Do you hear that thunder? Right as I turned on the microphone? That's right. We have another cool Black Hills lightning and thunderstorm going while we talk. And those make me really happy because as we have discussed earlier, I like storms. And that there it is, right there. Here comes the rain. Right on cue. What a lovely time. Great to see you. I know I don't actually see you, but wonderful to be here together. Thanks for hanging out with me. We're working on Galatians chapter six here. We are pausing for a couple of days to focus on one short little phrase in Galatians 6. And it's a, I mean, this is a Bible truism, a maxim, if you will. It's a pithy little comment that just comes and goes so quick as you're reading Galatians 6, but then you stop and think about it for a minute. You're like, that is a huge claim, and it merits consideration. So here's a phrase: Galatians 6, 7. Don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Now, yesterday we talked about why Paul, the author of the book of Galatians, would include this phrase right here: God cannot be mocked. I had a couple ideas about that. People much smarter than me debate exactly the best way to interpret or contextualize that phrase right at that point in Galatians chapter six. Everybody, I think, is kind of in the same zip code in terms of what they make of it. But today, I wanted to think about this very universal claim. I mean, think about it, he's saying God cannot be mocked. That's very absolutist. I want to think about that in the larger general context of existence and philosophy and the bigger story of the Bible. What does that mean? Well, it's obviously not a claim to say no one can say mocky things about God, because clearly people can say mocky things about God. Go look at the internet. I mean, clearly, people can say things that are intended as mockery toward God. God doesn't miraculously seal up their lips as soon as they start trying to do it, like Neo in the first Matrix. People can say mocky stuff. I think the point of the comment and the way this should be understood is it doesn't land, it can't land, and it doesn't work. Well, why doesn't it work? Okay, well, let's start with this. One, why does mockery work? When it works, why does it work? Like when you've been ridiculed, for example, why did it work? Why did it make you feel bad? Why did it cost you clout or social standing? One, because maybe it was a little bit too close to truth, and some of the mockery was actually fair criticism and it landed a little bit. Another reason would be that it sort of adjusted the record. It created a new narrative that sort of became true. But the thing about trying to mock God, by contrast, is if you mock God and besmirch his character or try to with words, you're still wrong. Even if a lot of people believe it and participate in the mockery, it still doesn't land because he's immutable, unchanging, and right about everything, and people saying otherwise doesn't change the nature of God, and even a lot of people saying otherwise doesn't change the nature of God. Also, one of the biggest reasons that mockery has landed with me in the past when I've felt mocked or criticized is because of insecurity. Because we all have this little voice in our head that says, you actually are a screw up, or there actually are glaringly wrong things with you. Or if people could only see all the way deep down into your soul, they would see the things that you see. And you know, mockery, it kind of fits lock and key with insecurity, and so it sticks to you. And it can be hard to scrape that stuff off. And it can take an order of magnitude more encouragement than the amount of mockery to defeat the effects of that mockery when it lands. God is not insecure, not at all. In fact, we've got all these examples in the Bible of people coming at God, like even people who like God. There are entire books of the Bible where people are going at God and they're like, What is this? I think you should do these other things. You what about your character? And we see people negotiating with God and be like, Well, how can you do that? That this will turn out this way. Job and Job's friends, I mean, when God shows up, he is pretty firm in terms of telling them the guys how the things are. But even so, it's not like he's insecure because some guys in the ancient Near East were unhappy with God's decision making. If anything, he demonstrates tremendous security by being like, cool, let's go on a tour of creation and the cosmos, and I will show you how the things are, and then you will get it. Also, you might want to put on your little man pants there and buckle up the buckle real good because what you're about to see, this is kind of big league stuff. God is not threatened, is the point by anything. And so where God does not have insecurity, it makes him impervious to mockery in the ways that we are pervious to mockery? Dang, I've never thought about that word. What's the opposite of impervious? Well, obviously, it's like vulnerable to, but can you drop the M? Pervious. Sounds like pervy. I don't know. I don't like it. I don't know if I'm probably not going to use that one again. Yeah, I am going to use it one more time. We are pervious to mockery. God is impervious to mockery because we have insecurity and God does not have insecurity. So the mockery doesn't land, it doesn't hit. Then you've also got the philosophical element of this, where if somebody wants to say God is dumb or bad or broken or whatever, well, the Bible holds out, and indeed reason holds out, that God is that being than which no greater being can be imagined. So any criticism you would have of God, I mean, as the Bible and logic hold him out, it's not going to be accurate. Well, God, you're not perfect. Well, he is, definitionally. Oh, well, it's hard for me to think of more mockery then. Yeah, you're out of touch. Well, he's the maker and sustainer of all things. He's the most in touch of any being ever. Oh, well, you don't get it. Well, I mean, he's the owner and holder of all knowledge and the inventor of all concepts. So, I mean, he he probably gets it. Well, you don't know what it's like to be down here like us. Well, I mean, he died on a cross. I've never done that before. Seems like he's got a pretty good sense. You don't know what it's like to be tempted. Well, I mean, he was tempted in every way and didn't succumb. The point is, any mockery that you can come up with to lob at God, reason and the narrative of the Bible shoots down and thwarts. Then you have actual events in the Bible, right? Where people try to mock God or mock his followers or whatever. I mean, uh obvious ones that come to mind. Uh, Goliath, I guess, in 1 Samuel. I mean, he's mostly mocking Israel, but the the Israelites certainly read that as he's mocking, you know, God's people, God's chosen people. You know how the David and Goliath story works out. I mean, Goliath does the typical elementary school bully routine. He's big, he's brash, he's loud, he's a jerk, everybody's sitting around having a good laugh about it. And then one tiny rock from a little kid, guided supernaturally by the sovereign hand of God, does him in, and that's that. Well, that's where that mocking got you. So we see examples of overt mockery toward God in the Bible, and then you see the God cannot be mocked maxim kick in. It's like, well, good try. That didn't land. And if anything, the mockery boomeranged on you. But then we also see places where God isn't even named, but the behavior of the characters is an affront to God, is a mockery of God, is a mockery of God's power, is an affront to God's people. And I'm thinking obviously of Esther. And in that situation, again, the boomerang happens. Haman and Xerxes imagine themselves to be something, particularly Haman. And then God, through the most subtle of circumstances, seized by his providence without ever even being named, sees Haman swing on his own gallows that were intended for God's people. I guess you could even think about Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts and the early going there, when the ground rules were still kind of being established for how the church is going to work and what's going on. They tried to cheat and make a mockery of God and the Holy Spirit and the church, and they died. So there's that one as well. This theme, this motif runs through the Bible solidly. God cannot be mocked, and God is not insecure. So he's not afraid of things that we chirp at him that his created beings say, or the little opinions, or the tweets, or the fish shakes, or whatever. You're like this. It's impotent. It's nothing, it amounts to nothing. It glances off his armor. It doesn't even rise to that level because he is the truest, realist thing, and lies just simply don't stick. Falsehood wilts in the face of something that inevitably, eternally true. It seems like an obvious thing, right? God cannot be mocked. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course, that sounds religious and good. But when you really stop and think about it, if God is who God says God is, it's not just a little saying that we're getting here. God cannot be mocked. But really, like sometimes he can be. It's just, you know, it's a nice thing to say. No, no, no. Really, he cannot be mocked. He is master of everything, subject to nothing. Then that means that there is no weak point in his armor that you can exploit with a cleverly worded barb or with disdain or a scoff or a turn your head spit kind of thing. It doesn't land, it doesn't matter. All of his judgments are correct, all of his knowledge is correct. He never learned anything. He isn't in process. He's the immutable, flawless, eternal God, maker and sustainer of all things. He is existence. He is I am. Everything we know as existence is within his purview. There's just not a lot of material there. Not a lot to really get after. Yet, I mean, what's one of the biggest mistakes that characters who are wrong in the Bible make? They misevaluate God. They underestimate God. They mistake him for a Greek God or a pagan god who's just an exaggerated version of us with all of our flaws exaggerated as well, and just with more power and they live longer. No, no, no, no, no, no. This isn't one of those. This isn't a superhero. This isn't us but more. This is God, the Almighty I am, and he can't be mocked. Not by our actions, not by our words, not by fluky circumstances. And just on a personal note, when I look at the insanity of history and the world and uncertainty about the future, and maybe even little things in my life that maybe don't rise to the highest level of consequence ever, but to me, they're a big deal. When I look at all of those variables, when I look at all those things that seem so out of control, and then you come across a phrase like God cannot be mocked, yeah, it's a pretty cool, quick, pithy backdoor way to be reminded. The field is tended. God is all powerful, God is in charge of this whole story, and there's great comfort and reassurance in that. I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour Podcast. Let's do this again soon.