Remember! - [2 Peter 1:12-15]

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I have a question to start the sermon today. How's your memory? The young ones aren't laughing, usually the older ones are, they just don't know what they're laughing about, they've already forgotten.
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Ask the same questions over and over, maybe getting lost in familiar places, confusion maybe about time or people or places, maybe you can't find the right word.
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As we get older, we begin to lose our memory and we forget and we need to be reminded.
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I guess I could ask you another question. How do you remind yourself that you need to do something? Is it on the computer?
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Is it on a Post -it note? In what ways do you remind yourself? If you take your Bibles this morning and turn to 2
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Peter 1, I want to remind you of some essential truths.
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Because Peter's whole section here is about memory, reminding to remember and to recall.
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The false teachers want you to forget. Forget who Jesus is so you can live a licentious life.
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But Peter, inspired by the Spirit of God, wants you to remember. So over and over and over, he's going to remind us what we already know.
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Christianity is not new doctrine, novel doctrine, secret doctrines, developing doctrine.
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It is truly what that hymn tells us. Tell us the old, old story of Jesus and his what?
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Love. It's about who the Lord is. Second Peter is the last book Peter wrote before he died.
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And I've written in my Bible, at the very top there, it says the second letter of Peter, 2
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Peter, and I write in big letters, no more denials by Peter. While Peter denied
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Jesus not once, not twice, but three times, he won't deny him again. Not in 1 Peter chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and not in 2
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Peter chapter 1, 2, and 3. And also not in Acts, where he would get up and proclaim the person and work of the
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Lord Jesus. I would imagine if you were in war, and I've never been in a war, but I've read a lot about it, that if you're fighting and you've got bullets that are getting shot at you and mortar rounds and other things, sometimes if you're not careful, you might forget why you were fighting.
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You're so caught up in the battle, you're thinking, what's the purpose? Who's the enemy? I know, but why are we trying to fight them?
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And so Peter is writing to people that are really in a battle. They're in a war. And the war sometimes makes you think about temporal things, because you're trying to stay alive, of course, and you forget about the eternal nature of things.
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So today we're going to look at chapter 1, verses 12 through 15, that the key really is to be reminded.
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And you can see that in verse 12, remind. You can see it in verse 13 of chapter 1, reminder.
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And you can see that in verse 15, recall. This is all about reminders, reminding you what you already know.
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So there's nothing new today, nothing novel, but a reminder, because the false teachers want you to forget.
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And so for our reminder, if you look at chapter 1, verse 12, it says, therefore.
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It's going to tie everything in. And of course, as pastors are prone to do, what's the therefore, therefore?
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Answer, you just have to go back a little bit. And so this is good to be reminded of these first several verses.
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Remember Simon Peter or Simeon Peter, chapter 1, verse 1, a servant and apostle of Jesus to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of God and Savior, our
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God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He starts off by giving a foundation, remember, some stability, some kind of spiritual rebar.
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So you think, okay, in the middle of the fight, I need to make sure I've got resources and a foundation.
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I can't forget those things. This week, Bob Bowman, Pastor Bob, sent me a quote by Richard Sibbes that helps frame this first section of objective truths.
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Richard Sibbes said, often think with myself, what am I? A poor, sinful creature, but I have the righteousness in Christ that answers all.
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I am weak in myself, but Christ is strong and I am strong in him. I'm foolish in myself, but I'm wise in him.
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What I want in myself, I have in him. He is mine and his righteousness is mine, which is the righteousness of a
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God man. Being clothed with this, I stand safe against conscience, hell, wrath, and whatsoever.
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Though I daily experience sins, my sins, yet there is more righteousness in Christ who is mine and who is the chief of 10 ,000 than there is sin in me.
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Isn't that good? Bob sent that to me and I read it to you. And I would guess if I was a betting person, a wagering person, which of course
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I'm not, you're going to email me and say, I need to be reminded of that. And that's second
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Peter chapter one, one to four. Here's who Jesus is. He does the right thing. I get credit for his rightness and he pays for all my wrongness, i .e.
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sin. And therefore, when I come to battle, I don't have to say to myself, well, am
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I going to make it out alive? I interviewed on the radio several years ago, a man who was on the
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USS Indianapolis. And remember that was the last ship that we had sunk in world war two.
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And he, this particular man grabbed the railings going to jump into the ocean.
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Remember 300 probably lost their lives when it was first hit by the Japanese torpedo. 300 would lose their lives in the water with dehydration and getting eaten by sharks.
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And I said, when you put your hands on the railing to jump into the ocean, what were you thinking?
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And he said, well, what I was thinking was I had already made my peace with God. I trusted in the
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Lord Jesus Christ. And even though I might die in the water, I was going to be safe.
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That's the idea. There's a battle going around. False teachers are saying all kinds of things. Jesus isn't going to come back.
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He's not really God. He's not this. He's not that. And now how do we live like that? Am I going to make it out?
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What if I stumble and fall and permanently fall? And the writer, Peter, knows a little bit about denials.
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And he said, here's the good news. While we might deny Jesus, he will never deny us.
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I love books of the Bible that start off like that, just laying the foundation. Never go to a book of the
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Bible and just go, well, it's just kind of the intro. I mean, listen to Romans 1. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his son, truly
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God, a truly man, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,
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Jesus Christ our Lord. At the very beginning, Paul in Romans, like Peter in 2
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Peter, here are the foundations. Don't forget, you're going to have to live in light of who you are in Christ Jesus.
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Baseline, foundation, kind of a plumb line, if you will. Peter wants everybody to know everything in this book is about who
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Jesus is, living in light of this savior. And by the way, this savior, Jesus, he was in complete control of every event in his life.
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If you think Jesus was a victim, he was helpless, he got caught up in the Roman system, just kind of got, you know, into this too deeply and couldn't get out.
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Jesus didn't receive action, he acted upon. He's the sovereign king and Lord.
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He's never a victim, he gives himself up. Jesus said, for this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
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No one has taken it from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down.
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I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I receive from my father. If this is your savior, if this is your king, if this is the
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Lord that you trust in, he's going to see you to the end. Jesus said, do you not think I cannot appeal to my father and he at once will put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?
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And so Peter writes and says, you've got a good root, you've got a good foundation, you've got a good basis of who you are in Christ, verses 1, 2, 3, and 4.
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But then there's not just the root, but remember last week we saw the fruit, verse 5, for this very reason.
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What reason is that? Because of grace and peace and righteousness and who Jesus is as savior and God.
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The power of God, the promises of God for this very reason. Well, we want to live a life commensurate with our calling.
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We want to walk in a manner worthy. Jesus not only saves, he sanctifies. Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue.
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And he goes on to say with knowledge, self -control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, with love.
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If these qualities are yours and increasing, they don't save you, but they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. Negatively, if you don't have these and you're nearsighted and blind, you've forgotten one main thing.
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What have you forgotten? That you've been cleansed from your former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.
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For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall, even in the battle with all these false teachers. They're dropping like flies, but we won't.
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For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our
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Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Now we come to the passage. Therefore, and it's all about being reminded,
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I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
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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
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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.
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If you're wondering where we're going today, the outline is super simple. We're going to just walk through this passage and then
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I'm going to give you a few takeaways in light of this truth. Maybe like me, you read those verses and you go, could you preach a whole sermon on that?
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I mean, what's in there? Is there anything encouraging or convicting? How does this all work? And you're going to see
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Peter pastoring people. Remember he says in chapter five of 1
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Peter, don't dominate people, don't domineer people, don't lord it over people. You can see even the way he writes.
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You know these things. I want to remind you. I think maybe in the past I scolded people too much.
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Peter's not scolding here. What does 2 Timothy 4 to say? Scold the word in season and out of season.
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Is that what it says? No, no, he's pastoring, he's preaching, but he's doing it in a way where he's saying, you know what, you're not measuring up.
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No, he doesn't say that. And there's a time for that, of course. But you know these truths and you're established in the truth.
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You've already got this. And so I'm just coming along as a friendly reminder. I'm on my deathbed and I need to remind you of important things.
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Can you imagine, what would you say to people on your deathbed? Gather around, kids. It's the most important things
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I'm going to ever tell you and I need to remind you. Trump was robbed.
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Was that what you'd say? I knew I'd get you. All right, kids, gather around.
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I can't even say it any more than that. You get the idea. You tell them, listen, don't forget who
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Jesus is. Paul even in 2 Timothy, remember Jesus. Don't forget. It's so easy in a battle and there's bullets flying from the false teachers for you to forget who you're fighting for, whose glory is at stake.
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And so he's very charitable with his kind of last will and testament, very pastoral.
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And if you really want to kind of see the book, here's how you see it. Peter says, remember Jesus. And false teachers say, forget him.
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We're going to say remember Jesus because if you do, you'll have assurance of eternal life and you'll also want to live a holy life.
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But if you forget Jesus and you're like Nietzsche or someone else, like there's no
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Jesus, why, Nietzsche, do you have to have no Jesus? Because I want to be sexually immoral and immoral in every other way.
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That's the false teachers. We are to remember. They're saying forget. Because if you really realize
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Jesus, the glory as one is going to come back and every eye will see him and you'll have a trumpet and you'll have
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Jesus descending, you're going to want to live a holy life. False teachers want you to forget so you live an ungodly life.
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And so what does Peter say in verse 12? I intend always to remind you. You can just hear the shepherd. I mean,
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I thought this was kind of gruff, rough Peter fisherman. He's been transformed though, has he not? I want to remind you of these things in verses 1 through 11.
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Though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. Before I go further, dear
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Christian, if somebody is preaching new things to you, new isn't good. When I was younger and I used to critique sermons or listen to sermons and go, was that a good sermon or bad sermon,
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I would think to myself, you know what? If I learned something new, it was a really good sermon. Now that works when you're a new
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Christian because you're always learning something new, right? But what if you're walking with the Lord for 50 years and 60 years and 70 years?
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There's nothing new. There's nothing new under the sun. There's no new doctrines. How do you gauge a good sermon?
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Oh, that was new today. It's wonderful to learn things. It's exciting to learn. I appreciate when there's something new.
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But the majority of time that the pastor preachings, he's preaching about things you already know.
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Here's who Jesus is. Here's what he's done. And you can trust him. He says,
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I want to remind you, I'm concerned about your spiritual well -being. So when you hear things come down the pike, you don't even maybe know what this doctrine is.
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But if I were to tell you, do you think the new perspective on Paul is good or bad? What would you say?
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You don't even need to know what it is to go, uh -uh. The new perspective on Paul. I've got a new way to look at Jesus.
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I'm like, uh, no. Tell me the old, old story. I mean, I just need to go back to the old truths of the
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Bible. And Peter knows. I receive the faith that I have in Jesus. He's paid for my sins.
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He's given me his righteousness. And I'm going to be in battle, but I'm not going to eternally perish.
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And Peter knew what it was like to be someone like Paul, sinful.
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Although Paul was persecuting the church, Peter still was a sinner. And Peter knew what it was like to be rescued.
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When I study war, and I study Benedict Arnold and people that are treasonous, what do they do with a treasonous person in war?
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Answer? It's not good. And yet we have committed cosmic treason against God.
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How many times in our life? And yet he still cares for us. I'd like to know more about the one who, as it were, goes and gets assassinated in my place.
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It's capital punishment. I deserve. And then Jesus takes it, the penalty, penalty substitution.
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He says, I know you know. You know all this. And I'm not going to lord it over you. You know this.
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Paul said, I've written to you quite boldly on some point, so as if to remind you of them again, Romans 15.
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I'm reminding you. John the Apostle, I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it.
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I'm writing to remind you. Good pastors remind. If you're a parent, how often do you have to remind your kids to do things?
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I mean, when I came to church for 20 -some years, and I guess Haley's now 28, I'm going to remind you again today what to do.
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No, just kidding. When you go to church, I'd say to Luke, if you see somebody there in a handicap, go open up the door for them.
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Greetings, how are you? Shake people's hands, look them in the eye. Don't run around upstairs, stay in the sanctuary.
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I said that, I think, for every time we came here, over and over and over. Good training in cross -country skiing, good training in military strategies.
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Remind, remind, remind, remind. Because when the bullets are flying, it's hard to think.
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This needs to be muscle memory. You know what? I'm in a trial, what's going on? Okay, go back to the foundation.
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I don't have to be moved, I don't have to panic. Jude, a parallel passage says, now
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I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who do not believe.
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So this is a reminder, that's all it is. Reminding over and over and over. Turn to 2 Peter 3.
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You'll see it throughout the book, actually. 2 Peter 3, false teachers want you to forget, so you live ungodly.
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Peter wants you to be reminded of who Jesus is, so you'll act like a Christian, a little Christ, commensurate with the calling.
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2 Peter 3, one and two. This is the second letter that I'm writing to you, beloved. You can see the pastor's heart right there too.
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In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of what? Reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the
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Lord and Savior through your apostles. These people want you to forget, we want you to remember.
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I think it right, Peter goes on, verse 13, back in chapter one. As long as I am 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 the
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Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. The Lord Jesus says, you're gonna die, and you're gonna be a martyr, and what do
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I need to tell you, dear people? It's gonna be soon, and I've gotta stir you up.
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It's almost like with coals, you ever have a fire and it starts to go out and you get like a little stoking agent, a rod, what do you call that?
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A what? I want the technical term, young man. Whatever the poker is, and you're trying to get more oxygen, you're stirring it up.
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It's like, I kinda wanna refreshen you, I wanna awaken you, that's what I wanna do because if you're not careful, you're gonna forget.
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I mean, think about it, I could say just bluntly this way. Have you forgotten, dear Christian, how many sins you've committed, and therefore forgotten how great
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Jesus is that He would save somebody like you, that He'd save somebody like me? There's a lady who was a secular humanist, her name was
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Marganita Lasky. She hated Jesus, and she died in 1988, and just before she died, she said this, what
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I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness. I have nobody to forgive me.
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I wanna remind you, you have somebody that forgave you of all your sins of cosmic treason.
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That's what we remind people on our deathbed. We're in a battle, we're in a war, and we need to be reminded.
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I've gotta think before I do. I mean, we're all caught up in feelings all the time, but this is thinking.
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I read this week that there are benefits to taking a cold shower. I met somebody in the last week, and they said they've been taking cold showers before they go to bed.
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And so I looked it up. What's the benefit of the cold shower? I think it says, possibly it helps itchy skin.
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Possibly a cold shower reduces muscle soreness post -workout. This is the one
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I'm not too sure about, potentially boosting weight loss. I mean, if it was only that easy.
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Possibly it will give you glowing hair and skin. But for certain, it will, according to this, wake you up.
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Cold showers. He wants to refresh, he wants to wake you up, he wants to rouse you out of a slumber.
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I'm in a battle. I mean, think about it. Tomorrow, many of you will go to work, many of you will wake up at work. I used to say that because moms wake up at work, but now with COVID, y 'all
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Zoomers, y 'all wake up at work too. I never liked it when somebody says, well, the husband,
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I go to work and my wife stays at home and raises 19 kids. Like that's not work.
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All the things you have to do tomorrow, and you get caught up in everything. And if you're not careful, the world just makes you start looking down, down, down, down because it's true.
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We have to go to the doctor, we have to go to the copay, we have to go to the dentist, we have to take the kid, we have to go shopping, we have to dump the trash, we have to do the laundry.
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But there's something underneath that I need to remind you because it's hard when you're in the battle. And so Peter knows that.
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Peter understands and he wants to refresh him. He wants you to be fully alert. He's gonna die a martyr's death probably pretty soon at the hands of Nero.
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So what do you tell people? And if you notice in chapter one, he says in verse 14,
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I'll be putting off my body soon, you know, like a tent. You can imagine that tent language that Paul uses in 2
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Corinthians 5. As our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. Here's my question congregation.
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When did Jesus make clear to Peter that he was going to die and how he was gonna die or if he was going to die?
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As our Lord Jesus made clear to me. Was this some kind of vision Peter had or maybe he had some frijoles at night and had a kind of a dream somehow.
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God, that was not in the first service. Turn to John 21 and it's probably one of your favorite passages that ties this in.
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To answer the question, what does Peter mean when it says as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me, this is the passage that ties it together.
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This is the gospel of Jesus according to John, John 21. This is after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
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And it is a wonderful passage. And by the way, I think most of you know it, but I'm going to remind you and you'll be glad I did.
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I don't want you to forget it. John 21, one. I read some of the
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NAS, some of the ESV. After these things, Jesus manifested himself or revealed himself again to the disciples at the
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Sea of Tiberias. And he manifested or revealed himself in this way.
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There were together, and there's a lot of people listed, but who's first? Simon Peter.
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Peter said to them, to these other guys, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we'll come with you also.
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Peter's the leader. They went out and got in the boat and that night they caught nothing. Say, oh, Peter, you know, he doesn't know where Jesus is.
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And this is a bad thing for Peter to go back to fishing instead of being a disciple and making fishers of men.
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I think this is good. He's got a family to feed. People are hungry. Might as well be productive. And by the way, he's waiting for Jesus to come back.
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Matthew 28, the angel said, he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him.
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Behold, I have told you. Jesus is going to come back to Galilee. I'm in Galilee. What do you do when you're in Galilee?
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If you're with us in February of next year, we'll go out on a boat ride. And by the way, one of my favorite all time things is to just pick up a flat rock next to the
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Sea of Galilee and throw it and skip it. I love that. Why do
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I love that? Because Jesus was a real man and I don't know if he ever skipped a rock, but he really walked on those rocks and walked by that sea and walked on that sea.
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So Peter's there. I'm gonna go fishing. Didn't catch anything. But when the day was breaking, verse four, here we go.
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Jesus stood on the beach, yet the disciples did not know that it was
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Jesus. Say, well, maybe he's too far away. We can't see. Maybe it's dark. Maybe it's foggy.
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Or maybe it's the supernatural prevention of them seeing like Luke 24, their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
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Either way, verse five, Jesus said to them, isn't this interesting? Children, literally little children, essentially boys.
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Hey boys, kindly. You do not have any fish, do you? They answered and said, with brevity, with disappointment, no.
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Why was Jesus asking? Jesus was hungry. Well, I don't know, but I don't think that's the reason.
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And he said to them, cast a net on the right -hand side of the boat, you'll find a catch. They cast their four and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of the fish.
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That disciple therefore, whom Jesus loved, John, said to Peter, it's the Lord. I mean, who else can do this?
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Rerouted all the fish from one side of the boat to the other. And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, what did he do?
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If you need to jump into the water, what do you do? You get rid of your clothes and jump in.
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He does the opposite. He starts to put his clothes on before he jumps in. Why would he ever do that? I mean,
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I remember one time, I think it was in 98, we had a big contest with the kids. The youth group here.
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And if they won, Kim and I said we would dress in our Sunday best and go off the rope swing at Lake Wachusett and go into the water with my suit on and Kim with her dress.
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And so they didn't win, but we wanna make sure everybody feels special.
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So everybody's a winner. Everybody got the red plate and we went and did it. No, they won. And so we went and did it.
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That's like the only time I put clothes on to jump in the water. Except if it's the master of the world.
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And even today in Exodus 28, did we not read about certain clothing and apparel and appropriateness before the
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God of the universe? And that's what Peter does. He put on his outer garment, parenthetically for he was stripped for work, threw himself into the sea.
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That's not the only time he's done that. I'm gonna meet the Lord properly with proper attire, respectfully.
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But the other disciples came in a little boat for they were not far away. I don't know why they didn't jump in.
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Peter goes right to Jesus about a hundred yards away and they're dragging the net full of fish.
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And so when they got out upon the land, Jesus rebuked them. Jesus scolded them.
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Jesus chastened them. No. They saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it and bread.
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I'll just let that settle in just for a second. They saw a charcoal fire already laid.
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Jesus has made a fire. I know you didn't originally catch anything, but I've got things ready for you.
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And fish placed on it and bread. Just let's just settle in and think for a second.
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I wonder what it smelled like. What does a charcoal fire smell like? Remember the last year you've probably had more fires in your backyard than you've ever had before, right?
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COVID fires. Invite people over, you can't sit next to each other. Somehow the virus after six feet just immediately drops down to the ground and you're set.
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I can't believe I'm seeing these things. But we sat outside, right?
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And we had fires and we invited people over and you get up close and then the next day you pick up your jacket and it smells like what?
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Smells like the fire. And that memory of the fire and all of a sudden now there's fish being cooked.
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I mean, the God of the universe, Jesus is making them breakfast. What does the text say?
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Verse 10, bring some of the fish which you've now caught. Let's add to this. And Simon Peter went and drew the net to land full of large fish, 153.
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You know what that symbolizes, don't you? One is God, singular, three is a
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Trinity and five is Genesis, Exodus, Phileticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, right? Okay. That's what some people think, but that's not it.
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There's 153 fish, there's a lot. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. And Jesus said to them, let this settle in here.
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Come makes fish and bread and says,
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I prepared it for you. One man said, the pierced hands of Christ had prepared this meal.
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He started the coal fire. He produced by his own omnipotent power, the fish and the bread.
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How does Jesus make breakfast? And by the way, do you think it was good?
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Bypassing the fall, it could be. I mean, maybe he caught the fish or maybe he just made the fish.
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If he made the fish, not tainted by the fall. Only thing that was tainted by the fall were their taste buds.
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But can you imagine what untainted by the fall fish must be like? Breakfast and the smell of that charcoal fire and the smell of that breakfast.
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What do you think went through Peter's mind? Do you not remember, dear congregation,
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John 18, the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire. For it was cold and they were warming themselves.
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And Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself. And then he denied
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Jesus at the fire. I would imagine, I can't prove it, that Peter forever and always thought, you know what, every time
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I'm around that fire, I've got that smell associated with it. That charcoal fire smell is the smell of betrayal and treachery.
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For all the Lord has done for me, I have betrayed him. Charcoal fire is where we get the word anthrax.
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Because if you get anthrax, it feels like a charcoal fire. He, Peter, knows what the charcoal fire's like.
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And it is no mere coincidence in my mind that Jesus now, with a charcoal fire, makes
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Peter and the boys breakfast. Come and have breakfast. Can you imagine? This is a little foretaste, by the way, of the
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Lord's Supper. Come and remember Jesus at the Lord's Supper. Have some breakfast.
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None of the disciples, verse 12, ventured to question Him. Who are you? I mean, they already knew, knowing it was the
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Lord. Jesus came and took the bread. I mean, here's
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Jesus the host. The best meal ever from the best prophet, priest, and king.
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And He gave them. He didn't say, serve yourself, alphabetical order.
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I always like it when they have food served alphabetically. I mean, will this be in their minds forever?
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Here's the question. Will they remember it? Or will they forget it? Now, this is the third time, verse 14, that Jesus was revealed or manifested to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.
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Now we come to the passage that links it to 2 Peter chapter one. Three denials by Jesus and everybody knew it.
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I wonder if other people were mad at Peter. I wonder if some of the disciples were bitter at Peter. I wonder if some of the apostles were resentful.
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Public betrayal. And now Jesus, just like Jesus, the compassionate shepherd, He is going to give them,
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Him rather, an opportunity for public affirmation. No more denials. Three denials, three affirmation.
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And I know, congregation, you know this. Verse 15, and when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?
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And he said, no more denials. Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Feed my lambs.
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Simon, son of John, do you love me? Verse 16, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Tend my sheep.
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The third betrayal. Now we get the third affirmation. Simon, son of John, do you love me?
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Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And what does he appeal to? Holiness, omnipotence, graciousness.
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He appeals to omniscience. And he said to him, Lord, you know everything.
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You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Three times,
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Peter denies Jesus publicly. Three times, the Lord allows Peter to affirm
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Him publicly, and it's based on omniscience. Listen to what
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James Montgomery Boyce says, and I think this will bless your hearts, it did mine. God knows the worst about us and loves us anyway.
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If God did not know all things, we might fear that someday something evil in us would spring up to startle
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God and turn His affection from us. He would say, oh, look at that terrible sin.
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I didn't know that was there. How terrible, that changes everything. I won't have anything to do with that person anymore.
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Boyce, though, says, but God knows all things, and He knows the worst about us and loves us anyway.
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Isn't that good news? He knows the worst about us, and He loves us anyway. And we see that not only in Peter's life, but our own life.
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You say, well, you still haven't given me the tie -in. Verse 18 and 19 is the tie -in to 2 Peter 1. Truly, truly,
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I say to you, when you were young, he's talking to Peter. Maybe Peter's gonna think, you know what, will I deny
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Jesus again when I die? Lots of people have over the years. You used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you were old, you will stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
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This is the tie -in, verse 19. This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify
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God. After saying this, he said to him, follow me. Can you imagine
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Peter hears from the Lord Jesus, and Jesus said, you won't deny me when you die.
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You know, lots of people have denied Jesus. Matter of fact, the church in the first century, third century, fifth century, was filled with people who were told, you know what, if you deny
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Jesus, we'll let you live. And if you affirm Jesus, we'll kill you. Those that affirmed Jesus were killed.
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Many people denied Jesus, and then later were so distraught, they wanted to come back to church.
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And the elders are like, how do we let these people come back to church? Are they allowed to come back? Do they get communion?
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What do we do? Peter knew in his past, I deny, I deny, I deny. I don't want to deny in the future.
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And Jesus says, what? You are going to glorify me when you die. You won't deny me again, Peter. No wonder
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Peter said, as the Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me that I'm going to have to put off my body soon.
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Well, let's go back to that passage. 2 Peter 1, and have a couple of takeaways. 2
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Peter 1, he does say in verse 15, I want to make a comment on that. And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able to at any time recall these things.
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The main point is, don't forget about verses 1 -11 as you're in this battle.
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Don't forget about preaching Christ. Remember, if you know who Christ is, you'll live a moral life, at least try to by the
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Spirit's power. T. David Gordon said, preach Christ and you'll have morality. Fill the sails of your hearer's souls with the wind of confidence and the
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Redeemer, and they will trust him as their sanctifier and long to see fruit in their lives.
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This is less than the main point, but a few main points. Number one, takeaways from this, reminders, if you will.
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Number one, don't forget about your mind. Remember how important your mind is.
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The Christian mind is very, very important. We are a feelings -oriented society, are we not? If it feels good, what?
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Do it. Peter was after the mind. Feelings are fine as fruit, as a caboose, but they're not the engine.
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I talk to young men all the time. I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel. And I'm thinking, man, dude, you've got a lot of feelings.
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Did you mean think or feel? I think you're talking about feelings too much, but I feel, yeah?
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No, just kidding. Have you ever seen those motivational posters in business people's offices?
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Am I allowed to say business people? They're like, integrity, power, and all that stuff.
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It was 1914. The framed placard on IBM founders Thomas Watson's wall had one word, think.
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Everything Peter's doing here is don't forget to think. Yes, there's a rush of emotion and all the stuff in this battle, but you need to think.
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And that's what he's doing. I want you to think about these truths, these objective truths, and not about what's in you, but what's outside of you.
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Use your brains, as one man said. It's the little things in life that count. Were you thinking when
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I said that? Ralph Waldo Emerson, what's the hardest task in the world?
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To think. Satan's plan, I'm positive, is to get you so you won't think.
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Live for today, don't think about eternity. Live like Jesus isn't gonna come back, at least functionally. But Jesus, of course, you shall love the
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Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and strength.
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Sinclair Ferguson said, how we think is one of the great determining factors in how we live. Yes, the foundation in verses one through 11 of 2
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Peter yield the fruit of a holy life. Isaac Watts writes the hymn, when
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I survey the wondrous cross, and he says, we're the whole realm of nature mine, that we're an offering far too small.
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Love so amazing, love so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
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When I think about what the Lord has done for me and who he is, I'm gladly going to give my life, my soul, my all to him.
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Thinking is important. The world doesn't read, the world doesn't think. And Luther said, in these last days,
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God has revealed himself in Greek and Hebrew letters. We are to be readers. Yes, we're to sit underneath the public proclamation of the word, but since you have the word, you wanna read it, you wanna study it.
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Number two, second takeaway, not just for Peter, but for you, you're getting closer to death, so you should be diligent.
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Peter knew he was going to die, and so he was sober about that. So you too ought to think, even if you're young, that I'm getting closer to death.
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Every person here is one day closer to death or the second coming of the Lord Jesus. We have done a lot of fun and weird things over the years as a family, but we used to walk through cemeteries all the time.
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A, I need to get some exercise and walk, but let's go to an interesting place where we could talk about spiritual things.
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And in the old days, you'd have a cemetery adjacent to the church, and now we've moved them to Forest Lawn, Shady Hills, and all these other places.
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And I'd say to the kids, I'll give a bag of M &Ms to the person who can find the most Bible verses on a tombstone, on tombstones.
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Because you know what? I see too many Big Poppy pictures on people's tombstones.
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You know what Big Poppy is? I see too many Tom Brady helmets on top of tombstones.
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So they'd run around and scurry around, try to find verses absent from the body present with the Lord, to live is Christ, to die is gain.
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And then the winner would get the M &Ms. I remember one time it was Gracie, and I said,
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Gracie, how old are you? Four. I said, see this little tombstone over here?
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1841 to 1845. She couldn't count, but her brother and sisters could.
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She was four years old when she died. We're all going to die. That's a good reminder for all of us to think, you know what?
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We ought to be diligent. Peter says, I'm gonna die, and I wanna be diligent to make sure, I get that.
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Life is a vapor, James 4. You're a mist that appears for a little while, and then vanishes.
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You ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live or do this or that. We don't know what tomorrow will bring.
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What is your life? Third takeaway. When you're approaching death, think of others.
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That's what the Lord Jesus did, did he not? Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. John, take care of my mother.
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Peter, I wanna remind you of these things. Thinking of others when approaching death.
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I mean, I'm not like dying, dying. I know I'm one day closer, but you would imagine you just all get caught up in yourself.
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I've gotta take these pills and this morphine, and do I take this chemo, and do I do this, and do I do that, and do the other.
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Of course, those are all fine decisions that need to be made, but I wanna pass the baton to the next generation.
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I need to be thinking about those. I need to die well. I need to say, how do I die well? Not just stoically, but godly, but passing on these truths.
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There's nothing wrong with finances set, your will set, your passwords are revealed, your house is in order.
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But Peter said, I'll make every effort that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things.
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What will you say when you gather all the kids around your deathbed? What will be your last few words? What will be important to you?
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Reminder number four, takeaway number four. If you're a Christian, you do not have to fear death.
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If you're a Christian, you do not have to fear death. If you're not a Christian, you should fear death because you should fear the
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Lord. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Fear of the
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Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom. But do you see back in 2 Peter 1, verse 15?
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I will make every effort so that after my departure or exodus, death is a going out.
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We are going from this earth and our bodies and a place to.
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Israel was in Egypt and then they went to a place. They went from and then to. And this is language of assurance.
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Peter knew, Peter wasn't thinking, well, you know what? I don't know if it's just gonna be like the end. It's gonna be annihilation.
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It's gonna be cessation. He says, my departure. That's very insightful to me.
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My exodus. He had assurance. Every Christian based on 2 Peter 1, 2, 3, and 4.
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You've been given grace. You've been given peace, divine power, divine promises, righteousness, faith, all based on who
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Jesus is. Peter says, I'm testifying to you that I'm not afraid to die. Jesus told me how
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I'm gonna die and I know I'm going from and to. It's important.
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And then the last takeaway, and I mentioned it earlier, but I want to make it explicit now. Christianity is remembering what you already know.
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Don't go for the new fangled stuff. And as we get ready to celebrate the
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Lord's Supper, I wonder if there's any reason why Jesus would say, do this in remembrance of me.
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I think we know the answer. Bow with me, please. Thank you, Father, for your word.
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Thank you for this inspired Holy Spirit word. And I would just pray that you would help us, the unbelievers here, you would drive them to the cross by conviction of sin and attraction to the
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Lord Jesus as a friend of sinners. Grant them faith and repentance. And for us as Christians, it's sobering to think of death, but it's true.
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But it's also a joyful thinking of the Lord Jesus who loves sinners, loves his children.
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And when we think about Peter, how he received love from the Lord Jesus, how could we think about our relationship in any other way?
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Because the focus isn't on us, it's on the Lord Jesus. So thank you for sending Jesus a friend of sinners.