"Forgiveness of Sin" Sermon: Isaiah 43:22-28 (manuscript)

 

“Forgiveness of Sin”

[Isaiah 43:22-28]

September 6, 2020 YouTube

            “Yet.”

            Last week we saw God tell Jerusalem – and us – that the Father loves His people and He is Sovereign in their redemption.  This is good news and gives hope to people who are in times of trouble or who will be going through times of trouble.  No matter what we endure, God the Father loves us and has sovereignly redeemed us through His Son. And that is easy to say, but when we are in the moment of suffering, it is what we must hold onto as everything else fades away.

            “Yet.”

            God has told Jerusalem – and all believers – that God chose us for His own reasons – not because He needed us or found some merit in us to be worthy of becoming His people.  No, His reasons are a mystery.  He has chosen according to the increasing of His Glory.

            Yet, Jerusalem continued in her sin and blamed God.

“Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel!”

Jerusalem did not turn to God and seek Him to turn away from temptation to sin.  Rather, they said the Law of God was too hard – it wore them out – so they did what they thought was best – what pleased them.

And we do the same.

We make excuses and rationalize our sin.  “One time won’t matter: I’ve been a good person.  God must forgive me – I have been a good person.  It’s ok, everybody does it.  Did God really mean what He said?  Don’t you think that was just how the people of the time thought?  We know more than the people in Bible days, and we know it is not wrong to do that. It’s not wrong because these giant corporations steal from us, so it’s just payback.”

 “You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense.”

God gave Israel specific instructions on what and when and how much they were to give out of what they received.  Yet, they did not bring the sacrifices God required.  And God does not need anything from us, but He requires these things so we will grow in faith and obedience.

God tells us that we are to give generously – especially to the church and its work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul writes:

“You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11, ESV).

“They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:18-19, ESV).

And God commands that our offering be given without any hint of sin or blemish.  But we know that our offering is never perfectly given and without any hint of sin.  We do not yet perfectly worship our God.

“You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you” (Leviticus 22:20, ESV).

God gives us the gift and commands us to come to Him in prayer – and He provides even when we don’t know how to pray:

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27, ESV).

But Jerusalem – and we – do not go to God as often as we should or with the zeal that we should.  Sweet cane and the fat of the animals were used in incense and in the production of smoke going up from the sacrifices – symbolizing the prayers of the saints. As we understand from Revelation:

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Revelation 5:8, ESV).

“Yet.”

“You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities.”

“But.”

Second, God is faithful in His promise of salvation.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

In the midst of God’s denunciation of Jerusalem’s – and our – continuing in sin and not being the holy, faithful, and obedient people He has called us to be – God says – and notice the repetition – God wants Jerusalem – and us – to know that this is all of God – nothing of any human merit – just God.  God forgives the sins of all those who believe, not for our merit – not because we earned it – but for His Own sake – because God is faithful – always faithful in all that He promises.

Paul explains:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:6-11, ESV).

God chose to love and save a people for Himself, and He deals with the justice of saving us though we are sinners by sending His Son to take on our sin and suffer the fullness of God’s Wrath for it.  He is our Substitute so God can righteously save sinners.

Ezekiel explains what happens:

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:22-27, ESV).

All who believe in Jesus, the Savior, are saved by the Unmerited Grace of God, because God is faithful in His promise of salvation.

And this is good news, is it not?  Not matter what you and I are going through – Covid, chronic disease, death, destruction, even captivity in Babylon, God is faithful to His promises, because God cannot be unfaithful to Himself and His desires.

Third, we cannot justify ourselves.

“Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.”

Some still argued that God’s discipline of them was unwarranted.  After all, there are much worse people than they – consider the Babylonians and their sin – why should Jerusalem be punished when they are the people of God?

So, God tells them to come into the courtroom and present a defense – show God He is wrong, and He will back down from punishing their sin and disciplining them.

Whenever we think, “well, I’m not as bad as so-and-so,” we’ve missed the point.  The point is not, who’s worse, but did you and I sin?  Are you and I guilty and in need of repentance?

God speaks first in this courtroom scene and demolishes any attempt for anyone to defend their sin:

“Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.”

God begins by stating that their first father – and our first father – who acted as our representative in the Garden – he sinned and sinned on behalf of all of humanity so we are born sinners, inclined towards sin, with a sin nature.  We are born already guilty of sin.  We are not born innocent.  We are already guilty as we are born – in need of a savior.

And some will say, “That’s not fair.”

The point is we are under a representative government – God is free to do what He wants and set things up as He desires.  Our government in the United States is a representative government, so we suffer the sins and foolish decisions of our leaders, and we vote them in and out depending on how we believe they are representing us and acting on our behalf.

So, God says, “To begin with, all mere humans are born guilty of sin due to our first father.”

And then God says that the “mediators” – the priests and the teachers of the Law – actively sin against God.  Not even the Pharisees – who, despite their sins, strove to keep every word of the Law perfectly – even they sinned.

Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20, ESV).

And Stephen says, “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7:51-53, ESV).

To this God responds, “Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary, and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.”

God explains that no mere human can justify himself – no mere human can become right with God on his own – God must step in and make him right.

In the meantime, God chooses to grow His people and destroy all that is abhorrent to God by disciplining His people.  Not that God would annihilate them but discipline the sin out of them. And that is what would happen when the Babylonians conquered.

What Jerusalem needed to hear – what we need to hear – is the point that salvation is God’s work for God’s purposes – God forgives us for our sin through Jesus because it is pleasing to Him and glorifying to Him to do so.

As John writes, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:9-10, ESV).

God forgives us through Jesus for His Own Sake.  And we ought to confess our sins to Him quickly, sincerely, and humbly, and He will forgive us.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, You chose to forgive Your people for Your Own Sake, and we are stunned by that Truth.  We continue to sin and lay the blame on others – even You – and still, You will forgive us.  We praise and glorify Your Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for saving us when we could not save ourselves.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.