GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 10 ~ ~ 2 Corinthians 10:5

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”

Excerpts from John Piper’s book, “the Pleasures of God”

(He was speaking of God having pleasure in an act that comes from faith, but acts that do not come from faith are not God-centered and cannot please the God we have come to know in Scripture.) He goes on:

There is a possible objection to this. Someone might say that when you look at the prophets, the reason God despises the sacrifices of the wicked is their outer behavior during the week between the Sabbaths. (Isaiah 1:13-16)

He says, “I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly” Then he goes on…. “cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

He hates the sacrifices because he hates the inconsistency of someone being crooked during the week and pious on Sunday.

(as we read this, we need to apply is to ourselves today, our churches. Is the worship pure all the way through the week?)

Yes, God hates that inconsistency. But when a wicked person comes to God and makes a sacrifice WITH A HEART OF REPENTANCE, his sacrifice is accepted.

This is the whole purpose of a guilt offering. A person who has been sinful during the week CAN be accepted through the sacrifice when it is accompanied by a truly broken, humble, repentant heart.

(This is the basis of our initial salvation repentance as well as our often repentance for our sins directly to the Lord)

So what Isaiah is really saying is that the reason God hates the sacrifices of the unjust is not merely the inconsistency of external behavior during the week, but that they come before the Lord with hearts that are not broken for their sins, and with no true intention of forsaking it.

This HEART CONDITION of stubbornness and impenitence is why their sacrifices are an abomination to God. The sacrifice is MEANT to be an occasion of forgiveness for sinners. So the sin of the people in itself is not a sufficient answer for why their sacrifice is rejected.

Therefore, the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination because God sees all our acts as extensions or outworkings of the heart, and where the heart is bad the deed is bad, whether secular or religious.

So, the next question is: What is the essence of the “badness” of this heart? What is the opposite of this bad heart? What makes a person upright instead of wicked in heart so that his prayers will delight God instead of being an abomination to him? Here we turn to the second half of Proverbs 15:8:

“The Sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

Two characteristics of the upright heart show clearly why its prayers are a delight to God.

(We will start with them tomorrow—-meanwhile, pray about how this applies to our lives, our worship, and most important, our salvation.

The attitudes that are spoken of for sacrifices also apply to the initial ACCEPTANCE of the Sacrifice of Christ for salvation. God always looks at our heart—-whether it is in daily activities and relationships, in worship, or in obedience to Him in other areas, every thought is to be kept captive to His righteousness and Love……as in the verse of the day above:

2 Corinthians 10:5

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”)

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