Come—the Invitation of a Loving God
Come now, and let us reason together, saith 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. Isaiah 1:18.
Here are the promises, plain and definite, rich and full; but they are all upon conditions. If you comply with the conditions, can you not trust the Lord to fulfill His word? Let these blessed promises, set in the framework of faith, be placed in memory’s halls. Not one of them will fail. All that God hath spoken, He will do. “He is faithful that promised.” ...
The Lord will receive the sinner when he repents and forsakes his sins so that God can work with his efforts in seeking perfection of character. The promises are not yea and nay, but if man complies with the conditions, they are in Christ, “yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” The whole purpose of God in giving His Son for the sins of the world, is that man may be saved, not in transgression and unrighteousness, but in forsaking sin, washing his robes of character, and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. He proposes to remove from man the offensive thing that He hates; but man must co-operate with God in the work. Sin must be given up, hated, and the righteousness of Christ must be accepted by faith. Thus will the divine co-operate with the human.
We should beware that we do not give place to doubt and unbelief, and in our attitude of despair complain of God, and misrepresent Him to the world. This is placing ourselves on Satan’s side of the question.—Testimonies for the Church 5:630-632.
From With God at Dawn - Page 95
With God at Dawn