Now this morning I'm going to be very, very apostolical. I'm going to be claiming something that the Pope normally just claims for himself and that is that I will be in the very shoes and certainly in the very line of Peter. You see, when Peter's readers read through 2 Peter 1, verses 1 to 11. I have no doubt that they thought that he had finished with his great subject, and that indeed he had finished with the practical use to which he put that subject. But he hadn't. And that's what I mean when I say I'm going to be very apostolical. Because you thought that I had finished. Well, you were right and you were wrong, just as they were right and they were wrong. I have finished with verses 1 through 11. But I tried to get away from this and then I couldn't overlook the fact that Peter wouldn't get away from it because the very next verse starts with a word of strong connection. Wherefore? And I thought, well, I'd better just finish the job. Now, whether that means finishing through chapter 1, or as some of you would desire and some of you wouldn't, right through to the end of chapter 3, time will tell in due course. But we will look a little further. I said last week that we had finished reading the first 11 verses, and so we'll take up at verse 12. And we're going to read from verse 12 through to verse 15. 2 Peter 1 verse 12, Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. Amen. The Lord will add His own blessing to the reading of this brief passage from His Word for his name's sake. In this second section of this epistle, it seems that Peter is more than a little reluctant to let his readers, these new Christians to whom he is writing this epistle, get away from the message that he has on his heart. You should note very carefully, not only in this section, but even afterwards, but particularly in this first chapter, you should notice the constant reference to these things. In verse 4, he speaks of by these, or literally by these things, ye might be partakers of the divine nature. Verse 8, If these things be in you and abound. Verse 9, He that lacketh these things. Verse 10, the last line of the verse, If ye do these things, ye shall never fall. Verse 12, He says He'll not be negligent to put them in remembrance of these things. And then again, at the end of our Bible reading in verse 15, He wants that after His decease, they would have these things always in remembrance. Now, when you get a constant repetition like that in any passage of Scripture, it is a red flag. God is saying, stop and take notice. This is not accidental. Even when you have many places, and this is something I don't want to get into this morning, but even when you have the constant repetition of the conjunction and, instead of breaking up into so many sentences, when you have a constant repetition even of a conjunction or a preposition or a word or a phrase, the Lord is intending you to take notice of it. He means something by it. And when we get this repetition of these things, we are supposed to stop and ponder these things. Now last week, I pointed out that these things of which Peter is speaking may be summed up under the great heads of faith, life, death and eternity. These are the great subject heads about which Peter is writing in this epistle, certainly in this first chapter in the epistle. Now, if your memory is good, you'll know that he has expounded the gospel's teaching on every one of these things. The believers to whom he is writing have received that gospel truth. When you read this epistle, you say, here are people who know this truth. They are established in this truth. Isn't this what Peter says in verse 12? He says, though ye know these things and are established in the present truth. The present truth simply means the truth that has come unto you. Now let me point out in passing, well, not so much in passing, for I hope this leads on to the real burden of the message. A real basic idea that you'll get in Scripture for how to teach and how to learn the Word of God. In 1 John 2.21, John spells it out very clearly. He says, I have not written unto you, because ye know not the truth, but because you know it. Peter says something very similar in 2 Peter 3 verse 17. He says, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things, beware, lest ye also be led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness. You see, we tend to have the modern, and excuse what sounds like a nationalistic approach, I don't mean to be anti-American in this, but this was born in America and it's cursing America, although, mind you, it's being exported, unfortunately, to many parts of the world. The modern notion of education in America, you'll see it in grade school, We couldn't get over it when Frank started going to grade school here. We gave the wee fellow all sorts of fits. We gave him all sorts of hard times because we thought he mustn't be telling the truth. It couldn't be right. Education couldn't be this way. It must be the way we did it because this way doesn't make sense. You have six weeks in which to learn the history of China and all about it. And for the rest of your entire career in school, China may as well have never existed. I've learned that. I've got a grade letter in that. I have done a credit in that. So forget about that. Isn't that how most things are done? I've taken that class, I've taken that class, and I've taken that class, and they're behind me forever. It's not education, by the way, and I don't want to talk about education, grade or otherwise. But that is not education. That's a parody of education. But we bring this with us into the things of God. Oh, I have learned that. I know that. That's all there is to it. I don't need to do it again. Well, the Word of God is line upon line, precept upon precept. The Word of God says, you know it, well now learn it. But Lord, that doesn't make much sense to our notions about what education and learning are all about. Well then, change your notion. Change your notion. I know this. Well, that's the very reason God gives to learn it. Because you don't know it as you think you know it. That's what he's saying. I'm not writing this all to you, says John, and then says Peter, because it's all new to you. I'm writing it to you because I've already taught it to you. You know it and you've become established in this truth that you have received. But notice what he says in that Verse I read from 2 Peter 3.17, "...seeing ye know these things, beware, beware, lest, being led away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness." Thus the message in the text is very plain. You must constantly treasure the truth which you have already received. That's Peter's great Thesis, if you want it. His great proposition in this passage of the Epistle. You must constantly treasure the truth which you have received. And he proceeds to give three powerful reasons why that should be. First of all, in the verses we read this morning, because this is the only way What you know will equip you faithfully to serve the Lord. It's only by treasuring the truth that you have received that your knowledge will equip you faithfully to serve the Lord. Any other way, your knowledge will become a snare to you. It will puff up your ego, it will fill your head, and ultimately you will turn knowledge into heresy. This is the only way whereby what you know will equip you for the service of the Lord. Then, the second reason we should treasure constantly the truth we have received is because the truth that we treasure, or ought to treasure, is God's light to guide us through the murk of this present world. That's what He deals with. from verse 16 through to verse 21. Then there's a third reason, and this is why I said I wasn't quite sure whether I would be going on beyond the first chapter. It's quite possible. Because the third reason why we should constantly treasure the truth which we have received is that there are false prophets who are very active to rob you of the truth and to remove you from the grasp of that truth. And that's what he deals with in chapter 2 verses 1 to 3. And then he goes on in great detail to expose and oppose those false prophets. Now today we're dealing with the first of these three reasons for treasuring the truth we have received. That is, that it's the only way whereby our knowledge will equip us faithfully to serve the Lord. So this is what we're dealing with, verse 12 through to 15, treasuring the truth by constant remembrance. Now, what I have to say today is very, very simple, but yet its simplicity is absolutely profound. And I want you to follow it carefully. You'll not have any difficulty understanding the words, though let me tell you not one Christian in a thousand understands it spiritually enough to live by it. First, Christians must learn to think constantly upon the truth they have received. Christians must learn to think constantly upon the truth they have received." Verse 12, "...I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and are established in the present truth." The New Testament places a strong emphasis upon remembering. Let me give you a few texts, just a sampling to make you understand how much this is emphasised in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus, the night in which He was betrayed, took breath. And He broke it and said, This do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup when He had stopped saying, This cup is the New Testament in My blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it." How? In remembrance of me. Acts 20, 35, ye ought to remember the words of the Lord Jesus. Ephesians 2.11, Wherefore remember that ye, being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. And so he goes on tracing what they were and now what they have become. 2 Timothy 2 verse 8, Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Jude 17, Beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10.32, Call to remembrance the former deaths. 2 Peter 3.1, the second epistle, Beloved, I now write unto you, in both which I stir up your pure mind. By way of remembrance. Now again, you will remember what I said at the beginning. When there is a constant repetition of something, either in a passage or in the whole book of God, the repetition is not accidental. The repetition is there for a very good purpose. We are to remember. Why does he say this? What are we to learn from this? Let's learn the lesson simply. We must learn that we must consciously think through what we believe and we must apply it to every part of life. We must think through what we believe and apply it to every part of life. Church pews are filled with unthinking people. That is why heresy and apostasy have been able to spread so widely through Christendom. Because there has been this tendency among people in the pew not to think. This is fostered in many churches. It is fostered by many preachers. who would tell you in so many words that you are not permitted on pain of being thought disloyal, you are not permitted to think differently from the preacher. You are not permitted to take what he preaches and hold it up to the scrutiny of God's Word. In other words, you're supposed to park your brain along with your car, and you're supposed to come in, and you're supposed to believe what I say because I say it, even if there's no sense to it. Well, I want to tell you that is not New Testament Christianity. I never ask people to park their brains with their cars. I never ask people to receive any interpretation of any preacher, including this one. unless they subject it to the Word of God itself, to the Word and to the testimony. That must be the constant appeal. Now, we must learn what we believe and we must learn to think through what we believe and then apply it to every part of life. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome in Romans 15, 14 and 15, And he says, I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort as putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to me of God. Again, notice what he is saying. He says, I believe that you're saved. I believe you know what you believe. I know that you are even so well advanced that you are able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, I must put you in mind. I must keep bringing you back to the things that you say you believe. You must think them through. You must apply them to daily life. Isn't this what Paul writes to the Philippians? in chapter 4 and verse 8, in a little passage that unfortunately is memorized and sometimes it will be done as a calligraphy piece and put on a wall and it will look nice and that's about the end of it. But a little piece which will transform lives if people will only take it to heart. It will break habits of a lifetime if it's only put into practice. It will answer the perennial question, how do I get control of my brain? How do I get control of my thinking? How do I escape from the pictures and the mental images and the thoughts and the ideas of a depraved past? How do I cleanse my mind from the filth of accumulated years of wickedness? Here's the answer, Philippians 4, verse 8. Finally, my brethren, Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, listen, think on these things. He doesn't say, believe these things. He takes that for granted. He doesn't say, acknowledge they are what I say they are. He takes that for granted. But what he's saying is what Peter is saying in the words of our text. You know these things. You believe these things. Well, think on these things. Peruse them. Meditate upon them. Let them percolate in your brain. Recite them. Repeat them. Go over them again and again and again. And as long as it takes and as often as it takes to change your thoughts, your mental images, what you remember from the past, how you look in the future, until that is done, which will be the day you die, Think on these things. Think on them. It sounds so simple. So very simple. But, like the Gospel itself, its very simplicity is what causes people to stumble over it. Or should I say, their wickedness, their arrogance would use the simplicity as an excuse to stumble. Christians must learn to think through what they believe and apply those things to daily life. Time really forbids that I follow that into every area. But every time I come to that passage, I really have two thoughts and they have been going through my mind as I have been drawing your attention to it this morning. The first is of a young man with great potential, great brains, lovely personality, great abilities. It seemed that he could serve the Lord. The startings of a beautiful home destroyed as far as God's service is concerned because he couldn't get over the past. He had lived a life of incredible wickedness. One of the worst cases of a misspent youth plunged him into the depths of every sort of viciousness and sin. And even when he said he was saved, and I believe he was saved, he struggled and struggled and struggled with this. How can I ever get this awful wickedness out of my mind? Couldn't close his eyes, but all those scenes of the most horrible and hellish darkness would crowd in upon him until finally He broke. Oh, he scrambled back, but never to be the same man again. There's the answer. There's the answer. The second thought I have in mind every time I read that passage is of Lester Roloff. And I would listen to him speak on radio. I don't think that Lester Roloff was a Presbyterian. I don't think Lester Roloff was a Calvinist. He is now. He's in glory. But I have to say, I loved to hear the man preach. And I no doubt I will offend the high class musicians when I say I loved to hear him sing. Because when he sang, he moved my heart. And I thought he had a very nice voice into the bargain. But anyway, he sang to move the heart. He sang as a man who knew his God. Mr. Roloff would speak about young people who would come with their minds full of drugs and pornography and wickedness and worldliness. Of course, he would put them out in the fields to work. He would fill them with carrots and orange juice and give them nothing but what they laboured to produce in the fields. Not a good sense in that too, by the way. Clear the system. But you know, those were only the trappings. Sure there was discipline, but the heart of the thing was Lead them to Christ. Lead them to Christ. Keep them under the white heat of the gospel until God brought them to Christ. And then, every single day, fill their minds with the Word of God. To memorize, to meditate, to think. As I've said, to let it percolate until their thoughts formerly governed by all sorts of filthiness and wickedness and uncleanness, are filled with what is pure and lovely and of good report, filled with the things of God. Every Christian, with no exceptions, every Christian needs to do that. Learn to think through what you believe. and apply it to life. That leads me to the second thing we should learn from this constant emphasis on remembering, and that is we can never outgrow the gospel. I want to emphasize that clearly. The basic truths of the gospel should always be in our minds. This gets back to what I was saying earlier. You say, well, I know it. Do you? Do you? I'll be very happy to make a challenge publicly. And I range here in this congregation all the way from PhDs in theology and Bible and languages right down to people who are newly saved and have no background in it at all. So, I'd be happy to throw out the challenge. You give me one doctrine, one doctrine in the Bible that you think you know, and I'll be happy to take you to the Bible and prove to you that you're just beginning to know it. Oh, I know that the great plan of God's salvation is simple and clear and plain. So is the light of the sun. But what do you know about that? You know what some scientist tells you he thinks he knows. The speed of light and all the rest of it. I may sound like somebody in from the country when I say this, but believe me, it's not. It's quite true. That they're not even sure they've got that yet. A great deal of scientific discussion still to go on on that, whether they've even got that. But you say, oh well, I know that, but you know nothing about it! Similarly with these things that are clear with the light of the sun, as it were, in Scripture. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. We know that, do we? Thank God we know it. But yet, there is so much more to know. This is what the apostles are saying here. You can never outgrow the gospel. Paul says, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness in 1 Timothy 3.16. Great is the mystery of godliness. Now, he goes on to tell you, God was manifested in the flesh. He was justified in the Spirit. He was seen of angels. He was preached unto the Gentiles. He was believed on in the world, received up into glory. Here are the fundamentals of the faith and the saying, this is the great mystery of godliness. You see, there are depths to the well-known truths of the Gospel that we must seek to plunge. There's enough to engage your attention here and to engage your attention eternally in these truths of the gospel. But that leads me to the third thing to say, and it's very, very important. Why we must remember. Why we must remember. Because the great truths of the gospel are in reality the most practical things that we can contemplate. The only remedy the apostles of Jesus Christ had for the practical problems that people felt, the only remedy was the gospel of Jesus Christ. Emphasize that, underline it, put your colored marker through it, emblazon it on your brain, and throw away all the modern inventions. for supposedly meeting the answers of practical problems today. What problem do we have today that wasn't in the early church in just as deep and sometimes a deeper form? What about drugs? Do you think that's a new thing? Not at all. Not at all. That's far from it. What about pornography? You think that's a new thing? Listen, pornography was such an art in those days that it was elevated to a religion. Every heathen religion was a religious front for the wickedness of the vilest pornography and immorality that you could possibly think about. Now, these people got sealed out of a background of spiritism, immorality, viciousness, uncleanness, and they came into the church. That's why, for instance, there were such problems in the church in Corinth. It's very easy to criticize these people, and they ought to be criticized. Paul did criticize them. But think of where they were coming from. They come in with all this baggage of ungodliness. Now, what was the answer? What was the answer? I'm very tempted just to close up 2 Peter for a while and go to 1 Corinthians and show you what the answer was. In every single case, whatever the problem, the answer was always the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nowadays, we have relegated the Gospel to be the little Roman road. There is a real Roman road. And it seems to me to be rather a clearer road than what many people call the Roman road. But let me tell you, The gospel is not merely that which gets a person to Christ and then you forget about it. The gospel is what is given, say in the book of Romans. The gospel is the revelation of God. in Jesus Christ. The gospel is the exposure of man's sin by the standards of God's law. The gospel is God's answer in justifying grace in Jesus Christ. The gospel goes on with the justified man to lead him into the victory of sanctification and a genuine relationship with God because of his union with Jesus Christ. The gospel is that which draws aside the veil between time and eternity and prepares a man for eternity and helps him now to live with eternity in view. The Gospel is not some little easy thing whereby you come to a sinner and say, now here's how you may have your sins forgiven. And once your sins are forgiven, now I need to teach you 41,000 principles whereby you can now live your life. No, sir. The Gospel is the answer. Man, how we need to learn that. Because these are the most practical things in the world. This sets forth, you know, the duty of every gospel minister. And I don't want to be harsh, but I do want to say that men are not faithful to the gospel ministry if they are departing from the gospel as a way of salvation and as the way of Christian living. Peter says, I will not be negligent to put you in remembrance of these things. He says in verse 13, I think it right. The word meet means right. It is right for me, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to keep on reminding you of these things. Now let me stop for a minute. Again, I say, quite honestly, I don't want to sound Unduly critical. But in all the specialized programs to deal with this problem, and this problem, and this problem, and this problem, tell me, how often do these things that Peter has been enumerating in 2 Peter chapter 1, how often do they ever get a mention? I have read the experts. I'm not speaking as somebody who has never read them. I have read the experts. These are the things that they shovel off on the first page or so. Let's deal with that now and get rid of it. And now we're going on to greater things. These things don't get a mention. Now, either they're right and Peter's wrong, or Peter's right and they're wrong. But I want to tell you there's no middle ground, and I'm taking my stand with Peter. I don't say that they never produce any results. I do say that they will produce skin-deep results. I do say that they will give a little alleviation, but they will not get to the deep parts of the problem. Paul took the same view as Peter in this. He says to the Philippians, to write the same things to you, to me, indeed, is not grievous, but for you it is safe. To Timothy who writes in 1 Timothy 4, 6, If you put your brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine. Again to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, 14, Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers." This is the job of the preacher. Preachers are not entertainers. Preachers are not dressed-up psychologists. They're not here to run after every new gimmick. Preachers are not to depart from the Word of God, and by that I believe the apostles meant not that they can select a text and stick a principle on it. I could tell you a story there but I would embarrass somebody so I will at great difficulty, with great difficulty I will bite my tongue. But I could give you the most hilarious example of taking a scripture text and sticking a principle on it. That's not what Paul's talking about. Principles in the Bible are basic, fundamental doctrines of the gospel. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1. That's what Paul means by them. And when he says about not departing from the word of God, he means not departing from the gospel. That's what he means. 2 Corinthians 2.17 and 2 Corinthians 4.2. We're not to depart from the Word of God. That's why when he wrote to Timothy in the last letter that he ever wrote, in the last chapter of that letter, verses 3 to 5, he says, The time will come when they'll not endure sound doctrine. Tell me, has that time come? The last thing in the world most churches want is sound doctrine. It has often been said that sound doctrine will put you sound asleep. Well, if sound doctrine puts you sound asleep, there's something wrong with a preacher or there's something wrong with you. Maybe it's because I'm a preacher, but I would say if sound doctrine puts you to sleep, you need to consider where your heart is with God. They'll not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, notice that, after their own lusts they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. This is just a perfect commentary of the modern church. Ears are itching for something new. Tell us something new. Tell us something different. Hitch, hitch, hitch, hitch, hitch. And they heap up teachers. We have them by the thousand in America. Teachers. to satisfy these itching ears, but they'll turn away their ears from the truth. They'll be turned on to fables. In the church of Jesus Christ today, at least the professing churches, there are as many fables being taught as truths. But, listen, watch thou in all things. The last line, make full proof of thy ministry. What is that ministry? It's the same as Paul's. When he was bidding farewell to the church of Ephesus through their elders, he says in verse 20 and then 27, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Now, I want you to understand me. This is no insignificant point. This is the fundamental teaching of the Word of God. Christians must constantly think through the things that they have believed and what you believe must be applied to how you live. Is Jesus Christ the Son of God? Is the God you serve the sovereign Lord of all creation? Does the blood of Jesus Christ perfectly atone for your sin? Has He risen from the dead? Are you justified by faith? Are you accepted by God in union with Christ? These are not esoteric teachings. These, my friend, are vital teachings, and you must learn to think them through, and you must apply those things, these fundamental truths of the Bible, apply them to every problem. If you've been coming to our Tuesday night class, you'll find a vivid example of that. In the class on evangelism, Dr. Allison has made one point, well he's made many points, but he's made one point with abundant clarity. You go to most evangelism classes and they'll tell you, you must do this, you must do this, and this is how you do this, and how you do this, and how you do this. That's where they start. Now there is a necessity to do the work of evangelism. There are ways of doing things. Nobody's denying that. I can speak from experience here, I know this is true. You go to most of these evangelism classes and you come out with a big burden of guilt and a big burden of inability. But then you get the truth that Christ is Lord of all. He is Lord of all. His scepter extends over all the earth. It reaches to every man, every woman, every child, every home, every factory floor, every shop, every university, every place. The scepter of Christ, as Lord of all, reaches into every nook and cranny of the world. Now, when you really believe that, When that gets into your heart, you believe it and you think it through, and you begin to live according to what you believe, you will be free to go with the Gospel as far as the Lordship of Christ extends. And you will stop where the Lordship of Christ stops. It's a perfect example of the doctrine that you believe. fueling the activity that you must take and make as the Christian servant of Jesus Christ. So that's the first point. We must think through and apply what we believe. The second point is like unto it. It's only the remembrance of the gospel truth that can motivate Christians to holy and faithful service. That's what verse 13 teaches. I think it right as long as I'm in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Now, we all have to confess, we need to be stirred up. We need to be stirred up. It's nothing new. They needed to be stirred up in the New Testament times. We need to be stirred up constantly. Men have devised all sorts of methods to stir people up. Sob stories. guilt trips, all sorts of things to stir people up, but they omit usually the one true motivation. The psalmist said in Psalm 39, 3, My heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned. And there's nowhere that that's truer than in contemplating Christ. How often have I referred you to Hebrews 12? Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God. Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind, looking unto Jesus, considering Him." Listen, while you're musing on Christ, the fire will burn. Do you know why Christians are cold? Let's test this out this morning. I'll not make the bald blanket statement. Let's test it out. Is your heart cold? Come on, Christian, now, be honest before God. Is your heart cold this morning? Have you lost out with God in prayer? Is the Bible a dry book to you today? Yes, there are Christians here and they have to confess that. Let me ask you this, have you been contemplating Christ much? Have you been spending time filling your mind, thinking through the person of Christ, the work of Christ, the love of Christ, the salvation of Christ? Now I'm going to make the statement, I guarantee you have not. I guarantee you haven't. Because I tell you, it is impossible to be musing, to be contemplating, thinking through the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. It's impossible to let what the Bible says about Christ fill your mind and your heart be cold. It can't be. It would be easier for you to stick your hand in a fire and get an ice burn than it would be to contemplate Christ and not have your heart burning within you. Oh listen, we need to be stirred up. The Lord Jesus gave His own Word through John to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2.5. Do you need to be stirred up out of backsliding? Remember, therefore, from whence thou art falling, repent and do the first works. Remember! To the church at Sardis, remember how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. Oh, you see, if we need to be stirred up out of backsliding, It's only the remembrance, it's only the remembrance of the Gospel that will stir us up. Do we need to be stirred with a zeal for souls? Do we need our hearts to be moved to get on with the work of getting out the Gospel? Well, what's going to do it? Paul says, the love of Christ comes straight at us, thinking the Gospel. will always lead to living the gospel. Do you understand that? Thinking the gospel will always lead to living the gospel. Treasure the truth. Yes, treasure it because this is the only thing that will motivate you to serve the Lord. great truth in verse 14. The swift passage of time is a strong incentive for both preacher and people to be diligent about this business. Peter says, I know that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle even as the Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Peter had just spoken of the abundant entrance of the saints into glory. That reminded him of Christ's prophecy of his own death. Alexander McLaren, the great English Baptist expositor of the last century, summed up his reference in verse 11 to the abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom with this reference in verse 14 of putting off his tabernacle. And he preached a message called going out and going in. Going out and going in. Peter realized that soon he'd be going out and soon he'd be going in. Soon his tent, as he puts it, would be taken down. By the way, do notice the true view of death for a Christian. What is death for a Christian? It's changing a tent for a mansion. That's what death is for a Christian. Changing a tent for a mansion. That's why John Talvin on this passage said there's no reason why we should take it's, that is, the tent's removal so badly. There is an implied contrast between the failing tabernacle and the eternal dwelling place, which Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1. So there's no great need for us to be so worried about the tent being taken down. Why? Because we're going to have a mansion. Now, in the light of death and in the light of eternity, in the light of our going out and the light of our going in, there's only one business of life that really matters. Only one thing. We can understand that sinners don't see this. Sinners are blind to this. There are people in this meeting this morning who are not saved. There's but one breath between them and eternity. One heartbeat between them and hell. But they don't see it. They don't understand it. They don't feel it. And therefore they live as if it weren't true. Man, if you're in this meeting this morning without Christ, you may live as if this is not true. But that doesn't change its truth. The only thing that matters in this life is to be ready to meet God. That's the only thing that matters, to be ready to meet God. Make sure today that you seek Christ and do not give up seeking until you're sure you've found Him. But there's no excuse for Christians being in the dark about this. There's no excuse for Christians not understanding it. Listen, we're saved. We are the children of the resurrection. The only thing that matters for us in this life is the business of the gospel. Everything else should be subjected to this. God has given us health. Let us use it for the business of the gospel. God has given us jobs with the money that comes from them. Well, that's all very good, but let's make sure they are used for the glory of God and the furtherance of the gospel. God has given us homes. Let us make those homes the very reflections of heaven for the furtherance of the gospel and the glory of our God. Listen, this is the great business of life for every Christian. That's Peter's point. Treasure the truth. Think on the truth. and then live according to the truth, because this is the business in the light of death and eternity that really matters. That leads me to verse 15 and the final great truth. And this thought of treasuring the gospel by remembering it constantly. Here's something that touches the preacher and touches every parent. touches every one of us. We must ensure that our work outlives us. I will endeavor, he says, that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. We must labor to equip the church to progress as strongly after we have gone as it ever did under our ministry. Here's the goal for every preacher. I'm not going to be here forever. I'm not going to be in this pulpit forever. In fact, every time I get to think of it before God, I realize the great majority of the Sabbath days I'll ever stand in a pulpit to preach the Gospel are already gone. That's a solemn thought for any preacher. I'm not starting out. The greatest number of times or Sabbath ministry have already gone. The great question is not simply how long I preach here. The great question is, after I'm gone from this pulpit, what will remain? What will remain? the goal of every preacher is after I have gone either to another church or to another country or to the better country as it was in Peter's case after I have gone listen you must still be going on with God you must still have these things in remembrance you must be so strong after I have gone otherwise my ministry will largely have been in vain that if somebody with a different doctrine, or a different stand, or a different standard comes along, he will be out that door faster than a NASA rocket. If you, after I have gone, can open this pulpit to an apostate, then I think I have largely labored in vain. Peter says, after my decease, you would still have these things in remembrance. Is this not also something that every parent should labor for? You're now in the business of rearing your children. It can be tedious, it can be difficult, it can be most off-putting. You can be intimidated by all the forces of modern society. If you send them to a Christian school, you'll get the state on your back. If you don't send them to any school and keep them at home, you'll have the state on your back. If you send them to a state school, you'll have the state on your back because you're interfering too much. It doesn't matter what you do. As the days go on, there's going to be every power of hell to drag those children from you and damn their souls eternally. What's your great desire? That you will so work with those children and inculcate into them the glorious gospel of grace that even after you have gone, they will always have them in remembrance. Every preacher feels this, every parent must feel it. It's true of every Sabbath school teacher, every Christian worker. We must teach and preach in such a way that what we preach is never forgotten and those to whom we preach it never depart from the truth that we have presented. This is also a great comfort for us as we come near to death. Peter knew he was dying. He was going to die a martyr. It wasn't a great prospect, humanly speaking. I don't think that Peter really would have been any different in heart from any of the rest of us. He'd rather have died in his bed than have died as a martyr, as tradition says, hung upside down upon a cross. But as he was coming near to death, it was a great, great comfort that he had labored to teach and preach Christ. in such a way that his ministry would bear fruit long after he was gone. The psalmist said something similar in Psalm 71 and 18, Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. That's the desire and that's the comfort as we near death. Let me just stop for a minute. I don't have the minute to stop, but I'm going to take it. We're all dying. I don't want to be morbid, but we're all dying. You could be gone today, and I could be there before you. We don't know what one day will bring forth. Let me ask you, what would you have to show the Lord today? Yes, Lord, I believe the Gospel. I'm saved by faith in Jesus Christ. I acknowledge there's no greater business in all the world than the business of being faithful to God, whether He's called me to be a preacher or whether He's put me to witness on a factory floor. Listen, the old Puritans were right when they made it clear the calling of God in your life is not a matter of class, it's not a matter of pride, it's a matter of faithfulness. Serve God in the calling where He has placed you. That's all God requires of you. Can you say, Lord, I believe the Gospel. I believe the great business of the gospel is all that matters, but in my calling I really pay attention to every other business but the business that really matters. I have nothing to set before you. My friend, let us not labor for the wind. but let's labor for the glory of God. This is how the church's witness will be perpetuated. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 2, The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. That's how it started. God gave men to preach. They saw men saved. They taught them to preach. They saw men saved. They taught men to preach and so on and so on. That's the true apostolic succession. Let us then learn to treasure the gospel. Let's fill our minds with its truths. Let's impress those truths upon the rising generation. This is the will of God. This is the victory of faith. This is the key to bearing fruit for all eternity. Treasure the truth. Think on it. Think it through. Let it motivate you to service. Keep in mind the shortness of time. Keep in mind, keep in mind the responsibility, soul to labor, that your work will outlive you. May God help us to treasure the truth by keeping it in constant remembrance. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's all pray. In a moment the meeting will be over. I said a moment or two ago, we're all going out to meet the Lord. We're all dying. Tell me, would you die as a Christian if you died today? If God took you from that pew to eternity, would He take you as a Christian to glory? Or a Christ-rejecting, stubborn sinner to a lost eternity? How is it with your soul? Christ is able to save. He's able to keep. He's able to meet every need of your heart and your life. He's able to obliterate the guilt of your sin, forgive you your sin. He's able to give you victory over the things that now dominate your life. He is able to make you a new creature in Himself. He is able to save to the uttermost. He says, come unto Me. I trust today that you'll come to Jesus Christ and He'll not cast you out. If I can help you in the things of God, I invite you to come and have a word with me. Let me open the Scriptures with you and I'll be glad to point you to Christ. If you are a Christian, maybe you're one of those You say, Preacher, I came and I did need stirred up. I've lost out with God. I'm not where I ought to be. I'm not where I was. I'm not what I was. Oh, how I long to be. Well, these things are to stir you up. There's a way back. Take that way this morning. May God bring you right through. to revival in your personal life. If I can help you as a backslider, if you want me to help you, I'll be glad to help you in the things of God. Father in heaven, bless Thy Word to every heart. Write it upon my heart. Write it upon the heart of every Christian. Write it upon the heart of every unsaved person. And Lord, today we ask Thee that Thou wilt enable sinners to close with Christ, Lord, create faith within faithless hearts. O God, regenerate dead souls and impart to them that faith of the gospel, so bringing them to Christ. O God, stir up Thy people, revive our souls, set us ablaze with the love of Christ. O Lord, help us to have these things in remembrance. Hear our prayer and part us with Thy very richest blessing. Be our abiding portion both this Sabbath day and until the Lord Jesus either comes or calls, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.