INTRO.- ILL.- Knock, knock. Who’s there? Olive. Olive who? Olive love you too!
Are you quick to say, “I love you” to anyone? It seems so natural to do this and especially, you’ve been raised in that realm of love. Is your love real? Is it genuine? Is it deep-rooted? Or is it just something to say in order to get people to respond to you or care about you?
Someone said, “ Love your neighbor for God's sake, and love God for your own sake.” Good thought. It’s smart to love God, however, that love should be prompted by His love. Why do we love Him? Because of His great gift of salvation.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world...”
ILL.- Preacher, W. Carl Ketcherside, was approached one time by a man who said, “By the way you talk a person would think that love was the most important thing of all!” Carl replied, “I’m glad you finally got it!”
Matthew 22:36-40 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Do you love God? If so, how much? And do you ever say to God, “I love you”? When we love Him He responds generously. In fact, He responds generously to us in the first place, otherwise, we would not know what love is.
I John 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Let those who love the Lord hate evil. Why should we love God and hate evil at the same time? Because the two are completely opposed to each other! There is good in the world and there is evil. God is good and even beyond good. He is love. And He hates evil and if He hates evil He also wants us to hate evil.
Romans 12:9 “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
I heard it said a long time ago that if we have no hatred for evil then how can we love that which is good? So it seems reasonable that if we love God who is totally good then we will also hate that which is evil.
PROP.- If and it’s a big “if.” If we love the Lord as we should what will happen to us?
1- God will guard our lives
2- God will shed light on us
3- God will bring joy to our hearts
I. GOD WILL GUARD OUR LIVES
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
ILL.- A little boy was afraid of the dark. One night his mother told him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom. The little boy turned to his mother and said, "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark." The mother smiled reassuringly at her son. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark," she explained. "Jesus is out there. He'll look after you and protect you." The little boy looked at his mother real hard and asked, "Are you sure he's out there?" "Yes, I'm sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him," she said. The little boy thought about that for a minute and then went to the back door and cracked it a little.
Peering out into the darkness, he called, "Jesus? If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?”
Are you or were you ever afraid of the dark? Or something in the dark? Call on Jesus! It’s always smart to call on the Lord no matter what you fear or whatever you need in life. There are plenty of boogey men and women in our world who are out to hurt us or deceive and dupe us: school shooters, murderers, thieves, drug pushers, con artists, and even Hollywood, etc.
The world is not our friend. The world is our enemy.
I John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
ILL.- I saw where the English TV host, Piers Morgan, interviewed Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life. Morgan said that he believed the Bible was flawed and that we need an amendment to the Bible or need to compile a new Bible.”
That’s an example of the corrupt thinking of the world! Just because the Bible doesn’t go along with the thinking of the modern world in regard to marriage, gay marriage, etc. then some think it should be changed. BUT IN FACT, IT’S PEOPLE WHO NEED TO CHANGED, NOT GOD’S WORD. God’s Word is eternal truth and never changes. And God doesn’t change His thinking to match the modern thinking of the world.
Someone said a long time ago, “we have to live in this world but we don’t have to be a part of this world.” We are “in” this world, but not “of” this world. We get our thinking, goals, and desires from God and His Word, not the world.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
We must hate the evil in this world and allow the Lord to guard us from evil and wicked people. There are some places in this world that we need to avoid like the plague because they are a plague to our souls! And if it’s not some place, it may well be some people whom we need to avoid because we know they are trouble for us.
I Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
ILL.- We’ve heard people suggest that if Jesus were alive today that He probably go into bars and nightclubs in order to testify and point people to salvation. And He probably would but some of us couldn’t do that. WHY? Because our faith isn’t strong enough.
If you know you couldn’d take a stand for God, Christ and the Bible in a certain areas of life then don’t go there. If their faith in sin is stronger than your faith in Christ then stay out of the devil’s territory. Chances are they will pull you down to their level instead of you lifting up them to your level of faith in Christ.
Some people can invade the devil’s territory and witness for Christ, but many can’t. God will guard our lives and deliver us from evil if we let Him. But we have to help Him by using good sense.
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
II. GOD WILL SHED LIGHT ON US
11 Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.
ILL.- Henry G Bosch, founder of OUR DAILY BREAD wrote: Many years ago my family visited a cave in the state of Kentucky. The guide led us through many beautiful and winding subterranean passageways. Suddenly he turned off all the lights and said, “I’m the only one who knows how to get back to the entrance. If I left you here, you’d probably never find your way out. Anyone lost in this cave would no doubt become insane within a week from the oppressive loneliness. Be quiet for a moment and feel the darkness!” I remember my youngster clutching my arm. After about 30 seconds, someone in the party could endure it no longer and cried out, “Turn on the lights! I’m going crazy now!”
There is nothing so depressing as living in a dark world with little or no light. And we are living in a dark world. Every time you watch the news on TV you see more darkness: shootings, murders, abuse, molestation, crime, violence, etc.
Romans 1:28-32 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
ILL.- Dec. 2012: WEBSTER, N.Y.: Police say the man who lured firefighters in Webster, N.Y., into a deadly ambush had the same make and caliber semiautomatic rifle as the one used in the Connecticut school massacre. Spengler killed two firefighters and wounded two others before fatally shooting himself. And that shooter left a note behind indicating his intentions, police said. "I still have to get ready to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best - killing people," the 3-page typewritten note said.
When a man does what Spengler did it’s obvious that the light of God’s truth never had any impact on his heart. When God turns the light on in the world with His truth and that truth grabs people’s hearts and minds they will turn from evil and begin to do good. And we are more fortunate that many others who have only had an appetizer of God’s word.
Psalm 119:9-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from sin, but only if you allow that Word to penetrate your heart and soul!
ILL.- John Wesley said, “I am a man of one Book.” Sir Walter Scott, just before his death, asked his son-in-law to read to him. “From what book shall I read?” “Why do you ask?” Scott replied, “There is but one.”
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
III. GOD WILL BRING JOY TO OUR HEARTS
11 Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.
Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
We find our joy in the Lord and our relationship to Him. It’s something that is lasting and doesn’t fade with the passing of time.
ILL.- ‘Happiness Is’ is a 2009 documentary film that the examines the different interpretations of the "pursuit of happiness" in America. The film features interviews with notable personalities such as the Dalai Lama, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp (rock singer) as well has some happiness authors.
I don’t know about many of these but I would say that Willie Nelson has been high all his life but it’s not from being high on God! To many people, happiness is a matter of happenings, meaning if the right things happen to a person in life then they will happy. If these things don’t happen then they won’t be happy.
That’s the way of the world. Most of us who have any age on us at all have come to realize that lasting joy is not happiness based on happenings in our lives: whether it’s a great new job, a new house, a new car, a new whatever, winning the lottery, etc. The things of this world fade with the passing of time and then we find ourselves empty.
And why Paul said in I Timothy 6:6-12 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Paul is saying that material things won’t cut it. Material things don’t satisfy in the long run. They are only temporary and they produce only temporary pleasure or happiness.
ILL.- Dr. James Dobson of the Focus on the Family put it this way: “Though I can make no claim to wealth, I have tasted most of the things Americans hunger for; new cars, an attractive home, and gadgets and devices which promise to set us free. Looking at those materialistic possessions from the other side of the cash register, I can tell you that they don’t deliver the satisfaction they advertise! On the contrary, I have found great wisdom in the adage, ‘That which you own will eventually own you!’ How true that is. Having surrendered my hard earned dollars for a new object only obligates me to maintain and protect it; instead of its contributing to my pleasure, I must spend my precious Saturdays oiling it, mowing it, painting it, repairing it, cleaning it, or calling the Salvation Army to haul it off! The time I might have invested in worthwhile family activities is spent in slavery to a depreciating piece of junk.”
There is only one path to any lasting joy in this life. Jesus said in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” If we love Him the way we should He will give us more than we ever dreamed and part of that is eternal job.
CONCLUSION----------------
10 Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
I’m no poker player, but it appears to me that the Lord has dealt us a winning hand, maybe a Royal Flush. When we love Him with all our heart, mind and soul, and hate evil He will guard our lives and deliver us from evil. In this life and the next!
