Our scripture reading is from 2 Peter 1, verse 12 and following, page 1018. We're using that church provided Bible there. 2 Peter 1, verse 12. As Peter has been covering and going over the various characteristics of what we ought to keep in mind, the growth pattern, as it were, of Christians, he then calls us to do that more and more, and he reminds us how we will be entering into heaven and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. And because of all these things, he starts off with the word therefore. So this is our passage, 2 Peter 1, verse 12. Listen to God's word. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them, and are established in the truth that you have, I think it right, as long as I'm in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, and I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things. This is probably from God's holy word. We love new. Everything new. Give me new and improved. New. New style of shirt for the fall. New design for our masks. We see a commercial for a new feature, a new kind of car. It's not a Buick, it's an Alexa, they say. We love that stuff. New kind of decoration for our homes. Blinds that operate with a remote control. Bring all your neighbors over, you've got to see my blinds. They operate with a remote control. New way to serve chicken. Really? New way to serve chicken? New way to serve beef. We love that stuff. New recipe. New flavor. We actually missed the Wisconsin State Fair this summer because they always take foods and put them on a stick and deep fry them. Everything from hot dogs to Twinkies. And we love it. take new things, cover them with chocolate like grasshoppers? Eh, we might try it. New things, we're crazy. It's edgy, but we love it because it's new. We love new. And the opposite is also the case. We hate reminders. Reminder to submit your report on time. Yes, boss, I know. Reminder to clean your room. Yes, mom, I know. Reminder to pick up that gallon of milk on the way home. Yes, honey, I know. Reminder to make that phone call for a birthday. Reminder to wear our seatbelts and that we need some gas. That's even your car reminding you. Our appliances remind us that they're left on. Our microwaves keep beeping, your food is ready, your food is ready. Our dryer keeps beeping, buzzing, or chiming, depending what kind you have, that the clothes are dry and we don't like. those reminders. Now when it comes to the Bible lessons, should we love new and exciting? I hope I hear something new. I hope the sermon's exciting today. Is that what we're after? This week you hope to hear what? What do you want to hear? That the moon and the stars have something to say? Would you like to hear that we got a transmission from another planet? No. No way. Why? Because this is different. How is this different? How is this gathering different than our desire for new? Well, Bible teaching is not a preference, like the flavor of ice cream you'd like on your cone. Bible teaching is a necessity. like air, food, water, and shelter. So let me explain just how silly it would be to want new and novel when it comes to your food, water, and shelter. We love the same. You love air that is clean. You say, well, yeah, I suppose I do. No, let me demonstrate. Would you like a forecast of air purity that says Monday will have that thick smell of hydraulic fluid across the whole city all day? Tuesday is a clean air day. Wednesday, the city will be covered that, you know, choking thick smoke of burning plastic smell, and then Thursday your neighborhood will smell like rotting fish, and Friday is a clean air day. No, we want a clean air day every day. We also love to drink water that is consistently pure and cool. We love our houses when they're cool in the summer consistently, warm in the winter consistently. We love a car that starts H time. Who wants a car that starts two-thirds of the time? I grew up knowing one of those cars. I remember some of you had one of those cars. We don't want those cars. We never get tired of a car or lawnmower that starts right up. We never get tired of that, do we? Why? Same old lawnmower, boring, it always starts. No, we love that mower. Don't ever sell that mower, honey, because we love this mower. That's how we get tired of the gospel. We love the old gospel. Tell me about grace. Tell me about Jesus. Tell me about him risen again. I need it. We need the gospel critically. We need it repeated. We need it as critically and as repeatedly as we need air and food that are healthy. The Apostle Peter here is examining the attitude of the church. based on our relationship with the truth of God's Word. Peter sees the critical necessity of reminding Christians of the truth. And instead of us saying, boring, yawn, oh no, a reminder, we should get excited because since we know Christ and his promises, his calling, and his kingdom, we ought to like reminders. And actually, the truth is that we do. Number one, reminders are not accusations of ignorance. He covers that in verse 12. Number two, reminders are the right step for the apostles, as well as Christians, verses 13 and 14. And number three, reminders are mild. We like it better when the gospel's drilled into us, never to be forgotten years later. He covers that in verse 15. So first, reminders are not accusations of ignorance. You might think when mom tells you to make your bed that you must have forgotten what your morning chores are, and you get a little insulted, and maybe get a little cheeky with mom. Well, that's not the way that we respond to Peter when he writes to us the same truths again. He writes this in verse 12, indicates that we already know them. Not only do we know them because he just covered them in verses 5 to 9, but we already know them from other places and from having him repeat them and talk about them. He acknowledges that we already know them, and yet his intention is, his stated clear intention in writing is, in verse 12, that he's intending to always keep on reminding us. Do you want a different apostle then? Because he's just going to keep reminding us of these qualities. Do you fire him? Do you look for someone else? Or do we learn something from this that that's maybe essentially what I need? Because he says, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have, you still need an apostle who's dedicated to reminding you of them. We must really be wayward sheep then to need this many reminders. Yes, we are wayward sheep. Now nagging is another thing, but Peter's not nagging, and it's natural to have a bad reaction to sinful nagging, but reminding is a blessing. Just a simple reminder. Hey, did you check the gauge? Hey, did you turn that report in? Hey, did you remember to pick up the kids? Hey, did you remember to pick up the dry cleaning? One year in the Tournament of Roses parade, New Year's Day, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered to a halt and quit. You can't just go around the thing, right? It stops the whole parade. It was out of gas. The amusing thing about this event was that the float represented the gas company. Vast worldwide oil resources, and they're showing it off, and their float comes to a sputtering halt and halts the whole parade. Beautiful, beautiful. Because the owners of the float knew how important it is to be reminded to fill up the float, the truck that pulls the float. Reminding is not an inherent accusation. We get that because we're cheeky, prideful Americans. Don't remind me. Because we ought not to be that way as Christians. To have a reminder is a blessing. I'll say it again. To have a reminder is a blessing. the cue for the wives to elbow your husband, right? Because that elbow itself is a reminder and all the reminders that you gave last week and intend to give this week are a blessing. They really are, gentlemen, right? We need reminding. If your mom reminds you to drink water or bring a coat to school, she's not accusing you. She's loving you. She's simply reminding you. And if the gospel writes about the, if the apostle writes about the gospel and he tells us he intends to keep on drilling the gospel into us, He's not accusing us of an audience of not knowing the gospel. He's saying that we are sinners who are prone to forget the gospel, and his job is to remind us. So reminders are not accusations of ignorance, number one from verse 12. We're moving on to number two. Reminders are the right step for apostles and for Christians. Peter's doing the right thing. Look at how he describes this in verses 13 and 14. I think it right, as long as I'm in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder. since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. To his dying day, literally, Peter sees it as his job to remind and remind and remind. It's his task as a Christian, it's his task as an apostle. It's his task as the minister to the church there. I think it right, he says. Not to, you know, the good majority of my life, but as long as I'm in this body, to my dying day, all the way through to the end, the task and job for Peter the Apostle, the task and job for every minister, the task and job for Christians, whether they're parents or in the workplace, is to remind and remind and remind of the gospel. See, this letter reveals, in verse 14, that it's Peter's farewell letter. There's not going to be a third Peter. His final declaration and testament is listed here. All of a sudden we learn that Peter's dying. And this is as much a testament as it is a letter. And what are some features of a testament? Well, the writer knows he's about to die, and he says so. The writer addresses his own children or similar audience. In this case, in verse 10, he writes to his brothers. The writer impresses upon his audience the need to remember the letter and his life as an example to them. And the writer makes predictions about the future. And the writer gives exhortations toward good behavior. All these features are present here. It's a testament as well as a letter. And Peter has come to terms himself with the fact that his days on earth are receding. And knowing that the church members could not make it to Peter's bedside, remember they're scattered, they're quarantined, they're suffering much like we are, scattered, and they couldn't get to him necessarily. There have been some people who have had hospital stays and I couldn't get to them. And sometimes even family members can't get to them. We understand this. He knows they can't get to Peter, and so Peter picks up his pen, and in the middle of this letter, he writes to them this, in verse 14, in an effort to express his final statement. He says, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And so for this letter, Peter stays on the topics of highest importance. And yet, Peter repeats himself. because he's already said the topics of highest importance in letter one, he's already said the topics of highest importance in the beginning of this chapter, and yet here he's repeating himself and telling us that he's repeating himself because it's drawing to the end. You know how as you get clarity when you draw to the end, you could maybe succinctly boil things down? That's what he's doing, but yet even then he has to repeat it. The things that he's saying are already pre-boiled down. This letter is so short, but we're taking these weeks to unpack the riches here. And we have to really pay attention, Peter is saying. The Lord Jesus Christ, through his apostle, is saying we really have to pay attention to what he authorized his apostle to write, carried along by the Holy Spirit to write. the things that Christ promised to build the church up with, and he wrote us about foundational things here. And so far, Peter's reminded us that we must have faith, remember that was the first in the quality list, and that it must be a growing faith. If we want to finish life well, we must have a faith, a faith that also adds certain qualities, and so we go through that list we studied, right? Virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. And in verse 8, Peter taught that these are the qualities that keep us from being ineffective and unfruitful. Who wants to be ineffective ever? Who wants to be unfruitful ever? But maybe especially not when you know it's nearing the end. Now you really want to make your time count and do something for the Lord, something that bears fruit. And in verse 10, Peter taught that these are the qualities that keep us from falling. Who wants to fall when you're almost done? Who wants to fall now? What an embarrassment that would be. How much weight of testimony would be lost if you fell in the last quarter mile? And the heart of Peter is shown to us here. His very heart is revealed here. The goal of Peter's writing is now revealed. For Peter, the night of Peter's fall, by denying Jesus, remember, three times before the rooster crowed, that must have seemed like ancient history to Peter. so long in the past as he's writing this. And now he's coming to the end of his life. Decades of time had passed since he failed Jesus in the crucial moment. Years of faithful service filled the intervening years. They're the most recent memories for Peter, even as he sits to write this. Years in which Peter lived vigorously for Christ, with his full personality, everything that he had. Jesus had been right all along. In the end, Peter's faith had not failed. Jesus had prayed for that, and Jesus got the answer to his prayer. His faith had not failed. He struggled, he stumbled, but he was restored, and ultimately, Jesus was right. His faith had not failed. That's the Peter that's writing these verses. It's not the Peter who failed yesterday or last week. It's the Peter who went through a dark moment that's now public news decades ago, and here he's writing as a long-standing apostle to the church, writing what we need. His faith had not failed. And he tells us how ours will not fail. At the end of verse 10, if you practice his quality, you will never fall. By mentioning the nearness of Peter's own death here in verse 14, Peter underlines the urgency of the hour. He underlines the importance of his own words here. He shows the method by which we should grow and keep on growing. You're not going to like it. But I must tell you anyway, you know the method by which you must grow? Reminder. Verse 12, verse 13, verse 15, each contain Peter's favorite way for us to learn. Reminder, reminder, reminder. And Peter's commitment to this method of teaching is so complete that Peter used this method throughout this letter And listen for example, chapter 3, verse 1. Verse 2, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. That was 2 Peter 3, 1 and 2. Referencing the apostles, referencing the prophets, referencing our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of it lines up. Every prophet and apostle lines up with the teaching of our God through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a reminder of the whole package, a reminder of the basic news of the Bible, which is the good news of salvation to us through the death and resurrection of Christ. So he says here, growing and finishing your life, finishing well your Christian walk requires us to keep returning to the basics, keep returning to the same simple truths, to the things that we've already learned even as children in the past. Let me say it the way they say it in sports, the teams that remember the fundamentals are the teams that succeed. And Peter, he's writing about spiritual things, not sporting things. But when we find a spiritual teacher who's teaching the fundamentals, he's teaching a church that can stay on the truths of the gospel, come what may, scattered or not, quarantined or not, all the different things that we face down through the generations. When we find a spiritual teacher who is always chasing new things, And Peter says it's actually a red flag, a warning. You got the apostolic red flag on the play. New stuff, where are you coming up with the new stuff? Peter would say to a teacher. Preachers today, Christian teachers today can't be restless about apostolic truth. No restlessness in faithful ministers and elders. There's nothing better than the apostolic truth. There's nothing beyond apostolic truth. There's no way to improve upon, there's no way to update apostolic gospel truth. The gospel is ancient and it's profound just as it is. It's relevant, as relevant as you can get, just as it is. In fact, To change the gospel at all is to ruin. the gospel. To change the news of the Bible is to lose the core message of the Bible. Churches that change the gospel are no longer faithful churches. And so teachers that no longer teach the gospel are no longer faithful teachers, which is what he covers later in this same book about false teachers. The gospel by which we were saved is the gospel by which we continue to stand every day. Our times and the days in which we live actually have a lot in common with Peter's times and Peter's day in which he writes. The followers of Jesus in Peter's times were attacked. They were attacked by new teachings and these teachings were cut loose from the moral and ethical standards of Christ Jesus. Knowing this, Peter set out to close out his life, give his final energies as a preacher and as an author by way of reminder. Can you imagine the final hours or weeks or months of your life, the final years, the final energies you have, the last crack you have at it, and you're just gonna tell them the same things they've heard before. What does that tell you? That tells you that this is necessary. It tells you this is essentially important. It tells you it's the way for us to live as Christians. We need to stay on Jesus the rock. It's a very good thing. to have this reminder. The followers of Jesus in Peter's day know the same things the followers of Jesus in our day, that we need this. And Peter set out to close out his life this way. We have to mark this in our minds as a very good thing. The faithful apostle Peter was so dedicated to this that he committed himself to it afresh near the end. It's a very good thing. We don't outgrow the good news that Jesus became our substitute for our sins. And we receive this truth by faith. It means we live upright, changed, and holy lives. We remain committed to ancient truths. Everything in this book we hold to. All the miracles, all the truths, as unpopular as some of them have become. One example. I give you one example. Marriage, as defined by God. One man, one woman. Nothing redefining this has the power to establish us in the faith of Jesus Christ. No alternate lifestyle will make us more loving or more accepting or more sophisticated as persons or as a culture. No, that's not how it works. That spin, in other words, called deception and lies, changing from the truth, God's truth about what marriage is, just makes people wrong. That's it. And Peter says, this is the kind of truth that we can stand on and build our lives on, come what may. This is where Peter stands to his dying day. And he says, in our next verse, it brings us to our segue to our third point in our 15th verse, where he says, at any time, after my departure, at any time, you'll be able to recall these things. Wow, he must have done a really good job of repeating it. Because at any time, maybe two o'clock in the morning, you'll be able to repeat these things that Peter was saying. Let me read the whole verse. I will make every effort so that after my departure, key his death, right? After my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things. And that leads us to conclude point three. Reminders are mild. We like it better when the gospel's drilled into us, never to be forgotten years later. So which is it, that either Peter's readers are strong in truth, or they need to be reminded? Which is it? Well, if Peter had to choose, Peter does admit that Peter wants his readers' memories to be refreshed, for their understanding to be more firmly rooted. He wouldn't say either, actually, that they don't know the truth, or they're not strong, or that they need to be reminded in order to even have the truth. No, no, no, no. He's saying you have it, and you have it firmly, but yet I'm going to keep on drilling you with it. That's a beautiful thing. And he says it right here, that the word able to remember is a Greek word that gives the sense of English stabilize. To stabilize is basically a way to translate this word. And interestingly, I find it very interesting that the same Greek word that Jesus used on the night that Jesus prophesied Peter's denial and Peter's future role in the church, Jesus used the same word, and Peter's using that word here. I don't think that's a coincidence because it's the same guy. Peter, listen to it. Luke 22, 31. Luke 22, 31. Simon, Simon, and you know that Simon was Peter's earlier name until Jesus changed his name to Peter, so we're talking about Peter. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." That's Luke 22, 31 to 32. When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. That's our word, stabilize. Our word, strengthen. Peter, when you've turned back, stabilize your brothers. stabilize them with all the stabilization that's going to need whatever their generation brings. And Peter's fulfilling his calling. He's writing this letter in order to fulfill that calling. Don't you think those words rock through his mind every day? That's all he could think about. When the Lord Jesus Christ turns to you in person and he says, strengthen your brothers, you're just gonna just about do all that and only that the rest of your days. And that's what he's doing. Peter wants us as readers to be more established by progressing in our reminders. We go from strength to strength by reminder. We go from knowledge to knowledge by reminder. We go from reminder to reminder to grow. And as Peter's writing this, he remembered. And Peter echoed the very same word that Jesus used to prophesy what would become of Peter's ministry of strengthening us, Peter's brothers. In his next chapter, chapter 2, listen to whom Peter identifies as being in danger of being seduced by the ungodly. Chapter 2, verse 14. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. That's 1 Peter 2, 14. If what it takes for us to keep from being seduced spiritually is reminders and stabilization, then Peter, give us reminders. And Peter, keep giving us reminders because we want to stay stable when the spiritual seduction comes. Give me that stabilization once more, Peter, if you don't mind. Remind us again, Peter, please. Remind us again. What makes us more stable? What makes us stronger? Reminders, reminders, reminders. That's why we come to church every week. And you better hear about Christ and Him crucified, because that's what you need, and that's what you crave. It's not just the preacher who's committed to it, it's the hearers who are committed to it. That's what Peter's saying. We're going to remind you. I'm going to do my job. Are you going to hunger for it? Are you going to sit for it? Are you going to listen for it? Are you going to demand it? And Peter is saying this is what the Christian church is all about. Listen to 2 Peter 3, verse 17, almost to the end of his last letter, of the end of his life. This is what Peter kind of finishes his pen by saying, 2 Peter 3, 17, you therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, knowing what? That people take things and twist them. Knowing this beforehand, take care that you're not carried away by the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. What threatens our stability? What threatens our secure position? Dropping our guard. Kind of getting bored with reminders. Forgetting. Despising being told again. It's a yawner. I heard it before. That is the sign. That is the first step. The Christian who's solid, the Christian who's right-thinking, the Christian who's stable says, Peter, drill me. Peter, drill it into me. Peter, repeat it. Repeat it strong. Repeat it often. Peter, I need it. Remind us again. So what have we seen? We've seen when we already know Christ and His promises, His calling, and His kingdom, we like reminders. Reminders are not accusations of ignorance. We don't get insulted. Oh, you're teaching below my level. No, you need it basic. Number two, reminders are right step for apostles and Christians. It's right, says Peter, for me to say this again. And number three, reminders are mild, not just reminders. Make it obvious. Make it so I can't miss it. Give it to me hard. So concluding lessons, number one, it's not too late for you to live a life for God. Number one, it's not too late for you to live a life for God. I'm not talking about entering full-time ministry. I'm talking about living a godly life right where you are. It's not too late. There's hope here. There's powerful, powerful hope here. We're never tired of the story of Peter. Why? What's the lesson? Well, let me remind you, the attractive thing about the story of Peter is hope. Because the guy failed, front page failure. But our Savior says there's still hope for Peter. I'm going to restore Peter. I'm going to use Peter to write two books in the New Testament that is eternal. That means there's hope for us when we mess up. We resonate with this because we mess up. Don't leave me hanging, I'm not the only one that messed up, right? We mess up, right? Peter messed up, I messed up. We resonate with this, that there's hope. It's not too late for me. And it counts for eternity. What's done after this point, towards the end of your life, that too counts for eternity. I think despair robs us of that future yet. It says, well, since I already messed up, I guess I'm no good. That's despair talking. The gospel of hope talks, says there's room for us to make things count for eternity in the future yet in our lives. Apply the lesson of the gospel from Peter himself to our hearts and our lives. It's the voice of Christ to you. Be more stable. Become stronger. Hunger for reminders. It's not too late for you to live for God. That's number one. Number two, don't despise reminders. Don't despise a clear presentation of the gospel. Do better than lack of despising. Become eager for it. Take reminders to heart, consider it precious and life-giving. Think like the faucet that brings drinkable water to your house. Would you want to give that up? Think about the power lines that bring electricity to your house. This is more important. Don't take any presentation of the gospel of grace for granted. Progress to virtue from faith. Add to virtue knowledge. Add to knowledge self-control. Get to work on that. Keep it up through steadfastness and develop more godliness. Show more affection and love to your fellow Christians. Know that to do this progressing, you're going to need a steady diet of the gospel to keep going with all of this. And Peter's final written words were meant to remind us that the pathway to the entrance to the eternal kingdom is these qualities. I'll borrow an image from the world of engineering. Peter uses the word stabilize. So let's think about our lives as a building being built. I need vertical stabilization for the building that is me. I need to connect with God. Right? So it doesn't fall down. But I also need a foundation under me. I need trusses and beams across my life to keep me stable horizontally so I don't get blown to the side in the hurricanes of stress or shaken loose in the earthquake of whatever circumstances I live in. And Christians who finish well have a foundation. They have vertical stabilization and horizontal stabilization. They find ways to resist the crosswinds of our day because they're buildings that are built well. How do we stand up against the blowing falsehoods of our culture on ethical teachings, such as when life begins and when life ends? Do we take our instructions from this book? Reminders, reminders. Let me ask you a hollowing question, a haunting question. How will our children and our grandchildren stand up in these ethical dilemma areas? Reminders. Please don't despise reminders. Third and last, don't be bored in a true church that preaches the good news of Christ risen. Don't be bored. in a true church that preaches the gospel. The gospel remains the most powerful thing on earth. It's the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1 16. There's Paul echoing Peter. How silly that we could become bored with the most powerful tool of God on earth. So let me end with a story to remind you of the power of the gospel. About 130 years ago, in London, one evening, a prostitute became very sad. She was on her way to Blackbriar's Bridge to launch herself from it. On her way to the bridge, she passed a church. So she stopped at the church, hoping to hear some word that would prepare her to meet her maker, because knowing that she would die later that night. The preacher that night happened to be the famous Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, he happened to be preaching from Luke 7, 36 to 50, and the story of the prostitute who wiped Jesus' feet with her tears and her hair. How's that for providence? Because it just happened to be that God was looking out for her. And in those days, preachers would often take just one phrase as their text and their title for their sermon. So get this, the preacher's text was verse 44, just these words. You ready? Do you see this woman? She's on her way to the bridge. She steps into this church. Do you see this woman is the text and the title and the message. And as Pastor Spurgeon preached, the woman faced the question, first of all, does she see this woman? Does she see herself the way God sees her? And the next question is, does God see her? There's that vertical, right? She needs the embracing of God vertically. First, what she saw herself as who she was, a sinner needing grace, and grace is abundant. But second, she saw the grace of God and the forgiveness of God as she trusted Christ through hope. The result was she did not commit suicide, and instead she changed her life. One single hearing of the gospel demonstrates this power. Not only saved her physical life, saved her spiritual life and her soul. It's a quick reminder of the power of the gospel preached. How silly when we become bored with the gospel, as if we don't need it today. We don't get bored with electricity in our houses. We don't get bored with drinkable water. We don't get bored with clean air to breathe. We don't get tired of having a warm house in the winter. We don't get bored with buildings that stay up from collapsing every time we step into them. And Christians don't get bored with hearing the gospel of grace. Grace is our lifeblood. It's the point of birth and our constant touchstone of repeated celebration. It was God's idea to have a Sunday every seven days. You know why? Because we need the reminder. If we're thinking correctly, we'll say when we enter a worship service, Lord, remind us again. Let's pray.