Getting Cleaned Up

Isaiah 1:18-20
(18) "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.
(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 eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

I've been a big fan of verse 18 for a long time. What Christian isn't? However, as I read through this time I see the need for more context. Isaiah just finished talking about the need to live out God's commands. Now we see immediately after this verse that there is a command to be "willing and obedient."

I still maintain that the ability to be "willing and obedient" is a work of grace. However, I also know that faith is a component. We cannot expect for the promise of verse 18 to be true in our lives if we don't take verses 18 and 19 into account.

I tend to bristle at some churches calling themselves "full gospel." What that typically means is that they are charismatic and that the "full gospel" includes some second experience of baptism by the Holy Spirit so that you can speak in tongues, etc. I like the term "full gospel," but I would take it to mean that there has to be an element of repentance if someone's faith. Faith without works is dead, amen?