The scripture reading tonight will be from 2 Peter, we'll be looking at 2 Peter, it's at the end of your Bible, after 1 Peter and before 1 John, it is page 1207 in the Pew Bible, page 1207, we'll be looking at 2 Peter chapter 1, but let us first pray that God would illumine our hearts as we hear His Word. Lord God, we pray that Your Word would be open to us this evening. We ask that Your Holy Spirit would illumine our hearts and our minds, Lord, and that Your Scriptures would illumine the path that You've called us to walk. Lord, Your Spirit is the chief author of the Scripture, and we ask that He would make it clear to us. In Jesus' name, amen. So, let's look at 2 Peter chapter 1. I'll be reading from verses 12 to 21, and our passage tonight specifically is 16 through 21. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 12. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it is right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, and I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 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, 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. That was God's inspired word to us. If you were with me last time when we went through 2 Peter chapter 1, you'll recall that this letter from Peter is to a group of unspecified Christians. It doesn't say who they are. It was likely circulated throughout the churches, but what we can tell is that this group of Christians was beset by false teachers. These false teachers denied the righteous way that God has called us to. They lived licentious lives. They denied the authority of God's Word. They denied the authority of the apostles. And most egregiously, they denied that the Lord Jesus Christ would return. So, the passage we're looking at tonight, verses 16 through 21, Peter is defending the gospel and the claim that Jesus will return. And he gives two reasons, two witnesses to God's Word and the gospel that should give us Christians confidence that the gospel is true and that Jesus Christ will return. So, I'm just going to follow Peter's outline again here. He first reminds them of this way of salvation that he preached, the power and coming of Jesus Christ. And then he gives his two witnesses, the witness of the apostles and the word of God. So, those will be my three points, the way of salvation, the witness of the apostles, and the word of God. So, this letter also is something of a farewell letter. We just read in verses 12 to 15, Peter says that the putting off of his body will be soon. That means he's going to die soon, and he's wanting to leave this last word with these Christians. And the beginning of chapter 1 is the gospel, and then the call to a virtuous and godly life for all Christians. And then he goes on to talk about this defense of the coming of Christ, and he says, we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And since Peter has been focused on stirring them up by way of reminder, it's only right that I too remind you of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is the power of Jesus Christ? This power is that He can save wicked sinners like you and me. Jesus Christ can save to the uttermost. He can save anyone. Whoever you can think of that's most sinful, Jesus Christ can save him because the Trinity before all creation covenanted amongst Himself and elected a chosen people so that in time, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity could be born of a virgin and take on human nature, human flesh, that He might live a perfect life in perfect obedience to God's law, that at the appointed time He could suffer and die for our sins on the cross. That Jesus Christ was then buried, and on the third day He rose again from the dead in accordance with the Scriptures. And then after being witnessed by many, this Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. This Jesus Christ has given to all of His chosen people faith, that by that faith we might know Him and have intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ as a husband knows a wife. And that in that knowledge, by faith, we have union with Jesus Christ. We are united to Him as close as anyone can be to God. And through that union, He gives us precious and very great promises, including the forgiveness of our sins, including new and eternal life for all those who have faith in Jesus Christ. We also receive the righteousness of Christ, justification, a declaration that we are righteous and there is no condemnation left for all who believe. We also receive sanctification. We're being made like Jesus Christ, being renewed after his image to walk in a virtuous and godly life because by his power he defeated sin, death, and the devil that we don't have to walk in fear. We don't have to walk in slavery, but Christians are empowered to live this virtuous life that we're called to. And the gospel that Peter's delivering to us says that that Jesus, the one in whom we believe, will come again for His people. The second coming of Jesus Christ is our blessed hope. Paul says that we Christians are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is joy for Christians, and it's what we look forward to because Jesus will come again with power and glory. And while this will be very pleasant and a great comfort for us Christians, it will be terror and dreadful horror for all who do not believe in Jesus Christ. See, Jesus didn't even spare angels in His judgment. When He comes, He will rain down fire and sulfur like He did on Sodom and Gomorrah. Like in the days of Noah, when God deluged the whole world in a flood, destroying the face of the earth, on the last day when Jesus returns, the whole world will be in a flood of fire this time. This last day will burn up all the ungodly. The heavens and earth will be purified by fire to make way for a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. See, God only spares His own people. As He spared Noah and his family and Lot, the whole world was destroyed, and Sodom and Gomorrah were burnt up. God only spares those who know Him. So, if you do not know Jesus Christ, destruction, eternal suffering, will be on that last day. Every evil deed done in darkness will be exposed. Every careless word judged. Every wicked thought and every secret will be exposed on that last day. So, if you do not believe in Jesus Christ, if your faith is not in Christ Jesus, the last day will be horrible, a terror, a frightful thing, because He comes in judgment. But if you do have true faith in Jesus Christ, then it's joy, and He will come. The Great Shepherd will gather His people. It will be the very thing that we've all been hoping for. So I implore, if any of you do not have faith in Jesus Christ, believe on Him. Repent and believe, because today is the day of salvation. We don't know when Jesus will come again. No one knows the day or the hour, but it very well could be right now. It could be tonight. We don't know. Jesus, it says, He will come like a thief in the night. It will be when we least expect it. So believe on Him now. The false teachers that Peter warns about, they denied that Jesus would come again, and they lived licentious lives of wickedness, thinking that they could live however they want, because Jesus wasn't going to return in judgment. But Peter's point in this passage is that the gospel we preach is true. Jesus is coming again. And he gives us two witnesses, remember. He says they were eyewitnesses. So the witness of the apostles gives us confidence that Jesus will return. Peter says, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he 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. So see, they didn't need to follow cleverly devised myths like the false teachers. But what the apostles tell us, they were eyewitnesses to. They saw it and heard it, and they give us true historical testimony of what happened. we have eyewitness accounts of Jesus. They lived with him day in and day out. They heard his preaching and teaching. But Peter's calling our attention here specifically to the transfiguration when they went up on the mountain, Peter, James, and John, and they saw Jesus and his face change, and they saw Moses and Elijah there in the glory cloud of the Holy Spirit descended on the mountain and they heard the voice of God the Father. And this historical event is recorded in Matthew 17 where it says, 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 and his face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light. So, there's this shining glory before them. And what the apostles witnessed was a glimpse of the deity of Jesus Christ, a glimpse of His divine glory, the glory that He had before all time with God the Father, and the same glory that Jesus will return with. This is the glory that will be in heaven when Jesus' face is shining, lighting up the city. This is a glimpse of the blessed hope that all of us Christians wait for. One of the beautiful things that we look forward to is the beatific vision. See, the beatific vision is beholding Jesus. John says, we will see him as he is. And Peter says, we will see Jesus face to face, and we shall fully know Him. See, on the last day when Jesus returns, our faith will turn to sight as we behold the glory of the triune God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what we Christians are hoping for and looking for, is beholding Jesus and fully knowing Him on that last day. So the apostles got a glimpse of that, and Peter's saying, you can be confident about what we saw. Jesus is coming again, and we saw a glimpse of that glory. And he's amazed by it and telling the Christians they can be confident. But they didn't just see, they also heard a voice, a voice from heaven that said, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. This was a confirmation to the apostles that Jesus Christ is the one promised in the Old Testament, the one that all the scriptures point to, that he is the son of Psalm 2, the Messiah, the one promised who will inherit the nations and rule as king. And they're confident saying that Jesus is the one who fulfilled all the scriptures, and there's still some prophecy left to be fulfilled. And God gave us confirmation that He's the one, so we can be confident that Jesus Christ will return with this glory that we got a glimpse of. Now, you may have the same experience as me that at some points in my Christian life, I've desired to hear a voice from heaven. I've wanted to see what Peter saw on the transfiguration, right? I want to see Jesus. I want to hear a voice from heaven, maybe to confirm something in your life or you're confused about something and you didn't hear a voice. But Peter says something that's really astonishing here, something that I was puzzling over. He says, I had this mountaintop experience where I saw the glory of Jesus and heard the voice of God the Father. And he follows that up with, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. So this is the second witness that Peter is calling here. He's saying the word of God is more fully confirmed than this spiritual experience that he had seeing and hearing the voice of God. What he means by more fully confirmed is that this scriptures that we have is very firm. It's most sure, and it's guaranteed to be true. Because all the prophecies about Jesus Christ, think of all the things in the Psalms, think of Isaiah 53, these predictions about the Messiah, they have already come true, and we've seen them in Jesus Christ. So much of the prophecy has been confirmed that you can trust the Scriptures as much as hearing the voice of God from heaven because this is the Word of God. It's been confirmed time and time again, and you can trust that when the Scriptures say that Jesus will return, you can be confident in that promise because it is the Word of God. We Christians don't need to turn to visions or try to make up new prophecies. We don't need anything but the Scriptures to give us this confidence that Jesus will return. All the Scriptures point to Him. And Peter says, you would do well to pay attention to the Scriptures. That's how verse 19 ends. He says, 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. And brothers and sisters, we do live in a dark place. I don't need to tell you about the darkness in the world. Day by day, we see sin, death, confusion all over the world. Right here in Escondido, there's plenty of darkness to speak of. And Peter's saying, in this darkness, in this confusion, people don't know how to walk. They don't know the path of God without the light of the Scriptures. And maybe even to some Christians, it might seem sometimes like you don't know how God would have you walk in this world. But I would say that's probably because we aren't attending to the Scriptures as we ought to. Peter is saying this path that he keeps mentioning. Just in 2 Peter, he calls it the way of righteousness, the way of truth, the right way. He's saying this path that God has called us to, a life of virtue and godliness, is found by the light of the Word. If you want to know how to walk as God wants you to, you need to understand His Word. So, as Christians, we just sang Psalm 119 together, it says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. The unfolding of your word gives light. So, if we're stumbling in darkness as Christians, if we're blundering about in the dark, that's our own fault because these days all of you have Bibles. You can access the Bible on the internet for free. There's no excuse not to know God's Word these days. We all have it, and all of us, everyone, doesn't attend to God's Word as we ought to. It's like we're hiking in the dark, and we have a flashlight in our hands, and we're just choosing not to use it. When the light of God's Word would show us what we might stumble over, the light of God's Word would show you what would lead you into sin and temptation. God's Word will keep us, as the church, from falling into destructive heresies that could tear apart our unity. So, attending to God's Word leads the whole church and each one of you individually on the path that we ought to go. And Peter says, we need to follow the light of the Word until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Now, what is this dawning that we're talking about. The dawn is the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's the dawn of eternity. It's the last day. Because when Jesus comes, we will no longer need the light of the Word to lead us, because He will change us in the twinkling of an eye, and we'll be made like Him, and He will lead us by the light of His countenance. This morning star is Jesus Christ. Numbers 24, there's a prophecy, a star shall arise out of Jacob. And in Revelation, Jesus says, I am the bright and morning star. So, as we're pilgrims walking towards the city, thinking about this, the city in heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem, Revelation says, has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. So this glimpse that Peter got of the shining face of Jesus Christ, in heaven there is no need of a sun because Jesus' shining face will light the whole world, the new heavens and new earth. And Jesus, this morning star, will rise in our hearts on the last day because we'll have this beatific vision and look upon Jesus and have full revelation of Him. So, we look forward to this last day when we will no longer need the Scriptures because then our faith will be sight. But as we walk by faith, pilgrims in this world of darkness, we need God's Word. We need the Scriptures. And Peter wants to give us utmost confidence that we can trust God's Word. So, he's saying in verse 20, knowing this first of all, that as you're seeking to follow God's Word to light your path, you need to know this, no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. So, the prophecies in here don't come from men's thoughts. He says they don't come…no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. This isn't just man's word that we have in the Scriptures. Like the false teachers, the false prophets that Peter talks about in chapter 2, they had to make things up. They had to make up myths. They had to make up prophecies. They came from men's own interpretations. But what we have here in the Scriptures, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. This is the doctrine of inspiration. The words of this Bible are inspired by God. This means that the Scripture's origin is in God, not man. God used men's intellects and faculties to write these Scriptures so that we can read this letter of Peter and see Peter wrote it. He puts his name, and we can see some idiosyncrasies of Peter. But we know that the chief author of of the Scriptures is the Holy Spirit. As men wrote, the Holy Spirit superintended and influenced these prophets and apostles to write the very words of God. So, when we read the Scriptures, it's not just the Word of men, but it's the Word of God. So, when Peter says the gospel, The power and coming of Jesus Christ that you read in these scriptures is the word of God. And as I heard it on the mountaintop at the transfiguration, and as the prophets predict it in these scriptures, both are equal witnesses that we can be confident that the gospel is true and that Jesus Christ will return. Peter wants all of us Christians to have confidence in that. Eyewitness apostles have seen it, and the prophets predicted it. And we have the inspired, inerrant, infallible, which means it cannot err. We have the Word of God. Paul says it's God-breathed. That's the Scriptures that we have to lead us as we look forward to the last day. Peter wants us to take confidence as we look for the second coming. We have the blessed hope that He will come again, and that we will behold Him face to face. We look forward to that great day with longing in order to fully enjoy the promises of God and Jesus Christ our Lord. So we say, Maranatha, come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank You so much for Your inspired Word, that we can trust, Lord, that this is Your Word, Your will for our lives. We ask that we would diligently attend to Your Word to know the lives that You've called us to, Lord. We thank You for the gospel revealed by the prophets and apostles in this Word, that we can trust that we have the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ Jesus. Lord, that we are adopted and that we will be with you in the heavenly kingdom. We thank you for this truth, Lord, and we ask that we would read it to light our paths as we make our pilgrim journey home. Be with us this week, and would you give us all the diligence to read your word, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.