THE GREAT INVITATION

ISAIAH 1:1

A. "COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER SAITH THE LORD"
  1. The context shows:
    1. That ancient Israel had fallen into a state of spiritual chaos - Is. 1:1-15
    2. That God loved them still and He sought to change their sinful condition - Is. 1:16-20
  2. God does everything in time:
    1. When the time for Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage had come, He sent Moses
    2. When the time came for Israel's deliverance from its enslavement of sin, Isaiah came - Is. 6:1-9 B. LET US NOTE SOME OF THE CONDITIONS OF GUILT WHEN THE INVITATION CAME THROUGH ISAIAH
  3. Note seven charges against them:
    1. "I have nourished and brought up sons and they rebelled against Me" - Ps. 105:28; 107:11; Is. 1:2
    2. "My people doth not consider" - Is. 1:3. To consider is to meditate upon - 2 Tim. 2:7; to view or observe - Lev. 13:13; to determine - Judges 18:14; to remember - I Sam. 12:24; Israel failed in every instance
    3. "They have forsaken the Lord" - Is. 1:4; complained the Lord, "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters and have hewed themselves out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water" - Jer. 2:13
    4. "Whole head sick...whole heart faint...no soundness...putrefying sores" - (v. 5-6). Testified Isaiah, "We are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness are as filthy rags" - Is. 64:6-7
    5. "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores"
    6. In spite of this fallen condition, Israel went through the ceremonial procedure of religion - Is. 1:11; Prov. 21:3; Jer. 6:20; Mal. 1:1-14
  4. God's merciful offer:
    1. "Come now let us reason together"
    2. These words contain a revelation of the infinite mercy of a compassionate God - Luke 15:20-32 C. THE GREAT INVITATION OF GOD
  5. Is based upon sanctified reason:
    1. Satan, the enemy of our soul, knows that God appeals to man's powers of reason to turn them away from evil, and he seeks to destroy the powers of reason - 2 Cor. 4:4; 3:14; Rom. 11:7-25; Examples: The prodigal son had for the time being lost his powers of reason - Luke 15:17; the persecutors of Stephen and Paul had lost their powers of reason Acts 7:57-59; 21:28; 22:22-23
    2. A return to the Lord begins with the return of the power of reason to people - Acts 2:37; I Kings 18:39
  6. There are certain things the penitent sinners must do to be saved:
    1. "Wash you, make you clean" - there is an open fountain in Israel against all uncleanness - Zech. 13:1
    2. "Put away the evil of your doings form before mine eyes" - said the prophet, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts" - Is. 55:7
    3. This is one of the main conditions set forth in the New Testament - putting away evil things - Eph. 4:22: Rom. 6:6 Col. 2:11; Rom. 13:11
  7. A wonderful promise and a warning:
    1. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" - It is said that any man can dye his soul with sin, but only God can bleach it"
    2. This is a great mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ to make man as though he had never sinned; he had never been in a state of rebellion
    3. This experience of the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ explains some statements of God in the Bible -
  8. God speaks of David as being a man after His own heart, doing all the will of God - Acts 13:22; the experience of the thief on the cross - Luke 23:42-44; the woman of Samaria - John 4:1-28
  9. It is because a penitent sinner is clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness - I Cor. 1:30-31; Col. 1:27; Rom. 8:1-3; Christ makes the difference
    1. But there is a warning connected with Heaven's great invitation "But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword"


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