And welcome back
friends to "Books of the Book"
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with me is Dr. Shepherd.
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He is joining us in this study
of first and second period.
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Dr. Shepherd quick question.
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What does obedience
have to do with holiness?
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All right. Well, we were
looking here in verse 14.
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It says, "As obedient
children, do not be conformed
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to the passions of
your former ignorance."
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We notice that he
stresses that they are children,
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they are--God is their
father, they are his children.
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He says, household of faith.
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So he reminds
them of that covenant
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that they have made with God,
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that linkage
that they have to God.
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And then he bolsters
this whole concept of linkage
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to God of the idea
of-- the covenants of idea
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with a reference
to that which is holy.
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So in verse 15, he says
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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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Since it is written verse 16,
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"You shall be
holy for I am holy."
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He is quoting
from Leviticus 19:2
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part of the holiness
code of the Old Testament.
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And you look at this and you
see that there is this concept
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of emulation or
following the pattern.
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God is holy so
that's what you have to do.
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It's like
carpenter building something
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and showing his apprentice
and the apprentice look at it
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and measures it and takes in,
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tries to make his just
like the master carpenter did.
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He tries to do
things just the same way.
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Or like a child
walking on the beach
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and his father
footsteps are big and far apart
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and he tries to reach his
foot and reach his next foot,
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so that he can walk in
the footsteps of his father.
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So because you are
in covenant with God,
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because He is your father,
because you are His children
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and you remember
you agreed to obey.
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All right, because you
are His obedient child,
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then you are to live a holy
life just like He did, okay.
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Of course, he
is not really done.
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That's not the only
thing that he mentions,
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his this idea of holiness, okay.
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So why don't you
read for us verse 17.
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"And if you call on the Father,
who without partiality judges
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according to each one's
work, conduct yourselves
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throughout the time of
your stay here in fear,
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knowing that you
were not redeemed
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with corruptible
things like silver or gold
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from your aimless conduct recede
by tradition from your fathers,
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but with the
precious blood of Christ,
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as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot."
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Okay, that was a
little more than verse 16
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but that's of
17, but that's okay.
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That's all right we went
forward just a little bit
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and we'll fill
all that in, okay.
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So, he starts of-- so
how has he argued already.
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He has argued that
because of-- he starts verse 13
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with therefore that is
in light of all the things
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that we've talked about before.
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Now, you must be
totally ready for action,
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your obedient
children and so you are
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not to conform
you self to old way.
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But you are supposed to be holy
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because the God you
serve is holy, all right.
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Then in verse 17, he
says "And if you call on him
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as father" well, that's what
Jesus taught us to do as a man.
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He said when you
pray say, our Father,
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which art in heaven, all right.
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Now often when we
say the Lord's prayer
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and I have to say, I don't think
we say the Lord's prayer enough
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in the
Seventh-day Adventist church.
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I think we need to
say the Lord's prayer
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more often than we do.
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But when we say
the Lords prayer,
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it sort of just rolls off
of our tongue little you know,
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Our Father, which art in
heaven, hallowed be the name.
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You know, and we say
it almost in rote fashion
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where in actuality to call
Him Father is very meaningful.
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Which is exactly
what Peter means here.
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He says "What does it
mean to call God your Father."
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Well here's what that means.
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"If you call on Him as
Father who judges impartially
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according to each one's
deeds, conduct yourselves
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with fear throughout
the time of your exile."
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Now, God is the judge
of the world, you see,
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and you cannot just
leave the God out of things
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and not take Him
into account, all right.
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So he says, "He judges
the world impartially."
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This term impartial
is very interesting.
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It's the concept of not--
it's an Old Testament idiom.
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Not receiving the
face. Not receiving the face?
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The face, yeah. Which is--?
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Is it one of
those of other idioms?
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Yeah, it's a strange
kind of idiom we think that,
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not receiving the face? Okay.
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But it goes like
this, if a judge was sitting
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in the gate, you
know, that's where
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they have their
judge, the judges there.
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And somebody came up to
him and said look there's going
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to be a court case here in front
of you in just a few hours.
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And I want you
to rule in my favor
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and he gifts the
judge some money.
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He bribes him. Okay.
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Then when they come
before him turned off
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it's this very
guy who gave him money
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and there is another man.
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And the judge smiles at
the guy who gave him the money.
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Its just I am sure that
your position is the right one,
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he has received his
face, he took a bribe, you see.
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He wasn't impartial
between the two, all right.
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So Peter says,
God is not like that.
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You cannot bribe God.
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He does not receive the face.
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And if you think
by calling him Father
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that somehow you have
curried favor with Him
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and you don't have
to really be obedient,
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you can kind of play fast
and loose with this whole thing.
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Peter says, that's not
going to work with God.
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See, He judges
every one impartially
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according to his deeds.
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Now this gets some
people upset and they say, what?
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I thought we
were saved by faith.
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Aren't we saved by
faith? That's right.
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Yes. Then why are we judged?
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Why does Peter say that
we are judge by our deeds?
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Well, he is not the
only one that says it.
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Turn to 2 Corinthians
5:10. 2 Corinthians 5:10.
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This is a very important
idea. 2 Corinthians 5:10.
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The Apostle Paul is
talking about our heavenly home
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and our bodies that
we'll have in resurrection.
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And then he talks about
when that will all takes place.
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Read it. Okay.
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"For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ
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that each one may receive
the things done in the body
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according to what he has
done whether good or bad."
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Right, this is talking
about judgment, isn't it?
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It is. The
judgment seat of Christ
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and how we will be judged?
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According to what we
have done. What we have done.
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What we have done or
what we have not done.
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Okay. So we are judge by deeds.
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Somebody says, I
don't understand.
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How can you be saved by
faith but judged by your deed?
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Well this
actually has more to do
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with the biblical
teaching about anthropology.
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What is human being is like then
it does with the in essence,
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but then it does with
the doctrine of salvation.
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That is to say the Bible concept
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of a human being is
that we are a whole.
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You--as we sometime
say, you do not have a soul.
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What you are a soul. All right.
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The combination of the
dust of the earth and the breath
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of life from God
creates a living soul.
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Now we tend to
think of this in terms
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of what happens when you die,
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that you rest in the
grave till Jesus comes.
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But it has many more
implications than that.
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And one of the
important implications is that
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your faith in your
life, in your heart,
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will and must
show itself in action,
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it must display itself in deeds.
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If you have faith on the
inside, it will show itself
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on the outside by loving
acts of kindness towards others.
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When Jesus comes back,
He is not gonna say to you,
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did you believe in the Sabbath.
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Did you believe in the
righteousness by faith?
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Did you believe in the trinity?
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Did you--He's not going
to ask you what you believed.
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He's gonna ask you what you did.
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He said, I was hungry and
you gave me something to eat.
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I was thirsty, you
gave me something to drink.
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I was in prison you
came and visited me.
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I was sick and
you ministered to me.
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Because our
actions are an expression
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of our faith or lack thereof.
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So God judges us by our deeds.
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Now, we better press
on here to get some more
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of the message
here that listed so.
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He says, "You are
supposed to conduct yourself
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with fear throughout
the time of your exile."
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Does he mean that we're
supposed to be afraid of God?
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Well, if you have
questions about the fear of God,
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let me give you a text
that gives you 20-20 vision.
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Okay. Exodus
20:20. Exodus 20:20.
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This is 20-20
vision on the fear of God.
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Okay, we'll
never forget that one.
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"And Moses said to
the people, 'Do not fear,
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for God has come to
test you, and that is fear
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may be before you, so
that you may not sin."
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Now that sounds like
double talk, doesn't it?
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It sounds like he is saying,
don't de afraid, just be afraid.
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And then he goes there, yeah,
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and then he says "And that
his fear may be before you."
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Now there are two
kinds of fear. Okay.
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There is a fear that
draws you away from God,
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because He is so powerful,
and He is so holy, okay.
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And then there is a
fear that draws you to God,
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draws you close to
God, draws you next to Him,
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all right. This is
the fear of the Lord.
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Now, is there someone they
are trembling in there, yes.
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You know, He is God.
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He is your Father, He
is not some sugar daddy
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or some thing you know.
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And so, you must respect Him.
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You must have
deep reference for Him.
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This is best illustrated
perhaps by the story of Joseph.
00:10:50.84\00:10:56.10
In Genesis Chapter 39, Joseph
was tempted by Potiphar's wife.
00:10:56.13\00:11:03.98
She said, come to bed with me.
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Now for our Hollywood
movie, the next scene would be
00:11:06.26\00:11:08.76
in the bedroom, but
not in the case of Joseph.
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And he gives her little speech.
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He says to her, you
know, I respect my master
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he's given--he's put all things
into my power and my control
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and there is no one
greater in this house
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than I am except for him.
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And he has not withheld
anything from the except you
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because you are his wife.
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He reminds her who
she is, and he then says,
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how could I do this
great sin-- Against God.
00:11:37.69\00:11:42.91
Against God. So he
speaks of his master.
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He speaks of his masters' wife.
00:11:46.80\00:11:48.33
He speaks of his relationship
to his master and her.
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But then he places it all
within his relationship to God,
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he lived in the presence of God.
00:11:57.42\00:12:01.64
That was the fear the Lord.
00:12:01.67\00:12:03.04
He said I, I cannot do
this, because it would be,
00:12:03.07\00:12:08.18
you know, it would not be
right, it would be so wrong.
00:12:08.21\00:12:10.92
So that's what he says
here that you are supposed
00:12:10.95\00:12:14.61
to live your life
in fear and notice
00:12:14.64\00:12:18.46
what he calls your
life here in verse 17.
00:12:18.49\00:12:23.59
"The time of your exile."
00:12:23.62\00:12:27.12
It's the time
of your pilgrimage.
00:12:27.15\00:12:28.67
He harks right to that words
00:12:28.70\00:12:30.70
that he had at the
beginning of the book
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when he called
you a pilgrim, right.
00:12:32.17\00:12:34.89
That exile time that goes back.
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You're to remember that you are
not home yet, you are in exile.
00:12:37.58\00:12:41.96
You've to live
in the fear of God.
00:12:41.99\00:12:44.07
So he is putting together,
he is not finished yet.
00:12:44.10\00:12:46.45
We are not done
with the entire passage
00:12:46.48\00:12:48.82
and we'll link this
up with our next section
00:12:48.85\00:12:51.22
as we go into it, because
verses 18 to 21 actually link
00:12:51.25\00:12:55.45
in to the
following sections as well.
00:12:55.48\00:12:57.50
So we're going to
talk about those verses.
00:12:57.53\00:12:59.74
But we will talk about
them in our next time together.
00:12:59.77\00:13:02.46
And we will see how
they all tie this up together
00:13:02.49\00:13:06.82
and making a very tight argument
00:13:06.85\00:13:09.07
about how we are
supposed to live as Christians.
00:13:09.10\00:13:12.03
Well, Dr. Shepherd,
thanks again for your insights
00:13:12.06\00:13:14.57
on this very interesting
book First and Second Peter.
00:13:14.60\00:13:18.16
We often though
study or read this book
00:13:18.19\00:13:20.63
as much as perhaps the gospels.
00:13:20.66\00:13:22.26
We need to do this much more.
00:13:22.29\00:13:23.80
But I invite
everybody and I encourage
00:13:23.83\00:13:25.84
you to pickup the Bible,
read the words that God has
00:13:25.87\00:13:29.27
for you and for
me, God bless you.
00:13:29.30\00:13:31.47