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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee, Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
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Merry Christmas. What a great day to be in the Bible. New Testament readers, we finished books 22 and 23, and whole Bible readers, we finished books 61 and 62. Only four more books left. The two books we read today both deal with leaders in the church who are trying to squash the lies of some false teachers. In both situations, the teachers are slandering the apostles, denying the truth of the gospel, and telling people that God is okay with you doing whatever you want because, hey, Grace, he's not going to judge your sin. In both books, the authors proved the false teachers wrong by giving multiple examples of times when God did bring judgment for sin and rebellion. Let's look at Peter's letter first. As a refresher, Peter is living in Rome under the rule of Governor Nero, a renowned persecutor of Christians. Peter knows he's going to die soon. He writes this letter to churches in modern Turkey and wants them to pass it around now and even in the generations to come to remind people to hold tightly to the truth. In the midst of such great persecution, he reminds his leaders that God in his great power has given them everything they need for life and godliness.
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Because they have access to holy power the general population doesn't, their lives should look different than their culture. He lists out seven traits he wants to see them growing in faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. He says if those are on the increase, you'll be fruitful and effective in your knowledge of God. On the other hand, if those things aren't on the increase, you might be living a lie. The false teachers were accusing them of lying, the apostles and the leaders of the early church. Peter defends the gospel. It's not a myth and no one made it up, not the apostles testimony and not the Hebrew scriptures either. In fact, he says in verses 20 to 21, No prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. He stands firm on the fact that scripture is God's word. These false teachers were not only disregarding God's word, but trying to get people to rely on their own words about God instead. They even claim to know when Jesus would return as though God had revealed it to them personally.
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Peter says to trust the written word of God over the words of these false teachers and their false prophecies. Those who lie about God's word will face judgment. Even the angels brought judgment on themselves when they sinned against God. Not to mention the people on Earth during the flood and in Sodom and Gamora, God brought judgment while still sparing the righteous people who were in those situations. But these false teachers, they're bold and willful. They have no fear of God, no reverence and awe of Him. They're irrational and impulsive, like animals, he said. Not only is their message a lie, but their lives are a train wreck. They're adulterers, liars, greedy, and he says, They entice, unsteady souls. That makes me want to make sure my soul is steady so I don't fall prey to false teaching. And for them, Peter says God has reserved the gloom of utter darkness. Peter says at some point in the future, people will be scoffers. They will follow their own sinfulful desires and mock the return of Jesus. Chick. Peter speaks to them and says, Look around, guys. Someone made all of this. He destroyed it once with water and then brought it all back around again.
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And someday he's coming back and that's going to happen all over again, except next time with fire instead of water. You're saying, Where is he then if he's coming back? But his timetable for things is different than yours. He's actually taking this along because he's being patient with you. His time frame is giving you an opportunity to repent. He'll come when you don't expect it, and all of this will be burned up, heaven and earth. But his kids will be preserved from judgment and will live with him in the new heaven and new earth when they're recreated. After he finishes his speech to the scoffers, he speaks to God's kids and says, You know this is going to happen. You're a believer, not a scoffer. So what does the life of a believer look like? He tells them to live in holiness and peace. Then he references the letters of Paul and says, Paul's letters are hard to understand sometimes, aren't they? Lots of people twist them and take them out of context. Honestly, it's because they're ignorant and unstable and it's not going to go well for them in the end. But it's no surprise because that's what they do with the other scriptures, too.
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Did you catch that? In 3:16, Peter refers to Paul's letters as scripture. Peter, who is in the inner circle of Jesus. Peter, the Christ-appointed sheep feeder. This is a big deal. It's one of the main reasons Paul's letters are canonized. Not long after this, Peter dies by crucifixion, just like Jesus promised him in John 21. Except church history tells us that he allegedly requested to be crucified upside down because he didn't deserve the honor of dying in the same way Jesus died. Now on to our next book, Jude. Remember the book of James/Jacob, written by the brother of Jesus? This book is almost certainly written by one of his other brothers, Jude, aka Judah, aka Judas, but not that Judas. We first met him in Matthew 13. We aren't sure exactly who he's writing to, but it seems to be a congregation of Jewish Christ followers because he makes a lot of references to both the Hebrew scriptures and to other books that were well-known in Jewish history. He opens by reminding them that they are called by God and kept in Christ. God's calling and his keeping always coincide. He warns them about the false teachers and reminds them that none of this surprises God.
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In fact, even even this is somehow part of God's plan. Peter hinted at the same idea as well. It's comforting to know that none of this leaves God wringing his hands trying to figure out what to do. Judah also recounts the stories from the past of how God has punished the rebellious, wicked people while sparing the righteous, the escape from Egypt, the fallen angels, and Sodom and Gamora. In these examples, we see specific sins represented that both Jude and Peter say the false teachers are guilty of, too. Unbelief, a desire for power and authority that doesn't belong to them, and sexual immorality. The false teachers think they won't see God's judgment, but like all the others, Jude says God will punish them with eternal fire. They rely on their own dreams as guidance instead of God's word, and they reject God's authority and blaspheme against him and his holy ones. Then Jude tells a story that most of us aren't familiar with. It's from another ancient Jewish book called The Book of Enoch. The book hasn't stood up to scriptural scrutiny for a lot of reasons, but that doesn't mean everything in it is wrong.
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We've linked to an article with more info on the Book of Enoch in the show notes. Regardless, Jude quotes it here in part because his audience is familiar with it. And since he's the brother of Jesus, there's good reason to believe that at least this section he's referencing is accurate. He mentions that when Moses died, there was a fight over his corpse. The fight was between Satan and the arched angel Michael. Why? Some say Satan planned to inhabit Moses' body like a wolf in sheep's clothing and take that opportunity to damage the message of the gospel to the people Moses had been leading. But what happened there isn't the vital information Jude wants us to know. That's a side story. Jude wants us to know that an arched angel didn't pronounce judgment on the enemy. He invoked the Lord's authority to rebuke him. These false teachers were pronouncing judgment on their own and denying Christ's authority, which is the exact opposite of what the arch angel Michael did. They had no humility, no respect for God's word and authority. He wraps up by telling them not to be afraid and tells them to keep themselves in the love of God because God is keeping them in his love.
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This reminds me of Paul's words to Timothy, Guard yourself because God is guarding you. Just like always, God is working in us and through us to accomplish what he has promised to us and for us. My God shot today actually had to do with the birth of Christ. How timely. Jude says in verse 5 that Jesus is the one who rescued people out of Egypt. Has Jude lost his mind? Jesus wasn't born yet when that happened. It was still hundreds of years away. Except Jesus is God, the son who has always existed. And if you were with us in the Old Testament, you remember that he actually shows up multiple times on Earth doing miraculous things throughout the Old Testament before he was born in a Major. This is called a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ on Earth. I love that he just couldn't wait to get here. He's always been coming to Earth, always been rescuing his people. And then and now and always.
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He's where the joy is.
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Tomorrow we'll be reading the book of.
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1 John. So check out the video overview in the show notes. This one video covers.
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All three letters of John that we'll be reading over the next two days.
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Merry Christmas. We've already talked about how this isn't actually Jesus's birthday, but I'm still happy to celebrate His birth. Jesus came to Earth to rescue His people. Our savior, Emmanuel, God with us, was.
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Born on Earth.
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In order to live the perfect life and die the perfect death so that we could not only have our sin debt paid, but also so that we could have a new eternal, abundant life in His eternal Kingdom. For some of you, that's not lost on you. This day is filled with joy. And for some of you, this day is filled with sadness, or maybe it's filled with layers of both. If today is hard for you, you're not alone. He's with you.
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And I see you, and I've been there.
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And if it's joyful, He's with you, too. And I'm here to celebrate with you. So wherever you are, whatever you're feeling, the Lord is near. Emmanuel and the Lord is good. And he alone is where the joy is in this season and in every moment of every day. Merry Christmas to you from me and the whole TBR team.
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It's not too late to start a new Christmas tradition. You probably know the story of a Christmas Carol, but you've never heard it like the new Hope Nation rendition. Scrooge, a Christmas Carol podcast, will draw you into the powerful story of forgiveness and redemption. It's an audio experience starring Hollywood prose like Sean Asten, John Reece Davis, and Juliet Mills. Click the link in the show notes to listen.
