WEBVTT 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.660 Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminarium. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:12.759 This week, we're exploring a topic that a lot 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:14.800 of people, I think, might feel uncomfortable 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:19.559 with or don't want to think about, or maybe they 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:24.460 fixate on it. Anyway, we think of God as love, 00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:29.440 but are there things that God hates? We're going 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:31.480 to look at that tonight. I'll see you on the 00:00:31.480 --> 00:00:38.340 other side. Is it okay if I begin? Is it alright? 00:00:41.140 --> 00:00:44.579 I was thinking, we're going to kind of probably 00:00:44.579 --> 00:00:46.840 take at least this week and maybe one more week 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:49.880 off, then we'll do another series. I haven't 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:51.820 quite figured out what those, we've done two 00:00:51.820 --> 00:00:54.520 series in a row, both Old Testament Minor Prophets. 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:57.719 Not to get stuck in a rut, I'm really not kind 00:00:57.719 --> 00:00:59.320 of, I haven't figured out where I want to go 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:02.719 next. Like I was explaining on the way into the 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.680 church today, when I put those series together, 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:08.959 I want to know where I'm going to land before 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:12.799 I take off in these parts of the story, because 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.519 there was a time when I didn't think these things 00:01:16.519 --> 00:01:19.980 is through and would think I've got two or three 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:23.680 or four part series. And then I'd only have half 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:25.640 of it. I wouldn't know how to land the plane. 00:01:25.739 --> 00:01:29.180 And so I kind of think ahead, you know, at least 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:30.980 what the subject matter is going to be for each 00:01:30.980 --> 00:01:33.140 week before I ever even begin. I haven't just, 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:35.500 I haven't got to that part with. what we want 00:01:35.500 --> 00:01:38.319 to be, what I want to do for the new topic. Probably 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:41.980 look at something in the New Testament. And also, 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:46.420 whenever we do those kind of Hebrew scripture 00:01:46.420 --> 00:01:50.680 studies, guys like prophets and stuff, as kind 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:53.319 of a palate cleanser, I like to kind of go back 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:57.079 to the New Testament as kind of just a gospel 00:01:57.079 --> 00:02:00.859 message kind of reminder of what we learn about 00:02:00.859 --> 00:02:04.420 in Christian scripture. And one of the things 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:08.520 that we definitely focus on a huge amount whenever 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:12.340 we talk New Testament is we focus, we talk all 00:02:12.340 --> 00:02:17.240 the time about how God loves us. Super, super 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:22.900 important. How God loves us. And we love, we 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:27.659 celebrate the idea that because of the depth 00:02:27.659 --> 00:02:32.659 of that love, that God can take broken, hurting 00:02:32.659 --> 00:02:37.500 people and make beautiful things from them because 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:41.680 of that love. But today, I want to talk about 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:48.259 what God hates. Now, before we begin that discussion, 00:02:48.460 --> 00:02:53.139 I'd like to at least come to some agreement here 00:02:53.139 --> 00:02:57.659 on what we think about God. Specifically in this 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:01.800 idea, we recognize that there are are attributes 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:09.159 of God that define who God is to us, right? Attributes 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:13.900 of God's character. And those attributes we often 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:18.699 think about because God is omniscient and omnipresent 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:23.139 and omniblevelent, right? That he's always good, 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:25.599 that he's always there, that he's all -powerful, 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:29.780 all -knowing. that his attributes of his character 00:03:29.780 --> 00:03:35.439 are absolute as well. So when we talk about the 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.400 justice of God in God's terms, not in ours, not 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:41.819 in the way we think of our own personal justice, 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:46.180 but in God's justice, it's absolute. God never 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:51.199 bends the rules for the sake of justice. Righteousness, 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.800 holiness, again, things that are absolute. I 00:03:54.800 --> 00:03:59.340 think... Love. It's a characteristic of God that 00:03:59.340 --> 00:04:04.360 is absolute. I believe that because there's no 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:07.680 end to God's love for us, there's no beginning 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:12.460 either. That it shoots off both ends of the spectrum, 00:04:12.539 --> 00:04:15.840 so to speak. That's the absolute nature of God's 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:19.160 love. And then when we talk about these attributes, 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:21.100 about what makes God different than any other 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:25.970 being in the universe, Of these attributes, what's 00:04:25.970 --> 00:04:29.610 kind of foundational? What is the attribute of 00:04:29.610 --> 00:04:32.550 God's character in which all of these other characteristics 00:04:32.550 --> 00:04:37.029 hinge on? I would argue, and I hope you'll agree, 00:04:37.290 --> 00:04:41.410 that love is the one. Love is that foundational 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:46.589 attribute of God's character by which through 00:04:46.589 --> 00:04:49.310 we now try to see the lens of God's righteousness 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:53.399 and God's holiness and God's justice. Right? 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:58.420 So, at God's foundation, attributes of his character 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:02.699 is love. Now, that's an interesting question, 00:05:02.899 --> 00:05:06.759 because if God's love doesn't even have an end 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:08.819 for us, or doesn't have a beginning for us, has 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:11.779 no end for us, God's love shoots off both ends 00:05:11.779 --> 00:05:16.839 of the spectrum, can God love hate? Are there 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:21.639 things that God hates? Right. That's exactly 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:24.019 the correct answer, yes. And I would actually 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:30.399 argue, right? As parents, can we hate things 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:33.579 our children do? And when we do, does it affect 00:05:33.579 --> 00:05:37.699 our love for them? Most times it doesn't. In 00:05:37.699 --> 00:05:42.220 fact, the reason why we hate these things is 00:05:42.220 --> 00:05:46.639 because of how much we love them. So the opposite 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:53.410 of love isn't hate. It's apathy, right? The opposite 00:05:53.410 --> 00:05:58.529 of love. Hate requires emotion. Apathy is being 00:05:58.529 --> 00:06:04.569 devoid of emotion regarding something good or 00:06:04.569 --> 00:06:09.050 bad. So certainly there are things that God hates, 00:06:09.209 --> 00:06:11.970 but I hope that we'll see tonight the things 00:06:11.970 --> 00:06:16.370 that God hates are actually motivated by God's 00:06:16.370 --> 00:06:20.899 love for us. I think it's super important for 00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:24.720 us to consider the things about us that God loves 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:27.939 and to consider the things about us that God 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:32.610 hates because we... We hope, we say anyway, I 00:06:32.610 --> 00:06:37.629 hope you say anyway, that we desire an intimate 00:06:37.629 --> 00:06:42.029 relationship with God. We want to have a personal 00:06:42.029 --> 00:06:45.009 relationship with God. We want to have personal 00:06:45.009 --> 00:06:47.750 relationships with other people. And one of the 00:06:47.750 --> 00:06:50.930 foundational needs of an intimate relationship 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.990 is understanding what that other person loves 00:06:53.990 --> 00:07:00.189 and hates, right? I mean, that's a key. to understanding 00:07:00.189 --> 00:07:02.910 the person. We want to have that loving relationship 00:07:02.910 --> 00:07:06.670 with it. So it's important to us to consider 00:07:06.670 --> 00:07:11.110 these things. But it's confusing because does 00:07:11.110 --> 00:07:15.069 God really hate stuff? Well, we look to Scripture. 00:07:15.790 --> 00:07:18.689 We can actually see this addressed directly. 00:07:19.209 --> 00:07:22.949 Now, the book of Proverbs is traditionally attributed. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.379 to have been written by King Solomon, who was 00:07:26.379 --> 00:07:29.680 David, David and Goliath, Solomon's son. Solomon 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:33.779 built the great temple, right? About 900 BC, 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:35.879 can't help but throw all this stuff out there. 00:07:35.939 --> 00:07:38.620 It's me, right? That's about when his rule was 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:42.600 in the 900s BC. Solomon is attributed for writing 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:45.639 some stuff in the Bible. Song of Solomon is attributed 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.019 to him. Now, whether he actually wrote them or 00:07:48.019 --> 00:07:52.920 not, we don't know one way or the other. Ecclesiastes. 00:07:53.529 --> 00:07:57.329 Also a book with Proverbs are books that are 00:07:57.329 --> 00:07:59.870 attributed to have been written to Solomon. At 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:04.009 least the wisdom contained within those books 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:09.670 are attributed to the wisdom of Solomon. And 00:08:09.670 --> 00:08:13.129 so in Proverbs, in chapter six, Proverbs, this 00:08:13.129 --> 00:08:16.970 chapter six, actually pretty incredible because 00:08:16.970 --> 00:08:21.149 it's Solomon's advice to people about how they 00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:24.470 should live. how they should think of God, and 00:08:24.470 --> 00:08:27.050 how important relationships are with each other. 00:08:27.550 --> 00:08:30.990 And really, the thrust of what he's talking about, 00:08:31.009 --> 00:08:33.669 this particular portion of Scripture, is actually 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:37.769 idleness. He's talking to people, and he basically 00:08:37.769 --> 00:08:42.230 says, if you're too lazy to work, then you should 00:08:42.230 --> 00:08:46.809 not expect anything different than strife and 00:08:46.809 --> 00:08:50.210 difficulty in your life. It's just something 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:52.990 you should expect. He's not necessarily condemning 00:08:52.990 --> 00:08:56.110 it, but he is kind of book of Proverbs is a book 00:08:56.110 --> 00:09:00.389 of wisdom, right? And so the things he writes 00:09:00.389 --> 00:09:02.710 about in this book is advice that you don't have 00:09:02.710 --> 00:09:06.129 to take or not, but if you don't take the wisdom 00:09:06.129 --> 00:09:09.250 contained therein, Solomon is saying you're a 00:09:09.250 --> 00:09:15.240 fool, okay? And in 6 and 16, He mentions things 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:18.659 that God hates, and let me read them out. It's 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:21.720 kind of a neat way. It's a turn of phrase, kind 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:24.399 of poetic. I think it's beautiful how it's written. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:28.379 Proverbs 6 and 16, what does God hate? There 00:09:28.379 --> 00:09:32.779 are six things the Lord hates, seven that are 00:09:32.779 --> 00:09:36.360 detestable to him, right? So he's saying, I'm 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:38.259 going to list them all out for you. There's six. 00:09:38.340 --> 00:09:40.909 Actually, there's seven. That's also interesting, 00:09:41.149 --> 00:09:43.370 the one that he picks out as the seventh one. 00:09:43.590 --> 00:09:47.149 And let me try to flesh that out here in a second. 00:09:47.250 --> 00:09:50.269 But six and seven, seven things that God hates. 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:55.289 Haughty eyes, that word is strange. Haughty means 00:09:55.289 --> 00:10:00.389 conceited. If I'm haughty, my nose is stuck up 00:10:00.389 --> 00:10:04.230 like, right, haughty. So being conceited, haughty 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:08.840 eyes, a lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent 00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:15.779 blood. A heart that devises wicked schemes. Feet 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:20.360 that are quick to rush into evil. A false witness 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:23.799 who pours out lies. And here's the seventh one. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.519 A person who stirs up conflict in the community. 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:34.899 I mean, all of a sudden, I don't know. I have 00:10:34.899 --> 00:10:38.600 mugshots of people all of a sudden pop through 00:10:38.600 --> 00:10:42.399 my brain when I read that. My own personal Pastor 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:49.120 Jim mugshots of people. No one here. But it's 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:50.960 interesting because that seventh one that he 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.360 finds the testable has to do with the breakdown 00:10:53.360 --> 00:10:56.519 of relationships, right? Okay, stick with that 00:10:56.519 --> 00:11:00.100 thought. Remember that in your head. Now, when 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:03.000 I list off the things that God hates and we're 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.759 going to be specific, Sometimes people will sit 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:08.840 up a little bit straighter and their ears will 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:12.960 perk up because if sin has a naughty list and 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.700 it's clear as day there in the scripture, I want 00:11:15.700 --> 00:11:19.360 to make sure I'm not on that naughty list. I 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:21.200 don't want to be doing the things that clearly 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:25.759 scripture says God hates. The reason why we feel 00:11:25.759 --> 00:11:29.610 that way. It's because in relationships, we don't 00:11:29.610 --> 00:11:32.210 want to do something that the other person we 00:11:32.210 --> 00:11:39.570 love hates, right? Why? Well, here's why. When 00:11:39.570 --> 00:11:43.549 we do that, when we do things the other person 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:48.190 in this relationship hates, we create a distance 00:11:48.190 --> 00:11:54.789 between that individual and ourselves. An emotional, 00:11:54.970 --> 00:11:58.710 a spiritual... sometimes even physical distance 00:11:58.710 --> 00:12:04.669 as a result. And that distance breeds loneliness, 00:12:04.889 --> 00:12:09.129 doesn't it? And that's at the center of what 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:12.750 I want to talk about this evening. Because I 00:12:12.750 --> 00:12:16.850 bet many of us, maybe not all, and if it's not 00:12:16.850 --> 00:12:21.049 you, praise God for you, but many of us have 00:12:21.049 --> 00:12:24.590 felt some distance from God before in our past. 00:12:25.870 --> 00:12:30.690 There are a lot of things that can cause us to 00:12:30.690 --> 00:12:35.169 have distance from God. Sometimes it's like things 00:12:35.169 --> 00:12:40.090 like the untimely death of a loved one. Or it 00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:43.129 could be some people are just like, you know, 00:12:43.149 --> 00:12:45.669 I don't have any real close relationships. I 00:12:45.669 --> 00:12:48.909 don't have any close friends. And I've been trying 00:12:48.909 --> 00:12:52.029 to connect with people and I can't. So they just 00:12:52.029 --> 00:12:55.500 wall themselves off from everybody. including 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:59.279 God. People that feel like they're in a dead 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:01.259 -end job and it's not working out. We've been 00:13:01.259 --> 00:13:03.120 talking about these things over the last couple 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.639 of weeks. I keep serving God and I keep doing 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:09.559 this and I keep doing that. All of these different 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.799 things for God and I feel like I'm stuck in my 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:15.600 situation and nothing goes my way. It feels like 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:20.399 every time I take one step forward, I get knocked 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:25.169 two steps back. Where is God in this? Remember? 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:30.409 I felt like something was happening. And it distanced 00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:34.649 us. It distances us. Right? It creates that feeling 00:13:34.649 --> 00:13:39.789 of distance. And that distance breeds in us loneliness. 00:13:40.850 --> 00:13:43.330 And that loneliness, again, is going to be at 00:13:43.330 --> 00:13:44.990 the center of what we're talking about this evening. 00:13:45.649 --> 00:13:48.409 What does God hate? Well, the pivotal thought 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:52.090 for our discussion this evening, our study here, 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:59.259 God hates the loneliness that we feel from the 00:13:59.259 --> 00:14:04.220 distance that we create. What does God hate? 00:14:04.440 --> 00:14:09.919 God hates that loneliness we feel from the distance 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:15.220 that we create. And that distance is created 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:19.480 by sin. God hates the loneliness, that void, 00:14:19.720 --> 00:14:22.500 that thing inside of us that feels like something 00:14:22.500 --> 00:14:28.240 is missing. And we create that distance. And 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:30.480 you might say, well, how do we create distance 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:34.179 from God? There are several millions of ways 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:36.639 that we do that. But I'm only going to look at 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:41.159 two this evening and leave the other 98 million 00:14:41.159 --> 00:14:45.860 someone else. Romans chapter 3, the Bible says, 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:49.059 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:51.960 of God. Now, when Paul writes that in Romans, 00:14:52.100 --> 00:14:56.340 he uses it. He is using that as a very, very 00:14:56.340 --> 00:14:59.360 important statement to not just the people that 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:01.879 he was writing the letter to, but to people who 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:04.100 have read those words down millennia, because 00:15:04.100 --> 00:15:08.679 when he says all, He means all, and that means 00:15:08.679 --> 00:15:11.039 you, and that means me, and that means the priest 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.399 down the street, and it means the really good 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:15.519 teacher you like, and it means Adolf Hitler, 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:20.000 it means everybody, whatever. Every single one 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.059 of us, me, the people next to you, the people 00:15:23.059 --> 00:15:26.279 behind you, people in front of you, we have all 00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:28.919 sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:33.620 God hates the loneliness we feel because sin 00:15:34.329 --> 00:15:38.409 Distance us. Distances us. Remember, right, that 00:15:38.409 --> 00:15:41.629 distance creates loneliness. And then we're going 00:15:41.629 --> 00:15:43.529 to talk about the impact of that loneliness here 00:15:43.529 --> 00:15:46.690 in a minute. God hated that so much, I believe, 00:15:46.789 --> 00:15:49.549 that he sent his only son, Jesus, into the world 00:15:49.549 --> 00:15:52.710 so that that distance could be closed and that 00:15:52.710 --> 00:15:55.429 we could be saved. In fact, the book of John, 00:15:55.529 --> 00:15:59.110 chapter 3 and 17 says, for God sent his son into 00:15:59.110 --> 00:16:03.519 the world not to condemn the world. but to save 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:08.080 it through him. Right? God hates the loneliness 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:12.139 that we feel from the distance we create, and 00:16:12.139 --> 00:16:16.399 that sin creates distance from God. Let me give 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:19.759 you an illustration of this. In the New Testament, 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:24.860 it's called the Book of James. The Book of James 00:16:24.860 --> 00:16:29.559 is a book attributed to being written by James, 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:33.080 who was the brother of Jesus. James was actually 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:35.139 not a follower of Jesus when Jesus was alive. 00:16:36.139 --> 00:16:39.639 That is one of those things, if you have a sibling, 00:16:39.779 --> 00:16:43.200 if you have a brother or sister, that at least 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:44.799 for me, that is one of the things that almost 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:48.720 kind of proves the Bible's true because I can't 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:52.100 imagine what it would take for me to be able 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:53.779 to convince my sister that I'm the Savior of 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:58.179 the world. It wasn't until the resurrection, 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:00.899 it wasn't until James actually saw his brother 00:17:00.899 --> 00:17:03.899 die and then awake again, that James went, oh 00:17:03.899 --> 00:17:06.400 my gosh, he really is who he says that he is. 00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:08.420 And James becomes a wholehearted follower and 00:17:08.420 --> 00:17:10.839 ends up leading the church of Christians, early 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:12.940 Christians in Jerusalem. He writes a letter to 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:15.819 them, and that letter is called the book of James. 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:20.420 And in James chapter one, it says, our desire, 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:25.039 once it's conceived, Our desires, once they're 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:30.779 conceived, give birth to sin. And then sin, when 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:35.859 it's full grown, gives birth to death. I love 00:17:35.859 --> 00:17:38.839 the way that's written. Our desire, once it's 00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:43.099 conceived, gives birth to sin. And when sin is 00:17:43.099 --> 00:17:49.279 full grown, it gives birth to death. It's decay. 00:17:49.660 --> 00:17:54.829 It's rot. breeds loneliness, and that's what 00:17:54.829 --> 00:17:59.910 God hates. Now, that's not the only thing that 00:17:59.910 --> 00:18:01.829 will distance us from God. There's another thing, 00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:07.430 and this is, I think, for people who I think 00:18:07.430 --> 00:18:10.750 will say things like, you know what? I believe 00:18:10.750 --> 00:18:16.910 in God. I follow Jesus, right? Okay, I'm a part 00:18:16.910 --> 00:18:20.329 of that group. I don't know about how theologically, 00:18:20.470 --> 00:18:24.650 whatever, I'm a believer. Here's another thing. 00:18:24.730 --> 00:18:26.529 If you say, raise your hand and say, I'm one 00:18:26.529 --> 00:18:29.210 of those people. I mean, yeah, I'm on board with 00:18:29.210 --> 00:18:32.789 believing. Our complacency also distances us 00:18:32.789 --> 00:18:35.970 from God. The truth is there's so many people 00:18:35.970 --> 00:18:38.990 who call themselves Christians and they say they 00:18:38.990 --> 00:18:41.210 believe in God and they live their lives as if 00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:45.509 God does not exist. In other words, God, I believe 00:18:45.509 --> 00:18:49.079 in God. I follow Jesus, but it doesn't really 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:54.019 affect my practical everyday life. You say, well, 00:18:54.039 --> 00:18:56.920 how does that happen? Well, in Scripture, we 00:18:56.920 --> 00:18:59.660 go back to Proverbs chapter 1. The Bible says, 00:18:59.779 --> 00:19:03.079 for the waywardness of the simple will kill them, 00:19:03.180 --> 00:19:08.099 and the complacency of fools will destroy them. 00:19:09.140 --> 00:19:11.880 The Bible says the complacency of fools will 00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:15.240 destroy them. In other words, when we find ourselves 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:18.539 becoming complacent, the Bible says you are a 00:19:18.539 --> 00:19:24.019 fool and it is going to destroy you. And how 00:19:24.019 --> 00:19:26.420 we see this kind of thing happen in our day -to 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:30.539 -day lives, right? It's kind of like we come 00:19:30.539 --> 00:19:34.599 to church or something, some sort of experience, 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:39.140 and we have that spiritual moment with God, and 00:19:39.140 --> 00:19:41.750 we get on a spiritual high. the beginning of 00:19:41.750 --> 00:19:44.869 our journeys with Jesus, whatever. I love this 00:19:44.869 --> 00:19:48.130 stuff. God, I am into you. You feel like you're 00:19:48.130 --> 00:19:51.170 into me. We're connected. I'm into your word. 00:19:51.210 --> 00:19:54.630 I feel like we're together. And then what happens 00:19:54.630 --> 00:19:57.509 is, well, different things happen, but something 00:19:57.509 --> 00:20:00.849 happens in our lives that causes us to become 00:20:00.849 --> 00:20:05.529 distracted. Well, what do you mean? I mean, like, 00:20:05.549 --> 00:20:09.630 you know, Sunday morning, God, I love you, but... 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.500 Did you see that play? Right? The DVR, rewind 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:16.380 that. Was his foot in bounds? Right? Oh, are 00:20:16.380 --> 00:20:19.059 you kidding? Hold on, God. Hold on. I love you 00:20:19.059 --> 00:20:21.420 and all, but maybe I'll come back to you after 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:26.119 sports season. We'll get back together. God, 00:20:26.180 --> 00:20:28.480 I love you. I'm with you. We're connected. All 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.440 is good. Hold on, John. He's got soccer practice. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:34.319 Sarah has to go to the ballet, to gymnastics, 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:36.359 right? Because she's going to be in the Olympics 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:41.140 one day. Listen, God. I'll get back to you as 00:20:41.140 --> 00:20:44.720 soon as school's over, okay? Back in May, maybe. 00:20:44.819 --> 00:20:49.380 Don't go anywhere. And what's the problem? It 00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:53.019 seems, when we're sitting here in church, it 00:20:53.019 --> 00:20:56.319 seems obvious, but we do this kind of thing all 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.420 the time. In plain, simple English, this is what 00:21:00.420 --> 00:21:04.119 happens. We do this. I've done this in my life. 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:07.460 Right? I've done this, I've done that, and all 00:21:07.460 --> 00:21:10.240 kinds of things of life have distracted me from 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:12.940 God. And that's what happens. We're close to 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:17.700 God, and then something distracts us. And just 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:20.519 like a cat with a flashlight or whatever, right? 00:21:20.700 --> 00:21:23.259 The moment something distracts us, we leave where 00:21:23.259 --> 00:21:27.000 we are, we run right to it. That shiny object 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.160 that we desire, whatever it is. And when we make 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:34.240 that move, what happens? We create. Distance 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.640 with God. And that distance, because of our movement, 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:44.480 creates a loneliness. A loneliness that eventually 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:48.619 can breed complacency. And what's the problem 00:21:48.619 --> 00:21:51.680 with complacency? Well, here's the problem. Because 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:55.279 when we get distant from God, all of a sudden 00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.059 those things that might have used to have been 00:21:58.059 --> 00:22:02.960 vile or sickening to us really aren't that. bad 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:08.180 anymore. Like we kind of begin to see our little 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:12.180 pet sins a little differently. We might even 00:22:12.180 --> 00:22:16.319 slip our arm around that favorite sin and say, 00:22:16.420 --> 00:22:20.700 you know what? You're not so bad. I kind of like 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:27.140 it. We kind of befriend them. We put another 00:22:27.140 --> 00:22:31.500 arm around it and now we're hugging our sin. 00:22:31.789 --> 00:22:36.710 all of a sudden. And just as we begin to hold 00:22:36.710 --> 00:22:41.730 on to it, right, we begin to love that thing, 00:22:41.829 --> 00:22:45.089 something that might have been vile, sickening 00:22:45.089 --> 00:22:49.269 to us. We love it so much, we give it little 00:22:49.269 --> 00:22:52.890 pet names, sugar -coated names, to make it sound 00:22:52.890 --> 00:22:55.769 a little appealing, right? Oh, what's a little 00:22:55.769 --> 00:23:01.160 flirting anyway? Completely innocent. It's really 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:03.839 not that bad. It's not hurting anyone. It's just 00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:08.559 a little white lie, right? Everything is fair 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:13.079 in business. I mean, I'm just trying to get ahead. 00:23:13.819 --> 00:23:17.619 The cost of doing business, so to speak. Our 00:23:17.619 --> 00:23:24.059 sin, when we hear it in this setting, we say, 00:23:24.099 --> 00:23:29.180 that's gross. That's garbage. But it's that distance 00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:31.839 that creates that complacency that happens whether 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:36.240 we see it happening or not. And we sit here and 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:38.660 we think, oh, I would never ever do things like 00:23:38.660 --> 00:23:42.240 that. And all of a sudden we find ourselves directly 00:23:42.240 --> 00:23:48.099 right smack dab in the middle of that. And how 00:23:48.099 --> 00:23:51.819 did it happen? Well, somewhere along the way 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:54.680 we got distracted. We became distant. We got 00:23:54.680 --> 00:24:00.180 complacent. And now we're way over here, far 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:05.420 from God, and we're lonely. And God hates that 00:24:05.420 --> 00:24:11.259 distance between us. God wants us closer to him. 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:16.700 But it's a distance we create. We need to see 00:24:16.700 --> 00:24:20.500 our sin for what it really is. Again, when we 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:24.039 hear it just in the openness, those kind of things. 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.920 infidelity, alcoholism, drug abuse, whatever 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.799 that sin that creates you from theft, lying, 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:33.619 whatever those things are that creates sin. We 00:24:33.619 --> 00:24:35.480 listen to those things now and go, oh gosh, those 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:40.339 things are horrible. But we have to, we have 00:24:40.339 --> 00:24:42.460 to see them for what they are and we have to 00:24:42.460 --> 00:24:46.940 reject them at every turn. Paul says in chapter 00:24:46.940 --> 00:24:48.839 three of his letter to the Philippian church, 00:24:48.980 --> 00:24:51.779 what is more, I consider everything a loss. because 00:24:51.779 --> 00:24:54.180 of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:59.119 for whose sake I have lost all things. Those 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:03.420 things, he says, right, that he used to love, 00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:07.640 he now considers them, Philippians uses the word 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:11.339 garbage, that I may gain Christ. Let me just 00:25:11.339 --> 00:25:13.140 tell you, this is one of the neat, this is one 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:15.059 of the first little Greek word things I ever 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:18.619 learned in pastoring, the word garbage in Philippians 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:22.000 there. That word is actually scubala. And we're 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:25.019 all finished with dinner, right? It means dumb. 00:25:26.339 --> 00:25:30.059 Specifically dog dumb, right? So you could use 00:25:30.059 --> 00:25:32.519 a word that you might hear your racist uncle 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:35.720 use and say all those things I used to think 00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:39.099 were so important, those are doggy poo -poo. 00:25:40.579 --> 00:25:44.720 That in return I might gain Christ instead of. 00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:48.680 We've come to a place where we realize that stuff 00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:52.500 is garbage. And when that happens, it creates 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:55.980 a distance and a loneliness. I mean, we've all 00:25:55.980 --> 00:25:59.920 felt distance from God. Every single one of us. 00:26:00.740 --> 00:26:05.400 We actually see in the Psalms, in the 10th Psalm, 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:09.740 this one is attributed to being written by King 00:26:09.740 --> 00:26:13.779 David, Solomon's father, Goliath fame, right? 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:18.960 The man who was after God's own heart. He says, 00:26:19.690 --> 00:26:24.250 Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide 00:26:24.250 --> 00:26:29.190 yourself in times of trouble? Can we feel the 00:26:29.190 --> 00:26:33.349 loneliness? I can, in his words. I feel like 00:26:33.349 --> 00:26:39.450 I can sense a deep hurt in his words. Peter, 00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:42.410 one of the disciples of Jesus, Jesus says, You're 00:26:42.410 --> 00:26:44.210 all going to deny me. And Peter says, are you 00:26:44.210 --> 00:26:46.750 kidding? I'm not going anywhere, Jesus. I am 00:26:46.750 --> 00:26:49.049 right there with you. And he says, no, actually, 00:26:49.089 --> 00:26:51.009 you're going to deny me three times before the 00:26:51.009 --> 00:26:54.410 rooster crows. And the book of Luke records it 00:26:54.410 --> 00:26:58.509 that at the third time that Peter denied Christ, 00:26:58.609 --> 00:27:03.789 actually, Jesus is walking by and he hears it 00:27:03.789 --> 00:27:09.910 and they lock eyes. Put yourself in Peter's sandals 00:27:09.910 --> 00:27:14.740 for a second. Could you imagine having denied 00:27:14.740 --> 00:27:21.920 Jesus, denied Jesus Christ verbally within his 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.619 own earshot and you lock eyes with him enough 00:27:25.619 --> 00:27:30.019 for him to see you and you to see his face. And 00:27:30.019 --> 00:27:33.000 at the same time, feel the distance between your 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.240 two hearts in that moment. Scripture actually 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:39.299 reports that Peter went after that event, went 00:27:39.299 --> 00:27:44.190 out and wept bitterly. Why? Because of the distance, 00:27:44.369 --> 00:27:48.349 the loneliness he must have felt. Jesus says 00:27:48.349 --> 00:27:50.769 in Matthew chapter 27, hanging on the cross, 00:27:51.029 --> 00:27:54.710 excruciating pain, right? For my sin and for 00:27:54.710 --> 00:27:57.589 yours. He says, my God, my God, why have you 00:27:57.589 --> 00:28:02.950 forsaken me? Loneliness, distance. Here's the 00:28:02.950 --> 00:28:04.609 thing I think we need to understand this evening. 00:28:04.710 --> 00:28:06.470 If you're feeling distant from God, I want you 00:28:06.470 --> 00:28:08.809 to write this on your heart. This is really important, 00:28:08.970 --> 00:28:12.470 I think, to understand, right? When you feel 00:28:12.470 --> 00:28:15.650 distance from God, and you will, just remember 00:28:15.650 --> 00:28:20.890 God's not distant from us. When we feel distance 00:28:20.890 --> 00:28:24.230 from God, and we will, God is not distant from 00:28:24.230 --> 00:28:28.210 us, no matter where we go. In our highest of 00:28:28.210 --> 00:28:30.730 highs and our lowest of lows, friends, God is 00:28:30.730 --> 00:28:33.630 still with us, pursuing us. God is there no matter 00:28:33.630 --> 00:28:36.609 how great times are. God is there no matter how 00:28:36.609 --> 00:28:39.630 bad times are. When we feel distance from God, 00:28:39.710 --> 00:28:43.279 God is not distant. We actually see this play 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:45.200 out in the book of Romans, Paul writing to the 00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.059 Christians in Rome, chapter 8. For I am convinced 00:28:48.059 --> 00:28:52.059 that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, 00:28:52.380 --> 00:28:57.380 nor presence, I'm sorry, nor the present, nor 00:28:57.380 --> 00:29:01.819 the future, nor any powers, neither height nor 00:29:01.819 --> 00:29:05.720 depth, nor anything else in all of creation, 00:29:06.039 --> 00:29:10.150 none of that will be able to separate us. from 00:29:10.150 --> 00:29:12.549 the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:29:13.589 --> 00:29:15.329 What's that mean? It means it doesn't matter 00:29:15.329 --> 00:29:17.710 what you did last night. It doesn't matter what 00:29:17.710 --> 00:29:21.210 you're going to do tonight. There's nothing that 00:29:21.210 --> 00:29:24.019 you can do. that can separate you from the love 00:29:24.019 --> 00:29:26.279 of God that is Christ Jesus. It doesn't matter 00:29:26.279 --> 00:29:28.799 how great you are, how wonderful you are, how 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:31.940 many songs you've sung in a band. It doesn't 00:29:31.940 --> 00:29:35.140 matter anything. Nothing you can do will separate 00:29:35.140 --> 00:29:37.640 you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. 00:29:37.819 --> 00:29:40.740 If you go to the highest of heights, is God still 00:29:40.740 --> 00:29:44.099 there? The answer is yes. If you go to the bottom 00:29:44.099 --> 00:29:47.319 of the sea, is God still there? Absolutely. If 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:50.019 you run as far as you can, is God still there? 00:29:50.420 --> 00:29:54.029 Yes. Is God still with you when you go to Walmart? 00:29:54.769 --> 00:29:58.910 Yes. Cashiers may not be there anymore, but God 00:29:58.910 --> 00:30:05.269 is. Sorry. When we feel distant from God, God 00:30:05.269 --> 00:30:08.849 is not distant from us. And what God hates is 00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:10.970 the loneliness that we feel for the distance 00:30:10.970 --> 00:30:14.430 we create. When we feel distant from God, understand, 00:30:14.690 --> 00:30:19.220 again, God is not distant from us. It's the loneliness 00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:21.799 we feel from the distance we create because of 00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:25.920 our sin. And as a result, the answer of how to 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:30.299 fix that problem is simple. We don't want to 00:30:30.299 --> 00:30:34.380 do the things that creates the distance, that 00:30:34.380 --> 00:30:39.680 creates the loneliness that God hates. Amen? 00:30:39.980 --> 00:30:51.779 Amen. Hey, thanks guys. It is interesting to 00:30:51.779 --> 00:30:56.220 me that when we try to talk about, when we often 00:30:56.220 --> 00:31:01.960 think about, when we package the spiritual relationship 00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:04.460 that we humans are supposed to have with God 00:31:04.460 --> 00:31:08.579 and this problem of sin that permeates in the 00:31:08.579 --> 00:31:11.019 good and the bad and the do's and the don'ts 00:31:11.019 --> 00:31:13.299 and shoulds and shouldn'ts and all of that stuff. 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:17.619 In the end, between God and us, between God and 00:31:17.619 --> 00:31:25.470 you, between God and me, seems like worse almost 00:31:25.470 --> 00:31:31.089 than the sin, the act itself, is because of that 00:31:31.089 --> 00:31:35.289 love that God has for us. The thing that God 00:31:35.289 --> 00:31:41.650 hates the most is that loneliness that we feel 00:31:41.650 --> 00:31:46.910 because of that separation between us. It's an 00:31:46.910 --> 00:31:49.930 interesting way to think about it because I think 00:31:49.930 --> 00:31:52.589 it's something that we can establish in every 00:31:52.589 --> 00:31:55.769 one of our lives, that person that we desire 00:31:55.769 --> 00:32:01.230 to have a relationship. We don't want to create 00:32:01.230 --> 00:32:05.250 separation. We don't want a relationship that's 00:32:05.250 --> 00:32:08.670 distant, one that might create complacency, one 00:32:08.670 --> 00:32:12.230 that might create loneliness. No, we'd rather 00:32:12.230 --> 00:32:17.750 have it intimate and close. It's what God desires 00:32:17.750 --> 00:32:22.009 for us most, and I think it's what God hates 00:32:22.009 --> 00:32:27.450 the most when we can't achieve it. Anyway, that's 00:32:27.450 --> 00:32:29.990 something to think about. Until next week, friend, 00:32:30.230 --> 00:32:31.190 be blessed.