Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us settle the
matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they
shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like
wool.
This is one of the greatest texts in the
Bible. I am glad it is there. Now we know that any man, even though he has gone
far away from God and deep down into sin, can have all of his sins taken away.
The scarlet can be as snow. The crimson can be as wool.
We see in this text that God is a reasonable
God. He is a gentleman. He never forces anything down our throats. He talks to
us, He reasons with us, He counsels us, but He leaves it up to us as to whether
we will follow Him or not. He is simply saying in this
text, “I want to sit down and talk things over with you. Let’s reason this thing
out and I promise you that if you will put your trust in Me I’ll wash all your
sins away.”
God knows this. If you are reasonable, if you
are sensible, if you will listen to Him and use your intellect, you will do the
right thing and be saved.
So ‘let us draw this picture. God
sits in one chair and a lost sinner sits in another. Filled with compassion and
love, what will God say to the sinner?
I. G0D SAYS
— “YOU MUS REALIZE THAT YOU ARE A SINNER”
Here is the way He puts it:
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
Isaiah
53:6 We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and
the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even
one;
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all
things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
a. Now God is not merely saying that we
have done some sinful things. He is also saying that we have a sinful nature.
b. Some people say, “I’ll cut off this sin; I’ll give up that bad habit.” You
can do that and still be a sinner.
c.
God is not as much concerned with the fact of your various sins as
He is that you are a sinner.
An apple tree is not an apple tree because it
bears apples. It bears apples because it is an apple tree. You are not a sinner
because you sin. You sin because you are a sinner, you have a sinful nature.
Angels don’t sin because they are angels. But you do sin because you are a
sinner.
d. You can get rid of some sins, even of
many sins, and still be a sinner.
In the early years tent revivals would travel
from town to town. In a revival in a country community. On the first day of the
meeting a good woman told the preacher, “Some of the
young men in our community are playing cards and gambling. I want you to preach
a sermon against gambling.” In her mind if the preacher were successful in getting these young men to give up their
gambling, that would not have solved the problem. The preacher didn’t preach
about gambling. He preached Christ who could save from all sin, and in the
providence and grace of God these young men came and heard the message, were
converted and gave up their gambling.
e. People are not changed by giving up a
few sins. They are changed by conversion to Christ, then they have a power to overcome
their sins.
A young man, after he had been on a drunken
spree for several days he was ill at his home. The local pastor visited him and
he said, “Preacher, I am going to quit drinking. The
doctor told me that if I continued to drink I might go out like a light one of
these days.” His resolution did not last long, because it was born of
fear and not from the New Birth. What he needed to do was not merely to give up
something. He needed a new life, he needed to be born again.
f.
We
notice that God says we have gone astray “like sheep.”
Not like dogs or horses — they can find their way home. But
when a sheep goes astray someone must go after it and bring it back home. So Jesus the great Shepherd came down to earth. He came looking
for His sheep, that He might save them and bring them home.
g.
God
also says that we have turned to our “own ways.” There
are just two ways to turn, our way or God’s way. If you have not turned to
God’s way you are going your own way and that’s the way of sin, the way that
leads to hell.
h.
So
God says, “You must realize that you are a sinner and
that sinners are lost.” Why does God want you to feel that way? Because
if you see yourself as a sinner, you’ll feel your need of a Saviour. It’s when a man knows he is drowning that he feels the need
of a rescuer. It’s when a man knows he is sick that he feels the need of
a doctor. It’s when a man knows he is a sinner that he feels the need of a
Saviour.
i.
Why
don’t you say to the God who reasons with you, “Yes, Lord, I know I am a
sinner.”
II. GOD
SAYS, “I LOVE YOU IN SPITE OF YOUN SIN”
·
“But,” you
say, “how can that be possible? If I am a sinner, how
can a holy and righteous God love me? I don’t love the unlovely, I don’t love
those who oppose me. How can God love me when I have sinned so grievously
against Him?” Well, that’s why He is God. He can do what you can’t do.
·
He
hates your sin, but He loves you.
Suppose that you had a child and a dread
disease was eating that child’s life away. You would not love the disease, but
you would love the child. S0 God hates the sin that is
ruining you, but He loves you.
·
How
do we know that God loves a sinner? We go to Calvary
and see God’s only Son dying on a cross. We cry out, “Why does God allow this?” One answer comes back from
the skies, “For God so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.”
·
A
father loves a prodigal son, a mother loves a wandering child, a wife loves an
unfaithful husband, a patriot loves his country. But
all of this is nothing compared to God’s love for sinners.
How wide and deep is God’s love?
Well, think of such men as Hitler and, Mussolini and all the evil that came out
of their lives and plans. Of course God did not approve of what they did. But
if these men had turned to Him in genuine repentance, He would have forgiven
them. He loved them but not their deeds.
·
Maybe
you are saying, “I have stooped pretty low. I have done
things I don’t want anyone else to know about.” That doesn’t matter. The
thing that does matter is that God loves you and every other sinner on earth.
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for
us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
·
This
verse doesn’t say that He extended His love and gave His Son for perfect
people, but for sinners.
·
Now
God’s love calls for a response. What are you going to
do about His love? Are you going to turn your back on it? Are you simply
going to ignore it?‘ Don’t do that, my friend. Let that
great love for you break your heart and bring you to Him.
III. GOD
SAYS, “I DON’T WANT YOU TO PERRSH”
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, 'As surely as I live,
declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!
…'
a. All the way through the Bible He is
pleading with men to turn away from sin and live.
·
In
Noah’s time the world was filled with rankest sinners. God did not want to see
them die so He sent Noah to preach repentance and salvation to them.
·
He
didn’t want the people of Nineveh to die, so He sent ]onah to preach to them.
·
He
doesn’t want to see you die, so He sent His Son to die for you and provide a
way of escape for you.
The railroads have their efficient red light
warning systems. When the engineer peers into the night and sees the red light
shining, he knows there is danger ahead and brings his engine to a stop. To go
through the red light might mean death to him and to his passengers. In like
manner God has set up His red lights along life’s pathway to save men from
hell. What are some of them?
· There is the Bible,
· there are the gospel sermons you have
heard,
· there is the church,
· there is the witness of a friend,
· there are the sorrows of life, and,
finally,
· there is the Holy Spirit.
If you crash through all of these warning
signals you will go down to hell. Yet, all the while God is saying, “I don’t
want this to happen to you. I’ve done everything necessary to save you.”
IV. G0D
SAYS, “I OFFER YOU SALVATION
THROUGH MY
SON”
a.
The sinner deserves only to die. But God loves the sinner so much,
in spite of his sin, that He sent His Son to die in the sinner’s place.
Do you remember Barabbas? He was in prison on
the day that Christ was to be crucified. But Pilate, the governor, had a custom
of releasing a prisoner on a certain holiday. He gave the people the privilege
of choosing the one to be released. So he brought both Jesus and Barabbas out
and placed one on his right side and one on his left. Then he asked the mob, “Which one shall I release unto you?” Think of the
choice they had to make. On one side stood the sinless Son of God who had gone
about doing good. On the other side was Barabbas, whose evil deeds were known
to everyone. What choice did the people make? They cried out, “Release unto us Barabbas and crucify Christ.” So
Barabbas went free and Jesus died. As He hung on the cross I can imagine that
Barabbas crept close to the cross and said, “There’s
where I should have died today, but, thank God, that wonderful man died in my
place.” That should be the cry of every man.
b.
As
you think of your sin, as you know you deserve death, as you see Jesus dying on
that cross in your stead, you ought to cry out, “I
belonged there, I had sinned, I deserved death. But He died there for me, so
I’ll take Him as my Saviour and love Him and serve Him all my life.”
Some years ago a man was gloriously saved and
someone asked him how it happened. He answered, “I
swapped with Jesus. I swapped my sin for His salvation. I gave Him my sin and
He gave me everlasting life.” That’s what happens in salvation and it’s
the most wonderful bargain a man can ever make.
c.
Salvation
is a simple matter but men try to make it difficult.
A certain lawyer said, “Before I was saved I used to think that if I ever became a Christian it
would have to be in some great center of learning where all of my questions
could be answered. But instead I was saved in a rescue mission as I knelt at
the front with human derelicts all around me. When I knelt I had all my
questions, when I arose they were gone. God didn’t answer them, He removed
them.
d.” Oh, soul in sin, don’t go around
looking for arguments and answers, just come to Jesus. He is the answer.
e. Christ
is your only hope. He saves you when you come to Him in simple faith. All your good works, all your gifts, all your kindness to
others, all your form and ritualism can never save you. Only Jesus can do that.
The Bible says we must come to the Lord with a
broken and a contrite heart. Then and then only can they find the peace that
passes all understanding. When a man says, “My heart is
burdened with my sin, but I now humbly repent of it all and simply trust Christ
for my salvation,” in that minute he is saved and all the bells of
heaven begin to ring out for joy.
Here is a man who comes home at night, all
tired out. He says to his wife, “What must I do to find
rest?” She replies, “Believe on that chair and
you will find rest.” “I do believe,” he says, “I
have always believed in that chair, but I am still weary. What else must I do?”
Then she says, “Trust the chair, commit yourself to it.
Give yourself up to it. Lean on it with all your might.” Then he sits
down and it feels so good that he says, “I’m resting now. didn’t you tell me to trust the chair and
commit myself to it? The moment I sat down I began to rest.”
When you say to me that you want to be saved I
say to you, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.” Then you say, “Do you mean that
I am just to believe in Him in my mind? I’ve always done that. I believe He was
the Son of God and that He died on the cross.” But I say to you, “Faith means more than that. Trust your all to Him, all the
past, present and future. Commit everything to Him. Lean entirely on Him.”
And the minute you do that you will find rest and peace and eternal life. You
will be able to say, “All is mine since I trusted Him.”
Do I hear someone saying, “That’s all very
good, but I have plenty of time left yet in which to be saved.” A man in the
Bible said the same thing, but God said,
Luke 12:20 “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee”.
And that night he died.
How much more time do you have?
