Turn with me this morning to
2 Peter chapter 1. Just hold your place there. I
want to review a little bit through the chapter. Peter began by stating
clearly in his opening verses the gospel of God's sovereign
mercy and grace through the person and work of Jesus Christ. and that faith which lays hold
of Him. He tells us our faith is through
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. You
know, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed. So our faith, this saving faith,
true saving faith, is through the righteousness of God. This
is what it's declaring. You hear the gospel, the central
theme of the gospel is the righteousness of God. He's the Lord our righteousness. And what that means is that it's
right in every aspect of this salvation. It's right. It's right,
from election to final glorification. I preach election, and men and
women who've never heard it, when they first hear it, they
say, that's not right. Oh, my. But it is. It is. And it's exactly according to
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. God
sent forth His Son as a propitiation through faith in His blood. This
is what Paul told the Roman church in chapter 3. justified us freely
by His grace. And He sent forth His Son as
a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness
in the remission of sins. And then secondly, this gospel,
this faith that we have, it tells of the glory of His grace. This
is what this gospel sets forth, the glory of God's grace, His
sovereign grace. This is a glorious thing in the
salvation of chosen sinners. Peter said, grace and peace are
multiplied to us. How? Through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord. And then thirdly, everything
we know and have by faith is according as it was given to
us by His divine power. It's according to His divine
power. We didn't just find it. We didn't just happen on it.
It was sent to us. We didn't just sit there one
night and just clench our fist and determine, I'm going to have
this. No, it was given to you. By grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. And through these great and precious
promises of God, we are partakers of the divine nature. That is,
we're partakers of what God in Christ has accomplished. We could never have produced
a righteousness that would be sufficient to present us faultless
before the perfect God of heaven. Could we? We could never accomplish
that. But we have that in Christ. We're
partaker of His divine. This is God and man in one person. And because it's God and man
in one person, He can accomplish things that we could never accomplish.
He can satisfy God, satisfy God's justice through his death sufficiently to put away our
sins. Now, I don't care how many men
die, it could never satisfy the justice of God. But he died and
it satisfied God's justice for countless men. You see that? You see how we're partakers of
his divine nature? And faith understands and believes
the testimony God gave of his son. We're not left to wonder
who he is or what he's done or where he's at. We're not left
to just conjure up something in our own imaginations. We're
not left to follow after the traditions of worldly approved
religion. No. No. He's given us an understanding. He says there in 1 Corinthians
2, He said, I hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. And this faith, which is the
gift of God, it believes the testimony God gave of His Son. It believes who God says He is. This is my beloved Son. Isn't
that what He says? You believe that? Well, I do. This is my beloved Son. You'd
be surprised how many people don't believe that. And it believes why He came.
God tells us why He came. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That's why He came. He said, I didn't come to do
my own will. I came to do the will of Him
that sent me. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should lose
nothing but raise it up again at the last day. We see in the Word of God, we've
heard through the Gospel, and the Word of God, why He came,
and we believe that. And we believe that He has accomplished
what He came to do. And then faith understands His
death was necessary to satisfy both justice, both the justice
and righteousness of God, that God might be just and justifier
of all that believe. Faith understands that, perceives
that. And it understands that His death was sufficient to put
away our sins. Did Christ die for my sins? Do
I really believe that? Will I rest my soul on God's
testimony of that? He put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. Do I believe that? I believe
He's sufficient. His offering was sufficient.
One offering to perfect us forever. He put away our sins. And that
his suffering and death is the highest expression of God's love. These are all things declared
in the gospel. In the gospel. So he tells us
what the gospel is. He tells us that by virtue of
his person and work, Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Savior who
is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him.
This is saving faith. And that God hath raised him
from the dead received Him into glory, and in Him received all
His elect with Him. He has raised us up together
with Him and made us to sit together with Him in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. So true saving faith embraces
the person of Jesus Christ as God has set Him forth, binding
Himself complete in Him and wanting for nothing. Is that your experience? You
find yourself in Him. You've heard Christ preached. You saw Him declared in the Word
of God. You've both seen and understood
the testimony of God concerning His Son and you embraced Him. And you find yourself in Him
every need satisfied. A perfect righteousness. Perfect
justification. Here's perfect love, a perfect
example. You can go on and on and on. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Are you afraid one day that you're
going to stand before God and come up short? You're not going
to come up short in Him because in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you're complete in Him. This is what
faith is. And our calling and election
is made sure, this is how it's made sure, and how an entrance
is ministered to us, an abundant entrance, Peter describes it, into his everlasting kingdom.
And it's ever the desire of the flesh to look for evidences,
feelings, experiences, and decisions. We want to go back and I talk
to men all the time, and they want to go back 30 years, 40
years, 50 years, and talk about their decisions, and talk about
what they decided to do, and what they determined to do, and
all that kind of... Salvation is in Christ. And because
it's in Christ, it's ever-present. Is that right? Sure it is. It's
ever-present. It's as real today and as effective
today as it was back then. Because we rested in Him. Salvation by faith is believing
in and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as He set forth
in the Word of God. Listen to how James describes
this. I don't think I ever saw this
until I was in my study here the other day. He talks about
the... He said, receive with meekness. Now listen to this. The engrafted
Word. The engrafted Word which is able
to save your soul. Isn't that something? All right. Now let's look at verse 12 here
in 2 Peter chapter 1. That's where our lesson is today.
2 Peter chapter 1 verse 12. Wherefore, based on everything
that he'd said up to this point, everything that I just related
to you and kind of summed up to you, all these things that
we've been studying, looking at for the past several weeks,
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." He said, I know you know these things. I know
you know these things. I know that some of you are established
in these things. You've been listening to these
things for years. But Peter said, I'm still not
going to be negligent to remind you. Preachers have a constant burden.
It's a never-ending burden. And the burden is that their
hearers be established in the faith of God's elect. That's
what I want for you. That you might be established
in the faith of God's elect. Paul said to the troubled churches
in Galatia, he said, I travail in birth again. Why? because they were being drawn
away unto another gospel, drawn away by subtle doctrine. And he said, I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you. That's the preacher's
burden. Preaching is not just aimed at
men for their regeneration, and then it becomes a kind of a take
it, leave it thing. That's not what it is. That's
how religion would set it forth. One fellow, he'd been hearing
this for quite a few weeks, and he was getting sick of hearing
it. And he said, all right. He just stopped the preacher
in the middle of the meeting. He said, all right. He said, I get it.
I get it. Now let's move on. You don't
get it. You don't get it. If you got
it, you wouldn't want to move on. Everything God has for sinners
is in Christ. It's in Christ. So preaching
is not just aimed at men for their regeneration and then become
some kind of take it or leave it proposition. It's given to
the church for the perfecting of the saints. Now let's talk
about that for a minute. How and when is a saint perfected? Huh? Have you ever thought about
that? This is a given for the perfecting
of the saint. Writers are quick to go find
some other word. God didn't use some other word.
He chose this word. So when and how is a man perfected? He's perfected when he sees himself
in the perfect Savior. Huh? Does that make sense? When faith can see himself in
the perfect Savior, his salvation is perfected. Is
it not? For the perfecting of the saints. Isn't that what he says over
in Hebrews chapter 10, by one offering he hath perfected forever?
We see ourselves perfect in Him. You know, Paul in Colossians
chapter 1, he uses the word describing how we are presented to God through
that reconciliation of Christ. He uses this word, unreprovable. Can't find any fault. Can't find
any fault. And these preachers, they're
given for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body
of Christ. How long? Till we all come into
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man. A perfect man. Unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's Ephesians 4,
12-13. Peter desired that his hearers
be established in this truth. The truth as Jesus Christ is
the truth. His disciples were looking at
this doctrine and looking at this church and looking at all
around, confused. And he said, I am the truth.
I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. You want to know anything about
those things? Look to Him. Look to Him. Alright, 2 Peter 1 verse 13. Yea, He said, I think it meet
as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you
in remembrance. How quickly we forget. How quickly? It don't take long, does it?
I venture to say you don't get home. You don't even get home. And by forget, I don't just mean
the doctrine, but I'm talking about the peace it brings, and
the joy it affords, and the assurance it gives, and the fruit it produces,
how quick we forget. Peter said, my desire is to stir
you up. Before the conference, we were
trying to get things as nice as we could get them. We were
going to have a lot of people here who had not seen the church
and hadn't been in here and hadn't really met us and didn't know
us. And we were trying to get everything
as fit-shined as we could. And Kathy and I come up, and
we were going to touch up some paint. The paint's been sitting
in there ever since we built the building. I went in and took
the lid off that paint and it had all separated. There was
some things up on top of the bucket, some things on the bottom
of the bucket, and there was a big swirl of paint pigment
running throughout the bucket. It was all separated. So I took
a paddle and I stirred it up. And you know what happened? It
all came to be one. Isn't that what Peter's talking
about here? And don't we do that very thing? Don't things just
get all separated and you get confused? He said, I'm going
to stir you up. And when I'm done, when I look
in that bucket, I'm just going to see Christ. That's what it
means. Stir you up. And there's something else here
I want you to see. Peter knew he must shortly leave this world,
and he describes both his life and his death with the same word,
tabernacle. Tabernacle. Do you know what
that is? That's a tent. It's a tent. John said, the Word
was made flesh and tabernacled among us. In Hebrews chapter
9, he uses that word, tabernacle, describing the body of Christ.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when describing their faith, it says
that they dwelt in tabernacles. They dwelt in tents. They were
heirs of the country they were journeying in, and they lived
in tents. The people in Corinth were squabbling
over this and squabbling over that and trying to get the chief
seat and this, that, and the next thing, trying to get recognized
and putting one preacher above another and all that stuff that
religion does. Paul said, wait a minute. Don't
you know that whether it's Paul or Apollos or they're all yours? He said, the world is yours. The world is yours. You own it. But while we're here, we're going
to just stay in a tent. Just going to stay in a tent
like Abraham did for a while. For a while. Paul said, I know if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, and it will be. It's
coming. We have a building of God. And
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. To live in this
world by faith is to live with the understanding that this flesh
is but a tent that houses our soul. A tent which shall shortly
be laid aside. And in death our faith pursues
the laying aside of the tent and entering into the house of
God. And Paul said, when I think on
it, I'd rather enter into the building. But he said, it's needful
for you for me to stay in this tent for a little while longer.
So then, here's what Peter's saying. While I'm camping out
here in the wilderness, I'm not going to be negligent to remind
you of these things. And then Paul said this. He said,
for me to say the same things to you is not grievous. Not grievous
to me. And it's safe for you. And then listen to this, verse
14, 2 Peter 1, verse 14. Knowing that shortly I must put
off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath
showed me. Peter had only a short time left
and he knew it. He knew it. I don't know how
long I'm going to live. I could die today. I could die
before I leave this pulpit. I don't know when I'm going to
die. Peter knew that he was about to leave this world. The Lord
revealed it to him. And he had but a precious short
time left in this world. How did he choose to spend it? Huh? How did he choose to spend
the remainder of his days? With whom did he choose to spend
it? And what did he consider expedient
for him to do before he departed? What was his bucket list? Peter
chose to spend the last days of his life on earth fulfilling
his calling. That's what he wanted to do.
God called him to be his witness. God called him to preach his
gospel. God called him to write his testimony in the Word of
God. And death did not change his
desire to do the will of his master. This is what he wanted
to do. Trials of sickness and disease
and even death cannot produce faith or take it away, but it
does manifest it. Manifest it. It proves it. And it glorifies
the God who gives it. And then secondly, he chose to
spend his last days in the company of God's elect. That's where
he wanted to be. Huh? That's where he wanted to
be. I visit with my relatives. I
love my relatives. But I don't have the kind of
joy, I don't have the kind of rejoicing and peace that I have
gathered here with you, with even my closest relatives. It's
not there. Not there. I was talking to a
Methodist minister up in Hot Springs. He told me that he was retiring
next year, and he said, I'm really looking forward to it. He said,
I've been in the ministry all my life, and I'm tired of it. I'm looking forward to doing
something else. Peter wasn't. He was doing exactly what he
wanted to do. What about you? What about me? What do we want to be? Whose
company do we want to be in? With whom do you have the most
in common? I hope I never get to the place
where I want to be anywhere except in the company of God's children. I know two preachers that died,
and I knew both their wives. The one, after her husband died,
moved away, went down on the beach to live with her unbelieving
relatives. The other one just moved out
of the parsonage and went next door, and as far as I know, she's
still over there in Alabama, worshiping God, loving Christ,
rejoicing with the people of God. And then thirdly, that which
Peter considered expedient for him was to see his hearers grounded
and settled in the faith of God's elect. Paul just kept right on
preaching until he come to that last place and he said, now I
know that you're not going to see my face again. Isn't that
what he told, I think it was the Ephesians? You're not going
to see my face again. So while I'm here, I'm going
to tell you one more time. One more time. That which Peter considered expedient
for him was to see his hearers grounded and settled in the faith
of God's elect and filled with assurance in Christ. And that
is the primary fruit of true saving faith. So often I talk to people who
have no assurance. Assurance is not confidence in
your confidence, and this is where we make our mistake. We're
always trying to look back and see how pure it is and see how
faithful we've been and find these evidences. Assurance is
confidence in Christ. That's what it is. Paul said,
I'm persuaded, I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which
I committed unto him against that day. Are you? He didn't
say, I'm persuaded that I'm able to keep that. He said he's able
to keep that. Paul wrote to the Philippians
and said, I'm confident of this very thing. He which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.
That's assurance. That's what I want you to have.
I want you to know and understand who Christ is, why he came, what
he did, and where he's at. And if you ever come to see that,
ever come to know that, and embrace him, you'll have assurance. But
it won't be in you, it'll be in Him. It'll be in Him. 2 Peter 1.15. Moreover, I will
endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these
things always in remembrance. My desire for this assembly is
to teach and preach the doctrines of Christ to you until they become
second nature. Somebody asks you on the street,
you'll pop an answer right back. This is what I believe. This
is where I stand. During our recent Bible conference,
some of our visitors evidently spoke to some of our young men
and ladies. Later on, they said to me, you
know something? You're young people listening
to you. They're listening to you. That's my reason for being here.
Huh? That's what Peter said. I'm going
to keep right on preaching these things to you. I know the Lord's
going to take me out pretty soon. But even after my decease, he
said, I want you to be able to call to remembrance those things
which I preach. And that's why I study and prepare.
as far as I can go with it, is just exactly what I'm doing here
this morning. I can't make anybody hungry to
hear it. I can't make anybody willing
to receive it. I cannot cause anyone to embrace
it or become determined to have it. Only God the Holy Ghost can
do that. But it is my responsibility to
prepare for you. And it's my sincere desire for
you to hear and understand. And then one more thing, and
I'll stop. Peter mentions this word, decease, after my decease. That word's only found one other
time in Scripture. It was found on the Mount of
Transfiguration where Moses and Elijah was talking to Christ
about his decease. You know what that word means?
Exodus. Exodus. Peter said, my exodus is coming. I'm living down here in the land
of Egypt right now, but my exodus is coming. My exodus is coming. And even after my exodus, even
after I enter into that everlasting kingdom, he said, I want these
things that I preach to you to be real, to be written on your
heart, and for you to call them to remembrance. May God make
it so. Thank you.