Returning this morning to 2 Peter chapter one and from verse 19 through to verse 21. Final three verses in this chapter. Verse 19, we have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. And our subject this morning is the word of God, a light in a dark place. How do we view the scriptures, the holy Bible? Are they the word of God to you and to me? How few in our day take heed the Word of God seriously. The world mock. They trample it underfoot. They despise its warnings. They have no interest in the joys of which it speaks. And there are many, sadly, and we hear of this so often, who once heard the Gospel of Christ as children. But now, during teenage years and into early adult life, they have become indifferent and cynical and hardened and determined to obliterate from their memory the teaching of the Word of God. And it's a tragedy when we come to realize that this is indeed the Word of God. Some, even who are Christians, who once appeared so sincere are now full of doubts. Their commitment levels to the cause of Christ into a life of holiness and obedience has waned. And there are those who once were concerned for purity and godliness who now seem to be careless even though they still have a form of profession. What is needed, surely, is conviction, renewed conviction regarding the Word of God, the truth. And the Apostle concludes this chapter by drawing our attention to the glorious and authentic character of the Word of God. He begins, and what I want to do this morning really is just to take you through these three verses looking at every, or not every, but the key words and phrases and the sense that they give to us concerning the word of God. And we need to begin with the first word in verse 19, we. Well, who is the we here? Well, it's the apostolic band. The disciples who then became apostles and those who were part and parcel of that early group of pioneer Christians in the New Testament go back to verse 16. He says, we have not followed cunningly devised fables. We made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter is thinking of himself and John and the other apostles, and Paul himself. Then at the end of verse 16, he says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw with our own eyes something of his magnificence upon Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration. Then in verse 18, he says, this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. And so the word we here refers to those apostles who were being raised up and equipped to complete the scriptures, to write the New Testament, which would complement the Old Testament prophecies referred to in verse 19. He then says in verse 19, we have also. Why does he use this word also? We have already seen how Peter presses upon us, his readers, the authentic nature of the person and work and word of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And beyond that, he says, we also have a more sure word of prophecy. That is to say, alongside our own encounter with Christ, our own observation of his majesty and glory in all his works, but especially on that Mount of Transfiguration, alongside that witness that we have given to you, we have a more sure word of prophecy. And he wants us to know about that more sure word of prophecy. So what is he referring to here in verse 19? A word of prophecy. Let's look at that first of all. The word of prophecy are all the Old Testament predictions concerning Christ. all those countless verses and passages that foretell his birth, his birthplace, his character, his kingdom, his preaching, his mighty works, his death, his suffering, his resurrection, there are countless prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Christ. But by extension, the Apostle Peter here is using The word of prophecy, see, to mean the whole of the Old Testament with the prophecies that it contains. He's thinking specifically of the prophecies, but he's taking that, in a sense, to mean the whole of the Old Testament. So what is meant here by more sure? We have a more sure word of prophecy. Well, some argue, and this is certainly true, that what he means here is the word of prophecy in the Old Testament is more sure, more firm than our experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. And it's certainly true that the word of God is bedrock. The word of God is what we rest our faith upon. We cannot and we dare not rest upon experience, first and foremost, because our memory can so easily fail on our experience. But when we come to the Word of God, then it is unchanging, it is fixed, it is firm. And so some suggest that what Peter is saying is exactly that. We had that experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. It's still vivid to our memory. We know and we were eyewitnesses of the magnificence of Christ, but there's something that is more firm, more sure, and that is the word of God, the word of prophecy. That's certainly true, but I think it's more likely that the meaning of the apostle is this. Peter is saying this, the Old Testament, with its prophecies, are now more sure to us But in what way could the apostles say that those old prophecies and the Old Testament as a whole is now a more sure word of prophecy? Not that they were ever in doubt. They were sure and fixed and certain from God's perspective, but having been fulfilled, they stand more confirmed, more firmly, in our convictions. That is what the Apostle is really referring to here. Remember at the end of the ministry of Christ, after his resurrection, he appeared to the disciples, Luke chapter 24, and he expounded them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. How It had predicted that he would suffer and rise again the third day, and that the remission of sins would be preached in his name. He took them all through the Psalms, the books of Moses, all of the prophets, and he showed them the things concerning himself. And that was, to those disciples, in many respects, a light bulb moment. They suddenly realized that the Old Testament was corroborated, confirmed, and it's been said, quite famously, that there is not one prophecy concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament that Christ, during his ministry, has not fulfilled. Every detail was fully confirmed, and there are so many examples of that. We could go to the book of Zechariah, where Zechariah 11 verse 12 foretells that he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. And we know Judas was given, he received exactly that. They will look upon him whom they have pierced. Psalm 22 verse 16 says, they pierced my hands and my feet. Isaiah 53, he was wounded for our transgressions. Psalm 22 again, verses 7 and 8, they will laugh him to scorn, and shake the head, saying, He trusted in God, let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. And the Pharisees and scribes at the time of his crucifixion threw those very words in his face. So ignorant were they of the Scriptures, they fulfilled those very Scriptures in their own scorn and mockery. In the Gospel according to Matthew, 12 times, Matthew the writer speaks of how the Old Testament Scriptures were fulfilled. At Bethlehem, in being called out of Egypt, imparting his raiment, at the crucifixion. Scripture is riddled with predictions concerning the coming of Christ. And the apostle tells us here, we have a more sure word of prophecy. That word that was always never in doubt is now in our minds, more firmly fixed, corroborated, established, confirmed. as the Word of God. And he says, we have additional proof concerning the person and work of Christ over and above the transfiguration, because the Scriptures are fulfilled in their minutest details concerning Christ. And by extension, as I said before, the whole body of Scripture is commended to our attention and to our heart to believe because they are so evidently the word of God and worthy of our attention. One put it like this, Moses and the prophets seem to re-echo the voice that Peter heard on the Mount of Transfiguration. Hear him, hear him. The word of his prophecy is fulfilled. It is confirmed, but we must move on. He says, verse 19, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. This is the character of scripture. Not only is it firm, confirmed, but it is a light in a dark place. The word dark here is not the usual word for darkness. It's a word that means murky, suffocating, stifling. dingy, foul, dirty air, as well as being darkness. It's like being at the back of a stinking cave or at the bottom of some muddy pit where there's hardly any air. That's the idea of this word darkness here. And what is being referred to? Well, it's referring to this world. This sinful world, ultimately, isn't it? Let me read to you a number of scriptures that describe the world in these terms. Firstly, in Proverbs 2, verse 13, the froward, or the ungodly, who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness. Proverbs 4, 19, the way of the wicked is as darkness, They know not at what they stumble. Ephesians 5 verse 8. You were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Colossians 1 verse 13, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. And then 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 4, but brethren, you are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light. and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. The darkness is the darkness of this world. It's a world that is ignorant of God. It's a world that is determined in its corruption. And it is a world ultimately that breeds hopelessness and despair. It offers nothing beyond the vanities of this present world. And it is a world that suffocates knowledge, that despises a knowledge of the holy. It is a world that despises holiness and those things that are righteous and good before God. And it is a world that despises the joy and the hope of which the scriptures teach. Now, it's also true We can say that the world is that dark place it is, but our hearts are also a dark place until the Lord brings light. We are part of the darkness of this world. I want to share with you Dr. John Brown's suggestions on this phrase. He says this, not only has the Christian a dark world around him, but within him there is a little very imperfectly enlightened world. It was once all dark. Once he was darkness. Now he is light in the Lord, enlightened with the light of the living God. And he became thus enlightened just by receiving the word of truth into his mind and heart, and by understanding and believing it under the influence of the good spirit. The entrance of God's word gave light. Still, there is much ignorance, error, sin and discomfort in every Christian. The light which shines within, shines in a dark place. To have more light, he must obtain it from without, from that inspired book, which is the reservoir of heavenly light. For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light, and it must be brought into the heart, not without, but by the study of Scripture under the guidance of the Good Spirit. Thus the Christian, to become more and more enlightened, the light so diffusing itself that there shall be no part dark in him. Thus is he to grow in knowledge, in holiness and happiness by taking heed to the prophetic word. That's so helpful for us. Peter is saying to us here, you're in a dark world and you have darkness in your heart and it's only as you take heed to the word, the sure word of God, prophecy included, and you lay it to heart and you reverence it and you stand in awe of it and you take it seriously, and you read it not swiftly and thoughtlessly, but you read it with the scrutiny of the Berean disciples. It's in that way that you will find that it is light, and it brings light into your dark heart. You do well, he says, to take heed to this word, this sure word of prophecy, because it is a light. in a dark place. What does it mean? We looked a little bit at what it means to take heed last week. I'll only touch on it here. It means to give scripture proper weight and regard. Young people, do you do this? Some of you have been encouraged by your parents from an early age to read the scriptures, but now you're in your teenage years. And perhaps this suffocating dark world is pressing you, not deliberately, but its influence upon you is such that you're beginning to abandon the scriptures. You no longer take them as the word of God. You no longer lay them to heart. You're happy to miss days without reading the scriptures. Beware. because this is the word that has been made sure. It has been fulfilled in so many details and it is the only light that can bring light to your dark heart and lighten your path in this dark world. How shall a young man, a young woman for that matter, cleanse their way, says Psalm 119, by taking heed thereto according to thy word. And then the next phrase we have here is, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Until the day dawn, says Matthew Henry, read the scriptures, take heed to them. Until that light of God's truth and that day star, Jesus Christ, shall arise in your heart. Stop taking heed to this word, but seek it, pursue it, until the Lord lights your heart. Are you in darkness this morning? Do you say, well, I read the scriptures and I don't seem to understand much. I read them and they don't mean much to me. They don't seem to bring much relevance to my life. Read them still. Give heed to them until the day dawns, that moment when the Lord, by his Spirit, so enlightens your understanding and so brings light and joy to your soul and in your very heart that you can say now, the day has come. That's what the apostle Paul meant when he said, you are no longer children of the night, you're children of the day. I am the light of the world, said the Lord. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. It's possible that the phrase here, until the day dawn, is thinking also of that final day that will dawn the appearing of Jesus Christ. That will be a day of marvellous light. It will be a day when the sure word of prophecy, the scriptures, in one sense will, although they will still stand, their light will no longer be needed because it will be superseded by the more glorious light of the day star himself, the very presence of Jesus Christ. And perhaps Peter has that in mind here too. There is a day coming when that light of God, the light of Christ, will be seen in all his glory. Take heed until that day arrives. The Lamb will be the light of that future country we read in the book of Revelation. Take heed then. until the day dawns. What's the apostle said? Let me just give you a brief summary before we move on to verse 20. Take heed, he says, knowing that our testimony is true. We are eyewitnesses. We saw him, we heard him, we tasted, we handled the word of Christ. Then he said, secondly, our scriptures are wonderfully more sure, more confirmed now because of all those fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy. It is a light, thirdly, that shines in our hearts in a dark place. But fourthly, verse 20, we need to be fully persuaded concerning the character of scripture then surely we will take heed to it. Knowing this first, in the first place, if you like, as a starting point, knowing this, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. The Roman Catholic Church has used this verse in a completely wrong way. Remember how during the time of the Reformation they said, You cannot translate the scriptures into English. Tyndale, this would be quite wrong, because as Tyndale said, well, people need to hear the word of God. They need to see that the church is corrupt, that the priests are blind, leaders of the blind. And the Roman Catholic Church said, but people cannot understand the scriptures. They cannot interpret it privately. It's for the church and for the priests to tell them what the Scriptures teach and what the Scriptures mean. And they appealed to this verse. And they said, see, the private individual is not to interpret the Scriptures. But that's not what this verse means at all. What is meant then? Knowing this, Peter says, that no Scripture is a man's opinion or invention or imagination. It's referring here by the word private to the individual writers. They didn't write their private opinions. What they wrote were not private explanations of doctrine or things or ideas, but rather, looking at the beginning of verse 21, the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. It wasn't these writers, Isaiah and Moses and Daniel and David and so on, who concocted the Scriptures from their own hearts and from their own imaginations. It wasn't their will, it wasn't their choice what they would write, but rather, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. If you and I attempted to question Scripture or to shut the book and dispose of it, then remember, this was written by holy men of God. They were men who were moved with awe, with a sense of solemn responsibility that they must write what God declared to them. It made me think of Micaiah, a lesser known prophet during the time of King Ahab. And he was summoned by King Ahab at the request of Jehoshaphat to give guidance concerning a military campaign. And when he came, Micaiah said to the messenger who was sent to call him to the kings, he said, as the Lord liveth, even what my God sayeth, that will I speak. Why did he say that? Because the messenger has said, behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king. With one assent, let thy word, therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs and speak thou good. And he said, I can't do it. As the Lord liveth, what God saith, what my God saith, that will I speak. That was the spirit of the faithful prophets of Scripture. They wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. This word moved, It's a word that would be used to describe the motion of a ship being carried across the seas. It's the wind in the sails. It's the currents alongside the ocean. the hull of the ship that carry it forward. And in the same way as the prophets of the Old Testament penned the scriptures, they were carried along by the influence and by the moving, the powerful moving of the Holy Ghost. They didn't write at their own will. They didn't act under private explanation. They were carried by the Lord and they wrote the scriptures as from God. How much then we should take heed to the scriptures? Any other response would be an insult to the author. And who is the author? Well, a human author, we're holy, excuse me, we're holy men of God. Sometimes perhaps we've received a letter from a lesser known relative, it's a long letter and we've hardly wanted to bother reading it. But then our conscience gets the better of us and we say, but they have spent a lot longer writing this letter than it will take me to read it. They've written it in love, they've written it in interest, and they've written it for my good. And therefore, out of respect, even though perhaps though I'm reluctant, I will read it. How much more when we come to the scriptures? The human author will act it as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. This really is the letter of our God. It is the word of our creator from heaven. If we despise it, then we despise the word of the living God. How solemn. to stand before God on that last great day, when the day will dawn, and when the hearts of all men will be revealed and have to say, I despised the Scriptures. I ignored them. I did not heed them. To take heed is to memorize, to scrutinize, to cleanse our lives by what we read in Scripture, to believe, to take heed, to believe and to prayerfully seek the fulfillment of what the Scriptures foretell and what they declare. Think of Nehemiah. He read the Scriptures. Think of Daniel who read the Scriptures of Jeremiah and they knew that the Lord's will was that the remnant should return to Jerusalem. And they wrestled before the Lord for the fulfillment of that promise. And not only did they wrestle, but they did what they could to bring it about. Nehemiah leaves his honored and comfortable position as the king's cupbearer. He goes back to Jerusalem. He endures the hostility of Sanballat and Tobiah. He views the rubble of Jerusalem hardly knowing where to start. Why did he do that? Because he took heed to the scriptures, because he believed God. And therefore, to take heed is for us to become servants of Jesus Christ, to say, I believe the word of God. We must draw to a conclusion. I want to close by reading once again from the writings of Pastor John Brown, he says, how are we as individuals to flee from all evils, present and future, rising out of that darkness, without and within, which is our own natural element, but by thankfully availing ourselves of the day spring from on high, which has found its way into our dark world, into our dark hearts, the scriptures in other words, yielding ourselves unreservedly to its guidance. Are you doing that? Have you yielded unreservedly to the guidance of the light of scripture? The light shining in the dark place is Christ speaking in his word, and he that followeth him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. May the Lord then Help us that we may take heed to this light. If we do not, it may be that the Lord will take that light away. We may still have a Bible, but he will no longer shine upon its truth. Beware, lest we despise the word for so long that eventually the word no longer imparts light to our understanding. Let's pray together. O Lord, we thank thee. for this most sure word of prophecy. We thank thee for the countless ways in which it has been fulfilled in the life of Christ and in the furtherance of the gospel since those days. We thank thee that it is designed to bring light to our life, light to our hearts, light in this dark world, prevent any of us who worship this morning from so despising the word of God that we shall lose the benefit of its light. O Lord, if any of us, particularly those of us who are younger, are tempted to turn our back upon this light, preferring the dark paths of sin and the darkness of this world, then Lord, draw near and soften our heart once more. Convince us that this precious book is indeed the word of our God, and may we sense its power, its authority, and may we experience its sweetness and the mercy and the salvation of which it speaks. In the name of Jesus, amen.