Isaiah 1:16-20 – Washed from Sin
God, who is merciful, takes the gracious initiative here in these few verses. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. What is needed? Is it more careful doing what God had said to do? No, they are already being careful about that. What is needed is an entire change of heart. Real, true, and sincere repentance is needed that will show up in holy work. But can they do that? Can they wash themselves and make themselves clean? How can those who are dead and filthy wash themselves? How can someone make themselves to be born again? It is God who washes. You must be born again. But it is done by the Spirit of God. God the merciful, God the gracious, takes filthy sinners and washes them clean. How can He do it? He does it through the One whom He sends, the One to whom the sacrifices and offerings were pointing, the One to whom the priests in their persons and in their work were pointing, the One to whom the temple was pointing, the One that was spoken of by the prophets. It is through Christ, only. Jesus says, I will pay the price for My people and My righteousness shall be to their account.
Have you believed on him? Have you called on Him to save you from your sin? Because if you have not, all your outward religious devotion is filth, just as it was for the professed believers of old. As a result of that faith, are you repentant? Are you living an increasingly changed life? In other words, are you washed? Are you cleaned? Are you by the grace of God, through the doing and dying of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, and through the power of the Spirit, born again? If so, then be diligent to worship according to truth. Be diligent to worship and to live in the Spirit of God and you shall, as the mouth of the Lord has spoken, eat the good of the land here in this life and at the marriage feast of the Lamb.
Questions
- What does God tell them to do?
- How can we be born again?
Prayer Points
- Pray for the salvation of family and friends.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.