Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1142
“I, even I, am He that blots outyour transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25.
THIS extraordinary passage is rendered the more remarkable from its connection, for it follows a description of the sins of God’s people, a description which mentions their sins of omission in that they had neglected the service of the Most High—and their sins of commission in that they had gone so far in breaking God’s Law that they had even wearied Him with their iniquities. There is the charge—a thousand facts prove it—and nothing can be urged by way of extenuation. We might expect that the next utterance would be the sentence. And the next motion of the Divine hand would be the execution, but, instead of that, O wonder of wonders! (Who is a pardoning God like unto You, O Jehovah?)—there comes a full remission, a complete absolution—“I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions.”
The verse is succeeded, moreover, by other sentences which go on, still further, to convict the people of great sins. The Lord asks them to come and plead with Him, if they can. If they have anything to say in extenuation of their faults, He gives them an opportunity of speaking for themselves. And then He tells them that they had sinned as a nation from their very beginning and had continued, still, to sin. Though the Lord knew that He would add those words of expostulation, He made a break and a pause in the very middle of His righteous accusation, and before He had concluded His charge against them, He had already forgiven them, and said, “I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake.”
The remarkable point is not merely that the absolution contained in the text is preceded and succeeded by verses of accusation, but that it breaks in upon the connection and cleaves the sense right in the middle. The King’s messenger of mercy rides through the ranks of the men-at-arms in hot haste, sounding his silver bugle as he clears his way. He cannot linger, his message is too precious to be made to tarry. Sooner may sun and moon stand still than mercy be hindered! Such breaks as those, of which the text is a specimen, are very precious to me because they show the intense love of God to deeds of Grace and His eagerness to perform them. I love these soft showers of Grace and mercy all the more because they so abruptly interpose between the tremendous peals of thunder of well-deserved wrath.
It will be our wisdom not only to weigh the text, but to notice the practical lesson of its connection, namely, that since God is sure to reveal His mercy when it will be most valued, we may conclude that men know and prize Divine Mercy most when they most feel the weight of their sins. Until a man is consciously condemned and pleads guilty, he will not ask for mercy. And if mercy were to come to him, he would treat it with disdain. He would look upon the offer of forgiveness as an insult, for what better would it be than an insult to pardon an innocent man? As well send medicine to a man who was never sick, or alms to a millionaire!
We must be proven guilty, and confess it, before we can be forgiven. We must know that we are sick and we must distinctly recognize that our sickness is a mortal disease, or else we shall never value the Divine Medicine which Jesus came to bring. A sense of sin, although it is exceedingly painful, is a most blessed thing, and I pray God, if you have never felt how guilty you are, that you may be made to feel it at once. If you have never been broken down before the awful majesty of Divine Justice, may the Holy Spirit break you down now—for Jesus will never clothe those who are not stripped. He will never wash those who are not foul, nor will He attempt to heal those who are not wounded. Others may spend their strength in flattering human goodness—the Lord Jesus has come on another errand and deals only with our sin and misery. If you are not poverty-stricken, you will have no dealings with the blessed soul-enriching Savior!
Having thus considered the connection, let us notice two other points. The first is the nature of the pardon which is here so graciously proclaimed. The second is the effect which this pardon produces upon the minds of those who are enabled to receive it.
I. First, dear Friends, let us carefully notice THE NATURE OF THE PARDON WHICH IS HERE SO GRACIOUSLY ANNOUNCED. “I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and will not remember your sins.” Note, first, it is a pardon from God Himself, whereupon we further observe that it is a pardon from Him who is offended. Sin is mainly an attack upon God. It is an offense against His own most excellent Person.
It is treason against His most glorious Sovereignty. God therefore feels more, sees more and is more thoroughly affected by the evil of sin than anyone else. And the connection of the text shows that He does not treat sin as a trifle as some do—that He does not regard it as a thing which can be readily passed over—but takes solemn note of the sinful omissions and commissions of His people and in due time calls them to account, mentioning their sins in a way which shows that He is sorely displeased.