Would you turn back to the 27th
Psalm? And tonight we're going to observe
the Lord's table together. And I'm going to be speaking
from Matthew chapter five, when the Lord said to his disciples,
you are the light of the world. That's a remarkable thing to
say, isn't it? You are the light of the world. In Psalm 27 verse
eight, David said, when thou said seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy
face, Lord, will I seek. When the Lord says to any man,
seek ye my face, this is the reply of all that he says this
to. My heart said unto thee, thy
face, O Lord, will I seek. I want to attempt to bring a
message on seeking the Lord. seeking the Lord. Everybody, without exception,
seeks the Lord's help. Everybody seeks the Lord's hand,
as it were. When we're sick, we pray for
the Lord to heal us. Everybody does that. When our
loved ones are sick, We ask the Lord to heal them. We pray for
him to restore broken relationships. Lord, this is painful. Do something
about it. If we're in a mess financially,
we ask him to get us out of it and to somehow make it to where
we're not in that mess anymore. We pray for him to bless our
marriages. We pray for him to bless our
children. We pray for him to bless our homes. We seek his help and his blessing. We seek his hand. Why even the atheist seeks his
help in time of trouble. God, if you're out there, prove
it and do something for me as if he had anything to prove.
I love that statement, there are no atheists in foxholes.
I'm sure that that is so. This reminds me of what the Lord
said in John 6, verse 26, to a large group of people. He said,
you seek me not because of the miracles, not because of any
true conviction regarding who I am, But you seek me because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. That's seeking the
Lord's hand. That's not seeking the Lord's
face. All the difference in the world. But the Lord said to David, seek
ye my face. His face is who he is. Seek ye my face. The Shulamite said, I sought
him whom my soul loveth. Seeking his face, his person,
who he is. Turn with me to Acts chapter
17 for just a moment. Acts chapter 17. Verse 22. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Mars Hill and said, ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things you are too superstitious. Now that word superstitious is
religious. Can you be too religious? Absolutely. Look what he says in verse 23,
for as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar
with this inscription, to the unknown God. Now these fellows
were so religious, they said, we're going to cover our bases.
We're going to worship this God and that God. And just in case
we've left out anybody, we're going to worship this one too,
to the unknown God. We're, we're, we're covering
our bases. Now, Paul says, whom therefore you ignorantly worship,
him declare I unto you, God that made the world and all things
therein, seeing that he's Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth
not in temples made with hands, neither is worship with men's
hands, as though he needed anything. Listen, any God that needs is
no God. seeing he giveth to all life
and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations
of men to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined
the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation.
You know God's determined the day of your death. And God determined
the fact that me and you would be here this morning. Why were
you here? Because God determined it. Everything
that happens is according to God's sovereign will. And here's
why, that they should seek the Lord. Men should seek the Lord. If happily they may feel after
him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. Men should seek the Lord. I should
seek the Lord. You should seek the Lord. He's the Lord. He's your creator. You're in his hands. Your eternal
destiny is up to him. You should, I should seek the
Lord. Now I realize no man by nature
will, Romans 3.11 says, there's none that seeketh after God.
Do you know that if you're left to yourself and if I'm left to
myself, we will not seek the Lord. The only way we'll seek
the Lord is if he says to our heart, seek ye my face. And oh Lord, say that to me even
right now. Say to me, seek ye my face. And my heart will reply, thy
face, oh Lord. will I seek? Now, if any of us
are not seeking his face, how evil. How evil. And if we are seeking his face,
we know why. He said, seek ye my face. And I know this anybody who seeks
him shall find him." The Lord said, ask and you shall receive,
seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be open to you,
for everyone that asketh receiveth, and everyone that seeketh Find
it. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be open to him. That's his promise. Somebody
says, well, I've sought the Lord and I haven't found him. You
expect me to believe God or you? If you really seek him, you'll
find him. He's promised that. Seek and
you shall find. I was trying to pray for somebody. Trying to think of what to pray.
And it entered my mind, here's what you need to pray for them.
Pray that they'd seek the Lord. You know, that's the best thing
you can pray for me. Pray for me that I'll seek the
Lord. Because if I seek him, I'll find him. Pray for you. That's what I want to pray for
you. That you would seek the Lord. And you know, if someone's
seeking the Lord, everything's going to be just fine. If somebody's
seeking the Lord, you're going to see it. They're going to be
careful. They're going to be careful.
They're not going to be indifferent. They're going to be careful in
all aspects. If they're seeking the Lord. Now, if someone is
indifferent, if someone is apathetic, if someone grows cold, they're
not seeking the Lord. Someone that's seeking the Lord,
it's going to show up in every aspect of their life, how they
treat people in every way. When you seek the Lord, it affects
everything about you. Everything. Now what is it to
seek his face? We all know what it is to seek
his hand. Every one of us, we ask him for things. We ask him
to do things for us. We ask him to get us out of messes.
We ask him to heal certain troubles. We seek his hand. What does it
mean to seek his face? Well, if I seek his face, I seek
him. Not just his hand, but him. I seek his presence. I want the presence of the Lord.
I want the presence of the Lord with me. Now, as I preach, you
want the presence of the Lord as you hear. So you can hear
in the power of his spirit. We seek his presence. David said,
thy presence is salvation. We seek his presence. We seek
his approval. I want him to approve of me.
We seek His wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask God who giveth all men liberally and upbraideth not.
He'll have it. We seek His wisdom. We seek His
will. I want to know His will, and
I want Him to give me the grace to do His will. I want Him to
cause me to do His will. When we seek His face, we seek
His will. Most especially, when we seek
His face, we seek His grace. We seek His favor. I want Him
to have favor toward me. And I'm talking about unmerited
favor. That's the only way He can have favor toward me is if
it's unmerited on my part and free on His part. He's got to
give me His unmerited favor for me to have it. But if I seek
His face, I'm seeking the favor of God Almighty. I want God to
be for me. Because if God be for us, who
can be against us? seeking his face. You know what scripture says
regarding Zacchaeus. Remember Zacchaeus was a wee
little man. Y'all know that song. He's singing vacation Bible school
a couple of weeks. The scripture says regarding
this man, Zacchaeus, who's the chief of the publicans. He was
a very wicked man. He was a very sinful man, the
chief of the publicans. But the scripture says he sought
to see Jesus. who he was. That was his desire all of a
sudden. God put it in his heart. He wanted
to know who the Lord Jesus Christ really was. He sought to see
Jesus who he was. And you know what it says next?
And he could not. For he was little of stature. You see, the first thing you
find out when you seek to see Jesus, who he is, you find out
you can't. You can't see him. You're of
too little stature. You're too sinful. You're too
unable. You can't do it. He sought to
see Jesus, who he was, and he could not, for he was little
of stature. But you know what? He went and
climbed up in that sycamore tree, and when the Lord passed by,
the scripture says he looked up, and he said, Zacchaeus, You
see, the Lord was looking for him, wasn't he? The reason he
sought to see Jesus, who he was, was because the Lord Jesus Christ
had already put his hand in his heart and caused him to do that.
Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. And that's always, you know,
if you're seeking the Lord, you're in a hurry about it. It's not
something you can put off. Make haste, come down, not up,
but down, for today I must abide at thy house. And the scripture
says he made haste and came down and received him joyfully. You see, when you want to know
who he is and you find out that you can't know who he is, canst
thou by searching find out God? No. Then you cry, Lord, turn
to me. Turn thy face to me. Bend down toward me. Turn me,
cause thy face to shine, and I'll be saved. And if you don't
cause your face to shine, I won't be saved. Lord, turn to me. Have mercy on me. Show me your
face. Psalm 105, verse four says, seek
the Lord and his strength. Seek his face evermore or at
all times. Now this is a description of
a believer. He's someone who's always seeking the face of the
Lord. You know, it's sad. You've seen it and I've seen
it and I know it'll happen to me apart from the grace of God.
It's sad to see someone who seems to be seeking the Lord's face
and they seem to just kind of lose their steam. Lose their
zeal. Lose their desire. At one time it seemed like seeking
the Lord's face was the business of their life, but it is no more. They grow lukewarm. Lukewarm. Not hot. Not cold. I'm okay. I'm okay. What a dreadful state
to be in when we lose that desire to seek His face. Now before we get into how the
Bible tells us he is to be sought. There's some scriptures that
tell us how he's not to be sought, and these are just as important.
Turn with me to Romans 9. Romans 9. Verse 31. But Israel, which followed, after
the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Now, if you or I seek the Lord
by the works of the law, write this down, we won't find it.
That's the wrong way to seek him. You're not even seeking
the Lord if you believe in works in any way. Now, what does Paul
mean? What does the Bible mean? What
do I mean by works? I can tell, you listen real carefully,
I can tell what somebody believes about works by what they believe
about election. Look in Romans 9, 11. You're
in that chapter for the children. talking about Jacob and Esau,
being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil. They didn't have any good works
to recommend them. They didn't have any evil works to disqualify
them. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it's written, Jacob hath a love, but
Esau hath a hated. Now this is God's word. Not of
works. Here's what election says. Election says salvation has nothing
to do with your works. It's God's sovereign choice of
his people before time began. What's your response to that?
You know what my response is? Praise the Lord. Thank God. Because if he had to wait till
after I was born to respond to my works, he'd have to send me
to hell. Thank God salvation is of the Lord. Thank God salvation
is by the free grace of God, not of works. Don't try seeking
the Lord by your works. They're evil. You're going to
bring evil to him and say, hear me because of this evil I've
done. That's what we do when we seek him by our works. You know, when Uzzah, you remember
that story when The ark was being carried on an ox cart. Now, God had commanded for the
ark to be carried by the priests. with staves carrying the Ark,
but they decided to bypass that. And they put the Ark of the Covenant
on an ox cart. And it's driving along, and everybody's
glad. You know, the Ark's coming back
to Israel. It's left the land of the Philistines, and everybody's
all happy. And all of a sudden, the ox cart hits a rut, and the
Ark gets ready to tumble off the ox cart. And Uzzah reaches
forth his hand to steady it, and God kills him. He kills him
for touching it. Is that severe? Well, David thought
it was at first, but he went on to say the reason he did it.
You can read this in first Corinthians chronicles 15 verse 13. The reason he did it is because
we sought him not after the due order, after the way the scriptures
present, how he should be sought. Now, I must seek him according
to the scriptures. Not according to man's tradition,
not according to the traditions that would be in any church,
including this one, but according to the scriptures. They sought
him not after due order. You know, the Lord, here's another
thing we need to understand in this thing of seeking the Lord.
The Lord said to the Pharisees in John 5, 44, how can you believe? which receive honor one of another,
and seek not that honor that cometh from God only. You see, when you seek the Lord,
if you're about, or if I'm about pleasing men, I'm not seeking
the Lord. I'm not. If I'm seeking the honor
that comes from men, I'm not seeking that honor that comes
from God only. So when I seek the Lord, may
I seek him only and not to please men. I thought about what the Lord
said to the two disciples who came to him, who had been followers
of John the Baptist, and they come to the Lord. One of them's
Andrew, the other one's name's not mentioned. And the Lord said
to them, when they come to him, What seek you? I'm asking that question to me.
I'm asking that question to you. What seek you? Now what you seek
is what you really are. What you desire is what you really
are. What seek you? What are you after? What is it that you desire? What
is it that you want to have? Now we're either after this world,
we're either seeking this world or we're seeking him. We're either seeking the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, the
lust of the flesh, pleasure. The lust of the eyes, popularity,
being concerned about what men see. The pride of life, power. I want power. We're either seeking
the world or we're seeking Him. What seek ye? Well, I hope by the grace of
God that I'm seeking His face. When the Lord said, seek ye my
face, my presence, my person, my will, my heart said, thy face,
oh Lord, will I seek. Now, what do the scriptures say
about seeking him? Don't you want to be somebody
that seeks the Lord? That's all I want. I want to
be somebody who actually seeks the living God in the person
of his son. What does the Bible have to say
about seeking the Lord? Well, first of all, I'm to seek
him where he can be found. I thought of what the angels
said to the women who were looking for the Lord after they saw his
empty tomb, they asked this question, why seek even living among the
dead? Good question, isn't it? Now, the dead, anything that
has flesh in it is dead, particularly man's religion. Let me tell you
something. The most evil thing there is,
is man's religion. I don't care if it's Baptist,
I don't care if it's Catholic, I don't care if it's Protestant,
I don't care if it's whatever the great religion is an evil
thing. It's not good, it's evil. And
men use religion to supposedly seek after God. Somebody once
said religion is man's search for God. The gospel is God's
search for men and finding them. Now, you're not going to find
him in that which is dead, that has the mark of death upon it. I love what Paul said to that
crowd that we just read about. I perceive that in all things
you're too religious. That's the problem. Have you
ever seen that your religion, your religion is an evil thing? And it's contrary to God and
contrary to the gospel. And it's your big problem. It's
your big problem. I've said this. I hope somebody
hears it. The biggest problem you and I have, your problem,
my problem. It's not my sin. It's my righteousness. It's my religion. That's the
problem. You're not going to find the
Lord in man's religion. You're just not going to do it.
Well, where is he to be found? He's found in His Word. He is in this book. He wrote it. To Him give all
the prophets witness. He said you search the scriptures
for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they
that testify of me. He is in this book we call the
Bible. Peter said, knowing this first,
this is what comes first, that no scripture is of any private
interpretation. Somebody says, that's your interpretation.
No, no scriptures are any private interpretation. For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men spake of
God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Ask the Scriptures. And if I'm going to find Him,
I'm going to find Him in this book. Let me give me and you
some good advice. Read the Bible. Read the Bible. This is the Word of God. And
the Lord makes himself known in this book. Now, I realize
that you and I can't even understand the Bible unless he makes it
known. You can be as smart as Einstein and have it all memorized
and read it all. It'll do you no good unless he's
pleased to open it up to you and open your understanding so
that you see the scripture. But read the Bible. He is in this
book. This is a religion of this book
we call the Bible. Where can I find him? He is in
the public assembly of God's saints. You know what? He's here
right now. Didn't he promise? Where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the
midst of them. He is most especially in the
public assembly of his saints. He's here. Turn with me to Revelation
chapter 1 for a moment. This is John's vision of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 10, I was in
the Spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice
as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega. the first and
the last. And what thou seest write in
a book and send it unto the seven churches were in Asia. And he
names the seven churches. And then he gives this description
of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 12. And I turned to see the voice
that spake with me and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And this is the churches. He's
going to tell us that the seven churches of Asia and in the midst
of the seven candlesticks, one likened to the Son of Man. clothed
with a garment down to the foot, and gird about the paps with
a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white
like wool, the ancient of days, as white as snow, his absolute
purity. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
penetrating, searching, and his feet like undefined brass, as
if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of
many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was the sun that shineth in his
strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead." You understand why, don't you? And he laid his
right hand upon me, saying unto me, fear not, I am the first
and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell
and of death. Write these things which thou
hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall
be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars
which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks,
the seven stars are the angels, the pastors of the seven churches,
and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches,
unto the angel of the church at Ephesus write, these things
saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who
walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Where's
the Lord walking? In the midst of His church. Now,
if I want to seek Him, you know where I'm going to be? Right
here. Right here. This is where He
makes Himself known. Now, to willingly and habitually
absent myself from the public worship of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He's there, says one thing, I'm not seeking Him. That's all
it says. If I want to seek him, I want
to be where he is. Now somebody says, aren't you
being legalistic about church attendance? No, no, not at all. If the Lord's here, I want to
be here. And I want to be here every time
when the Lord's here. And the Lord's here every time
because he promised where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there I am in the midst of them. You know, the
scripture puts a lot of emphasis on what we're doing right now.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. To save them that
believe. If you and I are going to be
saved, it's going to be through the foolishness of what's going
on right now. To the world is foolishness.
Titus 1.3 says, he has manifested his word through preaching. I'm to seek the Lord while he
may be found. Turn to Isaiah 55. I want you to see this verse
of scripture, verse 6. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. You see, there is a time when
he cannot be found and will not hear. You know what that tells
me? I don't want to presume. David said, seek the Lord early.
I'll seek the Lord early. You know what that means? That
means right now. Let me tell you two false refuges,
yesterday and tomorrow. Biggest lies that have ever been
told. If you find any assurance of your salvation because of
something that happened to you yesterday, you're not looking
to Christ. And if you're waiting for tomorrow,
it ain't going to happen. Seek the Lord now while he may
be found. You know, one of the scariest
scriptures that I know of is in John chapter 12, verse 36,
where it says, these things spake Jesus and departed and did hide
himself from them. I don't want that to happen to
me. I don't want to presume. Lord, Say right now to me, seek ye
my face. And cause me right now to say,
may this be the description of my life. Thy face, O Lord, will
I seek. And he's to be sought singularly. Turn back to Psalm 27. Verse
4. This is that first song. We read
one thing. David says, if I desired of the
Lord, one thing, not two, one thing, have I desired of the
Lord. And that will, I seek after that. I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord. and to inquire in his temple. And this is the one thing I desire.
And he's not talking about, I want to be in a physical building.
I don't want to spend all my time in this place. Neither do
you, or any man-made religious building. He's not talking about
dwelling in some man-made, the house of the Lord is the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. And here's my one desire. This
is the one thing I seek, that I might be found in Christ. So
that when God sees me, all He sees is Jesus Christ. That's my one desire. That's
what I say. I don't want anything else but
to be found in Him. That I might behold His beauty
and inquire into His temple. Lord said, seek ye first. Seek
ye first. Seek you singularly only. You
know, here's where people get in trouble. Here's where I'll
get in trouble. Here's where you'll get in trouble. When we
try to make the Lord the first priority. That's no good. He can't be the first priority.
He's the only priority. Thou only will I seek after. And he's to be sought with all
the heart. Proverbs, Jeremiah 29, 13, you
shall seek me and find me when you search for me and seek me
with all your heart. Not half of it. Half of it is
none of it. I think of what the Lord said
in Malachi chapter one, when he talked about those people
who brought to him the lame and the blind. They brought the sacrifices
that were lame and blind, not the perfect. Now I realize that
represents bringing your works. It's nothing but lame and blind,
but it's also bringing God the leftovers. That which doesn't
cost you, that's half-hearted. Half-heartedness is insincerity.
I'm to seek the Lord with all my heart and with all my soul
and with all my strength. Psalm 77 too, David said, in
the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord." Isn't that when we
really seek Him? You know, in that sense, trouble's
good, isn't it? Trouble's good. If it causes me to seek the Lord,
trouble, I don't care what kind of trouble it is, it's good.
For some reason, that's what spurs us on to seek Him. Trouble.
In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. Now turn with me to
Daniel 9. This is so important. This is
what's involved in seeking the Lord. The way I've come up with
these points is I just looked in the Bible where it talked
about seeking the Lord. Look in Daniel chapter 9. Wherever
there's seeking of the Lord, there will be personal confession
of sin. When you're not seeking the Lord,
you're justifying yourself. When you're seeking the Lord,
you're being honest before God about your personal sin. Now look here in Daniel 9 verse
2. In the first year of his reign,
I Daniel understood by books, he understood the Scriptures.
The number of the years where of the Lord, the word of the
Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years
in the desolations of Jerusalem. Remember, Daniel was in these
70 year period. And look what he says in verse
three. He said, I sent my face unto the Lord God to seek. There we go. To seek. by prayer
and supplications with fasting sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed
unto the Lord, my God, and I made my confession and said, Oh Lord,
the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant mercy to them that
love him and to them that keep his commandments, we've sinned and have committed iniquity and
have done wickedly. and have rebelled, even by departing
from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened
unto thy servants, the prophets, which spake in thy name to our
kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the
land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us, Confusion
of faces, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem and to all Israel that are near and that are far
off through all the countries, whether thou has driven them
because of their trespass, that they trespass against thee, O
Lord, to us belong of confusion of face, to our kings, to our
princes, to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies
and forgiveness, though we've rebelled against him. Neither
have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws,
which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. Yea,
all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that
they might not obey thy voice. Therefore the curse is poured
upon us, and the oath that's written in the law of Moses,
the servant of God, because we've sinned against him, And He hath
confirmed His words which He spake against us, and against
our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil.
For unto the whole heaven hath not been done upon Jerusalem. As it's written in the Law of
Moses, all this evil has come upon us, yet we made not our
prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities
and understand thy truth. Therefore hath the Lord watched
upon the evil and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God
is righteous in all his works which he doeth, for we obeyed
not his voice. And now, O Lord our God, thou hast brought thy
people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and
has got me renowned, as at this day we've sinned, we've done
wickedly. O Lord, according to all thy
righteousness, I beseech thee, let thy anger and thy fury be
turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because for
our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and
thy people have become a reproach to all that are about us. Now,
therefore, our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, this confession
of sin and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon
thy sanctuary that's desolate for the Lord's sake. Oh my God,
incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations
in the city which is called by thy name. For we do not present
our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but
for thy great mercies. Oh Lord, hear, oh Lord, forgive,
oh Lord, hearken and do. Defer not for thine own sake. Oh my God, for thy city and thy
people, are called by thy name." Now that is seeking the Lord.
It's seeking the Lord by confession of sin. And then I seek the Lord
by faith. Hebrews 11, six says, without
faith, it's impossible to please God. And did you hear that? Without
faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. When I come by faith, that means
I come knowing I can't come by my works, but looking to Christ
only. I'm just like Daniel. He comes
into God's presence. He says, hear me for the Lord's
sake. I'm not presenting this for my righteousness sake, but
hear me for the Lord's sake. That's what faith is. It's coming
into his presence only in the name of Christ, knowing the only
reason You'll be heard and that you'll find Him is for Christ's
sake. That's what faith is. It's believing that Christ, it's
believing that the person of Christ is the only way I can
come into His presence. I want to be like that woman
who came through the press to touch Him. She knew if I can
just touch the hem of His garment, I'll be clean. Turn to Luke chapter
6. Verse 17, And he came down with them, the
Lord Jesus, and stood in the plain, and the company of his
disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all of Judea
and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, which came
to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. And they that
were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed. And the
whole multitude sought to touch him. For there went virtue out
of him, and he healed them all." Now, I want to be one of these
people, don't you? Seeking to touch. Seeking to come in contact
with the hem of his garment. You know, to get to the hem of
his garment, you know where you're going to have to be? Down on the ground. You can't touch the hem of his
garment when you're standing up. You're going to be down on the
ground to touch the hem of His garment, seeking His mercy. Now, here is the promise that
we have for all who seek. Everyone that seeketh, findeth. That's God's promise. If I seek,
if you seek, by confession, by faith, according to His Word,
in the public assembly of His saints, if I seek, I will find. Now I want to conclude with the
Lord seeking. You know, the Lord seeks too.
Did you know that? The scripture says he came to
seek and to save that which was lost. Are you lost? Are you lost? Well, he came to
seek and to save you. Aren't you thankful for that?
I love what David said. David said in the last verse of Psalm
119, I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant. Lord, seek
me, find me. Save me. Here's the last scripture
we're going to look at. Here's what God's searching for.
Turn to John chapter 4. The Lord is speaking to that
woman at the well. Verse 16. Jesus saith unto her,
Go, call thy husband, and come hither. And the woman answered
and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands.
And he whom thou hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou
truly. The woman was shocked at this
time. And the woman said unto him, sir, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. And so she begins religious mumbo
jumbo. Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, woman,
believe me. You know, when the Lord says
to somebody, believe me, you know what they do? They believe
him. Woman, believe me. The hour cometh when you shall
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the
Father. You worship you know not what. We know what we worship
for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour cometh and now is
when the true worshipers shall worship the father in spirit
and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship him. I want to
be one of those people. Don't you? I want to be one of
those people. The father is seeking to worship.
Him, those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. God is a
spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit
and in truth. Now, I'm seeking Him. He's seeking
worshipers. I want to be one of them, don't
you? Let's pray.