Justification vs Sanctification

• Isaiah 1:16 (ASV)
• Isaiah 1:17 (ASV)
• Isaiah 1:18 (ASV)

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16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
18 Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
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Wash yourselves
Make yourselves clean
Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes

All 3 are impossible tasks for Israel! God has already told them their wound is basically incurable (verse 6). Only he himself can bring these things. See verse 18.
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After these things are accomplished (justification), THEN you get to living it out (sanctification):

Cease to do evil : STOP doing evil
Learn to do good : START doing good, and gradually(!) get better!
Seek justice : AIM for justice
Correct oppression : Work for CHANGE in any oppressive structure
Bring justice to the fatherless : HELP the helpless
Plead the widow's cause : Not only that, take up their cause as your own!

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