God cannot be bought off. ( 1 Peter 1 v 18-19 ) 1

 The first sermon I preached in England was from the book of Micah chap 6 v 8 , it reads ,'He has told you,O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you. But to do justice, to love mercy,and to walk humbly with your God'. Micah ministered during the reign of 3 kings of Judah, 'Jotham , Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Bear in mind that the nation of Israel split in two under the rule of Rehoboam ,Solomon's son, it was  a judgement caused by the sin of Solomon.It is to these two nations that Micah spoke to, telling  them God's judgement was coming, and it did. but their was also a degree of hope,things would change eventually.Micah answers the question,as to what the Lord required from the nation.would multitude of  sacrifices be the answer?, the answer was no. David Prior writes ,' This notion of atonement by means of costly gifts,of virtually buying God off , dies very hard in the human heart'.The Roman Catholic church sought to do this in the selling of indulgence,the more you give the less time you spent in purgatory.a man called Simon in Acts 8 thought the gifts of God could be bought with money, he was rebuked severally by Peter. There is a saying everyone can be bought,but let me assure you, God cannot be bought off.Peter sums it up like this ,'You were not redeemed with corruptible things,like silver and gold,from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of  a lamb without blemish and without spot', (1 Peter 1 v 18- 19)