Isaiah, Chapter 43
Isaiah 43:25-28 · Vern Peterman · Oct 22, 2006
Isaiah, No. 41
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49260652964

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to focus on this one particular verse here in Isaiah 43 this morning. And I want to just kind of give you a warning ahead of time here. You'll have to excuse me. Nancy went over to Carson City to visit some family and friends there, and so I'm just kind of beside myself. And as a matter of fact, I have to confess, I've just really been kind of stretched a little thin and out of sorts. So, he'll excuse me. Alright, now we can go into the verse. Now that you're forewarned. Okay.

Isaiah starts off this verse. The English translations have I, even I. This is the way they lay it out there. The Hebrew is actually just I, I. And so it's kind of interesting. He used double words for emphasis, and it's a pattern we've been seeing all along in Isaiah. I'm not sure if he's done with it. He's used it before, and here's where we've seen it.

Isaiah 26-3, perfect peace, is actually in the Hebrew, peace, peace. Double use of the word. Isaiah 40 begins the chapter, verse 1. with a double imperative, comfort, comfort my people. A lot of the English translations will be comfort, oh comfort, to give the idea of cross and smooth English.

But that's what he does here. He uses the double I for emphasis. The Lord is speaking through Isaiah here and putting emphasis on this, it is me, it is me, the Lord is saying. I am the one. who wipes out your transgressions." Eye, even eye. This is not about eyes being even, okay? This is even eye. It is for great emphasis. He wants to underscore it tremendously here. Isaiah wrote the words that the Lord had given him. They are inspired words. And as the prophets often said, thus says the Lord. Isaiah himself wrote that as well.

God was conveying to His people Israel that He was unique. I, as opposed to anybody else, I am the One who wipes out your transgressions. God alone ever was, is now, and always will be the One who forgives sins. God alone was, and is now, and ever will be on into the future, the One who did Everything, completely, totally, absolutely. In order for him to be able to forgive sins, Jew, Gentile, makes no difference. He is the one who has accomplished it, who does accomplish it, and always will.

I am the one, Isaiah writes here, who wipes out your transgressions. Wait a minute, what happened to it? Oh, it's gone too. Something's wrong. Well, Isaiah wrote to bring home the point clearly, God is singularly the one who deals with sins. So what does he do with them? Does he put them under a rock? Shoot them into space? What happens to them? Where do they go?

Well, we'll take a look at that. He who wipes them out. Isaiah wrote that God said of himself and sins, about sins, he is the one who wipes out and he says, I will not remember. God is the one who took the initiative to deal with human sins so that they are actually dealt with, not just shoved aside for a moment, not just covered up, but dealt with.

No other spiritual being does or even can do that. Very important, not even us. Very important, not even us. See, I'm using double too. God also had Isaiah express that uniquely God provided forgiveness in several ways as we went through Isaiah. Let's take a bit of a detour here, a slight one. I promise we'll get there okay. Alright?

Now, remember way, way back, this is back at the beginning of this year, Isaiah 1.18. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool." He used a color analogy to get the picture across. To convey crimson, red, those were colors that in Isaiah's day you couldn't get them out. The Lord says, I will. People can't. I'll take care of it. I'll do it.

Sins of scarlet, white as snow. Red like crimson, like wool. I thought about using a color code here, but then the last lines would drop out. You couldn't see white as snow or like wool, but you get the idea. Isaiah's own sin and iniquity, shown in Isaiah 6, 5 through 7.

Now remember, this was the chapter, a brief one, but the chapter where Isaiah is actually taken into the heavenly scene. And after seeing the heavenly scene there, Isaiah said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He says, Uh-oh, I've seen the Lord. Uh-oh.

We're going to take a look at the last couple of verses here, so zero in on those. In verse 6, then one of the seraphim, and we want to particularly make note of that, that's the plural in the Hebrew, so a singular would be seraph, not seraphim, the plural. So the word seraph meant a burning one, and the seraph in verse 6 fulfills this aspect.

What does he do? He brings a burning coal from the altar, which would, if we thought in physical terms, that's going to burn Isaiah's lips. But he's got something he's picturing here. In the temple in Jerusalem, that pictured purification of sin by judgment, by burning. Isaiah 4-4 is an example of that. Verse 7, He touched my mouth with it. Here's Isaiah's first-hand testimony. He touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.

In the Old Testament and then even into the time of the Gospels where the temple ceremonies and sacrifices were still in place, All the sacrifices in the altar point to the Lord's ultimate provision of sin through Christ, through Christ's death. By faith in God's provision, the seraph could say, your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven, pointing to the Lord's sacrifice there on the cross.

Jumping ahead in Isaiah to chapter 33, verse 24. and no resident will say, I am sick. The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity." This is from a passage that looks forward to a time that's still future to us. And Isaiah is writing about this time in Jerusalem when all the Jews there, with the Messiah present, all the Jews will obey the Lord from the heart.

And they will have the Holy Spirit indwelling them and will believe. And their sins will be They will be forgiven their iniquity. Now, the iniquity isn't addressed here in figures of speech, not a color analogy like your sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow. Not wiped out or forgotten, but just directly forgiven. Sins forgiven. We saw several chapters later in chapter 38 of Isaiah, King Hezekiah wrote, And I'll look at just the last part of the verse there. For you have cast all my sins behind your back. This part of the verse is pointing to a Hebrew figure of speech.

The idea that King Hezekiah was conveying was you put them behind your back where they're not visible. You don't see them. You don't look at them. For God had cast all of Hezekiah's sins behind his, God's back. As a means to put them out of sight, to use another figure of speech there, so that God doesn't even look at the sins. You can look at a couple other passages there in 1 Kings and Ezekiel to see a similar idea. Putting behind the back, get them out of sight. God doesn't even look at those.

Here's Isaiah 44 that we're proceeding into next week here. Verse 22, I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist. Transgressions? Can't see them. Sins? Can't see those either. No. Covered. Completely. He wrote with this figure of speech saying that they're just not visible. I've taken care of it. We're going to step outside of Isaiah for just a little bit because David wrote this psalm here. He wrote about having his sins and iniquities and transgressions removed here in Psalm 103.

He has not dwelt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness towards those who fear Him. Is that big enough distance for you? Verse 12, As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

The picture there is the east from the west was very similar to another Hebrew analogy, from the rising of sun to its setting. The idea is way far that way. How far away is the sun off in that direction? How far is the sun off in this other direction? From sunrise to sunset, that far apart. That's how far the Lord has taken our sins away from us. Way far apart.

Sins, iniquities, transgressions, we've seen those words here in these passages we've been looking at. So what's the difference, if there is any? Sins are offenses and guilt before God or by act or omission. Iniquities are acts of moral or spiritual corruption, a corruption of the moral character of God. Transgressions, the idea of trespasses.

Paul put it in Ephesians 2.1, trespasses and sins, similar idea. Transgressions, crossing over a line where you shouldn't have crossed.

So all these words are used somewhat interchangeably. There's a different shade of meaning in each one. They have definitions that overlap. Ultimately, though they each look at a slightly different focus, each of them impacts relationship to God. That's the issue. Each of them impacts relationship to God. But if we look at these verses, one of the things that stands out, these verses leave us with at least a few questions. Maybe more than that, but at least some.

Does God just decide on his own to just forgive sins? Can God just say, oh, I forgive him? Does he do this just for no particular reason, just deciding he wants to? Or is something else involved? Is there more to it than that? What does it take for God to forgive sins? How thoroughly do sins get forgiven? Does God just sort of put them away until He grabs them and says, Aha! Now at this inconvenient moment for you, now let's talk about those sins.

Is that the way it works? Is there anything on our part that goes along with receiving God's forgiveness of our sins? Are we involved? Does it just kind of happen? Once God has forgiven our sins, do sins after that matter anymore? Does it really make any difference after that? After all, He's forgiven them, right? They're out of sight. They're wiped away. So does it matter? Well, how about what does it mean in the long run for God to forgive someone's sins? And what real difference does that make? Well, where do we start? How about if we start with Ahu? We'll start with Ahu.

This is the Lord himself. God is infinitely holy, scripture lays out, which also means that God is moral by nature. This was a question we talked about last week in the first and second Peter elective. God is a moral God. The pagan gods frequently cared nothing for morals. We even have a record of some of the pagans praying to their pagan gods to be able to steal better. and to lie better, and to cheat better. But the God of Scripture is moral by nature.

He is holy, infinitely holy. God is infinitely loving. He is unlimited in His capacity to love. He's not skimpy and wimpy when it comes to love. God is also infinitely merciful. He has an unlimited capacity to withhold deserved judgment. How bad a punishment does this deserve? He has the capacity at any magnitude to withhold judgment. God is infinitely just. He cannot simply ignore the consequences of sin. Sin has its consequences and those consequences must be paid. He cannot just simply lay that aside. He is an infinitely just God by nature and by character.

Here in Exodus 1511, Moses wrote a song, Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like you, majestic in holiness? The Lord's holiness isn't just minor. He isn't incidentally holy. He isn't holy up to some certain limit or magnitude. He is majestic in His holiness.

Here in Leviticus, As Moses also wrote twice, we have recorded Leviticus 11, 44 and 45, be holy for I am holy. Holiness is called for on the part of human beings because of His holiness. It's not because God said, yeah, I think I'll just make up some rules for them. I think I'll make up some sort of morality just because it'd be nice. No, holiness because of His holiness, because of His character. Now, here's where I need to warn you, where I was out of sorts. You have a double slide. I need to warn you because I was out of sorts. You have a double slide. Okay. Okay, duplicate slide on page 3. Alright, so neglect that.

1 John 4, 8 and 16, God is love. Just simply stated in the midst of the verse there, and twice stated. Not God's kind of loving, God's got a little bit of love here and there, God would like to love you, no. God is love. The outright definition. God is the very definition of love.

Ephesians 2.4, but God, what is the character? Rich in mercy. Not skimpy mercy, okay? Rich in mercy. Matter of fact, you could translate it, a wealth of mercy. Massive mercy. Because of his great love with which he loved us. Not just some, Not just a little bit, not some to borrow, but great love. Great love.

First John 3.1, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us. See what a quality of love is what's conveyed here. And by the way, that word bestowed is in the perfect tense. It means permanent, permanently given. Here's Psalm 89, 14. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. The Lord's throne is the place from which He reigns.

And justice is built into it. It's not something secondary. Justice is not something added on. Not something off to the side or incidental to God. But the foundation of His very reign and His throne and His authority. His very self. Isaiah 30, 18. For the Lord is a God of justice. That is His character. He is by nature a God of justice.

Now one of the things that scripture makes clear, the sin nature always expresses itself in acts of sin. These sins, these acts of omission, acts of deliberate Doing this and doing that, and acts of not doing things, both of those are expressions of the sin nature.

Those always result, scripture says, in spiritual death. The sins that result in spiritual death mean separation. God is the very definition and source of life, and so what is spiritual death? It's separation from Him, the very source of life. There is a sharp and deep chasm. between God and sins, and the person who sins. One of the things that we pointed out going through Ephesians is that being dead means separation.

Here in Ephesians 2.12, and you are at that time separate from Christ, being aliens without God in the world. 4.18, a couple chapters later, excluded from the life of God. Colossians 121 uses the same word as in Ephesians 418. It's translated there, you are alienated.

And the idea is separation, alienation, that deep chasm that we had there in the pictures beforehand. A deep chasm between God and man, a separation because of sins. Because of God's holiness, the sins of human beings create that separation, that distance between God and human beings. It leaves human beings in a state of spiritual death.

Since God is life, separation from him automatically results in that. Sins cannot go without the full consequences since God is a just God. The price must be paid. God is a God of justice. That must be satisfied. So God can't simply decide to just say, oh, well, boys must be boys, okay? Vern must be Vern, right?

The only way that human beings can respond to the separation and death and penalty problem is just to live in it, take it, to do it. The picture of the people in mud, mud wrestling and various other things. The picture, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, just living in it, interacting on that basis.

Human beings are powerless to fix the problem with any resources that we have. We can't fix it. We cannot do it. Any of these guys, just imagine them trying to get clean, staying where they are, right in it. Can't happen. Fortunately, and as I thought about that, I said, well, that's hardly an adequate word.

God's character of infinite love and mercy motivates him to do what we could not even hope to do by our own resources. God is motivated. He didn't just stumble onto this thing, but he is motivated to do what we could not do. God in his great love with which he loved us, being rich, remember, wealthy in mercy, a wealth of mercy, determined to take the penalty for our sins and the sins of the whole world, 1 John 2.2, the whole world, everyone, upon himself, entirely upon himself at his own expense.

God even knew before everything was created that he would have to pay the price for himself all by himself in full. Have you ever been through a situation where you said, boy, I didn't know I was signing up for that, or that's not what I signed up for, or maybe you've heard somebody say that. Kids are particularly prone to say that, right? But the Lord knew, the Lord knew in advance what the price would be and still proceeded, knowing full well what it's going to cost.

He would pay the price for sins, for each of us, to satisfy what? His own character. Why did Christ die on the cross? To satisfy God's character. Isn't that amazing? I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Look at this for my own sake.

God's forgiveness of our sins, everything that is a part of the salvation that we have in Christ, is completely a satisfaction of God's infinite, absolute, eternal character. All of God's character must be satisfied. Christ is the one solution that satisfies all of God's character. His holiness, God's holiness will not allow sins to simply remain.

His justice says the price must be paid. His love, unconditional love, looks down upon those who sinned against Him. And He says, I love them, not because of who they are. not because of what they've done, and I'm going to reach out and save them not because of anything they've done and not because they've even asked for it. I'm going to do this because I love them unconditionally. His mercy, his ability to withhold judgment is infinite. When Paul wrote to Timothy from his household prison there in Rome, He wrote to him in the very first chapter, 1 Timothy, and he spoke liberally of the mercy that the Lord had shown him.

Here is Paul, who says on more than one occasion, he says, if I had a chance, I voted for death. Acts records he says he breathed out murder. He says, I want those Christians dead. I want them dead. And the Lord confronted him on the road to Damascus. And he says, Paul, why are you persecuting, and notice he didn't say the Christians, why are you persecuting me? It was a direct affront to the Lord for Paul to be seeking death for these Christians. So Paul wrote to Timothy, the Lord had mercy on me.

Amazing. Here I was killing Christians, taking them out every chance I could. taking the lead in making sure that they were killed, supporting every opportunity, and yet the Lord withheld those deserved judgments and showed me mercy. Grace, marvelous grace. Grace and mercy have somewhat of an overlapping meaning, but grace is slightly different in this respect. Mercy withholds judgment. grace benefits and blesses where there's no reason to do so.

Above and beyond anything that was deserved or expected. Those are qualities the Lord has in infinity. All those characteristics of God are expressed in Christ's death on the cross, when the price was paid for you and me. All those things were satisfied.

The very first week we started looking at Isaiah. Of course, you remember it well, right? This first Sunday of December last year, Isaiah 52, we looked back on it back then in an overview. We're going to look at it in more detail in some weeks ahead when we get there.

For now, I want to take a look at some interesting places where 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul lays out the basics of the gospel and to see how those compare to that chapter in Isaiah 53. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." Those are the things that Paul lays out. That's the basics of the gospel.

And it's important that we take note of that here this morning for two reasons. One is just, do you understand that these are the things that must be believed in order for a person to be saved? If you believe these things here this morning, then you're saved. The person who does not believe those are not saved.

Furthermore, to be able to tell someone, I'd like to be a Christian. What does that require? What's the basics? I mentioned in the past that I became a believer at age four and a half. I was coming home from church. I remember it was a blue 55 Chevy wagon, and I was in the back seat, and of course in those days there weren't seat belts or kid seats or anything, so I'm leaning forward, sticking my head between my parents and saying, how do you become a Christian? And kind of in retrospect, I'm a little shocked, but my folks said, well, why don't you wait? And then I woke my mom up and I said, I waited long enough that night.

And these are the basic things to be believed, for a person to believe and be a Christian. They need to know these things. And so it's valuable for us to take a look at them here this morning, even if you are a believer, to be able to know specifically what are the things that a person needs to know and believe in order to be saved. This is the basics of the gospel.

Notice that he says twice in this passage, according to the scriptures. Which scriptures is he referring to? The New Testament has barely begun being written. Well, Isaiah 53 here, several places, lays out Christ died for our sins. He paid the price. He was the one who took the penalty, the full price entirely upon himself.

Isaiah 53.9 said he was buried. He was crucified and yes, buried. Most certainly dead.

Isaiah 53.10 and 12 say that he was raised. He was raised from the dead. Seven centuries in advance of the actual events. These three things that need to be believed about Christ in order for a person to be saved, all three of those things are prophesied in Isaiah 53, seven centuries in advance of them actually taking place. Isaiah laid out the gospel plain and clear. So what do we do with this? God has accomplished every single thing in our salvation. We couldn't do it ourselves. We couldn't pull it off. We couldn't make it happen. We couldn't even add some small part to it.

God is the one, as Isaiah says, who forgives. I, even I, am the one. God is the singular one who forgives and wipes out our sins. The only thing that we can do about it You want to do something about that? The only thing we can do is believe. That's it. We can believe what He's done. Our believing is in His work, and it's not counted for us as a work. We can't believe and call it a work. Scripture lays that out. All we can do when we believe is count upon his work. That's what believing is. It's counting upon his work. It's as simple as that. Now, let's get back to our questions. Remember we had some. Yeah, there we go. We had these questions that are on page two. I'm going to come up with some things that aren't on your handout here, but just to go back to those questions.

Does God just decide on His own to just forgive sins for no real reason, or is something else involved so that God can and does forgive sins? Well, Christ's death on the cross paid the full price for all the sins of the whole world. Which means full forgiveness for every single person who believes in Him. The price paid for all. Forgiveness for those who believe. How well does God forgive sins? I mean, this matters. If I want those sins to be wiped out, I mean wiped out. Or does God bring them back up and say, what? Gotcha! Real important.

Here's where we looked at Psalm 103. As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed transgressions from us. We could look at that Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 passage again. In fact, I think we will pretty soon here. The next question, is there anything on our part that goes along with receiving God's forgiveness of sins? What do we got to do? Well, we said, all you can do is believe.

And it's not a work. And all it is, is counting on his work. It's counting on what he did. Here's Paul and Silas, they got a short period of time to give the gospel real quick, because the jailer's got a sword out. And he's not doing Paul and Silas in, he's doing himself in. So here's the jailer asking the question, what must I do to be saved?

Bottom line, boiled down, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, Acts 16.31.

Once God has forgiven our sins, do sins matter anymore after that? After all, He's forgiven them. The person who has believed sins will never again be an issue in your relationship with God. How about that? Never again will sins be an issue in your relationship with God. You will be His child. Pure, plain, and simple. You will be in Christ eternally. Pure, plain, and simple. Done deal. The only thing that is at issue anymore is ongoing fellowship with the Lord. It's fellowship, not relationship, that's the issue. It gets in the way of fellowship from one moment to the next, and that's the only reason it matters.

See, God is not looking at your life and mine and saying, boy, I just can't wait to watch them sin because I'm really into those sins. God is not looking and saying, boy, I'm just looking out for the next time Vern stumbles. Because, boy, those really got to have my attention. No. He just doesn't want them in the way. He wants open fellowship between me and him. Is the relationship ever at risk? Nope. Never ever.

It's the fellowship that He wants. That's the only reason sins matter now, now that I've believed. even if I had to insist on it. We're saved from, as scripture lays out, the penalty of sin. Christ died on the cross when we believe we were saved from the penalty of sin, the eternal consequences, as they've been studying in the Romans elective here, from the power of sin. The unbeliever is completely stuck, like we showed in the muck there, stuck in the muck. in sin. The believer, however, has available by God's doing power over sin. And finally, the presence of sin when we go to be with the Lord face-to-face. Though we've been saved from the penalty of sin in the past, are being saved, we're talking a time perspective, right, from the power of sin in the present as we trust in the Lord, and we will be saved when we go to see the Lord face-to-face. We'll be saved from the presence of sin. This verb, saved, is in the perfect tense. It's a done deal. As far as God's concerned, it's all finished. It's all done. That's His time perspective. That word saved is sozo. Can you say sozo? Sozo? See, now you're Greek scholars. I knew you knew Greek. Okay. This word, saved, is in the perfect tense. It tells us, as far as God's concerned, that perfect tense implies permanence.

As far as God's concerned, it's a done deal. Is God pacing the floor of heaven, worrying about how it's all going to turn out with you and me? No. As far as He's concerned, it's a done deal. It's only in the human point of view that it's stretched out over time. God's standing, looking at it, and He says, you're completely eternally saved. It's done, as far as I'm concerned.

I just want fellowship with you right now. So just what does it mean in the long run for God to forgive someone's sins? And what difference does that make? Let's take a look here. Did I mention God's amazing grace? God's eternally amazing grace Not only does it motivate Him to save us, and by the way, Ephesians 2.7 says that grace is so phenomenal it will take eternity to reveal, saves us from sin's penalty, power, and presence, but He also has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Remember, that's the aspect of grace. Mercy withholds judgment. Grace blesses for no good reason at all. Undeserved grace. Amazing grace. It isn't fully understood until we're amazed.

It's not just a matter, because remember we talked about being saved from the penalty and the presence and the power of sin, but it's not only a matter of what we're saved from, but also what we're saved to. What we're saved to, and the big part of that It's a matter of who we're saved from, ourselves. We were in Adam, walking around in that guy. Saved from being there, stuck in Adam. Now, saved to Christ, in him. It's not just a salvation from, but a salvation to. And that salvation to focuses on who?

The Lord himself, the Lord of glory. the one with whom we're now seated, the one with whom the Lord just looked forward to the fellowship. Isn't that amazing? Looking forward to the fellowship with you and me now in eternity. So here, Isaiah writes, I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake. It is because of God's eternal, infinite character that he saves us, that he wipes out our transgressions. It's all of who he is. Hebrews 12, 1 and 2, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. Remember, the Lord isn't focusing on the sin. He just wants it out of the way. Why? Look at this.

And let us run with endurance the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus. He wants us to look at Him, not the sins. The author and perfecter of faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross. For the joy set before him, he said, do I get to have fellowship with those people there at Holly Hills who put their trust in me? Yeah. He says, I'll do it. It's worth the price. Well worth it. Gladly. I'll do it.

For the joy set before him, he endured the cross for fellowship with us and satisfaction of his own character. That's a wonderful thing. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage, it is awesome in the extreme for us to imagine that there is such joy for you to have fellowship with us, to reveal and declare and share your glory, and to be glorified, and that our fellowship with you and being in you, even as we are now seated in the heavenlies, that that's a thing so precious to you, so valuable, that you would take the Roman nails, that you would take upon you the wrath of the Father for the sins of the whole world. Lord, what an amazing thing. What a marvelous thing. Thank you for what you've done, for wiping out our transgressions, not just to get them out of the way, but that we behold you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.