I'm gonna ask you to turn your Bibles, please, to 2 Peter chapter one. This morning, 2 Peter chapter one. In verse 16 of this first chapter, Peter writes this. 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. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we ask you to bless us now as we look into your word. We pray that you would use it to repair our hearts to come near to your table. Father, open our hearts to your truth. And Father, let us see our savior in the beauty of his holiness. For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. The scripture warns that it is a dangerous time when men begin to, as Isaiah 5, 18 says, draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin, as it were, with a cart rope. It's a dramatic picture. Men and women pulling perversity into their hearts and into their lives with those cords which are made up of vain hopes. They pull perversity, they pull sin into their lives with the idea that in the end they're going to be helped, they're going to grow, they're going to prosper. And so they pull this vanity into their hearts. Dragging sin around like an ass hitched to a cart. That's what Isaiah says. It's a sad time when men do that. It's a dangerous time when men boldly challenge the God of heaven, saying, as Isaiah 519 says, let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come that we may know it. All right, here we are, we're drawing sin into our lives. We're drawing, we're pulling along those things into our life that God says is sin. Well, let's see, where's his counsel? Where's his judgment? Where's the accountability that he promises? Those times are dangerous because challenging the Lord to hold a person, a people, or a nation accountable for sin invites justice, divine justice, to spring into action. Thus the prophet says in verses 20 and 21, woe unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight. When this happens, beloved, When men become wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight, they begin to fall prey to fables and myths which they've conjured up in their own hearts and justified in their own consciences. They make sin out to be righteousness and righteousness out to be sin. In their fantasy world, sin, which always produces the death of something, becomes the definition of life. Sin, which always enslaves, is touted as the essence of liberty. Sin, which is a lie that erodes and ruins, is called self-establishing truth. And these same men and women claim in their dream world that these killing, enslaving, and ruinous practices are the building blocks of a free-living, liberated, progressive society. They're staking their happiness and existence on the flimsy, hollow grounds of human fancies. and show more shamelessness than wit, more wit than learning, more learning than conscience, says Thomas Adams. They maintain that what God says are the signs of ruin and destruction among mankind are actually the signs of man's liberation and evolutionary advancement. They stand in direct contrast to what God says. And part of the wonder of it all is that when each era says of God, let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it, they hardly imagine themselves, or excuse me, they do imagine themselves to be the first to do so. We're the first generation to attempt this. We're the first generation to rise up and say that we can draw sin with the ropes of vanity, and we can pull it like a cart rope, and we can bring it into our lives and into our society, and we can defy God and prosper. The first to have tried to create a world out of the human fancy, where God is defied, sin is normalized, and a lasting culture is built out of things that are a lie, that enslave, and that bring death and ruin. They imagine themselves to be the first to do this. And this fantasy world that's woven together out of the mists of human vanity doesn't stop with culture. It carries its illusions and dreams right into the heart of religion itself, denying God and His word and creating deities and dogmas that please man's own vanity and fulfill his dreams, but deny God and His word. And again, every era imagines itself to be the first to do so, when in reality, the revolt against God and His word that rages today is no different, beloved, than it's always been. There's nothing new under the sun. And like every effort before this, they dream that this is the time, this is the day, this is the hour when mankind will become his own master. Sinful practices will vault us into a new era of life and liberty and happiness, and God and the gospel will fade into oblivion. Now, in the days of Peter, Men and women imagined the same thing. And Peter in his second epistle warns of false teachers who were teaching deceitful heresies, heresies that they'd invented, dreamed up in their own minds and hearts, scoffing at Christ and his promised return. You'll see that throughout second Peter if you read the whole epistle. And these teachers, says Kistemaker, denied the historical basis of the gospel message, and instead they presented their own myths. Now, all that may be true of society in general, but the question is, what of Peter and you? Where does your doctrine come from? What's the foundation of what you believe? And Peter answers this question with boldness and without the least hesitation. And he says in verse 16, we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were witnesses 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. The first thing that Peter contends here is that there is no human art in the message of the gospel. There is no human art in the message of the gospel. It's not something drawn from a poetic fable or cobbled together out of intriguing rhetoric, you know, speeches that are made and contentions in philosophy that are held up. It's not like a fictitious movie script that leads you here and then there and then brings you to the conclusion that's already been designed. Peter wants to clearly understood that this message of Jesus Christ coming to save sinners was not something that he and the others dreamed up. It was a truth thrust upon them as eyewitnesses of the events involved. We weren't dreaming this. We weren't thinking, how can we make this happen? This was pressed upon us as eyewitnesses. We had to stand there and see it as it unfolded in front of us. These are not speculative fables, but things they know because they were made known to them. A man or a woman may dream he or she can fly. For a long time, I had lots of dreams where I could fly. They don't have those dreams anymore, but I had lots of dreams where I could fly just about anywhere I wanted to go. But we may dream that we can fly. And we may want to be able to fly very, very badly. Even be able to visualize ourselves flying. But every day, reality is pressed upon you by the experience of fact. Because as much as I would like to fly right now and get up where it's a little cooler, I can't do it. I'd really like to. I can visualize myself doing it, but I can't do it. If I take a flying leap off of this stage, where am I gonna end up? Soaring around the room here over your heads and sailing down right near you or on my face on the carpet down there? We all know where I'm gonna end up, on my face on the carpet. Why? Because that's reality. That's reality. And the truth is that we might want to be able to fly, but we can't. But Jesus Christ did come to save sinners. It's a fact experienced firsthand by Peter and the others. And that's what he's saying here. This isn't something we dreamed about saying, oh, how we'd love to have a savior like Jesus. He was here. We saw him, we held him, we talked to him. We saw the sacrifice which he made and the truth of it was pressed upon us by the reality of it. The Lord Jesus did come in the flesh, is the way Thomas Adams puts it. He dwelt with us in the flesh. He suffered for us on the cross, rose again from the dead, became not in weakness, but in power, with signs and great wonders, to the terror of the bad, to the comfort of the good, confirmation of the weak, conviction of the proud, admiration of all. Neither received we this by tradition or hearsay, but we were eyewitnesses to it. When we saw Jesus demonstrating his power, we saw it. It was evident. It couldn't be denied. It really happened in front of us. It's not an idea we had. It's not a dream we would like to see. It actually happened. When we saw the lame healed, they were healed. When we saw the blind given sight, they were given sight. When we saw Christ sacrifice himself for sins, we saw him sacrifice himself for sin. We saw it. And when he rose from the dead, we saw him. We handled him. We watched the risen Savior in our midst. We were eyewitnesses to these things. John puts it this way in first John chapter one in verses one through three, that which was from the beginning. which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life, that is Jesus Christ. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life, which was with the father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. So beloved, everything that has been told you in the word about the love of Jesus, the grace and the power of his miracles, his sacrifice for your sins, his resurrection from the dead, isn't born out of fanciful hopes or little snippets of this fable and that fable. Peter says it was the result of our day to day experience where we attended with evidence of his power, which we attended with evidence of his power and his majesty. We saw it. And that's what we're communicating to you. What we saw. Other men and women come along and they try to point the way to heaven and to explain the means of getting there. But when you stand them up next to Peter and John and the others, their stories don't carry any weight, except that which comes from how well they can tell the story. One put it this way, many of these deceivers who come in and try to lead men to heaven in another way, other than the way preached in the gospel, they're like hounds with the wrong scent. You ever seen a hound go chasing after a scent? They howl and go chasing after it. But if they've got the wrong scent, they're not going to come to the right place, are they? And that's what is being said here, that they're deceivers. They have the wrong scent. They go howling after God, but they don't get there because they're not on the right path. And behind them, encouraging them and urging them on is Satan himself. There's an old saying that the devil is God's ape. And it comes from the way apes sometimes mimic people and what they do. People go into a zoo and they go up to the ape cage and go, and the ape would go. So that word filtered into our language as being a way of mimicking people, we ape them. And Satan is God's ape. He champions every idea and every dream conjured up by men against the truth. And he especially delights in those that run very parallel, but come to the wrong end. He wants it to look like it's right. He wants it to look like it's in conformity to God. He wants it to look like it's the thing that God wants. And he delights in the fact that in the end, it comes out without God. without hope, without salvation. And the closer it gets, the more he delights in it and the more he honors it and encourages it. But the message of salvation, the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, was made known to us by eyewitness experience. And those men who saw it with their eyes, in turn, have made it known to you. And they didn't hide it. They didn't even hide any parts of it. As we pointed out many times, there's not one message of the gospel for new converts, and then a deeper, more secret understanding that is revealed to you when you progress in your faith. You know, you have this basic faith in what Jesus did in dying for your sins, and then you go to seminary and they reveal to you the real secrets. Dr. Battle and Professor Lynch are up there saying this is what it really is about. It's a secret. We don't tell everybody this, but you're ready to take the next step, initiation. No, they're still preaching the same thing, still telling the same thing, the same story that's being told to the children in Sunday school. Now that doesn't mean that you don't progress in your faith, You may have a better understanding of things taught to you at first as you mature, but it's not because they were hidden from you at the start. A trivia question helps to make the point here. How many states are listed on the $5 bill? Some of you may know the answer to that question. Some of you may not. Some of you may be wondering, are there any states on the $5 bill? There are actually 26 states listed on the $5 bill. Don't look now. But they're there, OK? But most people just handle those bills without any awareness of the fact that those states are listed on the bill. Now, do you not know that if you don't know it because it was a secret hidden there? No, it's right in front of your face. Every time you had a $5 bill in your hand, you could look and see. You just didn't bother to do it. That doesn't mean there was secret information there. And there's not secret information. What has been told us by these eyewitnesses is the truth and the whole truth concerning these things. The apostle and the prophets have made all we need to know about Jesus known to us. But the truth is that without the Holy Spirit, we can know none of it. even if we hold the truth in our hands and we scan it with our eyes. In 1 John 4, John says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they're of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. But this you know, by this you know the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. So then from start to finish, there's no human heart in the message of the gospel. It's not a clever message conjured up by the mind of man. It's a reality that was played out before the eyes of men, nor is it believed by the wisdom of men. It's a reality pressed upon the hearts of men, not by mental acuity, but by the winsome grace of God the Holy Spirit pressing that truth upon your heart. Jesus died for you. You know it because the Holy Spirit presses it upon you. Our Savior, intending that the apostles should lay the foundation of his church upon the cornerstone whereupon themselves and all are built, he furnished them with all fit provision for it. He declared his will to their ears, presented his work to their eyes, fixed his truth in their hearts, and sent them not to publish riddles and paradoxes and fabulous reports, but real and actual things which they had seen and heard. Now, secondly, Peter says that he was, they were witnesses, or they saw and experienced that the Savior came in power and majesty. And the first thing we think is, well, in Christ's coming, did he come in power? Peter says that's what they witnessed. At first thought, at least to the human perception, that might seem a little questionable. As Adam says, he seems to have no beauty that we should desire him, quoting from Isaiah. And he adds this, his palace was a stable. His courtiers, beasts. His chair of state, a manger. His royal robes, a few rags. No bells ring, no bonfires proclaim his birth. Through the popular streets, no great ladies came to visit his mother. Instead of thundering in the clouds, he lies crying in a manger. For beating down his enemies, he is glad to flee from their face into Egypt. Where was then this glorious power, for how appeared his majesty? That's the question. And the answer is, and the answer that Peter offers here is that the power revealed in his coming was of another sort. And Thomas Adams helped me some in getting these thoughts in order. But his power is in another sort, and we can't go over it all. But let me say, first of all, the power that's coming is revealed in the fact that although all the powers of hell had been contesting it from the beginning, they could not prevent it. All the powers of hell were engaged against this event coming to pass, and yet they could not prevent it. Every opportunity was seized upon to keep this from happening, to keep this day from coming when the son of God would come in power and offer himself for sinners. Satan engaged everything he could against that moment and it couldn't stop it from happening. joined by legions of men full of imagined powers of their own. Satan made every effort to stop the moment that was going to seal his ruin and save you. Armies, secret plots, hideous violence, they were all marshaled against it and they all fell before it. The power of his coming is demonstrated in the fact that it was exactly secondly, according to the word. though the word seemed incredible to human reason. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. How can that happen? The evidence of his powers and the fact that it happened directly as it was proclaimed. And thirdly, and most remarkably, beloved, Your sin couldn't prevent it. Your sin couldn't prevent this from happening. If anything puts to death the idea of salvation by any human merit, it's this, beloved, that your sin could not keep the Son of God from coming in love for your redemption. You don't have to raise your hand for this. But it'd be interesting to see how many of you have people you love that you can't help because of their sin. People you love who are dear to you, but you can't help them because of their sin. It's not that you don't want to help them, but you can't help them. because of their sin. We would if we could, but we can't. We're powerless. It may be because sin has such a strong grip on them, or it could simply be that it would just be unjust because of their sin to help them. But for whatever reason, we're powerless. It's not so with your Savior. He came in power to rescue you and your soul from sin and death. And even your sin could not prevent that from happening. And know, beloved, that the power of His coming is still evident. It's still striking men and women, boys and girls with its power. We sing with love and adoration of faith. Oh, to see my name written in the wounds. For through your suffering, I am free. Death is crushed to death. Life is mine to live. One through your selfless love. This is the power of the cross. Son of God slain for us. What a love, what a cost. We stand forgiven at the cross. The power of it still manifesting itself and conquering the hearts of men and women and children. And this same Jesus is coming again with power and great glory. In Luke chapter 21, verses 25 through 28, we read, and there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars and on the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now, when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draws nigh. So the power is in these things, but where's the majesty? Peter and the others who walked with him all speak of his majesty. There was a splendor of his person that couldn't have been conveyed in the usual way. From his birth to his death, the usual things associated with majesty weren't evident. He had no worldly wealth, he had no worldly position, he had no worldly presence. Isaiah says that we looked on him and there's nothing that caused us to look and to think about this is a unique man. And yet Peter says we saw his majesty revealed constantly. John Brown says, his majesty is the true greatness which belonged to him. The power and kindness manifested in his miracles, the wisdom and holiness and compassion displayed in his doctrine, so full of grace and truth, the matchless magnanimity of his self-sacrifice exemplified in his sufferings and death. Because the table awaits us, we press on and conclude with the third thing here. This message of his salvation was confirmed by the honor and glory placed upon him by God the Father. As we prepare to move from the word preached verbally to the word preached visually, there's one more thing to reflect on. The message of salvation brought to you by the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ bears the highest and most prestigious approval that could ever be granted. And with it came an honor and a glory that no other can claim. Jesus took James and John and Peter up onto a mountain, perhaps Mount Tabor, which if it was that mountain, it would have required a whole day to get there. On the mountain, the Savior puts a little distance between himself and his disciples. And while he prays, a marvelous thing happens. Not from without, but from within, a brilliant glory emanates from him and surrounds them. Then two ambassadors from heaven, from heaven itself, join him. Never has heaven touched earth in quite this way, says one, since the gates of paradise were closed. It's never been like this. Like it is on top of that mountain. Matthew says in Matthew 17, he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, his clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Here, beloved, is the son of God. two renowned prophets of God, and these three apostles. This is no uncommon event. How dreadful must have been the place, says Brown. The house of God, the gate of heaven. The disciples were soon to feel this. The heavenly radiance and the sound of the voices of the celestial strangers, less familiar to their ears than the accents of their master, probably broke their slumbers. And opening their eyes, they beheld to their amazement their transfigured Lord and his two radiant companions. And Peter's saying, this isn't something we dreamed. This isn't something we would have liked to have seen happen. This isn't some fable we've pulled from ancient texts. This is what transpired in front of our eyes. We walked up that mountain. We hiked up it together, all of us. We went up to that mountain, and when we got on top of it, these things happened. And we were left stunned, and we've never been the same since. As the beloved son, it was clear that he was part of the divine nature, because that's what was proclaimed. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The very man of very men, he was also very God of very God. And as such, he was beloved, the object of God's holy, perfect love, indicating that his message had the full warrant and approbation of the Almighty. Others can claim it, but not a single other can make the claim based on a similar experience. In other words, I can come in next week and say, well, I was sleeping on Saturday afternoon, I had a dream, and in this dream I found a new way to heaven. And if you came to me and said, well, how many people were witnesses to God speaking to you about this being the right way? I'd have to say, well, I don't have any witnesses to that. Nothing like that happened, but it was really true. I mean, it seemed like reality in that dream. It just falls before this, doesn't it? These are the things that Peter saw and witnessed, not because he wanted to, but because they were pressed upon him. They were not in a stupor of sleep. They saw, they heard, and they were touched by Christ himself. Well, he acknowledged the truth of what they saw and heard. Jesus didn't shake them and say, wake up, wake up, Peter, you're dreaming. You just think you saw this. So wake up, you're dreaming. No, he said, wake up and don't be afraid. He reached over and touched him and said, Peter, don't be afraid. You're actually seeing these things. You're actually hearing these things. These things are taking place before you so that you can tell them to the world. Now, you're not an eyewitness to these things. You're those who, by the grace of God, have been given to believe his testimony and the testimony of his servants. Peter writes earlier in this chapter, in this first epistle, in the first chapter, and he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away. reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. But the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, those tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. You believe this account and you love Jesus. And because of that love, you will see the salvation of your souls. So we come to the Lord's table this morning in faith. not because we have by our own wisdom accepted a cleverly devised fable. There's no human art in the thing. We come because we believe the account of eyewitnesses. We come as witnesses to the power and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ because we've seen it for our own. In our own eyes we've seen it. With our own hearts we've realized it. And we come to remember one who received the highest honor that can ever be given, the honor of God's own voice, approving what he did for us on the cross of Calvary. Let's pray. Father, as we come to our Savior's table now, we pray, Lord, that we would acknowledge the power and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. the power and majesty of His love, a love that broke through all our sin and brought to us eternal salvation. Lord, bless us at our Savior's table. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.