Wednesday, August 13, 2008

It Is Time to Hate!

I think it is time to start hating. Now before you think I just had a bad night or ate something that did not agree with me, consider that “playing nice” with evil has not faired well. If we examine our public schools, government and economy, it seems clear that trying to get along with those that do not share the Christian faith has simply not worked. I suggest to you that the greatest love we can show our fellow man is to hate their sin and proclaim the judgment of God. Since the preaching of the Word is God's chosen method to bring salvation to the lost, it is time for us to adopt God's approach to sin and speak it plainly.

I believe we are to imitate God and not some humanistic idea of fairness and love. God’s Word says in Psalm 5:5-6: “The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all evildoers. You destroy those who tell lies; the LORD abhors a man of bloodshed and treachery.” (HCSB) The Word plainly tells us that God hates all evildoers. This may violate a preconception of God as an all merciful and loving Creator. The problem is that mercy and love do one no good until received; prior to reception, judgment is God's only response to sin and God will judge sin. John Owen in his work “The Mortification of Sin” said the following: “We must hate all sin, as sin, and not just that which troubles us. Love for Christ, because He went to the cross, and hate for sin that sent Him there….” It because of my deep appreciation for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary that I must hate sin.

The word “hate” in Psalm 5 can be defined as to “hate detest, abhor;” God is serious about His approach to sin and those that make it a way of life. Who loves homosexuals more: the one who is silent and does not warn them that they are lost and going to hell or the one who does? The true lover of the homosexual’s soul is the one that proclaims this truth. Consider Paul’s words in Galatians 5: 19-21: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Think about the adultery of John Edwards, his mistress, the many homosexuals proclaiming their “lifestyle,” lying politicians and those that practice these things. Without true Godly repentance, they are headed to a devil’s hell. We must proclaim these truths. God hates “all evildoers.” It is time to leave the humanistic religion that says that God loves everybody and is just going to overlook their transgressions. No; God is a holy God and He demands His people to live holy lives. You cannot separate who you are from what you do. This has been the approach for over 100 years and it leads to a weak anemic church. It is time to take a stand and hate what God hates and He hates sin!

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