In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of personal experiences with God. He highlights the transformation and purification that occurs when one encounters God's glory and majesty. The preacher also expresses concern about the prevalence of fairy tales and the lack of embedding biblical truths in the minds and hearts of children. He shares a story of a famous preacher who experienced a spiritual awakening at a young age. The sermon also touches on the brevity of time, the dangerous hour in which we live, and the need to store up God's truths in our minds for future use. The preacher references the 16th and 17th chapters of Matthew, discussing the story of Jesus taking Peter, James, and John after six days. He also mentions the three enemies of our lives (the world, the flesh, and the devil), the three areas of temptation (lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and pride of life), and various other threes found in scripture.

Precious young person who was so handicapped and triumphed over it. We want to thank you again for things that often we forget to thank thee for, for our sight. When so many are handicapped, not only that they cannot drive, but they cannot move around as they would, they cannot read the things we read, they cannot see the things we see. We thank you for this precious gift of sight. We thank you for our senses. We thank you for a thousand blessings that we have enjoyed again, during another week of our pilgrimage here on earth. We thank you for the light of the gospel which has shined into our hearts. We praise you Father for the day that that revelation came, and when we saw the one who is indeed the altogether lovely and the fairest of ten thousand to our souls. We think of the possibilities of grace that each of our lives have an entity. We are not repetitions of somebody before us. Nobody coming after us will be an exact duplicate of us. But Lord we thank you that the possibilities are so immense. The pathway of history is strewn with the stories of men and women who were handicapped in many, many ways. Many had privations. Many of them had to read your word in secret and hide it away, lest someone should steal it or lest the discovery of it should cause them to go to prison. And yet we're free to read, we're free to do so much that we like to do, and often these things become our handicaps. We don't treasure the things, they're so commonplace to us. We thank you for your word, we thank you for the men who wrote it, we thank you that the great holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We thank you that there have been times when just a word has sparked somebody's heart and turned them around and caused them to leave everything and follow thee. And they've become the great men and women in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ. You've left us record of some in your word, and then you remind us that they were men and women of like passions even as we are. They too had their problems, their headaches, their physical problems, social problems, domestic problems, national problems. And yet they fought their way through all these handicaps and they were able to serve thee to full capacity. One hymn writer says, They climbed the steep ascent to heaven through peril, toil and pain. O God to us may grace be given to follow in their train. We think of our privilege this Sabbath day. Then you're polluting it, it doesn't mean much to many. It's become a commonplace thing. Sunday is a fun day. We have our big sports programs. We cannot even afford to give thee one day out of the week. We're so selfish, we're so disobedient and rebellious. And yet your word says that we're to withdraw our foot from the Sabbath from doing our pleasure on thy holy day. This is your day, it's not ours. You allow us to live in it but not do as we like in it. You set boundaries to the things we do and to some this might seem like we're wearing a harness or this is legalism but to us it's obedience because you've told us to do it. And as we sing often, we trust and obey, there's no other way. We thank you for the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the hymn we sing so often expresses our desire today, Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him. How I proved him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, all for grace to trust him more. May we be those that you can trust. May we be those with whom you can share your burdens and to whom you can whisper your secrets and to whom you can trust with your treasures. We recognize again the brevity of time. We recognize again the dangerous hour in which we live. It would seem at times we're only a step from anarchy. It would seem a step only from, according to the reports of men, the shortages that might come upon us very speedily. The days of honeymoon may be over. The days like Joseph when the granaries were filled to the rafters. But afterwards there came the days of famine which were terrible and trying. We pray for all who suffer need today, the hungry and the afflicted, the persecuted, those who for righteousness sake are in prisons and institutions. We thank you again for revealing your Son. Thank you for the wonder of redemption. All this uttermost salvation is a fountain full and free, pure, exhaustless, ever flowing. And wondrous grace it reaches me. Grant, O God, that we shall not have hearts of stone but hearts of flesh, hearts that respond to the promptings of your Spirit, wills that are ready to be obedient to any call that you give to us. We thank again for your loving kindness. It is indeed better than life. We still say as the disciples say, to whom shall we go for thou hast the words of eternal life. Lift the veil, we pray, from the page today. Make quick in our hearts, quick in our spiritual pulses. Make us recognize again that we're debtors to thee. Make us realize we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, that to us the kingdom is open to be spoiled by faith and obedience, to claim the treasures that shall enrich us now in time and in eternity. We pray for every missionary, every Christian servant at home or abroad, those who go to the jails to visit today, those who visit the aged, those who go to the infirm, those who go to the hazardous places, the jungles, the deserts, the places where they have challenges we know little or nothing about. We're glad, Lord, that these precious people of their names are engraved on the palms of your hands. And you will not leave them or forsake them. You'll keep your trust because you said, Lord, I am with you always even to the end of the age. So bless this word this day we ask in Jesus' name. Book in chapter 9, I'm beginning to read at verse 28. And it came to pass, about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias, not knowing what he said. While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved son, hear him. And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. If you are really familiar with the scripture, you remember that this story is told by three evangelists, by Matthew and by Mark and by Luke. It introduces us to the final phase, the third and final phase in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each part of his ministry was introduced with glory and majesty. When he first came as a babe, you remember he had an angelic host, saying, not singing, but saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. That was the first phase of his life. The second was when he was introduced to his ministry. And as he was baptized in the Jordan, you remember that there was a cloud, and then there was the descent of the dove, and there again was a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved son. That was the second phase. This is the third phase. And again, I take it that there is a cloud of glory. It says that there is a cloud, and he enters through this archway, this cloud of glory, going down into the valley of the shadow of death. If I had been privileged to be the MC for this wonderful event, which was not only one of the most wonderful in the life of the Lord Jesus, but one of the most wonderful in the whole history of mankind, I certainly would have demonstrated it in a very different way. I would have at least made the world a stage. I would have put an angel on every star. I would not only have brought back from the dead Moses and Elias, I would have brought all the company that the Word of God speaks of, as you remember the man who was there in hell when he said that he saw in the bosom of Abraham, he saw the one that he would like to have shared his destiny with. I say again that this is one of the most momentous events. You know what I think? I trust that somehow God in eternity will give us a replay of this amazing event in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's so full of majesty. It's so full of glory. It doesn't seem to have had an immediate effect on the disciples as far as I can see. They do refer to it much later, both, at least two of them do. But I say it's an awesome thing that Jesus here has come to what I believe is his earthly coronation. You see, he has finished his ministry, he has ended as a perfect man just as he began as a perfect man. There's no flaw in his service. There's no deterioration in his fidelity to his Father. You remember in Hebrews it quotes from a psalm and it says in the volume of the book it is written of me, in the volume of the book it is written, Now there are some people, preachers, they have a right to their view who say that the reason that this spectacular display was given was to encourage the Lord Jesus Christ who is on the threshold of Gethsemane. I don't for a minute believe that. You see, in the councils of eternity Jesus decided he would come and do what the first Adam could not do. There's no way of knowing the immense distress that God had when he put a perfect man in a perfect environment there in the Garden of Eden and he shattered all the desires that God had for him. And I think one day we'll discover that Jesus said, Father let me go on earth, let me become incarnate, let me live the life in a greater, more difficult situation than even Adam had. And I believe that I can live there a perfect life of total obedience and yieldedness to thee. And he did it. And I say again, I believe that here on the Mount of Transfiguration this is his earthly coronation because he had lived as a perfect man. And then you have the resurrection which is his coronation for a perfect atonement that he made. Eventually we're going to have him come as a king which will be his coronation over all the nations of the earth because he's completed everything that was said of him and was prophesied of him. Again I say, if I had been doing this, this thing is done in a corner. This supreme event is done on a hillside somewhere with three men, Peter and James and John and three others that were there, Jesus and Moses and Elijah. The whole world should have seen it. Again I say, if I could have done it, I would have made the whole world a stage, I would have stopped time, I would have put an angel standing on every star, I would have called all the people who were in the bosom of Abraham, I would have called all the distinguishing... Why? Why? Why? Why do you find Moses there and Elijah? Why not Abraham? Why not David? Why wasn't Solomon called to say, to say, look, here is something a far greater glory than you ever had in your day. But we find there were Peter and James and John, just three. You could say there were three from earth, Peter, James and John. There were three from the heavenly country, Jesus, who'd been in the glory with the Father before the world was and Moses, who'd been called from that celestial glory and Elijah. Three from earth, three from heaven. And Peter, the spokesman, as usual, he says now, now look, why don't we stay here and build three tabernacles? You know, that three is very interesting. There were three from earth and there are three from heaven and he says let's build three tabernacles. You know, three is the number of divine perfection. Seven is the number of spiritual perfection. Ten is the number of ordinal perfection or the perfection of order. There are ten commandments. There's no way of increasing them. There's no way of detracting from them. So three is the number of spiritual perfection. Seven is the number, three is the number of divine perfection. Seven is the number of spiritual perfection. Ten is the number of ordinal perfection and twelve is the number of governmental perfection. In the book of the Revelation you have twelve thrones. You have twelve tribes. You have the city which is twelve hundred furlongs long. You have a hundred and forty-four thousand which are multiples of twelve. But that number three is very interesting. There are three persons in the Godhead. There are three attributes of God. He's omniscient, He's omnipresent and He's omnipotent. There are three expressions of the life of Jesus in the book of the Revelation. It says, He who is, not He who was, He eternally is. Not He who was and is and is to come. He who is, He who was and He who is to come. There are three great enemies of your life and mine. The world, the flesh and the devil. There are three areas of temptation. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. There are three dimensions in time. We speak of the past, the present and the future. There are three parts of the day. Morning and noon and night. And if you go on, you can find a whole host of threes like that. But they come up here very clearly to me because you've got three men from a celestial country, if you like and you have three men from earth. And this man requests that three tabernacles should be built. Now, this version I read to you is very interesting because he has additional words in this interpretation that we do not have in the other versions given by Matthew and given by Mark. In this version of Matthew's, it's recorded in the 17th chapter which obviously follows after the 16th chapter. Now, notice, will you, that twice the evangelists say after six days. Luke says after eight. It doesn't make any difference. He says about, about eight. But actually there were six or seven days which I think were the most distressing days in the life of the Lord Jesus. You see, Peter here is quite excited. He's suddenly seen something of the glory. Now, I say it didn't register very deeply. But I'll tell you how deeply it was because writing there in his epistle, in the second epistle in the first chapter, listen to how he describes it. Now, it didn't sink into his mind. If it had, he'd never have betrayed Jesus. I say here is the supreme disappointment in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ in that 16th chapter which we'll come to in a moment. But here in his second epistle in the first chapter he says this. We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And if I would give a title to this message this afternoon it will be this. The king in his beauty. He says we were eyewitnesses of his majesty 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. Now remember that this is Peter after he's gone through all his trials, his backsliding, his bitter periods of remorse, his anguish. He's seen the whole system collapse. He's seen Judas the man that he rubbed shoulders with sell his Lord for a mere pittance less than the price of a slave. He remembers with bitterness his own vows and how he failed God. And let's not be too hard on him. You see Peter didn't cotton on as we say when he saw those things originally. But I'll tell you what he's anchored here pretty deeply. He's saying listen I'm not only sure of all those things which I saw but because of that this and because of this that, that we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We have not followed cunningly devised fables and the King is coming in all his glory and one day the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. Now you get hold of that. I missed it earlier. You get hold of it. Again a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. This man has been refined he's been purified. His tears have been more bitter than gall. But now he's on sure ground. He says now I look back and I see that glory and the majesty. That's why I say I hope in eternity God will replay this whole event to us. Because you see it's become dusty with familiarity. I say again and I'm not rebuking parents but I say this. It's tragic to me that very often in Christian homes children have to put up with fairy tales and all the other stuff. Why don't we get these truths embedded in their minds and hearts? I read just the other day of a famous preacher who said he remembered the first awakening of God in his life when he was three years of age. I remember standing with the rugged old craggy faced marashal. I think we sell a book I don't know if we do. We used to have some copies of her book. She was the oldest daughter of the founder of the Salvation Army. And more than once on the platform I stood back to see that cheetah nose like a banana nearly and she was rugged and rough looking. But man the tears would spill down her cheeks. We were talking about being saved one day and she said well I had no dynamic revolutionary experience like the man on the Damascus road. I was five years of age when light dawned on my spirit. One of the greatest men in the Methodist church Dr. Moffat Daughtry said I had no flashes of lightning the seat didn't tremble under me the earth didn't quake but I slipped off my seat in a Methodist class meeting he said and with boyish bashfulness he puts it beautifully he says with boyish bashfulness I said the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear and at that moment he said although I was but a boy not even in my teens I was conscious that I had passed into a living relationship with the Lord and so the Lord does it again as he wills, where he wills, through whom he wills, through what he wills. There is no standardizing the miracle of the new birth. Jesus says the wind bloweth where it listeth. I hope some of you saw that show that's all it was the other night on the new birth what an abortive thing it was what a scornful thing at the end that some need something like this and for the Baptist minister for sooth it was tragic no mention of deep conviction no mention of the miracle the Holy Ghost no mention of the atonement you merely take a thing and you know God has a plan for your life nod your head say this prayer and you're in what a travesty my Jesus could have gone that way we wouldn't need the cross we wouldn't need anything but Peter here is saying I remember we were eye witnesses of his majesty listen to the way John puts it it has been said and I have reminded you more than once that John has been called the Plato of the New Testament one of the greatest Bible teachers that the world ever had according to Wilbur Smith was the old English preacher Dr. J. Campbell Morgan and Campbell Morgan says the first fourteen verses of the gospel of John are the most sublime things ever written and you remember that John says when within those verses almost or in the fourteenth verse he says the word was made flesh and dwelt among us well that's alright and then in parenthesis it says and we beheld his glory you see Peter calls it the glory the majesty this is not a king but the king of kings and Peter says we were with him on the mount we saw his glory and John says here we beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth so though maybe they were late in picking up what God wanted to communicate to them nevertheless God got through to them eventually before you throw your hymn book at them did you ever find yourself in the same boat did you ever discover why you heard something at one place and it didn't seem to go in and then maybe months after suddenly it came to life and you said oh I see it now now I understand now I know see that was God's mysterious way of storing you up in your mind until the day when you need that particular truth that he's been pleased to share with you again I say this sixteenth chapter the seventeenth chapter of Matthew is the one in which he tells the story the same story after six days I like this listen listen listen how it's put by this man he says after after six days Matthew 17 1 Jesus taketh Peter and James and John well that's very nice isn't it he taketh them he not only took them but verse 7 says he came and he touched them and the same verse says he said and they so he took them and he touched them and he talked with them now if you ever have an experience like that or I have there'll be some place where you remember you could be milking a cow or a goat or whatever it is or you could be looking after the hens or something and suddenly something dawns on your mind and you know you'll never forget that spot I could take you over many parts of the world or places in an airplane where suddenly when I was half asleep or drowsy or something suddenly something gripped my mind my heart just like that Jesus came and he took them well let's go back for a minute into that 7th 16th chapter what's the problem there you know it's always easy to have a lot of hindsight isn't it these men are suddenly precipitated they're on a mountain I don't find in any place where Jesus warned them that they were going or warned them what was going to happen it was dramatic it was sudden you and I read the whole thing we know the story right from beginning to end to them it was new they were treading every inch of ground maybe they'd never been up the mountain before with him but Jesus set his face to steadfastly go to Jerusalem now what happened in the 16th chapter well in the 16th chapter he began to unfold to them some things that were going to happen to him he had trouble with the Pharisees he'd been calling them a wicked and adulterous generation and then he had trouble with his disciples they did not understand him he says they didn't understand him and then suddenly at Caesarea Philippi Peter made one of the greatest confessions any man has ever made Jesus says who do these people say that I the son of man well some say you're John the Baptist risen from the dead some say that you're Elias alright John the Baptist risen from the dead and some say you're one of the prophets and some say you're a very tender man you're like Jeremiah well then he said let's forget the crowd who do you say that I am and Jesus comes up powerfully upon me Peter comes out with that amazing statement now the Christ the son of the living God and Jesus says you didn't say that of yourself my father revealed that to you by the spirit that was not your own explanation that was a revelation given to you and immediately after that Jesus says to him he starts talking to him in the same chapter verse 22 21 from that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must suffer and go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised again the third day then Peter took him and began to rebuke him I say reverently my lord my lord how in the world did you dare to do that Peter now will you notice on the mount of transfiguration he says oh let's stay here I like this oh I go for the glory bits I like this ecstasy I I I lord this is amazing I'm just I'm just staggered by it you see when you read the third version as I'll call it here given by Luke Luke adds words that the other men don't say Matthew and Luke don't Matthew and Mark don't say he says that in this situation these disciples fell asleep dear lord how in the world could they do it how could they do it this is a this is a something that never has never happened before it will never happen again and here they are in the private audience on the mount and they fell asleep now Peter says I like it up here I'm glad we're privileged to be here I I I feel very thrilled about it and you know what now we blame him for saying let's build three tabernacles but wait a minute do you notice he wasn't selfish he didn't say let me build one for thee lord and one for my friend here John and one for myself he didn't ask for anything for himself he said let's build one for Moses and one for Elijah and one for yourself he didn't say that when Jesus talked about the cross the cross be it far from thee he began to rebuke his master it said and Jesus says to him get thee behind me Satan now come on let me hit the nail on the head again do you realize at this point these disciples had seen Jesus raise people from the dead it's a mystery I don't fully understand it you see there's Peter and James and John why those three why those three well if you ask that question you must ask the other question why Moses and Elias why those two he took with him Peter and James and John he took with him Peter and James and John when he went into the house of Jairus and raised his daughter from the dead he took with him Peter and James and John when he went into the garden of Gethsemane they're always with him in the presence of death why Peter James and John why Moses and Elias well Moses was the greatest law giver the world ever had and then the nation back slid and then you have Elijah maybe the greatest prophet in one sense he called the nation back to that revelation that God had given to them that untroubled revelation that permanent thing that in no way can be altered by any government the ten basic laws perfect laws the ten commandments no nation no nation can live if it denies those laws and no nation can fail if it keeps them it can't fail to have God's blessing it can't fail to keep together as a nation I don't say it will be saved by keeping the ten commandments but they're basic to human salvation natural salvation that Peter James and John are with him in the presence of death in the house of Jairus his daughter now in the house of Jairus his daughter he spoke and he had command over death he was a master over it there on the mount of transfiguration they spoke of his decease the Greek doesn't say decease it says exit which is the word that is used by Saint Luke his exit pardon me his exodus which is far greater than his decease and he showed them that he was the Lord he had power instead of saying let's build three tabernacles I wonder if Peter didn't burn out and say hey are you getting this are you getting this brethren have you noticed what he's doing he's brought these three men from the dead he must be the son of God who else could do that here is Moses the great law giver now listen they had been in the presence of death and Jesus raised Jairus his daughter they had seen Jesus take those lumps of bread that the boy had and feed a multitude so they had a whole string of miracles they had this supernatural revelation on the mountain they had a supernatural voice that spake to them and yet they back slid and deserted him isn't that incredible I find it so I feel I could weep for them I feel only I know that Peter and shake him and say how in the world could he do it you were with him on the mountain in all his glory you were there and when he went into a hall they were all sobbing and weeping and he says daughter rise and she jumped up and afterwards they are going to see the miracle of him raising Lazarus from the dead and they see a whole string of supernatural events and yet Peter sold his lord well haven't we all done that good night you and I have more than Peter and we have the total revelation they didn't have the total revelation as we have it now why was Moses on the mountain because he was a leader why was Elijah on the mountain because he was a leader why was Peter on the mountain because he was a leader why was James on the mountain because he was a leader why was John on the mountain because he was a leader it was Moses who led the children of Israel out of that awful period of bondage and he stands there on the mountain of glory I think he must have felt a bit strange because he'd never been in that country, he got to the edge of it you remember. We sing a hymn sometimes, could we but climb where Moses stood and view the landscape o'er. Not Jordan's stream nor death cold flood could fight us from the shore. It's new ground. It wasn't new ground to Elijah, he possibly had trodden every inch of the way. But he was a leader too. He led the people after their sin and the rebellion, he led them to God. Peter was the leader, you remember on the day of Pentecost he blazed forth and declared that this is the son of God, this is the Lord of glory whom ye crucified. So Peter is the leader. James was a leader because he was the first martyr of all the apostles. And John is a leader by the revelation he gives us in his profound epistle and then he exposes the whole of eternity to us in the book of the revelation. And so here they are on the mount of blessing, Peter and James and John. Say, why does God select some people like that and others he doesn't select? I mean after all if Peter and James and John were in the exciting experience of raising the daughter from the dead, shouldn't Jesus have said, well you've had your ration now you know I've got nine other disciples and I can't take you in because if I do there's going to be, they're going to be upset. And after the other three had been on the mount of transfiguration he could have said, well now you three can't come with me into the garden of Gethsemane because you see you've already had your share and you had your share in Jairus' house and so I'll have to turn this around. He doesn't do that. He took Peter and James and John into the house of Jairus, he took Peter and James and John on the mount of transfiguration and Peter and James and John were with him when he was down there in the garden of Gethsemane. I don't know that anybody knows the principle of divine selection. Nobody knows. I've heard people say you know if that man you see he's the head of a big corporation as a matter of fact it's a multi-billion dollar corporation. If that man really, really would give all that up and become a minister he may be the most brilliant preacher we have in nothing of the kind. God doesn't go selecting men like that. If he did he'd have gone to the Sanhedrin instead of looking after a bunch of smelly fishermen that were on the beach. He'd have gone to the universities that there were about at the time instead of going to Matthew sitting at the receipt of custom. You see there are ways in which God in his infinite wisdom selects men and he selects women here and there. But I'll tell you what there are times too when we hinder ourselves from getting into a secret and closer place with God than we've been before. I read a story that I've read many times, you have, in the gospel as Matthew records in the twenty-fifth chapter and I read from verse five Matthew twenty-five and verse five. While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh go ye, that was said to all of them. They all slumbered, they all slept, they all were told to go, they all heard the voice. Verse seven, end of verse six, go ye out, that's to all of them, go ye out to meet him. Verse seven, then all these virgins arose. In the same verse they all trimmed their lamps, so they all had lamps and they all trimmed them. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out. The revised versions, most of the versions do not admit that. Why do you trim a lamp if it's gone out? No, no, no. The authorised and the other versions say our lamps are going out. Now will you notice they were all virgins, they were all asleep, they all heard the voice, they all were told to go and they went, they all trimmed their lamps, but five of them got in and the other five did not get in, why? Because their lamps were not trimmed. Well the usual interpretation is the oil there is, it is true that oil is a consistent type of the Holy Spirit in the word of God and they were short of oil. That may be true to some degree, but I'll put the accent somewhere else because it came to me afresh this week. What did they do? They trimmed their lamps. Now I remember going to Martha's home in Ireland, a farm away on a hill, the first time we went and maybe a few times we took a lamp upstairs, we'd take a lamp and the wicks, I didn't know how to do it. I would just strike a match and light the thing and you know leave the wick up and put the globe on and the light would come up the chimney. I've been an awful mason, I had to learn how to trim a lamp, how to trim the wick, get that crust of it, how to see fresh oil was in it, how to see the chimney around it, the glass chimney was clean and so forth and so on. And it is essential certainly to have oil in your lamp. But five of the disciples said, or five of these people here said, our lamps are going out. Well what is the lamp? Never mind the oil, what is the lamp? Well thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And very often we stumble and stagger for the simple reason we don't know the word of God. We haven't trimmed it, we haven't read it, we haven't assimilated it. Now in the Christian life there are handicaps. I guess we've all discovered that sooner or later haven't we? There are impediments, there are roadblocks, they're not evenly spaced, they're not even labeled for us, they don't come to us all in the same quantities. Some people get a lot and some hardly get any. I don't know why, that's according to his eternal wisdom. And sometimes you see on the road of life we do three things. We get into other people's way which is bad, we get into our own way which is bad, and we get into God's way which is worse, but if you do the whole three you're in a mess. We get in our own way, we fall, my mother used to tell me sometimes when I was younger and clumsy, you fall over your own feet then. I get up out of a chair and I go sprawling and she'd say you're big feet, you fall over your own feet. But again I say on this road, this Christian road we're treading, there are roadblocks, there are impediments, there are difficulties, they're not evenly spaced. If you could say well of course I've had one trouble, now of course you never get another one till six months after this one, you may get one six hours after, if they were labeled. All we know is, as I said earlier, that these things in three, the world, the flesh and the devil are against us. And the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, they're combating against us. And yet again we have the promise of God that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Five are wise. They had their lamps trimmed, they had their oil, they were walking in all the light that God had given them, that's what I take the parable to mean, and the others had been disobedient, they'd neglected reading the word, assimilating the word. That's why I keep saying of children particularly, get the word into them. Because it's going to come up years after, they may forget many things but the Spirit of God will work on that word which is hidden in the lives of those children, it's seed which is there. Maybe I've referred to this before but I remember talking with Duncan Campbell and asking well, what is the secret of revival in the Hebrides? They had repeated the miracles of revival there. And then one day as we were talking, just casually he said this, you know brother in his broad scotch, every hoosh you go into there out in the Hebrides, in the outer Hebrides. Every morning the father brings the Bible, the dishes are taken off the table, and before the children go to school he reads a psalm, a psalm. And he prays. And every night the dishes are taken off the table and they're put on the kitchen sink and before they're washed, father takes the Bible and he reads the word. Now he said the amazing thing is amongst those people that hardly any of them are consciously born again but they will not break the Sabbath. They keep the Ten Commandments rigidly and they observe the word of God. So I said you've given me the secret of revival. How? Well because those children from this height, they've had to learn the catechism, they've had to learn the scriptures. Side two. He maybe has washed through with the rain, it's got into a crevice there on a rock and it's suddenly become fertile and there we've got a beautiful... And you know many times I've thought of that, some seed is sown in the darkness, some seed is sown by, by what? Well I don't know, I find things, we find things in our garden we didn't plant. You find a lot of things. You sometimes wish your fruit would grow as quickly as your weeds. What we have to do is kill the plants and grow weeds but anyhow the weeds make it. And we had some, last year we had some nice big watermelons grow at the back of the house. We didn't plant them there. Tomatoes have sprung up here, we didn't plant them. But by the same token there are seeds which are sown, sowing in the noon time, sowing in the darkness, sowing in the light. The hymn says we shall come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves. The seeds are sown and they bring forth a harvest for the glory of God. All right, I say there are these impediments in our lives. The three great, I think the three great sources of obstruction in our lives are these three simple and profound things, self-will, self-effort and self-glory. And when you master that you've got most of the things licked. That self-will, the dominant will of man that so often wants to know the reason why instead of obedience, self-will against God's will, self-glory, we'll see. I'm quite sure that God would have given some men great ministries but for the fact that when they had a little they blew it up and exalted it and boasted about it till God says I can't trust you. Now God saw something in Peter, James and John, they were going to be martyrs. We're told that John was boiled in oil eventually. Peter was crucified upside down. James was the first of the martyrs amongst the apostles. They had something, they were not faultless, but they had a heart for God and he trusted them with revelation, he trusted them with a vision of his glory and of his majesty. Look for a minute at the version that's given to us by St. Luke. He says in Luke chapter 9, it came to pass about eight days after these sayings he took Peter and John and James and he went up into a mountain to pray. Isn't it rather amazing that Matthew and Luke do not mention he went into a mountain to pray. Look I can't prove this, you can't disprove it, maybe they'd been with him before, maybe they hadn't. You know I'm simply enough to believe that every time that Jesus got in communion with his father he was transfigured every night. The emphasis in this story as far as I'm concerned is this. He went up into a mountain to pray and as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered, his raiment was white and glistening and behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elias who appeared in glory and spake of his decease which he should accomplish in Jerusalem. Now the other two evangelists stressed it a little different. They said he went up into a mountain and he was transfigured before them. Now again I do not believe that he needed this great revelation to encourage him and strengthen him to go down into the valley of humiliation. Again when he was in the Jordan, you remember it says there that as he came up out of the Jordan there was a voice that spake, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. That's the first time we hear that voice. Then when you read in this version again, each of the versions in the fifth verse of the seventeenth chapter of Matthew, while he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him. Now the saying is that the voice was there to encourage Jesus. The voice was heard when he came up out of the water. The voice is heard here on the Mount of Transfiguration. The voice is heard again in the twelfth chapter of John verse twenty-eight. He's been talking about losing your life for Christ's sake. He's talking about the, if you like it that way, the cost of discipleship. And he has said in verse twenty-four of this twelfth chapter, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die to thydus alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. Verse twenty-five, he that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. And verse twenty-seven he says now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour, but for this cause came I into the world. Now here is confession, Father glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying I have glorified it and will glorify it. Here he's got another three. The voice spoke to him when he was down there coming up out of Jordan. The voice from heaven, this is my beloved son confirming it. Here is the voice on the mount of transfiguration. Here is the voice again. Father glorify thy son. Then there came a voice from heaven saying I have glorified it and will glorify it. Verse twenty-nine, the people therefore that stood by and heard it said, it sounded, others said, an angel spoke. Then Jesus said, now listen, Jesus said this voice came not because of me but for your sake. He didn't need that voice. He was wed into the will of the Father when he stepped out of the ivory palaces. The only person in history who came with the intention of dying. He didn't need the voice, they needed the voice. They heard the voice from the mountain, they hear the voice again. And Luke says, he went up into a mountain to pray. I can't understand it, I'll tell you, you may think I'm dumb. I do not understand how, how, how these men on the mount of transfiguration fell asleep. I don't know. I don't understand how these three-choice men, they should have scratched their heads, or knocked their heads and said, well, well, what in God's name is happening to us? He never brings the other nine, he brings us each time. We're always in the presence of death. They were going to die terrible death. He's preparing them for that which will come. Now listen, listen, please, please don't do like that. I get letters from people, I had a vision this weekend, I have a sister who has visions and I, well have them, have them, bless you, keep them. I don't say they're wrong, but you can't build doctrine on visions. You can't guide my life by your visions. Now look, if you're going to have an excellent vision and glory and majesty until you're dumbfounded and you fall prostrate at his feet, well remember all it is, is this, that if you share the glory and the majesty, you'll share Gethsemane with him. That's the only thing that's justified in it. He didn't take the others in to Gethsemane, why? Because he had never had all the tribulations and trials with Peter and James and John, he'd had to confirm them and reconfirm them. They'd seen miracles, they'd seen signs, they'd seen wonders. They'd been with him on the holy mountain, finally they're taken there into the place of Gethsemane to hear the greatest man that ever lived pray the greatest prayer ever prayed. Maybe I've too much imagination, maybe I haven't enough. I think all the angels must have been peeping over the edge of glory and saying, my Lord, my Lord. Is that the little babe we brought down into the womb of the virgin? Is that the baby that we escorted from eternity? Is this the one we saw and we stood back in amazement when his garments were glistening? It wasn't the spotlight from heaven, it was his holiness and his purity, his moral excellence, his spiritual strength that shone through his flesh. And I like the word that's used, it's a special word used here by this man. He says his raiment was white and glistering. Do you know what the context of that is? It flashed like lightning flashes. Maybe this was, maybe they were not so conscious with it, with the mighty revelation. I'd like to have heard Jesus pray. I say again, I do hope that one of the joys in eternity will be to see some of these things reenacted. I'd like to see a full revelation of this on the Mount of Transfiguration. I'd like God to show us something because we'll be able to take it then, we couldn't take it now. This is why I screened it off. I'd like to see something of what it cost him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yeah, God selects whom he will. We had a little man in the city of Leeds, the legacy of his life, a little seed that grew to a tree and grew branches. If you went to Leeds, my native city, in England, Yorkshire, England, you'll find a church thriving there today. I remember when it was a backstreet church. It was called Beth-shan, and when my dad and mum wanted a lift instead of the dry old church we were going to, I'd hear my mother say, Walter, what about going to Beth-shan Sunday? All right, Lucy. Oh, I'd pick my ears up because they used to sing at Beth-shan. Yeah, they clapped their hands too, and one or two of them had, well, I know the Salvation Army, when I went to the Salvation Army, I didn't know where in the world I was. They had that many trumpets, and everybody had a tambourine. You talk about being up to date, good night, we're 50 years behind. I went to the Salvation Army, they stood up and rattled those tambourines, and they blew the trumpets, and they got glory, and they marched round the place and sang the songs and sang. None of us thought a thing about it. Everybody didn't go, but I'd like to see, I didn't go, but I'd like to see those, particularly those with one leg, used to hop round, couldn't catch up with the others, and their arse fell over the pews. It was great. But this little man in England, there in our native city, got a burden for lost men, and he pastored this church, though he wasn't an educated man in any way, a Bible school man. You know that church blossomed until they took over an empty Methodist church, and we used to go there sometimes. And then George Jeffreys came in 1929, 7 I think, and had one of the most amazing crusades ever held in Britain. Over 3,000 people were saved in just over two weeks. They brought people that were as twisted as pretzels and laid them at his feet, and he was a gentleman, a distinguished man. I remember he said of one man, the man came to our house afterwards, the side of his body from his ankle here, up this side, it was just as though you coated it with red leather, because he always slid on the floor and pulled himself with the furniture to the door, so he could write out betting slips and send them to the bookmakers. He was a drunkard and a blasphemer, he was a filthy character, filthy in body, filthy in mind, filthy in action. They carried him in and laid him at the feet of George Jeffreys as the meeting closed. George just bent and said in his deep Welsh voice, my brother, you have some greater needs than this. You need to be born again, and he stood there and explained what salvation was. The man broke down and wept and cried, and he said, you take Christ as your saviour for your sins, whether you're healed or not, yes sir, that's what I need most. He began to weep and wave his hands. George Jeffreys said, just like that, rise and walk. That lump of jelly on the floor stood up as straight as six o'clock, and you know what those state English people did, they threw their hats in the air, and their hymn books in the air, and their Bibles in the air, and they shouted and magnified the Lord. Next night you couldn't get anywhere near the church, you couldn't get in it, you couldn't get near it, never mind in it. The glory of God in camp. But you see, between the manifest power of God and the man who had the backstreet mission, that little man, brother Jewett, his name was, J E W I T T, Jewett. You know he had three physical breakdowns, not mental. He fasted so long, he travelled in prayer for days. He'd stay in his room on his face and agonize, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die to bide us alone, that's the difficulty, isn't it? We all want to see results immediately. Lord please do it, but do it yesterday, and if not, do it today at least, don't keep me waiting one day. All right, he went, they went up in the mountain to pray, and the two men appeared with him, Moses and Elias. Well, we know about Elijah, he never did die, it must have sounded funny to hear a sermon on death. What about Moses? Well, I guess he died. It's the only time I read of God presided over the funeral of a man. My, I want to see a replay of that. I think there were a million angels around. You know, they were singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The first time it was ever sung, it's going to be sung in eternity, the book of Revelation says. And here is this great man, this man who'd gone through a thousand tribulations, this man who stood up and when God says, well look, I'm going to destroy them, he says, kill me! Isn't it easy to put your hand on your heart and sing, my country tis of thee. Come on, would you say for the church of Jesus Christ, Jesus, look, I don't care if you let me live just one more week with the anointing of God on my spirit, kill me if need be! I think the time has come to change a few phrases around, and instead of saying, give me liberty or give me death, give me revival or give me death. Wasn't it Nathan Hale who regretted he'd only got one life to give for his nation? What if you and I say, Lord, I'm sorry, I've only one life, here it is! Unconditionally do as you like with me! And Moses had bombed at once, and then one day he got mad, and you remember for thirty seconds he got mad and God said, you're going to be penalized, you're not going to, go look in the land, go have a look at it. Well he got in the land eventually, he got in the land here, it was a bit late, a couple of thousand years after nearly, or a thousand or more, and here he is on the mount, in the presence of the Son of God. It was going down to the most ignominious death that any man ever had, the death of a malefactor. His Elijah doesn't know anything about this thing at all, but it says they spoke of him of his death, or his decease, which, notice, he should accomplish. Nobody's going to take his life. Some stupid fellow with a bit of yellow rag round him, or purple rag and a bit of gold on his head says, listen, you better answer me correctly, because I'll take your life from you. And Jesus says, sorry, nobody can do that. Demons can't do it, men can't do it, no man can take it. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. And they spoke of him of his exodus. Now that word must have meant an awful lot to Moses, eh? Moses remembered when he could hear the pounding of the chariots coming after him, and the all those spears, and all those swords, and they were going to devour the children of Israel. And they got almost up to them, and God pulled the plug, and drowned a whole bunch of them. But he spake of his exodus, which he should accomplish. The accomplishment of Moses was he brought, we don't know, some say as many as five million people out of Egypt. And he brought them out into a land, or they should have gone, but they didn't make it. A land of promise, a land of glory. And Jesus Christ is a super Moses, if you like, a greater than Moses is here. He's going to bring us out of bondage, and sorrow, and night, and the fear, and dominion of sin. He's going to lead captivity captive. He's going to give gifts unto men, and the church today is so paralyzed. We can't throw stones at these men, how can we? As I say, I marvel that they were so slow to cut none. But at least, eventually, Peter does say, we saw him in his majesty. And John did say, the glory which we had with the father before the world was. Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep. You know, and I've told you this, I found the same thing here in the book of Daniel. Daniel says, I heard a man's voice between the banks of Uli, which called and said, Gabriel, listen to this, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face. And he said unto me, understand, O son of man, for the time of the end shall be the vision. Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face to the ground. Isn't that amazing? And in the tenth chapter of Daniel it says, in those days Daniel was mourning three weeks, he ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh or wine to his mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And then he has a vision. He lifted up his eyes, verse 5, and looked. Behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphrates. His body was like beryl, his face was the appearance of lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire, his arms and feet in colour like polished brass, and the voice of this word was the voice of the multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision. Verse 8, therefore, was I alone left in this great vision. Verse 9, yet heard I the voice of his words. And when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, on my face and my face toward the ground. So you have it there twice, and immediately that amazing statement, O Daniel beloved. But what about it? Well just think, right now I think, and I include myself obviously in this, that the church of God right now is asleep. We have no idea of the perils that are ahead of us. I got a letter from one of the finest Christian men I know in this country. Years ago he was prosperous, came to our meetings, God dealt with him. And under his own volition, he cut down his business and he's lived, you know, the good book says, having food and clothing, be content, that's about all he's had. But he's one of the greatest Bible students I know, he sent me a letter this week. And he said, Brother Len, I don't know. I can't think of any person in our circle who is having a deep walk with God, who isn't in serious trouble. The pressure of the enemy is on so many people at this time in every direction. Why? Well, Jesus did say to this same man Peter, when you get down the road, Satan's going to have an awful lot of battering to do on you. But I'll tell you what, don't worry, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. Sure he fell asleep, sure I think the Church of God is sleeping right now in this hour in which we are. But it says, notice this as we finish. You notice in these conversations that Peter and John never said anything to the men that came from the other world. I think I'd have been wanting to ask them some questions, they never said a word to them. And Moses and Elias never said anything to these men. And then suddenly when the glory which had enveloped them, it disappeared. And what happened? Well, they woke up. They were dumbfounded. But when the glory disappeared, they saw no man save Jesus only. No time, we don't need the law and the prophets. They had a message, sure enough, God hasn't altered his conditions. But you see, it says, the voice came from heaven. What did the voice say? Don't be discouraged, lift up your heads, everything's alright. No. The voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, hear him. You know that's our great need in this hour, isn't it? We need to hear him, what is he saying? Oh, there are voices you can set your radio in the morning, you'll hear twenty different interpretations of the second coming, the rapture, pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation, no-tribulation. And before you go much further, somebody will be on about Antichrist, who he is, where he's living now in the Middle East. Somebody will come up about the woman that's giving birth to a man-child. It happens to be our denomination, that man-child. No, America is the man-child. I got a marvelous letter a few weeks ago from a man, who's absolutely sure the man-child is America. Brother, how far can he get out? Now, he can have his vision, his television, any other vision he wants, but don't ask me to build a doctrine on his vision. They saw no man. Man, that's great when you see no man. Save Jesus only. When they were willing to listen, and the voice came out of the cloud, the same voice that they'd heard before, saying, this is my beloved son, hear him. And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone, and they kept it close. You know, there's a great difference between the folk who get their visions so often and these people. You know what Jesus said? Now look, Peter, James and John, I know you're overwhelmed. I know you've been in another world. They had in more senses than one. I know this has shocked your nervous system, every part about you, but listen. You don't say a word about it. You say nothing. I've heard people say, you see, the Lord wouldn't let them say a word. He didn't say that. He said, say nothing until I'm risen from the dead. I've finished with, look, three men on the mountain. I would say, to use, if I could sanctify common language, I would say, this was the greatest show on earth. If I could use the language in another way, I'd say, this was a private showing to his disciples. It was very beautiful. But Jesus said, you say nothing about it. Until after the resurrection. Oh, sure, I started off extravagantly saying, I'd like to make the world a stage and put an angel on every star and call all who are dead to witness this thing. I wish the Lord had done it at the Feast of Tabernacles when there were a million Jews there. But you see, he doesn't want to capture people with magic. We would, but he doesn't. He didn't appear to anybody else after the resurrection. Only to his disciples. I've often wondered when I've seen a cloud in this beautiful Texas sky. Sometimes just one cloud. I wishfully said in my heart, Lord, I wish you'd come and stand on that cloud just for ten minutes so everybody could see you. You know what? They'd still say it was fake photography. They wouldn't believe Jesus said. The man said, if somebody rose from the dead, no, no, no, no, they won't hear Moses and the prophets. They won't believe. You know, I feel a little bit cheated that I didn't get on to those marvelous things. I'd like to have been on the mountain that day. If I had my choice, I'd rather have gone to Gethsemane to really learn to pray. I'd like to have been with him when the devil descended. That must have been exciting and wonderful. They were with him on the mountain. But the cloud of glory disappeared. I believe that was the cloud that hung over the tabernacle of all. The cloud of his majesty. I believe it was a cloud that came into the temple. Jesus loves clouds. He went up on the cloud. He's coming on the cloud. But do you know what? I don't feel sorry for myself at all. It was great to be in those marvelous revelations. Wonderful to be on that mountain with him in the transfiguration. But you know it was only a temporal transfiguration. And one day now you and I are going to see him eternally transfigured with a glory beyond all our comprehension. Is Raymond glistening, flashing with lightning? No, we're going to see his hair and his head as white as snow. His feet like burnished brass. His face like the sun in its strength. Do you wonder Matthew Bridges says crown him with many crowns. I like that. There are not many hymns we could sing. I get wearious from our hymns. We don't choose enough. We should speak up more often. Let's learn some. Good night. We're not so dumb. We can't learn some hymns. There are some beautiful, there are 500 hymns in the book. But you know I think I could sing crown him with many crowns every week and not get tired of it. The lamb upon his throne. Hark how the heavenly anthem drowns all music. Awake my soul and sing. I don't want to be asleep. The thing was half over before they woke up. Did you ever see a lady wearing a coat with very smooth little patches that are just about 6 inches by about 3. They're fashionable in England because we've lots of moles. It's a mole skin coat. And moles are little pests. You know they go under the ground. You've seen them. We've got some here. Messed up little thing. Do you know why they're different from other animals? Because their eyes don't open until they're dead. That's true. Of all sinners it's true I think of many saints. You know I don't mind being the least of saints. I was going to say I wouldn't mind if I wasn't listed with the saints. Well I would. But I don't want to be the other bunch there's only two kinds. I don't want to be the least I don't mind being the least of saints. You can put me at the bottom of a thousand billion people wouldn't worry me a hell of being. I don't mind being the least of saints but I'll tell you what I don't want to be the dumbest of saints either. I want to see and I want to know and I want to hear and I want to understand and when he reveals his glory I want to get up and go. Because the things he's going to talk to us he'll not share with anybody else. He took Peter and he took James and he took John. And I believe if you trim your lamp and I trim my lamp that if the other virgins get left out and they were virgins not prostitutes and they all slumbered and they all slept and they all heard the voice and they all had a lamp and they all trimmed the lamp but only five made it. 50% Well the Lord save us from dragging our feet spiritually. Let's be good soldiers of Jesus Christ.