What Color is Your Sin? Red or White? (Part 1 of 4)

Sin stains are indelible.  Only the blood of Jesus Christ can remove them!

October 20, 2020

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:  But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."

Isaiah 1:18-20

Part 1

God chose Israel as His people, and because He was their God, He lavished His people with His blessings.  But sadly, being the chosen ones was not enough for Israel.  God’s people became dissatisfied with Him, and with His provision and gifts, they began wandering astray and following other gods.  Like a roller coaster, Israel’s history is filled with the highs of blessing when she walked with God, and in times of great hardship, the lows and sadness when she forsook her God and went out on her own.  Her unfaithfulness eventually led to captivity, both for Israel and for Judah.

Isaiah, the prophet, pointed out that Israel’s children no longer knew their God.

“The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider” (Isaiah 1:3).

And God said of His people,

“Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isaiah 1:4).

The LORD gives a picture of Israel’s sin’s damage, as though it has attacked a healthy body.

“…the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5b-6).

God wanted Israel to love and obey Him and return to Him.  Because of her sin, God said to come back to Him she needs to,

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:16-17).

He asks her to come to Him for cleansing.

Sin is an offense against the Holy God.  All sin is directed toward Him.  When a child disobeys a parent, that sin is against the parent and God.  He is the one who placed the child in the care of that parent.  He is the final authority for the child.  When David finally admitted his multiple sins against Bathsheba and Uriah, her husband, this is what he confessed,

“For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest” (Psalm 51:3-4).

We must know that whatever we have done, thought, or said in our sin, it has been aimed at Him.  A significant step in dealing with our sins is taking them to our God who we have sinned against.

What did the LORD mean when He said, “Come now, let us reason together?  Tomorrow we will think about this.  See you then.

 

Quote:  “Repentance is siding with God against self”[1] (Todd Nibert).

 

 

 

[1] Nibert’s quote Downloaded: Monday, September 28, 2020.  From: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/repentance.