Hello friends.
Welcome to Books of the Book.
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My name is Deyvy Rodriguez and
I'm very happy that you're with
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us joining us for this Bible
study. We have Dr. Tom Shepherd.
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He comes from Andrews
University. He is a professor of
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New Testament interpretation and
today we're studying the books
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of 1 and 2 Peter but today
we are doing the second chapter
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of 2 Peter, actually
the last part of 2 Peter.
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Dr. Shepherd, what
are we sharing today?
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Well we looked at the question
of the false teachers in
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2 Peter chapter 2 and last time
we read verses 1-11. We found
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that he had some pretty strong
words to say and so right now
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what we're going to do is read
the last half of this chapter.
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It's a little bit longer part
of a passage but it's 2 Peter
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2 starting in verse 12 and going
through verse 22. So why don't
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you read verses 12-16
and I'll read verses 17-22.
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But these like natural brute
beasts made to be caught and
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destroyed speak evil of the
things they do not understand
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and will utterly perish in their
own corruption and will receive
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the wages of unrighteousness as
those who count it pleasure to
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carouse in the daytime. They are
spots and blemishes carousing in
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their own deceptions while they
feast with you having eyes full
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of adultery and they cannot
cease from sin enticing unstable
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souls. They have a heart trained
in covetous practices and are
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cursed children. They have
forsaken the right way and gone
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astray following the ways of
Balaam the son of Baer who loved
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the wages of unrighteousness.
But he was rebuked for his
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iniquity. A dumb donkey speaking
with a man's voice restrained
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the madness of the prophet.
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Verse 17: These are waterless
springs and mists driven by a
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storm. For them the gloom of
utter darkness has been reserved
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for speaking loud boasts of
folly they entice by sensual
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passions of the flesh those who
are barely escaping from those
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who live in error. They promise
them freedom but they themselves
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are slaves of corruption. For
whatever overcomes a person, to
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that he is enslaved. For
if after they have escaped the
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defilements of the world through
the knowledge of our Lord and
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Savior Jesus Christ, they
are again entangled in them and
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overcome. The last state has
become worse for them than the
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first for it would have been
better for them never to have
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known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it to turn
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back from the holy commandment
delivered to them. What the true
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proverb says has happened to
them; the dog returns to it's
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own vomit and the sow
after washing herself returns to
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wallow in the mire. Hmm.
Now we were saying that the
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angry pastor was
applying to Peter.
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Yeah, you can see it here can't
you. It's almost like the page
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is still warm. It's like whoa!
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And that he is angry at the
false teachers, right? He was
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talking about
the false teachers.
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Not the flock. He's not trying
to destroy the flock. He's
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talking about those false
teachers. So he's protecting
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the sheep and speaking
against the false teachers.
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Verse 12 talks about animals
and he seems to talk negatively,
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in a bad way, obviously, about
animals. What's the matter here?
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Yeah, he says in verse 12, but
these, now he's talking about
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the false teachers and then he
says, like irrational animals,
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now he's still talking about the
animals, creatures of instinct
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born to be caught and destroyed.
Blaspheming, now he's talking
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about the false teachers,
blaspheming about matters of
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which they are ignorant,
will also be destroyed in their
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destruction. So a lot about
destruction there and a lot
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about animals that are
irrational and born to be
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destroyed. You know, we have
a lot of people who really love
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animals and who really care
for them in a special way and we
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oppose the idea of abusing
animals and so people wonder
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why is Peter talking about this?
Why does he speak like this?
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He seems so mean about
talking about animals. Well one
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commentator, Peter David, says
that we should recognize that
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Peter's subject here is the
false teachers and his primary
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presentation here is not about
animals, okay. It was common
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enough in the ancient world to
speak of animals in this way and
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so on the one hand we should
not take Peter's words about the
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false teachers as God's
directive on how to treat
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animals. On the other hand,
since the false teachers are
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acting like animals which is
even a phrase that we use in our
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time today, our own day, the
depiction seems apt, kind of a
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simile here that they're acting
like this and that's what's
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going to happen to them; they'll
find destruction. So this isn't
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a text that tells us how you
should treat your dog or your
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cat or any animal. The Bible
has other passages that warn us
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that we are to take care of
our animals. It talks about not
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muzzling the ox when he is
treading the grain and so we
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should care for the creation
around us and not abuse it or
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misuse it. Dr.
Shepherd, false teachers at
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some point went astray. You know
they were good teachers, true
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teachers. We were talking
about that in previous programs.
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How does a person
walking in God's ways go astray?
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How does a person in the
Lord's way suddenly go wrong?
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You know a lot of people think
about this. I'm not sure that we
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think about it enough. We think
a fair bit about how to bring
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people to Christ. We're thinking
of evangelistic approaches.
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What can we do. We talk about
how you help people to hear the
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message of the gospel. We talk
about what kind of questions you
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would ask a person to make a
decision for Christ. But we need
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to study as well how people
lose Christ, how they go the
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wrong way. And it's rather
shocking how many people go this
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way. I used to travel a fair
bit with the students when I was
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a teacher at Union College.
We would go to churches all over
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the place giving musical
programs, playing my cello and
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string quartet with these
young people and I would go to
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churches as small as 25 members.
We very commonly went to small
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churches. But I would call ahead
to make arrangements and I would
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call the pastor and I would say
so how many members do you have
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in your church? And the pastor
would say oh we have about 80
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members in our church. Then
I knew what was coming next.
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He would say, but about 50%
attend, about half go to church.
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So the real membership of the
churches, at least those who are
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regularly attending and the
membership that there's some
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problems with some issues
with our people; about half the
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church. I mean, it's shocking.
We talked about in our previous
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program about how a pastor
should visit. The first place to
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start is to visit those who have
wandered away. Shepherds are
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supposed to go after the sheep
and help them come back. So we
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need to think about this how
people get saved and about how
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people get lost. There is
something I call the circle of
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damnation. Now we talked about
the circle of salvation before
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when we talked about 1 Peter,
but there's also a circle of
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damnation, that is how people
get lost. There's actually two
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circles. There's one that's in
1 Peter and there's another one
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in 2 Peter. And we've described
some things, a lot of things in
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1 Peter and I just want to
refocus our attention as we
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think about that a little bit
about how 1 Peter talks about
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this. The circle of damnation in
1 Peter is implicit. The one in
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2 Peter is explicit. In
other words, he doesn't directly
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address it in 1 Peter, but he
directly addresses it in 2 Peter
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okay. So we think in 1 Peter,
I tell people, I actually got it
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from one of my professors,
Dr. Robert Johnston. He had a
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principle he called don't put
beans in your nose principle.
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Don't put beans in your nose.
Why in the world such a strange
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sounding kind of an idea, Don't
put beans in your nose. Well you
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just think about little kids and
their playing, and they go into
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the kitchen and they get the
mother's jar and they open it up
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and take out some of these dry
beans, and they're going outside
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and they're playing with them
and they're just doing things
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with them and one of them takes
that bean and it just looks so
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interesting and they just put it
in their nose. They thought it
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might be fun to put that bean
in their nose. So they put that
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bean inside their nose and then
they try to get it out and they
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can't get the bean to come out.
So they find something around,
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they don't want to tell their
mother about this, but they find
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something around and now
everybody's becoming interested
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in the bean in the nose.
And they find something and they
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poke it in there to try to
get the bean to come out and of
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course it just pushes the
bean back farther into the nose.
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Now the child is crying and they
come into mother and say mother
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there's a bean in my nose.
She says, a bean in your nose,
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how did the bean get in your
nose? Then the other child says
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oh and tells how it happened.
Mother says well let me see and
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they get a flashlight and they
are looking. Then she gets some
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tweezers and she reaches up
in the nose that's already sore
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and red. She's trying to pull
that bean out and she tries and
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tries and it just keeps slipping
out of the tweezers and going
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farther in and now the nose is
really red and this sounds like
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an Eric B. Hare story. And
what do they have to do next?
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Go to the hospital. Go to the
emergency room, $100 right off
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the shot there you know just
to take care of the bean in the
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nose. The doctor has special
tweezers and special things that
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he uses, she uses, to get this
bean and they finally get the
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bean out. And they put some
medicine on the nose to make it
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feel better. The child is crying
but feeling better. And they go
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home and mother gathers all the
children around and she says to
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them, what lesson did you learn
today? And they all say don't
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put beans in your nose. And it
becomes a story in that family
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and don't put beans in your
nose. Now you see, when somebody
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says to don't put beans in
your nose they say that because,
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because why?
Apparently something happened
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before. There was a story to it.
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Somebody was putting beans
in their nose, okay. So when you
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have negative commands that say
don't do this and don't do that
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and don't do that, when you
have those in the Bible they are
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there for a reason. They are
there because somebody was doing
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those things, was trying that
out, you know, and ended up with
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those problems, okay. So we want
to look in 1 Peter and see if we
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can sense some of that implicit
negativeness. I would like to
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read 1 Peter 1:13-17. We've read
this before, but now we're doing
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it with a little bit different
eyes. 1 Peter chapter 1, verses
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13-17. Therefore gird up
the loins of your mind. Be sober
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and rest hopefully upon the
grace that is to be brought to
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you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ, as obedient children not
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conforming yourselves to the
former lust as in your ignorance
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but as he who called you is holy
you also be holy in all your
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conduct because it is written be
holy for I am holy. And if you
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call on the Father who without
partiality judges according to
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each one's work, conduct
yourself throughout the time
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of your stay here in fear.
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Yes. Now there are a lot of
commands here and he's talking
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about what you're supposed to
do. You're supposed to do this,
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and you better respect God,
you better be in reverent fear
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before God. Why does he
tell them all this? Well because
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there was always the risk that
they would go back to the pagan
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way of life, you see. Now let's
turn over in the same book to
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chapter 4, verse 15. But
let none of you suffer as a
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murderer, a thief, an evildoer
or as a busybody in other
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people's matters. So
here see you mustn't be doing
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this, you mustn't be doing this,
you mustn't go this kind of way.
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Of course that's what the pagans
were saying about them, but
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there was a risk that they might
go off into that pattern of life
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they might do something that was
along those lines. So this is
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the kind of expression that
they're not supposed to follow
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the passions that would pull
them back into the pagan way of
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life. But Peter also warns them
about the push of persecution
00:13:51.89\00:13:55.30
that could come their way and
let's read 1 Peter 3 verses 5
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and 6. For in
this manner in former
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times the holy women who trusted
in God also adorned themselves
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being submissive to their
own husbands as Sarah obeyed
00:14:08.39\00:14:11.79
Abraham calling him lord, whose
daughters you are if you do good
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and are not
afraid with any terror.
00:14:15.90\00:14:19.13
In my version the last part says
if you do good and do not fear
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anything that is frightening.
This is the intimidation that
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could come from the outsider
for them to submit and to go
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the pagan way, not just submit
to God but submit to the wrong
00:14:32.81\00:14:37.28
way. So he has both the
expression of the problem of
00:14:37.31\00:14:41.39
passion and the problem
of persecution, this implicit
00:14:41.43\00:14:45.44
circle of damnation that could
take them out of the circle of
00:14:45.48\00:14:49.29
blessing, out of the household
of faith. Well we've got more
00:14:49.33\00:14:53.76
to talk about in terms of
the explicit circle of damnation
00:14:53.79\00:14:58.15
that's in 2 Peter and we'll come
back to that after this break.
00:14:58.19\00:15:02.58