Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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We are studying the
second chapter of 2 Peter.
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Dr. Shepherd, we're talking
about the angry pastor and we're
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saying that it's referring to
Peter. Yeah. Now is Peter angry
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at the flock or is Peter
angry at the false teachers?
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Peter is a good shepherd and
he is guarding the flock. So the
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ancient shepherds used to have
a club you know like with a big
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ball on the end of it and
he's using this to fight off the
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wolves; these are the false
teachers. He's not hitting the
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sheep. He's not attacking
the flock. He's attacking the
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falsehood, the false
teachers and what they're after.
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Now these false teachers, where
did they come from and how did
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these teachers become false?
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Yeah, it's interesting that the
term is false teacher. That's
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really like an oxymoron. You
know, a teacher is somebody that
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you look up to, somebody who
teaches you and somebody that
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you respect. But these are
teachers who are false and the
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question we have is how
in the world did this happen?
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Well we've already read the
first 11 verses and it's rather
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interesting that Peter uses
terminology throughout chapter 2
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to indicate that the false
teachers didn't start that way.
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He says in chapter 2 verse 1
that they... he speaks of the
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Master who purchased them. That
sounds like they were redeemed.
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In chapter 2 Peter 1 verse
9 he says that they forget the
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cleansing of their former sins.
All right. In chapter 2 verse 12
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he said that they left the
straight path and in verse 20
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of that same chapter that they
had escaped the defilements of
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the world and in verse 21 that
they knew the holy commandment.
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So it seems quite clear that
these people began as Christians
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They began the right way, they
began the right path. They had
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been purchased by Jesus Christ,
their lives had been cleansed
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from sin and they belonged to
Jesus. And somehow they got off
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from the right path. Now if we
go back to the book of 1 Peter
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we remember that there's a very
strong stress on a holy life and
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this strong stress on the holy
life in 1 Peter is based on 5
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great truths. We have a graphic
that puts these up there to show
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what these great truths are.
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The great truths where he begins
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in chapter 1 are the new birth
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that God has given us in Christ.
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He goes on in chapter 1 and
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again in chapter 4 to speak of
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the holiness of God and of
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judgment. He speaks of the great
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redemption price that was paid
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for us. That's in 1 Peter
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chapter 1. He speaks of the
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example of Christ that he laid
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out before us as he went to the
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cross and how he suffered and
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that's in chapter 2 and again in
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chapter 4. And then he speaks of
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the eschatological reward that
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they will receive at the end
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when Christ returns and that's
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in chapter 1, chapter 4 and
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chapter 5. So over and over he
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had these wonderful realities
that impel the Christian to
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live a holy life. But evidently
those didn't have the same
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impact for these false teachers.
So how did they go wrong?
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Well if we remember back to 1
Peter 5 verses 1-4 and perhaps
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we should just go and read
those verses one more time.
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First Peter chapter 5 verses 1-4
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The elders who are among
you I exhort, I who am a fellow
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elder and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ and also a
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partaker of the glory that would
be revealed. Shepherd the flock
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of God which is among you
serving as overseers, not by
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compulsion but willingly, not
for dishonest gain but eagerly
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nor as being lords over
those entrusted to you but being
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examples to the flock; and when
the chief shepherd appears you
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will receive the crown of
glory that does not fade away.
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Now you remember when we studied
this passage that we said there
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were these three pair of
antitheses, the opposites that
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didn't fit together: not under
compulsion but willingly, not
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for gain but freely, not to
be a master but to be an example
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to the flock. It's just possible
now this is only one scenario,
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but it's just possible that what
happened to these false teachers
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is that they took this wrong
path of ministry that Peter
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talks about in 1 Peter chapter 5
and where that may have started
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is they maybe were rushed into
leadership too soon. They were
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pushed into leadership, someone
pressured them to do something
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that they didn't feel called
to do or they didn't want to do,
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but well we need leaders and
there's nobody else to do it and
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wouldn't you be willing to do
it The person might have been a
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little bit new in the faith but,
you know, they were going to
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push them on into that
anyways. And then they got into
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leadership and they hadn't
got in there because they felt
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pulled by God but they had
been pushed by men and so they
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started to focus on the wrong
things, what they could get out
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of it. I mean, after all they
had made a great sacrifice to
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become a leader so they ought
to get something back for it,
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shouldn't they. And they maybe
started to focus on money, on
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gain that they might get
compensated for doing that work.
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Something to help them, money
or material, was probably given
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to early church leaders and
this became the focus of their
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ministry rather than the
free service that they should be
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giving to truly help the flock
of God. And along with that of
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receiving compensation and maybe
good things to go with that they
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started to use their power for
themselves and so they became
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masters over the congregation
and went off into false
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teachings. Now
we've all been to school,
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we've all had a teacher, as you
mentioned earlier, and we know
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what a teacher ought to teach
and that would be the truth.
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Now in this case what are false
teachers or what they like?
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Peter describes these people
quite extensively and he focuses
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on four main characteristics.
The four characteristics are
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greed or avarice, out-of-control
passions, conceit, that is
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huberous or pride and
deceit. They were false.
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So it's not necessarily what
they are teaching but rather
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like their lifestyle.
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Aw, that's a very big part. In
fact, in chapter 2 that's what
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he tends to focus completely on
is their lifestyle and what they
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were like and we're going to see
how he works through that and
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carries through discussing
their type. He will get to their
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teaching and their teaching is
false. Yeah, so the big emphasis
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is the greed, out-of-control
passions and conceit; those all
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have to do with the character.
The deceit links up with the
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false teachings. Do
you think that these are
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principles that we can use today
to discern false teachers other
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than their doctrines.
Yeah, I think so. As we'll go
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along here in this discussion
of chapter 2 we may not go all
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of it verse by verse and
everything but we're going to
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describe how these people went
off the wrong way and there are
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very clear warnings, I believe,
for us today. Peter notes that
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the false teachers are chasing
after and seem to have obtained
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some kind of unjust gain. He
says that in verse 13 of chapter
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2. They train their hears in, I
call it, materialistic aerobics.
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They're good at exercising
what they can receive as money.
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Their forefather in evil
is Balaam in the Old Testament
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who you remember was a false
prophet who went after money.
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There's a certain kind of poetic
justice or better we might say
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biblical justice, biblical
fairness in what the false
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teachers receive. Jesus said the
measure you use is the measure
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that will be measured for
you and to you. These people are
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after greed and after money and
so what do they get? They get a
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wage of wrong in verse 13.
So they are getting wages. Their
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wages are bad things that are
coming to them and they're going
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to be deprived of the wages
of wrong that they've obtained.
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They act like animals; that's
what Peter says and so a donkey
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speaks to their forefather
Balaam. They're like Balaam and
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an animal takes and warns them
okay. They have out-of-control
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passions also play a major role
in this. I'd like us to look at
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verses 4-9 of chapter 2, we
read this before, and just get a
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little picture here. It's a very
long if/then statement. Okay, so
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I'll read it in the ESV because
it has all the ifs. Sure. Okay.
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It says, For if God did not
spare angels when they sinned
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but cast them into hell
and committed them to chains of
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gloomy darkness to be kept until
the judgment, if he did not
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spare the ancient world
but preserved Noah, a herald of
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righteousness with seven others
when he brought a flood upon the
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world of the ungodly, if by
turning the cities of Sodom and
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Gomorrah to ashes he condemned
them to extinction making them
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an example of what is going to
happen to the ungodly and if he
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rescued righteous Lot greatly
distressed by the sensual
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conduct of the wicked for as
that righteous man lived among
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them day after day he was
tormenting his righteous soul
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over their lawless deeds that
he saw and heard, then the Lord
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knows how to rescue the Godly
from trials and to keep the
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unrighteous under punishment
until the day of judgment and
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especially those who indulge in
the lust of defiling passion and
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despise authority. Well here's
this long, you know, litany of
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what these people are like.
It's if this, if this and in the
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group there's always there's
always those who are going to
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lost and those who are going to
be saved. There's Noah, there's
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Lot and yet there's Sodom
and Gomorrah, they are the
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antediluvians who were destroyed
by the flood. So he goes back
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and forth and he has this
emphasis on the theme about
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their irrational focus on
passions. He says, they're like
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irrational animals and he
ties them to Balaam. He ends the
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chapter with two proverbs:
They're like dogs that return to
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their vomit; they're like pigs
that wallow in the mud. When
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somebody starts talking
about the dogs and the pigs you
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realize it's pretty bad what's
going on. He also focuses on
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their conceit and their deceit.
They are bold and stubborn and
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they are also people who use
sarcasm. We'll come back to that
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when we study chapter 3. And
they promise people freedom but
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they are in abject slavery
to corruption. It's an amazing
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litany that he lays out about
what these people are and what
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they became like. You see, it's
interesting. People in Peter's
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church you might think, no, wow
if it's that bad everybody could
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see that, everybody could
realize it's obvious what these
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people are like. You'd be
surprised though. Most people in
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the church where this
was happening probably didn't
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recognize all of the danger
that was going on and Peter
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being an apostle, being inspired
by God's word, he pulls the
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curtain aside and says now this
is what these people are really
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like. Let me show you how they
are so controlled by passions,
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how they're deceitful, how they
are conceited and how they are
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just after money. So
these characteristics that
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Peter mentions is kind of like
their fruits. As Jesus said, by
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their fruits you shall know
them. Jesus said that a good
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tree cannot bear
bad fruit and so on.
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And a bad tree
cannot bear good fruit.
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Well, Dr. Shepherd, thank
you for joining us. We are not
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finished with this study
and we still ask our viewers and
00:13:04.79\00:13:07.72
listening audience to join us
in the remainder of the part of
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2 Peter. Dr. Tom Shepherd is
with us. He comes from Andrews
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University, a teacher at
the theological seminary there.
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Well God bless you friends.
We'll see you next time.
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We hope and pray that you
too can continue reading the
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scriptures for in
it is the will of God.
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God bless till next time.
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