The Word is More Certain

The Transfiguration and the Call to Listen to Christ

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew the 17th chapter. After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother and led them up a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the Sun and his clothes became white as light and behold there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.

And Peter said to Jesus Lord it is good that we are here if you wish I will make three tents here one for you one for Moses one for Elijah. He was still speaking when behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased listen to him.

When the disciples heard this they fell on their faces and they were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them saying rise and have no fear. And when they lifted up their eyes they saw no one but Jesus only.

And as they were coming down the mountain Jesus commanded them tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead. This is the gospel of the Lord in the name of Jesus. All right. We live in a day it's a treacherous day where people kind of lust after weird things and by lust after.

I'm talking about lusting after spiritual signs spiritual wonders and for miracles and things like this. And as a result of that lusting after these things they have opened themselves up to great deception.

The Danger of Seeking Signs, Wonders, and Revival Experiences

As we speak right now in Kentucky there's something that has been going on for a little more than a week called the Asbury revival. I'm hoping that as people listen to the sermon in years to come they'll say the Asbury what I hope it's the thing fizzles out.

But unfortunately it seems to be but well becoming all the rage and all the headlines. And it's basically this idea that the charismatics have that we have to deal with today and will be the subject of our texts.

Oddly enough I consider to be fortuitous that I get to preach on these texts today. But the charismatic churches and the Pentecostal churches believe in something called revival. But when they talk about the concept of revival they are not referring to people returning to the Word of God abandoning false doctrine and apostate practices and beliefs and heterodox practices.

And I in beliefs and flat-out idolatry instead what they believe that revival is is a special visitation of God the Holy Spirit. It's like almost as if God chooses a location opens up a portal from heaven and shines down the presence of the Holy Spirit on a particular location where people then can have quote an encounter with God.

Right. And this is supposed to change them. But it's fascinating. I've been paying really close attention to the Asbury revival and I would note that there is something supremely missing there. And that is God's Word and most importantly the preaching of the gospel.

You have kids claiming that they're repenting. But why are they repenting. Because well they had a liver shiver they had goosebumps. They had. They claimed that they had an encounter and they've been basically singing Hillsong elevation and Bethel music non-stop for 24 hours.

It has come also to my attention that one of the leaders in the praise band is openly homosexual which begs the question why would God the Holy Spirit be giving liver shivers in under such circumstances.

Things like this have to be tested by the Word of God. And we're going to note here our gospel text and our epistle text strongly advise us to pay attention to the Word of God. If you walk through our gospel text you'll note that Peter James and John they were privileged to see the glory of Christ Jesus is after all God in human flesh.

And you'll note their first reaction. Peter's first reaction when Moses and Elijah show up is that he wanted to make three tents. Let's tabernacle here for a while we'll bake in the glory or something like that.

Right. And you'll note Moses and Elijah showing up is not a small detail. Moses and Elijah showing up tells us a little bit of something that happens to the death of Christians. And those who believe in God they are still alive.

Moses and Elijah seem to be doing quite well despite the fact that their earthly bodies have decayed long ago. Well actually Elijah's never did because he was taken up to heaven directly. Right. But Moses's body is buried somewhere where only God knows.

But there they are. Moses and Elijah talking with Christ. And you'll note that Moses is the representative of the Torah and Elijah is a representative of the prophets. The two main sections of the Old Testament who bore witness to Christ are now discussing with Jesus his exodus.

That's what the Gospel of Luke tells us. And so there's Peter James and John. And Peter says it's good that we're here. If you wish I'll make three tents here one for you one for Moses one for Elijah.

How long are you planning on staying up there Peter. Right. Is he thinking this is going to be another one of those 40 days things you know because Moses when he went into the glory of God on Mount Sinai he was up there for 40 days.

So he's thinking we're gonna be here for a little bit of time. Well while he was still speaking behold a bright cloud overshadowed them. And a voice from the cloud said listen to the words. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased listen to him.

It's almost as if God is correcting Peter and by extension correcting all of us. If you think that this that the church is all about somehow sitting in the glory of God you don't know what the glory of God is really all about.

It's about pardoning and forgiving sins. See the book of Exodus from further details. But you'll note God the Father says listen to him. Listen that requires you to well be quiet and hear words. And we are also admonished by God the Father to do the same.

Because this has been shared with us through the gospel writers we are also admonished to listen to Christ. And when the disciples they heard this voice of the Father they fell on their faces and they were terrified.

You'll note that when God shows up in power and glory sinful human beings like you and like I like Peter and like James and John we don't do so well in the presence of God's glory and his power we are often terrified fall on our faces fall like we're dead men because well God's glory in let me kind of put it this way in God's power is all about destroying what's evil.

And since you and I are all evil we because we have a sinful nature and have rebelled against God God's glory his power could easily burn against us and bring us to nothing. If we were truly in the presence in the glory of God it would be a miracle if the next sentence was thus perished Kongsvinger Lutheran Church.

Right. Because we each come today bringing with us our own sin and rebellion. But the voice of the Father terrifying them results with Jesus coming and touching them and saying rise and have no fear. Because Jesus is the one who has gone to the cross born our iniquity in his body was pierced and bruised for our transgressions and iniquity and suffered the wrath of God in our place.

Thus perished Jesus by the mighty powerful hand of God because God made him to be the sinner so that you and I can be declared righteous. So Jesus comes and gives words of comfort to his disciples. And he comes and give words of comfort for us today.

And they lifted up their eyes and they saw no one but Jesus only. And neither should we. And as they were coming down the mountain Jesus commanded them tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.

The More Certain Word of Scripture

Now if it weren't for second Peter we might easily get lost in the weeds of this beatific vision of the glory of Christ and somehow think it. Well if Peter James and John got to experience the glory of Jesus why can't we.

Well the reason why we can't is why Peter wrote what he wrote. Because experiences like this are not for the purpose of being repeated or becoming normative in the life of a Christian. In fact Peter as he's getting ready to finish his course his last epistle before he will be crucified and be martyred for his confession and his trust in Jesus Christ.

He tells us as he's getting ready to die that we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

It is sufficient for us to note that there were eyewitnesses of the glory and the majesty of Christ. But in thinking back on this which had occurred by the time he wrote this so many decades prior Peter is not convinced at all that this should be the focus of Christians in his day and in our day he says.

For when he received honor and glory from God the Father the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain.

And we now all of us Christians today we have something more certain. I like the way the Greek works here it's a little tough to translate here. We have a comparative a comparative adjective. And so he's basically saying we have something more sure.

We have something more certain. When we talk about surety and certainty one has to ask the question what do we have more surety and certainty regarding. And he's referring back to the fact that that long distant memory that he has of Jesus shining like the Sun.

Well that was an interesting experience one that shook him to his core. But even now decades later that is not something that he looks to for surety and certainty regarding his right standing before God.

Nor does he look at that as something that we can somehow build our faith on. You cannot build your faith on your experiences spiritual or otherwise. To do so is to build them on shifting sand or even worse the deceptions of the devil himself who always masquerades as an angel of light.

So you'll note we have something that is more sure something that is more certain. And what is that thing that is more sure and more certain. Are you ready. The prophetic word. Really the Bible. That dusty crusty thing that I never opened that sits on my nightstand and I keep saying I'll get around to reading it someday.

That thing is the thing that we have that is more sure more certain than eyewitness to the transfiguration of Christ. Yep that's right. That prophetic word that Bible that's collecting dust in your house.

That is the thing that Peter points us to not to spiritual experiences as he's getting ready to die. Basically Peter is saying read your Bible. You need to know the word. And I would note this. Those who regularly read their Bibles who understand the scriptures who come to church to hear the word not to be entertained.

Who come to church to study to hear to understand how to rightly divide the word of truth. They are ones that are hard to deceive. Those who are not in their Bibles are super easy to deceive. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Because if your mind is not transformed and renewed by God left to your own tendencies our sinful nature will steer us back into the ditch of deception. That's how it works. So the more you know the scripture the more protected you are against the deceptions and the schemes of the devil and against those he sends into the church to deceive us and to mislead us and to take us away from a pure devotion to Christ and lead us off into hell.

So we have something more sure the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention. And then note how he speaks up. He talks up the scriptures and points them out to us as something that should be viewed as precious as holy as instructive as actual words from God.

He says pay attention to the Bible as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts knowing this that first of all no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men. But God himself spoke as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Wait God himself did what he spoke always and again. You know you're dealing with somebody who's been deceived when they condemn churches like ours by saying words like this.

Oh those confessional Lutherans they don't believe in the Holy Spirit. Their Trinity is Father Son and Holy Bible. Right. Oh you don't believe in the Holy Spirit at all because you're a dead church. This is how they talk.

Why are we dead. Well because we don't bark like dogs and cluck like chickens and flop around on the floor like fish down on the bow of a boat. Nor do we speak gibberish or anything like this. Supposedly we're dead.

Right. No we're not. God speaks to us every single Sunday that we gather to hear the Word of God. And we hear it in large copious quantities and amounts. If you come to church hungry I feel like I'm like Isla Lind of old.

I will make sure that you leave full. You can never enter Isla Lind's home without getting a ginormous meal and feeling like you need to be carried out of her house in a wheelbarrow. Right. That's how it went.

Same here. I take Isla Lind's approach to feeding you the Word of God. Come over here. We've got comfort food galore. Right. And you're gonna note here that Christ himself promises in the Gospel of Matthew where two or more gathered Christ is present among us.

How much more can you get of Christ being here than he is now. And you'll note here it's true that Christ isn't visibly present but that doesn't matter. Jesus says we're two or more gathered. He is truly present.

And you'll note then he's as present with us today. Right now this moment here in this congregation as if Jesus had just appeared in the upper room with his disciples. And what is he here to do. He's not here to give you liver shivers and ghost bumps or things like this.

He is here to forgive you of your sins to feed you his word to sustain your faith to feed you with his body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins to make it so that your faith is strengthened in him.

Revival in Scripture Is Driven by the Word

And we continue then to apply ourselves to the Word. And you'll note that when you look at the Scriptures you look at the Old Testament. Every single example of revival in the Old Testament always and I mean without exception was driven by God's Word not a feeling not a presence not at some kind of encounter.

In fact if you want to talk about the encounters that people had in the Old Testament with God that led to revival it was always an encounter with the Scriptures themselves because it is in the Scriptures that God is speaking now.

It's fascinating. Earlier this week I made a video talking about this idea of what the Bible teaches regarding revival and I gave two examples in that video. But I'd left one of them out because it was really long.

So I thought you know what Kongsvinger loves to hear the word. So I'll just go long on my sermon and give you an example of what this looks like if you remember in our study of the book of Jeremiah which we recently concluded the the the Judeans because you got to remember the northern tribes of Israel the ten had already been scraped out for their idolatry and scattered into the nations.

It was the Jews of Judah in Jerusalem and in Judea that also went headlong into idolatry in God and his faithfulness sent prophet after prophet after prophet to call them to repentance. But did they repent.

Nope they did not. And so by the time you get to the prophet Jeremiah God is sending his last prophet before he's going to act in judgment. And they didn't listen to him either. So God as he threatened to do all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy if they would not obey and they went after other gods he would send them into exile out of the land.

And so he sent the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. And here if you wanted to survive the sack of Jerusalem and the conquering of Judea by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar you had to do one thing you had to trust the words of God and the prophet in the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah.

And God told Jeremiah said if you want to live you need to surrender yourself personally personally to the troops from Babylon and then you will live. How many people did it. Roughly 5 ,000. The rest were killed.

The rest died in the campaign. And so they were sent off to Babylon for 70 years. And when they were finally set free from captivity in Babylon and were able to return let's just say Judea was well a shadow of its former self.

The temple had been wrecked the walls of Jerusalem destroyed and the people began the job of rebuilding the walls and eventually rebuilding the temple. But before they rebuilt the temple and after they had finished the walls it says this in the book of Nehemiah.

Now I'm I always have to take issue. We we American English speakers don't speak good Hebrew right. It's not pronounced Nehemiah in Hebrew. It's Nehemiah. And yes you got to get that little flamboyant back in the back of your throats Nehemiah.

Right. But here's what it says in Nehemiah chapter 8. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that Yahweh had commanded Israel.

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday you think my sermons along holy smokes.

Right from early morning all the way to midday. What did they do. They sat and they listened. They listened to Genesis to Exodus to Leviticus to you know to numbers and Deuteronomy. They listened to the entirety of the old of the Torah being read out.

And it started early in the morning and continued on until midday. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. This is kind of a prototype of a pulpit if you think about it right.

And beside him stood Matt Matty Matt Matty Thea Shema Ananiah Uriah Hilkiah Maasai on his right peda I am Ishael Melchizedek Hashem hush by do Nana Zechariah Meshulam. And on his left Ezra opened the book in the sight of the people for he was above all the people as he opened it to and the people they stood.

Ezra blessed Yahweh the great God. And all the people answered amen amen lifting up their hands they bowed their heads and they worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground. So on hearing the Word of God these Jews who had come from exile in Babylon they knew that God was speaking to them and they worship God amen amen faces to the ground.

And Nehemiah who was the governor and Ezra the priest and the scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to the people this day is holy to Yahweh your God. Do not mourn. Do not weep. And you'll note that the people they did weep because as they were hearing the Word of God they were convicted of their sins.

And this is what God's Word does. When you hear the Word of God rightly taught you will have your soul pricked. You will become conscience of your iniquity and all the ways in which you have fallen short and not kept God's law.

But that is not the end of the matter because God is merciful and kind and pardoning iniquity including yours and has sent to us a Savior to bleed and die for us. So although we must go through the lament of knowing what it feels like to have a guilty conscience knowing that we have transgressed God's holy law and that we have sinned against God and we've sinned against each other we rightly do mourn.

But this encouragement to not mourn has to do with the fact that God is merciful and that he does not leave us to wallow in our guilt but has instead provided the once-for-all sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God who takes away your sin and mine and the sin of the whole world by his death on the cross.

So they encourage the people go your way eat the fat drink sweet wine send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for this day is holy to our Lord and do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

So the Levites calmed the people saying be quiet for this day is holy do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Listen again to that sentence. They had great rejoicing because they understood the words of the Bible. And isn't that a great joy for all of us when we can finally say oh that's what that text means.

And then having heard the words of the Torah and the Scriptures they became aware of the fact that they had failed to keep one of the required feast days. In fact they had not even known about it. And so with this renewed interest in vigor in God's Word these Jews decided that they were going to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

It says on the second day the heads of the fathers houses and all the people with the priests and the Levites they came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law. Can we hear more Bible.

Please. Right. And they found written in the law that Yahweh had commanded Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths tents if you would during the Feast of the seventh month that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem to go out into the hills and to bring branches of all of them wild olive myrtle and palm and other leafy trees to make booths as it is written.

Ah revival has broken out in Jerusalem. They have read the Scriptures recognized what's missing in their own practice in their own in their own beliefs. And they are excited to obey the Word of God. And this breaks out with people saying I got a great idea let's live in booths just the way the Bible tells us to write.

And so they did so the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves each on his roof in their courts in the courts of the house of God in the square at the water gate in the square at the gate of Ephraim.

And all the assembly of those who had returned from captivity made booths. And they lived in booths. For from the days of Yeshua the Son of Nun to the day that the people of Israel had not had not done so.

And there was very great rejoicing. And I would note this is kind of a fascinating thing here feast of booths it's a remembrance of their wilderness wanderings. Right. Because the children of Israel spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness living in booths and tents while they were headed to the promised land.

And do you know this that in the eschaton in the new earth it legitimately says that all the inhabitants of the new earth will celebrate the feast of booths every single year. Cool huh. Kind of nice get ready for this one because this one's coming for all of us.

If you read the Bible you know that this is true. So all the assembly of those who had returned from captivity they made booths and they lived in booths from the days of Joshua the Son of Nun. All the people had not done so there was great rejoicing day by day from the first day to the last day he read from the book of the law of God.

They kept the feast for seven days. And on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. And then note this what follows then is a great confession of sin. You want to know what a good confession of sin looks like.

Read this one in chapter 9 of Nehemiah. And you can see here that this prayer is deeply informed by what they've been hearing what they had been reading what they have been applying themselves to the Word of God.

And so here's their great confession. On the 24th day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting in sackcloth and with earth on their heads. Sounds like something coming up here this week right.

Ash wednesday. And the Israelites they separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and they confess their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And what was it that was driving this great confession of sins and repentance.

It wasn't liver shivers again it was the Word of God. They stood up in their place to read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of it they made confession and they worshipped the Lord their God.

On the stairs of the Levites stood Yeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Buni, Shehrabiah, Bani, Hanani. And they cried with a loud voice to Yahweh their God. And then the Levites said stand up and bless Yahweh your God from everlasting to everlasting.

Blessed be your glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are Yahweh you alone. You have made heaven the heaven of heavens with their inner with their host the earth and all that it's in it the seas and all that is in them and you preserve all of them.

And the host of heaven worships you. You are Yahweh the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite the Hittite the Amorite the Perizzite the Jebusite the Girgashite.

And you have kept your promise for you are righteous. You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea. You performed the signs and wonders against Pharaoh and his servants and all the people of his land.

For you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers and you made a name for yourself as it is to this day. You divided the sea before them that they went through in the midst of the sea on dry land.

You cast their pursuers into the depths as a stone into mighty waters. By a pillar of clouds you led them in the day and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.

You came down on Mount Sinai spoke to them from heaven gave them right rules and true laws good statutes and commandments. And you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.

You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst. And you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to given them. But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and they stiffened their neck and they did not obey your commandments.

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them. But they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God who is ready to forgive.

You are gracious and you are merciful. You are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And you did not forsake them even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said this is your God who brought you out of Egypt and had committed great blasphemies you and your great mercies.

You did not forsake them. Law and gospel the Word of God in all of its context and its glory. You can see here that these people's lives were changed turned upside down. They went from having no hope to having all hope.

They went to being ignorant to now being informed by the Word of God as to what truth is and what their own history is. And is it any wonder then that Peter as he is finishing his course does not point us to the slippery and hard to define and nebulous and difficult to discern things such as liver shivers and so-called outpourings of the Holy Spirit and vague visitations of the Holy Spirit that are supposed to transform our lives.

Instead he compares the Mount of Transfiguration to the Bible and the Bible comes out on top. Isn't that interesting. But that is the consistent record that is the consistent witness of the scriptures themselves.

The greatest encounter that you can have with God is not by having you having goosebumps in an atmosphere filled with worship and glory. The greatest encounter you can have with God is when he speaks to you face to face from his word and convicts you of your sin and comforts you with the assurance that you are forgiven in Christ.

And then through the power of the Holy Spirit promised in the Word of God gives you the strength to daily rise and mortify your sinful flesh and take off your old self and put on the new self that you are in Christ.

And without God's Word you wouldn't even know that you were supposed to do that. So let us listen again to what Peter says although he heard the voice of the father say this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased he heard the last part and said listen to him.

And that is exactly what Peter is telling us to do. Because we can hear the voice of Christ in no other place than in the Word of God. And if you think you're hearing the voice of Christ outside of the Word of God get yourself checked.

You're not come see me and we'll walk you through it. That's a deceiving voice that is speaking to you. But God's Word can be trusted. No prophecy of Scripture was ever produced by the will of men but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

And those men now speak to us the very words of God. Listen to Christ. The one who hears the Scriptures hears him in the name of Jesus. Amen. If you would like.

Closing Exhortation and Support Information

To support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744 and again that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744.

We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message. And again thank you for listening.