And Jesus' answer of course is, "Yes. I didn't come just to save you from hell on earth. I didn't come just to save you from the hell of the Romans, or the hell of the Pharisees, or even the hell of your own sin-infected bodies. I've come to save your soul from eternal hell. And I've come to offer eternal life," which only comes through the death of the eternal son of God who chose to become son of man. So yes, life comes only through death and eternal life comes only through the death of the eternal one, Jesus Christ.

As many of you know, our church body has been fervently praying (for years) for the Lord to allow us to acquire real estate from which to build the Kingdom of God.Tremendous news! The Lord has sent us a building. Well, part of a building. After getting a resounding green light at an emergency members' meeting, we signed the purchase and sale agreement for 20 Chapel St. CS2 in Brookline, just down the street from our current worship location. The centerpiece of the space is a ballroom, encastled beneath three residential towers.If you know about real estate in Boston, the ability to acquire a worship/ministry space is a miracle of untold proportions. All Glory be to God. The miracle continues. CS2 is the left wing of the central lobby. The right wing, CS1 is also on the market. This space would add another 5,000+ sq ft of ministry space, plus it comes with 4,000+ sq ft of unfinished basement space, which could be built into classrooms and offices.We have until September to secure financing for CS2 and raise capital to purchase CS1.Would you help us in the effort? Here's how you can help:

It's the same sentiment in Martin Luther's great phrase, "Simul Justus et Peccator." Lord, I'm a simultaneously righteous and a sinner. I am simultaneously justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, but I'm still a sinner. I still struggle. Lord, I want to see more of you. I want more of your power released in my life and in the lives of the people around me. Lord, help my unbelief.

The last painting by the great artist Raphael is called The Transfiguration, and beautifully and powerfully depicts the account in Mark 9:1-29, our text for Sunday. The top part of the painting pictures the transfigured Jesus, his clothes "radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them" (9:3). To his left and right are Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Below them are Peter, James, and John, blinded by the brilliant glory of the transfigured Jesus. Below the three disciples, the painting gets drastically darker. Enshrouded in the darkness are the rest of the disciples, attempting to cast a demon out of a tormented little boy, to no avail. By the boy's side is his desperate father. Raphael captures the overwhelming contrast between the glorious presence of God in the person of Christ on the mountain, and the demonic oppression below. 

CS Lewis once presented a paper at the Oxford Socratic Club entitled, Is Theology Poetry? And in that paper he has this one line where he says, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." And when you see Christ for who he truly is, you begin to see reality as it truly is.

Imagine hearing from your beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, one of his sharpest rebukes directed at you: "Get behind me, Satan!" Those are the words of Jesus directed at the first and chief disciple, Peter.

What's most striking is the rebuke comes after Peter makes one of the greatest professions of faith in Jesus recorded in all of Scripture. Jesus had just asked the disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They responded, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets."

Then Jesus asks the most important question each person must answer: "But who do you say that I am?" Peter, answers first (of course), "You are the Christ."

In that split-second, Peter saw Jesus so clearly. That's why it's so surprising, that in the very next text, Jesus rebukes Peter with the bone-chilling words, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

This is the miracle. It's right before us, right before us supervised by the Holy Spirit and it tells us everything we need, everything we need to know about God, who he is, about the person of God.

One of the most descriptively vivid and uncannily accurate phrases God uses to describe the sinful human condition is "stiff-necked." If you have a small child, or even a dog, you're intimately aware with the behavior this phrase describes. When a child is told it's time to get off the swing and go home, but they refuse. You go to pick them up, and they stiffen their body (adding what seems like 20 pounds to their body weight). Or when you're walking a dog and it refuses to turn a corner. The neck gets stiff, to match the posture of heart. 

And when we present the gospel, we say, "Look, it starts with the bad news." The bad news is we have broken God's sovereign law. Whenever you break any law, there are to be consequences for the breaking of the law, especially when it comes to God. Whoever transgresses even one law deserves death. The word of God says, "Deserves eternal damnation." The word of God says, "That's the bad news. Apart from God, we are not children. Apart from God, we are sinners." "And yes, Lord, I am a sinner. I am a filthy, wretched dog. I am a dog. Can I be Your dog? I hear You're a good master." That's what she's saying. That's why I use the word for chutzpah, it's nerve, it's brass, it's confidence and actions gall. It's audacity.