Second Peter, chapter one, we're dealing tonight with the last three verses in the chapter. Peter is instructing the Christians who are scattered abroad, those to whom he had written his first epistle. He's instructing them to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. He has told them that they were the Lord's because of the fact that they have the divine nature, verse four. And to that which has been given unto them, they're to add the list of things that are in verses five to seven. And then he tells them that if these things are in them and abound, they're going to make them fruitful. And they're going to have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior. And that you have in verse eleven. Then beginning in verse twelve, he tells them he's going to put them in remembrance of these things as long as he's with them. And then in verse fifteen he says he wants these things to be on their mind even after he's gone. Then he gives a reason for it in verse sixteen. And he says, We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is most important because beginning in chapter two we're going to deal with false teachers and false teaching. Second Peter chapter two is one of the chapters that should be studied very much by God's people today. We are living in a day of false teaching and false teachers. Peter puts biblical prophecy on a divine footing, and therefore he tells us we have not followed cunningly devised fables. And in speaking of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, he goes back to the time that with James and John, he was with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he beheld the glory of our blessed Lord. And we looked at that last week from the Gospel by Matthew chapter seventeen. The end of chapter sixteen. Our Lord said there be some standing here who shall not haste of death till they see the Lord coming in his kingdom. And then beginning in the next chapter, chapter seventeen. And after six days he takes Peter, James and John, and he goes apart into a mountain. And he's transfigured before them. Peter never got over what took place there on the Holy Mount. Now, beginning in verse nineteen, he says, We have also a more sure word of prophecy. There's something more sure than what I had on the Mount of Transfiguration is what he's really saying. We have a more sure word of prophecy. where unto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. 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 or borne along as another translation has it. Rotherham's translation has it, as they were born along. It's a maritime word, a word of the sea. In other words, the prophets put up their sails and the Spirit of God filled them. They were born along like a ship is born along on the sea. Here in these verses we have three of the greatest expressions in the New Testament dealing with divine inspiration. Christ's first advent was the object for human faith. Our salvation rests upon that which took place in history. In the first advent of Christ, Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he arose again the third day, according to the Scriptures. And we can thank God for the blood of Christ and for the righteousness that flows. Therefore, while his first advent becomes the object for faith, The second advent becomes the object for human hope. The hope that the child of God possesses is based upon the fact that He who came the first time is coming again. We now come to examine the value of the prophetic scriptures, for that is what Peter is speaking of here. The more sure word of prophecy. Now we must pay attention to this. in order that we have the appropriate attitude toward the prophetic scriptures. This is very important. Now, what is the proper attitude toward scripture? Verse nineteen. For in the middle of the verse, he says, Ye do well that ye take heed. In other words, he says, You do well to pay attention. In other words, this carries with it the tone of approval. You're approved before God if you pay attention to the Holy Scriptures. Now, this means actively turning the mind to the prophetic word as an object of personal interest and faith. This is something that I was impressed with as a boy. There wasn't a day that went by in our home that my father didn't look for the coming of the Lord. He expected the Lord to come every day. I tell you, and it's good to grow up in that kind of an atmosphere. I thank God for it. He looked for the coming of the Lord. Now, to be actively engaged with the prophetic scriptures and looking for the coming of the Lord, it is the opposite. of being interested in the non-seasonable subjects or misspending time on hopeless barren riddles. Peter says, We have not followed cunningly devised fables. And I'm amazed at how many people can get bogged down on hopeless barren riddles rather than on the sure issues of the Word of God, which bless the heart. I have never heard anyone talk about the coming of the Lord as an exciting hope for the child of God that it didn't bless my soul. He's coming, and it could be today. You see, but keep in mind that Peter is not charging his readers with negligence, you see, that they're neglecting the word. But he is concerned, apparently, at the neglect of and misuse of it that's being encouraged by the false teachers that he describes in chapter two. And the only cure for false teaching is to be established yourself. I don't know of another cure for false teaching than to have your own feet on solid ground and to be established. I don't mind seeing a carload of Jehovah's Witnesses come to my door. Because when I go to the door, I know who's going to win. I know what I'm going to say when I go to the door. And I almost know what they're going to say. They don't bother me. If a couple Mormons come by, it doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother me. Why? I have my feet firmly established. And you see, the thing about it is this. I'm not a preacher because basically I chose to be. By trade I'm an electrician. And when I worked at the electrical trade, my joy was to preach the gospel. I just worked at the electrical trade to pay expenses. Really, that's the truth. Every day I try to have a Bible reading on the job where I was. Try to get people interested in the Word of God. Eleven, this is the only thing that satisfies the heart. The Lord is coming. Now Peter says, what is your attitude toward the scriptures? The prophetic word. Well, we do well to take heed. We do well to pay attention to it. In what respect? He says, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. Or as another translation has it, as a lamp shining in a dark place. This portrays the activity, the function of the prophetic word. It is a function of God's prophetic lamp to give enlightenment to those surrounded by moral and spiritual darkness. And you and I on every hand today were surrounded by moral darkness, by spiritual darkness. Now shining... pictures this Old Testament prophetic lamp. It was turned on in the Old Testament days and it's still shedding its light on the future. Think of those great passages. I'm thinking right now of Isaiah sixty-five and sixty-six. Verini talks about the coming millennium and the new heaven and the new earth. And what blessings are there pictured in Isaiah sixty-five and sixty-six? And I think of Isaiah thirty-five. My, the blessings of the millennial age. What the light it turns on. Now, he says, You do well as unto a light that shines in a dark place. Dark. Here it means dry and parched. And a person who knows not the Lord is really dry and parched. They have no water of life to offer anybody else. But it also is translated murky and dirty. And you know what light does to dirt. It exposes it. This is a good way of expressing the house of heresy that is exposed in chapter two. It's in this house of heresy that believers are compelled to live their life. As a believer, I am living in this current age, physically. And so are you. And this current age is dark. This current age is sinful. This current age is a household of heresy. There are more heresies abound today than at any time today. in the whole era of the Christian church. Now, it doesn't matter how high this world's civilization rises. It doesn't matter how high it rises because it has a willful alienation from God. And God is described in First John chapter one as light. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. This world, regardless of how high a civilization may rise, it still lies in darkness, it lies in the lap of the evil one, it lies in ignorance, it lies in despair, and it lies in death. For the world lieth in the lap of the wicked one. So we read in the closing verse of the first epistle of John. Now, let's talk about the replacement of the prophetic lamp. Is a prophetic lamp going to be replaced? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. For notice what it says. Ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your heart. Until the day dawn and the morning star arises in your heart. Well, that's the thought there. That word until... until it indicates that believers are now in that time waiting until prophecy when it's fulfilled passes away that's exactly what we read in that great love chapter first corinthians chapter thirteen and verse eight whether there will be prophecies they shall pass away they'll be fulfilled now here's an expression the day It serves to characterize the time. The time he's speaking of is the day, and it's compared to the night. We're children of the day. We read in First Thessalonians chapter five. In other words, what Peter is looking for, according to this passage, is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in glory. And this passage speaks of the first signs of the coming. of that glorious day. What is the sign? The morning star. The morning star. What does the morning star do? You see, the morning star shines brightly. It's usually Mercury, Venus, or Mars, or Saturn or Jupiter. One of the planets. As the sun is reflected from it before The sun comes over the horizon. The day star arrives in your heart. There's a day coming. It heralds. The morning star heralds the coming day. And beloved, when our Lord returns for His people, He says in Revelation chapter twenty, I am the bright and the morning star. My coming is going to herald the coming day. It's going to herald that day. The morning star means bearing or giving light. It heralds the dawn. Oh, what a day that's going to be when our Lord returns in glory. But now notice. There's something here that thrills my soul. It says, And the day star arise where? In your heart. The day star arise in your heart. How can the day star arise in your hearts? Our Lord says, I am the root and the offspring of David. In the closing verses of Revelation, I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and the morning star. How can the day star arise in your hearts? You see, I believe this has reference to that inner attitude of those who await the glorious day of Christ's return. It is like the morning star. It's giving assurance that the day is surely coming. I like to call this something. I like to call it realized eschatology. Eschatology is just a big word. that scholars use and demean the doctrine of end things, the doctrine of the coming of the Lord. Realized eschatology is the fact that right now we can have the joy of the coming of the Lord in our hearts while we await His appearing. If it isn't in our hearts now, and that is what the hope of the child of God is, Romans chapter eight says, we're saved, I hope. Now that doesn't mean that if somebody says to you, are you saved, you say, I hope so. He's not talking about the salvation of the soul. What he's talking about is that earnest expectation that he's given to the child of God in that passage. That earnest expectation for the realization of our adoption of sons that awaits the coming of the Lord. and it has a saving feature for us now. The day star arising in our hearts. John put it like this in his first epistle about the third verse. Every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Now, those who disregard prophecies, those who don't bother to Talk about the coming of the Lord and think about the coming of the Lord and rejoice in the coming of the Lord. They will never understand the significance of these delights of that coming day that should quicken our inner appetite and cause our heart to be merry in the presence of God. A merry heart, the scripture says, do as good as a medicine. And I tell you, the thought of the coming of the Lord thrills my soul. He's coming. And not basically just to get me out of any mess that I might be in. A lot of Christians, when the pressures of life weigh in, oh, I just wish the Lord would come and take me out of this mess. Well, now that's great. But you see, he will get far more glory if he sees me through it. And it's not an escape mechanism. It is rather a mindset that they light in the glory of God, no matter what the circumstances are. The three Hebrew children when they face Nebuchadnezzar and the fiery furnace. You see, they told the king, our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace. What if He doesn't deliver if that's all right with us? Now He didn't deliver them from the fire. He delivered them through the fire. And God got far more glory than He would have ever gotten had He delivered them from it. And we're living in an age when everybody tells you, on TV especially, these health, wealthy and wise preachers, that you shouldn't have any problems you shouldn't be sick if you're if you're sick of sin and you go down the list and they disregard the word of God we do well to take the lamp of prophecy and consider it for what it says now that brings us to the origin of the prophetic word in verse twenty and verse twenty one the origin of the prophetic words. There are more battles being fought in Christianity today over this thought, the origin of the prophetic words. Are the Holy Scriptures inerrant? And you know that in the Southern Baptist Convention, for instance, this is a real battlefield year after year. whenever the convention meets for the past number of years. Notice what Peter says. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. Now you and I as believers are called upon to know certain things. We are called upon to realize that which is both negative and positive about the prophetic Scripture. Negative first. He says no scripture or prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. Prophetic predictions should not be interpreted in isolation of other scriptures. You don't pick one scripture out of context and make a doctrine over it. You don't build a doctrine on a type, for instance. No prophecy of Scripture is a private interpretation. Now, Peter declared that Old Testament prophecy was a shining lamp. That means it was given in order that it could be understood. And therefore, New Testament prophecy is given unto us in order that it can be understood. Now, I'm also aware. that we understand the prophetic scriptures far better from hindsight than we do from foresight. No question about that. But that doesn't mean that it couldn't be understood by foresight. For Anna, you remember, who came into the temple when our Lord Jesus was presented by Mary and Joseph, she spoke to all those who looked for redemption in Israel. She knew from Scripture That older lady knew, who was a widow over eighty years of age, she knew from Scripture that the redemption of Israel was there and was coming. The prophetic lamp was burning brightly and show it should be with us. Now that Christ has come in His first advent and we're given insight into the meaning of the Old Testament scriptures, the second advent of Christ should cause the lamp of prophetic scripture to burn all the more brightly for us. It should be far more exciting to us than ever. Now, this is not the easiest text to work on. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. I believe the new international version is a little better. It says, no prophecy of scripture comes from the prophet's own interpretation. I like that. No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet's own interpretation. In other words, the prophet was also called a seer, you see. And Jeremiah says, Woe unto them who prophesy and haven't seen anything. You see, the prophet was a seer. In other words, the prophecies that these men gave, they were not the prophet's own solution to the scenes that confronted his mind. They were not his own solution. Oh, no. Calvin, I like Calvin's remark on this. He says this, the prophets did not blab their inventions of their own accord or according to their own judgments. I tell you, Calvin hits a nail on the head. The prophets did not blab their inventions of their own accord or according to their own judgments. Now this is what the false prophets did. This is what they were doing in the days of Jeremiah. And this is what the false prophets were doing in II Peter chapter two in the next chapter that we're going to be getting to. You see, in other words, what this text is saying is that the prophetic lamp was neither fashioned nor lighted by the Prophet himself. The Prophet didn't fashion the prophetic lamp, neither did he light it. In other words, what he's emphasizing here is the divine origin of the prophetic lamp. It offers a distinct and a powerful motive for taking heed to the prophetic word. Where does it originate? It originates with God. This is God's message for his people. That's the negative side. Now let's look at the positive side. And even in the positive side, the positive side emphasizes or is emphasized by a negative. Now notice, you have the negative in verse twenty, but in verse twenty one, for the prophecy cannot. Here's a, that's a negative. It didn't come. in old time by the will of man. But now holy men of God spake as they were borne along by the Holy Spirit. This can be better translated for no prophecy was ever made by an act of the human will. Unlike Rutherham's translation, he says, For not by will of man was prophecy brought in at any time. But as the Holy Spirit they were born along spake men from God. He comes very close to the original translation word for word out of the Greek text. Now it was the Holy Spirit not human volition. That is the originating power in prophecy. This is one of the greatest texts for the inspiration of Scripture. This book we possess in the original autograph was given by divine inspiration. Holy men of God spake as they were born along. As I mentioned previously, those words born along is a maritime metaphor. The prophets raised their sails, the Holy Spirit filled them. They were carried along like a ship is carried along in the water. The last word in the original Greek is the word men. Men spake as they were born along. Men spoke from God. And that expression reveals a human agent. That human agents were involved in the delivery of the prophetic message. God uses men. He uses men. And we have a book that is both human and divine. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. What Peter does here, he recognizes both the human element and the divine element in the production of inspired scripture. When we talk about the human element, the personalities of the prophets predicted the very result that God desired. God uses human personality. Jeremiah's personality was different from Ezekiel's. Ezekiel's was certainly different from Hosea's. And the human personality enters into it. Just as every preacher of the word presents his own human personality. We're all different. and the moment we try to be like somebody else we're going to be in trouble and God chose whom he would as a human agency just in the writing of the New Testament who could have written better than Paul the beloved apostle the great epistle to the Romans and the Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians and of course when you come to Peter the Peter's epistles are different. And Peter, when he studied Paul's epistles, when you come to the end of the second epistle, he wrote about Paul. He said, Paul has written things which are hard to understand, which they that are ungodly rest. In other words, that word rest means twist to their own destruction. You don't play blacksmith with the Scriptures. twisting and bending done here. You don't rest the scriptures. You don't twist them in order that they fit your theology. You see, beloved, when we come to the Holy Scriptures, the prophets were not simply tools, but rather there's a human element for each prophet showed his style of language. in which he uttered his prophecies and he showed his own mental peculiarities. They're there. The prophets were treated as living men, not lifeless tools. What do we do with this? We have a divine book. We do well that we pay attention to it. It is the light that shines in a dark place. I would have loved to be with Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration. I don't know of an experience that anyone ever had except probably Paul being caught up to the third heaven that we read about in second Corinthians twelve that surpasses what Peter, James and John enjoyed. But Peter says we have a more sure word of prophecy. We have something more sure. The word of God cannot be broken. And our Lord taught that in John chapter ten. When he used the expression, when they said to him, How long does thou make us to doubt? There in John ten about verse twenty three. When the Pharisees and the scribes came to the Lord, they said, How long do you make us to doubt? They tried to blame God for their unbelief and for their disobedience. and for none acceptance of him and his revelation. That is always the way in which the human heart is. How long do you make me doubt? He was there in their presence. He had been doing all his wonderful works, and they just didn't believe. And in the argument that ensued, our Lord said, I said, you are gods. and if he called them gods to whom the word of the Lord came and the scripture cannot be broken. And when you study that ABC Psalm that is there quoted, he's talking about human judges. He said, ye are gods. But the next verse says, ye shall die like men. Because while they lived like gods, dispensing judgment over men, the psalmist said you'll die like men and the scripture cannot be broken so we have a book that is divinely inspired it is authoritative and beloved we can rest with assurance upon it it declares the mind of God oh that we would do well for it's a light it is the only light that shines in this dark world And beloved, if we have nothing to give to men, but the gospel, then we give them the best. In fact, the gospel is the only thing that will ever save anybody. A man can quit drinking and go to hell. A man can stop committing adultery and go to hell. Our job is to proclaim the gospel. The gospel that transforms from the inside out. It delivers from the power of darkness. It translates into the kingdom of his dear Father. Let's pray together. Our Father, we praise you tonight for the privilege of being together and rejoicing in the burning lamp of divine prophecy that you've given to us. We thank you for him who is the bright and the morning star, thy beloved Son, who is the object of our hope, that blessed hope. And we thank you for the glorious prospect that he who shall come will come and will not tarry. We give you thanks in the Savior's name. Amen.