Do You Hate Evil?

A. INTRODUCTION

1. If you can fall in love with someone, can you fall into hate? How is love and hate similar in character, but different in what they do to you and for you?

2. Hate can be good or evil. Good: “You who love the Lord, hate evil” (Ps. 97:10). “I hate the gatherings of those who do evil” (Ps. 26:5). “A time to love, a time to hate” (Ec. 3:8). “Hate the deeds of the Nicolatanes” (Rev. 2:6). Evil: “Esau hated Jacob” (Gen. 29:31). “They hated him (Joseph)” (Gen. 37:4). “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first” (John 15:18). “But what I hate, that I do” (Rom. 7:15).

B. THE WORLD OF HATE

1. Dictionary: “Hate, (1) an intense hostility toward, a rising from fear, anger, or injury, (2) a feeling of extreme retribution, (potential or actual), (3) innate rejection based on a threat to one’s self-perception or self need, (4) a relative preference of one thing over another, (5) a total rejection. Webster/Collier/Google.

2. A mind-altering power. You can fall in love, so you can fall into hate. When something (power) has taken over the brain and emotions. “Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death” (Rom. 8:6, NLT).

a. Cain hated his brother Abel. “This made Cain very angry” (Gen. 4:5). “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master” (Gen. 4:7, NLT).

b. Brother hates his brother. “Esau hated Jacob . . . then I will kill my brother” (Gen. 27:41, NLT).

c. Pharaoh hated Moses and Israel. He descended from rationality to blindness. “Don’t you realize Egypt lies in ruins?” (Ex. 10:7, NLT).

d. Amnon’s lust turned to hate. “Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he loved her” (2 Sam. 13:15, NLT).

e. Absalom hated his brother’s evil. “He hated Amnon deeply because . . .” (2 Sam. 13:21, NLT).

3. Hatred: a reaction based on feelings. Haman hated Mordecai.

4. Hatred: a reaction based on knowledge. The world hates Me because I accuse it of evil” (John 7:7, ELT).

5. Hatred because of will (instinct). “Anyone who hates . . . having been blinded by the darkness” (1 John 2:11, NLT).

6. Hatred: a reaction to moral resentment (good morals or bad morals). “You are no longer a part of the world . . . so it hates you” (John 15:19, NLT).

7. God is hated by God-rejecters. “You must not make an idol . . . nor bow down or worship them, for I the Lord God am a jealous God, rejecting those . . . who hate Me” (Ex. 20:4-5, ELT).

8. Hating what we do. “I am all too human, a slave to sin . . . I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it, instead I do what I hate . . . I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway . . . it is sin living within” (Rom. 7:14-20, NLT).

9. Hate controls your mind. “Letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death” (Rom. 8:6, NLT). “Those who sow hatred will ultimately reap death” (Gal. 6:8, Amplified). “Evil desires and hatred . . . give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14, Amplified). Absalom, Haman.

C. PRINCIPLES

1. Recognize your capacity to hate. “No man ever hated his own flesh” (Eph. 5:24).

2. You are made in God’s image, you got the ability to hate from God. “The Lord . . . hates those who love violence” (Ps. 11:5). “Those six things the Lord hates . . .” (Pro. 6:16). “A righteous man hates lying” (Prov. 13:5).

3. Focus your hate on that which is wrong or evil.

4. Metaphor. Love God so much that you hate anything that pulls you away from Him. “He that loveth his life shall lose it, he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life” (John 12:25).

5. Yield your hatred to God. Do not be “controlled by your sinful nature” (Rom. 8:9, NLT). “You have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do” (Rom. 8:12, NLT). “Let the Spirit control your mind” (Rom. 8:6, NLT).

6. Act positively to impulses of hate. “Do good to them that hate you” (Matt. 5:44).

7. Pray. “Pray for the happiness of them who curse you” (Luke 6:28, LB).

8. Claim God’s transformation. “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Rom. 12:2).