Clean us Up Isaiah 64:1-9
1. Isaiah 64:1-9 . This is first Sunday of Advent This is traditionally when we think of the coming of Jesus
• The coming of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem
• The coming of Jesus at the end time to judge the world
• The coming of Jesus to take His people away to an eternal dwelling
• The coming of Jesus to usher in a new world new kingdom
Today I want to talk about Jesus coming to clean us up.
2. God Help us we are like rubbish
• The beginning of the text “tear open the heavens and come down.” The Prophet is asking God to intervene
• The Prophet remembers “how the mountains shook at your presence “Reference to Gods great work on Mount Sinai during the exodus
• The Prophet recognizes their situation were unclean we need to be saved.
• But we are all like an unclean thing, it makes us unacceptable and unworthy before God.
• And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; The good we may try to do is unacceptable and unclean before the LORD. even the good we do is polluted. Charles Spurgen said, “Brethren, if our righteousness’s are so bad, what must our unrighteousnesses be?”
• We all fade as a leaf, weak and unstable And our iniquities, like the wind, we can’t stand in the storms of life
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3. God speaks through the Prophet
• God calls his people to return to the right path.
• Isaiah is a truth teller His truth telling is for Jerusalem to practice social justice, which means to treat all people fairly, judging them by the same standards and offering them the same respect. In Chapter 1;16-17“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean,” he said; “remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow” (1:16-17).
• Bible scholar Brevard Childs says that these words of the prophet were delivered “to a corrupt, complacent and self-righteous population.” Jerusalem was full of corrupt leaders who spent time with thieves. Greed was rampant, bribery was everywhere, and people loved chasing gifts for themselves. The poorest of the poor — orphans and widows — were overlooked and ignored (1:23). The rich got richer and the poor got poorer.
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4. It is clear Gods wants Israel and us to Take out the Trash in our life’s and clean us up
• Isaiah’s words challenge us today:
• To wash ourselves and make ourselves clean, so that our words and deeds are no longer a filthy cloth.
• Notice doing good, in the eyes of God, has everything to do with caring for the most vulnerable people around us: those treated unfairly, the oppressed, orphans and widows.
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5. So, how do we get rid of our filthy deeds and words our garbage, rubbish, junk ?
• We are recyclable people We are not pieces of garbage that God is anxious to toss into the dump. We are remake-able
• Instead, we are “the clay,” according to Isaiah, and God is the potter (v. 8). We are the work of God’s hands, and God is continually molding us into the people that he wants us to be.
• We get rid of our filthy-ness by asking for forgiveness In order to be fully cleansed of our filthy deeds and words, we need God to “tear open the heavens and come down” Intervene(v. 1).
• We need for God to put away anger and choose not to “remember iniquity forever” (v. 9).
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6. Finally, we need a redeemer to take our trash
• Jesus is the Redeemer. In the ancient world, the role of a redeemer was played by someone who paid a debt for a debtor or freed a captive through the payment of a ransom.
• Jesus, is the one who gives us “redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
• Jesus is the Redeemer who buys us back from slavery, pays our debts and cleanses us from sin.
• “Do not fear,” says God through the prophet Isaiah. “I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (43:1).
• We are never destined for the trash heap, no matter how messy our lives have become.
• In the eyes of God, we are never garbage. Instead, we are people who can always be cleansed, always be redeemed.
