Though my heart is imperfect and indeed is still sick with immorality, there exists therein by the sheer grace and compassionate workings of God a bitter, white-hot hatred for sin. I hate the sin left in my mind and in my heart. I hate that my reasoning and my feeling is still imperfect. I hate that I feel things, desire things, and even value things that are opposed to God and His absolute perfection. I hate my sin. I hate others' sin. I passionately hate sin. Period.
But why? Aren't we as Christians called to be loving folks? Decent people who lead kind, merciful lives in a world that is falling apart and in need of some relational sunshine? Why so much talk of hatred and unfavorable disposition?
I cannot possibly give every possible reason, but here is a long list of reasons to hate sin:
1. Sin grieves God's heart, transgresses His law, spits in His face, and disrespects His glory.
2. Sin is both immoral and illegal as it concerns God, our King.
3. Sin enslaves every person and will kill them unless God saves them by His sovereign grace.
4. Sin keeps our minds from the attainment of real wisdom.
5. Sin is the reason why people go to Hell.
6. Sin keeps us from enjoying God as we should always do and should desire to do.
7. Sin is the reason for broken relationships, friendships, marriages, and families.
8. Sin is the reason for oppression in the world and in the spiritual realm.
9. Sin tramples the glory of God underfoot and makes Him seem uninteresting and boring.
10. Sin is opposed to genuine, pure love.
11. Sin is the mirage that boasts of being conducive to the joy we need to have, but it is a sorry, disgusting, mirage that doesn't come through on so much as a single promise it makes.
12. Sin is the perversion of the good commandments and flawless design of God.
13. Sin falls extremely short of what it boasts of. It boasts of giving happiness but leads to emptiness and eternal damnation and torment in Hell.
14. Sin more resembles the demonic realm than the heavenly.
15. Sin is the reason why human suffering and death exist in the world.
16. Sin is the reason for addiction to substances, to alcohol, and pornography.
17. Sin leads us to believe we are good, blinding us to our massive legal guilt before God that keeps us condemned.
18. Sin makes the cross, which is so important words cannot rightly describe it, seem as if it doesn't have any real significance.
19. Sin pushes false teachings about God and His Word.
20. Sin perpetrates blatant, damnable heresies about what God has revealed, distorting the message and murdering people spiritually every day.
21. Sin makes us think we can work our way to having God's approval.
22. Sin compels men to add rituals, good works, law-keeping, and other addendums to the Gospel, claiming them as being necessary for salvation and leading to death rather than the life that was promised.
23. Sin makes us trust in ourselves and in our own wisdom instead of God and His perfect sovereignty.
24. Sin is a bloodthirsty enemy in our own hearts, what Scripture calls "the flesh," a vile cultural and kind of sociological enemy all around us, what Scripture calls "the world," and a twisted demonic enemy that desires that we perish forever, who Scripture calls "the devil."
25. Sin makes us hate God, whose infinite dignity and perfect, unalloyed glory makes Him totally unworthy of our hateful disposition and lack of religious enthusiasm.
26. Sin leads us to reason that we have the authority to define good and evil for ourselves.
27. Sin is the reason for divorce, abuse, sexual deviance, and abortion.
28. Sin is the source of all selfishness, pride, moral filthiness, and relational darkness that exists in the world.
29. Sin alienates men and women from their Creator who made them for the purpose of enjoying Him forever and delighting in His wonder and glory.
30. Sin is the reason why we lust after and objectify each other instead of loving and respecting each other.
31. Sin is the reason why we must lock our doors at night and be afraid to unlock them during the day.
32. Sin is why we are disconnected and alone.
33. Sin hates us and desires nothing that is of godly, holy, pure origin.
34. Sin makes men behave like animals in heat rather than like people with rational, emotional souls.
35. Sin leads men to worship the sun, moon, and stars rather than recognizing their nature as artful creations of God that display His wisdom and glory and ought to lead to deeper worship of Him, not them.
36. Sin makes us content in fake Christianity that lacks repentance and faith in Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and Treasure.
37. Sin makes us think we can do whatever we want with the Bible and treat it like our own word instead of the Word of God.
38. Sin tells us to worry and even climb the walls in panic before we'll even give thought to humble, faithful prayer to God.
39. Sin ripped our beloved Jesus apart, spat on Him, shamed Him, stripped Him naked, and nailed Him to the cross.
40. Sin killed our most beloved treasure, the Lord Jesus Christ.
41. Sin crushed and butchered Jesus.
I could go on and on in such a list. The Christian who has been redeemed by the electrifying, amazing, knock-your-socks-off grace of God should possess within his or her heart a hatred of sin that burns with incredible heat and intensity.
Rather than liking sin and wanting as much of it as can be imaginably obtained in this life, those who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God and who are in a saving relationship of union with Jesus Christ should hate sin and be in continual possession of the serious desire to see the sin that remains in them crumble and topple over as God becomes increasingly beautiful to them.
When Jesus died on the cross for your sin and my sin, He did many things on our behalf. He paid off every last bit of our massive legal debt that we owed before God. He suffered the full penalty that we deserved to suffer for our sin, absorbing the curse and the wrath of God justly poured out. He died our death penalty. He paid our bride price with His infinitely valuable blood. He redeemed us, purchasing us for a new life, good works, and total freedom. He claimed victory over sin, death, and Satan. He gave Himself as a purifying, atoning sacrifice for sinners.
There are numerous motifs at play at the cross, but all of them portray our sin as our worst problem, the wrath of God aimed at sinners for their horrid offenses committed against Him, Jesus stepping in our place and doing what is necessary, and as a result us being reconciled to God. Jesus won, sin lost, and we being united to Jesus by faith live and reign and are open to rejoice now and forever in the divine, heavenly joy that we were created to experience in God.
Friends, let us hate sin with all we've got because we love God with all we've got and count Him as our supreme treasure, most satisfying pleasure, and best friend.
