Sermon Video: We Can't Save Ourselves - Isaiah 64:4-9

Continuing along the rode through Isaiah that explains the need for the Cross, we come to Isaiah’s explanation as to why the people of God cannot repair the damage caused by their sinfulness on their own. Isaiah begins by reminding his audience that there are no other gods to turn to, that only God has shown care for those who follow him. The lack of other options beyond God makes sense when connected to the end of verse five where the lack of commitment to the Law of God shows that the descendant of Abraham are truly in trouble because of their disobedience. Isaiah asks, “How then can we be saved?”


That the answer to Isaiah’s question is, “we can’t do it ourselves, we need God to save us” is made painfully clean when Isaiah shares three metaphors that explain the inability of even God’s people to rectify the situation themselves. The first, that we are all “unclean” connects to the Law’s designation of some people as being temporarily unclean, a status that could be changed, but on that prevented fellowship until it was solved. That the entirety of God’s people could be designated as “unclean” despite their many sacrifices is a sobering thought that explains the seriousness of the damage done by sin to the relationship with God.

The second metaphor is even more shocking, Isaiah says that, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags”. That righteous deeds could be nullified because of the impure hears of those doing them is another illustration that this is a relationship with God that we’re talking about; God isn’t just some cosmic good vs. evil meter, our hearts matter too. The “filthy rags” of the NIV (and most English translations) are literally a Hebrew euphemism for a woman’s menstrual cloths. In other words, Isaiah actually said, “all our righteous acts are like bloody tampons”; point taken.

Lastly, Isaiah compares God’s people to leaves that have fallen from the tree, shriveled up, and blown away. There is no hope for that leaf, its days are over; so too are we hopeless unless God rescues us.

The last portion of the passage is an appeal to God as our Father, Creator, and Judge to save us despite our sin, to remember that he is the one who initiated the relationship, and appeal to God’s mercy. Why did Jesus have to walk to Calvary, because mankind had wandered away from God, and we don’t have the ability to walk back on our own.

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