Good morning. Invite your attention to the
prophecy of Isaiah chapter 55. The prophecy of Isaiah chapter
55, my text will be found in verse number six. My message is titled, Who Found
Who? Isaiah 55, verse six, my text. I'm going to begin reading in
verse number one. Our Lord shows his kindness, his grace, and
his mercy throughout this chapter. But
let me read it to you, beginning in verse one. Ho, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, yeah,
that's me, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price, because it's free. Wherefore
do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfies not Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me, here and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. I have given him for a witness
to the people, a leader and a commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt
call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not
thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for
the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Now my text. Seek ye the Lord, while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him. And let him return to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon When you ask some people how
is it that they came to be saved, they will say, well, I was saved
because I found the Lord. You ask other people the same
question and they will say, well, I was saved because the Lord
found me. Now, as you can see, there is
a vast difference between one who says he was saved because
he found the Lord and another says he was saved because the
Lord found him. Let us consider that subject.
Let us consider this subject of who found who. I've got three points in my message
today. We are exhorted to seek and find
the Lord. It is an exhortation. Second,
none will naturally seek the Lord. And third, the Lord finds
his lost ones. So let's look at this subject,
beginning with that first point. We are exhorted to seek and find
the Lord. Notice, we're to seek him until
we find him. That's the exhortation. We are
told to do so. Seek the Lord while he may be
found and seek him until you find him. That's the exhortation
that is before us. Holy Scriptures contain many
such exhortations. This is perhaps The best known,
but it is a sincere exhortation and it is one that you would
not need to obey. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. What is it to seek him? First,
to seek Jehovah and you will see that the word Lord in our
text is in all uppercase letters. When you find the word Lord or
God in the Old Testament, in all uppercase letters, it represents
God's name, par excellence, his covenant name with his people.
It represents the name that is pronounced. Well, we're not really
sure how it was pronounced. Probably Jehovah. For centuries,
the ancient Jews would not even pronounce the name for fear of
taking God's name in vain. They would not pronounce the
name. And in the course of time, the correct pronunciation of
that name has been lost. Jehovah probably is about as
close as as we can come, we have the consonants, but not the vowels
preserved for us, but our text is saying, seek Jehovah. Now how do you seek Jehovah?
You seek Jehovah by seeking Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ
is Jehovah. Now, many will object to that.
There are whole sects and denominations that are built upon the fact
that Jesus is not God. Whole denominations and sects
and cults built upon that fact. He is not God. Well, we beg to
differ. He is, and we have very good
reason for saying so. First of all, the Holy Spirit
declares that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, Colossians 2.9, and I will not argue with the Holy Spirit.
In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in his body. You could not see it when you
looked upon his body. Did not look like God. but every
bit of God's fullness was in that body. From that body came miracles
that only Jehovah can do. From that body came resurrections
from the dead, which no mortal can do, only God can do. The
Holy Spirit speaks truth when he says, in him dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Jesus Christ and his humanity
was lacking in not one whit with regard to his humanity. And he lacked not one whit with
regards to his deity. Jesus Christ is God. God the Father said so. Now you
won't argue with him, will you? In the epistle to the Hebrews,
we read these words. God the Father said to Jesus
Christ, your throne, oh God, is forever. This is God the Father
looking at his son and says, you are God. The son looks at
the father and says, you are God. And they both are right. Now, if God the Father calls
Jesus Christ God, I'm not gonna argue. Furthermore, Jehovah told
me to call Jesus Christ. Jehovah said, Kenu, the Lord,
our righteousness. He is, he is God. God said so,
the Holy Spirit said so, God the Father said so, and furthermore,
God's preachers say so, through divine inspiration. Through divine
inspiration, he is called God manifested in the flesh, 1 Timothy
3, 16. God manifested in the flesh. When you looked upon that body
of flesh, you were looking upon God. Jesus said, he who has seen
me has seen the Father because he was God manifested in the
flesh. Back in the Old Testament, Isaiah
called him Mighty God and Eternal Father in the prophecy of Isaiah
9, verse 6. His name shall be called Mighty
God. His name shall be called Eternal
Father. And there is only one. There
is only one. And this is the name given to
him who was God's son given and Mary's child born. John the Apostle calls him the
true God and eternal life, 1 John 5.20. Both Paul and Peter call
him our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, these are
God's preachers, not merely God's preachers, his apostles and his
prophets, holy men who wrote as they were moved at the Holy
Spirit. So therefore, We have this testimony that he is God. And this morning, upon the foundation
of what I have just read to you, I can point you to Jesus Christ
and say, seek Jehovah while he may be found. I'm pointing to
Jesus Christ. Seek Jehovah in the person of
Jesus Christ while he may be found. Now, what is it to seek
him? It is to resort to him. It is
not merely look for him. It means to resort to him. Our English text cannot bring
this out very well. Our translators did a very commendable
job, but there were various words in the Hebrew text that are translated
by the word seek. And yet sometimes there is a
difference in the nuance of these words and sometimes one of them
means more than the other does. For example, we read that you
will seek Jehovah, your God, and you will find him if you
seek him with all your heart. Now the word seek is found twice,
but it's two different words. You are to seek him, but not
only seek him, you will find him when you resort to him. What is it to resort to him?
To resort to him says, I'm gonna let go of my idols.
I'm gonna let go of my sins. I'm gonna let go of everything
else that was precious to me, and I now resort to Jesus Christ,
he is my resort. I go to him, I'm gonna go to
him and rest in him, trust in him, confide in him, I'm gonna
dwell in him. That's what it is to seek him.
To seek him, I mean to faithfully seek him is to completely resort
to him. Leaving everything else and resorting
to him. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Now, consider also that Jesus
Christ should be sought because he may be found. Now look at
those words, he may be found. There's a good reason to seek
him. He may be found. He may be found. You know what
that means? It means that he is willing to
be found. Jesus is not playing hide and
seek. Jesus is not hiding. He's in
plain sight. He's in our presence and he's
willing to be found. He says, come and find me. Here
I am. He may be found because he's
close. Note our text. Seek the Lord
while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near,
near. You do not have to go far to
find him, folks. He is very, very near. He's within reach of your grasp
right now. Paul the apostle on the Areopagus
or Mars Hill in Athens is there conversing with the philosophers
vain men, idolaters, and Paul the apostle made this statement
to them, that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they
might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from
each of us, Acts 17, 27. He's that close, folks. Now,
a blind man can find something if you'll just grope in the darkness
for it. I have lived a good bit of my
life in the Caribbean, West Indies. And last few years, particularly
on the island of St. Croix, and if your provider of
electricity is reliable, even in the middle of your Montana
winter, be thankful because our current would go off quite often. And usually when you had food
in the oven or on the electric stove, and it did, the current
would go off quite often, usually more than once a week. And sometimes
in the midnight hour. Now, we always kept a flashlight
beside the bed. And you wake up in the night.
and it's midnight, and the house is dark, meaning the nightlight
is not on, there's no light anywhere. The streetlights are off, they
also are off, there's no light anywhere, dark as it can be.
No problem, I got a flashlight. I cannot see, but I know there's
a flashlight. And you go groping, and okay,
you hit the flashlight and knock it off of the table. No problem,
no problem, grope for it. A blind man can do that, folks.
A blind man in the midnight hour can get down on his hands and
knees and grope around and found it. Well, you can find Jesus in the
same way. He's not far. If you'll just
grope for him, people who are spiritually blind, can find Jesus
if they will but grope for him. Paul said so, grope for him. Well, it's dark, grope for him. He's not far, you'll find him.
Oh, the promise is sure, the promise is sure. Furthermore,
Jesus Christ should be found or sought while he may be found. Well now, If there is a day while
he may be found, it appears that there may be a day when he may
not be found, and there is. You can read about it in the
first chapter of the Proverbs. Jesus Christ
speaks as the divine wisdom It is one of the most dreadful
passages that you will find in the scriptures. The divine wisdom
speaking. And he says, I have called for
you. I have stretched out my hand
and called for you to come to me. I've declared my gospel to
you. I've told you the good news.
I've said, come to me, come to me. You'll live. I'll give life
to you. Come to me. And you would not. So here's what I'm going to do.
Since you would not, there's coming a day when your terror
is going to fall upon you and you're going to look for me and
not find me. Is that not one of the most dreadful
thoughts you've ever read? You think you can just look for
Jesus anytime you want to? You better look while he may
be found, because there is a day when he will not be found. In
that last day, when all the great men of the earth cry out to the
mountains, fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.
They know it's too late to call up on him then. Some people say,
well, I'll call up on him when I need him. Well, when do you
need him? If I have a wreck in my car, I need him. Yeah, that
wreck just may end your life before you can call on him. Well,
I'll call on him in my deathbed. I'm going to live my life to
the fullest and call him on my deathbed. Your deathbed may be
the time when he says, you waited too long. You spurned my call
and now you think you can take advantage of my goodness? They
will call upon me and I will not answer. They will seek me
and not find me. Oh, listen, listen, my friend.
Hear me well. Seek him while he may be found.
He may be found today, right now. Seek him, seek him. Furthermore, the phrase while
he may be found implies where he may be found. Seek the Lord
where he may be found. Now, where may he be found? If you're looking for someone,
there are usually two places where you'll find him. In his
house, or perhaps in a meeting of his friends.
That's usually one of the two best places to find someone.
Now you see, here comes someone to our fair city, And he comes
to one of our citizens and he says, do you know Larry Dahman? Oh
yeah, Larry Dahman's a well-known man in this town. Do you know
where I might find him? I'm seeking him. Do you know
where I might find him? I would say the best place to
find Larry would be at his house. He's retired now and got a bunch
of projects going on around the house. And yeah, he's in his
house more than he is anywhere else. So I'd say go to his house. Where is his house? Fairfield.
Oh, that's a long way. Is there not any place here in
Great Falls where he meets with his friends, some house of his
friends where he meets? Maybe I can find him there. Yeah,
there is a house. where he can usually be found.
I must tell you that if you know the man of whom we speak, no
need looking for him in a house of ill repute or a house frequented
by disreputable people. But he has some good friends
and they meet once a week, Sunday morning, 1030 in a house at 1007th
Avenue South in Great Falls, Montana. He'll be there, I promise
you. He's the doorkeeper. He opens
the door so everybody can get in. He greets everybody when
they come in. At 1030 on Sunday morning, if
you're at that house at 1007th Avenue South, you're going to
find Larry Donaldson. Is he here today? It's 1030.
Larry, you here? He's here. All right, see, I
told you. And all of his friends, look,
he does this every Sunday. He meets with all his friends
here in this house. Now, if you wanna find Larry
Dahman in Great Falls, 1030 any Sunday, unless the snow is three
feet deep, you're gonna find him here. Now, you're gonna find
Jesus the same way. That's how you seek him. Seek
him first in his house. He has a house. It is the church
of God, which is the house of God, the pillar and ground of
the truth. It is a church. It's not so much a physical building,
but it is a church. It is his house. It's where he
resides. You'll also find him wherever
his friends are meeting. And you'll find him in this house
every Sunday morning, 10.30 a.m. All his friends come to meet
with Jesus. Are you looking for him? He's
here. He says, where two or three are gathered in my name, I am
there in the midst of them. Well, we are his friends. We have gathered in his name,
and he's here. Where is he? He's sitting right
beside you, brother. That's where he is. He's here.
He's listening to the hymns we sing, the praise we offer. He's
watching us. He's not only walking up and
down amidst of his lampstands, but he's walking up and down
in the pews, reading the thoughts of everyone who's here, but you
know, his friends are here. He's here. If you're going to
seek Jesus, if you want to find Jesus, there is no better place
than right here. 10.30 every Sunday morning, right
here. Or whenever the Lord's church
meets in whatever place. Because if it is the Lord's church,
there'll always be somebody behind the pulpit giving directions
to Jesus. Would you seek him? Look for
him here. Seek him while he may be found
and seek him where he may be found. You'll not find him in
a house of ill repute. You'll not find him in a house
where disreputable people are clandestinely plotting their
schemes and such. No, no, no. He'll be with his
friends who are singing his praise, worshiping his name and declaring
his gospel and telling others how to find Jesus. seeking where he may be found. Furthermore, note this, God is
a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. That's a quote from
Hebrews 11, verse six. You must believe that God is
and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. No, we're not nonchalantly looking
around for him. No, no, no, no, no, no. Diligently
seeking him. And everybody who does so gets
a reward. And the reward is Jesus Christ. God is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek him. Therefore, seek Him. Seek Him
until you find Him. Resort to Him. Diligently seek
Him with all your heart. Roam for Him if you must. He's
not far. He's not playing hide and seek.
Seek the Lord while He may be found. Second point. None will naturally seek the
Lord. Listen, folks. The call is sincere. The exhortation is sincere. The Lord is near. He's not hard
to find if you're looking for him, and yet none naturally will
do so. We hear speak of men in their
natural state. Not a single one will seek the
Lord. That's a terrible thought, terrible
thought, folks. I mean, we all know our need
of him. We all have heard his exhortation
to seek him. We all have heard his promise
that if we seek him, we'll find him. And yet the scriptures declare
that God looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them
has turned aside. There is none who understands.
There is none who seeks after God. They are all turned aside. Think of it, folks. God in heaven has an all-seeing eye that is
everywhere present, and he's just looking. Is there one anywhere
seeking me? He has searched the entire world
over. Is there one who is seeking me? And he never found the one. Never. Anywhere did he ever find one. Because men in their natural
state will never seek him. If they never seek him, they
never find him. And remember that the next time
you hear someone say, I was saved because I found the Lord. It's impossible, folks. You cannot
find what you do not seek. That is in order to be saved. You must seek in order to find. Third point, last point. Jesus Christ the Lord finds his
lost ones. I'll give you two proofs. I'll
give you two proofs. Jesus Christ himself declared
of himself that the Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which was lost. Notice, the Son of Man has come
to seek and to save that which was lost. Preacher, You just said he's
the son of man. Well, no, that's what he said.
But a while ago, you said he's Jehovah. Yep, that's what he
said. That's true. Well now, which
is it? Is he Jehovah or is he the son
of man? Well, he's both. Eternally, he's
Jehovah. Inherently, he is Jehovah. But
in order to find lost sinners, He assumed their humanity as
God manifested in the flesh. The Son of God, co-equal and
co-eternal with God his Father, became Son of Man. My equal with regard to my humanity. And having taken on my humanity,
having become the son of man, he's on a mission. He's going
to seek and to save that which was lost. He made that declaration,
Luke 19 10. He made it in the city of Jericho. He made it on a special occasion
When he found one whom he was seeking, he was walking through
Jericho. Word had gotten out, Jesus is
coming. Out to Jericho, Jesus is coming. And everybody's got this morbid
curiosity as to whom he is. And so they all come out, you
know, lining the streets. All they want to do is just see
him. They're not seeking him. They just, you know, want to
see who he is. like the celebrity of the day coming through town.
And there's this one fellow. He arrived on the scene a little
late. His name is Zacchaeus. He is the chief tax collector
in Jericho. And he has come to the street
a little too late. Jesus is still, he's on down
the street and Zacchaeus, he's come late. and he's too short
to peer over the heads of those who were there. He has no front
row seat. He's just gonna miss it. What
shall I do? Ah, I know what I'll do. There's
a sycamore tree. So Zacchaeus ran down the street
to the sycamore tree, climbed up into it. Now he's got the
best place in town to see Jesus, up in the tree. Jesus is walking through Jericho.
And I'm sure that someone there says, Jesus, this is the city
of palms. We have some of the most beautiful
palm trees you've ever seen. Would you like to see our palm
trees? Jesus said, no. No, I planted them. Oh. Jesus, the government has built
some very fine buildings here in Jericho. Would you like to
see our fine buildings? No. I watched them when they
were being built. Oh, you've been here before?
No. But I watched them being built. Well, what can we show you? Nothing. I'm looking for someone. And
Jesus walks down the street of Jericho. The street is lined
on both sides with people who have come with this curiosity
to see Jesus, and he's walking down the street. He looks at
this one and he looks at that one. He peers in this direction
and in that, and then having come almost through the end of
the city, there he is. Up in that Sycamore tree, Jesus
walked over and said, Zacchaeus, you come down in a hurry. I'm
going to your house. Now Zacchaeus is probably, we're
not told it, but he's probably a little curious now. Jesus, have we met before? No, no, first time. You just called me by my name.
Yeah, your name is Zacchaeus, right? Yeah. Well, get on down
from the tree. I've got to go to your house.
You know my name? Yeah. Your name was put into my book
of life before the foundation of the world. Your name is engraved
in the palm of my hand. And I'm walking through Jericho
looking for this man named Zacchaeus and you are he. Now get on down. We've got to go to your house. Zacchaeus came down from that
tree a whole lot quicker than he went up. Came over to Jesus. Jesus went to his house. Zacchaeus
and Jesus are there. And then Jesus said these words,
today salvation has come to this house because this man is a son
of Abraham, one of God's elect. This man is a son of Abraham
and salvation has come to his house because The Son of Man
has come to seek and to save that which was lost. And in this
city, Zacchaeus is the only one who
knows he's lost. This world is full of people
who do not know they're lost. No, they'll deny they're lost.
I just walk around your city and ask you, are you a sinner?
Who, me? No. No, not me. I'm not lost. Well, if I could ever find a
lost person, I got good news for a lost person. If I could
ever find a sinner, I got good news for sinners. The Son of
Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. Zacchaeus
was lost. He found him. When most parts
was lost, he found me. And everyone who has ever been
found was found by him. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Oh, that he would do so today. I know not your hearts. I know, I suppose, just about
most of us are professing Christians, but there just may be a lost
one here today. I was a five-point Calvinist
preacher when the Lord saved me, lost as I could be. My profession was invalid. There just may be a lost person
here today. Remember, he's here. where two
or three are gathered in my name, I'm in the midst. Oh, that Jesus
would find a lost person right here in this building today.
Would you not rejoice? They do in heaven. They do in
heaven. There is more rejoicing in heaven
over one lost one who is found. Oh, that he might find someone
today. Second instance, Jesus declared on another occasion,
rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. My sheep that was lost. He tells the story of a man,
a shepherd has a hundred sheep, 100 sheep. He counts them one day and he
has only 99. Gotta go find my lost one. Lord,
it's just, it's only one, you still got 99. Yes, it's just
one, but it's mine and I'll find it. And off went the shepherd
to find his lost sheep. Let us rejoice in acknowledging
that there is no mountain too high, no water too deep, no continent
too broad, no desert too hot, no thicket too thick, no night
too cold or too dark to prevent Jesus Christ from finding his
lost ones. He'll find every one of them. every one of his lost ones. They've
strayed from him. They've gone their own ways,
but they belong to him. And I would assure you that he'll
find every one of them. And he'll say, rejoice with me.
I found the lost. Remember all this when you hear
someone say he was saved because I found the Lord. Because first,
it was sinners who were lost, not the Lord. Second, it was
the Lord who sought the lost, not the lost who sought the Lord.
Third, it was the Lord who found the lost, not the lost who found
the Lord. And fourth, the Lord saved all
he found. None are saved because of what
they did. It's all of grace. Let me read a hymn to you by
Bonar. I never read a bad hymn by Bonar. I was a wandering sheep. I did
not love the fold. I did not love my shepherd's
voice, I would not be controlled. I was a wayward child, I did
not love my home. I did not love my father's voice,
I loved the far to roam. The shepherd sought his sheep,
the father sought his child. He followed me over vale and
hill, over deserts waste and wild. He found me nigh to death,
famished and faint and lone. He bound me with the bonds of
love. He saved the wandering one. Jesus
my shepherd is. T'was he that loved my soul.
T'was he that washed me in his blood. T'was he that made me
whole. T'was he that sought the lost,
that found the wandering sheep. "'Twas he that brought me to
the fold, "'tis he that still doth keep." Oh, that he might find one today. Are you lost? Call for him, he'll come. Call upon him, he's near. He'll
come, he'll find you. We have a hymn that we sing.
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. This is not a solo. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, But now am found,
was blind, but now I see.