Facts Overlooked - 2 Peter 3:1-8 - December 5, 2021

 2 Peter 3:1-8 Facts Overlooked

Good morning! We are going back to 2 Peter this morning, we are going to look at verses 1-8 of chapter 3, page 1019 in the pew Bibles.

Just as a reminder, all of  chapter two was dedicated to a warning about false teachers that have always been around and will continue to be; to be wary of them and to be sure to not be like them.

Here in chapter three Peter warns again of scoffers and he also has some very important reminders for his readers, which includes us. So let’s look at the text and let it speak for itself.

This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Let’s pray.

Peter has written this second letter as a reminder, his goal was to remind his readers of the things that were most important. Verse two shows us exactly what that was: the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles…

Not to beat a dead horse but I would also remind you of our one sermon point from last week: get to know your Bible!

This is exactly where Peter starts off this new chapter. He didn’t stick that big number three in there anyway, that’s just for reference.

Remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, remember what the Bible says!

It will not only protect us from false teaching and false teachers but it will also protect us from people that Peter calls, “scoffers.”

If a false teacher is someone who teaches what is false, a scoffer must be… someone who scoffs…

As far as the Bible is concerned scoffers are not the good guys.

Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

There is 107 references to scoffers in the Bible and not one of them is positive, they reject wisdom, the reject rebuke, they get beat up a lot, but they never learn their lesson.

A scoffer, biblically speaking, is a person that mocks that which is most important. According to Peter these scoffers first of all, in verse 3, will follow their own sinful desires.

Martin Luther wrote, “These are our Epicureans and Sadducees, who believe neither one thing nor the other, who live as they think best and walk after their own lusts, considering permitted whatever suits their pleasure; examples of such are met on every hand.”

What Luther called, “Sadducees,” other scholars call, “Antinomians.” It’s time for some fun scholarly vocabulary! Don’t worry, even if you forget these words, their meaning will ring in your ears.

An Epicurean was someone who saw a pleasant and smooth life as the highest aim, while an Antinomian held that because faith alone is necessary for salvation morality is of no use.

These are two types of scoffers that were active in Peter’s day, and are alive and well today. They may not have their own websites but they certainly can be found everywhere, maybe even inside our own houses, maybe even inside our churches, you may have brought one to service with you this morning… even if you rode alone.

When we hold a pleasant and smooth life as our highest aim, we scoff at the will of God and His desire for our holiness. When we act as if sin has no consequence just because we’re already forgiven we scoff at Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

But Peter points out another kind of scoffer, one who scoffs at the promise of Christ’s return.

4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

We are in the season of the year that we call Advent where the world draws its attention to the First Advent of Christ. The word Advent simply means, “coming.” Advent celebrates Christ’s first coming.

But on the horizon is Second Coming, a Second Advent. Jesus is coming again.

Do you know how I know that? Just as Peter wanted to remind his readers: we know that because the Bible says so!

Jesus said in John 14:1, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

And in Luke 21:25, 25 “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Matthew 24:29, 29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Acts 1:9, 9 And when [Jesus] had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

1 Thessalonians 4:14, 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Hebrews 9:27, 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

James 5:7, 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

This is by no means a comprehensive list!

But the argument of the scoffers is that that was all written 2000 years ago, where is He?

4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

By the Word of God the heavens and the earth were created, you can look that up in Genesis 1, and by the Word of God the world that then existed was deluged by water and perished, you can look that up in Genesis 7.

The word Peter used that we translate, “deluge,” is the Greek word from which we get our English word, “cataclysm.”

God intervened cataclysmically once, in the flood of Noah, and He will do so again, next time with fire.

According to Peter those scoffers deliberately overlooked the facts of creation by the Word of God, they overlooked the fact of the cataclysmic flood of Noah by the Word of God in which all of mankind except Noah and his family were destroyed, and they overlook the fact that by the same Word of God the heavens and the earth that now exist are being stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

But Peter has a reminder for the church. Scoffers overlook those facts, but you beloved, do not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary says, “People see time against time; God sees time against eternity. In fact time only seems long because of Man’s finite perspective.”

God’s eternal-ages-measurer differs completely from man’s hourglass.

Just as God the Father began creating on the day He intended, He started it raining around the ark on the day He intended, He sent the Lord Jesus to be born in Bethlehem on the day He intended, He will send Jesus back to judge the living and the dead on the day he intends.

Again, Jesus said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” -John 14:1

Amen

Truth and Falsehood - 2 Peter 2 - November 28, 2021

 2 Peter 2 Truth and Falsehood

Good morning! We are going to look at 2 Peter 2 this morning, the whole chapter, that’s on page 1018 in the pew Bibles.

I know that a whole chapter is a big bite when studying like we have been but Peter is really only dealing with one topic in the whole chapter and it all really kind of works together.

So let’s start with prayer and then we’ll get to work.

Let’s pray.

So before we get to the text, let’s deal with the context. I just want to go over a few of the things that Peter has reminded us of before we jump into the deep end of chapter two.

So let’s remember Peter’s audience, the original recipients of this letter. They were predominantly Jewish Christians living away from Jerusalem in what is now northern Turkey. The fact that Peter’s audience were already believers in Jesus is important because it makes some of the things he says make more sense than if he was writing to people who didn’t know Jesus already. The fact that they were predominantly Jewish Christians makes a big difference, especially in our text for today because of the references to the Old Testament that they would have been very well acquainted with.

And that’s really the important point of the context as we look at this text today. Peter references several Old Testament accounts that were common knowledge to those Jewish believers. This is important because it should keep us from getting lost in the weeds. I think that will become clear when we read the text.

We also need to remember Peter’s statements that the Lord’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and goodness.

To further flesh out that idea, Peter says that we God’s great and precious promises, and we have the testimony of the Apostles, eyewitnesses of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ as well as the words of the prophets. This is all compiled in what we now call the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.

So knowing that we have all we need to live as Christians and everything we need to know is recorded in Scripture, armed with that understanding we can turn to chapter two and be a little more prepared for what is coming.

So let’s look at that together, 2 Peter 2.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” 

The first thing that Peter points out here is that false teachers have always been around and that is not about to change. The Bible is full of accounts of false prophets and false teachers. Church history is full of examples, bookstores are full of examples, the internet is a never ending source of false teaching.

The church has been under constant attack, believers face a constant barrage of falsehood and the sad fact is that people believe the falsehoods.

Peter points out that false prophets and teachers have always been around and they always will be, and as sad as that fact is, Peter points out an abiding truth: the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked 8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. 

Peter points out God’s track record when it comes to rescuing the godly and punishing wickedness.

I got a little nervous at the thought of dealing with the fallen angels here in this text, who they are and where they are, but Peter references it as established fact. Satan was cast out of heaven and the angels that followed after him were as well. Peter’s point was not to deal with how and when and why that happened but simply points to the established fact that God knows how to deal with wickedness. 

He cast angels out of heaven, He destroyed the wicked in the flood while rescuing Noah and his family, He destroyed the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to make them an example of what will happen to the ungodly but rescued righteous Lot.

…the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment… and we can trust Him to continue to do it.

The other important point that Peter makes is how to recognize false teachers. We can trust the Lord to rescue the godly from trials, but we must also be equipped to recognize false teachers and false teaching to ensure that we stay in that group that he calls, “the godly.”

Peter says in verse one, “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Heresy and heretics are not foreign words to our vocabulary, but what do they really mean?

Heresy is simply false teaching and a heretic is someone who teaches or follows that false teaching.

Destructive heresies are false teachings that lead people away from trusting Jesus as Savior for the forgiveness of sin and denying Him as Lord by disobeying His Word.

What we must do is train ourselves to recognize falsehood, and Peter gives us several indicators to look out for.

In verse one Peter says that some false teachers will deny the Master that bought them. That Master is Jesus and He bought us with His own blood on the cross. Clearly denying Jesus and the price he paid for our sin is a clear indicator of a false teacher. Some false teachers profess to follow Christ but deny Him in their teaching and in their living.

Verses 10-19 give a summary of the tell-tale signs of false teachers: namely: pride, lust, and greed.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, 13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. 

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

I could go on and on, maybe even name some names of false teachers, but I think it would be more valuable to remind us all of the secret to recognizing falsehood and that is the knowledge of the truth.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness, by which He has granted to us His very great and precious promises, so that through them we may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

We have the promises of God, the testimony of eyewitnesses, we have the words of the prophets, this is the truth, and where can all this be found? In our Bibles.

We will only be able to recognize falsehood when we are well acquainted with the truth, and we have it right here in the Bible.

False teachers will tell you that the Bible is too old to be trusted, that it was written too long ago to be relevant today, that it doesn’t apply, that it can’t possibly be applicable to today’s culture, it was written by men and men are fallible and prone to weakness.

But we know that every word is inspired by God and is useful for teaching and reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.

False teachers will promise liberty and freedom but deliver only bondage to sin, selfishness, pride, lust and greed, they promise more than the Word of God, as if all that we have been given by God, all that is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ, is not enough.

But God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, we have God’s Word the Bible the source of absolute truth.

Get to know your Bible and you’ll get to know the One who inspired it.

Get to know your Bible and you’ll be able to recognize falsehood.

Get to know your Bible and with God’s help you’ll be able to discern between truth and error.

Get to know your Bible!

Amen.

The Lamp in a Dark Place - 2 Peter 1:16-21 - November 21, 2021

 2 Peter 1:16-21 The Lamp in a Dark Place

Good morning! We are back in 2 Peter and we are going to focus on verses 16-21 this morning, and that’s on page 1018 in the pew Bibles.

Though we are going to focus on verses 16-21 I want to go back to verse 12 so that we can get a running start, set some context, and remember Peter’s purpose in writing this letter.

So let’s look at that together.

12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, 14 since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things. 

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Let’s pray.

So for the last few weeks we have been talking about the qualities that we should add to our faith and what it looks like to mature as disciples of Jesus Christ. But that was not Peter’s sole purpose in writing to the church.

Peter wanted to remind the church of what was most important, and he made every effort to make sure that the church would be able to recall these things even after he had died.

But the things that he wanted the church to remember was not just how to behave, not just what kind of building materials to use, the gold, silver, and precious stones, but to also remind them of the very foundation that they were to build on.

The church needed to be reminded of these things back in the First Century because, as we will see when we get to chapter two, false teachers were trying to deceive Christians to follow after them, to abandon what they had  learned and pledge allegiance to them and their falsehood.

Praise God this teaching was preserved because the same thing is happening today.

Peter gave the church two reminders of the sure foundation of the truth that they had been taught: the word of credible witnesses, and the Word of God Himself.

This text was Peter’s reaffirmation of the truth, the foundation on which we stand by faith, and the ground he stood on to defend the church from the false teachers in chapter 2.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

What is Peter talking about? The Transfiguration of Jesus.

Let’s look at Peter’s own account of this through the pen of Mark in Mark 9.

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” 

2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. 

9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

In any court of law cases stand or fall on the word of eye witnesses. Peter was an eye witness of the power and coming of the Lord Jesus.

He witnessed the majesty of Jesus when His face was changed and His clothes became intensely white. He witnessed it when Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father when He spoke from the cloud and said, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.”

Peter is telling the church, “we didn’t make this up, me and James and John, we saw this with our own eyes, and we heard with our own ears God Himself declared that Jesus is His Son. This was no cleverly devised myth, this is the truth.”

Peter was an eye witness, he was there when Jesus walked on water, he was there when he fed the five thousand, he was there when Jesus gave sight to the blind and raised the dead and healed the lame, he heard Him preach good news to the poor.

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

And then, as Alistair Begg put it, “Peter did what all good pastors must do: point men and women back to the Bible.”

Not only do we have the word of eyewitnesses but we also have the Word of God. 

19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

John Calvin wrote, “The truth of the gospel is here simply proved by a twofold testimony, that Christ had been highly approved by the solemn declaration of God, and then, that all the prophecies of the prophets confirmed the same thing.”

The prophetic word that Peter mentions here was specifically what we call the Old Testament. Peter declares that the Word of God was more sure than even his own testimony and the truth of the promise of Messiah in the Old Testament was confirmed by its fulfillment in Jesus.

I know that I don’t do a lot of preaching out of the Old Testament, but please don’t ever take that as that it has no value or is not important anymore.

Matthew Henry wrote, “Read the Old Testament as a prophecy of Christ, and with diligence and thankfulness use the New [Testament] as the best exposition of the Old [Testament].”

We have the gospel testified to by the Apostles in the New Testament and the gospel confirmed by the prophets in the Old Testament.

Jesus is on every page of Scripture, both New and Old Testaments and we need to pay attention to it as a lamp in a dark place.

The word Peter used for a dark place means: squalid, miserable, filthy darkness.

This is not only the world that we live in but it is the condition of our hearts apart from Christ, there is no one who is good in and of themselves but we have the Word of God that shows us the light, it shows us who Jesus is and what He did for us and what He is continuing to do for those that trust in Him.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

And we will have that light as a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path as it says in Psalm 119:105, we will have that light until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.

This phrase is a subject of lots of debate. But as we have seen, Peter is writing to believers, to people that already have faith in Jesus Christ, so that day dawning and the morning star rising can’t mean when people come to faith in Jesus. 

So if that isn’t it, what could it be?

We have the light of the Word of God, both Old and New Testaments, given by God Himself as Peter says there in verses 20-21, as a lamp to navigate this filthy darkness and squalid misery of this life now, and when Jesus returns the day will dawn and the Morning Star will rise in our hearts. 

Jesus said in Revelation 22:16, “I am the Root and Descendant of David, the Bright Morning Star.”

When the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts is the dawning of eternity at Christ’s return, when we shall see Him face to face, not in a glass darkly, on that day we will know Him fully even as we are fully known.

How do we know that all this is true? Because the Bible says so and the Bible is from God Himself and God the Holy Spirit is the best interpreter of His own words.

20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

I want to close with Peter’s short sermon to Cornelius and his household from Acts chapter 10 where he covers all that I have said so far just much more briefly…

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

This is the simple gospel, predicted by the prophets, witnessed by the Apostles, preserved in God’s Word, the Bible, and proclaimed to you today.

Amen.