When Awake They Saw His Glory

I have an interesting topic,
I believe, and text today for the message. I want you to look
at Luke 9, verse 32. I'm going to be speaking on this
subject. When they were awake, they saw his glory. And our text is Luke 9, verse
32. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep. And when they were awake, they
saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him. Now the master
had taken three of his disciples, the scripture says, up into a
high mountain to pray. And evidently he'd prayed for
a long, long time, and the weary disciples had fallen asleep.
Now here's the setting, here's the picture, the Lord is praying,
he's talking to the Father. The three disciples are there
with him, but they're sitting over there under a bush or a
hedge or against a tree, sound asleep. And while he prayed and
while they slept, the scripture says, the Lord's face was lit
up with all of his inner glory. He was transfigured. The glory
of God was upon him, and his clothes became radiant. His clothes
became brilliant, and they glistened with the glory of God. And behold,
two men appeared and talked with him. Now, these two men were
Moses and Elijah, the people of God. Now get this. Moses and
Elijah both had been gone from this world for centuries. We
think Moses died. Elijah was translated. He didn't
see death. He was translated. But here's
our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration praying, and suddenly his clothes
become radiant and brilliant. and he becomes glorified, and
standing there talking with him are Moses and Elijah. Now, what
do you learn from this, first of all? Well, the first thing
I learn is this. The people of God who are long
departed are still alive. That's right. All who die in
faith live eternally. Christ said, he that liveth and
believeth on me shall never die. So Moses and Elijah, though they
had been gone from the earth for centuries, were still alive.
And second thing I see about this is this, they live in their
own personality. And they wear their own names
and they're known by their own names. Here was Moses and here
was Elijah. They had been gone from the earth
for many, many years. And here they are appearing on
the earth with the Master, talking with him, Moses and Elijah. In
their own personality, known by their own names, in their
own bodies, speaking to the Lord. And here's another thing I note,
they enjoy close personal fellowship with Christ. They were talking
with the Master. Literally, the song, He walks
with me and talks with me, is literally true of those who are
in glory. They're actually with Him. Paul
said to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. I'm in a straight betwixt the
two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ. Christ said
to the thief on the cross, today thou shalt be with me. Well,
let's go on with our text. What do you suppose Moses and
Elijah represented? Here are two particular men,
Moses and Elijah. Our Lord transfigured, and here
they are on either side of him. What do they represent? Well,
you know what Moses represents? The law. The law came through
Moses. Moses represents the law. It's
called Moses' law. And Elijah represents the prophets. Art thou Elijah? Art thou that
prophet Elijah? They thought Christ or even John
the Baptist was Elijah who had come back. When they spoke of
a prophet, they spoke of Elijah. When they spoke of the law, they
spoke of Moses. And here is Christ, the law,
and the prophets talking together. What did they talk about? What
did they talk about? What did Christ and Moses, the
law, and Elijah, the prophet, what did they talk about? Well,
it tells you in verse 31 of Luke 9, look at it, one verse back,
it says they talked with him about his death. They talked
with him about his death, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. You see, Moses and Elijah had
a great interest in the death of Christ. The death of Christ
was what they had written about. The death of Christ was what
they had hoped for. The death of Christ was the foundation
of their faith. The death of Christ was their
message when they were here on the earth. So when they appeared
there with him on the Mount of Transfiguration, what would they
have talked about? Well, it says they talked about
his death. What a picture. Here the Lord,
radiant, glorified, talking with Moses and Elijah, and suddenly
the disciples were awakened. It says, and when they awoke,
they saw his glory. They saw that glory. Their eyes
beheld the glory of Christ and the two men with him, Moses and
Elijah. Now note this. It does not say,
when they were awake, they saw his glory and the glory of Moses
and the glory of Elijah. It says they saw Christ's glory,
Christ's glory, and they saw the two men with him. Now great
as Moses is, Moses has no glory beside the Lord. As great as
Elijah is, Elijah has no glory beside the Lord. As great as
the law is, and the prophets, and all of the temple, and the
tabernacle, and the priesthood, these things have no glory in
the presence of Christ. His is the glory. Thine is the
glory. That's what our Lord taught the
disciples to pray. Thine is the glory, the kingdom
and the power forever. Thine is the glory. He'll share
his glory with no one, not even Moses. My friends, you can stand
out on a starry night, and you can see millions of them, billions
of them. The stars are so brilliant, twinkling
and bright. But in the morning when the sun
comes up, all the stars disappear. Where'd they go? Well, they're
still right where they were. They're still right there. But
you can't see them anymore. Why can't you see them? You can't
see them for the glory of the Son. The glory of the Son. And when we are awake to who
Christ is, who Jesus Christ is, we'll quit bragging on ourselves
and bragging on Moses and bragging on Elijah and bragging on the
prophets and bragging on our deeds and our work. We won't
even see those things. They are there. But they have
no glory in the presence of Christ. They have no place of prominence
in the presence of Christ. We need to learn this. Now, this
is what the book of Hebrews is all about. If you want to find
a key to the book of Hebrews, you'll find that key right here.
This is what it's all about. Christ is greater than the prophets.
It starts out that way in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 and 2. God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake to our fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son." The Son is greater than the prophets. And then read on
in that same chapter, Christ is greater than the angels. He
said the angels are ministering spirits sent to minister to those
who shall be the heirs of salvation. But to which of the angels did
he ever say, sit thou on my right hand till thy enemies become
thy footstool? To the Son, he said, Thy throne,
O God, is forever. The angels are ministering spirits.
Christ is greater than the angels. And then Moses. What did he say
about Moses in that same book of Hebrews, in those first few
verses? He said, Moses is a servant in
the house. Christ is the Son. And as the
Son is greater than the servant, so is Christ greater than Moses. And then you read on, you'll
find Christ greater than the priest. It talks about the priest
of the Old Testament, and their many sacrifices, and he is one.
And the many men who served this priest, and he was one. And their
sacrifices could never put away sin, but he, by one offering,
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. How that they
always went about their sacrifices and ministry about the tabernacle,
never sat down. But he finished his work and
sat down at the right hand of God, waiting till his enemies
become his footstool. Christ is greater than the temple.
Christ is greater than the law. Christ is greater than the sacrifices.
This is what the book of Hebrews is all about. So when the disciples
were awakened, it says they saw his glory. They saw his glory. The disciples were asleep. All
of this was going on, but they were asleep. And when they awoke,
the first thing they saw was his glory. But they needed, first
of all, to wake up. And my friends, this is our problem.
I want to bring this home to me and to you right now. Let's
bring it right down where we live. This is our problem. The
glory of Christ is there. It's there. The glory of Christ
is seen in the things he's made. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The angels sing the glory of
God. Glory to God in the highest.
Everything on this earth which he hath created reveals the glory
of God, but we don't see it. It's there, but we don't see
it. You know why? Because we're asleep. We're asleep,
sleeping the sleep of sin, sleeping the sleep of death, living in
darkness, sleeping in religious traditions. And we see the glory
of our denominations, and the glory of our good works, and
the glory of our good deeds, and the glory of our standards,
and the glory of our laws, and the glory of our accomplishments,
but we don't see the glory of Christ, and we don't talk about
it. If we ever saw it, that's all we'd talk about. But you
know what our Lord said? He said, they have eyes, but
they can't see. And they have ears, but they can't hear, and
they have hearts, but they can't understand. And he turned to
his disciples, and he said, blessed are your eyes, they see. Blessed
are your ears, they hear. Blessed are your hearts, they
understand. Sleeping the sleep of death. My friends, when the
Holy Spirit, when the powerful, life-giving, regenerating Spirit
of the living God is pleased in God's grace to awaken a sleeping
sinner, that sinner will see the glory of Christ. He'll see
the glory of Christ, but he's got to be awakened. You hath
he quickened. You know what the word quicken
means? It means to wake. Awake from the dead. You hath
he awakened who were dead. Who were dead in trespasses and
sin. In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6, God
hath commanded, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in these hearts. These hearts of darkness. These
hearts of death. God hath shined in these hearts.
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. Yes, when the Holy Spirit awakens
a sleeping sinner, when he awakens a dead sinner, when he awakens
a sinner from his darkness, you know what that sinner is going
to see? He's going to see the first thing the disciples saw
when they awoke from their sleep. He's going to see the glory of
Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something else.
When the Holy Spirit awakens a preacher, a religious leader,
he's going to see the glory of Jesus Christ, and he'll begin
to preach the glory of Christ. And he'll begin to preach it
so that that'll be his only subject, Christ and Him crucified. Paul
saw the glory of Christ. That's the reason he said, I'm
determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross. of Jesus Christ, my Lord and
Savior. In John chapter 12, verse 41
and 42, there's an interesting scripture which reads like this,
When Isaiah saw his glory, he spake of him. When he saw his
glory, he spake of him. And I say when the Holy Spirit
opens the eyes of religious leaders and preachers today, and they
see the glory of Jesus Christ, They'll quit taking half of their
programs and half of their services talking about themselves and
entertaining sinners on the road to hell, and they'll begin to
take all their time telling men about him whom their eyes have
seen, whom their ears have heard, whom their hands have handled
of the word of life. They'll preach Christ. But a
man can't preach what he's never seen. And he can't introduce
you to someone he doesn't know. and he can't describe the glory
which he's never seen. Tragic, but it's so. And then
when the Holy Spirit awakens a believer, that believer will
be taken up with the glory of Christ. I like what Peter said
when he came down off that mountain after he'd seen the glory of
Christ and Moses and Elijah with him, and he said, Lord, he said,
it sure been good to be here. It sure been good to be here.
Lord, let's just stay here and build three temples, three tabernacles,
one to you and one to Moses and one to Elijah. Now, the Scripture
says that Peter spake not knowing what he had said. Now, we do
that, don't we? We blunder and speak things that
we don't understand, not knowing what we're saying. But I'll tell
you this, Peter may not have known what he was saying, but
he knew what he had seen. He had seen the glory of Christ
and he was so taken up with it. He was so taken up with it that
he didn't want to leave. That he just wanted to stay right
there. He was totally satisfied. He was totally complete. He was
like old Simeon in the temple after he'd looked into the face
of the Lord Jesus. He said, I'm ready to die now.
I've seen the salvation of the Lord. There's nothing else to
see. There's nothing else to see. There's nothing else of
any importance. There's nothing else to attract my attention.
There's nothing else to draw my attention. I've seen the salvation
of the Lord. I'm ready to die. And that's
the way Peter, he didn't know what he was saying, but he knew
what he'd seen. And he said, I'd like to stay right here.
This is all I need. He became so taken up with. Now
this awakening, when they were awake, they saw his glory. And I'm saying when the Spirit
of God is pleased by the power of God and the power of the gospel
to awaken, men from their sleep of death, whether it's a religious
death, or religious tradition, or whether it's infidelity, or
skepticism, or agnosticism, or whatever it is. When the Holy
Spirit awakens men from this sleep of death, and opens their
eyes, and lets them see the glory of Christ, this awakening is
not a decision to join the church. This awakening is not a mental
acceptance of a doctrinal pattern. This awakening is not an emotional,
emotional experience during some kind of sickness or some kind
of trial. This awakening is not a theological education in a
Bible school. This awakening is not turning
over a new leaf and quitting some sins. It's an encounter
with the living God. Now some of you know what I'm
talking about. Some of you don't. Some of you do. This awakening
is an encounter with the living God. It's a birth. It's a new
birth by the power of God. It's a resurrection. Just like
Lazarus, to whom our Lord said, Lazarus come forth, and he walked
out of that tomb, a living man who had been a dead man. This
encounter is a new creation, all affected by the Holy Spirit
through the Word of God. When they were awake, they saw
his glory. Now I want to give you briefly
seven facts that I'd like for you to consider. And if you want
to, write them down and consider them throughout the day or sometime
this week. I want you to think about these
seven things briefly. First of all, when we are awakened
to what really happened in the Garden of Eden, when we're awakened
to what really happened back there in that garden, we will
see the glory of God's grace. Do you know what happened in
the garden? The sin of Adam. And the sin of his race was the
very same sin of Lucifer, Satan, and his angels. That's exactly
right. It's the same sin. Satan was
thrown out of heaven. Satan was sentenced to eternal
condemnation because he tried to dethrone God. He said, I'll
be like God. What was Adam and Eve's sin?
Satan said to them, you eat of the forbidden fruit and you'll
be like God. And that's what motivated them
to take that fruit, is the same sin. And the Lord was not pleased
to give redemption to Satan and the fallen angels. He said in
the book of Jude, they are reserved in everlasting chains in darkness
to the day of judgment. There is no redemption for fallen
angels. Verily Christ took not on himself
the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. But God Almighty
has been pleased to save men. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? Why did God reserve the angels
in everlasting darkness and give man a savior? His grace, His
grace, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me. I once was lost but now I'm found. I was blind but now I see. When
we are awakened to what really happened back in that garden,
the rebellion the effort to dethrone God, the sin against His holy
name and His holy law, how we were plunged into darkness and
depravity and disease and death, and yet God was pleased to give
us a Savior, to give us salvation, to give us redemption. That's
His grace. And the more you see what happened
back then, the more you'll thank God for His grace, the more your
eyes will be opened to see His glory, the glory of His grace.
All right, secondly, when we are awakened to our total inability,
spiritual inability, now we have fleshly inability, I can pick
up something, I have physical strength, I can think about problems
of the natural world and the material realm, I have physical
strength, but we spiritually are dead. We are without strength,
that's what the Bible says, without hope. Without God, without Christ,
we're dead in our trespasses and sins. And when we see our
inability, we'll see the glory of His election. The glory of
His election to salvation. Now I know that men and women
oppose the doctrine of election, they ridicule the doctrine of
election, they despise the doctrine of election, but hold on a minute.
It's a Bible doctrine. It's in the Bible dozens of times.
The scripture says, Whom he foreknew, he predestinated to be conformed
to the image of his Son. Whom he predestinated, he called.
Whom he called, he justified. Whom he justified, he glorified.
What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? Paul wrote in Ephesians 1, God
elected us to salvation from the foundation of the world.
Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2.13, God from the beginning
has chosen you to salvation. It's a Bible doctrine. It's a
clear Bible doctrine. But if you ever see the darkness
and the depravity and the death in the human heart, you'll thank
God for his election. Because if he had not chosen
you, you never would have chosen him. If he had not sought you,
you would not have sought him. If he had not called you, you
would have never called him. That's right. The Bible says
clearly, you will not come to me that you might have light.
This is condemnation. Light is coming to this world,
but men love darkness. That's you and that's me. We
love darkness. The only reason we love light
is God has given us that love for it. God has awakened us. God has called us. God's been
pleased to reveal himself. That's right, our Lord Jesus
Christ said this, let another come in his own name, and you
receive him, let me come in my father's name, and you do not
receive me. I like what that old songwriter
wrote years ago, he said, "'Tis not that I did choose thee, for
Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, but thou hast chosen me. T'was sovereign grace that called
me, washed and set me free. And to this end ordain me that
I should live to thee." When you see your inability, no man
can come to me, Christ said in John 6, verse 44, except my Father
draw him. Christ said to Pilate, you could
have no power at all except it were given you from above. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Abraham was an idol worshiper
when God found him and called him and brought him out of his
home. So were you. But God was pleased to save you.
And what's the answer? Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. And then the third thing. When
we are awakened to the limitations and the condition of human flesh,
we'll see the glory of His incarnation. The Word became flesh. Now you stop and think about
that. God, who made the world, was in the world. And He became
flesh and dwelt among us. The most extraordinary fact ever
declared in human language is this, God became a man. He took
on himself the likeness of human flesh. The ancient of days became
an infinite of days. The son of the highest became
a man of solace. He who made the worlds owned
not a foot of land. He who made the rivers cried,
I thirst. He whose life was subject to
death and died on the cross. Can you comprehend that? When
we understand The frailty of this flesh, the condition of
it, the guilt of it, and then to think that God came down here
and took tabernacle in human flesh? Oh, the glory of His incarnation. And then when we awaken to the
holiness of the divine law, now listen to me here, this is important.
When we are awakened to the holiness of God's divine law, we'll see
the glory of His perfect life. Now my friends, the law of God
does not demand, listen to me, that you do the best you can
do. The law of God commands you to do the best that God can do.
The law of God does not demand only that you love God. It demands
that you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The law of God does not demand
that you love your neighbor only, but that you love him as you
love yourself. Think about it. The holy law
of God does not demand that you do no evil only. It demands that
you think no evil. The law of God does not demand
that you live a good life. It demands you live a perfect
life. And boy, I'm telling you, when
you realize that, when that dawns upon you, when you awaken to
what that law really says, you'll see the glory of His obedience,
the glory of His perfect life. Christ, in the flesh, did ever
better that. He knew no sin. All right, in
the fifth place, when we're awakened to the strictness of God's divine
justice, we'll see the glory of his death. God said, I will
in no wise clear the guilty. The soul that's in it, it shall
die. Every transgression shall receive a just recompense of
reward. Call Adam to witness to the strictness
of God's justice. Call the people of Noah's day
to witness to the strictness of his justice. Call the sons
of Korah, call Sodom and Gomorrah, call those people that tell you
God will punish sin. And when you see that God in
His justice and righteousness will punish every sin, you'll
stand back and thank God for the glory of His death. Christ
died, and therefore I have no sin. My sins have all been paid
for by His blood. And I fear not judgment, I fear
not condemnation, because there's no condemnation to them who are
in Christ. in the sixth place. When we're
awakened to the sin of our very best deeds, then we'll see the
glory of his intercession. Without Christ at the right hand
of God, my prayers would be sinful enough to damn me. Without Christ
as my intercessor and mediator, my very preaching would be enough
to damn me. There's enough sin in it, even
my gifts. And then last of all, when we're
awakened on that day, that great day, we're going to really see
his glory. the glory of his eternal mercy,
grace, and love. Someday the silver cord will
break, and I no more shall sing, but when I wake on that day,
I'll see him face to face." These messages are available on cassette
tape. The cost is three dollars for
two messages. If you'd like to have them, write
to us this week. You'll have the address in just
a moment. God bless you, everyone.

When Awake They Saw His Glory

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When Awake They Saw His Glory

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