THE CHRISTIAN’S HATE LIFE

Psalm 97:10

 

Introduction: General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, once said he feared the day when the Salvation Army would have a salvation without regeneration, faith without repentance, and Heaven without Hell. He could have added love without hate, for it is impossible to have true love without hate. One cannot love flowers without hating weeds. He cannot love health without hating disease. He cannot love God without hating Satan. He cannot love peace without hating war.

      The truth is that one loves as much as he hates. The more a mother loves her child, the more she hates the cancer that would take that child's life.

The more a Christian loves God, the more he hates sin and the things that are anti-Christ.  The problem is that we have become so accustom to the evil around us that we have fallen in love with so to speak. 

      Some people say that Christians should not hate anything.  That is one of those lies of Satan to dilute the minds of the lost.  If we don't have some things to hate, we would have some things that we will love so dearly.  The more we hate sin, the more we will love God.  The more we love God, the more we will love God's Word.

      Now what should the Christian hate? He should hate what God hates.   Let's look at some things that we ought to hate like God hates that in turn we will be more like Him. 

I.   A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE QUITTING.

                                                Psalm 101:3

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me."

      Many people quit on God.  In John 6, we find the account of the feeding of the five thousand.  No one went away hungry unless they had wanted to do so.

      After the meal, Jesus preached a message unto them about Him being the bread of heaven.  When He got down to a real commitment, most of the crowd quit on Him.  Many times in our lives, the Lord will want to know if we will quit. 

                                                John 6:67

                  “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?”

      I am not talking of quitting bad habits.  You ought to quit them. I am talking about quitting on God.  We can busy spending and being spend for God and His work yet we quit on Him personally.

      Lesson number one of this message is to hate quitting on God so much that we maintain that personal relationship with Him in prayer and your Bible time. 

II.  A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE EVERY FALSE WAY.  

                                                Psalm 119:104

                  "Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way."

      Too long we have allow ourselves to play the hypocrite.  We sing the songs at church like "O' how I love Jesus" when we have not even thought about Him let alone talk to Him in prayer or read about Him in the Word of God. 

      We sing the song "I surrender all" when there are parts of our life that is not even close to being the Lord.  We make plans without consulting the Lord for His will in the situation.  We call those things that the Lord has allowed us to get our possessions.  We have set aside no time for prayer or Bible reading and wonder what we don't have the blessings of God like we once had.

      Every of those things are false ways.  I don't have to mention more because if you are saved, God is speaking to your heart as He did mine.

      Lesson number two is to hate every false way in our lives. 

III. A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE EMPTY RITUTAL.

                                                Amos 5:21  

"I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies."

      I was asked one time why we did not observe the Lord's supper every Sunday like such and such church.  If we did it weekly, it would become an empty ritual.  It would not have that special place that we want it to have in our church lives. 

      Do you realize that you make your prayer life an empty ritual?  It becomes that way when you just follow your prayer list and not enjoy communing with the Lord.  Reading your Bible can become an empty ritual when we read so many pages or chapters so we can say that we read the Bible though this year.

      Lesson number three is to hate empty ritual.  Keep the fellowship with the Lord sweet and fresh. 

IV. A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE AN EVIL HEART AGAINST A NEIGHBOR.       Zechariah 8:17

      "And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord."

            Some times neighbors are hard to bear.  I have some neighbors that like to play their music so loud that it comes into my house and invades my privacy.  I have a neighbor that races down the down path in front of my house like he is Richard Petty coming into pit road.  I also suspect he killed a few of my cats a few years back.  I know I am hard to bear at times too.   But I may be the only Christian around them.  I may be the one who can lead them to Christ.  So if I allow hatred to rule in my heart against them, God hates that attitude.

      Lesson number four is love my neighbors like Christ loves them. 

V.  A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE LYING.

                                                Psalm 119:163  

                  "I hate and abhor lying: but Thy law do I love.”

      Of all the things the boys could have done in our home, lying is the one thing that had the greatest punishment.  I hate lying.  One person you tell when a politician was lying.  Every time he moves his lips. 

      I don’t like someone to lie to me.  Over the years many people have lied to me about coming to church.  “Preacher, I’ll see you on Sunday.”  Come Sunday and the FBI could not find them.  “Preacher, I am going to give that habit up.”  Next thing you know they are right back and usually worse than they were. 

      Lesson number five is to hate lying so much that it is so convicting that you cannot bear it because you lied.  Do the right thing every time until right thing is the normal thing.  (Harold Vaughan)    

VI. A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE IDOLATRY.

                                                Jeremiah 44:4,5,  

“Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their hearts to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods.”

      What is idolatry? Idolatry is strictly speaking denotes the worship of deity in a visible form, whether the images to which homage is paid are symbolical representations of the true God or of the false divinities which have been made the objects of worship in his stead.

      There are three forms of idolatry found in the Bible.  Time will not allow us to go into much explanation or examples.

(1.) Fetishism or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc that are worshipped like a sexual being.  The groves of the Old Testament were worshipped this way.

(2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature.

(3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes is idolatry.

      Idols will rob you of the true joys of being saved and a child of God’s family.  So many things can become idols.  Any thing you put before God is an idol.

      Lesson number six is to hate even the hint of idolatry in your life. 

VII. A CHRISTIAN OUGHT TO HATE VAIN THOUGHTS.

                                                Psalm 119:113

                  “I hate vain thoughts but thy law do I love.”

            What are vain thoughts?  The word “vain” in the Bible means empty or self-conceit or personal pride.  Paul warns of this in the New Testament. Galatians 6:3

“For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”

            Vain thoughts would be thoughts that involve thinking how smart we think we are or how good looking we think we are or something along those lines.

            Lesson number seven is that we ought to careful how we view ourselves.  When we see ourselves in the light of the scriptures and the Lord, then we will not thinking vainly. 

Conclusion: Yes, the Christian ought to have a hate life. God does!  Be careful not to hate what God loves. 

      Here are the lessons that I tried to give you today.

1. Lesson number one of this message is to hate quitting on God so much that we maintain that personal relationship with Him in prayer and your Bible time.

2. Lesson number two is to hate every false way in our lives.

3. Lesson number three is to hate empty ritual.  Keep the fellowship with the Lord sweet and fresh.

4. Lesson number four is love my neighbors like Christ loves them.

5. Lesson number five is to hate lying so much that it is so convicting that you cannot bear it because you lied.
6. Lesson number six is to hate even the hint of idolatry in your life.

7. Lesson number seven is that we ought to careful how we view ourselves.  When we see ourselves in the light of the scriptures and the Lord, then we will not thinking vainly.