When our Lord Jesus, the Son
of God, met the Samaritan woman, as he concluded his message to
those people in Samaria, he said, God is spirit. And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. But it is ever the nature
and tendency of fallen man to pervert the worship of God. We
have been blessed with the ordinances of divine worship. But rather
than using those ordinances to worship God, we turn them into
carnal ceremonies, religious services, mere rituals
of religion without regard to God. We tend constantly to content
ourselves with outward worship, the mere bodily exercise of outward
worship, going to church, we call it, and neglect the inward
reality of spiritual worship. The fact is all men by nature
much prefer gaudiness to godliness. gaudy religious shows, gaudy
religious buildings, gaudy religious dress, while ignoring godliness. The Apostle Paul writes by divine
inspiration and tells us plainly, bodily exercise, that is the
mere practice of religious services. Bodily exercise profiteth little,
but godliness. Godliness. The worship of God. Godliness. Godliness. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Godliness. Hearing from God. Godliness. Seeing the glory of
God in the face of Christ. Godliness. Heart faith. heart obedience, heart worship,
godliness is profitable unto all things. It has this promise,
the promise of life that now is and of that which is to come. Our fallen, depraved, self-righteous
nature is impressed by and pleased with and dedicated to outward
religious activity. But the Lord looketh on the heart. And as God our Savior looks into
the hearts of men, he declares that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. There is so much instruction
in that statement by our Savior I could easily spend a good bit
of time, several weeks if not months, trying to apply it distinctly
to things in our day. The religious practices, the
religious ceremonies, the religious feelings, the religious services
that are highly esteemed by the whole world. are an abomination
to God. That ought to be shocking, but
most of you, even sitting here, will barely hear it, let alone
the rest of the world. The religion of the world around
us is an abomination to God. Its doctrine its ordinances,
its services, its songs, its entertainment, its deceptions,
it's an abomination to God. Oh God, oh my God, let not that which is done here
today in my heart and with my lips and by my body In the heart
and with the lips and by the bodies of these immortal souls,
let us not perform an abomination to you, but worship you in spirit
and in truth. Now understand what I say. Outward
public worship, the outward service of God is never to be neglected. for any reason by any of God's
people. You who do not know our God,
what a great privilege is yours that there are people in this
place who provide you with a place where you can hear the gospel
preached. You who are God's, what a privilege, what a privilege
that you have a place where you can come and gather with God's
saints and worship God in the assembly of his saints. From
my earliest days as a young believer, I have never understood why anyone
who knows God's saving grace in Christ Jesus would willingly
absent himself from the worship of God. I've never understood
that. I've never understood that. I do understand why folks do. I do understand why they do.
I don't understand for the life of me how any believer can justify
such behavior. You who are gods ought to make
it your business to build your lives around the worship of God. Most people just fit it in. They just fit it in. You do yourself and your families
and those you influence great evil by just fitting the worship
of God into your lives when it's convenient, when you feel good.
People, the children are coming to town. We can't come to church
today. Mother and dad are coming to town. We can't come to church
today. One time years ago, Rothbard heard somebody say that, and
he said, my God, has nobody got any saved kinfolk? Mother and dad come to town.
If they want to come, they can come. If they don't want to, they can
stay at home. I'll be home in a little while. Son and daughter and grandchildren
come. If they want to come with me,
they're welcome. If they don't, they can stay at home. I'll see
them in a little while. Don't let anything deprive you
of this privilege. And yet, if our outward worship,
if all we have is outward religion, it's useless religion and useless
worship. It's vain worship. And that's
my subject this morning. My text will be found in Isaiah
29, verses 13 and 14. The absence of true heart worship,
the absence of true heart faith in the Son of God, heart devotion
to the glory of God, makes all outward religion, all outward
worship, vain, empty, meaningless, abominable worship. Isaiah 29
verse 13, wherefore the Lord said, God said, now pay attention
to me, this is the reason, this is the reason what I'm about
to do to you. For as much as this people draw near to me with
their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed
their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught
by the precept of men. Therefore, behold, I will proceed
to do a marvelous work among this people. Even a marvelous
work, excuse me, and to wonder. Because you honor me with your
mouths. Because you honor me with your
lips. And your hearts are far from
me. I'm gonna do something you won't
believe. I'm gonna do something the world
will be astonished that I'd do it and not even realize I'd done
it. What is that? The wisdom of their wise men
shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be
hid. Turn over to Matthew chapter
15. Twice in the Gospels, in Matthew's Gospel and in Mark's,
we have our Lord referring to this passage of Scripture. He
applies this text of scripture to the Pharisees of his day and
to all Pharisees of our day and to all Pharisees of any day. Matthew 15, verse one. Then came
to Jesus scribes and Pharisees. These are the muckety-muck, big
shots, holy, righteous, good. If anybody goes to heaven, they
will religious folks. which were of Jerusalem. And
they said, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the
elders? They said to the Lord, Jesus,
why don't your disciples act like other religious people?
Why don't your disciples behave like other religious people?
We have our standards and your disciples aren't paying any attention
to us. for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. This
was a tradition established well among both the scribes and the
Pharisees, the intellectual religious folks and the conservative fundamentalist
religious folks, the folks who made a show of religion before
they had a meal, especially if they were in public. They washed
their hands. We are godly people. And we want
the world to know we are godly people. We want to have a good
testimony. So many look at us and say, my,
my, my, isn't he holy? They wash their hands. We don't. But he answered and said unto
them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition? For God commanded, saying, honor
thy father and mother, and he that curseth father or mother,
let him die the death. But you say, whosoever shall
say to his father or his mother, it is a gift by whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me. That is, I've got some money
now and I know you need it, but it's a gift, it's a gift for
God. and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment
of God of none effect by your tradition, ye hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you
saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and
honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. The Pharisees made the
commandments of God of none effect by calling obedience to the tradition
of men, obedience to the commandments of God. They invented religious
laws. They invented religious rules
and regulations. Religious practices and customs.
And they said, now you obey these and we'll call this obeying God.
We'll call this obeying the Ten Commandments. We'll call this
godliness. Read on. And they perverted the
commandment of God to suit their own self-serving religious hypocritical
ways. They made the doctrine of God,
of none at that, by teaching for doctrine, the commandments
of men. Their doctrine, their doctrine. They said, you believe this.
You do that. You do this. You do that. That's
what it is to be a Christian. So they turned religion altogether
on its head into a system of works, works they called godliness,
works of religion by which they thought they impressed God and
taught men this is obedience to God and this is the teaching
of God. Look at Mark chapter 7. Mark
chapter 7. He answered and said unto them,
where did Isaiah prophesy of you? You hypocrites. You hypocrites. You fellas who like to put on
a show. You hypocrites. You fellas who
love the praise of men. You hypocrites. You men and women
who love for people to applaud you. You hypocrites. You men
and women who use religion to impress people, you hypocrites.
As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship
me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and laying
aside the commandment of God. That's always the case. That
is not, sometimes, that's always the case. Any time, any one or
any group of people, any church or any denomination establishes
for itself something by men as their code of conduct and doctrine,
they throw the word of God aside and follow the traditions of
men, laying aside the commandment of God. Ye hold the tradition
of men. as the washing of pots and cups
and many other such like things you do. And he said unto them,
farewell, you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your
tradition. You take the word of God and
say, this is what God says. And this is what mom and daddy
said. This is what our church has always done. This is how
everybody believes. We'll lay this over here, we'll
talk this right here. You just lay it aside, just lay
it aside. For Moses said, honor thy father
and thy mother, and whoso curseth father or mother, let him die
the death. But you say, if a man shall say
to his father or mother, it is Corbin, that is, that's not like
Corbin in Kentucky, that's filled with an I, this is Corbin. That
is to say a gift. By whatsoever thou mightest be
profited by me, he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to
do aught for his father or mother, making the word of God of none
effect, that is making it meaningless, through your tradition, which
you have delivered, and many such like things do ye. That word Corban, specifically
refers to a gift that's been dedicated to God. Something set
aside and devoted to God. And being devoted to God couldn't
be used for any other purpose. Yet, the Pharisees did exactly
that. They used tradition. and their
pretentious religious taboos as an excuse for hardness and
never fulfilled their claims. They would never, never, oh,
I would never think of taking this which I have dedicated to
God and use it to feed my mother and daddy. I'd never think of
taking this that I've dedicated to God and use it to help my
mother and daddy. I just, I couldn't do that. That
wouldn't be right. But didn't that sound wonderful?
but they didn't give it to God either. It was all just a show. The Lord Jesus declares that
all such religion is both vain and hypocritical, an abomination
to God. Now let me make four statements.
I will deliberately spend the bulk of my time dealing with
the first thing and the other three will just sort of apply
them to us. Number one, God help you to hear
me. God help me to hear myself. All outward carnal religion,
religion that does not involve heart worship is vain worship. Empty, meaningless, useless,
abominable worship. This people, our Lord says back
here in Isaiah, draw near to me with their mouth, and with
their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from
me. Now I like to say things so that
I make sure you understand what I mean. This is what all that
means. They prayed and called upon the
name of God. They professed to be the people
of God. They were Jews. They were Israel. They were the
children of Abraham. They never gave it up. In our
day, we are born again Christians. Been Christians all my life.
They said they believed the doctrine of God. We believe the blood
and the blessed hope. They practiced the ordinances
of God. But their hearts were far removed
from God. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1. Let's
look at a couple of passages here. Isaiah chapter 1. God regarded everything they
did as vain worship, an abomination, a mere form of godliness that
denied the power thereof. Isaiah chapter 1 verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye
rulers of Sodom. What a name for God to give to
a Baptist church. What a name for God to give to
Israel. What a name for God to give to
a group of Therago and Calvinists. What a name for God to give to
a bunch of babbling Armenians. Hear the word of the Lord, you
rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah. So what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? Well, the Lord, you
told us to do this. You told us to come every Sabbath
day. You told us to bring offerings in the morning and offerings
in the evening. You told us to observe the weeks of feast. Well,
we're doing this because you said to. You said to. God says,
who told you to? I'm full of burnt offerings of
rams and the fat of fed beasts. And I delight not in the blood
of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. But you required
us to sacrifice them. Not the way you're doing it.
Not the way you're doing it. The sacrifice is meaningless
unless you bring the sacrifice looking to the sacrifice. The
lamb is meaningless unless you bring your lamb looking to the
lamb of whom he portrays. Unless you come by faith in Christ,
it's meaningless. Verse 12, when you come to appear
before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread in
my courts? Who told you to come to church
this morning? Who told you to do that? Well, Lord, you said
forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. Not the
way you're doing it. Not the way you're doing it.
I command you to come and worship me. I command you to come and
sing my praise. I command you to come and gather
in my name, trusting my son. There were two or three gathered
together in my name, there in my image to them. Read on. Bring no more, verse 13, your
vain oblation. Incense, that sweet perfume with
the sacrifice. Your incense smells like manure
to me. It's an abomination to me. The
new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away
with. It is iniquity, even the solemn
meeting. Your new moons and your appointed
feast, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I'm
weary to bear them. I'm sick to death of your religion. That's God's Word. When you pray,
when you pray, when you spread forth your hands, I'll hide my
eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I will not hear. How come? Because your hands
are full of blood. Your hands are full of blood.
What can that mean? What can that mean? When men
and women practice religion, and practice what they call godliness,
practice devotion, practice spirituality, practice godliness. When many
women practice all those things outwardly, and do not believe
on the Son of God that trample underfoot the blood of Jesus
Christ and their hands are full of his blood. For they say, I
don't need a savior. I don't need a substitute. I don't need atonement. I don't need righteousness. Hear Him! Good enough for God. After this stern denunciation,
the Lord God calls self-righteous religious rebels to repentance
and faith in Christ. Look at verse 16. Now watch this. Wash you. Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do
well. Seek judgment. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for
the widows. Now, if you care to read a lot
of poison, get down most any commentary or any reference Bible
you want to and read what it says about that verse of Scripture.
Well, you've been doing bad, but you can manage all right. It's not all that bad. You don't
have to worry about much. All you got to do is start doing
good. All you got to do is wash your hands and make yourself
clean. Put away the evil things that you've been doing. You just
find out what you've been doing wrong, quit doing that, and learn
to do well. Start doing what I've told you
to, and seek judgment, justice, and help the oppressed, the poor,
the fatherless, the widow, plead for them, and everything will
be alright. That runs in the face of everything
in this book, doesn't it? If that's how we read those words,
if that's what God said, this book cannot be believed. For
doing good by you, changing the way you live, changing the way
you think, Changing your behavior will not win God's favor. And
yet the Lord God says, come now, let us reason together, saith
the Lord. Hear what I just said. Though your sins be escorted,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be white as wool. How on this earth can I wash
and be clean and cease to do evil and learn to do good? and obey God and love my neighbor. How can I do that? How can I
bring that to God? Only by faith in His darling
Son, who has washed me clean, done well for my soul, put away
the evil that I have done, and loved God and man perfectly. Bring Christ Bring my son. Bring his blood and his righteousness. And though your sins be scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Turn over to Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66. He's calling us to
believe on his son. Verse one. Thus saith the Lord,
the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where
is the house that you build unto me? Where is the place of my
rest? For all those things hath mine
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. I look to that man, that woman,
who's poor in spirit, broken in heart, trembling at my word. That man who, knowing himself
guilty, vile, wretched, abominable, hell-worthy, damnable, to that
man, that man who trembled at the thoughts of meeting God,
who trembles at my word. I'll look to him. But without
this brokenness that only God gives, he that killeth an ox
as if he slew a man, he that sacrificeth a lamb as if he cut
off a dog's neck, he that offereth an oblation as if he offered
swine's blood, that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighteth in
their abominations. And look at one more text in
this regard, Micah chapter 6, Micah chapter 6. We'll preach a If God doesn't
require me to make sacrifices to win his favor, if God doesn't
require me to live good to get to heaven, if God doesn't require
me to be charitable and kind and generous with folks who need
it, if God doesn't require me to behave well, better than other
men, what does God require? Micah chapter six, verse six. Wherefore, or wherewith shall
I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? That's
the subject of the prophet, isn't it? You see that? Wherewith shall
I come before the Lord? How can I 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 ten thousands of rivers
of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Men do that, you know. Read your history books. Is it all right if I bring God
goats and calves like the law of God requires or do I have
to do more? If I have to, I'll kill my son.
If I had to, I'd kill one of my daughters. What does God require? How can I get God's favor? Oh, if you're interested, listen.
He has showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God. Again, if you want to read Poison,
read what men say about those three verses of scripture. Hear
what preachers preach about them. I have looked hard, and I have
found almost every commentator I've ever read on those three
verses in Micah, and every sermon I've been able to find, and most
everybody says that God requires men and women in every department
of life, to be just, honest, merciful, and charitable, and
everything will be all right. Do good, and God will accept
you. Do good, that's all it takes.
All you got to do is turn over a new leaf. All you got to do
is start behaving right, that's all. But you have not so learned,
Christ, if you've been taught of God. Thank God I have not
so learned Christ. What is Micah here requiring?
What is God here requiring? Do justly. Do justly. Well that means pay your bills. Live honestly. Treat people right.
No it doesn't. Now by all means, I got to say
this because somebody say, Fortin says it doesn't matter how you
live. By all means, you men and women of Grace Baptist Church
in Denver, Kentucky, you who profess faith in the Son of God,
do what's right in every department of life. Pay your bills. Live honestly with men. Treat
people right. But Micah is talking about doing
justly with God. Look at what he said. There's
not a word here about doing justly and loving mercy and walking
humbly with man. He says do justly and love mercy
and walk humbly with thy God. How do I do justly with God? Bill Raleigh, how are you gonna
do justly with God? one way, only one way. You take sides with God against
yourself and confess your sin. You take sides with God against
yourself and confess your sin. You remember Nathan was commanded
of God to go to David and give him a story about a man who stole
a little sheep, and David said, I'll kill that man. I'll kill
him. I'll kill him. This man doesn't
deserve to live. And the reason Nathan was sent
was because David had stolen Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. And Nathan stuck his hand right
in his heart and said, thou art the man. Oh, I want to preach to you that
way. I want to stick my finger, God's finger, right in your heart. This is what you are. See it. Oh, what a prophet. What a prophet. I don't want to take for a man
knowing the power David had. He had Uriah murdered just a
little while before. Nathan said, thou art the man.
And this is what David said. You're right. I've sinned against
God. Nathan's next word to David,
his next word to David, the Lord hath put away thy sin. If we
confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. To do just that, He's to exercise
that repentance toward God that only God himself can give, that
only God himself can produce, and he does it by his grace.
I'll tell you who does justly. I'll tell you who acknowledges
his sin. It's that sinner who'd been broken by God with the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Nobody else, nobody else. And then he says, love mercy.
Love mercy. What? Who doesn't love mercy,
especially when you need it? Love mercy. But that's not what
it's talking about. By all means, let us love to
show mercy and exercise mercy. Let us love to see mercy demonstrated
and exercised. But if you think that's what
Micah is talking about, you're utterly ignorant of the things
of God. In the first chapter of Luke,
Zacharias gives a word of prophecy. He's giving thanks and praise
to God, both for his son John the Baptist, who would be the
forerunner of the Lord Jesus, and then he gives a prophecy
about the Lord Jesus himself. And it tells us in verse 72 of
Luke 1, that the reason Jesus Christ came into this world was
to perform mercy. To perform mercy. The mercy. sinners are taught of God to
love is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The performance
of mercy by him who alone could and did perform mercy before
God. God's people, saved sinners,
those who are born of God love the mercy performed by Christ's
obedience in life. the mercy performed by Christ's
obedience in death, and the mercy performed by Christ's obedience
in the saving of our souls. You see, doing justly by God. I know myself, and I confess
myself, my iniquity, transgression, and sin. That's all I am. And I do so because you've revealed
your son in me. And oh, how I love mercy performed
by him. His righteousness, his satisfaction,
his blood, his salvation. Free, free, free salvation! for sinners who ought to be damned
forever. We love mercy. We love mercy. And walk humbly with thy God. To walk humbly with God is to
walk with God consciously aware of your own sin. Trusting Jesus Christ alone as
your savior, your righteousness, your acceptance with God. Being taught of God the Holy
Ghost, the sweet comfort of his grace. I have no hesitancy in acknowledging
exactly what the Apostle Paul was inspired of God to acknowledge. I am the chief of sinners. Brother Gene Harmon said this
many years ago. I thought this was great. He
said, Israel's tried. He's the only tribe where all
the people are chief. And all of God's Israel acknowledge
themselves the chief of sinners. The chief of sinners. You see,
we recognize, we understand what we are. There are things,
Mark Henson, so many things I admire about you. Your wife, Jerry Marilyn,
you other friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, I admire.
I admire. And I know you're all sinners.
I'm fully aware of that. Matter of fact, I personally
know each of you enough to know you're all sinners. I have no
question about that. But I don't know very much about
what's inside you. I do know very much about what's
inside me. Just see it. Chief of sinners. Thank you, my God. for constantly,
graciously teaching your people to do justly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with you. Turn to one more text and I'll
quit. I'll get to the other stuff later, another day maybe. I want
you to look at this one, Philippians chapter 3. I know you can quote
it, but I want you to look at it. Our Lord Jesus told that Samaritan
woman, God is spirit. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth. The Father seeketh such to worship
him. The God of glory seeking sinners
to worship Him in spirit and in truth. I wonder if you will,
wonder if you can. This is what Paul says, we are
the circumcision which worship God in the spirit. We worship God spiritually. We don't use crosses and stained
glass windows and pictures of angels and images to worship
God. We worship God spiritually. We worship God just as well in
a nice comfortable building like this or in a cave or in a field. We worship God spiritually. We
worship God in truth, sincerely, according to the truth of revealed
scripture. and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Our only confidence, our only
boast, our only hope is Jesus Christ crucified. My only hope, my only plea is
that Christ died and died for me. That's all. I've got no other hope. I've
got no other confidence. I've got nothing else to offer
God. I've got nothing else to lead on. I trust the Son of God. That means I've been circumcised
in my heart by God the Holy Ghost in the new birth who has sealed
to me all the blessings of covenant grace and salvation. I know that's
the case because I trust God's Son. Can you? Do you? Will you trust the Son of God? If not, All that you do by which
your sons and daughters and brothers and sisters and mothers and daddies
are so impressed with your godliness is vain worship. Useless religion. God help you
to believe his son. Amen.