Do You Hate Sin?

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
Amos 5:21-23 (KJV)

The above passage is as applicable today as the day it was written. It concerns a people who want to hold on to their sin and attempt to pacify God by going through the motions. The harlot allegory of Proverbs 7:6-27 (KJV) is especially fitting here. God doesn't want to hear insincere flatteries offered to Him, they are like the lies of a whore trying to seduce her victims.

This scripture is especially seen in action in the apostate churches of the Great Whore of Revelation. They want to sing their fleshly 'praise songs' on Sunday morning then commit adultery Sunday night. They offer Him meaningless praise with their lips even while their darkened hearts are plotting new ways to sin continually. They rob from God by not giving Him His due.

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22 (KJV)

If you are a 'Christian' who claims to love God but refuses to give up your sin I have some bad news for you. Your salvation is a sham; you are merely pretending to love God. You may be able to fool your pastor, family, friends and everyone else but you're not fooling Him. On the other hand if you truly love God then you will struggle with sin continually. It is the fact that we struggle with it that defines our sincerity towards Him.

When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Mark 2:17 (KJV)

We are all sinners, every one of us in this world. Some of us pretend to no longer sin but they lie to themselves. We all stumble on occasion but the difference is whether we love our sin or hate it. To the world this is invisible but to the eye of God it is as plain as night and day. It concerns the condition of our hearts which only He can see. For those of us who recognize we are inherently predisposed towards sin and wish to be cleansed the precious blood of Jesus bridges the gap.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Luke 18:13-14 (KJV)

This is what separates the wheat from the tares and the sheep from the goats; a man who humbles himself before God and heeds the call to repentance. A prideful heart wants to hide sin whilst a repentant heart wants to expose and be rid of sin.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Matthew 23:25-26 (KJV)

This is the lesson of the above scripture, that the inside of the cup (our filthy hearts) must be cleansed. The Pharisees would clean the outside of the cup which represents how we are perceived by others, but inside their hearts (what God sees) was filthy. We cannot cleanse 'inside the cup' ourselves, only the blood of Jesus can accomplish this.

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:23-25 (KJV)

We must learn to passionately hate our sinful natures just as Paul did, because it is this revulsion towards our sins that directs us back to the cross as often as need be; to repent and be cleansed from them.