2 Peter 1:12-15

Let's turn again to 2 Peter, please, and take our reading, just four short verses I want to read, 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1, and we'll read from verse 12. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you 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 you may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance. Peter was coming to the end of his life, and he knew he was coming to the end of his life. Paul the apostle, the great apostle, had already been beheaded in Rome, and Peter was to be brought from Babylon to Rome to be put to death, and he knew that the end was approaching fast, and he wanted to leave and impress upon the minds and hearts of the believers this final letter.

You know, of course, that in Peter's first letter he writes particularly in relation to trial and suffering, and he speaks about the fact that the cross must come before the crown. In Peter's second epistle, if in the first epistle he speaks particularly in this context, not only of trial and suffering that God allows into our lives, but of the great enemy, the adversary that is against us, and in his first epistle he speaks about Satan as a savage lion seeking whom he may destroy, going about, roaming about. When we come to his second epistle, he's taken up with the fact that Satan is a subtle liar, and he's going to caution the believers, particularly in this epistle before he dies, in relation to pseudo teachers from without, sorry, from within.

If the trials have come from without in the first epistle, particularly he's concerned with what has infiltrated the saints and into assembly testimony, and false teachers are taken up in his mind in this epistle, and he's going to warn the believers, and chapter 2, he looks in great detail in relation to these false teachers that they may be identified, but he wants to, before he gets to chapter 2, and before he goes into the valley of darkness, so to speak, in relation to these false teachers and the identification of them, he wants to bring the believers to their minds about growth, and we've seen that in the first session this morning in relation to Christian growth, how that there ought to be reality in the life of a believer. There was certainly reality in Peter's life. We're going to see that in these four verses that we've read together, and he wants to impress particularly into the mind of the believers and of us, of course, the necessity for these ingredients for us to flourish in our Christian lives, and so he writes in verse 12 about the fact that he's not been negligent in relation to these things.

He's not been careless when it comes to putting into the of the believers. Now, I want to speak to where there is a vast range in this audience, of course, and my message would be, I hope, to every person in this audience, but just at this moment of time, I want to speak particularly to those who may be leaders, those who may be parents, those who may take the position of responsibility and authority, because Peter here, he has been given this position by God. You remember when he starts this epistle, he not only remembers the fact that he was lowly Simon, Peter, he was Simon, the bond slave, but he was Peter, the apostle, and so he doesn't forget that he had been given this great apostolic authority by the Lord Jesus, and he hadn't forgotten his past, where he had come from, what he had come into the good of as Simon, and so he sees himself just as a bond slave, but an apostle, also an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so with this in mind, he's going to stir up the believers with this responsibility that had been given to him by God, and he's not going to do this in a casual, light-hearted manner.

He's going to take this seriously. Now, I'm thankful for what our brother Larry said at this platform today. He spoke about feeling like running the other way when we're invited to a conference, because I can identify with that, and I know that Phil would vouch for the same thing.

This is no light matter, what's taking place. This is no light position, and brothers, particularly who occupy this place of teaching the saints and preaching the gospel, in whatever way it may be, wherever it may be, let us ever remember that this is no small thing. We must live what we teach, and could I also say we must teach what we live.

Those things go hand in hand. You remember, if you went back to the beginning of the book of the Acts, Luke would write about the Lord Jesus Christ, of all he began both to do and to teach, and what the Lord did, he taught, and what the Lord taught, he did, and brothers and sisters, Peter is reminding us here of the great responsibility to put into the minds of believers these grave and essential instructions that we've read together this morning. How am I doing in relation to virtue added to my faith, reality? Are the roots going down? Is there knowledge being gleaned in my life? Those seven ingredients, I've often thought of them, we have seven days of the week, and I know I spoke to you this morning and said that they're to be added in simultaneously, and that is correct, but brothers and sisters, I've often thought about the seven days of the week, and the seven ingredients that Peter exhorts for us to add into our faith, or instructs that we may add into our faith, and how am I going? What do I need to particularly work on? And on the first day of the week, what could I think about? And the second day of the week, and I go through the week and start again, and these seven ingredients are ever before me.

I know personally what I struggle with. Maybe those close to me know what I struggle with, but brothers and sisters, this, there is to be an evidence, the expectation of fruit in the life of the believer. There should be growth.

There should be the increase in knowledge in our lives. I need to be reading my Bible. I need to be, this relationship with the Lord Jesus needs to be blossoming.

Someone spoke to me in the break about pinning fruit, or getting a piece of string with an apple on the end, and you pin it to a tree. Well, it wouldn't last too long, would it? It would rot quickly, and the evidence of it being false would be, it would be evident rather quickly. And so Peter, having spoken about these seven ingredients, he emphasizes the fact that putting it into the minds of the believers, he's not going to do this in a light fashion.

In fact, interestingly, that word is used for the first time in Matthew chapter 22, when the Lord Jesus is speaking, and he's giving that parable there in relation to the wedding, and he says that there were excuses made, and they made light of it. And Peter says he's going to be diligent to put into the minds of the believers these things. Practically then, how can we put these things into the minds of the believers? I believe, and I'm going to acknowledge this failure this afternoon, because I stand here in this place to occupy the platform to teach the saints.

And I'm going to acknowledge for myself, maybe I would suggest on behalf of my fellow brothers, that all too often I preach, and I leave. And I'm not speaking about geographical location, or the fact that we have to travel, and come and go to places, but brothers and sisters, if all I ever do is shout instructions from this place, and leave, and have no real interest in the saints, I've failed. Peter, he takes up his pen, and he's going to write to believers.

You know, we have excellent ways of communication in this day and age in which we live. And I believe, brothers and sisters, who yes, don't occupy this place, but have a responsibility, whatever God has given you, and parents, and those who are moving into positions of responsibility. And by the way, there is no one here that's let off the hook, because this just does not happen when you move to a certain age bracket.

I notice, and I've commented on this in the past, when you come to the instructions to elders and deacons in 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul the apostle, he's not writing to elders, or to deacons. Maybe your heart stopped there, but he's not. You see, if he's writing to elders, and to deacons, that this is what they must be like, it's too late.

He's writing, particularly, I believe, the young man Timothy is before him, but he's writing particularly, I believe, to those who, well, it's not I believe, the scriptures teach us this, who desire that place. And it doesn't just happen when we reach to old age. There is to be this desiring, and maybe there's the desiring in the hearts of individuals now in relation to particular spheres of responsibility.

But if I get to old age, and it's never, these things have never been in me, it's too late, in one sense. But brothers and sisters, Peter here, he takes his pen and he writes to believers. I wonder if I would be prepared to write to new converts.

I wonder if I would be prepared to take the laptop, or the text messaging, or whatever it may be, or the pen, the old-fashioned sending a card through the snail mail, and write to believers who I love. You see, what I wrote over this verse is Peter's exercise pastoring the people of God. And he had a very genuine exercise.

There are practical ways in which we can help the saints to put these things in the minds of believers. Maybe brothers, take a young brother out to lunch. Bring a young couple into the home and feed them.

Speak to them about these things, that they may truly be put into the minds of brothers and sisters. And so he says, I will not be careless to put you always in remembrance of these things. Though you know them, he says, and be established in the present truth.

I thought of this, though you know them and be established in the present truth. We do know much, and what a privilege. And I want to thank the believers of the Garner Villow Assembly for bringing this conference together this weekend.

Thank you for that. Because to see the saints come together and to be taught from the Word of God is no vain thing. And Peter here, he speaks about them though they already know these things.

And we know truth, don't we? We have the privilege of conferences and ministry meetings and local assemblies, Bible readings, and the blessing of being with one another on various occasions where our thoughts can be stimulated in spiritual things and we can grow and learn and flourish in the things of God. And Peter says, he says, you know them. But he adds this, you're established in them.

You know, that's Peter fulfilling his ministry. When the Lord Jesus, when Peter, just before he denied the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus knew he was going to deny him. In Luke chapter 22, he speaks about Satan desiring to sift you as wheat.

Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat, etc. But he says, I've prayed for you that your faith fail not, if my memory serves me correctly. But he says this, when you are converted, strengthen your brethren.

It's the same word here, established. And Peter's now saying, I've established you in this truth. I've fulfilled the ministry that the Lord Jesus gave to me.

You know, brothers and sisters, this is a real thing. Could I, just for a moment, well again, this applies to all of us, but could I particularly speak to those who may be towards the end of the pathway, naturally speaking. Peter's going to die now.

He knows his life is going to close. But he says this, to the very end, I've fulfilled the mission. I've established the saints.

I've strengthened the saints. I've been putting it into the minds of the saints. You know, I tremble as I say this, truthfully.

But I believe that there's hardly anything more destructive than for someone to stand here and to give instruction in the Word of God, and yet to have a life that ends in disaster, and to not fulfill the ministry that has been given. We have various spheres of responsibility in this conference, parents, Sunday school teachers, preachers, wives, mothers, husbands, fathers, young people. You know, you're always an influence on the generation that's following you.

They're watching you. They're listening to you. They're looking at you.

And Peter says here, to the very end, I've established the saints. May God help us to fulfill that ministry. And so, reliability is essential.

When you come to verse number 13, I wrote over this, Peter's encampment provoking the people of God. He says, yeah, I think it is time to meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. He uses this word again, although it's different in the original translated remembrance again.

If he's just been putting things into the minds of the people, putting them in, putting the information in, he's now using a word which is bringing to their minds again things that they know. He says, I'm stirring you up, but I like what he says, as long as I am in this tabernacle. Brothers and sisters, what I learned from this is that Peter left the length of his life in the hands of God.

As long as I am in this tabernacle. He didn't know how long he would be in the body. None of us brothers and sisters know when the Lord may take our breath away or that he may come to receive us to himself.

We don't know when the end will be, but will we remain steadfast to the end? And Peter says here, I think it's only fitting then for as long as I am in this tabernacle. How long will you be in your body? How long will it be before the end comes? You know, brothers and sisters, some die in youth and some in old age. It's left in the hands of God, what he so chooses.

I've heard of statements before of someone dying in youth and being robbed of a life. No, not when it comes to God. David, when they pursued his life, he would say, my times are in thy hands.

Moses would speak of numbering our days, applying our hearts to wisdom. Job, he would speak and say that our days are determined and the months, the number of our months are with thee, are with God. What Peter knew here, well, what he didn't know was how long he would be in the body.

But what he did know was that as long as he was in the body, he wanted to stir up the saints. And so he says, I think it's fitting as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up. I said to you before that Peter, he loves to use illustrative language, play on words, similes, metaphors, illustrations.

This is what Peter does right the way through his epistles. It's very interesting just to observe the numbers of times that he uses language like that. But here he uses it again.

He speaks of his body as being a tabernacle. I know by the word that's used in the original that Peter's got his mind on the tabernacle in the Old Testament. And I thought of this in relation to what he's saying.

You and I, we dwell in bodies. You know, of course, that we're a tri-part being. We have a body to interact physically with our surroundings, our material surroundings.

And we have a soul to interact emotionally and socially. And we have a spirit to interact with God spiritually. And we can interact with one another in a spiritual sense.

And so, this tri-part being. But Peter says here, you know, there's coming a day very soon and I'm going to die, says Peter, and the tabernacle is going to be put off. Actually, what you will see is the real me.

But the word he uses here, he's thinking of the the tabernacle of the Old Testament. You know, the tabernacle in the Old Testament was the residing place of deity. You know, brothers and sisters, I'm looking into the faces of Christians this afternoon and you're sitting in the body.

And it's the very dwelling place of deity. I wonder whether we grasp this. Let us read again Romans 8. Let us read again 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 6. We've been bought with a price.

We're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The immense responsibility, the privilege that we have to have a very person of the Godhead within. If I could keep this in mind, surely those seven ingredients, I would be helped to add them to my faith.

And so, he says here, as long as I'm in this tabernacle, I want to stir you up. We need to be stirred up, don't we? And Peter says that repetition is essential. If he says in verse number 12 that reliability is essential to the very end of service, he now speaks of repetition as being essential to put you in remembrance or to bring back to the mind the things that you already know.

Paul would speak of this, wouldn't he? When he would say to write the same things to you. Indeed, it's not grievous, but for me, it's not grievous, he says, but to you, it's safe. And it's good to go over the ground again.

I remember reading a Spurgeon book on one occasion, and he made this comment in his book. He said a sermon that wasn't worth repeating twice, wasn't worth listening to once. I smiled, the typical Spurgeon humor.

But there is some truth to that, to go over the ground. Yes, not in a lazy sense of repeating things like a parrot. It should be freshness and vitality and fresh appreciation of the things of God as we go back to them over and over and over again.

But brothers and sisters, repetition, reiteration is essential in the things of God. I seem to so quickly lose things from my mind. And so Peter's bringing it back to the mind here, and he's going to stir me up or wake me up out of the slumber.

And in verse 14, he speaks about preparing the people of God, knowing shortly that I must put off this, my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. I was just having a conversation with a believer in the break, in relation to a loved one that had died. You know, brothers and sisters, we don't maybe expect that we will die.

I'm sure that every believer here would say that they would prefer the Lord to come first. I know that my brother Larry said this last night, I think, in relation to death, that it's the process of dying that we don't necessarily look forward to. Going through the porthole of death and to the other side will be bliss beyond imagination.

But brothers and sisters, Peter's going to die, and he knows he's going to die, and the Lord Jesus has told him he's going to die. And he says here that the Lord Jesus had showed him how he was going to die too, and he's going to put off his tabernacle. But knowing that he will shortly put off his tabernacle, he refers to this body again.

Now, not so much with his eye on the Old Testament, but on the fact that this body is just a temporary tent. Maybe he is thinking of the Old Testament tabernacle, but here he is. He's thinking now of this body as being just a temporary residing place until it's changed, until mortality takes on immortality, until the natural will become the spiritual in its totality.

The great things that are mentioned by the Apostle Paul, of course, in 1 Corinthians 15, when we will be raised or changed to be like the Lord Jesus in the fact that we will have that glorious body, a body like under His glorious body. So, he speaks of it here as being a tabernacle. It's just this temporary tent.

It's just going to be dismantled soon. He's kind of viewing it as something very simple. It's just going to be taking it off, and it will be set aside.

You know, I think it was one of Jim Elliott's companions that said on one occasion, when it comes to the end, he said, make sure all you have to do is die. How true that is. Could that be said of me today, or are there things outstanding in my life, things maybe I need to put right, things I need to fulfill? And so, he says here, I'm going to shortly just put off.

But then he says, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me, and this is now the other side of the coin, so to speak, death is not natural to us. It's something that we do naturally shy away from. None of us really want to go through the process of what it is to die.

Although I did think this recently, you know, those that have died, believers that have died, have had an experience that our Lord Jesus had. If the rapture was to come, and we were translated into glory, there would be believers who have experienced something that I would never have experienced if I was taken. And they experienced something that the Lord Jesus experienced.

And so, Peter says here that he's going to die, even as the Lord Jesus Christ has showed him. When you come to John 13, do you remember Peter, he asked the Lord Jesus a question. And he said, where are you going, in effect? And the Lord Jesus answered him, and he said, where I go now, you cannot follow me, but you shall follow me afterwards.

You know, Peter, I'm going into death now. And where I'm going, you cannot follow me, but you shall follow me afterwards. And he was going to expound on this to Peter, when he came to the 21st chapter of John, as he, on resurrection ground, drew Peter aside on the seashore of Galilee, and told him, listen to these words, let me read them with you, because I don't want to misquote them.

He speaks to Peter about death, that's something he would naturally shy away from. Because he says in chapter 21, he says, Peter, having said, feed my sheep, et cetera, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkest whither thou wouldest.

But when thou shalt be old, and thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, listen, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. You see, naturally speaking, we shy away from death. And the Lord Jesus acknowledged this to Peter.

So, in one sense, it is just the dismantling of a tent. It is a very simple thing. It is instantaneous translation to glory.

What it would be to close the eyes in death and open them in the endless bliss of eternal glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. It must be unimaginable for the saints that have experienced that. But the Lord Jesus is not too insensitive to acknowledge that the process of death is not something that is natural or something that is favorable to us.

And so, he says, Peter, I know it is not something that you would really choose. Thou wouldest not. But you know, isn't it amazing now that Peter has come to the end of his life and he has accepted that? He has accepted what the Lord has for him.

And he says, I know I am shortly going to put off my tabernacle, even as the Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Do you remember at one time, Peter, he said, I will lay down my life for you, Lord. I don't think he understood the implications or the reality of death, but he comes to the end of his life now and there is humility.

You know, brothers and sisters, what I thought about this in relation to the Lord Jesus preparing Peter for the end, and Peter preparing then the people of God, is that there must be relevance in our service. If we've had reliability in our service and repetition, now the thought could be relevance. I think this is very interesting and I want to come back particularly to those who occupy this place.

Brothers and sisters, God has given gift when it comes to teaching the Word of God, preaching the gospel, serving the saints. God has given gift to every believer. There is not a believer that is without spiritual gift, and we could go back over those chapters, Ephesians chapter 4 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and Romans chapter 12.

You look at 1 Peter chapter 4 and go back over those chapters that deal specifically with spiritual gift in the life of believers. But brothers and sisters, what I want to say particularly right now is that when it comes to this place, this is not an any man or every man occupation. I think we need to heed this particularly in our local assemblies.

If there is a lack of gift, we need to be down on our knees to pray that God will supply the need. And I'm not saying that there is not times when the gap has to be filled. I'm not unaware of realities of Christian life, but without the exceptions, there is a necessity for those whom God has fitted.

Now brothers and sisters, if you believe that God has not fitted me to be here, you should take me off. I'm going to say that plainly. And just because I'm here does not mean for one moment that I'm someone special.

Never ever have in your minds that public gift is somehow elevated above private or unseen. No, let us reread 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and we'll have that thinking adjusted immediately. But brothers and sisters, relevance is essential when it comes to teaching the Word of God and preaching the gospel, public communication.

I once read this in a book. Well, I read about the distinction between exegesis and exposition. And the writer, he gave an illustration which I've kind of taken and adapted.

But it's like making a cake. Exegesis is what goes on in the study. You have the Greek textbooks, if you have them, the Bible dictionaries and the commentaries and all kinds of word studies and whatever may go on in the study where you are and you're pulling this from that and looking and comparing translations, etc.

And exegesis happens at the study desk. It's like making a cake. I have all these ingredients and now I'm going to get in trouble with every sisters and maybe one or two brothers here too about baking because I am definitely no baker.

But when it comes to making a cake, you might have a pinch of salt and a bit of the icing sugar and a bit of flour. Does flour go into a cake? Probably not. But this and that and the other.

Now, if that's in the mixing bowl and it's mixed up and you take a spoonful of that and put it into your mouth, it's horrible. But you put it in the oven and bake a cake and deliver that to the people at the table. It's delicious.

And what I learned is that Clive don't come to the platform with things that will just bamboozle the saints and information that is just too much. Leave the exegesis in the study and come to this place with exposition. And we know that we make a very poor job of it, but may the Lord help us to understand his words.

So he says relevance is essential. But then finally in verse 15, if we've had Peter's exercise to pastor the people of God and his encampment to provoke the people of God while he was in the tabernacle and his end to prepare the people of God, we have his exodus to preserve the people of God. He says, moreover, I will endeavor.

I will expend every effort to make sure that after my decease, you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. And another Greek word is used there. A different Greek word is used to the first two times that we've had translated remembrance.

And if we've had putting into the mind and bringing back to the mind, this is now the thought of keeping upon the mind. Have it there permanently etched in. That it may be engraved, that it may go down into shoe leather, out to my hands, into my heart, that it may have a part in my very being.

He says, I will endeavor that after my decease, you may have these things always in remembrance. If you had tapped Peter on the shoulder and said that in the 21st century they will be reading this letter at a conference at Garnavillo, I'm sure he would have fallen over. But his desire was fulfilled, and God saw to it that these things we still have.

What a blessing. But he saw his decease now as just an exodus. He would depart.

The same as our Lord Jesus. His exodus that Moses and Elijah spoke of on that transfiguration mount. And finally, remembrance is essential.

We've had reliability as being essential, and repetition as being essential, and relevance as being essential. Peter says, remembrance is essential. Keep these things upon the mind.