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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
Jude 1:8-10
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
I know it probably needs to go without saying but I’m going to say it anyways because sometimes the things that are seemingly most obvious are the things that are most easily overlooked. So here it goes...
The reason people are ungodly is because they completely reject God.
There, I said it.
It’s so unbelievably simple but one doesn’t need a PHD in Theology to see the main issue at hand with those we have seen condemned and subject to God’s judgment and punishment here in the epistle of Jude, Jesus’ half-brother.
Now, this rejection of God does nothing less than open the door for Satan to step in and run things. I say this because a person is always under the spiritual control of either God or the devil. There’s no middle road.
With this, we turn to our scripture verses for today, verses 8 through 10 in Jude, chapter 10. There we read the following:
In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
Here we find the consequences of snubbing God and allowing Satan to dictate behavior, behavior that will always result in sinfulness.
First, ungodly people live by way of “the strength of their dreams”. In other words, they live to fulfill and satisfy their own desires. They live to carry out their will instead of the will of God.
As a result of this pursuing of personal wants over God wants, the ungodly commit the following transgressions:
1. They pollute their own bodies.
This pollution could come in many forms.
Since biblical times to present, we see ungodly people engaging in all kinds of sexual immorality. In yesterday’s message, we saw this as a prime reason why God completely obliterated two cities, Sodom and Gomorrah.
Ungodly people, not seeing their bodies as temples as God’s Word explains, may eat excessively, embracing gluttony, or choose to eat foods that are unhealthy and damaging to the body God intended to be cared for.
Finally, those who choose to not partner with God in life may find themselves surrender to the alluring nature of alcohol, drinking excessively to where drunkenness becomes the norm. Worse yet, there are those who will take things one step further and engage in illicit drug use which more times than not, leads to addiction
2. They reject authority.
Here, the issue is obvious. There is no greater authority over mankind than God, the Maker and Master of all things. And yet the ungodly willingly opt to disrespect Him and rebel against His reign over them. Ultimately, His punishment for such behavior is often intended to bring the sinner to submission and the subsequent repentance He expects.
3. They heap abuse on celestial beings.
Here, we can substitute the word “slander” for “heap abuse” to gain an understanding about what the scriptures are trying to convey here and with that in hand, we can see where the rest of this passage is centered on this matter.
To make the point that no one has the latitude to slander anyone except God Himself, we read in our scripture passage how Michael, one of God’s holiest, superior angels, refused to condemn Satan over slander but rather reserved the rebuking to God Himself.
Unfortunately, the ungodly have no regard for the power and absolute Lordship of God. They slander what “they do not understand”, celestial beings or otherwise, but note that even the things they “do understand by instinct”, the sinful things that seem so natural to an ungodly person will lead to their destruction.
The bottom line here is that one should never want to be counted among the number of the ungodly and if you are reading this today and feel you’re reading about yourself, then make this day the one you decide to change everything, repenting of your sin and committing yourself to believe in Jesus, the Savior of the world and the only One who can rescue you from Hell and bring you to God the Father who you will join one day in the Kingdom of Heaven.
My prayer is that no one will ever trade in that everlasting future glory for an eternity of darkness and damnation because that’s what the ungodly are doing every day they remain opposed to God.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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