Good evening. You promised to sing. Brother
Marvin asked me to sing tonight and play my autoharp, but I have
come down with an infirmity in my wrist and I've got to have
surgery in just a few days on my wrist. So Brother Marvin said
he would sing. Said it would be the second time
he had ever sung because it would be both the first and the last. I'm blessed to be here. Thank
you for your kind invitation. And I invite your attention to
the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 55. The prophecy of Isaiah, or
if you will, the gospel according to Isaiah chapter 55. Direct your attention to verse
number 6. My message is titled, Exhortations
Unto Salvation, Isaiah 55 verses 6 and 7. Seek Jehovah. You see that word
Lord in all uppercase letters? Every time you see the word Lord
or God in the Old Testament and it's all uppercase letters, that
is God's name. par excellence his name Jehovah. Seek Jehovah while he may be
found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Jehovah and
he will have mercy on him. and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. These are exhortations unto salvation. These are exhortations to the
wicked and unrighteous, and this is the good news of salvation
to all who heed these exhortations. Now who are these identified
as wicked and unrighteous? The wicked are condemnable in
everything they do. The unrighteous are commendable
in nothing that they do. And every member of mankind,
you, me, every one of us, is both wicked and unrighteous in
God's sight. There is none righteous. No, not one. The Lord repeated
it just in case you didn't catch it the first time. There is none
righteous. No, not one. They have together
become unprofitable. There is none who does good.
No, not one. All have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. Every one of us by nature is
wicked and unrighteous. Every one of us. Now if you acknowledge yourself
as such a person as that, I have good news for you. Yes I do. It was good news for me and it
is good news for you. I have good news only for those
who know themselves to be by nature wicked and unrighteous. These are the only people God
calls the wicked and the unrighteous. So let's consider these exhortations
unto salvation. First, here it is. Seek Jehovah. while he may be found. That's
the first exhortation. Seek Jehovah while he may be
found. Now what is it to seek Jehovah? First of all, it is to seek Jesus
Christ because Jesus Christ is Jehovah. This we know. Both Paul and Peter called Jesus
our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Is that sufficient for
you? Both Peter and Paul call Him
our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thomas called Him, my
Lord and my God, and so do I. And Jehovah said, when I send
Jesus Christ, you must call Him by this name, Jehovah our righteousness. That's the name Jehovah gave
to Jesus Christ. Jehovah, our righteousness. To seek Jehovah is to seek Jesus
Christ. And we are told we're to seek
Him now. Right now I'm going to point
you to Jesus Christ and I'm going to say to you, seek Jehovah while
he may be found. To seek Jehovah is to completely
resort to Him. It is not merely to look for
Him. It is to completely resort to
Him. And He says to us that you will
seek Jehovah your God and you will find Him. If you seek, the
word is resort. If you resort to Him with all
your soul, Deuteronomy 4 verse 29, that's the only way you're
going to find Him. You've got to seek Him with every
fiber of your being. It's not merely to look for Him.
It is to find Him and to resort to Him completely and thoroughly. It is to renounce all other gods,
all other hopes, all of the refuges and say, I resort to Jesus Christ
alone. That's what it is to seek Him
while He may be found. Now when should it be sought?
We just said it. While He may be found. If He
says to seek Me while I may be found, it stands to reason that
there is coming a day when He will not be found. Seeking while
He may be found. There is coming a time when some
will seek Him and He will not be found. That's a dreadful thought,
my friend. Think about this. Some will seek
Jesus Christ and He will not be found by them. He says to
us, this is Jesus Christ speaking, the divine wisdom, in Proverbs
1, verses 22 through 33. Listen to what Jesus Christ says. Because I have called and you
refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded. Because you disdained all my
counsel and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh
at your calamity. I will mock when your terror
comes. Is that not some of the most
dreadful and terrible words in all of God's holy word? That's
dreadful. That is dreadful. I will laugh
at you when your calamity comes. Why will he laugh? He says, I
called you. I beckoned you. I told you to
come. You refused me. Therefore, when
that day comes and you see the error of your way and you seek
me, I'm going to laugh. I'm going to laugh. I'm going
to mock your terror. I hope that happens to no one
here tonight. If it does, you have no one to
blame but yourself. Jesus calls now. He says, come to me now, not
tomorrow, not tomorrow. Come now, come now. He promises
to receive you if you come now. And I have come to Him and I'm
still coming. It is always coming. I want you to come right now,
if you've never come before. If you have come, keep coming.
Keep coming. Do not be among those at whom
He mocks in the day of their terror. He says, then they will
call on Me, but I will not answer. They will seek Me diligently,
but they will not find Me, because they hated knowledge and did
not choose the fear of Jehovah. They would have none of My counsel
and despised My every rebuke. Some will seek Christ on their
deathbeds and will not find Him. He left some people one day and
He said, I am departing from you and you will die in your
sins. Think about it. On their deathbeds,
trying to find Him. And He says, no, I will not be
found. That's a dreadful thought. Some will seek Him at the last
day. When they realize they've waited too long, they're going
to knock on his door and he'll say, Depart, I never knew you.
I never knew you. You would not seek me when I
would be found. Now you'll seek me and I will
not be found. Seek him now. Right now. I tell you truly and sincerely,
as David told Solomon, If you seek Him, He will be found by
you. But if you forsake Him, He will
cast you off forever. The thing about preaching the
good news is, is bad news goes along with it as well. This gospel
I preach to you is good news to those who believe, but it's
bad news to those who reject. I hope there's no one here going
to reject. Seek him while he may be found.
The phrase seek him while he may be found implies also seek
him where he may be found. As in seek the Lord where he
may be found. Now where would you find him?
If I'm going to look for Marvin Stallnicker, if I want to find
him and talk with him, where's the most logical place to go?
His house. His house. That's where he is
more than any place else, is it not? And if he is not there,
there's probably someone there who knows where he is. If you
look for someone, go to his house. That's the most logical place.
Would you seek Christ? Go to His house. He has a house. It is His church. If you're looking
for Christ, it is the house of God, the church of the living
God. I can tell you this. I must speak to you plainly and
bluntly, but I must tell you this. You'll not find Christ
in a whorehouse. He's not there. You go looking
for him and they're going to say, no, he never comes here.
He's never been here. He has no business here. He's
not here. You will not find him in a house
of ill repute. And I say that not only in the
physical realm, but in the spiritual realm as well. It is with good
reason that the Holy Scriptures speak of false religion as a
harlot. It's good reason. And the houses
of worship in false religion are whorehouses, houses where
harlots ply their trade. You won't find him there. You
will not find him there. He is found in his house, not
in houses of ill repute. He is not found in the houses
of the wicked. But it does say this, where two
or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them."
So, seeking there. Do not go looking for Him where
they meet in someone else's name. I'm going to say to you that
I am rather confident that if you're looking for Jesus Christ,
you can find Him in this building right now. I'm confident of that. You can find Him. in his house. He's here. There are at least
two or three. I thought when I pulled in tonight,
next time I come here, I'm going to come early so I can get a
good parking spot. There's more than two or three
of us. He's here. He's here. We just seek Him. Here's a good place to find Him
and now is a good time. And then the second exhortation
is call upon Jehovah while He is near. Call upon Him. What is it to call upon Him?
It is to cry out to Him for mercy and for grace. It is to cry out
urgently for help. It is to express with the mouth
the faith that is in the heart. For with the heart one believes
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For whoever calls on the name
of Jehovah shall be saved." To call upon Him is to stand before
Him like that tax collector who said, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. That's what it is to call upon
Him. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He'll hear that prayer. He'll hear that prayer. Just
call upon Him. Some preachers will put a sinner's
prayer in your mouth. I don't need to do that. I don't
need to tell you what to say. I do not need to put words in
your mouth. Sinners know what to say. They beg for mercy. And God hears. Call upon Him. That's what it
is. When should you call upon Him?
Right now. While He is near. Because there
is coming a time when He will not be found. When is He near? He is never, never, that He is when and where the
gospel is preached. That is where and when He is
found, where the gospel is preached. The Lord is near to those and
all who call upon Him, and to all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him. He will hear
their cry and save them. Psalm 145 verses 18 and 19. I can assure you that He's here
right now. We have gathered in His name.
We sang a hymn of praise to His name. A couple of hymns we sang. We have called upon Him. His
gospel is being preached right now. I'm confident of that. And I'm saying to you that He's
near. Right here. He's near. Call upon
Him. Right now. He is never nearer
to sinners than when they hear His gospel. He is never farther
from sinners than when they depart from Him. Third exhortation, forsake your
wicked way and your unrighteous thoughts. And here we are described
both outwardly and inwardly. Your way is what you do outwardly. Look at a man's life, that's
his way. His manner of life is his way
of life. His way is the way he lives. Your unrighteousness is what
you are inwardly. Your unrighteous thoughts are
the evil desires and purposes that fill the heart of the unrighteous. Forsake them. Get away from them. If your thoughts are unrighteous,
then your way will be wicked. And we are told, the way of the
wicked is an abomination to Jehovah. It is an abomination. If you
know that something is abominable to Jehovah, would you not want
to forsake it? Would you not? As long as you
stand that way, He'll not hear you. He'll not hear you. Forsake
that way. Now that's the negative aspect. And it goes even further than
that. I must warn you not only against wicked living, but also
against wicked religion. Do not resort to it. Jesus Christ
declares, I am the way, no one comes to the Father except through
me. That's the truth. It is a wicked
religion that tells you, you can come in some other way. Jesus
said he's a thief and a robber who tries to come in any other
way. It is a wicked religion that tells you that you can come
to God through baptism. It is a wicked religion that
tells you that you can come to God through keeping the law.
In the first place, you cannot. And in the second place, you're
a wicked man if you try to keep the law and forsake Christ. It is a wicked religion that
tells you that the way to God is through keeping Sabbath. It
is a wicked religion that tells you that the way to God is to
abstain from pork or anything else, anything else. It is a
wicked religion that tells you that you can obtain favor before
God by anything other than through faith in the Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. He himself said, I am the way
and no one comes to the Father except through me. Now, forsake
the way of wicked religion. Forsake the way of wicked living. Forsake it and forsake it now. Now that's the negative aspect.
There is now a positive aspect. Return to Jehovah, our God. Return. Stands to reason that if we're
told to return to Jehovah, we must have already departed from
Him. You cannot return to someone
from whom you never departed. I have returned here tonight because I was here once before.
And I left and came back. I have returned. You cannot return
from a place where you've never been. When were you ever with
Jehovah? You're told to return to God.
How can you return to God if you never were with God? When
were you with God? in the Garden of Eden, in your father Adam. He's your
federal head, your representative, the head of our race. We were
in Him in the Garden of Eden. He stood before God as our representative. When God came down and walked
in the cool of the day with Adam in the Garden, walked with us
because we were in Adam. When he sinned, we sinned. When
he fell, we fell. When he died, we died. When he departed from God, we
departed from God. We were in Adam, our father. But now, God says, you departed
from me, come back. Return. Return. Come back to
me. He calls. Come back to me. Return to God. This call, return to Jehovah,
indicates the second and positive aspect of evangelical conversion. The first and negative aspect
is abandon all your wickedness. Forsake your wicked ways. The
second and positive aspect is return to Jehovah your God. How do you return to Him? Through
faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus says, come to me. How do
you come to me? By faith. Coming to Christ, or going to Christ if you will,
is the longest trip you will ever make. It will also be the quickest
trip you ever took. Because when you take the first
step, you have arrived. You're there. Come to me! The
longest trip you'll ever take, the quickest trip you'll ever
take. You come to Christ by faith. He that comes to me, he says,
is he that believes in me. Return to Jehovah. Come to Him
now. Come to Christ and find in Him
the only way to the Father and walk Christ's way all the way
home. This call returns to Jehovah. is followed by two gracious promises. Here's the first. This is so
sweet. He says, I will have mercy on
you. Is that not sweet? For mercy-needing
sinners, for mercy-seeking sinners, he simply says, forsake your
wicked ways and your unrighteous thoughts. Return to me. I'll
have mercy on you. I will have mercy on you. What
is mercy? Mercy is much related to grace. They both are unmerited favor,
but there's a difference in them. Mercy is God withholding from
you all the bad that you deserve. Grace, on the other hand, is
God giving to you All the good you do not deserve. Mercy. God withholds what you deserve. Grace. He gives you what you
do not deserve. He says, I will have mercy on
you. I will withhold from you the punishment you justly deserve. Oh, that's good news. I deserve
to die. And here He tells me, that if
I forsake my wicked way and return to Him, He will hold the gates
of hell from me. He promises. He promises. But now remember, there is a
positive aspect. If you forsake your wicked way
and return to the Lord, He says, I will have mercy on you and
I will, here's the positive part, In grace I will abundantly pardon. Abundantly pardon. That means he will multiply pardon
to you. Just multiply it. The old Puritans used to speak
of Adam's fall. They spoke of it with this term. They called it the fortunate
fall. Now, I have a problem with that
word fortunate. I just don't believe in fortune,
okay? I understand the concept, but I will tell you this. Adam's
fall was a blessed fall. Oh, there was a blessing in Adam's
fall. Now, wait a minute. It brought
condemnation. Yes, it did. It brought death.
Yes, it did. Brought sin into the world. Yes,
it did. But on the other hand, Adam's
fall was a blessed fall. If Adam had never fallen, I never would have known Jesus
Christ as my Lord and Savior. If Adam had never fallen, I'd
have never known what it is to be saved. I'd have never known
what justification is. I'd have never known what sanctification
is. I never would have known what
it is to be reconciled unto God had it not been for that blessed
fall of Adam. God says, I will not only pardon,
I will abundantly pardon. Adam's fall was a blessed fall
also in that We gained in Christ more than
we lost in Adam. In Adam's fall, we lost everything. Everything! We're bankrupt! Pitiful! Pathetic! In Adam's
fall, we lost everything. In Jesus Christ, we gained more
than we lost. more than we lost. Our blessings
are infinite, eternal, complete and thorough. God says, I will
abundantly pardon. Lord, do you happen to know what
kind of a sinner I am, chief of sinners? He says, my grace
is greater than your sin. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. I've got good news for sinners. God is bigger than you are. God's
grace is greater than your sin. And He will abundantly pardon.
You call upon Him, He'll pardon. Every time I've called upon Him,
He pardoned. Every time. I call upon Him daily. His mercies are new every morning. He says to us in Isaiah chapter
40 verse 2, that your iniquity is pardoned and you have received
from Jehovah's hand double for all your sins. Double for all
your sins. Meaning that God's grace is greater
than your sins, infinitely more. I love these gospel invitations. I obey them every day. Seek Jehovah while He may be
found. Do it right now. Join me. Seek Him while He may be found.
Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked man forsake his
ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return
to Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him. Let him return
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. He will. Come to him right now. Call upon
him right now. ahem ahem