The sermon, titled 'The Useless Worship of Covenant Breakers' by Peter Allison, explores Isaiah chapter 1, which serves as a microcosm of the entire book of Isaiah. It outlines God's covenant lawsuit against His people, highlighting their unfaithfulness and disobedience. Despite their adherence to religious rituals and sacrifices, God rejects their worship due to its emptiness and lack of genuine repentance. The sermon emphasizes that true worship requires a broken and contrite heart, genuine adoration, and obedience to God's word. It draws a parallel between the spiritual state of Judah and Jerusalem and the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, stressing that God views their empty worship as equally offensive. The sermon underscores the importance of understanding the significance of worship practices and the need for a heartfelt devotion to God.

While our scripture reading is Isaiah chapter 1, this chapter is a mini summary of the entire book. And it lays out not only God's covenant lawsuit against His people, but also his offer, gracious offer of redemption through Jesus Christ. Hear God's word. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hands to trample my courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices.

Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, My soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Those who seek these his precepts will walk at liberty. Almighty Heavenly Father, Your word is truth.

Sanctify us by Your word this morning. Teach us and warn us. Call us. I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips, that they might proclaim the mysteries of your grace and that you might preserve me from error. And Jesus name we ask.

Amen. Well, this is really part one of a two part message with part two next week. This section is from verses 10 to 20 that speaks of. God's. Rejection of the worship of his people, but also his call and offer of grace.

This chapter, God is bringing this covenant lawsuit against his people because they have not been faithful and obedient to the terms of the covenant. And it began, remember, in verse 2 with God calling heaven and earth as witnesses to his complaint. And in the first four verses, God speaks into the creation record, as it were, the facts of the case. He speaks about Judah in those in that section. He speaks about Judah and Jerusalem in the third person.

He's called the heaven and earth to witness. And he's speaking into that record these facts. I brought up children, but they rebelled. They've forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel.

It's a name that's almost unique to Isaiah, the Holy One of Israel. They've provoked him to anger. And then in the next section, he speaks to Judah and Jerusalem in the second person. And that's in the verses that we looked at last week. He reminds them of the sickness and the desolation that they are experiencing.

Now we might wonder why God would have to inform Judah and Jerusalem of the sickness and the desolation that they are experiencing. We saw those were the sanctions that were given in the covenant back in in Deuteronomy. If they're experiencing them, wouldn't they already know it? And no, Because we don't often connect our afflictions as coming from the Lord But he but he is also we saw bringing into focus that those very afflictions that they were dealing with, the sickness, the physical sickness of their bodies and the desolation in their country, that those things were the very sanctions that were promised to those who break the covenant. And we looked at Deuteronomy 28 and Deuteronomy 32 in the Song of Moses.

And we saw the close parallels. But now we come to verse 10, and there is a direct command given to Judah and Jerusalem to listen. It uses the exact same two words. In fact, it's a couplet that is used in verse two. Hear and give ear.

In verse two it was, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. Now it's, hear, you rulers of Sodom, and give ear, you people of Gomorrah. Those are commands, imperatives, commands to listen. And the fact that they are repeated. Hear, give ear.

The give ear is a verbal form of the word ear, kind of like our word produce. We use it as a noun and it's also a verb. It's the way the Hebrew is here. It's the word for ear. It means an ear and it's a noun to hear, a verb to hear.

I mean, it's used in several places in the Old Testament to introduce something of great importance. But Isaiah uses it the most. And these two occasions are the only place I found where God is speaking in the first person. It's God saying in the first person, hear and give ear to what I am going to say. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom.

Give ear to the law of God. So there's an equation of the word of God and the law of God. Give ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. And of course, hearing means much more than just the physical act of sound hitting our eardrums of hearing a message to hear means to obey, to be doers of the word. In verse 19, it's those who are willing and obedient to the word that that will eat the good of the land.

And so God is calling to a people who have been rebellious, children that he has raised who have rebelled against him, to repent, to change their mind, and to begin obeying the word. Hear the law of God. Hear the word of the Lord. You rulers of Sodom, your people of Gomorrah. God is speaking to his people, to the Old Testament church here.

This was a vision in verse one that was a vision Isaiah saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. That's his church. Those are the people that he calls his people. Those are the ones that he's redeemed, brought them out of the burning oven, the land of Egypt. But he refers to them as Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities that were destroyed for their wickedness.

They were destroyed, as you know, for their fornication, their homosexual immorality. The account in Genesis 19 gives us some indication of the extent of their vile and abominable practices, their wickedness. The Apostle Peter says that God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemn them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly. And that's how they are used in the scriptures. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Zephaniah, Jesus, Paul, and Peter all make reference to Sodom and Gomorrah as examples of God's wrath.

In fact, in Revelation 11, Jerusalem is said to be spiritually called Sodom, the city where in our Lord was crucified. These are God's own people. These are the people that God has separated from the world to be a special people to Him. And they are the people we read here, these verses that we read, they are the people who are following the evangelical principles of the Bible. And so in the Bible, we read here these verses that we read.

They are the people who are following the forms and the protocols that God has commanded for his worship. So in today's language, language, what we might say, And what we might say, they are the evangelical churchgoers. The people who profess to believe the Bible. And so in calling them Sodom and Gomorrah, God is equating the spiritual condition of both the rulers of that land and the people of that land of Judah and Jerusalem He's equating them to the spiritual condition of these two wicked cities But in this case the problem is not specifically their sexual immorality. The problem that God addresses is their worship, their worship.

And that's a sobering thought, isn't it? That God sees the sins of his people in the area of worship as just as heinous and as the unspeakably gross wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. We tend to think of murder and sexual immorality as some of the most evil or heinous sins that people do. And they are very evil sins, wicked, heinous. But so is having another God before the Lord's face.

It's just as heinous. So is taking His name in vain. In God's word, the punishment for idolatry and blasphemy are the very same as the punishment for murder and rape, death. And godly governments such as Geneva in the 16th century or Massachusetts here in our country in the 17th century have followed the scriptures on these matters in their laws as well. We see God looks on the heart.

Is it in submission to his law or not? The magnitude of the outward effect is not as important in God's sight as the intent of our heart. And that's why God reminded Saul in 1 Samuel 15 for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as the is as iniquity and idolatry. So what's that say about a little girl, you know, the proverbial little girl who when told to stand up says stands up but says me stands on the outside but me sits on the inside. That's stubbornness, that's rebellion.

And Jesus says, God says that's the same as the sin of witchcraft, the sin of idolatry, as iniquity. And so this God, looking upon the worship of His covenant people, takes umbrage or offense at their blood sacrifices of bulls and lambs and goats. He takes offense at their burnt offerings and the fat of their sacrifices. He's taking offense at their celebration of the new moons of the Sabbath, the appointed feasts and their sacred assemblies. He takes umbrage at their incense.

Their prayers are rejected. They're returned unheard and unanswered. Their time in prayer is not only wasted. God says it's an affront to him. And when they assume the posture of prayer, God looks the other way.

Why? Well, let's look at the worship that's covered in this section. The first worship that God says he's rejecting and that Isaiah addresses are their sacrifices. To what purpose are is the multitude of your sacrifices to me sacrifices were commanded by God and in bringing them the people were only doing what God had commanded them to do. But God asked them, what's the purpose of those sacrifices?

And God's question deserves an answer, doesn't it? Even if it's not a pleasant one for us. Well, all people are sinners. The sin and the trespass offering pointed to the need of the one bringing the offering for the sacrifice, for their debt, for the debt of their sins to be paid for. It points both to their need for the debt of their original sin and the transgressions that proceed from that sinful nature.

It points to the need for those to be paid for the wages of sin is death and so the payment of that debt requires a shedding of blood for without the shedding of blood the scriptures tell us there is no remission of sin So to kill an animal and to sprinkle the blood on the altar pointed to the need for the wages of sin to be paid by the shedding of blood. It pointed to a need for the wrath of God to be propitiated, which means for it to be appeased, to be turned away from us. That's what the outward form communicated. And it was a constant reminder that we are sinners. And the point of reminding us that we are sinners so that we come with a broken and a contrite heart.

The point of the sacrifice is to teach us the heinousness of our sin and the awesome and terrifying reality of God's wrath for that sin and God's wrath upon us for our sin, a wrath that we deserve. And so the removal of that wrath by Christ's offering of himself a sacrifice which fully satisfies that wrath ought to move us to a deep, a deep appreciation of Christ's work, a great devotion to Him as our deliverer, the one who has turned away the wrath of God, who has saved us from that wrath. It ought to bring a great devotion to Him and a burning zeal to serve Him. It should lead us to love Him and to love the Lord. You know that means to live in obedience and in complete submission to His Word.

That's how we demonstrate our love. That's the evidence that we love Him. And if we don't live in submission to His Word, if we don't live in devotion to Him, We don't love him. It's that simple. We deceive ourselves otherwise.

David wrote in Psalm 40 verse six sacrifice and offering you did not desire. My ears you have opened, burnt offering and sin offering you did not require. Then I said, behold, I come in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God, and your law is within my heart. That was Christ is the man who delighted to do the will of God.

Psalm 51, David adds, For you do not desire sacrifice or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, O God, you will not despise." See, God despised their sacrifices because they didn't bring them with broken and contrite hearts. They brought them as if they could please God by throwing a few dead animals in front of Him.

There wasn't any sorrow for their sin. There wasn't any gratitude for His forgiveness. It's as if this sacrifice, this ritual that they went through was of itself sufficient to repay their debt. Isaiah also speaks about the burnt offering. And unlike the sin offering, the burnt offering was a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Because it pointed to Christ's sinless life, his act of obedience in which he perfectly obeyed the law and merited life. You see, it's not merely or It's not enough to be merely not guilty. Or to have what John Owen called a negative righteousness to not be guilty of anything. That's not enough. We must also have a positive righteousness.

Must be an obedience of God's law, a delighting in it, in the inward man. And Romans 5 19 teaches us for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. So by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. See with our sin removed and righteousness bestowed, we have peace with God. We need both of those.

So the sin offering pointed to the removal of that for which we are refused, our sin as it is imputed to Christ. That's what the sin offering pointed to. The burnt offering pointed to the disposal or the bestowal of that for which we are accepted. Christ's righteousness imputed to us, Our sin imputed to Christ, Christ's righteousness imputed to us. Such that Paul cries out in Romans 11, Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever.

Amen. He's responding to this imputation of our sin to Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us. See the depth of our gratitude that's so great of salvation is an exact proportion to the appreciation of the depth of our own sinfulness. The depth of our gratitude is in direct proportion to the to the depth of our. Appreciation of our own sinfulness.

And so that's why we, as Christ's children, can enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with joy. That's why we worship him on bended knee, casting our crowns before his throne, recognizing our own unworthiness to even be in the presence of this most holy God. See the sense of our unworthiness to be in the presence of that thrice holy God is an exact proportion to our appreciation of His holiness, His otherness, His separateness. William Temple has described true worship as, quote, to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will. What we want to do, to devote the will to the purpose of God.

And all of this is gathered up in that emotion that most cleanses us from self-ishness because it is the most selfless of all emotions. Adoration. The natural man wants to focus on himself. The sinner wants to be adored. Adoration puts the focus on God away from ourselves.

And this involves our emotions. In adoring God, our emotions are stirred, and ought to be, but they're not central. That's not the central purpose. That's the result, the effect. God is the central purpose.

Adoring Him, appreciating His sacrifice, His holiness, His majesty, His power, His beauty, His glory. That's the purpose. You know, the synthetic creation of emotion, Apart from a heart filled with adoration of the thrice holy God, it's just like stapling apples on the apple tree. From a distance, it may look like a fruitful tree, right? When in fact, the reality is the tree is just as barren as it was before.

The fruit won't last because it has no vital connection to the tree, the root that nourishes it. See, merely bringing a sacrifice with synthetically created emotion, devoid of any genuine adoration of the holiness and the beauty and the truth and the love of God is an affront to the living God. And God says it is useless. It's futile. It's vain.

It's empty. It's a useless sacrifice. God says I've had enough burnt offerings. I don't delight, he says, in the blood of bulls. Don't bring any more of these futile sacrifices.

God isn't pleased because we showed up this morning and sang a few pious words and hopefully heard a few true words. He calls such meaningless exercises futile, worthless. God desires sincere adoration that arises from broken and contrite hearts. But God isn't done with expressing His displeasure, even loathing and hatred of empty worship. Those sacred assemblies, He says.

The celebrations of the new moons. The Sabbaths, both I think the weekly Sabbath and the festival Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath on the seventh day and the festival Sabbath on the various other days. They appointed festivals and feasts. God says, My soul hates them. They are a burden to me.

And he says, I'm tired of carrying them. See, the feast of dedication, look back to the dedication of the temple, But it pointed forward to Christ's incarnation, His birth on December 25th, Shislev, probably 5 AD, the establishment and the establishment of the new temple to replace the old. The Passover looked back to the angel of death passing over the homes with the blood of the lamb, and it looked forward to Christ our Passover being sacrificed for us so that judgment passes over His people. The feast of unleavened bread pointed to Christ's burial by which our sins were buried and remembered no more. The feast of firstfruits looked forward to Christ's victory over death in His resurrection.

The firstfruits of those who have died. Those who have fallen asleep. But now, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. That's what that feast was celebrating. The feast of weeks or of Pentecost, as it's called, pointed to Christ equipping to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

That necessitated, it could only follow Christ's death and resurrection and ascension into glory. See, but the worshippers of Isaiah's day with no appreciation of the significance, no longing for their fulfillment. Unlike you remember Simeon in Luke four, Simeon was a just and devout man longing or waiting for the consolation of Israel and having seen him, he could say, you remember, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen salvation or Anna, who for 84 years had looked for Christ coming. And Luke two says she did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day and the instant that Jesus was brought to the temple as an infant. She gave thanks to the Lord, and she spoke of him to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

The Lord is seeking those who understand the significance of these ceremonies. God is not seeking for people just to get together each week and go through motions, but whose heart is far away, preoccupied with other things. The Lord's worried by that. Even more he abhors those empty celebrations Jesus told the Samaritan woman that God is seeking true worshipers those that worship Him in spirit and in truth. Psalm 84 expresses the devotion that God is seeking.

Those who can truly proclaim how lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts, my soul longs, yes even faints for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. So what is the result then of this empty worship? How does God respond? His response should be alarming, maybe even soul shattering. Because God says when you come to pray, I will hide.

No matter how many prayers you make, I won't hear you. I won't hear you. I won't hear you. I won't even look at you. I want to acknowledge your presence at the throne of grace.

And if God doesn't hear our prayers or even acknowledge that we are knocking and beseeching, then we're not going to be able to find mercy or obtain grace to help in time of need, will we? If God doesn't hear our prayers, it means our sins are not forgiven either. We do all things. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us But without his strength and we can do nothing exactly nothing God raises one more problem with with their worship they were hypocrites Says their hands were full of blood. They combined iniquity with the sacred assembly.

They didn't live as they professed to believe. There was a disconnect. With their lips they praised God, but their hands had blood on them. Psalm 24 says, who may ascend to the hill of the Lord, who may stand in his holy place, he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. We can't come to the Lord and worship him.

If that's not how we're living day by day. First John five says by this we know the love of the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments For this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. Psalm 15 says, Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart, who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friends, in whose eyes a vile person is despised.

But he honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his own hurt and does not change. He does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be moved. See, acceptable worship has the preaching of the word that should give us a mind conformed to the truth.

And hearing the preaching of the word should give us a will that is submitted to the truth so that we are doers of that word and it should give us a give us a heart that loves the word that is moved by the word so that we are devoted, devoted to our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. I think all of this is captured very beautifully in John Newton's hymn, Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder. It was first published in his 26 letters on religious subjects in 1774 as praise for redeeming love. And it's this, let us love and sing and wonder.

Let us praise the Savior's name. He has hushed the law's loud thunder. He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame. He has washed us with His blood. He has brought us near to God.

Let us love the Lord who bought us, pitied us when enemies called us by his grace and taught us, gave us ears and gave us eyes. He has washed us with his blood. He presents our souls to God. Let us Sing, though fierce temptation, threaten hard to bear us down, for the Lord, our strong salvation, holds in view the conqueror's crown. He who washed us with his blood soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder. Grace and justice join and point to mercy store when through grace in Christ, our trust is justice smiles. And ask no more. He who washed us with his blood has secured our way to God. Let us praise and join the chorus of the saints enthroned on high where they trusted him before us.

Now their praises fill the sky. Thou has washed us with thy blood. Thou art worthy, Lamb of God. Hark! The name of Jesus sounded loud from golden harps above.

Lord, we blush and are confounded. Faint our praise. Cold our love. Wash our souls and songs with blood, for by thee we come to God. Gracious Father in heaven, Words fail us.

Send your spirit intercede for us with those groanings too deep for words. Sanctify us, mold us, shape us, fill us with an awe of your holiness, of your justice, that we may fear you, that we may love you, that we may serve you with all of our heart and our soul and our mind and our strength as we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.