Sermon Notes (Audio at end of text): The message of Isaiah is seen in his very name. Isaiah means “Yahweh Will Save”. God will save. God loves to save. When Christ came, where did we find Him? When He was young we found Him in the Temple teaching the Rabbis and Elders. His mother said:

“Son, did You not know You were worrying us. We have looked all day for You?”

To which Jesus replied:

“Luke 2:49 (NKJV) … “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

Jesus came to do the Father’s Business. He started in the Temple, but moved outward to the people. Jesus came to correct His Church first, to get worship back on track. But the Church – God’s Temple – does not exist just for itself. It exists to point the world to God. It exists to rebuke sin, and to draw others to salvation in Christ.

Who were those most often about Christ but the sick, the sinful, the separated from God?

Sin is a terrible thing, for it draws God’s Creation away from God.

In Isaiah’s day Israel, a nation founded by God, had drifted from God. The nation was divided. Northern Israel was in captivity to a pagan nation, and Southern Israel was not far behind.

In our nation, our Blessed America, we have wandered far from God. The nation is divided. We are in captivity to pagan forces. We are in utter confusion, having to “define” bathrooms, to “redefine” marriage. What has led us to this?

Just as it was with Israel, we have wandered from God. What is the solution to our national problems? God calls out:

Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)  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.

God calls out to whosoever will “Come now! Come to Me. Come reason with Me. I am the Almighty, the YAHWEH, the Eternal God Who made you.”

Come Reason With God Concerning Sin

Are we better under the reign of sin than we were under the reign of God?
No, I do not think so.
Our country has become confused and convoluted.

People are revolting in the streets, destroying public property, racists abound on both sides, and love is no where in sight. There is no longer any discussion, but shouted worldliness on all sides. There is no longer any rational or reasonable discussion, but whoever shouts the loudest is deemed the victor. The Bible says:

1 Corinthians 14:33 … God is not the Author of Confusion, but of peace …

That which grips our country is not REASON but UNREASON.

Kathy Griffin holding up the bloody head of a seated President, giggling, but later unrepentant and angry because she was rebuked for it.

Senators openly calling for the assassination of a Seated President.

Federal courts not following the Constitution, but the whim of the people.

God calls out. Come, let US reason ..

Come to God and discuss the matter. How shall we get from confusion to peace? We need to come to the Almighty God. To REASON with Him. We’ve tried reasoning with the world, and with Satan. Several years ago the then seated President Barak Obama stood with the redefinition of marriage. For two hundred years our nation believed marriage to be one man, one woman. We believed the Bible, which says:

Genesis 1:27 (NKJV) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

The world reasoned. “Get rid of the Defense of Marriage Amendment. Give marriage a broader definition. It will not effect anything but just those predisposed to this lifestyle. Compromise with what God has written in His Word, and it will be fine.”

So we reasoned apart from God and His Word. Has it effected others? Absolutely. Bakers and Florists are being told that they must cater to weddings outside of their faith. Churches are being told they must cater to what God has not said is right or true. The religious rights of citizens are being trampled, all in the name of “tolerance”.

Sin is destructive.
It is sinful to do what God says not to do.
It is also sinful not the love and share God’s call to the sinner.

Sin Robs Us Of Our Design And Potential

Isaiah 1:2 (KJV)  Hear, O HEAVENS, and give ear, O EARTH: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

When God cries out, notice that He cries out to the Heavens and the earth. The Heavens are in the hands of God. He controls the Heavens:

Psalm 19:1-2 (ESV) The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

The Heaven and the earth declare there is a Creator, a Designer, a Loving Father Who made all things. We are told in:

Job 12:7-10 (ESV) But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; 8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. 9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? 10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.

There is the hand of the Creator in all of creation. We see God’s hand in the intricacy of every living thing. God created a self sustaining world, an amazing Sun, and populated this world with wide varieties of amazing creatures. God cries out to Creation itself which testifies of Him, saying:

I have nourished and brought up CHILDREN, and they have rebelled against ME.

Sin is rebellion against God. Sin makes us less than the animals. Sin makes us not animalistic, but WORSE than the creature. We were created in God’s image to rule and reign over creation. We were created by God to be over the animals, to have dominion for God’s sake.

Yet sin makes us dumber than the ox or the jackass.

Isaiah 1:3 (KJV)  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

America is America because of the faith of our Fathers.
We were founded on the basis of Christ.

The ox knows his owner, and sin has made us forget our God. The jackass knows his master’s barn, and if released in the wild will return to it for blessing. But sin has coarsened us to where we do not know God, nor the blessedness of God. When God said

My people do not consider

The word “consider” is the Hebrew בִּין biyn which means “to have understanding, to discern”. The lowly ox and jackass have the basic understanding that they do not belong to themselves, but to another …. and yet sin has caused us to think that we belong to ourselves. We do not. We belong to God. We were made by God. We were made to be not animals, but loved of Him and loving toward one another.

Sin drags a people down.

The world says “What does it matter? What is the harm? As long as you’re happy!”

But God says:

Isaiah 1:4 (KJV)  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Sin does several things if unrepentant of.

• Sin is a burden that weighs us down. God said:

Isaiah 1:4 (KJV) “a people LADEN with iniquity”.

Sin is a weight that gets heavier with time. I can pick up a 40 pound bag of concrete, but I sure wouldn’t want to carry it around. Sin is HEAVY. Sin is AWKWARD. Sin is COMPLICATED.

Sin stops even the believer from following Christ. Sin will destroy your ministry!

Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and SIN WHICH CLINGS SO CLOSELY, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Sin caused God to send His Only Begotten Son to the Cross. Sin hurts us. C.H. Spurgeon said:

“Say to a man, “You are not to be punished for your sin, and you may live in it”, what worst thing could you do to him? … Here is a bleeding wound in my arm; the surgeon says he will allow it to bleed, but he will remove my sense of faintness and pain; he will leave the mortal injury, but take away its attendant inconveniences so that I may bleed to death and not know it?”

• Sin Is A Leaven That Grows, A Rash That Spreads. God said:

Isaiah 1:4 (KJV) “a SEED of evildoers”

When you go to the store you can find all kinds of SEED in different, brightly colored packages. The SEED rarely produces the beautiful picture on the outside of the package. Such is it with sin. Sin like other SEED comes in seemingly attractive packages, but when sown NEVER LOOKS AS GOOD AS PROMISED!

The Lord said: Matthew 16:6 (KJV) …. Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

It is sinful to be self-righteous. It is sinful to be holier than thou. It is sinful to be a hypocrite. “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, to be two faced” (Luke 12:1). Do not be a hypocrite nor self righteous. Come to Him. Christ came to give Himself for sinners, and we are all sinners.

Romans 3:10 (KJV)  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

This is why God calls us to Himself. “Come, let us REASON together” is what God says. Come to Christ. Come knowing you are a sinner. Come knowing that God is willing to be gracious, willing to restore, willing to lovingly bring you from darkness into light. Sin unrepentant is sin spreading. Many Churches have winked a blind eye at sin. The Corinthian Church winked a blind eye at sexual sin. The Apostle told them:

1 Corinthians 5:6-11 (KJV)  Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  [7]  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:  [8]  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  [9]  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:  [10]  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.  [11]  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

If someone hears the Word of God and comes to Him to reason with Him, that person must repent of sin. Sin is no plaything, but a tool of the devil to enslave God’s Creation.

• Sin destroys the children. God said:

Isaiah 1:4 (KJV) children that are corrupters

Sin takes the children far from God. God commanded His Israel to teach the children of God. He said:

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (KJV)  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  [5]  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  [6]  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:  [7]  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

When the children are exposed to sin, it makes them corrupt, and the next generation of corrupters. As the twig is bent, the tree will grow. The child must be taught that he himself is not the center of all things, but that God is. Sin makes self the most important thing, but God is most important. The child to love the Lord, to sit at His feet, to hear His instruction QUIETLY, to submit to Him is the child that will grow to be a stable and honest adult. The child taught that he is the center of the universe will give us more of Charlottesville, more rioting, more instability, more idiocy.

When I was young my mother and grandmother taught me about

David and Goliath,
the three Hebrew Children,
Daniel in the Lions den,
Joseph and his coat of many colors.

Sadly many adults today have no concept of these Bible stories for
they were raised in a household where God’s Word was not spoken.

Is it any wonder that godlessness prevails in their lives now?

• Sin Invites The Anger Of God. The Lord said:

Isaiah 1:4 (KJV) they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger,
they are gone away backward.

Sin brings the anger of God upon a nation. The Psalmist wrote:

Psalm 38:1 (ESV) O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! 2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down on me.

Sin brings with it sickness and loss of blessing.

Psalm 38:3-4 (ESV) There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin. 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

When 9-11 happened the nation cried out “Where is God?” The better question would be “Where are we in relationship to God?” Sin provokes God to anger. Our God is Holy, Just, Righteous, Pure. He despises to look upon sin. When God sees sin, He is prompted to judge sin.

What angers God most about sin is how it destroys His creation.
God made us to dominate, not be dominated.
God made us to be His Children, not Satan’s playthings.

Isaiah 1:5-7 (KJV)  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.  [6]  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.  [7]  Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Sin untreated brings sickness to a nation. From the bottom of the foot to the top of the head sin causes

wounds
bruises
putrefying sores

A nation without God becomes desolate

burned with fire
devoured by strangers

Beloved, this is our nation. The Church of God must stand against sin and with God. God has a remnant who lovers Him and stands with Him. Praise God for His Remnant! Praise God for the righteous in Christ. The Lord said:

Isaiah 1:9 (KJV)  Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

God Will Make A Difference With A Faithful Remnant

The “Lord of Hosts” stands with His people. He tells us that it’s not too late. God’s Church can make a difference. God still calls with His Gospel. God still saves by His Christ.

We are not called to RELIGION, but to a RELATIONSHIP with our God. The Lord said:

Isaiah 1:13-15 (KJV)  Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.  [14]  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.   [15]  And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

The sinner need not expect to be heard of God. The Pharisees had ritual, but no relationship with God in Christ. God does not hear the prayer of the sinner, unless it be the prayer of repentance. God said:

Isaiah 1:16 (KJV)  Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

Surrender your sin to God.

1 John 1:8-9 (KJV)  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  [9]  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Repent of sin. Hear God. Come, let US reason, says the Lord. Ask God to purge you of anything that is unpleasing to Him, and live for His pleasure. God does not save us so that we can more freely sin, but saves us so that we might be His people, His light in this present evil age.

If you are Christ’s, then as Christ did the good, YOU do the good.

Isaiah 1:17 (KJV)  Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed {correct oppression}, judge {more accurate, bring justice to) the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Isaiah 1:17 (ESV)  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Help someone in need. BE THE LIGHT of God. Tell someone that God calls to them. Play the Golden Trumpet of the Gospel.

Isaiah 1:18 (KJV)  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.

Christ came for everyone. His Blood was shed for whosoever will. Share this beautiful song with all who will hear. If the sinner dies in his sins he will go to a devil’s hell. This is not God’s fault, but the sinner’s fault. God is ready to forgive, to bestow Grace, to lovingly forgive sin for Christ’s sake.

It is each person’s choice.

Isaiah 1:19-20 (KJV)  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:  [20]  But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

May Christ lead someone to repentance and new life through this message!

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