Isa. 64:9

9 Be not wroth [qatsaph] very sore [ma`od], O LORD [Yahovah], neither remember [zakar] iniquity [`avon] for ever [`ad]: behold, see [nabat], we beseech thee, we are all thy people [`am]. KJV-Interlinear

9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Neither remember iniquity forever; Behold, look now, all of us are Thy people. NASB

From Isaiah 43 we have this promise.

Isa. 43:25

25 I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. NASB

In these last few chapters, Isaiah has been systematically laying out the security of Gods promises. He demonstrates that we, as humanity, are nothing. We as humanity can accomplish nothing.

Sure, we can invent better mousetraps. We can invent computers, and cellular phones. We can rocket off to the planets and peer into deep space. We can make great clothing and foods, and clever trinkets that we use in our everyday lives.

Nevertheless, all of that means nothing, when one day you die.

After death, you will have no access nor use for any of mans inventions. So, of what use are they when your existence will continue forever into eternity, but not in this life?

After death, you have only two possible destinies. Heaven or the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire awaits those who reject Christ. This is their only destiny. We have already studied the Lake of Fire, and those studies are included in the Special Studies section online. The study is pretty gruesome. The laptops and iPods and such things won t help you one bit.

For those who have believed in Christ, then heaven is the only destination. Once saved, always saved. There is no possible way that you can lose your salvation. God did not fail in some way, which would cause you to lose your salvation.

But again, in heaven you will not be taking your iPods, or your laptops, or anything from this life. Your degree of blessing in heaven does however, depend on the degree of your spiritual growth. Lots of growth, lots of blessings. Not much growth, not much blessing. Many of the parables of Christ speak to this principle of eternal blessing.

God has described each one of us individually, as His. He has described each one of us as the work of His hand. He has described all believers collectively as His people.

And now we get to our current verse. The remnant of believers who have survived until the very end of the Tribulation, the ones who when surrounded and find themselves in a totally helpless situation, will in their prayers, remind God of these very promises.

Father, though we are dust, though our goodness is no better than human discharge, though we sin, you have provided us with a way out.

Salvation provided the permanent payment for sins. All sins of every human being, were wiped out from history. Christ accomplished that. Confession aids us during this current life, while we are all subject to spiritual failure. Those sins, when confessed, are totally obliterated and forgotten.

God does not raise up your sins from your past and bombard you because of them. If you are being hammered today for disciplinary purposes, it is not because of your past sins, it is because of your pattern of life, which you have chosen to live on a daily basis.

God does not hammer you for each sin as it occurs. He is patient. He will allow you to demonstrate your chosen pattern of life, and that becomes the object of His discipline. In order to get out from under that discipline, you need to repent. And what does that actually mean? To change your mind. To change your attitude. To change your chosen pattern of life to the life pattern that God wants you to live.

Once confession occurs, than all discipline for your life style ends instantly.

Oh, but you say, I have confessed and my suffering continues.

Yes, but that suffering is now classified as testing, not discipline. And, there is very big difference between the two, as far as your spiritual life goes.

So an example is in order here.

Say that you robbed a bank and murdered someone in the process. You were caught, and convicted, and are now serving a life sentence with no chance of parole. This is the result of the carnal path you chose to follow in your life, and the result of the application of the divine establishment rules, which God set in place for processing law and order. Due process put you away.

Is your life totally lost? No.

In prison, you believed in Christ. Now you are saved. You could have even believed in Christ before your crime and still would be saved. You cannot lose your salvation.

Both of your crimes of theft and murder are sins. Christ went to the Cross and paid the price for your sins. They are obliterated from Gods memory as far as the Cross goes. But you committed those sins during your life and you owe God a confession of those sins.

Does this get you out of jail? No. But it does get you into fellowship. So while you are sitting out the rest of your life in your cell, you study the Bible. You confess as often as is necessary, in order to stay in fellowship. You study your Bible. And you try as best you can, to live a decent life within your prison environment.

You grow up spiritually. You could even advance to spiritual maturity. And when you die in your cell, one day, then you will be standing before the Lord, and you will receive your rightful and phenomenal eternal rewards.

A self-righteous person who lives their life without ever committing a crime, but does not grow up spiritually will not receive anywhere near the rewards that you will receive.

Even from within prison, your punishment continues, but in fellowship, that suffering will be converted to phenomenal blessings for all of eternity.

You can apply this principle to many sets for circumstances. You drink and drive and get into an accident, and lose your legs. Is your life over? No. What you think is what you are, not what you can do, or what you look like.

If you fall and break your arm, you still have to wait for it to heal.

You engage in unacceptable social activities, like drugs or lasciviousness. You get a disease like cancer or aids. Is your life over? No. Will confession make these sufferings go away? No. But your change of attitude and your pursuit of Bible doctrine will cause these sufferings to turn to blessing. You will learn to deal with them. You will learn to live with them. You will learn to perhaps, die with them. But no matter. Nothing of this world will follow you into eternity.

Don t ever allow life to get the better of you and defeat you. Never give up. Your mind with doctrine, can lift you above all difficulties in life. God is infinitely greater than anything in this world, and it is God who drives your life to certain success, when you let Him.

No matter how you have failed or screwed up in life, your failures will never be remembered by God if you comply with His mandates. Certainly, there will be people who will remember your failures, but their criticisms, their ostracisms, their prejudices, their insults, their abuse, their attitudes toward you mean nothing, just as those folks are in effect nothing. Sticks and stones.

Remember the source. Words from dust. Words from discharge. What value are they?

Gods promises, Gods evaluation, Gods capability is all that matters. Live to satisfy God, not people.

Now is the time to post a prayer.