Good evening. It's good to be
with you all. Have you open your Bible with
me to Isaiah chapter one? Isaiah chapter one. Look with me at verse 18. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as the snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. Come. Come. This four letter word is
the command of the gospel. You know, the law was like a
whip that drove men. But the gospel is just the opposite. It simply declares come. Back in the book of Genesis,
you remember there, God spoke to Noah. Noah who found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And in Genesis 7 verse 1, the
Lord said to Noah, come. Come thou and thy family, all
thy house into the ark. You remember what happened, don't
you? Back there in Genesis 6 verse 5, God saw that the wickedness
of man was greater than the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. It repented the Lord. That's
what scripture says. It repented the Lord that he
had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
And the Lord said, I'm going to destroy man whom I've created. I'm going to destroy him from
the face of the earth. Both man, beast, creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air, it repenteth me that I've made them.
But it didn't stop there, did it? But, but, but Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And he said to Noah, come, come
thou and thy family, come thou into the ark, that place of safety,
that place of deliverance. The Son, the Son of God says,
come. He says, all that the Father
hath given me, What's he going to do? He shall come to me. But the problem is, by nature,
we don't see our need to come to him. Man would rather die
in his unbelief than listen to the words of Almighty God. Listen
to these words here. He says, search the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me, and you
will not come to me that you might have life. You will not
come. But I ask you again, what's the
command? Come. Listen to the words of our Lord
in John 6 37 because listen his people will They will come to
him. He said all that the father giveth
me Shall come to me and him that cometh to me. I will in no wise
cast out The great shepherd of the sheep
The Lord Jesus Christ, he goes before his sheep and he bids
them, follow me. Follow me. He says to them, come. The law, it drives men away. But the gospel, it attracts. The law shows the distance between
God and man. But the gospel bridges that distance. It brings the sinner across that
great gulf that Moses and the law could never bridge. The fact is, as we all have to
learn, if we know anything of his grace, that from that first
moment of spiritual life until we're ushered into glory, The cry of the Lord Jesus Christ
to his sheep is come, come, come unto me. He leads his sheep,
follow me. Well, again, here in Isaiah 1
verse 18, come, and then look at the next
word, when, now. Now. Small word. Great meaning. Don't delay. Make haste. Do you reckon Noah, do you reckon
he drug his feet going into the ark when the Lord told him, come
thou into the ark? I suspect he blazed a trail right
up the ramp, didn't he? Knowing the destruction ahead,
knowing the wrath to come, the wrath of God for man's sin, why would we delay one minute? Why would we delay one second? Come now. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Why would you live another moment
as you are now? In Ezekiel 33 verse 11, we read,
As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. but that the wicked would turn
from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? That seems like a
silly question, doesn't it? But we must ask that. You know,
God is Scripture is clear. God is angry with the wicked. He's angry with the wicked every
day. But here we read in his word,
he says, I have no pleasure. I take no pleasure in the death
of the wicked. Would you continue in your evil
way? Would you continue in your sin? Turn. Turn from your evil way and come
to Him. Come now. Come now, this very
hour. And don't just stop coming. We
continually come to Him. The Lord says, come now. And with that being the case,
why would it be any other time than right now? God appoints
this present time for His sheep to come to him. His word says
this, today. Today, if you will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as in the provocation. He says, behold
now. When? Now. Behold now is the
accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. Right now. Right now is the accepted
time. It's the time of God's mercy
and grace to men in Christ. Right now, it's the day of salvation. The work's done. The work is complete. The believer
is righteous. Righteous in the sight of Almighty
God. God's promised. He's pictured. He's purposed this throughout
the Old Testament. And as he hung there on the cross,
what were his words? It's finished. It's finished. Salvation is accomplished. Listen to the words of our Lord
again from John 6 verse 37. He says, All that the Father
hath given me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out. Each one, every last one that
God the Father gave to Christ in eternity past will come to
him. In His time, He'll come to him.
In Matthew 11, 28, the Lord said, Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. The command. Come. The time to come? Right now. Right now. Now back to our text again. Isaiah 1, verse 18. Come now and let us reason together. That means let us decide. It means let us settle this thing
once for all. Let's hear the conclusion of
the matter. Back in 1 Kings 18, Elijah asked
this question. He said, how long halt ye between
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. If Baal, then follow him. Let's settle this matter. Let's put it to rest. You remember
that story, don't you? Remember the end of it? The fire
of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the
wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water
that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it,
it was settled, wasn't it? They fell on their faces and
they said, the Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. That's settled, isn't it? Is that settled for you? Is that
settled in your heart? The Lord, He is the God. Turn with me to Matthew. Hold
your place there in Isaiah. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
5. Look at verse 25. Matthew 5,
verse 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly,
while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge. and the judge deliver thee to
the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Let's reason together. And our
Lord, He presents some advice here, some instruction. And I don't believe this is concerning
earthly litigation, but rather our condition before Almighty
God. You know, that's a lawsuit I
believe we all have. A lawsuit, somebody brings charges
against somebody else. And he has good reason to bring
charge against us, doesn't he? By reason of our sin. By reason
of our transgression against him. And what's he say? Agree with thy adversary quickly. If you look back in Lamentations
2, the Lord is described as an adversary to his people. I ask you, does God have a controversy
with you? Does he? By reason of sin, he most certainly does, doesn't
he? And it's an easy case. We wouldn't want that evidence
presented against us, would we? If he did, it would be quickly
established, the outcome, wouldn't it? Guilty. Guilty. What wise counsel does he give
us in this passage of scripture? The Lord tells his church in
these verses to make up that breach quickly. Can we settle
this? Can we settle this? The Lord
Jesus Christ, He is the way. He is the only way of reconciliation. Christ is our peace. I can agree
with that quickly. When David had sinned, and he
sinned on many occasions, but that one time when he sinned
in number in Israel, David was given three choices. He said,
I offer thee these three things. You choose one of them that I
may do it to thee. He said, shall seven years of
famine come unto thee into the land? Or wilt thou flee for three
months, fleeing before his enemies while they pursue thee? Or that
there be three days of pestilence in the land? What did David say? He said,
I'm in a great, straight. What do I do? Let us fall into
the hand of the Lord. For his mercies are great. And let me not fall into the
hand of man. Let's reason together. Let's
settle this matter. What should I do? Let me fall
into the hand of the Lord. And that leads me to two things.
Two things that need to be settled. Let's look at them quickly here
in our text. Turn back to Isaiah 1. We read this, though your sins
be as scarlet, though they be red like crimson. We're sinners. We're sinners. And he knows our sin. He knows
the wickedness of our hearts. He knows that we are the chief
of sinners. Do you? Has He revealed that
to you? Every sin, there's no great sins
and small sins, every sin is a transgression of God's law. And it is absolutely abominable
in His sight. All sins, every sin is deserving
of the wrath of Almighty God. The curse of the law. All sin
is mortal. It's deadly. God's word says
the wages of sin is death. And we have, listen, we have
blood on our hands. Guilty. Guilty. We took part
in his death. We're responsible for his death.
Scripture says him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands crucified
and slain the Lord of glories. This is our condition in the
sight of Almighty God. And this isn't a question. Our sins are as scarlet. We're marked by sin. We're marred
by sin. Scarlet, red like crimson. But they shall be white as snow. They shall be as wool. Brother Mark read that in the
opening scripture, didn't he? Wider, wider than the snow. Turn to Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9. Look at verse 3. Our Lord was transfigured. But
look here at verse 3. It says, His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as
no fuller on earth could white them. Nothing on this earth, no man
could accomplish that. Only Christ. What about me? The guilt of my sin, how do I
ever get rid of that? Maybe you sit there and you say
to yourself, I've been guilty of transgression, all of my life, how is it possible that my guilt,
how is it possible that my sin be put away? Who can remove that? Man can. Though I should give
the blood of bullocks and rams to make a river of blood, my
guilt My guilt could never be washed away. How is it? How is it that my sins be as
scarlet, and yet I can be washed as white
as the snow? Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. How? How? Listen to just a few verses of
an old, old hymn. Dark the stain that soiled man's
nature. Long the distance that he fell. Far removed from hope and heaven
into deep despair and hell. But there was a fountain opened. in the blood of God's own son,
purifies the soul and reaches deeper, deeper than the stain
has gone. Conscious of the deep pollution,
sinners wander in the night. Though they hear the shepherd
calling, they still fear to face the light. This the blessed consolation
that can melt the heart of stone. That sweet balm of Gilead reaches
deeper. Oh, much deeper than the stain
has gone. How is that? Come now and let
us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be whiter than the snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. How? The question is not how, the
question is who. How does God put away our scarlet
and crimson sin? His Son. his only begotten and
well-beloved son. He came down from heaven. He
took upon himself our nature. Think about that. God became
a man. And being found as fashion as
a man, he stood as the substitute for everyone that would ever
believe in him. Everyone that God the Father
chose, God made him the representative of all that he stood as their
surety. And he laid on him, he laid on
his son the iniquity of us all. And when it was laid on him, It was no longer on them. Think about that. This glass of water here, you
see it sitting here, right? If I pick it up and I move it
over here, it's not here anymore, is it? There's no indication that there
was a glass of water ever there. That's what God the Father did
with our sin, that which was on us. He took it from us and he laid
it on his son, and it's no longer on his people. The sin of Christ's people removed,
completely removed from them and put on his son. In Isaiah 53, we read this, the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Over in the New Testament, 2
Corinthians 5.21, what's it say? For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the very
righteousness of God in him. The sins of his people laid on
Christ. And when they were found on his
son, when those sins were found on his son, God the Father dealt
with his son according to that sin. Just as if it was his. He made it his. Christ bore our
sins. in his body on the tree. He was
brought up, he was charged, he was condemned, and he was put
to death. He was, listen, when God saw
sin on his, he was forsaken of the Father. He cried out, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And there on the cross, as he
suffered and died, As he cried out in agony, the agony of his
death. And we know that's true. God's
word tells us it's true. We're to believe it. And aren't we thankful that God
was satisfied with that sacrifice? That his justice was satisfied? that he honored God's law, and
now God, a holy and just God, for Christ's sake, blots out
the sin of all his people. It ceases to be. And he's not going to punish.
the same offense twice. If Christ was punished for my
sin, then I'll never be punished for
it. I will forgive their iniquity. I will remember their sin no
more. We remember it? Yeah. And we will as long as we walk
this earth, as long as we walk in this flesh. But God has put
it away. Scripture says that our sins
have been cast into the depths of the sea. He will turn again. He'll have compassion upon us.
He'll subdue our iniquities and cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea. And I tell you, what an amazing
thing that is. If that was the last verse we
read, that'd be wonderful, wouldn't it? But you know, Revelations
21 verse 1 says this, a new heaven and a new earth. For the first
heaven and first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. That place where our sins have
been cast, it's nowhere to be found. No more sea. That tells me our sins are gone. They've been put away. Though they were scarlet, they'll
be white as snow. Though they're red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. What's a sinner to do? Look back there at that first
word in verse 18 again. Come. Come. Come confessing our sins. Come
in repentance. Repent of our dead works and
any self-worth we think we might have. Come and call on God in
Christ for mercy. Mercy and grace. Come confessing
Him. Come bowing to Him. It's Lord. God's word says, if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine
heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Come. Come now and let us reason
together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet. They
shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they
shall be his wool. Thank God for his word. Thankful
for the opportunity to be with you all this evening. Pray that
he'd be pleased to bless his word and that he'd continue to
bless this congregation. You're much, much in our prayers.
All right.