Isaiah 1:18 The Lord Calls His People to Take Inventory of ...
THE LORD CALLS US TO TAKE INVENTORY OF OUR LIFE.
Isaiah 1: 18
A New Year’s Eve Sermon by:
Rev. L. Roth
PUBLISHED BY THE
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(December 2006)
LITURGY:
Votum
Psalter 244: 1, 2, 4
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1: 1 – 20
Text: Isaiah 1: 18
Confession of Faith: Belgic Confession, Art 37
Psalter 106: 1, 3, 4, 5
Congregational Prayer
Offerings
Psalter 235
Sermon
Psalter 140: 1, 3, 4
Thanksgiving Prayer
Psalter 446: 2, 3, 4
Doxology: Psalter 315
Isaiah 1:18 The Lord Calls Us to Take Inventory of Our Life
Beloved Congregation.
We have come to the final hours of this year 2006. The year has swiftly passed by in which many things took place in our lives. Some things perhaps were very noteworthy by which your life has been greatly affected. Perhaps you experienced failing health which makes it difficult to perform your daily labors and even to get around. Some of us may have been called on to endure financial losses or other hardships by which your spirit is troubled. Yes, many things have occurred in our lives each day again for which we will one day have to give an account, whether they be bad or good. You know, most often we do not even take note of all that has taken place during the course of a day. Why? Because we take our life for granted. We do not have an eye for our sins nor for the many blessings the Lord showers upon us. But one thing is sure. Each day again we increase our guilt. That is especially true when we reflect upon a year that has gone by.
Well now, let us consider the words of our text on this New Year’s Eve service under the following theme, THE LORD CALLS US TO TAKE INVENTORY OF OUR LIFE. In the first place let us consider A Gracious Invitation. Secondly, let us regard A Righteous Ruling. In the third place let us examine A Wondrous Verdict.
In the first place let us consider A Gracious Invitation. When we reflect back on a week that has gone by or a particular season such as this past summer then we may be filled with certain sentiments. Sometimes we say, We have had a good summer. We experienced a blessed Christmas season and so on. But all the while, we are painting our lives with a wide brush, reflecting upon our lives in a very general way. But if we would have diligently kept a diary of everything that happened during that period of time in our lives, then perhaps our lives would not have seemed so favorable after all. And then we still have not even considered how that the Lord assesses our lives. Our thoughts and our views upon life are seen through ‘rose’ colored glasses. We see the so called ‘positive things’ of life in a very
favorable way and the negatives we are so apt to shrug off as things which are not so serious and even beyond our control so that we could not really help it.
But in our text Chapter, the Lord God has taken inventory of Israel’s life. In verse 6 He says that from the sole of their foot even to the top of their head there is no soundness. They are full of wounds and bruises and purifying sores. The picture given is that there is no healing process, no restorative measures taking place of any kind. The prophet calls Israel a daughter of Zion who is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Verse 8. And so the picture given of the people called after God’s own name is that they are languishing and fading away, instead of flourishing. Yes, it is so bad concerning Israel that the Lord made an opening, grievous charge against her as we read in verse 3, The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib, but Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider. And then the Lord laments about His people in the following verse, Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord; they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Well now, when we read this verdict concerning Israel’s condition then we cannot expect very much good to come from this call the Lord makes to His covenant own, can we? Surely, we can expect that the Lord’s righteous and just judgment will prevail. Since Israel has forsaken the Lord we can only expect Him to reward her according to her deserts. Surely the Lord will point out to Israel that her debit column is full and that she will not be shown any mercy by the Almighty! Even her sacrifices and celebration of various feasts were not pleasing unto God because while Israel went through various motions of worship her heart was not right with God. The nation as a whole was hypocritical in their worship and violent in their deeds. No, congregation, when the Lord reflects back on Israel’s life then there is not very much good that can be said concerning her, in fact, nothing at all.
But now look how the Lord speaks to that same people in the words of our text. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. What? Did we hear that right? Does the Lord invite sinners to come to Him? And, what’s this call mean, Let us reason together? How can this be especially in light of all that the Lord has said concerning His people? What about God’s perfect sense of justice? He has
just declared how grievous their sins actually were; He has basically discovered them to their bankrupt condition. What’s this all about that the Lord calls His people to come to Him and to dialogue with Him? The Lord has made a perfect and just assessment of the nation, hasn’t He? Oh yes He has! There is no doubt about that! And yet He calls the people called after His own name to take up accounts with Him.
Well now, that which the Lord did with His people of old, He does with us today as well. In the words of our text on this New Year’s Eve we are given the invitation by the Lord to look back at what has transpired in our lives. And when the Lord asks us to do so this is not to merely take a brief glance backward on our life but we need to consider and weigh our lives, of what sort it has been. What has guided our words, and our thoughts, and our deeds in this past year? Was it even worthy of mentioning? Was it good or bad? That’s the question which faces us. And besides this is the question what we have left undone in word, thought, and deed. Yes, to us the Lord extends the gracious invitation, Come, and let us reason together. Let us set up the balances. Let us take stock of our past record.
Do the words of the Lord not seem unusual to you, congregation? Are they not remarkable? Yes, beloved, the Lord stoops so low to have dealings with sinners such as we are. He, Who is the high and lofty one Who inhabits eternity, calls sinners to come to Him. By these words, the Lord as it were would take us by the arm and lead us to the city gate where decisions were made and justice meted out in those days. How amazing, dear friends! The Lord as it were says to His guilty people, Come and let us reason together. He, Who is all knowing, invites us to bring all our grievances and complaints to Him. Maybe there are areas in your life where you believe the Lord should have dealt differently with you. Perhaps there were things in your life that seem unfair. That’s what Israel also thought as we read in Isaiah 40, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God. By that time Israel was in the land of captivity, from the land of promise. But here too, Israel is in a very bad way. The daughter of Zion seems to be a city forsaken by her God. And yet….here in our text we have a gracious invitation, Come, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.
These are very remarkable words when you just think of it. God in heaven calls sinners to come to Him to make up the ledger of their life. This is most amazing when you just think of the fact that our lives will come out in the red. Really, the balance in our ledger will not merely be a big fat zero, but it
will be in the negative. Our account with God is over drawn. And all that we can expect to receive is His just judgment. But, listen, just listen again, congregation, to this gracious, merciful invitation, Come, come my dear people, come. Yes, this call is even given in the form of a command. And then we have the beautiful exhortation, Let us reason together. Come, bring all your complaints, all your grievances and sorrows to Me.
Perhaps there are some in our midst who feel bowed down with various grievances. You have lost a dear loved one, a dear father, mother, husband or wife. Perhaps someone has received the news of an incurable disease. Brokenness is experienced in another family’s life; siblings do not get along; children rise up against parents, husbands and wives separate. And still others experience that all kinds of difficulties have arisen in the work place. And so the list can go on. Left to ourselves we can even become bitter due to these various reverses in life. And then the question may arise, What have I done to deserve this? Is the Lord not unjust in sending these afflictions? Yes, such reasoning very naturally bubbles up in our hearts. And it is only by grace, beloved, if we learn to put our hand upon our mouth and have nothing to say to the Lord. For truly, if the Lord would enter into judgment with any of us, who then could stand? Not one of us. May we be convinced of this by the Spirit’s power, beloved, as we have come to the end of another year in God’s House. This brings us to our second thought, A Righteous Ruling.
In the words of our text the Lord has given the gracious invitation to dialogue with Him. This is really amazing. For God knows the end from the beginning and the beginning of our existence right to the very end in a way far above that we know ourselves. And yet He gives the gracious invitation to lay all our needs and wants before Him and to bring all the complaints and sorrows before Him. Why? For one thing, in this way He will reveal what really lives in our heart. For, by nature we are apt to bring forward all kinds of excuses for our behavior and way of life. It’s because of the way that we are made, or because of circumstances that sin has power over our life. If God’s providence in our life had only been better; if the Lord had only done things better, then our life would have been better too. But when the Lord invites us to go to Him and to reason together, then we must not think that we will be able to bring these kinds of charges before Him. For look again at our text. He does not stop after issuing a
gracious invitation but in one breath He continues on speaking, Come, let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet!
Yes, beloved, the Lord has a controversy with His people Israel and with you and with me. Your and my sins separate us from the Lord. Perhaps you had not really thought of that. Maybe you did not think of them as you came to this New Year’s Eve service. But the Lord knows your and my sins, through and through. And therefore, before anything else He places them before Himself and us. He places His peoples’ sins in the balances of His just and perfect judgment. You know, congregation, this opening Chapter of Isaiah is really a complaint concerning Israel and her sins. An animal recognizes its master but Israel has become unfaithful. She is leprous from the sole of her foot unto the crown of her head. And all her religious observances are nothing more than a formality. Her hands are full of blood.
And so, when the Lord invites both Israel and us to reason together, that does not mean that we will be able to bring all sort of grievances to Him, not at all. For the Almighty is the Creator and Sustainer of life and we are but the creature; He is the Potter and we are but clay. To reason together in the case before us means that we submit completely to the directives which God Himself lays down. And so before we can really say anything, we are actually silenced. For, there is one major thing which lies between you and the Lord, namely, your sin and guilt. And so when we would go about weighing the affairs of our life at the end of this year in the balances of God, then our side of the balance would immediately strike down to the bottom. Having been weighed by God’s balance we would be found wanting. For your and my sins, dear friends were so many, also in this past year, innumerable. And with all the good intentions we may have had during this past year, we cannot exist before God. Really, we stand condemnable in God’s holy sight.
Come, let us reason together, the Lord says. When you just think of this for a moment, this really cannot mean so very much good for you and me. It’s far, far worse than being called to the principal’s office at school. Perhaps that has changed today. But thirty or so years ago, when you as a child were commanded to go to the principal’s office that meant that you were in big trouble. Everyone dreaded ever being called to go there; for, he was the head authority who could also deal out severe punishment for the wrong you had done. However, in our text it is not merely a man who call us, but the Almighty God Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Does this not strike fear into your
innermost being? Is the testimony of the Psalmist not true when he writes, If Thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
And therefore, when the Lord calls us to come to Him to reason together, then it cannot be otherwise but that we will have to remain silent in His presence. For…our sins are as scarlet, they are red like crimson. Yes, beloved, in this way the Lord will teach Israel and us the real truth concerning our life. Let us therefore put away any sentimental feelings we may have as we experience the transition from the Old to the New Year. Many people frivolously waste away their time, also at the close of an Old Year, time for which they, and we all will be called to give an account. But how do we regard this, beloved? Yes, we may indeed reflect somewhat upon the year gone by, but what about weighing our lives in the balances, what about that part? Many people would just as soon forget about that, especially when our lives are placed in the balances of God. But let us realize, dear friends, that we cannot run away from God. One day we will be called to given an account of our lives. It is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. And it is to that end that the invitation comes to us tonight, Come now, and let us reason together; let us make a beginning of examining our account with God before it is too late!
You know, congregation, when the Lord actually does enter into judgment with us then it will be forever too late to repent. The preacher says, where the tree falls, there it lies. And so it is. But if you cut a tree in your yard and it falls the wrong way and lands on your car or your house, that is replaceable; that can be fixed! But when God’s righteous judgment would condemn you, then it is forever too late; then your eternal state is sealed with no possibility of ever repenting of pleading God’s grace. Then it is forever and ever eternal woe, beloved, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Oh that we would pay heed to the call of the Lord also this night, Come, and let us reason together. While it will cause us pain and sorrow because we stand condemnable in God’s sight due to our sin and guilt, yet, it is infinitely better to experience the cutting off of our life while we live than to appear before God unsaved one day when the day of grace will be over. Moreover, you who are God’s people, with whom the Lord has had dealings in the past, you know that the Lord does not judge or afflict His people willingly, but He does so in love, seeking your eternal salvation. And it is to that end that we also hear the blessed words of Jehovah God, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white
as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Which brings us to our third thought, A Wondrous Verdict.
Oh, beloved, thanks be to God for the blessed “though” of our text. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. And then the Prophet of God says even more, Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. But, what does it mean? We have seen that if the Lord would enter into judgment with any one of us, who then could stand? None of us. What is this talk, then, of sins of scarlet being made white as snow and sins like crimson becoming as wool? We must understand these words, congregation, in light of the gracious invitation the Lord has already given. We saw that Israel had made herself extremely guilty by her sins. And yet the Lord invited her to bring them all to Him so that they might dialogue and analyze them. But now the surprising thing is, the Lord speaks of Israel’s sin and guilt in unbelievable terms, as white snow and as wool. How can this be?
Let’s look a little closer at this terminology for a moment. When the Prophet portrays Israel’s sins red as scarlet and as crimson, he is using very graphic terms. Red is the color of fire and of death. It is the also the color that speaks of sin. One noted scholar speaks of red as the color of unjustly shed blood. This fits in with idea of fire which also devours and seeks only itself. And so, using the two specific terms for red, scarlet and crimson, Isaiah paints the sin and guilt of God’s people in most serious terms.
But, over against this deplorable state, Israel’s God of the Covenant declares how those sins may be transformed. Though they be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Scarlet red is a bright, deep red. You know, freshly shed blood can be so red. If it drips on a white shirt or blouse, it really stands out. But now the prophet speaks of such a bright red color being made white. Simply amazing! Furthermore, he speaks of crimson being turned into wool. You know, it is one thing to get redness out of a piece of cloth. But by speaking in terms of wool, God’s servant directs our attention to the finest thread known at that time, the wool of an animal, of a sheep. Both of these terms seek to illustrate how the sins of God’s people may be completely taken away. It is hard to imagine anything that is flaming red being changed into white.
But the question we need to resolve is, How can the Lord do this? How can that which is wrong and evil be set to rights so that God’s perfect sense of justice is maintained? Yes, dear friends, that’s what is so amazing in the words of our text. When the Lord says, Come, let us reason together, then this should not be seen as a threatening invitation. Yes, from our side we are faced with impossibilities. And therefore it is such a wonder that this invitation comes to us, not in a menacing or challenging way, but with tenderness, and with love for sinners’ wellbeing. Yes, beloved, moved with compassion, the Lord invites sinners to go to Him. And as we saw, that is not just an option, but a command. For only by going to Him can one receive the possibility of being saved. Therefore listen to the voice of the Lord as He calls you to Himself also tonight, on the final evening of this year 2006. Just as a mother calls her child which has been disobedient to come to her, in a similar way the Lord also calls us. Come unto Me with all your sin, with all your guilt and sorrows and grief. Come unto Me and live. Come with your burdened conscience. Confess your sin to the last crimson thread and live. For, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as wool; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Yes but, how can this be? What about God’s holiness? What about His perfect sense of justice? Surely the Lord requires that His perfect sense of justice will run its course? God is not a man that will just throw everything overboard for His own convenience, will He? Surely He does not reason, Well, as for justice, let’s just let that slide. For, the real important issue here is that of love. No, we know better than that, don’t we? Zion shall be redeemed in a righteous way. No doubt about that! But how? Jehovah calls a guilty people to come unto Him.
But look, in our mind’s eye we see Another step forward. It is….Christ Jesus. Again we hear the call, Come let us reason together. God the Father dialogues with His Son. But now just listen how the conversation changes. Although your righteous-ness is whiter than snow, although it is as wool, I will make it as scarlet and red like crimson. Yes, congregation, as amazing as this is, He Who knew no sin was made to be sin. And then He is ordered to appear before the throne of God’s righteousness. And so the call that Christ appear was full of ominous threatening. For it was filled with God the Father’s righteous anger against sin. And yet Christ came, dear friends. Hear Him declare in eternity already, Behold I come to do Thy will, oh Father. Thy Word is in my heart.
Once again, is this not amazing beloved? Christ came to this earth as the second Adam to fulfill His Father’s will. More than that, He came to bear the curse due to sin. Yes, the Lord Jesus did truly bow under the righteous judgment of God to take away the sins of the world as the Lamb of God. Yes, in Him a fountain has been opened for sin and all manner of uncleanness. Whosoever finds refuge under His precious blood is cleansed from all their guilty stains. And it is in this way that all threatenings are taken away from the invitation God gives in calling sinners to Himself. Go therefore to Him even today, sinners in our midst. Whoever you are! Do not linger. Do not put it off. Today, when you hear his voice, harden not your heart. For those who go to Him in Spirit and in truth, shall find Him. That’s His own promise, according to His own Word. Oh, that the words of the poet would be ours by the Spirit’s grace for the first time perhaps but also by renewal. For then all our hopes will be in the blessed Savior, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
Come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, full of power;
He is able; He is willing; Doubt no more.
Let not conscience make you linger
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth,
Is to feel your need of Him.
This He gives you; T’is the Spirit’s rising beam.
Come ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till your better,
You will never come at all.
Not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call.
Will you therefore not go to Him, dear friends, even this night, on the final day of this year? Amen.
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