God Hates 05-08-11 By David Keeling www.earlychurchtruth.com keelingdavid@hotmail.com Greetings to you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning I have a few thoughts about understanding who God is. We hear a lot in the Old Testament about God and we see in His commandments that, for one, He says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me because I am a jealous God. That is part of who God is. He is not a god that is going to lightly share our devotion to Him. There is a lot of people that, as we are preaching, come up and say, Well that s not how my god is. My god wouldn t say that. My god doesn t judge. My god doesn t hate. People have created gods of their own imagination. The bible says, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. Whenever we think of a graven image, we think of a god of rocks or stones or a golden idol. But to make a graven image is to create in our own mind an image of God that is not proper. That is just as much an idol as some little form or figure that we would set up and bow down to. If we have in our minds an image of a god that does not line up with the bible, we have created an image of god that is just as much an idol as anything that has ever been created in all of time. The God of the bible is who we believe is going to be our God. The God of the bible is the God who is the Creator of this world and we better know who He is. It is going to be a horrible day when all of these people come face to face with THE God of the world. When all these people come face to face with THE Creator. When all the people come face to face with THE God of the ages their opinion about who they think is god will not matter anymore. Just this week we heard some people say, Well if that is who God is, I don t want Him to be my god. I don t want the kind of God you serve. Well what does that have to do with anything? We either serve the real God or it is just a pretend god, one of our imaginations. And they have declared plainly that they do not want the God that we serve so they do not want the God that is their Creator. One of the things that we have been talking about quite a bit lately is the word hate. We have some signs that mentioned the word hate in them, and you would be absolutely shocked about how many people come up and say, My God does not hate anything. They are going to be shocked whenever the Lord returns. I was just reading through the book of Revelation a little bit let s turn there. 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. One of the judgments or seals of the last days is one of these four beasts and he is going to be given power by God to go forth and to conquer. 6:3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. One of these beasts is going to conquer. We don t hardly know what it means to conquer in war because we supposedly are civilized this is the twenty-first century. It s 2011 and we know how to get along supposedly. To conquer is to win a war, and to win a war you destroy things and kill people. That is how you conquer. Telling about what it is going to cost one of these seals, the people are going to starve to death because it will cost everything they have just for a little bit of wheat or a little bit of barely. There is going to be a famine. Who is behind this? Love. God is love, don t you know that? God is love, he would never do anything like that. God would never send an angel to conquer because God is love. Jesus is all about love. 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. A fourth part of the earth. They say there is almost 6 billion people in this world. A billion and a half people are going to die because of this one angel that God sent out. One angel is going to kill a fourth of the world, and GOD is the one sending them.
6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? I don t see how anyone thinks that they are doing anyone any favors by trying to point someone to a god that would never do anything like this, when the bible says plainly that this is what is going to happen. God is love, but as we have said before, His love is not on trial. God is going to judge this world. When the Lord Jesus comes back, it is going to be in flaming fire taking vengeance on all of those who obey not the gospel. And anger you and I can get angry sometimes. We know what it is to have that feeling that you would just like to get a hold of somebody sometimes. Maybe we have forgotten it before we were converted, how it felt to really be mad at somebody. Well, God is angry with the wicked every day and He restrains Himself. His mercy is holding back His wrath just waiting to give someone the opportunity to repent. We heard about Ahab this morning and what kind of a wicked king he was. Yet at the end of his life, he heard God. He listened and he humbled himself, and God spared His judgment on him. One of the wickedest kings in the bible, and yet when he humbled himself, God s mercy was there. Those who continue in their pride, in their rebellion, there is nothing but wrath and judgment. In fact, the bible says in Proverbs that when their fear comes upon them, He will mock them and laugh at their calamity (Proverbs 1:26). This is who God is. Yes, He is merciful IF you return to Him and His way. One of the best ways that I know to figure out how to please someone is to know what someone does NOT like, and then do the opposite. It is one thing to know what someone loves (we have talked about that) and to do the things that person loves, but you know, an even better way or another way to find more out is to find out what someone hates and avoid it. Stay away from it. Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. There are a lot of us that hate evil, and it is good to love what is right. The bible says that if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled. Heaven is made for the righteous, and it is not talking about the self-righteous. It is talking about people who love what is right. They hate what is wrong. Do we love what is right? Not just get by. People must love the truth. They love the good. Today in this world, the good is despised. People do not want to hear the truth; they want to hear a nice smooth gray. They hate the truth. They hate real righteousness. Set your hearts on loving what is right. Forget about all of the things that are going to happen in this world that you have to go through. It s spring. It has warmed up. Everyone wants to be out doing something; everyone wants to be out busy because it s time. We have had to wait for a long time for things to prepare. The weather has been bad. It s not time to harvest crops yet there just have not been a lot of things going on as far as business and building and things like that, but now the sun is shining and it has warmed up. Everyone wants to be out doing something, and we get so occupied and so busy about doing things sometimes, but when the Lord comes back, it may be on a day just like this when everybody wants to be so busy because they see so many things they could be doing and it s going to be a real aggravation because the Lord came back and I could not do my little chore, or play or do whatever it was that I wanted to do today and get accomplished. Judgment came and I did not get to accomplish the little task that was in front of me. Love righteousness. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, but then right after that it says pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate. There are a lot of people that hate evil and they are so full of pride because they are not doing those things anymore. They hate all of these self-destructive, selfish people, but they are full of pride. It is hard when we are out there and we see all of the wickedness that is going on in the world. It is hard to hate that and not be filled with pride. It is hard not to hate what is going on and not be filled with pride. And not become arrogant in ourselves. It is hard not to hate those people; not to think, Boy, they are stupid. It s hard not to think that without exalting ourselves; without thinking that, I am sure glad I am not like that. It s a real
temptation there, and there have been a lot of people that have fallen into it a pride and an arrogancy that comes with hating evil. It is a danger. Matthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. A lot of times our anger is not because what they are doing is right or wrong; it s because it offends us. THAT is when it is without a cause whenever it just offends us. We are not offended sometimes because it offends God. whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council We have to guard against despising humanity. There are people that know better and act like fools, and Jesus called people fools when they were fools. He did not lie and say they were not, but it is so easy for us to get an attitude and just hate people and think that we are better than they are. I remember a time when my darkness was just as great as any darkness there was, and it was God s grace that taught my heart to fear. I have no claim to anything else but that. I have choices, and I have made choices, and I can choose what is right and wrong, but if it were not for the grace of God that teaches us to despise ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly and godly I m just as unrighteous and ungodly as anybody else is in the world, but God s mercy reached down and condemned me in my darkness and He had mercy on me by showing me that I was wicked. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Put that on yourself before you put it on anybody else. God hates these things. God hates these things. If you have a father and you know he hates something, are you going to parade it around in front of him? If you have a father and you know that he hates something, are you going to make sure he sees you with it every chance you get? No you are not; unless you are really proud and arrogant, you are going to get rid of it because you know your father hates it. That is how you can show you love your father. Proverbs 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, A proud look that is what we have been talking about. A proud look. The bible says specifically that a woman should be shamefaced and sober. A woman of great value is shamefaced, modest, meek, quiet, etc., but a proud look it s amazing how many women come up and proudly say, I m not meek and I m not quiet, and the Lord loves me. How deluded. How deceived. Who is right? The false people who have created an image of a god that loves everything, loves you just the way you are, created you the way you are, or the word of God? The word of God will stand. You can invent your theologies and wonder how to be saved and how to do all those things all you want, but if you want to know how to be saved, find out what God hates and do the opposite. If you want to fit into heaven, find out what God hates and what God loves and act accordingly. You see all these women running around with this proud look on their face because they think they are so beautiful. I want to refute a little of what Kevn said this morning. He said Jezebel thought she was pretty so she painted her face. No she didn t. She knew she was ugly and had to paint her face to make her appear beautiful because she knows she is wicked on the inside. When a woman has to decorate herself and paint her face and hang jewelry all over herself and put on all the beautiful clothes, it s because she knows she has an ugly heart and she is trying to give something the idea that she is pretty because it isn t there, so she has to cover it all up from the outside. That is what God is talking about when He says nothing shall hurt the woman with that kind of beauty on the inside (1 Peter 3:1-6). God hates. Find out what He hates. Find out what He loves, and you will find yourself not worrying about whether you are saved or not because His image will begin being stamped on your life. The image of God. In Revelation it talks a lot about the mark of the beast. People are terrified waiting for some number (666) to be planted on their forehead or on their hand. The bible also talks about those with the mark of God on their forehead. It doesn t have to be a mark that you and I can see that says [on your forehead in big letters], I belong to God. No. It s His image stamped upon us. We have the image of the world or we have the image of God stamped upon our lives and our beings. Get on one side or the other. People can see what you love; it s written all over you. Contrary to public opinion, you can know what is in people s hearts. Peter looked upon a man and said his heart was full of wickedness. He could see it; it was written all over him. Thy heart is not right in the sight of God. 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
A proud look Look at ourselves. Is it a proud look? A lying tongue, God hates a lying tongue. God loves truth. God loves honesty. It used to be something that was lifted up and exalted. A man used to be known by his word. A handshake was all it took; or a man just had to say, I ll do it, and a deal was a deal. Now we have to have contracts and all kinds of things because no body is honest enough to be trusted with just saying, I ll do it. Let your yea be yea and your nay be nay. Learn to love that! Learn to hate the deceit and falsehoods. And hands that shed innocent blood People just love to see others get hurt. They love the car races to watch a crash. They love to see someone on the other team get hurt so their team has the advantage. God hates it. They love to see their enemies brought down. God said do not rejoice lest the thing befall you also. Don t rejoice when your enemies fall. An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. God hates these things. Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. 22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. 23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. 24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. God hates all of your religious activity. He hates offerings instead of doing what is right. He loves what is right. He does not love the offerings. He does not love innocence being slain; He loves what is right. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. People think that they can come to church; they have their duty done. They sing. They talk about Jesus being offered on a cross for them and then go right back out with the stamp of the Devil all over them. God hates that. Revelation 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. These doctrines were teaching that people could just live however they wanted to and be forgiven. That it did not matter what you did in the flesh. It wasn t important. God hates those things. God hates religious performances. There are a lot of things that God hates learn what He hates and avoid it. In Malachi it says, I hate putting away. God hates divorce. Psalm 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. God hates things. God hates evil. God hates the wicked and those that love violence. Where is this coming from? This is the word of God! If you don t like it this is who God is and it is up to you to conform to Him. This is the God that we are going to stand before. If you want to create an image of some love-dovey God who is not going to hate anyone and is going to forgive everything, you are going to be shocked when you stand before Him and see Him as He really is. You are going to be shocked throughout all eternity that you chose to believe some puffy little vain imagination that was your own opinion rather than the word of God. What does it mean to believe? BELIEVE the Word of God above your own opinion. Lose yourself to God. God hates. Yes, He is love, but God hates. It does not say, God is only love; it says, God is love. God hates also; you cannot love without hate. You cannot love good without hating evil. May the Lord add His blessings. Look at yourselves first. Added on 5-22-11: A couple of weeks ago we preached about how God does hate some things. I read a verse in Psalm 11 and I want to make a correction there. I read it a little later in the Septuagint and read it again in the King James and it just dose not say what it appears to say here. Psalm 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. What that s saying here is that the Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence hates his own soul. That does not change the idea that God does hate, but in this particular verse he that loves violence and the wicked hates his own soul.
I wanted to bring that out that s the blessedness of just trying to look and find the truth. We don t have to change things when we are wrong; we let the truth change us. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth He hates his own soul. People think that they love themselves because they love sin and are enjoying themselves and having a good time, but they are actually hating their own soul.