Be Whiter Than Snow

Sermon Be Whiter than Snow

Surely you’ve seen an incandescent bulb? Like a 60 watt bulb. You say, that’s white light.

Then you see a fluorescent bulb and wow, that’s whiter! No, that’s white!

Then you see an LED bulb, and wow, that’s even whiter! No, that's white!

That first bulb, now you realize, it wasn’t white, it was sort of yellow!

How does that happen? Are you seeing the whole spectrum or just part of it?

Have you ever seen a white piece of paper? You say, yeah that’s white.

Then you see a whiter sheet of paper! What, no that’s white!

Paper is actually measured in whiteness like 85% white, 90% white, or 94% white. It gets even whiter than that! You think that paper is white, but really it’s not! It’s nearly white!

My wife had cataract surgery! She says that before the surgery all the colors look right and white looks white ya know. After the surgery, no, now she knows what white looks like. Everything looks brighter and more colorful!

How do you know if what white you’re seeing is really white or not?

You look at a white t-shirt in the closet and you think, yeah, that’s white and clean. Then you bring it out of the closet and into the light, and woah, that thing’s dirty! That needs to go back into the wash! How did I ever think that was clean? It’s filthy!!!

How is it we can think we know something is something but then seconds later, we realize that that thing was not what we thought it was but now this new thing is what we think?

Of course, people are that way too! You ask them if they are good people and they will say, “Of course!” Then, if you ask them if they have lied, or stolen, or thought bad thoughts, or have done other sinful things, they have to admit that yes they have. Only then they realize that their sins have put many black marks on them. They are not pure, they are tainted! The Bible associates whiteness with purity. (To be clear, and it’s sad to even have to bring this up in this day and age, but this has nothing to do with skin color.)

We are WHITE BLIND! We can see somewhere between 1M and 10M colors with our eyes!

Zechariah 3:1-5 Joshua the High Priest gets new clothes

1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and [b]will clothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

Imagine, this is the high priest the Bible is talking about and even he had a lot of black marks on his spiritual clothes and hat! Imagine how many black marks we have on our spiritual clothes and yet many people absurdly think they are sinless!

Perhaps some realize that they are not good people but still others will say they are good people even though the Bible says otherwise (all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom 3:23, If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:10).

When we shine the light of God’s holiness, and righteousness vs our unholiness and unrighteousness, we realize that we are woefully sinful and inadequate. We are not worthy of heaven!

Isaiah 6:1-5

1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”

4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”