Chapter 1, 2 Peter 1. Let's go Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
again for allowing us to gather together. Oh, you are the sovereign,
majestic, almighty God. We again are thankful that we
can come together and sit in peace and enjoy thy word, oh
Lord. We live in a country that's free
and that we have the freedom to be able to gather together.
It's a privilege that we don't take lightly, oh Lord. And we
thank you for allowing us to gather together. Pray that you'd
be glorified today through the preaching of your word and through
the singing. Oh, that the hearts of your saints would be refreshed,
that we would leave here rejoicing over the great things that you
have done, oh Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen. 2 Peter, we'll continue our study
through this book. We'll be reading verses 12 to
18 today. The name of the message is, Eyewitnesses
of Christ's Majesty. Eyewitnesses of Christ's Majesty. Wherefore, I would not be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know
them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it
meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by
putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this,
my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.
Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able, after my decrease,
to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not
followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. 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
mountains. Now last week we looked at verses
12 to 15 where we saw Peter speak of bringing to remembrance to
the saints of God, the gospel of God's free grace of salvation
in and through Christ alone. As long as he was in this flesh,
as long as he was in this flesh, he would preach the gospel. I
talked with Brother Gary Shepard this week and we were rejoicing
in the fact that this is what every gospel preacher does. This
is what every gospel preacher does. They bring to remembrance
to God's born-again, blood-bought saints The great things which
Christ has done for them. And we know you know these things,
but we keep bringing them to your remembrance. We keep bringing
them to your remembrance. Some of the things that we bring
to your remembrance is that Christ, it's Christ who has redeemed
us from the curse of the law. It's him. He did it all. He did
it all. It is Christ who died as our
substitute on Calvary's cross. It is Christ who was the sinless
one, dying for sinners, dying for sinners. And we continuously
bring this to your remembrance. It is Christ who justified us
before God. In and of ourselves, we can never
ever be justified before God, by ourself or by our works, but
oh, the believer in Christ is fully justified and accepted
by God. in Christ. And we continue to
bring this to your remembrance. We continue to bring forth the
one who washed us clean from all our sins by the shedding
of his precious blood. And God's preachers bring forth
before the people of God the great promises of God and how
they are all yea and amen in Christ. The gospel preachers
will continue to do this as long as they have breath to breathe. As long as they can proclaim
this truth, they will. We will. This is what we're called
to do, and this is what gospel preachers do. And God's preachers
bring forth that all spiritual blessings are in Christ. Outside
of Christ, there's none. Absolutely none. Absolutely none
outside of Christ. But in Christ are all. All, and
every believer has all spiritual blessings in Christ. Every believer,
every individual believer has that in Christ. And they all
flow to us in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God man. Emmanuel, God with us. So as long as, again, the preacher's
alive, we're bringing this to the remembrance of God's people.
Even though you know these truths, we'll just keep setting them
before you. We'll just keep setting them before you, beloved. For
your remembrance, again, the Lord's Supper. We're gonna take
this this afternoon. Do this in remembrance of me.
That's what we do. We remember what the Lord's done
for us. We remember the great sacrifice that the Lord Jesus
Christ did for us. Now in chapter two, Peter's going
to have some words about false teachers. When we get there in
our study, we'll see that. Peter will bring forth some words
about false preachers. We see in our text, in this verse
16, that he brings forth that what we believe and what he preaches
is not cunningly devised fables. Look at verse 16, for we have
not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. Peter, like John, was an earwitness
and an eyewitness of Christ's majesty. He was an eyewitness
to the wondrous things that the Lord Jesus Christ did. His miracles. And he was there at the Mount
of Transfiguration. The one he preaches, he heard. The one he preaches, he saw,
like you and I see each other. The one he preaches, He touched. Christ, the promised Messiah,
the anointed Redeemer of His people, the One who is the Way,
the Truth, and the Life, God incarnate in the flesh, was not
some fable or story handed down to people. Remember when the Lord saved
me, some of my friends thought, oh, Wayne's just going through
his stage. He just got religion. Now, I
was born again. I'm not the same person I used
to be. Now, outside I am, but not inside. Not inside. And this is true of every one
of God's people. We trust Christ and Christ alone. We don't trust a cunningly devised
fable or story handed down. We trust God Almighty in the
flesh. We look to God himself. He's
our Savior. He's our Redeemer. And Peter
beheld him. Peter beheld his majesty. He beheld his majesty. He was
an eyewitness of the majesty of Christ. Again, He was one
of the ones that was at the Mount of Transfiguration. He heard
the Father speak, this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. He
heard the voice. Turn if you would to Matthew
chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17. and Luke
chapter 9. Matthew chapter 17 and Luke chapter
9. Peter is writing to the saints
of God, and again he was there on the Mount of Transfiguration,
where Moses, who is the giver of the law from God to the people
of Israel, and Elijah, the prophet famous for his zeal and his worship
and who was translated soul and body to heaven, appeared with
him and talked with him about the death of Christ. Matthew
17 verses 1 to 8. And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high
mountain apart, and was transfigured before them. Beloved, they got
a little glimpse of his glory. of who He is. That's why He says,
I was eyewitness to His majesty. To His majesty. And His face
did shine as the sun, and His remnant was white as light. Now
remember, this is our Savior. This is our God. The very one
who was transfigured before them is our Savior. Our Savior. And behold, there appeared unto
them Moses and Elijah talking with him. Then answered Peter
and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If
thou wilt, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee and
one for Moses and one for Elijah. Oh no, he should have just said
the Lord, period, right? He should have stopped right
there. Peter's just like us sometimes,
eh? Oh my. While he yet spake, behold, a
bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the
cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye him. And what happened? The disciples just fell on their
face. They just fell on their face, beloved. And when the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face, and they were sore afraid.
And Jesus, look at this, look at this. Remember David with
Mephibosheth? fear not, right? Oh, look at this. Jesus came
and touched them and said, arise, be not afraid. Be not afraid. When they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Now look at that. This is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. See, the gospel preacher
can say, we can say with confidence, that we are accepted in Christ
because God is well pleased with Christ and we are in Him. We
are in Him, Lord. Just let that sink into your
souls. It's so comforting. It's so comforting. God is pleased
with us because we're in Christ. My, sinners. Redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lamb. He's the head and we're what?
The body. Oh, it's wonderful. Now turn
to Luke. What were they talking about? What were they talking
about? Beloved, look in Luke chapter 9, Luke 9, verses 30
and 31. It tells us here what they talked
about. What the Lord spoke to Moses
and Elijah about. Look at this. And behold, their
talk with him Verse 30 and 31. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory
and spake of his decrease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
Beloved, they spoke of his death on the cross. They spoke of his
death on the cross. This is wonderful news. Wonderful
news. See the word decrease there?
It means exit or departure. They're speaking of his death.
Several commentators bring forth it also. It means exodus. In
Wonder of Wonders, Moses and Elijah spake of our Lord's death. And then it says there, which
he should accomplish. Which he should accomplish, it
says there. In verse 31. They spoke of the
sufferings and of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And think
of this. That is what Moses and Elijah
foretold. Oh my. The law and the prophets
say what? Testify of me, the Lord said. Now the word there in Luke 9.31
in the Greek, for accomplished there, I had to bring this out. This is, what a blessing for
God's people. What a blessing for God's people.
What comfort this brings God's people. This speaks of a complete
finished work. It speaks of a complete finished
work. The word for accomplish there
is defined to make full. To fill. To fill to the full. To render full. Complete. It goes on. To fill to the top so that nothing
shall be wanting. Nothing added, beloved. Absolutely
nothing added. To make complete in every particular,
to render perfect. That's what that Greek word accomplish
means in the Greek. It's incredible. It speaks of
a complete, finished, atoning work by the Lord Jesus Christ
to save his people from their sins. Nothing can be added to
that perfect work. Absolutely nothing. So we see
then that our Lord is not only the perfect substitute in His
life, but He is the absolute perfect substitute in His death,
beloved. And He so accomplished a work
that it's absolutely perfect. Why? Because He's God incarnate
in the flesh. He did that which is impossible
for us. Remember the scripture says,
that which is impossible for man is possible with God. Well,
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes the perfect, complete salvation
of His people. Nothing to be added. So think
of this, you who are born again by the Holy Spirit of God, you
who are washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior, God Himself, Heaven, to save His people from their
sins. To fully accomplish their salvation. He came to fulfill the will of
God. And beloved, He did it perfectly
in our place. Perfectly in our place. And accomplished
there talks about His whole work. It talks about his life and his
death, because remember, he's a substitute in both. Both in
his life and in his death. And it's complete. To render perfect. Absolutely
nothing added. No wonder the scriptures say
that all the promises of God are in Christ, yea and amen.
No wonder. No wonder. So think of this wondrous word
accomplished in light of our Savior. Our Savior's words from
the cross too. Think of that. Think of what
we looked at as a definition of this word. And think of our Lord's words
from the cross. It is finished. Oh, that brings great comfort
to my soul. Does it yours? Oh my. Finished. It's accomplished. Rejoice, you who are the people
of God. The work of the salvation of our souls is absolutely finished. Finished. And it's the Lord Jesus
Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, who has accomplished this.
salvation, the salvation of our souls. And He did it by redeeming
us, by shedding His precious blood for our souls. He died on Calvary's cross, the
absolute, sinless, spotless Lamb of God. And each believer can say, He
did that for me. It's my sins that He went to
the cross to pay for. That makes us hate sin, doesn't
it? Makes us hate sin, beloved. Oh my. Makes us hate our own
sin more than anyone else's. All the types and shadows in
the Old Testament find their fulfillment in Him. And He is
accomplished by His death on the cross in everlasting salvation. In everlasting salvation, in
everlasting redemption of His people. And Christ alone, again,
is the only Savior of sinners. No other Savior. All those other
religions out there are false. Let's say their salvation, and
if you notice, if you really break them all down, they're
basically salvation by what you do. There's only two religions
in this world, grace or works. That's it. You can boil them
all down to those two. Christ is the only savior. The
only one who God has said, I'm well pleased. And if he's well pleased again
with Christ, then he's well pleased with all who are in Christ. Oh
my, what comfort that brings for the born-again, blood-washed
believer. So Peter says, I'm going to keep
preaching this, even though you know these things, even though
you know these things, I'm just going to keep bringing them to
your remembrance. I'm just going to keep bringing them before
you. Why? Because we often forget, beloved. We get busy with life,
and we get busy with things, and so God's preachers, we just
keep bringing these precious truths before you. As long as
he's in this tabernacle, he says. And again, that's true of every
sent gospel preacher. Note again at the latter part
of verse 16, Peter brings forth that he's an eyewitness of Christ's
majesty. For we have not followed comely
devised fables, which we made known unto you by the power and
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty. No, Peter uses the word we. Again,
he includes himself. He doesn't elevate himself above
the other saints, and he's an apostle. No, he says we. Yeah,
and the we there, he's speaking of all the Lord's chosen apostles,
especially James and John, who were with him on the Mount of
Transfiguration. All the apostles who were eyewitnesses
of Christ's miracles, and were personally taught by the Master.
The promised Messiah, they all knew the true gospel of His amazing
grace. And they all preached that same
gospel, beloved. They all preached that same gospel
for the glory of God. For the glory of God. They were
actually eyewitnesses of His majesty. Eyewitnesses of His
majesty. The Old Testament prophets proclaimed,
the Messiah's coming. The Messiah's coming. Peter and
other apostles declare the promised Messiah has come. And that's
what every gospel preacher does now. We proclaim the promised
Messiah has come. The Lord Jesus Christ. God incarnate
in the flesh. Now God's faithful apostle was
not following some cunningly devised fable. And any of the
apostles, they were not following some cunningly devised fable
when they declared that Christ had come. No, they were declaring
the truth. They were declaring the truth.
They declared as we saw that he finished the work, that he
finished the work that the Father sent him to do. And they declared
that he's now back in glory, seated at the right hand of the
Father in majesty on high. They were declaring the truth
of who Christ was in contrast to the false teachers, beloved.
In contrast to the false teachers. Listen to what John Titus says
here. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4.1. Titus 1.14, not giving heed to
Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth.
1 Timothy 1-4, neither giving heed
to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather
than godly edifying which is faith. So plain warnings were
given to the early New Testament church to turn a deaf ear to
the Jewish and Gentile fables. To just turn a deaf ear to that
stuff. Turn a deaf ear to it. It's no different today, beloved.
It's no different today. God's people, we just turn a
deaf ear to all the false religions out there, don't we? And I don't
even want to hear about it. Tell me about Christ. Tell me
about my Savior. Tell me about what He's done.
And we can tell when a man's lying, can't we? You can tell.
You can tell. You can tell when the truth's
being proclaimed and when it's not. I always like to say this. I got this from Brother Henry.
How do you tell when a man's lying to you? Who gets the glory? Does man get the glory? Or does Christ get the glory?
Oh, Christ gets all the glory when the gospel preacher's proclaiming
the gospel, eh? He gets it all. He gets it all,
beloved. He gets it all. Let's read verses
17 and 18. 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. Now
just take note of that. In whom I am well pleased. God is well pleased with Christ. Well pleased with Christ. And
we are accepted by God in Christ. Therefore, He's well pleased
with His people who are in Christ. Isn't that amazing? We're sinners.
We're saved sinners while we're on this earth, but God's well
pleased with us in Christ. I don't think I'm ever going
to get over that. To know that God looks upon me and looks upon
you who are the blood-washed saints of God, and He sees Christ,
beloved. He sees us clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. He doesn't remember our sins
and iniquities. They're washed clean by the precious blood of
Christ. It's amazing grace. It's absolutely
amazing grace. But God is well pleased in Christ,
or with Christ, with Christ. The scriptures declare, for he
received from God the Father honor and glory. Christ received
glory and honor from the Father, not as an inferior, from a superior
because he was equal in glory with the Father. He was in the
brightness of the Father's glory. God the Father testified of Christ's
glory, declared the honor that belonged to him. He's God in
the flesh, the perfect man, fully God and fully man, and yet sinless. And so God can say, I'm well
pleased. Oh, my! Remember what the Scriptures
declare over in Matthew 17, verse 2, and I'll read verse 2 and
29 of Luke 9. Matthew 17, 2, "...and was transfigured
before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his remnant
as white as the light." And in Luke 9.29, and as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his remnant
was white and glistening. Let's read verses 17 and 18 again
in 2 Peter. honor and glory which are 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. Again, this is my beloved, this is my beloved son. This is the Messiah that was
promised and prophesied about in the Old Testament. The one
who the law and the prophets testified of. Never ever forget,
beloved, that all the Scriptures center around Christ. They all
center around Him. Christ and Christ alone, in whom
I am well pleased. This implies not only that Christ
is particularly the beloved of the Father, but remember all
this, that all they that are adopted by God, and brought the
faith in Christ our beloved and graciously accepted in and through
him. Wonder of wonders. Sinners by
birth, nature, and choice. Chosen blood-bound sinners are
accepted in the beloved. Accepted in Christ. And if we're accepted in Christ
again, then the Father can say, their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. That's wonderful words to a sinner,
isn't it? Their sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Why? Because Christ paid all
our sin debt, beloved. All of it. There's not one sin
for the believer that's left unpaid. Not one. And again, and this, boy oh boy,
I've talked to Norm about this just a couple weeks ago, you
know. All our sins, past, present, and future. It's amazing. And again, someone
might say to you, well how can you say all my future sins are
forgiven? Because again, every one of our sins was future. when
Christ died on Calvary's cross for us. Never forget that. Never
forget that. Now that doesn't give us a license
to go crazy. We know that, we know that. Because again, the
love of Christ constrains us. But we are fully forgiven. Fully. What rest for the believer? And
we confess our sins to the Lord, don't we? We do. Scripture says if we confess
our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I like what Henry said, the believer
comes to Christ by faith and he keeps coming all the days
of his life. Keeps telling the Lord, thank
you for saving me from my sins. So Peter, James, and John were
with Christ at the Mount of Transfiguration. And it says in verse 18, in this
voice which came from heaven we heard. They heard Him. They
heard the voice. They saw Christ in His Majesty. They were eyewitnesses of His
Majesty. And they heard this voice from heaven. It says when we were with Him
in the Holy Mount, we looked at that already. Peter, James,
and John were eyewitnesses, earwitnesses and eyewitnesses to the majesty
and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, beloved. They were earwitnesses
to the Father saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. That'd be something they'd never
forget. That'd be something they'd never
forget. Oh my. There's certain events in our
lives where we never forget them. This would have been an event
in Peter, James, and John's life that they would never forget.
And they'd want to tell folks about it. And they did. And they
did, beloved. And they gave all the glory to
our great God. They were privileged to see and
to hear these wonderful things. And God's people hear the voice
of the great shepherd through the preaching of the Word of
God. through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we've been given eyes to see, eyes to see Christ,
to look to him, and then to rest in him alone. And we struggle
with that, don't we? We all do, let's be honest. We
all struggle with just resting in Christ. We're gonna look at
the name of God this morning, and I pray that it will help
us to just rest in him more and more. The name is Elohim. He's the mighty one. And when
we let it sink in, who really has
saved us? And who keeps us? I pray it will
be a blessing for us, beloved. He's almighty. Let's turn to John 1 1. Or 1
John 1. We'll read the last four verses to close out this message.
Again. Peter and John were ear-witnesses
and eye-witnesses of the wondrous things of Christ. And look what
John writes here. I love this little book, 1 John. 1 John 1, we'll read verses 1 to
4. That which was from the beginning, which is God eternal, which we
have heard. They heard Him, just like you
and I hear each other. which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes. And God's people, by faith, we
hear and we see the great shepherd. But they actually saw him like
you and I see each other, which we have looked upon. They
gazed upon the Savior, the one who we will see in glory. We'll
gaze upon him one day, but right now we gotta go through the wilderness
as well. But remember, it's God who's taken us through this world.
It's God who's taken us through this world. In our hands of handled of the
word of life, John was the beloved disciple, laid his head on the
breast of Christ. For the life was manifest, and
we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That
which we have seen and heard, again, he just keeps bringing
this forth. They're not following, remember
in Peter, culminated devised fables. They're proclaiming the
one who they saw and who they heard, beloved. That which we
have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may
have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you. Why? That your joy may be full. Rejoice, you who are the beloved
of God, you who are redeemed by the precious blood of the
Lamb. Rejoice. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for allowing us to gather together. Again, allowing us to look through
thy word. Oh, may we take these precious truths and these wondrous
words of scripture and lay them to our heart this week. May they
comfort our souls and may they, oh Lord, may they be bread and
water to us, oh Lord, just as you are. In Jesus' name we pray,
amen.