Sacrifice

Hosea 6:4-6 - “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth—then my judgments go forth like the sun. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.



Jeremiah 23:29 - “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

1 Samuel 15:22-23 - But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”

Psalm 40:6 - Sacrifice and offering you did not desire—but my ears you have opened—burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require.

Micah 6:6,8 - With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?... He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 1:17-18 - Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Jeremiah 7:21 - “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!

Application:

· God's Word burns the straw of falsehood and shatters the sinful heart!
· Do I really participate in God's covenant? Do I exhibit steadfast love and knowledge of God?
· Sacrifice without obedience gains nothing!
· Am I able and eager to hear God's law?
· Do I do justice, love kindness and walk humbly as a result of God's redemptive acts?
· Is my repentance superficial?
· Have I rebelled against the Lord? Have I rejected Him?
· Doing good in God's sight includes seeking the just functioning of society!
· Have I reformed my life?
· Useless sacrifices cause God to treat people all alike--with judgment!
· Sacrifices are desirable, but it does no good to offer them without obedience!

All Scripture verses taken from NIV