I was thinking, as Brother Scott
was reading, talking about the crucifixion. And I thought about the wonder. I thought, you know what, this
really happened. There were really people there. They were at that moment just
as alive as we are right now. Now they're gone. And there were
some in that passage he just read that mocked him, gave him some vinegar. Some of them said he saved others. I can't even save Himself. I'm
thinking here He was being made sin. That I might be able to stand
here this morning and in Him be made the righteousness
of God. I pray God teach me that. Hide that in my heart. Let's
take our Bibles and turn to Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6. Continuing through
this blessed book. Word by word. This morning, I'd like to consider
Proverbs 6, verses 16 to 19. And I've entitled this message, Three
Things Considered About What God Hates. Now, that which God says He loves, He loves with a love that is
consistent to His character, which holiness is the word that we would describe,
the sacredness, holiness, the sacredness of God. And that which God hates, He
hates in the same way. He's holy, pure. I mean, we say the word holy. I don't even know how to describe
holiness. I can use words. I can give you
some adjectives. Holiness of God. Psalm 45, 7 says this is what
The scripture says concerning what God loves and what God hates,
Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. God loves righteousness and hates
wickedness. To say that He loves righteousness,
I can tell you this without any doubt. that what I'm saying is
so. I know that what I'm about to
say is true. When He says He loves righteousness,
that means He loves His Son. The only righteous man in Himself,
the Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, God, Man, the only righteous servant that
justifies all that the Father gave Him. This is my beloved Son, whom
I am well pleased. Hear Him. And loving righteousness. I love righteousness. I know He loves all those in
His Son. He loves them for the Son's sake. Oh, here again. I mean, if this
message or these two messages wasn't for anybody else, these
were for me. I needed these messages today. I just think to myself
right now that Almighty God would love me and has chosen Me. I know He
has a people. Oh, that I might be found in
that group. That in the indescribable glory
of Almighty God, that the Lord Jesus Christ would make sin for me. I am not going to explain it to
you because I can't. How do I describe? How do I set
forth? How do I tell you? I can look up a word. As I told
you before, I don't speak Greek and I don't speak Hebrew. But
I do have those dictionaries. And as much as a man has set
forth the description of that word, it made him produced. Created. That's what it means. To be. To be. Same word when
it says He made a scourge, a whip. That wasn't a legal thing. It
was a real whip. And when He laid it on those
money changers there in the temple, that wasn't a legal thing. He
whipped it. But you try to asked me to explain
the fullness of God Himself in human flesh being
made sin, constituted sin. And Almighty God dealt with sin,
my problem, sin. I can't even tell you what sin
is. Scripture says it's transgression
of the law. Okay, explain that to me. God
Almighty doing something, as Brother Scott says, for Himself.
These secret things that I just can't enter into, but I believe
them. And I think, Lord, as You say,
You are, as you say, you've done. Thank you. Jeremiah 23, 6, In his days Judah
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his
name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. He
loves righteousness and hates iniquity. He hates wickedness. It means he hates wrong. That's
what it is. I looked it up. Wickedness. Wrong. Now, to understand the word wickedness
here, I want us to listen to the voice of the Spirit of God
as He speaks through the Apostle James. James 2.10, For whosoever
shall keep the whole law and yet offend In one point, he's
guilty of all. He's wicked. He's wicked. I just made one little slight
mistake. I've only erred one time. You're wicked. Filthy, filthy, wicked rebel
against God. You ain't worth shooting. You worms. That bad? That bad. Man by nature is so prone to
think so lightly of his wickedness. Wickedness? is to offend God
and God's law in one point. You're guilty of all of it. We
just don't think that badly of ourselves. Well, I'm in Proverbs 6, 16 to
19, and these three verses deal with what God hates. I'm going to read them. These
six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination
unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false
witness that speaketh lies. and he that soweth discord among
the brethren." I read those three verses of
Scripture and I thought to myself, that sets forth what God says
He hates. And then I got to thinking, what can we consider this morning?
It gives us any hope. Three things I want to consider
this morning, here they are. Number one, what believers have
been delivered from? Number two, how were they delivered? And number three, to what have
they been delivered? Number one. What have believers
been delivered from? 2 Corinthians 1.10 says, Who delivered
us from so great a death, and doth deliver, still delivering
right now, in whom we trust that He will yet deliver. I know this, that Almighty God
will No wise by no means clear the
guilty. There's mercy with Him. What
have we been delivered from? I'm talking about God's people.
What have we been delivered from? Well, here's the first thing.
A proud look. God hates that. And He loves
His people. He loves them in Christ. What
have we been delivered from? This is the first thing. Having a high
opinion of my own worth. A proud look. James 4, 6 says, God resisteth
the proud. What is the number one? What
is the quickest way? How do you know more quickly
than not? I don't know how else to say
it. When that spirit of pride reigns, I mean, it's in all of
us, but I'm talking about when that stony heart, Mitch, reigns,
how do you know a proud look? Here it is. I don't need the God of this
Bible. I will not have this man reign
over me. Sovereign grace. God elected a people. God chose
a people from the foundation of the world that the Lord Jesus
Christ only died for God's elect? Not to God I worship. You die with that attitude, God hates you and hates your look, a proud
look. I don't need God. Here's the
second thing we've been delivered from. A lying tongue. A lying tongue. Now, that is
a tongue which speaks knowingly and willfully a falsehood to
deceive others. A liar. A liar. Do you know when a liar lies,
he knows he's lying? He lied. You lied. It wasn't
a mistake, Gene. He lied. He lied. Don't you hate it when somebody
lies to you? John Gill wrote something one
time, Neil, I don't think I'll ever forget it. He said, a man
that will lie to you. He said that's the quickest evidence
of an unbeliever because he just willingly just manifest his father
the devil who was a liar from the beginning. A liar. Now you
think about this next time something comes out of your mouth. If it
doesn't come out just exactly the way that it is, what were
you doing? Where'd you go? Who'd you see? You better think about what you
just said. Let me tell you something. If it comes out, and you know
it came out, and you lied, a believer is not going to lie
to you. You don't want to hurt your feelings. But if it comes
out, and it don't come out just exactly the way you know it should
have, you're going to think on it. Let me rephrase that. Let me
tell you the way it was. He just can't lie to you. He
hates, he hates it. You're just under conviction.
You just don't want to lie to you. I pray God keep me from a lying
tongue standing in this pulpit. How do you know a liar, spiritually
speaking? Now here's, you know, let's just,
you know, I mean, humanly speaking, Somebody lies to you, I'm going
to tell you something, they don't trust you. You lied to them,
they know you lied to them, they don't trust you. It don't matter
what you said. You can come up to them and tell them, today's
Sunday Carl, I'll have to look at the calendar. I don't believe
you. You lied to me, I don't believe you. I'll smile at you. I'll just, you know, I'll be
nice. You lied to me. Am I being too hard? How do you
know a spiritual liar? 1 John 2. For he that saith,
I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, he is a liar. He
that says, I know him. A man that says, I know God.
I'm speaking for God. And keepeth not his commandments.
Keepeth not his words. I can tell you the number one
commandment. Well, Lord willing, next week,
you see that where it says, verse 20, My son, keep thy father's
commandment. Let me give you a little preview. Next week,
let me tell you what it is. Here's the Cardinal. Here's number one. This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. There's
a commandment. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments. A man that doesn't keep the first
commandment of God Almighty, you hear Christ. You hear him. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments is a liar. Somebody might ask, but if they
themselves are deceived, if they're unbelievers and they're deceived,
is it a willful lie? Are they willfully lying? A lying
tongue, it means a willful and knowing falsehood. Turn to Romans
1.20. Is a man that stands in a pulpit
that is not preaching the gospel of God's free grace, someone
that is not preaching the sovereign God that we worship, is he lying? Is he willfully
lying? Well, let me read this Scripture
and then you Listen to what God has to say. Romans 1 20, For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Now, my question to you is this. is a man standing in a pulpit
that is saying, I know God. I know Him. I trust Him. This
is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true and
living God. He that says, I know Him, and is disobedient, is he
a willful setter forth of falsehood? Yes. The Scripture says he's
a liar. He that says, I know him and
he doesn't keep his... My sheep hear my voice and they follow
me. Those that don't follow him and
say, I know him and I love him, he's a liar. Here's the third thing we've
been delivered from. Hands that shed innocent blood. Now, the fullness of this crime
can mean nothing else. But as it refers to those that
hate Christ, He was the only innocent one. Psalm 69 verse 4 says, They that
hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They hate me. Hate me. Peter, under the Spirit of God's
inspiration, told men of Judea, those that believe not, on the
day of Pentecost, you men of Israel, Acts 2, 22-23, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by Him in the midst
of you as you yourselves also know Him being delivered by the
determinate counsel And for knowledge of God ye have taken, and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain." God hates hands that
shed innocent blood. You say, but I've never killed
anybody. To not believe Him, to not believe,
to not bow, to the God of this Bible is to
hate God and hate His Christ and hate His Word and hate His
people. To not believe on Him is to hate
Him, and to hate Him is to share in the wickedness of His crucifixion,
that spirit of hatred And to share in that wickedness
makes a man to possess hands that shed innocent blood." You know, the problem is we don't
realize the wickedness of unbelief. He that believeth not is condemned
already. Almighty God is going to deal
with men in absolute justice. Somebody said, I don't hate the
Lord. I don't hate Him. My problem is I don't understand
the depth of what it is to hate God. He that is not with me,
for me, is against me. He that gathereth not, scattereth
abroad." Hate God. Hate Him. Let me tell you something. Man
is born hating God. That's the bottom line. Man is
born hating God. We read in these Scriptures how
the attitude of those that didn't believe Him, that hated Him,
resisted Him. We read these things and we think to ourselves, You
know what? I mean, I don't understand how
in the world they'd have done that. Let me tell you how quickly you're
going to find out what somebody really believes about the Lord
Jesus Christ. You let them tell you what they
believe about how they're justified before God. You let somebody
tell you how they believe that they're justified before God
because they Walked down. I'm justified before
God because I walked down an aisle. Because, you know, I came
up, you know, down south. I came up Southern Baptist. Not
just me. And he told me that the way that
I was going to be saved was to give my heart to Jesus. If I
gave my heart to Jesus. The only way I knew how to give
my heart to Jesus was the way they told me to do it. which
was to pray the sinner's prayer. Which meant all I did is listen
to what he said, and then I just repeated that. And then he asked
me, he said, do you believe that? Well, I mean, I'm standing right
there by the preacher. I'm not going to tell him I don't believe
it. So I said, sure, I believe it. And then he told me I needed
to be baptized, so I was baptized. And he told me, I said, Now the only problem with that, show me in this book where it
says that. It's not there. The quickest way to see how much
somebody hates the God that you serve, you that believe, is to expose the false god that
they worship. And you're going to find out
very quickly. Here's the next thing we've been
delivered from. A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. I just gave you one of them.
I just gave you an example of one of them. That's the heart every man is
born with. God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually." Now you stop and think about
this. Until Almighty God calls a man or a woman out of darkness, every thought, every imagination,
every desire, every day is wicked. That's the heart that every man
is born with. That's why Ezekiel 36, the Lord
says, I'll give you a new heart. New spirit. Here's another thing
we've been delivered from. Feet that be swift in running
to mischief. The Scripture says that a believer
will run with patience the race that's set before him. He'll
run waiting on God. That's where the eye of faith,
that new eye, the seeing eye, looks to the Lord Jesus Christ
as the author and finisher of our faith and never looks to
ourselves as being the author or finisher of our faith. You
know, that's what false religion is really saying. I'm the author
and I'm the finisher of my faith. I did so-and-so. Here's what feat this man is
born in Adam with. This is what he does. He's going
to run to mischief. He's going to run to evil. Because
faith in Christ is not bound. All men, the Scripture says,
have not faith. People could say, exercise your faith. Let
me tell you something, when God gives a man faith, He believes. Until he does, until God gives
a man faith, there's none there. Exercise your faith in Christ. You don't have any. It's given
unto you to believe. You know we would do well to
hear what God has to say and not men. Here's another thing
that we've been delivered from. Verse 19, a false witness that
speaketh lies. You say, well, isn't that the
same as a lying tongue? No, this one right here, I looked
this up as much as I could find concerning this. And it has to
do with the attitude, the attitude with which we bear witness against those in
a lying way. Exodus 20, 16 says, Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Now, the extent
of what that says, thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor, the extent of that is found, I believe, in Psalm
15. Look in Psalm 15, and let's just
read what the Scripture's got to say. Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor. Psalm 15, 1 to 3. Lord, who shall abide in thy
tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh
the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor." Now listen. The fulfillment of what we just
read is only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the only one. The only
one that that can be said of in Psalm 15 is Christ and therefore
us in Him. The attitude. I may outwardly say something
to you with a lying tongue, but to bear false witness against
you happens in my heart. What I really think. Here's the last thing we've been
delivered from. He that soweth discord among
the brethren. Verse 14, just back up a few
verses. In this chapter 6, verse 14 says,
frowardness is in his heart. Let's talk about that naughty
person, that wicked man that we looked at. He diviseth mischief
continually. He soweth or casteth forth discord. This is an abomination to Almighty
God. He that soweth discord. An abomination. That is, Almighty
God considers that a disgusting thing. Sowing discord among the brethren,
listen to me, is a personal attack upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Sowing
discord among the brethren. That was the revealed action
of Saul of Tarsus. Why persecutest thou me? The Lord said in Matthew 25,
40, as much as you've done it unto the least of one of these,
my brethren, you've done it unto me. A man, a woman that stands firm. on the gospel of Christ, the
gospel of God's grace. And men want to hold on to traditions
and law and rules and regulations, and they hate you for believing
Christ. They are a sower of discord. And God hates it, despises it. It's a serious thing to sow discord
among the brethren. And I can tell you this, I can
think back in my life when I thought that was the easiest thing in
the world to do. Before God Almighty would give me a heart to hear
of this God of free grace and to laugh and to scorn and to
make fun of. But when God Almighty by His
Spirit teaches a man of himself and who God is. I tell you this,
you'll find yourself wanting to be with God's people. That's
where the Lord blesses. Saul of Tarsus did that. He didn't
want to be with them until the Lord did something for him. The last two points are going
to be fast. That's what we've been delivered from. Here's my
second point. How have we been delivered? In this delivery, there's a grand
question. Here it is. How have we been
delivered? Here's the question. Romans 7,
24. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Well, in this deliverance, there
is a grand revelation. Romans 11, 26, And so all Israel,
spiritual Israel, shall be saved, that is, as it is written, there
shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. There is nobody in this crowd
this morning that wasn't guilty of those seven things that God
hates in themselves. We're all guilty of them. Don't think that that's all those
guys. In this delivery, we know how
it was done. Romans 4.25, who was delivered,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. How are we delivered? He delivered
us. He was made a curse. We might
be delivered. And here's the third and final
point. To what have we been delivered? To what have we been delivered?
Or where have we been placed? Colossians 1.13 says, Who hath
delivered us, rescued. rescued, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness and hath translated or transferred
us into the kingdom of his dear Son." There's a great work that's been
wrought in the people of God. They've been delivered from something. From what? They've been delivered
from what God hates. Boy, that's a great deliverance. How did He deliver them? He delivered
them by the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as simply, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sins. And what has He delivered them
to? He's taken us from somewhere
and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Delivered. Rescued from the power of darkness. Last verse of Scripture, 1 Peter
1 verse 3. What have we been delivered into? I'll tell you, it's something
right now that we see through a glass darkly. But nonetheless,
it is absolutely so. 1 Peter 1, starting in verse
3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again, birthed
us again, unto a lively hope, a living hope, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye
greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having
not seen, ye love. In whom, though now ye see him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls." Let me, in closing, tell you
something. Whatever you are resting or whoever, you're
either resting in Christ or you're resting in yourself. I'm going
to tell you right now. There's only two areas that you can find
a rest in. Yourself or the Lord Jesus Christ. For you to have an eternal salvation. You're going to have to have
a salvation that is maintained eternally. It will have to be a salvation
that will be able to be maintained if you've done something, you
think, to establish and to maintain your salvation. It has to be
a salvation that can be maintained by you even when you die. You have to be able to maintain
your salvation even when you die. You say, that's impossible. I agree. Your salvation is going
to have to be apart from you. Salvation is of the Lord. It
has to be maintained. This salvation that we're talking
about is a salvation that has been established and maintained
and forever kept by the power of God, not by works of righteousness
that you've done, but according to His mercy saved
us. May the Lord add His blessing on the proclamation of His blessed
Son. Amen.