Abhor Evil

“Open rebuke is better than secret love” (Prov. 27:5). I suppose if one verse in the Bible could say the most about what this current generation of ‘Christians’ need to learn, it is this one. If you expect to go anywhere with God then understand that you will have to call wickedness wicked, and address it as such. The current Christian generation has learned to not cause trouble, to not hurt people’s feelings, to not be politically incorrect, to not stir up a hornet’s nest, and to NOT BRING ANY REPENTANCE OR DELIVERANCE to a sinful generation! They have learned a soft squishy-squashy 'love,’ and it hasn’t profited anyone at all. Would you like to know what Jesus said about that kind of 'love?’ Well, I’m going to tell you whether you want to know or not: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mk. 8:38). That’s what he said. And here’s something else he had to say about it with just a bit more graphic detail: “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Lk. 12:4,5). Being ashamed of Jesus and of his sin-reproving words comes about by being afraid of what men will do about it if you speak them. That is the correlation of the two previous scriptures, and that is exactly why more believers do not obey the commandment that says, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). Almost everyone has heard the rightly renowned verse that says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mat. 19:19). What most people do NOT know is where the verse originally comes from, and what it is correlated with: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him… but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:17,18). Jesus was certainly in agreement with this saying: “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him” (Lk. 17:3).

It is NOT the love of God that motivates someone to avoid telling their brethren that what they are doing is wrong, when they are in a wrong. The apostle Paul instructed us on how to deal with brethren who are erring: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Gal. 6:1). Nobody can be 'restored’ to holiness unless their fault is exposed to them by someone who cares enough about them to let them know about it. To ignore or avoid these things just shows that we do NOT know how to love with God’s love, which is exactly what Jesus commanded us to do: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, AS I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12). Jesus always let his disciples know when they were being wrongly motivated, and that was very much a part of his love for them (Mat. 16:23; Lk. 9:55). Jesus also let us know how to deal with someone who refused to be restored to holiness by the spirit of meekness: “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the [congregation]: but if he neglect to hear the [congregation], let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican” (Mat. 18:17). So why expose their trespass to everyone in the congregation when they refuse to come clean upon being reproved graciously? It comes down to why loving your neighbor as yourself was said at the same time as not allowing sin to remain on your neighbor, in Leviticus 19. NOBODY will be saved apart from holiness, which is to say being without sin (Mat. 5:8; Heb. 12:14; I Jn. 3:3; Rev. 20:6). If you really believe what the scriptures say on this all-integral issue, then you cannot possibly love someone with God’s love while at the same time ignoring their sin and avoiding reproving it. If someone will not come clean upon private, gracious reproof, then maybe they will be shamed into repentance by being exposed before everyone. This is what the apostle meant when he said the following: “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear” (I Tim. 5:20). Fear what? one may ask. FEAR GOD ABOUT SINNING, THAT’S WHAT!!

According to the scriptures it is only the wicked that does not actually hate wickedness: “He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil” (Psm. 36:4). The righteous however are to the contrary of that, as is the Lord: “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Prov. 8:13). The prophets of old were not known for their words of encouragement nearly as much as they were for their harsh rebukes and ominous projections of evil to come against the rebelliousness of God’s people. They weren’t killed by their own brethren for being 'nice’ to them all the time. Jesus wasn’t demanded of the Jews to be put to death while Pilate was trying to find every possible way of releasing him, because he hadn’t 'stepped on any toes.’ Stephen and the apostles were not martyred because they had put 'getting along with everybody’ in priority above speaking what was on God’s mind. The trouble today is that modern Christianity has conditioned everyone who adheres to it to NOT KNOW what is on God’s mind, by teaching the fear of man right into the hearts of those who regards its traditions and doctrines OF MEN! (Isa. 29:13) Religious people today need to humbly and repentantly exchange their religious views for the living and powerful word of God that exposes the very thoughts and intents of the hearts of men, or shut the heck up and stay out of God’s way! (Heb. 4:12) Yes my friend, the time is come for the saying to be ultimately fulfilled that says, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Rev. 22:11). And this one as well: “And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” (Jer. 23:28,29). I think that’s enough said for the moment. God bless.