God Hates Sin

Text

Proverbs 6:16–19 ESV

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.

Introduction

Here are some things the Bible tells us about God.

God is love (1 John 4:8)

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son (1 John 4:10)

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13)

But God shows His LOVE for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)

And yet, here we have a text that says God HATES

It says there are things that are an abomination to Him

Things which are a horror to Him

Things which He finds absolutely despicable

It is alarming when we consider that we have committed some of these very sins God hates

He is not a God to be mocked.

He is a Judge of sin.

This is heavy.

But as we consider these things today, we will also see how God has made a way for us to know His love and not His wrath

He has made a way for us to live a life that He does not hate, but DELIGHTS in.

Big Idea

God hates sin, but He has made a way for sinners to be His delight.

Context

Proverbs 1-9 is mostly made up of ten “heart-to-hearts” between Solomon and his son

We are in the middle of the 8th talk

It is about the foolishness and wickedness that comes from NOT fearing God and heeding wisdom

Foolish Stewardship

Foolish Sluggardliness

Foolish and Wicked Strife-Stirring

Attention is now turned to God’s hatred toward all sin and wickedness

The final talks are both about sexual immorality and adultery

Outline

1. God hates sin.

2. You should hate sin more than you do.

3. Jesus died for what God hates, so that you can live a life that brings God delight.

1. God hates sin.

First point will take a bit more time—this is where we will deal with the text itself

Let’s start with understanding why God hates sin

To understand why God hates sin, we must understand something about WHO GOD IS and WHAT SIN IS

Who is God?

The Bible reveals a God who is holy

“Holy, Holy, Holy” is the chorus sung about the Lord in the Old Testament (Isaiah)

Isaiah 6:3 ESV

And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

In Revelation 4, the chorus is repeated—holy, holy, holy

God is purely holy—you can’t emphasize it enough.

Without Sin

Above and beyond Creation.

Perfect, righteous King over all.

This makes Him different from us.

We are not holy, holy, holy.

God is.

What is sin?

As the holy God over humanity, God has given us a perfect Law.

Summarized in Ten Commandments in Exodus

Holy God’s holy standard for how we worship Him and treat others

Sin is the transgression of God’s Law and perfect standards.

We have all transgressed this Law with our sinning

We have missed the mark of God’s holy standard

We have sinned against God and our neighbors

We have committed sin by NOT doing what God says and by DOING what God says NOT to do.

And this leaves us guilty before God

Committing sin makes you a more rebel before the Lord and this is state of us all:

Ecclesiastes 7:20 ESV

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

So God is holy and we are sinners.

And this is a a devastating problem for us—because we have a passage this morning that tells us there are things God hates

Why God Hates Sin

It Is AGAINST Him First and Foremost

Why is that? Why does God hate sin so much?

The reason God hates sin is because it is rebellion against Him and His holy nature.

It is a defiance of His authority.

It is an attempt for His throne.

It is a strike against His character.

It treats God as One who can be dismissed and shrugged off...

...As One not to be feared (FOOLISHNESS)

And since our sins are a transgression of God’s Law, our sins are always against Him first and foremost

Our pride refuses to bow the knee and worship Him

Our idolatry seeks to steal from His unique glory and give it to another.

Our blasphemy steals honor from His worthy name

Our disobedience toward our parents is a strike against the authority God has put in place.

Our murdering devalues the sacred life God has given.

Our adultery demeans the bodies and marriages God has given us.

Our theft steals away the blessings God has given to someone else.

Our lying obscures the truth of God in the world.

Our coveting dismisses the blessings God has given us as all together insufficient.

David recognized how sin’s primary offense is against God in Psalm 51.

Though he had sinned in on the earth in terms of lust, adultery, murder and lying...

...His eyes look to heaven first and foremost.

Psalm 51:4 ESV

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

It is AGAINST Image-Bearers

But make no mistake—while God hates sin because of the offense it is to Him, He also HATES the injustice of wickedness and how it hurts others.

Sin harms the soul of the one committing it and the one who is sinned against.

Sin will make a person’s life unprosperous and miserable

Sin goes against the conscience God has given us as a guide

Sin disrupts peace.

Sin robs the soul of joy.

Sin rips apart families and churches and nations

And so—for how it offends Him and how it harms others—God hates sin.

Come up with the strongest words the dictionary will afford you—you won’t be overdoing it when it comes to God’s hatred of sin.

Six/Seven

When it comes to the sin God hates, Solomon says there are six things.

Seven that are an abomination to them.

Long before this was an internet joke for Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha...

This was an ancient Jewish way to communicate

In Proverbs 30, there are four instance of this, but with 3/4 and not 6/7.

“Under three things the earth trembles; under four it will not bear up.”

The prophet Amos employs it too

It was kind of a way to say, “Look, I could keep going...”

By using it here, Solomon is saying, “This is not an exhaustive list of every form of wickedness that God hates, but it is a pretty good representation of what He calls an abomination.”

This list gives us a good idea of the sin that God hates and find to be abominable.

The Sins God Hates

When we look at the sins listed, we can group them up into categories.

We can look at this list and see what God hates sin in our Attitude, Utterances, Actions, Inner-Man and Influence.

God hates sin in our Attitude (v. 17)

Haughty Eyes

Lofty eyes.

Eyes that look at places of authority they should not look.

Solomon is telling us that God hates pride.

Pride looks at God’s throne and says, “I should sit there.”

Pride says, “I should call the shots.”

Pride says, “I get to decide right and wrong.”

It is the opposite of fearing God.

Properly revering God means that you recognize position.

High and holy.

Lofty and exalted.

And since He is in the position of authority, you keep your eyes low.

You do not look up to Him and say, “I know better than You. Talk a walk. That’s my seat!”

Sin wants God’s seat.

This was the sin of Satan, who rebelled against God’s authority.

This was the sin of Adam, who rebelled against God’s authority in the Garden.

Genesis 3:5 ESV

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

And this is a sin that God hates in Proverbs 6.

It’s position in the list is not to be ignored.

It is first because it lies at the root of all the other sins.

Those who sin in Utterances and Actions...

Those who sin in the Inner-man....

Those who sin in Influence...

Pride is a like a valve.

Once you open it—spiritual rebellion starts flowing through the pipes of life.

There is no spirit in man more opposed to the Spirit of God than the spirit of pride.

John Blanchard

Let us beware the sin of Pride in our Attitude.

God loathes it.

God hates sin in our Utterances (v. 17, 19)

There are two type of evil utterances or evil types of speech in the passage.

One is informal—a lying tongue (17)

This speaks to the everyday lies committed by billions of people on this planet.

Lies from children to their parents

Lies from husbands to wives

Lies from wives to husbands

Lies from employees to their employers

Lies from politicians to everything that lives and moves and breathes under the sun

To lie is to not tell the truth about something or to intentionally mislead someone about the truth of something

The second is more formal—a false witness who breathes out lies (19)

This is speaking to a courtroom or judicial situation

This is very serious

An informal lie can lead to hurt feelings

A formal lie on a witness stand could lead to so much more for the person being lied about

Loss of freedom

Loss of financial security

Loss of life

It is actually this sort of sin that is forbidden by God in the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20:16 ESV

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

That doesn’t mean that informal lies are okay.

The principle applies from the greater to the lesser.

If it is evil in the courtroom, it is also evil anywhere else.

God hates sin in our Actions (v. 17-18)

God hates when people use their hands to take innocent life (v. 17)

This is speaking to murder

Murder is killing a human being unlawfully

It is a sin born out of hate

We know that because Jesus said that anger in the heart is liable to the same judgment from God as murder

God sees the heart.

He judges in ways man cannot.

He condemns the seed of murder, as well as the full-blown fruit of it

God hates when people use their feet to run off and carry out all sorts of wickedness (v. 18)

Solomon uses the hands and feet as a metaphor for the execution of sin.

Your hands and your feet are the primary tools that help you live your life.

The hands are the doers

The feet are the vehicle

These are the everyday instruments

Solomon is speaking to a life that is regularly marked by sinful and evil actions that God abhors

A life marked specifically by doing worst sorts of harm to other people

God hates sin in the Inner-Man (v. 18)

A heart that devises wicked plans (v. 18)

Before sin is carried out in the body, it is planned in the heart.

It may be a quick plan.

It may be a stupid plan.

It may be a harmful plan.

It may be an unintentional plan.

But sin starts in the heart.

You see this principle in Genesis 6. The sin of man brought about God’s judgment in the Flood.

But notice that God doesn’t just speak to actions.

Genesis 6:5 ESV

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The Flood wasn’t just about the hands, but the heart.

God looks past the actions of our hands and feet and sees what lies beneath in the heart—in the inner-man.

He hates the sin that lodges there.

God hates sin in our Influence (v. 19)

One who sows discord among brothers

This is closely related to the sin of strife-stirring in v. 14.

According to that verse, it is actually a product of a heart that is perverted and devising evil

In this instance, the discord is sown among brothers.

This is speaking the institution of the family.

The words show how “one who sows” discord will break up the closest of human relationships

When people use their influence for good, it is a beautiful thing.

But when they use it to divide friendships and relationships built on love, God has hatred in His heart.

In Totality

Overall—this is an impactful sketch of the sin God hates.

God hates the way sin takes His image-bearers and it makes them His enemy.

He hates how it takes objects of His love and turns them into those who do what He despises.

He hates it because of who He is.

He hates it because of what it is.

And we need to line up with God.

We need to see sin the way that God does.

We need to hate sin the way that God does.

2. You should hate sin more than you do.

It would be one thing to say that you should hate sin.

But most people know that a preacher will say that.

But I am convinced in studying this text that we should hate sin more than we actually do.

Full Frontal Assault

What this text reveals is a full frontal assault on your body and soul

Notice how the list encompasses the whole of a person

It starts at the top of the head—EYES

And it goes all the way to the FEET (v. 18), impacting the tongue and the hands along the way.

And then in v. 18, we see that right in the center of the text, we have the HEART.

The seat of a person.

The place your will is located.

The place your emotions spring from.

The place Solomon says the wellsprings of life come from and it is to be guarded.

And when I say the center, I mean—dead center.

Above it you have three sins listed—haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed blood

Below it you have three sins listed—Feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness, one who sows discord

But right in the center, with all of sins evil arrows being shot at it, is THE HEART

This tells us that sin does not just come to destroy you physically.

It comes to destroy you spiritually.

Sin wants you to think otherwise.

It wants to appear harmless.

But then it grows.

And it entraps.

And it makes you think you can’t live without it.

Until you don’t live at all.

James 1:14–15 ESV

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Sin wants to kill you.

Satan wants sin to kill you.

Your flesh wants the sin that will kill you.

Sin doesn’t just want your blood.

It wants your children.

It wants your spouse.

It wants your friends.

It wants your church.

It wants your relationship with God.

What do we do with things that are seeking to destroy everything that we love?

Do we entertain them?

Do we invite them into our homes?

Do we make friends with them?

NO!

We count them as evil!

We have hatred for that which threatens what we cherish.

If Solomon’s son has heard his father’s words, he should hate sin.

If WE have heard Solomon’s words, WE should hate sin.

Wolf Illustration

Imagine you are watching TV tonight and you hear a scratching at the back door.

You don’t have pets.

You go and turn on the light and the light reveals that a wolf is there pawing at your door!

What is your next move?

Would you let it in?

Or would you count it a threat and keep it out of your home at all costs?

The Sinfulness of Sin is Exposed

This is what God’s Word has done this morning.

This is what it has been doing throughout chapter 6

As God’s Word reveals the nature of sin, the sinfulness of sin has been exposed

God’s hatred pulls back the curtain on just how cancerous sin is

God wants us to know— I HATE SIN.

God wants us to know —SIN HATES YOU.

And God wants us to know —WE SHOULD HATE SIN.

Phineas (SKIP IF YOU ARE SHORT ON TIME—GO TO CROSS TRANSITION)

We should be like Phineas in Numbers 25.

In that passage, the people of Israel begin to commit sexual immorality with Moabite women and worship their false gods

The Bible actually says that Israel YOKED himself to Baal.

God is angry. A plague starts sweeping through the people.

As Moses and the judges are trying to deal with this, an Israelite man takes a Moabite woman in his tent right there in front of everyone.

So this man Phineas, who sees what sin is doing to God’s people and God’s name, is filled with a righteous hatred for sin.

Numbers 25:7–9 ESV

When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

Now—I am certainly not telling you to go out into the world and use a spear like Phineas.

Different time.

Society ruled by Old Covenant Law.

But I am saying that we should have a Phineas-like hatred for sin. (Not violence to others, but violence to our own sin!)

Numbers 25:11 ESV

“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy.

Phineas felt God’s jealousy for worship in his soul and it made him hate sin.

It made him zealous in his abhorrence of it.

We should be zealous in our own abhorrence of it.

We should count it an abomination.

We see it for what it is and we feel nothing but loathing in our hearts for this thing that wants to destroy our hearts.

Transitioning to the Cross

If you are struggling to hate it...

...Let me turn your attention to another event.

Not one where a man pierced someone through...

...But an event where a man was pierced through...

...For you.

...And for me.

3. Jesus died for what God hates, so that God may delight in your life.

The Cross

You have to understand what took place at Calvary.

God hates sin so much, that He requires the shedding of blood for it’s payment.

Hebrews 9:22 ESV

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

This is why there are so many offerings in the Old Testament.

There are so many sacrifices.

There is so much blood.

Ancient Jewish texts and historians report over a million animals being sacrificed a day during some festival seasons in Jerusalem

The priests would wade around up to their knees in blood

Why?

Because people wanted to be forgiven of the sin that God hates.

The blood itself had no power to forgive.

But God had promised a Final Sacrifice to be provided.

A Suffering Messiah.

He would not suffer because He had sinned.

Not at all.

He suffers because WE commit the sin God hates

Isaiah 53:6 ESV

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

You and I are born fallen and failing.

He was born of a virgin by the power of the Spirit, with no sin nature.

You and I sin in our thoughts.

He never had one unrighteous thought burst from his imagination.

He didn’t even have a sinful impulse as the holy, holy, holy God in the flesh.

You and I sin in our words.

He never uttered anything but pure truth.

You and I sin in our actions.

He never broke God’s Law.

He never dishonored His Father.

He never mistreated His neighbor.

We have broken the just law of God. And God hates that.

This demands just punishment—His wrath.

Again...there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood

And so here comes Jesus.

Marching to the Cross in innocence.

The precious Lamb of God.

Crown of thorns. Nails. Wood.

Blood and flesh.

Tortured and torn.

The wrath of God dropping down upon Him for the sins of many.

NOT just bearing the Roman Cross, but bearing the sins of throngs and throngs of souls.

He had done nothing wrong, but chose to die in our place for our sins.

Meaning—HE DIED FOR WHAT GOD HATES.

AND HE FELT THE WRATH.

AND HE SPILT THE BLOOD.

And only through this sacrifice may one be forgiven.

The Resurrection

And then Christ was raised.

His Resurrection not only had the effect of proving His victory over sin and death...

His Resurrection was verified proof that God the Father accepted God the Son’s sacrifice...

His resurrection is undeniable evidence that He is the only way back to God!

You Can Be Saved

So this opens the way of salvation.

You used to be a sinner doing what God hates, deserving His wrath, but now—you can be saved by the life of Christ.

Romans 5:10–11 ESV

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Through Christ’s saving work, sinners are reconciled to God

Do you believe this?

Have you been reconciled to God?

Do you agree with God about sin?

That is worthy of His hatred?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for that sin after living a perfect life?

Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the grave to give you eternal life?

Have you committed these things to God in prayer?

Have you gone to Him saying, “YES—I am the sinner who has done what you hate?”

Have you gone to Him pleading, “YES—forgive me on the basis of One who died and was raised for me?”

If you have not—you must!

For this is the only way that we can go from living a life where we do what God hates, to living a life that God delights in!

God Delights in Sinners He Has Saved

A. He delights in them because has justified them.

Since Jesus’ blood has paid the debt for your sins, you are now counted as NOT GUILTY before God.

Another way to say this would be to say that you are justified before God.

Your legal standing with Him is INNOCENT.

It is just as if you never sinned at all.

The penalty for sin was laid on Jesus.

The blessings of right standing before God has been laid on you.

Kevin DeYoung explains it this way:

We got an F on the test of keeping God’s Law.

Jesus got an A+ on the same test.

God is a fair teacher.

He has to give fair grades and an F deserves His wrath.

But that is where justification comes in...

Instead of giving us the wrath we deserve for our F, God determined that Christ’s A+ would be credited to us, and our F would be credited to Christ.

Kevin DeYoung

Now—when God looks at your life—He sees a perfect grade.

And He delights in the righteousness of His Son and YOU have that righteousness.

Jesus died for what God hates so that in Christ, you can be loved.

No longer is your life an abomination to God—instead, HE SINGS OVER IT!

Zephaniah 3:17 ESV

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

B. He delights in them because is transforming them.

Justification is a forensic term.

It is a declaration in God’s court room of “NOT GUILTY!”

It is a tremendous term, but it is not a transformation term.

It speaks to how your standing with God changes, but not so much your walk with God.

Someone here may wonder, “That is great if that is my status with God, but how do stop having haughty eyes and a lying tongue in my everyday life?”

“Certainly those things don’t please God, right?”

A Problem of Nature

What you must understand is that your sin was never a behavior problem— it was a nature problem.

Romans 8:8 ESV

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

We are born sinful and in that nature we will never please God.

All that we do is rooted in the very sin that He hates.

The Nature Has Changed!

But the great news about grace is that when God truly saves someone He changes their nature.

Ezekiel 36:26 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.

He will take away our old dead heart that couldn’t please God.

He will give us a new, living heart that can please God.

And this heart will be new because it has been given life by the Spirit of the living God.

And not only that, but His Spirit dwells IN the heart of the one God has saved.

No Longer in the Flesh

So those in the flesh cannot please God, but now you CAN!

You are in the Spirit!

Romans 8:9 ESV

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Before, you were a slave to sin. You did whatever sin said. God hated that.

Now, you are a slave to righteousness. You are FREE to obey Christ as your Master.

Romans 6:22 ESV

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

You have gone from being spiritually unable to living a life that pleases God to being spiritually enabled to living a life that please God.

The very power that raised Christ from the grave is at work in you!

Sanctification is Transformation

Ultimately this means you can put sin to death.

You can say NO to the sin God hates.

You can say YES to obeying the God you love.

As we grow as Christians, we get better at this.

We grow stronger in faith and love for God and we begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

Day by day, our lives look more and more Christ-like.

In attitude.

In words.

In actions.

And this brings glory to God the Father.

And now—He looks down upon His free, forgiven people, living lives of righteousness by His Spirit’s power and He DELIGHTS in it.

Conclusion

This morning we have seen quite a tension

A God who LOVES

A God who HATES

And what we have found is that this tension is resolved at the Cross

This is the place where you find the One who had died for the sin God hates

This is the place where you find the transformation that takes you from Divine Wrath to Divine Delight

That is the place where you go from fear of the Severity of God to hearing His Song Sung over you!

Christian—walk in the Spirit in the shadow of the Cross.

REST in your justification—God delights in you because you are covered in the Righteousness of Christ the Justifier

WALK in the Spirit—God is sanctifying you from the patterns and effects of sin.

You are free to LIVE for Him and He DELIGHTS in your obedience

TAKE JOY in God’s Song over you

The Lord rejoices over you with singing

Rejoice in Him!

Satan wants to rob you of your rest. Your walk. Your joy.

Don’t fall prey to the sin which robs the heart of God’s blessings

Unbelieving Friend—come into the shadow of the Cross.

Do you see Christ there crucified?

This is how much God hates our sin.

This is what it has done to His Son.

Either your sin is paid for by Christ at Calvary or it is paid for by your own soul for eternity.

Hell does not exist because God is mean.

It is exists because He hates sin and He is just and He punishes it.

But there is no need for you experience eternal death.

Christ has lived and died and rose again.

Come into the shadow of the Cross and leave your sin there!

Move from being a child of wrath to a child of God—an object of the Lord’s delight.

Admit your sin to God today.

Turn from it.

Trust in Christ.