41 and read down through verse
49. Now his parents went to Jerusalem
every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve
years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child
Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew
not of it, but they supposing him to have been in the company,
went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk
and acquaintance. And when they found him not,
they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass
that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them
questions. And all that heard him were astonished
at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were
amazed. And his mother said unto him,
Son, why hast thou not dealt with us? Behold, thy father and
I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is
it that you sought me? Wished you not that I must be
about my father's business? Our Father in the precious name,
blessed name of Christ our Lord, We humble our hearts here in
your holy presence, thanking you for abundant mercy and grace
given us in Christ even before the world ever began. Lord, we
bless you for the day. Healthy with an ability and a
desire to come be with the people of God. Oh, what a blessing,
what a privilege to be able to meet publicly, to be able to
meet with people of like precious faith, of people that Christ
is precious to. And Lord, we bless you for it.
And our Savior, we pray for the gospel to run well today. Lord,
cause us to go forth in power, Give us liberty, give liberty
to hear, and open the hearts of the unconverted. Those who
don't know Christ, Lord, open their hearts to the truth, to
the Christ of the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Father,
continue to bless those that are weak in body, those who are
frail in their bodies, those who would be with us if they
could, but their bodies just won't let them. We praise you
and thank you and ask for your presence in Christ's name. Amen. Luke chapter 2. I was talking to Todd Nyberg yesterday
afternoon. It might have been yesterday
morning. Sometime yesterday. I had work
to do. But anyway, he asked me why I
was going to preach today. I told him I was going to preach.
How is it that you sought me? He said, out of Luke chapter
2. I said, yeah. Yeah. That's what happens when
you, you know, there's two or three preachers you talk to and
you just mention what you're going to preach and they know
right where it's at. But that's what I want to talk
about today. God helping me. There in Verse 49 and our Lord asked his
mother and his father And said unto them how is it that you
sought me? How is it that you sought me?
You know weapon verse 45 it says this and when they found him
not they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him Seeking
him I heard an old preacher say one time, he's been gone a long
time, but I heard an old preacher say one time, what he wanted
on his gravestone was this, here lies a lifelong seeker after
the Lord Jesus Christ. A lifelong seeker after the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's what we do, we are
lifelong seekers after the Lord Jesus Christ. Once you start
seeking Him, you never stop. Once you start calling on Him,
you never stop calling. Once you start looking to Him,
you never stop looking. Once you start believing Him,
you never stop believing. You just, it's impossible to
do. The Shunammite maiden said, I'm seeking Him. Who are you
looking for? I'm seeking Him whom my soul loveth, loveth. Now you and I know that the preaching,
the preaching of the last 100 years or so, or longer than that,
has given us a generation, our generation and people in this
day, a false hope, given them a great false hope. Caused them
to build on a false foundation. And when you got a false hope,
you have no hope, none whatsoever. You know, if they say, well I'm
99% saved, you just need to let Christ into your heart and let
Christ be the Lord. Now if you're 99% saved, you
know what that means? 100% lost. 100% lost. When you have a false
foundation, it produces a faulty building. Shirley was putting
up the Christmas tree the other day and She started at the wrong
end and ended up at the wrong end. She was trying to figure
out a way that we could plug it in and couldn't do it. So
she backed up, started back, started all over again. I said,
that's the way the gospel is. If you don't start right, you
can't end right. You start at the wrong end, you're
going to end up at the wrong end. And that's why I said, that's
a wonderful illustration of the gospel. You've got to start right
to end right. And you can't start in the middle.
You've got to start where the gospel starts. And that's Christ. And you've got to end with who
the gospel ends. With Christ. Christ, the Lord
Jesus Himself. In lies, in traditions, in misconceptions
of God, we found out from ourselves that they die very, very hard.
They really die very hard. And multitudes and multitudes
are gathered together today and they're going to talk about Jesus.
They're going to talk about Jesus. And they're going to do their
dead level best to get somebody to accept, to accept Him. But when they gather together
to try to get Jesus, talk about Jesus and get people to accept
Him. There'll be no fear of God. No fear of God before Him. None
whatsoever. No reverence for God. The psalmist
says this, be still. Be still and know that I am God. In Ecclesiastes 5, you go home
and listen to this and you read this. Ecclesiastes 5 verses 1
and 2. He says, When thou comest, Enter
not into the house of God with a hasty foot. Be not rash with
thy mouth. Don't offer unto God. Be careful
what you offer unto God, for you're on the earth and God's
in heaven. And enter into the house of God
carefully, cautiously. And that's one thing this generation
doesn't do. They talk about everything but
the fear of God and the reverence of God. And when they gather
together, there's going to be lots of noise, all kinds of noise. All kinds of noise. All kinds
of commotion. But there'll be no reverence
for God. No reverence for God. They'll show reverence for the
right reverend. They'll show reverence for the
Father. who got his collar on backwards and they'll show reverence
for tradition and they'll show reverence for their time in trying
to get somebody to walk the aisle for Jesus but my Lord Jesus Christ
is what's happened like he said to the Pharisees that are those
of our day you neither know me or my father he said you do err
neither knowing the scriptures nor the power of God And this
is a sad, sad time when the very, very character of God has been
compromised. Even preachers make a joke of
eternal and spiritual matters. I remember two meetings that
I went, three meetings that I went to. Three meetings where I was
invited to come and preach. One of them, when I got out there,
I preached two or three days and I talked about how awful
man was and how sinful he was and how desperately he needed
a savior and how without God doing something for him, there'd
be no help for him. The pastor of that church, he got up and
said, oh you bunch of wicked people. He said, I've never seen
such a bunch, just joking about such a bunch of wicked people
as you are. And when they'd come outside
the service, he said, oh boy, I've never seen such a sinner
as you are making fun of what I was preaching. Needless to
say, I never got to go back. I went and preached at another
place. The second night, the preacher said, well, listen,
this ain't gonna work. This ain't gonna work. Because I was preaching
a man utterly and wholly and completely unable to save himself. And I'm preaching that there's
only one way for a man to be saved. The second night, he says,
this ain't gonna work. He said, our folks ain't taking
what you got to say. Not taking what you got to say. And I went out here to a meeting
in Crossville one night, and I think it lasted three nights,
and the preacher said, our folks just, they don't like, they just
don't like what you're saying. And I had to leave there. And I had to leave there. There's
a fourth time, talking about, I was up in Kentucky preaching
a meeting and I was preaching about how utterly unable a man
is. And all these folks made a lot
of noise. And I told them how utterly lost
man is. He has no ability to save himself. He can't better himself. He can't
make a decision. He can't come to the... anything
that you do cannot get God to do something for you. This old
woman stood up and she said after about three days, she said, Ah!
It's an old woman. And she had a big scar on the
front of her head and she said this, she said, Do you understand
what this preacher is saying to you? I know you folks, you're not
near as bad as he says you are. But that's what I'm telling you.
People make a lot of noise and they get together to have a service. And they want somebody to accept
Jesus, but like our Savior says, you do earn neither nor in the
Scriptures, and you certainly don't know nothing about the
power of God. And that's what I'm saying, the very character
of God has been compromised. That He don't even look like
the same God that the Bible proclaims to us. And they make these eternal
and jokes of spiritual matters. Today, God is weak, man has got
all the strength. And in an effort to get men religious,
to get them to be moral, to get people so-called saved, to get
them ready for the great tribulation in Armageddon, And they certainly
don't want to embarrass that person that they want to try
to get saved. They don't want to embarrass
them. And they certainly don't want a commitment from them.
So they've invented a lot of ways to get them to make a profession. Here, come here and make a quick
decision. Pray this short prayer. Raise your hand, bow your head,
close your eyes. And when they do that, they say,
well, he saved, oh boy, we got somebody saved today. But you know what God said? Our
Lord said, seek ye first, first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. David said, blessed are they
that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the heart,
the whole heart, the whole heart. And the scriptures that I read
to you this morning, about seeking the Lord Jesus Christ. And he
asked him, how is it that you sought me? These scriptures that
I read today aren't about an emotional altar call. People
are gathering to pray through. And most of us here today, and
I can say this, and I know it's so, we're here because we're
seeking the Lord. We're seeking the Lord. What
are we seeking? We're seeking to hear His voice.
Oh God speak to me. Oh God speak to me. Please and
then when you speak to me give me an ear to hear you. We're here seeking the salvation
that only God has and only has it in Christ. We're seeking Him. We're seeking our Lord Jesus
Christ. And He asks there in verse 49,
How is it that you sought Me? Now I want to look at a couple
of things about this. Some valuable lessons first and
foremost for us here. There's a lesson here for married
couples. Look what it says here in verse
41. There's a lesson here for married
people. It says now his parents went
to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. Now they
was doing what God said. They honored the Passover. They
looked at the Passover. They considered God saving them
out of Egypt. And they went up to Jerusalem
for the Passover. They were a very, very poor people.
Very poor, poor, poor, poor, poor couple. And the distance
was very great. But they honored God by their
attendance to going up to the Passover. And that's why the
apostle says this, forsake not the assembling of yourselves
together as the manner of some is. There's some that will not
assemble together. But you assemble together so
much more when you see that evil day approaching. And I'll tell
you, I need to go to gospel. I need to come hear the gospel.
I don't know how many people tells me all the time, I've got
to go, I've got to have it. I've got to have it. I'm like
a leaky vessel. When I hear something it leaks
out most of the time before I get back to the house. And oh listen, and they went
together. They went side by side helping one another. And that's
a great example. And then it says their child
Jesus went with him. Now I'll tell you something we
can do. We can either help one another or hinder one another. We can either strengthen one
another or weaken one another. I'm talking about husbands and
wives. We can be a straight help to
one another or a great hindrance to one another. And we certainly don't want to
hinder one another. Here's a lesson for young people.
Our Lord Jesus was only 12. 12 years old. And then it tells us there, you
know, in verse 3, verse 46, excuse me. It told them there that they
saw Him as hearing and asking questions. He was hearing and
asking questions when he was 12 years old. That's a good lesson.
Hear and ask questions. Got questions, ask them. And here's a lesson for all of
us right here. How is it that you sought me? And don't let nothing, I'll say
this, don't let nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, nothing hinder. Hinder us in our relationship
and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ Don't let nothing don't
let a husband don't let a wife don't let a child Don't let life
don't let death don't let nothing Keep you From coming to Christ,
huh? because he loved us and gave
himself for us David said I'll seek you in the morning and I'll
seek you at noon, and I'll seek you at night. And what he's saying
is, I'm going to seek you all day long. I'm going to seek you. Then our Lord asks us this, and
I'm going to say several things about this now. He asks them
there in verse 49, how is it that you sought me? How is it that you sought me?
Well, it says there in verse 42, look what it says. And when
he was 12 years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom
of the feast. And there's a lot of people that
seek Christ after the custom. You know, everybody's a Christian
twice a year. You know when that twice a year,
you know what? Everybody's a Christian twice a year. You know when it
is? Christmas and Easter. Everybody's a Christian. to keep
Christ in Christmas. He never was in Christmas. Never
was. Never was. And I'll tell you
in the church And this is a sad thing. The church, when it goes
through a tradition, a custom, and when people are so wrapped
up in tradition and custom, the Lord can't be found in their
customs, can't be found in their traditions. Now you hold Luke
and look over here in Matthew chapter 15. Look in Matthew chapter
15. You know our Lord Jesus Christ,
and here's the first thing, look what he said here now. Seeking
him after the custom, after the custom. Then came to Jesus, scribes
and Pharisees, where it's your Jerusalem saying, now this is
the question they ask him, why to thy disciples transgress the
tradition of the elders, of the elders? Well, what in the world
are they doing that's so bad? Well, they didn't wash their
hands before they ate. Then he turned around and asked
them, why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Your tradition and God don't
go together. They don't go together. And then he got down there in
verse 7 and he says, you hypocrites, Isaiah prophesied of you saying
this people draws nigh unto me with their mouth. They honor
me with their lips. But oh their heart, their heart
ain't into it. Their heart's not in it. But
in their vain, in vain they worship. Teaching for doctrines what men
teach. What men teach, the commandments.
And he called the multitude and said unto them, Hear, hear and
understand what I'm telling you. Not that which goeth into the
mouth defiles a man. But that which coming out of
his mouth, that's what defiles a man What happened what comes
out about Christ what comes out about sin what comes out about
God? How come what comes out about
salvation? Then came his disciples and said
unto him knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended when
they heard this say You hurt their feelings Lord He answered
and said unto them, ever plant which my heavenly father hath
not planted, I'm going to root it up. And then listen to what
he said, let them alone, just leave them alone. They're blind
leaders of the blind, if a blind lead the blind, both are going
to fall into the ditch. You know, most people's religion
is a habit, is a habit. It's a habit. And you know instead
of saying like David, oh I was glad, oh I was so glad when they
said, let us go unto the house of the Lord. Instead of saying
that I said, well we got to go to church today. Got to go to
church today. You don't got to do anything. If you're here because you feel
like it's a habit or a custom, if you're not here because it's
in your heart to be here, in your desire to be here, in your
soul to be here. I mean, listen, I'm here not
out of habit. I'm here because I want to be
here. I desire to be here. And that's why instead of saying,
oh my, well, boy, boy, that's... Shirley told me about a preacher
one time said if you miss the service said there's on the phone
Find out where in the world you was If you wait for but you know
if you're sick or something like that, I'll get a hold of you
But I know if you decide to stay home for three or four or five
days or for a month or something I'm not gonna give you a call,
but if you're sick, I'll call you but I'm not gonna chase after
people who don't want to be here and And I don't want to be mean
about it. I really don't. I don't want
to do that. God didn't make me that way.
People ought to come because they've come for the gospel.
Come for Christ. Then they said this in verse
43. Back over here in our text. And
when they had fulfilled the days, That's what they've done. When
they fulfilled the days. Well, we went up there and we
stayed just exactly where we're supposed to stay. We've done
what we're supposed to do. Now our conscience is clear.
Now our conscience don't have no problem. We've done our duty.
We've showed up. We've done our duty. And our
conscience is clear now. Oh, we've eased our conscience.
Now we can go home and feel good about ourselves. We've done what
we're supposed to do. and look there in verse 44 and
they supposing him to have been in their company oh my boy you
think about that supposing well I think he's with us I think
he's with us and they supposing him to have been in their company oh my religious presumption And
you know the Bible is full of people with religious presumption.
David presumed when he took Bathsheba. Simon Peter presumed when he
said, I'll die with you, go to jail with you. They presumed, religious presumption. People say, well God's gotta
be with us, look at the great crowd we have. God got to be
with us because Christ got to be with us. Look how many we
baptized this year. And I tell you what, me and Jesus,
listen, I know what it is to accept Jesus and I did that. Jesus is just alright with me.
My own father told me. And he was in the hospital fixing
to have open heart surgery. My own father told me. He said,
listen, I was talking to him about his soul and about Christ.
You know what he said? He said, B.B. don't worry about
me. He said, me and Jesus, we got this thing worked out. Needless to say, I couldn't let
that go. But that's what he said. Why shouldn't Jesus be with us?
Why shouldn't the Jesus of this day that sat before me and why
shouldn't He be with people? He ain't got no power. He ain't
got no authority. He's a beggar. He's knocking
at people's hearts door. He just can't do anything unless
you let Him. He's pitiful. The Jesus of today
is pitiful. He's a sorry, sorry, sorry excuse
for a Savior. When our Lord Jesus says the
name, the angel told Joseph, said, you're going to call His
name Jesus. Jehovah Savior. Why? For He shall. shall save His people from their
sin. And oh my, people have an animal
concept of God. You have a cow, you get a hamburger
from it and steak from it. Well that's what Jesus is for,
to provide for us what we need. We need health, He's gonna give
it to us. We need to save our marriage, He's gonna do it. We
need to feel good about ourselves, He's gonna give it to us. And
we keep a cow to get milk. Well, He's got to give us what
we want. Preachers tells us that He owes
it to us. We're good people and He's got
to give us what we ask. And I'll tell you an old sheep
gives you wool to cover your nakedness. Well, He'll take care
of you. And I tell you what, if you keep
the traditions and keep the customs, they'll say today, why shouldn't
Jesus be with you? Well, look what our Master said
over here in Matthew 7. Keep Luke now. Over here in Matthew
7. Matthew 7. Look what our Master
said here. These are some folks who thought
Christ was with them. I mean, they would have bet their lives
on it. They would have swore up and down that Jesus was with
them. and they suppose that Jesus has been with them look what
he said here in verse 21 Matthew 7 not everyone saith unto me
Lord Lord and they say it Lord or Lord shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my Father which
is in heaven now listen to what he said cause many is going to
say to me in that day Lord Lord Have we not prophesied, preached
in your name? And have we not in your name
cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? Now they talked about what they
did. They didn't talk about what Christ did for them. See the
difference? They talk about what they did for Him. They didn't
talk about what He did for them. And then they got down there
and our Lord Jesus was saying to them, I never knew you. I
never knew you. Everything you did, everything
you did in my name was nothing but sinfulness. Nothing but sinfulness. And the Pharisees thought that
they were with him because they were elect. They had a pedigree. They said, well listen, we've
never been in bondage to anybody. Abraham's our father. They said,
you going to be his disciples? No, no, Moses is going to be
our disciple. They had the law, they had the ceremony, they had
the temple, they had the priesthood. You know what they were? They
were clean cups, clean plates, and beautiful graves. That's
what our master called them. That's what they called them.
And I do know this also, because a man has the right doctrine.
Doesn't mean the Lord Jesus is with him. Doesn't mean that at
all. Our Lord said, by their fruits
you shall know them. As the elect of God put on vows
of mercy, kindness, tenderness, forgiving and forbearing one
another. Let me give you three, three effects of true doctrine.
Three effects of true doctrine. Now, a person, when they get
true doctrine without Christ, here's how they are. They're
mean. They're arrogant. They know it all. They're presumptuous
and they're obnoxious. And they're mad at everybody.
It's not like them. And the second effect true doctrine
has on somebody, they reject it outright. They say, I don't
believe that. I ain't gonna have nothing to do with that. And
the third is that true doctrine comes and it breaks your will,
breaks your heart, puts in you the love of Christ, the love
of His gospel, love for Him and who He is and what He did and
you bless God for what He taught you and taught you what He did
because you wouldn't know it if He hadn't taught it to you.
Hadn't taught you. Now look what else it says here
in verse 44. They supposing him to have been
in the company, look what it says, they went a day's journey.
They went a day's journey. And that's about how long a life
lasts, a day. A day. In fact, James said our
life is but a vapor. But a vapor. It appears for a
little time and then vanishes away. Job said, man this born
of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Proverbs 21.7 says this, boast
not thyself of tomorrow for you know not what a day will bring
forth. And our scriptures tells us this,
our lives are as a tale that's been told. Our life is just a
shadow. That's what David said, you know
he said, God what is man, vain man that you even think about
him for his life is just a shadow, just a shadow. Lord make us to
number our days. And don't go all your life, oh
whatever you do, don't go all your life supposing that he's
with you. You can know whether Christ is
with you or not. you know John our Lord said in
Romans he said this he says the spirit himself bears witness
with our spirit that we're the children of God Paul said I know
whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep
that that I've committed unto him against that day you keep
looking look with me in 1st John chapter 5 1st John chapter 5
little books right before Revelation look here in 1st John chapter
5 look what it says here in verse
11 1st John 5 11 and this is the record that God
has given to us eternal life it's recorded that's what he's
saying here it's recorded God's recorded this that God hath given
to us eternal life. And this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. If you don't have Christ, you
don't have life. And this, listen to what he says now. These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God. Now listen, that you may know
that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name
of the Son of God. Oh my, we can know, we got to
know, we can't suppose. And look what it said again there
in verse 44, not only they supposed him to have been in their company,
and then they went a day's journey, And they went looking for him.
Where did they go looking for him at? Did they go looking for
him in the scriptures? Did they go looking for him in
God's word? Did they seek him from their
heart? No, they said, let's go around our kinfolk and our acquaintance. They looked among their kinfolks
and among their acquaintance. You know, our Lord, he was standing
preaching one day in a house, teaching. And a man came in and
says, your mothers and your brothers stand out there and they want
to talk to you. They want you to come out and
talk to them. Your mother wants you. And he never moved. He just looked over that group
of people and he said, who is my mother? Who is my brother? It's not the one standing outside.
He said, He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. That's who my brother's sister
is. Paul, he says, when he's pleased God who separated me
from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, he said, I immediately,
immediately conferred not with flesh and blood. Oh my. He wasn't found there. He wasn't
found among the kinfolks in the acquaintance. Those who hear the gospel of
Christ, when they hear it, and they hear of His electing love,
of His free grace, and they go home and they start asking mom
and daddy, is that right? Go to their acquaintance and
say, is that true? They go to get a second opinion and confer
with flesh and blood, you know what? Mine out of ten times,
you'll never see them again. Never see them again. Never see
them again. I went to this church today and
this is what they said. Oh honey don't go back there.
Don't go back there. Don't go back there. Oh my. And then look what it says in
verse 45. And when they found him not,
they returned back again to Jerusalem seeking for him. They went to
Jerusalem. They had to turn around and go
all the way back. They went to Jerusalem looking for him. You
know Jerusalem as the religious capital of the world. It's the
religious capital of the world. It was then and to most people
it still is. To most people it still is. But
God's not in geographical locations. He's not in the Holy Land. He's
not in Jerusalem. He's not in America. God's not
in a geographical location. He's not in a church built. You
know where God is? He's in Christ. He's in Christ. You know where the church is?
It's in Christ. The church is in Christ. He's
not in the bread room we give it. He's not in the wine. And
He's certainly not in water up here. You know where Christ is? He's at the right hand of God. And the only way you can get
to Him is from here. Huh? He's not in a geographic, if
he was, then we'd have to go to one place where he's at. That'd
be awful if we had to go all the way to Jerusalem to have
a relationship with God, wouldn't it? But they found him. They
found him. They turned around to Jerusalem
and came back again to seek him. And it came to pass, after three
days, three days, They found him. Where did they find him
at? In the temple. What in the world was he doing?
He was right in the middle of a bunch of doctors. PhDs. Educated people. And he was hearing
what they had to say and then he would turn around and ask
them questions. And all that hurt him. were astonished at
his understanding and answers. And I tell you, all of us that's
heard him, we're astonished at his answers. Oh, we're astonished. Oh, we're astonished at his understanding. We're astonished at his answering.
And I tell you what, and you know what they said to him? And
when they saw him, they were amazed. And his father and mother
said unto him, We have sought the wife, thou dealt thus with
us. Behold, we sought you sorrowing. And he said, how is it that you
sought me? Wish you not that I be about my Father's business. Shouldn't I be about my Father's
business? What's the Father's business? The first business
of God. And this is, there's two things
that to me constitute the gospel. Substitution and satisfaction.
And to be about the Father's business, our Lord Jesus came
into this world first and foremost to do something for His Father.
To satisfy His Father, to glorify His Father, to honor His Father,
to satisfy His justice, uphold His righteousness, and establish
His truth. and to bring glory to his father
first and foremost. That's the first thing. God had
to do something as old Scott used to say all the time, for
himself before he could ever do anything for us. When Abraham
and Isaac was going up on the mountain, Isaac said to his father,
we've got everything we need for a sacrifice, but we don't
have a lamb. Where is the Lamb? And he said,
Father, Son, God will provide Himself a sacrifice. He'll find
Himself a Lamb that will satisfy Him, that will honor Him, and
of His own providing. And God provided His Son, first
and foremost, to do what He did for His glory and His honor.
That's the first thing. And oh, to have a people interested
more in God's glory than anything else. Those in being God, being
God, sitting on His throne with all power and authority. One
who accomplished salvation that always glorifies God. And when you find Christ, or
I should say when Christ finds you, you know what He'll be? He'll be doing His Father's business.
If you talk to Him today, He's doing His Father's business.
Saving us, teaching us, interceding for us. Interceding for us. And how is it that you sought
Him? How is it that you seek Him? I hope it's not by works. I really do. I hope it's not
by works. I hope it's not because you think
you're a good person. I hope you aren't seeking Him
to say, well, I was baptized. Baptism is a wonderful thing
if it's done right and for the right is for believers is for
believers And I hope you don't seek him just to religious holidays
But let me close with this right here. They said in the last part
of verse 48 Behold our father and I have sought thee sorrowing
They saw him sorrowing. They began to be sorry looking
for him. I tell you, if you can't find
him, it's time to be sorrowful. Time to be sorrowful. Time to
be sorrowful. You know all God's got to do
to make you a miserable creature? Is just withdraw his presence.
Just withdraw his presence for four or five days. Let's you
not be able to pray. Let's you not be able to think
a spiritual thought. Let's your heart get real cold. That's all he's got to do. And
you know what you'll do? You'll start being sorrowful.
And you'll start seeking Him. You'll start seeking Him. And
they sought Him. And I tell you what, they sought
Him until they found Him. They sought Him until they found
Him. And then it says when they saw him they were amazed. That's
exactly the way I feel when I saw him and when I see him. I'm amazed. I'm amazed. Our Father in the precious name,
blessed name, glorious name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Our Father enabled us to seek our Lord Jesus Christ with our
hearts, with our souls. Always seek Him with a need.
We seek Him because we desire Him. Because we want Him. We need Him. God bless the Gospel
today. I know the pole is nothing. The
pole is just a pole. Just a poll. Sorry poll at that. But Lord, may Christ who was
lifted up, may Christ who was talked about, may He be seen. May someone start seeking Him
today. May someone start going after
Him today. And you do it, cause it to be
in a heart. We ask you now, Lord Jesus' name.
Amen and amen. I'll see you tonight. God willing
six o'clock and don't