Do You Really Hate Sin?
Do you hate sin? That’s a thought question, and you might not want to answer too quickly, at least not until you hear what I have to say, or more importantly, what God has to say about it. You’re probably thinking, “of course I hate sin”, and that would be the normal answer for a Christian to give, but do you really hate sin? Well, whether or not you’re committing sin will give you the answer to the question, and most Christians will readily admit that they sin every day, so there you go.
This morning I want to share something with you that is very practical. Not some speculation or abstract theory, but something we can actually use to help us become more like Jesus and thus be ready to meet Him in peace when He comes, and isn’t that what we want? But here’s the thing, just because we may have a knowledge of the truth is not enough. If we’re not able to put that truth we know into practice in our daily lives, it can actually be detrimental to us, because the devil can trick us into believing that truth is all we need; and don’t get me wrong, truth is important, but if we don’t love it, we won’t obey it from the heart, and without heart obedience we’ll never form a righteous character.
Remember what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11? He said those that don’t have a love of the truth will end up believing the devil’s big lie. They’ll think that even though they’re having pleasure in unrighteousness, which is sin according to 1 John 5:17, they’ll believe that they are saved while engaged in it. That’s the big lie!
In The Desire of Ages, page 668 it says, “All true obedience comes from [where?] the heart. [That means there must be a false type of obedience, doesn’t it?] It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent [that is, if we will give God permission, because He will never force us], He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know Him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, through communion with God, sin will become hateful to us.”
Oh, there’s a lot of good information in this short paragraph, isn’t there? Here we find practical information we can use to our benefit. If we want to have continual obedience from the heart, then sin must become hateful to us, and for sin to become hateful to us we must consent to have our hearts and minds conformed to the will of God, and when that happens our highest delight will be in service to our Master, and if that’s not the case in our lives, then we need to examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith, because there’s something wrong with our profession.
False obedience was the problem the Jews had. They thought outward compliance to God’s requirements was all that was necessary, and that they could have hatred in their hearts and still be right with God, and I’ve known many professed Christians over the years that have had this same mistaken idea, in fact I had it myself for a time, and I can tell you, it doesn’t work. We can never be like this and be ready to go to heaven. The Jews thought they were obeying God at the same time they were plotting to kill Him, think of it! And aren’t those that think they’re saved while committing sin doing the same thing? Yes! We’ve got to love the truth and obey it from the heart if we would be true disciples of Christ.
Signs of the Times February 15, 1899 says, “The law of God, if observed with heart obedience, would have produced altogether a different influence; but vainglory, selfishness, and oppression marked the character of the Jews. They were proudly displaying their ceremonies before the very face of Christ, who was the foundation and center of the whole Jewish economy, while they rejected the Antitype of all their types, the Substance of all their shadows. They were so blinded by Satan that they knew not the time of their visitation. And God declared, ‘O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.’”
And we will destroy ourselves also unless we get this right. Our time of visitation is while the grace of God is offered, and while the Holy Spirit is calling to repentance, and if we’re not aware of this, we will end up not knowing the time of our visitation just like the Jews.
The Bible makes it very clear that God’s desire for you and me is that we have victory over sin; and once we have victory over sin, that we have victory over the temptation to sin so we don’t continue to sin and repent the rest of our lives and be eternally lost, and I know there are many professed Christians today who would not agree with what I just said because they don’t believe it’s possible to stop sinning; they don’t believe we can have continual obedience, and they believe this because the devil has convinced them that it’s not possible, and that convincing usually comes through their religious leaders. They have relegated their own responsibility to fallible men like themselves, because they assume ministers have a closer connection with God than they do, and a better education in the Scriptures, which they should have, but friends, we’re living in a day when that is no longer the case, unfortunately.
When the Bible speaks of being victorious and overcoming, isn’t it implying there’s power available to stop sinning? Absolutely! God doesn’t ask us to do something without providing the means to accomplish it. A good example of this is when Jesus told Mary Magdalene to “go and sin no more.” [John 8:11] Jesus wouldn’t have given the command without also giving her the power. Another example of this is when Jesus healed the lame man by the pool of Bethesda. Later on when He saw this man in the temple He said to him, “Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” [John 5:14]
Problem is, most people today have been duped into believing that sin is an unavoidable human experience that can’t be escaped; that sin is just something we have to do because we’re born with a sinful fallen nature. The idea that a person can’t stop sinning and therefore God has to save them while they do it, is the first and biggest lie the devil ever told to a human being, and he’s been perpetrating that same lie ever since.
Ever since the devil convinced Eve she could disobey God and still have life, he has been working to convince her descendants (that’s you and me) that they have no choice but to sin; that because they have a fallen human nature, sin is just something everyone does, and will continue to do till Jesus comes. And it’s true that there will be many people who will sin until Jesus comes, and every one of them will be lost. We need to realize that Satan is the master of deception, and he has tricked people into thinking that as long as they’re trying, that’s all that really matters; as long as they ask for forgiveness after they sin, everything is just fine, and they continue to do this and think that this kind of vicious cycle is acceptable to God.
“Come on”, they say, “Everyone sins; and surely God doesn’t expect us to be perfect all the time. After all, isn’t that why Jesus died, to make up for my deficiencies? Anyway, we have an advocate with the Father; and if we sin, all we have to do is ask and He’ll forgive us, and I’m doing the best I can.”
And because there’s an element of truth to some of these things, people don’t see the necessity or the need to truly overcome. I even heard a minister go so far as to say one time that he couldn’t imagine not sinning in heaven! What does that tell you about his experience? When members of the church hear these kinds of comments from their leaders, and read them in official church publications, is it any wonder they’re not having victory? Is it any wonder they’ve come to the conclusion that overcoming is nothing more than a cliché?
I’ll tell you something; if we don’t believe we can stop sinning, the devil will make sure that we don’t! Does that make sense? If you don’t have the faith to believe what God says, then His word will not come to pass in your lives. And I’ll tell you something else, if people that think this way don’t awake out of their Laodicean slumber real soon they’re all going to wake up too late. And do you know what? there’s only one message that will wake them up; it’s the loud cry of the third angel. The loud cry is the last message, and the only message that will wake them up, but most are afraid to give it. Are you awake? If so, then you are the one that has the duty to proclaim that message. Problem is, most people don’t even know what it is, or if they do they don’t think it’s time yet, or they think it applies to everyone except the ones that belong to their church.
Now, it’s not my intention this morning to study the loud cry, but here’s what it is in a nutshell, and then you can study it out for yourself when you have the time. The loud cry is the third angel’s message of Revelation 14:9-12, and the fourth angel’s messages of Revelation 18:1-5 combined. You can read that in Early Writings, page 277, and here’s what it is, it’s a call to stop sinning by actually keeping the commandments and have the faith of Jesus like the third angel’s message says, and to separate from those who don’t, or who teach that you can’t, or who teach that one is in a saved condition even while they have ongoing sin in their life like the fourth angel says. I don’t know how to make it any simpler than that. That’s what it is at its core. Stop sinning and stay away from those that won’t, unless that is, you have the opportunity to share this truth with them so they can make an intelligent decision to follow this inspired counsel. Continual obedience is the goal, and it’s achievable to all who will allow Jesus to live within.
If we are crucified with Christ, as the apostle Paul said he was, then we won’t continue to sin, because dead people can’t! They can’t do anything! So if self is dead and Jesus lives within, then continual loving obedience will be the result, because that’s what Jesus does.
There’s no reason for any Christian to come to the conclusion that sin is unavoidable. We know good and well that the basis of the great controversy between Christ and Satan is all about whether or not the law of God can be kept by fallen human beings. You can read all about that in The Great Controversy, page 582. But not only do most professed Christians not understand this, there’s probably not one in ten who can even tell you what sin is! And if they don’t know what sin is, and that there’s power available to stop; how are they ever going to have victory? And why don’t they know what sin is and that there’s power to stop? Because they’re not studying as though they’re eternal life depended on it. And why aren’t they studying as though their eternal life depended upon it? Because they have been taught, and are convinced, that they are saved in sin! Salvation in sin is a very comforting doctrine to those that believe it, but it will cost them their eternal life because it’s a lie of the devil.
By the way, since the great controversy is all about whether or not human beings with a fallen sinful nature can keep the Ten Commandments, don’t you think it’s extremely important to understand that Jesus also had a fallen sinful human nature? Let me read you just two inspired statements so you will never be in doubt about this.
Review and Herald, December 15, 1896 “Clad in the vestments of humanity, the Son of God came down to the level of those He wished to save. In Him was no guile or sinfulness; He was ever pure and undefiled; yet He took upon Him our sinful nature.”
And one more of which there are many more like it; God’s Amazing Grace, page 23, “What love! What amazing condescension! The King of glory proposes to humble Himself to fallen humanity! He would place His feet in Adam’s steps. He would take man’s fallen nature, and engage to cope with the strong foe who triumphed over Adam.”
Now you can try to twist these statements to say something different if you like, or you can try to put a spin on the prophet’s plain words as many try to do, but if we take God at His word, we won’t do that. Instead we will believe what has been clearly stated, that Jesus came down to our level by taking our fallen flesh, and if you believe otherwise, you will come to the conclusion that Jesus could live a life of victory over sin, but you can’t.
And you know, the Bible teaches the same thing as the two quotes I just read to you. Let me give you three or four texts. The first one is Genesis 5:1, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him.” Now that’s pretty plain, isn’t it? Is God fallen or unfallen? He’s unfallen, and so was Adam until he sinned.
Now go to Romans 8:3 and compare what Paul said with what Moses said. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son (how?) in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” When you read the word “flesh” in the Bible, it always refers to fallen flesh with no exceptions except for the few times it speaks of animal flesh. When Paul says that Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in fallen flesh, that means that He lived life without sinning in sinful flesh, and that’s exactly what He expects us to do, and that’s possible for everyone that has partaken of His divine nature.
Moses said Adam was created in the likeness of God, (that would be unfallen), and Paul says Jesus came “in the likeness of sinful flesh”, or fallen flesh. Now you have to admit that Adam and Jesus were different. The words “in the likeness of God” and “in the likeness of sinful flesh” are not the same, not even close! The way Adam and Jesus came into the world was different, and I hope you see that because it will make a big difference in the way we live the Christian life, and whether or not we have victory over sin in our lives.
Look also at Hebrews 2:14-17, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”
Now tell me, did Abraham have fallen flesh? Absolutely! Did Abraham’s descendents have fallen flesh? Absolutely! When the Bible says Jesus was “made like unto His brethren”, it means that He was made like you! And He was made like you so He could reconcile you back to God when He took your place on the cross of Calvary.
In Selected Messages, Book 3, page 140 it says, “The Lord Jesus came to our world, not to reveal what a God could do, but what a man could do, through faith in God’s power to help in every emergency. Man is, through faith, to be a partaker in the divine nature, and to overcome every temptation wherewith he is beset. The Lord now demands that every son and daughter of Adam through faith in Jesus Christ, serve Him in human nature which we now have.”
Wouldn’t you agree that this is a wonderful and necessary truth to understand? I could keep you here for an hour reading similar statements from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, but you’ll have to study it for yourself.
The omega of apostasy in these last days that we’ve been warned would come, is the pantheistic theory Dr Kellogg began to teach and write about in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it’s the same lie the devil told Eve; that God dwells in the sinner. And here’s the sad part, the omega of apostasy the Spirit of Prophecy warned us about over a hundred years ago, has now become the teaching of the very organization that was raised up in these last days to proclaim the true plan of salvation. How the devil must gloat.
The Spirit of Prophecy tells us plainly that God does not dwell in the sinner, but it’s the enemy who abides there: read it in Sermons and Talks, page 343. You can also read it in 1 John 3:7-10, in fact, let’s do that. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil (oh, you mean we’re not God’s children when we sin?); for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (in your heart and in mine). Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”
Friends, if Jesus didn’t have a nature like fallen sinful humanity, then we can never hope to have victory and perfection of character in this life? And that is precisely why many have come to the conclusion that they’re going to have to sin until Jesus comes. And like I said before, it’s true, many are going to sin until Jesus comes, and every one of them will be lost. If Jesus had to have an unfallen human nature in order to be successful in His battle with temptation, then how in the world can we ever hope to have it with a fallen nature and a multitude of cultivated sins? No friends, on the human side Jesus had no advantage over us. He lived life the way we have to live it, in total submission to a power outside of ourselves. Just as He relied upon His Father, so we must rely upon Him as well.
As I have studied the subject of victory over sin and the power to not yield to temptation, I’ve discovered that there’s only one way to have it. The answer is in Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, page 135. Listen carefully, “You cannot turn from sin until you hate sin and love purity and truth and righteousness.” Simple isn’t it? “You cannot turn from sin until you hate sin and love purity and truth and righteousness.” And friends, there’s only one way to learn to hate sin, and that’s to understand something about what it cost our Saviour, and the next two quotes will help us understand how to do this.
Signs of the Times, July 6, 1888 “As he (the transgressor) looks to the cross, he will hate sin; for he will understand that it was sin that rejected, reproached, denied, scourged, and crucified the Majesty of Heaven.”
Also The Bible Echo, November 1, 1893 “He who would be saved must keep his eye on Jesus. By beholding Christ he will learn to hate sin.”
So, here we have the divine blueprint for success in the Christian warfare: #1 The only way to stop sinning is to hate it. #2 The only way to hate sin is to understand what it did to Christ. And #3 if we would continue to hate sin and be saved at last, we must keep our eye on Jesus.
Did you notice how everything centers in Christ? It’s true as Jesus Himself said, “Without me you can do nothing.” When we come to Christ, we, by faith, receive His righteousness because we have none of our own, and once we have come, we still need His righteousness, because apart from Him we still have none of our own, and we never will. The Bible says Jesus is “the Author and Finisher of our faith”, that means He’s the One that gets us started on the straight and narrow way, and He’s the One that will keep us from falling off the path.
There will never be a time during this life when we will not have to draw off His righteousness. He doesn’t justify us and then kick us out to go it alone, but after we come we continue to cling to Him and partake of His divine nature every step of the way. Unless we abide in Christ all the time, we will fall, because our sinful nature defaults to sin automatically, if not in outward acts it will in heart and mind.
As Jesus washed away our sins when we first came to Him, so He will keep us covered with His robe of righteousness so long as we cooperate with Him by obeying His word. However, obedience doesn’t earn us anything, because salvation is a free gift, and you can’t purchase a free gift, but obedience does show who we belong to. Jesus said, “You shall know them by their fruits”, and Paul said we were “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” So we must understand that obedience is important in the development of character, but we should never get the idea that we are saved by what we do. Creature merit earns us nothing.
The book Faith and Works, pages 19, 20 puts it this way, “Let the subject be made distinct and plain that it is not possible to effect anything in our standing before God or in the gift of God to us through creature merit. Should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation for anyone, then the Creator is under obligation to the creature. Here is an opportunity for falsehood to be accepted as truth. If any man can merit salvation by anything he may do, then he is in the same position as the Catholic to do penance for his sins. Salvation, then, is partly of debt, that may be earned as wages. If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus. It is wholly a free gift. Justification by faith is placed beyond controversy. And all this controversy is ended, as soon as the matter is settled that the merits of fallen man in his good works can never procure eternal life for him.”
Well, someone might say, that’s all well and good when it comes to justification, which is simply forgiveness, but once we’ve been forgiven there is something for us to do, and I would agree with that, but, whatever it is we have to do still doesn’t save us. There will never come a time when salvation stops being a free gift. This free gift is a gift all the way through the salvation process, which includes both justification and sanctification. Sanctification is simply holiness, and holiness, we’re told in The Desire of Ages, page 556, is wholeness for God, and holiness is not something we can work up of ourselves, it comes by faith in Christ the same as forgiveness. In Acts 26:18 Paul says we “are sanctified by faith.” And so, we need both forgiveness and holiness, and Christ gives them free of charge to all who have faith in Him. With justification we accept the forgiveness that Christ offers, and with sanctification we cooperate with God in our own salvation, but the forgiveness and the holiness belong to Jesus, which we access by faith.
In God’s Amazing Grace, page 319 we’re told that, “Man can accomplish nothing without God, and God has arranged His plans so as to accomplish nothing in the restoration of the human race without the cooperation of the human with the divine. The part man is required to sustain is immeasurably small, yet in the plan of God it is just that part that is needed to make the work a success. The great change that is seen in the life of a sinner after conversion (in other words, after he’s been justified) is not brought about by any human goodness.”
Is that clear? After conversion the process of sanctification begins, and even that “Is not brought about by any human goodness.” So, the whole process from beginning to end is brought about by God’s amazing grace, and I hope you can say amen to that. Let’s look quickly now at several texts of scripture to learn something about one particular attribute of our loving Saviour, and one that must also be ours if we would win heaven at last.
Hebrews 1:8, 9 “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and (what?) hated iniquity; therefore (or for this reason) God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
Because Jesus loved righteousness and hated iniquity is the reason He was anointed to be our Savior, and if we truly belong to Him, we will love doing what’s right and hate what’s wrong just as He does.
Psalm 97:10 “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: (and if we hate evil, what will the Lord do?) he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.”
And that’s going to become more and more important as we near the end.
<font size=”3″>Psalm 119:163 “I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.” Here we see that to love God’s law is to hate sin.
Proverbs 6:16-19 “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”
God hates all these things, but do we, is the question? If we love God we will not be found doing any of these things. We could spend a whole hour discussing these seven hated things because there’s a lot here to think about, but we have to move on.
Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth (or a mouth that’s not governed), do I hate.”
Amos 5:15 “Hate the evil, and love the good.”
Romans 12:9 “Let love be without dissimulation (or hypocrisy or deceit). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
According to 1 John 4:8, the scriptures testify that “God is love”, and I would say 100% love, wouldn’t you? And since this is true, how can both love and hate proceed from the same divine being without canceling themselves out? It’s impossible! And how can the two proceed from the human heart that has been renewed by divine grace? That also is impossible! Love and hate are total and complete opposites. If God is love, He has to hate sin in order to remain love. If God didn’t hate sin with a perfect hatred, He would cease to be love. To not hate sin is to love it; and if you love it, you will do it; and if you do it you will die, plain and simple.
Manuscript Releases, volume 14, page 73 says, “Always bear in mind the fact that there is one thing which God hates with a perfect hatred, and that is sin.”
So, if sin is the one thing God hates with a perfect hatred, then sin is the one thing we must learn to hate as well! The question is, do we hate sin? I mean do we really hate sin? And do we hate it enough to quit? If we do, then that is evidence that we understand what sin did to Jesus, and that we must keep our eye on Him in order to hate sin with a perfect hatred and continue to hate it. But if we don’t hate sin, then that is evidence we need to understand better than you do what it did to Jesus; or should I say, what our sins did to Jesus. We definitely need to keep our eye fixed on Him, don’t we? Especially during times of temptation.
Why do you think we’re told to “spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ, especially the closing scenes?” It’s because, dear friends, the better we understand what sin did to Jesus, the more perfect our hatred of it will become. And if we hate sin enough, we will want to stop doing that which God hates with a perfect hatred and begin to love as He loves.
1 John 5:3 says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and that his commandments are not grievous (or burdensome).” Do you feel like it’s a burden to obey the commandments? Or is it a delight? And of course, in John 14:15 Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Think about this: if love and obedience to God’s law are inseparable, as the Lord declares, then hate and the transgression of God’s law are also inseparable. In other words, just as it is impossible to truly love God without truly hating sin, so it is impossible to truly love sin without truly hating God. What a revelation that is when we begin to understand it! To think that we hate God when we sin ought to cause us to do some serious reflection about where we might be headed, don’t you think?
Well, I need to quit, but before I do I want to make sure I don’t leave you with the impression that we can stop sinning on our own, because we can’t! And the reason we can’t is because God’s divine nature is 100% good, and our fallen human nature is 100% bad. In our fallen flesh we have nothing good to offer as payment for our sins, it’s just that simple!
Let me try to explain it this way. We all know that life is not fair, don’t we? It’s not our fault that we were born with a fallen nature that of itself has no power to stop sinning! We can’t help that. We are not responsible for our birth into this world. We had nothing to do with our parents’ decision to bring us into a sinful world. And neither did they, and their parents before them, and so on back to the beginning. Therefore, God, understanding our predicament, came in sinful flesh in order to level the playing field by giving us an opportunity to partake of His divine nature and the desire to follow it. In other words, unfallen Adam received a fallen human nature when he chose to sin, and we receive the divine nature when we choose the One who came and was tempted in all points such as we are, yet without sin. Then it’s our job to choose which one to follow. Once we make that choice, and it may have to be made several times in a day, then God can work in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
In the beginning Adam had life but chose death, not very smart. We on the other hand, have the sentence of death hanging over our heads and have the opportunity to choose life, and that is smart! Jesus, as God in fallen flesh, was able to pay the price for sin because He never did it! He never yielded to it, not even by a thought, and we’re told in Signs of the Times, August, 23, 1905 that, “so may it be with us.” Do you believe it?
If we will accept that by faith, and exchange our sins for His righteousness, we will learn to hate sin with a perfect hatred as God does. And do you know what will happen when He has a group of people that hate sin that much? He’ll come back, because they will reflect His character fully. And I want to be among that number, don’t you?
In the Review and Herald, January 16, 1894 it says, “O, if every one could see this matter as it is presented before me in all its bearings, how soon would they quit with the enemy in his artful work! How they would despise his measures to bring sin upon the human family! How they would hate sin with a perfect hatred, as they consider the fact that it cost the life of heaven’s Commander, in order that they should not perish, that man should not be bound a hopeless captive to Satan’s chariot, a degraded slave to his will, a trophy of his victory and his kingdom. Who will link up with Satan? Who will wear his badge? Who will choose him as a captain, and refuse to stand under the bloodstained banner of the captain of our salvation? Christ died for every son and daughter of Adam; and when the Son of God has expressed such amazing love, making this great sacrifice for the sinner, in order that through faith in Him he need not perish but have everlasting life, how can the subjects of this great love be indifferent, and stand in sin and disobedience, and not heartily confess Christ without one moment’s delay? How can any one love to do evil? . . . In doing the will of Him who loves the world, and who gave His only begotten Son to die for them, they strengthen every faculty of the soul, and increase their own happiness and peace.”
Who in their right mind wouldn’t want that! And that’s the problem, isn’t it? We need a right mind, a new mind, even the mind of Christ! That’s what I want, how about you? I want to think like Jesus and hate sin as He hates it. And keep this in mind, it’s true that God hates sin, but He loves the sinner and wants to give them the power to render continual obedience to His holy law. Let’s not hinder the process, what do you say?
Sermon Notes available in PDF (Do You Really Hate Sin)