Good morning and welcome church, welcome online, good to see you.
My name is Nick, I'm the pastor for discipleship here at St. Paul's.
Lovely to see you.
What did we just experience?
Today we're taking our final step in our season called Your Word is Truth.
And if you're new today or you've missed a week or two,
let me catch you up real quick on what we've heard from God's Word in preaching this term.
Joseph, you might want to turn this down.
I do tend to get a little emotional and louder than that.
There we go, caught me just in time.
Here's where we've been.
The Bible is the truth that interprets the world.
We ought to take it seriously.
It needs nothing added to it.
We need it to discover God.
It's how we see God's glory.
It's clear enough for anyone to see God.
For a child and a university professor.
It reveals eternal past to future reality with complete finality.
And all of it, every word of it, in history and promise and song and poem and wisdom and prophecy,
all intertwined with the journeys of real, broken, fallible children, women and men,
is gathered for us to point us toward one person, Jesus,
who was God and is God.
Jesus is the embodiment of the Bible, called the Word himself,
as the only true, worthy, capable, certain, majestic, authentic, climactic, reigning king
over the kingdom of God that has been forever planned through him and established for him.
So it's not just another book, right?
The Bible is all of that.
And it's a completely new experience that you must have.
And you can't get that experience any other way.
Experiencing the Bible as God intends really matters.
Let's pray.
Lord God, you made the world and all that is in it.
You gave us testimony through the Holy Spirit from witnesses and prophets
who wrote down your works and your words for all people to experience.
Would you help us to see in these words as your spirit carries us along in them?
Help us to see Jesus in Scripture today and light our life by him to guide us on our journey.
Amen.
As a child, my family went on one big holiday to Canada.
I could tell you stories about a bald eagle that flew just over our heads.
It was so big and terrifying.
I felt like cowering, even though it was nowhere near me at the time.
I saw a bear catching a salmon in a river.
I had hot chocolate by a waterfall beside a glacier.
After canoeing across a lake.
A pot of orcas swam along beside our boat.
It was amazing.
And we had a camera with us.
It was one of those old film cameras where you don't ever know if a photo was going to turn out.
You just have the guess of capturing that moment.
But the photos that we caught, even though many of them are very good, they don't tell the whole story of just experiencing the awe and wonder of that place.
Each picture helps tell the story of our trip.
But to truly experience it, you had to be there.
You had to be there.
It's this little phrase that in English that we use to truly experience what happened, you need more than a story.
You need more than a photo.
You'd have to be physically there.
Hearing you had to be there when someone's telling you a story, it's quite isolating.
Often people are using it to say, you weren't there.
The joy or the shock or the gravity of what someone's trying to tell you about that event, it can't be shared in a way that brings us into that experience.
But the Bible is not like that.
As you read its words, even over and over and over again, you experience something that according to 2 Peter is even better than witnessing the history in person.
It's even better than being there.
Because God's speaking these words as we read them.
These words will never leave you empty.
Just fearing that you'd have to be there.
Today's passage is a letter from Peter.
It's his second letter that we have.
And Peter was one of Jesus' closest 12 disciples.
And he wrote this letter to Christians around about 65 AD.
Now, I don't know much about history, but I know that was a really bad guy running Rome at about this time called Emperor Nero.
And he loved killing Christians.
Eyewitnesses to Jesus were being killed and they were dying out.
And in verses 13 to 14, Peter tells us that he fully expected to die soon.
And he would.
He was crucified.
It is said he was hung upside down on a cross for his faith.
And as Peter is writing this, he knows it's going to be his last letter in all likelihood.
It's like his last will in Testament.
So what's in Peter's will?
What does Peter want to communicate to Christians as one last final word?
Is he going to tell a grand story?
Like, ah, you had to be there.
All right, bye.
No, Peter instead is going to explain why we don't need him around.
As we have the scriptures as our eyewitness to the power and majesty of Jesus.
Because in experiencing scripture, we are made to see what Peter saw.
We become eyewitnesses of Jesus ourselves through scripture's words.
Peter is going to explain this to us by, figuratively, he's going to get out one old photo.
One story that his readers would have already heard him tell.
And he's going to say this.
One last time.
Let me just point to this and say, you know what?
This incredible experience that I had is what you'll experience.
And I'm sure of it.
When you open scripture.
So let's see how Peter shares this memory with us.
This little Polaroid from his journey.
Have a look in your Bibles of verse 16.
And if I haven't convinced you or the last few weeks haven't convinced you,
make sure you've got your Bible in your hand in this moment.
Check with me that this is what God says.
Don't just rely on the screen.
I type mistakes all the time.
Verse 16 of 2 Peter chapter 1 says,
For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power,
but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Peter must have been surrounded by sceptical people challenging his stories about Jesus,
even as he shared them as eyewitness testimony, as his proof.
Peter is said to have been the main source for Mark's gospel,
which is one of the four consistent histories of Jesus that we have gathered from many eyewitnesses here in the Bible.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
They're not myths.
And as those gospels will attest to, and Mark as well,
Peter is not clever at all.
He almost laughed.
I imagine Peter laughing in that verse that we just read.
At the idea that he would be clever enough to make up everything that he said happened.
How could he make up something so wonderful?
So he one last time testifies to the power and majesty of Jesus.
And Peter shares the testimony of God himself.
So let's have a look at the next verse there.
Verse 17.
If you've ever read the gospels,
you might be aware of the little photo that Peter's pulled out here.
Do you know what memory he's pointing us to?
He wants us to remember a moment,
as if we've already heard it,
because he's already told the people who he's writing to,
about what we now call the transfiguration,
which is recorded in three of the four gospels.
And one is in Mark chapter 9.
So I'm going to actually show you what this photo is.
I'm going to describe this memory to you,
as Peter told it to Mark.
Here's what happened.
Jesus took Peter,
James and John with him and led him up a high mountain where they were all alone.
There he was transfigured before him.
His clothes became dazzling white,
whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.
And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses,
who were talking with Jesus.
Then a cloud appeared and covered them.
And a voice came from the cloud.
This is my son,
whom I love.
Listen to him.
Suddenly,
when they looked around,
they no longer saw anyone except Jesus.
The Lord God himself,
and Moses and Elijah,
and Peter,
James and John,
and Jesus together testify that Jesus is God's son,
the Messiah.
So here's why I think Peter shares with us,
and with everyone who reads this,
that one memory.
Jesus was witnessed to by Moses and Elijah.
The Old Testament was summarized in Jewish tradition as the law and the prophets.
The law and the prophets.
The champions,
or the main characters,
or the most memorable characters of those two sections were Moses and Elijah.
And in this moment,
Peter was showing us that their presence on the mountain of transfiguration
confirmed Jesus is the Messiah,
the man those two men had personally written about and hoped for.
And figuratively,
the law and the prophets that they represent,
the whole Old Testament,
is there,
figuratively,
witnessing to Jesus in that moment.
All the fulfillment of the promises of the entire Old Testament,
pointing to Jesus and saying,
listen to him as you've listened to us.
It is their witness,
their original prophetic message,
that has led Peter to share this memory in his last will with us in particular.
So let's have a look at verse 19.
Again,
we also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable,
and you will do well to pay attention to it.
It is as if Peter's held up this photo,
this memory,
and he's taken you through it.
He's pointed you one more time,
just last thing,
just remember this thing that happened to me.
And then he says this,
as I put this photo down,
pick your Bible up.
As I leave,
pick up Scripture.
In here is a clearer moment,
a clearer picture
of what I've just described,
what I got to see with my own eyes.
It's clearer in there.
The original language is even stronger,
and I've highlighted it on the screen for you,
because a better translation of verse 19,
which happens to be in the ESV
and some of the other translations,
Peter actually says,
we have something more sure,
the prophetic word.
More sure than even being there,
or hearing from Peter,
is what God does
through the prophetic word.
Now,
Peter here is talking about part of the Old Testament,
talking about the Old Testament Scripture,
when he explains how God worked to create it.
In the past,
God never left people
to create their own interpretation of him,
based on the world around them,
in verse 20.
Have a look there in verse 20,
you might see that there.
Or by their own thought or will,
in verse 21.
But these more sure Scriptures
came directly from God himself.
Peter is connecting God's own testimony
that he heard from heaven about Jesus
with God's words spoken through the pages
of the law and the prophets.
These are one continuous testimony.
God testified through the Old Testament this way.
In verse 21,
Peter says,
prophets, though human,
spoke from God,
as they were carried along
by the Holy Spirit.
I read this week that
we can think
of this like
sailing.
Ever been sailing?
Ever been at the beach
and had the urge to go sail?
Let me try and put you in that place.
Imagine
a calm ocean
beside a small town.
You look out to the ocean
and you see the water surface
darken and shiver,
showing where the wind
is moving.
There's a boat
on the shore
with a mast.
It's begging you
to push it out
into the ocean.
As you
break through the waves
with it,
you see an island
out to sea.
You're kicking a snorkel around
in the bottom of the boat.
And then as you look,
you see dolphins
just turning the corner
around the point
ahead of you
and away
out of sight.
What do you need to do
to experience
sailing in this moment?
Because frankly,
that boat's not going to move you.
Once you get in it,
you're just going to sit there
and it's going to be
a real dull experience.
What do you need?
You need to set a sail.
If you raised a sail
on that mast,
turned it to catch
some breeze,
the boat would move along
against the current
and you'd steer it on
by the strongest wind
and you'd sail
wherever that wind
might send you
and go with it
where you could not go
without it.
Scripture is like sailing.
People wrote
what the wind,
figuratively,
but the wind of the Spirit
gave them.
As they were blown along,
carried by the Holy Spirit,
they yielded their sail,
themselves,
to its direction.
They didn't swim.
They didn't get out there
with their hands
and try and push themselves along.
They yielded to the wind
of the Holy Spirit.
Because they wrote
God's words for us
in this way,
our experience
in reading those same words,
in our experience,
we're blown along
by the same Spirit.
It's like we've caught
the same breeze.
We're carried along
as sailors
towards God's destination
for us
and as we've heard
this season,
all the wind blows
toward Jesus.
Peter is more sure
that God will speak
to readers of Scripture
through the Holy Spirit
than having to be there
to witness Jesus.
Does that make you
think of anyone?
It makes me think
of doubting Thomas.
Does anyone remember Thomas,
the poor guy
who has doubting
forever in front of his name?
He was a disciple
who wasn't there
when Jesus first
appeared to the disciples.
And when they told him
about it,
he didn't believe it.
But when Jesus
did appear to him,
immediately he says,
my Lord
and my God.
Seeing was believing.
Then Jesus says,
because you have seen me,
you have believed.
But blessed are those
who have not seen
and yet have
believed.
Peter is saying this morning,
if you open this,
you get to see.
the blessing of God
is received by those
who open Scripture
and see Jesus revealed.
Lord and God,
powerful and majestic.
Even though we did not
see him like Peter
and Thomas in Scripture,
we really can see.
And Scripture does not stop
with the law
and the prophets.
Peter is not just talking
about an Old Testament
experience.
and here's how I know that.
Peter wrote later
in this letter
in chapter 3.
We were in chapter 3
as a community group
this week
of 2 Peter.
He writes actually there
about Paul's letters.
Because people around
Peter and Paul
both at the time,
they were twisting
their words
to try and prove them
as wrong
or try and prove Jesus
as just another man.
And people were doubting
and twisting Paul's words
as they were doing that.
They were denying Jesus' power
and majesty.
And Peter says something
amazing here.
He says in verse 16
that those who twist
Paul's words
also twist
the other Scriptures.
Did you just catch that?
Peter just equates
the Old Testament,
the Scriptures of God
with Paul's letters.
Even the earliest teaching
of the church
that was coming
from the mouths
of the apostles
in these letters
was expected
to be as powerful
to Christians
as the Old Testament,
as eyewitness testimony,
as all the Scriptures.
He applies
in our passage today,
verse 21,
to Paul
as one
who spoke from God
as if they were carried
along by the Holy Spirit.
Testimony validates Jesus.
The prophetic word
witnesses Jesus.
Scriptures validate
other Scriptures.
It's the testimony
of the apostles too
that were part
of the Holy Spirit's work.
They were all inspired
by the Spirit of God.
They are trustworthy.
And likewise,
as they were inspired,
as their sails
were filled,
so are ours
as we experience
the Bible.
That experience
as we see Jesus
through Peter's testimony
and Mark,
his reminders
in his letters
and Paul's letters
and the other Gospels
and the Old Testament
and everything in here
changes life
for us.
And Peter says
that opening Scripture
in verse 19
is like
is the experience.
Here's why I said
when Merle had finished
her reading,
what have we just experienced?
This is what Peter thinks
we've just experienced.
A light shining
in a dark place.
To truly be
ever in the dark,
pitch dark,
is terrifying.
I heard a true story
this week.
There were war planes
coming back
from a dog fight
in a world war
and they were flying back
over the Atlantic Ocean
trying to land
on their aircraft carrier
but they couldn't see it.
They knew where it was
but they couldn't see it
in the pitch dark
of the night.
and they radioed down
to try and tell
the aircraft carrier
hey can you put the lights on
we don't know where to land.
And the aircraft carrier said
no we can't.
We've got intel
that there's threats
above and below
that if we are seen
they'll shoot us
and we'll sink.
So we can't put our lights on.
They had nowhere to land
and they perished
in the dark waves
of the Atlantic Ocean.
Peter says that
to not open scripture
or pay attention to it
is to keep our eyes
shut to the light
that we need to see
in the darkness
of our world.
Jesus says
in John 8
12
I am the light
of the world.
Imagery of light
in the Bible
usually is pointing us
to Jesus.
If you're a Christian
you might have had
a moment
of seeing that light
for the first time.
When you see Jesus
as Lord and God
like a dawn
of the most wonderful day
you've ever experienced.
Light exploding
over the horizon
into the darkness
of your life
and your mind
and your heart
receive it
and remember it.
Friends
every time
Christians open
scripture
they return
to that source
of light
to enjoy
what they first
eyewitnessed
through the Holy Spirit
in its pages.
And then
the next verse
of John 8
is just astonishing.
It's on the screen
verse 13
the Pharisees challenged him
here you are
appearing as your own witness
your testimony
is not valid.
Oh how wrong
they were.
The Holy Spirit
testifies with Jesus
to the fact
that he is
the light of the world.
All of scripture
God himself
Peter, James, John
they all testify
that Jesus
is the light
of the world.
And if we didn't
need light
if we didn't need
Jesus
if we didn't
need anything
if you didn't
need the experience
of scripture
then the world
wouldn't need Jesus.
You wouldn't need
any of this information.
We wouldn't need
to be here.
We wouldn't need
to open our Bibles.
But we do need it
because this world
is as deep
as darkness
compared to a life
with Jesus.
By his light
we see what is
in the dark
and turn away
and turn to him
for safety
by the light
of the world.
Jesus who said
whoever follows me
will never walk
in darkness
but will have
the light
of life.
He is eternally
committed
to every Christian
to always be
their light.
he stepped
into our
darkness
to lead us
into his
eternal light.
If we're warplanes
in the dark
of the night sky
and there's a threat
to the aircraft
carrier
ship
that's Jesus
he would turn
his lights on
until
verse 19
says
of our passage
today
the day dawns
and the morning
star
rises
in your hearts
for there will
be a day
when Jesus
who is called
the morning star
in the Old Testament
in Isaiah 14
and in Revelation
in chapter 22
when Jesus
will finally come
in the dawn
of an unending
day
Jesus himself
will be
with us.
He will satisfy
the hopes
of every heart
so we will
no longer walk
in darkness
again.
We will not
need our
Bibles
then
but we will
experience
what we now
find in
scripture
truly face
to face
with Jesus
but until
that morning
star rises
until Jesus
comes again
the real sun
rises over
our city
day after
day.
Every day
we have a choice
to turn to the
light of Jesus
in scripture
or not.
So look
back in our
passage today
1 Peter
let's go back
to verse 13
I think it
right to
refresh your
memory
as long
as I
live in
the tent
of this
body
because I
know that I
will soon
put it aside
as the Lord
Jesus Christ
has made
clear to me
and I
will make
every effort
to see that
after my
departure
you will
always be
able to
remember
these things.
Do you see
Peter's hope
for you here
as a Christian
written in
his will
or as
someone who
doesn't yet
follow Jesus
watching what
God is
promising
Christians?
He would
see Christians
as always
able to
remember all
he testified
to and
all scripture's
testimony along
with it so
we can live
life seeing
in the dark.
We can only
keep tiny
fragments of
the wonder of
scripture in
our mind at
any one time.
You might have
remembered the
whole of the
book of
Romans but
there's so
much more
than just
that.
The regular
daily
deliberate
hopeful
Bible reading
was what
people knew
we needed
for life
more than
we needed
him even
though we'd
never seen
a Bible.
His efforts
put words
in our
hands.
He was
killed for
what he
put in
our hands
so we
would always
be reading
and seeing
the light
never blind
in the
dark of
our world.
I left
out two
verses
on purpose
from Peter's
little photo.
I just want
to point to
them as we
finish off
today.
On the
mountain
when that
astonishing
wonderful thing
is happening
and blowing
Peter's mind
Peter piped
up and
said
Rabbi
it's good
for us
to be
here.
Let's
put up
three
shelters
one for
you
one for
Moses
and one
for
Elijah.
He did
not know
what to
say.
They were
so frightened.
Isn't Peter
relatable?
He always
opens his
mouth and
says something
stupid.
But do you
see the word
shelter there
on the
screen?
it's tent
in other
translations.
In the
Greek
original
Greek
it's the
word
tabernacle.
The same
word
Peter uses
to describe
his body
in our
passage
today.
When
Peter dies
he's going
to cast
off his
temporary
shelter
looking forward
to receiving
a glorified
body that
he just
saw Jesus
take on
up the
mountain.
he's
remembering
this stupid
thing that
he said
to Jesus
in that
moment
about
building
tents
for them
to dwell
there
because he
knew he
missed the
point on
that day.
Jesus
had given
up the
glory of
heaven
to take
up this
tent
dwelling
of a
body
so we
could look
forward to
a new
life beyond
our aging
tents.
In
2 Peter
he's now
well into
his 60s
he's facing
execution for
his faith
and he's
probably
chuckling to
himself as
he describes
his own
body as
a tent
because he
discovered that
what he did
in the tent
of his body
on earth
mattered for
eternity
and he
lived boldly
in the
light of
his Lord
Jesus
and Peter
would call
us to
do the
same.
Peter wrote
in this
letter
probably
reflecting on
Moses
words in
Deuteronomy
4 that
would have
been well
known to
those of a
Jewish
background.
Do not
forget the
things your
eyes have
seen.
Let them
fade from
your heart
as long
as you
live.
Experiencing
the Bible
is your
chance to
see Jesus
in a way
more sure
than the
eyewitness
Peter did.
Inspired by
the Holy
Spirit,
Scripture
speaks to
you by
that same
Spirit of
God.
And as we
read,
we see
light that
guides our
way in the
darkness of
this world.
And once
experienced,
the Bible
continues to
light our
journey,
our way
every day
until Jesus
comes back.
So what are
you going to
do with it?
what are
you going to
do with
your Bible?
Maybe
not drop
it.
Is
experiencing
this work
going to
matter to
you?
There are
so many
distractions
here in
the dark.
They want
to pull
your face
away,
to shut
these pages,
to even
forget where
your Bible
is.
And I'm
too often
deceived,
to keep
this word
shut and
on the
shelf
myself.
Don't
listen to
those
distractions.
If you're
one who
has never
seen
Jesus,
open a
gospel.
Get the
word
one-to-one
app,
which is
like a
guided tour
through one
of the
gospels
written
by John,
who's also
there on
the mountain
with Peter,
an eyewitness
to Jesus.
Open the
word to
see the
light that
you need
that shows
Jesus for
who he
really is.
And to
you who
are here
this morning,
who say
you have
seen Jesus
but are
not opening
your Bible,
ask God
for the
desire to
see him.
He will
help you.
Do not
leave your
eyes shut
in the
dark any
longer.
And ask
for help.
staff would
love to
speak to
you today,
anyone wearing
one of
these,
to help
you find,
even though
your lips are
declaring that
you follow
Jesus,
that your
life shows
that you
are also
interested
and desiring
to experience
light in
his word.
Speak to
someone to
help you
shift that
attitude today.
And for
those of
you who
are opening
God's
word,
more often
than not,
four or
more times
a week,
keep reading.
Peter would
have reminded
you that no
matter how
often your
Bible is
opened,
to keep
looking into
the light,
keep seeing
Jesus for
the sake of
defending
Jesus' power
and majesty
like he spent
his life
doing,
for your
own sake
and for
the sake of
those you
live alongside,
at home and
at work or
wherever you
are,
who witness
you living
for Jesus,
testifying to
them in
word and
action,
that he is
the light
of your
world and
theirs.
They can't
see him
without
experiencing
scripture.
So,
ready yourself
to open the
Bible with
others.
God,
it's how we
all can
witness Jesus
in a way
more sure
than we've
witnessed your
changed life
lived in his
light.
Let's ask God
to help us
as we experience
the scripture.
Let's pray.
Lord God,
you know us
and love us.
Thank you for
giving us your
words in the
Bible to
experience the
wind of your
spirit's
guidance,
that help us
see Jesus as
powerful,
glorious,
as your
son,
and reveal
him as
light that
guides us to
life in the
darkness of
our sinful
world.
We are so
imperfect,
just like Peter
was.
Would you
help us to
come to know
Jesus?
Would you
help us to
desire to
experience
scripture every
day?
Would you
help us to
share the
light of
scripture in
our lives,
so that many
of the millions
you love
may experience
seeing Jesus
like Peter
did on that
mountain,
in his
glorious,
gracious
majesty,
forevermore.
Amen.