Well, any of you have a Bible, it's Luke chapter number 9.
Luke chapter number 9, if you are able to stand for the reading of God's Word, I ask that you would.
Luke chapter 9, if there is any children's church in here, 1st through 5th grade, they can go ahead and slip out.
Children's church is already back there.
But it is wonderful to be in the Lord's house.
I'm thankful that love went deeper.
I'm thankful that He knew me, and yet He loves me.
That gets to me every single time.
And I love the burden that Brother Nathaniel shared.
And I encourage you to be back tonight as He preaches and just lays some of that out a little bit more.
But God has called us all to be part of the mission.
And we're going through the book of Luke right now, Jesus and His mission.
And He's walking here on this earth to show us how to live, how to love.
He's going to give His life for us so that we can take that message to others as well.
So if you found your place there in Luke chapter 9, we're going to begin reading in verse 28 where the Bible says this.
And it came to pass, about in eight days after these sayings,
these sayings is when Peter said,
Thou art the Christ, and then Jesus said,
Hey, this is what it looks like to be a follower.
You have to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.
And they're kind of reeling from all of these things and trying to figure out what's going on.
And so after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James and went into a mountain to pray.
And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glycery.
And behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias, or Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spake of His decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.
But when Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep,
Peter always is taking a nap, it seems like.
He wakes up and he's thinking, What is going on here?
And the heavy was sleeping.
When they awake, they saw His glory and the two men that stood with Him.
And it came to pass, as they departed from Him,
Peter said unto Him, 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.
Verse 34,
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.
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.
This morning I want to preach a message entitled this,
A Glimpse of Glory.
They've had a really rough kind of week, and Jesus knew that.
But He wanted to show them that, hey, this suffering talk,
this taking up your cross, me dying and leaving,
it's not the end of the story.
He wanted to show them a little bit of, hey, what's coming?
A coming attraction, so to speak.
So I think it's going to be a help to us this morning.
Let's go to Him in prayer, and then we'll dive right in.
Father, thank You for this opportunity to be in Your house.
Lord, thank You for just the beautiful songs that we were able to sing,
that we heard sung this morning,
that remind us of Your love for us.
And we see it even here in our text.
Lord, that You're showing us who You really are.
Lord, that's what I ask this morning,
that You would make that known to every single person under the sound of my voice.
That there's someone that needs to know You as their Savior,
that today would be that day.
For those that need to be encouraged,
and as they're walking maybe a difficult road,
and it feels like just trials and suffering,
and all the things that this world brings,
Lord, to remind us that this world is not our home.
That we're just passing through,
and there is a coming glory.
Lord, I pray You be with me now.
Empty me of self.
Fill me with Your Spirit,
that I might be a help to Your people.
In Christ's name, amen.
Thank You so much for standing.
You may be seated.
Have you ever wished you could just freeze time?
You know, always superhero powers.
I wish I could fly.
I wish I could run fast.
I wish I could jump, dunk.
You know, that whole little thing at the beginning,
that was to help you dunk a basketball.
That's what it's for.
So maybe some of you boys can dunk a basketball one of these days.
But you know, there's times in these superpowers,
like, man, I'd love to freeze time.
Maybe there's moments in your life,
and I remember maybe when Mackenzie was born,
our firstborn, and I held her,
I thought, wow.
First I thought, how in the world am I going to do this?
Still trying to figure that out 14 years later.
But when you have those moments,
you just kind of want to freeze the time.
Maybe you've been somewhere,
you've been on a vacation,
been at a beautiful sight in the world,
and you just kind of want to,
you're overwhelmed by this breathtaking view,
and you just want to kind of pause time
and just take it all in.
Maybe, rarely,
you're sitting around the dinner table with your family,
everybody's getting along,
and you think, man, if I could just freeze this.
We all like each other,
we all agree on the meal.
This is a moment in history.
You know, there's times like that in our life
where we just want to push the pause button,
just kind of hang out right there.
And we've all had moments like that,
moments we wish we could just bottle up
and never lose.
And as we come into our text today
in the Gospel of Luke,
we see that Peter's having kind of
one of those moments.
Maybe you've heard these verses,
it's the Mount of Transfiguration.
And after a really tough week
and some really tough things
that the disciples had to hear,
and they're trying to kind of ingest
and figure out what it means in their own life,
Jesus takes them up to a mountain,
and he is transformed.
It's not, he didn't become a different person,
he kind of just lifted the veil a little bit,
just to let him see who he really was.
And they began to get that glimpse of him,
and Peter's there, and he wakes up,
and he sees what's going on,
and in typical Peter fashion,
he doesn't know what to do,
so he just speaks.
You know people like that?
You're thinking, it'd be better
if you just didn't say anything at all.
And Peter says, man, you know what?
Jesus, let's just freeze time right here.
Hey, you remember all that suffering talk?
Forget about that.
Let's just camp out right here for a while.
Let's just stay on top of this mountain.
But God had a different plan.
Jesus didn't bring Peter, James, and John
up to the top of the mountain
for them to live there.
This wasn't supposed to be a permanent situation.
Here's really what it helps us to do.
It helped them,
and it's going to help us in our own life.
This mountaintop was meant to prepare them
for the valleys that were coming.
Because I don't know if you found this out in life yet,
there are some mountaintop experiences,
but there are some deep valleys as well.
And we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
And we can fear no evil.
Why?
Because Jesus is with us,
and he was reminding his disciples both then
and now that the same is true.
And I really believe when we come to this passage
that that's what it's really all about.
That when life is hard,
when discipleship is costly,
when following feels like a struggle,
we need moments to see his glory,
to see who he really is,
to see who we really are following.
And what it does,
it strengthens us for the road ahead.
That's what the transfiguration is.
This isn't just some light show.
Hey man, this is a cool little side.
Hey, there's some hard things,
and we're going to see when he comes down the mountain
there's some hard things.
So let's just kind of hang out for a minute.
No, it's much more than that.
See, last week we saw in verse 22
that Jesus said,
here's what's going to happen guys.
I'm going to suffer many things,
and I'm going to be rejected by the chief priest,
and they're going to kill me.
Now we mentioned this.
Nobody killed him.
He laid down his life.
But he said,
this is what's going to happen.
This is where this is heading.
And then he added,
if that wasn't hard enough for them to handle,
and if you want to follow after me,
you're going to sign up for the very same things.
That if any man come after me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily and follow.
And I think you got the sense last week,
if you were here,
those are heavy words.
They were thinking crowns,
and they were thinking power,
and they were thinking prestige,
and they were thinking,
hey man, we're on the ground floor
of this whole Messiah thing.
They didn't see a cross.
They didn't see suffering.
They didn't see difficulties in the future.
And for about a week,
we see that they're trying to process this.
This is not what they signed up for.
You ever signed up for something?
Thinking, nope,
this is not what I signed up for.
That was basically me,
K through 12th grade.
I'm like,
this is not what I signed up for.
Especially in middle school,
they just took my recess away.
I'm like,
how am I supposed to live?
I mean,
life is recess.
But no doubt the disciples
were beginning to really feel the weight.
I mean,
these were men that had left everything.
They had left their nets.
They had left their jobs.
They had left their professions.
They had forsaken all to follow Christ.
And now it seems like,
this is not good.
And Jesus knew it.
Let me remind you,
Jesus always knows.
I don't know what you're walking through.
I don't know the difficulties
you might be facing in your life right now
and the struggles,
but He knows.
And if anything this morning,
I just want you to see
just a glimpse
of who Jesus really is.
because when we get
a good picture of that,
it changes how we live our life.
So He took Peter
and He took James
and He took John up this mountain.
Why?
Because He was preparing them
for what was to come.
Listen,
Jesus cares so much
about His followers
and His disciples.
He doesn't leave us in the dark.
No,
He promises never to leave us
nor to forsake us.
And He wanted them
to really see
who He was.
Man,
they had seen Him
feed a bunch of people.
That's cool.
They had seen Him
heal some people.
I mean,
that's amazing.
When they thought
they were going under
in the boat,
He just calmed the wind.
Man,
that's pretty awesome.
And they were beginning
to kind of get these puzzle pieces
of who Jesus was
and kind of
it's starting to come into view.
But now He's going to
pull the veil back
and show them really
who He is.
That's the first thing
that I want us to see
this morning.
Number one is
we need to look
at the glory
of the Son of God.
In verse number 29,
the Bible reminds us
that He came into
this mountain to pray
and as He prayed,
the fashion of His countenance
was altered
and His raiment
was white and glycerine.
Matthew's account,
Matthew 17,
tells us that His face
shone as bright
as the noonday sun.
Think about it like this.
It's so bright.
I mean,
when the disciples are there,
they're looking like that.
Kind of like you were
last night
when you opened the fridge
at midnight.
You know,
trying to find something
in there.
I mean,
a blinding light.
It's going to just,
you can't even fathom it.
The Bible kind of describes
His clothes
in multiple accounts.
They're dazzling
and it's like lightning
was kind of woven
into the fabric.
I know that's kind of crazy
but that's just how
I read the Bible.
I mean,
they can't even look upon Him.
Peter's thinking,
what is going on?
They're sleeping.
Every time they get
an opportunity,
they always seem
to fall asleep
in the most important moments.
But simply put,
it was very evident
when they came to,
when the disciples woke up,
that this was no ordinary man.
This wasn't just some rabbi
that was a really good teacher.
This wasn't just some
miracle worker
from Nazareth.
No,
they're beginning to realize
who He truly is
and Peter already said,
thou art the Christ.
And now Jesus is saying,
I am.
You can see me
for who I really am.
And God is pulling back
the veil of His humanity
and He's revealing
that He is glorious
and He's divine
and He's eternal.
And this isn't the first time
God's glory has shown up
in Scripture like this.
We see Moses,
when you study
the life of Moses,
He goes up into Mount Sinai
and He's in the presence
of God for those 40 days
and when He comes down
from the mountain,
He's been in the presence
of God so long,
He had to wear a veil
on His face
because His own face
was shining.
And that was just
a reflection of God's glory.
It was just a fading afterglow.
When you study Solomon's temple
and Solomon begins to pray
to dedicate the temple,
this cloud comes down,
the glory of God,
the Shekinah glory
is what we call it
in Scripture.
It comes down
and it fills the whole house.
And Israel is like,
whoa, what is going on here?
Maybe you know
the life of the Apostle Paul.
He was on the road to Damascus.
He was going to arrest Christians
and to get rid of them
and Jesus of Nazareth showed up,
the risen Savior.
And the Bible says
that He's shown
bright as the noonday sun.
It blinded Paul
and it changed his life.
But here in our text this morning,
the disciples are not seeing
a reflection or a symbol
or a bright light.
They are seeing Jesus
for who He truly is.
They were seeing
the very source of glory.
See, Jesus doesn't borrow it
from anybody.
No, He is.
You see in the end
that there's going to be
no need for the sun
because He's going to be
in the city.
He is the light
that we are searching for.
And in verse 30,
we see He's not alone,
that He's having
this conversation.
They wake up
and the disciples
start looking and say,
whoa, who are those people?
And they had a little name tag.
It said, hello, I'm Moses.
Hello, I'm Elijah.
I don't know how it was,
but they realized real quickly
who this was.
And the Bible,
that's what it says
in verse number 30,
Behold, there talked with Him
two men which were Moses
and Elias.
See, Moses represented the law.
Moses was their hero.
Abraham and Moses,
these men of the Mount Rushmore,
so to speak, of Israel,
he was the great deliverer.
And I'm sure many of you
are familiar with the Exodus
and how God used this man,
Moses, to deliver his people
out of bondage in Egypt.
He was the one
that God gave the commandments
through and the tabernacle
and the priesthood
and the sacrifices.
And you think,
what was all that about?
Here's what it was about.
It was about pointing forward
to Jesus.
That the Old Testament
is just a shadow
of things to come.
But Jesus is the fulfillment
of that and He is
the true deliverer
and He is the final sacrifice.
And He's there
with Elijah the prophet.
I mean, you talk about
a prophet that was bold,
a prophet that wasn't afraid
to speak the truth.
This was the man
that rolled right up
into the most wicked king
in Israel
and his wife Jezebel
and said,
hey, God said
it's not going to rain.
And Elijah was that kind
of prophet
that stood for the Lord
and called Israel back
in a time of great apostasy.
And really,
the prophets in general,
as a whole,
proclaimed the hope
of a coming Messiah.
Proclaimed the hope
that God would restore
His people
and establish
His kingdom.
So we see these two men here.
Why?
Well, I think because together
the law and the prophets,
they summed up
the entire Old Testament
revelation.
And here's what the Old Testament
is saying.
He's coming.
The Messiah is coming.
The Savior of the world
is coming.
Behold,
a virgin shall conceive
and you shall call
His name
Emmanuel,
God with us.
and they're here
not as equals
with Jesus
but bearing witness
that He is the one
that the law
and the prophets
were pointing to.
That is the idea.
Well, what are they
talking about?
Verse 31.
Who appeared in glory
and spake
of His decease
which He should accomplish
at Jerusalem?
We're going to come back.
We're going to circle back around here
in just a minute to that.
But here's what
they're talking about.
What's going to happen
when He dies?
In the midst
of all the glory
of God,
in the midst
of this
great transfiguration,
here's where
Jesus' focus was.
The cross.
It reminds us
that the song
of the Jerusalem
love went deeper.
That even when
everything was pointing
to Him
and they're beginning
to realize
that He is God
in the flesh,
true glory
always centers
on Christ
and His finished work
on the cross of Calvary.
That's where glory
is found.
See,
Peter and James
and John,
they thought it was found
in prestige
and in power
and making Israel
great again.
That's what they were
looking for.
You look at the
triumphant entry
of Christ,
they thought,
you know what?
They're going to kick
all the Romans out
and we're going to be
where we should be.
No,
the triumphant entry
was this,
that He was coming
to die.
And that's what
Moses and Elijah
are talking about
with Him.
That's their conversation.
Let me just remind you,
every other glory fades.
We can search
for glory
in our own world,
but careers
can vanish,
reputations
can be ruined,
possessions wear out,
break down,
left behind,
but the glory
of Jesus
never fades.
And the same
Christ who shone
so brightly
on this mountain,
He went down
into the valley
and carried
across up
Mount Calvary
and died there
for our sins.
But that wasn't
the end of the story
either.
He rose triumphant
and His glory
is eternal
and His work
is finished
and His victory
is yours
if you belong
to Him.
But what we see
with the disciples
is the same thing
that we can find
ourselves in.
We're looking for glory
in all the wrong places.
We're going to see them
in a couple chapters.
They're fighting
about who's number one.
Who's the number one
disciple?
And James and John's mom
made little stickers.
James and John,
number one.
I mean,
that's in there.
That's in the Bible.
Mama came and tried
to speak up
for her boys.
Like,
I know these other guys
are good,
but there are no
James and John.
I mean,
James and John
are special.
And they're missing it.
So I just want to ask you
before we move on,
where are you looking
for glory?
The only glory we have
is in Christ
and Him crucified.
It's by the grace of God
we are who we are.
You know,
maybe you're looking
in your accomplishments
and your stuff.
Here's where we should be looking,
Jesus saying,
at your Savior.
All that glory fades.
That new car smell
that you worked so hard for,
probably smells like
french fries right now.
You know,
we talked about it last week.
You've never eaten in here.
Man,
there's probably more french fries
under your seat
than there were in your mouth.
That dream vacation,
it's going to,
you've got to come back
to reality at some point.
Everything fades in our life.
Our hair fades.
Sometimes it just leaves us.
I'm not looking at anybody.
Don't judge me here.
But Jesus is just reminding us,
he's reminding his disciples,
this is the only glory
that's going to last.
This is the only glory
that lasts forever.
And see,
on this mountain,
the disciples saw the glory
of Jesus with their own eyes,
but now they needed to hear
the truth with their own ears.
And God the Father shows up
and he has a command.
This is my beloved son.
Hear him.
That's what we see
the fathers say.
But there in verse number 32,
Peter,
he's overwhelmed,
he's in awe,
and he should have
just been quiet.
You know,
he thought,
man,
last time I spoke up,
I said something really good.
I'm going to say something again.
And he wakes up
and he sees Jesus
in his glorified version.
He sees Elijah and Moses
and he says,
hey,
guess what?
It's good for us to be here.
He's like,
come on,
that's what you came up with?
That's what he decided to say?
He said,
and then he,
you know,
I don't know where he got them,
but he pulled these blueprints
out of his back pocket.
He said,
okay,
here Jesus,
look at these.
I've seen a plan on Pinterest
for three tabernacles.
We're going to build it right here.
And we're going to put it right here,
right here,
and one for you,
and one for Elijah,
and one for Moses,
and we're just going to hang out here.
But before he really can finish
his building plans,
that's when God the Father shows up.
It's like,
Peter,
be quiet.
Peter,
stop talking.
You're missing the point.
What Peter's trying to do,
and you're going to see it multiple times
in Peter's life,
he tries to get Jesus
to kind of go around the cross
and right to glory.
It doesn't work that way.
He was trying to get him
to miss the suffering
and go right to the power.
But the Father made it very clear.
This is my beloved son.
That Jesus wasn't just a prophet
like Moses and Elijah.
He wasn't just some priest.
No,
he is not one among equals.
He has no rivals.
He is the beloved son of God.
And because of who he is,
listen to him.
You see,
Jesus,
prophets spoke of the word.
Jesus is the word.
The priests,
they offer the sacrifice,
but God is reminding them
and reminding us
that Jesus is the sacrifice.
Kings rule for a time,
but Jesus reigns forever.
Religions point to a path,
but Jesus is the path.
And that's why God said,
hear him.
Because only Jesus can save.
Only Jesus can satisfy.
Only Jesus can bring us to God.
And this is not the first time
that God's voice
has thundered with authority.
You can go right
to the very beginning
of the Bible,
and God said,
let there be.
Listen,
God's voice creates.
God's voice calls personally.
He came to Samuel.
Samuel,
here am I.
Well,
what would you have,
Lord?
Lord,
the voice of God
came to Elijah
in a still small voice,
and it comforts
in that weakness.
At Jesus' own baptism,
his voice affirmed,
thou art my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased.
And here again
at the transfiguration,
he reminds us
that God's voice
also directs.
You see,
the same voice
that spoke light
into darkness,
who called prophets
by name,
who whispered comfort
to Elijah,
who affirmed Jesus
at the Jordan,
is now commanding
his disciples,
and he's commanding us,
hear Jesus.
Hear him.
Hear what he's got to say.
Have you noticed
that life is noisy?
I mean,
especially if you've got kids.
I mean,
it feels like a million
things are going on,
and they're all telling a story,
and then you're turning
the TV up,
trying to hear what it is.
You know,
when you can't see it,
you turn it up, right?
I'm not the only person.
I'm like,
okay,
let me turn it up
so I can see it better.
You know,
I'm trying to like,
focus on what's going on.
Maybe you got the GPS,
and you're holding it,
trying to drink your coffee,
and do all these things,
and there's so many things
that are calling us,
so many things
that are pulling us away,
and sometimes Jesus' voice
gets drowned out.
Maybe you think,
man,
I've been walking through
some really difficult things.
Let me just ask you this.
Whose voice
are you listening to?
Whose voice
are you trying to decipher
through the crowd
and the noise?
Because sometimes
if we're honest
with ourselves,
we ignore Jesus' voice
because it's still
and it's small
and maybe it's not
as loud as the others,
but let me just encourage you
and remind you,
ignoring Jesus' voice
is very costly.
Culture is calling for us.
Social media is calling for us.
Our own doubts are calling,
but the Savior is here
and He's speaking truth
and hope
and life.
See,
the mountain revealed
who Jesus was
and who He is,
and the mission
would reveal
what He came to accomplish
there on the cross,
and that meant
a path of suffering
came before the crown.
The last thing
I want us to look at
this morning is this,
that we need to learn
from the suffering
of God's servant.
We need to learn
from the suffering
of God's servant.
I want us to circle back.
I said that we would
in verse number 31.
When Jesus,
who appeared in His glory
and spake
of His decease,
which He should accomplish
at Jerusalem.
That word,
decease,
it's not a word
that we would use
all the time,
but here's what it
literally means
in the original language,
Exodus.
Jesus is speaking
of His Exodus,
and He's there
with the great deliverer
of Israel,
Moses,
and do you see it?
I hope that you do,
that just as Moses
led Israel out of bondage
in Egypt,
Jesus,
the reason that He came
is that He was going
to lead His people
out of sin and death
at the cross of Calvary.
See,
He didn't come
to set up
an earthly kingdom.
No,
He came to die
that we might live,
and they're talking
about it,
and it reminds us
that glory
is not an escape
from suffering
many times,
and most of the time,
it's reached
through suffering.
And Jesus was willing
that He humbled Himself
and He became obedient
unto death,
even the death
of the cross.
The writer in Hebrews
reminds us
that for the joy
that was set
before Him,
He endured the cross.
Why?
For you.
For me.
He came,
and He had this
exodus planned
so that we wouldn't
have to be servants
to sin,
that we wouldn't have
to live with guilt
and shame
and fear
and regret
and worry.
No,
He came to give us life
and to give it to us
more abundantly
and peace
and joy
and all the things
the world is looking for,
it's found in Jesus,
and it's accomplished
through the cross.
See,
Jesus would not wear
the crown
without first carrying
the cross.
You see kind of this
played out through Scripture
in different ways.
We saw that Joseph,
he was betrayed,
he was imprisoned,
he went through
difficult things,
but at the end,
God raised him up.
That suffering
before glory.
We saw Job,
he was broken,
he was tested,
but God restored him.
David was hunted
by others,
he was in hiding
for a lot of his life,
but ultimately
he was crowned.
Paul was beaten
and shipwrecked
and jailed
and all these other things,
but he rejoiced
because God was working
in his life.
And Jesus,
he endured the cross
and now he's enthroned
forever,
forever.
And it's a principle
we see in our own lives
and athletes know
that there's no medal
without sweat.
Soldiers know
that there's no victory
without a battle.
Parents know
that there's no peace
without surviving bedtime.
Just bring it real close
where we live.
What does this mean for us?
Sometimes we read this
and think,
well, man,
what a cool story.
He's on a mountain,
he turns really bright
and some cool stuff happens.
What Jesus is reminding us
is this,
that don't be surprised
when following Christ
costs you.
See,
this is coming off the hills
of taking up your cross
and following him.
That the cross
always comes
before the crown.
But there's great hope too.
And that's why
he kind of pulled
the veil back
and I got a little glimpse
of it because here
is the hope
that if we share
in his sufferings,
we will also
share in his glory.
Not because we deserve it,
because that's what
he offers us.
Because that's what
he gives us.
I love what Paul tells
the Romans in Romans 8, 17.
The spirit itself
beareth witness
with our spirit
that we are the children
of God.
That if we know
Christ is our Savior,
God confirms that
and if children,
then heirs.
Heirs of God
and joint heirs
with Christ.
So be that
if we suffer with him
that we may also
be glorified together.
Verse 18,
for I reckon,
you didn't know
Paul was texting.
Paul's reckoning
right here.
For I reckon,
listen to what Paul says,
that the sufferings
of this present time
are not worthy
to be compared
with the glory
which shall be revealed
in us.
You know what Paul's saying?
Yes, it's hard.
And I'm not belittling
anything that anybody
is walking through,
has walked through,
or will walk through.
But Paul says,
listen, there is coming a day
that when we see Christ
face to face
and we stand before him,
everything we went through
in this life,
we're going to realize,
you know what?
It really wasn't
that big a deal.
Look what God has given us.
It eye hath not seen,
ear hath not heard,
nor has it entered
into the heart of the man
the things that God
has prepared for them
that love him.
That's what Jesus
wanted them to see.
See, with Christ,
suffering is not
the end of the story.
It's the road to glory.
That's what he wants us to see.
So we've seen
the glory of the Son,
we've heard the voice
of the Father,
and we've learned
the path of suffering
that leads to glory.
But the question
that I leave you with
this morning is,
how will you respond?
How will you respond?
I think for those
that follow Christ
and know him
as your Savior,
the message is encouraging.
That when you're weary,
remember that glimpse
of glory.
When you're confused,
listen to the voice
of Jesus.
When you're hurting,
trust the path
that leads
through the cross
to the ground.
Jesus said he is the way
and the truth
and the life.
See, this passage,
what it is doing
and what it is reminding,
it is calling us
to steady obedience.
Keep following.
Keep listening.
Keep trusting.
Maybe you're here
and you're just still
kind of really weighing out
who Jesus is.
You love a lot of things
about him.
You love church
and some songs
and you read your Bible
every once in a while,
but you're still
kind of just searching.
Listen,
the Father wants us
to do one thing,
wants you to do one thing.
Hear Jesus.
What does Jesus say?
I am the way
and the truth
and the life.
No man comes
to the Father
but by me.
Jesus also told
Mary and Martha
and John chapter 11,
I am the resurrection
and the life.
He that believeth in me,
though he were dead,
yet shall he live.
Jesus told the disciples
in John chapter 6,
verse 37,
he that cometh to me
and I will in no wise
cast out.
He preached the gospel
there in Mark chapter 1,
verse 15,
repent and believe
the gospel.
Repent and believe
Jesus Christ.
Jesus calls to all,
come unto me,
all you that labor
and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Maybe that's what you
need to hear today.
There is a God
that loves you
and he came to this earth
and he lived for you.
He lived a life
that we could not live.
Where we failed,
he succeeded.
Where the first Adam failed,
the second Adam
made all things new.
And this same Jesus
who laid down his life
at Calvary
took the punishment
of sin that we all deserve
and rose again in victory.
And now he offers
the same to all of us.
See, ignoring Jesus
is like ignoring your doctor
when he offers you the cure.
It's like ignoring a lifeguard
that's trying to throw you
a rope.
You're drowning
and you just ignore it.
See, to reject Jesus
is to refuse
the only hope
of salvation.
So today,
whether you're a believer
or you're maybe still searching,
the Father's command
is the same.
This
is my beloved son.
Hear him.
Will you hear him?
Will you obey him?
Will you follow him?
Because when you realize
who Jesus is,
he's worthy
of all those things.
He is the son of God.
Would you stand
with your heads bowed?
With your eyes closed.