Where Is The Promise? Series

Introduction:

The last time that I was in this podium, I spoke about how deception does not just stay static; it develops a life of its own and that life cycle takes it from bad to worse. For example, deception may lead a person to sin, but the usual response is that a person experiences remorse and then confesses it as sin to God. But as deception takes on a life of its own, it not only leads you to sin, but that deception will also begin telling you that you did nothing wrong. The Bible may say that sin is wrong, but you say it is right. And we looked at the most obvious example of deception moving from bad to worse. And that is today's homosexuality.

Well, as that deception life cycle deteriorates from bad to worse, there will be people who the Bible tells us that will come along our path and try to push us to that far end of the deception cycle. Today, we want to take up our time looking at one such person: the scoffer. The word "scoffer" is not a word that we use in our everyday language, so let me tell you what it means. It refers to a person who will mock you; make fun of you or what you believe.

Let's begin our study of the scoffer and how to deal with him or her so that we do not fall victim of their attempt to push our deception from bad to worse. So, if you have your Bibles, or our bulletin or if you prefer to look at our monitors, please stand for the reading of 2 Peter 3:1-8.

Scripture:

2 Peter 3:1-8 (NKJV) 1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 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, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 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." 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 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. 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Point #1

Scoffers don't preach or teach you a false doctrine and tell you that you need to believe it. Instead, scoffers plant seeds and let you come to your own conclusion.

The seed in our Scriptures today is found in verse four (4). "Where is the promise of His coming?" The seed planters make you call into question something about God's Word. Jesus says that He was coming back soon and here we are, and He still has not returned. Draw your own conclusion.

In the Garden of Eden, the devil acted as a scoffer. In fact, he was the first scoffer. Listen to what he says. Genesis 3:1 (NKJV) 1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

The devil didn't try to teach her a false doctrine, instead, the devil just planted the seed that God is holding back on you. He let her work through it and make the wrong conclusion. And that is exactly what Eve does. She says God even told us that we cannot touch it. Genesis 3:3 (NKJV ...God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' God didn't tell her that; the devil did not tell her that instead she concluded on her own that she could not touch it. The devil planted the seed and now the deception is growing.

Those are just two examples during Biblical times of scoffers. I could have given you more examples if I brought you to Jeremiah or to Isaiah or even the words of Jesus Himself. They were all attacked by scoffers.

But are there modern-day scoffers? The Bible says so? Jude 1:18 (NIV) 18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers...