Transcript: January 20th, 2002« Back

Mockers Must Come First

Revelation 20:11;2 Peter 3:3-9

Jeff Noblit

Mockers Will Come First

Revelation 20:11

2 Peter 3:3-9


Revelation chapter 20, turn there with me. What a journey this book has been. I shared with some folks that I have gone through, uh, complaining before the Lord to rejoicing before the Lord. Complaining because Revelation is a difficult book to study and preach. It just really is. But the riches and the blessings and the glory of it all when you get to studying it, just been overwhelming. I had to say, “Lord, forgive me for being critical and complaining about the book of Revelation.”

We come to Revelation chapter 20 verse 11, and, uh, so much has already happened. As you know, Revelation is the last book in the Bible of course. And in a way Revelation is not the completion of the New Testament. In a way, Revelation sort of picks up from the Old Testament because Revelation’s really not about the church age. That’s the age you and I live in, this age of grace where God’s assembling His church. Revelation sort of jumps forward to God dealing again with the Jews.

Now when the church age began two thousand years ago with our Lord’s death on the cross and His commissioning of those apostles to go and build His church, when that age began, God turned in a national sense from Israel and began dealing with particularly the Gentiles. You and I are Gentiles. I don’t know if there’s any of Jewish descent in our audience. That does not mean God is not saving any Jews today. But in a national sense, Jews aren’t coming to Christ.

Then the church age will end at the rapture. That is Jesus will appear in the heavens and all of those who are His will rise to meet Him in the air, and then will come seven years of tribulation. And during those seven years of tribulation, God will be judging planet earth. And during that season of time, a great host of Israel will be saved. Now Gentiles will be saved, but chiefly God will be redeeming and reclaiming Israel as His own. And Israel will come and embrace Christ as her Savior. Then as that comes to an end, the Lord’s gonna come again, defeat all of His enemies on the earth and set up His literal kingdom here on planet earth. And that’s what we looked at in, chapter 20, verses 1 through verse 10. And as you know, at the end of a thousand years of Christ reigning on the earth, then there’s gonna be a final revolt against God. And we see that, or rather the understanding would be that some were born during that thousand years who were not born again. They were not regenerate. And they give, feigned obedience to Christ as Christ ruled on earth. Oh, they jumped through the hoops. They dotted the I’s. They crossed the t’s. They went along with Christ because you could not thwart Him. He’s almighty. Until Satan is released from his prison at the end of a thousand years, he goes out and he deceives these people into thinking they can take on Christ, and in a sense, fix planet earth. And so under a satanic delusion, all these armies march on Christ and march on Jerusalem thinking that “Christ is the problem, we’ve got to get His restraints off and His rules off and His standards off and His laws off of us. That’s the problem on earth. And then we can be a joyous, wonderful, blessed people.” Well, of course it doesn’t work. God sends fire down from heaven and destroys all of them. And then He throws Satan into the lake of fire, which is hell where he will be in torment forever and ever and ever.

Then you come to verse 11, which is our text for today. And we’re gonna look at verse 11, then go over to Second Peter chapter 3. So be ready to do that. Revelation chapter 20 verse 11, John’s writing, and he sees in this vision something else and he says, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence, or whose face, earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them.” What a phenomenal statement. God appears on a great white throne, and as soon as He appears all that is known in the physical universe just flees away. It perishes. And so we’re left with the reality here that all that is left is God on the throne and utter darkness. And then of course the text will tell us all the dead, that is the lost dead, will be resurrected to face judgment before that great white throne.

But we do have a text that gives us some details of what happens when heaven and earth are fleeing away from the presence of God. If you will, turn to Second Peter chapter 3. Second Peter chapter 3, and let’s look at verses 3 through 9. Verses 3 through 9. I had no idea I would be dealing with what I’m dealing with. I just knew for a long time that when I came to this in Revelation that we would cross reference that with Second Peter 3. And in Second Peter 3, Peter goes to great lengths to point out something, and that is that there will be great mockery and mockers associated with the second coming of Christ. By the way, there will always be mockers or revilers or ridiculers or scoffers around anything of God, any doctrine of God or any teaching of God. But the final and ultimate doctrine or teaching or belief that mockers and ridiculers will mock the most will be the second coming of Christ. Not every mocker will mock the second coming. They mock a lot of things. But ultimately that’s the one thing they hate. Now think about it. Why would they hate the second coming more than anything else? Because listen. A mocker, a reviler, a scoffer, a ridiculer, a fault-finder, what are they about? Here’s what they’re about. They’re about, “Leave me alone. I want to be comfortable in my sin.” That’s what they’re about. “Leave me alone. I don’t want the restraints. I don’t want the laws. I don’t want the right and wrongs. I don’t want the standards. WE want to throw that stuff off. That’s what’s holding us back as a culture and as a people. We want to throw that off. We want to be free.”

But, friend, what’s gonna happen at the second coming of Christ? They’re gonna be exposed for who they are and called into account for their sins. That’s why they hate it the most. They can get by me. They can get by churches. They can get by solid, small group Bible study leaders who are teaching the Word. They may excuse us or run from us or explain us away. But, my friend, when He comes again, there will be no place to run. And they hate that doctrine, and they mock it and ridicule it. They’re in denial, believing, I guess, if they ridicule it and mock it or just deny it or ignore it enough it will go away. My friend, He’s not going away. Matter of fact, He’s coming again.

Second Peter chapter 3 beginning in verse 3. Notice what Peter says. He says, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.’ For when they maintain this it escapes their notice that by the Word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Now the first thing Peter, as he gives us something of an exhaustive description, at least biblically speaking it’s more exhaustive than any other text, of this final destruction of heaven and earth and how it all happens. First Peter deals with these mockers who come in their mockings. Let me tell you five things about them from the text.

First of all, notice that mockers are a sign of His coming in judgment. Mockers are a sign of His coming in judgment. Friend, when the influencer of the age and the intelligencia elite and when many pulpits in the world are ignoring or denying or when people just sort of explain away or excuse any notion of God coming and calling His creation into account and dealing with sin, when they, when they sort of just push all of that aside, that’s not evidence that it’s not going to happen. That’s evidence that it is going to happen. That’s what Peter wants to point out.

Notice it there first of all beginning in verse 3. He says, “Know this first of all…” Now the word know there emphasizes that Peter is saying, “Recognize this. Perceive something. Have the proper perception about what’s going on in your environment.” Now he says know what? “Know this that first of all…” Now by saying the word first, he’s emphasizing this is the chief thing or there is a key indicator you must look at.

All right. Now what is he saying? “Recognize something. There’s a key indicator before you that you ought to have a good understanding about.” And then he continues. “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts… Know this, perceive something, that the chief indicator that Jesus Christ is truly coming again and will expose sin and call all of creation into judgment and to give an account for sin is that people will mock it and ridicule that very doctrine and that very teaching.” Now he says that they’re going to come mocking when? In the last days. Now the last days doesn’t mean some days out there in the future. Biblically speaking, the last days began at Pentecost when the church age began two thousand years ago, and the last days will continue up until the rapture of the church. Now I believe, and I don’t know for certain, and it’s just my belief, that we are in the last of the last days. But the last days is that whole period. And it’s interesting. You can study the ages of church history, all of these two thousand years of the last days that we have been experiencing, and you’ll find in every age people mocking and ridiculing the second coming of Christ. Why? Because you’ll always have sinners who don’t want to face God in their sin. That’s why.

So Peter, what are you telling us? What’s going to be happening during these last days, this church age and increasingly so toward the end of the church age that we must be perceptive about, that we must recognize as certain proof that our Lord is going to return? What is that? Mockers will come in their mockings. But folks, it’s broader than just the second coming, they’re gonna certainly mock the second coming, but they’re gonna mock every true teaching. They’re gonna mock every notion of walking in holiness. They’re gonna mock every doctrine of, of God’s law and God’s truth because they want to throw off the restraints, and they want to indulge in their sins.

Well, we see mockers are a sign of His coming in judgment. Peter wants us to get that and grasp that very thoroughly. Secondly, notice that there are many forms of mockers. Many forms of mockers. In verse 3, the last part, he says, they’re to know that mockers, plural, will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts. So he tells us there there will be a season of scoffers or mockers that will be on the earth, mocking the idea of the return of Christ before He returns. One commentary writer pointed out that you can take the word mocker out and you could place the word false teacher. So there are lots of forms of mockery. Matter of fact, I believe every child of God, there’s enough hell and flesh in all of us even though we’re genuinely saved, we’re genuinely born again, but we’re encased in sinful flesh. Amen? Now when we get to heaven, we’re gonna have new glorified bodies, and we won’t have this flesh. But since we are all encased in this sinful flesh, we ourselves are very prone to fall into a little pattern every now and then of being a mocker, being a scorn, scoffer, being a reviler a little bit, being a fault-finder, being a grumbler about the things of God, the truths of God, the standards of God. Can I get a confessional amen there? I know that’s true about Jeff Noblit. But I’m gonna tell you something, the child of God does not walk in that kind of thing. He may find that thing rising up, but that’s when he says, “Dear God, forgive me. I repent,” and we get back on track.

So there are lots of forms of mocking, and there are great and extreme forms. But then there might be what you call milder forms we find in all of us. Uh, in the New Testament, or rather in the Bible in general sometimes they’re called false teachers. Sometimes in our text, mockers. Sometimes they’re called scoffers. Sometimes they’re called revilers. Jesus called them wolves in sheep’s clothing. Sometimes they’re referred to as factious. But it’s the same thing, just in various forms.

In my study I was meditating on this, and I believe I came up with three different types of mockers. Now you might come up with thirteen or twelve or twenty-five. I don’t know. And I’m not saying this is exhaustive, but three different types of mockers that we deal with in our world today. The first type is what you might call the classic false teacher. The classic false teacher like, uh, Joseph Smith who began the Mormon cult. Now that’s a mocker. He’s a false teacher. He’s a reviler. He mocked and reviled God’s truth and formed his own religion if you will. My friend, the Mormon church is not a sect of Christianity. The Mormon church is a cult founded by a mocker. And then you have Judge Rutherford who, uh, basically founded the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Another person who rose up and mocked and reviled and denied true doctrine to form a cult group. So that, that’s what I would call classic forms of mockers, the classic false teacher.

And then there are secular false teachers today. Now what I mean by secular false teachers, they don’t claim to be religious. They don’t claim to be Christian, but they claim to teach things, or they do teach things, rather, that mock and ridicule the doctrines of scripture. Uh, what we have in our world that we call modern science is, uh, built on the presupposition or the foundation of atheism. It just rejects God. It just says, “We will not consider God. We’ll rule out any possibility of a, a, an intelligent Creator who started everything and who controls everything.”

Uh, Dr. Francis Schaeffer was, uh, a very influential writer and preacher in the last twenty or so years. He’s in heaven now. But his books and his teaching impacted me greatly when I was an early Christian, a new Christian. And Dr. Francis Schaeffer was something of a philosopher and a theologian, but a Bible-believing Christian. And he liked to say it this way. He said, “You know there was modern science when science first began.” He said but today we have what he calls modern-modern science. Now he says modern science, that is the earliest scientists believed in God. The earliest scientists believed in an intelligent creator who made everything with an orderly or in order or with meaning and with purpose. Therefore those scientists set out to investigate and find out how did the Creator design and put things together.

He said then you came up with a, a new thing happened. A different presupposition and foundation came out by faith. And they said, “We’ll just reject God altogether and reject, reject any concept of a theology as a base for science, and we’ll just make man the center of all things. And whatever man can discover that’s what is true.” That’s modern-modern science. Now these folks are not gonna get behind a pulpit somewhere or even in the classroom perhaps and ridicule the second coming. They just ignore it like it never happened. Like God doesn’t exist and like He can’t come again. That’s the way they mock it in, in just by ignoring the reality that God exists and that He could come again.

Then a third group of mockers that I’d like to mention is what I call local church rebels. And these are the most damaging kind, and these are the kind that cause the most trouble to the kingdom of God. In, uh, Matthew chapter 7 verse 15, uh, the Lord Jesus referred to these as wolves in sheep’s clothing. These folks that will come in, and, uh, instead of just going down the road somewhere and starting their own thing, they want to come and disrupt and established, uh, people of God. And then in Acts chapter 20 verse 30, Paul warning the Ephesian elders said, “From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw, to draw away the disciples after them.” Now Paul says, “From among your own selves.” That means people you thought were really people of God. They will rise up, and he says they will speak perverse thing. The word perverse there means to distort or to twist or to misinterpret or to make crooked. They are experts at taking something, putting twist on it, making it look like they want it to look in order to draw a following after them.

In Jude chapter, uh, verse 12 rather he says, “they are hidden reefs in your love feasts.” Wow, what a graphic description of a false teacher or a mocker or a reviler. Hidden reefs. You know what a hidden reef is. It’s that rock formation made of coral and other really living organisms, but it’s very hard. And it’s just under the surface of the water, and if a boat or a ship comes through there it’ll tear it apart. And that’s what they’re there for. They’re just under the surface. They don’t show themselves until they need to and try to tear everything apart.

Jude goes on in Jude 12 and says they don’t care for the things of God and the kingdom of God. They care for themselves. Jude 16 gives you some characteristics. They are grumblers. They are fault-finders. They follow after their own lust. They speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

So mocking is always around us. Mockers will always be present. Mockers will always be trying to cause trouble, but there’s going to be an increasing element of mockery toward the last of the last days. And they’re gonna be increasingly aiming their ridicule and their mockery at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, notice a third thing Peter points out about mockers here in our text, and that is that lust motivates mockers. Lust is the motivation. Now listen, folks. They’ll put on every kind of façade known to man. They’ll tell you they’re doing it for God. They’re doing it for the kingdom. They’re doing it for the good of man. They’re doing it because they love people. But in the bottom line, lust motivates them. Notice what it says here in verse 3 of our text. Paul, Peter says, rather, “Know this first of all that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.” Peter’s point is this: they want to enjoy and indulge in sin, but they also want to be viewed as godly or as good Christian people. But they always seek to justify indulging in fleshly pleasures by raising questions about points of doctrine or theology which condemn them. They will always sort of call things into question, throw out some skepticism about any teaching or points of doctrine or any teacher who teaches something that convicts or condemns their sin.

Earlier in his epistle, Peter called them experts in greed. It means they’re not just, now a child of God has a greed problem because he’s got a flesh problem. But a child of God finds greed coming up in his heart, and he repents of it, says, “Oh, God, don’t let me walk in that. I don’t want to live with that greed in my heart.” But now these folks are lost. They’re experts in greed. IN other words, they cultivated and worked on it and flourished and nourished the greed within their hearts. Sometimes these are folks who present themselves as learned or sophisticated and as knowledgeable. But in reality, they are slaves to sin full of greed and disobedience. And any teacher or any program that convicts them, they will usually react with mockings or ridicule. And if it’s not open, it’s subtle and behind your back.

Now I was talking with one of our small group leaders just the other day, and this small group leader was telling me how through the years as they’ve taught the Word of God and purposed to stand on the Word of God that there’s been people come in and come back out. Now if you’re a small group Bible study leader, let me say something to you. If you teach the Word of God, you’re gonna have some mocking. Are you hearing me? Now perhaps those of us who are pastors get a little more, but you’re gonna get some of if. It’s just the nature of the way things work. It’s the nature of the flesh. Now if you say, “Well, I’ve taught the Word of God for years, and just everybody loves me,” well I want to say something to you, friend. If you’ve taught the Word of God for years and everybody loves you, the Bible says, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.” If you’ve taught the Bible for a long time and you’ve stood on it and everybody loves you, you either haven’t taught it very long, or you haven’t taught it very well. You gonna have some of that. And I just want to encourage you, stay the course. Keep teaching the Word of God. Keep leading your class to honor the standards of holiness in the Word of God. Deal with sin. Speak the truth in love, but deal with sin. And expect some of this to happen. And increasingly so as we get to the end of the end times. Why? Because people are following after their own lusts. They want a religion to accommodate sin, and they desperately want to throw off the restraints of God’s truth and God’s laws from their lives.

Well, what’s motivating mockers? My friend, when somebody starts mocking and ridiculing the, their small group leader, their pastor, or the preaching and teaching of the Word of God and the standards of the church based on scripture, when they start mocking that, there’s a neon flashing sign over their head that says, “I am in bondage to lust.” That’s what Peter said. Mockers will come, following after their own lusts.

Now notice another thing here that Peter points out. Now Peter’s talking about the second coming, but he thought this was so important to let us know and the people of his day know what to be expecting as we’re waiting for our Lord’s return. Notice number four here the final stage of mockers, or mockery. And I think that’s what is coming out in Peter’s statement is that when a person gets hardened enough, and, calloused enough in their rebellion the final thing they’ll really attack is that second coming of Jesus Christ. Not absolutely, but generally speaking the final thing they, they abhor is the second coming of Christ. Look at verse 4. He says there in verse 3, “They’ll come following after their own lusts,” then verse 4, “and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” The ultimate doctrine they abhor is the second coming? Why? Well, once again, that’s where they will be exposed and called into account by a holy God.

Now liberal theologians and secular scientists, I think, are perfect examples of this final level of mockery. You don’t have to go very far to find pastors who will stand in their pulpits and if not directly at least subtly deny the second coming of Jesus Christ. And one of the ways they deny it is just never dealing with it. But it is there. And then you have your secular scientists with all their theories and all their viewpoints about the life and the future ages and past ages. They reject the second coming of Jesus Christ, not maybe verbally and directly, but it’s implied in what they teach.

And they do all of this based on what is called the theory of uniformitarianism. Now I know that’s a big word, but don’t make it difficult. Uniformitarianism, what do you think that means? What does uniform mean? Here’s what they mean by uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism means the processes we observe in the present world are consistent with the processes of the past and the processes of the future. In other words, they’ll go out there and they’ll study a rock. And they’ll put that rock on the table. They’ll look at that rock, and the next day they’ll come back and they’ll look at that rock. The next day they’ll come back, five years later they come back and look at that rock and say, “You know what? That rock is changing so very minutely, nothing’s really changed at all, so evidently on planet earth everything’s just sort of uniform. Everything just sort of goes along like it’s always gone along. Everything’s done that in the past. Everything’s just doing that in the present. Everything’s basically gonna do that in the future. There’s been no great cataclysmic upheavals on planet earth. There’s been no God intervention in creation to radically change everything as we know it. And that’s the way it’s been in the past. Why, it took millions and millions and millions and millions of years for things to evolve the way. Everything just sort of goes along sort of uniform, gradually changes, no big deal.” So what is he saying? “Everything’s going along just as it’s always gone along.” Isn’t that what it says in verse 4? For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. “Why,” they say, “there’s been no cataclysmic intervention of God in past history. Therefore based on the scientific method, something must be observable, we must have a record of it. Well, we can’t look forward to some cataclysmic event of God coming back and destroying creation and calling men to account. Uh, it’s just not gonna happen.”

And so they, uh, that is the final stage of mockery. And, friends, every science textbook in every public school or university in America teaches the theory of uniformitarianism. That things just always sort of been like this. “Things are always gonna be sort of like this for millions and millions of ions and ions and ions. So we’re not gonna deal with that one day abruptly as some supernatural power’s gonna come back and destroy everything and call man into judgment. Why, we, we, we don’t believe that.” Well, that’s the final form of mockery, rejecting the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Well, number five, notice the fifth thing that Peter points out here and that is that mockers live in willful denial. Friend, one things you have to understand, when someone rejects the Word of God and specifically when someone rejects Jesus Christ as revealed in the Word of God, they don’t have an intellectual problem. They have a heart problem. It’s not that intellectually they can’t see it. It’s not that intellectually they can’t receive it. It’s not that intellectually it doesn’t make sense. That’s not the issue. It’s that in their hearts they love sin and they don’t want to receive it or believe it. Because once you come to Jesus Christ, He is Savior, listen, and Lord. And you begin to walk in His holiness. You begin to walk in His truth. You begin to walk gladly under His law. And they don’t want to do that. So they, listen. Unbelief, therefore, is not a weak thing. Unbelief is a wicked thing in the heart of man.

Now notice what it says here beginning in verse 5 about how these mockers live in willful denial. Now once again, don’t make a mocker out to be some hard, brazen, mean-spirited, ugly person. There are some mockers like that. I’ve been around some of them. Some of them very sweet, sophisticated, kind, intelligent, well-meaning, sincere people, but they mock the truths of God in the fact that they don’t deal with them or they just ignore them or they redefine things to fit their own philosophies.

All right. What do they do? Look at verse 5. For when they maintain this, when they hold to that concept of uniformitarianism, when they say, “Everything’s been just the way it’s always been. There’s not gonna be some cataclysmic incredible event in the future where God’s gonna come back and call creation into account.” When they do that, it escapes their notice that by the Word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water. Now there’s another reading to the first phrase of verse 5 that would be just as legitimate as the translation I have in front of me. You could say, “For when they are willfully ignorant of this fact… They are willfully ignorant of this fact.

Now, Romans chapter 1 tells us that every man has a God-given conscience, and that by the conscience and the law of God that He’s placed in the heart of every man, that man knows there’s a right and wrong. And that man knows there’s a God who makes some things right and who made some things wrong. So for man to be an atheist and deny God, he is willfully ignorant. He has to deny his own heart and conscience because God put it in there. Romans chapter 1 also teaches that from creation itself, man can observe that there is an intelligent Creator that man ought to seek and that man ought to serve and that man ought to honor. And when man rejects that, he is willfully doing it.

Listen, I don’t care if he’s a man in the darkest tribes of New Guinea or somewhere in Africa and has never heard of a Bible and has never heard of Jesus. If he’s rejected God and he goes to hell, he is without excuse. Romans chapter 1 makes that very clear. But, my friend, let me say something to you as a side note here. What would it be like to live in the Bible belt in the state of Alabama and have heard the Word of God preached and have all the light that we have and still reject it? That’s why there are degrees of suffering in hell. Some people reject more light and more truth than others reject. But all, the Bible says, are without excuse. They are willfully ignorant.

Now look at verse 5, the last part of that verse. It says, “They’re, it escapes their notice that by the Word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water.” Now, look at verse 6. Through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. Now he says, “What they, what they ignore is is that one time there was absolutely nothingness, and God by His spoken word created the entire universe. And then after God created the entire universe, there was a point in time when God took water, which was the core substance of planet earth, and He brought a great cataclysmic flood, and He flooded the entire earth in the days of Noah. And they are willfully ignorant that God has indeed acted in supernatural cataclysmic ways in the past to radically change creation. So, so they’re absolutely in denial that these things exist. Matter of fact, the Word of God teaches that these things could happen, and I believe honest science proves the fact that there’s been a worldwide flood.

Matter of fact, you can just look at one simple thing, the fossil records all over the world, the multiplied millions of perfectly formed fossils. You know what they find? They go up into the some of the tallest mountains, and they find strata, or layer after layer of tens of thousands if not millions of marine fossils. How did those marine animals get on the tops of those mountains unless there was a worldwide flood? And scientists have studied at length today that they look at all the places where animals or plants die and they just lay down naturally over a slow process over the earth and they never form fossils. They just sort of decay and disappear. Unless there’s a volcano. They do say when you have a volcano, uh, things are trapped immediately, animals and plants are being trapped immediately. They form pretty good looking fossils. So what’s the only explanation to have a worldwide system of fossilization like we have? The only explanation is the Bible explanation. God brought up great waters out of those chasms out of the earth. He brought the canopy of water down on the earth, and great massive bodies of land overlapped one another in that cataclysmic event called the flood. And great hordes of animals and plant life were trapped immediately and formed beautiful, perfect fossils. That’s what you have all over the world. You know Christian science, uh, Christian scientist who believe in these things could talk to you for hours from the scientific perspective. But what is Peter’s point? They are willfully ignorant that God has indeed acted in the past in a supernatural way and changed everything on planet earth.

But these folks remain willfully ignorant, because to admit that God has intervened and that God has called creation into judgment in the flood in the past implies that He can do it again in the future. And if He does, they will be exposed, and they will be called into account for their sin. Being enslaved to sin, they therefore must live in denial of this fact. That’s why the, interpretation of Second Peter 3:4, they are willfully ignorant is so accurate. And one of the startling things, uh, haunting things is also in Revelation chapter 1, the Bibles teaches that those who continue on in unbelief and those who continue on in mockery and ridicule of the truths of God, one day God will turn them over to a depraved mind where they no longer have the possibility to repent and understand God’s truth any longer. They are locked forever in what the Bible text says, the wording is to believe those things which are not true, or those things which are false. What an awful condition to be in, to be given over to a depraved mind.

Now notice verse 7 as we continue in their willful denial. They deny that, verse 6, that the world at that time being flooded with water. Verse 7: But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Now that day of fire and judgment and destruction is what we see in Revelation 20 verse 11 where John writes there, “The heaven and earth fled away.”

In verse 7, he says, “They not only, they not only willfully reject that God by His spoken word created everything. God by His spoken word brought a flood to destroy planet earth.” He said, “They also willfully reject that God almighty, listen, right now is holding everything in stability and everything in place on planet earth.” You know why we’re not gonna have some global atomic explosion or some, atomic warfare that’s gonna wipe out planet earth? Because God’s reserving planet earth because He wants to destroy it when He gets ready. Now I don’t know what kind of small things God may allow between now and the final judgment, but that’s what the Word of God says in verse 7. “By His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

Now these scoffers, these ridiculers, when they get to that final hardened place, what are they doing? They scoff at the idea of the second coming. They said, “Why? Because it’s been so long, and everything’s been this way forever. There’s not gonna be some judgment, some second coming of God.” And what, what does Peter say? He said, “The very fact that God’s reserving it by His power ought to show them that He has the power to destroy it when He gets ready.” The very thing they’re leaning on, the preservation and the continuation of life on the earth is the very thing that ought to prove them at any moment He can destroy it. You see, you and I have been taught and brainwashed over and over that there are these natural laws like gravity and other things that just sort of keep everything running. My friend, the natural laws that you and I studied in our public schools are nothing but the present, persistent power of a Person, Jesus Christ. He is presently and He is personally holding it all together. And if for one split second He took His power off, total chaos would be the result. So when we think about how incredible all of creation is and how it all functions together, we ought to get on our face and say, “Praise Your almighty power. Your word is reserving and preserving it for this time being so that one day You can destroy it in Your will and in Your way.”

So Peter states in, in effect here that the flood that is on record in history and record in scripture, and I believe true science records that it happened, he says the flood is a dire warning of what’s going to happen in the future. The flood destroyed the human world as we knew it. IN the future God will destroy the entire creation. The text tells us He’ll destroy heaven and earth. So the flood is a picture painted on a small canvas compared to what God has in store for the future.

Now look at verse 8 of our text. Now here he gives sort of an admonition to believers not to be startled or not to be, uh, upset or frustrated by what all these mockers and ridiculers are saying when they mock and ridicule the second coming. Verse 8: But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day. He’s saying, “Just because God is not presently coming and acting in judgment is not a sign of God’s weakness or lateness or tardiness. He is absolutely in control. His powerful word right now is reserving the earth for final judgment. And these false teachers should realize that the same word that guarantees this present stable world that they delight in, also guarantees the judgment that they mock. Furthermore, God counts time differently than man counts time.”

How do we count…? We compare time with time. And so to us, it’s been two thousand years since the Lord’s first coming. And for lost men, they look at two thousand years comparing time with time. Well, my goodness, it’s been a long, long time. But God compares time against eternity. And the text says, “To God a thousand years is like one day, and one day is like a thousand years.” So to God, it’s only been two days since He came the first time. So God’s not slow. He’s not behind. It’s not been a long time in His understanding.

Now look at verse 9 for our conclusion. The Lord is not slow about His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. What an incredible verse. Here these people are ridiculing and scoffing and mocking and ignoring the teaching of the second coming, and Peter says, “God hasn’t forgotten. God isn’t late. It’s not that heaven somehow is mustering up the power or the will to come back in judgment.” No, it’s the incredible grace of God that comes beaming through even in this text of judgment and destruction. God says, “I’m not slow. I’m waiting for more to repent and come to salvation. I’m waiting for more to be saved. I’m waiting for more to be forgiven.”

Now when these, mockers mock the second coming, two things that they need to be reminded of. Number one, it’s God’s power that’s holding everything together, and it’s God’s power that gonna come in judgment. Matter of fact, just to get a cross reference on that, Colossians 1:16 and 17 is a good one to jot down. Colossians 1:16 and 17. Notice what it says about Jesus here. For by Him all things were created both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through Him and for Him. My friend, all this creation is for Him. We are for Him. The trees are for Him. The hills are for Him. The dirt is for Him. The water is for Him. The stars are for Him. The comets are for Him. The asteroids are for Him. The solar system is for Him. It’s all for Him. It’s created by Him and for Him.

Now look at verse 17. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. What’s going to happen? Listen. IN that end time when He comes in destruction, and we’re gonna look at the details of how that’s gonna happen tonight. When He comes to destroy the present heavens and earth all of those that are saved will be in Him. Where will we be? I don’t know, but we’ll be in Him. Paul talks about going up to meet the Lord, and he says, and I want to say Paul, as he’s writing that epistle and said, “We’re gonna be with the Lord one day.” And I want to say, “Well, Paul, what happens next?” And he just says, “Well, we’ll just always be with the Lord.” In other Words, if you get with the Lord, that’s enough. I mean when you get with the Lord that’s enough. And so Jesus is coming again and nothing’s gonna hold together except what’s in Him. Everything else is gonna fall apart. God’s power is holding all things together, and in a split second God will release that power and come and judge planet earth.

Secondly, God’s not slow. God’s not behind. God’s being patient that others may be saved. As I was meditating on this you know who I thought about? I thought about Jeff Noblit. I thought about twenty-something years ago when I was going back to college and in my car. And just to be honest with you, I come from a family of mockers, a family of ridiculers. We were a family that were not practicing Christians in any way, shape or fashion, didn’t go to church. We gladly mocked and ridiculed the things of God and the people of God, and in most Baptist churches gave us good and easy fodder to mock. ‘Cause we knew about the adultery in the churches, and we knew about the fornicators in the churches. We knew about the thieves and the liars. And we just had a ball mocking and ridiculing and running down. Boy, I’m so glad God didn’t give me what I deserved. I’m so glad God didn’t come in judgment. I’m so glad He was patient, allowed me to get in my car that night heading back to college and turn on the radio and hear a minister over the radio sharing Jesus Christ loved me and paid for my sin on the cross. If I’d repent of my sin and trust Christ, I could be saved. And that’s what happened in my car about twenty-three years ago on a Sunday night in February. I don’t remember what night it was because I didn’t know what happened. I just knew it was great. Later I learned I got saved. I didn’t know what getting saved was. I knew that when I heard what it was, I said, “That’s what I got right there. I got that right there. My sins are forgiven. I belong to God now. I’m, I’m born again.” Then I went and joined a Baptist church. Now I visited all kinds of churches, but I joined a Baptist church because they preached the Bible. And you know what? I made a big mistake. I went into churches thinking everybody loved Jesus and served Jesus in church. And, boy, I’m telling you, I was shaken and disturbed for two or three years. And then I became proud again and thought, “These people in churches don’t love God. They don’t want to follow the Bible. They don’t want to live for God.” You know what God said? God said, “The church is My method until I come again. You get in the church and be a part of the solution and quit standing around being a part of the problem by griping about it.” Can I get an amen there? So I dedicated my life to serve the Lord in a local church until He comes again. And the rest is history.

Well, what about you? God’s patient toward some of you this very morning. He’s reaching out to you saying, “I’ll save you. I’ll forgive you if you’ll come to Me and be saved.” Jesus said, “If you’ll come to Me, I’ll in no wise cast you out.” Isn’t that a good promise? Doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve been or how long you’ve been that way. Maybe you’re an ole mocker and a ridiculer, or like I was you’ve been that way for years. He’ll save you though. He’ll forgive you and give you a brand new start. Come to Jesus today. Put your faith and trust in Him. Believe on Him. He’ll change you life forever. Let’s stand together in prayer…