“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. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” You want a good motto for your life, friends? It’s here in verse 8 of chapter 17 of Matthew. Only two words: Jesus only. Jesus only. “They saw no man, save Jesus only.” He’s the one who is the authority. And I hope you’ve marked those two words, “Jesus only” in your Bible. It’s a good motto for all of us.

“Behold a voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Now this is God the Father’s testimony to Jesus the Son. Have you ever had a voice out of heaven commending you and saying that God was well pleased with you? He’s never said that to you nor anyone else except this One. This is the only One who has ever been well pleasing to God. And you and I will never get in God’s presence until we are “in Christ” by faith. When we accept Christ as our Savior, then we’re put in the body of believers.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” And, you know, the hardest person in the world that I have to deny is to deny myself. Well, now to deny myself dessert, that’s difficult, but to deny myself is indeed a difficult thing to do. And He says, “…and take up his cross and follow me,” and not Christ’s cross, but “his cross.” There’s a cross for you and a cross for me; that is, if we’re going to follow Him.

“From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and raised again the third day.” And this is what He did for you and me. This is the gospel. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and raised again. You must know who He is and you must know what He did for you—that He died for you and He was worthy to die for you.

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Now what are the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Who’d He give them to? He gave them to those that make this confession; that know Him as Savior. In other words, if you are a child of God, you have the keys as much as any person has the keys. And it will be up to you to unlock the door for someone. This is something very serious. And that means that you and I today have a responsibility. We have a gospel and it’s the only gospel that can save men. Who’s sufficient, friends, for these things? You and I have a responsibility that’s awesome, indeed.

“And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; beginning to sink, he cried, Lord, save me.” That is the shortest prayer in the Bible. He got right down to business, and I think this is the type of praying we need today. Lord, save me. “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” You see, his problem was he took his eyes off Jesus; got his eyes on those waves rolling. You and I today are in a world where we see the waves rolling, and this is the time when we need to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus.

“And he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.” And that is really the particular ministry of apostles, disciples, ministers, evangelists, and Christians today. We are to feed the multitudes—not tell Him how to do it. There are too many people in the church that want to tell how it should be done. There are so few that are willing to do it. Everybody wants to be a head of something, on a committee, doing something; places of leadership. What we need friends—we need these waiters to give out the bread of life. And that bread is the Word of God. That’s our business.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” Well, somebody says, “Well, then what in the world does it mean?” Well, the merchant man is Christ. He left home and came to this earth from heaven, and He came down to find a pearl of great price. And what’d He find? Lost sinners. He died for them. He shed his blood. He sold all that He had. “Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich,” and He redeemed us to God. He bought us.

“Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren.” What’s He really saying? He is saying that the strongest relationship today is the relationship between Christ and a believer. This is something that is tremendous today. And you’re closer to kin to other believers than you’d be with anyone that is blood related to you. He’s talking now about a new relationship. “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, sister, mother.” What is the will of the Father? Well, if you accept the Lord Jesus Christ, you hear Him, trust Him, turn to Him.

Now the important thing is to see here is that there is no sin that you committed yesterday that He would not forgive you for today. He died for all. But you see the Holy Spirit is come into the world to make real the salvation of Christ. If you resist that working of the Spirit of God when He speaks to your heart, then, friends, there’s no forgiveness, of course, because you have rejected the forgiveness that He offers that can only be made real to you by the Spirit of God. For it’s the Spirit of God that regenerates you. The Spirit of God, you see, because He’s bringing forgiveness.