Called to be Cleansed - Isaiah 1:18

Title: Called to be cleansed
Date: August 9, 2009
Text: Isaiah 1:18
Introduction
- Background
- Isaiah lived during the early 700’s BC
- During his day, the House of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians, in 721 BC
- Isaiah prophesies to the House of Judah, to turn from their wicked ways
- They had seen the results of the disobedience of the northern 10 tribes
- But they were going down exactly the same road
- In fact they were even more hypocritical
- They were bringing their sacrifices to the temple and seemed to be worshipping God
- But their lives inside did not match their outside form of religion
- God says they were like Sodom and Gomorrah
- Isa 1:2-15
- But God calls to them to repent
- 16-20
God calls to rescue us
- God makes the first move
- God always makes the first move
- God has to make the first move
- Because we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1)
- We cannot come to God
- Our nature rebels against him, we don’t want him in our lives
- So we battle against it continually
- Luke 19:10 – Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost
- We think there is some goodness in man that will cause him to seek God at some point
- No, man is utterly depraved
- Within me dwells no good thing (Rom 7:18)
- John 6:44 – I can never come to God except God draws me to him
- 1 John 4:19 – we love because He first loved us
- God sees our state way better than we do
- Have you ever been in a position of total depravity
- I respect every human being as a person, but there is nothing respectable about a drunk who is lying in his own vomit underneath a bush or out on the street somewhere
- If you have ever been there, you probably had no concept of how bad things were
- It is only when you sobered up that you saw the blood in your vomit and knew this had to stop
- It takes God to sober us up
God’s call is for now
- 2 Cor 6:2 – now is the day of salvation
- When a man has fallen over the edge of a cliff, and is hanging onto some roots to stop his fall to destruction, he does not argue about when he needs to respond to the rescue helicopter
- Oh, I’ll wait till tomorrow
- No, the time to deal with it is now
- Otherwise we are like the person described in
- 2 Pet 2:22
- This person is not yet sick and tired of being sick and tired
- God saw where the Israelites were going
- He knew what captivity would be like and the horrors of the punishment that they were bringing on themselves
- If we only could see and experience a little of where our sinful life is taking us
- If we could only see the video in heaven called, this is your life
- If we could see our shame and embarrassment when that video is played on judgment day, and the awful voice of him who says “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mat 25:41)
God’s call is personal
- Isa 1:18 – come let us reason together
- This is an intimate and very personal call
- This is not a pastor saying some words to the whole church hoping someone will listen
- This is a personal, intimate call to an individual
- So if we feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit, God is knocking at the door of our heart
- God says to us, let’s get together and settle this issue
- It will be sorted out, one way or another
- In this verse we sense God’s longing for us to get our act together
- This is a personal thing
- He draws a line on our heart and pulls on us to step across that line, to safety
- Do you see that line, do you feel that pressure, that sense that God is talking to you personally (Hos 11:4)
God’s cleansing is total
- God promises, when we come to him, our sins that were scarlet will be white as snow
- This is a total transformation
- God no longer sees us as being sinful
- Because ours ins have been blotted out
- We can now commence a journey of walking with him, without all the baggage of the past
- Amos 3:3 – can two walk together except they be agreed
- We can walk together with God, but only when we have sorted things out
- God says, lets settle this case out of court, I’m giving you a chance for freedom
- If we don’t accept this invitation, one day we will see the video and hear the words, and feel the torment
- We don’t want to go there, now is the time to change our future