Consider Your Options

Isaiah chapter 1, now if you've been here this weekend you can probably tell where I've been reading lately. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1, the vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.

I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people do not consider.

Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evil doers, children who are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel.

They have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faints.

From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed or bound up or soothed with ointment. Now, we could read more but down to verse 18, please.

The Lord continues here. He says, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Have you ever been in court on trial for something you are being accused of? It's only happened to me once in my life before I was saved, university student in Toronto. I was in a car accident, nobody else involved, I hit a tree. And I remember going to court, I didn't have a lot of money, I didn't want to have to pay a fine, I didn't want to lose my license, I didn't know what was going to happen.

So I, standing there, and these indictments are read out, it was serious. In Isaiah chapter 1, where we've been reading, the Israelites are on trial, God's the judge. Somebody might say, well, that was long ago for Israel.

Listen, Romans, the first three chapters. It's us who are on trial. And this is one thing that spoke to me when I first started reading the Bible, twenty-five, very skeptical, as I've said before.

I realized, as I'm reading this, that God saw me in a way that other people didn't. We can all put on a front, but God alone knows what's inside. So, God brings charges against Israel here, in this first chapter.

And he tells them that they've rebelled against him, they've turned their back on him, even though he's taken care of them. But let's not be too hard on Israel, because it isn't the same thing about us. We've rebelled against God, we've turned our back on him, and he takes care of us, he's given air, gives us air to breathe, likely all of us have eaten today, had a bed to sleep on last night.

And in chapter 53, God makes it very clear. He says, all we like sheep have gone astray, we've turned everyone to our own way. Now, is that true about you? It's certainly true about me.

I had to realize that I hadn't always gone God's way. As I started to read the Bible, it convicted me. And God also tells them, you know, if you keep on this way, it's not going to go well for you.

You know, when we rebel against God, when we don't come into a right relationship with him, we just continue to go our own way, we're only hurting ourselves. Young person, you're only hurting yourself. You know, the devil will pour his lies into you and make his way look so appealing.

And I'd listen to those lies, and I went after them. And I had to find out, like so many, that crime doesn't pay, that the devil promises the moon, you end up with the pits. If you keep going your own way, you're only hurting yourself.

In this life, and in the next. Now, these Israelites were outwardly religious, they were going to the temple, they were offering sacrifices, and that was fine. But it didn't clean them up on the inside.

The Pharisees in the New Testament, you know, they were going through the motions on the outside, but on the inside it was a different story. And the Lord knew that, and the Lord told them about it, and they didn't want to hear it. And many people don't want to hear how God sees them, they don't want to hear God's indictments about them, they don't want to hear about their sin.

My friend, listen, God loves you. He wants to take away your sin. He wants to clean you up on the inside.

I don't know if you've ever spent much time not being able to have a shower. I remember when I was still teaching school one summer, Marvin Dirksen asked me to come and help with children's meetings in Newfoundland. It was a new work, a bunch of us staying in a trailer, and we could have one shower a week.

I'll tell you, we appreciated that shower. And then many years later in Siberia and Russia, I experienced that once again. Why am I saying this? You know, it can be wonderful to have a shower, to be clean on the outside, but I'll tell you, it's so much better to be clean on the inside.

Are you clean on the inside as God sees you? I'm not saying how you feel. What does God say about it? God wants you to have a relationship with him. This is why he sent his son.

Not to make your life miserable, that's what I used to think. I mean, why would anybody go to church? I thought, and I didn't think about it much, but being a Christian is like putting yourself in a straitjacket. Who would want that? But I had to experience, like so many, the emptiness of the world, the emptiness of a life apart from God, before I would see my need of the Lord Jesus.

What will it take? If this is your situation, if you're not a Christian tonight, today, if there's never been a time in your life when you've been born again, where are you going to end up? You're going to meet God one day. Just as surely as you're sitting in that chair, you're going to meet God one day. God wants you to settle out of court.

He loves you. That's why he sent his son, so you could be clean on the inside. So, even though we're guilty, and you can read it for yourself, read the first three chapters of Romans, and we're seeing it in Isaiah chapter 1 here, with regard to the Israelites, we're guilty, yet God the judge says, come.

Now, that doesn't usually happen. Now, fortunately, in my case, when I was charged with careless driving, my case was dismissed, and I'm grateful for that. But, many people have been to court before the judge, and instead of saying, come, let's reason together.

The judge says, go and pay a $200 fine, or 10 years in prison. But here, the judge says, come. And God's the judge, and he says, let's reason together.

You know, the NET Bible translates it this way, come, let's consider your options. That's very interesting, consider your options. And God says, okay, first of all, your sins are like scarlet, like crimson, red.

You know, many of our sins, nobody can see, but God sees them. And, you know, red and crimson, scarlet and crimson, I mean, just imagine, you know, a white shirt, a white blouse, and you get a big blob of ketchup on it, or some spaghetti sauce, I mean, so visible, you'd want to get it off, you wouldn't want to go out. Well, most people, I don't know about young boys, maybe they'd be the exception, but, you know, but God sees it.

And I didn't realize that for many years, I didn't read the Bible, until I started reading Romans 1, and thought, whoa, I got a problem here, it's my sin, and like so many, I tried to clean myself up, I tried to change my lifestyle. And the harder I tried to be good, the worse I realized I was. How does God see you tonight? Today? It's almost night.

Does he see your sins as scarlet, that red color? As crimson? Now, God says, even though your sins may be red like scarlet, like crimson, he says, they can be as white as snow, they can be as wool. As white as snow. Does this interest you? He's talking about your sins.

They can be forgiven. If you're not interested in this, it's not going to happen. God's not going to force you to have your sins forgiven.

But how can it happen? How can it happen? I mean, there are some stains in clothing that are hard to remove. There's a man I knew years ago, he owned a dry-cleaning business, and I remember him saying, one of the hardest stains to get out of any clothing are coffee stains. And I know there's been some times I've got something on my clothes, and I don't know what to do, I go to my wife, and she's a miracle worker, she can, I don't know what she does with it, but takes the stain out.

But some stains are very hard to remove. Well, what about these stains? God says, your sins are like scarlet. They're red like crimson.

This is the message of the gospel. This is the good news. That someone has taken our place, has taken our sin.

The sinless one, the Lord Jesus. Have you ever realized that? Do you believe what God says in Isaiah 53 and 6? That God the Lord has laid on Him, on His Son, the Lord Jesus, the iniquity, the sin of us all? There are likely millions of people in this world who would give anything if they could know their sins are forgiven. I didn't know for years.

But there's people who go through all kinds of things to try to get away from a guilty conscience. And maybe your sins don't bother you now, but they probably will. I was 25 years old before, you know, my sin finally caught up with me, and it was like a 10-ton boulder on my shoulders.

And I wanted to get rid of that more than anything, but didn't know how. But that's what it took for me to see my need of Christ. Before that, He was just a name to me.

I'd heard about Him, but it wasn't until my sin was a problem to me. It wasn't until I was sick of my sin, I wanted to be free from my sin, that I saw my need of a Savior. Before I was saved, I had a guilty conscience that I would try to numb with alcohol, drugs, parties, and I don't know what.

And I remember taking the train going back to university and school. My family lived in Windsor. And on that train, I used to think sometimes, probably should have been studying, but I used to think, you know, only if I could have a fresh start in life.

If only the past could be wiped out, I could have a fresh start. But, you know, it was just a dream. I didn't think it was possible, so I didn't think about it.

But that would come back time to time. But then when I started reading the Bible, when I heard the Gospel, and I heard words like 1 John 1 and 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. It was a dream come true.

It is possible. The blood, the evidence of the death of our Lord Jesus, He laid down His life. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin, past, present, and future.

Do these words mean anything to you tonight? Listen, if your sin isn't a problem, if you've never faced up to what God says about you, that's not going to mean anything. You say, okay, what do I have to do? I would like to know my sins forgiven. I want to be in heaven.

I don't want to be in hell. The Bible speaks about repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance is a change of attitude.

It's admitting, I'm wrong, God is right. It's not saying, well, I know I've sinned, but I'm not as bad as her or him. But I haven't done this or that.

If God gave you what you deserve, have you ever faced up to the fact that you don't deserve to be in heaven, you deserve to be in hell? The day the Lord saved me, I didn't know much about the Bible, much about Jesus Christ, just heard the gospel a little from a lady I was working for. But I knew this, my sin was taking me down, and there was nothing I could do about it. I knew I couldn't trust in myself to any degree.

There was nothing I could do. But I'd been told about a Savior who died on the cross for sinners, that Christ once suffered for sins, that just for the unjust, so that He could bring us to God. And I realized I can't give myself to God.

I need someone to help me. And I just put my trust in the Lord Jesus that day. So repentance is necessary.

I have to realize that I've got a problem that I can't solve. I'm guilty. I can't make myself clean.

Repentance to our God. But then there's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Just believing what God says.

Not only about me, that I'm a sinner, but what God says about His Son, the Savior. That He died for the ungodly. That He died for our sins.

That the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. Faith is just taking God at His word. You know, sometimes we look at, we have to feel a certain way, we have to believe a certain way, and I've heard so many people get all hung up that they've got to believe this way, that way, the other.

Listen, if you're all concerned about your believing, you've got your eyes on the wrong thing. Your believing can't save you. It can't take away any sins.

The Lord Jesus can. It's who your faith is in. I mean, if I have a sore throat, I can believe that a can of Drano is going to fix it.

And I can believe that that's going to help me. It's going to kill me. My faith is in the wrong thing.

God wants you to put your trust in His Son. The one who, as you've been hearing, is trustworthy. So, as I close, the judge gives us a choice.

He says, come, let us reason together. Consider your options. Okay, here's option number one.

Continue in your sins and experience God's judgment. Israel, back in Isaiah here, they wouldn't believe Isaiah, they wouldn't believe God, they wouldn't repent, and they experienced God's judgment. And eventually enemies came, people were killed, cities destroyed, and many were taken prisoner to Babylon eventually.

So that's one option. Continue in your sins, experience God's judgment. But option number two.

You can accept God's offer to have your sins cleansed by putting your trust in His Son. God makes it so very clear. When we were without strength, nothing we could do.

Can't figure this out, perhaps, salvation, when we were without strength. God says, in due time, Christ died. This is the solution to our great problem.

Christ died in our place. Says He died for the ungodly. That's us.

We're not like God. So you have a choice. We all have a choice.

God's not going to put you in a headlock and force you to become a Christian. But He wants you to know, He wants you to know that you can have your sins forgiven. And He says here, beautiful words, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18.

He says, come now. Let's reason together. Consider your options, says the Lord.

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I've never heard of a greater offer.

I've never heard of a greater one. My friend, the joy of sins forgiven, having peace with God, knowing the Lord Jesus is the best friend a person could ever have, the living Christ to help us with all the problems in this world. God never intended you or me to handle life on our own.

It's difficult. He wants to help us. But sin is a barrier.

But God sent His Son to take our sins away. And if you put your trust in Him and what He says, what God says, you can know the joy of sins forgiven. Let's pray.