The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 1:15

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

God will not listen to the prayers of the wicked.

Sinners sometimes think that they may persist in sin as long as they like, because they can at any time turn to God, ask his forgiveness, obtain pardon, and be saved. But Scripture is very full of warnings that this is not the case. There is "a sin against the Holy Ghost, "which "shah not be forgiven to men, neither in this world, neither in the world to come" (Matthew 12:32). There is a persistence in sin, which "quenches the Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Men cannot turn to God whenever they please. The "accepted time" passes away, and they find it impossible to turn to him in true faith and penitence. They may "say prayers, "but they do not really pray. And God shuts his ears against such prayers (see, besides the present passage, Job 27:8, Job 27:9; Proverbs 1:28; Jeremiah 11:11; Ezekiel 8:18; Hebrews 6:4 6; Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 John 5:16).

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