I have something tonight that I hope will be a real help. I believe I have. Some truly helpful instruction. Instruction that will meet all of our needs, all of our different needs, whatever they may be.

Right now. Look here at Isaiah 55 verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

The title of this message is, Seek Ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. There is never a time when we do not need to seek the Lord. There is never a circumstance, there's never a situation where we should not seek the Lord, never. For our spiritual need, for our physical need, for our emotional need, I believe that sums up pretty much all of our need. We all have a spiritual need, all of us. We all have a physical need, even if it's just air to breathe and water to drink, food to eat, much less sickness and trials and things like that. We all have a physical need. And for so many reasons, every reason under the sun, we all have an emotional need. And for every bit of that, we should seek the Lord. We should seek the Lord.

Now, our great spiritual need is the Lord. He is our need. We need Christ, and it's because we need salvation. We need His blood to cover our sin. We need the Father's election. We need the Son's redemption. We need the Spirit's life-giving call. And the first thing that I want to say about seeking the Lord is, all of that, everything that I just said, all of that was given and applied to us, not by us seeking the Lord, but by the Lord seeking us. Every bit of that came by the Lord seeking us. Our salvation, our redemption, our forgiveness, and Enter into that. Our forgiveness, just in case you don't know, you need forgiveness just as badly as I do. And our forgiveness came from the Lord seeking us. He sought us to forgive us. It is only because the Lord God Almighty sought us.

Turn with me over to Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65 verse 1, our Lord said, I am sought of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name. He said, the only reason my people are my people is because I did all the work in bringing them to me. That's the only reason they are my people. I am sought of people that never even asked for me. In Luke 19 verse 10, the Lord said, the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He said, I came into this world to do it all. My people did not seek me, I sought them. I just want to lay this groundwork first. My people didn't seek me, I sought them. My people didn't save themselves, I saved them. And because I did all of that for them, they now have the ability to respond to what I've done. Because I did all of that, they now have the ability to respond to what I've done. David said in Psalm 27, when you said, seek ye my face, after you said to me, seek ye my face, that's the moment that my heart cried unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Seeking is of the Lord. But if He has sought us, then He has given us the ability and He's given us the privilege of seeking Him. The only way we can seek Him is if He has sought us. And if He has sought us, then He has given us this incredible privilege and blessing of seeking Him.

And our text in Isaiah 55 will tell us what that means and how we can do that. Go with me back over to Isaiah 55. Verse six, Isaiah 55, verse six. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. To seek the Lord is to seek the Lord, him, the person, the person. In salvation, we need a man. We don't need a law. We don't need a doctrine. We don't need a feeling. In emotion, we need a man. We need a person. And that's how it is in our spiritual need, our physical need, and our emotional need. We need a man. We need the man. We need Christ Jesus, the man. That's what we need.

Look with me at Acts chapter 17. Acts 17 verse 22, Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you're too religious. That's what superstitious means. He said, here's your problem, you're just too religious. And that's the truth for so many people, just too religious, too religious for their own good. Verse 23, for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshiped with men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord. He said, this is what they are appointed to, that they should seek the Lord. If happily, if they're happy so, that they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

To seek the Lord is to seek the person of Him. Turn with me over to Philippians 3. Verse 4. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless, But what things were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him. not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him. In the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Verse 14, he said, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in him, in Christ Jesus. To seek the Lord is to seek him. Seek ye the Lord. Seek him. All right, seek him. This is how we seek him. This is how we seek him and this is what it truly means to seek him.

Go back to Isaiah 55. Verse six. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. And that colon at the end of verse six tells us this is how you do that. And I'll just tell you, let me just break preaching for a minute. Let me stop preaching for a minute and tell you something. This is worth heeding. This is really worth heeding. All right, again, that colon means this is how you do that.

Verse seven says, let the wicked forsake his way. Who's the wicked? Gabe Stoniker. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. Seek ye the Lord, return unto the Lord. How do you do that? Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him.

To seek the Lord, and again, let me just be candid by telling you, that this right here is not just an outline. Sometimes we get these outlines and these points and it all makes sense. This is really so. To seek the Lord is to seek his mercy. It's to seek his mercy. Like we've already said, only those who have received mercy will seek mercy. You have to already have mercy to seek mercy. But in seeking the Lord, we will seek his mercy. When we call on him in prayer, our cry will be for mercy. It will be for mercy. We will seek the Lord for mercy. Seeking the Lord is saying, this is what it is. Seeking the Lord is saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That ought to start every prayer we have. That applies to our spiritual need, that applies to our physical need, that applies to our emotional need. Lord, number one, I need mercy. Before we start anything, before I say anything, I need mercy. I need mercy to seek the Lord. is to seek his mercy.

Verse seven, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. To seek the Lord is to seek his pardon. We don't use this term much anymore, but people used to say, I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon and what that means is would you please be kind and gracious to me and not snap at me right now and repeat what you just said because I missed it, I didn't hear it. Sometimes governors and presidents will pardon sinners. What it is is grace, it's kindness, it's favor. To seek the Lord is to seek his grace, it's to seek his kindness, it's to seek his favor.

All right, now watch this, verse seven. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. To seek the Lord is to seek his thoughts. His will on the matter. His desire in the matter. It's to seek His way in the matter. Not my way, but your way. Not my thoughts, but your thoughts. Not my desire in this, but your desire in this. Look at a few scriptures here with me. Go over to Psalm 25. Psalm 25, verse four. And those are four good words right there. Show me thy ways. O Lord, teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies. I'm crying for mercy. And thy loving kindnesses, for they've been ever of old. Mercy, grace, favor. This is what it is to seek the Lord.

Verse seven, remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions. According to thy mercy, remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way. Not our way, but his way.

Look across my page, Psalm 27, verse 11. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path. Lord, what is your way? Not my way, what is your way? Turn with me to Matthew 8. Matthew 8 verse 1, when our Lord was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him and behold, there came a leper and worshiped him saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Lord, what is your will in this? What is your will in this? If you're not willing, then I'm not going to be clean. And if you're not willing, I don't want to be clean. Not my will, but thine be done. Lord, what is your will in this? What is your will? This is what it is to seek the Lord.

Turn over to Acts chapter nine. Acts chapter 9 verse 1, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus. And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? What are your thoughts on this? What is your will? What is your way? What is your desire? What are your thoughts? This is what it is to seek the Lord.

Now I know that every person in here is thinking about their own circumstance right now. But I can tell you this, every person in this room has a circumstance that this applies to. Everybody here. Therefore, all of us need to seek the Lord. Let's seek the Lord.

Go with me back to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse six. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be. that goeth forth out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. To seek the Lord is to seek his word. It's to seek his word. And that's what we're doing in this moment right now.

Every time that we gather together like this, I think about it all the time, it's so necessary, it's so good that we gather together as often as we do because every time that we gather like this, we do it for the purpose of seeking his word. What is this meeting without his word? His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And every time we come back in here and open up this word and just read, these are his words. He said, my word is not gonna return void. Every word that's come out of my mouth, well, here they are. Here they are.

And every time we open up this book and we read his words, we are reminded, we're recentered, we're refocused, Because we don't even realize it, but we have been caused to seek the Lord. We weren't even asking for the Lord, really, an hour ago. But we're caused, we're forced by His goodness to seek the Lord. Open up this word, read His word, and all of a sudden, it slips up on us. But what do you know? We ended up seeking the Lord.

This word is where we see our Lord if we want to seek Him, if it's Him, right here. This word is where we see our Lord and see His mercy and see His grace, His pardon, and see His thoughts and His will and His desires and see His ways. Teach me thy ways. This is what it is to seek the Lord. This is what it is to seek the Lord. And I pray that this will strongly encourage us to do so. I pray this is one of those messages where we don't hear it and say, yep, amen, and then go out the door and never give it a second thought. I pray this will encourage us to do it because if he causes us to do it, this is his promise to us as a result of our doing it.

Turn with me to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29, verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And you shall seek me and find me. when you shall search for me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord.

Our Lord said in Matthew 7, ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. You want the Lord's will, you want the Lord's way, you want the Lord's thoughts, you want his desires, his word, his mercy, his grace. Seek him and you will find all of those things. You will find all of those things.

I'm going to read this, Proverbs 8 verse 17. Our Lord said, I love them that love me. And those that seek me early shall find me. That's his promise to us. That's his promise, amen.