Jesus Wants to Help Us Understand

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 17:9-23

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared September 22, 2022)

BACKGROUND:

*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 17. By this time Jesus was in the 3rd year of His ministry, and J. Vernon McGee estimated that the Lord was only six months away from the cross. (1)

*The chapter opens with a miraculous revelation of Jesus Christ. Verses 1-2 give us this revelation of our Lord: "Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, brought them up on a high mountain by themselves, and was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light." Luke 9:28-29 adds that Jesus took those disciples up on that mountain to pray. "And as He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening."

*What Peter, James, and John saw that day was a small glimpse of the glory of Jesus Christ. If they had seen all of His glory, they would have died on the spot. But they saw a small portion of the glory of God. And they saw the glory of God in Jesus Christ, because He IS Almighty God, one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

*Jesus' face shined like the sun! They must have shielded their eyes from His face, because no one can look at the sun for more than a moment without going blind. Why did Jesus reveal His glory like that? -- Because He wanted His disciples, and all the world to know that He is not just an ordinary man. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, only Savior of the world, and Lord of all!

*Colossians 1:15-17 tells us that, Jesus "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (or hold together)."

*In Jesus Christ, all things hold together. This means on some level that we can't understand, Jesus literally holds the whole universe together moment by moment. And He can do it, because Colossians 2:9 tells us that all the fullness of the Godhead lives in the body of Jesus Christ!

*We can never overestimate the infinite power of the Lord. But thank God, He also has infinite goodness. Jesus is perfect in every way. God the Father confirmed this great truth on the mount of transfiguration. Matthew 17:4-5 says:

4. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.''

5. While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!''

*Jesus Christ is the only person who ever lived a perfect life! He is the only person who always pleased our Heavenly Father in every way. As a man, Jesus is the only sinless, spotless Lamb of God, and that is why He is the only man who could have ever died for our sins.

*Then in vs. 6-8:

6. . . When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

7. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid.''

8. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

*In today's Scripture, the Lord and these 3 disciples headed back down the mountain, and Jesus began to help them understand some the most important things we need to know. Please think about this as we read Matthew 17:9-23.

MESSAGE:

*When I was a senior in high school, I took a trip with some friends over to Myrtle Beach South Carolina. We were headed east on the interstate, going up a long hill, when suddenly the cars started acting very strange on the other side. People were weaving, waving, yelling, flashing their lights, blowing their horns.

*We wondered what in the world was wrong with those people. Then we topped the hill and saw this man who was driving down the wrong side of the interstate. Thank the Lord, we had just moved over to the right lane, or we would have been killed for sure. That man had no idea he was on the wrong side of the road, so he was putting himself and other people in great danger.

*He desperately needed to know that he was going the wrong way, and he's not the only one. Millions of people are headed the wrong way in life. They are headed to hell, when they could be headed to Heaven. And nothing is more important than that.

*There are things in life that we simply must understand. And the most important things can only be explained by Jesus Christ. The good news is that Jesus wants to help us understand, and today's verses touch on some of these things.

1. FIRST: JESUS WANTS TO HELP US UNDERSTAND HIS SCRIPTURE.

*There was a big misunderstanding in today's Scripture about John the Baptist. But the Lord cleared it up for His followers, and we see this in vs. 9-13:

9. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.''

10. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?''

11. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Elijah truly is coming first and will restore all things.

12. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.''

13. Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

*At first, John the Baptist was a mystery to the disciples. That's because they had been confused by misguided teaching from the scribes. And we have to understand the background here. God had spoken through His Old Testament prophets until about 400 years before Jesus was born.

*Malachi's short book was the last, and the Lord ended it with these words in Malachi 4:5-6: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.''

*By Jesus' day, over 400 years had gone by with no word from the Lord, and the people were waiting. They were looking for the promised Messiah, but also for His prophet who would come to restore all things. Then at the right time, John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah to restore all things. In God's mind this meant giving a new revelation of the coming Messiah, and a new call to repentance and righteousness.

*But during that 400 year wait, the scribes began to misunderstand God's plan. William Barclay explained that "the Jews were agreed that before the Messiah came, Elijah would return to be his herald and his forerunner. But over time, this idea of the coming of Elijah gathered detail, until the Jews came to believe that not only would Elijah come, but he would restore all things before the Messiah came.

*The scribes began to believe that John the Baptist "would make the world fit for the Messiah to enter into. Their idea was that Elijah would be a great and terrible reformer, a man who would walk throughout the world destroying all evil and setting things right. The result was that both the promised forerunner and the Messiah were thought of in terms of power. The Scribes said that Elijah would come like a blast of cleansing and avenging fire." (2)

*It's easy to see how the scribes could have come to that wrong understanding. In 2 Kings 1, the wicked king Ahaziah fell from an upper room and was seriously injured. So, he sent messengers to the false god Baal-zebub to find out if he would get well. But the LORD sent Elijah to meet them on the way and say, "Why are you going to Baal-zebub to ask whether the king will get well? Is there no God in Israel? Now, therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'You will never leave the bed on which you are lying, but you will surely die.'"

*When the king heard that bad news, he sent 50 men to arrest Elijah. They found him sitting on top of a hill. The captain said to him, "Man of God, the king has commanded you to come along with us." But Elijah replied to the captain, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you and your 50 men!" -- And it did. Then it happened again. And it would have happened a third time, but that captain fell on his knees and pleaded for their lives.

*The scribes of Jesus' day were looking that kind of action from the new Elijah. They were longing for it. They wanted to see the new Elijah rain fire down on the thousands of Roman soldiers who had a stranglehold on their country. But in vs. 12 Jesus said, "I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands."

*The lesson here for us is that we need to be very careful and prayerful when we listen to God's Word. It is easy for us to make wrong assumptions. It's easy for us to get the wrong idea. But when we listen carefully, God will help us understand, according to His perfect will and wisdom. And thank God, the most important parts about Jesus Christ are easy enough for a child to understand! Jesus wants to help us understand His Scripture.

2. HE ALSO WANTS US TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF SICKNESS.

*In vs. 14-18, Jesus gives us a better understanding of sickness:

14. And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying,

15. "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic. . ." (The KJV uses the word "lunatic" instead of "epileptic," because the original word literally means "moonstruck." And in that day the symptoms of epilepsy were thought to be aggravated by the changes of the moon.)

*Again in vs. 15, the desperate father said:

15. "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

16. So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.''

17. Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.''

18. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and he came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

*We live in a secular society, but as Christians we understand that there is more to life than meets the eye. There is a spiritual dimension to illness. Satan has a hand in sickness, and we know this is true, because that man's son was certainly possessed by a demon.

*There is a spiritual dimension to sickness. Ever since sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, Satan has had some authority to make us sick. We clearly see this truth in the Old Testament story of Job, but there is another great example in Luke 13:10-17. There God's Word says:

10. Now He (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

11. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.

12. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.''

13. And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

14. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, "There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.''

15. The Lord then answered him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?

16. So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, think of it, for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?''

17. And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

*Who crippled that poor woman with sickness? It was Satan. Further confirmation is seen in Acts 10:38 where Peter said that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil."

*There is a spiritual dimension to sickness and healing. Does that mean we should stop going to the doctor? Should we stop taking our medicine? -- Of course not. In Matthew 9:12 Jesus tells us that those who are sick need a physician. So, thank God for our dedicated health care professionals! They work hard to help people get well, and they do tremendous work.

*There is most definitely a physical, scientific dimension to sickness. We know that. But there is also a spiritual dimension to sickness, and God has the power to heal any disease at any time. That's why prayer has made a giant difference for people with all kinds of sickness.

*I have known Ed Davis for years as a school principal, and member of First Baptist Church in Monroe. Ed once told me about his father passing away in 1983. He said that his father's cancer was first diagnosed back in 1972. The doctor opened him up for surgery and immediately closed him back up. The cancer had already spread all over his body, and it was the fast-growing kind.

*They only gave Mr. Davis three months to live, but people all over the state began praying for Ed's dad. Nine weeks later, he went for his check-up, and they found no cancer cells! About 8 years later, the cancer did come back, and Ed's dad died in 1983. But Ed is so thankful for the extra time he got with his father. His dad was his best friend.

*This story of answered prayer reminds us that there surely is a spiritual dimension to sickness, and our prayers, even our fasting can help make miraculous differences in people's lives. Jesus wants to help us understand the spiritual dimension of sickness.

3. HE ALSO WANTS TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE MIRACULOUS POWER OF FAITH IN GOD.

*In vs. 17-20, the Lord helps us understand the miraculous power of faith in God:

17. Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.''

18. And Jesus rebuked the demon, and he came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.

19. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast him out?''

20. So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

21. However, this kind (that is, this kind of demon) does not go out except by prayer and fasting.'' (3)

*The disciples needed more faith. And based on what Jesus said here, we do too. If only a tiny mustard seed of faith in the living Lord will move mountains, then I know I need more faith! How about you?

*The Lord's disciples can help us here, because they did exactly what we need to do: They took their failures and frustrations to Jesus, and He told them how to get more faith. In this case, the Lord mentioned prayer and fasting.

*But the foundational way to get more faith is just what happened here: Listen to the Lord and trust in what He says. As Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." That's what the disciples were doing. They were hearing the Word of God from the lips of Jesus Christ, and that helped their faith to grow.

*Jesus wants to help our faith grow too, and faith in the true God has amazing power! Faith in God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ has amazing power.

-Faith knows that nothing is too hard for God.

-Faith sees that God can overcome the circumstances in my life.

-Faith can bring shattered dreams to life again.

-Faith opens the door to the impossible.

-Faith plugs me in to the infinite power of God!

-Faith lets you take hold of the promises of God.

-Faith writes a new end to the story of our lives.

-And only faith in Jesus Christ can save our souls.

*Jesus wants to help us understand the miraculous power of faith in God.

4. AND HE WANTS TO HELP US UNDERSTAND THE SUFFERING OF OUR SAVIOR.

*Back up in vs. 9-12, the Lord helps us understand His suffering:

9. Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.''

10. And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?''

11. Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Elijah truly is coming first and will restore all things.

12. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.''

*Then down in vs. 22-23, Jesus told them more about His role as a suffering Savior:

22. Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men,

23. and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.'' And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

*Just as the disciples did not understand the suffering of John the Baptist, they did not understand the suffering of the Messiah. Jesus had to teach them the way of the cross, and this helps explain the secrecy the Lord commanded in vs. 9.

*As William Barclay wrote, "The great danger was that men should proclaim Jesus as Messiah without knowing who and what the Messiah was. Their whole conception of both the forerunner and of the Messiah had to be radically and fundamentally changed.

*It was very hard for the idea of a conquering Messiah to be unlearned. It was so ingrained into the Jewish mind that it was difficult, -- almost impossible to change it. The Messiah was thought of in terms of power. Jesus had to teach them that His way was the way of suffering and of sacrifice: The way of the cross."

*Barclay added, "That is what the disciples had to learn. And that is why they had to be silent until they had learned. If they had gone out preaching a conquering Messiah there could have been nothing but tragedy. It has been estimated that in the hundred years before the cross of Christ, at least 200,000 Jews lost their lives in futile rebellions. Before men could preach Christ, they must know who and what Christ was. And until Jesus had taught His followers the necessity of the cross, they had to be silent and to learn." (2)

*They had to learn the mystery and power of the cross: Jesus died on the cross, not because He was bad, but because He was good! Our perfect Savior made Himself a sacrificial offering for our sins. And what a sacrifice! God the Father sent His only begotten Son to the world to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus shed His blood to take away our sins.

*So, Isaiah 53:4-6 says this about Jesus:

4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

*Jesus willingly took all of the suffering, shame, and punishment that belonged to us when He died on the cross for our sins. And why did Jesus make that sacrifice for us? -- Because He loves us!

*Brian Chapell gave one of the best pictures of this sacrificial love I have ever heard. It's the story of Northwest Airlines Flight 225. On Sunday, August 16, 1987, Flight 225 crashed just after take-off from Detroit. 155 people were killed, and only one survived. It was a 4-year-old girl from Tempe Arizona. Her name was Cecelia.

*When rescuers first found Cecelia, they didn't think she had been on the plane because it hit several cars when it crashed onto the highway. But Cecelia's name was on the flight register. And the investigators found out that Cecelia survived for one reason. When the plane was about to go down, Cecelia's mother, Paula Chican, unbuckled her own seat belt, got down on her knees in front of her daughter. Then that mother wrapped her arms and body around Cecelia, and she would not let her daughter go. (4)

*That is a picture of what Jesus did when He died on the cross for our sins. He sacrificed His life so that we might have eternal life. No higher price has ever been paid. No greater loss was ever felt, "For God so loved the world."

CONCLUSION:

*Christians: Just like the disciples, we all have a lot more to learn about our Lord. Many things will remain mysteries until we get to Heaven. But Jesus wants to help us understand, and if we listen to the Lord we can learn much more before we get there.

*Do you understand the truth about our crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ? Have you put your trust in the Lord? Have you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Call on the Lord to save you as we go back to God in prayer. And then, keep learning from the Lord.

(1) THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - "Jesus Announces His Death and Resurrection" - Matthew 16:21-28 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021

(2) Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay. First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA - "Teaching the Way of the Cross" - Matthew17:9-13; Matthew 17:22-23 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/teaching-the-way-of-the-cross-matthew-179-13-matthew-1722-

(4) IN THE GRIP OF GRACE by Bryan Chapell, Baker, 1992 - Source: Dynamic Preaching sermon "So, You Want to Know About Love?" By King Duncan - John 13:31-35 - Mother's Day 2001