2 PETER 1:12-212009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Peter 1:12-21

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009.

As we begin this morning, I want to take you back a little bit as we started 2 Peter last week. The things that we talked about last week really are continuing on as we finish up chapter 1 today. And so I want to take you back there with the question, did you give all diligence to growth this week?

Did you give all diligence to grow in your relationship with God this past week? You've had a week to put into practice the things that we studied last week and the things that the Lord was speaking to us.

How did you respond? How well did you put into practice? Did you do even more diligently to make sure that you are growing in your relationship with God? That's what Peter was encouraging us to do and telling us is so important to do, that we don't become lazy in our Christian walk and that we don't just kind of maintain. We looked at the idea of riding a bike last week and

How we can, you know, when we first get saved, we work up a good speed, we work up a good rate, but then we just kind of do enough to keep the pace, to kind of coast a little bit. We don't work so hard, we're not pushing the pedals, we're not pushing forward in our relationship with God. It's very frequently what happens in our lives.

And Peter was challenging us not to get into that coasting mode, that cruise control, but to continue to go forward. He tells us in verse 5 to give all diligence to add to your faith, to continue to grow, to press forward in your relationship with God. Why? Well, he was talking about the importance of knowing God.

We looked at knowing God and how knowing God, we have grace and peace multiplied. If you want grace and peace, an abundant amount of grace and peace in your life, Peter says, you need to know God and you need to grow in your relationship with Him. In knowing God, grace and peace will be multiplied.

Not just knowing about God, knowing facts and details, having a good index of who God is or some of the things that He has done. But the word that Peter is using is knowing God in such a way that He is a powerful influence upon your life so that He impacts your life.

that He is the reason for why you do the things that you do. And He's the reason for the way that you say things and the vocabulary that you have. And because of who He is, that's why you make the decisions that you make. This is the idea that is knowing God. It's not just knowing about Him, but it's knowing Him in such a way that it shapes and changes our life because He is transforming us in that relationship with Him.

Peter also said that in knowing God, we find all things that we need for life and godliness. If you want to have everything that you need to live this life and to live the godly life that God has called you to live, Peter says you must know God. You must know Him in a way where He is a powerful influence in your life. Also in knowing God, Peter said, we have these exceedingly great and precious promises that are given to us.

And so it was all about knowing God and letting Him be a powerful influence in our life. In what way? Well, Peter went on to describe these influences in verse 5 through 7. He told us what we need to add on to our faith, the areas that God wants to work in. He said, add to our faith virtues.

and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and to perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness love.

These are the elements that are essential for us to add on to our faith, to allow God to work in and to endeavor to grow in as we seek to know God. And this is the way that we will know God or this is the way that the fact that we know God is evidenced. It's demonstrated by these elements and how abundant they are in our lives.

As we finished off last week, we talked about the abundant entrance. That as we know God, not only do we have grace and peace multiplied and all things necessary for life and godliness and great and precious promises and He's this powerful influence, but

But as we know God and in knowing God and in doing these things that He's called us to do, He says, you have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. You won't be barren, you won't be unfruitful, but you'll be productive as a Christian and you'll have an abundant entrance, a well-received entrance into the kingdom of God.

And it's with that thought that Peter continues on. And we can see that in verse 12. Look at verse 12 with me. He says, He says,

that he is going to remind us of these things. What are these things? Well, it points back to the things that Peter was talking about that we studied last week.

There's three things I want to highlight and point out to you this morning from our text. The first is to remember to grow. As Peter says, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things. He is saying, I want you to remember that you need to grow in your relationship with God. Remember to grow.

This phrase, these things, Peter uses also in verse 10. So if we back up a little bit when we want to find out what is the these things that Peter is referring to, we go back up to verse 10. Peter says, He's talking about the same thing now in verse 12 that he was talking about in verse 10.

Well, what was he talking about in verse 10? We can back up to verse 9. He says, He who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

What are the these things that he's talking about in verse 9? Well, we can back up to verse 8. Verse 8, he says, For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we back up, we see these things is the phrase, it's the subject of what Peter is writing about. And the these things, as we go back and we go back and we go back, now it leads us to verses 5 through 7. What are the these things?

Peter says, give all diligence. Let it consume your life. Let it be the purpose of your life. Let this be the reason why you live and the reason why you do what you do every day. Give all diligence to add to your faith, virtue, knowledge, and self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. And so here in verse 12, Peter is saying, I will not be negligent to remind you

of your need to add to your faith these things. You and I, we need to be reminded to grow in our relationship with God, to not just sit still. Pastor Chuck gives a good illustration, similar to riding a bike. He says, oftentimes as Christians, we're just treading water. We're staying in the same place. We're trying to keep our head above the water, but we're not going anywhere.

We need to be going forward. We need to be adding to our faith, Peter is saying. And it's so important, Peter says, that you add to your faith that I am not going to be negligent to remind you of your need for this. I'm not going to be lazy to remind you. I'm not going to hold back in reminding you. I'm going to be diligent, Peter says, to make sure that you remember that

that we need to add to our faith virtue, or moral excellence, or integrity and purity. And onto that we need to add knowledge, knowing God by experience, by spending time with Him. And on top of that we need to add self-control, learning how to control the cravings of the flesh, and not giving in every time our body craves something.

And adding on to that, perseverance. That's enduring in difficult circumstances and situations. And adding on to that, godliness. That's devotion to God. And adding on to that, brotherly kindness, which is love between Christians, love for one another. And adding on to that, agape love. The perfect love that God has towards us, as described in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. And so Peter says, these things are so important. As we saw last week, it's all about knowing God.

in such a way that he impacts your life and that he's a powerful influence that these areas become evidence of God's working in your life as you demonstrate these characteristics because of who God is and the fact that you have relationship with him. And so Peter says, for this reason,

Because of the abundant entrance. Remember Peter said, if you do these things, not only will you never stumble, but you'll have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. And so he says, for this reason, because of this abundant entrance, because of the importance of adding to your faith in these areas, I will not be negligent to remind you. These things are so important, Peter says, that I'm going to make sure that

To bring it to your memory, not just once or twice, but time and again, always, how important it is to grow in your relationship with God. Because we're dealing with things of eternity and things that have eternal value. Because they're so important, Peter says, I'm going to remind you about them. He goes on to say, even though you know and are established in the present truth,

Even though you know these things, even though you've heard these things, Peter says, I'm not going to be negligent to remind you. We can't say, oh, you know, I've heard all this stuff already, or I read that book, I read that chapter, I've heard that message. We can't just disregard God's Word because we've heard it or read it or studied it. We need to be reminded of what God has said. Knowing God is the most important thing in our life.

But many times we forget that. And many times our priorities get out of place. And we have to be reminded so that we keep the main thing the main thing. Knowing God is the most important thing. And we need to be constantly reminded of the importance of growing in our relationship with Him. Peter goes on in verse 13. He says, Yes, I think it is right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you.

And so Peter says, I think this is right. This is what's good for me. This is what's important for me. As long as I'm in this tent, as long as I have breath, in essence is what Peter is saying, as long as I live, he says, the right thing for me to do is to stir you up by reminding you. Again, he's talking about remembering, reminding us because we need to remember. Remember.

If you've ever had an opportunity to share with someone or to teach a devotion or to share a message, you can relate to the temptation to try to find something new when you teach. There's a temptation that exists for those who teach the Word, for those who share the Word, for those who are bringing forth messages such as this one. There's a great temptation.

to try to come up with something new, to kind of try to bring up something unique, something exciting, something that people have not heard before. And this temptation comes not necessarily from bad motivation, but you get this feeling like, well, if I can come up with something new, well, then it's going to be interesting and people will sit through the whole service and then they'll come back and they'll hear the Word of God and they'll be excited about what God's doing. If only I could find something interesting

unique or new. Sometimes people try to come up with the seven secrets and they have the things that you got to hear, you got to have this for the Christian faith or whatever else that we can come up with. And it's the idea of we kind of bring this hype and this excitement. You know, there's something new. You could have been living this Christian life all along, but only if you had these seven secrets. Come and hear these seven secrets and now you can really start to have relationship with God. And there's this

Pressure, there's this temptation to build up this hype, to come up with something new, you know, the one thing that you've always been looking for. But Peter doesn't do that, and we need to learn to have the heart of Peter. He says, look, my main goal for the rest of my life is to remind you of what you've already heard and what I've already shared with you and what God has already revealed to you. The reality is we don't need something new.

We don't need something new. Everything that we need for life and godliness has been given to us in the knowledge of Him. What we need is to know Him and to walk with Him. We don't need some new secret or some super special thing that you've not heard before. No, what we need is just to put into practice what God has already given to us. We don't need something new. You know, if the old stuff doesn't satisfy you, it's not a problem with the old stuff, but it's a problem with a hardened heart.

And it's a problem with not putting into practice the things that we have heard and the things that God has revealed. Understand that what God has given to us here in His Word, it's everything that we need. And not only that, but there's enough here to captivate you for the rest of eternity. We don't need something new to captivate us, to get our attention. We have everything we need right here.

Think about it if you were a math teacher and you decided, well, I want to start teaching something new. And so you start saying, hey, kids, 2 plus 2 equals 5. Well, now you have a problem. Sure, it's new and the kids are like, whoa, what's going on here? This is different. This is exciting. But it's not right.

It's not helpful. It's not beneficial. There's something wrong. Yeah, sure, you can have different approaches and methods and examples in teaching math, but it's the same principles that you're teaching. It's not something new. In the same way, as we look at the Word of God, and what we need to hear and be reminded of is not something new that has never been taught, but it's what has been taught, which very often we have forgotten. We're quick to forget. And so we need to be reminded that

of what God wants us to do. We need to be reminded of what God has done for us. We need to be reminded of how important it is to grow in our relationship with God. Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 3 verse 1, he says, finally my brethren rejoice in the Lord for me to write the same things to you is not tedious but for you it is safe. Paul says I'm writing the same things to you

It's not tedious for me to write these same things that I've already taught you and that you already know. But for you, it's safe. It's important for you, Paul is saying. He goes on in verse 2 of Philippians chapter 3. He says, beware of dogs. Beware of the mutilation. Watch out for false doctrine. And that's what Peter is dealing with as he writes this epistle, 2 Peter. He's writing to counteract false doctrine. And we'll get into that next week as we head into chapter 2.

There's false doctrine that has crept into the church. There's these teachers that are rising up and they're proclaiming that which is not true. And so Peter is saying, guys, watch out. You don't need something new. Peter is saying, look, my life purpose is to remind you of what you've already learned. That's what we need.

That's what will cause us to grow. That's what God desires for us. You don't have to listen to the new and exciting thing that someone's proclaiming around the block. It's false doctrine, Peter's telling them. What you need is to be reminded of what I've already shared with you. It's safe for us to be reminded. It's for our protection so that we're not led astray by false doctrine.

And so I want to encourage you, those of you who are parents, those of you who are teachers, those of you who have the opportunity to share the word, those of you who disciple others, and I remind you as well in Matthew chapter 28, it's very clear, every Christian is called to make disciples. So for every one of us, we need to follow the example of Peter and have the heart of Peter. Share with those that are around you.

Share with those that you have influence upon. Share with those that God has entrusted to you the importance of growing in the knowledge of God, of continuing on, pressing on in a relationship with God. Don't let it be tedious for you. You know, sometimes I feel like a broken record saying the same things over and over again.

But that's what we need. As we go through Jeremiah on Wednesday nights, over and over again, it's the same message. It's the same things that Jeremiah is proclaiming. But that's what we need. We need to be reminded so that we act upon and that we live according to what God has already shown us. That's where the lacking is. It's not in what is there that we need something new. No, the lacking is in us putting it into practice and living it out.

And so let's be faithful to remind. Let's have the attitude of Peter. As long as I have breath, as long as I live, I'm going to make sure to stir you up by reminding you how important it is to grow in your relationship with God. Going on in verse 14.

He says, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. And so he says, look, this is the purpose of my life and I know I only have a little bit of time left. And I'm hoping as we go through this that you and I really begin to grasp the importance of reminding and remembering. Because Peter is saying, I only have a short time left. Now, if you only have a short time left,

You would focus on the most important things, right? If you know, I only have a short time left, there's not much time, I'm going to be living very much longer. You would be focusing on what is important to you. Peter says, as he knows, I don't have much time left. He says, look, this is the most important thing.

This is so important. In my last few hours, in my last few days, in my last few months, I'm going to spend them reminding you of the importance of growing in your relationship with God. I'm going to remind you how important it is to know God and to know Him in such a way that He is a powerful influence upon your life. He says, I know that shortly, not much longer, I'm going to put off my tent.

He uses the word tent to refer to his body. It's an appropriate word because a tent is something that you use temporarily. It's a temporary dwelling. It's not meant to be for good. This body is temporary. It's not for good. It's not our eternal dwelling. For those that have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we have a new body that is awaiting for us. A body that God has prepared.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1, he says, we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, referring to our bodies, he says, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Paul says, here's what we know. This tent, it's temporary, and when it's destroyed, we have, well, an eternal dwelling, something far better, just as

A tent is different from a house. This body is different from the body that awaits us, that God has prepared for us. He says it's a building from God, a house not made with hands, and it's eternal in the heavens. You're not going to spend eternity in this body, but there's something far greater that God has in store for you.

If you remember back in 1 Peter as we went through it, one of the predominant themes that we visited over and over again was the idea of being a sojourner. As Peter called us to live as sojourners, as strangers and as foreigners in this earth. We likened it to the idea of camping. And so it's appropriate that Peter uses the word tent here. We're just camping here on earth. We're here temporarily. We're roughing it here in the wilderness that we call earth.

And it's just for a time. It's just for a season. It's not our eternal dwelling. It's not where we're going to remain. There's far greater things in eternity, exceedingly great and precious promises that we can't even begin to imagine that God has in store for us. And so we need to live here as sojourners, recognizing this is a tent. It's temporary.

Peter says, I'm going to put off my tent, just as Christ showed me. In John chapter 21, Jesus tells Peter the kind of death he's going to die, and by that death that he would glorify God. So Peter says, Jesus told me about it. I know my time is coming very soon. I'm going to put off this tent. And so in this last moment, in this last time, I'm going to remind you to know God and to grow in your relationship with Him. Verse 15 says,

He says, "Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease." And so again, he's dealing with this idea of reminding and remembering. He says, "Not only am I going to spend the rest of my life reminding you of these things, I'm going to make sure, I'm going to be careful to make sure that you always have a reminder even after I'm gone."

Knowing God is so important that Peter not only does it until his very last breath, reminding them of how important it is to know God, but Peter says, I'm making preparation that you have reminders of this after I'm gone. And I'm sure this letter was part of that plan that Peter was putting in place. We today are reminded of the importance of knowing God because, well, he made preparation.

He was careful to ensure that we would always have the reminder, the importance of knowing God. Notice he says, of these things. What are the these things? Again, it points us back to verses 5 through 7. Adding to our faith, giving all diligence to grow in our relationship with God. As I've been looking over this passage this week and preparing for this morning, I was thinking, and sorry I didn't share it with you earlier today,

Kim? But this would be a wonderful passage to share at my funeral. So if you're involved in the arrangements, listen, I'm serious about this. Peter says, look, this is so important, I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing it. Not only that, but I'm going to make sure, I'm going to make preparations so that after I'm gone, you'll have reminders of how important it is to know God.

So whoever shares at my funeral, please do a Bible study on 2 Peter 1 verses 1-15. Remind the people. Remind those who are there. Remind those after I'm gone the importance of knowing God. We need to make preparations that those who are around us, even after we're gone, that they're able to remember how important it is to grow in a relationship with God. Peter says...

I'm going to make sure that you always have a reminder of these things. After my decease, we would think of that as being dead. After his death, he's saying. The word literally means exodus or departure. He says, it's not the end. He's talking about death, but he's saying, you know, that's not the end. It's not final. It's just a departure. It's leaving this life, leaving this earth and heading into eternity, entering into forever and ever.

And so Peter says, I'm going to enter in. I'm looking forward to that. That's going to be great. But until then, I'm going to remind you and I'm going to make sure that after I'm gone, after I've left and I'm in heaven with Jesus, that you still have opportunity to remember how important it is to know God. Death is not the end. It's just our departure into eternity and you will have an abundant entrance into eternity if you do these things. Give all diligence to add to your faith. Virtue.

and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. Again, I'm praying for us that we would grasp the importance of remembering and reminding ourselves and the world around us how important it is to know God.

Remember what Christ has done for you. Remember that God has loved you so much that he sent his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, that God loved you so much that he made arrangements so that your sin and my sin could be taken care of, obliterated, so that we could have a relationship with him. And the most important thing for us in our life is to respond to what God has done for us.

And enter into that relationship with Him. And grow in that relationship with Him. And know Him in such a way that He is a powerful influence in our lives. We need to grasp the importance of this. Peter says it's so important, that's what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. As we go on, verse 16 and following, it's important, Peter explains, because, well, it's not made up. It's guaranteed.

Knowing God has this effect and has this impact upon your life. He confirms it, he says, because he is an eyewitness. Look at verse 16. He says, For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. And so the second thing as we look at what Peter is writing, the second thing I want to point out to you is that we have the sure word of testimony.

We can be assured of the importance of knowing God. We can be assured of who Jesus is and the fact that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, because of the eyewitness testimony. Peter says, look, we did not follow cunningly devised fables. The word fables is the Greek word muthos. It's the word by which we get the word myth or mythology. And in those days, as well as today,

there was an abundance of mythology. The Greek and Roman world were full of myths about all kinds of gods. You remember when Paul was in the city of Athens in Acts chapter 17. And it says that he was looking around and he was distressed or his spirit was provoked within him because he saw that the city was given over to idols. And so he...

He proclaims to them. He speaks to them at their gathering place. And he says, look, I know you guys are religious. You've got all kinds of idols and you worship all kinds of gods. And he says, even I found this one altar that said to the unknown God. And so with the multitude of gods that you have, in case you forgot one, in case you didn't know about one, that's the one you worship at that unknown God altar. They had many gods, so many that they...

Well, they wanted to include even ones that they didn't know about. If you know anything about Greek mythology, you remember some of the gods that are prevalent, that we've heard of, that there's movies about and legends about. The god Zeus, who is the king of the gods on Mount Olympus. And Poseidon, who is the god of the sea. And there was the god of war, Ares. And the god of music, Zeus.

Apollo, there was the goddess of love, Aphrodite, all these different gods and goddesses that covered different arenas and there was all kinds of myths and mythology about who they were and how they became who they are and what they do and what will happen if you worship them and so on and so forth. It was all myths and mythology. It was cunningly devised fables and

Peter says, this is not like that. This is not just some mythology that we've been caught up in. He says, what we made known to you is something that we were eyewitnesses of. He says, we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. Eyewitness testimony is solid evidence.

And Peter says, we were eyewitnesses. If you've ever served in jury duty, you know what I'm talking about. We go there, we sit there, the judge says, okay, here's the thing you've got to do. You've got to judge the credibility of the witnesses. Oh sure, there's evidence that is brought in, physical evidence, and sometimes that is clear, that makes the case clear. But most of the time, convictions are done by the

The testimony of the witnesses. The things that people say on the witness stand. And as a juror, your job is to judge the credibility. Do you believe them and what they're saying? Are they a credible witness? And do you believe what they're saying about this situation and about this element of the case? Eyewitness testimony is solid evidence. It's what convictions are based upon in our court system. But even more than that, eyewitness testimony is

Well, it proves to us that Jesus is who he claimed to be. The author Lee Strobel in his book, The Case for Christ. He has The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for Christmas, The Case for Easter, The Case for all kinds of things. He was an investigative journalist. He started out as an unbeliever. He started out trying to disprove Jesus.

Christianity. And just, he said, if I can get to the bottom of it and prove that it's all mythology, well, then I don't have to deal with these crazy Christians anymore. And so, he decided, I'm going to disprove it. I'm going to research it just as I would research any other story. I'm going to investigate it and prove that it's false.

And so he investigated. He looked at the eyewitness testimony. He did the research. He talked to the experts. He did all the things he would do for a normal study. And he came to the conclusion, Jesus Christ is Lord. And he became a believer. He started out trying to disprove, but the evidence was so powerful that it changed his mind. It caused him to understand this is the truth.

When did Peter see? When was he an eyewitness of the majesty of Jesus? Well, specifically, he's referring to the Mount of Transfiguration. Look at verse 17 and 18. He says, For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

He's referring to what we call the Mount of Transfiguration. You can read the account in Matthew 17, verses 1-6. We won't turn there this morning, but I encourage you to look it up on your own. Peter, James, and John are with Jesus. They're on the Mount of Transfiguration, and Jesus is transfigured before them. He's changed before them. His face begins to glow and to shine like the sun.

What an incredible sight that must have been. His clothes became as white, as bright light. And Peter, James and John, they see Jesus there transfigured, talking with Moses and Elijah. And Peter gets excited, you know how he gets, and he says, oh, let's build some booths. Let's set up camp here. And it tells us that a cloud comes around them.

It's not like a dark rain cloud, but it's a brilliant cloud. Peter calls it here the excellent glory of God. The presence of God comes upon them. And God speaks. And He says, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. Hear Him. It's recorded for us in Matthew chapter 17. Listen to Him.

He's the one you need to pay attention to, Peter. God told him on the mountain. He's the one you need to listen to. He's the one you need to hear. He's the one you need to get to know. He is the most important thing. And so what Peter's saying is, look, this is not a fairy tale.

This is not something that was made up. We were eyewitnesses of the glory of Jesus. We saw Him glorified. We heard God glorify Him and tell us that we need to listen to Him, that He's what it's all about. So Peter says, look, I'm going to remind you always about the importance of knowing God.

Because I know it's not made up. I saw Him in His majesty. And I heard God testify of Him. I personally know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. And so to my last breath, I'm going to remind you of how important it is to know Him. Well, not only do we have the eyewitness testimony, the sure word of testimony,

But we have the sure word of prophecy as well to confirm that these things are true and that is the most important thing that we need to know God. Verse 19, he says, And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, 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.

And so we have the eyewitness testimony. It's solid evidence. But that's not the limit of the evidence. It's not the limit of the proof that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God, that He indeed is the only way to the Father. It's also confirmed and proven and shown by the prophetic word. We have a sure word of prophecy.

The prophetic word confirmed. Some translations put this in the first part of verse 19 saying we have something more sure which is the prophetic word. So not only do we have the eyewitness testimony but we have the proof of prophecy and the fulfilled prophecies about Jesus. Guarantee us He indeed is the Messiah. He is the Savior. He is the one that we're to be consumed with.

He is the one by whom we have access to God. He is the one by whom we are to grow in our relationship with God and in the knowledge of God. Prophecy is God's fingerprint of authentication on the Word of God. It's His proof that what we have before us is indeed His Word. But it's also proof that the one who died upon the cross for us is indeed the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the one who

Whom we're to love and to serve with all of our hearts. Some suggest the whole thing is just a conspiracy. That Jesus knew of the prophecies and so he arranged his life in such a way that he would be able to fulfill them. And so he worked out what he needed to do with Pilate in order to be crucified. He worked out what he needed to do with the religious leaders. He had it all planned out. It's just he was really smart is what it was they would say. And

It's just a conspiracy. He had it all arranged. But there's a problem with that because, I don't know about you, but I wasn't able to arrange where I was born. I don't know if you were able to do that. But if I was able to arrange it, I probably would not have arranged to be born in Bellflower. It's just not somewhere exciting to be born. I think I would have been born somewhere else. But the scriptures told us, Micah 5, verse 2, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

It says there in Micah 5.2 that the ruler in Israel would come from Bethlehem whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, was to be born in Bethlehem. So he couldn't have arranged that.

So maybe it goes back a little bit further. Maybe Joseph and Mary, they're the real conspirators. They're the one who figured it out. And so, okay, isn't it convenient? You know, she's eight months pregnant and they take a trip to Bethlehem. What's up with that? Well, you see, they were trying to fulfill these prophecies. They were working really hard. And so, when Jesus was born, they made sure they were in Bethlehem. And as they raised him, you know, they taught him about all these prophecies and

and helped him figure out how he can fulfill all them, so everybody could be fooled and tricked and think that he is the Messiah. No, that's ridiculous. It's crazy. It's not possible. You know why? You've probably heard, we often say, that Jesus in his life, his death, his resurrection, fulfilled over 300 prophecies from the Old Testament.

And so I included there in the bulletin a sample. Now, different scholars disagree about which prophecies you number in the 300 and so on and so forth, but it's not that big of a deal. It's a good sample for you there in the bulletin. 300 prophecies about the Messiah. 300 things that are said in the Old Testament about Jesus Christ hundreds and thousands of years before He was ever born. What is the chance that those prophecies

could be fulfilled in one person? Well, they're very slim. In fact, Professor Peter Stoner, he was a chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at the Pasadena City College. He passed away about 30 years ago. But he did some incredible work in this respect. He used his skills as a mathematician to calculate the probability of...

eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person. So take any eight that you want. I think he used a specific eight. I don't remember what they were. But you take eight of these prophecies that are mentioned in the Old Testament hundreds and thousands of years. Not hundreds and thousands, but hundreds as well as thousands of years before he was born. And you take eight of those prophecies and the odds are

of them being fulfilled all in one person, in one human being, he came to the conclusion it's 10 to the 17th power. One in 10 to the 17th power is the probability that eight prophecies about the Messiah could be fulfilled in one man. Now that's a hard number for us to grasp, I think. It's one with 17 zeros after it. I have no idea what the name of that number is, but it's one...

And so he gave us an illustration that we could picture it. So maybe this will help you. Picture the state of Texas. Professor Stoner said, if you take silver dollars and cover the entire surface of the state of Texas, not only just cover the state of Texas, but stack silver dollars two feet deep to cover the state of Texas. That's the number that we're dealing with.

10 to the 17th power silver dollars would cover Texas two feet deep in silver dollars. And so he said that the probability of one person fulfilling eight prophecies about the Messiah is as if you were to blindfold a man, send him into the state of Texas that's covered in this many silver dollars, have one of them marked as

Mix it all up and send that blindfolded guy in to pick one silver dollar and if he picks the right one, well, that's as likely as one person fulfilling eight prophecies about the Messiah. In other words, it's not going to happen unless it indeed is the work of God. It's not possible. Jesus fulfilled all eight prophecies. That's not probable. It's not possible mathematically.

It doesn't work. One person could fulfill one prophecy and another person could fulfill another prophecy, but for them all to be fulfilled in one man, it's not possible unless it's a miraculous work of God. Because that's just eight prophecies. So he took it another step. He said, well, what if we consider 48 prophecies? Let's add on 40 more prophecies to these ones that we've researched. And I'm not going to go in great detail here because I quickly get lost in the math, but...

He described it, or he said that the odds of one person fulfilling 48 prophecies of the Messiah from the Old Testament, the odds are 1 in 10 to the 157th power. So that's a 1, and then you just start writing zeros, and then when your arm gets tired, you use your other arm, and you write more zeros, 157 times. That's the odds, that's the probability of one man fulfilling 48 prophecies about the Messiah. See, it's not possible.

He, illustrating this number, had to go much smaller than silver dollars. He dealt with electrons and it was this massive thing and you can look it up on your own and have some fun with that. But it's just incredible. Could not have been fulfilled by anyone else. There's no possibility that someone else is the Messiah. There's no possibility that if all these things are fulfilled in one man that it's by chance or that it's by coincidence or that it's by accident.

The only way for all of these things to be fulfilled. That's just 48. We have 300. Now you might look at this and say, well, I don't know about this one. Okay, so you have 299. It's impossible for anyone else to be the Messiah. It's impossible that Jesus is not the Messiah. We have the more sure word of prophecy. It proves, it guarantees, Jesus Christ is who he said he is. It guarantees the most important thing for us,

is to grow in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Because no one comes to the Father except through Him, Jesus said. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed. He says, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in the dark place. Here we are in a dark place. Even our hearts are darkened by sin. But we have this light that shines, this proof, this evidence that Jesus Christ is who He said He was. So Peter says, you will do well to heed this. Pay attention.

He is the one you need to be consumed with, the one that you need to be focused on. And not just right now, or not just when you are a new believer. He says, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. The day dawning is a reference to the return of Jesus Christ. Until the day dawns, until the morning star rises in our hearts, we see this light in the darkness, a prophetic word, the word of God, which pierces through, which proves, which shows Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

The day is coming when Christ will come back and receive His church, will rapture His church. We will be forever with the Lord. Until that time, we have this word confirmed, reminding us how important it is to know God. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12, For now we see in a mirror dimly, there's darkness, but then face to face, the morning star rises in our hearts.

The return of Jesus Christ. We won't see in a mirror dimly, but we'll see Him face to face. Until then, we have this shining light in the darkness. It's a spotlight. And who's it on? It's on Jesus, reminding us that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Look at verse 20 and 21. He says, "...knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of men, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved."

by the Holy Spirit. So Peter, in dealing with the subject of prophecy, now explains that prophecy never originated in man. He says, no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. Again, these are not cunningly devised fables or myths. They're not man-made. They're not created by the imagination of some guy somewhere sometime. They're not of private interpretation. It's not the writings of man.

He says, for prophecy never came by the will of man. So we're dealing with all these prophecies. These guys in the Old Testament that wrote the prophecies, that wrote what God was speaking to them, it wasn't their will. It wasn't their words. It wasn't their thoughts and their imaginations that they wrote down. But God was speaking through them. He says, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit or carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Much of the time, the prophets didn't even know what they were writing about and how it would be fulfilled. Peter made reference to this in his first epistle. Again, 1 Peter 1, verses 10-12. He says, look, of the salvation that we're writing about, the prophets inquired. They searched intently. They wanted to find out how this is going to be fulfilled and who it's going to apply to. Wow, the grace of the new covenant. That's going to be awesome. What's this all about, God?

But it tells us in verse 12 of 1 Peter 1 that it was revealed to them that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering. They didn't understand. They didn't have the full picture. They didn't get it. They just knew this is what God has instructed me to write. This is what I'm writing. I don't get it, but it's not for me. It's for those who are to come. It's to us that they were ministering to. God told Daniel in Daniel chapter 12,

as God was giving him this incredible vision and these prophecies that were coming forth. God tells him in Daniel 12.4, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. God tells him, it's not for you right now, Daniel. You're not going to understand it. Put it aside. Seal it up until the time of the end. These things will begin to unfold. They'll become clear what is going to take place and what is happening.

And so Peter says, holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. It's not cunningly devised fables. It's not made up. It's not man's imaginations. The real author of the scriptures is the Holy Spirit. The holy men of God were moved along by the Spirit. And so Peter says, look, I'm going to remind you always. And I'm going to make sure that even after I'm gone that you remember the importance of knowing God.

And knowing Him in such a way that He is a powerful influence in your life. Because I know that it's not made up. I saw His majesty. I heard God testify of Him. I'm an eyewitness of that event there on the Mount of Transfiguration. And not only that, but we have the prophetic word confirmed, the sure word of prophecy. I know this is real, Peter is saying. And so the most important thing, the thing that I'm going to live my life to do, is to remind you

to know God and to grow in your relationship with Him. Remember to grow. We have the sure word of testimony. We have the sure word of prophecy. It's not just some man-made religion. It's not myths and fables. This is reality, the most important thing. Again, I hope that we grasp, I pray that we grasp the importance of remembering. We don't need something new. We need to put into practice what God has already shown us.

We need to know Him. We need to draw near to Him. As Peter said in verse 5, give all diligence. As we close today, I want to encourage you. Give all diligence to grow. Don't just coast or tread water in your Christian walk. Push forward. Give yourself completely to knowing God and know Him in such a way that He powerfully influences and impacts your life.

Don't be satisfied with where you're at. Don't be content and just say, well, I can kick back now. I've attained, I've gotten to this level. No, we need to remember, we must remember how important it is to add to our faith virtue and a virtue knowledge and to knowledge self-control and to self-control perseverance and perseverance godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and brotherly kindness love.

Peter says, look, if these things are yours and abound, you have an abundant entrance. We're talking about things of eternal value. Know God through Jesus and let Him impact you in these areas. Be obedient in these areas. Allow Him to transform you. Let's pray. God, as we consider these things, I pray that you would help us to remember. Lord, it's easy to walk away and forget quickly.

As you reminded us in the book of James, the man who looks in the mirror but quickly forgets what he looks like. God, may that not be true of us. As we have looked at your word, God, as we go away, help us to remember, Lord, that we would know where we stand with you. Lord, that we would know the importance of drawing near to you and having a personal relationship with you. And so, God, I pray that you would give us a passion for you.

Help us to put these things into practice, to push forward and to grow as you've called us to. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.