God Can Cleanse Us From All Sin
Isaiah 1:18-20
There have been many times in my ministry that people have said to me they have sinned in a way that God could or would not forgive them. I do not believe there is any one that is in the sound of my voice today that cannot be forgiven. It does not matter how bad you have been; it does not matter what sins you have committed. God is in the business of forgiving sins and saving people. The passage I just read it tells us God can cleanse us from the stains of sin. No matter what they are. If we are willing to repent and be obedient to Him.
Today I want you to understand that God loves you and will not let you perish in sin if you would just come to Him and let Him save you from your sin.
I. God wants us to come to Him. 1:18a
A. “Come now”
2 Corinthians 6:2 “For He says: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.”
B. God is longing for people to come to Him.
Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”
Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
John 6:35-37 "And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."
II. When we come to God, He will reason with us. 1:18b
NOTE: The word reason means to demonstrate what is right and true.
A. He will reason with us to what is true about Himself.
1. It is true that God loves us.
Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not parish but have everlasting life."
2. It is true that He came to save us.
John 3:17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through Him might be saved."
3. It is true that He is the only way of salvation.
John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
B. He will reason with us to what is true about our sin.
1. It is true that we all are sinners.
Romans 3:10 "There is none righteous, no not one."
Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
2. It is true that the penalty for sin is death.
Romans 6:23a "The wages of sin is death.
C. He will reason with us to what is true about forgiveness of sin.
1. It is true that He will forgive sin.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
2. It is true that there is no sin so bad that it cannot be forgiven.
NOTE: Preacher, what about the Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Just what is this sin? "Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit not only reflected unbelief, but determined unbelief, the refusal after having seen the evidence necessary to complete understanding, even to consider believing in Christ." (MacArthur Matthew 8-15, p312) "Those that spoke against the Holy Spirit were those who saw His divine power working in and through Jesus but willfully refused to accept the implications of that revelation and, in some cases, attributed that power to Satan," (p.313)
Therefore, this is a sin which means that you have to knowingly rejects everything about Christ even though all the evidence points to the truth. In a sense, you must know it is the truth but sill rejects it. Most people have not committed this sin.
a. There is not a number on which God
quits forgiving.
b. There is no sin that is so bad that God will not forgive if asked.
1) Even if they are as bright as scarlet.
NOTE: This color was made from insects. It is a very bright color and it was used to symbolize the nature of sin.
2) Even if they were as dark like crimson.
NOTE: Many time scarlet and crimson are the same color but Isaiah uses two different words here. This color was on that came from a worm. It was dark reddish color with a blue tint.
c. God can take those sins and clean them out.
NOTE: He would clean them out in such a way so there is no evidence. There is no stain. The scriptures tell us that he casts the sin as far away from as the east is from the west and He remembers them no more.
1) He can make you as white as snow.
2) He can make you as clean as washed
and bleached wool.
Illustration: An old preacher talked about a time when he worked in a chemical plant. In this plant, they produced very strong chemicals. There was one chemical, which was kept in a glass vat. This chemical was so powerful that if you dropped a piece of paper in it the paper would dissolve into nothing before it broke the surface. As you watched through the wall of the vat, the paper would go in but you could not see it come through. As soon as it hit the chemical, it was gone. This is how God forgives. His blood cleanses us from sin. It washes it and takes it away so it no longer exists.
Many times, after God forgives us we want to jump in the blood and get them back but they are not there.
III. When we come to God and He reasons with us, the results need to be repentance. 1:19-20
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
A. The signs and reward of repentance.
1. We see the signs of repentance.
a. There is a willingness to serve Him.
b. There is obedience to His Word.
2. The reward of repentance is that we shall have the good of the land.
B. The signs and punishment of the lack of repentance.
1. We see the signs of the lack of repentance.
a. There is a refusal to serve Him.
b. There is rebellion against His Word.
2. The punishment of the lack of repentance is death by the sword.
Revelation 19:21 “And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.”
Conclusion:
There are not any sins that God cannot or will not forgive and forget. Whoever, there are many that we will not forgive. We will not forgive others, and we will not forget sins against us. There are sins that we have committed that we will not forgive ourselves for and we cannot forget them. Satan does not what us to forgive and forget because it is a tool he uses to keep us living a defeated life. He wants us to remember because it causes us to think that God has not forgiven and forgotten. I believe God allows us to remember our sin in order to keep us from doing them again. Whoever He does not remember them.
If you are here today and thinking that you have done something so bad there is no way God will forgive you then you are mistaken. God is longing for you to come to Him.
