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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/scott-macleod/the-touch-of-christ/
It is wonderful to have the Lord Jesus before us, to think upon him, and there's nothing that motivates the heart like the Lord Jesus. Look at Matthew 17, we know that the setting here is the Transfiguration on the Mount, and maybe you've done this before, gone through the different Gospels, and the different writers will record different things about the Lord Jesus, and some of them are very unique.
Matthew 17, verse 1,. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias, or Elijah.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Our brother mentioned this in worship this morning. 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. Now notice verse 7. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, say Jesus only.
It's that little expression in verse 7 that only is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. And Jesus came and touched them. Now it was mentioned by our brother Bill just a minute ago, the four different Gospels bring before us a different presentation of the Lord Jesus.
And you've heard many a preacher say this, Matthew is the king, Mark is the servant, Luke is the man, John is the son of God. Matthew was occupied with the king's business. He was the tax collector for the king.
So he's going to write about the Lord Jesus through the lens of someone who is looking at kingly things, occupied with the kingdom. So how many kings do you know would take time to reach out and touch you or I?
I couldn't think of one right off the bat, but I can think of one here we just read about. Here is a lovely picture. The Lord Jesus in his humility, his humanity. And I do not believe from Philippians chapter 2.
I don't think my brother would believe it either. I don't believe that the Lord Jesus emptied himself of anything when he left heaven. I would prefer to look at it that it was simply veiled behind human flesh.
I don't think the Lord left who he is. He's always, he is God manifested in the flesh. It's a mystery. Sometimes we try to, it's something in the human mind that wants to answer everything. And brothers and sisters, we never will be able to.
Not even in eternity. Christ is infinite. Don't try to put him in such a tight little box that we feel we've conquered him. He's too big for us. And I love what we get on the Mount of Transfiguration prior to his crucifixion.
It's not reflected glory. It's not the glory of God in heaven reflecting off. This is his right. This is his essence. This is what he is, what he possesses. And just for a brief moment of time, that glory just is allowed to radiate through the humanity, the human flesh.
And they just fall flat down. And then they feel a touch. Isn't that touch nice? You ever find yourself talking to somebody and maybe they're relaying difficulties they're going through? I mean, this is just the fact.
I'm kind of a touchy guy anyway, but I just feel like I want to reach out and touch them for a minute. I don't really understand what you're going through, but I want to do something to help you. I have a relation at home.
Not on the best of terms due to some issues that happened and came over to the house this summer. He definitely is a believer. There's no doubt there. But we were talking and I just touched me. I don't even want to be here talking to you.
That hurt. That hurt. Thank God we are connected with one. He's not just some distant savior. He is ready to touch each one of us. Go over to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1. Of course, we know that Lord Jesus often took three unique Peter, James, and John with him on different occasions.
John was on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now we come to Revelation chapter 1. Of course, John is on the Isle of Patmos. He gets this tremendous vision. Revelation is one vision. It's not multiple visions.
But look at verse 12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with the garment down to the foot and girded about the paps with a golden girdle.
And then I've done this in my own Bible. The possessive pronoun his appears a number of times here. Verse 14, his head, his hair, his eyes. Verse 15, his feet. There's a tremendous description given of the Lord Jesus.
His voice. Verse 16, his right hand, his mouth, his countenance. Verse 17, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me. Funny. Amazing that John would record that.
We're not looking at the Lord Jesus in his humility here. We're looking at the Lord Jesus in exalted glory. We would almost say untouchable. In the blaze of glory. And once again, John finds himself just flat down again.
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not. I wonder if John's mind quickly flashed back to the mount on earth. Don't be afraid. Why? Because, John, it's still me. I'm the one that died for you.
I'm the one that lives for you. I'm the one, and you're going to be with me for all of eternity. Isn't that marvelous, brother and sister? You might think, sorry for this, but most of you Americans don't know a lot about Canada.
I tell people where I come from. Prince Edward, where's that? Well, just go to Toronto and head east until you get water. And you got us. Okay, that kind of gives you a bit of a perspective where I'm coming from.
Sometimes we come from places that you don't even know they're on the map. But my Savior knows me. He knows you. To emphasize something from yesterday. The flesh within does not want us to enter into the things that Christ has for us.
It doesn't. And we often rate Christians in our minds. Every one of us here today, saved by the grace of God, we're all of the same value and worth to our Savior. No one has preference. I've had individuals come to me as a preacher.
Could you pray for my child? Oh, glad to. I tell them, I don't have any more of an in with God than you do. My prayer doesn't mean any more than yours. We're all accepted in Christ. Isn't that a lovely thing?
And think of it, for time and for eternity, we're not going to be sharing him. I'm going to get a little piece of him. Oh, Lord, if I could just get five minutes out of a day with you. He's so big. Every one of us will have a unique relationship.
Full with him. Don't have to stand in a long line. Don't have to get queued up to talk to him. We can enjoy that on earth. And as her brother said, what a tremendous thing. I agree 100%. Let's develop that now so that when we enter into eternity, it's not as big of a change as we maybe will end up being.
We can be so like him and so close to him. The Lord Jesus wants to touch us. He wants us to be with him. To know him. So may the Lord give us help in the busyness of life. What a tremendous thing. I was thinking of this last night.
What a tremendous thing. For the last two years, we've had cabin fever. We're all crunched in. And it's so great to get out to a conference, isn't it? I'm enjoying this. I'm telling you. This is the second Sunday that I had the breaking of bread back to the way it used to be.
It's wonderful. Absolutely precious. I love the closeness of this conference. You ever go to these brand-new gospel halls they build? And they're so big. And you're in a Bible study. What was that, brother?
I feel like saying, could you please put away half of these chairs and let's start with a little circle and just start to come out from the center. This is scriptural, I believe, in the midst. The Lord is in the midst.
And we're just all surrounding him. Isn't that wonderful? May God encourage us with such a wonderful Savior.