Words of Your Heart - V - Mockery

With the vast majority of topics that surround our words, we could very easily extend this Sermon series into numerous directions. All of it, however, all of our speech, is nothing but the contents of our hearts coming to the surface through our words. No matter what words we choose to speak, they are all what our heart sounds like. Do you love good and hate evil? Then speak that way. Use your words to show your hatred of evil, my friends. Which hints at what our Sermon together this morning will be about. Before we get there, let's make a point to not lose sight of the forest for the trees, and remember where we are.

So far in the Sermon on The Mount, Jesus has been explaining all the different ways in which the Pharisees had been molding and shaping the law of God, trying to make themselves righteous by obeying the letter, but ignoring the spirit. He explains that ‘not murdering’ isn't good enough, because murder starts in your heart (5:22); and not committing adultery isn't good enough either, because just like murder, it also starts in your heart (5:28). Moving forward, He discusses the sanctity of marriage, explaining the patience and mercy of a God who hates divorce, by teaching on one of the only two allowable reasons to go through one (5:31&32).

And that brings us to the pericope that we have been in for the past 5 weeks. Here, He is explaining that the Pharisee’s ‘oath taking system’ was developed to ensure they could weasel between their words without being held accountable for saying them. We discussed the system itself (Part I); the truth that a redeemed heart is always going to speak in a certain way (Part II); that God communicating, in and of itself, independent of what He actually says, is of vital importance (Part III); and last week we spoke about Lying. Brothers and sisters, our words must always align with the character and nature of God; what He values or hates; what He says is true or false. And if we aren't making choices ahead of time to ensure our words align with God, we will be left embarrassed thinking that integrity can be turned on like a faucet.

Reading → Matthew 5:33-37 & Opening Prayer

Foundation of your words:

We already hinted at what our message will be about today; how our hatred for evil should show itself in our words; and one of the ways that we show our hatred for evil…is mockery. Sarcasm. Making fun of evil and evil people.

Before we go any further however, I want to make sure that we are keeping the truth of this series in our mind. We need to have a firm foundation for all of life, including the way we speak, yes. However, when we start to talk about Godly sarcasm; about mocking and making fun of wickedness and wicked people; we need it all the more.

This is a stern warning my friends.

If the foundation of our speech is anything apart from the blood-bought righteousness of Jesus Christ applied to your life through no effort of your own…then don't you dare pick up the serrated edge of mockery as a tool to use against evil. 

If you think that you, yourself, of your own will-power; your own strength; your own intellect and theological acumen; brought you to a place of accepting your guilt before a holy God; or…if you think that God saw anything in you that prompted Him to save you, either in your past, present, or future; in either case, if you believe your salvation is because of you, then any mockery you employ will be nothing but self-righteousness.

You made the right choice, all by yourself. You studied enough, prayed enough, and made all the right choices. Which means that when you engage in making fun of evil, you are simultaneously lifting yourself up above those you mock. Think about it. Honestly and truly.

The person who believes they saved themselves, when they set about using the serrated edge of sarcasm, even referencing Elijah and the prophets of Baal when they do, they are saying, in essence: “If only you were like me, then you would have made the right choice to be a Christian, but you're not like me, I made the right choice, and now I am going to bully and mock you to show how holy I am.”

If you agree with Scripture that we are all dead in our sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1), or that Lazarus could never have risen himself from the grave (Jn. 11:43), then your mockery (to use this phrase carefully) will be pure.

You are one who whole-heartedly acknowledges that before God saved you, you were a slave to sin (Jn. 8:34). You know, deeply and truly, that God hated you (Col. 1:21), and that you hated Him (Rom. 1:30). But now, due to nothing inside of you, and not according to any potential future choice you would ever make, He “made known to (you) the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” (Eph. 1:9 - emphasis mine).

Plainly stated; the Calvinist is the only one allowed to engage in mocking evil, because he is the only one who willingly accepts their own depravity before God saved them.

So…do you think that you saved yourself? That, sure, maybe God “pushed” you in the right direction, but ultimately it was your own choice? If you do…then what separates you from the non-Christian? You need to find an answer that comports with your attitude towards others, because all of the humility and kindness and polite phrases you use will do nothing to hide the fact that you believe that you, yourself, are the reason why you believe in God.

Therefore your mockery is woven about with self-righteousness and not pure.

My friends, if the foundation of your entire life is nothing but the God of the Universe acting when you were fully incapable of doing so, it has ramifications into every area of your entire life. It changes the way you view your relationships with friends and family. It changes how you view your hobbies, interests, careers, and even your own body. Knowing that God did not respect your free-will choice to earn your way into Hell, but instead gave you a new heart without asking your permission, and therefore ensured your seat at the wedding feast at the end of time will be irrevocably reserved; the truth of God's utter sovereignty over everything…undergirds everything in your entire life. Including…when you set about calling attention to the abject stupidity of evil people and their evil actions.

An inconsistency?:

Now, with all of this, something might have risen to the forefront of your thoughts. You might be thinking that there is no reason to ever mock evil or evil people. That God is nothing but a squishy-happy-diabetic sky-daddy who only ever does fluffy cotton-candy things in the world, and mockery and sarcasm are “not who Jesus is” thank you very much. 

You might very well be thinking that regardless of someone’s soteriology (what they believe about ‘how’ they were saved), sarcasm and mockery are always sinful. 

Before showing that Scripture allows for mockery of evil, we first need to speak on the mentality of: “mockery is always a sin” being the defacto operating system of the modern world. We must confront this, brothers and sisters, because it has infected every possible aspect of society. Businesses, Schools, Churches, and even families, have been using “feelings” as the compass for every communication, to the point they have become the bottom line in every decision making process.

Feelings have entered the room, please stand:

We have come to a point (perhaps it existed in generations past?) in our culture where “feelings” have taken on a sense of infallibility. Where people assume that their feelings, about anything, can never be wrong. That they don’t lead you astray into believing wrong things and are always reliable. And the more deeply someone feels; be it in regards to a traumatic event, a personal relationship, or a past experience; the more and more their feelings will be their god. 

What I mean is: “Are your feelings ever wrong? Can they lie to you, and make you think something false? Or did The Fall not affect them? Perhaps sin, after ravaging all of creation; from planets and peoples, to cells and souls; stopped at the border of your feelings, unable to cross? And if you grant that of course The Fall affected your feelings…then why would you trust them?”

My friends, we are afraid to hurt someone’s feelings to such a degree that it has forced upon us a world of literal foolishness.

We have grown men demanding that because they feel like a woman, others must go along with their delusion, and then undergo genital butchery to prove the validity of their feelings. And don't you dare disagree, because the Trannies have the same Second Amendment that we do. Feelings have driven women to undergo a double mastectomy, turning themselves into some kind of butch-frankenstein. We see bad mothers murdering their own children because they feel like their life, their present, or their future, is worth the cost of their child’s life. And discontent at the human body given to them by God, we have people self-identifying as animals, practicing prancing on all fours, urinating in litter boxes, and taking on entirely different personas whenever they wear synthetic fur. Why? Because that's how they feel. 

And to play the “politic” game in my Sermon about mockery; we have people on the other side of the aisle chasing their feelings just as much. If you don’t believe me, just ask someone “on the right” their feelings about The Jews, and watch them put the onus for Israeli controlled infanticide on their DNA instead of their God-hating hearts. We see people pretending to be Christians, possibly taking to a pew every Sunday, not because they are a sinner saved from the fires of Hell by a God who provided the righteousness that He required; but because it feels good to put the blame on all the furries and fairies instead of admitting you actually, literally, hate them and have been gatekeeping The Gospel. We see people wearing cross necklaces because it feels good for strangers to see that instead of the boiling hatred they have for all the blacks or libs.

Now, to give credit where it's due; self righteousness really can keep you warm through all the snow storms of this life, sure. It will convince you that you hold no blame in your culture dying around you…you're the righteous one after-all. But the modicum of warmth you feel from it will be nothing in comparison to the fire that surrounds you in the life to come.

We are awash in a world addicted to feelings...and if my language just now rubbed you the wrong way…then maybe you are addicted as well.

Do you feel like a Christian shouldn't say such words? Why? Do you feel that a pastor of all people- shouldn't mock others? Well…to repeat myself…have your feelings ever lied to you before? Led you astray? If not, and they have been reliable your entire life, does that mean your feelings have been unaffected by The Fall?

Make no mistake, your feelings; like everything else in this world; are broken. They are flawed, and even if they may have led you in the right direction before, that is not a good enough reason to blindly follow them. To never question them. So stop using feelings as a litmus test for the truth.

Do you have anything to validate your feelings

or do they stand on their own authority?

We are a culture addicted to feelings, and we all know how an addict responds when you take their drugs away. Foaming at the mouth outrage; excuses; blame shifting; bargaining, and then desperate, degrading begging; “How dare you use those words! I thought you were a Christian!” And for a large majority of believers today…that's right when we give in…because we can’t stand to hurt someone’s feelings. But if you're resolute, and stand on the foundation of your salvation being nothing of your own doing, the rest of their withdrawal symptoms will eventually come spilling out.

And when that happens; when nothing they say or do can move you a single inch away from the truth, and your ‘pure’ mockery of their evil is used by God to soften their hearts; when they come to see that they are, in fact, guilty in His eyes…what medicine will you give them to ease their pain? …more feelings?

Biblical mockery: 

Now this can be a lot to wrestle with, I understand. It's hard, because all of it depends on if there is a Biblical case for mocking and sarcasm to begin with. Right?

We can make all the claims we want, but if we don't see a Scriptural precedent to engage in such behavior, it means that we are using ourselves…our feelings…as the standard.

Some of us might immediately call to mind Elijah and the prophets of Baal when talking about Godly mockery, and with good reason. Afterall, he wasn’t called “The troubler of Israel” (1 Kin. 18:27) because of how sugary his words were. In 1 Kings 18:27, when he was confronting the followers of a false religion…instead of accommodating them in a spirit of unity and coexistence; we read this → “And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” (esv)

Can you imagine a street preacher in front of a Mosque mocking the muslims by asking if Allah is on the toilet? Pray harder Abdul, maybe Allah forgot to take his fiber. Oh what a mean, mean Christian that would be. What about their feelings?

In 2 Kings 10:27, after lying about being a member of a false religion for the purpose of trapping them like fish in a barrel, Jehu killed the Baal worshippers, then → “...they demolished the pillar of Baal, and demolished the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.” And then…God approved of it all in v.30.

What would the news cycle look like if a Christian knocked over the statue of Moroni and turned it into a port-a-potty? All of the pearl-clutching Christians would perform exegetical gymnastics to fix the tender feelings of the Mormons; every “christian” influencer would put out a video with some garbage click-bait title about what a real follower of Jesus is like; lawsuits would unfold; and the demon worshipping latter-day “saints” would gather to lick their wounded self-righteousness. So…who wants to go to Palmyra with me later today?

In Psalm 115:4 - 8 we read insults towards individual people → “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. [5] They have mouths, but they do not speak; eyes they have, but they do not see; [6] They have ears, but they do not hear; noses they have, but they do not smell; [7] They have hands, but they do not handle; feet they have, but they do not walk; nor do they mutter through their throat. [8] Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.”

To put this in the modern vernacular; everyone who trusts in the pedophile Mohammed, cursed be his name, will be just like him. Meaning; all muslims are pedophiles, and the only ones that don't rape children, are those who haven't followed his teachings.

In Galatians 5:11 & 12, the Apostle says that those who teach circumcision being required for salvation…should put their money where their mouth is and cut the whole thing off → “And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. [12] I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!

In Amos 4:1 & 2 God commits the unforgivable sin of the modern world by (gasp!) mocking women when He says this → “Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, “Bring us another drink!” [2] The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness: “The time will come when you will be led away with hooks in your noses. Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook!” (nlt)

God Himself; that fluffy sky-daddy who only ever says nice things; just called the liberal women in Samaria a bunch of fat, arrogant, self-entitled, alcoholic cows, and then said He was going to pull them by their septum piercings as He leads them to their death.

In Matthew 23, Jesus engages in a chapter long rebuke against The Pharisees, and it is filled to the brim with insults. He calls them hypocrites (v13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29); snakes (v. 33); fools (v.19); self-righteous (v.5-8); full of extortion and self-indulgence (v.25); He tells them they are dead inside (v.27); filled with lawlessness (v.28); and calls them children of Hell (v.15). Does this fit with how you view Jesus? If it doesn't, then you will have an even harder time coming to terms with the racial slur He uses in Matthew 15:26.

That last one was a big one, but we need to understand that the happy-hippy version of Jesus; the one who never offends or cuts with His words; and is always eager to mollycoddle everyone…is not how The Bible portrays Him. He is a raging, consuming and destroying fire (Deut. 4:24), whose face if looked upon by someone…would kill them (Ex. 33:20). And when the “..wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him for He sees that his day is coming (Ps. 37:12 & 13 - emphasis mine).

Psalm 2:1 - 4 → “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? [2] The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, [3] “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” [4] He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.”

Did you hear that? God laughs at people who stand against Him, holding them in derision. And the Hebrew word that David used here for “derision” means to insult, taunt, and babble your speech to mock the way someone speaks. That is who God is, and the very next verse adds even more. v.5 → “Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure.” So not only will God be making fun of the way they speak while laughing at them, He will be intentionally speaking in ways that displease and distress them.

With this, we might feel the temptation to separate God the Father from God the Son, all the while ignoring His insult infused rebuke from Mt. 23, and if you are still white-knuckling the idea that Jesus is the soft and effeminate buddy who would never upset you, I would point out the type of people He was compared to in Matthew 16:13 - 14 → “When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” [14] So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Who did people think Jesus was? The locust-eating, camel-hair-wearing prophet, who was so confrontational to the political leaders of his day that he was decapitated for his extremism. If that weren't enough, He is also compared to that prophet who mocked false religions with “potty-humor”, and (as we mentioned earlier) was known far and wide as a “troubler of Israel”. What about Jesus would ever make such comparisons plausible? Could it be that we have been replacing Scripture with our feelings?

And you’ll notice a third name there in that list as well, which will move us forward this morning. Not only was Jesus compared to the desert-dwelling religious extremist known as John the Baptizer; and the “troubler of Israel” who makes toilet jokes at the expense of different religions; He was compared to the Weeping Prophet; Jeremiah.

My friends, the modern Church has divided Matt. 6:14 when it comes to teaching about Jesus. They shout from the mountain tops that Jesus was compared to Jeremiah because the sin of His people brought forth tears, as they should! It is a true thing about Jesus! However, it's a half truth. In otherwards…its a lie. You can’t pick and choose which aspects of Jesus’ personality you want to hold up as the highest good. And if your understanding of Jesus sacrifices the soft for the hard…or the other way around…you have an unbiblical understanding of who Jesus is, and need to repent. 

Half of Jesus:

Do you, as we have for this morning, highlight the truth that Jesus insults and mocks evil and evil people? Good. It's Biblical. But do you do it at the expense of the Jesus who ate with sinners and prostitutes? Or maybe it's the other way around?

Do you try to divide Jesus; not along the lines of His dual nature, that would be heresy of course…but along the lines of His personality? Do you view Christ as gentle and lowly in heart (His own words! - Matt. 11:29), welcoming anyone who comes to Him with open arms…while ignoring that He will be the one wearing a blood-soaked robe as He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God (Rev. 19:15), crushing sinners in eternal conscious torment? 

Or maybe it's the other way around?

Perhaps you have seen enough of the limp-wristed, compromising Christians…so you’ve swung into sin on the other side of the road…and actually hate them? You’ve seen the pretend pastors endorsing abortion and homo-marriage from their perverted pulpits…and your sin isn't as bad as theirs, of course, so you grab hold of your feelings and use them to cut away all the parts of Christ that would actually welcome the abused and hurting murderer?

Is that it? 

If that is you, and you actually hate the homosexual; if you actually hate the woman who has used abortion as birth control to the point her ovaries being callused and unusable; or if you intentionally refuse to give the offer of forgiveness to someone of a different religion; then you will be the one whose blood seeps about the edges of the winepress He treads upon.

Take all of Christ,

or none of Him.

Moving forward, we need to ask two important questions. (even though much more can and has been said) “Why?” and “When?”.

You’ve seen the Biblical precedent for mocking, and even if it doesn't sit nice and neat in your heart, you're still willing to entertain it as true. But it is of vast importance to understand why someone should engage in this kind of rhetoric, and when it is wise to do so. 

To not answer these questions, and simply make the blanket statement of: “It's ok to mock wickedness, go for it.” would be to turn you all into Pharisees, and you’ve already heard what Christ has to say about such people. 

Why:

When asking why a Christian would ever pick up the serrated edge of satire and mockery; if the people of Scripture doing so weren't enough of an answer; we read this in Proverbs 26:5, which will help us to clear the air a little bit → “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

Why should someone mock the evil choices of an evil person? Because it is a check against self glory. They have been wearing their wickedness, proudly parading it down every street, knowing that all they need to do is call us mean-spirited to make us hide the truth. But mockery? Sarcasm and insults? They point out the absurdity of their sin by cutting away the layers of feelings they have used to hide it behind.

The old story about the emperor's new clothes would fit perfectly here. The wicked of this world have dressed themselves with nothing, and because Christians are so afraid of offending the precious feelings of the fallen, we refuse to laugh and point out their nakedness.

It would be so very mean after-all, right?

Why should we mock evil? Because there's an entire generation of men and women mutilating their bodies, and calling them ‘Frankenstein’ will reveal what they have actually been doing. 

Why should we use sarcasm against those who sin in the opposite direction? Because saying to someone: “Yeah, I don't have any sin either, so lets go bully a fag.” will reveal their self-righteousness.

_____

Now, these two examples might not seem as foolproof as I have presented them, and I am even willing to admit as much. However, what you're wrestling with here isn't the effectiveness of mockery as a means to accomplish Godly ends, not at all.

Through all of these mean words that this mean preacher has been using; is it possible that you are still hesitant to pick up the serrated edge of satire and mockery, because you're thinking something like: “If I offend someone, then it's my fault if they don’t believe in Jesus. I have to say all the soft and squishy words, the sugary and sweet things…or nobody will listen! Remember, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. And if I get all teary-eyed when I talk, and the lights are down low, and the music is the same three chords on repeat, that’s even better. Wait…it didn't work? You don’t see yourself as guilty in the eyes of a holy God, sprinting faster and faster into Hell with every sin? Well…I guess I need to be softer and softer. Respecting the feelings of other people is the most important thing after-all.”

Christians of the modern world shirk away from using mockery, because they doubt that God is sovereign over salvation. It all depends on us being as gentle as possible, and making sure we have nothing but politeness wrapped about every word. This kind of thinking is nothing but a tightly coiled pile of steaming, human-centered skubalon. But hey…it attracts the flies they are after, so I guess it really does work.

When:

Now that we have a good (though debatable, right?) reason as to “why” we should use mockery, we need to know when. Always? Sometimes? Does it depend on the people, the place, the events or actions in question? And how do we tell? To ignore all of those questions, and get right down to the foundation; when thinking about the appropriate or wise time to use mockery, you first must understand the kind of person you were before God saved you.

First:

Before God accounted the punishment that your sins deserved to His Son, and accounted His Son’s righteousness to you; the punishment you deserved was nothing but the crushing black waves of damnation tossing your wicked body against the spires of Hell. It is the just and fair result of every sinful thought and action, and it would be God Himself raking you across the boiling coals.

All of us here this morning; if indeed you have repented of your sins and believed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; were dead in our sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1) and hated God (Rom. 1:30). We were His enemy (Col. 1:21), and no amount of obedience to His law, or good and Godly actions could ever save us (Eph. 2:8&9). In fact, our sins made it wholly impossible to go towards God, at all. Jesus Himself said so in Jn. 6:44 → “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (emphasis - mine) You did not go toward God…and you couldn't. However, because God is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth;” who keeps “mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression” (Ex. 34:6&7) He, for His own reasons, chose to not respect your feelings when He accounted your sins to Christ, and the righteousness of Christ to you.

All of that to say, and hear this clearly: you were no better off than those you are thinking of mocking, and the only reason you aren't where they are right now, has nothing to do with you. (How many times should this be repeated?)

When you accept this to be true, knowing that you contributed nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary; when you know, deeply and truly, that nothing about you; in your past, present, or future; prompted God to save you; then and only then are you free to go about the process to determine when you should engage in Godly mockery.

Second:

After you have done such deep and honest work in your own soul, reaching into those places you would rather ignore, and accepting who you were before Christ saved you; the next aspect to consider can be seen with the types of people Christ did and didn't mock.

We know the answers, right?

He was harsh with those who loved their sin, and gentle with those ashamed of it.

Those who wore their evil actions like badges of honor, were those He mocked. The people who defended their evil deeds; bragged about them; argued for them actually being good and not bad…those who were comfortable in their sin, Jesus afflicted, because He is a God who hates the proud, and mocks them to their faces. 

On the other hand, the people who hated their choices, and hated themselves for making them to begin with; were those He didn’t mock. The prostitute who didn't redefine her adultery as employment, but instead was ashamed of it; the thief, the murderer, the tax collector, who didn't try to explain away their sin but wished that somehow they could go back in time to make things right; we those whom Christ is gentle and lowly towards.

Oh you broken and lost one. You, hurt by your own choices…who hate the decisions you have made…run to the healing waters that flow from His pierced hands, and be made new. He will forgive all who come to Him in fear of judgement.

Closing:

In closing, I fully understand how dense of a topic this is. It might very well be something you had never considered before, or have outright rejected. But I hope that Scripture has spoken for itself this morning, and you can see that to mock people who love their sin, is something we are allowed to do. However, do not ignore the other side, when someone is afflicted by their sin. When someone is ashamed of their sin, we comfort them. 

When someone admits they hate who they used to be, and is held under the gaze of guilt, give them the only medicine that washes guilt away. When the woman who aborted her child is haunted by the memories she’ll never be able to form…comfort her with the truth that God forgives evil. When the repentant transexual is reminded of their sin, physically, every time they use the bathroom…apply to their heart the healing balm of white-hot forgiveness.

This, alone, can be difficult. 

But it gets harder. 

How do we comfort those who hate their hatred?

Those who saw sin the same way God did, yes, but then assumed their sin wasn't as bad, and then acted on it…but now, because of your mockery of them, they have seen the foolishness of their beliefs, and have repented.

How do you comfort them?

In the exact same way…The Gospel.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, born of the virgin Mary; who lived a sinless life, dead and buried, but risen; who drank dry the cup of His Father’s wrath for all who repent and believe; is the only, singular, standing-alone and apart from everything else truth that can comfort those who hate their choices.

And remember, the only way you can take on such a life-altering action, is by acknowledging that you, yourself, were just as bad before God saved you.

I intentionally haven't spent as much time as I could have discussing the “boots on the ground” aspect of this, and am looking forward to Sunday School after Service today. But the reason I didn't discuss all of the numerous factors that need to be considered, is because if we don’t have a foundation to stand upon, then all of those factors don’t matter. Some of which can be found in the “Extra Notes” section of this Manuscript.

But to bring our message to a close; if there is even a hint of reluctance to engage in Godly mockery…don’t. Don’t act unless Scripture convinces you. Not a pastor, a friend, a parent, a role-model you look up to, or that one well-known voice in the Christian world at large. And if you are convinced it is an effective tool that God has given us to use; acknowledge who you were before God saved you.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified

in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Rev. Jacob Marchitell

June 7th 2026

Extra Notes:

When someone loves their sin, we have Biblical permission to mock them, yes. But if mockery is the correct or wise tool to use, depends on numerous factors.

• First & foremost: Do you accept your total inability to save yourself?

• Your relationship w/ them: Stranger? Friend? Friend of a Friend? Relative?

• The situation: street preaching? Grocery store clerk? Stranger on the internet?

• Do they have “ears to hear”? How can you tell?

• Do you have a higher priority in your life at this time? ie. Are you so concerned with weeding the neighbors garden with your mockery…that you have been ignoring the weeds growing in your own?

• If your garden doesn't have any weeds you’ve ignored, and you have been making a point at plucking any that show up…you need to ask if it will be worth the effort. It requires an enormous amount of self-honesty and sanctification to mock sinlessly… because Godly mockery can only be for the purpose of the salvation of those you mock.

That last point is loaded, because we as Christians can simultaneously want someone to be saved and damned…because our ultimate goal is God’s will, whatever it may be. And because we don’t infallibly know what that is…when it comes to mockery, we should err on the side of love, and do so “lest they be wise in their own eyes” ie: for the purpose of them being saved.