What does it mean that God is not mocked?

[angels4u]

What does it mean that God is not mocked?

To mock God is to disrespect, dishonor, or ignore Him. It is a serious offense committed by those who have no fear of God or who deny His existence. The most easily recognized form of mockery is disrespect typified by verbal insults or other acts of disdain. It is associated with ridicule, scoffing, and defiance. Mockery is a dishonoring attitude that shows low estimation, contempt, or even open hostility.

In the Bible mockery is a behavior and attitude shown by the fool (Psalm 74:22

, the wicked (Psalm 1:1), the enemy (Psalm 74:10), the hater of knowledge (Proverbs 1:22; 13:1), the proud (Psalm 119:51; Isaiah 37:17), and the unteachable (Proverbs 15:12). A mocker goes beyond mere lack of judgment to making a conscious decision for evil. Mockers are without a spirit of obedience, teachability, discernment, wisdom, worship, or faith.

Those who mock God will mock the people of God as well. The prophet Jeremiah "became the laughingstock of all my people" and was mocked "in song all day long" (Lamentations 3:14). Mockery of God's prophets was commonplace (2 Chronicles 36:16). Nehemiah was mocked by his enemies (Nehemiah 2:19). Elisha was mocked by the youths of Bethel (2 Kings 2:23). And of course our Lord Jesus was mocked—by Herod and his soldiers (Luke 23:11), by the Roman soldiers (Mark 15:20; Luke 23:36), by a thief on a cross (Luke 23:39), and by the Jewish leaders who passed by the cross (Matthew 27:41).

It is easy for us as believers to point the finger at those outside the church who mock God. But the most subtle mockery of God, and the most dangerous, comes from those of us sitting in church. We are guilty of mockery when we behave with an outward show of spirituality or godliness without an inward engagement or change of heart.

Charles G. Finney, a preacher in the 1800s, wrote about the effects of mocking God: "To mock God is to pretend to love and serve him when we do not; to act in a false manner, to be insincere and hypocritical in our professions, pretending to obey him, love, serve, and worship him, when we do not. . . . Mocking God grieves the Holy Spirit, and sears the conscience; and thus the bands of sin become stronger and stronger. The heart becomes gradually hardened by such a process." 

God warns that mockery of what is holy will be punished. Zephaniah predicted the downfall of Moab and Ammon, saying, "This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty" (Zephaniah 2:10). Isaiah 28:22 warns that mockery will cause the chains of Judah's sin to become stronger and that destruction will follow. Proverbs 3:34 says that God will mock the mocker but give favor to the humble and oppressed. Second Kings 2:24 records the punishment that befell the youths who jeered Elisha.

This is what it means that God is not mocked. There are repercussions for ignoring God's directives and willfully choosing sin. Adam and Eve tried and brought sorrow and death into the world (Genesis 2:15–17; 3:6, 24). Ananias and Sapphira's deception brought about a swift and public judgment (Acts 5:1–11). Galatians 6:7 states a universal principle: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

God cannot be deceived (Hebrews 4:12–13). Achan's sin (Joshua 7) and Jonah's flight (Jonah 1) were not unknown to God. Jesus' repeated words to every church in Revelation 2—3 were, "I know your works." We only deceive ourselves when we think our attitudes and actions are not seen by an all-powerful and all-knowing God.

The Bible shows us the way to live a blessed life, sometimes by the good examples of godly men and women and sometimes by the negative examples of those who choose to follow another path. Psalm 1:1–3 says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."

Psalm 74:22 
22     Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

Psalm 1:1
The Way of the Righteous and the Wicke1 Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

Psalm 74:10 
10     How long, O God, is the foe to scoff? Is the enemy to revile your name forever?

Proverbs 13:1 
A wise son hears his father’s instruction,but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Psalm 119:51 
51     The insolent utterly deride me,but I do not turn away from your law.

Lamentations 3:14 
14     I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,the object of their taunts all day long

2 Chronicles 36:16
16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Nehemiah 2:19
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

2 Kings 2:23 
23 He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”

Luke 23:11
11 And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.

Mark 15:20 
20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

Luke 23:39 
39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

Matthew 27:41 
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,

Zephaniah 2:10 
10     This shall be their lot in return for their pride,because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 28:22 
22     Now, therefore, do not scoff,lest your bonds be made strong;for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord God of hosts against the whole land.

Proverbs 3:34 
34     Toward the scorners he is scornful,but to the humble he gives favor.

2 Kings 2:24
24 And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys.

Genesis 2:15–17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you

Genesis 3:6 
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:24 
24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Acts 5:1–11 
5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has …

Galatians 6:7 
7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Hebrews 4:12–13 
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked …

Joshua 7:1–26
7 But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

Jonah 1:1–17 
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the

Revelation 2:1–3:22
2 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those

Psalm 1:1–3
1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners,

2     but his delight is in the law of the Lord,and on His law he meditates day and night.

https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-not-mocked.html

 

 

[missmuffet]

To mock God is to disrespect, dishonor or ignore Him. It is a serious offense. 

[HAZARD]

I found this;

Gal. 6:7, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Mocked, Gr. Mukterizomai, to turn up the nose at. Cp. Luke 16:14.

[com7fy8]

I looked up "mocked" in my Strong's Greek dictionary. It seems this means to ridicule and put down, or look down your nose at someone and moo at them. 

But the context is that God is not mocked because we will reap what we sow. So, maybe Paul means people won't get away with putting down God. Because they are refusing to submit to God who is able to make them right and successful in loving and self control, they get into more and more deep trouble in themselves >

"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)

As they refuse God, He can let go of them so they become more and more dominated by their evil drives and ways of reacting > like happened to the people in Romans 1:18-32.

We will reap so much more than we have been sowing. With God, we can invest in becoming more and more like Jesus so in the resurrection we reap so much more of how Jesus is.

But if ones have invested in their self-seeking things, the nasty and rotten stuff of this is what they can reap so much more, after they no longer have their physical bodies and they will become all spiritual like how their real character has been becoming. 

How we really have been becoming in our character is what we will reap so much more, than those little seeds we have been sowing!!

Therefore, I think, this is why Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount starts right off with how to be > our character has to do with how we are > we need how God's love has us becoming more and more >

poor in spirit

meek

merciful

pure in heart

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

I notice how it says the "gentle and quite spirit" of God's love is "incorruptible". To me, this means how there is almighty power in God's love, making us so we can not be corrupted by nasty and negative and cruel and dominating things in us. But ones in selfishness are weak enough to be corrupted by dominating and controlling drives and ways of relating and reacting so they break down, more and more. Then, in their resurrection, if they do not turn from this self stuff and trust in Jesus, their ruined nature becomes fully corrupted, once they have no physical body, any more, to mix in with how they are spiritually. This is what I understand is how it works.

So, it is wise to put away any nasty wrong stuff, so we get more really in how God's love cures our nature >

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)

So, yes we can see how forgiveness is so needed, in our investing . . . our sowing > so we forgive "even as God", our Groom Jesus says through Paul, here. 

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

 

Edited March 22, 2019 by com7fy8

[JohnD]

God has the last laugh.

In the Navy we had a Wogs revenge day which was followed by the Shellback initiation.

Wogs had a blast.

I got the XO with an egg under his garrison cap that I smashed.

Called me an SOB and we all laughed.

But I was a special case in the initiation the next day

meaning I got double the hard knocks.

Shellbacks got the last laugh.

God has the last laugh / he will not be mocked.

 

[JTC]

I've used this verse a few times in my saved life. I've used it with another believer, especially when we both knew full well what God wanted from us. My saved friend just didn't want to do what we had to do. So I said to her, don't be fooled God is not mocked. She understood the point. In this sense God had told 2 of His believers what He wanted. We had little doubt. I felt to disobey Him in these cases was the same as mocking Him.

[BibleStudent100]

The apostle Paul warns of the serious danger that attends an attempt to mock God, that is, the danger that comes to one who thinks that the principles of God’s administration can be treated with contempt or can successfully be evaded. He writes to the Galatian Christians: “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he is deceiving his own mind. . . . Do not be misled: God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap; because he who is sowing with a view to his flesh will reap corruption from his flesh, but he who is sowing with a view to the spirit will reap everlasting life from the spirit.”—Ga 6:3-8.

Here the apostle shows that a person should not deceive himself with a false estimate of his own worth, thereby ignoring God and his Word. He should clean up his life to walk by the spirit as the Word directs. If a person does not do this, but instead goes on sowing with a view to fleshly desires, he is ‘accepting the undeserved kindness of God and missing its purpose’ and is treating God’s instruction as contemptible. (2Co 6:1) He may deceive himself into thinking that he is safe. Nevertheless, God knows his heart and will judge him accordingly.
 

[turtletwo]

On 2/19/2019 at 1:47 PM, angels4u said:

Charles G. Finney, a preacher in the 1800s, wrote about the effects of mocking God: "To mock God is to pretend to love and serve him when we do not; to act in a false manner, to be insincere and hypocritical in our professions, pretending to obey him, love, serve, and worship him, when we do not. . . . Mocking God grieves the Holy Spirit, and sears the conscience; and thus the bands of sin become stronger and stronger. The heart becomes gradually hardened by such a process." 

@angels4u Thanks for sharing this. It's very good and really packs a punch in a paragraph. I'd never seen this quote before. But Charles Finney is a man of God who I respect.

[turtletwo]

On 2/19/2019 at 1:47 PM, angels4u said:

There are repercussions for ignoring God's directives and willfully choosing sin. Adam and Eve tried and brought sorrow and death into the world (Genesis 2:15–17; 3:6, 24). Ananias and Sapphira's deception brought about a swift and public judgment (Acts 5:1–11). Galatians 6:7 states a universal principle: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

@angels4u I really like this thread! Consequences of sin are everyone's reality...though some don't realize it until it is  too late. There is a song that illustrates this. I am posting below the lyrics that bring this out (through examples of certain repercussions for certain sins.)

God bless you for the excellent threads you contribute to Worthy in this forum section, sister. 

Sin For A Season  by Steve Taylor

There's a sweaty hand handling his cocktail napkin
"Come on up and see me", is scribbled with a gold pen
But you'd better ring twice

Seven months after his little indiscretion
He sits with his wife at a therapy session
For a little advice

If the healing happens as the time goes by
Tell me why I still can't look her in the eye

God I'm only human, got no other reason
Sin for a season

There's a shaky hand shaking with the hand of her hostess
Drank a little much, but she'll drive herself home
If she can make it to her car

She never saw the sign or the boy with his daddy
Driving home late from their very first ballgame
And they don't get far

Now the years run together as her guilt goes wild
She still sees the body of an only child

God I'm only human, got no other reason
Sin for a season, sin for a season
Sin for a season, sin for a season

Wealthy lips say, "Keep us from the evil one"
While the praying hands prey with deliberate cunning
On the carcass of the cold

Gonna get the Good Lord to forgive a little sin
Get the slate cleaned so he can dirty it again
And no one else will ever know

But he reaps his harvest as his heart grows hard
No man's gonna make a mockery of God

I'm only human, got no other reason... Sin for a season

So this song talks about how people tend to make excuses for their sins with the "I'm only human" cliche. But God doesn't buy into that alibi. For He has warned that we will reap what we sow. 

The up side is that 1 Corinthians 10:13 says He will always give a way of escape to those who want to resist temptation.

 

 

[Hands On]

Not that creatures"mocking" God is going to effect Him in anyway,as much as the creature doing the "mocking",as I see it.The issue is that He is "holy" and expects us to also be "holy".But the crucial thing is He will not allow His Holy Name to be defiled according to " Ezekiel 36:22-32
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze_36:22-32
 22”Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.                                           26Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. 30I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. 32I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!”
(Utley,Bob. You can understand the Bible.ibiblio.ca...Web