Sacrifices of the Wicked

For children's church at this time. She likes. Meet my wife right over here. If you take your Bibles, turn to first Corinthians chapter 11. Alright.

First Corinthians chapter 11. We're going to start reading in verse 23 this morning. First Corinthians chapter 11. In verse 23 Also going to be reading from Psalm 51 here in a second as well. Psalm five thousand one hundred sixteen and seventeen.

Give you just a second. I think I hear most of the pages are pretty much done turning there. Let me start with Psalm 51 and I'll go back to first Corinthians 11. So, I mixed you up there, didn't I? Psalm fifty one sixteen and seventeen.

For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it? Thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are broken spirit, a broken, and a contrite heart, oh God. Thou wilt not despise. Turn if you would back over to first Corinthians 11 verse 23.

Paul is writing the church at Corinth. He's writing concerning an several issues. One of the issues that they had was they were disrespecting the Lord's supper. They were treating it more like a wild party. They were being selfish with the things that they brought and they were not honoring the Lord and this was a problem.

Paul begins in verse 23 of first Corinthians 11 for I received the Lord that which also I delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do. In remembrance of me, after the same manner, he also took the cup when he had what's up saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do you as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for your word today. May you use it mightily in our hearts. May you mold us more into the image of Jesus Christ today and may you draw if there be a lost one here today to yourself that they might be truly saved and become a child of God.

In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen. Despite the complacency of Christians and the reprobate condition of much of our society today, many people still talk about God. Preachers, professors, country singers, politicians, race car drivers. I've known a couple of those my life.

They like to talk about God. But it's one thing to talk about God. It's another thing to what? To know God. There are some people that still go to church occasionally or some that even go weekly.

There's some that even give to church or they give to the needy, even pray at public events in our country. Congress still has a chaplain that opens in prayer before certain meetings. It's not a bad thing. That's a good thing but I fear that it isn't as good as it ought to be. There's still a national cathedral in Washington DC.

A few years back, I was asked to pray at a city council meeting in Clearwater. I thought, well, this is a great opportunity to honor the Lord. So, I did. I went to the city council meeting to pray and I prayed and I was kind of startled because as I as I was saying amen to my prayer immediately, I heard, I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United. Now, I'm all for pledging allegiance to the flag and but I'm afraid I was just a placeholder there.

Because it was just on to the next thing without any thought of actually what was said or that we were actually praying to God. I almost hesitate at times to sing God bless America because it almost seems sacrilegious to ask God to bless a country which has reduced him to a powerless figurehead to whom we owe lip service but but little more. We remember him when it suits us. We remember him when it helps our cause. We seek him and his help when we are in dire straits.

But little more even in the lives of some who name the name of of Christ. Thus, we read in in Psalm in Proverbs fifteen and twenty one, it says this, the sacrifice of the wicked is what? An abomination. That that's a very strong word. Abomination means set aside for destruction.

God can't stomach that so to speak. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight. A such contrast there. Verse 27, the sacrifice, the wicked is an abomination. How much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind.

Like false motivation. To get the applause of some that they're trying to manipulate. By bringing up God's name. I feel that happens an awful lot in our society today. The fact is God is not pleased with the sacrifices, worship, or service of the faithless who have no interest in departing from their wicked ways or or in obeying his voice.

Their feigned or insincere worship only serves to anger him further and bring further judgement upon them. God is not impressed. By people who come to church and sing songs of praise to the Lord whose heart is not at all in it. Particularly those who do not even know who he is or simply coming to impress somebody else. This sadly became the case in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel.

So, let's first of all, this morning, look, at the sacrifices of Israel and what happened to that nation. Israel was blessed with a miraculous deliverance from Egypt. The 10 plagues, remember those? The Red Sea parting for them to cross. God provided them food in the wilderness.

Manna from heaven. He provided them with the law of God at Mount Sinai. And means to to approach him and worship at the Tabernacle. He gave them the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet, over time, they began to mix pagan religious practices.

Into their worship. They they mixed pagan religious morality into their daily living. And eventually began to set up idols. To worship alongside the true God They did not choose to love God with all their what? Heart as God had told them in Deuteronomy six.

They did not choose to give God their soul allegiance. They said, you have to share it with these other gods. And so they began to stray in their faith. They began to stray in their love and in their integrity and in their respect for their fellow human beings. Sound familiar?

Now, we're not Israel. God had made specific promises to a specific group of people. That he didn't make to The United States Of America. But many of the general principles are the same. And in many ways, our nation did begin as a nation under God.

But I'm afraid that much of that today even in houses of worship has become lip service to God. As people bring sacrifice of worship and money and coins and but their heart is far from who? Their heart is far from God. He is not pleased. Israel's worship became hollow.

It did not make up for their disloyalty and immoral lifestyle. God wasn't pleased with their sacrifices as they continued to ignore him in the rest of their life. Yet, many continued to go through the motions thinking that God didn't care. They they were wrong. Isaiah one hundred ten and eleven.

Hear the word of the Lord. You rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of your God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts and I delight delight not in the bullocks or of the lambs or of the he goats. Who was Isaiah talking to when he said here, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of what?

Sodom. Was he actually talking to the people of Sodom? No. He was talking to his fellow Israelite brethren. He was calling them Sodom and he was calling them Gomorrah.

Why? Was it because they had completely ceased to give sacrifices? No. It's because they were giving sacrifices but they had no relationship. It was empty.

It was hollow. It was vain. And it did not please God. It only further angered him. Amos five twenty one and twenty two.

I hate, I despise your feast days. I will not and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them. Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beast. Their sacrifices they continue to make but their sacrifices fell far short but pleasing the Lord.

God was not impressed but angered. By the offerings and sacrifices and gifts of the people whose heart were far from him. While they assuaged their guilt by bringing sacrifices, they did not assuage his wrath. They felt better when they left and then they went right back to ignoring him and doing their own thing But he didn't feel better. While they sought to gain his favor and blessings in their endeavors and help in their time of need, they did it in vain because they had no interest in doing his will.

It was a worthless practice which God did not accept. From a proud and arrogant and unrepentant people. Turn if you would with me to Micah chapter six. I'll give you a minute. Micah chapter six.

Verses six to eight. We read from Isaiah and we read from Amos. Those are two Old Testament prophets. Micah is another one. They all ministered and to the people of Israel.

Brought messages from the Lord to People who had lost their way Still going through the motions but that was all it was. Micah six six, wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? With calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with 10 thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require? Of thee. But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Micah said, what will I do? To show my gratitude and my love for God. Will I bring more sacrifices and more sacrifices? Will he be pleased? If I just pile em up on the altar?

No. God has God has showed us. What is required God has told us what what what pleases him What does he say here to do justly? To love mercy and to walk humbly thy God. You can't walk humbly with the God you do not know.

And you cannot walk with him if you do not walk humbly in repentance and in faith and if you do not walk humbly with your God, then you're not likely to live justly. Israel had ceased to live justly. The minor prophets spoke of the oppression of the people. The Old Testament prophets wrote of the immorality that was rampant in the nation. And yet they still in many cases particularly in Judah claimed Jehovah is their God.

They still brought the sacrifices. But God was not pleased. Because their heart In their heart, there was no place for God. It was like telling your parents, you were sorry for cursing at them. But continuing to do so.

If you're really sorry, you would at least attempt to change the behavior that hurt. Out of love and true sorrow but Israel wasn't tearing down their idols. They weren't taking down their altars. They weren't turning from their immorality, their violence, or their covetous ways. And judgement indeed came.

They simply gave the sacrifice without a thought and went right back. Right back to what they were doing. All along thinking that God who sees the heart would simply overlook theirs. Sounds a lot like so many today. Live like the world during the week and go to sun, go to church on Sunday and sit in a pew for a few minutes and God will be happy with you and then you can just go back to living like the rest of the world with little thought.

For the Lord. I don't believe that's the case with most of you sitting here today because I know you. Now, man only looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the what? I can only tell so much.

But there are many today. Many who sit in churches today who are far from God. Right. They've been deceived and are deceiving themselves into thinking that God is happy because they showed up. And the rest of the week, they can do whatever they want.

That was the case with the nation of Israel. That was the case in the days of of of Jesus as well. God was not pleased with many of the Jews in Jesus's day He was not impressed with their self righteous works. Rather than trying to please God simply by heaping up sacrifices, they thought they could please God by just doing all of these good works. And God would be happy with them.

Their relationship with him, that didn't matter as long as they did enough good works. God would be what? God would be satisfied. As long as you give enough money in the play, God will be satisfied. As long as you do that thing for your neighbor, as long as long as you fill in the blank.

Isaiah sixty four six says this, but we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. We all do fade as a leaf or in our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. I've used this illustration from this passage before you. Changing the oil in your car. Some of you probably never done that.

I haven't done that in a long time but I do remember doing that and I took a rag under the car with me because when I pulled that plug out, this hot oil went everywhere and I usually got it on my hand and and I'd right away grab that rag and wipe off my hand and and then that beautiful white rag that I took under the car was now covered in this grimy, black, yucky oil. So, you crawl back out from under the car and you look at the window on the car and you go, oh, my window is dirty. Oh, look, I have a rag in my hand. I'll just clean my window. What does your window look like after you try that?

Does it look better? No, it looks what? It looks worse. What is Isaiah saying? We need the cleansing of the Lord in our life.

If we try to please God with our good works and our sin We're just making a bigger what? Mess and God isn't pleased. In Matthew nine thirteen, Jesus said, but go you and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the righteous but what?

But sinners to repentance. Sinners to repentance. Those who recognize that they are one. Sinners that need a savior. Those who think they're getting in God's good graces so to speak.

Those that think they're going to work their way to heaven by their good works, by their effort, without humbling themselves before God in repentance are going to be sadly shocked one day. When they find themselves on the wrong side of the judgment. But I brought my sacrifices but I went to church every week but I gave my offering but I was good to my neighbor and God will say, depart from me. You that work iniquity for I never what? I never knew you.

Many of the Jews in Jesus' day were arrogant, self righteous hypocrites, not all but many, who had no stomach for the truth. The truth that they were sinners in need of a savior. That really hasn't changed much in the world today. Churches are full of people today just like them. Especially at holidays and special events.

As though those are the only times God is watching. The mentioning of God at public events, the use of God in political speeches, the adulation of God by pop and country singers who in the next song glorify things God clearly condemns are just a slap in God's face. Sorry to say sometimes we Christians buy into it a little too much. They do not garner his blessing but his wrath So, to individuals who often speak of him Sing songs of praise to him but do not know him and just do it for appearance sake. Man looks on the outward appearance but God sees your why?

Heart. He knows. He knows. If it's in here or if it's just the actions you're going through or the the words you're saying. Number three, God is not pleased with Christians today and I say Christians today who while harboring sin in their lives claim the blessings of God by their sacrifice and service for him.

So, you come to church and you give your offering and you sing songs of praise to God all the while knowing that God is trying to change something in your life, in my life, which we refuse to yield to him. And you know it and I know it. David said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. You wonder why your prayers aren't being answered? You wonder why you don't have the peace of God in your heart?

You wonder why you seem powerless in service for the Lord? You wonder why you can't get victory? Because There's something between our soul and our what? Our savior. That's hindering our fellowship and continuing to go through the motions without dealing with that thing that God's putting his his finger on.

It's not doing the job. No, in first John one nine, what did John write? If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen. What does God want?

God doesn't want more works, more money, more what God wants is for you to get on your knees and acknowledge. That there's something that he is putting his finger on in your life that needs to change. That is the sacrifice A broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. That's what God's looking for.

That's what God wants in your life and in mine. James four, James writes, he says here, you lust and have not, you kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lust. Your life isn't about God.

It's about just what? Self. I'm afraid there's many Christians who get caught further and further down in that selfish, self centered thinking. Amen. Who are you praying for in your prayer?

Well, are you praying in your prayer life? Who are you praying for in your prayer life? Is it all about you? The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination unto the Lord but but what did that verse say back there? The sacrifices of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the what?

The upright. Is his delight. God delights in the worship. Of his people. God delights in the worship of those whose hearts are what?

Soft. Toward the Lord. For those who might be struggling, for those who might be hurting, but their heart is right with God. They're sincere in their love for him. They've invited him to be the Lord and savior of their life.

That makes all the difference. Right. First John five fourteen and fifteen and this is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

John writes, have this conf, you can have this confidence if the Lord Jesus is where? In your heart. That's what's in the previous verses. He that hath the son hath what? Life.

He that hath not the son of God hath not life. John writes, I've written these things unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. That's right. And this is the confidence. Verse 14, that we have in him That if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.

But there is a prerequisite there. That you have the son If you have the son and you know you have the son and you know that you are a child of God that gives you confidence and as we come to the Lord humbly, repentantly in our life. He hears us He knows. He cares. And he answers No grand gesture, a great sacrifice is required.

Just a sincere and contrite heart is all that God is asking for. That's all he's asking for today. He's not asking for some great public gesture. All he's asking is for you. To let him into your heart.

All he's asking Christian is for you to deal with whatever it is he's working in your heart about humbly to confess, to admit, that there's something there that needs to change. The Lord delights to hear the prayers of his children. He longs for, sets his affection on, desires takes pleasure in. Their worship, their praise. Yeah.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The Lord is far from the wicked but he heareth the prayers of the righteous. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open under their cry.

The righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of their trouble. Ask and it shall be what? Given. Why? Because God cares about you.

And God wants to bless but God also desires that we love him with all of our what? Heart and he deserves it. And he deserves it. And I'm afraid today, there are many people and many services and many places that are calling upon the name of God. God is not pleased because their heart is not right with him.

Let that not be true. The Missouri Avenue Baptist Church. Let not that be true in your life today. What does God desire? A broken and a contrite heart, God.

That will not despise. Let us be those kind of people those who do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. And if you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as savior, I I plead with you. He is waiting with his arms wide wide open. Nothing you can do in your own effort and good works.

Is going to please him. Only your faith. Only your trust. Only a repentant heart. Will he receive?

We're going to give a hymn of invitation in just a second. When we do, don't don't tell God I'll deal with it tomorrow. Deal with it today. Whatever it is. He may be dealing with you about.

Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you, Lord. For the the verses today that remind us remind us of your promises, remind us of your love and your goodness but to also remind us Lord that you are a god who expects and desires to be loved with all of our heart. Who deserves our full allegiance and Lord, I pray if there's one here today that hasn't received the Lord Jesus as the Lord and savior of their life that they'd come as we sing this hymn of invitation that they might be saved and I pray Lord for your people Lord if there's something between our soul and our savior that we would deal with that today as well.

And not put it off till tomorrow. That you might be honored and glorified in our life That we might see victory in our life. That we might be a testimony to a lost and dying world. It doesn't need more sacrifices and more fanfare. They need to see genuine, born again Christians.

Serving the Lord with all their heart. In Jesus name, we do pray. Amen. Take your hymn book