Ready to Remember

[0:00] 2 Peter 1, verses 12-15 Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things.

[0:26] ! Even though you already know them, and have been strengthened in the truth which is present with you, I consider it right, as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has indicated to me.

[1:00] And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure, you will be able to call these things to mind.

[1:13] So in this particular section of Scripture, Peter uses a number of key words in there.

[1:25] He uses words like remind, and reminder, and recall. He uses the words call to mind.

[1:37] And this was the classic teaching method from the time the immigrants landed on our shores until probably the early, mid-1990s.

[1:54] That marks about the time students started taking over the classrooms and in our public schools. We've got a few teachers in here, and former teachers.

[2:07] Until that time, the teaching method, and certainly the one I went through back in the 50s and 60s, was the lecturer would utilize repetition, which we talked about last week.

[2:28] In other words, the hearers hear the message several times. And that's why they call it the repetition method of teaching.

[2:41] Well, God knew about this in His creation, and He left to us a fantastic quote out of the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 to 9.

[2:55] Let me read that to you. Hear, O Israel, Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.

[3:07] You shall love Yahweh, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart.

[3:22] You shall teach them diligently to your sons, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

[3:38] You shall bind them as a sign on your hand between your eyes. They did, remember the old rabbis, they walk around.

[3:48] In fact, they called them the black and blue rabbis because some of them were blinders. They didn't want to look at a woman and lust after her. So they wore blinders like a mule, and they're always walking into walls and buildings and everything else.

[3:59] You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Now what's the significance?

[4:11] Well, there's great words, and we should study them. But this passage is repeated in the Old and New Testament some 18 times using various words.

[4:26] Turns out, we didn't invent repetition. God did. It has been said down through the centuries that Israel had great memories when it came to bad or wrong things.

[4:47] They would remember those. Conversely, it has been said that Israel had a very bad memory when it came to God's truth.

[5:03] Listen to this rebuke from the prophet Isaiah in chapter 17, verse 10. For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the rock of your strong defense.

[5:21] Therefore, you plant delightful plants and set them with vine branches of a strange God.

[5:36] Later, Isaiah said this, you have forgotten Yahweh, your Maker. We also have another Old Testament prophet. We don't read him every day.

[5:47] I know that. But he's named Hosea. And he said this in chapter 8, So Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, but I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.

[6:17] We have an even more modern example. In Israel today, there are massive celebrations for the Passover.

[6:30] You may recall, the Passover was given by God so the Hebrews would remember the redemption of God and how He organized their escape from bondage as an act of mercy and grace.

[6:47] God came to Egypt to kill the firstborn, but if He saw blood on the lintel and the doorposts, He passed over.

[6:58] That's where they came up with the Passover. Passover. So while they remember their escape from the bondage of Egypt, they pay no homage to the God who actually delivered them.

[7:14] Now, are we Christians better at memory? Probably no different than the Jews. We too remember the things that should be forgotten and forget the things that should be remembered.

[7:31] Paul alluded to this in the great Romans chapter 7 in verse 15, For what I'm working out I do not understand, for I'm not practicing what I'd like to do, but I'm actually doing the very thing I hate.

[7:49] That's Paul. We put him forward as the greatest Christian that ever lived. after he changed his name from Saul. And then in verses 18 and 19, chapter 7, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.

[8:08] For the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. For the good that I want I do not do, but I practice the very evil I do not want to do.

[8:21] Well, Peter has been talking about salvation. But this week, he's going to take a break from that discussion, and he's going to remind us about truth, and Peter will remind us of four motivations that he had, and that those of us who teach should have, for teaching the flock of God.

[8:50] These four motivations are urgency, kindness, faithfulness, and brevity. Now, don't get excited. Brevity doesn't necessarily mean short, particularly in a Baptist setting.

[9:05] And the very first thing that he brings up is urgency. 2 Peter 1, first part of verse 12.

[9:20] Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things. I've said it many times, I'll say it until it thoroughly soaks in.

[9:33] When you see the word therefore therefore, in Scripture, it is incumbent upon you that you figure out what therefore is therefore.

[9:46] You've got to figure that out. That will open up the understanding of the passage to you. Typically, the word therefore refers to the truth just previously revealed.

[10:02] in the truth, one can usually find the answer. In the verse I just read, therefore, refers back to the truth Peter revealed in the first four verses of 2 Peter 1.

[10:18] We examine those under the banner of the greatness of salvation. It would be easy to find. Just look at the first chapter of 2 Peter. But we examine those and then we move into verses 5-11 of 1 Peter 1.

[10:35] We examine the blessedness of assurance and we have continued in the present verse and we are now examining an illusion of the future.

[10:50] Peter says he will always be ready to remind you of these things. That's interesting terminology. Jesus has already told him you're getting ready to die.

[11:01] I'm going to take you to heaven. And then Peter says I will always be ready to remind you of these things. How can he do that? Well, he's reminding us tonight. He wrote it down.

[11:14] And we read it and we study it. the apostle has been reminded of these things for 2,000 years. Here we are sitting in a classroom 9,000 miles from Israel being reminded by Peter who died 2,000 years ago of these great truths.

[11:37] And there's no doubt that Peter was anticipating the ages to come when he knew this letter would still be read.

[11:50] Now let me return to that theme of repetition. Peter understood its importance. So did the apostle Paul. Paul wrote these words in Philippians 3, 1.

[12:03] Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. to write the same things again is no trouble to me and it is a safeguard for you.

[12:17] That's a way of Peter saying it's going to soak in eventually. I'm going to keep saying this over and over until it soaks in. And that's exactly what he's saying. To write the words to write the same thing again.

[12:31] Now that's repetition. Write it over and over. They'll get it eventually. Consider one of my favorite books of the Bible.

[12:43] My very favorite book is Romans, but this is a close second. And it's the book of Jude. 25 verses, one chapter. And he begins verse 5 with these words.

[12:58] By the way, Jude's the half-brother of Jesus. He says, now I want to remind you. That's memory.

[13:09] He's, I want to remind you of something. It's repetition. So I looked up that word. I discovered that the word remind is used two times in the Old Testament in the Hebrew language and 12 times in the New Testament in Greek.

[13:29] So it's an important point. And so mark this down in your mental file. There is no such thing as new spiritual truth. Many of the extreme charismatics, guys that are wanting to make trees walk and whatever, I won't name them tonight, they would like us to think that there is new truth.

[13:58] God's still adding to the Bible. It just simply is not so. the canon of Scripture is closed.

[14:11] I love Justin Peters. If you're not familiar with Justin, lives up in Idaho, walks around on crutches because of a birth defect, little guy, brilliant, brilliant guy.

[14:27] And he goes around exposing people that are teaching error. You'd think he's a giant. He's not. He's a little bitty guy. Fearless though.

[14:40] And he exposes charlatans and they're always wanting to add to the Bible. And he's especially hard on some of the charismatic pastors when they make claims that Jesus came down and visits them from time to time and seeks their advice.

[14:59] Wow. I love Justin Peters' advice though. If you want to hear from God and if any of you want to hear from God, read the Scriptures.

[15:16] And Justin Peters goes on and he says, if you want to hear from God with your ears, read the Scriptures out loud and you'll hear God talking.

[15:32] He'll talk to you through His Word which is complete and inerrant without error. I don't know about you guys, but I get nervous when people start a sentence with something like, well, God spoke to me this week and He said, you know, I want to just stand up and say, no, He didn't.

[16:02] I'm sorry, He didn't do that. But boy, that'd cause a war in some settings. If He did that, then whatever He said to any of us belongs in the Bible.

[16:19] If that was God speaking, because what He says is always inerrant, infallible, and authoritative.

[16:33] If you're a preacher or a teacher of the Scriptures, your role is to remind people what God has already said in the Scriptures and be confident He's not adding to it.

[16:48] In fact, is it revelation that says you're in deep trouble if you add to? Don't add to it. How do you teach?

[16:59] Repetition. Repetition. And the next thing I want to look at in our list of four motivations concerning Peter's pastoral passion is this.

[17:13] Kindness. Well, that's a good word. It's in Galatians chapter 5. Fruit of the Spirit. Kindness. 2 Peter chapter 1, the second part of verse 12.

[17:26] Even though you already know them and have been strengthened in the truth which is present in you. repetition. You already know them. We're going to go over them again. Now, you all probably recall that Peter was a fisherman when the Lord enlisted him in his army.

[17:47] I do like as a secular movie and I only saw part of it but God was playing the role of Jesus and He was calling these guys to be disciples and they said, well, what are we going to do?

[17:59] And He said, we're going to change the world. Now, I don't know that those words are in there but that's pretty much what they did. We're going to change the world. Well, here's Peter.

[18:11] He was a fisherman. Now, he is a shepherd. He has gone from a fisherman to a sensitive shepherd and he's leading the flock of God.

[18:28] And it was hard for Peter, I'm sure, but he did it with meekness, gentleness, and tenderness. He didn't learn that from fishing or hanging out with his brothers.

[18:41] But he now has a dose of meekness, gentleness, and tenderness. One of the great passages on this truth we've already studied a few months ago in 1 Peter 5, verse 2-3, shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing, and the Bible is full of reference to being overseers, not under compulsion, but willingly according to God and not for dishonest gain, but with ingerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you, be examples to the flock.

[19:29] If you've got a flock at Highland Park, be an example to them. Be an example to them. That's wonderful encouragement that the shepherd Peter is giving to the flock of God.

[19:46] And he gave it 2,000 years ago and it is still being given. Repetition. And we see Peter as a great encourager in these passages.

[20:01] Why? Why did they need to be encouraged? Well, actually for the same reason that the true church of the living Lord Jesus Christ needs to be encouraged in our day.

[20:17] Or do we ever. We need to be encouraged in our day. The church in Peter's day was under threat and under assault by forces that were powerful and deadly.

[20:35] In fact, one of them had lost his life at the hands of Paul when he was Saul of Tarsus. Remember that? There had been in Peter's day, just as there is in ours, the infiltration of powerful false teachers.

[21:01] They were really wolves in sheep's clothing. You know, sheep's pretty gentle. I saw an example of that one time. It was an experiment.

[21:13] This sheep had given birth to a little baby and they put her in a pen, pretty good size with a wolf. And the wolf attacked the baby, killed it, and the mother just was impervious to it.

[21:34] Most animals will fight. I've seen an antelope on TV attack a lion for attacking its baby. But with the sheep, they don't do that for some reason.

[21:51] The church has wolves in sheep's clothing. Consider these passages of Scripture, Matthew 7, 15. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, who speaks with no mixture of air at all.

[22:09] These are his words. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

[22:26] Matthew 10, 16. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be as shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.

[22:41] And then Luke 10, verse 3, Go, behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Now, those three quotes are from Jesus.

[22:56] This last one is actually from the Apostle Paul. in Acts chapter 20, verse 29, Paul says this, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

[23:22] And Paul, in the context that he gave that, that is a charge he's giving to the Ephesian elders that came down to see him off because he was going to Jerusalem where he thought he would certainly be killed.

[23:36] Well, he wasn't killed in Jerusalem. He went to Rome and he was killed there. Next, we shall look at faithfulness.

[23:48] Verse 13, I consider it right as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder.

[24:02] Repetition. Peter says, I'm still in this dwelling. I'm still in my tent.

[24:13] That was his body. Now, the Lord Jesus appointed Peter as his most intimate confidant and the leader of the twelve disciples.

[24:28] Now, you can remove Judas Iscariot from that list. He was the betrayer. He's dead. He's been replaced by Matthias.

[24:39] Acts chapter 1. It can be said that Peter lived in very close proximity to the Lord of truth.

[24:51] More so probably than any man that ever lived. But in the end, neither he nor his fellow disciples fully understood or appreciated the truth that was being delivered to them.

[25:06] They just didn't. And here's a very poignant quote from Jesus to the twelve in John chapter 14.

[25:20] He's been dealing with them, working with them. You may detect a little frustration in Jesus' words here. He says, have I been with you all so long and you've not come to know me?

[25:34] You don't know who I am? You haven't figured that out yet? That's the words of Jesus. In the scriptures, we even have the record, of course, of Peter temporarily defecting from the Lord.

[25:53] This is an example of why believers need to be in daily contact with the Lord through His Word. Don't get up early in the morning, open your Bible, and then just say, speak to me, Lord.

[26:07] No, start reading. And He will speak to you through what is read. But you need to have daily contact. I need to have daily contact.

[26:20] And we need to be grounded in the truth of the Word of God. I mean grounded. Further, that is why we need to be under the direction of shepherds that will keep us from wandering from the truth.

[26:41] What is the hallmark of the teaching that comes to us from a biblical shepherd such as Peter, Paul, John, and others?

[26:52] They, to a man, exhibited faithfulness. They were faithful. They were teachers. they were guiding the flock that the Lord Himself had given them.

[27:07] And they were teaching the flock what the Holy Spirit gave them to teach. This instruction was beneficial and it was helpful.

[27:21] It was also a method God used to strengthen the brotherhood. But above all else, it was the right thing to do.

[27:33] It says on 2 Peter chapter 1, it is right to teach so. You have it right there in inspired scripture. Peter said he would so teach as long as he was dwelling in this earthly dwelling or earthly tent.

[27:54] That's a Greek word skynoma, and that means tent by the way when you translate it from Greek. These were very familiar to Peter and his comrades.

[28:07] Nomads who live in tents are all over the Middle East. Even to this day, they sleep in tents. I have seen them all over the Arab world.

[28:18] I've never been to Israel, but they're all around Israel. I've seen them in North Africa, in Algeria, in Egypt, Tunisia. They're nomads.

[28:29] They're out there wandering around. The funniest picture I ever saw was a nomad family. They haul everything on a camel, and on the back of this camel was a big screen TV.

[28:43] But there's nomads everywhere. Peter understood that concept in his day. But one day the Lord would fold up the tent that Peter lived in, and he took him to a glorious home in heaven.

[29:04] So how does the godly shepherd teach the flock as long as he's on earth? Again, repetition. Over and over, he gives, delivers, the great truths of God's Word.

[29:20] Your teacher, do the same thing. You're teaching your children, do the same thing. Peter even said this, I want to stir you up by way of reminder.

[29:34] I mean, this was an important concept. The last point we'll cover tonight is brevity. 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 14 and 15.

[29:48] knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent. As also our Lord Jesus Christ has indicated to me, and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind.

[30:11] Powerful verse of Scripture. Scripture. Now a lot of you guys are really young. I'm sure you don't think of imminent death, but when you're 77 and got some of the stuff I've got, it does cross your mind from time to time.

[30:26] It does cross your mind. Brevity is an interesting word to use here. What is Peter referring to? He had a clear understanding of the brevity of life, specifically his life.

[30:42] Jesus had taught him. Peter knew that his death was approaching. Jesus told him so. And guys, let me say this, okay?

[30:54] Some of you guys are really young. Guys, life is brief. It's really brief. The Bible says we're a vapor.

[31:05] We're a wisp of smoke. Then we're gone. We're the flower that fades when the afternoon sun scorches it. I say that to say this.

[31:21] If you're going to do something for the Lord, do it now. Maybe someday you'll see Charlie Kirk. Ask him if life was brief.

[31:33] 31 years old, left a wife and two little kids when he was shot and killed. She's going to do something for the Lord. Do it now. I think Peter was desiring to accomplish three things before he vacated his earthly tent and took up residence in heaven.

[32:00] Peter wanted to make sure that the believers that the Lord had placed in his care understood the greatness of their salvation.

[32:13] I mean, what a great salvation. Peter wanted those under his watch care to grasp the blessedness of assurance that the Lord gives us of our salvation.

[32:27] salvation. Finally, Peter wanted to make certain that false doctrines introduced by false teachers and wolves in sheep's clothing did not rob the flock in his care of their rich spiritual heritage.

[32:53] church. And I'll tell you, guys, I'll close with this. There were a lot of false teachers, false prophets in Peter's day and in John's and in Paul's and in Jude.

[33:11] But there weren't any more than there are today in our world. They're everywhere. and we've got to be grounded in scripture and be on the alert.

[33:26] And when they say something that does not square with my Bible, wherever it is, we need to call them out. Thank you.