“The Word Made Sure” 2 Peter 1:16-21

St. John’s - East Moline 02/03/07

Intro.: Why is it so difficult to get people into worship? Why aren’t people living out the faith they claim to have? Why aren’t Christian parents committing themselves to bringing their children up in the faith? These are burdensome questions for us all, because they seem to indicate that people are no longer taking God and His Word seriously. In today’s epistle St. Peter notes that this is what happens when...

I. Enemies Of God Spread Doubt.

A. In our sophisticated society, the reality of Adam and Eve, of Noah, Moses and Jonah is readily denied. What the Bible says is viewed as even less credible than the stories found in checkout counter tabloids. The message of Jesus Christ and salvation is considered less important and personally relevant than the latest actions of Britney Spears, OJ Simpson, or Lindsay Lohan.

Go ahead, and proclaim your belief in scripture and in salvation through Christ and see how quickly someone will pounce on you. Note how readily they respond with such statements as, “You don’t really believe all that stuff you read in the Bible, do you? Don’t you know that the stories about Jesus were a sham?” This was the exact same problem St. Peter faced.

It seemed that false teachers had arisen in the Church who were raising doubts in the hearts of the faithful.

The first way in which they attacked the surety of God’s word was by substituting their own...

B. Cleverly invented stories to lead people away from the clear teachings of the Bible. Peter says of them in the verses following our epistle: “many will follow their ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up...” (2 Pet. 2:2-3a) Still today, the way of truth, and the integrity of God’s Word is damaged when false preachers exploit the faithful with fanciful stories: stories of a 40 foot Jesus who threatens to kill the messenger if people don’t give enough money, stories of dreams and visions of a glorious world-wide Christian empire, stories about how Jesus can be the key to financial success and stories of being left behind to take a second shot at getting ourselves saved. With cleverly invented stories, false teachers are bringing the way of truth, the truth of the Bible, into disrepute.

C. Another way in which the faithful may be led to doubt God’s Word is when God’s enemies detract from it. When the “so-called” wise and learned theologians and philosophers claim that the saving acts of God in Christ, remembered from the past are nothing but children’s fairy tales which reasonable adults should abandon. As with God’s enemies in Peter’s day, there are many, even within the visible Church, who would want us to believe that the Christian hope is nothing but a series of empty promises, built upon a mythical Jesus. Like the false teachers of Peter’s day they would have you believe that there is nothing for you but the present, so live life on your own terms, and live for today.

Peter’s answer to all of this is clear in our epistle. He points them and us, to that glorious event on the mount when Jesus was transfigured before his eyes. When the LORD’s uncreated glory shone through, and God the Father again declared Jesus to be His own beloved Son from eternity the apostle tells us that we have..

II. The Word Made More Sure.

A. The Word of promise we believe, teach and confess is not, as some claim, the imaginings of men, but God’s Word. Peter writes: “Understand this first, that no prophecy of Scripture comes into existence from a person’s own explanation, for no prophecy was ever spoken because a man decided to prophesy, but men said what God gave them to say as they were moved along by the Holy Spirit.” (v.21) God wants us all to know that this Word is not an invention of men, it has not evolved over the centuries, it is not dreamed up by well-intentioned moral reformers, nor is it open to individual interpretation. It is God’s Word, breathed into and through human writers by the Holy Spirit. Ever bit of it is absolute truth and divine certainty.

The veracity of the Holy Scriptures does not depend on what you think of it, or how you want treat it. It is the Word of God, true, binding and unchangeable.

B. This Word is made more sure through witnesses who saw it fulfilled in Christ. St. Peter again writes: “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and His coming. Rather, with our own eyes we saw His majesty... We heard the voice (of the Father) speak to Him from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.” (vv.16,18) Have you ever heard on the news when they announce a live eyewitness report. Somehow that seems to make the things more certain. “Look, it’s really happening!” This is what Peter is saying in our epistle. He was there when Jesus fed the thousands on a few small fish and loaves of bread. He was there when he healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. He was there, and saw with his own eyes, the empty tomb in which had rested the body of Jesus, after He died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. He later saw the risen Christ, and the ascension of His Lord into heaven. And He was there on the mount of transfiguration, when God’s Word was made more certain as Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah in heavenly glory.

C. All of that Word, all the promises of the Old Testament are made more sure in Christ. Our Lord Jesus once said to the spiritually blind Pharisees, “You search the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life, but these testify of me!” When Jesus appeared on the mountain, talking with Moses and Elijah regarding what was going to happen for our salvation, these Old Testament saints were testifying that all of the promises of Scripture were being fulfilled, and made more sure in Christ.

Our certainty is this: That same Word which told of the seed of the woman, of Abraham’s descendent through whom the whole world would be blessed, of the Son of David who would reign forever, and the suffering servant who would bear His people’s sins, has also told us of our forgiveness through faith in Christ, of our adoption as the children of God, of the Holy Spirit given to us, of our eternal life in heaven, and of a resurrection and reunion with Christ and all our fellow saints. In the witness of Peter, and the other apostles and evangelists who proclaim Christ, God’s Word is made more sure for us.

We also have witnessed Christ’s glory in our lives. We witness His death and resurrection in our baptism, as our old sinful self is put to death, and the Holy Spirit creates a new spiritual life within us. We experience the forgiveness of sins, when in the stead and by the command of Christ our pastor pronounces absolution, when we are led to believe the promises we read in our Bibles and hear from our pulpits, and when we receive the very body and blood of our Lord given and shed for us on the cross. Through this personal experience of the power of God’s Word at work in our lives, we become witnesses, of its truth, certainty and power.. And...

III. This Word Deserves Our Attention.

A. Because it declares God’s glory in Christ. This is what Peter says in verse 17: “For He received honor and glory from the Father when a voice spoke these words to Him while He was covered by majestic glory: ‘This is My Son, whom I love and with whom I am delighted.’” While it is true that all of creation proclaims God’s glory, no beautiful sunset or awesome force of nature can compare to what God has to say to us in His Word. Only through it can we come to know Jesus and the grace of God. He is the exact representation of the Father’s presence, in whom all the fullness of God lives in bodily form. In this Word we see our Lord Jesus transformed in majestic glory, and in the same Word we see the even more glorious display of God’s love, when he is transformed in lowly suffering on the cross for us and for our salvation.

Peter, as pastors today wanted to repeat this Word over and over again to His hearers.

I want you, my family in Christ, to know the certainty and the power of this Word in your lives. I teach it to you, witness to its surety, and lay it before you knowing that this Word will endure forever.

I am convinced that each of you, in discovering the certain power of God’s Word in your life, will also want to hear it, share it, and impress it upon your children. You will want to be God’s witnesses to your friends, explain it to those who do not yet understand it, and become instruments of the Holy Spirit’s work in saving lost and condemned sinners from hell, so that they might have eternal life with you.

B. This sure Word is our light - the light that brightens our hearts and the hearts of others with everlasting peace and saving wisdom. Peter writes: “We have, as something more sure, the prophetic Word. Please look to it as to a light shining in a gloomy place until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts.” (v.19)

The apostle encourages us to pay attention to the certain Word of the Bible as our hope and greatest joy. This Word is the source of life and light in a sin darkened world. It is the one sure thing amidst all of our present uncertainty. As fads come and go, as the economy rises and falls, and violence, sex and drugs eat away at our society this Word gives us the strength we need to fight the good fight of faith.

In this the Word made more certain, Christ, the true Light and Morning Star, rises in our hearts to fill us with hope, peace and a joy that can never be taken away from us. Amen. And now the peace of God which....