The Glorious Hatred of God
Hosea 9:15 “Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels."
Dear CBC Family,
Have you ever heard statements like; “God won’t give me any more than I can handle”, “God helps those who help themselves”, or this one, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin”? All of these statements are blatantly false, tremendously misleading and are not taught in scripture.
This weekend I want to thoroughly address the misnomer that God loves everyone. This is a very important topic because we are talking about the character of God. God is the only one who is qualified to speak on His attributes, His affections and His revulsions. All we are allowed to do is to elaborate on what He has already said. The study of God’s hatred is very intimidating and yet wonderfully freeing at the same time. Without a proper understanding of God’s hate the gospel really isn’t good news. In all actuality if God didn’t hate and judge then He wouldn’t even be loving.
Let me ask you a few questions to whet your appetite for the study this weekend:
Would God still be loving if He never sent Jesus to redeem anyone? Was God even loving before He made people? Does God love the people who were destroyed in the flood or Jericho where He said to “put to the sword every man, woman, child and beast.”? What about Judas, the Pharisees or even Satan? If God loves everyone and love keeps no record of wrongs, then how is it that God keeps a record of wrongs of those who have not repented (Rev. 12:20)? If Jesus bore the sins of every single human because He loves them then why do they go to hell? Can we really say that John 3:16 means that God loves everyone? If we can say that (which we shouldn’t) then what do we do with the many verses that say He doesn’t love sinners?
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. (Ps 5:5) It isn’t sin that God sends to hell, it is sinners. It isn’t just sin that God is angry with but sinners “God is a righteous judge, He is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps 7:11) “The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” (Ps 11:5) He hates wicked people from his soul, from the very depth of his being. God hates their ways (Proverbs 15:9), their thoughts (Proverbs 15:26), their worship (Proverbs 15:8), their actions (Proverbs 6:18), and their evil deeds (Psalm 5:5). He singles out as a special object of his hatred the blasphemous deeds of the Nicolaitans, those who seduced God’s people with idolatry and sexual immorality. “Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Rev 2:6).
Clearly, God hates the thoughts, deeds, and desires of evil people. But further, in some way he hates the evil people themselves. His soul reacts to them with righteous revulsion as his arm extends toward them in holy fury.
Said more succinctly, “The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy” (Ps 145:20). Ps 1:5 promises, “the wicked will not stand in the judgment”. Indeed, in Luke 13 we find Jesus speaking of that final judgment. He says that in that day some will expect to be welcomed by God into his kingdom, yet all they will hear is this terrifying judgment: “Depart from me, all you workers of evil” (Lk 13:27)! They will be consigned forever to a place where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”
In Proverbs 6 we see an amazing correction to the “God loves the sinner but hates the sin” idea. Watch how the listing of things God hates goes from actions to the ones who perform those actions. Prov 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Clearly the last two mentioned are people and not deeds.
From this brief look at scripture can anyone really say God loves everyone the same? Can we say God loves everyone at all? Where are the multiple texts that say He does? They don’t exist. How did we ever twist a verse that says “God is love” to mean God loves everyone? How should we look at the love of God in the Bible? Join us this week as we explore the holiness, glory and wonder of God’s love and hate. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend!
Blessings,
Pastor Scott
Dear CBC Family,
Have you ever heard statements like; “God won’t give me any more than I can handle”, “God helps those who help themselves”, or this one, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin”? All of these statements are blatantly false, tremendously misleading and are not taught in scripture.
This weekend I want to thoroughly address the misnomer that God loves everyone. This is a very important topic because we are talking about the character of God. God is the only one who is qualified to speak on His attributes, His affections and His revulsions. All we are allowed to do is to elaborate on what He has already said. The study of God’s hatred is very intimidating and yet wonderfully freeing at the same time. Without a proper understanding of God’s hate the gospel really isn’t good news. In all actuality if God didn’t hate and judge then He wouldn’t even be loving.
Let me ask you a few questions to whet your appetite for the study this weekend:
Would God still be loving if He never sent Jesus to redeem anyone? Was God even loving before He made people? Does God love the people who were destroyed in the flood or Jericho where He said to “put to the sword every man, woman, child and beast.”? What about Judas, the Pharisees or even Satan? If God loves everyone and love keeps no record of wrongs, then how is it that God keeps a record of wrongs of those who have not repented (Rev. 12:20)? If Jesus bore the sins of every single human because He loves them then why do they go to hell? Can we really say that John 3:16 means that God loves everyone? If we can say that (which we shouldn’t) then what do we do with the many verses that say He doesn’t love sinners?
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. (Ps 5:5) It isn’t sin that God sends to hell, it is sinners. It isn’t just sin that God is angry with but sinners “God is a righteous judge, He is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps 7:11) “The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” (Ps 11:5) He hates wicked people from his soul, from the very depth of his being. God hates their ways (Proverbs 15:9), their thoughts (Proverbs 15:26), their worship (Proverbs 15:8), their actions (Proverbs 6:18), and their evil deeds (Psalm 5:5). He singles out as a special object of his hatred the blasphemous deeds of the Nicolaitans, those who seduced God’s people with idolatry and sexual immorality. “Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Rev 2:6).
Clearly, God hates the thoughts, deeds, and desires of evil people. But further, in some way he hates the evil people themselves. His soul reacts to them with righteous revulsion as his arm extends toward them in holy fury.
Said more succinctly, “The LORD preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy” (Ps 145:20). Ps 1:5 promises, “the wicked will not stand in the judgment”. Indeed, in Luke 13 we find Jesus speaking of that final judgment. He says that in that day some will expect to be welcomed by God into his kingdom, yet all they will hear is this terrifying judgment: “Depart from me, all you workers of evil” (Lk 13:27)! They will be consigned forever to a place where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”
In Proverbs 6 we see an amazing correction to the “God loves the sinner but hates the sin” idea. Watch how the listing of things God hates goes from actions to the ones who perform those actions. Prov 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Clearly the last two mentioned are people and not deeds.
From this brief look at scripture can anyone really say God loves everyone the same? Can we say God loves everyone at all? Where are the multiple texts that say He does? They don’t exist. How did we ever twist a verse that says “God is love” to mean God loves everyone? How should we look at the love of God in the Bible? Join us this week as we explore the holiness, glory and wonder of God’s love and hate. You won’t want to miss it. Bring a friend!
Blessings,
Pastor Scott
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