John 8 this morning. John 8 and
verse 21, Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way. The Lord Jesus always went His
way. They went about to kill Him.
They did everything they could to hinder Him and stop Him. But
He still said, I go my way. And I'm thankful that He did
because His way was the way that saved me. the way of redemption
for His people. He couldn't be hindered. He couldn't
be thwarted. He couldn't even be momentarily
slowed down. I go my way and He always does. Men still try to corner Him and
try to get Him to go their way. God's got to do this if you do
that. No, He'll go His way. And you shall seek Me and shall
die in your sins. Whither I go, you can't come.
Then said the Jews, will he kill himself? Because he saith, whither
I go, you cannot come. And he said unto them, you are
from beneath. They just proved it, didn't they?
They just gave evidence, and we do all the time, that we're
from beneath. Every time we open our mouths,
we give evidence that we're from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. Aren't
we? bound to this world, caught up
in this world even when we know better. Even when we know this
world is not worth burning, we still get distracted by this
world and would rather be in it than in the worship of Christ.
Unbelievable, isn't it? No, it's just the way we are.
It's just the way we are. I am not of this world. Aren't
you grateful you have a representative that this world had no allure
for? He said, the devil has nothing
in me. This world couldn't hinder him. He had no interest in the
things of this world, the fashion of this world that passeth away.
I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins, for
if you believe not that I am, you shall die in your sins. I
read it that way because you know when a word is in italics
in the scriptures because it was provided by the interpreters.
It was unnecessary there. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
great I am. Moses said, whom shall I tell
hath sent me? Pharaoh not going to listen to
me. I'm nobody from nowhere. On what authority will I go and
tell this great king, let thy people go? And he said, you tell
him I am, hath sent you. That was Christ that Moses spoke
to in the burning bush. Christ that said to him, take
your shoes off because this is holy ground. Now here are those
whom the Lord Jesus Christ said, you will seek me, but you won't
find me. You'll die in your sins. That
might be a strange idea to you. In John 7, 34, he said it this
way, You shall seek me and shall not find me. In our text this
morning, he said, You'll seek me and you'll die in your sins.
That's the result of not finding Christ, is dying alone with no
representative, no substitute, no sin offering, no mediator
between you and God. Dying in your sins. You want
to avoid that no matter what it costs you. And that's putting
it lightly. You do not want to die in your
sins, my friends. And I don't either. But I said
this might be a strange idea to you, because didn't the Lord
say in Matthew chapter 7, if you seek, you'll find? Turn over
there with me. Let's look at it. Matthew chapter
7 and verse 6, first of all. I wanted us to see verse 6 in
its context. We hear this verse thrown around
a little bit. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under
their feet and turn again and rend you. You know, we've heard
that quoted and interpreted. What's he saying there? Well,
cast not your pearls before swine. The pearls that we have, we don't
have anything worth having but the gospel. truth of God. So
there's no question that that's what he's talking about. He said,
don't cast it before someone. Don't cast it before somebody
that's going to trample it under their feet. How do you know they're
going to do that? Because they always have. And they're doing
it while you're casting it. That's what the Lord Jesus said.
He said, when you go and preach to it in a town and they've got
no interest in what you say, go somewhere else. So that's
very scriptural, isn't it? Very scriptural. But look at
the context of it. In verse 7, ask. That's who you're
looking for. Be ready. Did Paul say, be ready
to give a reason for the hope that lieth within you to who?
Anyone that asketh. If the Lord's in it, somebody
will be asking, won't they? They'll be asking. They'll be
interested. They'll come because they want
to hear. They're not coming to argue.
They're not coming to tell somebody something. They're coming to
find out something. Ask. And it'll be given to you. Seek
and ye shall find. So there's no question about
what he's talking about seeking here, is there? It's the Lord.
It's the truth. And you'll find it. Knock and
it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth. And he that seeketh findeth.
And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Alright, well what
about our scripture this morning? Where the Lord Jesus told these
folks, You'll seek Me, and you won't find Me." Well, that's
seemingly a contradiction, isn't it? The key word there is seemingly. And let me admonish you regarding
something. Whenever you find a seeming contradiction
in the Word of God, don't shrink from it. Don't be scared of it.
Study it. Study it. Look into it. Learn
why there is no contradiction. And I guarantee you, you'll end
up rejoicing in Christ. You'll rejoice in the truth.
The so-called contradictions in scripture condense the truth. At least in the mind of the one
that understands it by God's grace, we don't understand anything
apart from revelation, apart from the grace of God. We'll
get it the same way Peter did. Flesh and blood won't reveal
it to you, yours or anybody else's. But the Father will have to give
it to us. But when He does, and when a contradiction is met with,
a seeming contradiction in the Word of God, it sharpens, it
puts a fine point upon the truth. What do I mean by that? Well,
Matthew 7, 7 is a wonderful promise, isn't it? Ask and it'll be given. Seek and you'll find. Seek and
you will find. But without seeing John 7, 34
where we read, You shall seek Me and shall not find Me." You
may not understand that there is a way of seeking Christ that
results in finding, it results in life, it results in salvation,
and there's a way to seek Him that does not. You see what I'm
saying? It's a wonderful truth and you
can believe it, receive it, rejoice in it, but understand what kind
of seeking he's talking about. The Word of God is one body.
One truth. And so, that's what I'm saying,
a seeming contradiction. It'll sharpen the truth. It'll
focus the truth. It'll further define the truth. Because it's the Word of God
revealing to you that yes, seeking the Lord is life, it's salvation,
but it's a certain kind of seeking. That's what we're going to look
into this morning. Oh, if we pursue this apparent contradiction,
then we will, if God is pleased to be gracious, We'll understand
what true spiritual seeking is. Seeking that results in finding.
And then we'll have a better understanding of Matthew 7, 7,
won't we? Seek and you shall find. Let's
see if the Lord will teach us this morning. I pray that He
will. What is this then? There's another promise regarding
seeking that we need to look at. Look at Proverbs chapter
8. We'll have you turn to quite a bit of Scripture this morning.
Proverbs 8, I want you to see this in the Word of God. I want
us to understand by God's grace before we leave what it is to
seek the Lord, and to do so in a way that results in finding
Him. Proverbs 8, 17, the Lord says,
I love them that love Me, and those that seek Me early shall
find Me. Okay, so here then, perhaps this
is the key to seeking a right, an early seeking. What does that
mean? Does that mean get up early in
the morning and seeking? Well, that'd be a good thing
to do, wouldn't it? But that's not what this is talking about.
What is early here? The word literally means diligently. It means earnestly seeking. It means if you say you're seeking
the Lord, it'll be evident if you really are. to earnestly
do so, to diligently do so. A lackadaisical attitude, and
that is a real word, and what a word, lackadaisical. You know
what that means? Half-hearted, just kind of blah. A lackadaisical attitude toward
the things of God is a sure sign of spiritual death. The Lord said to the church in
Revelation, you're lukewarm, and I would rather that you were
either hot or cold. It better to be cold dead than
warm dead." That's God that said that now. And He said, because
you're lukewarm, you make me sick. I'll spew you out of my
mouth. Alright, so lackadaisical. Seeking
the Lord is a diligent, an earnest seeking. And a believer will
always do that. Do you know what a believer will
do when discouraged in seeking the Lord? He'll cry louder. He'll cry louder. I'll show it
to you. Luke 18, Luke chapter 18. Turn
over there. And verse 35, Luke 18, 35. And it came to pass that as he,
the Lord Jesus Christ, was come now into Jericho, a certain blind
man sat by the wayside begging and hearing the multitude pass
by. He asked what it meant. And they told him that Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried. Oh, yeah. He sought
the Lord, didn't he? Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. And they which went before him,
those that were following along with Christ, there were some
in front of him, some behind him, those that went before rebuked
this man and said, you ought to shut up. And you know what
he did? He cried so much the more. Thou
son of David, have mercy on me. You know why? Because he needed
mercy. And he was going to have it.
If mercy was to be had, He was going to have it. That's seeking
the Lord right there early, early. That woman, that Canaanitish
woman, did the same thing, didn't she? She said, Lord, have mercy
on me. And the disciples said, Lord,
send her away. She's bothering us. She kept
crying, Lord, have mercy on me. And the Lord wouldn't speak to
her at first. And she kept on crying. And He said, it wouldn't
be right for me to give you any mercy. My mercy, what I have
is for the children. To take the children's bread
and cast it to dogs? It wouldn't be right. And you
know what she did? She kept crying. Oh Lord, that's
right, that's true. Oh, but I'm your dog and I need
mercy. I've got to have mercy. You see
what I'm talking about? Believers have this same attitude
in all that they do with regard to spiritual things now. There
are hindrances. to attending the worship of Christ,
what do we do? They're all the more determined
to attend, to be there, to worship. There are reasons to believe
that our prayers might not be answered. Oh, this could never,
we could never expect. You know what we do? Pray the
more earnestly, the more earnestly, the more obstructions we find
between ourselves and Christ and the discovery of and the
enjoyment of His fellowship and worship. The more we see our
need of Him, and the more we will seek, the more earnestly
we will seek. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew
11, 12, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Oh, what does that mean? How
do you take heaven by force? Well, I'll tell you what it means. You remember the story of Jacob?
wrestling with the Lord Jesus Christ all night. Jacob wrestled
all night with the Lord. And the Lord said to him at the
end of the night when the dawn was about to break, he said,
the sun's about to come up, Jacob, it's time to let me go. And do
you know what Jacob said to the Lord Jesus Christ? I will not
let you go. Boy, that seems like an awful
bold thing to say to the Lord of glory. What's he going to
do, kill you? You're already dead, and thus He blesses you.
You've got nothing to lose, my friend. And that's the attitude
that we... Spurgeon, I've quoted this to you hundreds of times,
but Spurgeon said, if I go to hell, I'm going to go there clinging
to Christ. How about you? The violent take
it by force. We've got to get there. We've
got to get to Christ, and we're going to have Him. Jesus, thou
He tried the more. Thou Son of David, have mercy
on me. If you've got to have mercy,
You'll seek Him early. Him who is the mercy of God. Yeah, every believer seeks early. But this is not the answer to
our dilemma. It's not the answer. Listen to
Proverbs 1. Turn over there with me. Turn
to Proverbs 1. Verse 28. It says, "...then shall they
call upon Me, But I will not answer." These
are the Lord's talking now in our text in John chapter 8 to
some people that are described the same way. You're going to
look for me and you're not going to find me. They shall seek me
early. It's the same word. It's the
same word. Diligently, earnestly. But they
shall not find me. So that's not the answer. That's
not the distinction we're looking for between the two right there.
Because a sinner can even seek early, can even seek diligently,
can even seek earnestly and not find. How is that? How can a
sinner diligently and earnestly seek the merciful, gracious,
tender-hearted Son of God? We don't preach the Christ that
we're accused of, you know, that stands there with a stick, you
know, and beating people away from Him, if you're not just
right, you know. They say that about us because we preach on
the electing grace of God that some are not welcome. The Lord
Jesus Christ that I preach calls to all sinners and says, you
come and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. We're talking
about the merciful. We're talking about the God of
all grace. How can a sinner diligently and earnestly come and seek him
and not find him? Well, let's look at the context
of Proverbs chapter one. I believe this will answer our
question. Look at verse 20. Wisdom crieth without. Now, that's Christ. That's Christ. That's His gospel
being preached. She uttereth her voice in the
streets. Christ is the power of God, according
to Paul in 1 Corinthians, and the wisdom of God. There's just
one wisdom. She crieth in the chief place,
verse 21, of concourse. You see that? What did Paul say?
This thing wasn't done in a corner. She crieth in the streets, in
the chief place of concourse. If anybody's interested, the
doors are open. In the city, in the openings
of the gates, verse 20, in the city she uttereth her words,
saying, How long, you simple ones? Will you love simplicity? Oh, see, there's part of the
problem. Because we're addressed as idiots. You know what a simple
person is? An idiot. When you see somebody
that's retarded and they can't think right, we say, Well, they're
simple. Yeah, that's every one of us, spiritually. We can't
think right. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts.
You simple ones, oh, well, you're not talking to me. Oh, yes, I
am. How long will you love simplicity? We like not being able to think
right, my friends. That's our problem, you see.
We prefer our thoughts, as foolish as they are, as crazy as they are. We prefer
our thoughts to God's thoughts. And the scorners delight in their
scorning. Oh, I love Jesus. You've been
spitting in his face since you were born. And most people are
sitting in the church pew this morning spitting in his face.
The sovereign, you preach the sovereign Christ. You preach
the Christ who will do what he will, when he will, with whom
he will, and you'll find out who the scorners are. And you
fools. How long will you fools hate
knowledge? The gospel's offensive, isn't it? It just is. The truth
is offensive because we are what it says we are. And it's not
flattering. And then he says this, turn you
at my reproof. What did John come preaching?
Repent. Your thoughts are not God's thoughts. They're foolish. They're simple.
You're a fool. You know what you need? A change
of mind. That's what repentance is. You
need to think God's thoughts and not yours. And that just
happens one way. Paul told Timothy, you teach
and peradventure God will grant repentance. You're not going
to get it any other way. God will have to grant it to
you. But turn you, that's the command. You're responsible to
do it too. You better turn. Turn you. The prophet prayed
this. He said, Lord, you turn us and
we'll be turned. That's how you turn. You craft
a mercy for God to turn you. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you. Repent. Come and I'll give
you rest. Come and I'll give you life.
I'll pour out my spirit unto you. I'll make known my words
unto you. Oh, that's what you need. Then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. You have no idea what the book is saying until
he does that. Because I have called, verse
24, and you refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. And that's no man by nature. That doesn't mean most people
haven't regarded. That means nobody has. And that's talking
about It's universal inability. That's every one of them. There's
no way. God looked down to see if there were any that did follow
after Him. And there were none. There's
none righteous, no, not one. None that seeketh after God.
Not by nature. Because I have called, I have
stretched out my hand. Verse 25, But you have said it
not, all my counsel. It didn't mean anything to you.
And you would none of my reproof. You had no desire. for the truth. And then he said in verse 26,
I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh,
when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then
shall they call upon me, but I won't answer. You see why they're
calling? I thought you might. They shall
seek me early, but they won't find me. for that they hated
knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord." Didn't
all of us hate knowledge? Oh, yeah. Yeah, every one of
us deserve this right here, to be refused. We deserve the silence
of God. We deserve to be rejected by
God. We deserve that when we cry that
He not hear us. But He had mercy in some case. But what about the ones that
He doesn't cause to seek? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, David said, and cause us to approach unto thee. That's
the ones that seek. What about the other ones? Why
do they get what they deserve? Because they hated knowledge.
Why do the ones that do seek, why do they receive glory and
honor and salvation and life and righteousness? Because of
the distinguishing, free, sovereign grace of God. That's why. And the ones that do not, Get
what they deserve because they deserve it. And every one of
us deserve it, my friends. Every one of us. You hated knowledge. You did not choose the fear of
the Lord. They would none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of
the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. We begin to realize now that
it's not so much the way that Christ is sought But why? Why? Even those that sought Him
early here did not find Him. But why did these ones in Proverbs
1 seek Him? Out of fear. Out of fear. Look
at verse 26 through 28, I will also laugh at your calamity,
I'll mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation
and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and
anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me." Don't
miss that word, then. When do these call on the Lord?
When they're scared they're going to go to hell. That's when. And
then they saw Him early, didn't they? They saw Him early when
they were afraid that they were going to be punished. When they
were afraid that their sin and their rebellion against God was
fixing to cost them something. Then they saw Him early. But it was use use what are sinners
afraid well we know that the way in hebrews 214 for as much
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood christ also
himself likewise to part of the same that through death he might
destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage People go through their whole life afraid
of death. We'll do anything, anything to
avoid it. We'll spend any amount of money,
take anything, a pill, change our lives, and we'll do anything
out of fear, won't we, of death. And it's not just the experience
of dying that people are afraid of. It's what comes after. Hebrews
9, 27, as it is appointed unto men, wants to die. But after
this, the judgment. The judgment. That's what folks
are afraid of. We fear the consequences of our sin. I can show you that
all the way from the beginning, my friends. All the way from
the beginning. Genesis 3, 6. Turn over there with me. I'm
going to have you turn to a couple more places. I want you to see
this now. What are we talking about? Seeking the Lord. Why
did these ones seek Him early? And He reject them. Well, it's
because of why they sought Him. Genesis chapter 3 and verse 6,
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave
also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And when he ate,
the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked. And they sewed fig leaves together,
and made themselves aprons, And they heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Oh, they'd
heard that voice before, hadn't they? Because they had walked
with Him in fellowship and communion and joy in the cool of the day.
But it was a different sound on this day. When they heard
His voice, they didn't run into His loving arms on this day. What did they do? They hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord. from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden they hid. And verse 9,
And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where
are you? And he said, I heard your voice in the garden. And
I was what? I was afraid, because I was naked,
and I hid myself. Wait a minute, Adam, you're not
naked. No, no, what about verse 7? You made yourself some clothes. His own efforts to cover up his
guilt and shame were futile, and he knew it. And likewise,
sinners everywhere, all of us by nature, have woven our fig
leaf aprons of self-righteousness and decision-making and free
will resolutions, you call it whatever you want to call it,
and yet unwilling to come to Christ, who is the sinner's covering,
the sinner's robe of righteousness. He's the wedding garment. that
unless you have one on, oh, there's weeping and wailing and gnashing
of teeth for you. He's that white robe of righteousness
that John saw the saints standing in, arrayed in, before the throne. And the angel said, who are these
that are arrayed in white? And John said, you know who they
are. These are those who have washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. No, they won't come to Him who
is the covering, the robe of righteousness. And I'll tell
you this, on the authority of Proverbs 128 and all of Scripture,
I tell you now that if the Lord Jesus Christ is nothing more
to you than a fire escape from hell, then you have never sought
Him and you have never found Him. Never. And that's what He
is to most. It's the motive that makes the
difference. Why do you seek Him? If indeed you do seek Him at
all, why? Why? Is it because you want to
go to heaven when you die? Because you don't want to go
to hell? I used to, to my shame and disgrace, I used to go with
so-called soul winners, door to door, and knock on people's
door. And the first question that they would ask, and I was
usually just a bystander, I'm grateful for that. I pray that
it was the Lord keeping my mouth shut. But the first thing they
would ask is, if you died tonight, do you know if you'd go to heaven
or not? And would you like to know if you go to heaven? Why
are you seeking the Lord? You may seek Him early and not
find Him. If that's what it's all about,
when your fear cometh, when you think about, well, I don't want
to go to hell when I die. I believe I'll seek the Lord. He's not
found that way, my friends. He's not found that way. Why
do you seek the Lord? Did you notice something? We
quoted Proverbs 8, 17 a while ago. Let me quote it to you again.
The last part of it is this, those that seek me early, shall
find me." Well, we know there are those that seek the Lord
early that won't find Him. But that verse began this way,
Proverbs 8, 17, I love them that love me, and those that seek
me early for that reason. Your salvation began, if there
is a beginning to it. And there's not in any sense
of the word that we know anything about. But for the sake of accommodating
my peanut brain, let's talk about the beginning of salvation. You
know what it begins with? God's love for you. If you trace
God's grace back to its source, if you keep asking why, why,
why, and trace it back to its source, you will find yourself
at the love of God for sinners. And you won't be able to go beyond
that. Are you saved? Yes. Why? Because
I believed on Christ. Why? Because God revealed Christ
to me. Why? Well, because Christ came
and died on the cross. Why? Why? Why? Because God loved
me. Why did he love you? I don't
know. I've got to stop there, my friends. I've got to stop
right there, but I can go back that far, can't you? It begins
with this. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Therefore, all of the therefores
of God's grace begin with God's love for you. And you know how
it comes to you. You know what the end of it is
in your experience? You're going to love Him. When
you love Him, then you're saved sure enough. Peter, forget all
the other questions for a minute. He didn't ask you, why did you
deny me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Have you fallen
in love with the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you fallen in love with
Him yet? I'm just going to keep preaching Him until we do, I
suppose. Fall in love with Christ. Jeremiah
put it this way in chapter 29 verse 13, God spoke through his prophet Jeremiah
and said this, you shall seek me and find me. That's what I'm
interested in. When, Lord, when? When you shall
search for me with all your heart. Trying to get out of hell is
not searching for Christ with your heart. No, no. That's drawing now into him with
your lips, see, and your heart is still far from him. No, the
Pharisees did that, he said. No, they wanted to go to heaven.
Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name, done many wonderful,
what do you mean we can't go to heaven? But your heart was
far from me. Your heart. But when you seek
and search for me with all of your heart, God said, you'll
find me. Does that answer our question
this morning? That's pretty simple, isn't it? That's the answer.
Do you love him? And then there's one more issue
that I've got to raise and I'll be through. Look back at Proverbs
1 again. Proverbs 1. Verse 20. Wisdom crieth without. Oh, absolutely. The Lord has His Gospel preached.
And she uttereth her voice in the streets. She crieth in the
chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in
the city. She uttereth her words saying,
notice these two words, How long, how long, you simple ones, will
you love simplicity? How long? You see there's a timing
issue here too. There is such a thing as too
long. Too long. Isaiah 55, 6. Listen to this
text. Seek ye the Lord while. There's a timing issue here.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while
he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way
This is seeking the Lord. This is coming to the Lord, forsaking
your way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him
return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Call upon him while,
while he will be called upon, while he may be called upon.
Seek him while he may be found. When is it that Christ may be
found? Well, there's just one answer that I can give you. Right
now. Right now. That's the only answer
I can give you. If I said, tomorrow he may be
found, I'd be lying to you. I'd be lying to you. I wouldn't
be telling you the truth. If I told you later on tonight,
if I told you five minutes from now, you can wait and find him
then. I wouldn't be honest with you.
The only answer to that question is right now. That's why the
scripture says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2, for he
saith, God said, I have heard thee in a time accepted. There's
that word time again. And in the day of salvation have
I secured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, he says it twice in the
same sentence. Behold, behold, now is the day
of salvation. Isn't that a strange way to say
it? He didn't say today is the day of salvation. You don't even
have today. You know what you have? Now.
Now is the day of salvation. Is that clear? There's a motive
behind seeking the Lord that's important. It's vital. If you're
seeking him just because you don't want to be punished for
your sin, he said, I will laugh at you now. I will not hear you. I will not answer you. You'll
call on me and you'll do it diligently. You'll be begging not to go to
hell. It won't do you any good. But there is a seeking the Lord
from the heart because you love him, because he has broken your
proud, wicked heart and revealed himself unto you. And you've
fallen madly head over heels in love with Christ. And he is your bridegroom. You
call him the lover of my soul. That's what the scripture, the
lover of my soul. And then there's the time. the
one time, the only time that the Lord can be called upon.
That's right now. Let's bow in prayer. Lord, we
thank you for your word because we have, we have no other truth. We have nothing to rely upon.
We have no, no wisdom, no understanding apart from your word. And even,
even then we won't understand it, Lord, unless you reveal it
to us. We know that. So we pray that you have mercy
and speak to our hearts and impress upon us the vital nature of this
thing, that to seek you diligently, diligently is important, but
to do it because we must have you, not because we would simply
escape the consequences of our sin, but because we must have
Christ, because we desire and need and love the Savior of sinners. And then, Lord, to delay the
matter is to prove that we don't need you. that we have no need
in our own mind and heart for you. And so, of course, it's
urgent. Of course, it's now. And we pray
you'd impress this upon us, impress it upon those we love who have
no desire as yet for the Lord Jesus. Bless us in spite of ourselves. Bless us, Lord, those of us who
know you, have experienced and tasted that you're gracious.
Bless us as we remember this morning. Thank you for this ordinance
that allows us Take these physical elements and look at them or
take of them and be reminded of the Lord of glory who gave
himself for us. Thank you for this and bless
us in it. May Christ be exalted in our hearts as we do this.
In his precious name, we ask it. Amen.