Jesus the Messiah Pt 3

Good morning. Y'all stand with us. I want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel and those online. We welcome you as you join us as we worship and study God's Word this morning. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity that you've given us and the freedom to be able to come and worship you in song and study your Word, fellowship with you and one another. Would you be glorified in our service, Lord?

Would you speak to us by your Holy Spirit? Fill us afresh by your Holy Spirit, Lord. Encourage us as your vessels as we hope to be witnesses, our life of witness in what we do and what we say. We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name.

You're in control. Ultimately, it all comes down to the finish line. You're doing what you're doing here on this earth. You're allowing what you're allowing because you're doing a work.

And even there are those who think they're really in control. They're not, Lord.

Just as old Caesar Augustus thought he was in control when he called the taxing for the people, it was according to God's will that Jesus would be going right there in Bethlehem. But you're in control and we thank you for that, Lord. In Jesus' name.

Continue to yield ourselves to you, Lord. As you do that work, making us those vessels usable for you as you allow trials and those things that we have to face to build character in our life so we can face what comes up each day, each week. We thank you, Lord.

If we even reflect what you took us out of, Lord, took us from, brought us to, Lord, and are taking us to as we will be in glory with you, it shows us that truly we are nothing, Lord. But we thank you that with you, we can be what is best for us and give you glory. We thank you, Lord. Jesus, would you all stand? Father, I just thank you for that hymn. Holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,

but all there is none beside you, Lord. In spite of this dark world, you are in control in all your works. Thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Praise you, Lord.

O sovereign, matchless King, the saints adore thee. Praise you, Lord. These sufferings, this passing time has made me...

Father, we just pour our hearts out to you right now. We praise you, Lord. We thank you for your love, your mercy. There's so much going on, Lord. We know in this world in which we're living that there's always a constant as we look to you. Praise you, Lord. Oh, let's do that chorus one more time. Praise you, Lord. Amen. God is good. All the time, God is good. Yes. Let's have some fellowship now.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. We'll get ready to go over a few announcements before we get started here. Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, all of the things are going on. So take note of the places to get plugged into throughout the week. A couple of things in the middle section of your bulletin to pay attention to. First of all is that we've got our

baptism, picnic, and family swim night is tonight. I believe, the weather channel, that it's going to be sunny in 75 by the time this happens. So, yeah, the water will be cold, and I love cold water, so it's going to be fun. All that to say, it's going to be a great time, so come join us tonight. Hopefully, you can make it. Also, before we get to the VBS announcement, because there's going to be a video about that,

just a reminder, we've also got some opportunities to serve within the church. As far as I know, we still need some servants in the areas of the greeting ministry, the nursery ministry, and the Sunday school ministry. So, if you're interested in getting involved in any of those areas, please come see me after the service. But we've got some great time. So, let's get started.

We've also got our Vacation Bible School coming up, and we're getting really excited about that. So, if you've got kids, grandkids, whatever, that want to get signed up, here's a little promotional video about that.

As we zoom around Australia, we'll discover some amazing animals and sights. More importantly, like a boomerang, we are returning kids to what the Bible says about the value of life. We'll discover how precious each and every one of us is to God. Each person is made in the image of God, wonderfully designed to know Him and to live for Him. Out of His great love, God offers us salvation

through His Son, Jesus. Kids will learn that life is valuable. Grab your sunnies, that's your sunglasses, and your mates, those are your friends, and get ready for a fair dinkum time at Zoomerang.

Okay, so, that is coming up. Sign up information is down there if you want to get some folks signed up for it. Also, a reminder that this coming Wednesday, we have a work day from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. here at the church. So, if you have some time to come out and volunteer for that, we would love to have a little bit of help putting some things together, I assume, for

decorations and things along those lines. So, those are the things that are going on. So, if you would, make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our, what's going to be a unison reading this morning, we will be in Psalm 55. Psalm 56. Psalm 56. We'll be looking at the New American Standard for this particular portion of it. If you need a copy of that, should be one in your row.

And as you're turning to Psalm 56, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

Psalm 56. And if you would read along with me. For the choir director, according to Janath, Elam, Rahokim, a mishtim of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me. Fighting all day long, he oppresses me. My foes have trampled upon me all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me? All day long, they distort my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They attack, they lurk, they watch my steps, as they have waited to take my life. Because of wickedness, cast them forth. In anger, put down the peoples, O God. You have taken account of my wanderings,

put my tears, put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Your vows are by name. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Your vows are by name. Your vows are by name. What can man do to me? Together sometimes you set your own strife, where do you D شي ou see? My troubles become小's with you. What can I do therefore? I need what God has given me so that I can communc mimicry to my vows, to patient life. And I need, and I've got the means to warm my c oom turned to me by p my sent brings love to me.

When Ihen� s upon me, O God, I will render thanks offerings to u. Father, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning, that you would move in our hearts as you see fit. Father, I lift up our nation. And Father, I pray that as chaos seems to be ruling right now, I pray that you would move as you see fit. Father, we know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood,

but against principalities and powers, against wickedness in high places. Father, it is a spiritual battle that we fight. So, Lord, help us to fight on a spiritual plane and help us to be empowered by your Holy Spirit. We thank you, Father, for who you are, and we trust that we'll hear from you and see you more clearly this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.

If you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 17. Matthew, chapter 17. We had a great time on our vacation. It was lots of driving, but it was also lots of naps on the beach, which is a lot of fun, too. It usually means I get a little bit sunburned, but that's kind of how it goes. But it was a great time, and I was able to—I love—I mentioned this on Wednesday night, too.

I love that we have the online available because I was able to listen to the Wednesday night service, and I was able to listen to Sunday morning, and I thought both Nick and Lewis did an amazing job. I'm so blessed to be able to have people to hand off the pulpit to when I'm out of town. And so I thought you all were very blessed. I'm so blessed by the message that they were able to bring to you those two times.

So we now kick back into gear with our series, the last part of our series, where we've been talking about Jesus the Messiah. We said in chapters 16 and 17, that really was the theme, was Jesus as the Messiah. We saw, first of all, in part one, a question. The religious leaders came to Jesus asking a question, proved to us through some sort of a sign that you are the Messiah.

And he, of course, rebuked them. He came for that. And then in the second study, we saw the confession where Jesus asked his disciples. He said, who do you say that I am? And, of course, they made that wonderful confession. You are the Christ, the Son of God. And now we come to the third part, and the third part is the revelation. Because what we'll see today in chapter 17 is the revelation of the Messiah.

He will reveal himself in amazing ways. And as we look at the revelation of the Messiah, there's three things that will come to us in chapter 17. Three ways in which he will reveal himself in chapter 17. We will, first of all, see his glory. We will, second of all, see his power. And we will, third, see his wisdom. And so we pick up in chapter 17, verse 1, as we talk about his glory.

It says, Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them. And his face shone. He shone like the sun. And his garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.

If you wish, I will make three tabernacles here. One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. And while he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, This is the day. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.

And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, Get up and do not be afraid. And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. And as they were coming down from the mountain, he commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. And his disciples asked him, Why did the scribes, say that Elijah must come first?

And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. The disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. An amazing story in which Jesus reveals his glory to these disciples.

It starts off with a little bit of a time stamp. It says six days later. In other words, about a week later. But you should always ask yourself when there's a time stamp like that, especially such a specific time stamp. Six days later, then what? Well, it leads us to the very last verse of the previous chapter. In the last verse of the previous chapter, Jesus said,

Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Now that didn't mean that there were some who would not end up dying until they saw Jesus' second coming. What he was referring to was the incident that would take place about a week later in this transfiguration. And so six days later, Jesus calls three of his disciples to himself, Peter, James, and John, and he tells them, it's time to go up on the mountain by ourselves.

In other gospel accounts, it says, let's go up on the mountain to pray. Jesus was famous for his mountaintop prayer time. He was famous for his time of getting away by himself to spend time in prayer. And this time he takes along with him Peter, James, and John. Now, one would ask themselves, why didn't he take all 12? Why did he only take Peter, James, and John?

And there's a lot of explanations that people give. I think that there's a couple of thoughts that can come into play here. Number one, Peter, James, and John were sort of pillars of the early church, and they would become pillars of the early church. As a matter of fact, I don't think we can discount the authority and the wisdom that God would give them to lead the early church.

But you know, I think that there's a second reason why. And I think the second reason why goes along with what they told us when I was in Bible college when we became dorm stewards. You see, each dorm room when I was in Bible college had six guys in it, one of whom was called a dorm steward. He was the one who made sure that all of the guys in the room kept up with the cleaning of the room and were doing their devotions and kind of kept everybody on track.

A lot of times you might call them the dorm dork. Anyway, it was some sort of a position of spiritual leadership within the Bible college. And I'll never forget Mark Schwartz, the scariest man I've ever seen in my life, stand up in front of all of us as dorm stewards, a bunch of 19, 20-year-old guys who didn't know come here from Sikkim but felt pretty much sure that we had it all under control. He said, And so it's kind of like that with Peter, James, and John, right?

Did he take them up there because of the great spiritualism? Did he take them up there because of the great spiritual leadership that they had exercised up to this point in time and would in the future? Or were they the ones that God needed to keep a closer eye on? It's hard to say. It's funny because I've heard this same statement used at pastors' conferences,

that those of us that are called into ministry, some of us are called into ministry because we have such great leadership skills and communication skills, and some of us are called into ministry because God knew otherwise we would wander off on our own, and he never told us which one we are. And so that's what he does with Peter, James, and John here. He calls them up. He calls them up.

They come down the mountain by themselves. And may I say, just as a short aside, I loved what John Corson had to say in his commentary. He said, Our times that we are called into isolation with the Lord are extremely important times because if we don't have that time, we can never be prepared for the things that are to come in our lives. And so he calls them apart, and as they're up on the mountain by themselves, Matthew's very gracious in the way that he presents this.

Luke is not. Luke tells us that while they were up on the mountain, they were all praying, and Peter and the other two fell asleep. Jesus continued praying. I can relate more with Peter, James, and John because I'm really good at falling asleep when I pray too, but that's what they did. They fall asleep when they pray. And while Jesus was praying, it says he was transfigured before them.

And his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light. That word transfigured could also be translated transform. It's the Greek word metamorpho. It's where we get our word metamorphosis from. The idea is an outward change that is produced by an inward quality. It's what happens to a butterfly, or to a, oh my gosh, I just totally went brain.

Caterpillar, thank you. All I could think was cocoon. It's what happens to a caterpillar when it goes into the cocoon and eventually becomes a butterfly. In its inward nature, that's what it really is. Once it becomes a butterfly, it simply shows on the outside what it already was on the inside. That's exactly what happens to Jesus at this point in time. You see, the miracle was not that all of a sudden

his skin began to show. It was this short cessation of the miracle that was already taking place. When Jesus came to earth, he didn't lay aside his deity. He laid aside his glory and covered himself with the suit of a man. With the body of a man. For a very short amount of time, the part of Jesus that was a man was laid aside and the glory of who he is as the very son of God began to shine forth.

He was transformed. The inward quality of who he was began to show on the outside. It showed in a very visible and very beautiful way. It describes it in two ways. It says, first of all, that his face shone like the sun. I don't know if you've ever looked at the sun. I hope you don't because they say that can actually ruin your eyes. But it's really bright.

It causes us to do one of these if we've been inside for a real long time, right? Because of the absolute bright nature of the sun shining down on us. That's what he says his face looked like. And notice what it says his clothing looked like. His garments became as white as light. The glory of God shined forth so much that it became a blinding light in the eyes of the disciples.

Now, we should ask ourselves the question, why does this happen at this point in time? I've always wondered this about this particular scene. I've learned about this scene since I was a real small kid going to Sunday school. And I've always found myself going, what was the point of this scene? And I think I'm starting to understand a little bit of why. I think it's a twofold reason why.

I think it was, first of all, for the sake of the disciples. Remember what had happened in the last chapter with the confession? Jesus had said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. He made this amazing, amazing announcement. And his faith was rewarded by seeing Jesus in an even deeper, more clear way. Isn't it amazing that as we go deeper in faith,

Jesus meets us there and reveals more of himself to us? As we go deeper in our understanding of who God is, as we begin to shed the things of the world, the ideas of the world, the visions of the world, the vision of Jesus becomes much more clear and much more bright to us. It's the same idea that's given to us here of, for the sake of the disciples, for the continual building of their faith, he reveals his glory to them. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, which, by the way, is how John in his gospel describes it.

But it was not only for the sake of the disciples, but I also think it was for the sake of Jesus. Because remember, Jesus in his humanity was still having to face what he told his disciples in the last chapter. Because remember, the thought of the cross, the thought of the cross is becoming something that is really taking up the mind and the heart of Jesus at this point in time. As a matter of fact, he began to tell his disciples about it in the last chapter.

We'll see him say it again in this chapter. And in just a moment, we'll see that he's gonna talk to two guys named Moses and Elijah. And Luke tells us that what they talked about was his death and his resurrection. You see, I think Jesus was at the point where he needed in his humanity that reminder of who he really is and what his mission on this earth really is.

Because brothers and sisters, we can never discount the fact that Jesus experienced temptation and discouragement beyond anything that we can imagine on this earth. And in his humanity, he needed this reminder. He needed the encouragement of the law and the prophets reminding him of who he really is. And there he stands in all of his glory. And as he's standing there in all of his glory,

the disciples totally freaked out by what they see. Notice what they see. Notice what they see. Notice what they see. Notice what they see. Notice what it says. Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Now, I always have one distinct question at this point in time. Perhaps it's your question too. How did they know it was Moses and Elijah?

Right? That's what I wanna know. Like, were they wearing name tags? Was Moses like, Moses, hi, my name is, and he wrote it Moses, right? Elijah was like, hi, my name is, nevermind. Right? He didn't wanna write his name. Anyway, how did they know that's who, whatever it was, it was distinctly clear exactly who these guys were. And they stood there and they talked to Jesus.

Now, I want you to picture this in your mind, okay? Get a little bit of a picture of what's going on here. Your best friend, all of a sudden, is now glowing like a nightlight. The brightest nightlight you've ever seen in your life. Like, right? Just coming off of him. And as he's standing there, Moses and Elijah appeared there too. And the three of them are all talking.

And they're all hanging out. And you're just like, and this is such a cool picture because, always in scripture, Moses signifies the law. He was the earthly giver of the law. He was the one who enforced the law. He was the one who taught the children of Israel what the law was supposed to mean. And he was the one that wrote it all down. And then stands with him is Elijah.

And biblically speaking, scripturally speaking, Elijah is always representative of the prophets because he was one of the greatest prophets that ever lived. The only one that was greater than him, we're told by Jesus, was John the Baptist. So there stands the law and the prophets, each on the sides of Jesus. Now, what did we say that the law and the prophets all testify of?

They all testify of Christ. They all testify of Jesus. Isn't that amazing? The law and the prophets and the thing that they had told about. Can you imagine being Moses and Elijah at this point in time? While they were already living in paradise, they now testify of Jesus. They now got to see the very Son of God that they had prophesied about all of those years.

That they had talked about, that they had looked forward to all of those years. And can you imagine what that must have been like? But not only this, once you think about it, because we just talked about this on Wednesday nights in the book of Numbers. We just talked about the fact that Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because he sinned in the wilderness on the way to the promised land.

And yet, where is Moses standing right now? He's standing in the promised land. With the promise right in front of him. What an amazing scene this is. And we're told that as they stood there and talked, they talked about his death and they talked about his resurrection. Again, I think it was encouragement for Jesus. Fascinating for those two. Faith building for the disciples.

What an amazing scene. However, there's always a however on top side of planet earth. Verse four, Peter said to Jesus, see at this point in time would have been a really good time to know that Jesus was alive. Not talk, right? This, for Peter, would have been a good time to have the are you sure button in his mind right before he spoke, right? I've always said that with any type of social media,

there should be like three, I used to say one, but now I think there should be three. Three are you sure buttons, right? And every time you should have to enter a passcode, especially if what you're gonna say is controversial. Like as soon as you hit tweet or post or whatever, it should say, are you sure? And you should have to be like, one, two, three, four, five, six, yes.

And then it should say it again, because we don't think nearly enough before we talk. I was actually thinking about this earlier today because every now and then I don't think before I talk and it gets me in trouble sometimes. And I saw this meme one time, it says, I don't like to think before I talk because I like to be just as surprised as everybody else. Right?

And I think that's kind of what Peter's got going on right now. And so Peter goes, Lord, it's good for us to be here. So far, so good. If you wish, I will make three tabernacles right here. One for you. One for Moses. One for Elijah. Now here's the problem. He just put Moses and Elijah on the same plane as Jesus. And we listen to that and we think, what a ridiculous thing to do.

But do you know what the problem is? Most of the Jewish people felt that way at that point in time. Most of the Jewish people held Moses and Elijah in a place where they did not belong. Almost on the same playing field as the Messiah. And while we think that that's a little ridiculous on the Jewish people, I have a question for you. Who do you put on a really similar plane as Jesus?

I don't do that. I bet you do more than you realize. I bet it's real easy to put people on that same plane as Jesus. I bet it's really easy for us to go, Jesus and this person and this person and Jesus is going, wait a second. What's going on in your mind right now? Well, God corrects him. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said,

this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. God would not allow anyone to be put in the place of his son. It says a bright cloud overshadowed them. The idea that's given to us in scripture is that this is the same type of cloud. That was over the children of Israel. When they traveled through the wilderness, the very Shekinah glory of God shows up.

And from that glory of God comes forth the voice of God. And the voice of God said, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. Listen to him. The law and the prophets are amazing, but they had one goal and that was to point people to Jesus. They had one plan and that was to point people to the true Messiah. As a matter of fact, the entire book of Hebrews is going to be written about all of the things

that are not on the same playing field as Jesus because Jesus is better than them all. And he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And the disciples now react exactly the way that they should. And when the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. See the glory of God, the true glory of God, when revealed in our lives, always produces humility in my heart.

It always produces a humility inside me that causes me to constantly be on my face before Jesus. This will not be the last time in John's writings that we'll see him on the ground, face down before God, because throughout the book of Revelation, he finds himself in the exact same position. So Jesus, verse 7, came to them and he touched them and said, get up and don't be afraid. And lifting their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself.

As they were coming down, from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. On one hand, I could imagine that was a hard request for the disciples because they just saw something that people would only hope to see at some point in time in their life. But on the other hand, I would imagine that this was a burden off of the disciples because you would find yourself saying, how do I describe what I just saw in words that would do it justice? So he tells them, don't tell anybody until after I'm raised from the dead.

Well, this prompted a question in the mind of the disciples. It says, his disciples asked him, saying, why do the scribes say Elijah must come first? This is a good question for the disciples because they had declared that Jesus is the Messiah through their confession. They had now seen revealed to them that Jesus was the Messiah through this revelation. And they saw Elijah sitting right there in front of them,

but they also knew the scriptures. I appreciate this about the disciples because they asked the question, why then did the scribes and the Pharisees say Elijah must come first? If you, the Messiah, are here in front of us, then why didn't Elijah come first? And so Jesus answers their question. He answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things.

I want you to write down a couple of scriptures. Malachi 4, verse 5, because that's the prophecy of the coming of Elijah. Elijah will come. Before the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will come and restore the hearts of the people to the fathers. In other words, bring them back to their father's religion. That's the idea of what Elijah is going to do.

And then, of course, in Revelation chapter 11, we see what I think is the coming of Elijah in the two witnesses that appear that give witness to the truth of Jesus Christ there in the book of Revelation. And so Jesus answered and says, Elijah is going to come first. There is going. There is going to come that time when Elijah will come and he will prepare the hearts of the people.

He will declare the truth. But then he goes on to say, but I say to you, Elijah already came and they did not recognize him. What does he mean by that? Well, if you remember from the book of Luke, if you were to look at Luke chapter 1, you would see that when the prophecy was given to Zechariah that he was going to have a son and that he was to name him Zechariah, he was to name this son John.

He was told John will go in the spirit and the power of Elijah. He would be, if you will, a partial or a near fulfillment of this prophecy of Elijah from Malachi chapter 4, verse 5. And so Jesus says, Elijah did come, but they didn't recognize him because John the Baptist came in the spirit and the power of Elijah. He says, but they didn't realize that. He says,

but they did to him whatever they wished. Because remember, what did they do to John the Baptist? They had him beheaded. He went on to say, so also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. And the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. And so we see in this that Jesus is saying there was a first coming of Elijah through John the Baptist

and there's the first coming of the Messiah, me right now, well, Elijah is coming, just like I'll be coming again. And Elijah will come first at that point in time. And so in this first section, we see this beautiful revelation of the glory of God. He reveals himself in the most glorious way possible as the Messiah to those whose faith was in the Messiah. But now he not only reveals himself through his glory,

we're going to see the reveals himself through his power. That's what it says in verse 14. When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus falling on his knees before him. When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus falling on his knees before him. When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus falling on his knees before him. Saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill.

For he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said, you unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked him. The demon came out of him. The boy was cured at once. The disciples said,

The disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not drive it out? He said, because of the littleness of your faith. Truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you. This kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.

While they were gathered together, Jesus said to them, the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day. They were deeply grieved. When they came to the crowd, the other gospel accounts say, when they came down the mountain. Now this is a really good, again, little side note to be made.

What the disciples just had with Jesus is what we would call a mountaintop experience. Not only physically because they were on top of the mountain, but they just saw the very glory of God revealed to them through Jesus. Not only that, they heard the voice of God speak. They had what we would call a mountaintop experience. Perhaps you've had something like this.

Perhaps you've gone to a conference. Maybe it's a church service. Maybe it's a time of devotion in your word. Maybe it was some moment where you were literally on a mountaintop and you just really sensed the voice of God speaking to you through his word or through the Holy Spirit bearing witness to things going on in your life. And you had this amazing mountaintop experience.

But eventually you have to come down from the mountain. And when you come down from the mountain, you will always be met with ministry. You will always be met with difficulty. Because at the bottom of the mountain are all of the people who are in need. At the bottom of the mountain are all of the spiritual attacks. It doesn't mean you stay on top of the mountain.

Because you know what does not happen on top of a mountain? Growth. It's kind of interesting. I've hiked a couple of mountains. One I was very successful. One I was not quite as successful. Both of them I made it above the tree line. And it's amazing what happens when you get above the tree line. You know why they call it the tree line? There's no trees, wait for it, above that line.

I like really basic stuff. You know why? Because the air is too thin up there. The air is so thin that nothing can grow. And while those mountaintop experiences are wonderful, and I have amazing pictures from the top of mountains that are just beautiful. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I can't live on top of that mountain. The air is too thin. There's not enough supplies.

I can't grow there. It was important, but it was to prepare me for going back to the place where there, there is growth in the valley. This is what happens to Jesus and his disciples right now. They come back to the bottom of the mountain. And as they get back to the bottom of the mountain, ministry is waiting for them. It says, Now listen, I don't know that I ever paid attention to this translation before,

because usually, I typically am a New King James guy. And it doesn't use that word in the New King James, but I appreciate that the word lunatic is used here. Because like I said, I've worked with kids for a real long time, and there's been times where I've thought, Lord, have mercy on me. They're a lunatic, right? Because you're just going, what are you doing right now?

What was your thought process on that? And then I remember that I was a lunatic at one point in time, too, and so it's okay. But the idea here is that this child's been moonstruck. That's actually, if you were to translate the word literally, it means moonstruck. Okay. But the idea is this, he's demon-possessed. And the demon possession was causing great issues in his life.

It was causing great physical harm in his life. Notice what it says. For he often falls into the fire and often into the water. If you will, this young man is trying to harm himself because of the demonic possession that's going on in his life. The self-harm that was being caused was brought about by the demon possession. The demonic, satanic work in his life.

What Jesus was about to face was not a physical problem, although it manifested itself in physical ways. What he was about to face was a spiritual problem. I think this is an important distinction to be made right here, an important distinction to be made in our culture, given the last couple of days, maybe even the last 50 years. What we're facing right now in our culture is not a physical problem.

We're facing a spiritual problem. And it can only be solved in spiritual ways. As most of you know, a couple of days ago, the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision. Put the power back into the hands of the states to decide what's going to happen with abortion. This has prompted protests throughout the country. Excuses are being made. Justification is being made for why there must be

legal, constitutionally afforded abortion. And it's easy for us to get caught up in the arguments. It's easy for us to get caught up in the debates. But I need us all to remember one thing and one thing only. This is a spiritual battle that we face. And it can only be won in spiritual ways. I have fought making any post on social media. It's been a difficult fight.

But I have fought. I have fought making any post on social media. You know why? Because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt what's going to happen because I watched all of the arguments take place on Facebook and on Instagram. And I went, nothing good is coming of this. You know why? Because you could win the intellectual argument all day long. That's not a hard thing to do.

You can win the intellectual argument all day long. But the problem is not intellectual. You could win the physical argument all day long and point out all the physical truths. But the problem is not physical. The problem is spiritual. And the only way that we will change the heart of the nation is not by changing Roe versus Wade. I'm very happy that happened.

I don't want you to misunderstand me. But this did not change the heart of the nation. And it will not change the heart of the nation. Because what we're facing right now is not a legal problem. What we're facing right now is a spiritual problem. And the spiritual problem that we're facing right now can only be changed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see,

people still don't understand that life has value because it has been created in the image of God. Therefore, life has intrinsic value. They did not just happen. They were fashioned by the hands of a creator that did so in a very purposeful, meaningful way. And he didn't make a mistake in any of the lives that he formed and fashioned. And that the termination of a pregnancy

is not just simply the getting rid of a problem. It's the ending of a life. And until we begin to get to people with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will never change their minds on abortion. Because listen, it's not a legal problem. It's a spiritual problem. And the only thing that will change it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's no different than the problem of mass shootings

we have in our nation. It's no different than the problem of racism that we have in our nation. It's no different than the problem of homosexuality and transgenderism that we have in our nation. Abortion is just another one. And if we start being angry and hateful towards those who think differently than we do, then we will never be able to change their hearts

through the gospel. We cannot fight on the physical plane. We cannot fight on the intellectual plane. As a matter of fact, we should not fight. What we must do is give out the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because as we get to the spiritual heart of the issue, then that person will change. And they will begin to view life through God's eyes. Because I've summed it all up.

The problem with all of it is that people don't view anything through God's eyes. You know why? Because they're of the world. Therefore, I should not be shocked when they act like people of the world. I think too many times as Christians we go, why can't they see it from my perspective? Because their eyes are blinded. Their eyes have been blinded by the God of this world.

Just like anybody else. Just like you were before you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Brothers and sisters, we must be on our knees praying for people. Because while the law was changed, hearts were not. And now it's time to see hearts changed. And so Jesus, as he's dealing with this man, this guy says, there's physical pain going on here. There's self-harm that's taking place because of this demon

that has possessed this young man. And I brought him to you. Disciples, verse 16, they could not cure him. I tried to take him to everybody that I could and nobody could help. Jesus answered and said, you unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. I want you to pay attention to something.

He's talking to his disciples right now. I want you to think about what his disciples have done up to this point in time. His disciples have already gone out on a short-term mission trip where they were able to go. They were able to cast out demons. And yet somehow, this time, they weren't able to. They had made their confession of the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.

And yet at this point in time, they weren't able to. And so Jesus rebukes them for that. He rebukes them because they should be further along by now than they are. I've talked a lot about the fact that Jesus is so patient with us, and he is. Because if he wasn't patient with us again, he would have just ditched these guys and found somebody else. He continues to be patient with them and teach them.

But there also comes a time when he's not patient with them. There comes a point in time, believer in Jesus Christ, where we have to grow up. Where we can't just keep giving in to all of the same things. So he says, How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. Notice what happens in verse 18. So Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out, and the boy was cured at once.

Jesus simply rebuked the demon, and the demon came out of him. The boy was cured. He's totally fine. Back to his whole self. Father, no doubt, went away rejoicing. What Jesus had done for him, because Jesus just displayed his power. His power over the demonic realm. And that should do something for us, understanding that Jesus is the Messiah. That there is no weapon formed against us that shall prosper.

There is no spiritual attack against us that shall prosper. Because he already is powerful over everything. The demonic is subject to him. It lets us know that there is nothing, that happens in this world, that has not already been filtered through the hands of a loving God. Because he is in authority over it all. So his disciples come to him with a question,

which I think is an incredibly logical question. The disciples came to Jesus privately and said, verse 19, Why could we not drive it out? You can imagine their concern. We've done this before. I don't understand why. We've seen success in this area before. Why is it this time we weren't able to drive it out? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? And Jesus tells them that the difference was in their hearts. He says, Because of the littleness of your faith. For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will be moved.

Nothing will be impossible to you. He says something very interesting to start. He says, Because of the littleness of your faith. And you're going, man, it seems like these guys have really grown a lot in faith over the past couple of years. It seems like in our study in Matthew their faith continues to grow and yet at this point in time their faith is still too

small because of the littleness of faith that you have you're not able to do this. And then Jesus goes on to say if you had faith the size of a mustard seed. Well we've pointed out already the fact that you could put a mustard seed on the tip of your finger and barely be able to see it because it's so small. So it's not about having large faith it's about having the right kind of faith.

Really what he's saying is it's about quality not quantity. Their faith was small because their faith didn't have the right quality to it. Their faith was small because their faith did not have the right quality aspects to it and because of that they weren't able to cast this demon out. And it reminds me of something and I mentioned this on Wednesday night as well that I am my own worst enemy because my inability to trust that God can do what he says he's going to do will keep me from experiencing the fullness of who he is and experiencing the fullness of my walk with him.

You know why? Because if my faith is too small then I never approach Jesus with my issues. I never really rest in the fact that God's able to do what he's going to do therefore I never move forward in the areas that he wants me to. God says I want you to go teach a Sunday school class and you go, well I can't do that. I'm not good with kids and I don't know enough about the Bible.

Well then your littleness of faith will keep you from doing what God has called for you to do. You will always be held back in that area because of the littleness of your faith. Because you don't believe that if God is big enough to call you that he's also big enough to equip you. God calls you to share the gospel with a friend at work and you say I can't do that. He's going to reject me

and I don't know how to defend my faith. The littleness of your faith just held you back because if God called you, if he's big enough to call you, he's big enough to equip you. You see taking a step of faith doesn't mean that I'm not scared. It doesn't mean that I know everything. It's that I say if this is what you want me to do then I'm going to do it. I've shared with you before about the first

time I ever taught a Sunday morning service I told Jesus no. I was like no I'm not going to do that. I'm not in the right place in my life. I'm not in the right place in my heart. I don't feel like I'm worthy. To clean the toilets in the church. I can't get up and be the one who gives the Sunday morning service. And then I prayed about it and he told me I had

to. And so I said okay. And I stepped forward in faith even though I didn't feel equipped. I didn't feel ready. The little faith that I did have was to step forward because it's all I knew how to do. And God took over from there. He says because of the littleness of your faith because if you had faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to that mountain be removed. Nothing would be impossible

to you. Now the problem is too many people want to move mountains not enough people want to change their heart. I believe it was Levi Lesko that I heard say sometimes the mountain God wants to move is inside of you. And so he says that's the problem that you have. Then we move down to verse 21. It says but this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

You may take note if you're reading the New American Standard that that is bracketed. And it's bracketed because most or the majority manuscripts do not contain this verse. There are some ancient manuscripts that contain this verse but the majority of them in the book of Matthew don't. However the majority of them in the book of Mark do. So we know that Jesus

said this. It's just Matthew may not have been the one that wrote it down. They may have written it down because it was also written down in Mark. But that doesn't mean that the point's not the same. He says this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. What does he mean by that? What he means by that is that this kind only comes out by living a lifestyle of prayer and

fasting. One of the commentators that I read said the problem was that their hearts were not spiritually prepared for the battle that they were about to face. Why was their faith so small at that point in time? Because their hearts weren't prepared for it. Because their hearts were not spiritually prepared for what God had next for them. Well, I didn't get to go up on the mountain with Jesus.

I'm just going to sulk about it for a little bit. Oh, there's somebody that needs minister too. Alright boys, we've got this. We may not have gone up on the mountain with Jesus but by golly, we're still important. Why can't we cast out the demon? Because you spent your time sulking instead of praying. We're not living a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. And may I say, brothers and sisters

in Jesus Christ, we should be living a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. We should be living that lifestyle where prayer is a natural part of who I am. Because you see, if I'm not living a lifestyle of prayer, then it's very hard for me to stay in tune with what Jesus has to say. If I'm not living that lifestyle of constantly in tune with the Father, then my heart's not prepared for what comes next. And if we've learned

anything in the last two years, it's that we don't know. We don't know what comes next. I'm a little concerned about what next week holds if I'm being completely honest. Because all of the things that we've seen over the last two years are starting to converge on this one topic of abortion. And tempers are beginning to flare. Things are starting to get crazy.

And we must be prepared spiritually for what comes next. And the only way we can be prepared spiritually for what comes next is to be prepared spiritually for what comes next. is to be prepared spiritually for what comes next. And the only way we can is to be prepared spiritually for what comes next is by living a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. Believer in Jesus Christ, how is your prayer life?

How is your communication time with the Father? If I have to be honest right now, in the busyness of the last two weeks, not as good as it should be. And this was a stark reminder to me that that should be my lifestyle. Paul tells us in Scripture that we are to pray without ceasing. Now, I don't know about you, but I've tried to walk around with my eyes closed and it doesn't go very well. I've tried to walk

around with my head bowed and it doesn't go very well. Actually, one time when I was on a job site, I got to where I looked down all the time because on job sites the ground's really uneven and I trip over things really easily. And so I look down all the time. And so my eyes were always down. I'm walking across this job site and I'm walking at a good clip because they teach you one thing when

you begin to work construction. It doesn't matter where you're going, go there fast because it looks like you're doing something, right? So everybody knows if you're walking on a job site, if you're meandering, you're going to get given another job. So I'm moving at a pretty good clip. And as I'm moving, I'm looking down constantly. And what I didn't see is that there was a bricker scaffold

right here and there was a two by 12 sticking off of it right at my head. And I was, the thing sat me down. I was like, oh, I may have gotten a concussion out of that one. I haven't decided just yet. But I know that looking down all the time is not the right thing to do either. So what does he mean by pray without ceasing? It means that my heart should always be set to pray.

Everything that's going on, everything that's happening, my first instinct should be to talk to God about it. I've always loved to use this illustration. When you get up in the morning, you should say, dear God. When you go to bed at night, you should say amen. Because your entire day has been a day filled with praying without ceasing. Sometimes that's up on a mountain by yourself. Sometimes it's in your

backyard by yourself. Sometimes it's in the middle of the busiest time of your day. But it's who we should be as believers in Jesus Christ if we want our hearts to be prepared for things like what these disciples dealt with. And so we have seen him in his glory. We've seen him in his power. And now he'll reveal himself to us through his wisdom. We look at verse 24 and it says,

But when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two drachma tax came to Peter and said, does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax? And he said, yes. When he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first saying, What do you think, Simon? From who do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll tax? From their sons or from strangers? When Peter said from strangers, Jesus said to him,

then the sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea, throw in a hook and take the first fish that comes up. And when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them. For you and me. We next come to this really interesting scene. Peter is in Capernaum. And as he's in Capernaum, those who collect this temple tax is what it's referred to as, come to him and ask him a question.

Does your teacher pay the temple tax? And then Peter, of course, answers because he doesn't know what else to say and says, yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, he does pay the temple tax. And so Peter comes back and he sees Jesus and Jesus anticipated. Knowing what went on, says to him, Peter, I have a question for you. Who do the kings of the earth collect their taxes from? Now, we have to understand something

that's a little bit different about the culture at this time than the culture of the time that we live in now. The culture of the time that we live in now, everybody pays taxes. Well, everybody's supposed to pay taxes. That's a different study for a different time. Anyway, everybody's supposed to pay taxes no matter who you are, right? But in the culture of this time,

when the scripture is written, the ones that paid taxes were those who were the subjects of the king, the family of the king, and those closest to the king, they didn't pay any taxes. Only the strangers, those that the kingdom took over, those were the ones that paid the taxes. And so Jesus asks Peter a question. He says, who do kings collect taxes from? Do they take it from their sons or do they take it from

strangers? And of course, Peter, being well acquainted with the customs of the time, says they take it from the strangers. And so Jesus looks at him and says, so then the sons are exempt. He said, yes. The temple tax was collected for the upkeep of the temple. Who was the temple there for the worship of? The temple was there for the worship of Jesus. Everything about the temple pointed to

Jesus. If you will, it was the king's kingdom. And so the king himself should have been exempted from the tax. That's the point he's making to Peter. He said, if you will, it was the king's kingdom. But he goes on to make an even better point because the wisdom of Jesus prevails. Because Jesus, at any point in time that he wanted to, could have said, I'm not going to pay your stupid

tax. I'm the king. I'm Jesus. I'm the reason this temple is here. Everything in this temple points to me. I'm not going to pay the tax. By God, I pay too much taxes anyway, right? You know, that's what he's thinking. But Jesus says something really interesting. In his wisdom, he says, however, Let's deal with what he has Peter do first, and then we'll deal with the statement that

Jesus makes. Jesus says, go and pay the tax. And of course, Peter, I love it because these disciples, you know, they were broke as a joke, right? They didn't have any money. And neither did Jesus. As a matter of fact, we never see Jesus carrying any money. He didn't need a wallet because he didn't have anything. And so Jesus goes, I want you to go and I want you to catch a

fish. And after you catch the fish, there's going to be a shekel in its mouth. Take that and go pay our taxes. Isn't it just like God that when there is a need for him to give us the way to meet the need with something that we truly enjoy doing? Isn't it just like him to do that? To command him to do something that he already has? Isn't it just like him to do that? To command him to do something

that he already has? Isn't it just like him to do that? To command him to do something that he already really liked to do? I remember when I first moved back from Bible college and I had to get myself a full-time job. And I went and I started looking for jobs and I found a groundskeeping job where what I got to do all day was mow lawns and talk to old people. It was amazing. The two things

I enjoy the most, mowing and talking to people, got to happen for me. And I remember my aunt saying, isn't it just like God to give you a job that you would actually enjoy? Isn't it just like him that if you're going to have to do it, it's something that you'll really like to do? And that's kind of what he does for Peter here. He says, go out and catch a fish.

Once you catch the fish, look inside. You're going to find the shekel that you need to pay the temple tax. Ever since I've read this, I've looked inside the mouth of every fish that I've ever caught. Never found money. Still looking. But the truth of the wisdom is what I want to point out last, because I think that this is important, especially in the world we're living

in right now. Jesus said, lest we offend them. There are so many things about us as believers in Jesus Christ that are offensive to the world. And for some of those things, we should not apologize. The gospel is offensive to the world. We should not apologize for the gospel. The truth of sin is offensive to the world. And we should not apologize for declaring what the truth of sin is. The truth

of who God is, revealed through his son, Jesus Christ, is offensive to the world. And we should not apologize or change that. But we should ask ourselves, are there things that I do that are offensive that are also insignificant? I hear a lot of complaining, myself being one of them, about taxes. We find ourselves saying, I shouldn't have to pay this tax. And you know, I think sometimes to the world

that's a little bit offensive. Because as citizens of the United States, excuse me, as citizens of the kingdom of God, we should also be the best citizens of the United States that we can possibly be. And we should take every effort that we can not to be offensive to the world. Listen, if I'm going to offend somebody, I want it to be because I've told them the truth of the gospel, not because I've made some stupid stand. Not because I've made some stupid political stand. Not because I've made some stupid

statement. I'm really good at them, but I'm trying harder not to. I don't want to be offensive to the world. Because my goal is to bring them to Jesus. And again, it's so easy right now to be offensive because there's so many things that we can say, but those are my rights. And we need to decide, what are the rights that are given to me through the word of God that I should stand on, like the

truth of the gospel? What are the rights that I need to be willing to give in on for the truth of the gospel? Jesus didn't have to pay this tax. Everything about that temple spoke of him. He was the God of the temple. And yet he chose to stand on the truth of the gospel. And I think that's really important. He chose to lay aside his rights so that he was not offensive in order to bring more

people unto him. Brothers and sisters, our goal should be to bring people to Jesus, not offend them with our politics. Amen? Let's all stand. I do hope everyone, look, the sun is coming out. It's a beautiful thing. I do hope everyone can join us this afternoon or this evening for the baptism. To me, personally, there is nothing more amazing than the fact that we're going to be

watching someone declare new life through water baptism. It's the most spiritual, emotionally moving thing that I'll ever see take place in the church. So I hope you all can join us tonight. Father, we come before you and just thank you for the time that we've had in your word today and just ask that you would use it as you see fit in our lives. Lord, may only the things of you

stick in our minds and the things that are of me, Lord, may they fall by the wayside. Draw us near to you. Strengthen us in you. Jesus. In Jesus' name. Amen.