1. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is GOOD NEWS.
a. It’s not glum news. It’s not ho hum news.
b. It’s GOOD. It’s GREAT! It’s WONDERFUL. It’s AWESOME!
c. The Gospel of Jesus Christ releases a man from the burden of sin. It removes from us the penalties of sin!
Romans 1.16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
NOW, today, right here, in Jesus Christ, a person can have a life of abundance, a life that pleases God.
• We can have the power through His Holy Spirit to obey Him.
• Let’s flip over to 1 Corinthians 15:1ff
SO that now anyone who hears the good news of Jesus Christ, and places their faith in Him… will be saved!
John 3.16-17 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
With that in mind Peter continues in v12…
I. (1:12-15) REMEMBER THESE TRUTHS
1. (12-15) Peter the good teacher
a. As any good teacher would do, Peter uses repetition to make sure we get his point.
b. He says he will remind us always of these things.
c. He says he will stir us up by way of reminder.
d. He says that even as he’s ready to die, he will be careful that we always have a reminder of these things!
NOTE: I Know You know this stuff, Peter says, but I want you to understand it, remember it live it, and pass it on.
APP: Moms… Dads… Teachers… Leaders… anyone who wants to be used in service, this is a very important point…
• The key to ministry is continually reminding folks of things that they already know.
• The FAITH is not that tough. There aren’t that many hard doctrines to tackle.
• It’s really just a simplicity that needs to be repeated!
Dr. Karl Barth was one of the most brilliant Christian intellectuals of the twentieth century. He wrote volume after massive volume on the meaning of life and faith. A reporter once asked Dr. Barth if he could summarize what he had said in all those volumes. Dr. Barth thought for a moment and then said: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."
Because our minds are so carnal…
• We forget the things we should remember…
• And remember the things we wish to forget!
• So then it’s important to say the same things over & over & over again until those we’re teaching are established in them.
WORD ‘ESTABLISHED’ in v12 is literally… ‘to make stable, to place firmly, to make constant.’
• It reminds me that Jesus doesn’t want me to be wishy washy!
• He’s there to establish me in the faith, firmly fixed.
• Let’s flip over to James 1.5-8
II. (1:16-21) RELY ON THESE TRUTHS
1. (16) Eyewitnesses!
a. The ministry of Peter and the other apostles was under attack by many false teachers.
b. They came saying that it was all a bunch of fairy tales.
c. Jesus isn’t coming again, it’s not true.
d. But Peter says…
I DON’T NEED TO follow any fables, I was WITH HIM!
• I HUNG out with Jesus. I ate with him, He taught me.
• I know who He is… He’s Jesus Christ, the Son of God!
• Eyewitness Testimony is always the most convincing!
NOW There was a time when everything clicked for the disciples.
• Peter was in a boat fishing and hadn’t caught anything all night.
• They were frustrated, upset, tired.
• Jesus was on the shore… let’s flip over to John 21:4ff
• But For Peter, I believe it happened much earlier as he mentions it in v17…
2. (17-18) On the Mount of Transfiguration.
a. Peter was there… he saw Jesus transfigured along with Moses and Elijah!
b. Jesus had clothing that was brighter than the sun!
c. I’m sure it made a major impression upon Peter.
d. He saw Jesus in His glory & He heard the Father from heaven…
e. RIGHT THERE he was convinced Jesus was the Messiah!
WELL you might think, I want an experience that that!
• Who wouldn’t? What an awesome experience it was!
NOTE: I’m sure if we were given a choice today between a great experience on the mountaintop OR the Old Testament, most of us would choose to see the Lord glowing & hear the Father speaking.
• But Peter would chose the Word… The Old Testament.
• Notice v19-21… the prophetic word CONFIRMED.
Why would Peter want to have the PROPHETIC WORD instead of some wonderful experience?
• The problem with experiences is that all they produce is a craving for more. They give us the ooohs… & the ahhhs…
• But lack the substance to carry us through.
1 Cor. 1.22-24 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
NOTE: The children of Israel are a great example.
• They saw God part the Red Sea miraculously.
• They saw God provide though the manna daily.
• They saw God present miracles in the wilderness regularly.
• But they couldn’t enter into he Promised Land. Why?
Hebrews 3.19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
We’re taught in the Scriptures:
Romans 10.17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Mark 13.31 "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
OVER THE Years there has been an emphasis in churches to follow after the HOLY LAUGHING (gone), the BARKING IN SPIRIT (gone), the ROARING LIKE A LION (gone), the CHIRPING LIKE A BIRD (gone).
• Now we have GOLD DUST falling in sanctuaries… it will pass.
• We have fillings turning GOLD… it will pass.
• But wasn’t hasn’t passed is the PROPHETIC WORD CONFIRMED!
It’s true too even with valid experiences… oh they are great, and wonderful, and inspiring… but they pass.
• The longer I walk with the Lord the more I realize that experiences fade with time, but only the WORD ENDURES!
NOTICE THAT PETER SAYS It’s a light that shines in a dark place.
Psalm 119.105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
This is a precious promise from the Lord.
• You see as the world gets darker and darker.
• As the situations in my life become muddier and muddier.
• As things around me become confusing & dark & dreary.
• God’s word becomes brighter in my life.
• It will become more precious and helpful & hopeful.
Psalm 119.97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
And Peter is careful here to emphasize the PROPHETIC WORD!
Why?: Our GOD knows the future, the beginning from the end!
• One reason we know that this book is from Him: it’s filled w/ PROPHETIC PREDICTIONS that only God could know!
• Flip over to Isaiah 46:9-10 THEN 48:3-5
AND SO PETER tells us…
2 Peter 1.19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed (KJV – Sure word of Prophecy!), which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
God says to us, “Look, one of the evidences I will give you that I am who I say I am is that I will tell you what will happen in the future. No other so called god can do that!”
• We can trust the book we hold in our hands, sitting on our laps, because in it are 100’s of predictions that come to pass!
• There is NO BOOK on earth like the Bible & never will be!
Psalm 119.97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
3. (20-21) Not written by humans.
a. We can trust it because it was written by God not man.
b. Peter reminds us that holy men of God spoke as they were moved, or ‘carried along’ by the Holy Spirit.
c. Flip back to 2 Timothy 3:16ff
NOTE: It’s ALL valuable. Genesis, 1 Samuel, Leviticus…
• The gospels, the epistles… all of it!
• All Scripture is given by INSPIRATION OF GOD. God inspired the human authors to write His Word.
• Literally, All Scripture is “God Breathed”
JUST as God breathed the breath of life into Adam’s Body, so did He breath His own divine life into the very words of Scripture!
2 Peter 1.21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
You know how people will come to the Bible and say something like, “well that’s just a book written by men”…
• Well you can answer that by saying, “yes men wrote it down, but God inspired, or literally, carried them along” as they did!
All Scripture is INSPIRED and PROFITABLE. It profits the reader.
• Remember the promise in the book of Revelation?
Rev. 1.3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Now it says that Word of god is profitable.
DOCTRINE – Teaching us Truth about God.
REPROOF – Teachings us what’s wrong
CORRECTION – Teaching us how to fix what’s wrong.
INSTRUCTION – Teaching us How to maintain what is right.
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE… Be careful with your bibles… don’t let anyone take it away or discourage you from using it.
• Don’t let churches encourage you not to bring or use it.
• Don’t let cults try to replace it or add to it.
• Don’t let the enemy try to get you away from it.
The Bible is an awesome BOOKS. Books? Yes.
• 66 books, 40 authors, 3 languages, 3 continents!
• Yet there are no contradictions!
One theme: God’s undying love for man and His plan for man to have his sins forgiven and his eternal life secured!
NOTE: God’s Word is truly so effective & powerful guys.
• I look around at the work God is doing here among us and I’m just in awe of His faithfulness.
• I’m just a knucklehead. What am I doing in the pulpit?!
• I’m teaching the Word and watching God do the work!
• If you read it. If you study it. If you take heed to it.
• God’s Word will accomplish His work! Stick with it gang!
