Prophets for Our Spiritual Profit
(2 Peter 1:19-21)
1. I love to joke about sending people a Groundhog's Day card.
2. If there ever was a minor holiday, if it could be called that, it is Groundhog's Day.
3. David Roper writes:
Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog that comes out of his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, each February 2 to predict the weather. According to legend, if Phil sees his shadow, there will be 6 more weeks of cold weather. If he doesn’t see his shadow, spring will come early.
This is all humbug and good humor, of course. No one to my knowledge takes Phil’s predictions seriously. Furthermore, he’s unreliable—more often wrong than right, I’m told. [Source: Our Daily Bread]
4. All nations and most religions had their prophets. But Yahweh was not just any god, but the true God; and His people, Israel, were not just any people, but His chosen people.
5. We know our faith is true for a number of reasons; one of them is the existence of the nation of Israel. Another is what Peter mentioned last week, the fact that our belief in Jesus is based upon eyewitness accounts. Elsewhere, Paul makes a similar point when he mentions that Jesus appeared to a group of over 500 people after His resurrection (I Cor. 15:6), most of whom were alive at the time of Paul's writing.
6. But another monumental evidence for the truth of our faith is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. 21For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Main Idea: Our faith and the church is built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. Let's note 3 truths about the Old Testament Prophets.
I. The Prophets Still Give Us A Sense of CERTAINTY (19a-b)
A. Our CERTAINTY is doubly high (19a)
1. Eyewitness testimony is such an important evidence that we use it in our courts today.
2. But fulfilled prophecy is even more convincing.
3. Putting them together increases the credibility of both
4. If the Bible is to transform our lives, we must believe in its powere!
A man went to a bookbinder to get a well-used New Testament rebound in leather. He wanted the side binding to read: “The New Testament”. When the job was finished, the binder explained that he just wasn’t able to get all the letters on the side, so he abbreviated: “TNT”. (Bob Leroe, SermonCenral)
B. Our ATTENTION should be directed toward them (19b)
1. The early Christians were into learning & contemplating God's Word
2. I think God wants us to give attention to the teachings of the prophets as a faith builder
3. We all struggle with doubt; faith can only exist if competing with doubt, otherwise it is presumption
4. If you have never struggled with your faith, then you are probably not noted for your deep thinking…
C. Fulfilled PROPHECY is a great DEFENSE of the Faith
From Christiananswers.net
Hundreds of Bible prophecies have been fulfilled, specifically and meticulously, often long after the prophetic writer had passed away.
For example, Daniel the prophet predicted in about 538 BC (Daniel 9:24-27) that Christ would come as Israel's promised Savior and Prince 483 years after the Persian emperor would give the Jews authority to rebuild Jerusalem, which was then in ruins. This was clearly and definitely fulfilled, hundreds of years later.
There are extensive prophecies dealing with individual nations and cities and with the course of history in general, all of which have been literally fulfilled. More than 300 prophecies were fulfilled by Christ Himself at His first coming. Other prophecies deal with the spread of Christianity, as well as various false religions, and many other subjects.
There is no other book, ancient or modern, like this. The vague, and usually erroneous, prophecies of people like Jeanne Dixon, Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, and others like them are not in the same category at all, and neither are other religious books such as the Koran, the Confucian Analects, and similar religious writings. Only the Bible manifests this remarkable prophetic evidence, and it does so on such a tremendous scale as to render completely absurd any explanation other than divine revelation.
II. The Prophets Shine a LIGHT for us in this Dark World (19b)
A. The FOCUS here is the Prophets
Promises, prophets, Moses, Elijah, Eyewitness Testimony (Gospels) and Paul's Writings pretty much describe the Bible.
“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” - Isaiah 40:8
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” - Matthew 24:35
B. It is a shining LIGHT
The implication is that this world is dimly lit, and our lives are often bleak or drab. Life is a struggle for every one us -- fortunately, we do not always view it that way and are not always conscious of it…
• You wonder if God really cares about you
• We all go through times of depression or milder forms of the blues
• This comes from being realistic
• You wonder if you are really making any kind of difference or have purpose -- or have purpose any more
• You are bored, disappointed, lack-luster, down in the dumps, a slave to endless routines, or nothing goes right, it seems
• Move over, you have plenty of company; life on earth can be bleak
• But God's prophets assure you that God has a plan, that there are spiritually realities even behind the mundane duties of life
• The enemy can lure you into boredom and failure to believe that invisible realities surround you, that you are a Kingdom agent…
• You are a player in the drama of the Kingdom of God
C. Until the Lord RETURNS and we are made perfect
God's Word is sure and eternal, but we will not need its guidance when we are in God's presence
I Corinthians 13:8-13 reads:
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Numbers 24:17a, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel."
Revelation 22:16, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
III. The Prophets OBJECTIVELY Spoke God's Word, and that Benefits Us (20-21)
A. Genuine Prophecies Are Not MAN-made
The word "interpretation" refers to the source of the prophecy, not our interpretation of it.
In other words, the prophet did not formulate his own views and pass it off as God's Word, but God inspired the prophet
B. Through Man but Originates with GOD
2 Timothy 3:15-17
…and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
C. Prophets Were CARRIED Along by the Spirit
I Peter 1:10-12
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
D. This is stronger than being Spirit LED
CONCLUSION
1. God has not left the believer without help.
2. You have the Spirit of God living in you
3. You have the Word of God which transforms your life
4. You have the people of God to whom you should connect
5. Life is tough if we walk with God, it is even tougher if we do not!
