JESUS HATES

He is placed at the helm of the controversy. His exploits and his message is released to a wanting public craving to understand that which consistently confuses them. He is described as a carpenter born in a ratty town and at thirty took the world by storm while being a god who began to establish his kingdom on a broken planet. He came to die for the sins of all men and earnestly sits on the edge of his throne waiting for them to see his image on a cross, or his face on the wall of a friend, and anticipates their choice of him so that he can fill his eternal kingdom with people who need to be loved and comforted. Yet through his divine love he has opened the treasure trove of grace to those who don't understand or have even heard of his name, and by the shear wonder of the creator of a praying mantis they enter into the eternal bliss of his abode to forever serve the one who saved them without their knowledge from a mythical place called hell. His name...is Jesus. And Jesus Christ hates him.

Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully."

Rampant paganism infects every crevice of the globe. It festers in the gutters of our communities the history books of our schools and seeps into the cracks of the walls of the church making its way to the pulpit. And Jesus Christ hates this. Where it is as prominent as a musk ox at a baby shower. He hates it. And where it is as deceptive as Faberge egg with a misleading tactile balance. He hates it because Christ is a holy God with a holy message and requires a holy response. Thus he hates all false testimonies, for even the slightest distortion of his person is the gravest of errors and the presentation of another, and not Christ alone.

The pagan Jesus is just as an affront to the one true Christ as Buddha or Muhammad. He is just as powerful as the block of wood which was graven his image. He is a fairy tale, a lie, and the gateway drug to a libertine life and eternal hell. And yet again. Jesus Christ hates him for he is the most high God whose holiness screams perfection, pronounced sovereignty, and damns the treachery of his false counter-part. He is a jealous God who hates sin.

Is this astonishing to think about? The hatred of Christ. Rather, it is something far too neglected from the pulpits and contemporary pockets of evangelicalism. The holiness of God is exchanged for a misrepresentation of the person and message of Christ. This maligned focus on the "love" of Christ, blurs the wondrous truth in the lens of the Christians camera by establishing man-centered elements generated to woo the seeker and justify the sin of the man in the pew and the pulpit.

When we neglect to understand what Christ hates, we repudiate that which he loves. As his soldiers in battle we are to hate the sin and the foe which seeks to defile and defame the name above all names. We are to hate the evil that once ruled over us and our sinister former father who sought to lead us to hell with an inoculated smile on our face.

Yet because of his person and his hatred of sin, Christ broke the shackles of the enemy and crushed the table on which our ransom was due, and what is our response?

Do we justify slight sin? Do we rest on elementary teachings which abase us from a responsibility of sin? Do we generate a Jesus who is our homeboy or fall prostrate before the creator of the universe?

Dear Reader. You must ask yourself this question before you continue. Do you understand what it is to hate? It is the cry for the redeemed in Christ to hate sin. To plow into battle out of hatred of the foe and unwavering love for our general. It is to battle as warriors against deception and lies that seek to taint our great Savior's name. It is thoughtful hate, emotional hate, knowledgeable hate and a separating hate which declines the a-moral cry of a sin-soaked world to yield to ones own constitution. We are to know what it is to hate.

What does Jesus hate?

Proverbs 6:16-19 "There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers."

Haughty Eyes

Jesus hates pride. Pride is the desire to elevate self over God. This is the starting and ending point for all sin. It arrives when one worships the creature rather than the creator and seeks to usurp the authority and standards God decreed to his creation. In the garden man fell because of it, at the foot of Sinai men were killed because of it, and at the cross Christ was killed because of it. Christ hates pride because it diverts the attention and glory due to him.

Yet many have sought to use Christ as the mascot for their "ministry" which proclaims their spiritual affluence and cultural relativity. Many have sought to mute the call to righteousness proclaimed from the throne of holy God and generated their own exegesis of it. Yet you cannot clasp your hands over the snout of a roaring lion. You cannot temper the deafening blow of a nuclear blast. And certainly you cannot escape the fury and thunderous voice of Christ at judgment.

Psalm 101:5 states, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure."

The haughty eyes declare a finite view of God and a elevated view of self yet they will not stand.

Yet this is the Jesus that is proclaimed by the so-called saints. It is a Jesus who lacks in majesty, a Jesus that can be approached in flip-flops and a Mr. Potato head grin. This cavalier attitude will not stand before the king for despite all one does to generate a mutual Jesus, he cannot and will not taint the King.

A Lying Tongue

Jesus hates liars. One lying for self servitude paints a corrupt picture to fill his head with pride and his wallet with cash. His palatial house is built upon a Jello-mold luring people in to rob them of the truth. The liar destroys the truth through the misrepresentation of Christ. He is a loving God who saves all. He is a kind God who has no power over evil. He is a subservient God who is here for you. Lies! A distortion and disregard for the truth. Pastors across the globe lie to themselves and the sheep on an easy-believism which saves you into the local country club with the cross on the door. The deceptive lips of the liar are met with a quivering toungue seeking to taste the innocence of their prey.

Jesus hates it, why? Because he does not lie, and he abhors all that is evil.

Titus 1:2 "in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,"

Hands that Shed Innocent Blood

Jesus hates murder. When Pride deepens it seeks self glory above all else, including human life. They see those created in the image of God as human Dixie cups and take no care in their disposal. This occurs when there is a lack of control over anger, and the heart is corrupted in vanity. They search out their victim and kill for the momentary joy of carnal delight as their victims warm blood covers their flesh. Yet as it cools they seek another victim of momentary pleasure and submerge themselves in the hunt. Yet this is not just in the physical death, for the battle lies in the mind as well. Christ says upon the mount in Matthew 5:21-22 21 "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' 22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother,"

Unrighteous anger leads to the facade of justifiable wickedness. But is this only aligned to physical death? No.

The wicked see the innocent as living stepping stones whose gentile nature is a vehicle to their own agenda. This seeps its way into the church when pastors see themselves as spiritual stock-traders willing to disdain the sheep to build the foyer in "Me Community Church." They have shaved the hair from their wolfish bodies and tattooed themselves to resemble a sheep. They make their way to the front of the barn on Sunday mornings appearing loving yet behind closed doors he rips the flesh from their bones. Why? For personal triumph. As the saying goes, "Outlast your critics." True words, yet many wish to feast on them. For they have a soft smile on their face, but an anger that will obliterate even the slightest of opposition of an innocent obstacle.

A Heart that Devises Wicked Plans

Jesus hates Deception. Wicked men have the goal and existentially establish it as righteous and therefore anything will do to arrive upon the pedestal. They will skewer anyone who gets in their path and connive and steal their way to their earthly kingdom. Jesus Christ hates this. He hates the treachery of the mans hearts. He hates the wiles of them getting there, and he hates the outcome of sinful devices. For Christ came with the utmost mission. The cross. His thirty-three years of earthly life were fixated upon an hour. It is within that hour that the wicked plans of man would come to fruition and their hatred upon the Creator of the galaxies and generator of righteousness would be poured. Yet although he knew he would be the blunt of the accusations of injustice and the culmination of wicked deception his love was for the Father and his people.

He walked head-on into the wicked plans of man, but was not deceived. Because although it was the finger of man that pronounced the death of Christ, it was the finger of God that pronounced the death of sin.

The cross displayed both the unrighteous hate of man upon the Lord, and the Lords righteous hate of man's sin upon the Savior. Both were displayed yet only one was glorious. Despite the device of the evil, it will never make the Lord flinch. Job 5:12-13, states, "He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success. He captures the wise by their own shrewdness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted."

Feet that Run to Evil

Jesus hates the love of evil. The delights of a man's heart reveal the delights of a man's soul. As the progression of hate continues we see how once man deceives himself, he sets himself up for opportunity. Yet this hypocrisy can be veiled or unveiled. To begin with, there are those who glory in their sin. There is nothing to be hidden. The coldness of their heart is revealed in their affront to righteousness. The bumper sticker that screams the abasement to the living God and the desire for all that repulses him reveals the heart of the driver. Yet the veiled heart reveals the truth of the heart of the man deceiving himself then others. He takes delight when the cashier gives him extra change and considers it a fortuitous joy to find pornography in a public restroom. When sin rings its bell, he salivates as one of Pavlov's dogs. He is at the ready to embrace it yet deceives the innocent around him into thinking he is a pillar of righteousness.

Jesus hates this. He abhors it and desires nothing more to destroy the offense to him. Romans 12:9 "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good."

A False Witness who promotes familial chaos

Jesus hates dissension. The pride of the dissenter seeks to serve himself in his own sin by generating chaos amongst the family. His mission is clear - To destroy the church. He etches his dissension on the body like a hoodlum carves his name on a public mirror. He distorts the image of truth with swift fashion to build frustration and madness on his deprave campaign. He will lie in the face of his grandmother and appear to have honey dripping off his lips. He will skillfully gossip and make it appear as concern rather than a deceptive blow to his conquest. He never considers the cost as the broken hearts and bodies of the saints pile up below his feet. He inhales the stench of sin and it smells sweeter than the aroma of righteousness. Up is Down. Left is Right. Black is White. And though his backward mind directs him, he understands the thinking of his victims. Therefore he maligns the truth with what appears mild error, and builds his forces by rallying the goats in sheep clothing.

His dissension knows how to devastate and recruit the undiscerning. Charles Spurgeon said, "Discernment is not the difference between right and Wrong. It is the difference between right and almost right." The dissenter knows that, and Jesus Christ hates it.

Christ loves his children. He protects his redeemed and is a jealous God. He has the utmost hatred for dissension and gossip. He is a God who hates evil.

There are many who claim to know the true Christ. They divert the gaze from the cross onto self, they malign the truth with the indoctrination of worldly pleasure. They create a convoy to distort the truth of who Christ is and call it evangelicalism. Jesus hates it.

Why does Jesus hate with an infinite hatred? Because he loves with an infinite love? He does not just kind of hate, or love a lot. It is infinite. His hate will thrust the soul of a son of Satan to the furthest place from his throne, and his love will sandblast the most wretched of sin and cling eternally to the soul he purified.

The question is this. Do you hate as God Hates? Do you love as God loves? If you answer yes, then your complacent heart has revealed your mediocre view of God almighty for he loves and hates infinitely. Yet we are to ever grow in the likeness of him and earnestly grow in our hatred of sin and our love of Christ. The more you love Christ, the more you hate evil.

May the Jesus we proclaim be the Jesus who sits on the throne interceding for us as we read this now, and not the impostor the pulpits seek to sell in order to buy their congregations. May we be a zealous people who never rest in our craving of Christ, and never cease from a loving obedience to Him.

Jesus hates many things yet if you are saved he loves you. But don't fall into the trap of denial. May you not seek to cause dissension in your own heart and think that just because Jesus loves you he doesn't hate the sin you commit.