Embracing Grace Before the Day Star Rises

I am time conscious, as you know.

Amen.

I'm time sensitive.

I watch the clock and the clock watches me because there's

never enough time.

This is quite a book.

Amen.

And we just heard we have quite a savior.

That was a great song.

And sometimes it's how you sing the song too.

They came up and asked me if my mic was on.

I thought they'd come up to record me while I was singing the

congregation.

And I don't guess that's what it was.

But anyway, great song and it's good to be with you.

I've entitled the message this morning.

What time is it in your heart now?

I'm going to get to that toward the end.

This is one of those Victorian porches, Victorian mansion sermons.

We spend a lot of time on the porch and we go inside the house

for just a few minutes at the end.

Okay, so Second Peter, chapter one.

Second Peter, chapter one.

All the way back, almost toward the end of your Bible.

I'm so glad that we have some of the writings of Peter.

He is so colorful.

I've told you all several times.

He's that pop up card that you get Christmas time or your birthday.

You get a card and you open it up and it pops up.

They spent more money on it and you open it up and it opens up

and it pops up.

When Peter's mentioned the Bible, especially in the gospels,

it's like he pops up off the page.

And so he's always exciting.

And I'm glad we got this set of epistles by him.

And I like first and Second Peter accordingly.

And we go to see him at a very important part of his life.

He's just about to be martyred.

He has served the Lord faithfully.

We can't be real dogmatic about this, but most people feel

that he's probably a little bit older than most of the other

apostles.

And he had been in the fishing business all of his life.

Probably inherited it for four or five generations.

And he forsook all and followed Christ.

Dramatic.

He was saved and baptized and discipled under John.

And then he transferred from John the Baptist over to Christ to

begin to follow Christ.

And by the way, do you notice how Peter never messed up?

I mean, he was just like.

Like that.

Amen.

Right?

Peter was always a man of few words.

Read the situation perfectly.

Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

A few minutes later, Jesus said, get thee behind me, Satan,

for thou savorest not the things which be of God, but the things

which be of man.

I Like Peter, you know, and so forth.

So he's a great, colorful person.

And in second Peter, we have a.

We have an event that he refers back to.

Let's just pick up in verse number for you to catch what I was

saying.

Let's go ahead and get in verse number 12.

Okay?

Second Peter, chapter one, verse 12.

And when I come to a passage like this and Peter's talking and

so forth, whatever I sometimes tell him out the seminary, if Paul

the Apostle came on faculty here, and I said the other day, I

was telling the students, if Paul came on faculty here, students,

I would let him do this and this.

And I said, wait a minute.

If Paul the Apostle came on faculty here, I would resign and

let him run this, run the school.

Amen.

And I said, paul came on.

This is what he'd say to you.

Pastoral ministry.

If you want to know what Paul would say, read first, second Timothy

and Titus.

And just imagine Peter's here today and he's talking to us.

He wasn't just talking to this immediate audience.

They knew that they were writing the word of God.

And so he's speaking to us this morning.

He's giving us a wonderful testimony.

He's probably in his late 60s, still very young.

We're living in amazing times.

A hundred is not that old.

You've heard about Methuselah, haven't you?

Adam lived to be 930 years.

Little faith would help.

Amen.

Anyway, it's probably his late 60s.

It's 67, 68 A.D. it's been almost 40 years, 35 years or so since

they were with Christ.

And wow, did he see a lot.

This guy walked on water, man.

He was one of the three that got to go up on top of the Mount

of Transfiguration.

Man, this is amazing.

Wouldn't it be great for Peter to just walk in there and talk to

us for a few minutes?

Say, Peter, can I ask you a question?

If I were to say, Peter, Peter, tell me of all the miracles

that you saw Christ do.

And by the way, John says at the end of his Gospel, if everything

was written down, that should be written down, the world couldn't

contain the books that should be written.

That's quite a statement.

And by the way, they're still writing books.

There's more books being written about Jesus Christ right

now than ever before.

We've got to the point now where you can self publish.

There's all kinds of books being written.

A lot of them are very good books.

It's a bottomless topic.

It's endless.

It's infinite.

And if he were to say to me, well, the miracle.

I say, peter, just a minute before you tell me.

We've got the Gospel accounts and God is very wise.

He knows what he's doing.

It's the word of God.

But is there a miracle that happened that you know?

I'm just curious, Peter, what John said, is there a miracle that

Jesus did that's not in the four Gospels?

Peter said, you asked me to tell you which one that I thought

about the most.

I said, yes sir, I did.

He said, that's what I'm going to tell you about.

So stay with me, look and see what it is.

Here it is a man who saw all kinds of things.

This is what he says.

Just today, jumping into verse 12.

If I wasn't time conscious, we'd read 1 through 11.

But since I'm time conscious, why would I come up here and put

a clock here and a clock there?

People come up to me and say, brother Stuart, would you slow down?

Wherefore I will not be negligent to talk slow to put you

always in remembrance of these things, though you know them.

Just what we heard a few minutes ago.

We talked about this in Sunday school this morning.

The teacher was a good lesson.

We know certain things, but we need to be reminded of them.

And by the way, the best place to be reminded is right here in church,

okay?

Church is all about Christ.

If it's church, amen.

We don't want churchianity, we want Christianity.

Amen.

Just think about it.

Christianity is Christ.

It's not just his teachings, it's Christ himself.

And it says here, even though you know them and be established

in the present truth, yea, I think it meet as long as I am in

this tabernacle he's calling this body.

You and I have a tabernacle that means a temporary dwelling.

When I was young, I thought heaven sounded really good for a

lot of reasons.

The primary reason now heaven is sounding good besides seeing the

Lord and our loved ones, is we get a new body.

I met Mr. Sciatica a few months ago.

Never met him in my life.

Ran into him and he let me know all the way from here, all the

way down to my foot, my ankle.

I thought my bone was aching.

It was horrible.

And I started talking to people half my age and they'd already

had a problem with it, so I felt a little better.

When you're 39 plus and it's the first time you've had sciatica

and along with that Came what I kept hearing on the radios.

I kept hearing about plantar fasciitis.

I said, I just want to hear the news.

Do I have to hear these commercials about plantar fasciitis

all the time?

Constantly.

Go to this doctor, they'll do this, they'll do that, and whatever.

I don't want to hear it.

I got plantar fasciitis and sciatica in the same leg.

I finally found the cure, the rapture.

But anyway, no, anyway, I finally found the cure.

We found various things.

The pianist over at Victory out of the providence of God.

And I'd gotten it somewhat under control.

I'm not gonna tell you how I got it because I love my wonderful

wife.

Is my wife a wonderful person?

She is fossil crazy.

She loves fossils.

She had me picking up fossils that weigh more than I do and I weigh

150 plus.

We're out there on the property.

We're clearing things out.

I'll give you an update tonight.

I'll show you some pictures.

It's coming along pretty well.

It's never fast enough because I want it done before the Rapture.

But anyway, we're out there and she had some down there.

We went down 12ft where they were digging out and I came up that

ramp.

Any move on?

Anyway, so I pretty well know how to handle it.

But Peter told me I got these inserts at Birkenstock because I

know about the other place but they want a lot of money and I didn't

want to go pay a lot of money at the other place and not work.

She told me about it.

I went in, I got those inserts in two or three days.

My sciatica waved goodbye.

So two things.

I no longer have sciatica.

I no longer pick or pick up baby marine fault.

They're cool, but there's a cost.

But my wife's worth it.

Wherefore I will not be negligent.

He comes down, he says, ye, I thank meat.

As long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir up you by putting

you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this

my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

Christ told him in John chapter 21 that you're going to be

John 21 · chapter mention

basically going to be crucified.

And remember what Peter said after Christ told him that he.

He said, okay, but what about John?

What's going to happen to John?

There's old pop up Peter.

He's already in the center of.

He said, what about John?

What's going to happen To John, Jesus said, don't worry about

John.

If I want John to live forever, more or less, Jesus said,

that's his business.

That's my.

It's not your business.

And what happened?

The rumor got going that John was never going to die.

He did outlive them, okay?

He did outlive the rest of them.

Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able, after my deceased,

to have these things always in remembrance.

Now, it's helped that that was part of the Scriptures, because we've

had this now for almost 2,000 years.

We used to say 2,000.

Almost 2,000 years ago, Christ died.

We're getting very close.

When we get to 20, 30, 20, 31, 32, 33, we can say 2,000 years ago,

Christ died.

We're real close, for we have not followed.

We.

This is him.

Truth rests on the lips of dying man.

He's not upset.

He's not scared.

He's ready to go to heaven.

And he says, we have not followed fables.

We have not followed cunningly devised fables.

Paul referred to doctors of devils.

Satan is real.

He's active, he's brilliant.

And he's had a lot of time to work.

But Peter says, what we told you happened in the Gospels.

It happened.

We were not playing a game.

We were not insincere.

We were not trying to start some big religious movement.

We were not trying to start a Jewish sect.

It happened.

We have not followed cunningly devised fables.

And by the way, folks, there are some very brilliant, intelligent

people and high positions in our government.

Whether it's in the law area, whether it's in the house, whether

it's, well, it's in white houses and counselors and so forth.

They're brilliant men, but they are not followers of the true

Gospel.

Satan's clever.

He can package things.

That's why you're not just saved.

Because you figured out the Holy Spirit of God causes you to

understand.

The Holy Spirit of God shows you your lost condition, shows you

how Christ is the only possible solution.

And it shows you how it's done.

The God we sinned against, the God we sinned against, came down

and fixed the problem.

He sent his Son, the eternal Son of God.

Christ came down here and lived a life without sin in thought

or deed.

The tenth Commandment says, thou shall not covet.

I've never had a problem with coveting for more than 30 seconds

or a minute or two.

Coveting is when you want something in a very selfish way,

etc.

The Ten Commandments are just ten examples of.

Of loving others as yourself.

The Ten Commandments are saying the same thing over and over.

Love others as much as or more than yourself.

Stealing is wrong because you love yourself more than the person

you're stealing from, bearing false witness.

Same way adultery, and so forth.

But the 10th Commandment says that God holds us accountable for

even our thought life.

Can you imagine a God who knows your every thought?

Psalm 139, God knows your thought before you have it.

The Bible says, can you imagine standing before God?

And God says, you know, you lived a wonderful life, but your

thought life messed you up.

How could you keep your salvation if you're accountable for

your thought life?

It has to be eternal security.

Jesus Christ never sinned in thought or deed.

God showed us that in Luke, chapter four, etc.

Matthew, chapter four, both those places.

When Satan came to him, he had need for 40 days and he threw the

whole world at his feet, so to speak.

And Christ went, is that all you got?

I mean, that's it.

It was to show us we don't have an errand.

We don't have an errand.

Remember, Moses went on top of the mountain for 40 days, 40 nights.

He comes down, he hears that terrible music, Q102, out of Cairo,

Egypt.

It's like war going on and stuff.

And Joshua, it sounds like war.

Moses said, no, it's some of that music, you know, whatever.

And he asked Aaron what happened.

Aaron.

And Aaron said, well, we just threw this stuff in the fire and

this calf jumped out.

That.

That was a lie.

That was a lie.

We don't have a high priest like Aaron.

Amen.

We have Christ.

There's so much going on here.

And Peter saw so much.

And Peter saw Jesus Christ actually die on the cross.

He was shook.

They knew he had to die.

They knew the Lamb of God from John the Baptist preaching, Old Testament

pictures.

They knew when Christ came, he had to die.

But they could not imagine the Passover lamb being treated the way

Christ was being treated.

You didn't treat the Passover lamb that way.

You had a high reverence for it.

And then several months later, the day of atonement.

The Jews are in that area right now in their calendar over

in the Middle east and stuff.

You know, Jewish people, they're in that last three holy days

right now.

And you didn't mistreat that big ox.

You took the blood and it had to be a certain kind of an ox.

You took it all the way through with all this rich into the

most holy place with pictures, taking the blood to Heaven.

And they could not figure out why this was happening.

They couldn't quite understand what was in front of them because

they kept thinking, when's the kingdom going to come?

When's the kingdom going to come?

They had seen people saved.

It just didn't fit.

And they were confused.

But boy, I tell you what, when Christ rose from the dead three days

later, it got their attention.

Now look what happens.

This is Peter's miracle that he's going to tell us about.

And I want to tell you today, if you're here, the God that made

you and the God that's holding this universe together sent his Son

to live a life without sin and then pay for all your sins.

He took all the wrath cross.

The Bible says in Romans that he spared not his own son.

The reason he suffered emotionally, physically and relationally.

Because sin causes emotional, relational, physical sufferings.

And Christ bore it all.

When he died.

He said, paid in full.

Tell us to test die.

Paid in fold.

And the resurrection proved that God accepted on our behalf.

It's a gift.

He's done all the work.

All you have to do is reach out and take it.

I realize I'm a sinner.

I realized in thought.

And aren't you glad you got a God that's his, that's how moral

he is.

The ten Commandments are God's own moral nature demonstrated ten

different ways.

God's moral nature is to love others as himself.

Christ proved that from the cross.

They beat him up, they spit on him, they slapped him, they ripped

out his beards, they put a crown of thorns, beat it down on

his head.

They beat him with that whip, they nailed him to the cross.

And I mean, you just can't imagine the pain and stuff he's through.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

That's righteousness.

And the thief had railed on him for a while, the other thief,

and he started putting the dots together somehow, some way.

By the way, if you just start listening to the Bible and just start

kind of thinking about it.

Not by works of righteousness, which we have done according to his

mercy, not giving us the punishment we deserve.

For by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves.

It's the gift of God, not of works.

Christmas is coming.

You and I need to talk.

Okay?

Remember, we have something about Christmas.

Okay?

Some of you know about that, but anyway, it's a gift.

You don't earn a gift.

Christ offers the gift of salvation.

Amen.

And if you respond and think about, okay, I know I'm lost I know

I'm a sinner.

I believe that Christ is the God I sinned against.

The Father sent the Son I sinned against.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

He paid the price.

He rose from the dead.

Lord, save me.

You can say that right now, before I'm done preaching.

God, for some reason, I got it today, that song that was sung.

Maybe your Sunday school lesson.

It's gelling, folks, right there in your pew.

You can simply say your chair.

You can simply say, lord, I know I'm a sinner.

You say, how can it be that simple?

He did all the work.

You know how hard it was to get my wife to marry me.

A lot of money.

A lot of trips to the big city of Wichita, Kansas, not Falls.

That wasn't big enough.

Lot of cash.

A lot of paying her dad.

I gave her dad three horses and a mule.

No, but anyway.

Anyway, one day I said, would you marry me?

She said, well, give me some time to think about it.

No, but anyway, folks, it's that easy.

Because God loves you that much.

So look what happens here.

He said, I want you to have these things of remembrance.

Heritage Baptist Church.

He says, we have not followed cunningly devised fables.

We may donate to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,

but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Here we go.

We're going to see this miracle that he saw.

And it was a picture of literally the second coming of Christ.

I'm going to show you, if the clock allows it.

You guys stop at what, one o' clock Eastern Standard Time?

Okay.

For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there

came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

And this voice, which came from heaven we heard when we were

with him in the Holy Mount.

Some people think it's Mount Tabor.

But if you look at where they were located when all this was going

on, and the fact that Mount Hermon is the highest mountain and

it usually has snow on it year round, except this year the sun's

so hot it may have melted it off over there, too.

But anyway, it usually has snow up there.

And as we're going to peek in a minute, these accounts, it probably

was Mount Hermon.

And he took Peter, James and John up there.

Okay, now I want you to flip over to Matthew chapter 17.

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

I'll come back to this chapter in a minute.

We got to keep our eye on the time.

Okay?

You keep saying, brother Stewart, what time is it?

What time is it?

And I'll say in your heart, okay, what time is it?

And I'll say in your heart, okay, I got.

I know what time it is.

Right here.

This says 11 oh, 11:31.

Is that what your watch says?

Oh, 41.

Okay, look at verse one.

We have three accounts of the transfiguration.

And John chapter one probably refers to it because John says we

beheld his glory and that could cover the entire life of Christ.

But it seems like he's also saying, you know, in fact, let me

insert this.

I prepare sermons, but I try to listen to the Holy Spirit.

And I feel nudges when I'm preaching.

You may have never noticed that before, but I love first John

1 John 1:1

1:1, where John more or less says, we saw him, we heard him, our

eyes beheld him, and our hands have handled the word of life.

It'd be something when Jesus was here.

And you're taking all this in, there's so much going on around you.

By the way, wherever Christ was, there was a lot going on.

Just think about the times that they hugged or shook hands or

he put his arm around you.

John laid his head on his breast, on his chest.

Jesus didn't love John more.

John loved Jesus more than the others.

He wanted to take advantage of that time.

We handled.

Here he is saying it, John Saying it around 90 some A.D. 60

years later, John says, we handle the word of life, by the way,

before and after the resurrection.

Remember the night of the resurrection?

Jesus showed up and they thought it was a ghost.

They didn't know what to think.

And Jesus said, handle me, touch me.

Thomas wasn't at church that night.

He wasn't there.

He was there next Sunday.

Probably.

Probably sick, you know, probably sick.

Anyway, they handled Christ.

Christ had a real body.

Amen.

But he had a special body.

He had a celestial body.

He could materialize and you could touch him.

Your hand didn't go through him.

Okay, you're going to have one of those.

We're going to get rid of this terrestrial body.

First.

Corinthians 15.

We're going to get a brand new celestial body.

You won't recognize me in heaven.

My wife will.

That's why she married me.

I didn't look like this when she married me.

But anyway, praise God.

Okay, you'll recognize my full head of hair.

Almost white, blondish white.

I was called a towhead by my teacher.

I thought she called me a toad head.

And I found out.

I told my mother one day I didn't want her for a teacher.

Next year, it's A long story.

I was going to have her for next year teaching.

Before the fifth grade ended.

She had called me.

I thought she called me a towhead, a toad head.

I told my mother, I don't want her for my teacher.

I got her next year for the teacher.

She had three choices.

I got her.

I said, I don't want her for my teacher.

And in my house, that didn't make any difference.

That's who I was going to get.

It was good to get, but I just totally wanted my teacher.

She said, your sister.

She was a good teacher.

I said, wanted to find it.

I told my mother.

She called me a toad head.

She said, a toad head.

I told her what happened and who told me that, et cetera.

She said, no, she didn't mean toad.

She meant towhead.

Well, that's not any better.

I thought of a big toe.

That's toe.

But it was actually tow.

Towhead means really white, blondish hair.

Okay, So I liked her.

From that time on, it was okay.

Then came the disciples.

Okay, so look at verse one.

After six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother,

and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.

And was Christ.

This is what Peter's talking about.

And was transfigured before them.

And his face did shine as the sun.

Notice that word?

All three accounts add details.

His face shined as the sun, and his raiment was white as the

light.

Now, I want to make sure you get this in front of you.

You're going to see it in Mark and Luke in just a minute.

This was at high noon.

High noon.

If you and I walk out there right now at high noon, when I'm

done preaching, maybe a minute or two after, when we leave, it takes

you a while to get out of here.

Okay.

If you got there, can you imagine for Christ to shine on a

mountain at high noon, how bright he must be shining.

If you read all three accounts of Saul's conversion, Acts 9, 22

and 26, it was high noon when Christ appeared to him on the road

to Damascus.

And he was blind for three days.

Plus, if you read Revelation, chapter one, John's on the island

of Patmos, it was high noon when Christ appeared at John Theon

of Patmos.

The Bible says in First Timothy, Paul talking to Timothy

says, christ, God dwells in light no man can approach unto.

You know what the Bible says?

He's going to Destroy the Antichrist.

Second Thessalonians, Chapter 2.

2 Thessalonians 2 · chapter mention

With the brightness of his coming.

So as bright as he was on that mountain, as Bright as he was on

the road to Damascus, as bright as he was on the island of

Patmos, he was still holding back because he's going to destroy

the Antichrist and the Armageddon forces the brightness

of his coming.

Wow, he said.

How are we going to approach him in heaven?

But he's that bright.

Celestial bodies.

We're going to have a brand new body, Brother Reed.

Brand new one.

Amen.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

It's like a brand new truck that didn't go over real well.

But it's better than I guess whatever.

I guess I should have said, what kind of truck?

Look what it says.

He was transfigured before them and his face did shine.

And behold, there appeared unto him Moses and Elias talking

with him.

That's Elijah.

Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, it's good for us to be

here if thou wilt.

Let us make here three tabernacles.

You notice Peter doesn't mention this in second Peter.

One though one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias, while

he yet spake.

Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them.

And behold, a voice out of cloud said, he does mention this.

He didn't tell you why God said it, but he does mention this.

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Hear ye him.

And when the disciples heard it, they fell to their face and they

were sore, afraid, so scared it hurt, sort of.

And Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid.

When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus

only save Jesus only Christianity is Christ.

Period.

Amen.

In my hands, no price I bring simply to the cross I cling.

Christianity is Christ A to Z.

He's all, he's everything.

We've got some great songs that have been written and we need

to see this world the way the Bible sees it.

And the body, Christ sees it and so forth.

Now let's flip it quickly.

Go over to Mark, chapter nine.

Go over to Mark, chapter nine.

Mark, Chapter nine.

I've always wondered if the rapture took place while we were

preaching, if he would be allowed to finish the sermon in heaven.

What do you think?

How many?

Think we might be a little distracted.

What if I was preaching on heaven?

Oh, I got that wrong.

I miscalculated.

What?

That stone was there alright.

Look at chapter nine of Mark one.

Mark Chapter nine, verse one.

And he said unto them, verily I say unto you that there be some

of them that stand here that shall not taste of death till they

have seen the kingdom of God.

Come with power, double meaning.

They're going to see a picture of it.

But ultimately it's going to be a greater show, as we'll see.

And after six days, Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and

John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves.

And he was transfigured before them.

And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow,

so as no folder on earth can white them.

And there appeared to him Elias and Moses.

And they were talking with Jesus.

And Peter answered and said to Jesus, master, it's good for us to

be here.

Let's make three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses, and

one for Elias.

For he wist not what to say.

If you don't know what to say, you probably shouldn't say it.

I'm glad I'm that way very rarely.

For they were sore afraid.

And there was a cloud that overshadowed them.

And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved

Son, hear him.

And suddenly they looked, and round about saw no man anymore.

And Jesus anointed with themselves they came down from the

mountain.

He charged them.

They should tell no man what things they had seen till the Son

of man was risen, were risen from the dead.

Now, the last one we'll look at real quick is Luke chapter nine.

Here's Dr. Luke.

Luke chapter nine.

Look at verse 28.

28.

He is wider than snow.

It tells us we're going so quickly.

He's wider than a fuller can make him somebody that bleaches out

material.

Some of you have never heard me before.

The reason I talk so fast is because the clock is rude.

You're a wonderful church.

The clock's rude everywhere I go.

Clocks are rude in our house.

Look at verse 28 of Luke chapter 9.

Luke 9 · chapter mention

And it came to pass about eight days after.

He's starting at a different starting point.

If you go back and see what's happening in chapter nine previously,

other one said six days after these sayings, he took Peter and

John and James and went up into a mountain to pray.

To pray.

Jesus went up there to pray.

I love to hear Jesus pray.

I can get a feel of it, though.

In John 17, as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered

and his raiment was white and glistering.

They say it's almost like static electricity, like flashes

of light just kind of shooting off of him.

Glistering.

It's like it's sparkling.

And beheld 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.

And when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that

stood with him, and it came to pass, they departed from him.

Peter said unto Jesus, master, it is good for us to be here.

Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses, and

one for Elias, not knowing what he said.

And the deal is, he thought they were going into the kingdom

age.

They had been waiting for him to set up the kingdom, and.

And they thought, here it is.

There's some Old Testament passages that hint towards this,

by the way.

Let me interject this also.

The Bible tells us when God makes a new heaven, a new earth,

etc.

Even the new Jerusalem, ultimately we will not have a sun

and moon anymore.

Christ will be the light of the new Jerusalem.

And it also says in Matthew, chapter 13, and Daniel, chapter 12,

Matthew 13 · chapter mention Daniel 12 · chapter mention

other passages.

First Corinthians 15.

You and I are going to rise and shine.

Part of our sharing the glory of God is we're going to be clothed

with light.

Read about it, go back and look at it.

As one star differeth another star and glory.

So also is the resurrection.

They that terminated the righteousness shall shine as the

stars forever and ever.

That's an interesting thought.

Heaven's full of few surprises.

Amen.

All right, now for the second time, go back to Second Peter, chapter

one.

What time is it in your life now?

I want us to go there, and I want us to see that because it is

such an amazing event.

And of all the miracles that Peter told us about, this is the

one he honed in on.

And there's going to be an amazing statement made here.

Peter's departing.

And I will tell you, the older I get, not that I'm old yet, but

the older I get, I tell those students, the older I get, the more

I tell them, you got to stay by the stuff.

You got to stay by the stuff.

You can't waffle.

Dr. Barber's just saying now, Jonathan, don't let that school change.

Don't let that change.

I said, Dr. Barber, Mrs. Barber said, Raymond, Jonathan is

not going to let the school change.

Okay?

You feel that?

Peter is saying, gentlemen, it's real.

We turned our back on everything.

And by the way, today you are proof it's real.

Apologetics is very important and very needed.

Your goal in apologetics is not to win the argument.

You can win the argument and lose the soul.

Be ready to give every man an answer.

Give him something to think on, chew on and pray for him.

Amen.

Let the Holy Spirit do it.

But you are the best apologetic there is.

The man that wrote I serve a risen Savior is in the world today.

I know that he is living.

Whatever a man may say after time, after several months of trying

to witness to a guy who was struggling to believe and had been

attending his meetings, he finally went back to the end of the

meeting.

The guy still hadn't gotten saved.

And they'd gone through a bunch of things.

The guy said, okay, I understand.

I get it.

I think it's for real.

But I just.

Whatever.

And so this guy just gave him his testimony.

He said, that's it.

That's what I want.

And the guy got saved.

Amen.

Peter is saying, I'm parting, I'm departing.

Don't let go of this, it's true.

And then he says this.

You're there in Second Peter.

And come down to verse number.

17.

For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there

came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.

Now, he's the one that kind of brought that on.

But look at verse 18.

And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with

him in the Holy Mount.

We just read those three accounts.

Now look at verse 19.

Do you have one of these in your hand?

If I could go back in time and that's not possible, maybe when we

get to heaven, if I could go back in time, I've preached, sure

enough to know.

Some of you may remember.

You remember all my sermons.

I don't, I swear.

If you did.

But anyway, I love the one where Jesus asleep in the ship and

he rises up.

Remember we did a Bible conference on Mark, the Gospel of

Mark.

And we acted out.

Brother Anderson was there and so forth.

And we were still friends after that.

I didn't know what he'd think of me.

But anyway, we talked about that miracle and this miracle and

him calming the sea and so forth.

But anyway, I just love that miracle.

But let me ask you a question.

I know what the answer is.

Would you like to be able to go back and see the miracles or see

a miracle?

Or would you rather have this?

How many say I'd rather have the Bible?

How many say I'd rather have the miracles?

If Brother Clark and I, we agree on everything but one thing.

When the wise men showed up.

But we'll get that settled if Brother Clark and myself.

And see the Brother did the son school class and let's say all

three reads Father, Son and Grandson.

All three reads Deep Dish.

Okay, all three of those guys.

If we all saw that same miracle in a while, we wouldn't be

friends.

Brother Clark said, Brother Stewart, go get your glasses checked.

That's not what happened.

I said Brother Clark, I just had my glasses checked.

Go get your glasses checked.

Okay, what I'm saying is.

Look what he's going to say.

He's going to say three things.

As great as the miracles were, this is better.

This is the sword of the spirit.

What it has to say is completely accurate.

The contents, the quality of its contents are beyond anything

else.

I've told you several times.

If you had two libraries and one of them all they had was a Bible

and the other one had all other books that had ever been written,

the one with the Bible would be the better library just because

of its contents.

But number two, it's vitality.

Not just quality, vitality.

It's alive.

It's God breathed that does something for us spiritually.

You can't get saved without the word of God.

It's compared to seed because seed has life in itself.

It talks about receiving the engrafted word.

James says you don't graft into dead branch.

This is a supernatural book.

Supernatural quality.

It's alive and it's the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit.

It's the sword of the Spirit.

He takes that two edged sword and he pierces.

Hebrews 4:12.

Hebrews 4:12

He pierces between the soul and the spirit.

You can't do that with laser surgery.

God works in your innermost being.

The woman at the well.

I almost preached on it this morning.

The woman at the well.

She was talking about how deep that well is.

This heart was actually not here.

It's really your mind.

The heart is the deepest part of you.

And that's where he convicts.

That's where he talks to your intellect, the emotions and your

will.

Like a railroad station where all three tracks come together.

Your heart is the innermost being.

With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness.

It makes sense.

He begins to feel the emotion of how serious salvation is.

And his will begins to say, you need to get this settled.

Why don't you transfer your trust to Christ right now?

By the way, you're always showing great faith.

Today you transferred your trust from your feet to these chairs.

Aren't those chairs comfortable?

It's like the clock doesn't even matter when you sit in those

chairs.

Those car seats you got, they're too small.

They don't hit your back, right?

It's hot outside.

There's air conditioning in here.

I'm preaching pretty hard today.

For me.

I'm usually pretty laid back, but I'm not even sweating.

This is pretty nice in here.

Why don't we just order in some lunch?

Okay?

Let's move on.

I just wanted to see what the crowd was doing.

All right.

Here we go now.

Watch.

And it says we have a more sure word of prophecy.

He's not putting the miracles down.

They had their place.

There's seven reasons for the miracles.

Don't have time now, but seven reasons for the miracles.

At least whereunto you do well, as you take heed as unto a

light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the

day star arise in your hearts and in closing, turn to Malachi,

chapter four, please.

Malachi, chapter four.

What's he talking about?

When the child of God looks at the word of God and sees the son

of God, he's changed by the spirit of God into the image of God

for the glory of God.

Second Corinthians 3:18.

2 Corinthians 3:18

Read it.

That's what it's teaching you and I, more than anything else.

This was touched on in Sunday school.

You and I, more than anything else, need to meet with God in the

morning.

Robert McShane, great missionary, said, never see the face

of man till you've seen the face of God.

Dr. Barbee should tell you when I open the Bible, I open the

mind of God.

Amen.

This is God's word.

You need the information and you need the Holy Spirit's ministration.

And we'll meditate it all day long, brother, like you said.

Book of Joshua.

Psalm, chapter one.

His delight.

His delight is in the law of the Lord and in as law as he meditates

both day and night.

Joshua.

You'll do that.

David wrote that.

You know, David only had eight or nine books in the Bible when he

wrote that.

We think David wrote Psalm 1.

Most of the Bible hadn't even been written yet.

You and I have 66 books.

Yeah.

Your new man wants the word of God.

It's milk and manna and the fruit of the land.

And it's eaten strongly.

You're a new man, guys.

Some of the greatest men of God are not preachers.

We know where we'd be today without women.

Have you read the Bible?

Thank God for godly women.

Amen.

And godly men.

That's how you build churches.

Get in the book.

Open thou mine eyes that I may behold Wondrous saints, by thy law,

you're not going to see a transfigured Christ, but you'll see

a Christ living without sin.

You'll see him on the cross.

You'll see like he never saw before.

You'll see him in the tomb.

You'll say, wow, he's representing me.

From the womb to the tomb, you'll come, you'll see him resurrected.

You'll see him ascend at the right hand of the Father.

By the way, you're seated together and heavenly places in Christ

Jesus.

You know why you go to heaven?

When you die, you're already there.

Look at this, Malachi.

And let me pull all this together, okay?

You guys believe in grace?

How many believe in grace?

The law says it's 1201.

Grace says take just an extra minute or two.

Is that okay?

All right.

Look at verse two.

He said the day star.

The day star is the sun.

S U, N. It's also called the Dayspring in the Bible.

Christ is called the day Spring when he's born.

Elizabeth and Mary and John the Baptist's father talk about the

Dayspring.

It's an Old Testament picture.

David said in Samuel 23 that he would be like the sunrise.

The morning dawning is what this is talking about.

But unto you that fear my name shall the sun, capital S of righteousness,

arise with healing in his wings.

And ye shall go forth, grow up as calves of the stall.

So let me say this and I'll stop.

We have a singular source right here.

Whether Brother Clark and I agree on everything in here or not,

we both agree this is the word of God.

And he could be right and I could be wrong.

Okay?

This is the singular source.

Amen.

This is above us.

When you start correcting this Bible, you become the boss.

No, this is it.

This is it.

It's singular and it's sure.

Okay.

All right.

It's singular and it's sure.

And we have.

Right here.

But you know why?

Because it's settled.

It's not what I think or what he thinks or what you think.

We have to discuss it, but it's settled.

They're not.

They're still not.

I know they're retranslating it, but we're not getting new scriptures.

We're going with this one because it's been settled for 500

years now.

Started with Tyndale.

It's basically 90% what Tyndale did, etc.

It settled.

It's settled.

This is it.

And if you take heed unto this as you spend time in the scriptures.

I couldn't live without the sun.

We need the warmth.

You turn it down a little bit.

They need to change the batteries out.

The batteries are a little too strong right now.

Okay, but we need that, you know, the sun gives life.

We need that radiation.

We need those different wave bands.

Insects, plants need them.

That's why evolution is such a farce.

You can't have evolution taking place the first two days and

then the third day, plants and there's no sun.

Okay?

It won't work.

We need what the sun does for us.

You get vitamin D, et cetera.

What the sun does for us physically is what Christ does for

us spiritually.

Now, when it says the day star rises in your heart, when you first

got saved, it dawned on you you needed a savior.

You had just enough light to realize you were a sinner, what sin

was, and how Christ is the only solution.

And you put your trust in Christ.

If you'll keep growing, if you'll stay in the Bible, the day

star rises and it heals you.

You look back at your past mistakes.

David said, forget the sins of my youth.

It grows.

If you'll stay in the book, it heals you.

It does something for you spiritually, emotionally.

Amen.

It makes you love everybody.

It's the old time religion.

It's the old time religion, what they ought to say.

And it's not even religion, it's relationship.

What I'm telling you folks, you know what's right, you know.

But just get fascinated again with who Christ is.

He laid aside his glory.

Philippians, chapter two.

He didn't stop being God.

You could bump into Jesus, you know, you bumped into God.

And the church was his idea.

And the church in the New Testament temple and the tabernacle

on the temple was all about Christ.

So when you come to church, you know what you want to hear about.

You don't even want to hear about Kansas history.

Kansas history doesn't even matter at church.

So what's that about?

I'm from a state north here.

Kansas history.

There's a lot of private jokes that go on through here, okay?

Been a few years of this.

Okay?

We need to hear about Christ at least for a couple hours.

And tell the world to stay away for a little bit.

I'm not talking about people.

I'm talking about the world.

We don't need the lust of the eyes and lust of the flesh of pride,

life in here.

We need to hear.

Let me.

Was that song not moving?

Could we not have left here a little Bit ago, yes.

Christ is all.

Christ is all I need.

Christ is all I need.

All I need.

Christ is all I need.

Christ is Christianity.

Wow.

This is better than the miracles.

Get in the Psalms.

Get in the Psalms and just read them slowly and talk to God

all day like an electric trolley car.

Hook up and stay hooked up all day.

If you disconnect, reconnect.

You're here today as we close.

Do you know Jesus Christ as your savior?

He lived a life without sin.

He paid for your sins.

When you trust me as your Savior, you get his righteousness

in place of your sin.

You can't have a better deal than that anywhere.

We're going to stand.

I'll stand here at the front.

If you need to come talk to me.

Come talk to me.

If you want to come here and kneel, they have people that can

talk to you.

If you're a lady or a man, we have people that can talk to you.

I'll stay after today.

I'll come to your house this afternoon.

I'll do whatever I need to do to make sure you understand this.

If you want me to.

Let's all stand as the musicians come.

Father, thank you for everyone here today.

And Lord, I can be a little silly at times, and Lord, I can be

a little erratic.

But I just don't want people bored with the word of God.

I want people distracted.

I want to do everything I can to get a truth across.

And you love everybody in this room.

You love people outside.

These people have relatives and neighbors and friends that need

to hear the gospel.

And you can fill their heart with such love that it constrains

them to tell others about Christ.

Once Peter and Paul and all them met Christ, they just couldn't

shut up.

If there's someone here today who does not know Christ as their

savior, help them to realize they're among friends.

It would make our day for them to trust Christ if they haven't already

done it.

If you're here right now and your heads are bowed, you can tell

God, lord, I understand I'm a sinner.

I see it.

And I see that Christ never sinned and he paid for my sins.

And if I can have that transferred to my account, I'll take

it.

Lord, tell me just to do that right now.

Just to tell you.

It's not the prayer.

It's that transfer of trust.

Lord, I know I'm a sinner.

I see how Christ saves me.

Your son as God, he can take all of God's wrath to represent you

as man.

He can represent me.

Sin causes physical, emotional, relational sufferings.

He went through all that for us.

There's no wrath left I have to face, Lord, thank you for saving

me.

Thank you for causing me to understand, Lord, if they've done

that, help them to step out and let us know.

Or if they want to do that and they don't quite understand, help

them to step out so we can help them.

Folks, I want you praying, please, please be praying for the

unsaved.

If you're away from God, you've been saved and you kind of

got away from God, you want to go over and pray, please come and

do that.

In Jesus name, Lord, we pray.