In Isaiah, chapter twenty-nine, verse thirteen, “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and fear towards me is taught by the precept of men.” God’s people were coming before Him in prayer, worship, song, and praise, even though their hearts were not committed to Him and His Word. They acted as if God’s revelation and His righteous standards were not obligatory. Instead of cherishing God and His Word, they filled their lives with religious rituals and traditions taught by their leaders, and in false security, they lived for themselves, as in Jeremiah four, verses three to four, chapter twenty-four, verse seven, and chapter thirty-one, verses thirty-one through thirty-four, respectively.
A similar destructive spiritual condition exists in some churches today. People praise and honour God with their lips while simultaneously having no real love for Him or His righteous precepts. When their worship service is over, they seek the pleasures of sin and the world to satisfy their carnal desires: the result is spiritual blindness and deception, as in verse fourteen of this theme chapter.
“This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, is the bottom part of Mark seven, verse six. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were guilty of the sin of legalism. A legalist substitutes outward acts, rules, or words for proper inner attitudes that come from being born of God and the Spirit. The Pharisees were similar to some of God’s people in Isaiah, by lip service and no love in their hearts. Legalism does not refer to the mere existence of stated regulations for righteous living within the Christian community: Rather, it has to do with motives.