Biblically Rooted Faith

Sermon Transcript

Well, good morning. Would you help me welcome our Colorado Springs, Westminster and online campus who are worshiping with us today. So great to have all of you. Special shout out to Westminster. Was up there on Friday for Pastor AJ and Adriel's daughter's funeral and you are an incredible campus.

Thanks so much for loving our pastors there and for taking care of our flock there. You're doing a great job and it was an honor to be with you. With that, let's continue our worship this morning as we go before the Lord and get ready to hear his living and active word spoken among us. Would you pray with me? Our father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise for who you are and for all that you do.

And Lord, we honor you this morning, Lord, it was fantastic to put you on display and sing songs of praise and adoration to the one who gave his very life, who rose from the dead so that we who were dead could live. We're here to hear from you today, Lord, because we want to align our hearts, our lives, our behaviors, our attitudes with you. And we as a people believe, Lord, that every time that your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. And so our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who are gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he says and who will by faith, put into practice what he shows you.

Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen? Amen. You cannot believe everything you hear and you cannot believe everything that you see. We live in a world where it's hard to know what I can trust and what I can't trust. And it seems to look real, but I don't know that it's real.

It seems to sound true, but I don't know that it's true. It seems to look right, but it seems a little bit off. And in our world today, it's more difficult than ever. I mean, even with AI software, I don't know if you know this or not. I'll probably show you in the next couple weeks.

But with AI software, I am now fluent in Spanish, Russian, German, and a variety of other languages. And our team has sent me some clips from my sermons in these languages. And AI will even move my mouth to coordinate with the language to which I am speaking. And if you saw me, you would say, that's his voice, and he's fluent in all those languages. And I never knew it and neither did I.

And so it's difficult when we look at our world to say, you know, can I believe that? Was that true? Did that video really happen? Did they really mean what they said? Was it really like that when they were there?

I mean, I don't know what to believe and what not to believe. And we live in a world where there's a lot of cynicism, where we're like, I don't even know if I trust anything anymore. In this series that we've been talking about in two, Peter called stay the course. We've been talking about what real, genuine faith looks like and how to have assurance of your faith by adding to it. And then last week, we talked about, this is why we need to communicate it.

But today I want to talk to you about how do we make sure that our faith is anchored biblically? How do we have a biblically rooted faith? How can we know that we know that we know that we can trust what God says. How do we know that we know that we know that we have a genuine faith? Because I find for nonbelievers that come into the church are like, well, did I pray it right?

Did I do it right? Do I have it right? Even christians that have genuinely repented of their sins trusted Christ. They read through the Bible sometimes and they ask, is this really what God wants me? I don't think he really wants me to do, because this doesn't feel good.

It doesn't feel right. And I want to answer the question. If you've had questions this morning about how can I really know what's real, how do I know that I have the right faith? How do I know that I'm staying the course? How do I know that I'm on the right path?

How do I know that I'm biblically rooted? I believe God's going to give us some anchors this morning to hang on to so that you can know that you know that you know that you're staying the course and you're rooted in God's word. And to do that this morning, we're gonna be in the book of second Peter, chapter one, starting in verse 16 through the end of the chapter. And really what the apostle Peter here, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is gonna highlight for us is how is it that you can be biblically rooted in the faith? How is it that you can be truly anchored in such a way where no storms that come your way will sway you from your ultimate destination?

So hear the word of the Lord this morning from two, Peter, chapter one. Starting in verse 16, I'll read through the end of the chapter, and then we'll unpack this together, he says, for we did not follow cleverly devised tales 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, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with them on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this, first of all, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will. But men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

And as we hear this section of the text, as Peter is writing to his readers as an elder statesman now, telling them to stay the course and be aware of all the false teachers that are coming. In this first chapter, he spelled out to us how great a salvation we share and how we can be assured in Ithoodae. And right now he's going to lay down some anchors for how we can make sure that we're biblically rooted in our faith, so that you know, that you know, that you know, it's not just an experience you've had with God, but it aligns with what the word teaches. And let me give you three this morning. And the first is this, that biblically rooted faith is anchored in the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Biblical faith is anchored in the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what he says in verse 16. He says, for we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In those words, power and coming together, it's his powerful coming, it's the powerful return of Jesus. That's what we were declaring to you.

And he said, now, when we told you that we were not following cleverly devised tales or myths or fables, cleverly devised means to make wise like we made them up so we sounded good. Cleverly devised means to deceive. He's saying, we did not make up stories to sound good. We did not make up ideas. And by the way, these are not myths or fables.

The word myth was used in the New Testament times a couple of different ways. One was that it was not literally true, but it conveyed a message. In other words, there are good moral stories for life, but it's not like true historically. They're not real. They didn't happen.

It's just good value. It helps us understand. Many of today's false teachers teach the scriptures this way. When they teach the book of Genesis, they don't teach six day literal creation. Cause that clearly is not what the story's about.

They would say the story is about there's a God. He's bigger than us, and he created humankind. So God's bigger than humankind. And there wasn't a real man named Adam, and there wasn't a real woman named Eve. It's just generically talking about the fact that God created and anything we see, God's bigger than that.

That's a myth. I grew up in a church that had myths. I would hear about the story of David, and maybe he lived, maybe he didn't live, but it was just a story about how good conquers evil and how God is more powerful than your enemies. Friends, I'm here to tell you, Adam was real, eve was real, David's real, Samuel's real, Joshua's real. Everybody you read about is real.

They're not myths.

And what Peter was saying through the power of the Holy Spirit is the stories that we're telling you. They're not myths. We didn't make this stuff up. This isn't just good moral teaching. It isn't just looking in the scriptures and saying, well, this has some application.

It's a good moral book. And this book at the bookstore is a good moral book. And they're all the Bible's unlike any other book. The Bible is God's breathed word, amen. And he's like, it's not just a myth of cleverly told stories.

Another way the word myth was used in new Testament times was that it had no basis in reality at all, that it was false and completely worthless, that it was nonsense, ridiculous, that it had no value. It was just made up stories by men. And there's a lot of people, even in the church that teach like this. You can't believe the Bible. That's just a bunch of men that made up a book a bunch of years ago.

Like, it's just made up stories. It's just myth. It's just fable. None of it's true. Like, it's not even worth listening to.

And Peter is saying, that's not what we're saying, that's not what we're saying. We're not creating stories. And oh, by the way, if you've ever read the Bible, you would realize no human being would ever have made up that story. It's way too incredible for who God is. You couldn't have conceived who he is.

And there's no way any human being made up the story because all it talks about throughout the whole book is how human beings are the problem with everything, that you're sinful and you're dead and you're blind to it and you're the problem with the whole world. So change. No human being writes that story and no human being could conceive of how glorious and majestic our God is. So when Peter's talking, he's saying if you're going to have biblically rooted faith, stay anchored in the powerful return of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's like, we're not making this stuff up. But here's what the apostles taught.

They taught about the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now think about this. We teach about the powerful coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, behold, I am coming soon. He taught this during his earthly ministry.

We see it all throughout the scriptures as it goes on. Jesus Christ is coming back. And what Peter is declaring, we, meaning all the apostles that have seen the Lord, have been declaring that Jesus Christ is coming back in power. I'm here to tell you Jesus Christ is coming back in power. And why is that a powerful story to tell?

Because for some people it's enough to just say, well, here's the creeds you need to believe so that if you die, you'll go to heaven. For the apostles, getting to heaven was not the goal of their faith. Meeting Jesus again was. But what they're most excited about is the fact that whether they die and come back with Jesus or Jesus comes back in their lifetime, that Christ is going to establish his kingdom on the earth. And that's what they were proclaiming.

They were proclaiming this lord and savior, this messiah that you killed is now Lord in Christ. He's ascended. And guess what? We can't stop speaking about him because he's still God, he's still ruling and he's going to come back and he's going to establish his reign on this planet. And that's what we're telling you.

So what they were praying, when they prayed the Lord's prayer, let your kingdom come, let your will be done. Here's what they were praying. Lord, we're proclaiming your return. We're proclaiming that you're coming. And until you get here, we are submitting ourselves to your lordship because you are still ruling over the entire universe.

Everything seen and unseen, you're in charge of. And so we want to align our lives under your authority in every single way because we believe the good news of the kingdom. And until your kingdom gets here, we as your kingdom servants are going to live under your authority and nobody else's authority. But we are yearning for the day where you are king on this planet. And that is going to happen and it's as certain as anything.

Amen.

False teachers don't teach that. False teachers don't talk about the return of Jesus. They don't talk about his coming to judge both the living and the dead. They don't talk about his rule on this planet. They don't talk about the fact that he is coming.

They say, well, where is he coming? How come he hasn't come? We'll get to that in chapter three. You guys have been talking about it for 2000 years. He's not here yet.

Oh, he's coming. And you'll know when he gets here. I mean, they talk about the powerful coming. I don't remember all the statistics, and I'll get these statistics wrong, but I'll give you an idea. I remember when my family went to Cape Canaveral, when we were down in Florida a number of years ago, and we were at the place where they launched rockets.

And as we were taking the bus tour around, they said, now if we were sitting right here and we were about 300 yards away from the rocket launch, when the rocket took off, we would all be incinerated immediately. And then they drove us like a half mile away and they said, now if we were here when it took off, your heart would stop beating and your eardrums would blow out of your ears. And then they took us back a mile and they kept telling us how powerful this rocket was. And all I could think about was if a man made rocket going into space would cause a heart to stop beating, your eardrums to blow out, what in the world is it going to look like when our God returns to the planet? It is going to be powerful.

See, some people have this view of a king with wings. You know, he's just going to come swooping down all nice and sweet. He's not. He's coming in power and he's coming in glory. And false teachers don't teach that.

They missed what I call the five p's of the return that I'm going to tell you this morning that if you're a biblically rooted Christian, you need to believe this. And the first one is this. The promise of his return. The promise of his return. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, his disciples began to ask him, is it now you're going to set up the kingdom?

Cause you know what they were about. The kingdom. Jesus, you're raised from the dead. You're God. We know you're God.

It's awesome. Are you establishing it now? He says, it's not for you to know times and dates, but here's what you do need to know. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you'll receive power at that point in time, and you'll be my witnesses in both Jerusalem, Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. He doesn't say no.

He doesn't say yes. He's like, it's not for you to worry about. I will set up my kingdom, but right now, you're my witnesses. And then this is what happens in verse nine, after he had said these things in acts chapter one, he was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received him out of their sight. As they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.

They also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking in the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you have watched him go into heaven. So what do the angels say as jesus tells him? It's not for you to know when I'm setting up the kingdom. But I am setting up the kingdom.

But you're going to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. But I'm out of here now. And he ascends into heaven, and the guys are looking up like, what in the world just happened? And the angels appear like, why are you looking in the sky? My answer would be, because Jesus just ascended to heaven.

We've never seen anything like it before. He said, don't look in the sky. This Jesus that ascended to heaven, this same one, the God man, he's coming back the same way you saw him go. It's a promise. Jesus said he was coming soon.

The angels testify he's coming soon. All the New Testament apostles testify he's coming soon. Can I just go on record as saying that I believe that Jesus Christ is coming back soon? And he's coming back in all of his glory, fully, bodily and physically? It's a promise.

False teachers don't teach that promise. They don't want you to think about that promise because they don't want that promise. Number two, he's coming back in power. He's coming back in power. Not only is it a promise, he's coming back in power.

You say, well, what is that going to look like? We get a glimpse of it in Matthew, chapter 17. Because Jesus has just gotten done talking to his disciples, Peter declares that he's the Christ, the son of the living God. He begins to tell his disciples how much they're going to suffer if they follow him and how they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow him in all these different things. And then he says at the end of chapter 16 in Matthew, truly, I say to you, there are some of you standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man.

There's that word coming in his kingdom. Well, a week later, six days later, chapter 17, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John and led them on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them in his shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with them. You talk about power.

That's power. Isaiah 53 said there was nothing in Jesus flesh that was majestic, that would make people drawn to him. But whatever mountain this was, and we don't know which one it was, because if people did, there'd be a bunch of shrines on it like there is everywhere else in Israel. But wherever he was on this mountainous, he takes Peter, James and John to show him his glory. And while he has his unveiled glory in front of them, Moses and Elijah show up and start talking.

So Moses, the giver of the law that delivered the people, and Elijah, the prophet of all prophets, show up with Jesus. I mean, what would you do? They don't know what to do. They've never seen anything like this. So Peter decides this is a good spot for us.

Well, this is good. This is as good as it gets. Stick around for a while. So Peter said to Jesus, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I'll make three tabernacles or tents, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.

Let's go camping. I wouldn't have said that. And while he was speaking, a bright cloud, not just any cloud, but this bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.

This is the voice of the father speaking over his son. And when the disciples heard this, they fell down to the ground and were terrified.

And Jesus came and touched them and said, get up and do not be afraid. And lifting their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus. And they went down the mountain. He tells them, don't tell anybody until after I've risen about this. But they've seen him.

They've seen his power. They've seen his glory. They've witnessed it. Watched it. They've touched it.

You'll see it. Friends, Jesus is all powerful. All authority in heaven and earth's been given to him. Jesus promised that he's coming back. Even if you say, I hate God, I hate Jesus.

I don't believe in God. I'm never going to believe in God. Oh, you will. I promise you on the authority of the scriptures. You will see him with your own eyes.

You will hear him with your own ears. Let me give you a third p that people don't talk about that are false teachers. His providence, his providence. When I talk about God's providence, I'm talking about his care and guidance of God over nature, over his creatures on the earth, especially when it comes to his omniscience or omnipotence over the universe, the affairs of mankind, all his benevolence, God's providence. Everything that happens, he's aware of everything that happens.

He's involved in, in some way. And we see this all throughout the scriptures. I mean, even Jesus, when he's talking about the times of the end, when his disciples said, well, when's this gonna be? And how's this gonna take place? In Matthew, chapter 24, verse 21, he says, for there will be a great tribulation.

Such has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, they will be cut short. Jesus talks about a future time that's gonna be so awful that even for people who are saved, the number of those days is cut short, or nobody would make it through. Like not even the most devout saint would make it.

And in verse 25 of Matthew 24, he says, behold, I've told you in advance. He goes, I'm not lying to you. This is going to happen. But notice what he says in verse 29. But immediately after the tribulation, after those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky.

And then the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds and from the end of the sky to the other. What's he talking about? His providence. He's going to work it all out for his good.

He's coming in power. He's coming in glory. In Genesis, chapter one, he turned on the lights. At the end of time, he's going to turn off the lights. And when he turns off the lights and the sun goes dark and the moon goes dark and the stars fall from the sky, you can start to look up, because we don't know the date or the hour at that point in time.

But soon, and very soon, he's coming. And he's gonna come as the brightest light, the most glorious power. And all the earth is gonna be terrified when he comes, I promise you. Why? Cause he's in charge.

He said he's coming. Everything else he ever said he was gonna do, he's done everything. All the Old Testament prophecies that said he was gonna die on the cross fulfilled. All the Old Testament prophecies that said he's gonna rise from the dead fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies that said he's gonna be born of a virgin, he's gonna be the son of goddess fulfilled. So wouldn't you believe that he's coming back, that everything he said he's going to do, he's still going to do.

Why? Because he's still in control of everything. Amen. False teachers don't teach that. And what about this?

Let me give you a fourth p. False teachers don't teach, they don't teach punishment. They don't teach punishment. There's retribution for those who don't know Christ. Now here's the problem.

The question we ask is the wrong question. How could a loving God send people to hell? Here's a better question. How could a holy God not send everybody to hell? That's the question the Bible goes to great lengths to answer.

You're the problem. You're dead. You're sinful. You're going to be punished. How could God not send you to hell?

Here's how. He sent his one and only son to die for all your sins on the cross and pay all your penalty. Who rose from the dead, validating and vindicating that he was God's one and only son and through him and him alone. He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the father except through him.

That's how.

But if you don't believe that, if you don't believe that, you will experience the wrath of God. And how serious is that? Study how Jesus got treated. That was God's wrath on display. And he'll be wrathful for all of the unrepentant.

In revelation, chapter six, when the 6th seal is open, notice what happens. John looks. He said, I looked. And when he broke the 6th seal and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair. And the whole moon became like blood.

And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe fruit when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it's rolled up. And every mountain and island was moved from their place. Do you think God's in control of the universe or what? He controls the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, the earthquakes.

He's got it all. And what happens when that happens? Well, the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and freeman hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. When all of this begins to happen and they realize Jesus is coming, instead of repenting, guess what they do? They begin to talk to the rocks and the mountains.

And they said, to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come. And who is able to stand? There's coming a day when all of these things are going to take place. Oh, that'll never happen.

You know, the moon will never darken, turn to black. It's going to happen. Stars will never fall from the sky. They're going to fall from the sky. Jesus is never going to come back.

He's coming back, I'm telling you, on great authority. And when he does, all of the powerful and all the unrepentant, whether rich or poor, whether great or small, whoever they are, who hasn't repented. When they see the glory of Christ and his wrath on full display, here's what they're gonna say. It would be better to be crushed by a large rock than to face the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ with all of his wrath. So what's that mean?

Repent and be ready. Cause he's coming soon. That's what it means. That's what it means. Pastor Jeff, you're just preaching fire and brimstone.

No, I'm not. I'm preaching the glorious, powerful return of our Lord Jesus. And I can't wait till he gets here. I'm eagerly awaiting that day.

False teachers don't teach about the punishment that's to come with the return of Christ. They also don't teach about the presence of Christ that is to come. Let's read one more scripture in Revelation, chapter 19, about his presence, because we get the wrong view of Jesus. Most people's view of Jesus is only what happened in his incarnation. And some people, because they only come to church at Christmas, their only view of Jesus is in a baby, in a manger, or he's meek and mild.

But you have to understand, Jesus Christ has always been and he will always be. He's the second person of the Trinity. He's glorious and spectacular and eternal. And he humbled himself and became human and put on flesh for all eternity and suffered and died for the sins of the world and rose. But make no mistake, when he's coming back, he's not coming back as humble servant.

He's coming back as conquering king, and he's on his way. And when you pray, that's the Jesus you want to pray to, because that's what he looks like right now. John the apostle spent so much time with Jesus that Jesus referred to him as the beloved disciple. And yet when John sees him in the book of Revelation, he falls at his feet as though dead, the one he spent all his time with on the earth. We're buddies, we're chums, we're friends, we're pals.

Not anymore. I'm scared to death of you in your glory. Here's what you're going to see. Here's what I'm going to see. Revelation 1911 says, and I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse.

And he who sat on it is called faithful and true. That's Jesus. And in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. Those are crowns.

And he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clean and fine linen, white and clean, and were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike down the nations, and he may rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the almighty.

And on his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written. King of kings and lord of lords. I mean, that victory of Jesus looks more like William Wallace in braveheart than it does in a meek and mild major. Amen. That's the one who's coming, and he's eternal and he's king, and he's watched every move.

And he knows if you're repentant and unrepentant, and he knows how to separate righteousness from unrighteousness. And I'm telling you this just like Peter did on the authority of his eyewitness and the spirit of God, that Jesus Christ is coming soon, and he's coming soon to a city near you, and you need to be excited and eagerly awaiting his return. Amen. It's happening. It's happening.

False teachers that don't believe this and don't preach the kingdom go to lesser values. Politics are important, but there's no candidate that's going to bring this. Definitely not the two candidates we're voting for in this election. They're not. They're not.

No local candidate, no national candidate. There's nobody head of state outside the United States. Nobody's going to. Only Jesus Christ can bring this. Only Jesus Christ.

So at the end of the day, if you're truly a Christian, you live in a monarchy, our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await his return. And as we await his return, we do the things we're called to do. So you should vote if you're a Christian. You must vote if you're a Christian, you must vote. Biblical values if you're a Christian.

But at the end of the day, more importantly, be obedient in every area of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and yearn for his reignite and his rule to return to this planet. Amen. That's biblically rooted faith. You should live in light of his return. And we can disagree on how that's going to happen and where it's going to happen.

And I've worked on this over the years and I'm pretty convinced that I'm right and I could be wrong, and I really don't care. What I am right about is that Jesus is going to return physically, bodily and gloriously to this planet in all power. Amen. And I know that's true. Number two, look at this biblically root of faith is not only anchored in the powerful return of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's anchored in the historical eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's anchored in the historical eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He said, we didn't follow these cleverly devised tales. We made known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But notice what he says. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. We saw him.

We watched him, we looked at him. We spent time with him. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. He's talking about that time up on the mountain we just talked about.

We were there. We were eyewitnesses. We heard the Father speak. We were with Jesus experientially. We saw him with our own two eyes, transfigured himself.

We heard the majestic glory. The Father, who is spirit that we couldn't see, spoke out of this bright cloud and said, this is my son, with whom I am well pleased. And notice what he says in verse 18. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven, and we were with him on that mountain. The historical eyewitnesses are what we read about in the text.

It's Peter, it's James, it's John, it's Paul. It's who saw Jesus. You say, well, what about my experience? You don't want to hang your hat on your own personal experience with God, because there's a lot of people that have a personal experience with quote unquote God that aren't saved. Now, let me tell you something.

When I watch somebody go through a difficult time and they persevere because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that bolsters my faith. That does me well. But I'm not placing my faith in their experience and what they experienced, that's not my faith. My faith is in the God that's behind that experience. And their experience bolsters my faith.

But my faith is anchored in what these historical eyewitnesses have said about what they saw in Jesus. You say, well, how do you believe them? Cause it's in the Bible. And how do you know it's true? Well, take, for example, Paul, who was Saul of Tarsus, who hated God, who hated followers of God, who was religious, who was zealous, but had no heart for Jesus at all.

But what happened in acts chapter nine? He saw the Lord. He saw him with his own two eyes. He heard the Lord with his own two ears. He even asked the question, who are you?

Lord said, I'm Jesus Christ, whom you're persecuting. It's me. And what happened? In a moment, his whole life was turned around. And this hostile religious zealot became humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, that wanted to be called nothing more than his slave, that was willing to give his very life for Jesus, who said, for me to live as Christ to die is gain these light and momentary afflictions from the guy who had been shipwrecked, beaten to death several times.

These light and momentary afflictions are nothing to be compared with the weight of glory that is to come. His whole life changed. What about Thomas? He doubted I was with Jesus. I saw him.

I know he was crucified. Unless I could put my hands in his hands and put my hand in his side, I'm not going to believe any of this stuff. Jesus shows up a week later, comes through the wall, pretty convincingly, sticks out his hand, says, Thomas, I hear you've been doubting. Go ahead, put your hands in my hand. Put your hand in my side.

Stop doubting and believe. And Thomas says, my lord and my God. He said, well, blessed is him who has not seen and yet believes. And what happened to Thomas? Thomas gave his life for the gospel, too.

Tradition has it, history has it. He took the gospel to India, and that's where he was martyred. Or what about Peter, the one who said, even if all men fall away from you tonight, I'll even die with you. I'm ready. Let's go.

And Jesus said, before the rooster crows, you'll betray me three times. And right in front, when Jesus needed him the most, he betrayed him three times. Fast forward. After the resurrection, he restores. Peter says, do you love me?

Three different times. Said, feed my sheep. Take care of my sheep. And here we see Peter later in his life, still being faithful to the call of God, knowing for fact he's going to be martyred, which church, history tells us, is exactly what happened. So what I see is a group of men who were scared, timid, doubting religious bigot.

Simon the zealot was a political guy. All these guys gave up their whole life to die for Jesus. I believe their testimony. I believe it's true. I believe what the Bible is screaming through them is true, and we need to as well.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, and I want to quell this. Well, you're saying we're supposed to follow our leaders. I mean, that's just entertainment value. That's celebrity. Pastor, don't let me just stop that for a second.

I'm not asking you to follow Paul. And I'm not asking you to follow Peter. And I'm not asking you to follow John or James or any of the other great men of God that gave their lives for the Lord. I'm asking you to follow Jesus. Paul said.

Jesus said, follow me. I'll make you fishermen. What did Paul say? Be imitators of me. Follow me.

Like what you've learned from me, seen from me, heard from me. Put those things into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. But here's what you're going to see in me. You're going to see my pursuit of Jesus. Make it about Jesus.

Paul even writes to the corinthian church, which would have had a knack for following idols and following celebrity teachers and all this stuff. And in one corinthians three, three, he tells them that they're still fleshly and just walking like mere Mendez. In verse four, he says, for one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of apollos. Are you not mere men? What, then, is apollos?

And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed even as the Lord gave opportunity? To each one I planted, apollos watered. But God caused the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth.

What's he saying? You guys are so fleshy. Some say I listen to this pastor, and some say, I listen to that pastor, and I go to this church, and I go to that church, and it's like, who cares about who you're getting the teaching from? It's God that's doing the work. The teachers are nothing.

Amen. It's like if you had a milkshake. I heard this example from a pastor the other day. I don't know who to give credit to. And if it's you pastors listening to me, it's on you.

I didn't make this up. But imagine you want a milkshake and you want to drink the milkshake. Do you really care what straw you have? It's not about the straw. It's about the milkshake.

You take that straw, put a different straw in. This straw is better, because I get more. Our job as preachers of the word of God is to get the word of God in your heart. We're just a straw, and we're a dying straw. And one day God's going to take that straw away.

Put another straw. You want to go after the milkshake? Another way of saying it is you want the word of God, not the person that's giving it to you. Amen.

It's always about the message, not the messenger. Now, if God's gifted a messenger to serve faithfully, pray for that messenger, honor that messenger, all that. But don't follow the messenger. Follow who the messenger is telling you about, and they better be telling you about the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now here's why this is so important. Much like many of you who are born again, I've had subjective experiences with the Lord that are powerful. I've had the Lord speak to my heart about different things. I've been reading the words at times where I knew I needed to go forgive somebody, or I've had powerful encounters where I've sensed the presence of the Lord. Not all the time, but sometimes.

But I don't talk about him very much because I don't want you to think that because you didn't have an experience, maybe you're not really a Christian. I proclaim the word because if you have that, you have everything you need. Now, my theology will allow me to believe that you can have experiences with God outside of biblical revelation, so long as your experience outside of biblical revelation completely is anchored in biblical revelation. So, for instance, if you tell me God spoke to me and told me I need to get divorced, I know for sure he never told you that 100% of the time, but, yeah, but I felt the spirit. No, you felt a spirit.

It's not the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit doesn't say that. God's already spoken on everything, right? So anything subjective that you might think you heard, it better align with what's in this book or you're not hearing it from the Holy Spirit. My faith is not anchored to my experiences. While I've had many, my faith is anchored to the apostolic witness that what they saw and what they witnessed and what they heard and what they seen, that's what I believe.

I mean, in John chapter one, the beloved disciple, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. And the word was God. And in John chapter one and verse 14, it says, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. And what does he say? He says, and we have seen him, and we saw his glory.

Glory is the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth. We saw him. And in one John chapter one, the first few verses, he spells this out even more clearly. What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at what we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the father and was manifested to us.

What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. These things we write so that our joy may be complete. I mean, how many times does he talk about this? We've seen him, we've heard him, we've looked at him, we've touched him, we spent time with him.

The whole New Testament is the apostolic witness of those who physically saw Jesus Christ. That's why there are no more apostles and prophets in the church in the truest sense, that have seen the Lord with their own two eyes or heard the Lord specifically with their ears to say, thus saith the Lord. Now, there's a gift of apostleship for people that have the ability to go where Christ is not known, start churches or plant churches, but they're not apostles because they never saw the resurrected Christ. To be an apostle, you need to physically see Jesus and physically hear him. To be a prophet, you need to physically hear him.

Go to Nineveh and do this now, if you sensed in your spirit, you sensed the Lord calling you, that's great. That's not what I'm talking about. The prophets and apostles word is authoritative because it was given by the Holy Spirit. As we'll see here in just a minute, nothing I'm saying is authoritative unless what I'm saying is what the word of God teaches. I'm not an apostle in the sense I've never seen Jesus face to face.

He never spoke to my ear and said, go now. I've sensed in my spirit when I was doing devotions about 15 years ago. Move your family to Denver and do all that. That's great. I was sensing to the best of my ability that's what God was calling me to do.

And I think I heard him right and all those things. But he never appeared to me physically and told me, go to Denver and whatever I tell you, you tell. Here's what he told me to tell all of Denver and everywhere I go around the world. This book right here, this is authoritative. Amen.

So is your faith anchored in the historical eyewitnesses it must be. Don't anchor your faith to another human being. I've watched a lot of disappointment in the history of the church since I've been a believer of people that anchored their faith to their pastor or anchored their faith to a speaker or anchored their faith to a ministry, only to watch that ministry show their true colors, and then their faith is destroyed. Anchor your faith to the apostolic and prophetic witness of the scriptures, because that stands the test of time, no matter what. And pray to God that he gives you faithful people to preach the word and appreciate what God does, but appreciate the truth, you're getting out of it.

And if you happen to go to a church, like if you're visiting brave today, and you don't go to a church where they open up the Bible, can I just be candid with you? Leave. 20 years ago, I'd say, talk to your pastor. Pray with. If he's not preaching the word, leave.

If you go to a restaurant that doesn't serve food, leave. Go to another restaurant. Do you understand what I'm saying? We need to be under the word of God. So, enough said.

So find your faith biblically rooted by being anchored in the powerful return of Christ, anchored in the historical eyewitnesses, the ones who physically saw him and physically heard him and physically touched him. That's what we're believing. And then, finally, is this. Let your biblical faith be rooted and anchored in the trustworthy scriptures of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let them be anchored in these trustworthy scriptures.

We've been talking about it the entire morning because this is where we get our truth. So they say, we've heard him, we've seen him, we've touched him, we were eyewitnesses. Notice verse 19 of two, Peter one. So we have the prophetic word made more sure. In other words, what the scriptures testified about the coming Messiah.

We know we have it more sure because we've seen them ourselves. Everything in the scriptures is true, to which you would do well to pay attention to as a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. In other words, here's guys that saw the Lord, touched the Lord, heard the Lord, and where's their faith anchored in the scriptures? They saw Jesus, they talked with Jesus. They were there on the night that he instituted the Lord's supper.

They watched all this. And they're like, yeah, but here's why. We know that it's true because it's anchored in the scriptures. So we know that the scriptures are true because everything the scriptures said came to be in Jesus. That's what they're saying.

And then he goes on to say, why the scriptures are so good. But know this. First of all that. No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will.

But men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God. Every bit of this book is God's word. When you're reading it, God's speaking. When you're speaking it, God's speaking. When you're hearing it, God's speaking.

What's God saying to our world? Read it, hear it, proclaim it, preach it. This is what he has been saying to the world since the time that the book was complete. Amen is true. We believe it.

Anchor your faith in the trustworthy scriptures. Now, some will say, no, no, no. We just need the experience. I've heard false teachers. We'll talk about them coming in the coming weeks.

No, don't. You can. What's the word? Untether yourself from the Old Testament. It's not a big deal.

You don't need the Old Testament. We're in the New Testament. You really don't even need that. You just need an encounter with Jesus. Okay, you need an encounter with Jesus, but how are you going to know who Jesus is or which Jesus you're going to believe in if you don't have the scriptures?

First corinthians 15 says this. The apostle Paul wrote, who saw Jesus with his own two eyes, who heard Jesus with his own two ears, and says, for I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The apostle Paul saw and heard Jesus, and he was saying, don't trust me because I saw him. Trust me because this is what the scriptures testify was always going to happen. It's not your experience that makes a difference.

It's what you believe about the word of God being true. It's anchored in the word. And how many christians feel like they're second class or less than because they'll hear some christian talk about some experience they had, which may be genuine, may be false, but then they're like, how come I don't have that experience? Maybe I'm not spiritual enough. It's not about the experience.

It's about the truth. That Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God who died for your sins, was buried and rose from the dead. And through repentance and faith, you can have a relationship with him. And if you have that, when he comes back, you will hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant. That's truth.

Make sure your testimony is anchored in the scriptures. Friends, I'm banking my entire eternity on the fact that this book is true. If I get to a place where I find this book is false, I don't want anything to do with anything anymore. Like I wouldn't want to live anymore. Like my whole life is coming from this book.

Isaiah said. Isaiah 48 the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord stands forever. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 24 35, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Hebrews 412 says, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword. It penetrates to divide both soul and spirit joints in marrow and judges the attitudes and intentions of the heart.

Isn't it interesting no matter where somebody's preaching the word, the Holy Spirit can give you application in a unique way. I find it interesting when somebody will say, hey, last week or two weeks ago when you're preaching on forgiveness, that God prompted me to forgive somebody. And I say, I didn't preach on forgiveness for the last two weeks, but the Holy Spirit used his word to teach you about forgiveness in the last two weeks. Do you understand how many applications there are going on for any ears that are tuned to the Lord this morning? For some, it's like I need to get more rooted in the word.

For some it's like I need to be in church more often to hear the word. And for others it's like I need to tell other people about the word. And for others it's comfort that I'm glad I know the word. And this reminded me that it's true and I don't need to waver. I mean, there's myriads of application that the Holy Spirit can make from the truth of the word.

Even when Jesus was tempted in Matthew four, he said, man is not to live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God. Your nourishment, your hope in this world comes from this book. He said, you need to own this book like a lamp shining in a dark place. If you think we're living in dark times, I'm going to give you the light. It's right here.

It's a lamp unto your feet and a light into your path. And the more acquainted with this you are, the more bright your path is going to become. And light shines brightest wherever in the darkness. So when we see a dark world, we don't fear. We don't say, oh, it's so dark, it's so praise the Lord that if we live the light, we can brighten the place up.

Amen.

I love this. You know, when Jesus rose from the dead in Luke 24, and he's walking with those two guys on the road to Emmaus, and he's talking to them, and he says he opened up the scriptures, and all throughout the old testament, he talked about what the coming messiah was going to be. If I had any scripture, if I had any sermon recorded that I could have that wasn't recorded in scripture, I think that would be the one. Wouldn't it be cool to hear Jesus teach the entire new testament for 2 hours? I would all testify about him.

It would be amazing. And this is why the word is so important, because some people say, well, I like that in the word, and I don't like that in the word. And I like this in the word, but I don't like that in the word. You can't say that this word is Jesus. The scriptures testify to the resurrected Christ.

If you like some of it, but you don't like the rest. It's like, well, I like some of Jesus. I just don't like this parts of Jesus. You either love him or you don't. I love him.

Even the parts I don't understand, that I won't understand until I get to heaven. But why did that happen? And how come this? And why do bad things happen to good people? And how come, for my ways are higher than your ways, declare the Lord.

My thoughts are higher than your thoughts. That's my answer. Okay. When we get to heaven, I trust you. Bad things that I see, I trust you.

Good things that I see, I trust you because I trust your word. Jesus says in Luke 926, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. You're ashamed of his word, he'll be ashamed of you. Well, what words? All of them.

All of them, right. I mean, own this, grow in this. It doesn't mean you need to be a Bible expert or a Bible scholar. I'm not even that. I'm still growing in the word.

I'm still learning the word. I'm still growing in my relationship with Jesus. I'll never on this side of heaven have it mastered. No way. I want to know more.

I want to know him more, because the more I know this word, the more I'm learning who Jesus is and how he wants me to relate to him. I'm putting together. I didn't say this in the first service, but I'm putting together a little tool that I think will help anybody when you're listening to a sermon that will be helpful to you when you hear it. Like, how can you get the most out of a. How do you get the most out of a sermon?

Because as you're hearing the biblical truth come out, like, what does God want you to do with it? Because your obedience to what you're hearing this morning is more important than coming back and hearing next week what I'm gonna say. Put it into practice. Let Christ come forth in you grow in this, and wherever you are, there's greater places to grow. I pray that we at brave continue to grow in these areas, that you have a faith that's anchored in the personal coming, the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You yearn for that. We should yearn for that. He's coming soon. It'd be anchored in the historical eyewitnesses who saw the Lord and experienced him, and it'd be anchored in the trustworthy scriptures. For the last 14 years, I've not shirked back from preaching you the whole counsel of God, because I know that one day when I stand before the Lord and teachers are judged with a harsher judgment that I'm going to give an account to that.

I'm not here to make the word of God more palatable or anything else. I'm just here to present it and proclaim it in all of its fullness of truth, with the fullness of grace. That where you don't measure up, he'll meet you and he'll love you. Why? Because some people don't do that.

Because they want people to come back. And while I'd love you to come back, the reason I do what I do is I want you to know God way more than I want you to come back. And I believe this, that even when the word of God goes forth, even when you're like, I didn't want to hear that. I'm never going to listen to that again.

The Holy Spirit uses his word wherever you go. You can't escape it. If you hate what I'm saying to you today, you'll be thinking about it for the rest of your life.

Because the Holy Spirit goes with you, because he loves you so much. And here's the beauty of what I'm telling you. We don't own this because we're good. We own this because of what Christ has done for us. There's a standard that we can never attain, that Jesus Christ attained for us.

By being perfect, by always being perfect, by putting his life down on the cross, by taking on the sin of humanity, by taking the wrath of God in all of its fullness, by being buried in a grave. But then by getting up out of that grave, validating that he's the only one that can overcome death. And through repentance and faith, you can overcome death, too. In Christ. The way we're going to end our service today is by taking communion.

I would just invite you whatever campus you're on, to get the elements out and hold them in your hands. And as you hear this song about remembrance, I want you to think about all that Christ has done. Anybody that's repented and believed in Christ is welcome to take this meal with us together. I'm going to have you prepare your hearts, and then our campus pastors will come up after the singing of the song, and we'll take the elements together. But prepare your heart in any way.

And if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior, it's just been a bunch of rules, or you never want anything to do with them. But you realize today you need Christ. I'll pray with you here in a minute and tell you how you can receive him and prepare your hearts, because Jesus Christ, through his blood, cleanses you from all unrighteousness. Amen. Be mindful of what he's done for you.

Would you pray with me this morning? Our Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor and praise, Lord, for your word to show us how we can be anchored to you. Through the historic eyewitnesses, through the truthful scriptures, through your powerful return. We pray this morning, Lord, as we hear this song of remembrance sung over us, that we be ever mindful of all that you did to rescue people from an eternal hell. And it wasn't our good works, and it wasn't us finding you.

It was you coming on a rescue mission for us. And we thank you for that. And, Lord, as we prepare our hearts for this supper today, remind us of all the sins you've forgiven, past, present, and future, that we are completely cleansed, that we belong to you, and that nothing, but nothing can snatch us out of your hands, we give you all the glory and honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.