The Difficulty of Hating Evil

Romans 12 as the Turning Point from Doctrine to Application

Well, if you want to open up your Bibles with me, we're going to open up to the book of Romans. We're going to be back in Romans, and we're going to be in chapter 12, which I don't know how many of you remember, but we actually started chapter 12 sometime, I think, back in October.

And we've gotten through eight verses. But the reason why we've taken so long is because the first part of chapter 12 deals with the concept and the study of spiritual gifts. And what we've done over the last couple of months is we've used that as a springboard to spend time studying the subject of spiritual gifts.

And some of you gave me, last week, a sheet. I still have them. I'm trying to get some from the rest of the congregation. And if you didn't give me your spiritual gift survey sheet, and you would like to take one home and do it and bring it back, I have some available, and I'll give them to you after the service.

Because the elders are trying to help everyone in the church find where they are individually gifted by God, so that we will know where to put you in ministry, where to open doors for you, so that you'll have opportunities to minister within the church.

We really want to operate with what we call gift-based ministry, because we believe that's what the Bible teaches that we're supposed to do, operating according to the gifts that God has assigned. So that's been the focus, and that has brought us down to verse 9, which is where we're going to begin tonight.

But just for introduction, since we have been studying spiritual gifts, I do want to read chapter 12, verses 1 -8, just to give us the context of where we are this evening, and that will be our opening text, and then we will pray.

So let's pray, or let's read together Romans chapter 12, starting at verse 1. It says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we though many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy, in proportion to our faith. If service, in our serving. The one who teaches in his teaching. The one who exhorts in his exhortation. The one who contributes in generosity. The one who leads with zeal.

The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Let's pray together. Our Father and our God, we thank you that you have brought us together again to hear your word, to study it together, to be encouraged to ask questions, to have the opportunity to examine ourselves in the mirror of the word.

And Lord, as we consider what we learn as we study the word, I do pray, first and foremost, that you would keep me from error as the mouthpiece. I pray that your Holy Spirit would be the teacher. And Lord God, that you would open up the hearts of the congregation to learn, to hear.

And Father God, I do pray that we will have a right understanding of this text, a right understanding of what the Apostle Paul is writing here, and what your spirit has inspired. And Father, we thank you again for your awesome word.

And we ask that we would be in awe over it. That we would not treat it as just another book, or just a moral code, or just a list of doctrines. But Lord God, that we would understand that your word is truly the light to our feet, the lamp to our path, to guide us through this very dark and sinful world.

Thank you God for all that you have given to us. Be with us now as we study. In Jesus' name. Amen. As we've noted when we first began looking at Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12 marks a turning point in this book.

The first eleven chapters are Paul's doctrinal, it really is Paul's doctrinal magnum opus. It's his great work of doctrine, which he gives to us, and it's really the closest thing to a systematic theology textbook that we have in the Bible.

The Bible is not written as a systematic theology textbook, but Romans is as close to that as we have. And when we read through the first eleven chapters, that's what we receive. It's doctrine upon doctrine upon doctrine.

And we've seen how he's focused on the doctrine of depravity, man's sin. He's focused on the doctrine of justification, how God deals with man and his sin by providing his son a propitiatory sacrifice.

We've seen him talk about sanctification, how not only do we receive forgiveness of our sins, but we receive empowerment by the Spirit to grow in faith, grow in godliness, and become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

And that's the goal of the believers, being conformed to Christ. We've seen the relationship between God and Israel, and we've also seen how God does, in fact, work in the doctrines of election, understanding how God works in His providence, and bringing His people to Himself.

Then we get to chapter 12, and chapter 12 is that great turning point. Paul switches from doctrine to application, and we begin to look at the application of the Scripture. And the application, beginning in chapter 12, is very simple.

He says, I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercies of God. He says, present yourself as a living sacrifice. And I mentioned back when we first studied that verse, I said the living sacrifice is really an oxymoron.

To be living is to not be dead, and to be dead is by nature a sacrifice. That's what it means to be a sacrifice. So Paul is here using two words that, he's putting two words together that normally don't go together, and he's saying this is how we are to live.

We are to live as if we were dead. Not dead physically, but dead to sin. We're to live as if all of our sinful lusts, all of our sinful passions, all of our sinful desires have been crucified with Christ, and thus it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

This is from one of Paul's other letters when he actually used that very term. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So this is really the applicable meat of the text. He's getting down to how you can put his doctrine into your walk.

And we've looked at that. We've looked at how spiritual gifts play a part in that. Because spiritual gifts are very important. Spiritual gifts are how we as a church function together becoming the body of Christ.

Some of us are the mouthpiece. Some of us are the hands. Some of us are the arms. Some of us are the feet. But we're all part of the body of Christ. No person having any more important place than another.

We all share in the one body which is Christ. He being our king and head. That's where we are now looking to verse 9. Because in verse 9, what we begin to see is we begin to see Paul describing how we ought to live in the world.

He's describing the marks of a true believer. He's describing not just the actions of a Christian but also the attitude that a Christian should have. And he outlines the attitude that should mark the life of all believers.

And I want to go ahead and say this because every time I read verses 9 through 21, and we're going to read through that and then we're going to go back and start breaking it down. It may take us a few weeks to break it down.

But before we read it, I wanted to make this statement. Much of what Paul says runs contrary to our natural self. Much of what he says runs contrary to what we might automatically think would be the right way to behave.

And the reason is because we fight a battle. Even as believers, we fight a battle with the flesh. And the thought of not repaying someone evil for evil, the thought of not getting back at someone who has done us wrong, the thought of forgiving someone 70 times 7, and the thought of continuing to forgive someone even after they've shown themselves to be an unrepentant person, doesn't sit well with us.

Believer or unbeliever, there's a part of us where the flesh takes over. And it really runs against the grain. It's sort of like when you have a cat. I don't happen to own a cat, but those of you who own a cat, you know there's a way you can rub a cat, and then there's a wrong way to pet the cat.

And if you pet the cat the wrong way, they will either move, or they'll give you a look, or they'll scratch you really hard. Well, much of what Paul is going to say in this passage is going to rub us the wrong way.

He's going to go against the grain of our feelings. He's going to go against the grain of our natural desires. And that's what we have to be ready for. Because it's not as if, okay, we are done with the doctrine, we're moving to application, so from here on out it's smooth sailing.

No, no, no, no, quite the contrary. The doctrinal part really, it's not the easy part, but the doctrinal part is the lighter side, because the doctrinal part is our understanding of God and His relationship to us.

Now the application is how we are to live with other people. And sometimes the most difficult thing in the world is dealing with other people. And that's where it's going to get hard. He's going to move on.

In chapter 13 he's going to talk about dealing with government. In chapter 14 he's going to talk about dealing with people who are less spiritually mature than you. Oh, that's big. How do you deal with somebody who's less spiritually mature to you than you are?

What if you have to concede some of your liberty, because they have not yet reached the point where you are? But you see, the Christian life is about that. The Christian life is about concession.

It is about dying to self, dying to my needs,.

Dying to my wants and being willing to give myself fully to Christ and to be willing to give up for other people. And that's really what he's going to talk about. And beloved, that's the hardest part of Christian life, because it runs against some of our most natural instincts.

So let's read verse 9. We'll read down through 21. And like I said, we're going to go up and we're just going to start talking about each one of them one at a time. And however far we get, we'll get it.

We'll just do it that way. So verse 9 says this, Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal.

Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation. Be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints. And seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you.

That's starting to get hard, isn't it? Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. It's heavy stuff. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And there is the last of chapter 12. So much can be found in each one of those phrases. So much that really should stir our hearts, because I can automatically tell you there are parts between verses 9 and verse 21 that I know don't always apply to me.

There are times when I do not behave in accordance with this very simple standard that the Scripture gives me. I'm not perfect. I readily admit that. I have faults, foibles, and things that I myself deal with.

And I don't say that because that makes it okay. I'm not saying that because I want you to feel better about yourself because you're not perfect either. I say that because this is a reminder of what I'm supposed to be.

This is a reminder of how I'm supposed to live.

And it's like, as the Scripture says, when I look at the Scripture,.

It mirrors back. It reflects back to me what I truly am. It reminds me of just how desperately I am in need of grace every day. So let's go back up to verse 9 and just look there. Verse 9 is a threefold statement.

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. So we'll break that down into its three parts. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. I love the phrase, Let love be genuine.

Because here is what he's trying to focus on when he says, Let love be genuine. He's focusing on the fact that there is love that is displayed between people that is not real. What we might call non-genuine or maybe another way would be put it, hypocritical love.

What are you talking about, Pastor? That sounds kind of weird. I know that there are people who are nice to people, who give compliments, who give encouragement, but it does not come from a true desire, but rather it is simply a farce.

It's not real, genuine love. As Christians, we are not people who are supposed to put on a show. We are supposed to have genuine love. For instance, maybe an illustration would help at this point. As many of you know, years ago I was involved with youth ministry.

I've really fallen out of love with youth ministry. Not that I don't like working with children. I love working with children. I do it multiple times every week and I really enjoy it. What I mean when I say I've fallen out of love with youth ministry, I've fallen out of love with the concept of youth ministry.

Because the concept of youth ministry is that when kids come to church, they need to be separated from their parents. They need to be brought away from their family. They need to be brought out to another room to do their own thing so that they have their own separate church and they have church on their own.

And what happens is the church begins to have a subdivision within it. I remember when it was very much that way here when I was the youth minister because I really tried to be their pastor. And I mean, there were times when there were kids that were coming to youth group never ever came to church.

They never came and sat under the preaching of the gospel of the minister. Now they heard me preaching and somebody said, well that's good. At least they were coming for something. But yet at the same time, they weren't here.

They weren't really a part of the church. And many of those kids, Jennifer and I talk about this all the time, many of those kids are nowhere to be found anymore. I know one of them particularly, it breaks my heart every day, she's a very ardent and strident atheist.

Her father was a very difficult man. They're no longer here, so not as if I'm speaking ill of someone in the church. But he was a very hard and strident man and she had a very difficult time with him.

And as such, she never could understand how he could be so difficult and harsh and mean. I tell you, I sat in counseling. I knew what she was talking about during the week, but yet come in on Sunday and put on a smile.

He was a difficult, harsh man. But he had that hypocritical love. He could show off love when he was here. He could show off for the congregation. And a lot of people really thought very well, oh man, look at him, great father, great employer, great this, great that.

But you know, she knew the story. She knew what it really was like at home. And of course, God is the one who opens hearts. I know people who've grown up in tough homes that are Christians, you know, so I can't say that that's the only reason for her atheism, but I know what it did not encourage her in the faith.

His hypocritical spirit, his fake attitude at church damaged their relationship. And really, that's just part of what I was trying to get at because really what I was talking about was youth ministry, but that's an example of how fake love can destroy and be hurtful.

But what I was trying to get to in youth ministry, I've seen a lot of youth ministries where they're so concerned with numbers, they're so concerned with this quasi-modernistic, neo-evangelistic attitude that they send these people out to try to get as many people in as possible and they do little tricks to get people to come.

And a lot of the tricks are fake displays of love.

Because when the people do come in and they do come to the church, the people won't have anything to do with them. They're not a part of their clique. They're not a part of their group. They did what they could to get them there.

They showed them that little bit of love. They used that hook to get them into the church, but when they came in, they really didn't want them there. They just wanted to put one more notch in their evangelistic belt.

They're not doing it out of love for that person or love for the gospel or love for Jesus Christ. They're doing it because they feel a duty to some form of numerical system. When you evangelize, you should not evangelize simply because you're meeting some kind of a numerical responsibility that you've set for yourself.

In fact, I will say this. There was a great man of God back in the 1800s and he did have a thing that he would do. He had a rule. He said, I want to share Jesus with two people by 2 p .m. That was his thing.

I remember hearing about him when I was in seminary. Two people by 2 p .m. Two people by 2 p .m. So every afternoon, if it was 2 p .m., if he hadn't already shared the gospel with two people, then he felt like he hadn't done what he was supposed to do.

Now, good or bad or indifferent, rather than focusing on how many people you talk to, how many people do you love enough to share the gospel with? Is your love genuine for these people? Do you really love them and care that they're not going to hell?

I can tell if you do because it will come across in how you share Christ. If your conversation with them ever ends with, well, you're going to hell then, let me explain. If you really, really believed that, you wouldn't end the conversation that way because hell is a horrible, horrible, horrible thing.

And to even consider that someone you love will one day be there.

Should stir our hearts to action. And then no numerical system would ever be enough. We wouldn't worry about two by two. We'd worry about, have I talked to Cindy? Have I shared Christ with John? Have I had that opportunity to tell Jimmy about Christ?

Because you know what? You know as well as I do, you can't convert them. You can't change their heart. But you also know your responsibility to love them and share the gospel with them. But our love is to be genuine.

Real. In fact, the word genuine here in the Greek, it means without hypocrisy. And I think some of the translations actually say it that way. Love is to be without hypocrisy. What's the one thing you often hear people say?

I don't like to be a part of the church because there are so many hypocrites in the church. And I've heard the phrases, yes, they're little cute ways to respond. Well, we can always use one more. I've heard people say that.

And I've said things like that before and joking. Because normally, if somebody's being that honest with you, that's a good opportunity to talk with them. Well, I just don't like the hypocrisy I see in the church.

Well, I don't either. I don't like the hypocrisy that I see in the church. I don't like the hypocrisy I see in myself. I hate it. I know what sins I deal with. But I know what hypocrisy myself, that I have to deal with.

I hate my sin. And I love you enough to be honest and tell you I do. Let love be without hypocrisy. That's the first of this three-fold phrase. Let love be genuine. And then he goes on to say, and this next portion of the text is really, it's a linguistic method.

He's contrasting two things. Abhor evil. Hold fast to good. Hate one thing. Cling to another. Is really the, is how this second portion is really going to come together. Hate this. Love that. And the first one is evil.

He says, hate evil. Abhor what is evil. The word abhor there, simply again, it means hate. It means to detest something. It means for it to cause you to not want to have anything to do with it. Most of us have things that we hate.

But most of us also have things in our life that we should hate that we don't. Because really and truly when you think about it, it's saying abhor what is evil. And you go down the litany of things that are in the world that are evil.

Yet how often do we find ourselves engaging in that which is evil. Engaging in those things that we ought not find pleasure in. But yet we find pleasure in them. And we're not hating it, but rather we're enjoying it.

We're taking part in it. We're participating in this thing.

Yes sir. I was just thinking of God who is the God of love. And when we started out with love, and God loves those that are even sinners because He saved them. But at the same time, He hates. God hates sinners.

Sure. So, if you're going to really understand God, you've got to see that He's not always so loving when it comes to sin.

I think, and not that I would want to correct you, but I want to maybe give it a different way of what you're saying. It's not that He is unloving, but there are times when we see His justice on display.

And to us that can seem less than loving. Because we see justice and wrath much different than we see love. And when we see His justice and His wrath on display, it is hard to understand sometimes. Because we're so familiar and so enjoy Him.

We enjoy His love. And like I said, I'm not really correcting you. I'm just changing it. He's always loving. But sometimes His love comes across in justice and we don't like that.

Is that more of my question? That's exactly what I was thinking. Okay. But we have a tendency to think that God, He disloves us, that He's going to wink at something, or He's going to wink at our sin.

And He's not. Sin is a terrible thing and God hates it. Absolutely. So it isn't just that it isn't just that mankind is supposed to hate sin. Yeah. Because God gives us the model for hating sin.

I think that's a very good point that you make there. And I'm going to piggyback on it if I may. Because what you're saying is a good point. And that is, God hates sin. And because we are supposed to be being conformed to the image of Christ, so too should we hate sin just as God hates sin.

And here's the thing. In many ways, I think Christians do hate sin as long as it's not the sin we like. You sound like, who's that football announcer that says the obvious? John Madden. John Madden. That was my John Madden moment.

I just made an obvious statement. We hate the sins we don't like. But really, what I mean by that, it's so obvious to me, it really is. Because if somebody said to most of us, what do you think about abortion?

I hate the fact that four thousand times in America every day, women enter into the act of murdering children in the womb. My heart breaks. I consider it America's Holocaust. I hate it. And it breaks my heart.

I can't even think about it because I do, I weep when I think about it. So I understand what it means to hate sin because that's the sin I hate. The hard part, there are sins that appeal to my flesh. Abortion's not one of them.

But there are others. And you have to consider that for yourself because I don't know what it is. I don't know what the devil uses to tempt you. I don't know what it is in your life that the devil tempts you with.

But whatever it is, as much as I hate abortion, I should hate that. Because God hates that as much as He hates abortion. Because God hates sin. That's what's difficult. If I can hate the stuff that I hate, it's hating the stuff that appeals to me that's hard.

And that's why I say, I'm serious when I say this section of the book, it's heavy duty when you begin to really start applying it to your heart. Because to hate what is evil, we have to first consider the evil that we love and then start hating it.

And then the next portion, hold fast to what is good. The word hold fast, interestingly enough, it's translated in some Bibles as the word cleave. Some of the older versions use that. I'm not sure, what does the NAS use at that point?

Cling. Okay, cling. You guys are familiar with the, where it talks about marriage, where it says, a man is to leave his mother and father. And I think in the King James it says he is to cleave unto his wife.

That same root is what's here. So here's the idea if you want to maybe make a linguistic parallel. We are to divorce ourselves from evil and we are to marry that which is good. It's another way of saying it.

We are to separate it, hate it, do away with it, if it's not something God would have us do. And if it is what God would have us do, we are to grab a hold of it, hold it tightly, and keep it. In fact, the word there means cement.

You know what cement does. Cement takes two things and you cement them together. You lock them together. And that's what the idea is here. We are to be people who are intimately connected with that which is righteous and holy.

And we are to be separate from that which is evil. Cling, yes, okay. So we have cling there. And that's what we get from those three phrases. We are to let our love be real, to hate sin, evil, those things which are an affront to God.

And we are to cling to, hold fast, cement ourselves to that which is good. And that I think is sort of the starting point for the rest of it. Because it's going to go down through verse 21. And what we're going to see is he's going to talk about, first, really, he's going to talk about holding fast to what is good.

Because he's about to talk about loving one another with brotherly affection, outdoing one another and showing honor. Don't be slothful and zeal. He's going to start telling us about those things that we're supposed to do that are good.

The things we should be clinging to. The things we should be clinging to. He's going to tell us about that. And then, starting around verse 14, he's going to start talking about the things that we are to avoid.

He's going to tell us what to do. Bless those who persecute you. And things like that. So really, the first three phrases sort of set the stage for the rest of the chapter. Those first three stages are sort of letting us know what he is going to begin now to address.

Brotherly Affection and Honoring One Another in the Church

So let's begin looking at verse 10. Look down at verse 10. And this is basically what we are supposed to have in our attitudes towards our Christian brothers and sisters. Because he says, Love one another with brotherly affection.

Here specifically, he is referring to our Christian brothers and sisters. And remember this, beloved. This is something I think that we forget sometimes. We are supposed to hold a special place for our Christian family.

There is supposed to be a special place that we put our Christian brothers and sisters in our life as if they are our family.

Because these are the people we are going to spend eternity with. I know many of you and I too.

Have people in my blood family. People in my extended family who do not know the Lord. We pray for them often. Our hearts break when we hear them blaspheme the Lord. We know that apart from Christ, there is no salvation.

And so thus we sit and just lament their condition. And that is why Sunday and Wednesday is such an encouragement to our family. Because we get to come in and we get to be with people that we know share.

And here is the thing that has become sort of people like, I love to be with people who share my values, who share my social views. Well, that is great. I want to be around people that share my values and my social views.

But I can find those people in a lot of places. I want to be with people that are going to share heaven with me. I want to be with people who know the Lord because there is a relationship that we have that transcends other relationships.

I have really, really good friends that are unbelievers. I am sure you do. I am sure you know people who you probably trust. Even though they are unbelievers, you probably have people that are in most ways nice people.

There is a special relationship that we have within the church that we call each other brother and sister. I know that is not the tradition in our church to call each other Brother Jack or Sister Jennifer or anything like that.

It was a tradition in my mom's church growing up down in Stark. That was even the pastor. It wasn't Pastor this or Reverend that. It was Brother Jimmy or Brother John or whoever. In a lot of Baptist churches that is the tradition as well.

They call them brother and sister. Again, it is a way of reminder about what this is. It is a familial relationship. The body of Christ is a family. It is one that we come in together by the work of grace.

We are supposed to love each other like family. Love one another with brotherly affection. While I love my unbelieving friends and while I love even my unbelieving acquaintances and while I even love my unbelieving enemies sometimes against my flesh because my flesh doesn't want to love them but the scripture commands me to.

It's a different kind of love for God's people. It is. It is a brotherly affection. The Bible says God loves His people differently than the world. God has a different love for His people than the world?

Absolutely.

Don't think for a second that just because you remember John 3 .16 that says for God to love the world that that doesn't mean God can't make a distinction. The Bible says He loves His people as sons and that if there is one who is not His they are not His sons.

He said to Israel I have loved you differently than I have loved all the nations of the world. Amos 3 .2 You above all nations have I loved. We don't have any problem with that, right?

Well we shouldn't in scripture. Isn't that weird to think that God has bestowed a special affection upon His people and so too are we to share in that affection. I didn't say God doesn't love unbelievers.

Please understand that. But know that God loves His people or His children. The Bible doesn't say we are born children of God. The Bible says we become children of God. The Bible says Jesus came unto His own and His own received Him not.

But to as many as received Him to them He gave power to become the children of God. John chapter 1 and in Romans chapter 8 it says we now by His grace are able to call Him Abba Father. There is a special relationship that we have with God by faith and a special relationship that we have with each other by that same faith.

A brotherly love.

I know that I should be loving the members of this church. That should be strong in our hearts and maybe in my prayer life and everything else as far as that goes.

It should be. It should be. There are two reasons why though. Because remember the first statement let love be genuine? And now he is going a step further and saying love each other with brotherly affection.

There are two things that keep real love from being displayed throughout the body. Number one is false conversion. It happens. There are all kinds of people who come into the church. They have a Jesus experience.

It lasts about a day. Maybe six months. They are the seed that falls among the wheat. You know that Jesus talks about. The seed that falls among the weeds. It sprouts up for a time but because it has no root it withers and dies.

We know that that happens. And I hate to say it that is the cause of so much division and unlove in the church. It is because there are unbelievers in the church. And here is what happens is unbelievers come in the church.