YouTube video sermon
Proverbs 6:16-19
As always, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Proverbs 6:16-19. We’re continuing in a sermon series from the Book of Proverbs. There’s no fancy or catchy title for this series. We’re just trying to recapture what it means to “fear the LORD,” so that we might attain wisdom and discipline and understanding and discernment for the times we’re living in.
In the midst of a world in confusion and chaos – where up is down, and down is up, where right is wrong and wrong is right, where truth is whatever you want it to be and lies are passed off as truth, where male is female and female is male, where good is now evil and evil is now good – those of us in the body of Christ still want to be able to know and do that which is right and just and fair in the eyes of God. And in order to do that we need to get back to fearing the LORD.
Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,” and until we understand who God is and develop a reverential fear of Him, we can’t have true wisdom. Because, true wisdom comes only from understanding who God is . . . understand that He’s holy, and just, and righteous . . . and also understanding how much God hates sin and fearing His judgment on sin – even in the life of a believer.
You know; in a day when many people think that God is little more than a really powerful grandfatherly figure who would never express His disapproval of anything, it’s all too easy for those of us in the church to adopt a view of our Creator that leaves almost no room for divine hatred. Yet if we want to fear the LORD, if we want to honor God, if we desire wisdom, and knowledge, and understanding, then we’ll certainly want to pay attention whenever Scripture speaks of those things that God hates.
I’ve titled today’s sermon: Things God Hates. Now there’s no doubt that putting God and the word “hates” right next to each other is not the most politically correct thing to do in our day. Oh, sure, we can talk about God being love, for indeed He is (1 John 4:8, 16). That’s fine, isn’t it? You could put that on a T-shirt, or put that on your business card and pop it into your pocket and give it out to people tomorrow morning. But what about this: “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11) Or, as the old King James Version puts it, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.” How about that for a T-shirt? How about that for a little card to slip to your waitress at the end of the meal, with a decent tip?
You see, the God to whom we’re introduced in the Bible is not a figment of our imaginations. He’s not a creation of our own design and desire – a kind of “tailor-made God” that fits the twenty-first century – to fit the pluralistic perceptions of our culture, to allow us to absorb and placate every notion that presents itself. No, God stands above and outside of all of that, calling men and women to account. And Proverbs 6:16-19 is part of that call. It’s a stern warning to avoid attitudes and behaviors that are displeasing (indeed loathsome) to God, and instead urges us to live lives that are holy and pleasing unto Him. Follow along as I read these four verses:
16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. (ESV)
I want us to consider the serious implications of a passage like this. I want us to see that the negative message of these verses can actually have a positive impact on our lives, but only if we’ll take them seriously and understand that what God hates should never be found in the life of someone who was bought by the blood of His son, Jesus Christ.
We need to grow in our faith and knowledge of the Bible so that we will hate what God hates, and love what God loves. Too many people that call themselves Christians, today, walk around loving and encouraging and supporting things that God hates, all the while hating things that God loves. Are you beginning to see how these verses might help us in 2021, as we live in an upside-down world?
The first thing I want us to notice is that there’s…
A LOATHING
Verse 16 contains two words that are really uncomfortable for most of us: “hate” and “abomination.” Or, your Bible might use the word “detestable.” As I said earlier, this was just not what we were taught as children, and to compound that problem we don’t teach or preach this idea in adult settings much either. Think about it; so much of the preaching that we hear today, and quite frankly, the preaching that most of us like are messages that build us up, sermons that soothe our own egos, sermons that tell us we can have our best lives now. When was the last time you saw a best-selling Christian book titled Hell Is for You (subtitle: If You Don’t Repent)? By the way, that’s not even a real book. I just made it up.
In order to relieve the tension that we feel when we hear God’s name and the emotion of hate we have to begin by understanding that anger – in and of itself – is not a sin. If anger was inherently and intrinsically a sin, then that would mean two things, immediately: one, that God is evil, and two, that Jesus was a sinner. See, we know that it’s a part of the character of God to express His wrath, and we see occasions in the New Testament, particularly in the episode of Jesus cleansing the temple. He fashioned a whip out of ropes and went in there and turned over the tables of the moneychangers and drove them out, and Christ was angry.
We have a phrase to describe that particular type of anger, which is what? (Righteous indignation.) Any time God is angry it’s a righteous anger, and any time that Christ was angry it was a manifestation of righteous indignation. But the problems begin to surface when we realize that most of our anger, most of our hatred, is not grounded in righteousness – even when we’re angry about something that God’s Word tells us He was angry about, rarely do our intentions and motivations about that issue remain pure and holy and righteous. And so, our own experience with hatred and anger get smuggled back into a text like Proverbs 6:16 and we find it difficult, if not impossible, to hear and believe that God hates anything, or that there are attitudes and behaviors that are an abomination to Him.
And the irony of this concept, of wanting to sterilize God from words like abomination or detestable or hate or wrath is that we somehow want to make God more palatable. But you see, that actually robs our sensible friends from being able to put the gospel together. Unless we have a dilemma (i.e. sin), then the story of what Jesus has done – His life, death, and resurrection – makes no sense. It’s precisely because God hates sin that we need to turn to Him by trusting in Jesus Christ.
God is love, yes! But God also has the capacity to hate, and when He expresses that hatred against sinful, wicked people it’s altogether righteous. Proverbs 6:16 is a reminder that God’s loathing of some things (not all things) arises out of His love for His Own glory and holiness, such that even His hatred of sin is an expression of His love.
The second thing for us to consider is there’s…
A LIST
There are a couple of things to know about lists, as they appear in the Bible. First, most lists are not exhaustive. That is to say, just because something is not enumerated or spelled out in a list doesn’t mean that it doesn’t apply or that it’s not included. For example, what do you suppose is the most famous list in the Bible? (Ten Commandments, right?) Does that list of commands from God to His people contain all of His instruction and/or direction to them? No.
Second, and related to the first, is that although most lists in the Bible aren’t exhaustive they at least intend to enumerate some things. This is kind of obvious but we need to remember that lists were included because there were some things that most definitely needed to be communicated. So, let’s take our example of the Ten Commandments again. We’ve already agreed that it doesn’t contain absolutely all of God’s instructions to His people; nevertheless, it does contain at least the minimum requirements for the covenant people of God. The reason that I mention this is because we sometimes emphasize certain things in a list to the exclusion of others in the same list – as if to suggest that those other things aren’t even in the list.
So, lists aren’t necessarily exhaustive, but by their very nature they do contain some things that need to be communicated.
The final thing to keep in mind about lists in the Bible is that they frequently, but not always, indicate progression. Let’s go back to our example of the Ten Commandments. We know that the list begins with the most significant: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:2), and it ends with “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17). There’s a sense in which the list decreases in significance. (Also, just a quick mention, did you notice that the last commandment in the list also contains a list?)
Let me give you one other list that you’re most likely familiar with: The Fruit of the Spirit. Many of you learned a song in church when you were children that helped you remember them. “The fruit of the Spirit is not a coconut. The fruit of the Spirit is not a coconut. If you wanna be a coconut, you might as well hear it you can’t be a fruit of the Spirit. ‘Cause the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Again, there’s a sense in which the list begins with the most significant fruit and ends with one that’s not as important. We remember love as a fruit of the Spirit, but we often forget gentleness or goodness or self-control. Why? Because there’s a tendency to emphasize some and exclude others, but we need to remember those others are also included in the list. So, with those three little facts about biblical lists, let’s consider the list of Proverbs 6:17-19.
First, we see that God hates “haughty eyes.” This is a reference to pride. Pride is what causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Paul says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3). The Lord detests pride. It indicates that we don’t have an accurate understanding of just who we are in relation to Him and to the rest of His creation. When we place confidence wholly in ourselves and what we can do, then we’re doing exactly the opposite of fearing God, which is what we’re pursuing in this series.
Proverbs 6:17 also says that the Lord hates a “lying tongue.” Think about this. Jesus, who is God Himself, tells us that He is the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). So, to tell untruths is to manifest opposition to the One who is truth Himself, and to show no regard for the sanctity of His character. And if that wasn’t enough to curb our tongues, lying also brings great harm to others. A false witness can destroy the reputation and livelihood of another person made in God’s image, thus the ninth commandment that we should not bear false witness (Exodus 20:16).
The third thing that’s listed is “hands that shed innocent blood.” Now, let me just say this. Theologically speaking, we all know that no one is without sin. That is, no one except for Jesus was or is perfect and without guilt. That’s not what Solomon has in mind here. This is a reference to killing someone that is innocent – meaning they aren’t guilty, they haven’t committed a crime that warrants death, they are indeed guiltless and innocent. Obviously, abortion is in view here, but so are the many other senseless mass shootings and senseless killings that are a part of our world. Folks, I know this is clear but sometimes we need to verbalize it in order for it to make any sense. We are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26–27), and therefore, any assault against that image is an indirect assault against the One in whose image we are made.
Fourth on the list is a “heart that devises wicked plans.” As we often say, “now we’re getting to the heart of the matter.” This is an explicit reference to sins we commit in our hearts. Most of us know that we can’t actually carry out the inclinations of our hearts, but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t sinned internally. Think about this. The Lord hates wicked hearts so much that He once destroyed all creatures except Noah, his family, and representatives of the animal kingdom because “every intention of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). And while we know that God will never destroy all life with a flood again, His hatred for hearts that devise wickedness remains.
Proverbs 6:18 also tells us that God hates “feet that make haste to run to evil.” This verse refers to the fanaticism that many sinners have to act wickedly. When you were growing up, did you ever know someone that always seemed to be present when something bad was going down? If there was a fight after school this person was there. If there was a heated argument this person was in it. If there was some prank or harmful destruction to property this person was a part of it. Maybe you were that person; it’s like their face, their car, their voice was evident all the time when something bad was happening. That’s what’s being described here. The fanatical left-wing and right-wing groups that are on the rise today . . . feet that make haste to run to evil.
Finally, in Proverbs 6:19, we see that God hates a “false witness who breathes out lies.” Now be honest, there’s a part of you that’s thinking “this is just an extension of the lying tongues mentioned earlier.” And while that’s partly true, this is likely a reference to someone who tells untruths for the express purpose of taking property or doing harm to others in a legal proceeding.
Based on what we learned earlier about lists we can make the following observations rather quickly.
- It’s not an exhaustive list. There are other attitudes and behaviors that God hates that aren’t mentioned. There’s no mention of idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:25), or homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22ff), or even divorce (Malachi 2:16).
- Despite the fact that it’s not an exhaustive list, we shouldn’t be distracted from the fact that the list does contain some specifics. So, although our minds might be drawn to some of those “big ticket” sins, we can’t overlook the fact that prideful eyes and lying tongues is specifically listed here as being hated by God.
- There’s a progression. In this case it’s not a progression from the most significant to something lesser, rather it’s a progression from the top to bottom: eyes, tongue, hands, heart, and feet.
- We’re also introduced to a Hebrew literary device where the writer would often conclude a list by demonstrating that these things can all combine and thus bring special emphasis (abomination) to the last item – in this case “one who sows discord among brothers.” Look back at verse 16, “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to Him.” God hates these six attitudes and behaviors – to be sure. But the one thing He absolutely abhors is when they come together and manifest themselves in a person.
People that sow discord are all around us. They’re in the political arena, and they’re in the market place. They’re in academics, and they’re in athletics. They’re in our communities, and even in our churches. Shoot, you might even find one where you’re sitting. That’s the list! Do you see any of that in your life? It’s here whether we admit it or not!
That brings us to the last consideration…
A LESSON
Most of us would like to think that those attitudes and behaviors aren’t us, but I think it’s clear that all of us are guilty of at least one of the sins in those verses. Think about that for a moment. All of us have done things that the Lord absolutely hates. Sounds, looks, and feels a little different when we think about it like that. Perhaps if we would remember that there are some actions that God detests, then we’d do them less frequently. Let’s take care to know what the Lord hates so that we might be encouraged not to sin against Him.
Finally, if you’re here today or listening online and you’ve never confessed your sin and accepted the gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ, today is the day. He shed His blood to redeem you from the influence of these things. Would you confess your sin, commit to turn from your old way of living, and receive God’s gift of grace by faith.