Isaiah 57:12

This is a moment of judgment that sounds almost like mercy, except for the final phrase: 'they shall not profit thee.' God will bring Israel's works into the light. The 'righteousness' Israel boasts of, the rituals performed, the offerings made, the laws observed in outward form, the alliances made, the strategies devised, the sacrifices to false gods, God will declare all of it, lay it all bare. It will be seen completely. But here is the crucial truth: it will not profit. All of it will be weighed and found wanting. You thought these things would secure you, the prophet says. You thought your works would earn you favor. But they will not. They cannot. False works, no matter how elaborate, how well-intentioned, how culturally appropriate, cannot purchase what only grace can give.

There is a peculiar torture in having all your works brought into the open, fully known and fully judged, only to be told they do not matter. It is the end of striving. We live our whole lives building something we think matters, and at the end, we are told: it does not profit. This is what Israel must hear. And it is what we must hear: what we do outside of relationship with God, no matter how impressive, will not save us. The only works that profit are those done in faith, in response to grace, as worship rather than as payment. Everything else is building on sand.