Would you turn to Luke chapter
9. Verse 28 of Luke chapter 9. And it came to pass about eight
days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James. and went up into a mountain to
pray. Now that means there was nine
others that he didn't take. They were left behind. And I've
always looked at that passage of scripture and thought, I'd
like to be one of those three. I'd like to be one of the three
he took. But he left the other nine for a purpose. You know,
as you go on reading, after this event, when they came down from
the Mount of Transfiguration, The Pharisees were questioning
the nine disciples who were unable to cast out a demon. And they
were learning this glorious, glorious lesson, without me,
you can do nothing. What a blessed thing to be taught
that. So they had great blessing in not being among the three
that went with the Lord. But that being said, I sure would
like to have been one of those three, wouldn't you? That went
with the Lord and witnessed this event. Verse 29, and as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered. And his raiment
was white and glistening. And just like I read in Matthew,
it says his face did shine as the sun. And his raiment became
white as light. Mark said no fool on earth could
make anyone's clothing so bright at this time. Now, the only explanation
of this is that his deity burst through his humanity. That's just an amazing, glorious
thought. His deity burst through his humanity. Now, Jesus Christ is very God
of very God. Isaiah 9, 6 says, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. Yes,
that's what they call Him. The Everlasting Father. Somebody
says, explain that to me. I wouldn't attempt to, but there
it is. The Prince of Peace. John chapter
14, verse 9, Philip said, Show us the Father, and it sufficeth
us. He said, Philip, if I've been so long time with you, and
yet hast thou not known me, he that hath seen me hath seen the
Father. Colossians 2.9 says, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead. That's glorious, isn't it? In his body dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. John 1.1, in the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. He's very God of very God and
He is man. As one said, so fully God as
if He were not man at all. And so fully man as if He were
not God at all. What a mysterious, glorious being
is the Son of God, our Savior. Fully God and fully man. But do you know when people saw
Him, they had no idea He was God. Think about this. He grew up in a home with his
brothers and sisters, and they didn't get it. They had no idea
that he was God over all, blessed forever. He was an ordinary looking
man. The scripture says he hath no
form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there's no
beauty in him that we should desire him. Now, you wouldn't
look at me and say, well, there's God. No. And you wouldn't look
at him and say, there's God, you wouldn't recognize him as
God. But at this time, his deity,
his glorious Godhead, burst through his humanity. And one of these
days, you and I can get to see this. Don't you look forward
to that, to be able to see him as he is? To have no unbelief
or sin to block the view, but you see this glorious one, the
Lord Jesus Christ as he is. Now, there were two men speaking
with him at this time, verse 30. And behold, there talked
with him two men. which were Moses and Elijah,
the representative of the law and the representatives of the
prophets, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which
he should accomplish in Jerusalem. I think this is so telling. What
did they talk about at this time? They talked about the decease,
which he should accomplish. Now that's what was talked about
before time began. Christ, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That's what we're going to be talking about and
praising him for when time is over. Worthy is the lamb that
was slain. That's going to be the song of
heaven. That's the subject of the eternities. And it's the
subject right now, the decease which he should accomplish. Never forget the death of our
Lord was an accomplishment. It was predetermined. He came
here for this purpose. He came to die. That was his
reason for coming. He came to die. It was voluntary. He said, I lay down my life.
No man takes it from me. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it up. It was substitutionary. He died
for our sins, the just for the unjust. It was punitive. He died for sin to be punished. That's what that was about. My
sin became his sin and God's wrath came down upon him. He
was forsaken by God. He was punished. He defeated
Satan and his death is the greatest accomplishment ever known. What he accomplished by his death.
He accomplished the full glorification of God. He accomplished his own
glory as the savior of sinners. He accomplished the fulfillment
of scriptures, the defeat of Satan, the putting away of sin
and the complete salvation of the elect. Justification, sanctification,
and glorification. His death was an accomplishment.
Never think of it in any other way but that. Oh, the glories
of his death. Verse 32, but Peter, And they that were with him were
heavy with sleep. While all this was going on,
Peter and James and John was snoozing." They were burdened down, the
scripture says, heavy with sleepiness. And I got to thinking about this.
You know, about every time I preach, somebody falls asleep. About
every time. And I sit there and I watch them.
I'm preaching. I'm watching somebody, well,
I'll put them to sleep. I love what Spurgeon was talking to
somebody, he was preaching and somebody fell asleep and he told
the fellow beside him, he said, wake him up. He said, you put
him to sleep, you wake him up. And I understand that, I understand
that. And even when the Lord told the
disciples to stay awake and pray with me, watch for one hour,
they couldn't do it, they fell asleep. He came back three times
to them and they were sleeping. And he said, the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak. So I don't get too upset when
somebody falls asleep. I don't. I wish you wouldn't,
but I never will forget one time when I was a senior in high school
at 13th Street Baptist Church. I fell asleep, and I woke up,
and the service was over, and everybody was just walking around,
and here I was asleep, and I felt so humiliated. Nobody bothered
to wake me up. I think they enjoyed it. And
then Ron Traybant was my teacher, and he pointed that out to the
class the next day at school. He was a teacher there. So I
understand this thing of sleeping. They fell asleep. But you know,
there is a metaphor here. There's so much
that we could be seeing, but we're asleep spiritually. Look
at what they missed out on at this time because they were sleeping. What is it that we can't see
or hear when we're spiritually asleep? Well, the preacher was
dull today, boring. Perhaps he was, but maybe it's
you. Maybe because of the dryness
of your heart, you're unable to hear in a state of spiritual
sleep. But they woke up, but Peter and
David were with him. Verse 32, were heavy with sleep. And when they were awake, they
saw his glory. Now that's what you see when
you're awake. You see his glory. Now, if you're seeing anything
else, you're not awake, but when you're awake, you see his glory
and the two men that stood with. What a sight that must have been,
verse 33. And it came to pass as they departed
from him, Moses and Elijah, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it's
good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles,
one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah, not knowing
what he said. Mark's account says he wist not
what to say. He answered. Nobody asked him
anything, but he answered anyway. You know, I can identify with
this a lot too. When there's silence, I feel like I got to
say something. Got to say something. I got, got to, got to give my
two cents worth. You know, he, he didn't know
what to say. I mean, he saw all these glorious things and Peter
answered and said, master, it's good for us to be here. Now, Though the rest of this bunch
denies you, I'll never do it. And he meant it from the depth
of his heart. I'll die before I deny you. And that was the intention of
his heart. You know what happened. You know,
when the Lord was raised from the dead, he said, go tell my
disciples and Peter, make sure you tell Peter. I have no doubt
Peter felt like he was not a disciple anymore. So he said, you make
sure you tell Peter, I'm risen from the dead. Peter said something
once that made the Lord say to him, get thee behind me, Satan. And can you imagine if the Lord
was talking to you and he said that to you? Get thee behind
me, Satan. Thou savest not the things that
be of men, or the things that be of God, but the things that
be of men. We see where Peter caved into
peer pressure in Galatians chapter two. And I remember he was an
apostle. He was an apostle, but when those Jews came down from
Jerusalem, he thought, uh-oh, here I am with these Gentiles.
They're going to look down their nose at me for this, and I'd be better
off being over here with the Jews. So he just got up and moved
tables and sat down with the Jews so the Jews wouldn't be
looking down on him for being with the Gentiles. And Paul publicly
corrected him at this time and said that this was a denial of
the gospel. You see, he was saying by that
action that somehow you're a little better off being with the Jews
and that's taking away from the allness of Christ Jesus. Christ
Jesus is all and there's nothing you can do to make it better
for you. Now, Peter was a very courageous,
Yet a very contradictory person. He had so many contradictions.
Sound like anybody you know? Peter. Peter. He always has to
say something. A loyal follower of Christ. Why? You and I look at the book
of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles. The
very first act was an act by Peter. It was a mistake. Show
us, he picks out two people, and show us, which of these two
people do you want to be disciples? Show us. Lord had already picked
out Paul, but his very first act was a mistake. Peter, aren't
you thankful for Peter? Poor old Peter, he has to say
something. Now, what does he say? Verse
33, and it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter said
unto Jesus, Master, It's good for us to be here. Let us make
three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for
Elijah, not knowing what he said. You see, when he made that statement,
he was putting these two men on the same footing as the Lord
Jesus Christ, or at least close. And no man can be compared to
Christ. Not gonna happen. I don't care
if it's Moses or if it's Elijah. There's one Lord Jesus Christ
and everybody else is a sinner saved by grace. We don't make
a tabernacle to any man, only the Lord Jesus Christ. Men are
creatures, sinners, saved by grace. But I don't want to be
too hard on Peter because I imagine if we saw Moses and Elijah in
a glorified state, we might just do the same thing. So don't be
too hard on him. We might just do the same thing.
Verse 34, not knowing what he said, not knowing the foolishness
of it. And I made some reference to this this morning. I don't
know how many times people say, I'm afraid to say something because
I'm afraid I'll say something stupid. You will. You will. I will. I will. I'll say things contrary,
wrong, contrary to the gospel of Christ, contrary to things
that are just wrong. I mean, we're flesh. Yes, we're spirit. Yes, we know
the Lord, but we're flesh. We're going to say things wrong.
We're going to do things wrong. We're going to make mistakes.
Peter does right here, but he's still true blue to the Lord.
He's still true blue. He's a follower. He's a disciple
of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he didn't know what he was saying.
It was a very wrong thing to say. Very unscriptural thing
to say. Verse 34, while he does speak. There came a cloud, and I imagine
it was something like the Shekinah glory, and overshadowed them,
and they feared as they entered into that cloud. And I'm sure
they were scared to death as they entered into that cloud.
And there came, verse 35, a voice out of the cloud saying, this
is my beloved son. This is God the Father speaking
from heaven. This is my beloved son. This is the son of my love. Hear him. And the other two accounts
says, in whom? This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye him. The son of God. I don't know of anything that
I find more frightful yet more joyous than to speak of the actual
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only begotten son,
the sole representative of the being and the character of the
one who has sent him. Now, the Son did not become the
Son, but necessarily and eternally is God the Son. He's a person. He possesses every
attribute of pure Godhood. The Son of my love, my beloved
Son, which speaks of the warmth, the love, the affection that
there is between the Father and the Son. Father loveth the Son,
and hath given all things into his hands. How the Father delights
in the Son. And the Son said of himself in
Proverbs 8, I was daily his delight. I wish we could just forget about
ourselves for just a moment and think of the love that exists
between the Father and the Son. This is my beloved Son. And here's a very important word.
Notice he did not say with whom I'm well pleased. Now, that'd
be a good thing to say. He is pleased with him, but he
did not say with whom I am well pleased. He said in whom I am
well pleased. Now there's not a more important
phrase in the scripture than in Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians
one, very familiar passage of scripture, but look how many
times in Christ is mentioned in this passage of scripture. Verse three, blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. That means we have all these
blessings. with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved, in whom We have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to the good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself
that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who work with all things after the counsel of his own glory,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. And I love thinking about this.
You know who the first one to trust in Christ was? God the
Father. He trusted the salvation of the elect to his blessed son. He's the first one to trust him.
He didn't trust me with my salvation. He knew that I couldn't do it.
He entrusted my salvation to his son. Christ became the surety. of the elect. Verse 13, in whom
you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed,
having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession into the praise of his glory. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
what all does it mean? Well, first of all, I don't even,
I don't like this. I don't really like this word,
but it's what all the preachers have used, so I'll use it. In
him is our federal head. In him is our federal head. What's
that mean? That means he's my head. That
means I'm represented in him. Whatever God requires of me,
he looks to his son for. In him is our federal head. In
Adam all die, in Christ shall all be made alive. I don't know
why, that almost sounds political or something, so I almost hesitate
to use that kind of language, but there it is anyway. In him
as our head. He's our head. He's the one God
looks to. You know, when we're baptized,
what are we confessing? We're confessing our only hope
of salvation is that when He lived, we were in Him. And when
He kept the law, we kept the law in Him. And when He died,
we died in Him. Our sins were actually punished
because we were in Him. When He was raised, we were raised. When he ascended back to glory,
we ascended back to glory. As he's in heaven right now,
we confess we're in heaven right now with our federal head, the
Lord Jesus Christ. But I alluded to this this morning,
in him by this vital living union, and this is mysterious, this
is glorious, it can't be understood, it's just believed. He's the
head, I'm the little toe. The same blood that pumps through
the head, pumps into that little toe. I might be down at the bottom. I remember when I was a little
boy going to Greenbow Lake. And I remember you'd go out in
the lake, and then the muck and the mire and your feet would
get way down in it. But my little toe, under all
that muck and mire that you couldn't see, it still had the blood pumping
to it from the head. And it was alive and well, because
the head is alive and well. A head as the vine. The Lord said, I'm the vine,
you're the branches. Now, that sap that pumps through
the vine, that same sap pumps through the branches. That's
mysterious, isn't it? But we're partakers of the divine
nature. We're in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're in Him. What a secure,
what a glorious place to be in Christ. Now that's our security. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. And he says, here he him. Now
understand this. If I'm in Christ, God is well
pleased with me. And that's what the Lord meant
when he said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
If you're in Christ, God the Father is well pleased with you. And you don't feel well pleased
with yourself. You're so disappointed in yourself. You become so frustrated
with yourself. But do you know when God sees
you, and how God sees is how it really is. Don't ever forget
that. How God sees is how it really is. And he sees you as
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight." Now isn't it a
blessed thing to be in the Lord Jesus Christ? This is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. Hear exactly what
he says. Every word in this book is the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ. spoken through men with different
personalities and so on but every word in this book is the word
of Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. Now go back to our
text in Luke chapter 9. Verse 36. And when the voice
was passed, Jesus was found alone. Now, where did Moses and Elijah
go? I mean, they were on earth and
all of a sudden they're gone. I don't know. I don't know. But I do know this. When you
see the sun, You don't see any other stars, do you? All you
see is the sun. And when they saw him in his
glory, all of a sudden they didn't see Moses or Elijah. Now you look at the sun and its
brilliance. The stars are still there. You just can't see them
because you see the sun. Jesus was found alone. Both Matthew and Mark says they
saw no man save Jesus only. Now that word alone is also translated
only. They saw Jesus only. Now, if there is a word that
is appropriate to use with regard to this glorious person, the
Lord Jesus Christ, It's Jesus only. Jesus, the son of God only. Paul spake of the onlyness, the
simplicity, the onlyness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what
do I mean by that? Or what does the Bible mean?
Well, Jesus only. We can, we can say so much about
this. You know, our doctrine, no doctrine is understood apart
from Jesus only. Union with Christ? Jesus only. That's everything in my salvation,
my union with Him. Jesus only is the reason for
election. He elected me because I was viewed in the Son. It's
not because of some arbitrary choice on His part as I was viewed
in the Son. Jesus only is my justification. His righteousness is the only
righteousness I have. Jesus only is my redemption.
He redeemed me by His blood. Jesus only as my great high priest
representing me. No doctrine of the scripture.
If you're adopted, it's because you're adopted in him. Every
truth of the scripture is only understood by Jesus only. I have one reason for the forgiveness
of my sins. Jesus only. Doesn't have anything
to do with my works. Doesn't have anything to do with
me asking for it. Doesn't have anything to do with me being
sorry. Doesn't have anything to do with me begging for mercy
or any of those things, although all those things are true. God
has one reason for forgiving me of my sins. Jesus only. Aren't you glad it's that way?
I have one reason for being saved. Jesus only. I have one cause of salvation,
Jesus only. I have one ground of assurance, Jesus only. You see, the only assurance I
have is that God the Father looks only to Jesus Christ the Lord
for everything he requires of me. And you know, when I believe
that, I have full assurance of faith. There's only one to look to in
faith, Jesus only. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, and for the joy that was sent before
him, endured the cross, despising the same, and sat down at the
right hand of the Father. I have only one motive for service,
His glory, not mine. I know what the psalmist meant
when he said, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory for thy mercy. and for thy truth's sake. I have
one objective. It's to behold his face in righteousness
and to be conformed to his image. That's all I want. David said,
ask for me. I'll behold thy face in righteousness. The thought of beholding his
face with no shame, no sin, beholding his face. He said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake in thy likeness. I only have one desire. You know what that desire is? It's that God will find me in
Christ. Jesus only. That's it. That's the only goal.
That's the only objective I have. That I might be found in Christ. Paul said, oh, that I may win
Christ and be found in him. I want God to find me in the
Lord Jesus Christ so that all he sees is Jesus Christ. I don't
want him to see my preaching or my praying or my efforts or
anything I do. I don't want to have anything
to do with any of that. I want to be found in Jesus only. I have one hope with regard to
judgment. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. I think about this verse of scripture
several times a week because I love it so much. Verse 17, herein is our love
made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Now what in the world could get somebody boldness on the day
of judgment? To stand before the holiness
of God and be judged? How could someone feel bold and
confident? Well, here it is. As he is, so
are we in this world right now. All that he is, I am. Now that being the case, I have
boldness on the day of judgment. And you know, we only have one
message to preach, don't we? the gospel. Jesus only. That's the only message we have
to preach. And what an incredible experience
this must have been. Now they fell asleep during it,
I realize that. But what an experience this must
have been to be brought onto the Mount of Transfiguration
and see the Lord transfigured before their very eyes. But Peter
tells us about this event in 2 Peter chapter 1. Let's close
with this. 2 Peter chapter 1. Verse 16, Peter says, for we
have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto
you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but
we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And he's referring to what took
place on the Mount of Transfiguration. 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. Peter
says we experienced this. But look what he says next. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy. We've got something
that's better than that experience. Now, any experience you've ever
had, and you know, I've had some experiences, but any experience
you've ever had, this is infinitely better. It's more sure. The best
thing that we could do with our experiences is to forget them.
You know, Paul said, reaching forth to those things that are
before and forgetting the things that are behind. I pressed for
the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. I mean, I look back on my experiences
and I don't even know if there's that much to them. I mean, I.
I might have built them up as if they were. Oh, I remember
this, I remember that. Well, maybe what I'm remembering
didn't even take place in the first place. So I don't know
about these experiences, but I know this. This is the more
sure word of prophecy. This is the eternal word of God. It isn't just reading God's word
better than any experience. This is the very word of God. We have a more sure word of prophecy
where into you do well that you take heed as into a light that
shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star
arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, this is what
comes first, that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private
interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God. spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost. This is that more sure word of
prophecy. This is better than that experience
according to Peter himself or according to God himself. I'm
so thankful for the word that reveals the word. Let's pray together.