“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (2 Peter 3:17)

To stand (or remain) Stedfast is to stay focused on the importance of preaching and living (or typing out) “The Gospel.” When I say, “The Gospel,” I mean the “Full Gospel”; that is, the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ. One way to do so is to use the tool of remembrance from a pure mind, as instructed by Peter in this chapter of the Holy Bible; i.e. The Word of God.

Jesus said in (John 12:32), “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Jesus’ crucifixion (His death) is essential to our redemption; yet not the whole of it. It was a substitutionary death. At the same time, or in reality, it is my death as well.

(Rom 6:3-4) “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

To remain “Stedfast” is to “walk in newness of life,” even though the promise of His return may seem far away, and the pleasures of this life make me feel like life is passing me by and I am getting old. When these types of feelings and thoughts come, then I am tempted to get off focus and start desiring the things that are in the world more than desiring Him to come and do away with the corrupt desires all together. But, “by way of remembrance” Peter reminds us in verse 14, (2 Peter 3:14) “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

Keep in mind (in remembrance), dear reader, that when the Lord remembers us, it is for the purpose of Salvation. But, when we remember Him (or call to mind) in His Holiness; then it is most likely for our Sanctification. Because His ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We should make the diligent effort to be found of Him in Sanctification (Holiness; Godliness), because we know not the day, nor the hour, of His visitations. Not speaking about the Day of the Lord which is the Day of Salvation spoken about in verse 15; because one day with Him (that is, with The Lord) is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

In the Old Testament a remembrance called for a “Rehearsal.” A rehearsal is: 1) The act of rehearsing, reciting, or recanting; 2) A drilling or repeating for practice before future performance; 3) A practice performance of a play, concert, etc., or of part of it, in preparation for a public or formal performance.

You can see the example of this Rehearsal performed in “The Tabernacle.” It can be read about in the New Testament Book of Hebrews, see Hebrews 10:3. A remembrance is made of sins every year. In Hebrews 10:11 the priest is said to be rehearsing this practice “daily.”

Therefore, because (1Co 6:19-20) says: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  (20) For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God – this allows us to know that we ourselves now are the Temple (Tabernacle or dwelling place) where this rehearsal is performed. Then, we should practice this each time our memory is jarred about the things which are to soon take place by way of “confession,” (1Jn 1:9), “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In so doing we attempt to beware, lest being led away, we fall from our own stedfastness. To add to stedfastness, we pray to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore, let us do as the Apostle Paul writes in (1Co 15:58), “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”