Admonition Podcast

Good afternoon.

Take your Bibles, if you will, and open them to 2 Peter.

I lost the page in my notebook that my notes were on.

There it is.

Starting too far back.

In scripture, a scoffer, generally someone who mocks truth, rejects correction, ridicules
righteousness, or treats God's warnings with contempt.

Peter as he is writing in the closing chapter as we have it in our English Bibles of this
second letter writes in 2nd Peter chapter 3 beginning in verse 1, Beloved, I now write to

you this second epistle.

In both of 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 commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that

scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts." This
afternoon, I want us to

consider this phrase, this statement made by Peter concerning scoffers in the last days.

Now we're not going to delve into a highly uh deep view of what are the last days.

I'm gonna give you what they are and let you do your own study on it, but the last days
are the Christian age.

It is the period of the age of the church.

uh beginning in Acts chapter two, starting with the day of Pentecost and going forward
from that time.

That's what the New Testament speaks of as the last days.

So we've been in the last days for 2,000 years.

We've been in the last days since the day of Pentecost and since the church began.

That is what the New Testament identifies as the last days.

But Paul, sorry, but Peter,

has reminded us that the prophets spoke clearly that there would not be an end to those
who reject God's Word or God's message just because the Kingdom had come, just because the

Church had been established, just because Jesus came to the cross, died on the cross, and
ascended back into heaven didn't mean that there would not be a time when people began to

reject Christ.

or even when the church began to reject Christ.

This is also consistent with what Paul wrote.

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica and told them that there would be the return of
Christ, that Christ would come back, He would come a second time, but that before that

point there would be a falling away, there would be those who would arise teaching
perverse things and

would draw away those after themselves, if you combine what he said in Thessalonians to
what he says in Acts chapter 20 to the elders at Ephesus.

So the point is this, yes, the last days at large are the Church Age, but there were
events that were spoken of, that were prophesied in the early days of the Church that

still had some fulfillment to come in the days ahead.

and Paul, sorry Peter, I'm gonna get my words out eventually.

If they could just get their names changed where they didn't start with the same letter,
that'd be easier.

uh But Peter is going to speak and write to these Christians and inform them as he's
getting older, as he's nearing the end of his life, there is still a departure that is

coming.

And he tells the Christians that coming in the last days there will be those who will be
scoffers.

and they will be opposing the Word and the works of God.

So I wanted to spend some time with this idea of what a scoffer is, what it means to be a
scoffer, and perhaps from this text and a few others, what we can learn about the scoffers

that Peter was writing about.

First, you should notice the reality of the situation.

Peter makes it clear in chapter 2 verse 3 he says, this first.

Let me just begin with that phrase, knowing.

He doesn't say, you know what, I think, uh I have great expectations there might be.

He doesn't couch it in terms of potential.

He says, this is known.

This is without doubt.

Peter is writing to these brethren that the things that are going to be talked about are
already happening and they were going to continue.

He says, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days.

Peter has already said that the things that he's writing to them about were things that
were spoken of by the prophets.

He is indicating that there were those who had inspired miraculous knowledge delivered to
them by God in the early church who said, this was coming.

But he also points out that even the apostles had stated that this was coming.

The apostles had been teaching that there would be those who would rise up within the body
of Christ who would teach people to reject God.

Now that shouldn't surprise us.

It should not surprise us that there were those who were coming in the first century who
were going to teach Christians from within the body of Christ to depart from God.

For that's always been Satan's tactic.

Satan has always utilized those within as the primary way he could get individuals to
depart from the Lord.

And it's a reasonable thing in the sense of strategy.

Let's face it, when Christians are around those who are outside the church, they are
outside the body of Christ, they are those who reject God, they reject his testimony, they

reject his word, they're guards up.

They look at those individuals and go, I'm not going to do everything that they do because
they're not Christians.

And yet, here comes along a nice looking young preacher or teacher and he's well-schooled
and he sounds educated and he seems to know what he's talking about.

And he starts teaching the doctrine of Christ mixed with the doctrine of pagans.

and he starts intermingling it.

Or he starts teaching that you must keep the law and be circumcised in order to go to
heaven.

And well, I mean, he came from Jerusalem.

He came from where the church and the gospel message originally came from, so he must know
what he's talking about.

Peter is going to warn them.

Not that there would be those outside the church that would reject the message of God, but
rather that there would be teachers inside the church that would reject the message of God

and that had already been prophesied.

And when it occurred and when they observed it, when they witnessed it, when they
experienced it, they weren't to be surprised.

They were to know this was coming.

But as you notice in the text,

He says, I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

When Peter writes these things to them, he writes to them having already told them these
things in person.

He is reminding them of what he already taught them when he was with them.

what he already wrote to them about in his first epistle, what Jude is going to write
about, what Paul is going to write about, what James is going to write about.

He says, we're reminding you and reminding you and reminding you and reminding you.

Because we do not want you to be susceptible to being deceived.

I bring up the reality simply because of this.

There are times and there are individuals who act as though there are no false teachers
that we need to abstain from fellowship with, that we need to not listen to what they say.

We should just take all information and just put it in a big pot and just eat the stew
that comes out.

That's just false.

we are to do as the church at Ephesus is spoken of as doing.

If you turn to Revelation chapter two.

Revelation chapter 2, we read to the angel of the church at Ephesus, right, these things
says he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven

golden lampstands, I know your works, your labor, your patience, that you cannot bear with
those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and

have found them liars.

There were teachers going around to the churches, including Ephesus, in the first century,
and they were claiming to be the apostles of the Lord.

And the church at Ephesus had put them to the test.

They had used properly the miraculous gifts to establish that these individuals were
liars.

They had tested them and they had proven them to be false.

Now, if there were false teachers in the first century that John writes and tells us are
liars and that you should not follow them, you should not adhere to what they're teaching,

therefore you should not give them a platform to teach it.

Why would we imagine there aren't today?

Why would we imagine that we're somehow exempt from that and that everybody who claims to
be a Christian is clearly a Christian and everybody who claims to be a Christian, they can

just teach whatever they believe and it'll be fine?

Nonsense.

Scoffers were coming in the last days and Peter says they're already here.

But he also

will state in considering the reality of this that the things which were spoken by the
scoffers had already been settled by God.

The things they were going to teach were going to be a rejection of what God had already
said.

One of the easiest ways we can evaluate whether or not someone is a false teacher or
teaching the truth is this.

Take what they say and lay it against the Word of God.

And if they don't agree with the Word of God...

We don't have to discuss it anymore.

We don't have to have an evaluation any further than that.

Do they teach what the Scriptures teach?

Or are they rejecting the very word they are claiming to uphold?

Then consider number two, the rejection of the message.

You go down to verse four and Peter is going to point out one of the specific things that
he has in mind that these scoffers who would be coming in the last days would reject.

Verse four says, they would be 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, Peter says, 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 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."

Peter says there are some who are coming out among you and will come out among you who are
going to come and they're going to teach and they're going to preach and you're going to

hear what they have to say and they're going to say Jesus isn't coming back.

They're going to say there is no second coming.

There is no eternity to be worried about.

There is no return of Christ.

There is no judgment day for you to be prepared for.

Everything's existed the way it's always been and it will always be the way it's always
been.

So you just live your life and enjoy it.

Peter would point out that the rejection of the message would be couched in a denial of
history.

Peter says.

They willfully, they willfully forget.

The problem is not that the teachers were unaware of what the Scriptures taught.

It's not as though the teachers were going to open up their Old Testament Scriptures and
suddenly the first half of Genesis is missing.

He says they just ignore it.

They just pretend that it's not true.

They willfully forget that there was a point in time where God had created the world and
then because of the evil that existed in the world, God wiped the face of the planet off.

Peter points out that as the scoffers come, they're going to reject the message.

They're going to reject the history.

Turn to John chapter 3.

In John chapter 3, Jesus as He is speaking to Nicodemus...

We'll say to him beginning in verse 17, for God did not send his son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved

darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

Jesus would point out that the actions of the false teacher become self-evident when you
shine light on them.

The actions and the words of the false teachers start to become evident when you compare
them to the Word of God.

Jesus points out that the false teachers in His day, the chief priests, the elders, the
Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, had all rejected the very message of God for their

own traditions.

And the only light that was going to expose them was the Word of God.

As you consider the text of 2 Peter chapter 3 and in verse 4, you'll notice

that they rejected Christ's appearing.

But if you go further into the book of Jude, you'll find that Jude also warned concerning
the scoffers.

And in Jude chapter 1, beginning of verse 16, he says, These are grumblers, complainers,
walking according to their own lusts, and they mouth great swelling words, flattering

people to gain advantage.

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would

walk according to their own ungodly lusts.

These are sensual persons who cause division not having the Spirit.

Jude will point out they not only rejected Christ appearing, they rejected Christ's
morality.

They rejected the teaching of His laws concerning their actions, their lifestyle, and the
things that they could and could not participate in.

If you were to go down the list of things that Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and
7, and you look at that Sermon on the Mount and you read the words where Jesus said, you

will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the scribes and the Pharisees.

You shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

And these scoffers would have wiped those pages away.

They were not interested in the morality that Jesus taught.

They were not interested in the lifestyle Jesus taught.

But if you go over to James chapter four, you'll also find as James will reach back into
the Old Testament to give a statement concerning humility.

We read in James chapter four and in verse six, but he gives more grace.

Therefore, he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

That's from Proverbs and we'll be back to that in a moment.

But he says in verse seven, Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee
from you.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Lament and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

Do not speak evil to one another, brethren.

He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges
the law.

But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy.

Who are you to judge another?

Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such a place, such a city, spend a
year there, buy and sell and make a profit.

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life?

is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live to do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil.

Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." James will
point out that there were those in his day, there were those within the church

who because of their pride, because of the things that they desire to participate in,
because of those actions that there was their lifestyle, he says you are rejecting God's

authority.

Consider, when a person starts teaching that which contradicts scripture, for instance,
that Christ is not going to return, that there's not going to be a resurrection, that

things will just continue on as they always have.

They don't just reject the message of the appearing of Christ.

They don't just reject the Second Coming.

For when you examine their lives, they rejected the morality of God, and when you examine
their teaching, they rejected the authority of God.

I've heard people say at times when they examine why one group, one religious body or one
group practices and worships one way and another group practices and worships another way

and the church teaches that we ought to worship the way the New Testament Christians
worshiped and that we ought to worship the way the first century church worships.

They say, well, the only difference between this group and that group is this instrument.

Nonsense.

The difference between the church and not the church is the authority of God.

And whether or not we will accept God's authority or replace it with our own.

Because if we replace it with our own, we are the scoffers.

We are the ones who have chosen to live according to our desire, our lust, our passions,
instead of His.

Instead of His Word.

consider Proverbs chapter twenty-one.

Solomon would write concerning scoffers, would write concerning those mockers that he
warns his son about.

And in Proverbs chapter 21 and in verse 24, he writes, a proud and haughty man, scoffer is
his name.

He acts with arrogant pride.

Over in Proverbs chapter 3,

Solomon will write in Proverbs chapter 3 and in verse 34, surely he scorns the scornful
but gives grace to the humble.

This passage is where James' statement from James chapter 4 verse 6 comes from.

The point that James is making, the point that Solomon was making is God rejects the
scorner, he rejects the scoffer,

He rejects the prideful because they have rejected Him in their pride.

But then consider the root, the root of the problem.

In Proverbs chapter 22, Solomon will write in Proverbs chapter 22 and in verse 10, cast
out the scoffer and contention will leave.

Yes, strife and reproach will cease.

Sometimes we find that there are those who are ignorant and are learning.

And they'll say things that are incorrect.

They'll believe doctrines that are incorrect.

And over time, they will learn the truth.

They'll grow, they'll mature, and they'll replace their opinions that they've been taught
by culture and the world around them.

their parents and their grandparents and the people that they've known at work, they'll
replace those with the authority of God and they'll suddenly realize, I always thought it

was different than that.

And they'll put God's word where it belongs and they'll learn and they'll grow.

That's not what he's talking about here.

What he's talking about here are those within the assembly, in this case, the Old
Testament assembly, the people of God, modern.

view of this would be in Peter's day the church and they have no interest in replacing
their opinions with God's word.

They have no interest in replacing their rejection of God's authority with their
authority.

They have no interest in replacing their ideas with God's commands.

And Solomon writes, you know, when you take the contentious person and you remove them
suddenly

All the problems go away.

He says, the scoffer is cast out, the contentions are gone.

Sometimes we do ourselves and our own congregations a disservice when we allow the scoffer
to stay.

When you allow the scoffer to remain.

Over in 1 Thessalonians.

Paul, as he is writing to the church at Thessalonica, will warn the brethren that those
who will not admit that the things that the apostles taught were the Word of God were to

be removed.

They were to be put out of the assembly because the things that the apostles taught were
backed up by the miraculous.

The things which they spoke were backed up by the...

Spirit of the Lord.

The things that they taught had the authority to validate that they were from God.

And Paul's point is, if they won't adhere to the message that's been authorized by God,
they don't have any business here.

We need to be mindful of that in our own assemblies today.

In Isaiah chapter 28, Isaiah chapter 28, beginning in verse 16,

Isaiah has an interesting comment here in his prophecy concerning scoffers.

and it's quite interesting that the context that it falls into.

Isaiah chapter 28 and in verse 16

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, uh a sure foundation.

Whoever believes will not act hastily.

Now, if you are familiar with Isaiah's prophecy, there is a single individual that Isaiah
describes as the cornerstone.

There is a single individual that Isaiah has prophesied about that God will lay the
cornerstone in Israel and anybody who rejects him will be destroyed, will be ground down,

will be broken to pieces by that cornerstone and it's Christ.

So in this context, Isaiah writes, behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.

He says, verse I also will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet.

The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the hiding place.

Your covenant with death will be annulled and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.

When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.

As often as it goes out, it will take you.

For morning by morning it will pass over and by day and by night it will be a terror just
to understand the report.

For the bed is too short to stretch out on and the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap
himself in it.

For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perizm.

He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon that he may do his work, his awesome work, and
bring to pass his act, his unusual act.

Now therefore...

Do not be mockers.

Lest your bonds be made strong, for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a destruction
determined even upon the whole earth." Isaiah, as he's writing concerning the Messiah, as

he's writing concerning the foundation that God says he would lay, as he's writing
concerning the cornerstone, says, uh trust me, you don't want to be a mocker.

You do not want to be found on the other side of God's plans because when He enacts His
plan, you're going to be judged and you're going to be destroyed.

In Proverbs chapter 15,

Proverbs 15 and in verse 12 we read, scoffer does not love one who corrects him, nor will
he go to the wise.

As Peter writes about the scoffers that would come,

He uses a term that the Proverbs writer has already identified the primary issue with
these people.

It's not their ignorance.

It's not their lack of knowledge.

It's not that they're young in the faith.

It's not that they're babes in Christ.

It's that they refuse to be taught.

They have decided that they are the expert and they will follow their own wisdom to their
own destruction.

We need to be careful when we realize that we perhaps are refusing to be taught.

In Titus chapter two, Paul will write to Titus and after he gives a number of
admonishments about some groups within the body of Christ, teaching other groups in the

body of Christ and setting an example for them, he will write, for the grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Teaching.

us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God

and Savior Jesus Christ.

Paul writes to Titus and he says, you need to be taught by grace.

Too often,

We find individuals who are scoffers, they've rejected the message of God, they've
rejected the morality of God, they've rejected the authority of God, and the only thing

they want to talk about is grace.

and yet they refuse to be taught by grace.

Grace is something that is extended from God because salvation has appeared to all men.

But grace teaches us to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly lusts, and to live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world because there is coming a day when Christ

will return.

So in order for the scoffer to reject the teaching of grace, he had to reject the teaching
of the second coming of Christ.

In order to reject the second coming of Christ, he had to reject the Old Testament
history.

In order to reject the Old Testament history, he had to reject the authority of God.

If you turn back to 2 Peter chapter 3,

You'll notice what Peter will say or will write after this warning about these scoffers.

He will write in 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning
his promise as some count slackness, but is long-suffering to us were not willing that any

should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with
fervent heat.

Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to
be in holy conversation or conduct and godliness?

Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will
be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells.

you meet someone who says, yeah, I just don't believe in the second coming.

You've just met a scoffer.

But if you meet someone who says, yeah, I just don't believe that we have to live
according to all those rules and ordinances in the New Testament, you've met a scoffer.

If you meet someone who says, yeah, I know that's what the New Testament says we are to do
in worship, but I just don't think it's a big deal, you've met a scoffer.

If you meet someone who doesn't understand grace teaches us to live righteously and
instead they want to use grace as an excuse for sin, you've met a scoff.

Peter says, be careful, because they're coming.

And we need to be aware.

And we need to be understanding enough to discern that when we meet a scoffer, we don't
start instilling their doctrines into our lives.

If you're here this afternoon and you have needed the invitation of Christ, there is
coming a day when this world will be destroyed.

There is coming a day when the elements will melt with fervent heat because God has said
that is exactly what He was going to do.

There is coming a day when whether or not you live to see that day or not, this life will
be over.

And after death comes the judgment.

Are you prepared for it?

Are you living according to the message of Christ?

Are you living according to the morality of Christ?

Are you living uh in accordance with the authority of Christ

If not, why not begin today?

If you have need of the invitation, it is open as