The Sin of Ungodliness

[Dean]

Sins of the tongue —such as gossip, sarcasm, and other unkind words to or about another person —cannot thrive in awareness that God hears every word we speak. The reason we sin with our tongues is due to the fact that we are to some degree ungodly. We don’t think of living every moment of our lives in the presence of an all-seeing, all-hearing God.

I believe that all our other acceptable sins can ultimately be traced to this root sin of ungodliness. To use a tree as an illustration, we can think of all our sins, big and small, growing out of the trunk of pride. I have in mind such sins as anxiety, discontent, unthankfulness, lack of self-control, impatience, anger, judgmentalism, envy, jealousy, and so forth. But that which sustains the life of the tree is the root system, in this case the root of ungodliness. It is ungodliness that ultimately gives life to our more visible sins.

The Bible talks of “the ungodly” as those who are separated from God. Ungodliness is the condition of being polluted with sin. To be ungodly is to act in a way that is contrary to the nature of God, to actively oppose God in disobedience, or to have an irreverent disregard for God. The Bible often speaks of “the flesh” in reference to things that emanate from our sinful natures. The acts of the flesh and the desires of the world fall under the category of ungodliness.

Second Peter 3:7 says that the ungodly will face judgment. Revelation 20:14–15 says, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Ultimately, those who reject God—the ungodly—will be separated from Him forever.

Jude refers to false teachers as ungodly. His description contains these characteristics of ungodliness: they pervert the grace of God into a license for immorality, and they deny Jesus Christ as the only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 1:4). Later, Jude mentions the “ungodly acts” of the wicked and “defiant words” that the ungodly speak against God (verse 15). The ungodly are also characterized as “grumblers and faultfinders” who selfishly follow “their own evil desires,” boast and flatter (verse 16). The ungodly scoff at the truth of God and attempt to divide churches (verses 18–19).

Amazingly, Jesus sacrificed Himself for the ungodly. Romans 5:6 and 8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. . . . God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5), clothing them with the righteousness of Christ and enabling them to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way” (Colossians 1:10).

Our sanctification is progressive. That is, even though we are saved and justified in Christ, we sometimes still act in ungodly ways. We are still in the process of being transformed into His image (Romans 8:29–30; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 1:6). We are declared righteous before God but are still being made holy in practical terms. In short, we still sin. Scripture says we should confess our sin and trust God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:8–9). Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ (Romans 8:31–39). We are no longer numbered among the ungodly, even though we still fight our fleshly urges and sometimes act in ungodly ways.

Generally speaking, the ungodly are those who do not know God through Jesus Christ. They have rejected God’s Son and remain in their sins. Those who are in Christ have their sins forgiven and are becoming more godly. Believers naturally seek to remove all ungodliness from their lives (1 John 3:9).

From got?

 

[Blessed]

Sins of the tongue —such as gossip, sarcasm, and other unkind words to or about another person —cannot thrive in awareness that God hears every word we speak. The reason we sin with our tongues is due to the fact that we are to some degree ungodly. We don’t think of living every moment of our lives in the presence of an all-seeing, all-hearing God.

I believe that all our other acceptable sins can ultimately be traced to this root sin of ungodliness. To use a tree as an illustration, we can think of all our sins, big and small, growing out of the trunk of pride. I have in mind such sins as anxiety, discontent, unthankfulness, lack of self-control, impatience, anger, judgmentalism, envy, jealousy, and so forth. But that which sustains the life of the tree is the root system, in this case the root of ungodliness. It is ungodliness that ultimately gives life to our more visible sins.

Paul, was also guilty of grievous sins. Acts 7:54–8:1 describes his part in the stoning of Stephen; then in Acts 9:1-2, we read of his personal involvement in persecuting believers. Toward the end of his life, Paul described himself in those earlier days as “a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent of Christ”. But in that same context, he could also say, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief”.

I think Paul had the sin of pride going on big time before his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.

 

[Bubba]

God is against those people whose spiritual delusion causes them to invent their own message apart from God’s truth.

Here is a list I found that's not to be thrown around lightly.

1. Self-deceived. Some false teachers may be sincere, but they are still wrong. They have deceived themselves into believing their messages are true. As Jeremiah points out, their messages come psychologically from within their own minds and are not from God.

2. Liars. Some false prophets are deliberate liars who have no intention of telling the truth. The apostle John says, “Who is a liar? but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).

3. Heretics. These are they who preach heresy (false doctrine) and divide the church. Of them John said, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us” (1 John 2:19 NIV). The apostle Peter said, “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies . . . These . . . speak evil of the things they do not understand” (2 Peter 2:1, 12).

4. Scoffers. There are some who do not necessarily promote false teaching so much as they outright reject the truth of God. Of them the Bible warns, “Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). The apostle Paul calls them “lovers of themselves . . . boasters, proud” (2 Timothy 3:2). Jude calls them “grumblers and faultfinders” (Jude 16).

5. Blasphemers. Those who speak evil of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the people of God, the kingdom of God, and the attributes of God are called blasphemers. Jude calls them godless men who “speak abusively against whatever they do not understand . . . They are clouds without rain . . . trees, without fruit . . . They are wild waves of the sea . . . wandering stars” (Jude 10, 12-13). The apostle Paul says that he himself was a blasphemer before his conversion to Christ (1 Timothy 1:13).

6. Seducers. Jesus warned that some false prophets will appear with miraculous signs and wonders to seduce or deceive the very elect, if that were possible (Mark 13:22). Our Lord’s implication is that spiritual seduction is a very real threat even to believers. This would account for the fact that a few genuine but deceived believers may be found among the cults.

7. Reprobates. This term means “disapproved,” “depraved,” or “rejected.” Paul refers to those who have rejected the truth of God and turned to spiritual darkness. Consequently, God has given them over to a “reprobate mind” (Romans 1:28 ). They have so deliberately rejected God that they have become “filled with every kind of wickedness” (verse 29 ). As a result, they are “haters of God” (verse 30), whose behavior is “senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (verse 31).

These people are so far gone spiritually that they know it and don’t care. In Jesus’ own prophetic message, the Olivet Discourse, He warned, “Watch out that no one deceives you . . . Many will turn away from the faith . . . And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people . . . For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles” (Matthew 24:4, 10-11, 24). Our Lord warned His disciples of the possibility of spiritual seduction by false prophets.
Craig G. Bartholomew

 

[Nathan]

@Bubba

Good list. I've run into a few that are on it but never have I fallen for the bait of Satan. I worked at Deer Ridge Correctional Institution at Madras, Oregon for 23 years, so I have seen a lot of the results of the mind games Satan and his deceived followers play. In Revelation 12, Satan is described as "the deceiver of the whole world," indicating his role in deceiving not only individuals but also his followers.

To me ungodliness comes from Satan. The Bible describes Satan as the father of lies and make him out to be the ultimate deceiver. His name means “accuser,” and he is depicted as the accuser of God and His people. He is opposed to God and seeks to alienate people from the truth.

He misled the fallen angels as shown in Revelation 12:9
9 And the huge dragon was cast down and out—that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him.

My list.
He tempts men and women to sin against God’s laws.

He denies and rejects the truth of God and deceives those who perish without God

Ultimately, he inspires the false prophets and the very spirit of Antichrist.

The Bible clearly warns us that in the last days people will “depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving [seducing, KJV] spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). These false teachings will come through hypocritical liars, whose minds have been captured by the following participants of evil:
Satan
Father of Lies
Demons
Doctrines of Devils
False Teachers
Messengers of Deceit

These will all speak Satan’s lies. Thus, the process of spiritual deception is clearly outlined in Scripture:
The term angel in Greek, "angelos" means “messenger.” God’s angels are His divine messengers and His true prophets and preachers are called the angels of the churches . By contrast, Satan is pictured as a fallen angel, the leader of other fallen angels, who deceives the world. He is revealed as the ultimate power behind the Antichrist and the False Prophet who deceives mankind with false religion. Thus, the messengers "angels) of deceit" are Satan-inspired false prophets and teachers whose messages are the very spirit of Antichrist.

Evil spirits acquire their greatest power from their subtilty. They are masters of the art of deception, and aim to counterfeit that which is good rather than suggest what is obviously.