Alright, go back with me to Isaiah
55. Isaiah 55, I want to read verses
6 and 7. We are going to look at these
verses leading up to it. Verses 6 and 7 are what caught
my attention. They say, 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. Now I've titled this message,
True Seekers. True Seekers. Isaiah, this, Isaiah
is such a wonderful book. Isaiah 40 is about as good as
it gets. And then you have Isaiah 41 and
Isaiah 42 and Isaiah 43 and 46 and 44 and 45. 53, does it get any better than Isaiah
53? Isaiah 53 declares the mercy
of God through a Savior. We know that. Look at Isaiah
53. Verse 3, He is despised and rejected
of men. He is. Verse 4, Surely He hath
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He did. Verse 5,
But He was wounded for our transgressions. Verse 7, He was oppressed. He
was afflicted. Verse 8, he was taken from prison
and from judgment. Verse 9, he made his grave with
the wicked. Verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. Verse 11, he shall see the travail
of his soul. The mercy of God through a substitute. That is the gospel. That's what
we're going to be crying for all eternity unto him that loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And then right
after that, Isaiah 54 tells us how absolutely certain God's
mercies are. Ordered and sure. Absolutely
ordered and sure. Look at Isaiah 54 verse 10. It says, For the mountains shall
depart and the hills be removed. I couldn't help, we call this
mountain over here Bay's Mountain. It's a hill, but we call it Bay's
Mountain. Well, it's going to be removed.
It is going to be flattened. The mountains shall depart and
the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from
thee. Neither shall the covenant of
my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."
What he's saying is this thing is ordered and it is sure. Verse 17 says, no weapon that
is formed against thee shall prosper. and every tongue that
shall rise against thee in the judgment thou shalt condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness
is of me, saith the Lord." He's saying, I give you my word. I
give you my word. Now, Isaiah 55 says that God's
sure mercy This mercy through His Savior is for anyone who
needs it. Anybody. Absolutely anybody. Somebody
will say, well, I thought you believed in election. I do. Verse 1 says, Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money Come
ye buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and milk without
money and without price. God's mercy is to be proclaimed
to every sinner on the face of this earth. When I moved here,
I really assessed what do I preach. And I had preached before. But
I thought, now I'm going to be doing this full time. What do
I say to people? As they come in off the street,
what do you say to people? And according to this word, God's
mercy in Christ, the absolute, ordered and sure mercy that is
found in Christ is to be declared to every sinner on this earth. Every single one. Our Lord said,
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Every creature. We're commanded. commanded to declare His mercy
to every soul on earth. Here's the problem for every
soul on earth. You already know what it is, don't you? They're
not interested. They're just not interested. But for the grace of God, neither
would we be. Now last weekend, Brother Donnie
preached. He preached Friday night. We
moved our Wednesday night service to Friday night, and we moved
our Sunday morning service to Saturday morning, and our Sunday
night service to Sunday morning, and Brother Donnie did it all.
And I didn't preach Wednesday night, and I didn't preach Sunday
night. And as some of you know, this
church is being so kind to us to help us remodel our bathroom.
So I helped brother Tony Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday tear our
house all to pieces. And then Thursday I cleaned up
and Friday brother Donnie got here and I was caught up in the
world. That's what I was. I was caught
up in my house. I was caught up in water lines,
in two-by-fours, in dust. And you know what I realized
in that week? But for the grace of God, I would have no interest
in these things. I would get up and I'd run into
this world and I'd start doing and getting and gathering. And
I'd do it all day long until it's time to go to sleep. And
then I'd get up and do it again. But for the great, we can say
they have no interest in these things. Well, but for the grace
of God, neither would I. Now it was nice to have a little
mental break, but I didn't enjoy that part of it. I really didn't. But for the grace of God, we
would not thirst. And the world doesn't. They have
no need of God. They have no need of God. None. No need of mercy. Their appetite is for other things. That's what it is. It's for other
things. Verse 2, he said, Why do you spend money for that which
is not Christ? And that's talking to me. Man,
that is talking to me. I know this is why I felt so
impressed to do this. It's because coming off of that, he said, I'm the living bread,
didn't he? He said, whoever eats of the bread I give will never
hunger again. Never hunger again. Why are you spending money on
things that cannot satisfy? Everybody says time is money,
and it is. It is. Time is money. Why do
men and women spend what little time we have on this earth? And it is little. It is so little. Man, it's so little. Why do people spend what little
time they have on this earth? Why do they spend their efforts?
Why do they spend their energy on things that cannot satisfy?
I'm not trying to judge and point the finger. I'm asking on my
own behalf. Why? This flesh, why? Why are people out there pursuing
dead religion? Why? I want to preach this on the
radio. Why are men and women going after, why do they love
dead religion? Can't they see it's dead? Can't
they see it's, they got to know it's dead. They've got to know
nothing's there. They have got to know that it's phony. It's
just a pump up session. He won't satisfy. Salvation by
works which is everything other than the truth. I don't care
what denomination you put it in. Salvation by works cannot
satisfy. And the reason is because you
will never be able to stop doing. That's why. You'll never be able
to stop doing. They never stop doing, do they?
They never stop doing. And the reason is because they'll
never do enough. They'll never do enough to finally
say it's finished. Never. Verse two, why do you
spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for
that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me. God is saying, listen to me.
Man, I hope he grabs my soul and squeezes it and takes my
ear and tunes it. I hope I listen. He's saying,
listen to me. Verse two says, eat ye that which
is good. Well, there's none good but God. Yeah, that's right. Feed on Christ. And let your soul, verse 2 says,
delight itself in fatness. What he's saying is, feed on
Christ and you will rest. That's what he's saying. You
will rest. You will find rest. Rest from
searching for a righteousness that will satisfy God and then
rest from struggling over your sin. The Lord has called us out of
religion and he has given us a heart to see that Christ finished
the work, hadn't he? We all know that Christ finished
the work, but we still struggle over this sin. And if God would
allow us to feed on Christ, we could rest from that. When the
Lord really lets us enter into Christ and his word, we get a
break from it. We get a break from it. Last
Sunday after the service, we went across the street to the
Renaissance Center and we had this wonderful spread of food.
And I went through the line and I did what I always do. I can't
help it. I have to dip into every container
on the table. And I came and there was an empty
seat next to Linda Farrell. And I asked her two questions.
The first one was, is this seat taken? And she said, it is now. So I sat down. Second question
was, I said, are you embarrassed by how much food I have stacked
on this plate? I looked at her plate, and she
had a piece of chicken, and then you could see a bunch of Styrofoam
around it. Then she had some green beans, and you could see
Styrofoam around it. My plate was a Double-decker,
two-story. I ran out of styrofoam, so it
stacked food on top of food. You can't even see food. And
I ate it all. And then I went and got dessert.
And I got full. Man, every time I get so full.
And I only wanted to do one thing. I wanted to go home and get on
that couch and rest. I wanted to delight myself in
fatness. And that's what he's saying right
here spiritually. If your soul is hungry for God
himself, and we talk all the time about that lack we feel,
just that emptiness we feel. If your soul is thirsty for Christ
himself, then he says right here in verse 3, incline your ear
and come unto me. Incline your ear and come unto
me. That's his call. Go over to John 5. John 5. Now the mercy of God
in Christ is to be proclaimed to every sinner on earth. But John 5 verse 40 says concerning
every sinner on earth, you will not come to me that you might
have life. You just will not come to me
that you might have life. Not interested. Not interested. Even if they were, they couldn't
come. Will not, could not. John 6 verse
44 says, no man can come to me except the father which has sent
me draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. Does the father have to draw a center? No. Will he draw every single center?
No. If He draws me, what maketh me
to differ? The mercy and grace of God. And
that's what this is. He sends out His effectual call
and He draws His own. Look at John 10, verse 27. My sheep hear my voice, and I
know them, and they follow me. My sheep hear my voice. They hear my voice. They finally,
you know, they've been just struggling along in dry religion, wondering
what it's all about, trying to find the truth of the matter.
And then all of a sudden, God in mercy, the grace of God and
the mercy of God sends a call directly to a particular sinner
and all of a sudden they hear Him. And what they realize or don't
realize is He knows them. It's not that I know Him, it's
that He knows me. And the first thing they realize
is He knows everything about me. He sees my sin. And it strikes fear in them.
And they realize they have a need for the first time. And then
they see Christ, the supplier of my every need. And they start
to go after Christ. And he said, my sheep hear my
voice and I know them. And then they follow me. Now look back at our text in
Isaiah 55. Here is his call, verse 3. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Incline your
ear and come unto me. Neither one of those commandments
are a work. Neither one of them. Incline
your ear. That's something anybody can
do. Anybody can do that. Doesn't
matter how old a person is. You know, sometimes we think,
well, you've got to be old enough for these things. It does not
matter how old a person is. It does not matter how young
a person is, rich, poor, anything. Anybody can incline their ear,
and it's not a work. You can incline your ear while
you are reclining your body. You can lay there and incline
your ear. It's not a work. He said, come unto me, come to
Christ. How do I do that? Where is he? The only way that
a sinner can come to Christ is if he doesn't move a muscle.
That's the only way. If he moves a muscle, he cannot
come to Christ. Ephesians 2 says, By grace are
you saved, not of works, lest any man should boast. The Lord
will not allow any sinner to boast in coming to Christ. No man can come except the Father
draw him. So if he moves a muscle, he can't
come to Christ. Look at the next book over, Jeremiah
29. Jeremiah 29 verse 13 says, and you shall
seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all
your heart. That's the point I want to make
tonight, your heart, all your heart. If God does not take out the
stony heart and put in a heart of flesh. And I mean daily. This
flesh turns that heart of flesh back into stone that fast. And if he does not take out that
stony heart and do something for this heart daily, I don't
have any hope. If he doesn't keep me, I don't
have any hope. I can't worship him. I can't love him. Let me just read this to you.
This is Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23. It says, keep thy heart with
all diligence for out of it are the issues of life, not the hands,
the heart. And what I was talking about
last week with this remodel, I don't have any problems with
my hands. Boy, they can get right in there and do it. It's this
heart that I have a problem with. And it's not the feet. It's not
of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth. This thing
is of the heart. And it's not the eye and it's
not the mind. You know, we get into this word
and we skim the word with the eye and we skim the word with
the mind. And I can tell you, if you prepare messages on a
regular basis, you get in here and you start looking for outlines.
I've got to get this job done. I feel the pressure. And so my
eye and my mind start scanning outlines. What would be a good
outline? I need some points. It would be good if it could
come directly from a few scriptures back to back. I've got to find
references. My problem is this heart. It
has got to be of this heart. That's the difference between
life and death. So many people in religion, they
can quote this word. They could probably quote it
better than me. But this issue is in the heart.
This call has everything to do with the heart. This article,
I've read it to you before. Brother Henry wrote this, and
he said, years ago, I read the following quote by an unknown
author. I can appreciate the ability of the learned botanist
to give me the scientific name of a rose, the origin of it,
the various types of roses, how and where they grow, and the
number of petals and thorns and leaves to expect on a genuine
rose. I can appreciate that, all that information. But too
often, those who become overly entangled in these things somehow
lose the most important things, the beauty and the fragrance
of the rose. And that's what I want to smell
and see every time I come here. And that's what I pray that God
would overrule this flesh for. I want to see Christ. I want
to smell that savor of Christ. He said, you will soon weary
my head if you don't warm my heart. Now listen to this. He
said, one can preach about Christ and not preach Christ. just as
we can know how God saves sinners and not be a saved sinner. I
believe that we know how God saves sinners. I do. I believe
that when I go through these points and go through these truths,
we know this. We know this. But this thing
is of the heart. And if God does not do something
for this heart, I'm a goner. I'm a goner. Verse 3 in Isaiah
55 says, Incline your ear and come to me. That's how you know
the call of Christ. That's how you know it's of Christ.
He does not say come to religion and He doesn't say come to the
law and He doesn't say come to any man. He says come to me. Come to me and your soul shall
live. Eternal life is in Christ. Not in obeying God's law, it's
in Christ. Incline your ear and come unto
me. Here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. He said, I'm
going to be your God. You're going to be my people.
He said, I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to forsake
you. Never. Verse four, behold, I have given
him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander. to the
people. I've given him for a witness.
Christ is our witness. We have a gospel witness here. We have a gospel witness. What
is it? It's Christ. Christ is our witness. We witness that Christ is our
leader. We witness that Christ is our
commander. He's our king. Verse 5 says,
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord
thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. He's going to call nations that
have no idea who he is. And it's that way every time.
Every soul that comes to Christ came having no idea who God was,
no idea who Christ was. And they're going to go willingly.
They're going to start running willingly to him because he's
going to make them willing in a day of his power. And he's
going to do every bit of that for the glory of God, his father. All right, now with all that
in mind, here's what I want to say tonight. I'm going to close
with this, and this is a medium-sized close, not a quick close. But
here's what I want to say. All that led us up to this. Knowing
that no sinner will naturally thirst for God. None of them. Knowing that no sinner will spend
his money, which means his all, on the bread of life. He's going
to thirst and go after things that satisfy not. Knowing that
God must call his own and he must make him willing in the
day of his power, that he must start the work and perform it
and finish it. We know all those things. He
says right here in verse 6, 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 on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." God causes his people to become seekers. seekers. He made me a seeker. And I've heard your story. He
made you a seeker, didn't He? And I know your story. He made
you a seeker, didn't He? He made you a seeker. God's people become seekers. Every sinner that the Father
chose and that Christ redeemed and that the Spirit calls becomes
a seeker. Now, what is a true seeker? And
am I a true seeker? All I want to do is look at these
two verses and I was going to just use these two verses. We
could make a whole message out of this. We could do references
in the whole nine yards. We're not going to do that. I
just want to look at these two verses and I want to ask some
questions. And what I want to find out is,
am I a true seeker? Verse six says, Ye. Seek ye. Now let's all ask ourselves this
in the heart. Is this personal to me? Is this personal to me? I do
not want to be one of those sinners that shows up when we have a
church meal or a church function. You know what I'm saying? Well,
yeah, I'm a part of that organization. I'm a part of those people down
there. Am I just showing up as a member
of the congregation? Or am I a personal seeker? Am I satisfied with the congregation
following Christ? Yes, I know that they preach
the truth down there. Yes, I know that they are different. Yes, they follow Christ down
there. Am I satisfied with the congregation
following Christ or must I follow Christ? He said, Seek ye. Seek ye. Verse 6, he said, Seek ye the
Lord. Now, ask yourself this question
in your heart. Really ask yourself this question.
Seek ye the Lord. Here's the question. Is Christ
enough? Is Christ enough? That's all
we have here. That's all we have here. Our
entertainment here is very pitiful. It is not amusing. Is Christ enough? Am I here for
a feeling? If I leave without experiencing
a movement, was Christ enough? Am I here for an education or
am I here for the Lord Himself? Do I come here for Him? That's
what I want to know. He said where two or three are
gathered in my name, I'm in the midst of them. Is that why I
come here? Because He said He would be here?
Do I come here for Him? Am I here out of obligation?
I know I ought to be here. I ought to go. I just ought to
go. Am I here out of religious duty?
Well, you know, I'm now the song leader and We've got to have
a song later. Am I here for an example of morality? I want to teach my kids the right
way. Or am I here for Him? Am I personally
here for Him? Is Christ enough? Is Christ enough? If you're a true seeker, He is.
If you're a true seeker, your soul will say, yes, He is. Christ is all. He's all. He said, seek ye the Lord. Verse
six, seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Ask yourself this
question. Is this urgent to me? I mean, is this urgent to me? Or am I okay with seeking when
it's convenient, when nothing else is going on? Well, yeah,
I was going to be there, but ugh. Does it strike fear in me that
we are not promised tomorrow? Is my heart burdened by the fact,
just serious over the fact That today is the day of salvation.
It's today. What if, you know, I say this
all the time, what if God came back tonight? Am I ready? Is this personal to me? Is Christ
enough? Is this urgent? Or is being a seeker of Christ
something that I can just put off till tomorrow? I can just
put that off to tomorrow. He said, seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. A true seeker cannot put that
off. Just can't put it off. Verse
six, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him
while he is near. Call upon him. Ask yourself this,
do I deserve his favor or must I cry out for it? Must I beg? Must I beg? Do I assume on His
favor? Did you know that that's what
everybody in religion is doing? They are assuming on His favor.
Do I assume on it or must I beg? Do I know that I'm lacking? And He's passing by and He doesn't
have to stop. Do I see myself in the same condition
as blind Bartimaeus? Jesus, the son of David, have
mercy on me. True seekers are beggars. I'm
telling you the truth. True seekers are beggars. They
beg for everything. They just beg and beg and beg. He said, call ye, call ye upon
him while he's near. Verse 7 says, let the wicked
forsake his way. Now it's fairly easy for all
of us in here to see that we're wicked. We can all acknowledge
that we're wicked. But here's the question I want
to ask. I want us to ask ourselves. Am I willing to forsake my way? Am I willing to forsake my way?
Everything I've ever known Everything I've ever believed,
everything I was ever taught, get to that point and say, you
mean to tell me you want to just throw all that away? That all
that time was wasted? We're not building on that foundation? Am I willing to be emptied? Emptied by God? Because He does
that to every seeker. Every single one. They're emptied,
every single one. There is a way that seems right
to man, a way of salvation, a way of acceptance. But the end of
that way every time is destruction. Every time. Man has it wrong
every time. Verse 80 said, My thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Ask yourself in the heart, has God put a desire in me to forsake
my way? I don't care what I believe.
I don't care what I know. If it goes against the word of
Christ, let's get it out. Cling to the way, the way, Christ
himself. True seekers seek his way and
not their own. Verse 7 says, Let the wicked
forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Is everything
about me filthy rags? Everything, not just sinners,
me. Is everything about me that brings
pride to my flesh, all of my qualities, all of my accomplishments? After seeing Christ, do I count
them all dung? A truth seeker does. He's not
seeking his own glory, he's seeking Christ's glory. He's not seeking
his own accomplishments, he's seeking Christ's accomplishments.
Verse 7 says, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him. Do I need mercy? Not just sinners, me. You know,
we say sinners need mercy. Do I need mercy? True seekers
do. They do. If you, you need to
seek Him. And if you only have a heart
to seek Him, and if you have a heart to do
it right now, today, and if you know that everything in you is
wrong and He's the only thing that's right, Here's a word to all true seekers.
Keep seeking. It is a daily, hourly, secondly
thing. Keep seeking. Keep seeking the
Lord. Do it right now. In the heart,
fall on your knees and beg. Forsake everything you are, everything
you thought, and turn to the Lord for mercy. And the end of
verse 7 says, He will abundantly pardon. He will abundantly pardon. We set up the fact that if any
man comes, the Father drew. If any man has a heart, God put
it there. The glory does not go to the
seeker. The seeker is a result of the work of God. All who seek
in this way find. they have found. All who seek
in God's way have found. So Lord, make us true seekers.
Make us true seekers. All right, let's stand together.