Sermon Cloud

Walking with Confidence: A Light for Your Path

2 Peter 1:16-21

Intro: DC blizzard trip.  First wrong path.  Second wall of snow.  3^rd encounter with police.

Proposition: A confident walk in Christ must be lighted by the Word of God – otherwise we get on the wrong path, hit a wall, or run into trouble.  In 2 Peter, Peter tells us just how to have a light for our path.

I.                Rely on Christ – as the Word – to light your path. (16-18)

Most NT writers were addressing churches where heretical teachers were slipping in.  Usually it had to do with Gnosticism – special and secret knowledge.  Many of them also believed material is evil and Christ was not a real man.  Peter is dealing with these issues.

Peter says, you want to walk confidently in Christ?  It doesn’t come from cleverly devised tales.  It doesn’t come from special and secret knowledge you figure out.  It comes from following the real God-man that walked among us.  It comes by following Jesus the Christ.

Peter highlights his real life and not mystical experience with Christ.  He says, “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty”.  And in verses 17-18 he speaks of being a witness to the transfiguration testified about in the gospels.

Do we see Christ as our light?  Or do we treat Him as a story or a distant God?  Do we use His knowledge to guide us or pretend that we can come up with knowledge to guide ourselves?

Sadly, most of us are just fine lighting our own path.  I’ll figure it out for myself – and maybe call you if things get bad enough.

Ex. Abigail gets frustrated and doesn’t want our help.

WWJD bracelets. (In His Steps, 1897).

Christ has left us His Holy Spirit with the task to guide us.

12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” John 16:12-13

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5

How do I let Christ/Holy Spirit guide me?

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thess. 5:16-22

II.             Let the Light of Scripture point you to salvation and holiness. (19)

Scripture is the light of the gospel.  It alone shines in the darkness and shows the lost salvation – and shows the saved the pathway to holiness.

Many think that Scripture is just information.  English classes teach it as literature, history classes teach it to gleam facts of days gone by.  Even Christians use it just as a guide to answer questions they have.  It was the original Google.  Got a problem?   Bible it.

“The goal of revelation is not information, but salvation.”

The Bible is not primarily a resource guide for better living.  The Bible exists as a light to shine on the glory of Christ – which leads us to salvation and holiness.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9

God calls us out of the darkness of sin and emptiness into His light of eternal life.

4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6

You lived in death and darkness – and then God said – Let there be light!

He is light – and if you have Him – you have light and you will shine with holiness.

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-7

If you are connected to the source you will always shine. 

Ex. Fireworks compared to the moon.

4^th of July by Ben Shive

The first star of the evening
Was singing in the sky
High above our blanket in the park

And by the twilight’s gleaming
On the 4th day of July
The city band played on into the dark

And then a canon blast
A golden flame unfolding
Exploded in a momentary bloom

The pedals fell and scattered
Like ashes on the ocean
As another volley burst into the blue

But the first star of the evening never moved

III.           Warning: The Bible shows the path – it’s not a tool for making paths. (20-21)

The Bible was written by men – but the words they wrote were given by God.  And so every word of the Scriptures is the very word of God.  It is a powerful light that has been given to us so we walk the path of Christ.

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

For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life. Proverbs 6:23

One of the biggest errors people make with Scripture is that instead of seeing it as The light to show God’s path-situated in a fixed position – they see it as a flashlight that they can shine where they want and make their own path.  Don’t miss this: The Light of Scripture points to THE path and is not to be used for making your own paths.

American evangelicals – especially Baptists love the idea of the priesthood of the believer.  Many think of it as the idea that God gave me the Holy Spirit to interpret the Bible anyway I see fit.  So bible studies and Sunday school classes are filled with people asking: What do you think this means?  And whatever anyone thinks it means is okay for them.

Ex. SS class at OTH.  The text told us what it means – no need to guess.

Worse yet, people decide to make the Bible a tool to validate whatever they want to do.  I can pick and choose.  Real popular with the debate on homosexuality – but everyone does it.  Baptists especially – you can’t tell me what the Bible means – priesthood of the believer! 

Big problem with that idea – the Bible never mentions individual priesthood of the believer.  It talks about the church being made up of the priesthood of the believers.  All believers are part of the priesthood – that in no way gives license for personal interpretation anyway you want to do it.  That is why Peter says, “No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.”

“American Christians are often more influenced by the Bill of Rights than by the Bible!” – Dr. Bob Utley

There is only one interpretation to any verse in the Bible – the one given by God.  And God has called preachers to interpret those Scriptures and preach to His people.  Do you just accept it?  No- you go home and search the word, listen to God, and make sure that what has been preached to you lines up.

Sadly, even pastors who have been gifted with the ability to interpret and preach Scripture are known for eisegesis instead of exegesis.  They come up with their own ideas and then look for Scripture to back it up.  Scripture must speak and we must follow.  We don’t speak and then ask Scripture to follow.

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Decide today to let Scripture be that light on THE path and not a tool for whatever you want to do.

Conclusion:  Without power in Muncie.  We had heat and light available to us for days and didn’t know it.  Chose to live in the cold and darkness.