JUDGMENT REMINDERS (PART 7)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Jude 1:16

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

What do the ungodly look like?

If we don’t know after studying the Epistle of Jude, we never will because this letter spends a lot of time warning Christian believers about being effected by those within their church who were dead in their faith and actually rejected God within their hearts.

Today, we still see this problem happening in churches around our world and this makes the words of the Lord found in Jude just as applicable now as they were when they were first written.

Over the past six days, we have closely examined this important part of the Word of God and we still have three messages remaining, beginning with today’s that centers on five other character traits found in those who willingly choose to close God out of their lives. Let’s look at each of them now.

1. Ungodly people love to complain.

These people are grumblers...

Now, we all have been guilty of complaining. There are plenty of things that we can find disfavor with.

Some of these instances are justified and right. They are protests against things that run counter to the Word of God and His expectations for living.

For example, we should be speaking out against the willful killing of unborn children through abortion. God said there is to be no murder, no exceptions despite the efforts of ungodly people to try and make you think otherwise, people who would convince you that a person has a right to do what they want to do with their body, despite God being the Maker and Master of all. That there is any debate on this at all will show you how Satan has gotten a grip on the people of God’s creation and turned them from His ways, bringing them into the ranks of the ungodly.

These God rejecting people fail to complain about what they should and instead complain about anything that disrespects and dishonors the Lord who reigns sovereign over them, the Lord who can bring judgment and destruction in a moment’s notice. They will be the first ones to not be satisfied with anything, never truly appreciating what God has done for them. Rather, they allow Satan to use dissatisfaction as a weapon to keep them away from the God they need to be faithful to, a God who always ready to forgive and welcome back the repentant sinner, restoring them to His favor and blessings.

The true children of God praise Him and live lives marked by thanksgiving. The ungodly will be the exact opposite, consistent grumblers who allow us to recognize them easily.

2. Ungodly people always can find fault in someone.

These people are...faultfinders.

We all draw up opinions on others. I don’t think anyone can truly say they haven’t.

But here’s the thing.

Who are we to judge anyone?

That right belongs to God and God alone, and we saw this punctuated earlier in this letter when God’s archangel, Michael, refused to rebuke Satan and condemn him for slander, instead proclaiming:

“The Lord rebuke you!” v.9

God, the only One who is to judge, sent His only Son Jesus to save mankind from their sins and that Son will be sent back a second time to judge all creation. Here’s what Jesus had to say about those who might decide to find fault in another:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5

The ungodly wouldn’t know about this teaching of Christ and even if they knew it, their unfaithful hearts would refuse to embrace it. For they are people who love to find fault in other people for it is easier than having to look in the mirror and see the faults in themselves.

The truth of the matter is that all are sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). We are all inherently flawed and helpless to become the kind of people we need to be without believing in God and allowing Him to lead us, something the ungodly refuse to do. This is a perfect lead in to number 3.

3. Ungodly people follow their own evil desires.

...they follow their own evil desires.

When a person chooses to deny God in their lives, they invite Satan in and he wants nothing more than to convince someone that their desires matter more than God’s.

The devil would make someone feel it’s completely appropriate to live in whatever way they want as long as it feels good to them.

Sexual immorality?

Go for it. No limits there.

Intentionally doing things to harm others?

Do something unto them before they do something unto you.

Engaging in drunkenness or illicit drug use?

If it helps you deal with life, no problem.

Saying whatever you want whether slander, gossip, lying, or swearing?

Loosen that tongue and say whatever you want. You have total freedom of speech.

I could go on and on but you get the point. The ungodly see no restraints on what they do, fully accepting and carrying out Satan’s “anything goes” agenda.

4. Ungodly people boast about themselves.

...they boast about themselves.

This makes sense because anyone who refuses God does so in order to make their life all about themselves. And with this, anything they accomplish is followed with self glorification.

I gained a promotion. I got a new car or a new home or anything else. I won an award or some other major accomplishment like a sports championship or other competition.

I. I. I.

This is what you find with the ungodly. It’s all about me.

Conversely, the Christian believer is to boast on the Lord and on Him alone. You may recall these wonderful words spoken by the psalmist in the 48th Psalm:

In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise Your name forever. v.8

This is followed by this passage on the same matter found later in Psalm 52, words directed toward Saul, the first king of Israel who turned ungodly in the latter part of his reign:

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero? Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?

You who practice deceit, your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor.

You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.

You love every harmful word, you deceitful tongue!

Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin. Vv. 1-5a

Two spiritual attitudes. One, an attitude centered on God which brings His favor, and the other, a sinfully self centered one which is a disgrace that leads to ruin.

5. Ungodly people are deceitful in the way they deal with others.

...they...flatter others for their own advantage.

Satan is the master of deception (John 8:44) and since the ungodly are under his direction, it only goes to figure that they will model his fraudulent nature in their dealings with others.

In this final character flaw exposure found in this passage, we learn about the insincerity of praise coming from those who don’t allow God to be a part of their way of living. For any compliment from someone ungodly comes with an underlying motive, one that will always be self serving.

A good example would be in people looking for intimacy in a relationship with someone else.

Let’s say a woman is out in a social setting and is approached by a man who spends a lot of time heaping compliment after compliment on her. She begins to feel like he truly sees her as someone of value to him, someone she is really looking for in her life. But unfortunately, she is falling prey to a man who has become a master manipulator. He has no interest in the woman beyond making her his latest sexual conquest, someone he can use for his own satisfaction and gain before dumping her and moving onto someone else.

Sound familiar?

It’s happening every single day somewhere and unfortunately, it’s been happening since biblical times.

The call here is to exercise caution when someone is flattering you in some way. We should always be wary of whether or not the commending is legitimate or counterfeit and really self serving in disguise.

In today’s message, we find the Word of God adding five more ways to identify the ungodly when they are in our midst. But they also serve as a reminder to Christian believers as to ways we shouldn’t be adopting in our own lives. For no follower of Jesus should allow themselves to live in any other way that is counter to the way He lived, ways that Satan is trying to draw us to through the work of the ungodly who are under his control, ways that ultimately will lead to God's judgment and punishment.

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.