Hear the word of the LORD - This verse is the introduction to God Himself speaking in Isa 1:11-20a, first exposes the hypocrisy and external nature of all their religious efforts (sacrifices, feasts, prayers) of the people in Isa 1:11-15. Then after presenting their sins, which should serve to convince them of their need, Jehovah then gives them the remedy for their sad plight in Isa 1:16-19. In Isa 1:20, God warns them of the consequences of refusing His gracious offer. In 1:20b the prophet signals that this section of God Himself speaking has come to a close.

Isa 1:10 Isaiah calls Israel (Sodom & Gomorrah) to hear Jehovah
Isa 1:11-15 - God exposes their external religion
Isa 1:16-19 - God offers them salvation
Isa 1:20a - God warns them of their peril if they refuse
Isa 1:20b - Isaiah closes this section of Jehovah's own words

In a word, His word to Israel is "You have committed spiritual apostasy!"

Sodom...Gomorrah - Isaiah picks up on the comparison of Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah in the previous verse (Isa 1:9-note). Isaiah now likens Israel's conduct to that of these notoriously well known grossly wicked cities. Even though God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had occurred some 1500 years earlier, these infamous names still familiar to all in Israel. Isaiah's address to Israel must have come as a shock and perhaps that is part of the reason for his pithy comparison. One would imagine that the prophet Isaiah would not have been very popular after ascribing these wicked names to those who considered themselves God's chosen people.

Rulers...people - All are called to hear and heed Isaiah's words for all are guilty before Jehovah.

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Revival - Isaiah 1:10-20

WE NEED REVIVAL WHEN:

OUR ACTIONS REMIND GOD OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH - Isa 1:10

For a list of the sins of Sodom see Ezekiel 16:49.

THERE ARE MANY SACRIFICES, BUT A GOD WHO IS FED UP - Isa 1:11

THERE IS FREQUENT ATTENDANCE, BUT A GOD WHO IS INDIFFERENT Isa 1:12

THERE ARE MANY ATTEMPTS AT WORSHIP, BUT A GOD WHO IS GRIEVED - Isa 1:13-14

THERE ARE MANY PRAYERS, BUT A GOD WHO WILL NOT HEAR - Isa 1:15

WE HAVE REVIVAL WHEN:

WE HEED GOD'S CALL TO REPENTANCE

Confess (Wash you, and make you clean) - Isa 1:16, 1 John 1:9

Forsake (…Put away the evil of your doings…) - Isa 1:16 

Learn (…to do well…) -  Isa 1:17

I like Dr S Lewis Johnson's sermon title for Isaiah 1..

The Great Arraignment or
The Wickedness of Formal Worship
(Click here)

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is His delight. (Pr 15:8)

John Piper comments on Pr 15:8: ...An act which is good in itself (Ed: Sacrifices that He Himself has ordained) can become displeasing to God when it is done with the wrong inner disposition. An outward act that looks pious to us can look horrible in God’s eyes because the pious act comes from a heart that is wrong. There seems to be a principle implied here that would go something like this: in God’s eyes the beauty (and hence enjoyableness) of an act is the outworking of inward beauty, and the ugliness of an act is the outworking of an inward ugliness. Since God always looks on the heart (1Samuel 16:7), he always sees our outward acts not as man sees them, but as extensions of what he sees on the inside. Whether our acts are immoral, like stealing and lying and adultery, or whether our acts are moral like church attendance and community service, both may be abominable in God’s eyes if the heart is not right. Paul teaches the same thing when he says in Ro 14:23 (note), “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” The inner beauty of hoping in God, of trusting him for help and guidance, makes the external act beautiful. And if this faith is not there motivating the act, the act is not pleasing to the Lord; it is sin. Hebrews 11:6 (note) teaches this when it says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Mere external righteousness does not please God. In fact, we will see that it is not righteousness at all if it does not come from faith. In the near context of Hebrews 11:6 (note) the very same issue of sacrifices is addressed that we have here in Proverbs 15:8. Hebrews 11:4 (note) says, “By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain.” Why was Abel’s sacrifice pleasing to God and not Cain’s? The reason is that Abel’s sacrifice was offered by faith, but Cain’s wasn’t; and without faith it is impossible to please God. (Piper, J.  The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God. . Sisters, Or.: Multnomah Publishers. 2000)

What are your multiplied sacrifices - A rhetorical question by Jehovah which is phrased to get His hearers' attention. Jehovah then proceeds to give them a "multipart" answer (Isa 1:11b, 12, 13, 14, 15a) that undoubtedly must have surprised many of his listeners, especially the "ultra religious".  It is not until the last phrase of Isa 1:15 that Jehovah states the reason their multiplied sacrifices, etc, were in essence an abomination to Him (cp Pr 15:8) -- "Your hands are covered with blood." (cp Isa 59:3) And what is the divine formula when one's hands are stained with blood? Simply put Jehovah says "Wash them!" (see Isa 1:16ff-note)

Piper writes that...

what Isaiah is really saying is that the reason God abominates 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 sin, and with no true intention of forsaking it. And 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...(for) when a wicked person comes to God and makes a sacrifice with a heart of penitence, his sacrifice is accepted. That is the whole purpose of the guilt offering. A person who has been sinful during the week can be accepted through the sacrifice when it is accompanied by a broken, humble, repentant heart. (Ibid)

I have had enough - In what amounts to a anthropomorphism, God is pictured as being satiated or fully fed with no need for more of Judah's sacrifices. What He was full of and no longer interested in, were their external, formal, ritualistic sacrifices, offered from their hands but not from their heart! 

Had enough (07646) (saba/sabea) means to be satiated, filled full, and thus fully satisfied. In the present context, Jehovah, however, is hardly fully satisfied in the sense of being pleased with their offerings

Saba/sabea - 92v in the OT - First use = "bread to the full" = Ex 16:8, 12; Lev. 26:26; Deut. 6:11; 8:10, 12; 11:15; 14:29; 26:12; 31:20; Ruth 2:14; 2 Chr. 24:15; 31:10; Neh. 9:25; Job 7:4; 9:18; 19:22; 27:14; 31:31; 38:27; Ps. 17:14f; 22:26; 37:19; 59:15; 63:5; 65:4; 78:29; 81:16; 88:3; 90:14; 91:16; 103:5; 104:13, 16, 28; 105:40; 107:9; 123:3f; 132:15; 145:16; 147:14; Prov. 1:31; 5:10; 12:11, 14; 14:14; 18:20; 20:13; 25:16f; 27:20; 28:19; 30:9, 15f, 22; Eccl. 1:8; 4:8; 5:10; 6:3; Isa. 1:11; 9:20; 44:16; 53:11; 58:10f; 66:11; Jer. 5:7; 31:14; 44:17; 46:10; 50:10, 19; Lam. 3:15, 30; 5:6; Ezek. 7:19; 16:28f; 27:33; 32:4; 39:20; Hos. 4:10; 13:6; Joel 2:19, 26; Amos 4:8; Mic. 6:14; Hab. 2:5, 16

The NAS renders saba/sabea as -- became satisfied(1), become weary(1), being satisfied(1), continually (1), drink their fill(1), enough(1), fed full(1), filled(9), full(2), get enough(1), glutted(1), had enough(2), have abundance(1), have enough(2), have excess(1), have his fill(1), have plenty(3), plenty(1), ripe*(m)(1), satiated(2), satisfied(49), satisfies(2), satisfy(10), saturates(1).

G Campbell Morgan writes that

At the heart of the chapter these words occur (Isa 1:11), and they are startlingly revealing of the Divine attitude toward the sacrifices which are being offered. The words, "I have had enough of," are expressive of loathing, produced by satiety. The whole force of this is derived from the fact that all these offerings were Divinely appointed. What an interpretation we have here of the attitude of God toward all religious observances. When the highest and best of these, those of His own ordination, cease to be the expressions of a true spiritual and mental condition, He loathes them. (Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible)

Comment: Loathe = to dislike greatly and often with disgust or intolerance, to look on with hatred or abhorrence, particularly, to feel disgust at food or drink, either from natural antipathy, or a sickly appetite, or from satiety, or from its ill taste.

I take no pleasure - Pleasure here is the same word used in Isa 53:10.

Pleasure (2654) (chapets/hapes) has the basic sense of to feel great favor towards something. Originally this verb meant “to bend” (cp Job 40:17), hence to  “incline to”  then  to “take pleasure in.”  It means to feel a strong positive attraction for something. This positive feeling God did not have toward Judah's sacrifices. 

J Vernon McGee adds that...

God specifies His charges against His people. He has put His hand upon a definite thing, and He is going to prove that particular point in which they are wrong. He puts His finger on the best thing in Judah, not the worst. He shows them what is exceedingly wrong. Israel has a God-given religion and a God-appointed ritual in a God-constructed temple, but they are wrong in that which represented the best. They are bringing sacrifices and going through the ritual according to the letter of the Law, but their hearts are in rebellion against God. Their religion is not affecting their conduct. Frankly, that is a problem among believers today. A great many of us have reached the place where we have a form of godliness, but we deny the power thereof (2Ti 3:5-note). (Isaiah 1:5-17.mp3 )

Chapets/hapes - 70x in the OT - Gen. 34:19; Num. 14:8; Deut. 21:14; 25:7f; Jdg. 13:23; Ruth 3:13; 1 Sam. 2:25; 18:22; 19:1; 2 Sam. 15:26; 20:11; 22:20; 24:3; 1 Ki. 9:1; 10:9; 2 Chr. 9:8; Esther 2:14; 6:6f, 9, 11; Job 9:3; 13:3; 21:14; 33:32; Ps. 18:19; 22:8; 37:23; 40:6, 8; 41:11; 51:6, 16, 19; 68:30; 73:25; 109:17; 112:1; 115:3; 119:35; 135:6; 147:10; Prov. 18:2; 21:1; Eccl. 8:3; Cant. 2:7; 3:5; 8:4; Isa. 1:11; 13:17; 42:21; 53:10; 55:11; 56:4; 58:2; 62:4; 65:12; 66:3f; Jer. 6:10; 9:24; 42:22; Ezek. 18:23, 32; 33:11; Hos. 6:6; Jon. 1:14; Mic. 7:18; Mal. 2:17

The NAS renders chapets/hapes as - delight(15), delighted(7), delights(8), desire(9), desired(3), desired*(1), desires(5), favors(1), have any pleasure(1), have delight(2), have pleasure(1), pleased(6), pleases(7), take pleasure(3), wish(2), wished(1), wishes(1).

Jeremiah records a similar complaint by God against Judah...

For what purpose does frankincense come to Me from Sheba And the sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable And your sacrifices are not pleasing to Me.”  (Je 6:20).

Walter Kaiser writes that...

So deceptive was the nation’s (Judah's) trust in this hollow worship that Jeremiah later announced that God had wanted more than sacrifices when he brought Israel out of Egypt (Jer 7:22). He had wanted the people to trust him. It was always tempting to substitute attendance at God’s house, heartless worship or possessing God’s Word for active response to that Word (Jer 7:9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; 8:8, 9, 10, 11, 12)...

God does approve of sacrificing, but he does not wish to have it at the expense of full obedience to his Word or as a substitute for a personal relationship of love and trust. Sacrifices, however, were under the Old Testament economy. Animal sacrifices are no longer necessary today, because Christ was our sacrifice, once for all (He 10:1-18). Nevertheless, the principle remains the same: What is the use of performing outward acts of religion if that religious activity is not grounded in an obedient heart of faith? True religious affection for God begins with the heart and not in acts of worship or the accompanying vestments and ritual! (Kaiser, W. C.. Hard Sayings of the Bible  Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity) (Bolding added to emphasize the importance of obedience to the Word - cp the NT teaching on this same subject in Jas 1:22-note)

The prophet Hosea records what God finds pleasure in, writing...

For I delight (chapets/hapes) in loyalty (hesed) rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God (cp Ho 4:1, 6) rather than burnt offerings (Ho 6:6)

Comment: So what gives God pleasure? (1) Loyalty (loyal love) or hesed - a covenant term which speaks of unswerving allegiance and faithfulness (as manifested in one's godly attitude and actions) in this case of men to God  and (2) Knowledge of God - not referring to just head knowledge but head knowledge that affects heart change (i.e., repentance) which in turn brings about godliness and holiness in conduct and behavior. Israel wanted the shadows (sacrifices, burnt offerings) but they did not want the substance (repentance, obedience, holiness, etc)

Enough...no pleasure - They had religious activity (as summarized in Isa 1:12, 13, 14, 15), but their external "worship" did not please God. The rulers and the people had plenty of religious activity but no intimacy or relationship with the living God.

Later in Isaiah's prophecy similar charges are reiterated with this scathing synopsis...

Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service (external), but they remove their hearts far from Me (no internal change - no changed hearts), and their reverence for Me consists of tradition (mere formality, like so many dead religious rituals in many modern churches) learned by rote (Isa 29:13)

In Ezekiel we see a similar indictment...

But as for you, son of man (the prophet Ezekiel), your fellow citizens (those Jews in captivity with Ezekiel in Babylon) who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, 'Come now, and hear what the message is which comes forth from the LORD.' And they come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people, and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. (Ezekiel 33:30, 31)

In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord Jesus Christ gave a similar warning about the deceptive nature of external religion unaccompanied by a changed (new) heart indicative of genuine spiritual rebirth...

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does (present tense = as a lifestyle, which is clear evidence of a changed life, a new direction, a born again spirit) the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 "Many (Read that word again and weep. This will be an eternal tragedy for the many who thought that they were saved when they in fact were not saved as evidenced by their lack of obedience from the heart - Mt 7:23-note, cp Ro 6:17-note) will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' (Each of these categories speak of various aspects of religious activity, even activity with a supernatural character. Interestingly Jesus does not refute their claims, implying that the claimants indeed carried out these activities. And yet these activities do not save anyone, nor do they irrefutably identify one as saved or not saved. Only a faith that works demonstrates evidence that it is true saving faith and not just simply mental or intellectual assent without heart transformation) 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never (Very strong negation in Greek - oude = not even + pote = at any time -- "not even at a time, never at all" is the idea! They weren't saved and then lost their salvation - they simply and sadly were never truly saved!) knew (speaks of intimate fellowship) you; DEPART (present imperative - A divine command which calls for continuing obedience! No second chance one these fateful words fall from from our Lord's lips. The Greek verb apochoreo calls them to move away from, with emphasis upon separation) FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE (present tense = speaks of their lawless life as not just a momentary lapse or a period of backsliding but the general bent and direction of their life) LAWLESSNESS (equates with sin in 1Jn 3:4 - their lifestyle was wholly unholy despite their words and their religious activities).'  (Mt 7:21-note, Mt 7:22, 23-note)

Comment: Do misinterpret Jesus' words as teaching that "doing" saves a person ("he who does the will of My Father"), for that is not what Scripture teaches. What He is warning about however is that words that claim Jesus as "Lord", when coupled with a lifestyle that proves He is not "Lord" will be excluded from the Kingdom of heaven. In other words, these individuals have no change of heart (no "circumcised heart - eg, see Ro 2:28, 29-note, Col 2:11, 12-note) that reflects the Spirit's regenerative activity in the soul who has been saved by grace through faith.  Luke echoes Jesus' words emphasizing the vital importance of obedience, recording "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Lk 6:46)

The words of an engraving from the cathedral of Lubeck, Germany, beautifully reflect our Lord’s teaching here:

Thus speaketh Christ our Lord to us, You call Me master and obey Me not, you call Me light and see Me not, you call Me the way and walk Me not, you call Me life and live Me not, you call Me wise and follow Me not, you call Me fair and love Me not, you call Me rich and ask Me not, you call Me eternal and seek Me not, if I condemn thee, blame Me not.

Jesus castigated the "super religious" Pharisees with a series of staccato-like "Woes" beginning with this scathing indictment...

saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things, and do not do them. 4 "And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. 5 "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments... 13 "But woe ("Woe" throughout Scripture = expression of judgment, destruction, condemnation and corresponds to the Hebrew interjection "Alas" as in Isa 1:4) to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in... 15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  (Mt 23:2-5, 13, 15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)

Paul's words aptly summarize the external religiosity of the Jews in Isa 1:11-15...

They (Titus 1:15 the "defiled and unbelieving") profess (present tense = continually they say "I have a relationship with God") to know God, but (always take note the important contrast word but - it marks a "change in direction" in the writers thought) by their deeds (in other words it is not what they say, but what they don't do [obey the truth of God's Word in the power of His Spirit] that proves them to be unregenerate "professors") they deny Him (not with their words but with their deeds, just as Jesus prophesied in Mt 7:21, 22, 23!), being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed.

And so in this section (Isa 1:11, 12, 13, 14, 15), God does not berate the rulers or the people of Judah for not attending the temple service and not bringing animals for sacrifice, but he condemns for their hypocritical hearts that were rebellious, hardened and still far from Him.

This section teaches a well known truth that sacrifices per se do not please God, unless they are accompanied by clean hands (right deeds) and a pure heart (right motives) (cp Ps 24:4, 5). As the prophet Samuel made clear to a disobedient, remorseful but non-repentant King Saul...

22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
23 "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king."
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.
25 "Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."
26 But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel." (1Sa 15:22-26)

In David's psalm expressive of his genuine repentance after his horrible sin with Bathsheba we David acknowledge that God does...

not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. (Ps 51:16, 17)

And through the prophet Micah ask and then answer a series of questions regarding what constitutes genuine spirituality (reflective of a changed heart and salvation)...

6 With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?
7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:6, 7, 8).

Comment: Again it is important to emphasize that this characteristics of a godly walk (Micah 6:8) do not earn or merit one's salvation (one could never carry them out perfectly anyway and God demands perfection - cp Jas 2:10, Eccl 7:20, 1Ki 8:46, 2Chr 6:36, Ps 130:3, Pr 20:9, Isa 53:6, Ro 3:23!), but are traits that should characterize all those have been saved by grace through faith in Messiah, the OT saints of course having a less complete understanding of the Cross then NT saints have as a result of progressive revelation of truth. Nevertheless, both Old and New Testament individuals have always been saved the same way - by grace through faith in Messiah or Christ (cp Ge 15:6).

Warren Wiersbe draws out a pithy application from this section writing that...

before passing judgment on worshipers in a bygone era, perhaps we should confess the sins of the “worshiping church” today. According to researcher George Barna, 93 percent of the households in the United States contain a Bible and more than 60 percent of the people surveyed claim to be religious; but we would never know this from the way people act (cp Mt 7:23, Ezek 33:31). One Protestant church exists for every 550 adults in America, but does all this “religion” make much of a difference in our sinful society? Organized religion hasn’t affected the nation’s crime rate, the divorce rate, or the kind of “entertainment” seen in movies and on TV.

The average church allocates about 5 percent of its budget for reaching others with the Gospel, but 30 percent for buildings and maintenance. At a time (Ed: Wiersbe wrote this about 1992) when the poor and the aged are pleading for help, churches in America are spending approximately 3 billion dollars a year on new construction. Where churches have life and growth, such construction may be needed; but too often the building becomes “a millstone instead of a milestone,” to quote Vance Havner. At least 62 percent of the people Barna surveyed said that the church was not relevant to today’s world and is losing its influence on society. It may be that, like the worshipers in the ancient Jewish temple, we are only going through the motions. (See The Frog in the Kettle- George Barna) (Wiersbe, W. W. Be Comforted. An Old Testament Study. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books)

Trampling of My courts - While one cannot be absolutely dogmatic, Isaiah seems to be painting the image of a trampling by a herd of animals mindlessly meandering through and muddying up God's holy courts. Quite a disgusting image indeed, but a picture of God's opinion of worship without righteousness and mere formalism and ritual with inner genuine commitment (cp 1Sa 15:22, 23)

Trampling (07429) (ramac/ramas) refers to the trampling down with the feet of a number of objects.

My courts - Solomon's building complex at Jerusalem included the "inner" court of the temple (1Ki 6:36; 7:12), the court of the palace (1Ki 7:8), perhaps the "middle" court of 2Ki 20:4 and the "great" court covering the entire area of the complex (1Ki 7:9, 12).

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WASTED WORSHIP - "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart." -- Psalm 51:17

If you are able to go to church on Sunday, you probably will. For most Christians, it's almost automatic -- and rightly so.

But is it possible that our efforts to go to church for worship might be wasted? Could it all be in vain?

Yes. Before we even enter the church, the worth of our worship can be reduced to nothing because of the way we've lived during the week.

In Amos 5 (Amos 5:21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27), the Lord had some harsh words for those who attempted to worship Him while bringing with them the guilt of an ungodly lifestyle. His people were constantly angering Him by following false gods (Amos 5:26). When they assembled to worship the Lord through sacrifices and songs, God despised their hypocrisy.

In Isaiah 1, God instructed His people that before they could worship Him, they were to "cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice" (Isa 1:16, 17).

What a challenge to us! Before we worship God, we are to put things in order by confessing our sins, seeking His forgiveness, and then serving Him. Our daily walk with God and our obedience to His commands are the elements that prepare us for church. Anything less will lead to wasted worship. -- J. David Branon  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Bring your worthless offerings no longer - Why does God give this piercing command? The answer is found in Isa 1:15, 16 - bloody hands, evil deeds.

Iniquity and the solemn assembly - F B Meyer says "Notice that and. It is very emphatic. The solemn meeting is not sufficient to deliver the soul from its iniquity, because its effect may only be skin-deep." (F. B. Meyer. Exodus)

John Piper explains why God rejects sacrifices in a system which He Himself established, writing that...

when a wicked person comes to God and makes a sacrifice with a heart of penitence, his sacrifice is accepted. That is the whole purpose of the guilt offering. A person who has been sinful during the week can be accepted through the sacrifice when it is accompanied by a broken, humble, repentant heart. So what Isaiah is really saying is that the reason God abominates 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 sin, and with no true intention of forsaking it. And 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... 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. (The Pleasures of God)

G Campbell Morgan commenting on I cannot endure iniquity writes by way of application that

In all our exercises in worship we need to remember this. The singing of hymns, the offering of prayers, the giving of money, the study of the Word, all may become hateful to God, and do, when the spiritual and moral condition of the worshippers is not in harmony with what these things stand for. (Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible)

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Imitation Faith - READ: Isaiah 1:1-4,12-17 -  These people . . . honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me. --Isaiah 29:13

Tourists throughout the centuries have visited the famous Acropolis, the ancient hilltop religious citadel in Athens. Thousands of sightseers from all over the world have picked up marble chunks as souvenirs.

Why hasn't the supply of pieces been exhausted long ago? The answer is very simple. Every few months a truckload of marble fragments from a quarry miles away is scattered around the whole Acropolis area. So tourists go home happy with what they think are authentic pieces of ancient history.

We can be deceived by other kinds of imitations. Religious language and music, religious objects and services may fool us into imagining that we are experiencing a firsthand relationship with God when in reality we are simply going through empty routines.

During the time of the prophet Isaiah, many of the people of Israel were merely going through the motions. That is why God told them, "Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. . . . Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates" (Isaiah 1:13, 14).

The possibility of religious deception prompts personal soul-searching. Our pious practices may be only imitations of the true heartfelt faith that the Lord desires. — Vernon C. Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

The prophet Amos records a similar indictment by God against the religious hypocrisy that characterized the 10 tribe Northern Kingdom of Israel...

"I hate (sane' - same verb used by Isaiah in Isa 1:14), I reject (the repetition of hate and reject indicates vehemence and passion) your festivals (the three pilgrimage festivals required of every male each year - the feasts of Unleavened Bread, feast of Harvest or feast of Weeks), and Ingathering or feast of Tabernacles), Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 "Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them (cp Ps 51:16, 17, 19); and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 "Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. 24 "But (dramatic contrast) let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (cp God's desire in Mic 6:8). (Amos 5:21, 22, 23, 24)

Earlier God even issued a sarcastic call to false worship was intended to show the people how far they were from God...

Enter Bethel and transgress. In Gilgal multiply transgression! Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days. (Amos 4:4)

Comment: These offerings God calls for in Amos had become a sham. The religious activities of people of the Northern Kingdom were carried out to impress others, not to fellowship and walk humbly with God (Mic 6:8). They would brag about their devotion, but their day-to-day conduct violated the spirit of their offerings. In fact some of the produce they tithed came from stolen land. Some of the animals they sacrificed had been fattened on unjustly seized fields. Their vacuous worship was an offense to God as it hypocritically offered the fruits of their rebellion against His covenant. God is never pleased by the practice of ritual at the expense of righteous lives!

Hate (08130) (sane') this verb is essentially the opposite of the Hebrew verb ahab meaning to love and means to feel extreme enmity toward or to have strong aversion toward.

TWOT says that sanes...

I will not listen - Notice it is not as if He cannot still hear, but it is that He will not listen! If you will not repent of your sins, God will not listen to your prayers.

Unrepentant sin
stops our prayers

There are a number of reasons why our prayers may seem to go unanswered and the presence of unconfessed and unforsaken sin is often the cause. This possibility must always be considered with all honesty before seeking another reason.

As the Psalmist knew so well...

Ps 66:18 If I regard (Hebrew = to see intellectually, even to look with favor upon; Lxx = theoreo =  to regard with interest & attention!! Meditate on this picture! Be sure that the little foxes will not spoil your vineyard - Song 2:15) wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Comment: "Regard" means here "to look with favor upon" or "plan". One picture is that of a heart which is making "provision" for sin (Ro 13:14-note). Another aspect is that of compromising with sin rather than having a holy aversion toward sin. We must seek to maintain the same attitude toward sin which God takes. A high view of God is always a good "catalyst" to maintain a low view of sin. A clear conscience, devoid of a desire for sin, is necessary for effectual prayer (1Jn 3:20,21). We must be diligent to avoid nullifying your prayers by planning, harboring, or entertaining sin or wickedness in your heart.

Spurgeon: If I regard iniquity in my heart. If, having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it without aversion; if I cherish it, have a side glance of love toward it, excuse it, and palliate it;

The Lord will not hear me. How can he? Can I desire him to connive at my sin, and accept me while I wilfully cling to any evil way? Nothing hinders prayer like iniquity harboured in the breast; as with Cain, so with us, sin lieth at the door, and blocks the passage. If thou listen to the devil, God will not listen to thee. If you refuse to hear God's commands, he will surely refuse to hear thy prayers. An imperfect petition God will hear for Christ's sake, but not one which is wilfully miswritten by a traitor's hand. For God to accept our devotions, while we are delighting in sin, would be to make himself the God of hypocrites, which is a fitter name for Satan than for the Holy One of Israel.

Robert Gordon: If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. The very supposition that "if he regarded iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear him," implies the possibility that such may be the state even of believers; and there is abundant reason to fear that it is in this way their prayers are so often hindered, and their supplications so frequently remain unanswered. Nor is it difficult to conceive how believers may be chargeable with regarding iniquity in their heart, even amidst all the solemnity of coming into the immediate presence of God, and directly addressing him in the language of prayer and supplication. It is possible that they may put themselves into such a situation, in a state of mind but little fitted for engaging in that holy exercise; the world, in one form or another, may for the time have the ascendancy in their hearts; and there may have been so much formality in their confessions, and so much indifference in their supplications, that when the exercise is over, they could not honestly declare that they really meant what they acknowledged, or seriously desired what they prayed for. A Christian, it is true, could not be contented to remain in a state like this; and, when he is awakened from it, as he sooner or later will be, he cannot fail to look back upon it with humiliation and shame. But we fear there are seasons in which believers themselves may make a very near approach to such a state; and what then is the true interpretation of prayers offered up at such a moment? It is in fact saying, that there is something which, for the time, they prefer to what they are formally asking of God; that, though the blessing which they do ask may be for a time withheld, yet they would find a compensation in the enjoyment of the worldly things which do at the moment engross their affections; and that, in reality, they would not choose to have at that instant such an abundant communication of spiritual influence imparted to them, as would render these worldly objects less valuable in their estimation, and would turn the whole tide of their affections towards spiritual things...

The Christian may sometimes betake himself to prayer, to ask counsel of God in some perplexity regarding divine truth, or to seek direction in some doubtful point of duty; but, instead of being prepared fairly to exercise his judgment in the hope that, while doing so, the considerations that lie of the side of truth will be made to his mind clear and convincing; he may have allowed his inclinations so to influence and bias his judgment towards the side of error, or in favour of the line of conduct which he wishes to pursue, that when he asks counsel it may only be in the hope that his previous opinion will be confirmed, and when he seeks direction it is in reality on a point about which he was previously determined...

Another case is, I fear, but too common, and in which the believer may be still more directly chargeable with regarding iniquity in his heart. It is possible that there may be in his heart or life something which he is conscious is not altogether as it should be -- some earthly attachment which he cannot easily justify -- or some point of conformity to the maxims and practices of the world, which he finds it difficult to reconcile with Christian principle; and yet all the struggle which these have from time to time cost him, may only have been an effort of ingenuity on his part to retain them without doing direct violence to conscience -- a laborious getting up of arguments whereby to show how they may be defended, or in what way they may lawfully be gone into; while the true and simple reason of his going into them, namely, the love of the world, is all the while kept out of view. And, as an experimental proof of how weak and inconclusive all these arguments are, and at the same time how unwilling he still is to relinquish his favourite objects, he may be conscious that in confessing his sins he leaves them out of the enumeration, rather because he would willingly pass them over, than because he is convinced that they need not be there; he may feel that he cannot and dare not make them the immediate subject of solemn and deliberate communing with God; and, after all his multiplied and ingenuous defences, he may be reconciled to them at last, only by ceasing to agitate the question whether they are lawful or not. Robert Gordon, D.D., 1825.

Isaiah repeats God's righteous indictment of Israel (and of all who would sin and seek to pray while in confessed sin)...

Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short that it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. (Isa 59:1, 2)

John Bunyan...

Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.

It’s not that God somehow goes deaf when we have sin in our life. It’s not that He can’t hear, it’s that He won’t hear.

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Illustration - After moving to a rural area, I discovered that my fax machine would transmit messages but could not receive them. Every incoming message was cut off and labeled with the frustrating words: "Communication Error. Line disconnected during reception." "Too much resistance and noise on your telephone line," the repairman said. After 2 hours of searching, splicing, and tightening connections, he had solved the problem. I have continued to ponder this situation as an illustration of my communication with God. It's easy to transmit my requests to Him, but much more difficult to receive His messages to me. My natural focus is on what I want to say rather than what I need to hear. If I allow the "resistance" of sin and the "noise" of the cares of life to build up, they disrupt my attention as I read the Bible, hear a sermon, or remain silent in prayer. When Jesus told a story about listening and responding to God's Word, He emphasized His point by saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Mk 4:9). Today is a fresh opportunity to clean up the line of communication with God. Let's give Him our undivided attention and listen carefully to Him in His Word. --D C McCasland (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

Communication with the Lord
Involves much more than prayer,
For we must also read His Word
And listen to Him there. --Sper

Worldly static disrupts our communication with God.

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John Piper in addressing the question of what facilitates answered prayer asks his congregation...