Isaiah 55. Preachers are servants. Servants that make things ready
for the princes of God to come and sit and dine. The message that we preach is
not our own. Meaning it doesn't come from
us, we hope, if it's a message. A man once said, a preacher is
a man sent from God with a message from God for that hour. And with that being said, I believe
I have a message. Isaiah 55 verse 6 says, Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. Brother Henry and Brother John,
Brother Henry and Miss Doris, Brother Charles and Barbara,
seek the Lord. Nancy, seek the Lord. Stephen, Mary, Mac and Margaret,
Robin and Kelly, seek the Lord. I'm headed to Kingsport. Those
of you who were in my Bible class, seek the Lord. Davis, Elizabeth, Joseph, Lauren,
Dylan, Justin, Anna, Laura, Sarah. Seek the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the Lord. and seek ye the Lord. If you have no idea who Jesus
Christ really is, seek ye the Lord. If you have never heard Him speak
to you, If you've never heard Him call
your name, I've never heard Him call my name, then seek the Lord. If you have heard His beautiful
voice, and you long to hear it again,
seek ye the Lord. Somebody asked a preacher, does
the Lord speak out loud? This was recently. And that lovable
man wisely said, no, it's 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's near. This is urgent. It's urgent. There's no time to waste. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Why? Why? I have a center margin
in my Bible with Scripture references. Some Bibles don't have center
margins, and that's OK. And some Bibles have different
references than my Bible, and that's OK. But these are my references. Matthew 5, 25. Luke 13, 25, John 7, 34, 2 Corinthians 6, 2, and Hebrews
3, 13. Let's look at these references,
and I believe we're going to see why we need to seek the Lord. Turn with me to Matthew 5. Matthew 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. We must seek the Lord. Why? It's because sinful man by nature
is an adversary to God. We must seek a way for agreement. There must be agreement. Now turn with me to Luke 13. Luke 13, verse 25 says, 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, a preacher of righteousness,
cried unto the people for 120 years. The door is open. The door is open. I have good news. The door is
open. And it's a happy thing. The door
is open. Enter in. The door is open. Enter in. Whosoever will, let
him come. And one day, God shut the door. And I can only imagine, as that
water started to rise, can you imagine the people that started
beating on that door? Oh, let us in. Our Lord said, I am the door. And once the door is shut, it
will 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. Oh, that I may know Him. I must
know Him. I, Gabe Stoniker, must seek the
Lord. Seek the Lord. All right, now
turn with me to John chapter 7. John chapter 7, look at verse
33. 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're not going
to be able to find me. And where I'm going, you cannot
come. Getting a hold of this is going
to bring 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 love.
It has something to do with respect. It has something to do with honor.
But it has something to do with being afraid. My dad didn't do
time out. We've got good old fashioned
thinkings. And if he said don't touch that, the thing that caused
me to change my mind was fear. Now, my dad loves me. And not
once have I ever thought that He would hurt me. Never. But the reason I didn't touch
that is fear. I didn't want that spanking.
Fear motivates. It motivates. How wise is it
to seek the Lord while He may be found? Call while He's near. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Oh, it's a wise thing. Seek the Lord. 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? It's
because right now is the accepted time. Right now. God will accept us. It's good
news. Today is the day of salvation. Why should we seek him? It's
because he's near. If there are two or three gathered
in his name, he's here. He's here. He's here. Call on Him. He's here. Right now. I love that chorus
that we sing. Reach out and touch the Lord. As He passes by, you'll find
He's not too busy. Our busy God, He's not too busy
to hear your hearts 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. Call on Him while He is near.
I'm going to quote the last reference. Hebrews 3.13 says, Exhort one
another daily while it's called today. Exhort one another. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the
Lord. Seek ye the Lord. This is the
day. This is the day. Today's the
day. Now, here is the question. And this is the heart of this
message. How? How? Seek the Lord. How? What does that mean? What does it mean and how does
a sinner seek the Lord? Turn with me to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah chapter 29. And look at verse 13. Ye shall seek me. And find me. When you shall search for me. With all your Seeking the Lord has everything
to do with the heart. Proverbs 4 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'll find God through
good works. rebuilding storm damaged houses
and things like that. The commandment is come to Christ,
but don't move a muscle. God looks on the heart. God looks
on the heart. Jeremiah 29, 13 says, You shall
seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all
your heart. That's how a person seeks God. That is how a person seeks God. Now, what does that mean? 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 search for
something that's already in the palm of their hand. Most people believe they have
Jesus in their back pocket and they can pull Him out whenever
they need Him and then just stick Him right back. Seeking the Lord begins with
a realization through His Word that man by nature really is
separated from God. It begins with a firm belief
that I do not have Him, but I need Him. I don't have Him. But I need Him. Secondly, seeking the Lord is
a burning desire deep in the heart for Him. For Him. To know Him and have
Him. Not just be relieved of my guilt.
It's all about Him. It feels like And I say this,
you know, salvation is not a feeling. And I say this carefully and
respectfully. But you know what it feels like?
Love. It feels like love. Before Hannah and I started dating,
I still lived in Tennessee. Before Hannah, everybody I went
out on a date with, I could kind of care less. I could put them
in my back pocket, take them out when I needed to, and then
put them right back in my back pocket. And before Hannah and I started
dating, I was absolutely, positively convinced of two things. The first one is, I don't have
her. And the second one was, I want
her so badly. Will she have me? I don't know. I don't know. For the first time,
I was worried. Some fear said, what if she won't
have me? How can I find out? I'm going
to seek her. And I'm going to seek her with
all my heart." I moved. I dropped it all. And I left
everybody. And I moved to Rocky Mount. And
I still didn't have her. When I got here, I still didn't
have her. So I made every excuse I could find to get to Paul Mahan's
house. I wanted to be wherever she was. I heard she's going to be there.
That's where I want to be. I wanted to draw nigh unto her
and just see if she would draw nigh unto me. I must have her. He said, you'll find me when
you search for me with all your heart. David said, as the heart
panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee,
O God. As the deer longs to taste the
fresh water in the stream, Lord, my soul longs for you. I need
you so bad. I don't know if you'll have me,
but I need you so badly. Salvation is not in a doctrine.
It's in a person. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I must have 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. I want
to know Him so badly. To seek God is to, number one,
know I don't have Him. It's to greatly desire to have
Him. And thirdly, it's to be willing
in my heart to be accepted by Him on His terms. Any way I can have You. Any way. Here's an illustration I heard,
and it's the best one for this. A young man has committed a crime
and he's guilty. And he stands before the judge
and the judge says, young man, do you want to stay out of jail?
And he says, yes, sir, I do. He says, then these are my terms. You have a 10 o'clock curfew,
you got to be home. You got to do 200 hours of community service.
You got to report to a parole officer. These are my terms. Do you accept my terms? What choice do I have? That'll keep me out of jail?
Yes. We're guilty sinners and God owes us nothing. God says,
I created you and you sin. 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. And I will only accept
you in my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. These are my terms. Do you bow to these terms? Yes. Yes, I do. I love those terms. Then seek
the Lord. 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. Everyone and everything that
stands between me and union with Him. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 10. Matthew 10, verse 32, Whosoever therefore shall confess
Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is
in heaven. But whosoever 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. And 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. I thought this was my life, but
that's not my life. He is my life. Abraham believed God and he left
his home and he left his family. He believed God and he sojourned
in the earth as God moved him. He believed God and he offered
his own son. He gave his own son. God was merciful to Abraham and
He stopped Abraham before he killed Isaac. But Abraham, in
his heart, gave up his son. In Abraham's heart, that was
a done deal. And God looked on the heart. Now, here is God's promise to
all of His seekers. Let's go back to our text, Isaiah
55. 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. Now, even though this 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. And I want to prove that in Isaiah
65. Isaiah 65. Verse 1 says, I'm sought of them
that asked not for me. Never even asking. I am found
of them that sought me not. Well, then how did it happen?
It goes on to say, I said, behold me. Behold me unto a nation that
was not called by my name." That's how it happened. It's God which worketh in us.
God gets all the glory and salvation. Our text in Isaiah 55. 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, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon." Now, if we're pardoned, then we're pardoned. If you did a crime, and then
you're pardoned, that pardon is, you're pardoned. But just
listen to Isaiah 40, verse 1 says, Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and 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." He said, I will abundantly pardon
you. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the
Lord. Seek ye the Lord. Seek ye the
Lord. Lord, draw us. Pull us. Speak to us. Behold Me. Cause
us. May we all seek the Lord. Brother John.