And how thankful we are that
we have another day. One more time. One more time. I thank the Lord for the services
that we had not only in Middle Tennessee, but for those services
that we had here. I'm thankful that the Lord was
pleased to allow the Gospel to be preached. I'm going to ask
you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Isaiah
chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55 verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let's pray together. Our Father as we call this evening,
I ask you, Would you bless the word this evening? Lord, would you quiet our hearts and allow us to worship? Lord, would you bless to the
salvation of your people for Christ's sake? Amen. This verse of scripture commands men to do that which
is absolutely the most needful thing that could possibly be
done. But by nature, man is unable,
but not only unable, he's unwilling to do that which the Lord commands. Seek ye Jehovah. As I was standing here just right
now, I thought to myself, how many have left this world? How many have left this world
without Christ? Listen to me. Listen to me. I want to listen
to me too, right now. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he's near. Men, because of sin, spiritually dead, and therefore,
unable. Scripture says, John 6, 44, this
is the Lord speaking. No man can come to Me except
the Father which has sent Me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. Man is unable. But man is also,
the scripture declares, according to the word of the Lord Jesus
Christ, unwilling to come. John 5.40, and you will not come
to me that you might have life. Men will come to the front, they'll
come to the church, they'll come to the baptistry, they'll come
to the communion table, but they won't come to Christ. And they must. Listen, men, women
must come to Christ or you're eternally condemned
under the judgment of God. This is the most serious thought
that we could possibly think. But though men cannot by nature
and will not by nature come to Christ, now listen to this, there's
no excuse for it. Now let me tell you what's going
to happen. When the Lord is pleased to save
one of His own, He's going to hymn them up. And He's going
to show them, you don't have any ability. to do what I command. I'm going to have to do something
for you or you're going to perish. I'm not trying to scare anybody,
I'm just trying to be honest with you. I'm telling you, no
one has got an excuse for not coming to Christ. First of all,
men are without excuse because Christ has come into this world. as the Messiah, as the Savior. John 15, 22. If I had not come
and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have
no cloak for their sin. When the Lord first came, He
came unto His own. He came to the Jews. And by and
large, the Jews rejected Him. They would not have Him to Lord
over them. And therefore, the sin of rejecting
the Lord was laid to their charge. But listen, not only the Jews,
but all men, all women without Christ that have no interest
to come to the Lord. It's revealed in His Word that
Christ came into this world. And He came into this world to
save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief. But because He's come into the
world and men reject Him, the Lord said, you're without excuse. But secondly, not only, because
the Lord came into this world. Someone would say, well that
was years and years and years ago. I wasn't even around then. He's not here anymore. Well,
secondly, not only are men without excuse because the Lord did come,
they're without excuse because of the evidence that's all around
us right now. Hold your place, turn to Romans
1.19. Romans 1.19. Now listen, this may seem to
be an insignificant witness, but I'm going to tell you this.
It is a witness written in God's Word concerning men being without
excuse. Now, here's the way it is. Because of everything we see
around us in nature, Every man, every woman, every boy, every
girl that looks at creation is without excuse for not coming
to Christ. Romans 1, 19 and 20, Because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them or to them,
for God has showed it unto them. Someone say, well I don't see
anything. The scripture says God has shown
us something. For the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead,
so that they are without excuse. Now listen to me, when you walk
out of this building, and you see those trees, and you see
that grass, and you see that sky, The glory and power of God
is exhibiting. And we're without excuse. Listen
to Acts 14. Acts chapter 14 in verse 15 to
17. Acts 14. Now listen to this. This to me is even plainer than
what we just read. Acts 14 verse 15 to 17. And saying,
sirs, Why do ye these things? We also
are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that
you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein,
who in times past suffered or allowed all nations to walk in
their own ways, nevertheless, He left not Himself without witness
in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful
seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Now listen, when you ate supper tonight,
whatever you had, whatever it was, it was food. You drank something,
you drank some water, you drank something. When you took a drink
of that water, when you took a bite of those vegetables, when
you ate some of that meat, that was a witness to you. God Almighty
is God Almighty. And we're without excuse. We
got something to eat. You just took a breath of air.
That was God's air. He's saying we are without excuse. Seek ye the Lord. There are some things that can't
be known except the Lord powerfully revealed them through the preaching
of the Gospel. There are some things according to the Scriptures
that can be known of God and His nature. And I do know this,
God is invisible, but according to His Word and His power, His
majesty, His glory shines forth in the things that He has created. Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare
the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. They display
the wisdom and the power of Almighty God who created them. And listen
to me, we're going to stand before God. We're going to stand before
God. And to try to explain to the
Lord, well I just didn't know. We don't have an excuse. We have
no excuse. Did you breathe while you were
here? Did you eat? Did you drink? Did you see creation? His creation, Romans 1.20 says,
is clearly seen. Being understood by the things
that are made. You understand that part? By
the things that God has made out here. Men are without excuse. We have eyes to see, we have
a mind that should recognize the majesty of Almighty God. Seek ye the Lord. Seek. Now these, I'm going to
give you some just definitions of that word seek. Cry unto the
Lord as a child cries unto its parent. Now let me ask you this. What parent, if you hear your
child cry from another room, mom, dad, you know what you're
going to do? You're going to drop everything
you're doing and you're going to see what's the matter. And you can tell the cry. There's
a difference. In fear and trouble, call Unto
the Lord frequently. That's what one of the words
means. Seek. Seek frequently the Father in
heart, the Lord, Jehovah. Seek Him in heart in prayer.
Seek secondly by following after. Following after the Son who is
the shepherd of the sheep. How do you follow after the shepherd?
Search the scriptures. Bow in heart, this is what God
has to say. In His providential guidance,
do you know what the Lord's will was today for us? Whatever happened. Whatever came
to pass. Whatever you did, whatever you
heard, whatever happened, that was the Lord. He worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will. And seek thirdly, worship
fully. But let me add one more. Seek
right now. Right now. You that know Him. Seek you the
Lord. Seek the Lord. Seek Him frequently. Seek Him following after you. Hear His Word. And seek Him in
worship. What do I mean? Obey. Agree. Agree. Agree with Him. What is it then? What's the attitude
of one that seeks the Lord? I'm telling you what the Scripture
says. Seek ye the Lord while He may
be found. Alright, tell me this. What is
the attitude? What happens? What is that? What do you mean? To seek the
Lord is first, by the grace of God, to go after Him in heart. Now I'm going to read you a scripture
and you're going to understand what I'm talking about. To go
after Him, hold your place and turn to Song of Solomon. Song
of Solomon. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Solomon. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon 3. Song of Solomon chapter 3 verse
1 to 3. By night on my bed, I sought
him whom my soul loveth. Now let me ask you this, just
don't answer out loud, but just answer. How many of you have
ever been awakened by the Lord, by the Spirit of God at night,
and you're drawn to pray? You that know him have and do. By night on my bed, I sought
him whom my soul loveth. And I sought him, Shulmite says,
but I found him not. I will rise now and go about
the city and streets and the broad ways. I'll seek him whom
my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. The watchman that go about the
city found me, to whom I said, saw ye him whom my soul loveth. One who goes after the Lord,
seeks after the Lord, wants to be where the gospel is faithfully
preached. That's what they want. That's
what they want. I want to be where God has raised
up an assembly and raised up a pastor and has sent that pastor
who faithfully proclaims Christ. One that seeks the Lord. is going
to be where God has raised up His Word. And one that seeks
the Lord wants to be with the sheep as they assemble to worship
together. They want to be with God's people,
those who are also drawn to seek. And those that seek continue
to seek. That's just like cometh, he that
cometh unto me. God's people want to be where
the gospel is. And they want to be with God's
people. That's what I want. I want to be with God. I want
to be where you are. You're my family. I want to be with you. I want to fellowship with you.
So what is it to seek the Lord? It's to seek the Lord, to go
after Him, where He manifests Himself. Secondly, seeking the
Lord. And this is the evidence of one
that seeks the Lord. is to be made to know that I
have no other hope of salvation. Salvation is going to be set
forth according to His Word, and I know He's a just God, and
He by no means is going to clear the guilty, and salvation is
apart from anything that I can do. To seek the Lord is to seek
the Lord only and nothing else. I know to be without Him, He's
a consuming fire. I know that. And I rest and seek
Him for security and for salvation, for life. To seek the Lord is
to seek where He manifests Himself. Be with His people. Two or three
are gathered together in My Name. That's where I am. If I'm going
to seek the Lord, Carl, I'm going to be where God said He's going
to be. That's where I want to be. Because I know this, that
without Him, I don't have any hope. Thirdly, to seek the Lord is
to be made willing to depart from all that gives honor to
self-seeking, self-righteous man is to cast off all impotent
works of this world's lying religions and to consider my thoughts of
me having ever done anything to merit salvation to be nothing
more than filthy rags. That's to seek the Lord. I'm
not going to seek anything other than Him. Well, don't you like
to look to your faith? No, sir, I do not. I don't want
to look to my faith. Lord, I believe, but help my
unbelief. I want to look to Him that faileth not. That's what
I want. My faith is going to fail, but
He won't. My faith will falter, but He
won't. I know I can look in the Scriptures
and see what happens whenever Peter and David The Lord told
him, he said, you're going to forsake me. You're going to deny
me. Three times. I don't know the man. I don't know the man. The Lord
didn't forsake him. So obviously, according to this
passage, the time of seeking is limited. Seek ye the Lord. Now listen to this. Listen, while
He may be found. While He may be found. When is
that? Are you still here? Are you still sitting here? Are
you still listening? Seek the Lord while you still
have breath in your lungs. Seek the Lord in the day of His
long suffering. right now. Seek the Lord before
the day of judgment and eternity commences with all men. When
it's over, it'll be over before you can even realize what happened. You'll never know what hit you.
I won't either. The Scriptures declare that by
faith Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, as yet
moved with fear, that is, with respect. Those that seek the
Lord respect Him. He prepared an ark to the saving
of His house by which He condemned the world and became heir of
the righteousness which is by faith. Noah was a preacher. Paul the Apostle in Hebrews 11.7
declares under the inspiration of God's Spirit, he was the preacher
of righteousness. And he preached and continued
to preach the sinner's only hope to be in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he preached, listen to this, 120 years while he was building
an ark. He preached. He was a preacher
that was building a boat. And it had never rained. Never rained. Can you imagine
how silly so many people thought he was? God said he was a preacher
of righteousness and he preached for 120 years until the Lord shut the door. And when the Lord shut the door
and the earth opened up and the water started billowing out,
And the skies opened up, and the water started coming up. Noah! Noah! I'm your next door neighbor.
Noah, you know me. Open this door, Noah. And the
Lord had shut the door. Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Because
listen to me, and I'm telling you all of this out of scripture. If you want to see a copy of
my notes, you're welcome to. There's coming a time when everyone
that doesn't know Him is going to cry unto Him for mercy. Every man, every woman that leaves
this world without Christ is going to call upon the Lord for
mercy. But it'll be too late. Proverbs
128, Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me. Listen to what Job said. Job
declared in Job 27, 8-10. What is the hope of the hypocrite? What is the hope of one who finds
his security in deception? Though he hath gained, thinking
that he's got great riches with God because of what he's done
in his religion and his walking down the aisle or whatever he
does, when God taketh away his soul, Will God hear his cry when
trouble cometh upon him? Oh, listen. According to the
Scriptures, men will cry unto the Lord after they leave this
earth. Let me tell you why the Lord
may be found. While you're still alive on this
earth, this is all you got. This is it. This is it. And when
you die, you don't cease to be. You just won't have a body like
we have right now. You'll still think. And the scripture
says, when God taketh away a soul, will God hear his cry when trouble
cometh? Will men cry? Sure they will. Hypocrisy doesn't
stop that. They cry as the Pharisee that
went into the temple to pray alongside the publican. But he
asked, Job asked, in that day, that hypocrite, will he delight
himself in the Almighty? No. If a man leaves this world
without a new heart, without a regenerated heart, he still
will not delight himself in the Almighty. Will he always call
upon God? Well, yeah, with his mouth he
will, but his heart that was far from the Lord when he was
in this life will still be far from the Lord in that life unless
Almighty God regenerates him. and gives him a new heart. He
has no hope. Listen. 2 Corinthians 6, 2, For
he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted in the day of
salvation, have I succored thee? Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. The Scripture says, Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon Him, cry unto Him,
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord from a new heart
shall be saved. When I say the name of the Lord,
what do I mean? I mean this. Who is He? What has He done? Why did He
do it? And where is He now? Who is He? I'll tell you who He is. He's
God. He's God. All of us are going to have to
deal with Him. He's God that rules in heaven
and earth. And what has He done? Everything
according to His own honor, glory, and praise, and creation, and
providence, and salvation. Why did He do it? Because it
pleased Him. And where is He now? David said,
our God's in the heavens. That's absolutely right. But
I'll tell you where He is right now. He's in this assembly. I'm convinced of that. I'm convinced
that the Lord's here. I'm convinced that He's here.
Again, two or three are gathered together in His name. I'm convinced
of that. And He said, I'm in the midst of you. So the Lord
knows. We're not fooling Him. We're
not fooling Him. He's here. And I'll tell you
where He is also. He's in the hearts of everyone
that believes. Call ye upon Him. Your mom and
daddy can't call for you. Your children can't call for
you. Your husband can't call for you, wife and vice versa.
You call. Call ye upon Him. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. And in closing, call ye upon
Him while He is near. While He's near. Now, I just
told you a while ago that not only is a man unable in himself
to come, but he's unwilling to come. But I got some good news
for you. Whenever God is pleased to save
one of his own, one that he's everlastingly loved, he comes
in his Holy Spirit under the sound of the gospel that declares
man to be totally unable. But God totally able. And in the day of His power,
when it pleases Him, He comes and does something that you or
I could not do. He removes that old nature, that
old heart of rebellion. Everyone that doesn't know Him,
let me tell you your attitude toward this message. Now listen,
you don't really care. You don't care. And I know you
don't care. Because I got an old nature still
in me that doesn't care either. So I know what you're thinking
because that's what I'm thinking. I'm not picking on you. I'm just
telling you I know how we think by nature. We don't care. But
if the Lord is pleased to do something for a sinner, He's
going to take that old heart and it's not going to reign anymore.
What does that mean? It's not going to be the boss
anymore. It's not going to have dominion
anymore. It's not going to dictate anymore. It's not going to rule
anymore. And He gives a new heart. He
gives a new heart, a new mind, a new understanding. He gives
you a new love. And all of a sudden, Something
happens, and it may not happen just tonight, but it may just
all of a sudden. You get into thinking, and you've
been coming to the services for a while, and all of a sudden
you're thinking, you know what? There may be something to that. There may be something to what
he's saying. You know what? I'm not so sure, but I think
I'm going to come back again. And I think I'm going to listen
again. And you keep reading, and you're
thinking, you know what? Yeah. And the Lord begins to
deal with His people, and He convicts them of what they are,
teaches them what they are, and He shows them, you know what,
I know, I know that in me, I know, I know that there's no good thing
in me. The Lord is nigh, called upon
while He is near. How do you know when God's near?
I know He's omnipresent. I know that means He's everywhere.
But how is He near to me? That's what I want. The Lord
is nigh, or the Lord is near unto them that are of a broken
heart. And saveth such as be of a contrite
spirit. If God Almighty begins a work
of conviction and causes you, you know what? I need Him. I
need Him. Because I know this, if He doesn't
save me, I'm going to go to hell. I know this. Listen to Romans
10.8. The word is nigh thee even in
thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which
we preach. The Lord is near, as I've said,
now this is going to be the third time I've said this in this message.
The Lord is near when God calls His people together, and He's
in the midst of them, and Christ is being honored, the Lord is
near. The Lord is here. He's here.
That's the only word that we have of Him absolutely assuring
us that we know where He is. I know He's here tonight. And if Almighty God gives a man,
a woman, a heart, to call upon Him. You don't have to come down
to the front. Call upon Him. Out of your heart, you don't
have to say anything. He hears. If He calls, you hear. You call, He hears. The Lord is near when He mysteriously
reveals Himself to His people. as the gospel is being preached. And that seeking is a direct
result, and it's an evidence of a mighty work of grace and
power wrought by God, for no man has that ability in himself. Salvation is of the Lord. We're
unable. We're unwilling. But He's mighty
to save. He's the Savior of sinners. Seek ye the Lord. while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near. I pray God bless this to our
hearts. Save his people for his honor and our eternal good.