The sermon delves into the significance of the Transfiguration as recounted in Mark 9, emphasizing its function as a source of comfort and hope amidst suffering, and as a foretaste of resurrection glory. It highlights the presence of Moses and Elijah during the Transfiguration as a link to Old Testament prophecies, illustrating continuity between the Law, the Prophets, and the mission of Jesus. The speaker interprets the event as a pivotal moment where Jesus confirms His identity and mission, reinforcing the call to listen to Him, especially in the context of His impending suffering and death. Discipleship, according to the sermon, involves embracing suffering as integral to following Jesus, with the promise of participating in His glory as depicted in the Transfiguration. This event encourages believers to persevere through trials with the assurance of resurrection glory.

If you please stand with me in honor of God's word being read, we are hearing directly from God. God speaks this morning. Mark chapter 9, beginning in verse 2, Thus saith the Lord. Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.

And his garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. For he did not know what to answer for they became terrified.

Then a cloud formed overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud, this is my beloved son, listen to him. All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon the statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant. They asked Him, saying, why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

And he said to them Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that he will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come and they did to him whatever they wished just as it is written of him this is God's Word. Amen. Let's be seated together.

Have you ever read a story or started a story And the story started out so poorly, or so sadly, that you said to yourself, I cannot go on, I need to stop. You ever been there? Perhaps you've said something like, I've got other things to do, this book is way too abysmal, way too gloomy, I'm going to read something more chipper. Well I read a book recently that was just like that. It did not start well, at least in my estimation, and I really wanted to stop and I was going to stop.

In fact I had taken it off my shelf and was going to give it to the goodwill and I had a friend come alongside me and They told me they said whoa whoa whoa Just wait till you get to the end Just wait till you get to the end. Just wait till you get to the end. And the beginning will all make sense. It will be so worth it. Because the end is so glorious.

They gave me a glimmer of hope. They gave me a glimpse of excitement. They gave me a glimpse of the joy that was to be mine if I would just read to the end. And so, though I had just about decided to stop, in fact I took it off my shelf, I went and grabbed it again, I pressed on, and boy were they right. That book really was glorious.

And I wouldn't have seen the final glory if my friend hadn't have comforted me and said press on. Press on. And friends, that is exactly what the transfiguration is meant to do for you. The first half of Mark's Gospel is really climaxes with this reality where Peter is meeting with Jesus and the disciples and it climaxes with Peter saying out loud, Jesus, you are the Christ. And then in almost the exact same moment, Peter rebukes Jesus because Jesus who is the Christ says, yes, I am the promised Son of Man, and I'm going to suffer, I'm going to die, and then after I do those things, I'll be raised up from the dead.

Peter doesn't like this very much, and so he rebukes Jesus. Well, of course, what does the Christ do to Peter? Peter gets rebuked by Jesus. Jesus rebukes him and says to him, hey, following me is costly. Following me is losing your life so that you can save it in the end.

Following me looks like a cross. Following me looks like suffering and death. And then resurrection, glory forever. Now, that's a really hard thing to hear. I know there's a baby crying, so let's try to focus again.

Literally everyone's eyes just like this. It's funny. I'm just gonna point out the obvious. Nobody heard what I just said. It's totally fine.

Praise God for babies. And it gives me another opportunity to say what I just said. The disciples have heard a lot of gloom. Jesus has been telling them, suffering's coming, I'm going to suffer, you're going to suffer, if you don't suffer, you're not really following me. Gloomy.

Following me is following me into my death. You need that you have to suffer too. And it can be gloomy. Kind of like the beginning of a book can be gloomy and you want to put it down. But God in His great kindness took some of these men, took this man Peter along with two others, and in the midst of all that gloom, shows them the glory that is to come in the resurrection.

He shows them that the suffering and the dying, though extremely difficult, will result in something far better, everlasting glory, to where this momentary Affliction that seems difficult will in fact prove to be light in Comparison to the weight of glory that is to be yours in Christ Jesus The transfiguration is a moment of promised comfort in the midst of a difficult beginning There will be death But there will also be glory so listen to Jesus who is the radiance of that glory Listen to him Resurrection glory awaits those who listen to Jesus. Resurrection glory awaits those who listen to Jesus. That's the reason for the transfiguration in Mark. So you understand, I hope, right now why the transfiguration is in the Bible. Why it exists right here in Mark's Gospel where it is.

Suffering. Transfiguration. Suffering. Sandwich. I didn't make it up, it's right there.

You're going to see it more in the next moments that follow. The death and suffering of Jesus are the ways that glory was won for you. So you cannot have glory, church. You cannot have glory outside of the death and resurrection of Jesus who conquered sin and death in His death and in His resurrection. Mark is communicating to these men and also to you this morning, death for Jesus was certain, but so was His glory.

And that promise of glory is also for you. Resurrection glory awaits those who listen to Jesus. So I want you to see this very clearly yourself. I want you to glimpse what Peter, James, and John glimpsed. And I want you to be encouraged and comforted and excited to follow Jesus.

To listen to Jesus in the midst of hard times. In the midst of fighting sin in your life. In the midst of repenting of failure time and time again. In the midst of persecution. In the midst of loss and suffering and even death.

I want to encourage you and comfort you and exhort you. Listen to Jesus because He tells you in these 66 books How to live your life and How glory is to come for all those who listen to him and these? 66 books We're gonna do this in three ways. We're gonna show how the we're gonna see how the transfiguration Communicates this in three different ways number one We're going to look at how the transfiguration in Mark's gospel points to other parts of Mark's gospel To communicate to you this idea of resurrection glory We're then going to look at how Mark utilizes Old Testament imagery, how the transfiguration not just points to Mark itself, but also to the Old Testament to communicate resurrection glory. And then lastly we're going to examine and explore the implications of the transfiguration and how it relates to discipleship.

The implications of the transfiguration and discipleship. So that's our roadmap this morning. How the Transfiguration relates to Mark's Gospel itself, how it relates to the Old Testament, and how it relates to discipleship. Notice then first that Jesus brought up with him onto the mountain three men. Let's notice how it relates first to Mark's Gospel.

Jesus brought three men up on the mountain with him. Who were those men? The text tells us, does it not? Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and John. And Mark reads, Jesus brought them up on a high mountain by themselves.

He wants you to understand this is a very specific group. They are by themselves. It's a special moment. And a question that should be nudging at you if you've been reading through Mark's Gospel for a little while, the question should be obvious. Has this ever happened before?

That should be the question. And the answer is, yes it has. It has happened before. Let's go and see that together. Let's go to Mark chapter 5 together to see the last time that Jesus took these same three men all alone by themselves with him.

Mark chapter 5, look in verse 37. Look in verse 37 of Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5 verse 37, and Jesus, he allowed no one to accompany him except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. You see that? There it is, the same three men.

And what did they go do? What did they go do? Well if you remember in this passage they went to the house of the synagogue official whose daughter had just died. And They go into the house and what happens? Jesus takes the little girl's parents and his own companions these three specific disciples and sets everyone else outside And alone They go to meet with this little girl's corpse.

What happens when they come to the little girl? Jesus raises her from the dead. Resurrection happens. Same group of specified men, They're all apart from the rest of the disciples. They witness a resurrection.

And what does Jesus tell them in verse 43? He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this. And then he said that something should be given to her to eat. Don't tell anybody. Fast forward to chapter 9.

Go back to chapter 9. Jesus takes these same men. They see Jesus transfigured. They see Moses and Elijah. Peter starts talking because he can't help it.

A cloud forms. They hear God the Father speaking from the cloud. Jesus then tells them when everything is back to the way it started. What does he tell them in verse 9 of chapter 9? What does he tell them there?

As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man, what? Rose from the dead. Same men, same instruction, both having very much to do with resurrection. What's the transfiguration about? I already told you.

Now hopefully you're starting to see it. The transfiguration is about resurrection, about rising from the dead. And Jesus Christ being transfigured means that the transfiguration is ultimately about His Resurrection and the comfort and hope that we can all experience at being raised in him as he too has been raised In his resurrection and in his transformation is found the resurrection and transformation of all who place their trust in him. In his resurrection and in his transformation is found your resurrection and your transformation beloved. If Jesus is not raised, if Jesus is not transformed, you have no hope outside of the grave.

So you need to see that. Same three men in Mark 5. What does Jesus do in Mark 5? Jesus defeats death and raises up a little child back to life, resurrection. And now here in Mark chapter 9 with these same men, with these same instructions, he's been talking about his upcoming death, he's been talking about Him dying, and then He's been promising, I will rise from the dead, I will not stay dead, I will defeat death, I've come to conquer the grave.

That's chapter eight, verse 31. Jesus says those things, And then he shows them up on a mountain the nature of that conquering you want to know how I will conquer You want to know what will happen when I conquer the grave? He shows them a temporary Preview of the nature of the resurrection and it should excite you. It should excite you. You can understand if you begin to get a glimpse of this text, you can begin to understand why Peter's just blubbering.

The Transfiguration communicates comfort, hope, and peace in the midst of hardship, suffering, and death. Resurrection glory awaits those who listen to Jesus and take up the cross and follow him. So the transfiguration is a preview of resurrection. And Jesus shows these men these things in an undeniable way, not just through what he's done previously in Mark, but also through his use of Old Testament imagery. So we've seen already once in Mark how same men, resurrection, same men, resurrection, the transfiguration is about resurrection.

But in an undeniable way Mark uses Old Testament imagery to convey the glorious hope, the glorious resurrection promised all the way even in the Old Testament. So let's turn there next. How does the transfiguration relate to the Old Testament? Jesus is on a mountain, he's transfigured, and we're going to see in just a moment, it's a terrifying moment, a number of things happen in rapid succession. So we're going to go through what's happening in the transfiguration pretty quickly here.

I'm going to try to connect it to the Old Testament for you to see. Look in verse 2, we read that Jesus took them up on a high mountain. Notice there, it's a high mountain. And then up on that mountain, look in verse 3, Jesus is transfigured before them. That Greek word transfiguration is actually where we get our word metamorphosis in English.

Jesus has changed. His garments are made brighter than any garment that the disciples have ever seen. Look there in the text. The text says, his garments became radiant and exceedingly white as no launderer on earth can whiten them. The idea there is that Jesus is brighter than these men could have possibly imagined.

The brightness could not have come from this world. That's the idea of the text. No earthly cleaner, no launderer present on the world could possibly get closed to look like this. This moment, this appearance of Christ is supernatural. It's a supernatural glory that's radiating with exceeding brightness from Jesus himself.

Up on the mountain, these men, they see glory radiating from the shining clothes, the shining garments of Jesus. And then in Verse 4, we see Moses and Elijah appear. And what's so special about those fellows? Well, likely, likely they represent the law and the prophets. You're supposed to think of the Old Testament when you see those two up on the mountain.

These 39 books of the Old Testament, they all point to Jesus. In fact, Jesus in his spirit through men like Moses and Elijah, oh, there it is, through Moses and Elijah, he wrote those books. But you should also be thinking about how both Moses and Elijah, yes, they're in the Old Testament, but you should also be thinking about how both of these men had a moment or two on mountains themselves. What happened on those mountains with Moses and Elijah? They had visions of God's glory.

Moses, multiple times in the book of Exodus, in Exodus 24, Exodus 31, 33, at one point Moses asks to see God's glory and he does. Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18 on Mount Carmel Defeating the prophets of Baal. He sees the glory of God come down in power These men have had experiences on mountains, have they not? Up on a high mountain, shining garments, radiating glory, Moses and Elijah, who are no strangers to God's glory on mountaintops. And then in verses 5 and 6, Peter talks about tabernacles.

Then in verse 7 a cloud forms, a voice speaks. And then in verse 8, Jesus is alone. Do you see all the Old Testament imagery? Well, these disciples would. These disciples knew Israelite history.

They knew of how Moses had taken up three named companions and several others in Exodus 24. How Moses had brought up, he named three of them, a select group to the mountain to worship God and they were given a vision of his glory. The people of Israel you remember in the book of Exodus had been rescued from bondage. They're being led by Moses out of slavery to Egypt, and they meet with God in the wilderness on the mountain, and they see His glory. What is Jesus telling the disciples?

I've come to die, to suffer and die, for what purpose? To rescue people from bondage? And I'm gonna let you see my glory to prove that it will be accomplished. The people of Israel have been rescued by God. You see a vision of His glory on the mountain.

Think about all the hardship that they were to endure, that was to come, that they had endured, that was to come, much of it self-inflicted. But suffering was to come for the people. But glory was too. And so in Exodus 24, God shows them his glory in the midst of all the suffering that they will have to endure. And the text says that in Exodus 24, they saw God.

They saw God and his glory. That's what the text says. They saw God. They met with God on the mountain. God dwelt among them.

He tabernacled among them. He tabernacled among them. Then Moses went up further when a cloud formed, a cloud formed, and the glory of the Lord settled on the mountain with Moses called Sinai and after six days Compare that to Mark chapter 9 verse 2 after Six days God spoke from the cloud to Moses and then Moses came down and told the people and the people said that they would listen and obey. The people said that they would listen and obey. Does any of that sound familiar to you?

It should. It's so similar to what we see in Mark's Gospel in chapter 9. Well later on in Exodus, in another experience on a mountain with God, chapter 4 of Exodus, Moses comes down from the mountain and his face is shining brightly. His face is radiated, reflecting the glory of God that he had seen. His face was radiant.

And now in Mark chapter 9, we're brought face to face with Jesus. And it's not just His face that's radiant, it's His whole body. His face is not simply reflecting the glory that He saw. No, actually Jesus is the glory. The glory flows from Jesus in our passage this morning.

Jesus is the glory of God. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3. Jesus Christ is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature. And he upholds all things by the word of his power. And when he had made purification for sins, how did he do that?

In his suffering and his death. And then in his resurrection, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. I wonder if you're connecting any of the dots. I'll do my best to connect them for you. Jesus is God.

Jesus is the actual one that Moses spoke to in the wilderness on the mountaintop. The glory of Jesus was reflected on the face of Moses all the way back in Exodus. Jesus is the Word become flesh that you a sinner might behold the glory of God. Jesus is the tabernacle. Jesus is God dwelt among us.

Jesus is the way, the only way to glory. He's the only way to rightness with God. Jesus is the only way to behold the glory of God that sinners cannot behold, but in Christ they may. So you need to hear this, sinner. In your sin, you are separated from God.

In fact, you are at enmity with God. There is a great chasm, a great enmity that stands between you as a sinner, unrighteous, depraved. There's a great chasm that stands between you, a sinner, and the thrice holy God. And into that chasm is everlasting torment and damnation. Into that chasm is the righteous wrath of God against you and your sin, and you will fall into that chasm unless Christ becomes the bridge.

Unless Christ becomes your Savior and Lord. Unless Christ blocks out your iniquity and closes up the great gap that stands against you. So how can Jesus do that? How can Jesus take evil men like you, like me? How can Jesus take evil men and make them right with God?

How can he bridge the great chasm of your disobedience and the perfect righteousness of God? How can Jesus blot out the great record of debt that stands against you, depraved humanity, and the thrice holy God? This is a great, great chasm. How can Jesus take away the white hot wrath of God that is to be poured out on sinners like you and like me? How can He do that?

The answer should be obvious by now. He must come to earth. He must suffer and die in your place. He must first make purification for sins by bearing in His body your sin, bearing your sin and being crucified for it, drinking the whole cup of God's wrath for your sin, for my sin. He must first come and dwell among us, live a perfect life, and be crucified in our place, so that the wrath of God that you deserve might be satisfied in Him.

So that the great gap, that gap called condemnation, that great chasm called sin would be conquered and done away with that you might be reconciled to God forever that's what is necessary for all who repent and believe He did what was necessary for your salvation and the salvation of the world so that all the nations would stream to Him. He did that. It was necessary. You are an accursed sinner. Genesis chapter 3, you find yourself accursed and wretched death is yours condemnation is yours Just think about the beginning of the Bible.

Sin, death, condemnation is yours. Genesis chapter 3, the very very beginning. But also in Genesis chapter 3, the Old Testament, is the promise that the curse will be conquered for all those who call upon the promised one the seed of the woman who would come to bear that curse upon himself and restore all things From the very beginning this was promised. Jesus is the promised one from the Old Testament. Jesus is the promised snake crusher who was the one to come but he would in order to crush the snake have to first be what?

Bruised. He first had to suffer and die in your place to then be raised up as conqueror. Raised up triumphant, proving that he was God, Proving that what he did was enough. Proving that he truly accomplished the salvation for sinners. And he won the world to himself.

That's what the transfiguration is a preview of. You're supposed to think about the Old Testament and the conquering work that God has promised and was promising and doing in his people throughout the Old Testament Pointing forever more and more to Jesus to Jesus to Jesus really if you needed a helpful grid to look through the Bible This is very much an oversimplification, but it is helpful. The Old Testament, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming. The Gospels, Jesus came. And then the rest of the epistles into the end of Revelation.

This is the implication of what he's come and accomplished. These are the implications. The Old Testament promised victory and Jesus is up on a mountain with these disciples who are gloomy, wondering about this victory and he shows them a peek behind the curtain, victory is certain. It's been promised in the garden, I am that snake crusher. I will be bruised, but my head will not be crushed.

Satan's head will be crushed. I am that glory on the mountain that Moses saw that made all people tremble. I am that glory that when you mess with it in evil, evil people die. I am the glory of God and I will never be vanquished. That's what the transfiguration is all about.

The transfiguration validates who Jesus is and what Jesus has come to do. It's really in this transition period. You know, Mark has put into two different sections who is Jesus and what has Jesus come to do. And we're in that transition period. And so this transfiguration is this moment of, as we're transitioning to what Jesus has come to do, He's validating who He is and validating His mission.

So God speaks from the cloud. This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him. And what had Jesus just said to Peter James and John that they should listen to him about what had they just heard from Jesus what's the last thing that Jesus said you should be thinking that if if the command from God in heaven is listen to my son you should be connecting okay what did Jesus just tell them to listen to? Jesus had just said in chapter 8 verse 31, I have come to suffer and die and then be raised that salvation would be accomplished and secured for the people of God.

I have to suffer and die first and then be raised so that the Son of Man will accomplish what Daniel chapter seven said he would. In order to accomplish Daniel chapter seven and be raised up, I must suffer and die first. That's what Jesus says. Then the transfiguration happens. It validates what Jesus has come to do.

Listen to Him, God says. And the Gospel of Luke, chapter 9, It actually gives us a little bit more detail. It tells us that, Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah appeared and they were talking to Jesus about his coming death. So Luke even tells us even more. It's very clear what we should be listening to Jesus about.

We shouldn't be denying that suffering is a legitimate crucial part of the ministry of Christ and yours. So don't be listening to anybody on those television shows that says Jesus doesn't want you to suffer. They haven't read their Bibles. Not toda scriptura. The transfiguration validated what Jesus has come to do.

Even Moses and Elijah agree according to Luke's Gospel. The law and the prophets all agree that the work that the Messiah must do if mankind is to be saved, if the world is to be won, if Satan is to be defeated, if the head of Satan is going to be crushed The Messiah must first be bruised Moses and Elijah the law and the prophets they agree with this so you should too You should listen to Jesus You should not You should not deny suffering and even death. They are crucial to the gospel message itself. You deny substitutionary, atonement. You deny salvation.

Christ had to bear the wrath of God and suffer and die for you, so that you could be forgiven and made right with Him forever. Do not deny suffering. So here in Jesus is the better Moses, here's the better Elijah, here is the one whom all the law and the prophets spoke to because what happens? At the very end Jesus is alone. They're left with who?

Jesus! All this greatness happens And then they're left with Jesus as if to say the law and the prophets, God speaking, they're all testifying, the glories testifying This is the Messiah, he really is who he says he is, you should listen to what he says he's come to do. Listen to Jesus. So, I wonder if you're hearing this. His glory on the mountain is a preview of things to come.

Jesus will be raised. And when he's raised, we know later on in Mark's Gospel that the perishable will have been put off and the imperishable put on. And all who listen to Jesus will share in that resurrection glory and death will be no more for you but only everlasting life I want you to make sure you get this this is really important we should live in light of the transfiguration We should live in light of the transfiguration. We should live in light of the resurrection all the time. That beloved, though you might suffer, though you will experience physical death that the Lord tarries, that the suffering and the first death is a reality in following Jesus, eternal glory awaits you.

Resurrection power, resurrection glory is to be had if you belong to this Christ. You too will take off the perishable and in exchange be given the imperishable. And just think about this, the second death, eternal damnation, eternal condemnation, It will have no hold on you. It will have no power over you. Death will not get to have the final word over you if you are in Christ Jesus.

Oh, how you should leave this morning thinking of your own frailty and the glory that is yours in Christ. Mmm. And I think it's already, has it not already happened to you Christian? And have you not already been crucified spiritually with Christ? Have you not already had the old man killed within and the new man put in His place?

Have you not tasted of resurrection glory in the new birth where your heart, where your soul now yearns for things above? Yearns for the things of God. It delights in the law of God. Delights less and less in sin and more and more in the things of God. No longer do you look at the law of God as a burden, as a, oh, yuck!

Condemning and yet you look at it and you say, life, life, blessing, abundant life. You know, if you're in Christ Jesus, if you've experienced being born again, you're already tasting like the disciples here in the first fruits of the resurrection. I mean, you should be saying Hallelujah if you've been raised in Christ. You should be saying that every day. I woke up this morning, I have affections for Jesus.

That's a taste of what's to come. If that's glorious now, do you... Can you think of what Is the glory to come? Loved ones, there is a great and terrible day coming though when God will judge the living and the dead. And for all those who have spurned His law and His lordship, you will receive the second death as the wages for your iniquity.

And you will spend eternity in the lake of fire where the worm does not die, the fire is not quenched. But you know there is yet today. Amen. God has given you yet today to listen to the voice of Jesus. Listen to the voice of Jesus.

And what does He tell you? He tells you in the beginning of Mark's Gospel, Repent and believe my good news, my gospel. Repent and believe. Turn from your sins. Lay down your rebellion.

Lay down your pride. Turn away from your self-righteousness. Throw off your lies. Throw off your self-exaltation. And run to Jesus Christ the Savior.

Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love and power. Glorious, unfailing, unerring, undefeated power. Even in his death, in that maybe moment of glee, We could debate on what Satan felt. In that moment where it seemed like Christ had been conquered himself. Do you know what happened in the death of Christ?

As the curtain was torn in two, as dead were raised to life. It was not a conquering of the Son of God. It was the Son of God conquering. Jesus, that Jesus stands ready to save you, full of pity, love, and power. The transfiguration should give you a little glimpse and taste of that.

Mark relates this event, this transfiguration, he relates it clearly to the Old Testament. It validates who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, he was promised to do from the beginning in Genesis 3, It's validating all of that. He had to suffer, He had to die to secure our pardon, and the promise was He will be gloriously raised. And church, He was raised, was He not? You can trust Him.

You get to the transfiguration and if you're there you go, oh That's a really good taste Whoa, I mean there's some glory there voice from heaven Glory being radiating from Jesus. This is my son. This is God himself but we have the prophetic word more sure we have the end of Mark's gospel we see that he in fact was raised can you not trust him he has defeated sin and death Would you not this morning lay down your rebellion and trust in Jesus Christ? Children, did you see this man get baptized this morning? Did you see him go under and come back up?

Well he does that pretty much hopefully every day so he doesn't stink. But there was a moment not long ago where Gatlin, that happened inside of him in ways that were miraculous. Gatlin used to love sin. Gatlin used to love to do anything beyond, except for do the things that God asked him to do. And he came to a moment where he knew he was a sinner in desperate need of a savior.

And he said, Jesus, I need you. I need you. I need your power because I have got none to kill this in my life. And Jesus did. And he took Gatlin.

He took Gatlin and inside Gatlin's heart the old Gatlin and the new Gatlin come alive forever nobody's taking that away from Gatlin And nobody has to take that away from you. Nobody. I want to encourage you little children and old adults. You too can be baptized. Turn from your sin this morning.

Trust Christ. You come talk to your child. You come talk to your father and your mother and say, Daddy, I want to follow Jesus in baptism. I want to join this church. And then you leave it up to them to come talk to the elders.

That would be sweet. Crossroad Church, you need to Listen to Jesus. That's the only command in this entire section of Scripture. If you were to look at all these verses, verses 2 through 13, there's literally one imperative in the Greek. And it's the words, listen to Him.

All the law, the prophets, they all speak. Every book speaks of this Jesus. So I want to encourage you, listen to him publicly. Listen to him as a family. Glory is here in seeing Jesus.

Glory is in, is at work in you, in Christ, who's your Savior. And glory is coming still. That's all a really big deal. Glory is a big deal. Your whole life should revolve around listening to Jesus in these 66 books.

Is it? Is it? Let's complete our time together. We're almost finished. By examining one final element.

We've seen how the transfiguration relates to Mark's Gospel. The Old Testament. Lastly, we want to consider the implication that it raises for discipleship. Discipleship. That might be a little bit misleading when I wrote the two men.

I want to key in on Moses and Elijah one more time. Really I'm talking here about the baptism of Christ in just a moment. Think about Moses and Elijah. We've seen Old Testament imagery. Clearly Jesus is God.

His mission has been foretold since the beginning in Genesis 3. Who He is, what He's come to do, all of that validated by the transfiguration. But what about discipleship? Well again, we've gone through this. I just want to make sure you remember.

Suffering and death are coming. Jesus has said that, if you're going to be my disciple, suffering and death are coming for you. That's hard to hear. And then the transfiguration happens. Why does the transfiguration happen after that?

Because After the transfiguration, what do you read? You read about more suffering. Look at John the Baptist, look at Elijah. He suffered, the son of man's gonna suffer. In between the suffering, the transfiguration happens.

Why? And we've answered that. I don't wanna answer it from another angle. When you read in our text this morning that a voice came from the cloud on the mountain and it said, this is my beloved son, did that remind you of another thing in Mark's gospel? It should very much remind you of Mark's Gospel.

There's no mistake that we divided Mark's Gospel into two sections, chapters one through eight, and really chapters nine through the end. At the beginning is the baptism of Christ, and right there in the period of it changing from part one to part two, what's the word? Transition. Words are hard. Transition.

In the transition period, you've got Mark one at the very beginning, the baptism of Jesus, and you've got the transfiguration as it transitions. That's intentional. That's very intentional. So we're going to connect these two together as we should. Let's go there.

If you want to, that'd be great. Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. We're not going to read much of this, but you can go over this tonight if you'd like. Mark chapter 1 is the baptism of Jesus.

Look at verse 11 of chapter 1. Jesus is baptized, comes out of the water, and verse 11, a voice came out of the heavens, you are my beloved son, and you I am well pleased. Okay? You guys got that? What happens immediately after Jesus is baptized and He hears that.

This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. What does He do? Immediately, He goes into the wilderness. And what happens in the wilderness? He's tempted by Satan, and what does Jesus do?

He conquers. Jesus is victorious in the wilderness. Come back to Mark chapter 9. This is my beloved son. And do you want to know what the rest of Mark is about?

He sets his face towards Jerusalem. He sets his face to the place where he will suffer and die so that he can conquer. The baptism of Jesus, this is my son, he goes out, Satan tempts him, he conquers. The transfiguration, He goes out, He conquers. It's supposed to give you great hope.

Great comfort in the midst of following Jesus. I want you to think about Isaiah. You've got, oh sorry, in Mark chapter 1, you've got Isaiah the prophet there in Mark chapter 1, and then you also have a quote from Malachi. How many prophets do you have at the beginning of Mark chapter 1? Two.

Isaiah and Malachi are quoted. How many prophets do you have at the mountain? Two, Moses and Elijah. You're supposed to connect these two things. Isaiah and Malachi are prophesying about John the Baptist coming, Elijah coming.

Elijah will come. When he comes, then Christ will come. The forerunner will come, Elijah will come, and then Christ will come. And sure enough, here's John the Baptist, here's Christ. Oh, those things happened.

Those things, God kept His promises. The disciples up on the mountain, two prophets, I'm going to suffer, but then I'm going to be raised. It happened in the beginning. Will it not happen here? What we can read at the end of Mark it does.

There is great confidence, great hope that the transfiguration should bring you as you think about the mission of Christ. Jesus conquers. So, at the end of our passage in Mark chapter 9, we'll get to the end now. The disciples are walking down the mountain, they're wrestling with what Jesus means when He says, you know, I'm going to rise from the dead. They're going to get it later, won't they?

Takes a while. But they begin to discuss Elijah. Don't the scribes say that Elijah must first come they're referring to the prophecies in Malachi What does Jesus tell them? He says, well number one you actually have you haven't been understanding those prophecies rightly because Elijah did come. And in the other Gospels, in Matthew's gospel, it tells us that the disciples then understood that he was referring to John the Baptist as the one who came in the spirit of Elijah.

Jesus says to them in verse 12, yes, Elijah does first come and restore all things. And then in verse 13, Elijah has indeed come and they did to him whatever they wished just as it is written of him." What's he saying? That prophecy has actually been fulfilled already. John the Baptist is the promised Elijah. He came in the spirit of Elijah.

And what happened to him? He was killed as a forerunner to Christ. And if they killed the forerunner, will they not also kill the Messiah? Will not also the Messiah suffer many things and be treated with contempt? That's the kind of Messiah, that's the kind of Master that these disciples are following.

And that's who you are following, Christian, if you belong to Jesus. John the Baptist killed for the sake of Christ. Christ Himself killed for your salvation. Can you expect anything less? No doubt the disciples must be feeling bad, gloomy as we spoke of earlier at the beginning of the sermon.

Do I got to keep reading this book? It just seems so gloomy. It's hard Jesus to hear these things. It just seems so hard. It's so sad, depressing.

And it's all in the beginning. We've got eight chapters to go. Suffering. Book ends this moment of the transfiguration where Jesus leans in, where God pulls back the curtain a little and says, take a look at my son. Take a look at his glory.

Take a look at the glory that awaits you if you but listen to Him. Take a look at the one who is the promised victory all the way from the beginning of the Bible. Take a look at the one who's promised victory. Take a look at the one who will vanquish all of your foes. Take a look at the one who's never been defeated, who will crush the dragon.

He will defeat sin. He will crush the dragon's head. Condemnation will be conquered. And even death itself will one day be put away. And we who have the prophetic word made more sure, we get to the end of Mark's gospel.

He rises from the dead. We get to the end of Mark's gospel. He rises from the dead we get to the end of Revelation and we see that in fact it is the lamb who has overcome he is raised up He's the promised one to come again. He will come again his people his church militant and triumphant they will be triumphant Christ wins And all those who place their hope and trust in Him will share in His glory. That is good news if you are suffering this morning.

It is good news if you are in the workplace and you wonder about suffering for the sake of Jesus. Oh, keep reading. Keep reading. The end is worth it and in fact it will make the beginning all that much sweeter. In the transfiguration God says take a peek, press on, Glory is coming for all those who listen to Jesus and obey him.

I want to finish our time this morning with a quote from 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery.

We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will all be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place. Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Where death is your victory, where death is your sting, the sting of death is sin, And the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because you know that your labor your work in him is not in vain and the transfiguration is a preview of that. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven out of a great abundance of words we pray that this your word would remain I pray that the people of Crossroad would come away from this time together with hearts full of gladness in Christ And that those among us that do not know the Lord Jesus Christ would turn from their sins and place their hope in the one Who takes sinners and sets them free? Please do this for your glory sake and the good of your church in Jesus name In Jesus name, amen.