This great Biblical question here in our text echoes back across the hills of time as fresh and imperative as it did in 60 A.D., when asked by the apostle Peter. In modern speech Weymouth renders our text as follows: "And if it is difficult for a righteous man to be saved, what will become of irreligious men and sinners?" The word IRRELIGIOUS expresses a negative attitude and often indicates mere indifference to sacred things. We are told by Webster in his Collegiate Dictionary, that the word UNGODLY means "disobedient to God," and surely this is the position of every irreligious person.

Now, with this thought in mind, we must draw from our text the following three classes: the obedient to God, the disobedient to God, and the sinner. The sinner, of course, is the person who has never been converted. For example, we are informed, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10). Again we hear, "He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death" (James 5:20). Beyond all doubt, then, the sinner is the one who has never been born into the family of God, that is, he has never known God in the pardoning of his sins. All born-again (spirit-baptized) believers, as we shall soon see, fall into two groups: those who obey God and those who do not obey God, or the righteous and the ungodly (irreligious) as our text calls them.

Surely no one has answered Peter's profound and deep-seated question better than has the Psalmist (1:2-6), who first describes the righteous by saying, "His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly," we are told, "are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Oh, dear reader, can't you see that only the righteous, the obedient children of God, will be able to stand when "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men"? Indeed, "there is a reward for the righteous," but the ungodly and the sinner shall be swallowed up together by the wrath of Almighty God.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians spoke of "the children of disobedience," an outstanding class of ungodly believers, who, this same apostle in another letter states clearly, are taken captive by the devil at his will. In other words, by failing God, and refusing to be corrected, God will turn the "ungodly" over to the enemy. Now, in order to avoid this predicament and becoming involved in this unfortunate situation, you must submit to "Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory." Oh, how we are warned in this, by that great man of God, the Apostle Paul, who writes us to: "Shun profane (blasphemous) and vain babblings (foolish talk), for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker (cancer): of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the Truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some" (2 Tim. 2:16-18). The cure fo the disobedient is to obey God.

From the preceding scripture, we see that these foolish or ungodly believers missed the truth so far that they even taught the resurrection had taken place already; thus undermining the faith of some. Today we find this same ungodly teaching becoming very prominent, especially among a few of our foolish and unlearned Pentecostal brethren. Of course, the devil has a new way under this latter rain in which he is offering this soul-destroying heresy. All who read the Bible know that our Lord's second coming and the resurrection of the saints are timed together. In other words, His second coming brings the resurrection of the just. Paul made this crystal clear when he said: "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:22,23).

Can you not understand, my reader, just what the deceiver and the Antichrist are offering by this latest message, that Jesus has already come the second time? Surely you can. If Jesus has come the second time, then the resurrection has taken place. This, however, we know is not true; for we are told that "we who remain alive until the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with those who are asleep" (1 Thess. 4:15-17).

Now, beloved, let no one deceive you, for you are warned to turn away from these ungodly brethren, who, like their predecessors, Hymenaeus and Philetus, have erred concerning the truth, "saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some" (2 Tim. 2:18). The Apostle Peter continues Paul's description of these ungodly, so-called believers by saying: "Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you," or as Goodspeed in his American translation puts it: "They find pleasure in the indulgence (the offer of certain religious liberties) of the moment; they are a stain and a disgrace, and they revel (make merry in a riotous or noisy manner) in their deceit while they join in your religious meals" (2 Pet. 2:13).

These ungodly latter day deceivers have gone so far with Satan and away from God until they have learned a new way of denying the second coming of Jesus and the glorious resurrection of His saints. They have taken up with that terrible falsehood commonly called "reincarnation," the belief that the souls of the dead successively return to earth in new forms or bodies. No wonder we are told "that there shall come in the last days scoffers (mockers), walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2 Pet. 3:3,4).

"Blessed is the man," the Psalmist says, "that walketh not in the counsel (false doctrine) of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners" -- Ps. 1:1. Jude gives us this description of these ungodly believers and the announcement of their coming judgment: "There are certain men," he says, "crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness (lustfulness), and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ...These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed" (Jude 4:12-15).

It is Peter, who, in describing this ungodly, assemblage of believers, tell us that they "shall utterly perish in their own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam. While they promise them (their followers) liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was WASHED to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Pet. 2:12-15, 19-22). Clearly, the ungodly are those who have the Spirit, but do not live perfectly. What about you friend? Are you living perfectly? Or are you "wallowing" in the mire of sin?

What a picture! What a description of the ungodly! How pitifully ignorant a child of God can become! Think of the mockery thousands upon thousands are making of their faith in God. Needless to say, their condition is not due to any evil inherent in religion but to the apathy of the present-day ministry. Obviously, we are in the very days now for the fulfillment of Paul's prophecy in 2 Thess. 2:3: "That day (the coming of Jesus) shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." Yes, reader, it is becoming compellingly clear that we are having our faith washed in the troubled waters of adversity and distress to see who will pay the price. What I am saying, in effect, is that the righteous and the ungodly must be separated. Both are Spirit-baptized believers... and, evidently, this is being, in part, accomplished at the present time..

Now, in concluding this message, my dear reader, may I, in all sincerity, ask you which group are you in, the righteous? The ungodly? Or are you the sinner, who has never been converted? If a sinner, repent and receive the holy Ghost, and be put into the body of Christ. If ungodly, you will repent and be led by the Spirit you have received. If you are wise, you will repose your whole life in Christ and go all the way with Him, thinking and praying honestly upon these questions: "What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Pet. 4:17,18).

Questions? Log onto the Internet, Click Here,
and you can E-mail them to: GSAVELLI@aol.com