turn with me over in the Old
Testament to Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah chapter 29. And I'd like to read verse 11
down to verse 14a. Jeremiah chapter 29. Verse 11, For I know the thoughts
that I think toward 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. Notice verse 13, And ye shall
seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all
your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. My text this morning is verse
13, where it says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall
search for me with all your heart. Now the word of God says in various
places that if we seek the Lord that we shall find him. This
verse of scripture is very plain here in Jeremiah 29 and 13 to
that end. Hebrews 11 and verse 6 says that
without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. In the Word of God we read in
John 5 in verse 40, Jesus said, you will not come to me that
you might have life. You know, when we read these
various verses, like Matthew chapter 7, verse 7 and 8, if
you have your Bible, you just turn there quickly, and I'd like
to read these two verses. When we read verses like these,
we wonder at the response by those that are Outside of Christ
by the wicked the lost we wonder what they're thinking in verse
7 It says ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find
knock and it shall be opened unto you for everyone that asketh
receiveth and notice this and he that seeketh findeth and to
him that knocketh it shall be opened and These verses tell
us assuredly that if we seek, we shall find. Are you a seeker
after the Lord? Are you seeking Him with all
of your heart? You know, often times we talk
to people that try to impress us with their burden and desire
to know the Lord. Oftentimes we have people that
maybe even call us on the phone and they're weeping and they
say, we really are in deep need and we need to hear something
that will comfort our hearts. And as you speak to them, you
find that they seemingly want to find the Lord. They seemingly
would like to have a relationship with the God of the Bible. Seemingly,
they would like to find the way out of their situation, out of
the predicament that they've gotten themselves into. But we
discover in the Word of God that really and truly that the natural
man is not one who seeks after God. He is not one that seeks
the Lord. I would like for you to look
in Psalms chapter 14 with me if you would at this time. Psalm
chapter 14 and I'd like to read here just a couple of verses.
Look at verse 2 and verse 3. The Lord, it says, looked down
from heaven upon the children of men. What a view that we have
here of God as He looks down from heaven, His abode, upon
the children of men. And what is it that He looks
for? What is it that He's looking for? To see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. The Lord looks down to see
if there's any that has an understanding of who He is and who they are,
and the desperateness of their case and their need, and therefore
they become seekers after God. And the Lord said there's none
that understands, there is none that seeks after God, they're
all gone aside. They all together become filthy,
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now in the book
of Isaiah, if you want to turn there to the 62nd chapter, in
verse 12, it says, and they shall call them the holy people. Now these people that the scripture
is speaking of here are the people of God, those that are believers,
those that are the Lord's chosen, redeemed family. They shall call
them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be
called, listen to it, sought out. You will be called sought
out, a city not forsaken. Now the Lord has sought out His
people, and we read further here in this book, I think it's in
chapter 65. Well, I believe what I'll, wait
a minute, I don't think I have that written down. But nevertheless,
it's the verse that says that the Lord was found of them that
sought Him not. He was found of them that sought
Him not. Now this means that men by nature,
all men, not being seekers after God themselves, that the only
people that find the Lord are those whom the Lord Himself seeks
out. And God has sought a people from
among the Gentiles for His name, and He's delivered them. He saved
them. God must do a work in a man before
he will become a seeker after the Lord. And so God must do
this work. They shall be called sought out.
And so the Lord's people are a people that has been sought
out. And so this morning, as I come
to my text here, I want us to understand, first of all, that
God has made solemn, solemn promises in His Word that if a man or
woman, boy or girl, will seek Him with all their heart, they
will find Him. You say, Preacher, you know I
have tried to seek the Lord and I have not found Him. Well, rest assured that the promise
is true to you if you are true to the promise. The Word of the Lord is sure
and there can be no question on that point. Has God promised
to be found to those that seek Him? Did God say that He would
diligently reward those that seek Him in faith? Did God say
that if you seek Me you shall find? Did He say that? Absolutely
He did. Did he say that if you search
for me with all your heart that I will be found of you? Did he
say that? Absolutely he did. Always conclude,
beloved, that if a general promise does not turn out to be true
in your particular instance. There is something in you that
hinders it. There is nothing wrong with the
promise. The promise cannot be suspect. Let God be true, the scripture
says, and every man a liar. If somebody tells me, oh, I've
sought the Lord, I've sought the Lord with all my heart, The
next question I ask is, well then, did you find him? And if
they say, no, I have not found him, then my friend, there's
something not right with them. Because God has made the promise. It's like a man who says, now
I eat a good diet. I eat a very good diet. And yet
my body is not nourished by what I eat. My body receives no nourishment
from the food that I partake of. Well, what are we to conclude? Are we to conclude that the food
he eats is no good? No, I don't think we should conclude
that. I think the problem is with that man's system. His ability
to break down the food. You know, we don't live off of
the food we eat. We live off what our body does
with the food we eat. And so there's something wrong
with the mechanism that converts food in that individual to glucose. Because everything we eat is
turned to glucose in our system. And so something is wrong in
that individual system if food does not nourish their body.
And so we will not find fault with the food. You see where
I'm going. Well, next, if a man has a a nice wood stove and he
has a big fire in it, and he says, I'm sitting by the wood
stove but I cannot get warm. I'm not able to get warm sitting
by that stove. Well, the stove is hot. Are we
to conclude there's something wrong with the heat coming out
of the stove? Or is there something wrong with
the individual? Something wrong. He has some
malady, some disease. There's something wrong. He cannot
warm himself with a stove that would warm everybody else. And
so I say to you today, my friend, that the promises of God are
true and real. And they're promises that can
be relied upon. And if you've said you've sought
the Lord but have not found Him, then, my friend, we conclude,
and we must conclude, that there's something wrong with your seeking. There's something wrong with
the way you're approaching this situation. Well, what is meant
by seeking the Lord? David said in Psalm 27 and 8,
he said, when thou saidest unto me, seek my face, my heart said
unto you, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. I will seek thy face. When you said, seek my face,
my heart responded and said, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. Well, what is meant by seeking
the Lord? Now, we conclude here this morning
that those who seek after God that they're those that God is
seeking after. Those who are stirred up to take
hold of the Lord. Those who are stirred up to get
dead serious about their relationship with God. Those who would find
communion with God and those who would enter in to a saving
relationship with Jesus Christ are those whom God does a work
in. And I'm here to tell you this
morning if God Almighty does not want you more than the devil
wants you, my friend, you're lost for all eternity. God must
do a work in those that are converted, a greater work than what is done
in those who are left and those who are passed by. But what is
meant by seeking the Lord? Well, those who seek after God
very soon discover that they're at a distance from Him, that
they're at a distance from the Lord. So that one mark of a true
seeker is that he is humbly conscious of his having gone astray from
the Lord his God. All we like sheep, Isaiah 53
and 6 says, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way and the Lord has laid on Him, Jesus Christ, the iniquity
of us all. Now in Isaiah 59 verses 1 through
3, we're talking about the fact that when one is seeking the
Lord, they discover and become humbly conscious of the fact
that they've gone astray, that there's a distance between them
and the Lord. Hence the need to see the Lord
in Isaiah 59 verses 1 through 3 our brother read this earlier
and let me read these first three verses Behold the Lord's hand
is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that
it cannot hear but here's the problem But your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His
face from you that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled
with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken
lies, your tongue have muttered perverseness. So my beloved,
when we see these things, we see these various things mentioned
by Isaiah the prophet, these are those things that separate
us, that put distance between us and the Lord. So when a person
longs after God, there is in the soul this consciousness that
they have departed from the right ways of God. And there is a crying
unto God that there might be a removal of the sin and the
unrighteousness that separates that soul from God. That's called
seeking the Lord. That there might be a removal
of the sin, that which separates them from God. The awakened soul
soon becomes conscious that nothing separates it from God like the
love of sin. Like the love of sin. Now therefore,
it would seek to have sin pardoned if a man or woman or girl is
seeking the Lord. They want that sin that has separated
them from God, they want it pardoned, they want it put away, they want
the lust crucified and the atonement made between their soul and God. They want to be reconciled unto
God. This is a seeking soul. Do you have that in your heart
this morning? Do you want to be reconciled
unto the holy God of the Bible? Do you pray to have everything
taken away from you which separates between you and your God? Do you long for someone to bridge
the gap and to bring you near the Lord in spirit and in truth?
Then, beloved, you are a seeker after God and you're sure to
find Him if these desires are in your heart. Oh, the sweetness! of knowing that there's nothing
between God and our souls. How wonderful it is, what blessed
rest, what blessed sleep we enjoy when we know there is nothing
that separates us from our holy, holy Father. When we know that
our sins are completely put away. Oh my friend, to know that there's
nothing between us and God, that all the sad past is forgiven
and even blotted out of the Lord's remembrance. To know that our
sins are blotted out and that God does not remember them and
neither will He impute sin any longer to those who are believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that now you may speak to
Him without fear. You have no fear of God and trust
in Him without dread. You have a reverence You have
a reverence toward God and you have that type of fear, but you
do not have the fear of punishment and that your God will be an
absolute, strict, justice God to you. You do not have that
fear. Trust in Him without dread. You
know that the sword of God's righteous judgment was thrust
into the side of your Redeemer. What the seeker is longing for
is that he may so approach the Lord as to feel himself a friend
of God like Abraham was. and to know that the divine love
is most truly set upon him. That's what the seeker wants.
That's what he desires. That's what the awakened soul
is looking for. He wants to know that the love
of God is set upon him and that he is the Lord's. The God that
rules on high and thunders when he pleases, that rides upon the
stormy sky and manages the seas, this awful God, is ours. It's the God of those who have
sought Him and found Him. All His powers for our protection,
all of His wisdom is for our direction, all of His tenderness
for our consolation, all of His truth is for our encouragement. all His grandeur for our ennobling,
and all of the infinity of His nature for our eternal glorification. It is true, beloved, that to
seek the Lord is that we discover the distance that's between us,
it humbles us, and we find that it's the love of sin, it's iniquity
that's separated between us and God, and we seek its removal. And as we seek its removal, we
enter into this relationship with our God wherein we discover
that He truly has forgiven and pardoned our sin and He's become
our God and we are in fellowship with Him and we are in communion
with this Holy God. Now my friend, I want to contrast
that with the natural man. And with what he has to say about
all of this when he is approached about seeking the Lord. And there are those of us here
this morning that are yet in a state of nature, lost and undone
for the one of love and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is your attitude? You have a different attitude
altogether. You're not seeking the Lord.
Therefore, you don't have these aspirations and desires of soul
and depth of soul because God has not worked in your heart
to move you in this direction and listen to these things. Do
you really, we would ask you this morning, do you really want
to be saved? Do you really, really want to
be reconciled to God? Do you really want your sin pardoned? Do you really want God to be
your God, your personal God, and for you to be in fellowship
with Him? You say, well, I think about
it now and then. That's not what I'm saying. You
say, well, really, I've given a lot of thought to it, preacher.
No, no. The question is, do you really
want to become a follower after the Lord? Do you really want
to know Christ? Do you really want your sins
forgiven? Does this thing possess you?
Is it the predominant thing in your heart, in your soul, that
you'd rather be saved than anything else in all this world? That
has come down to that, that you want to be saved more than anything
else. Do you really, really want to
be saved? Now, it's easy to talk about
it, but do you really mean it? Do you really mean it? Well,
of course you don't mean it. You don't really, really want
a relationship with the Lord. Well, the Lord says in our text,
and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for
me with all your heart. No one ever finds the Lord accidentally. You just don't stumble on the
Lord, my friend. People who find the Lord are
people who become desperate, made desperate by the work of
the Spirit of God in their heart. They become determined to find
the Lord. Man is not saved by his determination
and by his own purpose, but he will never be saved without his
heart being stirred by the Spirit of God in the depth of his soul
violent after the Kingdom of God. We read in Matthew 11 and
12, the Kingdom of God will be taken by force, by violence. The Lord will stir up those that
are His and bring them to the place where they will desperately
and earnestly seek the Lord. Now, they will not find, you
will not find the Lord reluctantly. You say, I don't much want to,
but you know everybody else seems to be making a confession of
Christ and everybody else, my parents, would like for me to.
Well, you're not going to seek the Lord. You're not going to
find the Lord reluctantly, not deceptively. You say, if I become
a Christian, you know, I might even broaden my prospects in
the business world. No, you won't find the Lord that
way. You're not going to find God that way. Now you won't find
the Lord in your own terms. You say, well I'll be a Christian.
I've told the Lord that I would be a Christian if he would just
do such and such and so and so for me. My friend, you'll not
get to first base dictating to the Lord your terms. Neither
will you find the Lord in your own good time. You know, there's
many of the people I've heard that said, when I get ready,
when I get ready, when I get ready, I'll get saved. My friend,
you will not find the Lord in your own good time. You say,
I'm going to go out and sow a few wild oats, and then I'll come
to the Lord. You will never come to the Lord. You're not going to come to God
with that attitude. It must become the consuming
passion of your soul. It must be the drive of your
life. It's the whole goal and purpose
of your living. It must come to that. I want
Christ Jesus the Lord to save me. Or is it that you kind of
like to talk about it some days and other times you don't want
anything to do with it? There was a man who was in the
hospital I heard about some time ago, and his daughter was a member
of a fundamental church, an Armenian church, and she was trying to
get some preacher to talk her daddy, he had cancer, and he
was dying, full of cancer, and trying to get somebody to talk
her daddy into making a profession of faith before he died. And
so one preacher went in and And he talked to him and he said,
well, really, he said, the way I want it is that, you know,
I don't know whether I really want to do this or whether I
don't want to. And the preacher said, oh, you
better do it. You better make a profession. The man said, well
yeah, but what happens if I make a profession and then a miracle
happens and I get well? He said, then I'll want to go
on back out in the world. Do you think a fellow like that's
going to find the Lord? Do you think a little perfection
that he might make is going to turn his soul away from eternal
damnation and hellfire and turn him toward heaven? Absolutely
not. My friend, if you seek the Lord
with your whole heart, with all of your heart, Then you'll find
Him. If you really want to find Christ, you can only find Him
if you genuinely, sincerely want to find Him. He may be found.
He can be found. He's not hiding, as we said earlier,
from the sinner. but not by folks that are neutral,
not by folks that are just coasting along, not by a son of Adam who's
been left to himself and is filled with the world. No, but when
folks get desperate, when folks get hungry, when folks get thirsty,
when they get violent in their soul, I must, I must have the
Lord. Then He can be found. That's
what I'm saying. People usually pursue or do what
their heart set out to do in this world, don't they? Now don't
get the wrong idea. Men are not saved by their effort,
by their determination, by their deliberation, or by their desperation. No, they're not saved by those
things. And that's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is that no man is going to find the Lord until
God makes him to want to find the Lord with all of his heart.
Half-heartedness? No. And my friend, I look for
wholehearted seeking after the Lord, and I don't find it. Do you know of anybody that's
desperate this morning? Oh, they told me they're desperate.
I got a call Saturday night by a man who said he was desperate.
But he said, I'll be there in the morning. He didn't come last
Sunday morning. He said, if I don't make it in the morning, I'll
make it next Sunday morning. He's not here this morning. He said
he was desperate. But my friend, I don't know of
anybody that's really desperate to find the Lord. They can take
it or leave it. I haven't decided yet, they say. Well, my friend, I'm sorry, but
yes you have. You've already decided. You know,
there's those that have the theology that, you know, a sinner hears
a sinner. And God votes for him that he
might be saved, and the devil votes against him. And now sinner,
it's up to you. But see, they missed it. And
that is that you voted exactly like the devil has. Exactly,
exactly like the devil. You voted to die rather than
live. You voted to go on straight to
hell rather than turn and miss the burning, everlasting burning
promise in the scriptures to unbelievers. And so my friend,
you say I haven't decided yet. No, you're not going to be saved.
You're not going to be saved because you're not wholehearted.
You're not seeking the Lord. With all of your heart, people
usually pursue what their heart set out to do. When a man wants
to do something, listen to me, I'm contrasting how that the
men of this world seek the things of this world and will not seek
God. They won't seek the Lord, but
when they want to do something, the weather won't stop them.
Whatever it is they want to do, the weather won't stop them.
Stop them from coming to church, but it won't stop them from doing
what they want to do. And money is no factor. How much
do you want it? It don't make any difference
how much it costs. If we want it, we'll have it.
If someone wants something bad enough, it's amazing how they'll
make a way to do it. They'll make a way. Time is no
factor. If your hearts are in it, time
will never be a factor. You'll find the time, I guarantee
it. The natural man will find time to do exactly what they
want to do. Risk is no factor. What about
it? Well, once you put your mind
to it and your heart into it, these things don't matter. People
risk their lives pursuing what their hearts want to do. They
risk their lives. Legally, it don't matter. If
he has to rob a bank, he'll do it to do what he wants to do.
The natural man is going to do what he wants to do. And you
know you can just hear story after story and you hear people
telling you about how it is with them and this problem, that problem
keeps them from doing such and such and so and so. Well, most
of the time it's just a bunch of baloney. It's a bunch of baloney. You're not going to find the
Lord. You're not going to seek the Lord. Oh, I know I'm right
here. We might just as well tell the
truth. I know that this is hard for some people to accept, but
it's the truth. Listen to me now. I continue
to contrast this. I want you to see that people
will go to all lengths to pursue their own goals and do exactly
what they want to do, but they'll not seek the Lord. Mount Everest
is the tallest and the highest mountain we have. It's five and
a half miles high, I'm told. People have tried to get to the
top. Some have gotten to the top, but there were two men who
said, that we will do it. Some have died trying to get
to the top of that mountain. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgate
were the first two men to climb to the top of Mount Everett because
they would not have it any other way. They're going to get up
there. Now they were not sitting down at the bottom of the mountain
in a warm cabin sitting beside a pot-bellied stove playing dominoes. Saying, I've dreamed about climbing
that mountain. No. These men put their heart
into it, they set their goal, and they pursued it, and they
accomplished what they set out to do. A natural man will do
that. He will. But where is there somebody
said, I'll find the Lord. I will seek the Lord. I'll call
upon God. I'll find His way. I'll have
communion with God. I'll have fellowship with the
Most High God. Heaven will fill my soul where
I leave this world. I shall walk with God. Where
do we find anyone that will seek the Lord? Now the English Channel
separates France from England. And at its most narrow point,
Benjamin, it's 20 miles wide, as far as from Fairfield to the
Augusta-Shoto Highway. That's how wide it is at its
narrowest point. Many said, we're going to swim
from one side to the other, and many drowned trying to do it. Some succeeded. Then it was to swim faster than
the others. And there came a fellow along
by the name of Antonio Albertoni, who said that he was going to
swim it. He was from Argentina. He said,
I'm going to swim it both ways and I'm not going to stop to
rest. And he did. He did it. Swam both ways across
the English Channel and didn't stop to rest. Now my friend,
determination. Determination. I'm going to do
it. That's what this natural man said. I'm going to conquer
that English Channel. I'm going to do it. And so it
is with the natural man. From a human standpoint, men
do not come to the Lord because they do not want to. But from
God's standpoint, we know John 6, 37, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and they that come to me I will in no
wise cast out. But from an astral standpoint, ye will not come.
that you might have life. That's a commentary on natural
man. Anything else, we can do it and
we will do it. We'll do it. Well, you say, I
would kind of like to have been saved, Preacher, but you know,
this election business, you know, I just bothered about this election
business. Well, no, you don't really want
to be saved. You don't really want to be saved.
You know, I never knew anything about election until after God
saved me. I've known about election for
many, many years. But I never knew anything about
it until after God saved me. And I'll tell you what, that's
none of your business about election. Your business is you seek the
Lord with all of your heart. You search for Him with your
whole heart. That's your business. Your friends
and your sinful ways, your social clique, means more to you than
the Lord Jesus does. You don't want to be saved. You don't want to be. When you
get to the place where you seek with all your heart, your soul,
your strength, God will be found. Now there are some people in
the scriptures, and boy I hope I can finish this, but I'd like
to mention just a couple of them who who are just like some of
you here. And turn to the book of Luke
chapter 9, if you will. And I want to mention just a
couple here, and we'll move on rather rapidly and try to get
this message finished. But in Luke chapter 9, and I
want to begin here with verse 57. And it came to pass, as they
went in a way, there was a certain man said to the Lord, I will
follow thee whithersoever thou goest. There was a certain man said
to him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. Now,
beloved, that sounds like 11 o'clock Sunday morning profession
to me, and it sounds mighty good. Lord, I'll follow you wherever
you go. Well, like I say, that just sounds
real good. But listen to what Jesus told
him in verse 58. And Jesus said to him, foxes
have holes, birds of the air have nests, But the Son of Man
hath not where to lay his head. What Jesus said is, now wait
a minute. You say you're going to follow me? Listen, my friend. There are many, many people that
would follow the Lord if there was no cross involved. No cross. Jesus said foxes have holes,
birds of the air have nests. The Son of Man doesn't have a
place to lay his head, implying if you follow me, it may be the
same with you. You may be in the same condition
I'm in. You may have to deal with life
entirely different way. You may have to walk in humble,
surrender, sacrifice unto God like a grain of wheat falling
into the ground and dying day by day. You must die daily if
you follow me. There cannot be a crown without
a cross. And you, if you follow me, you
must be willing to die out to yourself. That was the end of
this fella, as all of it. He said, if I can have you, if
I can follow you and everything will be just the same with me
as it is now, then I'll go with you, Lord. But I'll tell you
things don't stay the same if you truly follow the Lord with
all of your heart and all of your soul. Look at verse 59.
And he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer
me. And I want you to notice this
next word, first. Suffer me first. to go and bury
my father. His father was not dead yet.
He wanted to go back home, stay at home until his father died,
and then he wanted to be there for the funeral, he wanted to
bury his father, and then he said, I will come. Suffer me
first. Alright, now I'll say a little
more about that in just a moment. Look at verse 60. And Jesus said
to him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach
the kingdom of God. And another also, verse 61, said,
Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go bid them farewell,
which are at home at my house. Now, beloved, your first is going
to save you to hell. What is your first? You say,
well, me and mine are first. My life, what my ambitions, What
I want to do, my, my, my, I come first. My first, your first,
my friend, he's gonna send you to hell. Gonna send you to hell. You say, well, now preacher,
you tell me what you want to. But I'm going to stay where I'm
at. That's just exactly what I've been telling you all morning
long. You're going to stay right where you're at. You're not going
to move one muscle. You can talk a good story and
you can tell a good story, but you're not going to follow the
Lord. You're first. will send you to hell, and don't
you forget it. And it goes on, Jesus said to
him in verse 62, no man having put his hand to the plow and
looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. If you've got that kind
of attitude, you're not fit for the Lord's kingdom. If there's
anything, anything that you'll put between God and yourself
in your service to Him, that you will not submit or surrender
unto the Lord. My friend, God's going to cross
your path with that all the way to the grave. He will cross your
path and you won't take this step. You will not give this
up. You're not going to do that. You will hug your sins to your
bosom and die in the way of hell. You're first. I'm telling you
plainly, let eternity remind you of it over and over. As your
worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched, the preacher told
you your first would send you to hell, and it will. It will. It'll send you there. Well, there's
another fellow that I want to mention quickly. I have to hurry.
In Mark 10, verse 17 and following, Mark chapter 10 verse 17, he
says, And when he was come forth into the way, there came one
running, and kneel to him, this one who came running, jumping
over all the pews as it were, spending no time to get down
front, and saying, he asked the master, said, Good master, what
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And the Lord told
him, verse 19, he said, You know the commandments, and he answered
and said, verse 20, Master, all these have I observed from my
youth, And I've told you on several occasions this man lied, just
like anybody else will lie that tells you they keep the law.
There ain't nobody keeps the law. Don't you let anybody tell
you that. There ain't nobody perfectly
keeps the law. Anytime an individual says he
does, he is usurping the glory that belongs to the God-man Jesus
Christ. He is the only one that ever
kept the law and kept it perfectly. This man was a liar. But nevertheless,
He goes on here and Jesus beholding him said, one thing thou lackest. Jesus loved him and he said,
but one thing you lack. You seem to be diligent, you
seem to have that push in you that would drive a man to find
the way of eternal life. But then he goes on and he says,
there's one thing that you lack. There's something between you
and God. There's something that's got
a grip on your soul. And he says, I want you to go
sell whatever you have. And the fellow might have said,
well, that ain't so bad. But then the Lord said, and give
it to the poor. Give it to the poor. And thou
shall have treasure in heaven. And come, take up your cross,
and follow me. Yes, sir, you take what you have,
and you sell it out. Now, I'm going to tell you what
the Lord Jesus is saying here, what he's doing. You see, he
knows this man. He knows he's an idolater in
his heart. Covetousness is idolatry. And Jesus knew this man was covetous. He knew it. And he said, you
listen, it's all or nothing. It's all or nothing. You take
it, you sell it, you give it away. You can't follow me and
worship an idol at the same time. You've got to let this idol go.
You can't hold to me and hold to the world at the same time.
Hold to God with one hand and hold everything else with the
other. You can't do it. You worship God. A man cannot
serve God. and mammon. He cannot. He'll
love the one, hate the other. He will not wholly worship God
as long as this world has him in its grasp. Covetousness, I
say to you, is idolatry. Well, take it and give it away.
Do you really, do you really want to be saved? Do you really,
rich young ruler, Do you really, really want a fellowship with
God? Do you want to commune with the
Most High God? Now, there's another fellow I
want to mention in Acts chapter 24. Turn there with me. Acts
chapter 24. And I want you to see this. There's a man by the name of
Felix, verse 24 and verse 25. And after certain days, when
Felix came with his wife, Priscilla, which was a Jewish, He sent for
Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he
reasoned of righteousness and temperance and judgment to come,
Felix trembled and answered, Go thy way for this time. When
I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. Paul had been
presenting his experience in the grace of God and how that
God had saved him. And old Felix was listening to
him. Did he really want to be saved? Not on your life. Not on your life. Sit there and
tremble when Paul spoke. Well, when a man puts off God,
he doesn't want to be saved. You mark it down. When a man
says, you come back, and I'll listen to you again about this
matter. And the next verses tell us that what he wanted, really,
and what he was hoping for, was that money should be given him
a pawl that he might loose him. In other words, he wanted a bribe.
That's what he wanted. That's where his heart was. He
wasn't wanting to be saved, and he trembled, but he wasn't wanting
to be saved. He wasn't interested. In Acts
26, just turn over there, Acts chapter 26, and look at verse
27 and verse 28. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?
I know that thou believest. You know these prophets spoke
a word from God. You know they were anointed of
God. You know this was not their word. You know that. Then Agrippa
said to him, Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Almost, Paul, you convinced me
that I ought to trust Christ, that I ought to be saved. Well,
he wasn't interested. I tell you, he wasn't interested.
He was not interested. You're either altogether a Christian
or no Christian at all. No almost with God. You're either seeking the Lord
with all of your heart or you're not a Christian, you're not going
to be a Christian unless you're seeking Him with all your heart.
No almost Christian. You are or you are not a Christian. See, there's no middle ground.
Seeking the Lord, searching for Him with your whole heart. Well,
there's some folks that really got interested in the Bible.
I don't have much time to deal with them, but I'm not going
to turn to the scriptures, but in Job chapter 23 and verse 3,
old Job said, Oh, that I might know where I might find him.
And in chapter 38, the Lord appeared unto Job in the whirlwind. You
see, Job really seriously wanted to find him, and the Lord appeared
unto Him. Have you ever got to this place
where you said in your heart where the primary concern was?
Find the Lord. I've got to find the Lord. And
then you remember the publican and the Pharisee in Luke chapter
18 and how their prayers, how different they were. And how
that the one prayed this prayer, you know, I thank God I'm not
like other men and so on. And then the old publican He
humbled himself. God was stirring in his heart. He had no wheat in his chaff. He was just all chaff. And he couldn't boast of having
any wheat like his Pharisee. His Pharisee was all wheat and
no chaff. But until God dealt with this... Well, I'm coming down. I may not land, but I'll get
it out directly. This Pharisee, he did not go
down to his house justified. He was never saved. But this
publican humbled himself. He humbled himself, smote on
his breast. God be merciful to me, a sinner. He wanted mercy. And you know what? He found it.
And you will find it too, unless you wait until you're in hell
to seek it. You will find it too. Okay, and
then in Mark 10, verse 46 and following, you remember Jesus
was on his way, and there was a blind man, blind Bartimaeus. And as they got closer and closer
to where he was at, this blind Bartimaeus, hearing that he was
coming, cried out, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Have mercy on me! And there was somebody that came
up to him and said, hush, hush! We have a worship service going
here and we don't want anybody to mess it up. Don't say anything
more. Put his hand over his mouth.
Held his hand over his mouth. Don't say anything more. And
I'll take my hand away. And he took his hand away and
blind Bartimaeus said, O son of David, have mercy on me. And do you know what? The Lord
heard him. He wanted to be heard, this man
did. and the Lord heard him and the Lord saved him because it
didn't make any difference to him what a nuisance it was or
how much it bothered everybody else he wanted to be saved he
didn't want to die and go to hell and he wanted his sight
restored and he got it because he would not be denied the Lord
had stirred him up and made him desire it with all of his heart
alright now then I wanna just Just try to sum all this up here
very quickly if I can and get you out of here. Time is about
away, but be not deceived. Be not deceived. I don't want
anybody deceived here. I want everybody here to know
the facts. If men are to be saved, it will
not be accomplished while they're asleep. It will not be accomplished
while they're asleep, nor will mercy be found by listless, careless,
laxadaisical, dull, sluggish, indifferent souls, indifference
to eternal realities, seems to impregnate the very air we breathe. This is a sleepy world, drugged
by Satan. Sleepy, I mean as to things spiritual
and divine. We're busy about a thousand things,
but sluggish and dull about our never, never-dying soul. No, brother, sister, when the
Spirit of God sets a man to searching, he becomes earnest. He becomes
intense, fervent, behemoth. For the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, as we said, and the violent take it by force. He who would be saved must be
resolved to escape, resolved to escape from the wrath to come.
It must and will come to this, that you'll not rest till Christ
and eternal life be found. For you cannot endure to be damned,
you say, yet there be a remedy You must have it. If you cannot
rest till you receive the kiss of pardon, you shall soon have
it. If you cannot be quiet and restful
until you're taken into the Father's house, owned to be his child,
you soon will cry, Abba Father, and rejoice in the adoption.
If you're content to go without God's salvation, you'll go without
it. But if there's a longing for it in the soul, you will
have it. You will have it. Now Lord deny
me what thou wilt, the poet said, only ease me of my guilt. Supplant
at thy feet I lie. Give me Christ or else I die. And when it comes to that, then
you'll have Christ. And I want to say just a quick
reason here for this requirement that's spelled out in the scripture.
Because I feel that somebody here is going to say, I don't
understand why this requirement is tacked on to the promise. Search for me with your whole
heart. I don't understand it. Listen to me. The reason is this,
that the danger from which we need to escape is so great that
the utmost earnestness is none too much. Consider for a moment
the imminence of your peril and the overwhelming nature of it.
The unsaved lie under the wrath of God. 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. And if
we did but know what the wrath of God is, Nebuchadnezzar's furnace
would be cool in comparison to it. And most of you probably
know what Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, how hot it was. When they threw
the Hebrew children in, it slew those that were throwing them
in. It was so hot. You, my friend, are in danger
of instant physical death. Is that not true? and the judgment
and the second death that follows on the heels of the judgment
which consists of banishment from the presence of God and
the glory of his power forever? Oh, if a man did but know while
he lived what it is to die, if he could but guess what it is
to stand before the bar of God than to be cast, to be cast away
where the worm doth not and the fire is not quenched, surely
this would make him seek the Lord. with all of his heart. Friend, if you were in a burning
house, would you be eager to get out of it? Would you be eager
to get out of it? Well, I would say most certainly
you would. If you were sinking in the river,
would you be struggling desperately to get to the bank? Well, how
much more earnest ought you to be when eternal life or eternal
death are the solemn alternatives? Oh, oh, sleeper, sleeper, rise
and call upon your God. Second, look at the greatness
of the mercy which you're seeking. This is why you must be earnest.
It is none other than pardon of all your sins, perfect righteousness
in Christ Jesus, safety through his precious blood, adoption
into the family of God, and eternal enjoyment of the presence of
God in heaven forever. That worth seeking? How will
a man seek after these precious things? Should it not be with
all of his heart? Third and last, I want you to
know that in this matter that you're dealing with, everybody
is in dead earnest. Poor seeker, everyone you have
to do with in this matter is in earnest. Satan is in earnest. to keep you. I say this is the
reason why you must with all of your heart seek the Lord.
Satan is in earnest to keep you. He would hold you in your present
state. He would keep you right where
you are until death finds you. And to ruin your soul that you
might be his constant companion for all eternity. How diligently
he baits the hook and sets his trap to catch your soul. lest
you escape. Satan is earnest. Is anybody
here in question about the earnestness of the devil to have your soul? My friend, he's in earnest. See
how earnest, on the other hand, Christ is. He proved his earnestness
by a life of toil by day and a life of prayer by night, by
hunger and thirst and bloody sweat, by obedience to the Father's
will, by keeping the law and standing and honoring and magnifying
the holy law of God, the zeal of God's house, he says has eaten
me up. He was earnest. He was earnest
even to the death of sinners. Was he not? He was earnest to
the death. My friend, if you continue to
trifle with God, it will judge you. He will judge you in earnest,
and punish you in earnest. Has He not said, Beware, therefore
ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none
to deliver? Hell is no trifle. The wrath
of God is sure to be executed upon the world of the ungodly.
Heaven and hell, then, my friend, are in earnest, and so must you. Be in earnest if you would find
the Lord's deliverance, if you would find the Lord's salvation.
Father, in the name of Jesus, do thou work a great work here
this morning. Do thou, our Father, disturb
the hearts of these that have heard this message. And I pray,
Lord, that you will never let them forget it. And I pray that
it shall never haunt them throughout eternity as they're there in
hell. but that the conscience, Lord,
that they should be tormented now until they seek the Lord
with all their heart. May this lollygagging and this
laxadaisical attitude toward the gospel, may it be removed
and may there be an outpouring of the Spirit of God and soberness
and a moving upon the hearts and the hearts moving toward
God in this place. I pray it in Jesus' name and
for His sake. Amen.