He Teaches Us to Profit

Isaiah 48:1-2 ESV

“Hear this, O house of Jacob,

    who are called by the name of Israel,

    and who came from the waters of Judah,

who swear by the name of the Lord

    and confess the God of Israel,

    but not in truth or right.

For they call themselves after the holy city,

    and stay themselves on the God of Israel;

    the Lord of hosts is his name.”

We who were grafted into Israel by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, and who have now become one with the Israel of God, by faith in Christ our Lord, are now God’s chosen people, his church, his body. We are those who confess God, who confess Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives.

[John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 9:4-8; Romans 11:17-25; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-18; Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 2:22]

But not everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ does so in truth, nor do they all live by the faith they profess, in practice. For there are many who give lip service to God but their hearts are far from him, for they are still lord over their own lives, and they are still doing what pleases self, and not what pleases God. For they are still the ones guiding their own “ships.” And they are still charting their own courses.

Isaiah 48:17-19,22 ESV

“Thus says the Lord,

    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

‘I am the Lord your God,

    who teaches you to profit,

    who leads you in the way you should go.

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

    Then your peace would have been like a river,

    and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

your offspring would have been like the sand,

    and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

    or destroyed from before me.’”

So, what is meant here by God saying that he teaches us to profit? For when I think of this word “profit,” I think of making money because of some type of work that I did. But the word also means “yield,” which can mean harvest or produce, something that we reap in return for what has been sown. For example, if I plant seeds to grow cucumbers, the yield or the profit should then be cucumbers. But the word also means “benefit.”

And if I benefit from something, I have gained some type of advantage or reward or value or help, something that is for my good, for my well-being, something that is helpful and useful for me in my walk of faith. So this is like the Scriptures which teach us that we are, by faith in Jesus Christ, to bear spiritual fruit in keeping with repentance and for the kingdom of God. For example, if we claim to be followers of Christ, it should show by our actions.

We read in Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

So, what this is teaching us is that what we do in this life matters for eternity, particularly with regard to where we will end up. But this also teaches us that what we put into this life will be what we will produce (yield, profit). So, if we live godless and selfish lives, doing what we want to do, without regard for God and for what he wants and/or commands us to do, then it is going to result in corruption and in death, not life eternal.

But if we choose, by God-given faith in Jesus Christ, to yield our lives to our Lord and to do his will for our lives, and so we leave behind us our lives of living in sin and for self, and now we walk by faith in doing what our Lord commands, in practice, and so we are now living holy and godly lives to the glory of God, and in the power of God, in practice, then what we will reap (yield) is eternal life with God in heaven.

For the purpose of our salvation is not just so we have our sins forgiven and so we end up in heaven one day, and not in hell. For Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, and he died so we would now live for him and no longer for ourselves. He shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we would now serve the Lord and honor God with our bodies.

[1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 6:1-23]

So, it is critical that we take God and his word seriously, that we believe him and what his word teaches and what he said he would do. But there we must make certain that we do not claim promises not for us and that we do not ignore warnings which are for us, and this is why it is critical that we read the Scriptures in their context. For example, the promises of John 10:28-30 are for those described for us in John 10:27, so please read in context.

And who are the wicked? They are all who are doing what is wicked, in practice. They are those who deliberately and habitually and even premeditatedly sin against God and against other humans without conscience, without compassion, and without true biblical remorse. They are a law unto themselves and they live however they want, regardless of what God’s word teaches. And many of them profess faith in Jesus Christ.

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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