Are Your Feelings Your Foundation?

Not everything can be true at the same time, yet that’s exactly what many thoughtful people now assume about religion. After meeting a sharp young professional who believes all faiths point to the same God, we slow down and ask what that view does to real truth, real conviction, and real Christian hope.

Working through 2 Peter 1:12–21, we follow Peter’s urgent instinct to remind believers before he dies. People pass from the scene, leaders change, and even our best memories distort and drift, but the Word of God endures. We talk about why the church cannot be built on personalities, traditions of dead men, or spiritual hype. A vibrant faith is not fueled by subjective experience alone; it’s anchored in authoritative Scripture that can be tested, trusted, and obeyed.

We also explore Peter’s reference to the Mount of Transfiguration and why it matters for biblical authority, Christian discipleship, and end-times hope. Peter was an eyewitness of Christ’s majesty, yet he still points us to the prophetic Word confirmed, a light shining in a dark place. That becomes a direct rebuke to “cunningly devised fables” and a steady answer to modern relativism and false teachers.

If you want a clearer grip on Scripture, a stronger defense against error, and a faith that lasts beyond feelings, listen now. Subscribe, share this with someone wrestling with truth claims, and leave a review to help more people find Foundations of Truth.

Transcript

Series And Message Setup

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Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to break charity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life. Today on Foundations of Truth, we continue our series Truth in a World of Error. Here now with a message from 2 Peter entitled The Trustworthy Word. Part one is Dr. Timothy Mann.

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Studying through 2 Peter, a title for this entire series called Truth in a World of Error.

Meeting Joe And Modern Relativism

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Joe was a very smart and bright young man in his late 20s who is highly educated with an engineering degree. I met Joe this week while traveling. He asked what I do, as often happens in those kinds of conversations. Instead of becoming comatose after I told him what I do, which is often what happens as well. People shut down for some reason at that point, it seems like. Arrogant. Especially when, in his opinion, many so-called Christians did not demonstrate what they said they believed. He said that other religions had truth too, had truth as well, and all believed in the same God and was trying to get to the same place. Now you might know someone like Joe. Maybe you have a son or a daughter or grandchildren like Joe. They might have had some level of what we would call Christian upbringing, went to church occasionally or even regularly, but now they're not convinced, or maybe they've even dismissed that background, and they think much like Joe does about religion or spiritual matters. I want to ask you, do you personally know someone like this? That viewpoint is quickly becoming the predominant viewpoint of that generation, and it's affecting older generations, even in evangelical churches. Now, I have to say we we had a delightful conversation, and I very carefully indicated to Joe that he should consider that not everything is true, and that he should be open to the possibility that there was such a thing as false teaching. Not everything could be true. We had a friendly, engaging conversation, and then we went our separate ways afterwards.

True Living Against False Teaching

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I want to say to you this morning that the best defense against false teaching is true living. A church, a local church that's filled with growing Christians who are vibrant in their faith, is not likely to fall prey to apostates with their counterfeit Christianity or any other number of religious teachings that are out there. This Christian living that I'm talking about must be based on the authoritative word of God. That's the basis. False teachers find it quite easy to seduce people who do not know their Bible but who are desirous of experiences with the Lord. It's a dangerous thing to build on subjective experience and ignore objective revelation. It's a very dangerous thing. The Apostle Peter discusses Christian experience in the first half of 2 Peter chapter 1. We looked at that about knowing and growing as a follower of Jesus Christ and how important it is and what that looks like. And now in this last half of chapter 1 of 2 Peter, he discusses the revelation that we have in the Word of God. His purpose in this section is to show the importance of knowing God's Word and relying on it completely. That's what this is all about. The Christian who knows what he or she believes, but not only knows what he or she believes, but why you believe it. Why you believe it rarely, would ever rarely be seduced by false teachers and their devious doctrines. The Apostle Peter here underscores the dependability and the durability of the Word of God by contrasting, and here's what he does: he contrasts Scripture with men, Scripture with experiences, and Scripture with the world. What he tells us in this text, and we're going to read it in just a moment, he tells us that we need to wake up and remember some things. Remember what? Well, let's read and see what he says.

Peter’s Call To Remember Truth

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Verse 12. For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. For we did not follow 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 such a voice came to him from the excellent glory. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain, and so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed, as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Let's stop there. The Apostle Peter, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Peter in this section, as he's beginning to really deal with this idea of truth in a world of error, he tells us that we need to wake up and we need to remember some specific things about God's word. What do we need to remember? Well, first of all, what he addresses in verses 12 through 15 is this, but if you do want to take some notes down, here's one that you might want to write down.

Men Die But The Word Lives

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And it's this that we must remember that men die, but the word lives. That men die, but the word lives. Now, through their teaching and preaching, the apostles and the New Testament prophets laid the foundation of the church. And we here are in later generations continuing to build on that foundation. However, the men were not the foundation. Jesus Christ is the foundation. He also is the chief cornerstone that ties the building together, the Bible says. And so if the church is to last, it must be built on something other than people, on something other than mere men. It cannot be built on mere men. It must be built on the Son of God. It has to be. Now, it's interesting. Our Lord had told Peter, especially if you remember from the stuff from our study of the Gospel of John, our Lord had told Peter when he would die and how he would die. Remember, he said, When you're old, you're going to stretch out your hands, and there's another one who's going to gurge you and lead you where you would not go. That explains why shortly after the Feast of Pentecost in the book of Acts, the Apostle Peter was able to sleep in prison the night before he was scheduled to be killed, because he absolutely knew that Herod could not take his life. Tradition says that ultimately Peter was crucified in Rome. And like all of God's faithful servants, all throughout God's Word and all through the ages since, Peter really was immortal until his work was done. He could not be killed until his work was done. Now, in these verses that we've just looked at, when we're thinking about the fact that men die, but the word lives on, he tells us some motives behind his ministry as he writes this letter that we're reading this morning. The first was his obedience to Christ's command. Did you see in verse 12? He said, I would not be negligent. I would not be negligent. The Lord had told him back in Luke chapter 22. He said, When you're converted, Peter, you're going to deny me, you're going to fall away. But when you're converted, strengthen your brethren. Peter knew he had a ministry to fulfill. And so he had obedience to Christ's command. But he also gives us a second motive. He says it's the right thing to do. Simply. He said, I think it is right in verse 13. I think it is right, which simply means it's right, it's suitable. Hey, it's always right in any situation. It's always right to stir up the believers and remind them of the Word of God. That's our responsibility. But his third motive is wrapped up in the words, I want to be careful to ensure. Verse 15. I'll be careful to ensure. That's the same word that's translated back up in verse 5, diligence. It means to be zealous in doing something, to hasten in doing something. Peter knew that he's soon going to die, and so he wanted to take care of his spiritual responsibilities before it's too late. Now, every one of us in this room this morning, you and I, we do not know when we're going to die, pass from the scene. So it's important that we be diligent today, that we tend to those spiritual responsibilities. But in these introductory verses, what is it specifically that Peter's wanting to accomplish? Well, the answer is found in the word that's repeated in 2 Peter, verses 12 through 13, and also verse 15, and it's that word remind or remember, remembrance. Peter wanted to impress his readers' minds with the word of God so that they would not forget it. He doesn't want them to forget it. That verb uh stir you up. He says, I want to stir you up. That literally means to awaken, to arouse. It's the same word that's used to describe a storm on the Sea of Galilee back over in John chapter 6. That the waves were stirred up, the waves were awakened. See, what Peter knew is true of his readers then, is true of us today. Peter knew that our minds have a tendency to get really accustomed to truth and then to take it for granted. I don't know about you, but I I think this is the case for me. We forget oftentimes what we ought to remember, and we remember what we ought to forget. Isn't that true? We do that. How many of you sometimes cannot remember important things, but you can remember trivial things? I mean, for example, how many of you can remember the words to the to a one-hit wonder song from a long time ago, but you can't remember the scripture you studied last week? Isn't that true? Sports fans, you can remember who won the World Series in 1975, but we have a hard time maybe remembering that important appointment we're supposed to keep next week. Any number of things like that. We forget what we ought to remember, and we remember what we ought to forget sometimes. And so the readers of this letter, the apostle Peter mentions he they knew the truth, and he says they were even established in it in verse 12. But there's no, there's absolutely no guarantee that they would always remember the truth and apply it. One of the reasons that the Holy Spirit was given to the church was to remind us of lessons already learned. Jesus, our Lord, he often repeated himself as he taught the people, and he was the master teacher. He just was constantly repeating these truths. And so Peter knew that he's going to die, and so he wanted to leave something behind that would never die, which was the written word of God. His two epistles, his two letters here that we've that we're looking at, they became a part of the inspired scriptures, and they've been ministering to believers for centuries. Here we are today, reading them. What does that say? That says that men die, but the word of God lives on. That's important for us to remember. I think it's also important that Peter was also alluding, possibly alluding, to the gospel of Mark in this, because most Bible scholars believe that the Spirit used Peter to give John Mark some of the data, some of the information for his book. One of the early church fathers, Papias, said that Mark himself was Peter's disciple and interpreter. So the Church of Jesus Christ, if you think about this, the Church of Jesus Christ is always one generation away from extinction. One generation away from extinction. It always has been. And if there were no dependable written revelation, we would have to depend on word of mouth tradition. If you've ever played, maybe you played this in school. You ever played the party game gossip? You start at the beginning of the row and you just say a simple sentence into somebody's ear and it goes around the room person to person, and by the time you get all the way over to the last person at the end of the room, after you've passed this sentence around all the way through, it's interesting how it absolutely can be radically changed as it passes from one person to the next. It doesn't sound anything maybe like what it was when it first started out. We do not depend on the traditions of dead men, but we depend on the truth of the living word. Men die, but the word of God lives forever. And if we don't have a dependable written revelation, then the church will be at the mercy of men's memories. It's interesting, people who pride themselves on having good memories really ought to sit on the witness stand in a courtroom sometime. It can be amazing how three perfectly honest people with a good conscience could give three different accounts of an automobile accident. That's how that works. Why? Because our memories are defective and selective. We usually remember what we want to remember, and then also we often distort even that. And so fortunately, because of God's grace, we have the written word of God. The Bible says it is written and it stands forever. We can be saved through this living word. We can be nurtured by it, we can be guided and protected as we trust and obey it. And so it's important for us to remember today there's so much around us in this culture that is propagating error. We can't depend on men. Men die. They pass from the scene, but the word of God lives.

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Lives forever.

Program Support And Return

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We hope these messages encourage you to stand firm in God's grace and trust Him in every season of life. Thank you for joining us for Foundations of Truth. And your financial gifts help us keep this program on the air, sharing biblical truth around the world with Dr. Timothy Banner. If you'd like to make a financial gift today, you can give a gift online at foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. Now let's return to today's message. Here's Dr. Timothy Bann.

Experience Fades But Scripture Remains

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That's not only what Peter reminds us of, verses 16 through 18, and this is really a very rich passage of scripture. We have to remember, we must remember that experience fades, but the word remains. The focus of this paragraph, verse 16 through 18, where he says, We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when the voice came to him from the excellent glory, saying, This is my beloved Son, who am I well pleased. And we've heard this voice, which came from heaven, when we were with him on the holy mountain. Now, this the focus of that paragraph is on what we call from the scriptures the transfiguration of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, where Jesus physically displayed the radiant glory of God when they were up on the mountain together. Something I was reminded of as I was giving some consideration to this passage this week is this experience is recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And yet none of those writers actually participated in it. Isn't that something? But Peter was there when it happened. In fact, the very words that he uses here in this section remind us of his experience on the mount of transfiguration. If you're familiar with it, and I really don't have time this morning to go there and walk all the way through it, but let me point out a couple of things to you. He uses the word tent a couple of times. And that suggests Peter, when he was on the mountain, remember Moses and Elijah appeared there with the Lord Jesus transfigured in glory. And after that experience said, We need to build a tent for all of you, and let's just camp and stay here. He uses that same word, tent. Also, it's interesting in 2 Peter 1, verse 15, he uses the word deceased. These are going to be a reminder of these things to you after my decease, which by the way is Exodus in the original language. That's what that means, Exodus in the Greek. That word is used in Luke chapter 9, verse 13, about Jesus going to the cross after this transfiguration experience. Jesus didn't consider his death on the cross a defeat. To him, it was an exodus. It was really a place where he was going to deliver his people from bondage just the same way that Moses delivered Israel from Egypt. And so now Peter's writing of his own death as an exodus, which is a release from bondage. Couple of little other things I want to point out to you. Notice the repetition of the pronoun we. He said we did not. That refers specifically in this Mount of Transfiguration experience to Peter, James, and John. We. Those were the apostles who were with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. John referred to this experience himself over in his gospel when it says we beheld his glory. And it's interesting, after that experience on the mountain, they were coming down from the mountain, and the Lord Jesus himself said to those men, don't say anything about this vision to anybody until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. And so these men had to keep silent. They had to keep quiet about their experience until after the Lord was raised from the dead, and then they told other believers what had happened on that mountain. Now, let me teach a little bit of doctrine and theology here just for a minute. Those of you who don't have an orientation toward that, and you want something, you know, really practical, how to, well, hang on here, we'll get to that. But you need to learn some things about Scripture. What is the significance? What is the significance of the Mount of Transfiguration? For one thing, it confirmed Peter's testimony about Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter saw the Son in his glory, he said, and he heard the Father speak from heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. So it confirms his own testimony. By the way, when we first put our faith in Christ and we confess him, then he gives us a wonderful confirmation of that in our own lives when that takes place. But the transfiguration also had a very special significance for Jesus

Why The Transfiguration Matters

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himself, who was facing the cross, who was facing Calvary, because it was the Father's way of strengthening his son for the terrible ordeal that's about to come for being the sacrifice of the sins of the world. By the way, Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets. Did you know that? Representative of the law and the prophets, they all pointed to the ministry of Jesus Christ, and now he would fulfill those scriptures. That's what this is about. The Father spoke from heaven and assured his son of his love and his approval. And the transfiguration was proof that suffering leads to glory when we are in the will of God. Not only that, there's also a third message in the transfiguration account, and that had to do with the promised kingdom. In all three of the Gospels, where the account of the transfiguration is recorded, it's introduced with a statement about the kingdom of God. And Jesus had promised that before they died, some of the disciples would see the kingdom of God in power. Where did that take place? It took place on the Mount, the Mount of Transfiguration. That's where the Lord revealed his glory. And it was a word of assurance to his disciples who could not understand our Lord's teaching about the cross. They just didn't get it. They didn't see it. They were obviously looking for a Messiah in a different way than what he was. And they were going to be left with that question. If he were to die, what would happen to the promised kingdom that he'd been preaching about for all these months? And so hopefully, in that very short brief teaching on the Mount of Transfiguration, we can now understand this morning why Peter used this event in his letter in talking to us. What's he doing? Well, he's refuting the false teaching of the apostates that we're going to read about in chapter two. He's refuting the false teaching of the apostates that the kingdom of God would never come. That's what they say. Those false teachers denied the promise of Christ's coming. And in the place of God's promises, those counterfeits were devising what Peter called cunningly devised fables. And that was robbing the believers of their blessed hope. That word fables. That means myths. Myths, which is just manufactured stories, which have no basis at all. In fact, the Greek and Roman world abounded in stories about gods, which was just mere human speculations of trying to explain the world and its origins. What the Bible tells us is no matter how interesting those myths or those fables might be, Christians are not to heed them. We're not to listen to them. And I'll tell you what's even more relevant for us today. The Apostle Paul, what did he do? He warned Timothy. Read it in his letter to Timothy. He warned Timothy that the time would come in the church when professing Christians would not want to hear true doctrine, would have no interest in it. He says they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned unto fables, to myths. So what Peter wrote here was really a summary of what he saw and heard on the Mount of Transfiguration, which was he saw Jesus Christ robed in glory, and therefore he witnessed a demonstration of the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, when when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came to earth in Bethlehem, he didn't display his glory openly. To be sure, he revealed some of his glory in the miracles, but that was even primarily for the sake of his disciples. His face didn't shine, he didn't have a halo over his head. The Bible says in Isaiah prophesying him to come, it says he has no comeliness, he has no form of beauty that we should desire him. But Peter not only saw Christ's glory, he says he also heard the Father's voice. He said, from the magnificent glory. See, witnesses, witnesses, which we're all supposed to be if we're followers of Jesus. Witnesses are people who tell accurately what they've seen and heard. And Peter was a faithful witness.

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Thank you for listening today to Foundations of Truth, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann. If you'd like to hear this message again, or if you'd like to get more biblical resources

Resisting Myths And Keeping Hope

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or give a financial gift, you can do so online. Foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. And join us again tomorrow for part two of the message, The Trustworthy Word, from the series Truth in a World of Error from the book of 2 Peter. Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Mann. It's supported in part by Luther Rice College and Seminary, equipping men and women for ministry through biblically faithful theological education. As a leader in online learning, we are grateful for their partnership in helping carry biblical truth farther. We're thankful for AMN Plumbing, a local ministry partner serving the Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Fort Orange, New Smyrna Beach, and surrounding areas with dependable plumbing service. Their support helps make Foundations of Truth available to more listeners each week. Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Mann is supported in part by Cat Care Clinic, located in Ormond Beach and serving families with thoughtful and compassionate veterinary care for cats. We're grateful for their partnership in helping carry biblical truth farther.