Amen. It's a joy to start singing Christmas hymns, and it's that time of year already, so we're happy to be able to do that. Bibles and a sermon outline are being passed out. If that helps you to follow along, I tried to make it so that you can, if you get lost at any point in the service, you can look down at the outline and kind of get a grasp of where we're at in the sermon this morning. If that will help you, it's coming around. You can get one from the usher. They have pencils as well. I do encourage you to take a Bible if you didn't bring one with you today. It is a true joy to be back here today. It's the first time I've worn pants since October, so that's a good thing. It's no shorts in church. That was weird for a few weeks there. It's good to be not so sick anymore. It's been a rough few weeks, but I've been especially grateful for the blessing that you guys have been to my family. It's been truly humbling and so God glorifying to witness the ways in which you all have cared for us. And I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving as well, too. We have much to be thankful for. the families we have, the friends we have, roofs over our head, a warm bed to sleep in. There are many things to be thankful for, and as Christians, we especially have everything to be thankful for. We are thankful for the mediatorial reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is in heaven, exalted, as our mediator and also as our advocate, so that nothing can stand before the fellowship that we have with God. We're thankful for His active and His passive obedience, the means by which we are justified, that we have been saved by works, by Christ's works, and we can be sure of that, so we can have true peace and rest. And we should be thankful, of course, every day for the gospel, That we've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That we can know that our sins have been paid for and we are accepted in the Beloved. We have every reason to be a thankful people and may we never be like the people of God in the wilderness, the Israelites, when they were known for grumbling. For we have such a great promise in the New Covenant. this morning. We're going to be in 2 Peter chapter 1. If you haven't opened up to that yet, please do so. We're going to specifically be considering verse 16 to 18. And I'm thankful that we get to consider this text this morning as well. for what it tells us of Christ, for what it tells us of His ministry, and for what it tells us of the promise of His second coming, and for what it explains, really, of our Christian faith. And I know, church, that that is something that you hold very dear, that you hold your Christian faith earnestly and dearly. It's not just some game to you. Because of what God has done in saving you, and for what He continues to do for you day by day and moment by moment, as Christ holds you fast and the Father holds you in His righteous right hand, nothing can separate you from that great love. We hold the topic of our faith dearly and earnestly, and we're learning to do so all the more as we grow in grace. Children that are here today, notice that in your parents. You many young people that are present here at church, notice it in your parents, notice it in the lives of others in the church, that this is a serious matter, that our Christian faith is our very life even. that it dictates, it drives, and it informs every decision that we make. Maybe some of you are here this morning and you're not Christian. You're still welcome here, of course, but you don't hold the faith dearly then, right? Maybe you're not sure if you truly believe what you've heard about God and His gospel. You're not baptized, you're not resting in Christ. Maybe you think it's not for you or you're not sure. Well, I tell you, every person is made in the image of God in the Imago Dei. And everyone then owes God worship and obedience. Everyone, a man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And this, as the Christian faith proclaims, can only be met through faith in Christ. That you need Christ and the salvation that He gives. That worship and obedience aren't what saves us, even though that is what we owe to God, but it's what we do in light of God extending His gracious arm of salvation to us in redeeming us. And we're considering the most important thing about any of us when we think about the Christian faith and all that it entails. That we belong to Christ. And how is it that we can trust God? Do we believe the Gospel? Do we believe what God has done? Do we believe that God will say, that God will do what He said He will do? Important questions, church. Important questions for everyone the world over. And Peter gives us two arguments in this epistle, this letter, to make the case that we should believe and that we should continue in belief, regardless of what others may say. And he does so in a very legal fashion, with two main points. One, that they are eyewitnesses to an essential aspect of the Christian faith. And two, that the very gift of God's Word to us makes this case. And so we'll consider Peter's first argument this morning, and then next time, his second argument in our Doctrine of Scripture. So let's read our passage and then we'll ask the Lord to bless our time this morning in prayer. The reading of the Word of the Lord, beginning at verse 16 in 2 Peter chapter 1. For 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. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and 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. That ends the reading of God's holy, inspired, and sufficient word. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we are so grateful for the Lord's day. and the means of grace which we get to partake of together, Lord, knowing that this faith that you have given to us isn't private, but it is communal. You have made us a family, a living temple. And we ask, Lord God, that you would soften our hearts, that we might receive your word and truth. Help me to say what is true and right. We ask that you would convict us where we need convicting and encourage us where we need encouragement. Holy Spirit, give to us understanding. We ask for mercy, and we pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, so first, I want to place these verses in the context of where they're coming in Peter's whole letter. We don't want to lose the forest for the trees in light of interpretation. And what we know is that this short epistle is one in which Peter is making a case against the problem of apostasy. And so we should understand the different parts in light of the larger whole context. And so far, Peter has been making the case for godliness in the Christian's life. If you look at verses 3 through 11, we talked about God's power, His power for godliness, and then the pattern for godliness, and then the purpose for godliness. Peter, he's exhorting these believers who are scattered throughout Asia Minor that they would be holy as God is holy. that that is even the natural response and outcome for one who has been granted divine power for all things in life that pertain to life and godliness. And then a few weeks ago, we were in verses 12 through 15, and Peter makes clear that the end of his life is drawing near. He's going to die. The Lord Jesus, before he ascended, told Peter that he would die. And now Peter sees not just that he would die from old age, but that he would, he could have guessed that, but that he would actually end up dying a martyr's death. And Peter could see it probably because Nero is in power and he's killing Christians and plus Peter's an old man. He's going to give up his tent for his eternal home soon. But before he does that, before he dies, he wants to remind them of a few things. A few qualities in particular. These qualities, we saw them earlier in back in verses 5 through 7. Virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection and love. He's wanting the saints to add these things to them, to continue to grow in them. So as a guard against apostasy, a guard against departing from the faith and leaving the faith. He wants to remind them of these things before he dies. And one of the reasons he is so set on reminding them and exhorting them to godliness is because this is precisely what the false teachers are not encouraging. This is exactly what his opponents are saying doesn't matter. Much like false teachers today and all throughout this age between Jesus' first and second coming. The false teachers were actually allowing for debauchery and vileness and wickedness and sensuality. They were encouraging it. Look at chapter 2, verse 2. And we'll consider a few passages later in the epistles, so keep your Bible open, please, a second Peter. Chapter 2, verse 2. And many will follow their sensuality. Their meaning the false teachers. Their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be blasphemed. Go down a little further to verse 10. He's still talking about these false teachers. It says, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. defiling passion, despise authority. What authority? This might surprise many today, but it's none other than the apostolic truth as set forth in Scripture. That is the authority he's referencing. That is our authority, our divinely inspired and given authority from Christ and the Spirit of Christ. Go down to verse 18. Verse 18, there he says of these false teachers, So, imagine what Peter sees assaulting Christ's church in his day. These teachers, they're going around and they're saying, look, it doesn't matter how you live, we'll offer you freedom. And you can live a sexually fulfilled, sensuous lifestyle, follow your heart, sleep with your boyfriend, your girlfriend, love is love, indulge your desire. These old ways don't apply to us now. I don't think I need to connect the dots to the message of many professing false Christians today, right? That's the same sort of message that is popular today. And Peter sees this infiltrating these dear brothers and sisters whom he loves and he's labored for. And he wants so much before he dies to tell them that this is not the way to live as God's people. He's exhorting the believers to actually ignore the false teachers and to pursue holiness. And one of the reasons they ought to pursue holiness is because of the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is an Old Testament term. It's also, you see, a New Testament term. It simply refers to the day when the Lord visits His people in salvation and in judgment. Truly, it is what all of recorded biblical history is pointing to. that God is coming and He visits His people with salvation and then also He visits people with judgment. The day of the Lord. And there are little types of this day and shadows of this day throughout history and allusions to it and promises of it. Even seeing some of those in Hosea over the last few months, haven't we? And so, if you are one of the obedient, one who desires to be righteous and to obey what is set forth in Scripture, and one who lives a life of repentance because you have been declared righteous by God, that it's the consequence of that, not the cause of it, then you have salvation. That's what Peter is saying. The day of the Lord is a day of salvation based on the grace you've received in Christ. But if you're not, If you despise this authority that Peter speaks of, you have judgment when Christ returns. Look at chapter 3, verse 11. Peter, all throughout this epistle, is connecting the coming day of the Lord with this appeal to godliness, with this appeal to holiness. Holiness matters. Verse 11 in chapter 3. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness? waiting for and hastening the coming day of the Lord. And look at verse 14. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent, waiting for these meaning the day of the Lord, be diligent to found by Him without spot or blemish and at peace. He's not telling us to live in a certain way so that we will be right with God. He's telling us to live in a certain way because we are right with God. And don't listen to these false teachers who say you may just do whatever it is that you like because Christ has already died for you. That's not the message of Christianity. On the day when Christ returns, He says the world will be changed. It will be cleansed. The new will come. The already will meet. The not yet. Our works will be exposed. We will be found hidden in Christ or not. the ungodly will be judged, and therefore you ought to be ready. Be living lives of holiness. This is Paul's argument in Romans chapter 13 as well. Romans 13, we're probably familiar with that, especially in light of everything that went on with Covid and what Romans 13 says about the state being God's deacon. But, this is also that passage that you might remember that God used to convert a very important man in church history, Saint Augustine. his famous conversion story. If you remember, he's walking through the garden, and he hears a voice, and the voice says, which means, pick up and read. There were some children that were singing a song that had that, I guess, a chorus in it. And so, he picks up his Bible, and he turns to this passage from Romans 13, which is God's means to convert him. We read about it in his book Confessions. An orthodox perhaps would say, but God is free. He can do what he wants. So in Romans 13, this is what Augustine read, verse 12. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So then let us cast off works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies or drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision to the flesh to gratify its desires. Augustine had lived the better part of his life, satisfying all of those very desires, chasing different worldly philosophies, chasing sensual passions. And this verse was the means that God used to bring him to salvation in Christ. It convicted him. He saw his sin in light of the day being at hand. And through that, God saved him and caused him to be born of the Spirit. Throughout the New Testament, the second coming of Christ, which I am concerned really that we don't spend enough time considering this and pondering this and speaking about this. The second coming of Christ is a sobering motivation for turning aside from wickedness and for making every effort to pursue a godly, virtuous life. False teachers. Well, they figured there was nothing actually to fear. This day, this second coming wasn't a reality for them. They doubted the day the Lord would come. Look at chapter 3, verse 4. Back in 2 Peter now. Chapter 3, verse 4. They will say, where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. Now, we aren't sure here in Peter's epistle if these teachers thought that Christ had already returned or something like that. Somehow that's what they thought in Thessalonica. Or if there was a spiritual return that they expected but just not a bodily one that would change everything. We don't know all of those details. Peter doesn't give us those things. We don't know the details of their doctrine, but it's clear that they were using this teaching of rejecting the Second Coming of Christ to then give them license to live in a way that Scripture opposes. in such a way that justified their immorality. They don't believe the coming day of the Lord as the apostles have taught them. And so they say, look, here in verse 4, look, the world is just going to keep on going like it always has been. Nothing has really changed. This is how things always have been since the beginning of creation. Jesus died. He went up to heaven. It's been a generation now. Where is he? He's not coming back. We could say, people today that is, could say, he's spent 2000 years. Where is he? Like, really? Come on. Is Jesus going to come back? If he was going to come back by now, he would have come back. They said, look, the world is going to keep going the way that it is. It's not going to end. There's no day of the Lord. There's no judgment. There's no reward. And what if that were true? Wouldn't that significantly alter any sort of motivation for godliness? If there was no eternity to consider coming up. If you've been a parent or a child, which that means all of us at some point, then I think you understand the principle. What do we say to our children when we drop them off at a family member's house, the grandparents? Or how do we prep them for good behavior before the babysitter is coming over? We tell them that they need to behave, that they need to be good and follow the rules and to listen to the babysitter because If we hear otherwise, well, there's going to be consequence when we get back, right? Or there have been many times when I've been at the office and the motivating factor for my kids to change their behavior and to end the rebellion is for my wife to tell them, don't make me tell your father when he comes home. You see how that works, right? the people with authority are going to return and there will be consequences for rebelling and for breaking the rules. But if there is no authority coming back, well then it's basically like a Lord of the Flies situation and the strongest will wins. That's what Peter's trying to prevent here with the eternal consequences that go along with it. These false teachers, you see, they spin the truth. They make it seem like they're helping, but it's straight up deceit. They position themselves as these liberators, these people who want to set people free. They're the freedom party and they promise this freedom. They say, look, we have a better way to live, fewer rules. And maybe they suggested to these Christians that they could be spiritual without being religious. Or they could have a relationship with God without any rules. That Jesus could be Savior without being Lord. But not the King who you love and whose law you delight in. That's what they thought. They figured Peter and the Apostles were just making this up, or that's what they told themselves, so they could then deceive others into coming along and joining them in their debauchery. And all of this sounds pretty modern, doesn't it? You don't need to fear Jesus. Jesus is a nice guy. He's not like God in the Old Testament. No judgment, no consequence for desires. As a matter of fact, what's sin? Who's to say? What's truth? What matters most is, you know, social comfort here and now. It's being accepted. That's the mantra of today. Eternity is rarely ever mentioned. That is progressive Christianity or deconstructed Christianity, which you remember from a few months back is no version of Christianity at all. It's a damning false religion masquerading as the truth. And we need to wake up and call it what it is. We need to have the seriousness that Peter has here because it's taking our friends, church. It's taking our family members. There needs to be boldness and urgency in us. Remember that refrain from the most, or perhaps, what is the most glorious chapter in all of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Paul admonishes the church. He says, Oh, I pray that Christ is raising up men and women and children like that for this hour. Jesus is coming again. Do we believe that? And then, by grace, may we live like it. Think about the Apostles' Creed. It's still very relevant today. We value the historic creeds here. Think about the last stanza concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. There it says, Do you believe that? He will come again to judge the living and the dead. That's what so few people seem to believe today. If you take that lot out of the Christian faith, the Christian equation, you will not end up with Christianity. Conversely, as Reverend Kevin DeYoung says, if you get that in the equation, you are well on your way to a vibrant, robust, biblical faith. Jesus is coming again to judge the living and the dead. But why believe me? Hopefully, by grace, my life testifies to it, but I'm just a guy who's lived in the Bay Area his whole life. I'm not anyone special or extraordinary. Be careful, my mom is here, you guys, today, too. But I have no desire to be rich or famous, to have a following. I'm content to live for Christ, to die, and to be forgotten. Why believe what I'm saying, that we should be godly and that Christ is coming again? Well, Peter doesn't point us to himself exactly either. Rather, he has two arguments and both of them hinge upon the triune God. Now let's begin in verse 16 and see what he says. It begins with a simple word, for. And of course that little word connects with the prior text, verses 12 to 15. The reason Peter teaches them what he does, the reason he reminds them and reminds them and desires to remind them until his own death and even afterward by the letters that he has written, is because he's absolutely sure that what he teaches is true. because he says that we were eyewitnesses. You could take the word for and make it because and you'd have the idea. In his own experience, he says, we did not follow cleverly devised myths or stories or tales. Now the we here points us beyond Peter, doesn't it? This isn't just his testimony. He's speaking in a collective sense of himself and the other writers of the New Testament. Collectively, he says, we have experienced this glorious event. We have all had personal verification from God himself of the truth that we teach. And so the emphasis is on Yahweh. The phrase did not follow. You see it there in verse 16. It's just one verb in the Greek, and what it means is to rest upon. So you get what he's saying, right? It's for either our confidence or our doctrine, we're not resting upon clearly devised fables. Peter is saying, for what we believe and for what we teach and for what we write, we do not rest upon clearly devised myths. In other words, what he's saying about holiness and godliness in light of the second coming of Jesus is not like the religious people of his day, like those stories propagated by the Romans and the Greeks about their deities. This isn't merely about a lesson to be learned or a means to control people. In fact, this is actually truth received directly from God himself. It's not cleverly devised. It's not intended to deceive. It's not some story cleverly devised to get your money, to have you follow someone to gain from whatever it is that they're wanting. And in the worst case of irony here, that's actually what the false teachers are doing and hoping for as a result. They're after you. Taking up that line from the devil in the garden, did God really say? They dress up as if they were prophets and for the purpose of devouring the sheep. The word myth there, we shouldn't read too much into it. It's the Greek word mythos. Big surprise, right? And it's a word used to refer to a genre of stories about gods and creation and miraculous events and things like that. Not necessarily untrue events, but that's Peter's point here, is that this is not an untrue event. And so Peter says, look, we aren't resting our doctrine and our hope on sneakily designed tales fabricated to deceive you. The false teachers are making baseless accusations against the apostles to turn the church away from the truth. And so in an attempt to destroy the people's trust in the Christian faith, they label the Christian faith as a book of cleverly designed myths and a book of fables. And they certainly aren't the last group of people to do this, right? This is people doing this nearly 2,000 years ago. But it's still a pretty popular way for atheists to appease their consciousness today. We see that on Facebook, on Twitter, in chat rooms online, to just dismiss Christianity as a designed fable with an evil intent. You might remember the Jesus seminar of the mid-80s through the late 90s, in which a team of liberal theologians came together to discover the quote, historical Jesus, And they used these colored beads to determine which sayings and actions of Jesus were actually authentic and miracles as well. And which ones were made up. And they just picked and chose according to what they thought was right, ultimately, with their own wisdom. Same kind of error that the teachers were making here in 2 Peter, these false teachers. Or it's popular today to consider or to go on a quest for the historical Adam, as if the one described in Genesis is not. The same mentality described here with these false teachers of 2 Peter is alive and well today, dismissing Christianity as a myth. And by the way though, the Apostle Paul used the word mythos in the same way Peter does here, and Paul uses it for the lies of all false teachers. You see this in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 7, in 2 Timothy 4 verse 4, and also in Titus 1 verse 14. In all three of the pastoral epistles, in all of these letters, Paul uses the word myth to describe the essence of the lies of the false teachers, their fabrications, their deceptions. So, biblically speaking then, a myth is anything other than Christianity. Christianity is the standard of truth and we don't ever have to give up that ground. According to what the Apostle Paul and Peter say, myths are things other than Christianity. The Apostle Paul and Peter would agree, neither of them taught some sort of clandestine design myths and fables to gain money and power. Peter is saying, when I speak to you of salvation in the Gospel, as he had earlier in chapter 1, when I speak to you about the assurance of salvation, when I speak to you about the hope of eternal glory and the coming of Jesus Christ, these are not lies meant to manipulate you. They're true. This is true revelation from God Himself. And the first evidence He gives is because I was an eyewitness, or we were eyewitnesses. Go back to verse 16. In English, this is kind of missed, but Pastor John MacArthur points out that this is an important word, and one that we shouldn't just glance by. The word for known here appears many times in the New Testament, and this word is somewhat a technical term for imparting new revelation. Something previously hidden, but now revealed. It's important to note that because that's exactly how Peter is using this here. He's pointing to something not from him, but something that was given to him. Another example that comes to mind would be Luke 2.15, where it says, There it's used again of new revelation. What revelation? That the Messiah is born in Bethlehem. It's also used in John's Gospel, in Ephesians, in Colossians, in Romans. And so Peter says that when they gave them this teaching, when we gave you this new revelation, when we opened up this divine mystery, which means something that was hidden but is now revealed, this was not some embellished story to trick you. This was a message delivered to us by God and from God. And so Peter says, When we tell you about the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus, we're not giving you a fable, we're giving you the truth. Just a word about this phrase, the power and the coming. There's one article there in the original Greek which means that both power and coming are referring to the same thing. They're speaking of one idea. So it's a powerful coming, a mighty coming, the coming in power, the coming with might. That's the idea that Peter's expressing. And that would mean then that this couldn't be a description of his first coming, right? The false teachers are attacking the teaching of his second coming, not his first coming. In his first coming, he didn't come with power. He came with humility, right? He came to be the last Adam and to fulfill the covenant of redemption so that God may be both just and justifier of the ungodly. And he's born as a helpless little baby and he humbled himself all the way to the point of death on a cross. But the day is coming when he'll come with power. It's the Greek word dunamis, dynamite. Revelation, the epistles, Acts, Hebrews, they all speak of His coming in power, in full power and glory, a display of inexhaustible might. And we'll see that in chapter 3. The word coming, by the way, has developed over time into just theological jargon in the Greek. You could just say this word and we should understand what it means as Christians because it has been used and cherished so many times throughout history. The word coming there in the Greek is the word parousia. It's a synonym for the second advent of Christ. And understand this, it means not only to arrive, but to arrive and to be present with. To arrive and to be present alongside. It's used of the arrival in secular Greek of a king who comes after his opponent and is defeated, and then he stays with his people. And when we say that Jesus is coming again, he's coming to stay. It's like 1 Thessalonians, when he comes to gather his people, it says, So shall we be with the Lord. He is coming and he will abide with his people. The word parousia, when used of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, is most often referring to his second coming. That's what's at stake here in 2 Peter. It's the second coming that was contested, not the first. And so when you're reading your New Testament, and when you read, like, for example, in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 23, about them that are there at His coming, it means His second coming. And when you read in 1 Thessalonians four different times about His coming, it's His second coming that is in view. Same in 2 Thessalonians. Same in James 5, where James reminds the people who are under persecution to not be distressed, but to wait for His coming. And even John anticipates it in 1 John 2.28. So Peter says, look, when I told you about the second coming, when I told you that the Lord was coming back, along with the other apostles who have spoken and written about that, I was not giving you some cleverly devised tale. Remember, this is the second letter that Peter has written to this group of people. We see that in 3.1, where he tells them, this is the second letter I've now written to you. And so, we could look back at 1 Peter to see that Peter has talked to them about the second coming of the Lord. 1 Peter 1, verse 7 says, There he doesn't use the word coming, but he speaks of the same event, the revelation, the apocalypsis, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. And then down again in verse 13, Over in chapter 4 of 1 Peter, verse 13, he reminds them again, But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed." When will His glory be revealed? There when He comes again, unveiled at His coming. Chapter 5, verse 4 we read, And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." Down in verse 10, he said, through suffering, God has called you into this eternal glory in Christ. So yes, he has taught them through this letter that perhaps, and they have been taught by other apostles as well, about the coming of the Lord Jesus. And Peter says that everything that we told you, it's true. It's going to happen. Don't listen to these false teachers who are telling you otherwise. The second coming of Christ is going to happen, and because of that, it actually, in fact, does matter how we live. And how does Peter know this? It's not some story. The second coming is a fact. How does he know? It's his first argument, the end of verse 16. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. So we need to follow this. Peter says we gave you first-hand reports, we gave you first-hand testimony. But hold on. How can Peter, who knew he was about to die soon after writing this letter, how could he give a first-hand report of the second coming of Christ if it hadn't happened yet? That's a fair question, right? How could he be an eyewitness to that? What does it mean by saying that we were eyewitness of his majesty? The implication being the kind of majesty and glory related to the majesty displayed when he returns. Now, there's a sense in which all of the apostles had been eyewitnesses to his majesty, to some degree. They've seen all of Jesus' life. They all witnessed His death. They had all witnessed His resurrection. If they hadn't witnessed His resurrection, they couldn't be apostles, right? And remember, Jesus said that if you've seen me, behold, you've seen the Father. They had all been there on the mount in Acts 1 when He ascended, the 11 had. So they've seen the majesty of His life and His miracles and His miraculous teaching. They had seen the majesty of him at his death with the earthquake and when the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, though they weren't eyewitnesses standing at the foot of the cross, they were witnesses to the reality of all that occurred. They saw the reality and the majesty of his resurrection because he met them in his glorified resurrected body a number of times. They seen the majesty of his ascension when he was caught up in the clouds and taken into glory. Yes, they were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. And so when the writers of the New Testament write that Jesus was majestic and glorious, this wasn't based off of what they had heard from others. This was based off of what they had seen. They were eyewitnesses. Peter's implication is that the false teachers make claims, but they weren't eyewitnesses. False teachers may go ahead and deny all of this. Where were they though? The burden of proof is not on Peter and Paul and John and James and the rest who have seen the risen Christ. And the Apostle Paul has seen the risen Christ at least three times as recorded in Acts. The burden of proof is not on the eyewitnesses. The burden of proof is on the people who attempt to discredit the eyewitnesses who weren't eyewitnesses, right? And what did they observe? Verse 16 says they observed his majesty. Literally it says in the Greek, that one's majesty. What one? It modifies the Lord Jesus Christ. That one's majesty. It's his kingliness, his splendor, his might, his radiance. And so Peter says we saw his splendor. And think of the context. They saw his second coming with glory. That's what the false teachers are arguing against. Go with me for a moment to Mark 9. Mark is the second gospel in the New Testament, second book in the New Testament. Let me show you something here. Mark 9, verse 1. In the first, Jesus predicted that this would happen, that they would see his majesty. In the first verse of Mark 9, Jesus says to them, Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power." Again, it's that Greek word for dynamite. or where we get the word for dynamite from the Greek, dunamis. This is one of those events that is shared across all the synoptic gospels with varying details. Matthew and Luke record it as well. And he says to the disciples, and this is somewhat mysterious, what's he talking about? Is he talking about a post-resurrection appearance? Is he talking about the day of Pentecost when the Spirit comes in power? Is he talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD where they actually never really saw Christ? But of course they saw what he designed for sinful rejecting Israel. What's he talking about? When were they going to see the Son of Man come in a display of power, of royal majesty before some of them even died? In some sense, we might say all of those answers are true. But there's also more going on here. So keep your finger in Mark, but going back to 2 Peter. Listen to what Peter further describes this eyewitness account. He describes it in verse 17 by saying, Well, let's stop at that point. Peter says that they were witnesses to Christ's majesty, as He had honor and glory bestowed upon Him from God the Father. He's an earwitness as well, isn't He? And whatever it is that He's remembering, He understands that God was there and that God made something known. and specifically that God gave glory and honor to Jesus Christ. Honor means an exalted status. Glory means weightiness, a radiant splendor that consumes its surrounding. One identifies Him in His person and the other identifies Him in the brilliance of His person. And so when was this? When did He receive glory and honor from the Father? Well, it was at a time when such an utterance as this was made to them by the majestic glory. That's interesting, isn't it? What does he mean by that? You have to remember that they lived in a culture and a context where at a time God's people reverenced Him so much that they didn't want to say His name, that an audible saying was an offense to them of His name. And so this title, majestic glory, is just a substitute name for God. We see it in the Septuagint in Deuteronomy 22. You remember the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. You remember the Jews refused to say God's name out of reverence, right? And they didn't say the name of God, but they had to refer to Him some way. And one of the most beautiful ways that they did that was by referring to God as the majestic glory. It's a very similar word to what was used of Jesus and His Majesty. And so what Peter is saying is that we saw Christ Mega glory. His majestic glory. His mega glory. His glory that abounds in such a way that we can't fully even describe it. And when was that? Well, it was when the Father gave honor and glory to the Son by verbally speaking. Not for the Son's benefit, but for those who could hear. They heard a voice from the majestic glory Himself. Magnificent, majestic, marvelous, glorious God. God speaks and what does He say? God said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Peter says that when we talk about the second coming, when we teach about it, we're not talking about some concocted fable. We're eyewitnesses of it. And when was it, Peter? Well, it was when God gave glory and honor to Jesus. Well, what does that mean? Well, it was when God spoke. And that narrows it down, doesn't it? That narrows it down to three potential events. Three times when God the Father made declarations about God the Son before a people. God said that very phrase at Jesus' baptism. We read that in Matthew 3, verses 16 and 17. And then God also declares Christ's glory in John 12 as well. Those are two of the times. But those aren't the time that Peter had in mind because Peter tells us which time in verse 18. Notice verse 18. Let me mention this first though. If you're wondering what is meant when the Father said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. I don't have time to go into all of it because it's a whole other sermon, but a really good place for you to start would be chapter 2 and chapter 8 in the Second London Baptist Confession. But essentially, what it means is that the Son is of one essence with the Father. And so the Father then is affirming the deity of the Son, something that He does repeatedly in the New Testament. And so Peter says, when we write to you about Jesus Christ, we were eyewitnesses, communing with the living God and hearing His voice out of heaven as the majestic glory affirmed the deity of Christ and He gave Him honor and glory. And when the Father says, this is my beloved Son, He speaks of His divine essence. He speaks of His divine love. When the Father says, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, He speaks of divine approval, divine essence, divine love and divine approval. He's saying that everything which is true of Him, of the Father, according to His essence, His ontology, all of His glory, all that is in God is God, all of that is exactly true in the person of the Son as well. This is the glorious Christ that is seen here in this statement. And I might add, it's exactly true of the Holy Spirit as well. And so the majestic, glorious Father God in one statement, note this, in one statement, He establishes the unity of the human and divine natures in Christ, and He establishes a perfect love bond in the Trinity, because Jesus, even with a human nature, is sinless. And his deity was never lost or forgotten at any moment in the incarnation. Yes, he humbled himself in the incarnation. But those two natures, when he took to himself a human nature, it didn't mix within the person. And his deity then is unchanged. Because, of course, anyways, God can't change, right? That's an essential attribute of who God is. He can't change. And He also, in this phrase, He also established His complete satisfaction with everything Jesus said and did and thought as the God-Man. Because in Him, He was well pleased. Here is God the Father affirming the deity of Christ, affirming the humanity of Christ, affirming the sinlessness of Christ, and affirming the perfection of Christ's works. Perhaps, It's the greatest phrase ever heard on the earth even. A statement by God who can say such massively profound things in light of His perfect will. And in doing this, the Father sets the stage. A promise of resurrection weeks before Christ was even crucified. Or a week before He was even crucified. And He established His right to return for He was God and He would perfectly accomplish His redemptive work and He was pure and He was sinless and He was worthy to come again and worthy to receive those who were His and worthy to take over what was rightfully belonged to Him. Peter says, we were there. We were there. We ourselves, plural. He wasn't alone when he heard this utterance made from heaven. And when was it? When were they with him on the holy mount? Well, the mountain wasn't holy before this event, but it was holy afterwards. It's holy because of what went down there. And so let's just remind ourselves of all this in Mark 9. We know this as the transfiguration. Verse 2. It says, And they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, majestic glory. This is my beloved Son, listen to Him. And suddenly they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. All three gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, tell of the transfiguration. The story is immediately preceded or followed by a discussion about the coming kingdom. I pointed that out earlier as well, but look at it in chapter, or verse 1 in chapter 9. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. Like I mentioned earlier, many get confused here. What does that mean? Does that mean Jesus was not going to return again before the apostles died? In a sense. There's a few ways we could look at it, if you remember what I said earlier. But there's one way that we must look at it. There's a reason as to why each of the Synoptic Gospels have that statement, and then immediately after it, it's the story of the Transfiguration. It's because the Transfiguration is the answer to that word. Peter, James, John were those who were standing there who saw the kingdom of God come with power. They saw. They had a foretaste. They saw there on the mountain what the eternal kingdom was going to look like when it was finally consummated at the end of the age. It's already existing now, make no mistake, Christ is reigning. But He hasn't yet consummated that kingdom. And Jesus is shown here as the unrivaled, undisputed king of the universe. They saw a glimpse of it there on the mountain and it terrified them. That's not the message we think of Jesus from today, is it? That to see Jesus is to be terrified? But that's what they saw, Him in all of His excellent glory. Moses and Elijah are there representing the law and the prophets. It's God's plan from the very start being shown how it's coming to its final conclusion. And it's not something that they would bring about themselves. It's something that would come at the time that God appoints, ushered in by the power of Christ Himself. And so Peter acts like Peter often does. He speaks fast. He feels like he must act. He's a leader among peers. But he makes a few mistakes. Granted, he's terrified, so we should cut him some slack. But he's seeing the glorious Christ. Words don't do it justice. But then he seeks to make three tents. One for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. As if they were all on the same level. But they're not. But that's not even the biggest mistake. Then wasn't the time for Jesus to take up His permanent dwelling with His people. Peter can't build a tent and usher it in. He doesn't get to choose when that happens. It's going to happen when all of those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world are drawn to salvation by the Father. And it's been 2,000 years since this transfiguration. And we don't know exactly when the parousia will happen, but guess what? We know it will happen. The transfiguration tells us that. We know it will happen because the transfiguration is the declaration from God that it will come to pass. The Father is promising it. The transfiguration is a glimpse of it and there were multiple apostles who were eyewitnesses of it. The Father from heaven saying, this is my Son, echoes the language of Psalm 2. Let's turn there. Psalm 2, the middle of your Bible, second Psalm. Verse 7, I will tell of the decree. In other words, I will tell of what God has purposed from eternity past. We understand that, right? That God has purposed from eternity past everything that will happen. That's what the decree is. God's not guessing about the future. He's not figuring out as it goes along. It's happening according to the decree. And here we have the blessed kindness of reading that He's going to tell us of the decree. And He says, Psalm 2 is what we call an installation song. It's a song, a song of the king being installed as the king. And so here on the mountain, the father is saying to his son, you are installed as my messianic, prophesied, promised Davidic king. And the king in Psalm 2 is the king who rules and conquers over the nations. It's the king who does it. The son of God is the focus of Psalm 2. His wrath is quickly kindled. Psalm 2 verse 6 even says that he comes to his holy hill. Peter and the others saw the connection there. The holy hill and then this mount of transfiguration. It's the holy mount then. That's why in verse 18 they said they heard from heaven a voice born here on the holy mountain. They're thinking of Psalm 2 and Christ's reign. They connected those dots. Peter saw the unveiling. He saw Jesus transfigured. He saw what Jesus looked like in his full divine regalia. And after seeing it, he knew. And he was terrified. They all were. You don't want to trifle with this man, Christ Jesus. Peter realized then, and there, Jesus was more than a carpenter, more than a good rabbi, more than a good teacher. When he saw him radiate intense white and exude majesty within a cloud of glory, he knew that this was a man that shouldn't be taken lightly. Do you believe him? Do you think they ever forgot about this? Not at all. How could they? It would be utterly life-changing. But Jesus tells them, and when you go down the hill, don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody about this glorious event. Why? Well, we don't want people to think He came in splendor to conquer Rome. He came to conquer death in that first coming. What you saw today wasn't for now. It's not for His first coming. It's for His what? His second coming, the Parousia. And what this means for Peter, for his original audience, and for us, is that we need to take care to not believe the mythos that this world propagates. Jesus is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And He has called us to holiness. And that holiness is the consequence of His work to save us. The consequence of us resting in Him, free from the curse of the law, free from the wages of sin. And if people want to say otherwise, How do we know who to believe? Do we believe those who haven't seen or do we consider those who were eyewitnesses and what they were made to see? That's his first argument. Is this a sure word? Peter had enough evidence. Moses affirmed Christ. Elijah affirmed Christ. More than that, God the Father himself affirmed Christ and Peter was there. They heard the voice born from heaven and he would go to his grave. not willing to recant these things and side with the false teachers. Will we believe? Well, that's half his case. And he has, as hard as it is to believe, what he considers an even greater argument to make, a more trustworthy argument, the scriptures themselves. But we'll have to deal with that next time. For now, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we are so grateful to know You and to be known by You. You are the majestic glory, greater than our words can even hope to describe. And we're so thankful that You have revealed Yourself to us in this way and that You gave to the apostles the transfiguration that they may be able to see that and then provide testimony of it, Lord. We pray, Lord God, that you would protect us from false teaching. We know that we are weak. We know that our hearts are prone to wander. We know that Apart from Your grace, we would utterly choose our flesh over what is good and right. And so we ask that You would guard and protect Your church, that You would help us to be ready to give a defense for the hope that You have instilled in us, Lord. You are perfect in every way. And we thank You for all of Your glory, that we may know it and that we may think rightly about You. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.