What is truth?
What is Truth?
2 Peter 1:16–21
“You’re a liar!” A very confident woman yelled at me after a conference a few years ago. She came up to talk to me and said she really appreciated my talk the year before at the same conference. I politely smiled and said, “You must be mistaken. This is the first time I have ever spoken here.” She did not believe me. She started questioning my recollection of my own experience before she bellowed out, “You’re a liar!” She was so confident that a bearded redheaded pastor spoke at the conference last year that when I said it wasn’t me, she could not believe me. “You’re a liar!” She was wrong. I did not speak at the conference the year before, but my friend, Drew Taylor did. He also is a bearded redheaded pastor from South Carolina. We used to pastor at the same church and even our own children would occasionally get us mixed up.
This woman’s mistake was an honest one. She was confident in her own experience and trusted her memory over my words. “You’re a liar!” Later on that day, I had Drew send me a picture and I showed it to the woman to verify my case. My words were not enough. She wanted proof of the truth. And she is not wrong for wanting it. Why should we believe someone’s words? How can we know something is true? We live in an era of ‘Fake News’ where misinformation is spread to discredit someone or to create a false narrative while at the same time the truth is often called ‘fake news’ to dismiss allegations of misconduct.
Fake news, half truths, or propaganda have been used for centuries to smear political rivals and against warring nations. Now, with the growth of the internet and the ease of anyone to become a ‘discernment blogger,’ it is hard to know what is the truth. How do we know something is true? It is an important question today and has been an important question since the serpent snuck into the garden and asked, “Did God really say?” “Is that really true?”
During the end of the Apostle Peter’s life, there was a ‘fake news’ campaign against the apostolic witness. There was a group of false teachers who called Peter and the apostles, liars. They were accused of lying and making up the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The False Teachers said to Peter, “You’re a liar!” And Peter wrote his second letter to defend himself, but also, and more importantly, to defend the truth. The truth was on trial and Peter gives us several reasons why we should believe it.
Beloved, the truth is still on trial. The accusations made against Peter are being made against us. I pray this morning you will have even more reason to believe in and hold fast to the truth.
Believe in the Apostolic Witness
Peter wants the church to believe and to continue to believe in the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. He says, “And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.” These things are probably focusing on the second coming of Christ for after this section, the body of the letter is focused on false teachers and their claims. And their main claim is Jesus Christ is not returning. They are saying everything is going to continue as it has always been, therefore, people are free to live without fear of future judgment. Peter is writing this letter into that context.
So although Peter wants the church to believe in all the apostles taught, he specifically wants them to believe in the second coming of Christ. And he begins to lay out his case on why you should believe him, starting with his own experience, 2 Peter 1:16–18,
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and 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 borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
Peter refutes the claim that the apostles are following cleverly devised myths. The false teachers are claiming the Christian gospel is made up. It is a myth, a fairytale, a story used to control people. There is nothing new under the sun for the same lie is used today. Peter is claiming that Jesus Christ is God. He has already done it in the opening words of the letter, 2 Peter 1:1,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
The ‘our’ modifies both God and Savior Jesus Christ showing that Peter believes Jesus is God.
Why does Peter believe that? He witnessed his power at the transfiguration during Jesus’ earthly life. Peter’s claim is that what they saw verifies his divinity and power and foreshadows his future return. Even the text in Matthew hints at his second coming, notice his preamble to the transfiguration, Matthew 16:28-17:8
Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed 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 on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Peter says, “I am no liar. I am not following some myth for I saw Jesus blazing white and I heard God speak with a loud voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” They saw Jesus transformed before them and they heard the voice from heaven.
The Apostle John makes the same argument in his first letter to the church. Notice how many times he points what he sees and hears and touches, 1 John 1:1–3,
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
The apostolic witness is not made up. It is grounded in their own experience of seeing and hearing Jesus in power. But we should ask, “Why should we believe them?”
The claim of the false teachers is that it's all a myth. The apostles are not to be trusted for they want to control people and restrict their pursuit of pleasure. Why should we believe them? Remember Peter was in prison facing execution for sharing what he saw and heard. John was exiled to the island of Patmos for sharing what he saw and heard. Either of them could have changed their story and not suffered, but they didn’t. Because they believed it to be true. They staked everything in their life that Jesus was God and the Beloved Son of the Father.
Logically, it makes no sense for someone to suffer and die for a lie. Some may suffer a little bit for a lie, but it is very unlikely they would be willing to continue to suffer and then die for something that didn’t happen. If you are a non-Christian, have you ever considered the claims of the apostles? They believed that Jesus was God. They believed Jesus lived a perfect divine life as a man. They believed Jesus died as a man. They believed his death was the payment for sin for anyone who would turn to Jesus in faith. They believed he was raised from the dead. And they believe with their whole heart that he was coming back in power. That’s what they believed, what do you believe?
Do you think there will be judgment for sin? Will we be held accountable for the wrong we have done in our lives? What do you believe happens when we die? Is Christianity a cleverly devised myth to control people? Or is it true? The ones who first shared Jesus’ resurrection from the dead were willing to die for that claim. Seems like compelling evidence for its truthfulness. Either the apostles were telling the truth or they were lying. And the same could be said of Jesus. Jesus was either telling the truth when he said he was going to rise from the dead or he was a liar. Which one makes the most sense? I would submit to you that logically what makes the most sense is the apostles saw Jesus change before their eyes and heard God speak from heaven that Jesus is his Beloved Son. And if that is true, then the promise of his coming is also true.
Peter’s first argument is trust my experience. And it's a good argument based on his writing the letter from a Roman prison. But Peter’s experience is not the most compelling reason to believe in the divinity of Jesus and the second coming.
Believe in the Authoritative Word
Peter believes wholeheartedly with what he experienced, yet his confidence ultimately is not in his experience but in the Word of God. 2 Peter 1:19–21,
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 hearts, 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.
Peter’s argument is that the prophetic word more fully confirms his experience. The word should be more trusted than his experience even though his experience is true.
This is a key text in understanding the doctrine of Scripture. The Bible is the Word of God. Peter trusted in the Bible unto death. He describes in three ways which is really one way: Prophetic Word, Prophecy of Scripture, Prophecy. All have the word or idea of prophecy. A prophecy is a prediction of what is going to happen in the future. The Bible consistently makes predictions of what is going to happen in the future and it is proven true. As we recently have gone through the Prophet Daniel and his claims of what was going to happen with Greece and Persia. And what Daniel prophesied or predicted came to pass. Peter says the Bible is a book of prophecy. It is a book predicting and explaining the future. If the entire Scriptures have been proven true, you should also trust what it says about the coming of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is no less true or no less divine because it was given by human authors. The argument we hear so often today is the Bible cannot be trusted because it was written by men and compiled by men. But the Bible says it was written by men carried along by the Holy Spirit. God worked with the personality, skills, temperament, and circumstances of the author to bring his perfect word. The Bible is not fallible because God used fallible men. For men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit worked within men’s ability and personality to produce his perfect word. It is not wrong to say that the Bible is both a human and divine book. The verb carried in verse 21, is the word ‘phero’ which means, an assured outcome guaranteed by another. Theologian B.B. Warfield explains,
The men who spoke from God are here declared, therefore, to have been taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by His power to the goal of His choosing. The things which they spoke under this operation of the Spirit were therefore His things, not theirs. And that is the reason which is assigned why “the prophetic word” is so sure. Though spoken through the instrumentality of men, it is, by virtue of the fact that these men spoke “as borne by the Holy Spirit,” an immediately Divine word.
The prophetic Word was not written merely by men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then is the author of the Bible.
If the Holy Spirit wrote the Word, then the Bible is true. God does not lie, indeed He cannot. When we read the Bible, we are reading the very words of God. There were certain criteria the early church used to determine if a book would be identified as New Testament Scripture. It had to be Agree, Apostolic, Accepted and Ancient.
Agree- it had to be consistent with the rest of the Scripture. It had to agree with the rest of the Bible.
Apostolic - it had to be written either by an apostle or someone closely connected to an apostle.
Accepted - It had to be widely accepted among the early church as Scripture. They did not allow books to be part of the canon if it was disputed.
Ancient- It had to be written around the time of Christ or those who lived during his life.
The earliest list of New Testament books was near the end of the second century. If we believe the men were carried along by the Holy Spirit to write the books, we believe the same in regards to the canon.
Peter was probably thinking of Psalm 2 when he was showing how the Old Testament Scriptures point to the return of the Son to judge the world. Psalm 2:7–12,
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
The Psalmist warns his hearers to honor the Son or be judged. Peter is doing the same thing in this letter as he is refuting the claims of the false teachers. If Jesus is the Beloved Son of Psalm 2, which seems to be confirmed by the words from heaven on the mountain heard by the Apostles, then Son is coming back to judge the wicked and rescue the righteous. Therefore, we should believe the apostolic witness and we should believe the authoritative Word of God.
Let me close with an application found in the text for all of us today.
Be Attentive to the Word
Peter describes how the Word of God is more sure than his own experience and a word that can be trusted since it was born of God. 2 Peter 1:19,
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 hearts,
Peter provides us an exhortation and an analogy to help us understand the importance of the exhortation. The exhortation is you will do well to pay attention to the Word and the analogy as to a lamp shining in a dark place. Last night, my daughter needed to go find something in the car and she asked to use my phone so she would have a flashlight because she would not be able to see in the car at night without a light. The world is a dark place and we need a flashlight if we are going to see clearly. The Word of God is our light that helps us see in this dark world. It allows us to see clearly and accurately.
Follow Peter’s argument, the false teachers are claiming the return of Christ is a myth and Peter is saying look how the Word contradicts their words. The Scriptures make repeated claims about judgment and the Day of the Lord when he will fully and finally end sin and evil and will provide a rich welcome to his people into his eternal kingdom. The only way you can see the truth in this dark place is if you have the light of the Word of God. You would not go looking for things in the dark without a light, so why would you go and look for the truth without God’s Word. So Peter exhorts that we would do well to pay attention to the Word.
So why don’t we? What are some common reasons that keep us from the word of God? Maybe you can relate to some. Understanding what keeps us from the Word may help equip us to pay attention to the Word.
Lack of Understanding - Some don’t pay attention to the Word because they do not think they will be able to understand it. Whether it is because of their ability to read or a lack of education, people don’t read because they think they won’t understand. Remember God wrote the Bible for us to understand. He accommodated the Word to fit our understanding. Of course, there are difficult things in the Bible. Peter even will mention it later in the book, but you can grow in your understanding by the more time you spend in the word.
Overconfident - Some don’t read the Bible because they think they already know what it says so they do not see the benefit of reading it again. We will never outgrow our need to read and study the Word of God. No matter how much we dig, we will never hit the bottom. Keep Digging.
Too Busy - We believe we have too many pressing responsibilities. We have laundry and dishes to do, emails to write, phone calls to make, traffic to fight, etc. Regardless, we are not making the word of God a priority. And if we are too busy, maybe we need to cut things out of schedule to make more time for the Word of God. But remember you can read a chapter of the Bible in about 3 minutes. One hour and you can read the entire book of Romans. 60% of the Books in the Bible can be read in under an hour. We think reading takes more time than it actually does.
Entertainment - We love entertainment more than the Word. We would prefer youtube clips, TV, social media, or a ball game. Our culture wants us to be enamored with the trivial over the eternal.
Short Attention Span - Our culture has impacted our attention span. We are easily distracted even when we sit down for the word. We may need to fight to build our ability to read for longer periods of time. Start reading for 3 minutes a day then grow your 3 minutes to 5 min, your 5 min to 10 min and so on.
Lazy - Some don't pay attention to the Word because we are lazy. We become slothful in our zeal for God. We need to repent of our laziness.
Can’t see Immediate Benefit - Some of us don’t pay attention because we do not see the immediate fruit of reading. There are other tasks we can tackle and see an immediate benefit while the Word shows its fruit over time.
Beloved, there are lots of reasons we do not pay attention to the Word. And you are not alone in not paying attention to the Word. John Bunyan once wrote in the cover of one of his Bibles, “Either this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.” We all face times when we neglect the word and our guilt keeps us from sharing it with people in our lives. Confessing our struggle is often the reason we are able to turn back to the Word.
If the Bible is the truth and warns of us the coming judgment and teaches the way of salvation, then the spiritual forces of darkness will do all they can to keep you from the Word of God. You will do well to pay attention to the Word of God. Read it. Listen to it. Meditate on it. One Sunday Ms. Mary Sandford met at the door after I encouraged the church to read the Bible every year. She said, “You know preacher, I have never read the Bible all the way through.” I said, “Well Miss Mary, you better get started, you don’t have a lot of time left.” She was 85 at the time. She had never read the Bible all the way through up until she was 85. She read it through 6 times before she died at 91. Once every year.
Beloved, I don’t want to lay guilt on your shoulders for your lack of time in the Bible, but it is not good for your soul if you are not in the Word. If you don’t read the Word, you become more like the World. You start to think more like the world, then you start living more like the world. I and the other elders are happy to help you read the Word, but simply put, you need to pay attention to it. If you don’t, you are putting your own soul in danger. As a doctor warns how a bad diet destroys your health, a bad spiritual diet destroys your soul.
I don’t think I have to do much to convince you of the importance of the Bible in the life of a Christian. We all know it's important. We just have to make it a priority for the Bible is where we learn about Jesus. It is where we learn about his love for us, his sacrifice for us, his delight over us that we are his children, and how he is coming back for us. The Bible is all about Jesus. So if you want to love Jesus more, pay attention to the Word.
Peter’s culture called him a liar and that he was following myths, but he knew the truth. Our culture will say the same to us, be we know the truth. Jesus is no myth. His death and resurrection is no fairy tale. His return is no fable. Jesus Christ is God, he showed a glimpse of his power Peter on the mountain, the Word promises he is coming back, so we would do well to pay attention because he is our light shining in the darkness.