Lesson IS3 Isaiah and the Lord's Practical Requirements, Isaiah 1:15- 21

Dealing With Sin- 9 Steps of Accountability Is. 1:15- 19

The New King James Version Chapter 1

15 “

Last week we found out in verse 15 that our hands can betray us! An attempt at repentance without any change in attitude can quickly derail our progress or our pleas. the plea is of course an unheard prayer. “Even though we(you) make many prayers, I (The Lord) will not hear. Your hands are full of blood”- verse 15. The 9 steps of verses 16 and 17 are very powerful and will result in a very satisfactory blessing in anybody’s book. Technically, you could say that the first two are really one. If course the opposite is also true, not all washing results in a cleaning unless it is Christ’s blood doing the washing. “Wash yourselves, Make yourselves clean” will be taken as two actions. The “washing” is a person in the water taking tub bath and then rinses off. The “make clean” in the next phrase is getting rid of any stains that may remain after you have attempted to get clean. Just go ask a child who has attempted to wash their ears, and did their best job until mom says, “Did you get behind your ears?” Do you get my drift?

The best attempts at washing can result in someone still being unceremoniously unclean, unless they make a complete cleansing. The Lord is going to inspect your “clean” attempts. Let’s spend a few more moments is this mode of “hands, washing and cleansing.” Ancient Job settled in on this in his 11th chapter, verses 13 to 15, “ If you prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him; Ig iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then you shalt left up your face without spot; Yea, you shall be steadfast and shall not fear!” (Job 11:13-15) Then the New testament writer, James, the Lord’s brother said in James, chapter four verse 8: “Draw nigh to God and He will draw night to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubleminded.” (James 4:8) These are overwhelming evidence on the necessity to make oneself cleansed while making a case before the Lord for the thing you need. Always check the hands and the heart. Getting cleansed a New Testament way is the only way to go! Go straight to the throne of grace.

7 More

The third in the list is “ the putting away of evil of your doings from before your eyes”, and the fourth is “cease to do evil”! This is showing us that much of the evil that is done in this life is done at arms length. We can say this because it is done before your eyes. Then to cease the evil is not as specific as the stuff before your eyes, but the injunction remails the same no matter what you are doing, “Stop it! Stop it! Stop It.” If you have to drive the brake pedal to the floor, do it, and cease to proceed any further. Verse 17 is a call for societal justice; “Learn to do good, Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” While these are sometimes some of the harder practices, they are just as effective in getting the Lord to hear. Being a “do-gooder” can carry negative connotations with someone who is meddling, it really is never out of style, Biblically speaking. It takes, thought, hard work, and a confrontation with that thing that is repetitive. Habitual doing good is the goal. You have to learn and do, learn, and then learn and do some more.

“Seek justice” is a war against bad judgments, unclean decisions, and legal bullying in any shape or form. Our entire country was founded upon the premise that all men are created equally and our legal decisions must conform to a godly example in the judicial arena. And remember, though Isaiah is delivering the warning and the steps to do right, they are really the Word of the Lord. Hear what He is saying. “Rebuke the oppressor” is rendered in the New American Standard Version as “Reprove the ruthless.” This admonition could have easily been found in the New Testament also as God’s Word agrees throughout. The oppressor must be stopped. Some of this kind of rebuke is done in the New Testament from the pulpit. It’s amazing that even Christians have to be warned about this in Second Timothy 4: 2, 3 “Preach the Word, be instant in season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and Doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine...!” You could say that Isaiah was speaking to a chosen nation who had not endured sound doctrine and the rebuke had just been handed to them.

Two More

“Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow,” are all that remain of the nine steps to keep us accountable along with Israel. I must say that defending the fatherless is a constant job for our legal authorities and our churches. Child abuse, senior abuse, human trafficking, slavery, prostitution, scam artists, and the foster care system are all situations where children and widows are being exploited. On top of that, someone is getting rich from these two areas explicitly. There is not the right person to defend the fatherless, or the defenders are overwhelmed in their work and widows run ragged from lost opportunities to even live in their means. They too are overwhelmed. We must correct that as Isaiah is told. It was bad enough to put them in captivity.!!!

Let’s review the last verses in the passage at the start of the lesson:

The New King James Version Chapter 1

18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword”;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken

The spirit of verse 18 is like a plea for two individuals to talk a walk together and that they would be found to be right in their outlook on life matters. We are going to walk together and it is going to make sense. It may have never made sense before but when the walk is in progress you are drawn into the truth of sin being taken care in a perfect manner. As red as sin can be in an individual, there is always that truth that you can be cleansed. The dual cleansing is though they are as red as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. The other side of the truth is though they are red like crimson, they shall be as white as wool. Now this walk that you make is with you and the Lord Himself. He is trying to walk with Israel and get them to realize that their sins can be cleansed and forgiven. What a blessing to them that should have been: they could have gone directly to the source of cleansing, God Himself, rather than waiting for the moment when it was okay to go to the temple area.

Another action is revealed to Israel through Isaiah: willingness and obedience will lead to eating from the abundance of the land. What more could anyone want. First they are promised cleansing from sin and now they are offered to eat from the best of the land. Then the clincher, “But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.” Refusal and rebellion will be rewarded with a devouring war in your presence. The sword will be your downfall for your insolence! These seem like dark matters, sin is never described as dark or black, it is described as red. Red is a stain from sin that can only be removed by God Himself. It is not a comment on skin color, it is a state of the soul and spirit. The only way out of the mess that is coming is to listen to the Lord as He speaks through Isaiah. Do not close the door on a Holy God or refuse His love, provisions and sin-cleansing. I know this is true because of the final statement to verse 20: For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Anytime that God’s children think that they can turn away from a walk with God and have no consequences, think again. The Lord is calling out to all nations today to hear the Lord and be cleansed and get ready for heaven. You will not want any part in the battle that is coming to devour the rebel. The Lord has provided his own Son for us today to experience that cleansing that only true obedience will ever find. That is to have the stain removed that keeps us from walking with Him all the way to heaven for all eternity.