Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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With us is Dr. Tom Shepherd.
He is sharing from the book of
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2 Peter. Dr. Shepherd you were
saying about these philosophies
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going on. Greek philosopher
Epicurus saying that there
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are gods but they do not judge,
reward or punish. Were there any
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other philosophies
going on at that time.
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Yeah. of course, there were many
other different kinds of schools
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of philosophy. We're kind of
thinking of the ones that are
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linked up with the false
teachers; kind of have some kind
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of parallel to the false
teachers and the Epicureans
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seemed to have that similar kind
of philosophical view point.
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The Jewish sect of the Sadducees
also had similar characteristics
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to the Epicureans and to these
false teachers interestingly
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enough. They believed that there
is no fate, no fate exists.
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There is no providence. God does
not commit or even see evil.
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They believed in radical free
will, self-determination, and
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that the soul does not live
on after death. There are no
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penalties or rewards in
the underworld and there is no
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resurrection, which, of course,
they are known for in the Bible.
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Now it is not to say that the
false teachers in 2 Peter 3 are
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Epicureans or that they are
Sadducees either, but they seem
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to be influenced by the
same kind of milieu of ideas.
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I mean we see this around us
in our world. Post modernism is
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pretty strong in our culture,
gaining strength anyways.
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And it subtly influences
how people think of things.
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There are numerous kinds of
view points and philosophies out
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there and some of these
come into church life or into
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people's minds and it's
interesting you have this kind
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of parallel patterns develop.
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So how does Peter respond
to some of these arguments that
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these false teachers or
philosophers are bringing into
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the church? Well we
better take a look here
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at verses 5-7 because here's
how Peter responds to them.
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He says, "For they deliberately
overlook... " This is 2 Peter 3
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verse 5. "For they deliberately
overlook this fact; that the
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heavens existed long ago
and the earth was formed out of
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water and through water by the
Word of God and that by means
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of these the world that then
existed was deluged with water
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and perished. But by the same
Word the heavens and earth that
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now exist are stored up for
fire being kept until the day of
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judgment and destruction of the
ungodly. " All right. So let's
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just review the mockers' words,
okay. They say where is the
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promise of his coming, so they
are thinking of eschatology; all
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continues the same as it was
from creation. That's what we
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call protology. So eschatology
and protology, proto - the first
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things, back to the beginning.
So they first talk about the end
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and then they say the reason
why we don't have to worry about
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that is because everything
has continued as it was from the
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beginning. Peter's response:
He first notes that they are
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forgetters. They conveniently,
deliberately forget, he says and
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then he talks about creation.
So he talks about protology
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first and then he talks about
the destruction of the world
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by the flood and then he says
the world is being preserved for
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fire in the future. So he starts
with protology and ends with
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eschatology. So do you know what
kind of pattern that would be
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called? Um, what
would that be called?
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That would be called a chiasm.
Okay. Because you have... they
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talk about... the first thing
they talk about is eschatology
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then they talk about protology.
Peter starts with protology and
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then he talks about eschatology.
So A, B, B, A. Typical Hebraic
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way of thinking. You know
how you kind of pattern your
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thoughts. It's just interesting
to see. You know in this
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particular case it may
not tell us a lot about the
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interpretation, but it shows
us their patterns of thinking.
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The false teachers begin by
talking about the end and then
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with the beginning and Peter
reverses it and talks about
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creation and then talks about
the end. So that brings us into
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his exact ideas
that he presents.
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On creation and what
does Peter teach on creation?
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He starts off by saying that it
happened long ago. All right now
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that's not a
specific term for me.
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A long time ago can
mean about any time.
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I'm talking to a 10 year old and
they say it happened a long time
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ago. That might be five months
ago. For a person my age well a
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long time ago is a lot longer
than five months and it just
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depends on the context. Now
in the particular context that
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Peter is talking
about these people referred
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back to creation.
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So his phraseology - A long time
ago - doesn't necessarily mean
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billions and billions of years
as some people might want to
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suggest, but back to creation.
They went back to creation to
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describe why they don't think
Jesus is coming again. So he's
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going to go back to creation to
explain why he thinks Jesus is
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coming again, all right. So the
first thing is it was long ago.
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The second thing that he
says is that it was out of and
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through water. This is a rather
enigmatic phrase; it's a little
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challenging that he says out of
and through water. That doesn't
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have exact parallels but
actually back in the creation
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story... We should go back and
we should read Genesis 1 verses
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1-8. We're going to have to move
quickly but it's important to
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read the text.
Genesis 1 verses 1 through 8.
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"In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth.
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The earth was without form and
void and the darkness was on the
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face of the deep. And the Spirit
of God was hovering over the
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face of the waters. Then
God said, Let there be light and
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there was light. And God saw the
light that it was good and God
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divided the light from darkness.
God called the light day and the
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darkness he called night. So the
evening and the morning were the
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first day. Then God said,
Let there be a firmament in the
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midst of the waters and let
it divide the waters from the
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waters. Thus God made the
firmament and divided the waters
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which were under the firmament
and the waters which were above
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the firmament and
it was so. And verse 8.
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And called the firmament heaven.
So the evening and the morning
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were the second day. What
we do notice here is there
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is a lot of reference to water.
You know the Spirit of God is
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over the face of the water. God
makes the dry land appear out of
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the waters. The waters are
separated. There's the water
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above in our atmospheric heaven,
there's the water in the oceans
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below and there's just lots of
reference to water. He doesn't
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end there by talking about the
use of water because it is with
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water that God destroys the
ancient world with the flood.
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So water is like the agency
of creation and the agency of
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destruction of this world.
And this brings Peter to his
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description of the object of
creation is the heavens and the
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earth. It was made by God and
the action he did was to create
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it, he was the creator and
what he made was the earth, the
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heavens and the earth. This
actually stands in some contrast
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to ancient near east pictures of
creation for the other peoples
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around Israel. The stories of
creation the gods had problems
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with creation. They had
difficulty separating water and
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they decide that the want to
make people so that the people
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can work for them and provide
food for them. It just has a
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number of contrasts almost
as though the creation story in
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the book of Genesis is a
critique of these wrong views
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and points to the true
creator God who made the world.
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The emphasis that Peter gives
is that the Word of God is what
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makes the world and it is by the
Word of God that the world is
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destroyed. I mean he uses the
agencies of water but it is the
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Word of God, the powerful
Word of God that's involved.
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The object of creation is the
earth, the means of creation is
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the Word of God and the mode
of creation is water. God is
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sovereign over the entire world.
He both made it, he controls it,
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and he's able to destroy it.
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So just as God's word brought
the world into existence, God's
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word will also destroy it.
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Yes. So if we look back
again at how Peter argues what's
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interesting is that the false
teachers argue from creation and
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Peter also argues from creation.
And their argument is creation
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tells us and everything that's
happened since then, creation
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tells us that there's no second
coming. This is just a foolish
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idea that you have. Things
are not going to change, they're
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going to keep on going. And
Peter says you know I'm glad
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that you mentioned creation.
Let's talk about that. So in
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verses 5 and 6 they deliberately
overlook this fact that the
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heavens existed long ago and the
earth was formed out of water
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and through water by the Word
of God. They said ever since
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creation but they didn't mention
God. Peter mentions God; see
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he's going to bring them to
account. And he says, and by
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that means that that world that
then existed was deluged with
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water and perished. So God
intervened. He made the world;
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not only did he make the world
but he destroyed the world.
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And so Peter says, you know what
I agree with you. The past is a
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predictor for the future.
And you know you made a mistake
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there when you talked about
creation because you forgot that
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God is the creator and God
destroyed that world with a
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flood. He used water to make it,
he used water to destroy it and
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now he's preserving it and
next time he's not going to use
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water. In fact, that's the
promise at the time of the flood
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that God would not again destroy
the world with water. Remember
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that's the whole idea of
the rainbow in the sky. So Peter
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says, now he is preserving it,
verse 7. By that same word the
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heavens and earth that now exist
are stored up for fire, being
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kept until the day of judgment
and the destruction of the
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ungodly. Just as God intervened
in the past, he will intervene
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once again in the future.
The lesson they were supposed to
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learn from creation was what we
might call the lesson of water.
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That is that God is the creator,
God is the sovereign over the
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universe and if the world goes
the wrong way he will intervene
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to set things right. He's
the moral arbiter of the world.
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Okay? So in his great love
he created the world, but he is
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also the impartial judge of
all and he destroyed the ancient
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world because of its wickedness.
So that should lead us to fear
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and to reverence him and that
brings us to the lesson of fire.
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God is preserving the present
heavens and earth for the day of
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judgment and destruction of the
ungodly just as he destroyed the
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ungodly in the past. And the
false teachers indicated that
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the past predicts the future.
Okay says Peter, exactly right.
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Exactly right. You just had the
wrong idea about what the past
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was like and so you have the
wrong idea about what the future
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is like. So it's very
interesting. Peter meets the
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teachers on their own ground.
You know if you can show that a
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person's own premise is mistaken
you win the argument and that's
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what he's done here.
He's indicated that the false
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teachers had a wrong perspective
on creation. Their protology was
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mistaken, thus their eschatology
is mistaken. It's very important
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for us to have the proper
protology to understand creation
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so that we can understand
eschatology and where our world
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is headed. Now why
doesn't Peter end his
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argument there? Ah!
Because he has important
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information to share with the
Christians. They have questions
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that have been raised by the
false teachers that need to be
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answered and so the good teacher
that he is, good shepherd that
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he is, loving his flock,
he's going to give them more
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information so that they will
not be shaken by these false
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teachers. Dr.
Shepherd, once again, thank
00:13:07.12\00:13:09.34
you for joining us. Dr. Shepherd
is with us in this Bible study
00:13:09.38\00:13:12.90
now in 2 Peter. We are about
to conclude with this book of
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2 Peter. Thank you for joining
us. We will see you next time.
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We hope that you have been
blessed. Remember pick up the
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Bible, ask the Lord for guidance
as you read the scriptures.
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May God bless you.
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