how many health food stores we've
got. I don't care how many programs that we enter into. We're going
to die. We're going to get out of this
world somehow. And we're not going to die healthy either.
We're not going to die healthy. We're going to get old. We're
going to get old. We're seeking after the wrong
thing. We need to be seeking the blessed
God. Not longevity. Don't let this
thing become a religious pursuit to us, a means to an end that
somehow we're going to defeat death. Well, the text that I read to
you says this, Though he live a thousand years twice told,
though he live two thousand years, yet he hath seen no good, do
not all go to one place. Now, though he lives 2,000 years
and has seen no good, that is, he hath not come to see the only
true good, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. As a man came to
our Lord one time, a young fellow, and he said, Good Master, what
must I do to inherit eternal life? And our Lord immediately
replied to him, like this. He said, Why callest thou me
good? There is only one good, and that's
the Father in heaven. Now, if a man lives to be 2,000
years old and yet hath not seen the eternal good, he hath not
seen the real good, the Lord Jesus Christ doth not all go
to one place. That is, doth not all go to the
grave? That's where all of us is going
to wind up, is the grave. We're going back to the dust
from whence we came. This body, regardless of how
vigorous and healthy it is or appears to be, is soon going
to be a carnival for worms. These eyes that look upon you,
will soon, in a few short years, be a place where the worms go
in and out. And that's the truth. That one place is the grave. The fountain of youth is a delusive
dream. There's no such thing as the
fountain of youth. There was a Spaniard one time
that came into Florida back in the 1400s, and he And Ponce de Leon, when he went
back to Spain, he said he discovered the Fountain of Youth. He discovered
that climate in Florida where the sun shines about all the
time, where they have this desirable temperature, where the breeze
off of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean comes in and
cools and soothes. but people die in Florida. More
people die in Florida than in any place in the country because
that's where old people go. When it gets too cold for them
here in this part of the United States, well, they go to Florida.
But there's no such thing as the Fountain of Youth. That's
a delusive dream. Though a man live 2,000 years,
yet he has seen no good unless, unless, His pursuits have enabled
him to see God Almighty Himself in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ, for He is the only final good. We have the wrong object
in our search. We need to be searching and seeking
somewhere else rather than this longevity that this nation seems
to be captivated with. We need to be seeking the blessed
God. There's a verse that I come across
here in the book of 1 Chronicles. Turn there with me if you will.
1 Chronicles chapter 22. Let me call your attention to
a few things here in regard to what I've already said about
who we ought to seek. We ought to seek the Lord. And I hope that I'm not misunderstood
here, that don't say, well, the preacher's against exercise. I'm not against those things.
That's fine. I'm for exercise. I'm for taking
vitamins. I'm for not eating sugar and
white flour and all those things. I'm all for that. But when it's
all said and done, you're going to die anyhow. And you're not
going to die healthy. Now, Pat McGinnis told me one
time, he said, well, he said he's going to die healthy. No,
he ain't going to die healthy. He's not going to die healthy.
He's going to die like everybody else. Going down to the grave. He's not going to die healthy.
I knew what he meant by it when he said it. But I'm not against
it. I'm for these things. I'm for
these things. But don't let them become a religious
pursuit. to think that somehow you're
going to defeat death. You're not going to defeat death.
Concentrate your efforts in another direction. If we'd put all of
our efforts that we spend in this health business, if we'd
put them in this direction, in seeking the Lord, I'm sure, I'm
positive we'd be better off. I just know we'd be better off
if we'd put all of our efforts in seeking the Lord. Not at the
expense of reasonable care of our bodies, that's not what I'm
saying. Not at that expense. But go in this direction and
seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Our only safety
is in seeking the Lord. That's where our safety is, in
seeking the Lord. Look at this verse, the 19th
verse of the first chapter of the book of Chronicles. or the 22nd chapter of the book
of 1 Chronicles, verse 19. It says, Now set your heart and
your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise, therefore, and build
ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the
covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God unto the
house that is to be built to the name of the Lord." Now, this
is what I want you to see. Now, in O.W., set your heart
and your soul to seek the Lord your God. This is what we need
to be doing. We need to set our heart and
our soul into seeking the right object. And the right object
is the Lord God Almighty. Let me say a few words here this
morning to those of you that are Christians, that you're believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Something happened to you. Something
happened to you here either a short time ago or maybe years ago. Something happened to you. intervened. He came along and found you and
made Himself known to your heart and created an anticipation and
anxiety, a desire in your heart to love Him. Something happened
to you and you become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your
life was changed and you want to follow Him. You've been seeking
Him these many years. Well, let me speak to you for
just a few minutes here. To those who are redeemed, to
those who are blood-bought, blood-washed, to the individual that experienced
what Jesus said was, you must be born again. You've been born
again. You have new ideas, new thoughts,
new desires, new attitudes. You've gone in a different direction
than you once did. You love now what you once hated
and despised. You're different. You're different.
God made you different. You're converted. God converted
you through the Word and by His Spirit, and brought you to the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you love Him now, and you
worship Him, and you eagerly yearn to be drawn closer to Him. You look for His return. You
like to sing praises unto His name. You like to be around where
His name is exalted. The company that you choose are
people that are of the same mind that you are. You like to be
around them. You are converted. You are saved.
Well, seek Him. Seek Him. You're to continue
to seek Him until you come to that glorious perfection which
belongs to the better world. That's how long we're to do it. How do we seek the Lord? We're
Christians, how do we seek the Lord, preacher? Would you tell
me? Number one, let me tell you how you seek the Lord. You do
it by endeavoring to obey Him in everything. You do it in obeying
Him, obeying Him in everything, everything. In the service of
God Almighty, there is nothing little. In God's service, there
is nothing little. Now, he that carelessly offends
in little things shall fall little by little. If you carelessly
offend, neglect little things, you are going to fall the same
way that you neglect these things. You are going to fall little
by little. That is, for instance, You say,
well, there was a time that I used to read my Bible every day. Every
day I read my Bible with delight, with fervor, with enthusiasm. But my time became limited and
I just kind of laid it aside and I missed a day now and then. And the first thing you know,
there would be a week go by and I'd never open my Bible. Maybe
only open it when I came to Wednesday night prayer meeting. And finally,
I didn't open it at all because I avoided coming to Wednesday
night. It was just little by little
by little. You see what I'm talking about?
When you begin to offend in little things, in little things, you're
careless. in regard to little things, you're
going to fall the same way that you offend and are careless.
You're going to fall little by little, just a step at a time. It doesn't come all at once.
You're not just standing up on a pinnacle all at once you fall
off. It's not like that. It just comes little by little
by little. You see the dry rot. enters the
timbers of the house of human character, and when it has silently
done its job, the house falls with a shock. The house doesn't
fall all at once. You just don't build the house
and the next day it topples over. It takes years before the termite,
it takes years before the secret, silent dry rot enters into that
house, the timbers of that house, and when it's finally done its
job, all at once it falls down, and you wonder what happened.
Well, you see, it was dry rot. It was dry rot that caused it,
but it was a secret. It was a secret, silent dry rot
that finally took its toll. Well, we need to seek the Lord
with our heart and with our soul in everything. We need to endeavor
to obey the Lord in everything. In the little things as well
as the big things. Quit worrying about obeying the
big things until we've first taken care of the little things.
Now, I know that I talk about this a good bit. I know that.
And it bothers some folks, but I must say it anyhow, whether
it bothers us or not, I've got to say it. It will not bother
you who are faithfully attending the services of the church and
supporting the work. your prayers, your witness, your
testimony, and your gifts. It doesn't bother you. You'll
agree. But those that are not doing this, that it bothers them
a little bit because they think maybe I'm picking on them. But
I'm not picking on you. I'm not doing that. I'm just
trying to warn you and tell you that when you offend in little
things, when you start laying out of church and say, well,
I don't think I need to go tonight. I just don't think I need to
go. Somebody else will be there. I don't need to go. And the first
thing you know, you lay out tonight, and the first thing you know,
Why, you say, well, we never go on Wednesday night. If someone
comes along and says, well, don't you go into church tonight? No,
we never go on Wednesday. You used to go on Wednesday night,
but you kept missing Wednesday night. And now you've got to
the place that you're just unconscious of any feelings towards it. Then
you say, well, we never go on Wednesday night. Sunday night
comes around. Don't you go to church? No, we
never go to church. We used to go. We don't go anymore. We've missed so long that we're
not sensitive about it anymore. I'm telling you this. I'm telling
you this under God. Now, I want you to listen to
me. Now, I don't want you to get mad at me. I don't want you
to get mad at me because, listen, if you had an incurable disease
and I was a doctor and you'd come to me and I had something
to help you, you wouldn't get mad at me if I gave you a cure,
would you? I'm giving you a cure. I'm telling
you this morning what the trouble is. Now, these little things. How do I seek the Lord? I'm a
saved man. At least I think I'm saved. How do I seek the Lord? By endeavoring
to obey Him in everything. In everything. Well, preacher,
I don't think I ought to have to come to church all the time.
You don't have to come to church any if you don't want to. If
that's your attitude, don't come at all. But if you're a Christian,
if you've been blood-bought, now there's a desire. Listen
to me now. There is a desire in your heart
to be with the people of God, to be with them and to sing,
to sing and to hear your King exalted. There is that desire. Now listen, if you just continually
Avoid these confrontations with the Word. That's what you ought
to do on Wednesdays and Sundays and so forth. The first thing
you know, this silent, secretive rot has entered into the house
of human character that holds you up. And the first thing you
know, you fall completely! And that's what will happen. I've seen it. I've seen it in
the last 31 or 32 years. I've seen it! in men and women
that had just slipped in on them, slipped in on them. They left
off this, they left off that, and the first thing you know,
they left off everything, and the first thing you know, the
house fell down. The house fell down. And it didn't
happen all at once. It was in a process, a process
of time. I'm telling you the truth. That's
what'll happen. That's what'll happen. You can't
get by with it. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord.
How am I to seek the Lord? By endeavoring to obey Him. What
about the Lord's Supper? What about the Supper of the
Lord? How do you consider that? This
eating of the unleavened bread and drinking of the wine? Our
Lord Jesus Christ, He told His people before He left, He said,
We're going to observe something new here. He said, the Passover,
I'm the fulfillment of the Passover. We're going to have a new supper.
A new supper. And he took some unleavened bread. And he took some wine. And he
gathered his disciples around about him. And he took that bread
and he break it and gave thanks. And he took the wine and he gave
thanks. And he gave the bread to these
fellas. He said, eat this bread. As often
as you eat this bread, you show forth my death till I come again. He said, this doing, do it in
remembrance of me. Do it in remembrance of me. Will
you do that? Do this in remembrance of me.
He took the wine and they drank it. And he said that we ought
to do this. We ought to do this. You and
I, who are his followers, we ought to do it. From the time
that we become His followers until we die, we ought to do
this and never, never get to the place that we forget to do
this. Now, how many, you say, well,
I haven't remembered the Lord in years and years and years
and years. That is in the Lord's Supper. I haven't remembered
Him. Well, what are you going to do
about it? How are you going to face this now? How are you going
to face this? I'm telling you to seek the Lord.
How do you seek the Lord? By endeavoring to obey Him. Well,
that's just a little thing. The Lord's Supper doesn't save
anybody. I know it doesn't save anybody. I know it doesn't save
anybody. But it pictures how you are saved. And our Lord said,
this doing remembrance of me, would you look right into the
face of that? And so I've got no time for it.
I've got no time for it. And there's other things that
I've got to do. Let me tell you, the secret dry rot is entering
into the timbers of your character and the first thing you know,
down you go. Down you go. And great will be
the fall. You say, well, I wish the preacher...
Someone told me one time, I said, well, preacher, you need to teach
more. I'm teaching right now. I'm teaching right now. You need
to teach more. That's what I'm doing. I'm telling
people what the Bible says about practical godliness and Christianity. That's what I'm doing right now.
I'm telling you that the Bible says that we're to observe and
obey the least precept and command of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
to do it! We're not to say, well, I'll
take this one and let you out. We're not to do it. We are to
endeavor to obey Him in all things. I'll seek the Lord. How? It ought to be the main business
in the life of every Christian, every believer, his main business
ought to be firstly to glorify God and do so by trying in whatever
way he can to build up the house of Almighty God. Not tear it
down, but build it up. Every time that a man refuses
to assemble himself at the house of God in which he is a member
and a part of, where the gospel is preached, where the hymns
of praise are being sung and prayers are being made, every
time that he refuses to do so, without any justifiable excuse. Just by saying, I've got other
things to do. I've got to go here. That's no
excuse. I don't care what we come up
with. It is not justifiable. There
are things that we must deny ourselves. Deny ourselves. You say, well, I've got to go
here on Wednesday night. I can't be here. Why can't you
be here? Well, I've got to do this. Deny
yourself doing that. Deny yourself doing that. and
get there where you belong. That's where you belong. Is that
too hard? Is that too hard? I don't think
it is. I don't think it is. I'm trying
to tell us this morning. We're going in the wrong direction.
We're seeking something else. We need to be seeking the blessed
God. That's who we need to be seeking.
Build up the church. We seek the Lord by building
up the church, and we do so with an eye to His glory. You say,
well, just let the preacher and a few of his friends take care
of it. I don't need to come. The preacher's got three or four
people. They're always there. They'll take care of those things.
That's a bad attitude. That's a bad attitude. Yeah,
I'm sure the preacher's got two or three fellas there. Whatever
he says they'll do, don't make any difference, right or wrong,
that's a bad attitude. They'll take care of it. God
help us. How are we to do this? Our red
word says that this is what we're to do. We're to seek the Lord. That's what he said. Now how
are we to seek the Lord? How? How? All right, here he
tells us. Verse 19, he says, "...set your
heart and your soul to seek the Lord." That's how we're to do
it. We're to seek Him. How are we to seek Him? With
our hearts and our souls. Set your heart to seek the Lord. Set your soul to seek the Lord.
A man who serves the Lord, who seeks the Lord, who means business
for the Lord. He sets his foot down and he
says, I stand here. This is how I stand and where
I stand. I have determination. I have
resolve and resolution in my determination. Here I stand.
You might as well try to move north pole as to get this man
to move from his chosen place. You say, well, there's certain
people that come to church all the time. I'll tell you why they
come to church all the time. It's not necessarily because
they like the preacher, worshiping the preacher. That's not the
reason. They love the preacher, certainly. You can't hate anybody
to be a Christian. You can't hate people to be a
Christian. You can't have an unforgiving, unrelenting spirit
to be a Christian. You can't do it. God won't forgive
you if you don't forgive others. They don't come. You say, well,
why do they come? There's always in every church,
there's just a nucleus, there's a handful. They're always there.
I'll tell you why they're there. Because they have a determination
and a resolve in their hearts that this is my chosen place
and I shall not be moved. That's right. That's exactly right. They're
not turned aside. They're not turned aside. You
say, well, how come don't their children get sick? Don't they
have to go on vacations? Don't they have to do this? Don't
they have to do all that? But they're not afraid to deny
themselves. They'll deny themselves. Why? Because of their object. Their
object is to what? Is to seek the Lord. How? With
all of your heart and all of your soul. Listen, the Bible
says if a man becomes a Christian, becomes a follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ, he puts his hands to the plow. That's the way our
Lord said it. He said when a man becomes a
Christian, becomes a follower of mine, he takes his hands and
he gets a hold of the plow handles. And he said, he stays with them.
He said, it's going to be rough. They're going to run into rocks
and stumps and stones. But he says, he doesn't let go. He holds on even if the animals
drag him. He holds on. He holds on with
determination and resolution. He holds on with all of his being. What am I saying? I'm saying
we seek the Lord. We seek the Lord. How? With our
hearts and our souls, with resolve and determination. That's how
we do it. We have intense affection towards
God's service and towards the glory of God. I'll tell you this,
and you know it's true. A man Irregardless of his station
in life, a man never does a thing well if his heart is not in it. He just doesn't do it well. His
heart must be in it. His heart must be in it. I've
known fellas, works on, I know fellas right here, works on the
job, and their employer thinks that there's no one like them. I can go to talk to certain people
and say, well, do you know so-and-so? Yeah, he works for our company.
One of the best men we've got. One of the best men we've got. He's not afraid to work a little
overtime. He's not afraid to get there
a little early. Because his heart's in it. His heart's in it. That's
how we're to seek the Lord. Put our heart into it. Our heart
and our soul. You see, a man never does a thing
well if his heart's not in it. Success does not come to heartless
efforts. You show me a man that's successful
in some secular job, and I'll guarantee you that that success
came nine times out of ten because he put his heart and soul into
his job. He put effort into his job. Effort! He didn't look at the clock and
wait until 4 o'clock. He didn't start out at 12 or
8 o'clock in the morning and kept looking back. I've preached
to people that sat in the middle here, and while I'm preaching,
everyone wants to look back. Look back. Look back. Want to
see what time it was. How long? The heart's not in
this. The heart's not in it. Wish he'd
quit, like to get home. My heart's not in it. My heart's
not back. My treasure's not here. These
fellows that are successful in these secular jobs, they don't
come on the job and set the clock up in front of them and keep
looking up everywhere. What time is it? What time? I like it. Success doesn't come
to heartless efforts. There is so much in the service
to the living God. Listen to me this morning. He
will not, our God, He will not accept a sacrifice which lacks
the lifeblood of a warm and an affectionate heart. He won't
do it. Brethren, nobody, I don't care
who he is, nobody is good, nobody is holy by accident. It's on purpose. They've set
their heart and soul to one object. to seek the Lord. No man ever
became holy by chance, don't care who he is. There must be
a pining after obedience to God, or else we'll never have it.
Never have it. Set your heart and your soul,
that's what he says. Never leave your head or your
heart home. when you come to the house of
the living God where the gospel is being preached. But bring
your heads and bring your hearts. As our brother said as he prayed,
help us to hear every word, every word, to hear every word, to
be alert, to be concerned, to feel that maybe God will speak
to me. I told you one time about the little boy in Spurgeon's
Tabernacle who went with his grandmother. He sat up as close
as he could get always. He went to every service that
he could possibly get there. And he put his hand behind his
ear when Mr. Spurgeon spoke. He put his hand
like that, and he just kept moving up on the seat. He kept putting
his hand up like that, done that every service. Finally, his grandmother
said, John, why do you do that? Are you hard of hearing? He said,
no, I'm not hard of hearing. But he said, Mr. Spurgeon said,
God speaks to man. And he said, I want to hear in
case God ever speaks to me. I wish we had that much concern
about our souls. I want to hear if God ever does
speak. I want to be in position. I want
to have everything clear out of my heart and my mind that
I might hear what is said. I might say, speak on, Lord,
I hear. Speak on, I hear. Oh, no. God help us. Have you ever thought of what an honor
it is to be permitted to do anything for God? That's an honor. Do we know who God is? I can't
tell God out. I can't do that. But I know this.
I know that God is over all and above all. I know that there's
no other God. apart from Him. I know that He
is the true and the living God. I know that He doeth all things
well. I know that He ruleth in the
heavens and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea.
He ruleth all things. Everything God hath His hand
upon, He doeth wonderful things. I know that I am here this morning
because of the grace of God. I know that. I know that I owe
every drop of blood in my body, I owe to God. I owe to God every
breath of my lungs. I owe it to God. He's the source,
the giver of life, the taker of life. Whatever happiness that
I've experienced in this life, I owe to God. I know that. Whatever
prosperity I have in this life, I owe to God. I owe it to Him. I don't owe it to you. I don't
owe it to nobody. I owe it to God! I know that. Have you ever thought what an
honor it is to be permitted to do anything for Him? What an
honor it is! What an honor! What an honor!
Just to be permitted to do something for the God who made all of this! And who's on top of all of this.
That's an honor. That's an honor. You think it's
an honor to do something for your superior sometimes, don't
you? You think, well, that's an honor. Here he's three or
four steps up the ladder over and above me. He's an executive
officer. Here he has condescended, come
down three or four levels, and he's asked me if I'd pick up
something for him there as I go to town. That's quite an honor
that he'd condescend and say something to me. Well, that's
an honor. I'd be glad to do it. I'd be
glad to do it, mister. So I'll be glad to. Oh, well,
is it? No, it's no problem. It's no
problem. I'll be glad to do it. That's
the way we act, isn't it? Have you ever thought what an
honor it is to be permitted to do anything for God Almighty? What an honor. What an honor.
What an honor. For God to bless us is a great
condescension on his part, but for him to permit us to be of
any use to him, for God to permit us to be any use to him, is far
more honor and far more glory than being the President of the
United States. More honor in being allowed. More honor for the glory of God
to give just a drink of water to some thirsty soul in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. More honor in that than being
an emperor of the whole world. That's right. There's more honor. More honor. And if a beggar come
along, a beggar come along, And he said, I'm thirsty, could you
give me a drink of water? And you said, well certainly,
I've got plenty of water. I give you a drink of water here in
the name of the Lord Jesus. More honor in that than if you
could control this whole shooting match. More honor in that. Oh
listen, this honor, this honor doesn't lie in the act so much
as it does in the motive. And if the motive be, I did it
for the Lord. I did it for the Lord. I give
that man a drink of water. I give it to him for the Lord.
More honor than that. Oh my, so when I think of it,
when I think of you and I, here we are, snuggled off, nested
up here between these hills, Here in the state of West Virginia,
no one ever heard of us. There's no one ever heard of
us, except if you've got a few kinsmen, some of your sons and
daughters, or your cousins, or someone left West Virginia, they
remember you maybe. Maybe they remember you, most
of them don't. But maybe some of them do, but apart from that
fact, nobody knows where we're at this morning, and nobody cares,
except a few people that love us. That's right. We're nestled,
snuggled in a little building here between two hills along
a creek down in nowhere in West Virginia. No one knows where
that's at. Folks always did tell me, where
are you from? I said, I'm from Fairmont, West Virginia. Wasn't
even from there. I was from Upper Hollow here
somewhere, but I knew they wouldn't know the name of the Hollow.
So I always said, Fairmont, West Virginia is the nearest town.
They said, how far is that from Rich? They don't know where you
live. They don't know where West Virginia
is. That's right. They all say that. You fellas
know that. Yeah, how close is that to Norfolk? That's all they
knew was Norfolk and Richmond. Know anything about West Virginia?
Here we are. If we'd be permitted, if we'd
be selected by God, permitted by God to do anything for Him,
just the least little thing we could do for Him, What an honor. What an honor. Kevin, what an
honor it is for me to be able to preach the unsearchable riches
of God's only Son. That's an honor. I wouldn't trade
this. I wouldn't trade the honor that
God has bestowed upon me. I wouldn't trade it for all the
riches in the world. Wouldn't do it. Wouldn't even
consider it. Bring it all in. I said, no need to talk to me.
No need to talk to me. My foot's down. You just well
move up the North Pole. It's an honor, an honor. Oh, what an honor it is for you
and I, not only to serve the Lord, but to seek the Lord. And we ought to seek Him with
our hearts and with our souls, with an intense affection in
our hearts. for His glory and for service
to His name. What I'm saying is this. I'm
saying put all your weight and all your influence in your religion. That's what I'm saying we do
when we seek the Lord with all of our hearts or with our hearts
and our souls, our whole life. Put your whole life into it.
Your whole life. Everything, the whole perspective
of life. Put it into it. Put it in here. Put all your eggs in one basket.
Now, outside interest, you haven't got no interest there. Your interest
is here, Christ Jesus. Your interest is in the claims,
the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where your life is. Anything
that I can do, anything that I'm permitted to do, regardless
of how small and insignificant that it might be or appear to
be, if it can be done for His honor and for His glory, Lord,
help me to do it. Help me. Help me be the first
to volunteer. Let me stand in line. Put your
whole weight, put all your influence. I tell you, that's what He means.
Don't be like the man who asked the little girl at Sunday school
one day, he said to the little girl, he said,
is your dad a religious man? And she said, yes sir. My father
has religion, but he's not done much about it lately. He's got
religion. But he hasn't done much about
it lately. Don't let that be said of you.
Put your whole heart and soul and mind and body and spirit
into your religion. All of it. Listen, if you follow
him, follow him. Do it fully. Do it 100%. If you mean to be a Christian,
be a Christian. If not, shuck it all and forget
about it and go your way. Take your chance. Take your chance. When am I to do all this? Well,
it says here, set your heart, that's how we do it, set your
heart and your soul to seek the Lord. When am I to do it? When am I to do it? There's a
little word here which comprehends every day of the week. And that
little word is N-O-W. Now! Right now. This morning. Five minutes after eleven. Right
now. Set your heart and your soul
to seek the Lord your God. Right now. Right now. If we knew
how short or how brief our time is, How this would quicken us
to seek the Lord. If we could roll the thing back
and look down the list in alphabetical order and look under the R there.
Richardson, lots of them. Scott Richardson. Time of exploration. I could see the very day, the
very second that I went out in this world. That would quicken
me. That would quicken me. would
quicken you? I believe it would. We'd be up
and doing, wouldn't we? We'd be seeking the Lord if we
knew that. Well, all right. I said all that to those that
are blood-bought. Blood-bought. Said it for your
good. Said it for the glory of God. All right. Let me say something
now lastly to those that are not converted. You're not converted. You're not on the Rock of Ages.
You stand on sinking sand. If the storm comes, You're going
to perish. Let me say something to you.
Well, set your hearts and your souls to seek the Lord your God. Do that. Well, set your hearts
100% on true religion. Don't be content with the outward
form of religion. Outward form of religion. Don't be content in seeking that. I know most people, unconverted
people, believe that if I could be baptized, well, that would
take care of things. I believe I ought to be baptized.
And I tell you about a fellow stopping here not so long ago,
and come over here and talk with me a while, him and his wife,
and one morning he said, would you go to Mannington and talk
to my mother? And I said, well, what's her
problem? He said, well, she said she's a Christian, And I said,
well, how long has she been a Christian? Well, she's been a Christian
for a long time. I said, where does she go to church? Well, she doesn't
go to church. She hasn't been to church for years, but she's
getting old, he said, and she's kind of sick-like, and she's
been talking about being baptized. Would you go talk to her about
being baptized? And maybe you'd baptize her.
And I said, well, I don't think it would be any use for me to
go and talk, but I said, because you're a friend of mine. I said,
I'll go talk to her. And I went up to Mannington and
climbed up on that hill and listened to her husband talk about what
a good man he was and how brave he was and all of that and how
everybody was against him. And finally his wife crept in
and she got to say, well, what do you think about baptizing
me sometime? I said, why should you be baptized? Well, I think everybody ought
to be baptized. I said, you've got to have a better reason than
that. And so I just dismissed it and come on home. She is seeking
the outward form. Seeking the outward form of it.
If I could be baptized, or if I could join that church, things
would be alright. No, no. Well, I say this to the
unconverted from this verse of Scripture. Set your heart and
your soul to seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, not an outward
form of religion. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Don't be content with the outward
form of it. Here in 1 Chronicles 22, verse
19, let me give you the setting here. David, King David, he was
about to die, and he gathered these faithful men around his
bed, and he urged them to build the temple. God had already told
him, said, David, You're a good man and all that, but you've
killed a lot of people. You've shed a lot of blood and
said, you're not going to build a temple. You're not going to have a hand
in that. You've shed too much blood in
your lifetime. But he said, you're son Solomon.
I'm going to let him do it. And David said, well, if I can't
build a temple, I'll gather the materials, wherein those that
are going to build it might build it. So he gathered the men around
him here. And he urged them to build the
temple. Now, David knew that the temple
building was not everything. Although he valued it very highly,
he knew something better than the temple. See, he said, now
set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Seek Him! You build a temple,
but seek God first. That's where it says, not in
outward form. It's not in the temple, see? Arise, therefore,
and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark
and the covenant to the Lord, the holy vessels of God, under
the house that is built in the name of the Lord. But seek the
Lord, set your heart and your soul upon seeking the Lord. Seeking
the Lord. Outward service. That's not where
it's at. It is in Him. It is in the Lord.
By all means, then, if you are unsaved, by all means, attend
a church where the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is being
preached, where the truth is being told. Attend that church
and listen. Be eager to hear every word that
is said. But there is no salvation in
your attending. There's no salvation in carrying
your Bible. There's no salvation in baptism. There's no salvation in any good
work that you might perform. I don't care how good you are.
I don't care if you quit being mean, you quit this, you quit
that, and quit everything else, and start loving your children,
loving your husbands, and coming to church and singing. There's
no salvation in your good work. No, sir. Salvation is only to
be found. Salvation lies outside of these
things. It lies outside of yourself.
Fly away to the Lord Jesus Christ. Seek the Lord. That's where it's
at. That's where it's at. There is
such a person as the Lord Jesus Christ. There is. Bless God,
He is a real person. He's as real as I'm real this
morning. He walked here upon this earth.
The Lord Jesus Christ was born of a woman, a virgin woman. And
He experienced everything that you and I experienced. Under
the law, and He magnified that law. Magnified it. Kept it. Kept it perfectly. Not for Himself,
but He kept it for His people. He went to the cross and He died
there not for His sins, He had none. He died for the sin of
His people in order that He might pay their debt and make them
accepted in the beloved. He freely gave them His righteous
life. And he was killed, he was dead,
he was buried, and he was resurrected. And he lives right now on the
right hand of God, seated on a throne, and he's a king. And
that's where he is right now. And he grants repentance and
faith to men and women who are brokenhearted and who call upon
him. He grants them his salvation. That's where it's at. That's
where it's at. It's in the Lord. It's in the
Lord. It's not in you coming to church. You ought to come. It's not in you reading your
Bible. You ought to read your Bible. It's not in baptism. You ought to be baptized if you're
a believer. It's not in your good works. It's not in your
good attitudes. It's not in your good intentions.
It's not in your resolutions. It's in Christ. Christ alone
is the Savior. Listen to what He said. He said,
I'm the door. I'm the door. I'm the door. You know what a
door is? You know what a door is? When you got up this morning
and you went out of the bedroom, you opened the door. When you
went into the bathroom, you opened the door. When you went into
the closet there to get a towel off, you opened the door. When
you went out to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, you opened
the door and got your cup. When you got ready to come to
church, you opened the door. And then you went out and opened
the door of your car. And then you come up here and
you opened the door of your car again. And then you opened the door.
Jesus said, I'm the door. I'm the door. If any man enter
in, I'm the door. You enter in. Salvation's entering
in. I'm the door. Enter in. That's where it's at. That's
where it's at. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. The keynote of the gospel is
from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. Are you prepared to die? Huh? Are you prepared to die? Let
me give you an illustration and I'll quit. A man goes to a restaurant,
like I do sometimes, but I don't do all this, don't have the money.
Man goes to the restaurant and he sits down and he orders wine. You go in these elaborate restaurants,
that's the first thing they ask you. Will you have a cocktail
first? Would you have your cocktail?
And they cost a lot of money. I'm sure four or five dollars.
Would you have a cocktail? No, I don't believe I'd take
a cup of coffee. Well, what about some wine? No, I don't believe
I'd want any. Don't misunderstand me now. I'm
not saying that If a man takes a drink of wine, that sends him
to hell. That's not what I'm saying at
all. Just giving you an illustration here. I'm saying that sometimes
a fellow goes into the restaurant and they say, well, do you want
some wine? He says, yes, I'll take some
wine. What's the best wine you've got? Well, it's so and so. Well, I don't care about the
price. I want a glass of that wine. So he gets that wine. And then they bring the menu
to him and he gets the most expensive thing on the menu. And there's
no luxury that he denies himself in this restaurant. He doesn't
deny himself anything. He gets everything he wants.
Gets him a big cigar at the end of it. A great big cigar. He
begins to smoke that cigar. By and by, the man comes along
and lays the check down. Puts the bill down right before
him. And he says, I never thought
of that. Well, I never thought of that. I never thought of that. How much is that? He looks down
there, maybe it's $100. Well, I never thought of that.
Now, here's a man. He's either a born fool or an
out-and-out crook, one of the two. He never thought of the
day of reckoning of accounts. Never thought of it. He's a born
fool or he's a crook. Well, I'll tell you this. One
day the books will be opened. The books will be opened. God
is going to open His books. And the Day of Reckoning and
the Day of Accounts is going to be called in. You are going
to say, I never thought of that. Well, I never thought of that.
Well, I have just been living as if this had never happened.
I just did not deny myself any luxury, anything. I never thought
that there would be a Day of Reckoning. There is a Day of
Reckoning. There is a Day of Reckoning. It may be sooner than
you think. Jesus said one time about seeking
the Lord. This is what He said. He said to some people, He said,
There will come a time you will seek Me, but you won't find Me.
He said, There will come a time that you will seek Me, but you
won't find Me. And what's going to happen? You
will die in your sin. That passage of Scripture in
the book of Proverbs, chapter 1, verses 28 and 29, was not
put there as an afterthought. But it says, I stretched forth
my arm, and no man regarded. I called, and you refused. And when calamity comes upon
you, and you call upon me, he said, I won't hear you. He said,
I'll laugh, and I'll mock. One day God's going to laugh
and God's going to mock when calamity comes upon some of us. We're going to seek Him. We're
going to seek Him. But it will be too late and we'll die in
our sin. Listen to what I'm saying now.
Now. N-O-W. Seek the Lord now. Now. While it is yet day. For when night or darkness comes,
no man can work. Seek Him now. Seek Him now when
your intelligence is clear, when you've got a good mind. Don't
wait until you're 75 and got hardening of the arteries and
you can't think straight and you don't know which day it is
and the only thing is you can remember something that happened
70 years ago. Now! Now. Now. Young man, young woman, now! Right now. I command you in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you seek the Lord. right
now. Seek Him with all your heart
now. Let's stand, we'll be dismissed and we'll