Turn with me back to Isaiah 55. I suppose that every generation
of parents always wants to make things better for their children.
They had it. We parents want them to be comfortable,
get a good education, and for the most part, live life that
is easier than what we had it. In our natural state, most parents
want to give their children things that they feel like they missed
out on as a child. Some of every generation, though,
some, have been given a new heart. A heart made alive by Christ's
willingness. And being made alive, we have
new desires. We still long to see our children
happy, see them comfortable, see them have as easy a life
that we can have for them. But we know that all those things
are but temporary conditions. They're going to change. It's
going to be hard times. There's going to be sorrow. And
we can't change that. So we know that's a fleeting
desire. And we long for greater things. We long for our children,
for our loved ones, for our friends and neighbors, that they might
know the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection.
With that in mind, Isaiah 55, verse six. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. What is my heart's desire for
my children, for my family, my friends, my loved ones? that
they would seek the Lord. What is the desire I have for
my own heart that I would seek the Lord? My goal this morning is to encourage
each of us to seek the Lord. And I'll do that by answering
five questions. First, we'll look at what is
it to seek? What does it mean to seek? Who
is to seek? And who are we to seek for? Why do we seek Him? And finally,
how do we seek? Most of us in here can probably
remember our first math lessons where word problems were introduced. If we don't remember the exact
class, we remember the burden of word problems. There's hardly
anybody that doesn't hate a word problem. And I think that the
problem we have with word problems is they were, they gave too much
information. They were misleading on purpose. So you had to figure out what
was actually being asked in the question before you could even
try to figure out what the problem was. If you don't understand the objective,
the goal of what you seek after, you don't even know what questions
to ask. So what is it to seek? Does that
simply mean that we look around for the Lord? You with children know this problem. A child comes and says, I can't
find my toy. Well, go look for it. Seek it. They go in their bedroom, they
spin around and go, I don't see it. Mama, where's my toy? Right? That's not seeking. Do we simply go to church, sit
in the congregation, listen to the message, get up and leave,
go about our daily lives, Come back when the church is open.
Is that seeking the Lord? Just going when the church attends
and gets together? Now, hold your place here in
Isaiah and look over in Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. Luke 15, verse 8. This is part
of a parable our Lord was giving. And He says, Either what woman
having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not
light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till
she find it? And when she hath found it, she
calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me, for I have found the piece which I had lost. Every time I've heard or read
that passage of Scripture, I can't help but think of my great-grandmother.
She's the woman that I picture in this passage. I knew her well,
and she was a woman, a widow of many years. She had very little
to her name. But she did have some precious
pieces that were hers. just as this woman. She had ten
precious pieces of silver. And I've always thought it was
probably more than the value of this silver that made them
precious to her. Perhaps she had ten grandchildren
and she had a piece of silver that was laid aside for each
one of those children. She kept them in a special place.
They were reserved. They were important to her. She
would check on them every now and again, make sure all of them
were there. One morning she opens up that
precious container because it's precious because of what's in
it. She counts her silver pieces and she's one off. One's gone. It's missing. She lights her
candle. She searches high and low. She
looks above the kitchen cabinets. She looks under the couch. She
looks between the seat cushions. She cannot find her one piece
of silver. She has one purpose until she
finds that piece of silver. She's going to look for it. She's
going to spend every waking moment seeking that one piece of silver. This is the seeker I want to
be. This is what I want to... I want to emulate her in seeking
for my Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Oh, that I might know
more of Him. What is it to seek the Lord?
It is to search with effort after a precious object that you value
above all else. That woman searching for her
piece of silver. What did she do when life interrupted
her search? A neighbor stops by and interrupts
her. She can't put this neighbor off.
She's got to be a hostess. She has to be welcoming to her
home. But this guest comes in, and
the whole time the guest is there, she might be visiting with them,
getting them something to eat, putting a little sandwich or
some water in front of them, but all the time, her eyes are
darting about every corner of her house, searching for that
piece of silver. If she were forced to leave her
home, someone called her and needed her help, so she has to
leave her home. The whole time she's gone, her
mind is cast back to her house, going through every nook and
cranny of that house, looking. Could it be under the bath mat?
I haven't looked under there. I'll have to look there as soon
as I get home. Did I drop it down the kitchen sink? That might
be a place. I'll have to look there as soon
as I get home. She searched. She went about
her daily life. But she continued searching.
This is the commandment we're giving. Seek ye the Lord. Consider how our Lord sought
out His church. What great lengths He went to
find His church. That sheep who had gone astray,
He left the 99 to redeem that one. As He sought us, so should we
seek Him with effort and diligence. Second question, who is to seek? Seek ye. Seek ye. All of us. Seek ye Bethel-Baptist
when you gather together. Seek ye the Lord. Psalm 33.8 says, Let all the
earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of him. No one is excluded from this
command. Seek ye the Lord. Everyone is to seek the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. Ye, the individual. Ye, Billy,
seek the Lord. Doug West, seek the Lord. Obie Williams, seek ye the Lord. Individually, we must seek the
Lord. As a collective body of God's
subjects, we are to seek the Lord. As an individual, we are
to seek the Lord. And who do we seek? We seek the
Lord. The Lord Jehovah. We aren't commanded
to seek after a doctrine. or after a church, after some
religious experience. We're not even commanded to seek
God. We are commanded to seek the
Lord, Jehovah, the God who saves. You and I are unable in and of
ourselves to go before God Almighty. We declared that we would have
absolutely nothing to do with Him and our Father Adam. We are so dynamically opposed
to our God, that if we were to approach God, if we were to approach
the Almighty without a mediator, we would find Him to be a consuming
fire. God cannot tolerate sin. And we cannot approach God apart
from Jesus Christ. If we were to do so in our sin,
He would destroy us. Thank God that we are commanded
to seek the Lord. We seek after the Lord, our righteousness,
the one who by himself has made peace with God. We search for
Jesus Christ, the just God and the Savior of sinful men. When do we seek? There's a time
limit on our opportunity to seek. Our text says, seek ye the Lord
while he may be found. There's coming a day when should
we seek? He won't be found. Esau, after
he had sold his birthright to Jacob, the scripture said he
sought to obtain the blessing carefully with tears. But he
couldn't find it. The time to obtain the blessing
had passed and Esau was left without hope. You and I need to seek the Lord
today. right now, while he may be found. You who are longing to be free
from the bondage of sin and shame, seek the Lord. Seek to know Him
who is able to save to the uttermost. You don't need to know a whole
lot. That blind man, when God opened his eyes, who was blind
from his birth, when the Pharisees questioned him, I said, all I
know is that he opened my eyes. He didn't even know the man's
name. But he knew he had opened his
eyes. And he believed on him. We need to seek to know the person
of Jesus Christ. And when do we seek? We seek
Him at all times. We seek Him in times of joy,
in times of sorrow, in times of doubt, in times of peace. We seek Him when we're rejoicing
in the presence of our Lord. When we're at a conference that
the Lord has greatly blessed and visited with power and our
hearts are overflowing because we've heard of and seen the majesty
of God's grace, seek the Lord then. When our hearts are cold, when
the heavens become a sounding brass and we can't even pray,
Seek the Lord. Look over at Song of Solomon,
Chapter 3. Song of Solomon, Chapter 3. Song of Solomon 3, verse 1. By night, on my bed, I sought
him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. Did she stop there? No. I will rise now and go about
the city in the streets and in the broadways. I will seek him
whom my soul loveth. I saw them, but I found him not. The watchman that go about the
city found me. To whom I said, saw ye him whom
my soul loveth? She continued searching. Verse
four, it was but a little that I passed from them, but I found
him whom my soul loveth. I held him and would not let
him go until I had brought him into my mother's house and into
the chamber of her that conceived me. She sought diligently, didn't
she? And she found him. We are to seek until we have
found Him out. But the more we seek, the more
we know of Him, the more we desire to seek Him all the more. That woman who lost her piece
of silver sought until she had found the whole piece. And we
seek for something far more precious than a piece of metal. We seek
for our Lord. Canst thou by searching find
out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty
to perfection? We can search and search for
Him and there's more to be found. We'll never find Him out. having been awakened from death
unto life, we who are blind to the light of Christ, He opens
our eyes and we begin to see. And we come to the realization
that we are in a cave that is so dark, your eyes never adjust
to it. And we see a glimmer of light.
Are we satisfied with staying in that cave with that little
glimmer of light? Oh no. We have to find out where
that source of light is coming from, and we go after it. Once we've been awakened, once
we've seen something of the glory of Christ, we're going to be
seekers of Him. And we're going to dig after Him. We're going to
find that source of light. if the Lord will bless us. I
pray that our hearts do not turn cold and we should stop seeking
to know more of our Redeemer. We've looked at what it is to
seek, who should seek, who we seek for, and when to seek. Now let's look at why should
I seek the Lord. I think this is my most enjoyable
part to speak on. For now, I get to tell you what
great things God has done for this sinner. I seek the Lord, the God who
saves, because I am in need of salvation. I need a mighty Redeemer. I seek the Lord because He first
saw me, and I seek Him because I love Him and desire to know
more about Him. Earlier I said that Christ had
made peace with God. If you're like me, there was
a time you didn't even realize that there wasn't peace between
you and God. I was getting along just fine.
My little God and me were in agreement. We walked along the
same path. And as long as I could justify
my words, my deeds, my thoughts, everything was going to be fine,
because I was in control. When it came time to go to the
judgment, everything I've done is justified of me, Some here may still be of that
opinion, but the Word of God declares of all mankind, that
includes me, there is none good. No, not one. The carnal mind,
that mind that we are born with and inherit from our rebellious
father, is enmity against God. Open hatred. God Almighty is life. He doesn't
have life as we do. He is life. And He can have nothing to do
with death. Do you realize that we are all
born without life, without spiritual life? We're all dead when we
come into this world. We do not possess the ability
to have fellowship with God because our nature rejects the life of
God. Because we are born in trespasses
and sin. In other words, we're dead. Turn over a couple pages to Isaiah
65. Isaiah 65. Our Lord and our God is speaking
here. Isaiah 65 verse 2. I have spread out my hands all
the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was
not good, after their own thoughts. A people that provoketh me to
anger continually to my face, that sacrificeth in gardens and
burneth incense upon altars of brick, which remain among the
graves and lodge in the monuments, which each swine's flesh and
broth of abominable things is in their vessels, which say,
Stand by thyself, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose,
a fire that burneth all the day." These verses describe me in my
natural state. God was exceedingly merciful
to me. I grew up under the sound of
the gospel, with parents who believed. The parents insisted
that I be in services every time the door was opened. But rather than that causing
me to have a tender heart, I became, well I was, I didn't have to
become, I was as Israel of old. I stood apart from others and
declared myself holier than thou. I took it a step further. I stood
apart from God and said, don't come near me. I'm holier than
you are. I went to the proper church.
I was raised by saved parents. Therefore, because of my heritage,
because of the things I did, God must accept me. He has no choice. I'm holier
than he is. That was my state, apart from
God, apart from Christ, having mercy upon me. I was a foul stench in God's
nostrils. One day though, as I proceeded
down this path of destruction, I and my pharisaical friends,
who were sitting in judgment of one another, to be truthful,
all trying to outdo the other in our holiness, God had mercy
upon me. And He sent a man to proclaim
the gospel of Christ Jesus, my Lord. And he sent his spirit
and pricked my ears and opened them and pierced my heart and
caused it to come to life. I heard not the words of a man,
but the Word of God. I heard about God who is just
in condemning the guilty, and my heart felt the agony of despair,
because for the first time, I knew I was guilty. Nothing I could
do would justify me before the thrice holy God. I was convicted
of being a sinner, separate from God, with no hope. I was brought
to the end of myself and found that I needed a Redeemer, a mighty
Redeemer, an exceedingly rich Redeemer for my debts are great
and a Redeemer who was willing to save such a wretched beggar
as myself with nothing to offer. Let me be abundantly clear here. We see beggars in our cities,
and we tend to think of beggars being like them, those that we
see today. But the beggars we see in our
cities are abundantly wealthy compared to what I am in my nature. Generally speaking, the beggars
that we see today can move If you offer them something, they'll
get up and come and take it from you. Some go so far as to offer
services to earn a little keep, to earn some food, some clothing,
some money. My condition before God is as
a beggar, nothing like unto these. I'm a beggar who's blind. I have to be led about. I'm a
beggar who's deaf. I can't be taught anything. I
can't be commanded what to do. I'm laying on both feet. I can't
stand. I can't work. I can't help. My hands are withered and dried
up. I can't hold a tool. I can't
hold food. I'm so weak, I can't even cry
out for mercy. I'm an infant, cast out, without
strength, without anything to offer. I'm the beggar who can
be nothing more than a burden to anyone who tries to help me. That's my condition in my natural
state. I need a Redeemer who is compassionate,
loving, merciful, kind, gracious, long-suffering, and patient. That's the Redeemer I need. That's
the Redeemer our Lord is. Lord Jesus Christ saw me in that
vile condition, and having loved me with an everlasting love,
He sought me out. I was unable, due to my natural
condition, to come unto Him, so He came forth from glory in
my likeness. In the likeness of that wretch
that I was, He came to where I was, and He took up my case. A body was prepared for Him,
and He freely said to the justice of God, let that sinner go free. His sins, be they ever so many
and wretched, are mine. He took my condemnation. He suffered
the penalty, the punishment of my sins, nailing my sin to His
cross, shedding His precious blood. He died for me, for my guilt, for my sin, and
not for me alone. His blood is so precious, He
atoned for a multitude no man can number. All those that God
the Father gave Him, He redeemed. Praise His name. Justice no longer
seeks my life, but oh, the riches of His grace. He redeems exceedingly,
abundantly, above all that we ask or think. On the third day,
after laying down His life, He took it up again of His own power. Christ, who died for me, now
lives, making intercession for me. He who was once clothed in
my wretched likeness, who bore my sin and my shame, now clothes
me in His own righteousness. The very righteousness of God
Almighty. He loved me when I was unlovable,
wretched and vile, and He came to where I was, and He redeemed
me to Himself. and He showers me with great
and wonderful blessings. He gave me a love for Him. He
gave me a heart that can love. If anyone, if any one of us ever
sees Christ as He is, He will say, I love Him. because He first
loved me. The world's religion will tell
you to seek the Lord. They'll tell you to seek the
Lord, because He can give you those things that we find pleasing
in our endemic nature. Seek the Lord. You'll have health. You'll be well. Seek the Lord. You'll have wealth. He'll prosper
you in everything you do. Seek the Lord, you'll have long
life. What are those things in comparison
to one who has seen a glimmer of the Lord's majesty and glory? What is that to one who has peace
with God? one who has found trusting and
resting upon our Lord's finished work. Is there any gift of this
world that can compare with that relationship to the Son of God? If I am one of those Christ shed
his precious blood for, God's Word says I shall see a place
where the street is pure gold. Wealth, beyond imagination. Who cares? My desire is to be with Him,
to see Him, to worship and adore Him. That is all my hope. That is all my plea. That is
all my heart's desire. I want to seek Him. One final question. How? And I've divided this into two
parts. The first is, how does a dead, lost sinner seek the
Lord? If I go to a funeral and stand
at the casket and say, stand up, will I receive a response? Be foolish to think so, wouldn't
it? Mankind, in our natural state,
is as dead spiritually as that corpse is lying in a casket. More so, we're wretched and vile. Disgusting. God's ministers receive the command,
go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The minister of God does not
have the power to awaken the dead, and to cause them to follow
the command, Seek ye the Lord, though they get up and proclaim
it every time. But that minister rests upon
the sure promises of God, that his word does not go forth in
vain, but it will accomplish the purpose for which God sends
it. whether life unto life, or death unto death. A person to whom the Holy Ghost
moves upon in power, and awakens from death unto life, shall become
a seeker of the Lord. They will follow the command.
Because when the Lord commands a dead sinner to seek, that sinner
seeks. Psalm 27.8 says, When thou sayest,
Seek my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I
seek. If we're going to hear the Lord
say, Seek ye my face, we need to be where He has promised to
be. Our Lord said, where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Do you want to
know more of Christ, to grow in faith, to seek Him more? Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So if we
want to become seekers, we'll gather together with God's people,
and we'll seek Him in the assembly of the saints. We can read His
Word when we search for Him in His Scriptures. For that's where
God has been pleased to reveal Himself. And we can ask God to give us
a heart to seek. Second part of how are we to
seek the Lord concerns our attitude. And you don't have to hold your
place here in Isaiah anymore. Turn over to Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2. Mark 2 and verse 3. Let's go back to verse 1. Mark
2, verse 1. And again, our Lord entered into
Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that He was in the
house. Word got out that Christ had
returned to Capernaum. And straightway many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
no, not so much as about the door. And He preached the word
unto them. And they come unto him bringing
one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they
could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered
the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay." What do you think of the men's
attitude who brought this sick man? I think they were seeking
Christ with urgency. They had heard that Christ was
in the house, but they didn't know for how long He might be
there. So they took their friend, they
went to the house, but they couldn't enter for the crowd. Did that
stop them? Did they leave and decide we'll
come back later when it's less crowded? No, they dare not leave. He might leave. We know where
He's at right now. We've got to get our friend to
Him. Their issue was urgent. They needed Christ now. These men had urgent business
with Christ, and they were hopeful. They were expectant. They had
no way of knowing whether Christ would heal their friend or not.
But they did know that others had been healed by Him. They knew that he was able to
heal. And they knew that if they didn't bring their friend to
him, he certainly wouldn't be healed. These men came diligently. Think of the obstacles that were
in these men's path. First, their friend couldn't
get there. They had to carry him. When they
got to the house, it was so packed, they couldn't enter. The roof was sealed. They couldn't
get in that way. None of these things deterred
them. Every obstacle that was in their path, they sought diligently
to find a way around it. May God make me a seeker like
unto these men, to seek with urgency. My need is great. I need Him today. I need Him
right now. Always right now, always in the
present. May I seek Him with diligence
and with great expectations, for He is a great Redeemer, exceeding
rich, exceeding grace, exceeding mercy. I should come to Him with
exceeding expectations. Not only that, may I be a seeker
of others to come to Christ. That I would bring others to
the Lord God who saves and bring them without doubting. I am so
guilty of praying to the Lord to have mercy upon someone that
I love. And even while I'm praying, the
thought goes through my mind, I doubt he will. Is it any wonder
my prayers go unanswered when I sit there and doubt my God? He saved this wrench. Why, oh
why, would I doubt that He would have mercy on anyone else? I'm lower than the lowest, been
blessed exceedingly, and yet I doubt Him. He is able to save to the uttermost,
May God give me a heart to believe Him and not doubt. Seek ye the
Lord. This is not an idle saying nor
an invitation, but it is a command to every one of us, every creature
upon God's earth. Seek ye the Lord. What is it
to seek? It's to search after our Lord
and Savior with effort and diligence. We seek after Christ and Him
crucified, and we call out with Paul, O that I may know Him and
the power of His resurrection. When do we seek Him? While it
is called today. Seek ye the Lord. Why do we seek
Him? Because we need a mighty Redeemer. And that is what He is, the Savior
of sinful men. And because He sought us for
His great love toward us. Finally, how do we seek Him?
We seek Him in gathering together to hear His word. Seek Him in
His scriptures and in prayer. And we seek Him with expectation,
urgency, and diligence. Seek ye the Lord. Oh, that I
might and we might all become seekers who are diligent and
occupied with nothing but finding out Christ. His riches and glory
are beyond measure. I know I've been guilty in the
past of resting and letting my pastor do the seeking, letting
him feed me. And it's wonderful. But oh, what
a greater blessing we receive when we seek Christ ourselves,
when we search diligently for Him outside, of our worship services. You and I are responsible for
seeking the Lord individually as well as as a congregation. Seek all we want. Spend every waking hour seeking
to know Him. We can't find out even the smallest
amount of Him Seek all we want, we'll never be able to plumb
the depths. Seek Him today. Call out for His mercy. Look
to Christ for all your needs. He who spared not His own Son,
but diligently, excuse me, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Christ is all, and if we have
Christ, we have all that He is. Life, peace, righteousness, justification,
and eternal salvation. May God cause us to be seekers
of the Lord. Amen.