Watching and waiting, looking
above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love. Watching and waiting. That's
Bill and I were talking about that earlier. I mentioned it in Bible study.
This world is not my home. I'm ready to go home to where
I belong now. Sorrow and the world overwhelms
me. But I know my Lord has got it
all worked out for my good. So as long as you'll have me
here, what am I going to do about it
anyway? Not that I really want to do anything about it. I may
be sorrowful about what's going on in the world, but I know my
Lord has it all worked out. We read in 1 Peter 4, 7, you
don't need to turn there. But the end of all things is
at hand. Be ye therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. Turn over, turn any of your Bibles
if you would to the 55th chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 55. Our Lord speaks to his sheep through the
preaching of his gospel. Whether they've been sheep for
a long time or whether they've just been born a sheep today.
You know what I mean by that? You're
a sheep for a while, you know what I'm talking about. Lord
calls us out of darkness. takes up residence in the tabernacle
of this flesh that stands before you. Tabernacle not made with
hands. And he continues to feed his
sheep throughout the days that we walk this earth with the same
message that he calls his sheep out of that darkness with. He
feeds his sheep with his grace. All the prophets of God bring
one message to a dying world. The end is near for all. And is it not for you and I as
well? If you leave this world today,
is it not the end of all things for you? I encourage you, if you know
the Lord, be sober. If you've never heard of who
the Lord is, be sober this day and seek the Lord while
you may be found. In Isaiah 55, we read, beginning
at verse one, Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Ye come buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Sounds like a call to me, doesn't
it? Doesn't it to you? Call everyone that thirsteth.
Come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Verse two, wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which
satisfieth not. Hearken diligently unto me. and eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear
and come unto me. Here and your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sheer
mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for
a witness to the people, a leader and commander of the people.
thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because the Lord thy
God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. 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. For my thoughts, saith the Lord,
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, For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
and returneth, not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh
it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and
bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereunto I say. Sounds like a call, doesn't
it? A calling. You who thirst, come
to the waters. Even if you don't have any money,
come to the waters. Did you know our Lord never turned
down one who cried out for mercy to Him? Not once in Scripture
will you find the Lord saying, nope, none for you. He did delay
a woman But after declaring herself to be the dog that she was, he
gave to her free. My title this morning is Seek
Ye the Lord. Now, I know, John, I've been
seeking the Lord for 35 years. You're still on this earth. You
still need to seek him. We were talking about this in
his Bible study this morning. We get to a point where Do we
fall into that trap? Do we allow ourselves to get
cuddled into that comfort? We know the Lord, we don't have
to worry about it anymore. We don't have to remember what
it is that we are to do, what the Lord's word tells us to do.
And I ask this question, if we don't need to be reminded of
things of scripture, of spiritual things, then why do we come to
the table of remembrance? We need to be reminded all the
time. Seek ye the Lord while he is
near, right now. And this is a message that God
uses to go out to someone who may have never heard of who he
is. They may have never heard that
Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Oh, they may have heard of some
Jesus, They may have heard about a Jesus who's waiting for them
to do something to be a part of their lives, but they had
never heard the true Jesus who doesn't wait for anybody, who
does as he pleases, who sits on his throne this very moment,
working everything out according to his own counsel. They may
have never heard of the Jesus of Scripture who has all power
in heaven and earth. I like hearing that all the time.
It reminds me, it's a reminder to this weak flesh that flounders
around in the world around us. I know the ruler. He's in charge of everything.
Every speck of dust is his to put where he wants. How many people go out into the
world, they go out thinking, okay, I've decided to let God
into my life. I've made a decision. Now I can
go about my way. I've had several conversations
with folks lately who have come from the Catholicism church,
the Catholic church. They were raised under the Catholic
religion or whatever. A good friend of mine, he said
this, he said this, he goes, I would take my own life right
now because he's lost a leg and he feels depressed and he's pretty
destitute. Except for I'm a Catholic and
I couldn't get into heaven. Catholics believe that you can't
kill yourself, you can't take your own life, but that's too
big of a sin for God to forgive. Okay, I've decided to give my
life to something, and now it's okay, I can go out and do whatever
I want my way. All I gotta do is go over and
tell that little guy in the box what I did wrong. He'll give
me some pincers to do, some little beads to play with, and I'll
be okay. That's not the Jesus of Scripture. The Jesus of Scripture comes
to those who will not come to him at all. Those who run from
him. That's right, us, Rick, absolutely. Those of us who ran from him
and would not have come to him unless he had arrested us first.
That's the Jesus description. This is the message that saves
God's children and feeds them, keeps them. We are kept by his
power. This is his power, not this book,
not these letters that are on this book, but who it is that
this book is about. about our Savior. They go about going to church
twice a week. Yeah, I go to church twice a
week. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're all bad people
the rest of the time. Many, many. My grandmother was
just a beautiful lady, as far as I know. She's the sweetest
thing there could be. When she wasn't in church, she
was still just as sweet as could be. It was all about going to that
church twice a week for her. I go to church twice a week.
I pray at the start of my meals and before I go to sleep. But
for the most part, for the most part, I just go about my day
doing whatever it is I do on an all basis. To a hell deserving sinner. God help us. God help us not
to let that be enough. God help us to seek our Lord
and Savior every moment we're awake. But let's not stop there. Have
you ever laid in bed at night thinking, Kind of in and out
of sleep. I spent a whole night last night
thinking, doing that very thing. Oh, how often my Lord brought
me to say, Father, help me. Help me put this aside tonight
so I can rest. Lord, help us, help you and I,
help his people. It's like the man whose son was
afflicted And the Lord, he went to the Lord for help, and the
Lord said, if you can believe, all things are possible. He says,
Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Help me, Lord, to seek after
you in all things. Look over to Jeremiah chapter
29 for just a moment. Jeremiah 29. In Jeremiah 29 verses 14 and
15, we see these words, and I will be found. 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, whether
I have driven you, Sayeth the Lord, and I will bring you again
into the place which I have called you to be carried away captive,
because he hath said, the Lord hath raised us up prophets in
Babylon. I didn't read the right ones,
did I? 14 and 15, yeah, I did. Okay.
But notice what it said there in verse 14. When ye shall seek
me with your whole heart. Am I in the right chapter? Wait a minute. 29, yeah. It was supposed to be 13 and
14. See, I tell you, I was up all night. Forgive me. I'm so sorry. It was supposed
to be 13 and 14, not 14 and 15. So let's read that again. Let's
go at that again, shall we? Jeremiah chapter 29, 13, and
ye shall seek me and find me when ye 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 where I have
driven you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into a
place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Now
notice that it says there in verse 13, when ye shall seek
me, with your whole heart. What did I say a moment ago?
That Christian, that religious person who goes about going to
church for two hours a week. Then they spend the rest of the
week doing whatever they think they should be doing. Not seeking the Lord in any way. Folks, I'm preaching to myself
here. I'm just as guilty of this as anybody. Lord, help me. Lord, help us. Lord, keep us. You know, that's what troubles
and trials are for. You get deep in a trial. You
get deep in a trouble, where are you going to turn? There
ain't no place to turn but to Him. Chasing by the Lord is to bring
a trial into our life. Paul gloried it, and the trials
that came his way. Why? Because they drive us to
our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. Imagine what it would be like
if we were still walking in the shoes that we once walked in
in darkness. We wouldn't be looking to the
Lord in those trials. We'd be cursing. Oh, I'm so unlucky. How unlucky am I? I've tripped and stumbled my
toe three times in one day. Or you can put anything in there
as an example as you want. Am I seeking with my whole heart
or do I only seek Him when I need Him? It kind of sounds like you
only need Him part of the time, doesn't it? Have you been brought
to need Him every hour? Do you need Him in times of plenty
as you do in times of famine? Do you need him in times of joy
as you do in times of sorrow? I ask a question. Is it not true
that what people really, really want, they'll go after? Think about back to where you
were getting out of high school, Get ready to move out into the
world. Did you not have a dream of what you really wanted? Not
all of us go after that dream, but some of us go after it pretty
hard, don't we? A doctor goes after it so hard.
Somebody who wants to be a doctor so bad, they spend eight years
in college. I barely made it to three years
of high school. Eight years of college, you got
to really want to be a doctor to spend that much time in college.
or anything else that you wanna go after. Think about it. You want something? I'll tell
you what. I went to an Amway meeting one time and they had
me pumped up so bad that I was gonna have a Cadillac no matter
what. I went out looking for a Cadillac. I found one for $300. It was mine. It wasn't a very
good Cadillac. But you see what I'm trying to
tell you? When we want something, We're gonna go after it, don't
we? How many of you, Mike, how long
have you and Shirley been married, 50 years, 57 years? 60 in June,
wow. Kathy and I have been married
for 43, I better get this right, 43 years, 44 years. I knew it,
told you about memory. You get to be my age, you'll
understand about the memory. When I found out that she had
a liking for me, I went after her. I went after her every way I
could. Tried to dazzle her with, you
notice I said try, dazzle her with me, with the things I had. I wanted Kathy to be my girlfriend. I wanted to be with her. I went
after her. Are you getting the picture of
what we're painting here? You want Christ? You want the
true and living God? Get after it. Get after it. Faith cometh by
hearing and hearing by the word of God. What I'm saying is this, that if a
person really desires to know the living God, If you really
do and you're serious about this thing and knowing the living
God and knowing true faith, then you will seek the Lord just as
you seek the things you want in this world. David, get out
of bed. Lord, I need you. I need you now. I'm waking up. I haven't even got out of bed
yet, but I know I'm going to mess up in about two seconds when I do.
Lord, I need you now. You're serious. You'll want to
enjoy his presence. You'll want to see the riches
of his grace. You'll want the riches of his
favor. Think about this for a moment.
Mary found favor in the Lord. She didn't find favor in anything
in the world. She found favor where? In the Lord. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. He didn't find it in any of those
around. Everybody around him was mocking
him for building this big box thing, saying it's gonna rain.
What is rain? We don't even know what rain
is. Do you really want the Lord's
favor? Do you want his forgiveness? Do you want his mercy? Do you? Well, if you do, you'll seek
him. You'll seek it. You'll look for it. You'll seek
the Lord just as you seek these other things. There was a woman
who had an issue of blood. She wanted the Lord's mercy,
didn't she? She had gone and spent all of her money trying
to get all the doctors to help her get rid of this issue of
blood. She had no way of getting rid of it. She sought the Lord. She sought him after his healing
grace. She was dying and had been with
this disease for 12 years. She had been hemorrhaging for
12 years, and she'd heard about a man named Jesus. You talk about somebody who has
a desire. What was her desire? To be healed,
and she knew that this man could do it. So she sought after him
so much so that she crawled under the feet of everyone so that
no one would see her, so that she could just touch the hem
of his gown, of his garment. That's seeking after Christ.
I know, I know what I am, a sinner. I'm seeking my Lord because I
need grace. I need salvation, not just once
and then get by the rest of the week, but I need it every moment. Do you? Are you okay most of
the time? You only need the Lord once in
a while. She was made whole when she sought
the Lord. Our great God never turned anyone
away who sought his mercy. Do you remember blind Artimaeus?
He was by the wayside, wasn't he? Think about that. Picture that for just a moment.
Back in those days, they didn't have welfare and social security
that people could live on when they were blind. The only way
they could make their way is to sit out on the street corner
somewhere, and hopefully somebody would be generous to them. And
here this blind man who's been blind all of his life is sitting
there, and he hears again about this one Jesus. This one who
can save, who has the power. Not one who is sitting there
waiting for you to do something so that he can do something for
you, but the one who can do it for you. And he hears the wonderful
news that this Jesus is coming by. And he starts crying out, Jesus,
have mercy upon me. Oh, calm down, calm down over
there. No, Jesus, have mercy on me. I need you. He sought after Christ. What about the Ethiopian eunuch?
You remember his story about him? He got in a chariot and
he took his band with him and he went up into Jerusalem. Why?
Because he sought the Lord. He was seeking Christ. As he
was going back to Ethiopia after being in Jerusalem worshiping,
he's sitting by the wayside in his chariot, reading scriptures,
seeking the Lord, and the Lord sends him a pastor, a preacher,
to preach to him about Jesus. Cornelius and his house, Peter. was sent to preach because his
house desired to hear about the Lord. What our Lord is saying to you
and I is that if we seek Him, we will find Him. When we search
for Him with all of our hearts, He says, I will be found of you. When you seek me with all your
heart, I will turn away your captivity. The woman with the
issue of blood was healed just like that. Done. John Reeves was turned just like
that one day sitting here listening to the gospel being preached. I believe James could probably
tell you the same thing. And probably most of you also. Artimaeus was healed just like
that. All of these folks truly sought after God. Our master
said this, he said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Seek ye with all your heart and
all these things will be added unto you. What is it to seek
the Lord? First of all, it is to discover
that you have this truth revealed to you. that by birth, by your
very nature and human wisdom, you cannot come to God. You cannot
and will not come to God. What is it to seek the Lord?
Is it to first have that revealed to your heart? I don't have the
Lord. I don't have the one that that
preacher standing up in the pulpit talking to me. I want that one. I want that one who is God. God in the flesh, I need him. All of a sudden, I see the truth
of what my disease is. It's called sin. And it covers
me from head to toe. I need a savior. In other words,
we must have the revelation of what prompts a man to seek the
Lord. Man cannot prompt himself. He
may have a religion, but he doesn't have the knowledge of the true
and living God. You might ask, well, how can a man be deeply
religious and not know God? Saul of Tarsus didn't know God,
did he? Was there anyone in scriptures
more religious than Saul of Tarsus? A man who had letters to go out
and chase after and persecute the church. A man who was a Pharisee
of Pharisees. Was he not religious? Absolutely. He counted all that religious
knowledge as done. Nicodemus didn't know God. Cornelius
didn't know God. No, the first thing about seeking
the Lord is to be enlightened, to be taught that I do not have
him and I do not know him. What is it to seek the Lord?
The answer is that you have to really desire to know him. You
will be unwilling to be satisfied with a substitute or anything
less than the living God. I don't want that wannabe Jesus
that being preached about in most religions. I don't want
any of those other religions that are depending upon me to
do something, because I know I'm a failure at all that stuff. I need the one who's done it
all for me. I must have the living God. I
can be satisfied with nothing short of him. I must have a fellowship
with him. This is what Paul is saying in
Philippians chapter three. He says, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him. Oh, that I may know him. and
the power of his resurrection. When the scriptures talk about
seeking a kingdom and his righteousness, did you notice what it says?
Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. You know what
that means? Jesus Christ is the kingdom of
God. His righteousness is what we
stand on, for we have no righteousness of our own. Our Lord says, you
shall seek me and will find me when you search for me. That
is what I'm talking about this morning. David said these words,
he says, as a hungry, thirsty deer panteth for the water brooks,
so panteth my soul for the living God. Does yours pant for the
living God? Is this world, can you sing that
song? This world is not my home. I
don't want to have anything to do with the political stuff of this country
anymore. I'm seriously thinking, once
again, that I may not vote. I just may not bother with it.
I don't want to have anything to
do with it. I want to go home and be with my Lord. I want to
be with Him all the time. I want to seek Him when I get
out of bed in the morning. It's not the kingdom. I've got thoughts there again.
I'm not seeking the kingdom. I'm seeking the way it represents.
I'm seeking the king. I already read that. In John chapter 17, verse three,
we read this. This is the eternal life that
they might know thee, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. You see, folks, salvation is
not in the right doctrine. That is not salvation. That is
not peace. And that is not rest. It is not
in the right morality. It is not in the right ceremony.
It is not in the right church. Salvation is a right relationship
with the living God through Jesus Christ the Lord. Do you see what
I'm saying here? It is Christ in you. That is
the hope of glory. Paul said it this way, when it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb to reveal
his son in me. Coming to the knowledge that
Christ is his all in all. He's the one who puts himself
there. That's seeking after. The living God, the Son of God,
the Redeemer is not a myth. He's not a historical character.
He's not someone out of a book or even a far off mysterious
unknown quantity. He is my Lord. Look over 1 Timothy
chapter three, if you would. 1 Timothy chapter three. Seeking the Lord is seeking ongoing,
continual relationship with him, seeking to know more about Jesus,
seeking a continual knowledge of who he is, a knowledge of
what he has done, a knowledge for whom he did it for, a knowledge
of where he is right now. Look at verse 16 of Timothy chapter
three. And without controversy, That
means there's no argument about it. There's no debate about it,
without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. How can I explain that God became
a man? I can't. How can something so
perfect, someone so holy, humble himself and become flesh? God
did it. How can he be in the flesh and
still be in heaven? God did it. How can I explain
who Jesus is? I can tell you by the scriptures,
I and my father are one. In the beginning was the, let
me just read that so I get it right, otherwise I'm gonna mess
it up, my memory's just not working well this morning. In the beginning was the word,
the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God and all things were made by him and without
him was not anything made that was made. And the word was made
flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit. Our
Lord was so holy. He walked this earth perfectly.
He did nothing wrong. Everything he did pleased the
Father and satisfied the Father, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, those that God has
loved from before the world was, believed on in the world, and
then received up into glory. Where is he right now? Sitting
on his throne, doing whatsoever he is pleased to do. Now through
the Holy Spirit, our Lord lays down some terms for seeking him.
Look over at Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Acts chapter 20, verse 28. Paul declares him for us here
in the 28th verse of chapter, 20, he says, I have declared
unto you from the house to house, and he's talking about two things
that he declared. First one is repentance towards
God, and second one is faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those are God's terms. Those are the Lord's terms. You
have to have repentance towards God and faith towards Jesus Christ,
and both of those are a gift from God. Henry Mahan describes
these two things for us, and I want to bring this for you
before we close. He writes this, he says, what
is repentance? Repentance has to do with the heart, attitude,
and thoughts. God resisted the proud. He gives
grace to the humble. Henry writes, I face this in
repentance, I am a sinner. All have sinned and come short
of God's glory. I have no righteousness or goodness
in this flesh. God is holy and just to condemn
me. This is repentance, folks. If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee. So, Writes Henry, in my hands,
no price I bring. I come looking to Christ. I come
grieving over my sins, mourning over my sins, weeping over my
sins, and confessing my sins before him. I come empty handed. I come with a real sorrow for
sin. I come seeking mercy, repenting of my evil thoughts against God. I am willing to be saved on God's
turn. That's the problem with the world.
They don't want to be saved on God's terms. They want something
of their own to do. My aunt poked me in the chest
and she said, don't you take my free will away from me. I'm
not taking anything away from you. I don't have that power.
God says it is not of him that willeth nor of him that commandeth,
but of God and children. Henry says this, what is faith
in Jesus Christ? It has to do with seeing in him,
in Christ, all that God is, all that he requires, and all that
redemption demands. It is seeing in Christ and seeing
in me nothing but sin and unworthiness. It is seeing in Christ all that
I need. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. Christ suffered for sins, that
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. God sent him
forth to be propitiation through faith in his blood. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead Bible, and you are complete in
him. He of God has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, Those are all
of God's terms, repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ. Are you willing to come to him
on those terms? Henry says, I'll tell you this,
repentance and faith leaves all my religious traditions at the
door. All those things that I may have
depended on for what I thought was a salvation is left behind. Paul said it was all done. Repentance and faith leaves all
my thoughts and my ways at the door also. And I come to God
only in Christ on his terms alone. In Isaiah 55, six, we read these
words. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Folks, today is the day of salvation. Salvation is there. See you, Lord, while you may
be found. Amen.