Sin Blotted Out

Sin Blotted Out

Isaiah 43:25
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”
King James Version (KJV)

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Transcript

 12-8-24 AM Sherl Thomas - Sin Blotted Out Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai . Go Unlimited to remove this message. All right, if you'd take your Bibles together with me, please. And we're going to be looking in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah. Chapter 43 of the book of Isaiah. And every year, at about this time of the month, we start singing Christmas songs, which is all right. That's good and wonderful. And I don't necessarily have a Christmas message. So I don't have, I guess, a Christmas message this morning, but I have a Christmas thought for you. And in Romans 6 and verse 23, it says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So the gift of God is eternal life. You say, what does that fit what you're going to use this morning? It sure does. Everything fits in the Bible, everything. All right. So our text verse this morning for our consideration, I'll read from chapter 43 and I'll read verse 25. Chapter 43 and verse 25. This is God speaking. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake. And I will not remember thy sins. Isn't that good? That is good news. That's good news. And of course, this thought came to me, this passage scripture, as a result of the previous two messages that I've brought. And I know there are probably people who didn't hear them. And so I thought that they were neat, the two messages. And one of the reasons that I really liked the two messages was a title that I gave them. How that God's eternal plan is expressed in one single verse in the Bible. And it was Isaiah 53 and verse 6. For all we like sheep have gone astray and turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all. That covers all time in God's wonderful plan. And so when God created man, he knew what he would do. God has always known everything. Amen. He knows everything. God is omniscient. He's one of the attributes of God. And that is that he knows everything. And people have asked me many times over the years, well, if God knew this or if God knew that, there's no if about it. God knew it. God has known all eternity from all eternity. And so he knew that Adam was going to sin. He knew that he had created all the human race in one stroke in Adam. And he knew Adam, our representative, would cause all the human race to fall in sin. And so that's part of the subject of the Bible. It may be unpleasant for us to think about sometime, but it is the subject of the Bible. And that's what has happened to the human race. And so when we look around us and we see all the troubles and trials everywhere, and we see wars and rumors of wars and all of that, we can understand one thing. That it's all because man fell in sin. And so everybody is a sinner because he has a sin nature in him. The Bible teaches that. And oftentimes I love the illustration about how I know that that's true because I'm the father of children. And I learned a long time ago that little babies would start lying real quick. They'd just cry and cry and cry, not a tear in their eye. And so they're deceptive, you see. They're little hypocrites when they're babies. You might say, not mine, yours too. They are all that way. They're all bent to sin, the Bible says. And so in those two messages, I sure enjoyed sharing the truths that are in there. That's what's happened to the human race. All we like sheep have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way. And even after God saved someone, we're still prone to that. We still are prone to that. If we're not careful, we will drift away and we'll get out of the will of God. That's what we do. And so that's what causes that. And so I enjoyed sharing that. And I call them two messages, my thanksgiving messages. Because if you find yourself in that passage of Scripture, that last part of it where he's laid upon us, he's laid upon him that's on Christ, the iniquities of us all, then if we can say that's where I am, I know that he's forgiven my sins. I know he's taken the penalty of my sin away. And I know that Jesus carried that when he went to the cross of Calvary. You're one of the most blessed people in all the world. You've got everything to be thankful for if that's the case in our life. And so as a result of that, you know, sometimes I'll preach from a text and I have a hard time getting it up, moving from one to the other. And that's the reason I sometimes preach many sermons from one text, is because I get it on my mind and I have a hard time moving on. And so this passage that I've read in your hearing where God said, I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will remember and will not remember your sin. You see, that is a wonderful passage of Scripture. And anybody can say this morning, that's describing me. I am one of them that has had his sin blotted out because of what Jesus did for me on the cross of Calvary. Isn't that a wonderful thought? So I guess you could say that I've continuing my Thanksgiving message. Well, I want to tell you what I think about that. I think every day is Thanksgiving. Every day we have so much to be thankful for and we ought to honor the God that's made it all possible. And so we need to understand that. I think there's a critical lesson to be learned in that. I've often said this. People don't repent until they see themselves as God sees them. You think about that. People don't repent until they see themselves as God sees them. And so it's a terrible tragedy that so many in our world claim to know the Lord and they just keep on going on in sin. And it doesn't seem to bother them any. We're there in a world of trouble and a world of trouble as a result of that. So this is one of the reasons why that I think this is such a precious verse of Scripture. Matter of fact, I would encourage you, if you want to have some good Bible reading, of course, anywhere you read in the Bible is good Bible reading. But this whole chapter, the whole chapter is God dealing with His people in the Old Testament. You see, God has always had a people. That's what it's all about. It's all about people. I couldn't help but think about it when we were singing that song, the last verse, and fit us for heaven to live with Thee there. That was the song of Way in a Manger. And that's what the last statement said. Listen, if you know the Lord this morning, that's what's going on. That's the process that's happening in your life. Because let me tell you something. Jesus has got to live with us. If you're saved, He's got to live with us. And so, this is part of what I discovered in this passage of Scripture, because I'll tell you this to begin with. He says, that bloteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake. Why would Jesus say that? You say, well, I'm forgiven, and forgiveness of sin is for me. It's for me. Well, it is for you. But we don't ever think about that part of it for mine own sake. And so, He is interested in us in our life. Now, in our text that we have, Isaiah is writing to Israel. And God is doing the speaking here. And we learn so much in this chapter about what God says about a personal relationship with Him. We learn so much. And I would call your attention to verse 21 through verse 25. Verse 25 is what we read. And you look in your Bibles at what it says. Beginning in verse 21, this is about a personal relationship with the Lord. And this is God communicating with His people in the Old Testament about that. Now, listen to what it says. In verse 21, this people have I... Now, God speaking, have I formed for myself? You know, I'll repeat that. We usually don't think about that. We don't think about what God has done in my life for Himself, for Himself. We tend to be centered on ourself. But the Bible is telling us here that God has an interest in our life. He has formed... It's what He says. I formed for myself. This people have I formed for myself. And they shall show forth my praise. Now, sometime another in my own personal Bible study, I have underlined the word shall. Have you ever thought about that? What God is saying when He says that. They shall show forth my praise. Now, somebody might think, well, how can that be? How can God guarantee something like that? Well, God can. God can. And you know why He can? Every person that He has saved, let me call your attention to the very first verse of this chapter. And like I was saying, this is an interesting chapter and we learn a lot. But here's what the first verse says. But now, thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, and that formed thee, O Israel. Now, listen to this. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. Now, that's what it's talking about when it talks about blotting out their transgression, blotting it out. Now, that's interesting. I want to say this about it, in case I forget to do so in the message this morning, that the picture there is like something that has been recorded on a book about, and then God is blotting that out. He's blotting that out. And it's not like taking a pencil and drawing a line through it. It's like He's removing it completely. It's gone. It's gone. So He says in verse 1 as I was reading, fear not, I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. I want to ask you this morning, how many of you that would say, I know the Lord as my personal Savior. He is my Lord, and He is my Savior. And I have assurance this morning of that relationship that I have with Him. Well, I want to tell you something that the Bible says about that. The Bible says you are His. That's a possessive statement that is made. In other words, I can tell you this morning about myself, and I've learned this from the Bible, is that I belong to Him. You know, whether I see myself that way, whether I act that way or not, it is true because God has a plan when He redeems a people. And of course, that's expressed in this chapter in a powerful way. But back to the verse that I read, verse 21 through 25, and watch it in your Bible. It says, this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. Okay, will they? They will, but it's going to take something special happening for it to happen. And then here's God's complaint. I want you to follow me here in verse 22 through verse 25. God has a complaint about this people, and He says, but thou hast not called upon me. In other words, they weren't praying, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast been weary of me. I read this in the paper this past week. This preacher had written an article, and I read the article, and this man said to his friend, he said, my wife treats me like God. And he said, well, man, that's good. He said, no. She acknowledges me only when she wants something. Well, do we treat God that way? Well, I tell you what, sometimes we can do that if we're not careful. But what God is saying here in verse 21, that you haven't called on me, and you've been weary of me. Listen to this. This is really interesting. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle or thy burnt offerings. Neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money. Neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou hast made me to serve with thy sin. Thou hast worried me with thine iniquities. Now, this is God complaining. Now, I'm going to tell you what I think is interesting about that. How many of you have ever stopped to think about why God would want these things or why God would need them? Let me show you again. He says, thou hast not brought me the small cattle. That's talking about sacrificial animals, the lamb or what have you. Burn offering. Neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifice. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Why would God be interested? Do you think God needs any of that? God don't need that. Why in the world is he making this complaint against his people here when he says that? You see, I bring my offering to church. That's what I think I ought to do. I bring that, and it's one of my ways of worshiping and serving God, and I think we ought to look at it that way, is that. But did God need what I brought to church? Did God need my offering? Why does he tell me in the Bible to bring it? Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse. See if I won't open the windows of heaven, the point of blessing you'll not be able to receive. Why does he do that? It is a channel that he's given to me and to you to worship him, opportunity to worship him. Did he need me to come to church today? No. He's still going to be God, amen? He's still going to be God. And this is what God is saying about these people. Now, Israel here in this story is about to go into a period of judgment because of that. You see, it's not going to be very long. As a matter of fact, we find these words recorded in the 26th verse through the 28th, following our text verse. Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare thou that thou mayest be justified. Thy first father hath sinned and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore, I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary and have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to the reproaches. In other words, judgment is coming on this nation because of their failures too. They were worshiping idols, and they were ignoring God as he's oppressed there. And so God's going to bring judgment upon them. You see, one of the reasons why verse 21 says, this people have I formed for myself and they shall show forth my praise. Well, you follow their little history, and they're being carried away into captivity for 70 years. And then you look in the psalm of their cry as a result of that, and I wish I could remember the psalm I'd read it to you. So we sit down by the river and they require of us a psalm, and how can we sing the Lord's psalm in a strange land? They were in trouble because of some of the things that God said here related to that. And so that's why this is wonderful good news, that verse of Scripture, because God said, I've done that, I've done that for you. And so we see that as it's shared here in this passage of Scripture. And what it's saying is that everything in my book is blotted out. That's what he's saying. That's the analogy that's used here in the Bible. I remember when I was a little boy, I would follow my grandfather around everywhere he went. I knew, I mean, my mind is so full of memories of him and how he did things and what life was like for him. And every little thing about him I remember so very well. You know, he didn't have a car and he went to church in mules pulling a wagon or a sled. Sometimes he did that kind of thing and stuff like that. But what they would do is they would raise their crops. They didn't have, they were farmers and they were farming sage grass land and sawbriar land. That's what it was. I remember what it used to be like years ago and my brother Randall and Ricky on those places now and they've got them all fixed a whole lot better and I've not seen a sawbriar. I used to run around barefooted and catch one of them between my toes and I tell you what, it's rough business. But anyway, I remember and what they would do is they would run an account at a store and they would write down what they got and everything and in the fall of the year when they sold their crops and everything or maybe a calf or two or a pig or two or whatever, they would go and they would pay that debt and they would mark it out of the book. They used a ledger. They didn't have a computer. They didn't have none of those things in those days and they would just mark that out, blot it out. That's something of the meaning of our passage of Scripture this morning that God does for us is that He blots that out. He says here, I even I, that means that no one else could do that. Only God can do it. That's a divine action. My friend, our sins are forgiven and this Christmas season, see I'm making this a Christmas sermon this morning, is that Jesus was born, He was born on a mission. He had a mission and you know what His mission was. His mission was to grow up and go through His earthly ministry and then go to the cross of Calvary and give His life, die for the sins of His people and be put in the grave for three days and three nights and raised again on the third day and so we need to see not only is it at this time of year but we need to look ahead because it's a divine action and that's what the Bible is talking about when it talks about that. And no one ever loved like He did and that's the reason why He did that. I think it's interesting in this first verse of this or the second verse, you remember I read the first book and it says thou art mine. You belong to me. He says, listen to what He says in verse two through four. When thou passes through the water, I will be with thee and through the river they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. That made me think about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were cast into the furnace and it was awful but you know why? It didn't bother them. You see, this is talking about the providence of God, sovereignty of God. How many of you believe this morning He can protect me? He sure can. And these are wonderful words that He's saying here. He says in verse three, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior, I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee, since thou was precious in my sight. You see, that's what He's saying about His people there in the Old Testament. That's not changed. It's the same today. The Lord has His people in this world. There's a lot of people in this world but they're not all His. He has His people and they are precious in His sight. I think about that passage of Scripture in Titus chapter two in verse 14 where it talks about that He has redeemed us and that we are a peculiar people. And that word peculiar means specially loved and zealous of good works. That's what He says. And He says they're precious in my sight. Thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore will I give man for thee and people for thy life. This is what God does and this is what God has promised to do. But they didn't appreciate that. They did not appreciate that. And, you know, He didn't have to redeem them. Sometimes people will ask really interesting questions about God's plan of redemption. And they say, well, why would Jesus suffer and die for somebody like me? Why would He do that? Friend, I want to tell you, the Bible tells us the reason why He would and we don't understand it, but He says because He loved us. He loved us with an everlasting love. He loved you and me before we ever learned anything about His love. He's capable of that. And so that love has caused Him to have a people in the Old Testament and a people in the New Testament. He didn't have to redeem them, but He did. I think one of the greatest illustrations of the fact that He didn't have to. You see, Lucifer, the Bible tells us that He sinned and He sinned and fell and all of His angels with Him went under. And so Lucifer is the devil. On Wednesday night, I was teaching a little bit about spiritual warfare. I'm going to teach a second part of that this coming Wednesday night. The devil, how many of you think you've ever really met the devil? Probably a good chance maybe that nobody here has ever really met Him because He's not omnipresent like God is. He can't be everywhere. But I'll tell you what, He's got demons everywhere. So if you've run into anything like that, you probably have run into a demon. It's probably what you've run into. And so that's how He does His work. But God didn't have to redeem these people. You see, He didn't redeem all those angels that fell. You know, they are doomed. There is no chance of forgiveness. There's no chance of redemption for them. They are doomed. And so down through time, many have followed them. And there are people that are doomed today, not because you're a fallen angel, but because of the unpardonable sin that the Bible says. There's no forgiveness for that. No way in the world that that person can ever be redeemed from that. And then there's another category I think fall into the same plight, and that is in Romans that talks about God turning people over to a reprobate mind. And I believe that they're doomed too when that happens, once God does that. And so many have followed them. But God didn't have to redeem them. And how He redeems them is by blotting out their transgressions. Now, we'd ask why. Why did He say for mine own sake? That's one of the most... There's two things in that. We know that Jesus took upon Him the penalty of the sin of His people when He went to the cross to die for them. But these other two statements might cause us a little trouble. Him saying for mine own sake. Well, I thought He saved me for my sake. The Bible says for His own sake He has saved them. And then the other part of that that we would pause with is that what He said about the sins not ever being remembered. I didn't think God could forget anything. Well, He can't forget anything. But it says that. What it means, He'll never bring it to memory. It doesn't mean that God don't know about it anymore. But it means He'll never bring them to memory. You say, well, preacher, I've committed some bad sin in my life. And I hate that I have. But I've asked God to forgive me. I've come to Jesus as my Savior. And does that mean that one of these days I'll not face that? That's exactly what that means. And that's what it means by blotting them out. He says for mine own sake. In other words, does He save people for Himself? And He does. He does that. He saves people for their own self. There's two things about that. Number one, He saves people for Himself. Let me remind you what it said in verse number one. That He says here, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. Thou art mine. And then it says in verse seven, even every one that is called by my name, I have created him for my glory. Who is that? Every one that is called by his name. Oh, I never will forget the first time it ever dawned on me studying the Bible. I run across it in the 23rd Psalm. This file is longer than 30 minutes. Go Unlimited at TurboScribe.ai to transcribe files up to 10 hours long.