[0:00] All right, please join me in Luke chapter number 9. We'll start in verse number 27, Luke chapter number 9. One of the verses in that song says, Even if the sun doesn't rise, God is good.
[0:12] We've had a few days in weather where it seems like the sun isn't rising, but God is good. I pray that when we come in here and we open God's Word, that it will be as bright as the promises of God.
[0:23] It's rare that when we come upon a passage from where we ended last week in the scripture of Luke 9 until now is eight days separated. That doesn't always happen.
[0:34] Sometimes we'll be in the middle of a story and stop and pick up again the next week, or maybe we may pick up and we may be months down the road, but in this case we're just eight days past where we left last time, and God in His goodness is going to take three of the disciples and bring them to a place as they have been going through a difficult time realizing the purpose of Jesus here on earth was to suffer for all mankind and they were going to follow after Him.
[1:01] He showed Him His glory and it had to minister to their hearts. That seeing the glory of God will make us whole. Seeing the glory of God will bring healing and encouragement to us.
[1:14] So it's been eight days since this list of hard sayings about denying yourself, taking up your cross, following after me, that Jesus must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things in the hands of the men there.
[1:27] And He told them that some of you standing here will not suffer death, you will not die until you see the kingdom. And so while they're processing these things, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on a mountain to show them things that would give them hope.
[1:44] They needed this kind of encouragement and assurance and He wanted to help their faith. We're going to pick up in verse number 27. I'm going to read down through verse number 35.
[1:55] But I tell you of the truth, this is Jesus speaking, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.
[2:06] And it came to pass, and eight days after these sayings, He took Peter, James, and John and went up into a mountain to pray. And so we learn who some of those standing were, Peter, James, and John.
[2:20] Verse 29, And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was wide and glistering. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, that's Elijah, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease.
[2:36] They were speaking about the pending death of Christ, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. 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 that stood with him.
[2:52] What a glorious awakening. Sometimes your kids wake up, and they don't know what's going on in the church service, right? But they never woke up to see Moses and Elijah talking there with Jesus.
[3:02] Verse 33, And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias, not knowing what he said.
[3:19] While he thus spake, 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.
[3:30] And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone, and they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I ask that you would be with us today.
[3:42] Help us, Lord, see the meaning of this text, Lord. Help us receive the encouragement that you provided to Peter, James, and John. Lord, after a time of hearing hard sayings, after a season, Lord, where they could have been discouraged, you are so loving and you are so gracious to show them your glory.
[4:00] Lord, through your word, we want that revealed to us today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So he said to some of them what seemed to be a peculiar thing for him to say, because he was talking about his death coming, and that they would also suffer death.
[4:16] And we know that was the future of these disciples. But he said, Some of you will see the kingdom of God before you taste death. And that was verse number 27. And who are the ones that were going to be there?
[4:28] It says in verse 28, that's Peter, James, and John. In the book of Deuteronomy, that we're told that two or three witnesses, and it's repeated throughout the New Testament, was a standard for testimony.
[4:40] So I can't tell you the reasons that Peter, James, and John were allowed the opportunity to go to this mount and see the transfiguration, to see the glory of the Lord, but he allowed them that opportunity.
[4:51] These were also the same men that went into the house of Jairus and to see it. And this kind of is a side note. It makes me wonder and think about how there are people that oftentimes get to have a unique closeness and communion with the Lord, and that they have the opportunity.
[5:09] And I don't know why in this story, why Peter, James, and John seem to be the ones, the testimony, the ones that would testify, and in their lives are going to testify of this historical event that happens.
[5:20] But I can tell you that we have the opportunity to draw as close to the Lord the day as we desire. We have that opportunity to be with Him. And so these three men, he told them that you're going to see something before you die, before you taste death.
[5:35] And what is it that they would see? The book of Mark and the book of Matthew both describe these same events. And Mark adds that it was going to come with power. And Matthew adds that the Son of Man is going to come.
[5:47] So we're going to see the kingdom, its power, its glory, and the coming of the Son of Man. These three have been hoping for a kingdom. They've been hoping against hope now that the kingdom, because of Jesus, was going to come here upon earth.
[6:02] But he had told them in verse 22 that the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests were going to kill him. So when Peter said, thou art the Christ, and he said, you are the Messiah, we looked at two weeks ago, what a wonderful thing.
[6:18] But then Jesus says, well, I am going to suffer, and the kingdom is not going to be here upon earth. And then his response, Peter's response is, let it not be so.
[6:28] This can't happen. And Jesus responds and tells him, he rebukes Peter, and he says, get thee behind thee, Satan. And so we see Peter going for this great moment of recognizing something to this other moment.
[6:40] But it's quite understandable, right? Because that excitement of Jesus setting up a kingdom here on earth and him sitting on the right hand or the left hand as the disciples will fight over him and the end of this chapter sounds wonderful, but to know that they're going to suffer.
[6:54] But Jesus doesn't leave them there. He brings them to a point of great encouragement. And he teaches them that his primary purpose was not the feeding of the 5,000, but it was to come and die for all mankind.
[7:06] Verse 21, And he straightly charged them and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
[7:20] So that's where Peter is being rebuked. He was committed to the glory of the cross, but he wasn't committed to the humiliation. Peter understood the worth of Christ, but he didn't understand the work of Christ.
[7:34] He knew that he was the Son of God, but he didn't recognize the work that he had called him to do. And so now Jesus is connecting these hard sayings that he had given to Peter, and he's connecting them now to this moment where he's going to show him the glory.
[7:49] Verse 28, it says, He took Peter, James, and John and went up to a mountain. And the things that they will see will confirm these sayings. It says in the verse number 36, it says, And they kept it close, and they told them these days of the things in which they had seen.
[8:06] The sights that they're going to see are going to confirm the sayings. He taught it to them. Eight days later, he's going to show it to them. And so I remind you, what were the hard sayings that he gave?
[8:17] That's in verse 23. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. For whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the name shall save it.
[8:30] For what is a man advantage if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be a castaway? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me in my words, for him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory in his fathers and of the holy angels.
[8:45] And so the timing here, that in none of the gospel records is anything recorded in those eight days. And so immediately after those eight days, we come straight to this event where it said, some of you, we know who they are.
[8:59] And then what they get to see, they get to see the kingdom of God. Luke 9, 27, until they see the kingdom of God come. And what is it that they saw? In reading the story, we see that they were falling asleep.
[9:12] They wake up and they're seeing Elijah and they're seeing Moses there having a conversation. The way it said in Matthew 16, 28, it says, Verily I say unto you that there be some standing there which shall not taste the death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
[9:28] And so that's what they got to behold and see. Unlike anything that anybody else had experienced, they got to see it. Unlike any other God of this world or false teacher could provide that Jesus Christ was giving proof that he was God.
[9:46] I didn't appreciate this passage till recently because I always looked at it isolated into itself. And so I'd read the story and I would say, well, that's really wonderful for them.
[9:59] That must have been a neat experience. But as we've been studying this passage and we see where these people are at, we just see how kind and gracious it is of God to take them upon the mount when they have been very much in a valley spiritually and emotionally.
[10:16] And they're working through this and recognizing that he is the Son of God and for God to reveal his glory to them and to see what that does in their lives. And so why did Jesus go there?
[10:27] It tells us that he went up into the mountain to pray. And so this is the second of three prayer meetings these guys are invited to and they have a tendency to fall asleep. And Luke 22, it says that because of their sorrow in the garden that they are going to sleep.
[10:43] And so this is the last sight that they're going to see before they get heavy with sleep in verse 32. It says, And Peter and that were with him were heavy with sleep and when they were awake they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him.
[10:58] Have any of you fallen asleep at an inappropriate time that you shouldn't have fallen asleep? I can have a couple examples. Before Brother Bob, who's now with the Lord, Brother Bob Preston started coming to church, his daughter Bethany said, you need to go visit my dad in the hospital.
[11:12] Well, I was young, still young, but I was even younger. This was when the church first started here. Not in history, not that old. All right, when the church division started. And so I went to visit him, but there's just something about hospitals and nursing homes.
[11:27] This is making me really sleepy. All right. And then y'all remember, Brother Bob had this beautiful baritone voice. He just had the best voice. And so as I was talking to Brother Bob, I fell asleep.
[11:40] All right. And you would think he would let me off the hook. No, he didn't. He said, you're going to come visit me in the hospital and you're going to fall asleep? Like basically, did nobody teach you how to make a hospital visit? What are you doing here?
[11:51] So that was one time that I shouldn't have fallen asleep. I don't know if Stephen will remember this, but we were in a class on church music and song leading in college. And you can tell from my limited ability to lead music or sing that I slept through that class quite often.
[12:07] Well, one day I decided not just to sleep, but I was going to get a good sleep. So I laid out on the pew and I was sleeping, all right, with the songbook over me, you know, osmosis. I was learning with it right there.
[12:18] And when I woke up, I looked and I thought, that really looks like the president of our college, but he's upside down. Why is he upside down? Well, he was upside down because I was laying on the pew.
[12:31] And he didn't appreciate that very much, all right? He did tell me that he understood that the class wasn't very exciting, all right? But he said it still didn't justify not being awake for the entire class with Dr. Reese.
[12:45] And so those are moments. But I'll tell you, I've never fallen asleep in a prayer meeting with Jesus like the disciples, but they were heavy with sleep, speaking about all that was going on in their life.
[12:56] That sleepiness that happens, maybe it wasn't the busy eight days. I don't know where they went. We don't learn that. I don't know if they were going a lot of places. But have you ever just been sleepy because of the motions that you're carrying those days?
[13:11] And so I could see justifiable reason why anything that these disciples were doing would just cause a very heavy sleepiness upon them because they were just learning that the Messiah that they're following was headed to a cross, that he was going to die.
[13:27] And that was the same thing that was going to be given for them. And so not to be irreverent, but Jesus took a field trip with them. And he said, I want to remind you of something in the midst of all this.
[13:38] I want to show you something. I want to show you my glory. And so there are witnesses of it. As I told you in Deuteronomy, the two or three witnesses. And so of these men, James will be the first to die.
[13:51] John will live the longest and testify as we know he's exiled. And then Peter will often be the leader of this scattered group of disciples. And John and Peter are going to write about this.
[14:03] And when they write about it, it speaks to what they learned in that moment. What was the lesson that they learned from being there? But what did they see? In Luke 9, 29, it says, As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered.
[14:18] That would be his face. And his raiment was white and glistering. You might immediately think, being students of the Bible as you are, you think of his countenance changing like maybe Nehemiah. It says that Nehemiah's countenance changed.
[14:31] But that was in a very normal way. That he had normally been smiley and happy, but now he was sad. Some of you have that. My wife has this. She is normally so happy that if she isn't just bubbling over and smiling, everybody thinks something is wrong.
[14:45] All right? And so Nehemiah had that. But that's not what we're talking about here in this passage. We're talking about something that was supernatural. We're talking about something that was revealing the fact that he is God.
[14:58] It's the way it's told in Mark 9, 3 is that, And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fooler on earth can white them.
[15:09] That there is no mom in this room that could get it as white as this white was. Okay? There's no Clorox commercial or Tide or any of those commercials where they used to, they'd do the challenge, they'd make the shirt dirty, they'd put it in a bowl, and they would spin it, and they would pull it up, and they would say, Now this is a white shirt.
[15:27] It says that there's no product in this world, there's no person in the world that can make his raiment, his clothing as white as this was made. Unlike Moses, who spent time with the Lord, he came back and his face would shine.
[15:41] This is God. Everything shined. The brightness, the light that was there, unlike anything that they had ever seen before. Matthew 17, 2, And he was transfigured before them, and his faith did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as light.
[16:00] This is unlike anything that you could even fathom, anything that you'd seen. There's been no equivalent to it as they looked upon him, and they were seeing, and they were beholding his glory.
[16:12] And this is just a great reminder of the fact that Jesus was not part of the story, but he is the story here. He is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias.
[16:26] How did they know it was Moses and Elias? Was he standing there with a robe and a long beard holding two tablets, like all of us picture him from that old movie, or the flannel graph, or Elijah?
[16:38] Had he come down in a chariot, and it was parked over in the corner? Were they wearing name tags? Probably not. But Jesus revealed it to them, or God revealed it to them, to know that it was Moses and Elias.
[16:50] Many reasons to consider why it may be those men, but we know what they represent, knowing that Moses represents the law. Sometimes even Jewish people today would say, we're going to Moses.
[17:02] We're going to the books of Moses, where the law would have been. And Moses knew of the sacrificial system, inside and out, right? He would have understood it. And then Elijah being the prophets.
[17:14] And the Bible tells us that the law and the prophets testified of Jesus. And so, how wonderful is it that the representative of the law and the prophets are standing there of Jesus, and what are they talking about?
[17:28] His coming death, which is a testimony, just like on the road to Emmaus, where Jesus was walking with the disciples and said, hey, you know when you read through the Bible, there's a whole lot about me that you overlooked.
[17:40] There's a whole lot of things that you didn't see, and he just gave them a crash course on it. And so, when you read this passage, you were missing this. And when you saw this picture, you weren't seeing this. But Moses and Elijah, they knew about it.
[17:51] They knew about it in their time upon earth, in their writings, in their ministry. But obviously, now they have spent time in heaven, and they're talking about it. And Jesus had been explaining it to the disciples, and he'd been trying to get it, and they didn't gather it.
[18:05] They were struggling with it, as we would see. But Moses and Elijah, the representatives here, they knew. These men served in part as representatives of the plan and promises of God in the Old Testament.
[18:17] So they look up, and they saw that, and they were speaking of his coming death. And as I said, Moses knowing the sacrifice system, there must be a lamb, Elijah knowing of the promise of the Messiah.
[18:30] And it's here, in these verses, where Jesus is going to help correct the way of thinking of Peter and the disciples. We said last time, Peter is most certainly not the Pope.
[18:41] He is not who the church is built upon. But many times, or more often than not, he is the representative spokesman of the group. When there was 12, he was spoke up. When there was three, he speaks on their behalf.
[18:53] Verse 33, And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias, not knowing what he said.
[19:06] That could be added to the end of many things, Peter said. Not realizing the full ramifications of what he had said. And he didn't realize that Moses did not need a tabernacle, and Peter didn't need a tabernacle like they had.
[19:21] And most certainly, Jesus did not need a tabernacle made with man's hands. He was the tabernacle. He was God with us. He had tabernacled with us and he had lost the significance. And on a side note, Moses and Elijah did not want to leave the glories of heaven and come live in a tent.
[19:36] All right? Why would they want that? Well, some of us heard a comedian a couple of years ago and talking about Lazarus and said, you know, all of us were excited when you read that Lazarus had come back from heaven, but he showed up and he said, they said, he's getting settled in heaven.
[19:49] He's there in his room. He's there in his mansion and he's there. And they're like, you're getting recalled. You got to go back. That was probably not an exciting moment for him. He was ready to get back to heaven. If you've ever been to heaven, you want to stay there, right?
[20:00] And so here Moses and Elijah. And so that was the part in which he did not recognize. But here are some of the things that he needed to realize that Jesus is not on the same level as the other men.
[20:13] Moses and Elijah would not entertain the idea of making tabernacles that would be equal to that with Jesus. There came a voice out of a cloud. You know you really messed up when a voice from heaven has to come and correct you, right?
[20:24] And so a cloud comes. The father says, this is my beloved son. Hear him. And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone.
[20:35] Those are great four words, right? We sung this morning what Brother David did, God is good. That's doing a whole lot with three words. I can't do more with three words. God is good. Here's another great four words.
[20:47] Jesus was found alone. Not the prophets, not the representative of the prophets, not the representative of the law. Nobody stands with Jesus. None of the false gods of this world, nothing stands with Jesus.
[21:01] Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close and told no man those things. And so Jesus here, he was found alone. There is no equal with him. He's not a prophet as prophets of the day or he's not the law, not just the one who teaches the law as Moses, but he is the law and the prophet.
[21:20] And then Jesus is the beloved son. And the father says, this is my son. Hear him. After confessing that Jesus is the Messiah, Peter learns that Jesus will suffer and die.
[21:31] But here Peter is getting confirmation that Jesus is the Christ, that he had rightfully said, so this is the son of God, the beloved one, the one that had been now here upon earth, living a perfect life for some 31, maybe years at this time, 32 years at this time.
[21:49] And there had never been a moment where he was not pleasing unto the father. Another gospel account, it says, this is my beloved son of whom I am well pleased.
[22:00] The father looked down and that nobody stands on equal footing with Jesus. He stands alone. And so this is how John and Peter will report it. John, in John 1, 14 says, and the word was flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as only of the begotten of the father full of grace and truth.
[22:21] John had the opportunity with many of the disciples to walk with Jesus and dwell among him and behold his glory. But he had this extra opportunity with the other two men to behold his glory in a way unlike anybody else at that time.
[22:36] But then this is what Peter says in 2 Peter 1, 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, but we were made known unto you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
[22:49] This is Peter speaking towards the end of his life. He's saying, this is not something that our faith is not grounded in some kind of clever story that we've come up. This is reliable observation of a historical reality.
[23:04] This isn't some cunningly devised fable that is unworthy of our acceptance. And I remind you of that, that yes, we have faith in the Lord, but we also have reliable historical evidence that have been shared with us.
[23:20] Our faith is based upon the fact that Jesus Christ is real and the Son of God. And so that's what Peter tells them, that I was an eyewitness of this account.
[23:30] I saw him come in his glory. Verse 17 of that passage says, For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.
[23:41] This is my beloved Son of whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. So here's Peter rehashing and telling the story from that time he was on the Mount of Transfiguration.
[23:56] And this is what he said. He said, We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star rises in your heart, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.
[24:15] Peter says a more sure word because it had been confirmed to him as an eyewitness of the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
[24:27] I've told you before, and you hear it sometimes occasionally where people would say, Jesus never said he was God. He only said that he was a teacher. He never said he was God. He gave an eyewitness account, undeniable proof, before Peter, James, and John hear that this was the Son of God.
[24:45] And then the Father testified, this is the Son in which he is well pleased. So 30 years after this event of revelation of the majesty of Christ fills the mind of Peter with awe, he wants more than anything to share the hope of that vision with us before he dies, but with those original readers and us.
[25:03] And then something Peter says that is correct. He says, it is good for us to be here. So Peter got it wrong that they need to build a tabernacle, but Peter was right.
[25:14] It was good for us to be here. How can I tell you that it was good for them to be here? Jesus took them there. It's a pretty good evidence that it was good for them to be there. He said, come with me. He took them up there.
[25:25] And so there they were. But it was good for them. But it's also good for us to behold the glory of God. I can't take you on the same field trip upon a mount and show you in the same way.
[25:36] But I have opportunity and you have opportunity to behold the glory of God. And in this passage, one of the emphases that you will see is the emphasis in worship and beholding the glory of God.
[25:48] Because what was it that the Father told him? He says, this is my beloved Son. In verse number 35 and it says, hear Him. This is my beloved Son. Pay attention to His words.
[26:02] Not just pay attention to this moment that you're going to see because they're not going to live in seeing this moment and in this experience. He didn't say just base everything upon this. He says, listen to the words.
[26:13] We are conformed to the image of Christ. It is the words of Scripture that the worshiper, you and I, can see Christ. Who is the exact representation of an invisible God.
[26:26] Hebrews 1.3 Who being in the brightness of His glory and express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, upholding all things by the word of His power.
[26:42] If you want to behold the glory of God, you can behold it in His words. The renewing of our mind is being conformed to the image of God's Son. Romans 12.2 And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
[27:01] Colossians 3.10 And having put on this, on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created Him. There's a tendency, there could be a tendency to go looking in books and to only read God's Word in a certain way.
[27:17] But if you read it in a devotional sense, if you read it in the seeing God, that you can be, your mind would be renewed. That there is, that reading and studying God's Word should not be an enemy to your heart being correct.
[27:30] They should be very much in the same. God says the renewing of our mind, the putting off and the putting on, doing deep studies, looking at God's Word and seeing His glory. More than you need anything in this rhythm and the routine of your life, as you're beginning to set things up, as I said last week, as you're making resolutions, you need to resolve to do some things.
[27:50] More than anything that you need in your life, you need the routine and the rhythm of beholding the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 3.18 But we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed in the same image from glory to glory, even as of the Spirit of the Lord.
[28:11] So we have this opportunity to behold the glory of the Lord, beholding glory and becoming whole. As I said in John 1.14, And we beheld His glory, the glory begotten the Father, full of grace and truth.
[28:24] John 1.17 says, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So we look to Him and we live. And so many of you, there's so many ways today to set up reading plans, probably easier than ever.
[28:41] But as you set up this time in God's Word, you're not setting up time in some kind of self-help book. You're not going to something to read, just as the laws was given by Moses.
[28:52] But you get to see grace and truth, the glory of our Lord. You go to learn about the grace and truth of our rescuer, our Savior. God had lifted the veil so that believers can see the glory of God in the face of Christ.
[29:06] 2 Corinthians 4.6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
[29:18] As we go to this Word, we can behold the glory of God. It's made available to us as we read His Word. And you need that. Just like Peter, James, and John were in this position where they would have been depressed, they would have been discouraged, they would have seen what was ahead of them, but their heart was not in it, they knew they were following Him as He headed to a cross, and God in His goodness took them and showed Him His glory, you have that available to you as well.
[29:48] Ecclesiastes talks about living life under the sun. It's this kind of mentality where all we live is with our heads down. Psalm 19.1 and 2 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that the day or their speech and the night and the night showeth the knowledge that as believers we should be able to go and look up at the stars and look at the sun and see the glory of God.
[30:09] In that general revelation, it doesn't give us all the knowledge of God that we would need to be reconciled to the Father, but we can look up and say, this is the glory of God. This is incredible.
[30:20] We can stand in awe of Him, and you need to, to be made whole and to live life the way that you were created to live. You need to recognize the glory of God.
[30:30] But in that same passage, right with looking at the wonder of heaven, he tells us that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. So it tells us not only to look up at the sky and see the glory of the Lord, but to look down at the pages.
[30:47] David is telling us that we see it in the sky, but we mostly see it written in God's Word. The glory of God is revealed unto us. So we see the glory of God in His Word.
[30:59] By reading it, we can behold His glory. I love how one author put it. He says, the Bible is not just a portrait, but it is a window. It is not just a portrait that would take a picture, but it's an opportunity for us to behold the glory of God.
[31:17] And just like Peter and James needed it, and John, you need it as well. Psalm 15, 1-3, it says, in reading your Bible, I'm going to give briefly here two examples of how to behold the glory of God in your Bible reading.
[31:33] Psalm 15, 1-3, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in the holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbideth not his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.
[31:49] So you read that in your devotions and you write something down and you could say something like this, okay, I can do this. I will walk with integrity and I will work with righteousness. I will speak truth.
[32:01] Help me, Lord. And that would be certainly a good application on that passage of things that you're given to do. But here's a second option when you read a passage like that. You could say, O Lord, who may abide in your tent?
[32:14] Who may dwell on your holy hill? Our first thought should be Jesus. He is the only one who truly can. The one who walks with integrity and works righteousness, who speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander his tongue.
[32:27] Jesus is so beautiful. He is so wonderful. He is so holy. I could never dwell on the holy hill of the Lord if Jesus had not walked up the hill of Calvary. O Lord, I praise you.
[32:38] Please make me more like you. Do you see the difference between the former and the latter? The desire for change in the former is totally rooted in human resolve where the desire for change in the latter is rooted in glory beholding worship.
[32:52] We come to the Word and we get to it and we say, Behold our God and we should worship Him and beholding the glory of God changes everything, everything about our lives.
[33:05] When it's spoken about in the Bible, these words, to the glory of the Lord, shows up all the time but we just think it's kind of like how you would end a sentence, you know? How sometimes we just kind of do that.
[33:16] One of our missionaries making phone calls one time on an answering machine says at the end of it he says, In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. And then he realized he couldn't change it. He got done praying and just kind of something he added in there.
[33:28] And you think it's kind of filler when it says the glory of the Lord but it says Philippians 3, 7, But what things you gain to me those I count in loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things do count them but dung that I may win Christ.
[33:45] Paul's desires and preferences have been so transformed by the superior beauty and worth of Christ that nothing is more desirable to him than Christ.
[33:56] Beholding the excellence of the knowledge of Christ is the key to contentment. You're having a struggle with being content and you say well I need to fix this and upgrade this in my home or if I could just get my kids to be a little bit better behaved or if I was able to make a little bit more money then our food would be a little bit better.
[34:13] All you're doing is changing around earthly things for earthly things and contentment is not going to be there but if you will go and you will behold the glory of the Lord and see that then you're able to be content because you have seen something that is beyond this world.
[34:29] Even in our fight with sin Romans 3, 23 For all of sin to come short of the glory of God. The essence of sin is preferring anything above the glory of God. Sin is overcome by seeing the glory of our Lord as more desirable than the promises of sin.
[34:45] So what then is sanctification? It is seeing the glory of the Lord as supremely valuable more to be preferred and more to be desired than anything. Life this year in 2022 you can add everything that you want to it but nothing will give you the ability to live as you should as God's creatures than beholding the glory of the Lord from His word.
[35:08] Peter, James, and John said we're never going to be the same. They kept it close to themselves until the day and those told no man around them and they write about it later. You cannot look upon the glory of God and remain the same.
[35:22] A quote here from Cape Hill it says people resemble what they revere either for ruin or restoration. God has made all people to reflect to be image bearers.
[35:32] People will always reflect something whether it be God's character or some feature of the world. I would encourage all of us in here it's time for us to wake up to rub our eyes and to behold the glory of the Lord.
[35:47] As much as those three men needed it in their story you need it in your everyday life. And I trust that as we look at God's word the Holy Spirit will make application into your life and the Holy Spirit will draw you and say you need to look upon the window of God's word and behold His glory.
[36:03] Nothing in your life is going to make sense if you cannot measure it against the glory of God and seeing Him and the glory of His word. But I as a friend to you I would like to make a very specific application to you that I would challenge you in this week is that I would recommend for you to spend a solid hour of your week beholding the glory of the Lord.
[36:28] When you have time in God's word and you set aside 10 and 15 minutes that's wonderful and that's good and that's needed but when you find and you set aside that extra time and you go deeper in the God's word and you spend more time into it you're going to recognize just like those three they saw something that the others didn't get to see that you as you will go to God's word and say God I'm not going to you to give me a self-help book I'm not telling you how to just make my life better but I am coming to God's word to behold His glory it will change everything about our lives and our days and our routines the rhythm of life you're not made to live going very long without beholding the glory of God things will just not work the way they should so make a commitment in your heart that you will not let there be long seasons that go between you and opening up this book and saying I beheld the glory of the Lord and when you read the passages like we did in Psalms and when you get done before you pick up a list of things and say I'm going to add to my to-do list recognize that first and foremost it was for you to recognize the holiness the glory of the God of heaven and that will make a change inside of us as we reflect
[37:41] His image to this world Heavenly Father I thank you for revealing yourself to us Lord if you did not you would not be known you made yourself knowable to us you made yourself knowable to those disciples Lord and we can envy that but Lord there is so much more opportunity for me to behold your glory that I have not taken full advantage of and Lord I commit my life to beholding your glory on a daily basis where the things of earth Lord they just become so boring and so troublesome and just do not make sense to us when we do not get a glimpse of you and so Father I commit my life to making that the high pursuit of my life which is to know you above all to see your glory as revealed in your word there