The Law and Gospel

​​ The Wickedness of Judah 

2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth,

for the LORD has spoken:

I reared children and brought them up,

but they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knows its owner

and the donkey its master’s crib,

but Israel does not know;

my people do not understand.

4 Woe, sinful nation,

people laden with iniquity,

offspring who do evil,

children who act corruptly,

who have forsaken the LORD,

who have despised the Holy One of Israel,

[[who are utterly estranged!]],

5 Why do you seek further beatings?

Why do you continue to rebel?

The whole head is injured,

and the whole heart faint.

6 From the sole of the foot to the head,

there is no soundness in it,

only bruises and sores

and bleeding wounds;

they have not been drained or bound up

or softened with oil.

7 Your country lies desolate;

your cities are burned with fire;

in your very presence

aliens devour your land;

it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.

8 And daughter Zion is left

like a booth in a vineyard,

like a shelter in a cucumber field,

like a besieged city.

9 If the LORD of hosts

had not left us a few survivors,

we would have been like Sodom

and become like Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of the LORD,

you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the teaching of our God,

you people of Gomorrah!

11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the LORD;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls

or of lambs or of goats.

12 When you come to appear before me,

who asked this from your hand?

Trample my courts no more!

13 Bringing offerings is futile;

incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and Sabbath and calling of convocation—

I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.

14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me;

I am weary of bearing them.

15 When you stretch out your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove your evil deeds

from before my eyes;

cease to do evil;

17 learn to do good;

seek justice;

rescue the oppressed;

defend the orphan;

plead for the widow.

18 Come now, let us argue it out,

says the LORD:

If your sins are like scarlet,

will they become like snow?

If they are red like crimson,

will they become like wool?

19 If you are willing and obedient,

you shall eat the good of the land,

20 but if you refuse and rebel,

you shall be devoured by the sword,

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 1:1-20 (NRSVue Strong's Bible)

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 ​Life in the Spirit

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit., 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit., 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:1-8 (NRSVue Strong's Bible)

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