2 Peter 1, now go back there. Let's read the last five or six verses again. 2 Peter 1, the title of this message, the subject is fact, not fable. God's word, not man's. Look at it again, verse 16. 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. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory from heaven. 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. Where unto 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 scripture is of any private interpretation. The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. But holy men spake, holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

This is not a message to prove God or prove His Word, to prove the Son of God or the Word of God, but to confirm these things to those who already believe. This was written to believers. pointed that out to you, to those who have obtained like precious faith by the power of God. Faith is a gift of God. It's not the act of the human will. It's not a man's choice. We don't figure this thing out. We don't decide to believe it's the gift of God and it's his power.

This is not a message to try to convince anyone that this is God's word, that Jesus Christ is God's son. No, no. Faith is a gift, it's a revelation, it's not something we can figure out. The scripture says, can a man by searching find out God under perfection? No, he can't. In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul says that the natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, they're foolishness to him. And we're gonna read here in a minute that mockers and scoffers and people call this a fable. But he said in that same chapter, 1 Corinthians 2, that God hath revealed these things unto us by His Spirit.

God must reveal Himself. He says in that same chapter, he said, who can know the mind of a man except that man tell you what's on his mind. I'm just paraphrasing, okay? Who can know the things of man and the spirit of man unless he tell you these things? You don't know what I'm thinking unless I tell you, right? Well, how much less do we know of God unless he reveals himself? And that's what it says. But God reveals himself like I would introduce myself to you and reveal myself to you and speak to you and that you might know me. Well, that's, God does the same thing. How does he do that? Not signs and visions and wonder, but by his word.

In 1 Corinthians 1, he says, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. Now preaching is not foolishness. Most of it is, but true preaching is not foolishness. It's the power of God and the wisdom of God, the preaching of Christ crucified. And this is how God reveals himself, that man won't take it, man doesn't like it, man doesn't wanna sit down and listen to a man preach the word of God to him, but this is what God has chosen to do. That's what scripture said. I was gonna have you turn, but for the sake of time, we're not gonna do it. But here in, look at 2 Peter, 1, verse 1 through 3. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith. It does not say attained, does it? Attain, if you do something and work hard at it, you attain to that, like in a promotion or a raise or whatever, you earned it. No, no, you've obtained it. Somebody's given it to you. He had nothing to do with it. Faith is not of yourselves, Ephesians 2.8, it's a gift of God.

Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Well, our Lord said, no man knoweth the Father but the Son, neither knoweth any man the Son but the Father, and he to whom the Father will reveal him, the Son, vice versa. And verse three says, according as his divine power hath given unto us these things, life, eternal life, and godliness, through the knowledge of him. He made himself known to some, not all, but some.

All right, back to our text. Now look at verse 16. So he's telling, he's confirming to God's people, he said in verse 12, you know these things. You already know these things. You remember chapter three we looked at recently? He said, you already know these things, but I'm gonna tell you again. To confirm these things, we have nothing new to say, but the same old story, the gospel story. So he says in verse 16, for the confirmation of God's people, for our comfort, This, we haven't followed cunningly devised fables when we've made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. This is no, we haven't made this up. This is no cunningly devised fable. No one made this up.

You see these things that pop up on your phone all the time, and you shouldn't read them, but I do. And this man, there was a quote by Charles Spurgeon on there, which was good. It was a very good quote. And this man's comment was, the Bible is fiction. It was made up by a Roman emperor in 200 A.D., and it's on and on he went, like that. Now, you know better, don't you? The Bible is not just a book. This is the voice, the mind, the will of God that we were saying. He reveals himself to his people.

In verse three of chapter three, it says there are scoffers in the last days, walking after all the scoffers. And there are more scoffers in our modern day than ever before. Most believe that Adam and Eve is just an old allegory of some sort, that there really was not a man and a woman in the garden named Adam and Eve, that we all came from and we died, like the Lord said, to Adam and Eve. The day you eat, you shall surely die. And Satan was there and he said, you won't die. And that's the same lie he's been telling people through religion. A man's not dead, and he can do this, he can do that. No, he can't, he's dead. That's what the scripture said. Scripture says, in Adam all die, doesn't it? But in Christ, made alive.

But most believe Adam and Eve is just a fable, a Jewish fable. They believe that Noah's ark, we looked at that recently, chapter three. They scoff at an ark. where in only eight people were saved and God destroyed the whole world in wrath and judgment. They scoff at that and mock at that. But our Lord Jesus Christ talked about that. So men and women that scoff and mock God's word and these things are calling Jesus Christ a liar. And that's serious, isn't it? They don't believe in the Exodus, Moses, the Red Sea, all of these things, they don't believe. Peter said, this is no fable. As quoted, the natural man doesn't receive these things. The natural man fancies himself to be wise, able to do anything he wants to do, that he has free will. God alone has free will. God alone does his will, as he will, with whom he will, because he will. And scripture says, nobody can say anything about it. But God's people love it that way. They're glad. What makes the world mad is when you tell them that they have no control over their destiny, that God predetermines everything. It makes people exceedingly mad. It makes God's people exceedingly glad. Because if left to ourselves, we'll destroy ourselves. That's what Psalm 103 says. He delivered your life from destruction. He delivered you from destroying yourself. From the God of this world who held you captive. That's what the scripture said. And you know it said that. From scripture and from experience.

But God's word says man's the fool. Because man says, no God. The fool had said, no God. No God. But Peter says, this is no fable we heard. We saw, we were witnesses in verse 16, the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were witnesses of his power and his coming. The whole world, scripture says, declares his power and his glory, his eternal power and Godhead. That's what Romans 1 said. The heavens declare his glory. The firmament showeth his handiwork. Day under day, others speak, Psalm 14. Night under night, knowledge. There's no language in all the world that doesn't see in his creation the eternal power, miraculous power, creative power, sustaining power, providential power of the God of the universe. Nobody. They have to be blind to not see it. Well, they aren't. And so are we, until he gives us eyes to the Word. The whole book declares the almighty God and creator. and Son and Spirit, this whole book.

The coming, he said, we're eyewitnesses of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures from Genesis to Malachi say this. It's not just Jewish stories. It's not just about the Jewish people. This is about Jesus Christ. From Genesis 1 to Malachi 4. All the scriptures say someone is coming. That's why God had this book written. Someone is coming. Our Lord Jesus Christ said they, the scriptures are they which testify of me. The gospels say he's here of whom the prophets wrote. He's here of whom God promised that he would send the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Deliverer, the sin payment, the Lamb, slain before the foundation. He's here, that's what the gospel said. He's here. James, Peter, John, all of them said, we saw him, we beheld him. John the Baptist said, behold, the Lamb of God. The epistles and the revelation say, he's coming again. Though men scoff and mock, as we read in chapter three, Where is the promise of his coming? Everything's continuing like it was. Yes, because God is merciful and God is gracious and God continues to feed people that don't believe him and reject his son. Isn't God good? Isn't God merciful? This is no fable. He said we were eyewitnesses of his power.

How much power does Jesus Christ have? This is what religion says. God can't do anything unless you let him. There's a powerless God in it. That means we have more power than he does. That's not what this book says. Scripture says Jesus stands outside your heart door, wanting in. Once you let him in, he can't get in. There's no knob on the outside of the door. You got to let him in. That's not what this book says. Scripture says he is the door. and we're the ones knocking, hoping he'll let us in. That's what this book said. How much power does he have? He said, one of the last things he said before he ascended into the clouds was, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. That's what he said.

As thou hast given him power, John 17 too, when he prayed to the father, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he, Christ, should give eternal life to as many as, let him, no, it doesn't say that, to as many as God has given him, power over all flesh.

Peter said we were eyewitnesses of his power. We saw him command the elements, the wind and the waves. Now you say, Jesus can't do anything. Ask the wind and the waves. Stood out on the bow of that ship in a fierce storm. All the disciples thought they were dead men. They'd seen storms come and go. They were sailors. And this was the one, the end of the perfect storm, you might call it. And our Lord was sleeping. And he got up and went on the bow of that ship and told the wind, stop. And those 10, 20 foot waves, lie down. And it says all his disciples were exceedingly afraid of this man. It's not just a man. This is the God man. All power over the elements.

Power over the animals. Power over all the animals. Disciples were fishermen. They fished all their lives. One time they were fishing all night and caught nothing. That's a story in itself. Without him, you can do nothing. Well, our Lord came along. He said, cast your net on the right side. We've tried that. Cast your net on the right side. And they cast it, and they couldn't bring the net in for all the fishes were in it. And there were an exact number. Peter saw that and Peter hit his knees in the boat and said, you're my Lord. You know every fish in the sea. The fish obey you.

Demons and devils. The demons, remember? He said, we know who you are, Jesus, as your son of God. Are you here to torment us before it's time? Let us, they asked him permission That go into those pigs, didn't it? He said, get. Like you'd call a care dog, and they did.

Diseases. Our Lord is in control of every atom, every microbe, every disease, leprosy. Healed it with a word. Palsy, blindness, deafness, death. How much power does he have? Power over death itself. He raised the dead. This is proof of who he is. Proof. Men and women came when he called them.

Simon Peter was a fisherman, like I said, and Andrew, his brother. They'd fished all their life. Fishing was their life. Fishing was their love, like many of you for certain things, whatever it is you liked and loved and lived for. They both had jobs, they both had boats and nets and a home. Peter had a wife and probably children, probably in their 30s, maybe 40s, we don't know. But these things were their life, okay? And the longer you live and the more you get immersed in these things in the world, it becomes your life and what you live for, it's what you love, and it's what you're gonna live and die for, isn't it?

The Lord Jesus Christ came by one day, that Sea of Galilee, and there were many boats out in that water, many fishermen out in that water, okay? He chose two boats. They didn't choose him, they weren't calling on him. They weren't crying, there you are, Jesus, help us. None of them, nobody was calling on Him. And our Lord stopped and pointed at Simon Peter's boat and his brother Andrew said, follow me and walked away. They dropped everything. Got out of that boat, left that boat and followed Him.

Peter said, we were eyewitnesses of his power. When he calls, you come. He doesn't invite, he commands. Is that the way it was with you? The way it was with this prodigal son. Come! You know what I did? I came. He didn't ask me. He did the same thing with James and John. He walked right down the shore of their line there and he picked out that boat where James and John was in and says, follow me. They dropped their nets, their ship, their life, their father, left their families and followed Jesus Christ to the day they died. That's power. That's the Jesus Christ of scripture.

You say, what's the use then, this and that and the other? Well, so we call on God to do something for men. We don't call on men to do something for God. Because with man it's impossible. But with Christ, all things are possible. Even the most, the wildest, I said, animals. Our Lord one time, he said, you go into a town there and you'll find a wild ass is cold, tie it up. Loose him and bring him to me. Tell the owner, I said, loose him. Kelly's a horse trainer. What if some fella came to your house and said, I'm taking that colt there? I'm taking your colt. What would you do? It'd have to be the Lord, wouldn't it? It was. And they said, nobody's ridden this colt. We've all tried. He can't be broken. He's unbroken. And the Lord got on him. And that's what he did to this wild ass cow. And that one, and that one, and that one, didn't he, huh? Power over all flesh. Power.

Eyewitnesses of his power. And look at the next line, I love this. And his majesty. Verse 16, we're... eyewitnesses of his majesty. He's the only one that deserves that title. I hate hearing people call these figurehead kings, his majesty or the queen, her majesty. They have no majesty at all. They have no power at all. Our Lord stood in front of, talking about power. Our Lord stood in front of the most powerful man on the earth at that time, Pilate. And our Lord was in chains by his will, by his power. And Pilate was trembling. His wife couldn't sleep that night. This man in chains. And our Lord said, you could have no power over me at all, except it were given you from above. All power. His majesty. Why should we call him his majesty? Because he's a king of kings. Born king. He was king before he came, though. Men don't make him king. We don't make him lord of our lives. God did that before the world began. His majesty, king of kings.

Peter said, oh, his voice, the power of his voice. No man spoke like this. Oh, his regal and royal bearing. Every knee should bow. And when he did reveal himself, they did. And every knee will. And every tongue will confess, he's the king. King of kings. My king, my Lord and my God. That's what Thomas said, didn't he? My Lord and my God. Peter says, we heard his voice. We heard the Father's voice. Look at this, verse 17. Now, I was gonna have you turn to it, but John, you were reading from that, weren't you, a while ago? That's good. Verse 17, Peter's recounting when the Lord chose him and James and John to go up on a mountain and transfigure himself. He peeled back his flesh to show them that he's not just a man, he's God who dwelleth in light, because they couldn't look on him. His countenance shined as the sun in his strength. You can't look at the sun. Our God is a consuming fire. That's crying. Verse 17. He received from God the Father honor and glory. There came a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son. God spoke out loud. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And it's something all people need to know. This is something, turn to Hebrews one with me. Hebrews chapter one, just back a dozen or more pages. Hebrews one, turn over there.

Something all people need to know is that God Almighty never spoke out loud to all people, ever. You know that? Never. People, the children of Israel said, don't let God speak to us. God never did. He never spoke out loud to mankind, ever. Do you know that? Sure you do.

Well, people say this all the time. Why doesn't God speak to us? We'll believe him if he'd just speak out loud. I quoted to you Psalm 14, the heavens declare your glory, the firmament show it's in you. Day under day, others speak. God has spoken through creation, through providence, at least that. Psalm 19, what did he do?

Now Hebrews 1, look at it, verse 1. God, who at sundry times in diverse manner, different ways, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. God spoke to the prophets who in turn spoke the word of God to the people. God didn't speak to the people, God spoke through the prophet. That's what that said then. But he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world.

I gotta keep reading. Who being the brightness of his glory and express image of his person, means he's equal with God. Upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sin, God's people, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Scripture says, sitting on the circle of the earth. That's Jesus Christ.

But God spoke out loud three times. And all three times were concerning Jesus Christ, his son. He never spoke out loud. But when Jesus Christ, his son, came to earth, and he came to be baptized of John the Baptist, John said, I didn't know him, I believed it was a lamb, but until God said, this is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. John said, this is him. God said so. John was the last of the prophets. He heard him. He knew.

Then our Lord was walking along one time and said, Father, glorify thy name. And the people thought it thundered. They said it thundered. But God spoke from heaven and said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. It's concerning Jesus Christ, the name, which is above every name, Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords.

And I've told you, I've reminded you that whenever the thunder, when God thunders, it's God's thunder. You need to think of that. The world just says it's thundering. No, God's saying, I have glorified it and I'll glorify it again. You hear his voice, don't you?

And then he took these three men up on that mountain, and peeled back the veil of his flesh to where they could see he's not just a man, this is God manifest in the flesh. And they all fell to the ground, couldn't look on him. And God spoke out loud and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. That's it. It's the only time God has ever spoken out loud.

Is that significant? What was the subject? Jesus Christ. That's what this book is about. That's who this book is about. You see? Peter said we were eyewitnesses. We heard this voice from heaven, the voice of God.

What is God? All God has to say to mankind is Christ is all. All God has to say to mankind is Christ is all. This is my beloved son. Come to him, believe him, bow to him, kiss the son, Psalm 2 says, lest he be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled just a little. You know these scriptures, don't you? This is no fable, this is the word of God. A sure and certain prophecy. Look at verse 19. He said, we have a more sure word of prophecy, even than a voice and even than seeing him in person. What is that, Simon? It is the word of God. The word of God, the word of prophecy, where until you do well that you take heed, sure and certain prophecy, all written concerning his son.

One of the reasons why God does not speak out loud, and he wrote a book concerning his son, is that all men everywhere will read and hear the same thing. If God speaks today, the people before today didn't hear it. Right? Do you follow me? If he speaks today, he doesn't speak tomorrow. People later, they didn't hear it. But we all read the same thing, don't we? It hasn't changed. The word of God doesn't change. He doesn't need to say anything more. All we need to hear is what he's written in this book. And it's all concerning his son. So God doesn't speak out loud. He doesn't speak out loud. But you do well to take heed to the word of prophecy, the word of God.

To him give all the prophets witness. as a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. Isn't that wonderful? Listen to this. I quote this all the time.

In Isaiah eight, he said, don't seek familiar spirits. Wizards that peep. That's a good description of modern preachers. Peeping wizards that mutter, shouldn't the people seek unto their God? To the law and the testimony of the gospel. If they speak not according to this word, there's no light in them.

And people that listen to them will be hungry and fret themselves and curse their king and their God and look upward, upward, and the look to the earth and trouble and darkness and dimness and anguish and driven to darkness without this book, which is light, without a knowledge of Christ, who's the light of the world.

And it's the preacher's job to preach Christ, preach the word. He said to Timothy, preach the word, Timothy, preach the word. He said, the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but it will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, prophesying a smooth thing, pat our backs, tell us how much God loves us and how much Jesus needs us. Church can't be church without you. God's word doesn't say any of those things.

He said, to Timothy, a young preacher, they'll turn away their ears from the truth unto fables. A man made God and a man made Jesus, another Jesus. So Peter says, you do well to take heed. This is no fable. You do well to take heed.

What we need to do is turn away our ears from these fables and hear the truth. The word of God.

And in Isaiah nine, right after that, it says, The people that walked in darkness, some of these people, have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. It's not that they discovered the light, the light discovered them, and that's Christ. Shall I quote it, John? God, who caused the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he doesn't do that, we're in darkness. A light and a dark plane. I go back to our text and I close. Until this day star, that's Christ, the son of righteousness, arise with healing in his wing, Malachi 4. Verse 20, know this first, no prophecy of scriptures of any private interpretation. The prophecy came not at old time by the will of man. The holy men spake, holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. There's no private interpretation. No prophet decided to sit down and write a book that God told him. Write this book. They all just took dictation. Write this down. Write this down. He told John in the revelation, write the things which thou hast seen, which are now, which shall be after. Write these things down. And he gave him exactly what to write.

Jeremiah, all the prophets, Jeremiah wrote a book. Jeremiah, that is God's word. Every word of it. And there was a man, an evil man, named Jehoiakim, the king in Israel. And he didn't like what Jeremiah was saying, and he took a pen knife, and he was sitting by the fire, true story, sitting by the fire, Jeremiah 36, and he took a pen knife and cut that page out, I don't like that, threw it in the fire. And they'd read some more, you know, I don't like that, cut it out, until he destroyed the whole book. He didn't like any of it. Destroyed all the book, all the word of God, threw it in the fire, didn't it? Now we've done away with that. You know what happened? The next day, God said, Jeremiah, get out your pen. He wrote the exact same thing down again. You can't destroy the word of God. It's God's word. The master copies in heaven. And the word is not a book, it's a person. It's a person. Jesus cried, in the beginning was the Word.

No private interpretation, though modern man interprets it, though modern man has come up with countless versions, I call them perversions of Scripture. Interpreting God's Word, taking away the offense of the cross, taking out the things that men don't like, like a Jehoiakim. You know that Thomas Jefferson made his own Bible up, He didn't like the miracles. He didn't believe in the miracles of Jesus Christ. And he took them all out and made his own Bible. Thomas Jefferson, that people think is such a great man. He's just like Jehorakim. He's just like most people. He's just like some preachers that twist God's word, that hide it, don't say what it says. They don't say it in context, to whom it belongs to. Modern man interprets God's word. The true preacher declares God's word. And God's people believe every word of it. Every word. Why? Because they're convinced? Because the preacher's power? No, God revealed himself to them through preaching what the people call foolishness. But what they heard, the power of God, the wisdom of God. Christ crucified. A declaration, a declaration.

So this is fact. Our Lord came, he lived. as a man to fulfill God's holy law for his people. He went to Calvary's tree as a substitute, as a sin bearer, as a burnt offering to pay for the crimes, the sins, the penalty of their sins, which was hell and death and our Lord went through the fires of hell on Calvary's tree, and he died. The soul that sinneth must surely die. Scripture says God made his soul an offering of sin. And whoever Jesus Christ died for, their sins are gone. God accepts that sacrifice. It's not up to man to accept it. It's up to God to accept it. And he accepted it. And he died, and proof that everything he said and who he was and what he did was absolutely true. He rose from the grave. He wasn't raised from the grave. He walked out of the grave. That's power in him. He said, no man taketh my life for me. I lay it down. Because he is life. He gives life. And he went right back to where he came from, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. He said now to his people, wait for me, I'm coming back. And the world scoffs, this is just a fable. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, he's not. He's true. This is the true God and the true Christ and eternal life. No fable, this is fact. This is not man's word, it's God's word. Do you believe? Blessed, you're blessed if you do. Okay, stand with me.