Reasoning With God – Radio Classic – Dr. Charles Stanley

Have you ever thought to yourself, I wish I could ask God about this? If so, you’re not alone. It’s a common desire. From the deeper doctrines of Scripture to personal challenges, there is much about Christian life that many believers do not fully understand, but would like to.

What a delight it should be, then, to read God’s words to the nation of Israel: “Come now, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18 KJV).

In this sermon, Dr. Stanley explores God’s willingness to reach out to His inquisitive people. Rather than be offended by our questions, God foresaw—and even invites them, and offers to guide us by His Holy Spirit “into all the truth” (John 16:13).

Godly wisdom and better understanding can contribute greatly to your sense of peace in many areas. While the Father might not reveal every detail of all you ask about, He will often provide enough knowledge to set your mind at rest and draw you nearer to Himself. He’s always ready to be asked.

For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch

with a message from God’s word here’s Charles Stanley Isaiah chapter 1 we want to read verses 18 19 and 20 what our Lord often times said to Nations he also said to individuals because it is individuals who make up nations in verses 18 19 and 20 I believe it’s a very personal message to us he says beginning in verse 18 come now and let us reason together sayeth the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as wool if you be willing and obedient

you shall eat the good of the land but if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it how many times have you heard people say I wish I could just sit down and ask God some questions and usually what they want to ask him is this they want to ask God why he ever allowed Eve to partake of the fruit or they want to know where did Cain get his wife or they go right down through the scriptures asking questions that have no real particular meaning for them personally all of us would like to ask

God some questions about things I’m sure but in the first chapter of Isaiah God has brought to focus in these three verses the only crucial questions that you and I need to ask God and he says in that passage come now let us reason together sayeth the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they will be as white as snow though they be red like Crimson he says they will be white like wool God is willing to reason with you and me he is willing to answer the questions that we have but what is the B basic question

and what is the real issue about life God spoke this to the whole nation of Israel at a time when they were living in sin and disobedient toward him under the threat of the enemy and he said come now let us reason together God gave them an opportunity to face the facts make a decision and be rescued from their enemy and he said you have two choices you must make the choice now let me ask you a question question if you were to sit down before God this morning personally just in a private conversation between

the two of you and God were to say to you come now let’s reason together what is it in your life that God would need to reason with about you well I want us to look at this passage in the light of two things because there are only two things spoken in this passage the first one is this here he says to us that God has called man and the second thing he says is that man must respond to God’s call there is no such thing as avoiding the call of God God has issued a call to man come now let’s reason together about

your life and he says that man will respond to that call and so let’s examine two or three things here first of all the fact that God is called man who has taken the initiative now listen carefully man man on his own does not reach out to search out and to find God because all through the scriptures God is always taking the initiative for example in the Garden of Eden when Eve had sinned and Adam had sinned against God who is it that took the initiative did Adam and Eve go running through the garden saying God where are you Lord

Where Art Thou something has happened no the Bible says that God came Walking In The Garden in the cool of the day saying Adam Where Art Thou in the very beginning we see that man doesn’t seek God God seeks after man it is not in the heart of man to pursue God it is in the heart of God to pursue man God has always taken the initiative all the way through the Old Testament it is God sending His prophets to warn his people of their sins they’re not out searching for God they’re not rushing to worship

Him him in their wickedness in their sinfulness it is God who sends his prophets to warn his people of their waywardness when you come to the New Testament is it not true that God condescended to come to Earth in the person of Jesus Christ why did he come he came to reveal the true nature of God he came to make it possible for men who live on earth to find God who dwells in Heaven by God coming to Earth in Christ to live among men and to make it possible for man who lives on Earth to go to heaven where God lives God takes

the initiative in the third chapter of Romans the 11th verse what does Paul say he says no man seeketh after God it is God who seeks man there is none righteous know not one man isn’t seeking God God is seeking men what is it that man is seeking man is seeking pleasure man is seeking Prosperity man is seeking position man is seeking prominence but men do not seek God you said but now wait a minute there came a time in my life when I sought God there came a time in your life when as a result of God moving into your life convicting you of

your sins showing you the vanity of your way showing you the emptiness of your life showing you that you needed something else you responded to the spirit of God who pursued you who reached down into your life and convicted you of your sin the philosophers all down through the history of time even to today what are they doing they’re trying to find the sumon botom of Life what is the highest good of life trying to find the reality of life trying to find the foundation of life and no man has ever found God

seeking after God it is the result of God revealing himself to mankind then man in his search discovers the god who’s revealed himself to him that’s why Jesus Christ came the whole entire Old Testament points us to Jesus Christ but it took the coming of God in Christ to reveal to man the true nature of who God is and what he’s really like so it is God who takes the initiative so in Isaiah Chapter 1 what is he saying it is not man saying come now God let’s sit down and reason together make yourself

known to me it is God who says to man come now let us read them together though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as snow now what is it that God is taking the initiative about what is he saying to you and me here’s what he’s saying he says come now let us reason together what does he mean by reasoning let me tell you what he does not mean he does not mean that God does not mean that he wants to sit down with us to find out what we thinking God isn’t going to sit down with us to discover

what we want in life he’s not going to sit down to discover the truth God says let us reason together in order that the truth might be revealed to you and what is it that he wants to reason about God wants to reason with us about the one thing all of us need to be absolutely and totally honest about and what is that and that is about life you see most people look at life today through all kinds of colored glasses they don’t want to see it as it is they want to see it like they would like for it to be but he says come now

let us reason together here is an omniscient all knowing god omnipotent loving merciful heavenly father who says I will condescend to come down and reason with you and his purpose here is not to discover because he knows everything his purpose is to bring us into the reality of looking at our life just like it is to face the fact so that the word means let’s come to a conclusion about this matter let’s settle this issue once and for all and you see every man has conflict in his heart Every Man Has a lack of peace in

his life until he is willing to face the fact of what life is all about life is not like it is portrayed on the television not like it is portrayed in the movies not like it is written about in the books and the magazines life has one basic Foundation apart from Jesus Jesus Christ life has no purpose and here’s the proof watch the television programs read the books and the magazines and what do they offer but life without purpose the futility of life without God the world is shouting to the top of its voice they call it all

kind of reality and realism but what they’re saying is here’s life without God people weep they cry they moan they identify what they do not realize is that what they’re being offered is life without purpose life without meaning life without a goal it’s just an existence and what is he saying to us he says come now let us reason together let us look at life as it is let me reveal to you the truth look on the inside examine your heart stop running and start looking at life God is taking the initiative to pursue you in order to

offer you the best and you see there’s so many people who think that to become a Christi chrisan is to lose the best to become a Christian is to gain life’s best to lose God is to lose everything and it is God who is reaching down to man he says God’s hand is not shortened what is he saying it is God who’s reaching down to sinful man who is lost and frustrated whose life has no purpose it is God who reaches down to rescue man from what rescue him from himself so he says let us reason together God wants us to face L he wants

us to see it as it is what is the fact the fact is this that apart from Jesus Christ man’s life not only has has no purpose it has no meaning it has no real goal in this life and the Future Past death is absolutely and totally destructive he wants us to reason about the reality of sin what is the nature of Sin Sin destroys man sin destroys everything within you you see there a lot of people who are walking around today from the outward perspective everything looks all right but on the inside they’re like a giant Oak a

beautiful giant stately Majestic Oak filled with 10 million termites eating away day and night cutting the heart gutting the whole source of that tree when a man lives without Jesus Christ he may parade the world his Prosperity his prominence he may parade the world before the world with his position but on the inside he has 10,000 termites of sin eating away at his mind eating at his Spirit eating at his emotional being dividing his mind and ultimately destroying his life God says let’s stop all of the rationalization and face the

fact sin still destroys the heart the core and guts a man’s soul and when a man’s soul is gutted what is he he’s like a peanut shell with no goodie on the inside something is missing there’s nothing there but he’s a hull he’s a shell that’s all he has to offer that’s why the world gives us all of these stories and all of these movies and all of these pictures with seemingly no purpose because they don’t understand life without God is without purpose and that’s why he says come now let’s reason

together the two things he says here about the reasoning first of all he says when you and I sit down before him and we to reason about life we have to face repentance of our sin now listen to what he says and notice how he describes our sin he says come now let us reason together sayth the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as snow so he’s dealing here with our sin he says though your sins be as Scarlet deep red they shall be as white as snow though they be red like Crimson why does

he use two words to Deep shades of red because he wants to describe the true nature of man and I think there probably several reasons why he uses the two but let me give you one example of why the Bible says all of us were born in iniquity that is we came into the world with a bent away from God that is we came into the world what with a spirit that desires to sin against God and so as a little child your mother had to tap you a couple times and say don’t do that she turn her back you do anyway why certainly not because you had a holy

nature but an Unholy one because you had a b away from God he says red like Crimson like Scarlet not only do we have a sinful nature that makes us sinful by a very nature but our actions our attitudes our motivations our behavior before Christ comes into our life is sinful before God so he says though your sins be as Scarlet deep red in the Eyes Of God they shall be as white as snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as well he says now let’s reason notice he didn’t say if you are a sinner he says though your

sins be as Scarlet it’s not a question of whether we’ve sinned against God or not if you’ve never received Jesus Christ listen every sin that you have ever committed in the eyes of God rest upon you all of your lifetime of sin amounts to a life of guilt he says now let’s reason about this let’s face the facts about your sin come now he says stop running don’t put it off nowhere in the Bible does God say tomorrow repent tomorrow confess your sin later on get right with God one of these days settle

up with the Lord it is always now why is it that God always wants us to live in the now because God knows the nature of sin God knows the destructive power of it he says to a little boy to a little girl come to Jesus now fell says when I’m a teenager I will when I’m 25 I will when I’m 30 I’m 40 I’m 50 putting off the most important decision you’ll ever make and that is to settle your relationship to Jesus Christ and notice what he says come now let us reason together what is God’s objective in

Saving a man what is God’s objective in forgiving you of your sin what is God’s objective in reclaiming you from the destructive power of sin in your life God’s objective isn’t merely forgiveness God’s objective isn’t mer to get you at Heaven he says come now let us reason together you know what God’s ultimate objective is you know why he wants the best for you you know why he wants to forgive you you know why he wants to cleanse you you know why he wants to write your name in the Lamb’s Book of

Life you know why he wants to change your whole life because God wants to bring you out of sin into a sense of Oneness with him that you and a holy loving forgiving God might live in Oneness together it is Oneness with him come now let us reason what together sayith the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet I’m going to make them white as snow though they be red like Crimson he says I’m going to make them white like wool that’s his way of pointing to us how God sees our sinfulness deep red like Scarlet like Crimson but he says

I’ll make you white as snow but he says come now my objective is Oneness don’t wait till tomorrow next week next month next year there some of you sit sitting here when you were a 16-year-old boy God spoke to your heart and you said one of these days I’m going to give my heart to Jesus Christ you’re 65 years of age you have never done that you have wasted all those years of your life and years ago what did God say he said come now let us reason together let’s get honest about the facts let’s face the facts as they

are let’s do the thing that we know is right let’s settle this conflict once and for all but you see man keeps on resisting and rebelling against God God knows the power of sin and in the 57th chapter of Isaiah for example he says something here that is interesting in describing a man who does not have Christ as his savior listen to what he says he says in the 20th and 21st verses but the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose Waters cast up m in dirt there is no peace saith my God

to the wicked when I was in Mana the hurricane hit I walk down on the beach all alone you can almost see from one that Island to the other because it’s so short and I walked up and down the beach about an hour and a half and I walked long enough to watch those waves get larger and larger break seemingly with more Gusto and more power and more noise on the Carl reef and I could see the Carl Reef here 100 yards or so away was the beach here they were breaking and shattering themselves upon that Carl Reef but over here as those tremendous

gigantic waves leaped up on that Sandy Shore digging into the sand and pulling in the ocean the sand but watching them swirl as waves would hit waves as they resend and as the waves came and that beautiful water crystal clear 40t deep 3 days before you could see large starfish uh conch shells down there 40t deep crystal clear but when the storm began to come and the waves began to rise and they beat and they swell and they stirred the MK and mire of the bottom no longer was it crystal clear but murky and he says this is the way a man’s life

is until Jesus Christ cleans up your life my friend your heart your spirit is going to be murky and if you’ll notice what he says he says The Man Without Christ is like what he says he’s like the troubled sea a trouble Windswept sea does not have calmness there is no peace and you see in the heart of a man without Jesus Christ where he’s Supreme what do you have but you’ve got turmoil you’ve got a storm the waves of life keep beating upon your life and there is no peace to the Wicked sayith the Lord

you say but I’m not Wicked let me tell you what he means by that when he says Wicked he simply means any man who is rebelling against the will of God insisting on having your own way you going to do it your way you’re going to have it your way not going to yield to Jesus Christ God says rebelling against his son is wickedness in his sight and my friend whatever we may think about ourselves the ultimate question is this what does God think and that’s why he’s saying come now let’s reason together

sayth the Lord he says though your sins be red like Crimson like Scarlet deep red died the true color is sinful disobedient before God he says something can happen and what is that he says come let’s reason together repent of your sins turn from your sins confess them before God and do what and let the Lord Jesus Christ change your life and that is to be Redeemed by him listen to how he describes that come now he says let us reason together sayth the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet deep red they shall be as white as snow though they be

red like Crimson deep red they shall be as wool and here’s what he’s saying here’s the contrast when Jesus Christ comes into a person’s heart what happens he says God sees you in an entirely different light he says what happens something happens to that Crimson Scarlet heart of yours God cleanses you you see God through the Lord Jesus Christ came to Earth in order to reach down to sinful Scarlet man and change his life that man who lives on Earth can do what go back to heaven and live with God God made the first move he came in

order that you and I might be cleansed on Earth in order that we might be fitted to live with him in heaven so he says he’s come to do what to make arrows Scarlet spirit this soul of ours this life of ours that is red light like Crimson Scarlet deep red he says I’ve come to make you what white like snow like undyed wool on the back of that beautiful little lamb he says when the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you of your sin he says God sees you no more as crimson and Scarlet but he sees you white as wool as white as snow because

when the Lord Jesus Christ comes into your life what does he do he doesn’t start today and go back a week and forgive you of your sins he starts at the moment you accept him as your savior he goes back from the very beginning of your life he wipes your life clean of everything you have ever done he says white is snow and he says white like undyed wool white like wool Ste on the Sheep’s back God changes the man’s life in whom God begins to dwell but you see here’s the choice the choice is either to yield or not to

yield to face the facts and this is why he says come now let’s reason again now listen as long as you keep trying to tell yourself that wrong is right wrong is right wrong is right wrong is right that one of these days you’ll be able to convince yourself enough it won’t bother you no more you may be able to sear your conscience but you’ll never be able to make wrong right and what is God saying listen he’s coming out of the spirit of a loving forgiving father to say I know what is best for your life I want what

is best for your life I’ve paid for what is best for your life I’m offering you what is best for your life come now let’s reason together stop trying to fool yourself stop trying to fool other people stop trying to be something you’re not stop trying to go where you cannot go stop trying to tell what you cannot tell stop trying to share what you cannot share face the reality of life that life without God is empty it is void it is vain it is temporary pleasure but it has the only one Eternal consequence and that consequences life

without God and the miss the whole good of Life a father with his little boy watching a parade in England and London and with all the beautiful red coats of the soldiers as they marched and all the pp and the circumstance and they know how to do that so beautifully the the father said to his son he says look at those beautiful red coats and his son said they’re not Red Coats they’re white coats he says look at the those beautiful red coats he says they’re not Red Coats they’re white coats he says

son they’re red coats He says Dad they’re white coats he looked at his son he thought what in the world’s happening to his eyesight and then all of a sudden he realized what was happening around the wind which they were looking out of there was the panes of glass were there but around it was a band of red glass and the little lad who wasn’t as tall as his father was looking through that red glass and looking at Red through red makes the object that you’re looking at look white and then all of a sudden he

realized what his son was seeing his son was looking through red and looking through red he was seeing red and the red looked white you take a red filter look at something that’s red and you’ll notice how white the object looks when I thought about that and thought about what he’s saying he listen he says though your sins be as Scarlet they’re red he says when I see them through the blood of my son they’re going to be white as snow he says though your sins be like Crimson when I see the to the

blood of my son they’re going to be white like undyed wool God looks at every sinner he looks at every lost man and he sees the Scarlet he sees the Deep Red he sees the sin that’s destroying and eating up his life you know what God wants to do this morning he wants to look at your life through the blood of his son he wants to see you in Purity he wants to see you in righteousness he wants to give you your best he wants to be to you what he knows deep down in your soul you want but he cannot do it until you make a decision you and I sing

that song what can wash away my sins nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ what can make me whole again nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ oh what that precious flow there’s only one Fountain and it comes from Jesus Christ from his shed blood at Calvary the only way in the world you and I can be forgiven of our sins is to confess them and to repent of them and to look to the Cross as God’s satisfaction through his own son payment for our sin how long do you have to work to be forgiven how much do

you have to pay to be forgiven how many times do you have to go to church to be forgiven all the work all the attendance all the giving all the talk all the being good all of that is absolutely to no avail until a person is willing to confess his sin before God willing to repent before the Lord Jesus Christ by faith in him receiving him as Savior and Lord of Life there is no salvation and my friend God will see you as Scarlet he will see you as Crimson he will see you in the Deep Red of your Unforgiven sin resting under the guilt of a lifetime of

Disobedience to God but listen the worst thing about it the worst thing about it is not what God sees the worst thing about it is what sin is doing to your life it is by nature a destroyer and the reason God comes on so strong in this book yearning pleading calling sending His prophets sending his preaches sending his only begotten son because God knows what sin is doing to you to your family to your children and what one of these days it’s going to do to you eternity he says come now let’s reason together let me ask you

a question do you think God is fair do you think God is just do you think God is smart enough to tell the truth do you think God is wise enough to know the truth is it not reasonable for a man to be willing to sit down before the word of God and say all right all knowing all wise all loving all forgiving God who wants the best for me Lord reveal to me the truth of my life what but only a wise man will respond accordingly but the second thing he says In this passage is this not only is God calling man but man must respond to

God’s call and there are three things I want you to notice in the first one is the crucial position this puts a man in because you see here listen now watch this here is an omniscient Sovereign God who is in control of everything and he’s saying to sinful man you have the awesome responsibility of choosing whether you’re going to spend eternity with me or separated from me you have the awesome responsibility of choosing whether you’re going to choose my way or your way whether you’re going

to be rebellious or whether you’re going to be obedient and he says these are the choices that a man has and notice how he says it if you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land speaking to the nation of Israel he says if you will obey me I will provide every single thing that you need if you be willing and obedient notice what he did not say he didn’t say if you be perfectly obedient because God knows that none of us not a one of us is perfectly obedient but notice what he says and you see

here’s the love of God all over again if you be willing God wants our motive to be this he says I just want you to be willing to do what’s right I just want you to be willing to want what’s right I just want you to be willing to follow my way I just want you to be willing to want me God knows that we’re going to make mistakes God knows we’re going to fall and we’re going to falter he says I want a willing spirit and an obedient in heart he says if you be willing and obey me he says the good of the land will be