and crown Him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng
we at His feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song
and crown Him Lord of all. Amen. Those elders cried with
a loud voice in heaven. We're so self-conscious. So self-conscious. One day we'll
be without self. I look so forward to that, don't
you? That this self is going to be lying in the grave forever. And we're going to worship God
100%. Matthew 17. The story of the Lord Jesus Christ
taking his three disciples up on the
mountain. and revealing himself to them, his true nature, his
true self, unveiling as it were, removing the flesh so that they
could see him as he is, light, is the story of salvation. This
is the story of how God reveals Christ to all of his chosen people. This is how we first understand
what we are, who He is, why He came, who He did it for. In Matthew 11, before we begin,
look at Matthew 11. Matthew chapter 11. See, the Lord chose these three
men to reveal His true self to them. Up to this point, you know, they
believed that He was the Son of God, but behold, did He remove
all doubt when He removed His veil of flesh. Look at Matthew
11, 27. The Lord said, All things are
delivered unto Me of the Father, and no man knoweth the Son but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Christ
came to reveal The Father to God. And God the Father here
on this mountain reveals the Son to His people. Transfigures Him before them. You know, none knew Him then
as He really was. Who it was that came. In the
previous chapter, the Lord said, Whom do men say that I am? And
some said this, and some said that. He said, whom do you say
that? He said, David, Christ. He said, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven. And as I
said, they really did believe that this is the Son of God come
down. But now, when He shows them, when they see Him as He
is. Alright, look at it with me.
Every word is significant. After six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
mountain, and was transfigured before them. The Son is revealed. Didn't Peter
say, Brethren, don't be ignorant of this one thing, that a day
is a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. This world is
6,000 years old. I don't care what they say. It
is 6,000 years old, okay? The Son is about to rise. The Son of Righteousness is about
to get up from His throne. And come back, and every eye
shall see Him as He is. And here is salvation. Is if the Lord reveals Himself
to us now. After six days. That's prophetic. What was just written is prophetic.
After six days. After six days. He took Peter,
James, and John. He chose whom He would. Look
at Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3. I love this.
Did these men choose to go with Him? To see His glory? No. He chose them. He chose them. They would not have seen His
glory had He not chosen them. Mark chapter 3. What is this? This is sovereign election. Mark
3, verse 13. I love this. He says, He goeth
up into a mountain and calleth whom He would. And they came unto Him. And He ordained to them. The
church, I was going to preach on it this morning, but I am
not. When you come to the church,
And that's the title and the subject. What does it mean to
come into church? Well, Hebrews 12 says, you're
coming to Mount Zion. The city of God. Heavenly Jerusalem. And that's another message. But
He chose whom He would. Back to our text. And they came
unto Him. So He chose Peter, James, and
John. He chose them to reveal Himself
to them. As He is. And brethren, this
is salvation. It's where it begins in the purpose
of God. The sovereign electing purpose
of God. That the purpose of God might
stand according to election. Romans 9 says. His purpose to
save some of Adam's fallen race. And He did this before the world
began. He knew who He was going to take up on that mountain and
show Himself to them, and that's who He chose, and that's who
saw Him. See, this is a picture, this is salvation, to be chosen
by God, elect of God, to hear His voice, to hear His Word,
to see His glory, to see who He really is. Not just
Jesus, but the Lord Jesus. Not just a man, although it's
a blessed thing. but the God-man, Immanuel. Call His name Immanuel, God with
us. Alright, He bringeth them up
into a high mountain, it said. And it says in verse 2, He was
transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun, and its brightness and its strength.
His raiment was white as the light Look at 2 Corinthians 4
with me. 2 Corinthians 4. We quote this
all the time. I want you to know it by heart.
I want you to look at it for yourself. I want you to know
where it is and what it says. And more than that, I want the
Lord to shine into your heart. Your children's hearts. Grandchildren. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5, We preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake. 4 God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. It says, his face did shine as
the sun, and his rain went white as light. Mark, I believe it
was, said he was white and glistening, glowing. This is a true description of
the true Lord Jesus Christ as He is. This is a true description.
There is no physical description of Jesus Christ His body upon
this earth, except to say, in no form or color. He said when
we see Him, there will be no beauty that we should desire
in Him. No physical description. He did not look like these depictions
of this so-called Jesus ever with long hair. He did not have
long hair. The Scripture says it's a shame
for a man to have long hair. He didn't have long hair. He wasn't a Caucasian. He wasn't
a handsome Caucasian like you see in these BBS posters. No, he was a Jew. He was a common,
ordinary, brown skin, plain. You could not tell him apart
physically from anybody else. We've already looked at that
before, that the beauty is not skin deep. True beauty is not
outward, inward. And that was all by design because
God designed a tabernacle in the wilderness. You remember
the old tabernacle or tent in the wilderness? That's Jesus
Christ. It was covered with plain brown badger skin so that the
Hivites, Hittites, all those parrots, those Ites would ride
by and they saw no beauty in that place that they should desire
it. And all these people, these priests
were scurrying around, and they'd see them go into that place.
Well, who saw the true beauty? The priests chosen by God who
would go into the Holy of Holies. You know what you saw when you
went inside? Shekinah glory. Gold. Precious stones. That's Christ. He covered Himself, He veiled
Himself in flesh when He came to this earth so that no man
knew Him as He was. But He chose a people. His disciples whom He chose to
show them His glory. And when He showed them His glory,
they saw the Son. The only description given of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the Scriptures is Revelation 1. You
couldn't paint a picture like that. Listen to it. It says,
he was clothed with a garment down to the foot, his head and
his hair as white as wool, as white as snow, his eyes were
as a flame of fire, his feet like fine brass burning in the
furnace, had in his right hand seven stars, out of his mouth
a sharp two-edged sword, his countenance as the sun shineth
in his strength. You cannot look on the sun again.
No one can look on the sun. He can't do that. It will blind
you. And that's why it says. That's
why it calls him the sun. If you ever just get a glimpse
of his glory. Saul of Tarsus did. Suddenly
it was shown round about him that he was going to kill these
Jesus followers and be done with this Jesus thing and the Lord
Jesus. appeared to him. Suddenly it
shone round about him a light, and it blinded him, and he couldn't
see anything. He saw no man. All he could see
before his eyes was that sun. His own beauty, there was nothing. His worth was gone. The beauty
of the world, gone. Yet ever before his eyes, the
sun His face is the sun that shineth
in its strength. You know why pictures and images
and all of that, graven images, are an abomination to God? You
know why they are? People have them. People have
these pictures. Crosses and statues and so forth. You know why they're an abomination
to God? Number one, because He said, don't do it. Because He
said, don't do it. Don't make any likeness of anything
in heaven and earth or in the sea. Don't put a fish on the
back of your truck. Don't do it. And that's reason enough. Don't do it. Number two, because
men worship those things. If you don't think they do, take the cross down and throw
it on the ground and step on it. See what happens. Huh? That's what Hezekiah did. He found the serpent of brass. Remember,
he found it. And the people were worshiping
it. They were bowing down before it. And he crushed it and ground
it to powder. He said, it's just worthless
brass. We don't worship the cross upon
which Christ hung. We worship the Christ who hung
on it. Worship Him. We worship God in
spirit. We don't use fleshly things. We have no confidence in the
things. It's an abomination because men worship those things. And
number three, these things cannot do our Lord justice. No picture
can do Him justice, can it? You see pictures of Christ hanging
on a cross? That degrades Him. Because you
cannot paint a picture of the sufferings He actually endured.
It says his visage was marred more than any man. And you degrade
him if you don't show him as something you can't look on. And you can't paint his health
as sufferings of his soul. God says, don't do this. Rob him of his glory. And you can't look upon the physical
Son. We can't look upon Christ now
as He is. We see something. We must see
through a glass dimly. Well, it says His face was as
the Son. And His raiment was white as
light. His raiment. Go with me to Revelation 19.
We've looked at this many times, but I want you to know where
this is. So you can be a good witness. Revelation 19. His raiment. This is the garment
that everyone in glory wears. His raiment that's white as light. It says we're going to meet to
be partakers of the angels in light. Robes of light. You know, when there's a wedding, if they're bridesmaids, you provide
the garments for them, don't you? They don't just come any
old way they want to. Our Lord told a story of a man
who came into the wedding, and he didn't have on a wedding garment.
And the Lord said, how did you come in here like that? And he
said, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with my garment?
I like it. I used to describe man's righteousness as one of
those hospital garments. Everyone wore a hospital garment?
You look pretty good up front, don't you? Don't turn around. You reveal yourself for what
you really are. We need to be covered, don't
we? Robed. And our righteousness is filthy
rag. We need to be robed in His spotless garment, don't we? It's
the first thing the Lord did for that prodigal son as a father. Bring the best robe. Put it on
him. Revelation 19, verse 7. They said, Let us be glad and
rejoice and give honor to Him. The marriage of the Lamb has
come. His wife hath made herself ready. To her was granted This
was granted to her, made for her, wrought for her, that she
should be arrayed, that she should be clothed, Revelation 19 verse
8, that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and white,
glycerine, bright. For the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. It's not their righteousness
which they wrought, which they worked, it's Christ's. Right? You know that. You know how few
people know that. But you know that, don't you?
When these disciples were chosen, go back to the text. They saw
Him as the Son of Righteousness, risen with healing in His wing.
They saw Him as light and life. The Son. Why is He called the
Son? Because there's no life without the Son, is there? No life. No life. And in Him
is life, and He that hath the Son hath life. It says His raiment was white
as light. There's no understanding. We're
blind without the light. Christ is the light. We don't
know anything of God, of ourselves, of salvation, unless it's through
Christ, the light. He gives light. He's come and
given us light. Brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. So they saw his face, they saw
his raiment. Have you? Have you? Yes. And behold, there appeared
unto them Moses and Elias, or Elijah, talking with him. There appeared unto them two
men who were talking to him. And they're just standing by
watching all this. Moses and Elijah. You all know this. Some
of you don't. But Moses is the law in him.
He represents the law. Elijah, perhaps the greatest
or one of the greatest of the prophets in him. Well, to him,
give all the prophets witness. And our Lord said, Moses wrote
of me. Significantly, Paul wrote, the
minds of the Jews are blinded to this day in the reading of
the Old Testament. When Moses is read, there's a
covering, there's a veil over their eyes, they can't see. How
is it that the Jews today, and even so-called Christians today,
can read and look at stories like the Smitten Rock, like the
manna, like the Ark of Noah, like the Ark of the Covenant,
like Joseph, stories like that, Boaz, and not see Christ? How
is it when it's so clear to us? God's removed the veil. He said that veil is done away
in Christ. When that veil is removed, By
the hand of God, by the power of God through the gospel. It's
Him! It's Him. Moses and Elijah appeared
to them. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Christ said, Moses wrote of Me. He said all Scripture bears witness
of Me. And remember when he preached
to those two disciples on the road to Emmaus? He opened their
understanding and began with the books of Moses, the Psalms,
and the Prophets. That's the whole Old Testament.
And expanded unto them the things concerning himself. God wrote
this book to reveal the Son. Set forth the Son. How many times
have you heard this? I never get tired of saying it.
The Old Testament says, all the Old Testaments, From Genesis
to Malachi, it says, someone's coming. That's why it was written. To set forth Christ, to show
sinners the light, Christ the light, the Savior. The Gospels
say, He's here. It'll be said in that day, this
is our God. He'll save us. He is. Thomas fell at His feet. Thomas
wasn't up there. Oh, he saw his God. All of his
people did. And then the epistles and the
revelations say, He's coming again, the Son of Righteousness,
with Him in His wing, for those that look for Him, the second
time, without sin. Alright, look at this. It says that Moses and Elias
were talking with Him in Mark's Gospel, no, Luke's Gospel, chapter
9. Here's what they were talking
about. They were talking with Him. To Him give all the prophets
witness. And the Lord showed these prophets,
Moses to the disciples, that all the prophets in the law speak
with Him, speak of Him, concerning Him. What were they talking about? Luke 9 says they were speaking
of the death He should accomplish. Listen to me now if you haven't
heard anything yet. All the Word speaks of the death
that Jesus Christ came to accomplish. All the Scriptures speak of Christ
and Him crucified. Buried, risen, exalted, successful,
accomplished. The work finished by Christ.
All the Scriptures speak of that. That's what they were speaking
of. It's death. Our death doesn't accomplish
anything, does it? When you die, if I preach your
funeral, I will not stand up and say, well, he finally accomplished
something. No, it's the end of everything
we try to accomplish. It's over. Mindy was talking
last night about, what am I going to do with all your stuff when
you die? Throw it away. Or give it away. But our Lord's death was an accomplishment. We've looked at this so many
times, but our Lord, for Him to die was an accomplishment.
Do you understand? He had no sin. The wages of sin
is death. We're going to die because of
sin. We have to. Thank God our souls won't die.
But He didn't have to die. He could not die. He's righteous. He's holy. Adam could not have
died until he sinned. And Christ couldn't either until
he was made sin. Until he willingly, like Adam
took part of his wife's sin, until he willingly became sin. Until he said, I laid down my
life. No man taketh my life. I lay
it down of myself. I have this power. And thank
God, He willingly laid down His life and became sin for His people. Death was an accomplishment for
Him. And what He accomplished by that
death was the full, complete accomplishment of everything
God sent Him to do. This must be preached loudly. And Christ hung on the cross
after doing what he did for sinners. He cried with a loud voice, is
this okay? Saying, it is finished. I see some smiles. the work of
redemption, salvation accomplished, the sins of God's people put
away, blotted out, the law satisfied, redemption accomplished, salvation
certain, fixed, sure, payment made, God is satisfied, finished,
nothing left to do. It's done, it is done, the great
transaction is done. Let me holler it again. Man, the fulfillment of the law,
the putting away of sin, the abolition of death, it's accomplished. Anyone who stands up and says
that Christ has done all he can do, and now it's up to you, is
a false prophet. Anyone who stands up and says,
now God wants to save you and can't, tried to save you, and
He can't unless you let Him, is preaching a God who cannot
save. We declare the God who is God. This is the Jesus Christ who
came to accomplish salvation. And what does the Scripture say?
He did it. By Himself, Hebrews 1 says that,
by Himself put away the sins of God's people. If you're a sinner, I can't shout
that loud enough to you. If you're helpless and hopeless
and feel damned and doomed and unrighteous, brethren, if you
know yourself for what you really are, like these disciples finally
for the first time saw themselves as what they are before the God
who's a consuming fire, and they heard them talk about, it's accomplished,
it's done, it's finished, just look to Him. accomplished. Well, it made them sore afraid. Sore afraid. Mark chapter 9 says
they were sore afraid. Sore afraid. Why? Because we ought to be. Because
this is the beginning of wisdom. No one knows God and knows Jesus
Christ unless they fear Him. Why would you fear it? Because
I'm a sinner. Scripture says it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God. And our God's
a consuming fire. Let's say that in the New Testament. And I'm a sinner before an angry
God who will by no means clear the guilty. But good news, Christ
accomplished salvation for guilty sinners. All who come to God
by Him. God loves you. He's not angry
with you. He's propitiated. He's satisfied. His anger was
spent upon Christ. The rod of justice was broken
on His back. The chastisement of our peace
was laid open to Him. By His stripes we're healed.
Come boldly. The veil is rent, you see. And you can come in to the very
holiest of holies where God is. And God will say, Well done,
now, good and faithful servant. But I haven't done anything.
That's right. But Jesus paid it off. All the
debt you owe. Sin left a crimson stain. But
listen to me. He washed it white as snow. I've preached this a lot, but
I feel like I'm listening to it for the first time. Would that someone in here would
hear it the first time. They were sore afraid. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All this talk of Jesus this and
Jesus that, and I'm going to let... They don't know it. They
don't know it. These men were sore afraid. When
they heard the Word of God. Now here's what God said. Our
voice came from heaven. We've got to hear the Word of
God, don't we? We've got to hear the voice of God that makes the
hens to calf. That's new birth. We've got to
hear the voice of God that breaketh the hard rock. That's His proud
heart. We've got to hear the voice of
God, don't we? Our Lord said, to this man will I look, that
he is a poor and a contrite, broken heart, and trembleth at
my word. What did God say? Alright, look
at it. Verse 5, Peter wanted to build
some tabernacles, some monuments. That's what religious man wants
to do. While he was speaking, behold,
a bright cloud overshadowed him. Notice it wasn't a dark cloud.
It wasn't a dark cloud. God was speaking to him. It was
a bright cloud. He may strike fear in you, but
it's a good thing. It's a bright cloud. And behold,
a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son. In whom I am well pleased, here ye him." You know, God never said that
about anybody. He never said that. This is my
servant Moses, I'm welcome. He didn't say that. This is Elijah,
I'm welcome. Elijah was a sinner. A coward,
running. The Lord had to come and find
him under a juniper tree. Moses got angry. Shall I give
you water out of that rock? God said, you didn't sanctify
me. Our Lord did. Jesus Christ did. His Son always
sanctified Him. His Son always did that which
was well pleasing in His sight. And God said from heaven, I'm
well pleased for His righteousness. This is My servant. Behold My
servant. Mine elect whom I have chosen.
He's going to come. Isaiah 42. He's coming. Oh, He's
going to bring judgment. He's going to bring in an everlasting
salvation. Oh, the Gentiles are going to
receive it. This is my Son, and I'm well pleased for His righteousness
sake. And He's well pleased with anyone
who's in Him. Anyone who comes to God by Him. Everyone who believes in Him,
who trusts Him, who looks to Him. He's well pleased. Here ye Him. You know, God has
a hundred times in diverse manners spoken to the Father by the Prophet,
but half in these last days spoken to us. He's got one thing to
say. Hear my son. Look to my son. He's the way. He's the truth.
He's the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by Him. Joseph, this is the Lord's Joseph. If you need something, go to
Him. Oh, the corn in Egypt belonged
to Joseph. He delights to give it. Hear
him. Hear him. And they fell on their
faces, verse 6, and were sore afraid. See, this is the beginning
of wisdom. It's the beginning of wisdom.
Brethren, when you hear the Word of the Lord, you'll fear the
Lord. When you see something of His glory, You'll see yourself
for what it is, not until then. When you see His goodness, His
holiness, you'll see yourselves as no good. When you see His
beauty, you'll see all flesh for what it is, grass that wither. When you see His righteousness,
you'll see yours full of holes, filthy rain. When you see His
works, you'll see yours that come far short. Why He came and what He did,
you'll see your life, you'll see everything concerning yourself
as an abject failure. But when you see Him, you'll
see an accomplishment. And when you see yourself like
that, and you look to Him, you'll see your life, your soul, your
salvation, and everything about you, your future, is in His hands. And you will be satisfied. He came, and they're on the ground
before Him in fear, and He put His hand upon them and said,
don't be afraid. Fear not. Isn't this wonderful? That's His name. Wonderful. Don't be afraid. To those that
fear Him, only those that fear Him, He says, don't be afraid.
that fear his name. Listen to me. Unto you that fear
his name shall the son of righteousness arise. Those that fear him, he'll
come for them. And you have nothing to be afraid
of. Oh, I'm afraid when he comes,
he'll find me a sinner. He found you a sinner when he
found you. No, I tell you how he's going
to find you. In Christ, in the rock. Moses, he said, there's
a place by me. I'm going to put you in the rock.
He didn't say, Moses, come climb on the rock. He said, I'm going
to put you in there. Did you hear that? Let me say
that one more time. Somebody. I'm going to put you in there.
Of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us. What? Everything. Accomplished. But I come short. Yes, you do
in every way. You always will. You never will
come up, measure up. But he did. And He's our righteous,
He's our covenant head, He's our... Nothing I'm trying to
preach is. It can't be preached. This is
the best it can be done though, I'm telling you. Preaching Him,
lifting Him up. This ought to lift up the worst
sinner in here. Give hope to the hopeless. Comfort
for the comfortless. In verse 8, they lifted up their
eyes. Lift up. Your eyes, they saw
no man. Take Jesus on. Peter was impressed with
Moses. Some people in here, you know,
were smitten and taken with the law. Like Saul of Tarsus, you
thought you were keeping the law, you know. When Christ came
to Saul of Tarsus, oh, I hadn't kept one law. And Jeanette, he
sure was thankful that Jesus Christ came to keep the law there.
And he said that from then on, didn't he? That was his message,
wasn't it? Oh, it's not my law keeping,
but my law keeper. Moses. Peter was taken up with
Moses. Elijah. Signs and miracles and
wonders of people in religion taken up with Elijah and the
prophets and they want to see things and so forth. When you
see Christ, You won't be taken up with things
and signs and visions. You'll see Him only. That salvation
is accomplished by one man. Yes, a man. A man. What comfort this is. There is a man in glory. Psalm
24 says, Lift up your gates, ye everlasting door, lift them
up. It begins by saying, Who shall ascend unto the holy hill
of the Lord? He that hath clean hands, a pure heart, Never lifted
up his soul out of the vanity or sworn deceit, but lifted up
his soul out of the vanity. Who can say that? I can't. Can
you? Christ can, and He did. And so
the gates of heaven say, open up. God says, open these gates.
There's a man walking through. A man, the second Adam from above,
reinstated us in His love. He did. And He came walking through. And look, look behind me. Our
Lord always went before His disciples. And He comes walking through
the gates. And look behind Him. The train is going to fill that
temple. His people. Hanging on to Him. Coming in
by virtue of His righteousness alone. And God says, Come one,
come all. By Jesus Christ. They saw no
man but Him. Oh, may we see none but Him.
One Lord, one faith, one hope of our calling, one life, one
way, one truth. And it is Jesus Christ. Alright, let's sing number 272.
Number 272. On Christ the solid rock I stand. Number 272.