Warning: we’re going to be talking tough here this morning. All truth, all in love.
Isaiah had listened to the whining and complaining of the people and answered them with, “Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.”
Hard, harsh words. We tend to buck up at those words. We feel defensive. We want to lash out. “That’s not me!”
However, Isaiah spoke truth. God’s truth. Truth that should cause us to examine ourselves (Lamentations 3:40).
This separation between us and God only grows wider and deeper and more impossible to bridge as we go on without confession and repentance. He remains turned away from us, not listening to us.
However, (I was going to say “But,” but my teachers always said never start a sentence with “but.”)
However, there is a mediator who can and will bridge that gap. Jesus.
Jesus, who lived a completely sinless life as a man and was fully God all the time. Jesus, who was wrongfully tried, convicted, beaten, and sentenced to death. He went through this willingly.
Jesus, who rose again.
Jesus is the Mediator who stands between us and God, working out the problems. He not only bridges the chasm between us and God, He closes the chasm.
Most mediations require each party to compromise to some degree. God doesn’t compromise, though. He has no reason to. He is Almighty God. He is perfect. This mediation requires us to make changes to bring us into alignment with Him.
Jesus’ sacrifice for us, upon our agreement about our sin (confession) and our turning away from it (repentance), eliminates that chasm and closes the gap between us and the Heavenly Father.
God’s love For us is unending and unchanging. It is forever. Our choice to sin and stay in it causes Him to turn His face from us and refuse to hear us.
The best way to avoid that is to never sin, but since we do sin, we must ask the Holy Spirit to make us fully cognizant of each time we sin so we can confess it and repent right then so no gap grows.
Let’s examine our ways today. Let’s choose to return to the Lord, all clean and restored to righteousness by the King (1 John 1:9).
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
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© 2019 Faye Stoeffler Bryant