Answering the Scoffers 2 Peter 3:1-10 Adapted from a David Owens sermon http://www.sermoncentral.com/print_friendly.asp?ContributorID=&SermonID=155830

2. The story is told about a preacher who was
preaching to a packed church about the
second coming. He wound up to a fever
pitch and quoted Jesus’ promise, “I am
coming soon!” He preached some more and
said even more loudly, “I am coming soon!”
He preached a little longer and threw his
arms up in the air and cried out, “I am
coming soon!”

3. At that point, he lost his balance and fell off
the stage into the lap of a man in the first
row. The preacher got up and apologized to
the man, but the man replied, “Oh, that’s
okay, you warned me three times that you
were coming! I should have been expecting
you!”

4. The Bible repeatedly speaks of the promise
and the warning of Christ’s coming, but how
seriously and expectantly are we looking for
that coming?
I am fascinated by the way we get so
wrapped up in end times things and
doomsday prophesies. These kinds of
things find their way into all kinds of fiction
and movie making.

5. One of the oldest & most famous examples
goes all the way back to the science fiction
novel “The War of the Worlds” written by
H.G. Wells in 1898. Perhaps the greatest
impact of that novel was felt on Sunday
evening, October 30, 1938 when millions of
Americans were listening to the CBS radio
network and heard an announcer’s voice
breaking into the music of an orchestra,
saying,

6. “Ladies and gentleman, we interrupt our
program of dance music to bring you a
special bulletin from the Intercontinental
Radio News.”
Then, during the next hour, the audience
was stunned to hear a series of increasingly
hysterical voices narrating an invasion of
Martian monsters, landing first on a New
Jersey farm, then unleashing poisonous
gases over New York City.

7. The broken, anguished voice of an
announcer continued: “All communication
with Jersey shore closed…No more
defenses. Our army wiped out…artillery, air
force, everything wiped out. This may be
the last broadcast.”
Later they learned that they had been
listening to the Orson Welles – Mercury
Theatre production of “War of the Worlds.”

8. It has been estimated that millions of people
experienced serious levels of distress.
Thousands were thrown into absolute
panic, but none of it was true.
More recent examples of these kinds of
doomsday stories include the movies:
Independence Day, Armageddon, and The
Day after Tomorrow, just to name a few. The
big buzz these days has to do with 2012
and the supposed end of the world related
to the end of the Mayan calendar.

9. What is strange to me about all this is the
fact that we can get all worked up about
speculative things that are not likely to
happen, like alien invasions, asteroids
colliding with the earth, global warming,
nuclear holocaust, or Mayan predictions,
but we aren’t concerned enough about
something that we know is going to happen:
the return of Jesus Christ.

10. We have been studying Peter’s second
letter for several weeks, and we have seen
that Peter is concerned that his readers
grow in the knowledge of the Lord. One of
the reasons Peter encouraged his readers
to grow in the knowledge of the Lord was
the fact that there are false teachers and
false teaching. Last week we saw how
Peter addressed the character and conduct
of the false teachers.

11. In today’s section from chapter 3, we want
to notice how Peter addressed one of the
things the false teachers taught. There
would be no second coming of Jesus. It’s
very important for us to understand the
truths of God’s Word. Just like in Peter’s
day, we are surrounded today by people
who refuse to take the Bible seriously when
it speaks about Christ’s return and the
certainty of judgment.

12. Let’s work through these verses and learn
important truths about God and Christ’s
coming.
2 Peter 3:1 NET Dear friends, this is already
the second letter I have written you, in
which I am trying to stir up your pure mind
by way of reminder: 2 I want you to recall
both the predictions foretold by the holy
prophets and the commandment of the Lord
and Savior through your apostles.

13. 3 Above all, understand this: In the last
days blatant scoffers will come, being
propelled by their own evil urges 4 and
saying, "Where is his promised return? For
ever since our ancestors died, all things
have continued as they were from the
beginning of creation."

14. We notice that Peter wrote this second
letter primarily to awaken his readers and
remind them of the truths they already
knew. Because God’s Word is true, we must
pay attention to it and take its message
seriously. New converts must be taught the
Word and must be established in the basic
doctrines of the faith. As I mentioned last
week, new converts are often the target of
false teachers, because they are more
easily swayed from the truth.

15. But it’s not just new Christians who need to
be in the Word and need to be reminded to
hold to the truth – we all need it. The
important truth that Peter’s readers needed
to be reminded of was the truth of Jesus’
return.
The Bible teaches that the Day of the Lord
was not something invented by the
Apostles. The prophets taught about it and
so did Jesus during His ministry, and Jesus’
apostles taught the same.

16. So here Peter is emphasizing the unity of
the Word of God. In their denial of the
second coming, the scoffers were denying
the truth of the prophets, the teaching of
Jesus and the writings of the apostles. The
Scriptures are like a seamless garment and
cannot be cut apart without ruining the
whole.

17. Not only does the Word of God predict the
coming Day of the Lord, but it also predicts
the appearance of the very scoffers who
deny that Word. Their very presence is
proof that the Word they deny is the true
Word of God.
What is a scoffer? A scoffer is someone
who treats lightly that which ought to be
taken seriously.

18. The people in Noah’s day scoffed at the
idea of a judgment coming through a flood.
The citizens of Sodom scoffed at the
possibility of judgment coming through fire
from above. Just think of the people in our
world today who laugh at the notion of
judgment and hell’s fire.

19. Why do these scoffers scoff? Peter says,
…being propelled by their own evil urges…
They want to continue living in their sins. If
your lifestyle contradicts the Word of God,
then you must either change your lifestyle
or change the Word of God. The false
teachers chose the latter approach, so they
scoffed at the doctrines of the coming of the
Lord and judgment.

20. And what was their argument? They
pointed to the uniformity of the world. They
argued, “Nothing cataclysmic had
happened in the past, so there is no reason
to believe it will happen in the future.” So
how did Peter answer their argument? Let’s
look at the next section.

21. 5 For they deliberately suppress this fact,
that by the word of God heavens existed
long ago and an earth was formed out of
water and by means of water. 6 Through
these things the world existing at that time
was destroyed when it was deluged with
water. 7 But by the same word the present
heavens and earth have been reserved for
fire, by being kept for the day of judgment
and destruction of the ungodly.

22. All Peter did was remind them of what God
has done in the past to make the point that
God’s work is consistent throughout the
ages. Peter simply presented the evidence
that the false teachers deliberately ignored.
Peter cited two events in history to prove
his point – the work of God in creation and
the flood in Noah’s day.

23. With regard to creation – God created the
heavens and the earth by His word. Not
only was the creation made by the word of
God, but it was held together by the same
word. Peter’s argument is obvious: the
same God who created the world by His
word can also intervene in His world and do
whatever He wants to do by His word.

24. The second event Peter cited was the flood
during Noah’s time. In the previous
chapter, Peter had already referred to the
flood as an illustration of divine
judgment, so there was no need to go into
detail. The flood was a cataclysmic event.

25. The people living on earth had probably
never seen a rainstorm or the fountains of
the deep overflowing, but these events
happened just the same. God has the
power to “break in” at any time and
accomplish His will, even if it has never
happened before. God can send rain from
heaven and God can send fire from heaven.

26. Having established the fact that God has in
the past “interrupted” the course of history,
Peter was then ready for his application.
The same word of God that created and
sustains the world is presently holding it for
future judgment. God promised that there
would be no more floods to destroy the
world (Gen. 9), but the next judgment will be
a judgment of fire that will bring the
destruction of ungodly people.

27. So Peter has proved his point – God has
intervened in the course of history in
cataclysmic ways and He has promised to
do it again. It will come just as surely as the
Flood came in Noah’s day and fire and
brimstone came to destroy Sodom and
Gomorrah. This is ultimately the bad news,
not the good news.

28. But the scoffers of that day had their
argument ready: “Then why the delay?” The
promise of Christ’s coming and the
judgment of the world had been around for
decades when Peter wrote this, but it had
yet to be fulfilled. We can imagine the
scoffers of today being even more
emboldened. The promise of Christ’s
coming and the judgment of the world has
been around for centuries, and it is yet to be
fulfilled. Has God changed His mind? Let’s
look at Peter’s answer.

29. 8 Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing
escape your notice, that a single day is like
a thousand years with the Lord and a
thousand years are like a single day. 9 The
Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as
some regard slowness, but is being patient
toward you, because he does not wish for
any to perish but for all to come to
repentance.

30. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief; when it comes, the heavens will
disappear with a horrific noise, and the
celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze,
and the earth and every deed done on it will
be laid bare.

31. Once again, Peter exposed the ignorance
of the scoffers. They were not only ignorant
of what God had done in the past, but they
were also ignorant of what God was like.
They were making God in their own image
and were ignoring the fact that God is
eternal. Being eternal, God has no
beginning and end, and lives above and
beyond time. With the Lord a thousand
years are like a day and a day is like a
thousand years.

32. Maybe you’ve heard the story of a man who
was talking to God one day. “God”, the man
asked, “how long is a million years?” God
answered, “In my frame of reference, it's
about a minute.” Then the man asked,
“God, how much is a million dollars?” God
answered, “To me, it's a penny.” So the man
then asked, “Then can I have one of your
pennies?” God answered, “Sure, just a
minute.”

33. Since a thousand years are like a day to the
Lord, we cannot accuse Him of delayed
fulfillment of His promises. In God’s
experience, His promises are only days old.
God is never in a hurry, and He is never
late. God is always right on time.

34. Another thing the scoffers didn’t understand
was God’s mercy. Why is God delaying the
return of Christ?
It is not because He is unable to act or
unwilling to act. Peter explains that God’s
delay is to give more people the opportunity
to be saved. Peter says that God

35. Here we see the very heart of God. Paul
confirms this when he writes to Timothy.
…since he wants all people to be saved
and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:4 NET

37. When is Jesus going to return? No one
knows. It will catch us off-guard like the thief
comes when no one is expecting him to
come. No alarms will sound ahead of
time, and no newspapers will announce it in
advance.
Jesus tried to make this truth clear during
His ministry. Jesus said: "But as for that day
and hour no one knows it — not even the
angels in heaven — except the Father
alone. Matthew 24:36 NET

38. In Matthew 25, Jesus told the parable of the
10 virgins and the parable of the talents to
teach us the need to be ready all the time
for His return. Unfortunately false teachers
over the years have boldly predicted the
return of Jesus on specific days, and of
course they have all been wrong.

39. In his book “1994?”, he claimed there was a
very high likelihood that the world would
end in September, 1994, although he did
acknowledge in the book "the possibility
does exist that I could be wrong."
(wikipedia.org)

40. Doomsday prophet Harold Camping’s
revised prediction that the world would end
on Oct. 21, 2011 turned out, once again, not
to come true. According to the preacher’s
prediction, which was revised after his May
21, 2011 prophecy failed to materialize. (By
ABC News)

41. So we don’t know when Christ will return,
but we are emphatically told that He will
return, and we are told how and what will
happen. Paul described it this way: 1
Thessalonians 4:15 NET For we tell you this
by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive, who are left until the coming of the
Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who
have fallen asleep.

42. 16 For the Lord himself will come down
from heaven with a shout of command, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the
trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are
left, will be suddenly caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air. And so we will always be with the
Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another
with these words.

44. Later in the chapter, we are told: But,
according to his promise, we are waiting for
new heavens and a new earth, in which
righteousness truly resides. 2 Peter 3:13
NET
I want to be with God in the new heaven
and the new earth, wherever that is, or
whatever it will be like.

45. Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the
rest of chapter 3, where Peter applies these
truths to our daily living. These realities of
God and His promises should cause us to
live a certain way as we prepare and await
the coming of Christ.

46. The fact that everything goes on the way it
has for centuries and millennia, should not
cause us to doubt the coming of Christ –
Jesus is coming soon! The fact that Jesus
may not return in our lifetimes should not
cause us to relax our attention to godly
living, nor should it cause us to delay our
repentance and obedience.

47. Several hundred years ago, William III, the
king of England, was trying to put down a
rebellion in Northern Scotland. He issued a
proclamation to all the rebel chiefs to
appear at a certain place on or before
December 31, 1691 and take an oath of
allegiance to the king. Those who did not
take that oath were to be treated as traitors
and executed.

48. There were not many followers, so it was
useless for the chiefs to rebel. One by one,
they all gave in and signed their names to
the paper, except one.
Alastair Maclain was chief of the smallest
but proudest tribe in Scotland. He planned
to sign that paper, but it was his intention to
be the last of the Scottish chiefs to submit.

49. So, a day or two before the deadline, he
started traveling to the designated spot.
Unfortunately, a severe snow storm
hindered him and he was one week late. He
and his followers were executed as traitors.
How many people do you suppose there
are who are like that with God?

50. They intend to confess the name of Christ
and obey him, they intend to repent of their
sins and be baptized into Christ, but they
want to wait until the last possible
moment, only to discover how foolish they
were to put it off? God has given us this
moment for salvation, but we are not
guaranteed any more time.

51. How tragic to be too late! It’s not too late to
obey God right now, but for all we know,
tomorrow may never come.
THAT’S NOT A SCARE TACTIC –
IT’S JUST THE TRUTH.