I will not be negligent...

II Peter 1:12-13 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;
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance…

Peter says, “You already know these things, but I’m not going to be negligent to keep reminding you and will keep reminding you in order for you to be established in the present truth.” It is important that we hear the same old things over and over again that we be established in the present truth, lest we forget.

Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him.

The writer of the Hebrews basically is saying the same thing Peter said. The writer says, “We need to hear it. We need to hear it over and over. The reason is because we tend to forget. That is human nature. We tend to get so involved in the things of this life that we tend to forget the most important things.

Hebrews 2:1-3 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…

We ought to give more earnest heed to things we have heard. I’ve said many times that it is so easy to get caught up in the things of this life. They will just sweep you away. We must be saved from that. We do not want to neglect things the Lord has spoken to us, the truths that we really know, but to rehearse them one to another and continue to hear them and to speak of them. That is the reason way back there in Deuteronomy the Lord spoke through Moses and said, “Do not let this word pass from you, but speak of it when you walk in the way, when you’re sitting in your house, speak of it to your children that it be a thing that is rehearsed continuously.” Moses told Joshua, “Meditate upon the words, for in this shall you be a good general.” It is that Word that makes the difference.

Now, let’s go back to I Peter 2:12: [to] be established in the present truth. There are several things we need to continue to hear because we tend to forget.

Paul speaks in Galatians that the Law was given as a schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. It was to teach Israel to bring them unto Christ. They had it for thousands of years. They rehearsed it and rehearsed it, but nevertheless when Christ came, they did not recognize Him. They talked about it every Sabbath in the synagogues, “The day will come when the Messiah will be here.” But man had deviated from the Word that God had given them to the point that when Jesus came, they didn’t recognize Him.

I find that Christianity tends to do the same thing. Do you have any idea how far we have gone afield from the true gospel that Peter spoke of in his epistles? Or Paul spoke of in his epistles? That Jesus taught the short time He was on earth and the four gospels that we have? The Book of Acts and the whole New Testament? We have gone so far afield in many of these things.

We need to hear about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We need to hear it until it begins to stir our hearts, sharpen our spirits to the point that it really means something. The Lordship of Jesus Christ has been diluted to the point that it doesn’t mean a whole lot to many Christians today. We need to hear it again, and we need to hear it as a living Word, a sharp two-edged sword that divides between soul and spirit, until there is a sharpness in it that we can receive it.

We need to hear again about the truths that the Lord spoke to us, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another even as I have loved you.” We take these things so lightly anymore. We have become a part of the world.

Christianity and the world - not much difference in it anymore. But Jesus said, “I am not of this world,” and speaking of His disciples, He said, “They are not of this world either for I have spoken unto them a word that brings them apart.”

We need the present truths until it comes alive to us once again. I got an email today from a brother who is a pastor in Kenya. It’s the first email I have received from him, but he wanted to make contact with us. He said that he and other Christians in his village would meet together out in the woods under the trees to worship and minister the Gospel sermons they had. They would minister to one another out under those trees. That met my heart. I sent an email back and said, “I would like to worship under those trees with you. In fact, count me as being present in your midst!” That moved me. I felt a tremendous love for the brother.

I thought about some of the mega-churches we have here in America today with their messages of prosperity and so forth. Not much life in them. Not much life in them at all.

I have no desire whatsoever to minister in that kind of church, none, because you would be ministering to people who are dull of hearing and would not be able to hear the word. They have moved so far away from the truth. However, give me those brothers there in Kenya out under the trees. That sounds exciting to me. I would like to do that, and chances are, I won’t be able to do it, but in spirit we can do it.

We don’t want to ever become Gospel-hardened. We do not want to become so locked into the things of this world until we cannot see the difference. We want the message of Christ to be sharp like a two-edged sword that cuts, that divides between soul and spirit. We want to hear the same messages again until they become so real to us.

We want to hear about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We have talked a good bit lately about following Christ, that He is the good Shepherd. The messages sound good on the surface, sweet Jesus leading His sheep. But we want to really know Him, to hear His voice and to follow Him. The sheep don’t know anything about this world; they are walking with the Lord.

Now, let’s look at a few verses from I Peter.

I Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…

It wasn’t a prosperity message that brought you into the things of the Lord.

I Peter 1:18-19 …from your vain conversation (behavior) received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Wouldn’t you like to hear that again about the “precious blood of Christ”? Wouldn’t you like to hear it as a word that cuts deep until you cry out and you say, “Lord, let that blood flow through my veins and bring a purity. He is the Lamb without spot and without blemish, and Lord, I want to be a part of that flock, that lamb flock that is without blemish and without spot.”

I Peter 1:20-22 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you… or for us.
21 Who [through] Him do believe [into] God, that raised Him up from the dead… from the deadness of our old nature, …and gave Him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing that you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently…

See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently. Can you remember the last time that you loved someone with a pure heart fervently? Don't think about that too much. You could get down on yourself.

I Peter 1:23-2:2 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.
I Peter 2:1 Therefore laying aside all malice, all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,
2 as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.

Peter is talking to Christians, "Christians, lay aside all malice, lay aside all the guile, lay aside all the hypocrisies and the envies and the evil speakings."

I Peter 2:2-5 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.
3 If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.
5 You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

How would you like to be under those trees worshiping the Lord, being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, offering up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ? I don't suppose this is much of a word here, but Paul says we need to hear it. Though we know these things, we need to hear them again and again and again, that we might be established in the present truth (II Peter 1:12). One shot doesn't do it. You cannot get one shot of Christ and it holds you for a lifetime. That must be a continual input continuously.

Let's get back to II Peter 1. Here's one that we need to hear again and again and again.

II Peter 1:3 According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the [true] knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue…

According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. It has all been given. Lord, help us to appropriate these things and not neglect them.

II Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Become partakers of the divine nature. There is a way that has been given that we don't have to be a part of this world - love not the world, neither the things that are in the world (I John 2:15). We are to hate the things of the world because they will destroy us.

We can be partakers of the divine nature. That scripture in Hebrews hits me now. We have neglected it. How shall we escape if we neglect the Word that has come to us, to free us from the things of this world, from the things of our corrupt nature? I'm going to read it again because we need to hear this.

According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the [true] knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature… For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth; yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. II Peter 1:3-4, 11-13.

Amen.