Mockers of Jesus

2 Peter 3:3-4
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, March 17, 2019
Copyright © 2019, P. G. Mathew
Language [Japanese]

In our text, 2 Peter 3:3–4, the apostle Peter warns the church what will happen in the last days, a period that stretches out between the first and second comings of Jesus. During this period, mockers will enter God’s holy church to mock the Bible and Jesus, whom the Bible reveals as perfect God/man, the only Savior and Lord for our eternal salvation.

These scoffers are totally depraved. They believe in human philosophy, psychology, secular culture, and the false science of evolution. And they mock the Bible and the truth it discloses about God and Jesus, about sinful humans and their salvation in Jesus, about the judgment to come, and about heaven and hell.

These mockers are fools. In Psalm 53:1 we read, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” The devil is a mocker and all his human children are mockers. Jesus said, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Adam and Eve believed the lie of the devil and they died, and all their children come out of the womb spiritually dead and physically dying. God is true, and the devil and Adam and Eve became mockers of God and his eternal truth. Mockers also mocked our Lord and Savior Jesus, who never sinned. We read, “Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’” (Matt. 26:67–68).

Earlier in this epistle, Peter wrote, “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping” (2 Pet. 2:1–3). Jude writes, “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 4).

Mockers are children of the devil. They are dogs and pigs who live in filth and eat filth. Peter writes, “Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A [pig] that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud’” (2 Pet. 2:22). They wallow in the pleasures of sin for a season, only to enter eternal hell.

We want to speak about seven points from this text.

I. Pay Attention

Peter begins, “First of all” (v. 3). He uses the Greek word “prôton,” which also means “above all.” In other words, we must give our utmost attention to what he is going to say as something of primary importance. Peter uses the same word in 2 Peter 1:20, speaking about the inspiration of Scripture.

The first thing we must do is to pay very careful attention to the preaching of God’s word because Peter is warning of danger. Scoffers will come into Christ’s church to mock the gospel of Jesus. Peter is saying, “If you do not pay very careful attention, the mockers will deceive you, and you will go out of Christ’s holy church to sin.” Everyone who goes out from a true church is going out to sin. Such people are deceived because they did not pay careful attention to God’s word.

Of such false Christians Peter said earlier, “Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (2 Pet. 2:2). The devil is looking for careless Christians. And Jesus said this: “Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” (Matt. 24:5). Paul said, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29–30). We see this throughout modern evangelicalism. Distortion of God’s truth can be found in many places and many churches. Paul also writes, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars [false pastors], whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:1–2).

We must pay attention! Peter’s warning about mockers of God is very important for true believers. We must pay very close attention to this apostolic warning so that we will not be deceived by mockers. Mockers are lawless men, antinomians. Peter also writes, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position” (2 Pet. 3:17).

II. We Must Understand God’s Word

The second point Peter makes is, “You must understand” (v. 3). We cannot come to church and not think. The Scripture demands the use of all our regenerate mind to study the Scriptures. The Bible is God’s inerrant and infallible revelation, about which Peter spoke: “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20–21). The Scripture is God’s own word. Therefore, we must use all our mind, that we may delight in his word and meditate on it, that we may do joyfully the will of God and be blessed.

We must understand the Scriptures. In Luke 24:45 we read, “Then [Jesus] opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” And Paul writes, “We have not received the spirit of the world,” that is, the spirit of demons, the spirit of the devil, “but the Spirit who is from God,” that is, the Holy Spirit, “that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). God has freely given us the Scriptures. Then he says, “We have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16c). Only we who have the mind of Christ can understand what God is saying in his word. Only we can understand the way of salvation. Only we can understand who Jesus Christ is.

The unregenerate mind cannot understand the word of God. Thus, people with unregenerate minds mock God’s truth. Of such people Paul writes, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). They are to be interpreted by the aid of the Holy Spirit.

The Scriptures demand Christocentric interpretation because the Scriptures are the fulfillment of God’s promise of a Savior, Jesus Christ. We read in Genesis 3:15 the protoeuangelion, the first gospel promise: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This offspring, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to defeat and destroy the devil. So we read, “Since the children have flesh and blood, [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Heb. 2:14–15).

After his resurrection, Jesus spoke about this Christocentric interpretation of the Scriptures to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. “He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:25–27). Later, Jesus spoke to the disciples gathered at Jerusalem: “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:45–47). Thank God for repentance. Thank God for the forgiveness of our sins. Thank God that we can be saved.

The Scripture demands that pious and Spirit-filled saints of God should engage in wholesome and Christ-centered thinking, as Peter wrote: “Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles” (2 Pet. 3:1–2).

Mockers cannot understand God’s word. They are described by Isaiah: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” This is the unbeliever’s point of view: good is evil and evil is good. Isaiah continues, “who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight” (Isa. 5:20–21).

Paul says of such people, “Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved [twisted, perverted] mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Rom. 1:28). He also said that they, these “wise” people of the world, “are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Rom. 1:31–32). Mockers have depraved minds.

III. Last Days

Peter says that these are “the last days” (v. 3). History is linear. It is coming to a close. As we said, we live in the last days, the period between the first coming and the second coming of Jesus. His first coming was in humiliation as the suffering servant. He owned nothing. He borrowed a womb and a tomb and a donkey, among other things, although he created all and is owner of all.

Jesus came to die and offer his life as a ransom for elect sinners. Yet people mocked him and crucified him (Matt. 26:67–68). They spat in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him before crucifying him.

But this same Jesus is coming again in glory. He died for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (Rom. 4:25). And he is coming again in glory to judge his enemies and save his people.

IV. Scoffers Will Come

Peter says, “In the last days scoffers will come” (v. 3). In Psalm 1:1, we read, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.”

From the beginning, the devil mocked God’s word. God said, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But the devil said, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). The devil mocked God’s word and counseled Adam and Eve to disobey God. They obeyed the devil, and they died, as God said they would. The devil is a liar and the father of all lies.

Mockers mock the Bible. They mock Jesus. They mock godly pastors. They mock biblical preaching. They mock Christians. They mock the Ten Commandments. They mock biblical ethics. They mock the gospel. They mock the ideas of judgment, hell, and heaven. They mock the idea of and the Christian teaching about the second coming of Christ. They mock supernaturalism. They mock miracles, especially the resurrection of Christ from the dead, the creation of the world ex nihilo (out of nothing), and the destruction of the present universe to create the new heavens and the new earth wherein will dwell righteousness.

Mockers mock and mock and mock. In Isaiah 28:14, 22 we read, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. . . . Stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.”

Paul writes, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7–8). In other words, what we sow, we reap. In Leviticus 26, we read two times that we must pay for our sins (Lev. 26:41, 43). It is not a matter of just crying and weeping; we must pay in this life. What we sow, we will reap. It is God’s law. If we continue to sin without repentance, we will reap eternal destruction. If we obey the Holy Spirit, we will reap eternal life.

Mockers glory in sin and the pleasure of sin. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says that if Jesus is not raised from the dead, as the mockers were asserting, then we are without hope. We can have the attitude: “‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’” But then Paul warns, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Cor. 15:32b-33). Why do some people raised in Christian homes go bad? They associated with bad company, though Psalm 1 warned against such associations. They sit in the seat of mockers, mocking Jesus and mocking the pastors who preached the gospel to them.

Mockers believe that man is like the animals who die and will not rise again to face judgment of Jesus when he comes again. But they are believing a lie. Jesus will raise up all such mockers and send them to hell.

The rich man of Luke 16 lived in luxury daily even as he was mocking God, the word of God, and God’s judgment and hell. But when he died, he found himself in hell, in fire, in torment, and in agony, and he stopped mocking. He realized in hell that the Bible is true. It is the very word of God.

People who mock God are arrogant. The psalmist says, “The arrogant mock me without restraint, but I do not turn from your law” (Ps. 119:51). Arrogant people think they are like God. In fact, they are devils. The devil is the most proud creature in the world. God prepared hell for the devil and his followers, and he will send them there on the last day. Jesus said, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Matt. 25:41). God opposes all proud people.

God will raise up all mockers from their graves to face his judgment. Jesus said, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son. . . . Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:22, 28–29). Oh, we are not like the animals. (PGM) We will hear the voice of Jesus Christ and come out of our graves to face judgment.

John writes, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. . . . If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:12, 15).

Jesus concluded the parable of the sheep and goats, saying, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:46).

V. Mockers Are Driven by Lust

Peter says these scoffers will come, “scoffing and following their own evil desires” (v. 3). Mockers are driven by lust, which is fulfilled by money. First they strive to make money; then they indulge in the pleasures of sin with their money.

The unregenerate are energized by the pleasures of sin. In reality, though, they are slaves of sin. Peter says, “This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority” (2 Pet. 2:10a). Authority includes parents, pastors, the police, and God above all. Peter also says, “They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him” (2 Pet. 2:19). Paul writes, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16).

Did you understand what I am saying? Judas was one of the apostles. And because he was interested in the pleasures of sin, he collected the money. In fact, he loved money. But what happened to Judas? The devil prompted him, the devil entered him, and after holy communion, Judas went out and betrayed Jesus. He collected his thirty pieces of silver, but then guilt filled him. He threw away all his money and went and hanged himself, and went to hell. Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” Jesus called him the son of destruction (John 17:12), and that is what he always was.

Mockers who follow their own evil desires are called dogs and pigs. They revel in sinning (2 Pet. 2:22). They are lawless (2 Peter 3:17, Matt. 7:23). Such mockers are in favor of abortion and infanticide, and oppose the Ten Commandments. But God’s judgment is upon them because of their constant suppressing of God’s truth. Paul writes, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. . . . Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. . . . Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done” (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28).

VI. Unbelief in the Second Coming and Final Judgment

Peter writes, “They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised?’” (v. 4). Mockers do not believe that Jesus is coming again to judge the world. They say, “I just don’t believe it.” Mockers do not believe in Jesus—in his redemptive work, in his resurrection, that he is the Messiah, or that he is coming again to judge his enemies and save his people who believe in him. They are like the mockers in the times of Jeremiah and Isaiah, who questioned the veracity of God’s word. Jeremiah said, “They keep saying to me, ‘Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!’” (Jer. 17:15). Such people are, in reality, challenging God and his word. To them, truth is lie, and lie is truth (Isa. 5:20). Isaiah pronounces a woe on “those who say, ‘Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it’” (Isa. 5:19). These mockers were saying, “We don’t believe God’s promises.”

The mockers of Jesus’ time did not believe in Jesus. But we cannot pick and choose what we want to believe about Jesus. Consider the following truths about him:

He declared that he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)
He declared that he is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
He declared that he is the light of the world (John 8:12)
He declared that he is the Eternal I AM when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58
He declared that he is the Creator of the universe. By his command, the whole universe sprang into being (John 1:3)
He declared that he is the good shepherd who died for his elect sheep (John 10:11)
He is the Judge of all (John 5:22)
He is the Lord of all (Phil. 2:11)
He is the Sustainer and Redeemer of his people (Heb. 1:3)

We believe in the whole word of God, both Old and New Testaments. We believe in the first chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith that speaks about the total infallibility and authority of the whole word of God. We believe in Peter’s words: “No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20–21). In the Scripture, God is speaking.

Mockers do not believe the Bible, so they mock Jesus and call him a liar. Jesus promised several times that he would come in glory as a judge. For example, he said, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. . . . When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. . . . Then [the goats] will go away to eternal punishment, but [the sheep] the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 24:30, Matt. 25:31–33, 46). Jesus will surely come again and judge all mockers.

Mockers believe in a naturalistic world. They have a view of godless uniformitarianism of a closed system that is closed to the God of the Bible. They believe that matter is eternal or that it spontaneously came to exist, that life came out of non-life, and that man came out of animals through evolution. They mock the biblical view that there is the infinite, holy, sovereign, transcendent and immanent God, Creator, Savior, and Judge. They believe that there is no moral law, or that every moral value is relative, and there is no hell or heaven. They believe there is no final judgment and that the Bible is a book of myths. Like Judas, the only god they serve is money, with which they can pursue the pleasures of sin. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matt. 6:24).

VII. The Big Lie

The mockers said, “Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation” (v. 4). Paul says in Romans 9:5 that the fathers, the patriarchs, belonged to the Jewish people. They died in faith expecting a Messiah. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were believers in God’s promise. So we read, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). The Lord saved him and justified him. We also read, “Israel said to Joseph, ‘I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers’” (Gen. 48:21). We also read, “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’” (Gen. 50:24). The patriarchs were believers. They believed in God’s word and therefore in the coming of the Messiah as Savior and Judge.
The truth is, things have not been the same since creation, as the mockers assert. God’s creation was very good: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). But when Eve and Adam believed the lie of the devil and disobeyed God, sin entered the universe, and death came through sin. Thus, now we live in a fallen, sinful world. Additionally, God has been acting in his world. For example, he destroyed the wicked by a universal flood, saving only eight people. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and saved only three people, Lot and his two daughters.

Unlike what the mockers say, the truth is that God is active in history. He is the Lord of history. Jesus is Lord; he has been given all authority by the Father, and he is surely coming again as Judge. When Jesus comes again in glory, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord for the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9–11). But then it will be too late for anyone to be saved.

Therefore, I beseech you, urge you, and command you: Confess now and be saved. Bow your knees to Jesus now. Confess now that he is Lord, that he is your Lord, and that you are his obedient servant.

If you are still mocking Jesus, stop it! He is coming again, as he promised. Thank God, he has not come already. He has delayed his coming because he desires that some mockers will repent, believe, and be saved. But do not wait until tomorrow. Paul writes, “For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
Pay attention. Jesus is coming for sure. The devil is a liar but Jesus is true. God cannot lie. Do not believe the mockers of Jesus. Most people in so-called Christian countries have abandoned Christ. But our Lord Jesus will not be mocked. He will fight and he always wins. He said, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” (Exod. 14:4). And he did. The horse and rider were thrown into the sea.

God never loses. He always wins and we lose. Oh, we may “win” against our parents or other human authorities. But we cannot win against Jesus Christ. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. So we read, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers [were] drowned in the Red Sea” (Exod. 15:4).

Jesus is coming again. Consider the following:

He first came in humiliation to accomplish our redemption. I encourage you to read Professor John Murray’s book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, to gain more understanding.
He is coming again in glory. (Matt. 24:30, 25:31). Mockers do not believe it, just like the rich man did not believe in hell (Luke 16).
The time of the second coming is unknown; only the Father knows (Matt. 24:36).
Like a thief, he will come suddenly, when we do not expect it (Matt. 24:43).
Thus, we must watch and pray by living a holy life (2 Peter 3:11, 14).
Christ’s coming will be public. Every eye will see him (Mark 13:26). John writes, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen” (Rev. 1:7).
Jesus will come personally. It will not be an angel coming in his behalf. The angels said, ““Men of Galilee, . . . why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). We will see him come again, or we will die and meet him.
He will come to save and to judge (John 5:28–29). Paul says, “This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Rom. 2:16; see also Matt. 25:31-46). There are secrets, and he knows the secrets. He knows everything.
He is coming a second time. The Hebrews writer says, “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Heb. 9:28).
His coming is imminent (2 Pet. 3:10).

Let me ask you: Are you ready to meet him as your Savior? If not, I beseech you to believe on the Lord Jesus, confess your sins, trust in him alone, and pray to him, “Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” He will save you. He will justify you. Believe him now and he will save you now. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). He will surely save everyone who comes to him, seeking eternal salvation.