Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I hate with all of my heart because of what I love with all of my heart.

True love necessitates hate because true love will not tolerate any threat to what is loved.

A few weeks ago, Gracie came home from school, and she was hurt because some others in her class had made fun of her.

I guess every parent that has ever lived has probably experienced the same thing in one fashion or another, and, you know, it just makes you crazy.

We probably all view our kids better than reality, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of this loving, little girl that’s always making cards and wanting to make others feel good getting hurt.

I hated it.

Now, I know that a wise parent doesn’t intervene and equips their children to deal with hardship and meanness on their own.

But, I wanted to.

I wanted to have a come to Jesus meeting.

I wanted to plot out a battle strategy like Douglas MacArthur.

I love Gracie so fiercely, so intensely that I hate anything that can hurt her.

This morning, we’re going to see that this same thing is true about God.

In fact, it originates in him.

We’re going to see that God, who is love, hates.

God’s Word

Read

The Jarring Hatred of God

v. 16 “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him” There is hatred in God, and that is a jarring message for ‘only God can judge me’ society.

This revelation in the Bible has caused more than one professing Christian to believe it their responsibility to attempt to save the Bible from itself by explaining away the hatred of God or by dismissing the authority and inerrancy of the Bible outright.

You see, the love of God is an appealing message to sinners, offering grace for every transgression, but the holiness of God is offensive.

We can’t hear enough about a God that forgives and a God that gives us nice things, but we can’t stand the thought of a God who finds sex outside of marriage, greed, and gossip intolerable.

We want see God as being the Divine Grandpa of the sky whose love will compel him to tolerate anything He finds in us; yet, the love of God apart from the holiness of God wouldn’t be worth much.

It is the holiness of God, his blinding moral purity, that assures us that his love for us is perfect and untainted the way that human love is.

But, it is his holiness, his love of what is truly good and truly right and truly glorious that necessitates his hatred.

It is his love of what is good that necessitates his hatred of what is evil.

It is his love of what is life-giving that necessitates his hatred of what destroys life.

It is his love of what brings him true glory that necessitates his hatred of that which robs his glory or lessens it.

The holiness of God means that God hates as perfectly as He loves.

Holy hatred flows from divine love.

There is hatred in God, and that is a jarring message for ‘only God can judge me’ society.

This revelation in the Bible has caused more than one professing Christian to believe it their responsibility to attempt to save the Bible from itself by explaining away the hatred of God or by dismissing the authority and inerrancy of the Bible outright.

You see, the love of God is an appealing message to sinners, offering grace for every transgression, but the holiness of God is offensive.

We can’t hear enough about a God that forgives and a God that gives us nice things, but we can’t stand the thought of a God who finds sex outside of marriage, greed, and gossip intolerable.

But, though we as Christians and churches typically default one way or the other, the Bible teaches that God is holy and God is love.

He is both, and they work together to form the true Gospel, not a gospel in our own image.

In fact, the love of God apart from the holiness of God wouldn’t be worth much.

It is the holiness of God, his blinding moral purity, that assures us that his love for us is perfect and untainted the way that human love is.

But, it is his holiness, his love of what is truly good and truly right and truly glorious that necessitates his hatred.

It is his love of what is good that necessitates his hatred of what is evil.

It is his love of what is life-giving that necessitates his hatred of what destroys lives.

It is his love of what brings him true glory that necessitates his hatred of that which robs his glory or lessens it.

The holiness of God means that God hates as perfectly as He loves.

Holy hatred flows from divine love.

There is hatred in God, and that is a jarring message for ‘only God can judge me’ society.

This revelation in the Bible has caused more than one professing Christian to believe it their responsibility to attempt to save the Bible from itself by explaining away the hatred of God or by dismissing the authority and inerrancy of the Bible outright.

You see, the love of God is an appealing message to sinners, offering grace for every transgression, but the holiness of God is offensive.

We can’t hear enough about a God that forgives and a God that gives us nice things, but we can’t stand the thought of a God who finds sex outside of marriage, greed, and gossip intolerable.

We have a distorted view of ourselves and a distorted view of God, which leads to a distorted view of love and a distorted view of hate.

Our most natural instinct is that we are basically good and God just helps us realize the full reality of our goodness; yet, describes us as enemies of God, who are wicked to our very core.

We want see God as being the Divine Grandpa of the sky whose love will compel to tolerate anything He finds in us; yet, the Scriptures say that on the Last Day liars, slanderers, gossips, and the sexually immoral will be cast into a lake of fire.

The love of God apart from the holiness of God wouldn’t be worth much.

It is the holiness of God, his blinding moral purity, that assures us that his love for us is perfect and untainted the way that human love is.

But, it is his holiness, his love of what is truly good and truly right and truly glorious that necessitates his hatred.

It is his love of what is good that necessitates his hatred of what is evil.

It is his love of what is life-giving that necessitates his hatred of what destroys lives.

It is his love of what brings him true glory that necessitates his hatred of that which robs his glory or lessens it.

The holiness of God means that God hates as perfectly as He loves.

Holy hatred flows from divine love.

Those who place “themselves” ahead of “others”.

v. 17 “haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” As get to verses 17-19, Solomon clarifies the hatred of God by giving details of those who will receive his hatred.

When he says six things the Lord hates, and then seven in the very next line, one of the things he’s aiming to communicate with that formula is that this is not an exhaustive list.

This is not all that God hates, but God hates these things and others like them.

We’ll see three recipients of the hatred of God (headline), and then specific examples of each.

The first recipient of God’s hatred are those who place “themselves” ahead of “others”.

God hates the heart that is always elevating its value and its needs and its wants ahead of the value, needs, and wants of others.

God hates those who love “themselves” most.

Those who look down on others

v. 17 “haughty eyes” In verses 16-17, he starts with the eyes and then works his way all the way down to the feet.

The infection of sin, the love of sin, the pleasure of sin infects a person all the way through from the top to the bottom.

The first specific example we see of that is when he says ‘haughty eyes.’

That is, God hates those who love “themselves” most.

These are people who look down others so that they can be impressed with themselves.

The person with haughty eyes views others through their weaknesses and themselves through their strengths.

As they look to others, they are always tearing them down in their minds while at the same time they’re building themselves up.

They love the comparison game, and play it all the time.

And, they love it because they win every comparison, or if they don’t, they have a good reason why.

They meet someone they graduated with, and they immediately start measuring themselves up.

“I’m thinner, live in a better neighborhood, and look at how much better behaved my kids are.”

The haughty person’s first reflex when they meet another person is not how to make Jesus look good, but how to make themselves look good.

It’s as though they are their own VP of PR rather than an ambassador for Christ.

And, they love themselves most, and God hates it.

In , we get the Beatitudes, which are quite literally the opposites of what we’re reading here.

It’s the very characteristics that God loves.

And, the very first one on the list says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Nothing is more anti-gospel than self-promotion.

Jesus came in the form of a servant and humbled himself.

He who deserved all recognition, all praise, all exaltation made himself low so that we might be raised up with him.

There is no person that is less like Jesus, less glorifying to Jesus than the person who believes themselves to be better than others.

In , we get the Beatitudes, which are quite literally the opposites of what we’re reading here.

It’s the very characteristics that God loves.

And, the very first one on the list says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Nothing is more anti-gospel than self-promotion.

Jesus came in the form of a servant and humbled himself.

He who deserved all recognition, all praise, all exaltation made himself low so that we might be raised up with him.

There is no person that is less like Jesus, less glorifying to Jesus than the person who believes themselves to be better than others.

You can’t look down on others and up to Jesus at the same time.

APPLICATION: You can’t look down on others and up to Jesus at the same time.

So, How do you view others when you meet them?

Do you see what’s wrong, or do you see what’s right?