We'll stay right there in Isaiah
chapter 1. And my text, as Brother Randy
said, is verse 18. Come now and let us reason together. Let us reason together. Saith
the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
white as snow, and though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool. Now, I've preached on this passage
several times in the last 30 some years that I've been in
the pulpit. And it is a blessing of the gospel. It is a revelation, not just
using poetic, metaphorical language, but actually pinpointing the
way that God saves sinners. And I want to look at it in that
light this morning for you. And hopefully the Lord will bless
us through it. But just look at the first, when
the Lord says, verse 18, come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. I want you to understand, first
of all, he's not inviting sinners to come and have a discussion
with him. He's not saying, now y'all come on and let's sit down
and hash this thing out and see if we can figure it out. He's
not saying let's you all come and let me hear your opinion
or let's have a debate or anything like that. This is a command
of God to look unto him and let's settle this matter once and for
all. Let's get this straight according to God's word. These
are the facts and it is reasoning. It has to do with thinking. I've
often said that true Christianity is a thinking person's religion.
You've got to think about these things. But you have to reason
based upon what God says is true. Let God be true, and every man
a what? A liar. So whatever men tell
you about this situation that he's talking about, that we're
gonna reason on, whatever a man or a woman tells you out of their
own human reasoning, It's not true. It's just a lie. Now, they may not mean to be
lying to you. They just may be deceived. The
heart's deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it? By nature,
we're all deceived until God undeceives us, if you will, and
reveals himself to us. But here's the facts of the matter.
And there are three things that are brought out in this one verse.
The first thing that's brought out is the reality and the awfulness
of our sin and our depravity. And it's in this one phrase,
though your sins be a scarlet. You know what scarlet is? It's
red, it's a bright red. You can't get away from what
it is, it's scarlet. And what he's talking about here
is sin not as men and women by nature see it, but sin as God
sees it. Because that's the reasoning
we have to have. We have to know how God sees
us. How God views us. Man by nature
sees it differently. Sees it in a totally different
light. and so what he's talking about
here is the reality of sin and depravity and it has to be revealed
to us now you go back and look at the passage the whole passage
as brother Randy read it the first nine verses of this chapter
is a great indictment against a very religious nation a very
religious people but who are still lost in their sins who
are rebellious against God, and I might add, while thinking they're
doing God's will. They're in rebellion against
God, but in their mind, they're doing God's will. Does that remind
you of anything? Hard day. They're unbelieving,
thinking they believe God. They're in idolatry, thinking
they're worshiping the true and living God. They're steeped in
religious idolatry. And it's all a perversion of
God's word in the old covenant law, the law of Sinai. People
today pervert and twist biblical truth. What they call grace becomes
a cleverly disguised system of works, salvation, which God hates
and which will not save. And think about it, he says,
ah, sinful nation, laden with iniquity. He says here that verse
six, from the sole of the foot, even to the head, there's no
soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
they've not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with
ointment, there's no cure. Now you'd think reading those
verses that he's describing the dregs of human society. the immoral, the perverted, the
Sodoms, the Gomorrahs, you'd think, but he goes this far. And so it's kind of like you
might look up and say, well, Lord, is anybody doing right
here in this nation? Is anybody saved? Well, look
at verse nine, except the Lord of hosts. Now, whenever you see
that phrase, the Lord of hosts, it means the Lord of a great
army which God is a Lord of a great army in himself, but it's talking
about the invincible God who cannot be defeated. He's always
victorious, Lord of host. Except the Lord of host had left
unto us a very small remnant. Thank God for the remnant. Who's
that remnant? That's God's elect. chosen before
the foundation of the world, whose names were written in the
Lamb's book of life before the world was ever created, before
Adam ever fell. That's believers. But in that
nation, a very small remnant. Now this took place about 700
years before Christ come on the scene in his humanity. But he
said, except for that very small remnant, we should have been
just the same as Sodom And we should have been just the same
as Gomorrah. Could you imagine Isaiah standing in the city of
Jerusalem, probably at the temple, saying this? He must have failed to get his
copy of how to win friends and influence people. But that's not what we're here
for, is it? That's not why God sent his prophets. What was Sodom and Gomorrah like?
Well, they were immoral. There was homosexuality, bestiality,
all kinds of perversion. Men and women by nature usually,
not always, but usually recognize as sin. And they could have said,
now Lord, we're not doing any of that. He said, but you're sinners.
And all sin deserves death. and your ways of dealing with
this matter of sin is all wrong, it won't help. In fact, it makes
you worse because it denies the glory of God. And so what would
they plead as their defense? Lord, we're praying, we're worshiping,
we're bringing sacrifice, we're doing all of that. Well, verse
10, hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear
unto the law, our God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifice? Why are you bringing sacrifice?
Well, because that's gonna take away our sins. Oh no, the blood
of bulls and goats can never take away sin. That's not what the blood of
bulls and goats were given for. We bring burnt offerings. God
says, well, I delight not in the blood of bullocks or the
lambs or the he-goats. When you come to appear before
me, verse 12, who hath required this at your hand to tread my
courts? They could have said, well, you did, God, and God would
say, not like that. Not the way you're doing it.
People today, we go to church on Sunday or whatever, Saturday,
and they say, because God commanded us to. In what way? To what purpose? Bring no more vain oblations,
empty offerings. Incense is an abomination unto
me. The new moon, Sabbaths, your
holidays, they're an abomination. The calling of assemblies. Gathering
together, I can't, I've had enough of it, I cannot get rid of it
fast enough, is almost like he's saying. It's iniquity. That means it falls short. Even
the solemn meeting, the solemn meeting there means a great,
big, huge gathering of people. Your new moons, your feast, all
of it, when you spread your hands, when you praise, what he's saying.
When you pray, I will hide my eyes from you, because you'll
make many prayers I won't hear. Your hands are full of blood.
What kind of blood is he talking about? He's talking about sacrifices. So the Lord answers their defense. He says, it's not good enough.
It won't work. So he gives them some exhortations
here, commandments. Look at verse 16. Wash you, make
you clean. That's what you need. What do
I need? My sins are scarlet in the eyes
of God, not in the eyes of men and women. They're glaring. I can't hide them. It's like
a shiny red light. And that's the way I am before,
all right? Well, you need to wash and make
yourself clean. Now think about that. Is the
Lord commanding them here to cleanse themselves from sin?
Well, that can't be. because only Christ can cleanse
us from our sins. God's grace through His blood. So why is the Lord commanding
to do that? But let me just read you some scripture. I'll read
this. This is out of the book of Job. Listen to this, Job 15
and verse four. What is man that he should be
clean, and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous?
Verse 15, behold, he putteth no trust in his saints. God doesn't
even trust you or me. We trust Him. Yea, the heavens
are not clean in his sight. And verse 16, how much more abominable
and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. You reckon we could do something
to cure that? Well, he says, wash you and make yourself clean.
He also says here, look here, verse 16, he says, put away the
evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Well, can we do that? The evil of our doings. What
is the evil of our doings? Well, listen to this. This is
out of the book of Job also. This is Job chapter nine and
verse one. Then Job answered and said, I know is of a truth,
but how should a man be just with God? If he will contend
with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousands. When he says,
put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, think
about this. Think about standing before God
and you're trying to defend yourself. This is what Job is saying. You're
trying to, Answer his charges. And you're contending with him.
And Job said you can't answer him one of a thousand. God would
bring up one indictment. We can't answer him one of a
thousand. That's how bad it is. The psalmist
said it like this in Psalm 130 verse three. If thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? None of us. Jeremiah two and verse 22, listen
to this. For thou, thou wash thee with
niter. It's kind of like a rough, you
remember that old soap called lava? It's kind of like washing
with that, scrubbing. Something that Ajax won't take
on. And take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked
before me, saith the Lord God. You can't wash it away. And religion
won't do it. That's right. He says, cease
to do evil, learn to do well. What Jeremiah say one time, Jeremiah
13, 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change
his spot? Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. Can you put away the evil of
your doing? The heart's deceitful. The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them. then he tells them, he says, seek judgment.
Look here, he says, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge
the fatherless, plead for the wicked. What he's doing here,
he's showing that realize that mercy towards others is more
important than religious sincerity and exercise. Now all of this represents, all
these commands that he begins in verse 16 through verse 17,
it represents the whole range of salvation by God's grace and
the fruits of his grace. But why would God command sinners
to do that which is impossible? That's exactly what he's doing
here. Wash, go wash away your sins today. Does God command that? Well,
it says here, wash you, make you clean. Why would God do that?
There's one reason. To show us the impossibility
of our doing and turn us to Him and Him alone. That's why. You
see, religion won't do it. And so he says in verse 18, he
says, come now, let us reason again. Now let's settle this
whole thing. Let's put this thing to rest as far as how it's done. Some people say, well, all they
had to do in the book of Isaiah here, these people who were worse,
all they had to do was to be more sincere in what they were
doing. Now, I want you to think about
that. He doesn't say, come now, let us reason, saith the Lord,
though you be insincere, let's get serious. That's not what
he said. And if sincerity was the issue,
and it wasn't, these people were sincere folks, I'm telling you.
They weren't just playing religious games, as some people say. If
it were sincerity, how much sincerity does God require? How much sincerity
is enough? How sincere must you be? Show
me chapter and verse on that issue. All I know is that God says,
except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom
of heaven. He didn't say except your sincerity exceed the sincerity
of the scribes and the Pharisees. So what's he showing us here?
Turn to John chapter 16. I'm gonna show you that this
is a parallel verse, a parallel to Isaiah 118. Come now, let
us reason together, though your sins be scarlet. How scarlet
are my sins? Look at John 16 and verse seven. The Lord speaking to his disciples.
And he tells them, nevertheless, John 16 and verse seven, nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto
you. What's he talking about? He's talking about his cross
work. He's talking about going to the cross as the surety, the
substitute, the redeemer of God's people, his sheep, the elect,
and sending from himself the Holy Spirit to bring them to
this reasoning that Isaiah is talking about. And he says, in
verse eight, he says, and when he's come, he will reprove or
convict or convince the world of sin, though your sins be as
scarlet, and of righteousness, they'll be white as snow. and
of judgment, though they be red like crimson, they'll be as wool. Now, how does that fit together?
Well, here's the scarlet ray or redness or glaring of our
sins, verse nine, of sin because they believe not on me. That's
the issue of sins. You see, two things we can know
from God's Word that are always true for everyone who fell in
Adam, and as a result are born spiritually dead in trespasses
and sins, and as a result have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. No matter what exhortation or
commandment is given, no matter how many ifs are stated, if you
do this, if you do that, number one, no amount of works religious,
sincere works that we do, no degree of human morality and
sincerity will achieve our salvation from our sins and make us righteous
before God. Mark it down. And then secondly,
we can know that by nature, as we're naturally born, dead in
trespasses and sins, we will not desire or submit to God's
way of salvation by his free and sovereign grace based upon
the righteousness of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We will
not come to Christ until we're brought by God to see the awfulness,
the scarletness, if you will, of our sins and the greatness
of his righteousness. Isaiah has preached the gospel
to these people. And he goes through his book,
preaching the gospel. And yet they will not listen.
Who hath believed our report? Remember it in Isaiah. Who, to
whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? So let's clear
this up. Though your sins be as scarlet. And how scarlet are they? Well,
here's the issue. Apart from God's grace, through
the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, All
we are and all we do, no matter how religious, how moral, how
sincere, is sin in the eyes of God. And that word sin, in John
16, he said, I'll convict them of sin. It means we missed the
mark. We can be religious, we can be
moral, we can be sincere, but we never attain the mark. We always fall short. That's
how scarlet our sins are. Without Christ, without the grace
of God, without His blood, without His righteousness, in God's sight,
it's all sin. And we can't do anything about
it. We don't have the power or the wherewithal to cure that
great disease. It's a pandemic. because it reaches
to all nations and all individuals. Though your sins be scarlet. But let's hold on. Here's the
second thing. Here's the second issue of reasoning.
Number one, though your sins be as scarlet. Number two, they
shall be white as snow. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the greatness, the glory of Christ's righteousness. Look at John 16 and verse 10. The Holy Spirit will convict
you of righteousness, how? By your efforts, by your works,
by your religion, by your sincerity? No, because I go to my Father
and you see me no more. Now, how was Christ going to
the Father? And again, I want you to see
this is righteousness, not as human beings naturally see it.
Human beings think naturally that righteousness is just some
kind of a moral behavior. But it's not. Righteousness is
perfection, perfection of the law, perfection of justice. But
this is how God sees it. And the reality of righteousness
has to be revealed to us by God or we won't see it for what it
is. How did Christ go to the Father? He went to the Father
as our surety, our substitute, our redeemer, who put away our
sins by the blood of His cross in His death. That's how He went
to the Father. He went to the Father as the
one who made an end of sin, who finished the transgression, and
brought in the only righteousness by which God can be just and
justify the ungodly. That's how He went away. He died,
he was buried, he arose again the third day because of the
justification of his people before God, their sins forgiven, God
declaring them righteous based upon his righteousness imputed
to them, and he's now seated in heaven, ever living to make
intercession for his people. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be as white as snow. How is that possible? Only through
Christ. He's called the Lord our righteousness.
He's called the measure of our righteousness because God has
given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from
the dead. He's gonna judge the world in righteousness. That's
the greatness of his righteousness. From his righteousness, we're
justified before God. From his righteousness, we are
given life from the dead by the Spirit to believe in him. With
the heart man believeth unto righteousness. That's what these
people were not doing in their religion. They were trying to
establish a righteousness of their own by their religious
efforts, their religious deeds, by their sincerity, but it won't
do. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. Come, let us reason together.
How in the world can I, a sinner, red like crimson, be white as
snow, righteous in God's sight? Well, here's the third thing.
Now, he says in Isaiah 118, Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be as white as snow. Here's the third thing. Though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Now, what I
want you to see is this. That is a direct reference to
the judgment of God against Christ based upon our sins charged to
him for which he died. You say, well, how do you get
that out of there? Well, over here in John 16 and verse 11,
remember he said the Holy Spirit will convince God's people of
three things, of sin, because they believe not on me, of righteousness,
because I go unto the Father, and then the third thing, verse
11, of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Now what is this judgment? and the prince of this world
is just, he's talking about Christ's work on the cross as the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer of his people to overturn what
God used Satan to bring in, in condemnation, the prince of this
world. Satan was the instrument that
brought condemnation, death and sin into the world through Adam. But Christ on the cross overturned
all of that by his substitutionary death on the cross as our surety
and our redeemer. Well, how do you get that out
of the crimson here? Red like crimson, there'll be
as well. Well, it's very interesting. You know, this is, as I said,
this is a direct reference to Christ taking the judgment and
wrath of God upon himself for his sheep. This word crimson,
It's a word that refers to a worm, a crimson worm, full of red blood. And it was used to make a red
dye that they used, for example, in the colors of the tabernacle,
the curtains, some of the priestly garments. Red like crimson. Give you an interesting thing
here. Turn to the book of Job, chapter 25. Job 25. If I can find it. All right, Job 25, right before
Psalms. Job 25, this is Bildad the Shuhite
talking. Look at verse four. How then
can man be justified with God? How can a man be forgiven? How
can a man be declared righteous, a sinner? Or how can he be clean
that is born of a woman? Behold them to the moon and it
sinneth not. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less that man that is
a worm. Now that word worm there means
literally a maggot. A maggot. Nothing worse than
a maggot. And then he says, and the Son
of Man, which refers to Christ, which is a worm. That's the same
word translated crimson in Isaiah 118. In the Hebrew, it's the
tola. It's the crimson worm. You see that? Now, turn to Psalm
22. Psalm 22 and 23 and 24, they're
the shepherd psalms. Psalm 22 speaks of Christ as
our high priest, the good shepherd dying for his sheep. Psalm 23,
Christ our prophet, leading and guiding his sheep. Psalm 24,
Christ our king, watching over his flock, ruling. But you remember
in Psalm 22, look at verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my Lord? Remember Christ quoted that on
the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? This is
a Psalm of Christ talking about his suffering. Verse two, oh
my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and I'm not silent. Remember Christ said,
when he said, oh my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was
literally, legally forsaken by the Father, based upon our sins
imputed to him. Verse three, but thou art holy,
O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. God punished his holy,
harmless, undefiled son, and still remain holy in doing so.
Verse four, our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted and thou
didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. They trusted in thee and were not confounded. But
look at verse six, but I am a worm. That's the crimson worm. Christ
called himself that. And no man or reproach of men
and despise of the people. That crimson worm is a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins. establishing
the only righteousness by which God can justify the ungodly. He was judged back over in John
16. He said he'll convince the world
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Our
judgment has already, if we're in Christ, if we're washed in
his blood and clothed in his righteousness, our judgment has
already taken place on the cross. that crimson worm shedding his
blood in our place as our surety, our substitute, our redeemer.
And what the prophet's telling these people, look, all of your
efforts to save yourself, all of your efforts to make yourselves
righteous, all of your efforts to wash away your sins with your
morality, your religion, your sincerity, will do you no good. Come, let us reason together.
Here it is, here's the matter settled. Your sins are so scarlet,
but they'll be white as snow. How? By the work of God's Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Though they be red like crimson,
imputed to Him, not charged to us, they'll be as wool. We'll have His righteousness
imputed to us. That's the only way, and there
is no other way. Alright.