COME LET US REASON TOGETHER
Text: Isaiah 1:18-19
INTRODUCTION
1. So often we think of church as difficult to understand and confusing
a. We read things in the Bible and struggle with them
b. We hear Paul call the Gospel a mystery and decide not to decipher it
c. What we miss is that God has revealed the mystery and deciphered it for us
2. The Bible is not some book that other people read, it is The Book that everyone should and can read
3. Take off those blinders that cover your eyes and convince you that this is too hard, realize that many of the men who wrote the Bible had little to no formal education
4. Read Text
5. There are three things at least we can get from this text:
a. We can reason with God
b. We can be changed by God
c. We can obey God
6. God is not some bully in the sky waiting for the opportunity to strike you down for some little mistake, He is a loving God who has given you every opportunity to find and obey Him
7. Now you just have to reason with God
TRANSITION: That begins when you realize that:
I. You can reason with God
A. The Lord told Isaiah to “come let us reason together”
1. He wanted Isaiah, and Israel, to come to Him
2. Together they would discuss logically the matters in His word
3. He wanted to engage them in logical conversation and discussion
4. He is bringing up a scene similar to a court room where arguments are brought up and evidence is weighed
a. Arguments not about size, shape, or personal characteristics
b. Arguments of reason and logic that measure evidence and help in determining right and wrong
5. God is inviting us to use logic and understanding when we read the Bible
B. Some say that this undermines faith, looking for evidence
1. The only time we see any blind faith in with Saul on the road to Damascus and then we see him with sight “proving to them that this Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 9:1-22)
2. Proving means that he was establishing tests that would validate his claim
3. He was using logic to show Jesus was indeed the anointed one on whom they had waited thousands of years and then crucified
4. Hebrews 11:1 clearly says that in our faith we look for the evidence of those things unseen
a. God does not expect us to practice blind faith
b. He tells us Himself to open our eyes to the evidence
i. Matthew 6:28, “Consider the lilies of the field…”, think about them and weigh the evidence of God’s concern
ii. At least three times in the Psalms, 19:1; 50:6; 97:6, He points us to nature for proof that He created the earth
iii. Romans 2:14 He proves His moral law by pointing out that the Gentiles practice many such laws without His law
iv. In Acts 17 the Bereans were more noble-minded because they investigated the evidence of scripture to be sure they were being taught the truth
c. God wants us to investigate and have a hope within us based on evidence that can convince others (1 Peter 3:15)
C. And He spells out His message plainly in people’s language
1. He used Koine Greek for the New Testament
2. This was the language spoken by common men
3. Letters from battlefields were written in Koine Greek
4. God uses words we can understand in a language we speak so that we can reason together with His word
D. God’s word can be subjected to reason and logic and stand correct
E. And it can be understood by each and every one of us who desires to read, study, and learn its timeless truths that set us free
TRANSITION: You can understand God’s word, realize also that:
II. You can be changed by God
A. From ignorant to knowing
1. That is the essence of learning
2. Ignorant means you have not learned something
3. When you learn God’s word you are no longer ignorant of it
4. In the Bible we can learn all we need to know to follow Christ’s example, His way, truth, and life into heaven
B. We can be changed from red to white, from scarlet to wool
1. Red is the color of guilt and defilement
a. It’s the color of blood
b. Life is in the blood and we are guilty of it when we are sinful
c. Scarlet is another way of saying the same as Red in a form of parallelism
d. The guilt of the blood of Christ is upon us because we are weak sinful people who needed a savior
2. But through the Gospel we can become white
a. The color of purity and cleanness
b. Titus 3:5, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, but the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit…”
c. Acts 22:16, “And Ananias said, ‘Now why do you wait, arise and be baptized, washing away your sins, calling on His name’”
d. The washing and renewing comes when we are washed clean of our sins in the blood of Christ and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)
e. Without that cleansing we cannot enter heaven
f. Revelation 21:27, “And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”
g. Acts 2:47 says that we are added to that book when we obey Him in baptism and He adds us to His church
C. God can change us through His word, He does not need some special miraculous act, only His word that was inspired for our perfecting (2 Tim. 3:16-17)
TRANSITION: His word can change us but only if we learn that:
III. You can obey God
A. Verse 19 says that if Israel would consent and obey then they would eat the best of the land
1. God does not dangle carrots out there hoping to get you to run after it while He moves it farther from you like a dog race chasing mechanical rabbits
2. When He makes a conditional promise His conditions are attainable
3. Such is the case here, if you consent and obey you will be blessed
B. Sometimes a judge will pass a lighter sentence with the stipulation that if you obey your record and time will be easier
1. You may deserve prison but he gives probation if you will stay out of trouble
2. Such is the case here for us
a. Romans 6:23 makes plain that the wages of our sin would reap the death penalty for us
b. But God’s clemency offers to us eternal life
c. In order to receive that gift from God we must consent and obey, then we will be rewarded
d. We did not deserve the reward, anymore than the one on probation did, but grace made it available
e. If you obey God you can have that reward, if you reject it, you will pay your due penalty
C. And just as the Bible is something you can understand, it is also something you can do
1. 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
2. Paul says that he did it, he kept the faith until the end
3. He was inspired, but in personal character he was not superhuman
a. We understand that Peter, though inspired, still risked himself spiritually with sin in Galatians 2:11ff
b. Paul was tempted and tried, tested and worked over
c. He had to work at it, listen to this
d. 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified”
e. Paul worked hard at it, it was not a cake-walk but took effort
f. And at the end of his life he stood there proclaiming his success
4. David says in 2 Samuel 24:24 that our offering should cost something, or else it’s not a sacrifice
D. But remember, you can do this, God can be obeyed by you
CONCLUSION
1. God is not a ruthless and mean God who puts words down that we cannot understand with commandments that we cannot follow
2. Instead He is a God who let us know that we can do this
3. He invites us to reason with His word and learn from Him, something that we can do because He made it understandable for us
4. He changes us when we realize that He is right and begin to practice His teaching, He washes us clean by the blood of Christ in baptism
5. And He approached us with teachings that we can obey, things that we are capable of doing, and all He asks of us is that we consent to them and obey them
6. God has not placed heaven so far that you cannot grasp it
7. So why don’t you?
