Well, good evening, everyone. Well, this has been a momentous week. And perhaps the most significant part of the week is finally the political ads are over. We have been bombarded in every type of venue. If you go online, if you're on the TV everywhere, We're being bombarded with messages. And one of the things that's fascinating about that is how much blatant deception there is in politics. Now, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. Most politicians will say anything to get elected. But for some reason, this seemed like an unusually unbelievable year of dishonesty. I think it goes without saying politicians count on one thing from the American public, that we'll forget what already happened, that we won't remember what we saw with our eyes. In fact, that's the only explanation for some of the positions that politicians take, because we know they used to have a different position only a short time ago, and yet they say something completely opposite, which we know is not true. But what they're counting on is that we don't remember. Remembering is a challenging thing, and actually, that applies in any area of life. But we're gonna be covering a scripture tonight from 2 Peter that deals with just that issue. We have to be grounded in the truth. With that song we were singing, where else can we go? Where else can we go? And yet, most of our country is not going there. They're gathering truth from all sorts of places, and if we're not careful, the same thing can happen to us. Years ago, I was drawn to the book of 2 Peter in part because of how accurately I felt it dealt with what we're going through in our country now. Certainly, I think any book of the Bible can accomplish that. Any book of the Bible, you can see parallels, but something about 2 Peter just gripped me. And as we are going into the study tonight, I've taught on several verses before, but it's just a reminder that error is always at the doorstep. Now, Peter's ultimate goal and everything he wrote is well summed up in his first letter. It's not going to be on the overhead because I added it to my notes later. But in 1 Peter 1 15, he says this, But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior. I think everything Peter writes is based on that principle. It's supposed to direct us towards holiness. That's why the Scriptures are written. That's why Peter writes his letters. That's why 2 Peter is written. But 2 Peter was written in a particular context. Christians were in danger of being deceived. He knew, of course, that believers knew the truth, but if they did not remember and live out the truth, danger was at the doorstep. So, for example, in 2 Peter chapter 2, the first part of verse 1, he says, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies. That's much more dangerous than a political ad that might persuade a voter. And yet we saw even some of those destructive heresies when people claiming to be pastors stood up for and endorsed horrific sin. The reality is we live in a time where the truth is in short supply. But as believers, we have access to the truth. We just have to lay hold of it. And that primarily is what we're going to be talking about tonight. Now, just a little context, because we're going to jump into this at 2 Peter 1, verse 12. And he begins with the word, therefore, referencing back what's above. Basically, Peter has started his letter with just a simple affirmation of what has happened in our lives. God has given us everything we need for life and godliness. God called us, God saved us, God provides us everything to please him. And because God's given us everything, he expects us to live out the truth. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Peter says similar words in the beginning of his letter. And he understands within the church that there are some people who are gonna obey and there's some people that are fooling themselves. But the last time I spoke out of 2 Peter chapter one, I was talking about the assurance that we can have. We can know that we are saved. Peter wants us to have stability. Peter wants us to know the truth. but it's very easy in the world in which we live to be distracted, to be deceived. So tonight as we jump into our study, I'm just going to read for you verses 12 to 15 of 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 12 to 15. Follow along with me and then we'll dive into the study. Peter says this, 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 also be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mine. Now again, I believe everything Peter writes is in the context of holiness. And so we're going to look at this section of scripture in that light. And I've got a simple outline. I'm not always a fan of my outlines. They're just teaching tools. They're not inspired. But it should guide us as we go through the study. And tonight we're going to look at three practical principles for pursuing holiness. It might not seem like that's what the text means, but if you understand the backdrop of Peter's heart, which is for believers to be obedient, That's what he's talking about. So three practical principles for pursuing holiness. The first principle, and it's very important, is this. There is no such thing as too much teaching. There is no such thing as too much teaching. I'll read verse 12 again. 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. Therefore, really just refers back to all he's already talked about. God's work in our life, God providing us his precious and magnificent promises. We have all things we need for life and godliness. And because of that, we should be living lives that are increasingly bearing fruit. And if we do, we will have assurance and it will give us stability. And one day we'll hear, well done, good and faithful servant when we're with Jesus. But he says, therefore, until that time, therefore, here's what I'm going to do. I will always be ready to remind you of these things. Now these things goes beyond just the first 11 verses of 1 Peter. He's really talking about the body of apostolic teaching that is about Jesus. Certainly it deals with everything he's already covered, but it's all of the apostolic teaching that the church had at that time And Peter's saying, I will always be ready to remind you of these things. Because of all the truth we already have, because of all that God has done for us, because of the hope of heaven, because of everything, and because of your need to live out those truths, Peter says, I will always do this. I'll always be ready to remind you. And again, he's got to remind us because as believers, we can forget very easily. I'm not going to do this, but if I asked you to outline without looking at your notes, Steve Sermon this morning, most of us would struggle a little bit. And that was a few hours ago. Peter understands that in our fallen nature, we forget things. Sometimes it's no big deal. We forget something at the store, we turn around and go back to the store. But in the context of your personal holiness, in the context of living in this fallen world, where we're bombarded with messages that are false, that are trying to lead us astray from holiness, it matters if we forget. Peter wants us to understand that the biblical truth that we have already, we have to continually reinforce with reminder after reminder. God makes that clear throughout the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, there are texts that deal with this issue of trying to be repetitive with truth. For example, it's a well-known text, but in Deuteronomy chapter 6, When I touched my iPad, it jumped away to the different page, so give me just a moment. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, it says this, beginning at verse 6, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons, 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. In other words, anywhere, everywhere, you've got to be reinforcing and reminding yourselves of these things, teaching them to your children. And Peter is going to reinforce this later in this very letter. In 2 Peter 3, verses 1 and 2, he says, this is now, beloved, the second letter I'm writing you, in which I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. Paul said something similar to pastors. What's the requirement of a pastor? He said this to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, the beginning of verse 14. Remind them of these things. And this isn't a situation where he's saying, teach them these things. He's saying, remind them. Look at verse 12 in our text that we're studying. Therefore, I'll 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 within you. Again, the truth is the full body of apostolic teaching. But it's interesting, he's saying, I'm going to remind you, but it's not because you don't know this. In fact, by definition, you can't be reminded of something that you don't already know. But it's interesting, he is reinforcing and he's telling them, I'm going to keep telling you what you already know, what I've already taught you. Now, it's interesting because sometimes when we're reminded of something over and over, Maybe the first time you can take it, a couple of times you get a little annoyed. You don't think I remember? Is this some lack of trust in me? I can assure you that's not it at all. Peter's not demeaning or degrading what his hearers are doing. He cares about them and he loves them and he wants them to be able to live out these truths. And he knows that if you're away from the truth for only a little bit, you forget. It's gone. It's out of your mind. And he also knows that we're bombarded, even in his day, but even more so in our day, by a lot of different avenues. We're bombarded with information that's contrary to holy living. So in this context, Peter is trying to get a point across, and it comes from a place of real concern. It's interesting because Peter had some privileges that we didn't have. He was one of the closest apostles to Jesus. Peter knew this, and yet he still was doing all of these things, and he was doing it not because they were forgetful in and of itself. He was doing it because Jesus years before told him, this is what you have to do. So he understood that they had the truth. Now, of course, at this time, all the scriptures weren't written down. We have a great privilege that we have the entirety of the Bible. But the believers at that time already had enough to understand everything they needed. In fact, Peter said that at the beginning of the letter, that they had all they needed for life and godliness. While everything wasn't written down in circulation in the churches was apostolic teaching. It was the truth that was already there. That's why in 2 John 1-2 says this, the elder to the chosen lady and her children whom I love in truth and not only I but also who know the truth for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. So this truth was circulating around, and from the earliest days of the church, the apostolic teaching was enough for them. That's what they had. Shortly after Pentecost, in Acts 2.42, talking about the early church, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. So Peter was reminding them of these things. Not all of it was written down yet, but the full body of apostolic teaching was in the church, and he wanted them to have it. He wanted them to be able to do what Jude talks about in verse 3. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. Jude could say that before all of the scripture was written. And that was what I read before from 2 Peter chapter 3. So the church had scriptures. But Peter knew they needed reminders. They needed to know more. And that hasn't changed. If people ask me about Lakeside, I would tell them one of our greatest strengths is that we are heavy on teaching. We teach the Word at Lakeside. If you state it in a different context, we remind people of the Word at Lakeside. Yet sadly, if we're not careful, we often think the reminders are for other people. I'm guilty of this, but sometimes you'll hear something in church and you'll go, I already heard six sermons on that. And if you're not careful, you shut your mind off and you stop thinking. Or somebody will tell you something, or you'll hear Pastor Steve teaching, or you'll hear some teaching in a Sunday school, and you tune it out and you go, I already know that. Peter's telling us, no, don't ever do that. You need every bit of the teaching. I remember years ago, I've shared this in different contexts, but Pastor Steve and I were in a meeting with someone who wasn't happy with Lakeside, and their critique of Pastor Steve was this, all you do is teach the scriptures. They meant it as a knock, but that's the best thing about it. That's what we need. If you look around at churches, evangelical churches in America, you don't see many people doing what Pastor Steve does. because people don't want that. They don't want to sit and listen for 50 minutes to a sermon. They don't want to hear the Word of God expounded because they think they already know that. Tell me something I need to know. Peter would tell us, there's no such thing as too much teaching. Let me encourage you, if you ever have the attitude, and I've had to repent to this myself of thinking, oh, I know that. Let yourself be reminded anyway. That leads to a second principle for pursuing holiness. There's no such thing as too much teaching. The second point is just as important. Complacency is a danger we must take seriously. Complacency is a danger we must take seriously. Now that won't necessarily jump out from the text, but I think you'll see in a moment. It's in verse 13 and 14. 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. Now, some of what Peter is saying has to do with his expectation, and we'll cover it in a moment, that he's not going to be around for that much longer. But he wants to make it clear, I'm reminding you, I'll always be ready to remind you, and he says, I consider it right. In other words, not just that I'm telling you the truth, but what he's doing of reminding and reminding and reminding, it's the right thing to do. Even though they already know the truth, even though they're already establishing the truth, He's going to keep saying it to them over and over and over again. As long as He is on the earth, Peter is saying, I'm going to keep telling you these things. And as I began to study this, when I originally started looking through this text, there was an aspect of this that kind of slipped past me. And earlier I was talking about the fact that Peter was in the inner circle of the apostles. The apostles themselves were an inner circle around Jesus. And then you had the inner circle of the inner circle. James and John and Peter, who went to the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, they had some unique privileges. But Peter had a unique command from the Lord on his life, and I think it's played out in these verses. Now Peter has made it clear, the believers already have everything they need. 2 Peter 1, verse 3, the first part, I've referenced this several times without quoting it, but quoting it now, seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. So he's already affirming, you already have it all, but he says, I'm going to keep telling you about it, and it comes back to his time with Jesus and a momentous occasion in his own life. Now, I'm just going to reference a lot of Scriptures. I won't read them all for time's sake. I'll just give you the Scripture reference. But Peter had some unique privileges. I'm not going to read all of it, but in Matthew 16, verses 13-19, there's the account when Jesus at Caesarea Philippi asked His disciples, who do people say that I am? And then who do you say that I am? And Peter had the right answer. You're the Christ. And Jesus praised him and gave him affirmation. It was a beautiful picture. Peter knew the truth, no question. High praise from Jesus. In fact, Peter was so confident of the truth that he was Jesus' best disciple, in his own mind. All of them argued about that. Luke 22, 33, though, gives you something of Peter's heart. But he said to him, Lord, with you I'm ready to go both to prison and to death. Me and you, Jesus. But Jesus wasn't impressed. Jesus knew what was coming. And Jesus said this in Luke chapter 22, and I'm going to read the whole section. I've read you 33, but I'm going to go back and read 31 through 34. Because what was the context for Peter saying that? Jesus said this, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat. But I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Verse 33, that's Peter's confidence. But he said to him, Lord, with you I'm ready to go both to prison and to death. Verse 34, and Jesus, and he said, I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me. Now when I read that little section, and I've read it many times, I'm sure you have too, I focus on the first part, well Satan wants to sift him like wheat, and then I look at Peter and everything, but there's a phrase in there that I want you to see. It's in verse 32. Jesus said, but I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail in you when once you have turned again. Strengthen your brothers. In other words, Jesus was already looking to Peter's restoration. Peter didn't know this was coming, but Jesus knew you're going to fail, but when you turn again, when you're restored, strengthen your brothers. And later, again, another familiar text, and I'm going to read from the ESV. I normally read from the New American Standard, but this time I'm going to read this text from the ESV. In John 21, we see that restoration that was alluded to previously. Beginning in John 21 verse 15, it says this, When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, Tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said, Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. This really motivated everything that Peter did after this. Strengthen your brothers, Jesus had told him. Feed my sheep. Tend my sheep. Feed my lambs. So when Peter says that he's going to do these things, I'm going to remind you of these things, no wonder he says, I consider it right. This is what Jesus told him to do. Jesus said, this is your life. So again, for some people, a reminder can be insulting, but it's not. If a pastor or teacher tells you the same thing over and over, don't be offended. He doesn't think you don't know anything. He knows you know something. He just knows you need to be reminded. You need to be strengthened. You need to be fed. So Peter knows it was right because that was what Jesus restored him to do, to remind them. And he says, as long as I'm in this earthly dwelling, that's just referencing his physical body. He says, as long as I'm in this, I'm going to stir you up by way of reminder. And that's where we get to the point about complacency. He says, to stir you up. And this conveys an image that describes, unfortunately, us at times. The experts would tell us that in the context, it really had to do with waking somebody up that fell asleep. waking someone up who wasn't alert. Imagine in our day, you come into a room and the house is on fire and somebody's asleep. What are you going to do? You're going to yell and scream and you're going to grab them by the arm. You're going to do whatever you can to wake them up. And what Peter is saying is he's using those reminders to do that to the church. At times the church can be complacent. The church can fall asleep. And that can't happen. There's an urgency here. He's going to stir them up because he understands if you're asleep, you're in trouble. And he learned the issue of alertness, the idea of alertness from Jesus. Listen to just this short section where Jesus was talking in a slightly different context, but still the same issue. Mark chapter 13 beginning at verse 33. Jesus said, take heed, keep on the alert. For you do not know when the appointed time will come. It is like a man on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge, deciding to each one of his tasks, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert. Therefore, be on the alert. For you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning, in case he should suddenly come and find you asleep. What I say to you, I say to all, be on the alert. So that became a part of Peter's teaching. He understood in many facets of the Christian life, you have to be on the alert. So for example, in 1 Peter 5.80 says, be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. So when Peter, in our current context, tells us that he's going to remind to stir up by way of remind, he's going to stir us up, he's really dealing with a situation when believers don't have a sense of urgency. Perhaps they've gotten complacent. Perhaps the threats are not at their doorstep. Far too many Christians are alert, so to speak, once a week when they're in church on Sunday. And for many of us, it's hard to stay alert at church on Sunday. Not many people fall asleep when we're standing up and singing. But if you stood where I did on a Sunday morning, you see some people out there don't make it through the sermon. I've been guilty of that. You're sitting in a comfortable chair, and next thing you know, you've dozed off. That happens to us as Christians, and it particularly can happen in America. The country is not going in the direction we want. While we had good results in some areas of one election, we still look, most of our country is spiraling towards unholiness. And as believers, if we're not careful, we get lulled to sleep because we're not in imminent danger, so we think. Peter would tell us, you need to be stirred up. You need to wake up. There's a reason that we're taught over and over and over again, because we have work to do. And if we fall asleep, we can't accomplish anything. Again, Peter knew that he was going to have very few opportunities to talk to these believers. Verse 14 says, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. It seems certain Peter was an older man at this point. He knew he was going to die. I'm not going to read it, but you can look up in John 21, verses 18 and 19. There's a time when Jesus, in essence, told Peter how he was going to die. Peter, whatever the case, knew that he was going to die soon, but he was saying this, With every breath I have until that time, I'm going to remind you. I'm going to stir you up. I'm going to wake you up. I know you know the truth, but I don't want you to miss it. That has to be our sense of urgency. We need to be alert. We need to be stirred up by way of reminder to keep us from proverbially dozing off Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, stay awake and pray. And what did they do? They went to sleep. We got to be careful that we as God's people don't do that today. It's an interesting thing that happened when I was in Africa, and I've shared this in different contexts, but during the church service, everybody's in the same room and there's kids around, but there were these ladies that walked around with a stick during the service. And they literally, while they're preaching, they didn't do it while everybody was dancing and singing, and there's a lot of dancing and singing, but while whoever was preaching, these ladies walked around with a stick. And if somebody dozed off, they hit them with the stick. And while I was there, a lady walked up and hit one of the elders with a stick because the elder dozed off. There's a sense in which Peter's trying to do that to us. He's trying to wake us up. He's trying to hit us with the Scriptures to stir us up Because complacency is a danger we must take seriously. Brings us to our final point, and I'll draw this to a close. The three practical principles for pursuing holiness, there's no such thing as too much teaching. There's just not. Complacency is a danger we must take seriously. And third and finally, we must continually consume the Word of God. There's a redundancy here, but it's on purpose. Peter wants to get his point across. Verse 15, he says this, and I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure, you will be able to call these things to mind. So Peter was making clear to them, as long as I'm here, if I'm in this earthly dwelling, I'm always going to be ready. I'm going to remind you. I'm going to stir you up. I'm going to wake you up. But he said, at some point, I'm going to be gone, but I'm still going to leave you something so that you can remember these things, so that you can call these things to mind. talking about the written Word of God. Now the various commentators might say different aspects of this. Certainly the letters that Peter wrote himself constitute that. He was diligent to write those letters and those could be used to call these things to mind. And many scholars also think he's talking about the Gospel of Mark. that his disciple wrote for him, recounting things from Peter's perspective. And either way, what Peter is saying is that I'm going to be gone one day, but you'll still have something to consume because I'm going to take care of you with a written version of this teaching. Here's his point. Peter was saying, you will have the Scriptures. He already referenced earlier in this chapter the precious and magnificent promises of God that was already the Old Testament. He references in the letter writings of Paul that he refers to as Scripture. And he knows this was the second letter he had written. But what he's saying is that when I'm gone, the urgency is still there. When I'm gone, you still need to call these things to mind. I'm gonna provide the tools for you to do it, but you have to do it. Again, for us, we have a unique privilege. If you've been in other parts of the world, it's amazing what Bible translators have done to take the word of God everywhere, but there are still people that can't get a Bible in their hands. There are still people that don't have a full set of Scriptures. There are countries where people go to jail for having a copy of the Scriptures. But that's not us. Most of us have so many copies of Scripture, we would not know what to do with them. We have copies, hard copies, if you're older. I've got tons of Bibles. I've still got a Bible my grandfather gave me in 1970 in my office. But every electronic device has access to more of the Word of God than you could ever imagine. When Peter said, I'll be diligent that at any time after my departure you will be able to call these things to mind, I don't doubt, unless God showed him some special revelation, that he would realize the extent to which this would be true for people like us. We have no excuse. There's none of us who doesn't have access to the Word of God. But we have to call these things to mind. We have to consume it. Jesus said in Matthew 4, four familiar words, but He answered and said in response to a temptation of Satan, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's what the truth of God's Word is. We have to live on it. We have to consume it, and we've never got too much. So we have unique privileges, but unique responsibilities. As attendees at Lakeside, you have no excuse. Pastor Steve is one of the best Bible teachers I've ever heard, and he's here every week. If you go to Sunday school classes, Lakeside has good teachers, kind of like shark's teeth. One steps away and another one steps in. Take advantage of that. And when they're reminding you of things that you've already heard and when they're teaching a sermon on the same text that you just had read, don't close your mind and say, I know that. Be thankful that they're stirring you up by way of reminder so that you can call these things to mind. Please join me in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. Lord, I can't comprehend the number of times I've taken it for granted and not done all the things that I'm preaching on tonight. Lord, so many times I've forgotten and I've not reminded myself and I've not called to mind in the moment Lord, forgive us when we're that way with your word. And Lord, I know in my pride when somebody is telling me something I think I already know, it's hard for me to listen. Lord, forgive me. Forgive us when we have that attitude. Lord, I thank you for Lakeside. I thank you for all of the elders who are able to teach. I thank you for Pastor Steve and his faithful ministry. Lord, we have a privilege that few people in the history of the church have had to hear teaching that's so good, so consistent, week after week. Lord, don't let us be numb. Don't let us fall asleep. There are so many competing voices in our society, Lord. The political ads of this season are filled with Many of them trivial deceptions, but they're deceptions nonetheless. Lord, the worst thing is spiritual deception in the church. You've protected us from that at Lakeside. Lord, help us take advantage of this. And Lord, none of it is just so we know more. It's so that we can be holy as You are holy and be a light in this dark world. And Lord, if there are any hearing my voice, either here or online, who don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, They need to be reminded, Lord, that they're sinners before a holy God. I pray that you would help them to understand that they have violated your law, and there's a penalty to pay. The wages of sin is death. But Lord, I also hope that you would remind them that there is forgiveness in Jesus Christ for all who would repent and believe. Lord, only you can work that miracle. We pray that you would do so. And for the rest of us, Lord, even today we've heard much teaching in a variety of formats. Help us be doers of the word, Lord, and not merely hearers who delude ourselves. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.