We're reading from 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16 through to 2, end of chapter 2.
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming
! But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic
glory, saying, This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased.
We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention
to it, as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your
hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's
own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God
as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets amongst the people,
just as there will be false teachers amongst you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies,
even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with the stories they have made up.
Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons
to be held for judgment. If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its
ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others. If he condemned
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going
to happen to the ungodly. And if he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the filthy
lives of lawless men. For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his
righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue
godly men from trials, and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their
punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature,
and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings.
Yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations
against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not
understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed,
and like beasts, they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes,
reveling in their pleasures and while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop
sinning. They seduce the unstable. They are experts in greed and a cursed brood. They have left the straight
way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
But he was rebuked for his wrongdoing by a donkey, a beast without speech, who spoke with a man's voice
and restrained the prophet's madness. These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm.
Blackest darkness is reserved for them. For they mouth empty, boastful words and by appealing to the
lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in
error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity. For a man is a slave to
whatever his has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they
were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness
than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
Of them the proverbs are true. A dog returns to its vomit and a sow that is washed goes back to her
wallowing in the mud. Well good morning everyone.
Will you pray with me as we come to God's word?
Heavenly Father, whether we are new to the faith or been walking for many years, we all need to
be reminded and be further convinced of the truth and goodness of your word.
I pray this morning that you would do just that for each one of us by your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Well the Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain and infallible rule of all saving knowledge,
faith, faith and obedience. So says the 1689 Baptist Confession along with every reformed
confession that biblical churches agree to.
Now I don't think it's enough to simply tick the box that you intellectually agree with that statement.
I think we need to be persuaded deep in our hearts that this is really, really good news.
Why is it a good thing that the Bible is our only authority?
Now who likes talking about authority over you?
Like we are creatures of our culture, I suppose, ever since the fall.
No one has wanted to think about authority over us.
Why is it a good thing?
Let's compare it to something else that could be our authority.
Why can't our feelings inside be our authority?
Now there's a pastor, Tim Keller, he gives two helpful thought experiments.
Here's the first one.
Your 18-year-old self looked at your 14-year-old self as pretty foolish, making some poor choices.
But then your 30-year-old self looks at your 18-year-old self as pretty foolish and making some poor choices.
Like I thought it was a great idea putting a loud muffler on my car.
I thought I was really cool and annoying my neighbours to no end.
I regretted that by the time I was 30.
Now it might slow down a bit, but your 50-year-old self looks at your 30-year-old self.
Some of those choices you thought you were pretty certain about, you deeply regret now.
Now whatever age you are in the room right now, here's what you can know.
You're making foolish choices.
Our feelings, our intuitions let us down just a few years ago.
Here's the second thought experiment.
There's a man in a traditional honour and shame culture and he looks at his feelings and he's got two really strong feelings.
One is when people wrong him, he feels aggression.
How dare you do that?
I'm a man of honour and that's a good thing.
I should protect my honour and dignity.
But then there's these sexual desires that don't fit with the expectations and he suppresses that.
That's not me.
Now there's another man with the exact same desires living in our culture.
However, he looks at his aggression when people wrong him and he goes to see a counsellor.
I need help with anger management.
And he looks at his sexual desires and goes, that's me.
I'm going to embrace that.
We all are creatures of our culture is the point of that thought experiment.
The point of this is we all have authority.
We're all living under authority.
No one is their own authority.
If it's your feelings, they were unreliable just a few years ago.
And you accept or reject some of those feelings based off the culture around us often.
But we're often blind how much we're doing that.
Our social environment is controlling us.
That's why it's really good news that we have the Holy Scriptures.
Verse 19 of chapter 1 says,
It is a lamp shining in a dark place.
There's a darkness even in our desires sometimes.
There's a darkness in the environment, in the world we live in.
And we have a light.
We'd be lost without this light.
Now the day when Jesus returns, all our doubt, any doubt we have, all the uncertainty, all the wrong influences will be gone.
We are living in a time of current darkness.
But Peter's saying the person who looks to the Word of God, the morning star appears in their hearts.
Like Venus coming up just before the dawn.
That day, that shining day, the dawn, is already having an impact inside you.
That first light is shining if you love the fact that the Bible is God speaking to you.
Nothing will more directly impact the way you and I live than what role the Bible has in your life.
The reliability of the Bible, we're given two sets of sources here in these verses.
Verse 16 to 21.
That we can know for sure that the Bible is God speaking.
We've got the apostles, the eyewitnesses of Christ's glory and his resurrection.
And we've got the Old Testament prophets.
When they spoke, it wasn't their opinion.
They were carried along by the Holy Spirit, by God himself.
This isn't just Peter's view.
This is Jesus' view of the Bible.
Jesus doesn't believe in red-letter Bibles.
Now, if you've got a red-letter Bible, that's not my main point.
But you can't go, oh, when God spoke on Mount Sinai, that's in red.
And then this part, I suppose, is Mark.
This one's Luke talking.
This one's Moses.
He didn't do that.
Jesus quotes Genesis about marriage.
We looked at this last year.
He quotes a comment by Moses.
It's just an editorial comment.
It says, God instituted marriage.
He sees all of it as red-letter.
More than that, he based his entire life on the Bible.
When he was tempted in the wilderness, how did he fight that temptation?
It is written.
He based his entire life.
When he's dying on the cross, the darkest moment in his life, what is he thinking about?
He's quoting some.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
This is Jesus' view of the Bible.
He based his entire life on it.
Now, there's some inside the church that Peter is writing to who are rejecting the apostles and prophets.
Now, in particular, they're rejecting the idea that Jesus is coming back to judge.
We see that in verse 16.
The power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When Peter, James, and John were up the mountain, the mountain of his transfiguration,
they heard the voice with their own ears,
this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.
They saw his face shine brighter than the sun.
And that reminds us of Moses when he met with God.
Moses' face shone, but it was reflected glory.
And it faded.
Whereas Jesus' face, it was permanently glorious.
It was intrinsic to who he is.
It's that divine majesty is in the person of Jesus.
And Peter said, I saw that with my very eyes.
And the whole world will see that when he comes back.
And this is what the prophet said.
God will come at the end.
God's king will come at the end of history.
God's king will come at the end of the world.
These people were in the church saying, I don't think Jesus is coming back.
Now I doubt anyone in this room is going to be taken in by someone saying, Jesus isn't coming back.
If you heard that, your radar will go, no, that's not right.
but how much in our daily thinking and our outlook on life can you and I just assume
life is going to just go on as it is the sun will rise tomorrow I've got plans for 2027
it's as if we don't believe it we just push it out of our mind
I'm saying we do believe it I'm just saying functionally how much do we think about it
there are websites of churches they will have their statement of faith on their website and
they'll say Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead but week after week
their sermons aren't based in scripture you're not going to hear about sin you're not going to hear
about judgment it's too negative it's too gloomy to talk about such things
the sad thing is you stop talking about judgment and you lose you lose grace as well you lose the wonder
of God's love for us in purchasing us
well in verses one to three of chapter two Peter gives a really quick preview
that the rest of the chapter fleshes out the danger is not coming from outside it is inside
you can see people attacking christianity from the outside of the faith atheists and so on that's easy to spot
but there's a danger inside confessing christians
just like in old testament times there were false prophets who rejected the idea of god's judgment
they preach what people want to hear peace prosperity blessing we should we should expect false teachers
don't be surprised but we should be distressed by it that this happens
now verse one says it's secretly bringing in these destructive teachings
i don't think they're hiding what they're saying
i think they're hiding how much it contradicts with the bible
they are motivated by greed
the scriptures say a lot about leaders
they cannot be in it for shameful gain
Peter says at the end of chapter five speaking to elders
do not appoint someone who's in it for shameful gain
leaders are not to feather their own nests
but these people are motivated by greed
now the impact they have many will follow them
it's going to appeal to the sinful desire to just
don't worry about moral constraints
it's such a positive message
many will follow them
but the impact is destructive the reputation of jesus the reputation of christianity of the church
it'll be brought into disrepute
it'll be blasphemed
and they themselves will be eternally destroyed by god
and it's going to be swift it's certain
it's going to soon take place
this is a strong warning
i don't particularly love
preaching a strong warning
but we need to hear it
peter isn't addressing
sincere believers who disagree on many secondary doctrinal things
and we all come together to search the scriptures
he's not addressing that
he's not talking to people who are struggling with doubt
or struggling with guilt
he's not talking to you
we can apply peter's warning
to people who take half truths
they'll use biblical true language
but they deny the very heart
of christianity
they are leading people to destruction
and they themselves are on their way
to destruction
so verses 4 to 10
it may appear
god is letting them just thrive in the church
like where's the old testament versions of judgment
coming down on these people
it may not look the same
as what it does today
god's judgment
but verses 4 to 10 say
here's what god is ready to do
we've got three examples of what god did in the past
if god did not spare
first we've got angels
who rebelled
and we
to be honest
we don't really know a lot
about that
he didn't even spare angels
who rebelled
if god did not spare
the world in noah's day
but flooded the whole earth
if god did not spare
sodom and gomorrah
when fire came down
you'd expect him to say
he's not going to spare these people
but even peter wants to talk about the positive side
he goes on to talk about noah and lot
keep pursuing righteousness
god kept those who listened to his word
think of noah
it took 120 years before the flood actually came
from the promise of the flood
120 years
you can imagine after 50 years
neighbours are just watching him build that ark
50 years ago god said the flood will come
like not a drop of rain in sight
i could think of a better way
to spend a sunday morning
than what we're doing now
let's go to the beach
let's sleep in
he preserved noah though
even lot
in sodom
now that's surprising
lot
he's very compromised
he didn't
do a lot
to speak against his culture
but
peter the apostle says
he was deeply distressed
the immorality around him
still shocked him
that's one of the
that's a mark
of true belief
you're not fully compromised
you may not be doing much about it
now we should be doing more
but
he's deeply distressed
now verse 9 is his conclusion
god is able
to both keep
those who are rebelling against him
under punishment
until that final day of punishment
while at the same time
saving those who are listening to his word
still pursuing righteousness
god can be handing
people over
to their sinful nature
keeping them
ready for that punishment
but don't
follow them
you keep pursuing growth
keep paying attention
to the only light
well that's god's opinion
of these people
and what's going to happen
who are these false believers
verse
second half of verse 10
through to 16
like what
what characterizes them
we've got a twofold description
in the first part of verse 10
the lust
of defiling passions
and they despise
authority
at the end of the letter
he describes them
as lawless
people
that phrase
lawless
kind of
summarizes them
lawless in two senses
they are lawless
in that
god's moral laws
they delight
in disobeying them
and they are lawless
in a deeper sense
in that
they're rejecting
any authority
over them
they're lawless
they're their own law
so in terms of being
their own authority
they are bold
blaspheming
the glorious ones
now it's a bit tricky
to know exactly
what that means
isn't it
it could be
the most obvious
thing of angels
they're somehow
speaking
against angels
but what we do know
is they're
completely pushing
the prophets
and apostles
aside
they're saying
the exact opposite
and they're probably
speaking against
believers
who listen
to these
who take the
bible seriously
they are so bold
in speaking
against
truth
but then the angels
who have more
authority than them
they're even
silent
they just hand
judgment over to
god
god will take
care of it
which just
highlights
how arrogant
and proud
these people
are
that they think
they know
better
not even the
angels will do
that
and then verse
13
nothing shameful
to them
reveling
is usually
at night
time
in the
darkness
because you
want to
cover your
shame
they're
reveling
in the
daytime
they're
open
about
their
immorality
they're
not
convicted
by it
they pray
on
unsteady
souls
either
new
converts
or those
struggling
in life
they're
looking for
what they
can take
from people
not what
they can
give
if they
can get
sex
if they
can get
money
if they
can win
attention
people can
follow their
doctrines
they're open
about this
they're not
ashamed of
it
they are
like the
prophet
Balaam
who was
supposed to
say
and to
stick with
what God
says
don't
deviate
one
inch
but he
was
allured
by what
the world
offers
he wanted
the money
they're
lawless
they openly
don't care
about
God's
morals
and they
boldly
reject
God's
authority
over their
life
they're
lawless
now in
verse 19
we seem
to have
their
slogan
freedom
what a
positive
message
you want
to be
free
freedom
they promise
freedom
but they
themselves
are slaves
of corruption
at the end
of the letter
says that
they're taking
Paul's
letters
and twisting
it
and you
can imagine
them taking
Galatians 5
for freedom
Christ set
us free
stand firm
therefore
don't submit
again to a
yoke of
slavery
get rid of
all these
rules
you're not
under law
but under
grace
who cares
what we do
with the
body
anyways
they just
take a
half truth
it sounds
so
right
but then
they use
it to say
the exact
opposite
of what
the scriptures
are saying
freedom
must be
positive
I was in
a conversation
with two
men
many years
ago
and I
was shut
down
in
well
I suppose
I chose
to be
shut
down
but they
put a
lot of
pressure
on me
because I
was saying
we need
to examine
our motivations
with our
choices
like is it
sinful
motivation
or is it
trying to
please God
and they
just found
that so
negative
they wanted
to focus
on the
victory
of Jesus
let's
just the
delight
the power
think
positive
all this
talk of
sin
and sinful
motives
that's
just
restrictive
that's
let's be
free
let's be
positive
that's
the
Christian
life
now maybe
I want to
concede
maybe I was
too negative
maybe I did
need some
balance
but both
of these
men have
wandered
from the
faith
think
positive
the gospel
is about
freedom
it is
we are
born again
with a new
nature
that delights
in God's
ways now
you're free
to delight
in his
ways now
we are
free from
condemnation
and guilt
and shame
that keeps
us in that
pit of
despair
we're free
from that
pit
it is
about
freedom
we will
one day
be free
of the
presence
of sin
the gospel
is about
freedom
but they
take a
half truth
and say
indulge
the sinful
nature
when it's
really
be free
to
voluntarily
love
one
another
and serve
one
another
now
Peter's
saying
that the
true
state
of these
people
is
obvious
that
whatever
overcomes
a person
to that
he is
enslaved
they're
claiming
to be
saved
by Jesus
they are
enjoying
disobeying
Jesus
and it
shows
they're
persistently
just
enjoying
going
against
what
Jesus
says
it shows
that they'll
never
really
change
deep
down
there can
be an
outward
behaviour
change
for a
time
but deep
down
they haven't
been
changed
and I
think
that's
why he
quotes
the
proverb
in
verse
22
the
dog
returns
to its
own
vomit
it's a
lovely
image
and the
pig
I don't
know how
to say
that word
so I'm
saying
pig
after
washing
herself
returns
to
wallow
in the
mire
those
who know
more
about the
bible
and then
reject it
are even
worse
off
before
they even
knew it
their
fundamental
nature
has never
changed
a dog
or pig
just does
what's
natural
to them
they're
still
enslaved
to their
old
sinful
nature
remember
these are
people
boldly
disagreeing
with the
bible
and
they're
unashamed
of what
they're
doing
the true
picture of
a christian
is a
christian
who
struggles
with their
sin
that's
what
galatians
five
pictures
the
spirit
wages
war
against
the
flesh
the
elect
will
never
be
content
with
their
sin
not
over
a
period
of
time
they
know
god's
call
come
partake
of
my
divine
nature
they
rejoice
of being
washed
in the
blood
of jesus
and they
long
for the
full
day
to
dawn
when
the
presence
of
sin
is
gone
i
think
the
phrase
that
shows
the
extent
of
these
false
believers
is
verse
one
of
chapter
two
even
denying
the
master
who
bought
them
why
does
he
say
it
like
that
peter
knows
they
haven't
been
redeemed
from
their
sinful
nature
why
put
it
like
that
i
think
he's
putting
it
like
that
because
they're
claiming
salvation
in
jesus
there
are
some
who
dare
to
take
the
name
of
christ
as
their
master
but
they
don't
listen
to
his
holy
word
they
claim
his
cross
but
they
deny
the
very
reason
he
shed
his
holy
blood
professor
brian
cox
he
says
there's
about
200
billion
stars
in
the
milky
way
galaxy
each
with
their
own
planets
with
two
trillion
galaxies
and
he
says
i
challenge
anyone
to be
able
to
picture
that
that's
what
we know
so far
one
day
the
majesty
of
the
one
who
created
all
that
is
going
to
come
for
all
to
see
and
he's
going
to
come
in
such
power
that
those
stars
are
going
to
melt
away
in
his
presence
you
don't
treat
someone
like
that
as
your
personal
assistant
where
i
like
that
advice
i
don't
like
that
advice
you
don't
it's
dangerous
if you
can
utter
the
apostles
creed
with
no
feeling
whatsoever
about
what
you're
saying
you
believe
he
ascended
to
heaven
and
is
seated
at
the
right
hand
of
god
the
father
almighty
and
from
there
he
will
come
to
judge
the
living
and
the
dead
you
marvel
at
the
fact
that
such
a
one
would
give
his
blood
to
purchase
you
don't
give
in
to
any
other
voice
even
the
voice
of
your
own
feelings
you
look
to
his
word
even
if
you
don't
understand
it
the
only
light
the
only
light
in
this
dark
time
as
a
church
we
need
to
help
each
other
become
tall
trees
that
are
planted
by
the
word
of
God
with
deep
roots
like
I
remember
the
storms
in
Newcastle
there
was
trees
that
just
easily
blew
over
because
their
roots
weren't
deep
we
need
deep
roots
in
the
Bible
we
need
to
help
each
other
with
that
we
need
to
ground
new
believers
deeply
in
truth
it
is
not
enough
for
people
just
to
walk
in
the
door
we
need
to
know
our
Bibles
we
need
to
help
new
believers
we
need
to
help
our
children
have
deep
roots
in
the
word
when
someone
seeks
your
advice
it
is
not
loving
to
say
follow
your
heart
if
their
heart
if
their
desires
are
contrary
to
seeking
his
divine
nature
it
is
not
loving
it
feels
good
but
it's
not
when
someone
knows
their
Bible
really
well
and
contradicts
the
heart
of
who
Jesus
is
and
the
cross
it's
not
loving
to
be
tolerant
if
they're
making
a
mockery
of
this
glorious
one
and
his
blood
this
master
has
called
us
to
share
in
his
divine
nature
he's
called
us
upward
out
of
the
world
to
share
in
his
light
keep
progressing
keep
pursuing
growth
keep
accessing
his
divine
power
through
his
promises
the
only
light
shining
in
a
dark
place
will
you
pray
with
me
let's
pray
father
we
thank you
that you
love us
enough to
warn us
so that
we're not
taken in
by
some
imitation
we know
that
satan
comes
dressed
in
light
sometimes
so we
thank you
for
your
love
in
warning
us
and we
thank you
most of
all
for
the
blood
of
your
son
cleansing
us
of
all
sin
setting
us
free
from
slavery
to
sin
lord
fill us
with
the
hope
that
one
day
we'll
be
free
from
the
presence
of
sin
father
help us
to
expect
the
coming
of
your
son
in
power
and
glory
and
the
light
that
we
see
we
get
to
share
with
him
help
us
feel
the
wonder
of
that
so
that
we
won't
compromise
and
we'll
keep
progressing
lord
help
us
to
be
a
community
that
truly
loves
one
another
and
pushes
each
other
to
keep
growing
in
your
word
in
season
and
out
of
season
in
Jesus
name
I
pray
amen