"The very
hint of holiness works up such a strong opposition inside the person that it
causes him to vomit out the gall and bitterness of his spirit.
Some men are so
far from being holy themselves that they ridicule those who are. These think
the breastplate of righteousness is so foolish that they laughingly point to
the saint who wears it in his daily behavior: "Look! There goes a holy
brother, one of the pure ones!" But their mocking language does more than
scorn the saint's holiness-- it betrays the wickedness of their own hard
hearts.
A further degree
of ungodliness appears in mocking the holiness of another person rather than
only harboring un-holiness in oneself. How desperately wicked is that man who
not only refuses to partake in the divine nature himself but cannot bear the
sight of others choosing to follow the holiness of Christ. The very hint of
holiness works up such a strong opposition inside the person that it causes him
to vomit out the gall and bitterness of his spirit against it.
God's Spirit
reserves the chair for this kind of sinner and seats him above all his brethren
in iniquity. "Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful
Psalm 1:1. In this case the scorner is set as chairman at the counsel-table of
sinners.
Some read the word
scornful as "rhetorical mockers," for there is indeed a devilish
cleverness in some of these jeerers. Such scorners take pride in polishing the
darts they shoot against saints. The Septuagint translates the phrase as
"the chair of the pestilent ones." As the plaque is the most deadly
of diseases, so is the spirit of scorning among sins. Very few recover from
this sin, for the Bible speaks of sinners almost synonymously with the dead.
God warns us not to waste our healing balm of reproof-- "reprove not a
scorner, lest he hate you, Proverbs 9:8. All we can do is write "Lord,
have mercy" on his door-- pray for him, but do not try to reason with him.”
Quoted material from, ”The Christian in Complete
Armour Daily Readings in Spiritual Warfare” by Gurnall and James S Bell.
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