Session 4

Three ways to identify a liar

From Jude: A 7-Day Devotional

The low battery chirp of the smoke alarm is a constant reminder that we are placing ourselves and our families in danger. Ever wish a similar alert went off when we meet people who will cause harm?

Christian leaders who came before Jude predicted that dishonest people would cause destruction in the church. Jude reiterates their warnings, saying, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” (Jude 1:18-19).

Jude warns us about these people so we won’t be fooled by smooth-talking and settle for anything less than the message of the Gospel. So how will we know a scoffer when we meet one? Jude gives us a few signs:

1. They do not have the Holy Spirit in them.

2. They teach based on natural instincts, not the Bible.  

3. Their goal is to divide people, not unite people.

Scoffers follow their own ungodly desires. Paul, an early church leader, describes ungodly men as those who are “lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:2-4).

Anytime a warning appears over and over in the Bible, we should take that as God trying to get our attention. Similar to the chirping of the smoke alarm, a gut check from the Holy Spirit and the wisdom we read in the Bible is God’s way of protecting us from potential danger.

Reflect:

• Have you ever met a divisive person? Were there any early warning signs?
• What’s one danger of believing everything you hear about Jesus?
• Why do you think it was so important to Jude (and the church leaders that came before him) that we’re able to identify a scoffer when we meet one?