Incredible Forgiveness!

Title Text of Isaiah 6:1-8

1. John wrote that Isaiah here saw the glory of the divine nature of Jesus Christ (Jn 12:41).
2. A vision of God is valuable; we seek it by the Spirit, scripture, preaching, prayer, etc.
3. Today we do not need details of things written here; we need lessons; for details … here.
4. Lesson #1 … the incredible glory and thrice holiness of Jehovah, far exceeds any concept we have of it by experience; there is no thrice love of God as so many presume; this view of God in words is what we see until we stand at Judgment (Is 6:1-4; Rev 4:8).
5. Lesson #2 … Isaiah’s fear and guilt in the presence of Jehovah’s holiness overwhelmed him, for the incredible distance between God’s perfection and his filthiness (Is 6:5). Do you not qualify perfectly for the vision – speech that condemns you by a holy God?
6. Lesson #3 … the result of God approving Isaiah to preach is fabulous (Is 6:8-13), but how can this be, a man condemned for filthy speech, now sent to speak for Jehovah? We can relate to Isaiah, for we have a world of iniquity, set on fire of hell, in our mouths.
7. Lesson #4 … how did this great change occur? God Himself forgave his sin, and it was no soft tissue from a nurse, but a live coal burning on the source of his sin (Is 6:6-7), and it was entirely effective – his speech iniquity was taken away and his sin purged.
8. We know this to be metaphorical, symbolic, and inferior to Christ’s altar (Heb 13:10), for we must have an even more dramatic purging of our sins by His Son’s bloody death.
9. Let this written picture affect your minds and hearts by faith for Jehovah’s forgiveness.
10. Unless there is a burning, or a bloody sacrifice, applied to you, eternal damnation waits.
11. Our Jesus by His own blood entered into the holy place with eternal redemption for us!
12. God likely has not called you to preach, but you are forgiven! to do anything He needs!
13. How can you not celebrate in heart … in mind … with your mouth … with your life?
14. Remember: Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged … Thy sins are forgiven.

What Is Forgiveness?

1. Forgive. To end anger or resentment toward a person for an offence. To end any claim or thought of punishment for it. To overlook a wrong or pardon an offender. The legal, economic, or religious act to acquit and clear a guilty party by blotting out a crime.
2. Forgiveness. To know all bitterness, grudges, resentment, and vengeance are gone from the one you offended. To start over again with a clean slate and no past to condemn you.
3. Crimes can be forgiven legally … debts may also be forgiven … we forgive each other.
4. Forgiveness is a wonderful concept and event, and true Christianity exalts it fabulously.
5. When you wrong another, you love and rejoice to hear that they have forgiven you. Hear the precious words – I forgive you; forget it; it’s all over; I will not mention it again.
6. The words of our text are precious: Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
7. Forgiving is also precious, a man’s glory to pass over a transgression (Proverbs 19:11).
8. Forgiveness is part of the glory of God, as Moses heard for us (Ex 34:5-8), and David described God forgiving and not imputing sin as a blessing (Ps 32:1-2; Romans 4:6-7).
9. We sometimes use three words – forgive, flush, and forget – to exalt and extend forgiveness, and so does God … forgive (Col 2:13), flush (Mic 7:19), forget (Heb 10:17)!

How Does God Do It?

1. God is holy and just, and He cannot merely ignore our sins (Exodus 34:7; Nahum 1:3).
2. For Him to be just and justifier, sins were punished by grace and blood (Rom 3:23-26).
3. It is only the blood and death of Jesus that allows it (Eph 1:7; Col 2:13; Heb 10:17-18).
4. How was it done? Our iniquities, our sins, were put on Jesus (Isaiah 53:6; I Peter 2:24).
5. Why Moses’ law? To expose your sins as horrible to glorify grace (Romans 7:13; 5:20)!
6. What is the good conscience of baptism? A forgiven conscience (Hebrews 9:14; 10:22)!
7. Can we exalt and compound the value of His forgiveness? By the strictness of God, His power to inflict punishment, the chosen punishment of eternal torment, our lack of influence, the quality of our sins, the quantity of our sins, nothing to bribe Creator, etc.

How Well Does He Forgive?

1. Due to His holiness, one sin cost the entire human race of all time, (1) their ability/desire to seek God, (2) their physical lives, and (3) an eternity of torment in the lake of fire.
2. With that in mind, multiply this outcome by your number of sins … and cry, Woe is me!
3. How can He forgive anyone? By the dearness, righteousness, and cursed death of Jesus.
4. Which do you like best? Hide your sins from His face and blot all of them out (Ps 51:9; Is 43:25)? Remember them no more (Is 43:25; Jer 31:34; Heb 8:12; 10:16-17)? Cast behind His back (Is 38:17)? Cover all your sin (Ps 85:2)? Cannot find them (Jer 50:20)? Buried at sea (Mic 7:19)? White as snow (Is 1:18)? East from west (Ps 103:12)? Like clouds blotted out (Is 44:22)? Height of heaven (Ps 103:11; Is 55:6-9)? Scapegoat lost in wilderness (Lev 16:21-22)? Blotted out charges by nailing them to His cross (Col 2:13-14)? Cleanse and pardon (Jer 33:8)? Never making mention of them (Ezek 18:21-23)? Purge them away (Ps 65:3)? God’s strange work (Is 28:21)? He delights in mercy (Mic 7:18)? Freely forgave 10,000 talents (Matt 18:21-34)? Accuser of brethren thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:10)? Angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner (Luke 15:7,10)?
5. Can you make the Hall of Faith? Think! These did: drunk Noah, Abram and Sarah’s folly with Hagar and both laughed about conception, Moses with errors that kept him from Canaan, prostitute Rahab, fearful Gideon, timid Barak, lustful Samson, David, etc.
6. In all human relations, there is hardly ever a truly innocent person and a fully guilty person – both have their faults; but our God is absolutely perfect toward us and has never failed, so the perfectly righteous forgives the totally disgusting and condemned.
7. His forgiveness means you have full access to His throne for help (Heb 4:16), no double jeopardy in the future (Heb 10:10,12,14), and you may walk, talk, and enjoy Him today.
8. Your future holds … discovery of each of your sins from the books of works … Forgiven!
9.    Your future holds … others being ordered to hellfire for sins just like your … Forgiven!

How to Value Forgiveness?

1. The value of forgiveness is the combined result of multiplying all factors by each other.
2. You are the vile and perverse offender … and the infinite GOD Jehovah is the offended.
3. The degree of wicked depravity of the offence … X … [terrible, David, Manasseh, Mary, etc.].
4. The benevolent character of the one offended … X … [the kindest Creator imaginable, etc.].
5. The level of justice required by offended one … X … [His holy hatred and wrath burns, etc.].
6. The number of repeated offences by offender … X … [we do commit sins over and over, etc.].
7. The price of payment to satisfy the offended … X … [cruel torture and death of His Son, etc.].
8. The punishment to be assigned the offender … X … [eternal torment in the lake of fire, etc.].
9. The cost the offender must pay the offended … X … [nothing at all of any thing forever, etc.].
10. The freedom gained by the offence removed … X … [eternal life in new perfect universe, etc.].
11. The value of the forgiveness to the offended … X … [designed glory of infinite Jehovah, etc.].
12. The position, status obtained by forgiveness … X … [adopted son of God and joint-heir, etc.].
13. The likelihood of the result of the transaction … X … [the offended cannot lie and swore, etc.].
14. The probability of it being acquired by others … X … [no man by any means can obtain, etc.].
15. The degree of complexity, difficulty to grant … X … [the power and wisdom of I AM, etc.].
16. The opinion of experts as to its true benefits … X … [elect angels desire to look into it, etc.].
17. The rarity and scarcity of the offended’s act … X … [only once, sinning angels ignored, etc.].
18. The combination of these factors is comparable to infinity to the infinite power. Rejoice!

Other Forgiveness Facts

1. Know one thing for sure, forgiveness is not because you are a little good or a lot good.
2. Know another thing, forgiveness is not because you can at all explain why you sinned.
3. Know another thing, God does not care if parents, spouse, children, or others like you.
4. Know another thing, God does not care if parents, spouse, or others have abused you.
5. Know another thing, God does not care how deprived or poor you were born in life.
6. Know another thing, God does not care how much or little you have accomplished.
7. Know another thing, God does not care how many respect you or how much they do.
8. Know what God thinks of all your righteousnesses – they are filthy menstrual rags.
9. Know this! God will have mercy and compassion on whom He will (Rom 9:15-16)!
10. Know this! There is no part of His nature or obligation in the universe to forgive you!
11. Know this! You do not deserve forgiveness, but you do deserve much eternal torment!
12. Get this fact! God chose to forgive you before the foundation of the world by name!
13. Get this fact! God sent His only begotten Son to die for you so He could forgive you!
14. Get this fact! God will declare your forgiveness to the universe from the book of life!
15. Get this fact! The practical phase of forgiveness to restore fellowship only needs you!
16. You must respond right! You must confess your sins to God (Job 33:27-28; I Jn 1:9).
17. You must respond right! You must repent His way (II Cor 7:11; Psalm 34:18; 51:17).
18. Grasp the gospel! Your forgiveness is free – to you – for God Himself made payment.
19. Grasp the gospel! Your forgiveness is costly – to God – for He killed his beloved Son.
20. Grasp the gospel! Blood was required – blood of life – from Adam to Abel to eternity.

How Should We Respond?

1. We should be out of our minds with constant joy for God’s forgiveness of our sins.
2. Why not? We are not bad sinners? No real danger? God did not have to do much?
3. He told Simon the Pharisee – the greater the sinner, the greater the love (Luke 7:36-50).
4. God’s forgiveness should cause us to fear Him – confessing in faith (Ps 130:3-4), and you can thrill your soul by asking and answering, How fast does God run (Luke 15:20)?
5. Love … Bless the LORD, O my soul … Who forgiveth all thine iniquities (Ps 103:1-3).
6. Hate … self-righteousness in you that lessens your sins to magnify others’ sins – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had to beg Job due to God’s anger for this vile conduct – Jonah was taught a painful lesson and left in the Bible to shame his conduct and to alter ours.

 

Example of David … aggravated adultery and murder many different ways (II Sam 12:13).

1. This immediate forgiveness in spite of David just condemning a man to death for taking a mere lamb!
2. This immediate forgiveness in spite of the fact his sins, adultery and murder, had one sentence – death!
3. This immediate forgiveness in spite of the fact he was guilty of several other sins recorded in the Bible.
4. If you get foolish and fuss about the dead child as a punishment, why did he quickly get Solomon?
5. If you get foolish and fuss about Absalom as a punishment, why did he get hung in a tree for Joab?
6. Consider David got the widow and had four living children, including Jesus by Solomon and Nathan.
7. But never, never forget that David repented for that sin like you have never repented (Psalm 51:1-19).

 

Example of Manasseh … irremediable and worst king forgiven/restored (II Chr 33:11-13).

 

Example of Joshua the high priest … redressed and crowned from his filth (Zech 3:1-5).

 

Example of Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba … sexual sins for Jesus’ genealogy (Matt 1:3,5-6).

 

Example of Sinner Woman … Jesus honored and defended over Simon (Luke 7:36-50).

 

Example of Zacchaeus … known for greed and corruption forgiven then (Luke 19:1-10).

 

Example of Prodigal Son … running to fully restore him and celebrate it (Luke 15:11-32).

 

Example of Saved Thief … it cannot get any easier or more comforting (Luke 23:40-43).

 

Example of Soldiers … such abundant forgiveness and mercy even at death (Luke 23:34).

 

Example of Peter … Jesus looked at him and restored him (Luke 22:61-62; Jn 21:15-17).

 

Example of Paul … God forgave him to help you believe His mercy (I Timothy 1:12-16).