studies of Simon Peter, an apostle
of Christ. And we've been in the book of
Matthew looking along at how our Lord has been teaching his
apostles. And I'd like you to join me,
if you would, in Matthew 17. This morning, we're going to
read through this event in three different positions of the Gospels. We're going to read Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, and each one who has recorded it. So we begin
with Matthew 17, verse 1. And after six days, Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
mountain apart. and was transfigured before them,
and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white
as the light. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elias, talking with him. Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here, if
thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one
for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard
it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came
and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they
had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the
mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no
man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead. And his
disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that
Elias must first come? And Jesus said unto them, Elias
truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you
that Elias has come already, and they knew him not, but have
done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the
Son of Man suffer of them." Now, mark your place here at Matthew
6, 17, 1, and turn over to Mark chapter 9, if you would, please. The ninth chapter of Mark. Mark 9 verses 2 through 9. And after six days, Jesus taketh
with him Peter and James and John, and leadeth them up into
a high mountain apart from themselves, and he was transfigured before
them. And his remnant became shining, exceeding white as snow,
so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared
unto them Elias and Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
And Peter answered and said, Jesus, Master, is it good for
us to be here? It is good for us to be here,
and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias. For he wished not what to say,
for they were so afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed
them, and a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my
beloved son, hear him. And suddenly when they had looked
around about, they saw no man anymore save Jesus only and themselves. And as they came down from the
mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what
the things they had seen till the Son of Man were risen from
the dead." Now let's look at one more account of this in the
book of Luke, also chapter 9, verses 28 through 36. And it came to pass, about an
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James
and went up into the mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the
fashion of his countenance was altered, and his remnant was
white and glistening. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in the
glory and spake of his decease, which which he should accomplish
at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep. And when they were awake, they
saw his glory in the two men that stood with him. And it came
to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master,
is it good for us to be here? It is good for us to be here.
And let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias, not knowing what he had said. And while he
thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them, and they
feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice
out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved son, hear him. And when the voice was passed,
Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told
no man in those days of these things which they had seen. Last week we spoke a little bit
in our message. You can go back to our text now
in Matthew 17. Last week we spoke a little bit in our message about
how there are men in the world who will come into the church
and try to bring other things in there. Paul is telling Timothy to be
careful of men who bring in subjects that will cause division, subjects
that will cause men to question. Well, what about this? And what
about that? He's advising Timothy to stick
to the main subject, which is what? As I was speaking with
Pastor Gene this week, after reading these three accounts,
How many of you stopped for just
a moment and thought about the difference between six and eight
days? Two accounts had called for six.
One account in Luke had called for eight. Did any of you catch
that? Bill missed it. Really? You're at the very first
of it. Well, that's what jumped out
at me. And so I began to look at the
commentaries about this. And I didn't find a whole lot
on it, to be quite honest with you. And I went to John Gill. He was the only one that I found
commenting on it. And I talked to Pastor Gene.
I said, that's kind of strange that here it's got this difference
between the accounts. One, two are saying that it was
six days, and one is saying eight days. This is something that
people would bring up. I've had people bring not this subject
up personally, but subjects just like this. Well, wait a minute.
Here's this one saying this, and this one's saying over here
this. The reason I'm bringing this up is because it is so important
that even in our Bible studies, in our messages. We still continue
to focus on the one thing that everybody is in agreement with,
and that is Jesus Christ the Lord and Him crucified. Pastor
Gene said this to me, and he said this to me before, and I
already knew it, but I needed somebody to say it to me. John,
that's not the issue. What do you think Don Fortner
and Henry Mahan and Robert Hawker have said nothing about that?
Because it could cause discrepancies. It could cause arguments. It
could cause questioning. It's not the issue. The issue is Christ and him crucified. That's what the whole thing was
about here. What happened in this event? Christ took three
of his men. Who cares how many days it took
before they went there? Now, I'm preaching to myself
here, folks. I'm the one who fell for this.
I'm the one who fell into this questioning of, why is there
a discrepancy in Scripture here? Who cares? It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter whether it was eight days or not. I mean, there's an explanation
for it, but it's not even worth for me to talk to. What's worth
for me to talk to you about this morning is Jesus Christ was glorified
on that mountain. He was transfigured into what
he was. Remember this. Peter and all the other apostles
just heard Jesus Christ tell them about how he had to go to
Jerusalem and suffer all the stuff from the Pharisees. Did
he not? Now He takes them to the mountain
and shows them the end result of that suffering. The end result
is Jesus Christ and Him glorified. The God-Man. Yeah, okay, you're
going to question a little bit about what I just told you. You
know, you thought I was going to come here to be your king
and save you from the Romans. No, my kingdom is much more than
that. And He takes them to the Mount
of Transfiguration. What is the issue? We read this
also last week and we're going to look at it again today, but
it's Galatians 6.14, but God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross the Lord of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. In our text
of Matthew chapter 17, Don Fortner wrote this about this. He says,
in Matthew 17, the Holy Spirit takes us up into the Mount of
Transfiguration. He did not tell us which mountain
it was, lest foolish men would make it an idolatrous holy place.
But it was a high mountain around Jerusalem, somewhere close by.
There our Lord Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John,
and they saw His majesty and His excellent glory. The order
in which this event is recorded is beautiful, and it's full of
instruction. Let us not forget that six days or eight days before,
after the events that were recorded in Matthew chapter 16, in verses
8 through 12, in that chapter, the Lord warned His disciples
to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
And He reproved their unbelief. Remember that Peter made his
great confession in Matthew 16, 13 through 20. Our Lord gave
words of instructions about his sufferings and death, as we saw
in the 21st verse of 16. And then Peter tried to rebuke
the Son of God and was rebuked himself by God in 22 through
23. And then our Lord spoke of the
cost of following Him in verses 24 through 26. And then He closed
that chapter, speaking of His coming glory in 27 and 28. So
here it is now in 17 verse 1, and after six days, the disciples
thought on these things for six days. They thought about all
those things the Lord had taught them just a moment ago. And then
the Lord called Peter, James, and John to Himself, and He took
them up on the mountain. He told them about his suffering,
and now he would show them something of his glory. The hearts which
had been saddened by those plain statements regarding his sufferings
and his death must be gladdened by the vision of the reward and
the glory." It says, Jesus taketh Peter and James and John, his
brother, and he brings them up on a high mountain apart. Luke
tells us that they came up to this high mountain to pray. What
a prayer meeting it must have been. Did you notice that Peter
is still in the favored circle? Six days earlier, he had greatly
sinned in rebuking his master. But Christ did not remember it,
did He? He did not bear the offense in mind. He freely forgave Peter's
sin because He loved Peter still. How thankful we can be for such
a Savior as this! He will not impute sin to His
own, as we read in Romans 4.8. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. So now let's look at verses 2
through 5, shall we? And he was transfigured before
them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his remnant was
white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter,
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here, if
thou wilt let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias. But yet while he yet spoke, behold,
a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud, which said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well
pleased." Robert Hawker wrote this about that very thing. We know that the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, as we read in John 1 14. And we
also know that in Him, that is in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead, which we read in Colossians 2 verse 9. So all
that we can possibly frame to ourselves in this transfiguration,
therefore, is that the Godhead shone forth in the manhood in
a more than ordinary manner that the Son of God was pleased to
manifest himself in his double nature glory more than in a usual
appearance as Christ in the days of the flesh. It was a moment
of peculiar manifestation of the glories of his person. It
was the personal glory of the God-man as God and as man," end
of quote. Yet even seeing this wonderful
sight, Peter declares something interesting here in verses 16
and 17 of chapter of, wait a minute. I forgot to ask you, turn over
to 2 Peter. Even seeing this wonderful sight,
Peter goes on to declare this in his second epistle. But he declares something interesting
here. Are you with me in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16? For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty."
Peter was there. He saw the Lord transfigured
into the white remnant that he had. He saw the glory of God
standing there before him. He heard out of the cloud, this
is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. He was an eyewitness to the majesty
of Christ. Verse 17, For he received from
God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount." We have also a more sure word
of prophecy. where unto you do well to take
heed as unto the light that shineth in a dark place under the day
of dawn, and the day star arises in your hearts." We have a more
sure word of prophecy. Isn't that interesting? Peter,
who saw the very glory of God with his own two eyes, said there
was a more sure word of prophecy. What prophecy did Peter have?
He had the Old Testament before him. The point I'm trying to make
here is Peter saw the glory of God throughout all the Old Testament
also. And it was more sure because
it was there. It was the Word of God and it
went on forever. As it is today. We have the Word
of God right before us today, right here. Peter saw the glory
of God with his own eyes, but just a moment and that was gone
and the Lord returned to flesh. Did He not? Here. In God's Word, we see the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ all the way through. And it continues
on and on and on. See what he's saying about a
more sure word? Henry Mahan wrote this about
that. He says, we have a better foundation and a more sure evidence
of Christ and the gospel than an eyewitness account of His
glory. And that is the Old Testament scriptures and the New Testament
revelation given by the Holy Spirit in Peter's day. A man's
testimony is to be received only if it is according to Scriptures.
Peter's testimony could only be assured by the Scriptures
verifying exactly what had happened, verifying what he had seen, verifying
who it was that stood before him. God in the flesh, but yet
God. In Isaiah 8.20, to the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them. And in Henry Marion
goes on to write, the word of God is the final test of every
claim of creed. You do well to take heed to the
scriptures and to weigh every man's word accordingly. End of
quote. Be as the Bereans, our scripture
says. For they search the Scripture
daily to be sure what is said is so." Back in our text of Matthew
17, these verses also give us a clear
factual demonstration of life after death and of the resurrection
of the body. We saw Moses. He had been dead
and buried for 1,500 years. We saw Elijah, who was called
up by a whirlwind into heaven, 900 years before this, yet they
saw them in their body, did they not? Yet here they stood on the
mount talking to the Lord Jesus. Peter, James, and John saw them
and heard them, and they knew immediately who they were, though
they had never seen either one of them, or even a picture of
them. The fact clearly demonstrates the universal teaching of the
Holy Scripture that there is life after death and that there
is coming a day of resurrection. I personally think that we may
safely infer from this that God's elect will know one another in
that resurrection. Matthew 17, 4, we read, then
Peter said, Then answered Peter and said
unto Jesus, Lord, is it good, it is good for us to be here?
If thou wilt, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and
one for Moses, and one for Elijah's. Again, I quote from John Fortner
this time, Peter was simply overwhelmed. Who can blame him for making
his proposal that three tabernacles should be made? Who would not
wish to abide in such a mountain and in such a state? After seeing
and hearing the things he saw and heard upon the Mount of Transfiguration,
and after hearing such a testimony from the excellent glory, and
after having made such a confession of faith regarding the Lord Jesus
Christ in Matthew 16 verses 15 through 19, who would ever have
imagined that Peter would later deny his God and Savior? But
he did. And there is not a more blessed
example in all the word of God, which he was later inspired to
write. He says, we are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation. Who could write those words with
more force and gratitude than Peter did? He knew by blessed
experience that the safety and security of God's elect is altogether
and at all times and in all circumstances a matter of pure, free grace. End of quote. This is what our
study is about, folks. Observing the things that Peter
must learn in order to write his two epistles. We, too, must
learn these things. Some the way of reading in scripture,
and some in the way of hard knocks. Either way, they are lessons
from our great teacher, Christ the Lord. Are we not all taught
of God? The storm that came upon the
sea and almost sank that ship that our Lord slept in was a
storm that was brought on by the creator of all things. Pastor Fortner preached a message
on this point. And he pointed out a truth. All who belong to God will travel
these storms more often than not. The storms of life teach us to
look to our Savior. But they also teach us to know
that He is always with us. Our Lord says, I will never leave
you nor forsake you. After we have traversed a storm,
do we not see the way the Lord gave us the strength to endure
it? Can we not look back in our own
lives and see all the places our Lord kept us? Do we not glory in His cross
through which all blessings flow? Because of His cross, a cross
that no other could bear, do we not have peace with all that
is through the mercy displayed on that cross? We read these
words, He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us, how shall He not freely give us all things? Do these
words not reach into the very bosom of our hearts?" Folks,
this is the lesson to learn indeed. God became a servant for His
people. Those apostles stood there on
that mount and saw the glory of God. They had heard of the
glory of God in the flesh down below. But our Lord took them
up and showed them His glory, just as He shows us His glory
through His Word. That's what Peter's talking about,
the more sure than the eyewitness. He became a servant for His people. He put His glory aside and He
washed the feet of His disciples. He put His glory aside and became
sin. And by His blood we are washed
clean, free of spot or blemish, righteous as the Son of God Himself.
In Romans 8.29 we read, For whom He did foreknow, He also did
predestinate to be conformed To be conformed to the image
of His Son. That's where our glory is. In
our Savior. It's not in this flesh that we
have this day. It's not in what we walk in.
It's not in what we do in this world. It's our Savior. That's
our glory. In Romans 12, 2 it says, we read,
and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. These men, I cannot help but think how they
came away from that very event. What have we got to worry about?
This guy's got our back. And he's got our front, and he's
got everything in between. Amen. Stand with me if you would.