Sunday Message: Only Jesus!

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. You're listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, and my objective is to deliver, hopefully, compelling practical insights in faith, culture, and current events from a biblical perspective. To find out more about our ministry, just go to our website, harvest.org.

So thanks for joining me for this podcast. Mark chapter nine. Again, the title is Only Jesus. Let me start with a question. Have you ever said the wrong thing at the wrong time? I have to admit I've had my share of bloopers over the years as a preacher. You know, I've almost been preaching for 50 years now, and over the years I've made mistakes as I've been speaking. For instance, one year I was speaking on Peter and Jesus, and the conversation they were having, and what I meant to say was, Jesus said to Peter, Peter, do you love me? And instead, inexplicably I might add, I said, Jesus speaking, peepers, do you love me? Peepers? Where did that come from?

But it even gets worse. One time I was giving an evangelistic message, and at the end I said to the people, let's pee. I meant to say, let's pray. Thankfully, no one took me up on it, and I prayed very quickly. I guess my most well-known blooper, and everyone claims to have been there when I did it. I don't think they were all there, but it was one of the first times I preached. I was a young man, probably around 18 years old. I was speaking on Ephesians 6, and I was talking about spiritual warfare, and the fiery darts of the wicked one.

You can probably figure out what happened. Instead of saying, fiery darts of the wicked one, that's King James, I instead said, watch out for the diary farts of the wicked one. Yeah, that was hard to recover from, and that's all anyone remembered from that message. Speaking of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, years ago I was back in North Carolina, and I've been a part of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Board for over 25 years now. This is back when Billy was still with us, before he went to be with the Lord. After the meeting, my friend Dennis Eguigini would often call me on the phone and ask me, how did it go? He did a perfect Billy Graham imitation. That night, it was pretty late, and I got a call on my phone, and I pick it up, and Dennis says, hello, this is Billy Graham.

How are you? Well, I'm good, Billy, and I know it's Dennis, so I'm kind of flipping the channels on the TV, and then Dennis in Billy's voice says, I was thinking a great deal about what you said to me earlier tonight, and I would like you to help me with my messages. And I'm thinking, yeah, yeah, and I'm literally saying, yeah, mm-hmm, whatever, whatever. Then it dawns on me, I did say to Billy that night earlier, hey, I could help you out with your messages if you like, and he's the only one who would have known that. Dennis didn't know that, which means I was blowing off Billy Graham, so that was definitely saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

We've all done it in one way, shape, or form. Well, here's the story now before us in Mark chapter nine, when Peter definitely said the wrong thing at the wrong time. This happened when Jesus was transfigured, where he shined like the sun with Moses on one side and Elijah on the other. This happened on the mountaintop, and then they had to descend down to a valley for a rude awakening, and I think if we would have our way as Christians, we would always live on the mountaintop. We would always be in a state of perpetual blessing and good times and perfect health and no conflict, but those times on the mountaintops prepare us for what is awaiting in the valley.

And when I say the valley, I'm talking about the hardships of life, the reality of life, and we're gonna talk about that now in this text. Let's look at Mark chapter nine. I'm reading from the New Living Translation, and here's what we see. Jesus went on to say, I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the kingdom of God arrive in great power. Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them to a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus was transformed. His clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could make them, and then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, it's good that we are here, let's make three shelters as memorials, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.

Don't miss this verse. He said this because he really didn't know what else to say, for they were all terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, this is my dearly beloved son, listen to him. Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.

You might underline those two words, only Jesus. And they went back down the mountain, and he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead, so they kept it to themselves. But they often asked each other what it meant when he said, rising from the dead. This transfiguration, this moment where Jesus shined like the sun, is at a significant point in his earthly ministry.

It's at the halfway point of a very difficult journey. So Jesus was looking back to the cradle, and he's looking forward to the cross. And he's giving to Peter, James, and John a glimpse of glory, or a taste of heaven. We could call it a preview of coming attractions.

Look at what he says, verse one. I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the kingdom of God arriving in great power. So the transfiguration was a sneak peek of what is to come for all of humanity when Christ returns one day as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It's sort of like what we used to see when we went to movies. Remember when we actually went to theaters? And they would play all those trailers for all the upcoming films. And a lot of times the best bits were in the trailer. Sometimes the trailer was better than the film itself.

Now there are some trailers that I've seen that I knew were not only bad trailers, but the film itself was bad. I don't want to name names, but Cats? Anyway, we'll move on. And it's interesting, it's a film about cats, because you know I don't love cats all that much. I don't hate them. I just think dogs are better. We all know that's true, don't we?

Anyway, moving on. So here is Jesus being transfigured before them, and Moses and Elijah are right next to him. Now this is the amazing thing. He's shining so brightly. Have you ever looked directly at the sun?

I highly recommend you do not do that. But who would not be amazed at such a display of glory? And if that wasn't enough to see Jesus shining like that, to have Moses and Elijah show up.

But listen to this. We think the miracle is Jesus shined like the sun. That's not the miracle.

The miracle is Jesus did not shine like the sun all the time. Remember, he was God. God walking among us. And when he walked among us he did not void his deity, but he did veil it. As the Christmas song says, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail incarnate deity. Jesus never ceased to be God.

He always was God. But he sort of restrained that glory from showing. I mean, it would have been kind of hard to hang out with him if he was shining like the sun all of the time. Because it's hard to hide light, isn't it?

Going back to movie theaters, if someone pulls out a cell phone and they're checking their messages or looking at their social media feed when the movie's playing, your eyes are immediately drawn from the screen to the phone because you're drawn to light. Years ago, my son Jonathan, who was around nine years old, had a little video game I gave him. It was a Nintendo 64.

Remember those? And so he played it a lot. In fact, he wouldn't stop playing it. So I put a little TV in his room with this game system and I said, now Jonathan, you need to shut it off.

It's time to go to bed. And he said, okay. And then a little time passed, about an hour actually passed, and I walked by his room and there's like a blue light coming out from beneath the door. I opened the door and there's Jonathan playing his little game. I said, Jonathan, I told you to stop playing that game. And he said, Dad, I can't help myself. I think I'm de-dicted. Instead of addicted, he said he was de-dicted. I thought that was so funny.

There was no punishment. I said, okay, just turn it off. So now, fast forward many years. Jonathan has his own daughter, Allie. He got her an upgraded version, a modern version of a Nintendo system.

But this one was a handheld version. So she didn't need a TV. He told her to put it away. And then he walked by her room. He saw something light coming out. He opens the door and she's under a blanket.

You can see her silhouette under the blanket playing the game. See, funny how these things repeat themselves, right? It's hard to hide light. And Jesus is just shining like the sun. He could have done that at will when they came to arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He could have just turned on the light and their faces would have melted like that scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Remember that scene? But no, he didn't do that. He veiled that light from showing. So the miracle is not that he shined like the sun.

The miracle is that he didn't shine like the sun all the time. And who is with him? It's Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Now, Moses and Elijah occupy unique positions in the Old Testament. The Bible speaks of the law and the prophets. You couldn't find a better representative of the law than Moses, the great lawgiver who received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. And you couldn't find a better representative of the prophets than Elijah, the miracle working prophet who called fire down from heaven and stopped it from raining. And they're having a discussion.

Now, here's an interesting thing. How did Peter, James, and John know it was Moses and Elijah? Was Moses standing there with Ten Commandments and was Elijah calling fire down? I don't think so.

Did they have little name tags like you get when you go to an event and you have to write your name? Hi, my name is Moses. No, I don't think so. But somehow, Peter, James, and John were able to recognize that that was Moses and Elijah on each side of Jesus, which shows that in glory we're going to recognize each other. Sometimes people ask the question, when we get to heaven, will we know one another? And my response is, do you think you'll be more stupid in heaven than you are on earth? You'll know more in heaven, not less. And so the answer is, yes, you will know one another in heaven. And here's also a reminder that the Bible teaches there will be a bodily resurrection.

What does that mean? It means that our body, our personality, everything that we are will live again. That means that you will see your loved ones who have died in faith and have gone into heaven before you again. But they'll be in a perfect state and you'll pick up where you last left off. When Jesus was crucified and then he rose again from the dead, he greeted the disciples with the words, peace be with you. Almost like, hey guys, how's it going?

Whoa, you're Jesus risen. But he sort of picked up where he last left off. And that's how it will be when you see your loved ones again because they're not only a part of your past, they're also a part of your future. What an amazing sight this must have been. Consider this fact. Moses at this moment had been dead for around 1400 years and Elijah had been gone for around 900 years. But here they are together and they're having a discussion. What were they talking about? Luke's gospel fills in the detail here about their conversation. Luke chapter 9 verse 31 says, they were speaking about his exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem.

I'm sure Moses had quite a few things to say about an exodus because when we go to the book of Exodus, which means departure, it's a story of how God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness, through the parted Red Sea and into the promised land. And you remember as a part of that story, God's judgment came upon the firstborn of Egypt and the Lord told Moses to instruct the Jewish people to take a lamb, slay the lamb and apply the blood on the top and on the sides of their doorposts. And God's judgment would pass over and that is still celebrated today as the Passover feast. And so this is all going to be fulfilled now because everything that Passover lamb was pointing to is fulfilled in Christ. Christ was going to go die for the sin of the world.

He would fulfill the fact that he would be the lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world and his blood would be shed for the sin of all of humanity. Remember, he brought this topic up earlier at a place called Caesarea Philippi and Peter thought he had lost his mind. And Peter began to rebuke Jesus when he talked about his impending death saying, that's crazy, you can't do that but here's someone now that will listen to Jesus and understand it. Moses understood as did Elijah as they spoke of these incredible things that were about to happen. For this is the reason Jesus came.

He was born in a manger and we love to celebrate that, the beautiful little baby there. But don't forget, he came with a purpose and that purpose was to go to the cross and die for the sin of all of the world. So this is an amazing moment.

You don't want to miss this. Jesus shining like the sun, Moses and Elijah on each side talking about his crucifixion and what did the disciples do? What did Peter, James, and John do? Well, they basically fell asleep. Again, Luke fills in the detail here. Luke 9 32 says, Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep and when they were fully awake they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. By the way, that's not the only inappropriate time that Peter, James, and John fell asleep.

They also fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane. This is that moment that Jesus went into the garden and prayed and according to Dr. Luke, sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. And some doctors believe that was a first century description of what we now call hematridrosis. And that's a condition that when you're under intense pressure, you perspire blood.

Not pure blood, but your blood and your perspiration are mixed together. So maybe that's what Dr. Luke was talking about. But Jesus had a request for Peter, James, and John, which was basically, stay with me. Just be with me. You know, sometimes when a person is suffering, they don't need a sermon. They just need a friend. And that's all the Lord asked for.

Just be with me and yeah, we're with you, Lord. And then he said to them, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he comes back to them after this anguish, after this suffering, after this prayer to the Father, and they fell asleep. You know, sometimes we fall asleep as well. Heard about a burglar who was robbing a house, and he heard a cop car go by. So he took cover on the floor, and then he fell asleep.

And the homeowner got up that morning and saw this burglar asleep on his floor and called the cops. And they came and woke the guy up and said, buddy, this is your wake-up call. And I wonder if sometimes in the church we need a wake-up call. I wonder if some of you watching me right now need a wake-up call spiritually because you're spiritually asleep. That is why in Romans 12, excuse me, Romans 13, the apostle Paul says, it's high time to awake out of our sleep because the night is far spent and the day is at hand. Let's be Christ's men from head to foot and give no chance for the flesh to have its fling. Wake up, it's a wake-up call where they wake up and there they see Moses and Elijah and, of course, Jesus. And now Peter says the wrong thing at the wrong time. Verse six, it's good we are here.

And I love this detail that's added. He said this because he really didn't know what else to say. When you don't know what to say, don't say anything. This is an old proverb, not a biblical one, but it has some truth, which goes as follows. Better to be silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and dispel all doubt. It's good we are here, says Peter.

Let's memorialize this place and build three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Have you ever said something you wish you could take back? For instance, if you're driving down the road and you break the speed limit and you're pulled over by a police officer. In California, they would be the CHP, California Highway Patrol, but wherever you are, you're pulled over by a cop. Never say the following things to a police officer who has pulled you over.

Number one, man, you must have been going 120 miles an hour to keep up with me. Or don't say this, sorry officer, I didn't realize my radar detector was not plugged in. Don't say that. How about this one? To the officer, wait, are you one of the guys from the Village People? No, don't say that ever.

Okay, how about this one? Oh, I saw your lights were on and I just thought you were on your way to get a donut. Don't say that to a cop. By the way, I found that on a website posted by Cops for Cops, so I hope I didn't offend any police officers right now. Recently, I actually was pulled over by an officer when I was on the island of Maui. We have a church there called Harvest Kumalani, and the speed limits are very slow in Maui. They're like 12 miles per hour, or it seems that way, honestly. So I'm driving, I didn't think I was speeding at all, and this cop pulls me over. Ironically, after the guy who's a local there said, slow down, there's cops here sometimes that find people for speeding.

I slowed down, then I sped up slightly, so I wasn't going 12 miles per hour, I was going 13 and a half miles per hour. He pulls me over, the lights are flashing, he comes up, and I said, hi, officer, was I speeding? Yes, you were, you were speeding, can I have your driver's license, and so forth. So I give it to him, and he came back, and I said, well, officer, I'm from California, I didn't know. He goes, yeah, a lot of people from California drive faster than the speed limit. I said, I understand you're just doing your job, I'm sorry, and I didn't try to get out of it. And he goes, well, I'm just gonna give you a warning today.

I said, yes, thank you, Lord. So, I don't know, you know when you're with a cop, just tell them the truth. They're so tired of people lying.

Just say, yeah, well, sorry, and you're just doing your job. That's all they're trying to do. But Peter says, it's good we are here.

That's the operative word, here. Hey, Lord, this is blessing central. We love hanging out with you and Moses and Elijah, basking in your glory. Let's forget all this crazy talk about going to Jerusalem and dying.

Let's stay here. And now Peter gets a rebuke, not from Jesus, but from the Father in heaven. Look at verse seven.

Then a cloud overshouted them, and a voice from the cloud said, this is my dearly loved son, listen to him. Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them. The Father steps into the conversation and effectively says, Peter, if my son says he's gonna go to Jerusalem to suffer and die, then that's what's gonna happen, and you need to believe him. And if he tells you to take up your cross and follow him, you need to do it. Now Moses and Elijah are gone, and there's just Jesus. And that's all we need, only Jesus. It's not Jesus and the law and the prophets.

You see, animal sacrifices are no longer needed. We don't need a high priest to step in and represent us to God any longer. Jesus is our high priest. Jesus is the lamb of God, and because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, you and I have opened access to the Father 24-7. You can approach him through Christ.

It's an amazing thing. It's Jesus only who's gonna save you. Not Jesus plus church tradition or Jesus plus moral living. Not that you should have immoral living, but my point is, Jesus is the one who saves you.

He does the work, and then there's a way of honoring him and thanking him. We want to respond by living a godly life, but it's only Jesus. Jesus only, because sometimes, frankly, friends will disappoint you.

Sometimes even family will disappoint you. But the Bible says in Proverbs 18-24, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and that friend is Jesus. Listen, friends come and go, but Jesus comes and stays.

If you've asked him into your life, he's not gonna leave you, and he's not gonna forsake you. You have his word on that, because only Jesus can heal a broken heart. Only Jesus can give you the strength to go on when it's getting hard.

As David wrote in Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. That's how we get through the valleys of life. That's how we get through the storms of life.

That's how we get through the hardships of life. We realize we're not alone, that God is walking with us through it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego discovered that as they walked through their fiery furnace, and there was a fourth person with them, that the king said, look like the son of God. I believe Jesus was walking with those three young teenage Hebrew boys. And when it's all said and done, it's only Jesus. When you're on your deathbed, it's only Jesus who will save you, and it's only Jesus that you will stand before.

So now they're descending from this mountaintop, this place of mega blessings, to face a crisis, to face a conflict in the valley, if you will. And they're gonna realize that not only Jesus can save them, but only Jesus can overcome the devil. Go back to Mark chapter nine, and I'm gonna read verses 20 to 24. So there was a father who had a demon-possessed boy. He brought his boy to the disciples, asking for some help, but they were not able to help this man or this boy.

So our story picks up in Mark chapter nine, verse 20. They brought the boy to Jesus. The demon saw Jesus, and it once held the boy in his power, and the boy fell to the ground with spit running from his mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father, how long has he been like this? The father said, well, from the time he was a child. Many times it throws him into the fire and into the water to kill him.

If you can do anything to help us, take pity on us. And Jesus said, why do you ask me that? The one who has faith can do all things. That once the father cried out and said with tears in his eyes, Lord, I have faith, help my unbelief.

Powerful story. Now we come from the mountaintop to the valley, and crisis hits. Often after the mountaintop, there is the valley. Going back to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, when did that happen? That happened after the father spoke another time.

Remember Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by his cousin John the baptizer. And the father said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, and the Spirit of God came upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and we mean immediately he went into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So after the dove came the devil. A lot of times after the blessing comes the challenge. After the blessing comes the temptation.

So we should not be surprised when those things happen. Notice that as Jesus approaches this demon-possessed boy, the devil effectively tightens his grip. Verse 20 says the demon saw Jesus and at once held the boy in his power.

Listen to this. When you seek to share the gospel with someone, expect satanic opposition. You're entering into a time of spiritual warfare. Remember in the parable of the sower, Jesus said the sower went out to sow seed.

Some seed fell on the roadside, and the birds ate it. He said these are they that hear the word of God, and Satan comes immediately to take it away. So the devil attacks when we're trying to reach people. So this boy was coming closer to Jesus, and the devil wants to stop him from coming.

This poor father, he's at his wits end. And he says to Jesus in verse 22, if you can do anything to help us, take pity on us. And the Lord has a very strong reaction to this. Look at verse 23. Jesus says, why do you ask me that? The one who has faith can do all things. Effectively Jesus is saying, what do you mean if I can? If I can help you, of course I can. Don't forget I was just transfigured with Moses and Elijah. Don't forget I walked on water, and I healed a blind man, and I raised a person from the dead. If I can, of course I can. I can handle this.

But here's what he's saying. You need to have faith right now. It's a very good idea for us to remember God's faithfulness to us in the past when we're facing trouble in the moment. Because we say, oh, God's forgotten about me. God's abandoned me.

No, he hasn't. I love how when you read Psalm 107, it reflects on the faithfulness of God to the nation Israel. And it talks about how the Lord delivered them from the bondage of Pharaoh, how the Lord fed them in the wilderness with manna, how the Lord brought them through the Red Sea. And then the refrain that is stated over and over again is, oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men.

So they wrote it down. I encourage you, keep a journal and write down how God has answered your prayers. And then the next time when you're facing a challenge, reflect back on God's faithfulness to you in the past, which will remind you he will also be faithful to you in the present and in the future because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. See, this man's faith was weak because he put his eyes on his problem instead of putting them on the Lord. The same happens to us when we forget God's word to us. You see, the way you build your faith is by reading the word of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Then you apply it. So that's why we need to know the scripture and memorize the scripture. And then Jesus says in verse 23, anything is possible if a person believes.

A man, have faith right now. And I love the honesty of this man's statement in verse 24. With tears in his eyes, he says, Lord, I have faith, help my unbelief.

That's an honest prayer, isn't it? To just say, Lord, I believe but my faith is not perfect and I have unbelief at times. And we all have unbelief at times. We all have lapses of faith at times. We all have momentary doubts. But this man was honest and guess what?

Jesus met him more than halfway and he answered the man's prayer and he healed the child. Yeah, it would be nice if we could stay on mountaintops, wouldn't it? No more problems, no more troubles. But we all have to come and live in the valley of life, the reality of life. But God will be with us in those times because really those mountaintops are preparing us for reality. It's not necessarily more mountaintops we need in the Christian life. It's more day-to-day obedience where we're walking by faith and not by feeling. There is coming a day in the future when there will be no more temptation, no more devil, no more suffering.

And this is sort of a sneak preview of things to come. But Christ will return to this earth and establish his kingdom. Remember, when Jesus was born in that manger, it was so he could die on that cross for your sin because we're separated from the Lord by our sin. Remember, Moses and Elijah were having an in-depth discussion with Jesus about his death and why that was so important.

And they were encouraging him, no doubt, on that day for him to go through with this. Think how hard it was for Jesus to take the cross and carry it through the streets of Jerusalem after he had already had his back ripped open with a Roman whip. And even more, think how hard it was for Jesus to bear all the sins of the world. See, that is what he was contemplating in the Garden of Gethsemane. Being God, he knew what was ahead. He knew he would have to take all the corruption, all the sin upon himself, and he did not wanna do it. And that is why he said to the Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

But he did it. He went on with it and he accomplished it and died on that cross for your sin and rose again from the dead. And now he offers you the ultimate gift and it's the gift of eternal life. And you can reach out and accept this gift. You can receive this gift and you can be forgiven of all of your sin.

Would you like that to happen? Jesus, who died on the cross and rose from the dead, stands at the door of your life right now and he knocks and he says if you'll hear his voice and open the door, he will come in. Would you like Jesus to come into your life? Would you like him to forgive you of your sin? Would you like to receive this gift of eternal life?

You say yes, I would, what do I do? You do it in prayer. The Bible says if we will call upon the name of the Lord, we will be saved. So in a moment, I would like to lead you in a prayer, a prayer that you could pray along with me where you would be saying to God, I need Jesus in my life, I need my sin forgiven, I need a fresh start in life, I wanna know with confidence that one day I will go to heaven and if you will pray this prayer with me and mean it from your heart, God will hear your prayer and God will answer your prayer.

This can be not just a game changer, this can be a life changer for you right here, right now. If you want Jesus to forgive you of your sin, if you wanna go to heaven when you die, if you want your guilt taken away, pray this prayer with me. You could even pray it out loud if you like. Just pray these words if you would please. Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the savior who was born in the manger, who died on the cross and who rose from the dead. Now Jesus, come into my life. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering it. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here. Thanks for listening to our podcast and to learn more about Harvest Ministries, please subscribe and consider supporting this show. Just go to harvest.org. And by the way, if you wanna find out how to come into a personal relationship with God, go to knowgod.org. That's K-N-O-W-G-O-D.org.