I please almighty God to bless
us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us
turn to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 55 and we'll read verses
6 and 7. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter
55 and reading verses 6 and 7. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. The prophecy of Isaiah is often
referred to as the Gospel of Isaiah. And gospel, of course,
means good news. And it is very much so, especially
the chapters around this one. They are really good news to
the Church of God. And many words of encouragement
and many words of instruction. So here we have in these two
verses. Really wonderful instruction
for us. Where the Prophet says, Seek
ye the Lord, well I hope we all realise the relevance and the
importance of seeking unto the Lord God. that we might receive
blessing, that we might receive mercy, and that we might receive
the favour of God. So we are instructed to seek
ye the Lord, and then we're told why he may be found. You see, it is the time of salvation,
the time of blessing. Once you and I have passed out
of time, there will be no finding the Saviour, time would have
passed and we shall be in eternity and call upon him while he is
near. I'm reminded of that very solemn
account in the Gospel of Luke where the Lord Jesus gives that
wonderful example in the 16th chapter of Luke. And he speaks
there about the rich man and Lazarus. He tells us, chapter
16 and from verse 19. I'll just read it because it's
instructive. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his swords. So there was a great difference,
wasn't there, between these two people, one rich, one poor. But we're told, and it came to
pass, that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried. And in hell, he lift up his eyes,
being in torments and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus
in his bosom. So we see the complete separation
there, one blessed and one not blessed. And he cried, the rich
man cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue
for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence. And he said, I pray thee therefore,
Father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house. For I have five brethren, that
he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place
of torment. So we see the concern that this
man had And we see his realization that it was a terrible place
to be in. And he asked, therefore, that
his brethren might be warned. But what was the reaction? What did Abraham say? They have
Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they
will repent. And he said unto him, if they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. So the essence of this account
from the Lord Jesus is that what he said is perfectly true with
regard to the great gulf being fixed between those who are saved
and those who are lost. And there's no way of joining
the two. There's no way from one to the
other. And even if somebody came from
the dead and stood here in the midst today, we would perhaps
think, well, surely people would believe that. But as the Lord
tells them very clearly, they have Moses and the prophets.
We today have the word of God. God's given us. the Bible to
read. God's given us his truth and
it contains everything that you and I need to show us the way
of salvation. And yet you see how many people
ignore it, turn away from it, don't believe it. Don't believe
it. Perhaps You might say today,
well, if somebody came from the dead and told us how terrible
it was in hell, we would believe. And God says you wouldn't. You'd still remain in the same
condition. So we see this great warning
for us today because the blessing we have is that we are on what
we might term praying ground. We are still on this earth. Yes,
we're not in hell, we're not in heaven, we're still on this
earth. And the great blessing is, here
the Lord speaks to us through the prophet Isaiah and tells
us, we should remember, it's spoken in love to our souls. It's a great and wonderful encouragement. The Lord tells us, Seek ye the
Lord, one he may be found. Call ye upon him, one is near. We are still on the earth. We're
still on praying ground. We're still able to do this.
But once we pass out of this world, out of time into eternity,
there will be no opportunity to seek to the Lord. There'll
be no opportunity They call upon His name. You see, these blessings
only exist in time. They do not exist in eternity. And therefore, the very solemn
warning for us is this. None of us know how soon we shall
pass out of time into eternity. Our natural mind always thinks
that somebody else will be first. But what we have to realise is
that one of us here tonight will be the next person to pass into
eternity. Probably the Queen never thought
when she received the new Prime Minister and asked her to form
a government that it would only be a matter of hours before she
was in eternity. And no doubt the Prime Minister
thought the same. But you see, we must realise
our times are in God's hands. We don't have control of our
lives, we don't have control of how long we shall stay on
this earth. You know there are many drugs
and operations and benefits today to keep people alive but when
God's time comes to take our life so that we go into eternity
no one can halt that no one can bring forward our death as no
one can bring forward our birth and no one can put back our death
God is in control and it's important that you and I realise the great
truth of that And so we should be thankful here tonight that
we have such a gracious, glorious invitation which says, seek ye
the Lord. Seek the Lord for forgiveness. Seek the Lord that he will show
us we are one of his children. Seek the Lord that he will show
unto us that the gracious Saviour died for us upon that cross at
Calvary. The glorious Saviour shed his
most precious blood in order to wash away all our sins. Seek the Lord while he may be
found, because we are in what we call the day of grace. That's a day when we can receive
the mercy and favour of God. but you see that day of grace
will pass and we don't know how long that will last how long
our lives will last but we should be very thankful that we do have
this day of grace and we do have this gracious invitation and
then the word goes on to say let the wicked forsake his way
naturally you and I like wicked ways You may say, I don't think
I do. Well, you'll be surprised. There
is wickedness in so many things, which we may think is all right. Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Well, when I was meditating on
this, my mind went back to when I was a student. And on this particular occasion,
I'd bought tickets to go to Wembley Stadium and watch England and
another team play football. And I was very keen on looking
forward to it. And then the Lord struck me down
with an illness so that I wasn't able to go. And my first reaction
was to think of all the money that I'd wasted and I wouldn't
be able to go and secondly I wouldn't be able to go and enjoy watching
that football match. I was very keen on football when
I was a youngster and anyway it wasn't possible for me to
go so there I was in bed and as I was in bed I thought well
now it's good sometimes when God enables us to think and to
ponder And I thought, and I pondered, and I thought, well, now what's
the benefit? What's the goodness of me going
to that football match? And I realized, in actual fact,
there was no real benefit. It was just something which would
have excited me for just a mere short time, a couple of hours,
and then it would have been passed. And then there was the comparison
with eternity. And where should I spend eternity? And the reality was, strange
as it may seem, that I was thankful that the Lord had intervened
and stopped me going on that worldly situation and enabled
me to think out things and to ponder the position of my soul. Well, that was none other than
God's work. It wasn't me that had changed
my way or thoughts. It was God's goodness and God's
mercy toward us. And I never regretted not going
to that football match. the Lord changed my view of so
many things and therefore it's good if you
and I can understand this word not only to seek the Lord but
also to let the wicked forsake his way yes it's easy to follow
a wrong way and you see our flesh dislikes the way we don't like
being reproved. We don't like having our pleasures,
perhaps, stopped. But yet, the truth is, as the
Hindu writer says, but faith approves it well. And when the
Holy Spirit shows us the vanity of such things, and the solidness
of the things of God, then you see it's good to be brought to
that position and give to us contentment godliness with contentment
is great gain for we have brought nothing into this world and it
is certain that we shall carry nothing out well we live you
see in a very difficult world and there are many many temptations
and i'm sure you young people face today many more temptations
i mean when i was at school or when I was at college relatively
speaking there were less temptations than there are today but you
see the devil is always on the lookout for opportunities to
make us turn away from the things of God and to not seek the Lord
but to seek after the pleasures of this vain world well it's
a great blessing it's a wonderful blessing a blessing which is
so valuable. You and I cannot really estimate
to have the Spirit of God work in our heart, to turn us to the
things of God, to turn us from the things of the world, so that
by his grace we are able to forsake those things which are of the
world. As the prophet says here, let
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Again, that's a very deep statement,
isn't it? You know, our thoughts. No one
knows what you're thinking. No one knows what I'm thinking,
apart from one person, and that's God. And he knows exactly what
you and I are thinking. He knows all the mischievous
desires in our minds. All the covetous desires. All those things which are not
good. He knows all about them. And my friends, the devil is
exceedingly active. And he fills our minds sometimes
with evil things, rubbish, things of his time, which do not profit. do not really benefit. You know,
it's a great blessing if you're not able, therefore, to hear
this first part of these two verses. To seek ye the Lord while
he may be found, and call upon his name while he is near. As I've said, we are on praying
ground. And we do have a prayer hearing
and a prayer answering God. But as I said this morning, a
prayer is not easy. It's often very difficult because
we have opposition all the time trying to drag us away from prayer,
turn us away from prayer and direct us to something which
is more attractive to our natural understanding. Well we should
be very thankful that God in his love and mercy has directed
us to consider these things. We read those And that chapter
in the Thessalonians, the Hebrews, the third chapter, which had
some very wise words, very instructive words. And in the 7th and 8th verses we read this
again you see it's God speaking like particularly in these verses
here seek ye the Lord while ye may be found and that we are
commanded while he is near well in these 7th and 8th verses in
this third chapter this is what we read wherefore as the Holy
Ghost saith today not tomorrow, today, if ye will hear his voice. It's a big question, isn't it? If. If ye will hear his voice. Harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation, in the day of temptation, in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty
years." Of course what the Apostle Paul is referring to there is
when Israel were commanded to go in and to capture Canaan and
they disobeyed. They disobeyed. Why? They thought it would be
too hard a fight. They didn't have faith in that
great God who'd already demonstrated his wonderful power in bringing
them out of Egypt and bringing them across the Red Sea and provided
manna for them in water. And now you see commanded to
go up and take the land and already had spies go up, but no, they
refused. They refused. Now, because of
that refusal, This is a solemn outcome. The spies had spent
40 days examining the land. The Lord said that Israel, all
those who were over 40 years of age, would die in the wilderness. And they would wander in that
wilderness for 40 years. A year for every day that the
spies had examined the land. And you see, we're told, your
fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works 40 years. They still walked contrary to
God for the most part. And God's promise came to pass. All those who were over 20 years
of age died in the wilderness. They never entered into the promised
land. And that's what the Lord is setting
before us here. He was setting it before the
Hebrews through the Apostle Paul. The Hebrews, of course, were
the Jewish nation. They were the people who had rebelled against
God. And my friends, let us not today rebel against God. They were without excuse. They could never say, well, we
didn't know what was right. We didn't know what we should
do. They did know, but they rebelled. And my friends, in the ages which
have passed since then, and still in the present age today, how
many people rebel against God. And may we not be amongst those
who rebel against God. The word is very clear, is it
not? Wherefore, he says, as the Holy Ghost saith, and it is the
Holy Spirit of God and this should be exceedingly humbling to us
to think that it's the Holy Spirit of God that puts into our mind
and shows to us the right way and directs us in the right way
and yet you see we oppose that way and so says the Holy Spirit
today if you will hear his voice How relevant that is. God has
brought these things to our attention today. Today. And if God does bring them sovereignly
to our attention, you will bless God. You might not want to change
your views. You may not want to change your
style of life. You may not want to walk in an
opposite direction. But if God gives grace, and that
means unmerited favour, to hear his voice and obey his voice. Because whatever the cost will
be in this life, it is nothing to having to pay the price. of
disobedience and spending eternity in hell. That's a terrible thought,
isn't it? It's the most terrible thought.
And so says the apostle here very clearly. Today, if you will
hear his voice, if you will, and my friends, you and I have
to answer before God individually. Don't look around at anybody
else. The Word is directed to us. Harden not your hearts. That really means rebelling against
God. That really means saying this,
I will not have this man to reign over me. I'm not going to change
my way of life. I know what I want to do. I've
got my prospects before me. I'm going to pursue that way.
where it might end up in hell. That wouldn't be very happy,
would it? That wouldn't be very good. harden not your hearts as in
the provocation in a day of temptation in the wilderness. Well that's
in the 8th verse and if you move on to the perhaps from verse
13 where the Apostle says but exhort one another while it is
called today and this means to encourage one another as we mentioned
this morning you know we should not encourage one another to
harden our hearts not encourage one another to say well it doesn't
really matter you press on with what you're doing we should exhort
one another while it is caught today because today might pass
and we might pass today lest any of you be hardened through
the deceitfulness of sin. Do not forget the devil is a
great deceiver. He always has been. He deceived
Eve in the Garden of Eden and Adam also by telling them they
need not obey the Word of God and they were taken in. my friends,
don't think you're stronger than Adam and Eve don't think you
won't be taken in you will have to come to this position as the
Word of God tells us it is by grace we are saved through faith
and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God and that's
Ephesians 2 verse 8 if you want to know just remember that glorious
statement and how important it is It is God's grace, and it's
his gift of faith to us. So here we have this wonderful
statement, and it is a wonderful statement, but exhort one another
daily. Again, every day. It's good to meet one another. It's necessary to meet one another,
but let's not waste our time. Let's exhort one another. Let's
encourage one another in this difficult world in which we live. While it is called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sins, for
we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end. Well, God knows whether
you and I have a beginning, a spiritual beginning. Every born-again child
of God has a beginning. And we can say that beginning
is a beginning felt. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.
Because that Holy Spirit reveals to us that we are, in the sight
of a holy God, a sinner. It's the work of the Holy Spirit.
And if the Holy Spirit convinces us of our sin, it won't be anything
which is of no consequence. Because we will be condemned
under it. Condemned before a holy God. Condemned to know that Unless
our sins are forgiven, we shall be eternally lost. And it will
be something which will be very urgent and very concerning to
us. What a blessing, therefore, if
we have then this wonderful evidence that we have a beginning If I
was to ask you tonight, well, can you write down what your
beginning was? What would you do? What would
you say? Bless God if you have a beginning. Because if you have
a true beginning, it's not of what you've done, it's what God's
done. And it's all of His grace. And
it's all of His love. And it's all of His mercy. It's
a wonderful favour. And a wonderful blessing. So,
for we are made partakers of Christ. You see, and all of us,
my friends, all of us must be partakers of Christ. And you
might say tonight, well, where do you get that from? Well, we
get it from the words of the Lord Jesus himself. And you can
read that in the sixth chapter of John. And this is what we
read. I can't tell you the exact verse,
but it's well on in the chapter. And it's this, except ye eat
the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, there is no
life in you. No spiritual life. That means
we have no communion with Christ. That means we have no, we don't
value the death of Christ in giving His body and shedding
His blood, it means nothing to us. As we read in the Lamentations,
is it nothing to you or you that pass by? And we can take that
like this. As we read the Word of God, as
we read about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, does it mean
nothing to us? Well the question is there, is
it nothing to you that passed by? I can't answer. For you,
you can't answer for me. What does it mean? What does
it mean? Are we therefore in Christ? Are we a partaker of Christ? Does he really mean something
to us? He is a historical figure, but
he's not just a historical figure. He's a blessed and glorious saviour,
a saviour of sinners. And if he reveals himself to
us as that, then you see there'll be a vital change in our understanding. And the understanding will be
this. Christ will change in our estimation as someone who is
just an historical figure. someone who is our precious Redeemer. See the difference? What a blessing
then tonight if that is so in our life today then he says today
again as it was previously in the eighth verse today if you
will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation
for some are when they had heard, did provoke, albeit not all that
came out of Egypt by Moses, but with whom was he grieved forty
years? Was it not with them that had sinned, because whose carcasses
fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear he that they
should not enter into his rest? but to them that believe not. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. We observe here the very important
and very considerable aspect of such a statement that you
and I need to be blessed with the gift to believe these great
and wonderful truths So that we are blessed in our souls. You might remember the case of
Jonah, I expect you do. It's a pretty well known case.
Poor old Jonah, when he was told to go and preach
the Ninevites, he didn't fancy it. He thought it might be too
difficult. So what did he do? He ran away.
He thought he was running away from God. But of course we can't
run away from God. Because God is in every place.
God knows where we are in our spiritual standing, where we
are in our physical standing. Well, Jonah thought he could
run away. He thought he could escape. Went down to Tarshish,
found a boat, paid the fare, got in. Off they went. He was
quite satisfied with what he'd done. He thought he'd escaped.
Went to sleep. God knew he was there. God knew
what he would do. You know the account. Eventually, it was a
great storm. And the only option was to throw
Jonah overboard. So reluctantly, the sailors took
that option and threw him overboard. It was a great calm. And there he was swallowed by
a whale. And then he spent three days and three nights. And it's
explained like this. The belly of hell. The weeds
were wrapped about his head. Complete darkness. terrible experience
and I don't know but someone here might perhaps be in terrible
darkness because they've been disobedient to God well it took
three days and three nights for poor old Jonah in that condition
and then we're told He said, I will look again toward thy
holy hill. In that whale's belly, he prayed
to God. And God heard his prayer. We should never give up, however
dark it may seem. We should remember to pray to
God. He looked to Jerusalem, the place
of prayer, and he prayed to God. And what was the result? Well
we can read it. Very simple words. He came to that position and
this is what he said. Salvation is of the Lord. Very simply. What that meant
was the saving of his soul was from God. It was a blessed outcome. And it will be a blessed outcome
for us if we are brought to that position where by his grace we
can say salvation, it's a lovely word,
is of the Lord. So we have this very simple statement,
don't we? Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return
unto the Lord And, this is the glorious gospel, he will have
mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. No sinner is too bad. And you say, well how do you
know that? Well, we have some examples in
the Word of God. We have the example of Manasseh,
a most terrible king, a most sinful king. as you read his
accounts in the Book of Kings and then when you come to the
accounts in Chronicles you will find that Manasseh was wrought
upon by the Spirit of God so that he prayed earnestly to God
and God forgave him all his sins. And he would have said, salvation
is of the Lord. Yes, well, here we have this
simple statement for he will abundantly pardon. No sin is
too great. There are not too many sins which
can't be pardoned. for the gracious and glorious
gospel is. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. And as we've already commented,
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Well, may we know the glorious
and blessed call of the gospel, and thank God for his mercy,
which endureth forever, and his wonderful love to such unworthy
sinners. Amen.