Wise Words: God Hates

May 25, 2014

Wise Words

God Hates

Proverbs 6:16-19

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

(Advance Slide #2)

The Bible is God’s love story to us.

• In it we learn of His love for us.
• We learn that He cares for us.
• We learn that we need to know this affection.

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

(Advance Slide #3)

Jesus, in His ministry, told a parable (Luke 15) about this love.

• A young man demanded his inheritance.
• His dad doesn’t think its the best idea but he relents.
• For the son, all is fun as long the money was there but when it ran out things were different.
• All the friends disappeared, and he found himself wanting to eat with the pigs.
• He decides to go home and ask to be a servant in his fathers house.
• Apparently, the Pharisees had a different version of the story that we find:
• In their version the father would not have taken the son back, he would have had to earn back his status as a son.
• In the Bible, the father welcomes him home and throws him a party.
• The father’s grace and mercy restores the son...
• That’s our God:
• The God of scripture
• The God Jesus came to proclaim
• The God of love and compassion

(Advance Slide #4)

Yet, there are other scriptures that tell us about a God who…”hates!”

(Advance Slide #5)

Text

16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19

Scripture tells us that there are a lot of different things that God hates:

• Divorce, the killing of children, pride, arrogance, evil behavior, perverse speech
• We could go on and on about things that He hates.

(Advance Slide #6)

How is this reconciled?

• Some have suggested that there are two different and distinct God’s in the Bible.
• There is an OT God and a NT God.
• There is a word in the Bible to describe this…heresy (false teaching)!

Lesson

God HATES evil and scripture says those that practice it.

(Advance Slide #7)

• But isn’t the proverbs, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner.
• That’s not entirely true.

(Advance Slide #8)

Proverbs 3:32 “...for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence.”

Psalms 5:5 “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.”

Psalms 11:5 “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.”

Jesus wasn’t exactly keen on some people

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” Mt. 23:27

(Advance Slide #9)

Why does God hate evil and those that practice it?

• People do hateful things:

Eyes are haughty - prideful and arrogant people

Have lying tongues - they deceived people

Hand shed innocent blood - like the senseless violence we see today

Hearts devise wicked schemes - like the people in the days of Noah

Feet rush to evil - can’t wait to do evil and bad things

False witnesses - well, we already knew they had lying tongues

Stir up dissension - we call that “drama”

• God HATES these things and all those that do these sorts of things.

(Advance Slide #10)

There are two reasons why God hates this:

1. These people hated Him first.

• In Ex. 20 God is explaining His punish...was to those who “...Hate me”
• If we are going to hate God by living lawless lives we need to expect HIm to push back.

2. What is done to others.

• Look at the list from Proverbs 6 again…
• These are actions against other...who were made in the image of God!

Action Step

Does this apply to us?

• CONSIDER the following verses:

(Advance Slide #11)

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal. 5:19-21

• Bible Bowl question…”Who was Paul writing to?”
• CHRISTIANS! (that means us)
• What Paul is doing here is giving Christians a warning.
• “I hate sin!” and “There is a danger for those that practice it!”

(Advance Slide #12)

• “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” - vs. 21

God does not want this!

• God HATES the sin, and all evidence it indicates that He also hates those that practice the sin.
• But this doesn’t mean that He needs to like this situation!

(Advance Slide #13)

• God loves us and does not want us to be under His wrath!

Conclusion

How can God undo all the damage that is a result of all my bad decisions?

• The real question is not “How can He” it is “How did He?”

(Advance Slide #14)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Eph. 2:1-5

• You were dead
• Your nature was an “object of wrath”
• We have nothing to offer!

Through His great love...He made us alive!

Wise Words: God's Righteousness

May 18, 2014

Wise Words

Righteousness

Proverbs 11:3-11

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

Two weeks ago we began this series of lessons from the book of Proverbs.

• In fact, it is considered in the genre of writings “wisdom literature.”
• My intentions for this series of lessons is to extract, and thats not all that heard, the important pieces of wisdom so that we can implement and use them.

1. Fearing God
2. How we should treat our mothers

What is a legend?

• It is an extremely famous person known for something particular.

(Advance Slide #2)

EX - Michael Jordan

• MJ began his basketball career at UNC leading them to a national championship in 1982.
• In 1984 he joined the Chicago Bulls:
• 6 NBA championships
• 6 NBA finals championships
• 2 Olympic gold medals
• He is a legend!

(Advance Slide #3)

In Proverbs 11 God is calling men and women to be legends.

• To be known for integrity.
• To stand for righteousness in a land full of evil and corruption.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

(Advance Slide #4)

• So what does God expect from us?
• Righteousness, mercy, and a humble spirit.

(Advance Slide #5)

Text

3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. 4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. 5 The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness. 6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust. 7 When the wicked dies, his hope will perish, and the expectation of wealth perishes too. 8 The righteous is delivered from trouble, and the wicked walks into it instead. 9 With his mouth the godless man would destroy his neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered. 10 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. 11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown. Proverbs 11:3-11

What we find in this text is that it tells us what a righteous person looks like.

• It accomplishes this by drawing a contrast between the righteous and the wicked.

(Advance Slide #6)

vs. 3 - “integrity of the upright guides” - “crookedness of the treacherous destroys them”

vs. 5 - “righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight” - “wicked falls by his own wickedness”

vs. 6 - “righteousness of the upright delivers” - “treacherous are taken captive by their lust”

vs. 8 - “righteous is delivered from trouble” - “wicked walks into it”

(Advance Slide #7)

vs. 9 - “godless man would destroy his neighbor” - “by knowledge the righteous are delivered”

vs. 10 - “it goes well with the righteous” - “when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness”

vs. 11 - “blessing of the upright a city is exalted” - “the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown”

Did you catch the pattern?

• These are righteous...these are not.
• These have integrity...these do not.
• God protects and honors the upright...the wicked will be trapped and destroyed.
• God is making a comparison!

(Advance Slide #8)

*Make a choice, decide what type of person you want to be!

Lesson

(Advance Slide #9)

EX - In 2008 George Barna and his research group conducted a certain survey.

• They did a nationwide survey asking various people their views on “righteousness.”
• Didn’t actually ask that, but they did ask what their thoughts on 8 activities:

1. Watching porn
2. Using profanity in public
3. Gambling
4. Gossiping
5. Sexual relationships outside of marriage
6. Seeking revenge
7. Getting drunk
8. Lying

• Evangelicals were the group most likely to embrace morality, atheists and agnostics were more likely to accept it.
• Religiously liberal - 5 times more likely engage in sex outside of marriage; 3 times more likely to view porn on reg. basis; twice as likely to get drunk in a social situation/lie/and gossip

Those who respected God = more likely to embrace righteousness!

• Many reject righteousness because it interferes with what they want to do.

A lot of people do not want God’s righteousness.

• What they really want is something to make them feel better about their own ‘righteousness.’
• What is God’s reaction to this?
• God says, “Not going to happen!” Whatever your excuse may be, “wrong is wrong!”

(Advance Slide #10)

Ex. 23:2 “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice,”

Prov. 15:3 “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

Eph. 4:18 “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”

(Advance Slide #11)

The book of Proverbs tells us what happens when we choose wickedness

3:33 - your house is cursed

11:5 - falls by his own wickedness

11:6 - taken captive by their lusts

11:10 - there are shouts of gladness when they perish

(Advance Slide #12)

It also tells us what will happen if we choose righteousness….and there is a difference!

15:29 - prayers are heard

29:6 - sings and rejoices

10:3 - doesn’t let the righteous go hungry

(Advance Slide #13)

God is calling people to righteousness!

• But there is a problem with this?

(Advance Slide #14)

“None is righteous, no, not one;” Rom. 3:10

• Okay, do I understand you correctly?
• God wants me to be righteous.
• I want to be righteous.
• But I can’t be righteous! WHY, would God demand it of me?
• Because God set the bar high.
• He’s not saying you’re always going to reach it...it is your objective!

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph. 2:4-10

Action Step

Be clothed and walk in His righteousness!

Conclusion

(Advance Slide #15)

If we are not righteous enough to be saved then how can we?

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Cor. 5:21

• How do we become the righteousness of God?

(Advance Slide #16)

• We “put on” His righteousness
• “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Gal 3:27