Seven Things God Hates - Part 1

We are so wrapped up in the wonderful truth that God loves sinners that we forget that God hates sin. In Proverbs 6:16 we read, "These things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." Now, these seven sins parallel what Solomon wrote beginning at Proverbs 6:12 about the wicked person, the worthless person.

Proverbs 6:12, "A worthless person, a wicked man, walketh with a perverse mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers." He's talking here about signals that he gives to other people in order to perpetrate the evil that he wants to do. "Perversity is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually, he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy."

You see, God hates sin and God hates when sinners sin. Even though the Bible says God so loved the world, and we know that God loves sinners and Jesus died for sinners, we must remember that God hates sin. Now, he's not talking here about sin in general; he names some specific sins. He talks about sins of attitude as well as sins of action, sins of word as well as sins of deed. You and I don't like to deal with specific sins; we like preachers to talk about sin in general. 

You know, when you go to the doctor, if he just talked about health in general or sickness in general, you might die. He has to deal with that specific fever or that specific infection. He has to talk about that specific tumor. Doctors have to be specific about the needs that we have in our bodies, otherwise we might die. The same thing is true when you take your automobile to the mechanic. He doesn't talk about the beauty of the car in general; he talks about specific rust spots on the body. He doesn't talk about efficiency of the motor; he talks about the problem you have with your valve lifters or with your alternator. When it comes to straightening something out or fixing something up, we have to be specific. 

Now, God is very specific in these seven sins. Somebody may say, "Well, how can a God of love hate? How is it possible in one being for there to be both love and hatred?" Well, quite frankly, you and I are supposed to practice both love and hatred. Psalm 97:10, look the verse up now, Psalm 97:10, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." That's interesting. If I love the Lord, I'll love what he loves, and if I love the Lord, I'll hate what he hates. Psalm 97:10, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." 

The prophet Amos had this to say, Amos 5:14, "Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good." That's Amos 5:14-15. "Seek good, and not evil... hate the evil, and love the good." You see, you love your children, therefore you hate the fever, the infection that makes them sick. You love your children, and therefore you hate that thing that would make them injured or that would molest them. Now, God is the same way. God loves us, and because he loves us, he hates the sin that ruins our lives. 

Psalm 45:7 we read about our Lord Jesus Christ—this is a Messianic Psalm—Psalm 45:7, "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness." Now, there are many saints who love righteousness, but they don't hate wickedness. You never find them protesting against sin in their own lives or in the life of God's church. The Lord Jesus Christ loved righteousness, and because he loved righteousness, he hated wickedness. 

In fact, Paul had something to say about that in Romans 12:9. Romans 12:9 says, "Let love be without hypocrisy." Don't have hypocritical love. "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." Now, some people say, "Well, I love everybody and everything." You cannot love sin. You cannot love the wicked things that are going on in this world. Let your love be without hypocrisy; abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. 

Now, sin grieves God. I don't have to emphasize that. God is grieved by sin. I read in Psalm 5:4, David wrote these words, Psalm 5:4, "For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness." God is not pleased when people sin. He's not happy about proud looks and lying tongues and hands that murder the innocent. God the Father is grieved by our sin. I read in Genesis 6:6, "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." When God looked down and saw the wickedness that was going on in the world, it grieved him in his heart. God the Father is grieved by sin. 

God the Son is grieved by sin. In the Gospel of Mark 3:5, the Lord Jesus was being hounded by his enemies. They were watching every move that he was making. Mark 3:5, "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." The Greek word really is "hardening," being grieved for the hardening of their hearts. God the Son was grieved when he saw these people hardening their hearts. 

And of course, God the Holy Spirit can be grieved by sin. Ephesians 4:30, we know the verse so well, Ephesians 4:30, "And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." How do you grieve the Holy Spirit? "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." These things are grieving to the Holy Spirit. "And be ye kind one to another"—that's what rejoices the Spirit—"tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Now, when you stop to consider the character of God, you can well understand why he hates sin. There are three statements in the New Testament that reveal the character of God. 1 John 1:5, "God is light." 1 John 4:8 and 4:16, "God is love." Hebrews 12:29, "Our God is a consuming fire." Let's take those three statements about the character of God and study them. And as we study them, we will discover why God hates sin. 

God is light; he sees what sin really is. God is love; he sees what sin really does. God is a consuming fire; he sees where sin really leads. This is why God hates sin. God is light; that means God is holy. 1 John 1:5, "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." God is light, God is holy, he sees what sin really is. Now, you and I do not see what sin really is. We are sinners ourselves; we have hard hearts. Our minds have been blinded. We do not see what sin really is. We want to defend ourselves; we want to protect ourselves. We get so accustomed to sin that we don't really see what it is. 

Recently, I was in a restaurant to have dinner, and it was one of those restaurants where the lights were low and they had a little flickering candle on the table. And I was trying to read the menu. It was interesting—after a while, I got very accustomed to the darkness. Now, the Bible pictures sin as darkness. "In him is no darkness at all." We get accustomed to the darkness. 

The Bible pictures sin as disease. We see sin as pleasure; God sees it as a disease—paralysis, leprosy. God sees sin as a burden. We think that sin is a great opportunity to have fun. God sees sin as bondage, as putting a person in prison, as it were. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," said Jesus. In fact, God sees sin as death. Ephesians chapter two. God says, "I see what sin really is and I hate it." 

And when you see how God punishes sin, it shows the true nature of sin. He expelled Adam and Eve from the garden. He sent a flood to wipe the earth clean. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone. In fact, he brought the armies of the Babylonians in to destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem. God is holy, God is light, he sees what sin really is, and that's why he hates it. 

Secondly, God is love. 1 John 4:8. God is love and he sees what sin really does. You see, the reason God hates sin is because he loves us so much he does not want us to be harmed. That's why he warns us. That's why he seeks to protect us. That's why he disciplines us. Like any loving parent, our Father in heaven wants to keep us from sin because he sees what sin really does. Just stop and think of what sin has done to God's creation, to man's body. Here we are made in God's image, and in Proverbs 6:16-19, from head to foot, God sees sin. The eyes, a proud look; the mouth, a lying tongue; hands that shed innocent blood; a heart that makes wicked plans; a heart that deviseth wicked schemes; feet that are swift running to mischief; a false witness; sowing discord. This is man made in the image of God, and God hates that because God knows what it does to us. 

God himself suffered because of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ had to come to earth and then go to the cross and die. God is love, he sees what sin really does, and he hates it. God is light, he sees what sin really is, and he hates it. God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29. He sees where sin really leads. The pleasures of sin are for a season. The pleasure of sin comes in the sowing, not in the reaping. The sowing is what gives pleasure; the reaping is what gives pain. A holy God must punish sin. 

When God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden, he put a flaming sword of fire at the gate to Eden, Genesis 3:24, to keep them from going back. It was fire. There was fire on the altar at the tabernacle, speaking of the holy judgment of God upon sin. Fire rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah—God's judgment. Jesus warned about fire. He talked about a furnace of fire. Paul talked about flaming fire, God taking vengeance upon those who would not believe. In fact, the Apostle John, the Apostle of Love, I would remind you, in the Book of Revelation talks about a lake of fire. God is a consuming fire; he sees where sin leads. 

Now, God hates sin. We ought to hate sin—not in the lives of others, in our own lives. Let's start with ourselves. Let's hate sin because God is holy, God is light, he sees what sin really is. Do you see what sin really is? God is love, he sees what sin really does. Is your heart broken because of what sin is doing in your life, in the lives of others? God is a consuming fire, and he sees where sin really leads. Sinners, people who reject Jesus Christ, who love sin and live in sin, will end up in a lake of fire, and there is no mercy there. Oh, how we need to give our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and let him just control every part of our being, that we might not have any sin in our lives that God can hate. 

Now, before we leave Proverbs 6:16-19, I want you to notice that in these seven sins, you certainly have a picture of our adversary, the devil. You see, what he is saying here is simply this: this is the way the devil lives. Look at it. "These things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look." Now, Satan is proud. That's how Lucifer, the son of the morning, became Satan. It was through pride. Satan is a proud being and he opposes God and he opposes all that is godly. 

A proud look, a lying tongue. Satan's a liar; Jesus told us that. He is a liar and the father of it. And so Satan has a proud look and Satan has a lying tongue. Satan's a murderer. John 8:44, he is a murderer, he's a liar. "Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations." Satan is the schemer. He's always out trying to scheme and plan and plot so that he can destroy God's work and bring judgment to God's people. "Feet that are swift in running to mischief," to evil. He goes to and fro upon the earth seeking whom he may devour. Sometimes he goes about as a serpent to deceive; sometimes he goes as a lion to devour. 

"A false witness that speaketh lies." Satan is the accuser; he's the accuser of the brethren. In fact, he loves to accuse us to each other, doesn't he? You know, when Satan talks to God about me, he tells the truth. But when he talks to me about God, he lies. And when he talks to me about other Christians, he lies. Satan loves to spread lies. And the result of this is "he that soweth discord among brethren." You see, the Lord Jesus is the one who is bringing things together; he is the great uniter, he is the great builder. Satan is tearing everything apart. One day our Lord said, "If you're not gathering with me, you are scattering." And each one of us is either following the example of Satan or following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

You see, when you look at Proverbs 6:16-19, you can see the Lord Jesus Christ as the opposite of all of this. You see, he did no sin; in him is no sin. He was the perfect Lamb of God, wasn't he? "A proud look"—you never found the Lord Jesus Christ showing pride. Quite the opposite: he came as the humble servant of God. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death—and not just ordinary death—even the death of the cross. That's Philippians 2:8. He said, "I'm among you as one who serves. I am meek and lowly in heart." Humility. 

"A proud look, a lying tongue"—why, the Lord Jesus never lied. He said, "I've come to bear witness to the truth. I am the truth. Thy word is truth." And when you see the Lord Jesus Christ and when you listen to the Lord Jesus Christ, you see truth and you hear truth. "Hands that shed innocent blood"—quite the opposite. When my Lord put his hands upon the needy, they were healed. The Lord Jesus did not come to kill. He said, "I have not come to destroy men's lives, I've come to save them." The thief—that's the devil—the thief, he comes to destroy and to kill and to steal. I've come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. 

"A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations"—why, my Lord is forever thinking up blessings for us. The heart of God is filled with the blessing of God for your life. "Feet that are swift in running to mischief"—why, the Lord Jesus Christ walked on the dusty paths of Galilee and Judea and Samaria, not to bring mischief but to bring ministry, to share the word of life with needy people. "A false witness"—he's the faithful and true witness. He bears witness to the truth. "He that sows discord among brethren"—never. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who brings us together. We are one in Jesus Christ. There is one Lord, and because we are in him, we belong to each other. 

And so, you and I are going to have to make a choice. Are we going to follow the bad example of Satan, or are we going to follow the godly example of the Lord Jesus Christ? May I remind you, God hates sin. And once we begin to tolerate sin, then we start to approve sin, then we start to defend sin. And that being the case, before long we end up facing the judgment of God. May the Lord help each one of us to hate sin the way God hates sin and to love holiness to the glory of God.