What Are the Sacrifices of Righteousness That God Wants?

Dennis Edwards

Psalm 4:1 Here me when I call, O God of my righteousness: Thou has enlarged me (or relieved of comforted me) when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Here we see David approaching God in prayer. David realizes that his righteousness comes from God and not from his own efforts and works. He approaches God with a humble spirit asking God to extend mercy or love and forgiveness to him.

Psalm 4:3 But I know the Lord has set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him.

David understands that the people of God, the followers of God are to be separated from the world of worldly men. Like Apostle Paul quotes in his epistle.

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

God’s people were to be a separate nation, a nation dedicated to the worship and service of God.

Psalm 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

David is reminding us of the greatness of God and that we should stand in reverence to Him, in the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. When we look up into the starry sky at night, it gives us the feeling of awe at God’s greatness, His power, and might. When we pray, we should remember God’s greatness and humble ourselves before Him in reverence and quiet petition. It is often upon our bed in prayer at the end of a long day where we reflect upon our lives, our past, our present, and our future.

Psalm 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord.

What exactly are the “sacrifices of righteousness” that David mentions here that we are to offer? That’s our study today. Let’s read from Genesis where we find the first sacrifice.

Genesis 4:3-7a And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord, And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen? If thou does well, shall thou not be accepted?

Here we see Adam’s first two sons offering perhaps their first sacrifice to the Lord. Maybe until that time Adam had done the sacrificing for the family. Now the boys were old enough to make their own sacrifice to the Lord. The earliest record of a killing of an animal, however, goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden right after the fall.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Could it have been that God himself performed a little sacrifice with Adam and Eve present before the making of their clothes? Could it be that God initiated the first example of sacrifice in the Garden when He told them about the Promised Seed that would come and redeem them? About 1,500 years later, we see Noah, after the flood, offering a sacrifice unto the Lord.

Genesis 8:20-21a And Noah built an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.

The next great man of God, Abraham, is asked to sacrifice the promised seed, his son Isaac. At the last moment, the angel stays Abraham’s hand and Abraham finds a ram caught in the thicket to sacrifice in Isaac’s stead.

Some 430 years later, we see God’s people escaping Egypt on the Passover night as the angel of death passes over Egypt. Those who had followed Moses’ commandment from the Lord and had slain a lamb and painted its blood on their door posts, were saved.

Could it be that Adam had already performed sacrifices to the Lord in the presence of his sons, Cain and Abel before they made their sacrifices? Adam’s sacrifices would have been animal sacrifices in accordance to God’s commandment to Adam. Those sacrifices would have looked forward to the sacrifice of Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, the Redeemed or Promised Seed that would crush the head of the serpent? In the New Testament we read,

John 1:29 The next day John sees Jesus coming unto him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.

1 Peter 1:18-21 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Revelation 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (the beast or Antichrist), whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Other passages in Revelation 5 show that Jesus is the Lamb that was slain who was worthy to open the book with the seals and He has redeemed us to God by his blood.

Revelation 5:9 & 12 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood… Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

In our study so far, we see the figure of lamb sacrifice all the way back to Cain and Abel and possibly to the Garden of Eden. We see the imagery of Abraham sacrificing his promised seed son Isaac and having him replaced with a ram or male sheep. We see the Passover lamb slain and its blood on the door post saving those within. In Isaiah 53 we see the words of the prophet depicting the Messiah’s death, and his submission to it, like a lamb to the slaughter.

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.

Therefore, going back to Genesis, what was Cain’s sin? Why did God not accept Cain’s sacrifice? Could it be it was because it was not the sacrifice the Lord demanded. God wanted a sacrifice that looked forward to His own death on the cross years later. An animal blood sacrifice, a lamb in particular, which would be the perfect symbol of His own future sacrifice for mankind.

Cain leaned to his own understanding and sacrificed the work of his own hands. Cain offered his good works, when God wanted his heart, his obedience, his submission. Abel ‘s sacrifice was accepted because Abel obeyed God’s command. Abel showed his love for God by his obedience. Cain leaned to his own understanding and fell into disobedience and rebellion. King Saul would later try the same way of worship and the prophet would admonish him.

1 Samuel 15:22-23 Has 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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected thee from being king.

We see the true sacrifice that God wants is our obedience to Him, to His word, and to the voice of His Word which we hear when we read God’s word, or when we listen to the still small voice of conscience in quiet meditation. Moses had written years before:

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: that thou may love the Lord thy God, and that thou may obey his voice, and that thou may cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou may dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Therefore, the sacrifice that God demands of His children is their obedience. “Offering the sacrifices of righteousness” is nothing more than offering to God our submission, our obedience, our yieldedness, our dependence on Him. Here are some other verses along that line.

Jeremiah 7:21-24 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifice and eat flesh. For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt. Concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: but this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all my ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. 

Micah 6:6-8 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed thee, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Isaiah 1:13-14, 16-17, 19-20 Bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword.

Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother has aught against thee. Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Proverbs 21:3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Matthew 9:13 But go to and learn what that means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

John 14:15, 21 &23 If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Ps 51: 16 & 17 For you desire not sacrifice, else would I give it: you delight not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise.

We see God wants us to have humble hearts before Him. The sacrifice of God is a humble and contrite heart. Here are a few verses that confirm that.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and save such as be of a contrite spirit.

Matthew 5:3-8 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

It seems that all these “blessed” would have contrite and humble hearts.

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Isaiah 66:2b But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.

James 4:6 & 10 But He gives more grace. Wherefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Abel’s humble obedience showed his love and submission to God. His sacrifice was more excellent than Cain’s, because it was done in obedience and with a humble and contrite heart. God counted him righteousness because he trusted in God’s love and mercy, not his own goodness and works.

Romans 12: 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

John 4:23-24 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Our lives should be living sacrifices showing forth the power, the love, and the light of God within us. We must worship God in the way we live our lives.

Hebrews 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Psalm 69:30-31 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs.

Psalm 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.

Praise is a pleasing sacrifice that God desires, always, therefore in everything we should give thanks!

Psalm 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

David is saying our prayers and worship of God are likened unto a righteous sacrifice.

Hebrews 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

God is pleased with the sacrifices we make to communicate with one another. Communication between the brethren is often a sacrifice to do, but it’s one that God is well pleased.

In conclusion, the sacrifice of righteousness which we offer to God is our complete, humble, praiseful, submission and obedience to Him in all we do and say, and in our prayer and worship. Our lives should be a living sacrifice in that we seek to love and obey the Lord with all our heart, mind, body, and soul. Then we shall love our neighbour, or anyone who needs our help, as ourselves and that shall please the Lord more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices we could make.

Mark 12:30-34 And thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou has said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other than He: and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, He said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.