Confidence Does Not Mean Competence.

A message to the Couinterfeit….

Introduction: The Arrogance of the Ignorant

Let’s get something straight right out of the gate: just because you say it boldly doesn’t mean you said it correctly. There is a disturbing epidemic in the modern church—and no, it’s not liberalism, or culture wars, or drag queens. It’s confident ignorance. There are entire flocks of counterfeit Christians strutting around with puffed chests and proud declarations, condemning others in Jesus’ name with the spiritual discernment of a broken compass. It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. What we’re dealing with isn’t just error—it’s confident error. These folks aren’t unsure. They’re absolutely certain. And absolutely wrong. What fuels their condemnation? Sometimes it’s a lack of knowledge—the kind that can be solved by simply reading scripture without trying to twist it. Other times, it’s worse: a lack of love. They weaponize faith to serve personal narratives, prejudice, or outright hate. And all the while, they walk the road to spiritual death like they’re being escorted to a throne. Let’s take a biblical scalpel to this disaster and expose it for what it is: the lie of false confidence. Because the Bible doesn’t just warn us about the lost. It warns us about those who think they’re saved.

Matthew 7:21–23 (NASB) says:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

You want a dose of holy terror? This is it. These are not pagans. These are church folk. These are the confident performers. They preached, they cast out demons, they shouted in tongues, they posted their sermons on YouTube. But they never knew Him. Their confidence wasn’t in Christ; it was in their performance. And Jesus doesn’t mince words—He calls them lawless. That’s not just ignorant. That’s treacherous.

Proverbs 14:12 (NASB) warns:

“There is a way which seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death.”

Read that again. It seems right. It feels correct. It’s got that air of righteousness, that certainty of moral superiority. And yet it leads straight to death. That’s what happens when confidence is fueled by pride instead of truth. This is spiritual Darwinism in reverse: survival of the most deluded.

Hosea 4:6 (NASB) declares:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children.”

This isn’t just a tragedy—it’s a judgment. Ignorance here isn’t innocent. It’s willful rejection. God says you had the knowledge and you chose not to know. That’s not a mistake; that’s rebellion. And the punishment isn’t just personal—it spills generationally. Think about that next time you slap a bumper sticker verse on your sin and call it theology.

Romans 10:2–3 (NASB) says:

“For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”

Oh, the danger of zealous ignorance. Passion is not the same as truth. Emotion is not the same as righteousness. These are the churchgoers who are loud, active, and deeply wrong—because they built a gospel in their own image. They didn’t submit to God’s righteousness. They invented one that served their ego.

Isaiah 5:20–21 (NASB) cries out:

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight!”

Sound familiar? It should. These are the folks who condemn mercy and praise judgment. Who slander the hurting and excuse the powerful. They call their cruelty “truth” and label love as weakness. And they’re so proud of it. They post it. Preach it. Sell it. But God pronounces a curse over them: woe to the self-wise. That kind of wisdom kills.

Revelation 3:17 (NASB) gives us this indictment:

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have no need of anything,’ and yet you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,”

Jesus is speaking to a church here—not a strip club, not a cartel. A church. And they are utterly delusional. They think they have it all. But heaven sees them as destitute. This is the tragic irony of counterfeit confidence. The louder they shout about their blessings, the more pitiful they look before God.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 (NASB) describes them perfectly:

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these.”

Read that list again. Now read your Facebook feed. That’s not the world he’s describing—that’s the Church in decay. A form of godliness with no power. An Instagram faith with zero fruit. These are the ones who are confident in their church clothes and dead behind their theology.

Jeremiah 7:8–10 (NASB) rebukes:

“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We have been saved!’—so that you may do all these abominations?”

The modern translation? “Sure I gossip, cheat, condemn, and hate people. But hey, I’m saved. Don’t judge me.” This isn’t just delusional—it’s disgusting. It’s using grace as a license to sin. And the Lord doesn’t applaud it. He exposes it.

Luke 18:9–14 (NASB) brings the final contrast:

“The Pharisee stood and began praying this in regard to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to raise his eyes to heaven, but was beating his chest, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other…”

The Pharisee was confident. He had his act together. He even thanked God for his moral superiority. But he left condemned. The broken, honest man left justified. Because God doesn’t reward competence. He responds to surrender.

John 16:2–3 (NASB) gives us the final hammer:

“They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering a service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father nor Me.”

Let that sink in. They will kill the righteous—and think they’re serving God. That is the highest form of confident incompetence. And Jesus says it happens because they don’t know Him. Not really. Not relationally. Not intimately.

Conclusion: Confidence is Not a Spiritual Gift

This needs to be said plainly: confidence is not fruit of the Spirit. Love is. Gentleness is. Self-control is. Confidence, apart from love and truth, is just noise—loud, dangerous noise. And in the age of social media saints and pulpit bullies, we need to be reminded that yelling “truth” doesn’t make it so. The Pharisees were confident. The Laodiceans were confident. The self-righteous are always confident. But God doesn’t honor confidence. He honors humility. If your doctrine doesn’t make you weep for the lost and tremble before God, you might not know Him. And the tragedy? The confidently ignorant never see it coming. So yes, we speak in their language—with snark, cynicism, and a heavy dose of spiritual sarcasm. Because maybe, just maybe, that’s the only thing loud enough to reach them.

Because confidence without truth isn’t just wrong. It’s damnation with swagger.