Alright. Alright. Yeah, that's right. Alright. Alright. Pray for Sylvia. Well, good to be here this morning. Appreciate everybody coming, being in Sunday school this morning. Baby saw the van out there, it's ours now. And so it's ready to be used. And praise the Lord that we're able to get that. So we'll be in lesson six. We just briefly started lesson six last week. And does anybody else need an outline? Everybody get an outline for lesson six? All right. So, and I ask you also to read the verses Matthew 17 1-9 Mark 9 1-9 and Luke 9 28-36 and I believe now you probably have that on your outline. So, we probably won't finish this week so go over those verses again this coming week while you're at home. And last week we read Matthew 17 1 through 9 and this week we will read mark 9 1 through 9 of course it's in all those three gospels it's given different accounts of the of the same thing and our lesson this week is a lesson on reference on reverence excuse me a lesson on reverence so we'll read mark 9 1 through 9 and he said unto them Verily I say unto you that there be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. 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 fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias and Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he wist not what to say, for they were so 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 when they had looked round about, they saw no man anymore save Jesus, only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen to the Son of Man were risen from the dead. And then too, I do want to read this one verse on down in Luke, Luke 9 and 32, or rather, Yeah, that's what we'll read it next week, but I want to go ahead and read it this week. Luke 9, 32 says, 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. Of course, we find out, we'll know later, that when Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, the same thing, the disciples fall asleep. And here they have fallen asleep this time as well. And when they awaken is when they see Jesus glorified and Elias and Moses. So this doesn't contradict the other two. It just gives us a closer account of when they saw the three of them together. As a way of introduction, we know this is a monumental experience in the life of Peter. his response to this special moment. Now the most important lesson that Peter learned here is the importance of godly reverence. Reverence to reverence Christ is a key attribute of a committed follower of him and that's mostly what we talked about last week is being reverent to God and the things of God. Now, we all know this already, but in Christendom and culture as a whole become increasingly more casual and less reverent. To give you an example of what I'm talking about in culture, when I went to work for Textiles Corporation in the late 80s, the salesman and the managers, they had two modes of dress. You wore this or you wore that. Dress casual and casual does not mean what it means today. Dress casual was a sport coat, shirt, tie, and pants. Casual was a sport coat, shirt, and pants. You didn't have to have a tie on. But they never left without that tie on. They could be there without one on some days. If there was a meeting, they had to wear that tie all day long. Each of you know back in the 60s and early 70s and even much more so in the 50s, if you walk down the street in any city in the United States, 90% of the men had a suit on. That's just what you wore. When you went out, that's what you wore. But not anymore. You will rarely see a suit. As a matter of fact, if you have a suit on today and you go out to eat, you might get some turned heads. Then you'll go by the sword. Then you must be a preacher. If you've got a suit on today and you like to eat, you could probably all pass for preacher today. They see it. But what we want to do, we want to be reverent. You don't have to wear a suit in the house of God, but you need to wear clothes different or your best clothes, your nice clothes, you need to wear to church. That's showing reverence to the house of God. And if you read over in the Old Testament about Solomon building the house of God, if you read about the tabernacle, God was very particular about the house of God. Even the most reverent of today are nowhere near the reverence that they showed then. But now if you go to where I was working at, the coat and tie are gone and they all wear polo shirts. A Christian should always consider how they are dressed. Well, I don't care if it's comfortable, I'm going to wear it. Well, that's the wrong attitude for a Christian. You ought to consider who you are. You're an ambassador for Christ. The way you dress may differ depending on where you are in the world. I know some missionaries, where they go, there's certain ways that they need to dress, right, Brother Jeremiah? There's certain ways if you don't dress that way, They're not gonna like you. There's certain things you can't wear. There's certain things you can't do. There's certain, that's just like if somebody come in your house today, you'd welcome them in. And if you went to somebody's house in Japan and you just walked right in, didn't take your shoes off, you're gonna be told to stop. I wouldn't like Japan. I don't take my shoes off. I don't mind changing shoes when I get into it, but I don't take my shoes off. My feet are, I'm tender footed. But a study of the scriptures, we'll read a few scriptures and to show us the importance of honoring and reverencing the Lord. So we're not, it's not a man that we're reverencing. We need to show reverence to God. Psalm 46 and 10 says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Malachi 1.6, a son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear, saith the Lord of hosts. And something just came to my mind about missionaries dressing like the culture that you're in. Taylor Hudson, he would wear Chinese attire. he would wear the goatee and he would shave like they shaved he wanted to show them that he wanted that they were equal that he wasn't above them that he wanted to be with them he wanted them to be with him so he was willing to do that and if you look at a lot of people would look at that and I'm sure they looked at it in that day and say he's gone too far no he was reverencing the custom where he was and he was doing no dishonor to God when he did it Now the passage we just read clearly conveys that our God is deserving of honor. And there in Malachi when it talks about honor the reason God there is talking about honor is because later on in Malachi he tells them you've polluted the altar, you've worried the Lord with your words and you've robbed God of tithes and offerings. So although they come into the place, most likely they had all this grandeur about them, you know, and looking sophisticated, but there were things that they were not doing. When the disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray, what did he say first? The first thing he taught them was reverence. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Sacred be thy name. Now if we're praying to a sacred God and that's who we pray to, then we owe him reverence. Now today honor is given to many things. I guess the biggest honor today is given to sports stars and music stars. But God deserves honor above everyone else. Culture gives a lot of adulation. Again, athletes, actors, business leaders. The Christian need to realize that God is the one that deserves our highest respect. Isaiah 42, 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another. So we don't need to try to give it to another. See, if you give someone too much glory, you only got one place to get it from. That's glory that should be given to God. So you're taking it away from Him. It's okay to respect people. It's okay to honor them for accomplishments that they've had. But you cannot take the honor away from God. Now our text shows the importance of reverence while on the Mount of Transfiguration. So we're going into number one now. the Lord's program so the Lord has a way of doing things and much of it is in the Bible and that's we follow the Bible we follow God's program so Often in the Gospels, Jesus invites Peter, James, and John to go to by themselves away from the other nine or give them special opportunity to enable them to focus on him. That'd be a good idea, wouldn't it? Get away from everything else and focus on Jesus. I don't know any of us who do it too much. We should do it some daily but I believe there's also times in our lives, times during the year that we need to spend more than just 5 to 15 minutes in prayer but we need to get away from the world and pray. Get away from the world and commune with God. Now Luke's account is the one that gives us the specific purpose of prey. The other two doesn't say that. Matthew just says they went up to a high mountain to be a part. So they went up to a high mountain to be a part to prey. They went where no one else was. They didn't go down to the valley or down to the sea coast. They went where no one was likely to follow. They went up on a high mountain. You get high in the mountains, you don't see a lot of people. Right? And back in that day, you probably wouldn't see anybody else. We need to separate ourselves from the hustle and bustle and even from family and friends that we may commune with God. Matthew 6, 5 and 6 says, When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Now a closet here doesn't exclusively mean a closet or a space where you store clothes or goods. It can be a place or a room that is apart from distraction. That's what you're after, to find somewhere where nothing is going to distract you. It actually also means apartment. Apartment means apart from. Now what we call apartments today is anything but apart from. It's apartments put back together and then they're no longer apart. That's what we call them still. God is not calling us to go to the Mount of Transfiguration but he does invite us to come to his presence every day. It is important to separate and take time to hear from God and bask in his glory. We need to recognize his glory. We need to realize his glory. If we don't ever take time to do that, we won't be able to reverence him like we should. You don't have to go up to a high mountain to pray. He'll come to you. All you have to do is pray with an earnest heart. So we need to take time and separate for God. And then letter A, we have the conference. Matthew 17, one through three. And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him." Have you ever wondered how they knew it was Moses and Elias? It didn't say Jesus told them who it was talking to. They just said that's who it was. It was facial recognition. God had facial recognition long before the FBI did. He put in their heart who they were. They didn't have a photograph. If anybody ever drawed them, they didn't know what they looked like. It was just a drawing. But God told them who they were. This is one reason why most Bible scholars and teachers and other students of the Bible believe that the two witnesses in Revelation are Elijah and Moses. Now we know one of them is Elijah, but the second one is not named. Does anyone know who comes second to Moses? Does anyone know other than Moses who I guess is second place who people think is the second witness? Enoch, right. Anybody know why they think it's Enoch? He was raptured. He hadn't died yet. Elijah hadn't died yet. When they come back, they're going to die, right? Boy, did you say Joyce Meyers? I was going to get that on John but he laid out, he must have seen my notes. Now while we don't know the precise amount we do know that it's referred to as the amount of transfiguration. Now so the Old Testament references get reverence is given to Abraham, Moses, and Elijah. But Christ deserves reverence above all of those. He deserved a higher level of reverence than the patriarchs represented by Abraham, the lawgiver Moses, and the prophets represented by Elijah. No one in the Bible, no one in the world deserves more reverence than God. Now as saints and ambassadors for Christ, we have equal status with these prophets, with the patriarchs. But like some of the patriarchs and prophets, we're ambassadors for Christ, but we don't live like we're ambassador saints, do we? We don't do it all the time, but we should. We're invited to come boldly to the throne of grace. Not because of who we are, what we've done, anything in us, except the Holy Spirit because Christ has saved us. God says come boldly to the throne of grace. There's no need to be timid, no need for any hesitation whatsoever. Yes, we are unworthy completely, but we are the sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. And because of the blood of Christ, that's how we can come to the throne of God. Our communion with Him was God's desire from the foundation of the world. That's the way it was meant to be. And because of the Savior, it can again be that way if we will accept the invitation. Romans 8, 31, 32, what shall we then say to these things if God before us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? And then Revelation 22, 17, and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that hears say come and let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. And once we tasted that water of life, once we received Christ as Savior, we were able to go to the throne of God. Now that privilege does not cost us anything. Just like when first class privileges on an air flight don't come because of your name or who you are. but because of the price you paid. You have to pay that price. When you're ordering your ticket, if you want to ride first class, you're going to have to pay more. You're going to have to pay a lot more. Well, that's how we have the right to enter the throne of God. It's because of the price that has been paid. It's a privilege and we shouldn't take it for granted. When we all fly to heaven, we all fly saint class. And Esther, now there's several verses there in Esther, we're not going to read them since we just recently studied that. The king held out his golden scepter to Esther and invited her into his presence to ask her petition. Even so, we have been invited to the presence of our heavenly king to bring our petitions to him. Now we're still talking about the Lord's program and we go to B, the cross, Luke 9, 13 and 31. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory and spake of the decease which he should accomplish in Jerusalem. Now remember, just a few chapters previously is when Jesus told the disciples this. So when they hear Elias and Moses talking about it, it's not news to them because they know what they are referring to. When the lives of Moses and Elijah are significant, the most significant impact of this is the central event in all history was the crucifixion and later the resurrection of Christ at Jerusalem. So if you look back at all the things that Moses did, you look back at all the things Elijah did, they do not compare with what Christ did. In verse 31 we see the death of the Lord described as something he would accomplish. It says, they spake of the deceased which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. I mean he's going to, it just hasn't happened yet. The word accomplish means to fulfill or to carry through to the end. So it's fitting that Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. Hebrews 10, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary fulfilled all and superseded all other sacrifices. There was no need for any more sacrifices after Christ had paid with his life on the cross. It was the ultimate purpose of all the previous sacrifices. They pictured and foreshadowed the sacrifice of God the Son. So we can understand the cross was the completion or fulfillment of Jesus' earthly mission. Hebrews 10 and 10 through 14, by the witch we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. I like that word expecting in that verse. Expecting. He's expecting to come back. Now how do we most often use the word expecting? With a pregnancy, right? She's expecting. As a matter of fact, you probably will hear that word more than you will hear pregnant. because you used to what you're supposed to say pregnant in public. So they said she's expecting. And we still use that word more than the other. You know, there's never a time when a lady is expecting that she says she's been expecting six months and she says, you know what? I don't think it's going to happen. I just don't. I mean, I know it's here right now. I'm six months along. They done all the measuring and everything, but I just don't think it's going to happen. They know it's going to happen. They're expecting. They know it's going to happen. So here, expecting means the exact same thing. From henceforth, expecting. He is expecting. He is waiting. He knows it's coming. Now remember, Jesus told us, and don't ask me to explain this. Brother Jeremiah, you can explain this to them. He said he doesn't know when, but God does. God the Father does. So if you don't, you need to understand that, brother Jeremiah. When you got a week or two, maybe you can tell. But we do know that he is expecting and he knows he's coming back. How long will Jesus be expecting right up until the time he splits the eastern skies? God's going to say, go get my children. He's not going to hesitate. He's going to be rising up, as the point is said, and He's going to do it. Now, He's expecting. Are we expecting? Now, if I ask each one of you here this morning, are you expecting Christ to come? You would say, yes. But are you living like you're expecting? Do you live each day like you're expecting Christ to come? Because each day could be the day. So we'll stop right there and pick up there next week and we'll pray. Lord, we thank you for the stage you've given us. We thank you for many blessings, Lord. And Lord, we thank you, Lord, that we know that Christ is expecting to return, Lord, to rapture us out, Lord, and we know it's going to happen. May we live as Christ is expecting that day every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.