Grow in Grace and Knowledge — 2 Peter 1-3

0:00 Good morning. Good Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

0:08 You better get used to saying that word. It means praise the Lord, and I'm sure we're going to be doing a lot of that in eternity. He is worthy of our praise. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. We don't worship idols, so we wanna be careful even in our mind.

0:31 We don't wanna have an idol of Jesus. However, the scriptures, I want you to just picture what we shared this morning, to turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face. And there he was on the cross. His face was disfigured and disformed and marred and beaten, blood, horrible. How much he loves us.

1:02 We go into the nursing homes and we sing that song all the time, yes, Jesus loves me. Just take a moment and try to focus your thoughts on the Lord Jesus right now and what he did for you on that cross. And while he hung there, he cried out, father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Almighty God, heavenly father, our father, which art in heaven, truly hallowed be thy name.

1:46 Lord, your name is holy. We want your name to be hallowed in our lives, through our lives, in this service, for the rest of this day, for the rest of our days, and for all eternity. Lord, your name will be hallowed. Lord, we praise you for your holy word, living word, powerful word, sharper than any two edged sword. Thank you for your holy spirit, our teacher, our guide.

2:19 Father, we ask that you would allow your holy spirit to teach us and speak to us. Lord, we pray that your holy spirit would cause every thought to be focused on you, Lord Jesus. We pray that you would take away distractions in our mind, things that yet have to happen this day and struggles and troubles in our lives. Lord, would you help us to... For this next time period to focus our utmost attention, hearts, our minds on you, Lord Jesus, as we read your word.

3:01 As we look at you, behold you, the lamb of God. Lord, we love you. We praise you. Encourage us. Build us up this morning, Lord.

3:12 Equip us as your saints for your glory we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. We're continuing in second Peter today, and, I guess we had a break last week. I wasn't able to be here, but I guess brother Chris Schroeder was here. And I didn't have a chance to listen to that message, but I heard it was somewhat the title, to some effect, was, how to how to destroy an assembly, something like that.

3:42 And I'm sure that was a good message that we need to hear. How to destroy an assembly, how to destroy a life, how to destroy a family, how to destroy... We're in trouble in this world. Right? There's trouble within, there's trouble without.

4:02 Our families are hurting. This assembly is hurting, struggling. Our own personal lives are struggling. And that song is just amazing, the first service, how the Lord was ministering to us and reminding us that the solution is to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Peter writes this letter.

4:40 Of all the appearances, he appeared to Peter, it says, personally, because it was Peter who had denied the Lord, and the Lord wanted to reassure him of his great love and faithfulness to him even as he stumbled. And Peter is now thirty three years later approximately, and he is struggling and suffering. He writes in his letter that he knows he's going to die soon. He's in prison. This is the time of Nero, one of the worst persecutions of the first century church that there ever was.

5:17 And so he had seen others persecuted unto death. Right? James, Stephen, and, many other believers, other apostles had already been murdered. And so he was in a very, very difficult time. And within the church, the church was really struggling.

5:42 There were false teachers. There's only three chapters in second Peter. The whole second chapter is all about false teachers who are coming in and teaching that the Lord, he hasn't come yet, he said he would come, and again, this is only thirty years after the Lord was on the earth, right, thirty five years. Now it's been 2000. So the message really applies to us that the Lord hasn't come yet, so he's not going to come.

6:09 And there was much false teaching about that's one of the heresies that was going on during this time. And so Peter writes to remind them, chapter one is about what we're to be doing until the Lord comes. Chapter three, he comes and he establishes his kingdom. And it says, with intense heat, fervent heat, he burns up every element that ever God ever made. And then he makes new heavens.

6:34 We're waiting for new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells permanently. Right? And he tells us in that same third chapter how we should live godly lives, right, holy lives, and waiting for his return. And it says the Lord, the reason he hasn't come yet isn't because he's forgot about it or he's a liar, obviously God can't lie, but he's patient toward you. That's what the scripture says.

7:01 And the first verse, first couple verses of chapter one says he's writing to us who are believers. So he's patient with us. He wants to set up his kingdom. He will set up his kingdom as his whole purpose, to reclaim the kingdom that was stolen from him from Satan. Right?

7:19 Satan now temporarily rules over this kingdom, but the king is coming. Right? The king of glory, that series our our brother put together, he's coming. The subtitle of that, the king of glory, is that, the kingdom has been seized, something to this effect, but the king is coming back to reclaim it. And that's basically the whole bible.

7:39 That's basically the whole message. So Peter ends his short letter, chapter three, and his last words to the human race, and he says, I'm going to be diligent to write this down so that when I'm gone, you can remember this. Well, Peter's been gone for nineteen hundred years plus, give or take a few. And we need this message today because the church is really struggling. The church, meaning all true believers in America and every local gathering, whether it's Baptist or Brethren Assembly or everything in between.

8:13 The assemblies, we know, are really struggling. This assembly is struggling. And there's... The enemy is coming to divide and destroy, right, to steal, kill, and to destroy. But Jesus wants us to be healthy as an individual, as a family, and as a local assembly.

8:57 What should we do while we're waiting for his return? It's going to happen. And he had just written again, like I said, about how he's going to come the second coming when he destroys everything and then finally sets up his kingdom for a thousand years. At the end of the thousand years, Satan is released for a short time, and then finally, one of my favorite verses, it says, then the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire where the false prophet where the beast and the false prophet are also, they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. It's going to happen.

9:31 And many times... And and you and I don't even understand persecution, do we? Our struggles, and and perhaps that's one of the reasons I believe God's going to bring some serious persecution here, because it helps purify the church. And when we're not being persecuted and realizing that this is not our home, we try to make this our home. And so we're all distracted, right, with with sinful things, seeking the things of the world, And, of course, then the troubles and the struggles.

9:59 And I'm in I'm in the same boat. I'm not up here saying, I'm not... We, we, all of us struggle. Right? And I am sure that the saints who are running and hiding for their lives because people have been butchered and slaughtered and killed and shot, to this day, right this hour, multitudes on this planet, they're not thinking about, I need to get a new car, I need to get more sneakers, I need to get whatever.

10:25 Okay? They're thinking about eternity, and they can't wait to see their Lord Jesus, and they can't wait to try to help others, even their enemies come to know Christ and be in glory. So Peter's last words here, what to do in this time period while we're waiting. Verse 18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If ever there's a verse that the church needs to memorize today, it's this verse.

11:05 To grow in the grace, the undeserved favor from the Lord, and the knowledge of who he is, what he is, turning our eyes upon Jesus, not just with our eyes closed and trying to picture him hanging in the cross, but in the scriptures to seek him, to know him. Right? This is eternal life, Jesus says, that they might know you, father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. This is it. We're in eternal life now.

11:33 The moment we believe we have it, it's never going to end. We're going to continue to know him through all eternity. Hallelujah. And now we only know him in part, but then we're going to know even as we're fully known. Wow.

11:46 We're going to see him. We're going to be home. But in the meantime, our flesh wars against the spirit. Right? And so there's still pride and jealousy and selfishness.

11:57 But one day soon, that's going to be gone. To me, that's one of the greatest things, of course, besides just being with Jesus and and and God the father. The greatest thing to me is I can't wait to get rid of this this sinful nature, right, when it's finally laid to rest, when I can truly love. And I get a taste of that when I'm filled with the spirit. Right?

12:19 I do love the way Jesus loves. I do have patience the way Jesus has patience, but only when I'm filled, controlled by the spirit. But when I'm walking in the flesh, oh my gosh, all hell breaks loose, Within at least. I'm a good actor, so you might not see it. Right?

12:35 And so we all struggle with this and Peter says, grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Proverbs chapter nine verse 10, turn there. The fear of the Lord, it's repeated a couple times in the scriptures, is the beginning of wisdom. Right? That's what it says, Proverbs nine verse 10.

13:01 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and what? And the knowledge of the holy one, to know him, to fix our eyes on Jesus. Every problem in our life vanishes in our soul. It doesn't mean that problem goes away, but every difficulty in our life goes away. We get filled, controlled by the spirit when we focus our attention in the word on our precious God and savior, Jesus Christ.

13:35 That's why it's such a battle to get quiet before the Lord and get in his word. Right? That's why Jesus said to Martha, there's only one thing necessary, Martha. And Mary is doing it. She's sitting at my feet.

13:49 She's listening to my word. And from there, everything else outflows. Yes, there's a time to be diligent with working for the Lord. But even as we work for the Lord, we get so overwhelmed sometimes. And again, our self rises up, and we see things that we don't like in other people, and we have memories of this and memories of that, and that's why the scripture just helps me so much that Jesus hung on that cross, and he said, father, forgive them.

14:15 They don't know what they're doing. God has a plan, one plan. All things working together for this plant for good, to conform us to the image of Christ. And Jesus Christ, the only way that happens is as we sit at his feet listening to his word, and as Paul says in second Corinthians, to behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. That's Jesus.

14:54 Doctors told us to call the family. He should... He's going to die, and most people won't make it through. And by God's grace, he's still... God's done a miracle to some extent.

15:05 And we've got itch issues in this this this room. And then we've got these kind of issues in this room within the families, right? And then we've got these kind of issues within the assembly. And we need to know that Peter says, the only way, God says, he even says that in in chapter one, that no prophecy, it's all from the Lord, moved by the Holy Spirit, men wrote these words. Right?

15:30 So it's not really Peter writing, it's God, the Holy Spirit telling us, return. Same thing John says in Revelation, return, repent, turn back to your first love. Him, brothers and sisters, if we would do that, we'd have the peace of God that passes all understanding. And we wouldn't be having our eyes on everybody else's flaws because there are a few flaws in this room, right? You're looking at big time right here.

16:01 And just a side note, if I have offended anyone in this room, please forgive me. I I didn't mean it. And, if we can talk it out, come and talk with me. But we need to see the presence of the Lord come into this place in a powerful way. And that happens as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

16:24 Look at what it says, but grow, chapter three verse 18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, to him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. That's it. It's all about Jesus Christ. And again, because we're so uninvolved as we ought to be with his kingdom, his plan, his will, we sit down here, and I'm speaking from experience.

16:54 All of a sudden, I'm doing my own thing, and boy, life is like I just put my finger into a bee's nest and and it's just everything's going on, and and there's a solution. Be still and know that I'm God. Return to your first love. Right? He said that to the church at Ephesus.

17:16 The church at Ephesus was doing... I mean, if you want a a resume of the perfect church, they would have been voted number one in probably everybody's, estimate here if we would read that. They were dealing with false teaching. They were serving the Lord. They were out preaching the gospel.

17:33 They were winning souls. But I have against you, Jesus says. That's what the original says. It didn't even say the word this, I have against you. You've left your first love.

17:44 So brethren, get your eyes off yourself. I'm talking to me. Get your eyes off of everybody else and repent, Jesus says. Get back to your first love, him. Amen?

18:01 Amen? As we do that, we're filled with the Holy Spirit. So it says, let the word of Christ dwell richly within you. And the filling of the Holy Spirit, the control of the Holy Spirit envelops all of our wrong thinking. Now we're controlled by the spirit's thinking.

18:18 And when we look at other brothers and sisters, and we look at the lost, we look at other people, and it's only by the fruit of the spirit. Right? Love, agape love, to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, to lay down our lives to go and reach the lost. Right? We can't do that in our self.

18:39 But as we're filled with the Holy Spirit, he fills us with his... He produces in us agape, joy. Don't you want joy? Peace? It doesn't matter what's going on in our life.

18:52 Just, Lord, touch my joy button, please. Just give me... Just turn that thing on. I want your joy. I want your peace.

18:58 Then I can endure. And not only endure, I can have peace of God. And I can have the joy of the Lord. And then the rest, right, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And so Peter writes this letter to churches that were afraid.

19:28 I know my time is at hand. I know I'm gonna die soon. He says that, and he does. History tells us that he died crucified. Well, you're a follower of Jesus, we'll crucify you.

19:38 Please, please, I'm not worthy of that. Please, if you're going to crucify me, do it upside down. They did, history says. Wow. Wow.

19:48 Wow. And brothers shared this morning, even Jesus endured the suffering of the cross. How? For the joy set be for him. If we don't get our eyes off of this world and now, we are a tool of Satan.

20:08 We're miserable, we're going to be used by the enemy to cause division in our families, our workplace, and the assembly. Maternity is coming like a freight train. Maybe it's because I'm 62, I'm thinking that way, but it's coming, and the Lord is coming. He really could come before I finish this sentence. Wouldn't that be great?

20:32 Some of say, yeah, that guy. Let's read first Peter chapter two. We're going read the whole chapter, and then we're going to talk about it a little bit. I know brother Wayne, spoke on the first part, but we're going to do a little review and then, look at some other things. Second Peter.

20:49 Second Peter... Did I say first? Sorry. Second Peter chapter one verse one. So again, now you've got a little bit of the background here as Peter writes this.

21:01 Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours by the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ. So again, now we know he's writing to true believers, right? Verse two, grace and peace be multiplied to you. Not added, but multiplied to you, how? In the knowledge knowing God and of Jesus our Lord.

21:30 You want grace? You want peace? You want it multiplied, lavished upon you? It can happen through the knowledge, the true knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Verse three, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything, everything pertaining to life and godliness.

21:50 Everything I need for life, everything I need to live a godly life. Through what? Through the true... There it is again. Through the true knowledge of him.

22:01 Proverbs nine ten, knowledge of the holy one is understanding. You need understanding in your life? Stop worrying about the problem. Get your eyes off the problem and get your face before God and in his word, and getting to know almighty God, your savior. And there'll be understanding through the true knowledge of God.

22:23 Everything is given to us pertaining to life and godliness. Who called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these, by his own glory and excellence, he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises, plural, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature. You'll become like God, you'll become like Christ through the promises, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. So there's this corruption that's in the world by the lust in my own heart, I'm going to give into it.

23:01 And Peter here says, it's through the promises that you become conformed to the image of Christ, and those things you're going to have victory over. Verse five, now for this very reason also applying all diligence, being zealous. In your faith, supply or add or supplement. In your faith, you've got faith given from God, now add, you'd be zealous in adding, supplying, supplementing that with moral excellence. And in your moral excellence, supply knowledge.

24:05 Right? He's gonna do it. Thessalonians says, faithful is he who calls you and he will do it. And the verse before that tells us what he's going to do. He's going to make us holy and blameless.

24:17 Faithful is he who calls you to be holy and blameless. He will do it. He will do it. But we have to cooperate and be zealous in our cooperation. So when God says something about moral excellence, well, then I need to cooperate with the leading of the Holy Spirit through his word and turn off that junk on the TV or my phone or the computer.

24:39 Right? Just a small example there of cooperating. Verse eight. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There it is again.

24:55 There it is again, that true knowledge. How many times Peter is saying, it's all, the goal of it all. Jesus said it, this is eternal life. True knowledge, knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ. Verse nine, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

25:19 He's talking to believers. He's not saying they're gonna lose their salvation, but they're blind or shortsighted, a Christian is, if they forget. If they're taking their eyes off the true knowledge of Jesus Christ, and if they're not adding diligently these things to their faith, they've forgotten the awesomeness that God has forgiven them of all their sins. Verse 10, therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things, you'll never stumble.

25:51 For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our lord and savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. That's not saying we get into heaven by good works. This is talking to Christians that when you meet the Lord, it's gonna be a well done, good and faithful servant instead of standing there knee deep in ashes. That's what he's talking about there. Christians, as we diligent to add these things to our life and focus on one thing, knowing God and his son, Jesus Christ.

26:25 That God is gonna produce a life in us that when we meet him, it's the same thing John says. He says, little children, abide in Christ. Walk with him, know him, let him lead your life. So that why? We won't be ashamed at his coming.

26:41 That's what Peter is saying here. There'll be an abundance and, how does he say it? Abundantly supplied to you. Verse 11, for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our lord and savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Verse 12, therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things even though you already know them.

27:02 Again, if you're a believer here, I'm not saying anything new, and that's what Peter says. So I'm just going to remind you this because why? Because this incredible... Remember the background of his writing? Incredible suffering for the church.

27:16 Here's the answer to all your suffering. Here's what we should do. Grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. I'm I'm going to be be reminding you of these things even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling in my body to stir you up by way of reminder.

27:40 There's the purpose of the book. He writes this letter because I want to stir you up. I want to shake you up. I want to motivate you. I want to exhort you to fall in love with Jesus, to return to your first love by reminding you of these things.

27:58 Verse 14, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent. It's gonna happen very soon. That's what he's saying. I'm gonna die soon. As also, how did he know this?

28:09 Our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. The Lord somehow in his own way made it clear to Peter, this is it. And that's why he said, the next verse, and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure, you may be able to call these things to mind. How is he going to do that? He's going to write it down.

28:32 I'm convicted by this. Challenge maybe is a better word. I want to start writing down things the Lord has shared with me because he could take me home at any time. And hopefully, the things that I would write down, if they're from the Lord, it could maybe encourage and help somebody. Right?

29:08 I was looking it up a little bit, and it means to rise. It means to be exalted. It means the highest one. It means his greatness. It means his, it's a hard word to describe, but his majesty.

29:23 We saw his majesty. We're gonna look at that, what Peter's referring to, when the Lord Jesus was up on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. And all of a sudden, was changed. Jesus was praying and he was changed. His face started to glow like the sun, etcetera.

29:40 We'll look at that in a moment. But he wants to make sure that we understand, no, no, no, we saw. He's gonna come and set up his kingdom. We were eyewitnesses of a foretaste of his kingdom. And I know that's true because Jesus even said right before it happened and he's...

29:56 And his face changed, his body changed, he said, don't worry, some of you are not gonna die until you see the coming of the Lord's kingdom. And eight day... I think it was eight days, I can't remember the number. Eight days later, six days later, the kingdom came. Here's Jesus, and he's all of us...

30:13 Well, we'll read that in a few minutes. For one, Peter continues, we were eyewitnesses, verse 17, for when he received, when Jesus received honor and glory from God the father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic or excellent glory. So they saw and they heard almighty God say what? This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And all the three gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke record this this, encounter here.

30:48 John doesn't, but each one of them says, this is my beloved son. Listen to him. Listen to him. We'll look at that in just a moment. And we ourselves, verse 18, we heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Jesus on the Holy Mountain.

31:08 We don't know what mountain that was. Somewhere there was a mountain they went to and we'll see that they... Jesus went to pray. And so, verse 19, we have the prophetic word, more sure or we have the more sure prophetic word. We'll talk about that in just a second.

31:26 To which you do well to pay attention. Now Peter changes the emphasis from the Lord Jesus himself to the fact that you learn about, you see, you hear about, God talks to you about in the word about his son. And so he wants to establish the fact that the word of God is just that, the word of God. I get to go to the jail sometimes, and and one of the brothers there was just overwhelmed. And he was just saying, he's a believer now, and he he's just saying, it was so simple.

32:08 I I might misquote it, but he... And I know it's gonna sound almost, I don't need to say it, but it's true. When God... When I read the Bible, God speaks to me. Just like he's speaking to us right now.

32:25 Why? Because we're reading the bible, and we prayed, and we set aside a time period to focus on listening to his word. Right? And this is what God wants us to be consumed with in our day as much as we possibly can. And and again, we we all have, you know, by God's grace, we've got different things.

32:45 Some are housewives, and so is you you need to keep your home, you need to take care of the children, and some of your loads are even heavier, and and on top of that, it just... And men going to work and etcetera, etcetera. So he's not saying just sit at home and read your bible all day, but to meditate, Psalm number one says. Right? To eat it in the morning and keep chewing on it, to keep uttering it softly, that's what the word meditate means.

33:11 It actually is a word in the Hebrew that actually means to speak softly. Wow. Wow. To meditate on the word day and night. And what happens, it says, if you do that?

33:23 Everything you do will prosper. You'll bear fruit. Right? Even in a desert when it's dry all around us, you're you're going to bear fruit, it says. So verse 19.

33:36 So we have the prophetic word, more sure. Now there's two ways to look at that. Some say, well, it's because they've actually seen, heard, and the presence of God actually came down on that mountain when they saw Jesus that now this prophetic word, what prophetic word? This is very important. He's not saying all of the scripture at this point, he's focusing on the time on the mountain, which was a prophecy of what was yet to happen.

34:03 That's what Jesus said. He says, not everybody in this group is going to die before they see the king the kingdom of the Lord. What? All the apostles are dead and the kingdom is not here yet. No.

34:14 We're going to see on the mountain, there was a foretaste of the kingdom. The king takes his rightful place and Moses and Elijah are there. Right? And it goes on. We're going to look at that in just a second.

34:24 I know I said that 20 times, but we will get there. We have the prophetic word made more sure or confirmed and some would just say, they're making comparison contrast, no, we saw, we heard, but we have the prophetic word and that's even more sure. I tend to go with the first opinion. It seems the context is speaking that. To which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place.

34:53 Now you and I don't know much about that. Cause we've got lights everywhere, we've got flashlights, I can turn on my phone and turn on a flashlight, but I've been to places where there's no electricity and it's dark. And boy, you wish you had a lamp, and the lamps back then were fire of some sort. Right? Some even say that a lamp into my feet, some said, I've I've read this somewhere in some studies, that they actually tied a little lantern on your ankle, so when you're walking at nighttime and they'd light it, a lamp into my feet, light into my path.

35:25 I'm not sure if that's true, but it's it's clear here. We need the word of God because we're walking, we don't know where to go. We're in this dark place until the day dawns and the morning star, which is just a picture of the sun, arises in your hearts. Now, some say that's a reference to his return, which it very much could be, the kingdom, that seems to be the context. But know this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation or opinion.

35:53 For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the holy spirit spoke from God. This is the word of God. And so Peter says that the interpretation of the scripture, that means the prophet who was writing this, Peter, when he's writing this, he wasn't giving his own interpretation. No, he was writing what God had him write down. And also, when we hear it, it's not a matter of our own interpretation.

37:00 We're getting to know Jesus Christ. And here's an unveiling, as it were, chapter nine verse... We'll pick it up in verse 27. This is Jesus and he says, but I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who shall not taste death, they're not gonna die, until they see the kingdom of God. Now again, this is written thirty three AD at the...

37:28 Was when it happened, right? When he... His last year on earth approximately. And so everybody that was there, they died. So where's the kingdom, Lord?

37:39 Well, next verse. And some eight days, there it is, it was eight days, after these sayings, it came about that Jesus took along Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray. Now, the other, Matthew and Mark don't say that that's what he did, but he was up there. He went for that purpose to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different and his clothing became white and gleaming.

38:06 And behold, two men were talking with him and they were Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah had been gone for centuries already. They were dead and gone, But now they appeared, who appearing in glory were speaking of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Don't you love that? It didn't say his death, just his departure.

38:32 He's leaving here, going back home. Could I remind us all here that our departure is guaranteed? And as we get older, it's getting sooner and sooner. Right? And then, of course, you add the surprise of death into the equation.

38:54 It could happen today. We could be talking at the prayer meeting Wednesday that, oh, that poor Christian, he got smashed by a car. Seriously, right? It could happen. Or whatever, or heart attack and whatever.

39:09 Departure, his soon departure. And when did he say he's going? Well, trusting God, trust also in me. My father's house are many mansions, and I'm going there. I'm going to depart here, and I'm going there to prepare a place for you.

39:27 If I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again to receive you unto myself. Why? I love this. Why? So that where I am, you may be also.

39:38 That's why he's doing it. He can't wait for you and me to be with him. Zephaniah says it this way, that he's going to sing over us with rejoicing. Wow. When we get home, when the father tells Jesus, Jesus, go get your bride.

39:59 I mean, you guys know that are married, right, that day before? Don, I see you smiling there. That day before, right, you couldn't wait for that marriage to be with your bride when she would be yours, right? That's what Jesus is waiting for. Verse 32.

40:35 So his departure, they were talking about... I mean, that had to be awesome. I mean, Moses and Elijah and Jesus talking. I mean, I don't know what they were saying. I...

40:45 It says they. They were speaking. So maybe Moses is saying, well, Lord, I guess you're leaving here. You're gonna come come with us up to heaven soon. I don't know.

40:59 It's just they're... He's talking about his departure. They were, it says. Amazing. Now Peter and his companions, verse 32, had been overcome with sleep.

41:13 While Jesus is praying, they're what? And then they wake up. But when they were fully awake, they saw his glory. Wait a minute. I mean, then they went to sleep with him looking just like a normal man.

41:29 They woke up with him, and we're going to look at Matthew real quick where his face is shining like the sun. He's completely transfigured, transformed. Peter said to Jesus, master, it's good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not realizing what he was saying. Jesus, you must be one of these great prophets.

41:52 And what happens? Verse 34, while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud. I mean, they're on this mountain. Jesus is a man praying.

42:09 They fall asleep while Jesus is praying. All of sudden, they wake up and they see Jesus glowing like the sun, his white clothes like cleaner than any launderer could launder them, one of the, writers says. And then Peter makes this foolish statement, he didn't understand yet. Oh, Lord is good. We'll make a tabernacle for each one of you great men of God.

42:30 And then the father comes down in this cloud, this Shekinah glory, the presence of God comes down. And while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them. They were afraid as they entered the cloud and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. Turn in Matthew for the same story with just a couple verses there, just a little bit different that add a few things for us.

43:01 Matthew 17. Matthew 17 verses five. Matthew records it here. Luke recorded it where he just read. Verse five, while he was still speaking, while Peter was still speaking about making these three tabernacles, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

43:35 Listen to him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Could you imagine?

43:46 Again, they see Jesus standing there praying, just a man, this great teacher, the messiah. They they believed he was the messiah. They didn't grab who he really was yet. They fall asleep. All of a sudden, they wake up and his face shining like the sun, his clothes white.

44:01 Moses and Elijah are standing there talking with him. Peter comes up and says, Lord, let's stay right here. We're going to make the three tabernacles for you and Moses and Elijah. Then the cloud of the Shekinah glory comes down, and they're terrified. And they hear the voice of God the father, almighty God, say these words.

44:23 This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were much afraid. And Jesus came to them and touched them. They're on their faces, so they're just shivering and trembling.

45:06 Praise the lord.