Come now let us reason together saith the Lord

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 6 MARCH 2022 pm

MR IAN BOOTH, FAITH MISSION

ISAIAH 1 VERSES 2 - 6, 16 - 20

"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"

A gracious invitation - from God to the children of Israel.  A sinful nation laden with iniquity.  They provoked the holy God.  Far down the road.  The grace of God still invites them to come because he wants to pour out a blessing, wants to deliver them, set them free.  Many make excuses today.  Why not come to the Lord?  This is a gracious invitation.  "The foulest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus our pardon receives."  The Lord invites you to come, to find forgiveness of sins.  There are 700 invitations in the bible.  God the Father gives the invitation here.  The Lord himself gives an invitation in Matthew 11 "come unto me all ye that labour and I will give you rest."  There is something he wants to give you, he wants to bless you with salvation.  Christ wants to give you rest.  In Revelation 22 verse 11 we read "the spirit and the bride say come, let him that heareth come, let him who is thirsty come and drink of the water."  Before God closes the pages of scripture he gives a threefold invitation.  The first invitation in scripture is found in Genesis 7 when God invited Noah into the ark.  Luke 14 "come for all things are now ready."  The sacrifice has been made, a price had been paid, salvation for us is absolutely free.  The Lord laid down his life.  When he was on the cross he cried "it is finished"  There is nothing more that needs to be done.

A great specification - "come now".  It specifies a time.  2 Corinthians 6 "behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation."  We are told elsewhere "boast not thyself of tomorrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."  Now is the best opportunity for you to meet with God.  Acts 17 "God now commands all men everywhere to repent"  He has appointed a day when he will judge the world by Christ himself.  "Come now is the accepted day"  Job "acquaint now thyself with him."  Tomorrow is just eternity just beyond your view.  Tomorrow the door could be closed when Jesus arrives from heaven.  He will close the door.  We read of those who knock the door from the outside but there is no entrance "depart from me for I never knew you."  Once the door is closed there is no more opportunity.  There is a possibility for you to be saved - "come now and let us reason together".  There is a time to seek the Lord, a time for you to be forgiven - now is the time.  Have you come?

A grand conversation - "come now let us reason together saith the Lord."  There is a great resolution going on at present asking for people to come together to end the conflict in Ukraine.  God wants to resolve the conflict between him and you.  God wants to talk to you, to reason with you in regards to your sin, in regards to his love for you, in regards to him sending his son from heaven to earth to die for you.  Remember the old advertisement from BT "it is good to talk" and that is what God wants to do.  He goes out of his way to talk to you and I.  What a conversation.  There are a couple of stories in scripture I want to draw your attention to.  The story of Nicodemus, that man who came to Jesus by night.  It doesn't matter what time you might come but you must come.  Nicodemus came and they had an unforgettable conversation.  God had a revelation as he listed to what Christ had to say.  Christ said unto him "marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again."  Don't be amazed.  Nicodemus asked "how can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus replied "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  What a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.  Nicodemus was changed and transformed.  It was a moment of revelation.  "As Moses listed up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."  Nicodemus believed in Christ that night.  He was there at the cross helping Joseph to take down and bury the body of Christ.  What a change in his life.  All because he listened.  He also learned the way of salvation.  We have read Isaiah 1 verse 2 "hear o heavens and give ear o earth."  God has something important to say to you - why you must be born again.  "No man will ever see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."  A great conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus.  Think of the woman at the well in John 4.  "I must needs go through Samaria."  When Jesus came to the well of Sychar he sat down while the disciples went off to the city.  Alongside him came this woman.  She came to where Jesus was and started to have a conversation.  She was listening to what Christ had to say and the discussion was on the Samaritans who said they needed to worship God on a particular mountain whereas the Jews said they must worship in Jerusalem.  Christ told the woman "man must worship God in spirit and truth."  Through the conversation Jesus reminded her of the lifestyle she was living.  She had had 5 husbands and the one she was living with was not her husband.  What a change and the Lord Jesus revealed her history.  Then he revealed himself.  Whenever he talked of the Messiah to come "I that speaketh unto thee am he."  If you could only get a glimpse with the eye of faith.  "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."  The woman left the well and gave her testimony to all she met "come see a man that taught me all things ever I did."  In Christ there is salvation.  She listened and she learned.  The way of salvation that God gives - that he loved you so much.  John 3 verse 16.  The invitation comes and God is having a conversation - are you listening?  Are you learning?  Do you have a longing in your heart? 

A glorious proclamation - "saith the Lord".  It is not an invitation from the preacher, this is from God himself.  God's word is powerful for everyone.  You can be sure it is true because he is unchangeable.  God's word is pure, absolute truth.  Hebrews tells us God's word is a powerful word, quick and sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts into the heart of a person.  It not only cuts the hearer in the pew but also the preacher.  "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God."  Listen to what he says 3 times in these verses from his own mouth.  Verse 20 "But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sower; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

A grave realisation - "though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow".  You are not too bad but neither are you too good.  You need to be saved.  You need to come to God, to find the blessing of God.  Just to acknowledge you are a sinner before the God of heaven.  Peter went fishing one night but caught nothing.  Jesus told him the next morning to cast the net on the other side of the boat and when he did he caught so much fish that the net began to break.  Peter fell on his knees and said "depart from me for I am a sinful man."  In Isaiah 6 Isaiah was in the temple when it was filled with the spirit of God.  He proclaimed "woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips."  God was able to meet the need of those 2 men.  In Psalm 51 David said "I was born and shapen in iniquity, in sin did my mother conceive me, against thee and thee only have I sinned."  He acknowledged his sinfulness.  That is the first step to salvation.  God wants to give you that salvation if you will only acknowledge your sin first of all.

A greatest discovery.  If you never acknowledge your sin you will never be saved.  When you discover you have an illness it doesn't take a lot of persuading because you know something is wrong.  Have you listened to God?  Have you discovered that you are a sinner?  Remember the 2 men who went up to the temple to pray.  One was a Pharisee whose prayer did not go as high as the ceiling.  The publican smote his breast and prayed "Lord be merciful to me a sinner."  That is all we are - sinners saved by grace.  Sin is serious.  We enjoy the pleasures of sin but they are only for a season.  Sin is serious.  The God of heaven has taken it so seriously that he sent his son to bear our sins on his body.  He took the consequences of our sin.  A penalty due to me.  Christ took it on himself.  He died on Calvary.  Christ died historically yes, but it is a doctrinal fact too.  He was wounded for our transgressions.  God takes sin seriously.  We need to take it seriously too.  It is an offence before God.  We need to acknowledge that we are sinners.  The guarantee - a transformation.  "It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me."  That is all I have for eternity not because I am a preacher, not because I do good works but because Christ took my place.  God promises in his word that our sins shall be washed away.  "As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed them from us."  He has cast them into the sea of forgetfulness, never to be remembered again.  "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil." verse 16  Nothing but the work of Calvary.  The Lord has given his life for us.  God has said it and it is enough.  God says I am saved if I believe in the Lord.  I am satisfied.  God says "come now and let us reason together saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow."