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Amen. Aren't you thankful for the
great faithfulness of the Lord? I know that you are.
If you're in Christ, you have seen his faithfulness and the
magnitude of his faithfulness in your life over and over and over
again. What an honor it is to be able
to approach his throne and just to sing praise to Him and to
thank Him for that faithfulness this morning if.
You have your Bibles if you would turn to the 119th Psalm.
Can you imagine that as we can continue our study entitled
Living life and in the light of God's word and I pray that that
is exactly what you find yourself doing all the more as
we walk through the 119th Psalm this morning.
I want to take the 119th Psalm and I want to talk to you about
hate. In fact, not only do I want to
talk to you about hate. I actually want to teach you how
to hate. Now I know what immediately
happens. Hate in church.
Yes, hate in church. And my prayer is just that.
Maybe we could actually learn to practice hate and biblical hate
in our lives. The reason that we come to this
topic and the reason that we address this topic and the
reason that we teach on this topic is because hate in the
right context is very acceptable and very biblical.
How many of you would agree that love is a great motivator?
Love is a great motivator. In fact, we've heard story after
story about dangerous situations where children will fall into
some kind of dangerous time. Perhaps that's a wild beast, or
perhaps they fall down a mountain that no one would
normally be able to retrieve them from.
But yet moms, because of their love for their children, will
will fight off wild animals and climb mountains.
And, and we've even heard stories of, of moms lifting cars
off of children that the car has collapsed on them because they
were motivated by love. We know that it's a great
motivator, but oftentimes in the church, because we are so afraid
of the world hate. And I get it, the word hate.
I get that we're so afraid of it because our grandmothers taught
us that we're not to hate anyone or any anything for any reason
whatsoever. And that has been inundated into
our minds. We've been inundated with that
and indoctrinated that for so long that it's part of who we
are. But I think as we explore the
word of God this morning, we're going to find out that hate can
be a great motivator if hate is biblical.
In fact, many of you are familiar with an NBA basketball
star by the name of Larry Bird. If you know him, you know
exactly what I'm I'm talking about.
And you know the length of his shorts.
Rather embarrassing. Larry Bird was a winner.
Here's what Larry Bird said. He said I hate losing.
I mean, I really hate it. I can't stand it.
I hate losing more than I love winning.
You know this. In the life of Larry Bird, his
hatred for losing was a great motivator.
He wasn't motivated by his love for winning.
He said I do love winning, but even more than loving to win, I
hate losing. We know this and we're if we're
talking about athletic events, sporting events, competing, we
can teach a person to hate losing.
We'll see a, a, a winner rise to the surface.
Larry Bird understood that and he was quoted in saying that.
But in our Christian lives, hate can also do the same thing.
It can motivate us in areas that we've never been motivated in
before. In fact, hate can be a great
motivator, motivating us toward godliness, motivating us toward
repentance, motivating us toward holiness, motivating us toward
sharing the gospel with the lost.
It can be a great motivator. Jonathan Edwards said this.
He said true grace is marked by a hatred of sin that is as
strong as our love for Christ. Men, what would happen if the
church returned to a place because in days gone by, the
church hated wickedness. They stood against wickedness.
They stood against anything that opposed God and His Holiness and
His Word. But what would happen if we as
believers learn to biblically hate the things that God hates
as much as we love Christ? Hate can be a great motivator.
If it's biblical and if it's proper.
I know. Wait a minute, My grandmother
said I shouldn't. Hate your grandmother?
Is wrong in this facet my grandmother was wrong as well I
do not speak I'll against the dead but what I do say is the
word of God Trump's everyone and everything else and so we're
going to see today that we must have biblical hatred in our
lives as professing. Believers and we have to ask is
that wrong? Because for so many of us, even
the use of that word bothers us. How many of you feel icky right
now even thinking about it? If we open the Word of God and
we consult the Word of God, we'll find our answer to the
question, is this wrong to biblically hate?
Psalm 97, verse 10 says this. Let those who love the Lord hate
evil. You love the Lord and the Word
of God just commanded you to hate evil.
Now I'd love to soften it up for you and tell you that in the
Hebrew that word hate means something else.
No, it means hate. He said let those who love the
word hate evil for he he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
He says hate evil. Romans 12 verse 9, it says love
must be sincere. Paul says hate what is evil,
cling to what is good. Oh, I would to God that the
church would get back to hating what is evil and clinging to
what is good. Amos chapter 5 verse 15.
And what if the Lord says hate evil, love good, maintain
justice in the courts, hate evil, love good?
Psalm 5 verse 4 says this. You're not a God who takes
pleasure and evil with you. The wicked cannot dwell.
The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies.
Bloodthirsty and deceitful men, the Lord of horrors again.
I wish I could clean that up for you so that would fit your
cultural understanding that God is all love and never any
indignation or never any hatred toward wickedness.
But that's just not the case. That's not biblical.
When God hates, He hates with the holy hatred.
And we can do the same as we learn to hate biblically.
And learning to hate biblically will be a great motivator in our
Christian lives. Proverbs chapter 6.
We read it a moment ago. A moment ago.
There are 6 things the Lord hates 7 that are detestable to
him. He uses that #7 to show us that
His hate is as perfect as His love.
He says He hates haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed
innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet
that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours
out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
He says I hate the wickedness of man and I hate those who do
these things. He he takes a person who stirs
up dissension in the church and puts him in the same category as
a murderer. He says I hate it.
These things are detestable to the Lord.
Well, many people would say, well, Kirk, you quoted a lot
from the Old Testament. In our understanding, in the Old
Testament, God was full of indignation and full of hate.
But in the New Testament, he's the kinder, gentler God.
That's not true. He's the same God and the same
hatred that he's had for wickedness in eternity past,
that he will have an eternity future.
He still contains and still has today.
And Revelation says this. In case you thought it was just
the Old Testament and I was just cherry picking texts from the
Old Testament to try to prove a point there.
As he's speaking to the seven churches of Asia Minor.
He says this in chapter 2, verse six.
He says, but you have this in your favor.
Church of Ephesus. He said you hate the practices
of the Nicolaitans, which I also.
Hate, he said. It behooves you that you hate
the Nicolaitans because I hate their practices as well.
You hate their teachings and there's all kind of debate.
What was the teaching of the Nicolaitans?
We have to come down to the fact that it was probably some type
of antinomianism, meaning this. They had taught about cheap
grace, where we can get this cheap grace and then live any
way that we want to live, profess Christ and then deny
with our lifestyles. God says I hate that and I
commend you that you hate that as well.
And did you ever think that you would read a commendation from
God to a church that says you hate their practices?
And I'm thankful that you hate their practices because I agree
with you. I hate them as well.
Well what a commendation to a church teaching us the churches.
Those groups made-up a body of believers have to learn how to
biblically hate and when we learn how to biblically hate God
himself commends it because we are hating the things he hates.
We're loving the things that he loves.
So now that we have. Established that there is a such
thing as biblical hatred contrary again to your grandma
and your grandpa's teaching your southern upbringing.
We've established that the word of God is very clear and these
are just a few of the instances in Scripture that we see
biblical hatred that is acceptable to God.
We have established that I feel at this point, and because we
have, I think it's time that we learn how to hate biblically
according to Psalm 119. So if you're there, let's look
together. Psalm 119.
We find our text today in verse 113 under.
The Hebrew letter SEMEC and it says this in verse 113.
I hate double minded men, but I love your law.
You are my refuge and my shield. I have put my hope in your word
away from me, you evil doers, that I may keep the commands of
my God. Sustain me according to your
promise and I will live. Do not let my hopes be dashed.
Uphold me and I will be delivered.
I will always have regard for your decrees.
You reject all who stray from your decrees, for their
deceitfulness is in vain. All the wicked of the earth you
discard like dross. Therefore I love your statues.
My flesh trembles in fear of you.
I stand in awe. Of your laws, let's pray
together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you right now, thanking you for your word.
And Lord, we ask in our time and in our day, that You would teach
us something that is not being. Taught, but is found so clearly
in your word, We ask that you would teach us how to hate
biblically, how to hate with the right heart, and that we would
use that hatred for the things that you hate.
To motivate us in our love for the things that you love.
To motivate us in our obedience and following your commands.
God, I pray for the lost soul who's here today.
Lord, I pray that you would be merciful to them even this hour.
That you would call them out of darkness and into your marvelous
light, rebirthing them through the power of your spirit.
That they would believe and repent of their sin and turn to
Christ as Lord and Savior quickened, awakened from
spiritual death, brought into eternal life to the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ that he made upon the cross.
Lord, have mercy on them. God, as we look at Your word,
teach us, shape us, conform us into the image of Christ, and we
pray these things in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.
And so we see that biblical hatred is a thing, and it's not
something to shy away from. It's something that we must
learn and we must embrace. And the Psalmist here starts off
just like this. He says in verse 113, I hate
double minded men, but I love your law.
You are my refuge and my shield. I have put my hope in your word.
Biblical hatred will be hatred for the inclinations of the
wicked. See where the psalmist starts
here? He's saying I hate the
inclinations of the wicked, their thoughts, their thought
process, where their mind is. In fact, he refers to them as
being double minded men. So regarding the inclinations of
the wicked, the psalmist here is despising double mindedness.
Now he's not only despising double mindedness in the lives
of those who he is. Observing outside of himself.
But first, he must learn to hate the double mindedness that lives
within him. And how many of you understand
that you have flesh, and that flesh can cause you to waver?
And the psalmist, you're saying I hate that I hate that about
me, I hate that about others. I hate double minded men, myself
included. He's despising this double
mindedness. In fact in James in his epistle
chapter one verse 8, he says Speaking of a double minded man.
He says he is double minded and unstable in all he does.
The psalmist knew that a double minded man is unstable in
everything that he does. He's unstable in his life.
He's unstable in his family, he's unstable in the church
body. He is an unstable man or an
unstable woman. James 4/8 he speaks of double
mindedness again. He says come near to God and he
will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double minded.
What James is saying is, is that the mind of a double minded man
is is impure and his heart is impure.
So he's despising this double mindedness.
And why does he despise it? Because these people are
inconsistent in their thoughts. They're inconsistent in their
thoughts. They are like those that we see
in First Kings chapter 18 verse 21.
We see Elijah and he's addressing the double minded
people of his day. And here's how he addresses
those people right there. They're wavering back and forth
from between the one true God and bail and worshipping bail
and idol and worshipping the one true God.
And then we've got the prophets bail seeming to be winning.
And here we have Elijah and he says this in chapter 18 of first
Kings verse 21. It says Elijah went before the
people and he said, how long will you waver between two
opinions? If the Lord God, if the Lord is
God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him.
But the people said nothing. What did he do?
He called them out in their double mindedness and they had
nothing to say. That's for all of you who can't
make up your mind. Are you really serving Christ?
Are you really following Christ? You can't make up your mind.
Who you really are, You said, well, how do you know that about
me? Because I see things like this
guy do pay attention. I see that today after the
church service, you might post something from this worship
service on your social media and you might say how good God is.
But then other days during the week, you might post pictures of
yourself out in some club drunk and partying with all your
friends. You say, well, Kirk, who do you
think you are to meddle in my life?
I'm not meddling in your life. You're putting it out there for
all to see. And I say to this, you present
yourself as double minded. At one moment you're
participating in the things of God and in the other moment
you're participating in the things of the world.
That is the definition of double minded.
And just as Elijah said to the people in his day, he said make
up your mind who you are. He didn't tell them one way or
the other. He said if you want to follow
bail, a false God, follow him. Give him your all.
I say this to you. You look one quick Christian in
the room. Give the world your all, or give
your all to God, but give your all to something.
This is exactly what we see here.
The psalmist despising double mindedness again.
He looks at. Himself first.
We can all be double minded if we're not careful, can't we?
To say one thing and to do the other.
That's why we must be careful. And he's going to show us how to
be careful. He's despising double
mindedness, inconsistent thoughts.
And inconsistent thoughts always lead to inconsistent living,
don't they? In fact, Matthew chapter 6 verse
24, Jesus said this. He said no one can serve 2
masters. Either he will hate the one and
love the other, or He will be devoted to the one and despise
the other. What was Jesus teaching us here?
He's teaching against double mindedness.
Who's your master? Are you still mastered by sin in
this world and Satan? Or is Jesus really your master?
Is he really Lord of your life? In fact, in James chapter 2,
James says this. He says in the same way faith by
itself is not accompanied by action is dead.
James is saying if you say one thing and your life shows us
something opposite of that thing, that's what a double
minded person's life looks like. He says your faith is dead.
It's not real. It's not authentic faith at all.
You deny what comes out of your mouth by what comes out of your
life, Jesus. Said it a little more sternly
than that, he said in Luke 646. Why do you call me Lord, Lord
and do not do what I say? Why are you double minded?
The psalmist here declaring that I hate double minded men.
I despise this double mindedness, this inconsistent
thought process, this inconsistent living.
He hates it because God hates it and does not tolerate it.
The psalmist despising double mindedness but desiring
protection from God through His word.
Watch what he does. About his own double mindedness,
he says I hate double minded men, but I love your law.
You know what he's doing? He's learning to hate himself.
I'll say it so that you all can understand this.
I know what modern culture tells you.
Love yourself. That is a lie.
Hat straight from the pits of hell.
Learn to hate your fleshly self. Learn to hate your old life.
Learn to hate it so much that when you look back at it, you
don't want to ever look back at it again.
You want to go in the opposite direction all the days of your
life. In fact, the Lord himself
teaching this, no man is fit for the Kingdom of heaven who puts
his hand to the pile and looks back.
Don't look back. Don't go back.
Hate your own life that you have been rescued from Well, much of
the problems that we see in the American church stem from the
fact. That men are afraid to hate the
inclinations of the wicked, even their own inclinations, because
if you hate them you'll die to them, and if you don't die to
them, that proves you don't hate them.
So the psalmist here desiring protection from God through his
word, he says, I love your law. You are my refuge and my shield.
I have put my hope in your word, he said.
The only hope for? Anyone who has been double
minded, which would be all of us, he said The only hope for
any of us is to put our trust in the Word of God.
He knowing that himself here susceptible to double
mindedness. He seeks help from the
Scriptures. Lord, teach me to walk
consistently. Lord, teach me to walk in a
manner that brings glory to Your name.
Teach me to walk in practical righteousness every day of my
life. Where do I learn that?
The word of God. What example do I have?
Christ. The Psalmist here hating the
inclinations of the wicked, despising double mindedness,
desiring protection from God through His Word in regard to
double mindedness, trusting single mindedly in the
Scriptures as a sole guide and shield and resource.
I would to God that he would raise up a Church of single
minded people who say, you know what, it doesn't matter what we
think or what we want or what our flesh wants.
What matters is what God says in his word.
Lord, protect us from double mindedness by being our refuge
and our shield as we put. Our hope in your word.
That's exactly what the psalmist is saying, and he's motivated to
this attitude because he has a true hatred.
For the inclinations of the wicked, he can't tolerate and
accept these double minded inconsistencies any longer, not
from his life or the life of others who profess to know God.
If you were one of. Those you know full well
already, as conviction is setting in that this is God's
Word speaking to you. Hear it, hear it and examine
your life. Ask yourself that question.
Why don't I have hatred for my own double mindedness?
Why is it easy for me to blend in with the world Monday through
Friday and then on the weekends start thinking about God so that
I can go to church on Sunday and feel OK about it?
And ask God to teach you the truth through His Word, so you
can have real hope. Biblical hatred will be hatred
for the inclinations of the wicked.
Secondly, biblical hatred will be hatred for the influence of
the wicked. What he says in verse 115.
He says away from me, you evil doers, that I may keep the
commands of my God away from me, you evil doers, that I may keep
the commands of my God. What does the psalmist doing
here? The psalmist here is giving us
an example of what hating the influence of wickedness looks
like. He sees the influence, he sees
the wickedness in others who are leading people away from God,
and he hates it. And he says away from me, get
out of here. I am.
I am removing you from the equation, you evildoer.
Why? That I may keep the commands of
God. He understood that he had to get
out of the way of this influence.
Many people forget this. Even in the church today, I see
young people do it right. There's this really cute guy,
and he is not a believer. In fact, he's a total immoral
Pagan, but he's cute. And the young lady who's a
believer thinks like this. She says, you know what, Perhaps
I can be a missionary on the mission field and I can date him
and possibly lead him to Christ. Can I tell you what the word of
God says very plainly? Very clearly, First Corinthians
chapter 15 verse 33, it says do not be misled.
Now let me help you. Anytime you see something in
Scripture that causes you to listen up, do not be misled.
You know what that's saying? Hey, we can quickly be misled.
Pay attention to this. Do not be misled.
Bad company corrupts. Good character doesn't work the
other way around. It is not your job, young lady,
to save that man. It is your job to walk a holy
life, to walk a righteous life, to remain pure and not let that
young man influence you. In order to do that, you have to
hate the influence of the wicked to see it for what it is.
Psalmist teaching us, here's what we need to do when we are
influenced by wickedness. We need to remove ourselves from
that situation First. We have to discern it.
Here's what it is. It's evil.
It's wickedness. It's sin, it's sinful, it's
worldly. Define it for what it is.
Call it what it is. Don't you wish the church or get
back to calling things what they really are?
Worldly, sinful, wicked, evil, all those things that we're
afraid to say because people are going to get mad at us.
And accuse us of hating. We are hating, but we can't
claim to love God and not hate the things that God hates.
The Psalm is hating the influence of the wicked.
And he knows that he has to remove himself from the presence
of the wicked so that the wicked don't drag him down.
Are you listening? He's distancing himself from
evil, just like a Joseph and Potiphar's wife.
He had to go, didn't he? I don't think for a second that
Potiphar's wife was not beautiful and that there was not
a temptation there. That's why he ran.
Smart man. And he got out of there.
What? Away from me, evil doer.
Away from me, evildoer, that I may keep the commands of my God.
He got out of the danger zone. Why?
So that he can obey the word of God.
He distanced himself from evil. Isn't it a sad day when the
church has forgotten that we're to distance ourselves from evil?
We're to distance ourselves from the wickedness of this world,
the sin of this world. We are to be different. 2nd
Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 Paul teaches on this.
He says do not be yoked together with unbelievers.
For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?
Watch how common sense this is. What do righteousness and
wickedness have in common? Nothing.
You claim to be righteous. You claim to be in Christ.
Therefore you claim that righteousness has been imputed
to you. You no longer have anything in
common with wickedness. You're a new creation.
Amen, He goes. On he says or what fellowship
can light have with darkness? None.
What's these rhetorical questions?
None. But you don't understand, Kirk.
I go. I went to high school with those
boys and sometimes we get together and we just relive the
old days and get drunk together and party and none.
Did you hear? Me.
What fellowship can light have with Dortons?
None. What harmony is there between
Christ and Belial? Christ and an idol?
No harmony at all. They don't.
John, what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Remember, these have been rhetorical all this whole time.
Still rhetorical. What does a believer have in
common with an unbeliever? Watch nothing, he said.
Well, Kirk, wait a minute. I have lots in common with my
old lost friends. You have a problem.
You have a problem if you have something in common with your
old friends, because you notice the world's interests are
different, the world's thinking different, and your thinking
ought to be opposite of theirs. Watch what Paul continues to
teach. What agreement is there between
the temple of God and idols? We know nothing.
Now watch him turn it on us. For we are the temple of the
living God. Oh, how far too often we forget
that. Dragging the temple of God into
the tents of the wicked. Well, often we forget who we are
in Christ. Or maybe, perhaps we don't know
who we are in Christ, or if we're in Christ at all.
He says, as God said, I will live with them and walk among
them, and they and we will be their God and they will be my
people. Watch because of this.
Therefore, because of everything that I told you, that that you
have nothing in common with the world any longer.
In fact, you want to be hating the wicked influence of the
world. He says therefore come out from
them and be. Separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.
He's calling us here to distance ourselves from evil.
In fact, James speaks in a little stronger terms in this.
Watch what he says in James 4/4. He says you adulterous people.
Now what? What he's not talking about is
someone who's sleeping with another man's wife or or another
man, a woman sleeping with another man's husband.
He's not saying that. He's using that metaphorically
here to talk about spiritual adultery, he said.
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the
world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a
friend of the world becomes an enemy.
Of God. What is He telling us?
He's telling us to distance ourselves from evil, to distance
ourselves from the evil influence of this world.
And if you hate the influence of wickedness?
That won't be a difficult thing for you to do, will it?
But if you still love the influence of the world, you're
going to have a hard time departing, aren't you?
Because deep down, you don't hate.
The influence of the wicked. Deep down you still love the
things of the world. That's why you're clinging to
them. That's why you're holding on to
them. That's why you're still
participating in them. That's why you have not come out
and made yourself separate from the world as the word of God
declares that we are to do. He says away from me, you evil
doers, that I may keep the commands of my God.
He says keeping the commands of God are more important to me
than fitting in with the wicked. So the psalmist said.
He said I would rather. Be a doorkeeper in the House of
the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.
But it's interesting in today's church culture, we think as.
Believers that we should come to church on Sunday and then dwell
in the tents of the wicked anytime that we want because
really, deep down, we still love wickedness.
And we have no hatred for the influence that wickedness has
upon us and upon others. So the psalmist here removing
himself from the presence of the wicked.
Away from me, you evil. Doers that I may keep the
commands of my God, and then he says in 116, sustain me
according to your promise, and I will live.
Do not let my hopes be dashed. What is he doing here?
He's not only removing himself from the presence of the wicked,
He's relying on God's Word in the midst of this.
He's relying on the Word of God for strength.
For life, for hope. We see all those in verse 116,
trusting in God's Word as an anchor for his entire life.
Yes, maybe I have no more friends, but according to the
Word of God, I have a friend who sticks closer than a brother,
and I will rest in that. And he asked the Lord to sustain
me according to your promise. You've promised you'll never
leave me, you'll never forsake me.
That you are that friend that sticks closer than a brother.
And I will value you more than I value the influence of the
wicked and what it once had upon my life.
Relying on God's Word, trusting in His Word as that anchor,
refusing to be influenced by the opinions of the world, but
instead influenced by the truth of God's Word.
We have said that the church has found itself in a condition and
in a state where we're so concerned with the opinions of
the world. The opinions of the world do not
matter to the true Christian. What matters is what does God
say in His Word? Because in what He says in His
Word, he reveals to us His thoughts.
He reveals to us who He is, His characteristics and His
attributes. We can truly know Him.
We can truly know. The truth.
In him. So many times instead of relying
on God's word, we rely on our feelings and we just want to be
accepted by everyone. What a sad state the church is
in because they want to make this a place of acceptance and
forget that we ought to be a people who hate the influence of
the wicked. He says away from me, you evil
doers, that I may keep your commands.
I don't want you influencing me and causing me to be a
disobedient to the things of God, dragging me into your mess.
Then he defers to the Lord in his help.
He says sustain me according to your promise and I live.
Don't let my hopes be dashed. I know that I can trust in you
because I've tried trusting in the world.
When I trust in the world and all their influence, I know what
that leaves me. Biblical hatred.
Will despise the influence of the wicked upon their lives and
upon the lives of others, and this hatred will motivate us
toward being influenced by God's Word instead of the influence of
the wicked world. Thirdly, we see this.
Not only does biblical hatred confirm for us that there ought
to be a hatred for the inclinations of the wicked and
the influence of the wicked. Biblical hatred will be hatred
for the indoctrination of the wicked.
Look what happens next, he says, uphold me and I will be
delivered. I will always have regard for
your decrees. You reject all who stray from
your decrees, for their deceitfulness is in vain.
Here we can contextually come to the conclusion that now the
psalmist is addressing the fact that the wicked are straying
from the word of God and they are now indoctrinating through
their deceitful practices, their lies.
They're now indoctrinating others.
And he starts out with Lord, uphold me and I'll be delivered.
Delivered from what? The indoctrination of the
wicked. And don't we know that the
wicked is constantly trying to indoctrinate everyone?
We see it in our elementary schools.
We see it in our junior highs, we see it in our high schools,
we see it in our colleges. Unfortunately, sad to say, we
see it in our Christian colleges and Christian universities today
where Wiccan. This is indoctrinating people.
The Psalmist, you're saying I have a biblical holy hatred for
the indoctrination of the wicked, how they come in with
their lives and they come in with their deceit and they try
to sidetrack people, he says. All in vain, Psalmist.
Teaches us about hating this type of indoctrination.
Knowing full well those who reject the scriptures that they
will indoctrinate others to do exactly the same.
Isn't that true? When you meet an atheist, you
know what he wants to do. He wants to try to make you an
atheist. He wants to give you 57,000
reasons why you shouldn't believe in God.
Too bad I'm already his. He's already purchased me by his
blood. He's revealed himself to me in
such a way that you can't talk me out of it.
When you meet someone who's been a victim of false religion,
false teaching, I don't care if that's Buddhism or the
charismatic teachings that we see in the church today.
What are they always trying to do?
Indoctrinate you to their teachings, trying to show you
how they're right. You know what they always do?
They go to their feelings, they go to their opinions.
They never go to the word of God.
The psalmist here is saying is I'm going to the word of God and
I need the word of God to protect me and to uphold me.
There's all these wicked influences are trying to
indoctrinate me. Oh, he hates the influence of
the wicked. He hates the indoctrination of
the wicked because, you know, it's the danger that it comes.
So this hatred for the indoctrination of the wicked, it
ought to be a great motivator in our life, shouldn't it?
It ought to motivate us to safeguard ourselves and our
families. Let me say that again, to
safeguard ourselves and our families and as shepherds of
this flock, this church, to safeguard US against wicked
doctrines, wicked indoctrination.
How do we do that? Well, just as the psalmist does
here by regarding God's Word highly.
He says uphold me and I will be delivered.
I will always have regard for your decrees.
He is regarding the word of God highly.
You have high regard for Scriptures.
At the end of the day, do you make every decision that you
make based on what the Word of God teaches us?
I pray that you would. I pray that you would consider
that before something comes out of your mouth, before something
comes out of your life. What does the Word of God say
about this? Particular issue or this
particular thing? So that you will safeguard
yourself, so that you will be that.
Person who regards the Word of God as the final answer, as the
last word, refusing to compromise on that truth.
But don't we live in an age of compromise?
That's why so many people are being indoctrinated.
We don't want to tell someone when they have false doctrine
that that's false. We don't want to use the W.
Word right. This is the worst word anybody
can hear. You're wrong.
Well, who do you think you are telling me I'm wrong?
I don't think I'm anybody, but I'm telling you right now God's
Word says you're wrong, therefore you are wrong and
you're deceived, and I'm going to stop your deception from
spreading everywhere like some kind of cancerous disease.
The only way to cancel out false teaching is true teaching.
The only way to cancel out false doctrine is true doctrine,
biblical doctrine, sound teaching.
And I know what many people say, right?
Is that really that important? Yes, your spiritual life is on
the line. Doctrine is essential.
It is important. The fool says things like this,
and I've heard these things. I don't want all that doctrine
in theology. I just want Jesus.
You can't have Jesus without good doctrine and theology.
You'll have the wrong Jesus. And unfortunately, the American
church has bought into the wrong Jesus because they've been
indoctrinated to things about Jesus that are not biblical.
And so we have to hold the Scriptures in high regard if
we're going to safeguard against the wicked doctrines and the
wicked indoctrination that comes against us and comes against our
families and our children. Refusing to compromise on the
truth. First Timothy chapter 4 verse
16. It says watch your life and
doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if
you do, you will save both yourself.
And your hearers, that's not just for the preachers, though
it is for the preachers. That's for all of us.
Did you know this? Every man in this room, are you
looking at me? Are you listening?
Every man who has a family raise your hand.
You are the prophet, priest, and king of your home.
You are influencing people toward the word of God, or you
are influencing them toward wickedness.
You have one or two options. So I pray that you would be men
of God who lead your family in sound doctrine, watching your
life and your doctrine closely, persevering in them.
Because if you. Do you'll save not only you, but
everyone who hears your teaching?
Dad? That's why it's important that
you are your child's primary Bible teacher, because you can
bet on this. There are voices after voices
after voices that are trying to indoctrinate your children right
now to things that are utterly godless, that are completely
wicked. You send them to a place for 8
or 9 hours a day where they are being indoctrinated.
To wickedness. You must teach them the truth.
You must adhere to sound doctrine, saving yourself and
those who hear you. It's important.
Refuse to compromise on the truth.
That's why Paul told Titus as well.
You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.
Why? Because there's unsound doctrine
that is trying to indoctrinate people.
Constantly, the psalmist said. I hate the indoctrination of the
wicked and so I safeguard against that.
He says uphold me and I'll be delivered.
I will always have regard for your decrees.
This is how how do I find safety against all this indoctrination?
How do I teach others to find that same safety in the word of
God, in the word of God and the word of God of alone.
He says in verse 118 you reject all who stray from your decrees
for their deceitfulness is in vain.
You know you need to do. When your hatred toward the
indoctrination of the wicked, other than safeguarding against
wicked doctrines, you know what you need to do.
See their teachings as wicked. Don't call them anything else,
right? Don't call them anything else.
When you learn that your third grader is being indoctrinated
with the fact that women have rights and it's OK to somehow
murder a baby #1 snatch them out of that school immediately.
Do not apologize. Do not let them make you feel
bad. You teach your child about the
sanctity of life. You teach them that every human
being was created in the image of God.
Every human being is valuable. Every life is important.
When you as women have the wicked liberal women of this
world trying to constantly indoctrinate you to not
submitting to your husband as the leader of your home and not
being a godly wife in your home and a godly mother telling you
that you have rights and all the other nonsense that they say.
Telling us that because we adhere to the biblical model
that that that we're just bigots and we're holding you back.
We're close minded, but you have enough wherewithal to know the
word of God and call those teachings wicked and evil
because they are teachings. Let's shame a mother out of her
role being what God intended her to be, a godly woman who
produces godly children because of a godly influence as she
walks. The word of.
God out before their very eyes. Don't let someone cheat you out
of that. What a grace that God has given
you. I remember when my children were
young, my wife would say silly things like I don't feel like I
do anything important. Moms, you ever feel like that?
I want you to listen to me. If you're a mother here in this
room, I want you to raise your hand.
I want you to look at me eye to eye.
Right now you have one of the most important jobs in the
world. The next generation is depending
upon you to teach them what godliness really looks like, to
teach them what a woman of God. Who loves a man of God in the
home really looks like you. Don't let this wicked world
indoctrinate you to thinking that you don't have a purpose
and that you don't have an important role in the Kingdom of
God. You have one of the most
important roles in the Kingdom of God.
So see it for what it is. And call their teachings wicked
because that is what they are. They're wicked and they're
unbiblical. So that's kind of mean.
No, I kind of still believe the Scripture.
I believe all of it, not just some of it, not just what I
like. First Timothy chapter 4, verse
6, it says if you point these things out to the brothers, you
will be a good minister of Christ Jesus brought up in the
truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have
followed. What is he talking about?
False teaching. If you point out true teaching
in the midst of false teaching, in the midst of all their
indoctrination that the world wants to give to us, to give to
our children. If you point out the truth.
The Word of God commends you here for doing so.
See the teachings of the world as wicked, because that's what
they are. Hate them.
Call them exactly what they are. You.
Remember when Christians used to call a spade a spade, they would
call sin sin, wickedness, wickedness, worldliness,
worldliness. Things that were satanic, we
called them satanic and we get back to not being afraid to hate
those things and to call them exactly what the word of God
calls them. First Timothy chapter 4 gives us
this warning. Verse one.
The Spirit clearly says that in latter times some will abandoned
the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by
demons. Such teachings come through
hypocritical liars whose conscience consciences have been
seared as with a hot iron. What's Paul doing here?
He's he's calling them what they are, these people who are
indoctrinating you and your children through all of the
influence that we have in this world.
And boy, don't we have it. Everybody's an influencer now,
aren't they? And you all walk around with a
little device that has all the idolatrous influencers popping
out at you, constantly influencing you and
indoctrinating you. Parents just tossing a kid a
phone and saying here, entertain, entertain yourself
for hours. Now you ought to hate the fact
that they're being indoctrinated by wickedness and take that
thing away from them. It's real simple.
You need to make a call here. Dial the number for them.
Put it on speaker. When you make a text here, I'll
type it for you, tell me what you want it to say, then I'll
get the answer and tell you what the other person says.
But no, what we do is we are just careless, allowing
indoctrination of the wicked to just pour into the lives of our
family, not keeping tabs and sound teaching.
It's important in our lives. So see the teachings of the
wicked as wicked, and hate them. You say, well, pastor, that
seems kind of harsh. No, that's biblical hatred.
How can I say that I love God and His Holiness and then not
turn around and hate wickedness? That's contrary, isn't it?
I'm contradicting myself because of God, who is holy, hates
wickedness, and he has all the right to do so.
And I'm commanded in Scripture to hate that which is evil and
to cling to that which is good. Learn.
They hate the indoctrination of the wicked.
Why? So that you're not indoctrinated
by the wicked? So that your children, your
wives are not indoctrinated by wickedness.
So biblical hatred will not be able to tolerate any kind of
wickedness. Right, Because we live in a day
of what tolerance, Christian? We can't be tolerant.
Any longer we have to hate any influence and indoctrination
from. The wicked see that there is a
biblical mandate for that #4 because I know you're all in a
big hurry to get on your phones and leave and to tell someone
that your preacher taught you how to hate today.
Biblical hatred will be hatred for the inheritance of the
wicked. This is great motivation.
I want you to pay attention to what he says.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross.
He's saying it's like a refiner's fire.
And what they do is they heat it up to such a degree that all the
bad things come to the surface and then they skim it off the
surface and they throw it away because it's useless.
He says this. Is what's going to happen to all
the wicked, all the unbelieving, all the unrepentant sinners?
This is what's going to happen. God is going to discard them
like draws. We know that he's going to do
this in hell for all eternity. He says Therefore, I love your
statues. He said.
I know what's going to happen to the wicked.
That's why I love your statues. Oh, you think that's not
motivation? Church, pay attention to this.
My flesh trembles in fear of you.
I stand in awe of your laws. What's the psalmist doing here?
He's seeing the eternal inheritance of the wicked, and
he hates the future faith that awaits all unbelieving,
unrepentant sinners. And we should hate the future
judgment of those sinners as well we should hate.
That there will be some who for all eternity receive the
inheritance of the wicked. And for those of you in who are
in Christ here today, let me let me just grab you for a second.
How can you love the eternal life that you have received
freely in Christ because of His mercy based on His sacrifice?
How can you love that? And at the same time not hate
the fact that there are some who won't repent who will spend an
eternity facing the second death under the wrath of God in the
lake of fire according to the word of God.
I told you that hate is a great motivator.
We see the psalmist here now being motivated by his hate that
involves the inheritance of the wicked.
He knows that he. In and of.
Himself is what wicked for all of sin to come short of the
glory of God. He understands this.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, he said.
Therefore, I love your statutes. I'm not going to be discarded
like dross. I'm going to obey what you've
told me to obey in your word. I'm going to follow you.
I'm going to surrender to you. I'm going to to to follow every
command and every law that you have.
These things are now important to me.
He's motivated and watch this, he's motivated by coming
judgment. I know we live in a church
culture where we can't use coming judgement as motivation
anymore, right? Because if you start talking
about the coming judgement when you're putting people in an
awkward position, Pastor, don't you think that you might be
scaring them? Don't you think that you might
be causing them to be? Afraid of what lies ahead?
Yes, I am. I want you to be very afraid.
It is a scary thing to know that you're going to pass from this
life and you will not live for eternity like the believer, but
you will die for all eternity in hell.
That is a very scary thing that make no apologies about that.
I pray that the coming judgement would motivate you.
It motivates me just like it motivated Christian in the
pilgrims progress. When they said flee from the
coming judgement, what did he do?
He left his family, He left everybody who didn't want to go
and he was going to the Celestial City.
Why? Because the preacher told him
that's what God's Word said that he needed.
To do the psalmist here doing the exact same thing, knowing.
That the wicked will be discarded like dross.
That there will be a judgement knowing what the word of God
teaches us. Hebrews 927 Just as man is
destined to die once, and after that to face judgement, you will
face the judgement of God. Let me make this very clear to
all of you. You will stand.
Before God clothed in your unbelief and your sin.
And all the wicked indoctrination that you received
in your life, and all of the wicked and evil things that you
have participated in in your life, you will stand before God,
clothed in that, or you will stand before God clothed in the
imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Now watch this. One is going to hear this.
The first one clothed in their own sin and their unbelief will
hear. Depart from me, you worker of
iniquity, for I never knew you. And those who are clothed in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ be welcomed into the Kingdom of
heaven for all eternity, not based on anything that they have
done, but based on what Christ has done for them at the cross.
And they will hear because of Christ well done by good and
faithful servant, you may enter in to the Kingdom that has been
reserved for you. Now I want you to think about
that for. Just a moment because you don't
have 1/3 option. Judgment is coming and we must
have a hatred for the fact that there are some who will inherit
what is coming to the wicked. What is that?
The wrath of God, The indignation of God for all
eternity. That is your inheritance, and I
hate to think that I stand before you as a man who has been
cleansed through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who has
received mercy from Him and to not.
Offer you the hope. That is available in Christ
according to the word of God. The psalmist here being
motivated by coming judgement, the judgement that is non
negotiable, that will not be delayed that that will come at
the appointed time. In fact, Acts chapter 17 verse
31. It says this for he.
Has set a day and he will judge the world with justice by the
man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to
all men by raising him from the dead.
He said there will be a day that Jesus judges the sinners, all of
us, and He will judge you for the deeds that you have done in
your wickedness, or He will reward you for the righteous
works that are found in those who are in Christ.
Which side of this judgment do you want to experience?
Oh, the fact that there is judgment ought to motivate us.
Shouldn't it ought to motivate us to adhere to God's Word.
And what does God's Word say about the coming judgment?
That unless you flee from your sin and you turn to Christ as
Lord and Savior, you will face the wrath of God for all
eternity in hell. Scripture is ultimately clear on
that. And I can't make it say anything
else. Even when all the liberals want
me to tone it down just a little bit, I can't tone it down.
It is what it is and it says what it says, and it ought to
motivate us, that hatred for the fact that there will be people
who spend eternity in hell because they refuse to repent
and they do not turn to Jesus. Christ as Lord and Savior.
That ought to motivate 1. To adhere to God's Word, loving
and living the truth of His Word as found in Scripture.
Motivated to avoid the inheritance of the wicked at all
costs. And how do we do that?
How does a person avoid the inheritance of the wicked?
By surrendering an obedience to Christ.
Completely surrendering to obedience in Christ.
Follow His decrees. To do what his word says fact
Ephesians chapter 5 verse one says be imitators of God
therefore is dearly loved children.
If you're in Christ, pay attention to this and live a
life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for
us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, He's.
Going to tell us how to live. He's going to tell us that our
life should be opposite of that of the wicked, he says.
But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality
that includes pornography. Men, you think that I don't know
that it's a problem? I know the statistics.
I deal with the aftermath. Don't act all shocked.
You know it's a problem, he says.
Any hint of it or any kind of impurity or of greed, even the
American dream that we have justified because these are
improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity,
foolish talk or coarse joking. And there goes your dirty jokes,
there goes your foul language, he says.
Which are out of place, but rather Thanksgiving, for of this
you can be sure. Are you listening?
No immoral and pure or greedy person, such a man as an
idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of
God. His inheritance is the
inheritance of the wicked. And then he says this.
Pay attention to it. Let no one deceive you with
empty words. Don't let somebody tell you.
And because you prayed this little prayer, maybe you walked
an aisle, you filled out a card. But your life has never changed.
Let someone tell you everything's OK.
Let no one deceive you with empty words.
For because of such things, God's wrath comes on those who
are disobedient. There's a coming judgement for
the wicked, and it ought to motivate.
Us and what it what should it motivate us toward?
The only hope that we have that hopes Christ.
That are motivated toward that hope, not only should it
motivate us toward that hope so that we can avoid the
inheritance of the wicked, because the only way that you're
going to get out of any of the judgement upon the wicked and
the unbelieving is the trust in Jesus.
Christ as your Lord and Savior, but also hatred for the
inheritance of the wicked ought to also motivate us in another
area of our life that we don't often talk about, and that's
this. How about hatred for the
inheritance of the wicked? The fact that people are going
to spend an eternity in hell if they don't repent and turn to
Christ? How about that hatred actually
motivating? Us to share the hope that we
have with others, you know, actually caring is that you have
a loved one or a family member or a friend or a stranger in
Walmart who is still in their sin.
Still facing the judgement of God, lest God intervene with His
mercy in Christ. And we know how it works.
They can't believe unless someone tells them.
How can they know lest they preach or tell them?
Did you know this? I'm not the only preacher in the
room. All of you who claim to be in
Christ ought to be preaching the gospel.
Why? It's the power of God unto
salvation for all who believe. You want to be going out and you
ought to be sharing the gospel with these people.
You ought to see that person who's on their way to hell.
And you ought not to have the attitude, Oh, who cares?
I'm on my way to heaven. I ought to motivate you to get
on your face and to pray for their soul, and then to ask that
God would give you the exact words to share with them
regarding the gospel through His holy Scriptures.
And you ought to take those scriptures, and you ought to
approach that person with love in your heart and fire and your
voice, and you want to tell them the truth about the only hope
that sinners have, and that is the hope of Jesus Christ.
The fact that there is a coming inheritance for the wicked ought
to motivate you to share the gospel you ought to hate.
The fact that some of your loved ones are going to spend an
eternity in hell, you ought to hate that enough that you share
with them the only message that can be heard that gives man
hope. It gives man hope, forgiveness,
and eternal life. It gives man hope instead of
eternal damnation. You ought to be motivated by
that hatred, that hatred for the inheritance of the wicked,
motivated enough to really share the gospel with them.
And I believe this to be true. If we really hate the thought of
anyone inheriting hell for all eternity, we will be motivated
to tell everyone about the Christ who rescues sinners from
hell. Fair enough.
Sad to think how many Christians set back on their way to eternal
bliss while others are on their way to eternal damnation.
We have the only message that can save them, and we keep it to
ourselves. You don't quite hate the
inheritance of the wicked. Yet the psalmist here hating the
inheritance of the wicked, motivated by the coming
judgement that he knows is upon us.
And secondly, we see that he's moved to fear and reverence
because of this. Look, in 1/20 he says, my flesh
trembles in fear of you. I stand in all of your laws.
You know, Proverbs 910 still says what it's always said.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Here we see the psalmist has wisdom and understanding from
God. How do we know that?
We see his fear of the Lord. We see him honoring God's power
here as sovereign judge, he says.
All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross.
You're the sovereign judge, he says.
Therefore I love your statutes because you are that sovereign
judge, he says. My flesh trembles in fear of
you. I stand in awe of your laws.
He's honoring God, his sovereign judge, but he's also honoring
God's position here, not only his power, but his position.
He honors his position, recognizing Him as supreme
authority. He is the lawgiver.
He set these laws in motion. He has some authority.
Do you notice the law of gravity?
You know who set that in motion? God, you know, said who?
You know who said his word in motion, His law that his Word
contains God himself. The psalmist here is properly
revering God. He's honoring God's power, a
sovereign judge, and he's honoring God's position as
supreme authority, and he's doing this why?
Out of surrender to who he is, He hates the inheritance of the
wicked. And So what does he do?
He bows his knee to the one true God, showing him honor and
reverence, surrendering to him as he should.
My flesh trembles in fear of you.
I stand in all of your laws, he says.
I know that you are the coming judge.
We will throw the unbeliever out, discard them like dross,
and put them in hell for all eternity because of your
indignation towards sin and wickedness.
And he says, Therefore I love your statutes, because in your
statutes I find mercy and I find forgiveness, and I bow before
you trembling in fear of you. I believe no one or not many
people find themselves trembling in the presence of God because
they don't have any real. Biblical hatred for wickedness.
Why is the psalmist trembling in the presence of God?
Because he knows this. He knows rightfully.
He ought to be judged as well and cast out with the dross.
But God has exercised mercy on him.
And because He has exercised mercy, the proper response is to
bow and submission and worship in holy fear of who He is,
honoring Him, honoring His power, and his position as
sovereign judge and supreme authority.
So biblical hatred includes a hatred for the fact that all
unbelieving sinners apart from Christ will be discarded and
cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
This should motivate us. It should motivate us to
holiness. It should motivate us to
evangelism. It should motivate us to worship
and to be in awe of God and who he is.
This hatred should motivate us. And so we've seen biblical
hatred and the life of the psalmist here today teaching us
some things, teaching us that biblical hatred will be hatred
for the inclinations of the wicked.
Biblical hatred will be hatred toward the influences of wicked.
Biblical hatred will be hatred for the indoctrination of the
wicked. All the things that they are
constantly pumping out, pumping into our homes, we won't
tolerate that any longer. Biblical hatred will be hatred
for the inheritance of the wicked, hating the fact that
many will spend an eternity in hell and often times we walk
past them in the shopping malls, in the workplace, in the grocery
store with not a second thought about what's going to happen to
their wicked soul lest they repent and turn to Christ.
So Christian, I ask you this, do you hate biblically?
Do you do you hate biblically? Do you hate what God hates?
And do you love what God loves, as His Word has revealed to us?
Because there's a huge problem in the church.
You know what the problem is? We openly love things that God
says He hates in His Word and shouldn't be.
So I pray that the Spirit would convict you and that you would
repent of any of those things this very day to the unbeliever.
Your sin, your love for the world, your love for wickedness,
it proves that you don't love Christ.
This is not a game. The proof is in the pudding.
It proves that you don't love Christ.
In fact, John chapter 3 verse 19 says this is the verdict.
Light is coming to the world, that men love darkness instead
of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light.
And we're not coming to the light for fear that his deeds
will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth
comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he
has done has been done through God.
I pray today that though maybe your entire life you have lived
it in darkness. I pray today that God would have
mercy on you, that he would bring you into the light.
That he's even doing that now, showing you your need for Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior. That you truly would repent of
your sin and turn to Christ today as the one who came to die
on a cross, who was buried, and who rose again victoriously so
that you can receive new life and forgiveness of sin this very
day. My prayer that God in His mercy
would turn your heart to Christ, that you would believe and you
would confess him as Lord. This morning.
Let's pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus, we
come to you. Thanking you so much for your
word. But I know the.
Topic that we have addressed today is not a very popular one,
but I pray that we have seen that it is a very biblical 1
Lord, that we would live our lives hating the things that you
hate and clinging to what is good.
Loving the things that you love. God, I pray that we would hate
every single inclination and abiding sin in our life.
First and foremost. That we would run to Your word
for truth in those areas, dying to ourselves, repenting of our
sin. God, I pray for the lost soul
who's here today who doesn't know you.
Lord, they are so dependent upon Your mercy right now, they don't
even know it. Lord, I ask that in your
kindness You would lead them to repentance this morning,
showering them with mercy and love and grace and forgiveness
in Christ. We pray all these things in the
mighty name of Jesus, Amen. You've been listening to Key
Life Fellowship's Pulpit Ministry podcast.
Join us each week for more teaching from God's Word.