A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Today on A Daily Walk, for scripture did not originate with man, but with God. It is God's word. It's not of any private interpretation. It didn't come by the will of man, but by the will of God. And these men who were the authors, if you would, ultimately the author is the Holy Spirit, but those who were used to write scripture were moved by the Holy Spirit to write.

God used their personalities, but the Holy Spirit told them what to write. When it says that they were moved, it means to carry. The Book of Acts uses the word moved like the carrying of a ship, wind carrying a ship through the sail. The Holy Spirit guided the human authors to write the word of God. That is why scripture is certain. You can trust it.

It was C.H. Spurgeon that said, "Nobody ever outgrows scripture. The book widens and deepens with our years." How true that is. Today on A Daily Walk, Pastor John Randall encourages us to base our faith on God's unchanging and very reliable word. Our faith is reasonable, and we can be thankful that God went to great lengths to prove his word can be trusted. We'll be finishing 2nd Peter chapter one.

John Randall: In 2nd Corinthians chapter six, Paul said it this way. He says, "In an acceptable time, I've heard you. And in the day of salvation, I've helped you. Behold, notice this, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation." Maybe there's things that God is wanting you to say, wanting you to share that you haven't done yet. Don't put it off. There has to be an urgency, a sense of the brevity of life which causes us to communicate what needs to be said.

Paul, Peter, they were so intentional with providing reminders while they were living. They wanted to be sure, and Peter wanted to be sure that important reminders of the truth would be there even after his passing. Therefore, there is an endurance of the truth. Look at verse 15. He says, "Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things even after my decease."

The word that he uses there for decease is the word exodus. Even after my departure, even after I leave this earth and go home to be with the Lord, I want to be careful, I want to be diligent to be sure that there are things that are put in place in order that the truth would continue to go forward even after I'm gone. Peter was making his exodus. There's a difference, by the way, between transfer and termination.

Peter said, "I'm going to be transferred." There's a difference between dying and perishing. Peter's been in heaven for a long time, but guess what? There's still a reminder right now. He said even after I'm gone, I want to be sure that the truth keeps going. Well, guess what? It's still going. We're still preaching it. We're still proclaiming it. And that is because of the endurance of the truth.

The Bible says in Matthew chapter 23, verse 35, Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." They endure forever. I think of what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 40, verse eight, when he said, "The grass, it withers. The flower fades. But the word of our God will stand forever." It lasts forever, guys.

These were the important reminders of truth that the apostle was committed to sharing in order that the church would not be negligent, but remain established, stay alert and awake in the truth with a sense of urgency, understanding the enduring nature of the word of God. Now, in addition to these important reminders of the truth, the second thing I want to highlight for you is Peter's personal experience with the truth.

And that is found in verse 16. "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, 'This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.' And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain."

Peter now recounts how he and the other apostles had been entrusted with these truths that he was reminding the churches of. Did you just come up with this on your own? Did you just spin this? No, I want you to know something, he says. We've had personal experience with the one who is the truth. We didn't follow fables, cunningly devised fables. The word there is myths.

When we presented the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, this wasn't some urban legend that we just kind of came together and made up. This wasn't some old wives' tale, some yarn that was spun through the generations and we just passed it down to you. This is the truth. Within the Greek and Roman culture, they had a lot of stories about their false gods, which were human speculations that tried to explain the world and its origin.

All the myths, all the fables, based on pantheistic forms of idolatry. You know your history, you know about this. Peter said that's not what we brought. On the contrary, Peter said he and the rest of the apostles presented something that was based upon clear evidence. First of all, eyewitness account. This is an eyewitness testimony that we've presented to you and that I'm reminding you of.

He said we were with Jesus, we heard a voice from heaven, and he recounts here an experience that he had on a mountain with Jesus. Peter's not the only one that was there on that mountain. The Apostle John was also there. And John, like Peter, recounts that experience. 1st John chapter one, this is what John said. John said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life. The life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father, manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us."

John said we saw it, we heard it, we were with him. Peter says we saw it, we heard it, we were with him. We were eyewitnesses. What is Peter referring to here? He's talking about the time when he, Peter, James, and John, the three inner circle of the disciples, went up with Jesus onto a high mountain and Jesus was transfigured. Matthew chapter 17 tells us this. Now, we don't know which mountain it was.

When you go to Israel, they'll tell you what they believe the mountain was. Some think that it was Mount Tabor there south of Galilee, 1,900 feet in elevation. Others think perhaps it was Mount Hermon, 9,000 feet in elevation. Some think it was Mount Meron, which was between Caesarea Philippi and Capernaum. Here's what you can know for sure. It was a high mountain because that's what the Bible says.

Not so much which mountain it was, but what happened on that mountain is what is significant. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up onto this mountain, they traverse, they make their way up there, and in Matthew chapter 17, verse two, it tells us this. It says, "And he, Jesus, was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light."

The word transfigured is the word metamorphosized. It speaks of an outward expression of one's inner character. The outward expression coming from and being truly representative of that inner character. The gospels collectively tell us his clothes, as I said, white like snow. Matthew tells us his face shone like the sun. Luke implies from his perspective that it was bright like a flash of lightning.

Luke also tells us that the disciples were heavy with sleep. Perhaps that's because of the hike, we don't know, but they were sleepy. But in the midst of that, suddenly there's this flash of light, there's this glimpse of glory, and they are awakened. And there was this revelation of Jesus that they had not yet seen. They saw him in a way they had not seen him before.

For a brief moment, the humanity of Jesus was lifted and the disciples got a picture of his glory. And if that weren't enough, it says that there were two other people that showed up, that showed up on the mountain. Matthew 17, verse three tells us, "And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with them." Imagine that.

Luke tells us in chapter nine that Moses and Elijah actually were there discussing with Jesus what was about to happen to him, about his departure, what was coming, the cross. What a sight this must have been for the disciples. Moses had been dead for 1,400 years, or at least gone 1,400 years, and there he is. Elijah's been gone 900 years. How did they know that they were who they were?

Did Moses show up with a stick? That's definitely Moses. Did Elijah roll up in a chariot? No, they just recognized them. The disciples knew that it was them. You think, why not Abraham? Why not bring Abe back? Why not bring David up there? That would be cool to see those guys. Why these two guys? Each one of these men, Moses and Elijah, both of them had similar conversations with the Lord on mountaintops.

You could say they were mountain men. These guys, Moses was up on a mountain speaking to the Lord for a long time, Mount Sinai. Elijah had talked with God up on Mount Horeb. But both of these men also had unique departures from the earth. Did you ever think about that? Moses, it says that the Lord buried him. Lord did all the funeral arrangements, was just buried him on Mount Nebo somewhere.

Nobody knew. The Lord knew. He did the whole thing. Elijah went up in a chariot of fire, the Bible tells us. But more than their conversations on mountains, more than their departures from the planet, is the significance of what these two men represented. Moses represented the law. Elijah represented the prophets. And there they are, law and the prophets, conversing with Jesus.

Jesus sums up the entire Old Testament by calling it the law and the prophets, and Jesus was the fulfillment of the law and of the prophets. Peter was so excited. The Bible tells us he got so pumped when he saw these guys there. It's funny because one of the gospel writers says he did not know what to say. And so he just started talking. How many of you know that's not always a good idea?

So he starts speaking and it says that a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." And Peter said, "Man, it's good for us to be here. I think I got an idea. I think it'd be really cool if we built three tents. What do you say, Jesus? One for you, one for... we don't even need one. We could come into your tent. John, you stay with Elijah the first night, okay? I'll stay with Moses, and then we'll rotate."

No, I'm kidding. That's reading into the text. But he did say we want to build three tabernacles and stay up here. He did say that. And then the Father speaks and basically says be quiet. Stop talking, Peter. This is my beloved son. Hear him. And the Bible says this is beautiful. When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus.

Moses and Elijah gone, just Jesus. Awakened from their sleep. And what was amazing is that this cloud, a cloud that you read about 85 times in the Old Testament, this Shekinah, as it's called, glory of God, shows up. The same cloud that was with the nation of Israel there in their exodus out of bondage, the cloud that provided protection as a pillar of fire by night.

The same cloud that passed by Moses in the cleft of the rock in Exodus 33 as he got a glimpse of God's glory and came down with an afterglow on his face. The same cloud that filled Solomon's temple on the day of dedication. The same cloud that Ezekiel saw rise from between the cherubim and move to the threshold of the temple. It had been close to 600 years since any appearance of such glory had been seen.

But there's Jesus with his disciples, they get this glimpse of the glory of God, and this was so overwhelming, all they could do was worship. And Peter looks back at that personal experience and encounter with the truth, and he says let me just tell you what we're reminding you of. We saw it. We experienced it. We heard it. All of the senses were engaged.

And these men so believed this truth that they saw and experienced that they were willing to die for it. And Peter recalls this occasion of the eyewitness testimony and all that he'd experienced, powerful encounter with the living God. It's interesting, isn't it, that sometimes the Lord will take us out of our normal environment to show us something about himself that maybe we weren't familiar with?

That's been my prayer this weekend for our young people as they've been up at camp coming home today, that they would have an encounter with Jesus, that they would just be out of their normal everyday routine of school and life and friends and all that and just encounter the living God. And just come down from that mountain just transformed by what they have seen, that it would have such an impact.

Here's Peter, folks, this is years, years later. He still remembers that moment that he had with Jesus. And that moment that he had with Jesus, it still affected him even years later. I hope that you've had that experience with the Lord, that there are times that you can look back in your life and you can see I remember where I was when Jesus found me. I remember that moment when I worshipped the Lord in that place.

Just these moments where you get to sense the power and the glory and the majesty of God that have impacted your life. I can look back in my life and I can point to different moments in my life as a Christian where the Lord has shown up, and he's always with us, don't get me wrong, but there's those moments, you know what I'm talking about, where it's just something unique about that day where the Lord just showed you something.

Personal experience with the truth that has forever changed your life. And here you are, you're still here, you're still walking with Jesus. I look around this room and I think you met Jesus somewhere. You had an encounter with Jesus because you're here. Something happened to you and you're still walking with the Lord. Peter reminds them of this eyewitness testimony.

But the third thing and final thing I want to mention is this. He also references a prophetic confirmation of the truth. A prophetic confirmation of the truth. You'll notice he says in verse 19, "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

Peter says let me tell you about why I'm reminding you of this truth. I've encountered it myself. And let me tell you something about this truth. We've had prophecy fulfilled, confirmed. Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy. We have seen it. We've experienced it. We've seen God's word come to pass. It's been confirmed, in other words.

Scripture did not originate with man, but with God. It is God's word. It is not of any private interpretation. It didn't come by the will of man, but by the will of God. And these men who were the authors, if you would, ultimately the author is the Holy Spirit, but those who were used to write scripture were moved by the Holy Spirit to write.

God used their personalities, but the Holy Spirit told them what to write. When it says that they were moved, it means to carry. The Book of Acts uses the word moved like the carrying of a ship, wind carrying a ship through the sail. The Holy Spirit guided the human authors to write the word of God. That is why scripture is certain. You can trust it because it is God's word.

Did you know that Jesus affirmed at least six things that were true about the Bible? First of all, that it is without error. In John chapter 17, verse 17, Jesus in his high priestly prayer said, "Thy word is truth." Also, Jesus affirmed that the word of God is historically reliable. Some of the most disputed passages in the Bible, did you know Jesus affirmed those passages of the Bible?

For example, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the ark and the worldwide flood. Jesus affirmed... people say I don't think that that really happened. Jesus said, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." You believe that story? Yeah, Jesus said it. "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the son of man be." Oh, he affirmed that too? Yeah, it's historically accurate.

First of all, not only is it without error, historically reliable, but the third thing is it's divinely authoritative. Over and over, Jesus would say, "It is written, it is written, it is written" as the authority. Also that it was infallible. In John chapter 10:35, Jesus said, "The scripture cannot be broken." Oh, many hammers of the atheists have sought to, and people who are detractors of the scriptures have hammered on the anvil of the word and it has broken every hammer.

The word of the Lord endures forever. It's the indestructible book. And Jesus affirms that. Jesus said it, "For I truly say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one of the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until it's all accomplished." It's indestructible, historically reliable, divinely authoritative, scientifically accurate, dependable, error-free, indestructible book.

From the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, to the last book of Revelation, the biblical writers, they are absolutely consistent in what they teach. And that is astounding. Why is that so astounding to have this prophetic word confirmed? Because the Bible is a collection of 66 different documents. It might be easy to have internal harmony in the Bible if it was just a single document.

But it's 66 books of the Bible, a compilation of more than five dozen different books. The Bible was written approximately by 40 different authors. And they all came from different walks of life, different backgrounds. Peter was a fisherman. Paul was a scholar. Daniel was a prime minister. Asaph was a musician. Matthew was a tax collector. David was a shepherd, then a king. Luke was a historian and a medical doctor.

And not only that, but the scriptures were written over a 1,500-year plus timeframe. Over 1,500 years, 40 different authors, all different walks of life. Three different languages: Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic. And when they wrote these things, they were separated geographically, didn't even know each other. And yet, when you look at the scriptures, you see the consistency and the harmony found within it. It's undeniable.

When it comes to the reliability of the word of God, what are some things that you can keep in mind? First of all, just a couple of notes, fulfilled prophecy. Peter alluded to it. Prophetic word has been confirmed. It was written, it's been fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies written about him in his life. The prophetic word has been confirmed. It's clear.

Not only fulfilled prophecy, but archaeological verification. Do you know when people go and dig in the holy land, do you know what they use to know where they're going? The word of God. That's what they use. They've got a Bible in one hand, they've got a map in one hand, they've got a trowel in one hand, they've got a shovel in one hand, and they're looking for stuff because it says it in the Bible. There's been so much archaeological verification for scripture. Again, it is undeniable.

Not only that, but the Bible's internal consistency that is seen from Genesis to Revelation. Furthermore, external verification from other sources. Even the enemies of the Bible confirm the Bible's accuracy. I mean, that's something. That's quite the endorsement. Then you have the Bible's amazing scientific accuracy and foresight, as well as the manuscript evidence.

Each one of those things we could go into great depth and detail, but I'm just skimming over it for you so you know that what you have is accurate. What you have is the word of God. And Peter said this to this church, "I am going to continue to remind you of what you know. I'm going to keep telling you, I'm not going to stop telling you as long as I'm in this tent. I'm going to keep on doing it because I've had a personal experience with the truth. It's real. And I've got the prophetic word confirmed."

So this is why there's power to it. I'm going to keep on reminding you. As I read that for myself and I think just in my role as a pastor, I think that's what I'm going to do too. As long as you're here and as long as the Lord allows me to be here, I'm going to continue to remind you of what you know. Remind myself of what I know until he comes again.

Guest (Male): You're listening to A Daily Walk with our pastor and teacher John Randall and a study in 2nd Peter called A Good Reminder. And I'd imagine some of you would like to hear this message again. Maybe you joined us late. Go online to adailywalk.org and have a listen when it's most convenient, or listen wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com. Another way to listen to Pastor John's teachings is through our mobile app. Just do a search for Calvary South OC.

Ever feel like you're just an ordinary guy or gal, nothing special, and wonder if God could use you? Today, we'd like to offer you a great book from John MacArthur called 12 Ordinary Men. You'll discover how God used ordinary men as his disciples to change the world. The good news is he can do the same thing through you and me. You can order 12 Ordinary Men online at adailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828 and adailywalk.org.

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Write to Pastor John by email today at adailywalk@gmail.com. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. Well, our time together sure goes by quickly, doesn't it? We'll pick up where we left off in our through the Bible study next time. This has been A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall, where you'll never have to walk alone.