So 2 Peter chapter 1, and I will read starting again at verse 1 because Peter's building off of that. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind. and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 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. So far, let us pray. Oh, Lord God, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for the ministry of your word. I just pray that you would give me wisdom to speak it faithfully. I pray that you would give us ears to hear, and I pray that it would bear much fruit. Lord, we look to you. Lord, we don't look to each other. We don't look to the preacher. We look to you. And so we pray for your spirit. In spite of our weakness, in spite of our frailty, use these broken vessels to honor you. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, this morning I want to draw out three points. We're going to be looking at verses 12 through 15 this morning, so a tall order for me to do that many verses. The points are these. Faithful reminders, constant rousing, and abiding recollection. So faithful reminders, constant rousing, and abiding recollection. And that plays off of the different nuances of remembering. So reminding, rousing, and recollecting. So first of all, faithful reminders. You'll notice, as you saw earlier in verse 10, the same word here is being used in verse 12. And that is the opening word, wherefore. Wherefore, if you remember, is not therefore. It's actually on account of this. Do this. And so it's drawing conclusions with a principled action that will follow. And so Peter is saying, on account of everything I've just said, wherefore, let us now do this. But it's interesting because this wherefore is applied in a peculiar way. And you'll see that in a second. Because Peter, remember, has called us to growth in virtues. And he's done so under the foundation of the divine provision, God who has called us. We don't start in ourselves. We start with God. And from God, we build up. And so he has drawn multiple conclusions. And it's interesting if you look at Peter's arguments, because really, look at every verse, how they open up. Verse 3, according as. Verse 4, whereby. Verse 5, and beside this. And then verse 8, for. All these words are building an argument. They're building a case. And Peter is drawing out multiple applications from this theology. And there's something we can learn from that, because as you read the Bible, as you meditate on Scripture, learn to draw applications. Think of implications from theology that can be applied to your life. We have to start to think like the apostles do, as they take truths and apply them. As it is in one of our songs, it says, take these truths and plant them deep within us. And so we see this pattern in the apostle Peter. And it's striking, because we think, oh, I don't have that ability. Well, Peter was a fisherman. He's not the apostle Paul, who was like triple PhD. This is Peter, the fisherman, who's applying truths deep within. Notice he says, wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. As an apostle and a minister of the gospel, Peter applies these truths, here's the thing, to himself, to his own personal calling. Up until this point, he's been talking about what we ought to do, the truth that we take and build on, but now he's applying that call to us, to himself, and he's drawn one final application, and that is very personal, and it is that he will not neglect to remind believers of, notice what it says, of these things. Now, what are these things that he's talking about? Some people think, well, just what he's just spoken of, and that is really the idea of building on your faith. But I agree with those commentators who say these things are the totality of what he has said, the sum of the gospel, the providence of God, the calling of God, the grace of God, and from all those things, the calling to build on our faith. So these things are the sum total of all these things, because it's in the plural. And so notice how Peter, first of all, states his own conclusion personally And he does so negatively. I will not be negligent, he says. Or careless would be another way of translating that of what I've told you. I will not be negligent, he says. It's interesting because our natural inclination is to neglect others. Our natural inclination is to think of, number one, usually of ourselves. And we get so busy with ourselves. But Peter says, I'm not going to do that. I will not neglect you guys, the church, Peter, as a faithful apostle and faithful teacher and faithful preacher and brother in the Lord, repudiates any idea of being negligent. Preachers, teachers among us, those called to lead your homes, do not be negligent of your families, do not be negligent of your flocks among you. Those who are under your charge, do not be negligent of your calling. For if we are negligent, How can we expect the flock to be diligent? So do not be negligent. We are bound by the calling of the Most High God to remind you and one another of the truths of the Word of God, of God's holiness, of the venom of the enemy within that is attacking our souls, of the filth and the consequences of sin. Do not discard the reality of how disgusting and despicable sin is in the eyes of God. We must not neglect to remind you of the weight of eternity of the rich promises of Scripture, of the authority and primacy of the Word of God. Do not be negligent to hear the pressing power and call upon us to pursue holiness. Do not be negligent to remember the power of the Spirit that is within the believer, that you do not bank the strength in yourself, but you look to God Almighty to give it to you. Do not be negligent of the majestic person and work of Jesus Christ. He is everything to the church. He is the Lord of the church. He is our great Savior. And so Peter, throughout this epistle, you'll notice, he uses full titles for Jesus so often. Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The whole sum total is Jesus for the church. Do not be negligent to tell your family, to tell one another about Jesus Christ. Notice it says, I will not be negligent to tell you, y'all, the plural, all of you, all, each one another, young, old, wherever you are. And so this obligation is upon all of us, but peculiarly to teachers and preachers, elders among us. Notice the word always. Always. It's a very rare word in the Greek New Testament. It means that any and every time. Do not be negligent. When I saw that, I was like, wow, that's just like the apostle Paul. Remember, in his final charge to Timothy, 2 Timothy, he says, preach the word. Be instant, in season, and out of season. In season and out of season. Always, Peter uses. Same idea. Whether good times or bad time, whether it is visiting in the park when things are good and it's a sunny day, or when it is a bumper harvest and you're bringing in the harvest, when business is thriving and school is going well, when your house is in order, do not be negligent to speak of the things of God, but also do not be negligent to speak of the things of God when finances are tight, when family strains are pressing, when the tractor breaks down on the field, or when the marriage is rough, or when the child goes wayward, or when your health fails, do not be negligent then also to speak of the things of God. Maybe you've gone a whole week without giving someone a word of encouragement or exhortation. Or maybe you've gone a whole week without receiving a word of hope, a word of warning. Let's not be negligent of these callings, dear people. What Peter says next is kind of striking because I look at the phrase, though ye know them and be established in the present truth. You're like, what? I'm going to remind you because you already know it? What's going on here, Peter? For the believer, these truths should not be new. They are not true. New. Because when we come to Christ, we're hearing things that are new then, but after that we grow in those same truths. And so Peter is not adding to the gospel. The foundation of God in Christ Jesus is not new, but rather it is because of the seriousness of the matter and because of our fickle tendency to put them in the back seat, that Peter's compelling himself as an apostle to remind you constantly of these things. You know, this is not just Peter that does this. The Apostle Paul says a very similar thing. Romans 15, he says, and I myself am also persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge. able also to admonish one another. So he says, you've got all these things. You know all these things, Paul says, too. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written more boldly unto you of some sort as putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to you. So Paul has the same passionate zeal. Now, is it just Paul and Peter? No, John does the same thing. 1 John 2.21, I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it. and that no lie is of the truth. And then he says this, let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. The danger for us is to either do away with things or add to things. And they all say, univocally, stand in these things. You know them, and I'm going to remind you of that. That closed authority, that closed canon of scripture, the closed truths were so prone to coast, aren't we? We're so prone to change things, and the world is constantly holding up attractive ideas and lusts. That is why the apostles are passionate to remind us of these things. Matthew Henry writes this, he says, even the most advanced Christian cannot, while in this world, be above ordinances, nor beyond the need of those means which God has appointed. and does afford. We all need it, each one of us. Let's not pretend we're better. Let's not pretend they have it. Don't look at your elders as if they don't need exhortations, they don't need encouragements. Please, let us do this to one another. Let's not neglect the flock. And Peter says, therefore, though you know them and be established in the truth, it's interesting because in the present truth, it says it's a very peculiar way of saying this, this present truth. The word present, parousia, this right now has come truth. Again, the idea that we're not waiting for further revelation. We're not waiting for new prophecies. We're not waiting for divine speech that has not been told, no, these are present. truths that we hold to. And so he says that, and Jude will say the same thing. He says, the faith that was once delivered to the saints. The word established means to be firmly set. These truths are firmly set, they're firmly placed. It is in the Greek, in the present, or sorry, in the perfect tense. The perfect tense means you have been established in the past with abiding consequences, abiding realities, the stability of the Christian, in truth, is what's at stake. And that's exactly what the false teachers are doing. In fact, this word, to be established, is used three times in this letter, three further times, sorry, in chapter 2, verse 14, and 3, 16. It's used negatively. It talks about unstable souls, those that are unlearned and unstable. And Peter tells us at the very end of his letter that he wrote this whole letter, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. You know, I think I can sit here this morning and think, I know these things. I'm pretty firm. I'm pretty steadfast. I'm not going to succumb to false teaching. We only need to look at some of the churches in our communities that were once bastions of truth, where errors were smuggled in, where slowly heresies started to come, and they're now propagating lies, another gospel, and these flocks are being led astray. Do not think this cannot happen to us. Peter's warning us of a passionate desire to stand in the truth and to take these things with the utmost seriousness. Which leads me to the second point, constant rousing. Peter says, yea, I think it is meet. Now, this is an old word, meet, comes from measure, 1300s. Meet, something that you measure, something that is precise and right. And that is why new versions take this Greek word, dikayo, which means righteous. And they translate it as right, which is correct, or meet in the old version is also right. The idea here is interesting because of everything I've just said, Peter tells us that reminders are not just casual things. They're not just flippant things. They're not just a nice thing to do to somebody. Oh, I'm going to remind you about Jesus. He actually says these are just things to do, i.e. morally obligatory things to do. It's a moral duty. There's nothing optional about this. That's why that word is so important. Yay, I think it is neat, or I think it is right. I think it is just to do these things. So when does this obligation end? How long should we be reminding one another and pressing one another on? Does it end when you've been baptized? Maybe you grew up in the church, you were baptized. No, it doesn't. Does it end after five years of Bible study? Does it end after 50 years of being a Christian? No, it doesn't. Until your dying day, Peter says, I think it is right to do these things. He says it in an interesting way. He says, as long as I am in this tabernacle, it's all of life. Ministers of the gospel cannot hang up their cleats. They cannot park their duty. We must continue to the end. And when I was thinking about this, I thought, well, I wonder if Peter's words here, as others, may militate against the idea of terms for elders. I'm not going to press that point, but it just made me think. It's the way Peter says it that's so interesting. Yea, I think it is meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle. Why didn't he just say, as long as I'm living? Why this tabernacle business? Because tabernacles are tents. It's the same word. Tents. Tents are temporary shelters, aren't they? Tents are weak. Tents are moving all the time. And so when Peter says, this tabernacle, notice the word, as long as I am in this tabernacle, he's thinking of another dwelling place. that one day he will be in. Right now his soul is in this, as our souls are in these broken tabernacles, these broken tents. And one day, as the Apostle Paul says in Corinthians 5, he talks about a permanent dwelling that is coming. But as long as we're in this tabernacle, he says, he will continue to do this. We are pilgrims. That's why we need to remind one another. We are like soldiers who, when they were on the battlefields and moving to different locations, they would move in tents, portable shelters, until the war was over. We must think like this. We must think as warriors. The battle has been won, but we are waiting for the final day of victory. And so Peter says here in verse 14, knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. What does this verse mean? It's an interesting verse. Most commentators, I think rightly so, think this idea of that as the Lord Jesus Christ, again the full title, showed me was when Peter at the end of Jesus' time on earth, John 21, says this to Peter. Amen, amen. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. In other words, Peter was free. He thought, I've got the world. I can do what I want. But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spoke he, it says, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, follow me. That is a very peculiar word that the Lord gave to Peter, and it has to do with rash Peter calling the shots. I will follow thee, Lord, wherever thou goest. Not so, Lord. Get behind me, Satan. This Peter, who will one day be bound by another and would die for the Lord in a peculiar way. I think that is what he's talking to. But now, if you're thinking about that, well, OK, why is Peter saying this? Because he says, knowing that shortly I must put off this, my tabernacle. He does say he's old. When thou art old, he says, you will do this. But also, this word shortly is an interesting one. Because this is many years ago. How did Peter know that he would shortly die? Did Peter get another word from the Lord? Did Jesus appear to him again and say, hey, it's going to happen pretty soon? I don't think so. I think it's odd to say that way. What makes more sense is what some commentators say is another just as legitimate translation of this word shortly. Swiftly, swiftly, suddenly, he would die. Peter's death would be sudden, which means it would be violent. It would be harsh. And we know exactly that that is what happened to Peter. because church tradition has it that Peter died under Nero's persecution and that he was crucified, bound, girded, upside down, and he died that way. So the translation could mean shortly, that Peter is referring to soon to happen, but it could just as much also mean swiftly. And I think personally that that makes more sense with the text. He's actually talking about the peculiar way in which he would die. Now why else would I say that? Because that's what John says when he talks about this. In that quotation, listen carefully, this spoke he signifying by what death? he should glorify God. Because the fact that old people die is nothing peculiar. The fact that he would die sharply, suddenly, violently, that would be peculiar to Peter. And that's why he says, as the Lord hath showed me. Now the question we got to ask ourself at this point, okay, is why is Peter bringing this up? Why would he do this? Why would he even talk about that prophecy from years ago? Notice what he said, that prophecy from years ago. Because the false teachers throughout Peter are challenging and scoffing at God's revealed truths. Where is the promise of his coming? Surely we can eat and drink and be married because God's not keeping his word anyways. And Peter brings this peculiar prophecy up to show that God keeps his word, that God has spoken even with peculiarities such as Peter's death, and that he is faithful to keep his word. One commentator says it this way, divine prediction does exist, and what has been revealed will come to pass. And so, That little prophecy in verse 14 that's referred to reminds us of Christ's authoritative word, both for present things and for future things. That's what we must remember. And so this idea of putting off his tabernacle was predicted by the Lord in a peculiar way. But notice the mixing of metaphors, putting off this tabernacle. Putting off is actually language that's used for clothing, putting off clothing. But he's talking about putting off a tabernacle, this tent, taking it off. The idea here is that a tent will be taken down And it has served its, hear this word, it has served its purpose. When you put up a tent, you do it for a purpose. Our lives are for a purpose. Peter is living with purpose. And our culture is rife with purposelessness. You hold to evolution, you have no purpose. It's mindless, it's blind, it has no goal. That is why we are in such a nihilistic, nothing culture. And people are craving for understanding. Why am I alive? Why am I any different than monkeys, really? Because if I'm just an evolved monkey, I really don't have much purpose in life. And Peter talks about the purposefulness of all these things. And so we must remember that as long as we are living in this aging, broken body, let us remember you have been given a purpose in your body. The reason God gave you your body, with your design, with your peculiarities, your health issues, your blessings, your strengths, your weaknesses, were given by God for a purpose. And as long as you live in that, live that out in a wise way, When you have no future hope, this tent, this tabernacle, is all you have. People who live that way, they'll use excessive creams to keep their body looking good. They might exercise vigilantly. They will spend hours trying to improve what is inevitably tearing and fading away. But notice Peter doesn't do that. Peter does not focus on his own aging tabernacle. Which tabernacle does he focus on? He doesn't focus on the tabernacle. He focuses on a temple, an abiding structure, the temple of the body of Jesus Christ. That is how we ought to live, for the church to the glory of God. Some of you are young and you think you have your life ahead of you. Others of you look back and you've had many years behind you. Know this. None of you know when you will die. Perhaps it will be this week. It may be many years, but you are only here for a short time. Hebrews 11 says, it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that, the judgment. And so because of that, Taking all that in sum, going back to verse 13, the word I missed, and the word that is the theme of this heading, rousing, is the word to stir you up. Peter's goal, as long as he's in this body, is not just a gentle reminder. No, it is a thorough arousing from sleep, from slumber, shaking somebody awake. The same word is used of the sea when it gets agitated, it gets shaken. Because how quickly don't we fall asleep? Not just on Sunday mornings. Our spiritual lives, we just start to coast slowly, and we get so busy with other things. How soon our eyes slowly close with respect to the focus of Jesus Christ. And reminders are stirrings. They're like gracious winds that blow into the embers that are starting to die out. And they stir them up again. They rouse them back into a fire. Perhaps the coals of faith and courage are simmering inside of you because of the dark storm clouds that are brewing over this nation. You might be thinking to yourself, what is the future of my kids? I'm raising a family and this nation seems to be completely turning against the things of God. What is the future of the church in Canada? Because the church is under attack. Oh, we need to rouse one another up to blow into those embers courage. Let us be courageous. Let us stand fast in the things of God. But it could also be listlessness, despondency to the things of God, just being tired to the things of God. Your time with the Lord is shriveling as a plant that has seen no rain for many years, and we need our passions stirred up for the things of God. I have heard after COVID started, not just of one, but of many, many people who have stopped going to church, people who are incidentally going to church, haphazardly, once in a while. The Bible is clear. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the habit of some is, but provoke one another, stir one another up unto love and unto good deeds. Exhort one another as you see the day approaching. If you run into that person who's become a couch church attendee, Please stir them up. The day is approaching. Sometimes spiritual stirrings, rousings can be very sharp. They can feel like waking somebody up with a bucket of cold water on their heads. How many of preachers in our culture have done more to put people further into sleep than to rouse them up? This is sad reality. You and I stand on the edge of eternity. We are walking close to the precipice of things that will never change. The joys of heaven and the horrors of hell are so vastly different that we must rouse one another up. You remember when Jesus was sleeping on the storm on the Sea of Galilee and his disciples are there? This word to rouse, to stir, is used here. It's a very unique word. It's not used too often. What did the disciples do? They shook him awake. They roused him. And what did they say? Master, master, behold, we perish. Have you seen your plight? Have you been roused awake about the plight of your sin? And have you run to Jesus and roused, as it were, in the throne of heaven's Lord, save me? I am perishing. Master, Master, I need you. Oh, let us stir one another up as we are stirred, and let us stir the thrones of heaven, as it were, to save us. Turn to Jesus, turn to Jesus. Which brings me to the final point, abiding recollection. Moreover, I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things in recollection, abiding recollection, abiding remembrance. Moreover, I will endeavor. It's interesting because this is the second time Peter uses a kind of an action word for himself, I will endeavor. Remember the first time it was negative, I will not be negligent. Now he says, I will endeavor, which is the word we've seen twice before, spudazzo, which means to be diligent, to be ever so diligent. Verse five. Beside this, giving all diligence. Verse 10, wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence. And then he says, I will be just as diligent for you. The same urgency, the same passionate pursuit. Notice as well that it says, I will. Future tense. Be diligent. That's the same in verse 12, I will not, future tense, be negligent. Why is he using future tenses when he's an old man, he's about to die a violent death, why would he use the future tense? It's probably because he's referring to the diligence the urgency that will come through this particular letter. Letters in those days were coined, they were dispatched, and it wasn't like sending an email when you're on somebody with the phone and they're, I just sent the email, hold on, I'll refresh. Oh yeah, it's in. That's not how it worked. He wrote it. It was dispatched, it could be months before it would go to the various churches, but it would be precisely through the future reception of this letter that Peter's diligence would be measured and seen. And that's what I think makes the most sense with the future tense. And one commentator pulled that out really nicely. He noted this, often letters were in the future tense, assuming when it would be read would be in the future. Sometimes this could take quite a while. And that is why he starts this verse with, moreover, there's a future expectation packed up and bound in the present work, the writing of this letter. It stands for the apostolic presence now in the church and in the future as well. The word of God is now in the church and it shall be the abiding possession of the church. What does that mean? It means let the Bible be present in your homes, in your families. Let them be pervasive in your reading time and in your quiet time. Read your Bibles, read them diligently, read them decidedly, read them deliberately, read them devotionally. Peter then talks about his deceased. It's a very interesting word because it only gets used three times. The word of his deceased is not a normal one. When I say it in Greek, you'll instantly recognize it. He spoke of his Exodus. It's only used three times in the New Testament. And in Hebrews 11, 22, when it talks of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt. And the other time is the one that I think is the most striking. Because if you look at verse 16 and 17, Where does Peter go to in those verses? But we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I was well pleased. When was that? It was at the Mount of Transfiguration. Luke 9 talks about this. And it's interesting, because there it says that Jesus' raiment was changed. What did Peter just talk about? A change of raiment as well. And at that moment of Mount Transfiguration, Jesus' glory is shown, is eternal glory. Again, the mind gazing on eternity. And then what happens? Moses and Elijah, they speak of what? Here's what it says in the text. Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and they spoke of his, our translation, decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Greek, they spoke of his exodus, which talks of his death, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Did you know that only in Christian culture was death spoken of as an exodus? Greeks didn't talk about it that way. Why? Why does Peter talk about it that way? Because it's a transient term that is going to a place of hope. It is a departure from one place to arrive at a better place. It is an exodus. That is where we're going. And Peter is packaging this language of remembrance with us to focus our eyes on eternity. The final exodus has begun in Jesus' death. There, Peter is anchoring his exodus. And so I challenge you, as we challenge one another, to focus on Jesus' exodus, his death, for us, and knowing that our lives are bound up in his exodus. Our exodus is bound up in his. And so Peter finally says, I challenge you to have that after my death, I endeavor that you would have these things in remembrance. Peter wants us to regularly recall his teachings. And this is interesting because Gene Green, one of the commentators that I've been using, he says this. Memory, which is the word that's used in verse 15, is for remembering good. And the good memory is, this is from Philo way back, that which is brought to bear upon good things. Peter's aim in leaving this memorial is thus, he says, deeply ethical. What does that mean? I'll summarize it for you. Your mind and what you remember is an ethical thing. It's a moral thing. The things that you recollect matter. The things you place in your heads matter. Because in good times or in bad times, what do you want to recollect? That movie quote? or the word of God. We put so much filth into our minds that we hardly recollect scripture. Kids used to be catechized so they would recollect catechismal questions and answers in times of need. It would bind them up for their lives ahead of them on this world to prepare them for the next. What thought have you given to what you recollect, what you are placing in your minds, what you're going to place in your memory? You know, Peter grew up in an oral culture. in an oral culture, reminders were so important to carry on the traditions. Now, we live in a technological culture, a digital culture, and it has made it so difficult for us to even be trained to recollect things properly. We think we can Google it like that. We are a Twitter culture. We get our news in 140 characters, and we think we're recollecting some sort of truth from 140 characters. Are you kidding me? We need to be a culture that is a church culture, that is recollecting scripture, anchoring ourselves in truth, bracing your minds for eternal things. Christians used to read their Bible through annually. Now many Christians have not read their Bible through once. Have you? Peter's talking about eternity. He's talking about his legacy that he leaves behind. When you think back to ministers of the gospel, to pastors you've listened to and known, what do you remember about them? What things did they impress upon you in your minds that you remember? Martin Luther, when he sang A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, he said this in many places of his books. He said that he was much afraid that the true doctrine of justification by faith would be, after his death, effaced, if not utterly lost. One commentator many years ago, a couple years after Luther, wrote this. Woe to him whose works, whose words, and writings cause others to sin, even after his death. Happy is he whose works, words, and writings bear good fruit even after his death. Such in one's reward of grace will be great. You and I, we stand on the shoulders of giants, Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, John Owen, Thomas Boston, the list goes on, whose works continue to bear fruit today, that after their decease, they would continue to remind the church, you and I, the living church, still in these broken tabernacles, of eternal things. What are people going to recall about you when you die? Perhaps this week, perhaps in 20 years. What will they remember? Perhaps more importantly, what do you want them to remember? What legacy do you want to be left behind? Peter's legacy is simply the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing about his accomplishments is the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And therefore, I close with this last word in the text, that after my decease, to have these things in remembrance, the very truths of Peter, are in our possession. We have them for us. All scripture empowers us, readers, to remember these things. I pray, as we close, that the apostolic word would resonate beautifully on the strings of our hearts this morning. Dear people, remember, not your preachers, remember Jesus Christ. rouse one another up to behold his worth and recall the greatness of his work. Amen. Let us pray. Lord God, we thank you for the abiding truth. O Lord, may it abide within us. Plant it deep, Lord, within us. Give us an assurance of your great gospel, even this morning. And Lord, may we press on to know the Lord, whose goings forth are from eternity. In Jesus' name, amen.