What God
Loves and Hates
Joseph K Stephen
December 2002-December
2004
My dear brethren when
I am convicted to prepare a message it is always a task I approach with great
caution, trepidation and awe as I seek to know the mind of the Lord for myself
and my hearers. There is a danger to simply dig up what another brother has
written or revamp a message given in time past and while at times this may be
appropriate we must ever seek to grow in our knowledge of the Lord and not
stagnate in our understanding of His precious truths.
It was my wife who set
me on this particular scriptural journey as her investigation into a somewhat
unpopular topic of appropriate women’s attire very much convicted me. We often
look into the Word of God to seek comfort or encouragement but rarely these
days do we seek to find things about ourselves which we are comfortable with
and test them in the light of the Word of God even though we claim to love Him
and want His will in our life. Surely as His children we aught though to seek to
know His will and more importantly seek to do it. Let me stress now that the
subject I plan to expound is in no wise designed to bring anyone under law or
legalism. It is abundantly clear from the mouth of God that we are saved by
grace through faith and not by the deeds of the law. I’ve heard many Christians
argue though that since we are saved by grace through faith, that any act of
obedience afterward is thus not essential.
My wife and I are
obviously married. We are married regardless of what our relationship is like.
We could live together and never consider each other’s feelings, wishes or
thoughts. We would still be married. We could live together and never talk to
one another. What kind of marriage would that be? Well, it wouldn’t be one
would it? I personally believe that by the nature of our relationship to the
Lord Jesus Christ, with Him as Lord and us as His subjects it is impossible to
live in such a relationship and never consider His will just as it is absurd
for a married couple to live with each other and never consider each other,
talk to each other, submit to each other etc. It is absurd to come to the Lord
of glory with our sin laden heart, confess Him with our mouth as Lord and then
say it doesn’t matter how we live since we are under grace.
Several weeks ago we
looked at what God says about Himself in the Bible. Today, with the aim of
encouraging our spiritual growth and relationship with our Lord and Saviour I’d
like to look at what God loves and what He hates, abhors or calls an
abomination. Surely this is one of the first things we do in our relationships
on earth that we knowingly may not offend each other. So too, in our
relationship with God there should be a questioning of what He loves and hates
that His mind may be our mind that we offend Him not and indeed begin to see
eternity and this life from His perspective. We may say, what a trivial
subject, He hates sin and loves righteousness! True, but how general and
non-specific. When we find out what our wife likes, or indeed what she
dislikes, we interrogate in fine detail that we don’t buy the wrong thing. We
take time to know her heart (or we should). Surely our eternal Lord and Saviour
deserves even more attention. All human logic aside, let us delve into the
scriptures to hear what they have to say.
So, the journey
begins. What does God say He hates? The words abomination, hate and abhor are
very strong words and the Lord doesn’t use them too often so when He does
surely they are significant!
Blemished or corrupted sacrifice
Deuteronomy 17:1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy
God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any
evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
While this obviously
had specific relevance to the Jews and while the Lord Jesus Christ is our
perfect sacrifice, surely the sacrifice we offer, the fruit of our lips, the
gifts of our time, selves, finances and lives, must be without corruptness.
What kinds of corruptness would cause our sacrifice to be blemished? Pride,
wrong motives, dishonest gain (in the case of money), …
Sacrifice procured from sin
Deuteronomy
Whatever we sacrifice
to God must have been procured in an honest and legal way and must not be
procured by sinful means. (It is also interesting to note the lowest ranking of
animals given to dogs. Today they are elevated to positions higher than
children, often families have a pet dog but no children. This is so against
what God thinks of dogs and what He thinks of children, see separate article
called Decline of the Assembly – Where Are the Children.)
Witchcraft
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
10 There shall not be found among you any one
that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that
useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these
abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
One of Satan’s modern
tricks is to make witchcraft and other abominations more palatable. He uses the
boiling the fish approach to slowly but surely make people accept such
abominations. Slowly slowly the boundaries are moved outward. First so-called
harmless tricks to amuse children, then we call it magic, we call it anything
but witchcraft! So many of the games, toys, television shows, etc are based on
out right black magic but they are cleverly disguised like sugar coated death
drops. Oh my brethren we need to be on our guard against the abominations which
Satan so cleverly disguises.
Cross Dressing and Blurring of the Distinction
between Men and Women
Deuteronomy 22:5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth
unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are
abomination unto the LORD thy God.
This one was an issue
for me and as I said in the beginning, my wife’s personal search to resolve
this issue was very convicting! We all accept that men wearing women’s clothing
is wrong but it won’t be long and it will be perfectly acceptable. It is
already totally acceptable that a woman wears men’s clothing. Many women wear
men’s clothing without thinking about it but there was a time not long ago that
all women knew it was wrong. These days many don’t know it is wrong because it
is so widely accepted. Let me ask each of us, if murder was widely accepted as
the solution to a dispute, would it make it any less abhorrent? Cohabitation is
now widely accepted but does it make fornication right because it is widely
accepted? The Feminist movement was a revolt against mans’ abuse of his role
and misuse of his position in God’s order. When man ignored God’s order, abused
women and made the help meet given him by God a lower being, women revolted and
went to such an extreme to be as men. The issues of women in the workforce, in
politics, dressing, etc etc today is all a result of an extreme revolt due to
man abusing his responsibilities. Nevertheless, women of God and men of God
must not be so. We must solemnly consider what God says is right and wrong. We
must determine and fulfill the roles God designed us to fulfill and not covet
each other’s roles. Our absolute guide to fulfilling our God given roles must
be His word and not man’s opinion or the current tide of popular opinion. While
at first glance the topic of dress may seem ambiguous, closer investigation
into the origin of today’s fashions will soon make the truth plain enough. One
may argue that the origin of today’s fashion was a long time ago and most
people don’t even know it. The origin of sin also was a long time ago but does
any length of time lessen its wrongness? While we are under grace, God’s standard
is still His standard and what He called an abomination in the time of Moses He
still calls an abomination. Abomination is a strong word so let us all consider
these verses carefully.
Carved Images which are Worshiped
Deuteronomy 27:15 Cursed be the man that maketh any
graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the
hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.
And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
Deuteronomy
Adoration of any
object or person above the Lord is idolatry. Some idolize their car, their
house, their garden, their jewelry, their work, a sports team, their
television, etc. To avoid the snare of an idol we should remove it from our
lives as the children of
The Way of the Wicked or Froward
Proverbs 15:9 The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him
that followeth after righteousness.
Proverbs
A False Balance
Proverbs
In this day of digital
scales etc, we don’t see a false balance as described here but the principle is
clear, fairness and honesty. We can demonstrate the principle of a false
balance at work by wasting time for which we are paid to work when no-one is
watching. We can demonstrate a false balance by favouring one of our children
above another, or giving the impression that something is equal when it is
not.
Employing Worldly Methods in Worship or
Enforcing Unscriptural Principles
Deuteronomy 12:29-32
29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the
nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou
succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared
by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou
enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods?
even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God:
for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their
gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to
their gods.
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to
do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
While the above verses
had a specific relevance to the Jews, the principle is obvious, ie “Take heed
to thyself that thou be not snared by following them”, “enquire not after their gods, saying, How
did these nations serve their gods?” and “What thing soever I command you,
observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” In many
circles of fellowship, believers employ worldly methods, ie methods used by worldly
organizations or businesses to entice, which are known to excite and draw
people, in the hope of increasing numbers and people’s interest in worship. Not
only can we employ worldly methods to entice, we can make unscriptural lists of
things which people must adhere to be part of our fellowship. Let us not add to
or subtract from the Word of God and where a principle seems open to
interpretation, let us pray for wisdom, discuss with honesty and with the
intent of knowing the mind of god rather than pushing a traditional view which
has been passed down by someone else. Even if the person who passed such a
tradition down is very Godly, nothing but the Word of God itself is infallible.
Seven Abominations
Proverbs 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.
He that Justifieth the Wicked
Proverbs
Religion
Amos
While this was
particularly true of the Jews, there are many professors who claim to love God
with their lips but their hearts’ are far from God. Let us always be diligent
to find and restore our first love lest we just go through the motions of
worship with no heart conviction.
Imagining Evil Against our Neighbour
Zechariah
False Doctrine
Revelation
In Summary, the Lord
abhors:
·
Blemished or corrupted sacrifice.
·
Sacrifice procured from sin
·
Witchcraft
·
Cross dressing
·
Carved images which are worshiped
·
The way of the wicked or froward
·
A false balance
·
Employing worldly methods in
worship or enforcing unscriptural principles
·
Pride
·
Lying
·
Shedding innocent blood
·
A heart that devises wicked
schemes
·
Pursuit of mischief
·
A false witness
·
He that soweth discord among
brethren
·
He that justifieth the wicked
·
Religion
·
False doctrine
Now let us consider what God delights in.
Lovingkindness, Righteousness and
Judgment
Psalm 11:7 For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his
countenance doth behold the upright.
Jeremiah 9:24
24But
let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that
I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and
righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
Israel
Deuteronomy 7:13 And he will love thee, and bless thee,
and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of
thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and
the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give
thee.
Deuteronomy 10:15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose
their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this
day.
Zechariah 2:8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the
glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth
you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Jeremiah 31:35-37 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for
a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a
light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of
hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me,
saith the LORD, then the seed of
Many Christians think
that the church has replaced
The World
John
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
God does love the
world and the sinner but that love will not allow a sinner into heaven unless
the sinner repents and believes in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This love
does not mean universal salvation. It does however mean open arms to the
repentant and faith demonstrating sinner.
Truth and Justice
Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the
LORD: but a just weight is his delight.
Proverbs
Those Who Keep His Commandments
Psalm 16:3 But to the saints that are in
the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
Proverbs
John
John
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in
my love.
John
Romans
1John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
A Cheerful Giver
2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his
heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
His Son
Matthew 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily
shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art
my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
John
John
John
I started off this
article by asking if we have ever considered what God loves and what He hates
in order to live a life pleasing to Him. It is fit thus to finish by reminding
us of the things that God loves and by asking each of us whether we love what
He loves? Do we love righteousness and judgment? Do we love honesty and justice
above persona and charisma? Do we love the sinner enough to live differently
and are we ready to share the hope within us? Do we love all those who
diligently keep His Word at the expense of popularity and praise of men? Do we
love
In Summary, the Lord
Loves:
·
Lovingkindness
·
Righteousness and judgment
·
The nation of
·
The world/sinners (enough to die for)
·
Truth and justice
·
Those who keep His commandments
·
A cheerful giver
·
His Son (The Lord Jesus)