Jesus came into the coast of Caesarea Philippi.
He asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men
say that I, the Son of Man, am?
And they said, Some say that thou art
John the Baptist, some Elias, and others Jeremiah,
for one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But whom say ye
that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven.
And I say unto thee that thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.
Then charged he his disciples that they should
tell no man that he was Jesus the
Christ.
From that time forth began Jesus to show
unto his disciples how that he must go
unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and the chief priests and scribes, and
be killed, and be raised again the third
day.
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord,
this shall not be unto thee.
But he turned and said unto Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me, for thou
savourest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any
man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul?
For what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul?
For the Son of Man shall come in
the glory of his Father with his angels,
and then he shall reward every man according
to his work.
Verily I say unto you, there be some
standing here which shall not taste of death
till they see the Son of Man coming
in his kingdom.
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James,
and John his brother, and bringeth them up
into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured
before them.
And his face did shine as the sun,
and his raiment was white as light.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and
Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord,
it is good for us to be here.
If thou wilt, let us make here three
tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of
the cloud which said, This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased.
Hear ye him."
We will not read farther this morning, but
the Lord add his blessing to this portion
of his work.
In the Dominican Republic, back in the late
fifties, just prior to the assassination of the
dictators, we happened to live for a period
of time in the city of Puerto Plata
on the northern coast, a very beautiful part
of the Dominican Republic.
And in our local church we had a
choir, and in the choir a number of
young, beautiful, Dominican women sang, including also a
number of young men.
Some of them were very close, personal friends.
My wife, Grace, and myself.
And we often were with them.
We often had them in our home.
I had the opportunity at that time of
directing the choir, and we had great times
together.
As I mentioned yesterday, at the end of
May in 1960, the president was assassinated, and
it came to light shortly afterwards that some
of our closest friends, young people, some of
them in their late teens, others in their
early twenties, had belonged to an underground movement
in the Dominican Republic.
We had absolutely no knowledge of it.
Some of them had served as messengers.
Some of the girls had worked in preparation
of medicines and bandages in case there might
be fighting.
This had all gone on secretly behind the
scenes, and some of us who lived there
and knew them and had them as our
closest friends were totally unaware of what they
were doing.
It came to us as a shock, believe
me.
And yet afterwards, sitting down and thinking about
it, all of those families had lost one
or more members under the Trujillo regime, and
they had deep in their hearts a longing
for freedom from this man who for over
30 years had been an absolute dictator in
the Dominican Republic.
Now, very few of us who've been born
and brought up in North America know what
it is like to live in no circumstance.
But some of these people that I've mentioned
this morning would fully understand the feelings of
people like Peter and John and many others
in the times of the Lord Jesus.
For the Jewish nation lived under the power
of Rome.
Their country was dominated by Romans.
They had lost that sense of independence, of
national pride, and in many of these men
there was a longing for freedom.
There's reason to believe that at least one
of the disciples of the Lord Jesus had
previously belonged to a group that had sought
the independence for the people of Israel.
Peter and Andrew and others, they all longed
for the coming of a strong man, the
Messiah, that would bring freedom, political freedom, to
the people of Israel.
When you remember that in John 1, and
I'd like to notice the portion with you
this morning, we have reference made to Andrew
and to Peter.
John's Gospel, chapter 1, their first encounter with
the Lord Jesus.
John's Gospel, chapter 1 and verse 40, one
of the two which heard John speak and
followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and
saith unto him, We have found the Messiah,
which is being interpreted the Christ, and he
brought him to Jesus.
And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou
art Simon the son of Jonah, thou shalt
be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a
stone.
Now, it's very difficult for us today to
penetrate and understand what the first impressions were
in the heart and mind of Peter when
his brother came and said, We've found the
Messiah.
Now, that there was great spiritual understanding, it
may be doubtful to accept it.
It might rather have been this longing for
political freedom.
And Andrew came, a responsible man, and he
said to Peter, We've found the man, the
Messiah, the man who will bring our longings
to fulfillment.
And he took Peter, brought him to the
Lord Jesus, and introduced him to him.
A little time went by, and then when
you come to Mark's Gospel, chapter 1, you
find that the Lord Jesus goes to where
these men are, and he calls them to
follow him in his service.
Mark's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 16, Now as
he walked by the sea of Galilee, he
saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a
net into the sea, for they were fishers.
And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after
me, and I will make you to become
fishers of men.
And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed
him.
And when he had gone a little farther
then, he saw James the son of Zebedee,
and John his brother, who also were in
the ship mending their nets.
And straightway he called them, and they left
their father Zebedee in the ship with the
hired servants, and went after Jesus.
And then over in chapter 2, if I
remember rightly, down in verse 14, And as
he passed by, he saw Levi the son
of Alphi sitting in the receipt of custom,
and said unto him, Follow me.
And he rose and followed him.
Now, John 1 is the first introduction to
the Lord Jesus.
Mark chapter 1, they're so convinced that this
is the man that they leave their professions
and they follow the Lord Jesus.
Now, we've read this morning in Matthew chapter
16, and the Lord Jesus takes the disciples
out to a place called Caesarea Philippi.
It would appear to be that the Lord
Jesus wanted to have them alone.
It was to be a time of testing,
to find out what they really thought about
him.
Whether they considered him just to be another
political leader, or whether there was some spiritual
dimension to their belonging and serving the Lord
Jesus.
And so, when he has them alone, the
Lord Jesus says in verse 13 of Matthew
16, the last part, Whom do men say
that I the Son of Man am?
Well, they give a number of answers, the
things that they had heard amongst the people
where they mingled.
But then the Lord Jesus, in verse 15,
makes it very personal, But whom say ye
that I am?
And Peter, who was often the spokesman for
the disciples, he took the initiative, and he
answered very clearly, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God.
That is, in speaking and phrasing his answer
in this way, he's drawing from the Old
Testament, completely convinced that the Lord Jesus is
the one promised by God in the Old
Testament.
The Lord Jesus responds in verse 17 by
pronouncing a blessing on Peter, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not
revealed it unto thee, but my Father who
is in heaven.
This wasn't the usual thinking that was so
prevalent in Palestine 2,000 years ago.
This just wasn't in the mind of Peter
and those who were with him, another one
who had appeared, who promised to bring freedom.
But rather, having been touched by God, they
really believed that this was the promised Messiah.
The promises set forth so clearly in the
Old Testament were now going to find their
fulfillment in this one, the Lord Jesus, the
Messiah.
Now, as you go down, verse 21, on
the basis of that confession, the Lord Jesus
opens his heart to begin to share with
the disciples what it was going to mean
to be that Messiah, the true authentic Messiah.
It wasn't going to be the way that
others had come and made their promises of
political power and glory.
The true Messiah would walk a different pathway,
and so in verse 21, from that time
forth, from the time of that confession of
faith in the Lord Jesus, the evidence that
God was working in the hearts of the
disciples, Jesus began to show unto his disciples
how that he must go into Jerusalem and
suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes, and be killed and be
raised again the third day.
Now, going back to verse 17, the Lord
Jesus speaks so openly, so beautifully to Peter,
blessed art thou, opens his heart to bestow
on Peter this special blessing, a recognition of
the work of God in his life.
And I can imagine in the heart of
the Lord Jesus, with joy, he begins to
share with the disciples what lay ahead.
It would not be an easy pathway, great
deal of persecution and of suffering, those that
would mock and scorn him, and finally death
itself, but he comes to the climax and
be raised again the third day.
Now, it's evident in verse 22 that Peter
probably never heard the last phrase at all,
but this clear statement of what the Messiah
must do shattered in that moment the great
dreams that Peter had for the Messiahship.
If God had touched his heart, it was
also true that he still lived under the
influence of men and of human thinking influenced
by Satan, and so he turns to the
Lord Jesus and he rebukes, and he says
in verse 22, Then Peter took him and
began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far
from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto
thee.
But Jesus turned and said unto Peter, Get
thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me, for thou
savorest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
Now, we pause here for a moment because
this incident brings into focus one of the
greatest tragedies of the Christian era, that a
man or a woman may be touched by
the Spirit of God and brought to the
place of submission to the Lord Jesus to
receive Him as we've been taught since Sunday
school days as Savior and Lord, and yet
at the same time to be an obstacle
in the path of the Lord Jesus.
Now, what we have in these few verses
appears to be all part of what took
place in a very short period of time,
a clear statement of trust and confidence in
the Lord Jesus.
The beginning on the part of the Lord
Jesus of sharing with the disciples the great
purposes of God, and then defined in Peter
an improper response, for in taking the Lord
Jesus aside and rebuking Him, he tried to
take Him away from that purpose of God.
The Lord Jesus turns and very solemnly rebukes
Peter.
Perhaps one of the most solemn words the
Lord Jesus ever pronounced in connection with one
of His own, Get thee behind me, Satan,
thou art an offense unto me, for thou
savorest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
In other words, today we can be Christians
and at the same time an offense to
the Lord Jesus.
Now, I speak very kindly this morning, and
I realize that most of those who are
present in this service have many more years
of experience in the things of God than
I have.
Some of you may have a much deeper
understanding of the Word of God than I
have.
But as I bring this message to you
this morning, I think of our young people,
I think of the Christian church at large,
and in our generation, as in previous generations,
it is all too common that Christian people
know and love the Lord Jesus.
This cannot be questioned in the case of
Peter.
He really knew Him, and he really loved
the Lord Jesus.
But at the same time, he was an
offense, an obstacle in the pathway of the
Lord Jesus.
What the Lord Jesus wanted to do, and
what He had begun to share with His
disciples, was a commandment He had received from
His Father.
On one occasion, the Lord Jesus said, I
have power to lay down my life, and
I have power to take it again.
This commandment I have received of my Father.
The word commandment is the word mission.
It was given to the Lord Jesus to
come into the world, to lay down His
life for the redemption of the human race,
to take that life again, and to open
the door into an eternity filled with glory
and power for those who would believe in
the Lord Jesus.
Now, we know in the world today that
men are given missions.
You, perhaps in your lifetime, have been given
challenges, work, missions to do.
You've dedicated yourself to that task, and you've
brought it to fulfillment.
Well, the Lord Jesus had received a commandment,
a mission.
This was the opportunity to share it with
the disciples.
John 1, it's not sure just what concept
they had when they came to the Lord
Jesus.
We've mentioned it already.
Maybe some of those men just thought of
Him as another potential leader that would bring
the people to freedom.
Mark chapter 1, they're so convinced that they
leave their work and their professions to follow
the Lord Jesus to identify themselves with Him.
But Matthew chapter 16 is the test, and
Peter comes through initially with flying colors.
God had opened His heart and mind.
This was not just another of the many
who had come professing to be Messiahs, but
this was the Christ promised in the Old
Testament, and now standing before them, and the
heart of the Lord Jesus is warm.
Blessed art thou, Simon Barjon.
God has touched your heart, and then the
Lord Jesus opens His heart.
But Peter was still not ready, and his
initial response to that unfolding of the purposes
of God was negative, and he rebukes the
Lord Jesus, and he seeks to take Him
away from that purpose.
No wonder the Lord Jesus responded so severely.
Already, prior to this incident, he had been
taken under the power of the Spirit of
God into the desert, and he had been
tempted by the evil one.
And the temptation is basically the same temptation
that Peter now repeats in this particular chapter.
The evil one offered to the Lord Jesus
popularity, power, the kingdoms of the world, human
glory, and the Lord Jesus turned it all
down out of faithfulness to the mission commended
to Him by His Father, and he would
not be detracted, moved from the fulfillment of
that great mission.
Perhaps, in a sense, in the mind of
the Lord Jesus, the temptation was passed, and
now one of His close and trusted friends
comes before Him and repeats the same temptation.
No sorrow, no suffering, and certainly no cross
in death, but rather the power and the
glory of a visible kingdom right now, two
thousand years ago.
This idea of a visible kingdom was prominent
in the minds of the disciples.
I believe it was prominent in the mind
of John the Baptist.
You may remember the occasion when in jail.
Not a jail like we have in our
country today, but one of those dungeons of
two thousand years ago.
John is in prison, and his disciples bring
to him the great news that Jesus had
raised someone from the dead, had displayed a
power that only belongs to God, and He
had really brought back to life someone who
was dead.
Here's John in a dungeon, and they bring
him the news.
And so, he chooses two of his disciples,
and he tells them, now you go and
find Jesus, and you ask Him, are you
the Messiah, or should we look for someone
else?
For John, no doubt, was thinking, if He
has power to raise the dead, then why
am I still in a dungeon?
Why hasn't He taken the reins of government?
Why hasn't He brought about a revolution?
Why hasn't He sent back to Rome the
legions of the Roman soldiers?
If He has power to raise the dead,
why hasn't He ushered in the visible kingdom
of God?
Now, you go and find Him, and you
ask Him, are you the Messiah, or should
we look for another?
Now, if I may share with you a
personal thought this morning, I doubt very much
that John really questioned the Messiahship of the
Lord Jesus.
Rather, he was prodding the Lord Jesus.
Now, you're raising the dead.
Why don't you take the reins of government,
and set up the kingdom of God?
For we yearn for it.
We long for it.
We're weary of injustice, and cruelty, and hypocrisy.
We want to see the kingdom of God.
My father told me many years ago that
the answer of the Lord Jesus was so
beautiful, for He took those men by the
hand, so to speak, and He said, now,
you spend two days with Me, or a
few hours with Me.
And they followed the Lord Jesus, and He
went about healing the sick, giving sight to
the blind, and preaching the Word of God
to the poor.
And individuals were converted.
That is, they were touched by the Lord
Jesus.
They were physically healed.
They were spiritually made whole, and individuals moved
into the kingdom of God.
And the answer that those two disciples must
have taken back to John was, the visible
kingdom is not coming now.
Right now, He's touching individuals, and making them
whole, and bringing them individually into relationship with
God.
But John, and his disciples, and the disciples
of the Lord Jesus, they longed for that
moment of power, and glory, and majesty that
belonged to the Messiah, and they wanted to
see it now.
And as Peter spoke that way to the
Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus turned to him,
and He rebuked him, and said, Why?
Now, the quaint King James version reads, All
of us, I'm sure, know what the word
savor means.
You don't understand the things that be of
God.
You only understand the things that be of
men, and men who are influenced by faith.
Thus, the tragedy that I have referred to
this morning can be summed up in this
way, that as Peter had been touched by
God, and committed himself to the Lord Jesus,
and was truly brought into a personal, dynamic
relationship with the Messiah, at the same time
his thinking was under the influence of ungodly
men who, in turn, were influenced by faith.
Thus, what he wanted now was the popularity,
and the fame, and the prominence of belonging
to that visible kingdom of God.
Peter was the man of common sense, and
he knew that if the Messiah should be
killed, then there would be no kingdom, and
without the Messiah there would be no prominent
positions in the kingdom.
There would be no glory if the Messiah
would die.
Thus, out of personal affection, and also personal
interest, he seeks to detract the Lord Jesus
from this great purpose of God.
Now, let me pause this morning and ask
each of us today about ourselves, and then
in a prayerful way let us remember the
great Christian community we belong to today.
This story is recorded.
It was true then.
It's been true many times down through the
history of the Christian church, and undoubtedly it
is true in the lives of many Christian
people today.
This paradox of belonging to God, and loving
the Lord Jesus, and at the same time
not understanding the things that belong to God,
if it caused indignation in the heart of
the Lord Jesus two thousand years ago, it
surely causes indignation today that we should know
Him, and love Him, and not understand Him,
not follow closely in His footsteps.
Now, what does it mean to understand the
things that be of God?
Well, as we read down in the chapter,
we find in verse 24 these words, Then
said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it, and whosoever will lose his life for
my sake shall find it.
For what is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world?
Now, that's what Peter wanted.
Peter did not want the Lord Jesus to
go to the cross.
He believed, and he had reason to believe,
that God had created the people of Israel
to be a vehicle for blessing to all
the nations of the world.
Now, he wanted the Lord Jesus to restore
the national dignity of Israel, and once it
was restored, the blessings of God would flow
through that nation right out to the whole
world.
For the Lord Jesus said, What is a
man profited if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul, or his
own life?
Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul or his life?
Now, if we go carefully over the verses,
beginning with verse 24, you find this threefold
emphasis.
It begins with self-denial, and then the
taking up of the cross.
And it doesn't matter how you spiritualize it,
there was no doubt that in its initial
pronouncement, the Lord Jesus was referring to the
possibility of martyrdom.
All of those who were with the Lord
Jesus knew about crucifixion.
They had seen many, many times the crosses
outside of Jerusalem, and people who had died
by crucifixion.
Now, the Lord Jesus speaks very clearly.
There must be self-denial, and that commitment
to my cause that will lead a man
even to give his life in that cause.
And above all, the third step to follow
faithfully and closely in the footsteps of the
Lord Jesus.
Now, our life today, like Peter's life so
long ago, can be lived selfishly.
It can be lived for ourselves, and men
can gain the world.
But if they do it, then they've lost
the opportunity to use their life in the
service of God.
But those who are willing to lose their
lives in the service of God, those lives
count enormously in the great purposes of God,
and they also bring their reward in eternity.
And the man who finds that by gaining
the world, he's found great profit, sooner or
later will come to the conclusion that there
is absolutely no profit, that he's lost what
he thought was profit, and he's lost his
life, which was the only opportunity he had
to gain real eternal profit.
And when you come to that stage, there
is nothing that you can give in exchange
for that life.
You have lived it, and it has gone,
and it has been wasted.
Now, if that sounds like a negative message,
it surely is not negative, because in verse
27, the Lord Jesus points on to the
assurance of coming glory.
He says in verse 27, for the Son
of Man shall come in the glory of
his Father with his angels, and then he
shall reward every man according to his works.
And furthermore, the Lord Jesus says, there be
some standing here which shall not taste of
death till they see the Son of Man
coming in his kingdom.
Now, it's evident that none of the disciples
knew what the Lord Jesus was talking about.
The great preacher G.
Campbell Morgan speaks about these six days of
silence between chapter 16 and chapter 17.
You'll notice in chapter 1, or verse 1
of chapter 17, that after six days, there
appears to be a blank period.
He has suggested, and he might be right,
that they were six days in which there
was no fellowship, no comprehension, no communication between
the disciples and the Lord Jesus.
They simply could not understand how the Messiah,
the sent one of God, was going to
suffer and to be killed and die.
And even though the Lord Jesus had explained
it in connection with himself, and then he
had explained what it would mean to them
if they really followed him, and then went
on to speak of the coming glory, the
Son of Man would come in glory.
And they would participate in that glory.
They simply failed to comprehend what he was
talking about.
Now, let me share with you this morning
that all of us who've been called to
the grace of God, irrespective of age, have
the opportunity in a practical way of following
in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, of
experiencing day by day self-denial.
You know, it comes sometimes as a shock
when you listen to the world speaking in
language almost identical to Christian language.
I referred last night to the conference in
Rome on hunger held just a few days
ago.
One of the things that was emphasized over
and over again was that the affluent nations
of the world must learn to deny themselves
if the poor nations of the world are
going to have even the chance for survival.
Thus, the world is beginning to speak about
self-denial for the common good.
But we who are Christian people have been
called by the Lord Jesus, and one of
the fundamental lessons of Christian experience is self
-denial.
Now, there are so many forms of self
-denial.
Paul speaks about it in a local church
situation in Philippians chapter 2 when he says,
we must learn to esteem others better than
ourselves.
And he uses the great illustration of the
Lord Jesus who, being in the form of
deity, and thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, he did not stand upon
his dignity.
He did not use his privileges and his
rights for his own interests.
Instead, he thought about us, and he humbled
himself.
And he came down into our world, and
he went to a place called Calvary, and
he died for us.
That's the highest example of self-denial.
The Lord Jesus, from the circumstances and the
privileges of deity, comes down to a cross
outside of Calvary, and he gives himself forth.
That's unlike the preacher who's speaking to you
this morning.
The Lord Jesus, who 2,000 years ago
said to the disciples, now, if you're going
to follow me, you must deny yourselves and
take up your cross and follow me.
He first of all set the example, and
then he taught that truth to his disciples.
He not only taught it, but he took
them on to give them the clear assurance
of coming glory.
Why?
Some of you who are standing here, you're
going to see the Son of Man coming
in glory.
You're going to see the kingdom of God
come with power.
Maybe some of you are wondering this morning
just how and when that happened.
Some feel it may have happened in the
following chapter, in connection with the transfiguration.
That would hardly be likely, for it would
rob the thought in the previous verses that
some of them would survive until that time.
The transfiguration took place only six days later.
Some think of the resurrection.
Some think of the power that was manifested
on the day of Pentecost.
Some think of the great events in the
early years of the church, and some go
on to the destruction of Jerusalem in A
.D. 70.
Some of us would suggest that none of
those specific instances are set aside as the
fulfillment of that promise, but all of them
together.
And some of them did survive until the
year A.D. 70 and saw the destruction
of Jerusalem.
But what they all saw, beginning with the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost,
the great spread of the gospel in the
early months and years of the Christian era,
this was all the evidence of the power
of God manifested amongst men, and they saw
it.
This is evident from the writings of Peter,
because here in Matthew chapter 16, he rebukes
the Lord Jesus.
He doesn't understand the message, but when he
writes in his epistles, you can sense his
joy and his happiness as he serves the
Lord Jesus, following in the footsteps of the
Master in great suffering and adversity.
But he had seen the glory of God
manifested in the resurrection on Pentecost in the
early years of the Christian testimony.
But here in our chapter, after all that
the Lord Jesus said, there are six days
of silence.
And then I think one of the most
gracious things the Lord Jesus ever did is
recorded in the opening verses of chapter 17,
and I think we lose the preciousness of
it if we think about it in isolation
from chapter 16.
Let us go back now briefly in summary.
Peter, touched by God, recognized that Jesus is
the Christ, the Messiah.
He is blessed of the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus then, on that basis, begins
to share with Peter and his companions what
lay ahead of him.
That brought the reaction from Peter, not yet
prepared to understand all that the Lord Jesus
must do.
Thus he rebukes the Lord, and the Lord
rebuked Peter.
And then he went on to say very
clearly what they would have to learn if
they were going to follow and participate in
his great work.
And he left them at the end of
chapter 16 with the concept and the certainty
of coming glory and their participation in that
glory.
But they did not understand.
So at the beginning of chapter 17, you
read that, "...Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John
his brother, and bringeth them up into a
high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them.
And his face did shine as the sun,
and his raiment was white as light.
Behold, there appeared unto him Moses and Elias
talking with him."
Now, this object lesson, for that surely is
what it is, was the gracious answer of
the Lord Jesus to the inability of the
disciples to grasp this great promise that, first
of all, there is service and suffering and
even death.
But afterwards, there is eternal glory.
Now, they did not understand it, so the
Lord Jesus took three of them up into
that mountain, and he was transfigured before them,
and they saw the glory.
The Lord Jesus, in that transfiguration, his face
did shine as the sun, his raiment was
white as light.
Many great and godly men have pondered what
happened on that mountain 2,000 years ago,
and some feel that the Lord Jesus shared
with his disciples that glory that was his
prior to the incarnation.
Others come to the verse and wonder if
this is the glorified manhood of the Lord
Jesus.
What should have belonged to Adam if he
had not sinned and rebelled against God?
But the Lord Jesus, in his perfection, is
transfigured in his glorified manhood.
On that mountain, as we've been taught since
childhood, he could have stepped into heaven into
the presence of God, and they saw that
glory, and they were overcome with the glory
of the Lord Jesus.
And so Peter says, Lord, let's make three
little houses here, one for you, and one
for Moses, and one for Elias.
And then God intervenes from heaven, and a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and the voice was
heard, and this is the message.
It was a special message for Peter, James,
and John 2,000 years ago.
It may be just as special for some
of us who are here this morning, for
God said, This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.
That is the divine confirmation given to them
that Jesus is the Messiah, and that in
the Lord Jesus, the Father finds his greatest
joy and satisfaction.
But then the second part of the message
is extremely personal, for God said, Hear ye
him.
In other words, as we would say today,
Now you listen to what he is saying.
And what was it the Lord Jesus said?
Well, in chapter 16, it's all spelled out
so clearly.
I must go to Jerusalem.
I must suffer many things, and I must
be killed, and I will be raised again
the third day.
Now God says to those three men, Now
you listen to him, for that is the
will of God.
But that's not all the Lord Jesus said.
For in chapter 16, he also added, Now,
if you're really going to follow him, if
your profession of faith is going to be
worked out in a practical way, then this
is what you must do.
You must deny yourself, and you must take
up your cross, and you must follow me.
Now God, who on that occasion shattered the
heavens and spoke so clearly, he said, Now
you listen to him.
Even in view of the transfiguration, there was
no deep understanding.
And as I mentioned this to you this
morning, I don't do so in a critical
way.
There were many mysteries that the disciples did
not understand that all came into focus after
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
As we go down into chapter 17 this
evening, you'll find that again the Lord Jesus
spoke about his death and passion, and it
says that the disciples were exceeding sorrowful.
They could not grasp or understand it in
connection with the Lord, nor could they understand
or grasp that they too would be called
to a life of service and suffering and
dedication to the Lord Jesus.
But when you pass on beyond the resurrection,
you find that all of these men, with
great joy and great dedication and no turning
back, they suffered and they served in the
cause of the Lord Jesus.
Now, to savor the things that be of
God, and here we leave our meditation this
morning, means this, that you understand that we
have been called, first of all, to serve
and even to suffer in the cause of
the Lord Jesus.
Afterwards, the glory will come.
It is sure, it is magnificent, and it
is eternal.
But the suffering and the service first, the
glory and the majesty and the power afterwards.
Now, to savor the things that be of
men is just the opposite.
There is that impatience to have right now,
in our world and in time, the power,
the preeminence, and the glory.
Satan knew that, and he came and he
tempted the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus
rejected the temptation.
Through Peter, he comes a second time with
the same temptation, offering to the Lord Jesus
popularity, prominence, a visible kingdom instead of suffering
and the cross.
And the Lord Jesus rebuked Peter and refused
to listen to the temptation.
If it came into the life of the
Lord Jesus, and if it came into the
life of the disciples, none of us here
this morning are exempt from that temptation.
Our prayer, as we close today, is that
we will savor the things that be of
God, and not the things that be of
men.
And as I close, and I mentioned it
this morning already, I trust that this would
not be only, perhaps, a message for you
or for me, but that it might be
something that will burden our hearts in prayer
for the Christian community in the world today,
for our Christian young people, for Christian congregations,
for Christian outreach around the world, that we
will be spared that temptation of living a
life under the influence of the way men
think without God.
Rather, that our young people and our churches
and our missionary outreach will savor the things
that be of God.
To use the words of Paul, that we'll
know something about spending and being spent in
the service of God with the full assurance
that there is a day coming when, as
the disciples saw the glory of the Lord
Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, we shall
see Him face to face in His glory,
and we shall be transformed, and we shall
participate forever in that unending glory of the
Lord Jesus.
Now, please take your hymn book, and we'll
sing just a verse or two this morning
of hymn number 562 as we close our
service.
The second verse, To serve the present age,
my calling to fulfill, O may it all
my powers engage, To do my master's will,
help me to watch and pray, And on
thyself rely, and let me ne'er my
trust betray, But press through realms on high.
I suggest we sing the last three verses
of hymn number 562.
Verse two, To serve the
present age, my calling to fulfill, O
may it all my powers engage, To do
my master's will, help me to
watch and pray, And on thyself rely, and
let me ne'er my trust betray, But
press through realms on high.
Our Father, we thank You for this hour
spent in Christian fellowship this morning.
We thank You for the hymns of praise
that we have sung.
We thank You for Your Word which we
have read, and we commend now into Your
care and keeping the thoughts expressed this morning
that what has been of the Spirit of
God will touch our hearts and bring us
to that place of full commitment to the
Lord Jesus.
We thank You for the example of the
disciples after the day of resurrection when we
find them spreading around the world, spending and
being spent in the service of God, displaying
in the preaching of the gospel the glory
of the kingdom of God.
We thank You for the great number of
people then who were born anew into the
kingdom of God.
We thank You today for men and women
around the world who are engaged in the
service of God, and who today through the
preaching of the gospel are witnessing thousands and
thousands, hundreds of thousands, who are coming to
faith and commitment in the Lord Jesus.
We pray then at the close of this
service that You would help each one of
us in our own sphere to remember that
as You went to Jerusalem, and as the
Lord Jesus suffered there, and finally was crucified
and then rose again, we pray that we
might learn to deny ourselves and to take
up our cross and to follow in the
footsteps of the Lord Jesus.
We ask these things as we commend ourselves
to You this morning in His worthy and
precious name, Amen.