Proverbs 19:29. Condemnation is ready for scoffers, and beating for the backs of fools.
This strongly worded proverb is about the punishment that sin deserves. There is no rehabilitation here, no reconciliation, no discipline or training. For the scoffer there is only condemnation. The scoffer never learns his lesson. This fool never repents and tries harder the next time. It seems that the scoffer is beyond hope of change. They are condemned and deserve a beating.
Are you a scoffer? Are you a fool?
The Bible teaches us that we were all born scoffers. Fools under the influence of Satan. Enemies of God with no hope in the world.
Ephesians 2:1-3. 1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Contrary to what modern psychology might say, we were not born as blank slates waiting for the influences of nature and society to turn us into bad people. No. We are by nature children of wrath. We are born scoffers, natural fools, God rejecters seeking to rule over our own kingdom. Truly the only thing that any of us deserves is condemnation. A cosmic beating for our rebellion against God.
Our only hope is Christ. Jesus Christ, the only human being not born into sin, the only non-scoffer to ever live, the only truly wise man to walk the earth, stood condemned in our place. He was literally beaten upon his back. Not for his own sins, but for ours. By faith in his great substitutionary act of love and mercy we can now stand justified in Christ. Saints, not scoffers. Faithful, not fools.
No condemnation now I dread
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine
Alive in Him, my living Head
And clothed in righteousness divine
Bold I approach the eternal throne
And claim the crown, through Christ my own
In Christ, condemnation is no longer ours to dread. Therefore, scoffing is no longer ours to do. The person in Christ simply cannot mock God and his son, Jesus. Just as claiming that Jesus is Lord is only possible by the Spirit, so too, mocking Jesus is only possible for the one who does not have the Holy Spirit.
Praise God we have been rescued by grace through faith from the greatest wickedness known to us. The sin of Satan. Mocking God, scoffing our Savior, scorning the cross. Yes, we still sin, but not in this way. Never the unpardonable sin of blasphemy. Never the condemning sin of faithlessness.
You: Are you a scoffer? A fool?
You in Christ: How does knowing that you are in Christ free you from your own internal condemnation?
Christ in you: What would it look like if you lived free from condemnation today?
Pray: Jesus, you weren’t a scoffer or a fool, but you took my condemnation on the cross. That’s the wisest, most loving thing anyone has done for me. Thank you. Amen.
To Live is Christ 