The Bible according to Peter

And I count it a privilege to be with you all today and to be part of this refuge series. And before we turn to the Word of God, I'd like to just ask for his help. And so I'll lead us now in prayer.

Our Father, we are very grateful that we can turn our attention to thee today. And we are not required to stand in line or to do anything to get thy attention. Thou art keenly interested in all of thy people and all of thy assemblies that are represented on this call.

We're thankful, Father, for the refuge we have found, the great spiritual refuge in our Lord Jesus Christ. And he has paid the ultimate price. He gave himself for us.

And so we're thankful for the Savior today. And we are thankful for the scriptures that speak of him and that we have come to appreciate. But at the same time, in these days when there is so much concern and so much to fill our hearts and so many distractions, even when we are in isolation in homes, at the same time, we would like to pray that thou would draw our attention to the scriptures today to give us a renewed, a fresh, and even a greater appreciation for this blessed book that thou has given to us.

And so we depend upon thee and look to thee for help now and ask all of this giving thanks in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I would like to speak to you today about the Bible according to Peter.

What I mean by that is I would like to get from the scriptures, Peter's perspective on the Bible. Now, I intend to focus on his two letters. So I hope you won't consider it false advertising.

But I would like to read just two verses related to Peter in the book of the Acts. The first one is in chapter 1 and verse 16. Peter has stood up to address the issue of the replacement for Judas.

And he says, Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas. And notice, the Holy Spirit by the mouth of David spoke before concerning Judas. And then in chapter 3 and verse 18, again, Peter is the speaker.

Notice what he says. Chapter 3, verse 18, he says, Those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Then I would like to turn to 1 Peter and just read, first of all, in chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1. And notice here that he says in verse 15, Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.

And then verse 23, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And now I will just turn to the second letter by Peter.

And there are many references to the word of God and quotes from the scriptures in Peter's writings. It's quite impressive. But I'll read in 2 Peter chapter 1 now.

And we'll take a reading here from verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory.

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mouth. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well, that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn, and the day star rise in your hearts.

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the holy ghosts. For there were false prophets also among the people, even as there also should be false teachers among you.

And then finally, the final commentary of Peter about the Bible or the scriptures in chapter 3, verse 1. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that ye may be mindful of the words which are spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior. And then he goes on to speak about the last days, and that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. But notice what he says in verse 5. For this they were willingly are ignorant of that, by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same work, are kept in store, reserved under fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. And then finally, at the very end of the passage, look down and you'll see in verse 15, an account of that the long-suffering our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some hard to be understood, some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable rest or twist, as they also do other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.

But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Now we trust God will help us to appreciate these scriptures, this commentary of the Bible about the Bible.

And I would like to try and share with you what I've been enjoying about the wonder of the written word, the Bible according to Peter. It was back in 2010 that three brothers, Ned and Roger and Stephen Landau, in Teaneck, New Jersey, had the duty and the responsibility to clean out their mother's home. She had passed away, and in that home they found a picture, a portrait, a painting, under a ping-pong table.

It had been stored there for quite a while, and they gathered it and the other belongings they thought were important. They stored them for a bit, but eventually they turned some of them over, including that painting, over to an auction house. And the auction house, they scheduled the auction, and on the auction day, they had been told by the auctioneer, Mr. Nye, that they would at best expect about between $500 and $800 for that particular painting.

But when the bidding began, it started to go up, because in Europe, in France, and in Germany, there were art collectors who recognized what that painting potentially was. Back when he was a teenager, Rembrandt had painted five paintings about the senses. And this was the painting of two people trying to give smelling salts to somebody who had passed out.

And it was called The Unconscious Patient, an allegory of the sense of smell. And they recognized it. And the bidding didn't stop at $800.

It stopped around $1.1 million. And then it was immediately resold to Thomas Kaplan for about $4 million. You see, the family had had the painting on the wall for a long time.

And they didn't like it, because who wanted to eat? It was above their dining room table. Who wanted to eat their meals, looking at a person who had passed out? Eventually it was stored underneath the ping pong table, and there it sat for years. You see, it was kind of sad, because all the while, that painting was there.

It was in their home, but it really wasn't part of their lives, honestly. It was because they didn't value it. They didn't appreciate it.

And because they didn't appreciate it the way they should have, they didn't enjoy it the way they should have. And it really had very little impact on their lives. You see, the concern that I have for myself, first of all, and if I could, if you would allow me to include you, is that all of us as believers, we can have a masterpiece in our homes, on our phones, beside our bed, in our Bible cases, in our meeting places.

And all the while, we don't really appreciate it the way we should. And thus, we don't enjoy it the way we should. And as a result, the impact that it could have on our lives is reduced to a minimum.

You see, that was not the case with Peter. Just go back with me, if you will, to Peter shortly after he was saved. You recall he was there in Luke chapter 5. And when the Lord told him, after he had fished all night and caught nothing, the Lord told him to go out into the deep and lower the nets, what was his response? He appreciated the Word of the Lord.

He said, the Word of God, the Word of the Lord Jesus. He said, nevertheless, at my work, it was the Word of God that impressed him. But then when the disciples were all leaving the Lord Jesus, he turned to the twelve and asked them if they were going to leave in John chapter 6. And what did he say? He said, to whom shall we go, Lord? Thou hast the words of eternal life.

And when Peter got away from the Lord, you recall he denied the Lord Jesus. What was his restoration dependent The Bible tells us that then he remembered the Word of the Lord. That's what had an impact on his life.

And then when he got up to preach the first time or to speak to the disciples there in Acts chapter 1, what did he say? He said to them, the script, the very first thing he said was that the scripture must, this scripture must be fulfilled. And how does he close his life? Well, 30, 35 years later, he writes two letters and they are replete with references to the Word of God. His mind is saturated and his heart is enthralled with the scriptures.

And he ends his last letter. The last words we have of Peter are a commentary about the Bible and the warnings of the need to preserve the truth and to stick to it. And so Peter, he gives us a number of important things about the Bible.

I want you to think with me, first of all, about the totality of scripture, the totality of scripture. You'll forgive me for going backwards to the front, but just in chapter 3, in passing, we'll notice the totality of scripture. Because you'll recall that the Lord Jesus, he divided the scriptures up and he spoke about, well, after he rose from the dead, when he met there with the disciples, he said to them about all things must be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.

That's how he divided the whole Old Testament. When you come to the book of the Acts and the very first words of Peter, what do we find? Well, first of all, he quotes from the prophet Joel. He has already mentioned in chapter 1, the Psalms.

And then he repeats Psalm 110, goes to Psalm 110 and Psalm 16 in chapter 2. And we come to chapter 3 and he goes to the law. He quotes Deuteronomy chapter 17, chapter 18. And then he quotes Genesis chapter 12.

You see, to Peter, he gives equal value to the three parts of the Old Testament, the law, the Psalms and the prophets, the history and the prophecy and the poetry. He covers it all right there in his sermons. And what do you find when he comes to his letter? Same thing.

Why just in chapter 2, he refers to Isaiah chapter 28, the prophets. And then he also goes on and he refers to the book of Leviticus and he refers to Psalm 118. You see, he is taking all and he concludes in chapter 3 of his second letter.

And he talks there about the words which were spoken by the holy prophets. That's a reference to the Old Testament. That's not where he stops.

He continues on and talks about and the commandment of us, of the apostles by the law of the Lord and Savior. So now he has put equal with the Old Testament, the teachings, the apostles doctrine and the writings of the New Testament authors, the apostles. But then he goes down the chapter.

At the beginning, he has said about himself that he is writing. So he adds himself in there as equal authority. And then he talks about the Apostle Paul, even as our beloved brother Paul has written unto you.

And there you have the whole gamut of scripture from beginning to end that have been written up to that point. The totality of the Word of God and all of its variety of different kinds of books, different genres. Peter is appreciating the variety and the totality of the scriptures, the Word of God.

Sometimes we can just narrow in because we like the gospels and we really develop an appreciation for the gospels or the epistles or Old Testament history books. But Peter had an appreciation and he could actually quote and bring together connections from the totality of scripture. May God help us in these days to take advantage, to get to know this book and expand our knowledge and appreciation of the whole, the totality of the Word of God.

But now let me go back to chapter 1 of 1st Peter and just notice with you there that Peter believed in the trustworthiness of scripture. Peter was very acquainted with falsehood. In fact, he had told three falsehoods.

He had denied the Lord three times. And then you'll recall that in the book of the Acts, he had to confront Ananias and Sapphira. And then he had to confront in Acts chapter 8, Simon Magus, a complete fraud.

And how does he close his books? He talks about false prophets, false teachers, and false words. But in contrast to all that falsehood, all the fallibility of people, Peter appreciates the infallibility of prophecy. Because you'll remember that he did speak about the words, all the words which were spoken by the holy prophets.

Well now, if you go back, you'll remember that the Lord Jesus had spoken about all the prophets as well and the law and all of that was fulfilled. In fact, that's what Peter said. He said because it's the Word of God, in Acts chapter 1 we read there, verse 16, this scripture must, needs be fulfilled.

It is not a book that might be fulfilled. Anything that's in here, whether it's a statement, a prophecy, or one of the great and exceeding promises that Peter points out, they absolutely must come to pass. The scripture must, needs be fulfilled.

But then in chapter 3, he talks about the scripture there and what does he say? He speaks about God foretold, what he told, foretold by the mouth of all his prophets, that the Christ would suffer. Peter declares, what a joy for him, to confirm the infallibility of scripture. He says, they have come to pass.

The Word of God, he has thus fulfilled. And that's why Peter at the very end of his life, he's still appreciating that God is true to his Word. Why people in the last days will scoff and they will say, where is the promise of his coming? Peter reminds them, I know the God of the Bible.

I know the God of scripture. The Lord is not slept concerning his promise. And the very promise of a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, that absolutely will come true.

Peter had no doubt about it. Could I just suggest to you, dear brother, dear sister, these days when we are being bombarded with news feeds and we're being bombarded with opinions and we are told that, well, first we need to self-isolate, but then we need to reach herd immunity and we're told to wear a but then don't wear a mask. And then we're told that the virus is weakening and the virus is strengthening.

And pretty soon you wonder, I know you say, well, I know I probably can't trust politicians, most of them anyway, sorry if you're a politician, but I thought I could trust science and I thought I could trust medicine. And now even people are doubting that. And you wonder, where can I find some word I could trust? Maybe God is calling us all to just reduce the news feed addiction and get down to just getting back to a word we can trust, the infallibility of prophecy.

May we appreciate it, have an awe for this book, to find it in everything it promises. And know like Peter, this word must be fulfilled. But I want you to think with me as well about how Peter appreciated not just the totality of Scripture and the trustworthiness of Scripture.

I want you to think about how he noted the timelessness of Scripture as well. He had the privilege of hearing one of the most incredible promises ever given by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24. You recall what the Lord Jesus said in the context of future events and the end of the world.

As he is speaking, he makes the great promise. The Lord Jesus said, this generation shall not pass until all things be fulfilled. When he said this generation, he was not talking about the chronological generation of those who are living at his time.

That is an expression to refer to the race of the Jewish people. This race, this race shall not pass away until all these things shall be fulfilled. You mean this race.

That's exactly what he meant. Reaffirming the covenant promise to Abraham. And on that day, he knew very well that Satan would instigate men to use pilgrims and a holocaust to try and keep this promise for coming true.

There are 14.7 million Jewish people who would claim that they are Jewish today. Likely many more. And you would appreciate that.

When was it that the Lord Jesus said? It was at that point he said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Whenever you read the word Israel, whenever you come across anything Jewish, you are reminded of the faithfulness of God to his promises and the timeliness of his word. So Peter picks up his pen and now he's going to write his first letter.

Right at the end of the first chapter. I know he didn't write in chapters, but you'll allow me to put it that way. He comes to the end of the first chapter.

And what does he say? Well, he says, all flesh is as grass. Remember what happens? Well, he made it very clear. The grass fades, flowers, they wither.

But what did he say? Quoting the book of Isaiah chapter 40, verse 8. The word of the Lord endureth forever. Things will change around us. Like, just like the grass and the flowers.

Have we not been reminded of that in these days? But there is a constant through it all that will endure. It may be that societies will come down. They have and they will.

Your culture may disappear. Your country, my country, may be a memory at best one day. But there's one thing that's going to carry on.

Peter says, I live in a changing world. He's writing to Christians who are suddenly displaced from their homes. You talk about changing world.

And they had to move. And there was uncertainty. And they didn't know where their income was going to come from.

And they were worried about their families. And there was persecution. And in the middle of that, he reminds them of the constant.

Maybe God wants to remind us today of a constant in our world. And that is the endurance, the timelessness of Scripture. It's above time.

The word of the Lord endures forever. But you can appreciate its timelessness, not only in its endurance, but also in its relevance. I read that verse in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 15, where Peter quoting from the book of Leviticus says, simply in our English Bible, it says it is written.

But translators struggle with that because we do not have the exact equivalent of what Peter actually wrote. Because it actually is, well, it was written a long time ago. Moses wrote in the book of Leviticus.

But that doesn't mean it's old. Then it's not relevant. And so that's why most translations put it in English.

It is written. Perhaps it would even be better to give the idea that it has been. It's really the sense that what was written in the past has an effect, a lingering effect, and a continuing on in the present.

It's actually the tense of the verb that the Lord Jesus used when he referred to the Scriptures during his temptation. When he said over and over, it's It has been written, or I like it just seems the best to appeal to us in English. It stands written.

It's not just that it was. It continues to stand firm. The relevance.

It's not something we read like an old history book. It's something that is just relevant today. It still is standing today.

The Word of God. And that's why sometimes Peter even translates it in the presence that David speaks. It's as if he's still speaking.

It's that relevant. It's timeless. The book that we hold and the book that we treasure.

But I want you to think about the audience of it all. Now if you had to sit down and write something, and remember what you have to write has got to be good for everybody around the world at the same time, in every language, but not only now but in all times. What you have to write has to be relevant for people who are living in tribulation days, in the millennium, people living in the apostolic times, people in pandemic times, and it has to be good in every culture.

You say that is impossible. Yes it is impossible unless you're God. And that's what Peter appreciates about the Word of God.

The Word of God. Is it good for Jews? Well in Acts chapter 4, after the prayer meeting, it says that they spake the Word of God with boldness. The Word of God for the Jewish people.

You come to Acts chapter 8. And what did Peter hear there? Well Peter and the apostles heard that the people in Samaria. First it was in Judea, Jerusalem, Judea, and then Samaria. It records for us there that Samaria had received the Word of God.

It's good for Samaritans. What about Gentiles? Keep reading in your book of Acts, you'll come to chapter 11. What does Peter say there? He reports the apostles and the brethren and the others in Jerusalem, what do they hear? They hear Peter's report that Gentiles, I'm quoting, had also received the Word of God.

Can you imagine Peter? He's up on the rooftop. He has the vision of the sheep that comes down. It dawns on him now the gospel.

The gospel. And then suddenly did he not think to himself, well what about the rest of the apostles, Dr? What about how a church meets? Is that going to work for Gentiles? Will that work for Samaritans? Will it work for Canadians? And will it even work for Americans? Thank God it does. You see this book we have as an audience, there's nobody who's outside its audience.

It is an amazing, timeless book. No matter when a person lives, they can pick up the Bible, and they have the Bible with its endurance, its relevance, and any reader is part of it, its audience. It truly is a book that should make us all have an awe and a wonder and appreciation.

And if we have a real appreciation, we'll enjoy it. And it won't be just something that's in our lives. It'll be something that impacts our lives, as it did in the life of Peter.

There are brethren who have been praying and wondering how to handle, how to make changes, small, big. How do we handle things in the assembly now? Oh, we have to make changes due to a pandemic. Do you think God was up there thinking, oh, I really, I never thought of a pandemic when I gave the Bible.

I wish I could go back and add a couple of verses. No, dear brethren, no, dear sister. You have the totality of the Word of God written so long ago, and here we are in a pandemic.

But a book that endures, is relevant, and it fits our audience. It fits us. There is something in it for us.

But then think with me as well about how Peter, he appreciated what I'll call the treasure of Scripture, the treasure of Scripture. You know, when those three brothers, they found out, you can imagine, they didn't even attend the auction because they weren't expecting much. When they found out that they had, that painting had been purchased for 1.1 million, and then resold for 4 million very quickly, you can imagine how they were stunned.

When that painting was carefully treated by professionals, and they found out the signature of Rembrandt himself. You see, suddenly they're in admiration from that. Why didn't we see that? Why didn't we appreciate it? You see, this book, Peter would tell you, has the marks, the signature of the Almighty God.

Well, think with me of the phrases that Peter uses to describe. He just doesn't use words like commandment and promise and truth. He talks about the way of truth.

This is all in 2nd Peter and 1st Peter, but mostly in 2nd Peter. He doesn't talk about a proverb. He emphasizes that it's a true proverb.

And he doesn't talk about a commandment. It's the holy commandment. Get the phraseology as usual.

They're not just promises. They're exceeding great and precious promises. And above all, let us never forget that it is actually called the Word of God.

That all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And he also uses, in the book of Acts chapter 8, there he uses the expression referring to Scripture, the Word of the Lord. That's the Old Testament way of referring to the highest authority that should have an impact on a life, on thinking, on motives, on convictions.

He uses phrases and words to describe that this book is an absolute treasure. But he also describes the power of the book, the power of the Word of God. We read in chapter 3 there about the creatorial power of the Word of God.

That's not the Bible itself. But you remember that he talked there about how the heavens and the earth, how did they come to be? Well, he says, by the Word of God, the heavens were of old, by the Word of just Word coming out of God's mouth. And the heavens were there.

The heavens were of old. So he takes us back to creation. But then he just quickly zooms through time and he takes us all the way to the very end of this creation.

When God is going to, the elements will be burned up with fire. And this world will be refined and reformed. And what's going to happen then? How's that going? He says, all of that, the judicial, the judicial power of the Word, all that world that has been affected by sin is being hell.

It is being kept. And he says, by the same Word, the same Word why he is upholding all things by the Word of his power. And he is holding it, keeping it all.

And he will keep it here. Global warming will not take it away. Nuclear holocaust will not take it away.

He will keep this earth and he will keep it to the very end, to the exact moment by the power of that Word. Now, Peter comes back in time and he comes, he goes backwards and he comes back to where we are. And, and 1st Peter chapter 1, what does he say? Well, he says there, 2nd Peter chapter 1, he speaks there about how, what happens is when a person is born, they're born again.

You say, I know, Peter, I know how they're born again. John already told us. Actually, John wrote that after Peter wrote this, but John tells me in the Bible that you're born of the Spirit of God, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

But Peter doesn't speak that way. He says we're born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God. Can I just remind our hearts today, the power of this book, the Word of God, the creatorial power, the judicial power of the Word of God that was on display that will be on display, that power is resident in this book.

This book has the power to produce regeneration in people's lives. We don't need to entertain people so much, although we should be interesting. We don't need to just reason with them when it comes to the gospel.

We need to get the Word of God to release the power of this book. And that's why Peter, when he preaches the gospel in the book of the Acts, he is constantly quoting the Word of God. And what he wants to have influence on Christians in his letters, verse after verse from the Old Testament, he recognizes that that's where the power is.

There is no book on earth that has power like this book. How can we just keep it around and not unleash the power in our own lives? That's the concern. But think with me about the purpose of this book.

The purpose in that, you'll see the treasure in it. Because it was the Lord Jesus who said to the two on the road to Emmaus, He said that beginning at Moses and all the prophets, it says, He expounded unto them. What did He expand unto them? He expanded unto them and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.

Can you imagine that? The Lord Jesus going through the Old Testament, the law, the Psalms, the prophets and expanding the scriptures. With all due respect to my good brethren, I have never sat in a Bible reading like that. I can't wait until the Lord himself opens.

And what does Peter say? Peter says, I learned that lesson because he spoke about David. And what did he say in the book of the Acts? He said David spoke concerning him. He found in the Old Testament, line after line, theme after theme about the Lord Jesus, picture after picture, the scripture full of Christ.

Yes, we can go out and we can appreciate creation. And we need to do that even though they tell us to stay inside. We need to appreciate creation.

But really, when it comes to the Bible, this is the book that is going to reveal to us uniquely shared with us the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so when Peter comes to the end of his life, he writes these words about the prophets who testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow. He just loved to read the Bible, the Bible that he had and find the Messiah in there, fill his heart with Christ.

How are we doing with that brother? Have we lost our wonder of the word? And as a result of that, we're not appreciating and we're not finding Christ in the scripture unless it's not really affecting our hearts, much less our lives. That can happen. We can get so occupied with debates and Facebook and Instagram and words that people are saying and opinions and all this.

And it's all, yes, it's important, but there's nothing like finding Christ. May God help us to be like Peter, to treasure this book because he writes then about the preeminence of the Bible. When he comes to the end, he comes to the end of the chapter there, when he's writing in chapter one of the second epistle, what does he say? He says there, I want to tell you about my experience.

He said, we actually saw something, we had an experience that was absolutely tremendous. He says, actually, we were at the holy mountain, the mount of transfiguration. And that was an amazing experience because he said, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

We saw eyewitnesses of his majesty. And in fact, he says, the voice, we actually heard that voice from heaven. Now that would excel all kinds of the fables and myths and the cunningly devised fables that he warns people about and Roman mythology and Greek mythology.

He says, this is not human imagination or ingenuity or intellect. We actually were there and we heard God speaking from heaven itself. Yes, he says, as spectacular as that is.

He says then as he goes down the passage, verse 19 of chapter one of the second Peter, he says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. Now, it wasn't just that that experience confirmed the coming kingdom. The Bible doesn't need experience to confirm it.

I take it that this is comparison as spectacular as human experience can be. It does not compare with a written word of God. This is the more sure.

This is as good as it gets. It could not be better. The stunning reality, this treasure, we have it.

Peter says, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. Dear brother, do you appreciate the treasure? We have it. It's like a light in our world.

This world is described as a dark place. It's kind of murky. Reminds me of a fish bowl.

And you can't see. And everything gets confusing and dirty and it's difficult to see the way. And then all of a sudden here we have the piercing gleaming light of the word of God.

This is where we get truth. In our day, where everything's changing. Why even words that you used to be able to say, and this must be very difficult for those who have used those words for a long time.

In Canada, I guess you're no longer to talk about mankind. It's people kind. And if you're elsewhere in the world, maybe my part of the world now, we can't even use the words without people maybe misunderstanding us.

All lives are equally important. You have to be careful. And everything's changing.

And you wonder, well thank God we can go back to the word. And we have the best word. We have the final word.

We have the relevant word that can guide us in truth. We don't look to science as much as we appreciate science or medicine. We turn to the word of God with all of its relevance until the day dawns.

And the day star rises in your hearts. We have this treasure. May God help us to appreciate it.

But let me just close by reminding you of the transmission of this scripture. Because Peter goes on to talk about, knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture, verse 20, chapter 1 of the second epistle, is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.

In other words, this is not about how you interpret the Bible. This is about the source of the Bible. He has already said in the book of the Acts that the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake.

But he also said that David said. So was it David or was it the Holy Spirit? You see, Peter was interested in how the word of God was transmitted. And so now it's contrast.

He says this is going to be a different way. This is not imagination or human intellect that sat down and gave us this book. He said I want to tell you first of all about how this happened because there were conduits that God used.

They were holy men of God. Now God spoke in a voice from heaven. Peter actually heard that.

Why didn't God? Now we would know for sure it's the word of God. Wouldn't we? If when you're trying as brethren to figure out what to do with COVID-19 and you just turned to heaven and a voice spoke to you, you'd say God is word. Now there's no question about it.

Wouldn't that be better? Apparently not. Apparently not as good as that would be. You say well would it be good if he gave it to an innocent person like an Adam who was able to give the word to Eve? Well that apparently didn't go real well because he didn't seem to get the word correctly.

She added to the word of God as you recall. And what about angels? Angels were involved in the giving of the law. Why doesn't he give it to angels to give to us and then we'd be more sure that we actually have the word of God.

God says no I'm not going the easy route. I'm going to use a complex way to get the word of God. The prophets will speak and the New Testament writers will write.

You say what does that mean? He's going to take up men, holy men, real people with personality, with experience, with knowledge, with investigative skills like Luke and with medical skills like Luke and people who know how to build pyramids like Moses to write about a building of a tabernacle. And he'll pick up all of these and through them is going to come the word of God. But it even becomes more complicated.

Because Peter he says I didn't actually write this. He says yes I Peter but but he says I actually didn't write down first Peter. It's Silvanus who says I wrote this.

You see Peter told him what to write. So the spirit of God through Peter through Silvanus to the Bible that we have. But that's not the first time.

That happened in the Old Testament in Jeremiah chapter 36 with Jeremiah, Baruch, not Barak, Baruch. And you remember what he wrote down. Twice.

And Paul he always signed his with a big letter, my greetings. Somebody else wrote it. By Romans.

It was written by Tertius. And so you now you see how complicated it is and you're involving up to two different centers in it all. Peter says I have no question that God can use that system.

He will be glorified in this and he will oversee it so that we actually get the word of God. Because holy men of God they will speak as they are carried along by the spirit of God. Now the spirit didn't dictate to them nor did he put them in a trance and use them like a robotic arm to write out scripture.

He actually took the personality the knowledge that the man himself and the scripture was written down. And it is called the word of God. They speak as they were carried along by the Holy Ghost.

Peter appreciates how the scripture transmitted. He said well Peter what about the whole idea that man maybe put some things in there that if men had just written it there wouldn't be anything difficult that they couldn't figure out. But Peter says there were things that the prophets couldn't understand in chapter one.

And he says Paul wrote things in there hard to understand. Every sign indicates that this transmission was overseen and superintended by God. You say what about a translation? Bible wasn't written in English.

Jesus did not read the King James Version or the Reina Valera Version in Spanish. So how does that work? Well Peter probably heard the Lord Jesus reading from the Septuagint and he probably read it and preached it as well if we read things correctly. But do you think Peter would have been concerned about that after being on the day of Pentecost and Acts chapter 2 when the same message went out and all those different languages? He knew that he was the God of language.

And yes we must be careful, we must do scholarship, and we must have the word of God. But this book has been transmitted and translated and we can enjoy the very word of God. Peter closes by warning about the twisting of scripture and I'm not going to spend time on that.

But you see how much he loved the scripture? He was desperately concerned in the last days that were going to be met and they were going to, it's actually the word, they were going to twist the word of God. It's a word that Bible dictionaries will tell us it means to be put on the rack. The moving of bones before they're set.

This is the contortion of the word of God where people will, and you notice where they begin, they don't begin with the clear statements of scripture, they actually start with the hard sayings of Paul and other difficult scriptures and then they move towards the clear. There are people who are not using correct biblical interpretation, methods of interpretation. They have an agenda and they're out to try and make a change and introduce people but the test is this, how are they interpreting the word of God? And so Peter now is very concerned and his final words as he comes to the end of the book are about to take heed.

We're capable of this. May God give us a fresh love for scripture and a desire to know it, to stick to it, to put our minds to it, to fill our hearts with it, to enjoy it and above all to live it out, the true test of our real enjoyment of scripture. Peter, his view of the Bible, may God help us to view it the way he did and that way it will have the effect on us that it did on him and we will love and live the Bible as the apostle Peter did.

May God bless his word. Shall we pray? Father, we're very thankful for the scriptures today. We do need to have an increased appreciation for the book.

We recall that there is no one who appreciated the word of God like thy beloved son, the Lord Jesus. His delight was in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night. It guided him when he came into the world according to the scroll, the book that was written of him.

It was on his heart that the scripture might fulfill and that he said, I thirst when he died. It was the very language that expressed his sufferings and what he experienced as he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It was the scripture he fulfilled when Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Father, we pray that we will come to appreciate afresh this masterpiece and that this time, this time of change will be a time when we'll appreciate the constancy of scripture and this time of new things and new situations that we confront.

May we appreciate the adequacy, the relevance and the timelessness of this blessed book and preserve us, Lord, from twisting it or falling prey to those who do. May we love it the way the Lord did and as Peter did and so we pray for this blessing upon us and that this book might be part of our refuge in these difficult times as we ask it all and give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.