Alright, go with me back to Mark
chapter 9. Mark chapter 9 verse 2 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 anymore, 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 and James
and John up into a high mountain. And he was transfigured before
them. Can you imagine this sight? And he started talking with two
men who appeared from glory, Moses and Elijah. And when Peter
saw it, he said, let's build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah,
and one for you. And as soon as Peter said that,
God the Father said out loud from heaven, no. Absolutely not. This is my beloved
son. Hear him. hear him, and all of
a sudden everything was gone and all they could see was the
Lord Jesus 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 those three men, Peter, James, and John. This is what
he did for them. He revealed His glory. That's what He did. He revealed
His glory. We are about to see in just a
minute over in Luke's account it says they saw His glory. They saw His glory. May God take
us up into His high mountain. and show us His glory. May God reveal to us His glory. Us. May we see Him as He is,
truly as He is. If He chooses to do that for
anybody, then that sinner that sees Him
as He is has to be chosen to see that. You know that? He has
to be chosen to see that. Right here in Mark 9 verse 2
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. He grabbed three men, didn't
he? And he said, you're coming with me. Individually. They were chosen to see this.
And in verse 5, Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it
is good for us to be here. And man, it is, isn't it? It
is. What mercy it is to see Christ
as he is. What mercy it is. It's salvation. It's salvation while this world
is trying to figure out what are y'all talking about? Why
is everybody so taken with this? Can't you find something else
better to do with all your time? I passed some people coming over
here this morning playing tennis up there at the high school.
At least they're getting some exercise. What mercy it is. You know it's
salvation to see Christ as He is. It's life to see Christ as
He is. Having the truth revealed to
a sinner is eternal life. It is. And this life is in His
Son. It's in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life. And that's what our God is telling
us right here. Now this morning, here's what
I want us to see. I want us to see the glory of his person. I want us to see the glory of
his work and the glory of his word. Before we do that, though,
here's where we're going to start. Put a marker right here at our
text, Mark chapter 9, and turn with me over to Luke chapter
9. Once you get to Luke chapter
9, put a marker right there. We're going to go back and forth
between these two just a little bit. This is Luke's account of the
same transfiguration. Luke 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. And 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 Elijah, 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." Now, can you imagine that? Can you imagine that? Sleeping through this. Here,
if you just at all enter into what's taking place here, God
goes up. unveils himself, opens up the third heaven, and
in glory there stands Moses and Elijah. And it's all white and
glistening. Everything is so white, no fooler
on earth can get something that white. And they're sitting there
having a conversation And the three men who were chosen to
see it all are right over there asleep. Isn't that so sad? Doesn't that describe us? Sleeping the sleep of death.
That's that's what we all do in the sleep of death. You know,
a man who's asleep does not know he's asleep. You can walk up
beside him and say he's asleep. He doesn't know you said that.
He's asleep. He's asleep. Oh, Lord God, wake
us up. Wake us up. These three men here,
all of this glory has taken place, and these three men were totally
unconscious to the things of God. Right? Dead to God. Dead to the glory of His person,
dead to the glory of His work, and dead to the glory of His
word. Dead. Absolutely dead. And that's every
single man and woman on this earth. Yes, it's me. Yes, it's you. Dead. No exceptions. Absolutely no
exceptions. Man is alive to religion. He soaks it up. Man is alive
to the worship of his own self. He soaks it up. Man is alive
to sin, but he's dead to God. He is dead to God and he'll remain
in that sleep of death until God wakes him up. And when God
wakes him up, this is what he's going to say. Oh, it's so good
to be here. It is so good to be here right
here in Luke chapter nine, verse 32 says. But Peter and they that
were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake. They saw his glory. How do you know if God? Wakes
the center up. How can that sinner know if he's
been woken up? He sees his glory. As soon as
they were awake, they saw his glory. That's what I want us
to see this morning. That's what I pray God would
cause us to see. I want us to see his glory. Let's
start with the glory of his person. Right here in Luke 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. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and
glistening." I love that. Now back in our text, back in
Mark chapter 9, Verse 3 says, and his raiment became shining,
exceeding white as snow, so that no fuller on earth can wipe them. All right, now turn with me to
Matthew 17. This is Matthew's account of
it. Matthew 17 verse 1 says, 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. You know what He's showing us?
His perfection. His absolute perfection. His holiness. His glory. 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 S-U-N, sun,
is a fearful thing. The glory of the sun is a fearful
thing. It's beautiful. It is glorious. It's majestic, but it's a fearful
thing. You cannot look straight into
the face of the sun, can you? You just can't do it. We live by, we live on the sun,
don't we? But if that sun, if they calculate
it, it's coming closer and closer to earth. If all of a sudden
that sun started coming closer and closer to earth, every soul
on this earth would fear for his life. Do you know about the sun? Oh
yeah, I know about the sun, sure. Everybody knows about the sun.
We see it all the time. If all of a sudden they started
realizing here comes the sun, closer and closer to earth, every
soul on this earth would fear for their life. When a sinner finally sees the
glory of the person of the sun, it is a fearful thing. There
was a man, a couple of thousand years ago, and his name was Saul
of Tarsus. And he saw the face of Jesus
Christ. And the glory of the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ knocked him off of his horse. He fell
flat on his back, didn't he? And it blinded him. It blinded
him. And he in fear and trembling
cried, Who art thou, Lord? And what would you have me to
do? That's what a person will cry
if he ever sees the glory of the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, let me show you something
in Exodus 33. I absolutely love this. Exodus
33. Exodus 33, look with me at verse 8. 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 talked with Moses,
the Lord God, the Lord our righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who this is, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11 says, 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. So God enabled Moses to see him
face to face. Alright now, chapter 34 verse
29 says, chapter 34 verse 29. 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 to God. And when Aaron and all the children
of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and
they were afraid to come near Moses. 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. Until Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a veil on his face. He had been talking with
God and even the man Moses, after speaking with God face to face,
his face was so fearful he had to put a veil over his face to
talk to everybody. Nobody could even look at him
and come near him. That's what Christ did when he
came to this earth. His glory is so glorious. It outshines the sun. He could
not come to this earth and walk around and talk to men without
veiling it. He veiled the glory of his person. Now look at verse 34. But when
Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the
veil off. That's what our Lord did at that
transfiguration. In our account right here. He
took the veil off 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 God again. Had to put that veil on
for people. As soon as he turned to God,
he took that veil off. Isn't that glorious? So glorious. If a sinner ever sees the glory
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the conclusion
he'll come to. He's holy. He's glorious. He's pure. He's just. He's right. Absolute glory. Now let's look at the glory of
his work. Go with me back to Mark 9. Mark 9 verse 4 says, and there
appeared unto them Elijah 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, the actual
Elijah, they're still alive. Moses was born 2,000 years before
this event. And that event we're looking
at right now was 2,000 years ago. So for 4,000 years, Moses
has been alive. He still goes by the name Moses. And the same goes for Elijah.
All right? Now why was our Lord standing
there having a conversation with Moses and Elijah? Here's why. Moses in the scripture, We just
read about it. He has always represented the
law. Always. God gave Moses a law. Moses gave the law to the people.
Elijah was God's prophet. And he was singled out. He was
honored more than any other prophet in this way. God sent a chariot
of fire from heaven down put him in it, and Elisha watched
him ride on up straight into heaven. One of the few people
that were just taken straight into heaven. He was changed,
but he was taken straight into heaven. Here Christ stands speaking
with, communing with the law and the prophets. That's what God calls this word
right here, the law and the prophets, isn't it? What were they talking
about? Look back at Luke 9. Luke 9 verse 30 says, And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory,
and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. What is this entire book about? The whole book. Jesus Christ
crucified. That's what the whole book is.
What is the law talking about? Straighten up and fly right?
Nope. Jesus Christ crucified. The law was never given to save
anybody. I wish that poor sinners in religion
could hear this statement right here. Because here's what people
think they need to do to get into heaven. I got to obey this
law. That's what they think they need
to do. I wish they could hear this. Here's Romans 3.20. I'm
paraphrasing it. The law was never given to save
anybody. The law was never given to save
anybody. The law was given to expose sin. Romans 3.20 What were the prophets prophesying
about? What is this all about? The Christ
that would come and accomplish death for that sin that the law
exposed. That's what it's all about. He
was going to do that on a cross just outside of Jerusalem. This glorious majestic God came
down to this earth and He veiled His glory in the likeness of
sinful flesh and He accomplished a death that set every chosen
sinner free. I mean free at last. Free at
last. seeing the disease that he accomplished,
the death he accomplished. That's the most glorious thing
a sinner could ever see. That is the most glorious thing
a sinner could ever see. He'll see his own death right
there. That's what he'll see, his own
death right there. 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 Elijah, not knowing what he said. Over in our text it
says, he said that right there because he was so afraid. He was shaking in his boots and
he did not know if he was about to die. He did not. He said,
let's make three tabernacles, one for each of you. He didn't
know what to say. Verse 34 says, while he thus
spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them. And they feared
as they entered into the cloud. Can you imagine the sight of
the cloud that God the Father comes in? Oh, they're so afraid
for this cloud to come overtake them. But I tell you, this is
God's mercy. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of mercy. Here it comes. Oh, no. Verse 34, 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, and I'm telling you this is mercy right here, this is
grace right here, this is God's goodness to a sinner. There comes
a voice out of this cloud saying, wake up, this is my beloved son,
hear him. This is my beloved son. Hear
him. Now here's the glory of his word. We see the glory of his person.
We see the glory of his work. Here's the glory of his word.
Go with me to second Peter chapter one. Now, this is Peter talking about
this event. The transfiguration that he attended. Second Peter chapter one. Look
with me at verse 15. 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. 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'm 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. We also have a more sure word of prophecy. Where unto
ye 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 more sure
than seeing it with your own two eyes. And more sure than
hearing that voice with your own two ears is the word that
God has written. The word that God has written. Hear Him. Hear him alone. That's what God said. Hear him
alone. They said let us build three
tabernacles. One to Moses, one to Elijah,
one to Christ. God said no. Salvation is by
Christ alone. Christ alone. Do not worship
Christ and Moses. Don't do it. Do not hear Christ
and the law. Don't do it. The law says do. What did Christ say? Done. Done. Which one are we going
to listen to? God the Father said, you listen
to my son. He cried, it is finished. God
the Father said, don't listen to anything else. Don't listen
to Moses. Don't listen to Elijah. You listen
to my son. Don't add anything to who he
is. Don't add anything to what he's
done. And don't add anything to what
he has said. Christ satisfied the law. Christ fulfilled all the prophets
and all the glory goes to him. Every ounce of it, all the glory,
it all goes to his person, it all goes to his work, and it
all goes to his word. If a sinner ever sees his glory,
man, if a sinner ever sees his glory, this is what he'll say
with Peter, Master, that's the first thing he'll say, Master,
you're my master. It is good for us to be here. Oh, it's so good you've brought
us here. Thank you for bringing us here. Thank you for bringing us up. Thank you for revealing your
glory. Thank you for putting that fear
right here. Thank you so, so much. It's so
good. I've seen the glory of God in
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God reveal that to us. May
he reveal that to us. All right, let's stand together.