The transfiguration (Luke 9)
ID
na018
Sprache
EN
Gesamtlänge
00:31:27
Anzahl
1
Bibelstellen
Luke 9
Beschreibung
The transfiguration (Luke 9)
Automatisches Transkript:
…
...said the Christ of God. He straightly charged them and commanded them to tell no man of that thing, saying,
The sin of man must suffer many things. And they rejected the elders and chief priests and scribes, and were slain and beraised the third day.
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross dead, and follow me.
And whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
For he is a man of numbers. If he gain the whole world and lose himself, he will be cast away.
But whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed.
And he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and in the holy angels.
I tell you, it is good to be some studying here, but you have not tasted death till you see the kingdom of God.
The king of Barcelona, James, took the earth, and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and blistering.
And behold, they talked with him two men, which were modest and ignited, who appeared in glory,
for the sake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
But Peter, and they that were with him, were heavy with sleep.
And when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him.
And it came to pass, as they departed from him, that Peter said unto Jesus,
Master, it is good for us to be here.
Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Not knowing what he said, only thus spake.
There came a cloud, and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
There came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear him.
And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone.
And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. Amen.
I just mention this, dear brethren, in order to get into my blessed theme.
The Lord is introduced to us here alone, praying.
A dependent man, as we heard this afternoon.
I don't dwell on it, I just draw attention to it,
because this is a blessed subject for your consideration and mine.
As he was alone, praying.
And in verse 28, that we've also read, went up into a mountain to pray.
And as he prayed.
I could tell you probably how many times he's viewed praying in Luke's gospel, but that's not the point.
The great thing is, dear brethren, that you and I are presented here with one
who's going to introduce as opening up the path of discipleship.
And he exhibits in his own blessed person the moral features necessary in those who would take the path.
As I say, I'll just say that as introductory.
As introductory.
His disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying,
Whom say the people that I am? Verse 20.
But whom say ye that I am? Peter answered and said,
The Christ of God.
A blessed confession.
Don't tell me that Matthew says so-and-so in his gospel, or he calls so-and-so.
The great thing here is that the Lord Jesus Christ is presented as the one
who is absolutely competent to and adequate for carrying through the will of God.
He's the anointed vessel.
And this is the particular presentation in Luke's gospel.
The anointed man.
Christ, the anointed vessel for the execution of the will of God,
for the establishment of the purpose of God.
And Peter says here,
The Christ of God.
Are we, dear brethren, absolutely assured that our Lord Jesus Christ
is absolutely competent to carry into blessed effect
everything that is committed to him of God?
If we are, there's no need to say, of course,
we'll never turn aside from him for a moment.
And the great thing that the Spirit of God would press upon your heart and mind tonight is this,
that the one who will now invite us into the path of discipleship
is so blessedly attractive in the glory of his person
and in the sufficiency of his ability and wisdom,
the one who so attracts us is such that we cannot possibly fail to respond.
Does it draw you?
We said in prayer today, I think the beginning of the reading, if I remember rightly,
draw me and we will run after thee.
There is an attractive grace in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
which to the believer is irresistible.
In other words, when he speaks and invites,
you cannot help stepping out into the path of discipleship.
And when you do, of course, you begin to learn
that the one who is so irresistibly attractive to you is unwanted here.
And this blessed man who amongst other things would open out to you and me
the blessedness of what is heavenly is refused on earth.
And that's where we are today.
Here upon earth with the light of heaven streaming down upon us
from the face of that blessed man rejected and crucified here.
So here in these verses, he straightly charged them, verse 21,
and commanded them to tell no man that thing,
saying, the son of man must suffer many things.
Why must the son of man suffer many things?
Every man is going to be tested by the presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the son of man.
And the disposition of men to him
will demonstrate how far every man, all men, are from God.
And I would just say this, that if you and I have embarked,
or if we do desire to embark upon the path of discipleship,
two things are essential immediately.
One is the conviction of the greatness and the glory
of the person of Christ,
and the other, that you're living in a world where he is rejected.
Christ is rejected here.
I remember years ago, just as a young Christian in my teens,
I was converted in my seventeenth year,
as a young Christian in my teens,
I was arrested by the title of a book called The People's Christ.
I thought it must be good.
Well, let me tell you from the word of God that I've learned
that our Lord Jesus Christ is not the People's Christ.
I have learned, thank God,
that everything that God has for the people is invested in him.
But I have learned that he's not the People's Christ.
I remember standing in an open-air meeting,
One Lord's Tonight,
listening to an eminent preacher in Newcastle upon Tyne
who was holding forth on the Christ of God,
and he called him the Popular Christ.
He called him the People's Christ.
And though I was a young Christian,
I began to say to myself,
Is he the Popular Christ?
Why the cross?
I began to say,
Is he the People's Christ?
Why them?
We're with him!
We will not have this man to reign over us.
And it was impressed upon me then,
as it never had been before that moment,
that the Christ is not the Popular Christ
and is not the People's Christ.
And the scripture tells us here,
the Son of Man must suffer many things
because the whole world system
and the man who dwells in it
was to be tested by the presentation of himself.
And that's where we read,
with the cross immediately in prospect,
our blessed Lord said,
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Oh young Christian,
let me just say to you,
don't be surprised
if you find that people are not keen
to hear you speak about your savior
because they were keen to crucify him
and they did.
And so he says here,
the Son of Man must suffer many things.
Not only is the suffering of the Son of Man
that was in prospect then,
thank God it's been passed through now.
But while it was in prospect then,
that that brought to light
the utter exposure of what men are,
brought to light the blessed disclosure
of what God is.
And so we read in this verse,
I pass on, time is short, I know,
and be slain and be raised the third day.
There are two things here
that seem so opposite, rejected, raised.
One is the manifestation
of the hatred of the world
in which you and I are living
and the other is the achievement
of the triumph of God.
And so here in the very same verse
that speaks of the sufferings of Christ,
speaks of his rejection
at the hands of the religious world,
speaks of his being slain,
it also speaks of his glorious resurrection.
The triumph of God is stamped
upon this blessed statement
that fell from the lips of our Lord.
Suffer, rejection, slain, resurrection.
And you and I on the one hand
are associated,
if we are attracted to him
and desire to be disciples in this sense,
that is to follow him
in the path that he's opened out for us,
you and I will find ourselves
associated with the rejected
and the hated Christ.
We will find ourselves
associated with the triumphant,
a resurrected and a glorious Christ.
All heaven is opened to those who are prepared.
And when I say that,
I mean in a practical sense,
in a living sense,
in an enjoyable sense.
All heaven and heavenly things are opened
to those who are prepared
to enter the path of discipleship
consciously in identification
with the crucified Lord.
Is that where we are?
Is that where you are?
Is that where I am?
Christ rejected, Christ slain here.
Are you prepared to take your stand
in the presence of the world
with the rejected Christ?
It's easy to do it here,
here and now.
Everybody in this meeting probably would say,
oh yes, we take our stand
with the rejected Christ.
What about for those who have to do it
when you go to work?
What about when you face the neighbors?
What about when those that you associate with
make demands upon your time
and upon your interests
that militate against the honor and the glory
of your blessed Lord?
Oh, the path of discipleship is tested.
But I'm quite sure that anybody
who knows anything of the blessedness
of being a disciple of Christ
will say it's worthwhile.
It is worthwhile.
And so here the cross
is at once the demonstration
of the character of this world
and the men who live in it.
And here it's the religious men
and the religious world in particular,
but it's at once the demonstration
of the mighty power of God.
He raised the third day,
verse 23,
and he said to them all,
he said to them all,
no exceptions in the path of discipleship,
he says to them all,
that's you and that's me.
Even if you were converted yesterday
or if you were converted 50 years ago,
he said to them all,
he's got one thing to say to us all
and what he says to all
he brings down to each individually,
if any man, if anyone,
any one of us
will come after me.
He doesn't say if anyone
will join the brethren.
He doesn't say
if anyone
will come into the meeting.
He doesn't say
if anyone will be religious.
He says if anyone
will come
after me.
He will only come after someone
when they're moving before you
and he's opened the path.
I know this is on a different line.
I can't help but cite it.
John 14, I am the way.
Oh, he's opened the way.
That way leads certainly
through a rejecting world
but it leads to a world
where Christ is accepted.
It leads to the Father's world.
It leads to that blessed sphere
where the divine revelation
in its blessed fullness
through him.
But he says if anyone
will come after me.
Now this is testing, isn't it?
Let him
deny himself.
He doesn't say
let him
refuse this thing, that thing
and the other thing.
You can't refuse anything
until you deny
yourself.
Let him deny
himself.
The last person that you and I
want to part company with
is this one.
Self.
There is a saying in the world
that self dies not.
Ah, but listen dear brethren
for you and for me
as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ
the truth of the cross
the truth of Romans
is implicit in this
that we are just looking at
that God has come
to an end of the man
of sin and shame.
He's come to an end
of all that which you and I are
as of a ruined
Adam's stock
and has expressed it
in the cross of Christ.
Have you and I
come to an end
of the man
that God has ended
in the cross of shame.
I sat in a Bible reading once
on Chastisment
in Hebrews 12.
And I remember a brother named James Boyd
was sitting there
holding forth in the Bible reading
and an old Presbyterian Christian
man got up and walked over to him
and he said in the midst of the reading
isn't it kind he says
of our Heavenly Father
to take into hand this awful
flesh of ours
to instruct it
and to approve it.
James Boyd looked at him and he says
God couldn't
mend the flesh
God has ended it
in the cross of Christ.
Oh well it's alright to repeat these things
and say oh there's something in that.
There's more than something in it.
It's the end for the disciple
who in the language
of these verses
accepts the invitation of our blessed Lord
if any man will come up to me
let him deny himself.
I like
to be well thought of.
I like the brethren to say he's a good speaker.
I like the brethren to say
he's a good expositor.
Well you might like something else
but you and I like
to be prominent.
God likes Christ
to be prominent.
And so here in this
blessed verse if any man
will come after me
let him
deny himself
and take up his cross daily.
When I was in the Baptist
church I remember
we used to sing a hymn that had a sentiment in it
something like this. Can't repeat it
correctly by any means now.
The cross which thou gavest us heavy.
And it speaks of course of the trials
and the cares
and the sorrows of everyday life.
This scripture doesn't.
This scripture says
at least the Lord Jesus in this scripture
says let him deny himself
and take up his cross
daily. His cross.
It doesn't say let him
take up my cross.
John's gospel says
Jesus bearing his cross
went forth.
Here let him
take up his cross.
What does it mean?
It means that the truth of Christ's
rejection makes such
a powerful impact
upon your heart and life
that you make Christ's
cross your cross.
In other words
you accept death with Christ.
In other words
you say our old man
is crucified with
Christ. That's the teaching
of course. That's the doctrine of Romans.
We accept
that God has come to
the end. We don't say the
first man or the old man.
Come to an end. The old
man in the cross of
Christ and is entering
upon the path of discipleship
under the attractive
and irresistible charm of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
You deny yourself and you make
the cross yours.
And you do it daily.
Or you don't say yes I remember I did
that so many years, so many months
ago. Oh no.
Thank God if the truth made an
impact upon you very early
in your Christian history, but it
doesn't make the same impact today.
The way us Christians
spend some of our time
looking back to the bright
days that we used to have.
Do we look back
to the days in which Christ
was so intrinsic to us?
Do we look back to the days
when we would have forsaken
everything for him?
Jesus I
my cross have taken
all to leave and follow
the people.
Dear brethren, it can be
true today.
The blessed word
gives us the privilege of getting
whatever we are.
However we have wondered
or failed to go on.
You give us the opportunity
today to come under the
powerful impact of the truth
of God and deny ourselves
with a crucified Christ
in relation to the world and to do it daily.
Not just on a Lord's
day. Not just
on a good Friday in a fellowship meeting.
Every day. It's easy
to be a Christian on Sunday
in the Christian company.
It's a matter of
every day in the week.
Some brief reference was made
today in passing
to the feasts. Well
even the feast of unleavened bread
was a seven day matter.
The whole cycle
of the believer's life
has to be characterized
by personal holiness.
The feasting
on the unleavened
bread. But you only feast
upon the unleavened bread
as the truth of
the death of Jesus affects
you in other words as you eat the
Passover. The Passover
immediately plunges
us so to speak
into the feast of the
unleavened bread. As you read the feasts
there's a period of days.
Time between the very feast.
There's no time between the
Passover feast and the
feeding on the unleavened bread.
They killed the Passover.
They ate the Passover
on the 14th day
and on the 15th day
they ate the
unleavened bread. In other words
their lives were so affected.
Their hearts were so affected
by what was transected
in the death of the Paschal Lamb
that they hurriedly responded
to the exaltation of God
to feed upon the unleavened
bread.
Mark your dear brethren
feeding on the unleavened bread
while I suggest that it
refers to the
necessity of and
the sustenance of
personal holiness.
Don't forget that it goes on to say
put away leaven
out of your houses.
And we're going to dwell on it.
You and I know
that leaven speaks
of that which is contrary to God
and his holiness.
You and I know what there is
in our houses if there is that
that comes under the heading
of leaven.
Put away leaven
from your houses. And so here
it's a daily matter.
I don't dwell on any more of these verses.
They're very practical.
If you save your life in this world you'll lose it.
Because self
is at the bottom of it all.
But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same will
save it. I just want to
hurry on now to the scene
on the Transfiguration Mound.
If there's testing
in regard to the path of discipleship
there's encouragement too
in regard to it.
I just want to touch a little on the
thought of what encourages
in the path of discipleship.
Here were these disciples
taken up into the mountain
and he was
transfigured. I'm not quoting
this passage that we've read.
He was transfigured
before them.
What a contrast to the word
the son of man must
suffer, etc.
He was transfigured before them.
His countenance was altered.
The fashion of his countenance was altered.
His raiment was
white and glistering and behold
there talked with him two men
which were Moses
and Elias. I just want to emphasize
this.
Verse 30.
They talked with him.
You notice that?
With him Christ fills
the central place.
If he fills the central place
of the cross, he's going to fill
it in the kingdom.
And if he's going to
fill it in the kingdom, it's
the intention of God that
he fills it now
among the saints of God.
With him, Moses
and Elias. Moses
representative of the Lord.
Elias representative
of the prophets.
What does it mean?
Just leaving side of Moses and Elias
personally for the moment.
Everything
that was lost to God
under the law system.
Everything that the prophets
themselves may have enjoined
but failed to produce
in their day. Everything
is going to be gathered up
and set forth in perfection
in that blessed
glorious day when Christ
gets his rightful place.
In other words, when Christ
comes into his kingdom
every thought of God
in the law and in the prophets
will be carried into
blessed
all things in Christ.
He's going to gather them together
in him. Not one little bit
shall be lost. But here there's a preview
so to speak. There's a full view
of what is to be gathered up
for God. And let me just say
again I say, by the way
I have a habit of speaking
by the way. By the way
Moses
was buried by the Lord.
In other words, Moses
went through the article of death.
The prophet
was carried up into heaven.
There is a
suggestion, is there not,
that in that day of coming glory
there will be with our
blessed Lord in the day
of his appearing
saints who've fallen asleep
and saints who
lived till he came. In other words
the rapture will have
taken place. Sleeping
saints will have been raised.
Living saints will have been changed
and they'll both be caught up
to share together in the
brightness and the glory of his
coming kingdom. But just let's pass on
we're going to pass by Peter.
We sometimes say some things about and against
Peter. But verse 34
says that while
he thus spake there came a
cloud and overshadowed
them and
they feared as they
entered into the cloud.
The cloud bespeaks
the glorious presence of God.
When the tabernacle
was reared up and everything
was done as the
Lord had commanded Moses
the glory of the Lord came down
and filled it.
And the cloud of his presence was there.
And so here
the cloud
the symbol of
the presence of God in his glory
is seen again
for it's seen in relation to
Christ in supremacy.
And we read there came a
voice verse 35
out of the cloud saying
this is my beloved
son hear him.
He made a
reference to the Christ.
A brief reference this afternoon to the
son of man. A brief reference
this afternoon to the Lord
is a brief reference
to his beloved son.
This is my
beloved son.
There's something beyond
administration.
There's something above
kingdom, power and glory
and Christ
will fill us in certainly
in the day of
administration. But there's something
above it. There's something beyond
it. There's what he is
to the father. This
is my
beloved son. Does your heart
thrill dear brethren at
the consideration of the fact
that our son, our blessed
Lord our son abides
forever in the communion
of the blessed affections
and relationships
of the Godhead. This is
my beloved son.
What he is to the father
hear him. You and
I will be brought to taste something
of the sweetness of those
blessed divine affections
flowing freely
between the father and the son
when we are with him
in the place where he
should be. Here today
in the anticipation of that
looking back to the cross
where he suffered, was rejected
and was slain.
May you and I
take the path of discipleship
and tread it in affectionate
response to him
in the little while
that's given to us between
the sufferings of the Christ
and the glory that you follow.
Amen. …