Seeking the Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about seeking the Lord?

The Bible promises that if you seek the Lord with all your heart, you will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). The Bible emphasizes the importance of seeking the Lord genuinely and with all our hearts. In Jeremiah 29:13, God states, 'You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.' This promise invites believers to pursue a personal relationship with God, demonstrating that true knowledge of Him requires sincere effort and desire. Seeking the Lord involves a willingness to turn from our own ways, acknowledge our lack of genuine understanding, and earnestly yearn for a deeper connection with Him. This quest leads to discovering God's mercy, grace, and presence in our lives.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are upheld by His character and faithfulness, which are affirmed throughout Scripture. We can trust in God's promises because they are based on His unchanging nature and His covenant faithfulness. In Jeremiah 29:14, God promises, 'I will be found of you,' which reassures believers that when they earnestly seek Him, He will respond. The consistency of God's actions throughout history, demonstrated from creation to the redemptive work of Christ, affirms His reliability. Moreover, His word assures us that our pursuits will lead us to find Him. This establishes a foundation of faith, encouraging believers to actively seek and trust in His promises as part of a committed relationship.

Q: Why is seeking God important for Christians?

Seeking God is crucial for Christians as it nurtures a personal relationship and deepens faith. For Christians, seeking God is essential because it fosters a deeper communion with Him and cultivates spiritual maturity. When believers actively pursue God, they grow in their understanding of His character and His will for their lives. This pursuit transforms how they live and interact with the world. Jeremiah 29:13 highlights the necessity of seeking God 'with all your heart', which indicates that a half-hearted effort will not suffice. True seeking involves a commitment to aligning one's life with God’s purposes, which ultimately leads to peace, fulfillment, and joy. Seeking God is not merely an activity; it reorients the believer's life toward the divine, providing strength and wisdom in daily living.

Q: What does it mean to seek the Lord with all your heart?

To seek the Lord with all your heart means to genuinely desire Him above all else. Seeking the Lord with all your heart means to prioritize your relationship with Him above all other pursuits and distractions. It involves a sincere longing for intimacy and understanding of God, akin to how David expressed his desire for God in Psalm 42:1, where he likens his thirst for the Lord to a deer panting for water. This heart posture signifies a humility to acknowledge one's own limitations and a readiness to let go of anything that hinders that relationship. Moreover, it requires an openness to accept God's terms for salvation and a willingness to turn from self-sufficiency to reliance on His infinite grace. Only when believers seek Him earnestly will they experience the fullness of His presence in their lives.

Years ago, we had a preacher's
school in our church. We had 14 or 15 young men who
came each Saturday and spent the day studying the Word and
listening as I tried to teach them the Word and something about
preaching the gospel. Several of them now are pastors
in different churches over the country. I asked an English teacher from
one of the high schools if she would come on Saturday for an
hour and teach these men a course in English. And she came the
first Saturday to begin the English course for the young preachers,
and she told me that before she left home, her daughter, knowing
that what a difficult time she had trying to teach high school
children English, most of whom didn't even want to learn and
were very rebellious and had discipline problems. And the
young girl said to her mother, said, mother, said, how's it
going to feel to teach somebody English who wants to learn it?
And the mother said, I think I'm going to really enjoy teaching
those men who have a desire to learn. And I'm asking you this
morning, As I preach to you and try to teach you what is written
in the Word of God on this subject that I'll be using in a few moments,
do you really want to know? Do you really want to learn?
Do you really want to know God? That's my subject today, seeking
the Lord. I wish that I had 10, 20, 30,
40 people out there, one person
or how many, it doesn't matter, who really will sit down and
take a Bible and listen with a willingness to learn, to find
out something about God and about His Word and about our relationship
with Him, seeking the Lord. Let me read you this text. In
Jeremiah 29, verse 13, this is my text, my subject, seeking
the Lord, seeking the Lord. Like these young men were seeking
to to improve their English and improve their understanding and
improve their gifts and improve their delivery that they might
be effective preachers. They were interested in what
I had to say and what the other teachers had to say. They wanted
to learn. And that's this thing of seeking the Lord. I want to
know the Lord. Listen, and you shall seek me,
he said. You shall seek me and find me. Now, that's a good promise, isn't
it? You'll seek me and find me. God says that. When? You'll seek me and find me when
you shall search for me with all your heart. Not a fad, not
a hobby, not a passing fancy, but when you really get interested
and seek me with all your heart, you'll find me. That's right. I'll be found of you, he said.
I'll be found of you, saith the Lord, and I'll turn away your
captivity. And we are in captivity to fallen,
bound wills, natures, hearts, all manner of things. Now, let
me tell you this. If all you want is a is a religion of ceremony,
you can find that easily. There's lots of it around in
our country. Ceremony and form and ritualism,
if that's what you want, if you're satisfied with, if you're satisfied
to fulfill some duties on Christmas and Easter and Lent and Sunday
morning and fulfill your so-called Christian duty and go through
the motions and go through the form and go through the ceremony
and bow your head when somebody says bow it and say the apostles
Creed when somebody says say it and pray the Lord's prayer
somebody says pray it and and Go home forget about it for another
six days, and you can find plenty of that it is popular today That's
what you're looking for you. You're welcome to it, and there's
plenty of it if you want a religion of good works if that's what
you're satisfied with if that's what you want you can find a
whole lot of preachers and who will hire themselves out to help
you do your best and do your good deeds so that you can buy
God's favor. There are plenty of those. If
you'll pay your tithes and come to church and do certain deeds,
God will look with favor on you. You'll find plenty of preachers
who will preach you right on into heaven when you die. There
are just kaboodles of them out there. And that's fine if that's
what you want. If you want a religion of rules
and laws, and regulations, you can find plenty of that. You'll
find people who'll tell you how to dress. They'll tell you the
right dress and the right day and the right duty. They'll tell
you where to eat, what to eat, and when to eat. And they'll
tell you where to go, with whom to go, and how to go. They'll
fix your life up, regiment it, order it, put down the laws and
the rules for everything you to say and do and act, and then
we can all be just alike and go to the happy hunting ground,
you know, someday. Now, you can find it. There's
just lots of them out there to take you into their organization
in a minute if you can pay the dues and help you go to heaven
by your rules and regulations. And I tell you, if you want a
religion of emotion, whoopee, emotionalism, entertainment,
excitement, demonstration of the flesh, let me tell you, my
friends, there's plenty of that out there now. especially in
this day. What goes on, what goes on on
television in the name of God, the foolishness and frolicking
and unbridled flesh and screaming and yelling and people falling
down on the floor and rolling It's embarrassing. That's embarrassing
to people who don't even profess religion. That's embarrassing. I'll tell you some of the most
embarrassing things I know is to watch on the television screen
some of these wild and wooly and fleshly emotional demonstrations
in the name of the holy, almighty God who said, be still and know
that I'm God. The Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him. Come, my children,
I'll teach you the fear of the Lord. When you stand before God,
Solomon said, let your words be few. God is in the heaven
and you're upon the earth. If you make a vow, defer not
to pay it. I tell you there's so much about
holy and reverent is His name. And then we people claim to worship
God with all of this Wow, foolishness. If that's what you're looking
for. I watched a preacher, and this preacher is a politician,
famous, who closed his eyes and started to pray the other day
on television. And he started telling about
the different people in different parts of the world he could see.
Here's one over here named Fred, and he has a pain down the back
of his neck. And God's healing him. Here's one, he said, I'm
thinking of a person who drives a certain kind of car, who lives
in a certain place, whose middle name is Alan, and he has back
trouble. And I see him, and God's healing
him. Now, you let me tell you something. Only God is omniscient
and omnipresent. Our Lord said to Nathaniel, before
the apostle called you, I saw you under the fig tree. Now,
the Lord Jesus can do that. He saw Nathaniel. But brother,
you can't do that now. You can't see beyond your finger.
You don't know what's going on the other side of that wall.
And if you tell me you do, you're lying to me. You're putting on
a charade and a show and you're embarrassment. You don't have
omniscience and you don't have omnipresence. And that is, that's
embarrassing that anybody would act that way in the name of God
Almighty and ask people with with intelligence to support
them. Now, if you're looking for that
kind of religion, the world is full of it, just full of it. But I'm warning you now, these
are blind people leading blind people, and they're all going
to fall in the ditch. Even the apostles didn't put on demonstrations
like that, that they saw somebody in the next county that had a
certain ailment The apostles had the gift to heal men who
were in their presence, but they didn't heal by long-distance
television. This is the most ridiculous thing.
I tell you, if that's what you're looking for, may God have mercy. But now listen, if you have a
heart's desire to know God, the living God, the God of heaven
and earth, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of Christ
Jesus, If you have a desire to believe God and to fellowship
with a true and living God, he said, I'll be found of you. But
you're going to seek me, and you're going to seek me with
all your heart, and I'll be found of you. I see that in several
scriptures. Isaiah 55 says, Seek ye the Lord. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call on him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake
his way. His way, His way of works, His
way of law, His way of legalism, His way of emotionalism. This
is our way. This form of ceremony and tradition
and wild religion, this is man's way. This is not God's way. You've
got to forsake your way, but this seems like the thing to
do. That's your way. Let a man forsake his way and
the unrighteous man his thoughts. You know, when Naaman came to
the prophet of God who had leprosy, remember Naaman? And the prophet
of God told him what to do. He told him what God said, go
dip in the River Jordan and you'll be clean. And Naaman said, now
wait a minute, I thought that he'd come out to me like these
preachers do today and he'd call on his God and say some words
and lay his hand on me and I'd be healed. That's what I thought. And one of the men with him said,
Now, that's what you think, but won't you do what the prophet
said to do? And why don't you forsake your way and your thoughts? Listen, let him forsake his way
and his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. Let him come
to God. And to our God, he'll have mercy
and he'll pardon. Listen to Acts 17, 27. Men should
seek the Lord. if happily they may feel after
him and find him. He's not far from every one of
us. In him we live and move and have our being. Would you know
God? Would you know the living God?
Would you really believe and walk with and fellowship with
the living God? Would you have God's presence
and peace and rest in your heart? so that you don't have to go
down to a building to worship God. You can worship Him where
you are. You don't have to have a cheerleader to whip you up
with music and organ playing and these things to get you happy
to wave in your arms. You can bow before God and worship
Him anywhere. You can worship Him while you're
washing dishes, while you're working on the car, while you're
cutting the grass, while you're at the lake fishing, while you're
meditating upon your bed. You can walk with God. That's
to know the living God. Well, what is it to seek the
Lord? Let me give you four things, four things. You seek me and
find me. Now, what is this business of
seeking the Lord? Well, first of all, I faced this one time
when I was 24 years old. I was a preacher too, been through
preacher school. I knew some theology, but I didn't
know God. I knew some promotional means,
but I didn't know God. To seek the Lord first is to
admit that by birth, by nature, and by human wisdom, I don't
know God. Now, that's the place to start,
is to admit that what I have is not of God, that it's my way
and my thoughts and my tradition and handed down to me from somebody,
but it's not real and it's not genuine. I don't really know
God. Prayer is not spontaneous. Faith is not there. You know,
a man will not seek what he thinks he has. He may not have it, but
if he thinks he has it, he won't seek it. A man will not seek
what he thinks he has. You know, the woman at the well,
Christ said to her, if you knew the gift of God, if you knew
who's speaking to you, you'd ask me and I'd give you living
water. Now, I'm not being crude. I'm
not being insulting. I'm just stating a fact, a fact
which most people suspect. I'm going to state a fact which
most people suspect but will not admit. Most people today
do not really know God. Now, people in the world and
people in religion, they have a form of godliness but deny
the power. They're ever learning and never
coming to knowledge of the truth. You know, our Lord was in this
world and the world knew Him not. He came to His own Israel
and they received Him not. That's the first thing, is just
throw up your hands. Say, all right, I don't know
God. I don't know God. I have religion. I have a profession. I've been
down there 12 times, and it has taken no effect. I've been baptized
two or three times, sprinkled, immersed, poured, and all the
rest of it. I've rededicated a dozen times. My heart's still
like the troubled sea. I have no peace, no rest. I don't
walk with God. I'd like to know Him." That's
the first thought. Admit it. I don't know God. All right, here's the second
thing. It's to really desire to know Him in your heart. He said, you seek me and find
me when you search for me with all your heart. Do you really
want to know God? Paul did. He said, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Wouldn't it be tragic to preach
and sing in the choir and teach Sunday school and go to church
every Sunday and wind up standing before God, hearing Him say,
I never knew you? Paul said, oh, that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection. David said, listen today, these
are men of whom God spoke great mighty things. David said, oh,
as the heart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my soul
after thee, the living God. When shall I come before God? Oh, I tell you, the Apostle Paul,
there in Philippians 3, he said, Oh, that I may win Christ, be
found in Him, that I may know God, that I may attain unto the
resurrection of the dead. Over there in the book of John,
chapter 2, some people came to our Lord, and He said this about
them. He said, He said that they sought Him. He said, You seek Me because
of the miracles. You follow Me because you saw
the miracles. But He didn't reveal Himself to them because they
only came to Him because they wanted some miracles. Another
group came, and He didn't reveal Himself to them because He said
this. He said, Now you seek Me because of the loaves and fishes.
But I'll tell you, if you can seek Him seriously with all your
heart, you'll be found of Him. with all your heart. Now, here's
the third thing. The first thing is this. Admit,
well, I got religion. I'm like Saul of Tarsus. I got
religion, but I don't know God. But I want to know God. I really
want to. Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
don't pass me by. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Let me at a throne of mercy find
a sweet relief. Kneeling there in deep contrition,
God help my unbelief." All right, here's the third thing. What
is it to seek the Lord? It is to be willing to be accepted
of God on His terms, on His terms. Now, suppose that a young man,
a young man was guilty of a crime. And he's guilty, and he knows
it, and the lawyer knows it, and the judge knows it, and everybody
in the courtroom knows it, and he's guilty. Guilty. And he stands
before the judge, and the judge looks at him and says, Young
man, do you want to go to jail? No, sir. No, sir, I don't. Well, young man, here are my
terms. If you'll follow my terms, you'll
stay out of jail. Now, here's my terms. Ten o'clock
curfew every night. for two years, 200 hours of community
service. Report to your parole officer
every Wednesday at 12 noon. Those are my terms. Now, will
you accept them? Boy, I tell you, he'd grab a
hold of that in a minute, wouldn't he? Yes, sir. To stay out of
jail, to stay out of confinement, I'll be glad to accept your terms. He has no choice. It's either
the terms of the judge or it's prison. Well, put yourself now
before God. You're guilty. I'm guilty. We're
guilty sinners. Isn't that true? Well, all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's no difference. Jew and Gentile, all have sinned.
We sinned. Everyone turned to his own way.
That's true. Is that not true? Yes, that's true. Well, God owes
us nothing. Isn't that true? Like the judge,
he owed that young man. He didn't owe him mercy. He could
have sentenced him to prison. He didn't owe him compassion
and mercy and grace, and God doesn't owe us mercy and grace.
We deserve to be condemned and to perish. That true? All right,
here's God's terms. The Lord of heaven and earth,
because he will be merciful, Moses asked him, said, Lord,
show me your glory. He said, all right, here's my
glory. I will be merciful. To whom I will be merciful. I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll make all my
goodness pass before you." That's my goodness. God's going to show
mercy. God's going to be gracious, like that judge. You found mercy
in my sight. That's what Abraham and Moses
talked about. Oh, if I found grace in thy sight,
all right. He's going to have a people.
God's going to save a people. Heaven's going to be populated.
There's going to be a people like Christ. Who are they? I
don't know. I don't know. But I do know there
are people who come to God on His terms. All right. So He's
a just and holy God. So He provides a way of salvation
according to His wisdom, according to His purpose, according to
His grace. Almighty God provided a way of
salvation that will honor His law, satisfy His justice, enable
Him to be just and justifying. I'll tell you how He did it.
He sent Jesus Christ into this world. to be numbered with the
guilty, to be numbered with the transgressors. There I stand,
like that young man, guilty before God, guilty before his judge,
I'm guilty before mine. Jesus Christ came and took my
place, and took my guilt, and took my sentence, and took my
curse, and took my condemnation, and took my place, and by his
obedience and by his death, He delivered me from condemnation.
Christ Jesus came to earth, lived for me, died for me, was buried
and rose for me, and ascended to heaven where He is at the
right hand of God, interceding for me. That's what the Scripture
says. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were born
under the law. And then Paul summed it up in Acts 13. Listen
to this. This is God's way, God's terms. Men and brethren. This is Acts
13, 38. Men and brethren. This is the
Apostle Paul speaking to the people of Israel, the religious
people of his day. He says, Now men and brethren,
be it known unto you that through this man, Jesus Christ, the God-man,
the substitute, the Redeemer, the Christ, through this man,
through his death, through his obedience, is preached to you
the forgiveness of sin, no condemnation in Christ, justified by the grace
of God in Christ. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which you cannot be justified
by the law of Moses, by the deeds of the law, by the works of the
flesh. You cannot be justified except one way through this man.
That's God's way. Christ is God's way. I am the
way. No man comes to the Father but
by me. There's none other name unto heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. Jesus Christ is God's way. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. I was reading
the paper one time, reading Dear Abby or Dear Somebody. I forgot
there's two or three of them. But this was a letter that some
dear person had written in. And this person who wrote in
to this Dear Abby or Dear Somebody, she said, I heard a preacher
say that the only way, the only way for a person to go to heaven
is by believing on Jesus Christ. She said, if that's the only
way to heaven, then I refuse to go there. Well, that's sad,
but let me tell you this. Christ is God's way, and that's
God's terms. Repent and believe the gospel.
The scripture says, 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. That's
God's way. And to seek the Lord is to seek
Him, admitting that by nature I don't know Him. It's to seek
Him with all my heart. And it's to be willing to come
on His terms. He lays down the terms, not I,
not the church, not you. To seek the Lord is to be willing
to be saved on His terms. And the Scripture says, Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Lord, in my hands no price I
bring. Simply to the cross of Christ
I cling. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal know respite? No, these for sin could never
atone. Christ must save, and Christ alone. That's what Scripture
says. It's Christ. But why would you want another
way when God said, this is my way? Why would you want to seek
another way when God says all the way through the Word, this
is my way? And listen, the last statement, to seek the Lord.
is to be willing to part with everything and everyone that
stands between you and him. Now, Abraham could not stay in
an idolatrous land, in an idolatrous family, and walk with God. God
said, get thee out. Moses could not remain in the
riches and fleshly climate of Egypt and walk with God. By faith,
Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Paul
could not remain among the Pharisees in a religious circle which denied
the person and work of Christ and walked with God. The rich
young ruler faced this fact, that he could not have plenty
and be satisfied with having plenty while others around him
had nothing and called himself a disciple of Christ. I'm not
telling you who you can associate with or what you can own and
not own or what company you can keep or can't keep. I'm simply
saying The Spirit of God in you will make you willing. You want
Christ and God's fellowship so badly that you're willing to
part with anything and anyone and any way of life that hinders
you from walking with God. You're willing. See, darkness
can't fellowship with light. All right, in closing, where
does one seek the Lord? This kind of knowledge with God.
Well, he's not down at the front of a church. I'd seek Him in
His Word, study the Word. I'd seek Him in His Word, incarnate
in His Son. Christ has come and given us
an understanding that we may know God. I'd seek Him among
His people, among those people who know Him. I'll tell you this,
I'd listen to His servant. I'd find somebody preaching the
gospel. Now, God's raised up prophets
and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers, not
promoters and entertainers, but preachers of the Word to teach
us the way to God. That's what the eunuch said to
Philip. He said, of whom does the prophet
speak? Of himself or some other man.
And Philip began at that scripture and taught him, preached to him
Jesus. Let's pray this prayer. Lord,
lead me to seek Thee, seeking Thee to find Thee, finding Thee
to love Thee, and loving Thee to walk with Thee. You want this
tape, Seeking the Lord? Write for it. Here's the address.
Until next week, God bless you.

Seeking the Lord

What does the Bible say about seeking the Lord?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is seeking God important for Christians?

What does it mean to seek the Lord with all your heart?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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Seeking the Lord

What does the Bible say about seeking the Lord?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is seeking God important for Christians?

What does it mean to seek the Lord with all your heart?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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