Topic: An Abomination to the Lord
Bible Reading: Proverbs 13-15; 1 Corinthians 1.
Memory Verse: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” Proverbs 15:8 (KJV).
Anyone who is not saved is referred to in the Bible as wicked. If you are therefore yet to give your life to Jesus Christ, you are a wicked soul. And the word of God is that the Lord is far from the wicked. but hears the prayer of the righteous.(Proverbs 15:29 KJV). So if you are not born again, God is far from you and the only way you can get close to Him is by repenting of your sins and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. In John 3:3 (KJV), “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This was His response to a ruler of the Jews who came at night to show that he knew Jesus is from God Almighty. And when he further asked how a man can be born again, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “ John 3:5 (KJV)
Now why is this important, the word of God says in Proverbs 15:8 (KJV), “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” So whatever sacrifices an unbeliever makes such as giving donations to works of God or helping people generally will not amount to anything, because it is detested by God! This is because God operates based on principles. He cannot be bribed with gifts, rather He expects that you should surrender your soul and repent of your sins before committing to make sacrifices for Him. That’s why He told king Saul through his prophet in 1 Samuel 15:22 (KJV), “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” That was his response to Saul when he chose to spare fat sheep and oxen to make sacrifices to God instead of obeying His instructions to kill them in the war.
Have you given your life to Christ before but due to the pressures of life or the attractions of riches, you have backslided? Whether known by people or not, you need to repent and quickly go back to God if you do not want to perish because all sacrifices you may be making are abomination to God and He is far from you; that’s why when you call on Him, He does not seem to hear or answer your prayers. You need to change your ways before it is too late.
There was a man who God sent messages to several times to change his ways but he never did though, on so many occasions that he was sick, God healed him miraculously. However when he was very ill again and sensed he was about to die he asked for prayer to be healed but God did not answer. When the man of God praying for him noticed that the prayer was not being answered, he went to God to seek for the reason and God told him that he had sent several opportunities to the man to repent but he refused and continued in his wickedness . He further said, it was too late for the man to be healed because he had wasted all his opportunities. The man ended dying in the sickness as an unbeliever. The grace will not last for ever, take the opportunity now when God is near. Remember Romans 6:15-16 (KJV) says, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. [16] Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
Action point: Call on God and repent of any sin in your life and renew your salvation so that all your sacrifices may not be abomination to the Lord.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero