Our scripture reading for tonight comes from 2 Peter 1, verses 16-21. 2 Peter 1, verses 16-21. We will also read the Belgium Confession of Faith, Article 3. after reading the word of the Lord. First, we are going to read from 2 Peter 1, verses 16 to 21. This is the word of the living God. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, and we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Amen. Now let us turn our attention to Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 3. You can find it in Forms on Prayer books on pages 154. Article 3, the written Word of God. We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of man, but that holy man of God spoke. being moved by the Holy Spirit, as Peter says. Afterward, our God, because of the special care he has for us and our salvation, commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit this revealed word to writing. He himself wrote with his own finger the two tablets of the law. Therefore, we call such writings holy and divine scriptures. People of God, we continue from where we left last time. Today, we will look into Belgium Confession of Faith, Article 3, through the lens of 2 Peter 1, verses 16 and 21. I want to remind you that Debris wrote each article for a reason. This is not his systematic theology book. This article, like other articles, was added for a specific reason. For example, one of the early leaders of the Anabaptists, Thomas Münzer, declared that Bible is not the true Word of God. And reformers Reformed Christians, in the law of land, they were counted as those Anabaptists by Catholics, but Debaris was determined to reveal the truth. Reformed Christians were not Anabaptists who rejected the authority of the Bible. Article 3 refers to one of the cornerstone doctrines of the Scripture, sola scriptura, Scripture alone. It means that All we need to know about our salvation is stored in the Bible. And it has the highest authority in our lives. Both Anabaptists and Roman Catholics, they didn't want authority of Scripture over them. Because Anabaptists, they wanted to rule by their emotion and feelings. Roman Catholics, they wanted to keep the wicked system they created so that they could abuse people all around the world. But we wonder, what is the state of the church today? 500 years have passed, and what has changed since the Reformation? Has the Reformation reached its goals? Or do we still need a reformation in our generation? I want to share a part of the survey that I believe will help us to understand the current situation... ...and find answers to those questions. Ligonier Ministries, together with LifeWave Research, they together... surveyed the belief of Americans on a number of theological and ethical issues. They called this survey, 2020 State of Theology, and collected answers from 3,002 Christians. They asked or stated 35 questions, and I will share only two of them with you today. The first statement I would like to share is the statements and they ask participants if they agree or disagree with the statement. The first statement they ask, the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches. Participant answer as follows, 33% disagreed, 9% not sure, 38% agreed. The second statement that I would like to share, second statement that they asked if participants agree or disagree with is, the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but it's not literally true. Participant answered as follows, 41% disagreed, 11% not sure. only again 48% agreed. People of God, we are here 500 years later after the Reformation, but unfortunately we find ourselves facing the same doctrinal problem. The lack of trust in the word of God and lack of respect for its authority. We are facing the same problem all over again. So let us look into two testimonies that encourages us to embrace the doctrine of sola scriptura from 2 Peter 1, verses 16 and 21. Two testaments. First of it is the testimony of man, and the second, testimony of God. Testimony of man and testimony of God. Peter writing this letter from the prison and he knows that he's going to be executed soon. That's why he says in verse 14 and 15 of this first chapter, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, As our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, and I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able to, you may be able to any time to recall these things. And he was right. He was executed shortly after he wrote this letter. Yet as a person who expects to be executed in a dark Roman prison cell, He thinks about the well-being of the church. Peter knew that as an apostle, that he was called to do that until his last breath. And he was determined to do that until his last breath. We don't know exactly the recipients of the Peter's letter. Still, we can know that there were false teachers in those churches. These false teachers were spreading more or less the same statement I just read to you from the survey. The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but it's not literally true. And it seems like these false teachers were also able to convince many Christians in these churches that Peter writes to. And Peter writes against these teachers and their false claims to protect the church and the right doctrine of scripture. Peter resists this teaching by first giving his own testimony. The gospel is not myth or mythology as false teachers claim. These are the facts and there are eyewitnesses to these facts. There are only around over 500 people witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. The mystery of God had been declared for centuries and finally revealed. It has finally made known. That's what Peter preaches in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, if you can recall. Peter makes quotation from Joel, Ezekiel, and Psalm to prove that God had been revealed the mystery that Israelites were waiting for a long time. He says, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Jesus later declares this in Revelation 22, I am the root and the descendants of David, the bright morning star. Peter knows that the promise of the Old Testament have finally been made to know them, and he is made to witness to this. And do you remember why Jesus called two men foolish on the road to Emmaus? Why did they fail to understand? What did they fail to understand about Jesus? Luke 24, 27 says, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he, that is Jesus, interpreted to them in old scriptures to things concerning himself. The whole Bible, which is Moses and the prophets, speaks about Jesus, yet they fail to understand it. So there is only one gospel in the whole scripture, and there is only one message of salvation, yet some Jews and Gentiles in those churches that Peter writes to call The gospel, a myth, a fiction. They try to differentiate the gospel from the Old Testament. They call the gospel a myth, but by doing that, they call God a liar. But Jesus says in John 17, 17, your worth is truth. And if the scripture is a myth or a partly myth, it means that it is not true. And it means that Jesus also is lying in this verse. But we know that God never lies. That's what we read in Hebrews 6, 18. It says, it is impossible for God to lie. The false teachers employed an ancient strategy from their father devil. Did God really say this? They cause some Christians to be suspicious about the truth of God. Sinful men call holy, holy, holy God a liar. Yet God is the only one tells the truth about everything. He is the only one who endeavors to save us from the darkness. The written word of God is the proof about God's desire to communicate with us, with his creation and restore it. God took initiative, not us. Yet some still call him a liar. I don't know how a sinful person can behave more viciously and objectively than this against God. Yet Peter doesn't give up fighting against these false teachers and he is determined to gain those Christians back from this false teacher's hand because he understands them. Peter was spiritually blind once. He denied Jesus three times. He understands them, that's why he goes after them. Because he knows that there is always hope in Christ. Especially in chapter two, Peter warns them sternly. If Christ forgave his sins after denying him three times, surely Christ can forgive these lost sheep among the churches. That's what Peter thinks. And so Peter begins giving his own testimony in first three verses. He saw the glory of Jesus with his own eye and he heard the voice of the Father with his own ears. The false teachers attacked the doctrine of the second coming of Christ as well. This is why Peter mentioned these three things in verse 16 and 17 to refute false teachings about the second coming of Christ. In verse 16 and 17, Peter gives three reasons. The powerful coming of Jesus, his own testimony, and transfiguration. Peter mentioning the transfiguration of Jesus might seem strange at first glance. However, a commentator helped us to understand. He says, quote, in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, which is Matthew, Mark, Luke, the Transfiguration immediately follows the declaration that God's kingdom will come with power, suggesting that the Transfiguration represents and anticipates Christ's powerful coming. The Transfiguration, then, is a manifestation of the coming of the kingdom. Peter recalled the event because it anticipates Christ's glory when he returns. Moreover, the eyewitness character of the event demonstrates that Peter was not dreaming or propounding some myth. He saw Jesus transform and heard God's very words. People of God, although being a witness is an important argument against a false teacher, Peter doesn't present his own testimony as a reason for Christians to believe. He doesn't say, I felt in my heart, I experienced it, I was there, I saw everything, that's why you need to believe. Peter doesn't say that. But what does he say? In verse 19 especially, he says, we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. This is not about what he felt or not about what he witnessed. This is about the word of the Lord coming true. This is about God who fulfilled his promises. This is about the reality of the gospel. Even though he witnessed the glory of the Son, the power of God, Peter draws his attention to the word of God. All he wants from Christian is to embrace sola scriptura. Peter doesn't want to draw any attention, but he points to the gospel. and gospel alone. Let me tell you a real life story from Debris's life. When Debris was in Frankfurt, he met a certain Anabaptist who accused him of committing idolatry by having such a view of scripture. for seeking the word of God in a book instead, instead of in the human hearts. And another Anabaptist said that he learned more from slaughtering chickens in his daily work of God than in hearing the reading and preaching of the scripture. And Debrez asked, what do you mean by this? His opponent said that The death of a chicken teaches us the obedience of Christ on the cross. But when Deborah asked the man, how then do you know there ever was a real Jesus Christ? Then since that is not written in the guts of a chicken, after all, then the Muslims are saved too. For they slaughtered a lot of chickens, but don't read the Bible. And the man got angry and left. Today, we call this doctrine, which exactly the same doctrine this Anabaptists believe, Universalism. And it's unfortunately, it's everywhere in Christian world. This is why Peter concerned about Christian, Christians, and this is why Deborah wrote Article 3. These false teachers and Anabaptists reduced everything to feel and experience and abandon the teaching of the word. But they forgot what Jeremiah says. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately seek. Who can understand it? When we read 2 Peter, Chapter 2 and verse 1, we can see that there were also so-called prophets among these Christians. and they distorted the Word of God. That's what Peter says in chapter 3, verse 16. There are some things in them, which Peter refers to Paul's writing, that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do to other scriptures. These false prophets in the church, they distorted the scripture. They tried to discredit it so that they could convince Christians for their gospel version. Yet even though, even though Peter was writing this from a dark prison cell, and someone knows his execution is soon, he knew that the gospel was the only source of light that we can have in this dark world. The bright morning star, Christ Jesus rises, bring forth, give birth in the hearts of people through the gospel alone, not through the false teachers. Salvation is found only in the Holy Scriptures. And Peter mentions three reasons in verses 20 and 21 for us to believe in confidence that the Scripture is the Word of God. First, he says, no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation God used different means. God used dreams, vision, testimonies to inspire his own servants. According to Article 3, these peoples are prophets and apostles. But his servants did not interpret God's word. They were only mouthpieces of the Lord. The scripture is the word of the living God, no one alone, and it requires the highest respect and honor from us. There can be no higher authority than God's word. The scripture is the word of the king of kings. How can we accept a man's word over the word of the living God? If we do so, Paul rightly asks, for am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. The second reason Peter writes is that in verse 20 and 21, he says, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but man spoke from God. So we see a dual relationship in this verse, but we need to be very careful not to fall into trap of seeing this as a partnership. Servants of the Lord had never become partners with God. We call this organic inspiration. We call this relationship organic inspiration. And Bowing help us to understand what does it mean. Bowing says, full recognition of both the divine and human does not lead to a symbiotic relationship in which the human becomes in a certain sense independent or in which the factors are equal. The leading is with the spirit. He inspires the author, but in such a way that the willing, thinking, researching man is put to use. And the final reason Peter mentions in these verses to forgive us the confidence that scripture is the word of God, is that he says they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. God initiated this relationship. He led prophets and apostles with his Spirit, so human words become God's words. Because of the work of the Spirit, we can surely say that we have a book in our hands that is God's word. And let us not forget that we draw a clear distinction between the revealed Word of God and written Word of God. The Scripture itself says that not everything God says in special revelation has been written down. For example, 1 Kings 4 chapter 4 says Solomon had many songs and proverbs, but only few recorded in the Bible. And also John says in chapter 20 and 21, Jesus said and did so many things, but not everything written down for us. So a choice made out of an abundance material, And the result of this choice produced us the scripture. Scripture that everything that we need to know for our salvation, the source of the knowledge of God and the highest authority, we bow down. 2,000 years ago, Peter fought against the enemies of the gospel. 500 years ago, the Brits joined the same battle and stood by the scriptural teachings. They were both killed, but their testimony will continue to exist until the second coming of Christ. Their lives will continue to encourage Christians who are still fighting the same spiritual battle. But one thing remains, even though how hard these false teachers try, how hard they persecute the children of God, no one can dream of having a victory against the Lord. The Lord Jesus has been protecting his church. He's bright and he is coming to take her to his house. it is written, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more and I saw the holy city in New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from Throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And we say, amen. Come, Lord Jesus, come. Let us pray. Almighty God, graciously grant that your word, which we have heard, may be inscribed inwardly on our hearts. As we receive your word, meekly with pure affection, may our hearts be filled with love and reverence for you. All this we pray for the honor and praise of your name through