Alright, let's stay right there
in the book of Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. Now the title
of the message today is the Exodus of the Cross. The Exodus of the
Cross. And that title is taken from
verse 31. here in the account of what is commonly known as
the Mount of Transfiguration. Because here is where the Lord
Jesus Christ, in this glorious vision to these three disciples,
Peter and John and James, revealed himself in his glory as the Savior,
the Surety, the Substitute, the Redeemer, mediator of his people
the salvation of his people and in verse 31 it speaks of Christ
and Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory and they had this counsel
in this vision on this mount and what did they talk about
here's the Lord Jesus Christ here's Moses One of the great
leaders of the Hebrew children. And then here's Elijah. Now Moses
represents the law. The law came by Moses, John wrote. Grace and truth comes by Jesus
Christ. Elijah represents the tradition,
the message, the school of the prophets. And so it says they spoke, they
had a council. What do you suppose they talked
about? Well, they had a council on how to get more people into
the church. Or how to raise money, that's a big one, isn't it? We
gotta have a council on how to raise money. We gotta build a
building project. Look at what they talked about.
They spoke of his decease. That's his death, isn't it? Now
that word, decease, If you look it up in the original Greek,
it's the Greek word exodus. Exodus. They spoke of his exodus. And notice this, it says they
spoke of his deceits which he should accomplish. Ever thought
of death as an accomplishment? Somebody gets sick and they go
to the doctor, they take the pills, they take the treatments
and they die anyway, despite all of the efforts to keep them
alive? That's a defeat, isn't it? Not his death. It's an accomplishment. That word accomplishment is translated
more than any other, in any other way in the New Testament as fulfill. They spoke of his decease, his
death, his exodus. that he should fulfill at Jerusalem. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the cross, isn't he? His cross death. Now we all
know about the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, part of the Pentateuch, part
of the Torah, part of the Old Covenant Law, the books of Moses.
The book of Exodus is the story of how God sent a deliverer named
Moses, a man, down to Egypt to deliver the Hebrew children out
of the bondage of Egypt, the bondage of slavery out of Egypt. That's what the word Exodus means
in the Hebrew, means out of, brought out of. It's what it
means here in the New Testament, his deceased. It wasn't just
the death And it certainly wasn't a defeat, it wasn't the end of
life, but it was an accomplishment leading out, going out from. Back in the book of Exodus in
the Old Testament, that Exodus of Moses leading the Hebrew children
out of the bondage of Egypt was a type, a picture, and even a
prophecy of an even greater, more powerful, and eternal spiritual
exodus that is spoken of right here in Luke chapter 9. You see
that exodus back in Moses' day, that was a very limited thing.
It was temporal. You see, it didn't lead the children
of Israel permanently out of bondage because they went back
into bondage under other nations. And it was not as powerful, it
had nothing to do with spiritual deliverance because we're going
to see in a few moments that even though they were delivered
out of Egypt bodily, some of their hearts were left right
there in Egypt. But here, in Luke chapter nine, is a greater,
spiritual, infinitely more powerful, permanent exodus out of the bondage
of sin and Satan and death for the true people of God, the true
Israel, God's elect, given him before the foundation of the
world. given Christ. Let's look at several things
we can notice about this short passage. Number one, the first
thing we see is a revelation of the glory of God. Look at
verse 28. It came to pass about an eight
days after these sayings. Now this is the Lord in his public
ministry, his earthly ministry, going about preaching the gospel,
teaching, healing, performing miracles. And after about eight
days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James,
three of his disciples. We don't know why he picked these
three particularly. People speculate on that, but
don't do that. That does no good. All we know
about these men is that they were sinners saved by the grace
of God. Chosen not because of anything
in themselves or any merit or any talent or anything special
about them, just because it seemed good in God's sight. Why does
God choose anybody to save? The scripture tells us that it
has absolutely nothing to do with anything about us or in
us or done by us. It's totally His free sovereign
grace and that's it. And it says they went up into
a mountain to pray. Verse 29, and as He prayed, as
Christ prayed, the fashion or the manner of his countenance.
Now that's how he looks, his visage. It was altered, it was
changed. And his raiment, his clothing,
was white and glistening. Here's what we see in this vision,
what Peter and James and John saw, is first of all the glory
of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. His glory as God in human
flesh. God-man. His name shall be called
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. His name
shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with
us. This is the Word made flesh. This is who He is. He's not just
a mere man, and He's certainly not a sinful man. There are people
today who are preaching that in some way he was made sin by
some kind of a mystical or literal transference of sin into him
or to him. That's not true. That's blasphemy,
folks. He came to this sinful place. He walked among sinners. He ate
with public and sinners. He associated with people that
most religionists wouldn't even give the time of day. But he never became a sinner. He was never made a sinner. He
never was corrupted by their sin. He remained the perfect
sinless God-man throughout all his journeys here on this earth
in 33 and a half years. He was made like unto his brethren
in the flesh as far as his humanity. And He was tempted, tested in
all points like as we are, yet without sin. Understand that. Don't ever let anybody challenge
that in your thinking. And Peter and James and John,
they're seeing His glory as God-man. And then, they see His glory
as the Savior of His people. What is that? His raiment. was
white and glistering. Now, whenever in the Bible you
see either a vision or some facsimile or some literal clothing, like
for the high priest, for example, where it talks about the white
linen, the white and glistering, over in Revelation, the pure
linen, the clothing, the wedding garment, you know what it's talking
about? It is talking about, now mark this down, it's talking
about gospel righteousness. That's what it's talking about.
Some would go here and they'd say, well, that's talking about
His sinless perfection. Well, He was sinlessly perfect
and is sinlessly perfect. He did no sin, He knew no sin,
and there was no sin in Him. But that's not what this is talking
about. His raiment. It's talking about the white
robe of his righteousness, gospel righteousness. And I'll tell
you how I know that. Because the subject of the conversation
here is his death, which was and is the accomplishment of
righteousness for his people. It is, listen, what this is,
this is his pure and spotless righteousness brought forth by
his death. That is the merits, the worth,
the value of his obedience unto death, which was freely imputed,
charged, accounted to his people. That's what it's talking about.
It's more than just moral purity and sinless perfection. It's
the righteousness he would accomplish for his people whereby God is
just to justify them. It's the righteousness of God
revealed in the gospel. Because it's associated with
the cross. With the exodus. This is how
He as God in human flesh, Christ crucified, leads His people,
His sheep, His church out of the bondage of sin, out of the
bondage of Satan, out of the bondage of death, out of the
bondage of this world. If it were just his sinless perfection,
that would do us no good. All that would do is condemn
us. I've heard people say, you know, in Romans 1, 16 and 17,
it talks about how the gospel is the power of God unto salvation,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. I heard a preacher
one time talking about the righteousness of God there, and he said this,
this is talking about God's absolute, infinite justice, and that alone. And I thought, oh no. And I'll
tell you why. The word gospel means good news. And if that's just talking about
God's infinite justice, and that alone, I want to tell you something,
that's not good news to any sinner. Because all that would do is
condemn us. That's right. We need a righteousness. that
we cannot produce that enables God to justify sinners like us. He must be just when He justifies. How is He going to do that and
still save a sinner like me? How can a man be justified with
God? Well, we're going to talk about
it. They spoke of His decease, which He should accomplish. It's
by the death of Christ in my place as my surety, as my substitute. The lamb slain, you see, that's
what it's talking about. This is gospel righteousness
that's being revealed here. This is not just God's justice
in its infinite requirement, which no man, no sinner can measure
up to. This is God's way of salvation.
This is God's way to justify the ungodly. God who cannot clear
the guilty. Well, so what does He do? He
puts one in the place of His people and makes him guilty by
imputation. Christ was made sin. That's what
that's talking about. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's the revelation of the
glory of God. Did you know that? You remember back in the tabernacle?
The Holy of Holies. What was in there? The Ark of
the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. And the High Priest entered in
one time a year and sprinkled the blood of sacrifice on the
Mercy Seat. That's salvation. That's the blood of Christ. Bearing
away, washing away the sins of His people. That's His righteousness
charged to them. That's what all that picture.
And that's what this is about. We'll notice this secondly. Here's
a revelation of gospel liberation. Look at verse 30. And behold,
there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias. That's
the Greek name of Elijah. What do we have here? The Law
and the Prophets. That's what that's talking about. Moses represents
the Law. What does the Law say? The Law
says, Galatians 3.10, Cursed is everyone that continues not
in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do
them. Moses represents what the Law requires. Perfect satisfaction. to its precepts and its penalty. That's why the Bible teaches
that Moses could not be the Savior eternally and spiritually. The
law cannot save you. The bare law cannot do it. All
the law can do is condemn us. That's right. Why? Because all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of
sin is death. You can do your best and you
still cannot meet the requirement of the law. And then here's Elijah. What
does he represent? He represents the message of
the prophets, the school of the prophets. And what did the prophets
speak of? They spoke of the coming Messiah. the Savior, the Redeemer, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the message, the coming Messiah who would
come and establish righteousness by His obedience in death as
the substitute and surety of His people. I could show you
so many examples of this, but just look back at Jeremiah chapter
23 just as an example. And you know these prophecies
of the Messiah, whenever it spoke of His person and His redemptive
work. It always spoke of how He would
come to do this, to establish judgment and justice. Because
God must be just when He justifies. Look at verse 5 of Jeremiah 23. And like I said, we could go
through the Old Testament on this. But it says, Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a
righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper. That's
Christ. Nobody else fits that bill but
Christ. He says, and he shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. How's he going to do that? By
the cross, by his death on the cross under the wrath of God,
for the sins of his people, the dead of his people, imputed,
charged, accounted to him. And in his days, verse six, Judah
shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. That's a picture
of the spiritual Israel, the church of the living God, made
up of Jew and Gentile, God's elect out of every tribe and
nation, all who are brought to faith in Christ. And this is
his name, Christ's name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. That's what Peter and James and
John are seeing right back here in Luke chapter nine. And look at verse 31, here's
our main text. He appeared in glory, and they
spoke of his exodus, his decease, which he should accomplish at
Jerusalem. This is the exodus of the cross. Look at John chapter
16 with me. And the point is this, that in
his death, That would not be the end of life, the end of salvation,
a defeat. It would be an accomplishment.
It would be a fulfillment. It would be a success. You see,
Jesus Christ in His death, you know what He did? He saved His
people from their sins. He didn't try to save them. He
didn't make them savable. He didn't make salvation possible.
He finished the work. He secured the salvation of His
people. And in doing that, what he did
is he led them out of the bondage of sin. Just like Moses led the
children of Israel out, or the Hebrew children, out of the bondage
of Egypt. Trying to do the impossible,
making bricks without straw. Christ leads his people out of
the bondage of sin and trying to do the impossible, trying
to save ourselves by our works. But look at John 16, look at
verse 8, talking about the work of the Spirit. It says, when
the Spirit has come, John 16 and verse 8, he will reprove,
that word means to convict or convince, the world of sin and
of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not
on me, without faith it's impossible to please God. Verse 10, of righteousness
because I go to my Father and you see me no more. When Christ
died on that cross, he died, he was buried, he arose the third
day, and he ascended unto his father. And you know why all
that happened? Because according to the will
and purpose of God from the very beginning, it was bound to happen.
And secondly, because he established the ground of salvation in life,
righteousness. His resurrection was the proof
that his death was the accomplishment of righteousness. And in that
righteousness that he accomplished for his people, he went to the
Father. And what does the Bible say about
it? He purged our sins and he sat down on the right hand of
the Father. You know why he sat down? Because
he finished the work. You know he's the only high priest
who sat down? in the service of His Father. None of those high priests under
the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, none of them ever, when they
were doing the duties of the tabernacle and the temple, they
were never allowed to sit down. There were no chairs in that
holy place or in the Holy of Holies. You know why? Because
their work was never finished. It was always to be repeated.
The blood of bulls and goats could never put away sin. The
workings of the blood of animals could not equal righteousness. But when Christ went through
the exodus of the cross, after he finished, remember he said,
it is finished, it is accomplished, it is fulfilled, it is perfected.
He sat down. The finished work of Christ.
That's why we call him our Sabbath. Sunday's not our Sabbath. Did
you know that? Christ is our Sabbath. Sunday's the first day
of the week. It's the Lord's day. We meet
to worship, but we're resting in Christ. He's our righteousness. He's our forgiveness. He's everything. Look back at Luke chapter nine.
You see, this exodus of the cross is a new spiritual and eternal
deliverance for all for whom Christ stood as surety and substitute,
for whom He died, for whom He was buried, for whom He arose
again. Look over at Hebrews chapter 3. Here's a great comparison. Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1. He says, Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. It's not Moses, it's not
Elijah, it's not the preacher, it's not some famous person,
it's Christ. He is the high priest and the
apostle of our profession. Verse two, who was faithful to
him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his
house, for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Here's a greater than Moses.
Inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than
the house, Christ is the builder of his church. For every house
is built by some, but he that built all things is God. And
Moses was verily was faithful in all his house as a servant
for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.
Moses was a testimony of Christ to come. Verse six, but Christ
as a son over his own house, Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end?
Now, what is the confidence of our rejoicing and our hope? Christ
finished the work. It's this exodus of the cross.
Look back at Luke 9. Look here. Thirdly, notice the
parallels between the type and this glorious fulfillment. Remember
back in Exodus? You know why the Hebrew children
were delivered out of Egypt? You know what the Bible says
about that? And I won't have you turn to all these scriptures,
because there's too many. This is Exodus 2 and verse 24.
You can mark it down. Why did God deliver the Hebrew
children out of Egypt? Was it because they were so much
better than the Egyptians? Was it because they made a decision
for Christ and walked an aisle and got baptized? No. Here's why, Exodus 2.24, it says,
God heard their groaning and God remembered His covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God had made a covenant
400, or some say 430 years before. with Abraham, confirmed it through
Isaac and Jacob. This was God's sovereign purpose
from the beginning. It had nothing to do with any
qualification in the Hebrew children. In fact, if you go back and read
the last parts of Genesis and Exodus, and the first parts of
Exodus, you'll find that they were disqualified in many ways. You know what that teaches us? God, out of his free sovereign
mercy, chose and saves sinners who don't earn salvation and
don't deserve it. You can ask yourself the question,
if you give evidence of being one of God's chosen people by
belief of the truth, belief in Christ, you can ask yourself
from here to eternity, why did God choose me? And there's no
answer in yourself. It's because it pleased Him to
do so. Well, if God has led me out of
the bondage of sin and Satan and death, you know why He did
it? Because He made a covenant with
His Son before the foundation of the world. I'm the product
of a salvation that was given me in Christ before the world
began. And God did not look down through
a telescope of time and foresee what I would do, because if He
did that, I'd be doomed. Think about this. Christ's death on the cross was
an accomplishment by the sovereign purpose and will of God. And then, back then in Exodus,
the Old Testament Exodus, God chose and sent a man to be their
deliverer. He chose Moses. There was no qualifications in
Moses. Moses was born one of the Hebrew
children, but you know the story how he was, his mother put him
in the bulrushes and put him in and sent him down the river
and the queen of Egypt, the daughter of Pharaoh found him. That was
all God's doing. Well, Jesus Christ, the God-man,
is the deliverer of His people. God sent Moses down to Egypt
to deliver a particular people. Not everybody without exception,
but His people, His covenant people, and Moses was successful. Well, in the same way, God sent
His Son into this world to deliver His chosen people, and He delivered
us. The Bible says He gave His life
for the sheep. The Bible says He purchased His
church with His own blood. And then God delivered them by
one sacrifice. Remember all the plagues, and
at the end of it, it was the blood on the doorpost. God said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Well, it's by
the blood of the cross that God delivers His spiritual Israel. Notice, fourthly, the results
of the accomplishment contained in the word Exodus. Turn back
to Exodus chapter 14. I want to show you something
here that's real interesting. And this also will show you and
me how much better the Exodus of the cross is than that Exodus
back then. You know, I remember as a boy,
going to the theater to see the Ten Commandments. You all seen
that with Charlton Heston and all that? Boy, I thought that
was something. Oh, Cecil B. DeMille. That was
really impressive to me. I want to tell you something.
And I'm sure that probably the film didn't even capture the
half of it. That's what really went on. But you know, you have
a tendency to think, boy, if God would do something like that
today, that would really be, you know, there'd be thousands,
millions flock. No. Even the Hebrew children,
after they saw it. Do you know it was right after
this portion here that I'm gonna read, that God opened up the
Red Sea, they walked over dry shod on dry land, and God closed
it up on the Egyptians and killed them. And then Moses went up
into the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments. And you
remember what he found when he came back down? Oh, they were
having a church service. Yes, they were. One of idolatry. So, put out of our minds any
notion that they were qualified or better than the Egyptians.
In fact, they talked about how they wanted to return to Egypt.
Look at verse 10 of Exodus 14. It says, when Pharaoh drew nigh,
here they are on the banks of the sea, the children of Israel
lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them,
and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried
out unto the Lord, and they said unto Moses, Because there were
no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?
Did you just bring us out here to die? Now think about what
they've already seen in all those plagues. Wherefore, why have you dealt
with us this way to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this
the word we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone,
Moses, let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For
it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that
we should die in the wilderness. Boy, what a faithful group. Now don't get proud, because
that's me and you by nature. That's me and you left ourselves,
isn't it? Well, look at what Moses says in verse 13. And Moses
said unto the people, fear ye not and stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom
you've seen today, you shall see them again no more forever.
The Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace.
You see that? That's exactly what happens in
a spiritual way when God the Holy Spirit in the new birth
brings a sinner to see the accomplishment, the fulfillment of the exodus
of the cross. Stand still. Stop trying to make
yourself fit and qualified and righteous before God. You can't
do it. Stop trying to establish your
own righteousness before God. Stand still and see Christ. He is my righteousness. He's
bringing me out. He frees me from the bondage
of sin. I am not condemned in Christ.
I have a righteousness. that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. It's His righteousness imputed,
charged to man. There is therefore now no condemnation. And then when the Holy Spirit
comes and brings us to see the glory of God in Christ, He liberates
us from the darkness and the deception of false religion and
brings us to believe in Christ and rest in Him and to stand
still And look unto Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.
What an exodus. That's it. Look back at Luke
9 and I'll close with this. Listen to this. Verse 32. Notice who gets the glory in
all this. Peter and they that were with him were heavy with
sleep. We get heavy with sleep quite
a bit, don't we? And when they were awake, whose glory did they
see? They saw his glory, Christ. And the two men that stood with
him, it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter said
unto Jesus, Master, it's good for us to be here. Boy, he was
right there. Now listen to this. Let us make three tabernacles,
one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah, not knowing what
he's saying. You don't know what you're saying,
Peter. There's Moses there, let's build a shrine to Moses, let's
build a shrine to the light, let's build one to Christ. That's
false religion for you, isn't it? He didn't know what he was saying,
he's speaking out of ignorance. And while he thus spoke, 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, you look
to Christ. Don't look to Moses, don't look
to Elijah, don't look to the preacher, don't look to yourself,
don't look to the denomination, look to Christ. Look unto me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. And then verse
36, when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone. It's all
about Christ alone, isn't it? And it says, and they kept it
closed until no man in those days of those things which they'd
seen. It wasn't time for that to be made public. God has a
time for everything. Well, my friends, that's the
exodus of the cross. That's the exodus that I want
to experience and that I want to see. And I'll tell you something,
it's a whole lot better than even what the Hebrew children
went through back in those days. This is the exodus of the crows.
All right.