If You are Willing and Obedient

“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)

These were the words of God given to Isaiah the prophet of God, and he in turn spoke these words to the people of God at that time in history, who were the Jews. But not all who were Jews by physical birth were God’s spiritual children, for not all believed in God with genuine faith in him. And here he was addressing those who had rebelled against the Lord. He regarded them as a sinful nation who were offspring of evildoers who had forsaken the Lord and who had despised “the Holy One of Israel” (God).

So Isaiah asked them why they continued to rebel, and why they brought upon themselves the judgments of the Lord. And then God questioned them with regard to their sacrifices they had made, supposedly which were to God. For it appeared that they were going through the motions of religious practice by giving sacrifices to God but their hearts were far from him. So God saw their sacrifices as vain offerings, and as the trampling of his courts, and as an abomination to him, because their hands were full of blood.

And I cannot help but see many parallels between their nation and the nation I live in, the USA. The “Christian faith” is claimed by 2/3 of the population, at least, here in America, and yet so many who go by the name “Christian” are living no different from the people who make no professions of faith in the Lord. They may go to “church services” weekly and do “good deeds,” sometimes, and go through the motions of religious practice, or not, but it appears the majority are still living very worldly lives.

And it isn’t just the worldliness that is of concern, but so many have adopted a very diluted and altered gospel message which only requires that they make some profession of faith in Jesus, or some acknowledgment of who he was and what he did for us in dying on that cross and in being resurrected from the dead. And even that is distorted. For they are sure if they profess faith in Jesus that all their sins are forgiven, and heaven is secured them, but regardless of how they live, for they lack repentance and obedience.

And so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ, although they may go through the motions of religious service and worship of God, are living in open rebellion against the Lord and against his commands, and “the church” is largely giving that a “stamp of approval.” For they are largely being taught, and they believe, that how they live will not matter for eternity if they say they believe in Jesus. And so many of them are addicted to sin, especially sexual sin, and they are being pampered (coddled) in their sin.

Another deterrent here to genuine walks of biblical faith in Jesus Christ is that “the church” has been turned into businesses, and they are being marketed to the world just like any other business. And so they cater to the felt needs and the preferences of the people of the world in order to attract the world to their gatherings so that they can grow their “churches” in numbers. But then it can become like a show with music and preaching while most people are spectators who watch the performance then go home.

But the true church is not a building and not a place where we go to sing songs other people picked out for us to sing and where one man does all the talking, and where no one is testing what he is saying, and where no one else gets to participate. The church is made up of the people of God who are gifted of God with spiritual gifts and are assigned of God their body parts, and all of us are necessary for the proper building up of the body of Christ to maturity in Christ and away from deliberate and habitual sin.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

So, what was God’s counsel to his people of old? They must be willing and obedient to the Lord, and they must not refuse God and rebel. If they are willing and obedient, they would eat the good of the land. But if they refused and rebelled, they would be eaten by the sword. And the gospel that Jesus taught, and that his NT apostles taught, shares the same basic concept. If we die with Christ to sin and we now follow him in obedience, we have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. But if we refuse, and we continue living in sin, and not in obedience, we will not have life with God.

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

So, to be in relationship with Christ, and to have eternal life in him, we must deny self, die daily to sin and to self, and follow him in walks of obedience to his commands, by the Spirit, in the power of God at work within us.

Here I Am To Worship 

Songwriter: Tim Hughes

Light of the world

You stepped down into darkness.

Opened my eyes, let me see.

Beauty that made this heart adore You

Hope of a life spent with You

I'll never know how much it cost

To see my sin upon that cross

Here I am to worship,

Here I am to bow down,

Here I am to say that You're my God

You're altogether lovely

Altogether worthy,

Altogether wonderful to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaUTv1pXRyU 

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As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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