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Okay, as I mentioned we are studying this new book here in 2nd Peter Chapter 1 and if you look at verse number 19 I couldn't help but just use this phrase as the title for the sermon this morning begins in verse number 19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy And so the title for the sermon this morning is a more sure word of prophecy a more sure word This is speaking about the Bible. This is speaking about the book you guys holding your hands This is a sure word of prophecy Okay, and by sure you know you can be confident you can be established you can be grounded You know this is the truth You know we are constantly bombarded with things that are half-truths or maybe even outright lies But we have the Word of God. We are so blessed brethren We are so blessed to live in a wicked world and have the truth of God available in our hands But let's start off there in verse number one. It says Simon Peter so of course 2nd Peter written by Peter the Apostle and he of course mentions the fact he's an apostle here He says Simon Peter a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ And so what I like about Peter yes, he highlights the fact that he holds The the office of an apostle which of course is the highest office one can hold in the New Testament Unless you're Jesus Christ of course he's the Lord God But at the average human being the highest office somebody could have in the New Testament was the office of an apostle Okay, and so that is a high office that he holds, but I love how he says what he says before He mentions being an apostle. He says a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and so you know he's got the humility about himself Yeah, he's an apostle of course he holds that office, but he says but first of all I'm a servant Okay, and that's you know a good reminder for anybody holding any office in the New Testament whether you're a pastor whether you're a deacon You know you must remind yourself and not think of yourself high-minded not think of yourself above others The fact is you are called to a position of service You know being a pastor It's my job to serve you you know and as I covered before the main job that I have to serve you is to feed You the Word of God to feed you spiritual nourishment coming from the Word of God and so of course that requires study All that study preaching God's Word is all a service that I'm providing to the people of God And you know I'm a servant of course right and so I like that about him, but then he says to them So that's referring to himself who is he writing to to them that have obtained like precious faith with us Through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ and so he mentions the fact that we all he himself as an apostle The believers is writing to this includes ourselves. We have a like precious faith He's saying look. We're like-minded in faith, okay And he calls that our faith of course our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ our faith in the gospel He calls that a precious faith, and of course when you think of something that is precious We think of something that is rare right we think of something that is valuable. You know that's got a high value It's rare not everybody has this faith and Brevin I know we tend to think about you know yes, we got saved by faith, and that's wonderful, but it's a precious faith It's a rare faith not many people believe on Jesus Christ not many people believe the gospel They believe in there are many gospels many people believe in in some false gospel another gospel But not many people hold to this precious faith this valuable faith Praise God that you have this faith in the Lord Jesus Christ look at verse number two It says grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord all right now I think all of us want to live our lives full of grace and peace as it says there in verse number two right Grace is undeserved merit undeserved favor We want the Lord to look favorably upon us to be gracious toward us We want to live a life of peace don't we we don't want to be constantly arguing Constantly fighting constantly at war we want to live a life of peace Okay, and the promise is grace and peace can be multiplied to you there, okay, but there is a condition How do we have grace and peace multiply to us it says through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord? So if you want this multiply to you It's saying you have to have the knowledge of God you have to know God you have to know Jesus Jesus Reverend you can't think that you know I'm saved I know Jesus what you know the gospel you know the message of salvation praise God But unless you put your head into the Word of God you cannot truly know Jesus You know Jesus Christ is the Word of God the Bible you hold in your hands is the Word of God The only thing that will draw you closer and give you a greater knowledge of God is the Word of God Reverend and so you've got to have your heads in this book if you find that your life is is not you know You don't have the grace and peace in your life Well think about how's my Bible reading? How's my Bible study and my invest in time in God's Word or my invest in time in other things? You want that multiplied to you you have to know God you can only know God through the more sure word of prophecy Okay Verse number three not only that not only does great grace and peace come by knowing God verse number three It says according to his divine power Have given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness look at this So we want to live lives he wants us to live life He's given us everything we need brethren to live lives and to live unto life right to have a full life to have a happy life and godliness What's godliness being Christ like right being you know? You know reflecting God in our lives right being godly is to reflect the Lord God in our lives, right? So he's saying look everything's been given us to live an abundant life to live a righteous and holy life But how is that given to us again through the knowledge of? Him that have called us to glory and virtue All right, so God has called us. He wants us to live lives of glory and virtue says okay. That's the goal That's what I need to live for I understand God How do I live that well through the knowledge of him the more you get to know God? The more your life will reflect glory and virtue the more your life You know you can live a full abundant life, and and have the godliness in your life that you would reflect Jesus Christ in your life Okay, again. It's coming from the Word of God you neglect God's Word You will not live a life of glory and virtue you will not have grace and peace multiplied unto you You will not live a life of pertain to the life that God wants you to live and a godly life look at verse number four Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature God wants us to be partakers of his divine nature That's godliness when it's all about living a life of godliness That's us partaking of the divine nature living like God wants us to live Reflecting God on this earth. We're not gods ourselves of course, but we can live and reflect God We can teach people about God we can live that life of the divine nature It says having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust and so then we see the battle that we all suffer We've right the fact that we're called to live this life this abundant life of the divine nature But we're also escaping or we have escaped And that's something we need to remember when you are saved you have right having escaped This is a past tense thing having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust Does that mean we'll never lust does that mean we'll never corrupt ourselves does that mean we'll never sin of course What is this teaching us that we have a divine nature that divine nature? You know in first John chapter 3 verse 9 it says whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin Hey, you cannot commit sin He said but I committed since this even this morning, but pastor Kevin well Yeah, but it says here whosoever is born of God the the nature the divine nature That's been born of God that cannot sin okay. It says for his see that's God's seed Remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God and so what this is Highlighting to us brethren the fact that we have this divine nature that we are to live according to Tells us the fact that we have a dual nature We have that divine nature which is that which is born of God the new man the spirit that is within us, okay? Okay, that's been born again And we have the corruption the flesh that which has been born of man right and that is the battle that we have But God's just remind us here We have escaped You know our position before God is a position without sin the part of us that goes to heaven is not the corrupted flesh But the divine nature the new man that is within us that is what goes to heaven all right And so we're just being reminded. He God has given us that power already We already have the ability to have victory over sin as we sung the hymn You know thy word have I hit in my heart that I might not sin against thee Okay, that's true the more We know God's Word the more we are challenged by by these living words the greater your ability To overcome the corruptness in your in your body okay to not live in accordance to the flesh but to live in accordance to that divine nature let's drop down to verse number five and beside this Giving all diligence now diligence of course is to put an effort in right so what Peter saying here We need to put an effort in okay as brothers and sisters as people that hold this like precious faith We need to put effort we need to give diligence to something This is this add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge Temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity Alright, so what do we have let's look at verse number five again and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith All right we already have the precious faith okay, and that's wonderful you're saved praise God You know you've got something that is very rare to this world, but we don't stop there brethren once We have the faith there is something we need to add to the faith something We have to give diligence put the effort to add to our faith And you see many of those things that are named there right let's go through them It says add to your faith virtue that's one and then it says and to virtue knowledge It's two and to knowledge temperance three and to temperance patience That's four and to patience godliness. That's five and to godliness brotherly kindness That's five a six sorry and brotherly kindness charity That's seven you say look you've got the faith now add these seven things to your life put the effort in add these things To your life, so let's think about what these are it says and to faith virtue virtue is moral excellence Okay you ought to be different you ought to be different from this corrupt world you ought to live a life That's very different you look at certain practices certain activities done by this world and you say well That's what the world does, but I've got a higher moral compass. You know I'm trying to live after excellence I'm trying to be godly or godly is covered there later right, but I'm trying to live differently from the world It should separate us right virtue moral excellence and then knowledge Knowledge hey we saw how important it was to us to know God to know Jesus Christ and so knowledge is important We can't remain simple-minded Okay, we need to grow and there's no greater knowledge than the Word of God, which is a hundred percent truth right knowledge What is knowledge? the acquiring of facts right of truth and Principles this is like learning doctrines learning your Bible learning what God has to say about certain topics That's gaining knowledge, and then it says temperance what's temperance well think of the word temper there kind of thing right temper This is about being self-controlled. Okay doing things in moderation. You shouldn't be known as someone that is highly. I don't know Maybe you know loses their the temper or something like that or you know it Struggles with addictions different types of addictions that people struggle with we need to have self-control We need to add these things to our Christian life moderation and next one was patience Patience you know we all understand patience And I think a lot of us would admit that we struggle with patience And I think the coronavirus situation has given us a lot of patience has helped us to grow in patience, right? But we need to add this right patience. You know that's that's living a life without being annoyed You know without complaining without being irritated You know just be patient about things right and then it has godliness and of course as I mentioned the Godliness part is living that threat that that divine nature that we have within us and I'll just I'll just read a portion here just in Ephesians 4 24. You don't need to turn there It says and that you put on the new man Which after God is created in righteousness and true? Holiness and so that godliness comes through the new man Okay, the new man if you find yourself not living a godly life That's because you're living in the old man you're living in the flesh you're living Are you following you're walking after the works of the flesh okay? So godliness that's important the next one was brotherly kindness wow hey that means hey, this is our chance This is why you need to come to church some people think well. You know I don't need to go to church It's just me and God well. How can you have brotherly kindness then? We're gonna meet believers. We're gonna be like-minded people that have that precious faith. That's church We come together and Your goal when you come to church ought to be I want to show kindness to my brothers to my sisters I want to be kind to the world someone hey even that person at church that annoys me that has irritated me Maybe we've had a clash in the past your job is to show brotherly kindness if they have the precious faith the like precious faith okay, your call is to be sympathetic to be gracious toward your brothers and sisters in the Lord and The last one was charity, please keep your finger there and go to 1st Corinthians 13 1st Corinthians 13 I love this about charity charity of course is love all right And I think of charity more than just the feelings of love But you know love in action showing people that you love them I always think about you know we people talk about donating to charity charities and the thought there is that the charity is doing something I don't know if they always do but they're supposed to be doing something for people that are without okay that are lacking certain things And so it's love in action right love and so 1st Corinthians 13 verse 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge now knowledge is important We saw that before we need to add knowledge and though I have all faith So that I could remove mountains and have not charity I am nothing and though I besow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity it profit of me nothing I want you to think about that for a moment Okay, if you just serve in the church you you're a great preacher Right you you know the Bible you have great knowledge of the Bible you even give to people You know you even give to the poor you feed the poor you even allow yourself to be sacrificed his body right burned to be burned You know just just a self-sacrifice for God But he doesn't do it out of charity He has no love toward God no love toward his brothers and sisters no love toward the lost world He says it profits me nothing Boy the last thing I want to do brethren is live a Christian as a pastor Serving in a local church and trying to serve God with all that I have and Then go to heaven and says well actually profiting you nothing why because you didn't have love you didn't have charity you did it for Yourself you did it to be noticed of men you did it because you tried to build a reputation You did it because it made you feel better You know any I didn't act out of love boy it profits you nothing Okay, and so charity is obviously the most important one that's mentioned in this list Let's get go back to 2nd Peter chapter 1 2nd Peter chapter 1 Now please don't forget don't mistake all these seven things that are mentioned This is not proof that you are saved or anything like that Okay, it says add to your faith all these things so of course we are saved by faith You know but for by grace that you saved through faith It's our faith that saves us, but now that we are saved we ought to add these seven You know attributes to our life to be to live that abundant life, okay look at verse number eight For if these things be in you what things the seven things that we just read about if these things be in you and abound So yeah, you know maybe you can work toward it Maybe maybe you go for that list you can say look there are certain things that I don't have okay add it Okay, but it's not don't just add it. Don't just get a little bit of charity I've got a little bit of brotherly kindness the next thing is once you add it you got to abound in that You've got to be the expert in all of these things you've got to keep striving to these seven things That they make you that you shall neither be barren Nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Let's think about that for a moment, okay, so if you add these things It says that you will not be barren or unfruitful Okay, you're going to be productive for God right in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ So let's think about for a moment. We talk about the knowledge of God We're talking about how we can be multiplied with grace and peace and all these things you know if we have the knowledge of God And I talked about yeah, of course that's coming from reading the Bible but some people think that the knowledge of God and reading your Bible is all about doctrine if I just know a hundred percent Doctrine if this cryptic verse if I just have the right understanding that makes that proves that I know God Well, yeah, that's important we saw in those seven things one of those things was knowledge But you know what the other six things is not about your knowledge the other six things is your character. It's your behavior It's how you live your life Reverend so if you're someone Look you might have greater knowledge than me You may maybe you've read the Bible more than me. I don't know maybe you know every verse You know you've got you've just got a great knowledge But you're lacking in charity brotherly kindness you're lacking lacking in patience You're lacking in all the other things that I mentioned there Temperance virtue you're lacking in all these things Brevin, then you don't really know God You don't really know God you you've gained a head knowledge of information But you don't know God until you're leaving them out until you put that stuff into practice until your character reflects a godly Character then you can say about that individual that man or that woman knows God It's not just how much they know the Bible Brevin. It's living out what they know I would rather just know 50% of my Bible and Live in accordance to the 50% that I know and show that I'm leaving a quarter to 50% that I know They know a hundred percent of the Bible and not live it out any of it Because knowledge is just one part of it the other six parts with your character how you live your life Okay, and so, you know that there can be a misunderstanding, you know if well I know the doctrines right and you think you're close to God you think you know God you don't if you're not living in accordance To these attributes that have been there So these seven things are not just some option Brevin or that kind of I guess they did job It's your choice if you want to put these things in your life, but the expectation is there God wants you to add these things. This is how you know God Okay, if you don't add these things then you're gonna remain barren or unfruitful okay in verse number eight Verse number nine Verse number nine, but he that lacketh these things Whoa, what is he gonna say? So if you're lacking in these areas Brevin seven things This is where the hard preaching comes in. It says but he that lacketh these things is blind and Cannot see afar off and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Brevin this is a reality check for all of us to look at this list to say do I do I live in accordance to this? list and if I don't What it say if you lack of these things if you lack in any of these areas The Bible's tell God is telling you you're blind You're lacking vision. You can't see what the Christian life is meant to be. You cannot know God properly You need to have these things in your life okay, and Have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Now this is not saying that you've forgotten that you were saved or something. That's not it's saying Okay, the forgetting off that your purge of your old sins is is forgetting that you you've you've received the power of deliverance Okay You've been delivered from your old sins you that power The the God's power that has delivered you that has saved you from your sins. You've forgotten about that power You've forgotten how God has delivered you in the sense not that you're saved but that you well, okay I'm saved but how do I you know? You're not applying that knowledge of that power of that that deliverance in your daily life in your daily walk You're not applying that in your life That's why you forgotten it because you've forgotten the power of God that he can have in your life right that he was able to purge you from your sins and So, you know God has given us as I said the ability to live lives That are not like your former self And he's giving you that ability now you're gonna struggle with the same temptations Like I said, you still have that nature that that fleshly nature in you that carnal nature in you That wants to do the same sins that you did before you were saved Okay that struggles with those same temptations But when you struggle with that when the temptation comes remind yourself. Hey, I've been purged from my old sins. I've been forgiven I've been saved God has given me the power of salvation and that same power Allows me to live a life that is clean, you know that lives a life that is you know Follows after these seven things that we ought to add to our faith to live a life that is godly that is righteous that is Holy we all have that ability to live better holy lives. Okay. It's the expectation from God He expects you he's giving you the ability. He's giving you the new man He's giving you that divine nature to live after him. So let's not forget that we have that power within us verse number 10 Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence there it is again put the effort in to make your calling and election sure For if you do these things you shall never fall Okay, again, what is he talking about the seven things that I mentioned right now? Let's it says let's let's talk about the end of that verse for if you do these things you shall never fall You know, so if you live in accordance these seven attributes you won't ruin your life. You're not going to ruin your reputation You're not going to ruin your testimony You know, you're not going to be found out in some scandal if you live in accordance to these seven things This is why it's so important that we add it to our lives Now if you neglect these things guess what's gonna happen you're gonna fall you are going to destroy your testimony You know your life, okay And so let's talk about the first part there though in verse number 10 Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure This is not saying of course when talking about calling the election talk about the fact that you know The fact that you're saved that you're saved right? This is not saying that you have to live righteous lives It's not saying that you have to live in accordance these seven things to be saved or that this proves that you're saved It's not saying anything like that. Okay. It's not saying Make sure you live righteous lives to be saved. That's what it's saying. Well, it says here To make your calling and election sure the sure there is to strengthen Okay to keep something stable, you know If you said are you sure you say are you confident are you a hundred percent certain that is true? Okay, and so what we're trying to do brethren we need to make our call in our election That's the life that God wants us to live. Okay. He's called us to live righteous life We need to make that sure we need to strengthen that life about us, right? We need to Establish ourselves, you know in the Word of God in in the way the Lord wants us to live. This is making things sure it's the same idea of If you look back in verse number Where is that verse number 19? second Peter chapter 1 verse 19 It says we have also a more sure there's a word again a more sure word of prophecy Okay. So what it's saying there is that the Bible that we have we can be confident in it, right? This is sure this is Established this is unmovable Okay because it's a sure word of God and so what it's saying here that we need to make sure that we're living those lives of Godness and we're unmovable. We're stable, you know, we're not being tossed to and fro, you know, it's not like oh wow He puts on a great Christian show on Sunday, but then on Monday, he's living like the devil. Okay, that's not how we're expected to Live out out our Christian lives verse number 10 Wherefore Sorry, no, I just read that verse number 11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you Abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ And so those that want to teach a workspace salvation will put verse number 10 and verse number 11 together Okay. I mean there are so many verses people use to try to teach a workspace gospel. Okay, like the idea there Well, you got to make sure that you're saved by living godly and then I'll say in verse number 11. See we can enter For an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly Okay, so we only enter heaven if we're living according to those lives though, you know, the idea is there right but look It's not saying that you enter heaven if you live these lives Okay, look at it again verse number 11 for so an entrance now, we will enter into the kingdom of Christ. Okay? For so an entrance shall be ministered or served to you abundantly Into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ And so listen some people are going to enter into heaven Just with this the standard well done you got saved, right? Well done you believe on Jesus right the thief on the cross, you know All he all he had time for was to put his faith on Jesus. Hey, praise God. It's a precious faith Okay, he did something that was very rare. Most people don't do that right praise God for that But then some will walk into heaven and it'll be an abundant entrance, you know be cheering maybe people that you got saved Hey, that's the man that came to my door and gave me the gospel. He got me saved Right and maybe hey, here's your mansion It's double the size of the person that you know didn't do anything for the Lord and so you walk in abundantly You're being rewarded you're being Recognized for living a life that is living according to those seven things that we've looked at Okay, and so yeah, we can have a more abundant entrance into heaven depending on how much you've done for the Lord You know and you know a song to summon cover who it was I don't know feels this church or the Sydney Church someone's had the idea that you only get rewarded if you win souls All right. Now, of course, that's important I'm not I'm not diminishing that fact of course winning souls and that's probably going to be the greatest Treasures that you can lay up in heaven because it's not just a treasure. It's a soul That'll be with you for all eternity. That's a wonderful thing, of course But what this is telling us that if we live in accordance these attributes if our Christian life, you know Demonstrates a Christ-like life that we're going to be rewarded abundantly as well because of this, you know as we go into heaven Okay, so, you know, let's not have that idea. It's just souls that gives us rewards in heaven I don't know where that comes from. We've seen many times in the Bible just you know Different ways that we can have you know a greater You know enjoyment in heaven Of course the abundant here is how the Lord will reward us when we go to heaven verse number 12 And then he says this wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things and So it would be negligent of a preacher to not talk about this these things All right, he says look Peter saying look I want to make sure I'm not negligent I need to tell you you need to live a godly life Okay, you need to add these seven things to your life because it's going to make your entrance to heaven even better If I didn't tell you this I would be negligent he says Alright, so he's saying look focus on eternal matters lay up your treasures in heaven is what he's basically teaching right? But then he says this though you know them. He says I don't be negligent, but you already know this and Be established in the present truth So if you look at verse number 12 it says and put you always in remembrance of these things You know what this is telling us we need to be reminded We need to be brought into remembrance if you ever come to church And you're like I've heard this sermon again. I've heard it before I think I already know this Listen you need to just be brought to remembrance these things You'd be negligent of the past or the preacher to not repeat the same things again You're gonna keep hearing me say you got to be in church You're gonna keep me here and saying you're gonna read your Bible You're gonna keep me you know hearing me say you got to pray you're gonna keep hearing me say you got to win souls Okay, you're gonna keep hearing me say you know confess your sins to the Lord be right with God keep a short account They're gonna keep hearing me say these things brethren You're gonna keep me keep hearing me say lay up your treasures in heaven and not on this earth You're gonna keep hearing that brethren because they would be negligent of me if I only mentioned it once and you we all forgot about it You know look we know these things, but we need to be reminded of these things You know and also we're all at different stages in our Christian life aren't we you know? Maybe I've preached on something and some members of the church weren't there on that day And then a couple of years later I'll preach the same thing or something similar, and you'll be like I really heard this Why is he preaching that again or there were people that weren't there and they need to benefit from it You need to be reminded anyway, okay, never have the attitude I already know this and you turn off from the preaching. That's the wrong attitude, okay? Verse number 13 It says yay I think it meets or necessary as long that's necessary to remind you guys as long as I am in this tabernacle To stir you up by putting you in remembrance Alright, so Peter say look as long as I mean this tabernacle. That's his earthly body I'm just gonna keep reminding you. I'm gonna keep preaching the same thing okay I think it meets it's necessary to be reminded of these things right and what this reminds me of if you can just go to First Peter chapter 5 just go back a few few pages there or maybe a page Maybe the same page first Peter chapter 5 verse 1 just a reminder It says the elders which are which are among you I exhort Who am also an elder so Peter just a reminder was a pastor of a church? He's an elder of a church all right and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory That shall be revealed and so his role as a pastor He says look as long as I mean this tabernacle. I'm just gonna keep reminding you I'm just gonna keep preaching to you the same things over and over again as long as I mean this tabernacle Until the day I die you're gonna be hearing me preach the Bible Okay, and brethren that's my goal if I see hey This is a pastor this is what is right to other elders, and he's saying look as long as I'm in this body I'm gonna keep preaching God's Word. I'm gonna have to keep bringing these things to remembrance. That's my personal goal I just want to let you know right I've been pastoring for almost three years But it's my personal goal that I'm just gonna be a pastor to the day Till I like you know take it on this office It's not like I thought I'll take on this office give it a shot for a couple of years Maybe leave the office and do something else may come back into the office know once you've been ordained into the office It's your role It's your duty to stay in that office to keep preaching God's Word till the day you die To you you know till you've got this tabernacle that you're dealing with brethren okay, so I'm gonna keep pastoring all right till the day I die or If it's not the day I die it's definitely when this body gives up If this body just mentally cannot do it anymore. You know we definitely have someone else, but look I see you know pastors She just continued you know in the role that that's that's what Peter desires, and he's a pastor right I think it's a good desire to have and And then he says in verse number 14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle Does look shortly I'm gonna die he says even as our Lord Jesus Christ have showed me Now keep your finger then go to John chapter 21 for me John chapter 21 This is how we know if you were wondering because I mentioned this before this is how we know that first Peter and second Peter Are written toward the end of Peter's life, okay? So there's many many years after Christ was resurrected because he's saying look. I'm shortly gonna die Jesus told me that I'm gonna die soon, okay, and so it's toward the end of his life Now did Peter live a short life, or did he live a long life? Well we find that out in John chapter 21 verse 17 Give you a moment to turn there John 21 verse 17 It says in John 21 17 he's safe unto him the third time Simon son of Jonas love us down me Peter was great because he said unto him the third time love us down me And he said unto him Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Jesus saith unto him feed my sheep, and if you hear for the preaching for first Peter I explained that this is where I believe he's been ordained by Jesus to be a pastor feed my sheep That's the role of the pastor That's the one of the main roles right and so not only does he hold the office of an apostle But he also holds the office of an elder. He's pastoring a church now. Let's keep going So straight off that he basically says you've got to be a pastor feed my sheep right. That's a shepherd He feeds the sheep verse number 18 He says verily verily I say unto thee when thou wast young thou girdest thyself That's you dress yourself in your young and walk us whether thou wouldest you walk wherever you want because you're young you're able right And then it says, but when thou shalt be old So Jesus is telling Peter you're gonna live a life, and you're gonna get very old. You're gonna get old right It says thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee so another person will clothe you okay and Carry thee Whether thou wouldest not You're not gonna be able to get around as easily now when you're old he's saying okay You you you need help you need somebody of course if you know This is why people go into nursing homes and things like that because they cannot take care of themselves anymore now I'm not actually I'm not in favor of nursing homes. I believe the right place to be is for the children Hey, you know parents you looked after children you raised your children you gave everything to give to your children Hey, the children should give something back You know this is this is a valid the value of having many children Is that instead of that burden of the old you know elderly parents? Falling on one child or a couple of children it falls on several children right so I've got 11 kids All right, let's say let's say my wife, and I get so old we can't even dress ourselves like we're just so You know we need someone to help us move around we need someone else to drive around I can't drive because my eyes are bad or something like that. I need someone else to help me be mobile Well they can it can be one One child per 11 days right and if they've got their own kids Let's say they have the 10 kids each hey that divides it even more than grandkids can help out all right I mean, it's shit. The load is shit is what I'm trying to say okay, and so that is the right responsibility that that children We we're you know it's another topic for another day But they're to look after that to honor their parents even at you know when they're older older age Anyway, what he's saying what Jesus Christ is telling Peter here. You're gonna get so old you're gonna get to a point We can't even clothe yourself You can't even get around anymore, and so we know that Peter lived a life where he's older right and so when he's writing second Peter he says look I'm about to die just like the Lord showed me well the Lord showed him there in John chapter 21 You're gonna live an old life and some people also take the idea, and I can't be certain about this brethren But it said there thou shalt stretch forth thy hands Some people take that to mean that Peter was was put to death by crucifixion Okay, and the the Historical tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down Okay, so if you read books like I think the Fox's book of martyrs and similar type of books They'll say that Peter was crucified upside down now. I don't know that I can't if it's not in the Bible Brethren How can we really be sure I mean just honestly how can you really be sure I mean can we even trust our history books of? 100 that talk about things that I happen 100 years ago Can we even trust the history books that the the current things true today? We can't really be sure about these things and we have to be careful. Maybe maybe that happened I guess it's possible that Peter passed away that died that died that way. I guess it's possible But we would need to be careful especially as preachers not to mix the truth of God's Word Which is a hundred percent truth with the traditions, and you know of men which might be true might be true But you've got to be careful when you preach you make it clear Hey, this is what the Word of God says and this is what history also says okay, and it's good if history Supports or if science supports what God's Word says then we know that is true You know that those that information is true But the only thing that we know 100% truth is God's Word right the more sure word of prophecy that we have in our hands now please go back to 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 15 and so That was just a side thing just so we know yep 2nd Peter was written toward the end of Peter's life Okay, he's expecting to pass away verse number 15 Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my deceased so after I have died to have these things always in remembrance So it says look I'm gonna keep reminding you It's negligent of me to not remind you and I'm gonna keep reminding you to the day I die and that's coming soon and even after I die I'm gonna make sure you're reminded You say how can you remind someone after he dies? This is where the more sure word of prophecy comes in Peter is reminding us right now brethren even after he's passed away We're reading his epistle and he's reminding us once again I live for things of eternity add these seven things to your Christian life add these things to your faith He's reminded us all over again, and he's doing it for me this time, right? But this is how he does it right the Lord made sure that this became Canonized scripture for us to be still read be reading some 2,000 years later after Peter has passed away, which is amazing I think it's amazing right the Bible says if you go back to 1st Peter chapter 1 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 25 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 25 it says, but the word of the Lord and Dureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you So it says then the word of the Lord endure forever. You know what Peter's going to keep reminding us Remind us remind us till the day. We got to be with the Lord in heaven So Peter was very adamant these things need to be heard over and over again again If you hear things over and over again don't get discouraged don't get cast down don't start to criticize the preacher It's needed. It's it's meats. It's it's negligent for the preacher to not remind you of the same things All right back to verse number 16 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 16 for we have not followed Cunnily devised fables, so this is the same thing I've said you know I said you got to be careful about what is 100% truth God's Word and the tradition of men why the tradition of men says Peter was crucified upside down Maybe maybe not we don't know all right, and so Peter's just basically saying the same thing We have not followed after cunnily devised fables you have to be aware that if it's not coming from God's Word It might be a fable it might be a cunnily devised fable It might be there to cause you to lose faith in the Bible You know there's so many if you if you um there are so many like documentary channels You know if you get the Fox tell Netflix There's all these documentary channels right and so many documentaries deal with Christianity deal the Bible But you watch those things that constantly tell you how the Bible is wrong You know why they're doing that because it's a cunnily devised fable all right and Peter's to remind us Hey, we have not followed after those things if you love watching those documentaries stop watching them. They're causing you to doubt God's Word Okay, they're causing you to doubt God's Word says that we've not followed off those things when We made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ But we're eyewitnesses of his majesty boy. I want to know I want to know Jesus We need to know God more we need to know Jesus more well. Hey, we've got eyewitnesses that wrote about Jesus Praise God okay. That's how we know about Jesus God's Word not through some documentary not through some Movie about Jesus's life you're going to find inconsistencies there as well right the Hollywood productions about Jesus They're not true, okay But when Peter says here Made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ That's not his second coming he's talking about his the first coming the fact that he was the eyewitness of course of course of Jesus Christ first coming verse number 17 for he received from God The father honor and glory when there were when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased and this voice which came from heaven We heard when we were with him in the Holy Mounts And so this there's two times in the life of Christ with a father said of the son This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased the first time was when Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist You know and the Holy Ghost came down upon him Also, though when he was upon the Holy Mount to say what is that about well? Let's go there. Let's go to Matthew 17 Let's go to Matthew 17 and verse number one Let's go to the story there So Peter's just you know telling us listen. We don't follow fables. I'm an eyewitness. I'm telling you the truth You know I even saw the power of God. I even heard the voice of the father He says when he said about his son. This is my beloved son. I heard that okay He's a he's a trusted eyewitness. You know he's someone we can trust when he you know and it's not look We'll go through latest these are not just the words of Peter actually we'll go we'll look at that soon, okay But let's go to Matthew 17 verse number one. Let's look at the story there and after six days Jesus taketh Peter, so there's Peter James and John his brother So there's three of them and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart that's the holy mount that Peter referred to in 2nd Peter and Was transfigured before them and his face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light so Jesus transformed Transfigures it doesn't look like a normal human being anymore. He puts on the glory all right You know this is Jesus in heaven. This is his he's the fullness of his glory. You know he's on show here All right, so he's transfigured verse number three and behold there appeared unto them Moses and Elias Talking with him of course Moses and Elias are in heaven okay, so somehow some some you normally There's a division between heaven and earth, but on this mount that that separation was gone, okay? There's the kind of walk in there on the earth, but they kind of in heaven at the same time, okay? That's what's going on verse number four then answered Peter and said unto Jesus Lord it is good for us to be here if thou will to let us make here three Tabernacles one for thee one for Moses and one for Elias now when Peter is saying these words he's Look soon, but he's not making any sense Like it's not right to build tabernacles for men Okay The tap was a tabernacle, but that's the place that you would go and and and have you know experience the presence of God You would go there and offer sacrifices That's that's something for God. That's not for men Okay, so when Peter is saying these things he's not talking out of clarity of mind. He's overwhelmed in other words He's overwhelmed with what he's seen. Okay. He's experiencing a slice of heaven. You know he's experiencing the glory of Jesus Christ You'll soon see that he's not he's not making any sense verse number five 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 so if this voice is saying this is my beloved son who's speaking God the Father of course and he's being covered by this cloud. No man has seen God the Father I think if they saw the God the Father I'd be destroyed at that point okay, and the Bible is very clear No one has seen him except Jesus Christ, and we will see God the Father one day that's in the new heavens and new earth look at verse number six and When the disciples heard it they fell on their face and was sore afraid so you can see that they're not That they're not taking it very well, okay They're not taking it very well verse number seven and Jesus came and touched him and said arise and be not afraid And when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only Now I'll just share something with you very quickly. You know. I'm not you know. Please don't misunderstand me I'm not I'm not talking about some charismatic vision Pentecostal stuff right, but there was a time where I was sort of debating amongst myself I was trying to learn about the the King James Bible I knew the King James Bible was a word of God all right But I had read my NIV my New King James for so long for so many years And I was struggling to understand God's Word Well, I never forget the time where I just said you know what Lord I just threw my old Bibles in the bin, and I said look I can't really understand this English you need to help me Lord now You need to just help me and I'm just opening the Bible and all of a sudden that look I'm just telling you this is true. Okay. I'm just I'm just I'm not making things up all right I could all of a sudden. I'm reading the King James Bible, and it's like making perfect sense And and I'm just reading it's like what in the world. It's like while I was holding on to those old Bibles I just couldn't really Get it You know I kind of wanted that dumbed-down English But now that I got rid of them somehow God has opened my eyes a little more And I can read this much more and as I'm reading God's Word. It just dawned on me. I'm reading God's Word Like it's not just a book All right, I'm worried these are words that God breathed into existence He moved men to write these words And I decided to think about Moses and how when Moses went up to the mount and God gave him the Ten Commandments and God you know wrote on those Ten Commandments with his own finger the Bible tells us, and I'm just thinking I've got this I've got I've got the same thing I've got more than Ten Commandments. I've got the Ten Commandments there in Exodus I've got much more than that, and I'm telling you I could not lift my face from the ground I was like reading my Bible I was like this and I was so scared that if I lifted my face up that I'd see God Like I you know that it's just it was Overwhelming to me that I had such a precious gift in my hands, and I was afraid to lift up my head now I'm not saying God was literally there. I kind of feel like though if I lifted my eyes I'm gonna see God and I don't want to see him because I'm gonna get wiped out The idea and like that's the closest that I can come to Understanding how Peter felt and the other disciples here, and they hear in the voice of God, okay? We got the Word of God you know they're hearing it It's like wow, and they're so afraid they can't even lift up their eyes right Jesus comes arise be not afraid And when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no man save Jesus only things went back to normal Okay, when they lifted up their eyes, and so this is an amazing thing that they experienced. You know don't downplay this amazing Vision of heaven the voice of God seen Old Testament prophets. It's like where's the line between heaven and earth? He just got clouded it Just you know there was no real division there in the glory of Jesus Christ And so what he experienced was amazing back to 2nd Peter now 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse number 19 So Peter's telling us he's experienced this Boy, that would have been an experience right? Verse number 19 then he says this we have also So he says look. I'm an eyewitness. I've seen this about Jesus. I've seen this miracle But then he says we have also a more Sure word of prophecy He says look we've got something even better than that We've got something even more sure more more than my eyewitness that more than my account of what I experienced We have something more than that So even though we would think how amazing what it would be to be like Peter and experience this We've got something even more amazing. We have something even more sure the more sure word of Prophecy the Bible that we hold in our hands this precious book Where unto ye do well that ye take heed hey you do Well if you take heed if you listen if you pay attention to the God's Word as unto a light That shineth in a dark place Until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts Hey, what is that about? Where's where's he gone? Well keep your finger then go to Malachi chapter 4 I did go through the book of Malachi. I think that I go through a while. We weren't having church I think that roughly ran that time right with the pandemic But let's go to Malachi chapter 4 verse number 1 Peter's saying look you've got a more sure word of prophecy even better than experiencing an eyewitness account of Jesus's Transfiguration you've got the Bible so take heed listen pay attention to the words of God right Until when how long should we doing that brethren it says? Until the day dawn So keep listening keep learning the Bible until the day dawn. What's that until the morning just one day What is the day dawning here about says and the day star arise in your hearts now the day star brethren of course is a? Name the day star is the Sun okay. It's a Sun. It's a day star It's the star that you see in the day to Sun okay But that day star needs to arise in your hearts and of course that is Symbolic the Sun is being symbolic there of Jesus Christ Okay, so about when does this day star arise in your heart? What is the timing of this you say look keep learning the Bible until this happens, so when does this happen well Malachi chapter 4? Gives us that information or even Peter does as we keep going for the chapters of this Bible Okay of this book, but let's have a look at Malachi chapter 4 verse number 1 which says For behold the day cometh there comes a day right that shall burn as an oven And all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble What does that sound like to you that sound like God pointing out his wrath on the world okay? so that's end time stuff and The day that cometh shall burn them up save the Lord of hosts And it shall leave them neither root nor branch. This is definitely about the end times, and I'll show you why soon look at verse number 2 But unto you so that's on to the saved that fear my name Shall the son of righteousness Arise with healing in his wings and Ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stool All right, so this is about end times He says look after the Lord burns this world like an oven after the Lord pours out his wrath You know during that that time of the day of the Lord that day is coming all right then We'll have the son of righteousness Arise in our hearts right our voices there arise arise, and if second Peter said arise in our hearts right rise We're healing our wings and ye shall go forth so once this happens. We will go forth and do something What are we going to do verse number three and? Ye shall tread down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in The day that I do this sayeth the Lord of hosts So we will tread down the wicked we will have authority Okay, what is that about so we know that the Lord will destroy it all during the his wrath on the day of the Lord Then Christ comes back all right the Lord comes back Then we're going to be given we're going to be issued the command to go forth and have authority on the earth We're going to rule and reign with Christ that is when that Son of righteousness arises, and that's when second Peter chapter 1 talks about that they start arising in your hearts So what is he saying this is what Peter saying you can go back to second Peter now He's saying look keep reading the Bible keep listening to preaching keep learning God's Word until Then okay, just keep doing it brethren. There's no need for us to stop of course by then We're gonna have our new resurrected bodies of course by then we're gonna be with Jesus Christ You know and then he's going to make the new heaven and the new earth and we'll be able to see the face of the father But until then Reverend we keep learning God's Word we keep learning his Bible We keep reading the Word of God okay We keep establishing ourselves upon the more sure word of prophecy in other words. Don't stop Keep learning every day of your life read a portion of Scripture. Don't stop keep listening keep learning Okay, second Peter chapter 1 verse 20 Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation Now what is that saying there's two ways you can understand this. I'll tell you the primary way to understand this So it's saying that basically nothing in the scriptures so nothing in this book that you're holding your hands is from the private thoughts of man Okay, so what is it saying that you know this is from God is what it's saying Okay, even though Peter has penned this even though he says look I'm just gonna I'm white desires to keep reminding you even after I've deceased Okay, and you can have the idea. Well. This is Peter. Yes. It is coming from Peter, but it's not his own private interpretation This is not his own private thoughts. This is God that told Peter to write these things This is God that caused Peter to say these words Okay, it's not the private interpretation of a man That's the primary understanding of that verse the secondary understanding of that verse is That no doctrinal teaching okay can be traced back to one man's private ideas or thoughts Okay, so if I come behind the pulpit, and I preach something you're like. I've never heard that before that is weird All right, and and then you you kind of find out that I'm the only one that ever teaches that stuff That's that's wrong. That's my private interpretation that that's not how God works You know all of us we all have the light purchase faith. We all have the Holy Spirit Okay, every generation Look anything. I preach should have been preached by any previous generation of Preachers before me there should be nothing original or private coming from my mouth Okay, and this is why I ended up rejecting the pre-tribulation rapture Okay, because when I wanted more information about the pre-tribulation rapture I'd say pastor, or you know brother so-and-so. I can't see what you're preaching. Can you show me? Oh, you got to go to Bible college. Oh, you got to read this book Okay, trying to be obedient trying to learn trying to increase knowledge read the book okay who wrote this Bible college? Where does this come from and I found that if you just pull the string you pull the chain you start pulling the chain You get through Dallas Theological Seminary, okay? Well that was founded by Shafer forget his first name something Shafer Okay, keep pulling that guy was mentored by some guy that forget his name right now, which was mentored by Schofield you keep pulling and Schofield's mentor was mentored by John Nelson Darby from the Plim from the what they call the Plymouth Breveren Okay, Darby or here what he created dispensationalism He's what before okay keep pulling on it's it stops. It's up with one man one man's private interpretation Hey, where does it keep going from there? No one no one taught the pre-tribulation rapture before John Nelson Darby and his contemporaries You know thought he was losing his mind Alright other people that lived in his area said Darby. You're crazy. You're teaching weird things You're preaching things of a private interpretation That's why I had to reject the pre-tribulation rapture I came to realize it's the interpretation of one man you can trace if you can trace a doctrine to one man And you can never see that being taught anywhere else in history. You know that's a private interpretation Okay, and so that is the secondary understanding of that right there should be nothing that I preach that's original for my promo now You know yes the way, I put it together the way Presented might be original, but the contents must be the same content. That's been preached throughout the centuries by any preacher, okay? verse number 21 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 Brethren this book is not written by the will of man in fact. It makes men look really bad It makes you and I we can read this it makes us look bad Okay, sometimes. It's hard for me to get up and preach because I know I failed there, too But I've got to preach the whole counsel of God I'm not perfect You know and so this is not a book written by the will of men if you get a man to write about religion He's going to write about how wonderful. We are how special. We are he's going to write about how we're all gods We're all one of the same universal mind You know and and every religion every faith will lead you to God Hey, that's what the price. That's what you know if that's what a man would write You know if he was right in some holy book look this book does not glorify man This book only glorifies God only glorifies God right and we can only have that divine nature We only because of what God's done for us right the fact that he's given us his holy word And so it says holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost just remind yourself brethren This is not a book of man It's a book of God the Holy Ghost wrote this book the Lord God wrote this book What are you gonna? Do this one shit? You know this one sits on your shelf now. You've got all these other novels You've got all these commentaries of men. Maybe you're in a shot I don't know you know on your shelf Maybe you got some DVDs of men and you've got that one sitting there And you know all of this has been produced by man, and this one's been produced by God So when you desire to read something what should be the first thing that you pull out off the shelf? What should be the first thing that you pull out in the morning? I want to see what God has to say to me Alright, I want to see what the Holy Ghost has to say to me Hey, I want to see what Peter is still reminding me of today Back before when he was living you see wants me to be aware of these things or whoever you know that the Holy Ghost used to move and write the Word of God and So the more sure word of prophecy in our hands take heed keep reading keep listening To the Word of God to the day you die till the day star arise in your hearts till we can be with Jesus Christ For all eternity, okay, let's pray heavenly