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.
A few weeks ago a very prominent 31 year old man was assassinated. This past weekend a Mormon meeting place was attacked and several people were killed and others were injured. The building was also burned down. In North Carolina a gunman shot into a restaurant from a boat and killed three people and injured others.
The media reports on these things and to them it is either the left or the right that are to blame. Since most of the media is very liberally minded they want to blame the violence on “right wing” people. However, they go further than just labelling the shooters as left or right, but they are either far left of far right. People love to classify others with terms that really do not mean much.
Then there are those who want to attack anyone who would tell the truth. Truth is not allowed in today’s world. There are already concerns being expressed regarding the shooter at the Mormon religious place. He had something against the Mormons. What is missing in all of this?
If we look at our verse we see that the starting point for rational, sound thought and actions is “the fear of the LORD”. Without that in its proper place, nothing will function properly. Those who are born again and walking in the fear of the LORD will see this. The majority of society is lost and so they cannot see it.
If we look at the assassination of a couple of weeks ago, there are conflicting accounts of what actually took place there. We know that Mr. Kirk is dead. We know he was shot. There are unanswered questions surrounding that tragedy. We may never get the true facts to that tragedy. As I mentioned after that tragedy struck, we need to pray for Mrs. Kirk. She is a young widow with two young children to raise. There have been many nasty things said about her. Every person will have their own way of grieving. Who are we to judge whether another person is showing enough sorrow for a lost loved one. There are things we need to judge but that is certainly not one of them.
The key for those who are saved is to submit to the Lord and walk in the fear of the Lord. Christians can be carnal. Carnal Christians do not walk in the fear of the Lord as they should. The good news is that those who are truly saved will be chastened of the Lord. There are thousands of people who claim to be Christians, but they are not chastened of the Lord. Hebrews 12 tells us that the chastening of the Lord will produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Those who are saved will be drawn closer to the Lord. The Bible tells us that true Christians are “the light of the world”. True Christians need to reflect the Light of Jesus Christ to the world around them. That Light is pure and holy. You cannot do that when you are indulging in the sins of the world.
We can be guaranteed that true, born again Christians will not pick up a gun and go kill their opposition. Those who are truly born again will not attack others who are seeking to glorify God.
When we look at our text, we see a four letter word that is used in a very flippant manner today. The world looks at anyone who is telling the truth as a spreader of hate. God-approved hatred is an aversion against evil. That hatred does not lead to violence in the person who walks in the fear of the Lord. Worldly hatred can lead to violence.
It is commanded of true born again Christians to warn others of false teaching and false teachers.
Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
II Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Those who hate the truth expose themselves quite quickly in our time. We are living in a time that is similar to that of when Jesus was on this earth. The Pharisees and their ilk demonstrated their hatred for Jesus. They eventually succeeded in having Pilate rubber stamp their plan of murdering Jesus. What they did not understand is that Jesus Christ came to lay down His life for the world. They hated Him, but they did not do anything that was a surprise to God the Father, or to Jesus Christ.
As we see in our opening verse, there are things that true Christians will hate. Pride and arrogancy are very similar. Pride will often express itself in defying the truth and insisting that humanistic reasoning must be the way forward in religion. Pride hates to be challenged. Pride cannot defend itself and thus must use name-calling or some other means of bullying their opponents into silence. The ecumenical movement is all about pride and arrogancy.
The evil way is also part of the ecumenical movement. Catholicism and Islam and many other religions are part of the evil way. They promote a religion that is anti-God and it is works based.
The froward mouth is the person who uses their mouth in a perverse manner to try to intimidate their opponent into silence. If they cannot silence them they will try to demean them. The Scribes and Pharisees used this at Jesus’ trial. They could not find anything to accuse Him of and they used slander to try to convict Him. Eventually they had to take His own Words which were truth and they used those words to try to make their case. Pilate knew they had no case, but he was a politician. Politicians hold truth very loosely. Their place of power is of much greater importance than truth.
These things need to be exposed. God loves man and He wants man to know the truth. There are many liars in this world. Lying with regard to His Word is extremely bad. Many people are lazy and they are willing to accept a lie if it agrees with their ideas. The apostle Paul wrote:
II Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
True Christians judge everything according to God’s preserved Word. They examine everything they believe and the things others believe. The reason for this judgment is again, to be sure that we are living in the truth. Jesus declared that “the truth shall make you free”. Thousands of people are living in bondage. Freedom is found only in knowing the true God and submitting to His will.
Lost people are quite proud. They cannot stand to be exposed for who they truly are. They cannot defend themselves honestly with the Bible, so they attack anyone who stands on the truth.
You notice in our opening verse, that we are not told to hate people. We are often told to love people. We are to hate sin. Hatred for sin must begin in the individual first. The Pharisees were hypocrites. They loved to judge others, but they could not see the wickedness in their own hearts and lives. It is important for true Christians to look at verses like Psalm 139:23
Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
We need to ask God to show us what is really going on in our hearts. If we will listen to Him, we will be safe. If we set our own standard of righteousness we will have trouble now and into eternity.
Pastor Bartel