The sermon continues a series on 2 Peter 1, picking up where the previous week left off on Peter's call to "make your calling and election sure" by diligently adding to faith virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. The preacher stresses that this pursuit of Christian growth is not moralism — not the "right-wing" moralism of avoiding sex, drugs, and church attendance rules, nor the "left-wing" moralism of recycling and social causes — but the necessary fruit and evidence of a true, Spirit-wrought faith in those whom God has chosen and called before the foundation of the world. This progressive sanctification is possible only because of God's own power and His great and precious promises at work in believers.

Turning to verses 12-15, the sermon draws out several implications. First, Peter writes this letter to Christians who already know the truth and stand firm in it, yet he still labors to remind them — echoing Christ's word to Peter to "strengthen your brothers" after the resurrection. This models the ongoing need for the whole church to be reminded, not just informed once. Second, Peter writes knowing his death is imminent, as Christ had personally revealed to him (recalling John 21, where Jesus foretold that Peter would die by another's hands — tradition holds he was crucified upside down). Peter describes death as "putting off this tent," a picture of stepping out of a temporary dwelling to meet Christ face to face. The sermon expands on the Christian hope of bodily resurrection: though the earthly body decays to dust — whether buried or cremated, a matter the preacher treats as adiaphora — the redeemed will receive a glorious, imperishable body modeled on Christ's own resurrection body, described (citing Tim Keller) as not merely the best body we ever had, but the best body we ever longed for and never received in this life. An illustration about the relative "solidity" of air, water, and stone is used to suggest that the resurrection body's glory transcends and is not bound by the limitations of ordinary matter, as shown by the risen Christ passing through locked doors.

The sermon insists that death for the believer is not an accident or a defeat — not something one "loses to," as with a diagnosis like cancer — but occurs entirely under the sovereign, wise ordaining of God, who has numbered our days. This is a comfort even amid real grief, since death remains, in one sense, the consequence of sin entering the world through Adam, yet for those in Christ it has lost its sting and finality. Third, the sermon highlights that Peter repeats the language of "reminding" three times in these verses (v.12, 13, 15), framing his remaining days, in view of his approaching death, as devoted to strengthening believers rather than teaching new truth. This becomes a personal challenge to the hearers: if told your time were short, how would you spend it? The sermon draws a parallel to ongoing weekly worship and liturgy — creeds, songs, confession — as necessary, recurring reminders that counter the world's constant, equally routine shaping of our hearts toward its own ends. Just as daily routines can become unconscious autopilot, so too Christian routine needs conscious direction toward glorifying God, echoing Paul's contrast in 1 Corinthians: if Christ is not raised, we might as well eat, drink, and live an ordinary life, but because Christ is raised, even routine life is reoriented around self-denial and following Him — illustrated with the example of an elderly pastor's grueling, tireless ministry travel schedule undertaken purely because his life's routine now serves a higher aim.

Moving to verses 16-18, the sermon turns to why Peter's testimony carries such authority: he and the other apostles did not follow "cleverly devised myths" but were eyewitnesses of Christ's majesty. This is illustrated with a topical aside about a recent wave of stabbings in Sydney, where unconfirmed rumors spread wildly on social media before any facts were verified — a modern parallel to the "myths" Peter warns against, contrasted with the apostles' eyewitness, historically grounded testimony. The sermon stresses that Christian faith is not blind faith but "faith seeking understanding," repeatedly grounded in true knowledge of God, citing verses 2, 3, 5, and 8 of the chapter where "knowledge" recurs, and notes that wherever the gospel has gone historically, hospitals and schools — institutions of true knowledge — have followed alongside churches.

The specific event Peter testifies to is the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2-8), where Christ's face shone like the sun and a voice from heaven declared, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Drawing on N.T. Wright, the sermon contrasts this mountain of glory (traditionally Mount Tabor) with the mountain of shame at Golgotha: radiant clothing versus stripped and divided garments; Moses and Elijah in glorious company versus two criminals; a bright cloud of joy versus darkness over the land; Peter's joyful "it is good for us to be here" versus his weeping over his denial; the voice affirming "my beloved Son" versus Christ's cry of dereliction, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These two mountains together reveal both the majesty and the humiliation of Christ, who bore our sin though sinless, so that we might be reckoned righteous.

The sermon concludes that these two events together point forward to a third — Christ's second coming (parousia) in glory as King and Judge of all the living and the dead. Believers who have lived confessing Christ as Lord will kneel before Him in joy, but those who never honored Him in life will kneel in dread, for at that day there will be only one throne and one Judge. The sermon closes with an exhortation to live as people continually reminded of this calling — pursuing faith, knowledge, virtue, and love — so that all of life, not merely Sunday worship, becomes a liturgy oriented toward glorifying God until believers either meet Christ at death, described again as leaving the tent, or at His return.

Bible Verses Used

• 2 Peter 1:12-15: The sermon's main text — Peter's resolve to keep reminding believers of the truth they already know, framed by his awareness of his imminent death.

• 2 Peter 1:16-18: Peter grounds his authority in being an eyewitness of Christ's majesty at the Transfiguration, not a teller of invented myths.

• 2 Peter 1:2,3,5,8: Cited to show the letter's recurring emphasis on true knowledge of God as inseparable from genuine faith.

• John 21:18-19: Referenced as Christ's earlier prophecy to Peter about the manner of his death, now recalled as its timing draws near.

• Matthew 17:2-8: Read in full as the Transfiguration account Peter is testifying to, showing Christ's glory, Moses and Elijah, and the voice from heaven.

• Matthew 27 (Golgotha, implied): Used to contrast Christ's glory on the mount with His humiliation on the cross, including the cry of dereliction.

• 1 Corinthians 15 (implied, Paul's "if Christ is not raised"): Used to explain how the resurrection reorients even the routines of daily life around following Christ.

• John 11:25: Christ's declaration "I am the resurrection and the life" cited to explain the believer's hope in death.