Invitation To A Sinking Nation
“INVITATION TO A SINKING NATION” by Chris Huff
Isaiah, chapter number 1. Isaiah, chapter number 1. (Read chapter 1 in its entirety.) Dear Father, thank you for the passage of Scripture we just read. Thank you for the content of it. Thank you, Lord, for an opportunity to stand in this church and preach to these people. And we pray, Father, that what is of thy Spirit, that You want said, I pray, Lord, that it would come out and that it would get into hearts, and that it would transform lives. We pray, God, that you’d save those people who need salvation. We pray that you’d rebuke those who need rebuke. We pray that you’d comfort those who need comfort. And we pray, Father, that the word of God would speak to every individual here in this church this morning, and that I’d be out of the way so that you could just get through what you want said, In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
I have no title for this message. Ordinarily I like to have one. I’m not sure what to call it. But in the chapter that we just read, I see a couple of things about the condition of a nation who have turned themselves away from God, and an invitation that God makes to them, an offer to restore them into the right relationship with Himself. Israel is in bad times. Graham Scroggie said that the history of the nation of Israel, from the time that the kingdom divides until the return from Babylon, is primarily the consequences for them trusting in the Assyrians rather than God. And I think that that can be borne out in the study of the books of Kings and in the study of the Books of Chronicles. You’ll see there that, rather than trusting in the Lord, the children of Israel trusted in the Assyrians and in the Egyptians to deliver them, and the consequence was they went into captivity.
And God repeatedly warned them, repeatedly gave them a taste of what they were in for, and they would have a little bit of a reprieve, but it wasn’t long where they’d get back right down to their ungodly behavior. And finally God had no choice but to take them away into absolute captivity.
And I see this nation, first of all, in their calamity. And their calamity is caused by their rebellion. In verse number two, I see there that the Bible says, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the <H>Lord <H>hath spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” That’s the whole problem right there. And then the prophet, through the Holy Spirit, goes on and gives a description of what that rebellion was all about.
He had rebellious children. And folks, I just want to say that the church of Jesus Christ in this day is full of rebellious children. There’s people in this church, I’m sure, who are not obeying the Lord in things that they need to obey Him. Some people right here listening to the sound of my voice, and some who should be, who just simply don’t want to obey God. They want to do what they want to do instead. And this is the reason for rebellion, and this is the consequence that we’re going to examine in just a moment.
He said, “I’ve got children. I nourished them. I brought them up.” And listen, if you’re born of the Spirit and you’ve been fed by the word of God, you’re one of God’s children, then you ought to have some sense of responsibility there. In verse number 3 the Lord says that the first problem they had was ingratitude. He said, “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” You know, a cow’s got more discernment than a Ph.D.! A cow at least knows where its last meal came from. And a Ph.D. sitting over at the University of California has no idea. He doesn’t know where his last meal came from; he thinks he went out and earned the money to buy it. That’s a joke. If he had food on his table this morning, it was the mercy of God–that’s why! He could have been born mentally deficient, and he could be one of the few homeless people that we’ve got in this country. He could have been scouring around a trash can somewhere for his meal this morning. “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib. But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.”
People think I’m a little hard nosed. I’m not nearly as hard nosed as I used to be. Years ago, I used to be pretty hard to take. I can remember we’d go in a restaurant to eat, and we’d sit at the table, and the waitress would bring our food, and I’d stand up, and I’d pray long and loud, and I’d pray something like this, “O God”–and I’d pray about as loud as I’m talking to you right now–“thank you that even a dog shows appreciation for his master he sets a plate of food down in front of it. And we don’t want to be like pigs who have no sense of gratitude to the One who provided our meal. And so, right now, we’re thanking you for the fact that we have breath in our bodies and food to eat and money to buy it. And, Lord, help us to fully appreciate you and your Son Jesus Christ who died for our wicked, ungodly sins, and we ought to go to hell because of ’em. Thank you. Amen.”
Now I have since become a little bit more refined than that. But I still have the same attitude quite often. You know, in America today people have so much. And they don’t have the least bit of appreciation for the God who provided it for them. And, to see somebody bow their head and pray a sincere prayer over a meal any more is one of the strangest things that anybody ever saw. It’s almost lost. It’s almost nonexistent.
You go down South where you’e going, Brother, down to Greenville, South Carolina, and you go out to dinner on Sunday afternoon, and you’ll be amazed. Nearly every person in that restaurant will bow their head and pray over their meal. That’s what’ll happen. You’ll see that when you get down there. There’s Christians in churches all over that place. It’s like a haven of rest to go down there.
But, I tell you, you get around Chicago or Detroit or Baltimore or Washington, D.C., and I tell you, you can count on one hand the number of people that you see pray over their meal, unless you brought more than five with you. And that’s the honest to God truth.
No gratitude! In Romans chapter 1 the Bible says that the people over there, the problem was, “Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Listen, if a nation or a person loses their sense of gratitude, they are smitten with supernatural darkness and blindness, and they’re not able to see their work clearly any more.
And when a Christian, when a child of God ceases to be thankful of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ bought their salvation, and paid their sin debt, and redeemed them from hell, and that He deserves our life, He deserves our service, He deserves our obedience, if we’re not thankful enough to give Him the things He requires of us, we’re submitting with blindness as well. “The ox knoweth, and the ass knoweth–but my people, they’re stupider than an ox, they’re dumber than an ass. They don’t even know where their last meal came from.
In verse number 4 He says, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity.” That’s the second problem. Not only were they guilty of ingratitude, they were guilty of iniquity. That is, they had every type of sin and licentious living in their lifestyle, in their homes, and in their society, that you could possibly imagine. And I’d say, “We’re there.” We live in a generation where people glory in their shame, and who are proud of the most vile and vulgar lifestyles, parading up and down the streets flaunting their perversion and their sickness. And, listen, when I was growing up, I knew what a homosexual was. I knew what a queer was. But I only knew a couple of things that queers did. And I’m not going to tell you what queers do. But I found out queers do a whole lot more than the things I knew about when I was a kid. I’ll tell you, you’ve got to be perverted, you’ve got to be so degenerate in your mind to even imagine some of the things that those people come up with, let alone go through with it! You’ve got to have something seriously twisted. And to parade up and down the street and flaunt your perversion and claim that that’s a normal, sensitive, caring and healthy lifestyle is twisted. I’ll tell you what, we’re laden with iniquity.
And the reason the queers can go out and parade up and down the street and flaunt their perversion is because the church of Jesus Christ has moved too far in their direction. And, if we had been holding the line morally like we’re supposed to hold it, and if we’d been standing for decency and modesty and purity and fidelity like we should have, they wouldn’t dare go up and down the street parading their perversions.
“A seed of evildoers. Children that are corrupters.” They’re just carrying on the whole family tradition.
I used to work with the land surveyors when I was down South, and they were a bunch of country fellows, and they liked to listen to country-and-western music. And there was a song that was popular during the period that I worked with them called “Family Tradition.” It was by Hank Williams Jr. And he was singing about, you know, “You ask me, Hank, why do I drink, why do you do dope, why do you live out the songs that you wrote.” And he said, “Well, I can’t help it.” Naturally, that’s what everybody’s excuse is, you know. “I can’t help myself, it’s a family tradition.”
Yes, you can help yourself! Listen, I don’t care how wicked your old man was, he wasn’t any bit worse than mine was, I can guarantee you that. And if you want to live for God and you want to do right, I don’t care what kind of background you come from, what kind of ancestry you’ve got, what kind of situation you were raised in. If you want to do right and live for God, you can help yourself! The problem is, you don’t want to.
If he’s a drunken, tobacco-headed dope addict, the reason is because he wants to be–not because of his old man. He’s just trying to put the blame on somebody else.
Iniquity. Ingratitude. And then also in verse number 4 I see insolence. “Children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are goine away backward.” Insolence. The very idea of provoking God! Dr. Sightler says it like this, he says, “You can’t blow the smoke of your rebellion up the nostrils of God for long and get away with it.” I think that was an eloquent way of expressing it. And that’s what people in this day and age are doing. They’re shaking their fist in God’s face, and they’re double-dog daring God to do anything about what they’re up to. And, I’ll tell you, God did do something about it.
We’ve got 38 varieties of sexually transmitted diseases right now. And you know what they’re doing? They’re going around talking about “safe sex,” and still doing everything they’ve been doing all along, thinking they’re going to get away with it. They ain’t gonna get away with it.
Insolence! The very idea that you can defy God, defy His word, defy His moral standards, defy His order, and to think that you can get away with it! You can’t! “And they have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger.” I’ll tell you why we’ve got herpes and why we’ve got AIDS, and why we’ve got all that other stuff. I’ll tell you why! It’s because they provoked God to send it on them, that’s why. And He tried to give them a warning, He tried to steer them away, He tried to say, “Be careful,” He tried to say, “Knock it off!” And they wouldn’t listen! And so God said, “Well, I’ll give them something to make them stop.” And they haven’t stopped yet!
Insolence! And it’s only going to get worse. If there are 38 today, there will be 68 ten years from now–or more. You can mark it down. “They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger; they are gone away backward.” You know what the Apostle Paul said? He said, “Not as though I had already obtained. But I press forward toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul said that my movement is a steady forward, upward climb to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. You know what God says about His people? He said they have slidden backward.
Hyperdispensationalists say that backsliding is not a New Testament term. Well, maybe it’s not, and maybe I can’t find it in the New Testament, but what is it that everybody I see is doing? If Paul said, “I press on,” and people aren’t pressing on, then they must be sliding back. And I don’t care if Paul never mentioned the word, Paul sure talked about the principle. There are backsliders in this day and age. Just because you’re secure in Christ and just because you’re a redeemed child of God, and just because you’ve got eternal security doesn’t mean you can’t backslide.
I can tell you of a number of ones who have. Then verse number 5, they had impenitence. He says, “Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.” You know what he’s saying there? He’s saying, “I wonder why I even bother to beat you! Because the more I beat you, the more you rebel! You’re just a stubborn, stubborn, willful people.” I’ve seen Christians like that. God would deal with them in severity, and they would endure the chastisement of some, and God would try to get them back in order–and you know what they’d do? They’d just grit their teeth.
I had a friend, John Garner was his name. And before he was saved, his dad–and this is the honest-to-God truth–his dad would come home from work, and he’d bring him into the bathroom, because he had to get a whipping every day. And he’d make him kneel on the bathroom floor, and, you know, he’d take his pants down and make him lie over the bathtub with his hands in the bathtub. And his dad would beat him until he couldn’t beat him any more, then he’d go in the bedroom and lay on the bed with the air conditioner on, and get a rest for about 15 minutes, and come back in and beat him some more. And you know what John would do? He’d just grit his teeth and say, “I can take it. Go ahead and give me everything you’ve got. It just makes me that much tougher.” And I mean that guy would beat him and beat him and beat him and beat him. You know what John would do? He’d go out and do the same thing tomorrow or something worse. I’ll tell you, he needed to have his will broken.
And the Lord finally broke his will. He hit a telephone pole in a ’68 Camaro going about 90 miles an hour–and was in a body cast for about three years. God got his attention.
You know what the Lord says to some people? He says, “Listen! No matter what I do, you’re not going to change!” I don’t understand it. So I guess that’s what God is saying here. “Why should ye be stricken any more? What’s the use? Ye will revolt more and more.” That’s why God takes some people’s lives. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he said, “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many SLEEP!” Why? Because God had chastised them, and they would not knuckle under.
I believe that’s what happened to my sister. She was 21 years old, and I believe she was as saved as any of you are. She was driving around a corner in her Fiat Spider in Atlanta, Georgia, on Labor Day Weekend. It was Friday morning. Somebody was washing their car, and the water was running down the street. If you have ever been to Atlanta, you know what it’s like; it’s all hills and curves. And she was coming around the corner in a Fiat Spider and hit that spot of water, and for some reason something was just kind of a quirk thing, and she turned it upside down and rolled it down the hill. And she was dead when they got there.
What happened? I think I know what happened. She wouldn’t live for God no matter what He did. She was going to go her own way.
You don’t think God still deals with people like that? Listen! Every preacher in America has got a list this long of graveyard stories that he could tell you about people who would not do the will of God, and wound up in the graveyard. And it’s the truth. God still deals with His people in severity if they don’t repent. Impenitence!
And then in verse number 6. Not only did they have a calamity, but they had a condition that God had brought upon them. And the condition was that they were imfirmed. “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither molified with ointment.” That’s a diseased church. That’s a diseased people. They are laden with iniquity, and because of that they were carrying disease. And, folks, like I told you a couple weeks ago, Josh McDowell says in any given week he’ll talk to fifty women from fundamentalist and evangelical churches who have contracted anywhere from three to six types of venereal disease–and one-third of them will be pastor’s wives. And that’s in any given week. That’s disturbing.
“From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.” That’s what happens! In a nation, and in a society, and in a church, where people will not put God first and obey Him and listen to His commands. Where they’re ungrateful, where they’re laden with iniquity, where they’re insolent, where they’re impenitent–they’ll become diseased.
But then in verse 7 through 15 I see that they are rejected. “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. And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a beseiged city. Except the <H>Lord<H> of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.” You get the picture?
Listen, there are a few people still crying out against that stuff. There are a few people who are still saying, “Flee youthful lusts. Flee fornication. Hold your ground morally. Be faithful to your wife. Wait until you are married to have sexual intercourse, and keep yourself pure, and it’s good for a man not to touch a woman.” And all that kind of stuff! And there’s still some old-fashioned people who are trying to stand for the truth in this day and age. And if it wasn’t for the few, we’d be right where Sodom and Gomorrah were.
Compromise, slick paper, soft-peddling streamlined, kind of go-along-with-the-world Christianity we’ve got today. And if you stand for decency, and you stand for morality, and you stand for modesty in dress and purity in your music and in your reading material and in your entertainment, and all that kind of stuff, and you refuse to subject yourself to the world’s morals and their ethics–you know what they say? They say you’re a crackpot, they say you’re a legalist, they say you’re a fanatic, they say you’re old-fashioned, they say that you’re nuts. I’ll tell you who the “nuts” are–anybody who is willing to let their society degenerate into Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s who’s “nuts”!
They were desolate. And then in verse number 10 they were denied. “Hear the word of the <H>Lord, <H>ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” You know what God’s saying? “And for what in the world do you even bother to go to church? Why do you even bother to give a sacrifice? I’m full of burnt of burnt-offerings.” He’s saying, “I’ve had it up to here. I’m full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.”
“When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?” You know what God’s saying? God says, “I never asked a bunch of people like you to come to my house.” I didn’t say that to you; God said it to them. But, you know, I mean, only if the shoe fits. But God says, “What are you doing? I’ve got no interest in a bunch of people–like the people in Israel were–coming down to my house. That’s not the kind I want. Stay home!” That’s what God says. “When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this? I didn’t tell you to come.”
“Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me.” You know, they’re in church all over the country right now this morning. And God only knows what they were up to last night. Some of them didn’t even go this morning; they went last night so they could go to the beach this morning. But God only knows what they were looking at, and what they were up to, and who they were with, and who they woke up with, and what they were putting in their mouth–and all the rest of it–last night. And they’re sitting in church this morning, they are splashing themselves down with holy water, and they’re genuflecting, and they’re saying a bunch of vain repetitions that they think is going to take care of it. It ain’t!
“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.” You know what a solemn meeting? It’s an excuse for real religion! When God’s people get together, it’s not a “solemn, stoic, formalistic” kind of a thing. When God’s people get together, they’re relaxed, they’re comfortable, they enjoy one another– it’s like a family getting together. And, again, I believe that things ought to be done decently, and I think things ought to be done orderly, and there ought to be some kind of method–but the atmosphere and the attitude ought to be one that’s relaxed, and one that’s informal, and one that’s comfortable, and one that’s not stuffy and religious. Because, if it’s stuffy and religious, something’s bad wrong.
The last thing I want is for when people to start coming to this church to feel “real religious” about it. I don’t want you to feel religious when you walk in the door. I want you to feel the same way when you go out as you came in; I want you to take the religion you got inside here, with you when you leave.
“Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination.” “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth.” That’s God’s attitude to insincerity! Their condition was rejected, their calamity was rebellion. They were desolate, they were denied, they were diseased. And they were insincere.
And God’s attitude toward insincerity is He hates it. It says in verse 15, “And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you.” Listen! The problem with the nation of Israel was not that they didn’t have any religion. The problem with the nation of Israel was not that they didn’t go up to the house of God. The problem with the nation of Israel was not that they did not do a bunch of stuff that was supposed to be “godly” and supposed to be “religious.” The problem was, they had no heart in it, and they were really serving false gods the rest of the time. And they were trying to “buy God off” on Saturday morning. Not Sunday back then.
“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.” I’ll tell you what, recently I read a newspaper article that said that we are heading into the 90’s and the most violent decade that this nation has ever known. I can’t give you, I can’t remember exactly all the statistics. But a few years ago the majority of violent crimes were being performed by people ages 40 and up. And just last year there were more violent crimes performed by people between the ages of 15 and 21, than ever before. I mean, the largest percentage of violent crimes were performed by people from 15 to 21. Better than half! For the first time ever!
And listen, you don’t think Freddy Krueger and Michael Myer and all that stuff has anything to do with it? You don’t think Friday the 13th on TV and all the horror stuff–you don’t think that’s got anything to do with it? You’re nuts! Of course it’s got something to do with it.
Young people are being arrested for violent crimes more than any other age group. And you know where they’re getting it; they’re getting it from MTV, and they’re getting it from Halloween I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, and all the rest of it. That’s where they’re getting it. And if you let your kid look at that, you’re crazy!
Abortion. “I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.” The count goes up a million and a half every year. Listen, I don’t think the church is here to fight abortion. I think the church is here to redeem lost sinners. But the prevalence of abortion, and the commonness of it in our society is indicative of the fact that the church has failed in carrying out the Great Commission. And God didn’t call us to go march against abortion; He told us to get people saved, and to stand for righteousness. And, listen, I’m for doing everything we can to stop it. But the best thing we can do to stop it is get those people saved.
Verse number 16 begins their call. Here’s God’s call to an unrepentant people. His call is to repentance. Comes in six basic areas. Number one–clean up! These are the vitals, these are the essentials of preaching. If nothing else, every sermon ought to contain in it three elements. “Cease to do evil.” “Learn to do well.” “Seek judgment.” If a sermon doesn’t contain, “Cease to do evil,” and “Learn to do well,” and “Seek judgment,” it’s not a sermon at all. It’s a nice little lesson for people who don’t want to change anything. “Cease to do evil.” “Learn to do well.” “Seek judgment.” That’s the crux of preaching.
Verse number 16 begins by saying, “Clean up.” “Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes.” Then He also says, “Cease to do evil. Learn to do well.” I say the second thing in the message is, “Bear down!” You have to learn to do well. You have to seek judgment. It takes a little effort; it takes a little struggle. It takes a little fighting against temptation. It takes a little resisting. It takes a little self-denial in order to be victorious and be an overcomer. But it needs to be done! Clean up your act, and stay clean! “Cease to do evil. Learn to do well!”
You say, “Well, I’d cease to do evil if I could.” Well, the reason you can’t is because you haven’t learned how to do well yet. Like Robert Murray McCheyne said, “Sins of omission open the door for sins of commission.” And the reason a lot of people have got problems with things that they’re doing that they’re shouldn’t be doing, is because they don’t know the things that they’re supposed to do. As I’ve said before, if you go to church like you’re supposed to go to church, and you’d read your Bible like you’re supposed to read your Bible, and you’d pray like you’re supposed to pray, and if you spend time with your family like you’re supposed to spend time with your family, and you try to be a witness to lost people, like you’re supposed to try to be a witness to lost people–by the time you got ready to do anything wrong, it’d be bedtime, and you’d be so worn out you wouldn’t have a chance to do anything wrong. And that’s the God’s honest truth. You’d be so worn out serving God, you wouldn’t have time or energy left for sin.”
I think the greatest defense that the child of God has against iniquity is zealous service. “Well, I got this terrible temptation; I’ve got this terrrible problem with looking at this, or going here and doing that–” Well, I’ll tell you what. Let me give you a real good suggestion. COME TO CHURCH! And that’ll take up–oh, let’s see–Sunday morning from 9:30 to 12:30, and then Sunday night from 6 o’clock to 8’clock, and then Wednesday night from 7 o’clock to 8:30. And then, if you’re a man, you can come to prayer meeting on Saturday night. That’ll take you a couple hours. And, uh, let’s see, you go on visitation on Thursday night, that would take you an hour and a half. You go street preaching on Saturday morning, that would take an hour and a half.
I’ll tell you what; take one night, and just spend it with your wife and kids, just devote yourself to them, and, really, just put your time and your whole life and attention into them. Just leave it clear, take the phone off the hook and do something with them. That will take care of one night.
Before you know it, you don’t have time left. You know what people want to do? They want to live their live the way they want to live it, and still have victory over sin. And they’re not going to have it.
CLEAN UP! BEAR DOWN! REACH OUT! He says, “Learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” You know what He’s saying there? GET BUSY FOR GOD! “Relieve the oppressed!” Now, again, I don’t believe that social action is the main responsibility of the church. The best thing you can do to relieve the oppressed is, you can tell them how to get deliverance in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, “Judge the fatherless.” I’m not sure what in the world that means, but you can “plead for the widow.” You know, there are people in this church right here that have got needs. Big needs! Big time needs! And if God doesn’t help them through, I don’t know how they’ll make it! You know what you could do? You could pray for some of those folks. “Learn to do well.” Find somebody around here who’s got a burden, and who’s got a need, write their name down and remember. I mean, there are people in here that God’s the only thing that gets them by month to month. It takes a miracle of God for them to just stay alive. You know what they need? They need your prayers.
“Plead for the widows.” Verse number 18, step forward: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the <H>Lord<H>.” The Bible is saturated with invitations that God Almighty makes to sinners who are wanting to be cleansed sinners, who are wanting to be purified sinners, who are wanting to be washed and redeemed, and Christians who are wanting to be restored into fellowship. And that invitation is just simply, “Come.” Step forward! What are you waiting for? God has done everything He can do, and He has held out His arms. But you have to take the next step.
I see seven marvels of mercy in 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.” The first marvel of mercy that I see is that God will forgive man when man sins without provocation. As I said, you do what you do because you want to do it–and that’s all there is to it. And you can’t blame it on anybody else! And if you had been there in the garden of Eden, then you would have done exactly what Adam and Eve did; you would have rebelled against God, and you would have eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil just like they did! Because that’s just the way you are. And you know it! If you’re honest with yourself, that’s the way you are. You’re going to go your own way. And the marvel of mercy is to me that God will forgive man, when man sins without provocation. God does not do anything to make it easy for you to sin; God does not do anything to entice you to sin. The Bible says, “God cannot be tempted; neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust is conceived it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” God is the Author and the agent of good things. And temptation has nothing to do with God. God forgives man when man sins without provocation.
Then not only that, but the second marvel of mercy is that God is willing to forgive even those who do not receive it. He’s not going to say, “Come and let us reason together, saith the Lord,” to only the “elect”! But He makes that invitation to every individual. The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 2, that the Lord bought even the false teachers who go out and teach heretical doctrine that’s contrary to the gospel. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” It’s a marvel of mercy to me that God is ready and will forgive and would forgive even those whom He knows beforehand don’t want it.
Then the third marvel of mercy is that God would stoop to reason with sinners. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” God has a conference table that He sits at. And he says, “I’ve got some good, sensible things I’d like to discuss with you, if you’re willing to listen. If you just sit at my table, I’ll go over some important information, and we’ll come to a solution to your problem. You got a sin problem? O.K., I think we can do something about that. You on your way to hell? Are you really? Well, I think we can do something about that. You can’t save yourself? You’ve got no way to pay for your sins? Well, why don’t you come and sit down for a few minutes and we’ll talk about it. Maybe we can do something.” “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.” And God invites sinners to come down, and He says, “Listen! Let’s talk! And I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll do everything I can. I’ll even give my Son for you. I’ll even let the most precious thing that I have go to a cross and be crucified and smitten of men and afflicted, and suffer the pains and endurance of an eternal hell for your sins–if you’d just receive the payment. Does that sound good to you?”
The fourth marvel of mercy is that it is God and not ourselves that should take the initiative. When you think about that, we ought to be running to God’s throne and kneeling in contrition and begging God to provide salvation. Instead, God provides it beforehand and then comes to us and says, “Listen! I’ve got something for you. You want it?” Sinners continue in their sin, continue in their rebellion and denial of God. They follow the course that they’ve set for their lives with no acknowledgment of God whatsoever. And God beforehand paid for their sins, and had made the opportunity for them to trust Jesus Christ somewhere along the line. The Bible says, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” “Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldiness lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” The marvel is that God would take initiative. But it is important because man never will. If God didn’t interrupt man on his downward spiral, then man would never be stopped. But God had to take the initiative.
And then, number five. The fifth marvel of mercy is that God would not only pardon sin but actually overhaul and renew the sinner. “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” The Bible says, “If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” He said, “As far as the east is from the west, so far have I removed your transgressions from you.” When God takes a sinner, He not only pardons his sin and forgives him of it and removes the penalty, but He gives that person a new personality. He gives him a new life. He completely transforms him from the inside and sets him on an entirely different course. The things they used to like, they don’t like any more. The things they used to hate, they find a new love for. The interests that used to captivate all their time and money now are left behind, and an entirely new set of things come into their life to interest them and to involve them. And they have to do with the church and with the Bible and winning people to Christ. God not only redeems a person, He not only pardons, but He overhauls us. He completely remakes us.
The sixth marvel of mercy is that the terms should be so easy. Everybody figures that, “Listen, there’s got to be something I’ve got to do. You mean I don’t have to go to church to be saved?” No. “You mean I don’t have to get the right feeling to be saved?” No. “You mean I don’t have to be baptized to be saved?” No. “You mean I don’t have to take communion?” No. “What do I have to do?” I’ll tell you what you have to do. You’re in the driver’s seat. And you’re going down the road. And the whole time the Lord’s over here and He’s saying, “You want me to drive?” And you say, “No thanks. I’m doing fine.” And you sideswipe a tree and you run into a ditch and you spin out and you blow the tires, and the radiator explodes and the water pump goes, and the whole thing is just barely limping along, and you finally get out, and you say, “You know, Lord, maybe I think you’d better take over.” That’s what you’ve got to do. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” And believing is more than just acknowledging certain facts in your head; it’s believing them to the degree that you put your confidence in Him, and He knows better what to do with you and your life than you do. That’s genuine belief. That’s genuine trust. That’s receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. The Bible says He came into His own, and His own received Him not, “but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Do you believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you trusted Him? Have you put your entire life in His hands and said, “All right, if I die, I’m on my way to hell, and I can’t do anything about it, but I believe Jesus paid my sin debt, and I want that payment, I want that eternal life. I’m going to get to heaven on His righteousness, or nothing. And I’m trusting in Him.” That’s what you need to do. The terms are so easy.
And last of all, the seventh marvel of mercy is that God is long-suffering of man’s continued refusals. How many times has God said, “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.” I realize the Bible says, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” but you know there’s people in this world whom God has pled with again and again and again and again–and they grit their teeth and they grit the pew and they stiffen themselves and they harden themselves against the conviction. And they get through the invitation one more time, and think they got out safe. But what they did is they got out damned. And they’ll come back, and God will deal with them again. And they’ll squeeze the pews until their knuckles are white, and their heart will palpitate, and they’ll sweat blood practically–and they’ll go out one more time. Listen, there are men in churches all over the Southern part of this United States who are in their 60’s and 70’s who aren’t saved yet, and they’ve been going to church and listening to gospel messages their whole life. How in the world somebody could sit through that and think that they’ve won some kind of a battle is beyond me–but they’re doing it. And the marvel to me is that God is long-suffering, continues in spite of man’s refusals.
And God is still saying to sinners, “Come now, and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” He said it in the first century, and only a few came. He said it in the second century, and only a few came. And here we are twenty centuries after the death of Jesus Christ, and He was saying it hundreds of years before Jesus came, and He’s been saying it for two thousand years since He came, “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.” And most men walk by Him and say, “Don’t bother me, I’ve got something else to do.”
Seven marvels of mercy. God says, “Clean up!” He says, “Bear down!” He says, “Reach out!” He says, “Step forward!” He says, “Think it through!” “Come now, and let us reason together.” You got any better ideas? You got a better idea how to get to Heaven than have God take care of it for you? You got any better idea how to have your sins forgiven than to have them washed in the blood of Jesus Christ? You got any better idea how to live your life than through the power of the Holy Spirit? You got any better ideas? “Come now, and let us reason together.” If you think you’ve got a better idea, maybe, if you listen to God, He could talk you out of it. Most people don’t want to listen to God.
And then in verse number 19, He says, “Wake up!” “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” Christians need to wake up to that. “Be willing and obedient.” You know why Christians aren’t eating the good of the land? That’s why! “But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of the <H>Lord <H>hath spoken it.” Incidentally, there’s inspiration right there. Isaiah is doing the talking, but God’s the speaker. The “mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” It’s not a big mouth floatin’ around, you know, and opening it, and words are coming out. Isaiah is talking. But God’s talking through him.
“How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment: righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.” Will Durant, who was an agnostic, socialist, historian, says that civilizations begin stoic and end Epicurean. That’s not some Christian historian trying to buffalo you with his own point of view. That’s the perception of an unsaved secular historian. He says, “Civilizations begin stoic, and end epicurean.” Every great civilization that ever existed began with a group of people who were disciplined, and began with a group of people who were interested in obtaining some goals and worked hard toward those goals. And when they got the thing that they worked hard for, they laid back and relaxed and enjoyed them, and sunk into moral depravity, and their civilization was overrun. And that’s what’s taking place right now. The United States of America began stoic. When you say the word “puritan” right now, it’s like saying something nasty, horrible, and dirty.
Listen! The best thing you could be would be a puritan in your thinking. I don’t mean a “neo-puritan,” you know, and all that stopping at John Owen with your eschatology, and your theology. But I do mean puritanical morals are pretty good.
And the devil has done a horrible disservice to the body of Christ and to Americans by giving the word “puritan” an awful connotation. When they think “puritan,” you know, they think Hestery Primm in Scarlet Letter, and all that stuff. What they don’t think is a bunch of people who prayed and loved God and wanted to serve Him more than anything else, and were clean.
Civilizations begin stoic, and they end epicurean. And we’ve moved away from the Puritans who came over here in 1620 to Robert Maplethorpe and Andre Shirano and Andy Sprinkle, and all that kind of stuff. Wake up!
“The faithful city is become an harlot!” “It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.”
“Thy silver has become dross.” You know what that is? That’s inflation. That’s economic inflation, that’s the consequences of it. You know why we’re having economic inflation? It’s not the policies of the Reagan Administration. It’s not the policies of the Carter Administration. It’s not even the policies of the Roosevelt Administration–not the economic policies. The economic policies are the result of the moral policies. Like Dr. Ruckman says, in the 1930’s they took away your gold and gave you back beer. And America has been on a downward spiral ever since, when they repealed Prohibition. That’s when inflation started. There was no “inflation” until they repealed Prohibition.
“Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with wate. Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of theieves.” That’s government married to organized crime; they’re digging stuff up all the time. You know what that is? Barney Frank. Him and Steve Goby have a homosexual prostitution ring operating out of a Senatorial office. He says he didn’t know anything about it. You wanna bet? You think somebody can operate a homosexual prostitution ring out of your house, and you wouldn’t know about it–it’s just you and them living there?
“Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.” Bribes, hush money.
“Therefore saith the Lord, the <H>Lord <H>of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries.” You know what it is? It’s a relief to God to beat the snot out of His adversaries. I mean, He’s just sick and tired and fed up with it. He’s had it up to here; His patience is worn away, and nothing is going to make Him feel any better than just reeking havoc on His adversaries. “I will ease me of mine adversaries.” It’s like a burden. God’s wound up like a coil spring, ready to pour out His judgment.
In verse number 25 to the end of the chapter you see finally the consequences. Their calamity was rebellion, their condition was rejected, their call was to repentance–and there are two consequences. They made the choice. Verse 25 says, “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin. And I will restore thy judges as at the first.” I could talk about the American legal system for a while if I chose to, but I think I’ll pass on. You know it’s corrupt. “And thy counsellors.” You know what you call an attorney? A counsellor. “Here an attorney, there an attorney, everywhere an attorney attorney.” In one year, we’re going to have ten million lawyers, I think is the figure. You know what lawyers make their money off of? People extracting money from other people that they don’t deserve. That’s what lawyers are there for.
“Thy counsellors as at the beginning.” In the early days of this country lawyers were men of dignity. They were men of integrity. Now all they are is just predators who go out and do everything they can to extort money from other people. And now they’re after the church.
At the last annual conference of the American Bar Association, they sat down, and the topics of discussion were using tort law against religious institutions, because it was an untapped supply that they hadn’t got in their bank account yet. And they are trying to figure out any way they can to get the money out of the churches, because so far the church has been an untapped resource. The guy needs another BMW in his garage; he needs another summer home someplace. So where can we get the money? We’ve just about got everybody in America divorced now. What’s left? Oh, let’s see; we can go after the church! Amen, amen!
“I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy consellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Not until then!
“Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.” The consequences of repentance are restoration and redemption. “I will restore thy judges and thy counsellors. Zion shall be redeemed.” But the consequences for resistance are in verse number 28, “And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the <H>Lord <H>shall be consumed.”
Somebody said, “Well, I’m not really a sinner. I’m not that bad. I mean, I’ve never killed anybody, I’ve never got involved in serious crime. I mean, sure, you know, I may tell a lie every now and then, you know, and maybe I’m not as obedient to my parents as I should have been. You know, maybe I’m a little bit covetous, but surely that doesn’t bother God.”
Listen, you think you’re doing O.K.? Let me read you this. When we think of sin, we just think of the gross, external, heinous things, you know, that society scorns. But listen to this: “Sin is to feel a secret pride in success, training, or appearance, to feel an important or independent spirit, to feel bitter over what someone has told you about the success of somebody else.” That gets nearly every preacher I know! “Sin is a hard, sarcastic or unyielding spirit, a touchy, bitter, sensitive spirit, a desire to attract the attention of the opposite sex.” Hello! “Sin is saying or doing things that attract attention to yourself, a constant complaining and a desire to quit trying to do right. Sin is an unnatural or abusive act against self or others, a deceitful or evasive spirit that seeks to create false impressions. Sin is to pick out flaws and criticize when set aside or unnoticed; lustful or wandering eyes, shrinking from duty and reproach, a tendency to retaliate when crossed, permitting things in yourself you wouldn’t allow in your idea of a consecrated Christian. Sin is a shallow, stingy uncleanness in thought or desire, a joker or a gesture vain and light in manner of conversation or life. Sin is unwillingness to put out for others unless personal gain or advantage might result. Sin is partiality to certain persons, classes or denominations in dealings. Sin is always thinking about what might have been, if things hadn’t happened the way they did. Sin is an unthankful or unappreciative lot of life in constant fear of failure, and taking an unmerciful attitude toward those who do fail. Or taking an inferior attitude to those of wealth or position. Sin is putting over a false or exaggerated humility, imagining how others are praising or speaking well of you, straining at the truth, manifesting an “I don’t care” attitude about being caught in sin, or shirking responsibilities. Sin is the feeling of nervousness you have when watching somebody do something you think you could do better.”
Are you a sinner? “The destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the <H>Lord <H>shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired.” You know what that is? That’s “Earth Day.” “And ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.” They’re all worried about “saving the whales” and “saving the owls.” Listen, you know what they’d do if they save the owls? You know how many people are going to be put out of work if they save the owls? Crazy nuts! Listen, you know what happens when they cut a tree? If there’s an owl living in the tree, you know what the owl does? He moves to another tree. And they’ve got a guy up there now in the Pacific Northwest. It’s real simple, you know. I’m not a naturalist. I mean, that’s what I would do, right? I mean, if they bulldozed my house, I’d just move to another house. They got a guy whom they pay–I don’t know how much they’re paying him–but he’s an oceanographer. He’s not even a naturalist, and they’re paying that guy a salary–probably a fat one–to walk through the Pacific Northwest and count owls. You know, let me think for just a minute. He’s going to walk around the woods, and every time he sees an owl he’s going to mark it down that he saw one, right? Yeah. But what if it’s the same owl? What about the owls he didn’t see? What do you think the margin of error in that kind of survey is?
My wife has got some stickers; they’re seals. And a seal is holding up a sign which says, “Save the baby humans!”
Green Peace and Sierra Club–I’ll tell you, you know what they are? They are the worst enemy the human race has got. I recently read a column by Walter Williams, who’s a conservative columnist. He’s a black man. And I don’t remember the exact figures, but there are two nations in Africa right now where they’re harvesting ivory from elephant tusks. And in one country the elephants are supposedly a protected species, and it’s illegal to hunt elephants for ivory in that country. And the elephant population has decreased from like 19,000–I’m pretty sure of these figures–to about 15,000 over the last five years. And in the next country, the neighboring country–I believe it’s Kenya–in the next country, elephants are regarded as a source of income, and the tribal people herd them, and work with them, like we do cattle over here. And the elephant population has increased from 19,000 to about 60,000 in the same time period. That’s where it’s legal! And where it’s illegal, what’s happened?
You know what the best thing you can do to produce a species is? Market some of it! You want to see to it that the marmaset, you know, is not an endangered species? I tell you what you do; you make marmaset skins worth a lot of money. And somebody will go out and catch a bunch of those things and start breeding them. And you’ll have marmasets coming out of your ears. You know why? Because there’s money in them. And there’s money in elephant tusks, and if those tribesmen over there can get some of that money, you can believe they’re going to protect their herds. And you can believe they’re going to see to it that they increase in number–not decrease. And in another country where they’re supposedly illegal to take the ivory, the herds are going down. The poachers are getting them. And all they’re doing is just going in, and they’re just shooting the elephants, taking the tusks, and leaving the dead carcass there. Whereas, in the next country, they’re trying to raise that thing.
And I’m ‘way off the subject, I know. I probably shouldn’t even have got on it. But it’s just the stupidity, it’s the stupidity of the environmentalists and the animal rights crowd. The worst thing that you can do for a species is to try and protect it. It seems strange, doesn’t it? But statistics seem to bear it out otherwise.
All this “Earth Day” stuff. God says, “You know what you’re going to be? You’re going to be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.” You know what? They’d rather serve Mother Nature than God, that’s the problem. They’re going into a pantheistic type of an ethic. God’s everywhere and in everything, and nature is God, and God is nature, and Mother Nature, and the things of the “Great Whatness” and all that stuff. They’d rather have an oak and a tulip than have a true God.
“For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.” That’s what happens to the unrepentant.
Now, God’s solution is, again, “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.” That’s God’s call to America, but that’s also God’s call to the individual. You yourself this morning, you wouldn’t put yourself in the category of these Israelites. You’d say, “Oh, I’m not that bad. I’m a decent fellow. I’m all right. Everything’s okay.” Everything’s not okay. You’re a sinner. The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” “We are all as an unclean thing. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” The best you can do would get you in hell tomorrow.
And Christians, I believe there’s been enough said this morning to indicate to you that there may be sin in your life. And that ought to be repented of. God says, “Come, and let us reason together. 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 wash you clean this morning and give you a fresh start. You just come to Him.
Let’s stand with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Every head bowed, every eye closed. No one looking around. While Christians pray, I just want to ask a few questions. How many of you will say this morning, “I’m absolutely certain that the Lord Jesus Christ is my personal Saviour. I’ve trusted Him, and He’s saved me, and when I die I’ll go to heaven because of what He did.” How many of you will indicate that by uplifted hand? You’re saved, you know you’re saved, there’s no doubt in your mind at all?
All right, how many will say this morning, “You know, I’m not sure.” Listen, a Christian is not somebody who’s perfect. If you’ve got sin in your life, and again, folks, I go over this list periodically, and God slaps me every time. I got sin in my life. When you start defining sin like this, “The feeling of nervousness you have when you watch somebody do something you think you could do better.” I wish they had lived that one on me. You know what you do? You repent of it. You say, “God, it’s wicked. I’m doing it, but I don’t want to do it any more. Forgive me. Help me not to do it again.” Next time you do it, you know, say the same thing. Don’t use the blood of Jesus Christ as an excuse to keep doing it; I mean, you ought to want to stop. But you’re probably going to have to plead the blood of Jesus Christ every day for the rest of your life. That doesn’t mean you’re not saved. It just means you’re typical.
What about, just something, you know, that God says you ought to quit it, and you don’t want to quit it? That’s another matter. And if you think, “Well, I’ll just go ahead and do it one more time, and then I’ll plead the blood, you know, and confess it according to 1 John 1:9, so I can, you know, get away with it and do it again,” you’re all messed up. You can be saved, but you’re all messed up.
I wonder who this morning will say, “You know, I don’t know if I’m saved or not? If I was to die tonight, I couldn’t say for certain that I’d be in heaven? I might be in hell! Well, maybe you’d even say I know I’d be in hell! I’m sure I’m not saved!” The Bible says, “Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.” There’s no reason to wait. “What is your life? It is a vapor, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.” You have no guarantee of tomorrow. The time to get saved is now, not to wait till later. If you’re not saved, indicate by raising your hand, say, “I’m not saved; I need to be saved, and I want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, and trust Him as my Lord and Saviour, and put Him behind the wheel of my life.” Anybody say that this morning? “I need to be saved.”
All right, while heads are bowed and eyes are closed, we’re going to pray, and then we’ll sing. Father, we ask that you have your way during this invitation, that the response would be according to your perfect will. For it’s in thy name we ask it all. Amen.
All right, you can look this way. We’re going to sing Number 266. We’ll sing two verses. If no one comes before the second verse, we’ll close. As long as people come, we’ll keep the invitation open. Number 266.