Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 55. The title of the message is,
Why Sinners Should Seek the Lord. I was sitting there thinking, I
should be clear about this. This is certainly primarily a
message to those who do not know our Lord. I hope this would encourage
you to obey His commandment to seek Him. But this is also a
message to all of us, to every believer, to every person. The
life of a believer is constantly seeking the Lord, isn't it? Constantly
seeking Him. What is it that you need? Seeking. I hope this message will encourage
your heart to seek the Lord. You know, I tell you that often,
look to Christ. Call on the Lord and beg Him
for mercy. I tell you often, seek the Lord. But now, why is
that so important? Well, it's important because
the scriptures say that the Lord Jesus Christ is the sinner's
only hope of salvation. That ought to be all the reason
we ever need to seek the Lord, shouldn't it? He's our only hope
of salvation. But I want to give you a few
more reasons from our text this evening to seek the Lord. By
God's grace, I intend to keep saying this, to keep preaching
Christ, to keep pointing out our horrible lost condition in
Adam and salvation in Christ. Because here's the thing about
lost sinners. They don't know they're lost until God shows
them that they're lost. Lost sinners don't even know
they need Christ until God shows them their need of Christ. So
one more time, I'm going to tell you, you seek the Lord. Here's
the first reason. Seek the Lord, because God commands
us to seek him. See that Isaiah 55 verse 6? Seek
ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near.
That God is God. And what I mean by that is God's
sovereign. God's in control. He's God. He
doesn't answer to anyone. We all answer to him. God is
holy, that's his character, holy. And he will never forgive sin
outside of Christ, outside the sacrifice of Christ, which paid
for sin. And I tell you, men would get
rid of a lot of their bad theology if they get this through their
head. God's God. God is king. God never issues
suggestions. He never issues invitations.
God issues commands. And our problem is that It's
not that the command is difficult to understand. Our problem is
we refuse to obey God's command. That's our problem. You have
to admit this is so. We just don't like somebody telling
us what to do. We don't like that. And that's
our problem. That's our sin. It's our refusal
to obey God. It's not our sin that will send
us to hell. It's our self-righteousness that
will send us to hell. Men refuse to seek the Lord because
they don't be told what to do. And secondly, they refuse to
seek the Lord because they think they're good enough on their
own. So they don't need to seek the Lord. If you look at John
chapter five, I'll show you this. This, that's what sends men and
women to hell. John chapter five, verse 39. Search the scriptures. And what
our Lord is saying there is you do search the scriptures. Search
the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And you
will not come to me that you might have life. Now these men
our Lord is speaking to here, they didn't just casually read
the scriptures. They diligently searched the
scriptures. And as they diligently searched
the scriptures, they read this commandment in our text in Isaiah
55 and many other places in scripture to seek the Lord. But they refused. They refused to seek him. And
they refused to seek him because they thought their self-righteousness
was good enough. They thought them going through
the motions of searching the scriptures and all that was good
enough to please God. But it wasn't. It's impossible
to please God without faith. And we will be damned unless
we believe the Christ that's revealed in scripture. Look at
verse 45 there, John 5. Do not think that I will accuse
you to the Father. There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, if
you believed his writings, you would have believed me. For he
wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my word? We've got to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ seeking. Look at Romans chapter nine. Everybody is seeking something. Everybody is seeking something.
Make sure what you're seeking is who you're seeking is the
Lord, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans nine verse 30. What should we say then? that
the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, they
didn't follow after righteousness through the law and the ceremonies
and things because they didn't have them. The Gentiles, which
followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness, which is a faith. But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, they have not attained to the
law of righteousness. Wherefore? Why? Because they
sought it not by faith, but they sought it as it were by the works
of the law. But they stumbled at that stumbling
stone. See, everybody's seeking something.
The Jews sought righteousness. See the difference? They weren't
seeking the Lord. They sought righteousness. They
sought a thing, not the person. They sought righteousness and
they sought it by works. They didn't seek it by faith.
They sought it by works. And Paul says they'll be damned.
But do you know everybody, without exception, that seeks Christ
by faith will be made righteous. That's God's commandment and
God's promise. You seek the Lord and you'll
be made righteous in Him. That's a pretty good reason to
seek the Lord, isn't it? Here's a second reason. Seek the Lord
right now. Right now. Because you won't
always be able to seek Him. Isaiah said, seek ye the Lord
while he may be found. Now I tell you, we all need to
be a whole lot more urgent about seeking the Lord. We really do.
We need to be much more urgent about worship. We need to be
much more urgent about the things of the Lord. And we get complacent
about these things because we very often forget how temporary
the things of this life are. Everything about this life, including
us, is very temporary. Everything we accumulate, Everything
we count dear, everything we desire will very soon be gone. So seek the Lord urgently. Seek
the Lord as the most important thing you can do because it is. Seek the Lord right now because
you won't always be able to seek Him. Right now, as you sit here
and listen, you've got a mind that can understand the words
being said. You can understand the gospel
as it's being preached. You might not believe it, but
you can understand what's being preached. But that won't always
be the case. Old age robs us of our minds,
doesn't it? I was supposed to bring something.
See, I forgot. I was supposed to bring something.
Chip Holbrook on Sunday morning, I wrote myself a note. I lost
the note and didn't bring what I was supposed to bring to him.
I can remember that I didn't need a note. Now I need the note
and I need somebody to remind me where I put the note. Our
minds go, they don't last forever. Either they're not as sharp as
they used to be, or one day, maybe they just won't work at
all. And then, we won't be able to see them. I used to go down occasionally
to the nursing home, fill in for a fella and preach there.
And it was it was some of the toughest preaching I've ever
done. Because almost everybody there
could not grasp what was being said. Seek the Lord now when
you can. Now, I understand. Believe me, I understand salvation
is a hard work. I'm not saying anything different.
Salvation is a hard work. But our hearts are fed through
our minds. So seek the Lord while you got
a mind left. That's what I'm saying. You young
people, now you listen to me. You seek the Lord while you're
young. Your mind will never be more sharp than it is right now.
It'll never be more sharp. Or use it. That's a blessing
God's given you. Use it. Use it to seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord while you're young. Seek to give Him the first fruits
of your life. I just think it's utter foolishness
and total disregard for the Lord to say, well, I'm going to enjoy
myself while I'm young and revel in sin while I'm young, and I'll
seek the Lord while I'm old. Well, you're giving the Lord
leftovers. I'd be mighty careful about that, number one. Seek
the Lord while you're young. Seek to give Him the first fruits
of your life. Seek the Lord right now, because
there's coming a day you won't be here anymore. Job said, my
days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Just the blink of an
eye, the day's gone. I think I heard this. I don't
think I'm making this up. I think I heard this when I was young.
And now that I've gotten a little bit older, I found out that it's
true. When you're young, days are long. Days pass so slow. My goodness, when will this day
be over? That's what you think sitting in school. When you get
to be my age, you think how fast the years go. Forget days, how
fast the years go. Seek the Lord right now. You
won't always be here. The Lord's eternal. He'll always
be here. He'll always be found. But we're
very finite. And our days on earth will soon
be over. So seek the Lord while you may
be found here on earth. Seek Him now. Thirdly, seek the
Lord. Call on Him. Because God hears
the cries of sinners. Seek ye the Lord while ye may
be found. Call ye upon Him. Now you can't
do anything to save yourself. But you can call. You can call
on the Lord who does save sinners. You can't do anything to make
God save you, but you can beg him to have mercy on you. You
can do that. You can call on God and you can keep calling
on him. Just keep calling, keep calling,
keep calling, keep calling until he answers. Just like that widow
woman with the unjust judge. He finally gave her what she
wanted just to shut her up. You can do that. You can keep
calling on God. Because God's promised he will
hear the cry of sinners. If that unjust judge heard that
widow, how much more will God hear the cries of sinners? He's
promised to hear them. Isn't that what blind Bartimaeus
did? He cried and got no response. He cried again and got no response.
He cried again. They said, Bartimaeus, shut up.
And he kept crying. And the cry of that destitute
sinner stopped the creator in his tracks. And he commanded
him to be gone. Look over a couple of pages of
Isaiah 59. You can call on the Lord. Here's
encouragement to call upon him. God said he'd hear you. Isaiah
59 verse 1. Behold, the Lord's hand is not
shortened that it cannot say, neither his ear heavy that it
cannot hear. You call on the Lord. He's promised
he'll hear sinners who cry for mercy. But now do this thing
genuinely. Deal with God genuinely. Don't just go through the motions.
Call on Him from the heart. Look at Jeremiah chapter 29.
The Lord will always hear the genuine heart cry of a sinner
seeking mercy. Jeremiah 29 verse 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon
me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you, and you shall seek me and you'll find me, when? When you
search for me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. You seek the Lord with all your
heart, seek him as that one thing needed. Now, I know you need
things to live in this world. But our Lord said, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all that other stuff will
be added to you. You seek him first. You call on him first
because God's promised he hears the cries of sinners begging
for mercy. Here's the fourth reason to seek the Lord. Because He's near. Seek Him,
because He's not hard to find. Isn't that what Isaiah says?
Call ye upon Him while He's near. You know, the Lord's not hard
to find. The Lord's everywhere all at the same time. Isn't that
right? That's what theologians call omnipresent. That's omnipresent,
just a great big word that means God's everywhere all at one time.
Well, if God's everywhere all at one time, then no matter where
I am, He's near me. then he ought not be too hard
to find if I'm seeking him. Look at Acts chapter 17. The
Apostle Paul said this very thing. Acts chapter 17 when he was preaching
there in Athens. Verse 22. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, you men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you're too superstitious. For I passed by and beheld your
devotions. I found an altar with this inscription
to the unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship. Him declare
I unto you. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he's Lord of heaven and earth, dwelt
not in temples made with hands, Neither is worshipped with men's
hands, as though he needed anything. See, he is the one that giveth
to all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one
blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the
earth. And he's the one that hath determined the times before
appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they should
seek the Lord. If haply they might feel after
him and find him, though he be not hard, from every one of us.
And that word happily doesn't mean, oh, they'd be happy if
they found him. What that means is that if you
search for him, you will certainly find him. The result of seeking
the Lord is you'll find him because he's not very far from all of
us. Think about it. Christ Jesus
came into this world. He became a man to be near us. So near us, he became bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh. John said we saw him, we handled
him. He came to be near to sinners. And the only time he ever hid
himself was to those who are self-righteous. But he always
revealed himself to every sinner seeking forgiveness, seeking
mercy, seeking help. What a blessing. God Almighty
came near sinners. All seeking. His blessed character
is he came near sinners to save them. Fifthly, this is encouraging. Seek the Lord because we're great
sinners and Christ is a great Savior. Look at verse 7 in our
text, Isaiah 55. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord
and he'll have mercy on him and our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. Now, seeking the Lord and repentance
go hand in hand. Isaiah said, let the wicked forsake
his way. Repentance is a turning. It's a turning from self to Christ. Repentance is a forsaking, forsaking
all of our ways, all of our righteousness, everything we ever hoped in,
and turning to Christ. That's repentance. And when we
truly seek the Lord, we'll have to turn away from our sin and
turn to Christ who forgives sin. Now I would imagine everybody
here has some idea that you're a sinner. We all have some idea
that we're sinners. Some of you even may have some
idea that your sin is a big mountain of sin. But I promise you, however
big we think our sin is, I promise you, our sin, that's a whole
lot bigger than what we think it is. That mountain's a whole
lot bigger than what we think it is. You and I are great sinners,
great sinners. Then seek the Lord, who is a
great Savior. He says he will have mercy. The Lord's not worried in the
least. Too many people, too many sinners are going to come to
him to have mercy and he'll run out. He's not going to run out. There is no doubt. If you're
a sinner, God has mercy enough for you. He's rich in mercy. He's great in mercy. He has mercy
reserved for sinners. God's reserve of mercy will never
run dry. Great sinners have to seek a
great Savior. A little Savior or so-so Savior
won't do. Great sinners need a great Savior. Now, if you're guilty and you
don't have any excuse, there is a line in the song that Mike
just sung. It's all my fault or something
like that. I got nobody to blame but me. If that's you, you got
no excuse and nobody to blame but you, then seek the Lord. You know what he says? He will
abundantly pardon. It's not just, I'll give you
enough to scrape by. He will abundantly pardon. He's
a great Savior. The Lord is so great in mercy.
He doesn't just add forgiveness. You know, we come to Him in our
sin and He doesn't just add pardon. He doesn't just add forgiveness
to the mix. He multiplies it. We get a whole lot more when
we multiply than we add, don't we? 10 plus 10 is 20. Maybe that
sounds like a lot. But 10 times 10 is going to be
more. That's God's mercy. That's His
pardon. That's His forgiveness. He multiplies
it to great sinners. Look at Romans chapter 5. I'll
show you that. God will multiply His forgiveness
and mercy to great sinners. Romans chapter 5. Verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience,
that's Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, so many be made righteous. Now, how's that
gonna happen? How are many who were made sinners,
how can many, a number no man can number, be made righteous?
Verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, multiply. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Because God multiplied pardon
and mercy and forgiveness for great sinners. Here's the sixth reason. Seek
the Lord, because the Lord is not like us. Verse eight of Isaiah
55. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now have
you ever needed help with something. Maybe you had a project going
on and needed help with something. And you knew somebody that might
could help you, but you just wouldn't call. You wouldn't call
and ask somebody else for help because you didn't want them
to tell you no. If they told you no, they're
just going to offend your pride and make you mad. And that's
the way we are. We think, I don't want to admit
that I need help. I'm not going to call for help.
Because we all think everybody else is just like us. And that
is the way men are. We're just not willing to help
somebody else very often. So we hate to humble ourselves
and admit, I need help. I can't do this on my own because
we're afraid some man's going to tell us no and hurt our feelings. Sinner, you seek the Lord. Thankfully, he's not like us.
He always saves sinners who can't do anything for themselves. See,
men have a limit. We're willing to help somebody
else, but we got a limit. You know, I'll help you, I'll
help you, I'll help you. But eventually, you know, you got to stand on
your own. But you know, God's not that way. God doesn't just
help sinners. He sent his son to do everything
for them. Everything. So that they don't
do a thing. Men have a limit to how often
we'll forgive someone. Remember that time Peter came
to the Lord? I just think Peter was pretty
proud of himself. He said, Lord, how often should
I forgive my brother? Seven times? And Peter's saying,
Lord, see how forgiving I am? I'm willing to forgive my brother
seven times. But surely I don't have to do no more than that,
do I? And what did our Lord answer? Oh, Peter, Not just 7. 70 times 7. And you know our
Lord didn't mean 490 times. He meant... 7 is the number of
perfection. He meant infinite number of times
you forgive your brother. Now wait a minute. You're telling
me that I gotta forgive my brother infinite number of times. Every
time. I can't do that. You're right
you can't. I can't either. But aren't you glad God does?
He's not like us. He forgives His people all of
their sin. Aren't you glad His ways are
not our ways? Now man does have a way. And
they can back it up with logic. But you mark this down. They're wrong. Man's way is always
wrong. If you want to do the right thing
and you want to go the right way, I can tell you how to do
it. Find out what man thinks is the best way to do and go
the other way. You'll go right every time because
man's way is always wrong. What man thinks about God, what
man thinks about the way we ought to do things is always wrong. And it's always been that way.
Solomon said, there's a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of destruction, the ways of death.
Naaman, remember the leper Naaman, the Syrian general? He found
out that the prophet could heal him. He was all dressed up and
he went down to the prophet's house with all of his stuff.
The prophet wouldn't even come out and see him. Just send a
servant out and tell him, go down and wash in the river Jordan.
What was Naaman's problem? Why, I thought. I thought the
prophet would come out and do some religious symbol over me
and heal me. Why, I thought, Naaman, that's
your problem. That's our problem. We thought.
And man's way is always wrong. But God's way is not man's way. Man's way is to earn salvation. God's way is to give salvation
freely to sinners as a gift. Man's way is to have salvation
by our works. God's way is for salvation to
be by faith. Man's way is salvation to be
by being indoctrinated. I got a knowledge of some facts,
you know, and I got everything all straight, you know, in my
head so I can understand it. God's way is for salvation to
be by faith. Faith, not a head work, but in
the heart. Not by works, by grace, not by
what we earn, but by a free gift. Man's way is for salvation to
be by our decision. I decided to get saved. I decided
to walk an aisle. But you know, man's decision,
if man's way is always wrong, if man's way always leads to
death, then where did my decision lead me to? Death. Sin. So God's way of salvation
is by God's divine election. God chose a people to save and
He chose a people who never would have chosen Him. My friend, that's
the only way a sinner can be saved. God chose those who never
would have chosen Him. Man's way is for good people
to be saved. You know, people who at least
do a few good things, people who live a moral life. You know,
that's the people who can be saved. That's man's way. God's
way is for sinners who can't do anything but sin. God's way is to save them by
Christ doing everything for them. Man's way is for God to save
sinners by God ignoring their sin and just, you know, being
like a kind old grandpa. God's way to save sinners is
in justice, in strict justice, by punishing the sin of his people
fully, by punishing Christ as a sinner subject and giving those
sinners the righteousness of Christ, trading His righteousness
for their sin. Now that's a salvation that's
accomplished in justice. And if it's accomplished in justice,
it can never be taken away, can it? You know, that old grandpa,
he might, maybe he'll ignore your sin for a while, but maybe
you'll make him mad and he'll take it away, who knows? He'll
quit being nice. Maybe he'll get Alzheimer's and
stop being nice with someone, who knows? But God will never
do that. God will never change his mind
and take the salvation away from his people that he gave them
in Christ because their salvation was accomplished in justice.
There's no reason for God to punish or send any of his people
to hell because their sin's already been punished. They've already
been to hell in the person of their substitute. Isn't God's
way so much better than man's way? Aren't you glad God's way
is not our way? Aren't you glad his thoughts
are not our thoughts? I'm so thankful God's not limited
to what I think up he can do, because it wouldn't work. But
God's thoughts, in God's way, so much higher than ours, give
salvation freely to sinners. Oh, I'm thankful God's way is
not our way. Here's the seventh reason to seek the Lord. Seek
the Lord because Christ and eternal life is found in his word. Look
at verse 10. For as the rain cometh down and
the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. And you know, God
gives eternal life through his word. God gives eternal life
by blessing the preaching of his word. This word is the seed
that God uses to give life. And that's why we always preach
it, verse by verse, line upon line, because that's how God
gives life. And God uses an example from
nature every one of us can understand. He uses the example of rain,
giving life to the crops on earth. Now, all of us know this. If
God doesn't send the rain, nothing's gonna grow and everything's gonna
die. Everybody knows that. No life
can grow without water. But now, here's the thing about
rain. We can't make it rain where we want, when we want. Ask our
friends out in California about that. Oh, what they wouldn't
do for rain. God's not sending anything. We
can't make it rain where we want. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and the rain falleth where it listeth, too. The rain falls
where God sends it. And when God sends rain, there's
life in there. And where He withholds it, there's no life. It's just
a desert. Now that's the example God uses
to show us how He gives life to His people. God sends His
preachers out into the world, and He sends them with His word.
He sends them where He will, to this city and to this city,
and not to this one and not to this one. God's will. And the
Holy Spirit blesses that word as it's preached. The word, when
it's preached, always accomplishes the purpose that God sent it
to do. Always. That's a good thing for
preachers to remember. Eric, you know that depression
you get when you get done preaching, you go home and think, ugh. But
you know, we all not feel that way, do we? God's word always
accomplishes its purpose. Always. It either accomplishes
life to God's people, or it adds to condemnation. But either way,
it has accomplished God's purpose. And when God blesses His word,
when the Holy Spirit blesses the word, there's always life. Always. But you know, usually,
a sinner's not saved the first time they ever hear the word
preached. Sometimes, but not usually. Usually, it takes an
accumulation of hearing, doesn't it? Usually it's just at first
we don't like it, at first we kind of reject it. And then over
time, the Spirit works and gives life. It just takes a while before
we really hear, before we see Christ. That's the snow he's
talking about here. The snow falls in the winter.
And it doesn't look like it's doing the earth any good at all.
It looks like to me it's making it hard for people to get to
work. It doesn't look like it's doing anything good. But up there in
those mountains, that snowpack just keeps getting added to feet
deep. It doesn't look like it's doing
anybody good up there. There it is, way up there, and I'm way down
here. And then the summer comes, and that snow gradually melts
and runs down and gives water to people down in the valley.
That's the way God sends his word. We may hear it preached
for years and years and years, and it just doesn't seem like
it's doing anybody good. It's just a waste of my time,
but it's accumulating. One day God sends the sun and
that snow turns to water. The world is blessed and suddenly
there's life where there wasn't any before. What happened? God sent the water. He sent life. Now this is something else I
tell you all the time. If you'd seek the Lord, seek
Him where He is, God says He's found in His Word. Well, if Lord's
found in His Word, I believe I'd read it, wouldn't you? I
believe I'd look into it and see, maybe He'd be pleased to
show Himself to me. And if we're going to understand
what we read, we're going to need a preacher. That's what
the Ethiopian eunuch said. How can I, except some man guide
me? I don't know what I'm reading. Somebody's got to tell me what
this means. Well, then if you're seeking the Lord, make it your
business. to be in the public worship service
where God's word is preached just as often as you can. Because
this word, the preaching of this word is the only seed God will
ever use to give life. You need life seeking what's
found. It's found in his word. And then
here's the last one. Seek the Lord because Christ
restores everything we've lost in Adam. He's everything that
we need. Verse 12. For you shall go out
with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the
hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the
trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn
shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come
up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Now you know
when Adam sinned, Adam was thrust out of the garden, wasn't he?
Thrust out of the presence of God, couldn't come back. Adam
went out, we went out. We went out of the presence of
God and we went out into bondage to sin, bondage to the law. We
went out into sorrow, all the sorrow our sin caused. And we're
in bondage to it, aren't we? But God's elect are going to
come back. They're going to come out of that. They're going to
come out of that bondage. They're going to come out of
that sorrow. And they're going to come back into fellowship
with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they come in
Christ, they're coming with joy. That sorrow will be gone. They're
coming in joy. When Adam fell, man declared
war on God. But God's elect are going to
be brought back to God in peace. They're going to come back to
Him in Christ who's made peace for us through the blood of His
cross. Man left God's presence with sighing. I just imagine
poor old Adam, my goodness, getting thrust out of that garden. What am I going to do now? God's elect return to God in
Christ, singing, singing the praises of the one who loved
us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. We went out
from God under the curse of the law, under that unbearable curse
of the law. That's what the thorns and the
briars represent there in verse 13. It's the curse of the law.
God cursed the ground for Adam's sake. It's going to bring forth
thorns and thistles. But Christ came and he took that
curse away from his people. He made a curse for them, Paul
said. Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Christ had
to be crucified on a cross because he was bearing the curse of his
people, taking it away. Look over in Revelations 22 and
we'll close. And now, because of our Savior,
There's no more curse left for any of God's people. All that
he's left for them is the tree of life, the tree of eternal
life. Revelation 22, verse one. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and out of the land. In the midst of the street of
it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life,
which bear 12 manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
That's the tree of life. It's not an actual tree, it's
Christ, the tree of life. Now look at verse three. And
there shall be no more curse. Why will there be no more curse?
Because Christ bore it away. But the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him,
and they shall see his face. And his name should be in their
foreheads. And his name's not gonna be written on their foreheads.
It means they'll know him. They're gonna know who he is.
And there should be no night there. And they'll need no candle,
neither light of the sun. For the Lord God giveth him light.
And they shall reign forever and ever. Because there's no
more coast. No more coast. Now that's a very
good reason to seek the Lord, isn't it? You seek him because
he is everything we need. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you that you've given us such clear
commandment in your word to seek the Lord, to call upon you. And
how we thank you for the precious promise that when we seek, you
promised a sinner will find you. When a sinner calls and begs
for mercy, you'll be merciful. abundantly part, your multiply
part. Father, we're thankful. We pray
that you would apply your word, this seed of life to the hearts
of your people. We may behold your glory, that
we may be drawn to you. As we seek you, we might be drawn
to you. Come to you in rest and joy and
peace and singing because the curse is gone. Life. peace, joy
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless your word for your
name, for your glory, for the good of your people, we pray.