R.C. Sproul

And I mentioned to you last week that the way in which Peter emphasizes these things is not at all unlike the similar emphasis found in the writings of the Apostle Paul.

And that may give us pause and

We might ask, why does Scripture repeat some of its themes again and again?

Why do we have four Gospels and not just one when much of the material that is contained in the four Gospels is found in all four of them?

Well, I think we get something of a clue to that in what Peter says here.

He said, for this reason, I will not be negligent

to remind you always, not to remind you from time to time.

But the reminder of which he speaks is one that is consistent and constant.

He said, I don't want to be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.

I know you know these things.

not only that you know them, but you are firmly established in them.

So why in the world would he find it necessary to be so repetitive, to remind people over and over and over again of these same truths of which they're already aware?

On my way to church this morning, I had some anxiety about the sermon I'd prepared because I had contained within it two illustrations that I know that I have given before in this church, and my justification for using them was twofold.

On the first, I thought, well,

This congregation has grown so much in the last few years that probably most of the people who would be here for the morning worship service would not have heard these illustrations.

And secondly, I thought even if they have heard them, they've probably forgotten them by now.

And I learned long ago as a teacher

that if we are going to learn things, we not only have to hear things, but we have to retain the knowledge that we receive.

And how does that customarily happen?

It usually happens when the things that we study, we study over and over and over again.