The formal devotion of a faithless man is not worth the crust of bread which he asks.—T. Adams.
Man judges by acts, God by principles. The sacrifice of the wicked, though it be part of God’s own service, yet “will be found in His register in the catalogue of sins to be accounted for” (Bp. Hopkins). Is he then finally rejected? Far from it. His desire to seek the Lord would be the beginning of the prayer that ensures acceptance. That which brings acceptance is—not the perfection, but the simplicity of uprightness.—Bridges.
“Sacrifice and prayer” are not here contrasted as the higher and the lower, but “sacrifice” is a gift to God, “prayer” is desiring from Him (Comp. Isa. i. 11, 15, etc.). Yet this is by no means an essential difference; for both sacrifice and prayer, which indeed fall likewise under the category of offering in the broadest sense (Ps. cxix. 108; Heb. xiii. 15) come under consideration here only as general tokens of reverence for God; and the value of both is clearly defined by this test, whether the state of heart is or is not well pleasing to God.—Lange’s Commentary.
It is not works that make the man good, but when a man is justified his works are also good. God in His grace makes well pleasing to Himself the works that come of faith, even though great imperfections still mingle with them.—Starke.
“The sacrifice of the wicked,” though it may be very costly—the column of Stylites, the hook-swinging of the east, the millions of anxious charity—without grace must be purely sin. “The prayer of the upright,” though it asks instead of gives, yet it is a delight, where the other is an abomination. A man may serve God out of sheer selfish wickedness. Moreover, all are abominable. There is no just man upon earth. But the righteous has the righteousness of Christ; while these others are left, without a cover, to their own abominable guiltiness.—Miller.
Works materially good many never prove so formally and eventually, viz.: (1) When they proceed not from a right principle; (2) When they tend not to a right end. The glory of God must consume all other ends, as the sun puts out the light of the fire. But the prayer that proceeds from an upright heart, though but faint and feeble, doth come before God, even “into His ears” (Psa. xviii. 6), and so strangely charms Him (Isa. xxvi. 16) that He breaks forth into these words: “Ask me of things concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands command ye me” (Isa. xlv. 11). Oh that we understood the latitude of this royal charter!—Trapp.
Verse 9. “The way of the wicked is abomination.” Not his sacrifices only, but his civilities: all his actions—natural, moral, recreative, religious—are offensive to God. The very “ploughing of the wicked is sin” (Prov. xxi. 4). . . . But He loveth him that followeth after righteousness, although he fulfil not all righteousness, yet if he make after it with might and main, if he pursue it and have it in chase, “if by any means he may attain to the resurrection of the dead” (Phil. iii. 11); that is, the height of holiness that accompanies the resurrection: this is the man whom God loves. Now God’s love is not an empty love; it is not like the winter sun, that casteth a goodly countenance when it shines, but gives little warmth and comfort. “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness; those that remember Thee in Thy ways” (Isa. lxiv. 5), “that think upon Thy commandments to do them” (Psa. ciii. 20), that are weak but willing (Heb. xiii. 8), that are lifting at the latch, though they cannot do up the door: “Surely, shall every such one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength” (Isa. xlv. 24). “Righteousness,” that is, mercy to those that come over to Him, and “strength” to enable them to come, as the sea sends out waters to fetch us to it.—Trapp.
The way of the wicked and the abomination of the Lord go on with equal paces. It is his way, because he leadeth himself in it, refusing to follow the guide of instruction: and God’s way it is, wherein His abomination pursueth after him. . . . St. Bernard saith, “God loveth, neither doth this arise from anything in others, but Himself it is from whence He loveth; and therefore the more vehemently, because He doth not so much love, as rather Himself is love.”—Jermin.
main homiletics of verse 10.
Out of the Way.