I Was Found Of Them That Sought Me Not

Q: What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

The Bible reveals that God exercises sovereignty over all creation, choosing whom He will save without reliance on human efforts. God's sovereignty is a central theme throughout Scripture, emphasizing His ultimate authority over all things. In Romans 9:15-16, we see that God declares, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' This indicates that salvation is not based on human desire or effort, but entirely on God's will. Matthew 20 illustrates the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, where the owner of the vineyard decides to pay his workers as he sees fit, underscoring that God is not bound by human standards or fairness. Ephesians 1:4-5 also affirms that God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, delineating how His sovereign choice precedes human action.

Q: How do we know that salvation is by grace alone?

Salvation by grace alone is evident throughout Scripture, emphasizing that it is God's gift to those who believe, not based on their works. Salvation is solely by grace through faith, as articulated in Ephesians 2:8-9, which states, 'For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.' This passage highlights that salvation cannot be earned through human effort or merit, but is graciously given by God. In Romans 3:20, Paul asserts that 'by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight,' reinforcing that no one can achieve righteousness through their own actions. Furthermore, this aligns with the teaching that Christ's perfect sacrifice was the fulfillment of the law, enabling grace to cover our debt (Hebrews 10:14). Thus, all believers stand forgiven because of God's unmerited favor.

Q: Why is understanding sin important for Christians?

Understanding sin is vital for Christians as it brings awareness of the need for redemption through Christ's sacrifice. Recognizing the gravity of sin is foundational for the Christian faith, as it elucidates our need for salvation. Romans 3:23 states, 'For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,' underscoring that every person is guilty before God. This acknowledgment leads to humility and repentance, essentials for entering into a relationship with Christ. In Psalm 51, King David expresses this truth beautifully when he acknowledges his transgressions and pleads for God's mercy. Jesus in Matthew 5 emphasizes the importance of realizing one's sinfulness, teaching that those who mourn over their sin are blessed because they will find comfort in His grace. Awareness of our sin not only leads to genuine repentance but also magnifies the grace of God, emphasizing His love in offering redemption through Jesus, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

That passage that Doug read for me this morning. I got a bad cold, so I'm a little short on wind, but Doug read for me. I am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that sought me not. And I said, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.

Now I'm going to use the Word of God. It says there's two or three witnesses, the truth is established. Well, that song we just sung, Holy, Holy, Holy. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That's the three witnesses, and God alone is only truth. He is truth. Every other man is a liar. God is truth. This Word is truth.

And I pray this morning that with what I bring, He'll bless it and put His words in my mouth so that you will see this. Yeah, well, I was working on this. I talked to my buddy, David E. David Edmondson, and he was working on a similar message, The Gospel Hidden in Plain Sight. And that was the name of my message until I read this. And I started working on this message after I read Isaiah 65.

I was found of them that sought me not. And also in 2 Chronicles 34, King Josiah, He was eight years old when he began to reign, and he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. At eight years old, the Lord called that man. The Lord did it. That man wasn't seeking Christ. God sought him. When he was very young, he began to seek after God, the God of David, his father.

And in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from their high places and their groves. where they worship their idols. He broke down the high places and groves and the altars that were built to Balaam. And you know what he did? He burnt the priest of Balaam's bones on those altars. God did it. He burnt their bones on their altars, worshiping a strange God.

And that's what this whole country does now, other than the ones the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to. This word is the truth. It is the truth. But men, don't read it. They don't look at it. I thought to myself many a time after the Lord revealed himself to me how I would have hated to meet the God that I said I loved and never read what he wrote to me. And that broke my heart. God is a jealous God. He said, you shall worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous. He is a jealous God. And the one we worship is ourself. Later in this same chapter, he says, thou shalt make no molten images.

But back to King Josiah, they were rebuilding the temple and Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given unto Moses. Hilkiah read this to the king and the king tore his clothes, rent his clothes. You know why? The Lord revealed to Josiah what the law meant and that he couldn't keep one part of it.

Isn't that amazing that the Lord revealed Himself through the reading and preaching of His Word? I was thinking about Sarah when she had Isaac in her old age, and you know when the Lord visited her? In the time of life. When was the time of life? When He said. That's when. That's when the time of life is when God calls you.

The Lord revealed himself to this young man. Like the Ethiopian eunuch, he said, how can I understand unless some man should guide me? And God sent Philip to preach to that eunuch. And God Almighty sent him. And what was the Ethiopian eunuch reading? Isaiah 53.

Who hath believed thy report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The whole chapter is about Christ, and to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed. In Matthew 11, Christ speaking, he says, All things are delivered unto me and my Father, and no man knows the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father, except the Son, and him to whomsoever the Lord will reveal. In John 14, he says, I am the way, I am the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by Christ. You have not chosen me, I have chosen you and ordained you. It is written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned Of the Father, he comes to Christ. God is holy and just, and he is love in Christ. Outside of Christ, he's a fire, a consuming fire.

Remember in Genesis, God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his thought and of his heart were only evil continually. And that's us too, until the Lord reveals himself to us. We're self-righteous. We have no use for God. Our God is ourself and our own belly, and what else we can get out of this world.

In Genesis 18, when he went to destroy Sodom, remember Lot was in Sodom, and God asked, will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked? You remember the Sodomites, homosexuality, God had given them up to a reprobate mind to chase after strange flesh. and the very stench of their sin rose up into God's nostrils. And who did God save out of Sodom? Lot. He is called Just Lot. God revealed Himself to Lot. Rahab the harlot, that scarlet lion, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God saved her and her family out of that whole city. God saves His people. You remember that story? When those spies went into the city, she told them, every man's heart failed because they knew you were coming. But guess what they didn't do? They didn't ask for mercy. They didn't beg for mercy.

Rahab did. That scarlet, she was under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This whole book points and leads us to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This world won't preach that because it's too harsh, but there's life in that blood. That's the only place life is. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of forgiveness of sins. There were millions and millions and millions of blood sacrifices in the Old Testament and they all pointed to Christ was coming.

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin, but this man The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he perfected forever them that are sanctified." I'm made perfect. by the blood sacrifice of my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I am perfect in Christ, not in what I do, but in what He did.

Men and women in this day hate the sovereignty of God. They talk about their rights, their will, their this and their that. Women on the right to abortion, they say, I have the right to do what I want with my own. Well, I put the very same question to you. Doesn't God have the right to do as he pleases? Yes, he does, and he will. And your right means nothing. Matthew 20, is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good? Shall not the judge of the earth do right?

The living God, the God of the Bible, reveals His Word to His people. This book is closed unless the Lord Jesus Christ opens it to you. This religious world says, let people see Jesus in you. Well, they couldn't see the Son of God standing beside them.

I promise you, if God gives you a new heart, a heart to love Him, you'll be changed forever. When He writes His law in your heart and gives you a heart of flesh, you will love it. You know you can't keep it, and you've broke every one of them, but He fulfilled the law, kept them all, took the sins of His people, and shed His precious blood and paid the penalty of His people's sin. The sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat covers what? the broken law and all. It covers it.

My sins are covered. We hate when we sin. We mourn over our sin. Our sin is ever before us. And we beg forgiveness of our sin. Sin is what I am. It's what I am. From the tip of my head to the sole of my feet, our sins are ever before us. But guess what?

Christ never sees the sins of His people, never sees them. Under the blood of Jesus, safe in the shepherd's fold, when the Lord Jesus Christ reveals Himself to His people, they flee to Him for refuge. He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock and covers me there with His pierced hands, His blood hands. like we just heard in the sermon. You cannot understand what happened at Calvary until you have been to Mount Sinai. And you must be taught this. The Lord Jesus Christ must reveal it to you.

Paul said, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. In Philippians, he gives his credentials. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteous, which is in the law, blameless. After the Lord revealed himself to Paul, he said, but what things were gained to me, those I counted for loss.

Yea, doubtless, I count all things for loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for what I have suffered, the loss of all things, and do count them but done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteous. Oh, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings." Remember when James and John wanted to know who was going to be the most in heaven and could sit beside Him. And what did He say? Can you drink of this cup? And they said, yes, I can. Yes, we can. And He said, and you will. And they suffered, but they suffered for His name's sake. We're being made conformable unto His death.

Paul was a Pharisee. He hated Christ. He killed and put the church in prison. Paul thought he kept the law. And the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Paul on the road to Damascus, God unhorsed that man and put him on his backside. And there were other people with Paul, but they heard a voice, but they saw no man. They didn't see Christ. Christ revealed himself to Paul. And you know what Paul said? He said, Lord, what will you have me to do? Lord. He called him Lord. The very God he was killing people over, Christ Jesus, now he's his Lord. Just like that. Paul went up to Arabia. Where's Arabia? What's in Arabia? Mount Sinai, the law.

God revealed to Paul the law and that he had broken every one of them and the Lord taught Paul who Christ Jesus the Lord was and what happened at Calvary. the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the just for the unjust. Paul said that he had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust except the law said you shall not covet. In Matthew 22, one of the Pharisees asked Jesus Christ a question. After the Lord Jesus had silenced the Sadducees when they had asked a question, the Pharisees said, Master, fake. phony, trying to trick the very God that made them and made their mind and the words that come out of their mouth, and this is all for us.

Don't try to fool God. God knows your heart. Just like Peter said, he said, you know everything, Lord. You know I love you. But Christ said to the Pharisees, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now, we all know we don't do that. None of us. You've broke the law, you're guilty. I don't care how long you live on this earth in this flesh, you are never gonna keep those two commandments. You're never gonna keep any of them. None of us are.

But the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled every one of them perfectly. The Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to Paul what He was, a sinner. Paul said in Galatians, For I neither received the gospel, not by man, neither was it taught to me, but by the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now was Paul seeking Christ? Was he seeking the Lord Jesus Christ? No, he was found of Christ. Paul wasn't seeking Him.

In Luke 4, the Lord went up to Nazareth and went into the synagogue and read, and there was delivered unto him the book of Isaiah. The Lord Jesus tells the Pharisees of His sovereignty in this passage. He's telling them, He's reading the very sovereignty of His. The Lord tells Moses, I know you by name and you have found grace in my sight. He tells Moses, God said, I will make all my goodness to pass before you and proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. That's the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. I showed you that passage because in Luke, the Lord Jesus tells them of his sovereignty.

The Lord Jesus says, many widows were in Israel in the day of Elias when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and very great was the famine. And who caused the famine? God did. He did. He did that for this woman that was a widow to bring her to Christ. He took this prophet to her, that only widow there that he did it to, and he taught her who Christ was. He preached to her. He had a prophet go to her, just like Philip to the eunuch.

Many lepers were in Israel in the day of the last prophet. None were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian, And all that were in the synagogue, they knew what he was saying, and they hated him for it. And they took him out to the top of the hill to cast him down, and he passed right through the midst of them. He was hidden in plain sight, plain sight. Right there, God was right there, passed right through.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees knew the law, they knew the scriptures, but they never knew Christ. You can have a photographic memory, you can quote every scripture, fight for the doctors of Calvinism, and never see Christ. Always talking, always wanting to tell you what they know, but it's never about who they know. No loving them, no graciousness, no giving spirit.

Just talk, talk, talk. Serious and pious and devils. They're like who they're with. They can transform themselves into any kind of person to be and get along with the crowd. And that's how we all are till God saves us. That's me. That's who I am until the Lord Jesus Christ reveals himself to me. When Jacob wrestled with the Lord, I know his sinew of his bone in his hip was displaced and he walked, but his walk was forever changed because Christ revealed himself to him.

The things he loved he now runs from. The people he rams with now have nothing to do with him. They see a change in him. They don't like it. They don't call him to go out or hang out. They don't like the change in him. His conversations change. His walk has changed. He is a new creature. And we don't feel like new creatures. And we hate ourself every day. I know I hate myself every day for what I do and what I am. I sure do, and my sin are ever before me.

The Lord Jesus had given me a new heart to love Christ and to worship him. 2 Corinthians, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are past, and behold, all things are becoming new. The Lord Jesus Christ speaking in Matthew, He says, All things are delivered to me of my Father, and no man knows the Father except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh to me, to the Father, but by me. Christ was in the world, the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Christ was in the flesh, God manifest in the flesh, walking among men, and they never saw Him. They never saw Him. A certain centurion servant was sick, ready to die. This is in Luke.

That servant was dear to that centurion. The centurion heard of Jesus. He knew He was there. Why did he know? God had revealed Himself to that centurion. He sent unto the Lord Jesus the elders of the Jews, begging Him to come and heal His servant. When the elders of the Jews came to the Lord, what did they saw?

They besought Him instantly, saying that this man, this centurion, was worthy for Him to come and do this. The centurion was worthy. That's what the elders of the Jews told our Lord Jesus, that this centurion was worthy. What was the centurion worthy of according to the Jews? He loves our nation and he has built us a synagogue, works religion. That's what they brought to Christ. What this man had done, not what Christ had done. Never saw Christ. Never saw him.

Oh, how blessed we are. Listen to what the centurion says about himself. The Lord went with him. When Christ was not far from the house, the centurion sent his friends to tell the Lord, Lord, trouble not yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter into my house. Wherefore, neither I thought myself worthy to come unto you. but sayin' a word. and my servant shall be healed. The centurion said, I am a man set under authority, having soldiers to him to do this and do that, servants to go and go do this. And when Jesus heard these things, he said, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. Well, where did he get the faith? For by grace are you saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Salvation is of the Lord from start to finish. So I'm starting to take anything else to Christ.

The elders never saw Christ. Christ never revealed Himself to them. But oh, that centurion saw Christ. Christ revealed Himself to him and he said, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. What did John the Baptist say? I'm not worthy to take his shoes off, to unlatch his shoes. What did Peter say? Depart from me, Lord.

I am a sinful man. The publican and the Pharisee, the Lord spoke this parable to them which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went into the temple to pray, to one a Pharisee and the other a publican. Simple terms, a Pharisee is a sanctimonious. hypocritical person, self-righteous. They talk of charity.

They never give a dime or they give what's left over after they have all they want. They usually make a show of giving. They talk of love. They never show love. They speak of forgiveness and want forgiveness. You remember that man where the kings in the gospels where he forgave this man this great debt, laid him out of prison. Let him go, forgave him, he's wiped away. What does he do? He goes out and meets one of his servants to owe him a little bit of money, just a tiny, what does he do? Has him thrown in prison. No mercy, no grace, nothing.

Judas, he greeted Christ with a kiss as he was selling him. Would Christ the whole time heard the preaching of the gospel? No, Christ never revealed himself to him. Judas said, I betrayed innocent blood and went out and hanged himself. Christ never revealed himself to him. Peter denied Christ three times and went out and wept bitterly. The Lord loved Peter, revealed himself to Peter, and the Lord God gave him repentance of his sins. He didn't to Judas. After Jesus' resurrection, he said, go and tell the disciples and tell Peter. I love him.

Paul was a Pharisee, but he was a chosen vessel, and the Lord revealed himself to Paul. Now I wanted to show you the difference between self-righteous and true repentants. I was talking about the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself. He said, I thank God I'm not as other men, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, and even as this old sorry publican. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift so much up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner."

I'm a sinner. That's how you come to Christ. A sinner begging for mercy. Psalm 51, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. All the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast him out. The thieves on the cross beside Christ. One of the malefactors were hanged, railed upon him, saying, if you be the Christ, save yourself and us.

This man had no repentance. He was trying to escape his punishment. He didn't beg for mercy. He never saw Christ. Christ never revealed himself to that man. But the other, answering him, rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds? He knew what he had done, and he knew he deserved death. But he begged for mercy. What did John say? Mercy is not getting what I deserve. Grace is getting what I don't deserve. 2 Timothy, in meekness instructing these, suppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

And who is the truth? Christ Jesus the Lord is nothing but the truth. This Word is the truth, and everything in it points us to Christ. The acknowledging of the truth, the truth about God, what He has written about Himself in this book, the Holy Bible, and its chief attribute is holiness. God cannot see sin, He cannot be near it. The acknowledging of the truth is believing what the Word of God says, taking sides against yourself, When you're with yourself with God and you cry out, God forgive me, the sinner, against Thee and Thee only have I sinned.

I sinned. You followed His feet like Mary Magdalene did. She kissed the Lord Jesus' feet. She washed them with His tears and she dried them with her hair. Christ revealed Himself to her. He that is forgiven much loveth much. Oh, how blessed we are to have the gospel at this place. The Lord Jesus Christ is to meet us here. That's amazing. That's amazing.

Paul said, But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must be taken to Mount Sinai before you can ever understand Mount Calvary.

John just brought this message in our studies in Exodus. Paul was a Pharisee, he knew the scriptures. His salvation prior to the Lord Jesus Christ revealing himself to him was the law. The Lord revealed to Paul what the law meant. And after the Lord revealed himself to Paul, Paul wrote about Christ and himself in 1 Timothy.

He said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of who I am chief. Christ must increase and I must decrease. Salvation is of the Lord. That's what Jonah said after the Lord revealed Himself to him. In Psalm 33, it says, Salvation belongs unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Thy blessing is upon thy people. And Romans 10 is said just like it does in Isaiah 65.

I was found of them that sought me not, I was made manifest unto them that ask not of me. There is none that doeth righteousness, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Your throat is an open grave with your tongue you have used to seek. The poison of asthma is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways.

And the way of peace, Christ is peace. Christ gives his people peace. They have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And Proverbs 9, it says, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God. There's no fear of God in this world.

They speak about him and talk to him. And even on TV, they tell you how to pray. Stay prayed up. What does that mean? Stay prayed up. There's no fear of God in that. It's just arrogance. It's pride. It's spitting in God's face. Their God is themselves and they worship themselves.

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world becomes guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, and the Lord Jesus Christ must reveal this to you.

You remember Nicodemus in John 3. He came to the Lord by night. He was a ruler of the Jews. He said, Christ, we know you're a master, teacher, sent from God. Nicodemus was right beside God and never saw Him. The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. In the next few verses, after the Lord speaks to Nicodemus, Nicodemus said, how can these things be true? And what did the Lord answer him?

You're a master and you're a teacher in Israel and you don't know these things. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The Lord Jesus Christ must reveal Himself to you like He did in the Old Testament saints and prophets and the New Testament.

Jacob, you remember Jacob in that story? Joseph, I mean, he was Jacob's son. The Lord changed his name to Israel, changed Jacob's name to Israel. What does that tell you? Ownership. He owns him. I want to be owned by Christ. I want to be that servant whose ear is bored, all out, and say, I love my Master, only because He first loved me. That's what I want. I want my ear bored. I want Christ to keep me. I want Him to keep His hand upon me.

But a great camp family, the brothers threw Joseph in the pit, and then they sold him into slavery. Not another thought. They killed him. They hated him. Yep. A great famine. He was made a ruler in Egypt. I ain't got time to go through the whole story, but a great famine came upon the land and the brothers went up to Egypt to see Joseph. And they didn't even know him, didn't even see him. What did they come to do? To buy bread. Why? For life. Bread of life.

Joseph had to reveal himself to his brothers. We are so dead spiritually. Remember in Ezekiel, God asked Ezekiel, can these bones live? And you know what Ezekiel, his prophet, said? Oh, Lord God, only you know. Only you know. He said, preach to these dead, dry bones that have been lying in the sun, scorched white. No life in them. The Lord told Ezekiel to preach under the wind, prophesy, son of man, come from the four winds and breathe upon these slain that they might live the breath of God. That's what he did. That's what the Lord Jesus does to a poor sinner. He breathes life into them.

They were dead in transgressions and sin, and the Lord can only give life to a sinner. And verse 13, the Lord says, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves. And the only time you're in a grave is what? When you're dead. O my people, and brought you out of your graves, and I shall put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land, that you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord.

There's some people in this world that I'm gonna love forever. until the Lord closes my eyes in death. I can't make them love me. I can't. I have no, I can't do. You can't make nobody love you, but Christ can. Christ can give you a new heart, write His law. He causes you to love Him. People speak of their love for Christ, but only because He first loved you do you even have a thought of who He is. You remember in Ezekiel, That infant cast out in the field, no eye pitied that infant. It was lying in his own blood and field. Can an infant do anything for himself? No. Nothing.

But when the Lord passed by and saw him polluted in his own blood, what did the Lord say? Live! Live. He said live. That's all he had to do was speak. Live. When the Lord saw him, it was a time of love. He spread his skirt over him and covered his nakedness. And he said, yea, I swear unto thee. And he entered into a covenant with him and said, the Lord God, and you became mine. Just that quick. Live, you're mine. He visited. It was a time of love.

For in salvation of the Lord, I was found of them that sought me not. Paul, he was not searching for the Lord Jesus Christ. He was just like those Pharisees and Sadducees. Just like them. But he was a chosen vessel unto God. He was killing the church, putting people in prison. He stood by while Stephen was stoned to death. He watched it. He consented to it. Basically, he did it. He was the ruler.

I just love it, and that thing in the very end of the chapters when the Sadducees and the Pharisees are asking Christ questions, and Christ silences them, and He don't let them ask Him no more questions. And He asked them this one question, and I ask you the same question. What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? What do you think of Christ? Is He everything?

Or is He just somebody you need when you get caught? When you've done wrong, when everybody else knows what you've done, is that when you go to Christ. What's won in the fire is lost in the calm. Tears do not mean salvation. But you'll weep if the Lord ever meets you. You will. Salvation's of the Lord. I was found of them that sought me not. Christ Jesus, hidden in plain sight. Blessed is the man that the Lord calls us to approach unto Him. Blessed is that man.

In closing, I want to read you something that was in my buddy David Edmondson's bulletin written by Maurice Montgomery. There is no learning of Christ apart from divine truth. any may be able to summarize and recite all the revealed facts concerning Christ and His accomplishments, redemption, and still be unreconciled to God and under His curse. It isn't the mere knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus that saves the soul, but a love of Christ. a love of Him, in that truth. It isn't mere intellectual belief and ritualistic confession through which guilty sinners enter into a saving interest in Christ, but a believing with the heart, a meeting, a welcoming, a loving, and an embracing of Christ in the truth, and as that truth, as the gospel. Thank y'all.

I Was Found Of Them That Sought Me Not

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What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know that salvation is by grace alone?

Why is understanding sin important for Christians?

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I Was Found Of Them That Sought Me Not

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty?

How do we know that salvation is by grace alone?

Why is understanding sin important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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