God’s Light Shines On in the Darkness

Transcript

GR1961
07/24/2016
God’s Light Shines on in the Darkness
II Peter 1:19-21
Gil Rugh

We are going to 2 Peter in your Bibles, 2 Peter and the first chapter. We will be looking at the closing verses of the first chapter. The truth of God is always the center of the battle. It is always under attack in one way or another. It began that way in the beginning as you are aware when Satan came and confronted Eve in the Garden and raised the question. You note he doesn’t just come with a direct attack and claim that God lies. Just, let’s enter into a conversation. Some conversations you shouldn’t have. So she is drawn into the conversation and tells Satan what God has told her and what is the audacity of Satan? He says, “Oh, that’s not true. You won’t die just from eating of the tree. In fact it is just the opposite. God known you will become like Him and you will know good and evil. That can’t be a bad thing.”

Now as we look at the account it seems, how do you get led astray? It is simple to say, “No, God said don’t do it. So I don’t do it.” You know the subtleness of the devil and holding out something that seems good. Example of how the devil works and it just goes on and on and on because it always focuses on the Word of God because if he can undermine confidence in God’s Word or successfully distort God’s Word as people see it how are they going to be obedient to God, to honor God. So the battle always comes down to the issue of the Word of God.

Come back to Deuteronomy chapter 32. You can leave a marker in Peter but come back to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Moses is preparing for his departure and so he is giving instruction to Israel. He will shortly go up on the mountain and die and the leadership will be passed on to Joshua.

So Moses in verse 45 of Deuteronomy 32; “When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel he said to them, ‘take to your heart all the words which I am warning you today which you shall command your sons to observe carefully; all the words of this law.’” Now note this – “For it is not an idle word for you. Indeed it is your life.” That is always true. Life and death hinge on our response to the Word of God, does it not? Is it not the Word of God which is alive and powerful? It is your life. What a precious treasure.

Israel, you have the Word of God, the Law that had been given to them, submit to it. Live it out. Teach it to your children. As we would say, ‘You have it in black and white’ although they each didn’t have their own copy like we are privileged to have. It is not an idle word. God’s Word is always effective no matter what the response. God’s Word is always effective. It is never an idle word that can be ignored. Indeed it is your life. Shortly Joshua assumes leadership.

Turn over a couple of pages to the book of Joshua and the gracious promise of God to Joshua, the end of verse 5: “I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous.” Verse 7: “Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left that you may have success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth. You shall meditate on it day and night.” It is not enough just to study it, just to be taught it. We ought to be thinking on it, rolling it over in our mind, concerned that we are implementing it in our conduct. “So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. Then you will make your way prosperous. Then you will have success. Have I not commanded you, ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed. The Lord our God is with you wherever you go.’”

Certain principles are true. Jesus promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” The truth of God is still to be that which we hold on to which is to be the guide for our lives.

Turn over to Isaiah chapter 8, just after the Psalms, the next large book the prophecy of Isaiah, Psalms then you have Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes then the book of Isaiah, that large prophetic book. In chapter 8 again God now time goes by, round off a thousand years or so after Moses. We come to Isaiah, a little less than a thousand years but that serves the purpose and what is God doing? He is reminding His people of the sufficiency and adequacy of His Word. Look at verse 19: “When they say to you, consult the mediums and the wizards who whisper and mutter, ‘should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony,’” to what God has spoken. “If they do not speak according to this word it is because they have no dawn.” They have no light. They are speaking out of their darkness.

God has to constantly remind His people that His Word is their sufficiency. You study it you meditate upon it. You build it into your life so if I can say it with the right sense, “It is your automatic response to do what is Biblical.” It is your first reaction because I’m thinking, “What should I do here.” Now there is always a battle going on, the world, the flesh and the devil. That is why you mediate upon it day and night. You want to be careful. Am I being Biblical here? Am I doing what the Word of God says?

Paul had to write to the Galatians centuries later and what does he say? “I am amazed you are so soon deserting Him who called you by His grace for a different gospel which is not just a variation of the Gospel that I preached to you.” You have to say later, “I wonder, did I labor in vain?”

What is so difficult for us, the people of God, that we just keep…. the song writer had it right, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” It is just amazing. Lord You are so gracious, so great, Your provision is to sufficient. Why do I keep stepping off the path? And yet that is why the Word of God has this repetition of constantly reminding and challenging.

Come back to 2 Peter and Peter is aware. He is not aware. He is not telling them anything they don’t already know but as we noted in verse 14 of chapter 1, God has made clear to Peter his death could occur at any time. It is imminent. He does not expect to die a natural death so to speak in old age. God has made clear and so his concern is to remind them, verse 12 and 13 of chapter 1: “I will be always ready to remind you of these things even though you know them.” Because the great danger we as Christians get dulled to the Word of God because we hear it a lot. We read it a lot. I know it.

Many of you know the example. Like our children when you keep telling them and telling them certain things and they say, “I know, I know, I know.” But it is not enough to know. You are concerned as what? Put in the right circumstance they won’t put into practice what they know so we end up telling them, “You know better. Why did you do that?” That is sometimes the way it is with God’s people. We know better.

Now Peter says, “I am going to keep telling you what you already know. You have been established in this truth and I consider it right as long as I still have earthly breath, (physical breath) I am going to keep reminding you.”

And then verse 15: “After I am gone these things will have been pounded into you,” so to speak “that you will recall them to mind.” And the pressure comes, temptation comes, trials come. You will be able to call these things to mind.

Think about it. His readers didn’t have their own copy. We have multiple copies probably sitting around our house. Think about the treasure we have. We take this and we have had it provided for us in these formats where we can take it with us wherever we go. You even now have it on your electronic devices. You put it in your pocket. You can go to any portion. Wow. They had to commit it to memory. They didn’t have a copy of everything for themselves. We have that. We as all people have less excuse. If we think we forgot what God would have us do there we don’t have to try to call it to mind. We can just turn and look. There it is. So this is what he is doing.

He is concerned that false teachers are going to infiltrate. False teachers come under disguises. So they come looking as genuine and so when we get to chapter 2 he will say, “Just like they were false prophets among God’s people in the Old Testament, there will be false teachers among you.” And the false prophets carried the day, humanly speaking. They were so successful by the end of the Old Testament we have a nation that has been totally corrupted and put under the judgment of God. Peter is concerned.

We already see it in the New Testament as what? We just read about Corinth. They are already off track, divisions among you, carnal, reminders, reminders, reminders. We are in a relentless war. So Peter is assuring them of the truth, what he is saying.

Verse 16-18 as an apostle he shared with them his personal experience, what he has taught them regarding Christ is supported by his actual being there. He uses particularly being on what we call the Mount of Transfiguration where they saw, these select disciples, Peter among them Christ transfigured, underwent a metamorphosis where the innate glory that is His was enabled to shine forth and they got a preview of the kingdom if you will, Moses and Elijah appearing there with Christ in His glory and Christ had told them that some among His disciples would have that preview of the kingdom and we went back and looked at that. That confirms the truth of what he has said because Peter is concerned this is connected to the return of Christ.

So the context in which we are dealing is we are living in anticipation of that time when Christ will come and rule and reign in glory and that is a reality. So that helps solidify and stabilize believers. Peter saw a preview and that is a confirmation of his word.

He is also going to offer support in verse 19-21, these closing verses of the prophetic Scriptures and while false teachers infiltrate among the church and they promote lies, they corrupt the truth, the truth of God stands. It is settled and sure.

So he is going to pick up with verse 19: “So we have” (and that word translated you have it in italics but it is there. It is the conjunction ‘ki’ and it just means ‘and.’) “So in addition to my eye-witness account of having seen, a preview of the glory of Christ and the coming kingdom we also have the prophetic Word made sure.”

This all ties back to verse 16: “We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of His majesty” because by the time we get to chapter 3 we see some of the teaching infiltrating among these believers. There is no second coming. Well then we are unsettled. So we didn’t follow the made-up tales and myths of men, remember what he is talking about when we talked to you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus. So the first evidence, we were eye-witnesses of His majesty. We saw something of that glory that majesty that will be His when He comes again and now we have the prophetic Word that assures us of that coming.

Come back to Luke chapter 24 when he refers to the prophetic Word, Luke chapter 24. Look at verse 27. This is of course after the resurrection of Christ and His meeting with His disciples. Verse 25: “He said to them, ‘Oh foolish men, slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken’” because they have heard now that some have said “His body is gone” and some women who visited the tomb said they had a vision of angels. Well Christ says to them, “You should know this from the Old Testament Scriptures. “Oh foolish man and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” You ought to know He had to suffer before He would manifest the glorious kingdom that would be His and then “beginning with Moses and all the prophets He explained to them things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

Down in verse 44: “He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations – beginning from Jerusalem.’”

There is an order to be followed; first the cross and then the crown, the cross and then the glory. Then the cross will happen so that the Gospel can be proclaimed of repentance for forgiveness of sin. That precedes the display of Christ in His glory.

So this is the prophetic word we have back in 2 Peter chapter 1. “Made more sure.” It is confirmed. It is established. As God continues to reveal more of His purposes and plan becomes more clear. Now it was all there in the Old Testament about His suffering and death and His reigning in glory but it wasn’t as clear until there was additional revelation. Now with the coming of Christ, His suffering and death on the cross, His resurrection, and further revelation from God we say, “Well yes, of course, there are two comings. The first coming to suffer and die, the second coming and there is a gap in between when the Gospel will be preached so people can repent and have forgiveness of sins.” And the Old Testament Scriptures are confirmed. They are made more sure. They are substantiated. The additional revelation doesn’t change anything. It clarifies it and it does confirm it. It is more sure as we have the more complete picture and you do well to pay attention; the constant reminder; we as God’s people, pay attention; again, the picture of God’s family, our family. How many times do you have to tell your children, “Pay attention, you better pay attention?”

That is what Peter is saying here. We have the prophetic Word, more sure, confirmed to us with everything that happened, “You do well to pay attention” because there is going to be that subtle leading away often by those we don’t expect it that have infiltrated among the body. That’s where it will carry us with the false teachers when we come into chapter 2. “You do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining place.” That is what the Word of God is, it’s a lamp.

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119, verse 105: “Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path.” You know without the light of God’s Word we are in a world of darkness. We see the opinions and ideas of the world changing all the time. What they said was wrong now is right and what you were supposed to oppose now you are supposed to support. They are living in darkness; they are just groping around but this “Word is a Light shining in a dark place.”

Come over to Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness.” Darkness, they have no knowledge of God, His will. “Against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.”

Come over to I Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 4: “You brethren are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief for you are all sons of light, sons of day, we are not of night or of darkness. Therefore do not let us sleep as others do. Let us be alert and sober. Those who sleep do their sleeping at night. Those who get drunk get drunk at night. We are of the day, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, a helmet, we have the hope of salvation. God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation.” He died for us so that we will live together with Him and encourage one another.

You know sometimes we act like we live in a world of semi-darkness, grayness. The time as we talked about in our earlier study, confusion over the world, the world is in darkness, it is not in grayness. It is in darkness. We are light in darkness because we are children of light, we are children of God.

Come over to I John. That is just past 2 Peter so if you go back to 2 Peter and the next book is I John chapter 1, verse 5: “This is the message we have heard from Him and announced to you, ‘God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth. If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin.’”

Down in chapter 2, verse 8: “I am not writing a new commandment but it is the old commandment. It is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away. The true light is already shining. The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light. He who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” The darkness is that which is apart from God who is Light. We are light. Paul writes in Philippians, “We are lights in the darkness.”

We know we lose our perspective and we begin to identify with people who have certain convictions like ours but they don’t know the Savior. Their gospel is a corrupted gospel. They are children of darkness, not children of light. The tragedy we talk about, we make alliances.

There was a book written several years ago now, Evangelicals and Catholics Together because we will focus on things we can agree on. Both sides agree, we don’t agree on the doctrine of salvation. What are children of Light doing making an alliance with children of darkness on the basis of superficial things? That brings a corrupting influence.

So come back to Peter. “We do well to pay attention to the prophetic Word. That is a Light shining in darkness.” That is true of the Word of God in its entirety. “Until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” Ultimately we are going to where? Verse 16: “We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Then verse 17 and 18 we had a preview of the glory of His coming so now verse 19: “We pay attention to this prophetic Word shining in the darkness until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.”

Come back to Romans 13. We are not going to be able to take time to look at all these verses. Paul writes to the Romans in Romans 13:12 “The night is almost gone. The day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness, put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not as behaving, doing things that characterize the night.”

This is the way we are to live. We are anticipating the coming of the Lord. “The morning star arises in your hearts.” That goes back to Numbers 24:17. We won’t go back there for time but turn over to Revelation chapter 22. Morning star is usually connected with Venus and the way the sun comes up it reflects off of Venus, the planet so it is the first star of the morning. Christ in Revelation chapter 22, verse 16: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the Root and descendant of David, the bright morning Star. And it is when He comes that the fullness of light will come and the establishing of His kingdom.” And you note he says back in Peter, “Rises in your hearts.” Well if He comes it will be personally present, not just in our hearts. But there will be a glorious event.

Turn over to I John, again just back past 2 Peter, I John chapter 3, verse 2: “Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears we will be like Him for we will see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself just as He is pure.” We are the children of God. We are children of light but the glory that will be ours when Christ comes is yet to be revealed, yet to be manifest and so he connects it.

You see, he wants them to not lose their focus on the hope, the anticipation. He will talk more about that as he gets toward the end of the letter and the Apostle Paul, he will refer to, even brings more clarity to the situation since the truth of the church and God’s purpose and plan for it will be revealed through Paul but the ultimate goal which we are going to is toward that eternal kingdom in which we will rule and reign with Christ.

Come back to 2 Peter 1, verse 20: “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” “Know this first of all” and this connects to the statement in verse 19: “You do well knowing this” (participle there,) “knowing this first of all.” This is of prime importance as they study the Word of God. “No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” There is discussion about this word, ‘interpretation.’ Some say origination and the point is it carries it back to God and the interpretation is the prophets had their revelation from God primarily from dreams and visions that God gave and their interpretation of those visions and dreams wasn’t something they made up in their minds. Remember what Peter said in verse 16: “We did not follow cleverly devised tales” (or myths) “when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And the prophets of the Old Testament were functioning on the basis of revelation from God given to them in dreams and visions which they interpreted by God. We saw that in the book of Daniel, Daniel chapter 7 he saw what, a vision of these different beasts but he couldn’t make up any interpretation of it he wanted, God gave him that revelation to be interpreted for men’s benefit and so the interpretation was given. It wasn’t well, now you had a dream, you had a vision. Well, come up with what you think.

Nebuchadnezzar recognized that his so-called religious people couldn’t be trusted because they could just make up. When he had his dream in chapter 2 he said you first have to tell me the dream. Otherwise you will just make up an interpretation. But when the prophets of God were given dreams and visions the interpretation came from God.

We don’t have time to go back, Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 13 but you are familiar with Daniel. We have been there recently. These prophetic dreams and visions were means of God giving revelation.

So that is the point. “No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” Why? Verse 21: “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved” (that word that means carried along, it is used of the ship in Acts that was carried along by the wind) “by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” That is the difference. Those dreams and visions came from God. The interpretation of those dreams and visions came from God. It was God revealing. It was the Spirit of God moving those men so they could be vehicles of revelation and the prophecies that have been fulfilled demonstrate that. That is what Christ was doing when He unfolded so His disciples in Luke 24 could understand clearly that revelation.

Come back to I Peter chapter 1, I Peter chapter 1. Now the prophets themselves weren’t always clear on what God was saying. They couldn’t put together how the suffering and death of the Messiah and His reigning in glory could take place. It took later revelation for further clarity. The fact of both is true. Later revelation would make clear how it would be accomplished.

Verse 10: “As to this salvation the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating.” You see it was the Spirit of Christ within them. They were carried along by the Spirit. It was he who moved them, was revealing in them and to them predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories that followed and it was made known to them.

Remember Daniel when he asked for certain information, “Daniel, go your way. These are yet for a future time. You are going to die, be buried and these things that have been made known to you are things for future.” So some if it he is told what it is but the clarity of it and the fullness of it awaits further revelation.

Just like with our children often. We reveal and tell them certain things. “Well as you get older it will become clearer. What you need now is you need to know this.” It is the Spirit working. Down to verse 12 if you are still in I Peter 1. “It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the Gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” The point is it is the same Holy Spirit now working in Peter and the other Apostles that was working in the Old Testament Prophets.

So there will be no conflict here and what the Spirit has revealed now with greater fullness simply is further confirmation of what had been revealed in the Old Testament. I mean the death of Christ on the cross, boy this is a confirmation. You can’t have any question as men do. Isaiah 53, boy that was the Spirit working. It is the same Spirit working and moving so that we can be sure what? That we have a sure Word.

This is the tragedy of the church which is to be the pillar and support of the truth and so often it just gets carried away with every new thing coming down. We have a new program. The church will be more efficient when it does this. We have something that will be more culturally relevant. We are going to be reaching the people of our day and all subtle things that move us away from what? We preach Christ and Him crucified. “The Word of God is still alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.” It is the “Word of God that pierces down into the innermost recesses of a heart.” It is the “Gospel which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

We don’t need new ideas. We don’t need plans. We need to stay the course and we need to be sure we are being faithful so our lives are a testimony. That is why the church is constantly under attack. Why do you think we constantly go through battles? The war is on. The devil doesn’t quit and we have to be sure we take hold of the Word. This is what God says. This is where we stand.

“Heaven and earth will pass away. God’s Word will not pass away.” And every little detail will be fulfilled. God stands behind His Word. “Well Lord, I know we live in a different age, the people of our day weren’t that interested. You know we have people who think differently. We have a visual generation. They weren’t interested in serious study of Your Word. They weren’t interested.” Did God tell me to build the ministry around what I thought people were interested in? The church is the pillar and support of the truth.

The people in darkness are not interested but by His grace when the light of God’s Word shines the devil fights to keep the minds of the unbeliever blinded but God in His grace sometimes pierces the darkness with the light and draws that person to faith in Christ and now we are to be growing and growing and growing and taking in the Word. I know it. I have been over it a thousand times. That is alright. We are going over it for the thousand and first time to prepare you for when we do it the thousand and second time. Why? It is the nourishment for our souls. We never give up. We are “like new born babes longing for the pure and unadulterated milk of the Word” so we can grow, so we can stand firm, so we can do battle with the world forces of this darkness, so we can be prepared for what Peter said is sure to come as he moves into chapter 2.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the rich treasure of Your Word. Lord we would not take for granted the great blessing that is ours in Your grace You have made possible for us to take this Word of God with us wherever we are in concrete form, have it in our pocket, be able to refer to it constantly, be able to share it and show to others this Word which is life. It is our life. Lord we would never become tired of You. Your Word would never become idle to us. We want it to be alive and fresh, burning in our hearts. We want to be consumed with the desire to be conformed to the beauty of Your character and manifest it with a life of obedience. May that be true of us in the week ahead. Bless us as we serve You in a variety of ways in a variety of places we pray in Christ’ name amen.