Peter chapter 1. The name of
the message is Comparing Scripture with Scripture. Comparing Scripture
with Scripture. 2 Peter chapter 1. We'll read verses 16 to 21 this
morning. For we have not followed commonly
devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount. We
have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well. that ye take heed, as unto a
light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts. Know in this first that no prophecy
of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Now last week we looked
at verse 19 where we saw that Through this Bible, the whole
book, the believer has a more sure word of prophecy. The book
is authored by the Holy Spirit of God. In verse 21 proclaims
this, holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We also looked at how we who
are the people of God, born again by the Holy Spirit and washed
in the precious blood of Christ, are to take heed to the word
of God. were to take heed to the Word of God and the warnings
that are in it and the truths that are proclaimed in it. We
are to take heed to them and we are to hold them close to
us. Peter, James, and John had the blessed honor and the privilege
of being eyewitnesses of the glorious transfiguration of the
Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. They witnessed
the glorious change that came upon our blessed Redeemer. And
it must have been spectacular It must have been spectacular.
There'd be something that they would never ever forget, beloved.
Something that they would never ever forget. Right before their
eyes, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, was transfigured.
And he was still in the body that the Father had prepared
for him. But light was emanating from him, pure, from his pure,
sinless body. And it must have just been absolutely
amazing to see him, to see him in his glory. And his face did
shine as the sun. And his remnant was white as
the light. Now we've all heard that story,
but when we read that and when we hear it, it should just leave
us in awe because that's our Savior. That's our God. And those chosen apostles, they
also saw Moses and Elijah talking with the Lord about what he would
accomplish on Calvary. That's what they were talking
about. They were talking about what the Lord would accomplish
on Calvary's cross. The fact that he came to save
his people from their sins. The fact that he would lay down
his life for his sheep. And they also heard the voice
of God Almighty speak these words from heaven. This is my beloved
son. in whom I am well pleased. Hear
ye Him. Hear ye Him. Hear Him. He's the
way, the truth, and the life. He's the blessed Son of God.
He's God incarnate in the flesh. And when they looked up, Moses
and Elijah disappeared, and they only saw Jesus. He's the one
we're to look to, beloved. The law and the prophets, which
Moses and Elijah represented, They testify of Christ. They
testify of Him. In this wonderful book, beloved,
we have a more sure word of prophecy in the Bible. We have a better foundation.
A more sure evidence of Christ in the gospel than an eyewitness
account of His glory. This book, again, is authored
by the Holy Spirit of God. The Old Testament and the New
Testament, revelation given by the Holy Spirit of God. We have
a more sure word of prophecy. And as Peter said, we do well
to take heed to what the Scriptures say. We do well to take heed
to what the Scriptures say. Through this book, through this
blessed book we have here, we learn who God really is. We learn
who He really is. Not who we think He is, but who
He really is. We learn of God's plan of salvation
that we had no clue of until we heard the gospel with hearing
ears and seeing eyes, which were given to us by the Lord. But
through this blessed book, we learn about that. We learn about
that. We learn about how God purposed
and planned in eternity to save us. And we all say me, but that's
what the blessed book says, isn't it? That's what it says. God sent Christ to this world
to save his people from their sins, and it was planned and
purposed by God in eternity. And in through this book we see,
beloved, that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
And oh, what joy that brings to the saved sinner's soul. All my righteousness is Christ. And by the command of God, Through
this blessed book, we see by the command of God that we're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, by His command. Born again, blood-washed saints.
And then we see in this blessed book that we're granted faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith and repentance
before God. Those are given to us by God.
And we learn, don't we, as we grow in grace and the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn that we could never ever
accomplish these things. We can't save ourselves. We learn
that through this blessed book, too, that we can never save ourselves. We learn that it's God who saved
us, and we rejoice, don't we? We rejoice in our great God. And God's people believe what
the scriptures say. We believe it. We believe what
the scriptures say. We believe that Christ died for
his sheep. We believe in John 10, 11, when
the Lord said, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth
his life for the sheep. We believe that. We don't say
he died for everyone because the scriptures say he didn't.
But the scriptures say he died for his sheep, and we believe
that. And that's what the Lord said. That's what the Lord said. That he came to save his people
from their sins. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. God's born-again people believe
that our Savior, through the offering of himself, totally
satisfied and perfected forever those for whom he died for. Because
that's what the scriptures proclaim. And we know that we who are saved
are sinners, we know that. We know that we're gonna sin
until we go home to be with the Lord. But beloved, we are saved
by the perfect work of Christ. Look what it says in Hebrews
chapter 10, verses 12 to 14. But this man, being Christ, Afri
had offered, note this, one sacrifice for sins. One. The Old Testament high priests,
every year they had to offer sacrifices. Christ offers himself
up once. He's the great sacrifice. He's
the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. But this man, the God-man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, and remember,
he's sinless, so he's offering himself up for the sins of his
people, forever sat down on the right hand of God. from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." My,
what did Paul write in Colossians? And ye are complete in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Now we're
still sinners, right? We still sin, we still struggle
with sin. But when God looks upon us, beloved, He sees us
in Christ. And that's wonderful. That's
wonderful news. wonderful and least for God's
people. And we believe what the scriptures say. God's people
believe, as the scriptures proclaim, that Christ by himself purged
our sins. He did it. It was all his work. It was all his work. And we believe
that Jesus was delivered for our offenses. It's our sins that
put him on the cross. It's our sins that he went to
pay for. And then we also believe, like the scripture says, that
He was raised for our justification, to prove to us, to show us, that
God was absolutely satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ.
And that ties right in. That ties right in. When He says,
this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He's only
pleased with Christ. God the Father is only pleased
with Christ. And if you're in Christ, He's
pleased with you. That's wonderful news. That's absolutely wonderful
news. God's people believe that our
Redeemer, by His own blood, entered once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. And eternal means eternal.
It's eternal redemption. Hebrews 9 says, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. He obtained it. He did the work. He did all the work. We are just
receivers of His grace and mercy, beloved. It's wonderful. He did it all. He obtained eternal
redemption for His people. And God's people believe that.
We believe what the Scriptures say. We believe what the Scriptures
say. God's people believe that Christ
has not only risen from the grave, but that He's now seated on the
right hand of glory, right now, ruling and reigning. He's not
waiting to reign. He's there right now. Right now. And we believe that. We believe
that. God's people believe that God
the Father has given Christ power over all flesh. Turn, if you
would, to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. God's people believe that God
the Father has given Christ power over all flesh, and that He should
give eternal life to His sheep, to those who were given to Him
by the Father. And you know what? He won't lose one of them. He
won't lose one. Not one. That's comforting for
God's people. That's comforting. Look at John
10, verses 27 to 30. They hear my voice. It doesn't
say they might. It says, my sheep hear my voice.
And I know them. Again, that's the word gnoska
in the Greek for know. That's an intimate relationship.
And they follow me. It doesn't say, well, they'll
follow me if they make a decision, does it? Or if they walk an aisle
or pray a prayer. It doesn't say that. It says,
my sheep hear my voice and they know me. and I know them, and
they follow Me. Now look at this, and I give
unto them, the One who has all power gives this to His sheep,
and I give unto them eternal life. Why? Because He obtained
it, didn't He? Hebrews 9.12 says, Heaven obtained
eternal redemption for us. He obtained it. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, God, which gave them
Me, is greater than all. He's high above all. And no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. He just
proclaimed His deity right there before them. Who He is. God's people have a more sure
word of prophecy, it says in our scriptures. And it's the
Holy Bible, beloved. Authored by the Holy Spirit of
God. We've been taught the truths which are in this blessed book
by the very one who's authored it. We didn't come to our understanding
of who Christ is or the scriptures by our own reasoning. And we
know that because for a lot of us, before we read the Bible,
before the Lord saved us, and I think I only read the Bible
two or three times before the Lord saved me. And it wasn't
the whole book, it was just pieces of it. And I had no understanding
of what it was. I had no understanding. Now I
read it, and my, Christ is everywhere. It's wonderful. So we've been taught the truths
which are in this book, we who are God's blood-washed saints.
And we know a few things now. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God in eternal
life. We know that we passed from death
unto life. We know that we were born dead
in trespasses and sins. And we know now that we're spiritually
alive, quickened by the Holy Spirit of God. We passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren, 1 John 3.14. We
know this. We can say with the apostle,
I know whom I believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against that day, 2
Timothy 1.12. We know this, and we believe it. We believe it. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Romans 8 28. We know these things
and we and we believe them and we trust in God who's who's revealed
these things to us, these truths to us. And we rest in him. Also, we who are the Lord's chosen
blood bought children know that we've been delivered from the
power of darkness. We know we know the sin we were
in. We know the hopeless state that
we were in. And we know that we've been delivered from darkness,
the power of darkness. And we're taught by God the Holy
Spirit that all the Old Testament prophets, all the Old Testament
prophets wrote of Christ. We've been taught that by the
Holy Spirit of God. And as we learn and grow in grace,
And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, we see more and more
that Christ and Christ alone has fulfilled all the Old Testament
prophecies. He's fulfilled them all. Concerning
the Messiah, because He is the Messiah. He is the Messiah. He's the sent one of God, beloved.
He's God incarnate in the flesh. Sent here by the Father to die. on the cross. Born to die. Born to die on Calvary's cross. Now beloved, you can't take one
portion of Scripture as Brother Henry Mahan brings forth and
let it stand alone. The Bible is a book and it all
fits together. It all fits together. Let's go
back to our text. People often This is what gets
people in trouble too, is they take one verse out of context,
and they build a whole doctrine around it. Or they build a whole
movement around it. You can't do that. Let's read
verses 19 to 21 again. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed, as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and
the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scriptures of any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So we see there in verse
20, knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures
of any private interpretation. No scripture is a man's own opinion. It's a revelation. from the mind
of God. And therefore we search the Scriptures
not to prove what we think is right. We search the Scriptures not
to prove what we think is right, but to find out what God says
is right. That's the difference. We search the Scriptures to see
what God says is right. And we know that only... See,
men will build up a whole movement, a whole doctrine around one verse.
Church of Christ. They've taken a verse in Acts
and built up a whole movement and say, you must be baptized
to be saved. Well, we know baptism doesn't
save from putting Scripture with Scripture. But we know Christ
is the one who saves, not baptism. Baptism is just an outward confession
of an inward conversion. And it has no saving power, but
we do it out of obedience to the Lord. So no scripture can
be interpreted in light of human wisdom, but only in light of
other scriptures. And we know who the author of
the scriptures is, it's the Holy Spirit of God. And Scripture
must be interpreted in light of other Scriptures. This is
one book, Old and New Testament, beloved. This is a book authored by the
Holy Spirit of God. Both the Old Testament and the
New. Has the same author. Written by one God and declaring
one Gospel. and declaring one Savior and
one Redeemer. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles in the New Testament
epistles constantly made reference to the Old Testament to prove
that their doctrine, so that they knew that no prophecy of
Scripture is of any private interpretation. They always went to the Scriptures,
and whenever you see them make reference to the Scriptures in
the New Testament, they're talking about the Old Testament, because
they didn't have the New Testament then. Absolutely no one is to speculate
or give their own personal opinions when they try to interpret the
Holy Scriptures. Human wisdom, Human reasoning and worldly wisdom
cannot enter into the preaching and teaching of the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must preach Christ and Him
crucified, a perfect, complete work done by Christ and Christ
alone, because that's what the scriptures declare. That's what
the scriptures declare. A perfect work of redemption.
The Word of God, beloved, must have the final say. Must. It must. We must compare Scripture
with Scripture. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
2. 1 Corinthians 2. We must compare Scripture with
Scripture. 1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 to 14.
1 Corinthians 2, verses 12 to 14. Now we have received not the
Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom
teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches." He's our teacher, beloved.
He guides us into all truth, we know that. The very one who
is the author of the Scriptures is the very one who reveals the
Scriptures. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Why? For they are foolishness unto
him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. That's why the Lord said you must be born again.
You must be born again by the Holy Spirit of God. To know Christ, to enter into
glory, and to even know what the Scriptures say. Because the
natural man will not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness. Neither can they know them because
they are spiritually discerned. So God's preachers set forth
the truth. We set forth the truth contained
in the Scripture. We do not set forth words of
learned men or philosophers. We don't do that. We do not use
logic taught and understood by natural man. No, we teach what
the Scriptures proclaim. Because we're taught by the Holy
Spirit of God. And we proclaim the gospel of
salvation in Christ alone, just as the Scriptures declare. Just
as the Scriptures declare. Again, which were authored by
the Holy Spirit of God, who teaches us. And we who are sent by God
to proclaim these spiritual truths, proclaim them to a spiritual
people. To you who are born again by the same Spirit. all according to God's divine
plan and purpose and power. Beloved, the best interpreter
of Scripture is Scripture. The best interpreter of Scripture
is Scripture. Therefore, we compare the New
Testament with the Old, and their truth and harmony are seen in
both the Old and the New Testament. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
10. Both the Old and the New Testament testify and proclaim
who? Christ Jesus the Lord. Our Master said the Law and the
Prophets, they testify of Me. We know the New Testament testify
of Christ and what He's done. I like what one commentator said. This is a hymn book. H-I-M. Speaks of Christ. It speaks of
Christ. Acts chapter 10, look at verses
38 to 43. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and with power, and who went about doing good and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.
And we are witnesses of all things which He did, both in the land
of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on
the tree. Him God raised up the third day, and He showed Him
openly, not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before
of God. even to us who did eat and drink
with Him after He rose from the dead. And He commanded us to
preach unto the people and to testify that it was He which
was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead." Look
at this in verse 43, "...to Him, being Christ, give all the prophets
witness." They testify of Him, beloved. "...that through His
name Whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins."
Look at that. Again, "...to Him gave all the
prophets witness, that through His name, whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of sins." The Scriptures testify
of Christ. They testify of Christ. Now let's
go back to our text in 2 Peter. Look at chapter 21. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The prophecies, the writings
of the Old Testament prophets, and we include the writings of
the New Testament as well, came not in old time by the will of
men. This means that the Holy Scriptures did not come into
being by man's will. I've heard so many people say,
oh, that Bible, it's just written by a bunch of men. Holy men of
God were moved by the very one who is the author of the Scriptures,
and that's the Holy Spirit of God. Look at verse 21 again.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
So the saints of old received the Holy Scriptures bit by bit
until all of what is called the Old Testament was compiled into
one volume. And the saints throughout most
of the Gospel age have had a complete Bible. The inspired books of
the Old Testament and the inspired books of the New Testament. Both
testaments were inspired by the same Spirit. The Holy Spirit
of God. Not by the will of man, that
Scripture says there. Bit by bit the eternal purpose
and will of God, our majestic God, was played out and now we have
a complete Bible. Both Old and New Testament. So
how thankful we who are the people of God should be today. to our
great God of all grace. We've not been left to wander
and speculate about spiritual things, about spiritual truths.
Our God has given us the Holy Bible, the holy inspired Word
of God. He's given that to us. And His Holy Spirit is in us
to guide us into all truth. Again, concerning Jesus Christ
our Lord. So what comfort we can find as
we are guided into all truth. As we're guided into all truth
by the very author of the Scriptures. By the very author of the Scriptures.
And we know, who will the author of the Scriptures, who will the
Holy Spirit point us to, beloved? The Scripture says He won't speak
of Himself, will He? He'll point us to Christ. He'll
point us right to Christ. Oh, what comfort we can find.
Look at verse 21 again. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. As we read this verse, one wonders
how can anyone deny that the Bible is the holy, inerrant,
infallible Word of God? How can people deny that? Well, we know from the Scriptures
that we read earlier that the natural man has no understanding
of the Scriptures. No understanding of the Scriptures,
or the God of the Bible, who the Scriptures declare. Because
we know this because the Scripture says that there's none that seeketh
after God. There's none that understandeth.
None who understands the things of God or who God is. The Scriptures
declare there's none righteous, no, not one. That our natural
state before God, we are devoid of any spiritual knowledge of
who God really is. That's our natural state. And
then all that we've learned, all that we've been taught, since
the Lord saved us, we can't take credit for any of that either. We can't. We can take no credit
for our spiritual growth, or any knowledge that we have about
the Scriptures. Because it's all given to us. It's all given
to us by God. We're taught by the Holy Spirit
of God. That's why, Paula, we don't boast in ourselves. We
only boast in Christ. Isn't that amazing that the God
of glory would reveal himself to us? That he would teach us about
himself? Why? Because he's loved us with
an everlasting love. He's loved his people with an
everlasting love. It's absolutely incredible. Now
the scriptures were written by different men with different
backgrounds and different personalities and different levels of education
under different circumstances over a period of thousands of
years. And they've been compiled into one glorious volume of the
scriptures, the Holy Bible. And you know what? They perfectly
harmonize with each other. Because they have one author,
the Holy Spirit of God. There's no contradiction in the
verses of Scripture. I've had people say that all
the time. Oh, there's contradictions in the Bible. I always say, well,
show me. They find out quick that there's
no contradictions in the Scriptures. There's none. There's none. You know what the supposed contradictions
in the Bible are? Man's wrong interpretation of
God's Word. That's what the supposed contradictions
in the scripture are. You know why? Because natural
man thinks that they're contradictions, but they do not understand the
thoughts of God, beloved. They do not understand the thoughts
of God. And that's what causes them to think that this wonderful
book, this wonderful book which testifies of Christ, that's what
makes them think that there's contradictions. because they
have a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures, they have a wrong
interpretation of who God is, and they have a wrong interpretation
of who Christ is. They do not know. All the books
of the Bible have the same author. God the Holy Spirit. God. God. And the Scriptures declare right
here in this verse that holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. These men were holy only because...
Now that's the other thing too. These men were holy only because
the Spirit of God dwelt in them. Same for us. They're born again.
All God's people born again are just as holy in God's sight as
all the writers of the Old and New Testament put together. Why? Because we're one in Christ,
beloved. We're one in Christ. There's one glorious theme that's
woven through the entire Word of God. All the scriptures testify
of Christ. Of Christ. The Old Testament
said the Messiah is coming. New Testament says He's here.
The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. It is
Christ who is the center of the scriptures. It is Christ who
is the center of this book. And this book, old and new, testifies
of Him. Of Him. Glory be to God. Heavenly
Father, we thank you again for allowing us to be here, allowing
us to gather together and look in thy word. And oh, we marvel.
We marvel that we have the holy scriptures that we can read every
day or whenever we choose, Lord. And knowing we who are your people,
we who are born again by thy spirit, knowing that this book
is authored to you by you and knowing that the only reason
we understand the words is because you've given us an understanding.
We praise your name. We praise your name for pointing
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus, we thank thee.
We who are your people, we thank thee for the scriptures. We thank
thee for coming to this world and redeeming us by thy precious
blood. In Jesus' name, amen.