In his sermon titled 'Be Mindful of the Words,' Jason Dohm explores 2 Peter chapter 3, emphasizing the importance of remembering and being mindful of the words spoken by the holy prophets and apostles. The sermon discusses how false teachers, characterized by their empty promises and slanderous speech, stand in stark contrast to true believers who have pure minds cleansed by faith. Dohm highlights the role of Scripture as the antidote to the poison of false teachings, stressing the necessity of continuous engagement with the Word of God to maintain spiritual health and discernment. He also addresses the presence of scoffers in the last days, who question the promises of Christ's return, noting that the last days began with Jesus' first coming. The sermon encourages believers to ground themselves in the teachings of the apostles and prophets, as this will protect them from the deceit of scoffers and help them live faithfully. Dohm concludes by urging the congregation to saturate their minds with Scripture, emphasizing that it is through these words that believers can find wisdom, salvation, and protection from the spiritual dangers posed by false teachers and scoffers.

This is 2 Peter chapter 3 where Peter writes this, Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder, 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, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continued as they were from the beginning of creation. 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, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 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. Father I pray for our brother Jason now.

God I pray that you would Fill his heart and soul as you already have this week with these pure and wonderful words God cleanse your people with them now as he preaches these words to us. Thank you for it Lord We depend on it like a dry and thirsty land where there is no water you give us your word Just wonderful water for our soul Bless our brother now as we meet with you here in this word. In Jesus' name. Well, we were out at the clinic yesterday and normally one or two or three or four people will come out to the curb and we'll get to talk with them at the curb. That didn't happen yesterday.

Nobody came out. So that was a bit of a disappointment. But A car had a blowout right there that deposited this lady's disabled car ten feet from Jim Santles. So if God ever deposits your disabled car ten feet from Jim Santles, he wants you to hear the gospel today. And so we were given that divine appointment.

Her car got over into a parking lot and Jay Bez and Jake are working on the tire. We can see Jim over there and his hands are just going. That was a divine appointment. So our text is 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 1 through 7. The title of the sermon is, Be mindful of the words.

I think that's the heartbeat of the text. Be mindful of the words. It comes right out of the text itself. We are fast coming to the end of 2 Peter. It makes me want to say, I don't want it to end.

I want more chapters to just appear. So we can keep going through them. But it's been a blessing to be in 1 Peter and now in 2 Peter. Last week, Peter was continuing to teach us how to recognize false teachers. He said, they speak great swelling words of emptiness.

So they are the wells without water. They promise what they cannot deliver. They're wordsmiths. They know how to craft words into something amazing. But at the bottom of it, there's nothing.

It's emptiness. And Peter ends up saying, it would have been better for them to have never known the way of righteousness. It would have been better for them to have never heard than having known it to forsaken the Holy Commandment. And to have turned their back on it. Why?

Because increased knowledge brings increased guilt if you don't do something with it. Wow, that was an important thing that comes out of last week's text. The more you know, the more is expected of you." And so these teachers, they would have been better off had they never ever heard, because with all the knowledge that they gained, more was expected, more was required. And when they forsook the Holy Commandment, Their guilt was so increased. This week, Peter gives us the antidote.

He's been talking for over a chapter now about the poison. The poison is the false teachers. This is really well developed by now. Peter has been talking about it for a long time. The poison that he is warning us against is the false teachers.

The antidote to the poison that will save your life from these false teachers, will save your soul from these false teachers, is the words. The words. Be mindful of the words. What words? The words that God has given to His people.

The words of Holy Scripture. So he's been talking about the poison, now he talks about the antidote, the words. The poison was the false teacher, and the words are the antidote that will save your soul. And then he finishes our text today by talking about scoffers who were scoffing at the delay. Jesus hasn't come back yet.

It's promised that he'll come back, but he hasn't come back yet. So the scoffers seize on this prophecy that is everywhere in the scripture, that hasn't been fulfilled yet. And they use it as an opportunity to mock. Next week, Peter explains the delay. So that's where we've been, that's where we are today, that's where we're going next week.

Will be an explanation of why Jesus isn't back yet. As we go to the text, let's pray. Oh Lord, please give us an unquenchable thirst for your word. Oh God, may it be that we would be mindful of these words, even in the night watches. When we awake in the middle of the night, our lives would be so saturated with a study of the Word of God and meditation of the Word of God, of praying through the Word of God, that our minds would just naturally gravitate towards these precious words that you've given us.

God, I look in my own heart, I see the room that there is to grow. I'm thankful for that God. I pray that you by your spirit would come and help me to grow. Help us to grow. Help us to be unquenchable in our thirst for your word in Jesus' name.

Amen. So let's begin. I've broken the text into three sections. So the first section is verses 1 and 2. Let's read them again.

2 Peter chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. Peter writes, Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder 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." So Peter in these two verses is talking about how you stir up pure minds. And he returns to the purpose of the letter. He tells us why he's writing these things. And it's to stir up his readers, both in the day he was writing it and two thousand years later he wants to stir up his readers by reminding them.

Now he's already talked about this in chapter one so flip back one page to chapter one looking at 2 Peter chapter one verses 12 through 15. This is just a reminder of where we were a couple of weeks ago. For this reason, I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right. As long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my disease. So Peter is preoccupied with this topic that we're entering into again, Which is that he wants to stir up the pure minds through reminder. In that section I just read, I don't know how many times is the word reminder. A bunch of times. Reminding you, reminding you, reminding you.

Even after I'm dead, Making sure you have a reminder. Why? To stir you up. Peter has this compulsion, this internal compulsion given to him by God to remind the people of God. So Often it's not new truth being taught to us.

After you've been in the faith a decade, how much brand new is there to unveil for you? Not a lot. It's brand new. Does this mean we should stop gathering around the Word of God? May it never be.

We need to be reminded again and again and again and again of the most basic truths of Scripture. We just need to keep feeding on the most basic truths of Scripture. Peter is a disciple making machine. He's relentless in his discipleship. This is no hit and run evangelist.

So praise the Lord for evangelists. There is a place to preach the gospel and move on, but it's not the primary place. The Great Commission is making disciples, not just coming to a place, a location, and saying, Jesus died for sinners. Receive him and move on. That is not making disciples.

So Peter is an evangelist. We see him in the book of Acts preaching wonderful, powerful evangelistic sermons, but that's not the end of it for Peter. He's writing letters and writing letters and writing letters, and isn't this the pattern of the disciple makers? Letter writing all over the New Testament. Most of the New Testament is epistles or letters.

Those terms are synonymous. That's most of what we have in the New Testament. Letters written by disciple makers to disciples to stir up their pure minds to remind them even of the truths that they've already been established in. You can tell right off the bat in today's text that we don't have a transactional relationship. In other words, you send me a check and I give you the info And then when you pass the quiz, at some point you get a diploma and move on.

It's not that kind of relationship. Disciple making isn't send a check, get the content, pass the test, get a diploma kind of relationship. It's a relationship built on love. Peter starts this text, be loved. So he says it here in verse 1.

He says beloved in verse 8. He says beloved in verse 14. He says beloved in verse 17. So four times In 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter addresses his readers and he calls them beloved, not transactional. It's a relationship, a disciple making relationship founded upon love.

By the way, he did this in 1 Peter also. He uses the exact same Greek word that's rendered beloved in 1 Peter chapter 2 and in 1 Peter chapter 4. And then the floodgates open in this chapter and he uses it four times. It's actually five times in this chapter. But one time he calls Paul beloved.

So I didn't count it because that's targeted specifically just towards Paul. Back in chapter 1, verses 5 through 7, Peter said, and we've been reciting every week, add to your faith, brotherly kindness, and love. And there were some things in between there. I stripped that out to show what Peter has taught us. Add to your faith brotherly kindness and love.

And so Peter has added to his faith brotherly kindness and love. And Peter is practicing what he preaches. Not just a teacher to the people he's writing to. He's a spiritual father. He's a friend in the faith.

He has relationships, disciple making relationships that are built on love. And he says two things. You have pure minds And I want to stir up your pure minds. So those are the two things we have here in verses 1 and 2. You have pure minds, you believers, and I want to do something with those pure minds.

I want to stir them up. Let's look at both of those in detail. So number one, you have pure minds. Verse one, your pure minds. The NASB and the ESV renders it sincere minds instead of pure minds.

In Greek, the Greek word means pure, sincere, unsullied. So an unstained mind, a mind that has been cleansed. So any of those translations are good. Pure is good. Sincere is good.

Unsullied would be good. It means a mind that has been purified. How many of you know you're not born with a pure mind? It must be cleansed. And So this is what Peter is talking about.

He's talking to people whose minds have been cleansed. What a contrast that is to where we've been. He's been speaking of false teachers who are governed by their lusts. Who are sneaky. They're secretly bringing in destructive heresies, damnable heresies, teachings that will cost you your soul.

They are slanderers, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. These are all things that Peter has said of false teachers. But that's not who he's writing the letter to. Who's he writing the letter to? Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith.

So he's given all these warnings about what the false teachers are like and he's drawing a strong contrast. A remarkable contrast to those who have obtained like precious faith who are actually his readers. So those who he is writing to are nothing like the false teachers. He's pressing that home in our text today. Believers, those who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ are nothing like these men who are governed by their lusts.

Who are sneaking around introducing damnable heresies. Who are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. Paul teaches the exact same thing in Titus 1. Listen to Titus 1 verses 15 and 16. In Titus 1, the beginning of the chapter is a call to appoint a plurality of elders in the churches.

Then he talks about the qualifications for elders. Then he talks about the necessity of those elders to contradict false teachers. So he's talking about false teachers And then he says this in Titus 1 verses 15 and 16, To the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and conscience are defiled.

They profess to know God, but in works they deny him. Being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. Peter and Paul are teaching the same things. Paul is teaching it in Titus 1. To the pure, to the mind that has been cleansed, all things are pure, but there's another mind.

There's an unbelieving mind that is a defiled mind, and nothing is pure to that mind. An unbeliever can profess to know God, but in their works they'll deny Him and their minds are defiled and nothing is pure to those minds. So Paul in Titus 1 is drawing a sharp distinction between these cleansed minds, these believing minds, these pure minds, and the minds of unbelievers. And Peter is doing the same in our text today. You might say, wow, my mind just doesn't feel very pure to me.

It doesn't seem very pure. That actually may be a sign that you're a believer. Because the believer is fighting the defilements. Is put off by the defilements. Is disturbed by the defilements.

The unbelieving mind is not like that. The unbelieving mind isn't experiencing warfare with the defilements. So Peter first says you have pure minds. This is the mind of the believer, a mind that has been cleansed. It wasn't always pure, but it has been purified.

Secondly, He says, I want to stir those pure minds up. I want to stir up your pure minds. Verse 1, I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder. What does Peter point to in his reminder? Scripture!

Be mindful of the words. Peter, in his reminder of the things that ought to be brought out again and again and again that our minds ought to be set on, the things that we ought to meditate on from one day to the next, the words of scripture. He wants them to be mindful of the words. Peter is saying feed your minds the good stuff. Not just to the people who had his handwriting, but to the people who would read 2 Peter 2, 000 years later.

Feed your minds the good stuff. Here it is. You want God to speak to you? You need nothing mystical? You need to flop open that wonderful Bible And be mindful of the words.

Fill your mind with his words. Words spoken by the prophets. That's a common way of referring to the Old Testament. The words spoken by the prophets are everything in the Old Testament. So Peter is not discounting two thirds of the Bible and relegating the Old Testament to a dusty old corner.

Peter wants you to be mindful of the words spoken by the prophet. Peter wants you to be all over the Old Testament. When Peter says, feed your mind to good stuff, he's talking about the Old Testament. Know it. Love those words.

Study them. Meditate on them. Pray through them. You'll be the richer for it. And, not only the words spoken by the prophets, but the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior.

An apostle is one who is sent on purpose, sent on mission, sent with a message to deliver. It's The ambassador that doesn't come with his own words, but declares the words that have been entrusted to him. It's a herald. This is what the apostles were. There are two passages that I would like us to consider.

When we think about the words spoken by the prophets, the Old Testament, and the words spoken by the apostles, the New Testament. The first passage that I'd like us to consider is Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2. Listen. Hebrews chapter 1 verses 1 and 2. God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, Has in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he has appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the worlds.

All of Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2 is about God speaking. So there's really one voice in Hebrews 1 verses 1 and 2. It's the voice of God. And he's used different people to declare his words. In the Old Testament, it was the prophets.

In time past, he spoke in various ways to the fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He's spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's a different way. It's a different human voice. But Jesus' voice isn't just a human voice, it's fully God and fully man.

So there are different voices. It used to be the prophets in the New Testament. It's Jesus and those he sends. But there's always just one voice. One voice.

It's the voice of God. He used different means. But these were always His words. Be mindful of the words. Sometimes given through the prophets in these last days, given through the one to whom was given authority in heaven and on earth, his son, Jesus Christ.

The second text, And by the way, in Hebrews 1 I want to put a placeholder on the phrase, these last days. I'll come back to that. The second passage is Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 and 20. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 and 20, Paul is speaking to Gentile believers. And here's what Paul says to Gentile believers.

Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. So when Paul is speaking to Gentile believers in Ephesians chapter 2, he gives us the picture of a building and the building has a foundation and the foundation is the apostles and the prophets and this building of which Gentile believers are apart and full members are built on the apostles and the prophets, but there's a chief cornerstone. There's the voice behind the voices. And that is Jesus Christ that in all things he may have the preeminence. Now I'm starting to mix letters, but that was Colossians 1.

So Peter, in 2 Peter chapter 3, is telling us to be mindful of the words. The words spoken by the prophets and the words spoken by the apostles. And Paul spoke of that very thing in Ephesians chapter 2 saying, there is a foundation that we're building on here. It's the apostles, it's the prophets, and there's a chief cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will bear the weight of the whole building. This is why in Acts chapter 2, Peter preaches an amazing sermon on the day of Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit is there for the saving of souls and 3, 000 people are born again. What a sight. And then we have in Acts 2, 42, right on the heels of the baptism of 3, 000 people and being added into the church, X242. And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine. You want to know what the early church did?

So you can do what the early church did? There it is. They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. This is not a moving beyond the teaching of Jesus. This is an honoring and a holding up and a steadfast clinging to the teachings of Jesus.

The Apostles doctrine is not different than Jesus' doctrine. The Apostles are sent ones. They are heralds to deliver the message that was given to them to give. So when it says in Acts 2.42 that they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine, It just means they gave their minds to all the things that Jesus taught to these men. All of us who are in Christ, Everyone who is listening to me who is in Christ, let us stir up our pure minds with the whole counsel of God.

The exhortation means, The implication is that if you don't have your minds in these words, in the words of the prophets, in the words of the apostles of the Lord, then your mind gets stagnant. It gets stale. Otherwise you wouldn't say, I want to stir you up. If you didn't need it, he wouldn't exhort you to it. That's a fair assumption of the text.

If you didn't need to have your mind stirred up, even a pure mind, even a mind that's been cleansed, if you didn't need it stirred up, there would be no exhortation to it. Peter wouldn't be saying to you, be mindful of the words. But he is, and we do. He is saying it, and we do need it. So if we are to be faithful to today's text, to be doers, not just hearers of the word, We have to go away asking ourselves, what do I need to do to be mindful of the Words, to apply myself to the Words of the Prophets and the Apostles that are the foundation of his church.

Verses 3 and 4. Back to 2 Peter 3, verses 3 and 4. Knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 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. In this section, Peter is talking about readiness for scoffers.

Scoffers will come. Not if scoffers come, if you happen to encounter a scoffer, but scoffers will come. And he says in verse 3, knowing this first, in other words, Knowing what he's getting ready to say is a matter of first priority. It's a matter of priority. As you prioritize things in your knowing, know this, you're going to come across scoffers who want to know why two thousand years later Jesus hasn't showed up on the scene yet.

And saying that proves everything else is fraud. That's the argument. Your Jesus said he was coming back, he hasn't come back, it's two thousand years later, the whole thing is fraud. Let me start by clarifying this. We are in the last days.

So Peter isn't pointing forward to some time we might stumble into unwittingly. We're in the last days now, and we have been since Jesus came. We just saw in Hebrews chapter 1 which said that God has in these last days spoken to us by his Son. So the writer of Hebrews says now. In the days of Jesus he's spoken to us and The writer of Hebrews called them the last days.

There's, I think, an even more compelling verse that tells us that we're in the last days and that's Acts 2.17 and Acts 2.17. This is Peter's Pentecost Day sermon and he's explaining Pentecost to the people who have come together because they heard This rushing wind, these tongues of fire. So Peter is explaining what's happening and he explains it by quoting Joel chapter 2 and he's saying this that you're witnessing is Joel chapter 2 that's Acts 2 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. So as Peter is preaching the Pentecost sermon, he quotes Joel, and Joel says, when the Spirit's poured out, you're in the last days. So that's pretty straightforward.

We are in the last days. Peter says these scoffers walk according to their own lusts. Their God is their belly. They serve their appetites. So if their appetite wants something, they give it to it.

That's what it means if God is your belly. Not just that you love food, that could be part of it, but that you serve your appetites. You're walking according to your lusts. So they do whatever they want. They want to do something, they do it.

Have you noticed that this is not the life of a Christian as you mature. The things that you want to do, the Word of God prohibits. And you're not being kept from good things, you're being kept for good things, and you've learned that. So you'll not do whatever the inclination is. Because You know that it dishonors the Lord, and you know that ultimately it makes you unhappy to be a slave to your lusts and to walk according to them.

So they do whatever they want, and also they say whatever they want. That's what we see in this text. They're walking according to their lusts and they cannot stop saying things that dishonor the Lord. They say whatever they want, whenever they want to. Something comes into their mind, it comes out of their mouth.

This is not a good place to be. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. I'll have to read it and then I'll have to explain it because it uses some terminology we don't typically use. Matthew Henry says, they live as they list, and they speak as they list. They proclaim openly what is in the hearts of others who are yet kernel.

So he uses the word list. It's not like making a list of things. List, the way Matthew Henry is using it, is a term used with boats. When a boat is leaning, when a boat is tilting in the water, it's said to list. So if you've seen pictures with a sailboat moving fast under a lot of wind, it's not straight up and down.

What's powering it is making it tilt or lean. It is listing. If you've seen boats that are sinking, not singing, If you've seen boats that are sinking, often they're listing to a crazy degree. They're on the way over and down. That's what to list means as Matthew Henry uses it.

So now listen to what he says again. They live as they list. In other words, if the boat leans that way, they go that way. And if the boat leans the other way, they go the other way. Whatever their inclination, wherever their lusts take them, is where they're going.

They live as they list. They live as they tilt or lean. And they speak as they list. They proclaim openly what is in the hearts of others who are yet carnal. At least most unbelievers are smart enough not to say it when they think it.

But these scoffers say it when they think it. One thing in particular draws their mocking and is the source of their scoffing. It's verse four. Let's read it again. Where is the promise of His coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. As long as we've got any history, Ever since the patriarchs came and went, everything is the same. And so you who are expecting something different than that have lost your minds. And you've built your lives on myth. That's what these scoffers are saying.

Everything is the same. They say time has always continued to just roll on. And time will always just continue to roll on. Ezekiel encountered this in Ezekiel chapter 12. In Ezekiel chapter 12, Ezekiel has been saying what God told him to say, which is, because of your sins, I'm bringing judgment.

God didn't do it right away. He doesn't send the prophet, and then the day after the prophet has spoken, the judgment happens. That's not how it works. So there's been this period of time between when Ezekiel said what God told him to say, and time has gone by and it hasn't happened yet. In Ezekiel chapter 12, Ezekiel encounters just this kind of thinking where the people are saying, the days are prolonged and every vision fails.

The text actually says this had become a proverb among the people. In other words, everybody's saying this. You've got this crazy prophet over here saying bad things are going to happen, but every vision is failing. It never comes to pass. And then in verse 25, Ezekiel 12 verse 25, God says, say it will no more be postponed.

This is how it works. God warns, and He's merciful, we'll get into that next week. So there's a time gap. It's actually people being given an opportunity to repent. But some people are so hardened that they won't even take that opportunity extended to them and it becomes an opportunity for scoffing, for making fun of the words of God.

Jesus himself encountered and counteracted this thinking in Luke chapter 17. So Peter does exactly what Jesus does in Luke 17. Not surprisingly. Listen to Jesus in Luke 17, 26, and 27. And as it was in the days of Noah, So it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.

They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. This is how the judgments of God happen with men and women and children being careless with their souls. They've been warned, but they're just eating and drinking and marrying, being given in marriage as if everything will just continue on in the same fashion forever. And Jesus says, Hey, that's just like when God wiped out the world with a flood. People thought like you the day before it started raining.

You careless people. They thought they lived in a closed, naturalistic system. And there was no God who would ever reach into their closed naturalistic system to shake things up. And to do something they hadn't anticipated. But we do not live in a closed naturalistic system where somehow natural laws just make things hum along.

There's no God outside of it who can reach into it and bring an end to it all tomorrow. That's not what the Bible teaches. You have to pick which you believe. You can't believe both. They're entirely incompatible.

They don't go together at all. Which is it? Make up your mind. Is it a closed naturalistic system where the laws of nature just make things hum along or is there a God who has done all this? Who can reach in and bring history to a close in the next second.

It changes how you live. You must decide. It changes everything about how you think about this life. In March 2012, almost exactly two years ago, Taylor and I and Chuck Laverdiere and David Vagnier went to Washington DC for the Reason Rally. It was the largest gathering of atheists in history, or at least that's what it was billed as.

I don't know if it was that. Anyway, the Reason Rally. Atheists coming en masse to the mall in Washington to celebrate reason. Human reason and to exalt it. And my expectation was that this would sort of be like a university faculty event.

Everyone in turtlenecks with sweaters and a glass of wine, sort of like you envision a wine tasting, using big words to say wonderful sounding things. That's not what we found. This was supposed to be a celebration of reason. And the first thing that happened at the event, I was near the stage, I saw it with my own two eyes, I heard it with my own two ears, is they kicked it off with a song sung by a band that was called When the Zombie Jew Returns. Just mocking the second coming.

So this is the celebration of human reason. Just scoffers who traveled a long way to scoff and to say, where's the promise of his coming? Where's your zombie Jew who will come back to judge us for all your so-called sins. The truth is, The scoffers have to attack at this point. Because the other prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Look at them. Look at his life. Look at them. Listen to his words. He didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets, he came to fulfill them.

When you look at what the prophets said of the promised Redeemer, you'll find them fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so their point of attack must be the thing that hasn't happened yet. Because so much was so beautifully fulfilled in the life and the ministry and the death and the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 5 through 7. Verses 5 through 7.

2 Peter 3 verses 5 through 7 for this they willfully forget By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 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." Here's the fatal flaw. Are you ready? Are you ready? They willfully forget that everything happens according to the Word of God.

They willfully forget that everything that has happened, is happening, will happen, happens according to the Word of God. Creation happened by the Word of God. Go look at Genesis 1. God said, let there be light, and there was light. God said, let there be affirmament, and it was so.

You see the words in Genesis 1, then God said In verse 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 24, 26, and 29. That's how we are where we are. We have a universe. We have a galaxy. We have a solar system.

We have a world because God said. He didn't make out of stuff. He just spoke. So creation happened by the Word of God, Peter says that. The first worldwide judgment happened by the Word of God.

Genesis chapter 6, 100 years before it starts raining, We have in Genesis chapter 6 verse 7, So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. When floods happen, it's not just because it rains too much. It's because God decrees that it will rain too much. Genesis chapter 6, when we have this worldwide judgment, it's because a hundred years earlier, God said, I'm doing that. Creation happened by the Word of God.

The first worldwide judgment happened by the Word of God. The world that we live in today is preserved and sustained by the Word of God. Peter says that. It's not a natural order that has us spinning on our axis today. It is the Word of God.

Colossians 1 says that all things were created through and for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's verse 16 of Colossians 1. And that all things consist or hold together in the Lord Jesus Christ. So he made them and he sustains them. Without Jesus Christ there is no universe, galaxy, solar system, world, you.

And he sustains them. He didn't just start it spinning and then walk away. Every day he's sustaining everything that we know and see. Either it's true or it isn't, but don't say the Bible doesn't say it is. This is what the Bible teaches.

All things were made by Him and for Him. And all things consist or hold together, it depends on your translation, in the Lord Jesus Christ. So Peter says that scoffers are scoffing at something that is a certainty. And that the scoffing won't last forever. This is the truth of scripture and it is truth willfully forgotten by the scoffers.

So here's how you get to willfully forgotten. It can't be, I never knew. You don't forget things that you never knew. It's impossible, by definition. You can't forget things that you never knew.

It's impossible by definition. You can't forget things that you never knew. And it's not just a lapse of memory, a failure of memory. It's willfully forgotten. I don't want to remember the thing that I know.

Turn to Romans 1. Romans 1. You have to go to Romans 1. We always come to Romans 1. I'm sorry, we're at Romans 1 again.

Romans 1 is so foundational. Romans 1 is Paul's greatest, most comprehensive work of theological teaching. Romans 1 lays the foundation for it. If you don't understand Romans 1, you understand nothing about the world, about yourself, about redemption in Jesus Christ. It all starts in Romans 1.

Romans 1, 18-23, Paul writes, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thinking. And their foolish hearts were darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like corruptible man, birds and four-footed animals, and creeping things. Then if you slide down to verse 28, you see this phrase, God gave them over to a debased mind. Then if you slide down to verse 32, you read, Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. This is the downward spiral that God describes for us through Paul in Romans 1.

That people who go outside and can at least see the stars, know something about the power and Godhead of the Maker. But because they do not want to be governed, this is the issue, I don't want to be governed, They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Paul says, so that they are without excuse. So, if God has given you a life, and God has given you another day, and God is giving you breath to breathe, but you will not glorify Him as God, and you will not be thankful to Him, then something happens to your mind. Remember, to the pure, all things are pure.

But to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. So if God gives you all the good things that are here on this earth, but you won't acknowledge Him as God and you will not be thankful to Him, because you insist on governing yourself, then your mind is in a tailspin. And you become futile in your thinking. You can't think. And your foolish heart will be darkened.

And God gives you over to a debased mind. He gives you over to what you always wanted. He lets you be that cruel to yourself by giving you what you wanted. Here's a quote. This is a mind-blowing quote from Aldous Huxley.

If you've been through public schools, you know who he is. If you have it, you don't. He wrote Brave New World, among other things. He was a wicked humanist who when he was dying he asked that his wife inject him with LSD so he could enjoy one more round of psychedelic drugs as he was dying. And she did and he did.

But that was just completely consistent with his life. This isn't just a crazy thought at the end of his life. This is how the man lived his life. He's from a very famous humanist family. His grandfather is T.H.

Huxley, who was known as Darwin's pit bull, advancing Darwin's ideas. This is the grandson of that man, who was a famous humanist in his own right, who died in 1963 on the same day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That's neither here nor there. Here's the quote.

Here's what this famous humanist said. I had motive, this is in one of his own books, I had motive for not wanting the world to have meaning. Consequently assumed that it had none, and was able to find without difficulty satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. Metaphysics is how do we know what's real?

So he's saying a philosopher who embraces a world without meaning isn't just trying to get to the bottom of reality. There's something else going on here, is what he's saying. He is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do. Or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves. For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.

For myself, Aldous Huxley says, The philosophy of meaninglessness. That's exactly what Peter is describing. Since the time of creation, all things just Keep going on. There's no meaning. There's no end to this.

The philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from what? From the government of God. He had a motive for his philosophy of meaninglessness. This is from, this man never repented. This is from the mind and the mouth of a humanist, affirming what Paul says in Romans 1 and what Peter says in 2 Peter 3.

Peter says that scoffers are scoffing at something that is a certainty and the end of the matter is this, there will be a fiery day of judgment and destruction for ungodly men. There will be, with the utmost certainty, a day of fiery judgment and destruction for ungodly men. The scoffers will not always scoff. In conclusion, listen to your big brother Peter. Listen to him.

Be mindful of the words. Saturate your mind with the words of the prophet, the words of Jesus Christ. Let the prophets inform you. Let Jesus Christ speak wisdom to you. Let His apostles teach you the things that you need to know and then remind you and remind you and remind you again.

Treasure these words. General revelation should be enough to shut the mouth of a scoffer. In other words, general revelation is you go outside and you look at the stars. Everybody who's never seen a Bible can do that. When you go outside and look at the stars, it should be enough to make you a little humble.

Enough not to be a scoffer. But it's not enough to save you. No one ever went out and looked at the stars, and then just turned to Jesus Christ, because they saw stars. It takes the words. It takes specific revelation for that.

And it all points to the atoning work of Jesus Christ. It will make you feel that You are a sinner, because you are a sinner. And it will make you feel that there is a God of mercy. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, 3, Paul writes to Timothy that the Scriptures are able to make you wise to salvation. The stars are not able to make you wise to salvation.

So general revelation is very important and we need it. And it's wonderful when you can go outside and look at the stars and say, there's a maker, a powerful maker, we know something about his eternal attributes here, but you don't get saved by doing that. You get saved by coming to the book that points to the work of Jesus Christ. That will do you the favor of condemning you. Which the most dangerous position in the world is to be condemned and not know it.

So that you'll flee to the cross for refuge. So my question, what immediate practical things do you need to stir up your mind with the Word of God? You need more of it. I bet there's not one person in the room that doesn't need more. When I come to Peter's exhortations, I am all amen.

I'm not saying, well, I'm a pastor, I have lots of time to study. I study enough. I don't study nearly enough. And neither do you. Be mindful of the words.

Soak your mind in the words of the prophets. Soak your mind in the words of the apostles of Jesus Christ. I think it's put that way because Jesus didn't write anything that we have. Everything that we have came through his apostles. The more we do this, the more we saturate our minds, the more that we're mindful of the words, the less we're disquieted by scoffers.

Do you see how these things relate to each other. Do you see how one is the poison and the other is the antidote? The more we're established in what God has said, the less we are negatively affected by what the scoffers and the false teachers say. I'll be established in these words. Let's pray.

Father, I thank you for these words. What a great gift you've given to your people. May we be those who guard the deposit, who contend for the faith that was once for all given to your people. O Lord, make us faithful people with your word. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.