If you would, open with me to
Isaiah 55. I suppose that this is true, that
all parents want something better for their children than what
they had growing up. We all I think it comes from
a sense of feeling like we missed out on something in our childhood
and we want to try to make sure our children don't have that
experience. It never fails. We're going to
miss something and they're going to go through the same circle
and try to accomplish whatever it is that I'm going to miss
with my kids. But there are some of us who the Lord's been gracious
to. And he's given us a heart. He's
given us a heart that he's put in us. A heart that desires more
for our children than just to be comfortable, just to have
a better education, a better job, to be happy. We know these
are temporal things. We know they're not going to
last. But some of us, there's a remnant that the Lord has blessed
and given a new heart and a new life. And with that comes new
desires. And yeah, I want my children
to be happy. I want them to be successful in this world. But
more than that, I want them to know Jesus Christ, my Lord and
my Savior. Above all things, that is, of
utmost importance to me, that they attend, that they listen,
and they hear the gospel. And not only for my children,
but my friends, my neighbors, my family, that they would know
Christ and the power of His resurrection. With that in mind, let's read
Isaiah 55, starting 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 upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." What is my heart's desire for
my children? that they would be seekers of
the Lord. Was my heart's desire for myself
that I would be a seeker of the Lord? My goal this evening is
to encourage each of us to seek the Lord by answering five questions. First, we'll define what it is
to seek. Then we'll look at who is to
seek, who do we seek, Why do we seek him? And how can we seek
him? Most of us in here can probably
remember our first math problems. Those, well, not math problems,
but our first math classes where they were kind enough to introduce
us to word problems. Those dreadful word problems
that everybody hates. What was our problem with those
word problems? Generally speaking, they gave
too much information. I need to know what 2 plus 2
is. But I'm going to throw in 2 plus
2 apples minus 6 oranges plus 5 trains or something. I don't know. They were stupid
questions. And all that information distracted
us from the real problem, what was really being asked. And is
it not the same with us? Do we not overcomplicate everything,
particularly when we're dealing with the Scriptures? We try to
make it hard. We were speaking earlier about
the simplicity that is in Christ. Our salvation is of the Lord. Not the Lord plus. Not the Lord
minus. Our salvation is of the Lord.
Nothing added to it. It's not relying on me. It's
Him. He has accomplished it. He's
done it. With those word problems, All
that over-complication, we didn't understand what the true objective
was. We didn't understand what the goal was. So we didn't know
how to ask the right question to get the answer we needed. What is it to seek? Does seeking simply mean that
I look around for the Lord? I do a glance? I'm seeking Him. I've read my chapter in the Bible
for the day. I've sought the Lord. I'm good.
Does it mean coming into church and sitting there during service,
listening as the Word is declared, and leaving and going about my
week, and then when the door opens again, I come back in and
I listen and I leave and go about my life? Hold your place here, we'll come
back to Isaiah 55, and turn over with me to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. Our Lord is speaking a parable
here, and part of the parable, verse 8, Luke 15, 8, 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 that parable of this woman spoken or read, I've always
envisioned my great grandmother, a widower or a widow of many
years. But she set aside 10 pieces of
silver. Silver may not have much value
to it. It could have monetary value,
but Think of it more in terms of a special gift. This is a
grandmother who perhaps has 10 grandchildren and she has set
aside a coin, a silver piece for each of these grandchildren
to be given to them on a special occasion. Perhaps when they graduate
high school, maybe when they get married. The coin means more
to her than the monetary value. It is a gift. She has set it
aside for a particular loved one. And she has them stowed
in a special place and she checks on them every now and again.
Oh, one day I get to give that to this child. And one morning
she goes in and one of those pieces of silver is missing. It's almost breaking her heart. She must find it. It's for a
particular person. It has to be that coin. She lights her candle and she
searches the house. She has one purpose. She's going
to find that lost piece of silver. This is the seeker I want to
be after Christ. He is far more precious than
any piece of metal to me. To know Him, to find Him, to
seek after Him. That's what I want to do. What is it to seek the Lord?
It's to search with effort after a precious object that you desire
above all others. Think of this woman who lost
that piece of silver. What if she had been interrupted
during her search? One of her grandchildren came
to the door, perhaps the grandchild who that coin was meant for. She has to pause her physical
searching. She doesn't want that child to
know she's lost that coin. And she has duties to perform. She's a good hostess. Child comes
in. Let me get you a plate of cookies.
She goes to the kitchen. While she's performing her duties,
while she's getting that plate of cookies, she's searching that
house. Maybe under the rug. As soon
as they leave, I'm going to look under that rug. Maybe over that
corner. It could have rolled over there.
Here's your cookies. Let me get you his drink. Maybe
above that cabinet. Here's your drink. She goes about
her day performing what she is required to do, all the while
she's searching, she's seeking. If she's forced to leave the
home, a friend is sick, she's in need, the lady leaves the
house, the whole time she's gone, she's mentally going through
that house, Where's the coin? Where's the coin? And still performing
her duties. We are given the commandment. It's not an invitation. It's
not a suggestion. Seek ye the Lord. Consider how Christ sought His
church. He sought us when we were dead
in sin and unbelief. He came to where we are As He sought us, so should we
seek Him with effort and with diligence. Now, that's what it is to seek. Who is to seek? Seek ye the Lord. Who is ye? I spent a lot of time trying
to find a true definition. I never found one that I liked.
It muddied the waters the more I read about it. Seek ye the
Lord, this congregation, including me. Seek ye San Diego. You're not excluded, even if
you're not in this worship service. Seek ye. All of us are commanded
to seek 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. Not limited
by age, height, ability, income. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. O.B. Williams, as an individual,
you're responsible to seek the Lord. Mike Smith, you're responsible
to seek the Lord. As a collective body of God's
subjects, we are to seek the Lord. As individuals, we are
to seek the Lord. And who do we seek? We seek the
Lord. We're not commanded to seek a
doctrine, a church, a religious experience. We're not even commanded
to seek God. But we are to seek the Lord,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the Lord, Jehovah
God, the God who saves, You and I are unable to approach God.
We declared in our father Adam that we will have nothing to
do with the God that created us. We are dynamically opposed to
God and if we were to approach to God without a mediator, we
will find him to be a consuming fire. Our God cannot tolerate
sin. and approaching Him apart from
Christ Jesus in our sin will be our destruction. 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 Savior of sinful men. Now, when should we seek? There's a time limit upon our
opportunity to seek. Look at our text again, Isaiah
55.6. Seek ye the Lord while He may
be found. There will be a day come that
if you seek, he won't be found. Esau, after he had sold his birthright
to Jacob, sought to obtain the blessing carefully with tears,
but he could not find it. The time to obtain the blessing
had passed, and Esau had no 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 learn rules
and catechisms, scriptures. We're not seeking knowledge for
knowledge's sake. We're seeking a man. There is
a man seated in heaven at God's right hand. A man we can get
to know. I want to know Him. To be found in Him. To seek Him. I'm not discounting knowing your
Scriptures. That's how we learn of Him. This is His Word. He
is the living Word. But I can't quote Scriptures
like I should be able to. But I see Him. I know Him. There was a man who was given
eyes to see. And they took him before the
Sanhedrin and, who has opened your eyes? You were healed. I
don't know much. He didn't know much. Couldn't
recognize him. They said there was a man named
Jesus. And he opened my eyes. He knew who had done the work
for him. He didn't have to know all about
him. He knew him, he believed him, he loved him. And I'm sure
he grew to know Him more as time went on. When else do we seek? We need to seek at all times.
In times of joy, in times of sorrow, doubt, or in times of
peace. When we're rejoicing in the presence
of the Lord. Last weekend we had a conference
in Kingsport. that the Lord blessed greatly
and our hearts overflowed. And we need to seek our Lord
when our hearts are cold, when the heavens are as brass, when
we can't pray, when we feel like Lord has left us alone. Seek the Lord at all times. Look
with me at Song of Solomon 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." Have you been there? I've been there. When I feel
so alone, so abandoned, did she just lay there and bemoan
her state? 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 sought Him, but I found Him
not." The watchman that go about the
city found me. To whom I said, saw you Him whom
my soul loveth? She's pulling out all the stops.
asking everywhere, she's seeking Him. 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'd brought Him into my mother's
house and into the chamber of her that conceived me." We are to seek until we have
found Him out. But the more we seek, the more
that we know of Him, the more we're going to 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 that's far more precious than a piece of
silver. Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find
out the Almighty unto perfection? Having been awakened from death
unto life, we who were blind to the light of Christ begin
to see. And having a little light, we
chase after the source of that light. It's as if we're in a
cave. Imagine y'all have been on cave
tours. They always turn the lights out so that you can see how dark
it is. They tell you your eyes will
never adjust to that darkness. If you're caught in that cave
and a speck of light comes through, it looks so bright, surrounded
with all that darkness. And as the Lord begins to open
our eyes and to shed a little light of the glory of Christ
to us, we're like in that cave and we see that light and we'll
start going to it. Start chipping away. Let a little
more come through. Let a little more come through.
Let a little more come through. That's how we are. Believers
who have been Shown the glory of Christ. I want to see it more
and more. Tell me more of Him. Point me
to Him. Let me find Him. Pray our hearts
do not turn cold, that we stop seeking to know more of our precious
Redeemer. That we might all become seekers
of Christ. Looked at what it is to seek,
who should seek, who we seek for, when to seek. Now why should I seek the Lord?
Why should you seek the Lord? This is my most enjoyable part
of this message. This is when I get to tell you
how great things God has done for me. I seek the Lord, the God who
saves, because I need a Savior. I need a mighty Redeemer. I seek the Lord because He first
sought me. And I seek Him because I love
Him and I want to be with Him. I desire to know more about Him. Earlier I said that Christ has
made peace with God. And if you're like me, there
was a time you didn't realize that you were at war with God.
Oh, me and my God, we got along just fine. We were in perfect
agreement. I knew His law, honor thy father
and thy mother. I knew that law. Did I keep it? No. But that's okay. Because me and my God, we had
an understanding. See, I couldn't live up to His
law, so we just changed the law a little bit. Honor thy mother
and thy father as long as they don't mess up. It's their fault
when I don't honor them anyway, right? I had my God set up. He obeyed
my commands. After all, it was just me. Some here may still be of the
opinion that that God, at the end of all things, yeah, I've
broken your law a little bit, but I lived the best I could,
so you're going to accept me. The Word of God tells a different
story. The Word of God declares a just
and holy God who will not pardon iniquity. Word of God declares
of all mankind, 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. God Almighty is life. He doesn't
have life as we do. He is life. And He can have nothing
to do with death. And do you realize that we are,
every one of us, born into this world without spiritual life? We do not possess the ability
to fellowship with God because our nature rejects the life of
God. We are born in trespasses and
sins. We are born dead. And death and life cannot have
fellowship. Turn over a couple of chapters
to Isaiah 65. Isaiah chapter 65. Isaiah 65 beginning in verse
2. Our Lord is speaking here and
He says, 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 eat 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 estate. God has been exceeding merciful
to me. I grew up under the sound of
the Gospel from elementary school up. And rather than that causing
me to have a tender heart toward God, to look towards Him, I was
as Israel of old, and I stood apart from others, and I thought
myself holier than thou. I went to a proper church, a
sovereign grace church. My parents were saved and therefore
God must accept me because of my heritage. What a foul stench I was in God's
sight. I didn't just say that I was
holier than you. I said to God Almighty, I'm holier
than you. Depart from me. We deserve God's wrath. I deserved
God's wrath. One day, God had mercy on me,
and a man stood and declared the gospel of Christ Jesus and
the power of His resurrection to me. And for the first time,
I heard not the words of a man, but I heard the words of God. And I was guilty. I was slain. Nothing I could do would justify
me before that God, not the God of my imagination, but the holy,
thrice holy God with whom we have to do. I was convicted of
being a sinner, not of having committed sin. I am sin. brought to an end of myself,
and I found I needed a Redeemer. A Redeemer who was exceeding
rich. For I am a great sinner. And I needed His mercy. I needed
His grace. And I needed a Redeemer who was
willing to redeem me. Not only did He have to have
the power to do it, He had to be willing to. and I'd had nothing
to offer. I was a beggar. And I wasn't
a beggar as we see on our streets, beggars who walk up to the car
to receive a handout or hold a sign up. No, I'm a beggar,
a blind beggar, a deaf beggar, a beggar lame on both feet, a
beggar with withered hands. I'm an infant so weak I can't
even cry out. Whoever takes up my case gets
nothing in return but a burden. That's all I'm ever going to
be in and of myself. I need a Redeemer who is compassionate. who is loving, who is kind, merciful,
gracious, long-suffering, oh, I'm going to fail Him over and
over and over. Impatient. My Lord saw me in that vile,
wretched condition And He had mercy on me. Because I was one of His. Because God the
Father gave His Son as His inheritance this wretched sinner. And because He loves me. Because
He loves His Father. A body was prepared for him.
And he freely said to the justice of God, let this sinner go. His sins, be they ever so wretched
and ever so many, they're mine. And then he took my condemnation.
He suffered my death. On that cross he shed his blood. But oh, He is exceedingly rich.
His glorious, precious blood bought not only this one sinner's
redemption, but all that the Father has given to Him. Praise His name. Justice no longer
seeks my life. The riches of His grace He redeems
exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.
On the third day, after He was taken down from the cross, He
rose again. And my Lord, my Christ, who died
for me, now lives, making intercession for me. And He has clothed me
in His own righteousness. He who was once clothed in my
wretched likeness and bore my sin and shame, now clothes me
in His own glorious apparel, the very righteousness of God.
Why seek after Him? Isn't He worthy to be sought
after? He loved me. He sought me. And He is the mighty Redeemer.
who can save me. One final thought to address
this morning. How do we seek Him? How does a dead, lost sinner,
a son of Adam, seek after the Lord God? He's dead. He can do nothing for himself. But when God the Father, God
the Son, God the Spirit move upon a dead sinner, they go from death unto life,
and they become a seeker of the Lord. When the Lord commands
a dead sinner to seek, that sinner seeks. Psalm 27.8 says, When
thou sayest, Seek ye 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're going to have 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? But to seek
Him more, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."
So if we're going to become seekers, gather together with God's people. Hear the Word proclaimed by a
preacher, the Son of God. We can read His Word. We can
search for Him in His Scriptures, for they are the Word of God. we can ask God to give us a heart
that seeks after Him. The second part of how concerns
our attitude in seeking. Turn with me to Mark chapter
2. Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2 verse 1, And again
Jesus Christ entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noised
that He was in the house. 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 came 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. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. What do you think of the men's
attitudes who brought this sick man? I think they were seeking
Christ with some urgency. They had heard that Christ was
in the house. They didn't know how long he'd
be in there. He had left the town once. He might leave it
again. They took their friend and went
to the house, but they couldn't enter for the crowd. We'll turn around and go home,
come back at a more convenient hour." That hour may pass. No. We've got to get in. These men had urgent business
with Christ, and they were hopeful. They were expectant for their
friend. Christ didn't have to heal the
man. He didn't have to redeem him.
But he had redeemed others. He had healed the sick in that
town before. These men had hope for their
friend. They were bringing them to one
they knew could heal. And if they didn't get their
friend to him, they knew he had no hope. And these men came diligently.
Think of the obstacles they faced. The man couldn't lift himself.
They had to go get him. I don't even know if the man
could speak. He may have been so paralyzed that he couldn't
even utter a word to him. He didn't ask to be brought. They knew he needed help. They
went and got him. Brought him. Couldn't get in.
Climb up on the roof. How are we going to get in? It's
sealed. It's not our house. Don't care. Tear it apart. We've
got to get in. He's got to come to Christ. May God make me a seeker like
unto these men. To seek Him with urgency for
my need is great. to seek Him with diligence and
with great expectations. I fail at that so horribly bad. Even when praying for my children
that the Lord will have mercy upon them, at the same time that
I'm praying for them, Somewhere in the back of my mind, there's
a little voice that keeps going, why would he? He's not going
to save them. It's no wonder my prayers go
unanswered when I think so little of my Lord. He saved this wretch. He can save others. Seek ye the Lord. This is the
command we have from our God. It's to each of us, and we're
to seek 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
the Lord now. Seek Him in times of joy or distress. Seek ye the Lord. Why do we seek
Him? Because He is a mighty Redeemer
and He is the Savior of sinful men. Because He sought us and
because of His love to us. And finally, how do we seek Him?
in the gathering together to hear His Word proclaimed, in
seeking Him out in Scriptures and in prayer. And we seek Him
expectantly, with urgency, and diligently. O Lord, make us seekers. Amen.