Does doctrine really matter?

II Peter 3:1–7: This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly.

Introduction: Peter explains to his readers that there would be in the last days those that would scoff at God's Word and would follow the desires of their hearts. I want us to take this morning to look at the targets of these scoffers, the results of their rejection of God's Word, and what should be our response to their unbelief. These scoffers end up in a state of total rebellion. The first step towards complete rebellion against God is to doubt the truth and accuracy of His Word.

I. Scoffing at Creation

According to Peter, one of the first things scoffers will reject is the Biblical account of creation.

II Peter 4b–5 says They (that is, scoffers) will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God...

These scoffers will teach that since its beginning, the world has always progressed in the same manner at which it currently is and that there is essentially no difference now as there was in the past. One of the most popular theories that came out of this idea is the big bang theory. This, and other similar ideas, say that there was nothing in the world other than some type of force or energy that somehow became matter and evolved into life and organized itself through the evolutionary process into what we see today.

This idea has invaded our churches and our teachings on creation. I want to briefly introduce you to just three ideas that have become widely accepted and taught in our churches today that are a direct result from acceptance of non-Biblical ideas such as the Big Bang theory.

A. Compromises to the literal Genesis account of creation

1. Gap theory: The gap theory is a view that life was immediately created on a pre-existing old Earth. This group generally translates Genesis 1:2 as "The earth became without form and void," indicating an original creation was destroyed by some kind of cataclysm. Often times the fall of Satan is used to explain the theoretical destruction of the original earth.

2. Day-age theory: The view that the "six days" of Genesis are not ordinary twenty-four-hour days, but rather much longer periods perhaps even millions of years. Believers in this theory often quote 2 Peter 3:8 which says But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

3. Progressive creation theory: The view that creation has changed or evolved in a process continuously guided by God. This view essentially teaches God created the world and all of its natural processes, including the evolutionary process, and allowed the world to evolve on its own according to the processes He created.

B. Biblical principles supporting a literal Genesis account of creation

Paul warns Timothy in the book of 1 Timothy 6:20-21 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge (science), for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Even in Paul and Timothy's day there were philosophers and so called scientists who were trying to explain creation in a way that didn't attribute everything around them to an all powerful Being. The true Biblical account of creation only allows for a literal ex nihlo (out of nothing) creation that occurred in 6 literal days.

1. The Genesis record: Genesis 1:1-4 says In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

The language and context of this passage clearly indicate a literal 6 day creation. For example, any time Scripture uses a number in front of the word day, such as first day, it means a literal 24 hour day. We also see evening and then morning ushering in the new day, as we see each day, again indicating a literal 24 hour day.

2. The Exodus record: Exodus 20:8-11 says Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Anyone reading these verses in Exodus would obviously understand that God was telling the Jewish people that they would work during 6 literal 24 hour days and then rest on the 7^th day. To think otherwise would be ludicrous. If we use the same assumption in Exodus that so many try to apply to Genesis, we would have to assume the Jewish people would work 6 million or billion years before ever observing the first Sabbath. The language used in Exodus to refer to day is the same language used in Genesis, so a proper interpretation of these Scriptures dictates we take the word day in Exodus 20 and Genesis 1 as a literal 24 hour day.

3. The Gospel record: Romans 5:12-17 says Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned - for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

According to Romans 5, along with other passages throughout the Bible, sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death came into the world by man. If we accept evolution or the perverted human ideas of origins used to try and fix creation and evolution together in the same box, we must accept that death came into the world before Adam and thereby throw the Gospel out of the window. Christ's death no longer has any meaning if Genesis is all a lie or a big hoax. Do you see the danger these scoffers pose?

II. Scoffing at Judgement:

Peter tells us that these scoffers will not only reject the Biblical account of creation, but also the Biblical teachings about God's judgement against sin.

Look with me again at II Peter 3:6–7: For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly.

A. Biblical examples of man's doubt of God's certain judgement

I want us to take a look this morning at a few examples this morning of those that mocked and rejected the truth of God's impending judgement.

1. Satan and Eve: Genesis 3:1 tells us the story of a conversation that took place between Satan, who had taken the form of a serpent, and Eve regarding God's word and the consequences of not following His Holy law. Genesis tells us Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

Here we have the earliest example of Satan working to plant a seed of doubt in the human mind as to what God's word really says. He asks Eve “is that what God really said.” Eve takes the bait and perverts God's word as she replies that God says we cannot even touch the fruit on that tree or we will die. God's command was to not eat the fruit, he never said touching it would result in death. Furthermore, God used language indicating that eating the fruit would bring death in the sense that they would begin to die, while Eve uses language indicating that touching the fruit would cause an immediate death. Satan assures her she will surely not die. Eve bought into the deception and choose to reject God's own word of the judgement to come if she were to be disobedient to his command not to eat of the fruit.

2. Noah and the Global Flood: Luke 11:26-27 says Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

The ark, which is a symbol of Jesus Christ and the spiritual salvation that promised to all nations, sat right in front of those who watched Noah day after day building the massive vessel in preparation for the flood to come, yet they sat there more concerned with eating and drinking and feeding the lust of their flesh than they were of the judgement they would soon face.

3. Pharaoh and the Plagues: Exodus 7:4 says Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgement.

Because of Pharaoh's repeated rejection to submit himself despite the repeated judgements he suffered at God's hands, he allowed the nation of Egypt to suffer tremendously and he himself lost his first born son and ultimately his army and his own life.

III. Results of Scoffing

A. Foolish minds and dark hearts: Romans 1:21-22 says For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.

The first step in their free fall is their refusal to honor God which results in a foolish mind, incapable of seeing the truth, and a dark heart, incapable of caring. Foolish minds and dark hearts quickly lead to the second result of rejecting God's truth in their lives

B. Sexual immorality and homosexuality: Romans 1:24-27 says Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Cultures that reject God's truth and refuse to honor God always find themselves entrenched in sexual immorality and homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their complete sexual perversions. In Israel's time of rebellion we find them engaging in sexually immoral acts as a form of worship.

C. Fruit of Rebellion: Romans 1:28-32 says And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The fruits of scoffing at God's word and rejecting Him as Lord and Savior ultimately leads to what I call the fruit of rebellion. This fruit stands in stark contrast to the fruit of the Spirit that characterizes a true Christian's life. The fruit of rebellion leads to a debased mind, which allows the rebel to engage is completely selfish acts with no regards of others needs or feelings.

The rebel is also free to engage is malicious, violent, hateful, heartless acts. The rebel will be disobedient to his or her parents, or any other authority, and in the end will fill their live with “all manners of unrighteousness.” Do you see the fruit of rebellion in our culture today? My generation and those younger than I am are not known for being obedient, selfless, and righteous. It all starts with a rejection of the truths in God's Holy Word.

Conclusion: I want to leave you with a charge, straight from the Word of God. Titus chapter 2 says this But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

I charge you today to teach sound doctrine, to renounce ungodliness, and to live a pure and godly life.