Have you ever seen someone take a flower and they start peeling the petals? Loves me? Loves me not, right? Well, there are many interesting things being said in the name of love these days, and we need to really think through them because people are saying, If you love me, you will affirm my gender fluidity. People are saying, you love me not unless you will come to my gay wedding. People are saying, if you really love me, you will be okay with sex outside of marriage. And if you tell me something's wrong that I'm doing, you love me not. And then Jesus is saying, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
So, what exactly is true love? And how should we think about it? That's why I want to invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Romans chapter 12, verse 9, we're just going to look at this one verse here together that has three different phrases. And this is going to give us clarity on how to think about what love really is. And so I invite you, we've always got Bibles in the back of the room, I invite you to always bring a Bible, open it up with us and turn to Romans 12:9. And out of respect for God's Word, I invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture. Just one verse we're going to look at together today. You might be able to memorize this verse during the sermon. It's a verse that's meant to help you think about your life. Please follow along, as I read Romans, chapter 12, verse 9.
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat now. We've been working our way through Romans chapter 12. And this is about how we're supposed to live as Christians. Have you been saved by God's mercy? Are you a new person in Christ? Well, then, here's how you ought to now live your life as a sacrifice, offering your body to God. And now, look back at Romans 12:2, just to remember the context. That our goal here is sanctification. Sanctification means we want to be set apart from our old life of sin, set apart for our new purpose in Jesus Christ. It's something we found out we want. We can't just do it by ourselves, we need to be together on this. We need to be one body. We need to love our one-anothers. We're all here together. But here's the goal. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” And so let's go back down to verse nine. And we're going to figure out what is real love, there's going to be ways that the world talks about love, and then there's going to be God's way of love. Our mind needs to get renewed or away from what we're hearing love is, to what love truly is. And, then, it says, “abhor,” which is a very strong way to say, “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”
So, there is a fake kind of love; there is love that has hypocrisy, and it's called Love, but it's not true love, and we can't love like that. So, we have to start with what is even the right definition of love. What is love, even. Turn with me to 1 John 4:7. When I think of a definition of love, 1 John 4:7-8 are the verses that come to my mind. And actually, I want to encourage everybody, based on this study of Romans 12:9 that you should write out your own definition of love this week, and maybe bring it to your fellowship group and share it with them, because people are going to say, well, if you do this, you love me if, you don't do this, you don't love me. Well, really what is love? And here in 1 John 4:7, and it says, “Beloved,” so people who are loved by God, “let us love one another. “
If you were here last week, that was our sermon. Hey, we've all been adopted by God's love. He's our Father in heaven, which makes us all brothers and sisters in Christ. And we should love one another with a brotherly love. Can I get an amen? Anybody believe in that from last week? Okay, well now, we’ll look where we're going this week. Let us love one another. Okay, we learned about that for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love. Okay, so this is Mother's Day, we understand that natural kind of love that a mom has for her children, that familial love. In fact, if you ever see a mom who doesn't love her kids, you're like, wait, that's not right. If you ever see kids who aren't honoring their mom, you're like, hey, wait a minute. That's not okay. Naturally, we expect moms to love their kids; don't get between a mama bear and her cub. But see? The kind of love we're talking about here is beyond natural love. We're talking about a spiritual kind of love, a love that you really only get from God because this love is actually defined by the character of who God is. And this love is defined by the gospel of God sending his Son Jesus to die for us.
See, God is love. In fact, when God revealed himself to Moses on the mountain, when God showed us his glory, he said, I'm a God. He's merciful and gracious. “I'm slow to anger, and I'm abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. I'm ready to forgive people for their sin, but I'm not going to let the guilty get away with it.” That's how God introduced himself. In fact, when God sent his Son, Jesus, and we behold, the glory of the Father, the only begotten, who put on flesh, Jesus was full of what? You know? He was full of grace and truth. So, see, to love is to find God.
But let's get this down for point number one: “Love is never divorced from truth.” Love is never separated from truth. And love, there's true love. There's a fake kind of love. But then there's true love. And that true love, that's defined by God. God is love and love comes from God. And if you really want to have love, you have to know God is what it says. And then here in verse nine, it gives us an even more specific definition of love. In First John chapter four, verse nine, it says, in this the love of God was made manifest among us. This is how he showed it to us. This is how we can see the love of God that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us. And he sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Hey, you want a definition of love? Here it is, God loves you. You want to know how God loved you? He sent his Son Jesus; he gave his one and only Son for you. And you want to know how Jesus loves you? He died on that cross to pay for your sin. Propitiation, the word there, it means atoning sacrifice, it means satisfying the wrath of God on our behalf. Jesus shed his righteous blood as a payment to ransom you out of the penalty of your sin. Jesus offered himself as a substitutionary sacrifice, Jesus died in your place. That's the definition of love.
I remember one time this group of people that came and confronted me because they kept hearing messages from people from our church, and they said, you guys talk about sin too much. Why can't you talk more about God's love? That's probably what Janet was thinking as well. Right? Hey, there's a lot of conversation about sin. Why can't we talk more about love here? Look up your favorite verse about love in the Bible. And just keep reading a little bit. Guess what? Love is always going to get defined as Jesus dying for our what, everybody? Sin. Like, you can't really talk about God's love without, at some point, getting specific that the way God showed his love for you is he sent his one and only Son Jesus. And the thing that Jesus did for you, that's really good news is that you had a debt of sin that you were never going to be able to pay, and Jesus paid it all through the sacrifice of his body through the shedding of his blood. Jesus can because he loved you. He can forgive you for all of your sins. His love does not rejoice in unrighteousness; you can't act like there's some kind of love that tolerates, accepts, or becomes okay with sin. No. Real love, that true love, that love from God, that love in Jesus, it pays the penalty for your sin. Jesus didn't come to put a smile on everybody's face. Jesus didn't come to give everybody their flag. Jesus didn't come so you could be healthy, or you could be wealthy. Jesus came so you could be forgiven for your sins. That's what love cares about. You don't really love somebody unless you care about their sin, and they need to get out of that sin, they need to get saved, that sin is going to kill them, they're going to die in it, they're going to be judged for it. And you don't want that to happen to them, because you love them. That's the definition of love. And it comes from God, and it's through Jesus. And it's him being the propitiation for our sins. And so, that's what we have to see. Oh, wow, I can't come up with this kind of love that just loves people because I have a strong feeling towards the person or because I'm close to the person, or I have a natural love for that person. No, I have to learn how to love without hypocrisy, I have to learn to love in a way that is sincere and genuine. I have to learn the way of the love that comes from God, through Jesus, where I see not just that person and how much I care about them, but I see them in their sin and I care about that. I care about them getting rescued out of that. That's what love is.
So, go back to Romans chapter 12 here because this this verse might shock you. In fact, this verse might offend you if we're going to be honest, because what it says in these three phrases is not a hey, let's all go love with that true love that sincere love. That's what it sounds like. A good Mother's Day message. Yeah, let's go have a real love without hypocrisy. But then look at this very next phrase. You want to know what genuine love looks like? Look at the very next thing Paul says in Romans 12:9. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil.” Genuine love hates what is evil. Wow, that's strong language, that sounds intense in America, in the year of our Lord 2024. Even just the idea of saying the word here of horror is not really an English word. I hear a lot of us using it. But it's a word that means to hate. And that's what this Greek word means here. When you see something that is evil, something that is sin, something that comes from Satan, something that is a part of the scheme of this world that is trying to conform us. Wages of sin is death. And after death comes judgment. And so, you see evil for what it really is. You see how it's destroying people, you see how it's killing people, and so you hate what is evil. That's what it's saying? The if you want to have genuine love, well, here's how you're going to think. You're going to hate what is evil. Now, that might come across strong, that might not be something you're thinking, you might not be thinking of yourself as someone who hates evil. Well, if your mind is going to be renewed, and you're going to be transformed into the image of God, you have to see things less like how you see them. And you have to see them more from God's perspective. You have, as we like to say around here, you have to let the throne set the tone, for how you're going to see the things in life because our perspective and God's perspective start out being very different. And that's why we need to get our minds renewed. So, we can learn to think things through God's way, rather than our own perspective. We've been seeing this… Anybody been reading the book of Judges with us right now? who's been reading judges? I see. Anybody read the story of Samson, where Samson did what was right in his own eyes? And what does it keep saying throughout the book of Judges that the people of Israel are doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord, there's a real contrast in the book of Judges between people doing what is right in their own side. And, then, what they think is right in their eyes, God says is evil in his sight.
And so, you’ve got to decide whose eyes you're going to look through when you're looking at the world? Are you going to look through the world's eyes and the common human perspective? Or are you going to get your mind renewed? And you are you going to see it through God's eyes. See it from Heaven’s perspective. Are you going to let the throne set the tone because God hates evil? God sees evil exactly for what it is. And he is angry with the wicked every day. God is the definition of love. He sent Jesus to die for our sin. God sees sin for what it really is, and he hates it.
Go to Psalm 97 with me. Let me show you a few of the passages that can hopefully renew your mind today, to show you that hating evil is a godly thing, a good thing that we're not supposed to tolerate evil. We're not supposed to accept evil. Psalm 97 will perhaps get us to see things from the heavenly perspective. Let's see it from where God is on his throne. Maybe Psalm 97 here can get us out of living down here and see it from God's perspective. Psalm 97:1. “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice. Let the many coastlands” including Huntington Beach, “be glad. Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” There's a line right there, righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. If you and I could get a glimpse of heaven today, and we could hear what the angels are saying about God, what word do we know they repeat over and over in heaven about our God? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, he set apart. He doesn't have sin. He's not like us. See, he's got righteousness and justice as the foundation of his throne.
Look at Psalm 97:3-12. “Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. You who love the Lord, hate evil!” You see how it just makes sense if God's up there. And he has just judgments and he is all about what is righteous? Well, if you love God, then what are you going to think about it, you're going to hate evil. And then it goes on to say, “He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown[a] for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!”
So, how can I be thinking about a holy God on his throne in heaven, and then see all the sin going on around me, and how you can't be okay with God and all his Holiness, and okay with all the sin that's going on all around you. If you're really on God's side, if you're really seeing it from God's perspective, you're going to see evil how he sees it. All you who love the Lord, hate evil. Here's another scripture that's connecting a love that comes from God with a hatred towards evil. Go over to Psalm 101:1-4. Look how David puts it. It might just be on the same page there in your copy of the Scripture. This is David, a man after God's own heart, a man we know he loves to worship God. Look at what it says. “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music. I will ponder the way that is blameless. Oh, when will you come to me? I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.” And he goes on from there to say many more intense statements because as the king of Israel, David is not only wanting no evil in his heart or his house, he wants no evil even in his nation, is what he's saying as the king. So, listen to what David's saying. David's saying, even at my own house, I’ve got to make sure I don't know any evil. I'm not letting anything evil before my eyes. I'm not letting evil dwell in my heart.
He said, I see how people fall away from God. And I hate watching people fall away from God. I'm not going to have anything to do with that. Have you ever seen somebody fall away? Unfortunately, I've seen people that I thought were my brother in Christ at church. And then over the years, they fell away from the faith. And I would go after them and pursue them and I would ask them, hey, what happened? You seem like you were right there with us. You seemed like you were as intuitive as anybody else. I remember one guy. He said, I just stopped thinking the sermons were for me. I started thinking they were for somebody else. I stopped listening to God's word. I remember another guy he told me when he stopped praying, when he stopped believing that God was actually there and going to answer his prayer. See, you just stop seeking the Lord through the Word, seeking the Lord through prayer, and you begin to fall away. And David's saying, I hate that. That's evil. I don't want to know anything about that.
Go over to Amos chapter 5 with me. Turn over to Amos chapter 5, one of the 12 prophets here, if you can find it with me, Hosea, Joel, then Amos. He's not so famous. He doesn't have cookies here in Amos, chapter 5, you may not have been here before Amos. He's just got a good old truth here. Amos 5:10. The way he describes things in that day reminds me a lot of our day that we're living in right now. Amos, chapter 5, verse 10. It's talking about how there's a hatred among the people here. And it says, “They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks...” Anybody looking at it with me? who speaks the what? “The truth.” So, the idea in the Scripture is that the elders of the city would gather in the gate. And if you ever needed a judgment made, if you ever needed some wisdom, or you had a disagreement with somebody, and you needed somebody to make a wise counsel, right, you would go to the elders of the city who would assemble in the gate of the city. And when you went to the gate of the city, you could get the elder. See, that's what an abundance of counselors really means. Today, abundance of counselor means I talked to five different people one on one until I find somebody who agrees with me, and then I've had an abundance of counsel. That's how a lot of people are doing it today. How about we get five wise people to all sit in the same place. And then we bring our issue before an abundance of counselors. That's what they used to do in the city gates. And so, when they hear the judgments that these wise men are making in the city gates, they hate that because they're saying things that are correct. They're saying things that call sin for what it is. They're saying things of truth, and it's been hated. If you're speaking the truth, people are hating it. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Look at look at Amos 5:11-12. And here's what's going on at that time. “ Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins—you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.” Hey, this is out of control. You guys are taking bribes rather than doing what is right. You're taking advantage of people who are in need, people who are poor, like this is a time of evil, a time of injustice. Look what it says in Amos 5:13. “Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.” That's why the Scripture says, you’ve got to make the best use of your time because the days are evil, and it's describing an evil time where we're calling what is evil, good, and we're calling the truth, evil, and we're hating what is true. And so, look what it says you should do if you live in this evil day, Amos 5:14-15, “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
So even though it's an evil time, and even though people are hating the truth, you know, what you should do is you’ve got to get away from the evil, you’ve got to hate the evil, and you’ve got to go do what is good and love the good. So, here's the prophet Amos speaking to his time. I think he's speaking to our time as well. And I just want to show you these passages to help you see that hating evil is definitely something the Scripture is saying that you should do. So, you might say, hey, I'm not a hater. I'm a lover, not a fighter. Hey, I'm not one of those haters; well actually, there are things that are against God, against God's truth. There are things that are sin. And if you're really with God and you really see it how God sees it, you should hate what is evil. That's what the Scripture says.
Okay, let's get this down for point number two: “True love is never okay with sin.” True love is never okay with sin. That's hypocrisy. That's not sincere. That's not genuine love. It's a compromised kind of love. It's a tainted kind of love to tolerate or accept sin. No, let love be without hypocrisy, hate what is evil. Okay, now that might come across as super intense, but I just want to make it very clear what we're trying to say. We're trying to say you should go love people, people who are in sin, you should care about them, you should care about their sin, you should learn a real way to love people the same way that God loves people where he sent Jesus to die for their sin. You need to go and you need to love people. But in your definition of love, you can't be okay with people’s sin, you can't accept people when they're doing something that is evil, you can't accept that.
So, see, this is true love. This is not just what the world is saying love is, this is not just what you feel love is, this is the love that comes from God. And the love that comes from God still has the perspective, even though it wants to save people out of sin. it still hates that evil, and you have to learn to love that way. See, maybe you're like, well, I'm ready to love people. And then when I love people, it's just kind of like anything goes and yeah, this person's doing this and that person's that. I don't know what to say about that. I just love them anyways. And then some people may be here today or over here. Well, I know exactly what to say about that. And I tell them a little bit of this. And I tell them a little bit of that. And nobody's accusing you of loving anybody. So, we’ve got some people maybe who are like, Oh, I'm just loving them no matter what. And some people are like, well, I can't talk to them at all, because I'm just speaking the truth. No, do you know a way of true love? Do you know really how to be like God, where God is full of grace and truth. And you can show somebody that you really care about them. You care for their soul. You're crying tears for them, you're begging God on their behalf, like you love this person. But at the same time, there's a truth to what you're saying. And we can act like that sin is acceptable. And we can't act like God is pleased with the way that they're living. Can you do both of these things? True love. We've got this guy in our church. His name is literally Chris Truelove. Have you ever met this guy? He's an usher here on Saturday night. I love this guy like a brother in Christ. Every once in a while I looked down the name of the fellowship groups. It's like Warner, Blakey, and then there's Truelove. I'm like that right? There is the coolest fellowship group we have at this church. Like who wants to go to Warner or Blakey, when you could go to Truelove? You know what I mean?
What the world needs right now is they need to see some true love. They need to see that, wow, that person, they care for me. But it's a little bit different. It's not like this blind acceptance. It's not this anything goes kind of love know that person. I think they actually really do care about me. But they also have a standard that they're sticking to. Because they're holding to the truth, the truth that comes from God through Jesus, that you can be saved from your sins. God, he loves the world, but he wants all people to come to the knowledge of the truth, the truth that there is one way between God and men, and that is Jesus Christ. See, God wants people to know his love. Are you really representing God's love, where you will show somebody, you've got their back, you care about them, and you will also show them that what they're doing is not acceptable and they need to turn to God? True love is never okay with sin. Once you say, well, love is just going to let that sin be love with hypocrisy at that point. See, you can overlook some personal offenses, you know love can cover a multitude of sins, someone could be rude to you, you can overlook it. Somebody they could do something over here that's that you feel like was kind of where they’ve taken a dig at me over here. You could be gracious about it. But when you see someone who is continuing in the habit of sin, and they are on their way towards death and judgment, you can't be okay with that. If you are really going to love that person, you have to hate what is evil. That's a part of love. That's what the Scriptures teaching us.
Go back to Romans chapter 12:9, because these three simple phrases are actually a grid. They're actually a filter for how to think about all the different things that people are going to say to you, all the decisions that you're going to have to make. See that we're getting a clearer way to process the information that is coming to all of us. Here in Romans chapter 12 verse 9, you need to love in a way that is genuine, without hypocrisy. That means you need to hate what is evil. And when you hate what is evil, you should hold fast to what is good. So now, they're going to present it to you like it's good. It's always going to come at you, like it's good. Nobody's saying, hey, I've got a really bad deal where I'm going to rip you off. Do you want it? Nobody's presenting it like that. Nobody's like, hey, you should listen to me. I'm about to tell you advice that messed my life up and it'll destroy your life too. Nobody's presenting it like that when they want to sell it to you. It looks good, it sounds good when they want you to do it. They say it like you should do this, it will be good. Not everything being offered to you is actually good. Some of it is actually evil. And so, you've got to be able to separate the two. You've got to be able to discern, to distinguish, the evil from the good. Hey, what this person is saying to me, a lot of times, it's like half truths, like there's some good in there. And there's some evil in there. And they're saying this, well, I can't agree with that. That's evil. I'm supposed to hate that. But then this thing, I agree with that. That's what it says right here. That's God's command right here. I know that to be true. And then I'm going to hold fast to that. This idea of like holding fast to what is good, it's like the idea of inseparable glue. It's like the word that Jesus uses. When he talks about God has taken a man who left his father and mother and God has joined him to his wife, and the two have become one flesh. That word for join, or cling, or cleave, that idea right there to hold fast when God puts you together, husband and wife, no longer two, but one, therefore what God has joined together, let no man what? That's the idea of holding fast. Like you're joined to something now. See, I want nothing to do with evil. I hate the work of those who fall away. It's not going to cling to me. And then when I find what's good, when I find what's true, when I find what's from God, I'm going to reach out and hang on to that with all that I've got. Because my soul is on the line. I can't compromise with evil. I don't want to go down the way of destruction. I’ve got to grab on to the goodness of God with all my heart. That's what it's saying. Hate what is evil, be glued to what is good, hold fast to what is good.
Go to 1 Corinthians 6:16, it’s just a book over to the right here in your Bible. Let me show you something that is very intense that Paul gets to hear in this idea of being joined or being glued to something. 1 Corinthians 6 is giving a strong warning about sexual immorality, and it says you should flee from that, you should get away from that. That is a kind of evil that will kill you. Run from it. And Paul's really concerned in 1 Corinthians 5, and 6, and 7, because that kind of sin of sex outside of marriage is not just happening in the Corinthian culture around them. They were starting to allow it to happen there in the church as well. And so, he's got some strong words about it. And then he says here in verses 1 Corinthians 6:16-17, when he's talking about this idea of being joined, he's saying, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” Don't you know how it goes? The two will become one flesh, but he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him, like Paul's putting it in kind of an intense way there. He's putting it in an either or. Can't you see you're either joined to this, you're either glued to this or you're joined to the Lord? And if you're joined to the Lord, you're one spirit with him. Can't you see that now your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and you should glorify God in your body? How can you still go back to what is evil when you've been joined to what is good? So, get away from that sexual immorality. See, we're living in a day where that sexual immorality is all around us. And we're living in a day where that compromise could very easily creep into the Church of Jesus Christ. And Romans 12:9 is saying, no, let's talk about that true love, where you hate what is evil, and you cling to what is good, you claim your new life in the Lord. And that means when you're clinging to the Lord, you’ve got to get away from something else.
This is one of the prayers I have for the kids that are growing up in this church, the kids that are in the club 56 right now, and some of them are about to go into our junior high seventh and eighth grade ministry. And then some of them are about to go into our high school nine through twelve ministry, and we just even had one of our young men at the church graduate last night. Now he's going to go into the underground college age ministry. And as young people grow up here in the church, we're praying that they would not just say yes to Jesus, but they would realize that if you're really going to know Jesus, then you've got to say no to this world. See, so many young people are growing up in the church and they're compromised. They're like, yeah, I want Jesus, I want to go to heaven when I die. I want blessings. But I also want what the world has, as well. And see Romans 12:9, it separates that know you’ve got to hate what is evil, and you've got to hold fast to what is good. In fact, everything that's presented to you, every decision that you have to make, how are you going to learn to do this where you're going to separate the evil over here, and then you're going to grab on to the good?
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. If you can turn there with me, we would looked at it a couple of weeks ago, when we were talking about prophecy in 1 Thessalonians 5:20. This is another letter that Paul writes to a church and a lot of quick instructions towards the end of the letter here, towards the end of 1 Thessalonians. And so, he brings up again, this grid, this filter, this, like, put the evil over here, and then put the good over here have nothing to do with the evil, grab on to the good. Look at what he says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. Start in verse 19 with me, “Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, test everything” that's being presented to you, even the things that are being presented to you in the name of God, “test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
So, if you're taking notes, let's get this down for number three: we want to “learn how to discern the good of God's Will.” I have to test everything and say no, that part of what they're saying is evil. But this part is good. I'm going to hang on to this. Everybody here you need to learn how to discern, to distinguish what is evil and what is good. Because people are saying these things to you. They're saying things to you about what love is they're saying things to you about what God tells us to do. And are those things true that they're saying to you? Or are they actually mixing evil in with good and you need to discern them. I can remember one specific thing that was said to me by someone close to me in my life, by someone I genuinely cared about. And they told me that the Holy Spirit told them not to go to church in this season of their life, that that was something that the Holy Spirit had led them to do was to not go to church. And I can remember hearing that, and thinking to myself, I don't know if that's true. I don't know if the Holy Spirit really was leading them not to go to church, and they weren't talking about maybe missing a Sunday at church or missing one particular church service. No, I think they were saying to me that they were not being a part of the teaching and the fellowship of the believers, and that it was actually the Spirit that was leading them to do that. Now, I understand the Spirit leading us is a real thing in our lives. It's a powerful thing. With our one-on-one discipleship Partners manual that we have, chapter 5 is all about the leading of the Spirit. Could be my favorite chapter in that whole manual. I mean, yes, the Spirit does lead us, but wait a minute, is the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the spirit of truth, is he leading us not to go to church in this season of our life? Like see, I can start reading things that the Spirit has inspired, I can start going back to the commands that the Spirit has given through his inspired Word. And I can start seeing that no, I need to hear teaching. In fact, I should not just hear the teaching of God's Word, I need to be a doer of God's Word. And no, I need to encourage one anothers, I need to get to know people and confess my sins to those people and pray for those people. And I'm going to encourage them, and they're going to encourage me, and we should do that all the more as we see the day approaching. In fact, I shouldn't neglect hearing the teaching, I shouldn't neglect my one anothers. And because some people are doing that and the people who are doing that they're deliberately going back to sin, even though they know the truth. They're going back and they're continuing in sin. This is Hebrews chapter 10, verse 26, and 27 that when you know the truth, and then you go away from the truth, and you go back to your sin, the only thing you have left to look forward to after that is a fearful expectation of judgment. So, I can look back on that person saying that to me, and I can discern, you know what they were actually saying? They were actually saying the things of those who fall away from the faith. They were actually saying things there was evil and what they were saying that wasn't true. The spirit is not leading us away from the teaching, away from the fellowship. That was a false statement. And I looked back on them saying that and I hate it because I saw them fall away under the idea that the Spirit was leading them to fall away. I tested that I don't think that's what the Spirit was leading them to do. So, this is what's going to happen, people are going to say things to you. And a lot of times at church, they'll say, God spoke to me, or they'll say, the Holy Spirit led me. And it's very hard to argue with people when they say, well, God told me there's so who are you to just agree, but you know what God has already spoken through his Word. And we can compare what you say God says, with what God has said in here. And if you're saying something different than what God says in here, well, then that is evil. And I should have nothing to do with that. And I should hold fast to what is good. People are going to say things like this to you, and you have to know how to think about them. You have to separate the evil from the good.
Go to Hebrews 5:14, where it really defines this for us. Such a helpful verse, here in Hebrews chapter 5, verse 14, a verse that really describes a mature Christian, a mature believer, someone who has grown up in their faith. And Hebrews chapter 5 is a strong rebuke here, starting in Hebrews 5:11, he's saying, Hey, I've got a lot to teach you, but you aren't really paying attention, you've become dull of hearing, you're not paying closer attention, you're drifting away, I have to go back and give you the basics again. By this time, you ought to be able to teach it yourself. And here I am giving you the basics all over again. So, whoever wrote Hebrews, they're saying some strong things here, in Hebrews chapter 5, they're saying that these people are immature, and they should know more of God's truth. But then he says this, in Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” That's a good definition of discernment. By constant practice. In the Scripture, you can distinguish what is good, and what is evil, the more you get your mind right, the more you see it, how God sees it, the more you let the throne, set the tone, and you're getting your mind renewed through the Word, and you're meditating on the Word of God, day and night. The more you learn to think biblically, you'll be able to discern, hey, wait a minute, that's not right. That's not what God says, that's actually false. That's actually error. I'm not going to think that, but this, this is true. And this is good. And I'm going to grab on to that, and hold on to it. See, can you distinguish what is good from what is evil? Because people are saying things to you? How do you know whether you should agree with them or disagree with them, you have to make decisions, you have to decide where you're going to go and what you're going to do and who you're going to do it with? And where you're going to live like life is going to force you to respond to what other people say, it's going to force you to make decisions. Do you have the right grid to make those decisions? Are you in God's Word to the point where you can start to filter through what is evil and what is good.
One of the things a lot of people will do when they're going to make a decision or when they're trying to think something through is they'll go and ask somebody for counsel, they'll go to somebody that they think is mature. And they'll ask them for wisdom. I think that is a great idea. If you're not sure about what God's will is for you to do, going and talking to somebody about it, I would recommend that. But when you go and talk to that person, don't just ask them about your one particular thing and get wisdom on that. Here's what I would encourage you to do. Hey, how did you become somebody that I would want to come and ask a question? How do you have that wisdom? How do you have that discernment? How did you learn to know the Word so that when I'm trying to figure out and I don't know exactly what to do, you're somebody that I think might know. And so, I'm asking you, you want to not just go talk to that person, when you're making a decision. You want to become that person in your life. You want to be the mature believer; we don't have enough mature believers to go around these days. There are so many people that need wisdom. There are so few people to actually go and talk to so yes, if you need wisdom, talk to a mature believer, but the real goal is you want to become that person that you know the Word so well. And here now somebody's saying this to you, and you're like hold up. That's not true. That's evil. But this over here, this is good. You want to be able to do that. Because people are going to come to you, people that you know, people that you love, people that you care about, they're going to come and they're going to ask you, well, what are you going to do in this situation? Or what do you think I should do in this circumstance? And are you going to have the discernment to help them see, well, this command where God tells us not to do that, that's telling you don't go there. Don't be a part of that. But this command over here, that’s showing you that's the way to go. Are you going to be able to know the commands of God? To give that wisdom to somebody else? You know, people who need God's wisdom? Are you equipped to give it to them? This is one of the most compelling reasons that I personally find why I want to get into God's Word, and constantly practice getting into Scripture every day, because the people that I love and care about, I want to be able to give them truth from God's Word, not just my own personal opinion, not just here's what I did. And it kind of worked out for me. No, I want to say this is God's will for you, this right here on this page, this verse, this is good, this is acceptable. This is perfect. So, that's what we need, we need to be in God's Word. So, we can learn how to discern that some of the decisions that we're going to have to make, we're going to have to separate the evil from the good.
Go back to Romans with me, in fact, go with me all the way to Romans, chapter 1. Let's talk about some practical situations that are coming up right now in all of our lives. And let's just use some real-life examples. And let's put them through our grid. If we're going to love in a genuine way, we’ve got to hate what is evil, and we’ve got to hold to what is good. So, you've got a chart down there at the bottom of your handout, if you're taking notes, let's put Evil on the left side. And let's put Good on the right side. And let me bring up some situations here. Okay, and one situation that I'm hearing about more and more, right here at our church, more and more of our brothers and sisters in Christ here at Compass, HB, are being invited to weddings, or ceremonies, where it is two men or two women that the ceremony is for, more and more of us are receiving messages and communications, where someone is saying, hey, you knew me as this person? Well, I want to introduce you to this person, this person is more true to who I really am. And they're having a transition in their gender. And they're saying, you knew me like this, well now I want you to know me like this, and I'm happier being this person. And when they invite you to that ceremony, or when they give you that message, there's an implication that if you really care about them, if you really love them, what you're going to do is you're going to affirm that decision that they are making. How should you and I think about these kinds of situations that are ever increasing in our day and age because it could be happening to you if it hasn't already.
Now look at Romans chapter 1. Let's just review something that we already learned. But this was like two years ago when we were back in Romans chapter 1. Look with me how it says in Romans 1:18. So, we had a great introduction with the gospel in Romans. And then in verse 18, it said, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” So, if the point of the book of Romans is to teach us about the righteousness of God, and how you and I by grace, through faith, can be made righteous in Jesus, well, before it gets to how we're made righteous in Christ, it talks about what God thinks about unrighteousness. And God has wrath. God has righteous anger against sin, people are not worshipping God. And so, God is then giving them over. This is the process of Romans 1. They deny God his glory, and then God gives them over to sin. Look with me at Romans 1:24. And you'll notice if you can pay attention with me in verse 24, in verse 26, and in verse 28, three times it's going to say, “God gave them up to their sin.” Read through it with me, Romans 1:24. “Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts, to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever, amen.” For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women, and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to up to debased minds to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of righteousness and then it uses here, the same word that we have in Romans 12:9, they were filled with all manner of evil covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murderer. Strive to see maliciousness. “They are gossips, slanderers,” underline it, circle if you're taking notes, “haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless, though they know God's righteous decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die. They not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them.” Wow. If that isn't one of the most intense passages you could read in all of the Bible, God gave people over to lust, and they started doing whatever they wanted with their body. God gave people over. And it was now men with men and women with women, God gave people over and now they're not thinking right now. They're doing all kinds of evil. Now they're hating God. And now they're not only doing wrong things, they're approving other people who do wrong things. This is the culture that you and I are living in. And I want to make this very clear. If you go back and listen to our sermons from Romans 1, we're not saying that we're better than anybody else, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, all of us need to be saved out of our sins, it doesn't matter what your sin is, we all need a new life in Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? Okay. But when people are being given over to sin, and they're continuing in that sin, you and I can't affirm that sin. You and I can't act like sin is okay because we care about this person, because we want to love them, we cannot say you all affirm what you're telling me to affirm. No, what they want you to affirm is what the Scripture calls evil. And see, they're actually hating God, and God's actually hating evil, and you can't try to be on both sides at the same time. So, if you're going to be on the Lord's side, then you're going to have to hate evil as he does. But if you're going to be on people’s side, well, then you're going to end up being on the side that hates God. And so, you're going to have to make decisions, you're going to have to say, pleasing people, doing what people want me to do., that's evil. Doing what God is learning to discern the will of God and doing what pleases him. That's good. So, I'm going to hate what is evil, and I'm going to hold fast to what is good, which means you're going to have to tell somebody no on some level about affirming their sin, if they want your acceptance. If they want your agreement, you cannot give it to them. That's not real love. You might think, well, I'm going to give it to him, because I love them. Well, is that real love? Is that that true love that comes from God, that's through Jesus that cares about their sin? I can't say I'm caring about their sin, if I affirm their sin and don't say anything to correct their sin.
Okay, so what is real love? What is that going to look like in these situations? Well, let's put it down like this, we're going to have to say no to something; we might not be able to go to that ceremony, we might not be able to send congratulations to that text. But we can say yes to showing them true love, we can still love that person. You might have to say no to something they want you to agree with. There's something they want you to go to. I mean, let me just say this very clear. Let's just go back to Genesis 2:24, where God's love plan for man is that “a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one,” one man with one woman. That's God's plan for marriage. So let me just ask a very bold question, these days is to men a marriage is to women a marriage? That's what the Scripture says. And you're going to have to say that to somebody at some point. God created them male and female, you might have to say that to somebody at some point. But see, here's what I'm trying to say. You might have to say no, but you can say that no one real genuine love for that person. In fact, you can show up as the person who actually loves them more than anybody else that they know. And you can you can go and take them out to a meal. You could even buy them a gift, like you could show them kindness, you can show them care, you can go and cry real true tears for that person, you can go into your closet, into your secret place, and you can talk to God about that person. Know you can really love that person, you just can't be okay with their sin. You just can't affirm the sin that they want you to embrace.
See, you can say no to sin, and you can still love them. In fact, that would be the true love showing them God's love, that would be the most real love that person is going to know. There's a way that you can do both of those things. And so, yeah, don't affirm what they want you to affirm, but affirm that you love them and affirm what God's love really is that all of us are sinners who need to be saved. We're not here judging anybody else. No, we would be judged. I deserve to be judged. But look at how God loves me through his Son, Jesus, who came to save me out of all of my sins. That's what we have got to go and say to people, you are going to be put in these circumstances, you have to be ready to hold to the truth and to speak in love. What about situations where they're just becoming so common? In America these days, it's almost a foregone conclusion that if we love one another, then there will be sex, even if we're not married. It's okay because we love one another. More and more people all around us are living together. Who needs a piece of paper? Who needs to go have a service? Who needs to do anything with the government? We love each other. I've even met many people here at church who will refer to this other person as their wife or as their husband when they never went through even getting married. But they'll act like they are married. That's becoming very common.
Go with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Well, I mean, if you actually say, like, oh, I think that sex is for marriage. If you say that at the dinner table of the United States of America, you're going to seem very old fashioned these days, you're going to seem ridiculous. Wait, what's wrong with you to say that? Well, here's why you shouldn't be saying that. Here's why I want to encourage you to hate what is evil and to hold fast to what is good. Look at what it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. God wants every single person here at this service. God wants you to be set apart from sin, and he wants you to be set apart for the purpose of your new life in Jesus. This is the will of God, I can tell you with hundred percent confidence, I know what God wants for your life. This is the will of God, your sanctification. Look what it says right here that you abstain from sexual immorality that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles, the other nations besides the Jews who do not know God. God's will is that you would abstain from anything sexual outside of marriage. That's what sexual immorality means. That's God's will for everybody here, when you call it love, and the movies, the stories. It's all been romanticized. You love this person. They love you. So, you want to be together? You don't wait for marriage. It's the story has been played out now so many times. Is it love the love that comes from God through Jesus that cares about sin? Is it love if it involves sex outside of marriage? The answer to that is what everybody? That's not true love. That's not that real love. That's not what God has for you. That's not what God made anybody for. So, we’ve got to say no to sexual immorality, we’ve got to say, hey, that's not God's will. I can't affirm that I can't be okay with that. I can't act like God's just going to ignore that. No, but what I can say yes to is I can't say yes to many people who are living as single people, who are not married and they live. 1 Corinthians 7, where he's addressing that issue of sexual immorality, he talks about single people living with an undivided devotion to the Lord, hey, if you're not married, you can love God with all your heart and then hey, if you are married, that's the only place that God intended for sex to be is in marriage between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife. That's God's best possible scenario for human flourishing. So that's what I can say yes to being a single person who's abstaining from sex, or I can say yes to being a married person, and that's where God designed for sex, but I can't agree with anything outside according to the scripture. That's not real love.
So, do you see that the world is trying to conform you to its definition of love? God has a different definition of love. Whose side are you going to end up being on? You got to hate what is evil, and you got to hang on to good for your very life? What about when you see somebody here at church, let's talk about our brothers and sisters. And you see somebody that you know, and you can tell that they are in sin, and I'm not talking about they fell into this one temptation, or they're having this struggle right now, I'm talking about you have a growing concern for this person, because it seems to you like the direction they're headed in is back towards who they used to be that they're continuing in this sin over and over and you can tell something's not right in my brother or sister’s life, what is the loving thing to do in that situation?
Let me talk to all the parents here. Let me talk to the dads and the moms. If you've got kids living in your house, and you see your kids doing things that they ought not to do, things that you've told them, hey, God says, don't do that. God says, do this. And here you see your child breaking the commands of God. What is the loving thing to do in that situation? Because the world is going to say, if you love somebody, just let it go. Just let it be. Just let that person figure it out for themselves. Who are you? Who are you to get involved? Well, no, we’ve got to say no to letting it go. That's what we got us. I can't let it go. That's my brother in Christ. That's somebody who's one of my one anothers, I'm supposed to go and say something corrective to them. But that's what Jesus says in Matthew 18. Do you know your brothers in sin? You’ve got to go and talk to them one on one. No, parents, you’ve got to bring your kids up in the discipline, the correction and instruction of the Lord. Parents can just say, Oh, well, I'm just going to let my kid figure it out. Or oh, I'm too tired. I can't deal with that right now. No, no, hey, here's a shout out to all the faithful moms who are doing that true love for your kids, where you continue to discipline your kids, because you don't want them to go the way of error. You want them to go the way of God. And so, you keep speaking the truth in love to that person. That's what we're saying yes to, we're saying yes to speaking the truth in love. Yeah, when you see somebody who needs some correction, and there's somebody you should talk to, they're your brother or sister at the church, they're your child at your home, the loving thing to do is go and look them right in the eyes, get face to face with them, and tell them that what they're doing is going to separate them from God. And it's going to lead to all kinds of pain and hurt and suffering in their lives. And because you love them, you're pleading with them. You’ve got to turn from this sin, and you’ve got to turn to God, God is the way of life, that sin is the way of death. And because I love you, I don't want you to die. So, you’ve got to listen to me. You’ve got to go show real love for people, which is you don't go just think about them behind their back. You don't go stab them in the back. Real love, it speaks the truth straight to their face. And you could show them on your face, how much you care about them. Like, I'm concerned about you, brother. I don't see you as much as I used to. And I know what you're doing. And it seems like you keep doing it. And I'm not here to judge you. No, I'm actually here right now to love you. And because I love you, I can't let this go. I'm asking, are you right with the Lord? You need to turn to the Lord. I want to encourage the moms who might be overwhelmed with the disobedience of your kids, and how much discipline and maybe it feels hard. Look at this verse. I thought this was a great Mother's Day verse. Proverbs 29:15, “The rod and reproof,” right, the rod being how you correct. The shepherd corrects the sheep with this little Chevrette rod that he uses to keep the sheep going in the right direction. The rod and reproof, correction, discipline. That gives wisdom but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. Don't leave your child in their sin. Yeah, it can be hard work to discipline your kids, it can be a real challenge. But hey, in the rod and reproof that's teaching your kids that true love, that God's love, the love that sent Jesus to die for us. Kind of love, there is only one real kind of love, and it comes from God, and it comes through Jesus, and it cares about sin, it wants to get the person out of the sin.
That's what real love is. And we are the people who have to love without hypocrisy, we have to hate what is evil, and we have to hold fast to what is good. So, we have to learn how to think about this, how to talk about this in a way that people can understand that we are going to love them in the true way where we will not be okay with their sin, but we will really love them like God loves them. That's who we need to be. And, and this hopefully will help you as you interact with other people and what they're saying to you. This hopefully will help you as you have to make decisions about what you're going to do. But can we just take a moment to get real right now, this isn't just a problem for other people, you know? Like right now, some of us, as we sit here on a Mother's Day, Sunday morning, a service some of us are compromised between the evil and the good, and we're not separating them. And we're not hating. We're allowing the evil to linger in our own heart. That’s one of the things that I've seen clearly here at the church is a lot of people, you know, maybe they used to go to church as a kid, and then they kind of went off in their life. And then when is the time that they start coming back to church and a lot of people's lives. It's when they have kids, because they're okay with a little bit of evil in their life. But they want their kids to know that true love. See, there's that kind of hypocrisy. Like what do you want for your kid? Well, I want my kid to be separated from all that evil, I want my kid to be safe, and to be secure. I want my kids to have the best possible life. Well, you should want that for yourself. In fact, the best way to help your kid really know true love and really have a life blessed by God is to be an example of somebody who hates what is evil, and holds fast to what is good. You want your kid to walk in the ways of God, show him what it looks like every single day of the year. You can't say this is the standard for somebody else without taking it to heart. A hypocrite you need to hate the most in your life is you. And so, if you've got evil, that you're letting linger in your heart, if you're okay with a little bit of sexual immorality in your life, then this is a chance right here at this service right now for you to say, God, I need that true love. I need you to forgive me for my sin. I don't want to be a compromised person. I don't want to fall away. I hate the work of those who fall away. I want to know nothing of evil and to be honest, Father, I've been letting a little evil creep in. Today is your day to ask God to create in you a clean heart and to renew a right spirit to get your mind right set back on him. You can pray that to him right now. Let me pray for all of us. And then we'll pray this in some songs to God. Let's pray together.
Father in heaven. Thank you for this simple verse of three phrases Romans chapter 12, verse 9, that we need to love. There's a fake kind of love that's so prevalent right now. And we need to love in a genuine way, in a sincere way. We need to love without hypocrisy. So that means we have to hate what is evil. And we have to hold fast to what is good. Father, it's getting so confusing in the world that we live in. It's getting so unclear. Everything seems so morally ambiguous. How can we see what is evil? How can we separate it from what is good? Father, I pray that today, right now, you would turn our eyes upon Jesus, that we could right now have our minds renewed, that we could let the throne set the tone, that we could see, I know what love is. This is love that you loved us first, that you sent your Son Jesus, and that Jesus is the propitiation, the atoning sacrifice, the one who took your wrath for my sin. That's what real love is. Love cares about sin. And that's the way you loved us in Jesus. I pray that that thought, that real definition of love would give us clarity in the way we're going to love other people. Father, I pray for those as we're interacting with the sin that's all around us. Let people see your love in us. Let us be people who will hold fast to what is good and will hate what is evil, but will show people that true love in the way that we speak to them. Let us speak in such a way that people can see we care, so that they will hear the truth that we say. And, Father, I asked not just for other people who need your love. I asked for us here today, for all the hearts that are compromised right now, for all the fakeness that is represented right here in the room, for all the hypocrisy on Mother's Day a day, that's meant to be a day of love. But how can it be love if there's evil? How can we say I love but yet I hold evil in my heart? And I set worthless things before my eyes. And that's the work of those who fall away. So, Father, we come before you now and maybe this is the moment that some people need it. They didn't even know it was coming today, then didn't even know that today is the day they would confess that sin, that today is the day they would find love. Father, I pray that we would confess our sins to you freely right now that we would pray, search me, O God and know my heart. Try me O God. See all my anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. I want to know you. I don't want to believe the lies of this world. I don't want to be conformed to this world. I want to be transformed like you in the renewing of my mind. So, God please create in us a clean heart. renew a right spirit within us turn our eyes upon Jesus. Let us look forward in his wonderful face and let the things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace in the light of that true love that Jesus has for each one of us. Let us see clearly today. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.