ, but because of Christ, just like that mountain
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  was just an ordinary mountain. Now you and I are no longer
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  ordinary people, a royal priesthood royalty, not because
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  of you, not because of me, but because of the glory of Jesus
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  Christ in here. And we see here that Jesus made
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  this mountain glorious and holy. And we've been told by the
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  prophets that there is a time coming when the glory of the
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  Lord will cover the earth as the seas cover the earth.
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  There's a time coming where Jesus will descend in his glory.
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  And in descending in his glory and planting his feet again on
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  this earth, the whole earth will be exposed to the aroma of the
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  holiness of Jesus. So it's not just going to be a
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  mountain, but every mountain, every valley, every city, every
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  village, every institution, every Education Center, every
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  home, every corner will be exposed and saturated with the
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  holiness of Jesus Christ. You don't believe me?
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  You think that's exaggeration? When you get the chance, look at
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  how the book of Zachariah ends in chapter 14, and there's an
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  interesting prophecy that we would kind of look over.
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  We are told in Zechariah 1421 that when the Lord Jesus comes
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  in his glory, you know what's going to happen?
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  Every pot, every pot will be made holy unto the Lord.
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  Every furnishing, every instrument for cooking will be
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  sanctified. What is that saying?
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  Even the mundane, even the ordinary will know something
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  about the holiness of Jesus Christ.
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  That's what's going to happen when he comes.
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  So we're in this atmosphere here now, as the people of God, and
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  we should sense something sacred and holy, not because of the
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  building, not because of images, but because we are the church.
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  But Can you imagine during the millennial reign where you go
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  down to a specific area and probably you've driven through
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  those areas and you have to go there and you feel evil, You
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  feel darkness, you feel perversion.
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  That's not going to happen. When he comes.
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  Even the horses were told in Zechari that will have bells.
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  The bells will be inscribed with holiness unto the Lord.
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  Vehicles, pots and pans, furniture, it's all going to be
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  known and consecrated unto him. I can't wait for that day.
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  Now, while we're here in Second Peter, allow me to expand on
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  something. Look what he says here in verse
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  19, and we have the prophetic word.
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  This is in light of what he just said.
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  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which
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  you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining
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  in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises
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  in your hearts. Look and focus with me on the
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  1st phrase here, and we have the prophetic word more fully
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  confirmed. This is a challenging verse
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  because it's interpreted generally in one or two ways.
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  One common interpretation is that Peter is pointing us to a
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  source after just explaining what he had witnessed with his
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  eyes, what he had heard with his ears.
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  Now he's going on to say that there is a source more reliable
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  than our experience. There is something that's more
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  profound than an eyewitness account concerning the return of
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  Jesus Christ on that mountain, and that is the prophetic word
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  that is the scriptures he's saying.
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  So after explaining what he had seen and calling him to trust in
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  that as an apostle, he's now going on to say, listen, despite
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  what we've seen, the word of God can be more trusted.
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  The word of God is something that you can rely on much more
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  than what somebody says they have witnessed, even what you
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  have experienced. The word of God is greater than
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  your experience. This is how some people
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  interpret this passage. And that's a powerful truth.
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  It it's a it's a strong case to make concerning the word of God
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  and its reliability. But there's a second
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  interpretation concerning this and it's not so much Peter
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  saying despite our experience, there's something more reliable.
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  What he's saying here is we have the prophetic word more fully
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  confirmed. In other words, what we saw on
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  that holy mountain. What we heard on that mountain
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  confirms what the ancient prophets had said about the
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  truth of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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  In other words, in those Hebrew writings that pointed to this
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  Messiah coming in glory and power and might, what we
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  witnessed confirms that this will indeed come to pass because
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  Jesus gave us a glimpse, because Jesus trusted us with the
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  experience to only compound and to say for certain it's going to
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  happen, the Lord Jesus is coming again, and so you can see how
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  both are really good. Which one do I choose, right?
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  Which one do I go with? And I'm under the persuasion
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  that whichever interpretation you go with, the point is still
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  the same down deep inside. It's true that the Word of God
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  can be firmly, unquestionably trusted.
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  It has made specific predictions that have come to pass, and it
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  will, and it has fulfilled many of those predictions, and it is
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  also filled with eyewitness accounts through and through
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  reliable sources. Therefore, you can believe God.
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  You can trust God for your tomorrow, what he says about
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  tomorrow, despite your experience, despite what you've
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  seen or heard or touched, because through and through in
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  the Word we can rehearse and we can believe God said it.
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  God fulfilled things already, therefore He will not change.
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  We can expect that what's to come will come because he is to
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  be trusted. So Peter's saying here, look
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  what we what we saw in Mark Chapter 9.
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  This confirms what the word of God says You.
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  You can believe the word of God even more now.
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  You should believe it at least. Now let's come back to Mark
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  Chapter 9, shall we? I want to touch on something
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  that we didn't touch on last time, verse 9 says.
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  And as they were coming down the mountain, who are the day three
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  individuals? Peter.
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  James. John Jesus selected these three
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  to come with him to this mountaintop.
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  But Jesus did not select these three only at this time.
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  He actually, in the Gospels, did it three times.
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  He selected these three out of the 12 for three separate
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  experiences where they were exclusively invited to something
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  that the others were not. There is one experience before
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  the mouth of Transfiguration, and there's one after it.
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  Most of us know the one after in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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  Or Jesus called the three to come to him, and he sought their
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  prayers and he sought their support as he wrestled in that
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  garden. And the one former, the one
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  before. This is when Jesus brought these
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  three to witness the resurrection of Gyrus's daughter
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  in Mark chapter 5. And people tend to wonder, why
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  did the Lord choose Peter, James, and John?
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  Why did he select these three? Did he love them more?
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  Did he trust them more? And the Bible doesn't say, so we
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  have to be very careful to assume why.
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  But I was thinking about this because you can't ignore it,
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  right? He took them there in Mark five.
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  He takes him here in Mark 9. He'll take him later at the end
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  of this gospel account. And it's not so much the why,
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  the why of these selecting to me, it's the how the Lord, even
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  in selecting these three, handled them separately and
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  individually. And this is going to go
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  somewhere because it shouldn't encourage us as individual
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  believers. And I wanted to encourage you
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  because oftentimes believers are convinced concerning the Lord's
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  affection for them based on what they see the Lord doing in their
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  lives and what He's not doing in their lives and what He's doing
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  in other people's lives. And you have you have believers
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  who are discouraged, thinking that the Lord loves them less,
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  cares for them less than the next person.
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  But I see Jesus here at in choosing these three, He's
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  choosing them to train them, obviously, for something
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  specific. But even in this three will you
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  have? More importantly, is the Lord
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  handling the lives and the futures of individuals
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  altogether? Let me prove it to you.
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  So these three, they saw the same thing.
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  They were invited to the same thing.
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  Who was the first apostle martyr?
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  Not the first Christian martyr. The first martyr as an apostle
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  it was James James, the brother of John.
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  Acts chapter 12. Historically, who was the last
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  one? John, the brother of James.
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  So James the brother John is the first impossible to to be
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  killed. Historically speaking, many
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  believe that it was John the brother of James who was the
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  last one to be killed among the apostles.
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  And even in Acts Chapter 12, you have James and Peter.
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  So now we have James and Peter, the same James and Peter who got
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  to see these things. And we're invited to these
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  experiences and they experience the same persecution, the same
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  trial by the same power, the evil power of Herod.
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  OK, so if James and Peter, they saw Gyrus's daughter, right from
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  that they were invited to see the Transfiguration.
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  They were there with Jesus in the garden, and here they are
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  now. They were both in the same
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  chapter, arrested by Herod. Surely they're going to have the
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  same outcome. Surely they're going to
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  experience the same deliverance That true?
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  No, The Lord sent an Angel for Peter.
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  No Angel came for James. James was killed.
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  Peter was saved and to the misguided uninformed. 1 might
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  think, well, maybe the Lord favors Peter more than James.
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  No? What about what about Peter and
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  John and John? 21 Jesus tells Peter, follow me.
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  And before that he prophesied to Peter the kind of death he would
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  die in glorifying Christ. And Peter starts to follow.
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  And Peter does what most of us do.
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  I mean, this is fascinating to me.
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  Peter backslides. Jesus restores him.
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  He says follow me. And right after he says follow
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  me. And Peter does it.
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  You know what he does? He looks at John.
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  I mean, you just started to follow him again, and you
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  already took your eyes off of him.
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  He looks at John, and he says, Lord, what about this man?
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  What about this man? So Peter's concerned.
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  Yeah. You told me how I'm going to
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  die. What about him?
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  I want to know about his future. And Jesus says, hey, listen, if
• 24:20
  it's up to me that he remains until I come, what's that to
• 24:24
  you? Translation, Peter.
• 24:26
  I love you. Mind your business.
• 24:28
  You follow me, you follow me. And so even with this inner
• 24:35
  three, I don't want to get caught up with the fact that
• 24:37
  there's this inner three. I want to get caught up with the
• 24:39
  fact that even with this inner 3, Jesus is treating them
• 24:42
  uniquely. And Jesus equally loves them.
• 24:49
  And he has a plan for each of them.
• 24:52
  He has a future for each of them.
• 24:54
  He has a call for each of them. Tailor made.
• 24:59
  Don't think anything less for your life.
• 25:02
  He loves you. Not just the church.
• 25:05
  You. Yes, you.
• 25:08
  Well, I don't have the same opportunities as this guy and I
• 25:11
  don't see as much fruit as that person.
• 25:12
  And I'm not as known as that individual and I don't have the
• 25:15
  gifts like that person and and I'm suffering more here than
• 25:18
  that in that person. So no, no, no, no, no, no.
• 25:20
  You have to understand. He loves you and he cares for
• 25:25
  you and he's leading you perfectly, perfectly.
• 25:31
  Don't compare your life to the next person is just keep your
• 25:34
  eyes on Jesus Christ and trust his heart for you.
• 25:40
  That's what I take out of these three.
• 25:44
  And so we come now and and closing here before we partake
• 25:47
  of the Lord's table, verse 11 of Mark Chapter 9.
• 25:51
  So the disciples now they're wrestling a little bit.
• 25:56
  They're wrestling because they're trying to get their
• 25:58
  eschatology straight. Eschatology is a fancy word for
• 26:02
  the study of the end times, the last things.
• 26:05
  OK? And so here are these disciples
• 26:09
  who have somewhat of a grasp of the scriptures concerning the
• 26:11
  Messiah, who's to come. And now they believe that this
• 26:15
  Jesus who has come is the Messiah.
• 26:17
  But there's there seems to be some holes in their
• 26:19
  understanding. Remember, Peter had trouble
• 26:22
  believing that Jesus would suffer.
• 26:24
  He rebukes Jesus. Jesus in turn rebukes him.
• 26:28
  And Jesus, in wanting to encourage his own, chooses to
• 26:31
  manifest his glory, does he not to show them, yes, I will
• 26:34
  suffer, you're going to suffer. But that's not where the story
• 26:37
  ends. Check it out.
• 26:38
  This is what's coming. And so they're they're trying to
• 26:44
  understand all of these pieces and they're trying to put it in
• 26:46
  a straight line here. They're trying to get a timeline
• 26:50
  right. And so the only obstacle right
• 26:53
  we read in verse 10 that they're still questioning what this
• 26:55
  rising of the dead might mean. They still have don't have a
• 26:59
  full understanding of Jesus dying and rising from the grave.
• 27:02
  But that's not the only obstacle, because again, these
• 27:05
  are Jews who were exposed to teachings from the scribes who
• 27:09
  heard the scriptures, who knew of some prophecies.
• 27:13
  And so a question comes now, and this is the question in verse
• 27:17
  11. And they asked them as they're
• 27:20
  walking down the mountain, why did the scribes say that First,
• 27:24
  Elijah must come. That seems like a random
• 27:29
  question, doesn't it? Well, it's random if you don't
• 27:31
  know the Old Testament. Hey, Lord, we heard that before
• 27:36
  the Messiah comes, Elijah has to come.
• 27:41
  And I wonder if the visitation of Elijah prompted that
• 27:43
  question. Right.
• 27:44
  They saw Elijah with Moses. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:47
  We heard from the scribes. He's supposed to come.
• 27:48
  Where do you go? Why do you disappear?
• 27:49
  Holy Lord, we're trying to understand this whole thing.
• 27:53
  Messiah. We believe you're the Messiah.
• 27:55
  There's no doubt about it. You are the Christ.
• 27:57
  But where's Elijah? Not the appearance of Elijah.
• 28:01
  Where's Elijah, Who has come to restore all things?
• 28:06
  You know what Jesus does? Look at Bristov.
• 28:07
  And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all
• 28:10
  things. In other words, Jesus affirms
• 28:13
  that their understanding of redemptive timeline in terms of
• 28:19
  prophecy is right. Jesus confirms, hey listen, what
• 28:24
  the scribe said about Elijah coming.
• 28:26
  This is right. You're not wrong in saying this
• 28:30
  because what the scribe said in light of Elijah was according to
• 28:33
  the word of God. And I want you to see it in
• 28:35
  Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament turned there in
• 28:39
  Malachi chapter 4. And look at this prophecy that
• 28:43
  the prophet makes concerning Elijah and its relationship with
• 28:46
  the Messiah, Malachi chapter 4 and verse 5.
• 28:58
  Behold what that means. Hey, pay attention.
• 29:02
  Hey, look what I'm about to say. Behold, I, the Lord is speaking,
• 29:06
  will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day
• 29:14
  of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of
• 29:18
  fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their
• 29:22
  fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter
• 29:27
  destruction. Elijah is going to come before
• 29:31
  the great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 29:33
  And when he comes, he's not just going to show up with a flash on
• 29:36
  the Mount of Transfiguration, he's going to accomplish
• 29:39
  something. What's he going to accomplish?
• 29:41
  We're told that he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their
• 29:44
  children and the children's hearts to their fathers.
• 29:47
  You know what that means? That the ministry of Elijah to
• 29:50
  come is going to cause a repentance at a nuclear level.
• 29:57
  There's going to be relationships restored within
• 30:00
  households, and in turn they will now turn to the Lord.
• 30:04
  So we're talking about revival, significant, sweeping awakening.
• 30:12
  This is what the Elijah is supposed to do, My preparation
• 30:15
  for the great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 30:20
  Now this is what Jesus says. He says yeah, you're right.
• 30:23
  Describes. They quoted the scriptures
• 30:25
  correctly. Elijah will come.
• 30:29
  But then look at verse 13. This is where things get a
• 30:31
  little tricky of Mark Chapter 9. But I tell you that Elijah has
• 30:39
  come, and they did to him whatever they pleased.
• 30:45
  As it is written of him, All this is getting interesting.
• 30:50
  Now Elijah will come. OK, hey, check it out.
• 30:54
  He already did. He already did.
• 31:00
  Well, it can't be what he did on the mountaintop because we're
• 31:02
  told that he's going to come and he's going to bring a revival
• 31:05
  that will turn people over to the Lord and repentance, and
• 31:07
  there's going to be reconciliation among these
• 31:09
  people. So it can't be that what we just
• 31:11
  saw. When did he come?
• 31:15
  What do you mean Elijah has come?
• 31:17
  And Mark omits A commentary that Matthew provides.
• 31:23
  So Matthew's parallel account of this very same text.
• 31:26
  Let's get the confirmation of who this individual is in
• 31:28
  Matthew 17, Matthew 17. Let's look at verse 12, Matthew
• 31:39
  17, verse 12. This is the Lord speaking again.
• 31:45
  But I tell you that Elijah has already come and they did not
• 31:50
  recognize him interesting, but did to him whatever they
• 31:55
  pleased. So also the Son of Man will
• 31:58
  certainly suffer at their hands. Verse 13.
• 32:02
  Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of
• 32:06
  John the Baptist, and Jesus didn't correct that Elijah will
• 32:16
  come. Malachi said he's going to come.
• 32:19
  Jesus says he's already come. Matthew tells us it was John the
• 32:26
  Baptist. John the Baptist was Elijah
• 32:32
  reincarnated descending from heaven after he was taken up on
• 32:38
  a chariot of fire. Remember that?
• 32:40
  So has he come down. Made you wonder why some of
• 32:45
  those disciples came. Those Pharisees rather 2 John
• 32:49
  and John, chapter one and say hey, are you Elijah?
• 32:52
  You wonder why they asked that. It didn't help that he looked
• 32:57
  like Elijah. He wore the same outfit as
• 32:59
  Elijah. It's like, hey, we heard of your
• 33:01
  description in Kings. You're wearing the same outfit.
• 33:04
  We're seeing things very similar.
• 33:05
  Are you him to confirm that John the Baptist fulfilled that
• 33:13
  prophecy? In Malachi chapter four, we have
• 33:17
  the testimony of Jesus Christ who said it's him.
• 33:21
  But we have another testimony of an Angel who came to John the
• 33:24
  Baptist's father and gave him a prophetic word about what his
• 33:28
  son would accomplish. And tell me if it sounds
• 33:31
  familiar. There's a lot of scripture
• 33:33
  That's OK. We're in church.
• 33:36
  Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one.
• 33:39
  Let's look at this prophecy together in verse 16 and 17.
• 33:47
  This is about John the son of this priest, John the Baptist.
• 33:54
  Matthew, excuse me, Luke 116. And he will turn many of the
• 34:00
  children of Israel to the Lord, their God, and he will go before
• 34:04
  him in the spirit and power of Elijah.
• 34:10
  There's the clarification in the Spirit and the power of Elijah
• 34:14
  To do what? To turn the hearts of the
• 34:17
  fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
• 34:22
  just to make ready for the Lord. A people prepared, not Elijah
• 34:29
  reincarnated, not even Elijah himself coming back from where
• 34:33
  he left off. This is why when they asked him
• 34:35
  and John one Hey, are you Elijah goes?
• 34:37
  Nope, because what they were asking is are you flesh and
• 34:41
  blood? Elijah is like no, no, that
• 34:44
  doesn't mean that he denied that he fulfilled Malachi's prophecy.
• 34:49
  Because we're told that the Angel said to the father of John
• 34:52
  before he entered into the world that he will be coming in the
• 34:56
  spirit and power of Elijah. We can close our Bibles here,
• 35:04
  right? OK, John, the Bathus was Elijah.
• 35:07
  You're the Messiah. It makes sense.
• 35:08
  He fulfilled that prophecy. And so great.
• 35:14
  But when you ask the Bible questions, sometimes you're not
• 35:18
  immediately satisfied. So here's me coming to this text
• 35:24
  and going, OK, he's on the bath, There's no denying it.
• 35:26
  He would come in the spirit and power of Elijah.
• 35:29
  He would look like Elijah. He would produce the same kind
• 35:30
  of results and fruit that Elijah's ministry did in his
• 35:33
  preaching. He fulfilled Malachi 4.
• 35:37
  Or did he go back to Malachi 4? I will send you Elijah.
• 35:45
  OK, He's going to turn the hearts of the children to the
• 35:47
  fathers. But there's a timing when this
• 35:50
  Elijah is supposed to be coming. Do you remember the timing?
• 35:54
  Here's what I says. Verse five of Malachi 4.
• 35:57
  Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great
• 36:03
  and awesome day of the Lord comes.
• 36:06
  We're Christians, right? We think that what Jesus did on
• 36:09
  the cross was great and awesome, but that's not what the prophet
• 36:12
  meant. That phrase, great and awesome
• 36:16
  day of the Lord, is a prophetic utterance concerning not the
• 36:20
  coming of Christ to say, but the coming of Christ to judge.
• 36:26
  Read Joel 2. Read Zachariah.
• 36:28
  One that phrase. The great and awesome day of the
• 36:31
  Lord is utilized to describe what will happen when the Lord
• 36:36
  comes and brings worldwide chastisement and judgment
• 36:42
  against the wicked. It's a dreadful day.
• 36:44
  It's a terrifying day. It's great and awesome.
• 36:47
  Not in the happy, happy feeling in the wow.
• 36:53
  The Lord is here to clean up all this mess.
• 36:55
  That's the great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 36:58
  No question about it. Do you feel the dilemma now?
• 37:04
  I will send you Elijah. OK, John the Baptist according
• 37:08
  to Jesus says it's according to Jesus John the Baptist.
• 37:13
  But did Jesus come to judge the world?
• 37:16
  Elijah will precede the great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 37:21
  Jesus says Elijah's to come. He's already come.
• 37:24
  But Jesus didn't come to judge the world, did he?
• 37:29
  No, he didn't. So is John really that Elijah?
• 37:34
  If Malachi said he's supposed to come before the great and
• 37:36
  awesome data? Do you understand the question?
• 37:40
  And perhaps this is the difficulty that the disciples
• 37:43
  had. OK, Elijah's to come.
• 37:47
  Elijah's coming. The great and awesome day of the
• 37:51
  Lord. How does this all fit?
• 37:53
  See, they're trying to organize the timeline of prophecy, and
• 38:01
  This is why people interpret Jesus's words in the following
• 38:04
  way. Maybe you hold to this view.
• 38:07
  John the Baptist is that Elijah like fulfillment?
• 38:12
  But he's more of a preview, he's more of a partial fulfillment.
• 38:19
  Why? Because Malachi says Elijah's
• 38:21
  going to come before the great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 38:25
  If John the Baptist is Elijah, where's the great and awesome
• 38:28
  day of the Lord? And so many would say John
• 38:34
  partially fulfills it. But there's going to be the
• 38:37
  complete fulfillment before the 2nd coming of Christ where
• 38:41
  Elijah will come, and many believe he is one of the two
• 38:45
  witnesses in Revelation 11. Understood.
• 38:49
  So I'm trying to chop find, chop this so I don't lose anybody.
• 38:53
  So many people are content and it's not.
• 38:55
  It's not necessarily a bad view. John partially fulfills it.
• 38:58
  We're still waiting for the complete fulfillment of the
• 39:02
  actual Elijah to come, and he will prepare the great and
• 39:06
  awesome day, the Lord through his preaching and ministry.
• 39:12
  But Jesus says he is that Elijah.
• 39:15
  He is. So how do we make sense of this?
• 39:22
  The answer is in Mark nine. Look at verse 11.
• 39:27
  Let's read this together. And they asked him, why do the
• 39:33
  scribes say that first Elijah must come?
• 39:35
  And he said to them, Elijah does come first to restore all
• 39:39
  things. Now if you read that and in
• 39:40
  verse 13, you're still in a dilemma.
• 39:42
  But there's something sandwiched in between those two statements.
• 39:45
  Look what he says. Oh, I love the Lord.
• 39:48
  And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer
• 39:53
  many things and be treated with contempt, right.
• 40:01
  What does this mean? So they're asking about
• 40:04
  prophecy. Lord, it's prophesied that
• 40:06
  Elijah's supposed to come. Where is he?
• 40:09
  Jesus. Yeah, he's supposed to come.
• 40:11
  You're missing another prophecy, though.
• 40:17
  You're concerned about Elijah coming?
• 40:20
  And you're right in, you know, believing that he's to come.
• 40:23
  But what about the prophecy about the Messiah, who's
• 40:26
  supposed to suffer and die? The trouble with the disciples
• 40:34
  is that in all the things that they heard about the Messiah
• 40:36
  coming, they only believed in one coming of the Messiah.
• 40:43
  Was this not the trouble? This is the trouble for Jews
• 40:45
  today, today, because they're expecting the Messiah to come
• 40:51
  and fulfill what we believe will happen when Jesus comes back.
• 40:57
  Where's his government? Where's international peace?
• 41:04
  Where are the the, the, the swords and the javelins being
• 41:07
  transformed into farming equipment?
• 41:09
  Where? Where is this?
• 41:10
  Because we see this in the Old Testament through and through
• 41:13
  and through. So the disciples believed like
• 41:17
  juice today that when the Messiah comes, she's going to do
• 41:20
  everything at one time. And what Jesus is saying is
• 41:24
  there are two comings of the Messiah.
• 41:31
  Yes, Elijah is going to come before the great and awesome
• 41:34
  day, the Lord. That's a prophecy.
• 41:36
  But there's an interval between those two things.
• 41:39
  Elijah will come. There will be a great and
• 41:42
  awesome day of the Lord. But what about those prophecies
• 41:46
  where that Messiah that Elijah will prepare for has to die?
• 41:54
  Oh, so here's what I proposed to you.
• 41:59
  Jesus is saying Elijah will come, but Jesus is also putting
• 42:03
  in a peace that's missing. In their understanding.
• 42:07
  There's a there's a peace missing, and he's feeling that
• 42:09
  now Elijah will come. There will be a great and
• 42:12
  awesome day of the Lord, but in between that, this Messiah has
• 42:16
  to suffer. He has to die, he has to ransom,
• 42:22
  he has to provide a sacrifice. And so he is completing the
• 42:27
  timeline of their understanding of prophecy.
• 42:31
  Elijah will come, the Messiah will suffer the great and
• 42:37
  awesome day. The Lord will follow.
• 42:41
  That's why he says how is it written of the Son of Man that
• 42:43
  he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt.
• 42:45
  If we take this to be what Jesus is saying then we can rest
• 42:49
  satisfied in knowing okay. Now it makes sense that John the
• 42:52
  Baptist fulfilled that prophecy about Elijah because he did come
• 42:56
  before the great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 42:58
  The problem with the disciples and many of the Jesus that they
• 43:00
  they're not filling the gap. And the gap is the prophecies of
• 43:04
  Jesus being nailed on a tree. And in that we have a complete
• 43:10
  picture. Elijah will come, John the
• 43:11
  Baptist. Jesus will die in the cross, He
• 43:17
  will rise from the grave, and when he returns, it will be the
• 43:20
  great and awesome day of the Lord.
• 43:23
  Prophecies fulfilled, prophecies satisfied.
• 43:28
  And you and I hopefully are less confused than when we walked in
• 43:31
  here. Let me end it here.
• 43:36
  How true is it that we are like the disciples in many ways?
• 43:44
  That we tend to lose sight of the sufferings of Jesus Christ?
• 43:51
  That we lose our eyes, our focus, our gaze off of what the
• 43:54
  Lord has done for us? In this case it's different,
• 43:58
  right? They're trying to make sense of
• 43:59
  their theology. But practically speaking, for us
• 44:02
  as we even in our relationship with the Lord, we can so quickly
• 44:06
  get caught up in things and lose sight of the centrality of why
• 44:09
  we are Christians. He came, He died, he bled, he
• 44:13
  was buried, and he rose from the grave.
• 44:16
  This is what we are. This is our this is our belief.
• 44:19
  This is what makes us different. This is what makes us fathers of
• 44:22
  Jesus Christ. And the Lord knows that we're
• 44:24
  very forgetful people. So you know what he does?
• 44:26
  He provides a table. He provides an ordinance where
• 44:30
  you and I are forced to remember.
• 44:33
  It's by His grace. It's what he has done for us.
• 44:37
  And so at this time, we're going to prepare our hearts to
• 44:39
  partake. And here's my call before we
• 44:43
  sing. Hear a brief word and eat
• 44:45
  together. If you are a born again
• 44:47
  Christian, this is God's gift to you.
• 44:51
  This is for you. He invites you to this table,
• 44:55
  and he calls you to remember what he's done.
• 44:59
  His love for you, his redemption, his final sacrifice,
• 45:04
  represented through the bread, his body, the cup, his blood.
• 45:07
  It's not about your performance. It's not about your
• 45:09
  righteousness. You surrender that thought and
• 45:11
  that lie as you enjoy this feast.
• 45:15
  But if you're not a Christian, we kindly ask that you refrain
• 45:18
  from participating, for this is exclusive to followers of Jesus
• 45:22
  Christ. You're more than welcome to
• 45:24
  watch. You're more than welcome to
• 45:26
  understand what we're doing here.
• 45:27
  We're so glad that you can visit us.
• 45:29
  But again, we have a duty as ministers to protect this table.
• 45:33
  And so we asked you to consider your own salvation, to consider
• 45:36
  your standing with God. And I'd love to say this every
• 45:41
  time we do this, that as you witness people come to eat of
• 45:44
  this and to drink of this, you are witnessing people who are
• 45:47
  declaring emphatically, it's not by my own righteousness, it's by
• 45:51
  what the Lord Jesus Christ did 2000 years ago, coming into this
• 45:54
  world to rescue my soul. That's what you're witnessing.
• 45:57
  You're witnessing a people here who are far from perfect, who
• 46:01
  have no boast before God concerning their performance to
• 46:04
  inherit eternal life, but have at one point said, I am a
• 46:08
  wretched Sinner, I need to be saved.
• 46:09
  And Jesus is that Savior. And we pray and hope that there
• 46:15
  would be a divine jealousy in your heart.
• 46:18
  That as you see people confidently and corporately
• 46:21
  enjoying the grace that they have freely received in Christ,
• 46:24
  that you would say, I want to be in that number, I want to be
• 46:27
  connected to this Christ so I can have that same access and
• 46:31
  have that same confidence and joy.
• 46:34
  And we hope that you would respond.
• 46:36
  Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins.
• 46:40
  He bled, He suffered. He gave himself over so that you
• 46:46
  could see his great love and respond to it with surrender.
• 46:50
  And that you would say, this is what my sin has done, then I
• 46:53
  forsake it. And if it's all through faith,
• 46:55
  then I give him my faith. I believe that you are my
• 46:58
  rescuer and my Redeemer. And I am in need of saving.
• 47:04
  So, brothers and sisters, please prepare your hearts as we sing
• 47:07
  in a moment and we'll give further instructions.
• 47:10
  Listen, shed everything off, will you?
• 47:14
  Don't think about anything else now.
• 47:16
  Don't think about how bad your week was.
• 47:18
  Look to the cross. Look to the cross.
• 47:22
  If you're saved, be reminded that you have a future.
• 47:26
  You have heaven, your name is written in the Lambs book of
• 47:29
  life, and that you will be warmly greeted by him, not
• 47:35
  because of your merit, because of what he's done.
• 47:39
  If the team who helps us sing can come to sing so that we can
• 47:44
  sing with you. Lord, we thank you for this
• 47:49
  time. Prepare our hearts.
• 47:52
  Be glorified. Manifest your presence in our
• 47:56
  midst more than you already have.
• 47:59
  Thank you, Father, in Jesus name, Amen.