“Three Things God Hates”
November 23, 2008
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’
Hebrews 10:26-31
I love to preach about the love of God. I love to tell you how special you are to God and how much He delights in you. I love to tell you the wonderful plans He has for you and I love to share with you the glory of heaven and our future. The Bible does say that God is love. But it also says that God hates. If anyone loves something – he has to hate the opposite of that thing he loves. And the bible is very clear in revealing that God hates, despises, and abhors some things. He is a God of love – but He is also a consuming fire. He is a God of rewards – but He is also a God of punishment. We need to understand both and recognize both sides. To just see the loving side of God is to have a false concept of God. So this morning I am going to tell you how much God loves you. We are going to talk about that – but first I must share with you three things God hates.
Hate by definition is to dislike immensely or passionately. The result of hate is separation. If you hate carrots – you separate them from yourself. If you hate someone – you may avoid them. Some people even kill the ones they hate. We need to understand that God hates with a ‘holy’ hate. He is pure in all He does. He is good in all He does. So what does this pure and holy and good God hate?
First of all, God hates abortion. God’s Word says,
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter ... Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD…”
Deut. 18:10-11
“You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.” Deut 12:31
In this day and age, people did not have the pill or the different kinds of birth control we have to day. So they developed, as part of their religious practice to their gods, the sacrificing of their babes in fire. It was a horrible, perverse ritual. But it was population control. I won’t take the time to talk about the horrible things they did to their babies. You can investigate it for yourself, if you wish. But I do want to point out that the newborn and even older children were sacrificed and killed in that culture. And I want to remind you that we make them look like piker’s by comparison. We kill over a million babies a year in the United States alone. Many of them are late term and killed in a horrible way. If you are not familiar with the process – go to www.silentscream.com and see what abortion entails.
Propones of abortion say, “It’s not a human. It’s a fetus. It’s just tissue.” That reminds me of how the military get soldiers to kill. They dehumanize the enemy. In WWI they called the enemy “Jerries”; in WWII, Japs or zips or frogs; in Viet Nam, it was gooks, slant eyes and other uncomplimentary names. It is not natural for people to kill one another – so we dehumanize the ones we kill. But babes are babies are babies. You are human from conception to death.
What does God’s Word have to say about this? Let’s take a look.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1:5
God is telling Jeremiah that He mattered, that God had plans for Him before He was even born. David said,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13-16
John the Baptist was even filled with the Spirit while still an infant. (Luke 1:15) You need to understand that a baby in the womb – is a baby. Abortion is killing babies – and God hates it!
I can’t leave this subject without first talking about partial birth abortion. I can’t understand how anyone can say that this isn’t pre-meditated 1st degree murder. If you don’t know how partial birth abortion is performed let me explain it to you. A woman can obtain a partial birth abortion all the way through the 3rd trimester. That means that the full term baby could be delivered normally and lives without any respirator or any other life support system connected to it to preserve life. Partial birth abortions are performed on full term babies before they are delivered. The procedure for the partial birth abortion is this.
1st The mother is given medication to induce labor.
2nd The doctor reaches into the birth canal and turns the baby so that it will be delivered breached (feet first).
3rd The baby is delivered completely except for the head which remains in the birth canal. The entire body of the baby is outside of the mother except for the head. The baby’s arms and legs are moving.
4th The doctor then take a pair of scissors and places them at the base of the infant’s skull inside of the mother’s birth canal. The doctor then punctures the baby’s skull. The baby jerks, becomes stiff and then becomes limp.
5th The doctor then removes the scissors, and put a suction tube into the baby’s skull while it is still inside the mother’s birth canal. The doctor then sucks the baby’s brain out, thus collapsing the baby’s skull. This is done for two reasons. One to make sure the baby is dead and the other is to ease the delivery for the mother.
God hates abortion – and so should we. We should fight with everything we have to stop this detestable practice. I’m not advocating blowing up clinics or killing doctors – but we need to vote and write our leaders and demonstrate and peaceably protest this barbaric act.
A second thing God hates is homosexuality. God’s Word says,
" ’Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.”
Leviticus 18:22
"If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” Leviticus 20:13
“A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.” Deuteronomy 22:5
“…Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” Jude 7
“…God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.” “…Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Romans 1:26-27;32
“do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals”
1 Corinthians 6:9
The Bible says we must sincerely hate what is evil. (Romans 12:9) It also says,
“Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.” Romans 14:16
It is a scary time for Christians. You probably have seen the news where ‘gays’ (another nicer word for homosexuals) are going into Churches and disrupting services. Some will get in your face and scream at you. But if you demonstrate against them or their life style you will be called a ‘homophobe” or a hate monger or something that implies that good is evil – and evil is good. Let’s be clear. God calls homosexually evil and those practicing it will not go to heaven. A repentant homosexual who turns from his sin and to God has his sin blotted out. He is as pure as the new driven snow. But the one who loves his pleasure more than God will not inherit the kingdom of God. If we neglect to share that – it would be like watching someone take poison and not warn them. I hate homosexuality. I have seen people I care about die horribly from aids. Love the sinner – but hate the sin. Love the sinner enough to be courageous.
That brings us the third thing God hates. God hates sin. God hates rebellion. The Word says,
“You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.” Psalm 5:4-5
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.” Amos 5:21
“do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this," declares the LORD.” Zechariah 8”17
“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you..." 1 Samuel 15:23
God hates sin – which is rebellion against Him. And we have all sinned. We all fall short. God hates abortion and homosexuality – but he also hates lying and stealing and adultery and all sin. We have all done things that God hates. We have all experienced separation from God. We all need a Savior. Aren’t you glad that God loves the sinner - but He hates sin? God doesn’t hate people who have abortions or even performs abortion. He loves them so much He was willing to die for them. God doesn’t hate homosexuals – He loves them so much that He provided a way to save them from the consequences of their sins. And we should not hate homosexuals or abortionist either. We should love them and do all we can to bring them to Christ and repentance. We need to hate the acts and do all we can to stop these sins. But at the same time – understand that you and I were just as guilty as they. Sin is sin. All sin needs to be deal with. We all need to turn from our sin. We all need to repent. We all need to stop rebelling against God. He hates it!
Let me conclude by showing you a better way. Let me show you the God of love. The Bible says, “You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell.” (Psalm 5:4) But it also says that God takes pleasure in those who do right and they will live with Him forever. Listen:
“God is present in the company of the righteous.” Psalm 14:5b
“…You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11
“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.” Psalm 34:15
“…You give them drink from your river of delights. For with You is the fountain of life; and in Your light we see light.” Psalm 36:8b-9
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
“And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.” 2 Peter 5:4
It is so important that we know God and what His will is in this age. Evil is being called good and good is being called evil. The next step is to call good people bad – and do away with them. We know this is coming. But it will be worth it. We may be afraid; we may be frightened of the times – but let us not be cowardly. We need to overcome our fears and courageously stand for what is right. We need to defend those who can’t defend themselves. We need to oppose those who do evil and speak the truth in love. Above all-love. Remember God so loved the world – that He gave His only begotten Son… that whoever would believe in Him would not perish – but have everlasting life.”
Let’s live a life of love – and bring our Father joy. Let’s be a delight to Him with what we do and say. Great will your reward be in heaven.
“Amazing Grace”
