Gooding, David: 4 - We Have Found The Messiah

Continuing in our studies in, uh, 2nd Peter. Mr. Ford began so excellently yesterday, and, um, I suggest that today we concentrate largely on the first epistle, though, um, uh, necessarily we shall also be thinking about some things in the second epistle. What I have suggested to remember is that we look today, first of all, for, uh, references and allusions in the two epistles to Peter's own experience of Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The idea behind it eventually will be, of course, to see how Peter himself, being taught by Christ, in turn passes on his experience to us. Uh, Alan has kindly volunteered, uh, to start then. He's going to, uh, tell us, uh, those allusions in the epistles that he finds that are, uh, as he thinks, uh, most important, uh, and it's open to him to say anything he likes at all, of course. If you think afterwards he has left some out that ought to be said, well, it will be open for you to say. But, uh, forthwith then we'll ask Alan to come up and point out to us the illusions in the two epistles to Peter's own experience of Christ. Um, well, there is a lot in the, in the first epistle about suffering and, um, our attitude towards it. And it seems that Peter has learned a lesson through what he suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and at the crucifixion of Christ and afterwards. There's a, there's a great contrast in the Gospels between Peter's attitude and Christ's attitude to suffering, between Peter's attitude, um, to those who do wrong to him and Christ's attitude towards those who do wrong to him. And it seems that Peter, in the letter, has changed his at- his attitude to Christ. And there's also a strong contrast in the gospel between the failure of humanity, the failure of the best in humanity in Peter, and the success of Christ as a human. And again, how are we going, going to overcome this, the failure of humanity? Well, again, it seems to be that Christ taught Peter, and now Peter is teaching us in this letter. Um, to start off with, in verse two, we've got the chosen and destined by God, and again in, um, chapter two, verse nine, Um, again, I think this must reflect Peter's own experience of Christ had chosen him and appointed him to go out and bear fruit. John fifteen and seventeen. We had Peter called by Christ to follow him at the beginning. We have the renewal of his call in John twenty one um after the resurrection. If we went on a bit, we go to who by God's power are guarded through faith. Again, I think this must have been very strong for Peter. I mean, first of all, um, when he got out of the boat and had a trip on the water, I mean, there he was, and his failure there. He was guarded by God's power through Christ. And again, this is, comes about in the crucifixion when Peter denies Christ. Again, he's guarded by God's power through faith. And he also learns a lesson there. Um, he loses faith in himself to have faith in God. Um, you know, so that the genuineness of your faith more precious than gold, and so on. Um, he learns that these trials have made, made him know himself. He says to Christ in John chapter twenty one, you know me, you can see into my heart, you know what I'm like, you, you can see to the very depths of me. Um, and so his faith in Christ has been improved from what it was before, when he was so self-confident, and he thought he knew better than Christ how to protect Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. He thought he knew better than Christ how Christ should do his work. Um, there is another illusion in ten following, one ten following, that, uh, Christ opened the scriptures to them after their resurrection to show himself in the scriptures, which they couldn't see beforehand, as in, uh, when they go to the tomb, they didn't know the scripture that Christ should rise from the dead, yet Christ opened their, opened their understanding afterwards so that they would. Having purified your souls, your obedience to the truth, for in sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart, One twenty two. Um, again, I think that's Peter realizing, uh, that as he was, he couldn't love Christ properly, that he had to be born again to have sincere love of the brethren, to love earnestly from the heart. He had to be born again and receive the Spirit of God. Uh, we already had this bit about the living stone, chapter two. Um, chapter two, verse fifteen: for it is God's will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. That's, I think that comes most in the trial of Christ, where Peter would have pulled out the sword and he would have put the ignorant, put, uh, silence the ignorance of foolish men with his sword, yet Christ didn't, and I think Peter's learned his lesson here. And, um, again in verse 19, chapter two, verse twenty one, He remembered how Christ had endured his suffering, verse twenty two following. He remembered how he had endured the suffering, and Peter's learned his lesson, and passing it on to us. Again, in verse fourteen of chapter three, verse fifteen, verse seventeen, um, Christ said to Peter, shall I not take the cup which the Father has given me? He was suffering according to God's will. It wasn't a suffering, uh, for suffering's sake. There's no credit if you just suffer. But he was suffering according to God's will. If one is mindful of God and suffer, then you're, you know, you have credit. Um, verse 2, chapter four, so as to live no longer by human passions, but by the will of God. Again, think the Garden of Gethsemane, where Peter's living by his own passions, Christ is living by the will of God. Again. Again, four twelve following, all that section there where Christ was reproached because he revealed God, yet Peter was a coward and a liar. Yes, again, this great contrast between Peter and Christ. Uh, we already talked about, um, five one following when Peter is con- reconsecrated as a shepherd. Um... yesterday. Be sober, be watchful, Five verse eight, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And I think Peter knew very much about that. Uh, Christ said to him, the devil is seeking to sift you like wheat. Um, well, he knew all what that was about. Um, if you go on to the second letter, one verse three, His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, and so on, all the way down. Again, I think you can refer back to his trip on the water, um, Garden of Gethsemane and so on, to realize that Peter knew he needed the divine power of God to live a life and a godly life. And go to verse nine: for whoever lacks these things is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Um, I wonder if that refers to the foot washing incident, when Peter had forgotten, I think, that he had been cleansed from all his old sins, and he didn't realize that, um, Christ continually is reconsecrating us for this, in this life. He's continually our servant, helping us to live a godly life. Um, we've got the obvious reference to the glorification of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration in two sixteen following. And he says, um, you will do well to pay attention to this, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Um, well, I suppose that refers again back to Peter's problems and, um, how perhaps the Mount of, the memory of the Mount of Transfiguration helped pull him through. Uh, two verse nine, the Lord God, the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial. Well, he experienced that as well. Then you've got Balaam, son of Phiel, in verse fifteen, who loved gain from one wrong- wrongdoing but was rebuked for his own transgression. A dumb ass spoke with a human voice. Remind me of the corporal which spoke and reminded Peter of his transgression. Um. I think that's about all I've got to say. Thank you very much indeed. Just let's go over them then, because they are important, um, and uh, then if any of you else, uh, have any to add, let's hear. There is the great question of suffering then, to start with, burned in upon Peter's mind, particularly on his experiences in the Garden of Gethsemane and his denial of the Lord, eh, in the high priest's court. Um, Peter's failure in contrast to Christ. Uh, then the matter of his choice, he's been chosen, he's been elected, if you like, by the Lord, reflecting itself in the terms he uses of Christian. The references to our Lord's power and his experience of that power. Uh, his experience, for instance, on the sea when in his own failure he discovered the power of Christ, and again in his restoration after his denial. And the matter of his faith, did not our Lord say, I have prayed for you that your faith fail not? His, um, open to understanding, to understand the scriptures. That very absent reference to the Gospel of John, that they came to the tomb, that they saw and saw the evidence of the clothes, but they did not know the scripture. Remarkable feature, that, isn't it, that as soon as the Acts of the Apostles opens, you get Peter quoting scriptures in the Old Testament and giving them their significance right, left, and center, whereas before they had been so dim about scripture. Mm. Memorable thing for them after the resurrection, Christ's, uh, un- opening their understanding to understand scripture. The, uh, love of the brethren, proceeding, as chapter one says, then from our new birth, it's not just being, uh, socially with it, uh, some merely ethical understanding of the brotherhood of man, so-called. Jews weren't very much given to that notion of the brotherhood of man. They didn't think much of Gentiles in particular. Uh, uh, uh, loving one another was not just some, uh, moral aim they had. It sprang from their experience of the new birth. We shouldn't forget it in our discussions of apartheid. Uh, then the, uh, idea that Ammon only referred to briefly because it was mentioned yesterday at some length. The question of the living stone, when Peter came himself to Christ, was made into a living stone. He says here, you also coming, chapter two, you also as living stones are built up. Go back to the garden again. Um, Peter's attempt to resist suffering, uh, gives point, doesn't it, to chapter four, verse one: Arm yourselves. Wow. The only thing for which Christ had rebuked him. Here are two swords, they said. Peter proceeded to use one to avoid suffering. Arm yourselves now, not with swords to cut other people's ear off or heads off, as the occasion demanded, but, um, uh, with the intention and willingness to suffer. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The point I too would regard as very important, this matter, uh, in relation to suffering of the will of God. Chapter three verse seventeen. If the will of God should so will. Going back shortly, uh, to the experience in the garden, Peter has said, if it is necessary that I suffer. Christ didn't say if it's necessary, I'm prepared. He said, uh, nevertheless, not my will, the matter of the, uh, shepherd, uh, Peter's commission to be a shepherd, and again, Mr. Ford dealt with that at great length last night, didn't he? The adversary, Satan, coming as a roaring lion, well, again, Satan has, uh, demanded to have you. It was very much as a lion that, uh, Satan came after Peter, wasn't it? He came through that, uh, uh, uh, little girl in the court, and then the other people standing around, it was fear of suffering that frightened Peter. It was a lie, rather than the angel of light. The matter of cleansing then, cleansing from your old sins. Yes, and perhaps in chapter five, in that early bit there, when he's talking about being girded with humility, there might be, mightn't there have, we can't be sure, of course, there might well be a, uh, a memory there of our Lord rising from supper and girding himself with a towel to, to, to wash his disciples' feet. Gird yourselves with humility. Mm-hmm. The Transfiguration, obviously, i- i- in, uh, uh, the second epistle, the deliverance from trial, and Peter's experience of of of cockerel, if you like, yes. I so thank you very, very much, Aaron. Uh, anybody now else bursting with um uh uh uh other suggestions that you you would like to contribute? I've just got one, um, in chapter, in first letter, chapter two, verse thirteen, uh, being subject to human institutions, Mm. maybe a reference to, um, uh, when Christ asked him to show an penny in Caesar's inscription, rendered to God, rendered to Caesar, in Matthew thirty two. Yes, I see, yes. Paying your taxes, in other words, being subject, yes. Yes, um, uh, that could be a very important thing, couldn't it? Because if you think of the atmosphere in Palestine at the time of our Lord, among the crowds in particular, they were in for, they hoped for a revolution, a la Maccabees. After all, the Romans were wicked, weren't they? And they were totalitarian. And the Old Testament said the Jews were God's people. The Romans supported slavery. And the Zealot said that you should have a revolution and turn out these Romans, establish the rule of God. And Christ said, oh no, you don't. You render to Caesar. It was, of course, one of the things that lost Christ a tremendous amount of popularity. The crowds from Galilee would have followed him eagerly and willingly. It was the thing that Caiaphas was afraid that Christ was going to do. It was the great charge they made, uh, uh, against Christ in his trial before the, the governor. This man preaches revolution. But it was a lie. It was the very thing that, after Christ's death and resurrection, eventually, uh, led the Jewish nation into revolt against the Romans in AD sixty six, when the Zealot faction forced the hand of the government and compelled the Jewish leaders, I mean, the Sanhedrin and whatnot, and Jewish seekers among them, uh, forced their hand and drove them into this suicidal revolution, bringing upon them those terrible, uh, uh, anguishes that our Lord himself had prophesied. This matter then of relation to the powers that be isn't merely a something that Peter thought up out of his own head, a something that does go back to our Lord's own teaching on the subject. It is not irrelevant for our modern condition. Mm-hmm. Anybody else got a... Well then, if you have no more suggestions, let's, um, uh, uh, now put that as tidily as we may, shall we? Go over those, some of those references, uh, uh, and put the main ones into some kind of order and framework. I don't intend to talk about them all this morning, or, uh, uh, all at all. Uh, I want to pick out certain ones of them. Um, but let's um, uh, put them in some kind of uh, of order so that we can more easily uh, remember them. Uh, let's group together the ones that are concerned with Peter's conversion. May help us to see what, according to Peter, conversion involves. There There is is the reference then in chapter, uh, uh, 2, um, to whom coming as unto a living stone, you also are built up as living stones. Peter's concept of the church. Historically, an exceedingly important thing. Peter's concept of the church goes back, perhaps it's been an idea, would it, to actually to read, uh, the account in the gospel, uh, where this is recorded. This is Gospel of John and chapter one. Verses thirty five to forty two. Two disciples of John turned and followed Jesus, says verse thirty seven. And Jesus turned and beheld them following and saith unto them, What seek you? And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted master, where dwellest thou? Where do you dwell? He said, Come and see. And they abode with him. They saw where he abode, and they abode with him that day. And it was about the tenth hour. One of the two that heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found Messiah, which is being interpreted Christ. He brought him unto Jesus. Jesus looked upon him and said, Thou art Simon, the son of John. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone, uh, Peter. I would like to suggest to you that when John records this incident, he sees more in it than the curiosity of two disciples to know Christ's address. What street do you live in? So we might write to you on occasions or something of the sort. Master, where do you dwell? They wanted to come and stay with him, as a disciple would in those days around his master, that he might learn, and master and pupil form a fellowship. And they came and saw where he dwelt, and as Peter was introduced to this circle, notice he wasn't first. As he was introduced to this circle, Christ said, well, you are Simon, you shall be a stone. This surely that is behind Peter's concept of the church, as he writes in his epistle in chapter two. what is this spiritual house, and how is it formed? What is the church? Well, the church is in the first place a- a- a- and this is exceedingly important, in the first place. The church is composed of people who have personally come to Christ, Christ being the living stone and the chief cornerstone. And they have personally come to Christ, and they keep on coming to Christ. And they have an identical experience as Peter had. He came and was transformed by the regenerating power of Christ into a living stone. So we come as individuals and are transformed, made into living stone. That is the church. Do notice, shall we, that that is where it started. Uh, organization is a subsequent thing and always secondary to the spiritual, vital, living experience of Christ. All that and on. Peter's experience of conversion. Uh, if you care to look in in chap- in the second epistle. And verse three: His divine power has granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us, and I think the authorized version says to his glory or an uh uh uh or something, uh, it should be called us by his own glory and virtue. The dative case in the Greek, much more naturally understood as an instrumental dative, he has called us by his glory and virtue. Peter's conversion. One, by dint of the wonder of Christ's character, the glory he saw in Christ as he lived with him and walked with him and came to know him. Or you can quote to me, and quite rightly quote to me, his experience, uh, on the lake when he had that overwhelming sense of the conviction of sin and was forgiven and commissioned. There is also this positive side. He was won by the wonder of the person and character of Christ. But look, if you will, in i- i- i- to verse 1 of uh of the second epistle, uh, chapter one, verse one. Simon Peter. Um, interesting that he uses both his names. Simon was the name he was given at his ordinary birth. Peter, the name given him by Christ, not merely as an affectionate nickname or something, but given him that second name to sum up his spiritual experience, Christ was going to transform him, make him something that he wasn't before. Thou shalt be called Cephas. You'll see. That, of course, has, uh, grew into a habit, didn't it, down the centuries, and people are given nowadays Christian names. Um, hmm. Uh, it used to be, you see, that, uh, before you were an impossible heathen, a Nebuchadnezzar or something, uh, um, uh, a Mahashelateshba or whatever you like. And, and then when you got converted, as a public indication thereof, you took another name, you took a Christian name. Of course, it's a hollow unreality now with most folks, isn't it, what? In these days, uh, our Lord's giving Peter a- a- another name is indicative of a real, profound, fundamental experience, which made him something that he wasn't before. And he refers to it, of course, as he writes his second letter, and we shall see more about that on Monday. Um, he talks about having the divine nature. Doesn't he, verse four, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature. This is normal, this is, uh, general, eh, eh, anybody that's a genuine Christian goes through this experience. He starts off life as George or Tom or Mary or something, or Josephine. What I was by nature. Conversion is this experience of Christ in which we receive a new nature. We become children of God, and with the life of God there comes, of course, the nature of God. Righty ho. Uh, now to come back to something that again is i- i- i- is basic, um, shall we look in the First Epistle to the, um, references to the soul? They are important. Chapter one and verse, uh, nine: Receiving the end of your faithes in the salvation of your souls. Uh, chapter one verse twenty two, Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience unto, uh, uh, uh, your obedience to the truth and to unfeigned love of the brethren. Chapter two verse eleven, that we are to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Verse twenty five of that chapter, for you were going astray like sheep, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. And in chapter four and verse nineteen: wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God commit their, whether you translate it lives or souls here, um, it is the same word. Now that is significant. Uh, um, you may test that by reading throughout through all the epistles of Paul, finding out where Paul talks about the salvation of the soul. Doesn't, of course. Why is that? It's Peter, the man that talks to us about the salvation of the soul, not Paul. Oh, Paul believes in salvation, but he just doesn't use this term to describe it. And why does Peter use it? Uh, well, let's look back, say, any way you like, to Matthew, for instance, in chapter, um, uh, seventeen. sixteen. Which our Lord announced to his disciples that he was going to suffer. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him. And, uh, our Lord turned and rebuked Peter. And here is one more reference. Your adversary the devil walketh around. He does indeed. And in rebuking Peter, our Lord said, get thee behind me, Satan. You don't mind the things of God, you mind the things of men. Verse twenty four, then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whosoever would save his, save his, um... What is it he saves? Well, it's the same word as Peter is talking about in his epistle, isn't it? Salvation of your souke, your soul, your life. Anyone would save his life, his soul, um, he shall lose it. And whosoever shall lose his soul, life, or however you translate it, uh, uh, the same shall, uh, save it. For my sake shall find it. For what shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose or forfeit his own, um, suitcase? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his, um, suitcase? Of course, this is the background to what Peter has to say. This was an occasion which would have burned itself in to Peter's mind. His generous wanting to save the Lord from suffering and that stunning rebuke. He realized he had been the very tool of Satan, with an attitude right contrary to the, the will of God. He would have remembered the words that followed that, burned indelibly into his memory, and it was all about the salvation of the soul. Ah. Ah. And just let's notice as we pass that a few days after that, to help the lesson sink in, our Lord took them up the mountain of transfiguration, didn't he? As Alan was pointing out, the transfiguration finds her, her explicit mention in the second epistle. I don't want to say any more about that immediately now, just, uh, let's try and complete very quickly the others and put them into some order. There is then this matter of conversion and what it means. Matter of being turned into a living stone, matter of receiving a new nature, a matter of being, uh, called and attracted by the person and character of Christ, and this whole matter, this tremendous basic decision, what we are going to do with our lives or our souls, call them what you will, and what it means to lose and save your soul. But on that same occasion, uh, uh, and we can pass over now to thinking of, uh, Peter's appreciation of Christ. On that same occasion in Matthew sixteen, our Lord had begun the conversation by telling the disciples that he must go away, suffer many things, uh, uh, uh, of the chief priests and scribes and be killed, and the third day, uh, rise again. If you take some of the other gospel, uh, uh, accounts of this occasion, um, you will find that our Lord prophesies. For instance, if you take Luke chapter nine and verse twenty two, nine verse twenty two of Luke prophesies that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. Not just a question of, um, suffering, but he must be rejected. The word means that they examined his claims and came to the conclusion that his claims were spurious. They listened to his preaching, they disapproved of his preaching, they disapproved of him. He didn't pass their tests. Therefore, they rejected him as unworthy, as worthless, as spurious. It was their estimate of Christ. They rejected him. It wasn't merely that, like a lot of thugs, they took up stones to stone him, a rabble mob unthinkingly and, uh, expressing their prejudice. The word rather means that they did examine his claims, as a man would examine a piece of metal that claims to be gold, but they decided that it wasn't up to standard, it wasn't the real thing, it wasn't genuine. They disapproved of him, they rejected him. And there, i- in that verse, um, uh, uh twenty two of Luke chapter nine, our Lord uses the word that Peter quotes in his first epistle in chapter two, to whom coming as unto a living stone, rejected of men. Once more, this whole thing would have burned itself on it, on his mind, wouldn't it? I think he had objected to that, uh, the Messiah should be rejected. Mm. Um, but with God elect precious, he says, which doubtless is a reference, surely, uh, uh, uh, to the incident later on when our Lord was having argument with the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jerusalem, he told a parable about the keepers of the vineyard, and, uh, he said, this is the stone, gentlemen, that was set at naught of the builders. Have you never read that? According to Matthew, so our Lord said. The stone set at naught of the builders, gentlemen. You fall on that stone, it will grind you to powder. No, sorry, if you trip on that stone, it will break you. If it falls on you, it will grind you to powder. And Peter was standing by listening. It's a stone then rejected of men, but chosen of God and precious. It's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. These are echoes of Peter's own experience, appreciation of Christ. There was a famous another occasion, wasn't it, if we're thinking about Christ. Matthew records it in his chapter, um, uh, 17. I'm sorry that, uh, my sermonizing on the bit I want to sermonize about is going to be very short, after looks at that clock. Never mind. Perhaps I'm doing you a better service by, um, uh, suggesting to you lines of investigation. The sermons you make up will be better than mine could possibly be. Ah. There was a famous occasion, Matthew records it in chapter seventeen, verses twenty four, twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven. They that received the half shekel came to Peter and said, they said, do you know, Peter, does not your master pay tribute? And he said, oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, but he does. Typically Peter, you know, saying things without thinking, uh, saying the obvious that isn't true. Uh, and our Lord, of course, gently rebuked him when he came into the house. Why so? Well, think what the tribute was. This was the half shekel temple tax instituted by Moses, the man of God, Exodus chapter thirty. It was the half shekel that everybody had to pay for the ransom of his soul. All right. When you hold a census, said Moses, then everybody that passes through the census must give each man a half shekel as a ransom for his soul. Life is forfeit because of sin. Life must be redeemed. They came to Peter and they said, doesn't your master pay this ransom money? Oh yes, he said, yes, yes, yes. He did. He learned better, didn't he? His first epistle, chapter one. We weren't redeemed with practical things like silver. That's getting nowhere near it, isn't it? This is the ransom money. We're not redeemed with silver. The Jews were. We are redeemed with the blood of Christ. Oh, but now notice the description of Christ. He's a lamb without blemish and without spot. He never had to be redeemed, you know. There was no sin in him. I traveled over from Belfast to London on a plane with a dear friend of mine, an acquaintance of mine anyway, who was a theological student. He was rehearsing in my ears the theory put across by his learned theological professor, really, by the claim of being evangelical, that Christ, when he came down to earth, took on our fallen humanity and sanctified it from the inside out. That the atonement began from his very birth, as he took on our fallen sinful humanity himself, and from the inside, so to speak, began the work of atonement. Wow. So he was a sinner himself to start with. How comes it that a sinner manages to atone for other sinners? No, no, he didn't pay the temple tax. At least he, he, he had no, they had no claim on him. He, he, his life was not forfeit, he was not sinful. He was a lamb without blemish and without spot. That is why he could give himself a ransom for all. Then, as Ammon, uh, pointed out, the reference to the, um, uh, transfiguration in, uh, uh, the second epistle. Let's just notice, uh, verse sixteen, chapter one and verse sixteen. Peter's twin emphasis on the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, well, the sufferings of Christ, rejected of men, now his atoning death, now his coming, eh, eh, and notice how Peter describes it. Uh, Two uh, Peter Peter one verse sixteen: we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming. Now that is very interesting. He goes on to quote the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. If you care just to flick over the pages to the Gospel of Mark, behind which the pundits tell us stands Peter himself, if you turn over to Mark's description, it's Mark chapter nine. According to Mark, the Transfiguration was a demonstration of what? Well, let's look. Mark chapter nine verse one. and he said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, there be some here of them that stand by, which shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come, come with power. So after six days, Jesus takes them, Peter, James, and John, brings them to a high mountain. He was transfigured before them, and his garments became blistering, exceeding white, so as no laundry man on earth has the power to. Yeah? I know. When they came down from the mountain, uh, they met this man, and uh, his boy was demon-possessed, and the disciples hadn't been able to cast out the demon. And the man said to Christ, verse twenty two, but if thou hast the power to do anything, have compassion on us and help us, Jesus said unto him. What do you mean, if thou hast the power? It isn't a question whether I have the power or not. All things are within the power of, translating literally, um, the one that believes. According to Mark, what the, uh, Mount of Transfiguration demonstrated was the power of Christ. And then a lesson on the application of that power, the secret of applying that power. What Peter is talking about, is he not? In Second Epistle, reminds you of the, uh, Transfiguration. I, we were not following myths, he said. Uh, with all due respect to certain theologians. Uh, uh, we were not following myths. It doesn't have to be de-pathologized, you know, because it wasn't a myth to start with. Uh, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our, our Lord, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. It's something that you could have seen with your two eyes, and we heard the voice, actually. Yeah. The voice came out of heaven. We heard the voice. It wasn't a myth. But please don't start de-apologizing it. Anyway, the the coming of Christ and his Father. I can go over the others, uh, uh, fairly quickly. There are are the, uh, ideas, and Adam has said them. I don't need to say any more, really. On faith. We've had Peter's conversion, his doctrine of Christ. Our link with Christ is the link of faith. And Peter, uh, comments on this, doesn't he? On the production of faith. What is it that produces faith? Uh, you'll see. Well, it is in, in, in, in the end, it is God that produces the faith, isn't it? And he tells us about that in chapter one, verse twenty and twenty one. m Twenty one in particular. For your sake, who through him are believers in God, which raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God. Faith is not a merit. On the other hand, faith is not just making up your mind you're going to believe. Quite what Barth says. There are some people, are there not, that think that faith is just, well, you make up your mind you're going to believe, see? Evidence or no evidence, you just want to believe. There are some that take it to the absurd length that they will tell you that you don't need any evidence, say, for the resurrection of Christ. Even if his body was still in the tomb, you'll still believe in the resurrection. And then they go to one more step of absurdity and say, if there were any evidence, it wouldn't be faith. Nonsense. Faith is all the stronger when there is no evidence. Well, if faith is believing without evidence, please will you tell me how you decided to believe God rather than the devil? If faith is taking a leap in the dark, you just as easily believe the devil as you would God. What would be the difference? True Christian faith is not a leap in the dark. It is our response to God's self-revelation. We are believers in God. How did it come around, and on what basis did it happen? Well, it's through Christ that you believe in God. And it was done this way, uh, God raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope should be in God. The great happening of the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ that moves and produces and provokes our faith and puts that faith where it ought to be. It's faith, not that if I do this, I'm sure I should be well because I- I- I'm good and I- I'm sure all will be well. I've got great faith in this. Faith by itself is pretty useless if it's in the wrong thing. Faith has got to be in the right person. It's got to be in the right direction. You can have tremendous faith in things that are utterly wrong. Strength of your faith will only lead you into further disaster. That your faith and hope should be in God. And God has staged a vast demonstration to get the direction of our faith right. And the quality of our faith and what it means to believe. Yeah, he raised him from the dead. All this is typically Pauline, isn't it? Paul and Peter didn't disagree, spite of Tübingen School of Philosophy and anybody else. They didn't disagree. Ah ha, they preached the same thing. Listen to Saint Paul. What is faith? Well, it's doing like Abraham did. When God said, Abraham, you shall have a son, he left Abraham till he was virtually dead. And Abraham had the sense to see it. It meant that if Abraham was going to have a son, he must just trust God, full stop. It was like a resurrection from the dead, in which God has to do the lot. It was Peter saying the same thing. Faith is not in myself, in my effort, in my works. Faith is in God, faced with, um, Christ dead on account of my sin. What hope have I of ever getting to heaven, of ever seeing the world to come, of ever being accepted with God? Here is my sin bearer, and he's dead. Let me do my best to wake him up then. The thought would be blasphemous. Faith is utterly and solely in God and what God has done in raising Jesus Christ from the dead, that my faith should be God. That's faith. Not in me or my effort whatsoever. I know. Then the triangle of faith. Our link with Christ, uh, uh, and, and, uh, Alan's made reference to that, uh, chapter one verse seven. It's worth perhaps spending two minutes on it, thinking what it means. Talk here of the purifying of faith. The, uh, simile is used of gold being tried. Um. Wedding rings are not always what wedding rings might be. Some of them are acorn carats, and some of them I haven't got so many carats, so to speak. They're mixtures. And when we start out in Christian life, our faith isn't, uh, necessarily all it could be. It is mixed in with things. Perhaps a little excitement. Perhaps a little group pressure, group psychology. A good deal of secondhand information and experience. We talk about the power of God to keep us, for instance, largely because we read it in books. Yes. Underneath that faith might not be, uh, altogether genuine faith. It might be a little bit of self-love, mightn't it? But, uh, in that general attitude that is me, there is that genuine thing that God himself has produced, genuine faith, and it's now got to be gradually made more and more distinct, and the dross burned out. And the wonderful thing is that in that great process, Christ gives himself to maintain that faith. Gold perishes. It doesn't eat, you see, if you put a lump of gold in the crucible, you'll get less out than you put in. Well, not strictly speaking, you'll get as much pure gold out as the pure gold went in, but you'll get a smaller lump because the dross will have gone. And no goldsmith gets sentimental about it and says, I'm not going to put that gold through this fire because it will shrink. Stuff that's burned out is the valueless stuff. So God will let our faith go through the fire. But the approved part of faith is so valuable that God will never allow it to be smashed. And, uh, Peter remembered the word of the Lord, but I have prayed for thee that thy faith shall not fail. There are some folks, aren't there, that believe that it's possible for a believer to fall where he lost. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said otherwise. He talked about Christ guaranteeing us that we shall be presented before God's throne. Guaranteeing uses the, uh, word that they used on the markets in Greece, of a guarantee. Who shall confirm you to the end, unimpeachable. The word confirm means to guarantee in our modern language. Who shall guarantee you unimpeachable to the end. Yeah. And that is because the link that links a believer with Christ, which is faith, without which faith the man would be lost, that link is guarded by Christ as something infinitely precious. Prayed for Peter, and Peter's courage went, his nerve went, his testimony went, everything else you could think of went, except his faith. And he was restored because Christ paid for him, paid for his faith, and his faith did not fail. That's why Christ stands to intercede for every believer, that our faith shall not fail, however severe the test. Well, attitude is suffering. We've said enough about that. I, I don't want to give any, eh, eh, eh, say anything more about it. We've had many references, uh, uh, uh, Alan there gave us a, a large number. Similarly, I have nothing more to say, uh, about the Shepherd Commission at this juncture. Uh, Alan said that. I have nothing more to say.