Isaiah 1:18 • The ABCs of the Gospel
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
Let me ask that you would look in your Bibles this morning at a word from an ancient prophet, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18.
As you get there, some of you will recognize familiar words.
Even if they're not familiar to you, I think you'll see why they are appropriate for our day.
Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18. Let me ask that you would stand as we would honor this portion of God's Word.
Isaiah 1.18, "Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord.
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as what?
They shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, thank you for sweetness in Your Word, that You tell us that we are ashamed of ourselves, that we are despondent over our situations or our sin. There is hope, and there is wonderful signal of that even in the weather that comes this day.
"Though our sins be a scarlet, they shall be white as snow."
Thank you for the promise and the goodness of the gospel from Jesus our Lord. We pray in His name. Amen.
Please be seated.
So if you came for communion today, we're not doing that. We recognized with the difficult weather, it was just going to be hard to make all the arrangements instead, not knowing who all would be here. We are not having a communion message. Instead, it may be a time, if you're a note taker, to actually think about how you might take notes today in behalf of someone else, because what I'm going to talk about is the ABCs of the gospel. How might we understand the joy of a passage like, "Though your sins be a scarlet, I will make them white as snow," and not only take that in for ourselves, but actually share that truth with someone else, because its intention is pure joy.
Some years ago, a man arrived at the airport in St. Louis, unannounced, had not given us notice.
He did not have many bags.
He did not have many shoes.
He did not have many teeth.
He came with one mission from his church in Malawi, Africa.
"Augustin Mafouni, you are a pastor. You go and get training for your successor."
An old man now, he needed to be able to share the gospel and what it meant to be a pastor with someone who would take his place in a small church of 4,000 people in Malawi, Africa.
And not only was he supposed to get training at advanced age for his successor, but to be prepared to train other pastors in that part of Africa where the gospel was just multiplying very quickly. And so there was Augustin Mafouni, experienced pastor, and nonetheless there to get advanced training so he could train more pastors.
And because he had not much money, he lived in the dorm with men a third of his age and gave joy to us in unspeakable ways.
One was on a snowy day, the vice president for development was walking by the men's dorm, and Augustin was simply standing out on the lawn looking up at the sky.
And the vice president said, "Augustin, what are you doing?"
And he just began to laugh.
"Mr. Dubel, look, snow!
Now I see, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow!" It was the first snow he'd ever seen.
And he began to recognize the beauty and the wonder of the gospel in its promises that though our sin would make us feel separated from God, incapable even of facing ourselves, though it bear the weight of the blood of Christ, be as scarlet. Nonetheless, by God's great grace, we can be as white as snow cleansed of the sin and shame of our past.
Now as we claim the joy of that, it's not meant just for us. Sometimes you know we get so accustomed to it we stop feeling it anymore. And it's when we actually begin to share it with someone else who says, "I see, though my sins have been as scarlet, I begin to see how they can be made white as snow." God can cleanse me and wash that away that we begin to wonder, how do I share this effectively? How do I say well to other people what it means to know the beauty and the wonder and the goodness of the gospel? Today if you're taking notes, I'm just going to say, "All right, let's just think about how we would talk to people about the goodness of the gospel, the ABCs of the gospel." Where do we start with people? I mean if they're really going to know the joy, we have to say, we may not want to say, but we have to say, starts with A, you have to acknowledge your sin.
A key verse in the Scriptures that we point to a lot is Romans 3, 23.
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Where do we start?
You've got to acknowledge there's a problem. I mean if you don't acknowledge the problem, there's not a solution that you'll turn to. You won't even want to fix it. I mean if there's a famous statement in the space program beyond the eagle has landed, it is Houston, we have a problem.
And we as God's creatures, in order to know the joy of the gospel, have to say, "Heaven,
we got a problem."
Now that problem is, all have sinned. Not just you, not just me, everybody in the world. That's the acknowledgment of the problem, all have sinned. But let me tell you the problem with the problem.
Not all believe they have sinned.
It's hard to acknowledge that, particularly in a culture where we define sin culturally. And sin for many people in our culture means the really awful stuff, murder, adultery, abuse.
And people kind of look at themselves and say, "Well, I'm not perfect, but I don't think of myself as a sinner." I mean a sinner is somebody like, you know, Adolf Hitler or Genghis Khan, that people have done the really bad stuff. And so it doesn't seem obvious to them that the Scriptures are true when they say, "All have sinned."
But the Bible is actually helping us not by giving us a cultural definition of what sin is, but its own definition. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
What does it mean to fall short of the glory of God? That's another way of thinking about what might actually be a problem between us and God.
If God is God, I mean if He's not a devil, if God is God, then we know He has to be good and wise and loving.
And the glory of God would be to be perfect in being good and wise and loving.
And any person who's honest says, "That's not me."
If God is really entirely good and wise and loving, He must be disappointed in me because I'm not always good and not always wise and not always loving, even according to my own standards. Those who would look inside, who would really examine, "Is there selfishness? Do I ever use people for my gain? Am I always thinking about what would serve most people in a wise way? Am I loving in every thought and action and response?" And something in us says, "You know, I think I fall short of the glory that is God's, that He alone is holy and right and good, perfect in being wise, loving and good. And if that's the case, then I begin to recognize there's something separating me from God.
I'm disappointed not just because He's disappointed in me, but because I don't live up to my own expectations."
I suppose there's been a fairly clear representation of that in this last week with somebody who has lots going for him in life. I'm thinking of Cam Newton, the Carolina's quarterback, and of course the game didn't go the way he wanted to go.
But if you think about what happened after the game, have some of you seen the interview?
You know, hoodie up, head down, monosyllabic answers, and finally walking away.
Do you know Cam Newton has a Christian mom?
And she was reminding him before the game that regardless of what happened, it was an opportunity to stand before the world and talk about his faith and his understanding of his Savior. And listen, there's no need to pile on because all of us disappoint ourselves at times. But just imagine, maybe not a day from now or a week from now or a month, maybe years from now. You and I know that Cam Newton is going to look back on that interview and the statement he made when he says, "You show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser," and recognize he's going to be disappointed in himself that he said that. Now I'm not just pointing out, there are things I look back at in my life and you look back in your life and you say, "You know, I'm just disappointed. I said or I did that. I didn't live up to my own expectations." And here's a man who has amazing wealth and amazing ability and an amazing future, and yet he kind of fell short of the glory of God. And I don't say that just to point at him. I'm reminding myself, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." And that's just part of humanity for us to kind of link arms together and say, "This isn't true just of some people. All of us recognize there's something that separates us from God." And the beginning of hope for all of us is just acknowledging there's a problem. "For A, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Now that's not the end of what we want to say to people, of course. I mean, how do you get from A to B that ends in joy? Well, you have to say if there's a problem, there's got to be a solution. And that's the B.
We need to believe that there is a solution. Once we've acknowledged there's a problem, we need to believe, the B is to believe that there is a solution. And a key Scripture for many of us is Acts 16.31.
Acts 16.31, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
Now let me tell you the circumstance in which this is being said.
There is a time in which Paul and Silas, Paul the Apostle and Silas, the ones who accompanied him on a missionary journey, begin to see effectiveness to their testimony. And in Philippi, a Greek city, the people get upset. They turn them over to the Roman authorities who beat Paul and Silas and put them in prison.
Now the one who actually gets the message, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved," is the Roman jailer. And the reason he is being told by Paul, "You need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved," is because he's in a desperate situation. Here's the first problem. He's got a bad background. I mean, according to the religious elites of Paul's day, this Roman jailer is a Gentile. He's not part of the chosen people. He's not part of the religious elites. He's not the ones who should be receiving the blessing of God. He's a Roman. He's a Gentile. He's a goyim. He's viewed as unclean and impure just by the fact of his very background.
And his problem is not just in his background, it's in his behavior.
He's a Roman jailer.
He is serving an emperor who claims to be God himself.
As a servant of that emperor, he is doing evil things, not only being a jailer in a cruel time, it meant to be a jailer. For all we know, he's one of the persons who has beaten the Apostle Paul before putting him in jail. His behavior is wrong as well as his background, but that's not the worst of it. He is in a terrible circumstance.
Right before Paul and Silas say this to the Roman jailer, "There has been an earthquake in the prison and the doors have been opened. And the consequence of the doors being opened is that Paul and Silas ought to be able to walk away." The consequence of that is, if you are a Roman jailer, you know if your prisoners get away, there is a death sentence on your head. If Paul and Silas walk away, the jailer will pay the penalty. He will die.
He's in a desperate situation. He has a bad background and he has terrible behavior. There's all kinds of reasons he should know, "I don't qualify for this faith message you're giving me that I can be saved by believing in Jesus Christ." But the reason it's credible is because of the person who's talking, not just the one who's listening. I mean, after all, it's Paul the Apostle who is saying, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ."
And what do you remember about Paul the Apostle? He was once not an Apostle, he was Saul the Persecutor.
He was somebody who was doing the worst of things that we've been talking about. He was a murderer. He was a torturer. He was one who was doing all the wrong things against Christ-owned people. He was the one who would pursue them to death, who would try to get them put into prison, claiming he was doing it for religious purposes. He was the murderer. He was the persecutor. He was the hypocrite. And now the very one who's speaking hope is saying, "I'm telling you, because I got this hope. I recognize that though my sins be a scarlet, they can be white as snow." But here's the way that happens. You need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now why does belief solve anything?
Because of what you're believing in, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first word in that three-word name is an Old Testament word for Jehovah God, the divine name itself. You need to believe there's a Lord. He is the Creator of all things. He made you. But He's not just Lord above all things. He is Jesus.
He came and walked among us. And His very name, Jesus, means deliverer.
The Lord came to deliver. He was above all things. He was the Creator of all things. And yet in humility, He came to help us, to deliver us, by being born as a man.
God became flesh. The divine became human. The Lord is Jesus.
And beyond that, in some of the older translations that you have, He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's not a name. That's a title. That is the title of the Messiah in the Old Testament. The New Testament term is Christ the Anointed, meaning the one who was anointed by God to come to save by dying to pay a penalty for other people.
That's what Jesus would come to do. You need to believe that the Lord became flesh. And living perfectly among us became a perfect sacrifice for those who have fallen short of the glory of God because He didn't. God in a wonderful act of grace said, "I'm going to take my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and allow Him to pay the penalty for all of those who fall short of the glory of God as they believe in Him."
Now they may not seem like much. You know, we kind of think, "Well, why did God need to do that?" Well, it's because of what it means for a Messiah to come to pay for the sins of another. Now again, I know people don't recognize that I don't think, "Oh, I know why Jesus had to die for me." I mean, why would that make sense? I mean, not perfect, but I'm not that murderer. I'm not that adulterer. I don't feel like I have that much sin against me. But just if you use the Bible's definition, not culture's definition, Bible's definition of what sin is, what would that mean?
That in the course of any day, if there's some degree of selfishness or an angry word to someone or an unclean thought, all that's falling short of the glory of God who is perfect in goodness and wisdom and love.
You would begin to recognize that maybe just perhaps, maybe just once a day, there might be some falling short of the glory of God in your actions or in your heart or in your mind. What would that mean? That would mean that if you were keeping a record book that each day there might just be, you know, just one mark against you.
But of course that means in the course of 365 days, there's 365 marks against you, which
of course means by the time you're 25, you got about 10,000 marks against you.
And that's just one a day, folks.
And the message of the gospel is that what God was willing to do by His grace is take the record book that was against you and put it on Jesus.
And that His great act of grace was to say, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." That you're not standing before God based on your record, but you're standing before God with your faith in what Christ has done for you. The Lord came to deliver in the person of Jesus. And when He delivered in the person of Jesus, He as Christ took the penalty for your sin and having taken it on Himself, He gave you His record, which was totally clean. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. It's the great act of grace, the great wonder of the gospel, that God would be willing for our sake to send His Son to take the penalty that we deserved for the great weight of our sin.
When you believe that, that's a wonderful thing. But we haven't completed the ABCs yet. We've still got to say, "Well, how do I make sure that what I believe actually applies to my life and to my heart?" And that's the C. After we acknowledge the problem and believe there's a solution, we need to commit to the solution. And a great verse to think about that is Romans 10 and verse 9. Romans 10 and verse 9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, then you shall be saved.
It's not just saying the words, "I believe that Jesus died for my sin." It's saying what you mean. I believe it in my heart. I'm committed to this truth because there's another problem in our culture and another problem in our culture is people think, because they hear it a lot in the church, that the way to have a relationship with God is you need to believe in God.
And you'll find a lot of people in our world today say, "Well, you know, I think I'm just secure eternally because I believe in God."
Well, the problem with that is the Bible says that's not what makes you safe.
Not just because you believe in God.
James, the brother of Jesus, actually writes in his book even the devils believe.
I mean, if we're just talking about abstract knowledge, I believe that there's a God. I believe that Jesus died for the sins of somebody out there. Well, fine. I don't know what good that's going to do for you. That's kind of like saying, "I believe there's medicine in the medicine cabinet."
Well fine, but it's not going to help you if you don't take the medicine. But belief is not enough. In the sense of, it's just sort of kind of cognitive, abstract truth out there that I'm acknowledging. If I confess with my mouth the truth, but then believe in my heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, now what is actually happening? I believe that God put my sin on Jesus.
And when that penalty was fully paid in his suffering on the cross, then what God did said, "I'm now taking the penalty of sin away." And that means death itself is conquered. Death itself is no longer applicable to those who are made right by the work of my Christ provided for my people. And so when I say, "I believe in my heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead," what I am believing is that Jesus not only paid the penalty, but he's the risen Lord. He finished the work. He conquered the sin. He paid what I deserved.
And when I believe that, that's committing to the truth. Because here's what will happen when I actually believe that Jesus loved me enough to pay the penalty for my sin. And now he lives for me in heaven, not only being my intercessor in prayer, but controlling all things in my life so that things are working together for good, even beyond my understanding, even beyond my witnessing ability and my humanity to make sense of it. I believe that Jesus is the risen Lord. I want to live with him. I want to walk with him. I want to commit my life to this path. That's not just saying, "I believe that there's a God out there somewhere." It's saying, "I want to walk with him. I'm committing myself to this course."
And that, of course, is the beauty of the gospel, that we don't just somehow connect to an abstract theological truth.
We are walking hand in hand with the God who by his Holy Spirit is saying, "I'm going to convict you of your sin. You need to acknowledge there's a problem.
And then I'm going to remind you of what I've done for you. I sent the Lord Jesus Christ so that now you will want to walk with him. Commit to him. Be a part of the plan he has for your life." And that's the beauty of the gospel, to recognize our sin is not only put away, we are now walking with the one who has the solution for everything that's ahead, not just now, but for eternity.
You know, the blockbuster movie, The Martian, that a number of you have seen, tells the story of an astronaut who is presumed dead because he got caught in a violent storm on Mars. And so his comrades leave, only to discover after they have launched off from the planet and are way back toward the earth that the man is still alive.
But they can't get back to him.
No rescue is possible because they don't have enough time, they don't have enough fuel, they don't have enough oxygen, they don't have enough fuel. They can't get back even though he's alive.
And then someone does the math.
They figure if they can actually accelerate with the fuel they have toward the earth, that the gravitational traction of the earth will get them going at such a rate that as they whip around the earth they will actually have the acceleration needed to get back to Mars and do the rescue.
The math makes sense.
But it's not enough that the math makes sense.
They have to commit to the course.
At some point they don't just say, "Isn't this interesting?"
At some point they have to say, "For the rescue to occur, we have to act upon what we believe is true."
And what the gospels are saying to you and to me with the good news of salvation and Jesus Christ is, because all have sinned, there is separation between us and a holy God, and there is no way for us to close the gap unless God provides the answer.
And He does. He says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will take away the separation that is between you and God, however bleak or bad it be. He will take away that sin of falling short of the glory of God."
But you need to commit to that to say, "God, this is my truth. I claim it. I act upon it. I acknowledge that I have fallen short of the glory of God. I believe that Jesus is my Lord and in love I'm going to live for Him now to actually act, commit myself to the reality of Jesus my Savior and live for Him."
And the consequence of that is there is an eternal rescue that God accomplishes then, taking away our sin now and for all eternity making we who are spiritual beings with immortal souls God's people forever.
How do you make that commitment?
It's not just doing the math.
It's actually following the ABCs.
You pray to God saying, "God, I acknowledge that I have fallen short of your glory.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
B, I'm going to believe that there's a solution.
I'm going to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that He who is Lord became flesh and sacrificed Himself for my sin.
And I'm not just going to say it with my mouth.
I'm going to confess by my life what I have believed in my head and by that confession of my mouth that now is matched by the belief in my heart, saying what I mean, I'm going to commit myself to Jesus Christ."
What might you say to a friend or loved one or fellow worker this week?
ABC, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Me, you, everybody.
Believe there's a solution.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Confess it with your mouth and believe it in your heart. Commit to it."
And God says, "You are mine forever."
It may be something you need to say to someone.
It may be something you need to say to the Lord right now.
Let me lead you in prayer. If you're taking notes, it might be a prayer you want to write down that you can teach someone else.
Or it might be a prayer you want to write down so you can think about it and see if you yourself can say it. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, because of Jesus, help me and those who hear me to pray this prayer with a humble heart.
I acknowledge I'm a sinner who falls short of the glory of God. A, I just acknowledge it. B, I believe Jesus came to pay the penalty for sins of people like me.
And C, I commit my life to him.
I'm not just saying this.
I mean it.
So Father, when we raise our heads, help us to raise them in the joy of our salvation.
That we could drive away in some snow and look to the sky and say, "Though my sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow."
Praise God, because I've committed my heart and my eternity to Jesus, who loves me and gave himself for me and is risen to God in my behalf. This is my Lord. I praise him and live for him in Jesus' name. Amen.