Let Us Be Reasonable

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

    they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

    they shall become like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,

    you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel,

    you shall be eaten by the sword;

    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:18-20 ESV)

To reason together means to prove, decide, judge, rebuke, reprove, and correct. It means to exercise common sense and to not go by our feelings. And how do we do this with God? We must be those who are willing to listen to him and to what his word teaches us we must do as his followers. For we cannot reason together with the Lord if we are holding on to our own stubborn ways and opinions and if we will not consider the teachings of the Scriptures in their full context. We cannot shut God out!

For reason has to do with wisdom and with good sound judgment and considering all the facts and having our minds and hearts open to having our thinking changed if our thinking has been wrong because of sin or because we have been deceived or because of brainwashing and/or human tradition, etc. For many of us were taught things wrongly early on in our lives. So if we are reasonable people we will be willing to see where we have gotten things wrong and we will be willing to change course.

For if we hold on to what we have always believed or been taught, and if we are not willing to read the Scriptures in their full context and to accept that we maybe had some things wrong, if we did, indeed, then we are not being reasonable, but we are being bull-headed and stubborn. For to be reasonable people is to be sensible, rational, practical, realistic, fair, logical, and levelheaded. But it is to be openminded, too, not to contradicting the Lord, but willing to see if we have maybe gotten some things wrong.

And what was the Lord asking them to be reasonable about? Well, they were those who professed his name and that they were his children, but they were living in open rebellion against the Lord. They were living in sin. They were evildoers who dealt corruptly. They had forsaken the Lord. They were utterly estranged from him. But they were those who went through the motions of religious practice, which God sees as hypocrisy. And so he counseled them to cease to do evil and to learn to do good.

So, what is the Lord asking of us who profess his name today to reason with him about? Well, for one, many who are professing his name are still walking in sin, still making sin their habit, their practice, deliberately and habitually. And many are doing this without conscience for they have accepted the lies as the truth and they have rejected the truth as though it is a lie. So he wants them to examine with him what the Scriptures teach, in full context, so that they can see that he is not okay with them living that way.

For many are teaching today that we can make a profession of faith once in our lives and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is now secured for us when we die, and nothing can take that away from us, but regardless of how we live. But that is not what Jesus taught. And it is not what his NT apostles taught. For Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience. And if we don’t, we will not inherit eternal life with God.

So, it is not those who merely profess faith in Jesus Christ who are forgiven of their sins and promised heaven as their eternal destiny. It is all who are willing and obedient to the Lord who have forgiveness of sins and the hope of eternal life with God. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. And many will stand before him one day claiming him as Lord and all that they did in his name, and he is going to reject them.

And this is not just OT teaching. This is what the NT teaches. We must walk (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. We must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience. We must forsake our lives of living in sin and for self, and we must surrender our lives to the will of God to now walk in his ways if we want to have eternal life with God in heaven. For if we rebel, and we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; 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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