complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this morning. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to the chapter that was read in your
hearing, namely Matthew's Gospel in chapter 17. But by way of
text, verses 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 17,
verses 4 to 8. I'll just read them through the
once. 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, and one for Moses, and one for
Elias, Elijah. 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. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. It was often said in my youth that truth was stranger than
fiction. Days of youth I had quite an
active imagination and quite enjoyed what we would perhaps
now call science fiction. And of course, more wise people
would raise an eyebrow and consider it to be somewhat trite. And when people would say this
to me, truth is stranger than fiction, I think what are they
talking about? Nothing could be stranger than
this. But we live to prove that truth
is stranger than fiction. Indeed the answer of it really
was given to one scientist, I think it was Albert Einstein, of which
although rejecting a six-day creation, likewise rejected the
machinations of Charles Darwin. And he said this, if there is
a God was so insignificant is certainly not interested in us. Well, here we have the manifestation
of God himself taking notice of sinners. Indeed, what we have
before us here in the Transfiguration, and really what follows particularly
from this Transfiguration, is a picture of how the Lord deals
with sinners. It's a picture of the Lord's
redeeming work Now, by way of context, Matthew's Gospel was written
to a primarily Jewish audience. It is the most Semitic of all
the Gospels, particularly in respect of the language that
Matthew uses. He addresses his people directly. You know, for years, for generations,
the Jews have been looking for a Messiah. And here he is, approximately
age 32, in the very zenith of his ministry, And there were so many that just
didn't see it. But praise be to God there were
those who did see it. And there were those here who witnessed something so spectacular. Now, we read that in the verses
that lead up to our text The Lord took Peter, James and John
and brought them up to a mountain. Now, in Galilee there were many
high mountains, but this specific mountain is not mentioned. One commentator, and I think
he's right, says the mountain is deliberately not mentioned,
lest men make an idol of it. You and I are familiar with the
Roman Church and they will go on a pilgrimage. And they will
go on a pilgrimage to what they perceive to be a holy place. I need not remind you, we've
considered it before, there's no such thing as a holy place.
We must go further and say this, there's no such thing as holy
land. People will say we're going on a trip to the holy land. There's
no such thing as holy land. There isn't. There isn't. You
see here, the Lord is deliberately speaking to us in this way. We read here that the Lord was
transfigured before them. But what was taking place in
Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 9 is the other account that we have
of this event. And we read in this Gospel that
they went into this mountain in verse 28, Luke 9, verse 28,
to pray. There was a prayer meeting going
on. But here the Lord was transfigured. "...and his face did shine as
the sun, and his raiment was as white as life." Now there's
much here that is mysterious. But there's one theological and
doctrinal point that we must understand to see this rightly. This was an unusual but very
powerful manifestation of the Lord's humanity. Don't think that his person here
changed in any way. It was simply his countenance
that changed. It was the face of Christ here
we see. White as the light. This is the
New Testament fulfillment of that of which we read in Exodus
34. When Moses going up to the mount
Sinai made his face to shine. This here is the fulfillment
of that. And what else does this signify? It signifies this. the bringing in of a better covenant. As Moses re-established the Law
on tables of stone by the finger of God, Christ here brings in
a better covenant. That of the Gospel. For all of the law is fulfilled
in this, that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
might, with all thy strength, and so on, and thy neighbour
as thyself. Oh, we see one here greater than
Moses and greater than Elijah. but it's significant that these
two men were seen upon the Mount of Transfiguration. But Peter suggests something.
He suggests a tabernacle. Now a tabernacle was a form of
tent, it would be fixed by posts, cords would run through the posts
and a strong material Like a tent would form what we
call a tabernacle in these New Testament days. Here Peter suggests
three tabernacles. These three were to be in agreement. But you see Peter is but a man.
And we have our ideas. But what we see in verse 5, again, can be much so easily
misunderstood. You know, it's something I notice
about these New Testament narratives. You know, often we read them
and we have an impression upon them. But you know, there's so much
in them that is misunderstood or easily left out. We read,
"...a bright cloud overshadowed them." And again, we can misunderstand
for this reason. A cloud often has a sort of negative
connotation in our Western culture. We might discuss someone who
has a prominent place in society and we might say, well he left
with a cloud over him. sort of mysterious circumstances
which are inferred to be negative. But this is not the
case here. This is not the case at all.
The cloud that overshadowed them was a sign of the Lord's presence.
Again, it's a fulfillment of these New Testament days. The
cloudy, fiery pillar that followed the children of
Israel. And hear Matthew speaking, the people he's speaking to,
they would have understood exactly what Matthew was saying here.
It's important that we do likewise. It overshadowed them. And here
we see the Lord speaking audibly. Now we must also make this theological
point. I never miss it because there's
so many in our churches don't really understand it. We are
not to expect the Lord to speak in an audible voice today. I've been to chapels, I've been
to anniversary services, and I've been sat in the pew And I've heard men talk about
the Lord speaking to them in an audible voice. That is an
aberration. And I don't care who hears it.
This day, this is an aberration. Because whenever the Lord has
anything to say, He speaks in the manner that we're about to
see. He reveals Christ. Also there's another proof text
of it. You've perhaps read it many times
but I'll read it aloud so that we are in no way confused about
the matter. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1, God
who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto
the fathers by the prophets. Listen to this carefully. Hath
in these last days, that is today, spoken unto us by his Son, whom
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also made the
worlds," and so on and so forth. You see, whenever the Lord reveals
anything to man, in the end, he always reveals Christ. And thus the Lord only deals
with Christians. You know, the sun shines upon
the righteous and the unrighteous. That is true. The Lord is long-suffering
to the wicked. That is true. But you know, there's
no such thing as what men call common grace. Grace is never
common. Grace is always particular. Grace is always distinctive. Grace is always discriminating. And thus, whenever the Lord deals
with a man or a woman, He does so that He may make them a Christian,
and He reveals Christ, and Christ alone. Notice this voice here, which
says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. hear ye him hear ye him do we hear him? do we hear him? do we really hear him? do we look for him? see this is the thing isn't it? when we come to chapel really we don't come and hear a man
preach I know we have our favourites
perhaps those of whom we may be inclined to travel more miles
than others to hear but really Can we expect, and I ask this
seriously, can we expect the Lord to meet with us if we're
simply looking to a man to bless us? Because if we think like that
we're no better than the poor benighted Romanist who goes to
the priest for help. I can't help you. our pastor
can't help you, but Christ can. And it's His ordained means that
we meet here this day and in this way. Hear ye Him. And this has always been the
issue, hasn't it? When the Lord came, what did
they say? Some said He was Elijah's son, said. He was one of the
prophets. But he says, whom do you say
that I am? Remember this. He that believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. The Christ none else the Christ but we notice
something here when the disciples heard it you
see we can listen but not hear the disciples hear Peter James
and John they heard it And here what follows is the means in
which the Lord and the way in which the Lord works and the
way in which He saves sinners. Verse 6 says, When the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. You might say, why was this? These are saved for men. These
are those born again by the Lord's Holy Spirit. But it was this,
wasn't it? If we see the Lord, we see His
holiness. We see His majesty. We see everything
that He is and we are not. The contrast was they saw themselves in the light
of their own selves and they fell on their faces
the truth is they could not bear it you and I are spared a lot we
might know something of our own heart but we're spared the full ramifications of it. I don't
believe we could bear it. Because sin cuts right through
us. It's what we are. We're born
in sin. We act in sin. And even if we've
been changed by the Lord's grace, we're never more than a sinner. This is the difference here.
They fell on their face. You know, this happens both Old
Testament and New. Daniel chapter 10 and verse 9. Well, I'll start from verse 7. Daniel
alone saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not
the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled
to hide themselves therefore I was left alone and saw this
great vision and there remained no strength in me for my comeliness
was turned into corruption and I retained no strength yet heard I the voice of his
words And when I heard the voice of his words, then I was in a
deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground." The Apostle Paul, likewise in
the Acts of the Apostles, falls to the ground. But you know the
Scripture that really strikes me, It's that in Revelation and
chapter 1. John is on Patmos. It just goes to show you, you
never rise above these things. He was an old, old man on Patmos
when he wrote this book. But what does he say? Revelation
chapter 1 verse 15, and he had on his right hand seven stars.
And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And his countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength. Note this. And when I saw him, I fell on
his feet as dead. Notice the parallel also. And
he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not. I am
the first and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead.
And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. They were sore afraid. Oh, they
were sore afraid. And this is what the Lord does
with His law. This is what the Lord does with
the ministration of Moses. Hear this again this morning. The ministration of Moses is
the ministration of death. But here we see a better covenant.
This is the ministration of Christ, which is the ministration of
life. Now here we must correct a commonly known error. People
say to you, the Law leads to Christ and Christ leads back
to the Law. That's not so here. That's never
the case within the Scripture. The Gospel is a much higher Law
than that. This is the ministration of life. And if you're ever led back to
the law, you're led back to the ministration of death. That's
the consequence of the law. Here we see a ministration of
life and one that is so fulfilling. Notice here it's a touch. Christ came and touched them after seeing this tremendous event this transfiguration you know the language almost
seems very almost innocuous doesn't
it? but it's not Because it's full of power and full of meaning. Much like Lydia, whose heart
the Lord opened. This was not a great event like
one they'd seen. But it had great consequences.
What's the difference? When the Lord speaks, He gives
great consequences. He touched them. And He said,
Arise and be not afraid. And this is the consequence and
this is the way that the Lord works. He says, Arise and be not afraid. Why? Because this is Christ speaking. This is the language, and this
is the sentiment of the language, that he speaks to all his children.
You see here, we've had the ministration of death, and now we have the
ministration of life. And this was faith, wasn't it? Because what followed? You see, a touch of Christ will have
the desired effect. It says, and when they lifted
up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Now this is where we all must
come and this shows you the emptiness of the aberrations
of dreams and visions that men speak of today because this is far greater than
any of that this is a site by faith made
manifest by the Holy Spirit of Christ himself they saw no man Peter moments
ago was speaking of erecting tabernacles and so on and so
forth but here we could see They saw
no man save Jesus only. Notice this, Moses and Elijah
were taken completely out of the situation. There's no mention
of them here. No mention of them at all. And this, clothed and in our
right mind, is where we must come. Seeing Jesus only. No distractions. No priests. No holy places. Oh, this is a much better covenant. This is the covenant of life
and the covenant of faith. This is Christ himself. in all
that He is. You see, we must realize that
He is all and in all. He is our Rule of Life. He is the Great Object of Faith. And He is also the Great Subject
of Faith. you see there's experience here
isn't there? but this is experience rooted
and founded in the right place because Christ is our experience
if it's anything else it'll be found wanting but when
the eternal son of God makes himself known Like he did on
Mount Patmos. It's the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last. They didn't say anything else
here. And you know this continues to
be the theme. Because actually it's a foretaste,
I believe, of heavenly glory. Christ is also our reward. In heaven, we considered it here
before, rewards are not for service. Christ is our reward. Because
if we're nothing but sin, if we're nothing but sin, we can't credit ourselves in
the bank balance, as it were. We're just habitual debtors.
And the debt is cancelled. by the blood of Christ. But much has been made as to
whether we shall know one another in heaven. Now I take the view that though
we probably will recognize one another, I think we have enough
inference for that. Really, in the eternal state
it's insignificant because just as these men here
saw no man save Jesus only this is the great theme of heavenly
glory and this is the very reason why the Lord said ye must be
born again because only a born again soul will ever really see
Christ for who He is. And on the great day when the
Lord declares and separates the sheep from the goats, we see
here all power and all judgment we
read is given unto the Son and the Lord speaks those words
to his people come and inherit that which is prepared prepared for you and although we don't read much
about what the heavenly state is like. We read more of what will not
be there. But here we have a foretaste,
I see. Seeing no man save Jesus only. You see, what is it that brings
us down? What is it that tempts us, that
which takes us away from the person and the work of Christ. I knew a man, he's died recently
actually, but he undertook his first pastorate when he was a
very young man and he said in his congregation there was a
man there who'd been in the ministry himself and after he'd preached
Every so often he'd sidle up to him at the end of the service.
And he'd say, Some men never get far beyond the cross, do
they pastor? Some men never get far beyond
the cross, do they pastor? Now I don't know where that man
thought he was going. But you see here, we never rise
above this. And though we learn many lessons.
Oh, I've lived down here 10 years and I've learnt a lot. There's one thing that we do
know, is that we never get beyond the cross. And these men, though they were
disciples, though they were the closest to the Lord Jesus, in
so many ways, in so many ties, they saw no man save Jesus only. Whom say ye? That He is, surely
He is Jesus, the Christ. Amen.