A young lady and a pastor’s daughter when off to a state school here in Texas and the very first person she met said, “There is no God. There has never been any God. If there is a God, I am he.” This same young lady when to her first class where her professor announced: “I want to serve notice on you right away that the idea of God is obsolete.” God is so important that an atheist college professor feels the need to introduce the class by denying God’s existence.
The quality of your life will be determined by how well you know God. Not information about God, but really know God. Why is knowing God so important? Think with me for a moment: Our nation’s Declaration of Independence contains at least four references to God. The first step in AA’s twelve steps program instructs you to submit to God. You cannot beat an addiction without knowing God and you cannot even form a nation without Him.
How important is it to know God? Knowing God is oxygen to your lungs. Knowing God is water to the soil. The quality of your life will be determined by how well you know God. The true beginning point in knowing God is entering into a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.
Today’s Scripture
Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:1–24)
Our focus this morning is in Psalm 139: 19-24 and with this question, “Does God Hate Anyone?” You’ll notice there’s a wish in verses 19-20, a commitment in verses 21-22, and a plea in verses 23-24. This part of Psalm 139 is what as known as an “Imprecatory Psalm.” An “Imprecatory Psalm” calls down divine curses as well as expressing hatred for God’s enemies. Keep in mind they are scattered throughout the book of Psalms. You can go to church a lifetime and maybe hear one or two sermons on what is known as the “Imprecatory Psalms.”
1. Adjusting to God’s Altitude
David has a reentry of sorts… let me explain. Everyone loves the 1st 18 verses of Psalm 139. You’ll find many verses from verses 1-18 on embroidery and hung decoratively on walls; many sincere Christians dearly love it. But you will not find verses 19-22 anywhere. The psalm takes a radical turn at verse 19: “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me” (Psalm 139:19)! Verses 19-22 are the verses we love to skip. Christians are often embarrassed by the Bible’s tone here: “Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies” (Psalm 139:21-22). In fact, there are a lot of people who think these verses are a mistake – they should not be included here.
1.1 Reentry: A Clear Vision of God
David has clearly seen a mind-boggling picture of God in the first eighteen verses. The first part of David’s vision (verses 1-6) tells us we are surrounded by God’s rich knowledge. The second part (verses 7-12) tells us we are surrounded by God’s presence. The third part (verses 13-18) tells us we are surrounded by God’s power. Clearly seeing God has an effect on a person, you know? The atmosphere is thin where David has been. And when the mind turns from God to the world below, something powerful happens. You can liken it to reentry or “altitude sickness”, if you will.
1.2 Reentry from Space
Many of us remember what happened at 7:51:14 a.m. CST on February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia started breaking apart. It would take nearly nine more minutes before the Columbia would completely break apart on returning from space’s atmosphere, killing all seven crewmembers. Our nation grieved as debris from the shuttle Columbia was scattered from the Pacific Coast to the Gulf States east of us. But David is going through a different kind of reentry. Instead, David returns from clearly seeing God. David reenters earth’s orbit from heaven and he immediately recognizes something is missing on earth: the holiness of God.
2. Seeking God’s Justice
As soon as David comes down from his high vision of God and begins to orbit with other humans, his tone changes – he wants holiness … he needs holiness. “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me” (Psalm 139:19)! When we say God is holy we are saying everything about God is pure, categorically spotless, and free from corruption. Every aspect of God is holy – the Bible uses this word “holy” over 700 times. “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24). When Moses saw the burning bush, he took of his shoes for the ground was holy (Exodus 3:5). When we come to faith in Christ, what comes into our life? The HOLY Spirit.
I have with me both a China Plate and a Paper Plate. The paper plate is what we use a lot at my house. This is preferred plate for weekend times when we grill out. But the China plates are stored in a special place for special times. God is fine china for He is special in every way.
Now, the backside of God’s holiness is God’s wrath. They are two sides to a coin if you will. Where one side is God’s holiness, the other side is God’s wrath. God’s wrath is really an extension of what is called God’s holiness, His complete and inner purity.
We need wrath in our lives. Think with me about a father, a human father. What if I discovered some “internet predator” seeking to abduct my sixteen-year-old daughter? What if you discovered she was taken and I wasn’t concerned? Would you expect the rightful reaction from any parent to be one of concern and seeking justice for her potential abductor? Say this after me: You can have love without God’s wrath in this world. The wrath of God is God’s intense hatred for all sin. Again, the wrath of God is God’s intense hatred for all sin.
We don’t like the idea of a wrathful God, partly because we misunderstand the term wrath there. We’re thinking of somebody who is losing his temper and can’t control his emotions. No, this is NOT God losing His temper. God’s wrath is not petty outbursts of anger where He shoots down lightening bolts because He’s having a bad day. No, His wrath is a deliberate and intentional strategy on His part to intensely oppose everything that is evil.
We want the holiness of God. We need the holiness of God. How good would a police officer be if he sees a crime and does nothing? How good would a fireman be if he sees a fire and doesn’t put it out? What kind of God would God be if He were not just?
Not to oversimplify this but when your sin collides with God’s holiness, you experience God’s wrath. The good news is God often (not always) slows down His wrath as He waits for our turn around. Before we pray to God “sic ‘em” we should have prayed and pursed them while pleading for them to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. God is an excellent judge in every way. God is a good judge who will one day what good judges do. Without sin, there’s no judgment and there’s no wrath.
3. Hating God’s Enemies
The subject of God and hate is minefield. Let’s unpack it in remaining moments.
3.1 Does God Hate Me?
About eighteen months ago, the New York Times ran a fascinating article called “Googling for God.” The piece explores recent trends in Google search data specifically related to questions people pose about God. The third most popular question people asked Google related to God at the time was: “Why does God hate me?” It pains me to think there maybe someone here who thinks there is no hope for you. With this backdrop, look at verses 21-22 with me: “Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies” (Psalm 139:21-22).
We need to remember that Jesus said to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44). We need to consciously recall to our minds that Jesus calls on us to turn the other cheek. “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). No less than eighteen times the Old Testament speaks of “the anger of the Lord.” Psalm 7:11 is one of the most startling statements in all of the Bible: “God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11). That word “indignation” in the Hebrew language literally means “to foam at the mouth.” Do you know how angry you have to be to foam at the mouth? Yet God is just that angry with the wicked. The word wicked here refers to anyone who does not know God, who does not love God, who does not serve God, who does not worship God.
I think many people feel God is nothing more than a better person than most. I feel a little like the late Art Linkletter, who saw a little boy drawing a picture and asked the boy, “What are you doing?” The boy replied, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” Linkletter said, “Well, I thought that no one knew what God looked like.” The boy looked up confidently sand said, “They will when I get through.”
When the Bible tells us that God is holy, it means He is set apart in a category all by Himself. Still, the Bible (both OT & NT) tells us that God hates forty things & I want to distill this down to just three items.
3.1 God Hates Idolatry
“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes…” (Proverbs 6:16–17a). We should note that David isn’t thinking about personal vengeance here: “They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you” (Psalm 139:20-21)? Five times David mentions how these are God’s enemies. David has tremendous zeal for God and cannot sit by hearing God’s name taken in vain. There’s a vast difference between vindictiveness and vindication.
3.2 God Hates Deceit
“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: … a lying tongue … a heart that devises wicked plans … a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16–19). There is a deception involved in verse twenty: “They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain” (Psalm 139:20). Taking God’s Name in vain involves deceit. They call themselves by God’s name but are clearly break two of His Ten Commandments.
A little girl that was watching her mother do the dishes one evening & she suddenly noticed that her mother had some white hair mixed in with her red hair. She looked at her mother and said, “Mom, why are some of your hairs turning white?” The mother, thinking this was a teachable moment said, “Honey, that’s because every time you do something wrong and make mother cry or unhappy one of her hairs turn white.” The little girl thought about that for a moment and then she said, “Momma, how come all of grandma’s hairs are white?”
God Isn’t Judgmental but He is a good judge. You will not be judged by some human’s made up rules; you will be judged by God’s law. If you left church because of an overbearing judgmentalist, I am sorry. One of the quickest ways people are driven away from religion in our day is for a guy to get up and say, “We know God better than anyone else. God loves me and He hates you.” No matter who you are, we are glad that you are here. We don’t want our church to be a place where people come to be judged. We want to be a place where people come to find grace.
3.3 God Hates Injustice
“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: and hands that shed innocent blood … feet that make haste to run to evil …” (Proverbs 6:16–19). You’ll see it as David asks God to kill the wicked: “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain” (Psalm 139:19-20). He even names what they have done wrong: murder, they violated the seventh commandment. But it’s not just those who knock over a convenient store & murder the clerk behind the counter, but it’s those who kill and claim it’s God’s will. We’re not sure exactly who David has in mind in verses 19 & 20, but these are people who believe God has told them to murder. Not only have they broken the seventh commandment by murdering another person, they have broken the third commandment by taking God’s most valuable name in vain. The Bible says such people are God’s “enemies” in verse 22.
A Canadian nurse plead guilty to killing eight assisted-living facility residents just this week. She told the detectives she felt God wanted her to do kill the people because they were mean. When they murder, they wrap it up in stain-glassed windows of the church.
4. Praying for Me
A pastor had a man in his church that he believed needed to get right with God. The pastor continually prayed for him and thought of this one specific man as he prepared his sermons. But the pastor received the same response from this man each Sunday: “Pastor, you really gave it to them today,” and the man walked out unchanged. One Sunday there was a tremendous snowstorm on a Sunday and the only two people in church were the pastor and this same man. The pastor knew the snowstorm was of God and so the pastor preached the entire sermon just for this one man. He preached the strongest and fiercest message of his life that morning knowing God had this man right where he wanted him. When he finished, the pastor met this on man at the door where the shook hands and he said, “That was an excellent sermon. If only they had been here to hear it.”
The very first thing you should do when you think about God’s wrath is think/pray for yourself. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24)!
Have you heard someone say, “I don’t believe in a God of wrath; I believe in a God of love.” I would show you the Garden of Gethsemane. God is both love and wrath. For at the Garden of Gethsemane, God of wrath drinks the cup for evil so you can drink the cup of God’s love. David asking God “Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God…” and He the Father did just that by crucifying His Son for you.
Conclusion
Thermal Protection System is what you need to reenter earth’s orbit. The cross of Jesus is your Heat Shield to protect you from God’s wrath.
