Sunday Sermon: 'Even Though God Is Love, He Hates Sin and Will Bring Down Wrath Upon Those Who Are Disobedient'

Billy Graham

We in the church have failed to remind this generation that while God is love, He also has the capacity to hate. He hates sin and He will judge it with the fierceness of His wrath. 

This generation is schooled in the teaching about an indulgent, soft-hearted God whose judgments are uncertain and who coddles those who break His commandments. This generation finds it difficult to believe that God hates sin.

I tell you that God hates sin just as a father hates a rattlesnake that threatens the safety and life of his child. God loathes evil and diabolic forces that would pull people down to a godless eternity just as a mother hates a venomous spider that is found playing on the soft, warm flesh of her little baby.

It is His love for man, His compassion for the human race, that prompts God to hate sin with such a vengeance. He gave heaven's finest that we might have the best; and He loathes with a holy abhorrence anything that would hinder our being reconciled to Him.

What Does God Hate?

What does God hate, you ask? Solomon answers the question in the book of Proverbs. We read: "These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren" (Proverbs 6:16-19).

First, God hates a proud look. The Bible says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). It says, "those who walk in pride He is able to put down" (Daniel 4:37). And again the Bible says, "Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one!" (Jeremiah 50:31).

In almost every instance in the Bible, as well as in life, pride is associated with failure, not success. We hear a great deal about the inferiority complex, but the superiority complex of pride is seldom spoken of. Pride caused the fall of Lucifer, and he became Satan, the devil.

Pride keeps thousands away from Christ today. What will my friends say? What will my family think? Will my reputation be affected if I become a Christian?

Jesus said, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12). The entrance to the kingdom of heaven is gained through your coming in humility.

Billy Graham