Latest / HBCWestminster / 8.30.20 Luke 9:26-36 Pastor Danny Gardner

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8.30.20 Luke 9:26-36 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Thank you to Carla for just faithfully leading us in worship. If you have your Bibles, you can open to Luke chapter nine and we pick up where we left off last week in verse 26. We're going to do a larger portion this morning, including the transfiguration down to verse 36. And so you can be turning there. If you're able to stand in honor of God's word, even from your living room, I would ask you to do that now. I'll read our text for us and then we will pray and go through it together.
• 0:28
  Luke chapter 9 verse 26. For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and James and John and went up on the mountain to pray.
• 0:55
  And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep. But when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here.
• 1:21
  Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my son, my chosen one, listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone and they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Allow me to pray. God of glory.
• 1:52
  How blessed we are to know you and to be called by your precious name. God, we once lived in a creation whose God we did not know. But you have spoken into the darkness of our hearts and have shown your heavenly light upon us. You have cast out the despair of sin and folly and in its place instilled hope and love. And may we never become calloused to the glorious work you have done in our hearts and lives.
• 2:22
  May we still weep when we consider Calvary and its long thrown grace over us. We no longer cling to things of this world, but rejoice in the world to come. And it's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. You can be seated. Well, as you look back over the course of your life, are there ever any moments that you would consider to be life defining or life changing moments?
• 2:49
  We don't often have life defining moments, and that's probably a good thing. If we had too many of them, I can only imagine our lives being like a roller coaster. Most of, if I'm honest, most of the moments of my life, I don't even remember. I don't imagine I even remember over 90% of the moments in my lives. I remember very little. But a life defining moment is one that is easy to remember.
• 3:14
  Because life-defining moments are those that if they had gone differently, your life now would look radically different. A life-defining moment is what has contributed in making you who you are. When I was 21 years old, I had been friends with, for a couple of years before that, a young lady to whom I had taken a liking. Her name was Hallie Durham.
• 3:40
  And one evening, although we had been friends for a couple of years and were completely comfortable being together, one evening I asked her to a burger place in town because
• 3:52
  I had just grown very fond of her and I was going to ask her out on a date. And although we had hung out many times before, I knew that this one was different. And so I was nervous about it. I didn't know what else to do about it. And so I wrote her a poem. And I've told many of you before, it's the only poem I've ever written in my life.
• 4:11
  We got a table at the burger place. She ordered water. I ordered a Pepsi. And then I slid this piece of paper across to her, which she opened. She just said, what is this? And I said, we'll open it and read it. And on this piece of paper is the poem that I wrote. I won't bore you with the entire thing, but I'll just read to you one little portion and you can hear how desperate I truly was.
• 4:54
  And, uh...
• 5:06
  You can imagine how nervous I was that evening, but nevertheless, the poem worked. Hallie and I have now been married better than 20 years. That day was 23 years ago. And people have asked me before, it really is the only poem I've ever written. Really, people have asked me before, why don't you write more? And I said, because I don't need more wives. I've got the one that the Lord has made for me.
• 5:37
  Perfectly for them, but none so much as Hallie. Honestly, you know me and you know my wife. You've met her. Anything I've accomplished, any recognition I've received, anything that I've earned is honestly due to her ministry to me and her ministry alongside me. I would not be the man I am. I would not be the pastor I am apart from her.
• 6:03
  If that poem had gone differently, my life would be radically different. And so that moment when I slid that exact piece of paper across to her in that booth, that was a life-defining moment.
• 6:14
  If I had asked you what you believe to be the single most important moment in the life of Christ, besides his incarnation, his birth and his crucifixion and resurrection, his death. If I had asked you to tell me what is the most life defining moment, the most important ministry moment in Christ's life, besides his birth and death, what would you have said until now? Maybe it was walking on water or feeding the thousands. Maybe it was the sermon on the Mount. That's pretty famous.
• 6:43
  casting out demons, raising people from the dead, maybe. I mean, that's a pretty big deal. All of them eclipsed by this one. One man has said the transfiguration is the most important event in Jesus's life. J.C. Ryle, the event commonly called the transfiguration is one of the most remarkable in the history of the Lord's earthly ministry because it lifts a corner of the veil which hangs over the world to come.
• 7:12
  It throws light on some of the deepest truths of our religion. Do you catch that? It is the most important event in Christ's life, J.C. Ryle says, because in the transfiguration, the veil that separates this world from the world to come, the veil is pulled slightly aside. You get to glimpse behind the curtain. More than any other event, the transfiguration shows who Jesus truly was.
• 7:42
  who Christ is. Now the incarnation was obviously necessary for our sake and for the glory of the father. His humiliation on the cross is what gives us freedom from sin, but the glorification of Christ, his exaltation is who he really is. And even among the followers of Christ, Jesus is not often thought highly of.
• 8:10
  We often imagine Jesus as a friend or companion and indeed he is, but to define him so narrowly is to leave out his true being. It's to omit the most life defining characteristics that he put on display. It would be like trying to explain who I am apart from Hallie. It can't be done. A huge portion of who I am would be missing.
• 8:37
  Now, to say that there was confusion among the apostles over the nature of Christ's personhood is an understatement. At least three times in Mark chapters 8, 9, and 10, again, Jesus told them specifically that he was going to be crucified and that he would be raised from the dead.
• 8:55
  Jesus taught them clearly about his resurrection. He illustrated his resurrection when he told the people about the sign of Jonah. He spoke openly about it when he talked about his coming again in judgment. He made reference to his resurrection in Mark 14 when he told the high priest that he would see Jesus coming in the glory on the clouds with the angels. But they misunderstood his own apostles.
• 9:22
  They weren't even there to greet him for that first resurrection Sunday. And they despaired over his death. And their confusion was not limited to his resurrection. It wasn't only that that they got wrong. Even while Jesus walked the earth, they didn't understand who he truly was. With all of the miracles and signs performed, they still just thought he was a glorified prophet. Just a miracle worker. And this morning's text sets the record straight.
• 9:53
  Now, you may notice that I've included verses 26 and 27, what the ESV translators have put in the former section on discipleship, a continuation of Jesus's teaching on genuine discipleship, which we've been talking about until now. They've kind of made a break between verses 27 and 28, which makes sense. It's a different narrative. I have purposely saved 26 and 27 to go with the transfiguration because I think they make sense.
• 10:20
  I think they tie together nicely. And so let's begin there. You'll notice first in verses 26 and 27, that the transfiguration reminds us that Christ is no longer in his shame. Look at verse 26. For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the father and of the holy angels. When we, and really honestly, when all of mankind thinks,
• 10:50
  of christ we either conjure conjure thoughts of a baby in a manger or a broken man on a cross that is what the vast majority of humanity thinks of when they think about jesus his birth or his death that we know that christ came we know that he was born of a virgin and in an animal trough
• 11:16
  We know that he was raised in relative obscurity away from the public eye, but then was thrust very quickly into the public eye after his baptism. We know that he performed countless miracles, that he preached countless sermons. We know that only after three and a half years, his ministry ended in crucifixion. The problem is that crucifixion is still how the world views him, crucified.
• 11:44
  was the last image of Christ most of the world ever saw. The scripture teaches that he appeared to hundreds of people at a time who became his followers. And church, we who know Christ, who have the spirit of God living in us, know that Christ lives. We know that the story didn't end in crucifixion, but the world still imagines Christ on the cross. In fact, if you walk into many modern churches, not only will you see
• 12:12
  crosses, you'll see Jesus still hanging on them. And that is a significant problem. To the Gentiles, crucifixion was reserved for criminals. The most heinous style of execution, it was the worst thing they could come up with. The most heinous style of execution was reserved for the most heinous crime committers, murderers, adulterers, traitors, insurrectionists.
• 12:43
  Nailed to a tree, naked, vulnerable, with their crimes hung over their heads as a warning to any others who may consider the same path. To the Gentiles, crucified men were the most cursed of all men, cursed by man and hung on a tree. The Jewish people understood the Old Testament.
• 13:06
  which in Deuteronomy 21, 23 says, cursed is anyone who is hung on a tree. Now that is an early reference to crucifixion before crucifixion had even been invented yet. And so crucified men, according to the Jewish people, were the most cursed of all men, cursed by God.
• 13:26
  And hung on a tree. And so you can imagine. Crucified men were the most cursed of all people. According to the Gentiles and the Jews. Cursed by man. Cursed by God. And to leave Christ on the cross. Is to view that curse. To view him in his shame. Now don't misunderstand. We preach Christ crucified. We preach the cross. Indeed. A stumbling block to the Jews. And folly to the Gentiles. But we don't leave him there.
• 13:56
  He is not just the crucified Lord. He is crucified, but he also rose from the dead in glory. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 3 says that Christ, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame, but is now glorified and at the right hand of the Father. And to prove his point,
• 14:16
  Christ will give his closest apostles in the transfiguration, his closest apostles, a preview of coming attractions. It's like they get to see the trailer before the movie is released. Verse 27 gives us kind of a funny little aside. Let's look at it for a moment. Verse 27 says, Now all kinds of crazy theories have developed surrounding this verse and kind of regarding what Christ...
• 14:45
  meant, but it's actually easy to interpret. The apostles had just been hearing about the suffering and self-denial, taking up your cross daily, following Christ. They'd been hearing about crucifixion. They'd been hearing about the passion to which Jesus said they must submit themselves. But now they were about to be cheered.
• 15:06
  by the glory which was to be theirs if they would but follow Jesus. And Christ's statement that some would not taste death until they see the kingdom of God would find its fulfillment only eight days later because they're about to see the kingdom of God on earth. They're about to see the glorified Christ just in the next verse, in verse 28. And so let's continue. Notice second. Notice second that the transfiguration gives us a glimpse into what Jesus will be like at his second coming.
• 15:34
  The transfiguration gives us a glimpse into what Jesus will be like at his second coming. You'll notice in verse 28 that there are a couple of contextual questions here raised. Look at verse 28. It says now about eight days after these sayings. Eight days. What's interesting is the two parallel accounts in Matthew and Mark say that it was six days after the saying.
• 16:00
  And so the question that becomes, is there a contradiction in scripture? There are some who hold that there is, but this can be very easily explained. Luke simply included the book end days, which the others, Mark and Matthew, did not. And so Mark and Matthew did not include the day upon which he preached about discipleship and the day upon which he was transfigured. They only included the six days in between. Luke included the two book end days. And listen, church, we do this stuff all the time, and especially kids.
• 16:29
  My kids, my boys, and when they were younger, my, my younger son, my youngest son actually still does this, but when my sons were younger, they used to keep a Christmas countdown, a Christmas countdown. Sometimes it was those little, you know, paper links, chains, they break off one per day. But most of the time it was this thing that they had made on graph paper, like a giant calendar. And they just X off one day, one day every night before they go to bed. And there are times when my youngest son Chase will come to me and he'll say, daddy.
• 16:57
  There are only 182 more days until Christmas. And he really does count down from that far away. There are only 182 more days until Christmas. But if I don't count today and I don't count Christmas day, there are only 180, right? We do this stuff all the time. You knock off the bookends or you include the bookends depending on which is more favorable for your count. And that's all Luke does. There are eight days. The second question that might be raised is why only three apostles? Verse 28 says,
• 17:26
  Eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and John and James. Why only three? Most of Jesus's ministry was public. In fact, it was very public. There were times when there were tens of thousands of people there. Occasionally, Jesus would address only the 12. Sometimes he would teach the masses.
• 17:49
  And then he would take the 12 apart and he would just teach them for a moment. But every now and again, on rare occasion, he would include only these three, Peter, John, and James. Why did he do this? The answer is because of eyewitness testimony. Deuteronomy 19.15. And church, there were a lot of things that Jesus did which were for the masses, but there were some things which were not for the masses, which were actually private ministry like the transfiguration.
• 18:18
  And he included these three for eyewitness testimony. Deuteronomy 19.15 says, a single witness shall not suffice against a person. You only have one witness that's not enough is what Deuteronomy 19 says. Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be established.
• 18:36
  So in other words, if you were going to go into a courtroom and you were going to try to prove innocence or guilt, if you were going to try to prove that a certain event happened a certain way, the judge would say, you need at least two witnesses, three would be better. And so there are many times where Jesus does this. He's going to do something private, but he's going to include three witnesses so that it can be proved this testimony would hold up even in a court of law. And that's what he does.
• 19:04
  That's why the three, the last kind of verse 28 contextual question is which mountain is it? It says he took these three verse 28 and went up on the mountain to pray. What mountain is he talking about? The Galilean countryside is surrounded by mountains. In fact, the sea of Galilee actually sits down very deep in kind of a massive valley bowl.
• 19:29
  down on the bottom of this bowl and out of the Sea of Galilee comes the Jordan River, which goes all the way downhill to the Dead Sea south of there. Surrounding the Sea of Galilee are mountains on every side. And some of these mountains are very, very steep. Some of them thousands of feet above the Sea of Galilee itself.
• 19:49
  Now, modern archaeologists speculate as to which mountain it was, and you can even find tour guides which will tell you with certainty that they know which mountain it is, and especially if you tip well. But scripture never actually says which mountain it is. You can go to Israel today and go up on the Mount of Transfiguration, where they say it happened. It could very well be, but scripture doesn't say which mountain it is. And I think the reason is,
• 20:19
  Because the mountain doesn't matter. The point of the transfiguration is not the mountain. It doesn't matter which mountain it is. His intention was not to make that individual site holy. Rather, his intention was to show us his holiness. We continue in verse 29. It says, and as he was praying. Now, the Greek wording here actually implies.
• 20:45
  that it was a result of his praying. As a result of his praying, verse 29 continues, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. His appearance was altered. We spoke last week about repentance. And I taught you a Greek word last week, meta. Meta means change. True repentance, we said, involves a change of mind.
• 21:14
  a change of heart, and a change of will. Matthew's parallel account, Matthew 17 of the Transfiguration, includes another meta word. It's the word metamorpho, metamorpho, where we get the word metamorphosis. It's that same word we use when caterpillars become butterflies, a change of shape, complete transformation.
• 21:40
  And so when this says the appearance of his face was altered, Matthew includes his entire being changed. He was completely transformed. It was not just his appearance, but Christ momentarily pulled back the curtain that was veiling his glory.
• 22:14
  Now, this is a huge under-translation. It sounds like he just put on a bunch of white robes. The actual language says that his clothes radiated light. It wasn't just that he was wearing brightly washed linens. Rather, he was actually emanating light.
• 22:39
  The wording is actually flashes of lightning. Lightning was coming from him. One translator suggests the word glistering. Glistering. And I thought, that's not even a word. You can't translate a word we don't know with a word that doesn't exist. Glistering sounds more like mouthwash to me. A bottle of glistering.
• 23:03
  Now, in that moment, you can imagine he is completely transformed. Lightning bolts begin to shoot out of him. You know, you can imagine they would have heard of Zeus, you know, and just throwing lightning bolts. I don't know that I doubt very much that any of the apostles suddenly heard Led Zeppelin's immigrant song, right? Because the real God of Thunder was showing up.
• 23:28
  His clothing became dazzling white, glistering and lightning emanating from him. Now Luke's gospel continues. And there is this kind of side note. Not only was Jesus transformed, not only were lightning bolts coming from him, but two other guys show up in glory as well. Look at verses 30 and 31. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory.
• 23:57
  And spoke of his departure, which is in reference to his crucifixion, right? His departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. The apostles were surprised to find that there were two men there. And verse 32 even adds that they were heavy with sleep. They had been sleeping while all of this was happening. So they were heavy with sleep. And yes, they seem to sleep a lot. And especially when significant things are happening around them. But they awake.
• 24:27
  not only to find their friend and teacher throwing lightning bolts, but two other guys standing with him. Now, Moses had been dead at this point for 1500 years. Elijah had been taken up in a whirlwind more than 900 years previous. And yet here they were well glorified in good shape. This is great news for the believer because it confirms that there is indeed life after death. It confirms.
• 24:58
  That although our loved ones in the Lord are lost in death temporarily, they are not lost in eternity. This proves that when you die in Christ, you are well taken care of. There are Moses and Elijah. You see here Peter's response in verse 33.
• 25:17
  It says, and as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah, not knowing what he had said. And to the casual Bible student, I think it may seem kind of random that he would say this. Verse 33 even says he wasn't maybe fully awake. He didn't really understand what he was saying, but it's not totally absurd. Down the hill and dozens of miles south in Jerusalem, the people of Israel were celebrating.
• 25:47
  The Feast of Tabernacles, a feast which commemorated the Lord saving his people from the Exodus. During that celebration, the people of Israel would live in tents for a week as a reminder that their forefathers had wandered in the wilderness. The appearance of Moses and Elijah together was representative.
• 26:10
  I don't even think it'll be the last time these two appear together. I think there's a possibility that these, Moses and Elijah, are the two witnesses that will appear in Revelation chapter 11. But Moses, the author of the Pentateuch, represents the law. As the most powerful of all of the Old Testament prophets, Elijah represents the prophets. And so taken together, they are the Old Testament. The law.
• 26:31
  and the prophets and then peter now seeing jesus glorified in between them sees not only the law and the prophets but also the fulfillment of the law and the prophets now glorified standing before him he knew this must be significant and i think he must have assumed that he was witnessing the inauguration of the kingdom perhaps and probably even in peter's hopes
• 26:57
  Jesus had decided to forego all of that suffering he had been talking about and describing and rather skip all of that and usher in his millennial reign right then and there. Notice finally, the transfiguration reminds us that the sacrifice of Christ worked. Look at verse 34. As he was saying these things before he could even finish.
• 27:24
  As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
• 27:48
  Before Peter could even finish his offer of building booths or tabernacles for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, a cloud descended upon the mountain. This would have been the same cloud that led the people out of Egypt by day. It was the same cloud that descended upon Mount Sinai at the giving of the law.
• 28:09
  It was the same one that led them in the wilderness. It was the same one that hovered over the tabernacle anytime the Lord's presence resided there. And throughout the Old Testament, this cloud represented the very presence of God. And it says here that as the cloud came and overshadowed them, they became...
• 28:30
  afraid as they entered the cloud. And the word translated there for afraid is a Greek version of the word phobia. Phobia. We get the English word phobia from the Greek word phobos or phobia. It's the same word. The three apostles were not merely afraid. They were terrified.
• 28:52
  In fact, in Matthew 17, that parallel account again, it actually says they fell on their faces in the cloud and were terrified. Sheer terror came over Peter, John, and James because of the cloud. They knew what that meant. They could recall the stories of Exodus 19, where the people were warned to stay away from the mountain, Mount Sinai, where the law would be given. Only Moses was allowed up there.
• 29:17
  And in Exodus 19, before the 10 commandments in Exodus 20, in Exodus 19, the people are warned, stay away from the mountain. Don't touch the mountain. Don't let your animals touch the mountain. Don't let your kids touch the mountain. Anything that touches the mountain besides Moses is going to die. I will kill it. If bugs touch the mountain, they're dead because the presence of God is coming down. And even when Moses went up there by invitation, he was told, you better take your shoes off. You're unholy.
• 29:45
  ground. And so now suddenly Peter, John, and James find themselves in the midst of that cloud. You can imagine them kicking their sandals off as fast as they can, falling on their faces. They are in the midst of a terrifying situation. When children are afraid, they'll often comfort themselves with the knowledge that their fear isn't real. When adults are afraid, their comfort is often drawn from the knowledge that God will protect them. But what if the object of your fear is real?
• 30:15
  What if it's not make-believe? And what if the object of your fear is God? We find in verse 35 comforting words. Verse 35, and a voice came out of the cloud. This is the voice of the father saying, this is my son, my chosen one. You'll see a little translator's note there. Could also be my beloved, my beloved. Listen to him. This is my beloved son. Listen to him.
• 30:46
  The father's voice reminds Peter, John and James and reminds all of us of the efficacy of Christ's work on the cross. The voice of the father says, this is my son, my chosen son, my beloved son. Listen to him. And in the midst of the apostles terror, the object of their fear, God himself reminds them that he is also the solution to their fear.
• 31:15
  Romans chapter 8 and verse 1 says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 5 and verse 9. Since therefore we have not been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 1 Thessalonians 1 and verse 10. We wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
• 31:43
  God sent his son who was God to rescue us from the wrath of God. This Jesus, the father's beloved son, the one that they were terrified of would be the very one who would protect them from his own wrath. And verse 36 just finishes with the voice had spoken. The father's done.
• 32:05
  Suddenly now the lights had been turned back off. The lightning stopped. Moses and Elijah are gone again. And Jesus, verse 36, was found alone. And they kept silent. This was not meant to be public until after Jesus rose. They kept silent and told no one those days, those days, anything of what they had seen. Beloved church, just imagine your pastor at age 21, sitting across a booth at some burger joint, nervously watching his future bride read a love poem.
• 32:34
  And imagine his eager anticipation as she looked up at him with beautiful blue eyes and said, well, now what? It was a life-defining moment. Not only because of what happened that evening, that evening was actually relatively insignificant, but more so what that evening now represents. 23 years later, 21 years of marriage.
• 33:02
  partnering together right god coupling us up god putting us together for the purpose of advancing his kingdom all due to and tied back to that one simple little poem written by a nothing guy on a nothing piece of paper it represents something much larger beloved church the incarnation is the same way don't leave christ on the cross
• 33:29
  The incarnation and humiliation of Christ were definitely defining moments in his ministry. And we preach those things, but not any more so than the transfiguration. This event should help us to clarify our thoughts of who our savior really is as much as any other. Allow me to pray. God, thank you. Thank you again for showing us your glory. Thank you that we get to see behind the veil. Thank you.
• 33:59
  Lord, that after all of these sermons about denying ourselves and picking up our cross and taking up suffering and choosing a life of suffering and condemnation, God, that at the end of it, we see your glory. And so may we not be ashamed of you. And Lord, we ask that you not be ashamed of us. We know that we will stand before you one day, covered only by the blood of Jesus, not our own work, but yours.
• 34:29
  And we know that on that day, because of the work of your son, we will hear well done, good and faithful servants. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.