Things To Hate Jn. 12:25 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In the Bible, there are some things to hate. To hate something means to have a strong dislike for it. Today we are going to discuss these things. They are clearly and conspicuously written in the scripture where you and I can see them unmistakably. The hard part is not identifying the things to hate. The hard part is actually hating the things to hate.
We are supposed to hate:
Our lives – Jn 12:25 – Jesus said, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” When the rich ruler inquired how to inherit eternal life, the Lord told him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor. The young fellow loved his possessions and so he turned down eternal life to keep them. In the end, he didn’t get to keep his wealth and he lost eternal life, too. If he had hated his life in this world, he would have had life everlasting. Many men, with whom we have dealt personally, have turned down eternal life because they love their lives in this world. Not I. I am enjoying the abundance of eternal life and I can hardly wait to see what life on earth is going to be like when Jesus is running things down here. There is not one root of my being holding me down to this world. How could we ever be a martyr for Jesus Christ, like so many Christians before us, if we didn’t hate our lives in this world?
Our families – Lk 14:26 – Jesus said, “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.” These seem like very harsh and unreasonable words. However, when you keep reading the context of the passage, you see that Jesus is dealing with the cost of discipleship. And in that context, this hatred becomes much more understandable. Take the case of a young man in Poland. He is saved now and his wife wants to leave him because she doesn’t want to get saved. She is afraid of being ostracized by her family. If he loves her more than he loves the Lord then he will never grow and he will never be able to follow the Lord’s will for his life. He may have to do what Paul said in 1 Cor 7:15. There is a young lady in Australia whose family said they would have nothing to do with her if she started attending a Bible believing church after she got saved. She moved away and joined a good church because she wants to follow Jesus. She had to ‘hate’ her family to do that. That’s real courage. That’s real discipleship.
Our sin – Rom 7:15 – Paul said, “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” Sin is in our flesh and as long as we are in this flesh we are going to sin. However, that is no excuse to allow sin to reign in your mortal body [Rom 6:12]. The reason many Christians can’t quit certain sins that they commit is that they love their sin. Paul said he hated his sin. And until you hate it you are never going to put up a fight against it.
Evil – Prov 8:13 – Solomon wrote, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Solomon didn’t say that we are to tolerate evil; he said that we are to hate it. When you fear the Lord, you hate the same things that God hates. And you know that he hates pride, you know that he hates evil and you know that he hates a froward mouth. Then why is it that so many Christians pay money to be entertained by people who are proud, arrogant, evil and filthy-mouthed? We are supposed to hate these things!! Undoubtedly, the reason so many Christians don’t enjoy reading the Bible or don’t understand it if they do read it is that they are not willing to depart from evil [Job 28:28]. They love evil and, thus, they ‘hate’ the word. Of course, they wouldn’t call it that.
Lying – Prov 13:5 – Solomon wrote, “A righteous man hateth lying.” When you are saved, you are righteous in God’s eyes because you have been given the righteousness of God. Therefore, you are a righteous man. Do you know what righteous men hate? They hate lying. Well, herein is a real problem. There are many who profess to be Christians and they still love lying. They lie to their employers, they lie to their spouses, they lie to God, they lie to themselves, they lie to the judge, they lie on their income tax returns, they lie to their friends, etc. And the sad thing is that they are so used to lying they don’t even realize that they do it half the time. Why don’t you just make up your mind that you are going to tell the truth all the time? You’ll get to the point where you hate lying!!
Covetousness – Prov 28:16 – Solomon wrote, “The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.” Covetousness is idolatry [Col 3:5]. Covetousness is the result of a lack of contentment. And we are supposed to be content with such things as we have. One of the best ways to balance your budget is to hate covetousness. “A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” We have friends who lived on the mission field for the first fifteen years of their marriage. They were in a poor country before the Lord moved them back to the United States. The wife was still going through the culture shock of being back in the USA when I asked her how she was doing. She tearfully replied, “I don’t know what I am supposed to do now. Am I supposed to just go out and buy a bunch of stuff that we don’t need?” Leave this country for a while and then come back. You will see what a covetous mess we’re in!!
Conclusion: Now if you can learn to hate these things to hate, then you are going to have a much easier time loving the things you are supposed to love.