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A Glimpse of His Glory (Luke 9:28-36)
20 Plays1 month ago
Sunday Message recorded 24 August 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Humorous Tale and Mount Fuji Adventure
00:00:06
Speaker
I know what you're thinking. Some you thinking, man, the pastor gets so old, he's got to have a walking stick to get up there. It's just a few stairs, let's be honest. I mean, hey, you know, when I was a missionary in Japan, the first couple of years we had to spend in language school. And so while I was in language school, someone said, hey, we're going to climb Mount Fuji.
00:00:28
Speaker
Would you like to go? And I said, yeah, I'd like to go. And so anyway, when we were at the bottom of the mountain, they said, you might want to get a trekking stick. And I said, oh, OK, what's a trekking stick? And they said, well, they're going to burn it with each of the stations as you go up. And so anyway, I said, all right.
00:00:47
Speaker
But anyway, it was an incredible experience going up that mountain. I would describe it as breathtaking. When you got to the top, man, this the scenery was incredible.
00:00:59
Speaker
But I'd also consider it breathtaking for another reason, because it's 12,000 feet. And when we got to the 8th station, the 9th station, and the 10th station is the top, I want you to know that the altitude was also
Purpose of Life: Glorifying God
00:01:14
Speaker
breathtaking. So anyway, I'll set this over here so that you can see it later, but I wanted to share with you a message that I feel could be one of the most important messages that I will ever give because really the reason for our lives is so that we would glorify God.
00:01:33
Speaker
We should glorify him in everything, whatever you do, whatever you say, I pray that it always would bring God's glory. So I hope that today you came ready to climb a mountain because I'm going to invite you to climb a mountain, not with me, but with Jesus and three of his disciples.
Debate on the Mountain of Transfiguration
00:01:52
Speaker
Bible scholars are not exactly sure which of two mountains it is. It could have been Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor was only 2,000 feet though.
00:02:02
Speaker
And it was also quite a way south of where they were. it's more likely that it was Mount Hermon. Mount Hermon was 9,200 feet, and it was only just a few miles, Caesarea Philippi was, from where they were.
00:02:18
Speaker
You know, sometimes it pays to look at the other gospels, the parallel accounts. If you were to go to Matthew 17, 1, it says that they went up a high mountain.
00:02:29
Speaker
And then it also says that they were in Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16, 13, going into Matthew 17, verse 1. And if you go to Mark, it says the same thing.
00:02:40
Speaker
says they went up to a high mountain and that they were also in Caesarea Philippi. And so I think probably it was Mount Hermon.
Revelation of God's Glory
00:02:51
Speaker
But the gospel writers attested to what R. Kent Hughes claims was, get this, the greatest revelation of God's majestic glory ever granted to humankind.
00:03:06
Speaker
That's why I say it's breathtaking. You know, it's breathtaking for me personally when I read in Hebrews chapter 1. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it for you. But this is what it says about Christ and his glory. It says, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
00:03:29
Speaker
But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son. And listen to how God in his word describes Jesus, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
00:03:45
Speaker
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
Invitation to Witness Jesus' Transfiguration
00:04:12
Speaker
I'm telling you it's incredible. If we only knew the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, we would all hit the deck. We would be on our faces before God if we could only get a grasp of it, just a glimpse of it.
00:04:27
Speaker
And so that's why I want to invite you, strap on your climbing boots and let's follow the trail up the mountain provided by Luke. because i think we need to prepare ourselves because we're going to see the spectacular glory of God together this morning.
00:04:43
Speaker
If you'll look with me at Luke chapter 9, verses 28 down through verse 36. Luke chapter Verse 28 down through verse 36. Why don't we stand together? It'll be on the screen.
00:04:56
Speaker
If you don't have a Bible, if you would like to use one of the pew Bibles, you may. And the one who donated these pew Bibles told me long ago, if anybody doesn't have a Bible and they would like to have a Bible, tell them they can have one.
00:05:10
Speaker
And so we have extra additional copies that we'll put in the pews, but we want you to have a copy of God's word. Here's what it says in Luke 9 verse 28.
00:05:22
Speaker
Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and John and James. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah.
00:05:35
Speaker
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.
00:05:55
Speaker
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're here.
00:06:15
Speaker
Let us make three tents, one for you, 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.
00:06:33
Speaker
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.
00:06:48
Speaker
And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Let's pray together. Oh, Lord, we need to get a fresh glimpse of who our Savior, who the Lord is, the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, the Son of God.
00:07:05
Speaker
o Lord, please let us get a glimpse of the glory. the glory of who you are today. I pray you would use this word that you have written. It's inspired by your Holy Spirit. This really happened.
00:07:19
Speaker
And so God, please help us learn from it. Help us see through the biblical writer's eyes what's going on here. And I pray that we would never be the same because of what you say to us this day.
00:07:31
Speaker
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
Jesus' Divine Authority: Past Demonstrations
00:07:37
Speaker
Well, Luke's been trying to prepare us for this, you know. When we were in chapter 8, we got a glimpse of his glory that he's Lord over the storms.
00:07:46
Speaker
He's Lord over the demons. He's Lord over disease. He's Lord over death. When we went into chapter 9, remember he ah multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish and fed over 5,000 people. He's definitely Lord over creation. Then Jesus said, you know what? We're going to Jerusalem and I'm going to suffer.
00:08:06
Speaker
I'm going to be killed, but I'm going to rise again three days later. I'm telling you, he's Lord over the future. So today, whenever we look at this passage, I want to kind of, well, sort of like the the stick that I showed you earlier.
Prayer: The Vehicle to Witness Glory
00:08:21
Speaker
It's like they branded six different imprints as I would go up each station. So I want you to follow along and I'll give you six different places to stop, enjoy the view, and then we'll move on.
00:08:35
Speaker
So some scholars say that this self-revelation by Jesus on the mountain was the peak. The peak, not only disclosing who he was during that time, but who he is today and who he always will be.
00:08:53
Speaker
Sometime you should read in Revelation chapter one, verses 12 through 20. It's an incredible vision, incredible revelation that Jesus gave to John when he was writing the the book of Revelation.
00:09:09
Speaker
But let's stop by station number one. We've already talked about this a little bit last time, so I don't wanna linger too long here. There's so much to see. But let me say that station one is the vehicle.
00:09:21
Speaker
to his glory. If you want to see God's glory, I would say if you step in this vehicle, eventually you're going to see the glory of God somewhere in your life at work.
00:09:32
Speaker
Notice that the manifestation of the glory was seen from the vehicle of prayer. of prayer. You know, ah twice we're told that Jesus was praying whenever things started to change.
00:09:45
Speaker
I know that you remember from the passage I just read that things drastically changed, but what happened right before it changed? You know, what was the whole purpose for going up the mountain?
00:09:56
Speaker
The purpose for going up the mountain, according to verse 28, was prayer. says Jesus was going up there to pray. And then what happened when he was changed? What was he doing?
00:10:08
Speaker
He was praying. It says, and as he was praying, verse 29. So I just didn't want you to miss it. As a matter of fact, who was it he took with him? Well, he took Peter and John and James.
00:10:20
Speaker
I found it odd that that it says Peter, John, and James. If I remember correctly, most times it always lists Peter, James, and John. But in this case, it's Peter, John, and James.
00:10:33
Speaker
So I don't know exactly what that's about, but I do know this, that those three guys were like the closest prayer warriors that he had. And whenever he had something really important, he invited those three when he didn't invite the rest of those 12 disciples to go in there. And so I thought, okay, three times, three different occasions,
00:10:54
Speaker
You had the, the when Jairus' daughter was sick and then eventually she died. It says that Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, implored Jesus in Luke chapter 8, verses 40 to 42, verses 49 to 56. So I'm thinking, oh, wait a minute. That's interesting because here he's got Peter, James, and John, and he's going up on the mountain to do what? To pray.
00:11:19
Speaker
But then when he goes in there to heal this little girl, Once again, prayer was a part of that that scenario as well. So that's two out of the three. The third one is found, if you look in Matthew 26, verses 36 through 46, you would see that he took three when he went into the Garden of Gethsemane.
00:11:40
Speaker
And those three were Peter, James, and John. And so I'm thinking, Lord, this is amazing that this is a sign that he always says, I've got something very important. And when you have something important in your life, I encourage you, why don't you step into the vehicle of prayer? Pray about it and say, God, I want to see your glory in my career. i want to see your glory in my extended family.
00:12:04
Speaker
I want to see your glory in the way that I am involved in the people here in this community. You know, as we'll see later in verse 32, Jesus was the only one praying.
00:12:16
Speaker
What were the disciples doing? Well, we'll see a little bit later. They were snoozing. Remember, I do have a stick. If I see anybody, I'm kidding. I'm not, I wouldn't do anything like that. But here's my point.
00:12:28
Speaker
Okay, get this. If only one person prays. If only one person prays in your family, if only one person prays at your school, if only one person prays you know in your and your workplace, you know what? God's glory can come because Jesus was the only one praying.
00:12:46
Speaker
Do you remember when Moses would go into the tent of meeting? He was the only one praying and the glory cloud would come down. And then sometimes it says in Exodus 34, whenever Moses had been with God, he would come out. What does it say? They saw the glory of God coming from his face.
00:13:02
Speaker
If you and I will spend time praying and asking God, please, God, let people see Jesus in me. I want them to see your glory, not my glory. So let's go then to the second station. The first station was a vehicle to his glory. The second one is the visibility of his glory.
Understanding the Transfiguration
00:13:21
Speaker
You would have to say that based on what we see in verse 29. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. Wow, you know Mark 9.2 and Matthew 17.2, they both say the same thing.
00:13:38
Speaker
They use a word that Luke doesn't choose to use here. It's the word transfigured. Some of you have been on the trail for a long time and you know this is called a transfiguration.
00:13:48
Speaker
And it means when something is changed from the inside out, it's sort of like, well, you could say whenever caterpillars metamorphosed into butterflies,
00:14:00
Speaker
It's like it's something that I saw in the Greek that's metamorpho. It means against form. It means this is the form that I had before, but now something from the inside is pressing out.
00:14:15
Speaker
You know, I think that the Lord wants to do something kind of like that. It's not transfigured, but let's call it transformed. As we are transformed, Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2 speak about we should be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
00:14:31
Speaker
You know, the Lord started something on the inside of you and started something on the inside of me. And that something wants to get out. It wants to give him glory. it wants to show other people who our Lord is But here in this passage, in verse 29, we see a brief moment. It's just a glimpse.
00:14:51
Speaker
But that brief moment, the veil of Christ's humanity was lifted. And you know what? Those disciples woke up and they saw who he really is. He's the son of God. And so they're so amazed at what they see. It's like his true essence, his divinity was revealed. And so they'd never seen anybody, ah anything like that before. In John chapter one, verse 14, this is the way the apostle John describes it. He said, in the word,
00:15:22
Speaker
became flesh and dwelt among us. And we, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth.
00:15:35
Speaker
My goodness. When I look at verse 29, I see there were two things that changed. There were two ways that these disciples were able to observe the the change that was taking place. They're able to observe his glory. The first was in the appearance of his face, the appearance of his face.
00:15:56
Speaker
Luke says it was altered. But Matthew says in Matthew 17 too, you know what he says about the way it was altered? Matthew said, you know what? His face, it shone. it shone like the sun Man, can you imagine something that bright being up there on top of that mountain like that? The appearance of his face definitely revealed his glory, but also the appearance of his clothing.
00:16:23
Speaker
It's like who he was in his heart, who he was at his core. It began to just shine through the clothing that he had on. And so Luke says, you know what? it His clothing became dazzling white.
00:16:37
Speaker
Mark says in Mark 9, 3, his clothes became radiant, intensely white as no one on earth could bleach them. I'm telling you, this would have been a phenomenal thing.
00:16:50
Speaker
If you and I would have been there, we would have been overwhelmed at the glory of the Lord. You know, John MacArthur says of this whole passage, he says, you know, Jesus will manifest this same blazing glory in its fullness at his second coming.
00:17:09
Speaker
He even spoke about it in Matthew 16, 27 and Matthew 25, 31. But I want to move from this second station to the third station, because maybe you're wondering what is
Moses, Elijah, and the Fulfillment of Prophecy
00:17:22
Speaker
going on. These visitors, these visitors from his glory,
00:17:27
Speaker
You see, Jesus was not alone. Someone from the other side, I'm saying someone from eternity, from the eternal realm, two people show up that day on the top of that mountain and they we don't have to guess who were they. No, you don't have to guess and I don't have to guess. All three of these writers that described the Mount of Transfiguration experience, they all told us exactly who they were.
00:17:52
Speaker
They knew that's Moses and that's Elijah. Can you imagine? like Moses was like a representative of Old Testament law, whereas Elijah was a representative of Old Testament prophecy and Old Testament prophets.
00:18:08
Speaker
And so like both of these are there to say, you know what? We know exactly who you are. You know why they knew who he was? How old was Jesus at this time? Well, he was probably like 33 years of age, somewhere in there. Some scholars say it's only six months until his crucifixion.
00:18:27
Speaker
So 33 years of age, where was he before he was born in Bethlehem? He was in heaven, wasn't he? Just think about this for a moment. Moses, the Bible scholars tell us, would have been dead at that time 1,400 years.
00:18:43
Speaker
Elijah would have been dead 900 years. And so just think, this right here is an evidence for eternity. This is an evidence to say, do people really go? Yes, people really go to be with the Lord, else they're gonna go be with the Lord, they're gonna go to hell, there's only two places.
00:19:04
Speaker
And so these two guys came from God's presence. And I'm thinking, wow. But what's amazing to me is, when you go to heaven, when I go to heaven, when those who have already departed, when they went to heaven,
00:19:17
Speaker
They retain their personal identity. So in other words, it's not like a big sort of blob kind of thing. No, you know who's Moses and you know who's Elijah.
00:19:28
Speaker
And you know, you're going to know your dad, your mom, your grandfather, your grandmother, your great grandmother, your great grandfather. You'll know who they are because they will retain their personal identity. And notice how real it is.
00:19:42
Speaker
This really happened. I'm also thinking about one other thing here, and that is they're able to converse. You ever heard people say, well, I'm going to ask so-and-so when I get to heaven. you know I think something like that is very plausible based on what we have in Scripture because they're dialoguing, they're communicating with one another.
00:20:05
Speaker
I thought it was interesting that it says that they appeared. This is Moses and Elijah. They appeared in glory. So I don't know what was happening like Jesus is maybe standing on the earth and he's talking to them end and maybe the heavens have opened. And so it's sort of like Stephen. you Remember when Stephen was martyred?
00:20:24
Speaker
And the apostle Paul was taking those stones and they were stoning him. And it says in Acts 7, 55 to 56, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, behold, i see the heavens opened and the son of man standing at the right hand of God.
00:20:48
Speaker
But here's the more important thing to consider. What was it that they were talking to him about? Do you know? What was it that Moses and Elijah had come to talk to him about? Well, we don't have to guess. Look at verse 31.
00:21:02
Speaker
Who appeared in glory and spoke. of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Departure and accomplish.
00:21:13
Speaker
Ah, that's what it was about. His departure and his fulfillment. You know, departure is an interesting word that he chose when Luke was writing this. He used the word the Greek word exodus.
00:21:26
Speaker
Exodus. Does it sound like a word you've heard before? Exodus? Exodus. X meaning out and dos coming from hodos meaning the way. So it's like the way out.
00:21:39
Speaker
And so don't you know that maybe Moses and Elijah came down there to assure Jesus, you know what, Jesus, you're not going to die and stay dead. Jesus, you're just about to go home.
00:21:52
Speaker
You're just about to depart to come back home. And you know what? As for, you know, Elijah and I, We miss you around here. We are looking forward to your homecoming.
00:22:04
Speaker
You know, I remember when I was at Union University, there was a song by a man named B.J. Thomas. And he wrote this song called Homecoming. where I belong, home where I belong. If you want a blessing, you should Google that song and listen to BJ Thomas sing home where I belong.
00:22:22
Speaker
Jesus belonged in heaven. He didn't belong on this earth, but he came down here for us. That's why he came. And why did he come? Well, that's part of the fulfillment. You see his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
00:22:39
Speaker
That word accomplish actually is the word pleru. It means to fulfill, to complete, to finish, to accomplish. I think it was like the Lord was coming to accomplish all of those Old Testament prophecies that said he was going to come.
00:22:54
Speaker
He was going to set up a kingdom. He's going to come and die. He's going to come and suffer. It all was coming to pass just like the Father had said. Well, let's move from the visitors from his glory because that's not the main thing. The main thing is not Moses and Elijah.
00:23:10
Speaker
The main thing is Jesus. But what keeps us from seeing Jesus?
Spiritual Wakefulness: A Call to Alertness
00:23:18
Speaker
Well, I don't know how you think, but sometimes I think in pictures, right? And I'm thinking about those those disciples fell asleep and it says their eyes were so heavy.
00:23:28
Speaker
So they were just like glued shut. So, you know, it's like sometimes I think Jesus has more of the glory he wants to reveal, but our eyes are so heavy and so shut.
00:23:41
Speaker
And it's like, wow, come on, open your spiritual eyes. I want to share with you the the picture that I see when I'm thinking of eyes that are shut like this.
00:23:52
Speaker
When I was a teenager, I would help my grandfather. he He could do everything. I think men in that generation, they knew how to do a little bit of everything. He could work on a car. He was a mechanic. he could He was a carpenter. He was electrician. Electrician was his main trade, but he was also like a plumber, and he was a machinist. And so I'm thinking, was there anything that my grandfather could not do? But anyway, I just wanted to learn from him.
00:24:17
Speaker
So sometimes I would say, hey, would you let me come in there and work with you in the shed today? He had a tool shop. And I mean, there was one of every tool in that place. And I thought, this is amazing. You use all these? And he said, at one time or another, you know. But anyway, whenever would get ready to sharpen a hoe,
00:24:37
Speaker
He would put that thing on this work bench that he had there. And I thought, what is that? And he said, that's called a vice. And he would say, why don't you turn the crank?
00:24:48
Speaker
And so I turned this handle like this and some clamps would go down on the on that hoe. And they would hold that that hoe in place. He said, get it good and tight now. He said, if you get a good tight, it ain't gonna move.
00:25:01
Speaker
And I said, okay, I got it good and tight, you know, because I was a teenager. I mean, I was over there giving everything I had. But you know what? What is it that clamps down on us?
00:25:12
Speaker
so that we don't see God's at work all around us. He's always working. His glory is there. Like the song we sang, even in our hard times, God's glory can be seen.
00:25:25
Speaker
We like to quote Romans 8, 28, but sometimes we are hesitant to go forward into Romans 8, 29, because the reason that God causes all things to work together for good is so that we might be conformed to the image of his son.
00:25:41
Speaker
So God's not saying, well, let me give Victor all the things that just are so comfortable and make him have fun. He knows that sometimes i need some things that aren't fun in order to grow, in order to see him for who he is And so I was looking at this and I thought, wow, it seems to me those disciples fell asleep on another occasion.
00:26:03
Speaker
And I was right. Matthew 26, 43, they're in the garden of Gethsemane. And it says, sleeping for their eyes were heavy. And then Mark writes about the same thing in Mark 14, 40. There they are. Jesus wanted them in there. He's about to go to the cross. Pray with me.
00:26:20
Speaker
But you know what it says? Sleeping for their eyes were heavy in Mark 14, 40. Both times Jesus said in those two gospels what the problem was. You remember what he said? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
00:26:37
Speaker
You know i think it is the flesh that causes us two problems, doesn't it? The first problem is heavy. The second problem is sleep. Heavy is the Greek word boreo. It means not only heavy, it means weighed down.
00:26:54
Speaker
means burdened. Sometimes we get our eyes on so many other things. We're not looking at Jesus. We're only looking at circumstances. And it just absolutely weighs us down.
00:27:04
Speaker
And we can't see his glory. But there's also sleep. He says sleep. do You know, the word he used there is hypnos. It's the word we get hypnosis from. Hypnos.
00:27:16
Speaker
And what is sleep anyway? You know, it's one of those things I thought, how am I going to explain the congregation what sleep is? Y'all know what it is, right? Don't be doing it right now. Don't put it in practice right now. I'm just asking, do you know what it is?
00:27:29
Speaker
But here's what it said. I looked it up and I thought, oh, that's what that's how you would define sleep. Sleep is the absence of wakefulness. Sleep is when somebody is unconscious of their surroundings.
00:27:44
Speaker
There's something about the flesh that seems to just put us to sleep when it comes to the things of the spirit. And you and I are going to have to go uphill if we want to see the glory of God. You're going to pray. you have to get into Bible study. you're going to have to say, Lord, I know I don't feel like it, but I'm going to do this.
00:28:03
Speaker
And so you're going to have to put effort into it. Romans 13 verses 11 through 14 was written to believers, not unbelievers. And one of the things he says is, it's it's time for you guys to wake up out of your spiritual slumber.
00:28:18
Speaker
He says, remember, Christ is coming back. And so he said, his return ought to be like an incentive to you to stay awake spiritually. Stay awake.
00:28:30
Speaker
This world is not your home. Like B.J. Thomas said, I'm going home. where I belong. We don't belong here anymore once we're born again and we become someone new from the inside out.
00:28:44
Speaker
Let's go to the the fifth station, the view of his glory, the view of his glory. So Peter and John and James, now they're awake.
00:28:56
Speaker
Now Peter and those who are with him, doesn't even mention John and James now, says Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but... they became fully awake, they saw his glory. Do you see his glory?
00:29:12
Speaker
When you're reading scripture, when we're singing a song, can you just almost spiritually, not physically, mind you, but spiritually, can you see that God is real, that he's around you?
00:29:24
Speaker
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's good that we're here.
00:29:35
Speaker
Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And Luke puts in this word, not knowing what he said. Wow. We'll get to that in a moment. But here's the here's the thing I wanna talk about on viewing the glory of God.
00:29:50
Speaker
The first thing is you gotta be awake. You and I have to be awake. When they became fully awake, they saw his glory. Let me tell you, Christianity and and being a disciple of Jesus, it's more than just coming to church. It's more than a religion. It's more than a bunch of do's and don'ts and so forth. It's a relationship with with him, with the son of God. It's a relationship with the father. He's real and he's just longing for you to spend time with him. But if your eyes are heavy because of the flesh and you can't see him,
00:30:27
Speaker
You need to first wake up, wake up. And if you're not awake, ask God, please wake me up. If there's people around you that are sleeping spiritually, pray, pray privately for them. Lord, please wake them up.
00:30:42
Speaker
Pray for our nation that a spiritual awakening would happen across the nation, that we would wake up. But then what about these two men who stood with him?
00:30:53
Speaker
Well, once again, what was their purpose? They were attesting. They were attesting. You know, like we had men's golf fellowship the other day. Well, if I was to say to you, yeah, it's interesting because when I was playing with Clark and Charles Hedstrom, you know, here's what happened.
00:31:09
Speaker
I hit the ball on the number two hole and he went right in the hole, right from the tee box. I got a hole in one. but I wouldn't have anybody to attest it because it didn't really happen. you know but But that's what you need people sometimes to verify that what you're saying is true.
00:31:28
Speaker
And so isn't that amazing that the father said, we're not normally going to this, guys, but ah I want Moses and Elijah, want you go down there and I want you to have conversation with Jesus about how we're about to wrap it up down there.
00:31:40
Speaker
Isn't that amazing? They attested to the view of his glory, but then what does it say? They were they were about to leave. And as the men were parting from him, why were they going back?
00:31:53
Speaker
You know, I bet there was a part of them that said, you know, I just miss you, Jesus, up there so much. I'd like to just stay right here. If this is where you are, this is where I want to be. Do you want to be where Jesus is?
00:32:04
Speaker
But it says that they went on back. You know why they went on back? I'll tell you why they went on back. They were anticipating getting to see, getting to see his glory again. They knew it won't be long.
00:32:17
Speaker
It won't be long till he's going to be crucified on the cross, yes. They're gonna place him in a tomb, yes. Three days later, the father's going to raise him from the dead. And after he's alive for 40 days, seen by so many different people, then he's going to ascend and he's coming back home.
00:32:37
Speaker
And I wonder if they were like, yep, we're gonna going go back. We'll get things ready for you. We're going to put up the banners. We're going to have it all good. We're going have... cake, and we're going to have vanilla ice cream. No, I'm kidding about the vanilla ice cream. I know some of you chocolate lovers are after me. But anyway, but something, something averts their attention.
00:32:57
Speaker
What was it? Peter's comments. You know, sometimes we can say something and takes everything away. And that's what happened. Peter sometimes would speak before he would think.
00:33:09
Speaker
Have you ever done that? You ever just, you know, you kind of say something and goes out there and you say, oh man. And that's what Luke is trying to explain to us. He said, Peter just spoke not knowing what he was talking about.
00:33:21
Speaker
But you know, it's just interesting that Matt Redmond Years ago, i would just I would sit there and listen to a song by Matt Redmond. You know, he he used to sing a song too, but Here I Am to Worship.
00:33:35
Speaker
And that song still affects the way that I sing. Whenever we're singing together, I'm not trying to hit the right notes. I'm not trying to to show out. I'm just trying to focus on him and saying to God, I'm here today to just worship you. It's all about you.
00:33:52
Speaker
But Matt Redmond had another song in addition to Here I Am to Worship called Let My Words Be Few.
Sincere Worship and Divine Affirmation
00:34:00
Speaker
And sometimes, sometimes when I'm in my prayer time, I just go quiet.
00:34:06
Speaker
Just like Matt Redmond says, he said, I'll stand in awe of you. I'll stand in awe you. of you and I'll let my words be few Jesus I'm so in love with you man know it's interesting how when God wants to change the subject he he knows how to do it doesn't he let's close with the sixth station the voice the voice the voice regarding his glory you know that voice that came out of the cloud that day it was an an interrupting voice wasn't it did you catch verse 34
00:34:42
Speaker
This is talking about Peter. And as Peter was saying these things, it's like he's still talking, you know, still going kind of like preachers. But anyway, an interrupting voice. God just shuts him down. It was an intriguing voice the way it happened, because I say intriguing because it's kind of mysterious.
00:35:00
Speaker
It's like a cloud just so suddenly enveloped them. and surrounded them, and the voice came out of the cloud. They didn't see anybody there, but they knew they'd been spoken to because they heard the interpreting voice in verse 35 that said, look, Peter, this is my son here.
00:35:21
Speaker
He's my chosen one. You need to listen to him rather than doing talking right now. And I thought, whoa, man, that's something. But then I thought to myself, wow, I love the way that Luke wraps it all up. You know, this whole account of Christ's transfiguration in verse 36, he wraps it up with this.
00:35:44
Speaker
And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. You know how we'll know when revival is here? We won't be talking about preacher. We won't be talking about, you know, other nice things or whatever that might be going on around us.
00:35:59
Speaker
You won't be talking about your work and what you make. You won't be talking about what you drive. You won't be talking about all these kinds of things. When he speaks and when revival comes, it's just Jesus.
00:36:11
Speaker
He's all alone right there. And those guys just looked at him and they didn't have anything else they could say. Just sit there and behold the glory. I don't know about you, but when I see space, I think of God.
00:36:24
Speaker
I really do. That's why it's always hurt me what was put in the papers and so forth. I was only one years old, okay? But on April 12th, 1961, a 27-year-old Soviet cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.
00:36:45
Speaker
And so everybody's excited. Okay, we finally made it up to space. But you know what the Russian propaganda machine claimed? They said, you know what? Yuri Gagarin said, I went up to space, but I didn't encounter God.
00:37:01
Speaker
I didn't. Man, I was thinking, oh man, why'd you have to say that? You could have said, reminds me so much of God's creation and all these kinds of things. But you know what?
00:37:13
Speaker
the Russian journalist and close friend of Gagarin said, Yuri, he was a true Christian. Yuri was a firm believer who never gave up his faith.
00:37:28
Speaker
And General Petrov later admitted, in actual fact, it was Khrushchev who had said that during a meeting of the Central Committee. I'll never forget reading one time where the pastor of First Baptist Dallas, W.A. Criswell, he said, if cosmonaut Gagarin, if he didn't see God, all he had to do was take that little space suit off up there and he'd see God real quick and I thought, whoa, buddy, that was a comeback if I've ever heard one. But I want to set the record straight because this close friend of Yuri Gagarin's named Anton Purvushin said this.
00:38:11
Speaker
He said, I heard Yuri himself say this. An astronaut cannot be sustained suspended in space and not have God in his mind. Wow. Wow.
Eyewitness Testimony: Peter's Account
00:38:25
Speaker
Peter most likely wrote his second epistle around 66 AD. In 2 Peter 1, 14 and 15, he's aware that his time, Peter's time, is getting close.
00:38:37
Speaker
He's about to run out of life. He knew the false teachers were telling lies about Jesus. So in 2 Peter 1, 16 through 18, he goes on record as an eyewitness of the majesty, the majesty that he saw on top of the mountain that day, that day.
00:38:57
Speaker
But what's amazing is when he wrote was 66. So it was 37 years later, 37 years later, Peter says, you what? still can remember For thirty seven years later peter says you know what ah still can remember but we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
00:39:19
Speaker
We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when we received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is.
00:39:30
Speaker
My beloved son, with whom I well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him.
00:39:41
Speaker
We were with him on the mountain. The eyewitness, eyewitness account. You know, I know that there's so many of us here, and there could be some that are here, and you'd say, I never really knew that there were eyewitnesses to these things.
00:39:57
Speaker
I didn't really understand how it all worked. At first, i I used to make fun of people saying that there is a heaven, that there are people that are going into eternity. But maybe somehow today, the Spirit of truth opened your eyes and you would say, you know what? It's real. It's real. I know it's real.
00:40:19
Speaker
And you know it's real only because the Holy Spirit is opening your eyes and helping you to see. So I just wanted have a ah time of invitation when we invite any that are here today.
00:40:31
Speaker
If you don't know Christ, we will be glad. It would be our joy and our honor to help you with that. We could start that conversation today and finish it on another day. We can finish it today.
00:40:43
Speaker
But why don't we stand together? want to pray and ask God to use the time of invitation that it would be a holy time. When people respond to the Lord, because there may be someone here and they would say, I've never seen his glory.
00:40:56
Speaker
But today, as I looked in scripture, I saw the glory of Jesus Christ. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this time to give people ah an opportunity to respond.
00:41:09
Speaker
It's not my invitation. I feel that you've said these things to me through your word. I've now tried to explain your word. And so in many ways, Lord, I feel like this is your invitation.
00:41:21
Speaker
You're inviting people to come to know who you really are. And maybe it's it's simple if we can say, well, he's just a baby in a manger or he's just a man that lived a long time ago, but he died and he's no longer here.
00:41:36
Speaker
But if we hear these kinds of things, then we're reminded, oh, he he exists. He's out there in glory. And one day, one day, just like in 1968, Yuri Gagarin, he stood before God.
00:41:54
Speaker
And I'm glad that he had trusted Christ because it would have been bad for him had he not. But I pray for those who will one day stand before you. And then the questions, and all of the skepticism, it will all be gone.
00:42:09
Speaker
The question is, what did they do with Jesus Christ? Did they repent of sin and put their trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross? He finished His work.
00:42:19
Speaker
That's why we can trust Him. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:42:28
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.