# 432 Pastor: Are You An Abomination?

The Book of Genesis

Day 432

Ge 46:31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, "I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, 'My brothers and those of my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.  32 'And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.'  33 "So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, 'What is your occupation?'  34 "that you shall say, 'Your servants' occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

A word for the shepherds in our midst today. By that I mean the pastors of our local congregations. How does the world perceive you? As a shepherd, are you considered an abomination to the Egyptians? (The world)

Of course that doesn’t mean you need to do everything in your power to be obnoxious to the unbelieving world. If you are preaching and teaching God’s Word correctly, you’ll be considered obnoxious enough! The message you are charged with bringing from the pulpit ought to be obnoxious to the world because it is contrary to everything the world wants to believe about God!

The world wants to believe that there will be no judgment. They want to believe that God would never allow any person to spend eternity in the everlasting torment of hell. But listen to what the Holy Spirit tells us in  2Pe 2:4-9, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;  5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;  6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;  7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked  8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) --  9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment,

Somehow, that doesn’t sound like everyone will be on the inside of the pearly gates!

As obnoxious as the message of judgment is to the world, the message of the gospel is even more obnoxious! The world wants to believe that man can do something to aid his salvation. They want to believe that somehow they can or will be good enough to get to heaven. But the good shepherd, the faithful shepherd keeps condemning the self-righteous and preaching the free gift of salvation through the gospel 

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

My shepherd friends. Keep proclaiming this obnoxious message. It is an abomination to the world, but it is also the world’s only hope! The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe!