God’s HATRED – when beheld and agreed with – SAVES Mankind!
My reader, the Biblical Doctrine of God's hatred is inextricably connected to God's love. These two attributes of God are in concert one with another so that, shockingly, one attribute cannot be rightly understood without the other. Any attempt made to understand these attributes isolated from each other, results in heresy.
In other words, there is such a thing as Salvific Hatred: A hatred that saves mankind!
For example, consider the following passages of scripture.
A Salvific Hatred: “If any man come to Me, and HATE not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” – Luke 14:26, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." - John 12:25
Upon understanding the Biblical Doctrine of God's hatred we are enabled to understand the principles of God's love. My reader, let me explain. We all know that God loves mankind, right? But, if we do not know what is unlovable about mankind, we will misinterpret the principles of God's love. For most, it is not hard for them to believe God loves them because THEY LOVE THEMSELVES! But, when we are enabled to see what is unlovable and hateful about ourselves, we will see what is principally different about God's love for mankind in comparison to man's twisted love for himself.
The Principles of God’s Love: God loves us in spite of who and what we are, not because of who and what we are; therefore the LORD does, without apology, hate us for who and what we are until, shockingly, He has killed us and hidden us in the Person named Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, in whom is justification, righteousness, and life.
In truth, God's love is appreciated and received by those who behold and agree with God's hate! Thus, let us take a careful and studious look at the bounds of God's hatred, according to the scriptures.
The Bounds of God’s Hatred: The essence and totality of human faculties that mankind does exist within as an ordinary (once-born) human being are entirely hated by God. This means that God hates the bodies and faculties of normal human beings, and even every body part! My reader, consider the fact that mankind is "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God in His very own "image" (Ps. 139:14, Gen. 1:26); this does not make the LORD less angry with us. This does not make us less guilty. On the contrary, because we are of more "value" to God than many sparrows (Matt. 10:31), and because we have been given the capacity of a relationship with Him... we stand all the more guilty before God because we have used our God-given bodies for the pleasures of sin! The value and worth of humanity have been reduced to bankruptcy and worthlessness, my reader! The image of God has been misrepresented and despised, days without number! For good reason, therefore, the apostle Peter spoke of sinful man... but do we agree? Are we in agreement with his assessment? "But these, as Natural Brute Beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption" (2 Pet. 2:12)! Peter's indictment of sinful man is the inevitable fate of every once-born human being on earth, according to the scriptures, and this is why, Jesus said, "Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3). There is no hope in the first birth of mankind. Because of the deplorable, unacceptable, and hateful condition of every human being from birth-to-death, he or she must be born again! A second birth means just what it says - a New Life! - a radical change accomplished within mankind so that, without exaggeration, it is another birth! "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creature: Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become New" (2 Cor. 5:17)!
All this being said, my reader, might I ask a relevant question...
Why does someone need to HATE his own life so as to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Does this seem harsh to you? Does this kind of word-usage seem uncalled for in your estimation? My reader, for the same reason that one must lose his life to save it, one must hate his own life. We must learn to hate and lose what God deems as despicable and unprofitable. This is why Jesus Christ unashamedly demanded, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny HIMSELF, and take up his CROSS, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:34-35). The truth is, if we are enabled to see God's hatred of our lives, the normal human life, we will be enabled to hate our own lives, to hate what He hates.
In other words, there is such a thing as Salvific Hatred: A hatred that saves mankind!
For example, consider the following passages of scripture.
A Salvific Hatred: “If any man come to Me, and HATE not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” – Luke 14:26, "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." - John 12:25
Upon understanding the Biblical Doctrine of God's hatred we are enabled to understand the principles of God's love. My reader, let me explain. We all know that God loves mankind, right? But, if we do not know what is unlovable about mankind, we will misinterpret the principles of God's love. For most, it is not hard for them to believe God loves them because THEY LOVE THEMSELVES! But, when we are enabled to see what is unlovable and hateful about ourselves, we will see what is principally different about God's love for mankind in comparison to man's twisted love for himself.
The Principles of God’s Love: God loves us in spite of who and what we are, not because of who and what we are; therefore the LORD does, without apology, hate us for who and what we are until, shockingly, He has killed us and hidden us in the Person named Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, in whom is justification, righteousness, and life.
In truth, God's love is appreciated and received by those who behold and agree with God's hate! Thus, let us take a careful and studious look at the bounds of God's hatred, according to the scriptures.
The Bounds of God’s Hatred: The essence and totality of human faculties that mankind does exist within as an ordinary (once-born) human being are entirely hated by God. This means that God hates the bodies and faculties of normal human beings, and even every body part! My reader, consider the fact that mankind is "fearfully and wonderfully made" by God in His very own "image" (Ps. 139:14, Gen. 1:26); this does not make the LORD less angry with us. This does not make us less guilty. On the contrary, because we are of more "value" to God than many sparrows (Matt. 10:31), and because we have been given the capacity of a relationship with Him... we stand all the more guilty before God because we have used our God-given bodies for the pleasures of sin! The value and worth of humanity have been reduced to bankruptcy and worthlessness, my reader! The image of God has been misrepresented and despised, days without number! For good reason, therefore, the apostle Peter spoke of sinful man... but do we agree? Are we in agreement with his assessment? "But these, as Natural Brute Beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption" (2 Pet. 2:12)! Peter's indictment of sinful man is the inevitable fate of every once-born human being on earth, according to the scriptures, and this is why, Jesus said, "Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3). There is no hope in the first birth of mankind. Because of the deplorable, unacceptable, and hateful condition of every human being from birth-to-death, he or she must be born again! A second birth means just what it says - a New Life! - a radical change accomplished within mankind so that, without exaggeration, it is another birth! "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a New Creature: Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become New" (2 Cor. 5:17)!
All this being said, my reader, might I ask a relevant question...
Why does someone need to HATE his own life so as to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Does this seem harsh to you? Does this kind of word-usage seem uncalled for in your estimation? My reader, for the same reason that one must lose his life to save it, one must hate his own life. We must learn to hate and lose what God deems as despicable and unprofitable. This is why Jesus Christ unashamedly demanded, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny HIMSELF, and take up his CROSS, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it” (Mark 8:34-35). The truth is, if we are enabled to see God's hatred of our lives, the normal human life, we will be enabled to hate our own lives, to hate what He hates.
Have you met the terms of discipleship?
Have you met the terms of salvation laid-forth by the preaching of the Cross?
Have you met the terms of salvation laid-forth by the preaching of the Cross?
"For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." - 1 Cor. 1:18
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." - 1 Cor. 1:18
If you have NOT met the terms it is because you are not seeing yourself: who and what you are! If you saw yourself as God sees you, then it is certain... you would agree with God’s word and meet the terms of salvation via the Cross.
God Almighty speaks very specifically and feelingly about His vantage point of judgment, the vantage point of judgment exercised from the loft of God’s glory in sinless perfection. From the loft of God’s sinless, innocent, and untainted HOLINESS, the Lord says the following of mankind whom He died to save!
God Almighty speaks very specifically and feelingly about His vantage point of judgment, the vantage point of judgment exercised from the loft of God’s glory in sinless perfection. From the loft of God’s sinless, innocent, and untainted HOLINESS, the Lord says the following of mankind whom He died to save!
God HATES People Who… Prov. 16:5 (are proud in heart), Prov. 11:20 (are froward in heart), Ps. 11:5 (are wicked men and lovers of violence), Prov. 6:19 (are false witnesses), Prov. 6:19 (sow discord or cause divisions among the righteous), Ps. 5:4-5 (work iniquity).
What are Normal & Once-born Humans? They Are… Ps. 51:5 (born in sin, with original sin), Rom. 3:10-11 (in a spiritual condition wherein it is impossible for them to seek after God), Eph. 2:1 (all spiritually dead men, dead to God and alive to sin).
God HATES the Heart of Mankind Which is… Prov. 6:18 (a heart that devises wicked imaginations).
The Danger of God’s Hatred: When the heart of normal humanity is, as God once described, one in which “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only even continually” (Gen. 6:5), this is a dangerous place to be! If humanity is left to themselves, having this caricature, God will be sorry that they were even created! He will not forbear to annihilate every human being on earth who has such a heart-condition. This heart-condition is nothing more than, the natural human mind. This is what the scripture calls, the carnal mind: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is NOT subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:6-8). In such a state, as the aforementioned scripture declares, mankind cannot please God or be in subjection to God’s Law – not one second, not one minute, and not one hour of his entire lifetime! Doing everything or doing nothing, man exists as a spiritual enemy of God. Mankind does not merely displease God; they infuriate Him; and, fearfully, in the rousing flames of God’s wrath there exists a potential that such men will be given over to a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:28), a permanently blinded mind, an unrecoverable lost-ness in the deceptions of the human heart (2 Cor. 4:4, Jer. 17:9)!
God HATES the Tongue, Lips, Throat, and Mouth of Mankind Which are… Prov. 6:17 (a lying tongue), Prov. 12:22 (lying lips).
In Romans 3:13, God describes the human throat, tongue, and lips metaphorically and pictorially, descriptive to how the LORD feels these human body parts are to Him, spiritually speaking. It was written, “Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips” (Rom. 3:13). The human throat is here described as the vent through which the rotting souls of mankind (which are dead to God) release their disturbing and polluting fumes before the nostrils of God’s holy observance. The human lips are here described as an opening through which poison is released, like a snake’s lips. If this imagery is not communicative enough, the apostle James did further emphasize the destructive influence of the tongue. He called the tongue, “a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of HELL” (James 3:6). Such mouths, inflamed with iniquity, do pour out evil things (Prov. 15:28) and drink down iniquity (Job 15:15-16); they, as a bitter fountain, are “full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom. 3:14). This is fearful.
God HATES the Feet of Mankind Which are… Prov. 6:18 (swift in running to mischief).
With eyes fastened on forbidden desires (2 Pet. 2:14) and feet which run swiftly into mischief (Prov. 6:18), “having eyes full of adultery which cannot cease from sin” (2 Pet. 2:14) and ears stubbornly turned away from the edicts of the Law (Prov. 28:9) …even the prayers of mankind are an unendurable abomination to God! They are hateful to God.
Men who are in the above situation – because of who they are and what they are! – live in dire need of one remedy: the Cross of Jesus Christ. God can save such men, yes, but only through the loss and utter death of self (Gal. 2:20) and nothing less! God CAN have mercy, IF the sin and the sinner dies (Gal. 5:24). There is hope, if freedom from self via an execution device - the Cross - is Good News! If the death that Christ died to sin is, in turn, the death that you desire to die to sin, my reader, and if the life that Christ lives to God is, irreversibly, the life that you desire to live to God (Rom. 6:1-12), then the Gospel terms are met and the Gospel powers are free for all! Nevertheless, let all men take heed! God is already set to hew down all men and cast them in the Lake of Fire like an orchard of corrupt trees is set-a-flame for fertilization and replanting. It is written, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hew down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). If you agree with this judgment of God, in truth, and desire a means of escape from the hateful and miserable sinner we all are, then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! He can be your personal Wrath-Absorber, Sin-Absolver, Grave-Redeemer, Hell-Deliverer, Life-Giver, and Heaven-Anchor! Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, and you can be saved! It’s free. “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13
He lives, you die... and that's it.
Perhaps now you can understand the unfathomable riches of God's love revealed through Jesus Christ, my reader. If God died for those who are hateful and deserving of wrath, this is unconditional, unmerited, and undeserving LOVE! "But God commendeth His LOVE toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Upon salvation, the wretched, hateful, and miserable SELF is legally annihilated and the inward man is regenerated into a New Man, in Christ Jesus. This New Creature, God not only loves... He delights in him (Mal. 2:17). This is wondrous grace indeed!
What are Normal & Once-born Humans? They Are… Ps. 51:5 (born in sin, with original sin), Rom. 3:10-11 (in a spiritual condition wherein it is impossible for them to seek after God), Eph. 2:1 (all spiritually dead men, dead to God and alive to sin).
God HATES the Heart of Mankind Which is… Prov. 6:18 (a heart that devises wicked imaginations).
The Danger of God’s Hatred: When the heart of normal humanity is, as God once described, one in which “every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only even continually” (Gen. 6:5), this is a dangerous place to be! If humanity is left to themselves, having this caricature, God will be sorry that they were even created! He will not forbear to annihilate every human being on earth who has such a heart-condition. This heart-condition is nothing more than, the natural human mind. This is what the scripture calls, the carnal mind: “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is NOT subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:6-8). In such a state, as the aforementioned scripture declares, mankind cannot please God or be in subjection to God’s Law – not one second, not one minute, and not one hour of his entire lifetime! Doing everything or doing nothing, man exists as a spiritual enemy of God. Mankind does not merely displease God; they infuriate Him; and, fearfully, in the rousing flames of God’s wrath there exists a potential that such men will be given over to a reprobate mind (Rom. 1:28), a permanently blinded mind, an unrecoverable lost-ness in the deceptions of the human heart (2 Cor. 4:4, Jer. 17:9)!
God HATES the Tongue, Lips, Throat, and Mouth of Mankind Which are… Prov. 6:17 (a lying tongue), Prov. 12:22 (lying lips).
In Romans 3:13, God describes the human throat, tongue, and lips metaphorically and pictorially, descriptive to how the LORD feels these human body parts are to Him, spiritually speaking. It was written, “Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips” (Rom. 3:13). The human throat is here described as the vent through which the rotting souls of mankind (which are dead to God) release their disturbing and polluting fumes before the nostrils of God’s holy observance. The human lips are here described as an opening through which poison is released, like a snake’s lips. If this imagery is not communicative enough, the apostle James did further emphasize the destructive influence of the tongue. He called the tongue, “a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of HELL” (James 3:6). Such mouths, inflamed with iniquity, do pour out evil things (Prov. 15:28) and drink down iniquity (Job 15:15-16); they, as a bitter fountain, are “full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom. 3:14). This is fearful.
God HATES the Feet of Mankind Which are… Prov. 6:18 (swift in running to mischief).
With eyes fastened on forbidden desires (2 Pet. 2:14) and feet which run swiftly into mischief (Prov. 6:18), “having eyes full of adultery which cannot cease from sin” (2 Pet. 2:14) and ears stubbornly turned away from the edicts of the Law (Prov. 28:9) …even the prayers of mankind are an unendurable abomination to God! They are hateful to God.
Men who are in the above situation – because of who they are and what they are! – live in dire need of one remedy: the Cross of Jesus Christ. God can save such men, yes, but only through the loss and utter death of self (Gal. 2:20) and nothing less! God CAN have mercy, IF the sin and the sinner dies (Gal. 5:24). There is hope, if freedom from self via an execution device - the Cross - is Good News! If the death that Christ died to sin is, in turn, the death that you desire to die to sin, my reader, and if the life that Christ lives to God is, irreversibly, the life that you desire to live to God (Rom. 6:1-12), then the Gospel terms are met and the Gospel powers are free for all! Nevertheless, let all men take heed! God is already set to hew down all men and cast them in the Lake of Fire like an orchard of corrupt trees is set-a-flame for fertilization and replanting. It is written, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hew down, and cast into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). If you agree with this judgment of God, in truth, and desire a means of escape from the hateful and miserable sinner we all are, then believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved! He can be your personal Wrath-Absorber, Sin-Absolver, Grave-Redeemer, Hell-Deliverer, Life-Giver, and Heaven-Anchor! Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, and you can be saved! It’s free. “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the LORD shall be saved.” – Romans 10:13
He lives, you die... and that's it.
Perhaps now you can understand the unfathomable riches of God's love revealed through Jesus Christ, my reader. If God died for those who are hateful and deserving of wrath, this is unconditional, unmerited, and undeserving LOVE! "But God commendeth His LOVE toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Upon salvation, the wretched, hateful, and miserable SELF is legally annihilated and the inward man is regenerated into a New Man, in Christ Jesus. This New Creature, God not only loves... He delights in him (Mal. 2:17). This is wondrous grace indeed!
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new." - 2 Cor. 5:17
behold, all things are become new." - 2 Cor. 5:17
A Normal Man - Saved by Grace! - A Relevant Sermon
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