"7 Things The Lord Hates"

Our lesson comes from the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 6:16-19 "These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren."

We already know from scripture that God has a great amount of love...But we see here that He also has a great hate for other certain things. 

Now the word hate, unlike the N.T. word for hate, in this context it carries the meaning "to detest or to abhor those things which are abominable." 

The word abominable means a disgusting thing; a moral revulsion, or a scheme that brings about evil. 
These things that God hates come from a person's heart. Notice what Jesus says in,

Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 "These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."

If we fail to allow God's Word to be our guide then we may quickly find ourselves coming up with all kind of ideas & reasons that will oppose God's Will making us God's enemy.
In our dress, our tongue, our thoughts, our very lives...

That is why it is imperative that we study God's Word and try to be Christians who possess a pure heart...
...That is, that we desire Him, have intellect or knowledge of Him from His Word, our conscience is clear toward God and His Word, and our emotions are proper and in praise to Him.

Do you remember what Jesus said on the sermon on the mount? He said,
Matt. 5:8 "Blessed are the pure (katharos) in heart, For they shall see God."

We can only accomplish this if we try our best to live our life according to God's Word. 
We can also see the flip side of this. 

If we don't have a pure heart; THAT IS...
If we have NO desire, intellect, conscience, emotions;
if we are NOT LIVING our life according to God's Word then we will not see God, and that means we will not enter into heaven.

So as we examine these 7 things that God hates, if you find that you are involved in anyone of these, EVEN SLIGHTLY,
then I encourage you to make a change because if God hates it, and we hold on to it; you surely will not see heaven. 

1) A proud look. 

This describes a person who thinks they are "all that and then some". We would describe this person as a know-it-all or a person who thinks they are better than everyone else. 

We might also describe this person as being   arrogant or haughty. I am sure that each of us has run across a person like this. 

Let me give you some examples of what this kind of person does; 
Because of their pride, they will argue with you until their blue in face even if they are wrong and have been proven wrong; 
because IT IS COMPLETELY OUT OF CHARACTER FOR THEM; they don't want to admit that someone else could possibly be right. 

Another characteristic of this type of person is one who constantly tries to "one-up" everyone. Let's say you tell this person that you run a mile every day. 

Well, not wanting to be outdone, whether it is true or not, they will say "oh, really; well I run 2 miles a day. 
It doesn't matter if you tell them about what your kids did or what kind of vacation you went on; 
this person's kid or their vacation was better... according to them. 
THIS PERSON WILL NOT BE OUTDONE!!!

These kind of people will belittle others to make themselves look and feel superior.
These kind of people are not encouragers; they need pumped up constantly and if no one else will do it, THEY WILL!!!

We need to keep in mind that God hates this kind of attitude and this attitude is not spoken of well in the scriptures.
Look at what Paul tells Timothy in,

2 Timothy 3:1-7 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Not only does Paul warn Timothy and us about people who have this haughty attitude; 
he informs us as Christians to turn away from such people; 
and he goes on to say that because of haughtiness they are always learning but are never able to come to 'The knowledge of The Truth'.

You see, if you think you know it all; it is impossible to teach you anything because you are so wrapped up in yourself.

While having this attitude might make you feel good on the inside; this feeling will only be temporary and it is not worth the cost of being opposed to/by God.

Again Paul warns Timothy and describes the characteristics of a proud person
1 Timothy 6:3-5 "If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself."

A person who is engaged in this type of sin will do whatever they can to be right; even if they KNOW they are very wrong. 

The Bible also implies that this haughty attitude is prevalent in those who are rich in this world's goods. (NOT ALWAYS, HOWEVER)

1 Timothy 6:17-19 "Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty(high minded), nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 

The reason why Paul specifically points out the rich is because a lot of times those who are wealthy develop the attitude that they are better than others. 

It easy for wealth to go to our head and cause us to look down on the less fortunate. This has always been a problem throughout history.


So we must be careful as Christians not to allow our material possessions to cause us to have a proud look.

Now look at what James says about a proud person,
James 4:6 "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
The word 'resists' here is from the Greek word, antitassô, an old military term, meaning 'to range in battle against...'

So if you are arrogant; or a know-it-all; God is going to resist you (wage war) and will not give you His saving grace because He will only give it to humble which is the opposite attitude of a proud look.

When the day of judgment comes and we must all stand before God, those who have had this arrogant attitude will be taken away. 

Isaiah 13:11 "I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."

Now that we have examined the horrible consequences of this sin; let's now turn our attention to what the Bible says about how to combat this sin. 

Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate."

If we are going to be pleasing to God, we must be like God and hate those things that He hates and loves those things that he loves. 

The best way to combat any sin is to learn to hate it because when you hate something, you can't stand it and you don't want to have any part of it. 

So, not only are we to learn how to love more, we must also learn how to hate more. 

We need to keep in mind that we are hating sin and the evil, action; but not the actual person. 

Proverbs 16:18-19 "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud."

Haughtiness and pride both imply self-confidence to excess which produces carelessness, and then a fall--literally, "sliding."

We learn from this that a Christian must do their best to be humble to God and to others; 
and this will keep you from becoming prideful or arrogant or thinking that you are better than others. 

To help motivate us to be humble we need to remember what The Holy Spirit in James said. He said God resists; wages war with; the proud but gives grace to the humble. 

So, if we want to see heaven it's important that we DEVELOP humility. I believe Paul describes Christian Humility best in,

Philippians 2:1-9 "Therefore if there is any consolation (paraklesis; comfort) in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,"

If anyone had a right to be proud or EXALTED it would have been Jesus; after all He was deity yet He humbled himself before God and said that He came to the earth to serve and not to be served.

As Christians we need take to heart what Paul has said in this verse and it's important that we follow Christ's example and be humble; and lose the proud look if it is a part of our life...

We will pick this study up in our next time together. May God Bless...