#730 Ritualism Psalm 50

The Mighty One, God the Lord,

speaks and summons the earth

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,

God shines forth.

3 Our God comes; he does not keep silence;

before him is a devouring fire,

around him a mighty tempest.

4 He calls to the heavens above

and to the earth, that he may judge his people:

5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,

who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

6 The heavens declare his righteousness,

for God himself is judge! Selah

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak;

O Israel, I will testify against you.

I am God, your God.

8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;

your burnt offerings are continually before me.

9 I will not accept a bull from your house

or goats from your folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine,

the cattle on a thousand hills.

11 I know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

for the world and its fullness are mine.

13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls

or drink the blood of goats?

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and perform your vows to the Most High,

15 and call upon me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

16 But to the wicked God says:

“What right have you to recite my statutes

or take my covenant on your lips?

17 For you hate discipline,

and you cast my words behind you.

18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,

and you keep company with adulterers.

19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil,

and your tongue frames deceit.

20 You sit and speak against your brother;

you slander your own mother's son.

21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;

you thought that I was one like yourself.

But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God,

lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;

to one who orders his way rightly

I will show the salvation of God!” Psalm 50 ESV

A song of Asaph.

Then King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to sing praises to the LORD in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness and bowed their heads and worshiped. 31 Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings. 2 Chronicles 29: 30-31

The Mighty One, God the Lord - The absolute Sovereign in wisdom, power and might. There is no one like Him. There is no higher court, nothing that one can appeal to above God. 

Summons the earth - He, Who only can speak the world into being, now calls to every part of the earth, from where the sun is setting all the way around to where it is seen as rising. 

A devouring fire - He is perfectly just and has come to judge in righteousness.

Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12: 28-29

He may judge His people - Some look at this as only national Israel, but Paul offers much clarification in the New Testament, so just as through Abraham all the world would be blessed, all those who come to Christ will be counted among the saints. We are now God's people by adoption, and there is only One acceptable Mediator between God and man, that is Jesus Christ. The saints will be judged first.

So we aspire to please Him, whether we are here in this body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad. 11 Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.…2 Corinthians 5: 9-11

Made a covenant - See blood pact Genesis 15 

Adam and Eve's nakedness was covered by skins through a sacrifice. 

Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, so that by it, he being dead yet speaketh.

Abram is brought into a covenant with God, the vultures are chased away, as those who had no right to partake. God is the One Who makes Himself known to Abram, calls him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, makes known to him His plan for a nation to come from Abram's line, causes him to sleep while God walks between the sacrificed animals. It is a unilateral covenant, God is holding Himself as executor and redeemer. We know from His words to the serpent after the fall that His seed will be bruised, but as a consequence, the serpent's head will be crushed. God's plan has not changed, but He reveals more to mankind through His word. 

He makes a covenant with Israel under the Mosaic law. 

So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 And all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the LORD has spoken.” So Moses brought their words back to the LORD. 9 The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in you.” And Moses relayed the words of the people to the LORD.…Exodus 19: 7-9

Continually before me - They performed the rituals that were commanded to show the necessity of a blood atonement, that showed they were not in a right way with God. The sin is not the neglect of ritual, but vain repetition, ritualism. They began to see the work of sacrifice, the offering of animals, as a covering to sin rather than pointing them to a sincere realization of God's holiness and their bankrupt condition as sinners and therefore the objects of His just wrath. 

“What he intended for their instruction, they made their confidence.” (Spurgeon)

The cattle on a thousand hills - What do you offer God that He does not already own? Who made the earth? Where does the sacrifice come from? How do we know God? He makes Himself known. How do we know of sin? He has given us the law. How can I be right with God? He makes the ultimate sacrifice.

because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for me. 6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.… Hebrews 10: 4-6

The cattle on a thousand hills: There’s a story – which may or may not be true, but is a good illustration – that shortly after Dallas Seminary was founded in the 1920s, it almost closed because of bankruptcy. The founders met for prayer and one of them was Harry Ironside. When it was his turn to pray, he said, “Lord we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are Thine. Please sell some of them and send us the money.” As the story goes, just then a Texas rancher came into the business office with a check from two carloads of cattle he had just sold. The secretary came into the office where the founders prayed, told them what happened and presented the check – it was for just the amount they needed to keep the seminary going. Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder and president of the school, turned to Dr. Ironside and said, “Harry, God sold the cattle.” From Enduring Word

A sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows - If you had a bull to sacrifice back then, thank God. If you are alive and are in the hearing of this, thank God that He has not left you uninstructed. So many make vows at their wedding, rich or poor, but finding that they have not become rich, they seek another. Better or worse, until it is worse, then again their hearts pine for another. Sickness and health, yet again they did not in their heart sign up for this. God has said, you worship me with your lips but your hearts are far from me. Oh sinner, let this bring me to my knees, let this point me to the cross. God, let me be humble, let me see that religion is an empty thing, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be found acceptable in Your sight. Let me hunger and thirst after righteousness, know that it is by faith alone, and that a sign of true faith is the fruit of the Spirit, that faith without works is dead. Let me not have a form of Godliness, denying the power thereof, but create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. 

The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of the things devoted to destruction, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.” 22 But Samuel declared: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice,and attentiveness is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king.”… 1 Samuel 15: 21-23

But to the wicked - There are those that heard the word, recite the word, but are numbered as the wicked.

“The real problem with ritual is that, if forms are all there is to our religion, they give us feelings of being right with God when actually we may be guilty of the most terrible sins.” (Boice)

You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well.… Matthew 23: 24-26

What right have you to recite my statutes - You say it, and you leave thinking yourself justified. You quote me, but it never sinks in to your own heart. I hate sin, and you know this, you identify yourself as belonging to me, but you quickly discard my words for what you really value. You call yourself wise, yet cannot take My correction. You don't rebuke the thief because you would prefer that way yourself. You admire the adulterer because you are that in your hearts, always divided, never believing that God, as Creator of all, could possibly be right when He offers You a better way. Stay out of the pulpit, put His words away from your mouth unless you are willing to deny yourself, repent and be saved. Let it drive you to the cross, to hold up Christ, to beg for sincerity and a willing heart. God, let me not trust in mere words, let me not be happy with the feelings of a moment, but let me trust in Christ alone. It was His works that You found acceptable, His death that was the only sacrifice worthy, and His resurrection that brings life to the dead. Wherever there is true faith and hope, there is a new life. 

So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:… 2 Corinthians 5: 16-18

What right have you to declare My statutes: “Origen, after his foul fall, opening the book and lighting upon this text, was not able to preach, but broke out into abundance of tears.” (Trapp)

Overwhelmed