Love and Hate - Pastor Stacey Shiflett
- Pastor Shiflett
- Jun 29
- 8 min read
Love and Hate
2 Chronicles 19:2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
Intro: Last week, we preached out of 2 Chronicles on the life of Jehoshaphat. I can’t get away from those compromising alliances.
The man of God approached the king in chapter 19 and asked a profound question: Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.
In today’s language, we would say it like this: Have you lost your mind???
I believe with all my heart that one of the keys to a successful Christian life is to get our loves and hates right.
· Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
We have way too many Christians that love what they should be hating and hate what they should be loving.
Jehoshaphat’s problem was he didn’t hate the wrong things and the wrong people enough.
It ended up being his downfall.
You won’t ever join yourself to the wicked if you understand the importance of LOVE AND HATE.
Even Ecclesiastes 3 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:…
8 A time to love, and a time to hate…”
One of the greatest lies of the devil being propagated today is that Christians are supposed to love everything and everybody.
This is a brand of Christianity that Jesus never preached.
Jesus DID teach us to love one another.
No question about it.
He said it over and over many times.
In fact, Jesus taught that the entire law hung on two commandments:
Matthew 22
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
· 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
However, there seems to be a one-dimensional definition of “love” that needs to be corrected.
The Bible is clear – “For God so loved the world…”
In fact, we love Him because He first loved us.
· 1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
It is crystal clear to me that God loves the world, and God loves the sinner when it comes to desiring them to be saved.
That is the love for them that we should have.
· We should love them enough to witness to them.
· We should love them enough to give them the Gospel.
· We should love them enough to send missionaries to preach to them.
· We should love them enough to get involved in soulwinning and outreach and faith promise giving.
But loving them in respect of running with them, hanging out with them and identifying with them is CLEARLY FORBIDDEN in Scriptures.
Did you know that one of the qualifications of the bishop was that they be a “lover of good men.” (Titus 1:8)
This means he will not be a lover of evil men.
What we love will determine our hate.
You cannot truly love anything and NOT hate some things.
· I love clean shoes, so I hate mud puddles.
· I love my family, so I hate intruders with evil intentions.
· I love having a clean mind, so I hate nakedness.
· I love justice, so I hate injustice.
· I love fairness, so I hate bullies.
· I love freedom and liberty, so I hate tyranny.
· I love America, so I hate anything that wants to destroy her.
· I love the Constitution, so I hate any and all laws that are unconstitutional.
· I love the Bible, so I hate anything that undermines it.
· I love this church, so I hate anything that threatens its existence.
· I love the presence of God, so I hate anything that hinders that in our midst.
· I love God, so I hate the devil.
· I love the Bible, so I hate those that try to pervert it and change it.
You cannot truly love anything and NOT hate some things.
The Bible is also clear: there are people and things that God hates.
Just as the Bible teaches that God so loved the world, it also teaches that God hates the wicked.
· Psalms 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.
· Proverbs 15:9 The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.
· Psalms 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
· Proverbs 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Malachi 1
· 1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
· 2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
· 3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
· Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Deuteronomy 20
· 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
· 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
· 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
In order for a Christian to love God, they must hate the things that God hates, and love the things that God loves.
Jesus commended the church of Ephesus because… “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Revelation 2:6)
In fact, a test of our love for God is who and what they do NOT love.
· 1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
· Psalms 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil:
The test of the fear of God is what you and I hate.
· Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.
The test of our loyalty to God is to hate them that hate God.
Psalms 139
· 19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
· 20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
· 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
· 22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
The test of our proof as a disciple of Christ is to hate everyone and ourself in comparison.
Our love for Christ is to be so supreme that our love for everyone else looks like hate.
Luke 14
· 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
· 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
We are to hate even our own life.
· John 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
What we are supposed to hate:
We are to hate idolatry.
· Deuteronomy 16:22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.
We are to hate the congregation of evil doers.
· Psalms 26:5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
We are to hate the work of them that cause God’s people to turn aside.
· Psalms 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.
We are to hate lying.
· Proverbs 13:5 A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.
We are to hate every false way.
· Psalms 119:104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
We are to hate vain thoughts.
· Psalms 119:113 I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.
We are to hate and abhor lying.
· Psalms 119:163 I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.
We are to hate covetousness.
· Proverbs 28:16 The prince that wanteth understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
We are to hate even the garments spotted by the flesh.
· Jude 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
We are NOT supposed to hate:
Reproof:
· Proverbs 12:1 Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
· Proverbs 15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
Knowledge:
· Proverbs 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Our brother:
· 1 John 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
· 1 John 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
· 1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
· 1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Conclusion: So how do you know what to hate and what to love?
· Love God.
· Love Jesus.
· Love the Word of God.
· Love the People of God.
· Love the Church.
· Love Righteousness.
The secret is simple. Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and strength, and you’ll be fine.
Love God’s Word, and you will be in great shape.
