I hope that you're led of God
to listen carefully to the message that I'll be bringing today.
I'm going to speak on the subject, Seeking the Lord. And I feel
led of the Spirit of God to say some very plain and clear and
candid things to you about present-day preaching and present-day evangelism. And I wish you'd listen carefully.
I really wish I had the whole nation for an audience today. I wish everyone at least would
hear and consider these things that I'm about to say. I've taken
a text. It's found in Psalm 27, verse
4 and verse 8. And in verse 4 of Psalm 27, David
said, one thing, one thing have I desired of the Lord, and that
will I seek after. that one thing, 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 then
in verse 8, David said, Lord, when Thou saidest, Seek ye my
face, seek ye my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord,
I will seek thy face, thy glory, thy fellowship. I will seek. Now, we're the product of the
preaching which we've heard. My generation is the product
of the preaching which they've heard over the past several years. What men believe in churches
today is the results of what they've heard from the pulpit,
and I've contended all along The problem in religion today
is not in the pew. It's in the pulpit. The preaching
of the past 100 years, and especially of the last 10 or 12 years, the
preaching of the last 100 years has given our generation a false
conception of God, a false idea of salvation, a false hope, and
a false refuge. We cried, peace, peace, and there
is no peace. It's like in the days of Isaiah
the prophet, when they cried, peace, peace, peace, and there
was no peace. Now I know, and most of you know,
that the character and the true glory of God is not being preached
today. The character, the attributes,
and the true glory of the living God does not sound forth from
the average pulpit. There's no fear of God before
the eyes of men today. There's no reverence for God.
We call God everything from the man upstairs to somebody up there
or the good Lord. We've got all these different
names for Jehovah God. And what Christ said to the Pharisees
of old can be said to my generation. He looked them square in the
eyes and he said, You do not know me nor my Father. You do not know me nor my Father. David wrote in Psalm 50, speaking
for God, he said, Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a
one as thyself. Today the holiness of God is
not preached. If anybody talks about holiness,
they talk about their own holiness or the holiness of men or the
holiness of the church. Nobody today preaches the holiness
of God, the essential, immaculate, infinite holiness of God. Isaiah saw it and wrote of it
in Isaiah 6. He said, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up His train, filled the temple. And the seraphims
cried, Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of hosts. And he said, I
cry, I am cut off. I cried, I'm cut off. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. Isaiah
saw the holiness of God. And then the sovereignty of God
is not preached. We hear a very weak God, a frustrated
God, a defeated God, a God who wants to do things and men won't
let Him, who wills to do things and men defeat His purpose, who
has plans but they're not carried out. A God who's done all He
can do and can't do anything more? That's not the God of the
Bible. They asked David, they said,
where's your God? He said, our God's in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever He pleased, whatsoever the Lord pleased.
That did He in heaven, earth, and the seas, and all deep places.
He said, I am the Lord. I am the Lord. None can stay
in my hand or say unto me, what doest thou? He said, I've spoken
it. I'll bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I'll do it,
God said. And Nebuchadnezzar said, the
heathen king, when he came to his senses, written in Daniel
4, he said, he said, I extol and magnify the Most High God
who rules in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. We don't hear about
that God today. And then we don't hear about
the justice of God, the justice of God. You know what God said
in Exodus 34? He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. I will by no means clear the
guilty. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. Sin, when it's finished, bringeth forth death. God is
just, righteous, and holy, and He will do what He will, and
He will punish sin. A holy God must deal in justice
with sin. And then the true love of God
The true love of God is not preached. We hear so much about the love
of God, but it's not presented as it is in the Word of God.
Listen to John 3, 35 and 36. The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hands. And he that believeth
on the Son hath life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. God's wrath
and God's love does not abide at the same time on the same
people. God's not that fickle or two-faced. If God loves a
man, He loves him in Christ. If God is angry with the wicked,
He's angry with them out of Christ. There was only one place during
the flood where the love of God was manifested or demonstrated,
and that's in and upon the ark. The rest of the people were under
the judgment of God. And there's only one place where
the love of God will be demonstrated at the great white throne judgment,
and that's in Christ. And out of Christ, our gods are
consuming fire. So God's love is in Christ. Romans
8, 39 says that. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see,
Christ's righteousness and sacrifice and sin offering enables God
to love us. He loves us in Christ. And the
true love of God, I say unto you, is not being preached. Our
preaching has left off these essential, essential facts of
the holiness of God. The Bible is called the Holy
Bible. His angels are called the holy
angels. His word is called the holy word. His temple is called the holy
temple. His people are a holy people.
The tabernacle is the holy of holies, and the holy place, God
is holy, unapproachably holy. Only one way a sinner can approach
God, and that's in Christ, the high priest. He's too holy for
us even to look upon. And then the truth about sin
is not preached today. People talk about sin, but every
time I hear a preacher preaching about sin, he goes to drunkenness
and abortion and homosexuality and things of, and murder. and
robbery, and these things are sin, but they're the results
of what men are inwardly. The problem is not outwardly,
the problem is inwardly. You see, sin is a nature. These
things are the product of sin and the results of sin. Sin is
a principle in the heart. Sin entered this world by one
man. That's what the scripture says,
Adam. By one man, sin entered this world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for then that all have sinned. And sin is imputed to us by our
father Adam. In Adam all died. By one man's
disobedience we were made sinners. That's imputation. And then sin
is imparted to all men in conception. David said, In sin my mother
conceived me. David wasn't saying that the
act of conceiving children is a sin. He's saying that the child
conceived is conceived in sin. It's a sinful father produces
a sinful seed. A sinful mother produces a sinful
child. We have the nature of sin imparted
to us within. People lie because they're liars
inside. When a man steals something,
that doesn't make him a thief. He's a thief before he stole
it or he wouldn't have stolen it. I'm saying that what we do
outwardly is because of what we are inwardly. The Pharisees
found fault with our Lord because He didn't wash His hands before
He ate. You see, that was a religious ritual and a religious ceremony
that they went through before they ate. And He ignored their
religious ceremony and ritual and ate. And they said, well,
you can't eat with unwashing hands. He said, let me tell you
something. It's not what a man puts in his
mouth that defiles him. It's what comes out of his heart.
Out of the heart proceeds murders, evil thoughts, adulteries, blasphemy,
theft. This is a heart condition. You
see that? Again, he said, you've heard
it said by them of old times, thou shalt not kill. I say unto
you, to hate in your hearts, to be guilty already of murder.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. To think in your heart, to lust
in your heart, to desire in your heart, is already to commit adultery. We are what we are inwardly.
And what we do outwardly is nothing in the world, but the results
of what we are inwardly. Sin is a nature. It's a principle. It's an evil in the heart that
contaminates every infant born into the world. You don't have
to teach your children to lie. They're born knowing how to lie.
You have to teach them to do good. Why is it we've got so
many anti-alcohol campaigns and anti-drug campaigns and anti-homosexuality
campaigns, anti-this and the other? Why? Because our children
are susceptible to those things. Well, why is that? Because of
what they are on the inside. If we don't guide them and correct
them and discipline them and keep them, why, you know where
they'll go. Why is that? Motivated from within that's
the reason Christ said to Nicodemus you must be born again You got
to have a new nature You can't stop this flood of sin or put
away this tidal wave of sin by turning over a new leaf Just
as dirty on the other side. We need a new nature a new heart
a new spirit Regeneration from above the nature of God man at
his best state is altogether vanity There's none good. No,
not one. There's none righteous. There's
none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. Even our righteousnesses are filthy rags. You can put
no confidence in the flesh because of the problem in the heart.
It's a stony heart. It's a deceitful heart. Jeremiah
said the heart is desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. It's
deceitful above all things. Who can know it? This is not
being preached. We're out here with a mop trying
to mop up all the problems we got. We need to turn the faucet
off. And the faucet's in the heart.
And only God can do that. Only God can give a man a new
heart. He said, I'll take the stony heart out and give you
a heart of flesh. And then the truth about Jesus
Christ is not preached. I heard a man last night preach
almost an hour. And he didn't tell the truth
about Jesus Christ. He kept telling people to come
to Christ and believe on Christ and trust Christ, but he didn't
tell who he is, didn't tell what he did, didn't tell why he did
it, didn't tell where he is now, never mentioned his cross, never
mentioned substitution, never mentioned justification, never
mentioned the righteousness of Christ. Jesus Christ didn't live
and die on this earth as a reformer. Jesus Christ didn't live and
die on this earth as an example. Jesus Christ didn't live and
die on this earth as an effort on the part of God to get you
to live right or to pity Him or feel sorry for Him or accept
Him. Christ came into the world on
a mission. He came into the world to perform a task. He came into
the world to do a work. That's what He said. I have finished
the work you gave me to do. What was the first words Jesus
Christ spoke in the Bible? He was about 11 or 12 years old.
The very first words he spoke that are recorded in the Bible.
They found him in the temple disputing with the lawyers and
the doctors and the Pharisees. And his mother and father, Joseph
and Mary, said, We have word about your son. He said, Wish
ye not that I must be about my father's business. He had some
business on this earth. God the Father gave him a work
to do. And the angel announced it at
his birth, he said, the angel said to Joseph, call his name
Jesus, he shall save, he shall save his people from their sins. That's his name, Joshua, Jesus,
Savior, God my Savior, he'll save his people from their sins.
Who is this Jesus Christ? You can't preach Christ if you
don't tell who he is. The Bible says He's very God
of very God. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, the Word was God, and without Him was
not anything made that was made, and the Word was made flesh,
Jesus Christ, and dwelt among us. God said in Hebrews 1, Thy
throne, O God, is forever. Without apology, without hesitation,
without mincing words, this is what I'm saying to you, that
the man Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the virgin Mary, Raised in
Nazareth in a carpenter shop and walked this earth is none
other than God Almighty clothed in human flesh Tabernacle among
us. That's right. He's God Almighty
His death means nothing if he's not God if he's not God. He's
a liar He said I am a father one if he's not God. He's not
anybody's Savior But he is God Almighty God in human flesh Emmanuel
God with us behold Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son
and I shall call his name Emmanuel God with us His name shall be
called wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting father
the prince of peace and the government Will be on his shoulders. That's
who he is. What did he do? He came into this world in human
flesh as a Representative there are two atoms. There's the first
atom the second atom There's the first atom of the earth earthy.
The second atom is the Lord from heaven In Adam, we die. In Christ,
the second Adam, we're made alive. They're representatives. They're
federal heads. In one, we die. In one, we live. As we're born in the image of
the earthly, we bear the image of the heavenly. That's who Christ
is, and that's what He did. He came here on this earth in
human flesh, and He obeyed perfectly every jot and tittle of God's
holy law. Perfectly. He never sinned in
word, thought, or deed. He knew no sin, did no sin, had
no sin. perfect without spot or blemish.
And he went to the cross of Calvary and he died under the guilt and
filth and weight of our sins. He obeyed the law that we might
have a perfect standing before the law, a perfect holiness,
a perfect righteousness in God's sight. And he died, as I said
a while ago, God said, I will in no wise clear the guilty.
God will punish sin. And he punished our sins in Christ.
And therefore, this is why he died. Jesus Christ obeyed the
law unto God and he died on the cross unto God. He didn't die
on the cross to get people to feel sorry for him. He doesn't
need our pity. He turned to those who followed
him on the way to the cross and he said, don't weep for me, weep
for yourselves and for your children. He doesn't need our pity. Don't
weep over the cure, weep over the cause. Don't weep over the
remedy, weep over the disease. Christ is King. We're the beggars. And He came here to accomplish
a purpose. And He died that God may be just
and justify us. That God may be true to His law
and release us from the bondage of the law. That God might be
true to His justice and set the guilty free. Because Christ died
in our place. Where is He now? Where is Jesus
Christ now? Is He up in heaven? looking over
the banisters of heaven, hoping somebody will let him have his
way, or somebody will let him do his work, or somebody will
let him do work that wonderful plan for him, or somebody will
let him heal him. Oh, no. He seated, the Scripture
says. He sat down. None of the Old
Testament priests ever sat down. But he finished his work, and
by one offering, he perfected forever them that are sanctified,
And he sat down at the right hand of God, expecting till every
enemy become his footstool. That's what God's Word says.
He sat down. He's not walking the floor. He's
not anxious. He shall not fail. All that the
Father giveth me, he said, shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I'll in no wise cast out. This is the will of my Father
which sent me, that of every one which he hath given me I'll
lose nothing, but raise it up at the last days. I ask you a
question. I ask you a question. Is eternal
life a gift or an offer? The Bible says it's a gift. The
gift of God is eternal life. God hath given us eternal life.
This life's in His Son. Is salvation by chance or choice? Is there a question whether or
not heaven will be populated? Are there going to be some vacant
chairs up there? Are there going to be some reservations
that won't be kept? Are there going to be some sheep
who won't be found? Are there going to be some sons
who won't be redeemed? Is salvation by chance or choice? Christ said it was by choice.
He said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. Chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. That's what the Word says.
And I know preachers shy away from it and run away from it
and won't preach it. But Paul did, and our Lord did,
Apostle Peter did, and every true preacher did in the past
before the last several years. Is salvation, hold on now, is
salvation by the will of man or the will of God? Now you think
about that. What does the Bible say? The
Bible says, of his own will beget he us with the word of truth.
The Bible says it's not of him that willeth nor of him that
runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. The Bible says in John
1 13, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not
of the will of man, but they were born of God. That's what
the Bible says. Our Lord said this to the Pharisees
and the religious people. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. Salvation by the will of God.
It's God that willed it. It's God that willed it. It's
not man. We have a will, but our will
is in bondage to sin. Our will is in slavery to sin.
Our will is a fallen will. And our will will do only what
our nature permits it to do. And he says, his people shall
be willing in the day of his power. Willing to do what? Willing
to repent, willing to believe, willing to bow to Christ, willing
to receive Christ in the day of his power. He makes us willing. Here's another question. Am I
regenerated because I believe? Is regeneration the results of
belief? Or do I believe because I'm regenerated? Am I regenerated because I see,
or do I see because I'm regenerated? I see because I have life, and
I believe because I'm regenerated. Where do you read that in the
Bible? Acts 13, 48, Paul turned to the Gentiles, and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Believed. Christ said, my sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal
life. And another shepherd they won't
follow. Because of this preaching of error, and it's not so much
what preachers are saying, it's what they're leaving out. They're
leaving out the holiness of God. They're leaving out the truth
about sin. They're leaving out the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're leaving out questions
Job asked over and over and over again. How can man be just with
God? How can God, man, be clean in
the sight of God? How can God be just and justify? Who is our great high priest?
What did he do? And most people today labor under
the impression that God's done all he can do. that God's done
all He can do. And God's sort of waiting over
there in the wings somewhere, hoping we'll let Him finish what
He started. Or maybe He's knocking on our
door, hoping we'll let Him in. Can you imagine a holy, eternal,
almighty, sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords standing outside
the door of a beggar knocking? He never knocked on a door before.
He didn't knock on Jericho's walls. We have God waiting on
men instead of men waiting on God. We have God pleading with
men to let him show mercy. And all the way through the Bible,
I find sinners pleading with God to show them mercy. Thief
on the cross cried for mercy. The leper said, Lord, if you
will, you can make me clean. The Canaanite woman said, Lord,
have mercy upon me. And the Word of God says, The
Son quickeneth whom he will. And the son said, No man can
come to me except my father which sent me draw him. Almighty God's
hand is not short that he cannot save. His ear is not heavy that
it cannot hear. He said, I'll do with my own
what I will. We have compromised the very
character of God Almighty. And most people today are laughing
up their sleeves at all the preachers and religion and the entertainers
and the religious business and they're making fun of eternal
spiritual matters. We have a weak God and a strong
man, and that's backwards. And in our effort... Now, I want
you to listen to this. In our effort to make men religious,
in the effort of preachers today to make men moral, to get them
saved and ready for Armageddon or whatever they're getting ready
for, to get people saved without embarrassment, saved without
commitment, Preachers have invented what they call the altar call
and by a quick Journey down to the front of a tent or a building
or a football stadium or church? After a quick jaunt down front
you can make your decision pray a short memorized prayer and
they pronounce you saved now what I want to know is this what
happened to conviction and conversion and repentance and I want to
know what happened to a living union with Jesus Christ who said,
I'm the vine and you're the branches, I'm the head, you're the body.
Where is that? What I want to know is what happened
to the new creature in Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Did they make them new creatures
down at the front? What happened to these disciples
of Christ, sold out for Christ, who've left all and followed
Christ? What happened to that scripture that said, He that
loveth father, mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that
loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that
taketh not up his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. What happened to those scriptures?
What happened to the preaching of those scriptures? What happened
to this business of seeking the Lord? Seek ye first the kingdom
of God. Seek the Lord with all thine
heart. call upon him while he's near.
All of these scriptures do not sound like an emotional altar
call or people flocking to a preacher to pray a routine prayer. They
sound like to me that salvation is a miracle from heaven, that
salvation is a work of God in the heart for the sinner that
makes him a new creature. We've got to start preaching
the Word of God or our generation's lost. Now, if you want this message
on a cassette tape, Seeking the Lord, and another message that
I'll have on the other side of the tape, send $2. As a donation,
I'll send you this tape. Till next week, God bless you,
everyone.