Isaiah 1:10-20

“How Does God See Your Worship?”

Introduction

1. How does God see your worship? Worship begins before you ever get to church.

2. Isaiah 1:10-20 Israel had traditional worship as described in Leviticus, but God

wasn’t pleased.

How does God see your worship? Worship begins before you ever get to church.

I. GOD’S DISDAIN OF THEIR WORSHIP 1:10-15

A. The Halt To Worship 10

1. Failure To Listen

*Hear…Give Ear

*Hear is an imperative…focus your attention on the message.

*Word of the Lord…Word is the Hebrew dabar it is a technical term for prophetic

revelation considered as absolutely authoritative. It is the rule for faith and practice.

*Worship begins with the Word of God.

2. Following The Wrong Leaders

*Rulers of the people…Who are you following? Who are you listening to and taking your leads?

*Who are your friends? Where do they place God in their lives?

3. Failure To Look

*Sodom and Gomorrah…In v. 9 they were like…You are not like Sodom and Gomorrah, you are

Sodom and Gomorrah.

*What have you become? In our homes…on the job…in our private world…in our deepest

thoughts…what have you become? This is where worship begins!!

*Worship begins before you ever get to church.

B. The Hindrance To Worship 11

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? I am sick of your sacrifices. (NLT)

1. The Identification

*Your sacrifices… “Wait a minute God…those were your ideas.”

* “I don’t identify with what you are doing no matter how ‘biblical’.”

*We follow the formula, but God isn’t there!!

2. The Inventory

*Burnt offering of rams…fat of fed beasts (best part)…blood of bullocks, lambs or he goats.

*This careful catalog of sacrifices shows how outwardly impressive their worship was…all was

prescribed by God.

*We use ‘God’, ‘Jesus’, we read the Bible. We close our eyes, life our hands, some sway when

they ‘worship’. God says, “I’m sick of your sacrifices.”

C. The Heart Of Worship 12

When you appear before Me

1.The Blessing

*It is drawing near to God. It is entering into His presence.

*He calls it: Coming to appear before Me.

2. The Blast

*A real encounter with God is easily lost.

*That beautiful thing can be trampled under foot.

*Trampling of my court…when the immediacy of God fades no matter how proper the

observance.

*It’s just the noise of shuffling feet on the pavement or slamming of car doors in the

parking lot.

D. The Hurt In Worship 13

Isaiah is probing to the root of the problem…yours and mine. There are two clues: first line and the

last line.

1.Hollowed Out Worship vain offerings…offerings of nothing

*What you present to God is empty. Two people may offer the same offering with two different

responses.

*There is nothing behind what you give…my heart…my life…my all isn’t there!

2. Hidden Works Iniquity and the solemn assembly

*He is not saying that He cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.

*You might say, “Sure, I have unconfessed sin in my life, but it has nothing to do with

worship.”

*God is saying, “Your unconfessed sins make your worship repulsive to Me, because your sins

reveal what you really think of Me.”

*Which claims the greater sense of urgency in our heart: the form of our worship or the

quality of our lives?

E. The Hatred Of Worship 14

I hate…I am weary…outward show, but no inward reality.

1.What do you think is unbearably repulsive to God? Hard core crimes…exploitation of children…terrorist attacks…Putin invading Ukraine?

2.It may not occur to us what the soul of God hates and is burdened and wearied by is our worship without our hearts. Outward action without inward reality!

F. The Hostility In Worship 15

v. 13 offerings of nothing…unconfessed sin and worship…bloody hands.

1. His Action I will hide mine eyes…I will not hear your prayers.

2. His Anger you lift your hands…your hands are full of blood.

*Are our hands bloody? Jesus said that murder can take many forms: anger…cutting

words…unresolved issues with a brother, a wife, a family member…character

assignation…backstabbing…sowing discord/division among the brethren. (Mt. 5:21-24)

*Are our hands bloody? This may be why prayer seems meaningless.

How does God see your worship? Worship begins before you ever get to church.

II. GOD’S DIRECTIVE FOR THEIR WORSHIP 1:16-18

Repentance is God’s only answer. Turn around. There are 9 admonitions which is the

difference between religion and reality.

A. Remove 16

There are four admonitions to get rid of filth: Active involvement is required because our whole

problem is our active worship conceals our passive repentance. It is easy to go through the

motions and never deal with the real issues!!

1.Wash yourselves…search me…try me involves inspection and introspection.

2.Make yourselves clean…If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9) Agree with God!

3.Put away the evil…Genuine repentance involves doing whatever it takes to stop sinning. You have to want to! Restitution…make things right!

4.Cease to do evil…Don’t make provision for the sin to return. With a whole heart turn to God. Only God’s grace is sufficient. Your worship will be beautiful and I will be real to you again.

B. Restore 17

There are five positive exhortations; the first laying the foundation for the rest. Stop living for

yourselves!!

1.Learn to do well…A church gets what the people are. Pennsville is made up of people. If revival depended on me…my prayers…my faith…my obedience…would America ever experience revival?

2.Seek Justice…do what is right.

3.Relieve the oppressed…If you see someone struggling, give them a hand.

4.Judge the fatherless…defend the orphans…Children, especially if dad isn’t around, need someone to go to bat for them.

5.Plead for the widows…Take your Christianity from the church. Let it cost you something. Put yourself out.

C. Reason 18

God is always ready to meet us. Come Now.

1.Meet God...’now’ Reason together. It’s time we had a talk! Open our hearts to one another.

2.God Will Meet You Sins…deals with those things that miss the mark.

*Scarlet and red were permanent.

*White as snow is pure.

*Red like crimson…as wool. Will you let Me?

How does God see your worship? Worship begins before you ever get to church.

III. GOD’S DESIRE IN THEIR WORSHIP 1:19-20

A. If You Will 19

1. All that keeps us from renewal is our own stubbornness and not willing to adjust our lives.

2. I will meet you…I will accept your worship…I will bless your lives.

B. If You Won’t 20

1. If you refuse and rebel…Rebellion…self-will stops God from working.

2. Life will devour you. Life will eat you up!

Come Now! “Come now, let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”