2Peter 1:16-19
Something Better
Peter just told his readers that he was not going to let them forget
somethings \\#12-15\\. He was going to keep reminding them while he
lived \\#12-13\\, and he was working to be certain that they would be
reminded even after his death \\#14-15\\. Obviously, Peter had
something that he thought was important. What could be so important?
Why would anything be so important? He is about to tell us.
I. What We Do Not Have
A. \\#16\\ We do not have a fable.
1. The word fable means a myth or a made-up story.
2. Most if not all of us were raised to believe the Bible
was true.
3. Many of us were introduced to what we believe via church,
Sunday school, VBS, Bible stories, and sermons from our
youngest days on this planet.
4. But what if you had not been raised around the Bible?
5. What if you never heard of the Bible or worse, what if you
had been raised to believe the Bible was a fable?
6. Have you ever considered how difficult it might be for
some to believe the Bible?
7. Have you ever considered how difficult it was for the
preachers in the New Testament to convince their hearers
that the Bible is not a fable.
B. Let me tell you three stories, and you tell me how I can know
which one is true.
1. Peter lived during the days when people worshipped the
Roman gods.
a. Roman gods were the same as the gods of the Greeks
whom the Romans had defeated. (I am not certain why
you would want to worship the gods of the people
you defeated, but they did.)
b. Basically, the Romans just changed the names of the
Greek gods.
(1) You can call the head god Zeus or Jupiter.
(2) You can call their god of war Aries or Mars.
(3) You can refer to their god of the hunt as
Artemis or Diana.
(4) They would be the same basic character.
c. Both the Greek and Roman gods were basically humans
that lived long lives and had super powers.
d. Their gods were conceived, grew, learned, some failed,
and could be punished.
e. Here is how they believed their gods interacted with
nature:
(1) They believed that the sun was the chariot of the
god, Apollo, riding across the sky.
(2) They believed evil came about because Pandora, a
goddess, opened a box and let evil out.
(3) They believed that the world stays in place
because it is supported on the shoulders of
Atlas.
(4) Man has fire because Prometheus stole it from the
gods.
(5) Love and children come due to the intervention of
Eros and Aphrodite.
https://gracebibleny.org/the_basis_for_belief_2_peter_1_16_21
f. If this sounds far-fetched, we have an account of how
these people loved their gods in the book of Acts.
(1) This tool place in the city of Ephesus.
Acts 19:24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a
silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana,
brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
25 Whom he called together with the workmen of
like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by
this craft we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at
Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this
Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people,
saying that they be no gods, which are made with
hands:
27 So that not only this our craft is in danger
to be set at nought; but also that the temple of
the great goddess Diana should be despised, and
her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all
Asia and the world worshippeth.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were
full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is
Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion:
and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of
Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they
rushed with one accord into the theatre.
34 But when they knew that he (Alexander) was a
Jew, all with one voice about the space of two
hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
(2) Diana was the Roman goddess of hunting and
fertility. (They had a lot of fertility gods.)
(3) \\#24-25\\ make it clear that one of the reasons
these religions were so popular was because they
provided income to the craftsmen who made the
idols.
(4) But for whatever reason, the people believed
these fables to be true.
2. We really should not mock those people because what most
people today believe is just as ambitious.
a. People today believe there was nothing which became
something and exploded into everything.
(1) All the details have not been worked out yet, but
that is the basic thought on where everything
came from.
(2) Some make the story sound more scientific by
using bigger words but it is the basically the
same story.
b. They believe they have a few more details on the
origins of life.
(1) Some of the everything that came from nothing got
too hot for too long and a living cell was born
from which all life mutated.
(2) I know I am simplifying it a bit, but that is the
basic tenants of evolution.
3. But what do we believe? Does it sound any more
believable?
a. We believe an eternal God with no beginning, no end,
and no limit on His powers created everything with
nothing but His Word.
b. That God made mankind sinless but one sin by one
person condemned all the human race to damnation and
all creation to destruction.
c. That God incarnated Himself, lived among humans doing
good, but was hated of mankind and murdered by them—
all as a part of the plan of God to redeem mankind.
d. That faith in God’s death redeems all who will trust
Him so that they may go to a place God has prepared
from them and live blessed lives forever.
C. There are three stories. How do we decide which story is
true and which are fables?
1. Before you answer, let me tell you that you cannot use
what you believe as evidence. You can only use evidence
as evidence.
2. For as strongly as you believe what you believe, someone
else is going to believe what he believes.
3. What answer will you give?
4. The truth is that without faith, they all sound like
fables, but Peter was explaining that we do not believe
in fables because we have something the others do not.
II. Peter had a personal witness to help him decide.
A. Peter could say he had seen the Lord.
2Peter 1:16 …but were eyewitnesses of his
majesty.
1. Indeed, while there is no gospel of Peter, all of the
gospels affirm that Peter was present with Jesus and saw
His miracles and heard His sermons.
2. Peter summarizes the life of Jesus in five words:
a. \\#16\\ His coming - He came.
b. power
c. majesty
d. \\#17\\ honor
e. glory
B. Peter not only saw and heard Jesus, but he heard God as well.
2Peter 1:17 …there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.
C. John also bore witness of the things that he had seen and
heard:
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our
eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands
have handled, of the Word of life;
D. These and others testified experienced Jesus in person and
thus believed. Like the people of Samaria, they could say:
John 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we
believe, not because of thy saying: for we have
heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed
the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
E. But you and I cannot say that. We have not seen Him with our
earthly eyes nor held Him with our earthly hands.
F. So how are we to distinguish fact from fable.
III. What We Have Is Better.
A. \\#19\\ "a more sure word of prophecy."
1. "a more sure word" means something better.
2. Peter heard the Words of God and saw the Son of God, but
he said we have something better.
3. Think about that. How can you get something better than
what you have personally heard and seen?
B. \\#20\\ We have a word that is not "of any private
interpretation."
1. What does that mean?
2. Most people think that means that no one can put their own
private spin on it.
3. That is true and I believe it can be inferred from this
Bible passage, but I am not sure that is what Peter was
saying.
a. The point Peter was making was that we have something
more reliable than what we see and hear, then he made
this statement.
b. What he was saying was that we have a Book that no one
person is SOLE HEIR to.
c. Everyone can take the Word of God and examine it
UNLIKE what one person sees or hears.
a. What one person hears or sees can’t be examined by
another.
b. It may convince the one, but all others have is
that person’s word.
d. But the Bible is a compilation of what hundreds,
thousands, even hundreds of thousands have heard and
seen.
e. Through it, we go from one to all, from a closed
group to an open group, from private to public.
f. All eyes can see and all ears can examine and then God
can speak to you through it.
4. That is the reason so many want to take the Word of God
away. They know what it can do.
a. That is the reason Catholicism banned the common man
from having the Bible, confiscated copies of it,
burned alive those who translated. They did not want
others to have a Bible they could read and
experience for themselves for it would expose their
false teaching.
b. That is the reason the Bible is banned in 52 countries
today. Neither Muslins nor Communists do not want you
to be exposed to the Living Book that God can speak
to you through.
https://lovepackages.org/bibles-dangerous-illegal-covert/
c. And that is the reason the United States of America
removed it from classrooms, courthouse, and public
venues.
5. When this Book is left out in the open, it will prove
itself to be the Word of God and not some fable or myth!
C. \\#21\\ Peter tells us why this is the case.
2Peter 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man: but holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
1. This Book lives because it is God’s Book.
2. Men were used like pens were used, but God the Holy Ghost
is the Author.
How do we know that we do not have fables? Because we have something
everyone is welcome to read, study, and examine. Will everyone
believe it? No, but interestingly, so far most who give it a serious
examination have. It is the living Word of God, and it is better
than any other thing because it proves what we believe is NOT a
FABLE.
May I tell you that if you have a copy of the Bible, you have
something better than dreams, visions, and angelic proclamations. You
have the inspired, inerrant, Word of God.
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