Calgary Conference: 1989, Is Christ Our Object (17:1)
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
My brother has spoken mostly to those who are unbelievers that they might receive the Lord, and I trust the Lord will answer and blessing. I just like to say a few words for those of us who are the Lords. Particularly you'll turn to Matthew chapter 17. I'd like to read this little story about the. What we call the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here, if thou wilt, let us make here 3 tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 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. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise and be not afraid. When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only, and as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes, that Elias must first come? Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall come first come and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. Minimal and when they were come to the. There came to him a certain man kneeling down to him, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, for oftentimes he falleth into the fire, and OFT into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer You bring him hit her to me. Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to Yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Albeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Well, in the end of the chapter before the Lord Jesus has spoken about discipleship, He was preparing the disciples for the fact that the Christian pathway would not be easy, that it would cost them something. And he said, He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world keepeth, shall keep it unto life eternal. He was preparing them that Christianity is not an easy path, but a difficult one. But what is it, brethren, that will sustain us in the difficulties of. In life, what is it that will enable us to meet the problems that constantly confront us as believers? Wasn't it lovely to see the Lord Jesus taking these disciples up onto the Mount of Transfiguration, just to have a view of himself, the glorified? 1 And I think this is most precious. The Lord knows what we need to sustain us in days like this. Our brother has been bringing before us how very difficult things are and especially. For our dear young people and. We know that we can't handle these things in our own wisdom or strength, but isn't wonderful when the Lord gives us a view, so to speak of Himself and to know that He is the one who we're soon going to see face to face. But He's also the one who is sufficient for the difficulties that we have to meet in the pathway of life. So he takes them up and I was thinking of it, brethren, perhaps in connection with these three days that we have been enjoying together, perhaps we could say the Lord has been taking us to the mountain. Apart now, that is, we've been away from the world. Young people have been away from the influences of school. They've been away from the influences of the world as a system. Those who are occupied in business are very happy to have three days just to spend with those who love the Lord and just.
Happy fellowship and conversations, and I'm sure we feel sometimes like as if we had been on the mountaintop too. And so we see here, this was perhaps the most wonderful experience of their whole life with the Lord, if we can picture it in our own minds seeing the Lord transfigured before them. And I trust our hearts have had a view of what it's going to be. When we look into the very face of our precious Savior to see Him there. This morning He was in the midst, but we know that it was only by faith that we could behold Him. But it's not always going to be that way. Faith is going to be changed to sight. We're going to see Him. The anticipation of this fills our hearts, in a certain sense, with a vision of glory even now. And so His disciples were still in the midst of a nation that was rejecting Him, but they were given a view of Himself. And brethren, this is what I feel the Lord has granted to us in some measure as. We have been occupied with the Lord Jesus. We're still here in a world full of troubles and sorrows, but he has given us. He's taken us, as it were, up to the mountaintop. I've rather enjoyed In the 42nd Psalm, the psalmist is saying, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, Why art thou? Why art thou disturbed within me? And then he says, I will remember thee in the land of Jordan. On Mount Hermon. And in the hill Mizar, you know, those speak of the ups and downs of life when it says Mount Hermon, that was the highest mountain in the whole of the land of Israel when it spoke to the Jordan. That's the river of death right down at the bottom and flowed into the Dead Sea. And if you look in the margin, you'll see the hill Mizar is the little hills. And so it represents these ups and downs that we have. And as you read that chapter, you see. That he is occupied with all these things, unable to go even to the House of God, because the enemy has taken possession and he's really sad. And what made it harder still? The enemy was saying, Where is thy God? Perhaps the enemy's been whispering in your tear. If the Lord cares for me, why doesn't he change some of these situations? Why doesn't he remove these difficulties? And the enemy kept whispering that, and he was really. Cast down. But then he says, I'll praise him for the help of his countenance. But before the Psalm closes, he thinks about him again, and he says, He's the help of my countenance and my God. He's looked at him and his face has been brightened. Well, the disciples had an experience like this. It was amazing to them. However, even on the mount they intended to. They tended to think about man, perhaps great men, people from whom we have received blessing. We look back over our Christian lives and we think of people who've really been a blessing in our lives. It mean a great deal to us, but none compare with the Lord Jesus. The Lord has to sometimes remove those props on which we lean. He said to Joshua after Moses died. Moses, my servant is dead now. Therefore arise and sometimes the Lord removes those props. Perhaps you say their word, brothers and sisters that were a help to me, but the Lord has taken them home and I feel sort of bereft. Well, the Lord made Moses and Elias disappear and what for? So they would see no man anymore save Jesus. Only have you say some brother or sister that I look to is really disappointed me, but the Lord will never he will never disappoint you. He's the same yesterday and today and forever. So I say again, the Lord opened their eyes and isn't it lovely what it says here? And Jesus came and touched them. I like that word. Jesus came and touched them. That's what He wants to do to you and me. He wants to touch us. And when he touched them, they opened their eyes just to see him. Oh, what a wonderful. Occasion this was well, you might say, oh, that's going to be. Such a wonderful turnabout in their lives. They'll be able from that point on, to handle all the difficulties that rise. All brethren, How often we find that it's after an occasion like this that the enemy seems to come. Full strength. Full strength. He doesn't want to see us. Maybe they're brothers and sisters here. Who are saying I want to follow the Lord more closely? One of the most serious tests came in my life just after I'd been to a conference. And you know what often happens that way? The enemy comes full strength. That's what happened. They came down from the mountain and I can just imagine how their hearts were full as they talked to one another. What a grand and wonderful experience they had had seeing the Lord and their faces no doubt reflecting in some measure having been with Him.
But when they got down to the mount, why it tells us here? That in the 14th verse, and when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying. Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and sore vex, for oftentimes he falleth into the fire and OFT into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Yes, they couldn't handle a situation. And you know, we find that we're so dependent on the Lord, and if we think that a wonderful experience is going to give us strength. No, dear brethren, it's. Constant dependence upon the Lord. It's keeping our eyes on Him and on Him alone. And so tells us in the 16th Psalm, Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. This must have been terribly humbling to listen to this man saying to the Lord Jesus, thy disciples couldn't help me, Thy disciples couldn't help me. And don't we feel just that way? We can't seem to handle the situation that's confronting us, perhaps in our business, perhaps in our family, perhaps even in the assembly. Yes, we feel we can't. And we can't, brethren, we can't do it in our own strength. But isn't it wonderful the Lord came in spite of the fact that they couldn't do it? The Lord was so gracious. Doesn't He often come in when we're not even perhaps conscious of how weak we are, But He comes in, as our brother was saying, how wonderfully the Lord came in, in his life in so many situations. And haven't we failed? Just absolutely helpless in some situations? And then the Lord came in and he undertook for us, and the Lord undertook about this boy. This may be a family situation too, like it was here. This man was concerned about his boy. And this boy had been led captive, as it were, by Satan, LED captive at his will. And so maybe a family situation. Maybe there's some father, mother here and you just feel I can't handle. The situation that's arising in our home. Well, the Lord was able, how beautiful he cast him out. But we see then the disciples became exercised and it says they came to the Lord Jesus. Notice what it says. In the 19th verse, then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief. Yes, we have a lot of confidence in ourselves, don't we? We may have confidence in Moses and Elias, so to speak, some other person that we think we can lean upon that will be able to help us. And the Lord says, because of your unbelief, with whom do we need to have confidence? The psalmist said I've seen an end of all perfection, and you know, if there's some brother that you're leaning on, the Lord may let you see that you can't lean on him. But we can always safely lean upon the Lord. Trust ye in the Lord forever. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And the Lord told him that if they had faith like a grain of mustard seed, they could remove a mountain. I have to confess that I have less than a grain of mustard seed because I know there are mountains that I haven't removed yet. But I know the Lord is able. But he does let us. Feel how weak we are. But oh brethren, let us trust Him. Let us trust Him, casting all your care upon Him, for he cares for you. We need to confess. I've often noticed. I don't know of any case where anybody in the Bible ever boasted about his faith. Because I think the more we're in the presence of the Lord, we realize that what my father used to often say were unbelieving believers. We believed to the salvation of our souls. But we find ourselves in situations so weak. But it doesn't change the Lord. He's the same. He answered the prayer when they were praying for Peter, even though there wasn't enough faith to believe, when he came to the door, he still answered. Oh how good He is. So wonderful to meet us in our need. But then there's a little word that the Lord gave to them.
And he says. Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. And I believe this is important for us too. We tend to give up and feel, well, it's no use, But I believe the Lord encourages us in prayer. He says with prayer and supplication, with Thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. Let's keep on. We're going to need it, and we're going to need. More and more. The armor of prayer as we sometimes sing and then what is fasting? Well, some people think of it in connection with doing without food. And there have been occasions, I suppose, when something has pressed upon a person so much that he said it burdens me so much I don't even feel like eating. And so he fasts he he really burdened about a situation. There are situations that press on our souls just like that, but there I believe that fasting has a much wider. Application than just food. There may be things in our lives that we think we can't part with, things that we say. I just couldn't give that up. But that very thing, that little thing may be a hindrance. I remember a girl that we used to know. And she really turned to the Lord and wanted to follow the Lord. But there was just one little thing that she kept in her life that I believe in the end broke her down. And, you know, we need to let the Lord have his rightful place. We sang in love that transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all. We think of dear Jonathan, you know, when David had won that great victory. He comes and he presents everything, his bow, his sword, his girdle, the girdles, what's closest to yourself. And he, he said, David, it's all yours. But he didn't give everything. He kept one thing as someone who said he kept his shoes. He didn't follow David. And that very one thing, the one thing lacking was what was his final downfall. He didn't walk with David. And when David was slain? When Jonathan was slain, pardon me, on the mountains of Gilboa, it tells us that David mourned. Have often said, and it struck me, David never asked Jonathan to go with him. You say, why didn't he ask him? He wanted him to come out of love. He wanted him to come out of love. And I'm not laying down rules for you because that's not Christianity. But I do say that. The the Lord wants your company, and if there's something that's hindering you or for me from enjoying his company, you don't have to give it up. But is it worth clinging to it if it's going to rob you of the company of the Lord Jesus? He's worthy of our all and all had he missed by just keeping that one thing? Yet did David value it? Yes he did. 1 Jonathan died. He valued what he had done. That's always touched me. He says Thy love to me was wonderful, He might have said, but he missed one thing. But he didn't. Isn't it wonderful that all It's not of himself. Someday, brethren, is going to be burned up, but there is going to be something that abides. And David didn't forget what Jonathan had done. But there was a loss in his life. And if you and I want to. Really have the enjoyment of the Lord's presence and company in our lives and the ability to meet the different situations. We don't have it in ourselves. We have to be constantly dependent and we have to be careful that we're not allowing something in our life that's the hindrance to the blessing because He's full of blessing. He wants to bless us. He longs for our companionship and company, and He's not going to be satisfied till He has it forever. And it says here. And be satisfied, and I shall be satisfied, when I await with thy likeness.