A Light In The Darkness

OPEN: I have a quiz for you this morning. I’m going to give you 10 different quotes and then ask you if the phrase if from the Bible or not

1. "To the victor go the spoils." (False—This was written by William Learned Marcy in his Life of Jackson.)

2. "Can a leopard change his spots?" (True—See Jeremiah 13:23.)

3. "A heart of gold." (False—However, the concept is there in verses such as Proverbs 17:3 that speak of gold refining as a symbol of heart purity.)

4. "The blind leading the blind." (True—See Luke 6:39.)

5. "Money is the root of all evil." False—But this is another trick question. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil."

6. "The serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the apple." (False—Genesis 3 only says that they ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge.)

7. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." (True—While many people attribute this to Abraham Lincoln, who did say it in a speech about the Civil War, Jesus said this first in Mark 3:25.)

8. "Robbing Peter to pay Paul." (False—In spite of the biblical names, this isn’t in Scripture. But you may recognize a name associated with an early reference of this phrase. It appeared in Wycliffe’s Select English Works in 1380, just a few years before he published the first English Bible.)

9. "No man is an island." (False—John Donne wrote this in the 15th century.)

10. "Flies in the ointment." (True—See Ecclesiastes 10:1, KJV.)

Most people may not know that many of the phrases they use in everyday conversation come from the Bible:

"In the twinkling of an eye" (I Cor. 15:52)

"Den of thieves" (Matthew 21:13)

"Keep the faith" (2 Tim. 4:7)

"A stone’s throw" (Luke 22:41)

"Old wives’ tale" (1 Tim. 4:7)

"Drop in the bucket" (Isa. 40:15)

"Apple of his eye" (Deut. 32:10)

"No rest for the wicked (Isa. 48:22)

APPLY: you might think: that’s all very interesting, but what difference does it make? It might help in Trivial Pursuit, but other than that, why should I care? Well, it points to the fact that the Bible effects our lives - even our everyday conversations - and that’s just when we’re NOT AWARE of it’s influence.

I. Here in 2nd Peter, we’re told how influential God’s word can be

(REREAD II Peter 1:16-19) Why would Peter tell his readers: “We did not follow cleverly invented stories” (vs. 16) and “you will do well to pay attention” (vs. 19)

I get the impression that at one time, Peter didn’t think the Scriptures had much of an effect on his life. All the stories out of the Old Testament were interesting, but how would he know if they were true or not? Before Peter met Jesus, he’d have been a religious enough man, but …crossing the Red Sea, Jericho falling before Joshua, and other stories may have sounded like fairy tales to him. He was a roughhewn fisherman with little need for pleasant distractions.

BUT THEN, Peter met Jesus - and all that changed. This Jesus taught like no had before, He fed thousands with just a little food, He healed the sick and He raised the dead… It was enough to make even/ most hardened fisherman turn about & take notice.

But one event really got Peter attention and appears to have been a pivotal influence on his life. Jesus took James, John… and Peter up on the mountain to pray. AND, while they were there…

“As (Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.

Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters— one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ (He did not know what he was saying.)

While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.’

When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.” (Luke 9:29-36)

As Peter is writing this letter (called 2nd Peter) he tells his readers – THIS was a major event in his life. He implies that before this, Scripture may have had little impact on his life, but now Peter was convinced that the Old Testament was not a bunch of stories for children…