In this sermon, Pastor Babij investigates the account of Jesus’ transfiguration. Pastor Babij explains that, in this event, God the Father unveils the Son’s inherent glory, confirms the Son as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and endorses the Son as the final revelation of God; therefore, all men must listen to and obey Christ.
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you could take your Bibles this morning and turn to mark chapter 9 and as you’re turning there just wanted to mention continue to pray for Amy como she’s in Turkey and the bombs are getting pretty close to where she’s at and she’s so they had a cancelled church this morning and her mom told me Magda that in her they even though they had canceled church to head home groups and ten more people were there in home groups so bombs do help spur people on to reality to say life is short and this world is insecure so you better start learning as much as you can of the word of God right and of who Christ is and your relationship to him before it’s all over so just continue to pray for her that the Lord to keep them safe there and in Turkey alright and so let’s look at mark chapter 9 we’re going to look at the first eight verses and we’re going to look at this morning the a foretaste of glory that was given to the disciples the Apostles called the Transfiguration and let’s pray father this morning I do thank you for sending for you sending your son Jesus Christ who accomplished his mission in this world to die in the place of sinners and that all who would come and believe in him would have their sins forgiven and would be promised eternal life and also Lord a life of service here while they waited to go into your presence and so we thank you that in the scriptures we have the very life and real experiences of the Apostles before the Word of God was the New Testament was even written that they were learning revelation they were learning about who you who you were Lord and what they learned is now written in the Word of God for us to teach and to know so we can know the same things so we can experience what they did by reading it from the Word of God and I pray Lord it would have the same effect on us as it had on them so we would become real genuine servants and followers of the lord jesus christ bless us with that today as we look at your word Christ’s name I pray amen so we’re going to look at chapter 9 verse 1 through 8 but before I get there let me just get you from where I was where I came from from last time that I remind remind you that the Gospel of Mark is really a gospel of the servant savior of that’s very much stressed in the gospel Jesus was a servant and he came so the Messiah that God sends is the kind that no one would expect and the reason why is because everybody thought the Messiah should be a king and have a crowned and via conqueror but they were were not expecting a humble man who would come as a servant to bear the cruelty the suffering the humiliation and the shame of death on a cross but that’s exactly who God sent and how he sent the Lord Jesus Christ so from last time we learned that Jesus genuine disciples have a continuous desire to follow after Christ to learn from Christ to accept what his teaching was and then to walk the path that the Lord lay before them they understand that following a suffering servant would be costly there would be a cost to be a believer there is a cost to be being a believer and he sat down some of the conditions of true discipleship in from chapter 8 verse 34 onward and he gave three conditions of a real disciple and the first condition was they must deny themselves right they need to disown or turn off themselves in the same in other words they were to deny their sinful self the person who has their own interests at the center of everything which is everybody and not God’s interests so Jesus disciples come to the place where they know what hinders them from giving their life over to service of God and usually it is some selfish sinful desire or passion that they have the second condition was found in verse 34 that’s to take up their cross his cross like the Lord each disciple must bear his own cross right in the it is the of course the shame and the suffering a disciple assumes because they become a disciple of Jesus Christ and they have a relationship to Jesus Christ so the symbol of the cross has one objective it is it ruthless ruthlessly intends to bring death to self the sinful the the natural sinful self the rebel inside of us must be put to an agonizing death in other words the disciples of Jesus Christ must no longer make their own interest and desires the supreme concern for their life but of course they must turn from this idolatry of self-centeredness to follow Christ that means that the disciple of Jesus Christ grows in spiritual maturity and when they grow they realize that there must be more self denial when it comes to the death of their self-importance and the death to their self satisfaction and death to self absorption and death to self advanced men and death to self dependence which we all suffer from we suffer from self-centeredness and so that must be put to death so there’s a painful blow that comes to the disciples of Christ to the inner self as they want and desire to follow Jesus Christ because it is a radical life the Christian life it is a different life the Spirit of God makes us so different than the world and so different than the way we used to be are all our desires and passions change and of course the reality 24 where it says now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires in other words you’re going to be a completely different person when you come to Christ and the Spirit of God and dwells you and now begins to show you your send convict you of your sin and then as you he does so you want to put that sin to death so the Lord of glory has called all his disciples to a life of self-denial and cross bearing and that means it is absolutely impossible to be a Christian without self-denial and cross bearing this goes with the lot in fact Luke the Gospel of Luke talking about the same narrative said who did whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple so see that is part of it and of course there’s a third condition and that the first one is deny self the second is taking pups cross and verse 34 and follow me that the rest of your life you will be following Christ it’s just not a one-time event and experience it’s everyday your desire will grow to follow Christ to the point that the command which is in verse 34 to follow Christ is a command that denotes a continual persevering obedience to follow after the leadership of Jesus Christ Jesus goes to his death and all his disciples who follow behind him must also face death to self if you want to follow me in other words do not expect an easy time as a disciple of Jesus Christ so as a believer follows behind and bears his cross they will feel its weight they will feel it’s pain they will feel its suffering they will feel it’s con flict and as they experience those things I’ll also feel the joy that goes with it that the joy that’s laid before them so in other words a willing disciple of Christ when they endeavor to hold fast to the truth of the word of God there’s going to be some opposition when they endeavor to practice putting off sin and more to fighting the deeds of the body there is going to be a struggle between the flesh and what God wants you to do when a disciple endeavors to live righteously in the middle of a wicked and immoral and willful generation which we live in today which everyone has lived in from them from the time that sin came into the world and when a disciple endeavors to hold a faith which the world ridicules as too restrictive and too narrow and too foolish and yet were counted as fools for Christ when disciple endeavors to put on the whole armor of God to stand up against the wiles and the schemes and deceptions of the devil there is a warfare going on when they endeavor to live differently instead of living the morals the normal moral standard of the world or moral standard of the world they want to live holy and they want to live godly in a way that pleases God and not anyone else and then of course when they endeavor to live their lives if needful for the sake of Christ and the gospel if they have to lose their life they’re willing to do that too because Jesus Christ means everything to them Jesus Christ means everything in the Word of God he’s the he is the center he is the main figure of all scripture from Genesis to Revelation it’s all about Jesus Christ if Jesus Christ was absent from the Word of God there would be no salvation we wouldn’t be sitting here today all right so now that brings me to my text this morning so Jesus true disciples those willing to accept the reality that following Jesus would cost something our blessed with something others are not blessed with what are they blessed with their blessed with more revelation they’re blessed in other words with more teaching their blessed with the truth about what really has taken place and how someone really becomes right with God so Jesus wants his inner core of disciples to use their eyes and to use their ears to learn so that a stumbling block to their faith could be removed namely the necessity that the Messiah should suffer and die they were having a difficult time grasping that not only that but they were having a difficult time grasping almost everything that was taught to them to this point yes they are believers they are followers but they still don’t have all the information that they need so what does Jesus do being the teacher that he is he provides to them a very unique experience that changes their whole life that changes the whole direction on what they’re going to do after this particular event and Jesus does it to a small group of people he is saying to them use your eyes and you will see use your ears and you will listen to what you need to hear and so that’s what he does in this text this morning so the first thing I want you to see in the first four verses is this to look at what they’re going to see is they’re going to look at the inn and glory of Jesus which they have not necessarily picked up on until this time in other words the first thing that they are confronted with is this that the age to come the age of the kingdom is already here in Jesus Christ but not yet in its fullness so so not only will they receive more revelation about who Jesus is and what he came to do but also that suffering and humiliation will go on forever it will not go on forever because there will be a future kingdom that will come with power and glory and this is where I end it last time and I want you to take your Bibles look at chapter 9 verse number one and notice what it says and Jesus was saying to them all right truly I say to you there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power now that must have been very interesting for their ears the phrase case death in the hebrew is it’s an idiom and it means physical death what it means is that death is figured as a bitter poison which it is which all sooner or later must taste all right so he says to them listen those who are standing here will not taste death so see Jesus was saying among the larger crowd and from his twelve disciples who were in that crowd that some of them would not experience the taste of death until when until they see the kingdom of God after it as-is come with power now the arrival of the kingdom mentioned will be associated with visible power they will be able to see what he’s talking about now the question is what event took place in the lifetime of certain of the disciples that he’s talking about here well you know what when if you ever studied this passage description is there’s actually five varied views from mark 91 event here some people believe he’s talking about the resurrection is ascension some are think that he’s talking about Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit some think that he’s talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD some think that he’s talking about the manifestation of the kingdom in the church and some thinks he’s talking about the Transfiguration well of course you’re going to be thinking well what do you think see the view that I take and that makes the most contextual sense is view 5 he’s talking about the Transfiguration and the reason why is that’s what comes next in the text so we don’t have to go anywhere to find out what he’s talking about we have to just to look at the text because let me give you right up front that the Transfiguration which we’re going to find out what that means in a second serves as a visible type of the end time coming of the kingdom of God the Lord’s giving a ma in other words a preview of what is going to come but he does it in such a dramatic way it changes their whole way of looking at things so in other words that age to come is already here because Christ is there with the disciples but the fullness of the kingdom is yet to come because the full plan of God has to take place right another thing that we see under them looking at the inherent glory of god is that christ is and this is very significant Christ is the brightness of the glory of God if the cross and the glory are one thing in the mind of God and verse number two and three we’ll see that in a minute now this is what happens six days later after Jesus tells this to the disciples six days later Jesus tells his disciples about seeing the kingdom of God with power Jesus takes three of his twelve disciples that is his inner circle and that inner circle is Peter James and John all right because these men are going to be significant to witnessing the writing the actual writing of the New Testament so he picks them out as the inner core all right and he leads them up a mountain a very steep mountain difficult mountain to climb and the reason why it says in Scripture because it was a high mountain it was either amounts k bar mount hermon or mount mare on either one could qualify most people think it is today Mount Hermon but this mountain is probably around 4,000 feet highs it’s very high mountain but it has a long typo gradual moving up the mount it’s not like steep like this it’s a long and so you can walk up it and so that’s what he does with his disciples each of the mountains that I mentioned could be a possible location of the Transfiguration of course jesus also wanted a secluded and private place so that he can be alone with this inner circle of disciples because yes something really important to tell them look at verse number 2 of chapter 9 it says six days later Jesus took with him Peter James and John and brought them up on a high mountain and then notice what it says by themselves all right so it’s Jesus and free apostles right that’s it three of his core disciples now once Jesus and His disciples reach the place on the mountain that Jesus brings them and of course other Gospels say it’s the top of the mountain so they could have you know went to the top of the mountain and what happens there is something amazing happened in verse number two it says this and six days later James rajanna the high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them that’s what happens right in front of their eyes now you probably are very familiar with the Greek word here of for transform its metamorphosis right just like we were learned in science how them the you know the caterpillar turns into the beautiful butterfly to a completely different bodies and manifestations of that one living thing well that’s the word that is used here and it’s a word that means to be changed into another form to be transformed and another interesting thing about it was is this that is actually in the language it’s a passive voice in the verb that indicates that Jesus did not do this on himself it was the father in heaven who transformed his body into this change before their eyes it was the glorification of the physical body of his humiliation and some teach that the Transfiguration is not about the deity of Jesus but his perfect humanity i believe it’s talking about both i think the best way that I’ve heard it said was that God changed Jesus formed by allowing his pre incarnate glory that means him being in the human body to shine forth our aid him before he came to this earth he had he was with his father in glory in the presence of holiness because He is God and so he God allowed this pre incarnate glory to shine through his human features as a foretaste of his coming exaltation and as a view to the coming kingdom of God when Jesus Christ will in all his glory rain on this earth not only in heaven but on this earth and people will be able to see his glory now not only his features changed but if you notice in verse number three his clothing changed it says and his garments became radiant and exceedingly white as no launderer on earth can whiten them so his garments are described as white and glistening like nothing that could be produced on earth not fab not tied knot oxyclean know kind of bleach can make clothing this white so Jesus in a sense had a super heavenly whiteness and the disciples were remember they were seeing this this was something visual that the Lord gave them to see but you know what they were seeing the glory of Christ Gospel of Luke chapter 9 says this they saw his glory now that becomes very interesting because we get a real hint here on what Jesus meant in a statement that some of them would not taste death and it’s this the hint is they were in the presence of the glory of God and they did not die because from the Old Testament if you stood in the presence of the glory of God you would die right when God gave the Ten Commandments he told the people to stand away from the mountain that he was given the commandments on lest if they come to close the animals and the people would die why because the glory of God was there so this was such a significant event that all the Gospel writers say something about it three of the Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke present the narrative of the Transfiguration the Gospel of John does not include the narrative but this is what he says and you know the verse right we quoted all the time when we when we witnessed the people because John wanted to display Jesus Christ and the glory of Christ what does it say in john chapter one in verse number 14 and the word became flesh and what dwelt among us and we saw his glory what is he talking about he’s talking about the Transfiguration as well as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth and the Apostle Peter mentions it in in chapter one you turn there in your Bibles turn the second Peter I want you to see how this has affected the apostle to the point where they could not get this out of their mind in second Peter chapter 1 and verse 16 through 18 notice what it says it says for we did not this is 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 16 but we did not follow cleverly devised cells when we may known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were here it is eyewitnesses of his majesty verse 17 for when he received honor and glory from God the Father such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased and we ourselves notice what he says heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with them on the holy mountain that’s the Transfiguration so see this event was so significant that all the Apostles and those writers of Scripture mentioned it in their writings it changed them forever see the glory assigned to each part of creation is not inherent glory but reflected glory we are baked dirt according to Scripture that’s all we are so therefore we have no glory that comes from inside of us whatever measure of glory we receive comes from outside ourselves and the reason why human beings have any dignity atolls because God has assigned dignity to us he created us in His image and that gives us dignity so it is not inherent in us to have any kind of glory if there’s any glory that is seen from us it has to be reflected glory see the glory of Jesus is inherent glory it is not like the reflected glory that was shown on the face of Moses in the Old Testament remember when Moses went up to the mountain well even Moses says lord I want to see your glory and wonder how does God answer Moses Moses I’ll tell you what I can’t show you my full glory but i’ll show you my back parts all right beat my behind glory in the sense i will show you that right because this is what he says to Moses you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live see in the human body in the human flesh in the bodies that we have right now we could never stand in the presence of the glory of God we would be consumed we just could not take it in fact when Moses came down from the mountain the people couldn’t even look at his face because the Bible said his face shone because he was speaking with God and they had to look away from him so Moses got a veil and put it over his face until the kind of wore off right in other words that the glory that Moses had on his face was a reflected glory from the glory that came from God while he was in his presence and of course Moses didn’t die there because God protected him with a cloud a cloud consumed him so he would not die so see God’s glory is his own and proceeds from within the very nature of his majestic deity the deity of Jesus Christ’s birth forth from within him showing forth his glory so Jesus is the brightness of the glory of God the glory and that glory is reflected from within him and not from outside of him in fact even when we get to the New Testament and we get to the last book of the Bible what does it say there we’re not going to need the moon and the Sun anymore and the reason why it says in in in Revelation 21 and I saw no temple in it for the Lord God the Almighty and the lamp are its temple and then he says there in verse 23 and the city has no need of the Sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illumined it and it’s lamp is the lamb that’s Jesus Christ now why is that so significant because the disciples had to see and had it has to see what their own eyes a display of the coming Kingdom and so they were able to see the glory being manifested in Jesus human body without dying that’s interesting now before I go there in verse number four let’s turn back to mark chapter 9 verse number four there is a third thing on what they were seeing and it was this that Christ is the fulfillment not only of the glory of God but he is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets that the old and the new covenants are inseparable in God’s plan of salvation see there there came a sudden appearance while Jesus was glory was being manifested of an appearance of Elijah who was accompanied by Moses look it says in verse for Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were talking with Jesus now remember Elijah represented the prophets and Moses represented the law see these two significant figures talking with Jesus testified to him as being the true Messiah that all redemptive history was leading to the cross by the one who would fulfill all the law and all what the Prophet said and who was that that was Jesus so all kinds of stuff of going on in this mountain here now wouldn’t you like to be a fly on that mountain to hear what they were talking about well you are a fly today because the Bible tells us what they’re talking about but it’s not found in the Gospel of Mark it’s found in the Gospel of Luke so you want to turn there I’m sure you will right it says in Luke chapter 9 in verse number 30 and 32 Luke 9 and verse 30 it says and behold two men were talking with him of course again they were Moses and Elijah who appearing in glory were speaking of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem that’s what they were talking about now let me explain that what they were talking about because the word departure is actually the Greek word that means Exodus alright so of course it brings us back to the time where God took his people out of Egypt out of slavery right he rescued them from that but this is not an Old Testament Exodus here actually the word departure if in some Bibles it may translate the word it means death so in other words they were talking about Jesus death his departure his death from this world see the two permanent human residents of heaven Moses and Elijah right each of whom had a rather spectacular entrance or exit from this world into the celestial realm remember Moses died on Mount Nebo and once God Sultan let him see the land and that God buried him nobody knows where God buried Moses and then Elijah never died so see putt some people believe that Moses represented death and Elijah represented life and that Jesus Christ is the one who brings both of those things abolish as one and gives to us the other all right so some of those things can be found in that but the point is that Moses and Elijah came down to this earth to discuss our Lord’s coming death and the events at Jerusalem at the coming Passover season but see in other words Jesus would lead the people of God out of the bondage of sin in a new Exodus through his death a new Passover if remember in the Old Testament when the blood was splattered on the doorpost the Angel of Death passed over them well remember Jesus Christ when he sheds his blood and someone believes in him then see death no longer has a sting on that person the judgment of God is no longer on that person that person because of the blood of Christ is passed over and then in turn is given life that’s what they’re talking about here see and of course we know that resurrection was going to happen and he would constitute a new people who would come into the church so see another the purpose of the Transfiguration and conference with Moses the greater messenger of the law and Elijah the greatest of the prophets was to associate the work of Jesus with the meaning of the Old Testament Scriptures Jesus clarifies it he brings it to light he makes it alive and so the disciples had to know this if they’re going to go on and minister as servants of Jesus Christ but there’s something else that must that we must not miss here that the Old Testament Saints from time passed are very interested and engaged in seeing Jesus accomplishes work on the cross of Calvary don’t forget everyone before the event of the cross are saved uncredited got that right and what does that mean that the enactment of an eternal redemption to be accomplished by Christ was of great interest to the Saints of previous times and the reason for that is because no one could be saved whether one lived before the cross or after the cross if Christ did not actually died on the cross you got that see that’s was his mission was to suffer to die to rise from the dead and to obtain for all believers eternal Redemption not temporary Redemption eternal redemption in fact the writer of Hebrews brings this out to his audience of Jews when he says this but when Christ appeared as a high priests of the good things to come he entered through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this creation and not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood he entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption and then he says this how much more will the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve a living God see the only one who could do that is Jesus Christ so these heavenly visitors are very interested in what is going on with Jesus Christ and that he would actually die on the cross now that’s the list that is the seeing part now here’s the hearing part that they’re responsible for in our text and it’s this in verse number five us back to mark chapter 9 verse 5 and it’s simply this that we have to all they had to hear we need to hear the endorsement of the father to simply listen to the Sun that Jesus Christ is the final revelation of God there is no other revelation there is no other message there’s no other person that is going to accomplish God’s will after him or before him Jesus Christ is the one now if you notice in verse 5 and six something is going on while all the subtler stuff is going on it says Peter said to Jesus rabbi is it it’s good for us to be here let us make three Tabernacles one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah and then in verse 6 it says and he did not know what to answer for they became afraid in other words please stop talking Peter please start listening now you say well why did Peter do what he did well there’s a couple reasons why Peter obviously did not want this experience to end so he proposed to build some temporary shelters to make their stand the mountain more comfortable also he needs to build Tabernacles he thought to protect them from the presence of the glory of God so they would not be consumed and of course he knew that would be fatal but they didn’t die and in fact it says on here that Peter pretty much didn’t know what to do he didn’t know how to act and you know what neither you or I would never know what to do either all right so he’s really but they became terrified and that’s what usually happens when somebody realizes they’re in the presence of God a sense of terror strikes them the reality of that moment strikes them but notice again in verse number 7 and 8 that Christ is the final word and revelation in Christ the final word is spoken and in christ alone the father is well pleased for it says then a cloud formed and overshadowed them protecting them from the remaining glory of God so they saw the glory of God and the cloud enveloped them and it became a terrifying situation and of course the cloud is a mindful of the Shekinah in the Old Testament represented by the glory cloud that was among the people and that glory cloud represented not only the glory of God but his very presence they were in the presence of God but they did not die and how could that be the only reason it could be is that only Jesus can bring us into the presence of God and live and we live he’s the only one who could do it because not only is God himself but he is God in human flesh who was sinless so seen in other words at this point the voice from the cloud was the father’s voice and as he addressed the three inner core disciples with the same message or the same statement that he gave at Jesus baptism notice in verse 7 and a voice came out of the cloud this is my beloved son and what does he say to him listen to him will you stop doing things and listen to him because there is no more in other words don’t listen to the scribes and the Pharisees and the religious and the political leaders don’t listen to them don’t listen to anyone else listen to Jesus my son so the come it’s a command in Scripture to keep listening to Jesus it’s no longer Moses and Elijah who is God’s authorized spokesman but it is Jesus who is God’s authorized spokesman he used to be continually heard and continually obeyed and he is the one you continually follow fact Jesus is the one who is the greater Moses that was already told us in Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15 the prophecy of Christ it says the Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me this is Moses speaking from among you from your countrymen you shall listen to him that’s what he said back in Deuteronomy so this is fulfilling a prophecy and of course again Hebrews if you open up the first chapter and you look at the first couple of verses this is what it says God after he spoke long ago to the father’s in the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and up up holds all things by his power who is that that’s Christ so see what Jesus said about his impending sufferings and cross bearing was necessary before the kingdom could come in power and glory in the future you want the kingdom who come so do I in fact in the Lord’s prayers would we pray thy kingdom come Thy will be done right we’re still praying the kingdom come in his fullness and it will come but all these things had to take place before it’s going to come about in fact we are is still in the church age the age of grace or the gospel still going out to the world people are still hearing the gospel still coming into and believing in seeing the kingdom of God as they trust in Christ and as that happens we’re moving closer and closer and closer to the end when all these things the tribulation and in the coming Kingdom are going to come in their fullness now all that taking place and then notice suddenly the three inner core disciples realized the heavenly visitors have disappeared and they were alone with Jesus look it says in verse 8 it says all at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore comma than what it says except Jesus alone boy that is seems to be an exclamation mark on everything that went into what was going on that he was asking his three disciples to see the glory of Christ right because he Jesus Christ is the glory of the Father and to see the fulfillment that he provides in the law and the prophets and now of course to use your ears to listen because Jesus is the final revelation of God if you listen if you follow he will bring you to God he will bring you into the presence of God where you will no longer experience any death or suffering or crying but you will experience the very presence of God in other words they just experience of real worship isn’t that one worship going to do for us it’s going to when we leave these bodies and go into the presence of God you know we’re going there for to worship God we’re saved to worship right before we couldn’t worship God we would worship something but not God the real God but now we can worship God and that experience once you have it you don’t want to leave it you want to experience it over and over and over again so see several things were burned into their mind as Jesus stands there with them before they descend down the mountain the first one is if you look at the Sun you have hope and if you listen to the Sun you’ll end up where the kingdom of god is so see Jesus can give you what Moses in Elijah couldn’t Jesus will bring you the fullness of the kingdom and he’s the only one who can do that and so how does he leave them in verse 9 which I will not look at today but next time it says this in verse 9 and as they were coming down the mountain he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until what until the Son of Man rose from the dead well that’s given something else to think about and of course they said what does that mean you know no one’s ever risen from the dead so if you leave out the cross there’s no washing way of sin if you leave that resurrection there’s no victory over sin and if you leave out Jesus Christ there’s nothing he is the center he is the central of our worship and our praise and that’s if there’s one point that this event happened should bring to us is that Jesus Christ is it if you go try to go to get to God in any other way you will not get there you will think you’re getting somewhere when you’re going to end up in hell so they had a foretaste of the very face and embrace of God and to me that this passage of Scripture becomes very significant as I learned some of the things that the disciples learned there was a Sunday school teacher in England who had a class of 9 and 10 years old and she was talking one day about about heaven and about this this heavenly city and the kingdom of God and one little boy raised his hand says well how do you know you never been there and the teacher said to him well have you ever been to London he says no but my father has been there and he’s written me letters telling me about it and the wise teacher says well you know what my father is in the heavenly City and he sent me a letter telling me all about the glory of heaven about the way to get there the Bible is God’s letter and of course to the young man says I get it I get it the only way you don’t have to actually be there to know that it’s true and it’s a real place and it is and all those who know Christ will end up in God’s presence and all those who don’t will not but I don’t want to see anybody not end up in God’s presence I want to see everybody come to Christ and repent of their sin and believe in him that he died for them he took their penalty he satisfied the justice of the Father that we could have never done and he took our sin and nailed to a cross and he took his righteousness and put it on our account and so when the father sees us who know Christ he doesn’t see our sin he sees the righteousness of Christ that’s what saves us nothing else could save us but that I prayed that you know that for sure in your heart that if you were to die today you know you’d go and be with the Lord you have to know that don’t walk out ever saying i hope i do or i think i dunno know for sure you do and the only way you can know that is by coming to the word of god and seeing how salvation is laid out and to see if you’ve done what God asks you to do and if you are a believer please continue to follow Christ with all your heart and and the point of mark is going to be this follow him as a servant just serve him serve them with your life serve them with your gifts serve them with your families serve them with the things that he’s giving you serve them and you’ll never regret it you’ll never regret it one day of your life so I prayed that for us let’s pray Lord again this morning I do thank you for the richness found in Scripture Lord so many times you can read through a passage of Scripture and miss so many things and then Lord when you start looking at it with more detail or you hear something again it just adds to our understanding the lord I pray that you would make us people to that see what you’re doing in the proper way and I pray that we would be people too who hear with our ears and listen to Jesus Christ and I pray Lord as we do that for the rest of our life that we would serve you with our whole heart with all our mind with our soul with all our strength I pray Lord our life would give glory to your name and bring others who don’t know you into your kingdom and I pray this in your name Amen let’s stand together