Come And Be Clean Series

Sermon by: Dr. Todd Morris

Text: Isaiah 1:18

Title: Come and Be Clean (# 3 in Great Invitations of the Bible Series)

Date: February 9, 2003

Introduction: How strange it seems that God would invite people to come to Him! One would think that mankind would be knocking on His door, but God seeks us rather than we seeking Him. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man is come to SEEK and to save that which was lost.” Man is lost because of his sin, and his sin has blinded him to his need for God, thus God has to seek man because man will not seek God.

Isaiah called the people to come and be clean. The only way for a man to reach heaven is to be forgiven of his sins, but he will never seek God for that forgiveness without God convicting him of his sin and calling man to Him. It is a wonderful invitation and it is an invitation that is still be extended today.

What is this invitation all about?

I IT IS AN INVITATION TO REASON AT AN UNREASONABLE TIME

A. Isaiah’s nation was in deep trouble;

B. The people had rebelled against the Lord. (2-4)

1. They chose not to think about God (3)

2. Sin was rampant; corruption was everywhere (4)

C. God had attempted to get their attention by chastening, but they had not responded. (5)

D. Isaiah describes them as a sin sick people. (6)

E. Crime and violence characterized the age

F. Rebellion didn’t make sense in light of God’s blessings

G. Still God invites them to “come and reason together.”

H. What mercy! What grace!

I. We too are sinners, and it is not reasonable that God would invite us, but He does.

J. God goes beyond all reason and invites us to come to Him.

II IT IS AN INVITATION FROM GOD AT AN UNGODLY TIME

A. It is God who issues the invitation.

B. God called to those who had forsaken Him. (4)

1. People who rejected His way and His Word.

2. People who had grieved and provoked His Holy Spirit

C. These people were so wicked that they reminded Isaiah of Sodom and Gomorrah. (9-10)

1. A few righteous ones kept the majority from destruction.

2. Isaiah called them citizens of wicked cities.

D. Even their feasts, which were supposed to be acts of worship, had become an abomination to the Lord.

E. Nevertheless God kept inviting them to come and be clean.

III IT IS AN INVITATION FOR CLEANSING AT A SINFUL TIME

A. This is an invitation to be forgiven.

1. From scarlet red to white as snow.

2. From crimson red to white as wool.

B. This was the desire of David’s heart after he had sinned. He says in Psalm 51:7, “Purge me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”

C. God meets sinners where they are and cleanses them.

Conclusion: 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.