A Sure Word—A Sure Faith

2 Peter chapter 1, we'll read verses 16 through 21. Say this, for we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Verse 19, we have also a more sure word of prophecy where into you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation 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. Let's pray. Father Lord, again we just praise you and glory in you. And Lord, we thank you for what you're doing in hearts and lives. Lord, we thank you for this testimony that we just heard. And Lord, I'm glad dear God that you know how to take your word and through your Holy Spirit, Lord, convict us and open our eyes of understanding and let us see what we really are in ourselves and what we really are without the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, thank you. Lord, that has been given testimony tonight for the gospel, for the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, for the power of the death, burial and resurrection to transform lives and then to call people into your service. Lord, again, we thank you for the faithfulness of your servants tonight. Lord, we thank you for those that are listening in. And again, Lord, we thank you Lord God for what took place this morning. And Lord, we trust you to continue to bless and work through the local church, the Choice Hills Baptist Church. Help us now we pray in Jesus name, amen. All right, question. If you were to ask yourself, what are three things I desire as a believer or we should desire as a believer? Just, I'm sure we can think of many, but what might you say? If you say, well, three things I desire, let's say in my Christian life or in the Lord or whatever, three things I should desire as a believer or should desire as a believer. Somebody give me something. Pardon me? Will of God. Sister. Amen. A close, intimate, active relationship. Yes. Joy and peace. Amen. Very good. Somebody else. Something. Something I should desire as a believer or should desire for my Christian life. Anybody else? Yes. Isn't there a verse about that? Amen, amen. Anybody else real quick? Something I should desire as a believer or some things I should desire as a believer. Yes. Right, right. Know the word of God. All right, one more time. Yes, sir. Right, set your affection on things above. Anybody else? See, you can't do that. See, that's nice where Isaiah got it from. Don't ever go to an auction. You'll be buying a lot of things without realizing it. All right. All right, well, three things I wrote down were, one, please God. I want to please God. Two, not sin, avoid sin. I want to avoid sin as a believer. Three, have more victories in my life. All right, anybody here wanna please God? Anybody wanna hear do a better job at night sinning? Anybody here wanna have more victories in their life? Well, so what does it take to please God? Right, I'm gonna just give you these simple verses and try to get to a point. Well, what does it take to please God? Well, Hebrews 11, six tells us, of course, what it takes to please God or what you cannot please him without. Hebrews 11, six says this, but without faith, it is impossible. Impossible, can't be done to please him. For he that come to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that digitally seek him. So I say, I wanna please God. Well, it says right there, without faith, it's impossible to please him. Well, what is something that will help with sin in my life? Romans 14, 23. And he that doubteth his damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Next question, how can I have more victories in my life? Listen, I don't wanna live a defeated life, I wanna live a victorious Christian life, right? Faith is the victory, 1 John 5, 4. For whatsoever is born of God overcome of the world. And this is the victory that overcome of the world, even our faith. Hey, I wanna please God. The answer is faith. Listen, I wanna do a better job at not sinning. Well, faith. I wanna have more victories in my life. What's the answer? Faith, so what is the answer to these things? Faith, faith, faith. Well, if faith is what helps me please God and I wanna please God, if faith will help me do a better job, right? I wanna have less sin in my life, I wanna do a better job of walking with God. Well, hey, whatever's not of faith is sin, so it's gonna take faith. Does not wanna have more victories of our life, and I see it's faith, so listen. So what's the logical question if the answer to pleasing God, trying to have less sin in my life and trying to have more victories in my life is faith? Well, then the logical questions are, what is faith? And where can I get it? What is faith and where can I get it? Well, again, Hebrews 11 one tells us what faith is. You know this. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Well, let me give you a definition for substance, right? That which is the basis of something, that which is the ground of confidence, substance, the proof of what really exists, right? Hey, this pulpit really exists, right? It's made of the substance called wood. It's the proof. It's the substance. It's the proof of what really exists. It says of things hoped for. Hoped for is that which I expect with desire. You see, with faith, right, I can hope for something, and with desire, I can expect it, and I should expect it if it's based upon faith. See, faith allows me to have that desire. And then it's the evidence. I like the word evidence. What is evidence? Evidence is that which certainly persuades, evidence is that which certainly persuades that something is true or truly going to happen, right? I mean, we always use the example of the court of law. How do we, you know, which side's true? Well, let's look at the evidence. And the evidence shows that this is what's true, right? That this is what's true. And so faith is the evidence that something is true or truly going to happen. And it says right here in verse two, look at verse two of Hebrews 11, says what? For by it, the elders obtained a good report. Well, if I could pull one thought out of that verse, by it, the elders obtained a good report, it would be this. By it, obtained. By it, obtained. That's how we obtain things from God, by faith, right? I wanna please God, faith. Hey, I wanna do a better job at having less sin in my life knowing that I'm doing things to please God, faith. I wanna have more victory in my life, right? It takes faith. I wanna obtain some things, right? In my Christian life, how could I do it? By it, by faith, right? Obtained. Of course, you read all through 11, Hebrews 11, that's what it's all about. So and so obtained, so and so obtained, so and so obtained, so and so obtained, or did, or whatever, obtained. So we know what faith is. It's the substance. It's the proof that something really exists. It's what gives me that ability as I walk by faith to expect with desire that, hey, this is really going to happen. I can expect this. It's all right to have a desire to expect this because by faith, I'm expecting it. And it's the evidence. I can look at that faith and say, it's truly going to happen, or this thing is true. And by it, I can obtain some things. So since I know this is what faith does for me, since I know what faith is, well then, the next question is, hey, man, hey, where can I get some of this stuff? Where can I get some of this stuff? Well, Romans 10, 17 answers this question. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God and hearing by the word of God. What does that word hearing mean? It means to listen to, to attend to, and to obey. So how do I get faith? By listening to the word of God, by attending to the word of God, and by obeying the word of God. So the word of God is the key to me having faith from which I can please God, walk with God, have victories in my life. And so, man, that's an exciting thing that it's by the word of God. And in verse 19, this is just gonna be a simple, quick thought, verse 19, right, tells me something about the word of God. And that's what it's referring to, right? We know in the other verses, he's talking about the Mount of Transfiguration. He says, man, I saw this with my own eyes, but better than what I saw with my own eyes is what God gave me to put my trust in. What's better than putting trust in what I see in my eyes is what God wrote down for me. And notice this thought, just a simple thought, verse 19, right, thank God for what I saw. Boy, it was wonderful to see Jesus being transfigured. It was wonderful to see Moses. It was wonderful to see Elijah. But boy, even as exciting as that is, man, I can't carry Jesus with me. I can't carry Moses with me and Elijah, right? But hey, thank God I do have something I can carry with me. I can carry with me the word of God, and this is what it says about it. We also have a more sure word of prophecy. And look at that thought right there, a more sure word. That thought right there, that sure word, right, means this. A sure word is something that's fixed. It's something that's certain. It's something that upon which one may build, right? It's sure, right? It's not going anywhere. I can build upon this, or I can build from this. This word, it's fixed, it's certain, it's something that upon which one may build, it's something that upon which one may rely, it's something that upon which one may trust, it's something that does not fail, it's something that does not waver, it's something immovable, again, it's something that upon which one may totally rely. And so here's the exciting thing. The source of my faith, right, that allows me, amen, to take and do things and please God and do things for God and benefit my life, the source of that is something that is fixed, I wanna repeat this, something that is certain, something from which I can build, something that I can trust, something that, listen, this book, let me just say it this way, this book is fixed, the word of God is fixed, the word of God is certain, the word of God is something you can build upon, the word of God is something you can trust, the word of God is something that will not fail, the word of God is something that will not waver, the word of God is something immovable, the word of God is something on which you can totally rely. So if this is the basis or source of my faith and I look at this and I believe it because it's the evidence of what is true, amen, and the substance, well then what does that mean about the faith I should have? Because the word of God is the basis and source of faith and the word of God is all these things, then what does that mean that our faith should be? That means if this word is sure, that means since it's the source of my faith, my faith should be sure. So thank God because of that, you know what that means about the faith that you should have? I can say my faith is fixed. I can say my faith is certain. I can say my faith is immovable. I say my faith is something that I can rely on. I'm saying I have a faith that cannot fail. You know it talks about that in James, right? A faith that should not waver, it says nothing wavering, right? Well why should I waver? The word of God doesn't waver, the word of God doesn't fail and my faith is based upon this. And since it doesn't waver, since it doesn't fail, amen, I should have a faith that will not fail. I should have a faith. So I should be able to say based upon this book, I have unwavering faith in the living God. I have unwavering faith. Listen, the faith that I have that says I'm saved is immovable. You cannot make me doubt my salvation. The word of God and the God of the word, amen, I have complete trust in the word of God. I have complete trust in the God of the word. Listen, and because of that, right, I can build on it, my faith, and I can do. That's why it says, amen, it says about Abraham, right, he didn't waver. Because why? Why did their faith not waver? Because they were trusting in something that cannot waver. Why didn't their faith fail? Because their trust is in something that cannot fail. Why, when all those things were coming against it, they weren't moved, because they were trusting in something that is immovable. And so what a wonderful book this is. And see, and because my faith is based upon this book, that is why we can please God with it. God is pleased, amen, with it. And that is why what is done with it is not sin, it pleases God. And that's why it brings victory and allows us to overcome the world and so much more. So the simple thought is this, amen, hey, you wanna please God? Amen, you wanna live a life with more victories? You wanna live a life with less sin? Stay in the book, stay in the book, stay in the book. Just that simple thought tonight, stay in the book, amen. This is, amen, the source of your faith. And all that it is, your faith comes from this. So amen, because this book is those things, you can look temptation in the eye, you can look the world in the eye and say, listen, I'm fixed, I'm unmovable, amen. My faith is not going to fail, I'm gonna keep marching on. We're gonna keep marching on for the cause of Christ because we stand on the word of God.