Grace Fellowship    9/28/08    Hating the Sin, Not the Sinner    Proverbs 24

One of the most sacred of all the possessions we have in this country is our personal rights as citizens.  It is indeed a great blessing to be able to speak freely and worship freely in a place where everyone has that right and no one is seriously persecuted for it.  It is largely because of the pursuit of such rights that our nation exists at all.  Pilgrims came here from Europe and England to escape the oppression of the church and state, seeking a place where they could worship God according to their own consciences.  And today, we still have the right to assemble together to worship in any way we choose.

Such is not the case in many other places in the world.  Danish political cartoonists who had less than flattering things to say about Mohammed and Islam, and printed their cartoons in European newspapers, feared for their lives just a few years ago, and they may still.  It is against the law to be a Christian in some Muslim countries, and converts to Christianity from Islam don’t ever become televangelists.  They usually assume room temperature shortly after their conversion in places where radical Islam rules.

So civil rights, religious rights, the right of free speech, the right to bear arms, all of these rights are very important and are a great blessing granted to us as a result of being American citizens.  Ultimately, they are a gift, a mercy from God.  They came to us at a great cost, and we are in danger of forgetting that rights and freedoms can also be taken away.  

We also see in our country an ever growing attitude that says we all should have many more rights.  There are those who believe we all have a right to free health care.  We all have a right to free (or at least really cheap) housing.  Many able-bodied people who refuse to work say they have a right to free food.  Homosexual couples demand the right to have everything that heterosexual couples enjoy, which makes no sense.  

Many Hispanics living in our country want the right to have everything everywhere translated into Spanish and they want access to every privilege that comes with citizenship, without the citizenship.  Atheists seem to think they have the right to be offended to such a degree as to have “In God We Trust” removed from our coinage.  And unfortunately, women in our country have been given the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy for any reason, or for no reason.  In other words, more and more Americans think we all have a right to everything we want.  We somehow have come to the conclusion that by being members of the human race, we inherently possess the right to live as we please and no one has the right to contradict it.

That kind of thinking is greatly mistaken.  It is totally untenable even if we are speaking in strictly secular terms.  If I have a right to whatever I want, what happens when my right to take whatever you have conflicts with your right to keep it?  If I work for a living and earn my income, what right does another person have to take that money for himself?  Among fellow human beings, there are limits to the rights we can claim for ourselves.  That is why we have laws.

Now let’s bump this conversation up a notch.  What rights does God possess?  Does God have a right to anything He wants?  Are there any laws to prohibit God from doing what He wants, taking what He wants, living any way He wants?  Does God have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?  Can anyone say to God, “You have no right to act the way You are acting”?  Does God have no right to send another hurricane to Haiti?  Does God have no right to allow terrorists to fly planes into our buildings?  Does God have no right to treat the Jews with incredible favor for 3000 years while neglecting, and as far as we can tell, virtually ignoring the entire Gentile world?  The prophet Samuel spoke to Israel and said:

For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.  (1 Samuel 12:22, ESV).

Where I come from, that’s not fair!  Why were the Jews of the Old Testament God’s exclusively chosen people?  “Because it pleased the Lord to make them a people for himself.“  God has rights that we as humans do not share because He is the Creator of everything.  Paul put it very succinctly when he asked the rhetorical question, “Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?” (Romans 9:21, ESV).  It’s God’s clay.  He created it.  It belongs to Him.  Therefore, yes, He does have the right to do whatever He wants with that clay.  He even has the freedom to have never made the clay in the first place.

Because we have lived in a democracy all our lives, we tend to think this is normal and we’ve forgotten what a king looks like.  God is sovereign over all He has created, and all He has created is subject to Him.  The prophet Isaiah understood this fundamental principle of God’s rights: 

15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" 16 You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?  (Isaiah 29:15-16, ESV)

The creature says to his Creator, “You didn’t make me”??  How ludicrous for us to ever think that God has no authority over us.  Jeremiah also understood that God can do whatever He wants with what He has made:

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words.” 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6 “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’  (Jeremiah 18:1-11, ESV)

Those are the rules God has laid down for nations and kingdoms.  Men have no right to revolt against their Maker, and if they do, their Maker has every right to stop the revolt.  It is because we are the creatures and He is the Creator that He can do what ever He wants and we can say nothing legitimately against it.  When we are tempted to question God’s dealings with men or with nations, Paul responds in Romans 9 with “… . . who are you, O man, to answer back to God?  Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” (Romans 9:20, ESV)

God created the world and angels, and the heavens and the stars, and the seas and everything that is seen and unseen.  But He could have decided not to.  God can send rain (and on one occasion He sent a LOT of rain), or He can withhold it.  He can cause the sun to move across the sky like it always does, or He can decide to stop it if He chooses.  He led the children of Israel into the desert and they complained about His choice of a leader, and they complained about the route to Canaan, and they complained about the lack of food and water.  They also complained that God would not keep His promise to give them the Promised Land.  So because of their complaining and lack of faith, He condemned them to 40 years of wandering through the Saudi Arabian peninsula.  That’s worse than driving across Kansas.  If you’ve seen one mile of Saudi Arabia, you’ve pretty much seen the whole thing.  That is where the phrase, “Are we there yet?“ came from.

God can drop California into the ocean if He so pleases.  Or He can wash New Orleans into the Gulf of Mexico if He so chooses.  He can raise up armies to punish people and he can punish the armies for doing it.  God raised up the people who insisted upon the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus and they became His murderers.  Then God granted 3000 of those same murderers forgiveness of their sins and eternal life when they repented, based upon the crucifixion of His Son whom they killed.

By virtue of being the Creator and having created all things for Himself, God can do whatever He chooses to do because He has that right.  It all belongs to Him.  The Creator is not subject to His creation.  He does not answer to anyone.  So when we start talking about rights, God quite literally has every right in the world, and in Heaven simply because of who He is.  We, His creatures, do not share those rights.

Now, let’s look at Proverbs 24.  Maybe after having heard the introduction, you will be able to pick out the verses I intend to focus on today.

1 Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them,
2 for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble.

3 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;
4 by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
7 Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

8 Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer.
9 The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

15 Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home;
16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

19 Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked,
20 for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

21 My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise,
22 for disaster from them will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

More Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise.

Partiality in judging is not good.
24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.
26 Whoever gives an honest answer kisses the lips.

27 Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.
32 Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.
33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:1-34, ESV)

I want to draw your attention to verses 17 and 18.  It is very difficult to catch what is being said in these verses without taking the time to meditate upon them and ponder their meaning.  Look at the first phrase: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls.”  That must be a misprint.  It is hard for me to imagine NOT rejoicing when our enemies fall.  Isn’t that what warfare is all about?  The good guys against the bad guys?  And throwing a big party when we, the good guys, win?  That’s true for everybody from soccer moms to five-star generals.  Of course, we rejoice when our “enemies” are defeated, whether the enemy is the other team 0f five-year-olds or the other army!  That’s what competition and self-preservation are all about.

Look at the next phrase in verse 17: And let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.  We’re still talking about the same people, our enemies, and when they stumble, we’re not supposed to be glad about that?  I thought that went with the definition of “enemy”.  Is someone really your enemy if you don’t wish him ill-will?  Aren’t we supposed to pray against our enemies?  Didn’t David pray for the destruction of His enemies? 

Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.  (Psalm 69:27-28, ESV)

Verse 18a - “lest the LORD see it and be displeased. . .”  Now that is a scary thought.  God is displeased with me when I am pleased by my enemy’s fall.  When my enemy stumbles, and I say to myself (if not to those around me), “Good!  I’m glad he fell”, God becomes angry with me.  God is not pleased when I AM pleased over the death of my enemies.  

Recently, a man with a loaded shotgun threatened the life of my wife.  At that moment, he became my enemy.  The police shot and killed him.  They stopped my enemy permanently.  My enemy died that day.  But I know of no one who rejoiced in that man’s death.  We were grateful for the actions the police took to stop him.  But no one threw a party.  There were no celebrations.  

But suppose we were talking about terrorists.  Suppose there was a sleeper cell of radical Muslim terrorists here in State College and they were plotting to blow up Beaver Stadium during a football game.  And suppose at the last minute, as the terrorists were driving their explosive-laden vans through the gates toward the stadium, that a Special Forces unit intercepted them, shot each vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade, and the vans and their occupants were blown to smithereens.  Should we be glad about that?  Should the 120,000 people inside the stadium cheer?  Should we rejoice that our enemies were defeated?  Yes.  Should we be glad our enemies are dead.  No.

We are walking a fine line here.  In these verses, we see that there are times when we really do have real enemies.  Because they are real enemies, we do not wish them any success.  They wouldn’t be enemies if we wanted them to win.  But it is the attitude of hatred toward them that we must avoid.  I want them to stumble.  I want them to fall.  I wish them no success in their plots against me.  I don’t want them to be victorious over us, but I pray for their defeat.  However, I do not have the right, under God, to hate them.  We do not have the right to hate our enemies.  

Notice what happens if we do hate them: “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.”  

Here’s how it works: I belong to God and I am one of His people.  There are others who hate me, who seek to bring harm to me, who consider themselves to be my enemies.  Therefore they are my enemies.  But because I belong to God and I am one of His children, anyone who is my enemy has God as their enemy as well.  Consequently, God is angry with my enemies.

But suppose my enemy suffers some catastrophe.  For example, let’s say there is a great earthquake in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is killed, and I throw an “OBL Has Gone to Hell” party.  I invite all of you to come over and we have this big cookout and wear party hats and have a big cake and dessert and a disc jockey and dancing and such to celebrate the death of our enemy.  

First, God is displeased with my reveling in the demise of my enemy.  But secondly, God reserves the right to withdraw His anger from my enemy if I gloat over his fall.  When my enemy stumbles and falls, who is responsible for that?  How is it that my enemy has fallen?  That is something God has done to my enemy because God is angry with him.  Gloating over the judgment of God upon my enemies may bring the judgment of God upon me by means of those same enemies.  Becaue of my sin, God may remove His anger from my enemy and use my enemy to correct my own pride and arrogance.

This is about God’s right to deal with men as He sees fit.  It is a right which He reserves for Himself alone.  It is exactly why we are commanded not to seek revenge against our enemies.  God will repay.  Look with me at the next two verses, verse 19-20:  “Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” (ESV).  The future of the wicked is condemnation and death.  It is an eternity in hell.  

Even when Jesus once and for all defeats all of His enemies, it will not be party time in Heaven with the holy angels.  The angels rejoice over the salvation of sinners, but not over their condemnation.  It should cause us to think twice when we consider the latter end of the enemies of God, “ . . when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints … . .” (2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10a, ESV).

We do not have the right to hate anyone.  Hatred, according to Jesus, is murder.  To be gleeful over the destruction of our enemies is a sin that will bring God’s displeasure upon us, possibly at the hands of those same enemies.  

Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, chapter 10.  I want you to see how God thinks regarding the attitude of the hearts of men towards their enemies. 

5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! 6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few; 8 for he says:

“Are not my commanders all kings? 9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?  Is not Hamath like Arpad?  Is not Samaria like Damascus? 10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

14 My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.”

15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?  As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! 16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.  (Isaiah 10:5-16, ESV).

God raised up Assyria to go against the northern kingdom of Israel and to destroy them because they had become more wicked than the pagan nations around her.  But when the king of Assyria defeated Israel, he became arrogant and boasted about his victories over his enemies.  Then God put the king and his kingdom in his place.  The NKJV starts this passage we just read by saying “Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger.”  Assyria is a tool in the hand of God to bring judgment upon His people.  But woe to Assyria for boasting about it, because in verse 7, the text says it was in his heart to destroy Israel.  They enjoyed it.  They were glad to annihilate their enemies.  God hates that attitude.

As God’s people, we never have the liberty, or the freedom, and certainly not the right to hate anyone, not even our enemies.  Listen to what Jesus said:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48, ESV).

Who is your enemy?  Whoever he might be, whoever it is that persecutes you and hates you because you belong to Jesus Christ, if you want to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, then do not hate them.  Love them.  Pray for them.  Vengeance and hatred are not an option.  Only God can repay.  Only God has the right to judge.  Let’s be careful about our feelings towards those who make themselves our enemies.