Awaken to the Truth

What do we ask when we see the word “therefore”?

Peter wants them to remember the riches of God’s grace that God has called them to and through which He gives believers His divine power and His precious promises. Peter says that if we live in godliness, seeking to grow throughout our life as Christians (sanctification) that we will not stumble and we will enter into the “eternal kingdom”.

Now, Peter is about to deal with false teachers who doubted that Jesus would come again.

So here Peter says that He wants to “remind them” and “wake them up” to the truth, even though they have been “established in the truth”.

-Why would they need to wake up to a truth that they already know?

-First, at that time they didn’t have a “Bible” as we now have, nor did every person have access to one OR be able to read one. They had to KNOW it, not just read it.

-Second, there will be those who question the truth, and they need to firmly believe it.

-Third, He says after he is gone they will have to “recall these things”. He is telling them. There will come a time that I won’t be there to remind you of the truth, you will have to remember it for yourselves, and what will you do when that day comes?

Right now you have parents that make you appointments. To see the dentist, the doctor, to get your hair cut, to do lots of things. And if your parents didn’t do them you will definitely forget or just not do it. There will come a day you will have to do it yourself.

So Peter does an overview, how do we keep our north star? What will help direct our path when life gets confusing, when so many things are thrown at us that we may ask ourselves “what path should I follow?”

-Before GPS, when sailors would go out on the vast ocean, they needed a way to guide them to their destination. So what would they use? Starts. Storms could change their path, winds could alter the course, but there was always something guiding them.

-Our world is superfluous, it is full of change. What is true today may be false tomorrow, what is false today may be true tomorrow.

-What Peter wants to remind His readers of, to awaken them to, is that God’s Word never changes.

“The Business of the church and of preaching is not to present us with new and interesting ideas, it is rather to go on reminding us of certain and fundamental and eternal truths” - Martin Lloyd-Jones

We always respond to the previous generation. My generations was concerned about science and believing the facts of God. Your generation asks “how can I trust that God is good”. We need a balanced truth of God.

Why is it so important to remember the truth?

The truth grounds our actions. I read this from a mathematician who argues that math is important for us.

“The virtue of having number sense is far more important in the real world, because, these days human’s role…is actually making sure that computers aren’t screwing up and spitting out ridiculous stuff. What i try to help people see is that virtues are actually more important than skills. The virtues you build by a great math education are actually things like persistence, curiosity, an affection of mathematics…to make a good definition, being able to look at a claim and evaluate if it’s reasonable…math education actually helps people to think for themselves, to be able to say, ‘wait a minute, I don’t know if this person is using statistics properly.’ or ‘that sounds like an outrageous claim.’”

We must remember the truth of the Gospel every day

We will not always live here on earth. Notice that Peter refers to His body as a “tent” that one day He will have to lay aside. Why does he refer to his body as a tent? Because a tent isn’t permanent.

-Our bodies will decay, we will one day die. We should be ready for that day.

So how do we remember? We have to hear the truth over and over again. This is one of the important reasons that we come to church every week, it is a weekly reminder of the Gospel. In fact, for us to grow as Christians we always have to come back to the foundational truths of the Gospel. It is here that we remind ourselves of the spiritual growth we must have.

-No matter how long we have been a Christian, now matter how long we have gone to church, we still have to remind ourselves of the Gospel. Because the only way to make sure we stay on the narrow path is to remember.

-All of us are closer to going down the wrong path then we think.

-When we remember it then we can also help others to remember it.

The truth confirmed through eyewitnesses

Peter tells them that what they are telling them aren’t “cleverly contrived myths”. There are many in the world who want to believe this. That to be a Christian is to be believing a myth because no one can rise from the dead. That what the Bible tells us about Jesus rising from the dead isn’t true.

-A “myth” was a term used for the stories of Greek gods like Zeus, or Hercules…or in our day of believing the MCU characters. They didn’t believe them to be true, they were stories that had a lesson to them. A story that is helpful in us being better people but aren’t to be believed as truth. Like “the boy who cried wolf”.

-But notice it isn’t just a myth, but a “cleverly contrived” one. A myth that comes from sort of secret group that sat around coming up with the perfect story of this Jesus rising from the dead.

-In the minds of these people they want the resurrection of Jesus to not be true, because if the resurrection isn’t true than neither is Jesus 2nd coming. And with Jesus 2nd coming is judgment. What the believers were being asked was “when is Jesus coming again? We haven’t seen him yet!” They wanted people to doubt that Jesus rose from the dead and that God would come again for them.

-But more than this, to believe that Jesus resurrection is a myth is to believe what happened in the OT is a myth. That we can’t believe what the Bible says happened are actually true.

But Peter gives two responses from an experience that he and the apostles James and John experienced, the Transfiguration:

Matthew 17:1–6 “After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it’s good for us to be here. If you want, I will set up three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown and were terrified.”

“The transfiguration…is a manifestation of the coming of the kingdom…it anticipates Christ’s glory when He returns”

1. They saw

-Specifically, Peter says that he was an eyewitness of Jesus’ “majesty”. They saw Jesus in His glory on the mountain.

-But this just was just an example of His majesty, they also saw Jesus heal, they saw Him walk on water, they saw Jesus after His resurrection.

-They saw the power of the Gospel when Jesus rose from the dead. This proves that Jesus will come again

2. They heard

-They also heard the voice of God the Father say “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased”

-They heard God speak what they had believed, that this was the Son of God that would take away the sin of the world

Psalm 2:7 “I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”

Isaiah 42:1 ““This is my servant; I strengthen him, this is my chosen one; I delight in him. I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring justice to the nations.”

The truth confirmed through Scripture

Peter than says that Scripture that comes through the prophets also convinces us of the truth. This is what has been written in the OT that confirms what the Bible tells us about Jesus.

What is important, is that they aren’t saying something which is their own interpretation of the facts, but rather that they are declaring what the prophets clearly stated in the OT would occur.

So why is it important to believe the truth of Scripture?

1. A light in the darkness

The word Peter uses a word for darkness that is like being in a dark dungeon, without light and without exposure to good things. But in this dungeon comes light.

This light will shine until “the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts”. God’s Word will guide us until the day Jesus returns.

-This was shown in the transfiguration. A reminder that Jesus one day will return as Scripture says.

The truth of Jesus and Scripture provides hope to a lost world, it helps people see where many are lost.

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”

2. A voice in the crowds

There are many voices in the world that say things about when the world will end, about WW3, about many things that will happen. Speaking as if they speak with certainty. But the prophets of the OT didn’t just write things that would get them attention (in fact, many of them were scorned from society for saying things that upset people), they spoke because the Holy Spirit spoke through them.

The Bible is God’s Word, not man’s Word.

Many believe that the Bible was put together by those with an agenda to prove Jesus, but before Jesus ever existed the Bible spoke of His coming.

There are many voices in the world proclaiming that they have the “truth”. Those that even interpret the Bible to fit their idea of how they want the world to be. That if you follow their path that you will find what you are looking for. But everything other than God’s Word are just the words of man.

What we believe is that prophecy doesn’t originate with humans and that it is from God himself who spoke through men.

We remind the world of the hope of the Gospel