The Devotional – Search the Scriptures – 261
Christ’s = Our Only Hope
Depravity of False Teachers
But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
Jesus, the Christ, God’s Messiah
What more could be said? The apostle drives the subject of depravity to the rightful place, a place of the blackness of darkness and not for a brief time but for all eternity. Depravity in the world around us is flat wrong and if you look for it, you may see it to be very common. EVERYTHING that a human can do has the potential of being laced in depraved mind of someone. When this evil is found in the pulpit, it would not be readily visible; as the character of this natural brute beast is covered in clothing that resembles the sheep. These look like the real thing, but are counterfeit!
Jesus, while teaching His disciples on the mountain states, via Matthews gospel the following: (Matthew 7:15-20)
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “Therefore by their fruits, you will know them.”
From this we can learn at least three responsibilities of the child of God: (1) We can understand the power of the devil, his ability to reach into the minds of all humans is an absolute reality. (2) We are to be aware of what this power of the devil looks like in the minds of those who are depraved. (3) The real need for the children of God to strengthen their faith as exhorted in the epistle of James. (James 1:19-27)
So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Doers—Not Hearers Only Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
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