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"On the Mountain" by Hiram Kemp · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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Vision clinics around the world, like Vision Springs and OneSite, all report the same phenomena
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happening.
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They take a person in a country without much resources, sit them down in a chair, nothing
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fancy, and they hand them a pair of glasses.
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And nothing changes out in the world, but typically for this person, everything changes.
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Whereas before they just saw green objects, now trees and leaves have texture and color
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and brightness.
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Faces that were just soft images now have lines and eyes and distinction.
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Everything changes in the world around them because now they've been given the aid, the
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vision, that'll help them see things as they ultimately should.
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And in most of those occasions, they say something of this sort in the phrase of shock.
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A lot of these people initially go silent if you watch the videos, or sometimes there's
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laughter or maybe even tears.
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And they say something along these lines, I didn't know it was supposed to look like
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that.
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It's amazing when you finally start seeing things as they were always meant to be viewed.
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The Gospels help do that for us as Christians.
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You get out of the Old Testament and you get to the New Testament, especially the Gospel
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of Matthew.
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And it highlights this idea that people throughout their lives have been trying to find God.
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They've been looking through sort of blurry lenses and trying to figure out what it is
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that God wants for every human life and what God expects us to do in response to him.
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And in Matthew's Gospel, the first Gospel of the New Testament, Jesus is portrayed as
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God with us, Matthew 1 and verse 23.
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And at the end of that Gospel, in Matthew 28 and verse 20, he's the one that says, I'll
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be with you always, even until the end of the age.
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And throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is designed to come to the world as a human
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being in flesh and blood and reveal to us the God that we can, without him, only see
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through sort of blurry and pixelated imaging.
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He says, here is the God you've been looking for all of your life.
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But in the Gospel of Matthew, when God really wants to get this across to people, he typically
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has to take them up higher so they can see clearly as they were always designed to see.
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In fact, in the Gospel of Matthew, the thing that God most often uses to help people see
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clearly are mountaintop experiences.
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Nearly every important thing in the Gospel of Matthew happens on a mountain.
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It's as if in the Gospel of Matthew, mountains serve as sort of the spiritual eyeglasses
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so that God can help people see as they were always designed to see.
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And so when Jesus is tempted by the devil, the final temptation in Matthew chapter 4
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verses 8 through 11, where Jesus says, you'll worship the Lord your God and him only shall
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you serve.
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It happens when Jesus is up on a mountain.
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This most famous sermon, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, what do we refer to it as?
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It's the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is there explaining the law as it was always
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meant to be understood and saying, if you're going to follow me, here are the kingdom virtues
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that should make up your life.
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And it happened on a mountain.
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When Jesus wanted to say to people, here's what a true, rich, and vibrant devotional
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life looks like, he got away from the people, and the Bible says he went apart to pray to
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God alone, and he did it on the mountain, Matthew 14 and verse 23.
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These miracles, opening the eyes of the blind, giving strength to the limbs of those that
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were lame, and even the feeding of the 4,000, in Matthew's gospel, Matthew 15, 29, that
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took place on a mountain.
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And after Jesus died and was buried and was raised from the dead, right before he gives
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the great commission to the apostles, he's speaking to them, telling them not to be afraid,
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and he does it on a mountain, Matthew 28 and verse 10.
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Jesus is often saying in Matthew's gospel, if you really want to see things as they should
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be, you're going to have to come up on a mountain to see them.
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I guess the one that is at the pinnacle of all the mountaintop experiences in the gospel
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of Matthew is what's known to us as the Mount of Transfiguration.
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Matthew 17, Jesus goes up as Dayton Red Force, and he's there with Peter, James, and John,
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and they see Jesus in all of his glory.
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Previously, in Matthew 16, you remember, Peter had just said, you're the Christ, the son
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of the living God, and in response to that, Jesus says, on that rock and based on that
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truth, I'll build my church.
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The gates of Hades won't prevail against it.
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He goes on to say that the crucified life that I want you to live involves denying yourself,
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taking up your cross, and following me, and they saw Jesus.
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They heard his words, and yet their vision was still blurry, and so to make it clear
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to them, Jesus takes them up on a mountain and gives them a lesson that they nor the
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world would never forget.
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You came to worship service today because you want to see Jesus, but if you're honest,
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there is a sense in which we sometimes still see him through blurry lenses, and we need
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God through Scripture to reveal Jesus to us as he really is.
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Maybe we're reading our Bibles, maybe we're praying, but we don't see him as we really
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should.
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If we're honest, there are times when we're tempted to give glory and praise to other
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things and other people that really don't deserve it, and it's only when we come up
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with Jesus on the mountain that we see him in all of his glory, and then we respond and
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say something along these lines, I didn't know it was supposed to look like that.
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This morning, what I want you to do is turn your Bible with me, go to Matthew 17, and
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let's notice what Jesus showed his disciples and us by extension when Jesus was up on the
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mountain.
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Here's the first one, number one.
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On the mountain, there was a higher calling.
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Matthew 17 comes right after Matthew 16, verses 24 through 28.
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Jesus says, come after me, take up your cross and follow me, whoever will save his life
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will lose it, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
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What would it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose their own soul?
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After that teaching, the apostles are struggling to figure out what that's all about.
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Matthew 17 and verse one says, then Jesus took them up on a high mountain.
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He took Peter, he took James and John, the two brothers, and called them apart from the
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others.
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These three are sometimes called Jesus's inner circle or the special three.
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Jesus had a deep relationship with all 12 of the apostles, but these three are privileged
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on occasion to see things that the others don't.
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After all, it's only Peter, James, and John that go into the house of Jairus in Mark chapter
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five and verse 37 when he raises his daughter from the dead.
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It's only these special three that go deeper into the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus and
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Matthew 26, 36 through 37, when he's praying for rescue and deliverance on the hardest
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night of his life.
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And it's these three individuals that are with Jesus here on the Mount of Transfiguration
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in Matthew 17 and verse one.
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On the mountain, there was a higher calling.
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And this isn't new.
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Throughout scripture, when God wants to communicate something to his people of spiritual depth,
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when he's calling people up to higher intimacy and a richer relationship with him, he often
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does it on mountains.
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Just think about the Bible and people that had their a-ha moment with God, nine times
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out of ten, it happened on a mountain.
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When God called Moses and said, I want you to go to Pharaoh, and I want you to tell him
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to let my people go, and he's going to do signs and miracles and wonders, and you're
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going to release the people through a mighty and outstretched hand, he was talking to Moses
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on Mount Horeb, Exodus 3, 1 through 7.
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Abraham is the father of the faithful, but Abraham's greatest moment, and when he passed
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his most difficult test and being willing to sacrifice Isaac, it came when he was up
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on Mount Moriah, Genesis 22, 1 and 2.
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Elijah went to battle against the 450 false prophets of Baal and the 400 false prophets
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of Ashtoreth and went to battle with them to defend God's holiness and integrity.
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Up on a mountain, 1 Kings 18, 13 through 39.
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The same thing's true about David and his rebellion, the rebellion of Absalom and his
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response to that in 2 Samuel 15, 30 through 32.
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All of these scenes, they happen on a mountain, God's calling people up to a higher calling
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and saying, I want you to see me in a way you never have, I want you to do things you've
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never done, but in order to do it, you're going to have to come up higher.
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For them, it was physical, it was a physical mountain, God was taking them to a physical
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place to show them things that he never has shown them before, but for us, God's calling
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us up to, not to a physical mountain, but to a higher plane, so we can seek him in a
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new way and come to experience him, and some of that only happens as you go up.
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Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2, Paul says, if you've then been raised with Christ, seek
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those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
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Set your mind not on things of the earth, but things above, for you've died and your
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life is hidden with Christ and God.
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If you want to grow in your Christianity, one of the things that's going to bless your
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spiritual life is when you answer this call and go up for the higher calling.
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It's what Christianity is all about, coming to know him and the power of his resurrection,
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Philippians 3 and verse 10.
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It's what Paul refers to as the upward call of God and Christ Jesus, Philippians 3 and
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verse 14.
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Solomon says that the path of life is upward for the wise, Proverbs 15 and verse 24, but
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here's the question for us, are we willing to go?
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There are great things that God wants to do with you, great avenues of service God wants
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to take you in your own personal life to and through with him, but the question is, are
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you going to go up higher with God and answer the call?
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And somebody responds to this and says, I'm already up there hiring him.
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I mean, I'm reading my Bible and I'm praying, but what if God wants more from you than just
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that?
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Jesus says in Matthew 5 and verse 47, what do you do more than others?
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There are some things we're never going to experience, we're never going to really enjoy
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until we come up higher.
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Peter, James, and John are called out from the 12, they're separated.
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This wasn't for everybody, this was only for a few and so it's a reminder to us, don't
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measure your spiritual life by other people and trying to keep up with others, you might
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fail to keep up with God.
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This is something God wanted to do for them and with them and thankfully they went and
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they were there.
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2 Corinthians 10 and verse 12 says, comparing ourselves by ourselves and judging ourselves
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by one another, we're not wise.
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It's not about what other people are doing, it's about what am I willing to do?
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And on the mountain we learn there's a higher calling.
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Maybe the greatest spiritual challenge in your life isn't sin and corruption, maybe
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it's just shallowness and comfort.
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Jeremiah 29 and verse 13, God says, these people will find me when they seek me with
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all their heart.
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Maybe God's looking at your spiritual life and saying, you know, you are coasting when
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you should be climbing.
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Psalm 92 and verse 12, I want you to flourish like a palm tree.
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Maybe you've been coasting at the same spiritual speed for the last five years and God says,
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Okay, enough.
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Let's go up higher and let's grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
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Jesus Christ.
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2 Peter 3.18, that in no way diminishes all the progress you've already made.
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It says nothing about all of the progress and all of the strides you've already made.
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It's just simply saying God has more to do with you and you're far from finished.
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Philippians 1 and verse 6, Paul says, I'm convinced that he that began a good work in
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you will fulfill it in the day of Jesus Christ.
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On the mountain, there's a higher calling.
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January 15, 2009, U.S. Airways flight 1549 was on its way from LaGuardia Airport in New
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York when it was, you could say, attacked by a group of Canadian geese.
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Both engines immediately went out and because of where they were and they hadn't reached
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their cruising altitude yet, there were no other airports in which to land and so the
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pilot immediately emergency landing right on the Hudson River.
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This aircraft filled with 155 people landed safely.
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Nobody lost their lives, but this says something to us.
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It says altitude matters.
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Had this plane been at its cruising altitude of 30 to 40,000 feet, there wouldn't have
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been any danger of any geese, but when it wasn't, it immediately had to land and abort
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and change mission.
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Maybe what causes us to struggle isn't our weakness.
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Maybe it's our comfort.
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Maybe it's our height that we haven't reached and God says, come up higher because I've
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got great things I want you to do.
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Imagine Jesus saying to Peter, James, and John, hey, let's go up on a mountain.
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I've got something I want to show you guys, something nobody else in the world has ever
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seen or ever will see and imagine James saying to Jesus, well, Jesus, I think you ought to
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take Thomas in my place.
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I'm really not the mountain climbing type.
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Imagine him saying, Peter, we've got to go up on this mountain.
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There's going to be something great here and I can't tell you with everybody else, but
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just come on up.
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You're going to love it and Peter says, one minute, Lord, I'm on Palestinian Amazon looking
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at new fishing nets.
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I'll be right there in a moment.
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No, you know what they did?
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They went and their lives were changed.
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God wants to take you and me places.
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The question is, are we going to answer the call?
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Some things can only be experienced on the mountain and God is calling us to a higher
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calling.
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Break out of your comfort zone.
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Break out of the place where you've been spiritually coasting and let God call you upward.
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Here's number two.
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On the mountain, there's a glorious appearing.
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These men had seen Jesus before, but now to be different, look at verse two.
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It says when Jesus called them up on the mountain, he was transfigured or transformed before
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them.
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His face was shining like the sun.
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His clothes became bright as the light.
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Jesus was seen in a new glory that these men had never experienced before and his whole
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image was changed on the mountain.
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There was a glorious appearing.
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Jesus was transfigured before them.
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Mark tells us in his account in Mark nine and verse three, Jesus's clothes were so white.
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They were more white than any launder on earth could bleach them.
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There was this blinding light and this blinding beauty and they only saw this part of Jesus,
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this kind of glory when they were up on the mountain.
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In the Old Testament, when Moses went up on Mount Sinai with God, Exodus 34 in verse 29,
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the Bible says in that passage, Moses's face was shining.
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You know why it was shining?
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Because Moses was looking on God.
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But in this text, Jesus's whole body is transformed and he's shining bright as a light and as
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bright as the sun because he is God and him was life and that life was the light of man.
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John one in verse four, he's the light of the world and those that follow him won't
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walk in darkness, but we'll have the light of life.
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John eight in verse 12, on the mountain, there's this glorious appearing.
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And years later, John had to have this text or this occasion in mind in Revelation one
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in verse 16 when he sees Jesus there again in all of his glory and he says his face was
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shining as bright as the sun and his full strength.
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Thirty years after this event, Peter will talk about it in 2 Peter chapter one and he'll
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say we were with him on the holy mount and we saw his majesty.
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On the mountain, there was this glorious appearing.
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They saw Jesus in a way that no one else ever had before.
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There was this glorious appearing of all of his brightness and of who he truly is.
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What this means is day to day as they encountered Jesus, they weren't seeing him in his full
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strength and glory.
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Jesus came down from heaven to earth and took on human flesh, Philippians two, five through
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eight.
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And in doing that to relate to us, he wasn't always in his full glory, but he was saying
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to these men on this occasion, this is who I truly am.
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Philippians two, five through eight says he divested himself of his glory.
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He didn't think it was something to be held on to, to be equated with God.
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But on the mountain, they saw Jesus as he truly was and always is.
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It means if you see Jesus in his full glory, there's something about his essence inwardly
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that will blind a person if you look directly into it.
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He has an inapproachable light that no man has ever seen or can see.
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First Timothy six and verse 16.
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He's not like everybody else.
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He's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
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Made higher than the heavens, Hebrews seven and verse 26.
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And on the mountain, Peter, James, and John, they saw him in all of his glory.
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Sometimes we see a person outside of their normal context where we're used to seeing
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them.
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And we may see them maybe at a wedding or at a banquet and you see a person dressed
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up and you may say something like, hey, you clean up nice.
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It's kind of a backhanded compliment though, right?
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It's kind of like saying, I really didn't expect this out of you.
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You're normally in rags, but you put yourself together pretty well.
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I mean, it's typically a person that you see them transform from a more casual appearance
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to more formal.
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You're surprised.
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It's kind of saying, hey, I didn't know you had it in you.
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On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus isn't cleaning up nice.
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This isn't even a makeover.
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This is his true essence.
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This is who Jesus truly is and always has been.
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He's the brightness of God's image and express personage of his glory, Hebrews one and verse
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three.
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We also saw this on the mountain.
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You can go out on a clear night and see with the naked human eye, the stars in the sky
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and behold the glory of God.
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David says that in Psalm 19 and verse one, you can go out and see all of God's glory
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through the stars.
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At least the ones we can see with the naked human eye, but here's something we don't often
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think about.
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Even with the naked human eye, if you go outside right now, the stars are still shining because
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of the brightness of the sun and earth's atmosphere.
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The stars in the daytime are hidden, but that doesn't mean any less that they're present,
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even in those moments when you can't see it.
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As the disciples walked and lived with Jesus from day to day, just because they didn't
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always see his glory, just because you don't see the stars in the daytime doesn't mean
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they're not shining.
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And as you live your life day to day, you say, I haven't seen the glory of God like
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these men, doesn't mean it's any less true.
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This word in Matthew 17 and verse two, he was transfigured or transformed.
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It's the same word used for what's going to happen or is happening right now to Christians
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and what will be realized at the end of time.
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Paul says in second Corinthians three in verse 18, we all are being transformed or transfigured
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from one degree of glory to the next.
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What these men saw in the Mount of Transfiguration will one day be revealed to everybody in the
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world.
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John says, we will see him, we'll be like him and see him as he is, first John three
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in verse two.
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But here is the kicker.
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There won't just be glory revealed to us, there'll be glory revealed in us.
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Romans eight in verse 18 says the sufferings of this present time aren't worth comparing
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with the glory that will be revealed in us.
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One day what happened to Jesus on this mountain, when you receive your new body, it's the same
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thing that's going to happen to you.
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These men needed this lesson because Jesus had just told them, I'm going to be crucified.
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Peter didn't like that.
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You remember Matthew 16, 22 to 23, Peter says, not so Lord.
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And Jesus has to tell him, get behind me, Satan.
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He says, I've got to take you on a mountain and show you something.
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Because in a couple of years, you're going to see me on a cross, battered and bruised,
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completely disfigured.
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And you got to know in that moment, that's not how I really look.
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This is me.
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And maybe you look in life's mirror right now and you're clicking on all cylinders and
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you like the way your life looks.
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Don't sell yourself short.
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This isn't how you really look.
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Maybe you don't like the way your life's going right now and you despise the way things are
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trending.
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The amount of transfiguration reminds you, don't be fooled.
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This isn't how you really look.
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Your glory is presently being downloaded and it'll be here before you know it.
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First Corinthians 15 and verse 52, Paul says, in a moment and the twinkling of an eye, we'll
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all be transformed and changed.
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This corruptible body, we'll put on that incorruptible.
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Jesus is saying, this is my true glory.
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But the good news is, I'm going to share it with you and it'll also be yours.
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Here's number three, on the mountain, there was misplaced glory.
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Luke's account tells us when they were on the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples
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were sleepy.
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Luke nine and verse 32.
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But by this time they're up and they're awake and Elijah and Moses are there and they're
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talking with Jesus about his resurrection, death, burial and resurrection according to
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Luke chapter nine and verse 30.
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And then there's Peter and Peter sees these three individuals and he says, Lord, it's
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good for us to be here.
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If you're willing, I'll make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
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People have wondered why Moses and Elijah, why not some other Old Testament characters?
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I mean, there could have been Abraham and David.
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Moses is probably there as a representative of the law itself.
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Moses stands as the representative for the law and then Elijah as the representative
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of all of God's prophets.
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The Old Testament ends.
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The second to the last verse in the Old Testament is Malachi four and verse five.
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And it says, before the Messiah comes, Elijah is going to come.
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These three individuals are present and Peter says, Peter can never keep his mouth shut.
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Let's make three tents.
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I've got a great idea.
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Mark's account says Peter didn't know what he was saying and he said it because he was
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afraid.
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Mark nine and verse six.
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These three men are in a unique class.
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They're the only three people in all of the Bible who fasted for 40 days and 40 nights.
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These three men, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, they all had unique encounters with God on
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a mountain.
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And Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, all three of them had a mysterious surrounding concerning
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their departure from this earth.
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Moses was buried in a place that only God knew.
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Elijah never died and Jesus was raised from the dead.
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But that's where the similarity stopped.
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Jesus is in a class all by himself.
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He's the image of the Godhead in bodily form, Colossians two and verse nine.
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And on the mountain, Peter misplaces glory.
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He makes a mistake that we all make.
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Peter had just said, if you look back in your Bible in Matthew 16 and verse 16, you're the
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Christ, the son of the living God.
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Matthew 17 and verse two, you see this bright light in Jesus, blindingly bright and majestic.
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And the best Peter can come up with is, hey, you're just like Moses and Elijah.
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And he missed it.
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Jesus is not like your favorite Old Testament character.
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They can't be compared to him because he's their creator.
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He says, the queen of the south came from the great ends of the earth to hear the wisdom
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of Solomon, but behold, one greater than Solomon is here.
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The people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, but behold, a greater than Jonah
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is here, Matthew 12, 41 through 42.
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According to the book of Hebrews, God at various times and various ways, spoken times
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passed to the fathers by the prophets.
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But in these last days, he speaks to us through his son, Hebrews 1, 1 and 2.
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Moses was a servant in God's house, but Christ, a son over his own house, whose house are
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we, Hebrews 3, 5 through 6.
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On the mount, there was misplaced glory.
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Peter thinks, I can make three tents for all three of you, and he misses it.
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And aren't we all guilty of doing the same thing?
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Anytime we say to God, God, I've got a great idea.
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Let's make three tents, one for you, one for my favorite hobby, and one for this other
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person that I really admire, we sound just as foolish as Peter.
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Exodus 20 and verse 3, God says, you'll have no other God before me.
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Peter thinks he's doing a great thing.
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It's like Cornelius bowing at the feet of Peter or John bowing before the angel in Revelation.
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The only person in the whole world, in the whole existence worthy of glory is God.
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And God says, I won't share my glory with anybody else, Isaiah 42 and verse 8.
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But we all misplace it sometimes.
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Somebody has said, most of us view our lives this way.
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We're at a table.
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God's on one end and we're on the other.
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There's a blank sheet of paper, we pull it out, and we sit down and we write on this
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blank sheet of paper everything we want for our lives, how we want our lives to go.
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We sign it, we hand it back over to God and essentially say to God, make this happen.
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But of course, that's a problem.
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Peter's problem here.
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His problem is, I've got ideas in my mind, so this must be the things that are in God's
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mind, but it's a mistake.
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Jeremiah says, oh, Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself.
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It's not in a man that walks to direct his own steps, Jeremiah 10.23.
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There's a way that seems right to a person, but the end of that way often leads to death,
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Proverbs 14 and verse 12.
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It's a terrible idea.
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The way it should work is this, you're sitting on one end of the table and God's on another.
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And God pulls out a piece of paper and a pen, and he slides the piece of paper across the
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table to you.
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You sign it and you give it back to God.
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And whatever he chooses to write in the lines, you're good with it because he's the one in
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complete control.
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Peter misplaces glory and he misses it by a mile.
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You remember when Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving the law, the people in Exodus 32
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are down at the foot of the altar and at the foot of the mountain, and they're building
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this golden calf.
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Not only do they do this in violation of the law of Moses, but they then ascribe to the
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golden calf things that should only be true of God.
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You brought us out of Egypt.
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Moses has no idea, or Peter has no idea on this occasion, how disrespectful the things
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are that he's saying.
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The only person that could save him, the only person that could be his mediator, it's not
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Moses and Elijah, it's Jesus.
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In the United States, there's this crime called the obstruction of correspondence.
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If you purposefully open mail that doesn't belong to you, you can be convicted of a felony
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and face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to $250,000.
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They say if mail comes to your home and it doesn't belong to you, don't open it, don't
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peek into it.
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You should write return to sender on it and try to get it to the mail services as quickly
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as you can because it doesn't belong to you and it's a crime.
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There will be people in your life that try to ascribe glory to you.
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There'll be people that will try to praise you.
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There will be people that will try to build you tabernacles.
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Every time you receive that glory, it's always a cosmic crime against heaven.
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What you should do when people try to ascribe glory to you like Peter tries to do on this
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occasion with Moses and Elijah is always make sure you immediately write return to sender
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on it.
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It doesn't belong to you.
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It's a crime against heaven.
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Glory belongs to God alone and you should say, don't misplace glory with me.
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I'm just a human being just like you and I'm ultimately trying to serve the king.
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Number four, on the mountain, there was a voice to hear and to obey.
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In verse five, God overshadows them in a cloud and he says, this is my beloved son
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with whom I'm well pleased.
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Listen to him.
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If you're writing your Bible, you can write Matthew 3, 17 here because this is similar
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to what was said at Jesus's baptism, except God adds one part.
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Listen to him.
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God fuses three Old Testament passages together here.
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Psalm two and verse seven says, Jesus is the only begotten son.
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Isaiah 42 in verse one says, the Messiah was going to be the special servant with whom
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God was pleased.
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And then in Deuteronomy 18 in verse 15, there was going to be one that comes after Moses
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that everybody in the world was supposed to hear.
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All three of these passages are fused together in God's response and he says, this is my
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beloved son.
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I'm well pleased and I want you to listen to whatever he says.
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On the mountain, there's a voice to hear and to obey.
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Of course, you should read and study the Old Testament.
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Whatever was written before was written for your learning, Romans 15 in verse four.
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But God says something here that would have been shocking to an Old Testament Israelite.
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He's saying, this is my son with whom I'm well pleased.
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Listen to him.
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What does that mean?
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It means listen to him above Moses.
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It means listen to Jesus even above Elijah.
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It means really hear him and then structure your life around everything that he's saying.
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The Bible's a massive book, but it really just comes down to this simple principle in
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Matthew 17 in verse five.
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You can simplify your whole life with this one principle.
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Listen to Jesus and then do what he says.
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The spirit gives life.
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The flesh is of no value at all.
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The words I speak to you, they're spirit and they're life, John 6 in verse 63.
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But the world's noisy.
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It always has been.
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If you think about it, it's almost like we're allergic to silence.
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You've always got to be listening to something.
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There's always a book to read, always a podcast to plug into.
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We can't stand to be silent and just be still and know, Psalm 46 in verse 10.
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But if we're really going to grow spiritually and be the people God wants us to be, we've
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got to come up on the mountain and then we have to simply listen to what he says and
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just do it.
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Some people listen, but they don't obey and that won't bless your life at all.
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A lot of people hear the words of God.
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James 1 says, be a doer of the word and not only a hearer.
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A lot of people really want to go out and do, but they've got no idea what the Bible
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actually says.
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Here, God puts them both together.
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He says, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.
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Listen to him.
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And in turn, if I'm ever going to be well pleased with you, then you've got to do everything
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that the son's telling you.
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Everybody in the world has a message for us.
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All sorts of people have things they want us to do and to practice and to believe.
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But the words of Jesus have to rise in importance above all those other words.
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There's a voice to hear and to obey.
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He says, this is my son.
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I'm well pleased with him.
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Listen to everything he's telling you.
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Submit to the words of Jesus and shape your whole life around these words.
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When Peter wrote 2 Peter, he's going to talk about being on this mountain 30 years after
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these events happen.
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And he says, we saw his glory on the majestic mountain, and we heard the voice from heaven,
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which said, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.
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Listen to him.
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He says, we do well to obey that voice from heaven until the day dawn arises and the star
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rises in our hearts.
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No prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation.
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Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.
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Holy men of God spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, 2 Peter 1, 16 through
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21.
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Peter says, we were up on the mountain.
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We heard the voice.
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You didn't hear it, but we wrote it down.
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And when you read these words, it's just as good as if you were there and listening
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to those words yourself.
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Every time we say to ourselves, you know, life's confusing.
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And I wish God would just come down and tell me exactly what he wants me to do.
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I wish I lived in the time of Jesus.
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And then I would know exactly all the decisions to make.
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Peter says, don't fool yourself.
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How you respond to the written word is exactly how you respond to the spoken word because
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they come from the very same source.
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To defy God here would be the same thing as if Jesus was standing right in front of you
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and says, go here, do this, refrain from this activity.
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On the mountain, we learned there's a voice to hear and there's a voice to obey.
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Here's the last thing.
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Number five, there's a comfort to enjoy.
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When the dust settles and Matthew 17 and verse six, the disciples are fearful.
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As you would expect, everybody in the Bible who had an encounter with God, they thought
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they were going to die.
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It happens to Ezekiel and Ezekiel 1, 28, John and revelation fell on his face and thought
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he was going to die.
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Revelation 1 and verse 17, and these men are greatly afraid.
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And if you saw God and all of his brightness and all of his effulgence and glory, you think
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the same thing.
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It's typical, their response.
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And Jesus' response is typical of what he does.
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Throughout the Bible, especially in the gospel of Matthew, when people are afraid, Jesus
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is often coming along and saying, don't be afraid.
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When he sees them and he's walking on the water, Matthew 14, 27, he says this, I don't
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be afraid.
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He says, don't fear man because they can only destroy the body.
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Matthew 10, 28, when he was raised from the dead and Matthew 28 and verse 10 before the
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great commission, he says, don't be afraid.
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Their eyes are open.
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They raised their eyes in verse eight and the text says, when all the dust settles,
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they saw only Jesus.
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And on the mountain, we learned this lesson.
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When all the dust settles in your life, all you need to know, and the only person you
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really need to see, it'll make everything right in your life.
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You just have got to see Jesus.
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The Greeks come to Philip in John 12 and verse 21.
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And it says in John 12, 21, they said, sirs, we would see Jesus.
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It's just a reminder.
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There's all kinds of heartache and people mean well in your life.
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They're going to reference books.
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They'll even give you Bible passages, but there are some human hurts and some heartbreaks
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that won't be fixed.
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They won't be made right until you see them.
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And when you do, all of life will make sense.
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On the mountain, we learned there's a comfort to enjoy.
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I mean, imagine being the apostles.
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There's this thundering voice from heaven.
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There's this cloud that overshadows.
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There's this brightness like you've never seen before with Jesus.
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There's Moses and Elijah.
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And Jesus shows up and he says, don't be afraid.
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There's a healthy fear that everybody in the world is supposed to possess about God, Proverbs
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1 and verse 7.
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But here, Jesus says, don't be afraid.
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It's his way of saying to them and to us, all of that power, all of that glory, it will
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terrify most men, but not you.
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Because all of that power, all of that glory, all of that brightness is actually on your
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side and working for you.
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What shall we say to these things?
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If God before us, who can be against us?
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He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up freely for us all, how will he not
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with him also freely give us all things?
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This is the power that's at work in you, Ephesians 3 and verse 21.
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In the Old Testament, when Moses went up and received the law of God, the people were
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fearful.
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They said, Moses, you go talk to God, because if we get near that mountain, we'll die, Exodus
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19, 13 through 16.
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And on this occasion, Jesus is saying to the apostles, come up to this mountain, because
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if you don't come up and get really close, then you won't really live.
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On the Mount of Transfiguration, there is a comfort to enjoy.
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And Jesus says, if you follow me to this mountain, you'll follow me ultimately to Mount Zion,
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to an eternal mountain, and we'll share eternal fellowship together forever.
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You know how the rest of the story goes.
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They don't stay on the mountain because nobody can.
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You weren't meant to.
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You've got to come back down and live in the world where there's noise, where there's distractions,
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where there's heartache, and where there's all kinds of things pulling at you, saying,
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give me glory.
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But what Peter, James, and John experienced, and as we read the text, what we should be
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seeing is there's a higher call.
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Jesus would take them to one more hill, one more mountain, and it would be the mountain
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of Calvary, and there Jesus would be crucified.
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Calvary shows us what Jesus came to do, but the Mount of Transfiguration shows us what
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Jesus wants all of us to ultimately be.
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And his resurrection and glorification, he'll share that with us, and he says this is where
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all of human history is ultimately heading.
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This is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased.
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Listen to him.
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If you're outside of Christ, God's message to you in Jesus is believe on the Messiah
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as the savior of the world.
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Turn from your sins, confess him before men, and be immersed in water.
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Be baptized to have your sins washed away, Acts 2.38.
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He'll give you the Holy Spirit, and you're not the best version of yourself yet.
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One day you'll be transfigured.
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This isn't the way you look forever.
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You're going to be glorified.
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If you're a Christian and you know I need to be called up higher, I've been just kind
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of camping out at a low altitude.
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Matthew 17 says he wants to do great things with you.
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You can fix this in your seat.
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You can pray to God and repent.
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You can ask for the prayers of the church.
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If we can help you in any way see things as they were always meant to be seen, let us
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know how we can do it as together we stand and as we sing.