A Condemnable Love! Series

1 John 2 (KJV)

15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The God we worship is a God of LOVE.

1 John 4:16b God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. - NIV

A God of PERFECT LOVE!

1 John 4:18a There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,-NIV

1 John 4:19a We love Him because He first loved us.-NKJV

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.-NIV

The God we worship is a God who commands us to Love!

John 15:13 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” -NASB

A God who commands us to even Love our enemies!

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,-NKJV

So our God is a God of perfect love, but because our God is perfect, He is also a God who hates perfectly

Yes God loves and God also hates

There is a ministry called Eternal Evangelism, that wrote a piece in which they said…

Eternal Evangelism -One of the greatest truths missing in the “Main St Church” is they NEVER preach what and whom God hates. For God perfectly loves and perfectly hates. God is, unlike us, perfect in ALL His attributes.

And they made a list of 47 things that God hates!

Well having said that, we know as Christians that we are called to love:

1 John 4: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.-NIV

But we are also called to hate!

Romans 12: 9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.-NIV

And the hatred is to be like God’s a perfect hatred!

Psalm 139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.-KJV

And so this morning based on that, I would like to bring to your attention…

The Love that God Hates!

By bringing you a message I entitled…

A Condemnable Love!

Condemnable = Something that brings or deserves a severe rebuke or censure!

And my proposition to you this morning is this:

A study of 1 John 2:15-17 will give us a comprehensive view of this condemnable love, or the love that God hates, and if he happen to have it, how we can be cured of it!

And I think the best way to approach this is to look at the passage in the following manner. Let’s begin by looking at first of all…

I. The Commandment regarding this condemnable love!

1 John 2:15a Love not…

That is a…

A) Command!

1. The Greek text has this meaning, “Stop loving”….

1 John 2:15a Do not love- ESV

II. The Concisely what are we are not to love?

1 John 2:15b the world,

A) World

1 John 2:15c neither the things that are in the world.

B) The things of the world

1. Things-objects, entities, matters, affairs.

a) Webster – A things is some, entity, object, or creature that is not or cannot be specifically designated or precisely described.

And because that is the word that John uses there is some….

III. Confusion regarding this command?

A) Confusion?

1. The world?

a) Planet?

b) Physical world?

c) Nature?

d) Flowers?

e) Trees?

f) Mountains?

g) Streams?

h) Birds?

i) Bees?

j) Ocean?

k) Breeze?

B) Creation?

1. NO!

a) Creation is good, because it is of God!

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.-KJV

Genesis 1:31a And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.- KJV

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.-NIV

Job 38: 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.

5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”-NIV