And please turn, if you would, in your copy of God's holy word, back to Luke's gospel, the ninth chapter. We continue where we left off last Lord's Day, considering the transfiguration. Mentioned last Lord's Day, we would cover it in at least two sermons. And so we're in Luke 9, verse 28. And we will read down to verse 36. Those are the verses that we will consider in the preaching of the word. Please give your attention once again to the reading of God's holy word. These are the very words of our God, holy, inspired, and infallible. And it came to pass, about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory and spake 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, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias or Elijah, not knowing what he said. While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them. And they feared as they entered into the cloud. And 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. May God bless the reading of his word to us. Let's pray for the preaching. Our Father and our God, we come to the preached word and how can any man preach such glories as these? And so we ask that your Holy Spirit would come now on the preacher to preach up Christ, to preach up Jesus, that the people here who have come to the assembly saying, sir, we would see Jesus, would truly see Jesus by faith. And we pray then that the spirit would work in their heart and their hearing. that they would perceive the Lamb of God, who was slain before the foundation of the world, their own Savior, if they have come in faith. And for those who come here today without faith, may this be the day of salvation for them, O Lord. Father, we pray that you would do this to the glory of God, for the glory of our Savior, and for the glory of the Holy Ghost, for we know only when the Holy Spirit brings a word in power can we perceive God. So do these things. Bless the preaching for the glory of God. And so we ask that you would glorify thy son, Jesus, that thy son also may glorify thee. And we ask this in his name. Amen. Amen. Man, woman, and child must ask themselves the question, where or what is my hope? What is my hope? Where is it? Because even Christians can find their hope either misplaced or over time displaced. Their hope may be resting on persons or possessions or perhaps parties. Their hope may be set on their own. And this is a pernicious thing, even over time. Even their own obedience to God, their own righteousness may be where their hope is found. Maybe I've lost track of how many people you meet, maybe when we're out evangelizing and they say they're Christians and you ask where their hope is. And they say, I'm a good person. I do this, I do that, right? And what have they done? They have not set their hope where hope ought to be found. And for us who profess evangelical religion, it is very easy to maybe say the right words, but in our heart, having misplaced those words with other hopes. But the Bible calls all those vain hopes. And if our hopes have been set on such things, these hopes, the word of God says, will be dashed. And practically speaking, pastorally, you will find if your hope is in anything but Christ, all of your hope in Christ, you will find consternation in this world, you will find a lack of assurance, or you'll find the flip side of that coin, which is self-righteousness. And if you have hope in any place but God's beloved Son, worst of all, you will find all that you have hoped in will have gone away leaving you with nothing to stand on before God. And so what we have to do is to have all of our hopes found in a Christ who is perfect and pure and holy and divine, that you might trust in him, that you might set your hope in him. And the father to those ends speaks in this text, that you might flee to his beloved son, that he has given the world for refuge from his own wrath. that you might dwell with God forever in perfect blessedness and peace without that sort of slavish, servile fear if we take his son by faith. You know, to be in the son of God, to be found with faith in God's own son is what truly testifies that we are the children of God. And if we are found in God's beloved son, we will never be cast away, will we? Because he would have to, and I'll talk about this a little later, he would have to renounce his own beloved son to renounce any who are found in him. And that is the one thing he will never do, praise God. And so, with that, to set our theme, our theme is the Father's beloved Son as our hope, the Father's beloved Son as our hope. And we'll consider that under three heads that are found on your outline. The first is the Son's disciples, the second is the Son's Father, and third is the Son's touch. First, the Son's disciples. Now a brief recap, because this is the second part in the transfiguration that we began last Lord's Day. And what we heard of there, and we can't be exhausted, but some of these thoughts I think are pertinent. We heard that the transfiguration of Christ gave his disciples a preview of his exaltation. a preview of the glory that would come after Christ's humiliation. For after the Mount of Transfiguration, as Edersheim said it so well, Christ is descending into the valley of humiliation and death as he goes to the cross. And so this is a preview of the glory to come, that the cross, that the grave is not the end for Christ. A token of his words in Luke 24, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? It showed as well that after two years of his ministry, right, you ask the question, right, is Christ the second Adam like the first Adam? Does God say at his baptism, this is my son, my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, but now two years later, as the crowds leave, as the chief priests and the religious leaders seek his death, is God still pleased with his son? And the transfiguration answers, yes, all men may abandon Christ, but the Father will not. And so unlike Adam, who fell so soon, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, remained pure and righteous. And we also heard why Moses and Elijah were sent to meet with him, these two men as representatives of the Old Testament economy, the law in Moses and the prophets in Elijah. They witnessed to Jesus as the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. and gave at their historic meeting with him at the Mount a vindication of the truth that Paul will speak of in Romans 3.21, that the righteousness of God without the law is manifest, being witnessed, here it is, by the law and the prophets. Moses and Elijah say, yes, this is the one that we prophesied of. Jesus, by his decease, or exodus as it is in the Greek, by his death, this one who is greater than Moses would lead his people out of their bondage to sin and to misery to fulfill the righteousness demanded by the law that the prophets like Elijah pointed to that in Jesus we have Jehovah our righteousness the Lord our righteousness that the righteous requirement of Moses's law is fulfilled and so With those brief reminders, as we pick up our text now, we begin with Peter's response. As you remember, the disciples had slumbered during Jesus's prayer, right? They were asleep, actually, when he was transfigured, and they awake, and to see him transfigured. Now, consider what happened when they awoke, verses 32 and 33. 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, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here. What wonderful words. And let us make three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias, not knowing what he said. Now Peter awakes and you can imagine it, right? He's awed by the sight of the glory of Christ and to see Moses and Elijah there in glory. And so he desired to build tabernacles, and this will be helpful to you, or booths for Christ and Moses and Elijah, these three. Now our text, Luke here says that Peter did not know what he said, right? He didn't know what he was saying. Mark records though, that Peter did not know what to say when he saw all of this, right? So Peter doesn't know what to say and he, as Peter often does, right? His mouth outran his ability to patiently think. And so he says, he blurts these things out. Now, he had a sense and an urge that something ought to be done, right? His motives were not ill, they were benign and good, but what he teaches us always is we ought to let the master dictate our course and what to do and to wait on him. Now, To be fair, again, to Peter, some of his impulsiveness that he often has was actually greatly dampened by Christ's glory. In Matthew's account, Matthew 17, four, he prefaced his request with, if thou wilt. And so he is coming and humbly speaking these things to the Lord. And so you don't hear a rebuke from the Lord, but the Holy Spirit shows us that these words were not proper to the time. And so what do we learn from that? I think we can maybe stop here and think for a moment that when we don't know what to do, we ought to patiently wait on Christ, right? In patience and in prayer, what do we sing of? Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God. There's a sense where we have to wait on God sometimes and not just sort of rush in. And it's actually not unusual, and I've found this, I think this is some wisdom for you, that those who do not spend time exercising themselves in prayer are impudent like this. You notice that Peter, he didn't pray with the Lord, he fell asleep. Peter slumbered, he did not watch in prayer. And so I would say that religious zeal is best tempered and perfected by humble prayerfulness, lest it overrun you and it becomes zeal without knowledge." When we pray, we're expressing our dependence on need of wisdom from God. James, we've been reading through in the New Testament readings, he says, he's always speaking against the prideful, self-exalted man. What does he say? If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask. This is found in those who are humble before God. Prayerfulness. Now, Peter's response to the glory of Christ was also not completely uninformed. You might recall the Feast of Tabernacles, for instance. And that may have been on Peter's mind. What did that feast commemorate? I think the links here are quite interesting. The feast commemorated the journey out of Egypt to the Promised Land. when God was in our midst in his tabernacle. And we, his people, were encamped around his tabernacle in tabernacles or booths. And you can read more about that in Leviticus 23, the prescription there. But even after Solomon built the temple to replace the tabernacle, It was still celebrated, you know, it was celebrated in Christ's time in Nehemiah 8, 16. I want you to listen to this. The people went forth and brought them and made themselves booths or tabernacles, everyone upon the roof of his house and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God. Now, why was this? And what did this feast signify? Do you know? It's a very blessed thing. It was to give us a sense of God's desire. to be with us, his people, to be our God. The feast was meant to put in us a desire for God himself, to dwell with him forever, to be his people. The feast was meant to give us a very visual and visceral portrayal of the covenant of grace in practical outworkings. What is the covenant of grace? Summarized with Jeremiah 32, for instance, they shall be my people and I will be their God. And that is no abstract thing, right? There's a God out there who says he is my God and I'm over here someplace and I am his people. No, it's a God who makes a covenant of grace that we would dwell very near to him, to be with him and forever. That God's people might say in their hearts, as Peter did, it is good for me to be with God. These things are all connected for us by John, right? John, who was here on the Mount of Transfiguration. You remember, we considered John 1.14 last time, but now think of the Feast of Tabernacles. And the word was made flesh and dwelt, or tabernacled, among us. Now, he didn't just dwell on the earth. He dwelt among us. as in the feast, and we beheld his glory." Where? At the transfiguration. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. See, all these things, they are so woven together in the gospel, friends. And you must remember when, as well, God prescribed that the Feast of Tabernacles was to be celebrated. Do you remember? Four days after what? The Day of Atonement. the day of atonement, and isn't there a gospel picture in that? How is it that we can dwell with God? How is it that we as sinners, with all of our guilt and all of our stain, can come into the very presence of God? It is through the atonement. And so the atoning blood is shed in the day of atonement with weeping and mourning over our sin. But then four days later, he has turned our mourning into dancing. And he says, come into my courts, come into my midst, my people. And he has the feast of tabernacles. In other words, the pattern is this, there must be a cross before there is the heavenly glory and tabernacle. And that isn't that then as we come back to our text, the very thing Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah about to accomplish his decease. And this is the main reason why Peter was so out of line. He blurted it out when he saw Moses and Elijah departing in verse 33. Verse 33, he sees them depart and go away. And then he blurts out, let's make some tabernacles that we might all dwell here, or they might dwell here. What was he doing? He's trying to arrest the moment, right? To arrest the transfiguration, to freeze it in place. He still did not see the need for Christ's cross. He had rebuked the master earlier in the chapter, for when he said that he must be put to death and raised again on the third day, he rebuked him. And he still didn't understand the need for Christ to go to the cross before he had his crown. But Christ must accomplish his decease before what the moment portrayed could come in fullness, or else it would never come. But we do remember the root of Peter's fumbling words, master, it is good for us to be here. And I think at the end of the day, right, this is what makes Peter, Peter really, and made him so beloved of Christ, why he was one of Christ's three closest companions on the earth, even with all of his brashness and impudence, Now, his heart was gripped with the thought of glory that every true believer longs for. That when they say, it will be good to bask in the radiance of the Lamb of God, my own Savior and my God, it will be good to be in the fellowship and communion of all the glorified saints, even with all of Christ's glory before us, before the beauty of the Lord. Because this is what? awaits you, Christian, in glory. Revelation 21.3, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they, here's the covenant of grace, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. This is the end, isn't it, friends? You know, to think on your salvation as merely a kind of get-out-of-hell free card is so shallow, and insofar as that is all you think your salvation is, it is utterly ungodly. For there is no thought of God in that thought, is there? Christ died for a higher purpose, that you may dwell with God forever. that he would be yours and you would be his. My beloved is mine and I am his." In life, undoubtedly, Peter sang with his whole heart the words of the 27th Psalm, which we will sing later in the service. And he tasted some of that Psalm here on the Mount. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. Now the geography here is also very interesting, I think, right? They had ascended the Mount of Transfiguration. In a lot of ways for Peter, right, this is the ascending into the glory to come because you think of what that world was like that they had just walked out of or walked away from up into the mountain. A world of sin and misery. Pharisees and chief priests plotting Christ's doom. Sickness and disease and frail bodies that are dying. And of course, you can understand why Peter would have loved to stay up here at the Mount of Transfiguration, to behold the beauty of the Lord, to be hidden in the secret of his tabernacle, to be set up on this mountain as a rock, away and away from the world and all its troubles and evils. It's as though the Lord says, not yet, Peter, not yet. These things are premature. And you and I must be patient in that as well. Glory is yet to come. Christ is still putting all things under his feet through his church. And there's much to do, much labor to do, as Peter, James, and John had to do in the Great Commission. You know, I was thinking about this, and sometimes even the most blessed words, we find ourselves to be like Peter. You know, so many of us, and this is, in many ways, the intention is good, but I've been convicted of this. Sometimes we say, right, on the Sabbath day, we've fellowshiped all day, and we say, I don't want the day to end. Why does there have to be a Monday? We sigh, but after this text, I wonder if you might hear the Lord say, we do not know what we are saying. It's not time yet. We are the church militant, not triumphant yet. The Lord says you labor. You labor six days for now. You labor, you take the gospel out of the walls. You labor for your family. You labor for the city. You labor, my eternal Sabbath rest is coming, but not yet. I am still crushing Satan under your feet, church. So sometimes you see this, right? We can say wonderful things and we laugh sometimes at Peter, but we say the very same things without knowledge. But let us remember these three disciples of the Lord in that way. What are they demonstrating for us, really? How we need a Savior. And we are glad for their example in that, right? Here, think of these three men. They fall asleep in prayer. They don't know what to say, and they say it anyway. And rather than snicker at them, we must recognize that these three, the closest men to Christ on the earth, profoundly need Him as their Savior. There is nothing, right, you see it. There is nothing meritorious or righteous in these men. They're not like the pretend holy men of other faiths who pretend perfection. They are sinners like us and they found blessedly mercy and grace in Christ just as we need it. How remarkable that the Lord chose such men that you and I might have hope in him. To see he loves even those who stick their feet in their mouth, and yet is so tender and patient with them. They could never, here's the thing, you see this here, they could never be acceptable to God on their own. And so with that thought, let's consider the second heading, which is the son's father. Well, as if the appearance of Moses and Elijah was not enough to vindicate Jesus as the Christ, God the Father appeared in a theophany, just as he did in the Old Testament. He interrupted Peter's speech in verse 34. While he, that is Peter, thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud. Here is a reappearance of the Shekinah cloud, that manifestation of God's glory that was so experienced during the Exodus. Manifest when he led his people out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. Manifest when he came, you remember this, when he came to dwell in the temple. That's why the Jews called this the Shekinah cloud, because Shekinah means to dwell. And so it signifies God's presence is among his people. So you can see this text, it's pregnant with meaning, with God's dwelling with us. And the cloud was not God, it was a representation of his presence that we would know he's here. And on the Mount of Transfiguration, it was manifest one last time. Out of the cloud, God the Father said very little, but these words are full of weight and full of his glory. His words are poignant, they are profound, and they carry many truths with them. In verse 35, Luke records, this is my beloved son, hear him. But I want to recount how Matthew records the words for they are more complete. Matthew 17.5, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. This is the father's own testimony of his son, Jesus Christ. What we have to ask, especially as we are addressed by this text, what does God intend for us to do with it? Well, you can dissect this phrase, or you can dissect his words into three phrases that we find. First phrase, this is my beloved son. The meaning is that this is his eternal only begotten son, the second person of the Trinity. This one in his tabernacle of flesh is the eternal son of God. the father's equal in power and glory. John 5, 18, therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself what? Equal with God. And so God is, the father is speaking of the eternal relationship he has with his son, one to another, dearly beloved. In other words, he never began to love Christ in the incarnation, John 17, 24. Jesus says in his high priestly prayer, for thou lovest me from before the foundation of the world. The father has always loved the pre-incarnate Christ, and they have enjoyed perfect love betwixt them, each adoring and enjoying one another. Stunningly in John 1 18, he says of his position, the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the father. You see what love there has been eternally between these two, even on the mount, right? The divine son in his divinity was in the bosom of the father. that place and seat of the deepest affection. You think of this eternal, intimate communion that they shared one with another, one that transcends time, it transcends space, it transcends the creation itself, and is a matter of the deepest praise and awe for our triune God. But also, how that is meant to cheer the heart of God's people. who are sinners. It means that this divine person, the Son of God, was sent to be our Redeemer. What assurance is yours, beloved, when you remember that God that God is your Redeemer, not Moses, not Elijah, not any other man, but God is truly and really your Redeemer. For Paul, the idea that the eternal Son of God is his Redeemer was everything to the man. By faith, that truth permeated every bit of the life that he lived in the flesh. Galatians 2.20, the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of who? the Son of God. He doesn't say Jesus Christ, which would have been proper, but he says the Son of God because that is what staggers the mind. Who what? This divine person did what for him? Who loved me and gave himself for me. Is that not something worth rejoicing in, friends? For you who believe that the eternal, pre-incarnate Son of God, beloved of the Father, God himself loved you and gave himself for you. This divine person in the bosom of the Father gave himself for you, and that's astonishing. And you ask yourself, if he, if I am in him, how could I ever be cast away? Second, in his giving of himself for us, right, as we think on Paul's words, I wanna linger there. Why was he incarnated, right? That's why the incarnation is necessary, so that he could give himself for us. So he could accomplish his decease and his exodus because, and it sounds impious, but it's not. He couldn't save us in just his divinity. He needed to take on his person, the human nature. that he may obey for us in the human nature, that he may suffer for us and die for us and atone for us in the human nature, which is the second phrase in the Father's speech. This is my beloved sons who I have cited, Matthew, in whom I am well pleased. This refers to Christ's mediatorial work as the God-man. The Father is pleased that Christ in his humanity, both in his soul and his body, always did his will. John 8, 29, the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that, what, please him. So much so, our Savior would be obedient even unto death. even as he spoke of his decease. John 10, 17, therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. This is the love of complacency that we considered several weeks ago, that the father has in his son as the mediator. He is well pleased in him. So the Father, what is he saying? He's saying that this Jesus is not just perfect God that he has loved from before the foundations of the world, eternally so, but that this Jesus is also the perfect man in whom he is well-pleased as man. So believer, why must you glory in this declaration that this is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased? Because the entirety the entirety of your standing before God, the entirety of your hope is found in those words. In other words, right, let's ask the question again. Let's go back to it. How can we, like Peter, James, and John, who fall asleep in prayer, who shoot off religious nonsense from our mouths, who sin and fall short of the glory of God in so many, many ways, ever have a hope of being saved Your hope is found in Ephesians 1, starting in verse 5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace. And listen to these words, wherein he hath made us accepted in the whom? Beloved. He hath made us accepted in the beloved. in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. You are made accepted to God because he has said, this is my beloved son. He has not said that of you in your merit before God, for you have none, but he has said it of Jesus. And therefore he has made us who believe accepted in the beloved. that we would sing to the praise of the glory of his grace, his grace. Or did you think that your standing with God is found in your obedience, friend? Or did you think that your standing with God is found in your good works? No. They cannot be. And the thing is, maybe you're here and you're good Presbyterians who know your catechism, know the doctrine of justification, but you and I can still slip into this kind of thinking. Best be rid of it, friend. You are accepted and you must know this every day. I am accepted totally and entirely on the merits of Christ. I am ever thankful. that the Lord's innermost three were men like this. I'm ever thankful that the great apostle Paul was a man who was a persecutor, blasphemer, and injurious, but he said that he had what? Obtained mercy. No standing of my own. It's all like dung. You know, the man was once like a Pharisee that said, God, I thank thee that I am not as this man or that man. But instead, he found himself to be the publican by God's grace, who said, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And he said, I obtain mercy. All of these in the Bible demonstrate we are made accepted only in the beloved. Not just Peter, Paul, James, and John. You go find a saint in the Bible. Moses, Elijah, David, Abraham, Sarah, Hannah, and so on. All of them. How could they, any of them, with all of their faults and sins, so plain to see in the Bible, ever be dealt with? Because they were made accepted in the Beloved through faith in Him, union with Christ. So when you think on all of your faults, and all of your failings before the Lord believer. And mine too. Where do you find your standing? Accepted in the beloved, only by faith in his person and work. Is that you today? Do you know this and have you believed this? If you don't know this, if you don't believe this, then you are doomed, you are lost, because you will never come before God on your own two feet with all of your righteousnesses as filthy rags, with all of your sin staining your soul. You will never ever hear this is my beloved. But for those of you in Christ, this is the glory, isn't it? That as he looks on Christ, he looks on you. And you will hear, this is my beloved son, or this is my beloved daughter, because God perceives you through Christ. Don't leave this place without such faith. And if you've forgotten such things, don't leave this place without remembering them once again. Do you need assurance, believer? Are you rustling it for today? If yours is faith in Christ, assurance is founded on this. I am accepted in the beloved. That is the bedrock of assurance. Then I go and I live as faith demands, imperfectly, even as Peter did. A life of repentance over sin and obedience by faith. But those things are not my standing with God. Not even my repentance is my standing. But these are the fruit of a new heart. As for my standing with God, it's because I believe I am accepted in the beloved. That is the only basis for salvation. And united to Christ with such faith, Again, God would have to, if you are in Christ, He would have to renounce Christ before He could renounce you. And that's the glory of being in Christ and having vital union with the Savior. He will never renounce you because He will never renounce His Son. Well, not only does the Son of God receive the Father's commendation, I'm gonna have to go a bit quicker through the rest of this, but the Father addresses us directly in the third phrase, hear Him, hear Him, meaning Jesus. Now, this is fascinating. Boys and girls, children, do you remember who else was there with Christ? Moses and Elijah, right? Moses and Elijah. And what God does is he bypasses two of the most revered saints who he used to bring Old Testament revelation. In fact, you see, as they depart, it's almost as if they exit stage left, so to speak, as they depart from Christ. And the father says, as they leave, listen or hear my son, Jesus. You remember, we were in this book not so long ago, do you remember how the book of Hebrews begins, right? Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 2. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by whom? His Son. whom he hath appointed the heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being, here it is, the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. What a vivid illustration of that text is found at the Transfiguration. In times past, yes, I spoke through Moses and I spoke through Elijah. But in these last days, I speak through my son, who is the brightness of my glory and the express image of my person. Hear ye him. You think of that, my beloved son, the express image of his person. In whom he is well pleased, the heir of all things as the mediator. The Father says, hear ye Him. It's almost as though Hebrews 1, 1 through 2 is really just an illustration, or rather, our text is an illustration of Hebrews, the first chapter. Well, boys and girls, you might ask, well, how do I hear from the Son of God? Well, the answer is through the Word of God, in both Old and New Testaments. Both are the Word of the eternal Son of God. For He is called what, boys and girls, you know this? He is the Word made flesh. who dwelt among us. We hear him whenever by faith, boys and girls, we listen to him speak to us by his scripture. Now I want you to consider how Peter relayed the transfiguration near his own death. 2 Peter 1, 16-18. He served as eyewitness, remember. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He's speaking of the transfiguration. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. So he reminds us what we hear here. He was a witness to these things at the mountain. But he also gave us a use of the transfiguration in the very next verses. He says in 1 Peter 119, we have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy, came not in old time by the will of man, but by holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. How does Peter say to hear Christ? To take heed to Christ, that his light would penetrate your darkened minds and hearts and mind too. This more sure word of prophecy that you have, which is the Holy Scriptures. How astonishing, right? We don't think on this as we ought. that he would say that more sure than the words that he heard after he awoke from his slumber out of the Shekinah cloud, more sure than that are the words that you hold in your hand. That's a remarkable thought. What you clutch and often despise and ignore is more sure than an audible voice from God at the Mount of Transfiguration. If you're in awe of that, you ought to be in more awe that these words on the page that by faith are received as the very speech of God to you and to me. Yet we often despise them. The Holy Spirit. will, through faith, speak them into your heart and mind as Christ's words. What we have in the scriptures, in other words, is, even though Jesus bodily is ascended, is by the Holy Spirit, we have in the scriptures the promised presence of Christ until the end of the age. Has he not told you, child of God, lo, I am with you always? How? through his ordinances, especially the word of God received by faith. And he is ours. He is with us when we receive them by faith. He is speaking to us now from the word of God. He is with us today. If you are here by faith and you receive these as the words of God, these are his speech to you. Hear ye him. I am with you always. But what does hear him mean? Does it mean listen to the Bible and not respond? No. Every scripture you read, God calls for a response, a response of faith, a response of obedience, a response of comfort. The sense in the Greek language here of hear him is to heed him. heed to listen and conform. So when he calls you to faith in the scripture, heed him, obey. When he calls you to repentance, heed him. When he calls you to obedience, heed him. When he calls you, child of God, to be consoled, heed him and do not be comfortless. Time has gone away quickly, so let me consider lastly the Son's touch. I want to conclude with Matthew's account of the transfiguration. If you turn to Matthew 17 in your copy of the scriptures, not many verses I want to consider, but consider them. I think they're important to read and listen to. Turn to verse six, Matthew 17, verse six. And so this is God speaking in verse five and verse six. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. We have the reaction that the disciples had. God spoke and they hit the ground with great fear. This is as God's ancient people at Sinai felt. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. Exodus 20 verse 19. What you have to see is the unmediated voice of God is the cause of trembling and quaking. Rightly so. We are unable to behold his presence as sinners. What you have to see on the Mount of Transfiguration is it does not matter the content of his speech. In Sinai, you might have this thought, well, he spoke the law. Of course they trembled. But on this mountain, they were still afraid. And what did he speak of? His beloved son. Did he speak any words of threatening to the disciples? No. Yet they still feared. Why? This is the voice of Almighty God. And we are just creatures. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve. Psalm 29. in the Old Testament or the New Testament to hear God incites fear. And there is no difference in the two testaments in that. Why? Because God cannot change. And the transfiguration proves, I am the Lord, I change not, Malachi 3.6. So we are to always, always have a deep reverence for God, for his word. Beloved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with what? Reverence and godly fear. That's Hebrews, the New Testament, chapter 12. So when it comes to the word of God especially, let's not play games. with the Word of God. Let us rightly divide the Word of God and have a care to do it. Let us treat it reverently. Let us not make jokes out of the Word of God, as some websites do today that are very popular. Let's not dissect it and treat it like a profane book. We are to have pious and lofty views of it. In other words, let us treat it as it is in truth, the Word of God. And after God spoke, their fear lingered still, right? Even as the glory cloud disappeared. The disciples were left all alone with Christ, but they were still seized with fear. They wouldn't dare get up. You know, to meet God, even in a representation like the Shekinah cloud, will cause such terror in you that you will shake in fear for a long while. If you've ever been maybe in a plane ride that has gone horribly wrong and you land and you're quaking and you're trembling, the fear doesn't go away immediately. And how bad will it be when you meet with the Almighty without Christ? Yet if you do meet him in Christ, how different things will be. If you're still in Matthew 17, consider verse seven, the next verse. And Jesus came and touched them and said, arise and be not afraid. This one verse really ought to be an endless meditation for us. To glory that you have Christ, God's beloved mediator between God and man. And there are four components to this simple but profound verse to reflect on. The first is, don't get past this, Jesus came to them. They are seized in fear. They can't even crawl to the Savior, but he comes to them. In their fears, he goes after them. He is an active and present mediator. Goodness and mercy pursues me or follows me all the days of my life. And here is goodness and mercy in Christ. He ever, the Bible says, ever lives to make intercession for us. Whether we are asleep, whether we are in fear, whether we are comatose on our deathbed, he is always an active mediator. He comes to us. I will come to you. He meets us to give us grace. When you were dead in your sins and trespasses, it was Christ who came to you. The second item of note, he touched his disciples. They couldn't even bear the sound of God's voice, but now God touches them in the flesh. A touch that doesn't consume them, but instead a touch that consoles them. What a thing to have a consoling and not consuming touch from God that comes from compassion and mercy. You know, you think about how haughty some of us are. You know, some of us might say, well, Peter, you kind of deserve to tremble for a while because of all your foolishness, right? This will knock you down a peg or two. But Christ comes to him out of compassion and touches him. Just as he touched the leper earlier. Not that he had to touch his disciples or that leper because his power would reach to the ends of the earth. but that you might know that the Lord Jesus Christ has pity on you and earnestly heals you out of love and desires himself to take on your sickness and your sin on himself and to remove all that stands between you and dwelling with God eternally. How much better, friends, this tabernacle of God Jesus Christ is than the old tabernacle. If it was good to encamp around the tabernacle, how much better is it that the tabernacle of God can embrace you? And you may embrace him. And that's one of the reasons why all those old feasts are gone and we don't celebrate them because the substance that they pointed to is here in Christ. The third item of note is his command, arise. What a thing that is. We deserve far worse than this, but we will not grovel before God for all eternity. But we may stand before God in Christ, and is that not remarkable? We will have a reverent and adoring position, yes, but we will not snivel, and we will not grovel at his feet. Instead, he says, arise, my dear one, come away with me. The fourth item connected to arise is he says, be not afraid. In Jesus, you do not have to be afraid of the voice of God. Because God is pleased in me, he says, because God is pleased then with you in me. I have made you accepted in the beloved in myself. And so you must not fear God that way because I am the mediator. And that's why we will enjoy the beauty of the Lord for eternity. Because without Christ, we could never do such things. And so beloved, and I know because our time is short, we could sit here and meditate on such things forever, and we will one day. But with all these benefits he has loaded with us, why, I asked the question, he does too, why would you not heed God's son? Why would you not hear him when he speaks? How could you not listen to this word and obey it? when he has done all these things for you, believer. How ungrateful that would be, how sinful it would be to reject the voice of Christ. Well, when the transfiguration was over. They were left alone with Christ. I think there's something wonderful about that. What had disappeared, the glory cloud is gone. Moses and Elijah are gone too. The old covenant was fading away and now has faded away. What are we left with? Christ, the substance of all those things. Fully and wholly sufficient for us sinners who believe. And with Christ and his abiding presence and the word of God by his spirit with the Father's commandment, Heed Him. With this Christ, we must resolve to be totally and completely satisfied. But you say, Pastor, Christ has gone away. I say, yes, in one sense, He has gone away to rule and reign at the right hand of God, that He may crush all of His enemies under His feet. His body is no longer here, but in heaven it is, glorified now at the way that the Transfiguration portrayed. And Peter at one time mourned that Christ would go away. This is one of the reasons why he refused to acknowledge Christ must die. But in response, Jesus in John 14 said this, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions or rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you, I go where? To prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. And what's the aim of the covenant of grace? That where I am, there ye may be also. John 14. Is it not remarkable, friends, that he has gone to prepare the dwelling place that Peter longed for on the Mount of Transfiguration, that we may be where he is and forever. But even in this life, and we'll close with this thought, he abides with you. He abides with you. He also said in that same chapter, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. even as he came to the disciples as they were in fear, right? Not meaning that he will come to take us up now, but by giving his Holy Spirit, the comforter, which he said, he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. So you enjoy today, believers, by faith, by the Holy Spirit's working faith in you, connecting you to Christ your Savior through his ordinances of word, prayer, sacrament when we celebrate it, that he does dwell with you, he abides with you, he has not left you orphans. And may by the ordinances of Christ, by his spirit, may you enjoy Christ until he receives you into the heavenly tabernacle. And so remember the transfiguration when you have need of it, knowing in glory every day you will say with gratitude and joy, how good it is for us to be here. That will make the afflictions of life below the mountain light and momentary. But until then, may you live your life as he had commanded earlier, by denying yourself, carrying your cross daily and following him. Until he comes to receive you on your last day and says, arise, my fair one, the winter is past, springtime has come. Come, beloved, and let me take you with me into the paradise of God. where he may dwell with you forever, believer. That is the end of these things, and may you believe it by faith. Amen. May the Lord bless his word to us until then. Please arise for prayer if able. Our holy God, how good it is for us to be here in your presence now. having the blessed Holy Spirit, that great comforter, who gives us that presence of your dearly beloved Son, Christ, in our hearts. We pray, Father, that those who have thought that their standing is anyplace else but the beloved might have faith to believe in our Savior today, that Christ would come to dwell with them. We know it's not them reaching out for Christ, but Christ reaching out to them, saying, arise, be not afraid. May they hear the voice of the Savior and put their trust in the Savior, grabbing ahold of him even as he has grabbed hold of them. Father, we pray that all of us today would meditate on the Mount of Transfiguration to find that we who believe are accepted in the beloved in no place else. Lord, we say, increase our faith. Lord, we say, we believe, help thou our unbelief. May you do such a great work in our hearts to all of us today. We pray and ask this for the glory of God, in Jesus' name, amen.