All right, Isaiah chapter 1.
The title of the message is A Conference with God. A Conference with God. Now, Isaiah, I guess, is considered
by most to be the greatest prophet. He's quoted more often in the
New Testament than all the other prophets. And the Lord gave to
Isaiah a special, clear revelation of Christ. We'll see in the coming
months his writings. describe the person of Christ
and the sufferings of Christ and the kingdom of Christ so
clearly. Many people call the book of
Isaiah the fifth gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Isaiah.
You'll remember Brother Henry often referred to the gospels,
the gospel according to Isaiah. The name Isaiah means the salvation
of the Lord. That's what his name means and
that's the subject of his prophecy, the salvation of the Lord. I
pray the Lord will give us a profitable study in this book. Now, the
title of the message is taken from verse 20. Come now, let
us reason together, saith the Lord. Now, God's calling a conference,
and I want us to see who does God call to this conference,
and what's the good news that we hear in this conference, this
conference with God. But if we're going to understand
this conference, we have to understand Why is this conference needed?
What has happened that makes this necessary? Well, verse 1,
it's our sin. The vision of Isaiah, the son
of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days
of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Now, Isaiah's prophecy is called
a vision because the vision that the Lord gave him of Christ,
the truth of Christ that was revealed to him was just as clear
to his mind as you all are to my eyes. I see you just so clearly. It's a vision. That's how clearly
in his mind Isaiah saw the person and work of Christ. And the greatest
blessing God could give any of us if he'd give us that same
vision. He could. To let us see Christ
with the eye of faith in the mind. And Isaiah calls on every
creature in the whole creation to hear. Everybody ought to hear
this. Everybody ought to see this vision of Christ. It would be awful good for us.
And thankfully, some hear. Now, I know most won't. Most
rebel against it. But thankfully, God makes his
sheep hear. Verse 2, he says, Hear, O heavens,
give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Here's why you ought
to give ear. The Lord has spoken. I've nourished
and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me.
Now, this charge is being brought here against the nation Israel.
God made Israel his people. He chose them to make them his
people. He gave them his presence. He protected them. He gave them
the land he promised Abraham. That land flown with milk and
honey, they possessed it. God gave them his law. He gave
them the tabernacle, the priesthood, the prophets. He gave them his
word. Yet they rebelled against God.
Now that's Adam's sin nature in all of us. What is applied
to Israel clearly applies to all of us. In many ways, couldn't
this same charge be brought against America today and all of us individually? God's protected this nation.
He's provided for us. He's fed us. He's clothed us.
He's given us a land of plenty. And what do we do? We rebel against
God's crown rights to sovereignly rule as he will. We've rebelled
against him. Our nation has done its best. to get rid of God's Word. Just
get rid of it. We're not going to have it rule
over us. And here's how sin has affected
our heart and our mind. Sin has made us ungrateful. God
has given us everything we have. Yet sin has made us ungrateful.
It just made us plumb dumb. Look at verse 3. The ox knoweth
his owner, and the ass his master's crib. But Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider.
Sin has made us dumber than an ox. has made us more stubborn
than the ass. People who refuse to bow to Christ,
they're not as smart as an ox. You know, the ox knows his owner.
The ox knows he should submit to the yoke of his owner. The
ox knows he should serve his owner. Ox just, he puts his head
down for the yoke. He knows he should pull the plow
or the wagon or whatever it is. He knows he should serve his
owner. And what do we say? I'm not going to serve. I'm not
going to be anybody's servant. I'm going to do what makes me
happy. I'm not going to be your servant. I'm not going to be
God's servant. You know, we say man's as dumb
as an ox. We've insulted oxen everywhere.
Man's far inferior to the intelligence of an ox. And the ass can be
a contrary, stubborn animal. But even that ass, that stubborn
ass, knows who feeds him. He knows his master feeds him.
He knows where to go find food. It's in the trough that his master
fills up for him every day. Hadn't God repeatedly told us
Christ is the bread of life? And we refuse to come in. When
we say about someone, oh, he's as stubborn as an ass, we've
insulted asses everywhere. We're far more stubborn than
that ass. Oh, we're stubborn. We're affected.
Our mind, our nature is affected by sin. And there's no such thing
as a little sinner. Look at verse 4. We're all great
sinners. Ah, sinful nation. A people laden
with iniquity. A seed of evildoers. Children
that are corruptors. They've forsaken the Lord. They've
provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They've gone away
backward. We're laden with iniquity. That
word laden means heavy and full and thick. We're as full of sin
as an egg is full of an egg. We're as full of sin as a sponge
is full of water. We're just dripping it out. We can't hold any more sin in
us. Isn't that what the Apostle Paul said about us in Romans
3? Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. And our mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness because that's what our heart's
full of. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
Isaiah says we're a seed of evildoers. Every time we produce a baby,
every baby that comes from our seed is an evildoer. We just
keep producing more evildoers. Again, Paul, Romans 3 said there's
none good. No, not one. There's none good
because the seed's bad. So we can't produce anything
but more evildoers. We're children that are corruptors.
It's not good enough to sin ourselves. We're corruptors. We've got to
corrupt somebody else. We've got to lead somebody else
into sin. We're all the chief of sinners. Now, we're the chief
in this sense that we're the greatest sinner, but we're also
the chief in that we're the head one. We've got the big headdress.
We're the leader, leading everybody else into sin, corruptors. And
we've forsaken the Lord. Again, Paul in Romans 3 said
there's none that seek after God. They're all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable. We've forsaken
the Lord. Well, no wonder we've provoked
the Holy One to anger. We've provoked God to anger by
rebelling against His authority. Look at Psalm 7. God's angry with the wicked.
Of course He is. We've provoked Him by sinning
against Him. God judgeth the righteous, and
God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he'll
wet his sword, he'll bend his bow, and make it ready. He hath
also prepared for him the instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows
against the persecutors." God's angry with the wicked. He's just
lining up the arrows for the time of destruction. Look over
at Hebrews chapter 10. I don't know, but somehow in
our day, men have gotten the idea of God. He's this old grandfather,
you know, just overlooks the sins of his grandchildren. Oh,
he didn't mean it, you know. That's that's the way people
see God. That's not the way scripture describes him. Look here at Hebrews
10, verse 30. For we know him that has said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense sayeth the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge
his people. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. And when we do and that
judgment comes upon us, we can't argue against it. We can't say
we're not getting exactly what we deserve because we are. Sin
next has made us incorrigible sinners. We can't be corrected.
We can't change. Sinning, we can't change the
way we do things. We can't do anything with Adam's
sinful nature. The only thing you can do with
that nature is destroy it because you can't change it. Look at
verse five in our text. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You'll just revolt more and more. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is faint. You know, when we correct our
children, they learn. I'm not going to do that anymore.
I know a young woman, she told me this story, when she's a little
girl, she said, I went to the grocery store with my mother,
and I wanted my son cookies, or she wanted something, you
know, and her mother was not going to give it to her. Well,
she'd seen other children throw fits, so she thought, I'll try
that. Middle of the store, she threw
a Jim Dandy fit. Her mother just calmly pushed
the buggy to the front of the store, found the manager, said,
I know I've got this buggy full of your merchandise, If I got
a problem, I would go deal with it. She picked that child up,
put her in the car, took her home, and spanked her hind end. She remembers it. She's a grown
woman. She remembers it to this day. She said, I never threw
a pit again. She can learn. Why don't we? We don't learn, God said. Why
should I correct you anymore? Why should you be stricken anymore?
You don't change. You cannot learn. You know why
we can't learn? The whole head is affected. The
whole head is sick. The heart is faint. The understanding
is darkened. Cannot be corrected. We're just
hopeless. You can't do anything with this
nature. I've been writing an article
on repentance to put in the bulletin Sunday. We are so depraved, even
the afflictions of God will not cause the natural man to repent.
Won't do it. Look at Revelation chapter 16.
Now, it might bring a temporary change. You know, we might act
repentant for a time, but as soon as the heat's off, we go
right back to the same old, same old. Even the afflictions of
God will not cause the natural man to repent. Revelation 16,
verse 8, And the fourth angel poured out
his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch
men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat. And what did they do? They blasphemed the name of God,
which had power over these plagues, and they repented not to give
him glory. And the fifth angel poured out
his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full
of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues
for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their
pains and for their sores, and repented not of their deeds."
They chewed their own tongue out rather than repent and beg
God for mercy and give God the glory. God's afflictions will
not cause the natural man to repent. We are so sinful we don't
even realize God's correctness for our sin. Well, verse 6, sin
has made us totally depraved, so that there is no goodness
in us at all. Look at verse 6, from the sole
of the foot even into 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. Now here is the
true condition of man fallen in Adam. We're not bruised by
the fall. That comes from a song or something.
I guess it rhymes. But we're not bruised by the
fall. We are killed in the fall. Ruined
in the fall. There is no redeeming quality
about us whatsoever. Not one. We are so full of sin,
you can't put the head of a needle on one healthy spot of skin,
of flesh in our body. We're covered with sin. In my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. And sin's made us ugly. Now this
is an ugly description that Isaiah gives us. Comfort from the sole
of the foot to the top of the head with these wounds and running
bruises and putrefying sores. They're open. They're running.
They're oozing pus. They breed maggots. It's so disgusting
you just turn your head. If you'd see somebody that looked
like this, the whole head's sick. We don't realize that's how God
sees us by nature. The exact same way. And we don't
just look bad. Look at Psalm 38. We don't just
look bad. I mean, you know, this looks
bad enough. But these sores have gone untreated for so long, they
smell bad. They don't just look bad, they
smell bad. They stink. Psalm 38, verse 3. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger, neither is there any rest in my bones
because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone
over my head, as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My
wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. This
is my sin that has caused this to happen to me." Now, we'll
see this in a minute. Man can try to treat these sores
and these open wounds with religion. But man can't find a treatment
for it. You can't find a home remedy for this. You know, it's
just man, there's no matter how we try to treat this disease
of sin, no matter what we do to it in the end. They look just
as bad as if they've never been treated at all. Man cannot find
a cure for the disease of sin. Next, we see sin has made us
barren. It's made us lose everything. Sin had made us poor now. were bankrupt, morally, spiritually
bankrupt in sin. Look at verse 7. Your country's
desolate. Your cities are burned with fire.
Your land, strangers devour it in your presence. You're standing
right there watching them. You're helpless. You can't stop
it. And it's desolate. It's overthrown by strangers.
And the daughters of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard,
as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. You know,
we think sin is our friend. By nature, that's what we think.
Sin's our friend. It's something that we can enjoy.
But sin's the enemy. It'll come and kill every time.
Sin has come in and taken everything of value from us and burned the
rest of it to the ground. There's no life left. There's
nothing left that could sustain life if there was any life. Totally
barren. But now, verse 9, there's a glimmer
of hope. Look at this. Except the Lord of Hosts had
left unto us a very small remnant which had been a Sodom and which
had been likened to Gomorrah. Now the only reason God hadn't
destroyed us like he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah is God has
an elect remnant. Right now God is preserving this
entire earth, wicked as it may be, he's preserving it for the
elect's sake until he calls all of his elect out. That's the
only thing that's holding back God's destructive wrath against
sin at this moment. God's got to elect people and
he's going to bring them all to Christ. Now, if God hadn't
elected the people out of Adam's fallen race, no one would be
saved. Isn't that obvious? Isaiah has
given us a description of us here. We can't save ourselves. We can't do anything but sin.
We can't save ourselves. We've seen here, Isaiah is showing
us what condition our conditions in. And I'm telling you, it's
poor. Oh, my. Well, where does that leave us?
Christ is our only hope. He's pointing this out to us,
so in graphic detail, so we'll see Christ is our only hope.
God's electing grace is the only hope we have. Now, somebody might
say, I mean, is it really that bad? I mean, come on. I mean,
I see people do nice things. Is it really that bad? Yes, it
is. It's that bad. I want everybody
in this room to take a minute and think about the worst sinner
you've ever heard of. Just the worst. You got somebody
in mind? I'm here to tell you we're worse.
Whoever it is you have in mind, you and I are worse. Look at
verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, ye
rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God,
ye people of Gomorrah. Well, I thought Isaiah was writing
to Israel. What's he doing addressing Sodom and Gomorrah? He is speaking
to Israel. What Isaiah is saying is we're
just as bad as the leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah. I'm not just
talking about somebody that just lived there. I'm talking about
the leaders, the corruptors. You and I are just as disgusting,
just as guilty, more so than they were. Now you think, wait a minute,
Frank. You're getting kind of personal here. That's what we are by nature.
And I hope it is personal, because until we see ourselves here,
until we quit seeing somebody else as the worst sinner and
start seeing old Frank as the worst sinner, this is never going
to do me any good. This ought to be personal because
this is what we are by nature. Now, man's sinful, but that doesn't
mean man's not religious. Man is religious. But man's religion
is no help. Not only is it no help. It makes
him worse. Not only is man's religion not
kind of holy, not kind of helpful, man's religion is nothing but
iniquity. Religion, whatever name you want
to put it under, whatever heading you want to give it, man's religion
without Christ is just as wicked as everything that went on in
Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as wicked. That's pretty
strong, but that's so. Man is not better off in false
religion. At least he's no better off than
the leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah, and where are they? What happened
to them? Look at verse 11. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts. I delight not
in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When
ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your
hand, to tread on my courts? Religious man, what do they do?
I told you now, man's religion is no better than what went on
in Sodom and Gomorrah. Why is that? Because man by nature,
in their religion, will go to the law every time. So let's
keep the law. Let's at least keep part of it,
you know. Or, we know we can't keep it, so here's what we'll
do. We'll set aside a few days and keep the law in those few
days. And then they're proud of themselves. They think they've
done it because they don't understand the spirituality of the law.
They actually think they've kept the law. They actually think
their attempts at keeping the law have pleased God. But God's
not pleased with them. They don't understand that the
law was given to shut us up to Christ. The law wasn't given
to us, to you and me, sinful men and women, so we could earn
a righteousness. The law was given to shut us up to Christ. Now, they're religious. But they're
not worshipping God. They're not worshipping. God
said, who told you to come to me this way? And people will
say, well, I thought we're supposed to meet together. I mean, and
it's a good thing. We're supposed to meet together on Sundays and
Wednesdays. That's what we're supposed to do. Not without Christ,
you're not. I thought we were supposed to
call God. I thought we were supposed to come into his presence. Not
without a mediator, you're not. Not outside of Christ, you're
not. God says here, He didn't just say, I'm not pleased with
the sacrifice. He said, I'm not pleased with
your sacrifices. This is not the sacrifice that
God's appointed. It's not God's sacrifice. It's
not the sacrifice of Christ. That's why God is not pleased
with it. What God's saying is, who told you to sacrifice these
things? Who told you to pick out a few
days a year and give up some things? Who told you to do that? Who told you to burn this incense
and these candles and wave this stuff around? Who told you to
do that? God didn't. Who told you to do that? It's
an abomination to God. Religion without Christ is not
better than doing nothing. I had a friend one time say,
well, isn't being in a false religion better than nothing? No, it's
not. No, it's not. Religion without
Christ is as much iniquity as what goes on in a bar or a brothel
or inside the walls of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now I'm telling
you the truth. God says it's an abomination. It's iniquity.
And they have an outward form of religion. They're going through some motions
and some ceremonies. But outward religion is not inward
worship. Outward reformation, they might
change some things as they do, but outward reformation is not
internal devotion. God is not going to accept it
because God looks on the heart. Look at verse 13. Bring no more
vain oblation. Incense is an abomination unto
me. The new moons and the Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with. It is iniquity. Even the solemn
meeting, your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble unto me. I
am weary to bear them. Even the most solemn days that
men observe. You know, we have religion, but
we're going to set aside a few days that are more solemn, more
holy than the rest. Even those most holy days, the
best that men can do, is an abomination to God. Easter Sunday, with its
pageants and its passions of Christ, is an abomination to
God. These Christmas meetings, we
have our plays and we celebrate Jesus' birthday, is an Abomination
to God. You may as well burn a candle
to Baal. I'm telling you the truth. Now,
please don't get me wrong. Spring's coming. I promise you. Spring is coming. And when it
comes, and we're going to have Easter, buy your children a nice
new Easter outfit. I love, when we had our little
girls, I loved new Easter dresses. Dude, enjoy it. Just hunt Easter
eggs, color Easter eggs, enjoy it. But don't attach any religious
significance to it. It's not a holy day. It's a day
to eat ham and hunt eggs. And I'm telling you, it's a day
to get a new outfit. Christmas time comes. Don't be
Scrooge. Enjoy it. Buying presents and
trimming the trees, spending time with your family. But don't
attach any religious significance to it because that outward show
is not inward devotion. You can worship God better Driving
down the road by yourself at night, and you can in this junk
that goes on because worship's from the heart. It's from the
heart. All that outward show does not add to worship. And
outward show of piety even, while it may impress men, is an abomination
to God. Look at verse 15. And when you
spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. When
you make many prayers, I'm not here. Your hands are full of
blood. You know, you see these people
on TV and things, they get this goofy look on their face like
they're constipated and they're waving their hand around in the
air. And that's supposed to impress somebody. You think that impresses
God? I mean, my soul. God says when
you do that, I'll hide my eyes from you. I mean, I see it on
TV. I change the channel. God does too. He said, I'll hide
my eyes. Look at Acts chapter 2. This
business about lifting your hands up. Let's think about that for a
minute. God impressed people lifting their hands up. That's
what they all do, isn't it? Look at Acts 2 verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. With your wicked hands you have
taken the Son of God. crucified Him and slain Him.
You've got His blood on your hands. Now, are you going to
raise those hands to God and expect Him to hear you? God said,
I won't hear you. I won't hear you. Well, who can
ascend into the hill of the Lord then? Who can stand in His holy
place and be heard? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. Well, by nature, every one of
us is excluded. We've got blood on our hands.
Our heart is not pure, it is sick with sin. Well, verse 16,
back in our text. Wash you, and make you clean.
Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease
to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment.
Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for
the widow. Well, now this is true. God will accept you if
you wash away your sin. If you wash away your sin, you
quit sin, start doing righteousness, God will accept you. We'll go
back to Job chapter 9. Here's the problem. I can't wash
my sin away. The fountain that I wash my sin
in is polluted with sin itself. Job chapter 9, verse 29. Now, I be wicked. Why then labor I
in vain? If I wash myself with snow water
and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the
ditch, and mine own clothes will it pour me." I can't make myself
clean because I'm filthy from the inside out. See, I can't
cease from doing evil. God says, well, cease from doing
evil. Well, I can't cease from doing evil. Can the Ethiopian
change his skin? Can the leopard change his spots?
Well, no. Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. See, I can't stop doing evil.
I can't learn to do good because I'm accustomed to doing evil.
Sin and wickedness is all I know. I can't help the orphan and the
widow and the oppressed. I'm the very one that's oppressing
them. I'm the one that's killed her husband and killed their
father and made him an orphan in the first place. I cannot
help myself. Men and brethren, what are we
going to do? Now, what are we going to do?
Now, this description I just read is the description of us
by nature, us here right now tonight at Hurricane Road Grace
Church. This is the description of every
one of us, even God's elect. Now, by nature, this is the description
of us. I want to make this personal.
This is our description. Well, now that the Lord stripped
us, now he's left us without any hope, seemingly without any
help. Now, God says, verse 18, come
now, let's reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I want you to notice
first here who's speaking. Then I want us to see who's speaking,
who's calling this conference. God's calling it, isn't it? The
Lord Jehovah is calling this conference. Well, who is God
calling to this conference? He's calling sinners. These are
the people he just described in the previous verses. God is
calling ungrateful sinners. He's calling the lowest sinners,
sinners who are lower than brute beasts. That's who God's calling
to this conference. God's calling great sinners,
sinners who are laden with iniquity. He's calling incorrigible sinners,
sinners that can't change. God's calling the chief of sinners.
He's calling the corruptors to this conference. God's calling
totally depraved sinners, sinners who are sick from head to toe.
He's calling barren sinners who, when they come, got nothing to
offer. That's what he's calling this
conference. God's calling infamous sinners, sinners as infamous
as those from Sodom and Gomorrah. And he's calling religious sinners. I mean, these are the worst kinds
of sinners, religious sinners. Because they don't even know
they're a sinner. They won't admit they're a sinner. And that's
who God is calling to this conference. I'm telling you, that's grace.
What grace! God would call sinners to this
conference. And God's calling this conference.
And He's calling sinners to come do it. Because He's got a message
for sinners. Well, alright. God's calling
the conference. He's calling sinners to the conference.
Now, what are we going to talk about? Well, we're going to talk
about sin. Now, we're not here to determine
if we're sinners or not, because that's already been established.
We're sinners. Sin is ingrained in us like dye
is ingrained in wool. It just has gone all the way
through. It's colorfast. No matter where
you cut it, it's the same color. It's black. It's night. It's red crimson sin. Sin is
in us like a double-dyed garment. I don't know much about that,
but it sounds to me like you dye the garment, you hang it
up until it's dry, and you put it in again. Double-dyed. That's what we are. Double-dyed
sinners. We're dyed guilty in Adam, and
we've been dyed guilty in our own actions. We've never done
anything but sin. Double-dyed sinners. Our sin,
God says, is red like crimson. Now, red stands out, doesn't
it? If you're wearing red, you don't
have the intention of blending in. Right? Hunters wear a red
hat so somebody doesn't shoot them, right? Because I guess
hunters still do that. You know, you wear camouflage
because, you know, I guess the deer can see if you wore red.
But, you know, you wear a red hat because you don't want to
get shot, but you want to stand out. Tiger Woods wears his Sunday
red. He's not trying to blend in with
everybody else. He wants to be a champion. He
wants to stand out. That's us. champion sinners,
outstanding in our field, red like crimson. Well, okay, we're
not going to talk about if we're sinners, then what are we going
to talk about? We're going to talk about how
sin can be put away, and it's put away in the blood, the blood
of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the
good news for sinners. Now, I thought the Ethiopian
can't change his skin. I thought the leper can't change
his spots. He can't, but the blood of Christ can. The blood
of Christ does, not can, it does. The blood of Christ washes away
the red stain of sin and makes us holy, makes us white as snow. Look at Revelation chapter 7. It's washing and cleansing, not
just on the outside. It's a washing of the heart,
a regeneration of the heart, making us clean and righteous,
washed in his blood. Revelation 7, verse 9, After
this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, stood
before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed with white robes,
and had palms in their hands. Now look down at verse 13, And
one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which
are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? how did
they get clean? where did they come from? I said unto him, Sir,
thou knowest. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and they have washed
their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." That
red double-dyed wool is made white as snow in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no sinner so bad, the
blood of Christ doesn't make him holy. There is no sinner
so filled with disease and corruption and the filth of sin that the
blood of Christ can't make him whole. There is no sinner so
black with sin that the blood of Christ can't wash him white
as snow. Christ washes in his blood ungrateful
sinners and makes them thankful. They say, thank you, Lord, for
saving my soul. Christ washes the lowest sinners
in his blood. He raises them from the dunghill
and sets them among princes. He washes great sinners. They're
laden with iniquity, but He washes them in His blood and gives them
rest in Him. Christ washes diseased sinners
in His blood and makes them whole. Every whit hole, by His stripes,
were healed. Christ saves that incorrigible
sinner. You can't correct him. You can't do anything with him.
Christ washes him in His blood, grants him repentance, and he
loves what he once hated and hates what he once loved. Christ
saves the chief of sinners. The chief of sinners. He washes
them in His blood and makes them His witness to the lost world.
He saves infamous sinners and makes them trophies of His grace.
And God even saves religious sinners and makes them rest in
Christ. And call all their righteousness
as nothing but done. And they seek to win Christ and
be found in Him. Now that's the power of the blood
of Christ to atone for sin. The blood of Christ is much more
powerful than sin. Now, sin is so powerful, we can't
escape it. We can't do anything with it.
But the blood of Christ is even more powerful than sin. The blood
of Christ makes that wool white. More white than it ever was before
it was double dyed. See, Adam had a righteousness,
didn't he? He had a righteous standing before God. But he could
lose his righteousness. No one who's ever washed in the
blood of Christ can ever become stained with sin again. Because
the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin. Now, I looked at this and I thought,
this is interesting. God says to sinners, who we see,
they're dumber than an ox. He says to that incorrigible
child, you can't do anything with him. Come now, let's reason
together. Have you ever tried to reason
with a three-year-old? What a waste of time. Have you
ever tried to reason with somebody dumber than an ox? What a waste
of time. Is God wasting their time? How are you going to reason with
somebody dumber than an ox? They don't have the capacity
to understand. I'll tell you how God's going
to reason with us. By making us be born again. In
the new birth, He's going to give us the mind of Christ and
then Salvation in Christ just stands to reason. It's so obvious. Now, let's reason together. Salvation
is in Christ. It's in his blood and his righteousness.
It's all in him. We're accepted in him. Well,
that's so obvious if God's given us a new mind and a new birth.
But now, listen, this conference with God. We've got an urgent
message. I mean, just by definition, if
it's a conference with God, it ought to be treated pretty urgent.
It's pretty important. This has an urgent message. Come
now. Let's reason together. Come now. Don't delay. Come now. Tomorrow's
guaranteed to no man. Come now. Let's reason together.
God's able to save. He's able to clean. There's no
doubt about that. We're sinners. There's no doubt about that.
God's able to save and cleanse. There's no doubt about that.
Here's the last question. And this is an important question.
Is God made us willing? That's the question. God's able
to save. We're sinners. We need saving. God's able to
save. Has he made us willing? That stubborn ass, can God make
him willing? I reckon he can. God made Balaam's
ass talk. Reckon he can make an ass willing?
Yes, he can. Look at verse 20. If you be willing
and obedient, you'll eat the good of the land. But if you
refuse and rebel, you should be devoured with the sword. For
the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. See, the question is, are
you willing? Are you willing to confess your
sins, being God's faithful and just to forgive them? Are you
willing to repent of your dead works and rest in Christ? Are
you willing to call on God and beg him for mercy for Christ's
sake? Are you willing to confess him, confess him before me and
confess that Jesus Christ is both your Lord and Savior? If
you're willing, God saved you. He already has saved you. Because
if you're willing, God made you willing. He made you willing
in the day of His power. So if you eat the fire of the
land, who gets the credit? Do you get credit because you're
willing? No. God gets credit because He made
you willing. He took that stubborn ass and
made you willing. He broke you and made you willing.
He took that one dumber than an ox and gave him the mind of
Christ so that you understand the gospel. You understand this
vision of Isaiah. Christ gets all the glory. He
did all the saving. He did all the cleansing. He
did all the making you willing. But if you're not willing, if
you're going to just refuse to bow, you're going to continue
being more stubborn than that ass. You're going to refuse to
give up your works. Your pride is not going to let
you become a beggar. If your pride will let you beg
for mercy, if you're not willing to accept salvation on God's
terms, Then you'll be devoured. And whose fault will it be? It's
not going to be God's fault, is it? No, it'll be your fault. You're not willing. That's a
pretty important conference, isn't it? Pretty important. Well, how can I be sure this
is the truth? How can I be sure? How can I
be sure of salvation in Christ? How can I be just sure and certain
of cleansing in Christ and damnation in myself. How can I be sure
of that? For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The mouth
of the Lord has spoken it. All right, let's bow. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
thankful in your mercy and in your grace You called sinners
such as we are, filthy sinners, incorrigible
sinners, stubborn sinners, sinners filled with sin, heavy laden
with sin. You called us to this conference,
the conference of grace, to show us the Lord Jesus Christ, to
show us that cleansing fountain open for sin, the blood, thy
dear Sacrificed for the sin of His people. Father, we're thankful. Oh, we beg of Thee, the faith
that You give us the faith to believe, that You give us the
faith to look to Christ. Father, break us. Break our rebellion. Break our stony hearts. Don't
let us leave here tonight unwilling. Break us by Your grace. Cause
us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable us to see Him. as Isaiah of old saw him. Enable
us to see him high and lifted up. Enable us to see him in his
glory that we'll run to him in worship. That we'll come to him
as that leper of old who's filled with leprosy in worship. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Oh, how thankful we are. We know
you're able. Now, would you do it? Would you
save your people? We beg of thee. It's in the precious
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I've asked Mike if he would. I thought it was a good song
to sing. I will arise and go to Jesus. I think it would be
a good closing hymn.