If I use the word abomination from the pulpit what would come into your mind? Maybe 1% of you that are ardent prophecy students might think of the abomination of desolation that will happen in the middle of the Tribulation. I suspect the other 99% will think of homosexuality because 99% of the time when you hear abomination from a pulpit that is the link. However, there many more things that the Word calls an abomination.
Other than a sermon I have preached I do not believe I have ever heard one on the others. I think the Proverbs 16 text that I will use as my major text may have been preached but the word abomination just rolled out and rolled on and not hammered like I have heard it the 99% of the time. Sadly, some pastors spend almost their entire ministry on that one subject while their congregations are guilty of abominations as well.
Before I move on I want to relate a story from my prison ministry. I arrived one day to find four men in a holding cell. I would stand outside and preach to them. Three of them were obviously homosexual as they had their makeup on and their jump suits rolled up to look like Capris. The other lad was short fellow walking back and forth behind them looking like Napoleon working out a battle plan.
By this time in my ministry, I had ministered to a lot of gays in one way or another so their appearance did not even raise an eyebrow. The short lad was a Jehovah Witness and he kept saying, “Tell them what the Bible says about homosexuality!” Had I been like some I have been in contact with over the years my text would have been changed from Eph 2:8, 9 to Rom 1 or Leviticus as soon as I saw my congregation. I told the lad that I had come to preach Ephesians and that was what I was going to do. He would not let it alone and I said since it is driving you crazy why don't you tell them. At that moment one of the gays turned to him saying. “We know it's a sin. Leave him alone.” One of the other lads said, “My Mom told me I was going to be a punk. Thanks, Mom!”
After that, I was free to preach the passage I had come to preach without interruption. God is very good to me. He used to two homosexuals to silence a JW so I could preach the grace of God to all of them. Afterward, I invited them all to the church. The one who spoke to his Momma predestining him to be gay told me he lived in a town a short distance away. I said I knew a good church there if he had transportation problems and he said he wanted to come to my church. He also said he would not come in drag or makeup. I had not said anything about that. That was his offer. I told him to come on, but sadly he never made it and I never saw him again.
I have my doubts that had I changed my passage and ranted all over them that I would have gotten the response and support that I did from them or a desire to come to my church dressed in a way I did not require. I would suspect that many of my IFB “peers” need to learn from that interchange and preach the truth in the love of God to ALL people if they expect people to hear the message and allow the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to Christ. Abusive, rude, crude, street gutter language should never be used from a pulpit that is supposed to represent Christ who came to save sinners. That is not being bold. That is preaching a heavenly message with a carnal attitude and approach. Just sayin'
I know some that read this will call me a Liberal and that I am a pink tea and lemonade preacher but that is trying to cover up their own sin that I have pointed out. I am far too Right for the Left. I am too Left for the far Right. The Middle of the road folks are worried about me. The Pentecostals know I am a Baptist and pray for me. Some of the Baptists think I am Pentecostal and they pray for me so I get twice as much prayer though I think I probably get more positive prayer from the Pentecostals. Some of the Baptists most likely curse me more so than pray for me. So with all that going on I may be on the right track since Jesus and the Apostles got pretty much the same reaction. At least folks are not apathetic or ignore me. ;-)
Now, on to the real sermon. The previous was a pregame warmup and free.
Prov 6:16-19
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. KJV
I know for a fact that many Christians are guilty of some, if not all of these sins. I don't mean before they were saved. I mean afterward. Some are not even technically backslidden as they are still in church and even serving in high office.
God has had to humble me over the years because my early days of ministry were spent with folks that had the proud look thing going on. They would strut and prance like peacocks and compare their numbers and how big a building they had and so on and so on at pastor meetings . One lad even fudged the numbers. He told someone that he had 160 last week. I wondered what church he was at since I was at the one he said he was at as pastor. I asked him later how he got that. 40 in SS, 40 in AM, 40 in PM and 40 on Wednesday. Wow, what a math trick that was!!!!
Considering how often they looked down on pastors that were not growing leaps and bound I can understand his temptation and fall into that sin of a lying tongue. Of course, how many times do we come to church with our happy face on and tell everyone we are fine when we are discouraged or in despair? I have heard Christians tell someone to tell the person on the phone that they are not here. How about shaking the pastor's hand telling him what a great sermon that was and then going home or in the car on the way roasting him? White lies? No, just one color of lies. Color them an abomination.
Hands that shed innocent blood? I am going to get a rise here. If you support those who support abortion and euthanasia then you have blood on your hands. Obadiah says that “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side... even thou wast as one of them.” Yes, you are not performing the surgery or giving the lethal dose, but you chose your pocket book over life and what you say are your convictions. When you pulled the lever you bloodied your hands. Many Christians would say they are pro-life and yet vote for those who are not. There is a disconnect between your Bible and your ballot. That ought not to be so.
A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations and then runs like the wind to carry them out. These are two separate problems but the imaginations need feet to put the thoughts into action. Hmm, how many church splits and pastor dismissals have come from one or more of the membership devising the plan that cause the problem or at least paint a marvelous picture of a problem that does not exist but the oration convinces the foolish and unlearned so that the intent is fulfilled. Maybe it is a rumor or even betrayal of a trust that gets a man or woman they are jealous of to be embarrassed and leave the church. If you are guilty of this abomination I am sure you can come up with more illustrations than I can provide since you are experienced.
A false witness is a liar, but a bit more specialized and more dangerous as his/her witness can damage a reputation or protect the guilty. We need to be careful that when we say we saw something that we do not embellish or hold back information if we are to be a true witness. Many times gossip is started by a person who says they know for a fact that such and such happened or some person said something. Too err from memory failure or from standing at a perspective that hid some details is one thing, but to fabricate a story or deliberately hold back is a false witness and an abomination.
Sowing discord among the brethren may not be a Baptist distinctive, but many seem to excel in it and if it were an Olympic event there would have far more medals than Michael Phelps. Some of us are just not happy at all unless we are fussing and come mighty close to cussing about everything. The sanctuary is too hot/cold, bright/dark. The carpet is the wrong color. The music is too loud and too much or too soft and not enough. There are maybe a hundred complaints they can have about anyone in leadership or the processes and programs in effect. After awhile everyone is disgruntled and taking sides and voila we have a church split.
Yes, there needs to be sound doctrine and heresy and heretics must be called out and dealt with but many pastors just want to call down everybody about everything. How dare they use the Heavenly Highways instead of the Baptist hymnal? Where are their three points and a poem? That one is a dry expositor while the other is a bombastic braggart! He has a beard so he must be a neo-Evangelical or Liberal. If you have been a Christian long enough you have heard plenty of things like this.
I am of Hyles. I am of Pensacola. I am of yada, yada. I am of no camp. I know and have hung out with folks from all the camps at one point, but none of them own me and I owe them nothing. I thought we were all supposed to be in one accord and in one camp. Much of the differences between the camps are carnal commandments of men and useless to fight over when the world is going to Hell.
Many of the churches that are failing may well be the offspring of a church split or built because one camp felt there was not a real and viable church in the area because none were of their camp. Balderdash and phish posh! Biblically, there should only be one church per town. In a large city, maybe five at the most. I realize that with the numerous denominations and now even more numerous non-denominations that will not happen. Yet, there ought to only be one of any specific group. In the small town of Cleburne we have too many Baptist churches even if you allow for BGCT and SBTC of the SBC clan. There are enough IFBs though someone is starting another one. We have plenty of non-denoms and even two AofG. We are wasting God's money and manpower building mansions whose end will be part of the bonfire at the end of the world instead of majoring on the message and masses. There is indeed discord among the brethren but certainly a dynamic unity among satan's hordes. Indeed, the children of this world are wiser in their time than the children of light.
I have added some of the other verses here at the end so you can look at some abominable things and see if you or anyone in your church practice them. We know that the World or unbelievers do, but then that is as it should be expected. Criminals do not obey laws and sinners care less about what God thinks about anything so why are we so aghast and abashed when they do what they do? Nothing a sinner does really offends me because they really do not know what they are doing as they are blinded by satan so I expect nothing holy from them.
I am more concerned that I and my brethren act like the children of God that we should be and remove the abominable from our lives. The unbelievers who commit any of these abominable things are not going to be prone to listen to us when we rant and rave at them and do abominable things ourselves. Is one abomination truly any more abominable than another to God? I think not. It is only we humans that tend to make such distinctions ignoring our own abominations while clapping and shouting when the preacher lambasts one we don't commit or find it particularly distasteful.
Are you an abomination? Are you shocked to find out that you are and thus in the same state of sin as the ones you love to insult and even seem happy that they are going to Hell? Careful with that stone! They tend to boomerang and they hurt worse when they hit the thrower than it does the target. Yes, we need to call sin what it is but we are told to speak the truth in love and to seek to minister grace to the hearer. I don't think that is what we are preaching to homosexuals or in some cases, anybody. We just seem to be glad folks are going to Hell instead of being mad about it and trying to stop them unless they have socially acceptable sins. Those folks we might try to win.
We don't want any ______ in here. Fill in the blank. It could be most anything, but if you are not willing to see all people as those for whom Christ died and wanting to win them you are guilty of sin, be it an abominable one or not. It is a good thing we are saved by grace because too many of us Christians would be in Hell and sadly many who profess, but do not possess, will be there. Make your calling and election sure. If you are guilty, repent and seek forgiveness. Why lose blessings here and rewards there for indulging in abominations? It is grand folly!
Unbelievers reading this need to come to faith or trust in Christ whether they are guilty of what we see as small sins or grand ones like the abominable ones. I am sorry if some Christians have not seen you worthy of salvation or treated you unkindly. They will answer to Him for that. On the other hand, those who said that God will not judge you or send you to Hell for sin are just as hateful to you for they are giving you false hope and you will land in Hell.
Look to Christ, not Christians. He is real and will not lie to you or play games. He demands you admit and confess that you are a sinner before you can be saved as there is none righteous in his/her own self. Then He requires that you have faith or trust in Him as God and that He paid for your sins with His blood. It should have been you that died for your sins and you will if you do not accept what He did. If you die in your sins you will die for them but there will only be condemnation and damnation. If you trust in His blood payment you can be forgiven and become a child of God destined for Heaven and able to have an abundant life here. The choice is easy when you think about it. Die in your sin and be in Hell or let Him die for your sin and be in Heaven. To turn down such an offer of love and forgiveness would indeed be an abomination. Don't be guilty of that. Be saved today!!! Maranatha!
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Prov 17:15 He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD. KJV
Prov 20:10 Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD KJV
Prov 24:9 The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men. KJV
Prov 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? KJV
Prov 28:9 He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
KJV
Jer 32:35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. KJV
