Ben Watson joins us this Sunday for a message around Isaiah 1—focusing on the difference between religion vs. relationship. Because we have been made clean by God through the blood of His Son, he stresses that our behavior should reflect that.
- Our religion is not a substitute for relationship.
- Our religion is futile without obedience to God's commands.
Scripture References
For the
“I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
like a city under siege.
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
what are they to me?”
says the
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
I hate with all my being.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
Take your evil deeds out of my sight;
stop doing wrong.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
says the
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
you will eat the good things of the land;
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the
