Remember the power of the Wo..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So what we're going to be doing, brothers and sisters, I just want you to pay close attention. We have been discussing this topic of these qualities or these things, perhaps in your Bible.

Now, in verse 12, we're going to see a transition in the idea, in the thought of the apostle. So let's read together carefully the whole chapter one, paying attention to how the apostle is going to transfer, is going to change in verse 12. is still using this concept of these qualities that we have been discussing in the last couple of weeks or months, that have been discussing 2 Peter. So, with a reverent heart and paying much attention to each one of the words, let's read together, brothers and sisters, in Christ, by the Spirit, the inspired, inerrant, all-sufficient words of our Lord. This is 2 Peter 1.

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with a steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness and godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your call in an election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them are established in the truth that you have.

I think it right, as long as I am 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. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

And we have the prophetic word. more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Now, brothers and sisters, as we continue now with our study on 2 Peter, I want to remind you of the purpose of the letter when we started a couple of months ago.

Now, because we are entering into a different section of the thoughts of the apostle. When we first started with this series of teachings on the second letter of Peter, I said to you, beloved of Christ, that the purpose of this letter was that the apostle wanted to give an exhortation, a warning to the churches, to the Christians about false teachers or false prophets that had come into the church. Actually, when you go to the end of the letter in chapter 3 in verse 17 and 18, the apostle is going to present the purpose of the whole letter. He says, you, in verse 17 in chapter 3, you therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. And then he says in verse 18, but growing the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

So, brothers and sisters, beloved of Christ, the purpose of the Spirit of God through Peter is to bring a warning to the churches, to Christians, that there is going to be false prophets in the midst of the church. And the way that the apostle is going to fight against that reality, it is calling the Christians to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's an exhortation, it's a warning. There is going to be among you false teachers, false prophets that are going to bring these deceptive teachings. and they are going to come unawares.

You are not going to be able even sometimes to distinguish who these people are, but you are called to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is an exhortation of a reality that is going to take place, but there's also an instruction to grow in the grace of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this concept of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is very unique to Peter. So the way that the church is going to fight against these destructive doctrines that come into the church is by growing into this knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, this genuine spiritual knowledge, intimate knowledge with the Savior. That's why he starts the letter in verse 2 saying, May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ then is central, not only for the letter of the apostle, but for the churches to fight against false teaching and false doctrine. Now, the apostle, when he's going to explain to us this structure or this concept of false teaching and false prophets, he is going to dedicate the whole chapter two to that. Well, he didn't write a chapter, but the division that we have in our church, in our Bible as chapter two, all chapter two is going to be the description of false prophets or false teachers. He says, just as there were false prophets in the Old Testament, There's going to be false teachers among you, and then he's going to elaborate and explain all through chapter 2. That corresponds to the warning, the warning of not being carried away by the destructive teachings of these false teachers.

But there is a positive aspect of the instruction of this letter, which is growing the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the Apostle trying to teach us about this growing in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's going to divide it into three main thoughts. I'm just paraphrasing whatever I said to you a couple of months ago. Three thoughts the Apostle is going to have so that he will teach us how to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the first from verse 1 to verse 11.

In chapter 1, he's going to explain to us what God has done for us through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, verse 3, and what we are expected to do because of what God has done for us. in and through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. So that is the first exhortation of the apostle. He wants to show us what God has done for us. We have received a faith of equal standing like the apostles.

We have received the righteousness of God, and therefore we have been given from the divine power of God everything that pertains to life and godliness, so that we are able to make every effort to add to our faith all these golden change attributes of characteristics that we have discussed, these qualities. So the apostle is initially concerned to show you what God has done for you if you're in Christ and what you are expected to do because of or as the result of your union with Christ or your knowledge of the Savior. That is for verse 1 through verse 11. But now the apostle is moving into the second section in which now he's going to point us to the power and the importance of the Word of God, which is the means by which we know the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are going to obtain any knowledge of God, that happens through the Word of God, through the revelation of God to us.

And he's going to now address that from verse 12 until the end of the chapter number one. And then when we move into chapter number three, now he's going to speak to us about the promise of the day of the Lord, the day in which we are going to know him as he is, in which the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is by faith, will be by sight. The apostle is trying to give this warning to the congregation that there is going to be false teachers and false prophets among you. But you, Christian, are supposed to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Savior, Jesus Christ, by first of all, knowing what God has done for you and what you are expected to do because of that, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. by knowing the power of the word of God, which is the means by which you know the Lord Jesus Christ, and then having certainty and assurance of the hope of the day of the Lord, that he is coming and that when we have been walking by faith, we will see him as he is.

And that is the promise that keeps and sustains. As you can see, Peter, simply takes from eternity past to eternity future and makes or writes a letter for us to understand and discern the ways of the Lord. Now, beloved of Christ, we are getting now into the second section, which is about the importance of the word of God, or the power, the divine power of the Word of God as part of this positive instruction so that we will not be carried away by the deceitfulness of the teachings of these false teachers and false prophets. And we're going to be addressing verses 12 through 15. But as you perhaps would have seen, there's something very interesting about the way that Peter will write this instruction.

There's something very interesting, because if you think about other places in the New Testament when we receive instructions about the words of God, those are just simple, clear, Open instructions about the power, the sufficiency of the words of God, that is, God breathed and is sufficient for everything that we need, that the man of righteousness may be fully equipped. Very clear teachings. But it's very interesting that Peter is not only going to give us instructions, but he is going to speak about himself. He gives us a little bit of an insight into his life, into his experiences, even the awareness of his death. The person of scripture that we are addressing, he says, I know that as long as I'm in this body, or I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, or he speaks after my departure.

So it seems that the apostle is aware that he is going to die very soon. But not only that, the apostle is also going to tell us about experiences that he had when he was walking with the Lord, that he was having fellowship and communion with the Lord. And he received the testimony of the father that this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And he says, we heard, we saw as an apostle. Very interesting what the apostle does.

He writes instructions to the church, but also he gives us a little bit of insight into his life, his awareness of death and the experiences that he had with the Lord. Now, I think that there are two levels or perhaps two angles from which we can see the chapter here, and this is actually what we're going to do. There's two sides for what the apostle has written from verses 12 to 15. One is the message that he wants to give us. That is the message that he's writing to the church.

That is the first thing. But there's another another thing and that is the example that he gives us. At least in my mind, this is a twofold way of teaching that we find in the New Testament. One is with the direct words that are written, and another one is with the life or with the heart or with the example of the person that is writing. So the apostle is given us not only instructions, written instructions.

I'm going to remind you of these qualities and other things that he says here, but also he gives us insight into who he is, his awareness of death and his experiences. Now, beloved of Christ, this is very important because we learn from Christ and we learn from the apostles, not only from what they write, but also we learn from their example. I have my Spanish about to jump and you will not understand what I'm trying to say if I speak in Spanish. But there's these two angles or two sides to teaching. The writings of the apostles and the prophets and also the experience of who they are.

That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, you remember what he says to the Corinthians? be imitators of me as I am an imitator of Christ. That is, yes, follow my writings, right? Follow my writings, but you've seen my life also be an imitator of me as I am an imitator of Christ. And I think that there is sufficient hermeneutical evidence in the Bible to assume that we can interpret the Bible not only paying attention to the message that is written, but also to the heart, to the intention of the one that proclaims.

I need to prove this to you. Otherwise, I will not have you with me here. So let's go to Philippians chapter one. In Philippians chapter one, the apostle Paul will illustrate this thing that I'm just trying to say with my limited words. In Philippians chapter one, When the apostle is speaking about the spreading and the preaching of the gospel in Philippians chapter one in verse 12, he's going to tell us about two different types of preachers of the gospel.

So he's going to tell us about two different type of people that are preaching about Jesus Christ. And he gives us a little bit of insight about this differentiation between the message and the person. Verse 12, it says, I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some, then he says in verse 15, some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

So you have preachers of Christ, some of them do it of goodwill and some others do it with a bad heart. He says, the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel, the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. So one would say, OK, the preaching of the gospel of those men who are doing it by envy is of no worth. Right. But then he adds, what then?

only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice." So the apostle differentiates or makes a difference between the message and the messenger. When it comes to the apostles and to the prophets, the Apostle Paul says, be an imitator of me as I am an imitator of Jesus Christ. That is, do not only follow my message, which is given to you by my word and by my writings, but also be an imitator of the messenger that is carrying this message, namely the Apostle Paul. I'm doing all of this just to simply show you and justify that I'm going to preach today on the message that we see here in 2 Peter 2, and that by God's grace, next week, we are going to be preaching or seeing this same passage of the Scripture, not from the message that the person is communicating, but from the life of the messenger.

And why? Not only because of what I had tried to prove to you from Philippians, but also because the apostle is intentional in giving us details about his awareness of death, his experiences with the Lord and what he's about to face. He's intentional in doing so. Now, the glorious thing about this, brothers and sisters, is that when we read this portion of the scripture, We do not only have an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ writing this, but according to the information that we have from his life, also it seems that we have a mature man, right? A mature man, perhaps an old man.

And beyond that, we have a man that being a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, a mature man, at least in the faith, is a man that is aware of his death. And there is power in being aware of the reality of death. That's what happens when a person is converted, right? There is power in the awareness that death is real. There is power in knowing that there is going to come a point in which my life is going to be no more for the lost and for the believer.

Increases wisdom and a reality of that which is eternal. So here we have the humble fisherman follower of Christ who, by God's grace, has been now empowered to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been matured through much persecution and difficulty by the Spirit, and also who is about to see the Lord face to face. What a glorious thought, right? What a glorious thought. So now, simply what we're going to do is, brothers and sisters, that today we're going to focus on the message and next week on the messenger, if you want.

And simply the only thing that I want to do with this passage is, first thing, to see what the message is. Just clearly from the text, what is the message that this messenger is communicating to the church? And once we understand the message that the messenger is communicating to the churches and to you, if you are in Christ, then I just want us to see four things that we can learn from this message that is being communicated to us by the Apostle Peter. pay much attention, because if what I'm saying corresponds to that which is written, then it's not my words, but the words of the Lord. And if they are the words of the Lord, then this is for encouragement.

This is for growth. This is for maturity in the Lord. And if you are not in Christ, I hope that it will be for the conviction and the piercing of the heart so that you will surrender to the Savior. Amen. Now the message now, brothers and sisters, of this glorious apostle, the apostle Peter, he says in the beginning there, I intend always to remind you of these qualities.

We know that now this is connected to everything that he has said before, because we now have this, therefore, as the result of everything that I have said, he's going to intend always, and he says to remind you of these qualities. Which qualities? The qualities that he has already mentioned to us from verse 5 all the way to verse 11. the Apostle, beloved of Christ, is trying to bring to the mind of these believers the importance of all of these things that he has already said. All of these virtues, starting here from faith, faith at virtue, virtue at knowledge, knowledge, self-control, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love, These qualities that he has spoken about are the ones that need to be reminded.

He needs to speak to them about these qualities and not only those qualities, but everything that comes from those qualities. And if you remember, and you were paying attention to when I was speaking or preaching on the previous passage, is not only this fruitfulness in these qualities, but out of those qualities, if they are in us and they abound in us, then we can have certainty that our sins have been forgiven. I gave the name of assurance to that, right? The power of being assured that we are in Jesus Christ. And if those qualities are in us and are fruitful and are increasing, we will not only have assurance, but we will endure until the end.

The apostle is saying that he wants to or that he intends to remind the church, the Christians, about these realities. These realities that simply put is the Christian life from salvation to glory because he's the faith that has given us the righteousness of God through which we receive everything that pertains to life and godliness and so on and so on. He's basically saying and pointing that people need to be reminded about their spiritual life. I think that's simple and clear in basic English. We can just see it there.

But now what I want you to see, and we're going to build upon this, is the urgency of the apostle for this reminding. It's this urgency. There's a clear urgency. There's a clear intentionality that is a word of the apostle to remind these people. It says in verse 12, Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.

And then it says in verse 13, I think it right, as long as I am in this body, again, to stir you up by way of reminder. And then it continues, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made it clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure, you might be able at any time to recall or in some of your Bibles to bring to mind or to bring to remembrance these things. You have to see the urgency and sometimes how many, I don't know if the word is repetitious there in those three or four verses, you see that I'm intending to remind you always, as long as I'm alive, I'm going to stir up your mind as a way of reminder. And even after my departure, I will make whatever is possible so that these things will come to your mind.

There is an urgency and a necessity of the apostle that these things will not only be in the mind of the person, but continually and ongoingly. Now, there's something very interesting here, and that is the last statement that the apostle makes in verse 15. He says, I will make every effort so that after my departure, you might be able at any time to recall these things. Now, I understand the urgency of the apostle when he says, I intend always to remind you of these qualities. And when he says, as long as I'm alive, I will do everything that is needed to remind you of these things, to bring these things as a way of reminder.

But then the apostle seems to have not only certainty, but full hope that that which he can do in life will have an effect in the mind of the believers after his death. He's not only writing in the air. He has a full assurance and hope that these reminding or these things that he's actually calling to the attention of the believers will have an effect after his departure. Now, there are many things that we can do in life to have certainty about something that is going to happen after our death. We can buy a house or buy a car so that our kids will take the house and they will take the car after we depart.

There are many things in the physical sense that we can do to assure to have certain level of certainty that after death, Those whom we love will be recipients of a blessing, whatever that blessing is. But it is almost impossible for a human being to have certainty that something spiritual and that something that happens in the mind of a person will actually take place after the person dies. I cannot have absolute certainty what my kids are going to believe after I die. I can do many things, but I cannot have assurance and hope of that. The question that follows then is, Why is Peter so pretentious?

Why is Peter, in a sense, somehow going beyond his ability, human ability, to have certainty about what is going to happen to those people after his departure? Why is he doing this? Well, we don't need to speculate because the verse that follows gives us the answer to that question of why Peter has that hope, that expectation that what he says is going to have an effect even after his departure. Brothers and sisters, you have to be with me as we progress through this. Verse 16, he says, why?

For we, the apostles, did not follow cleverly devised myths when he made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We, was Peter there? We Yes, he was.

We ourselves heard these very boys born from heaven. For we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic war more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Knowing these first of all, He has spoken about them having the prophetic word. He says that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of men, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Do you know who is he thinking about when he says those things? He's thinking about himself. He's thinking about the apostles. He's saying that he has certainty that the reminder, the words that come out of his mouth have a certain power, not now, not during his life, but even he can have hope about the power of those reminding words to the believers, because those are the words of God. These are the prophetic words that the spirit of Christ The testimony of Christ, as the brother read, which is the spirit of prophecy in him, is speaking on behalf of God.

It is the Spirit of God. So brothers and sisters, The message here is not Peter just writing certain things and reminding the people of certain things, but here is the Word of God and the vital importance of the reminding of these qualities through the Word of God so that they will be sustained and kept and increased and be fruitful. Now, remember, Remember that the qualities of the things that we're speaking about is basically genuine Christian life. I'm not talking about a micro non-important doctrine. I'm talking about genuine Christian life from genuine faith to a genuine Christian life of empowerment so that it will produce the virtues and the qualities to genuine powerful assurance to a glorious entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Son.

So the apostle has added to this. This is his message. Not only all of these things that I have said to you are important, but it's of equal importance that you will be continually, he says always, reminded of these things. The existence of these qualities and these realities does not only depend on the words of God that is given to the person at a particular moment, but it depends on the continuous and ongoing pouring of the words of God unto that person. And that is the importance of the Word of God.

A couple of weeks ago, when I had the opportunity to address you in the previous chapter, I said to you that the ultimate proof of genuine saving faith was endurance. that the ultimate proof of genuine saving faith was endurance until the end. That is the ultimate proof. Now I add to that, that genuine saving faith, which endures until the end, it is ongoingly and continually sustained and fed and nourished by the Word of God. Now we have become so used to having these books in our hands that this is not producing perhaps not much in your heart.

But the people that were receiving these letters for the first time, they did not have what Peter wrote in their laps. Actually, they were only listening to this perhaps once or a couple of times. and their salvation, fruitfulness, assurance, and endurance depended on receiving these words as a way of reminder from the mouth or from the writing of the apostle. Their lives depended on this. Whatever they heard, whatever they received on that sermon, or that the reading of the letter, whatever they received from the apostles and the prophets was the substance, was the reminder to which they could hold.

to continue to nourish their faith, their life, their assurance, and their endurance until the end. So the message is the vital importance, and I don't know any other word to express this vitality and importance of the Word of God being poured into, or being, in the way that He uses, being reminded, communicated unto believers. the Word of the Savior, the Spirit of Christ in the preacher, the Spirit of Christ in the apostle, in Scripture being poured into your soul until final salvation. That is the message of this portion of Scripture. Now, I want us to see four things that we can learn from this message that are contained in the text.

Four things. Simply, I want to put in your mind and in your heart four things, not difficult to follow. Four things, beloved of Christ, very important for your life, very important for your soul. The first thing that I want us to pay attention here, it is that when the apostle or the message, which is the vital importance of this message being communicated or reminded or transferred or traveling, going into the mind of the person, the memory of the person, I want us to see four things of what the apostle says here. First thing that I want us to see is where that message, and this is where, where that message goes into.

So if it's the Spirit of God through the apostle or through a scripture speaking to Christians, where is that message supposed to go into? Where am I supposed to receive in my being? Where am I supposed to receive that message? Where? Second thing, when or how often are we supposed to receive that message that is coming from the Holy Spirit, either through a scripture or through the preaching or through the apostle?

When? Not only where should it go, but when? The third thing is that why? Why should this message go into the Christian or into the person or this reminding of the apostle? Why is it necessary?

To then conclude with what is it needed? What is it needed for the Christian, for the believer to receive this message that comes from Peter? Yes and no. It comes from the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God through Peter and through scripture. Where should it go?

When or how often should it go? Why? What is the reason of that message going? And what is it needed? Let's start with the first one.

I'm not going to take them from any other place than from the text. Where should this message go? The puzzle is just simply going to, and the translations that we have in English, are going to give us a word that actually helps us to see where the message should go. It says, therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, of reminding you of these qualities. Then he says in verse 13, to stir you up by way of reminder.

Or he says then in the end of verse 15, he says, you might be able at any time to bring these things to your mind or to remembrance or that you might recall these things. The mission of a person or the purpose of a person reminding other person about something that has taken place is so that I will call to your attention, you say in English, right? Or I will bring to your memory. I assume that there is something in your brain that you perhaps have forgotten. And then I'm just going to use words and language to bring into your mind a picture of that something so that you will remember.

That is how we understand, I think, at least how I think you understand these words in English. But brothers and sisters, in the English language, this word of reminding or remembering something usually only speaks about memory, of remembering something, something that you've forgotten and then you remember it. The word that the apostle is going to use here, which is a very word that belongs to Peter, if that makes sense, is a word that Peter uses a lot. And then we will see as we progress the nuances of the definition of this word. It's a word that speaks of something deeper.

It speaks of not only calling to your attention, but actually it speaks of bringing into your mind. It is bringing into who you are, so that when the Apostle is actually speaking, he's not only trying to connect the mind of the person with something, a reality or a concept that is external to the person, so that the person may remember. But actually, the Apostle is saying, I want to bring into your mind, into you, into your being. He's not speaking about an intellectual exercise of remembering something that I knew and that I just simply forgotten. But what he's speaking about is a uttering of a message that when that message goes into the mind of that person is so powerful that moves that person not only to recall mentally, but moves that person into action.

This is this word, start up as a way of reminder, or when he says to bring these things to your attention or to your mind. The apostle, beloved of Christ, is speaking about something deeper than shallow understanding. So when we are going to answer the question, where should these words of God go into as I am being reminded of these qualities and these realities of the Christian life? The answer is not your mind, but it's actually in you. corresponding to the teachings of the New Testament.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, then you will be fruitful and prove that you are My disciples. Because the abiding in Christ is equivalent and necessitates the abiding of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the person. It is a constant abiding in the sayings and in the words of the Lord, so that the person will be like the tree planted by the rivers of waters that brings forth in its season. It is pouring into the tree. It is the source of life for the tree.

So, brothers and sisters, and this is the important thing here, when we relate to the Word of God, what you are to check is where does the Word of God that is reminding me of my Christian life, where does it abide? Where is it? Is it in my head? Is it in my perception? Is it in my memory?

So that I forget sometimes particular doctrine or particular teaching. Or is it a conviction of your heart that abides in you just as Christ is supposed to abide in your life? So His words. This is when the written Word becomes the living Word. This is when the heart is engaged with the sayings of Christ.

This is not only when we say, I agree and I believe, but this is when we say like the psalmist, Oh, how I love thy law. They are my meditation all day. And you have made me wiser than the ancients. You have given me more knowledge than my teachers. Why?

Because how I love thy law, how I love your commandments." Something that you love is not something that is in your mind, because something that is in your mind you forget, but something that you love is something that remains in you, because it is attached, not with intellect, but it's attached with your soul. This is the living impact of the Word of God going into the being of a person, entering into the being of the person. And this is the question that we need to answer constantly and daily, brothers and sisters. I don't know how to make it more vital and important.

I don't know the words that should be used so that you will understand. that the knowledge that abides in your mind only can take you to hell, can condemn you. It is only that which abides in your soul, that which transforms you, that which gets into who you are. That is the abiding place of the Word of God. Now we move on to the second aspect, and this is when.

Not only where should it abide, that is in the mind, in the being of the person, not only being written word, but being also a living word that is not distant, indifferent, but actually that is emotion full, that engages your heart and your soul so that you can say, I love your law. When we are supposed to receive this reminder? And I think the Apostle makes it very clear, right? When or how often are we supposed to be reminded of all of these things that the Apostle has said? He says always, always.

The Psalmist say day and night. Blessed is the man that delights in your law and that meditates on it day and night. It's like the tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth in its season. Contrary to the unrighteous man, that is like the chaff that is driven from one place to another. That person will not have place in the congregation of the saints, not in the judgment.

Right? The word of the Lord is to abide in us always. But I want you to see more than that because you will agree very easily to that. I want you to see the qualifier that the apostle gives after he says that. He says, therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have."

Now, these people were not only knowing the truth, but also established in the truth. And yet, these people were in need of being reminded always of the words of the apostle, namely the words of the Holy Spirit. That it is that the person is not supposed to come to the Lord and to his word and in prayer and in fellowship and in communion when we think that we need it. but always, even when we are walking in the truth and we're established in the truth, though you are walking as you're supposed to work, you are to come to the words of the Lord and be reminded of the holy utterances of the Holy Spirit through a scripture and the apostles all in the time. There is not biggest enemy for a person to believe that they are good and that they are righteous, even if it's in Christian virtues.

There is no worse enemy and the deceitfulness of the heart to think that you have accomplished something and that by accomplishing something, you enter into a comfort box of this is the type of Christianity that I want to live the rest of my life. If that is the type of experience that you have with the Lord, then you have not experienced the life that the Spirit gives to those who love the Lord. Because the more that you get closer to Christ and to His Spirit, the more that you know that you're far away from Him and the more needy that the soul becomes of the Savior. Before destruction comes pride and pride is sufficiency of thinking that I'm righteous, that I'm good enough, that I don't need the words of the Savior. I don't need the words of God.

I don't need the words of God that come through the church. I don't need the words of God that come through my brothers and sisters. I don't need the words of God in my private meditation. Now, you know, brother and sister and friend, how much you believe, because many of you are just saying, yes, when I say that this is always and that this is all the time, you know how much you believe this by how much you depend on the Word. And your conscience is testifying to you right now.

of how much you believe the things that I'm saying, for how much you depend on the Word. And how often you come with eagerness and with desire to receive the words of the Savior. How eager is your heart to read and meditate upon the things of Christ. How eager and necessitated your soul and your heart is of the sayings of the Savior. You know that, you know that in your heart and that what the apostle says is that we are to do it always.

Our souls depend on this. If you think that you are firm, take heed, lest you may fall. If you think that you are walking in righteousness and if you think that you are walking in the spirit and you think all of this, take heed, lest you may fall. Our eyes should depend on the Lord Jesus Christ always, continually, not every day, every second. Every second of our human ability, we are to depend on the Lord.

As the brother said, everything that we do, do it unto the glory of the Lord, whether we eat or drink. That is everything. How I touch this, how I don't touch this, what I say, what I don't say, there should be a constant awareness, a spirit given awareness of pleasing the Savior that can only be produced by the pouring of the reminding of the divine utterances of God into your life. into your life, in your being constantly and ongoingly. Now, why?

Why do we need these reminders of the apostle, which are the reminders of the Spirit in our being, not only in our mind? And why do we need them always, even when we are walking in the truth and we are established in the truth? Why do we need them? Well, the apostle gives us a little bit of insight in verse 13 when he says, I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up. by way of reminder.

He says, as long as I'm in this body to stir you up by way of reminder. Now, I said to you that this word reminder and even that word to stir you up are very characteristics of Peter. And what the word, and perhaps some of your translations will translate it that way, at least we translate it that way in Spanish, is that that word stir you up is to wake you up. to wake you up by way of reminder. That it is that the pouring of this reminder of the coming of the communication of these utterances of the Spirit through the Apostle unto these people are with the purpose of waking up the person that is receiving this.

Now this concept of waking up has two aspects, an aspect of wake up and the other one is a warning. Now, I don't have to explain to you the definition because the apostle uses this term in chapter number three, and here he connects it to the Word of God and to a warning. So if you go to chapter three, you will see how the apostle is going to use the same expression to define, that will help us to understand better the definition of this. Let's start up. Chapter three, verse one, it says, This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved.

In both of them, I am, same words, stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder. Sounds very familiar, right? Now, here comes the qualifier of this stirring up of the mind. That you should remember the predictions of the Holy Prophets and the commandment of the Lord. What are the predictions of the Holy Prophets and the commandments of the Lord?

This is the word of God, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. Couldn't be more clear. Knowing this, first of all, becomes the warning that scoffers will come in the last day with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. And it continues, it continues, it continues. This is turn up of your mind or by way of reminder.

It is to bring into you the word of God to wake you up so that you will be aware of something that is attacking you or something that could do something wrong against you. I've forgotten the word in English. Something that could be an enemy of you. So this stirring up of your mind is actually literally waking up. And the question that we need to ask ourselves is, why do I need the word of God in my being all the time, continually, even when I'm walking in the truth and I'm establishing the truth?

Why do I need to be awakened? What do I need to open my eyes to? Well, the answer is to many things. The first is something that is inside of you, and that is your sin. You are going to deal with your sin until glory.

And the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1 says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. And then in chapter 2 says that those passions are making war within us. You have an enemy inside of you that is called sin, of which you need constant reminder. You need to be reminded of the righteousness of God so that you will see the unrighteousness of who you are.

And then you will be moved, awakened to walk to the Lord and fight the sin that is within you. the more that you do not know, or the less that you know, the sin that is in you, the less victorious that you will be over that sin. You need to be awakened and that has to happen on a daily basis, every single second by the Spirit of God speaking unto our Souls, the Word of God, so that you will be stirred up every single day by way of reminder. Not only there are passions within you, beloved of Christ, but there's also passions outside of you. Those who love the world and the things of the world do not love the Father, the Apostle John says in 1 John.

And then after verse 16, he says in verse 17, that in the world, there are things that are passing away and the desires of the world. Did you know that? That there are desires and passions in the world. And guess what? The passions that are making work within you match and are in love with the passions of the world.

So you need to be awakened, you need to be stirred up not only because of the sin that is within you, but because of the desires and the passions of the world. And the system of the world is constantly trying to destroy you as a Christian. You need to be awakened. How are you going to discern evil from wrong if you don't have the words of God dwelling in you? Hebrews 5, verse 12, how are you going to be trained and how you are going to exercise your senses, your spiritual senses of righteous and unrighteous, if you are drinking milk, as if you had just been saved and living your life in milk, on milk.

You are supposed to receive the meat of the Word of God that nourishes your soul, that strengthens you and help you to discern righteousness from unrighteousness, because you have an enemy within you and you have an enemy outside of you. Not only that, but we need to be awakened because there's false prophets, there's false teachers, The Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians, in 1st Timothy chapter 4, or 3, 4, in 1st Timothy chapter 4, he calls these doctrines, the doctrines of demons, the doctrines or spirits of demons, those false teachers. And the nature of Satan is deceitfulness. And these false teachers, according to Jude, when he's writing Beloved, I was writing to you about our common salvation, but I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Why?

For certain men had crept into the church unnoticed. As Peter is going to explain, false teachers, false prophets are unawares. You don't know that they are within the church. How are you going to be awakened to that if you don't know the righteousness of God that is found in his word? You will be just like a sheep following.

these doctrines of Satan. You have an enemy within you that is sin. You have an enemy outside of you that is the system of the world. And then you have one that comes in the name of the world and with the deceitfulness of sin to tempt you. And if you are not being constantly reminded in your being of the righteous standard of God, then you are going to be one of those that follow.

You see, the church is not protected. The church, all of us, is not protected by having a good building with good walls and having big elders that have something to defend people. Rather, the church is defended and protected when you, you, you, you, you, Know the righteous standards of God and you're able to discern unrighteousness from righteousness. So the church is protected as a body together. Brothers and sisters, we do not only need to be awakened because of sin and the desires of the world and the threat of false prophets, but also Satan.

You think that Satan is your friend? You think that Satan likes you? He wants to destroy you! And Satan is doing everything that is possible to destroy your faith. And you need to be awakened and to know that we are called to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, that we're to put the armor of God.

Why? Because we're not battling, we're not fighting against blood or flesh, but against all that is evil and spiritual rulers and authorities that are commanded by Satan. And Satan wants to destroy the church by destroying you. So how are we going to oppose sin and the world and false prophets and Satan? By having the Word of Christ dwelling richly in us.

not in your husband, not in your wife, not in your friend, not in your teacher, not in your preacher. In you, you are going to have to give an account for what you are, not according to what your husband is, or what your wife is, or what your children are, or what the pastor or elder, or whatever name you have for that preaches in the church. It is your individual, single responsibility, because the sin that is fighting against you is not only that which is external, but it's your sin. Beloved of Christ, please see that and don't take this as something that is preached on a Sunday. We need that.

Now, fourth thing, because I think I'm going very long. Say, computer, not only Why we need that. But I also wanted to point your attention, beloved. What is needed? What is it needed for us to receive this pouring, this reminder from the Holy Spirit through the apostle?

And then the apostle gives to us this in the end of verse 15. It says in verse 15, And I will make every effort so that after my departure, pay attention, that after my departure, You may be able at any time to recall these things. That it is that for the people of God, the Christians, to receive this reminder, literally it says there, they required an ability. They required literally means a power. There has to be a power in them, there has to be an ability in them for them to receive these things that come from the Spirit through the mouth of the apostles or the writings of the apostles.

They need to have an ability. And this is because the words of God cannot be received by the flesh. The words and the divine sayings of the Savior cannot be received by that which is natural, the flesh, because they are in opposition, they are in enmity. So it is required that those who are going to receive the words of God, they have an ability, they have a power to bring these things into their mind, into their being. The Bible says that the lost, the conscience of the lost has been seared by Satan and they cannot hear, they cannot receive the glorious message of the gospel.

Yet when it speaks of the Christian, it says that we have received the light, right? That the shining glory of Christ has shone into these earthen vessels, just as the light that God created, let there be light in the beginning of everything was, so is the spiritual light in the life of the Christian. so that we do have that ability to see. Why? Because receiving the words of God is seeing the light.

He's been illuminated to the words of God. However, however, the Bible also teaches that when a genuine Christian who has received the light and who has heard the words of Christ, grace be upon you, and that become a reality for that person, and that person is in sin, that person is blinded or nearsighted. We don't have to go any further. Just here in the previous verses that we read in verse 9 of chapter 1, when the apostle Peter is speaking to the Christians that lack those qualities, those who do not have virtue and knowledge and self-control and brotherly affection and godliness and love, those who lack those qualities, those who are not fruitful, namely the opposite is sin. Those people, for whoever lacks these qualities, is so nearsighted, so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

That it is that unrighteousness, or better, the presence of unrighteousness in the life of the Christian is going to blind that Christian to the light and to the reality of the gospel and scripture. That is what John says in 1 John 2, that if you are in the light, but if you're walking in darkness, then you are a liar and you're not in the light, but you are in darkness. Now, if we say that we are in the light and if we profess to be Christians, yet we live in unrighteousness, Your eyes, your ears and your soul is going to be blocked to the utterances of the Savior and there will be no ability to recall. That's what Peter says, having forgotten that you were cleansed from your former sins. You see the utter importance, maximum importance of the genuineness of the pouring of the Word of God in your soul, your life depends, your Christian walk depends on the genuine, Spirit-given, Christ-centered, Scripture-based, pouring of the reminders that come from divine court from on high through a scripture and the prophets into your soul, always and constantly to fight your sin, to fight the world, to fight Satan, to fight false doctrine, so that you will be illuminated to see Jesus Christ and Him crucified and continue to be more like Him.

Brothers and sisters, this is the glorious message of the Spirit of God through Peter. And I hope that you can see the urgent necessity, not for you to belong to a church where the Bible is preached, but for the Word of God to be in and within you. So what are we going to do? What are we going to do? We live in a world in which we are exposed to the messages of this world constantly and ongoingly.

The time that we're exposed to the Word of God, to the preaching of the Word, compared to the time that we're exposed to the messages of this world is not comparable. What are we supposed to do? Well, we are supposed to balance that and we're supposed to receive more of God than what we receive from the world. We're supposed to walk by the Spirit, beloved of Christ, constantly and ongoingly in the Scripture, renewing your mind that you will not be conformed to the system of this world, but that you will be able to discern the will of God, which is good and perfect, constantly renewing your mind. This is not going to happen through any other means by the means of the Word of God.

Your life is not going to be transformed by other means than the Word of God. You're not going to have victory over sin any other way than by and through the Word of God living and being in you and being the sword by which you defend yourself. So that calls us, brothers and sisters, not to be a church that only receives the Word of God from the pulpit, not to be a church that receives the Word of God on a Bible study, not to be a church that receives the Word of God from time to time, but rather to be a church that each one of the members is constantly desiring to abide in the Word of God. so that the treasure of Christ will be in our heart, and our heart will speak of the abundance of it. And the abundance of it will not be wickedness, but will be the words of Christ.

Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and over every single thing we are to keep one, and that is our heart. Because from the heart, All things of this life come, so we are to treasure up the word of the Lord in our hearts, that we may not sin against Him. We are to feed our consciences in our hearts with the word of God, so that our faith may be established upon His sayings and not ours, and that everything that we do is the result of faith, because that which does not proceed from faith is sin. And faith is nourished by the Word, because by hearing comes faith, hearing the Word of God. The Word of God is the source of our faith, and our faith is the source of everything that we do.

Brothers and sisters, pay attention to what you allow in your mind. Pay attention to what you allow into your heart. Pay attention to how you spend your time and that will tell you much to whom you belong, of whom you are a slave, on whom you are a follower. That will testify to your conscience. May the Lord guide you to do that which is right.

Amen.