Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to Mark chapter 9, and I want to read
from verse 2 to verse 10. It says, And after six days Jesus
taketh with him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up
into an high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured
before them. And his raiment became shining,
exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white
them. And there appeared unto them
Elias with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter
answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here,
and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias. For he knew not what to say,
for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed
them, And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my
beloved Son, hear Him. And suddenly, when they had looked
round about, they saw no man any more save Jesus only with
themselves. And as they came down from the
mountain, He charged them that they should tell no man what
things they had seen till the Son of Man were risen from the
dead. And they kept that saying with
themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from
the dead should mean. Our Lord brought Peter, James,
and John up into a high mountain. And he was transfigured before
them. And he started talking with two
men who appeared from glory, appeared from heaven. And when
Peter saw it, he said, let's build three tabernacles to honor
all three of you. And as soon as Peter said that,
God the Father said out loud from heaven, no. This is my beloved
Son. Hear Him. And all of a sudden,
everything was gone. And all they could see was the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. Christ alone. And He told them,
don't say anything to anybody. until after I have risen from
the dead." Now let me tell you what God did for these three
men, Peter, James, and John. He revealed to them His glory. We're about to see in Luke's
account where it says, they saw His glory. Oh, may God take us up to His
high mountain this morning and show us His glory. May He reveal
Himself to us. May we see Him as He is, as He
truly is. If He chooses To do this for
us, we're a blessed people. You know that? Because if a sinner
is gonna see Christ as he is, he has to be chosen to see him. In verse two, Mark 9 verse two,
it says, after six days, Jesus taketh with him Peter and James
and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by
themselves." They were chosen by God Almighty individually
to see this. And in verse 5, Peter answered
and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. And
it is. What mercy it is to see Christ
as He is. It's salvation. It is salvation. It is life. Having the truth
revealed to a sinner is eternal life. And this life is in His
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. That's what God the Father was
saying right here. Now this morning, I want us to
see the glory of His person. And I want us to see the glory
of His work. and I want us to see the glory
of His Word. His person, His work, and His
Word. But before we do, we're gonna
start right here. Put a marker, if you're turning
with me, if you have your Bible, put a marker here in Mark chapter
nine, and turn with me over to Luke chapter nine, and then put
a marker right there. We're gonna go back and forth
a little bit. Luke chapter 9 verse 28 says, 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. This is the same account. And it says in verse 29, As he
prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered. And 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 at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep. Heavy with sleep. Can you imagine
that? Sleeping through this? God chose them to lead them up
into His mountain and reveal His glory to them, but they were
asleep. That is where God finds every
child of His. sleeping the sleep of death. That's the truth. That's where
every child of God is found, in the sleep of death. They were
totally unconscious to the things of God. That's where every soul
in the flesh begins. Totally unconscious to the things
of God. Dead to God. Dead to the glory
of His person and the glory of His work and the glory of His
Word. Absolutely dead. That is every
single man and woman on this earth. Yes, that's me, including
me. And yes, that's you. No exceptions. Man is alive to
religion. He is alive to the worship of
his own self. He's alive to sin. but he's dead
to God. And he'll remain in that sleep
of death until God wakes him up. And when God wakes him up,
he'll say, oh, it's good to be here. Right here in Luke 9, verse
32 says, but Peter and they that were with him were heavy with
sleep. And when they were awake, They
saw His glory. That's what I want us to see
this morning. I want us to see His glory. Let's start with the glory of
His person. Right here in Luke 9, verse 28
says, 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 glistening. Now, if you'll look
with me back in our text, back in Mark chapter 9, verse 3 says,
And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow. So as no fuller on earth can
white them." Whiter than any white on this earth. Now if you'll
look with me at Matthew 17, this is Matthew's account. And it
says in Matthew 17 verse 1, And after six days Jesus taketh Peter,
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an
high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and
His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as
the light." Do you know what He's showing us? He's showing
us His perfection. He's showing us His holiness,
the glory of His purity, the glory of His majesty, the glory
of His power. It says His face did shine as
the sun. The glory of the sun, the S-U-N,
is a fearful thing. It's a beautiful and glorious
and majestic thing, but it's a fearful thing. You cannot look
straight into the face of the sun. If the sun started coming
closer and closer to this earth, every soul on this earth would
fear for his life. And when a sinner finally sees
the glory of the person of the Son, the S-O-N, it's a fearful thing. It's a
fearful thing. A man named Saul of Tarsus saw
the face of Jesus Christ. And the glory of the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ knocked him off of his horse and it blinded
him. And he in fear and in trembling
cried, who art thou, Lord? And what would you have me to
do? That's what a sinner will cry if he ever sees the glory
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he'll cry. Let me show you something over
in Exodus 33. This is amazing, it's wonderful. Exodus 33, if
you'll look with me at verse 8, it says, And it came to pass,
when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people
rose up and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after
Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to
pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar
descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord,
the Lord God, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ, talked
with Moses. He talked with Moses, and all
the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door.
And all the people rose up and worshipped every man in his tent
door. And the Lord spake unto Moses
face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Face to face. Now look with me at Exodus chapter
34 verse 29 says, And it came to pass, when Moses came down
from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses'
hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not
that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And
when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold,
the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh
him. And Moses called unto them, and
Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him,
and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children
of Israel came nigh, and he gave them in commandment all that
the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And till Moses
had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. The glory of his face was so
fearful, he had to put a veil over it. That's what Christ did
when he came here. He veiled the glory of his person. Verse 34 says, But when Moses
went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off. That's what Christ did on the
Mount of Transfiguration. He took the veil off. It goes
on to say, until he came out. And he came out and spake unto
the children of Israel, that which he was commanded. And the
children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses'
face shone. And Moses put the veil upon his
face again until he went in to speak with him. If a sinner ever
sees the glory of the person of Christ, this is the conclusion
he will come to. He's holy. He is holy. He is so glorious. He is so pure. He is just and he's right. Now let's look at the glory of
His work. Go back with me if you would to our text which is
Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9 verse 4 says,
And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses, and they were
talking with Jesus. Now here our Lord stands in all
His glory. Having a conversation with Moses
and Elijah. The actual Moses and the actual
Elijah. They are still alive. Here's
a little side note to this message. Those men are still alive. By
this point right here in the scripture, Moses had been alive
for about 2,000 years. And we're reading, what we're
reading here happened 2,000 years ago. So after 4,000 years, he's
still alive. He still goes by the name Moses. And they knew exactly who he
was. And the same thing goes for Elijah. Now why was our Lord
standing there having a conversation with Moses and Elijah? Here's
why. Moses in the scripture has always
represented the law. God gave Moses the law. Moses gave it to the people.
We just read that. Elijah was God's prophet who
was singled out and he was honored more than any other prophet.
in that God sent a chariot of fire to pick him up and carry
him straight up into heaven. Here Christ stands speaking with,
communing with the law and the prophets. That's what God calls
this word. This word that we're holding
in our hands, the law and the prophets. What were they talking
about? Well, if you'll look with me
back in Luke 9, verse 30 says, 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. What is this entire book about? What is this entire book about? The answer is Jesus Christ crucified. What is the law talking about? Is it talking about straightening
up and flying right? Is that what the law is all about?
No. It's about Jesus Christ crucified. The law was never given to save
a soul. The law was given to expose sin. This word says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. What were the prophets prophesying
of? All those deep prophecies, what
was it all about? It was all about the Christ that
would come and accomplish death for His people on a cross just
outside of Jerusalem. this glorious, majestic God came
down to this earth and veiled His glory in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and He accomplished a death that set every sinner
He chose to save free. Free. Set them free. Seeing the
deceased that he accomplished, seeing the death that he accomplished
is the most glorious thing a sinner could ever see. The glory in
it is this. It was my death. It was my death. And he died
that death for me. If I'm in Christ and if you're
in Christ, it was your death. It was our death. He suffered
for us. Luke 9 verse 32 says, 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, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias, not knowing what he said." Our text says
he didn't know what to say because they were so afraid. They were
so afraid. Verse 34 says, 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. Hear him. Now here is the glory
of his word. We see the glory of his person,
don't we? We see the glory of his work,
don't we? Here's the glory of his word.
over in 2 Peter chapter 1. This is Peter talking about this
very event. 2 Peter 1 verse 15, he said,
Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease
to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not
followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of His majesty." We saw Him transformed. We saw His glory. Verse 17, he said, 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. He's saying, we saw this happen. We heard the voice of God the
Father. But look what he says in verse
19. He said, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. More sure than seeing it with
our own two eyes and hearing it with our own two ears is the
word that God has written. He said, where unto you do well
that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place
until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. What he's saying is, hear him. Hear him alone. They said, let's build three
tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, one for Christ. God
the Father said, don't you do it. Salvation is Christ alone. Don't worship Christ and worship
the law. Don't hear Christ and hear the
law. The law says do. Christ said
done. Which one are we gonna listen
to? Here is the glory of His Word. Christ said, it is finished. God the Father said, you listen
to that right there. Don't add anything to who He
is. Don't add anything to what He
has done. Don't add anything to what He
has said. Christ satisfied the law and
Christ fulfilled the prophets. And all the glory goes to Him. I mean all the glory. It all
goes to the person. It all goes to the works. And
it all goes to the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. If a sinner ever sees His glory,
I mean His glory, that sinner will say with Peter, Master,
it is good for us to be here. Oh, it's so good for us to be
here. So good for us to come to this
place where we see His glory and we bow to it. He makes us
bow to it. He gives us a heart of faith
to believe it. and a knee that bows to it. So
good, so good when God makes a sinner say, I have seen the
glory of God and I have seen it in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. May God reveal his glory to us,
to you and to me. May he do it this morning. Until
next Sunday morning, may the Lord bless this His Word to our
hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.