Good morning, church. Last week, we started a new series that we're just calling Living in His Glory. All right, like you just saw on the bumper, what we're doing is we are slowly walking through this mountain event called the Mount of Transfiguration. It comes from Matthew chapter 17. If you wanna, go ahead and turn with me there. Matthew Chapter 17 is where we were last week. It's where we are this week, and God willing, it's where we will be next week. And it's fitting that we're looking at the Mountain or this mountain event because we are right in the middle of what I would call mountain season. Every time I go on and scroll social media a little bit, somebody takes a picture of a mountain or leaves or changes something during this season.
And it is the great, great season of fall to do that. I want to do a bit of a poll this morning to know where we're at. If you had to pick, all right, and choose between Mountain or beach, which one or which team would you be on? Can I get you to raise your hand if you say, Matt, I am a mountain person. Who are the mountain people in the house right now? All right, come on. Alright, that, wow, that's not great. It's not good for business in Gatlinburg. There it is, right? That's their mountain people. All right. If you had to pick this morning and you say, I am a beach person, Matt, how many of you are out there? Okay. Whoa, that's overwhelming. I think the mountain people came earlier this morning.
They're already at the apple barn. How many of you would, how many of you would say, I can't pick Matt. I can't do it. I'm in the bubble. Okay, I feel you. I think all of that. Well, listen, I feel you both, all right. But this time of year, I'm a mountain person. I'm a mountain person this time of the year, and one of the things I've noticed about mountains is that they make us think about some things in life. Then, one of the first things you think about when you hit the mountains is how small we are. Has that ever hit you before when you pull up? Maybe it's 575 or 85 or 400, or even flown out to the Rockies?
It just makes you feel small, doesn't it? I guess you could say it shows you the grand idea of creation. It also shows you that there's this bigness of what God has given us in creation, right? It's okay to enjoy what God has given us, the creation God has given us in the mountains. It's just this incredible moment of, man, God has created this thing. There's also freshness in the mountains on this level. Have you ever realized, especially those of you who like to camp the noncampers, that you don't know what I'm talking about here, but have you ever just felt that freshness in the morning when you're waking up in the mountains? You're like, no, Matt, I'm camping–I hate it. It's not for you, all right, for you and other people.
Or maybe you walk out of your nice little cabin in the woods, all right, maybe that's where we're at in this church. There's just this freshness in the mountains. There's, there's also there, on the other side, there's a rawness in the mountains, maybe not like Stone Mountain, you take the cable car up, but like if you're in the Rockies, right? And you're looking up on this Mountain, there's this rawness. And really and truly, when you read scripture, one of the things I thought about this week is that any time throughout scripture, when you're, when you're looking at it, God, God uses these mountains for teaching. He uses mountains for ministry. He uses it for worship. He uses mountains just to experience his presence. So, for those of you who are beach people, I mean, yeah, God uses that as well.
He split the sea, and they walked on the beach, right? He cooked by the beach one day, right? I mean, he walked on the water. He called the disciples on the beach. There are some beach moments, I get you. But for you, mountain people, man, some significant events in scripture happen in the mountains. Something hit me this week about the Bible. Did you realize that God is doing something big when a mountain is mentioned in the Bible? I mean, really I thought of a few this week. Let me go chronologically. There's Mount Ariat in Genesis chapter eight, where the arc landed at the end of the flood, right at the end of God resetting the whole earth. There was this rainbow of promise that they got to see out the window on Mount Ariat.
Fast forward past that to Mount Mariah in Genesis chapter 22. This is where Abraham was called to take Isaac as the sacrifice, but God provided the lamb in the thicket, right? To show his promise and power, to show Abraham's faithfulness. And that also became the Temple Mount, where the ultimate lamb was sacrificed. What about Mount Sinai? Remember that in Deuteronomy and Exodus, Mount Sinai was known as the Mountain of God, right? It was the Mountain that Moses went up to receive the 10 Commandments. What about Mount Pisca or Nebo? Either one. That's where Moses went up to see the Promised Land. A little bit of a bittersweet moment for Moses, right? He had been leading these people to this place he never got to walk in, but he got to see it. Fast forward to Mount Carmel, one of my favorite mountains.
It works its way into almost every message. Somehow. This is in First Kings, where Elijah calls down the fire on the Mountain, right? And destroys all the prophets of Baal at that moment. Fast forward to the New Testament, and you have Mount Olive, the Mount of Olives. It's where Jesus went to the garden to pray, take upon the world's sin, and ask God if there was any other way for him not to go to the cross. It's also the place he returned to after the resurrection, where he ascended to God and heaven. It's also where Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives at the end of time. What about this Mount Mount Calvary significance of Mount Calvary is the cross where Christ became sin on my and your behalf. And then, last but not least, there are others.
But here's the one we're looking at in this series: Mount Harmon. It's the Mountain that we're looking at here. So listen, as you're taking in this fall season, there's something to the mountains and something to God pointing to himself as you realize the grandiose of what he's given us. It's God's country if you would. Now, last week, we stepped in and joined this event in Matthew chapter 17, and we made the point last week that this event of the Transfiguration is not this vast public event. There are not masses of people, but it's for Peter, James, and John, these guys that had followed him faithfully, that had walked after him faithfully. And now Jesus has taken them to the Mountain to show them privately who he is. And we saw last week that Jesus, that's how he works in our lives, that more often than not, it always starts with a private moment.
It starts with a personal moment. That's why every week, somebody from this stage encourages you to think that listening to somebody like me is not enough. You and I all need these personal moments with God because the power, wisdom, and revelation we receive in private will always dictate what flows from us in public. That's what we said last week, and we said that our times with the word, our times in the word, revolve around intentional solitude around a prepared heart, opening up the word of God, and having a focused moment of prayer. That's where we said last week; that's where we left it last week. And when we do that example, as we saw from the text last week, God begins to show us His glory, which is the moment that God speaks into our hearts.
Well, last week, we barely scratched this event's surface. Now, I want us to jump back into the mountain event here because we just barely got into it last week, and I want us to go from where we left off last week and take it from there this morning. Lemme just read all eight verses, just in case you weren't here. Here's the Mount of Transfiguration. It says this in Matthew 17, verse one. It says after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There, he was transfigured before them. That's about as far as we made it. Keep going. Here's what it says. His face shown like the sun.
His clothes became white as light, and just then there appeared before them, Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. When he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, this is my son whom I love. And with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him. In verse six, when the disciples heard this, they fell face down on the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. Get up. He said, do not be afraid. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. We briefly mentioned last week that the word transformed is one of the keywords of this whole text. I would encourage you to circle that text or highlight that verse.
You might want to note in your Bible that this is where we get our word metamorphosis. We skimmed over it last week. But that means, in earthly terms, that something has been changed from the inside to the out. That's what metamorphosis means. That's what transformed or transfigured means. Now, for Jesus, what this means is that Jesus just showed these guys, Peter, James, and John, who he was on the inside. So what happened is that Jesus just removed the blinders, showed his divinity and true self, and gave them a glimpse of the fullness of who he was inside. Now, this is important, and here's why it's important. It's important because it's easy to fall into the trap right here, to read this text, to see this event, and to think that suddenly Jesus just became something new that he wasn't already before.
But that is not the case, okay? That is not the case at this moment. Jesus did not become something new, okay? I want you to feel that. Alright? That's why the word transfigured was used. This moment. Is not Jesus making himself new? No. The transfiguration implies a revelation of his true nature. Okay? I know that's a little bit of a shift. Jesus didn't receive some new power. He didn't get some new role. He wasn't given some new wisdom. He wasn't gifted some new lordship. At this moment, that is not what happened. Okay? So what did happen in this moment? Well, Jesus showed these guys a fuller picture of who he was without the limitations he had put on himself. That's what he did. And in fact, if you look at verses two and three, it gives us some clues with the language and the description that really just backs this up.
Lemme read verses two and three to you. Again, it says this. There, he spoke of Jesus, who was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun. His clothes became white as light, and just then, Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus. Usually, when you're just preaching through this text, you don't get to spend time in this little moment right here 'cause you're trying to get through all eight of these verses in one message. That's why I'm choosing to do it last week, this week, and next week, because there's so much in just these two verses that I want to slow down. I want to show you what exactly is happening in this encounter because this encounter, other than the ascension and the crucifixion, shows us exactly who Jesus is and validates that Jesus is fully God.
Now, listen, never let anybody out there look at Jesus and just say he was just a good man. Never let anybody walk out there and just say that he was just a miracle worker, that he was a sage, that he was just somebody who was a promoter of peace. Now, although he was all those things, the central part of who Jesus is, was that he was fully God. He was fully God on this side. He was fully man; on this side, he was God. Now, it's incredibly important. Why? Because if he was not fully man, he could not have lived the life that we should have lived to be our sacrifice. If he was not fully God, he could not have died the death to atone for all of our sins. But at this moment, what we're seeing is Jesus has given these guys a small glimpse into his full glory, which is that He is God.
He's God. That's what we're seeing right here. The un-muted image and fullness was shown. So what happened to Jesus? His face, scripture says His face and clothes lit up. I want to bring in a couple of the other accounts of Luke and Mark to show you exactly what happened when we mesh all these together. Luke 9:29, it says this as Jesus says, he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became bright as a flash of lightning. Now, I love this. I'm a kid of the eighties. When we went to bed at night, there was no sound machine. There were no eye masks, and there were no blackout shades. There was none of that.
I mean, you just looked out the window, and went to bed. Amen. Now, remember when you were a kid in the eighties? Remember when you went to bed in the summertime, and there was a big old thunderstorm going on at nighttime? Remember that? Your mama and daddy didn't crawl into the bed with you. They're like, go to bed, right? Remember what happened when lightning would just crack down in the darkness in your room and light up the whole room, and all of a sudden, it went from full darkness to full light. That's what Luke is saying is happening right here. So don't think of this as like Jesus just kind of warmed up a little bit and warmed up a little bit, and eventually, he became full-blown, bright, light, glowing. No, it was all of a sudden. In fact, it gets a little bit better.
In Luke's account, he describes that this event most or most probably happened at nighttime, which makes it even better. 'cause I mean, if it's happening in the daytime, you're like, man, is that Jesus or is that just the sun reflecting off of him? But at night, could you imagine what is happening right here? Luke 9:32 says this: Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but what happened when they became fully awake? They saw the glory and the two men standing with them. Did you see it? Luke mentions these disciples were asleep, and then suddenly, like your spouse turning on the bathroom light at nighttime, amen. Here it is boom! The brightness showed around them. I love what Mark says about it. Luke verse 9:3. He says his clothes became dazzling, white: whiter than anyone could bleach them.
And this includes my grandmother, who would bleach everything, right? Because this was out of this world. But why? Why did Jesus need to do this? That's the question. Why now? Look, there are so many commentaries. I mean, there are hundreds of pages of really smart people who write so much about this event of time. There's so much speculation. There are so many crazy answers. But I think it's incredibly clear here that Jesus just needed to leave a lasting impression on these three guys and all of us that are followers of his for the rest of time of exactly who he is. We don't have to dig any farther than that. You see, Jesus just knew that he needed to show these guys the fullness of who he was. Why? Because times were coming that they would need to know that to live it out.
You see, when Jesus did this, you have to think about it. It was six months before the cross. It was eight months before his ascension back to the Father. Jesus knew for them, and he knew for us that there would be so many difficulties in life. There was gonna be so much hardness in life. There was gonna be so much persecution in life. There was gonna be so much of a load that these guys had to carry for his name that they would have to fully grasp who he is. And he knew that we were gonna have to fully have a grasp of who he is to live in a culture that despises the name of Jesus. He knew this. Jesus knew that they and I might need to add we had to intimately and fully know who he was to live underneath the shadow of his glory.
And that's what we're seeing in the text. What happens here is that Jesus just fully stands and shows them his inner workings to put it in language we can understand. Coming out of Halloween, Jesus just kind of took the mask off and showed who he was. Or, to put it in COVID language, he took the mask off. Amen. Remember how hard it was to understand somebody talking through one of those things or seeing who it was? It's almost as if Jesus just said, I'll show you who I am so you can show others who I am. You see, we first saw this through this incredible moment of this illuminating light, but then we also saw his fullness through secondly, just who showed up at the Mountain.
You see, first, we see the glow in Jesus, but then the text tells us; secondly, we see God's glory kind of begin to show through who showed up at the party. Have you ever thought about who showed up at this event? It's so incredible when you think through it. Let me walk you through it for a minute. First, there was Moses. There was Moses. You said, well, Matt, why is Moses there? Well, I'm glad you asked that 'cause that's what I want to tell you. Moses. If you think about who he was, Moses was a couple of things. Number one, he was the giver of the law, right? He was the giver of the word of God. The first five books of the Bible it's the Pentateuch, right? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses gave it to how they could live in the name of God.
He was the giver of the law. He was the giver of the word of God. And then, thirdly, what was Moses? Moses was the deliverer. Do you remember that about Moses? His name means deliverer. What did he do? He was the one who was charged to deliver God's people out of Egypt. That was his role. That was his job. That was his calling in life. So, who do we have standing with Jesus? We have Moses, the giver of the law, the giver of the Word of God, and the deliverer. But it makes so much sense. Why? Because who is Jesus? Jesus was the word made flesh to come to dwell among us. Jesus was what? Jesus was. The fulfillment of what? The law. He was the fulfillment of the law. He was the fulfillment of all things written. And Jesus was not just the little D deliverer.
He was the deliverer of not just the Jews but for all mankind. Are you seeing this? We've got Little D deliverer, Moses standing with Big D deliverer of all mankind, Jesus saying, that's the deliverer. But then, secondly, there was Elijah. There was Elijah on the Mountain. I love this. Who is Elijah? Elijah was a prophet who was, quite indeed, the voice of God in a hurting and broken world. He was the sole voice, I might add. And he was a representation of the Savior. Do you see where this one's going? Of course, he was. Why? Because who is he seeing in this moment? He was seeing Jesus. Jesus is God. Jesus is the voice of God to a lost, hurting, and broken world. And Jesus is not just the representation of a Savior, but Jesus is the Savior for all mankind.
When you put both of those two together, it's incredible. Why? Because looking at Jesus in his fullness, he is the complete fulfillment of the law, the complete fulfillment of the prophecies, the big deliverer of all mankind, the Messiah and the Savior of the world in this moment. And just a side note about Elijah and Moses: according to Malachi 4, in Revelation 10 and 11, there's gonna be another day that these two guys gather with Jesus and are witnesses for who Jesus is. It's almost like this is a little dress rehearsal for what's gonna happen at the end of time in this very little moment. And then don't forget, it's not just Moses and Elijah. Don't forget the other guys who were there. You've got Peter there. Who is Peter? Peter is the voice of the disciples, and he stands for the beginning of the church.
You got James, the first disciple who was martyred for his faith. You got John; the one self-proclaimed is the one in whom Jesus loved and who wrote the book of Revelation that gives an incredibly similar event to this that will happen one day. So when you put the deliverer, the Messiah, the prophets, the word of God, the beginning of the church, the martyrdom, and the end of times together, you are seeing in this moment the fullness of who Jesus is. In this one event. This one moment that we just blasted through so many times and hurried through that can change us like it changed Peter, James, and John. So Peter, James, and John, they have their life rocked. Amen. And then as a result of that, the worldwide movement of Christianity began to spread. But I want you to keep reading and watch what Peter does.
It says this in verse four. It says Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Now, these guys are on a new level with their relationship with Jesus; they have to be right. And if you think about any time a friend shares something in confidence with you or tells some, tells you something that they've never told you or anybody else, there's this new level of trust. There's this higher relationship bond, exactly what Jesus did in their lives. But I want you to see another principle as well. Yes, they were amazed. Yes, this would be etched into their minds forever and ever and ever again. Yes, they got to see the whole picture of who Jesus is: he was fully God and man. But I want you to see the Peter principle here. Write it down in your notes.
Here it is. The principle is this. You cannot experience Jesus in a real way and not be changed or moved to action. You just can't do it. You can experience Jesus in a real way, in a mighty way. You just can't do it and not be changed or moved to action. You can't do it. Listen, truly knowing Jesus is not just educational; it's not just a cool moment. It's not just a card you fill out, or it's not just a little baptism that you walk through truly experiencing. Jesus changes you quite literally from the inside out. And it always causes you to begin to walk out of your faith. It changes us. It causes action. It changes us. It causes action. That's exactly what happened in these guys' lives. And that's exactly what happened. That is what Jesus wants to happen in your life.
When you look at verse four, you look at Jesus who is listening to Peter and Peter, he looks at Jesus and says, I've gotta do something. This is always Peter's response. I might add. He always has to do something. He always has to speak verse. But when you look at this, it's not just that Peter was changed, but Peter is moved to take action, and serving the King is such a great example for us. Look at verse four. It says this. Peter said, Lord, it is good for us to be here. Now, you might want to circle that because that's where Peter's conversation should have ended. Amen. It should have ended right there. And I'll show you what I mean by that. This is such a great example. If Peter's conversation had just ended right here, it would've shown us how to walk into the presence of Jesus.
It would've even been a good thing for Peter to go, Hey, it is good for us to be here. Jesus, what can we do to serve you? That would've been a great language. But remember, Luke reminds us that he was just speaking out of fear here. And so watch what Peter says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. But then he keeps talking. This is what gets him in trouble. Watch it; it says, if you wish, I will put up three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said this is my son whom I love. And with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him. Now, I want you to pause because I want you to see something. I'm gonna leave that verse up on the screen.
Listen to this. Right in the middle of Peter's little speech. Amen. Look what happens. God interrupted him. God interrupted him. Lemme read it again while he was still speaking. Have you ever noticed that verse while he was still, in other words, mid-sentence, Peter is running his mouth? I can just see it. Little chosen Peter. 'cause That's who my mind says Peter is now after watching it so much, right? His sleeves are cut off. He's a little bit ripped and got a little bit of an attitude to him; mid-sentence, while he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. And a voice from the cloud said this is my son whom I love. And with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him. What did God do? God interrupted him mid-sentence. Can I just be vulnerable and transparent with you for just a minute?
This is me. I feel like I need to confess to this. I in my relationship with God, I tend to always want to be the one talking. I do, I don't know why. I know God has given me a voice. I know God has given me an evident set of pipes, right? But I feel like, for some reason, I always want to be the one talking. And God has to so many times give me this Peter moment where God's like, Hey, tap me on the shoulder, Matt, excuse me. Excuse me. It might be for you. It might be wise for you. It might do you well just to be quiet and listen to me. Have you ever been there before? That's what's happening to Peter right here with great intentions. God's just like, Hey, Peter, just listen.
Just hear me out, man. I gotta be honest with you: God has to interrupt me all the time. Literally, mid-sentence to go, Hey, Matt, just listen for a minute. Obviously, God doesn't interrupt me most of the time through a bright light or glowing and hovering around me. No, that doesn't happen. If it does, listen, you're gonna hear about it the next Sunday, alright? But it's usually not that way. But God does interrupt me in many ways, the same way I think He interrupts you. Lemme give you a couple just so this week, maybe you can just recognize that it's God may be trying to speak to you. Lemme give you five ways that God often uses to interrupt us. Number one, he uses his Word. He uses his Word. You say, Matt, how does he use his Word to interrupt me?
He uses it like this. How many times have you been reading God's Word, and then all of a sudden, something in it jumped off the page and said, that's for you today? You say, Matt, that's never happened to me. I can tell you this. If it's never happened to you, you've never spent time in his Word regularly. Because it happens all the time where, all of a sudden, you'll read verses after verses, and they're like, oh yeah, that's great. Oh yeah, that's great. And then all of a sudden, it's like, boom. That's for you. Listen, that's an interruption from God. For you to pause for that minute and say, listen. Listen. God, what are you? What are you trying to tell me? Maybe that day, you don't make it through the whole Bible reading plan. Amen. You can pick it up tomorrow.
So I know that's a little bit harder for achievers. Pick it up. He uses his word. Secondly, God interrupts us through worship moments, whether it be privately or publicly. Sometimes there's a song. Maybe you've sung it a hundred times, but something that day just says that that's for you. Listen, that's the Holy Spirit interrupting you and saying that's for you. Dwell on it. Think about it. Put in your life. Maybe for you, it's number three. God uses difficulties more often than not. And let me put number four with that because they go together: Our failures. You say, Matt, you're telling me that God puts difficulties and failures in my life? Yeah, he does. Do you know why? Because sometimes we're running and chasing after something that might be good, but not the best. And what does God do?
God puts a roadblock up in front of us to go, Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You might just need to pause for a minute. Here's an interruption. Here's the fifth way God often interrupts me: it's just through people. It's just through people. Or I would just say, wise counsel. How many times have we just heard somebody say, Hey, man, I don't know why, but I feel like I need to say this to you. Now, look at the forefront of that. It's weird. Amen. It is. You're like, Ooh, that's weird. But the more you think about it, the more you're like: You know what? You're right. I probably needed to hear that. You see, our problem is, which Peter didn't have, you'll see in just a second.
Our problem a lot of the time, is that we just don't see God in the interruptions. We chalk it up to happenstance. We chalk it up to coincidence. We chalk it up to accident, or we're just so loud that we don't hear it, or we just don't spend enough time on the Mountain with Jesus to be able to experience it. Can I just lay down a challenge for you for this week? Here's the challenge. I put it in your notes. Stop. Just stop and ask God how he is trying to interrupt you? How is he trying? And then when you do and find it, listen, just walk in it. Walk in the pathway that God says walk. Because I guarantee you, when you sense the interruption and see the interruption, if you'll do what he's saying, you'll always see Jesus more clearly. So let's get back to the Mountain.
Why was Peter interrupted? Why was he interrupted? He was interrupted because God just wanted Peter and the rest of the guys to see who Jesus was above everything else. It's because God wanted these guys to experience Jesus even more deeply. It's because God knew that there would be so much more time for serving building booths, and acting in His name. God knew that their faith if it was going to last, had to be built on a sure foundation of the overshadowing presence of the living God. Look back at verse five and watch what happens. God does it. It says this, while he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them. Now, as if the radiant Jesus wasn't enough, as if it wasn't enough to have Moses and Elijah on the seam, now a bright cloud, I might add the Shekhinah glory of God from the Old Testament, comes over them.
And now God, the Father, is about to speak in his overshadowing presence. You see when we go to the Mountain with Jesus, what happens is it's Jesus who takes us there. We talked about it last week. We see his glory. We bow down in his presence. We give him praise. We're moved to take action. We meet God the Father there. But then, what does God the Father do? He overshadows us in His presence. Listen, this is the Christian life is goal: to walk in the overshadowing presence of God. But here's the problem. The problem is that most of us go about it the wrong way. You see, we tend to ask God to fill us and move in us, and then we say things like God, if you will fill me and move in me, then I will stand up and be obedient to you.
God, if you show me your power, I will live for you. If you will bless my family, then I'll live for you. If you'll heal me, then I'll live for you. But listen, that's not how it works. Write this principle down. Our obedience leads us to a position where God's presence overshadows us. That's the principle. The principle is that our obedience leads us into a position where God's presence overshadows us. Don't hear me wrong; we don't work for our salvation. We don't obey to be saved. But when we are followers of Jesus, when we bow down in the presence of God in obedience, he moves in us. That's the point of the story here. But listen, until this happens, we're always going to chase our own agenda, and we're always gonna put things above him that he just says, okay, I hear you.
And then he'll say, maybe you'll turn to me one day. Listen, this is exactly what Peter did, right? Notice Peter, he didn't. He didn't just stand up and say, " Jesus, build a booth for you. No, no, Peter, I mean, let's not get on him too hard. But Peter didn't just elevate Jesus to wanting to do something. He threw Moses and Elijah in here, and he gets in a bit of trouble for it, but I'm not gonna be too rough on him here, right? I mean, it's an emotional moment. But then, in the middle of this moment, God gets to the point, and I just want to show you this point. I want to land on this in verse five. Listen to what God says to Peter. It's so profound. You want to underline this verse? It says this, and a voice from the cloud.
Verse five said this is God speaking. This is my son, and whom I love. With him I am well pleased. Listen to him. Now, listen, guys, there's not very often in the Bible or all of humanity that the booming audible voice of God happens. But when it does, we should probably listen to it. And in this case, we should listen to it because what does God do? God gives us the game plan of how we can walk or fully experience his glory. So, let me close with just giving you four ways to walk into the full presence of Jesus. It's a process. Number one. This is what the verse said. Number one, God says, Hey, you want to walk into my presence? You gotta recognize Jesus. You gotta recognize Jesus. Now, what does that mean? That means this. You gotta recognize him for who he is.
That he's not just a good man, that he's God. He's the Savior of the world. He's the Lord of all and wants a relationship with you. He lived a life that you couldn't live. He died the death that you deserve to die to give you the chance to have the atonement for your sins, the forgiveness of your sins, because he is the word. He is the deliverer. He is the final prophet that has come to give you life. So here's my question to you this morning. Have you recognized Jesus as your Lord? Have you invited him into your life? Have you given him your heart? If you haven't, you cannot walk in the presence of God. It doesn't stop at recognizing Jesus, although that's what he said at first. Remember verse five, he said, this is my son. But then he kept going, and he said this, whom I love.
And with him, I'm well pleased. Number one, we recognize Jesus. But God says number two, we love Jesus above all else. We love him above all else. That's what God said. What did God say? God the Father said, whom I love? And I'm well pleased. Listen, if God loves something, my affection should also go there. That's the point of me saying that I follow his. When I love Jesus, it means I put all the other things I love underneath him. I put my relationship with people. I put my relationship with work. I put my relationship with sports. I put my relationship with my team or my hobbies underneath who he is. Why? Because I've recognized who he is, and now I'm loving him. Loving him means I'm submitting to who he is. But God doesn't stop there.
He says we recognize him and that we love him. But number three, he says, that we just need to listen to him. We just need to listen to him. We need to cut through the noise. We need to cut through the other stuff. We need to cut through the chatter in our lives and give the first place and first voice to Jesus. Why? 'cause he is the word. He is the deliverer. He is the truth. He is the light. He's the one that has saved us from our sins. I love the end of the verse. It says, this is my son whom I love, with whom I'm well pleased. What? Listen to him. Now, I get it. When you read an event like this, you're like, well, Matt, of course, I would listen to him if he glowed on the Mountain with me, to which I would say, man, God's been glowing for a long time.
He's given us his word. He's given us godly people. He's given us circumstances. He's given us this Holy Spirit conviction. And now he's asking us just to hear Him. To hear him. And then I want to put a number four on this because that kind of happens at the end of the story. We'll see at the end of next week. But I couldn't go on without it. I would say not only recognize love and listen to him, but we need to live for him. We need to live for him. Why? Because only those who truly love Him live for him. You want to know if your relationship with Jesus is true? Ask yourself, am I living in his presence? Do you know why I love this event? These guys who love Jesus stumbled into this moment, and then they were blown away.
But can I tell you, that's kind of God's mode of operation. He takes people like me. He takes people like you who are just like, Hey, God, here I am. And he says, let me just show you who I am and send you as mine. So here's the question. As we move into the invitation this morning, what must you do to recognize that it's Jesus in front of you? Man, maybe today, you need to give your life to Jesus. To ask him to forgive you of your sins, to give you life, to come into your heart as your Savior and your Lord, and to save you. I think there are those of you in the room that you have been underneath the conviction of the Holy Spirit for a while, and you just need to submit your heart to Him today by just doing something like this, saying, Lord, I need you.
Come into my heart. Be mine. Forgive me of my sins. Be my Savior, my Lord. Listen, if that's you today, just a second when we get to the invitation song, I want you to do something as soon as you stand up. I just want you to walk down whichever aisle you're on and come to the next steps. Banner. I just want you to look me or one of these counselors in the face today and say, Hey, you know what? I met Jesus today. I met Jesus today. If you're online, I want you to go to the Next Steps app and go to that first button that says, I prayed to receive Jesus today, and somebody will follow up with you. Man, would you do that today? Maybe today, you know Jesus, but you just need somebody to pray with you today. You're struggling. You haven't recognized Jesus for a long time, leading you. Man, we'd love to do that. It'd be an honor to us so that you can see the glory of God. Lord Jesus, walk with us in these next couple of minutes and show us your radiant glory, Lord Jesus. It's in your name. Amen.