Well, I'm very thankful to Brother
Eric for filling in last week on short notice. And thankful
for your understanding. I was very ill. I haven't been,
I believe, the first year after Melinda and I were married, I
had the flu that bad, but it's been that long. And I haven't
had it that bad, maybe ever. It was bad. But thank you. Thank you very much. Let's turn
to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29 in verse 13 the Lord is speaking
and he says and ye 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, and I will turn away your captivity." Now, as one that God has called
to preach the gospel, one of the saddest, most sorrowful things
to me is to see sinners who hear the Word of God, hear it preached,
and then go on with the same everyday routine and refuse to
hear God's Word and to hearken to God's Word. Sometimes you
want to... you think, you know, words coming
out of here. And it's very sorrowful. On the
flip side of that coin, a happy thing is when God begins to work
and you see someone focused and in an urgent way to want to find
out who Christ is, want to know Christ. That's a joyful thing. Many here don't believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Many here do not trust the Lord
of glory. Some who are believers suffer
in various kinds of trial. And then you have others who
have difficulty with sin. And you have some who would just
like to be strengthened with a fresh view of Christ. All these are various forms of
captivity, whether it's unbelief, whether it is trials, chastening,
or sin, or weakness of spirit, weakness in faith. These are
various forms of captivity. And the only one who can deliver
us is the Lord. But whatever the case, this is
what he says now, verse 13, 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, and I will turn away your captivity. So this is not just for the unbeliever. This is for believers as well.
This is for, he's actually speaking to believers. What is it to seek the Lord?
That's my subject. What is it to seek the Lord?
He tells us here, the Lord tells us here, it is to give God the
glory as we seek only the Lord with our whole heart. Giving
God the glory as we seek only the Lord with our whole heart. Now first of all, to seek the
Lord. To truly seek the Lord is to
give the Lord all the glory for your seeking. Now, Jeremiah delivered
this word at a time when God had chastened Israel. He had
turned them over to Babylonian captivity. They're in captivity
in Babylon at the time that this word's delivered to them. And
they have no way of freeing themselves from that captivity. Now that
is the sin problem with all who God saves and who He continues
to teach and to instruct. This is our sin problem. This
is our sin problem. We've sinned against God and
our sins have separated us from God. That's a problem because
only God can bring us back to fellowship with God. And if he
left us where we were, we wouldn't have any fellowship with him.
We wouldn't even seek him. Only God can continue to make
us seek him. And we continually need him to
make us seek him. But if he left us to ourselves,
we would have remained dead in trespasses and in sin, in captivity
with no way of saving ourselves. That's where we would have remained.
There's none that understandeth God said. There's none that seeketh
after God. So that tells me God's gonna
have to do something to make me seek Him. If there's none
that seeks God and none seek Him, God's going to have to do
something to make me seek Him. But God works everything necessary
to bring His child to call upon Him. Now I want you to see the
context here. Now if we just take this verse
out of the context, it sounds like it's all up to the sinner.
But now listen to the context in verse 10. Thus saith the Lord,
that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return
to this place." After 70 years be accomplished. That means in
God's appointed set time. You know it was God's appointed
time when Christ came into this world. Scripture says in the
fullness of time. In the fullness of time. When
it was come. When that time was accomplished,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the spirit of adoption and be called by God. He says there,
I'll perform my good word towards you. That's what Christ did when
He came. He performed all God's good word
toward His people. Christ came forth and He fulfilled
the law in every jot and tittle for His people, so that Christ
is the only righteousness of everyone who's truly called and
sanctified by God. He's our only righteousness.
Not us, not our works, not anything we do, Christ only. And when
Christ came, He purged all the sin of His people, past, present,
and future. is our justifier, He's our justification. All our sins have been put away. Everybody for whom He died, that's
what He accomplished. He by Himself purged our sins. And Christ the Lord reconciled
all His people to God. God is not angry with His people
in Christ. because Christ reconciled all
His people to God. He's the reconciler and He is
our reconciliation. It's in Christ that we're brought
together with God. That's the good work He performed
when He came. And therefore, at the appointed
hour, when He's appointed the hour, Christ, our sovereign head,
He'll send this gospel and He'll send it home to the heart of
His child. And He will cause you to return
to Him. to return to Him. Just like He
told them, I'm going to cause you to return, to return. He's going to cause His people
to return to Him. I will cause you to return, He
said. And all this is according to
God's eternal purpose. He says in verse 11, because
I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end. recorded in His Word in Romans
8.28. We know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to God's
purpose. It's God's thoughts towards His
people. Because whom God foreknew, whom He foreordained, whom He
chose and predestinated, those He foreknew. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that His Son might
be the firstborn among many brethren. These are the thoughts God had
toward His people. moreover whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, whom He called, them He also justified,
whom He justified, them He also glorified." This is all those
spiritual blessings with which God blessed His people in Christ
before the foundation of the world according as He chose us
in Him. All this is in past tense. It
all happened when God put us in Christ in eternity and ever
since forever. Eternally, God knows His thoughts
towards His people. He knows the end to which He's
going to bring each of His people. Now get this next verse. When
God works His grace in our hearts, the effectual result is this.
Then we shall call upon Him with all our heart. Look at verse
12. Then shall you call upon Me. Let's read that together
again. Go back to verse 10. Thus saith
the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon,
I will visit you and perform my good work toward you in causing
you to return to this place. Verse 12, 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." You see, God's saying by His
work toward us, by Him working affectionately in us, He's going
to make His child seek Him with all our heart. And when you seek
Him with all your heart, you shall find Him. You'll be found. He'll be found of you. When thou
said, Seek my face, the psalmist said, when you said, Seek my
face, Lord, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I
seek. When God commands it, God gives
the power and the ability to do what God commands. When He
says, Seek my face, God's going to give everything needful so
that you seek His face. That's what he's saying there.
And then the Lord says, when you search for me with all your
heart, verse 14, I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I
will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all
the nations and from all the places whither I've driven you,
saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into the place whence
I caused you to be carried away captive. He was in control causing
us to be carried away captive. And He's in control making us
return to the place from which we were carried away. This is
our God. See, do you see why the context
is important? If you take that one verse, verse
13, out of context, and I've heard it preached out of context,
it puts all this work in the sinner's hands. All the reason
you don't know God is because you're not believing with all
your heart. And they'll just whip and whip and whip a sinner.
But the context teaches us here, this is according to God's working.
This is God who gets the glory for causing His people to seek
Him. Now that's the difference. You
hear us talk about works and grace. The only two religions
that have ever been and will ever be in this world is works
and grace. That's the difference between
works and grace. Works is putting the hand, something
of the salvation into your hand. Grace is saying it's all of God. Whenever the preacher stands
who teaches sinners and he glorifies their will and their works, he's
taking glory from God and giving it to the sinner. And you know
what he's doing by that preaching? He's breaking the first commandment
that God gave. You'll have no other gods beside
me." Because God's a jealous God. Because God will not share
His glory with another. And to tell a sinner that something
is by His will or His work is to make him to be God instead
of God. That's another God. And that's
stealing God's glory. We quote this verse, 1 Corinthians
1, 29. But let's look at this. This
is so inclusive. This is all inclusive right here.
1 Corinthians 1.29 God gets the glory of putting us in Christ. No flesh of glory in His presence,
but of Him are you in Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus. God gets the glory for making
Christ all unto us. Who of God is made unto us. And Christ gets all the glory
for being all this unto us. who makes Him unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Why? Why? Why does God do it all? Why is
Christ all? And why does He make Christ all
to His people? That according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Who's the blessed
man? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto Thee. That's the blessed
man. We'll be satisfied with the goodness
of thy house, even of thy holy temple. We'll give God all the
glory. And that's the first thing involved in seeking the Lord,
giving God all the glory for seeking. The sinner might not
do that at first because he don't know what's happening to him
at first. But if it's God that sought you and made you to seek
Him, The last, the end result is going to be you are going
to glorify God. You are going to give Him the glory for doing that
work. He, before you ever sought Him, He sought you. That will
be your confession. Alright, that's the first thing
involved, is acknowledging God's the first cause. He's the one
that does this, causes this work to begin. But then look here,
God declares that to seek the Lord is to seek only the Lord. He says there in verse 13, you
shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me. You
see, most aren't searching for the Lord. Most in religion aren't
searching for the Lord. And most who search the scriptures
aren't searching for the Lord. They're searching something in
this book, something that teaches them that what they can do so
that they can find favor with God, or indebt God to them, or
save themselves, or add to the work by their hand. They're looking
for something for themselves to do. Our Lord said, speaking
to some men like that in John 5, verse 39, He said, Search
the Scriptures, for in them you think you have life. You're searching
the scriptures. You think just reading this book,
you've got life. You think that you look in here
and you read the thou shalt and thou shalt not, and you think
you can have life by that. And he says, and they are they
which testify of me. Cover to cover, this book is
taken up with the Son of God. It's taken up with the Son of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of His people.
That's what this book is about from cover to cover. Indeed, search the Scriptures.
He's not saying don't search the Scriptures. Indeed, come
hear the Gospel preached. But don't think you have life
because you've done that. Many do that who don't have life.
Many do much more zealous works than that who don't have life.
The Lord said there'll be many in that day that'll say, Lord,
Lord, didn't we do many wonderful works? Didn't we cast out devils?
And the Lord'll say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I never knew you. There's a lot of people who think
they have life in the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures. Hear the
gospel preached. But search the scriptures and
hear this gospel preached looking for Christ. Searching for Christ. You shall seek me, he said, and
search for me, he said. We seek the Lord only. Only. We seek the Lord only when we
know this, that we're totally helpless, totally unable to save
ourselves or to contribute anything to the work of salvation. That's
the only time we really seek the Lord, when we know we cannot
save ourselves. Not before, not during, not after
conversion. We can't do a thing to help God
out in this. That's the only time you really
search the Lord. It's not Christ plus our righteous
works. It's not Christ plus our piety. It's not Christ plus our church
going and our scripture reading. It's not Christ plus anything. It's Christ only. Christ only. He's the one who saves and we
have to renounce everything else that we once put any confidence
in. That's to truly seek the Lord. Look at Philippians chapter
3. Apostle Paul had so many things
that he put confidence in. He said, verse 4, though I might
also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man think he has
whereof, he might trust in his flesh, I more. I was circumcised
the eighth day. I was of the stock of Israel.
I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
As touching the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, I was persecuting
the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I was blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. And I, yea, doubtless,
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things." Well, do you think that you gave up a lot, Paul?
No. He said, I count them all done. It was nothing. It was done. That's all I was holding on to.
He says that I might win Christ. What else? That's it. That I
might 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. See, seeking
the Lord is seeking only the Lord, not Christ plus anything. And so that means I need to find
out who Christ is. Listen carefully to me now. Do you know who Christ is? Salvation
is a person. I would want to know who that
person is. Christ is the God-man. That means He's all God and He's
all man in one person. He's the God-man. God and man. had become separated from one
another because of our sin. And Christ came into this world
to be the mediator, to be the go-between between holy God and
His chosen people, and to bring us together in one, even in Christ. That's the job of the mediator.
That's what Christ came into this world to do. I want to know
Him, the mediator. Christ is the only one who can
do that for His people. Bring God and His people together
in one. And then, if I'm going to find
out who Christ is, I'm going to have to find out why Christ
came. What did He come to this earth
for? Why did He come down from Heaven's glory? Romans 3.26 tells
us this, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. He came to declare the righteousness
of God. That God might be just. Justice
is carried out in full by God on every person He saves. By
God pouring out that justice on Christ in their room instead.
So that God's just now. His law is upheld perfectly. And He's the justifier. He had
mercy on His people. He came to the aid of His people
and justified His people in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
by that work He accomplished at Calvary's Cross. That's why
He came. And He is this. He's just and
He's the justifier of everyone that believeth on Jesus. Not
everyone that works. Not everyone that adds to Christ's
work. but believes on Christ, rests
in Christ, complete in Christ. He's just and He's their justifier. That's why He came. Do you know
that's why Christ came? Do you believe He accomplished
that work? Are you convinced there's nothing else to be done?
Why then do you not cast all your care on Him? He came to this earth to save
His people. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. He knew He was coming to save.
He came to save a people that God gave Him before the world
was made. He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. His name is Jesus for He shall
save His people from our sins. And that's what He accomplished
and is accomplishing. So I want to know who he is,
the God-man mediator? I want to know why he came? To declare God just and justified? To declare God's righteousness?
That's what Paul said. That's why I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. Because therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. Because it's written, the just
shall live by faith. And he came here to save his
people. And then, if I'm going to seek Christ, I want to find
out if He accomplished that work. Did He accomplish the work? He said in John 17, verse 4,
I've glorified Thee on the earth, Father. I've finished the work
which Thou gavest Me to do. That means there's nothing that
remains to be done. Nobody can add to it. Nobody
can take from it. It's done. That's the good news. That's what gospel means is good
news. Is it good news? If somebody
came to you and told you that the work's just partly finished,
that wouldn't be good news. Not if you know what you are
and how helpless you are. But when you hear it is finished,
that's good news. That's good news. And then if
I'm going to see Christ, I want to know where He is now and what
He's doing now. I would have no hope if He went
in that grave and stayed in that grave. No, He went in that grave
and He came out of that grave. And when he came out of that
grave, all his people came out of that grave. And when he came
out of that grave, God raised him up above all principality
and power, all that we know and all that we don't know about.
And gave him to be the head over all things to the church. That's who he's the head over
all, over all things to the church. that he might be the one who
fills all in all. He's the filler. He's the one
who fills the pulpit. He's the one who fills the pew.
He's the one who fills the new heart. He's the one who who fills
the house up with praise and glory in Him, He's the Filler.
And He fills all in all His people. There's not one that He's not
going to send this Word to and fill them with a new heart and
a new spirit with faith and repentance to turn from every vain way to
rest in Him alone. He's going to fill all His people
with that. He filled up all the law and the prophets for His
people. He's going to fill everything He's going to fill every spot
in heaven with one of His people. There won't be one missing. Because that's what God raised
Him to do. And that's what He's doing right now. And He's going
to do something else. Scripture says, Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many. And to them that look for Him,
He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He's coming back and going to
gather up all His people. Now, don't, don't seek a system
of doctrine. That won't save you. A system
of doctrine, all neat little package of doctrine. A lot of
people know true doctrine. And they're mean, and there's
no love in their heart, and if it wasn't something to argue
about, they wouldn't have any care for it whatsoever. They
learned it to use it like a M-16 and just shoot people with it.
Learn Christ. All that doctrine. We love true
doctrine. But it's all given to lead us
to Christ, to rest in Christ, to teach us of Christ. That's
it. And He's the sum and substance of the doctrine. He's the prophet,
He's the priest, and He's the king. He's the end of all true
doctrine. And you've only learned true
doctrine when you learn Christ. Come to Christ. Don't merely
seek an escape from hell. Christ is heaven. Christ is heaven
to the believer, wherever Christ is. He's the riches we seek.
He's the crown we seek. He's the rest we seek. He's heaven
to the believer. Don't really seek the benefits.
There's lots of benefits that Christ gives, but seek Christ
the giver rather than the benefits. Don't seek a sign. Don't seek
a feeling. So many people I think are just,
they've heard the gospel, they understand the gospel, and maybe
God's worked in their heart and they truly believe the gospel.
But for some reason they sit and wait, thinking there needs
to be a certain feeling they gotta have, or a certain sign
they gotta have. Brethren, the sign is Christ.
He said that. He said there's no other sign
going to be given than that which was given. As Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son
of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And He's come forth. He's the sign. He's the sign. Faith relies on Him, trusts Him,
rests in Him, falls back in His arms and trusts Him. Don't really
seek to join a church. Seek Christ who's the head of
that church. Seek Him. These are ways you seek Him. Neither is there salvation in
any other for there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Christ alone. So to seek the
Lord. First of all, it's to give God
all the glory to know He sought me first. And then secondly,
it's to seek only the Lord. Nothing else but the Lord, the
person, the Lord Jesus. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life, I'm the resurrection. He's all to His
people. Seek Him. And then look at this
last thing. Look at this last thing here,
verse 13. It says, when you shall search
for me with all your heart. To seek the Lord involves wholeheartedly
searching for Him. Wholehearted, active searching
for Him. You know, you turn on the Olympics,
you know, and you watch an athlete in a race. And that race only
lasts just a few short minutes. And you watch this person just
sprint or run a long distance or whatever, but in a few minutes
it's over. But do you know how that person
gave themselves to condition themselves to be able to run
that race? The race might have been just a few minutes, but
they gave hours and months and years wholeheartedly going after
that prize with all their heart. That's what he's talking about
here. God's not going to have us being lukewarm toward Him
or our heart being divided between Him and this world or Him and
anything else. He says, you'll find me when
you search for me with your whole heart. Your whole heart. If a person really wants something,
how do you seek it? You seek it with all your heart.
If you really want something, you seek it with all your heart. A young man falls in love with
a girl, he pursues her with all his heart. The athlete pursues
the prize with all his heart. You have all these different
examples. You remember the woman with the issue of blood? She
had gone to all these different physicians, and she had spent
every last dime she had. She was looking for a cure with
all her heart. And then she heard about Christ.
And here she was. This woman was sick. She was
sick. You know, when you're sick, you
don't feel like doing anything. That didn't stop her. That didn't
stop her. And then there was a huge crowd.
It wasn't going to be convenient for her to go to Christ. There
was a large crowd pressing all around Him. And it was going
to be tough to get to Him. That didn't stop her. She went
after Him with all her heart, saying, if I can just touch the
hem of His garment, He'll make me whole. And He did. She sought
Him with all her heart. You remember blind Bartimaeus
sitting by the side of the road? Here's this blind man sitting
by the highway. And he hears that Christ is coming.
And he starts to cry on the Lord Jesus Christ with a loud voice.
And the scripture says that all these people that were with the
Lord walking by, they told this old blind beggar to shut up.
They said, don't you, don't, don't be bothering him. Don't
be calling after him. That'd be intimidating, wouldn't
it? Here's a host of people and some of them are probably, some
of them were the apostles. Here were some that were probably
dignitaries in the city and people of renown and they turn to you
and tell you to hush? What did he do? He cried louder.
Lord have mercy on me. And you know what the Lord did?
He stopped. Stopped in his tracks and called
him and said, bring him to me. And he said, your face made you
whole. And he healed him. He gave him sight. You know what
that man did? He searched for him with all
his heart. He couldn't be turned away from
Him. That's what we're talking about here. Listen to this word.
Go to Mark 4. I want you to read this. And
I want you to get this now. Mark 4. Mark 4 and look at verse 24. This is the Lord Jesus talking.
Hear what He says here. He said unto them, take heed
what you hear with what measure you meet it it shall be measured
to you and unto you that hear shall more be given let me see
if I can illustrate this tonight Christ has measured some light
to you in the form of this gospel that's going forth right now.
I want you to hear me now. Listen. Christ has measured some
light to you in the fact that this gospel has come to you tonight. He's measured some light to you.
Now, how are you going to meet it? Will you go home now and
download the message and listen to it again? Will you download
the sermon notes and read them and study them and pay attention
to what's been heard and try to digest it and understand it
more and see it in God's Word? How will you meet that that He's
measured to you? Christ says, with what measure
you meet it, it shall be measured to you. And unto you that hear,
shall more be given. That's what He says in our text.
He said, You shall seek Me and find Me when you shall search
for Me with all your heart. And you'll be found, and I will
be found of you, saith the Lord, and I'll turn away your captivity.
This is for the unbeliever. This is for the believer. Whatever
our trial as believers, whatever our captivity as believers right
now, or whatever it is for you that don't believe Him. He says,
Now I've sent you some light. Now you meet it. With what measure
you meet it, it will be measured to you. He's saying there, if
you search for me with all your heart, you really want to find
me, you're going to find me. You're going to find me. But
Christ won't be mocked. Look at the next part of Mark
4, verse 25. And he that hath not, he that
doesn't meet it, he that doesn't have ears to hear it, he that
has no interest and refuses it, from him shall be taken even
that which he has. You know what Christ is teaching
us? There is no neutral ground. When this gospel goes forth,
take heed how you hear it. Because it does not return to
God void. It is going to accomplish His
purpose. Some He is going to make to seek Him with all your
heart. And others are going to refuse
it. And He is going to just harden
them and make them more deaf and more blind in sin. It's either
going to be a saver of life to you or a saver of death to you.
But it's going to be one or the other. That's what he's saying
there. That's what he's saying there.
Look at Proverbs 1.23. And I'll close with this. He says,
Proverbs 1.23. Now listen. Turn you at my reproof. Turn you at My reproof. Behold,
I will pour out My Spirit unto you. I will make known My words
unto you." Well, I thought that you said He has to seek us first
and He has to pour out His Spirit to us first. He does. But then
He tells you, now turn and I'll pour My Spirit unto you and I'll
make known My words unto you. To him that hath, He'll give
more, He said. But now watch this, because I've
called and you refused, I've stretched out my hand and no
man regarded, but you've said it not all my counsel and would
none of my reproof. You set it to the side, wouldn't
meet it, wouldn't go search it out, wouldn't look into it, you
wouldn't have any of it. He said, I also will laugh at
your calamity. I'll mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction comes as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, he says,
then shall they call upon me, but I'll not answer. They'll
seek me early, but they shall not find me. For they that hated
knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would
none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof,
he said, Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own
way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning
away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools
shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Seek ye the Lord while I may
be found. Call on Him while He is near. I love them that love
Me, God said, and those that seek Me early shall find Me. That's for me and you who believe.
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Trust
in Him at all times, you people. Pull out your heart before Him.
God's a refuge for us. And it's for you who do not believe. One of these two cases is going
to be the case of everybody here. I pray now that He doesn't allow
us to go on in our normal routine and just ignore His counsel and
ignore His reproof. I pray He give us a whole heart
to go after Him with that whole heart to meet this gospel we've
heard and to look into it and seek Him and grow by His Spirit
and His grace and find that great, great promise that He's given
here that He'll teach you and teach you and give you more light
I want that. I want that for you. And I pray
that He'll make us do it. So seeking the Lord, number one
is to give Him all the glory for making you seek Him. Number
two is to seek the Lord only. To seek the Lord only. And number
three is to seek Him with all the heart. With all the heart. Amen. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. Would You indeed seek out Your
lost sheep now? Would You indeed fill us with
Your Spirit and draw us to You and make us to have an earnest
desire to know Christ and only Christ? Give us a heart that's
whole, a heart in which is Your Spirit, a heart in which Christ
is formed, and make us to go after You undivided, not double-minded,
but solely with a whole heart looking only to Christ. Make
us to do it with zeal. Make us to do it fervently. Make
us to seek You, Lord. And Lord, as You make that sinner
do so, we ask You to increase that light. Make Christ ever
more lovely to us. Settle us in Him. Root us and
ground us in His love. Make us to be fully persuaded,
Lord, that Christ is all our salvation, that You have made
us complete in Him, accepted before You in love and without
blame. Make us to know that. And make
us, Lord, now to continue seeking You all our days. Forgive us
our sins, Lord, we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.