This passage speaks about the end of time.
In many places in the Bible we can read that - especially at the end of time - there will be scoffers.
Of course there have always been mockers, but it is characteristic for the end of time that mockers and false teachers will sneak in. ‘Sneaking in’ means, that they will come unnoticed.
The holy things will gradually be made out to be ridiculous. Not in a rude way, no, in a very civilized and intelligent manner. It is very civilized to say that God is such a symbol of love that He cannot possibly make one man suffer for the sins of the world, that is: by having Jesus nailed to the cross.
In his time Paul already said that the cross was foolishness to the gentiles (1 Corinthians 1:23). But let us not forget that Jesus Christ - Who cast out the devil and evil spirits - was not a primitive believer, but the Son of God!
No, we should not fear the mockers outside, but the scoffers who - under the guise of piousness - make Jesus Christ and His gospel a laughing-stock by denying the essence. These are the people who think they have enlightened minds, while God says their hearts were darkened because they worshiped the created above the Creator (Romans 1:21).
God calls upon us to be merciful to those who doubt and to save them by keeping ourselves in the love of God and by praying in the Holy Spirit. Then, in spite of all decadence and superficiality, the light will keep shining and many will be saved from the clutches of deception.