Well, I want to thank each one for letting me share it with you this morning. We're in the book of 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 1. Now, our text will be looking at verses 12 to 15. 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 12 to 15. And our topic will be remembering or a reminder, having a reliable reminder. I'll start by just reading the verses, 1 Peter chapter one, verse 12 to 15 says, Peter writes, 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 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. The context for this is, as we've been studying 2 Peter, is Peter lays the stress on knowledge as a safeguard against false teachers and their destructive heretical lies. And the heart of the letter is really the second chapter, where he's gonna discuss the, and he's gonna describe the false teachers. And he surrounds that with chapter one and chapter three with the discussion of the importance of knowledge, how important it is to have knowledge, correct knowledge. If we're to defend ourselves against false doctrine and heresies, we're gonna have to have knowledge. It reminds me of the words of Hosea, where Hosea wrote, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If we're gonna survive the demon onslaught that we're living in, brought by all these demonic seducing spirits that are in the world, and demonic doctrines being brought by all the hypocritical liars in the world, lying false teachers, we must have knowledge, so we must know what we believe, and we must know our spiritual condition also. And this little epistle, it's a wonderful letter, and there are three primary things that we need to know, we'd shared with you. One, we need to know our salvation. And we've discussed that in the first 11 verses of chapter one. We need to know the scripture. And he's gonna start that when we get to verse 16. And then finally, when we get to chapter three, he's gonna say, you need to know your sanctification. To know our salvation, to know the scripture, and then to know our sanctification. Like a three-point outline for Peter's protective teaching. Those things would insulate us against the onslaught of false teachers that we're living in today and the false doctrine. So we kind of covered the initial discussion on the knowledge of salvation, and verses one to 12, the theme is know you're saved, know you're saved. And then Peter begins, again, turning towards scripture, get to verse 16 and 21, it's a really, I think it's the most important passage in the New Testament. verses 16 and 21, speaks about the word of God. But before Peter goes into that secondary of knowledge, he digresses a little bit in these few verses, so let us look into his heart, personally into his heart. And he shows us really the tenderest part of him in the whole letter, and reveals really his pastoral passion for the sheep, and that's why he wrote the letter. So here we kind of get an insight into what was motivating him when he wrote the letter. And he speaks about his ministry, and there's four things that flow out of the text, which would be our outline for the Sunday school lesson, our four-point outline. And he kind of hooks or hangs the thoughts on these things. And one of them, he reveals the urgency in his ministry. It's a really urgent, that he performed this ministry, and also he speaks of the spirit of the ministry. And the duty, really it's a duty he has to do this ministry, and then the brevity of it, how short it is. Life is short. So given the urgency of it, given the spirit of it, given the duty of it, given the brevity of it, so he's written, and that's what's underlying the letter, really, and this is the passion that moves Peter. And he sums up his letter with a kind of a valedictory message, and the letter is kind of a final statement from the beloved apostle Peter. It's a legacy statement of divine truth, and it's set in pen and ink for us, praise the Lord. And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and it's included in the canon of scripture, and it's gonna go on bearing fruit, actually eternal fruit, I think beyond time, the fruit that will bear to Peter from this epistle. This epistle leads people to holiness and virtue and obedience and kind of results in eternal reward for those who follow the instructions of Peter. So here we kind of see the affectionate heart of Peter, the true shepherd, he's a true shepherd. Peter telling us why he's saying what he's saying and why he's writing it down, and it's kind of his swan song. This is his last statement while he was on the earth, his last message. And he's like any good teacher. Any good teacher realizes one very important fact, and that is that people forget what you tell them, okay? And And I'll forget all I was gonna say about that. But way back in Deuteronomy chapter six, the Lord God said, I'm the Lord, I'm one and I'm your God. And he said, don't forget, talk about me when you rise up, when you sit down, when you lie down, when you walk in the way, teach about me to your children, bind my law on your forehead between your eyes. The Jews still do that. They bind a little thing with the word of God on their forehead. I don't think that was a Lord's intent. Bind me on your arm, put it on the doorpost of your house, and they still do it until Little Mizzou's is on the doorpost. Don't forget. And so what I say is somewhat sad that the Jewish people are so eager to remember what they might remember. They remember the Holocaust, they remember things, but it's, They've forgotten where they really desperately need to know the character and the law of their God. They forgot that. And back in Deuteronomy 7, chapter 7, verse 18, the scripture says they were told, you shall well remember what your Lord your God did. Remember what he did. In Deuteronomy 8, verse 2, they were told, you shall remember all the way which the Lord led you. In Deuteronomy 8, 18, it says, you shall remember the Lord your God. In Deuteronomy 9, 17, do not forget, 1 Chronicles 16, 12, they were told, remember his wonderful deeds which he has done, his marvels and his judgments. from his mouth, Deuteronomy chapter eight, verse 19 and 20. And it's come about, if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nation of the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish because you wouldn't listen to the voice of the Lord your God. Isaiah said, indicting Israel, you've forgotten the Lord your maker. Isaiah 51, 13, you've forgotten the Lord your maker. And then in the 17th chapter of Isaiah, verse 10, Isaiah 17, 10, familiar reminder by the prophet, he says, for you have forgotten the Lord God of your salvation. You have not remembered the rock of your refuge. And then one of the saddest statements in the Psalms, Psalms 88, verse 12, calls Israel the land of forgetfulness. Well, it seems Israel has had a great memory for the wrong things. It's great to remember the Holocaust, but it's better to remember the Lord God. And it's a very poor memory they have for what's really most important. You know, God gave the Passover, and the Passover was to be an annual reminder, the symbol of remembrance to remember not Egypt, okay, but to remember the God of redemption, and the God of deliverance, the God of salvation, the God of covenant, the God of mercy and grace, the God of judgment and justice, And even now, Passover is reserved. They remember Egypt and the escape, but they don't know the God of salvation. And why does it have such a memory for things that we should forget, right? But it's the flesh that wants us to remember what we should not remember, and the flesh seemingly loses the memory of what we should never forget. Jesus said to the 12 in John 15, 20, Remember the word which I said unto you. Paul said, remember the words of the Lord Jesus in Acts 20, 35. And to Timothy, he said, remember Jesus Christ, born of the seed of David, risen from the dead, according to my gospel. John records that when Jesus was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said what he would do, and they believed the scripture. Jude wrote to his readers, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I will put your remembrance, though you once knew this. Peter said in Acts 11, 16, then I remembered the word of the Lord. He wrote in 2 Peter 3, 1, he's gonna write once we get there, is the second epistle, beloved, and I'll write it to you in which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. James put it another way, said the same thing, do not be a forgetful hearer. So we don't have time to go through all, it seemed like, we don't have time to go through all the Old Testament and the text in which God said do not forget me. and remember me, remember me, remember, we don't even have time to go through all them in the New Testament, which as believers we're reminded, but we forget so easily. And there's a second corollary truth to teaching besides knowing that everybody's forgetful, is that teachers know what is called familiarity, things become too familiar. And because they forget, and you remind them over and over and over again, that's what you do. I was taught that repetition is theological mucilage. Dr. Mark Cameron, that was his statement. It's glue. Repetition makes the glue, makes it stick. But if you keep saying the same thing over and over the same way, people are gonna think they heard it before, and they're gonna tune you out. I know that, turn that off. And so the challenge of teaching is to repeat it in a different way, See, the same truths of people hear it freshly, and it's very, very challenging. Pastors who do topical preaching usually don't last long in a church, because there's only so many topics, and then they have to go to the next church. But if you have a pastor who teaches word by word through the Bible, he can go on forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. Praise the Lord for our pastor. But, so the first thing in this heart of Peter, again, I won't say everything I was gonna say. The sense of the heart of Peter for his people is not to forget, and there's a sense of urgency of his ministry. There's only so much time. Verse 12, it's a simple, straightforward text. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. Wherefore, reaches back to the prior text in which he had been discussing the greatness of our salvation and the blessedness of assurance. and his discussion of the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. In verse one, he discussed the multiplied grace and peace of the knowledge of Jesus our Lord, and his discussion of the fact that we've received everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who's called us to his own glory and excellence, the discussion of the great and precious promises that we have received that has made us partakers of the divine nature. because we've escaped the corruption of the world and all, and that discussion was the reality of our salvation. And then beginning in verse five, he began to talk about how you experience the assurance of your salvation by adding to your faith virtue or moral excellence. You actually add to your faith. And knowledge and self-control and perseverance and godliness and brotherly kindness and love or charity or love. And when these qualities are there and increasing, you're not going to forget your spiritual condition. You're going to remember that you're saved. If these things are in your life, you're going to remember you're saved, no doubt. You're not going to be forgetful here. And so because of the greatness of salvation, because of the glorious blessedness of assurance, he says, therefore, I will Wherefore, I shall always be reminding you of these things. I don't want you to forget how great salvation is in order that you might thank God for it, praise God for it, glorify God for it, and take advantage of all of his resources. I don't want you to ever forget how marvelous it is to have the assurance of your salvation, to know you're saved. And so I'm gonna be always ready to remind you about these things. And there is the reality that Christians can forget the blessedness of salvation. We're forgetful. And we can wander off into sin, right? And then we can turn our back on the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. We can turn our back on the multiplied grace and peace that they offer. And we can turn our back on all the divine power that grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness. And we can turn our back on the precious, magnificent promises that are ours as partakers of the very nature of God. and we can wander off into sin. And so he says, I'm always ready to remind you about this, and we can, also by wandering into sin, forfeit our assurance of our salvation. And so he eagerly reminds us of the crucial and essential and important greatness of salvation and the blessedness of how blessed it is to know you're saved. It's blessed. And there in verse 12, there's a future tense. He says, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance. He's simply saying, whenever I'm given the opportunity at any point, whenever I can, I'll do it. But there's another thought in the middle of his mind. He's writing now this letter, and he's not looking at the writing of the letter, but the future reading of the letter. And he's anticipating everybody who reads the letter, he's gonna again find him again ready to remind him of these things. Everyone who reads will be reminded. And every time 2 Peter's picked up, the first chapter's read, Peter's reminding us of these things. And so both preaching and writing is reminding. And Peter wanted to have his people avoid the hazards of negligence. He wanted to work hard to press home the issues. And so he says, I'm always ready to remind you, I will remind you in my preaching, I'll remind you in my teaching, I'll remind you in my penning this letter, which will go on throughout the future. Whenever you read it, or it's read to you again, he wanted to leave a legacy, and he wanted to leave a final will and testament, I guess you'd say. This is his final will and testament. To remind people of the greatness of salvation, the blessedness of assurance, and to make sure that false teachers and false doctrine didn't steal any of that away from you. And much of ministry is reminding, and much of teaching is reminding. I know that college, it's like you go back to elementary school all over again. There are all the principles. A lot deeper, but the same things all over again. And churches like that. And it's not uncommon if you walk away from Little Sandy Baptist Church. So you know, I've heard that before, you know. It's good because the day that we as a church announce something new, a new doctrine, you don't wanna, you wanna get rid of the leadership here. There are no new truths to this generation. Only a clear understanding of the word of God. And perhaps a truer interpretation but it's a ministry of reminding, reminding us of doctrinal truth, reminding us of moral requirements. And Peter was really no different than the others. Paul says in Romans 15, 15, he says, I've written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again in Romans. Paul knew that every time he spoke, or every time he wrote, he was not necessarily saying something new, but he was, that was all right. And Philippians three, one, Paul says, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. He says to write the same things, again, it's no trouble to me, it's a safeguard for you. And Paul had the same thing in mind that Peter had in mind, repetition for the sake of a safeguard. Even though I want you to listen to this, even though your conscious mind says, I've heard that before. Somehow it sticks another brick on your subconscious mind to hear it again. And you build a strong, fortified foundation through repetition. It's almost, as a carpenter, when you drive nails, the first hit on the nail is when you set it. You're going to hit it more than once when you're driving nails. And then you're going to hear tap, tap, depending on what kind of apartment you're in, you're going to hear somebody, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. I used to be able to, back when I was in my early 20s, I could drive nails to rhythm. 4-4 beat, 3-4 beat, 2-2 beat. And I would do that. It'd be bam, bam, bam, bam. You know, the rhythm. But that's kind of like the truth. The first time you hear it might have just been the first tap, but then the other taps will help drive the truth down, nail it down for you. And Peter, very easily, he knew the urgency of being ready, even eager to remind people. And it's discouraging to think about how fast we forget. Let's see. I'm going to have to hydrate. There have been surveys done in the past that say within an hour after giving a a teaching or sermon that 90% of it is forgotten within an hour. And it's a fascinating statistic. So how do we overcome that? By repeating the same things over and over and over again. Different ways, just as the word of God does, by the way. A faithful pastor would feel the urgency of doing that because the greatness of salvation comes with the blessedness of assurance and because we want to live godly lives so that we can participate in the fullness of our salvation. The blessedness of assurance. And we want to remember that so, and so, So that's what the teaching of the church is set about to do. He reminds us of what the Bible says. Secondly, Peter not only understood the urgency of his ministry, that's the very second point, which is to remind people as a matter of warning them against hazards of error and sin, but he secondly understood the spirit of the ministry. He understood what the spirit should be. While you're reminding people, you have to recognize that they do know some things when you talk to people to remind them. And Peter shows that proper spirit, the spirit of graciousness, the spirit of gentleness, and the spirit of meekness, and the spirit of tenderness. And so he speaks in that way there in verse 12. I shall always be ready to remind you of these things. And that's the urgency, but the spirit of it. Though you know them and be established in the present truth. I mean, there's a sweetness in that. He says to his people, I know you know these things. I know you've heard these things. And I know these things have been built into your life. And I know they're present with you, but I still remind you of them. That's the spirit, okay, that's the spirit he was using. And again, I'm gonna just not share everything I was gonna say about that. When you talk to the people of God, there should be a gentleness, if you're a teacher, and a meekness and a graciousness. Peter shows that, he wants to leave no impression on them that he doesn't believe, he's not trying to show he doesn't believe that they're devoted to Christ. There isn't any condescension here. He's the one you remember who said that you're not the Lord over the flock. Even though he knows about forgetfulness and there's a graciousness in the Spirit, he says even though you already know this, I'm here to tell you something you don't know. And I have great confidence and great trust in what you already have learned and what you already have come to believe and what you already affirm. But I just want to remind you. So Peter recognized that, and that's in Romans 10, verse eight. Paul wrote, remember he said, the word is near you, even in your mouth and your heart, that's the word of faith which we're preaching. And Paul, he writes that to the Romans, giving a tremendous amount of theology there. He's laying out the gospel in Romans, from one end to the other, and he stops right there, and he says, I just wanna let you know that I realize the truth is near you. It's in your mouth, it's in your heart. And there he's quoting out of Deuteronomy, actually. The word of faith which we're preaching. It isn't something new to you, I know it's near to you, it's in your presence. In Colossians chapter one, Paul speaks of the word of truth, the gospel. And in verse six he says, which has come to you just as in all the world also. It's constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it's been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God and truth. And he writes this letter to the Colossians full of exhortation, full of calling them to a higher kind of life. And yet he says, I know you've heard the truth. I know you believe the truth. And I affirm all that. I'm just reminding you, I'm trying to increase your devotion. And first John, John says that we have an anointing which we receive from the one who abides in us and we have no need that anyone teach us because his anointing teaches us all things. And he's speaking there no doubt about we have the Holy Spirit, we have the Holy Spirit. If you don't have the Spirit, you're not saved. You have the Holy Spirit. And second John, second verse, he says the truth abides in us and will be with us forever. And when you know Christ, John recognizes it, Paul recognizes it, Peter recognizes it. When you come to know the Savior, the truth is in you, and the truth abides in you. And Peter's saying, I know that, I'm not questioning your salvation, I'm not questioning your faith, I'm not questioning your devotion to the Savior. I'm just reminding you because of the urgency since you stand in the path of oncoming falch doctrine, it's gonna hit you. And so he says in verse 12, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth, the truth means the body of doctrine. You have a solid theology. We know you do, he says. Over in chapter three, he's gonna say in verse 15, he's gonna talk about Paul and his letters. And no doubt they had exposure to some of the inspired New Testament letters. And so they knew the gospel, they knew the truth, they were established doctrinally to some degree, and then he says, in the present truth, it's present with you, this truth, this true gospel, the true doctrine is present with you, and it's certainly a gracious approach by Peter, he says, you know, that's because you know Christ. You've been taught the doctrine, it's presently with you, I acknowledge all of that, and yet in the spirit of loving, gentle affirmation, He also understood. And then the third point of our little lesson this morning is the duty of ministry. So he understood the duty of ministry. And he says, I also know you know the truth of the gospel and you know doctrine and it's present in your heart and in mine and yet there's a duty incumbent upon me, Peter says, Peter articulates it in verse 13 of the ministry. He says, yea, and I think it meet also as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up, putting you in remembrance. You know, if there's anything that would have compelled Peter, it would have been his own defection, right? I mean, was there ever anyone in the history of the world who had a greater opportunity to know the truth than Peter? I mean, was there? I mean, there couldn't have been. And not only was he included among the 12, all of whom had that great opportunity of serving the Lord Jesus personally for 12, those three years, three and a half years. But he was included among the three, Peter, James, and John, who were most intimate with Christ, and he was without question the leader of the 12, and thus in many ways, he was the most immediate confidant of Jesus Christ. And he must have felt the closeness to him because he was so brash, I mean, he had made such major assumptions about what he could say in the presence of the Savior, which indicates that he felt very comfortable being around the Savior. No man ever lived there that had a greater proximity to the truth, having walked with Jesus for those years and having heard everything that he taught, having seen all the miracles that he did, having experienced everything. and the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And that is, it is not even all recorded in the Bible. I mean, so many things that even the books of the world couldn't contain them, John says in his gospel. So he experienced all that truth and was reminded of it again and again. And you say, well, how so? Well, if you read the gospels, you find that our Lord Jesus Christ taught the same truths over and over. And over. And sometimes in the same words, sometimes in different words. That's why you may read an expression of the Lord in one context, in one gospel, and see it appear in a completely different context in another gospel. That's not proof of redacting or editing, as some would want to say, the gospels. That's proof that Jesus was an able teacher. He knew he had to repeat the same things. Peter heard them again and again. That's why Jesus was so distressed when he went toward the end of his ministry. They still hadn't got the message. He says, how long have I been with you? In the upper room when he's talking to them. And you still don't know who I am? I mean, there's Peter after all of that firsthand exposure to truth, defecting and defecting at the time of the crisis, denying Jesus Christ. And Luke 22, verse 31, Jesus said, Simon, Simon, the old Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when once you have turned again, strengthen your brethren. And he said to him, Lord, with you I'm ready to go both to prison and to death. And Jesus said, as I say to you, Peter, the cocks will not crow today until you've denied me three times. that you know me. You're gonna deny it three times. Did he? Well, verse 54 there in Luke. Having arrested him, they led Jesus away and brought him to the house of the high priest. But Peter was following at a distance. And after they had kindled the fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them and a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat at the fire light and looking intently at him, said, this man was with him too. But he denied it, saying, woman, I do not know him. And a little later, another saw him and said, you're one of them too. But Peter said, man, I am not. And about an hour after that had passed, another man began to insist, saying, certainly this man was with him, for he's a Galilean. But Peter said, man, I do not know what you're talking about. And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned, and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told him before the cock crows today, you're gonna deny me three times, and he went out and did what? He wept bitterly. See, Peter knew firsthand that even though you have a lot of truth, and it's present with you, you need constant reminder lest you defect. And, you know, It's present with you, you need to be constant reminder unless you defect. And the teacher never holds back truth because it's known. Truth bears repetition. That's why you build the blocks of the wall with strength. And so he says in verse 13, I consider it right and I consider it fitting, I consider it proper, I consider it my duty as long as I am in this tabernacle. And that word tabernacle means a tent. As long as I'm in this tent, a great graphic way to see the human body, it's only a tent. And he's borrowing here from the nomadic people of the Old Testament who lived in tents and had no permanent dwelling, only temporary place that unfolded their tent and they stayed a while and they folded up and moved on. And from Abraham onward, it was a pattern of life. It was a beautiful way to see the body. Your body is only a tent. It's a temporary transitory place for your soul to live. And someday it will be folded up and your soul will move on to another place. and someday abandoning your tent, but Peter says, as long as I'm in this tent, this temporary, transitory, passing place to live, long as I'm in it, I consider it right to stir up by way of a reminder. So he's saying it's a lifelong calling. He's saying there's no retirement. I'll do this till I leave my tent. But Peter had a lifelong perspective here. What he was doing, he was going to be doing as long as he lived, he was going to be doing that. And he was going to stir it up. Awaken you out of sleep. Awaken you out of laziness. Arouse you out of lethargy. Quicken you, the idea of thoroughly arousing you. Believers can become lazy and sleepy and drowsy, failing to be alert and clear-minded. And so Peter was probably thinking of the graphic illustration of his own life. There he was with James and John, the guard, in the most crucial time in the life of the Messiah. He warned them to pray with him. What did they do? They slept. They slept, and there's a sense in which every teacher knows that his responsibility is to stimulate those who are listening and to awaken you from your lethargy and indifference and laziness and apathy and spiritual drowsiness. Well, how do you do that? Verse 13 says, by way of reminder. Only a few major issues in scripture, just have to keep repeating them over and over and over again. No amount of knowledge of salvation, no amount of firmness in the truth puts you beyond the need of reminding. Faithful teachers don't have to come up with something new all the time. They don't have to be spinning off some new and entertaining kind of thing. They just continue to remind people. And it's the third chapter of Jeremiah. I love the story, Tragedy of Forgetting. The kingdom was divided. Of course, Israel, the northern kingdom, had already gone into captivity, never to return. And Judah, the southern kingdom, had come to this nice edge, the brink of judgment. Captivity for Judah was imminent. And the Lord begins to address Jeremiah, and he speaks of Israel in the third person. In verse six through 11, there in chapter three, and he speaks of Israel, again, reciting their sin, and the third person emphasizes the distance from God, and Judah, and there was a distance that sin had brought about, and though he refers to Israel, he's referring to the existing Israel, which was Judah. They're the only ones that remain, verse six. And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah King, have you seen what faithless Israel did? And he's referring, of course, to all the defection of the northern and southern. She went up on every high hill, under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. The sin of Israel was defection, apostasy, open flagrant turning away from God for the very purpose of committing lewd sexual idolatry like the Canaanites and the worship of Baal. The whole country in every high mountain, they always used the high places because they felt that's, you're closer to heaven when you go on top of the hill. I live on top of the hill, I can tell you it's near, no closer to heaven. I can tell you for sure. It's safer right out at the bottom than on top. But in verse seven there in chapter three, she's done all these things, again, third person. She will return to him, but she didn't return, and her treacherous sister, Judah, saw it. Again, God describes just how awful it was that the northern kingdom was carried away, never to come back. They never came back. Some people had defected to come back, so you have all of the 12 tribes that aren't lost that were there in the Southern Kingdom. But then the Southern Kingdom also had to be, they forgot how God dealt with the sin there. God deals with sin, he hates and judges sin. And so that's the reason for Peter wanting to remind The fourth point, I got one minute and I'll share it with you anyways, is the brevity. The brevity of ministry is very short. He says he's gonna put off his tabernacle. And what happened? Church history tells us that when it came time for Peter, Peter was in his 70s. Peter was actually in his 70s. I'm in my 70s, so you're old when you're in your 70s. You're old, okay? Peter was old. Most of his compatriots had passed away younger. Maybe not the Apostle John, but all the others had passed on. Then it came time, Jesus had told him the way he was gonna die, so you stretch forth your hands in John chapter 21. So he had known for 30-something years how he was going to die. He knew he was going to be crucified at some time. And he says shortly, which meant it could happen any time. And he knew that for 30 years plus, he could die at any time, and that would be the end of his life and the end of his ministry. When it did come time to be carried, he unfortunately, He had to watch his wife be crucified first. That was the punishment. They put Peter in front of his wife. This is church history, not Bible history. Peter had to watch his wife be crucified. And he kept telling his wife, remember the Lord. Remember the Lord. Remember the Lord Jesus. Until his wife passed away. Then they crucified Peter. And then Peter wasn't, said I'm not worthy to die like my master. crucified me upside down, and they did. They crucified Peter upside down. But the Lord had showed him, Peter knew all this, and so he's writing this as a swan song. He's on an endeavor so that you can have this. After my decease, he knew he was gonna go. Go back and read the Bible. Thanks for letting me share with you this morning. Have to unhook the Bible, it's a nice little lesson.