A Scandalous Relationship

This week in my preparations for Sunday I've been spending a lot of time in the book of Isaiah. One of the things I like to do as a part of my sermon prep is listen to other Pastor's sermons on the passage so as a result I've heard numerous sermons this week on Isaiah 6 most all have left me inspired and encouraged others have left me pondering why we teach half truths in an effort to make people feel better...

Let me elaborate... David Platt argues both in his book Radical and in a sermon I found on Isaiah 6 (linked at the bottom) that God is in midst of something scandalous. That for more than a generation we have been teaching and preaching that God hates sin but loves the sinner...  But that this isn't the whole truth... While these statements can be true in the right lens they only tell part of the story because as David so aptly brings out sin is not something that we do, it's not something that is detached from us - it is who we are.  Furthermore when we search scriptures we find that not only does God hate sin - God also hates sinners. Notice these two passages:

Psalm 5:4-6
For You are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil cannot dwell with You.
5 The boastful cannot stand in Your presence;
You hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who tell lies;
the Lord abhors a man of bloodshed and treachery.

Psalm 11:4-7

The Lord is in His holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
His eyes watch; He examines everyone.
5 The Lord examines the righteous and the wicked.
He hates the lover of violence.
6 He will rain burning coals and sulfur on the wicked;
a scorching wind will be their portion.
7 For the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds.
The upright will see His face.

God doesn't just hate the sinner he plans to see them destroyed! He's going to rain down burning coals and sulfur on them… This is where the scandal comes in though – stay with me! Because in that same instant that God hates the sin, that God hates the sinner God also loves the sinner.

HOW????

Through the cross…

God hates the sinner and loves the sinner through the cross of Christ. Isaiah 53 is a beautiful picture of this message in that Christ took upon us the payment for our sinfulness and now God can love the sinner – Because He loves the Son.

Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,
and He carried our pains;
but we in turn regarded Him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But He was pierced because of our transgressions,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on Him,
and we are healed by His wounds.
⁶ We all went astray like sheep;
we all have turned to our own way;
and the Lord has punished Him
for the iniquity of us all.

We are nothing but dumb wayward sheep but Christ on the cross has provided a way for us all to be reconciled with God. By Christ’s sacrifice when God looks at those of us who have turned to Christ we are justified. God sees no wrong in us anymore because of the blood of His Son…

In Isaiah 6 we see our prophet in the midst of his vision experience coming to the understanding that he needs more than just a sacrifice to be made right - that he needs to be separated from his sin - it needs to be burned away... the only way that we can experience that today is through the cross of Christ, as Paul so aptly wrote we are to be crucified with Christ! This flesh must be burned away to allow for the righteousness of God to cloth us today! Just my thoughts on the matter... 

If you can carve out an hour of your time I’d encourage you to watch this video as David Platt expresses this truth far more eloquently than I ever could.

Have a blessed week!