Come now, let’s settle this……..

 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.
 If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat.

 But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”      Isaiah 1:18-20 NLT

There have been many times that people have said to me they have sinned in a way that God could or would not forgive them. I do not believe there is any one that cannot be forgiven.

It does not matter how bad you have been; it does not matter what sins you have committed.  God is in the business of forgiving sins and loving people. The passage above tells us God can cleanse us from the stains of sin.  No matter what they are if we are willing to repent and be obedient to Him.

God wants us to come to Him, in Isa. 1:18a , He says, “Come now……”

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:2,“For He says: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.”

 God is longing for His people to return to Him.

Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

Isa. 1: 18 (b) says, “…when we come to God, He will reason with us.”
Please note here that the word reason means to demonstrate what is right and true.

 He will reason with us what is true about Himself. One truth about God is: He loves you!

Romans 5:8: "….. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not parish but have everlasting life."

 It is true that He came to save us.


God will reason with us in regards to what is true about our sin.


It is interesting that Isaiah uses two colors here in describing our sins: “scarlet” and “crimson.”  Old Testament scholars say that there is no distinguishable difference between the two as they were found in ancient times. The dye for this color came from a worm. The dye was absolutely colorfast and indelible.  It wouldn’t wash out, which was one reason why it was so expensive. It went down deep into the very fabric, and wouldn’t come out. It has been used to illustrate sin in our lives.

 It was also, the same color as blood. 

 

We cannot wash our sins clean. There is no new leaf we can turn over, no self-help program we can launch, no amount of determination we can acquire, that can take away the indelible stain of our sin.  

 

And when God says to us, “Though your sins be as scarlet,” He’s trying to say to us that not only are we sinners, but our sins cannot be washed away by any human means.

Snow is used in the Scriptures as a symbol for whiteness, for purity. When David prayed his beautiful prayer of confession in Psalm 51, he said, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (v. 7).

Daniel had a vision of God, and in that vision he saw that “thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days took his seat; his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool” (Daniel 7:9).

 

It has nothing to do with the color of your skin.  It has everything to do with the condition of your soul before God.

 

In spite of our scarlet sins, God desires to make us white, pure, forgiven, and clean before Himself and He does it through the shedding of the scarlet blood of His Son Jesus.

God can take our sins and clean them out in such a way that there is no evidence and no stain of sin left in our life.

The scriptures tell us that He casts the sin as far away from as the east is from the west and He remembers them no more.

 He can make us as white as snow, as clean as washed and bleached wool.

God is still calling to the unreasonable and the ungodly. He will forgive and cleanse all who come to Him. His blood still makes guilty men clean. It would take a totally unreasonable person not to respond to His call.

Whether a nation is part of Israel or not, if they rebel against God’s authority and demand to be judges of what is right and wrong for themselves, they will eventually be called to account.  God does not wish to condemn a nation, but God will not be mocked forever, and with a heavy heart He will deliver a wicked nation to its merited judgment if they refuse His repeated calls to repent and receive grace and mercy.   

God delivered a timeless message to all nations at all times, a message that is particularly relevant to our own times.  God speaks to a wicked and rebellious nation seeking for them to reason with Him. He promises them forgiveness for their sins, if they will repent, and for the imputed righteousness of the Lamb of God to be on them rather than their own sinful character. He promises blessings for repentance and obedience to His ways, and judgment for disobedience and rebellion.  

How long until the nations of this world take His call to repent seriously?

Why do we not repent?

Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."


1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Today I want you to understand that God loves you and will not let you perish in sin if you would just come to Him and repent of your sin.