Praise the Lord for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who came born into this world to save us from our sins. Well, here we are the last Sunday of the year and almost the last day of the year. And although we do count all days alike, meaning that in and of itself, there is no difference between the 31st and the 1st, but we still have this sense. Another year has gone by. The old has passed, and if the Lord wills, the new year will come. The reality that another year has come and gone and that a new year is dawning as many times likened even to a sort of death and a new life, in a sense. And as we end the year, there is this common notion that we are to reflect, to remember the past year. which is to be followed by making resolutions for the new coming year, often based on our previous year's failures or whatnot. Although I'm not necessarily against this approach, if done rightly, but I would like to propose to you this morning a biblical approach. not only to end the year, but actually every day of our lives. And that is found in our text this morning, and it consists really of one word, and that one word is to remember, to remember. So if you have your Bibles with you, let's open up to 2 Peter. And now, in the Lord's kindness and providence, we are where we are in the study in 2 Peter, and it falls so nicely and with the end of the year and the beginning of a new year, as Peter admonishes and encourages his hearers, his readers, to remember. I'll begin in verse 12, and I'll read through verse 15. So 2 Peter 1, verses 12 through 15. Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things. even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am 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 made clear to me. And I will always be diligent that at any time after my departure, you will be able to call these things to mind. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we come before you and so thankful, Lord, that You are our God. We thank You so much that this Word was written by Peter, inspired, led by the Holy Spirit to write these things down, and they are here for us to read and to grow in, to understand and to know more of who You are, Christ. And so this morning, we want that very thing. We want us to be stirred up by way of reminder. We want us to know more of the Lord Jesus Christ. So help this. Give me strength, Lord. Give the hearers strength and help us all to rejoice in knowing you, O Lord. And for those that do not know you, Lord, let them let them hear what is being preached, taught this morning and thereafter. and turn to the living God. We pray this in the name of Christ. Amen. Well, I have entitled my study this morning, The Theology of Remembering, and I will be reflecting upon the importance of remembering. Although after getting into this study, I realized that there is much more on this subject than I initially thought, as always. So we will again only scratch the surface and we will not puritanize the text, if you know what I mean by that. Okay. Here in just these four verses, Peter uses his word actually three times, to remind, to remember. Three times in four verses. He says it there at the beginning. He says, I will always be ready to remind you. In verse 12, in verse 13, he says, I consider it right to stir you up by way of reminder. And then in verse 15, he says that at any time after my departure, you will be able to call these things to mind, to remember these things. So I've divided the study up into three parts, forgetting to remember, a worshipful remembrance, and remembering the future. that is forgetting to remember, a worshipful remembrance, remembering the future. Well, Peter begins with the word again, therefore, and he does so because he's connecting what he has just said previously with what he is just about to say. And you see in verse 11, he mentioned that there is actually an entrance that is supplied to you. An entrance that opens up into the magnificent eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this picture is vivid. It really is made to lift our hearts and heads towards the King of the kingdom as with outstretched arm he calls us to enter in and to enjoy our eternal rest with and in him. And so, If there is an entrance into the kingdom, then he will always be ready, Peter, he will always be ready to remind us to remind his readers of these things, the things that accompany or make God's calling and choosing us a certainty, and as a result, this entrance, a reality. Peter's mindset is this, I will always be ready to remind you of these things. Like the pen of a ready writer, as the psalmist says, these things will always be, Peter says, of what I will speak of, what I will say, what I will live in, what I will remind you of. And this is what is on his mind. If you remember, in the first letter he wrote, in chapter three, verse 15, he says, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, right? And he's doing that. He's sanctifying, he has sanctified the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart, Christ as Lord in his heart, and as a result, he's always ready to give and account for the hope that is in him. the love of Christ, the power of Christ. It is all of Christ. It is Christ. And similarly, here in our text, he's not departing from that, though he's not departing from that thought, that rather he's upholding it by saying he is always ready. Peter is always ready. And later on, he writes in our text, he says, I consider it right. And again, I will always be diligent that at any time after I leave, these things you may be able to recall or bring or call back to mind, to remember. You see, Peter's passion and purpose was to remind him of these things. These things. Now, what are these things that he mentions there? You know, Peter alludes to these things more than several times in this first chapter. the first reference being found in verse eight. And about four times thereafter with the final reference in verse 15, he says, these things, I think it's safe for us to conclude that these things are pointing to everything before verse eight. So namely verses one through seven. And for those of you that have not been able to attend or follow the previous studies of those verses, I will briefly summarize what Peter is saying there. as he refers to these things. And I do so because I'm being biblical about it. I'm following scripture. I'm reminding you all again of these things. As Peter says, as long as I am living, I'm going to remind you of these things. And so, why don't we remind each other of these things. I think if you look within Scripture, a preacher's task, a teacher's task, is really to relay the same thing over and over and over and over again in different ways. It's all about Christ. And so Peter is doing that very thing. And so what are these things? These things include the following. A received faith. the righteousness of Christ, now yours, a grace and peace that is being multiplied, a true knowledge of him, the very one who has called you by his glory and excellence. And this is because of his divine power at work in us and for us. And as a result, we are the beneficiaries of what he has granted. everything pertaining to salvation, from eternal life that has been supplied by the fountain of life, Jesus Christ, to the living or the working out that life in this world by becoming more like Christ, everything pertaining to life and godliness. Because of his glory and excellence, Peter says, because of who he is, glorious and good, We can take hold of the precious and magnificent promises He has for us. Those magnificent promises that assure or confirm us as His sheep in His pasture. We belong to Him now, and the corruption that was in this world by its lust, we have escaped, He says. Brethren, you and I that are in Christ are not corrupting away, we're not rusting away, we're not decaying away, but rather we are partakers of the divine nature by and through what Christ has accomplished. And so as a result, we live lives that are in accordance with what has taken place in us. We add to our faith. But not in adding to our salvation by works, but working because of our salvation. Being diligent to accompany our faith with moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. These are the qualities that Peter talks about. These are to mark your life, and these qualities are to be increasing in your life. See them all the more and by doing so you will be useful, he says, you will be fruitful as it pertains to knowing more of Christ and the true knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. There's no greater aim for the Christian and by continuing these qualities you will make certain God's call and election in your life. There is a great assurance of salvation as you supply these qualities to your faith. As a matter of fact, by doing so, you will never stumble, Peter says, as to finally fall away. And quite the opposite will happen. You will be welcomed. The eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Praise the Lord. Brothers and sisters, what else is there to be reminded of? Because packed in these verses is the picture of the full redemption that is found in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. And what it means to live out at one that has been redeemed. What does that look like? And so Peter says, these things I will always be reminding you of. Even though as he acknowledges that the saints he is writing to, you see that in verse 12 there, that they already know these things. and that they already have been established in the truth that is present in you. Notice in verse 12 that Peter sees these things, these things that we just talked about, as being equal to being established in the truth, the truth that is actually with you, he says, present in you. The truth is not a foreign term in the New Testament either, though. We hear it mentioned. We hear the truth of the gospel. We hear the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. We hear the word of truth. And then we, of course, know Christ, who is the way, the life, the truth. And so the connection here between the truth and these things would be that all these things have everything to do with the truth of the gospel message and with Christ, the truth which is present in you. Well, we might be asking the question then, Why is it that this reminding is needed? If they already know these things, if they have been established in the truth, and even that the truth is present in them, why is it that there needs to be a reminding? Let them keep going. They're doing everything well. Why the reminding? Answer is because we are a forgetful people. We forget many things, but above all, we forget to remember. Forgetting to remember. Throughout the ages, there has been this common ailment or condition among us all. We forget. We don't remember. Today, there are actually companies out there that are making money over the people that are forgetfuls. For people who forget where they have placed certain items, maybe their wallet, their purse, their keys, their sunglasses, their bikes, their pets, and yes, even their child. They even advertise it as such. Attach these devices to anything, keys, pet, child, wallet, and link them to the app. They have cards and chips linked to the app on your phone in order to help you remember where your items are. And if anyone takes them, it will ring. So the worst thing that can happen is that you forget your phone. Or actually, the worst thing that can happen is you forget your child that has the device on there. Please understand, though, that I, please understand that by no means am I making fun of people who forget, because I am one of the number. I am one that forgets, okay? But if you ask what is the goal here of this app, of this, their goal, as their particular company has stated it, is that everything is now safe. And that you can even begin to share your valuables with others, meaning let them borrow them, because now you know where they are. All of this to produce in us, they say, a peace of mind, a peace of mind. But this is not the forgetting that I am talking about. This is not the reminding that Peter is talking about. Brethren, Peter is talking about a reminding of something beyond a wallet or sunglasses or even a child. He is reminding the saints about something glorious. And he says that as long as he lives, he will ever point them and remind them of the Glorious One and all the things he has done. Saints, what else is there to remember but the Glorious One, the Lord Jesus Christ? But we forget, don't we? Scripture is clear that there is a danger in forgetting about God. Scripture also tells us that there is a reason to our forgetting. Let's turn to Deuteronomy 8. And I want to actually read the entire chapter. I know I might be short on time, but I just feel like it's a good chapter to read. It's so applicable in our day, and I'm always amazed. as to how the Bible stands the test of time. It is a rock undaunted. It is the Bible which stands. And so we have here a retelling of how God led his people through the wilderness for 40 years. And then some warnings about the dangers in and reasons for forgetting. And so Deuteronomy 8. I want us to see what is being said here and to be in awe of who God is, first and foremost. And then also to see who the people are. How are they? And what are these warnings that God speaks about? Deuteronomy 8. All the commandments that I am commanding you today, you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. You shall remember all the way which the Lord God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these 40 years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore he shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to fear him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and springs flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey. a land where you will eat food without scarcity in which you will not lack anything a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper when you have eaten and are satisfied you shall bless the lord your god for the good land which he has given you the warning beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, and His ordinances, and His statutes, which I am commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget. See that, you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of, from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground, where there was no water. He brought water for you out of the rock of Flint. In the wilderness, he fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and that he might test you to do good for you in the end. There's the purpose of God. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, my power and the strength of my hand made this wealth. But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who is giving you power to make wealth that he may confirm his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them. I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you will perish, because you will not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. Amen. Powerful text there. Powerful chapter. And just, there's a danger. We walk away from there saying, he's serious. There's a danger in forgetting. a being distracted, a becoming proud, a worshiping of self, or chasing after other things which are just really other gods. We become too comfortable in or with our own abilities and what we have accomplished. We become too familiar at times with God himself. or he is just another part of the ordinary. Saints, he's beyond the ordinary. He's beyond that. He's extraordinary. He's beyond being one to be familiar with. We must approach him as his humble servant Moses approached him, getting low to the ground from which we came from, bowing before him and recognizing his presence, glory, and power in our nothingness. Listen, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all guilty. We're all prone to wonder, I know you are because I know I am. Even though we know these wonderful truths, we boast about knowing the doctrines of grace, but oh, how can we so easily be distracted from true worship and remembering our God? Who He is and what He has done for us, in us, and through us. The Lord made it clear, there is more than just a danger at hand in forgetting Him. There is a perishing in forgetting Him. So what is the remedy? What is the hope that we have? I think Peter hits it right there in verse 13. I consider it right that as long as I am in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder. Peter considered it only right. And surely it is, that as long as he is still living in the tent of his body, he says, earthly dwelling, he will stir the saints up by way of reminder. That word there, to stir, it means to arouse. It means to wake up. It means to excite. It means to be raised up, to be built up. It's the same word that is used both in Luke and John when the sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. You see, this stirring up is not just a simple, kind shaking of a parent to a child to wake up in the morning. That's not what this is. It's not a gentle shaking. This stirring up has more force to it, has more impact to it, more movement. It produces a greater effect than a gentle waking up. This is what they needed. This is what we need. A stirring up by way of reminder that leads us to the worship of our King. If we think about it, the end purpose for all the stirring up is really what? To give glory to God. To worship Him as He is and who He is. So what are some of these reminders that are to awaken us to worship? Well, it begins with God. Because God is a God that remembers. And we must remember that He remembers. It is only because He is our God who remembers that we are able to be stirred up, that we are able to be reminded, that we are even able to worship. It's because He first remembered us. Quoting A.W. Pink, when the Bible tells us God remembers, his people, it means that he is mindful of them, that they are objects of his favorable regard, that he has their welfare at heart. God remembering doesn't mean that God forgot. When the scripture speaks of God remembering, this is God acting or working. And as it pertains to his children, it's always good. And so scripture is filled with references as to how God remembers. Think about it with me. When, in the last few verses of Genesis chapter 7, he says, when he blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals, every living thing was blotted out. The floodwaters prevailed on the earth, he says, for 150 years. And the next verse in chapter 8, verse 1 says, but God remembered Noah. God remembered Noah. He didn't forsake him. He didn't forget him. He remembered Noah. Habakkuk 3.2. In wrath, he remembers mercy. In Psalm 103.14, he himself knows our frame, and he is reminded or remembers that we are but dust. So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. In Luke 12, 6, he says if he remembers the sparrow, how much more is he going to remember you? How much more is he going to provide for you, the good father that he is? He remembers his covenant forever, Psalm 105, 18, eight. Nevertheless, in Psalm 106, 44 through 46, it says, nevertheless, he looked upon their distress when he heard their cry and he remembered his covenant for their sake and relented according to the greatness of his loving kindness. He also made them objects of compassion. Now that's the God who remembers. And Isaiah 44, 21, it says, Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you, you are my servant, O Israel. You will not be forgotten by me, he says. And Isaiah 49, verse 15 and 16, Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, even these may forget, but I will not forget you, he says. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continuously before me. This is how God remembers his children. Child of God, worship him. This morning, he remembers you, he knows you. Remember these things and worship him. Just because He is mindful of us, that alone should lead us to worship Him. That alone ought to stir us up. But there is even more. Although He is our God who remembers, there is something that He remembers no more. Hebrews 10.17, and their sins and their lawless deeds I remember no more. It says in Isaiah 38, seven, that He casts them behind His back. Out of sight, He does not see them. They're not before Him any longer. He has removed them from us as far as the east is from the west. You can't go looking for it. You can't find it. He has cast them into the deep. He has blotted them out. All of these declarations and so much more stand true because of this, that our sins have been washed away in the flood of Christ's blood. He died for you. He died for me. So tell me, where else can you find this kind of love? Where else can you find this kind of nearness and joy? Where else can you find this kind of peace and forgiveness? Not only are we to be ones that remember that God remembers or is mindful of us, although that alone is, like I said, so packed with reason to worship, we are reminded or remembering God's acts in the past. This ultimately points to who He is. To remember is to worship. Not just a calling to mind, but a remembering, a meditating that points you to His mighty works throughout history, including your own life, but doesn't leave you with just a memory. They're not just memories. It leaves you with worshiping God for who He is and a growing in the knowledge of Christ. Someone once said, remembering implies submission and undivided loyalty. I like that. Remembering implies submission and undivided loyalty. You see, we forget because we become distracted, because we submit to other things besides God, and because our loyalty becomes divided between God and something or anything else. We sin when we forget, and we forget when we sin. So then we must ask the question, is that really a forgetting? Or is it more like a slow yet willful ignoring? Or maybe for some of you, it's what is written in James 1.22-24 is true of you. Maybe this will also shed some light as to our forgetting. James says, prove to be doers of the word, and not merely hearers. who delude or deceive themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten." Forgotten. There's that word, forgotten. what kind of person he was. This is us so many times. We know of God, we know who he is conceptually, but our lives are not in accordance many times with what we hear or know. This happens to all of us, to all who profess to be believers. But I say if our hearts are not moved, if our remembering doesn't lead us to worship, then we are not remembering rightly. You know, when commenting on knowing and doing, Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this, he says, there's a difference between being aware and living by it. There's a difference between being aware and living by it. So when we remember, are we simply being aware of something? Or is it affecting the way we live? Is it affecting the way we worship? We need, I love this quote by A.W. Pink, we need sanctified remembrance. We need sanctified remembrance where faith, fear, and love for God are active. I'm gonna read that again. We need a sanctified remembrance where faith, fear, and love for God are active. That's true remembrance. So think with me quickly here. When the people were to remember God, how did God help them in this to have a sanctified remembrance? How did this lead to worship to a faith, a fear, and a love for God that is active? Well, we can spend quite some time here, actually, going throughout Scripture. But I will bring some to our attention, and I pray that the Holy Spirit will actually fill in the gaps. I thought of one example and I'm gonna run with this one and then another one as well. So these are not by any means the only examples. But looking back in the Old Testament throughout Israel's history as the people of God, I am actually quickly drawn to the kindness of God, the goodness of God. Just the fact that he gave them so many opportunities and methods or ways to remember who he is and what he requires and just, His goodness towards them. For example, remembering the Sabbath, the day of rest. You remember that there were many commandments of observe the Sabbath. Nobody's to work. And then we know of that one incident where there's that man that was caught collecting wood. You remember that. There was a man that went out and started collecting firewood, or wood to start a fire. Now there was a direct commandment that you were not to work on the Sabbath, and even more specifically, that you were not to kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day. And so, did this man forget? Or did he willfully ignore? I mean, nobody's collecting wood, mind you. Nobody's making a fire. Nobody is working. But here's this one man who thinks it's okay, when nobody's doing any of this, to go out and to collect some wood. He disobeyed. And he did not worship the Lord on the Sabbath as the Lord prescribed. He didn't find his rest in the Lord, nor did he trust the Lord of the Sabbath that he would provide all that is necessary, as he did every Sabbath day. He was rebelling against God. And what was the Lord's response to that? That man was to be put to death. So he was taken outside the camp, and the whole congregation was to stone him, and they did. Then in Numbers 15, verses 38 through 41, I want to read that. This is what the Lord says to the rest of the people through Moses. He says this, It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember. all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot, so that you may remember to do all my commandments and be holy to you, God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God. So what that man didn't have is he didn't have a sanctified remembrance. He didn't worship God, rather he followed his own heart, his own eyes, his own desires. He heard the commandments, but it didn't result in obedience and worship so as to do them. So you can imagine generations later, there's the father with the tassel, with the blue cord, and the son coming up to him and asking him, what's the blue cord all about? Well, let me tell you what it's all about. It's about remembering who God is and what He has said. Obeying Him. What about remembering the Exodus coming out of Egypt? Think about the Passover that the Lord instituted. How they were to celebrate it as a remembrance of how the Lord delivered them from the clutches of the Egyptians. Every dish, every cup was to point them back to remember the difficult and long days as slaves under the mighty hand of Pharaoh. But then how by consecutive wonders and miracles, God, ultimately by the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts, they were delivered, they were rescued. to make the remembrance even more grand, how he not only removed them from the hand of the enemies, but removed their enemies completely and forever in the drowning in the Red Sea. Would this not lead to worship? As a matter of fact, it did. They sang there on the shores of the Red Sea when they saw that. But over the generations, would this become another familiar story? And there are many more examples, even the carrying of the law of God in leather boxes on their hand or forehead, on the writing on the doorpost, the gates. But I don't want us to miss this one truth, that in all the remembering in the Old Testament, it was, I think, twofold. It was to lead you to worship the one true God, and secondly, it was to point you to the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. And so in Psalm 143, verses five and six, he says this, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your doings. I muse on the work of your hands. I stretch out my hands to you. My soul longs for you as a parched land or weary land. And here you see it, true worship, yet a waiting on the Lord to deliver him finally and fully. And this is only accomplished in and through Jesus Christ. You know, that is why we are reminded by our dear Savior as it pertains to the Lord's Supper, do this in remembrance of me. Eugene Murrow says this, the Lord's Supper was to be a perpetual reminder of the new and greater exodus by which all sinners could find release from sin's bondage and deliverance into new and everlasting life. Every time you partake at the table, you and I proclaim this, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again. To proclaim the Lord's death is to bring to remembrance what he has accomplished and the benefits that flow from the death of Christ. And this leads us to worship. That is why Paul admonishes Timothy with these words. Three words that are forever to be in our own hearts and minds. Remember Jesus Christ, says Paul. Remember Jesus Christ. risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, he says, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound." Brethren, I want us to see that the Lord has given us, his children, on this side of the cross, many opportunities to remember and worship him. Many opportunities to be stirred up by way of reminder. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to bring to remembrance the things that Christ has said. This is primarily accomplished through His Word, the written Word that we have before us. Through corporate prayer, we stir each other up through prayer, one with another, through the Lord's Supper, times of fellowship with each other where we are talking about the things of God. Even the passing of the current year and entering into the new, for us to remember how the Lord has carried us along the rough and the smooth paths, as he said in Deuteronomy, we are to remember all the way which the Lord our God has led us. But we must be careful about remembering the past. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, you cannot live on memories. You cannot live on hopes. but on the Lord Jesus Christ, you can live always. Amen. All this remembering is really to catch a glimpse of the memory and what took place, but ultimately and quickly point us to the Lord Jesus Christ of who God is. Let our remembering lead to worship, brethren, and our worship to help us grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, a very common phrase Peter uses in this letter. Well, lastly, we are to remember the future. Remember the future. See with me briefly. Peter in verses 13 and 15 is making a priority to be diligent in reminding his readers while he is still in the tent of his body, meaning while he is still alive. Because he knows that there is coming a time, as he mentions in verse 14, a time that is imminent, meaning both soon, it could be both soon, it could be both or swiftly. So soon or swiftly, where he will lay aside his earthly dwelling, his body. He mentions here, there, that the Lord Jesus Christ has made that very clear to him, he says. Very clear to him. And Peter is most likely referring to the time after the resurrection of Christ on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus tells him what kind of death he would die. And you notice what Christ says there, what kind of death he would die, what kind of death he would glorify God in. He would glorify God in his death, the way he died. And I heard it said, you know, from other sources, that Peter was first forced to watch his wife die, crucified, and then he was to be crucified, and he asked to be crucified upside down. He was not worthy, he said, to die like his master. But it could also have been the Lord making that even more real to him as he was writing the letter. Something real to him. Something that the Holy Spirit impressed upon his heart and his mind. The Lord letting him know, Peter, your time is near. Peter was up in age now. He was close to about 70, some say. So he's approaching his time. This was his last letter he was going to write. He probably knew that. Although we don't know this for sure, but however we do know it was clear to him, it was evident to him, he knew it, as he mentions. And then in verse 15 we see again that in light of this, in light that his death is so close, that he will be diligent, that at any time after his departure, after he's gone, that his readers and us, of course, will be able to recall these things, that we are to remember these things, to call these things to mind. The glorious things is found from verses one through seven. But I want us to see something here. How Peter remembered the future. Or how Peter viewed life and death. Very similar to Paul. These saints knew how to live. but they knew also what it meant to die, and that it was something glorious and in a great gain. He knew it was his earthly dwelling that was to be temporary. And his purpose was to remind the saints of the glorious truth of the gospel of our glorious Savior. That was his purpose in life. He said, I consider it right. I'm going to be diligent. I'm going to do all that I can do to leave you a way to call these things to mind. And most likely he was thinking about maybe this letter that he was writing or the letters he wrote for them to recall these things that he writes in these letters. But we also notice or sense an urgency in his voice or in his writing. And brother, I want to ask, do we have the same urgency? Just because the Lord hasn't made it clear to you or to me how imminent our death is. There is this one great truth, we are all living in these tents, and our end is coming. Remember that we are but man, dust, and that at any moment the same God who breathed life into us can take that life, that breath, away. We would do well to follow Deuteronomy 6, the Great Shema. We would do well to heed those words. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might. These words which I am commanding to you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently, there's that word again, diligently to your children and shall talk 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. Always talk about Christ. So while you are still living, are you remembering or are you forgetting, brethren? Are you worshiping? Are you being stirred up by way of reminder? Are you reminding others? Are you stirring others up? But also see, and I'll end with this, how he remembered the future, how he viewed death. He doesn't say, I'm going to die. He says, my departure is what he says, my departure. That word carries the meaning of a movement from one geographical area to another, a path, a course, or a departure from among the living. This is an exodus. This is not an existence. In Peter's mind, it was the entrance into the eternal kingdom becoming a reality. It is the exit from this world and a coming home. For he lived his life as a true shepherd that the Lord Jesus called on that shore on the Sea of Galilee, charging him to care for and feed Christ's sheep. That he did. He did that, because all along he had before him the one true shepherd that he remembered, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he remembered the future that it will be glorious because Christ went before him and has said that he will prepare a place for him, for you, for me, so that where he is, we may be also. Remember the future. Remember who and where Christ is now and will be forevermore and where we will be worshiping him forever. Brethren, remember and worship Him starting now. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come before You. So thankful to You, O Lord, for Your kind Word, Your glorious Word. And Father, we acknowledge that many times we forget We so easily get distracted by the things of this world. We don't want to be the seed that is distracted by the cares of this world and choked. Lord, we want to be ones that are thriving in the good soil, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word, the gospel, the truth. Lord, we want to be ones that are following after you, remembering who you are, what you have done, the wonderful miracles that you did in the past. You didn't have to do them. but they declare your majesty, they declare your glory, and they lead us to worship. Let us worship by remembering. We love you, Lord, and keep us. Keep us as to not to stumble. Lord, we want to enter into the eternal kingdom. Help us, Lord, in the name of Christ, amen.