A Taste of Future Glory

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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Luke, chapter 9, verses 28 through 36. Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him

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Peter and John and James, and they went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered.

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His clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

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Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him, and as the men were parting from him,

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Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah, not knowing what he said.

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As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud, and a voice came out of the cloud saying,

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This is my son, my chosen one. Listen to him. And when the voice had spoken,

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Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, you'll notice in our gospel text, our gospel text begins with these words.

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Now about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

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Of course, that begs the question, which sayings? After which sayings? And I think let's back up just a little bit to verse 23, and let's pick up that context, because I think the context is vital.

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So Luke chapter 9, verse 23, And he, Jesus, said to all,

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If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

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Yeah, Christianity's not for the faint of heart. If you're looking to have your best life now,

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I think you're missing the whole point. Jesus is all about denying yourself, taking up crosses.

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Crosses kill people, by the way, so keep that in mind. Whoever would save his life is going to lose it.

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Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses and forfeits himself?

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Well, let's answer the question. It doesn't really profit him anything, does it? You could be the wealthiest billionaire.

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You could be the most powerful politician who builds an empire and conquers and seizes the whole world.

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And at the end of the day, you're still going to stand before Christ. None of this you get to keep anyway. We're passing through, right?

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So whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be shamed.

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And he comes in his glory, in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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Real quick, I don't know if you've had any conversations with atheists. Atheists like to talk to me, apparently. I have conversations from time to time with them, and usually you'll get a conversation like this.

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The Bible can't be true, because it says right here that they will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.

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So that means that the disciples were expecting Jesus to return in their lifetimes.

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And since Jesus didn't return while they were all still alive, well then Jesus lied to him, and he's not really

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God. And you just say, well, let's take a look at the next verse. You see, what's going on here is not some promise that Jesus is going to return in the lifetime of the apostles.

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If you run across anybody who thinks this way, just have them read the next verse. Because this is the context.

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Not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Well, they see the kingdom of God right here, next verse, when they go up to the mount.

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And Jesus is transfigured before them. That's what that's referring to. So now we get into our text proper.

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So about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on a mountain to pray.

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And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him,

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Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure. Let's unpack a little bit of this.

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Now, the fact that we have eight days, not a coincidence, right?

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In scripture, oftentimes numbers have meanings. Now, people like to assign crazy meanings to things.

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But let's take a look at kind of a sober meaning of what's going on here. We talk about eight days.

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This is super significant. Eight days. How many days did it take for God to speak the universe into existence?

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Six. Six days. On the seventh day, he did what? He rested. Right. So here you have a full week.

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Now, it's significant to note that Jesus is crucified on a

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Friday and he has a Sabbath rest the seventh day in the tomb on a

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Saturday. Right. And Jesus is raised again from the grave on the eighth day, the beginning of a new week, the beginning of a new creation.

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And so sometimes in scripture, when you see eight days, it's signaling something.

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Something important is happening and it's relating to the new creation. And you get a glimpse of what's coming.

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And also, you'll notice that they went up on a mountain to pray. Big things have happened on mountains in scripture.

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You think of Moses climbing the mountain. It's Mount Sinai and he received from the

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Lord the Ten Commandments. Jesus is going up the mountain. You think of Abraham climbing Mount Moriah to sacrifice

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Isaac. And the Lord intervenes and provides the ram for the sacrifice. Important things happen on mountains.

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Something important is taking place here. And so, pay attention. So, as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered.

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His clothing became dazzling white. Behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his.

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Now, the ESV there says departure. And just about every translation is going to say something close to that.

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But if you read Greek, you read through this and you go, Whoa! That word's important.

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The reason I say that is because stuck in the middle of this Greek manuscript is a Hebrew word.

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Here's the word. Are you ready? They didn't speak about his departure. They spoke about his exodus.

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His exodus. That is significant. Because here in the middle of this

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Greek manuscript is a Hebrew borrowed word. That has major significance.

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We're talking now about knowing what's going on in the exodus itself. The exodus points to what

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Jesus was doing. And Jesus is about to do his exodus for you. In other words, pay attention.

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Jesus, the Passover lamb, is to go to Jerusalem and be slain. So that the destroyer would pass over you.

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You who are covered in his blood. He's going to Jerusalem to do his exodus.

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So there's Moses and Elijah talking with him. And Moses and Elijah, in this sense, you can think of it this way. All of the

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Old Testament is represented by Moses and the prophets. It's the prophets who are the ones who put the histories together.

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And it's the prophets who are the ones who receive the direct revelation for all the prophecies that we have in the

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Old Testament. So Moses and the prophets, perfect representatives of all of the Old Testament.

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And now they've done their duty. Moses pointing us to Christ. The prophets all pointing us to Christ.

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Represented by Moses and the prophet and Elijah himself. And now they've done their duty.

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They're going to talk to Jesus about his exodus. He's heading to Jerusalem to die and bleed the sins of the world.

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And then Peter chimes in. Poor Peter. He's the only seminary student that I have ever witnessed.

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Who failed every single test in seminary. And became the greatest. It's amazing.

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And here Peter just botches it again. So Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep.

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Oh, what is it with these guys? Right? You think of Jesus on the night he's betrayed.

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What were they doing then? Sleeping. What is with you guys? You are not setting a good moral example for us to follow here.

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So they're up there. One of the most significant events in all of recorded spiritual history is taking place.

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I know charismatics who would sell their mothers into slavery to have seen the glory of Jesus. Right? And they're sleeping?

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Is this boring you? What's wrong with these people? Right? So he finally wakes up.

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And decides he's got to do something. Right? So he saw Jesus' glory and the two men who stood with him.

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And as these men were parting from him. Peter says to Jesus. Hey, Master.

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It's good that we're here. I have an idea. Let's make three tents. One for you.

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One for Moses. One for Elijah. And the text says not knowing what he said.

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It's almost as if he's completely out of his mind. And there's a reason for this. Let's take a look back at our epistle text.

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Hebrews chapter 3. Let me re -read it. Therefore, holy brothers. Ah, I've got to pause there for a second.

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Don't you love it how in the epistles it treats Christians as if they're Christians? Think about it.

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Okay. Therefore, holy brothers. You are brothers and sisters in Christ. You are holy.

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It doesn't say you who are striving to become holy. No, no, no, no. It says you who are holy. You who share in a heavenly calling.

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That's us. We share in this heavenly calling. Consider Jesus. Ah, yes. The apostle. The high priest of our confession.

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He was faithful to him who appointed him. Just as Moses also was faithful in all of God's house.

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So Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

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Jesus is not an equal with Moses and Elijah. And this is what this text says.

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More. Just as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone.

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But the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all of God's house. As a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.

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But Jesus. He's faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house.

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If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. So the idea here now going back to the

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Mount of Transfiguration. Peter once again speaking out of turn. That lousy example for us of what it looks like to be a

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Christian. He mistakenly thinks he can somehow maybe capture the moment.

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Make it last a little bit longer. Why don't you guys all hang out here. We'll set up three tents. One for each of you.

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And by saying this. He's kind of putting them all on the same level. Wow. Jesus is just as important as Elijah.

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Just as important as Moses. And the Father from heaven is having none of that. And sets

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Peter straight. Right. So here's what happens. So as he was saying these things.

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A cloud came. And overshadowed them. Kind of like a blizzard. And they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

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And a voice came out of the cloud saying. This is my son. My chosen one.

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Listen to him. And when the voice had spoken. Jesus was found alone.

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Moses and Elijah. They depart. They've done their job. All of them.

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Moses and Elijah. All the prophets of the Old Testament. They were pointing us to the one who is now here on the scene.

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And he is not hiding his glory. He's letting it shine like you wouldn't believe.

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Now keep this in mind. Did all of Jesus' disciples witness this? No. This is an extraordinary.

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And we'll say unique blessing. That they have. Barnabas wasn't there.

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Thaddeus wasn't there. Bartholomew wasn't there. Matthew wasn't there. Right. The majority of the disciples didn't witness this.

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And so the idea is this. If you think for a second. That somehow the Christian life is all about experiencing the glory of Christ.

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Here and now. You're kind of missing the point. Because only some of them.

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Didn't have to die to see this. The rest, they did die before they saw this.

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This is a unique thing. And so the idea then is this. Is that Jesus is doing this as a sign to manifest who he truly really is.

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He really is none other than God in human flesh. And if you look at the context. Back in chapter 9 of Luke.

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Well, this takes place right after Peter's great confession. That he's the Messiah. That he's the

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Christ. The son of the living God. Takes place after that. He lets them all. So he's letting them all know. Yep.

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This is for sure boys. This is what's coming. By the way. This is what is coming.

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There is a day coming. When this Jesus who was shining with all of his glory.

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When we will see him in this state as well. Not here. Not now.

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Now we carry our cross. We deny ourselves. We follow

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Jesus to his death. To our deaths. Then we will see his glory.

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Then we will see him face to face. And so the idea here is. Is that we learn from this text.

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That Jesus really is our Passover lamb. We also learn from this text. That he is also the pillar of fire.

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That was shining there. Leading the children of Israel in the wilderness. This is. You know Jesus is like a literal pillar of fire now.

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But. All of this gives way to the here and now. Because Jesus at this point has really come not to shine his glory.

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And freak us all out. Instead he's come to humbly. Go to the cross. And accomplish his exodus.

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And bleed and die for our sins. The same Jesus who was shining on the mountain here. In all of his glory.

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Is the same Jesus. Who in darkness. Was bleeding and dying for your sins and mine.

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The same Jesus who in darkness. Cried out to the father my God my God why.

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Have you forsaken me. We call that a victory lap.

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And then he sees dad runs the other way. That's called original sin. Yeah.

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And that's the reason why we come to church. So the same

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Jesus who's shining. Suffers and bleeds and dies for our sins. And the words the father now come to us today.

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These words that say. This is my son. My chosen one. Listen to him.

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What does it mean for us to listen to Jesus. What does it mean. To listen to Jesus is to believe him.

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To believe that he came to seek and save the lost. That's you and me. It's to believe that he comes to us this morning.

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And he does. He comes to us hidden. Not in glory. He comes to us this morning hidden.

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Under the bread and the wine. As we take the Lord's Supper. And we hear again these comforting words.

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Take eat. This is my body broken for you. Take drink. This is my blood shed for you.

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For the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus tells us to believe. That in the waters of our baptism his blood has been mixed in it.

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And we have been washed. And our sins though they be as scarlet have been made white as snow.

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White as his glorious radiance. Here on the Mount of Transfiguration.

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Jesus says to us. The sins you forgive they are forgiven. The sins you retain they are withheld.

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And so this morning you heard in the words of the absolution. That you are forgiven. Listen to him.

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He speaks the truth. You are forgiven. And so this day as we remember the

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Mount of Transfiguration. Remember to listen to Jesus and to believe. He comes to us humbly now.

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But he will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. And we will see that glory. And the greatest thing is because we are in him.

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Because we are forgiven. Because he has given us the gift of faith in him. To believe these amazing promises.

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These unbelievable promises. Dare you believe that you can be saved? Yes, even you, even

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I, we can be saved. Because of what Christ has done for us. So believe this.

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And know that what it is that Peter, James, and John experienced. That you too also will experience.

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You will see Jesus. You will see him in his glory. And you will not be afraid. And you will not say stupid things like Peter.

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Instead, you will say glory to God in the highest. Glory. What mercy that we have in Jesus.

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What a blessed and glorious day that will be. And we all get a little bit of a peek of it. Here and now.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. And again that address is...

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