Under pressure, the Apostle Peter tended to talk rather than listen.
Don't be building shelters, Peter. Don't talk. You learn nothing when you talk. None of us learn when we talk.
We learn when we listen. Listen to what he wants to tell you. He's glowing. It's obvious that he is deity in flesh. It's obvious my hand is on him. He's my son, the Beloved One.
Listen to him. Life is full of surprises, right? Some are delightful, some of the surprises are unwanted, but all of them completely unexpected. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll invites us to engage in a surprising scene recorded in Matthew chapter 17. In this passage, we see how Peter responded to a shocking moment. Following the miraculous transfiguration of Jesus, Peter started talking.
He was filled with suggestions. Well, clearly God wanted Peter to listen rather than fill the silence with words. Chuck titled today's message, Microfaith and Mountainous Obstacles. Paul was writing the great letter to the Romans, which was, I've often called it his magnum opus, as he declared our theology for us so clearly. He reaches a bit of a climax at the end of the 11th chapter.
It's almost a, well it is a doxology within the letter itself. And he writes, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. Isn't that a great way to express it? How unsearchable are God's judgments and unfathomable his ways. We actually waste a lot of our time trying to figure out God, you know. Oh, as our president said when I graduated from Dallas Seminary, don't try to unscrew the inscrutable. I always thought that's good counsel. If it's inscrutable, you can't unscrew it.
If it's unfathomable, you can't reach the depth of it. Leave it with him. Trust him.
Rely on him. The section we're looking at today in Matthew's gospel chapter 17, beginning at verse 14 down through verse 20, has that sort of as the the subtle background music behind the words, where when we find ourselves facing those mountainous obstacles, all that's really needed is the size of a mustard seed of faith. We often tell people they didn't have enough faith for this. But on the contrary, all you really need is a tiny amount, just enough to point people to the one who is able to handle impossibilities. So let me read for you from the New Living Translation the verses that are before us in Matthew 17, 14 to 20.
At the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was waiting for them. A man came and knelt before Jesus and said, Lord, Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly.
He often falls into the fire or into the water. So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn't heal him. Jesus said, you faithless and corrupt people, how long must I be with you?
How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy and it left him.
From that moment, the boy was well. Afterwards, the disciples asked Jesus privately, why couldn't we cast out that demon? You don't have enough faith, Jesus told him. I told you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move from here to there. And it would move. Nothing would be impossible. Think. In your mind, think of something you have considered impossible.
Maybe recently, maybe just since the turn of the year, maybe for quite a while. And remember, with our God, nothing falls in that category. Doesn't mean he will do what we want him to do, or he will do it at the time we expect him to do it, or that he would even agree that's what's best. But he will handle the impossible, his way and in his time. This is Insight for Living.
To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scriptures studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now the message from Chuck, titled Microfaith and Mountainous Obstacles. Mountaintop moments are designed to change our perceptions in life, not change our residence. There are times that the Lord pulls us aside to be alone just with him. Happens on hospital beds, after an illness or an accident, or maybe some lingering disease has finally forced us to be there.
And night comes and we're alone, alone with our thoughts, alone with him. Those are not lost moments, those are moments found when he connects with us. Sometimes they come in the midst of a horrendous crucible of testing. We can't seem to see our way through it. And rather than things lightening up, they intensify.
And rather than simplifying, they get complicated. And we at times back off and think, what on earth is this about? Those are clarifying moments if we will see them as very special moments when God is attempting to get our attention. To remind us that we don't have a corner on life. That we don't have things figured out.
These are essential moments when we are stopped in our tracks and he connects with us in a way that hopefully we will never forget. Speaking of that, I had a good friend in my high school years who was bad to the bone. I mean, he was one tough guy. He played both ways on the football team. He was both linebacker on defense and he was a running back on offense. Wasn't necessarily the star of the team, but he was rugged, he was rough. He was to the nth degree determined in life.
Wrote a Harley, big leather jacket, just sort of the type you would pick for the tough guy in the school. He had no place in his life for God or the things of God. To him life was about however he shaped it. One, as I recall one Friday or Saturday evening, he decided to put his boat into Galveston Harbor and he turned it on full and alone was racing across the waves. Not at nightfall, but shortly before and a wave hit him just across the bow and his boat flipped and he was suddenly in the water. No life jacket, of course, and he wasn't able to hang on to anything so he began to swim toward the jetties.
The problem if you're familiar with jetties is that barnacles grow all over those rocks that are in the water all the time. That's all he had to hang on to, but he got there, he grabbed hold of one of those that jutted up out of the water and the barnacles simply began to rake the skin off the front of his body. He was up and down in the swells of the surf.
It was too far to shore for him to swim and he realized that the blood in the water would attract the sharks and they're all over that area, that warm water of Galveston Bay. And for the first time in his life ever, as he told the story later, he prayed. He didn't know how to pray, so he just yelled out the name of God and he made God a promise. He said, if you'll rescue me, I'll do anything. And then a few moments later he says, I'll even go into the ministry as if that is the ultimate worst possible thing he could promise.
I'll preach, I'll do whatever. Wouldn't you know it, wouldn't you know it, around the end of the jetties came a small Coast Guard boat that normally searched the area for just such situations. They found him, they rescued him, and he crawled in in their vessel soaked with blood. It wasn't long after that that he summarily forgot all of that, except, he said, every time he would shower at night and stand in front of the mirror, toweling off the scars that were across his chest and stomach and thighs and feet were mute reminders of that moment when God heard him. Through another chilling event that really got his attention, it was a near-death experience. He realized God was serious on his end in moments like that. And in fact, he did study for the ministry and served Christ faithfully. He came to the Lord, he was converted to the Savior and spent his life preaching the cross of Christ to all who would listen. He passed through the church, he's now gone, and he leaves in his legacy a congregation that to this day loves him with their whole hearts. A life changed in a mountaintop moment.
It's not something that occurs on a mountain, though it can. It may occur at a spiritual retreat. My family and I used to go to a retreat every summer, a place called Mount Herman Christian Conference Center in Northern California.
We went 33 consecutive years. One summer after another, we would go and I'd be there to speak for a week. Sometime we'd stay a little longer, I would use that as a place.
From there, we'd go on our vacation together. But I would meet people all the time who had come there because they wanted to be alone with God and they wanted God to speak to them. It wasn't a mountain, it was named after a mountain in the New Testament, but not actually on a mountain.
It was very near sea level, but the great redwoods grow there and there were trails to walk and places to sit and be quiet, cabins to stay in, and there the Lord and you would meet. And a number of people before they would leave the week would say, we wish we could just live here, as if there's something sacred about the place. But remember my opening line, those mountaintop moments are not designed to change your residence. They're designed to change your whole perception of life. So that up until then you looked at life one way, but after this, when you really got your attention, you looked at it from that angle, because you were different.
Your address hadn't changed, you had changed, hopefully. That's why I often say to people, don't forget a pad and a pen when you go to the hospital. Or if you keep one, don't forget your journal. Sometimes when we are at those crossroad moments in life, we get our best thoughts. They've been distilled through fear, fear of the unknown, fear of what this means or may mean to my world as I've always known it. Those are moments when he gets our attention. Now why would I begin this message like that? Because in the section we're looking at today, in Matthew 17, 14 to 21, just a few verses, all of this revolves at the foot of a mountain.
Let me show you something, you may have missed it in a previous message when we dealt with it. Look at chapter 17, verse 1, and you will see that the Lord led three disciples up a mountain, happens to be Mount Hermon, most likely, and the three are named Peter, James, and John. So he selected three of the twelve, took them with him, and they went up, at least along the slopes of the mountain, maybe not all the way to the top, but they went up the mountain.
Something happens there that's very significant. Then look at verse 9, I've got that marked in my Bible, they went back down the mountain. So between 1 and 9, something happens on the slope of the mountain. In verse 9, they leave and he tells them to keep it quiet. We'll get to that in a moment. Then in verse 14, they're at the foot of the mountain.
See that? 1, they go up, 9, they're coming down, 14, they're at the base of the mountain. What happens on the mountain?
A mountaintop moment. Jesus is, what is commonly called by theologians, transfigured. What does that mean? Look at verse 2. As the men watch, the men would be the three disciples, Peter, James, and John, as they watch, Jesus' appearance was transformed.
Your Bible may read transfigured, then it explains what that means. His face shone like the sun. So there was a brilliance, there was an aura, there was a shining that came from his face that they had never seen before, had never been there before.
Read on. His clothing became white as light. So he is a glow, if you will. In the Old Testament, there is a light that comes from heaven down into the holiest place in the tabernacle called the Shekinah. The Shekinah glory of God, like a laser, right, beaming down, brilliant, casting away all shadows and coming down on the subject of that holy place. Here is on Jesus.
Look closely. His clothes became white as light. The three disciples are seeing this. No doubt they're stunned about what they see.
And then something occurs that's phenomenal. Look, suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. They have not lived for over a thousand years.
More than that for Moses. Out of eternity, they appear and the disciples see them, Matthew records it, and Jesus converses with them. We're not told what the dialogue was about, but they were talking together. It's all phenomenal, and so Peter, good old Peter, always ready to do something practical, always ready to do something. So he says to them, Lord, it's wonderful for us to be here.
It's a great beginning, but unfortunately he went on. If you want, I'll make three shelters of memorial. In other words, let's just stay here. But remember in mountaintop moments, it's not to make you stay there. It's to get your attention there, but you don't need a shelter to draw from the moment what the Lord is teaching you. Peter misses it.
He thinks what we want is sheltered. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. That's it. I'll do it. I'll find the wood, I'll build the shelter.
No, no, no, no. Now, while Peter is coming up with that bright idea, please observe what happens. As he spoke, it's verse five, look at your Bible. As he spoke, another phenomenon occurs. A bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my son, my dearly beloved one.
Literally. This is my beloved son who brings me great joy. And then the most important of all, listen to him. Don't be building shelters, Peter. Don't talk. You learn nothing when you talk.
None of us learn when we talk. We learn when we listen. Listen. Listen to what he wants to tell you. That's why you're up here.
It's glowing. It's obvious that he is deity in flesh. It's obvious my hand is on him. He's my son, the beloved one.
Listen to him. The disciples were terrified. They fell down on the ground.
I would imagine. I would imagine they shook. They trembled. They're down on the ground and Jesus came over and he touched them. Just reached down and he touched them. And he said, get up.
Don't be afraid. When they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone and they saw only Jesus, finally. They've got their gaze right. In mountaintop moments, we're to fix our eyes on Christ. Look only at him. Listen only to him. If more was said, we're not told. When I say that you're laid aside or you're in the middle of a test and the Lord speaks, I don't mean you're hearing a voice.
Let's get past that. It may be something the Lord reveals from his word. You have a testament with you in your reading and you see something you've never seen before. That's when he speaks to you. Maybe it's deep within your heart. Hear me when I say this. You can't articulate what he tells you in words.
Maybe it's a peace that comes over you. As if he is saying, it's going to be all right. I'm in charge. I know what I'm doing. What was a surprise to you is no surprise in my plan.
You're right where I want you to be. Calm down. Rest in me. Whatever he may have said to them, they were changed. Now, this is what I call a sacred moment. Because he says to them as they are on their way back down the mountain. Look, verse nine. He commanded them, don't tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. Part of the reason is you can't describe it in words. We do our best to understand it when it's in print. But we have to imagine something like the Transfiguration. We don't even know if there were more things said. So don't try to tell anyone anything about this.
Just remember what happened to you. The glory and grace of Jesus shine brightly in Matthew chapter 17. And in many respects, his amazing, brilliant grace is the cornerstone of this daily program.
You're listening to the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll. And to see what resources we have available for today's topic, please visit us online at insightworld.org. Here at Insight for Living, we're committed to helping you understand the power of simple faith, even a tiny seed of faith, when it's firmly rooted in the fertile soil of God's Word.
To that end, we encourage you to pursue a deeper understanding of these matters at your own pace and on your own schedule. To equip you with a tool that will guide your learning, we're recommending an eye-opening book from our teacher. It's his hallmark book called The Grace Awakening. Thousands of readers point to this classic as the turning point in their spiritual walk, as they truly understand the depth and reality of God's glory and grace. And if you're prepared to shed the legalism that was first imposed by the Pharisees in Matthew's Gospel, then we highly recommend this book from Chuck.
In The Grace Awakening, he clearly describes what it means to embrace our freedom and liberty in Christ. So to purchase a copy, go to insight.org slash offer. Or call us.
If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888. Recently, we received a note from someone who was trapped by legalism. He said, as a teenager, I moved away from Christ because of the legalism in the church I attended. As an adult, I went through many dark days. I'm so thankful I finally found Insight for Living. Your ministry guided me back, and I'm so humbly thankful.
Well, these special moments are made possible by those who support Insight for Living. And if you're among those who give, we hope this brief story encourages you to keep up the good work. To give a donation today, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Or give online at insight.org. Have a great weekend.
And join us again Monday when Chuck Swindoll continues his study through the Gospel of Matthew, right here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Microfaith and Mountainous Obstacles, was copyrighted in 2017 and 2021. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
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