Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: We have become a society that thinks about the very moment in which we are in, but has no thought into where we are going. It has no thought into taking assessments of the forks in the road that we are facing or any awareness about how our actions now will affect the way that we live our lives later.

Guest (Male): Many of us have wondered what it would be like to see Jesus as He is in all His glory. As Christians, we're told that will be a reality one day in heaven. Wouldn't it be nice to get a glimpse of that glory here on Earth? Peter, James, and John had that opportunity on a mountain, and we'll hear about their experience on this edition of Light on the Hill. Pastor James Kaddis is in the process of leading us verse by verse through Mark's gospel, and today we'll be in chapter nine where the disciples get a look at Jesus post-resurrection and ascension.

James Kaddis: Mark chapter nine. I want to talk about this for one second. As we do, I want you to keep in mind all of the things that we've been talking about throughout the years concerning the way Christ did ministry. Perhaps the most substantial and concise way that I can describe Christ's methodology, or His MO, is the fact that what He has always been good at doing is speaking to the heart rather than to the circumstance. This is something that we've had multiple conversations concerning, and it's something that is undoubtedly a very important principle for us to grasp.

If we understand what the MO of Christ is when He pursues this with us, then we also have to recognize that understanding it will also open up the key for us to be able to take most advantage of what is being actually offered. If we bang our heads trying to figure out what the external issues are rather than just simply stopping to focus on the heart issues, I don't think that we really set ourselves up to understand, discern, learn anything. I want you to keep that in mind. It's something that I bring about often as we're going through the gospel accounts. It's an important fact to bring to the picture.

The other thing that I want you to understand is some of the characteristics that exist within human nature. It's interesting because every era that humanity has ever lived through has always experienced one aspect of that era that tends to extenuate a certain or exacerbate one aspect of humanity that is left exposed to destruction. The one thing I should just say right off the bat is the fact that we, in essence, are completely and totally depraved. When we were first born, we walked in the condition of complete and total depravity. There's no way around it.

The Bible says through one man sin entered the world, and there is no way that we can get around that. As a matter of fact, I would argue that if you do not believe the fact that we were born in a condition of total depravity, then you have a very difficult time understanding the basic premise behind the gospel because you, in essence, reject the premise of the gospel when you reject something as simple as that. The thing that I want to point out in speaking concerning this, remember, the Bible says through one man sin entered the world.

So, we can thank the disobedience of Adam for the condition that we're experiencing today. Before we're so quick to want to beat Adam up, we can just stop and look at the decisions we continue to make to take glory away from the Lord. There's a lot to be said there and there's a lot to analyze. We don't have the time to do that here today, but the one thing that I do want to say is you can go back to every era, every society, every culture, every place where humanity gathers within any kind of context and you can observe certain constructs of that societal feel that actually feeds into one aspect or one major sinful aspect of humanity.

If you were to ask me the way it works today in the current world in which we live, I think it literally feeds all kinds of desires: satanic, wicked, evil, whatever you want to call it. But I perhaps think the one that this world feeds into more than anything, the one that this society feeds into more than anything we've ever seen or experienced, centers around the desire mankind has to receive gratification in the immediate moment. We have become a society that loves that.

We have become a society that thinks about the very moment in which we are in, but has no thought into where we are going. It has no thought into taking assessments of the forks in the road that we are facing or any awareness about how our actions now will affect the way that we live our lives later. This is a scary issue for me to talk about on a personal level because I find myself having to deal with this spinning wheel in my life of the things that I feel I have given to that provide gratification for the moment instead of the decision of self-denial to experience the greater benefit for the people around me later.

One of the things that I think happens when you become somebody who chooses to allow your gratification to become delayed in the name of obedience for the purpose of maximum benefit is you find fulfillment in simply walking according to that action in the moment. It actually becomes a regulator. It becomes something that normalizes you to a degree. The more you choose to say, "I will deny the flesh and its desire for gratification in the moment," the more you become fortified in your understanding of your condition as you sit.

It's interesting because when the Apostle Paul uses phrases like "godliness with contentment brings great gain," what he's in essence implying, if you understand it from the language in which he writes it, is that if you achieve contentment as a result of your decision to obey God, you will find the pathway to the greatest gain. The picture that it draws for you is that the more you give in to the immediate desires for gratification that the flesh has, the more you'll desire it. The more you'll desire having more.

The more you will develop a bloodlust that can no longer be satisfied by the actions that you give into in the current moment, and the more prone you are to face immediate destruction. I find this happening a lot, all the time, on a lot of levels in many ways that you can't even begin to imagine because it surfaces its ugly face in ways you can't even begin to imagine. I was having a conversation with somebody recently about planning. We were talking about planning a very specific aspect of something that's more personally tied to me.

In the discussion of planning, one of the things that I felt the need to tell the person that I was talking with is that I earnestly desire to go down the path of working 10 times harder in the moment if I know that what I'm doing in the moment is going to bring a greater result for everybody else later, including myself. The reason why is because if I think in terms of reaching out, then by default, reaching in gets satisfied. So, when we sit down and we have a conversation about this project that I'm about to undergo, I need you to make sure that we avoid any and all shortcuts if at all possible.

I want us to map out what brings to the table the greatest level of excellence and then I want us to plan whatever it's going to take to get us to that point, and do not worry about what I have to go through in order to contribute what I need to contribute to bring the desired result. Why? Because I know that if my focus becomes comfort in the task that I'm taking on, then my comfort will never be sufficient for the moment and I will always seek the easier and more comfortable path, and as a result, I will reap for myself destruction.

I will allow myself to experience the very thing that I know is going to destroy me just so that I could find that moment of what I thought was fulfillment. I wish I could explain this in a million different ways. It always goes back to a sin issue. It always goes back to what does God say in the moment that you're doing this. I talk to people that tell me they're struggling financially. An overwhelming majority of the time when they're struggling financially, it's because you can trace it back to a desire for gratification in the moment rather than a decision to walk in discipline and actually do the right thing in order to provide the best possible solution later.

More times, people engage in commitments that they have no business engaging into. I find it to be astounding how the solution is so easy, but you don't even look at it as a possibility because you want to fulfill whatever you think needs to be fulfilled today. The message of the Mount of Transfiguration, that's what we're going to be reading today, speaks very distinctly and very particularly concerning the very issue that I'm talking about. Why?

When it comes to our decisions that we make as it relates to the Lord, we oftentimes will not solidify those decisions if they are not accompanied by some form of experiential mechanism. Let me explain what I mean when I say that. If I go to church and I don't have this immediate uplifting experience, if I don't feel emotionally compatible with the moment, if the worship isn't just right or maybe the Bible study seems dry or boring, then I will not participate in what it promises to provide for me because it's not giving me the gratification that I want right now.

That seems very harsh when I put it that way, but in reality, when you take it down the other avenue and you go down the other place that you're going to go to on the opposite side of this, it does the same exact thing. Some people will go to places where they find the ultimate emotional experience. They'll go and they'll find the lights off, the practical séance worship leading time. They get very emotionally charged. The whole time they're charged by the worship, they're charged by the music, they're charged by the teaching, they're charged by everything, and then they go home and live hell.

They raise hell, live like hell, do the things that they don't really care concerning because they got what they needed out of the moment that they wanted and they never found the time to see through the bigger issue. Jesus is about to do something to His disciples that's going to transform their way of thinking at a level that is going to bring them back to a place of reality. I believe in my heart of hearts that if you can stop and focus on this lesson, meditate on what actually happened in the moment, it will be enough to radically transform your life because it will teach you to live a specific way now, planning for the benefit that will come later.

To make the decision to die to self today will always bring greater fulfillment than the decision to live with gratification in the moment. It's much harder and yes, it's a lot more painful, but there's nothing like living the life where you allow yourself to be given to that place because the clarity that it brings is beyond any possible thing you could ever think of because what it does for you is something that you cannot see, that only God can. So, let's get into the story here because it gets really interesting.

By the way, one thing I should note specifically for context, and again, it's just something that we talked about, and that's Jesus just finished talking to them about what it means to follow Him. If you're going to follow Him, you're going to deny yourself, take up the cross, follow Him. He talked about all the conditions that relate to it. We talked about what self-denial is all about. We talked about carrying the very tool that would eventually become the one used for your execution and doing it with the understanding that you're moving in that direction. That's what Christ did when He took up His cross and He walked.

The idea is, if you're going to follow Christ, then you are going to follow the lifestyle. You're going to follow the pattern of what it means to bring yourself to that ultimate place. If you can think about it and use a visual picture, what I would love for you to do is I would love for you, in your head or on a piece of paper that you have, I would love for you to draw a flat piece of ground that leads up to a hill. Something like this. Picture yourself at the bottom of the hill.

Now, at the bottom of the hill, I want you to see yourself following Jesus. Jesus, when He was at the bottom of His hill, you could call it His birth. Let's just say that for the purpose of this illustration. When He started at the bottom of His hill, you could even draw the little picture of the manger. From the day He was born, He started walking forward. He could probably not physically walk for at least 18 months, 19 months, whatever, but you know what I'm talking about. From the very day that He was born, He took one step forward, one step closer. He kept moving forward.

The goal was to get to the top of the hill. That was the goal. Now, when the world thinks about getting to the top of the hill, the ultimate way of thinking is that you're at the top of the hill and that means you have conquered everything, you have done all that is necessary, you are at the pinnacle, everything is great, you're undefeated, all of that stuff. When Jesus got to the top of the hill, He had a cross waiting for Him. Every day that He lived on this Earth, He was walking up this hill, recognizing that the ultimate goal was to find the place where He would be executed so that He could accomplish the purpose that He needed to accomplish in order to bring eternity to all of us.

The process that was involved in the living of His life was excruciating. It was difficult. Every step He took, every single step that He took was intentional. It was directed for the purpose of accomplishing that which the Father asked Him to do and it provided for us maximum benefit. The disciples have yet to see that pattern. The disciples see Jesus as the one that's going to be their political savior and don't completely understand what Jesus is talking about when He's saying He's going to be crucified.

You've got to keep in mind, when we hear Jesus say, "Take up your cross and follow Me," we look at that and we go, "Man, come on, that's easy. How can they not see that?" But at the time that Jesus is saying that, if you were to say, "Take up your cross and follow Me," what they're basically hearing is, "Get ready to be executed and follow Me going down that path." They didn't understand it. They didn't recognize the fact that He was going to die on the cross. All of that became knowledge after the resurrection.

When the Spirit of God had filled them and given them the insight when they were writing their gospel accounts after the fact, they were able to see that. In the midst of the situation that they were in, they saw no such thing. But Jesus still said, nonetheless, "Take up your cross and follow Me." So, He finishes telling them this and then look what happens here in verse one. And He said unto them, "Verily, I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power."

Now, this is a tough one for some people because some people immediately, when they hear this, not understanding or recognizing the context, they're basically saying that some of these disciples were going to get a taste of the coming kingdom and that in essence, they would not experience death in the process. Except for the fact that every single one of these guys were killed. So, how in the world does that work? They all died before they saw the kingdom.

Now, you could make the exception that John was one of the men that stood there and John had not died until he actually saw the kingdom through the eyes of what he wrote in the book of Revelation. You could even make a pretty darn good argument that Jesus was talking about John and the account that he would experience when he wrote about what would happen in the last days. Keep in mind, when John wrote the book of Revelation, sometime around 90 AD, he witnessed the throne of God. He saw Christ in all of His glory. He saw the kingdom with power. It was very obvious. He not only saw all of it happening in the beginning of human history, he saw it at the end.

He saw the devil being restrained, he saw Armageddon, he saw the Great White Throne Judgment, he saw all of it. So, you could easily argue that what Jesus is talking about here is John. Except for one problem. Jesus is saying that there be some of them. Not one, some. So, the argument can't be John seeing what he saw in the book of Revelation. The argument has to be something that happened sooner because the many that were standing there with Jesus, an overwhelming majority of them that were standing with Jesus, if you were to count simply the disciples, all the disciples died pretty quickly after the time that Christ resurrected.

Most of them didn't live beyond another 30 to 40 years. John was the only one that lived 60-plus years after. Everyone else died relatively quickly. So, you have to ask yourself, who is He talking about and what specific circumstance is He bringing up? Funny thing is when you read the context of Mark, then it'll make a whole lot of sense because reading the next few verses, you'll see exactly what Jesus was talking about. But the more significant issue is not a theological discussion with respect to eschatology. There's a bigger picture here.

The bigger picture is what the Lord was seeking to do with His disciples, understanding that there was a yielding or a capitulation to a certain attribute that is plaguing our society today. Jesus was seeking to deal with it. Look at this verse two. "And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves, and He was transfigured before them. And His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on Earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias," of course, we're talking about Elijah, "with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus."

Now, it's interesting because we all seem to be aware of who one of those witnesses are going to be in the book of Revelation. I think most people are pretty settled on the fact that we're talking about Elijah based on what the Bible says. But then there's a lot of fighting and a lot of argument back and forth as to what the second one will be. A lot of people say that it's going to be Moses because Moses was the one that appeared here at what they would call the Mount of Transfiguration. I think that's broken thinking. Who the second person is going to be, I'm not quite sure. I have some ideas, but I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of that because we certainly don't have time.

But one thing I do want to point out is the fact that these disciples, these guys, are looking at something extraordinary. What we're going to find out is they are looking at Jesus post-resurrection and ascension. They're looking at Jesus in the condition He is in after He defeats death. Remember, that's a very easy and possible thing to do because Jesus is of course one that can transcend time. He does transcend time. He transcends every literally every element that exists right now. I think that that's an important thing. God is not beyond showing this to some of His people. But they're looking at something uniquely consequential that they've never seen before in their lives. Can you imagine how they're reacting? Can you imagine how Peter's got to be reacting or John? It's just an interesting thing. James, they've got to be blown away at what they're seeing.

Guest (Male): This is Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis, and we're currently going through the gospel of Mark. Pastor James, we live in a world of instant and self-gratification. Today's challenge to think beyond the moment and recognize what awaits us in the future can seem really hard to do. What can help us have the right mindset in a world like this?

James Kaddis: You know, that's a very important question. I think that oftentimes the way that answer is erroneously given is by creating a set of rules to go by in order to create the condition that you're asking about, when in reality, I think anything that you can do to understand or develop an awareness of the mind of God will help you to be able to understand what it is that you need to do in order to become that person that God wants you to be.

I think one of the greatest areas to look at is the mind of Christ. This is a Philippians chapter two picture. It all relates to denial of self and a giving of that which is important to the Lord to bring into fruition what God has called you to experience. It really comes down to self-denial and trusting in God that He will through that bring you to that better place.

Guest (Male): Well said. Thanks, Pastor James. When you have a moment sometime today, send us an email. We'd love it. It's encouraging to hear what the Lord is doing in our listeners' lives and it's an opportunity to thank the Lord for what He's doing. There's a place to contact us at our website, lightonthehillradio.com. We've been blessed by the feedback we've received thus far regarding Pastor James's new book, *The Last Book*. If you haven't ordered a copy yet, we'd encourage you to do so. This guide to Revelation covers the first half of the book, giving you what you need to know about the Rapture and the end times in a clear and concise manner. Request your copy today at lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon.

If God is leading you to support this radio outreach, there's also a place to make a donation at lightonthehillradio.com. Throughout the week, you can watch our live shows and short videos, many of which relate to Bible prophecy and help you to see current events with a biblical worldview. Look for these at jameskaddis.com. More from the book of Mark coming up next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. This listener-supported program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.