Title: Warning Against the Hateful Heart
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 26:24; 1 John 2: 9-10
He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;
25 When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.
26 Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
- Its definition
Proverbs 26:24, ‘He that hateth dissembleth with his lips.’
The word ‘dissembleth’ means ‘to make one’s self unknown,’ to ‘to make one’s self unrecognizable.’
Another translation put it as ‘He who hates, disguises it with his lips.’
The Septuagint: ‘He is an enemy, weeping, promises all things with his lips, but in his heart he contriveth deceits. The tears in this case are hypocritical signs of sorrow, intended to deceive the dupe.’
It is common for those who hate others – God or men – to disguise it with their words. They do not want to give up their hate, but they do not want to be known as a hater.
The secret hater deceives others, but he also deceives himself.
- Warning against the hateful heart
1 John 2:9-10 says, ‘He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.’
1 John is the fourth last book of the bible and it has significance in its placement. It has reference to the last days. One of the characteristics of the last days is the hateful heart and John is warning us against it. We lived in a world that seemed bent on hate.
John the beloved, warned us not only against false doctrine, but also against false lifestyle. He defined false lifestyle not only as habitual disobedience but also as persistent and habitual hatred of another believer – another brother or sister in Christ.
Paul the Apostle in Titus 3:3 describes the unregenerate life as one of living in ‘malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
Unfortunately, the hateful heart is not something that can be overcome with the usual prescription of the modern evangelical self-help tendencies.
- Symptoms of the hateful heart
A. Constant ridicule and Mockery
B. Constant deceitful and malicious contradiction
Constantly he has a habit of deceitfully contradicting people, events. When almost exposed, he has this practice and act of deceiving and concealing and even distorting the truth for the purpose of misleading.
C. Constant spitefulness
D. Consistent display of disdain and contempt toward the target
E. Malicious stalking of the target for information.
He did this to disrupt life and legitimate pleasures, and recruiting of other people to monitor the target and report on his or her contacts with other people and activities.
F. Constant demeaning of the actual character and achievements of that person
G. Exploitation of life tragedies and known disappointments for further sadistic abuse.
He rejoices over the tragedies and disappointment of the person he hates.
H. Slander of the person’s character and personality.
In this day and age, they may include slanderous attribution of mental illness or trumped up difficulties – malicious embellishment, exaggeration and fabrication – to give a false justification that the target deserves the hateful treatment – or it may include blaming the target for the actual sins of the person with the hateful heart.
- A consistent pattern of Anger towards Jesus
It began in the Christmas story. Matthew 2:18 says, ‘A voice was heard in Ramah. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because there are no more.’
When you have hate, you have unconsciously adopted the principle of the Devil which is hate.
Then it continued at Nazareth, as Jesus was rejected in his home town. Luke 4:29 wrote, ‘They drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill so that they could throw him down the cliff.
You saw it when Jesus went to the Gerasene. Do you know what the people said to Jesus? ‘Please leave.’
You see it again when Jesus came to the temple in Jerusalem. They picked up stones to throw at Him.
But the hidden hatred of the human heart was given full expression at Calvary. Pilate said, ‘What shall I do with this Jesus who is called Christ? They all said, ‘Let him be crucified.’
What happened to Jesus was not an isolated event. It was part of a consistent pattern of hostility toward Jesus. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law nor can it do so. No human being is born neutral towards God. By nature, we are hostile to God. We resent his claims, we doubt His word and we evade His call. By nature, we are always resisting the Holy Spirit. When you have a hateful heart, you have a sinful mind and it is hostile to God. You do not submit to God’s law. And you are always resisting the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says that in the last days, people will be offended and there will be much division. Hearts will turn cold towards others, and hate will abound. When you have a hateful heart, you are having a consistent pattern of anger towards Jesus. Unconsciously, you are becoming the people of the world.
- Putting out the fire of the hateful heart
Titus 3:3 says, ‘For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.’
The apostle Paul’s description of the hateful nature of the unregenerate person in Titus 3:3 describes the reasons that people find for hatred of others:
- Dislike of something about that person.
- Envy of something that the other person has.
- Vengeance for some perceived wrong done against oneself or someone that a person wants to protect, such as a friend or family member.
- Exposure of the sin of the hateful person by correction.
Unfortunately, the hateful heart is not something that can be overcome with the usual prescription of the modern evangelical self-help tendencies. But, since the truth always sets us free, a hateful heart can indeed be healed by the presence and power of God. There is a famous saying, ‘To err is human, to forgive divine.’ When confronted by the initiating love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a hateful heart can be melted away and replaced instead with mercy, grace, and joy.
Here are some scriptural ways to dealing with hatred and the roots of hatred:
- Forgiveness and refusal to retaliate (‘get even’) for genuine and perceived slights, hurts and injuries
- Refusal to judge, especially in the sense of the unfair application of one’s own likes and dislikes, preconceptions and prejudices to another person
- Contentment in what God has given, can give and may yet give as a barrier against envy
- Prayer for the supernatural, Holy Spirit power to love as Christ has loved us (Ephesians 3:16-17)
- Commitment to the way of loving others at all costs
- Redirection of one’s hatred to its true purpose, to a hatred of sin, and the sin in one’s own heart first of all and most of all.
In conclusion, we are all victims of hate. We have people who hate us without a cause. And we respond with a development of hate within our heart. Then God send Jesus who became a man like us. He was hated since the beginning of his birth. The hatred that people had on him is multiplied times over ours. The hatred was so great that they crucified him on the cross. At the cross, he said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ He submitted himself to God when he said, ‘Father into your spirit I commit myself.’ And when he was resurrected, his Spirit has given us the power to love, to overcome hate. It can only take the power of God to overcome hate, to love the unlovable. Yet the resurrection power of God can give you the power to love again. We don’t have to have a hateful heart because Jesus can overcome hate and put the agape love, the divine love, into our heart. We don’t have to follow the world. We don’t have to live with a hateful heart. We can love because Christ has conquered hate and given us a God’s kind of love into our heart. Only just come to him and you will experience this powerful, miraculous love, that is divine, from above. I have experienced this love many a times and so can you because you are a child of God.
