Today is the second message on Isaiah. Last time’s passage describes Israel who had turned her back on God, but this time’s passage I will talk about God’s grace that makes that sin as white as snow.
At a small inn in Scotland some fishermen got together and were drinking tea. At the gathering one person threw his arms around in the air as he was telling about this huge fish that he hooked, but got away. Carelessly he hit a tea cup that a servant was carrying, and the cup went flying, and the white wall got a brown stain on it. It was a mistake that happened in an instant, but the person involved in the incident felt very bad about it and pitiably apologized over and over again. A man sitting near him said “Don’t worry” and took out a pen, and started to draw a picture around the stain on the wall. Then, a big, slim deer appeared. That person was the painter, Edwin Landseer who was painting at that time in England. In our lives we all more or less have stains that we want to erase. If they could be completely erased, how happy we would be!
Today I’d like to talk about three points of having these stains erased by God’s grace.
- To hear and follow is better than sacrifices
- No matter how deep a person’s sin is, if he repents, God will make it as white as snow, or as white as the wool of sheep.
- Therefore, repent and listen to God and follow him.
- To hear and follow is better than sacrifices (vs. 10-17)
First let’s look at what pleases God. Please look at verses 10 to 17.
Here God is calling the people of Judah, “rulers of Sodom” (10) and “people of Gomorrah” (10). Sodom and Gomorrah are pronouns for a lack of morals. For the people of Judah who properly worshipped in the temple to be called the “rulers of Sodom” (10) and “people of Gomorrah” (10) was too much! God said this because they had fallen that far. They were living a life no different from this world. They were living such a life that God says in verse 15, “Your hands are full of blood!” and in verse 16, “Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.” They lived such lives, but even so they sacrificed many sacrifices. They held “New Moons (festivals), Sabbaths and convocations” (13). They held “worthless assemblies,” solemn meetings for religious worship, besides the ones that God had appointed. They prayed. They prayed often, making many prayers. They were fervent and importunate in prayer. They spread forth their hands as men in earnest prayer. Now we should have thought they were, and no doubt they thought themselves they were, a pious religious people.
Yet they were far from being so. Their hearts were empty of true devotion. Therefore, God said, “The multitude of your sacrifices-what are they to me?…I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.” (11) God also says about the sacrifices and religious activities of practicing the Sabbath and other festivals and religious meetings, “They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” (14) That was because the people’s hearts were not in their sacrifices and festivals. They were just zealous for the show and form of religion. God hates this!
God doesn’t desire ceremonious religion in form only not followed by faith. What God desires is our faith. God desires that we fear God, and live following God from our heart. Lot’s of people say that the Old Testament is the law and the New Testament is faith, but that is wrong. The Bible says from the beginning to the end in consistency that God desires faith. Let’s look at Hebrews 11:3,4.
The Bible teaches from the beginning to the end that the most important thing is faith. What is important is whether we are following the Word of God or not. The Jews didn’t do that. They didn’t listen to God and follow Him, but offered sacrifices. They observed the “appointed festivals” (14) and such ceremonious things. They attached great importance to the superficial things。However, God desires the insides of our hearts.
The best example was King Saul’s act of sacrificing. It is the contents of I Samuel 15. The Lord said to King Saul through Samuel, “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” (I Samuel 15:3) Therefore, King Saul attacked the Amalekites and killed all the people with the sword. However, Saul spared “the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good” (I Samuel 15:9) and didn’t destroy them. This was because he planned to use them to sacrifice to the Lord.
Then Samuel received the words of the Lord that King Saul had turned his back on the Lord’s words. “Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul.” (I Samuel 15:12) As he approached the place where Saul was, he heard, “Baa-baa” and “Moo-moo” so he asked King Saul what this meant. Saul responded, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” (I Samuel 15:15) That was nothing more than making an excuse. What God had said was, Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” (I Samuel 15:3) However, King Saul didn’t do that. He selfishly was under the impression that God would be pleased with what he did. No matter who he asked they thought so too. This was common sense. However, that wasn’t what God had said. Then God said through Samuel, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” (I Samuel 15:22,23)
To listen and obey is important. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” (I Samuel 15:22) If you don’t listen and obey, no matter how good you look in human terms, there is no meaning to at all. All that we do should be by listening to what God is saying, listening to Jesus’ commands, and obeying them. This is faith. Samuel didn’t do that.
In lots of cases we are the same and do the same thing. Rather than doing what God is saying, doing something becomes the center of our lives. By doing that we try to show that we are living in faith, and doing good.
At New Years we watched the movie, Simon Birch. Simon Birch was born as an unbelievably small baby, but he wasn’t pessimistic about it. He thought that the reason that he was born that way because he believed that God had some kind of special calling for him. He was a child of very deep faith. One time when the Sunday worship service was over, the Pastor said, “Down stairs coffee and donuts are being served so please join us down there.” Simon Birch remarked, “I don’t understand what donuts have to do with God. Who said that the church has to serve a Continental Breakfast after church?” The Pastor’s remark was that they were going to enjoy the donuts while discussing the upcoming activities at the church. Simon Birch remarked again, “I don’t think that the Lord is interested in the activities of the church. If the church is only interested in activities then we are in big trouble!”
When I heard Simon Birch’s words, I thought he was really right. God is not interested in our activities. He is concerned about whether we are listening and following God’s Word. Knowing what God wants, what God thinks is good and accepts and then doing it is what God is concerned about.
Back to the story of Simon Birch, but he helps out a Sunday School camp for younger children, and the bus has an accident and plunges into the river. Then Simon goes through a slightly open window that none of the leaders could fit through and helps all the children out of the bus and gets them safely to shore. Before the camp his heart was wearing out, but his heroic work and the coldness of the river was just too much for his heart, and he dies. Just before he dies, he says, “There was a purpose that I was born small! I fulfilled my calling!”
He was so small so that he was able to fit through the small opening in the window and get the kids out. That was the calling that was given to him. God gave him that calling, and for that purpose he lived. God was pleased with him. Simon Birch wanted to say that this is faith.
We too there are times when we are not careful and we lose the essence of faith. There are times when we focus on what we are going to do. However, to listen and “to obey is better than sacrifice”. (22) We need to have God show us through the Word of God and prayer what God desires and then do it. That is faith.
- White as snow (vs. 18)
The second point is if we repent God will forgive us. Look at verse 18.
Here the Lord says, “Come now, let us settle the matter”. (18) The word, “settle the matter” was a word used in the court. Here God is not acting as a judge giving the sentence, but had come down from the seat of the judge to the seat of the defendant, and suggests finding together the beginning of a solution to the problem. The proposal that God presents for the solution is verse 18.
Vs. 18
First of all what we must know is that our “sins are like scarlet”. (18) This doesn’t say that our sins are black, but scarlet. This is because scarlet is the color of blood. If we look at verse 15, it says, “Your hands are full of blood!” The “scarlet” of verse 18 is the “blood” of verse 15. Sin is the shedding of blood. Therefore, “scarlet”(18) is the color of our sin. It shows the stubbornness of our sin that no matter how much we wash we can’t wash it out. Our “sins are like scarlet…they are red as crimson”. (18) We have this nature. If we disregard this and make light of it, then there is no salvation. If we don’t look at this truth in the face, and try to avoid it, the Gospel will become hazy. We want to show our good side to others. However, the reality of sin is really deep. David Hopkins said that if we knew what was in other people’s hearts, then we will run away from our neighbors. It is all by the mercy of God, that we can be here. That’s right. People’s hearts are that crafty. In Romans 3:10-18 Paul quotes from the Psalms.
Romans 3:10-18
How terrible! “Their throat are open graves …The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” (Romans 3:13,14) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23,24) This is what man is like. We mustn’t run away from this. We have to firmly accept this reality.
However, this is not the end. From here on is the beginning, not the end. Therefore, there is hope. There is hope of God’s salvation. That is “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (18) They shall be white “like wool”. (18) If we repent, and desire God’s salvation, in a moment our sins will become white. In I John 1:9 the following promise is recorded. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
David not only committed adultery with Bathsheba and got her pregnant, but he also sent her husband Uriah to the front of the battle lines so he’d be killed. When the prophet Nathan pointed out to David his sin, he recognized his sin and confessed his sin. He repented. He prayed, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7) As a result, he was forgiven. When he repented with a broken heart, God forgave him and cleansed him from all evil. He became completely new.
God “is faithful” (I John 1:9) and full of grace so “if we confess our sins,” he “will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (18)
A while back I saw the movie, The eraser in my head. This is the story of a woman who developed early onset Alzheimer’s disease and her husband. It is common for someone in their years to forget things, but for someone young to have such a terrible illness is very hard. She even forgets her husband. She asks, “Who are you?” Then she mutters, “In my head I have an eraser.”
The keynote of this movie is “forgiveness”. This young wife talks about forgiveness to her husband who can’t forgive his mother for leaving him. For a matter of fact, on the wall of the couple’s house is a picture of Jesus knocking on the door. From what I heard, the movie director that made the film, wanted through the film, to share the importance of forgiveness. Jesus did this. By Jesus dieing on the cross, by Jesus praying on the cross, “Father, Please for give them because they don’t know what they are doing”, all of our sin is forgotten in the same way as that the wife whose life ended with early onset Alzheimer’s disease forgot everything.
John 3:16
God by sending his only son, Jesus Christ to this world, by putting him on the cross, he perfectly fulfilled this promise. He loved us that much. That was so that our sins would be forgiven and we could go to heaven; so that no matter what we would not go to hell, but go to heaven.
If we believe in Jesus, all of our sins are forgiven. The sins of the past, present, and all the sins that we commit in the future, and also conscious sins and unconscious sins, all sins are forgiven. However, it is very difficult for us to accept this. We can’t forget ourselves. Especially, us who grew up in a Confucian culture it is difficult to forgive ourselves. Sins that we can solve on our own we can forgive, but things that when we realize the reality of how terrible the sin is, we can’t forgive ourselves. That is because we are completely soaked in the sin. It is the cause of depression. However, this is the promise. By the one way grace of God it makes completely no matter whether we are a good person or a bad person. It depends upon whether we repent and depend upon Jesus or not. If we do that God “is faithful” (I John 1:9) and He “will forgive us of our sins.” (I John 1:9) This is the one way grace of God.
- Therefore, repent (vs. 19-20)
Therefore, the third point is to repent and believe in the Gospel. Please look at verses 19 and 20.
There are only two choices. “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land.” (19) However, “if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” (20) There is no middle ground. You have to choose one of the two. You have to decide yourself.
The last king of Southern Judah is Zedekiah. When he heard the Word of God through Jeremiah, he was hesitant. He knew he had to follow the Word, but if he does he will be killed by the people. He was hesitant. As a result his eyes were gouged out. He was bound in chains, and sent to Babylon. There are only two choices, “Willing and obedient” (19) or “resist and rebel” (20) and we have to choose one of them. Japanese have the feeling at work in their hearts that they want to keep the answer vague. They want to keep it vague so that they can go either way. However, the Bible is very clear: be obedient or resist. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” (19,20)
The natural man resists coming before God. If he can he tries to do things by his own strength. He says, “I don’t need God” or “I’m o.k. I can solve the problem myself.” He avoids God and shifts to human strength like doing good things, philosophy and studying. However human power is no good. No matter how much you try, you can never reach heaven. That’s how deep in sin we are. There is only one solution that has been shown to us. That is to repent and depend upon God. Let’s be “willing and obedient“ to what God has said.
Please choose a life that depends on God. Depend on God and repent and receive the blessing of eternal life. When you do that, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (19,20)
Applying today’s Word to our lives
- Do you have the kind of faith that is “willing and obedient”? (19) In what ways or what things make it easy for you to fall into being religious in form only? Have you found the cause of this in your relationship with God?
- Is there any sin that you need to repent of? Have you accepted God’s promise that you “shall be as white as snow”?
- Have you decided that even if you have to make sacrifices, to walk the road of obedience and blessings?