Sermon Central
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Come Let Us Reason Together
Contributed by Steven Haguewood on Jul 25, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Too many people think religion is something they cannot do. God has not distanced Himself so far from us that we cannot find Him.
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
