Christ's Hatred (Rev. 2:6)

The Vitality of Attachment to Christ and the Context of His Threat

0:01 I've introduced each of our studies in this passage by making this statement, or one similar to it, that there is nothing more vital to the life of the Church than its personal attachment to the person of Christ in love, in faith, and in knowledge. And since the Church is comprised of individual men and women, fellows and girls, it is accurate to say that there is nothing more vital to the life of the child of God than his attachment to the person of Christ in love, in faith, and in knowledge.

0:43 There is nothing more revealing than the question, honestly faced and honestly answered, what is Christ to you right now?

0:53 Nothing more telling than that. Of all the plants in the garden of the human heart, the plants of grace, most tender, is that of personal devotion to the person of Christ.

1:09 And that's the plant whose roots, in a very real sense, feed all of the other plants. The one whose pollen pollinates all the others. So that if that plant begins to wither and to die, it is only a matter of time before every other plant in the garden of the human heart, planted by grace, will also be found withering. And so in the light of this tremendously basic and vital principle we have been studying for some weeks, this second chapter of the book of the Revelation, the first seven verses, which perhaps more clearly than any other portion in all of Scripture, bring into focus

1:52 those facets of our relationship to the Lord in love, the difficulties, the undermining of that love, the restoration of it, the importance of it. In so many other things, as we have, I trust, been convinced of in our careful word-by-word study of this portion of the Word of God. We've considered in some detail our Lord's commendation of the church at Ephesus, his complaint against that church, thou hast left thy first love. We've looked at his command, the directives by which that love is to be restored, remember, repent, and do.

2:32 And then last, Lord's Day. We looked at the threat of our Lord, as found in verse 5, remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works, or else, here is a clear, explicit threat, do this or else, I will come to thee and move thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. And so we considered that threat as a terrifying threat, as a conditional threat, and then we closed our study by the consideration that it was an appended threat, a threat that concludes with this statement in verse 6, but this thou hast, that thou hatest the words

3:17 of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. And our Lord gives this appendix, this statement tacked on to the end of his threat, primarily as an encouragement to the people of Ephesus that if this threat is to be continued, then this hatred for the deeds of the Nicolaitans is there, it is evidence of attachment to him, as one commentator has said, where such love for him and his truth and his church shows itself by such hatred of those who are out to oppose his truth, his person, and his church, there is great hope that this love may be revived to its pristine strength and original energy.

The Uniqueness and Context of Christ's Hatred

4:02 And in opening up. That appendix, I glossed over deliberately the tremendous statements found in that little appendix, and as I sought to go on in my preparation this week to expound verse 7, he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, I became more and more convinced that what he would say to this church this morning was found back in verse 6. And so verse 7 will wait, God willing, for next week, and I had to be obedient to the very thing that verse 7 says. Isn't it interesting that the only explicit statement to my knowledge in all of scripture

4:43 where Christ is actually quoted as saying that he hates something, if you have a King James Bible you are already proving me wrong by looking over to chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 where the little phrase I also hate, but it doesn't have good manuscript evidence, and in the A.S.V. it's not there.

5:01 To my knowledge. It's the only place in all of scripture where Christ Himself is speaking and says that he hates something or someone. This statement is couched in one of the most clear statements of the centrality of the virtue of love. Explicit statement of hatred couched in the context of one of the most powerful statements of the centrality of the virtue of love.

The Fact of Christ's Hatred Asserted and Defined

5:37 That's all. I want us to pause and think seriously of what these words really convey. Thou hatest that which I also hate. And to think our way through the text, consider with me in the first place the fact of Christ's hatred asserted. And then secondly, we shall look at the objects of Christ's

6:04 hatred described. And then thirdly, the sharing of Christ's hatred approved. First of all then, the fact of Christ's hatred asserted. I also hate. And it's in a present tense which could

6:22 be translated literally, I also am hating. He says to the church at Ephesus, whatever you there at Ephesus think of me. As the glorified Lord described in chapter 1, the one who walks in the midst of the lampstands, I want you not only to think of me as the compassionate priest of my people, I have commended you for the virtues which my eye discerns. I have spoken to you of my grief that you have left your first love. Whatever you people at Ephesus think of me as your great

7:06 high priest in all of my compassion, whatever you think of me in the plentitude of my grace and even in my threatenings, I give you encouragements. They are gracious threatenings. I want you to think of me as the Christ who is in your midst, as the Christ of burning hatred. Isn't that strange? All the way from this pinnacle of the statement of love, I have somewhat

7:36 against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat

7:37 against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I have somewhat against this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I am

7:42 in poor humor. I have hope, I can't hear anyone else. I NGOs caught me off guard. This is not my intention to do it. This is not my intention to pray or to begin my practical

7:53 life again because in the midst of ____ border?" Number Hae does myself a bigger responsibility than what you only think of us. You think that when the enemy is with you, seems to you that you're gonna be destroyed? That you think that you're the only one who can save the patient? That you as ____ incrementally

8:04 become a criminal, they treat you like wrongly and stand on their feet a little bit disgustingly of infinite compassion, boundless grace, but of pure and holy hatred. And unless you know me as the Christ of hatred, you don't know me as I am. Now, in the first place, what we've got to do is define the word hatred, and this is probably the bulk of our problem, because in men, wherever this word is used, and whenever hatred is manifested, it is for the most part done so in a sinful

8:42 context. Hatred is the outbreaking of one of the works of the flesh. It's a blind, sinful passion expressing itself in desire to harm its object. Scripture says that men hate the light, so what do they do? They will not come to the light,

9:04 and when the embodiment of all light was amongst us, they sought to extinguish the light. But the crucifixion from man's standpoint is nothing more or less than man's attempt to obliterate the light. So men hate the light. Paul says in Titus 3.3, we ourselves were one time hateful, hating one

9:24 another, but the word of itself, detached from any specific object, simply means to detest something or another. someone, to abhor something or someone, to have a deep and violent aversion to something or someone. The word of itself is neither virtuous nor vicious. It is neither right nor wrong. It

9:54 simply deals with this emotion and attitude of detestation, of abhorrence, to have a deep and violent aversion to something or someone. It is the antonym of love. And all you budding English students, you know what antonyms are, words that are opposite in their meaning. As dark is the antonym of light, as up is the antonym of down, so hate is the antonym of love. And when you look

10:23 at several scriptural passages which set this out, this is not an English deduction but a biblical deduction. Notice in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter 6, our Lord says in verse 24, no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other. The antonym of hate is love. And then the outworking of these two dispositions, he will hold to the one, love gravitates to its object.

11:02 He desires to cleave to and attach itself to its object. Whereas hate, just the opposite. He will love the one, I'm sorry, will hold to the one and despise the other. He will regard it as a thing unworthy of his attachment, of his interest, and his affection. Turn back in this same Gospel to

11:24 chapter 5 and verse 43. Ye have heard that it was said, thou shalt love thy neighbor, and the antonym of love, thou shalt hate thine enemy. And then an Old Testament passage simply underscoring this principle again, Psalm 119, verse 163, the psalmist says, I hate and abhor falsehood, where you have as a synonym of hatred, abhorrence, but thy law, here's the antonym, do I love. I have a disposition of revulsion from.

12:03 I have a disposition of love, aversion to, abhorrence to, falsehood, but I have a disposition of attachment to, inclination towards, involvement with thy holy law. So as we define the word scripturally, we must think of it as the opposite of love. And we must go further and recognize it, recognize that it is from love that hatred arises, towards those things that are contrary to what is loved, or which oppose or thwart us in attaining

12:43 the things we delight in. It's the capacity to love something or someone genuinely that gives birth to the capacity to hate its opposite, or to hate that which keeps us from attaining the object of our love. So then this hatred, spoken of by our Lord here in Revelation 2, is that deep feeling of abhorrence, of detestation and aversion to something. And whatever is hated, in man or in God, they cannot contemplate with delight. If you hate something, you cannot contemplate it and get a source of delight,

13:27 or find delight in contemplation of it. Secondly, you cannot seek to sustain, maintain or preserve what you hate. Hatred has inherent in it, a desire to destroy that which is the object of the hate. To get away, to do away with it or to get away from it. You will do all

13:51 within your power to obliterate. That's the net positive statement. On the one hand you can't look upon it with delight, on the other hand you'll do all within your power to obliterate it. So then Christ in the midst of the church as he was in the church, He was standing still, and he was was then and as he is now has this hatred he exercises and feels it so that in all the exercise of his compassion and love as we've seen it in the previous five verses in all the expressions of his grace and his kindness he is also the Christ of infinite pure and holy hatred now you say why bother with this that's you just got a funny kind of a mind that wants to pick up every

Why Assert Christ's Hatred: Worship, Sanctification, and Contemporary Need

14:35 little phrase of scripture and make a big to-do about nothing well I hope you don't think that way just might be that some do why bother to assert the fact of Christ's hatred we come out of a world full of hatred pastor why do we have to come into church and then you tell us Christ hates too small comfort you give us well if there were no other reason to underscore it than the fact that it's here that's reason enough but there are some very practical reason the first one is this understanding Christ is the Christ of infinite pure and holy

15:11 hatred is essential to true god-pleasing worship who are we to worship the triune God and how are we to worship him in spirit and in truth and what is truth that which is according to reality falsehood is that which is is not according to reality. It's a misrepresentation. So if we're to worship our God in truth, and Jesus in the midst of His church this morning is the Christ of infinite, pure, and holy hatred, we do not worship Him aright if we worship Him as a Christ denuded

15:54 of His capacity to hate. We're worshiping some other Christ other than the Christ who walks in the midst of His people. And so, it's necessary to understand this assertion of Christ's hatred if we would render God-pleasing worship. Secondly, it is a vital part of our sanctification.

16:20 One of the great principles of the sanctifying process is that underlined in 2 Corinthians 3.18 where Paul says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit. What's he saying? I believe this is what he's saying, and I have on my side some of the most able commentators, that the sanctifying process, among other ways, is carried on when the believer, beholding the glory of the Lord as mirrored in Holy Scripture,

17:03 is more and more made like unto that which he beholds with adoring wonder. The son who admires his father and beholds him in all of his activities as an object of admiration and adulation, many times consciously, but more often subconsciously, is being molded into the very pattern and likeness of his daddy. I shall never forget, when as a boy, somebody told me, they said, you know, you throw your right leg around when you walk, just like your dad. Oh, I felt so good about that, because I used to notice when my father would walk,

17:47 he'd always kind of throw his right leg around, and you know, I'd actually work on that, try to get my right leg going like my dad. As I beheld my dad,

17:58 the mirror of his own likeness and personality reflected through his actions, it was my delight to become like him. Some of that, some of that was conscious, much of it unconscious. So in the life of the believer, as he beholds the glory of Christ as mirrored in Scripture, by the deep, powerful operations of the Spirit, he becomes more and more like his Lord, both in conscious acts of true biblical imitation, we should follow his steps, Peter says, John says, we should walk as he walks, but more by the unconscious, transformation of our very image,

18:42 our very substance and being into the image of Christ. All right then, if Christ is not only the Christ of infinite compassion, of boundless grace, but also of pure and holy hatred, to the extent that I fail to see the glory of the hatred of Christ, my own sanctification will be checked and hindered,

19:08 because we begin to see the glory of Christ, become like that upon which we gaze. And may I suggest that no little measure of the problems in our day in Christian experience amongst the people of God is rooted in the fact they've been gazing upon a hateless Christ.

19:28 Hence their own approval in themselves and in others. Hence their own ability to hate what are called little departures from the truth, little defections from the objective revelation, little delusions of the scriptures. And if we would be truly sanctified, we must behold the glory of the Lord of Scripture, who's the Lord in the midst, who says, which things I also hate. And then the third reason why we need to underscore and assert the hatred, the fact of Christ's hatred, is due to the peculiar need of our day.

20:11 For Christ has been made into the image, the image of what men think he ought to be,

20:18 rather than proclaimed as he is in truth. And when Christ can be thought of as the one who has no hatred, then his love has lost all of its biblical significance.

20:34 May I repeat that? When Christ can be thought of as the one who has no hatred, then his love has lost all of its biblical significance. If that, to which he moves in love, is not precious enough to him, that he will hate with holy hatred all that would harm the object of his love, then his love is worth nothing.

21:04 Now the Bible says we're to be witnesses of him. And who is he? He is the Christ who stands in the midst of the candlesticks, saying, which I also am hating. And as one author has said, fervent love is the mother of earnest hatred.

21:25 And fervent love is never childless.

21:29 So if there is no earnest hatred,

21:33 it's because there's no mama. There's no fervent love. And that's why you see Christ's expression of hatred is couched in one of the most intimate passages dealing with the centrality of love. For his ability to be wounded at the loss of love is inseparably joined to his capacity to hate.

The Objects of Christ's Hatred: Nicolaitan Deeds and General Iniquity

21:53 And so it is in the lives of his children. Well, so much then for the fact of Christ's hatred asserted. Secondly then, the objects of Christ's hatred described. First of all in this text, and then in general.

22:06 In this text, what is the object of Christ's hatred? What does he hate? Well, he says, but this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds or the doings of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. And as I said, last week, all we can know for certain about these Nicolaitans is that they were an early sect of the Christian church whose main error was turning the grace of God into a license for sin.

22:38 That is, holding to the substance of the doctrine of the gospel, but perverting it so as to discourage and justify disobedience, discourage, I'm sorry, to encourage and justify disobedience to biblical standards of holiness and to encourage people to believe the doctrine of the gospel could be held along with a life that was not conformed to the standards of the gospel. So, in its context, Christ hates all departure from objective truth, which in turn leads to departure from subjective holiness, or, to state it another way,

23:22 he hates errors in the mind, which produce uncleanness in the life. And those two are always joined together. So he says to this church, you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans. You hate what comes out of their mouth in terms of a perversion of the doctrine of the gospel, and then you hate what it produces in their lives in terms of a deflection from the standards of the gospel.

23:48 So, in context, what does Christ hate? He hates all errors, wherever it comes to light, and he hates all uncleanness. And may I suggest that this is simply an application of a larger principle, and I believe I can justify that exegetically, that is, on the basis of text of scripture. So consider the object of Christ's hatred not only in this limited context, but in general.

24:19 And the key text is Hebrews 1 in verse 9. Speaking of the Lord Jesus in quoting, from the Old Testament, the writer to the Hebrews says, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Thou hast loved righteousness, that is, everything which is an accurate reflection of the character and being of God. Everything consistent with his law, thou hast loved it.

24:54 But thou hast hated iniquity, that is, everything that is contrary to the being and to the law of God. So it's not surprising then to read in the Old Testament in particular, specific things which God says he hates. Proverbs 6, 16 to 19. These six things doth the Lord hate.

25:18 Yea, seven are an abomination unto him. And then he gives these specifics. Listen. As I read them, Proverbs 6, 16 to 19.

25:28 Haughty eyes,

25:31 a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked purposes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that uttereth lies, and isn't it strange, right in the midst of all those gross sins, he that soweth discord among the brethren.

25:56 God says, I hate these things. I hate them. Whenever my eye discerns any deflection from my holy law which demands truthfulness, which demands peace, which demands concord, which demands respect, one human being of the life and rights of another, he said, everything within me is stirred to pure and holy hatred. These things do I hate.

26:24 And though we have a categorical, list of them here, you can go through the Old Testament, just take your concordance and see what God hates. In one place, God says to Israel, I hate your worship services. I hate them. He says that in the book of Amos 5 and verse 21.

26:43 He says, I hate your Sunday morning services. He says, when you come together, he says, I hate them. I detest them. I abhor them.

26:49 I won't own them. Why?

26:52 Well, because you see, God wants worship that's what? In truth. And their worship had become a sham. It was merely putting their bodies in the right place at the right time to do the right things without the pouring out of their hearts.

27:05 God says, I hate this. You read Matthew 23. See how much Christ hates sham. Religious hypocrisy.

27:12 Double standards. They bind burdens. They won't carry them. They tell you what to do.

27:16 They won't do it. They can set the pattern. They don't follow it. They can say, do as I say rather than do as I do.

27:22 He hates this. And so he pours out his whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, Christ hates sham. Duplicity. Hypocrisy.

27:32 Decadent religion. Human wisdom. He hates it. That's why he says to Peter after saying, blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonah.

27:41 You're a blessed man. The Holy Spirit has given you insight as to who I am. And Peter turns around and says, but Lord, though I'm straight on who you are, I don't feel you ought to accomplish what you've come to do the way you've said. You're talking about a bloody cross, about death, about burial, and resurrection.

27:58 Lord, far be it from you. And he said, get thee behind me, Satan. For thou thinkest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man. God hates human wisdom.

28:08 That's why he's out to destroy it. 1 Corinthians 1. God shall bring to naught the wisdom. God hates human wisdom.

28:15 God hates human wisdom. Because human wisdom runs contrary to divine knowledge and to truth. So he hates it. And so in a general sense, Christ hates everything that is characteristic of man's thinking, devoid of the illumination of the Spirit.

28:38 He hates everything in life that is a deflection from his holy law. And so whenever and wherever these things are seen, he hates them with perfect hatred, but particularly when they show themselves within the pale of his church. For in a peculiar way, the church, which is the pillar and the ground of the what? Of the truth.

29:04 And when he sees deflection from truth within the pale of the confessing church, he hates it with a double hatred. Error must come to light when men are devoid of the illumination of the Spirit. But within the church, which is to be the pillar and ground of the truth, whenever there is deflection from that truth, he hates it. And in context, that was what he hated here.

29:28 And then he hates any deflection from holiness, for the church is not only to be the deposit of the truth, but what else? The reflection of his holy character. He hath called us out of darkness into marvelous light. For what purpose?

29:42 That we should show forth the virtues of him who called us out of darkness. He that saith he abideth in him ought to walk, even as what? He walked.

29:54 How does the Lord feel this morning as he walks in the midst of this lampstand? May I suggest that whatever his eye discerns that is contrary to revealed truth, and whatever his eye discerns that is a deflection from his holy law, he hates with a pure and holy hatred. So much then for the hatred of Christ asserted, the objects of Christ's hatred described, now consider in the third place the sharing of Christ's hatred approved. But this thou hast that thou hast thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also have.

The Approval of Shared Hatred: Christ's Delight in His Likeness

30:36 In other words, which I also hate. He is approving the presence of his attitude toward the deeds of the Nicolaitans as he sees it reflected in the lives of the people at Ephesus. The essence of what he says is this. As I walk in the midst of the candlesticks, I discern in you a deep abhorrence of and an antipathy to the deeds of the Nicolaitans.

31:06 And I heartily approve of this presence of hatred in your midst. Though I'm grieved at the lessening of your love, I'm delighted by the presence of your hatred. There's the essence of our Lord's words. Now why?

31:21 Why does the Lord Jesus approve of this sharing of his hatred? May I suggest basically two reasons. One with reference to himself. One with reference to himself.

31:32 The first reason is this. His likeness reflected in his people is the delight of his heart.

31:43 The ultimate goal in God's salvation is to perfect us into the very likeness of his dear son. Isn't that true? Romans 8, 29. Whom he did foreknow, then he did predestinate to be what?

31:57 Conformed to the image of his son. Now what's it mean to be conformed to Christ's image? It does not mean that I assume the character traits set forth in Solomon's head of Christ. And I emphasize that periodically because we have a new generation coming in all the time and we need to repeat.

32:14 Not because I'm getting old and can't think straight anymore but I do it purposely. I'm getting old but I still hope I can think straight.

32:22 To be conformed to the image of Christ does not mean that we assume the limited character traits reflected in the almost semi-effeminate Solomon's head of Christ. The passive virtues of Christ. The distant look of the mystic. The quiet, unscarred cheek of the man who's never been in a brawl and all the rest.

32:46 No. Whom he did foreknow, he did be conformed, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son means to be conformed to his moral likeness. To love what he loves with a measure of love that becomes more and more like his. To hate to hate what he hates with a quality and measure of hate that becomes more and more like unto his hate.

33:15 And now as the Lord who has died to have this, he's died that he might have a church that will ultimately bear his perfect likeness, we shall be like him. Isn't that what it says? When we see him as he is, how it delights him whenever he sees any evidence that that process begun in regeneration, God's work, resulting in man's conversion, turning from sin and repentance and faith to God through Christ. Whenever he sees that process going on apace,

33:53 it gives to him added delight of the certainty of the culmination. Every new evidence that we are more like him is part of his realizing the travail of his soul. This is what he died for. And as he sees of the travail of his soul coming to fruition, this can only do one thing but delight him.

34:14 Just as a parent, if you have biblical goals for your children as we've tried to spell them out these Friday night sessions, your goal is to see a well-integrated, total personality in every area of life under the dominion and direction of Holy Scripture. Intellectual alertness and emotional stability and spiritual virility. And as a parent, every sign of valid development that you see assuring you that this goal can be realized, what does it do to you as a parent? Well, it just fills you with joy.

34:46 Now, if you had no goals and you're just simply putting bread on the table and clothes on the back, you just go along and there's never any joy. But where you have these clearly defined goals and everything to which you're committed as a parent is with reference to those goals, my, you look for every little thing that you can find in the world that you can find in the world that you can find in the world. Every little sign that they may be realized. I told one of my children the other day when he said a certain thing, I said, you know, that makes a happy pappy.

35:15 That makes a happy pappy. And why does certain things make a happy pappy? Because it's part of the realization of your goal as a parent. Now, why am I taking all that time?

35:29 Well, just to underscore, can you feel what our Lord feels here? In the midst of that church where he discerns the lessening of love and attachment to his person, he says, you do have. I see a reflection of my own character in you. Namely, your deep aversion and hatred and abhorrence of the deeds of the Nicolaitans.

35:52 This brings delight to my heart for this is what I died to realize in my people. And so I say to you as the people of God, do you want to delight your Lord? And if you're a Christian, you don't even need to think before you answer. You say, there's nothing else I live for in life but to please him.

36:11 As Paul says, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be pleasing unto him. If so, then may I quote to you Psalm 97, 10. Ye that love the Lord hate evil. You that love the Lord hate evil.

The Approval of Shared Hatred: Assurance and Encouragement for Believers

36:32 Do you want him to be delighted as he discerns your character? Then he will be delighted to the extent that he sees more and more of his own likeness reflected in you, even this pure and holy hatred of evil, error in the mind, uncleanness in the life. And then the second reason why the sharing of his hatred is approved is this, his likeness discovered in his people is a source of assurance and encouragement to them. His likeness reflects in his people a delight to him.

37:14 His likeness discovered in his people a source of assurance and encouragement to them. As we saw in our study last week, these words were primarily spoken to encourage the people at Ephesus. Having rebuked them, our Lord would not have them swallowed up in discouragement. Well, how can such words be encouragement?

37:39 But this thou hast, thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Why? This ought to give them assurance that though they've lost their first love, they're still within the orbit of grace. For how do we know that we are the children of God?

37:54 As the Confession so clearly states the biblical teaching, not only because we've embraced the promises of God to believing sinners, but because there is in us the evidence of those graces which always flow out of true faith. And one evidence of grace is hatred for what Christ hates. If fervent love is the mother of earnest hatred, then all who've been brought to love Him and have the fruit of the Spirit in their hearts, which is love, must in some measure hate what He hates. He hates iniquity.

38:29 He hates all departure from truth. Now may I press the whole principle of this morning's message upon your conscience. What do you hate with a pure and holy and deep and fervent hatred? Do you hate the things Christ hates first of all in yourself?

38:47 For no man truly hates in another that which he loves in himself. That's self-deception. No man truly hates in another that which he loves in himself. So do you hate first of all in yourself all error?

39:05 If you do, you're going to do all within your power to blot out error in your own mind. And how do you do that? By diligent, close study of the Word of God. By the discipline of time to expose your mind to those who've been able to articulate the truth of God clearly.

39:26 I'm talking about the reading of good literature. The careful attention to preaching. Not the toleration of the second point because then you know it's closer to the third and when he hits the third we're getting close to going home. No, no.

Practical Application: Hating Sin in Ourselves and the Church

39:40 If you hate error, you know that the most effective means for the overthrow of error is the absorption of truth. And your life will reflect a serious effort to absorb all the truth you can absorb this side of the beatific vision. Now is that true of you? Is that true of you?

40:02 Do you attach yourself to as much sound Biblical preaching as you possibly can? Or are you content to salve the conscience with a minimal exposure to truth? Do you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which involves their error as well as their uncleanness? Then the evidence will be an attachment to truth.

40:25 Do you find in yourself a hatred to uncleanness and sin? That which is a deflection of God's holy law? Do you hate pride when you see it in your own heart? Or are you merely disgusted when you're around someone else who's boasting?

40:43 If you hate pride in your own heart you'll do everything for its destruction. You'll be found in secret crying to God to subdue the pride of your heart. You'll be crying to God to shrivel the roots of pride. If you hate lying in others the evidence that it's a Biblical hatred is that you yourself are committed to speaking truth with your own lips.

41:07 Do you find in yourself the evidence of holy hatred? Do you hate discord amongst the brethren? Well the evidence will be that by God's grace you do everything to maintain the unity of the spirit in the midst of the church of God. If you can sow little seeds of doubt about the character of one and a seed here to undermine confidence in another you don't hate discord, you love it.

41:35 And God says he hates that which sows discord amongst the brethren. If you can be at home both with truth and error with pure worship and an evangelical three ring circus then you don't love the truth. You don't love pure worship. If you can be unconcerned about whether or not your worship is empty and formal or whether it's drawing near with the heart then you don't love righteousness and hate iniquity.

42:02 If you're not conscious of the agony of Romans 7 where Paul says that which I hate I find myself doing. If you're not conscious of that my friend you have no grounds to claim you're a child of God. For you don't love anything that surrounds Christ with any true love unless inherent in that love is the capacity to hate what he hates and to hate it first of all in your own heart and life. To hate it first of all in your own heart and life.

The Inseparability of Love for Truth and Hatred for Falsehood

42:32 And then when the hatred there is genuine as it was with these Ephesians it will work itself out in a hatred in wider circles and doing everything in our power to obliterate that which is the object of our hate. This is why the Psalmist says in those beautiful statements in Psalm 119 and I just want to read them quickly because they underscore this principle Psalm 119 starting with verse 104 he says through thy precepts I get understanding. He said in the word of God there is truth

43:16 therefore because I love truth I hate every false way. He doesn't say well I'm content to have God teach me through the word and if people want to see it differently now that's different. No, no he said I hate every false way. I hate every false way because I love the true way.

43:34 Verse 128 in the same chapter therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right consequence I hate every false way. So you have no Biblical love for any Biblical virtue unless it is paralleled with and inseparably joined to a hatred of the opposite. This was not only spoken to give assurance to these people but to give encouragement. And the best little parable I could come up with is this I don't know if there's any such creature but suppose you knew there was a certain creature

The Parable of the Offspring: Hatred as Proof of Enduring Love

44:17 that could not exist for longer than three days if it were cut off from its mother. That is if it could not be by the side of the mother with some recurring frequency during the day if it ever got completely out of sight for longer than three days this creature would die. Now suppose you know that this creature and his mother have been corralled in a certain place where there's some trees and some rocks and some big boulders and a few tunnels and the rest and day after day you come by and you see the child but you don't see the mother. Then you say but you see outside the pen there's the announcement this creature cannot live for longer than three days if it is ever totally cut off from its mother

45:01 and it gives the validation of that statement. Well if you come by day after day and you see the child if you see the offspring even though you never see the mother one thing you can know when you see the offspring Mama's somewhere. Mama's somewhere. I can't see Mama but I know if that thing is there and it can't live without Mama and yet it is living then Mama's somewhere and it must get to Mama quite frequently throughout the day.

45:28 Well that's what our Lord is saying here. He's saying to the Ephesians in a sense your love is out of sight. You've left your first love. But he says I see the little offspring for remember all true virtuous hate is the offspring of genuine love.

45:49 So he says I see your hatred to the dudes of the Necolatins and I know that the mother of that hatred without which it cannot exist is love to me. So though you've lessened in your love the very presence of hatred is proof that love has not died. And so he encouraged them by saying there's the child Mama's somewhere behind a rock and this should be to our encouragement if we find in our hearts this morning hatred to the deeds of the Necolatins that is hatred for error hatred for unbelief for cleanliness even though we may be conscious painfully conscious that our love

Exhortation to Unbelievers: The Danger of Christ's Hatred and Anger

46:34 has slackened and lessened. Oh may we be encouraged that the grace that is implanted holy hatred and sustained it is the grace that can increase our love to the person of Christ. Then may I close this morning with this simple word of exhortation to you who may not be savingly joined to Christ and your problem is not that you've lost your first love it's that you have no true love for Christ born of saving faith in Christ. Listen whatever Christ I discerns and hates in the day of judgment

47:17 upon that will fall his eternal anger. You get it? And if you come to the judgment covered with your sin a rebel against him you will be the object of his hatred and his anger and you'll be smothered in his judgment. That's what the Psalmist meant when he said kiss the son lest he be what angry and ye perish in the way.

47:53 Oh dear children young people friends visitors don't take the anger of Christ lightly. To have that anger turned against us is to have the anger of omnipotence turned against us. No wonder they'll cry for the rocks and the hills and say fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the what? From the wrath of the Lamb.

Concluding Exhortation: Growing in Holy Hatred and Preserving the Church

48:19 The anger of Christ the hatred of Christ asserted I hate the objects of his hatred described the deeds of the Nicolaitans sharing in Christ hatred approved and commended. Does he see that hatred in us? This morning may God grant that as we seek to grow in love to his person in knowledge of his truth that we shall grow in the holy grace of hatred to all that he hates. And if the time ever comes when it's known that this church no longer hates error hates uncleanness you can establish it

49:03 as an unalterable axiom. It has lost its capacity to love. Fervent love is the mother of earnest hatred. May God preserve the mother and her child in our midst to his glory.

49:22 Let us pray.