Mark the one who makes sarcastic and mocking comments when you refer to the promises of God. This is very common among those who claim to be Christians, and among preachers.

Suppose you mention that Jesus said that when we pray in faith, we will receive what we want. You wish to encourage the man and have him rejoice with you, that God has decreed a way for us to obtain assistance and blessing.

But then this person makes a joke about it. Perhaps he makes a sarcastic remark about his hard life, or mockingly utters a request that he regards as unrealistic — I say “he regards” as unrealistic, because if he has faith, he could get it.

But the Spirit of God does not speak against himself. The Spirit of God does not make fun of Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:3). This man speaks by the spirit of Satan. The devil is the one who casts doubt on God’s word, and he has been doing it since the beginning.

If he reacts this way to what you say, this is his attitude toward God. As Jesus said, the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. There is a bitterness and hatred toward God in this man that he does not admit to himself, because he assumes that he is holy and humble by his negative and self-abasing attitude.

The Bible says that the righteous delights in the word of God and thinks about it day and night. He is happy with the word of God, and the word of God makes him happy. He is happy to believe it and to do it. So he builds his whole life upon it. And the Bible says, “Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:3). But it also says, “Blessed is the man who does not…sit in the seat of mockers” (v. 1).

The place of the mocker is the place of the reprobate. Do not tolerate a mocker, but kick him out of your life, so that he does not take you down with him.