Mercy's Universal Invitation

Now if you will open your Bibles
to the book of Isaiah, the first chapter, I'd like to read my
text again, verse 18. 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. Now, a conference is proposed. A high-level meeting is suggested. Back during World War II, I remember
the meetings of Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt called the highest
summit conference of all time. The President of the United States
and the Premier of Russia and the Prime Minister of England
We're going to get together and talk things over. But that conference
and those conferences at Yalta, other places, were mere child's
play compared with this conference that we're considering this morning. For the eternal King of Kings,
the Lord of Glory has proposed a conference with His creatures
Adam's sinful sons. God Almighty has proposed a conference
that we might consider a plan of peace, a plan of salvation. Everything involved in this conference
is great. Someone wrote of it, Christ the
great Savior has condescended to meet with great sinners. the
great plan carried out at such a great expense and guaranteed
with such great promises to bring great mercy to sinners and great
glory to God. This conference will involve
the wisdom of God, the power of God, the purpose of God, the
mercy of God, the grace of God, and the wrath of God. Come now
and let us reason together. The Lord of Glory has condescended
to discuss this matter with you and with me. The Lord of Glory,
the King of Kings, has proposed a conference with those who have
rebelled against Him, and we do well to approach this conference
as Moses approached the burning bush. God said, Moses, put off
your shoes. You're on holy ground. We're
not coming to a conference with an inferior human being. We're not coming to a conference
even with a superior human being. We're coming to a confrontation
with the Holy God. I'm going to meet with God. And
he said in Numbers 23, I'm not a man that I should lie, neither
the son of man that he should change. Hath he said, and shall
he not do it? Has God spoken and shall he not
make it good? There are three things that I
see in this proposal. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. I see first of all that the mercy
of God in this universal invitation invites sinners to come to Christ. Though your sins, he says, be
as scarlet. You come. You come. Let's reason together. Even though
your sins be as scarlet, even though your sins be red like
crimson, you come. No matter how far away you have
drifted, no matter how far down you have fallen, you come. Mercy invites the chief of sinners
to come into the presence of the King. Now, my friends, I
want you to hear something that I'm going to say right now, and
I want you to listen carefully. As old Dr. A. D. Muse used to
say, don't move a hand nor a hair for just a moment. We not only
have a limited idea of the mercy and grace of God, and that's
so limited, I don't think we can comprehend the mercy and
grace of God even one ten millionth of its fullness, of its riches. We not only have a limited idea
of God's grace and of God's mercy, but we have a very weak and limited
knowledge of the sinfulness of our sins. I think if we could
just conceive how terrible sin is to God, how horrible sin is
in the sight of God, I don't think we'd have the strength
to stand. I don't believe we'd have the
strength to hold up our heads if we knew just what great sinners
we are. I want you to look back at the
verses preceding the text. Now, it's always good when you're
studying a verse of Scripture in the Bible to see what goes
before. To see what goes before. Now,
here in verse 18, he says, I don't care if your sins be
as scarlet. I don't care if they be red like
crimson. You come. We've got something
to talk about. You come, let's reason together.
Now let's just see how scarlet our sins are. Let's just see
how red like crimson they are. Double-dyed, so deeply dyed that
it won't wash out. In verse 2, God tells us we're
ungrateful sons. He says, Here, O heavens, he
calls upon the heavens to hear his word. Here, O earth, I've
got something to say, the Lord God has spoken. I've nourished
and brought up children, and they've rebelled against me.
Almighty God calls on heaven and earth to hear his charges
against us. He said, I gave them life, I
gave them a home, I gave them food, I gave them clothing. I gave them shelter. I gave them
health. I gave them happiness. I've given
them all these things. I've nourished them. I've brought
them up and I've nourished them. Without me, they'd perish. Without
me, they'd be consumed in a moment. But I've kept them and I've cared
for them. I've nourished them. But they
have rebelled against me, ungrateful. We are ungrateful sinners. I don't suppose there's anything
that causes you and I more concern than for someone to be unthankful
and ungrateful, to take from us and not be grateful, just
to keep taking, taking, taking, taking without a word of appreciation,
without a word of thanksgiving, without a word of affection,
just taking. Well, God says that's what you
do. I've nourished you and brought you up, and you've rebelled against
me." Then in verse 3, he says, we're not only ungrateful sinners,
but we're lower than the beast. I hear people say, well, he's
as dumb as an ox. He's stubborn as a donkey. Are
we really? Or are we worse? Read the next
verse. The ox knows his owner. That
old, as you say, dumb ox out in the field. He belongs to Farmer
Brown, and he cares for Farmer Brown. He knows his owner. He
may rebel against someone else, but not against Farmer Brown.
He knows his owner. He'll come up and let his owner
pet him. He knows his owner. He comes
home at night, and he lives in his owner's barn that he's prepared
for. He knows his owner. Read on.
And the ass, the dumb ass, the stubborn ass, he knows his master's
crib. He knows where food is. He comes
to eat it. His master puts food in the crib,
and he's there every morning and every night to eat that food.
He knows his master's crib. But Israel, Israel does not know. My people do not consider. God
declares that the ox knows his owner and serves him. He plows
his field. He walks under his yoke willingly. Now, you may not be able to put
a yoke on that ox's neck, but Mr. Brown can. And he'll stand
right there while his owner puts the yoke on his neck and takes
him out to plow his field. You say man's dumb as an ox?
He's dumber than an ox. You say he's stubborn as an ass?
He's more stubborn. God says, the ash knows his master's
crib, and he comes home to eat, but sinners flee from God and
feed at the cribs of evil. That's where we get our food.
We feed our souls on filth instead of on God's Word. We're lower
than the beast. And read verse 4. He says here
that we're laden with iniquity. You know what the word laden
means? Look at it. Sinful nation of people laden with iniquity. I took the time to look that
word up in the Hebrew and the word means heavy. Heavy. Thick. Loaded. Loaded. We are a people loaded
with iniquity. Heavy with iniquity. We are heavy
with sin as a full sponge. We are loaded with sin as a full
sack from top to bottom. He says you're a seed, you're
offsprings of evil men, you're children that are your corruptors. You have forsaken the Lord. You
have shown contempt for God and you've made Him angry. You've
provoked Him to anger. You've gone away backward. away
from God, away from the King. We are ungrateful sinners. We are dumber than the beast. We are heavy, loaded like a full
sponge with our guilt and our evil and our sins. And then in
verse five, listen to this, why should you be stricken anymore?
Why should you be punished? He said, well, it's like God
would punish us. He said, why should I punish you? You'll just
revolt more and more. What kind of son is it who is
so unreasonable and so rebellious that when his father is punishing
him for his sins and for correcting him for evil, the very time his
father is punishing him, he's cursing the father and rebelling
more. What kind of son? You say, well,
he's mentally warped. Well, that's what he says here,
your whole head is sick. Why, that boy is not only mentally
warped, but he does not love his father. His affections are
twisted. Even when his father says to
him, now, son, you've disobeyed me. Therefore, you've got to
stay in the house tonight. You can't go out and play. And
his son has a scowl on his face, And he says some unkind words
and his father walks out of the room and he says other unkind
things. That boy is mentally twisted
and his affections are warped. His head is sick and his heart
is faint. That's what God says. So even
God says, if I send you providential dealing, Instead of making you
return to Me and repent of your sins and weep over your sins,
it makes you even more rebellious. It makes you even more angry.
You are unreasonable sinners. Why should you be stricken? It
will just make you rebel more and more. And then verse 6, "...from
the sole of your foot even to your head there is no soundness."
You know, a lot of people don't like the word totally depraved
sinners. They say, well, it's not a scriptural
term, but it is a true term. Totally depraved. Totally depraved. From the sole of your foot, let's
get down beneath the skin, to the sole of the foot, and come
all the way up to the head. God said, from the sole of your
foot, even to your head, there's no soundness. Nothing solid. Nothing. It's all rotten. You
go out and find a watermelon in the field, and you tap around
to find one solid spot, and it's all rotten all the way through. It's all mushy and soft. It's
gone. Oh, the outside may look pretty
good, but it's rotten on the inside. And that's what God says. In your flesh dwelleth no good
thing from the sole of your feet to the top of your head. There's
no light. There's no life. There's no good. There's no love. There's no truth.
It's all motivated by selfish principles and purposes. Totally
depraved. Nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores all the way from the sole to the top
of the head. And they've not been closed,
they've not been bound up, they're open running ulcers. And they
haven't been mollified with ointment. Oh, Paul said, the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. I think the reason most people
do not appreciate the grace of God is they do not understand
the guilt of sin. I think that prayer would mean
more to us if we knew what a blessed privilege it is to come to God
in prayer. I think that this book, The Promises
of God, They'd be more precious to us if we could understand
just exactly what they mean to us. The depths to which we've
fallen and out of which he's lifted us. We are ungrateful
sinners. Ungrateful sinners. We are unreasonable
sinners. We are totally depraved sinners. We are rebellious sinners. And
then, under God, we're religious sinners. Read on. Look here at
verse 11. You know the amazing, believe
it or not, believe it or not, these people right here to whom
he's speaking, and to us, these people who are ungrateful, lower
than the beast, heavy with sin, just full of it, unreasonable,
fleeing from God, totally depraved, make a pretense, make a pretense
of being religious. Why they go about? Look, he says
in verse 11, to what purpose is a multitude of your sacrifices
unto me? These are religious sinners.
They're making sacrifices to God, not just one once in a while,
multitudes of them. I'm full of your burnt offerings. Verse 12, when you come to appear
before me, these people came before God. If you'll notice
in the marginal reference, to be seen, to be seen, but nevertheless
they came. And he talks about in verse 13
their new moons, their holy days, their Sabbaths, they kept the
Sabbath, they had the calling of assemblies, they had revival
meetings and Bible conferences, all kind of assemblies. Let's
meet and talk about the things of God. God says I cannot away
with it, it is iniquity, even your most solemn, consecrated,
sacred meeting is iniquity. I'm weary of them. And he says,
verse 15, these people do a little praying too. And when you spread
forth your hands, I hide my eyes from you, yea, when you make
many prayers, I will not hear your hands are bloody hands. They go through the motions,
religious sinners going through the motions of sacrifice and
Sabbath keeping and holy day keeping and burning of incense
and the calling of assembly. They spread their bloody guilty
hands in prayer. Now then, that's the kind of
folks he invites to a conference. He said, you come. Though, what
I've said is true. Though your sins be escorted,"
what I've said is true, you are ungrateful, you are lower than
the bees, separated from God, unreasonable. There's not a good thing in you
from the sole of your feet to the top of your head. Even the
piercing sovereign eyes of God can see no righteousness. But
you come. Verse 18, you come, and let's
reason together. And what are we going to talk
about? What are we going to reason about? Well, we're going to talk
about this matter of sin first. That's what we just got through
talking about. We're going to have to face what we are. We're
going to have to, if we're going to get anywhere, if we're going
to get anywhere, we're going to have to be truthful. We're
going to have to be honest with God and honest with ourselves
and honest with one another. We're going to have to do away
with this awful veneer of pretense and hypocrisy and false religion. Let's be honest. Let's be honest. Let's be honest before God. Let's
be honest to our own hearts. Let's be honest to one another.
That's what he says in the book of James. Quit pretending to
be what you're not and confess your faults one to another and
pray one for another. Exhort one another daily. So
much more as you see the day approaching. Let's consider this
matter of sin. And then I'll tell you something
else that we're going to have to consider before God. And that
is this matter of death and judgment and hell. The Bible says, it
is appointed unto men once to die. And Christ said, if you die in
this condition, you can't come where I am. If you die in your
sins, you cannot come where I am. But rather you shall stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. to be judged out of the things
written in the books, and these shall go away into everlasting
punishment." Now, brethren, here we stand, you out there looking
at this Word right here, and me up here, and we look at it
and God brings these charges. What are you going to say? True
Lord. Are you going to be like the
Canaanite woman? True Lord. Are you going to be like the
Pharisees who said, We be not sinners? We be not sinners. I refuse to
accept that kind of charge against me. I refuse to be associated
with those kind of people. I'm not that evil. Well, that's the first. You ruled
out the conference when you ruled out the truth. When you will
not face the truth, when you will not consider the truth,
when you will not own the agenda, the very first thing that God
brings up, you won't accept it, you won't receive it, then get
out. God said, you come. We're not
going to debate whether or not you've got any sins. What we're
going to talk about is what to do about them. That's what this
is all about. This conference is not to decide
whether or not you are bad, but what to do about your sins. And
then if you're unwilling to face death, if you're unwilling to
face the fact of judgment, if you're unwilling to face the
fact that Almighty God's going to send people to hell, we're
not going to get anywhere in this conference. All right, Lord,
I'm the first point in this conference. I confess my sins. And Lord, I know death is just
around the corner. I know the instrument of death
may already be prepared. I know it's appointed unto me
once to die after that judgment. What about my sin? We're going
to consider the impossibility of them being put away by me. Sin's hard to put away. The disciples
asked the Lord. They said, well, who can be saved? Here the Pharisees were. They
were going to the house of God on the Sabbath day. They were
praying prayers in public. They were strict tithers of all
the different men, Anderson, Cuman. They fasted twice a week. They read the scriptures on the
street. They stayed in their study and
studied, and they taught the scriptures, and they wore broad
blue borders on their garments to show they believed in the
law of God, they kept the law of God, and Christ said they
were lost men, lost men. And the disciples said, these
religious leaders, these men who have been to the seminary
and taken up the theological training, and these men whose
lives are clean and straightforward and moral and who stay and live
in the synagogue, who teach the scriptures, who dare to pray
on the streets, who are ambassadors of God, they're lost? Christ
said they're lost. They're blind leaders of the
blind. They're hypocrites. And the disciples said, ìWell,
Lord, who then can be saved? Who can be?î And the Lord Jesus said, ìWith
men it is impossible.î Now, any time a preacher comes to you
and says, ìNow, you do this, and you do that, and you do that,
and God will save you,î you tell him, ìThe Master said two thousand
years ago, With men, salvation is impossible. But with God,
all things are possible. Now, God can do something about
this need of mine. I can't do it. I'm ungrateful. I know it. I'm lower than the
beast. I know it. I'm rebellious, and
I know it. And I'm totally depraved, and
I know it. And I know it, and I know there's
nothing in this world I can do about these charges. But there's
someone who can. Turn to Hebrews 9. In Hebrews
chapter 9, verse 26. Hebrews 9, 26. I want you, there's
somebody who can do something about this. It says in Hebrews
9, 26. Verse 26 of Hebrews. must he often have suffered since
the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin." Oh my, there it is. He hath appeared, Christ hath
appeared on this earth, born of woman in the flesh, walked
this earth. He came down here to put away
sin. How? by the sacrifice of himself. That's how sin is put away. As it is appointed unto men once
to die, and after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him
in his redemptive glory, in his redemptive work, in his redemptive
character, shall he appear the second time without sin. Without whose sin? He never had
any of his own. Well, whose sins did he bear?
The sin of many. Well, when he comes the second
time, he's coming without those sins. What'd he do? He put them
away. He put them away. He put them away by the sacrifice
of himself. So those who look for him in
his redemptive character, he's coming back without sin. He never had any. He took mine.
He bore them away. He put them away. Therefore,
I don't have them anymore. The Jewish sacrifices couldn't
put away sin. Good works won't put away sin.
Doctrinal positions won't put away sin. Cleaning up the outside
won't put away sin. Pretending to you to be religious
won't put away my sins. I may impress you, but God's
hard to impress. Church membership won't do it,
but Christ can. With his blood, he can make the
vilest sinner clean. He's able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. Come! The Lord said, Though your
sins be as scarlet, and they are, under God they are. Oh,
if we just If we just knew, if we just knew
what God sees when He looks on these old filthy, guilty hearts,
oh, we've got them polished up and dressed up and washed up
and pressed up and God Almighty looks at them and Oh, he says,
the Lord God looked down from heaven to see if there were any
that did do good, and he found they all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
There's none that seeketh after God. They're all gone astray. From the sole of their feet to
the top of their heads, there's no light, no love, no life, no
beauty, no truth, no holiness, no good. He said, you come on,
let's talk this over. Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be a scarlet,
red, bright scarlet. You know, a fellow come walking
in this congregation with a dark blue suit on, not many people
see him. But he come in here with a bright scarlet red suit
on, they'd see him. Stand out, oh, he'd stand out
in the crowd. And that's the way you and I
stand out, where these sins of ours, they're bright as scarlet.
That's all that can be seen. You come, and though your sins
be as scarlet, looky here, here's the last thing. He says, I'll
make them as white as the snow. Mercy invites sinners to reason
in honesty and truth, and mercy Mercy invites sinners to receive
a great pardon. A great pardon. One hymn writer
wrote this, I'll to the gracious King approach, whose scepter
mercy gives. Perhaps he may bless my touch,
and then this sinner will live. I can but perish. God says come. I can but perish if I go, I'm
resolved to try. If I stay away, I know I shall
forever die. But if I die with mercy sought,
when I the King have tried, that were to die, delightful thought
as a sinner never dine." This pardon He says, Though your
sins be as scarlet, I'll make them as white as snow. This is
a free pardon, a free pardon that God gives us in Christ.
The top lady said, In my hands no price I bring. Sent there
to the cross of Jesus Christ I cling. Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal know respite? No. These tears and works cannot
for sin atone. Christ must save. and Christ
alone, just as I am, without one plea. No alibi, no excuse,
but that his blood was shed for me. And that thou bidst me come
to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Pardon cannot be bought, it's
given. It was purchased by Christ. Pardon
cannot be earned, it is a free gift. The gift of God is eternal
life. naked, depraved, vile, corrupted
sinner. A sinner whose past would cause
us to blush to hear him related. A sinner whose thoughts are so
unclean and wretched and ungrateful. A sinner whose future looks about
as dim. Come on, though they be red like
crimson, I'll make them like wool. I'll make them like wool. It's a free And then it's a full
pardon. He says it's white as snow. Charles
Spurgeon once said, when a sinner truly receives Christ, at that
moment he is as pure in the sight of God as if he had never sinned
in all his life. The moment that sinner believes,
a pardon that sinner receives, you come. And though your sins
be as scarlet, I'll make them as white as the snow." I tell
you, that's what I say when I don't believe that we have a very good
conception of the mercy of God. Do you know what it means to
be without blame before God? Do you know what it means to
be unreprovable in the sight of God? Do you know what it means
to be presented before God holy and justified as if I had never
seen as white as the snow? Well, now, that's what you must
have in order to come before God, and that's what you can't
produce, and that's what only Christ can give, and that's what
His blood has the power and efficacy and sufficiency to accomplish,
to make me as white as the snow. As white as the snow. Come, though your sins be escorted. Come. Let's reason together. Let's reason. These things are
true. I know it and you know it. Death is right out there in front
of us. This congregation was brought
together twenty Some odd years ago, some of us were pretty young
then, some of us were middle-aged, and now most of us are middle-aged
and old. And we're nearing, we're nearing
those sunset years. We're past twelve noon, we're
past three in the afternoon, we're getting to sunset. It's
near, it's coming. Judgment's out yonder. What are
we going to do about our sins? Our church membership, our loyalty,
our faithfulness, our consecration to these holy days. God says,
away with them. I cannot stomach them. I see
too much corruption underneath that veneer. I'll tell you what
let's do. Let's go to Calvary. There's
where the blood flows full and free. There's where he is blood. maketh atonement for our sin.
There's where the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. There's
where we can bathe and be clean. We can go to the mud holes of
doctrine and church membership and ordinances and sacraments
and decisions and resolutions and we go to these mud holes
and bathe in them, we come away with a brand new smell and a
brand new sin and a brand new blackness. But if you come to
Calvary, though your sins be a scarlet, you'll come away as
white as the snow, as white as the snow. There's a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Christ's veins, and sinners plunged
beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. But now watch
this word, one word, as I close, a three-letter word, come now. Come now. You've rebelled long
enough. Come now. There's no better time. If you tarry till you're better,
you don't come at all. Come now. You may have no more
warnings. God's been patient long enough,
don't you think? How many times would you tell
a child to do something? Once, twice, three times? How
many times has God warned you? Come now. You've been warned
enough. Come now. You've rebelled long
enough. Come now. You may not have another
warning. Come now. Tomorrow's sun may
never rise till it bless thy long deluded sight. This is the
time. Today is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time. This may be God's last call.
Come now, He says. Now. I'm going to I'm going to
do something about it someday. I know what you say, soul. I
know what you... I know you're telling the truth.
Charges are right, but I don't know. I've got some things to
consider. Come now, God said. Let God consider
them with you. Come now. May the Savior be your
strength and your comfort. Come now. Believe, God said,
but if your ears refuse this language of His grace, and your
heart grow hard like the stubborn Jews, that unbelieving race,
the Lord in vengeance dressed will lift His hand and swear,
you that despised my promised rest shall never enter there. If you refuse the language of
his grace, the Lord in vengeance dressed will lift his hand and
swear, you that despise my promised rest shall never enter there."
Come now. And at Pentecost those people
cried when Peter charged them with the death of the Son of
God, well, what shall we do? And he said, you repent. You face your guilt, confess
your guilt, and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Our Father, bless the message. Grant a willingness, a concern
on the part of every one of us to face our guilt, to own our
transgressions, and to flee to Calvary. May these matters of
such great importance be settled in our hearts now. O Lord, we
come to Thee just like we are, waiting not to rid our souls
of one dark blot, but that Thy blood can cleanse each spot.
Lamb of God, we come. Do with us what You will, but
we make a start. We come to Thee. In Christ's
name and for His sake. Amen.

Mercy's Universal Invitation

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