I want to preach a message of hate to you today. It’s often been said that Christians believe in a message of love but did you know that the first time the promise of salvation in Jesus is mentioned in the bible it’s a gospel of hate? That’s right. And, even more interesting, the One who spoke that message was the Lord! He wanted his hearers to live a life of hate.
When God first created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, life was perfect. Sin and pain and death did not exist. Neither did hate. But Satan tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God’s good and just authority. Shamefully, Adam and Eve sinned against their Creator by joining with Satan in his rebellion against God. That is to say, Adam and Eve willingly teamed up with the devil in a battle against their Maker.
God’s solution to this problem is hatred. In Genesis 3:15 God said to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God promised two things. First, he promised to put hatred between Satan and mankind. The problem with Adam and Eve was their love of evil. This meant turning their backs to God. But now, God promises that the mark of his powerful grace and mercy toward mankind will be hatred toward Satan and sin. How do you know if you have become a Christian? Well, Christians live a life of hatred. A life of hatred toward sin. Listen to Proverbs 8:13, “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.” In other words, you can’t claim to fear God if you still love sin. Or Psalm 97:10, “O you who love the LORD, hate evil!” But maybe that’s a bit too Old Testamentish for your taste. Then listen to Romans 12:9 which says, “Abhor what is evil”. That’s a gospel of hate.
But God promised something else. He promised that the offspring of the woman would crush Satan. That offspring is Jesus Christ. Once Adam fell into sin, mankind no longer had the power to hate their own sin. Mankind was trapped. Now life would be miserable, enslaved by Satan and their own desire to rebel. But God in grace and mercy promised deliverance through Jesus Christ. Christ accomplished his defeat of Satan when he died on the cross. It was by Jesus’s death on the cross that Satan lost his grip on mankind. When a sinner comes to Jesus by faith, trusting in Christ alone to forgive all their sins, they are given power to hate.
Do you live a life of hatred? Hatred toward your own sin? Or are you still in league with Satan happily enslaved to sin? I have good news. In Christ Jesus, you can learn the gospel of hate.