A Pretense of Long Prayer<\/p>\n
"And for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater condemnation" (Mat_23:14, \\1911 Bible).<\/p>\n
It is very necessary to get back of all long prayers and drawn-out petitions, made in public. We must examine the private walk, to rightly estimate the public prayer.<\/p>\n
Outward postures do not suffice with God; man may look at these, God looks at the heart.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of people who appear before the Lord; they come "as the people cometh, and they sit before Thee as my people, and they hear Thy words, but they will not do them" (Eze_33:31).<\/p>\n
There are plenty of people who, "with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their unlawful gains" (Eze_33:31, \\1911 Bible).<\/p>\n
There are plenty of people to whom the Lord is, as "a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear Thy words, but they do them not" (Eze_33:32, \\1911 Bible).<\/p>\n
In speaking of the Pharisees, the Lord Jesus told a parable of a certain man who had two sons. Unto one of them he said: "Go work to day in my vineyard." "And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not" (Mat_21:28, Mat_21:30).<\/p>\n
Thus, the Pharisees promised great things, but they did them not. Their lip service was all right, but their heart was all wrong.<\/p>\n
The Pharisees drew nigh unto God with their mouth, and they honored Him with their lips; but their heart was far from Him.<\/p>\n
There is nothing that can displease God more than long prayers from lifeless lips.<\/p>\n
When Israel turned away from God in her heart, she still continued her sacrifices, then the Lord remonstrated thus:<\/p>\n
"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats" (Isa_1:11).<\/p>\n
God did, as a rule, delight in the blood of the sacrifices. The offering of Abel's was a sweet incense unto Him; many of the Old Testament sacrifices pleased Him. However, He despised a sacrifice that was a mere formality, with a corrupt heart behind it.<\/p>\n
The Word continues:<\/p>\n
"When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me" (Isa_1:12-13).<\/p>\n
The feasts of Israel and her new moons God hated; they were a trouble unto Him, He was weary to bear them.<\/p>\n
When they spread forth their hands toward God, He hid His eyes from them.<\/p>\n
When they made many prayers, He did not hear.<\/p>\n
The reason for all of this is expressed in one short sentence:<\/p>\n
"Your hands are full of blood" (Isa_1:15).<\/p>\n
God cried:<\/p>\n
"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow" (Isa_1:16-17).<\/p>\n
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Pretense of Long Prayer "And for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater condemnation" (Mat_23:14, \\1911 Bible). It is very necessary to get back of all long prayers and drawn-out petitions, made in public. We must examine the private walk, to rightly estimate the public prayer. Outward postures do not … Continue reading “1678. A Pretense of Long Prayer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24651\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}