Isaiah chapter 1. I want us to
look at one verse of Scripture, verse 18. This is the Lord God
of heaven and earth speaking. And He says, Come now and let
us 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've often heard men and women
say, concerning a former friend, that they had a falling out with
them. What about you and so and so?
We had a falling out, they say. That simply means that they were
no longer friends. One had greatly offended the
other, and they no longer spoke. They no longer had any type of
fellowship, one with the other. Men and women, in most cases,
can get along fine without former friends. It may be hurtful, but
for the most part, they can survive. Friends do come and go, don't
they? I know that from experience.
But sadly, every single one of us, because of our depraved and
sinful nature, have fallen out with our Creator, with whom we
cannot, and I repeat, cannot live without. It's a sad and pitiful situation
to have rebelled against the hand that has fed us and provided
for our every earthly need. All of us, according to Scripture,
have turned aside from the way of God's commandments and we
would not submit to Jehovah's authority. We've all gone out
of the way. gone our own way. We've all together
become unprofitable, filthy. And there is none righteous,
no not one. And that's what the Bible says
about you and I. None of us understood it. There's
none that understand it. There's none that seeketh after
God. None of us that sought God. Now listen. None of us sought
God. And with that said, the verse
that I read to you is a wonderful instance of divine compassion. That God should be willing to
hold a conference with sinful men and women. Of course, the
first person to ask for such a conference should have been
us. We're the ones that offended. We're the offensive party. It was us who offended God. And it's man who will have to
suffer the consequence of offenses. But instead of man seeking God
and pleading with bitter tears, it is God who came seeking us. That is amazing. How many times
has someone offended us in our words? Well, unless they say
they're sorry, unless I see some kind of a change of heart in
them, I'll never speak to them again. That's just the way we
are. But no one has ever offended
us, friends, like we have offended God Almighty. So marvel at these
amazing words. It is God, the One whom we have
offended, who says, come now and let us reason together. What an amazing statement. God
Almighty, the One we have offended, proposes this reasoning with
us. Oh, the freeness of God's mercy. Instead of hurling us into hell
by His divine and strict justice, He calls us to now come and reason
together. We've transgressed. against Him
again and again. We provoked Him over and over.
We must come to the conclusion that if He had meant to destroy
us, He would not have asked us to come and reason with Him. Oh, how I wish we could get a
hold of this fact that God has no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked turn from His way and live. We've
painted God out to be this monster. I've had men tell me, your God
is a monster. No, my God is sovereign. He saves
some, He passes others by. On some, He bestows His grace
and mercy, and on others, His wrath. Here is God who possesses
all power, the very one that could crush us who have sinned
against Him in just a single second. Now says, allow me to
paraphrase, Let us talk this matter over. Oh, can we see that
he is truly moved by mercy, by love and compassion, and there's
still hope for the guilty to be reconciled to his offended
maker? So I ask, would it not be wise
for us to do so? Our God is angry with the wicked
every day, Scripture says. But here He is reasoning with
the sinful yet chosen child of God. God does not plead and reason
with everyone, but He's extremely long-suffering to His elect.
God doesn't plead or reason with everyone. Don't think that's
what I'm saying, but long-suffering, compassionate, delights to show
mercy. Now, if there's any lost sinner,
here this morning that desires to be right with God. Realize
even now as you hear these words that your desire alone is the
work of an infinitely patient and gracious God. By nature we love sin and God
is willing by the effectual work of a substitute to be long-suffering
with his people. By nature, as I said, we love
sin, yet God is willing to part us with our sin. If a thrice
holy God would meet with a dead dog sinner, then he must be prepared
and willing to rid us of our sin. Is that not a reasonable
deduction? Is God going to reason with us
just to send us to hell? That's not the God of mercy and
grace that I read about in these pages. If you desire, now listen,
if you desire to be free from the bondage of your sin, the
Holy Spirit has put that desire within your heart. So in this
divine reasoning, the first thing that is made known to the chosen
sinner is their sin. though your sin be as scarlet." God says, though your sins be
as scarlet. Oh, they're easily noticed and
observed. They're not an off-color white.
They're not just a drab, dingy, almost white color. They're scarlet. They're a brilliant red color. And if you even look that word
scarlet up in the dictionary, it has a meaning other than just
a brilliant red color. It also refers to wicked, hideous,
and immoral. That describes my sin. Scarlet. You see, no one can
miss my sin. It's obvious. You don't have
to follow me around long to see that I'm a sinner. But God doesn't
miss it at all. You may be able to fool some
people some of the time, but never God. And He tells me from
the very beginning that my sins are as scarlet. They're a thousand
times filthier than they even seem. It seems often that God
gives me a whiff of myself, and I think to myself, what a wretched,
good-for-nothing dog I am. And even when I reach that point,
they're a thousand times worse than what I think. My sin is
ever before me and what a stence they are in the nostrils of a
thrice holy God. They could send me to hell a
thousand times over and only then begin to stretch the surface
of my deserved condemnation. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Our Lord immediately makes us aware of our desperately wicked
hearts. which are deceitful above all
things. That's what the Scriptures tell
us. Our hearts are deceitful above all things. Nothing any
more deceitful than the heart of a wretched, depraved sinner.
They're desperately wicked. They're not just wicked, they're
desperately wicked. The heart of man. And the Scriptures
ask the question, who can know it? We can't even know it in
its fullness. But God can. He immediately makes
us aware that the just wages of our iniquities is death. Eternal
death. Everlasting damnation. He makes it known to the sinner
with whom he reasons that the thoughts and the intents of their
heart are only evil. And not only just only evil,
but only evil continually. It doesn't get better, does it?
But in the pronouncing of my depraved wretchedness, God promises
that in the Lord Jesus Christ, that though my sins be as scarlet,
now listen, they shall be as white as snow. Do you want to
know how this can be done? It's through the great atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's Son, who on Calvary's mountain
bore the wrath of God in our place and in our stead, that
God might be able to be both that he might be able with justice
to forgive the sins of all who trust in Christ alone." Oh, this
isn't hard to understand, but you'll never understand it unless
God reveals it to your heart. You'll never see your need until
God shows it to you. Now the method of making scarlet
sinners as white as snow is the bleeding Savior in Him alone.
He alone performs this miracle of mercy. True words have never
been spoken. If you will come and seek your
God, confessing your sin, bowing to the great sacrifice of Christ,
your scarlet sin shall cease to be and you shall become as
white as snow. So let me ask you, do you see
your sins to be as scarlet? That's the first and most important
thing. It's the first thing that God says after saying, come now
and let us reason together. Your sins are scarlet. They shall
be as white as snow. Does that great thought, seriously
I ask you, does that great thought have any effect on you? It will
if you're a great sinner and you see your scarlet sins as
great. Unfortunately to many it means
nothing. And they will not come and reason
that they might have life. They just will not. One day,
they're going to bow and worship Him, but it will be too late.
Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Friends,
we can do it now or do it when the wrath of God abides on us.
One way or another, every man and woman that's ever lived is
going to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living
God. I would advise you to consider
this now. Today is the day of salvation.
That's the best news that tongue has ever told. And my biggest
regret to you this morning is that I cannot tell it better
and more affectionately. If I could with true urgency
tell sinners that salvation comes no other way and their thoughts
of Christ are of eternal consequence, I would do so. I'm as serious
as I can be. Every single time I step down
from up here, My biggest regret is that I didn't tell it better.
My greatest burden is that I might have been clearer. But if God
can use the words of Balaam's ass, He can surely use mine.
Oh, I tell you again, though your sins be as scarlet, they
shall be as white as smoke. But my sins are long and continued. They're repeated again and again
and they're deliberate. My transgressions are deliberate. They're put away in the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they're now white as snow. Those that lean on Christ, trust
in Him as their substitute. And yet, friends, I confess to
you, I feel the tendency within me towards evil every day of
my life. My sin is so deeply ingrained
that sin is what I am, not just what I do. Oh, the inward battle that rages
within. Paul spoke of it, and every child
of God knows what he was talking about. Oh, wretched and depraved
man I am, I still desire to do things my way. I still desire
to stray from the obedience of the commandments of God. But
by God's grace, I will not fret. For God has put within His people
a new nature, whose heart loves and pants after the living God. I'll continue to praise and give
glory to God with my inward man. And though many times I don't
feel redeemed, let me tell you, feelings don't have nothing to
do with it. It has not a thing to do with
the matter. And I'm graciously again and
again reminded by the Word of God, my Maker, that though my
sins be red, so red that they appear as dark purple, or even
black, they shall be as wool, crimson, deep, dark, red, almost
purple, almost black at first glance. They shall be as wool. just as a man that made the delicate
timepiece. I don't know if you've ever seen
a watchmaker or even a watch repairman. The little community
I grew up in, they had a little watch repair shop there within
walking distance from the house, Dave's Jewelry. I suppose I was
always intrigued because We shared the first name, but you would
walk by and you'd see Dave there in the window and he'd have his
little eyeglass thing on and would be working on that small
little watch with all its delicate, intricate parts. Let me tell
you something, friends. He who made that watch knows
how to mend it. And even more so, can God mend
this broken and habitual sinner? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Well, many preach a God whom
many things are too hard for. He needs your cooperation. He
needs your help in the matter. He needs you to stand with Him
so that your salvation can be accomplished. But I'm telling
you that the God of this Bible don't need your help. There's
nothing, nothing, nothing too hard for Him. Nothing. He who gave sight to the blind,
hearing to the deaf, strength to the lame, That man laying against that
pool of Bethesda for all those years. No strength in his legs. I can just almost see him. Little
old round bones with skin on them. He said, take up your bed
and walk. And the scripture says, immediately
he stood. He who gives strength to the
lame, he who gives children to the barren, he can do Everything. Anything. And He does all things. And He does them well. So again,
by sovereign reasoning with the sovereign God, I rejoice to know
that the blackness of my sin is made as white as snow and
wool. When the Spirit of God puts the love of Christ into
the soul, in the place of the love of sin. That new affection
drives out the old habits and the sinner set free from sins
of which he's long committed. Now, that's not an overnight
process. You ladies know that scarlet
and crimson are very hard to remove a stain from fabric. Teresa and I got out an old rug
this week that we intended to use and we were quickly reminded
of a deep red stain where I had once spilt red Kool-Aid. She scrubbed and scrubbed and
scrubbed. Still signs of the red on the
rug. The stains still remain. But
friends, the stain of our sin is easily removed by Christ who
loved us and gave Himself for us. Put away all doubt in the fact
that your habitual sin cannot be cleansed. It can be. The blood
of Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1. That's what John said. The blood
of Jesus cleanses us from sin, past sin, present sin, future
sin. Cleansed. Gone. White as snow. White as snow. You see, God knows how to destroy
the fabric and make it new again and not leave a stain behind. And I know there are maybe some
who are saying within themselves, but I'm so weak. and I'm such
a poor, just a poor fool with my mind so feeble that I can't
resist my sin. Well, you're not so much a fool
if you know you're one. The biggest fools are those who
never know that they're fools. Only an ignorant fool believes
that they can clean the stain themselves. Now, I can back that
up in Scripture. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, ignorant, in going about to establish their own
righteousness, going about to clean their own stain, scrubbing,
scrubbing, still scrubbing, the stain remains. Going about to
establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Submit to Him, friends, and live. That love the God that came to
you when you should have come to Him and said, Oh, Chosen One,
let's sit down and let's reason together. Though your sins are many, scarlet
crimson, my Son has made them white as snow and as wool. There's no help against sin but
Almighty Grace. Did you know that? There's no way of obtaining Almighty
Grace except through the free gift of God. Did you know that? This God gives as He pleases
for He has a right to bestow it or to withhold it. That's
God. That's why we call Him sovereign.
He does what He wills, when He wills, how He wills, to whom
He wills. But He promises to give it to
all who come humbly, confessing their sin. Reasoning with Him,
they say, Yea, Lord, my sins are scarlet. I confess they are. My transgressions, oh my, they're
great. And they cast themselves by faith
upon Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. And he says,
they're white as snow. They're white as snow. Now I leave you with this. I
pray that you have seen this morning that the guilt of sin
can be put away by the blood of Christ. And the power of sin
can be subdued by the Holy Ghost. Every provision is made for the
salvation of men and women who desire to be saved. Now, wait
a minute. I thought you believed in election.
I thought you believed that God chose a people before the foundation
of the world. What does my desire have to do
with it? It has everything to do with
it. Those of you that desire Christ were the chosen before
the foundation of the world. That's not hard to believe, is
it? Or understand, is it? God made you willing in the day
of His power. Therefore, you are an elect of
God. Let's don't use election as an
excuse. Do you desire to be saved? Then
come. Come to God and reason. With
Him, He's met your difficulties. He said, though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like
crimson, they shall be as wool. May God, oh how I pray that God,
right now, sent His Spirit and is effectually working in the
hearts of those of you who are still without Christ. God, who should have sent you
to hell, says come. Come now. Right now. And let
us reason together. Let's talk this over as friends. You're a mess. You're filthy. Your sins are as scarlet. They
can be seen from way, way off. And all things are naked and
open unto My eye. But you trust My Son, and I'll
make them white as snow." And friends, He's able to do so.
He's not only willing, He's able. May God add His blessings to
the preaching of His gospel, and may He make it effectual
to our hearts.