[0:00] Jesus is returning. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak, but he is strong. Yes, Jesus is returning. Yes, Jesus is returning. Yes, Jesus is returning. The Bible tells me so. Are those the words that you have sung to your children and grandchildren? Are those the words that you had sung to you when you were little? Well, perhaps not quite those words, but if the Apostle Peter was to write or adapt a hymn to convey what it is he's teaching this evening from this passage, I think it would be those words.
[0:52] Jesus is returning. Jesus is coming. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.
[1:05] And as we return this evening to Peter's second letter, as he writes about 30 years after Christ's ascension, and he writes to these group of churches in Asia Minor, remember what we said this morning? He's writing to bring them stability, to bring them stability, surety, to help them not to trip and stumble. Why would they be in danger of stumbling? Well, we said this morning two things.
[1:31] One, Peter himself is about to die. The other apostles are too. But secondly, there's false teachers in their midst, aren't there? There's false teachers climbing pulpit stairs, putting on dog callers and teaching things that aren't true about the Lord Jesus. As we thought this morning, and we're going to see again tonight, one of the main thrusts, one of the main bits, if you like, of errant teaching, of false teaching, is that the false teachers are saying that Jesus isn't coming back. And actually, we see Peter make reference to that here. If you just look down to verse 16, we read it just a moment ago. What does he say in verse 16? For we did not follow cleverly devised stories or myths when we told you about what? The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, in power.
[2:26] There, he's not talking about the first coming of Jesus at Christmas, born in a manger in a stable in Bethlehem. No, he's talking about the return of Christ, the second coming of the Lord Jesus, when the skies will be peeled back, and Christ will be seen from all the corners of the earth. That's what he's speaking about. And he wants to assure this church that will happen. Jesus is coming. This I know for the Bible tells me so. And dear friends, don't we need that assurance as well? Remember, these Christians, this church had been around for, what, maximum 30 years. It was only 30 years since Christ had ascended into heaven. 2,000 years later, we've heard this kind of thing, haven't we? Either from pulpits or out there in the world. Jesus coming again, really? Look, the world takes over just as it always has. Jesus is coming, really? Are you sure? And Peter wants to assure them, yes, he will come.
[3:27] So we're going to do this evening what we did this morning and sit with our diaries open, to sit with our iCals, our Google calendars. Remember, Filofaxes? Maybe we had to go and look that up this afternoon. What was a Filofax again? We're going to sit with all these things open, but with our eschatological ones, with our end times one, and realize that it's written into the diary of the universe. The world, to each one of us, is a day where the Lord Jesus will return and make all things new. This morning, we thought about, in those first few verses, we thought about, well, then how then do we live? If this is in our diary, and we know that we're going to meet Christ, and Jesus is coming back, how do we live? But this evening, as we read in those verses, and as we've hinted at already, the question is, well, how can we be sure? How can we be sure? Is Jesus really coming? Can we really know that with any certainty? Well, yes, we can. And Peter, this evening, wants us to know that whatever else might be in our diary for this week, what's in your diary for this week? Holidays, sports camps, studying, work, whatever is in your diary, and you hope to do this week, the return of the Lord Jesus is the only fixed appointment. Dear friends, everything else will come and go. I spoke to someone this morning who had a wonderful-sounding holiday plan for this week, and what was the big bug thing, the blue screen, whatever it was, IT meltdown, cancelled. We all know what it's like. Things fall out of our diaries. People get sick. IT systems crash and go into meltdown.
[5:00] Whatever else it is, plans change. But the one sure thing, the one sure thing is that the Lord Jesus will return and make all things new. Jesus is coming, and Peter wants us to be sure to live our lives hopeful and assured, knowing that Jesus is coming. And he says we can do that for two reasons, two simple points this morning. What was it? Six points, just the two this evening. It's a little easier on us if it evening, I think. So how can we be sure? Jesus is coming, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Well, two reasons. We know that that date is in our diary. The first one, the first one right there at the start of verse 16, because what we believe isn't a myth. That's our first point.
[5:44] Peter says, well, because what we taught you, what we believe, what we're teaching isn't a myth or isn't a story, a made-up story. What does Peter say in verse 16? For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power. As I've hinted at already, and when I was reading it, that word stories can be translated myth or fable. He's saying that the Christian gospel, and part of that gospel is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christian gospel, it is not a story that sits within the realm of once upon a time. Think Cinderella or Disney. No, it's not that kind of story. Nor is it a kind of Never Never Land kind of story. Think of Peter Pan and all of that. Nor is it a galaxy far, far away kind of story, like a Star Wars story. I know some of us wish, oh, if only Star Wars was real lightsabers and all this kind of stuff. Amazing.
[6:43] Dear friends, I'm sorry if I have to let that drop tonight, but no, Star Wars isn't real, right? In a galaxy far, far away, it didn't happen. Or Aesop's Fables or anything like that. What Peter has handed down to us, what we have received in the word of God, isn't that kind of news. Or actually, maybe more akin to that, what Peter is talking about here is a little bit more like Chinese whispers. I used to be a teacher, a primary school teacher, and that was the kind of thing you would play sometimes. Maybe you've played it at a kid's birthday party or something like that, Chinese whispers. You know how it is as a teacher? I would start and say something like this, John is going to a shop to buy an apple.
[7:23] John is going to shop to buy an apple, and you tell it to the first child, and it works its way all the way around the room. And by the time it gets back to you, John is skiing in the Alps while eating fish and chips, right? Something like that, right? The story changes completely. And actually, that is more akin to what the false teachers are doing here, because they're not denying Jesus.
[7:45] They're not denying his existence. They're just taking the truth about what has been taught by the Lord Jesus and taught by the apostles, and they're twisting it. They're putting it through a kind of whisper circle. So by the time it comes back, you have something twisted, something different.
[8:04] And dear friends, that is what we have to be cautioned about today. People do that. They make gaps between what Christ has taught and Christ himself. Oh, the Jesus of the Bible? Oh, well, he's different from the historical Jesus. Or, oh yes, we know Jesus says this, but well, what about Paul? Have you heard that kind of thing before? We must be on guard about it. People still do that today. Or people put a gap between Jesus and Christianity. And it's oh so dangerous. Oh so dangerous. Peter says, no, that's not how it works. Now, of course, the question is, well, it's not a myth. Well, what is it? Well, we're coming to that. But friends, let me just give you one implication of that. Let me just give you one implication of that. And it is this. Accepting the return of Jesus can't just come down to personal choice, to personal preference. Or the word that we would often hear today is relativize it. Relativize it. Have you ever heard that before? It's okay for me to have my truth, but you over there can have your truth. Peter is saying, no, this isn't some contrived story where you can just like it or not like it. I can like Star Wars or not like it. I can like Cinderella or not like it. And whether I like it or not really makes no difference to my life. I remember being in a taxi out in America with an extraordinarily enthusiastic taxi driver. I don't know what your taxi experience is like in Aberdeen.
[9:36] Mine is generally on the less enthusiastic side, perhaps. But when I was in wonderful drivers, just less conversation, I found that once or twice I had to get taxis or Ubers out in the States.
[9:48] People were very enthusiastic. They always wanted to talk. They always wanted to talk. And interestingly, just being out there where we were, we were in Charlotte in North Carolina, and saying you were training to be a pastor actually wasn't something that made people not really know what to say. They had lots of conversation. And I remember speaking to one man as he was driving, and he told me how he was raised in the church and brought up a Christian.
[10:11] But I could see where the story was going because he didn't love the Lord Jesus anymore. He didn't follow him anymore. He didn't stand on the promises of his word. Jesus was not his Lord and Savior.
[10:23] And I remember at the end of the conversation, and we chatted, and it was very warm. It was a really good conversation. But at the end of it, he just said, well, at the end of the day, it's good for me to have my truth, and you can have yours. As if, yeah, let's just leave it at that. And then for the last few minutes of the taxi ride, I had to say to him, well, no, that's not how it works. The claims of the gospel, the claims of the Lord Jesus, the truth of who Jesus is, and that God has spoken in this world is news for me and you. You can reject it and do so at your peril, but it does affect you.
[10:58] It is news you have to respond to. You can't just relativize it. Dear friends, think about it. No student can say to their professor, my paper was late. Sorry, sir, my paper was late, but you had your truth about the date it was due, and I had my truth about the date it was due. Is that going to work with your professor for your exam? I don't think so. No employee can say to their boss, well, look, this piece of work isn't really ready yet because I knew you had a deadline for the work, but actually, I had my own kind of deadline. It was just myth. It was kind of a story. I thought we were just kind of making it up. Friends, know how silly that is. And we need to be assured that the Christian gospel, what we have from God in his word is not like that. No, it is not myth. It's not made up. Jesus is coming. It's not pick and mix. It's not cool for me to believe one thing and someone else to believe something else. No, we all need to know the truth of the gospel. It affects all of us, all of us. Okay, secondly then, secondly, how do we know that date is in our diary? How can we be sure? Firstly, it's not myth.
[12:07] Well, then what is it? What is it? And this is our second point. What is it? How can we know? Because what we believe is grounded in the truth of the Bible. Because what we believe is grounded in the truth of the Bible or because the Bible tells me so. How can we be sure the dates in our diary?
[12:28] Because the Bible tells me so. And that's our second point. That's how we can be sure. And in the rest of these verses, Peter speaks about that in two ways. He's speaking about the scriptures, the Bible, and he speaks first about then the witness of the New Testament, what we have in the New Testament scriptures. And then he goes to speak about the Old Testament. So firstly, then the New Testament or the apostolic witness of the New Testament. Look at verses 16 to 18.
[12:59] What does he say at the end of verse 16? So we didn't follow stories or myths, but we were eye witnesses of his majesty. He, that is the Lord Jesus, received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the majestic glory saying, this is my son whom I believe. With him I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And so Peter gives these Christians stability saying, I know Jesus is coming. How?
[13:31] Because I saw it. Because I saw it. And because I heard it. I was on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured. That's what was read to us earlier by Edna from Matthew's gospel. I was there on the mountain with James and John when Jesus was transfigured. And that is the testimony I've given to you. Where we lived in Charlotte in North Carolina, we had an ice cream shop that was very near our house, kind of dangerously close to our house. We actually managed to get onto first name terms with the people that worked there. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but we did.
[14:11] And when we went down to the ice cream shop, and I think you can do this here as well when you go for ice cream and you're thinking, what flavor do I want? You can ask for a little taster, can't you? You get one of those little spoons, if you ever had that, and the person just gives you just a little bit, a little bit of flavor to decide. Is that the one I want to go for? Do I really want to go for the curly, whirly, swirly, blue chewing gum flavor? Or just, well, I stick with vanilla because we know it's going to be good, right? You get a little taster. You get a little taster. And by that little taster, you know what the full flavor of the ice cream is going to be when it comes. So why is it that Peter, in these verses, refers to the transfiguration? Why does he do that? Because the transfiguration is like that. It revealed, it gave a glimpse, a kind of forward-looking glimpse of the Lord Jesus in his unveiled splendor and glory. It gave just a taste to those apostles who were there up on the mountain of what it'll be like when Jesus comes again. While on earth, as we read in Philippians,
[15:16] Jesus' glory was veiled. It was veiled. It was hidden for a time. But on the transfiguration, there on the mountain, we get a glimpse, a foretaste, so that James and John and Peter are left into, no doubt at all, as to who Jesus is and what it'll be like when he comes again.
[15:36] So let's look at those two things. Notice what Peter refers to, what he saw and what he heard. So what did he see, verse 16? His majesty. He saw Jesus' majesty and his honor and his glory, his splendor. He felt his face, it was so much. And so what Peter sees is a little bit like somebody, the week leading up to the king's coronation. Think about those people who were in Westminster or seeing Prince Charles as he was then, King Charles III, but before he was coronated. What did they see? They probably saw him with a crown or a scepter of an orb, getting a little glimpse of what it would be like when he was crowned. And that's what Peter's saying. I saw that. I saw the king in all his glory, all his splendor. That's what I saw. And when I saw him, I saw majesty and glory and splendor. He is the king. And it's not just what he saw, is it? Verses 17 and 18, it's what he heard.
[16:31] What did he hear? He heard the voice of the father. And the words that he hears of the voice of the father speaking about his son, about the Lord Jesus, are the words of Psalm 2. They're Psalm 2 words. Remember Psalm 2, the nation's rage against God and his anointed. And the Lord laughs and says, I have set my king on Zion's hill. This is my beloved son. This is my son who I love. With him, I am well pleased. Peter heard that God has set his king on Zion's hill. So dear friends, anytime you're tempted to doubt the return of Jesus, doubt the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the truth of the Bible's testimony about him, remember that. Remember that Peter, James, and John, they saw it. They've seen it. They know what it'll be like when Christ returns.
[17:28] That is Peter's exhortation to us, isn't it? In verse 15, if you scan your eyes back up, what does he say right there at the end? Remember these things. Remember, I've seen it, and I am passing that on to you. And as you remember, dear friends, as you remember, take courage, take courage. For the one who is coming, the Lord Jesus who is returning, he is the one who is the king of all the world. He is the one who the Father has set on Mount Zion as king of all and put the nations under his feet. We can often feel embattled, can't we? We can feel embattled in our workplaces, as in our works we see Christian ethics being removed and taken out. We can be embattled in our families as we stand for Jesus, embattled in our schools as we faithfully look to keep an SU group going or following Christ there. We can feel embattled in our politics as often new legislation is brought in that's turning away from the gospel, the Christian heritage on which we stand. And in those moments, we can be tempted to stumble. But in those moments, dear friends, remember the one who is coming is the king of Sam too. He is the king, the king who will keep you eternally safe, the one in whom inside the Lord Jesus you are safe forever, the one who will defeat all our enemies.
[18:52] Dear friends, Christ's return will not be as a baby in a manger as it was 2,000 years ago. It will be riding on the clouds and the whole world will see him and all opposition will be defeated forever, forever. So dear friends, keep remembering, trusting the reality of the return of the king and the joy that will be ushered in to it. So how do we know that Jesus is coming? Well, because the apostles saw it. We have the witness, the eyewitness, the ear witness of the apostles. But you might say to me, well, that's very well, but how does that come to be in the New Testament? You said here we're speaking about the New Testament. Well, that's because what the apostles saw and heard and taught and was handed on has now come to us in the New Testament scriptures into the written word of God.
[19:41] This is actually true of Peter himself. Peter, we have these two letters, but church tradition tells us that Peter stood right behind Mark as he wrote his gospel. Really, Mark's gospel are the words of Peter being given as a gospel to us. And so we have the witness of the apostles, the teaching of the apostles, come to us as scripture, the very word of God. Now, look, Peter does this in his letter. I'm going to read from two places we see this. If you have a Bible in front of you, it'll help. But if not, I'll turn there. Look at chapter 3, verse 2. Chapter 3, verse 2. Peter says this. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets. That is, I want you to recall what's said in the Old Testament. And I want you to recall the command given by our Lord and Savior through the apostles.
[20:31] Do you see it? Recall what is written in the holy prophets, the Old Testament, and the command, that is, recall the command of our Lord and Savior through the apostles. It's scripture. He's putting them together. And then in chapter 3, verse 14. Chapter 3, verse 14. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, that is the return of the Lord Jesus, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote with the wisdom that God gives him. He, that is Paul, writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand. That is a great verse for preachers. Some of, if Peter can say some of Paul's things are hard to understand, it's a great verse to give lots of reassurance for us or for all of us, isn't it?
[21:28] Peter writes, some of Paul's letters contain things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do what the other scriptures, the other scriptures to their own destruction. So do you see it? Even in Peter's day, the church is receiving the letters of Paul, the letters and teaching of the apostles as scripture, with the full weight and authority of scripture as the word of God. So as we have the New Testament in front of us, we receive it and listen to it with a full weight and authority as God's word.
[22:07] Dear friends, often there can be confusion about that, even in some churches today. But friends, the church no more discovered the scriptures than Newton discovered gravity.
[22:19] The church no more discovered scriptures than Newton discovered gravity. Did Isaac Newton discover gravity with the apple on the head and all that? No. He just put a name to what was there. He received it. And that is exactly what the church, the early church did. They received as given to them from the apostles as the very word of God. And that is so important because it means the church sits under the authority of the word. The church sits under the authority of the word, not over it as if the church gave the word, not even on par with it. No, we sit under the authority of the word and are to to sit under its authority as the very word of God. And so how can we be sure Jesus is coming?
[23:05] Because God has spoken through his apostles and said, I am coming. It was wonderful when Norman prayed. Norman, thank you for your prayer. It was wonderful. What did you pray? Words to the effect of God.
[23:16] Thank you that you do not tell lies. God doesn't lie. He can't lie. Why? Because he's almighty God. He is truth. And in his word, we have truth. And God has told us Jesus is coming back.
[23:29] And he's done so through his apostles. Okay. Secondly, then. Secondly, our second point, what else does he point to? He points to the prophetic word. He points to the prophetic word.
[23:42] So we also have the Old Testament. So we're grounded in the truth of the apostles and the prophetic word. Verse 19, Peter writes this. We have the prophetic message that is the Old Testament to something completely reliable. And you will do well to pay attention to it as to light shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. We are to remember the New Testament, come under its authority and pay attention to the Old Testament. It too spoke of Christ's coming.
[24:12] And what does Peter say? What does he say? It's completely reliable. Of course it is, because it's the word of God. We should pay attention to it as in a light in a dark place.
[24:24] It's common, isn't it, for people to say the Old Testament isn't relevant anymore. It's too old. It's a different time, a different people. What is all this stuff about the mixing of cloths in Leviticus or of whales coming to swallow a man who sort of lived there for three days and then spat out on the earth again? The Old Testament, really? The Old Testament relevant for us, really?
[24:47] The Old Testament about Jesus, really? Peter says, yes, yes and yes, relevant for us about Jesus. And why is that? Why is it for us today? Verse 19, he says, above all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture has come about from the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they're carried along by the Holy Spirit. Why is it God's word for us today? Because God spoke. God spoke. God is speaking. And we are to listen because God is speaking. You see, the Bible did not come to us by mechanical dictation, which is what Islam believes about the Quran. The Bible didn't come to us by the apostles sitting in a room, getting some parchment and a kind of fresh viral pen and saying, okay, God, we're ready to get started. Speak and we're just ready to write. And they start writing. And they have to say to God, no, sorry, we missed that. Can you say that again? It wasn't that the apostles had to sit with a Word document and panic in case they hadn't saved it and they'd lose it all. And what are we going to do now? No, nothing like that. The apostles weren't in a trance or they didn't just need to get in the zone and put music on and kind of get psyched up like you might for an exam or to do a little bit of writing. No. Yes, men wrote it. Men wrote it, a very human book. But verse 21, they spoke from God, carried along by the Holy Spirit. Think of wind blowing through sails in a boat, through sails in a ship. God blew and spoke and the wind filled the sails and carried these men along.
[26:29] Over the last few weeks, there's kind of been election fever, hasn't there? We've had a new election here and obviously United States and a big run-up to their election. And the media gives lots of time, doesn't it, to the words of people who are campaigning, to the words of people running to be politicians or to be presidents. Powerful men or powerful women speak and we listen because we know it's going to affect our lives. Foreign policy, how much tax we're going to pay, interest rates, whatever it is. Powerful people speak and we listen. Dear friends, in this book, Peter is telling us God has spoken. God has spoken. Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, he has spoken through his Son and we have for us in the Old Testament and new in the Scriptures the very Word of God, inerrant, infallible, infallible, the inspired Word of God. And so, dear friends, the question for all of us here today is God is speaking. Are we listening? Are we paying attention? The question is not, well, is God still speaking? I once heard a man preaching in a church somewhere and he was lamenting with his Bible open in front of him, lamenting with his Bible open in front of him that God isn't speaking today.
[27:57] Dear friends, how wrong he was. God is speaking. We have his very Word, his very Word. The question is, are we listening? You see, if we do listen and with God's help, if we build our life on God's Word, then we know we're secure. Remember Peter's purpose here. He doesn't want them to slip. He wants them to be steady. And he's saying, you can trust God's Word. God has spoken through the apostles and through the prophets of the Old Testament. And Jesus is saying, build, build your life on my Word.
[28:31] I feel like we're breaking out into, or I'm about to break out into children's song. We had at the start, what Jesus loves me, this I know. What was the other one that sometimes we would sing in Sunday school, or at least I did? The song all about building your house on the solid ground, or building your house, and the rain came tumbling down. Maybe I should just read it from the Bible.
[28:52] I think that'll save me getting the words wrong. What does Jesus say on the Sermon on the Mount? Right at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says this, therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and put them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock, safe, secure.
[29:07] The rain came down, and the streams rose, and the winds blew against the house. And we could add, and the false teachers taught, and the false teachers taught, but the house did not fall down, because its foundations were on the rock. And the Lord Jesus goes on, but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who builds his house on sand.
[29:29] The rain came down, the streams rose, the wind blew, and we could add, the false teachers taught, and beat against the house, and it came crashing down. So dear friends, the question always before us is, God is speaking. Are we listening? Are we listening? Dear friends, every day in a hundred different ways, you are being asked, do you trust the Bible? Every day in a hundred different ways, you are being asked, do you trust the Bible? Whether it's on questions of human sexuality, which are so prevalent today, or whether it's on raising kids, or how to conduct your business, or how to have conflict resolution with someone in work, or your family you've fallen out with, or how to spend your money, or any one of those things, you're being asked, do you trust Jesus?
[30:19] Do you trust his word? Trustworthy enough to build your life on. Is it sufficient? And Peter says, yes, yes. Of course, it is the very question, or the very doubt that the devil put into the minds of Adam and Eve in the garden. What did he say to them? This isn't a quote, but the sense of it was this, do you trust God's word? And they responded, no. They took the fruit, and they ate, and the rest, as we say, is history. Dear friends, the health of the church is largely dependent on this question, do we trust the Bible? Are we willing to live by it? Are we even willing to die by it?
[31:02] We were in St. Andrew's yesterday. We took the kids to the university there, and as we went outside, we stood on the very spot where Patrick Hamilton, 1528, was killed. Why? Because he trusted the Bible.
[31:13] Oh, he's willing to die there for it and be martyred. As he stood on the truth of grace alone, through faith alone, we are saved by Christ alone. At any great age of reformation in church history, what have we seen great movements of? In any of these times, we see a church renewed by a sense of prayer and devotion to the word. Think of the reformation under Luther and Calvin, or here under Knox, and all that came after him here in Scotland, trusting the word. Think of the great awakening in America under Edward and the Wesleys and Whitfield, the ministry of McShane and Dundee, or William Chalmers Burns, prayer and the word. Of course, it's why Scotland and its heyday in this country was known as the land of the book. And it's what we need to be again if we want to see revival, gospel change, building ourselves and trusting God's word. So, dear friends, whatever your struggles are tonight, maybe for some of us it is doubting the return of Christ, or maybe it's questions about holy living or struggles with temptation. Maybe some of us are grieving. Does
[32:24] God really care for me or see me in my grief? Dear friends, turn again and again and again to the scriptures. Listen to God. Bathe yourself in them, in this living book, and he will meet you there. He will. For those of us who are tired or weary, I'm just home each day with the kids and it's exhausting.
[32:49] My colleagues are tough people at work. They're awkward up and down with my bosses and employees or flatmates. Things are just really hard. I need nourishment. Dear friends, keep coming to the scriptures. Come to the scriptures. There God will meet you. So, as you go into the week, perhaps tonight or tomorrow, some of us do this, got a plan, don't be with families or friends, but as you go into the week and you get your diaries out, remember that Jesus is coming. He is coming. We can be sure of it.
[33:24] Why? Because it's been seen. The apostle Peter has seen it and we have here in the scriptures, in the New Testament, we have the scriptures, the very word of God. We can trust it. God has spoken.
[33:38] And because in the Old Testament, it was prophesied that Jesus would come and he did. We can stand on it as the very word of God. How do we know Jesus is coming? Because the Bible tells me so. And so, dear friends, with diaries out, as you think of that great day when Jesus will come and will lead us all into his eternal kingdom, you can sing that to yourself. Jesus is coming, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. But then after that, you can sing to yourself, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Dear friends, may you and may you as a church family be ever rooted on the solid ground of Christ and his word. And there you will stand firm and secure until Christ comes again. Let me pray.