Proverbs 15:8
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord;
but the prayer of the upright is his delight!”
The language of Scripture is often extraordinarily emphatic. This frequently arises from the strength of the metaphors that are used to express the mind of the writer; and frequently from his speaking of God in terms, which, in their strict sense, are applicable only to men. Of course, we are not to conceive of God as possessing either parts or passions; and when either the one or the other are ascribed to Him, we must regard it only as a condescension to our weakness, which is incapable of comprehending anything respecting God, except by a sort of comparison with him with man.
Of all his natural perfections, such as immensity and eternity, we know nothing at all; that is to say, our knowledge is merely abstract.
And respecting his moral perfections, as justice, mercy, truth, we know as little, except as we transfer to him the notions which we have formed of such perfections as exist in the human mind. We associate very distinct ideas with those attributes as applied to man; and by the help of those terms we express what we conceive to regulate the actions of God in the moral government of the universe.
In like manner, when we speak of anything being “an abomination” or “a delight” to God, we mean only that he will act in reference to that thing, as we would towards anything which excited such feelings in our minds. This anthropomorphic language is clearly understood by all. No man needs to be informed, that God is not susceptible of such feelings, or capable of those emotions which such feelings import; we therefore, in conformity with Scripture, shall proceed to speak of God in the same figurative language; and we pray God that your minds may be suitably impressed by it, while we consider,
I. The truths here asserted.
1. “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.”
Where so strong an assertion is used in reference to any character, it is obvious, that we ought to understand very clearly and distinctly, who they are that are designated by that character. For instance, suppose that under this general term, “the wicked,” we were to comprehend those only who are grossly and openly immoral, we should release all others from any participation in the feelings which the assertion respecting them is intended to create. But this we cannot do; for Solomon himself has accurately defined the character which he is here speaking of; and after defining it, has annexed to that very definition the same declaration as occurs in my text, “He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination! Proverbs 28:9.”
You will observe then, that the wicked is one who is inattentive to the commands of God in his Word, and averse to comply with the requisitions of his Law and of his Gospel. Now such a one, even though he be guilty of no flagrant sins, is an abomination to the Lord. The rebellious state of his mind is most offensive to God; and therefore everything that he does is hateful to him, “A high look, and a proud heart, and even the plowing of the wicked, is sin! Proverbs 21:4.” No act can be more innocent than that of plowing; but the most innocent acts of such a person participate in the guilt of his general state and habit of mind.
His most religious acts too are hateful to God; his very “sacrifices” are an abomination. In the first chapter of Isaiah’s prophecies, the Jews are represented as bringing the offerings appointed by the Law, as bringing the best too, and in great number, and at the seasons ordained by God himself; and as accompanying those sacrifices with fervent prayer—and yet as being, at the same time, objects of God’s utter abhorrence, because their conduct was altogether at variance with their professions! Isaiah 1:11-13.
In another chapter he speaks of them as “taking delight in approaching to God,” and as abounding in the self-denying exercises of fasting and prayer—and yet as altogether hateful in his sight! Isaiah 58:2. The prophet Amos speaks strongly to the same effect in Amos 5:21-23, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps!”
To what an extent the services of such people are abhorred, God himself has told us in Isaiah 66:3-4, “But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a man, and whoever offers a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense, like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations; so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”
I beg you, brethren, to mark these expressions, and to apply them to yourselves while living in an unhumbled and unconverted state; for, “while you regard any iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you! Psalm 66:18. Your very prayers are turned into sin!
2. “But the prayer of the upright is God’s delight”.
“The upright” is he who truly and sincerely gives himself up to God, to be saved in his appointed way, and to serve him with a pure heart and mind. Of such a one God approves; and both his person and his services are accepted by him, “The prayer of such a one is God’s delight.” In itself it may be no more than a few broken accents, or a desire expressed only in sighs and groans; but it enters into the ears of the Lord Almighty, and shall be answered by him to the full extent of its import. It is, in reality, the voice of his own Spirit in the suppliant; and as “God knows the mind of the Spirit,” so he cannot but delight in every petition that is dictated by him, Romans 8:26-27. Besides, in the prayer of the upright there are dispositions exercised, which are “in the sight of God of great price, 1 Peter 3:4.” The suppliant himself perhaps is mourning as though he could never hope for acceptance; but God listens to him with unspeakable delight; he loves “the prayer that goes not out of feigned lips, Psalm 17:1;” above all, he delights in the prayer of the upright, because it gives scope for the exercise of love and mercy towards the poor suppliant, and for a rich communication of all spiritual blessings to his soul. God “will be inquired of by his people, Ezekiel 36:37,” before he will impart to them his promised blessings; and the moment they pray to him, he is like a mother that hears the cry of her beloved infant, whom she instantly presses to her bosom, and in administering to whose necessities she finds relief, as it were, to her own soul.
See this exemplified in his dealings with repenting Ephraim, “I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined. Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God. After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’ Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 31:18; Jeremiah 31:20.” Here we see a true picture of what every upright soul shall experience. Let us only be “Israelites indeed, and without deceit, and our blessed Savior will see us under the fig-tree,” or in our most secret retirements, and visit us in due season with the most endearing expressions of his love! John 1:47-51.
Such are the truths asserted in our text. We now proceed to suggest,
II. Some obvious deductions from the truths of the text.
From these truths it is evident:
1. That God’s views of sin are widely different from those of men.
“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart!” 1 Samuel 16:7.
Men, if free from gross sin, imagine that they have little cause for self-reproach. They see no evil in the general course of this world; the pleasures, the gaieties, the amusements of it—are all accounted innocent by them; and if a man acts outwardly respectably in the different offices of social life, they think he has nothing to fear in the eternal world.
But “God’s thoughts are widely different from theirs.” We will suppose, for argument sake, that there is nothing flagrantly sinful in mirth, and a round of pleasurable amusements; yet inasmuch as such a state argues a departure of the soul from God, and strengthens its habit of rebellion against him—it is highly sinful; and should be so esteemed by all who would not deceive their own souls. For, if the very best actions of such people are hateful to God, if the very sacrifices with which they attempt to honor him are an abomination in his sight—then what must those actions be which have no respect to him, but which tend to banish him from their thoughts, and from the world?
I tell you, brethren, that “to walk according to the course of this world, is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience! Ephesians 2:2.” You cannot be of the world and of Jesus Christ at the same time! John 17:14; John 17:16. “You cannot serve God and Mammon too Matthew 6:24.” You may as well imagine light can have communion with darkness, and Christ with Belial, as that a person truly “upright” and believing, can find pleasure in the society of “the wicked” and unbelieving! 2 Corinthians 6:14-16. “The friendship of the world is” essentially, as well as constructively, a state of enmity against God! James 4:4.”
Whatever therefore may be pleaded in extenuation of those habits in which the more respectable part of the world are living, they are all, whether social or personal, civil or religious—one continued act of sin, as long as the soul continues alienated from God, and not altogether devoted to his fear. The man who thinks himself safe because he is in a path frequented by the great mass of his fellow-creatures, will find himself fearfully mistaken the moment he comes to the termination of it! Matthew 7:13-14.
2. That the provisions of the Gospel are admirably suited to our necessities.
Here is “a wicked man;” he offers “a sacrifice” to his offended God; that very sacrifice is “an abomination to the Lord.” Must the man then be left to perish? No! The Gospel reveals to him a sacrifice which is pleasing and acceptable to God, and which shall avail for the salvation of all who trust in it—even the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, who “presented himself an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor, Ephesians 5:2.”
Again, Man, though originally made upright, has fallen, Ecclesiastes 7:29, and become utterly averse to God and his law, Romans 8:7. As for creating himself anew, he can no more do it than he could create himself at first. Must he then perish? No; the Gospel proclaims to him a promise from almighty God, that “he will give him a new heart, and renew a right spirit within him, Ezekiel 36:26-27;” so that, as the most guilty may be forgiven through Christ’s atonement—so the most polluted may be “transformed into the very image of his God in righteousness and true holiness! Ephesians 4:24.” Thus may any truly repentant man be accepted and as happy as the angels that have never sinned.
O! brethren, when will you study this blessed Gospel? When will you search into it, to find a remedy for your diseases, and a supply for your needs? Behold it is “a fountain opened,” and ever flowing for the relief of sinful man; and every sinner in the universe is invited to “come and drink of it without money and without price! Isaiah 55:1-3. John 7:37-39.” I would that you should no longer be “an abomination” to your God! I would that he should look upon you with “delight,” yes, that he should “rejoice over you with joy, and rest in his love, and joy over you with singing! Zephaniah 3:17.”
3. That by the heart, and not by the mere external acts, will God form his estimate of us in the last day.
I know that our actions will be brought into judgment, and be adduced as evidences of our state before God, and as grounds of the sentence that shall be passed upon us. But it is not merely as acts that they will be either rewarded or punished—but as evidences of the real state of our souls.
Even in human judicatories the object inquired into is, the intent of the mind. It is malice that leads to murder; where that did not exist, the act of killing is not accounted murder; but where that manifestly did exist, there the attempt to kill, though unsuccessful, has the penalty of murder attached to it.
In the same way, at the bar of judgment, the sacrifices of a wicked man, however numerous or costly they were, will be regarded as of no value; while the mere sighing of an upright soul shall not lose its reward.
Let that then which is chiefly marked by God, be chiefly attended to by us.
Let us endeavor to get our “hearts right before God.”
Let us remember, that, whether evidenced by overt acts or not, God can discern its real state; for “he searches the heart and tries the thoughts! Jeremiah 17:10.” “To him all things are naked and opened! Hebrews 4:13;” as the sacrifices of old, when flayed and cut open, were to the eye of the priest who inspected them. “Hell and destruction are before him; how much more then the hearts of men! verse 11.” “He weighs the motives, Proverbs 16:2,” and discerns exactly how much there is of every different motive that may operate to the production of every act.
Watch, therefore, and examine carefully the state of your own hearts; and as “he requires truth in the inward parts, Psalm 51:6″—then cease not to pray day and night, that, being “perfect and upright before him,” you may have:
light in darkness, Psalm 112:4,
peace in death, Psalm 37:37,
and glory in eternity! Psalm 140:13.
Charles Simeon