Saved from What? (4)
Notes
Transcript
On Wednesday, we taught on the fact that the “Glory” of God is the purpose wherefore we share the Good News.
We are called to be the Imago Dei
We were created to reflect the Glory of God in a inglorious world.
We were called to be light in the darkness, salt to the decay.
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
I want you to know that this section of Scripture is about the Lord dealing with Israel.
Let me begin by saying, Israel is dealing with some stuff.
They are holding on to some stuff and there is a great level issue God is taking with their holding on to this sin.
He Has the Ability!
He Has the Ability!
Isaiah 59:1 (ESV)
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
He can reach us.
He can hear us.
How do I know?
Because the prophet made it clear: He Has the Ability!
His capacity is enough and His grace is sufficient.
Sometimes, our argument is: “Where is God?” “Why did God?” or “When will God?” or “What will God?”
He Is Not Listening!
He Is Not Listening!
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
David, the man after God’s own heart, says: “If I hold on to my sin, you will not listen or hear me.”
2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
There is a chasm!
How do we know we can’t have both our cake and eat it too?
Isaiah 59:3–4 (ESV)
3 For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
We Have Spiritual Death!
We Have Spiritual Death!
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
23 For the wages of sin is death...
So with the reality of separation, do we not all want restoration?
Do we not all want things to be made well/right/just?
The chasm is great and the sin is remaining until its debt is fulfilled to the uttermost.
Yet, we are not without hope just as they were not without hope.
Walking Away, But In...
Walking Away, But In...
The bridge that covers the chasm is the Cross.
Trust in the work of Christ upon the Cross.