Hello friends, and
welcome to "Books of the Book."
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Is there a secret to holiness?
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Well, in today's
program we're gonna to find
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the answer to that question.
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And with me is Dr. Tom Shepherd.
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He is a professor
at Andrews University,
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a New Testament
Interpretation, is that right?
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Correct. Welcome back. Okay.
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I've been learning more
about you, Dr. Shepherd.
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And I found out that
you not only speak English,
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but you speak
Spanish and Portuguese,
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that makes you
trilingual. Trilingual, yeah.
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When we were
missionaries in Brazil,
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it was a necessity
to learn Portuguese,
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I had to teach in Portuguese.
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And the first
semester for my students
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and I was quite a challenge.
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We were there for
two and a half years
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and then when we
returned to the United States,
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I- during the first year
back I took a class in Spanish.
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So that I could learn
the- the two languages were
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actually the same language
up until about 1100 A.D.
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and then they separated.
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And so there's lots of shared
words between the two languages,
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so- That's right.
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It's not too late,
you learn the vowels
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and you can make the changes.
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That's right, and do you
still use those languages?
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Yeah. There's a
number of Brazilian students
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at the seminary so I speak
Portuguese regularly with them.
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I preached for
them a while back.
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Espaņol is "un poco menos"
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opportunity for me but
yeah, you know, there are-I mean
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there are Spanish
speaking students.
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I just feel like
I'm kind of wading
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through molasses when
I try to speak Spanish.
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I have to go kind of slowly.
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And it gets mixed up with
Portuguese so then its Portuņol.
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And your Spanish is not so bad
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I had a conversation
with you, earlier this week.
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Gracias buser. Igualmente.
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So we're studying
today the secret to holiness.
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Where do we pick up here?
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We're studying in
the book of 1 Peter,
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Chapter 1 and we are
starting in verse 13.
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Our passage goes from
1 Peter 1:13 through 21,
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but what we are
going to read is just the-
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like the first four
verses 1 Peter 1:13 through 16,
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we'll get started there.
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Why don't you read that for us?
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"Therefore gird up
the loins of your mind,
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be sober, and rest your
hope fully upon the grace
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that is to be brought to you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ;
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as obedient children,
not conforming yourselves
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to the former lusts,
as in your ignorance;
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but as He who
called you is holy,
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you also be holy
in all your conduct,
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because it is written,
"Be holy, for I am holy."
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All right. Well,
there's plenty enough for us
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to wrap our minds
around in this passage.
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And we start with first-verse 13
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with this very interesting
metaphor where it says,
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"Gird up the
loins of your mind."
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Now that's kind of
literal translation
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of what it says in Greek.
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We don't often use
that even in English today.
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No, we don't, we
don't, and that's because,
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you know, it's not
our culture anymore.
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This goes back to the culture,
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it's still the
culture of the Middle East,
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in very hot and dry environments
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what people wear
is flowing robes,
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white flowing robes
because they circulate the air
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and keep you cooler,
and they actually wear
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a turban on their head.
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You think, wow,
that's such a hot place
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why wear a turban
because it protects your head
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and when you sweat
actually I think the sweat gets
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into the band and then it
evaporates and cools your head.
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So yeah, I mean,
they're smart people,
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you know, what they do.
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But the problem
with flowing robes is
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it's very difficult
to run in a flowing robe.
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And so what they used
to do, they'd have a belt
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around their waist and they
would take the flowing robe,
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they would pull it up and
they tuck it into their belt.
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So then their
legs would be exposed
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and free open and then
it would be easy to run.
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So you're getting
ready for quick action,
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when you gird up,
you take up the cloth-
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the flowing robe, gird
up and put it in the loins.
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So you put it into that
belt that's around your waist.
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So whenever they
say, gird up loins,
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they are talking about
getting ready for action.
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So the English Standard
version, instead of giving
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Peter's metaphor takes
and interprets the metaphor.
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You see, so that you
don't have the metaphor anymore
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because a lot of
people they read that-
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like you said, we
don't use those term.
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So this says, "Therefore,
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preparing your
minds for action."
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Okay. All right.
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But that makes more
sense than gird up the loins-
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Yeah. To me.
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Well, it's always kind of the
question in Bible translation
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as to whether you
should maintain the metaphors,
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do a literal
translation of how it's stated,
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or should you put
it across in a language
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that it is more suited
or fitted to the culture
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that you're trying
to express this to.
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There are pluses and
minuses to both actually.
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You're moving away from
the language of Scripture,
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when you modify and
you're interpreting it more,
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but you're making
it more understandable.
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So for somebody who
is brand new believer,
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somebody who's never
read the Bible before,
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I would give them one
that read like this, you know,
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that did have it kind
of interpretive for them.
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But for somebody who is already
made a commitment to Christ,
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somebody who wantsto
study hard, they want to see
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the words more close
to the original as it was.
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We'd have them read
one maybe more like that.
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So both are- both
are valuable and good.
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All right. So you're girding
up the loins of your mind.
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So this is getting your
mind prepared for action.
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And then he says,
"Be sober minded."
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Now, the term here,
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the underlined verb
means to not drink alcohol.
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To be sober, sober minded,
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to be sober to-see alcohol
is actually an anesthetic,
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most people don't
think of it that way,
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but it puts the brain to sleep
starting with the frontal lobes
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and then working
its way backwards
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and down into the
cerebellum and so forth.
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So when you drink
alcohol, you're not as alert to,
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you know, what's
going around you.
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So not thinking
clearly. Not thinking clearly.
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That's right, he said.
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So he wants you to
be thinking clearly,
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this is typical
of eschatological
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type of language
where, you're gonna be awake,
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you can be ready,
you're gonna be prepared to go.
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You know, you're gonna have
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everything just
prepared and ready.
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It's like when the Israelites
were prepared to leave
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the land of Egypt,
they had their staffs
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in their hands there,
their loins were gird up,
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so they could move quickly.
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They were ready to
go because God was going
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to bring them deliverance.
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Now, it's interesting
that in my translation it says,
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"Set your hope
fully on the grace."
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I think yours say
something like that as well.
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"Rest your hope
fully on the grace, rest."
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The word I'm interested in
right now is the word "fully."
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Okay. This word ''fully"
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in the Greek text stands
right between the word sober,
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"be sober" and the word "hope."
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Okay. And the question is,
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which word does it
modify it's an adverb here?
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And which word does it
modify, does it modify sober,
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be completely
sober or does it modify
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the word hope, set
your hope completely?
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Actually, I think it
probably modifies sober
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because if you
say set your hope,
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see, set your hope on the grace
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that will be brought to you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ.
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If I say to you, set
your hope fully on the grace
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that is going to be revealed
at the coming of Christ.
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What does that
suggest about the word hope?
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If I said-if I said
set you full hope fully.
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Well, that might
suggest that hope isn't quite
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such a quit big word
as you thought it was.
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That you had to add a
word to it fully, you know,
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because these
people maybe weren't going
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to do it and so
you pressed it, so.
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I think that diminishes the
word hope a bit that Peter has.
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He has more of
a concept of hope,
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that's a big term,
that's a big cosmic term
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Jesus is coming
again kind of an idea.
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So I think that
this term "fully"
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really goes better
with "sober minded".
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Now let me read it
again, in that way,
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"Therefore, prepare
your minds for action,
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and be completely sober,
set your hope on the grace
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that will be brought to you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ."
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Okay. Now if we-
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if we think of it that
way, if this is a about now,
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a lot of people want to
say, this is just metaphoric.
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You know, metaphoric soberness,
this is not literal soberness.
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I teach people something that
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I call
eschatological temperance.
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Okay. Eschatological has to do
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with the last days, all right.
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Jesus is coming again.
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Temperance has to
do with being sober,
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with being in self-controlled
in this kind of way.
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I believe in
eschatological temperance,
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in other words I
don't use alcohol.
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Why not? Because
Jesus is coming again,
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I want to be completely awake,
I don't want to have anything,
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you know, kind of slipping by me
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because I was using
something like that.
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All right. Well, just a
little bit of Adventist-
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look at the eschaton and
what's coming, all right.
00:10:02.04\00:10:04.78
So you set your
hope fully on the grace
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that's going to be revealed at
the revelation of Jesus Christ
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and then read
verse 14 for us again.
00:10:11.34\00:10:13.81
"As obedient children,
not conforming yourselves
00:10:13.84\00:10:16.48
to the former lusts,
as in your ignorance;"
00:10:16.51\00:10:20.08
Right. All right.
00:10:20.11\00:10:21.93
So "As obedient
children, do not be conformed
00:10:21.96\00:10:25.90
to the passions of
your former ignorance."
00:10:25.93\00:10:27.62
Does that remind you
of any text of Scripture?
00:10:27.65\00:10:30.12
I think, we were reading
something about that in 1 Peter.
00:10:30.15\00:10:34.02
1 Peter-I was thinking of
something perhaps in Paul.
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"Don't be conformed."
Does that remind you of a text?
00:10:38.28\00:10:41.46
Okay. "Do not be
conformed of this world."
00:10:41.49\00:10:44.39
Of this world,
Romans 12. Romans 12.
00:10:44.42\00:10:46.97
Romans 12:1 and 2,
just turn over there.
00:10:47.00\00:10:49.38
Now, let me just
talk a little bit
00:10:49.41\00:10:51.88
while you look that up
and then we'll say it again,
00:10:51.91\00:10:54.52
so our listeners can also
look it up, Romans 12:1 and 2.
00:10:54.55\00:10:59.11
Sometimes, Peter has been
thought of as a Paul light.
00:10:59.14\00:11:05.86
He's kind of Paul put simply
and really not as good as Paul.
00:11:05.89\00:11:10.99
Actually, that view scholars
00:11:11.02\00:11:12.63
have set that kind
of perspective aside.
00:11:12.66\00:11:15.18
The books of Peter and
the theology particularly,
00:11:15.21\00:11:19.24
of 1 Peter is
every bit is profound is
00:11:19.27\00:11:21.75
that of the Apostle Paul and he
says something to Paul, doesn't.
00:11:21.78\00:11:24.00
We'll be noting those
as we go through the book.
00:11:24.03\00:11:25.88
Okay, read for us
Romans 12:1 and 2.
00:11:25.91\00:11:27.81
"I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God,
00:11:27.84\00:11:31.05
that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice,
00:11:31.08\00:11:33.74
holy, acceptable to God,
00:11:33.77\00:11:36.04
which is your
reasonable service.
00:11:36.07\00:11:38.67
And do not be
conformed to this world,
00:11:38.70\00:11:41.16
but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind,
00:11:41.19\00:11:44.56
that you may
prove what is that good
00:11:44.59\00:11:47.18
and acceptable and
perfect will of God."
00:11:47.21\00:11:50.62
It's a similar, very
similar kind of an idea.
00:11:50.65\00:11:54.35
One of the
translations puts it this way,
00:11:54.38\00:11:56.48
"Don't let the world
squeeze you into its mould."
00:11:56.51\00:11:59.92
"Don't let the world
squeeze you into its mold."
00:11:59.95\00:12:03.37
He talks about
not being conformed
00:12:03.40\00:12:05.79
but being transformed
by the renewal of our mind.
00:12:05.82\00:12:09.31
Well, this is
the very kind of idea
00:12:09.34\00:12:11.88
that Peter has been
talking about, isn't it?
00:12:11.91\00:12:14.44
He talks about that holy life.
00:12:14.47\00:12:16.84
He talks about that
new relationship with God.
00:12:16.87\00:12:20.13
And Paul says, there that we are
00:12:20.16\00:12:22.24
to present our bodies
as a living sacrifice.
00:12:22.27\00:12:25.03
See, how that fits
in with Peter saying,
00:12:25.06\00:12:27.12
gird up the loins of your mind.
00:12:27.15\00:12:28.95
He says, and be completely sober
00:12:28.98\00:12:30.90
in a way that you look at life.
00:12:30.93\00:12:33.56
You're not
supposed to be conformed
00:12:33.59\00:12:34.98
to the passions of
your former ignorance.
00:12:35.01\00:12:38.03
This is just the old way
of life that they had been
00:12:38.06\00:12:42.68
following in the
past that that way of-
00:12:42.71\00:12:45.95
he calls it
ignorance and of course,
00:12:45.98\00:12:49.80
which is a very negative term
00:12:49.83\00:12:51.85
that he is
disvaluing the old way of life.
00:12:51.88\00:12:54.41
Remember, Peter is fortifying
the minds of these people
00:12:54.44\00:12:59.38
to live as
Christians in the society
00:12:59.41\00:13:02.00
that is opposed
to them and is trying
00:13:02.03\00:13:04.30
to attract them
back to paganism.
00:13:04.33\00:13:06.74
So, how does he do that?
00:13:06.77\00:13:08.14
He's forming in
their minds a new concept
00:13:08.17\00:13:11.16
of what it means
to be a Christian.
00:13:11.19\00:13:13.81
Keeping their
eyes fixed on the hope
00:13:13.84\00:13:15.53
that's in the future,
having their past settled,
00:13:15.56\00:13:19.08
and understanding
that they are to be totally
00:13:19.11\00:13:21.45
awake in the present
time that such a serious
00:13:21.48\00:13:24.60
difficult time to live through.
00:13:24.63\00:13:26.87
So Peter's really telling them,
do not go back to the lifestyle
00:13:26.90\00:13:30.76
you used to before
you were Christian,
00:13:30.79\00:13:32.53
before you accepted
Christ, do not be conformed
00:13:32.56\00:13:34.99
to that
lifestyle you used to have.
00:13:35.02\00:13:36.76
Don't go back to it.
00:13:36.79\00:13:38.16
It's that way, is the way-
that was the way of ignorance.
00:13:38.19\00:13:42.53
And we certainly don't
want to remain in ignorance.
00:13:42.56\00:13:44.52
No, that's right. Okay.
00:13:44.55\00:13:45.92
We're going to take a
brief break, Dr. Shepherd,
00:13:45.95\00:13:47.99
and after this we will continue
with "Books of the Book."
00:13:48.02\00:13:50.88