Matthew 17 is a bit of a challenge in chapter 2, a lot of readers, but so let's
look at verse number 2 very quickly. Matthew chapter 17 verse 2. The Bible
says, "...and was transfigured before them." This chapter contains the transfiguration
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the title for the sermon tonight is the
Transfiguration of Jesus. Let's keep it simple, okay? Let's pick it up there in
verse number 1. What's going on? Verse number 1, "...and after six days Jesus
taketh Peter, James, and John his brother." So Jesus Christ takes three of his key
apostles or disciples here, Peter, James, and John, and bringeth them, it says
there, up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. What does
it mean for Christ to be transfigured? Obviously when Jesus Christ was here on
the earth, born in a manger, born of the Virgin Mary, he came in the likeness of a
human body. He looked just like any man. Remember, on Sunday there was no
calmness about him. He looked just like anybody else. There was nothing special
about his appearance. But you see, Jesus Christ does an amazing miracle here. He
takes up these three apostles and he's transfigured. He's changed. Well, you see
here, he's glorified. You see him as it were, the glorified God, full of
brightness. You know, he's changed so much that the apostles freak out. You know,
they've never seen Christ like this before. It's a significant change in
his body. Not so much veiled in the flesh they was born in, but seeing him in the
glory, the fullness of the glory of who Jesus Christ is. Let's keep reading verse
number two. It says, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was
white as the light. This is why many times when you see cartoons depict
Jesus Christ, quite often they'll show Jesus with a bright face, you know, shining like
the sun. They get this idea from the transfiguration of Christ. Verse number
three, and behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias, that's Elijah,
talking with him. So where are these guys? I mean Moses, Elijah, they've passed away.
Okay, they're not contemporaries of this day and age. They passed
away thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago, these guys. So where do you
think they are if they're seeing this transfiguration of Christ and Moses and
Elijah right there? Somehow, you know, the Lord's opened up just this physical
world, and they're able to see the spiritual. They're able to see heaven as
it were, and see these Old Testament scenes, just talking with Christ.
You know, how I wish I knew what they're talking about. We don't know, the Bible doesn't
tell us, but surely it's really interesting there. But verse number four,
then answered Peter. Look how freaked out these guys are. Okay, then
answered Peter, and if you know Peter, he talks many times before he thinks. What
does he say? Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us
to be here. So yeah, this is great, but then he says, if thou wilt, let us make
here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. Now
what's the problem there? It seems like he just wants to honor Jesus Christ,
seems like he just wants to honor these men that he's seen before him, but what
was the purpose of the tabernacle? You know what the purpose was? That's where
the Ark of the Covenant was. That's where, you know, where they would bring
the animals to be sacrificed. Okay, that's where they would come and worship the
Lord and sacrifice through that blood offering as a picture of Christ. Okay,
that's fine to have the tabernacle of this day because you're sacrificing unto
the Lord, but don't you see a huge problem if they're going to be three
tabernacles? I mean, who are they sacrificing to? It should be only to the
Lord, right? Prior to the death of Jesus Christ, but here they're asking for
three tabernacles, meaning that it's almost like he's thinking we need
to sacrifice to Moses and Elias as well. Okay, and of course that would be wrong.
Okay, this is a problem here. Peter's just overwhelmed. You know, he thinks, man, he
starts to think about these great men of God, Elias and Moses, and
that should really wake us up a little bit. Sometimes we can have men of God and
we elevate them far above what we should. We might even elevate them to the level
of Jesus Christ. This is what Peter has done wrong here. He elevates them to
Jesus Christ, Moses and Elijah. Yes, they were great men of God, but they're still a
human being. They still have problems. They still have weaknesses. They shouldn't
build tabernacles to these people, all right? Now, if you're not sure what I'm
saying is true, just keep your finger there and turn to Luke chapter 9 verse 33.
Luke chapter 9 verse 33, all right? Luke chapter 9 verse 33, because this just
tells us a little bit more about Peter here in Luke chapter 9 verse 33. It says
And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it
is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one
for Moses, and one for Elias. So we saw those same, that same thing there in the
book of Matthew, but notice what Luke says here. Not knowing what he said. He
says, look, Peter says this. He doesn't even know what he's saying. Like he's so
overwhelmed by Jesus. Even the Holy Spirit tells us he doesn't know what he's
talking about. You know, he said these things and he's not even, you know, just
just aware, you know, he's not in his right mind. He's just overwhelmed by the
power of Jesus Christ, the glory that he's seeing there. So I just wanted to
show you, this wasn't a good thing that Peter was saying. He didn't know what he
was saying, says the Holy Spirit, okay? Back to Matthew chapter 17. Matthew
chapter 17 verse 5. Matthew chapter 17 verse 5. And, you know, I shouldn't have
to mention this, but obviously we believe in the Trinity, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, okay? And what we'll see here, we'll soon see the Father come
into view. And there's a false teaching about, you know, it's called oneness
theology that basically says Jesus is God the Father, Jesus is the Son, and
Jesus is the Holy Spirit, okay? And they remove the three persons and talk about
Jesus Christ as one, one person. He's the Father, he's the Son, he's the Holy Spirit.
But what we see here is a clear distinction between the Father and the
Son. Now oneness theology teaches that there is a difference when Jesus
was walking on the earth. They'll say the man Christ Jesus was the flesh, but Jesus
as his deity is God the Father. That's what they'll say. That's how they'll get
around the difference between Jesus walking on the earth and God the Father
in heaven. But what you see here, who was transfigured here?
It was the Son, right? It was Jesus Christ the Son. And the apostles, they're able to
look on the Son, and they're able to look on Elias and Moses, speak to Jesus
Christ the Son, okay? Notice what happens here in verse number five. It says,
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. So now there's a
cloud that obscures things as it were. It overshadows them. It hides
things as it were. And look at this. And behold, a voice out of the cloud which
said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Hey, who do
you think is speaking here? If it says, This is my beloved Son, that's God the
Father. And notice before they can even see God the Father, He protects them and
hides them in a cloud, okay? And all they can hear be in that cloud is the voice
of God the Father. Now look, this is the transfigurated Christ. This is Christ in
his glory. So hold on, if Christ in his glory and his deity is the Father, so
is the Father saying to the Father, This is my beloved Son? That's ridiculous.
Obviously the correct teaching on the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit is the
Trinity. Trinity, three distinct persons, yet the Bible teaches all the same one
God, okay? We don't believe in three gods. We don't believe in polytheism. We
believe in one God, yet three persons. And we see God the Father speaking of His
Son, He says, I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. Listen to Him, okay? Excellent reference
there of God the Father to the Son. Now keep your finger there. I just want to
show you this. Turn to John chapter 1 please. John chapter 1 verse 18. John
chapter 1 verse 18. You see, right now in our bodies we could not see God the
Father. If we looked upon God the Father in His bodies, we'd be destroyed, okay? We
would not be able to take Him in in His fullness of His glory. But it says here
in John 1 18, Jesus says, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. So Jesus says, look, no
one, no one has ever seen God the Father except the Son, okay? The Son knows who
the Father is, but there's no man on the earth who has seen God the Father. Now
the first thought that might go through your heads, but surely in the Old
Testament, didn't certain saints see God? Well what does that tell you? If they
did not see God the Father, and we believe Jesus Christ is God, and in the
Old Testament they saw God, who were they seeing? Seeing Jesus Christ, okay? Because
no man hath seen the Father, all right? Let's keep reading. Verse number six.
Verse number six. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and
were sore afraid. Afraid what? The voice. The voice of God. Look, they're afraid of
the voice of God the Father. Could you imagine if they just saw a little bit of
Him? I mean, how overwhelmed would they be? Verse number seven. And Jesus came and
touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. But when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. So things go back to normal at this point
now. Verse number nine. And they came down from the mountain, sorry, 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. So obviously we have this
account, and these accounts of this story was written after the resurrection
of Christ. So they did obey Christ, okay? And we're gonna look at this a little
bit further now, because what exactly did Peter, James and John see, okay? What I
want you to do is go back to Matthew chapter 16. So just go one chapter back.
And I didn't really preach on verse 27 last week, or verse 28, because it ties
into what we're seeing here in chapter 17. So Matthew 16 verse 27.
Let's look at this, because this is where people get confused. Verse 27 says, For
the Son of Man, that's Jesus Christ obviously, shall come in the glory of his
Father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Let's stop there for a moment. What's that about? That's about the resurrection,
right? Or we should say when Christ, the second coming of Christ, when the rapture
takes place, he says he comes to the glory of the Father with his angels, and
he's going to reward every man for our works, okay? Our works aren't for
salvation. We know that it's by faith alone, but the works that we do, Christ
wants to reward us for the works that we do serving him. We know that. But look at
verse number 28. This is where people get confused. It says, Verily I say to you,
there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son
of Man coming in his kingdom. Say, what do you mean? So, Jesus is saying there are
some here that he's preaching to that will not die till they see the coming of
Christ in his kingdom. So, hold on. That hasn't happened yet. Surely these people
have died. Is it a contradiction in the Bible? No, it's not, okay? So, what I want
to explain to you, and I'll show you where people get really misled on
this, is that when Jesus Christ is speaking in verse 28 about some seeing
Christ in his kingdom, coming in his kingdom, that's actually the
transfiguration that we just read about. You know, that being Peter, James
and John, okay? That being that. Now, I don't want to just say that and go, okay, yeah, I
believe what Kevin says. No, I want to try to prove that to you from the Bible, okay?
Because this event takes place, is recorded in three Gospels, okay? Now, you
guys know the Gospels. If you read it, many of the stories are alike, but many
times some stories are found in one or found in the other. Maybe it's a little bit
different in different Gospels. But one thing that is consistent is that every
time Jesus says something along the lines that there are some here that
would not see death till the coming of Christ, or seeing him coming in his glory,
the story that takes place immediately after is a transfiguration of Christ.
Immediately after, okay? It's recorded every single time like this. Go to Mark
chapter 9, please. Mark chapter 9, verse 1. Mark chapter 9, verse 1. Say, why is this
important? The reason this is important is because there are some churches that
teach that the second coming of Christ already took place, as it were, okay? And
these people are known as post-millennial, okay, or preterists. And
what they'll say is, Jesus Christ already came at the destruction of Jerusalem in
70 AD. There was some type of spiritual saying coming of Christ, and the Book of
Revelation is not a future event, but it's all about stuff that already
happened in the past around 70 AD, okay? Now, we're not post-millennial. We're not
preterists. What we are are pre-millennial, okay, meaning that we believe the second
coming of Christ will come first before the millennium, before the thousand year
reign of Christ. So it's important to be able to give an answer if you ever come
across people that believe like that. Look at Mark chapter 9, verse 1. Mark
chapter 9, verse 1. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you that there be
some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen
the kingdom of God come with power. Same teaching. Look at verse number 2.
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter and James and John, and leadeth
them up into a high mountain apart by themselves, and he was transfigured
before them. You see the consistency of the Bible, okay? Straight after he says
that, you know, six days later, it's not like this immediate thing, you know,
almost a week later he goes up into the mountain, but it's always recorded for us
in the Bible so we can keep these two things together. Go to Luke chapter 9 now.
Luke chapter 9, verse 27. Luke chapter 9, verse 27. Luke chapter 9, verse 27. The
Bible says, But I tell you a truth, there be some standing here which shall not
taste of death till they see the kingdom of God. And it came to pass about in
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up
into a mountain to pray. If you read on, then the transfiguration of Christ
occurs, okay? So I just want to show you the consistency that we have in the
Bible. Now you might say, but hold on, how is this the coming of Christ? In what
sense is this, all right? I mean, are you, you know, are you just trying to give a
simple answer to a difficult question? Well, no. Now this is the most important
part to go. Go to 2 Peter, please. 2 Peter chapter 1. Because who went up with
Jesus Christ into the mount? Peter, right? Peter was one of them. And so let's read
what Peter says. Makes sense. Let's see what Peter writes about it. 2 Peter
chapter 1, verse 16. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 16. What does Peter say about this?
He says, For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made
known unto you the power, look at this, made known unto you the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. So he says,
look, I'm not telling you fables about the power and the coming of Christ.
Notice that he puts these two things together. Notice that Jesus Christ, before
his transfiguration, spoke of these two things together as well, okay? What is he
talking about? Surely he's talking about the future coming of Christ, right? Well,
let's have a look at this. Verse number 17. It says, For he received from God the
Father honor and glory. I wonder when he received this honor and glory from the
Father. When there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Say, when did that take place? It didn't take place at his
baptism. Well, yeah, that took place at baptism as well, but look, it's about the
time it was transfigured in the mountain. Verse 18. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Okay, when did that take
place? The transfiguration of Christ. So I just want to show you, the Bible's
consistent, okay? This power, this coming, you know, it's like they've got a
preview, John, Peter, James and John of Christ. They got this preview about his
power and his glory and his coming and, you know, the Bible confirms all this so
we don't have to, you know, panic when we see verses like this and become
predatorists or post-millennial. No, the Bible's consistent. We still have the
future coming of Christ to come. Now you might say to yourself, don't turn away
yet. Say in second Peter. You might say, it would have been so great to see this.
You know, there's the glory of Jesus Christ and hearing God the Father speak
behind that cloud and it would have been awesome. I'm sure we all would have
loved to see something like that. I mean we probably all would have freaked out
and said stupid things as well but this is what Peter says to us in verse
19. Look at verse 19. He says, so he's talking about what he's experienced
but then in verse 19 he says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. He
goes, look, yes, I've seen these wonderful things but we, all of us, we have
something more sure. We have something even better he says. He says what? Where
unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts knowing this
first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. You
know what Peter says here? That hey, we've got the sure word of prophecy. We've got
the scriptures. This is more sure than seeing these miracles. This is better
than seeing all these miracles of Christ, okay? So look, rejoice because you've got
better than what Peter, you know, had. You've got the whole Bible. You've got it
in the King James Bible. You've got it pure, preserved, perfect, all 66 books of
the Bible to know more about God than just seeing that transfiguration of
Christ, okay? So it's a great honor that we get to have the whole Bible, you know,
Peter didn't have that in his day. We've got the whole thing available in our
hands. So go back to Matthew chapter 17 please.
Matthew chapter 17 verse 10. Matthew 17 verse 10. It says, and his disciples asked
him saying, when then say the scribes that Elias must come first. Sorry, have I
missed something? Yeah, sorry, I'm right, okay. That Elias must come first. So Elijah,
remember, Elias is Elijah. Say, look, didn't the Bible say, didn't the scripture say that
Elijah has to come before Christ? Verse number 11. And Jesus answered and said
unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, but I say unto
you that Elias is come already. So Elias, Elijah, has already come before Christ.
What's this about? And they knew him not, but have done unto him
whatsoever they listed, likewise also shall also the Son of Man suffer of
them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
Now let's understand what's going on. Go to the book of Malachi, the last book of
the Old Testament please. The book of Malachi. Book of Malachi chapter 4.
Malachi chapter 4 verse 5. Malachi chapter 4 verse 5. All right, so we know
about Elijah. He's a great Old Testament prophet. You know, he was taken up in a
whirlwind. Actually, I said he died hundreds of years ago. Well, he didn't
really die. He was taken up in a whirlwind. Okay, Elijah. Anyway, Malachi
chapter 4 verse 5. It says here, behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before
the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart
of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. See, it was so important that this
Elijah would come before Christ because if he didn't come before Christ, he says
when he would come, he would smite the earth with a curse. Okay, because Jesus
Christ would be so angered at the spiritual state of Israel, you know, and
he would just come and just curse the place. Instead of just coming and doing
his mission of dying on the cross, Christ would come and curse the place. That's
why Elijah had to be sent first to prepare the hearts of the people, to
create a new generation seeking after Christ. Now that was prophesied. Now we
saw in book of Matthew chapter 17 that Jesus Christ was speaking of who? John
the Baptist. Okay, so we have confirmation that Jesus says John the Baptist was
Elijah or at least the one that was prophesied here in the book of Malachi.
Now the question comes up is, well, does that mean Elijah was, did God send him
back? Was he reincarnated? You know, did he come back as John the Baptist? Well, let
me give you one quick reason why that's not the case, why they're not exactly the
same person, because we just saw Elijah at the transfiguration of Christ. If he
had been changed into John the Baptist, then they would have seen John the
Baptist talking to Jesus Christ because he was ready to be headed at this point
in time. Okay, they still saw the Old Testament prophet Elijah not long ago at
the transfiguration of Christ. That's point number one. Point number two, go to
go to John chapter 1 verse 19. John chapter 1 verse 19. So I just want to get
your your brains ticking here. Elijah was prophesied to come. Jesus confirms
that was John the Baptist. Alright, go to John chapter 1 verse 19. John chapter 1
verse 19. The Bible says, and this is the record of John when the Jews sent
priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? So they're asking,
who are you John the Baptist? Verse 20, and he confessed and denied not, but
confessed, I am not the Christ. So John the Baptist says, look, I'm not, I'm not the
Christ. I'm not, I'm not the Christ to come. I'm not the Messiah. But verse 21,
and they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? So they knew of the prophecy in Malachi.
Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. So is
there a contradiction in the Bible? John the Baptist says, I'm not Elijah. Jesus
said, he was Elijah. And the Bible did prophesy that Elijah would come before
Christ. Is there a contradiction? Of course not. Okay, when you come across
something like this, it's, the Bible usually has the answer somewhere, okay? So
you never have to panic. These are the difficult passages, and people argue
about this all the time, okay? But let me just tell you this. Jesus was correct.
John the Baptist was Elijah. But John the Baptist was also correct that he was not
Elijah. They're both correct, okay? How do we understand this? Go to the book of
Luke. Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1 verse 17. Luke chapter 1 verse 17. I like
the Bible because it's like a puzzle sometimes, you know. You've got to look at
all these passages and then come to understand what he's talking about here.
But Luke chapter 1 verse 17. Now the reason this is important is because
it's repeating the prophecy in Malachi, speaking that Elijah would come. But now
in the New Testament, we get more light as to what that means. In Luke chapter 1
verse 17, we have the birth of John the Baptist. It says here, speaking of John
the Baptist, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias. So is
he Elias? Is he Elijah? Well, no. He's coming in the spirit and the power of
Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to
the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So we see
there exactly what's going on. When the Bible is speaking in the Old Testament
that Elijah would come, he did come, but he didn't, he wasn't the same person. John
the Baptist was a totally different person, but he came in the same power and the
same spirit. The same power and spirit that God gave Elijah, he had given to
John the Baptist. So it was very, he was a very similar prophet, okay. So Jesus is
confirming Malachi, yeah Elijah came. But John the Baptist was correct as well. I'm
not Elijah, okay. He was a totally different person, but he did have the
power and the spirit of Elijah that God had given him, okay. So I hope that
answers that question. If you guys had any questions about that, it's not a
contradiction. The Bible is just, the Bible has the answers, you know. If you just, if
you just look hard enough, the Bible always gives us those answers. Now there
is just one other little point that I do want to mention. Some people believe that
in the book of Revelation, if you guys know your end times, Revelation chapter
11, there are two witnesses, okay, and they perform amazing miracles. They call down
fire from heaven. They, they do miracles kind of like what Elijah did and what
Moses did. And a lot of people believe in Revelation chapter 11 that those two
witnesses are Elijah and Moses. Now I'm not going to say that for sure because
the Bible doesn't really tell us, okay. It could be. It could be. And so there could
be a double prophecy here. It could be that John the Baptist came in the spirit
and power of Elijah, but there's a double prophecy of the second coming of Christ
that Elijah might come before, you know, come before Christ doing these miracles
with Moses. It's quite interesting that these, these are the two men that were
here in the Transfiguration of Christ. It's possible. I wouldn't be dogmatic
about it, but that's just another thought that a lot of people have, okay. Could be
right, okay, but I'm not going to confirm it as true unless the Bible tells me
that. Back to Matthew chapter 17, please. Matthew chapter 17 verse 14. A bit of a
Bible study today. Verse 14. Matthew 17 verse 14. And when they were come to the
multitude, they came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord have
mercy on my son for he is lunatic and sore vexed and oft times he fall off
into the fire and oft into the water. One thing about this individual here that's
not said right now here is that he was actually possessed by a devil, okay. This
is why he's, he's causing, he's trying to harm himself. The devil's trying to throw
himself into the fire. Verse 16. And I brought him to thy disciples and they
could not cure him. Now remember Jesus Christ did give his apostles the power
to cast out devils, to heal sick, the sick, okay. So Jesus Christ gave his apostles
that power and they could not cast out this devil out of this child. And then
verse number 17. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation.
Now let me just stop there for a moment. When I used to, when, you know, in my
younger years I thought, and maybe you thought this, I thought Jesus was
calling his disciples faithless and perverse, okay. But that's not the case.
And we'll see in this chapter why that is. He says, how long shall I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the
devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour.
Now just one thing I want to show you just very quickly, explain to you.
Whenever the Bible teaches about casting out devils, it's an immediate thing, okay.
We see here Jesus cast out the devil. It came out that very hour, okay. Meaning
basically right away, okay. And quite often when you see Jesus Christ doing
other miracles, casting out devils, it's immediate. It just happens straight away,
okay. Because the power of God is greater than any devil. Of course he's
gonna cast out the devil straight away, okay. There's a lot of, there's a lot of
make-believe stuff that goes on, okay. Like the Catholic priests and, you know,
these Pentecostal, you know, faith healers casting out devils. I mean these things
go on and on and on. It's like, what in the world? You know, if God wants this
person healed, he will do it immediately, okay. But one thing you notice here is
his disciples were unable to cast out the devil. And let me say to you, who is
he calling faithless and perverse? I'll tell you who he's calling faithless and
perverse. It's the father of the child. I'll show you soon. And maybe just others.
Why? Because they're criticizing his disciples. He says, look, I've come to your
disciples for help and they couldn't help me.
Jesus calls him perverse and faithless. You see, even the father was lacking
faith. Even the father found it difficult to believe that, you know, through the
power of Christ they could cast out this devil, alright. Now let me prove this to
you in a moment because this is a great lesson to any pastor. If you have a
desire one day to be a pastor, learn from Jesus, okay. You've had the public come
and criticize your church members as it were, or your workers if you want to
consider it that way. They came to criticize him. Jesus Christ does not
criticize his church members or his workers publicly in front of everybody
else, okay. He calls them a perverse generation, okay. He doesn't criticize his
own people in the public. Now will he criticize his disciples? Yes he will. But
you'll notice here he doesn't do it in public, alright. Verse number 19. Verse
number 19. Look at this. Then came Jesus, then came the disciples to Jesus apart.
What's that? So not in front of everybody, right. The disciples came to Jesus apart
somewhere else. They were somewhere private, alright, and said, why could not
we cast him out? So you see how Jesus deals with his disciples privately, okay.
And then he says verse number 20. Now Jesus does rebuke them. He says in verse 20.
And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief. So were the disciples
lacking faith as well? They were as well. That was one of the issues why they
could not cast out this devil. But I want you to see that Jesus tells them
privately because of their unbelief. He doesn't embarrass them in
front of the public, okay. And the good lesson that I can see here as a pastor
if I see problems in this church with you as an individual, I'm not going to
just criticize you, accuse you, embarrass you in front of everybody else, okay. I'll
take you apart and speak to you lovingly, okay. Maybe I have to rebuke you, okay. But
I'll do it privately. If I ever have to do that to you, I want you to remember
this chapter. Matthew 17. That's why Kevin did it, okay. Because he read what Jesus
did and he wants to follow like Jesus Christ, okay. So if you get offended at
that, well you would have been offended by Jesus if you're with him at that time,
okay. Now let's keep reading. Let's keep reading. Verse number 20. And Jesus said
unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith
as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain,
Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be
impossible unto you. Now I've always found this interesting, okay. Because
he's saying, look, if you had enough faith you could move this mountain, all right.
Now I've never seen anybody move a mountain. I mean, has anyone seen someone
move a mountain? No. I mean, I'm not saying we've like, we've got equipment, yes. No, no.
I'm just like, just with your faith. No, have you ever read anyone in the Bible
move a mountain? It never happens, right? So you're sort of wondering, why would
Jesus say these things? Now finally realize, it's not that Jesus is expecting
anyone to move mountains, okay. He's using this as an illustration, okay. That
really, if you did literally have enough faith, you could literally move mountains,
okay, through the work of God. But what he's trying to say here is, that this
casting out of this devil, you needed, you know, needed supernatural help, okay.
It would have taken a miracle to cast out this devil. This wasn't something
that you would normally see, okay. Like, you wouldn't normally see someone move a
mountain, okay. So you need the supernatural work of God to do an
amazing miracle, because then it says this, verse number 21,
Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. So it says, look, even
if you did have the faith, first of all you didn't have faith, that was your
problem, but even if you did have the faith, this kind, this devil, would not
have come out except by prayer and fasting, okay. So they needed the faith,
they needed the prayer and the fasting in order to have done this supernatural
work of casting out this devil, all right. So, I mean, that just tells us a little
bit about Satan's, you know, kingdom, but there are some devils that are
extremely powerful, you know, some devils that are so powerful that really if
you're gonna cast them out, you need to have great faith and pray and fast, okay.
And this is, look, I've never, I don't think we ever spent time in prayer and
fasting as a church, but I have up there in Queensland, because obviously I have
more time with them, but there are some times where, you know, you may
feel there is spiritual darkness, you know, fighting against the work of the
church, or you just need some great miracle to happen, you know, it's
something that you know that is very difficult, as difficult as moving a
mountain. Well that's a great time for you to just pray and fast, you know, set
aside a day, maybe set aside a couple of days if you need to, and just go to the
Lord in prayer and fast, you know, ask the Lord to increase your faith, bring your
requests before Him. This is a biblical thing, to pray and fast and ask the Lord
to do the supernatural, ask the Lord to do a miracle. A lot of people, when they're
going through difficulties and just they don't know how to overcome those
difficulties, they do pray and fast, and I've seen great success with those
efforts, okay. Praying and fasting does an amazing work in the supernatural realm,
which is beyond our understanding. Let's keep reading, verse number 22.
So I don't have a lot to say here. They've gone back into Galilee, okay, they've been away from there, and
Jesus Christ just basically tells them once again, hey, I'm going to be betrayed,
I'm going to be killed, I'm going to rise again from the dead, alright, and they're
very sorry about this. It's an interesting thing because Jesus Christ
tells them plainly what's going to happen, but when He is arrested, when He
is killed, they forget. They forget the promise of Christ being resurrected from
the dead, alright. Verse 24.
So here, they're being asked, the disciples are being asked,
doesn't Jesus, doesn't He pay His taxes, okay. Now this is not a Roman tax, okay.
This is what is known as a temple tax at this point in time. Now you don't need to
turn, I'm just going to quickly read to you from the Nehemiah. If you know the
story of Nehemiah, he was involved with the the building of the second temple in
Jerusalem. So when Jesus Christ was walking in Judea at this point in time,
it wasn't the first temple that was built by Solomon. That temple got
destroyed and then in the book of Nehemiah and Ezra, you read the stories
about how they built the second temple, okay. Now I'll just read a portion of
scripture to you. Nehemiah chapter 10 verse 32, it says,
So this is an annual tax, to charge ourselves yearly with the third
part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God, for the showbread and
for the continual meat offering and for the continual burnt offering of the
Sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feast and for the holy things and
for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel and for all of the
work of the house of God, okay. So what we see here, the construction of the second
temple, they put this annual tax that everyone had to pay just to keep the
maintenance of the building, just to pay for things that needed to be done during
that time. And so Jesus Christ comes back to where they were from and
and I guess they've fallen behind on this tax, okay. And they're asked the
question, aren't you going to pay tribute? What's going on? Doesn't your master pay
tribute? Let's keep reading, verse number 25.
Now what that means is, so Jesus says yes, sorry, Peter says yes, Jesus will pay the tax.
He'll pay the tribute. So then he goes to the house where Jesus is to tell them
about it, but when it says Jesus prevented him, that means basically Jesus
already knew about it. In his, you know, omniscience as the Holy God, he
already knew about this discussion that Peter had with these tax collectors, all
right. That's what it means, he prevented him. Jesus started speaking first before
Peter got to explain what's going on, all right. So it says here, Jesus prevents him
saying, what thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or
tribute? Of their own children or of strangers? So we ask him a very simple
question, like let's say you were the Prime Minister of Australia, you know, or
you had the power to create some tax, to pass on some tax. Are you going to tax
your own children? You know, you're going to tax your, you know, the people that, you
know, the ones that you love, that you raised. No, you're going to tax everyone
else, basically, the strangers. That's kind of the idea, right. So Jesus asks him that
question. And then verse number 26, Peter saith unto him, Of strangers, of course
you wouldn't tax your own kids, Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
Okay, now what I believe Jesus Christ is saying here is that because there was a
need to pay this temple tax, to whom did the temple belong to? God the Father,
right. It's God's temple, okay. And Jesus says, well then the children are free.
What's he saying? I'm God's son. I'm a child of God, you know, you know, God the
Father does not require the son to pay tribute, you know, to pay the taxes to
this, to this, to the temple tax. So basically what Jesus Christ is affirming
here is that he's the Son of God, that his father is the God of the temple, and
that, you know, hey, I don't have to pay tax. He's just, you know, basically just
correcting Peter gently, all right. You told him that we'll pay, but I don't have
to pay, okay. Verse number 27. Not we stand in, lest we, lest we should offend
them, go there to the sea, and cast and hook, and take up the fish that first
cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money,
that take, and give unto them for me and thee. So Jesus says, look, just go fish, the
first fish you catch will have a coin, basically, and use that coin to go and
pay the tax. And it's just an interesting thing. So you see, you know,
Jesus Christ is never against paying taxes, okay. I mean, any time there's a
requirement to pay tax, he's just, yeah, just pay it. Render unto Caesar what
belongs to Caesar, okay. Even sometimes when it's not really relevant, and of
course, you know, our nation taxes us at least 30 percent or something. I mean,
much more than what God asked, you know, for the Old Testament Israel to be
taxed, you know. But here's the thing. One thing that you notice with Jesus Christ,
he never allows the government or paying taxes to get in the way of the
ministry. He'd rather just pay them and just go ahead and continue his ministry.
And it's also, I also find it quite fascinating that instead of taking
money from the offering, because obviously as they went, people, people
gave money. In fact, Judas Iscariot, the Bible says, had the bag. And they had,
obviously they had money to go and buy food, to pay for clothing, all the things
that they would need on their journeys for three years. But instead of taking
money from the offering, it sends Peter to go fish and get it out of a fish's
mouth somewhere, alright. So that's how much, that's how, that's kind of like how
Jesus Christ thinks about paying taxes. Instead of paying it from the church, he
goes and gets it from the, from the middle of the sea, alright. So just a
thought there. I don't have anything much more to say. But I hope that's given you
a good outline of this chapter. You know, understanding the transfiguration of
Christ. Understanding, you know, Elias, who was Elijah. These are some
difficult concepts for some people to understand. So I hope that's given you
some light. Let's pray.