2nd Peter, still chapter 1, we'll pick up in verses 16-21. 2nd Peter, chapter 1, verses 16-21. This is the word of the Lord. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when we 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. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Let's go to the Lord. Father, thank You for another chance today to continue in Your Word. And Father, I pray that You would open our eyes, Father, I pray that You would wake us up if we're asleep. Stir us, Lord, if we're lazy to these beautiful truths. And so, Holy Spirit, I pray that You would guide us and teach us and illuminate Your words to us. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen. You know, the Apostle Peter had first-hand experience in what it meant to be nearsighted, What it meant to have, to be probably kind to Him, a lapse of judgment. The Apostle Peter knew actually what it was and was relatively fresh on his memory. What it meant to even deny Jesus Christ Himself. I think it's important for us to think back about some of these apostles and some of the characters where we have that written and that documented of their journey. Like their experiences in their own walk with the Lord and their experiences of sanctification because it brings a reality and a necessity to our understanding that these are men and women, as Peter started this letter with, who have obtained the same faith and have equal standing before the Lord. Things heated up in Peter's life and he failed. I don't know this for sure, but I think as fellow humans we can at least imagine, and I like to think this is a sanctified imagining, that in His mind He was as good as done. In fact, we do know, this is documented in John 21, that He and the other disciples, they just went back to fishing. After Jesus Christ was killed, and Peter, as Jesus was arrested, he denied Jesus three times, which was determined by the Lord. He let him know that that would actually happen. And so here Peter and the disciples are just really trying to figure out what's next, and there's a chance that outside of the grace of God, that Peter's life up to this point, or beyond this point, I should say, is one that's marked with shame, it's marked with guilt, Failure and regret. He messed up. Big time. And not only that, his mess up and his denying of Jesus is contrasted with what we have of him and know of him prior to that. The most outspoken disciple. The one who was willing with his own words, he said, to die for Jesus. Now, some of his outspokenness got him in trouble and showed clearly that he was nearsighted. In fact, when Jesus said, I must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things, and Peter, I'm paraphrasing, but basically said, no, you won't, Jesus essentially says, hey, your thinking is not eternal. It's nearsighted. It's good for me to remember these stories about the apostle Peter, and to remember how Jesus, in John 21, tenderly restores Peter. If Jesus doesn't come to Peter, Peter's not going to go to Jesus. And Jesus Himself comes and tenderly restores Peter, he doesn't just restore him to relationship, but in that restoration, he commissions Peter to feed his sheep. Feed my lambs. This letter is Peter doing exactly what Jesus commissioned him and called him and gifted him to do. And so I hope you hear these words. from Peter as just that. A man who has a deep desire to see believers strong in their faith in Christ and walk in a way that exhibits that strength. And brothers and sisters, every single crisis we come to is a crisis of belief. It's a challenge of are we going to believe that God's promises are true? Or are we going to believe something else. And so I hope we feel the tenderness and the seriousness of Peter feeding the sheep in this passage. If you look back with me at verse 16, Peter says, for we. The we here are the disciples. He's referencing back. He says, for we didn't follow a story, a myth, a legend. They didn't have comic books. You know, they didn't have Narnia. They didn't have Harry Potter. But essentially it's what he's saying, again, you've got to remember the context, we have to always remember the context, and that this Gnosticism, this seeking of knowledge is prevalent, this is creeping into the church, and he says, we, the disciples, we did not follow some cleverly devised myth. And the tone of this conversation, in tenderness but also seriousness, is going to continue to trend towards We saw these things. We heard with our own ears these things. We, the disciples. And so, that would contrast with, and we have examples of this for sure in our culture with the other religions, but some individual getting a private, special revelation from the Lord, and then taking that to people, and then the masses just follow them. Where there's no accountability. It's contrary to Scripture. And most deception has some truth. Effective deception and effective scheming from Satan himself is going to have some truth. He masquerades himself as a child of light. And so there's a vulnerability for us that profess Christ if we are nearsighted, if we are lazy, if we are asleep, if we're not serious, if we have forgotten the things that God has done for us through Jesus, and we're not taking seriously the call that He's put on our lives, to be deceived. So Peter, I think, reestablishes we didn't follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, specifically the power and the coming of Jesus Christ here, and this is the first that he speaks of the powerful coming of Jesus Christ. Now, he's going to show us a sort of movie trailer of that that they saw, but he's now looking into the direction of the future. He's not warning the believers of the first century, and we aren't to set our eyes on things that are seen, but we are to fix our eyes on things that are unseen, as Paul says to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4. We aren't to fix our gaze and our affections on things that are transient, that are momentary, that are passing away. We are to set our hope on that which is eternal. And the specific focus here is the coming, the parousia, the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can understand how they would have wrestled with His delay. I go back and forth here. There are days that I think and I wake up, and it may just have been a difficult day, a hard day, and I've said, and we say it kind of tongue-in-cheek I think at times, but there's other times we say it more seriously like, come Lord Jesus. Like today would be a great day to see. Today would be a great day for this powerful coming, second coming of yours. And then I go on the other side of like, but Lord, there's this passion and desire that you've put in our hearts for the souls. That there are those out there evidently that He intends to save, that He has chosen and He will call, and until that last one is called and saved, He's not coming. And so I go back and forth with this battle in my mind of, man, I kind of selfishly want Jesus to come back. And then on better days, I'm like, well, He can't come back yet until that last soul that He intends to save is saved. And I sort of go back and forth. But so there's a happy balance here, and I think a healthy biblical balance, that we long for that day, we look for that day, and brothers and sisters, we live in a way that we expect that day. I read a book. A couple of weeks ago, it's a very short book, so those of you that like short books, this might be a good one for you. It's Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions. It's 73 or 78 resolutions that he wrote, and according to the book, he read them every day. But one of them, and I'm not going to quote it word for word, I won't get it just right, but one of them was that he wanted to be found doing what he would be comfortable doing if the Lord returned in that moment. And I thought, man, in my nearsightedness, like I want that, but in my nearsightedness and my sort of apathy at times towards spiritual things, I don't think that way. But a healthy way to live when things are going good, in this context things aren't going good, is the hope and the power. of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on to say in verse 17, for when we 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. In verse 18, he says, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain. And I want us to take a journey back to Luke chapter 9. Because this is a reference from Peter to the Mount of Transfiguration. And the reason, inspired by the Spirit, that Peter brings this up at this point is because God in His grace showed Peter, James, and John a special, glorious, majestic revelation of Jesus Christ in His glory. And brothers and sisters, He didn't have to do that. This is a gracious act from the Lord to show these men who are going to prove to be confused, who are going to make mistakes, but the men that He chose to be His apostles and to be the protectors and proclaimers of His gospel in the first century. Luton 9, beginning in verse 28. I'll just read back through it. It says, Now about eight days after these sayings, He took with Him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And as He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, When they became fully awake, they saw His glory in the two men who stood with Him. Now I want to pause there, thinking about how Peter is communicating to these first century Christians. We're preaching this over a series of three 45 or so minute messages, and they could read this in about 15 minutes. And so I wonder if Peter's train of thought is, man, at the Mount of Transfiguration, I was sleepy. Before Jesus revealed Himself in glory? Like, I wish I would have been more prepared, more awake for what I was about to see. He didn't know what He was about to see. But I think it's interesting to draw the parallel from the fact that He brings this story up and He's consistently dealing with their sleepiness or their inability to remember, their indifference. It says, verse 12, Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw His glory in the two men who stood with Him. And as the men were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah, not knowing what He said. And as He was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is My Son, My Chosen One. listened to Him. And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Peter says to these first century Christians, we saw with our eyes. We heard with our ears this voice of heaven. I was told, commanded by the Father to listen to the Son. Interestingly, at the beginning of Luke chapter 9, the disciples were given the power and authority of Christ. And at the end of Luke 9, they see Christ as He truly is in all of His glory. It's also important to notice that this theophany, a theophany is just a special showing of the Lord, and this theophany came in the context of a question that Jesus asked His disciples in verse 19, who do you say that I am? There were many circulating opinions. In Peter's time, in him writing this letter, there were many circulating opinions, but in Luke, Peter answered, you are the Christ of God, and that confession was confirmed in Jesus transforming into the glory that He is. And Peter says, we've heard it, we've seen it, we were with Him. Now let's continue in verse 19. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. Now this resulted, this Mount of Transfiguration moment resulted in the disciples having a deeper trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so the Mount of Transfiguration moment was necessary. It was a necessary part of their apostolic calling and a necessary part of their own personal sanctification. Now, I want to pause there because this was necessary for them as we have these eyewitness accounts for their apostolic calling, but it was also necessary for their own personal sanctification. But I want to pause and say what this isn't. This is not a proof text for those that think personal experience is greater than the Word. That is tempting. It's so tempting to think that God told you something. It's so tempting to think that God showed you something special. It's so tempting to want to be drawn in to these stories that now have apparently taken place in these dreams and these experiences of people going to heaven, so now heaven is real. Personal experience Personal experiences do not have authority over the Word of God. I'm not here to argue your personal experiences. I'm not here to debate with you what you've seen and what you haven't seen. But if it is contrary to the Word of God, if it doesn't lead you to the Word of God and to the worship and exaltation of Jesus Christ, I am concerned. I'm concerned with my own thoughts and my own visions and my own dreams and how they may be influencing my life if they don't lead me to the Word of God. Friends, we don't need someone else's or your personal experience to make God's Word valid. God's Word is the authority. God's Word is the standard. And that's what we believe and that's what we stand on. And so we take our experiences and our inclinations and our whatever it is, our wooing or feelings or whatever it is, and we bring them to Scripture and let Scripture figure it out. And so I know most of you know this, but if somebody says to you, God told me, and they don't open the Bible, I would run. That's what I would do. That's what I would do. I definitely wouldn't take Him seriously even if I didn't run. And I don't want to take away things that God does and has the full right to do in the sense. There's documented in His Word that sometimes He works in ways that are in ways that we would not expect, that are unlikely. But anything that we experience, whether it's from the Lord or not, is never, ever, ever, ever, ever going to contradict His Word. Ever. And so if you're wondering if God is leading you, if you're wondering if God is speaking to you, if you're wondering if whatever, open the Bible. Keep it open. Stay with it. And so, Peter did not need to see the prophetic word of the Old Testament confirmed by what he saw. I told you it was necessary because it happened and it was part of God's redemptive plan. But he didn't have to see this in order to say, okay, now I believe the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was an authority and is an authority on its own. Peter is with all the Jews of his day. They were already convinced of the full authority of the Scriptures. And so Peter is declaring that what they had heard audibly on the Mount of Transfiguration is confirmed by the prophets. And this is common in the New Testament, that the truth of the New Testament is declared as it represents the fulfillment of something in the Old Testament. And so this experience at the Mount of Transfiguration, this event is in line with Hebrew history and a gracious fulfillment of the promises and the faithfulness of God. The middle part of verse 19. I'm going to start back at the beginning. We'll pick up in the middle. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you, he shifts from we to you, to which you will do well to pay attention. And in this shifting, he gets our attention, he should. That's meant to get our attention concerning this word, this prophetic word. He says, you will do well to pay attention to. That phrase, pay attention to, those two words mean to hold to, to turn to, and I found this interesting, to be addicted to. And so how serious and how consumed with the prophetic word, or as he said in the first part of chapter one, these precious and very great promises, how serious are we to take those? We are to hold to, we are to cling to, and we are to be addicted to, obsessed with, consumed with these prophetic words, the words of the Lord. He continues. He says, you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. The reason we are to hold to and to turn to and to be addicted to and to pay attention to these words is because of Psalm 119, 105 says that the Lord's Word is a light unto my path. Charlie and I have six children. The oldest one is 21. He's the only one thus far that's not scared of the dark still. All the rest of them are horrified of the dark. I laugh every time they forget a book in the car and they say, Daddy, will you go get it? And I say, nope. I turn the porch lights off, I turn the flood lights off, and I just listen as they break personal records in miles per hour. going from the car back into the house. But darkness, and I appreciate, Jacob, I appreciate the exercise earlier, and I hope you guys can sort of feel that and see how it plays in here, that to be in utter, complete darkness is horrible. It's horrible. You can't see. You don't know what's coming. You don't know which way to go. You don't know which way to look. You don't even know if your eyes are open or not. You're in total darkness. But this word, this prophetic word, shines like a lamp. And as they wait for the powerful coming of Jesus, as we wait for the powerful coming of Jesus, we wander around in this world that is dark. How are we to find our way? This illustration that he uses here and that Scripture continuously uses about the Word being a light, Christ being a light, is easy enough for our seven-year-old to understand because they know how valuable any light is when it's dark. We shouldn't expect to be able to make our way through this dark world through dark circumstances, make sense of our dark minds, if we don't take seriously the singular light that God has given us. There's no other light like the light. Every other light that we think is a light, that the Gnostics would say are a light, that the world says is the light, they aren't lights. They only increase the darkness. The only thing that can direct our path, the only thing that can comfort our souls, the only thing that can give us hope, regardless of the circumstance that we find ourselves in, is the living, breathing Word of God. That's it. And to neglect this is to neglect the only light that God has given us. Think about that. You would not neglect your flashlight if you were in the woods in the middle of the night. If you do, some of you may have, especially some of those Pettus boys, you know how bad that can be. Because you either just sit there and wait for light, or you wander around tripping and falling and running into trees and who knows what else in that darkness. And so they don't pay attention to the lamp. They don't hold to the light that is the Word of God, and they try to navigate the darkness on their own. Peter's message is that they will surely fall. Verse 19, the last part. Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. You know, a question that you probably think often, and I've kind of addressed this, I don't remember at this point in what sermon, but maybe this one or the one before. But how long? How long do we have to navigate this darkness? I don't know. And I'm confident that you don't know. If you do know, talk to Todd and you'll work that out. Don't talk to me, I'm just a guest. But here's what I do know. The light doesn't burn out. Regardless of how long we are, this light will continue to shine and this light will not burn out. And there's coming a day similar to what Peter, I think, is expressing and reminding and communicating to these hearers and to us this morning, is that He saw Him. I saw Him in His glory. In Peter's mind, it's sort of a movie trailer. That would happen at the Mount of Transfiguration, at Jesus Christ was glorified, and He was transformed into this glorified state, and the Father validated the Son. When Peter was wanting to build tabernacles, he was like, hey, this is the place to establish the earthly kingdom, and this is where Jesus is glorified. This is where everybody needs to come and worship. And the Father says, listen to my Son. I'm pleased with Him. Peter saw that as hope for what was coming. Peter knew that that moment at the Mount of Transfiguration, it ended. It was over. But it was pointing. And Scripture promises a day. And I love the language. I love the language. Till the day dawns. I'm not asking the teenagers this, but the rest of you. How many of you love to see the day dawn? Teenagers, you should try it sometime. The sun just doesn't appear when you wake up like you see it. It actually dawns. It can be hard to get there because it's so early, but isn't there just, like, when I read that, the day dawns, when it's dark, and you see, you see the sun just begin to creep. And the sun is used, the Hebrew writers love to use the sun as a picture and reminder of the faithfulness of God. It bursts forth in Psalm 19 like a bridegroom. And it heats the earth, and it heats the righteous and the unrighteous, and it does the purposes that God intends. And so, our minds can understand what Peter is wanting us to understand here, in that Jesus Christ, there's coming a day in this darkness that He will dawn. When the day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts. In verses 20 and 21. And by the way, in that day, Jesus Christ will outshine the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus Christ will come in complete, total, comprehensive victory. He's just waiting. The victory has been won. The salvation is accomplished and He's the King. And on this day, on this day when He comes, everyone will know He's the King. 20 and 21. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. Preachers. Teachers. We need to hear this. I love a commentary. I love seminaries. Some of them. I love to learn new things from other people. But no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. the most effective and necessary tool and person, I should say, teacher, is the Spirit of God Himself, who has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Commentaries can be wonderful, and they are. Seminaries can be great. But the man that's effective as a preacher of God's Word and called to shepherd God's church, is one that is not dependent on his own effort or his own interpretation. It's one that understands that everything that he has and all that he's been given has in fact been given, and it's something that he's obtained, and any right understanding of Scripture that may come is not because of our intellect. It's not because we finally read enough books. It's because God gave it to us. It's because God gave it to us. And without that understanding, without that reminder for the preachers and teachers in this room, there's a temptation. I'm not saying always, but there's a temptation for us to be prideful, for us to preach and teach for our own glory, for us to pat ourselves on the back when we see people begin to understand. The only reason I understand anything is because God let me. The only reason you understand anything is because God let you. He'd let His light shine in our darkness. And so no prophecy of Scripture. But again, go back to the first century in the context. Think of how important this is. There are all these people claiming to have all these different lights. And it's up for interpretation. Whatever you want to believe. Whatever you want to think. Freedom in all things. He says no. No prophecy of Scripture. comes from someone's own interpretation. 21, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. This verse speaks to the authority and the divine inspiration of the Word of God. God in His grace and in His wisdom, yes, men wrote it, but these are the very words, the breath, And God didn't inspire it in the sense that you might inspire me to do something. Come on, go ahead. God being the inspirer of the Word is not God as the cheerleader for those who are actually writing it. This inspiration speaks to the fact that God Himself breathed these words. God is speaking these words. This may freak you out a little bit, but somebody ever get so close that they talk to you and you feel their breath? No, no, I'm with you guys. I'm like, all right. Let's back up. Where's my mask? No, I don't want it. But seriously, like that's the imagery. God breathed. No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God. As they were, listen to his imagery here, carried along. Not even just encouraged. Influenced by. Carried along by the Holy Spirit. And we contrast that with a culture and a context, much like ours, that says that truth is relative. Something can be true for you and something can be true for them. And we should accept all the things and all the truth and all the beliefs and all of those things. When Peter makes very clear here, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, that this isn't something that was produced from man. What comes from man will fail. It will not stand. But this was carried by God. So the Word of God is unmatched. I want to give you just a few things here as we prepare to eat physical food. What the Word of the Lord possesses are these things. The truth. If you want to jot down these cross-references, feel free. But what the Word of the Lord possesses, and nothing else does, is the truth. Psalm 119, 160. In the Word of the Lord is faith. Faith comes through hearing the Word. Romans 10, verse 17. There's no other way that faith is produced except for through, it's still God doing it, God giving the gift of faith, but the means that God uses is the preaching of His Word. So the Word possesses the truth. It's the preaching of the Word that possesses the faith. The Word possesses the power to sanctify. John 17, 17. Lord, sanctify them in truth. Your Word is truth. It's only in the power of the Word that we are sanctified. The Word was written, according to John 20, 21, that we may have life. It's the source of life. The Word tells us of Jesus. Therefore, according to Deuteronomy 32, 46 and Matthew 4, 1 through 11, the Word itself is life. Do you love the Word? Because there's a direct connection to our intimacy and relationship with God and our relationship with His Word. We cannot be, in the sense that we say it, close to the Lord or expect not to be in darkness stumbling around if we aren't committed to His Word. And friends, I'm just going to be straight with you. I don't know what else we could commit to based on what we've heard that is better than this. Nothing else was given by the Lord. Nothing else was written by men who were from God, carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so we can't expect to be close to the Lord if we aren't close to His Word. You know, this is another one of those moments, I think, where we go, OK, of course, I expect to hear this, like, do more Bible reading. Absolutely. Do more Bible reading. Have better quiet times, for sure. Have more quiet times. But similar to last night, we could walk away going, okay, so I'm supposed to do these qualities, and do these things, and then that's going to equal, like, all of these other things. The burden never falls on us. Remember this letter still began in the same way. that God has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Even the faith that we have is a faith that we have obtained. I was reminded of a John Bunyan poem. You may have heard it. It goes like this. Run, John, run, the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings. It bids us fly and gives us wings. In other words, according to Bunyan, and we can understand this burden as well, in the Old Testament God gave commandments, but by and large He didn't give the divine power that overcomes the rebellion of the heart. But under the New Covenant, through Christ, here's the deal. God gives even harder commands. Think about that. Jesus came preaching what's in your heart. The Pharisees were completely comfortable in doing external things, thinking that that's what saved them. And so the gospel doesn't bring less command. And you could argue the gospel doesn't necessarily, at least as you are looking at the command aspect of it, easier commands. But through the New Covenant, through the work of Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, God gives the power we need to fulfill these commands. Under the old covenant, we are duty bound to run, even though our feet are stuck in the mud. But there's far better news, as Bunyan said, that the gospel brings. Because listen, flying is harder than running, right? If you can fly, Flying is harder than running. Far better news the gospel brings, it bids us fly and gives us wings. The gospel is not different in having no commands and no conditions. The difference is that God Himself, through the power of His Spirit and through His precious and very great promises, has given us wings. So that we can fly. So that we can obey. So that we can follow. so that we can be a part of His redemptive work, so that we can be fruitful and effective as opposed to what we saw last night of unfruitful and ineffective. His divine power, His precious promises He's given us, He's given us new hearts. And those are the wings that help us and cause us to fly. So brothers and sisters, I don't want us to settle under the guise of grace for less than what God commands. Even if it's a command to fly. Because He's given us everything we need to do and to be everything He's called us to do and to be. Let's pray. Gracious Lord, we thank you that we have hope. Lord, thank you that we can look beyond this life and our experiences here and know that there's a day that will dawn, that you will come in power and glory as our victor, as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And because of Your finished work at Calvary, we don't have to fear that day. We can know and trust that by grace, through faith that You've given us, Lord, that we will stand before You as the righteous, holy One, and be received into Your eternal Kingdom. So Lord, I pray that these precious and very great promises that we've seen would not just fall on our minds and in our ears, but God, that they would make their way to our hearts. That they would motivate us. To bring glory to your name and what we say and what we do and how we live and how we think. And Father, I pray. This time together at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church would be invigorating for us. that spiritually we would commit to the things that we've been saved to commit to. And we would be serious about those things that are serious. And Father, I pray that if there's any mind or heart in this place that is lazy or asleep, God, that You would powerfully wake them up. That You would graciously remind them of the truth of who you are. It's in Christ's name. Amen.