The Gospel of the Glory of Christ

That's an amazing thing, I'm rarely satisfied with what I buy, are you? And he purchased us with his own blood. Amazing. Second Peter, chapter one. One of the most neglected areas, elements of biblical preaching today, is something that was always a part of preaching in the New Testament in the book of Acts, for example. And that is the glory of Jesus Christ, especially in his second coming, that he's coming again. In fact, it's always there when you read the sermons throughout the book of Acts, what is always an element in those sermons, those gospel sermons, is the fact that Jesus is coming back in power and glory, that there is a day appointed in which he is going to judge. And he's going to come in the glory and power of his angels, and it's going to be a magnificent day.

In fact, this is the expression, this expression, the gospel of the glory of Christ, comes out of 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And notice this, this is what Satan attempts to blind the minds of the unbelieving to, specifically. What does Satan not want people to believe about the gospel? Well, notice what Paul says, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. We can portray Christ in certain ways that almost anybody could, can accept. But when the truth of the gospel, this good news message about Christ is proclaimed and we hear that not only is he a humble servant and a savior who died in the place of those he loved, but he is the glorious God of the universe who's coming back in power to judge the living and the dead.

Let me tell you this unfolds. In Acts chapter 10, I'm not going to have you turn to these two passages, but maybe you would mark them down and look at them yourselves. In Acts chapter 10 and Acts 17, we have two places where we have apostolic preaching. In other words, the apostles, the men who Jesus sent out to preach the gospel, we have two sermons where they preach the gospel. We hear how the gospel was preached by those men and Jesus sent out to preach it. In Acts 10, we have an account of a sermon by Peter, the Apostle, the one whom Jesus said to our Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church and it gives him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. That he's the door opener. He's the one who wrote this book that we are studying.

We have this sermon in Acts 10 and Peter peaches the gospel and if you read that sermon and many, in fact, the whole household comes to faith in Christ. He's preaching to a large household, Cornelius and his household, these Gentiles. They all turn to Christ, but in his sermon, what he talks about at the heart of it is the fact that Jesus has been raised again and he is coming back and he's coming back in glory. The old song says, when he comes again, he won't have to die for me. When he comes back, he's not going to die for sin. He's going to come back in glory and power and majesty. Then in Acts 17, you have the occasion where Paul preaches on Mars Hill in Athens and he's preaching to some intellectuals and philosophers.

He preaches the gospel to them and he begins with the identity of God as the creator of everything, the one to whom we must bow the knee because he owns everything. He's the ruler because he created us and we are to bow the knee to him and he preaches the gospel to them. When he comes to the point in the sermon in which he tells about Jesus being raised from the dead and he's going to come back as when they plug their ears and want to hear no more. The heart of the gospel is this truth of the mighty coming of Jesus Christ. That's an integral part of the gospel message is that Christ, what Peter calls Christ mighty coming. God is appointed today in which Jesus Christ is going to come to deliver his people and judge all those who oppose him in this world and to establish his righteous rule, his glorious rule, his peaceful rule upon this earth.

It's not until we know that we need a savior, that there's a judgment day coming, that we are glad about the fact that there is a savior. Once you come to realize there's something to be saved from, then this issue of whether there is a savior who can save you from it becomes very important. One time I was interviewing a young child about baptism and I, and she told me that she wanted to be baptized because she was saved. The God saved her and I said, well, what did God save you from? And she said, he saved me from God. She said, Jesus saved me from God. I said, what do you mean? She said, well, God's going to judge the world and Jesus saved me from that judgment. Well, she was right on. That's really true.

There's a judgment day coming and he saves us from that. In fact, it's interesting in Acts 20 when Paul is speaking to the elders from the church of Ephesus, speaking to them about the gospel and about what he had done when he was among them. He said, when I was here, what I did was I preached repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. When you put those two things together, repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ, that's really the heart of the gospel. Repentance towards God is having a change of mind, of turning from being someone who has rebelled against God or at least who totally ignores God. The reason most people don't think of themselves as rebelling against God is they don't rebelled with high hand and shaking their fists.

They simply ignore him. They just act as though he doesn't exist and he has no rights over their lives. But you see, this is God. This is the one who created you in his image. I mean, how would you feel if one of your friends introduced a close friend of theirs to you and they looked at you and then looked away and never paid attention to you again? They just ignored you as though you didn't exist. Would that offend you? Do you think it offends Almighty God when those whom he has created in his own image, for his own glory and for relationship with him, simply ignore him? Now when a person repents, when there is repented towards God, they change their mind and they turn towards him and they decide, this God whose hand I have seen in all of creation and now whom I've heard about in the gospel and in the Word of God, I want to have a relationship with him.

And I do fear him because he is going to hold men accountable for their rebellion. When that happens, then faith in Jesus Christ becomes significant because Christ is the one who promises to save you from this day of judgment. In other words, to work in your life in such a way that when you stand before Almighty God, when you stand before Christ himself, you are going to be righteous in his eyes. That's what he can do for us. And so as we see the gospel unfolded in the New Testament as the apostles preached, that is the pattern that we see over and over again. This mighty coming of Jesus Christ is at the heart of the gospel. The whole Bible is prophetic. The entire Old Testament points to the coming of Christ.

When we come to the New Testament, the entire New Testament points to the coming of Christ. The Old Testament pointed to the coming of Christ, which included both his first and his second coming. The New Testament points to his second coming. He's coming again and he's coming in power. In fact, the language that's used in the New Testament about the coming of Christ, notice here in 1 Peter 1, let me read verses 12 to 21. In the first 10 verses, he has been telling us how to get closer to Jesus Christ, how to have an intimate relationship with him as believers. He gives us specific instructions about how to cultivate a relationship with Christ. But notice in verse 11, at the end of that first section, the basis of this exhortation is the second coming of Christ.

The reason you should get close to Jesus now is he's coming back. You see that in verse 11, for in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. When he comes back and brings his kingdom in its fullness, you will have an abundant entrance into it because you know him. You see, you've got to know somebody. You've got to know Christ. But then notice what he goes on to say out of that. He says in beginning in verse 12, therefore I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right as long as I am in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent.

As also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me, and I will also be diligent, that at any time after my departure, you will be able to call these things to mind. For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming, and that expression literally means the coming of his power of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him in the Holy Mountain. So we have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in the dark place until the day dawns, and the morning star rises in your hearts.

But know this first of all that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. Now notice this mighty coming of Jesus Christ. I want to show you something. In John chapter 5 verses 28 and 29, Jesus is speaking about the authority that the Father has given to him to raise the dead. He displayed that authority during his life here. He raised Lazarus from the dead, for example, stood by his tomb and said Lazarus come forth, and this man who had been dead for four days, got up and came out of the tomb still in his grave close. He had the power to raise the dead. Now that disturbed many people.

Amazingly it made them angry at him that he had the power to raise the dead because no one has the power to raise the dead but God himself. And of course Jesus is God. He is deity. He has the same deity as the Father. And so in this interaction with these Pharisees here were opposing him. He says an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, that is the Son of Man, Jesus himself, and will come forth. Those who did the good to a resurrection of light. Those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment. We're facing quite a crisis in our country. And I think it's going to get bigger and it's going to hit all of us more than it has and it's going to impact us more in many different ways.

What's happened with Inron and Nazirak and MCI were all calm. We have deception and lying at these levels with people who are supposed to be actually the ones who watch out for us. We have this kind of lying at the heart of our whole culture. In fact, I don't know if you've seen some of these studies but people in our culture lie continually and think nothing of it. Now not us. Nobody in this room lies like that. You don't tell wild stories about yourself. We have a huge problem to keep people honest and of course the solution is we need to pass more laws. So we're going to have some new policies and some new people to watch over folks to keep them honest. That will do it. No, that won't do it, will it?

The problem is the heart, isn't it? The problem is we have people in power and in places of great influence who have hearts that are capable of lying through their teeth in order for self-aggrandizement for their own profit no matter what it costs anybody else. Daniel Webster said, the greatest thought that has ever entered my mind is the fact that I am accountable to God. I can tell you if these men and women, I assume there are some women involved in this too who have lied and deceived in such incredible ways, the highest fine that's ever been paid by a US company was just paid by Xerox because of the way they cooked their books. Now think of that. If people in those positions simply believe with all their heart that Jesus Christ was coming back to judge the living and the dead and they would have to give an account for everything they've done, do you think it would change their modus operandi?

Sure it would, if it truly penetrated their hearts. Now notice this, he says there will be a resurrection of life, a resurrection of life when he comes back. He's going to save his people. We had eight people that were baptized and they made a public profession of faith. They said to the whole world, I put my faith in Christ, I'm following him, I'm depending upon him. I've come to rest my faith in him to be my savior and he has saved them. He's forgiven them their sins and he's saving them today as they live because he's phased them from the power of sin and works in their life continually. But the great manifestation of his salvation is yet to come. The great manifestation of his power is when he comes back and he raises them to life.

Life with him forever and ever. But Jesus said also there is a resurrection of judgment that he's going to raise some to judgment because they have not believed upon him and they're going to be held accountable for their sins. And sin is simply my refusal to obey the one who has absolute authority over my life. Refuse the tree God is King and Lord. This the Bible says the fact that there is a resurrection of life should motivate the believer to purify himself. First John chapter 3 says because we have this hope upon us, we purify ourselves. We await the coming of Jesus Christ. He's coming back. He's coming back and so we keep short accounts. John says in first John chapter 1, we keep short accounts.

We confess our sins daily because we want to be welcoming him when he comes. He may come today. And this the fact that there is a resurrection of judgment should motivate the unbeliever to flee to Christ, to come to Christ as Savior and Lord. That's the only death, the great difference between the believer and the unbeliever. The believer has fled the Christ for salvation. He realizes he's not ready, she's not ready for this judgment day and they flee to Christ. So that when he comes, they'll be ready because he's made them ready. That's the amazing thing about all the believers sitting here, you're ready. You're ready because you have been clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When he comes back, you'll stand before him clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

And every single believer will receive a word of praise from the Father. We are told. Amazing. Now anticipating the mighty coming of Jesus Christ is absolutely vital. Peter tells us in this passage, have you ever thought about that? Do you live with that anticipation? Do you do anything in your life to discipline your life in order to live a life that is characterized by an anticipation that Jesus is coming back in power? Do that ever cross your mind? A lot of people, the great motivation of their Christian life is simply the effect they wanted to have on other people, or how they want to be seen, or the peace that they want inside, or deliverance from certain things. The penis says we ought to live in anticipation of his mighty coming.

And notice what he says. He says this is important for two major reasons. The first is, it is crucial for our Christian life. That's what he says in verses 12 through 15. He says it's so crucial that it's so important and so crucial that I'm going to keep on reminding you about it as long as I'm alive. In other words, he's telling us ahead of time, he says to these people, I'm going to continually be telling you these things, reminding you of these things, because you need to be controlled by this truth. It needs to have impact on your life. You see, you and I have a problem, a common problem. Our forgetaries are better than our memories. It's so much easier for us to forget about certain things than it is to remember certain things.

And so Peter says, what I'm going to do for you, it's only right for me to do this. It's the right thing for me to do this as a shepherd, Peter says, to remind you of these things over and over and over again. Let me ask you, as believers, those of you here who are Christians, let me ask you something. Do you believe that Jesus is the sovereign Lord of the universe? Well, yes, you do. If you're a believer in Christ, you believe that He's the sovereign Lord of the universe. And then you have to ask yourself, the question, will you obey Him when He tells you what to do? You'll obey Him. You see, if you're not obeying Him, it means you're really not gripped by this truth that He is the Lord, the sovereign Lord of the universe.

If you connect and disobedience to the Lord, Jesus Christ knowingly, then obviously you're not thinking much about the fact that He's the Lord, the sovereign Lord of the universe. Do you believe the Bible is infallible? Do you believe the Bible is the true Word of God that it was God breathed as Paul says in 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, and 3rd, 16th? Do you believe that this is God's authoritative Word to His people? And you would all say, sure. And I would say, well, do you read it? You take it in. You dwell in it. You practice it. You search for the answers to your life's problems. I want to say a real common thing for Christians in our context of the day because you live in a time now, and I remember when this wasn't true.

I vividly remember as a young man when it wasn't true that you could get the kind of resources that all of you can get today as a Christian. There is no end to making a book, is there? You go to the Bible book store. There are thousands of Christian books about the Christian life, about finances, about raising kids, about how to get along and marriage, about how to forgive people, about everything you can think of. There are books and videos and tapes and all kinds of resources. I remember when a Bible book store, you couldn't believe it. There were probably 10 to 15 books on the shelf. That was it. You could buy you know, Jameson, Positon, Brown, an old ancient commentary on the Bible. Today there is no stopping it.

It's amazing the books that are available to you, but I want to warn you about something. Books don't bring conviction. Videos don't bring conviction. Tapes don't bring conviction. They can bring strong opinions. They can produce strong opinions in you about things, but that doesn't bring spirit, produce conviction. What brings spirit, produce conviction, is the word of God. What are the simplest principles in preaching I've ever heard by an Australian whose name I can't think of right now? It says simply this when you preach that you always, every point you make, you have to say, here is where it is in the Bible and show them in the Bible where that particular point you are making is. If you're not doing that, you're not preaching the Bible.

You're doing something else. The Bible will bring conviction, but, and we believe that it's true, and yet when we start asking ourselves, do I really live according to the Scriptures? And you may be able to say, well, as much as I know of it, but you need to be reminded, don't you? You need to be reminded. And that's what Peter's telling them, as long as I'm alive, I'm going to remind you. We all need to be reminded about things. Even things we know real well. Most of you here, I think, I would hope, could explain the deity of Christ. You could go to the Scriptures. There are ten places in the New Testament where it says directly, explicitly, that Jesus is God, and there's many, many more that clearly imply it and teach it.

So I would assume all of you could prove the deity of Christ, but the question is I need to remind you others, it's just like Peter reminded them of, are you obeying him? You believe his Lord, right? You would put that on your bumper sticker, you know? Jesus is Lord. You obey him. That's what Peter's talking about. I want to remind you of these things, so they have impact on your life, and so what is he reminding them, the mighty coming of Jesus Christ? We live in light of his mighty coming. He's coming back. He's coming back. I don't care what your skin is about, your eschatological skin, you know, the particular eschatology that you believe. Are you pre-mill, post-mill, all-mill, no-mill? Are you pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, praterant?

What are you? Maybe you don't even know, and you don't even care. But I want to ask you, do you believe Jesus is coming back? Do you believe Jesus is coming back? Are you living like it? That's what Peter's getting at. Are you living in light of the coming of Christ? He's coming back. He's coming back. And Peter's added motivation here, and I was in verse 14. He says, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent. That's not just the euphemism. It's just a biblical concept that when death occurs for the believer, his body goes in the grade and his spirit, his person goes to be with the Lord. So he says, knowing that the laying aside that is my physical death is imminent. As also our Lord Christ has made clear to me, well, how do you do that?

Well, he told him in John 21. Because when you get old, they'll care you where you don't want to go. They'll make you do what you don't want to do. In other words, you're not going to die in the normal circumstance. You are going to be taken captive. And as you know, Peter, not long after writing this book, was arrested. He was crucified. He asked him to crucify him upside down because he didn't believe he deserved to die like Jesus. So he was crucified upside down. And so he says, since my death is imminent, I want to tell you these things and remind you every opportunity I have. And then, in fact, in verse 15, he says, it's so important that I'm going to see to it that you're reminded of these things after I'm gone.

How did you do that? Well, he did it through the gospel of Mark. The gospel of Mark, and the reason we know this is a very early tradition, the early second century. Two of the most well-known second century Christians said that it was a well-known fact that the gospel of Mark was the preaching of Peter. And Peter asked Mark to put it into written form. And so he prepared for his death. He prepared for the fact that he wouldn't be with him. And when he went to be with Christ, he wanted them to have this teaching, this gospel truth. And so not only does he write these two books, first and second Peter, but also we have the gospel of Mark, the preaching material of Peter. So it's important because of our Christian life.

And we could go on and on, couldn't we, about the effect that living in light of the coming of Christ and his power affects our lives. Jesus isn't coming back the next time and going to be born in the manger. He's not going to come back in humility. He's not going to come back and be unknown and walk the seas of the shores of the sea of Galilee and look like an ordinary Jewish man. He's not going to be a carpenter. And he's not going to die. He's going to come in power and reign. And when you see him, when he comes back, it's going to astonish you. John the Apostle in the book of Revelation writes this book when he's about 95 years old. So it's been 60 years since the death of Christ. And we write the gospel of our rather the book of Revelation.

He tells in the beginning of it about how this book came to be. He met Christ on the Isle of Patmos. Jesus came and became visible to the eyes of the Apostle John. And when John saw this, Lord Jesus, I remember who John is. John is the guy, the beloved, he's called the beloved disciple, the beloved Apostle. And what that expression means, he was the one who Jesus had a special love for. He was very close to Jesus. He was the one who put his head on his chest at the last supper. He was one who had an unusually close relationship with Christ. He was his cousin. He was, no, he wasn't his cousin, I'm sorry, that was John the Baptist. But he was close to him. John knew Christ. In fact, in first John, his little letter, when he writes about Jesus, he says, I remember what he looked like.

We gazed upon him with our eyes and I can still see him. And we touched him with our hands and I can still sense his presence. We listened to him. I heard his words. But when he meets him on the Isle of Patmos, when Jesus comes in his glory, and bails himself in his glory to John, John is absolutely amazed. He falls on his face as a dead man. And Jesus has to pick him up off the ground. I want you to know when Jesus comes back, you're not going to have to say to everybody. Let me introduce you to Jesus. The Bible says that when he comes, Jesus himself says, when he comes, it's going to be like the sun rising and crossing the sky. Everyone is going to see it and recognize him for who he is. Isaiah said, when he comes back, he is going to penetrate.

It's going to penetrate the hearts of the rulers of this world. They're going to be pierced through with fear. And Jesus comes back. That's part of the gospel. That's part of the gospel message that Christ is coming back. That's part of the truth that we believe that we trust in this person who's coming back and glory. Peter says, the Apostle Peter says, that he wants to remind us of this because this is vital to our Christian life. It's important to our Christian life that we live in light of his mighty coming. He's coming back in power. He's coming back in judgment. He's coming back to save us. First Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 9 and 10, Paul says, our entrance to you, that is when we brought the gospel to you, Thessalonians, as the effects of it have gone everywhere.

And we keep hearing these stories that was a powerful entrance when the gospel came. Because you turned from your idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait up for the Son, the Lord Jesus, who's coming to deliver us from the wrath of God. Now think about that expression. He says, what you were characterized by was you begin to live in light of the powerful coming of Jesus Christ. It affected your life. And ask yourself this, if you knew Christ was coming back next week, would it change the way you do things today? Would it change the way you do business? Would it change the way you relate to people? Would you stop some petty stuff in the way you relate to some people? Would you see how ridiculous it is to say, they all so upset about certain things in the light of the coming of Jesus?

You possible, Paul, till church leaders, be sweetly reasonable because Jesus is coming back. And some people get so heartened in there, what they're going to do, and how they're going to do it. And he says, you know what? Jesus is going to come back and he'll ruin all your plans. You are determined you're going to do something and somebody standing your way, you want to eliminate them, and then you discover Jesus is coming back. You know what that would do? If we knew Christ was coming back this week, we would all love each other in a way we never have before. It'd be so easy to love one another, wouldn't it? If we knew Jesus was coming back this week, well let me give you some good news, he may.

He just may. I know it would surprise a lot of people, but he may. And Peter says we should live in light of that. The second reason that it is vital and important is that it's crucial for our Christian witness. Notice this, verse 16, for we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we've made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus. It's coming in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. I want you to stop and think, this one I'm getting at in this verse, what I'm getting at in the way of understanding the implication of his verse. When Paul says, when I came to you and preached the gospel, and I preached to you about the powerful coming, the coming of Christ in his power, I didn't base it upon cleverly devised tales.

Now the reason he uses this expression is in chapter 3, he tells us that his enemies were accusing him of that. This stuff is fantasy. This is ridiculous. You believe that there's going to come an end, that God's going to bring judgment upon this world. You're crazy. You're going to change your whole life because you believe that Jesus is coming back. People have been saying that for generations and he's never come back. Things have been the same since from the beginning. And you're believing this preacher, Peter, who is telling you that Jesus is coming back and you better turn to Christ in faith because he's the only one who can prepare you for judgment. You believe that? That's what they were getting.

And Peter says, I want you to know where I got this. I didn't get it from cleverly devised tales. Notice where he got it. He says he got it from being an eyewitness of the majesty of Christ. When did he do that? What is he talking about here? Well, notice, he says, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. In other words, God speaking from heaven, I'm at a particular occasion. When Peter was there, Peter, James, and John, on the amount of transfiguration. If you remember the account, in fact, let's look at it in just a second. Matthew 16, the very end of Matthew 16. Remember the timing of this is just after Peter has confessed that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God.

And then Jesus had to rebuke him because Peter says, you're not going to die. You're not going to allow them to arrest you, and crucify you, and die. And so Jesus has to rebuke him. So his understanding is very cloudy. But notice this in verse 28. Jesus says to them, after telling them in verse, well, look at verse 27, for the Son of man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels. And we'll then repay every man according to his deeds. What a thought. Jesus is coming back with his mighty angels and he's going to repay every man according to his deeds. Now we like that concept. When we see people commit horrible crimes and do horrible things, and they're brought before a judge, we want them to get what they deserve.

Jesus, it says, is going to come back. Jesus says he's coming back, and he will repay every man according to his deeds. And then he says this in verse 28. He wants to drive this point home to their heart. He wants this to sink into their hearts as they need to become the primary spokesman for Jesus in the gospel. He says, truly, I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. And then notice verse 1 of chapter 17. Six days later, it happens. Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves, and he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. And everybody understands when you read this a few times, that Peter is so scared, he says something really stupid. He puts his John MacArthur calls Peter the apostle of the foot-shaped mouth, because he was so prone to put his foot in his mouth and he does. Here is Jesus, who is God, who come in the flesh, along with Moses and Elijah, who are mighty men of God, but they're men, and not God. And Peter says, Lord, it's good that for us to be here, if you wish, I will make three Cabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. The guy who just said, now at the Christ, the son of the living God, doesn't have enough understanding to understand what blasphemy that would be, to worship Elijah, and Moses like you worship Christ.

And so God breaks in. This would be something, I gotta tell you, if you were saying something that you thought was very spiritual, and all of a sudden, out of the sky, God breaks in to correct you. That's what happens here. While he was still speaking of bright cloud, overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this, this one, is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When his disciples heard this, they felt face down to the ground, and were terrified, and Jesus came to them and touched them, and they said, he said, get up, and do not be afraid. And lifting their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. This is what Peter says. He says, I know there's a powerful coming of Jesus, because I saw a foretaste of it.

I experienced it. I was in the presence of Jesus, when his glory was unveiled, and I saw a peak of the glory of Jesus Christ, right there in the midst of them. But he goes on to say something astounding about this prophetic witness that we have in the Scriptures, and that is what we have in the Bible is better than being on the amount of transfiguration. What you have when you hold the Scriptures, the Word of God, has more authority than the experience of Peter on the amount of transfiguration. He says, for when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance, as this was made to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves, Peter, James, and John, heard this utterance, made from heaven when we were with him on the Holy Mountain.

In verse 19, the heart of the verse that translates to the reason there's quite a variation in the different translations, but basically it says this. It's just a sentence in which the reason there's a word supplied at the very beginning, normally in translations, it just breaks off, and all of a sudden he says, we have a more sure word of prophecy than this experience on the amount of transfiguration. This prophetic word that he is speaking about here, is the prophetic word we have in the Bible. Peter says, the Bible, what the Word of God says is more sure than my experience on the amount of transfiguration, to which you 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.

To know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of ones on interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit from God. There are three tremendous truths about the Word of God here. I'll close with this. This reminds me, my method here reminds me of a typical these stories about Baptist preachers who preach a message on anything in the Bible, and their final point is now to give you three reasons why you should be a baptized by immersion. That's not exactly what I'm doing here. In this text, there are three things about this prophetic word we have that tells us in clarity that Jesus is coming back in power. Also tells us something about the quality of this book.

The reason you can rely on the testimony of Scripture about the second coming of Christ. And I want you to understand this. You can have absolute confidence in the Scriptures and the Bible's testimony about the second coming of Christ. Don't believe everything you read in books like Left Behind or the Late Great Planet Earth or any other book on Prophecy. A lot of disagreement on how this is all going to work out. And that shouldn't surprise us. When Jesus came the first time, those people who studied the Bible the most didn't recognize him. And I can assure you, we are all a little bit wrong about the second coming of Christ. And the events that lead up to it and follow it. I can tell you that.

You know, the church is divided up in America. You've got probably the most popular view as a pre-trip, pre-mill scheme. You know what that means. And the greatest segment would be an all-millennial view. And now there's a growing number of post-millennialists. I only use those terms to tell you there's a lot of disagreement about these events that lead up to and follow the coming of Christ. But let me tell you what the Bible is clear about. Jesus is coming. And when you get confused reading those books, then go to the Bible and read the Bible to clarify. I'm being facetious. And a bit sarcastic. I think it's great to read those books and they're very interesting. But don't, don't establish your eschatology based on those books.

Based your belief about the coming of Christ on what Scripture actually says. Could you go to the Scripture and establish your particular brand of eschatology if you're a pre-trip, pre-millennialist convinced of it? Could you prove that from Scripture? And if I showed you a problem text, would it throw you or could you explain? Well, you know what's really important is that you live in light of this powerful coming. He's coming. He's coming. And so Peter wants to assure us that the testimony of his coming is reliable. And so he tells us these three things. First of all, the importance of this prophetic word. He's really talking about the Old Testament and it's true the entire Bible. The whole Bible is prophetic.

It's pointing to Christ in the coming of Christ. The first thing he tells us is that it is important. You do well to pay attention. You do well to pay attention. That's an understatement. That expression pay attention. It means to pay close attention to to hold on to, to give oneself to. Now get the implication of this. Peter is saying, this prophetic word that's been put into your hand, the word of God, is something you should pay attention to when it comes to the signs of the times and what the future holds. Pay attention to it. It will prepare you properly to live in these last days. Notice right there in that last statement there, be addicted to. It's translated that way in 1 Timothy 3a. It's a, in fact, the passage is about the requirements of deacons.

Deacons must not be addicted to wine. And it uses this word to pay close attention to it. So it tells you, I only show you that to press upon you. This is a strong word. It's saying, pay attention to the testimony of Scripture. What it says about today and tomorrow and the future. Pay close attention to it. It's the only thing that will give you light in darkness. It's the only thing that will help you when you're going down a path and you don't know which way to go. It's the word of God. It is a lamp unto our feet. It's a light to our path. The testimony of Scripture have confidence in it. I would die for that. I wouldn't die for everything. I wouldn't die for everything in mythology. I would die for this truth that the Bible is the word of God and it's reliable.

And you should be addicted to it. It is important. Secondly, he talks about its source. In verse 20, he says, but notice, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. That is not exactly a great translation. And the reason that it isn't is the word interpretation or private interpretation could be translated that way. But it has the idea of the unveiling or elucing or disclosure of something. What is getting out of this? What the Bible tells you is not from some human will. It's not through a human being who has some kind of special insight and he's giving you his opinion. That's what he's referring to. The Scriptures didn't come into existence because of human genius or human insight.

Don't ever think that there's some human being on this earth who can give you the proper interpretation of all the Scripture. There is no such person. And I am amazed that some people believe that there is. There is no such person. You all have the Holy Spirit living in you who have believed on Christ. You have the teacher residing in you. John says in verse John, you do not have this inherent need of teachers, teachers who have to stand between you and the Bible. You have the Bible in your hands. You can come to the word of God. It did not come into existence through some human genius and it is not interpreted through some human genius. Or somebody has some special insight that no one else has.

It really means it does not come from one's own losing or disclosure. In other words, the place of origination of the word of God was a man of the will of man. It was the will and word of God. God has told us what we need to know. Peter has said to us that everything we need for life and godliness has been given to us through the promises we find in the word of God. Believe that. Don't be afraid to believe that. There is so much intimidation in the evangelical church today to actually believe that the Bible has answers to real life problems. That's the thing. And I have to tell you that is a very unbiblical view of the Bible. The nature of Scripture, the source of Scripture is none other than the word than God himself.

You think God didn't know that we would have the kind of problems we face today. You think he didn't know that? He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. He does. And I just say, I say this. Test it and see. Taste and see. Come to the word of God. See if it speaks to your problems. Respond to it in obedience, in belief, and see if it does not. Speak to the very issues of life. And there are no side effects. There are no warnings on this book. Other than you read this book, it will change your life. You better watch out. Because it will. The third thing he tells us in this passage about the word of God is its process. How did we get it? We'll notice this. He says, men were moved by the Holy Spirit who were moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

That expression, men, moved by the Holy Spirit is an expression that was used of sailboats. When you saw sailboat going across the island, the sail was full of wind. And it was moving at a fast clip. That's what it means to be moved along. What he's saying is that the Holy Spirit worked in the lives of men that God shows to give us the scriptures at different points in history. They used their own vocabulary. They used their mind, their personality, their understanding, and all kinds of things. But it was God, the Holy Spirit, who was moving them along. And the result is we have a God breathed book. He didn't dictate the Bible to them. It's very clear that the Apostle Paul has a certain vocabulary.

You see it in all of his letters. The reason we know that Hebrews wasn't written by the Apostle Paul. It was written by somebody else. Who we don't know. But he used his own vocabulary. He used his mind. It was an incredible mind. But the reason it is the word of God is that he was born along by the Holy Spirit. And so we have a book that is God breathed. We have a book that you can rely on. Then you can trust him. This book was given to you for a purpose. It's a prophetic word. It's a word that is to point you down the path. It's the book that is given to you, the revelation that's been given to you to point out the way of God. And that way, of course, is Jesus Christ. And don't forget the point of the description here of the Bible.

It is this trustworthy word of God which declares that Jesus Christ is coming in power. How do I know Jesus Christ is coming in power? I don't know it because of the state of Israel today. I don't know it because there is about war to be about to break out in the Middle East. I don't know it because of that. I don't know it because of what's going on in the world. I know it because it's what the word of God says. Jesus is coming back. And he's coming back in power. And in glory. He's coming back to save his people. He died for them. He purchased them. And he's coming back to get them to take possession of them so that we can enter into a kingdom that's going to be characterized by righteousness and peace and love and truth.

Headed up by this kingdom that you serve. King Jesus. So, in closing, I want to ask you this question. Are you paying attention to it? Are you paying attention to this prophetic word that tells you that Christ is coming back? Are you paying attention to this revelation of Christ? Are you letting it be the day star that you're following? Does it really speak to the issues of your life? Does it really influence everything about your life? That's what Peter is saying, ought to happen. That this unveiling of the mighty coming of Jesus Christ ought to be the thing that drives us along and leads us down the path that God wants us to go. Let's close and pray. Our Father, as we come before you as your people, we gather like this week after week because we desire not only to worship you, but to hear from you.

Sometimes we are amused of the fact that you have decided to speak to us in the way that you have through preaching, the foolishness of preaching, and yet it's the way that you have designed to speak to our hearts. And we pray today that the Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts that the Word of God would penetrate very deeply into us. You would speak to the real needs that we have when we come here. Our eyes would be open to the greatness of the gospel, the news that Christ is coming back, the one who died for our sins, who was raised from the dead, is coming back to complete his work of salvation in our lives and to bring judgment to all those who refused about the need Him, live at peace in a relationship with Him.

So we ask you, O God, that our eyes would be open, our spiritual eyes would be open to the truth that you've laid before us today, that it would affect us. I pray that for those whose eyes have not been open to the truth of the gospel that you and your grace, and your gentleness, and your kindness, and mercy would do that supernatural work. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.