I invite you to turn with me this morning to the second epistle of Peter, 2 Peter, and chapter 1. we will read the whole of the first chapter, 2 Peter chapter 1, and perhaps giving special attention in our own minds as we come near to verse 16 as our text for this morning is verses 16 through 21. Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life, and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance. to perseverance, godliness, to godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless the reading and now the preaching of his word. I anticipate two sermons on this passage as we bring the exposition of Chapter 1 to a close. exhortation at the beginning of the chapter, this marvelous exhortation to grow in grace. This exhortation in every way depends upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse two, grace, he says, is multiplied to you in the knowledge our Lord. Verse 3, divine power is granted to us through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 5, we're to grow in this knowledge. Verse 8, we are not to become unfruitful in this knowledge. And verse 15, even though he doesn't speak or mention explicitly the word knowledge or the phrase knowledge of our Lord, He says, and this is what he has in mind, that he will not neglect to leave them, to always remind them, and leave them with a reminder even after his decease. A reminder of what? A reminder of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that he says here depends upon the knowledge of Jesus Christ. So who is he? Who is he? Who do you say that he is? What we see this morning is Peter declares to us in no uncertain terms that Jesus is God. Jesus is God from God and therefore he alone is able to lead us back to God. We see this in two parts as we break the passage down into two considerations, two points this morning. First of all, the gospel and picking up on something that Peter introduces, he says at the introduction of verse 16, the gospel and ancient myths. Secondly, we consider this morning the testimony, the testimony of many witnesses. Well, first then, this morning, we start with our consideration of the gospel, the gospel and ancient myths. If, as we've said, that Peter's entire exhortation hangs upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore our moral conformity to the image of Christ, who is the image of God, then it's no wonder that Peter here states emphatically in verse 16 that this knowledge of Christ is not based upon cunningly devised fables. Everything hangs upon this, and he says, do not think for a moment that this knowledge of Christ is us merely following or is merely itself cunningly devised fables. Now the word fable that's translated in our text, it's translated from the Greek word muthos, or muthos, from which we get the word myth. Peter, living in a Greek culture full of mythologies of gods and goddesses, is stressing that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not one myth among others, or we might say another twist on the same old stories. They're not following them, they're not drawing from them. In other words, the story of Jesus is more than a myth. I put it that way carefully, and you'll see why in a minute. It's more than a myth. I think there's a level of significance to what Peter is saying here that I think is just all too easily lost on the modern enlightened mind. Because modern culture no longer has a place for mythology. And it's not simply because we have grown out of our superstition and that we are more enlightened. Rather, we no longer have a place for mythology, and it has more to do with the lie, the lie of the so-called enlightenment that the material world is all that there is. And so we no longer have a place for mythology. Material world is all that there is. And I think that at least in this one respect, the ancient world, the ancient world was more advanced, more sophisticated. more enlightened, and I would even go as far as to say, with qualification, and we'll qualify it, but I'd go so far as to say that their use of mythology both illustrates their advancement over the modern age and the modern mind, and helps us here to appreciate Peter's point. Myths, if we just consider myths and ancient culture for a moment, they were a way for people to find a purpose and to find meaning for their lives. That maybe seems strange to us. But again, life is more than this material world. Life is more than merely our material existence in this material world. Myths were stories about where they came from. and where they are going, where they are heading, or for what purpose they exist. You take, for instance, Homer's famous Iliad, famous among those poets and writers that wrote on mythology and Greek culture. Homer's Iliad was nothing short of a fantastic tale about the origin and the history of Greece, The origin and history of Greece, their history viewed in relation not merely to the material world, but in relation to a world unseen, in relation to a divine drama. that supposedly was affecting, a divine purpose that was affecting the course of history, the course of Greek society. This is how mythology was understood. And as stories about gods and goddesses It was an attempt to ascribe meaning to their own personal story by relating their own personal story to a reality that is greater than themselves, a reality that is greater than just this material world and their material existence. These were stories that inspired wonder of a reality beyond their grasp. Now they were fanciful stories. And no one, largely no one thought of them as historical fact. But they thought of them as stories that poetically sought to answer the human need, the human longing that has been divinely implanted in our hearts. That longing to know ourselves, our lives, in relation to something more than this material existence. In relation to the one or or wrongly, but from the Greek perspective, to the many, right, to the many gods, but to the one from whom and for whom we exist. To see our lives in terms of our existence and our purpose in relation to the things and to the world of eternal things. And so, We shouldn't be surprised to discover, as we look back at all of these myths, to discover countless myths regarding stories of creation, regarding stories of the fall, regarding stories of redemption, even stories of God's dying and then rising again from the dead. things that are oddly similar to the stories of the gospel. Again, these are not to be understood as historical fact, but as poetic expression of the human longing to explain how we came from God and the way back to God. Now, there their misleading stories, their cunningly devised fables, but nevertheless, they're an attempt drawn out of that human longing to understand how we came from God and how we are brought back to God. And so when Peter says that we did not follow cunningly devised fables or myths, He is saying that the gospel is not a mythological story of human invention. It's not mere poetic expression of deep human longings. Now, I want to pause here for a minute. Because we need to acknowledge, however uncomfortable this language may make us feel, we need to acknowledge that the gospel does consist of the stuff of men. of the stuff of myth. Let me explain this. It consists of a story in which God is the author, in which our own personal story is given meaning and purpose, a meaning and purpose beyond our mere material existence. And the person and the work of Jesus Christ is the beginning and the middle and the end of this story. And think about the story. It is wonderfully fantastical, right? It is the son of God. It is the son of God, through whom the father created all things, and in whose image we were made, that took upon our nature. And he became a man, and in the likeness of sinful flesh, to die at the hands of sinful men. to condemn sin in the flesh, to endure the wrath of God as a man. And in conquering sin and death and the devil, he rose again on the third day, he ascended to heaven, he is seated at the right hand of God. And all of this, all of this, that we who have been alienated from God through sin, might be reconciled to God through the blood of the cross, redeemed, forgiven by faith in Jesus, brought back to God, to Him from whom and for whom we exist. God in the flesh. God. Brothers and sisters, do you hear this? God in the flesh, dying in the flesh, rising and ascending in the flesh in order to save sinful flesh, that the Son, God from God, might bring us back to God. Is that not wonderfully fantastic? C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis, who was a master of ancient mythology. Before he was converted, he once thought of Christianity as one myth among other myths. He saw the claims for what they were. that God became a man. And he said, this has all the stuff of a myth, but he said, this is one myth among other myths. It's no different, he said. But Peter is saying what C.S. Lewis later came to acknowledge, that the gospel is the one true myth. Those are Lewis's words, but that's what Peter is basically saying here. Peter would have acknowledged, living in the first century, would have acknowledged that the gospel has the stuff of a myth, which is why he even thinks about, in the first place, of warning us not to think of the gospel as we might think of other myths. Don't be confused here, he says. But the gospel, he says, is not a myth of human invention. It is not a myth devoid of historical fact, but he says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Peter is neither reducing the gospel to mere facts, to which our minds must give assent, Nor is he reducing the gospel to mere myth that inspires our hearts to wonder at a reality beyond our grasp. He says it is both. It is both. C.S. Lewis, by the grace of this Lord Jesus Christ of whom Peter speaks, C.S. Lewis himself came to this conclusion. The Lord converted him, brought him to this conclusion, and just days after his being converted, he wrote in a letter to a friend. He says, now the story, now I see the story of Christ is simply a true myth. A myth working on us in the same way as the others, that is to inspire a wonder, working on us in the same way as others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened. And again, he writes, Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of a dying God without ceasing to be a myth comes down from the legend of heaven and imagination to the earth of history. It happened, he says. It happened at a particular date and a particular place, followed by a definable historical consequence. A historical person crucified under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact, it does not cease to be myth, and that is the miracle. God in the flesh. By becoming historical fact, right, Peter says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. It does not cease to be wonderfully fantastic beyond our grasp. What did Peter witness? His majesty. His majesty, his divinity. Who is it? Who is it that stood before him? who had moments before discussed and talked about with his disciples and in fact did suffer and die, who was it? Who was it then that was raised from the dead but God in the flesh? We saw his majesty. It really happened. It really happened. We were eyewitnesses, Peter says. See, the tremendous fact of the gospel should strike wonder in our hearts, a reality beyond our grasp that forever changes the way that we view the reality of our lives, so that our own story can only ever find its purpose and its meaning when we find ourselves, through faith in Christ, in God's own story. Without losing the wonder, Peter turns our attention to that which sets the gospel apart and changes everything. It really happened. It really happened. And so secondly, we see here the testimony of many witnesses. The testimony of many witnesses. Peter here either expresses or in some cases here alludes to the testimony of several persons or parties, all of whom testify that Jesus is who he said he was. Jesus is who he claimed to be. that he was a particular man that lived and died at a particular time and a place, particular place, is assumed here. In our own day, so many centuries later, there are those who surely deny the historical realities and facts and deny that perhaps Jesus even existed and lived. They relegate the whole person of Christ into mere mythology. But for Peter, this is assumed. This is assumed that a particular man named the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus, this man, lived and died at a particular time and place. This is assumed. What Peter is concerned with here is the fantastic claim that he who lived and died and even rose again to live again, that the one who did this at a particular place and a particular time is the son of God. God from God in the flesh. The focus here is upon the divine glory and majesty, even the eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ. We find here in our passage both a human testimony as well as a divine testimony. And in every case, these testimonies conform to the biblical expectation that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word, every testimony may be established. By the mouth of two or three witnesses. every word or testimony is established. So first of all, Peter presents us with human testimony. Human testimony. Peter states in verse 16, for we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And again in verse 18, and we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Jesus on the holy mountain. Now from the reference to the mountain and the context in which Peter heard an audible voice from heaven, we can reasonably conclude that he is speaking about Jesus's transfiguration that we read about this morning in our scripture reading. He says, we, We were eyewitnesses. We heard. The we, therefore, on this occasion is a reference to Peter, James, and John. One, two, three. Peter, James, and John by the mouth of two or three witnesses who were with Jesus when heaven descended upon him and the face of Jesus, we were told, was altered and his garments were whitened. In fact, Mark, straining to express this occasion, says that his garments were whitened like no launderer on earth can whiten. I don't know how else to explain it, right? Like no launderer on earth can whiten. And the glory of God, we're told, was not only shown around them and around the Lord, but it was radiating out from the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. His face was altered. Peter says here, we were eyewitnesses. And he's describing something unusual. Peter, James, and John on top of the mountain with the Lord when this happens, this is something that not even all of the apostles were privileged to see. The divine glory in the person of Christ, the divine glory had been veiled in the flesh. It had been clothed in humility. Isaiah prophesied of him that he would have no form or comeliness. That when we see him, Isaiah says, there would be no external glory that we should desire him. Isaiah 53, verse two. But Peter said on this occasion, on this particular occasion, he and two others were given eyes to see behind the veil, to wonder at a fantastic reality beyond their grasp. Jesus had previously, in the same context, right, we read this this morning, in the context of Luke chapter 9, Jesus had previously asked them who people say that he is. And who the disciples, who do they say that he is? And you remember that Peter wonderfully confessed, it's put differently in the different Gospels, but he wonderfully confessed that Jesus was the Christ. Jesus was the Messiah. But what does that mean? What does that mean? Who is the Messiah? What do we know about the Messiah? What will the Messiah be like? Who will be the Messiah? What does it mean? And so Jesus proceeds to speak of his approaching death and resurrection, that they would understand who the Messiah is, who he is. They even struggled at that time to understand this as well. And so Jesus showed them who he is. He showed them who he is. He showed them who it is who will die. It's all this context, right? I'm gonna go to the cross, I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna be raised on the third day. I don't get it. We still don't understand who I am. Let me show you. Let me show you, connect it, let me show you who will suffer, who it is that will suffer and die and be raised on the third day. Let me show you who I am. God himself in the flesh. two seemingly irreconcilable things, God and the cross. Peter says, we saw it with our own eyes. Moreover, they saw Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus Luke says about all that he would do in Jerusalem, about his decease in Jerusalem, about his death and resurrection. Jesus, in all of his glory, this is what he's talking about. Again, with Moses and Elijah, that he will suffer and he will die, and he will be raised again. Now, why Moses and why Elijah? Well, again, by the mouth of two or three witnesses. Here we have representatives, respectively, of the law and the prophets testifying to the divine savior to come, right? This is what we find in the scriptures. And the law and the prophets testified to the divine savior to come, and there they stood with Jesus as a witness to Peter, James, and John, that Jesus is that divine savior. They saw it with their own eyes and they heard it with their own ears. Human testimony. But secondly, Peter presents us, and really this is his grander point, and that is the divine testimony. What Peter heard was greater, a greater witness than what he saw. What he saw needed to be interpreted. What he heard, God provided the interpretation. Here again, we are given the testimony of two or three witnesses. In our passage, we have the testimony of the Father, as well as the testimony of the Spirit, not to mention, although we will mention, the testimony of the Son, as well, concerning himself, by the testimony of two or three witnesses in heaven. Now in the first place, the father, we're told, spoke from heaven. from out of the excellent glory, Peter says, or excellent majesty, by which he's referring to the same, to use the Hebrew language, Hebrew term, the Shekinah glory that hovered over creation in Genesis 1, that encircled Moses on the top of Mount Sinai in the giving of the law, that overshadowed, the divine presence overshadowing Mary, at the incarnation, the Shekinah glory, and out of the divine glory, out of the divine presence, they heard an audible voice. saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And just to be certain that the father was not talking about Moses and Elijah, that when the voice had ceased, who remained? Only Jesus. Only Jesus. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. the Son of God. Now, it's true, isn't it, that Jesus became the Son of Mary by conception, became the Son of David by pedigree, but has always been and never ceased to be the Son of God by nature. Jesus himself testified to this. He knew who he was. He knew from where he came. He claimed to have been, remember, thinking in terms of the gospel narrative, the record of the life and the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, he claimed repeatedly to have been sent from the Father. He's God from God, sent from God. God from God, sent from the Father. Come down from heaven, he says. Claimed to be one with the Father. Claimed to be the one who uniquely and only reveals the Father. He claimed and exercised the prerogative of God to forgive sins. He said he was greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, greater than David, greater than the temple. He says, before Abraham was, I am. Claims to have the glory, to have glory. He says, restore him to me and grant to me the glory that I had with you, Father, from before the foundation of the world. He knew who he was. And it's clear who he's claiming to be. C.S. Lewis, again, said that anyone taking these claims seriously, hear it for what it is, has to conclude that Jesus is either Lord, liar, or a lunatic. And the religious leaders of his day certainly did not misunderstand this claim. John 5 and verse 18 tells us that they sought all the more to kill him because he said that God was his father making himself equal with God. John chapter 8. The Pharisees tried by slight of hand to reject this claim of the Lord Jesus Christ on the grounds that he did not have two or three witnesses. Who can corroborate your story, your testimony? They said to him, you bear witness of yourself, and so your witness cannot be true. Jesus replied to them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going. And he goes on, he says, it is also written in your law that the testimony of two men, two or three, two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself and the father who sent me bears witness of me. Take that, Pharisees. Peter says here, you better believe it, we saw it with our own eyes. We heard it with our own ears. The father testified, this is my beloved son. Picking up on the language of Philippians 2, he who was in the form of God did not count it robbery to be counted equal to God, but took upon himself the form of a servant. This language, Augustine says, he picks up on this, he uses it, and he says that the Lord Jesus became the son of Mary, the son of David, according to the form of a servant, his manhood. But according to the form of God, his divinity, he has always been the Son of God. God the Father testifies, this is my Son. This is my Son. Jesus is called a Son because he is from the Father. And he is called my son, because he is the same, he is of the same nature as the father. Son, because he is a distinct person. My son, because he is the same God. He is God from God, eternally begotten but not made, in whom the father is well pleased. As God, as God, he is able to satisfy God. In whom I am well pleased. As God, he is able to satisfy God. And as man, God in the flesh, he is able to suffer for man. God the Son testifies of himself, and God the Father testifies of the Son, and Peter, James, and John corroborate their testimony. We saw it, we heard it. And so, he concludes in verse 19, we have the prophetic word confirmed. The prophetic word, the scriptures. we have the prophetic word confirmed. That is the testimony of the Father. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, has confirmed everything that Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets had said concerning the coming Savior. And it's not merely the testimony of the human authors of scripture that is confirmed. Peter says it's the testimony of the Holy Spirit. It's the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Beginning in verse 20, Peter says, no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Scripture was written by the hands of men, but not by the will of men. Now, Peter here does not mean to imply or suggest that scripture was written against man's will, that they were in some kind of trance and they didn't know what they were doing or what they were thinking, or that that scripture itself is not informed by the various personalities of the human authors. Peter is not suggesting this here. When he says it is not written by the will of man, will, the will speaks of intention. And the interpretation of any book seeks to know the intention or the meaning of the author. And Peter is saying that the Holy Spirit so moved the hands of men, holy men, of God to communicate his own intentions. This is his book. Whatever instruments he used in the writing of this book, it is his book and it is his story. It is his testimony. And this is why Peter adds in verse 20 that scripture is not subject to any private interpretation. For God is his own interpreter. It's his book. It conveys his intentions. It conveys the mind of the Lord, and it is for the Lord to reveal his own mind. It doesn't matter what you think the scripture means. I had somebody say that to me once. I was sincere, actually, and I would say, well, I think that, and he said to me, an older gentleman, he said, who cares what you think? I got his point. I knew him well enough. I got his point. It doesn't matter what you think. It only matters what God intends for it to mean. And Peter is saying that what the Father testified from heaven, the Holy Spirit has everywhere testified in scripture that Jesus Christ is God. God in the flesh, dying in the flesh, rising again and ascending in the flesh in order to save sinful flesh, that the Son, God from God, might bring us back to God. Is that not wonderfully fantastic? By the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. Divine testimony the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Human testimony, Peter, James, and John. The divine testimony confirms the human. What they heard confirms what they saw, because what they saw was beyond their grasp. Peter was beyond himself at the time. didn't know quite what to do with it, what to say, was beyond their grasp. What they saw needed interpretation. Otherwise, you know, we might be inclined to say, Peter says, this is what I saw. And Peter gives his own interpretation of it, that Jesus, by this he knows that Jesus is the Son of God. Let's say that he didn't hear the voice from heaven, he just saw this, and he gives us his own interpretation. We might be inclined to say, well, perhaps what you saw was not what you think it was. But God supplied his own interpretation. What they saw with their eyes, God interpreted in their ears. So that they might have the ears to hear what the spirit says in the word of God and have the eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. To see it for what it is. Peter here tells us that we would do well to give heed to the scriptures as a light that shines in the darkness till that light shines in our heart, the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, we'll come back to some of this next week, elaborate on some of these things, Lord willing, but I think we would be remiss if I did not ask this question. are these things in your heart? And let me put this differently. Who do you say that he is? Who do you say that he is? The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they say that he is God from God, and therefore he's able to bring us back to God. Who do you say that he is? Peter, James, and John witness his majesty. And God confirms what they saw and what the scriptures foretold. Who do you say that he is? Not only with your mind, these are facts out here that we ascend, yeah, okay, that happened, that happened. But who do you say that he is with your heart? Apart from the light of God's grace in the gospel, C.S. Lewis interpreted the gospel as one myth among other myths. One myth among other myths. But you know, having said that, having said that, Even there, he was in, I think, a far better shape than most people today. Because even there, Lewis understood that if it had really happened, if these things had really happened, it would be wonderfully fantastic. This is something that would be beyond our grasp. This is a reality then that would change the way that we see all of reality. Including ourselves. Yet today, today many will acknowledge that it really happened. But they will not wonder fantastically. All fact, no myth. All head, no heart, perhaps because so many do not comprehend what the claim actually is. God himself has become a man, suffered, died, and rose again the third day. Lewis himself was given ears to hear and eyes to see the light the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That gospel is not less than a myth, but so much more. It really happened. Peter saw it, the Father explained it, the Scripture declares it. Do you believe it? Our Father in heaven, We do thank you for revealing to us, yourself and the person of your son, in no uncertain terms, not leaving the matter to our own imagination, much less interpretation, but that you have interpreted. You have been your own interpreter. Our Father, we do pray that as we come As we are sitting under your word this morning, that you would grant to us not only an intellectual assent of the truth of these things, but a wonder in our heart at the very claim of these things, of what it is that's true, that you have so loved the world that you sent your only begotten son, Not that any should perish, but that as we believe upon Him that we would be granted everlasting life. God from God and therefore able to bring us back to God. And therefore, our Father, whether we be sitting now in the darkness, shine the light of the glory of God in our hearts. If we be already brought to that light, enlighten our path and bring us effectually and finally unto your presence. All that the Son, or rather that the Father may be glorified in the Son. We pray these things in the Spirit, in the name of Christ, amen.