What a price was paid. But what a prize was bought. The
Lord, the scripture says, he shall look on the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. Know this, that exactly what
the Lord Jesus came to do, he accomplished. And he purchased
that for which he shed his blood. We're looking in 2 Peter. chapter one, and looking at verse 12, it says, wherefore I will 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'm 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 decease 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. 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, knowing
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, Peter, knowing that he is
coming to the end of his life, and many think that he wrote
this while he was in captivity and jail, so to speak, before
he was put to death, but He desired to leave with those whom the
Lord had given him a charge to declare the truth of God. He
wanted to leave them with the truth of God. He didn't want
to leave them wondering about these things, but as he said,
Knowing shortly, I must put off this my tabernacle, even as the
Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. And it doesn't make any difference
how long a man lives. It's going to be short. You know, when a child is growing up, And he's
ticking off the years. He's one year old and then he's
two years old. And then it just doesn't seem
like he's ever going to get to be three years old and four years
old and five and six. And, you know, these things,
everything just seems like it's just never going to happen. And
then there comes a point in time when you wake up one morning
and you look and you say, well, where did the time go? How on
earth can I be 73 years old? How's that possible? And in that,
the Lord reminds us that we must shortly put off this, our tabernacle. And it is important. what we leave behind when we
go, not property. It doesn't make any difference
if you don't even own anything. That's not what I'm talking about
because the richest man on earth is the man who has Jesus Christ, that knows him and abides in
him and by his grace believes him. There can be no greater
riches than that, because there will be nobody on their deathbed
thinking about how much money they've got in the bank. Those
thoughts will not be on a man's mind. Doesn't make any difference
what he is or what he has. And we must shortly put off our
tabernacle, even as Peter declared. And so he said, that he wanted
to do this, that after he was dead, you would have these things
always in remembrance. We don't have any control over
what really is going on in our life at the present time. We
like to think we do, and there's a measure in which we do, I realize
that, but in reality, you know, our life is like a vapor. Our life is, we live our lives,
the psalmist said, as a tale that is told. Now a tale that
is told is not one you're telling. Now see, we think we're the ones
telling the tale, but the Lord is the one that tells the tale.
And we live our lives as a tale that is told. He has a purpose
for every one of us. and we are fulfilling that purpose. Now I rejoice in that. Some people
get mad if you tell them that. Oh no, that's not the way it
is. We can do anything we want to. We got free will. We'll just do this and we'll
do that. Well, I ain't nothing I can do to change your mind
about that. The Lord has to show that to
you. But anyway, Peter desired that they would have these things
always in remembrance. And then he's going to give his
testimony. He says, We have not followed cunningly devised fables. Now it's always seemed odd to
me that people would think that the Christian belief of the disciples that
they went out after the Lord died and they just made all this
up. And they just, you know, this
was not really a real thing. It was just kind of like they
just want to perpetuate what the Lord was saying. But they're
willing to die for these things. It makes no sense. And Peter
says here, we didn't follow any cunningly devised fable, because
that's what the unbelieving world says about the gospel. Yeah, you know, that's just something
somebody made up. I mean, you know, all these things
are just, just came together and over the years been added
to, and it's just something that's a story. Sounds good and everything,
but there's really nothing to it. Well, Peter was there. And he says, here I am now. And he says, I can assure you
from firsthand knowledge that this is not made up. He said,
we didn't follow some body. What point would it be if we
did not see that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead? What
would be the point of us going out here and preaching and laying
down our lives for the sake of Christ if we knew it was all
just a big joke. I mean, how much sense would
that make? They said, we didn't follow any
cunningly devised fable when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we are awaiting,
Christ is coming again, the scripture says. He said he would. He said,
if I go away, I will come again. But that's not what he's talking
about here when he says, when we declared unto you the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking about when he presently
came and he walked among men and he did the very things that
they have testified that he did. That he, for we received, he
said, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Now, when did
he see his majesty? Because the Lord didn't put on
a fanfare when he walked among men. In fact, he went about and
told people, don't tell anybody what I did here. Don't tell anybody that I gave
you your sight. Of course, men did. You know,
because if a man's been given sight, if he's been given eyes
to see, he desires that that be known. That's a glorious thing. But he says, we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty, the coming of our Lord. They saw him come in
power. Now remember, the Lord said,
he said, there'll be some of you standing here that will see
my coming in power before you die. What was he talking about?
He was talking about this right here. Because Peter, James, and
John were those who were privileged to be on that mount when the
Lord came and majesty. Now you see, you have to understand
that the Lord Jesus Christ, he walked among men as a man. Now he did many marvelous things,
but he didn't go out, didn't go around casting out lightning
bolts and doing, you know, magic tricks and making stuff appear
and all this stuff to bring, you know, attention to himself
he just walked among men and went about doing things and surely
they were amazed at the things he did but they didn't really
understand who he was and Peter didn't understand who he was
because Peter's testifying this later on even though Peter saw
this remember what Peter said to the Lord when he saw Elijah
and Moses And he said, man, it's good for
us to be here. He said, this is a great thing,
let's build three tabernacles. And that's when the Lord, when
Moses and Elijah, they had to leave the scene. And he said,
we didn't see anybody but Jesus only. And he said, the voice
came from heaven and he said, this is my beloved son, hear
ye him. He said, we saw that. He said,
we were standing there and we were so stupid. We were so weak
in the flesh that we didn't even know what it was we were looking
at. He walked among us and we didn't know who he was. Remember
those disciples on the road to Emmaus? The Lord came, see, that's
just a picture of the Lord being with His people throughout His
whole ministry, was here He was, risen from the dead and walking
with these men on the road to Mass, and they're lamenting,
oh, well, you know, we thought this one, that this man Jesus,
we thought He was gonna be the one that was gonna deliver us
from the Roman oppression and was gonna be the Messiah and
all this. And they didn't even know who He was. Until what,
till later. And he said, did our hearts not
burn within us? When he spoke to us of the word
of God, did we not, how could we be so blind? But you see,
that's an illustration of how blind men are. Men think, old
buddy, hey, you've heard this. Maybe you even thought it before.
Boy, if I'd have been back there during Jesus' time, man, I'd
have believed him. I mean, if I'd have seen all
those miracles and stuff like that, I'd have just, man, I'd
have been, I'd have joined up, and no way, see, I'd have fought
against them. I wouldn't have let them crucify
him and all this stuff. No, you wouldn't. Because you'd
have been just like they were. Because unless the Lord is pleased
to open a man's eyes to see who he is, he can't see it. Even
these chosen disciples, and the Lord revealed to them the majesty
of his coming, and they could not see it. Until later, it's
like, wow, what was that? And that's what he's saying here.
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. He said, we didn't make this up.
He said, we heard it. with our own ears, and somebody
didn't tell us about it, and I wasn't there. But Peter was,
James was, John was. And they testified that they
heard him in the Holy Mount. But he said, that's not all.
He said, I mean, that would be enough,
would it not? I mean, to see the Lord high
and lifted up and a voice come from heaven say, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. I mean, wouldn't that be enough?
He said, dear brethren, that's not all. He said, for 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. Now what's
he got reference to? What is this more sure word of
prophecy? It's the word of God. He said
before Christ ever came, he said there was a more sure word of
prophecy than simply us telling you this. Though this now is
a part of the prophecy of God. But he's saying it wasn't just
what we're saying to you. He said we've got facts and evidence. He said this is a book that was
from the beginning about him whom this voice from heaven was
speaking of. When the Lord clothed Adam and
Eve in the garden with skins, those skins, that was the righteousness
of Christ. You see, so he says we have a
more sure word of prophecy. Go back and look. Now those prophets
of old, they looked at these things and they puzzled over
them, did they not? I mean, Isaiah, he was probably
the most blessed prophet to write of the redemptive work of Christ
of all the prophets in the Old Testament. And yet, he didn't
understand that. He said, you know, behold, a
virgin shall conceive. and she'll bring forth a son.
But he didn't understand that. He didn't know what that was
exactly. He said, who is this that cometh from Edom with thine
garments from Basra? I mean, he had this picture unfolding
in his mind as the Lord put this in his heart and he couldn't,
but he didn't know. He said, I that speak in righteousness
mighty to save, but he didn't know. But you see now, we look back
there and we know exactly who he's talking about. We know more
than Isaiah did, and Isaiah wrote the book. And we know more than
he did, why? Because God, who's rich in mercy,
has revealed unto us a more sure word of prophecy. We have an
understanding of the things of God. In the book of the Revelation,
it says, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. That which testifies of Christ
is the prophecy of God. If a man comes speaking anything,
telling you some prophecy, and it's not about Christ, it's not
a prophecy sent from God. If a man comes prophesying, he
says, now, you know, next week, this is gonna happen, that's
gonna happen, it might happen. But I'm telling you, if a man
is sent as a prophet from God, he is gonna speak about Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. That is the prophecy of God.
That's the thing that the Lord has sent. And Peter's speaking
about that prophecy right here. He said, this is a more sure
word of prophecy. That which Jesus Christ has done,
knowing this, he said, as a light, and ye do well to take heed as
what? A light that shineth in the dark
place. See, Christ is the light that
has shined in the dark place of the Old Testament and showed
us what it is. You could have never known what's
in the Old Testament if Christ had not come. I remember one
time a guy told me, and he was somewhat of a Bible scholar,
and he said that the Old Testament is a commentary on the New Testament. And he says, you can't understand
the New Testament if you don't understand the Old Testament.
And I said, well, respectfully, I believe you got that completely
backwards. Because there's no way under
the sun that you can understand anything about the Old Testament
unless you have an eye to see what's in the New Testament.
Because Christ is the one that has shed the light. He's the
one that's opened our eyes and we say, well, that's what that
means. See, we're not wondering what the Old Testament means.
We know it's about Christ. I mean, anytime you come in here
and you're puzzled about something, just think of this, it's about
Christ. It might take you a while to
get to the place where the Lord shows you what that is, but you
can be sure that he's not telling you about something else. Because
what did he say? He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. This is that more
sure word of prophecy. Until the day dawn and the day
star arise in your hearts. Oh, you do well to take heed
to this. He said, pay attention to it.
Seek it out as best you can by the grace of God. Knowing this,
First, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
or origin. He means no man came up with
it. The scripture is not what you
want it to be. Now, you know, a lot of these Modern day people, I don't even
know what you call them, they're certainly not preachers, but
they're something. They go about, they make the
scripture to be what they want it to be. And they say, well,
you know, that couldn't be like that. I mean, surely when the
Lord died for all men without exception, and it's all up to
men, I mean, that's just the way it is. Well, that's not what
the scripture says. You know, it doesn't make any
difference if you like it or not. There's a lot of things
in here I don't like. A lot of things I don't like
in the flesh. Because this book reveals to
me what I am, and that's painful. You know, in me dwelleth no good
thing. I don't like to think about that.
I mean, surely there's some good in me, isn't there? I mean, you
mean not to tell me there is none good, no, not one, not even
me? See, there's things that cause
us pain, and we wish was some other way, but that's just the
way it is. And brethren, it's not of a private,
interpretation. That is, it's not something we
can come up with to suit our mind. But the Lord might show
us what it is. It's the testimony of Christ.
The testimony about Christ. It's the testimony of Him. It's
not of any private interpretation or origin. 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 when you read the Psalms,
you can be sure that those are experiences that David had. David's
the one that wrote most of the Psalms. But I'll tell you this,
they're not the first and foremost, the experiences of David. But
there, first and foremost, the experiences of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he walked among men, because everything that's in
these Psalms is that which comes from Christ. Why did David say, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Because you see, that was the
words of Christ. Those were the words that God
gave to David that he might record. And we might look back at this
more sure word of prophecy and say, yes, this is depicting exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ went through. Now, he didn't know
that at the time, did he? I mean, when David wrote that,
he had no way of knowing. What about the 51st Psalm? Well, that was confession of
David's sin before the Lord. But I tell you, he who bore our
sins and carried our sorrows, his repentance was for us. See, he had no sin. Neither was
God found in his mouth, but he came to the Lord as a repentant
sinner because he was repenting for us. Oh, dear brethren, if
we can see that all that Christ did, he did for us, And that's
everything that's in this book. He wrote for us. He gave it to
us. He blessed us. And we have a
more sure word of prophecy. And this is not something we
made up. See, this is the spirit of God
moved in the men that wrote this book. Why is it that men reading
this book are often brought to tears? Because a lot of this
is not sad. You know, a lot of the things
that cause us to weep is not sad, but it's opening our eyes
to see what Christ did for us. That's joyous, is it not? I mean,
when we remember his death till he comes again, that's not a
sad thing, it's a glorious thing. But it causes us to realize what
we are and who he is. And that's when that day dawns
and the day star rises in your heart. Oh, that the Lord might
give us such that we might not just wander along the way satisfied
with religion of one kind or another. Religion's a powerful
force. the most powerful force in the
world. You can see it over in the Mideast. I mean, those Arabs,
they want to kill the Jews, and in reality, in a measure, the
Jews want to kill Arabs. I mean, they don't like one another. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. I mean, you can see that conflict.
The Lord said Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And
he said there's always going to be conflict between them.
And there always is. And that's just the way of the
world. But only the Lord can remove
those things. You know, men by nature are going
to hate one another. They're going to do all these
things. But the Lord, who's rich in mercy, is one that changes
men's hearts and brings men to himself, that they might see
what they are. Because you see, until a man
sees what he is, he'll never seek the Lord. Men don't seek
the Lord. I mean, you know, you can get
up and tell folks, well, you know, you need to believe so
you don't go to hell. Well, that's good for a while,
but that, you know, after a while, when that wears off, I mean, nobody wants to go to
hell that I know of. I mean, I never met anybody that
was looking forward to it. But that's not the point. I mean, the spirit of God moves
in the hearts of God's people to cause them to desire Christ,
to desire to be free from their sin. See, what good would it
be to be in heaven and still be burdened down with sin and
still have sin that so easily beset us and turned us aside
and caused us to hate one another and not to love the Lord as we
ought to? What would that be? What would
be the use of that? But the Lord who's rich in mercy.
is that one who does send that day star to dawn in our heart. Paul said that the Lord has shined
in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's who Peter's
testifying. He said, this is a more sure
word of prophecy that I bring to you. Didn't make it up. It is just the truth. He said,
I want to leave it with you before I move on from this world. I
want these things to be in your remembrance. And I can say with
Peter the same thing. Oh, that the Lord might write
the truth of God upon your heart, that you might believe it, that
you might receive it, that you might glory in it, and not be
satisfied with religion. Because men love religion. just
like I started talking about the Jews and the Arabs. I mean,
that's just religion at work. One of them says, well, we believe
this, and the other one says, we believe that. And they say,
well, I'm gonna kill you because you believe that. Because I believe
mine's strong enough, I'd be willing to kill you for it. Well,
that's not the gospel Jesus Christ came preaching, is it? He said,
if your enemy smites you on the right cheek, turn to him the
left. Said if he sues you at the law to take away your coat,
give him your cloak also. If he compels you to go with
him a mile, go with him two miles. He said pray for them that despitefully
use you. See, that's the antithesis of
religion. Because religion's that which
causes division among men. And that's nowhere any more true
than among those that call themselves Christians. You know, they fight
and carry on about one another and speak ill of one another
all the time about things, but dear brethren, we're not interested
in religion, we're interested in Christ. He's the sure word
of prophecy. And I believe it's a true thing
that those that believe the gospel of Jesus Christ will not fall
out of one another over such petty things because it's Christ. See, every one of God's children
knows the gospel when they hear it. I believe that's the true
thing. Now, they might argue with you about a point of doctrine,
this, that, or the other, but they know when the truth of the
glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ is set forth and they
rejoice in it. They can't help it. They might
not admit it to you, but they can't help it. What a glorious
God we serve. Somebody have a question or a
comment? for our protection on the way
to church. We were almost in a head-on collision. I was going about 60 miles an
hour, maybe 65, and this car, all of a sudden, coming down
the middle of the road up over a hill, and I didn't see him. I just
swore I would have been home. I just thanked God. Things like that. I mean, it's
not little, but I mean, it's everything, and he protects us,
and I don't even know it. And I told the kids when we got
out of the car, I was a little shaken. I told them, I said,
you know, we just need to be thankful, you know, because that
could have, you know, that could have been a disaster. Yes. And
I told them, I said, y'all need to be thankful, you know, every
day for things like that, you know. Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. You know, we see those things
and the Lord shows us how close sometimes we come to destruction,
but think of all the times when we didn't even know it. And the
times when we've... When we would have done something.
The Lord kept us back. I still, I think many times about
when Caleb was in the car and the tree fell. on the car and around the car. If he'd have been five feet slower than he was, that car,
he'd have just crashed completely into that. And yet, it was like
the hand of God just came down around that car and stopped it. And the only place of safety These are carnal blessings. But
they should remind us of the spiritual blessings that are
ours in Christ, because the Lord does indeed watch over and keep
us. And we don't know what, you know, you think about those people
that were in that plane where they had the crash, where the
helicopter ran into the, to the plane, and you know, those people,
I'm sure probably among those passengers on those planes could
have been some who were true believers in Christ. And the
Lord had appointed that to be their end. It's like he's appointed
our bounds that we cannot pass. And there's coming that moment
of time in all of our lives that we'll breathe our last breath,
that's for sure. We don't know when that is, but
until such time as that occurs, the Lord has set a hedge about
his people. And even when it does occur,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
So we're in the hand of the Lord, and that's a glorious thing.
We rejoice in that consideration. Thank you for that.