The Trustworthy Word of God Pastor Mark Barrett

Transcription

1 Series: 1 & 2 Peter October 4, 2015 The Trustworthy Word of God Pastor Mark Barrett Good morning. I'll have you know that I was not originally slotted to preach today. It was Pastor Koby, but his wife is getting ready to deliver twins here any day, so I guess I'll do it. If there are going to be excuses, I guess that's a good one. Let's pray together. Father, we are grateful for the time we have this morning, as always. We ask and pray that you would grant us the ability and the power to understand and apply your Word. Father, be with me as I preach, that we may give you honor, praise, and glory. Help us to leave today, understanding that your Word, the Word of God, is trustworthy. In his name we pray, amen. If your have your Bibles, open with me to 2 Peter. We're continuing on in our series in 2 Peter. Chapter 1, verse 16 is where we're starting this morning. Steve came in and asked me to bring the Word this morning, and I'm always happy to do that. I'm excited this morning because of the topic I get to preach on. It just happens to be in the text. It's on the Word of God: The Trustworthy Word of God. How do you know you can trust the Bible as God's Word when we're living in a time and culture where we need the Scripture more than ever before? For much of Christian history, the authority, trustworthiness, and the sufficiency of Scripture has been under attack and has been largely denied by people outside and even inside the church. Many people liken the Bible to a glorified comic book with its grand tales of miracles, parting seas, and people rising from the dead. Yet our young brothers and sisters in Oregon who were martyred this last week did not think that. In fact, they did not think the Bible was a comic book full of errors, lies, and silly stories. They believed the truths of this book were worth dying for. Seven Christian students were shot in the head at point-blank range. That means one Christian student was assassinated first. Six other Christian students had to witness the martyrdom of the first. In addition, when the gunman called upon them, they did not deny their Lord. I want you to hear this. They consciously, willingly, and courageously gave up their lives. The question we have to ask this morning is What motivates a college kid at the beginning of their life to do that? Well, Canyon Hills Community Church 1

2 I will declare to you this morning what I do know. What motivates anybody to do that is the undeniable truth of an all-satisfying Jesus and his all-sufficient Word. That is the truth. One of the greatest problems in America and the American church today is a moving away from a deep-rooted belief and trust in the sufficiency and authority of the Word of God. That's another way of saying today, in our culture, even in our church culture, the Word of God is no longer relevant. The problem with so many pastors in America is that they're on a quest to be relevant, they're on a quest to marry the church and culture. The problem is when you jettison the Word of God as your only source of relevance you become the most irrelevant pastor on the planet earth. I cannot think of a greater offense to a holy God than to claim that his Word is insufficient and untrustworthy. This morning, Peter is going to lay out a case for us that the Bible is just that: completely trustworthy. It is the Word of God. Peter is countering the false teachers of his day by establishing three core evidences in regard to the truth claims of the Bible. These three evidences lay out like this: I know the Bible is trustworthy because of what I've seen, heard, and read. However, those three evidences fall under two main categories. The first is the importance of divine personal experience, and the second is the importance of divine biblical revelation. If you have your Bibles, please stand for the reading of the Word of God, starting in verse 16. "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 he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,' we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more [sure], 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 [moved] by the Holy Spirit." 1. The importance of divine personal experience. Beloved, you hold in your hands this morning the very Word of God. Peter begins by sharing with us the importance of divine personal experience in establishing the truth of the Bible, or biblical truth, in verse 16. Peter is preparing to die. We see this in verse 15. He says, "I will make every effort so that after my departure " He's talking about his death. " you may be able at any time to recall these things." Peter is a good pastor, and he knows he's going to die, and he know heresies and false teachers will arise within the church, and he has to equip his people. He has to give them something they can hold on to. We see this in chapter 2. These false teachers will come into the church, the Bible says, "And in their greed they will exploit [the church] with false words." In fact, they will Canyon Hills Community Church 2

3 bring in secret heresies that are destructive. They're literally damnable heresies. If you believe what these people are saying, you will go to hell. That's what Peter is saying. Peter knows he needs to establish the sufficiency and the trustworthiness of the Word of God so the church can be equipped to combat the spiritual heresies and live a sustainable Christian life in the face of intense persecution. Beloved, we just witnessed, this week, the first martyrs on US soil. It's here now. We have to deal with it, and you need something that's greater than mere conjecture and feelings to live in this country. You have to have the Word of God. Peter does this by appealing to his own divine personal experience. Look with me at verse 16. He says, "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." This is very important. Peter is saying here, "I know the Bible is trustworthy because of what I've seen." He was an eyewitness. Turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew, chapter 17, verses 1-6. Let's look and see what Peter actually saw, what he actually eyewitnessed. "And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them " That word literally means to change form. " and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him [Jesus]. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.'" Peter has no idea what's going on. "He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.' When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified." You know, I've been in the ministry almost 20 years now. You hear some pretty weird stuff when you're a pastor. You hear some experiences like Have you ever heard the one about Jesus in the tortilla? Every few years, somebody goes to a Mexican restaurant and Jesus appears in their tortilla. This happened in Southern California a few years ago. In fact, the woman who found this picture of Jesus in her tortilla built a shrine in her house, and thousands and thousands of people came to pay homage to Jesus in the tortilla. I personally have met Jesus Christ in downtown Seattle on more than one occasion. He always wanted change, which I thought was interesting. This is not the kind of subjective, bizarre experience Peter is talking about. This isn't what he means by personal experience. He's talking about verifiable experience, which we see here in Matthew. It's verified because John and James are there as well. They saw the same thing. He's not hallucinating. Here Peter is given a preview of our Lord Jesus' second-coming glory as he's literally transformed before Peter's eyes. Canyon Hills Community Church 3

4 You need to understand that when Peter witnessed this glorious reality, everything Peter was taught as a child from the Torah, from the Word of God, was at this point proven as unequivocally true. Every prophetic word, every prophetic voice in the Old Testament came true when he saw Jesus. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Bible was trustworthy because of what he had seen. I was thinking this week, as I was putting this together, about the modern attacks on the Bible. This is the world I live in. I'm in the middle of getting my doctorate in apologetics, so I kind of specialize on defending the Christian faith, so I read all this source material. I love how secularists love to throw uneducated attacks at the Word of God. It dawned on me this week that everybody wants proof. Everybody wants evidence. Everybody wants data that the Bible is true. Yet I dared to think this week, what if God wasn't so concerned about proof? What if that's not really what he's getting at? Everybody in this room has the access to the same evidence, the same data regarding the validity of the Word of God, and yet people who have that data and evidence still criticize the Word of God ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I realized this week that you don't need to be a scholar to defend the Bible as true. Peter was not a scholar, not by a long shot. In fact, many historians believe he was probably illiterate. Moreover, you don't need an abundance of degrees on your wall to prove the Bible is true. The key is Acts 4:13. Now listen to this. "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men " Fishermen! Peter was a fisherman. Have you ever hung out with fishermen before? Yeah, they're an ornery bunch. The Bible says, " they were astonished." Here's the key. "And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." Beloved, that's the key. Hear me now. What you possess is far greater than any degree. It's more powerful than any synthetic standard of truth. You have your personal witness and testimony that Jesus Christ has changed your life. That is worth its weight in gold. People can say whatever they want about the Bible. They can say whatever they want about Jesus and his miracles, but they are powerless when it comes to what you know to be true about Jesus, what you know to be true to what he has done in your life. Understand this morning that no one can steal your joy. No one can steal your hope. No one can steal your peace, and I mean no one. No one can steal your Christ because he belongs to you and you belong to him. All the atheists and imps of hell cannot change that reality. That's what Peter is communicating. It doesn't matter what you're facing in your life right now. I know many of you are cruising through very difficult times. It doesn't matter how great, small, painful, or stressful it is, because you know the Word of God and the Christ of the Word is sufficient to comfort and strengthen you because of what you have experienced in Christ and through his Word. You know that and you need to be reminded of that. Canyon Hills Community Church 4

5 What does the secular humanistic atheist have that is better than an all-satisfying, all-sufficient Jesus Christ of the Bible? I will tell you what he has. He has nothing. He has nothing to hold onto. Is evolution going to give you hope? No, it's not, but that's a conversation for another day. Take a class. I want you to look back at your Bibles in verse 16. Notice what he says. He says, "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths " This phrase, cleverly devised, carries the idea of crafty, deceitful tales that are designed to make someone seem wise. He's contrasting, in chapter 2, the false prophets and the false teachers. That's what they produced. This is not what Peter and the disciples followed. They followed the truth. In fact, Peter uses the Greek word here for myth. It's the word mythos, and it's never used positively in the Greek New Testament. It's always in reference to pagan mythologies. The mythology he's talking about here is a combination of absurd fables without any grounding in history, none at all. This is like the pantheon of Greek gods and all that kind of stuff. When you contrast that with the Bible, the Bible is based in real history, tangible evidence, and verifiable data. That's Peter's point here. He was an eyewitness to the truth that was long ago prophesied in the Bible, the coming of Christ. He's saying to us this morning, "I saw this with my own eyes." We need to understand as Christians that we don't need fabrications and lies to establish God's Word as true. I don't need to embellish the claims of Christ to make Christ more glorious. Jesus is glorious because he is Jesus. He does not need my help in making himself more majestic than he already is. Leave that to the liars and the false teachers to do. Looking down again at verse 16, Peter says, " we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ " Just like in our day, many people back then denied the coming of Christ. Peter connects the words power and coming. The word coming here is very important. It carries the idea of appearing or an arrival. The term, whenever used in connection with Jesus Christ, always refers to his literal physical coming and presence. The word signifies not merely a temporary coming for believers but his continued presence with them forever. The Bible predicts the coming of Christ, and Peter saw the reality of the coming of Christ in Matthew 17. You need to understand that he's not a spectator. In fact, the word eyewitness I don't have time to develop it, but it's a very powerful word. It means he's not on the 300 level, watching the game. He's on the field, in the game. Do you see the difference? He's a personal eyewitness. He's up close to these events. Peter appeals to this personal experience (I call it a divine personal experience, because he saw the Lord) as a huge factor in the validation of the trustworthiness of the Word of God. Yet you need to understand, beloved, that experience by itself is just subjective; therefore, it's unverifiable. However, experience coupled with the divine Word is both objective and verifiable. Canyon Hills Community Church 5

6 In other words, Peter is saying here, "I know what I saw. I know what I witnessed with my own eyes, and I know it is true because I have the Word of God to confirm my experience." Do you see the difference? The lady who says, "I saw Jesus in a tortilla..." Totally subjective. If the Bible taught that Jesus would show up in a tortilla, it would be verifiable. That is not what Peter is talking about. In fact, in 1 John, chapter 1, verses 1-3, it reads, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you " The apostles had the very same experience. They know it was true because of what they saw. Peter saw the glory of God with his own eyes in Christ. Not only did he see the glory of Christ, which establishes the validity of the Word of God, but he also heard the Word. "I know the Bible is trustworthy because of what I've heard." Verses 17-18: "For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,' we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain." If you remember back to what we read in Matthew 17, Peter sees this great experience and he all he can come up with is, "Can I build you guys some tents?" That's how profound this was. He didn't understand the prophetic significance of what was happening in that moment. Did you notice at the end of those verses we read, the Bible says, while he was still speaking, " a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son '"? Peter sees the transfigured Christ right before him and he hears the voice of God confirming the trustworthiness of Scripture. Beloved, I want to ask you a question this morning. Would you like to hear from God? Yes or no. Yes? Then read your Bibles. Would you like to hear from God audibly? Then read your Bibles out loud. It's the all-sufficient Word. Because Peter, James, and John were eyewitnesses to this event, this event is now verifiable. We know this in John, chapter 8. It says, "In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true." We can look at these men. We can look at their experience, and based on their experience and what we know to be true in our own experience, we can say, "You know what, Richard Dawkins? The Bible is the Word of God. Go hug a dinosaur. Okay? Thank you." In fact, one of the sturdiest evidences in the world concerning the trustworthiness of the Word of God is the lives of the apostles and their ultimate martyrdom. What did they die for? They died for the testimony of what they had seen and heard, and that was enough for them to be willing to give up their lives. Canyon Hills Community Church 6

7 2. The importance of divine biblical evidence. I know the Bible is trustworthy because of what I've read. I know the Bible is trustworthy because of what I've seen, what I've heard, and now what I've read. A. The Word of God is fully confirming. In verse 19, it says, "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention " The Bible predicts the second coming of Christ. Peter previewed the second coming of Christ, and subsequently Peter is saying, "If you don't believe me, read your Bible. If you don't believe me, go back and read the Word," he says, " to which you will do well to pay attention " I don't know if you're aware of this, but there are over 2,500 prophecies in the entire Bible. Over 300 of them were fulfilled in Christ's first coming. That's important. Notice in verse 19, he says, "And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention " Peter will admit his experience is not valid by itself, as I said earlier, but when you fuse it with the Word of God, you now have something that is objective and verifiable. "I know what I saw, I know what I heard, and I know what I read. What I saw and what I heard was predicted by the prophets; therefore, the Bible is confirming." You can trust the Bible. No matter what you're going through in your life, dive into the Word of God and you will find hope, peace, and the sufficient truth to get you through whatever you're dealing with. B. The Bible is illuminating. Look at verse 19. It says, " as to a lamp shining in a dark place " Do you know why we teach the Bible here? As many churches are jettisoning this reality, expository Bible teaching, we'll die on this hill. The reason why we teach the Bible is because we live in a dark world. There's only one reliable light in this dark world, and it's a light that will never dim, fade, or fail. It's an unwavering light. It's a dependable light. Beloved, it doesn't matter how far the tempests, trials, and tribulations of this life blow you off course. It doesn't matter how deep and dark the valley of despair in which you find yourself. The light is always on. It can never be extinguished. It always points the way to a safe harbor. You just open God's Word and Jesus Christ, our precious King, will enlighten your path so you can find your way home. That is truth. Psalm 107, verses 19-20: "Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction." Psalm 119, verse 105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Verse 130: "The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple." Notice again what Peter says in verse 19. " as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts " Beloved, you need to understand that one day, Jesus will return. When he does, our King will eradicate all wickedness and darkness from this world. He will give way to a brilliant, glorious, radiant new world where he will reign forever as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In fact, the word morning star here literally means light-bringer. Canyon Hills Community Church 7

8 The Bible says there will be no need of light in heaven because Jesus Christ will be the light. It's amazing truth. Christ is going to come back and he's going to initiate his promise of an earthly kingdom, and that should give us great hope. The Bible confirms it, Peter confirms it, and we know it's true. C. The trustworthy Word of God is certain. In verse 20, Peter writes, " knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation." The Bible says in 2 Timothy that all scripture is God-breathed, which means it's inspired by God. That alone should make the Bible trustworthy and certain. Yet here, Peter says, in verse 21, " they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." Carried along is a sailing term. Anyone who knows anything about sailing ultimately knows the wind determines where it's going to go. All you can do is harness the wind, hope for the best, and go for a ride. That's sailing. The certainty of the Word of God is based on how God determined his Word would be revealed to men. Paul may have penned some of the most cogent epistles in Scripture because of his vast intellect, personal style, and ability. However, God determined every word on every page. In fact, the word interpretation here in verse 21 is a very poor translation in your English Bibles because it looks like it points to how one understands the Bible, whereas in the Greek, the noun here is genitive. Genitive means it points to the origin or the source of truth. Peter is not referring to how one understands the Bible but to the origin of the Scriptures. Namely, from God. In fact, Peter confirms in verse 21, " no prophecy [of Scripture] was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." No matter what people think, no precept of the Word of God ever originated in the mind of man. Only false prophets and false teachers are that creative, and that's why they write lies. Peter realized the eyewitness testimony by itself, again, was subjective experience, but like I said earlier, when you couple it with the Word of God, now you have objective, verifiable experience. A persuasive case can be made there that Jesus Christ is more than any mere man. He's much more than man, and he's no less than God, and that's a truth that can change anybody's world. I'll conclude with this. When Christ returns in tangible, visible glory, it will affect every human being on this planet, either for their eternal victory or for their eternal damnation. Upon his return, Jesus will transform believers, those who love and follow Jesus Christ, into perfect reflections of his glory. Moreover, he will fulfill the written Word and write it forever on the hearts of those who have placed their trust in him as Lord. Saint John writes it this way: "Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." Canyon Hills Community Church 8

9 Therefore, if you are here today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you do not have everlasting life. However, the hope is that if you would believe on him today and repent of your sins, you will be saved from his wrath and spend eternity with him in heaven, not to mention you'll have real meaning and purpose for living today. So if you're here today, come to faith in Christ today. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your Word which is truth. Father, we thank you that you've given us the divine Word so we won't have to grope in darkness to find you. We can just pick up this Book and you'll reveal to our minds and our hearts your truth that we might live lives that glorify you. It's in your name we pray, amen. Could I have everybody stand, please? I'm an old school guy, so I don't feel right sending you off without a blessing. Please bow your heads for the benediction. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And all God's people said, "Amen." Canyon Hills Community Church 9