In The Last Days Scoffers Will Come

The Past, Present, and Future Emphasis of 2 Peter

In the next days, scoffers will come. In the last days, scoffers will come. Please bow with me in prayer. Our Father, it's the song we have just sung to You in our worship, and as we continue to worship, as we come now to hear from Heaven, from Your Word, we thank You, Father, for Your goodness and Your mercy toward us, undeserving as we are, how frail we are.

But Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we bless Your most holy name, for most of all, for the great salvation that You have provided and accomplished through Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as He was nailed on Calvary's cross over 2 ,000 years ago and purchased our redemption and redeemed us from every lawless deed.

Father, this is Your one and only Son, and whom You're well pleased in, Jesus Christ,.

And may He be praised this morning.

Father, I pray that You hide me behind the cross, and Father, that we would decrease in Jesus' increase. And Lord, help us this morning, I pray, by Your blessed Holy Spirit, that we would lean hard on Him and His mighty power in this time of worship, Lord.

Sanctify us, cleanse us, and make Your bride ready for that great marriage feast of the Lamb one day, that great day of God Almighty. And then, Father, that You might present the church to Yourself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish, washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Father, we thank You, we praise You, and may the name of Jesus Christ be praised, and we pray all this above His name that is above all names, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen and amen. Well, if we studied so far in 2 Peter together, this wonderful second letter that he has written is only compiled of three chapters, but over the past few months, we have found that each chapter of this wonderful epistle has its own particular emphasis.

And I'd like to recap a little bit this morning, and thank God again for Brother Keith as he presented a very good overview last Lord's Day, and breaking this open to us in this last chapter, and so important.

But if we have seen in the first chapter of 2 Peter, the emphasis was on the sufficiency really of Jesus Christ, His atoning work for us, and His redemption and salvation. Also, the Apostle Peter, well, you remember mentioned that in Jesus Christ, we now have all things that pertain to life and godliness by faith, which is found in 2 Peter 1 .3.

That you might say that this is a focus on the finished work of Jesus, and that was accomplished.

For us in the past.

Now this is the order, God's order, if you noticed in all the books of the Bible, whoever, whether it be a prophet or an apostle, that was moved by the Spirit of God as they wrote God's words, as God was breathing upon them and directing them by His Spirit.

There's always perfect order.

And it's like Peter begins in chapter 1 by looking at the past, then he goes present, and then he goes future. Chapter 1, past, present, future. Chapter 2, chapter 3, and actually like I said, this is a stressing this glorious past act of our Lord for us in chapter 1 that Peter then urged his brothers and sisters in Jesus the church to rise up and faithfully build upon the foundation of faith, which is in Jesus, in Jesus alone, and in the riches that they have through Jesus Christ.

It's tremendous. We saw that in chapter 1. Then in chapter 2, which actually flows from the first chapter with a much different emphasis, chapter 2, Peter urges strongly to his brothers and sisters in Christ the church in a very urgent way, warning the church to be on alert, to take heed against the false teachers who would arise from within the church.

We saw that.

False teachers are bred within the church, not outside the church. They come within the church. They cloak themselves with sheep's clothing. They're deadly, very deadly. And he speaks about these false teachers would arise from within the church and corrupt, and he warns them to be careful that they would not corrupt your faith that is in the sufficiency of Christ.

You might say that this was the focus on the present need in chapter 2, as Peter was stressing this present situation. Now, as we studied the book of 1 Peter, it was basically to different, to the people of God in Asia that was dispersed.

This is interesting, isn't it?

So there's a dispersion, it was scattered. So it goes in all different directions. So there was persecution from the outside, and as we well know, 2 Peter is actually, there is warning against false teachers from within.

But Peter was urging them to stay true in the second letter to the doctrine of Christ and the doctrine of faith that was once delivered unto the saints, as Jude says, and as they were taught, and not let themselves be drawn away from the purity that's within the gospel.

This is very critical.

So chapter 2 is really loaded. It's the heart of the message, isn't it? Because he just, I mean, unleashes God's wrath, in a sense, on these false teachers. Very serious. These false teachers are apostate, apostate.

They've tasted of the good word of God, as Hebrews says, and it's almost as if they're gone way over the edge. It's an unforgivable sin, actually. It's very serious, and as we looked in chapter 2, it's almost like they're better off dead than alive.

They're so dangerous to the church.

That's how much God cherishes the purity of the church, and you see this when the revelation of who Jesus Christ, when He took His disciples alongside, Jesus takes His disciples, and we know that Peter himself, Peter, God reveals, the Father reveals to Him, not flesh and blood, who Jesus is.

And directly after that, after he makes the confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, the author Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus says, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven revealed this to you, and then immediately the first instructions that Jesus gives about His church is the purity of the church.

The purity. And we see what corrupts the church within, false doctrine, false teachers. And this is what has happened, it's almost as a cancer comes within a body and begins to break it down to kill it.

It's a critical thing. Now, as we come to the third chapter, as Brother Keith broke ground last week, I thank God for that, we find that this builds on the warning about false teachers, and in the previous chapter, but we find that it has its unique emphasis, I appreciate Brother Keith bringing out the exhortation, I still remember those three R's, Brother Keith, remember the word ridicule will come and rebuke the scoffers, remember, remember, rebuke, I'm sorry, remember ridicule and rebuke, those three R's, I get the word right.

And that's a good reminder to us, isn't it? Now I'm going to just build on that one word, remember, today, and we will see that the focus of this chapter is primarily the focus is on the blessed hope of the future.

And this is everything, folks, to the Christian life, and actually we don't, even within the church today, how often do you really hear messages about the day of the Lord? How often do we hear, I mean, powerful messages about the blessed hope of His second coming?

And the early apostolic church took this very serious, very, very serious, and we're going to see this. This has everything to do with the promise of His glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ and His ultimate judgment to come, by the way.

It's glorious to the saints, right? It's the day in which the saints look forward to, but the false teachers dread this day because it will be a day of doom to them. Judgment will come to them. It's a day of doom and final destruction to them and the present order of things, and as Scripture speaks of, the creation of the new heavens and the creation of the new earth, the entire universe in which God created will be renewed.

It's incredible. This is really big, folks, and I'll tell you, it's going to take us a little time to get through chapter 3, because as we make our way, we march our way to 18 verses through this chapter.

Right in the middle of it speaks about the day of the Lord, and we're going to have to take some time in that because, as you well know, as you read the Bible, as a student of the Bible, the day of the Lord and the prophecies is pointed out consistently throughout.

The Scriptures.

So we need to look at that with God's help, but I believe it's very important that we don't rush through this too fast. We need to get this. We need to heed the words. And what's he speaking of? Really, and you mentioned this today among people of the world, this is the first thing they talk about, and this is the first thing they want to know about, is the end of time.

The end of the world, right? It reminds me, when I was in basic training in boot camp, speaking about this, Brother Daniel, and Ben's been there as well, in my basic training days in the army, I remember several men, and these guys were not saved, but they had an interest, and they knew that I was a Christian, and they wouldn't come to me and ask me, how can I be saved?

That would be really the question. No, that wasn't the question. The question was, tell me what the end of time says. Tell me what the book of Revelation says. Tell me how everything's going to end, and I said, actually, it is in the book of Revelation.

God wraps it up. It's the conservation of everything. I would kind of give them a few details about judgment, and then they'd pull away. I don't want to hear this no more, it sounds pretty terrifying.

So, it is terrifying to those that don't know Jesus, and that's why I said, I think really the question should be, how can I come to know Jesus Christ, and repent, and confess my sins, and turn away from this, and turn toward God?

No, they want to know about the end times. Now, the conservation of all things. So, actually, we're going to be seeing this. And chapter 3, it stresses the great truth that the Apostle Peter is calling his brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ to keep looking, by the way, with expectation of the second coming of Jesus, the promise that he made, that he will come one day as the great Savior and God, and to, once and for all, set everything straight.

He does so, and he will so. And he actually warns them, that not themselves to be drawn away from this blessed hope. Now I want you to think about what I just said, that's very important because, thus, this is what the false teachers were doing.

They were trying to plant seeds of doubt within the church, to draw people away from this blessed hope of the gospel that's found in Christ. So, with that being said, now let us hear the words of the living God.

I'm going to read this in chapter 3 of 2 Peter, beginning with verse 1, and I like to read to verse 9. We're not going to get through all this today, but I like to read it. And we're going to break some down and see what we can see by God's help, and let the Holy Spirit teach us.

Hear the word of the living God. I'm reading from the New King James Version this morning, and I, again, like to read just verse 1 to 9. Verse 1 to 9. And then if it's later on, we'll see. Verse 10 to 13 speaks of the day of the Lord, and then he gives the conclusion, verse 14 to verse 18.

But hear God's word. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both in which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.

Know in this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust, and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

For this they willfully forget, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with the water.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, but beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.

And the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And there you have the great promise that God is not slack.

He's not slack, is he?

He's very patient.

All the patience of God. But one day his patience will run out. You see this, tables turn, and then in verse 10 he says, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. We'll look at that later, but that's when God's patience runs out.

Right now God's patient. Now I want you to think about this as we look at this chapter. At the time of Peter's epistle here, and when he wrote this, it's basically dated, I'll look this up, and you can look it up yourself in your Bible commentary.

That when he wrote this, it was somewhere between AD 64 and 67. Somewhere in between those years. Now I want you to think about this, that perhaps this is some 30 to 35 years, or may have elapsed since the Lord's ascension into heaven.

And the promise of His return in glory. Just 30 to 35 years. And the scoffers were coming on and saying, Where is His coming? Where is the promise of His coming? 30 to 35 years. Now how many years has it been now since this letter, this epistle has been written?

It's been over roughly 2 ,000 years.

But with God that's like two days.

It's like a weekend. Because God inhabits eternity. We're going to look at that in a minute. The timetable to God is completely different to humanity's timetable. But here it's only 30 to 35 years since our Lord Jesus has gone back up into heaven in His ascension.

This account, by the way, turn with me to Acts chapter 1. I want you to see this. It's a few verses I like to draw from this in the opening. But I think it's very important for us to get the grasp of what Peter is leading into.

Because what he warns us again is against scoffers, mockers in the last days. And that right at the time in Acts chapter 1, that Jesus ascends into heaven. And I like to read, let me pick up verse 9 to 11, then I like to backtrack on some other verses.

And notice what it says.

And this is Luke. Luke wrote it. Luke recorded this. Now when He had spoken these things, what things did He speak? You back up to verse 8. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. He's given the promise of the Father there. He's speaking of that. Which is very significant because the importance of it is they need power to evangelize and to go out.

And notice they started in Jerusalem at the home base. And then it started spreading through Judea, Samaria, to the end of the whole entire earth. And that was what God's plan was. But notice in verse 9, when He had spoken these things, and that's what He spoke.

While they watched, what did they watch? They watched Him as He was taken up, that's what He says. He was taken up, literally lifted up. And the scripture says, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

It was quite high at the time. And then in verse 10, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, it's almost like an amazement if we saw that ourselves. We would be doing the same thing, folks.

Like, wow.

And they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up. And scripture says, behold, two men, and of course we know that these are angelic beings, that I would take it they escorted the Lord back to heaven.

Two men stood by them in white apparel. And they stood by them. And also said, men of Galilee, now this is somewhat of a loving rebuke. Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus.

This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven. Let me stop right there. Very interested in Jesus' ascension. And the promises given by these angelic beings, these two men, and He tells them, men of Galilee, why are you standing gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus was taken up from you into heaven. He's going to come back in the like manner that which you saw Him go into heaven. Now, back up a little bit with me. You notice in verse 6 and 7, there's a question and there's an answer.

Now, these are not angelic beings. This is before Jesus ascended into heaven. And we don't know which one of the disciples asked this. All we know is that the disciples were there. And notice in verse 6.

Therefore when they, they, had come together. That's the disciples. They'd come together. They, again, the disciples asked Him. Saying, Lord, will you at this time? Notice, they're talking about time here.

Restore the kingdom of Israel. And I just absolutely love the Lord's answer here. Because notice what He emphasizes.

Verse 7.

And He, speaking of Jesus, said to them, It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. That's the answer. They asked the question. They're concerned about the times and when God's going to consummate and restore Israel.

And all things. And why Jesus came. Being the King. From heaven. And He comes. And that's because He is the King of Israel. And here He's talking about the consummation of all things. But it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

This is interesting.

Because Jesus did not correct His disciples' views concerning the restoration of the kingdom of Israel.

Did He?

It says in verse 6. See? In which they asked that question. The answer is given in verse 7. Instead, He corrects them for the views concerning the timing of the event. That's what He corrects them on.

Is the timing. Now notice with me. Jesus says in verse 7. Let's look at it again. And He said to them. It is not for you to know. Now that really humbles us, doesn't it? It's not for you to know. The times or the seasons.

Which the Father has put in His own authority.

And these words.

He speaks to them. And He gives. Actually, He speaks to the issue of the timing. Differently. Times here refers to chronology. The chronological order. The duration of time. How long. How long. Seasons refers to epochs.

Or the events. Which is to come. And have you noticed today in our day. People get caught up in the times and the epochs and the events. That's why they've made series on television. The left behind series.

And people get so curious about these things. Like they've got to know somehow. But the Bible still says. We will not know the day or the hour. Only God the Father knows. And Jesus now knows. But that was not revealed.

When He was here on earth. And the disciples asked. And basically. I thank God that only He knows. Because today will be like a thief. A thief never tells you when he's going to break into your house.

Does he?

It comes unexpectedly. And that's what Jesus is basically saying. But see these disciples were concerned about how long. The seasons and the epochs and the events. The timing. So the disciples were not to know how long.

It would be before Christ set up His kingdom. At His second coming. Nor were they to know what events would transpire before the establishment of it. Now I want you to think about this. Peter's point.

He points out here that even the Old Testament prophets. Did not know the timing between the sufferings of Jesus. And the glories that would follow. Chapter and verse. Well we studied it. Remember? Look at 1 Peter 1 .11.

1 Peter 1 .11. You can jump back to 1 Peter. But the scripture says here. Searching what. Or what manner of time. The spirit of Christ. Who was in them. Was indicating when. He testified beforehand. The sufferings of Christ.

And the glories that would follow. So you think of it as the Old Testament prophets. Would speak about the promise of Jesus' first coming. And at times He spoke about the second coming. It kind of mingles in between.

We'll see that later on. But talking about His first arrival. His advent. When He comes to this earth. They did not know exactly the time. They didn't know the time period. But the spirit of God was breathing upon them.

Moving them.

To write these words.

And He's going to come.

And it's the same now.

He's coming back.

We don't know when. But we do. Yes there's hints of the earth. And what is going on. But we still do not know the exact day and the hour. But think of this. Now you look back at our text. In 2 Peter chapter 3.

Jump back to chapter 3. We see that Peter returns to the exhortation. As Brother Keith pointed out. It's almost like he needfully had to warn the church. Against the false teachers. And their damnable heresies.

And now he comes back to the believers. After he warned against the deadly. Damnable teachers. The teachings and the false teachers. He addresses the church. And that's why he says beloved. Beloved. Beloved of God.

I now write to you this second epistle. If you remember. In the introduction. I mentioned of 2 Peter. There's a lot of liberal theologians. That do not believe. That the apostle Peter wrote this. But it clarifies right here.

Now I write to you this second epistle.

Peter.

It can't be any more clearer than that.

He says.

I now write to you this second epistle. In both. Which I stir up. Your pure minds. By way of what? Reminder. I'm going to remind you of something. This is what Peter is saying. And this is where the spirit of God is leading him.

He said.

I'm going to remind you of something very important now. I'm going to jolt your memory. I'm going to stir you up. I'm going to stir up your pure minds. And the key word is reminder. It's a reminder. We need to be reminded.

Because. We forget. We need to be jolted. About the second coming of Jesus Christ. The final chapter of the second Peter by the way. Which will be Peter's last written words. To the church. His last will and testament.

If you please. Almost like 2 Timothy chapter 4. Paul's last words. That's like his last will and his last testament. This is Peter's last will and his last testament. In other words. It's extremely important.

All of it's important of course. But what he's saying here is. We're talking about the second coming of Jesus. And he exhorts the church. And he seeks to stir up their pure minds. To stir them up.

To what?

To what? I think that's a fair question. That's a good question. What's it going to stir up their minds? By reminding them to give heed. To the words of the prophets. And the words of the apostles. Of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that first of all. Here he points out. This is my first point. Remember the words spoken before. By the holy prophets. And the holy apostles. Remember the words spoken before. By the holy apostles.

And the holy prophets. Notice in verse 2. That you may be mindful of the words. Which were spoken before. By the holy prophets. And the commandment of us. And the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Folks I'm going to tell you.

This is extremely important.

Especially to us today.

But as Peter wrote to the church back then. The only way. And I say again. The only way. I cannot emphasize this enough. That Peter's readers could recognize. The erroneous teachings. And the errors. And the heretical teachers.

Which in which to compare their teaching. With the teaching of the prophets and the apostles. Was to know the bible. To know the scriptures. To know what the prophets say.

What the apostles says.

And that's why there is no other revelation today. That was given in these 66 books. Right here. Compiled in the bible. That's what we believe here. And if anyone else says. There's other books. The book of Judas.

Or the book of Maccabees. Those are probably historical books. The book of the Hebrew children. You could go on and on about it. Which a lot of the Catholics believe. I'm telling you. They were not inspired of God.

Not within the canon. In which was closed. Our early fathers. The early Christians closed this for a reason. Because when they searched within the apocrypha. Even though it was historical. They saw that there was errors.

That does not line up consistently.

With the scriptures.

As a whole.

They made those decisions. I've read the apocrypha. It's interesting. There's some things.

There's even the.

I believe the wisdom of Solomon.

One of the books.

And I said wow. That's really good. But as I'm reading that. I'm saying to myself. This is not inspired by God. This is inspired by God. This is the sufficient scriptures. And by the way. This is a plenty enough revelation.

What is it about people. They always want something more. Is not this enough for us. Everything we need to know. About God. About Jesus. About everything that pertains to life and Godliness. Is found right here in this book.

I'm telling you. We need to heed. And this is what Peter is actually saying. You heed what the apostles. What we the apostles teach. And what the holy prophet spoke of. Oh by the way. First Peter once again.

In chapter 1. Verse 20 and 21.

Listen to this.

Knowing this first. That no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation. For prophecy never came by the will of man.

We need to underscore that.

Don't we?

It's not by man's will. It was not man that invented. It's not man that came up with this. This was the will of God. For prophecy never came by the will of man. But holy men of God spoke. As they were moved.

That means they were directed by the Holy Spirit. No mere mortal man. Chose to utter these thoughts. If you read this book. It's eternity in it. You know no mortal man. Has said what God has said. It is completely separate.

Thoughts as though they were just.

You know mortal men.

Just did not choose to utter his own thoughts. As though they were God's. Rather on the contrary. God himself chose these holy men of God. He spoke through them. He directed them. He moved through them as spokesmen.

As a mouthpiece. Utter thoughts given directly to them by the Holy Spirit of God.

It's incredible.

But it's true. And we believe it. Don't we? Remember the words spoken before. Remember the words. So Peter writes this second epistle. To stir up their pure minds. And wave a reminder. Thank God for that.

When I read that I'm thinking. Lord stir up my mind. And oh that word. Pure mind. Oh.

Isn't that convicting?

I want a pure mind. As Jesus said. Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. But the scripture talks about you got to have a pure mind too. I believe that comes in sanctification. It doesn't come overnight.

But he's talking to God's people. That are sanctified. That are regenerated. Because sanctification is part of the process. And we're going to see this. Now to be mindful of the holy prophets. And the apostles.

And the commandment. No that's interesting isn't it? Commandment. There's two interpretations to this. One is. Peter is referring to the warnings. Which he and the other apostles have written. Concerning the judgment to come.

I believe that was one interpretation. I think that's a good one. The other one is the commandment. Can refer to the commandment that Jesus Christ gave to the apostles. Before he ascended into high.

Now both of those.

Could be. Very well the meaning.

But you could look that up.

I would think personally. And check me on this. On scripture. Scripture is not what my opinion means by the way. It's what scripture says right? But it ties into Jude 17. Look at Jude 17. If you're there.

Because the book of Jude. And the book of 2 Peter goes hand in glove. He says verse 17. But you beloved. Almost the same identical words. Remember. Again he says remember the words. Which were spoken before by the apostles.

Of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he ties that in. So the words of the holy prophets.

And the apostles.

What are they? What is he talking about? Well I would say. Because these words. In which the holy prophets. And the holy apostles spoke of. Was expressing the will of God. God's will. Not man's will. And it says it in the text.

And also we must. It's to have a discerning spirit. If you look at Jude. 18 and 19. Notice what he says. How they told you. Who's they? The apostles. Now here. He's.

One of the.

Lord's own as well.

Writing.

He says how they told you. That they would be mockers. In the last time. Who would walk according to their own ungodly lust. Their own ungodly desires. We saw that. In chapter 2. They walk according to the flesh.

According to the ungodly lust. You see this. This is what false teachers is all about. It's very evident isn't it? Look at their life. Not only what they teach. But look at their life. And the false teachers today.

It's absolutely appalling. They take these people's money. And I mean. They buy airports. And Learjets. And they live lavishly. Because of their greedy. Ungodly desires. That's what they're all about.

The love of money. The praise of men. But let's go on. Look at verse 19. Jude says. These are sensual persons. Sensual? The perverted. They walk according to the flesh. They're sensual persons. Who calls divisions.

And boy this sets it straight. Not having the Spirit. That's straight black and white. They don't have the Holy Spirit. They're not regenerated. The Spirit of God doesn't dwell in them. Anyone claiming to speak for God.

The only sure standard for evaluation.

Is the Holy Bible.

Is the Word of God. And those who attack the central truths. Of the Scriptures. There's many false teachers. That do attack. The Gospel. Concerning God. Who God is. Concerning who Jesus is. Concerning salvation by grace.

Through faith alone. About the purity of the Gospel.

Folks.

These people must be avoided. They must be avoided at all cost. And we must warn people. About their damnable teachings. The reason I'm saying this. If you go back to 2 Peter 3. Notice how Peter begins.

Knowing this first. That scoffers will come. In the last days. Walking according to their own lust. Their own desires. Almost the same thing. As Jude says. In verse 4. What's the question they say? Where is the promise of His coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep. All things continue as they were. From the beginning of creation. Uniform Territism. I believe that's the right word. We looked a little bit about that. Brother Keith brought that out to us.

Last Lord's Day. This is what I love about this. The primary motivation for righteous living. Was really the expectation of the return of Jesus Christ. Should that not motivate us to live righteous? And godly?