Ignorant Series: Scoffers, Cults, and Us
2 Peter 3:1-18
INTRODUCTION
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word “ignorant” means unaware or uniformed. I would like us, for the next few weeks, to look at some spiritual facts that you may be unaware of or have forgotten. Most of the time we forget important spiritual truths when it comes to God and our relationship with Him. I am not sure why we forget such important matters, but I know it to be true. That is why God had Israel erect monuments and write down accounts and tell stories about all the events that took place in their relationship with Him. They forgot easily! We forget easily! This word “ignorant” occurs 13 times in the Bible and is connected with some important spiritual facts we should all know. That is why today we cover the spiritual Truth that false teachings about Christ are alive and abound in our world.
In the past two weeks, several events have taken place that leads me to this message today. I had intended last week’s message on death to be the final sermon in this series, but God has other ideas. I would like to share these events that happened in the past few weeks:
1) Josephine Ungard told me about a letter she received. It came in the mail and the envelope was covered with Bible verses and Christian statements. Inside was a request for money and this group would pray for you. She asked if I had seen it and I had not. Perhaps some of you received a similar letter, many have. I got one eventually. I could not decide if this was a good group of Christian folks or a group out for money masking as Christians. I threw it away and told Ms. Ungard to do the same.
2) At the Light Up the Levee event, 2 Mormon youths approached us in the booth area and asked if they could set up a booth about families and Jesus Christ. The person in charge asked them if they believed Jesus was the only way to Heaven and they agreed. They set up a booth. Ward and Jennifer Reeder were there promoting drug and alcohol related information and were “disturbed” by this. I was as well.
3) The same 2 Mormon fellas came and visited our church and looked around. They found the Lookout for that week and it happened (Godly coincidence) to be on cults. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was listed and they were concerned with this. After talking with them awhile, I invited them back to study and read with me anytime.
4) Jehovah Witnesses came to my house the other day and left a great pamphlet on Jesus and salvation, but I noted it was from “Watchtower” publishing and I tossed it away.
Why tell you these stories? I want you to know that Satan is alive and well in our world as well as cults who pervert the Truth of Scripture to suit their own beliefs. That would be my definition of a cult: a group that changes doctrine in a manner not consistent with Scripture. They walk our streets, come to our homes, go to your neighbor’s homes, and are on a mission to convert all they can to their belief system.
READ 2 PETER 3:1-18
I. THE WORLD IS FULL OF SCOFFERS
Peter writes to these Christian believers and first warns them about scoffers and they will see them and talk with them. What or who are scoffers? Scoffers (GK: “empaiktes”) are people who mock and follow their own ideas and usually exhibit feelings of hatred and malice and unbelief. Both 2 Peter and the book of Jude record these scoffers and mockers as following after their own desires rather than God’s desires. Verse 4 describes these scoffers as attacking the beliefs of the Christian concerning the return of Jesus. Peter then reminds the Christians about the Truths of Scripture and the Reality about God.
We find mocking and scoffing all throughout Scripture in the Old and New Testaments. Two incidents came to my mind as I was studying this. The first was in 2 Kings 2:23, “Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, ‘Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!’” Elisha must have considered this a sore subject because he turned around and cursed them and two bears came out of the woods and mauled them. The second happened in Matthew 27:28-30 when the soldiers were in charge of Jesus. They stripped Him, beat Him, and mocked Him as their king. They gave Him as staff and put a crown of thorns on His head. These soldiers caused pain to someone else because of their hatred and malice.
Our world is still full of scoffers and mockers. People still attack Christian beliefs and ways of life. Christians are seen as:
o Antiquated because we have a belief that the 10 Commandments and the Bible still have value
o Intolerant because the Boy Scouts and most churches won’t allow homosexual leaders
o Obstinate because we believe that little babies ought not be aborted
o Ignorant because we consider homosexuality, adultery, and cohabitation a choice and a sin
o Two-faced because we preach holiness and yet we sin
o Fools because we are waiting for Jesus to return again and have been waiting for 2000 years
Our world is full of people who look at Christianity and just hate. Our world is full of people who just would rather us go away with our beliefs and moral standards and ideas about life. Today a militant secularism prevails. Any public display of religion, whether a prayer at a high school commencement or a cross on top of a firehouse, is immediately attacked by civil libertarian attorneys.
II. THE WORLD IS FULL OF THOSE WHO IGNORE AND PERVERT SCRIPTURE
Peter also describes those types of people who “deliberately forget” Scripture and its teachings. They look at the world and do not acknowledge any change. They might see an absence of God. They look at the Bible, change it, and make it suit their own beliefs.
A) International Church of Christ: “The Boston Church of Christ” is one of those groups that use the same words that we use: baptism, discipleship, submission, and give them meanings other than what we know Scripture Teaches. They are a classic cult that has 434 new churches in 2003 (www.icoc.org). This group has been banned from campuses all over the United States. “The abusive mind control techniques used in the Boston Church of Christ has left many casualties requiring psychological and psychiatric care for recovery. The extent of their destructive methods has prompted a number of colleges to take the unprecedented step of banning the movement from their campuses. Boston University, Marquette University, University of Southern California, Northeastern University, and Vanderbilt University are among some that have banned the Boston Church of Christ” (Miami Herald, 25 March 1992, p. 1A, 15A). (www.watchman.org)
B) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Joseph Smith claimed that the Father and Son appeared to him and called him to restore the true Church. The LDS Church teaches that God the Father was once a man and was exalted to Godhood. God (and his heavenly Wife) begat billions of spirit children, the firstborn of whom was Jesus. Lucifer was the leader of God’s rebellious spirit children. Those spirits who did not rebel become human beings in order to begin process potentially leading to exaltation to Godhood. Jesus, however, became a God while only a spirit. He organized our world and is Jehovah, the God of Israel. Achievement of the highest potential within the highest kingdom—Godhood—requires complete “obedience to all the laws and ordinances of the gospel.” The Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants are all considered scripture. The LDS publishes Church News and Ensign magazine (Biederwolf: “Mormonism Under the Searchlight”, Eerdmans Publishing, 1954). There are about 11 million Mormons worldwide and about 60,000 missionaries.
(1) God the Father is married and there is a Mother God (Answers to Gospel Questions, Joseph Fielding
Smith, Vol. 3, pp. 143-144).
2) All men and women who have ever lived on Earth are the spirit offspring of Heavenly Father and
Heavenly Mother. Every person was conceived and born in a pre-existent spiritual realm (Mormon
Doctrine, p. 589).
3) Black people are black because of their misdeeds in the pre-existence (Three Degrees of Glory, LDS
Apostle Melvin J. Ballard, p. 21).
4) Temple ceremonies include Baptism for the Dead, Washing and Anointing for the living and the dead
(Mormon Doctrine, McConkie, pp. 72-74, 226-228).
5) Salvation or exaltation, whereby men become gods, is based on one’s own good works or merit
(Church News, October 8, 1988, p. 23 and The Religion of the Latter-day Saints, Lowell Bennion, LDS
Institute of Religion Director, p. 160).
6) The Bible is considered usable, but suspect due to its many errors and missing parts (Articles of Faith
No. 8, Ensign January 1989, pp. 25, 27).
C. Jehovah’s Witnesses: Satan is the originator of the idea of the Trinity. The Father is the supreme God whose real name is Jehovah. Jesus is a created being known originally as Michael the Archangel; he is “a god,” not Jehovah. Jesus only rose spiritually, not bodily, from the dead. The Holy Spirit is the impersonal active force of God. Only the anointed class (or little flock) numbering 144,000 will go to heaven, while faithful “other sheep” will live eternally on a paradise earth; the lost will cease to exist. Publishes the Watchtower and Awake! Magazines, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (their own version of the Bible), as well as numerous books. Originally called International Bible Students, followers today are called Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are 94,600 congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
III. THE OUTLOOK AND CHARGE TO THE BELIEVERS
What is to be our response to this world that is full of scoffers and false teachers and strange ideas about our God and Savior? Peter gives us advice, commands, and directives throughout this passage in dealing with these challenges to our faith.
A. Wholesome thinking (verse 1)
1) Colossians 2:1-2: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things
above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on
earthly things.”
2) Philippians 4:8-9: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from
me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
B. Be patient (verses 8-10)
1) Hebrews 10:36: “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will
receive what he has promised.”
2) James 1:4: “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything.”
C. Efforts to be blameless and spotless (verse 14-15)
1) Psalm 24:3-4: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”
2) 1 Timothy 1:5: “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good
conscience and a sincere faith.”
D Grow in the faith (verse 18)
1) Hebrews 6:1: “Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to
maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith
in God”
2) 1 Peter 2:2: “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in
your salvation.”
CONCLUSION
