-We apologise that, due to a recording error, the first five minutes of this sermon was recorded at a lower quality than what follows.---What does this Scripture describe when it talks about -fullness of joy- and -pleasures forevermore----Where can this joy and these pleasures be found- Only in God's presence, at his right hand.--How can we get there- By the path of life. Christ is there, and all those who trust in him begin to enjoy these things now, and shall come at last to be where he is.

Christ obtains from heaven confirmation and consolation for his confessing disciples as three of them go up with him on a mountain to pray.--What the disciples saw - Christ with a new appearance, in new company, having a new conversation.--What the disciples said - they wanted to build three tabernacles, perhaps to prolong the moment of glory.--What the disciples heard - a voice from the excellent glory, testifying to the supremacy of the Son.--What the disciples did - in those days, they said nothing, but afterward they testified of the glory they glimpsed in Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul presses home the blessings and the privileges of those who live in the light of the coming of Christ Jesus. He answers four basic questions about the accomplishment of redemption---When---But when the fullness of the time had come---Who---God sent forth His Son---How---born of a woman, born under the law---Why---to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons-

The servant must follow the Master. The Messiah must obtain the crown by way of the cross, and that is the way that the disciple must go. Christ lays out the terms of discipleship with searing honesty, but also makes clear the underlying realities. So there is a painful invitation, to deny oneself, take up one's own cross daily, and follow him.--Before making such a choice, we should consider the consequences, which Christ puts in terms of a pressing principle, a penetrating question, and a pointed warning.--This is Christ's own definition of discipleship, and it concludes with a perplexing promise, in which this much is clear- that a glimpse of glory will sustain us in the way of discipleship.

In the space between a Christian's new and true perception of God and his new and true perspective on himself grows a new and true devotion to God.----Beginning with Paul's own experience as a Christian, and then considering others of God's eminent servants, we consider what it means for the idol Self to be dethroned, and for God to reign in the heart. This, says the Apostle John, is a mark of someone with eternal life.

The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle, apart from the resurrection, recorded in all four Gospels. It helps to answer the question, -Who is this man-- but it also presses home the implications of that answer.--Here we consider the scene, with the disciples focusing on the problem, then the act, as Christ takes matters into his own hands -taking the disciples' pitiful resources, seeking heaven's blessing, and providing plentiful food-, and finally, the sense, where we grasp the simple truth, learn the central lesson, and see the saving Christ.

Considering the repenting over sin and believing in Christ that lie at the heart of the true believer's assurance of salvation.