Category: Religion

The Abominable Sacrificers - Proverbs 21:27

7/25/2012

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, How much more when he brings it with evil intent! Proverbs 21:27

When I first read this passage I thought to myself, "Why would the wicked even want to sacrifice?" Then as I meditated on the passage and read through John Gill's commentary on it I began to see the reasons why this would happen. This will be a very eye-opening proverb if you had the same question as I did - because at the core of the wicked man's sacrifice is his own self-deception in regard to God and the true purpose of religion and religious observances.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to God becasue the wicked think they can do an end run around God's law by offering it. They walk through religious actions thinking that it pacifies God - yet allows them to continue to walk in a way that ignores His glory and disobeys His law. One of the ways that this was done in the former (and in some places it continues to this day) days of the church was through the practice of confession and penance. The religious person would go to a priest and confess their sins to him. Then the priest would give them some kind of religious punishment - to recite some religious writing or saying so many times. This would be their penance - or payment for their sinful actions. The religious person would then recite the required things - pay the required price - do the required works - and then go on their way. The problem was that often the religious person had no intention of stopping the actions they confessed as sin - they were just paying up to the point of the past week - so that they could soothe their guilty conscience before going out to another week of sinful choices and behaviors.

Two problems exist with this view. First, is there is no REpentance going on in their life. God requires repentance for His people. They are to come sorrowing for their sins - but also with a desire to turn from them and do them no more. The second problem is even greater - becasue no amount of human effort will ever pay for sin. Only the blood of Jesus can do that. Even having repentance won't work - without faith in Jesus Christ and what He did to pay for our sins by the blood He shed on the cross. We do not need some kind of continuous religious rite to come to God at the start of each week - we need the full on gospel! We need to turn from sin in repentance and turn to Jesus Christ as the ONLY way that our sin can be forgiven. Then we go away from our time with God with a new heart and a new spirit - one that is not going back to its old ways like a dog to its vomit, but rather one that embraces God's ways - as they are now written on his heart. This new man in Christ is different - and walks in the power of God and the regeneration of God to change and walk in godly paths.

The second half of this passage goes even further in what the first half says. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to God. But there is even a greater wickedness, which is when they bring it with an evil intent as well. What this speaks of is the deceived one who brings his sacrifice - but does so thinking he is deceiving even God - and can trick God into doing evil for him because of it. We have a biblical example of this very thing in the Old Testament.

In the book of Numbers we run into two characters that baffle many of us. The first is a man called Balaam, who was a seer - a sooth-sayer of sorts. There was also a king named Balak who desired to hire Balaam to get God to curse Israel so that he could defeat them in battle and keep them from taking his kingdom from him. Balak sent important people to Balaam - and eventually got him to come to him. Balaam was a wicked man who thought God's Ok to go (after God said He would NOT curse Israel) was also an OK to make a lot of money from Balak by using a sacrifice to God to get God to do evil to His people. After a rebuke from a donkey who acted to save his life - Balaam listened to God a little closer - and was warned to only say what God said - or what God put into Balaam's mouth to speak. Three times Balaam offered the sacrifice of the wicked to God - hoping against hope that he would be able to do what Balak wanted - and make a fortune in the process. Three times the sacrifice of the wicked - offered with evil intent - was turned against Balak and Balaam in order to bless Israel. In the end, Balaam tried to destroy Israel with his wicked counsel - by getting the women in Balak's kingdom to go and commit adultery and fornication with the men of Israel. Fortunately the godly son of Aaron, Phinehas, brought God's judgment to an ungodly Israeli man who was about to have an adulterous relationship with one of the daughters of Moab - and delivered Israel from their insanity.

There are still those like Balaam and Balak who think that they can pay God off to do what they want Him to do. They will try every kind of religious game and exercise possible to do this. But the end will always be the same - that God - who hates their sacrifices - will not be bought off or deceived to do things after their will. He will instead look at their offerings as abominations - and will curse rather than bless them. The fact is this - God is ultimate and supreme - He is sovereign and the One Whose will will be done. It is wisdom to shun the sacrifices of the wicked - to shun the idea that we can pay God off by some religious offering. The wisdom of God is this - to come to God as He has designated. We are to come through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We come not to get our own way - but rather to be transformed by an intimate relationship with God and do His will for His glory.

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The Religious Life and Practices of the Adulterous . . . Proverbs 7:14-15

11/7/2010

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I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. Proverbs 7:14-15

We are continuing in this verse with the entiement and thinking of the harlot, the adulteress, as she seeks to lure a young man into her trap of sexual immorality. This verse is fascinating because it reveals that the adulteress has a religious side to her as well. Her comment to her prey is truly interesting because it speaks of someone who has gone and done their religious duty. Let's take a look at it today and seek to gain wisdom and reject stupidity as a result.

Her statement is that her peace offerings are with her. The idea here is not that she has yet to offer them, but rather that her spiritual condition is one who is at peace with God - someone who has already offered this sacrifice to the Lord - and who, as a result, has some kind of stored up religious earnings. She thinks that she has religious credit on deposit - and therefore she can withdraw it in her current actions. This is the mindset of penance rather than repentance. Penance assumes that we can pay for our sins with some kind of religious ritual - and too often is seen as a payment up to date - with the result being that we can sin some more later. Repentance is a change of mind granted by God - with the result that by grace alone our sin is forgiven. Along with repentance is both restortation and regeneration so that we are truly changed. The one who has engaged in repentance IS changed by God - whereas the one doing penance is engaged in a works mentality where they have earned something from God.

The adulteress here is stating that she is paid up - and has somehow earned the right to now engage in further sin. Having done her religious work - her religious duty - she is now free to live as she pleases. This is the danger of works-minded religion - it deceives the one practicing it into thinking that after they have sinned, they can just work some more - work a little harder - and all will be well. There is no transformation involved - just another IOU paid in full to God as they continue in their self-made menagerie of religous ritual.

Today she has paid her vows . . . what vows? Evidently there is a supposed promise of reformation - but there is no action toward it coming any time soon. The next verse is so telling because in it she says, "Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly." Her comment is that having done her religious duty, having made worthless and empty vows, now she is free to engage in her sexual escapades. Her religion is merely a facade to further deceive whatever willing dupe is in her sites. She's ready to roll - now that she has played her religious game for the week - or the day - or however she works to maintain the illusion of being right with God. What a convenient religion this is.

The danger here is that we will be drawn into an illicit relationship thinking that we are having adultery with a good person - a religious person. The reality is that we are walking over the pit that has been covered with leaves by the one hunting us. If we buy the lie and step over the hole, we will quickly find that what we've actually stepped upon is a trap. The lie was there to lure us into a false sense of safety. The reality is that we are now caught - and in grave danger.

Just one last parting comment though - because this particular practice is even among those of us who are evangelicals. We need to be extremely careful that we are engaging in repentance before God and not just a protestant form of penance. When we come to confess our sins - we don't need to stop there. Too many (myself included unfortunately) just confess their sins - but do not go into the second part of 1 John 1:9. We are all about confessing a sin that makes us feel bad, feel guilty, feel caught - but are we truly interested in God's change in our hearts? The second half of that verse says that we also ask to be "cleansed from all unrighteousness." Here is the forgotten part. We need God to not only forgive - but cleanse us of the mindset and choices that led to that sin in the first place. We need to say to God, "Get rid of every 'unright' behavior, choice, thought, reasoning, and activity." There is where we can camp out for a while and have the Lord do a thorough heart searching in us. There is where we can be protected from the very sin these two verses reveal to us. We can move from penance to repentance - and in so doing - from merely salving our conscience for a few moments to true change.

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Can Man Cleanse Himself from His Own Sin? Proverbs 20:9

10/20/2010

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Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin"? Proverbs 20:9

Wisdom manifests itself by realizing that man is sinful. That premise is rejected in most of today's society - especially among the elites who rule over the educational establishment and the world of counseling and psychiatry. The fact that they reject that man is by nature a sinner and is selfish and self-centered - dooms much of their efforts to educate and to help people deal with problems in their lives. Now that is a very bold statement - but also very true. One of the problems with modern Christianity is that we no longer feel the need in our postmodern society to have our worldview based upon the clear teaching of the Scriptures. One of the places that this is seen the clearest is in the area of the sinfulness of man and the ramifications of it in government, in education, in counseling, and in how we deal with people in our world.

The proverb here asks the simple question, "Who can say, 'I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin?'" There are several assertions that are made here. First is that of the ability to cleanse ourselves from our sin. "I have cleansed my heart." This is the belief that by our own works we can change our own hearts. Unless we begin with the sinful, selfish natural tendencies of mankind, we will think that by our education and by our laws and codes we can change a man's heart. Such an assertion is the height of foolishness and pride. We cannot cleanse our own hearts from our sinfulness. But an educational system based upon humanistic assertions will think that we can change our hearts by being better educated. But honestly, that only produces smarter sinners. The issues of the human heart will only be solved by the gospel of Jesus Christ whereby a heart can be redeemed and men can be regenerated.

The second question is whether a man can say he is pure from his sin. Religions around the globe seek to do this through a myriad of different plans. Some want to try to mortify their own evil desires - while others try to abolish the concept of evil and sin altogether. Purifying ourselves assumes impurity though - and thus religious efforts to do this may involve confession and absolution of some kind. Roman Catholicism tries to answer this question through their system of confession and penance, which involves first admitting your sin to a confessor/priest. After your confession they grant forgiveness. The final step is that the priest commands penance in the form of some kind of repeated religious activity, like saying a religious phrase such as the Hail Mary or Rosary. Some times there is also the request to do a good work of some kind, which with the confession earns forgiveness. In the end, whether it is through this system - or through a Hindu or Islamic system of obtaining forgiveness - it all boils down to a works mentality. We can earn our forgiveness through doing something for God.

Biblical Christianity paints a much different picture of the process of forgiveness. The Law was give to restrict sin - but more importantly to show us how impossible it is to obey it - because we are rebellious sinners. The very fact that we cannot be made righteous or pure by the Law - sends us running into the arms of Christ. We learn that it is only through what He did in his death, burial, and resurrection that we can be made pure in God's sight. He paid the price for our sin - and now offers to us His own righteousness - so that we can stand before God. Therefore the answer to these two questions here in Proverbs is given by the gospel. First of all - none of us can say that we have cleansed our own hearts. The only cleansing that will matter is the one given when we receive it by faith. That cleansing comes when we look to Jesus Christ - and admit that only He can purify our hearts and change them to be godly. The second question is answered as well by the gospel. No one can say, "I am pure from my sin," without that purity coming as a gift from God as He makes us righteous with the righteousness and purity of His Son.

Wisdom rejects a man-centered, works-centered salvation. Only a fool would think that man can solve his own problems with God - without a direct intervention by God Himself. Any education or counseling or governmental system that is based upon that wrong assertion will fail and be crushed under the weight of man's sinfulness. Without checks and balances designed to expose and correct the selfish and self-centered tendencies of the human heart, sin will run rampant in a society that hides its eyes and pretends that sin does not exist. In such a world sin will be redefined again and again to cover-up the real problem - which is a wicked and sinful heart in men. In answer to the question posed by the writer of Proverbs, "No one can say that he has cleansed his own heart, or say that he is pure from his sin." That only happens by the grace and mercy of God as He works in us by the gospel of Jesus Christ. As Jesus said Himself, "No one comes to the Father, except through Me."

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Religion - The Bad and the Good . . . Proverbs 15:8

9/15/2010

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The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But the prayer of the upright is His delight. Proverbs 15:8

Here we once again have the upright and the wicked contrasted with one another. The scope of this comparison and contrast is in the realm of their religious activities. Thus the focus of the wisdom that God wants to offer to us today is in relation to how we approach Him. Let's take a look and see what we can learn.

First thing we read about is the sacrifice of the wicked. There are a couple of things we need to see to understand wisdom in approaching God. First, we see that this man is wicked. Now before you begin to think that I believe we can approach God without sin and wickedness being and issue, know that I believe that man is ruined due to sin. When we approach God to be saved - one of the things we have to know is that we are wicked. We have sinned against God. His commandments should make that clear to us. And it is not just "little slips" of which we are guilty - the 10 commandments alone will convict us of things like adultery, blasphemy, murder, and perjury. That is why we need a Savior! But the wicked in this passage is a wicked man who does not intend to turn from his wickedness. His sacrifice is an abomination to God because it is offered without repentance and a desire to change. It is offered as a religious plattitude - and something to placate God - to have God be satisfied with his little pittance of religion.

God considers such religious obligations (without true repentance) to be an abomination. That is why we read in Isaiah chapter one God saying,

"What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. "When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. (Isaiah 1:11-14, NASB)

If you think that you are tired of dead religious activities, think about how God feels about them. Israel had become a group of people all about their religious observances - and nothing about God. Isaiah later tells them that God wants repentance and a desire to live godly. The sacrifice of the wicked is hated by God because it assumes that our sin means very little. Considering that sin required the death on the cross of the Son of God - the shedding of His blood - the crushing of His body - God does not like it at all when we think lightly about our sin. When we get so religious that we feel that our religious practices done without any heart or repentance whatsoever are sufficient to placate the wrath of God - God is angry. He sees such things as an absolute abomination to Him.

Wisdom therefore is seeing the emptiness of mere religious observance. As God taught Samuel, we are not to look at the outward appearance of things. Man judges like that, but God judges by what is in the heart.

There is another who approaches God in this proverb. He is the upright man - and he offers the prayer of the upright to God. The Lord God delights in such prayers. But what is the prayer of the upright? In order to understand this we might want to look at a New Testament passage. In the gospels Jesus relayed a story of a Pharisee and a Publican. The Pharisee was of the spirit of the first part of this proverb. His was the prayer of the wicked. He stood before God and prayed to himself. Actually, he was praying to his god - because as a thoroughly wicked man who thought only of himself and loved himself dearly - he was his own god. As he prayed to himself, he mentioned all the great things he had done - religious things. He thanked God in the midst of his long list of righteous acts that he was nothing like the Publican who was near him. He spoke with great disdain of him - and how his own works made him so much better than the poor man who was bowed before God next to him. We learn from Jesus that this Pharisee went home unrighteous - unjustified. He was lost and His prayer was an abomination to God.

The Publican had a far different prayer. He had the prayer of the upright. He bowed before God, not even desiring to lift his head. As he tried to formulate words - he could only do so as he beat his own chest. He cried out for God to have mercy upon him - a sinner. Jesus instructs us that this man is the one who had the prayer of the upright in his mouth and heart.

Jews in that day would have been horrified by this description. They would cry foul at the thought of a publican being called upright . . . ever. The Pharisee was the religious man of the hour! He was the equivalent to an evangelist or a pastor in our day. The publican . . . well the publican was nothing more than scum - a traitor - a turncoat and a thief! Surely Jesus was mistaken. But it was the Jews who were so mistaken. God is not calling this person upright who is praying. He is calling the prayer of this person upright. It was not the person who prayed being called upright because something in him made the prayer upright. It was the nature of the prayer that made the person upright. There was a brokenness about this prayer - a turning from sin - a coming to God empty and hopeless in self. He was not playing religion. He was crying out to God for help and for hope. He was not faking a prayer as he complimented himself on how many good things he had done. He was praying that someone would make him good!

The Lord hates mere religion. If our hearts are not engaged in our singing and praying, and preaching - He wants no part of it. The Lord delights in the prayer of the man who desires to be upright. He desires this upright standing due to what God does in answer to his cry. He knows he cannot be upright except for God's wonderful mercy and grace. The Lord is always listening for that kind of prayer, that kind of call. When He hears it He answers - and He delights in doing so every time. That is why the truly wise will be careful that their religious observances are always done with a heart to know and to love God. They know that anything short of this will receive God's disdain.

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The Abominable Sacrificers - Proverbs 21:27

The Religious Life and Practices of the Adulterous . . . Proverbs 7:14-15

Can Man Cleanse Himself from His Own Sin? Proverbs 20:9

Religion - The Bad and the Good . . . Proverbs 15:8

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