Had a stranger come into one
of our church services? By Charles Simeon Isaiah chapter
29 verse 13 The Lord says, These people come near to me with their
mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far
from me. In our church services, we go
through all the external bodily motions, but as to the prostration
of the soul, we are for the most part oblivious and unconcerned. We think that we have done our
duty to God if we have gone through the appointed external rituals,
though our heart has not accorded with the body in any part of
the service. In truth, our services have been
hypocritical throughout. Had a stranger come into one
of our church services and overheard our glowing praises and our solemn
confessions, petitions and thanksgivings, he would have supposed that we
were the most humble, spiritual and devout people in the universe. But had he been privy to the
real state of our hearts, then how little would he have seen
of earnest ardour in our praises, or of honest humiliation in our
confessions, or of sincere fervour in our petitions, or of genuine
gratitude in our thanksgivings. he would see that the state of
our hearts indicated that we felt nothing and meant nothing
at the very time that we professed to mean so much and feel so much. For the most part, he would have
seen that the whole of our service was only a solemn mockery, that
instead of being genuine worshippers of our majestic and holy God,
for the most part, we were but insincere hypocrites. Let me ask, in the name of God
Himself, what reason you can have to think that God would
accept such services as these? If, indeed, God were like ourselves
and could see only the outward appearance, then we might hope
that, being deceived by us, He would be pleased with us. But
when we bear in mind that the omniscient God knows our every
secret thought, our every secret desire, our every secret motive,
and that He perfectly searches our heart and knows our thoughts,
then we must be sure that our very services are an abomination
in His sight. Isaiah was right when he prophesied
about you hypocrites, as it is written, These people honour
me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They
worship me in vain. Mark chapter 7, verses 6 and
7. Ryle In all our Christian duties,
whether giving or praying, the great thing to be kept in mind
is that we have a heart searching and all-knowing God. Everything
like mere formal worship is abominable and worthless in God's sight.
The one thing which His all-seeing eye looks at is the nature of
our motives and the state of our hearts. Serve Him with a
whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts
and understands every intent of the thoughts. 1 Chronicles
28 9