10.03 Love Your Enemies!

10 - God is Love; Section 3 LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!

While living here on earth, our Lord was extremely kind. He picked up little children and blessed them. He healed all who were suffering with pain. While relatives were weeping over dead loved ones, He raised four of them to life again. The Saviour of ALL men said to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). His KINDNESS made an evangelist out of that wicked woman at the well (John 4:28-30). Because Jesus really loved the weak, helpless creatures whom He had created, He wept over them, prayed for them and taught them continually. Except those religious Pharisees, Jesus never spoke one cross word to the unconverted masses. He was very tender and kind in all His dealings with men. His approach to them was very gentle, delicate, and considerate. Surely then, we are safer in His hands than anywhere else! The things He has in store for every one of us are far greater than we could plan for ourselves. Does God expect His Sons to be better than Himself? In Luke 6:35-36 we read, "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be THE SONS OF THE HIGHEST; for HE IS KIND UNTO THE UNTHANKFUL AND TO THE EVIL, BE THEREFORE MERCIFUL, AS YOUR FATHER also is merciful." In this instance Jesus plainly says that if we desire to be the SONS OF THE HIGHEST, we must be merciful as He is merciful. THE HIGHEST IS MERCIFUL TO ALL. The question follows: Why should the Highest be merciful to the evil and the unthankful? The answer is clear - that the evil one and the unthankful one may come to know the mercy and goodness of God! They would never know that mercy in any other way. If Jesus teaches us we are to be kind to those who misuse us, reproach us, curse us, and make themselves our enemies, then what kind of a God and Father would He be, whose words Jesus taught us, who would HATE HIS ENEMIES and cast them into merciless eternal hell to burn for ever? If such a thing were to be, then God would require us to be better than Himself! Jesus teaches us that we are to be merciful and kind. Do we then have a Father whose nature is entirely opposite to ours? Impossible! The Sons of God are sent, as was the Son, to reveal the nature of our Father to all.

If we see a God who loves only those that love Him, then we have a very small and fickle God indeed. But Jesus taught us the principles of the Kingdom of God: "You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; THAT YOU MAY BE THE SONS OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. And if you love them which love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans the same? BE THEREFORE PERFECT AS YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN IS PERFECT" (Matthew 5:43-48). Are we to suppose that God requires us to behave in one way toward the unrighteous, while His own disposition toward them is exactly the opposite? Are we to believe that our Father commands US to be merciful, to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that persecute us ... while HE banishes HIS enemies to everlasting damnation, torturing endlessly those that curse HIM, meting out eternal vengeance upon those that hate HIM, and shutting up all mercy from those who persecute HIM? What great nonsense! What horrible blasphemy!

There is a time to fight and a time to hate. "To everything there is a season, a time to every purpose under heaven ... a time to love, and a time to hate ..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1; Ecclesiastes 3:8). The Word of God not only allows for hatred - it commands it. Love, true love, involves hatred even as true wisdom involves ignorance of evil. True love necessitates true hatred. The greatest hater is God! Have you ever thought about that? In this wishy-washy, mushy theology age of ours, where God is considered a lovey-dovey, spongy old grandfather who would never think of hurting anyone, we often fail to realize that God is a God of wrath who hates sin with an infinite hatred. He is a God who is ablaze with love, but He is ablaze with a holy wrath as well. The Scripture says, "Therefore I hate every false way" (Psalms 119:104).

"These six things DOES THE LORD HATE; yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. An heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among the brethren" (Proverbs 6:16-19). In the first chapter of Hebrews the Father speaks to Jesus Christ, as He heaps this great encomium upon Him: "Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Your Kingdom." Why? "You has loved righteousness, and HATED INIQUITY; therefore God, even your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows" (Hebrews 1:8-9). What did Jesus do? He loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and you cannot have one without the other! Jesus said to the Church at Ephesus: "But this you have, that YOU HATE the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I ALSO HATE" (Revelation 2:6). The Scripture says, "You that love the Lord, HATE EVIL" (Psalms 97:10). Evil serves its purpose but we are told what the proper objects are for that hatred that springs from the love of God. We are to hate evil; WE ARE NOT TO HATE PEOPLE! Furthermore, we are told that we are to begin to hate evil in our own souls. It is not until we have truly and honestly hated it within our own hearts and minds that we are qualified to begin to strike out against it in the world around us. That is why Paul, who spoke so eloquently against the evils of his time, could also say of those things which he did that were wrong, that he hated them. Do you hate the carnal mind and the evil that lurks in your own life or do you ignore it? Are you indifferent to it? Are you indulgent to it? Are you moderately concerned about it? Or do you hate it with a burning hatred? God hates it! He hates all evil. God is the greatest hater. We are told in the Scriptures that unless we hate sin we cannot truly love God or know the love of God. If God had not hated evil HE WOULD NOT HAVE SENT JESUS TO REDEEM US FROM ALL EVIL AND RESTORE US TO THE IMAGE OF GOD AGAIN. Pure, divine hatred springs from pure, divine love! In order to follow on into sonship to God, we need, first of all, to have a right attitude and understanding of what sin really is. We need to see it for the pernicious, and devilish and destructive, and hateful, and damning, and destroying thing it really is. We need to have a holy fear of it which should develop into a holy hatred of it. Do you see sin for what it really is or do you see it as something to play with? Do you think that it is a little kitten that doesn’t know it is a roaring lion which can destroy you? There is not one person who has not felt the ravages of sin in his own life and its destructive power, for it is inevitably true that when sin comes of age, it produces death. When you see sin for the pernicious and hateful thing that it is, and then when you see God for what He is, the all-holy One, the One who is ablaze with a holy love for every creature in His vast creation and a holy hatred for sin, you will at last understand the purpose of REDEMPTION and you will love what God loves, and hate what God hates. Only then will you truly be a Son of the Highest.

Paul commanded Timothy, "Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). To deliver the creation and restore all back into Christ again, the Sons of God must go forth to war! They must FIGHT and they must HATE. Fight with love for humanity. Fight with hatred for sin. Fight with hatred for disease. Fight with hatred in your heart for death. Fight with hatred against the works of the devil. Fight with hatred against the powers of hell. Fight with hatred against evil. Hate evil. Hate it! But do not hate the evildoer. Love him, love her; but hate evil. Hate drunkenness, that which creates famine, heartbreak, violence, crime, and death. Hate drugs; and hate the heathenish, hellish, satanic jungle-beat of rock music, that which destroys the mind, impairs the hearing, perverts the emotions, and saturates our youth with the unholy spirit of rebellion. Hate lying, deception, and dishonesty. Hate the filthiness of the flesh. Hate it! Hate it in yourself. Hate it in others. Hate pride and selfishness. Hate worldliness. Hate the swaggering, harlot system of Mystery Babylon and her empty, lifeless, meaningless forms, and her blinding, spirit-enslaving traditions. Hate sin, and God will cause you to know His love, and God will flood your life with unspeakable happiness and blessing. God will make you strong, He will make you His son, and He will receive you and be a Father unto you. God will put the armor of the Army of Heaven upon you and will help you to smash the strongholds of sin and Satan. Do that and be that. Hate and fight while you love and reconcile. Hate sin, but love the sinner. Condemn sin, but do not condemn the sinner. "For God sent not His Son (or His Sons) into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." Make sure, dear one, that there is no complacency in your heart about sin; and make just as certain that there is never any vindictiveness in your spirit against the sinner! That is how God loves and hates! That is why He is a Saviour, a Deliverer, and a Redeemer. He loves the sinner enough to be patient even for long ages with him; He loves the sinner enough to forgive him any depth of vileness, insult, or blasphemy; He loves him enough to pardon, cleanse, and transform him by His Infinite Grace and Omnipotent Power. And He hates sin enough to deal with it, He hates death enough to destroy it, He hates hell enough to empty it!