Gospel

I would like to read with you or to you from Isaiah's prophecy. Now, Isaiah is in about the middle of your Bible, Psalms, just after the Psalms comes Proverbs. And then just keep turning and just after the Proverbs you have the Song of Solomon and Isaiah.

Chapter 1, Isaiah chapter 1 and verse number 18. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Now, the result of that he says in verse 19, saith the Lord, If ye be willing, notice those first four words of verse 19, And obedient ye shall eat of the good of the land, But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Just verse 18 again, let me read that with you or to you please.

Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Well, in the year 2004, MediaCom had what they felt was one of the best spots for an advertising sign just outside of Orlando, Florida. Kind of partway between Universal Studios and the famed Disney World. Of course, Universal Studios were bidding for their share of it and they had invested largely in a billboard.

And unfortunately, Hurricane Charlie had other plans. And that was when they were using those, like a fabric type billboard with lights upon it and that storm came through and literally had ripped off a number of advertising signs prior to the one that was there now for Universal Studios. What was left of Universal Studios at the bottom was the word, Enjoy.

Enjoy. Isn't that our world tonight? They're trying their best to enjoy. But having all of that advertising torn away was one black, stark, advertisement, very simple language, anonymously provided by the Smith Agency on a Wall Street and it said this, need to talk, dot, dot, God.

Need to talk, God. Now, friend, I want you to understand tonight that that is really the truth of the Gospel. The Bible says there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

Job in his day had longed that there would be someone that could put his hand upon sinful man that he was and likewise at the same time put his hand upon God and bring the two together. Now, when the Bible is talking about reasoning with God, we're not talking about what may or may not be happening still in the state of Wisconsin, where the unions are saying this is unreasonable, this is unfair, somebody needs to get a hold of, is it Governor Scott Walker, and we've got to talk. My friend, it isn't the case that two opposing parties are coming together and kind of God gives in a little bit and you give in a little bit.

A lot of people talk like that. Here's how they talk, you know, they'll say, oh, you know, I have sinned. Everybody has.

Oh, I have a few sins, but like a lady told us not too long ago, they're not really that bad. My friend, they'll keep you out of heaven. They'll shut you up in hell as you've been hearing tonight.

So when God says that he wants to reason, the benefit has nothing to do with God's part, okay? It's all for you. The benefit of this reasoning is for you. But here, notice the time frame of it, first of all.

The time frame of it is the same for salvation. It is come now. Come now.

God isn't saying tomorrow, not when you get this part of your life over with, after this work done and this other thing looked after, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The first thing I must, I must, in all fairness to this large audience tonight, establish with you that it is this, that when it comes to salvation, it is the most reasonable thing in the universe. There is absolutely nothing, I challenge everyone here tonight to show me, to tell me when this meeting concludes, something that's more reasonable than God's salvation.

In fact, it is so reasonable, my friend. So reasonable. More than that, it is based on irrefutable logic.

Don't let anybody tell you that this salvation is kind of a leap in the dark. It's not that. If you like, it's a leap out of the dark into the light.

Because the light of the world is Jesus. And the Bible makes it very clear that he came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. But salvation with anybody's experience, somewhere, somehow, has to start with a moment when you are prepared to reason with God.

You know, I have to admit, growing up, I thought my parents were the most unreasonable people on planet Earth. I really did. I have to admit to you.

I would walk out of the kitchen trying to put something before them and shaking my head and think, boy, what is wrong with them? Strange, I don't think that way anymore. You know what I discovered? It was my reasoning, that was defective. So is yours tonight, friend.

You see, we were born into this world. Sin put an awful twist into the timber of human thinking that has left us totally incapacitated to rightly reason. That's why sometimes you will visit with people and talk about just the mundane things of life and then they will talk such sense when it comes to investments, when it comes to health, and when it comes to certain things in life that are very important.

But now you try to ask them, well, where are you going to be forever when you die? Everything changes. And you will hear the greatest lines of nonsense that you ever heard in your life. What's caused that? The verse tells you.

Your sins. Your sins! She grew up in the state of California. Very attractive young girl.

And was a high school teacher. One day another teacher said to her, they said, Donna, they said, you've really got talent. You've got ability.

You have a beautiful voice. You could do a lot better singing than you'll ever do teaching school. That young attractive woman took up that advice and she started to sing in a very small way on the west coast of this country.

In a matter of years, she became one of the most famous singers that the USA has produced. She sang a song. Wrote it and sang it.

I am the happiest girl in the whole USA. Her name was Donna Fargo. Now if you just fast forward that a number of years after her song had sold millions and millions of copies and platinum records and so on, Donna wasn't feeling good one day.

And she knew it was just a passing headache or just a flu or something. There was something wrong. She decided she would look up a doctor that was a friend of hers.

Because she said to herself, she says, he will not only be true with me, but he'll do the best that he can for me. So she went to Santa Barbara, California and arranged a meeting with her doctor friend. That doctor had gone through a number of tests and she went back to his office.

This is a little period of time later. As she walked into that office, she could tell something's wrong. And she leaned over the desk of that doctor and she says, please, please, please tell me my friend that I don't have MS. That doctor's head dropped.

She says, don't say it. Don't use the words. Can you not give me a better diagnosis than that? Now this is the happiest girl in the whole USA.

He said, I'm sorry, but I can't. He says, you have verbally diagnosed your problem. Ms. Fargo, you have multiple sclerosis.

Somebody asked her, what did that do to your life? She says, it devastated it. And a reporter said, what happened to the happiest girl in the whole USA? Well, she says, I was no longer that person. Well, I want to tell you something today, friend.

I have no idea what kind of happiness stardom does for a person in this world, but I know this much. It does not last very long, does it? It's pretty empty. Do you know why that is? Just as you've been hearing at the beginning of this meeting, because of your sins.

It's a terrible thing. Sin is a monster. You see, that's what's happening back in Genesis chapter 3 when God calls to Adam.

Just wants to talk to him. Just wants to talk to him. Need to talk.

And Adam's hiding. He's running. I mean, I stayed in a home in Bedeck, Nova Scotia.

There's a young man in that home, and I respect him. And respect him, he's a very good friend of mine today. He wasn't then.

And his father was an overseer in the assembly. And he was kind enough to move over to his room and give the other preacher his room, and I was staying in another room. There's only one difficulty with Paul, and it was this.

I could never catch him. I could never get a hold of him. I'm rather an early riser, but he would get up just a little earlier.

Soon as he'd hear a particular bedroom door open, he was on the move. And I kept getting up earlier and earlier, and I thought, hey, listen, I'm going to work this the other way. So I waited until he started to come home at night.

I said, sit down, I want to talk to you. I said, hey, if you can't talk to me, how will you ever talk to God? Well, he said, what do you want to know? No, I said, I just want to thank you. I said, what do you want to thank me for? I said, I want to thank you for that telephone call that you took the other day.

I said, oh, I overheard that conversation. Your father and mother, your father dying with cancer, they're in the living room, and mother on their knees, praying for their son, Paul, that he wouldn't die in his sins and go down to hell, and a telephone call came in. And I have to admit to you, Paul, I said, I overheard the conversation.

As you picked up the receiver, you said, no, I'm sorry, my father can't come to the phone right now. No, he just can't come. No, I'm sorry, he can't come.

And finally, you said, he's praying in the conversation. I said, Paul, why didn't you tell him who your father was praying for? I remember that man started to wilt, started to go down. I said, this isn't the time you face this.

Let me ask you tonight, dear lady in this gospel, when isn't the time you face this? When are you going to face it? When would be a better time than right tonight? When would be a better time never to leave a building again in your sins than to ever leave this one tonight in your sins? Maybe you've never been here before, and maybe you'll never be back again, and maybe I'll never be back again. This meeting will never be like this again. My word of the night would be, if the matter of your sins were to be settled tonight, if you were to be saved, and to realize that there's one who wants to... Listen, can I say it reverently enough so you understand it? God does not want to reason with you so He can take your sins and rub your face in them.

Is that clear? God loves you too much for that. Paul Carmichael came to gospel meetings, I should finish telling you that, and I think it was three weeks later, he got saved, married a lovely Christian wife and the assembly in Bedeck, Nova Scotia. Why? Because Paul came to his senses and realized, best I think this over.

Best I face what I've got to face. Are you prepared to do that? My friend, hopefully you'll never have to face some terrible disease like cancer or whatever it might be, but you have something tonight that's ravishing within your life that's going to take you down to hell, dear lady, and it's called sin. It's a terrible thing! So misconstrued and so misunderstood in this world in which we live tonight.

That's just the world we live in. It's laughed, it's mocked about, and it's put in our songs as a joke. John Lennon one day, that supposed famous Beatle said, he said, we are more popular than Jesus Christ.

He's dead. And so is Harrison dead. And so what? If they made their millions.

And so what of Michael Jackson? In one intelligent moment, if he had bought into them big and made big bucks, he's dead too. Millions of people bought into Beatlemania, including older people. It should have had more sense.

And he rose to be the respected as the voice for a non-violent world. Welcome to John Lennon's world. Until a former girlfriend came forward who had a child that he had fathered and said, Mr. Lennon stood in the living room one night and kicked that baby around on the floor.

I said, John, why are you doing that? It's bugging me. See how twisted our world is tonight, friend? Now here's God. Holy.

Pure. Hates sin so much that he would give his son to die on Calvary's cross. Now he comes down right here to Cedar Falls tonight.

Right here to this auditorium in the Cedar Falls High School. He says, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as wool.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. In fact, God's salvation, my friend, just so you understand it, is so reasonable it makes everything else and anything else look ridiculous. I mean, work your way to heaven.

Do the best you can. It is so reasonable. Let me repeat.

It makes anything and everything else look ridiculous. I mean, just come with us for a day. And some of the nonsense you will hear from people as to how they think that they are ever going to be in heaven is beyond me.

But first of all, reasoning with God must have a basis, okay? There has to be a basis on which we're going to reason. Isn't that true? My parents tried to bring me to that basis, and the basis with them was this, that they were older than I was. And they happened to be my parents.

And they happened to own the home that I lived in. And they said, the basis on which we will level in our reasoning for you, it will only be for your best, though I didn't understand it. But the basis that God uses is His Word.

He brings you to His Word. When it says in Acts 17 that Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, he never went outside of the Scriptures to reason. But he went to those people and says that he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.

To unreasonable people, the Lord Jesus said in John 5, verse 39, Search the Scriptures. For in them ye think ye have eternal life. There are they which testify of me.

And people never picked the book up. And you hope to be in heaven? You hope to be saved? More than that. What does God tell us in the prophet Jeremiah in his prophecy, chapter 29, verse 13? Here's what he says.

You shall seek for me. And find me when you search for me with all your heart. You know, man's so-called reasoning, really, and his arguments and his statements are not only inconsistent with truth, they're inconsistent with each other.

Inconsistent with each other. There's a man that's in the Fredericton Assembly, not far from where I live. When David Graham was troubled about his soul, he wanted me to go see his mother.

I said, well, David, you're coming to the meetings, you're not saved. I said, I want you to see my mother. So I went to see his mother, a very religious woman, a very nice woman.

There's one thing about the visit, I did not have to do any talking, she was doing it all. I just sat back and listened. I thought, well, I'll let Dave handle this.

Finally, he puts his head down, he comes up, he said, wait a minute, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. Wait a minute, wait. Will you please stop? He says, you have contradicted yourself seven times already in this conversation.

He said, if you want to know anywhere, I'm going to tell you. I have brought this man here to tell you something from God. And he looked over at me, he said, would you, dear, please tell my dear mother what she's got to be told.

I said, Mrs. Duran, I'm only here to tell you that God loves you. They so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. I'd love to tell you that that dear lady had gotten saved, but do you know what she did? She died with her arguments.

So many have. So many have. The basis for it, my friend, is the Word of God.

But there has to be a beginning. Okay? That's what I'm trying to emphasize. There has to be a point when life will come to a complete stop and you'll say, wait a minute, wait a minute.

It's my soul. And it's me that's going to die. And it doesn't matter what my family think, what my friends think.

They'll file out of the cemetery like everybody else does. Somebody else will sit at my desk. Somebody else will read my book.

Somebody else will drive my car. Somebody else will live in my house. Whatever it might be.

As you come full circle to a point where you're prepared now to reason about something that is so unreasonable on the God side of it, and it's this. Why would he ever love you? Why would he ever love me? Why would he ever give his son to such a shameful death as that death of the cross? I want to tell you tonight, God's salvation not only has to have a basis, it not only has to have a beginning, it must be a balance. You ever feel like that when you're trying to reason? I always felt my folks were so out of balance with the whole thing.

I wasn't getting much weight on my side. I love the scriptures. I love them.

They're so balanced. This is what the Bible says. For the wages of sin is death.

God doesn't leave you there, does he? But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. When I quote that verse, I think of a man back in the eastern U.S. by the name of Mr. Clay Fight. Godless man in his unsaved days.

Godless character. Loved to play poker. He could win.

That's why he liked to play it. Play it? My father, he just liked to play checkers until Bill Haslam beat him. Then he didn't want to play anymore because he only wanted to play people he could beat.

But Mr. Clay Fight loved playing poker. Now keep in mind, he's listening to the gospel. He's got parents telling him he needs to be saved.

This isn't for Clay Fight. Went to this poker game one night and he won. The man he was playing, as far as he knew, he didn't even know if he went to church.

Just about as godless as he was. And he pushed himself back from that table and he said, Fight? He says you're a sinner on the way to hell. And you deserve it.

You're going to be there. The man walked home. And left Clay Fight stunned.

In his own words. He said that came from god. God spoke through that unsaved foul-mouthed friend of mine.

And try as he might, he could never get past that. He could never get past that. You're a sinner going to hell and you deserve to be there.

Clay Fight said the hardest thing about it was I couldn't argue with it. It's absolutely true. And for the first time in his life, Mr. Clay Fight started to reason.

Started to face this. Got saved and became a gospel preacher. The benefit of it, the basis of it, the benefit is totally for you.

Listen to the verse again as I quote it. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I was never a shepherd. Never a livestock farmer.

We had poultry. I knew men that kept sheep. And I remember being one time in the Garneville area.

I was visiting down along the Mississippi River. Saw a farm down there that wasn't too well kept. Heard a story about a man down there that tried to keep some sheep.

And unfortunately, those poor animals had produced so much wool that it had never been sheared. They actually would fall down, lay there in the mud helpless. And they would die.

Until the authorities came along and they saw what was happening. And they assessed that man directly so with a very, very heavy fine. See what happened to those sheep? They couldn't rid themselves of what their nature produced.

They could not rid themselves of what their nature produced. They couldn't make themselves clean either. Their condition was something that was worsening all the time.

In other words, there had to be an outside source come in and shear those poor helpless creatures. Of what their nature has produced. My friend, your nature tonight has produced sin.

And the Bible says, the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. And I want to tell you, once that sin is taken away, it could never be put back again. Listen to what Romans 8 and 1 verse says.

Romans 8 and 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin not in part, but the whole.

Is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Psalm 103 verse 12.

As far as the east is from the west so far. Directions that will never meet, hath he removed our transgressions from us. Could you imagine? Could you just imagine someone trying to pick up pieces of that wool.

And stick them back on that sheep again? Couldn't do it. Try as you might, you couldn't do it. Any more than what my nature has produced could ever be stuck to me again.

Won't happen. Do you know why? They've been taken away. As far as the east is from the west.

More than that. They've been buried in the sea. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin.

I wonder, is there not just one in this meeting tonight? That's prepared to come to this moment. Yes, God. Need to talk.

Whether you ever want to talk with us, that's your business. I'm not tonight trying to bid for the talking of anybody here in the audience. We're here to help you in any way that we can.

My friend, I want to tell you this, just as I close. You don't talk with God, young man, you'll meet him. And you will meet him with your sins.

The very thing, dear girl, that's taking you down to hell tonight. Unless you come to a moment when you appreciate and realize, Jesus died for me. Shall we pray? Our Father, we thank thee in the name of the Lord Jesus for thy kindness to us this evening.

These testimonies that we have listened to, the gospel preached. We thank thee for overruling in the alarm system. God is very kind.

We give thanks to thee. Lord, we thank thee for the gospel that has claimed us. Its message, its power has cleansed us by the precious blood of Christ shed at Calvary.

Tomorrow morning we'll gather in the will of the Lord as the Lord's people. And we'll remember the Lord Jesus in this place and many other little companies gathered to his name throughout this state and other states and other countries. From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, his name shall be great among the Gentiles.

Bless thy word tonight. Grant help as the young people have their time tonight out in Hudson. And give help as the word is spoken there we pray in the Savior's name.

Amen. Thank you very much for coming to the gospel meeting tonight. It is so delightful to see you.

We appreciate it. Some of you have made a concerted effort to be here. We appreciate that.

And we're very glad that you have come. And trust you'll be able to come back. Do you have any questions about what you have heard? And again, we're not soliciting tonight conversations.

We're only here to help you. We're not trying to run something on you or put something, force something upon you. We're only here to help you.

But we'll sing in closing number 90. Number 90. I heard the voice of Jesus say, come unto me and rest.

Lay down thou weary one, lay down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus. I love it.

Verse 2. I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad. I found in him a resting place and he has made me glad. Number 90.

The voice of Jesus say, come unto me and rest. Lay down thou weary one and lay down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was, weary and worn and sad.

I found in him a resting place and he has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say, behold, I freely give the living one to the thirsty one. Stoop down and drink and live.

I came to Jesus and I drank my giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul retired, and now I live in him. I heard the voice of Jesus say, I am this world's life.

Look up to me, thy morn shall come, thy day be bright. I came to Jesus and I found in him my star, my sun, and in him my rest.