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Nov 17, 2024

God Speaks and We Should Listen | Living in His Glory

God Speaks and We Should Listen | Living in His Glory

Passage: Matthew 17:1-8

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Living in His Glory

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: church, faith, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, gospel, hope, sermon on the mount, sermons, holy spirit, christian community, jesus christ, lord, christianity, transfiguration, bible study, son of god, inspirational, matthew 17, god speaks, study the bible, bible teaching, christian motivation, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream, christian inspiration, burnt hickory sermons, sermon for life change, god’svoice, how to hear god’s voice, how does god get our attention

What happens when God speaks? Do we stop to listen, or do we rush past His voice in the noise of life? Join us as we explore Matthew 17:1-8, where Peter, James, and John experience the awe-inspiring transfiguration of Jesus. As they witness His glory, God interrupts their moment with a profound command: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" Through this passage, we’re reminded that encountering Jesus should leave us changed and moved to action. But how does God speak to us today? Whether through His Word, moments of worship, challenges, or wise counsel, He’s always calling us closer. This message challenges us to pause, ask how God might be interrupting our lives, and respond in obedience. Are you ready to fully experience Jesus? Discover how to recognize, love, listen to, and live for Him in every moment. Watch now and take the next step in your faith journey by visiting burnthickory.com/next.

Last week we started a new series called Living in His Glory. We are slowly walking through this mountain event called the Mount of Transfiguration. It's fitting that we're looking at this mountain event because we are right in the middle of mountain season. In fact, every time I get on and scroll social media right now, somebody is taking a picture of a mountain or the leaves or the changing during this season.

If you had to pick between mountain or beach, which team would you be on? Raise your hand if you would say, Matt, I am definitely a mountain person. All right. If you say, I am a beach person, Matt, how many of you are out there? Okay. Whoa, that's overwhelming. I think the mountain people must have come earlier this morning. They're already at the apple barn.

Well, I feel you both. But this time of year, I'm definitely a mountain person. One of the things I've noticed about mountains is that they do make us think about some things in life. One thing that comes to mind when you see the mountains is just how small we are. Has that ever hit you before when you pull up, maybe it's 575 or 85 or 400, or even going out to the Rockies?

It makes you feel small, doesn't it? It shows you the grand idea of creation. It shows you there's this bigness of what God has given us in creation. It's okay to enjoy what God has given us, the creation God has given us in the mountains. There's also a freshness in the mountains. Have you ever realized, especially those of you who like to camp, there’s that freshness in the morning when you're waking up in the mountains? There's also a rawness in the mountains. And when you read scripture, one of the things I thought about this week is that God uses mountains for teaching. He uses mountains for ministry. He uses it for worship. He uses mountains for us to experience his presence.

So for those of you who are beach people, yes, God does use that as well. He split the sea. They walked on the beach. He cooked by the beach. He walked on the water. He called the disciples on the beach. There are some beach moments. But for you mountain people, some significant events in scripture happen in the mountains. Something hit me this week about the Bible. Did you realize that anytime a mountain is mentioned in the Bible, God is doing something big?

Let me go chronologically. There's Mount Ariat in Genesis 8, where the ark landed at the end of the flood, right at the end of God resetting the whole earth, there was this rainbow of promise that they got to see out the window on Mount Ariat. Fast forward past that to Mount Mariah in Genesis 22. This is where Abraham was called to take Isaac to be the sacrifice, but God provided the lamb in the thicket. To show his promise and to show his power and to show Abraham's faithful. And that also became the Temple Mount later on, where the ultimate lamb was sacrificed. In Deuteronomy and Exodus, Mount Sinai was known as the mountain of God, the mountain that Moses went up to receive the 10 Commandments. Moses went up Mount Pisgah or Nebo to see the Promised Land. A little bit of a bittersweet moment for Moses, because he had been leading these people this whole time to the place he never got to walk in, but he got to see it. Fast forward to Mount Carmel, one of my favorite mountains: This is in 1 Kings where Elijah calls down the fire on the mountain and destroys all the prophets of Baal in that moment. Fast forward to the New Testament, and you have Mount Olive, otherwise known as the Mount of Olives. It's where Jesus went to the garden to pray, to take upon the sin of the world, to ask God if there was any other way for him to not have to go to the cross. It's also the place he came back to after the resurrection that he ascended to God, ascended back to heaven. It's also the place where at the end of time, Jesus will return. Mount Calvary is the where cross was, where Christ became sin on my and your behalf.

And last but not least is the mountain that we're looking at today. As you're taking in this fall season, there's something to the mountains and God pointing to himself as you realize the grandiose nature of what he's given us. It's God's country if you would.

Last week we joined this event in Matthew 17, and we mentioned the Transfiguration is not this huge public event. There are not masses of people, but it's for Peter, James, and John. These guys had followed him faithfully. And now Jesus has taken them to the mountain to show them privately who he is. And we saw last week that's how he works in our lives: more often than not, it starts with a private moment. It starts with a personal moment. And that's why every single week, somebody from this stage continues to encourage you that listening to somebody like me is not enough. We all need these personal moments with God because the power, the wisdom, and the revelation that we receive in private will always dictate what flows from us in public. That's what we said last week, and we said that our times with the word revolve around intentional solitude, a prepared heart, opening up the word of God, and having a focused moment of prayer.

Last week, we barely scratched the surface of this event. I want us to jump back into the mountain event. Let me read all eight verses in case you weren't here, of the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17:1 says, that after six days, Jesus took with him, Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. That's about as far as we made it. Here's what it says. His face shone like the sun. His clothes became white as light, and just then there appeared before them, Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish. I will put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. When he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my son whom I love. And with him, I am well pleased. When the disciples heard this, they fell face down on the ground terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. Get up. He said, do not be afraid. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.

Now, we briefly mentioned last week that the word transformed is one of the keywords of this whole text. I would encourage you to circle that text or highlight that verse. This is where we get our word metamorphosis. We skimmed over it last week. But what that means in earthly terms is that something has been changed from the inside to the out. That's what metamorphosis means, so that's what transformed or transfigured means. Now, for Jesus, he showed these guys, Peter, James, and John, who he was on the inside. So what happened is Jesus removed the blinders, showed his divinity, showed his true self, and gave them a glimpse of the fullness of who he was on the inside. Now, this is important, and here's why. It's easy to read this text, to see this event, and to think that all of a sudden Jesus became something new that he wasn't already before. But that is not the case. Jesus did not become something new. That's why the word transfigured was used. The transfiguration implies a revelation of his true nature. Jesus didn't receive some kind of new power. He didn't get some kind of new role. He wasn't given some kind of new wisdom. He wasn't gifted some kind of new lordship. Jesus showed these guys a fuller picture of who he was without the limitations that he had put on himself. Look at verses two and three, it gives us some clues with the language that backs this up.

There he (speaking of Jesus) was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun. His clothes became white as light, and just then, there appeared before them, Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Now, normally when you're preaching through this text, you don't get to really spend time in this little moment right here, because you're trying to get through all eight of these verses in one message. That's why I'm choosing to walk through it in three weeks because there's so much in these two verses that I want to slow down and show you what exactly is happening in this encounter. This encounter probably more than any other, outside of the ascension and the crucifixion, shows us exactly who Jesus is and validates that Jesus is fully God.

Never let anybody out there look at Jesus and say, he was just a good man. Never let anybody say that he was just a miracle worker, that he was a sage, that he was just somebody that was a promoter of peace. Now, although he was all of those things, the central part of who Jesus is was fully God and fully man. It’s incredibly important. Because if he was not fully man, he could not have lived the life that we should have lived to be our sacrifice. If he was not fully God, he could not have died the death to atone for all of our sins. But in this moment, what we're seeing is the God-Man. Jesus has given these guys a small glimpse into his full glory, which is that He is God.

The un-muted image and fullness was shown. So what happened to Jesus? Scripture says His face lit up and his clothes lit up. I want to bring in the accounts of Luke and Mark to show you exactly what happened when we mesh all these together. Luke 9:29 says this, as Jesus says, he was praying, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became bright as a flash of lightning. Now, I love this, because I'm a kid of the eighties. When we went to bed at night, there was no sound machine. There was no eye mask, and there were no blackout shades. You looked out the window and you went to bed. Now, remember when you went to bed in the summertime and there was a big old thunderstorm going on at nighttime? When lightning would crack down in the darkness in your room it would light up. The whole room all of a sudden went from full darkness to full light. That's what Luke is saying is happening right here. So don't think of this as Jesus warmed up a little bit, and eventually, he became full-blown and glowing. No, no, no. It was all of a sudden it got a little bit better.

In Luke's account, he describes that this event most probably happened at nighttime, which makes it even better. If it's happening in the daytime, you're like, man, is that Jesus, or is that the sun reflecting off of him? Luke 9:32 says Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, They saw the glory and the two men standing with them. Luke mentions these disciples were asleep, and then all of a sudden, like your spouse turning on the bathroom light at nighttime: boom! The brightness shown around them. I love what Mark says about it. Mark 9:3  says, his clothes became dazzling, white: whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. This includes my grandmother who would bleach everything. Because this was out of this world.

Why did Jesus need to do this? Look, there are so many commentaries. There are hundreds of pages of really smart people that write so much about this event in time. There's so much speculation. There are so many crazy answers. But it's incredibly clear here is that Jesus needed to leave a lasting impression on these three guys and all of us that are followers of his for the rest of time, of exactly who he is. We don't have to dig any farther than that. Jesus knew that he needed to show these guys the fullness of who he is. Because times were coming they were gonna need to know that to live it out.

You see, Jesus did this six months before the cross. It was eight months before his ascension back to the Father. Jesus knew for them, and he knew for us, there were going to be so many difficulties in life. There was going to be so much hardness in life. There was going to be so much persecution in life. There was going to be so much of a load that these guys had to carry for his name… They were going to have to fully grasp who he is to live in a culture that despises the name of Jesus. He knew this. Jesus knew all his followers had to intimately and fully know who he was to live underneath the shadow of his glory.

Jesus fully shows them his inner workings to put it in language that we can understand. Coming out of Halloween, Jesus took the mask off and showed who he was. As if Jesus said, I'll show you who I am so that you can show others who I am.

It’s this incredible moment of his illuminating light, but also we see his fullness through those who show up at the Mountain. We see God's glory show not only through Jesus but also through those who showed up at the party. First, there was Moses. He was the giver of the law, the word of God. The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It's what Moses gave on how to live in the name of God. Moses was also the deliverer. Literally, his name means deliverer. And he was the one charged to deliver God's people out of Egypt.

So standing with Jesus, we have Moses, the giver of the law, the giver of the Word of God, and the deliverer. But it makes so much sense. Because Jesus was the word made flesh to come to dwell among us. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. And Jesus was not just the deliverer of the Jews, but of all mankind. Are you seeing this? We've got Little D deliverer, Moses standing with Big D deliverer of all mankind

But then secondly, there was Elijah on the mountain. Elijah was a prophet who was literally the voice of God to a hurting and broken world. He was the sole voice, and he was a representation of the Savior. He was seeing Jesus, who is God. Jesus is the voice of God to a lost, hurting, and broken world. And Jesus is not just the representation of a Savior, but Jesus is the Savior for all mankind.

Now, when you put both of those two together, it's incredible. Looking at Jesus in his fullness, right here he is the complete fulfillment of the law, the complete fulfillment of the prophecies, the deliverer of all mankind, the Messiah, and the Savior of the world at this moment. And as a side note about Elijah and Moses, according to Malachi 4, in Revelation 10 and 11, there's going to be another day that these two guys gather with Jesus and are witnesses for who Jesus is. It's almost like this is a dress rehearsal for what's going to happen at the end of times.

Then don't forget, it's not just Moses and Elijah. Peter is the voice of the disciples, and really for the beginning of the church. James was the first disciple who was martyred for his faith. You’ve got John, the self-proclaimed one whom Jesus loved and who wrote the book of Revelation that gives an incredibly similar event to this that is going to happen one day. So when you put the deliverer, the Messiah, the prophets, the word of God, the beginning of the church, the martyrdom, and the end of times together, you are seeing in this moment the fullness of who Jesus is. This one moment that we blast through so many times and hurry through. It can change us like it changed Peter, James, and John. And then as a result of that, the worldwide movement of Christianity began to spread.

Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Now these guys are on a new level with their relationship with Jesus, they have to be. And if you think about any time a friend shares something in confidence with you or tells you something that they've never told you or anybody else, there's this new level of trust. There's this higher relationship bond, and this is exactly what Jesus did in their lives. Yes, they were amazed. Yes, this would be etched into their minds forever and ever and ever. Yes, they got to see the whole picture of who Jesus is, that he was fully God and fully man.

But I want you to see the Peter principle here: You cannot experience Jesus in a real way and not be changed and not be moved to action. You just can't. Truly knowing Jesus is not just educational, it's not just a cool moment. It's not just a card you fill out or a little baptism that you walk through. Truly experiencing Jesus changes you quite literally from the inside out. And it always causes you to begin to walk out your faith. It changes us. It causes action. That's exactly what happened in these guys' lives. And it's exactly what Jesus wants to happen in your life.

In fact, in verse four, Peter looks at Jesus and he says, listen, I've gotta do something. This is always Peter's response. But that Peter was changed and moved to take action to serve the king is such a great example for us. Peter said, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Now, you might want to circle that because this is where Peter's conversation should have ended. This is such a great example. If Peter's conversation had ended right here, it would've shown us how to walk into the presence of Jesus. It would've even been a good thing for Peter to go, Jesus, it is good for us to be here, and what can we do to serve you? But Luke reminds us that he was speaking out of fear here. And so watch what Peter says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. But then he keeps talking. This is what gets him in trouble. If you wish, I will put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said this is my son whom I love. And with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him.

Right in the middle of Peter's little speech, God interrupted him. Peter is running his mouth. I can see it. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said, this is my son whom I love. And with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him.

God interrupted him mid-sentence. Can I be vulnerable and transparent with you for a minute? This is me. I tend in my relationship with God to always want to be the one talking. I know God has given me a set of pipes, that is evident. But for some reason, I always want to be the one talking. And God so many times gives me this Peter moment where God's like, Hey, Matt, excuse me. It might be wise to be quiet and listen to me. Have you ever been there before? God has to interrupt me all the time. Now, obviously, God doesn't interrupt me through a bright light or glow and hovering around me. No, that doesn't really happen. If it did, listen, you're gonna hear about it the next Sunday! But it's usually not that way. God interrupts me in a lot of the same ways He probably interrupts you. Let me give you five ways that God interrupts us.

Number one, he uses his Word. How many times have you been reading God's Word and all of a sudden something in it jumped off the page and said, that's for you today? If it's never happened to you, it's because you've never spent time in his Word regularly. Because it happens all the time where all of a sudden you'll read verse after verse and say, oh yeah, that's great. And then all of a sudden it's like, boom. That's for you. Listen, that's an interruption from God. To pause for a minute and ask, God, what are you trying to tell me? Maybe that day you don't make it through the whole Bible reading plan. I know that's a little bit harder for achievers. But he uses his word.

Secondly, God interrupts us through worship moments, whether it be privately or whether it be publicly. Sometimes there's a song. Maybe you've sung it a hundred times, but something that day says that's for you. That's the Holy Spirit interrupting you and saying it's for you. Dwell on it. Think about it. Put in your life. Third, God uses difficulties more often than not. And number four, God allows failures in my life. Because sometimes we're running and chasing after something good, but it might not be the best. And God puts a roadblock up in front of us to say, You might need to pause for a minute.

Here's the fifth way God interrupts me a lot of times: it's through people. I would also say through wise counsel. How many times have you heard somebody come up to you and say, Hey, I don't know why, but I feel like I need to say this to you. Now, look on the forefront of that, it's kind of weird. It really is. You're like, Ooh, that's weird. But the more you think about it, you may say, You know what? You're right. I probably needed to hear that.

Our problem is we don't see God in the interruptions. We chalk it up to happenstance. We chalk it up to coincidence. We chalk it up to accident, or we're so loud that we don't hear it. We don't spend enough time on the mountain with Jesus to be able to experience him. Can I lay down a challenge for you for this week? Here's the challenge: Stop. Just stop and ask God, how is he trying to interrupt you? And then when you ask, and when you find it, listen, and walk in it. Walk in the pathway that God says walk. Because I guarantee you, when you sense the interruption, if you do what he's saying, you'll always see Jesus more clearly.

So let's get back to the mountain. Why was Peter interrupted? He was interrupted because God simply wanted Peter and the rest of the guys to see who Jesus was above everything else. It's because God wanted these guys to experience Jesus even more deeply. It's because God knew that there would be so much more time for serving in His name. God knew that their faith if it was going to last, had to be built on a sure foundation of the overshadowing presence of the living God. In fact, look back at verse five and watch what happens. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. Now, as if the radiant Jesus wasn't enough, as if it wasn't enough to have Moses and Elijah on the scene… Now a bright cloud, the Shekhinah glory of God from the Old Testament, comes over them.

And now God the Father is about to speak in his overshadowing presence. You see, when we go to the mountain with Jesus, Jesus is the one who takes us there. We see his glory. We bow down in his presence. We give him praise. We're moved to take action. We meet God the Father there. But then what does God the Father do? He overshadows us in His presence. Believer, this is the goal of the Christian life, to walk in the overshadowing presence of God. But here's the problem: most of us go about it the wrong way. We tend to ask God to fill us and move in us. Then we say things like, God, if you will fill me and move in me, then I will stand up and be obedient to you. God, if you'll show me your power, then I will live for you. If you will bless my family, then I'll live for you. If you heal me, then I'll live for you. But listen, that's not how it works.

Write this principle down. Our obedience is what leads us to a position for God's presence to overshadow us. We don't work for our salvation. But when we are followers of Jesus, bowing down in the presence of God in obedience, he moves in us. That's the point of the story here. And until this happens, we're always going to chase our agenda and put things above him.

Verse five said, this is God speaking: This is my son whom I love and with him I am well pleased. It's not very often in the Bible or in all of humanity that the booming audible voice of God happens. But when it does, we should probably listen to it. And in this case, we should listen to it because God gives us the game plan of how we can walk in and fully experience his glory.

So let me close with giving you four ways that you can walk into the full presence of Jesus. It's a process. Number one: recognize Jesus. You’ve got to recognize him for who he is; he's not just a good man, he's God. He's the Savior of the world. He's the Lord of all, and he wants a relationship with you. He lived a life that you couldn't live. He died the death that you deserve to die, to give you the chance to have the atonement for your sins, the forgiveness of your sins, because he is the word. He is the deliverer. He is the final prophet that has come to give you life. Here's the question: Have you recognized Jesus as your Lord? If you haven't, you cannot walk in the presence of God.

Remember verse five, God not only said, this is my son; he says, whom I love. Number two, we love Jesus above all else. We love him above all else. If God loves something, my affection should go there as well. When I love Jesus, it literally means that I put all the other things that I love underneath him. I put my relationship with people, work, sports, my hobbies up underneath who he is. Loving him means I'm submitting to who he is. But God doesn't stop there.

Number three, he says we need to listen to him. We need to cut through the noise. We need to cut through the other stuff. We need to cut through the chatter in our lives and give the first place and first voice to Jesus. Because he is the word. He is the deliverer. He is the truth. He is the light. He's the one that has saved us from our sins. I love the end of the verse. It says, this is my son whom I love, with whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him. When you read an event like this, you're like, well, Matt, of course, I would listen to him if he glowed on the mountain with me… to which I would say to you that God's been glowing for a long time. He's given us his word. He's given us godly people. He's given us circumstances. He's given us this Holy Spirit conviction. And now he's asking us to hear Him.

We'll see number four at the end of next week. But I couldn't go on without it. I would say not only recognize, love, and listen to him, but we need to live for him. It's only those who truly love Him that live for him. Want to know if your relationship with Jesus is true? Ask yourself, am I living in his presence?

Do you know why I love this event? It's almost like these guys that love Jesus stumbled into this moment, and then they were blown away. But that's kind of God's MO. He takes people like me, he takes people like you, the ones that say, Hey, God, here I am. And he says, let me show you who I am and send you as mine.

What do you need to do to recognize that it's Jesus in front of you? Maybe you need to give your life to Jesus, to ask him to forgive you of your sins, to give you life, to come into your heart as your Savior and your Lord, and to save you. I believe there are those of you in the room who have been underneath the conviction of the Holy Spirit for a while, and you need to submit your heart to Him today by doing something like this, saying, Lord, I need you.

If you're online, I want you to go to the Next Steps app and hit that first button that says, I prayed to receive Jesus today, and somebody will follow up with you. Would you do that today? Maybe today, you know Jesus, but you need somebody to pray with you. We would love to do that. It'd be an honor to us so that you can see the glory of God.

Follow Along with the Message

God Speaks and We Should Listen

November 17, 2024

Matthew 17:1–8
1 After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. 4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
Matthew 17:2–3
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
Luke 9:29
As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.
Luke 9:31
Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
Mark 9:3
His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
Mark 17:4
Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here…”

PRINCIPLE: You cannot experience Jesus in a real way and not be and to action.

Matthew 17:4–5
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters — one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
God Interrupts Us Through

1. His

2. moments

3.

4.

5. (wise counsel)

CHALLENGE: Stop and ask God how He is trying to you?

Matthew 17:5
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them…

PRINCIPLE: Our leads us to a position for God’s presence to overshadow us.

Matthew 17:5
…and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
Game Plan for Fully Experiencing Jesus

1. Jesus

2. Jesus above all else

3. to Jesus

4. for Jesus

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