The
poignant words that serve as our title were taken from
Matthew 26:75.
They are found in a passage that will serve to recall the situation to
the mind's eye. "And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto
him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out
and wept bitterly." Doubtless the great fisherman apostle never forgot
that moment. Tears and time did not erase the agony and remorse of the
regretful event.
Perhaps
there is no connection; it may be but a coincidence of Scripture, if
there be any such thing, but in the second epistle by the same apostle
we find the repetition of the word "remembrance." "Wherefore I will not
be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye
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. . . . Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after
my decease to have these things always in remembrance"
(2 Pet. 1:12-15).
"This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I
stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful"
(2 Pet. 3:1, 2).
Peter once forgot the word of Jesus. It came crashing to his remembrance
in a painful manner. When the Lord looked at him after that rooster
crowed the third time, it pierced his heart, "and he went out, and wept
bitterly."
Could it be
that Peter wanted no one to endure the thing that haunted him? He knew
what it meant to be reminded of the words of Jesus. He understood the
way of sin when the word of Jesus is forgotten. Therefore, he was not
negligent to put the brethren "always in remembrance" of the word of God
as delivered by the apostles and prophets. It is an engaging and
intriguing thought. But regardless of whether or not that was the
compelling idea behind Peter's words, let us not fail to do as he urged,
that is, remember the word of Christ. "Thy word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee"
(Psa. 119: 11).
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www.aubeacon.com/Bulletins.htm
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