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And we open the Word of God together today to the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

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The eight years of ministry that God has been pleased to give us together have been very

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enjoyable.

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I know I can speak on behalf of my family and say that it's been good to be here these

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eight years.

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That's an expression that we sometimes use, isn't it?

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Good to be here.

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It's an expression that a speaker uses occasionally when he is addressing an audience.

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And as he begins to address them in order to get them on his wavelength, he says a few

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nice things about them and talks about some association he might have.

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And then he'll say, it's good to be here with you.

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Or a guest might use that expression, perhaps leaving the home after an evening at dinner,

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saying it's been good to be here.

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I have heard some worshippers use that after a particularly meaningful service when they

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have met God.

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It's been good to be here.

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But our text today tells of an occasion when that phrase was used.

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And I think had any of us been there, we might have used the very same expression.

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Luke 9 beginning in verse 28.

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In some eight days after these sayings, it came about that Jesus took along Peter and

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John and James and went up to the mountain to pray.

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And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing

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became white and gleaming.

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And behold, two men were talking with him, and they were Moses and Elijah, who appearing

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in glory were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

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Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep, which by the way may indicate

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that the transfiguration occurred at night.

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Have you ever thought about that?

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Usually in films we see it depicted in the daytime.

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But it may well have happened late at night when the disciples were quite weary.

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But when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.

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And it came about as these were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it's good

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to be here.

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And let us make three tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah,

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not realizing what he was saying.

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Have you ever been like that?

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Not knowing what you were talking about?

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And while he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them, and they were

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afraid as they entered the cloud.

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And a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my son, my chosen one.

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Listen to him.

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And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.

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And they kept silent and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they

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had seen.

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It's good to be here, says Peter.

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As you read this text, there are a couple of questions that might come to your mind

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as they did to mine as I was thinking about speaking on this Sunday morning on the transfiguration.

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One question is, why did this happen?

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Why the transfiguration?

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It happened only once in the whole lifetime of Jesus.

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And then an accompanying question, why did it happen at this time?

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Why now at this point?

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It seems that the reason is because Jesus had given His disciples some new information,

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and He wanted them to be assured that He was in control because they had just learned that

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God's plan was not going to happen just as they thought it was.

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And yet God's plan was not going to fail simply because their preconceived notions would

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not be realized.

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There are times, folks, when God works in ways that puzzle us.

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When we are puzzled, we should not be in despair.

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We do not walk by explanations but by faith.

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And that's one lesson God tries to teach us when we find ourselves puzzled with the

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ways of the Lord.

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I hope by looking at our text today that we will all learn what disciples everywhere need

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to learn.

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That is that suffering and sacrifice are worthwhile because of the glory that's coming.

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I really hope that as a result of this message all of us will be committed to endure present

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hardship for Christ, that one day we might enjoy future glory with Christ.

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There are two simple observations that I want to make as we look at the text that we've

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read this morning.

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The first one, very simply, is this.

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For Christ, suffering preceded His glory.

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Jesus had been preaching throughout His ministry about the coming kingdom of God.

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Just to see that in the briefest sense, would you turn back with me to Luke chapter 4 verses

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31 and 32.

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This is the beginning of His ministry essentially as Luke records it, His public ministry.

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He says He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the

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Sabbath, and they were amazed at His teaching for His message was with authority.

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Now He doesn't tell us there what He was talking about, but a few verses down He does

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give us the synopsis of what Jesus was preaching in those days.

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Verse 43, He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for I

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was sent for this purpose.

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What purpose?

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To preach the coming kingdom of God.

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Not only had Jesus been preaching that the kingdom was at hand, that it was about to

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come, but also He had given that same message to His disciples.

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As we see at the beginning of the very chapter we're studying today, chapter 9, it says in

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verse 1, He called the twelve together, gave them power and authority over all the demons

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and to heal diseases, and He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform

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healing.

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And so the twelve too had taken this message and in some preaching journeys had declared

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it, the kingdom is coming.

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But there was a cloud on the horizon.

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A problem was growing.

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There was developing hostility toward Christ, the King of the kingdom.

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And if they dared to reject the King, there was to be no kingdom.

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And now for the first time, earlier in chapter 9, from where we read our text, Jesus had

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introduced to His disciples some information that may well have come close to devastating

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them.

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I refer to chapter 9 and verse 18.

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It came about that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him and He questioned

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them saying, who do the multitudes say that I am?

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And they answered and said, John the Baptist and others say Elijah, but others that one

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of the prophets of old has risen again.

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And He said to them, but who do you say that I am?

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Jesus is giving them here something of a final quiz.

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They answered and said, the Christ of God, and He warned them and instructed them not

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to tell this to anyone.

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They passed the final exam, but it wasn't time for that announcement to be made yet.

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And so we see here that the disciples had grasped His identity.

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But Jesus goes on.

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He says to them, the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders

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and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised up on the third day.

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Now this was new information to be sure, four pieces of information.

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They had not had this before.

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Jesus says to them, four things must happen, it's absolutely necessary that the Son of

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Man first of all suffer many things.

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That He be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and scribes, that is the religious

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leaders of the nation of Israel.

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That He be killed and finally that He be raised on the third day.

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Now can you put yourself in the place of those disciples?

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They have been with Jesus now something like two plus years.

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And during this time, one of the main themes of Jesus' preaching has been the coming kingdom

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of God, and they themselves have gone out representing Him saying the kingdom is at

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hand.

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And now Jesus says to them, it's necessary that I suffer, be rejected, be killed, and

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be raised again.

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Can you see any confusion coming to your mind in that situation?

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Had you been one of the disciples?

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Can you see any questions erupting within you as you heard this new information?

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But Jesus, what about the kingdom?

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What about its glory?

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Jesus, have we misled the multitudes?

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Jesus were you wrong in saying the kingdom is at hand?

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Now Peter spoke up first, which is not uncharacteristic of Peter.

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Matthew tells us that he began, he took Jesus aside and he began to rebuke Jesus.

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And basically what he said was, Jesus, Jesus, this will never happen to you.

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He's saying, Lord, do you know what you're talking about?

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Why this won't happen to you.

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It can't happen.

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Peter was sincere too.

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There was nobody more passionately devoted to the Savior than was Peter.

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And if there was a threat of that happening, Peter would see to it himself.

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This will not happen to you, Jesus.

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And Jesus turned to Peter in the presence of all of the disciples with everyone listening.

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And you know what he said?

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Get behind me, Satan.

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Isn't that an amazing statement for Jesus to make?

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For Peter in that instance had begun voicing Satan's mind.

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And Jesus spoke exactly to that in his rebuke.

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I think there's a lesson here that we need to observe before we go any further.

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That is when Jesus is doing something that we don't understand.

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We can, in sincerity, overreact and unwittingly become the voice of the devil.

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We have to be careful not to be presumptuous or impetuous when we're not sure what the

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Lord is doing, but rather to be patient and to wait upon Him.

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I believe that it was because of those confused and questioning disciples that what happened

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next did happen, and that is the transfiguration.

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Because just eight days later, Jesus took three of the disciples, Peter, James, and

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John.

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Why those three?

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I'm not sure, except that they seem to have been an inner circle of men who were very

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close to Jesus, perhaps closer than the others.

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We do see that they had significant destinies.

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Peter, for example, became the leader after Jesus ascended back to heaven.

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And James was the first one who was martyred, the first one who was killed for his faith

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of the apostles, that is.

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And then John lived longer than anybody.

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He was the last of them.

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Jesus took these three and went to a mountain, and there prayed.

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And as we've suggested, it may have happened at night that they became weary and fell asleep.

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And Jesus was changed.

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He allowed for the one single time in His 33 years on earth for His glory to be revealed.

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From the transfiguration event that is recorded in the Gospels, we observe several things.

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First of all, it reveals the inherent glory that was Christ's because He is God.

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The glory that was His as eternal deity was allowed to show through the very flesh, the

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skin of His body.

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John says in his prologue of the Gospel, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

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That is, the eternal Word, the deity, the Son of God, took upon Himself flesh and lived

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as though in a tent in that body.

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And then he goes on to say, and we beheld His glory, perhaps mentioning this very occasion,

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thinking of it rather in his mind, when that glory became clear and evident through the

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tabernacle in which the Son lived.

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It was essential that that glory be veiled at His incarnation, for if it had not been

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veiled, that glory would have consumed anyone who came in its presence.

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It was only the grace of our Lord that preserved these three men in the presence of His visible

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glory.

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We also observe from the transfiguration that it reveals the agreement of the law and the

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prophets to the fuller revelation about His coming death.

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Moses was there, Moses who had died and whose body was buried by God, and Elijah who did

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not die but was taken bodily up into heaven in a chariot of fire.

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They were both there with Jesus in glory.

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We don't have time to talk about what that says about life after death.

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The two of them were there representing their eras.

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Moses representing the law.

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Elijah there representing the prophets of God.

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Both of them conversing with Jesus about His death.

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Wouldn't you like to know what they said?

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Perhaps Jesus was instructing them.

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Perhaps He was saying, now you see Moses back when you wrote about that brass serpent being

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lifted in the wilderness.

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When you talked about that lamb that was slain, Moses, that was talking about me and what

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I'm going to do shortly in Jerusalem.

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Perhaps He spoke to Elijah and referred to what happened in the prophets.

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Elijah, that was talking about me.

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It may be that those two men were there conversing with Him, discussing together what they already

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knew regarding His coming death, and that that discussion was simply for the sake of

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these disciples who were listening so that they might know that both the law and the

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prophets agreed with what Jesus had said about His death.

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This was not anything new from God's perspective, that it was God's plan on track.

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But we do see here nonetheless the agreement of the law and the prophets to the fuller

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revelation about Jesus' soon death.

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And the transfiguration we also see that it reveals that Christ viewed His death as a

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departure.

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The word here literally is Exodus.

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Now He viewed it other ways as well.

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He viewed it as a sacrifice.

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He viewed it as doing the will of God, but in this particular instance they were talking

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with Him about His death in terms of an Exodus.

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That's very graphic to us, because when we think of Exodus, we think of the release of

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God's people from Egypt.

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Isn't it interesting to think of Jesus' death as His release from the body in which He had

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limited Himself for these years, and that He looked forward to that release and His

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return to heaven?

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And then we see that the transfiguration was understood by the disciples as a preview of

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Christ's kingdom glory.

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It seems as though these men perceived the significance of this event.

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I want you to notice verse 27.

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These are words which they had heard but eight days before.

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Jesus spoke to all of them and said, I say to you truthfully, there are some of those

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standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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That has been interpreted in a variety of ways, but I think the best interpretation

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of it is that Jesus was speaking of the three men who would see the glory of His kingdom

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in the transfiguration.

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It seems as though these three understood that.

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They suggested that three booths or tabernacles or huts be built, one for Jesus, one for Moses,

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one for Elijah.

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Tabernacles or huts were commonly identified in that day with the final feast or festival

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in the Jewish calendar every year.

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It was called the Feast of Tabernacles.

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On the occasion of that feast, the Jewish people remembered that they had been redeemed

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from Egypt and that they spent 40 years as pilgrims in the wilderness living in tents.

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Every year they would build tents, sometimes out of palm branches or other simple materials.

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In the Feast of Tabernacles, they would live in those tents to remind themselves that their

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ancestors had lived that way for 40 years.

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But it also, that is this feast also, came to point to the future kingdom when Israel

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would be finally redeemed from the nations and regathered to the land that God had given

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to them and in which they would dwell securely.

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And so it seems to me that the disciples, in some simple way at least, understood the

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essence of what this transfiguration was.

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It was a preview of the coming glory, glory that would follow suffering.

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And they understood that that glory was the kingdom in preview here.

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The thing they failed to realize was that the kingdom was not going to come in their

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lifetime.

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God manifested himself in another way to correct their enthusiasm on this occasion.

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There was a cloud of glory.

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This was not a rain cloud.

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This was a cloud of Shekinah.

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This was a cloud like that which dwelt over the tabernacle in the wilderness.

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It developed and came upon them and encompassed them on that occasion.

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And God spoke to these men out of that cloud and He said to them, this is my son, my chosen

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one.

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Perhaps there's a hint of warning here about putting Elijah and Moses on the same level

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as his son who is unique.

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And then He says, listen to him.

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Listen to him.

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Those are good words.

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We are often tempted to listen to our experiences.

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God is saying don't listen or pay too much attention to this experience if it would supersede

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Jesus.

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Listen to him, not the experience.

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Then remember that two of the most famous people in all of their history were present

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on that mountain with them, Elijah and Moses, heroes.

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And so the Lord is saying to them, don't listen to your heroes.

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Listen to my son.

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We live in a day of hero worship ourselves with media preachers and famous athletes and

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others who get converted and those people are put on a pedestal and we tend to listen

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to them.

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And the same word comes to us as came to those disciples on that occasion.

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Don't listen to your experiences.

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Don't listen to your heroes.

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Listen to Jesus.

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He's my son, my chosen one.

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And all of this produced tremendous fear in the disciples.

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They fell on their faces like dead men.

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They were terrified and Jesus went to them.

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He touched them.

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He told them, don't be afraid.

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When they lifted up their eyes, all that was left, this whole majestic scene was Jesus.

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Jesus only.

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The point it seems was this, that Christ was the King and the glory of the Kingdom was

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then present within him.

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But that glory was not going to be expressed in a political sense as they had thought at

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least at that time.

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The glory was coming.

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They had not lied to the multitudes, but before the glory came suffering.

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Jesus suffering and their own.

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And that brings us to the second observation that we want to make before we close.

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We said for Christ suffering precedes glory.

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I want you to know that for Christ's disciples, suffering also precedes glory.

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The followers of the Savior need to know that glory does not come immediately.

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It comes later.

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Back up into chapter 9 again, let's continue what Jesus said as we pick it up at verse

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23.

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Now this is before the transfiguration again.

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It says, and he was saying to them all, if anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny

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himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it and whoever loses his life for my

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sake, he is the one who will save it.

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For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself,

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his soul that is.

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For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when

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he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

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So Jesus again affirms glory is coming, not only for me but for those who are mine.

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But he says before the glory comes, there's suffering and there's sacrifice.

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And he says to be a disciple of mine, to come after me, to follow me, there are two prerequisites.

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Number one, a man must deny himself.

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That is he must say no to himself.

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And secondly, he must take up his cross daily.

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The cross was a shameful death.

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The disciples were well familiar with this image because undoubtedly they had seen hundreds

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of their own fellow countrymen crucified by the Romans.

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They fully understood the meaning of the cross.

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And the one who was condemned to the cross carried the cross beam out to the stake where

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he was placed upon the upright pole.

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They understood what he meant when he said take up his cross.

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He meant to be identified with the cross and its shame every day.

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When one was identified with that cross as he walked out to the place of execution, it

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meant to him shame, ridicule, suffering, and death.

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And Jesus is saying that if one wishes to be his disciple, there's a cross that he

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must bear.

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No, the cross is not that car that won't start on a cold winter morning.

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The cross Jesus is talking about is not the mother-in-law that you feel you have to put

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up with.

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The cross is that shame, it is that ridicule that comes because of your identity, your

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willing identity with Jesus Christ and his suffering and his death.

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Jesus elaborates upon those two thoughts in verses 24 and 25 and 26.

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In the first two of those verses, he elaborates upon what it means to deny oneself.

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He says, whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it.

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Whoever loses his life for my sake is the one who will save it.

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To deny oneself means to lose one's life for Christ.

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It means to release one's hold on his own self-ambitions.

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It means to lay aside one's self-drivenness.

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It means to let go instead of trying to hoard and save, to release it to the Lord.

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He says the one who does that, who says no to himself, that one is going to save his

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life.

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That means that the essence of his life, its purpose in the world, its meaning, its eternal

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duration is going to be saved.

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It will be preserved for him to enjoy.

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But he warns that the one who grasps, the one who follows the philosophy, the control

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of our present culture, which says live for yourself, which says that the highest ethic

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is duty to self, the one who lives that way is going to lose it all in the end.

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Jesus says if we want to be his disciple, we begin by living in a counterculture that

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says no to self, but it also embraces the idea of the cross.

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He says in verse 26, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, I repeat that the cross was

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identification with ignominy, with disgrace, with reproach.

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There is no one in his right mind who would want to identify with any cross.

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But Jesus said if someone wants to be my disciple, then he must identify with the cross every

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day.

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And he warns that if we are unwilling to be identified with him, if we are ashamed of

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that, that when he comes in his glorious kingdom, he will be ashamed of us.

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These men were already disciples of Jesus, but they needed, as all of us need, to be

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reminded of what he demands of those who would be his followers.

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Wherever the message of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, there are those who, being led by grace, respond

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to that message in faith, repentance, submission of life.

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For those who are led by God by grace to do that, then denying self and taking up their

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crosses are actions that are willingly done.

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They are not perfectly done, for all of us fall short of the perfection that might be

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demanded in these statements.

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But that represents the direction of life, the bent of the heart to deny self to be identified

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with the cross.

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Even those early disciples failed, didn't they?

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But they all repented, except for Judas.

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On the other hand, there are others who respond to the message of Christ by attempting a compromise.

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For them, it makes more sense to want Jesus and to embrace him, but at the same time to

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live for themselves.

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They want to save their lives.

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They want to live for themselves and to find self-fulfillment in a very perverted sense

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of that term.

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They refuse the cross of identification with Christ.

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Jesus warns that when he comes, those who attempted that compromise have a surprise

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coming.

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But he will not recognize them and will be ashamed of them at the judgment.

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Those of us who are Jesus Christ must never lose sight of the main lesson that Jesus is

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attempting here to communicate and does so effectively.

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Glory is coming.

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Glory dwells in Immanuel's land.

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Glory is a place.

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The Apostle Paul was caught up there to the paradise.

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There is glory coming.

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But before the glory comes suffering and sacrifice.

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It was that way for him, and it's that way for those of us who call ourselves his followers.

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The thing that you and I need to keep in focus as we traverse through this life is this.

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Whatever the sacrifice we are called upon to make, whatever the suffering, whatever

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the shame and ridicule that we take because of our identification with Christ with the

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cross, however deeply it cuts us to say no to self, it will be worth it all when we see

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Jesus.

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Whatever the suffering may be, when that glory is revealed, when Jesus comes in all of his

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splendor and his majesty, we will be glad for every time we said no, for every occasion

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when we embrace the cross and identify with him.

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So I call upon all of us today to courageously and faithfully deny ourselves and to take

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up that cross so that when the glory comes we can get on our knees before our Savior

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and thank God for the grace that he gave us that we might say no to self and yes to Christ.

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For those who are attempting to live your lives in the best of both worlds, I hope you

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will understand the warning that Jesus gives in verse 25 when he says, What is a man profited

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if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul?

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If I gained the world but lost the Savior, were my life worth living for a day?

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Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort in the things that soon must pass away?

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If I gained the world but lost the Savior, would my gain be worth the lifelong strife?

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Are all earthly pleasures worth comparing for a moment with a Christ-filled life?

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Had I wealth and love in fullest measure and a name revered both far and near, yet no hope

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beyond, no harbor waiting where my storm-tossed vessel I could steer, if I gained the world

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but lost the Savior, who endured the cross and died for me, could then all the world

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afford a refuge, whither in my anguish I might flee?

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Oh, what emptiness without the Savior, mid the sins and sorrows here below!

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And eternity, how dark without Him, only nights and tears and endless woe!

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What though I might live without the Savior when I come to die, how would it be?

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Oh, to face the valley's gloom without Him, and without Him, all eternity!

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Jesus said, What will a prophet of man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?

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Let's bow together.

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I wonder if there is a friend here this morning in the sound of my voice who would have to

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say, Pastor Call, I have attempted to live the best of both worlds.

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I have wanted to embrace Jesus, but I honestly wanted to live for myself at the same time.

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And I have done everything I could to avoid any cross with its shame and suffering.

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But this morning I have heard the voice of Jesus.

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And today I am saying no to all of my self-drivenness and yes to Christ.

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And I am willing, indeed I do, to take up my cross that I might follow Him.

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Jesus said if any of us would come after Him, we must do that.

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If in fact that is the position and the decision of your heart, I am going to ask you to indicate

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it by lifting your hand and then putting it down.

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Yes.

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Are there some others?

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I see your hands, sir.

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Yes, there in the back I see you.

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God bless you.

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Yes to Jesus today.

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No to self.

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It may mean suffering.

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Indeed I can assure you that it will mean sacrifice.

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It will mean suffering.

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Friend, the glory is coming.

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It is worth it.

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Anyone else before we pray?

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Yes.

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God bless you.

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And another yes.

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Please stand together with our heads bowed.