Turn with me, if you would, to
Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah 55. And let's read verses six and
seven. Isaiah 55 verse 6 says, 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. I want us to look this morning
at the subject of seeking the Lord. Seeking the Lord, what
it is to be a seeker of the Lord. I pray that the Lord will bless
this. A seeker of the Lord is something
that every man and woman becomes when the Lord starts dealing
with that man or woman. It's something that every man
or woman becomes. It's not something that a person
plans on becoming or decides to become. And the reason is
because the flesh naturally doesn't care anything about seeking the
Lord. The flesh doesn't even want to seek the Lord. The last
thing that the natural man wants to be is a seeker of the Lord. That's the very last thing. But when the Lord seeks a sinner,
that sinner starts seeking the Lord. When the Lord goes to work
on His own, when grace, and that's what our sign means, sovereign
grace, when it goes to work on Christ's people, all of His people
become seekers of Him. And that's the first thing that
I want us to understand about seeking the Lord. We only seek
Him because He first sought us. That's the only reason. Look
with me at Isaiah 65. Isaiah 65, verse one, our Lord said, I am sought of them that asked
not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. He said, I'm the
one who did the seeking first. That's how this whole thing started.
I did all of the seeking. His seeking of His own causes
His own in return to start seeking Him. When He does that, that's
the response every time. Look with me at Psalm 27. Psalm 27 verse 8, David said,
When thou seest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy
face, Lord, will I seek. When God moves, when God moves,
and you have to start right there. It starts with Him. When God
moves, His people become seekers. It's a glorious thing. It is
a glorious thing. Right here in Psalm 27, verse
four says, one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek
after. And you think about this as a
child of his and a believer on him. One thing have I desired
of the Lord that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. David said, I cannot
just go on about my life indifferent to the Lord who sought me. And
that's how we were before His grace sought us and laid hold
of us, indifferent. We were indifferent. And he said,
I cannot go on indifferent anymore. I must press toward the mark.
One thing have I desired and I'm going to seek after it. What
is that one thing, David? It's him. It's him. I want to dwell in his house
so that I can behold his beauty and hear him speak. When God
makes a sinner a seeker, they start seeking Christ. They start
seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want us to take just a
minute and enter into the what, where, how, when, and why of
seeking the Lord. What, where, how, when, why.
Let's start with what is it to seek the Lord from an internal
point of view. What goes on in the heart and
the mind and the will of a sinner that is seeking the Lord? A preacher
of the gospel many years ago, a very dear preacher of the gospel,
he gave five statements that describe what it is to be a seeker
of the Lord. What goes on inside a sinner
When that sinner becomes a seeker of the Lord. These five statements
are very true. They apply to every child of
God that has been made to be a seeker. Every single one without
exception. What is it to seek the Lord?
First he said, it is to realize that by nature, I don't have
the Lord. That's the first thing. If you
are going to seek the Lord, then it means you have been made to
realize that in your flesh, in your natural condition before
God, you don't have the Lord. If you're going to go seeking
Him, right? I don't have Him. That's not something
that the natural man realizes. That is not something that the
natural man realizes. You have to be made to realize
that. Most everybody thinks that everybody
has the Lord. Most everybody does. It bleeds
over into denomination after denomination and message after
message. In some form or another, most
everybody believes that everybody has the Lord. He's just waiting
on standby for everybody. He is trying to save everybody. He died for everybody. He's everybody's good luck charm.
That's what people see him to be. Just pull him out of your
back pocket when you need him. When God moves on a sinner, that
sinner realizes none of that is true. None of it. He is not waiting on standby
for anybody. He is not trying to save anybody. He did not die for everybody.
Every drop of his blood was a particular payment for a particular people. Every single drop. All souls
are in His hands to do with as He pleases. What that means is
He has everybody, but everybody doesn't have Him. And in my natural,
sinful, wicked condition, I now realize I don't have Him. This
is where seeking starts. What is it to seek the Lord?
First, it's to realize that in my condition before God, I don't
have the Lord. All right, the second thing is, it's a desire in the heart that
says, I need the Lord. I need Him. It's a desire for
His mercy and a desire for His grace and His righteousness and
His forgiveness. There are some things in this
world that I realize I don't have. There are some things that I
know I don't have them. But I don't have a desire to
go get them. So I'm not seeking those things. There are plenty of things in
this life. I don't have that. I don't have that. But I'm not seeking that. I'm
not trying to go get that. To seek the Lord is not only
to realize that in my sinful condition I don't have Him, it's
also a desire in the heart that cries, I need Him. I need Him. I want Him. I have to have Him.
Alright, the third very insightful statement that this preacher
of the gospel made is, it is a willingness to have Him on
His terms. It's a realization that I don't
have His salvation, but I need His salvation, and I'm willing
to have His salvation on His terms. That is where man naturally
goes wrong. He veers off the seeking path
right here. He thinks that he can have Christ
on his own terms. That's what he thinks. Man thinks
he can have Christ on his own terms. What are man's terms? Before God, what are man's terms?
My time, my will, my work, my way, my decision, my glory. That's man's terms. What are
Christ's terms? my time, my will, my work, my
way, my decision, my glory. Now, those of you who are right
now seekers of Him, do you want your glory or His glory? Do you want your work or His
work? Do you want your way or His way? your righteousness or His righteousness. To seek the Lord is to realize,
I don't have Him, but I need Him, and I'm willing to have
Him on His terms. All right, here's the fourth
statement. What it is to seek the Lord. It is a willingness
to part with. It's a willingness to lose. Everything
that is opposed to Him and stands in the way of Him. Everything. The Apostle Paul
said concerning his religion, and that's probably the number
one thing that men and women are not willing to part with.
That's probably the number one thing that the flesh is just
not willing to part with. Paul said concerning his religion,
all of his wicked works, all of his self-righteousness, he
said, it's all dung and I cast it all away. I must have him. I have to have him. I have to
win him and be found in him. And that's the last statement
that this dear preacher made on what it is to seek the Lord.
He said, it's to seek him. not his, him, not what he has,
not what we can get out of him, but him. While the world wants
heaven, true seekers want him. They just want him alone. Now
that is the what of seeking the Lord. Very briefly, and I do
mean very briefly, let's enter into the where, how, when, and
why. Where do we seek Him? We seek Him in His Word. We seek Him in His Word. Look
with me if you would at John 5. John 5, verse 39. Our Lord said, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they
which testify of me. Search the scriptures, He said. They'll tell you about me. They
all testify of me. He said in verse 46, for had
you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote
of me. All about me. Look back about
four or five pages to Luke 24. Luke 24, verse 27 says, and beginning at Moses and all
the prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. All the Scriptures. Verse 44 says, And He said unto
them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
Psalms concerning Me. All of it. All of it is concerning
me. He said, you want to search for
me? Search the scriptures. Search the scriptures. And that's
what we do. I get calls often. People want to know, what's our
doctrine? What do we preach? Here's kind of the common line.
What do y'all believe down there? I just had a guy ask me that.
What do y'all believe down there? What do you do? Well, we search
the scriptures for Christ. We're trying to find Christ.
We're trying to see Christ. This is what will tell us of
Him. David said, your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light
unto my path. David said, I'm a seeker of you.
I seek you and your word is the Light to the path. Peter said,
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If so be you've tasted, the Lord
is gracious. Grow in the knowledge of him.
So where do we seek him? In his word. Now, how do we seek
him? We know what it is to seek him.
It's to seek him. We know where it is that we need
to seek him. In his word. But how exactly
do we seek Him? How do we seek Him in His Word? Turn with me, if you would, to
Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, verse 26, it says, And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the
way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he arose, and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, and eunuch
of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for
to worship, was returning, And sitting in his chariot, read
Isaiah the prophet. And the spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither
to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest
thou what thou readest? And he said, how can I except
some man should guide me? Faith, seeing Christ, resting
on Christ. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's what it pleased
him to do. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall he preach except
he be sent? We seek the Lord every time we
gather together to hear the preaching of the gospel. That's what we're
all doing right now, seeking the Lord. If a person says, I
want to be a seeker of the Lord, okay. Come gather with the saints. How do I, what is it? I need
to seek the Lord. Where do I need to seek him?
In his word. How do I do that? I gather with
the saints where the word is preached. That's what I do. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, I'm in the midst of you. I think all the
time about the fact that Elisha's servant, I believe, Elijah, I
think it was Elisha's servant, all the soldiers came to get
Elisha. And he ran out there, and there's all those horses
and soldiers and everything, and he was so afraid, he ran
back in, and he said, what are we gonna do? They're here to
take us. He said, Lord, open his eyes
that he may see. And he saw all the heavenly host
around him. And I think all the time, if
God could just peel our eyelids back, he's in this room. If we could just see him. If I want to seek the Lord, then
I need to go to where he is. And where is he? wherever His
people are gathered. And where will His people be
gathered? Wherever His Word is preached. They're not going to
gather in some place where His Word is not preached. So that's
the what, where, how. Now, when should we seek the
Lord? Look with me at Psalm 63. Psalm 63 verse 1 says, O God, thou art
my God, early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water
is, to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee
in the sanctuary. Because thy loving kindness is
better than life, my lips shall praise thee. David said, I'm
seeking you and I'm gonna seek you early. First thing before
every other thing. What that means is seeking the
Lord is urgent. It is urgent. It is a right now
thing. It is a today thing. It is top priority. It is top priority. Our adversary
as a roaring lion is going to constantly put a fork in our
road. Watch and see if he doesn't.
We will constantly be faced with worship gathering with the saints,
hearing the word preached, or, ah, I gotta get that done, something's
come up. Seeking the Lord is top priority. Number one, number one, before
every other thing, everything else can wait and nothing else
matters. Right now, today, what if he
comes back today? What if it's today? Go back to
Isaiah 55. It says in verse six, Isaiah
55, verse six. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. There's going to come a point,
just like when God shut the door of the ark, and He said, no more
grace, no more mercy. There's going to come a point
when He returns, no more. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. Call ye upon Him while He is
near. Right now, don't put it off.
He may still be found. He is still near. Seek Him. Does that mean that this is in
our hands and our decision and our control? No, we've already
established that. The only reason we seek Him is because He first
sought us. And we can go right back through all of that. But
if God has put it on our hearts to urgently, right now, need
Him. Need Him. Seek Him. He may still be found. So what
is it to seek the Lord? It's to seek Him. Where do we
seek Him? In His word. How do we seek Him? By gathering with His people
around the preaching of the gospel. When do we seek Him? Early, right
now, at all times. Here's the last one. Why should
we seek the Lord? Verse seven says, 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. Does anybody need mercy? Does anybody need mercy? Does
anybody need to be abundantly pardoned? If so, seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. I'll close with
this promise from him. This is, I'll just read it to
you. This is Jeremiah 29, verses 13 and 14. He said, 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,
and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the
places, whither I have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will
bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried
away captive." He said, if I cause you to seek, I'll cause you to
find. If you go seeking, you will find. And I'll give you all the desires
that your heart had that led you to seek in the first place.
Let's all seek the Lord. Let's all seek the Lord. Lord,
if you cause us to seek, we will. All right, you're dismissed.