Isaiah 55 Preachers are servants. Servants. The message that we preach is
not our own. Meaning, it does not come from
us. I hope and pray I have not driven
three hours to deliver my sermon to you. A man once said, a preacher is
a man sent from God with a message from God for that hour, for 1030. With that being said, I believe
I have a message. I'm very thankful that I don't
have to stand up here without a message. Verse six, Isaiah
55 verse six says, seek ye the Lord. That's the message. Seek, seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord, including me. And seek ye the Lord, the Lord. If you have no idea who Jesus
Christ really is, if you've heard of Jesus, and you have no earthly
idea who Jesus Christ really is, seek ye the Lord. If you have never heard Him,
speak to you. If you have never heard Him,
call your name. I know of a young man who I heard
four days ago made the statement to his mother The Lord's never
spoken to me. If you have never heard Him speak
to you, if that statement puzzles you, seek ye the Lord. If you have
heard His beautiful voice, and you want to hear it again, Seek ye the Lord. Somebody asked
a preacher, does he speak out loud? And this preacher wisely
said, no, he doesn't. It is much louder than that. If you desire that the Lord would
do for someone else what He's done for you, seek ye the Lord. Don't seek religion and don't
seek church. Seek Him. Verse 6 says, Seek ye the Lord
while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is
near. This is so urgent. This is so
urgent. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Why? I have a center margin in my
Bible. It has scripture references in
it. Some Bibles don't have a center margin and that's okay. Some
Bibles have a center margin that has different scripture references
and that's okay. My scripture references are Matthew
5.25, Luke 13.25, John 7.34, 2 Corinthians 6.2, and Hebrews
3.13. Now let's turn to these, and
I believe we'll see why we need to seek the Lord. Let's turn
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 verse 25 says, Agree with thine adversary quickly,
whilst thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. I thought that was an interesting
reference to that Isaiah 55 verse. We must seek the Lord because
sinful man is an adversary to God. At enmity with God, every
man born in Adam, every man and woman born into this world is
by nature an adversary to God. an enemy to God. We must seek
a way for agreement. We need an agreement. Agree with
thine adversary. Seek ye the Lord. Turn with me to Luke 13. Luke chapter 13, again it's verse
25. Luke 13, 25. When once the master of the house
is risen up and hath shut to the door and you begin to stand
without and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto
us and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence
you are. Noah was called a preacher of
righteousness, a preacher of the truth, a preacher of Christ,
our righteousness. He cried unto the people for
120 years. The door of the ark is open. It's open. Enter in. Enter in. Whosoever will, Let him come. The door is open. It's wide open. And one day, God shut that door. And I can only imagine when the
water started to rise, people started beating on that door.
Oh no, let us in. Our Lord said, I am the door. And once the door is shut, it'll
be too late. It's going to be too late. All who come at that point will
hear him say, depart from me. I never knew you. Paul, the apostle said, oh, that
I may know him. I need to know Him. I need to
seek the Lord. I need to seek the Lord. I have
one need, and that need is to seek the Lord. Now turn to John
chapter 7. Verses 33 and 34, John chapter
seven, verse 33 says, then said Jesus unto them, yet a little
while, am I with you? And then I go unto him that sent
me. You shall seek me and shall not
find me. And where I am thither, you cannot
come. Once I'm gone, you won't be able
to find me. And where I'm going, by nature
you cannot come. Getting a hold of this brings
a little understanding on what is the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. The fear
of the Lord has something to do with being afraid. It has something to do with being
afraid. It has something to do with love.
It has something to do with respect, with honor, but fear. Now, my dad did not do time out. We got good old-fashioned spankings.
We actually had two for one at our house. If my mom did it while
dad was at work, dad did it when he got home. One transgression,
we receive double for all our transgressions. And I have always loved my father,
I've always respected him, and I've never feared him hurting
me, ever. But I was afraid. Don't touch
it or you'll get a spanking. I had to think twice about that.
You know why? I was afraid. There was fear
in me that hurt. Does that make sense? The fear
of the Lord motivates. I don't think I'm going to do
that. The fear of the Lord has something to do with being afraid. Everybody buys the no fear sticker
and they stick it on everything. They stick it on their car. They
stick it on everything. No fear. I'm afraid. I'm afraid. I'm afraid for myself. I'm afraid
for my family. I'm afraid for you. I'm afraid. We're dealing with a holy God
here. How wise is it to seek the Lord
while He may be found? How wise is that? How wise is
it to call on Him while He's near? Fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. Now, why should we seek the Lord?
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 6. 2 Corinthians 6. Verse 2 says, For he saith, I
have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Why should we seek Him? Because
right now is the accepted time. He will accept us right now. Not then, but right now He will. Today is the day of salvation. I have good news. Mercy can be had today. Today. Today is the day. This is the
day. It's right now. It's not tomorrow. It's today. Why should we seek Him? He's
near. If there are two or three of
us met together in His name, He's here. He's in this building. right now. There's a song that the churches
sing. It's a chorus. Maybe you've heard
it before, maybe not, but this is what it says. Reach out and
touch the Lord as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your heart's cry. He's passing by this moment,
your need to supply. Reach out and touch the Lord
as He goes by. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. Seek the Lord while He may be
found. Call on Him. He's near. He's right here. I'm going to
quote our last reference, Hebrews 3.13 said, Exhort one another
daily while it's called today. Exhort one another. Seek ye the
Lord. Seek ye the Lord. This is the day. Today is the
day. Now, here's the question. And
this is the heart of this message. Here's the heart of this message. How? How? Seek the Lord, okay? How? What does that mean? What does
that mean? Well, he's really serving God.
Well, what does that mean? What does it mean and how does
a sinner seek the Lord? Turn with me to Jeremiah 29. The Lord will answer our question
in Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29 verse 13 says, You
shall seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your
heart. Seeking the Lord has everything
to do with the heart. Everything to do with the heart. Proverbs says, out of it, out
of the heart are the issues of life. People think they have
to go somewhere or do something to seek the Lord. They attach
it to morality. They think they will find God
through good works, doing good things. We're going to get a
mission trip together and go rebuild houses in Louisiana.
Well, that's wonderful. I think it's a humanitarian trip. The commandment is come to Jesus
Christ, but don't move a muscle. It's in the heart. God looks on the heart. It says,
you shall seek me. and find me when you search for
me with all your heart. That's how a person seeks the
Lord. They seek him with all their
heart. Now, what does that mean? What does that mean? Seek the
Lord with all your heart. What does that mean? First, it
means I acknowledge in my heart that I do not know the Lord or
have the Lord. I don't know Him and I don't
have Him. A person will not go searching
for something that he already has in the palm of his hands.
I will not spend my time and my efforts and every fiber of
my being searching for that. I already have it in my hand. If I don't have it, that's when
I go searching for it. Most people believe they have
Jesus in their back pocket. They pull Him out when they need
Him, and then they stick Him right back. Seeking the Lord begins with
a realization through reading His Word. Hearing the preached
Word that man by nature is completely, totally separated from God. Separated from God. It begins with a firm belief
that I do not have Him, but I need Him. I need Him. Secondly, seeking the Lord is
a burning desire deep in the heart. for Him. It's a realization that
I don't have Him. I don't know the true God of
the Bible, the true Jesus Christ. I don't have Him, but I want
Him. I need to know Him. I need to
have Him. It feels like, and I say this
with fear and trembling and respect and honor, but it feels like
love. That's what it feels like. Love
for Him. Before Hannah and I got married,
well before we started dating, before we started dating, My mother passed away November
the 25th of 2000 from cancer. And we went through a tough time.
And we had not been to Rocky Mount, Virginia in years and
years and a decade and more. And my family went to travel
and see some of our old friends and brethren and came to the
church there. And my sister, who her name is
Hannah, Met a guy who attended services there named Sammy Parks.
And my sister was engaged in Tennessee to a wonderful guy.
He's one of our brethren. He attends the services in Franklin.
Faithful man and huge supporter of the gospel. He just got married
recently and I love him so much, but my sister was engaged to
him. And he just wasn't the one. And so my sister broke it off,
and within weeks was engaged to Sammy Parks, and within a
couple of months, they were married. So we started coming to Rocky
Mountain. Well, I knew Hannah from years back. I saw her when
she was younger, but then she went through her school years.
I didn't see her, and then I did see her, and I had an interest
in Hannah. All right, before we started
dating, I was confirmed, I was convicted,
I was completely convinced of two things. The first one is,
I don't have her. No one could convince me otherwise.
She's not mine. The second thing I was convinced
of is, I want her so badly. I don't have her, but I need
her. And I want her so badly. Something was going on in here.
Something was moving and burning, and I was thinking things and
feeling things I never felt before. It wasn't about a feeling, a
fake feeling. It was real, but I felt something. Will she have me? I don't know. I don't know. How can I find out? I'm going
to seek her. I'm going to get in my car and
I'm going to start driving to Rocky Mount every chance I can.
And I want to draw nigh unto her and see if she'll draw nigh
unto me. And one day it came, I had to leave Franklin, Tennessee,
a place I love, my home. And I went to Rocky Mountain.
I moved there, and I still wasn't dating her. And every chance I get, I find
a reason to go to Paul Mahan's house. I'm seeking her. Does that make
sense? I'm seeking her. It's an active
thing. Something starts happening in
here. I don't have her, but I need her. That's my life. I'm miserable without her. David says, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. As a deer longs to taste that
fresh water, My soul longs for you. Salvation is not in a doctrine. Doctrine cannot lead me to Him,
my Lord, my Christ. He will lead me to the correct
doctrine. Our salvation is not in a doctrine. It's in a person. It's in my
Beloved. Jesus Christ, I love him, I love
him. He said, this is life eternal,
that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. Oh, that I may know him. All
I want in this life, all I need in this life is to know Him. I want to be in a relationship
with Him. To seek God is to know I don't
have Him. To greatly desire to have Him. And thirdly, it's to be willing
in my heart to be accepted by Him on His terms. If you need something bad enough,
if you're weak enough without it, you'll have it on whatever
terms you can get it. Now here's an illustration I
heard and it's the best one for this. A young man has committed
a crime. He's guilty. He stands before
the judge, and the judge says, young man, do you want to stay
out of jail? And he says, yes. The judge says, then these are
my terms. You're going to have a 10 o'clock
curfew every night. You're going to have 200 hours
of community service. You're going to have to report
to a parole officer. Those are my terms. Do you agree to my
terms? What choice does he have? Those
terms of jail. We are guilty sinners. God owes us nothing, nothing. God says, I created you, you
sinned. I sent my son to live for you
and be your righteousness. I sent my Son to die for you
and be your atonement, your sin offering. I will only accept
you in Him. In my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are my terms. Do you bow
to my terms? Yes. I sure do. I need him. I love him. Then seek the Lord. He may be
found. Lastly, the fourth thing to seek
the Lord is to be willing in the heart to part with everyone
and everything that stands between me and union with Him. That's true love. Oh, I loved my father. I loved
my sisters. I loved my home. I loved my town. I loved my friends. I loved my
church. But they all had to get out of
the way. My vehicle was headed to Rocky Mount. I can't help
it. Don't get in the way of my union
to her. I love her. I must seek her. I must find her. I must have
her. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
10. Matthew chapter 10, look at verse
32 with me. It says, Whosoever therefore shall
confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father
which is in heaven. But whoso shall deny Me before
men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I came not to
send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his
life for my sake shall find it. Seeking the Lord requires everything. Everything. Did he say don't
love your father, don't love your mother, don't love your
children? No. But we love Him more, don't we? And we hope He'll
be merciful to them and we can love Him together. But it's all
about Him. Seek ye the Lord. Abraham believed
God and he left his home and his family. Left. He believed God and he sojourned
in the earth. Just sojourned. Where are you
going? I don't know. Abraham believed
God and he offered his own son. He gave his own son, Isaac. Now God was merciful to Abraham
and he stopped him before he killed Isaac. But Abraham in
his heart had given up his son. Hebrews 11 says that he did offer
his son because God looks on the heart. It was a done deal.
God was merciful to Abraham, merciful to Isaac, but in Abraham's
heart, it was a done deal. God looked on his heart. Now
here's God's promise to all of His seekers, all of His seekers. Go back to our text, Isaiah 55. Here's God's promise to all of
His seekers. 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 on him." He will. He will have mercy on
him. Now let me say this, even though
this text sounds like it's saying, if you do this, then God will
do that. What it's actually saying is,
If you do this, then it's an evidence that God
has already done that. I want to prove that in Isaiah
65. Go there. Almost finished. Isaiah 65. Verse 1 says, I am salt of them
that asked not for Me. I am found of them that sought
me not." They were never even seeking in the first place. Well,
what does that mean? The second half says, I said,
behold me. I did it. Behold me unto a nation
that was not called by my name. That's how they sought me. That's
how they found me. I said, behold me. It's an evidence. It's God which worketh in us,
and God is going to get all the glory in this. Our text, 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. Abundantly. Just listen to this and I'll
close. Isaiah 40 verses 1 and 2 say, Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. All the sin you've
committed against me, I'm going to pardon you twice that amount.
You're going to be good and pardoned. Well pardoned. I'll abundantly pardon you. Let's all seek the Lord. All
right? May the Lord bless His Word.
Let's stand together and have a word of prayer.