1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,000 Please open your Bibles again at Isaiah, in chapter 1. 2 00:00:04,000 –> 00:00:07,560 We looked last time at the remarkable words 3 00:00:07,560 –> 00:00:10,620 that come from the mouth of God himself 4 00:00:10,620 –> 00:00:12,160 when he says in verse 2, 5 00:00:12,160 –> 00:00:17,160 I raised children and they rebelled against me. 6 00:00:17,840 –> 00:00:21,520 God was of course speaking to the nation of Israel. 7 00:00:21,520 –> 00:00:23,600 He had made a covenant with these people. 8 00:00:23,600 –> 00:00:26,860 He had adopted them as his own children, his own family. 9 00:00:26,860 –> 00:00:29,520 He blessed them, he provided for them. 10 00:00:29,559 –> 00:00:30,760 He protected them. 11 00:00:30,760 –> 00:00:32,980 And God says, these people, 12 00:00:32,980 –> 00:00:36,740 the ones who’ve experienced my blessing in an unusual way. 13 00:00:36,740 –> 00:00:40,480 The ones who have received my kindness. 14 00:00:40,480 –> 00:00:43,180 They are the ones, of all people, 15 00:00:43,180 –> 00:00:45,400 who have rebelled against me. 16 00:00:45,400 –> 00:00:49,380 They don’t listen to me, they don’t want to know me. 17 00:00:49,380 –> 00:00:50,860 They don’t want me in their lives, 18 00:00:50,860 –> 00:00:52,220 they don’t want to walk in my ways. 19 00:00:52,220 –> 00:00:54,320 They’re really stubborn, they are self-willed, 20 00:00:54,320 –> 00:00:56,680 and they are ungrateful. 21 00:00:56,759 –> 00:00:58,340 And then we saw last week, 22 00:00:58,340 –> 00:01:03,040 that God describes the position of these rebel children 23 00:01:03,040 –> 00:01:04,959 in three ways, verse four, 24 00:01:04,959 –> 00:01:07,160 they are laden with iniquities. 25 00:01:07,160 –> 00:01:09,400 So, think of this great burden on their back. 26 00:01:09,400 –> 00:01:13,480 They’re carrying this load of iniquity. 27 00:01:13,480 –> 00:01:15,940 Verse six, they are beaten and bruised. 28 00:01:15,940 –> 00:01:19,000 There’s bruises, sores, and raw wounds 29 00:01:19,000 –> 00:01:22,279 from sole of the foot to the top of the head. 30 00:01:22,279 –> 00:01:24,760 And then they are alone and they are surrounded 31 00:01:24,760 –> 00:01:28,120 like a besieged city in verse eight. 32 00:01:28,120 –> 00:01:32,800 So, here is a perfect portrait we saw 33 00:01:32,800 –> 00:01:36,160 of the position of the sinner, 34 00:01:36,160 –> 00:01:39,519 our position as sinners before a holy God. 35 00:01:39,519 –> 00:01:40,820 What’s it like? 36 00:01:40,820 –> 00:01:43,480 We’re laden with iniquity, 37 00:01:43,480 –> 00:01:45,959 we are beaten and we are bruised, 38 00:01:45,959 –> 00:01:47,800 and we are alone and we are surrounded 39 00:01:47,800 –> 00:01:52,400 and vulnerable to the great enemy of our souls himself. 40 00:01:52,419 –> 00:01:55,839 That’s the portrait that we looked at last week 41 00:01:55,839 –> 00:01:58,720 from the first part of this very important chapter 42 00:01:58,720 –> 00:02:00,239 in the Bible. 43 00:02:00,239 –> 00:02:01,919 Now, today we come to the obvious 44 00:02:01,919 –> 00:02:03,959 and the all important question, 45 00:02:03,959 –> 00:02:06,160 which of course is, if that is our position, 46 00:02:06,160 –> 00:02:09,320 what can be done about it, what can we do? 47 00:02:09,320 –> 00:02:11,580 This series is called 180, 48 00:02:11,580 –> 00:02:16,580 How God Changes His People and His Church. 49 00:02:16,899 –> 00:02:18,880 And so, the question that’s before us today 50 00:02:18,880 –> 00:02:20,679 is an obviously important one, 51 00:02:20,759 –> 00:02:23,860 how can these raw wounds be healed, 52 00:02:23,860 –> 00:02:26,240 how can this burden of iniquity 53 00:02:26,240 –> 00:02:28,979 that is laid on the backs of these people, 54 00:02:28,979 –> 00:02:30,039 how can it be lifted, 55 00:02:30,039 –> 00:02:35,039 how can the enemy that surrounds the soul of every person 56 00:02:35,259 –> 00:02:38,360 be pushed back and the soul set free? 57 00:02:38,360 –> 00:02:41,160 What can be done about this position 58 00:02:41,160 –> 00:02:45,979 that is laid before us here in Isaiah one? 59 00:02:45,979 –> 00:02:47,240 Now, I have three headings today, 60 00:02:47,240 –> 00:02:49,800 very simply, so you know where we’re going. 61 00:02:49,820 –> 00:02:52,660 First, I want us to look at what we try to do, 62 00:02:52,660 –> 00:02:54,300 what we try to do. 63 00:02:54,300 –> 00:02:56,779 Second, what we need to do 64 00:02:56,779 –> 00:03:00,600 and third, what only God can do. 65 00:03:00,600 –> 00:03:01,479 These three things, 66 00:03:01,479 –> 00:03:05,100 and I hope you have the chapter open in front of you. 67 00:03:05,100 –> 00:03:07,779 Now, we begin then with what we try to do 68 00:03:07,779 –> 00:03:10,339 in the light of our situation 69 00:03:10,339 –> 00:03:13,979 and that is the focus of verses 10 to 15. 70 00:03:13,979 –> 00:03:15,779 What you have in these verses 71 00:03:15,779 –> 00:03:20,399 is really the natural reaction of the human heart 72 00:03:21,419 –> 00:03:26,100 to an awareness of our own position before God. 73 00:03:26,100 –> 00:03:27,419 So here’s what happens, 74 00:03:27,419 –> 00:03:29,679 your conscience gets awakened. 75 00:03:30,580 –> 00:03:32,199 You begin to have some sense 76 00:03:32,199 –> 00:03:35,100 that your life is not what it should be. 77 00:03:35,100 –> 00:03:36,179 You get some light, 78 00:03:36,179 –> 00:03:37,759 you realize for the first time 79 00:03:37,759 –> 00:03:39,580 that there really is a thing called sin 80 00:03:39,580 –> 00:03:41,820 and that it actually is in you. 81 00:03:42,720 –> 00:03:46,000 You begin to feel the weight of your own inequity. 82 00:03:46,000 –> 00:03:48,059 You begin to see that there are wounds 83 00:03:48,059 –> 00:03:49,500 and there are bruises 84 00:03:49,500 –> 00:03:52,479 that actually you have inflicted on yourself 85 00:03:52,479 –> 00:03:55,820 by your own sinful choices. 86 00:03:55,820 –> 00:03:56,979 And you say to yourself, 87 00:03:56,979 –> 00:03:58,720 now I have to do something about this, 88 00:03:58,720 –> 00:04:01,160 I have to get right with God. 89 00:04:01,160 –> 00:04:03,000 How can I do that? 90 00:04:03,940 –> 00:04:08,940 Now the default answer of the human heart to that question 91 00:04:08,940 –> 00:04:13,580 is worship, serve, and pray. 92 00:04:13,580 –> 00:04:15,320 That’s the default answer. 93 00:04:15,320 –> 00:04:18,519 And that’s exactly what these folks did. 94 00:04:18,519 –> 00:04:19,579 Do you see it here? 95 00:04:19,579 –> 00:04:20,720 They come to worship, 96 00:04:20,720 –> 00:04:23,859 verse 12, when you appear before me. 97 00:04:23,859 –> 00:04:25,820 So they’re coming to the temple. 98 00:04:25,820 –> 00:04:28,760 Verse 12, they trample through God’s courts. 99 00:04:28,760 –> 00:04:31,299 Again the reference to their coming to worship. 100 00:04:31,299 –> 00:04:32,640 They offer service. 101 00:04:32,640 –> 00:04:33,899 Look what they give to God. 102 00:04:33,899 –> 00:04:37,119 Verse 11, a multitude of sacrifices. 103 00:04:37,140 –> 00:04:40,359 Verse 13, they bring offerings. 104 00:04:40,359 –> 00:04:43,000 And more than that, verse 15, they pray. 105 00:04:43,000 –> 00:04:46,459 In fact it says there that they make many prayers, 106 00:04:46,459 –> 00:04:49,859 verse 15, and that they spread out their hands. 107 00:04:49,859 –> 00:04:52,100 Which in the Old Testament and in the New 108 00:04:52,100 –> 00:04:56,320 is associated with the act of praying. 109 00:04:56,320 –> 00:04:57,559 So here are these people. 110 00:04:57,559 –> 00:04:59,559 They realized something of their position. 111 00:04:59,559 –> 00:05:03,260 And the default answer of the human heart 112 00:05:03,260 –> 00:05:04,079 to the question, 113 00:05:04,079 –> 00:05:06,320 what do I need to do to get right with God, 114 00:05:06,720 –> 00:05:10,160 is worship and serve and pray. 115 00:05:12,040 –> 00:05:14,519 Now, the striking thing to me here 116 00:05:14,519 –> 00:05:18,160 is that what they do evidently 117 00:05:18,160 –> 00:05:20,019 is according to the book. 118 00:05:21,140 –> 00:05:23,920 You see, there are other places in the Bible 119 00:05:23,920 –> 00:05:26,220 where God rebukes His people 120 00:05:26,220 –> 00:05:29,679 for offering to idols. 121 00:05:29,679 –> 00:05:31,600 But there’s no rebuke for that here. 122 00:05:31,600 –> 00:05:33,679 These offerings are not offered to idols. 123 00:05:33,760 –> 00:05:37,700 These people are offering offerings to God, Himself. 124 00:05:39,079 –> 00:05:40,820 There were other times in the Bible 125 00:05:40,820 –> 00:05:43,859 when God indicted His people 126 00:05:43,859 –> 00:05:48,160 for offering animals that were sick and were lame. 127 00:05:48,160 –> 00:05:50,140 Here were folks who said, 128 00:05:50,140 –> 00:05:52,839 look at the flock, that one’s sick, that one’s lame, 129 00:05:52,839 –> 00:05:55,399 they’re not gonna be able to be sold or have any value, 130 00:05:55,399 –> 00:05:57,640 so we’ll just make them offerings to the Lord. 131 00:05:57,640 –> 00:05:59,279 This brought offense to God. 132 00:05:59,279 –> 00:06:00,980 But there’s no evidence of that here. 133 00:06:00,980 –> 00:06:03,100 In fact, the opposite, verse 11. 134 00:06:03,100 –> 00:06:04,839 You notice these people are bringing 135 00:06:04,839 –> 00:06:07,700 the fat of well-fed beasts. 136 00:06:07,700 –> 00:06:09,040 So that costs something, 137 00:06:09,040 –> 00:06:12,160 they’re bringing real offerings to the Lord. 138 00:06:13,459 –> 00:06:16,359 And these people come to the right place. 139 00:06:16,359 –> 00:06:20,019 Verse 12, they come into my courts. 140 00:06:20,019 –> 00:06:22,239 This was very important in the Old Testament, 141 00:06:22,239 –> 00:06:25,500 you can check it out in Deuteronomy in chapter 12, 142 00:06:25,500 –> 00:06:27,040 where God says you’re not to worship 143 00:06:27,040 –> 00:06:29,059 in any place of your own choosing, 144 00:06:29,059 –> 00:06:32,899 but you must worship at the place where I will put my name. 145 00:06:33,119 –> 00:06:34,540 That was the significance of course 146 00:06:34,540 –> 00:06:37,079 of the temple in the Old Testament. 147 00:06:37,079 –> 00:06:38,540 And there were times in the history 148 00:06:38,540 –> 00:06:40,179 of God’s people in the Old Testament 149 00:06:40,179 –> 00:06:41,160 where they said, you know, 150 00:06:41,160 –> 00:06:42,700 why go all that way to Jerusalem, 151 00:06:42,700 –> 00:06:44,480 all that time, and all that costs, 152 00:06:44,480 –> 00:06:47,519 we’ll just worship in any place of our choosing. 153 00:06:47,519 –> 00:06:50,660 And that was in contradiction to the command of God. 154 00:06:50,660 –> 00:06:53,720 But now these people, they’re coming to God’s courts, 155 00:06:53,720 –> 00:06:56,920 and they observe the religious calendar. 156 00:06:56,920 –> 00:06:59,500 Verse 14, there’s the Sabbaths are there, 157 00:06:59,540 –> 00:07:03,140 the feasts are there and the festivals as well. 158 00:07:03,140 –> 00:07:05,000 And it seems that what they’re offering 159 00:07:05,000 –> 00:07:08,179 is above and beyond what God required in the law. 160 00:07:08,179 –> 00:07:12,119 They brought a multitude of sacrifices, verse 11, 161 00:07:12,119 –> 00:07:16,700 and they even added specially called convocations 162 00:07:16,700 –> 00:07:18,899 in verse 13, we’re at special times 163 00:07:18,899 –> 00:07:21,980 where we all gather together and present ourselves 164 00:07:21,980 –> 00:07:23,500 in the presence of the Lord. 165 00:07:23,500 –> 00:07:24,899 And when it comes to prayer, 166 00:07:24,899 –> 00:07:26,739 it says here that in verse 15, 167 00:07:26,739 –> 00:07:30,940 they made many prayers, many prayers. 168 00:07:30,940 –> 00:07:32,859 And that these prayers were intense, 169 00:07:32,859 –> 00:07:34,179 that’s surely the significance 170 00:07:34,179 –> 00:07:35,940 of the spreading out of the hands. 171 00:07:35,940 –> 00:07:37,980 There’s this a calling upon God 172 00:07:37,980 –> 00:07:41,119 with great passion and great fervency. 173 00:07:43,179 –> 00:07:46,260 Now I’m saying to you today from the Bible 174 00:07:47,260 –> 00:07:52,260 that the natural response of the human heart 175 00:07:52,480 –> 00:07:55,519 to an awareness of our own sin 176 00:07:55,519 –> 00:07:59,559 is to seek to offer something to God. 177 00:07:59,559 –> 00:08:02,500 I see that I’m not as I should be. 178 00:08:02,500 –> 00:08:03,640 So what am I going to do? 179 00:08:03,640 –> 00:08:06,000 I must do something to make it right. 180 00:08:06,000 –> 00:08:07,000 What can I do? 181 00:08:07,000 –> 00:08:08,079 What will please God? 182 00:08:08,079 –> 00:08:13,079 I must worship, I must serve and I will pray. 183 00:08:15,480 –> 00:08:18,339 Have you ever asked the question, 184 00:08:18,339 –> 00:08:21,760 why is the world so full of religion? 185 00:08:23,239 –> 00:08:25,000 Why is it that every country you can visit, 186 00:08:25,000 –> 00:08:27,200 every culture you can ever go to, 187 00:08:27,200 –> 00:08:30,279 there is religion all over the place 188 00:08:30,279 –> 00:08:31,799 of one brand or another. 189 00:08:33,099 –> 00:08:35,659 What is it that gives rise to Islam? 190 00:08:36,719 –> 00:08:38,960 What is it that gives rise to Buddhism? 191 00:08:40,099 –> 00:08:41,799 What is the hunger in the human heart 192 00:08:41,799 –> 00:08:44,919 that would cause massive millions and millions of people 193 00:08:44,919 –> 00:08:46,460 to be following Hinduism? 194 00:08:48,359 –> 00:08:49,700 What is it that makes a person 195 00:08:49,700 –> 00:08:52,400 who has stopped coming to church 196 00:08:52,400 –> 00:08:54,960 slip into the back if you can find a seat? 197 00:08:56,140 –> 00:08:56,960 What is it? 198 00:08:58,520 –> 00:09:01,739 It’s the sense that lies deep in the human heart 199 00:09:01,739 –> 00:09:04,979 that we’re not really right with God 200 00:09:04,979 –> 00:09:07,440 and that we need to do something about it. 201 00:09:08,419 –> 00:09:10,380 And the first instinct of the human heart, 202 00:09:10,380 –> 00:09:12,059 and this goes across all cultures, 203 00:09:12,059 –> 00:09:13,820 across all histories, everywhere in the world, 204 00:09:13,820 –> 00:09:14,719 it is universal. 205 00:09:14,719 –> 00:09:16,960 The first instinct of the human heart 206 00:09:16,960 –> 00:09:21,960 is to attempt this by worshiping, serving and praying, 207 00:09:22,440 –> 00:09:24,460 and you go anywhere in the world you’ll see this 208 00:09:24,460 –> 00:09:26,119 in one variety or another. 209 00:09:27,419 –> 00:09:30,320 Now here’s the problem and here’s where I want us 210 00:09:30,320 –> 00:09:32,119 to place ourselves under the Bible 211 00:09:32,119 –> 00:09:36,919 and let God Himself speak into our lives on this matter. 212 00:09:36,919 –> 00:09:38,039 Here’s the problem. 213 00:09:38,039 –> 00:09:40,280 It is quite clear from these verses 214 00:09:40,280 –> 00:09:43,340 that God is not impressed 215 00:09:43,340 –> 00:09:45,599 with this worship, serving and praying. 216 00:09:46,440 –> 00:09:48,020 He doesn’t like it. 217 00:09:48,940 –> 00:09:50,880 He’s not moved by it. 218 00:09:51,059 –> 00:09:53,479 Just look at what He says, verse 13. 219 00:09:53,479 –> 00:09:57,200 The offerings He describes as vain, 220 00:09:57,200 –> 00:09:58,700 they are vain offerings. 221 00:09:59,559 –> 00:10:03,119 Verse 11, God is not pleased with these sacrifices. 222 00:10:03,119 –> 00:10:05,460 He says I do not delight in them. 223 00:10:06,700 –> 00:10:08,380 Verse 15, there’s all these prayers 224 00:10:08,380 –> 00:10:13,260 and God says I will not listen to these prayers. 225 00:10:13,359 –> 00:10:14,099 So now think of this. 226 00:10:14,099 –> 00:10:16,080 There’s all this worship, all this serving, 227 00:10:16,080 –> 00:10:18,679 all this praying that’s going on with these people 228 00:10:18,679 –> 00:10:20,099 who are laden with iniquity 229 00:10:20,599 –> 00:10:22,320 and it’s quite ineffective. 230 00:10:23,340 –> 00:10:25,659 Worse still, not only is it ineffective, 231 00:10:25,659 –> 00:10:27,919 it doesn’t achieve its intended outcome, 232 00:10:27,919 –> 00:10:29,580 it’s actually offensive. 233 00:10:29,580 –> 00:10:31,059 It’s offensive to God. 234 00:10:31,059 –> 00:10:32,700 Verse 13, look at what He says. 235 00:10:32,700 –> 00:10:35,719 God calls their offerings an abomination. 236 00:10:35,719 –> 00:10:37,479 Wow, that’s some word. 237 00:10:38,559 –> 00:10:43,460 Verse 14, we learn that God hates their appointed feasts. 238 00:10:44,400 –> 00:10:48,979 Verse 14 that He is weary of their festivals 239 00:10:49,039 –> 00:10:52,500 and that they have become a burden to Him. 240 00:10:54,400 –> 00:10:58,260 So far from making things better, 241 00:10:58,260 –> 00:11:00,739 all this worship and serving and praying 242 00:11:00,739 –> 00:11:03,599 is actually in this situation adding 243 00:11:03,599 –> 00:11:05,979 to the offenses of these people before God. 244 00:11:05,979 –> 00:11:07,880 It’s actually alienating God even more. 245 00:11:07,880 –> 00:11:11,640 It’s actually making their position worse. 246 00:11:11,640 –> 00:11:13,000 That’s just what it says. 247 00:11:14,760 –> 00:11:17,320 Now obviously that raises this question, 248 00:11:17,320 –> 00:11:18,940 well, I mean how can this be? 249 00:11:19,179 –> 00:11:21,520 Does God not want us to worship? 250 00:11:21,520 –> 00:11:23,280 Does God not want us to serve? 251 00:11:23,280 –> 00:11:25,780 And does not God want us to pray? 252 00:11:25,780 –> 00:11:27,219 Yes, of course He does! 253 00:11:27,219 –> 00:11:29,460 Well what then is the problem? 254 00:11:29,460 –> 00:11:31,099 And here’s the problem. 255 00:11:31,099 –> 00:11:33,000 Verse 15, 256 00:11:33,000 –> 00:11:36,099 your hands are full of blood. 257 00:11:36,099 –> 00:11:37,020 That’s a problem. 258 00:11:38,219 –> 00:11:40,659 You come to worship and serve and pray, 259 00:11:40,659 –> 00:11:42,739 but your hands are full of blood. 260 00:11:42,739 –> 00:11:45,380 There’s sin in your life. 261 00:11:46,239 –> 00:11:49,239 Or to put it another way in verse 13, 262 00:11:49,239 –> 00:11:51,320 I cannot endure, 263 00:11:51,320 –> 00:11:53,979 here’s what God cannot endure, verse 13. 264 00:11:53,979 –> 00:11:56,659 Iniquity and solemn assembly. 265 00:11:58,719 –> 00:12:01,820 Here you are, you’re coming into my courts to worship 266 00:12:01,820 –> 00:12:04,000 and you’re coming to the church to serve 267 00:12:04,000 –> 00:12:05,739 and you’re coming to pray 268 00:12:05,739 –> 00:12:07,219 and you’ve joined a group to do this, 269 00:12:07,219 –> 00:12:08,520 but here’s the problem. 270 00:12:08,520 –> 00:12:10,340 You’re laden with iniquity. 271 00:12:10,340 –> 00:12:11,539 That’s the problem. 272 00:12:12,320 –> 00:12:17,320 And friends, worship service and prayer 273 00:12:17,820 –> 00:12:21,599 can never atone for our sin. 274 00:12:21,599 –> 00:12:23,140 It just can’t. 275 00:12:23,140 –> 00:12:24,599 It won’t. 276 00:12:24,599 –> 00:12:26,859 And that’s the whole point of this passage from the Bible 277 00:12:26,859 –> 00:12:28,640 that’s opened before us today. 278 00:12:29,739 –> 00:12:33,539 And our root problem of course is that we love ourselves 279 00:12:33,539 –> 00:12:34,520 more than we love God. 280 00:12:34,520 –> 00:12:36,979 We love ourselves more than we love others. 281 00:12:37,000 –> 00:12:41,940 That manifests itself in all kinds of sins in our lives. 282 00:12:43,140 –> 00:12:48,140 It manifests itself in your impatience, pride. 283 00:12:49,780 –> 00:12:52,419 It manifests itself in a critical spirit. 284 00:12:52,419 –> 00:12:54,619 It manifests itself in greed. 285 00:12:56,200 –> 00:13:00,580 It manifests itself in lust, in ingratitude. 286 00:13:02,099 –> 00:13:06,219 Manifests itself in a continued discontent, never happy. 287 00:13:07,799 –> 00:13:12,500 You come to worship, come to serve, 288 00:13:13,640 –> 00:13:15,840 lift up your hands in prayer, 289 00:13:17,739 –> 00:13:21,000 and God says I can’t endure this iniquity 290 00:13:21,000 –> 00:13:24,260 and solemn assembly all being mixed up together. 291 00:13:25,900 –> 00:13:28,419 And here’s the issue at the heart of it 292 00:13:28,419 –> 00:13:30,659 that worship, serving, and prayer 293 00:13:30,659 –> 00:13:32,880 can never atone for sin. 294 00:13:32,880 –> 00:13:35,000 It doesn’t deal with sin, it just doesn’t. 295 00:13:35,559 –> 00:13:38,760 If it did, we could save ourselves 296 00:13:38,760 –> 00:13:40,479 and the whole world would save itself 297 00:13:40,479 –> 00:13:42,659 by worship and by serving and by praying. 298 00:13:42,659 –> 00:13:44,239 And folks, please understand 299 00:13:44,239 –> 00:13:47,020 that is what more than half of the world believes. 300 00:13:47,020 –> 00:13:49,200 More than half of the world believes 301 00:13:49,200 –> 00:13:51,080 that we save ourselves by worshiping 302 00:13:51,080 –> 00:13:51,960 and serving and praying. 303 00:13:51,960 –> 00:13:53,440 That’s why religion is all over the world. 304 00:13:53,440 –> 00:13:54,900 That’s what gives rise to it. 305 00:13:56,979 –> 00:13:58,619 But it is not what we find here. 306 00:14:00,299 –> 00:14:03,700 What we find here is the utter futility 307 00:14:03,719 –> 00:14:06,179 of our best efforts to deal 308 00:14:06,179 –> 00:14:09,020 with the problem of our own sin. 309 00:14:10,299 –> 00:14:13,200 What we try to do and it doesn’t work 310 00:14:14,880 –> 00:14:17,479 and God is not reconciled and God is not pleased. 311 00:14:17,479 –> 00:14:20,760 God, our sins are not dealt with 312 00:14:20,760 –> 00:14:25,200 by worshiping, serving and praying. 313 00:14:25,200 –> 00:14:28,080 Second, what we need to do. 314 00:14:28,080 –> 00:14:29,479 We looked at what we try to do, 315 00:14:29,479 –> 00:14:31,419 the instinctive response of the human heart 316 00:14:31,419 –> 00:14:32,679 to our predicament. 317 00:14:32,679 –> 00:14:33,559 Here’s the second thing. 318 00:14:34,340 –> 00:14:35,179 You understand what we need to do? 319 00:14:35,179 –> 00:14:37,760 Look at what God says in verse 16 and 17. 320 00:14:38,880 –> 00:14:40,440 Wash yourselves. 321 00:14:40,440 –> 00:14:41,840 That’s what you need to do. 322 00:14:42,940 –> 00:14:45,460 Make yourselves clean. 323 00:14:47,479 –> 00:14:52,239 Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. 324 00:14:53,479 –> 00:14:58,479 Cease to do evil and learn to do good. 325 00:15:00,840 –> 00:15:02,059 No, you see what God is saying. 326 00:15:02,059 –> 00:15:03,119 It’s very clear, isn’t it? 327 00:15:03,119 –> 00:15:05,700 When you open the Bible and look at in front of you, 328 00:15:05,700 –> 00:15:07,580 God is saying if you really want 329 00:15:07,580 –> 00:15:09,580 to worship and serve and pray, 330 00:15:09,580 –> 00:15:10,900 here is what you have to do. 331 00:15:10,900 –> 00:15:12,619 First you have to wash. 332 00:15:12,619 –> 00:15:14,739 You have to cease and you have to learn. 333 00:15:14,739 –> 00:15:18,119 These are the three words, wash, cease and learn. 334 00:15:19,940 –> 00:15:24,539 God never changes and his pattern of working 335 00:15:24,539 –> 00:15:27,940 in the Old Testament is really the same 336 00:15:27,940 –> 00:15:31,859 as his pattern of working in the new. 337 00:15:32,099 –> 00:15:33,559 Here it is, let me just give it to you 338 00:15:33,559 –> 00:15:35,179 in three simple statements. 339 00:15:35,179 –> 00:15:39,320 First, God redeems people for himself. 340 00:15:40,239 –> 00:15:45,159 Second, the people he redeems commit themselves 341 00:15:45,159 –> 00:15:47,619 to lives of obedience. 342 00:15:47,619 –> 00:15:51,880 Third, God gives them recourse to his mercy 343 00:15:51,880 –> 00:15:55,760 through the sacrifices for our many failures 344 00:15:55,760 –> 00:15:58,719 in the course of our pursuing obedience. 345 00:15:58,719 –> 00:15:59,960 Now that’s the pattern that you find 346 00:15:59,960 –> 00:16:01,159 in the Old Testament 347 00:16:01,640 –> 00:16:03,640 and it’s the pattern we still find in the New. 348 00:16:03,640 –> 00:16:06,159 In the Old Testament, it’s the Exodus first, 349 00:16:06,159 –> 00:16:07,359 then the giving of the law 350 00:16:07,359 –> 00:16:09,640 and God’s people bind themselves to it. 351 00:16:09,640 –> 00:16:12,239 You will be our God, we will be your people. 352 00:16:12,239 –> 00:16:14,280 We commit ourselves to walk in the ways of your law 353 00:16:14,280 –> 00:16:16,320 and then God gives them the sacrifices 354 00:16:16,320 –> 00:16:19,359 so that they have recourse to his mercy. 355 00:16:19,359 –> 00:16:20,320 That’s the pattern. 356 00:16:20,320 –> 00:16:22,619 Redeemed people committed to obedience, 357 00:16:22,619 –> 00:16:24,859 given sacrifices which we need 358 00:16:24,859 –> 00:16:28,440 to recourse to God’s mercy on account of our many failures. 359 00:16:28,460 –> 00:16:31,960 But by the time you get to the days of Isaiah, 360 00:16:31,960 –> 00:16:35,880 here you have people using the sacrifices 361 00:16:35,880 –> 00:16:38,520 without any commitment to obedience. 362 00:16:40,119 –> 00:16:43,619 They had what Alockmatear calls 363 00:16:43,619 –> 00:16:47,760 religious commitment without ethical resolve. 364 00:16:48,960 –> 00:16:53,960 Religious commitment without ethical resolve. 365 00:16:54,479 –> 00:16:57,880 I wanna worship, I wanna serve, I wanna pray. 366 00:16:57,960 –> 00:17:02,239 But then I want the freedom to be able to give latitudes 367 00:17:02,239 –> 00:17:06,079 to choices that I make that will be pleasing to me 368 00:17:06,079 –> 00:17:09,760 irrespective of whether they are pleasing to God. 369 00:17:11,040 –> 00:17:13,699 God is saying quite clearly here that it don’t work, 370 00:17:14,599 –> 00:17:16,880 here’s what you have to do, you have to wash yourselves 371 00:17:16,880 –> 00:17:18,400 and make yourselves clean. 372 00:17:19,680 –> 00:17:22,119 Now again, this is not a sort of isolated thing 373 00:17:22,119 –> 00:17:24,479 in Isaiah chapter one, it’s a theme that runs 374 00:17:24,479 –> 00:17:26,680 all the way through the Bible. 375 00:17:27,180 –> 00:17:29,579 In Psalm 24, some of you will know these words 376 00:17:29,579 –> 00:17:32,140 from the Psalms and they’re about worship, 377 00:17:32,140 –> 00:17:34,079 what does it mean to come to God and worship 378 00:17:34,079 –> 00:17:36,079 and how can we do that? 379 00:17:36,079 –> 00:17:39,800 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord 380 00:17:39,800 –> 00:17:43,859 and who shall stand in his holy place? 381 00:17:43,859 –> 00:17:46,319 Who is the one who’s able to worship God acceptably? 382 00:17:46,319 –> 00:17:49,839 Here’s the answer, he who has clean hands 383 00:17:51,760 –> 00:17:54,520 and a pure heart. 384 00:17:55,300 –> 00:17:58,380 You see what’s being said, if you want to worship God you’re 385 00:17:58,380 –> 00:17:59,780 going to have to have clean hands. 386 00:17:59,780 –> 00:18:02,319 You’re going to have to have a pure heart 387 00:18:02,319 –> 00:18:04,839 and the problem is that these people to whom Isaiah 388 00:18:04,839 –> 00:18:07,260 is speaking, when they come into the presence of God 389 00:18:07,260 –> 00:18:11,560 their hands are full of blood, extraordinary statement. 390 00:18:11,560 –> 00:18:13,000 When they come into the presence of God 391 00:18:13,000 –> 00:18:15,219 they spread out their hands and all that they’re doing 392 00:18:15,219 –> 00:18:17,719 is bringing into his sight as it were 393 00:18:19,300 –> 00:18:21,400 the wretchedness of their own condition, 394 00:18:22,520 –> 00:18:23,839 the display of their own sin 395 00:18:24,219 –> 00:18:26,739 and God says, you must cease to do evil. 396 00:18:27,939 –> 00:18:30,359 You must learn to do what is good 397 00:18:31,839 –> 00:18:35,359 and he gives some specific examples of the good 398 00:18:35,359 –> 00:18:36,800 that we must learn. 399 00:18:38,000 –> 00:18:40,880 The examples are these, seek justice, 400 00:18:41,739 –> 00:18:43,880 correct oppression, verse 17, 401 00:18:44,739 –> 00:18:47,479 bring justice to the fatherless, 402 00:18:48,859 –> 00:18:51,040 plead the widow’s cause. 403 00:18:52,040 –> 00:18:54,719 Why does Isaiah choose these examples? 404 00:18:54,719 –> 00:18:56,479 Two reasons. 405 00:18:56,479 –> 00:18:58,979 One, because evidently 406 00:18:58,979 –> 00:19:01,180 they were things that were not being done 407 00:19:02,780 –> 00:19:07,420 and two, because they involve serving people 408 00:19:07,420 –> 00:19:10,640 who are not in a position to give back to you 409 00:19:12,099 –> 00:19:14,060 and that is the heart of love 410 00:19:15,020 –> 00:19:18,079 which is the heart of God’s law 411 00:19:18,079 –> 00:19:19,920 and the life to which he is calling 412 00:19:19,920 –> 00:19:21,500 each and every one of us today 413 00:19:22,660 –> 00:19:26,500 and you know the soul of selfishness 414 00:19:26,500 –> 00:19:29,819 is that you are committed only when you get what you want. 415 00:19:30,819 –> 00:19:32,800 That’s the antithesis of love. 416 00:19:34,040 –> 00:19:37,900 The soul of selfishness is that you are committed 417 00:19:37,900 –> 00:19:39,680 only when you’re getting back 418 00:19:39,680 –> 00:19:42,099 what you’re looking for out of that particular commitment. 419 00:19:42,099 –> 00:19:45,119 There are some folks who go into marriage like that. 420 00:19:45,119 –> 00:19:48,500 I’m committed so long as I’m getting what I want. 421 00:19:49,380 –> 00:19:53,079 That is the soul of selfishness. 422 00:19:54,140 –> 00:19:56,420 It is the antithesis of love. 423 00:19:58,260 –> 00:20:01,359 There are people who commit to church like that. 424 00:20:01,359 –> 00:20:02,859 Oh yeah, I’m committed to the body of Christ 425 00:20:02,859 –> 00:20:03,900 so long as the church is doing 426 00:20:03,900 –> 00:20:05,859 what I think the church should be doing. 427 00:20:06,900 –> 00:20:09,500 That’s the soul of selfishness. 428 00:20:09,500 –> 00:20:11,219 That’s the antithesis of love. 429 00:20:12,459 –> 00:20:15,420 There are some people who commit to God like that. 430 00:20:16,079 –> 00:20:18,739 God I’m looking to you to answer certain prayers 431 00:20:18,739 –> 00:20:20,579 and to make my life go in certain paths 432 00:20:20,579 –> 00:20:22,540 and to prosper me, bless me in this way and that way 433 00:20:22,540 –> 00:20:24,060 in health, and so forth and so on. 434 00:20:24,060 –> 00:20:26,000 As long as I’m getting what I want 435 00:20:26,000 –> 00:20:27,140 I’m committed to you God. 436 00:20:27,140 –> 00:20:28,939 But if you should put me in a place 437 00:20:28,939 –> 00:20:30,859 that I don’t wanna be don’t count on my commitment. 438 00:20:30,859 –> 00:20:34,219 That is the antithesis of loving God 439 00:20:34,219 –> 00:20:35,380 with all your heart and soul 440 00:20:35,380 –> 00:20:36,540 and mind and strength. 441 00:20:36,540 –> 00:20:38,219 It is the soul of selfishness. 442 00:20:40,160 –> 00:20:41,939 And what God is saying here is 443 00:20:41,939 –> 00:20:43,719 you gotta be washed of all that. 444 00:20:44,640 –> 00:20:47,300 You gotta cease from such evil. 445 00:20:48,839 –> 00:20:50,699 And you have to learn to do what is good 446 00:20:50,699 –> 00:20:53,020 which at its very heart is going to involve 447 00:20:53,020 –> 00:20:57,579 a life of love which is demonstrated in giving 448 00:20:57,579 –> 00:20:59,560 especially in circumstances 449 00:20:59,560 –> 00:21:01,640 where you do not get back what you want. 450 00:21:03,140 –> 00:21:04,680 So God is saying to these people 451 00:21:04,680 –> 00:21:06,119 look you’re coming to worship, 452 00:21:06,119 –> 00:21:08,280 you come to serve, say your prayers 453 00:21:08,280 –> 00:21:10,359 but here’s what I’m looking for. 454 00:21:10,380 –> 00:21:13,800 I’m looking for a complete change from the inside out. 455 00:21:15,420 –> 00:21:16,719 You’ve gotta wash yourselves, 456 00:21:16,719 –> 00:21:18,160 you’ve gotta make yourselves clean. 457 00:21:18,160 –> 00:21:19,439 You’ve gotta cease to do evil. 458 00:21:19,439 –> 00:21:21,359 You’ve gotta learn to do what is good 459 00:21:21,359 –> 00:21:23,680 and this is what it looks like. 460 00:21:23,680 –> 00:21:26,619 You do what is right even when nothing 461 00:21:26,619 –> 00:21:28,540 comes back in your direction. 462 00:21:28,540 –> 00:21:31,239 Wash, cease, learn. 463 00:21:32,280 –> 00:21:36,040 That is the call of God on each of our lives, 464 00:21:36,780 –> 00:21:40,859 not to imagine that we are pleasing God 465 00:21:40,859 –> 00:21:43,300 because we come to a few services, 466 00:21:43,300 –> 00:21:46,439 engage in a particular ministry and say a few prayers. 467 00:21:46,439 –> 00:21:49,040 No, live a life that is pleasing to God. 468 00:21:49,040 –> 00:21:50,420 That’s what he’s looking for. 469 00:21:50,420 –> 00:21:51,880 That’s what’s being said here. 470 00:21:53,339 –> 00:21:56,199 Let me put it to you in the words of the Lord Jesus. 471 00:21:57,560 –> 00:22:01,939 Love the Lord your God with all your heart 472 00:22:02,380 –> 00:22:06,420 and with all your soul and with all your mind 473 00:22:06,420 –> 00:22:11,020 and with all your strength and love your neighbor 474 00:22:11,020 –> 00:22:12,500 as yourself. 475 00:22:12,500 –> 00:22:15,280 That’s the words of our sovereign Lord Jesus. 476 00:22:16,300 –> 00:22:18,660 Let me give it to you in his words another way. 477 00:22:19,859 –> 00:22:24,859 Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness 478 00:22:26,219 –> 00:22:31,219 of the Pharisees, you cannot the kingdom of heaven. 479 00:22:32,939 –> 00:22:37,040 Or let me put it in the clearest statement 480 00:22:37,040 –> 00:22:40,020 of this sort that our Lord Jesus ever made. 481 00:22:41,020 –> 00:22:43,900 Matthew chapter five and verse 48. 482 00:22:45,359 –> 00:22:50,359 Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. 483 00:22:55,939 –> 00:22:57,300 Now friends, how would it be for you 484 00:22:57,300 –> 00:22:59,140 if the word of God ended there? 485 00:23:00,040 –> 00:23:04,300 How would it be for you if the last line in the Bible 486 00:23:04,300 –> 00:23:07,640 was make yourselves clean, cease from evil 487 00:23:07,640 –> 00:23:08,979 and learn to do good? 488 00:23:08,979 –> 00:23:10,180 How would it be for you? 489 00:23:11,979 –> 00:23:13,979 Is there any one of us who would stand 490 00:23:13,979 –> 00:23:16,140 in the presence of God and say I’ve done that? 491 00:23:18,339 –> 00:23:20,800 Here’s our predicament as sinners. 492 00:23:22,619 –> 00:23:23,619 We need to get clean. 493 00:23:23,619 –> 00:23:24,560 We need to quit evil. 494 00:23:24,560 –> 00:23:27,599 We need to do good and here’s our predicament. 495 00:23:28,599 –> 00:23:32,199 What we do can’t do it. 496 00:23:32,199 –> 00:23:34,599 See what we do is worship and serve and pray 497 00:23:34,599 –> 00:23:36,660 and that doesn’t do it, as we saw. 498 00:23:38,400 –> 00:23:42,739 And what will do it, that is to live a life 499 00:23:42,739 –> 00:23:45,520 that fulfills all of the commandments of God, 500 00:23:45,520 –> 00:23:47,479 what will do it we cannot do! 501 00:23:49,239 –> 00:23:50,560 That’s our predicament. 502 00:23:50,560 –> 00:23:55,560 What we do can’t do it and what will do it we cannot do. 503 00:23:57,599 –> 00:24:01,079 How can you wash your own body if there is blood 504 00:24:01,079 –> 00:24:03,380 on your hands, our hands are full of blood, 505 00:24:03,380 –> 00:24:04,599 how are you going to wash? 506 00:24:04,599 –> 00:24:06,520 All that’s going to happen is you smear it 507 00:24:06,520 –> 00:24:09,079 all over yourself, horrible mess. 508 00:24:10,359 –> 00:24:12,160 You need something to wash in. 509 00:24:13,719 –> 00:24:16,000 You look at what God requires of you, 510 00:24:17,380 –> 00:24:19,359 you look at all of his holy law, 511 00:24:20,800 –> 00:24:23,579 look at the life that he really calls you to live 512 00:24:23,579 –> 00:24:26,319 and you have to say, if you have any light 513 00:24:26,339 –> 00:24:28,959 in your life at all, I haven’t done it. 514 00:24:30,359 –> 00:24:34,479 And how then can I be clean, as I must be clean? 515 00:24:35,579 –> 00:24:38,099 I thought that worship, and serving, 516 00:24:38,099 –> 00:24:41,140 and praying would do it, and now I see that it can’t. 517 00:24:41,140 –> 00:24:42,540 What else is there? 518 00:24:43,780 –> 00:24:46,060 How am I going to get out of this predicament 519 00:24:46,060 –> 00:24:51,060 that what I do can’t do it and what will do it 520 00:24:51,219 –> 00:24:52,760 I cannot do. 521 00:24:53,719 –> 00:24:56,420 That takes us very wonderfully to the third thing 522 00:24:56,420 –> 00:24:58,760 in this marvelous passage of scripture, 523 00:24:58,760 –> 00:25:01,599 what only God can do and it’s in verse 18. 524 00:25:01,599 –> 00:25:04,239 I think this is one of the most beautiful verses 525 00:25:04,239 –> 00:25:05,760 in all of the Bible. 526 00:25:05,760 –> 00:25:08,160 I hope you’ll mark and take it into your heart 527 00:25:08,160 –> 00:25:09,900 and into your mind and memory. 528 00:25:11,619 –> 00:25:13,319 God says, come now. 529 00:25:14,359 –> 00:25:17,680 Let us reason together says the Lord. 530 00:25:18,780 –> 00:25:22,699 Though your sins are like scarlet, 531 00:25:23,699 –> 00:25:25,739 they shall be as white as snow 532 00:25:27,180 –> 00:25:29,800 and though they are red like crimson, 533 00:25:30,939 –> 00:25:33,760 they shall be like wool. 534 00:25:33,760 –> 00:25:35,119 What is God saying here? 535 00:25:36,959 –> 00:25:39,280 Well, he’s saying to every person here 536 00:25:39,280 –> 00:25:41,680 this morning in the second service, come near. 537 00:25:43,500 –> 00:25:45,000 You come to me, God says. 538 00:25:45,000 –> 00:25:47,579 You come directly to me and let’s talk. 539 00:25:47,579 –> 00:25:51,800 God speaking directly to you without any intermediary. 540 00:25:51,900 –> 00:25:55,520 God speaking into your soul through his Word. 541 00:25:55,520 –> 00:25:56,680 And what’s he saying? 542 00:25:56,680 –> 00:25:58,079 He’s saying from these verses, 543 00:25:58,079 –> 00:26:00,160 you’re in an impossible position. 544 00:26:01,479 –> 00:26:03,719 What you’re doing, all this worship, serving and praying, 545 00:26:03,719 –> 00:26:04,560 it isn’t working. 546 00:26:04,560 –> 00:26:06,160 What you need to do, you’ve not been able to do it. 547 00:26:06,160 –> 00:26:07,339 You haven’t done it. 548 00:26:07,339 –> 00:26:09,280 And I want to make you this offer. 549 00:26:09,280 –> 00:26:10,719 I want to give you this gift. 550 00:26:10,719 –> 00:26:11,800 And here it is. 551 00:26:13,119 –> 00:26:16,300 Though your sins are like scarlet, 552 00:26:18,020 –> 00:26:20,760 they shall be as white as snow. 553 00:26:21,619 –> 00:26:25,920 So you see, God is speaking to every one of us here 554 00:26:25,920 –> 00:26:30,160 an offer of complete clansing. 555 00:26:31,119 –> 00:26:33,520 And he says this, think of it, 556 00:26:33,520 –> 00:26:36,219 to people who are laid with iniquity. 557 00:26:37,300 –> 00:26:41,219 He says this to the people who are bruised and bleeding 558 00:26:41,219 –> 00:26:43,359 and have been rebelling against Him. 559 00:26:44,400 –> 00:26:48,619 He says this to the people whose sins are like scarlet. 560 00:26:49,319 –> 00:26:52,140 See, here’s the wonderful good news, 561 00:26:52,140 –> 00:26:55,880 and this is the heart of the message of the whole Bible, 562 00:26:55,880 –> 00:26:59,459 that what God commands, which you have in verse 16 563 00:26:59,459 –> 00:27:04,459 and verse 17 is tied to what he promises in verse 18. 564 00:27:05,000 –> 00:27:09,540 And what God has done in Jesus Christ 565 00:27:09,540 –> 00:27:14,079 is what makes the repentance that he calls us to possible. 566 00:27:14,079 –> 00:27:16,319 You can be washed. 567 00:27:17,280 –> 00:27:18,780 You can cease from evil. 568 00:27:18,780 –> 00:27:20,660 You can learn to do what is good. 569 00:27:20,660 –> 00:27:21,500 How? 570 00:27:22,500 –> 00:27:24,760 He will make you clean. 571 00:27:24,760 –> 00:27:27,560 He will give you a new heart. 572 00:27:27,560 –> 00:27:31,339 He will teach you and lead you by his Holy Spirit 573 00:27:31,339 –> 00:27:33,119 and by his word. 574 00:27:34,239 –> 00:27:35,660 And he invites you to come here. 575 00:27:35,660 –> 00:27:37,260 Come, let’s reason together. 576 00:27:37,260 –> 00:27:41,439 Look at your position, and here’s what I propose to do. 577 00:27:41,439 –> 00:27:43,219 Here is what I offer to you, 578 00:27:43,219 –> 00:27:44,380 even today. 579 00:27:44,380 –> 00:27:46,819 Someone in this congregation today will be saying, 580 00:27:46,819 –> 00:27:48,520 oh, but my sins are many. 581 00:27:49,859 –> 00:27:52,300 Pastor, you don’t know what I have done. 582 00:27:52,300 –> 00:27:55,780 I feel like I’m beyond what you’re speaking about here. 583 00:27:55,780 –> 00:27:59,140 Listen, God says to you today, 584 00:27:59,140 –> 00:28:02,699 though your sins are like scarlet, 585 00:28:03,859 –> 00:28:05,939 they shall be as white as wool. 586 00:28:07,060 –> 00:28:08,699 Someone else in the congregation, 587 00:28:08,699 –> 00:28:10,900 you’re thinking this way, you’re saying, you know what? 588 00:28:10,920 –> 00:28:14,599 I have been engaged in a particular sin 589 00:28:14,599 –> 00:28:17,140 for such a long time that it’s in me. 590 00:28:18,640 –> 00:28:19,900 Well think about this, 591 00:28:21,420 –> 00:28:23,359 everyone in the ancient world knew, 592 00:28:23,359 –> 00:28:25,099 and therefore the hearers of Isaiah 593 00:28:25,099 –> 00:28:27,040 would have immediately connected with this, 594 00:28:27,040 –> 00:28:32,040 that in order to dye a piece of material bright red, 595 00:28:33,160 –> 00:28:35,199 if you wanted it to be scarlet, 596 00:28:36,060 –> 00:28:41,060 you needed to soak that material in the dye 597 00:28:41,439 –> 00:28:45,000 for a very, very long time indeed, 598 00:28:45,000 –> 00:28:47,719 before the brightness of that color 599 00:28:47,719 –> 00:28:50,199 was actually imparted to the material. 600 00:28:50,199 –> 00:28:52,599 And so here just taking from that, 601 00:28:52,599 –> 00:28:54,599 this wonderful application, 602 00:28:54,599 –> 00:28:57,439 there maybe a sin in your life indeed 603 00:28:57,439 –> 00:29:01,280 that you have been soaking in for a long time, 604 00:29:01,280 –> 00:29:05,160 and like the dye that permeates the cloth eventually, 605 00:29:05,199 –> 00:29:07,819 that sin has now come to permeate 606 00:29:07,819 –> 00:29:10,219 the very fabric of your life. 607 00:29:10,219 –> 00:29:13,000 It’s in your mind, it’s in your heart. 608 00:29:14,540 –> 00:29:17,439 And you say, I don’t think I could ever be clean of that. 609 00:29:18,699 –> 00:29:20,739 So deep it could never be washed out, 610 00:29:20,739 –> 00:29:23,060 and God says to you, 611 00:29:24,540 –> 00:29:29,540 tho’ your sins be as scarlet, 612 00:29:29,699 –> 00:29:32,260 they shall be white as snow. 613 00:29:32,260 –> 00:29:33,920 Only God could do such a thing. 614 00:29:35,520 –> 00:29:37,079 But that is what He says to you 615 00:29:38,160 –> 00:29:42,540 in this amazing promise of Scripture. 616 00:29:42,540 –> 00:29:44,319 Several folks have said this to me 617 00:29:44,319 –> 00:29:46,119 at different times over the years. 618 00:29:46,119 –> 00:29:47,800 You may be thinking this. 619 00:29:47,800 –> 00:29:50,160 Pastor, here’s my problem. 620 00:29:50,160 –> 00:29:52,400 I am a Christian. 621 00:29:52,400 –> 00:29:54,560 I was baptized perhaps some time ago. 622 00:29:54,560 –> 00:29:56,760 I committed myself to Christ years back. 623 00:29:56,760 –> 00:29:58,800 And I am a Christian. 624 00:29:58,800 –> 00:30:01,219 But since I’ve committed myself to Christ, 625 00:30:01,219 –> 00:30:03,760 I have sinned willfully and knowingly. 626 00:30:03,800 –> 00:30:05,959 I’ve sinned against my own Savior. 627 00:30:05,959 –> 00:30:09,040 I’ve sinned against the light that I already have. 628 00:30:09,040 –> 00:30:10,680 And listen. 629 00:30:10,680 –> 00:30:12,579 God says to you, 630 00:30:14,099 –> 00:30:17,300 though your sins are like scarlet, 631 00:30:18,560 –> 00:30:19,800 they shall be white as snow. 632 00:30:19,800 –> 00:30:24,000 The only answer to sins against the blood of Christ 633 00:30:24,000 –> 00:30:26,699 is the blood of Christ. 634 00:30:28,239 –> 00:30:29,880 Now you say how is this possible? 635 00:30:30,719 –> 00:30:34,280 How could such a complete and utter cleansing 636 00:30:34,280 –> 00:30:36,839 come into the life of a person 637 00:30:36,839 –> 00:30:39,160 laden with sin, beaten and bruised. 638 00:30:39,160 –> 00:30:43,359 Someone whose sin has been like permeating dye. 639 00:30:43,359 –> 00:30:45,160 You see that’s the image that has gone 640 00:30:45,160 –> 00:30:49,020 into the very fabric of their own life 641 00:30:49,020 –> 00:30:50,760 and even into their own character. 642 00:30:52,579 –> 00:30:55,119 This congregation knows the answer to that question. 643 00:30:55,260 –> 00:30:57,260 What can wash away my sin? 644 00:31:02,400 –> 00:31:06,060 Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 645 00:31:06,060 –> 00:31:08,359 This congregation knows the answer to that. 646 00:31:09,920 –> 00:31:11,020 Not worship, 647 00:31:12,900 –> 00:31:13,959 not serving, 648 00:31:15,459 –> 00:31:16,780 not even praying. 649 00:31:18,040 –> 00:31:19,119 One more time. 650 00:31:19,119 –> 00:31:21,979 What can wash away my sin? 651 00:31:21,979 –> 00:31:26,979 Nothing but the blood of Jesus. 652 00:31:27,140 –> 00:31:29,680 Now let me just in these last few moments, 653 00:31:29,680 –> 00:31:30,780 we’re nearly through here, 654 00:31:30,780 –> 00:31:32,739 I want just to draw your attention 655 00:31:32,739 –> 00:31:34,420 to one other passage of scripture 656 00:31:34,420 –> 00:31:36,359 because we’re in the old testament 657 00:31:36,359 –> 00:31:39,400 and so often a theme that’s raised in the old testament 658 00:31:39,400 –> 00:31:42,540 is kind of resolved and it is completed in the new. 659 00:31:42,540 –> 00:31:44,619 And that happens beautifully 660 00:31:44,619 –> 00:31:47,219 in a passage that some may not be familiar with 661 00:31:47,219 –> 00:31:51,859 in Hebrews chapter 10 and verses eight to 10. 662 00:31:51,959 –> 00:31:54,520 And here we have some amazing words 663 00:31:54,520 –> 00:31:57,579 that are words of the Lord Jesus Christ 664 00:31:57,579 –> 00:32:00,920 spoken by the Holy Spirit. 665 00:32:00,920 –> 00:32:03,160 And I just want to give you these three sentences 666 00:32:03,160 –> 00:32:06,239 and you’ll see immediately how they connect with 667 00:32:06,239 –> 00:32:09,140 and flow from everything that Isaiah says 668 00:32:09,140 –> 00:32:10,800 in Isaiah in chapter one. 669 00:32:10,800 –> 00:32:14,000 And here’s the first statement, Hebrews 10 eight. 670 00:32:14,000 –> 00:32:17,719 When he said, this is the Son of God, 671 00:32:17,760 –> 00:32:20,300 when he said above, 672 00:32:21,380 –> 00:32:24,060 you have neither desired nor taken pleasure 673 00:32:24,060 –> 00:32:27,660 in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings 674 00:32:27,660 –> 00:32:29,020 and sin offerings. 675 00:32:29,020 –> 00:32:30,160 Let’s pause there. 676 00:32:31,339 –> 00:32:33,660 This is the Son of God 677 00:32:33,660 –> 00:32:37,180 and He’s in eternal communion with the Father, 678 00:32:37,180 –> 00:32:40,459 has been one with the Father since before time began. 679 00:32:41,540 –> 00:32:43,699 And He’s above. 680 00:32:43,699 –> 00:32:46,300 And this is the Son speaking to the Father. 681 00:32:46,300 –> 00:32:48,219 The Father and the Son and the Spirit 682 00:32:48,219 –> 00:32:51,040 are looking down, as it were, upon the globe. 683 00:32:51,040 –> 00:32:54,520 And what’s going on is all the sacrifices. 684 00:32:54,520 –> 00:32:58,160 And the Son turns to the Father, Hebrews 10, eight, above, 685 00:32:58,160 –> 00:33:00,199 and He says, you didn’t desire this. 686 00:33:00,199 –> 00:33:01,819 This isn’t any joy to you. 687 00:33:01,819 –> 00:33:03,959 This isn’t what you’re after. 688 00:33:05,560 –> 00:33:06,800 Second statement. 689 00:33:07,979 –> 00:33:11,880 Then he added, that is the Son of God added 690 00:33:11,880 –> 00:33:14,520 in addressing the Father, behold, 691 00:33:15,479 –> 00:33:19,420 I have come to do your will. 692 00:33:21,020 –> 00:33:23,579 Now notice I have come. 693 00:33:23,579 –> 00:33:27,640 He’s now not speaking Son to Father above, 694 00:33:27,640 –> 00:33:31,300 he’s now speaking Son to Father from below. 695 00:33:31,300 –> 00:33:33,739 He has come into the world. 696 00:33:33,739 –> 00:33:35,839 He has been born of the Virgin Mary. 697 00:33:35,839 –> 00:33:37,300 He has taken human flesh. 698 00:33:37,300 –> 00:33:39,160 He’s become a man, and he says, 699 00:33:39,160 –> 00:33:43,479 Father, look, I’ve come to do your will. 700 00:33:44,680 –> 00:33:46,920 That’s the thing that you want. 701 00:33:46,920 –> 00:33:49,280 A human life in which there’s no evil, 702 00:33:49,280 –> 00:33:51,699 a human life in which there is only good, 703 00:33:51,699 –> 00:33:53,839 a human life that is completely clean. 704 00:33:53,839 –> 00:33:55,540 Watch, Father. 705 00:33:56,599 –> 00:33:57,800 It’s gonna be done, 706 00:33:57,800 –> 00:34:01,160 what brings you real joy is gonna be done in me. 707 00:34:02,500 –> 00:34:03,719 Third sentence. 708 00:34:05,119 –> 00:34:07,260 And by that will, 709 00:34:07,260 –> 00:34:09,679 that is the wonderful, kind, and gracious will 710 00:34:09,679 –> 00:34:10,780 of the Father, 711 00:34:11,780 –> 00:34:16,219 we have been sanctified. 712 00:34:16,219 –> 00:34:17,959 That is made clean. 713 00:34:18,919 –> 00:34:23,300 Washed from scarlet sins and made clean, 714 00:34:24,540 –> 00:34:25,379 how? 715 00:34:26,500 –> 00:34:31,500 Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ 716 00:34:33,679 –> 00:34:35,100 once and for all. 717 00:34:35,939 –> 00:34:37,280 You see how clear that is? 718 00:34:38,280 –> 00:34:41,959 In Isaiah, we read about a multitude of sacrifices 719 00:34:41,959 –> 00:34:43,879 that could never satisfy God. 720 00:34:43,879 –> 00:34:44,879 Why? 721 00:34:44,879 –> 00:34:47,959 Because they were all being offered with unclean hands. 722 00:34:47,959 –> 00:34:50,919 That’s why our worship and our prayers 723 00:34:50,919 –> 00:34:55,919 and our service can never deal with our sins, how could it? 724 00:34:57,479 –> 00:35:01,360 But you see, Jesus Christ has clean hands. 725 00:35:01,360 –> 00:35:03,320 He has a pure heart. 726 00:35:03,320 –> 00:35:05,719 He is the one who ascended the hill of the Lord 727 00:35:06,600 –> 00:35:09,959 and he offered himself as the perfect sacrifice 728 00:35:09,959 –> 00:35:14,600 acceptable to God for the complete cleansing of all sin 729 00:35:14,600 –> 00:35:17,739 in regards to all the people who would come to him. 730 00:35:17,739 –> 00:35:19,780 That’s why he said when he was on the cross, 731 00:35:19,780 –> 00:35:22,739 laying down his life as a sacrifice, it is finished. 732 00:35:22,739 –> 00:35:25,080 That’s why we don’t have more sacrifices 733 00:35:25,080 –> 00:35:27,340 and don’t need them, because the sacrifice 734 00:35:27,340 –> 00:35:30,659 to which all the others were pointing has finally come 735 00:35:30,659 –> 00:35:32,000 and it has been made. 736 00:35:32,000 –> 00:35:34,540 What God commanded through the prophet Isaiah 737 00:35:34,600 –> 00:35:36,979 in the Old Testament, he provides 738 00:35:36,979 –> 00:35:39,739 through his Son Jesus Christ. 739 00:35:42,320 –> 00:35:44,780 And on the third day, the smile of God 740 00:35:44,780 –> 00:35:48,280 on the perfect life of Christ offered as the sacrifice 741 00:35:48,280 –> 00:35:51,360 on behalf of his people, the smile of God was revealed 742 00:35:51,360 –> 00:35:53,659 as Jesus Christ rose from the dead. 743 00:35:53,659 –> 00:35:56,439 And today as the risen Savior, he looks into 744 00:35:56,439 –> 00:36:00,479 and speaks into a world of people who are bruised 745 00:36:00,580 –> 00:36:04,020 and bleeding and laden with iniquity, 746 00:36:04,020 –> 00:36:08,139 world where our hands are not clean and he says to us, 747 00:36:08,139 –> 00:36:12,139 come to me, all you who are weary, 748 00:36:12,139 –> 00:36:16,159 all you who are heavy laden, come to me, he says. 749 00:36:17,500 –> 00:36:22,500 And I, I’m the one who will give you rest. 750 00:36:24,080 –> 00:36:28,199 Amazing, amazing offer, extraordinary gift, 751 00:36:29,179 –> 00:36:30,459 amazing love. 752 00:36:32,300 –> 00:36:33,620 How will you respond to all 753 00:36:33,620 –> 00:36:36,080 that God offers you in Jesus Christ? 754 00:36:37,439 –> 00:36:39,959 Though your sins are like scarlet, 755 00:36:39,959 –> 00:36:43,659 they shall be as white as snow, verse 19. 756 00:36:43,659 –> 00:36:46,840 If you are willing and obedient, 757 00:36:48,260 –> 00:36:51,620 if you are willing to receive what I offer, 758 00:36:51,620 –> 00:36:54,500 if you are ready to pursue what I command, 759 00:36:54,500 –> 00:36:57,000 if you will embrace me, Jesus says, 760 00:36:57,060 –> 00:36:59,159 as your gracious savior, 761 00:36:59,159 –> 00:37:02,879 and if you will submit to me as your sovereign Lord, 762 00:37:04,679 –> 00:37:09,679 then you, the people who have been laden 763 00:37:09,879 –> 00:37:11,500 with iniquity and beaten and bruised, 764 00:37:11,500 –> 00:37:16,500 then you will eat the good of the land. 765 00:37:19,879 –> 00:37:20,879 Let’s pray together. 766 00:37:23,199 –> 00:37:25,760 Oh Jesus Christ, I want to be clean. 767 00:37:27,159 –> 00:37:29,719 And I believe that you are able to make me clean, 768 00:37:29,719 –> 00:37:32,879 even of that which most deeply permeates 769 00:37:32,879 –> 00:37:34,439 the fabric of my being. 770 00:37:36,600 –> 00:37:37,739 I repent. 771 00:37:39,560 –> 00:37:41,399 Wash me and make me clean. 772 00:37:41,399 –> 00:37:44,100 Strengthen me by the power of your Spirit 773 00:37:45,959 –> 00:37:49,120 that I may cease to do evil, that I may learn to do good 774 00:37:51,000 –> 00:37:54,600 so that I may worship and serve and pray and live 775 00:37:55,439 –> 00:37:58,320 in a way that brings joy to your heart 776 00:37:59,600 –> 00:38:01,020 and honor to your name. 777 00:38:02,959 –> 00:38:05,060 Hear these prayers in Jesus’ name, 778 00:38:06,419 –> 00:38:07,260 Amen.