Dear Father, we pray, Lord, that
you would now give to us, out of your Word, what we need to
hear. And Lord, teach us, above all things, teach us about our
Lord Jesus Christ. Teach us about who He is. Tell
us about what He has done. Tell us why He did it. Tell us
where He is now and about His glory. And help us to trust Him
and call upon Him. Own Him as our only Savior and
Lord. And trust Him. Give us this grace,
we pray today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
In chapter 16, just to refresh your memory, in the first four
verses, the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus, and they joined
together against the Lord Jesus Christ to tempt Him, to try Him,
to see if He would work a miracle, a sign from heaven. And they
accused him of not helping their unbelief sufficiently so they
could believe, and really were blaming him for their problems.
But the Lord says to them that a wicked and adulterous generation
seeks after a sign. And the only sign that would
be given to it, the only miracle God would do, was the miracle
of the prophet Jonah. Now, the prophet Jonah, of course,
was in the Old Testament, and you remember in that story that
God sent Jonah to a condemned city to save them. And he did
it when he sent Jonah in. Jonah went the other way against
God's declared will, and he got into a ship, and God sent a storm,
and the storm was about to sink the ship with all the sailors
on board. But God saved those on board
by telling them to cast Jonah into the sea, and so God saved
them by a substitute. And then God prepared a great
monster in the sea and swallowed Jonah up, and Jonah was in the
belly of that beast for three days and three nights. And God
spoke to the beast, and it spit Jonah out onto the land, just
as our Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. And then
Jonah went and preached, and by his preaching the entire city
of Nineveh was spared, just like God sent by the Lord Jesus Christ
His ambassadors to preach the gospel throughout the world.
And God's condemned people are saved from the wrath of God because
of the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's
the first four verses in Matthew 16. And then Jesus warned His
disciples in the next, from verse 6 to 13, to beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees. And they thought it was because
they hadn't taken bread, but Jesus had just performed two
miracles. One was feeding 5,000, another 4,000, with all the women
and children, and there was so much left over that they had
baskets of leftover food. And they didn't understand that
in those two miracles, the message was Christ, whose body would
be broken and He would give His life for the life of His people.
And all who believe on Him, like eating bread, would live. And
they didn't understand that, and so he warned them to beware
the leaven of the Pharisees, which was the doctrine of the
Sadducees and the Pharisees. And he said that doctrine is
bad. It starts out small, but it affects
the whole lump of bread. It condemns men, because it takes
away from men the only way of life, which is Christ and Him
crucified. And so they understood that,
finally. And then in the next place, Jesus asked his disciples,
who do men say that I am? And they said, well, they say
various things. This prophet or that prophet, Elijah, even
John the Baptist, raised from the dead. And Jesus told them,
but who do you say that I am? Who do you say? Because the question
ultimately comes down to that. The ultimate question God asks
each one of us is, who do you say the Lord Jesus Christ is? And Peter spoke for them all.
He said, from his heart, thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. And Jesus commended Peter for
that. He said he was blessed of his
father because he couldn't know it unless his father had revealed
it to him. And so that was a great commendation. And right after
that, Jesus tells them in verse 21, that he, the Son of Man,
must go and suffer at Jerusalem, must be killed, and then must
rise again the third day. And Peter said, no, no, Lord,
pity yourself. Don't do this. And Jesus turned
to Peter and said, Get behind me, Satan, for you don't savor
the things of God." You don't have any interest in the things
of God. He was more concerned about thinking
about Jesus' well-being, his physical condition, rather than
doing the will of God. But Jesus came only to do the
will of God. And He bore the full cost of
doing that will in His own person. And so from there, the Lord says,
if any man will come after Me, he's got to take up his cross
daily and follow Me. He has to identify with the cross
of Christ. That his whole salvation is wrapped
up in what Christ has done. And only that can save a man. And he must identify with Him
and bear the shame and reproach for trusting Christ. And so he
says, if you gain the whole world, what good is it if you lose your
own soul? And then, in verse 27, at the last part of chapter
16, it says, "...the Son of Man would come in the glory of His
Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the last day will come in
His Father's glory, because He is God, and He is the Man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who saves His people." And He comes with
that glory. And then He says, in verse 28,
"...that some, standing there, would not see death until they
saw the Lord coming in His kingdom." Remember the thief? When he hung
on the cross, what did he say to the Lord? I say this so much
you should have it memorized. He said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. The thief on the cross, seeing
the bloodied body and the bloodied head of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The lash on his back, the nails in his hands and his feet. And
the mocking of the soldiers, the spit on his face. Everything
that they had done to him and his weakness. And he turns to
him and he says, Lord. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. He believed that Jesus would
overcome death itself and rise again and be enthroned on the
kingdom of heaven. And he would come again and he
says, Lord, remember me. And Jesus said, remember, this
day thou shalt be with me in paradise. When did the kingdom
of God come? When the Lord Jesus Christ hung
on the cross and said, it is finished. Because then he subdued
all of our iniquities. He put away our sin, satisfying
God's justice, destroyed the works of the devil, and brought
his people to God as our high priest by his own sacrifice of
himself. And so these things were there.
And all who saw Jesus rise from the dead and come ascend into
heaven and saw the outpouring of the Spirit of God were there,
standing there, when the Lord Jesus came in His kingdom. And
now in chapter 17, we're going to read the first nine verses
here, because this immediately follows what happened in chapter
16. And so I wanted you to have an
overview of chapter 16 before we read these verses. In chapter
17, verse 1, it says, And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter,
James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a mountain
apart. Peter was with him, and James
and John. James and John were brothers.
Remember what happened to James? He was killed. He was the first
martyr in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 12 it says Herod
took James and killed him with a sword. The first martyr of
the apostles that we read about. Stephen was before him, but of
the apostles it was James. So here the Lord takes Peter
and James and John. Why did He choose these three
men instead of all the rest of the disciples? I don't know.
It doesn't matter, really. But He did. And Peter especially
stands out to us because it was just a few moments, a few days
earlier, that Peter said, Lord, don't go to the cross. Don't
suffer. Don't die. Think about yourself.
No, Peter. Satan. Get behind me, Satan.
Remember that? That had to be a huge rebuke
of Peter. First, he commends him as being
blessed of his father because he confessed that Jesus was the
Christ, the Son of the Living God. And then he has to rebuke
him. Because He speaks as if He is controlled by Satan, saying,
Lord, don't go to the cross. Don't fulfill the Father's will.
And He didn't realize when He spoke those words that by keeping
Jesus from the cross, He was keeping not only Himself, but
all of God's people from eternal ruin. He couldn't be kept back. He must. He must go to the cross. But that's what he said. And
yet, here Peter is with James and John, going with the Lord
Jesus Christ to this high mountain. What do you think about that?
Well, I think this. That the Lord Jesus has put away
the sins of his people. And when Peter said these things,
it was a sin. But did Jesus hold it against
him? Did it even seem as if he remembered
it? No. He is the High Priest who
can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the
way. Hebrews chapter 5. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who has compassion on His people. And even though we sin
against Him, He has already put away our sin. As Nathan the prophet
told David when he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered
her husband. He says here, right here in plain
view, he took Peter as one of his favorite disciples, the one
he had just rebuked. And don't you know that Peter
would have been, therefore, the best qualified to have given
us the words that he gives us in 1 Peter chapter 1, and I'll
read these to you. He says in 1 Peter chapter 1,
verse 5, We are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
day. You know who knows that they have to be kept by God's
power? Those who fall. Those who fall and are recovered
by the grace of God, they understand they must be kept by the power
of God. Or they will fall. So here Peter
is. And he's going to be given this unique view, this unique
sight of the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory. Just before. Before He goes to the cross.
And that's what we're going to read in verse 2 and following.
Look at it. And Jesus was transfigured before them, and His face did
shine as the sun, and His raiment, His clothes, were white as the
light. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elijah talking with them. Then answered Peter
and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you
will, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and
one for Moses, and one for 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. And so in the next verse
Jesus tells them not to tell this vision to any man until
the Son of Man be risen from the dead. So here we have the
Lord Jesus Christ transfigured. What is this? Well, the Lord
Jesus is both God and man. He's called the Son of God right
here in these verses. And He was the Son of God eternally
in Heaven. Do you know that the Son of God
is the Eternal? It says in Hebrews chapter 1,
let me just take you to a couple of verses about this. The Lord
Jesus Christ is Eternal God. I'm just going to take you to
a couple of verses to show that Jesus is the Eternal Son of God. In Hebrews chapter 1, He says
in verse 10 of Hebrews 1, Speaking to the Son of God, He says, "...and
thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands." Think about
what is creation? What is creation? Think about
this. Creation is all that is not God,
isn't it? If it isn't God, then it must
have been created. And God, in the beginning, spoke
the world into existence. And who was there before creation?
Only God. Only He is uncreated, isn't He? If it's not created, it's got
to be God. And if it's created, it's not
God. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who, from the beginning,
laid the foundation of the earth. Therefore, He was in eternity,
uncreated. And He was God, and He says,
Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the
earth, and the heavens are the works of Thine hands. They shall
perish, everything God has created, the heavens and the earth, they
shall perish, but Thou remainest, and they all shall wax old as
doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and
they shall be changed, but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall
not fail. He was from the beginning and
He is now in the beginning. Look at Hebrews chapter 7. It says in Hebrews chapter 7
that the Lord Jesus Christ is a high priest. like Melchizedek. And Melchizedek was this special
character in the Old Testament. Verse 3, it says, "...he was
without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God abides a priest continually." So the only way he could be made
like the Son of God is if he was eternal. And only the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God Himself, is eternal. So he
has to be eternal. And there's many things we could
say about the Son of God, besides Him being eternal. He's almighty. In Isaiah 9.6 it says, Unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall
be called a wonderful counselor, the everlasting, the prince of
peace. I'm forgetting, huh? I'm going
to go back there. It's funny how you can't remember
all of a verse sometimes. Isaiah chapter 9, I'll just read
it to you. He says, His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this." So the Lord Jesus Christ is the
One who was given to us. He is the Son that was given.
He's the Child who's called the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Who could be that but God Himself?
He is the Lord Jesus Christ. And then one more verse. Look
at Matthew chapter 28. Matthew 28. I want you to look
at this because sometimes we don't think about these verses
as speaking about our Lord as God. But He says in verse 19
of Matthew 28, Jesus says to His disciples in verse 18, He
said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. When
it says it's given to him, as the son of God, it was already
his. But as the one who became man in order to accomplish the
salvation for his people, it was given to him as God and man.
One person, two natures, in that role as our mediator, heaven
and earth, and all that was in it was given to him. And so he
says here in verse 19, he says, Go ye therefore, since all power
is given to me, then go, and teach all nations, baptizing
them, now listen, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. Now, the word name here is singular,
isn't it? It's not plural. It doesn't say,
in the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as if there's
three beings who make up God. But he says, in the name of.
And He doesn't say, in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
as if there's one God who has three different titles. Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. But He says, in the name, singular,
of God, who is comprised of three persons. The Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. So this is our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's equal with God. Look at John chapter 5. John
chapter 5, it shows our Lord Jesus Christ talking with those
who were opposed to Him, and He says in verse 17, Jesus answered
them, John 5, 17, "...My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
Therefore the Jews sought the Moor to kill him, because he
not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, making himself equal with God. You see that? So the
Lord Jesus Christ was equal. He didn't say he wasn't equal.
He was equal with God. He's equal with God because he
is God. in every way. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And He was transfigured before
them, and back to Matthew 17. Now, when the Lord Jesus was
transfigured before them, it says that His face did shine
as the sun, and His clothes were white as raiment. And so what
the disciples were seeing, Peter, James, and John, they were seeing
the Lord Jesus appear in the majesty And the majesty and the
glory of the One who is both God and man, who had overcome
and had accomplished the will of God. And God had given Him
this glory as our Savior. And so His glory as God, the
Son of God, and man, who would rise from the dead and take His
seat on Heaven's throne, was now showing through. And they
saw it. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1. Where it says, it explains this
there, 2 Peter chapter 1. Peter is the one who saw it and
he records it here in 2 Peter chapter 1. Very important scripture. He says here, let me get to it,
verse 15. Moreover, Peter says in verse
15 of 2 Peter 1, Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able
after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
What he's been talking to them about. 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. His Majesty. That's what He's
talking about. When He was transfigured, they saw 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 am well pleased. And this voice, which came from
heaven, we heard when we were with Him in the Holy Mount. So
Peter is telling those that he's writing to here, and us, that
he saw the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the glory
that was given to him by his Father. It's shown that when
we talk about glory, think about the sun. You can't see the sun,
but what you see is the light from the sun. The glory of the
sun, because you see its rays out shining. And when they saw
Christ, they saw His face as it were the sun, and His clothes
as it were white as light. How can we describe this? The
best thing to do is just to use these words here. It was the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ shining through out of His human
nature. What a sight that must have been.
In fact, it says in verse 6 that the disciples, when they heard
God speak from heaven, they fell on their face and were sore afraid.
And so the sight of the Lord Jesus Christ here was an amazing
sight. A sight that Peter and James
and John weren't allowed to speak about until Jesus was risen from
the dead. So they saw Him. And it was bright. And it was glorious. And then
it says in verse 3, "...and behold there appeared unto them Moses
and Elijah talking with him." Now in Luke chapter 9, in the
same place, and I'll turn there and read that to you. In Luke
chapter 9, he says a little bit more about this event. He says
there, that when Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus, it says
in verse 31, they appeared in glory and spake of His decease
which He should accomplish at Jerusalem. So when Jesus was
there and He was transfigured so they saw His glory, then they
also saw Moses and Elijah there. How did they know it was Moses
and Elijah? I don't know. They obviously had never seen
them. They hadn't heard them talk. They didn't know what they
talked like. How would they recognize them? I don't know. But one thing
that's clear is that God is saying here that His people will recognize
one another in glory. And I don't know how they will,
but we will recognize one another in glory. I think that we can
draw that conclusion here. They recognized Moses and Elijah. And so, the second thing here
is that Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus. And that
is another thing that's wonderful, too, is to think that in heaven,
we will be talking with the Lord Jesus Christ in His glory. Think
about that. Why would He want to listen to
me? I would rather shut up and listen
to Him. But we'll talk with Him because there's a communion between
ourselves and the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has compassion
on it. He teaches us by talking, doesn't
He? He's always asking questions and we answer them because He
gives us the answers in our heart. So these men were there talking.
But who is Moses? And who is Elijah? Well, Moses
is the one in the Old Testament who gave God's law to the people,
isn't he? He's the one, it says, oftentimes
in scripture, it says, Moses and the law interchangeably.
The law, or Moses. As if he is the law. And then
Elijah is the one who was the prophet. The greatest prophet
in the Old Testament was Elijah. And so the law and the prophet
represent all of the Old Testament Scriptures. So when Moses and
Elijah appeared with Jesus, He's saying a couple of things. First,
He's saying that Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, all
agree with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because they appeared with Him
in glory. And secondly, it's saying that not only do they
agree with him, but all that they have to say concerns what
they were talking to him about. Which was the decease which he
should accomplish at Jerusalem. His death. But in the word decease
in Luke 9.31, it means exodus. The word is actually exodus.
So when Jesus was going to die, it was his... Exodus or it was his departure
is the word that's also used departure from this world so
he was about to accomplish a departure which means he would complete
the mission God gave him to do he would rise he would ascend
to heaven and he would leave this world he was about to do
that and so Elijah and Moses are talking to him about that
because again in first Peter chapter one It says, I'll read
this to you, it says in 1 Peter 1.11 that all of the Old Testament
was about the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow.
The sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow.
It just says that in verse 11 of 1 Peter 1. And it says this
in various places. In fact, look at Luke chapter
24. This is what the law and the
prophets speak about throughout. And I'll take you to a couple
of examples here in a minute. But look at this. In Luke chapter
24, it says in verse 7, "...the Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third
day rise again." Do you see that? Verse 7 of Luke 24. "...the Son
of Man must..." be delivered into the hands of sinful men,
and be crucified, and the third day rise again." It cannot not
happen. It's going to happen. Why? Because
it is the will of God, and God's will will be done. It can't be
stopped. And then look over at verse 25.
Jesus said to these two men on the road to Emmaus, He says,
O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken! Ought not Christ, the word ought
here is must, must not Christ who have suffered these things
and to enter into His glory? There we have the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. And beginning
at Moses, And to all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And then over in verse
44, he said the same things. These are the words which I spake
to you while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures and said, thus it
was written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, to rise from
the dead the third day. Behoove means it was necessary.
So here the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking, talking with Elijah
and Moses, the Law and the Prophets, because they all talk about what
Christ would accomplish when He came into the world. The whole
Bible is about what He would do. About who He is. And think
about that. What do we know about this? What is the Gospel anyway? Remember
what it says in 1 Corinthians 15? The gospel is how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. How that he was
buried and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures. And the scriptures are the Old
Testament, Law and Prophets. Remember on the day of atonement
in Leviticus 16? The high priest would go in and
what did he do? He made atonement for all the
sins of all of God's people. And all their sins were taken
away from before the Lord on that day. That's what Christ
did when he went to the cross. He died for our sins according
to the scripture. All of the sins of all of God's
people were on that one day removed before God's face. Removed from
them. So that God was satisfied and
their sins were forgiven them on that day. And then there's
the story in Numbers 21, where the serpent, God told Moses,
raise the serpent up on a pole, make it of brass, put it on a
pole, and all who look live. These people had sinned. God
had sent the serpents to bite them. They were dying. They were
cursed of God. And God raised the serpent up
on the pole. Look to that serpent. That one that was cursed because
the pole was representative of the tree. God says all who hang
on a tree are cursed of God. Jesus Christ was raised up on
the cross, cursed of God. He bore the curse for his people
to deliver us from the curse of God's law. Galatians 3.13
Throughout scripture, Isaiah 53 and Numbers 21 as I just mentioned.
In all these places, God is teaching us Christ died for the sins of
his people. And this is what the scripture
is about. And this is what He came to do. Now, when He was
about to finish this, when it was nearing that time and He
appeared in His glory, Elijah and Moses appear here anticipating
the glory that would be given to Christ when He finished that
work. Remember, you see, the glory
that was given to the Lord Jesus Christ is comparable or is in
proportion to the sufferings that He endured, the will, the
significance of what He accomplished. tell you, well, I'll give you
some money if you come to work at my house and you come and
do some work for a few hours, then I'm going to pay you according
to the job that you do. If you pull weeds, I'll probably
give you minimum wage. But if you, like, add a room,
I'm going to add you a little more money, right? It's the proportion.
Or if you fix my finances so I become a millionaire, now that's
something worth a lot more money, isn't it? What you get in reward
is proportional to what you have done. The glory given to Christ
was in proportion to what He accomplished. What glory did
He receive? He received the whole universe
and He sat on Heaven's throne. How significant was the work
that He accomplished? It was a revelation of God in
His glory, in saving His people from eternal damnation and bringing
them to God as the sons of God. He did all that by Himself. And
so He was given this glory. And so Moses and Elijah talk
with Him about this. The glory He's going to receive
from God is in proportion to what He would accomplish. And
not only because Elijah and Moses agreed with Him, not only because
they spoke of Him, Not only because they told about the glory that
he would receive in accomplishing God's will, but because by them
being here now, God the Father is going to teach these disciples,
listen, all that they have said up to this point in time is summed
up And is contained in what the Lord Jesus Christ did and who
He is. This is what they're saying.
Is that the fulfillment of all of God's Word, His Law and the
Prophets is about to occur here in the life and death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is the sum and substance of
everything God has to say. He's the Word of God. In these
last days, God has spoken to us by His Son. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ is there with Moses and Elijah. And while He's speaking,
in verse 5, I mean in verse 4, then Peter answered. Peter answered
Peter when he heard Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about
the deceased, because he obviously heard that. Then answered Peter
and said to Jesus, he said, Lord, he at least recognized him now
as the Lord, didn't he? It is good for us to be here.
If you will, if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles.
You know, if you want me to, we'll get started and we'll build
three tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses, one
for Elijah. Now when he said this, it was
not a good thing. You have to sympathize with Peter.
He wanted to do something noble. He always wanted to do something
for the Lord Jesus Christ. I really think that in his heart
of hearts, Peter loved the Lord Jesus Christ. And he just did
some dumb things, didn't he? We know what he did in the last
chapter. We talked about it. But here, he just says something
that's inappropriate. It's very inappropriate. Because
he puts Jesus and Moses and Elijah on an equal footing. Let's make
three tabernacles. One for you, each of you. But
that wasn't the point in this. And so God the Father Himself
immediately speaks from Heaven. And he says these wonderful words,
he says, While he yet spake, Peter 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
then Jesus came and touched them and said, arise, be not afraid.
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus
only. Here, the God the Father speaks
about the one who is Jesus of Nazareth, standing there on this
mountain. Yes, he appears in his glory,
but God the Father himself speaks from heaven. This just does not
happen. This does not happen. All the
Old Testament, God the Father never spoke from heaven. At his baptism, God the Father
spoke. And he said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. But here again, God the Father
speaks from heaven. And he says this, Jesus of Nazareth,
the one who was born in Bethlehem in a stable, in a manger, born
to Mary, who grew up among you, whose family we know, this one
that the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees despise and
have rejected. who came to His own, and His
own didn't receive Him. This is my beloved Son. This
is the Son of God. This is my only begotten Son.
God the Father owns Christ as His Son, as He's standing here. He wasn't the Son who came and
lost His divinity when He came into the world. He retained it.
He who is God, the Son, came into the world, took on the nature
of a man, but he retained what he was as God, and God the Father
now owns him. He says, this is my beloved Son. He's the Son of God. He's the Son of God in every
way that God is God. All that God is, Christ is. I'll read one more verse to underscore
this for you in Hebrews chapter 1. Let's listen to these words.
Hebrews chapter 1. He says this about the Son. He
says, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in
time past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, By whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness
of His glory, and the expressed image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, the Son of God created
the world, upholds the world, is given everything in heaven
and earth. Everything that is God's is given
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And He's the one
by whom God has spoken. And listen to what He's done.
When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. Now, this is what God is saying.
God the Father speaks from Heaven. This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. God the Father is always pleased
with His Son. And we think about that. We think
to ourselves, that's all fine and good that He's pleased with
the Lord Jesus Christ. I would expect nothing less.
He's His own Son. And Jesus came into the world
and did all of His will. He should be pleased with Him.
But how is that important to me? That Jesus pleases God. The fact is, he didn't say he's
just pleased with his son, but he says, in whom I am well pleased. God the Father is not only pleased
that the Lord Jesus Christ became our mediator, and as our high
priest, offered himself to God as a sacrifice. And that pleased
God, that he would satisfy God's justice and save his people from
their sins. Not only because of that. But
He's pleased in Him. He's pleased in whom I am well
pleased. In other words, He's pleased
with Him and with all those who were given to Him. You see, this
is the message of Scripture. When God looks at His people,
He sees His Son. When He sees His Son, He sees
His people. They're treated as one. And so when He says, in
whom I am well pleased, God the Father is saying, I'm pleased
with everything that He does. And all that I see about Him
is pleasing to me." God the Father does say that to His people about
His Son. And He wants us to reckon ourselves
to be pleasing to God because of what He finds in His Son and
only what He finds in Him. Sometimes we think, well, won't
I get any kind of credit at all for things that I've done? No,
you won't. If God gives you any credit,
He's going to charge you with crimes. All that you've done
and all that I've done is filthy rags in God's sight. God says,
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He who knew
no sin was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. In Him. Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. I'll read this with you. In whom
I am well pleased, God the Father says, in whom I am well pleased. He says in 1 Corinthians, Chapter
1, verse 30. And first, verse 29 says that
no flesh should glory in His presence. No flesh is going to
glory in God's presence. That means nobody. I don't care
who you are. Moses, Elijah, Noah, Daniel,
Samson, Paul the Apostle, Peter the Apostle. No flesh is going
to glory, especially not me. But, in verse 30, but of Him,
of God the Father, are you in Christ Jesus? What is our relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ? We are in Him. God sees His people
as He sees His Son. This is the wonder of the Gospel.
The God has treated all of His people as one with His Son. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus? Who of God? is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Lord is our righteousness.
He's our sanctification. He's our wisdom. All of my knowledge
is insignificant. Most of it's all tangled up and
confused. But I can look away and say,
But all that I need to know about God, and all that I need to come
to God, and all that He needs me to know in order for Him to
receive me, He finds in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53 10 says,
By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. Because
of what He knows, of what God requires to save sinners, the
Lord Jesus Christ would justify His people by His own blood.
His wisdom, His obedience, not mine, His holiness, His setting
Himself apart to God is Him setting me apart to God. That is what
the Scripture teaches us. When we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, it is the result of the salvation God accomplished for
us. He gives us this faith because
God He gave us His Son and He died for His people. And because
He rose from the dead and justified us, God gives us His Spirit to
believe and to live before Him. In Him, He is well pleased. And
He says here in Matthew 17.5, Hear ye Him. Hear ye Him. I want to hear the Lord Jesus,
don't you? God the Father commands us to hear Him. What do we say
in response to that? Lord, cause me to hear Him and
to hear Him only. All the mysteries of the Old
Testament are revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. You look at
the books of the Bible, you start reading, you get confused, don't
you? But as soon as you turn to the New Testament and find
out it's all summed up and revealed and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Then you can ask, you say, I
might not understand how it all connects, but I know this, it's
all about Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ, it
says in 2 Corinthians 1.20, all the promises of God in Him are
yes and amen. Everything God has promised to
His people, He's given to them in Christ. All that God requires
of His people, He's received for them from the Lord Jesus
Christ. He stood in our place. He acted
in our behalf. He did to God what God required. And He brings from God all that
we need to live. He saves us from our sins. He
makes us holy before God. He does it all. Hear Him. And when the disciples heard
this voice in verse 6, they fell on their face and they were sore
afraid. Whenever a sinful man hears or sees God in his glory,
what do we do? We fall on our face and we're
scared to death. Look at Daniel chapter 10, just
one place in scripture to show this. You can see it throughout
Gideon and Manoah, the father of Samson. Daniel chapter 10. He said, I think it's in verse, look at
this in verse. Verse 5, Then I lifted up my
eyes, and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen,
whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphaz, his body
also was like beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning,
and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like
in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the
voice of a multitude. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can read this in Revelation chapter 1, John saw in the same
vision. And then it says, And I, 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
I saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in
me. For my comeliness was turned
in me 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 was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the
ground. And behold, a hand touched me,
which set me up upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.
And he said to me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand
the words that I speak to thee. And so He tells them these words.
So you see, this is throughout Scripture. Whenever we see or
hear the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, we fall on
our face and we're sore. They were scared. They were scared
of the voice they heard from heaven. And they were scared
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. These disciples... Well,
what does Jesus do? He says that He came to them,
and He touched them, and He said, Arise, and be not afraid. And
when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus
only. That's the message of Scripture.
We come face to face with God in our sins, and we're scared
to death. And then God shows us the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He says, Look to Him. Hear Him, Isaiah 45,
22, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth for
I am God and there is none else. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking in scripture. Look to Him. hear Him only and
see, find in yourself, ask the Lord to give you faith to look
to Christ and find in Him everything God requires of you. And come
to Him and bow before Him and ask Him, raise me up Lord, don't
leave me under the condemnation of my sin and the fear and unbelief,
but give me faith to see that Christ is everything. Let's pray.
Dear Lord, we pray that you would be so gracious to us, that you
would come to us and make yourself known and help us in our unbelief,
overcome this evil that's in us that we are. Save us from
our sin, Lord. Cause us to see the Lord Jesus
Christ and to hear him only. Lord, we are incapable of making
any progress in this in this thing of salvation you must do
everything for us you must save us you must tell us what you've
done and then you must give us faith to believe and you must
bring us to glory we are entirely in your hands for good or for
receiving what we deserve Lord we pray be merciful to us for
Christ's sake hear our prayers in Him Receive His obedience
as our obedience. Receive His blood as the covering
of all of our sin. Receive His prayers as the prayers
we ought to pray. And Lord, when you think of us,
we pray, Lord, that you would think of Him. And Lord, we pray
that we would be so thankful and admire our Lord Jesus Christ
for all that He's done for us. We would never lose sight of
His glory as we see it by faith from Your Word. We pray these
things for your glory, for the glory of your name. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.