The season of adultery

Lord God in Jesus name we come to you desolate, with nothing and we ask that you make

our lifes full with abundance and you make the desolate woman leap for joy and give

abundance where there is poverty and desolation and that you make this land of poverty

into a land of abun....... dance in Jesus name amen

And so we look at Psalm 9

Psalm 9 (New International Version)

8 He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.

9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken

those who seek you.

11 Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he

has done.

12 For he who avenges blood remembers; he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.

13 O LORD, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the

gates of death,

14 that I may declare your praises in the gates of the Daughter of Zion

and there rejoice in your salvation.

The LASB says , in verse 11, Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem.

Verse 14, Save me so I can praise you publicly at Jerusalems gates,

Instead of Jerusalem you could say " Zion "

But God does not just live in Jerusalem or Zion, another name for Mount Moriah,

On which that beautiful Temple was built.

The temple was the focal point of Israelite worship which was built by human hands,

in fact by Solomon and mentioned in 2 Chronicles 7:16.

The temple can be seen from the mount of olives the very place where Jesus

sat with some disciples and the very place where He will return again.

Mount Moriah where King Solomons temple was built is the very place where Abraham

offered his son as a sacrifice and Abraham called that place

" The Lord will provide "

Now we need to focus on the fact that this temple was made by human hands and was a

building to worship God the focal point of worship for the Israelite people.

And we know that God does not just dwell in building ......don't we ?

We know that now we are indeed a dwelling place for God to tabernacle in.

We know that indeed we are a place where God can dwell.

We are indeed a place where God can take residence.

We are indeed a temple !!

Which is why we as Christians offer up our lifes as a sacrifice to Him.

As Abraham offered the his only son we in turn offer our lifes.

And we do not want any " abominations " to desolate our lives or temples

....do we ?

We do not want to be barren, desolate, deserted, do we ?

And so we offer up our lifes daily as an acceptable offering of worship...

In Romans 12:1 Paul writes, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's

mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this

is your spiritual act of worship."

And in 1 Peter 4:11 we are told, "If anyone

speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves

, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may

be praised through Jesus Christ."

And so we look not to the temple made of stone but we look to the cornerstone

and we who are being made into a temple , we are living stones..

1 Peter 2:5 You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house

to be a holy priesthood."

And so we do not focus on a day being a Holy day, but we focus on Christ our rest,

for His yoke is easy and His burdon is light and as we come to Him the stone the

builders rejected we see that He indeed is the Chief Cornerstone, and we come to Him,

and all those who are burdoned and heavy ladened find rest in Him.

Not focusing on a day of the week or a building made of stone, nor indeed a time of

year !!

And so we come to Christmas....that time of the year when we might see...

TV worship, mobile phone worship, food worship, alcohol worship, worship of

material things and all manner of worship, that results in desolation....

But we look to Christ and we look to ourselves not judging or comparing ourselves to

others and how they worship Christmas !!!!!

No we do not compare ourselves alongside others either as Christians but we alone

follow Christ

Sorry I said " worship Christmas " tut tut

We worship Jesus of course as Christians and so really Christmas is like any other

time.!!!!!

Because as Christians, Jesus is born and maybe reborn in many hearts all the time

and surely that is what it is all about ?

It is about Jesus's birthday, a time to celebrate Jesus which of course as we know is

........????

EVERYDAY.

In the same way as the Holy Day of the week is not sunday nor monday..

In the same way as the place of worship is not JUST the Church building....

In the same way as the Church building is not Holy !!!

In the same way as we do not worship the actual temple that solomon built..

In the same way as Jesus taught and spoke of " another day ,, and all that enter"

And so we see that Jesus is not just for Christmas

Noooooo

Jesus is life....

I say again , Jesus is not just for Christmas but Jesus is life >......

Now to some it may be the only time you may go to Church, to some it may be the

only time you meet friends and family...

To some it may be the only time you have a " physical rest "

But as Christians Christmas is a time of celebration not just for this season but

for all seasons.

Now I want to get onto the actual message here and at this point you will need a

box, it can be an imaginary cardboard box or if you have a spare cardboard box handy

nearby then use that or even a bin will do.

Because you see at this point we are going to look at a word, its just one word which

is picked up often by bible readers and tends to be used often when referring to certain

groups of people.

I'm not quite sure why this word is so popular or why bible readers use this word in

regard to certain groups but here we go.

The word is " Abomination "

Now this word is often used when people talk about " homosexual practices "

I'm not sure why though.....

I want to first disect and pick this word " abomination " apart.

You know the word abomination actually means

anything that is vile to God, anything that makes Him sick, anything that makes Him

want to spew or vomit, anything that reaches His nostrils and makes Him turn away,

anything that reaches up to Him in heaven as a " bad odour "

In the same way we can be " a sweet offering to Him "

In the same way we can be " an incense " an aroma, a perfume of delight.

In other words as our lifes are a sweet sacrifice to Him the aroma of that sacrifice

reaches His nostrils and He accepts it as pleasing to him.

What We do can also be to Him an " Abnoxious repelling odour "

NOTE " WHAT WE DO " NOT US....God loves the sinner not the sin.

In the same way as we can produce good fruit as Christians I wonder if we can produce

" bad fruit ?

I wonder if all our thoughts are always " Holy " " proper " righteous " perfect "?

I wonder if the things we do are always " Holy " " proper " righteous " perfect "?

If they are not then what are they to Him ?

You see it is only through the blood of the Lamb that we can be made Holy and pure.

It is only as we keep coming back to Him day by day in a living and real relationship

that we can walk with Him and enter through the veil.

As the disciples once said " who then can be saved ?

Jesus had been talking to the rich young ruler at the time, a man who loved His money

more than anything else , he had " idols " and these idols were " Vile to God " or

you might as well say they were an " abomination " to God that led to desolation in

his life, for tho he was rich ......yet he was poor.

The rich young ruler said " I have observed all the commandments since I was a

young boy " when in fact he had broken every commandment.

One of which was to worship an idol or money, another was the worship of false gods,

another was to want what others had, another was to lie not only to Jesus but to

himself, because he had indeed broken the ten commanments by worshipping money.

You see if you read Lukes Gospel you will notice after this brief description when Jesus

meets with the rich young ruler that , Luke writes about a blind man receiving

his sight ?

After which the rich tax collector is saved in fact He and his household and he promises

to give much back in return, this rich tax collector had no idols of worship and he

was saved, though still rich, you see he did not let this thing in his life become an

idol in his temple and it did not lead to " desolation " in his life.

Though he was rich yet he was richer still with God.

For this rich man a tax collector had, had his eyes opened and had received his sight.

Lets not get blinded by Christmas but realise that Jesus is for all time.

Now lets look at some more things that " abomination covers....

sinful sacrifices (Isaiah 66:3)

idolatry (Deuteronomy 29:17, Ezekiel 20:7,8, 1Kings 11:5-7)

witchcraft (2 Kings 23:24)

sexual sins (Jeremiah 13:27)

idolatry or idols (Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 13, (Isaiah 44:19)

illicit sex (Ezekiel 16:22,58, Ezekiel 22:11, Ezekiel 33:26)

illicit marriage (Deuteronomy 24:2-4)

dishonesty (Proverbs 12:22)

In fact the list is endless...

Now have you got your box or bin >?

Label that box " Abomination that leads to desolation "

I want you to think and type out some things that you think might be vile to God ?

Those things that He might not like ?

Lets begin.

I wonder if some thoughts that we sometimes have might be vile to God ?

Do you think we could have in the past maybe thrown some of those thoughts into the

box or bin ?

Do you think that even now some of those thoughts could go into that box ?

What about actions ? do we sometimes do things we regret ?

I wonder if there are things we have done or maybe might even be doing now that might

be vile to God ? maybe we can throw those in the box right now ?

I wonder if rebellion is vile to God ? does'nt it say somewhere ..that rebellion is worse

than the sin of witchcraft ?

I wonder how many of us have rebelled against God in the past ? or even now ?

maybe those things can go into the box ?

I wonder if disobedience is vile to God ? have we all always obeyed ?

I wonder how many of us have worshipped or are worshipping a false idol in our lifes ?

Is'nt that an abomination to God ? into the box...

What about sexual sins ? maybe into the box ?

I wonder how many other things we could put into that " abomination " box ?

I wonder if the ( so called ) unforgivable sin, when we put things that are of God down

to works of the devil are vile to God ?

You see God is a Holy God, He is perfect, He is sinless, He is Good, He alone can save.

Now that little list of things sort of puts our little grouping of boxes out of order

does'nt it?

You see we like to sometimes put groups of people into boxes and put a label on the box

and we like to sometimes say " WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS AN ABOMINATION TO

GOD " and we group that group into that box and we feel okay about that sometimes.

But NOW WE are in the box too !!!!! oops

Thats not so nice is it ?

How can you put me in the box with murderes and slanderers and thieves and adulturers,

and liars and those who worship false gods haaa ? oooo is'nt that the very people that

Jesus mixed with ?

You see you don't go in the box, God loves you,

but that which you think and perceive and do and put into action sometimes does.

We were all sentenced to prison, we were all guilty, we all had a sentence on us and

the great judge said " Not guilty " you are free...why...?

because Jesus paid the price on the Cross.

God turned his face away from His Son on the Cross because He could not bear to look

upon His own Son, He loved His Son, but He loved us in the same way and He loves us

in the same way.

He loves you as much as His own Son, and He could not bear to look upon His son

because the sin of the world was upon his shoulders so that the goverment would be upon

His shoulders, those that were vile to God might be "reconciled " to Him.

You see sin is vile to God, He can not look upon it, all our filthy rotten stinking

sin was vile to God , it was an abomination to Him, it reached His nostrils, it made Him

sick.

Each time you see the word " vile " in this message , you see the word " abomination "

There was only one way in which that sin and the stench of that sin could be taken away,

only through the saviour of the world as a sweet offering, only through the fragrant

sacrifice of a life laid down could the stench of the sin be taken away.

And Jesus took our place and was sentenced in our place.

You see each time we take that word "vile " and use it and point it at a certain group of

people we are actually pointing that word at ourselves..

Never take a single word from a single scripture without taking the whole of the bible

and Gods word into account.

Lets for a moment reflect on scripture and briefly skip through the bible....

We begin with Adam and Eve and disobedience !!!! in fact we go back further to satans

rebellion and both these things resulted in being thrown out of Gods prescence.

We look to the flood and to Noah and we see that the stench of mans sin had reached Gods

nostrils and had repulsed him to the point where He had to act and it led to "desolation "

We Look to the adulteries of Gods own chosen people the Israelites and again we like

to put them into a box and label them.

But in fact this adultery can apply to all of us, do you think that adultery is only when one

who lies with another woman or man while in marriage ? WRONG.

Adultery can be anything that gets in the way between you and God, anything that takes

center stage in your life, anything that means more to you than God Himself is

spiritual adultery and do you think that spiritual adultery is any different to the former ?

Indeed not and it is not looked upon by God as any different !!

We see that a prophet married a prostitute to demon strate

Yes I typed ..... demon strate !!!

To Gods people how they themselves

had adulteriesed and mingled with false gods and how they had become a whore nation.

Indeed we see rebellion after rebellion and disobedience after disobedience in Gods word.

The people who were chosen by God we read had God as their King, but they wanted a

human king like the other nations, they wanted what others had ? is'nt there something

in the ten commendments about this ?

And so we see that Gods chosen at that time as we read through the old testament had a

succession of Kings some of whom did good in Gods eyes and some of whom did bad

in Gods eyes and worshipped false gods and brought the nation down with them to worship

false gods and it was an abomination to God and it led to desolation in the nation.

In other words God hated it and the sin rose up to Him and it was vile to Him and it made

Him sick.

And the sacrifice of calfs and bulls was not good enough to stop the stench of sin

And so Jesus came " ONCE FOR ALL "

For indeed Jonah had to go to Nineveh to save the people from the sin that had reached

Gods nostrils and was a stench to Him and so deliver them from that " abomination "

that may have caused " desolation " to that city and indeed many years later after Jonah

that city still continued in its ways and in the end the city lay desolate.

Indeed Sodom and Gomorrah also rose up to God as a stench and smell and was repulsive

to Him and again we see that that place was made "desolate.

Do you know there is a church that is vile to God ?

There is a Church that God wants to spew out of His mouth ?

It is neither hot nor cold,

"Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee

out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16).

Could this mean that there are some who are of a Church or group who are " vile "

to God ?

Some who profess to be " The Church " ?

Could it be that some may be vile to God ? what else would make God want to spew out ?

Does this indeed mean that it is an " abomination " to God ? vile....

The stench of this Church must be reaching the nostrils of God and making Him sick ?

Not a sweet offering and fragrant sacrifice but a smell and stench !!!!

Could it be that the Church spoken of here is rich and is saying to itself ...

" I need nothing " ?

Could it be that this Church had become " the rich young ruler ? "

Could the " rich young ruler " be a " Church " ?

Could the man by the wayside picked up by The "good samaritan " be the " Church "

picked up by " Jesus " ?

Could it be that it waits as on Christmas day for the gifts and material possessions

and yet forgets the purpose and reason for the season of Christ ?

Christ is not just for Christmas, but is life..

You see in Gods eyes this Church is miserable and poor and blind and naked as with

Adam and Eve , they could be cast out of Gods prescence .

Or were they in Gods prescence ?

You see God is everywhere all the time, not in a day, not just in a Church building,

not just in solomons temple, not just in a season, not just in a word...

And we see that the word " abomination " is throughout the bible from beginning to

end whichever way you want to put to it, it all means the same thing.

And we come finally to one more abomination...the future...abomination of desolation.

I wonder where the temple is ?

In Matthew 24:15 Jesus says the abomination of desolation will be "standing in the

holy place."

I wonder how many will worship the false god ?

I wonder who is Holy ?

I wonder how many will be left desolate ?

Let us remember and not forget to not be distracted or have our focus taken away.

Let us remember to keep our eyes on Jesus alone...

Let us come to Him daily and offer up to Him our very lifes as an offering of worship.

Let us rememeber not to look to a day or a season, a word or a building, a man or

a god...let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus because it is only He who can save

us for although we are saved through Him and by His blood we continue to be saved day

by day as we walk with Him and we are not left " desolate "

Let us not be diverted by false gods or wrong thoughts and motives, wrong roads or

bypasses, feelings or fears, let us simply as children come to Him and believe what

He says " that He will never leave us nor forsake us "

He loves the sinner but not the sin.

Lets pray

Lets offer up our lifes as an offering to God now, as a sacrifice of worship and let it be a

sweet fragrance to Him.

Lord God Holy and pure and perfect God we enter through the veil that was torn apart

and is torn apart every time a new Christian is born.

Lord we thankyou that you are growing in us, you are growing inside of us, your gifts

are growing inside of us and you long for Jesus and these gifts to birth .and you do not want

us to be desolate.

What can we give Lord and what can be done ...

We give you all as you gave all and we ask that you cleanse and make anew, that you forgive

and if there is anything that might be in the way of our relationship with you Lord take

it away whatver the cost to us.

Lord we come to you as rich because you have made us rich and we have inherited all that

is yours.

See our hearts Lord and search us and make us new and let your blood cleanse us and make

us right , see if there is any unclean thing in our lifes.

Let the temple be a clean temple and washed buy your blood and cover over us with your

robe and take away the nakeness of sin .

Lord refresh and renew and restore and make all things new, let us start again each day

and see each day as a new start, take us now Lord and let us be an offering to you that

is acceptable and one that is pleasing to you.

Cleanse us Lord, cleanse us Lord, we walk the hill and we bring an offering and not an

idol.

In Jesus name amen