ResponsiveReiding

A Communion Sermon 4/2/2017

April 2nd, 2017
God’s Supreme Authority and our need for Salvation

Genesis 2:15-17; 3 (Entire); Psalm 130 (Entire)

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

While I had mentioned last week that this week would be part 2 of what we began on the “Spheres of Authority” – I had forgotten that this week would be our quarterly communion morning. So we’ll have to put part 2 off until next week.

That said, I am grateful for the way this providentially worked out. It gives us an opportunity to see another extremely practical way our understanding of the nature of God’s authority and those authority structures He has given us, play out in real life.

Look at this brief side-trip as a means to illuminate some of the necessary foundational concepts behind the entire study.

I would like to do that briefly as we consider it in light of the Lord’s Table today, in 4 Biblical ideas.
1. Only God has the authority to DEFINE sin.
2. Only God has the authority to DETERMINE the just penalties for sin.
3. Only God has the authority to DECLARE that He will accept a substitute in place of our suffering the personal consequences of sin.
4. Only God has the authority to FORGIVE sin against Himself.
All of this, necessarily takes us back to the Garden of Eden.

And in each of these, we will see how we challenge those things which belong under God’s sole authority, and try to govern them ourselves.
1. Only God has the authority to DEFINE sin.
In our text in Genesis we see in 2:16 that God Himself sets the parameters for what is sin and what is not.

Genesis 2:16–17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Now in a very real sense, the tree and its fruit were secondary to the true issue: God was telling Adam and Eve, by virtue of His sole authority, what constituted sin.

To obey His command, was right. To disobey His command – was sin.

It was that simple then, and it is just that simple still.

What God communicates as His will is what defines sin. And nowhere in Scripture does He ever hand that prerogative over to any other creature.

Not man. Not angels. No one.

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 “See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”

But we are still trying to usurp God’s authority to define sin for ourselves today.

So society says it can declare what is and isn’t sin:

Homosexuality isn’t a sin – It’s just an alternative lifestyle, or even God ordained in the way I was born.

Abortion isn’t a sin – We re-define human life and value.

Neglect of God’s house and cause isn’t sin – we are free to worship Him (IF we worship Him at all) any way we choose.

Greed isn’t sin – seeking wealth is virtuous, even a Christian one.

Pride and arrogance aren’t sins – but self-esteem rules.

Rampant divorce and remarriage isn’t sin – God wants me to be happy.

But the Bible still presents God as the one who rules in this area: Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Or in Matthew 17:1–5 On the Mount of Transfiguration: “Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them… 3 And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 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.” 5 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.”

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

But both the Devil and Adam and Eve sought to redefine what constituted sin for themselves.

First the Serpent questions God’s decree: Genesis 3:1 “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

Then Eve inserts her own modification: Genesis 3:2–3 “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

Then the Serpent outright contradicts God’s determination: Genesis 3:4-5 ”But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Not only won’t you die – you’ll be the better for it!

Not only is disobeying God not sin – it has positive virtue to it. It has its rewards.

Don’t call it sin – call it stepping into your full potential.

Only God has the authority to DEFINE sin.
1. Only God has the authority to DETERMINE the just penalties for sin.
In Genesis 2:17 God tells them His penalty for sin: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Which, as we’ve already seen, the Serpent just outright contradicts: Genesis 3:4 “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

And we continue this same line of reasoning every time we think in terms of little sins and great sins.

Now there are certain degrees of sinnING, just as a person who has an incurable and fatal illness may experience different stages of the illness. But sin, it remains fatal, no matter what stage of its ravages we may be experiencing at any given moment. And it is just so with sin.

As for the penalty of sin, the Scripture is unequivocal: Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death” – period.

And some argue, “but all they did was eat some fruit.”

NO! What they did was tell God where to get off. That they had the authority to say for themselves whether or not their sin was so bad and what its effects ought to be.

In following the deception of the Enemy – they had determined that not only would defying God not result in death – it would actually elevate them!

God alone can say what sin deserves, and no amount of trying to reason down our sin to something that deserves less than eternal death is valid.

There is no amount of self-justification that can somehow stand in the judgment day by saying: “But it was only…” Or “this is unfair.”

He has made His pronouncement, and it cannot be argued with.
1. Only God has the authority to DECLARE that He will accept a substitute in place of our suffering the personal consequences of sin.
As the account in Genesis demonstrates, God alone could provide the means for covering their nakedness and shame.

What happened immediately after Adam and Eve sinned? Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

But their attempt to deal with their own sin was rejected.

And after fully confronting them with the reality of their sin and its consequences, we read: Genesis 3:21 “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

And this is where all man-made religion enters. For we refuse to submit to His righteousness, and invent our own means.

Romans 10:1–4 “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Refusing to submit to God’s righteousness, we too invent endless ways of our own creation to deal with sin.

Personal bargains with God -forgive me and I’ll…

Invented rites and rituals.

The performance of good works to feel better about ourselves and so imagine God is placated about our sin by means of them.

In effect God said in the Garden, “No, you won’t die today in the fullest sense of all death – I will spare you for a time, and I will show you how something or someone will have to die in your place in order to cover your shame.”

And from that point on – through to Abraham’s call to sacrifice Isaac and God providing for Himself a sacrifice with the ram caught in the thicket –

And on into the types and shadows of all the sacrificial rituals God imposed upon Israel.

In them, they and we are being reminded over and over and over that He MUST provide for Himself, some substitute to die on our behalf – or we all must suffer the full penalty of our sins.

All of this pointing ahead to Jesus even as Hebrews 10:5–7 “Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

Hebrews 9:24–26 “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

Isaiah 53:1–12 “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
1. Only God has the authority to FORGIVE sin against Himself.
It is one thing for God to say He is satisfied with the death of Christ on our behalf, and so to dismiss the charges against us and to free us from the penalty of eternal death for our sins.

But it is quite another altogether to FORGIVE us our sins, so that we are reconciled to Him as to recover our lost relationship, and to enter into and even deeper and more glorious one.

But we try to challenge His rightful place and authority here too.

First some simply don’t want to think about it. God just doesn’t care. He is such a non-entity and so uncommitted to anything, He doesn’t need to forgive, He just loves us anyway.

Or, “Nobody’s perfect” – so God just accepts that and there’s no need to actually seek true one-on-one forgiveness.

Or once again, the rise again of man-made religion where were look to a person, a priest or some other to utter the words: “I absolve you.”

And then there is the modern mantra? Don’t worry about God’s forgiveness, we need to forgive OURSELVES!

All of which diminishes the wonder and glory of God’s true forgiveness.

Adam lost his position as God’s vice-regent in the world.

But in salvation, we are not just restored to a former position, we are adopted into the Family and brought into the most intimate relationship that can be had.

This is the function of true forgiveness, past mere satisfaction – as though that were not enough.

And it may have been enough for us. A criminal who has been acquitted of a horrible crime may be content to know he or she will not be prosecuted, and take the chance to run as fast and as far away as possible so as to have the whole matter just forgotten.

But the grace of God is not content to just find our sins remitted and atoned for.

God’s aim in Christ is not just to set us free from our debt, but to bring us close to Himself. To reconcile us to Himself. To draw us nearer than we ever were, and to make us a part of His own family.

Hebrews 2:10 “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”

Matthew 26:26–29 “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

And in this way, we come to the communion table to sit at the family table.

To acknowledge that we not just forgiven, but we are home for dinner. Home to fellowship, and break bread and rejoice and laugh and weep and draw nearer and nearer.

Both to the Father, and to all that are His – and now ours – in Christ.
1. Only God has the authority to DEFINE sin. And according to His Word – ALL have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God.
2. Only God has the authority to DETERMINE the just penalties for sin. Which He says over and over – is death. Both physical, and eternal in separation from Him and torment.
3. Only God has the authority to DECLARE that He will accept a substitute in place of our suffering the personal consequences of sin. And He has set before us Jesus as the propitiation – satisfaction for our sin.
4. Only God has the authority to FORGIVE sin against Himself. And in Him, in Jesus, extends to all who trust in Christ – the full forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to Himself.
If you have repented from setting your own standard in place of God’s perfect holy standard…

If you have agreed with God’s assessment of what your sin truly deserves, seeing it demonstrated in the death of Christ at Calvary…

If you have embraced His only acceptable sacrifice for your sin – the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross in your place…

And if you have sought and received forgiveness of sins from Christ as your Saviour…

This table is for you. Welcome home – come and dine.

Glory!

If any of the above are missing for you, then do not come unless they are put to right right now before His throne.

Else you will eat and drink judgment to yourself.
Spheres of Authority Part 1 – Sermon notes for 3/26/2K17

March 28th, 2017
God – The Author of Authority

Part 1

The Spheres

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

One of the major impacts of the Reformation – in the recovery of the Gospel – was that of an emphasis upon personal salvation. The need, and call to be – “born again.”

The recovery of the realization that as individuals we’re are born alienated from and enemies of God, and the need for reconciliation to Him through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary.

But with that recovery, can come a danger: The thought that salvation is entirely personal and individual, leaving out the aspect of the fullness of Christ’s redemptive work in the whole of the cosmos, ant JUST the individual.

Our study in 1^st and 2^nd Peter reminded us of that aspect in looking forward to Christ’s return, but backing up to see this more particularly might be of real help. That is where I hope to go this week and next – God willing.

God is a God of order: Creation displays it everywhere.

You cannot read the 1^st 3 chapters of Genesis without seeing over and over how it is God is meticulous in His arrangement of things – both in terms of the natural creation and beyond.

The word most often translated “WORLD” in our Bibles is the word “kosmon” = which means an order or arrangement. We get our word cosmetics from it – to adorn and put in right order.

When God created the physical universe, He did so bringing everything into a certain order – an order which demonstrates proper relationship between things higher, things lower, and things equal.

Kuyper: Sphere Sovereignty’ (1880) – God ordained distinct domains of being and action. Each has its own area of delegated sovereignty or authority, which is not to be violated by others.

If each one stays in its own area without trying to meddle in other’s – HARMONY! When this breaks down – DISASTER!

And it doesn’t take much. The more delicately and precisely things are made, the more one little thing out of order impacts the whole. “Let’s eat grandma vs. Let’s eat, Grandma”.

The Bible sets out a number of these “spheres” most often by incorporating the word: “OBEY”.

Someone or something has a responsibility to obey someone or something else. This is the structure of Authority & Submission or obedience.

Spheres may overlap some – but each has its ordained responsibilities from God.

I want to try and unpack the big concepts about God’s order in Authority this morning, and then bring it down to the practicality of it next week. So bear with me.

SPHERE 1. God & His will (Commandments) culminating in Christ Jesus.

God’s authority is absolute – none can challenge it. And all the others derive their authority from His appointment.

D.A. Carson: “God, the unauthored Author of all, is the primal and final authority.”

In creation, all of physical creation simply comes into being and responds to His voice: “And God said”. i.e. He willed it, and it was so.

As Creator, He has absolute rights and authority over His creation(s).

Dan. 4:34-35 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

We need to note here that since God alone has absolute authority, all others are not only derivative, but limited. We’ll see what that looks like as we move on. It’s sufficient to say here that no one in any sphere has the right to require anything of anyone else that is contradictory to God’s commands and rights.

No one can require anyone else to do anything that is immoral, illegal, contrary to their conscience or unjustifiably dangerous – war might require justifiable commands to enter into danger. But this is never at the mere whim of another. It is under the larger structures.

As I said above, God’s absolute authority finds its final expression in Jesus Christ: Matt. 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

SPHERE 2. Nature: Created order. Man & 2 ideas.
1. Man OVER nature – Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 2:15 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Adam shows his authority in naming the animals, and then is given a wife who is his equal, and yet he names her as well. So there is an order set up in the home from the very beginning.
1. Man as PART OF AND UNDER nature – Romans 1:18-27 We’ll come back to this next week, but at the very least we learn in this passage that when we as human beings under God’s authority, try to circumvent the sphere He ordained in nature – there is always a price to pay. So it is no one can safely defy the law of gravity or of inertia etc. No one can live apart from food or water or air. Nature has its God given laws and we are bound by them.
SPHERE 3. Home: Parents (and designees), husbands and wives in order among equals.

SPOUSES: Eph. 5:22-24 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Col. 3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Since husbands and wives have a shared sphere, and one belonging to each of them, sometimes, proper negotiations will have to be worked through: 1 Cor. 7:3-5b The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time…

CHILDREN: Eph. 6:1-4 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Col. 3:20-21 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged

SPHERE 4. Governments & Civil authorities: We see this emerging especially after the Flood, which came about at least to some great degree due to the fact: Gen. 6 – Each man was simply following the dictates of his own evil intentions.

Later we are told: Romans 13:1–7 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

SPHERE 5. Church: Heb. 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Matt. 23:1-3 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. 1For they preach, but do not practice.

SPHERE 6. Employers: ; Eph. 6:5–8 “Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.”

Colossians 3:22–25 “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.”

Which authority by employers is not seen as absolute – for in each passage, the employer’s responsibility before God and giving an answer for how they exercised their authority is noted.

SPHERE 7. Conscience: Acts 23 & 24 – Paul notes how he was very careful not to violate his conscience.

Rom. 13; 1 Cor. 8 & 13 address people not violating their consciences, since it appears the conscience – however marred, is left over from our being created in God’s image and having an innate sense of right and wrong – which passages also show the conscience can be informed and improved.

SPHERE 8. Self: Authority over self or what is better known as – Self-control.

This in fact is where we will come back to in the 2^nd session.

For in our redemption, the chief place of restored order and authority within the human being is in this area: Having authority restored over self.

Thus Gal. 5 – S/C is a fruit of the indwelling Spirit.

2 Tim. 1:7 “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

1 Cor. 9:24–27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

There may be a few other spheres such as is hinted at in 1 Cor. 15:24 & Eph. 1:21; 3:10; 6:12 etc. – Angelic orders with which we have nothing to do.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
1. These spheres of authority overlap in places. Living in godliness will require our thinking through how this works – and ordering our lives accordingly.
For instance: A man has authority over his wife – but not absolutely. She has a primary responsibility to God’s authority OVER her husband’s, as do children over their parents and people in general above the State.

John 19:8-11 When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (Caiaphas?)

Acts 5: saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

Daniel 1:8 But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself. 9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.

Hanaiah, Azariah & Mishael refusing to worship the image.

None can usurp God.

None can usurp outside of their own restrictions.

No one has the authority to require you to do something God specifically forbids in His Word, nor forbid anything He requires.

No circle of authority is absolute but God’s alone.

All others are derivative and limited.

2. In those places where WE exercise authority over others – it is to be done with the eternal good of the person(s) in mind before God – not according to our personal desires.

Romans 13:8–10 “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

What does that look like? 1 Cor. 13:4–7 “

Love is patient [BECAUSE LOVE IS] kind;

love does not envy [SO IT DOES NOT] boast;

it is not arrogant [SO IT IS NOT ] rude.

It does not insist on its own way; [SO IT IS NOT] irritable or resentful;

6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, [BECAUSE IT] rejoices with the truth.

7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is the nature of Love – love seeks the best of the other party before God – not for our own pleasure, or according to our own whims. We want them to see, know, and if at all possible experience the goodness, grace, mercy and lovingkindness of God through us!

For we can give no other person anything higher than to give them the blessedness of God Himself. We lead them to HIM – not to our own desires.

This will temper what spouses require of each other, what employers require of employees, what Church leaders require of congregants – etc.

3. God’s main way of exercising authority is via persuasion. He publishes His clear and unambiguous will via The Word!

Isaiah 66:2 “All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

And then, through His Spirit to work in the heart and mind to incline us toward what is better. INCLINE – not FORCE.

Philippians 2:12–13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Psalm 110:3a “Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power.”

Psalm 119:36–37 “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! 37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

4. What happens when we do not function within the order God has created?

The Fall: And such “falls” always incorporate 2 aspects of violating God’s order of authority.
1. Refusal to submit to God’s authority.
“Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”
1. Abdication of authority.
“Eve took” – Neither Adam nor Eve took their rightful place over the serpent – but took their cue from him instead.

Chaos, death and destruction.

Christ saves us in part, to reverse these very things.

And so it is worthwhile to ask ourselves – Where it is we refuse to submit to God’s authority and authority structures in our own lives?

And where is it we might be abdicating our own derived authority in our sphere?

Wherever either or both – and I would argue you cannot have one without the other – you will have chaos, disorder and destruction.

But there is one area which first and foremost God graciously calls us to recover a proper authority structure which will inform all the other spheres in which we function – and that will be the subject of my next session.

5. Restoring order to God’s appointed authority spheres is part and parcel of Jesus’ work of redemption. Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
2 Peter Pt. 9 – Sermon Notes / What Am I?

March 21st, 2017

2 Peter Part 9

2 Peter 3:11–18

What Am I?

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

This little letter is the Apostle Peter’s “swan song.”

His readers then, and the Church at large will never hear from him again.

We began our study in this short letter by rehearsing some of the last words of famous people throughout history. And for the most part, we saw a pretty sad record of the emptiness and despair that fills the hearts and minds of those dying outside of Christ.

History tells us Peter was martyred in Rome around 64 CE. So this letter must have been written just a short time before since in 1:14 Peter remarks that he is soon to die.

And as we have rehearsed many a time, Peter concentrates on 3 things in this letter:

Ch. 1 – Reminding Believers of fullness of their salvation – The FOUNDATIONS upon which they stand and live.

Ch 2 – The warning against FALSE TEACHERS coming into the Church. How to recognize them and what kind of damage they can do.

Ch. 3 – This final appeal to keep the promised FUTURE of the Believer as a controlling, clarifying and stabilizing concept at the forefront of our thinking at all times.

Indeed, history is replete with the tragedy of lives lived with no thought for God’s coming judgment, what it means in terms of our own limited lifespans, and what comes after.

We have a startling example of this in 2 Chronicles 21 regarding the life and death of King Joram in Israel:18–20 After recording his reprehensible life of debauchery and idolatry we read: “And after all this the LORD struck him in his bowels with an incurable disease. In the course of time, at the end of two years, his bowels came out because of the disease, and he died in great agony. His people made no fire in his honor, like the fires made for his fathers. He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he departed with no one’s regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.”

In more recent times we have this horrid example in the Aug. 2013 obituary of Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick – penned by one of her daughters: “born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.

On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after-life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviving children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure.” – Reno Gazette-Journal

So Peter asks this very penetrating question of his readers in this closing portion in 3:11 – Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Given that the teaching of the Old Testament, both through the mouths of the Prophets, and the examples of the historical record – demonstrates a final, all inclusive and exhaustive judgment to come upon the world – “what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness?”

How does living in the light of Christ’s return and all that surrounds it inform how we ought to live our lives now?

MORE – How does it inform what sort of PEOPLE we ought to be?

For it is one thing to say “I need to watch my actions” – but an entirely different thing to say “I need to know what kind of person I truly am.”

So – am I pursuing holiness and godliness?

If not, then what AM I pursuing?

Or perhaps, I am like the old yarn – “those who aim at nothing always hit it” – and truth be told, I am aiming at nothing beyond getting through the day. Or maybe getting to kick back in retirement.

Peter describes the kind of person he is asking us to examine ourselves about being by using 2 terms:

“Waiting for and hastening” – The coming day of the Lord

Not just expecting, but inwardly yearning and striving for it.

Hastening doesn’t mean we can make it happen faster, but it DOES mean we WANT IT to happen as fast as it can!

There is an inward and abiding desire for it to come to pass.“Waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

“Waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

Living in eager EXPECTATION for judgment!

Eager expectation of reward.

Eager expectation of an existence where righteousness is the prevailing reality.

NO MORE SIN!

To be perfectly honest – some professing Christians aren’t all that excited about the New Heaven and New Earth because they are not all that excited about giving up certain sins they enjoy now.

They want sexual freedom.

They want intoxication.

They love an entertainment based culture & lifestyle.

They want self-government. To be completely their own boss.

They want a life built around present earthly joys and comforts.

And a world where righteousness is all there is sounds – BORING!

They haven’t had enough of sin and its ugliness and its results yet.

So we come back to Peter’s first point then – are we THAT kind of people?

If we are not – then we really need to ask ourselves whether or not we are really in the faith at all?

If we know so little of the coming Kingdom and desire it so little; if we have so little love for Christ, and, have so little hatred of sin and its effects – are we saved?

Do we have any idea that this New Heavens and New Earth wherein righteousness dwells – is what we are saved FOR?

Or is it all a distant fairy tale, with no real impact on how we live at all here and now?

This is a PROBING portion for sure!

One of the ways in which this mindset manifests itself most explicitly is in our prayer lives.

Do we have the priorities of Christ at the top of our list?

Do we burn with desire that reverence for the Father’s name and reputation be restored in all the universe?

Do we really want His absolute rule and Kingdom to come and overthrow all the kingdoms of this World – so that He rules and reigns in pure holiness and righteousness?

Do we really want His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven – right now?

Or are we more interested in Him answering our shallow wants and needs?

But Peter assumes better of his readers then, even as I do of you today while preaching this.

And building off that assumption – Peter then lays out the “what if” – of those who are truly Christ’s and do indeed have their eager sights set on a sin being judged and the New Heavens and New Earth.

14 Therefore, beloved, SINCE YOU ARE waiting for these,

A – The Day of the Lord

B – The new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells

Then:

I. “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish,”

Be resting in the finished work of Christ – and living in the reality of having been cleansed from sin by the blood of the Lamb.

Also: Be at all-out war with sin in your life.

Be about the business of challenging sinful acts and attitudes as part of your day-to-day lifestyle.

Doing all you can by the Word and the power of the Spirit to ridding yourself of every spot or blemish of sin.

II. and [be] at peace.

Live at peace with Him in Christ, and with His people.

Be confident in The Father’s providential care and ordering of events and circumstances in your life,

And resting in the assurance of His unfailing promises.

III. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

Don’t allow yourself to be discouraged in the intervening years as though it won’t come to pass.

Be convinced that the Lord delays His coming out of perfect wisdom and love and compassion.

Yes, there are some mysteries in this.

No, we cannot nail down all the details and lots of people have erred in doing so – making it seem like God has not kept true to His Word.

But understand that His timing is the just what it is, because of His desire to save abundantly, and not in small measure.

IV. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

Don’t get derailed by the false teachers and the worsening state of human culture.

Don’t let the values of those who do not serve Christ and revere His Word infect your own morality and distort the Biblical vision of how the world – how life – works.

Don’t let the fact that at times it looks as though sin is winning the war, lure you into its grip – destabilizing you from trusting God and His Word.

V. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Don’t stop feeding your hearts on His Word, so that grace is magnified continually in your heart and mind.

Don’t stop striving after taking on more and more of the character of Christ by the Spirit.

Grow in your understanding of all that it is Christ Jesus is, and all that He has done, and is doing on your behalf, and has promised to complete.

GROW!

Keep to these, and the repeated exclamation of your own heart and mind will be the same as Peter’s: To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

2 Closing Observations:

1. What is missing in Peter’s letter?

No mention of how to change their circumstances. None.

Everything is directed at how they will change IN their circumstances – by growing in the knowledge of Christ.

2. What kind of person I am needs to be understood over and above merely what things I do or do not do.

Am I Christ’s?

Am I born again?

Am I on the path to being with Him in glory?

Is being with Him for eternity really my aim?

Am I consciously seeking to be increasingly conformed to His divine character by being informed in the Word, and transformed by the Spirit?

Am I living as His agent in this present world – given over to His plans and purposes – or am I using religion and the name of Christ to get what I want out of this world?

What am I?
Sermon Notes for 2 Peter Part 8 – The Scoffers Are Coming!

March 12th, 2017
2 Peter Part 8

The Scoffers are Coming!

2 Peter (entire)

1 Peter 1:13

We are now in the 3rd portion of Peter’s 2nd letter.

As noted before, he began in Ch. 1 by establishing the FOUNDATIONS of the Christian life, and how it can be lived out irrespective of our circumstances.

Last time we saw Peter’s warning against FALSE TEACHERS which took up the whole of Ch. 2.

And now Peter wants to help us keep our focus regarding the Promised FUTURE God Christ has won for all those who are found in Him by faith.

2 Peter 3:1–10

And as we have seen over and over in Peter – remembering is a constant theme.

It is a vitally important theme given the effects of the Fall on the human psyche.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his little and insightful book “Creation and Fall” unpacks something of the practical importance of this fact.

“Temptation is a concrete happening which juts out from the course of life. For the physical man, all life is a struggle, and for the moral man every hour is a time of temptation…“With irresistible power desire seizes mastery over the flesh. All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled. The flesh burns and is in flames. It makes no difference whether it is sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money, or, finally, that strange desire for the beauty of the world, of nature. Joy in God is in the course of being extinguished in us and we seek all our joy in the creature. At this moment God is quite unreal to us, He loses all reality, and only desire for the creature is real; the only reality is the devil. Satan does not here fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God…The lust thus aroused envelops the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us. The questions present themselves: Is it really not permitted to me, yes – expected of me, now, here, in my particular situation, to appease desire?” This is worldliness. God, is not in it. He is forgotten.”

And nowhere is this more true than in our inability to balance off present trials and temptations, against the promise of Christ’s return and final judgment upon all sin.

So Peter takes up his 1^st point in these 10 verses.

1. (1-2) Keep Remembering – “This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, ² that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,”

The term “Sincere mind” is a pregnant one. It holds the idea of decisions and opinions flowing from sound reason more than feelings.

Temptation and the momentary forgetfulness of God that allows us to give into it gain their power in lives lived more by feelings and impulses than by reasonings and decisions that flow from Biblical truth in the moment.

Now one cannot read the OT without encountering the theme of God’s judgment on sin. Both in the temporal, and in pointing to the FINAL JUDGMENT.

And, one cannot read the OT without encountering the wonderful promises of the Day of The Lord and the restoration of all things.

But Peter’s meaning here is more likely tied to the rise of false prophets and teachers he addressed in the previous chapter.

I.e. You will have to keep reminding yourselves about the warnings about false prophets in the OT, and about the false teachers we looked at last time who Paul, and Jesus especially, warned about.

False teachers will be a perennial problem in the Church and it requires real vigilance to keep safe.

We looked at just 2 OT passages out of dozens last time: Deut. 13 & 18

But Jesus is emphatic on this topic:

Matt. 7:15 – “ Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Mark 13:22-23 “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”

Paul again in Acts 20:28-31 – “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.”

And now Peter.

Remember, remember, remember – False teachers ARE coming!

But beyond false teachers, Peter now mentions a 2^nd category of dangerous folk.

They aren’t as much interested in growing a group around themselves as the false teachers are – but more directed at simply undermining Biblical Christianity and especially the Believer’s hope in Jesus’ return, the resurrection, final judgment and the eternal state.

These, Peter simply calls “Scoffers.”

2. (3) Expect “Scoffers” too! – “knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.”

“C’mon! You don’t believe that 2^nd coming stuff is literal do you?”

How unsophisticated. How cartoonish. How fairy-tale like.

And this, Peter notes is because they want to follow their own sinful desires.

In denying the return of Christ and judgment, it would appear they want to follow their sinful desires without the pain of a guilty conscience now, or especially the thought of ultimately having to give an account for their sin later.

Michael Green: “Anthropocentric hedonism always mocks at the idea of ultimate standards and a final division between saved and lost. For men who live in the world of the relative, the claim that the relative will be ended by the absolute is nothing short of ludicrous. For men who nourish a belief in human self-determination and perfectibility, the very idea that we are accountable and dependent is a bitter pill to swallow. No wonder they mocked!”

And this is nothing new, is it?

As D. A. Carson notes, the very first objection to God’s revelation in the Bible is found in Gen. 3 when Satan tells Eve that if she eats of the forbidden fruit there will be no judgment. “You will not surely die!” he scoffingly says.

Christians cannot afford to be the equivalent of the present culture’s “snowflakes”, who melt at the hot breath of anyone who contradicts, voices a contrary opinion or scoffs.

We’re soldiers, not sissies.

3. (4-7) Don’t buy the Scoffer’s Logic – “They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

Jesus said He was returning soon – and how much time has passed? they ask.

If there hasn’t been any final judgment up until now, what makes you think there will ever be one?

Look carefully at Peter’s 3-fold response to this line of reasoning.
1. They deliberately ignore the fact that God has judged before on a major scale – in the Flood.
2. They deliberately ignore the fact that God waited a LONG time before sending the Flood / as He did with Sodom & Gomorrah; the Canaanites: Gen. 15:13-16; and Israel and Judah themselves.
3. They deliberately ignore the prophetic warnings from the OT prophets, Jesus & the Apostles that a fiery judgment is to come.
Psalm 50:3–4 “Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest. He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:”

Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for me,” declares the LORD, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.”

Mal. 4: 1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”

Matthew 3:11–12 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

2 Thessalonians 1:6–10 “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”

Hebrews 10:23–27 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

God by His Word created the world

By his Word of judgment flooded the world

And by His Word of judgment will destroy it a final time by fire.

Rejecting these realities lulls people into a false sense of security regarding their own sins. They do not admit a day of final reckoning.

Now some may quibble over whether or not LITERAL fire is meant here like the literal water in the flood. And I don’t care whether you take it literally or metaphorically – the idea is the same: God is going to test everything and only what can withstand subjection to His holy presence will remain. Every impurity, everything temporary, everything that is not weighty and valuable weighed in the scales of God’s holiness and eternity with be utterly and completely purged away.

4. (8-9) Don’t count the Lord’s patience, as indifference – “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

The 1000 year reference here is not meant as a tool for calculations.

Rather, it is simply to awaken us to the fact that the Lord is not bound by time the way we are. That as an eternal being, such constraints need to be set aside.

And so, we need to let Him work His work in relation to His purposes and wisdom, and not according to the way we might conceive of “soon” and other such wording.

Beware this does not send you down rabbitless holes.

Romans 2:1–5 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

And for you who do not yet know Christ – think of the patience of God in respect to your own life right now.

You have been preserved thus far. You have been exposed to the Gospel once more – that Jesus died for your sins and calls you to Himself – to repent of your self-government against Him and His holiness, and to turn to Him in faith – trusting in His atoning sacrifice at Calvary.

You are still alive to hear this – not because God is pleased with you as you are – but He is exercising Divine patience that you might repent and believe!

Don’t squander this moment! You may well not receive another!

5. (10) Rest Assured – “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”
1. JESUS WILL COME!
2. WILL COME WITHOUT WARNING!
3. WILL COME IN JUDGMENT!
The Believer will be spared, vindicated and rewarded.

But even now, the Believer, having understood justice in light of the Cross, cries out for justice in the whole of God’s universe.

Luke 18:7 “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?”

Revelation 6:9–11 “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”

Believer – Justice WILL come! Every foul deed will find its proper recompense.

And as awful as that will be, yet for those who are in Christ Jesus and pardoned in His blood, we can cry out with John – Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
A Believer’s Confession

March 8th, 2017

Written to be sung to the tune of “Jesus Thy Blood and Righteousness.”

An explanation of why I’ve written this comes at the end.

Lord I confess, you are God alone

Sov’reign o’er all on thine eternal throne

In pow’r creating, in love redeeming

In grace bestowing the faith to believe

Lord I confess, my guilt and my sin

Nought could I do, your favor for to win

By grace you found me, from death you raised me

New life you gave me in Jesus The Son

Lord I confess, Christ Jesus as Lord

Sacrificed Lamb, salvation to afford

Who died on Calv’ry to make atonement

Whose blood alone has sufficed for my sin

Lord I confess, my hope in The Son

Both God and Man, incarnate and to come

Born of the virgin, perfect and sinless

He bore your wrath on the Cross in His death

Lord I confess, both Father and Son

And Holy Spirit, ever three in one

One God eternal and uncreated

Who was and is and forever will be

Throughout Church history, creeds and confessions have persisted as ways of Believers rehearsing, memorizing and expressing essential Biblical truths. And while the great historic creeds – The Apostle’s Creed, the Nicean, Chalcedonian, Athanasian etc., have been preserved and utilized across various traditions – few remain in active use within the weekly worship of the Church.

A few years ago we began using the Apostle’s Creed here as part of our weekly worship – with some slight alteration to strengthen the Trinitarian aspect. This was due to the fact we live in the heart of Mormon country and where there is a strong Jehovah’s Witness influence. Also, with what a appears to be a rising acceptance of “Oneness” Pentecostalism (Modalism) within Evangelicalism (think T. D. Jakes and others for instance) – clear Trinitarian expressions seem to be somewhat up for grabs these days.

More recently we also modified our Creed to expand a bit more on the Holy Spirit – to emphasize the reality of living within the New Covenant.

I’ve also been playing with other ways to cement and make essential Biblical truths more memorable through music. Older hymnody and some of the newer hymns go a long way toward that goal, though they tend not to be intentionally systematic. Hence my first humble contribution to that genre above. If you like it, feel free to use it. I hope it might be both an encouragement and a heartfelt addition to your own worship.
2 Short Communion Poems from Last Lord’s Day

March 7th, 2017

As we gathered around the Lord’s Table last Sunday evening, we spent our time contemplating 1 Tim. 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” – in light of Paul’s examination instructions in 1 Cor. 11 and especially vs. 31 “But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”

How understanding that we stand in perpetual need of His saving grace is so important – that we must keep two massive realities in constant tension: That we ARE sinners ontologically, and, that we HAVE been saved by grace. So we come to the Table in recognition of Christ’s finished work on our behalf, but a work which we stand in perpetual need of. We never get beyond needing Him still.

The 1st of the poems is a short 4 line poem from Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte:

“Thy promise is my only plea,

With this I venture nigh:

Thou callest burden’d souls to Thee,

And such, O Lord, am I.”

The 2nd is one of my own – composed for the service last week:

In this be all our hope and rest

Just Jesus’ blood, and righteousness

We dare not trust our best works done

Or wars with sin we might have won

For all our best is but by grace

The smallest step in this our race

By mercy shown and grace applied

The blood of Christ the Crucified

Let every thought of self-good go

And do not fear to think too low

If His be all your righteousness

No sin’s too black to full confess

His blood suffices all to cleanse

When faith on Him alone depends

In this be all your hope and rest

In Jesus’s blood and righteousness
2 Peter Part 7 / Sermon Notes: Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

February 26th, 2017
2 Peter Part 7

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

A Warning against False Teachers

2 Peter Ch. 2 / Deut. 13:1-15

AUDIO FOR THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND HERE

As we have noted several times since beginning this study, Peter’s letter follows a simple 3-part outline.

Chap. 1 – Nails down the FOUNDATIONS of the Christian life, and how it can be lived out irrespective of our circumstances.

No matter what country we might live in; our economic or social status; our personal challenges in terms of family, health or even what sins we might wrestle with; our life experiences being either difficult or relatively easy; what governmental system we live under or what age or generation we might live in.

These are constants. Foundational realities of who we are in Christ, where God is taking us and how He has provided for us in it all.

Chapter 3 – Keeping the literal, physical return of Jesus to end the age and usher in the fullness of His Kingdom at the forefront or our hope. The promised FUTURE of the saint is paramount.

To not get seduced by the age we live in, nor overly discouraged by the circumstances we might find ourselves in – because it is all temporary and the promise of Jesus’ return and all it entails is absolutely sure. No matter how long He might tarry.

Chap. 2 focuses on the chief danger we will encounter in the intervening age – and that, he posits as the problem of FALSE TEACHERS.

Building off the end of ch. 1 where he was pointing us to the reliability and usefulness of God’s Word and how the prophets of old were moved by the Holy Spirit to give us those documents – he now mentions that even back then, there were false prophets.

Christ having now come, we do not have OT prophets the way Israel had back then, but instead, we have teachers of God’s Word, and their counterpart in our age – FALSE TEACHERS.

As we’ll see, these false teachers of our day follow the same patterns as the false prophets of old.

The Holy Spirit does not address this through Peter alone. When Paul is addressing the Ephesian elders for the last time in Acts 20:28–31 he says: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert,”

Now I am going to attempt something very dangerous this morning – and that is to tackle this entire 2^nd chapter in one sitting – trying to keep with how Peter would have expected to have it read and taken in by his 1^st audience. I don’t want to lose the big ideas in the details.

So if I talk fast and you listen well – I think we can profitably drink in the cup that’s put before us in this 2^nd chapter without discomfort.

In his unique way, Peter unpacks 5 key ideas:
1. The TACTICS False Teachers use
2. The MARKS of False Teachers
3. The DANGERS False Teachers pose
4. The END False Teachers will come to
5. The FAITHFULNESS of God to genuine Believers
1 – As I said already – building off the previous chapter and pointing his readers back to their Bibles Peter needs to warn them and us that: “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you”

By “false teachers”, just as with false prophets, Peter could mean these will claim to BE prophets or teachers from God when they are not, or that they teach false things – or both. The instruction he gives here will deal with both.

I. The TACTICS of False Teachers (4)

TACTIC 1: VS. 1 – Secretly bringing in destructive heresies,

The idea isn’t as much they do this surreptitiously, as more along the lines of simply adding to what has already been established.

Mormonism for example brings in a whole new load of ideas and tries to weld them to extant Biblical truth.

The Watchtower Society does the same.

In both cases, they will appeal to the Bible, but then say “oh, but you can’t know what you REALLY need unless you subscribe to our additives”: The Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, or the teaching of the WatchTower Society.

The Bible isn’t sufficient – you need our added insight, wisdom and revelations.

The Word of Faith movement today does very much the same. You need their revelations on how the universe works – for the Word of God is not sufficient.

They bring in new elements to the established truth which ultimately undermines it.

Deut. 18:20–22 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

Jeremiah 23:25–32 has severe words of warning that reinforce this section powerfully.

TACTIC 2: VS. 13 – They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast WITH you.

False Teachers piggy back off authentic Christianity to steal credibility. They seek to feast WITH the authentic.

TACTIC 3: VS. 14 – they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.

The focus of their teaching is how you can have all you want here and now and how Jesus is the means to it. The embodiment of 1 Timothy 6:3–10 “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”

TACTIC 4: VS. 19 – They promise them freedom,

They deny holiness of life is necessary – since sin is already paid for.

Or – You are free to pursue your dreams, and get God to go along, without regard for HIS plans and purposes. He is there to serve you, not you created to serve Him.

II. The MARKS of False Teachers (5)

MARK 1: VS. 1 – even denying the Master who bought them,

Deut. 13:1-15 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing YOU, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. MARK 2: VSS 3 & 14-16 – 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words.

“They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”

[VIDEO] I want to speak carefully, but clearly here – teachers like Kenneth Copeland, Frederick K. C. Price, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Mike Murdock, Joyce Meyer, Paula White and others of that ilk are not only trained in greed – they specialize in it, promote it and lead the children of God astray in legions by means of it. They signally bear this corrosive and defiling mark. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. Their entire ministries are built upon this principle of greed.

MARK 3: VSS. 10 & 14 – and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion – 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.

In other words – they deny the bounds of Biblical sexuality. Both in simple promiscuity, and in homosexuality. Many are the leaders today who are now rejecting God’s standard of sexuality and marriage.

MARK 4: VSS. 10-12 & 18 – “and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant,

18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly,

I would point to the same names as mentioned above in this very same regard – who arrogantly preach and teach week after week and brag about their power, accomplishments and spirituality.

Despising – treating lightly: Christ’s authority; the angelic hierarchy (which Jude references in his letter); and Church authority. Any and all authority but themselves. Total autonomy.

MARK 5: VS. 13b – They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime.

They take great pleasure in hosting and calling for banquets and parties and celebrations. They flaunt their so-called prosperity.

Didache – “Teaching of The Apostles circa 120-180 C.E. Chapter 11

Let every apostle who comes to you be received as the Lord. But he shall not remain more than one day. But, if necessary, let him remain a second day. But, if he stays for three, he is a false prophet. And when the apostle departs, let him take only enough bread to last until he reaches shelter; but, if he asks for money, he is a false prophet… But not everyone who speaks in the spirit is a prophet, but only if he follows the conduct of the Lord. Accordingly, from their conduct the false prophet and the true prophet will be known. No prophet who in the spirit orders a meal to be prepared eats of it; but, if he does, he is a false prophet…And, whoever says in spirit: ‘Give me money,’ or anything like it, do not listen to him.”

Francis X. Glimm, “The Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” in The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Francis X. Glimm, Joseph M.-F. Marique, and Gerald G. Walsh, vol. 1, The Fathers of the Church (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1947), 180–181.

“Mayor…Their teaching was flattery; their ambitions were financial; their lives were dissolute; their conscience was dulled, and their aim was deception” Michael Green, 2 Peter and Jude: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 18, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 117.

III. The DANGERS of False Teachers (6)

DANGER 1: VS. 2 – “And many will follow their sensuality,”

Teaching people God is here to cater to their desires and lusts and earthly pleasures.

DANGER 2: VS. 2 – “and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.” Following Christ as THE TRUTH in holiness is brought into disrepute because Christians just want Jesus to get more of the World!

DANGER 3: VS. 3 – “And in their greed they will EXPLOIT you with false words.” The greed in their ministries will invent countless ways to bleed your finances off into their own.

DANGER 4: VS. 17 – “These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.” They can contribute nothing of true blessing to the soul . They claim to be fountains, but are in fact waterless – devoid of the Holy Spirit.

DANGER 5: VS. 18b – “They entice unsteady souls.” Their craftiness SEEMS so spiritual – but it moves people away from what we read in the 1^st chapter, to ancillary and arcane matters.

IV. The END of False Teachers

END 1: VS. 1e – bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

END 2: VS. 3b – Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

END 3: VSS. 12-13 – will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing.

END 4: VS. 17b – For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

END 5: VS. 19c – For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

END 6: VSS. 20-22 – For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Herein is such a powerful warning.

Their 1^st state was merely lost – after judgment -they are eternally and irreversibly condemned.

There are those aplenty who profess to know and love and serve Jesus Christ – who for a while seem to follow Him and His Church, but who in the end prove to be anything BUT His.

Matthew 7:21–23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

The last sentence is so revealing isn’t it?. Note the Proverb’s pronouncement – these were “washed” in some sense, but they were never changed!

They remained “dogs” – an OT euphemism for the unredeemed – those outside of God’s covenant, no matter what they professed.

They remained “sows” all along, no matter how cleaned up they appeared to be for a time.

There was no new birth.

They never became the New Creations in Christ of 1 Cor. 5 and Galatians Galatians 6:15 “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”

V. The FAITHFULNESS of God to genuine Believers (3)

EXAMPLE 1: VS. 4 – For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Faithfulness to judge evildoers.

EXAMPLE 2: VS. 5 – if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Faithfulness to judge AND preserve

EXAMPLE 3: VSS. 6-9 – if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

Faithfulness to judge and preserve EVEN the most damaged

“Note that God delivers a man ‘out of’ (ek) not ‘away from’ (apo) trials. Christianity is no insurance policy against the trials of life. God allows them to befall the Christian; he meets us in them and delivers us out of them.” Michael Green, 2 Peter and Jude: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 18, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1987), 125.

The bottom line is – false teachers WILL come into the Church;

they ARE identifiable;

they CAN do much damage;

we ARE to be on the lookout for them;

God WILL judge them;

and in spite of their efforts Christ’s own WILL be delivered.

The true child of God need be aware of the danger, while also being secure in the love of Christ. So Jesus would warn us: Matthew 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

But how He has provided to preserve His own even in the face of such great deception.
3 Insightful snippets from Newton’s Cardiphonia

February 25th, 2017

In a letter to a woman with whom Newton shares a common acquaintance, who differs from them both on some serious areas of doctrine: “An experimental knowledge of Jesus, as the deliverer from sin and wrath, and the author of eternal life and salvation to all who are enabled to believe, is a sufficient ground for union of heart: in this point, all who are taught of God are of one mind. But an eager fighting for or against those points which are usually made the subjects of controversy, tends to nourish pride and evil tempers in ourselves, and to alienate our hearts from those we hope to spend an eternity with. In heaven we shall neither be Dissenters, Moravians, nor Methodists; neither Calvinists nor Arminians; but followers of the Lamb, and children of the kingdom. There we shall hear the voice of war no more.”

On being in unavoidable circumstances which are not the most desired for spiritual growth – like being employed all day among unbelievers: “Now, if I find myself in the midst of things disagreeable enough in themselves to the spiritual life; yet if, when the question occurs, What dost thou here? my heart can answer, I am here by the will of God; I believe it to be, all things considered, my duty to be here at this time, rather than elsewhere. If, I say, I am tolerably satisfied of this, then I would not burden and grieve myself about what I cannot avoid or alter, but endeavour to take all such things up with cheerfulness, as a part of my daily cross; since I am called, not only to do the will of God, but to suffer it: but if I am doing my own will rather than his, then I have reason to fear, lest I should meet with either a snare or a sting at every step.”

In a letter filled with profuse congratulations over his friend’s recent marriage (a young woman), Newton also includes a warning not to place so much emphasis on the joys of marriage, that she forget these are blessings blessings from God, but at that, temporal. “But, alas! we are poor creatures, prone to wander, prone to admire our gourds, cleave to our cisterns, and think of building tabernacles, and taking our rest in this polluted world. Hence the Lord often sees it necessary, in mercy to his children, to embitter their sweets, to break their cisterns, send a worm to their gourds, and draw a dark cloud over their pleasing prospects. His word tells us, that all here is vanity, compared with the light of his countenance; and if we cannot or will not believe it upon the authority of his word, we must learn it by experience.”

What a word to so many who would imagine their true happiness to be found only in one of the temporal relationships God grants us here and now in spouses, friends and even children. How quickly we can turn His gifts into idols.
Some choice snippets from Newton’s Cardiphonia

February 22nd, 2017

In a letter to a suffering friend, where he first notes:

“But my compassion, though sincere, is ineffectual: if I can pity, I cannot relieve. All I can do is, as the Lord enables me, to remember you both before him.”

Then he adds:

“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust him for his grace:

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.”

Later in that same letter: “Oh, if we could always behold him by faith as evidently crucified before our eyes, how would it compose our spirits as to all the sweets and bitters of this poor life! What a banner would it prove against all the snares and temptations whereby Satan would draw us into evil; and what a firm ground of confidence would it afford us amidst the conflicts we sustain from the working of unbelief and indwelling sin!”
Sermon Notes – 2 Peter Part 6: A More Sure Word of Prophecy

February 19th, 2017
2 Peter Part 6

The More Sure Word of Prophecy

2 Peter 1:16-21 / Luke 9:28-36

So far in this passage, Peter has opened up some amazing ideas for his first readers and for us.

Vs. 1 – The average Believer trusting Christ alone for their salvation, has a faith of equal standing with the Apostles.

Vs. 2 – That grace and peace can be multiplied in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. It need not remain stagnant but can grow and blossom.

Vs. 3 – That God has called Believers to His own glory & excellence.

Vss. 3 & 4 – That God has already granted Believers what is necessary to enter into His own glory and excellence in making us partakers of the divine nature through the Holy Spirit.

Vs. 8 – That as Believers grow in these things we can have an eternal impact on the souls of others while enjoying more and more fruit of these glories in ourselves.

Vs. 10 – That Believers can gain more and more victory over sin.

Vs. 11 – That the growing Believer can anticipate not just Heaven, but a rich or lavish entrance into the eternal Kingdom.

All this Peter argues – for a group of dispossessed refugees in the hostile backwater of the persecuting and rejecting Roman empire.

All this, for marginalized, troubled and persecuted Christians in every age and under all different circumstances.

All this, for even you and me – if we are truly Christ’s.

And as is often the case with the announcement of grace in the Gospel and the goodness of God toward sinful men – some would think it too good to be true.

And enemies of the Gospel would reinforce that notion – telling us that all these things are mere myths. All bogus and invented by wicked people to gain power and prestige.

To which attacks, Peter feels the need to respond head on – which form the substance then of vss. 16-21.

At that, Peter is especially sensitive to address the last portion he had mentioned – the promise of Heaven.

In our own generation – where philosophical materialism rules the day – where human beings are considered mere cosmic accidents, with no lives of meaning or purpose outside of ourselves, and the assumption that everything and everyone just lives and then dies and that’s it – don’t notions of Heaven smack of infantile fairy tales and uneducated pipedreams?

Worse yet, look at the outworking of radical Islam, where people commit the most heinous and atrocious acts of terrorism and violence, all to try and achieve some sort of orgiastic afterlife? Aren’t all such notions just fuel for the ignorant and imbalanced to excuse their hatred?

To which Peter gives an immediate and emphatic NO!

A 2-fold response which cements the certainty of the Believer in this regard – in a most wonderful foundation.
1. 2 Peter 1:16-18 “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.”
“We” – Me and the rest of the Apostles, we didn’t come preaching to you stuff we just heard from someone else – we have 1^st hand experience having spent more than 3 years with Jesus AND, we were eyewitnesses of the coming glory of Christ Jesus when we were with Him on the mount of transfiguration.

Peter, James and John that day saw a glimpse of the glory that is yet to be ours when Jesus returns. And had been forever changed by it!

We had the portion read for us out of Luke 9, and it does not paint the flattering picture of a Peter who would be looking to gain power and prestige in the eyes of others.

In fact, it is noted in each of the accounts – that he was so stunned and overcome, he made the utterly foolish pronouncement: “Let us build 3 tabernacles, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” At which point, God the Father rebukes him out loud, and even his biographer Luke says Peter didn’t know what he was saying! (Luke 9:33)

We saw this – Peter says. We were eyewitnesses of His majesty. We saw the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To which we all must bear in mind that having the Gospels written and circulated in the Churches, would have easily opened up Peter and the rest to charges of fabrication. But none emerge in the literature of the day.

The same way Paul when defending himself before King Agrippa in Acts 26 can appeal to common knowledge about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus by saying “these things weren’t done in a corner.” You can check out the witnesses. Like the more than 500 who saw Jesus post resurrection Paul refers to in 1 Cor. 15.

So let me tell you about the glory to come says Peter – I saw it. You know me. You’ve known my life and my ministry. You know the lives and ministries of James and John too. And we SAW IT! We were eye witnesses.
1. BUT! There is even something better than our eyewitness testimony.
And this is where it gets rich.

Yes, we saw this and you have believed our testimony, but: 2 Peter 1:19–21 “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, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 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.”

Yes, we saw and heard that day – but we have something better than our personal experience and eyewitness testimony – We have the “prophetic word” – the Old Testament. And that, more fully confirmed than even our eyewitness account.

And it is THIS – the Word of God which YOU do well to pay attention to as a lamp shining in a dark place, until that day when He returns and you receive the fullness of what has been promised.

Why does Peter place such exceeding stress on the Scriptures, on the Old Testament and its prophecies above even his own experience?

Because it is MORE confirmed.

How so? Because the OT prophecies were not private oracles but public, and affirmed by the entire Jewish nation.

And, those prophecies prove to have come by the Holy Spirit in their fulfillment.

Archdeacon Farrar wrote: “And still stronger is the surety we have in the prophetic word”…“Why more sure? Because wider in its range, and more varied, and coming from many, and bringing a more intense personal conviction than the testimony to a single fact.”
1. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 2 Peter, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 9.
One of the marks of true Biblical witness is that we tell people, look, don’t believe me – go to the Scriptures!

Experiences can fade over time. They can be embellished, or even lose detail. But the Word of God abides.

It can be checked and re-checked. Consulted and re-consulted. And, it is actually written so as to be scrutinized this way.

If you want a fun exercise sometime, a true, faith building and faith cementing activity – just scan the Gospels for the number of times the writers note specifically how Jesus in His acts and words fulfills specific prophecy.

Let’s just take Matthew in a very rapid survey this way.

1 – Matthew 1:22–23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

2 – Matthew 2:5–6 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

3 – Matthew 2:14–15 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

4 – Matthew 2:16–18 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

5 – Matthew 2:23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

6 – Matthew 3:1–3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”

7 – Matthew 4:12–16 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

8 – Matthew 8:16–17 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

9 – Matthew 11:7–10 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

10 – Matthew 12:15–21 Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

11 – Matthew 13:13–15 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

12 – Matthew 13:34–35 All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

13 – Matthew 21:1–5 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’ ”

14 – Matthew 26:30–31 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

15 – Matthew 26:53–54 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

16 – Matthew 26:55–56 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

17 – Matthew 27:6–10 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”

You read all of these, and haven’t even ventured on passages like Gen. 3 and the prophecy that that Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head; or Psalm 22 with its “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me” – “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet— I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”

Nor have we noted Isaiah 53’s “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”

There are literally hundreds of others we could point to – without yet mentioning all of the types and shadows locked up in the imagery of the High Priest; the prophet like Moses yet to come; all of the sacrifices typifying His atoning death; the promise of Pentecost fulfilled and His resurrection and so on.

Believe or don’t believe my eyewitness account – but believe your Bible and the overwhelming prophecies that demonstrate Jesus was the promised Messiah, and that the Heaven He promised therefore must be an absolute certainty and worthy of all we might suffer here in the meantime.

And so we say all the things mentioned in the first part of the chapter have their root in Christ – who fulfilled all, and cannot lie.

God has provided for an enduring and verifiable and complete record upon which to base our faith.

And might we add here that Peter’s admonition in this regard demonstrates for us why we are to base our knowledge and conclusion about spiritual things on the Word – even above our OWN experiences.

For the very same reasons Peter points us to the Scriptures. Experiences can fade, can lose detail and can be misinterpreted. But the Word – it remains – and can be put to the test and read and studied over and over until misinterpretations fade more than our memories.

All of this then leaves us with this wonderful reality: How great, how stupendous, how glorious is God’s love for His people – that He has prepared and preserved this Word for us throughout the centuries – that we might KNOW, with an absolute knowing the glories and truth of Christ.

Newton: “Let us adore him for his love, that love which has a height, and depth, and length, and breadth, beyond the grasp of our poor conceptions; a love that moved him to empty himself, to take on him the form of a servant, and to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; a love that pitied us in our lost estate, that found us when we sought him not, that spoke peace to our souls in the day of our distress; a love that bears with all our present weakness, mistakes, backslidings, and shortcomings; a love that is always watchful, always ready to guide, to comfort, and to heal; a love that will not be wearied, cannot be conquered, and is incapable of changes; a love that will in the end prevail over all opposition, will perfect that which concerns us, and will not leave us till it has brought us perfect in holiness and happiness, to rejoice in his presence in glory. The love of Christ: it is the wonder, the joy, the song of angels; and the sense of it shed abroad in our hearts makes life pleasant and death welcome. Alas! what a heart have I that I love him no better! But I hope he has given me a desire to make him my all in all, and to account every thing loss and dross that dares to stand in competition with him.

John Newton and Richard Cecil, The Works of John Newton, vol. 2 (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 180–181.