Now open your Bibles with me
to the book of 1 Chronicles. I'm going to read one verse from
chapter 28. 1 Chronicles chapter 28 verse
9. 1 Chronicles 28 verse 9. And thou, Solomon my son, know
thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart,
and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all hearts,
and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek
him, he will be found of thee." Read that again. If thou seek
him, if thou seek him, he will be found of thee. But if thou
forsake him, he'll cast thee off forever. First, I'm impressed
with the simplicity of these words. I hear people say continually,
I just don't understand the Bible. There are parts of the Bible
I don't understand. A man wrote me recently and quoted,
I believe it was Mark Twain, or some old writer of the past,
who said, it's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand
that bother me, it's the parts I do understand. These words
could not be more simple. They couldn't be more simply
stated. he'll be found of thee. But if
thou forsake him, he'll cast thee off forever. Secondly, I'm
impressed with the individuality of these words. It doesn't say
if the nation of America will seek the Lord, it says if you
seek him. If you seek him. If you seek
him, you'll be found of him. But if you forsake him, he'll
cast you forever. This is a personal matter. Now
I realize that these words, and immediately those who are strongly
impressed with what we call the doctrine of sovereignty and Calvinism,
would say these words were addressed to Solomon. These words were
addressed to a man of God, one who was a child of God. But my
friend, according to the scripture, without any violation of truth,
these words are addressed to any interested person, to any
concerned individual, to anyone who has any desire for an interest,
a saving interest in Jesus Christ. Does not the scripture say, listen
to these verses? And this is where your knaves'
topical Bibles and your concordances come in handy. This is not the
only place where it says in the scripture, seek the Lord. This
is a scriptural term. The Bible does not say a man
cannot seek God. It says he will not. Christ didn't
say you can't come to me. He said you will not come to
me that you might have life. You will not come to me. You
will not seek the Lord. Now watch this. Listen to some
of these verses. Ezra 8 verse 22. The hand of God is upon all
them for good that seek him. Psalm 22, 26, They shall praise
the Lord that seek him. Psalm 119, 2, Blessed are they
that seek the Lord with all their hearts. Proverbs 8, 17, Those
that seek me early shall find me. Isaiah 55, 6, seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he's near. Jeremiah 29, 13, ye shall seek
me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Hosea
10, 12, it's time to seek the Lord. I like that word, don't
you? It's time to seek the Lord. When
is the time to seek the Lord? Now is the accepted time. Today
is the day of salvation. Matthew 6.33, Seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be
added to you. Luke 11.9, Ask, and it shall be given thee. Seek,
and ye shall find. Not, and it shall be opened unto
you. Hebrews 11.6, God is the rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. James 4.8, draw nigh to God,
and he'll draw nigh to you. Back to our text, 1 Chronicles
28. This is what I want you to think about and look at for a
few moments. If thou seek him, he will be
found of thee. Take this scripture just in its
simplicity and power. This is what it says, that if
any son of Adam It doesn't say awakened sinner if you're seeking.
It doesn't say convicted sinner if you're seeking. It doesn't
say disturbed sinner if you're seeking. It just says if you're
seeking, you'll find him. If you're seeking, you'll find
him. So I'm saying that if any son of Adam truly seeks the Lord
in sincerity and truth. Now, notice as I read those scriptures
a while ago, it talked about seeking him with all your heart.
It talked about diligently seeking him. And if any son of Adam seeks
the Lord in sincerity and truth, and back here in these preceding
words, he says, the Lord searcheth the heart. That's where the work
is done. That's where the work is done.
That's where the work of conviction and conversion and revelations
of Christ and his beauty and glory takes place in the heart.
If the Lord searcheth the heart and understandeth the imaginations
of the false, this is where it takes place. So if any son of
Adam will sincerely We're not playing games, what I was talking
about a while ago, that happiness has nothing to do with. We're
not playing games. There's no discharge in this
war. We're committed to Christ. I cannot turn back. Our Lord
said, remember Lot's wife. That's a three-letter sermon
that carries a world of powerful conviction. Remember Lot's wife.
And Christ said, he that putteth his hand to the plow and looks
back is not fit for the kingdom of God. He that loveth father,
mother, son, and daughter, yea, his own life more than me is
not fit to be called my disciple. I'm talking about sincerely and
diligently seeking Christ. I'm not talking about looking
for a way out when I come to die. But if any son of Adam sincerely
and diligently seeks the Lord in truth, he'll find him. That's
what this says, brother William, it says, if thou seek him, you'll
find him. You'll find him. If any man really
wants mercy from God, mercy and grace and life, and seeks that
mercy in Jesus Christ, now you won't find that mercy in the
law. The law can only condemn. You won't find that mercy in
the ceremonies, you won't find that mercy in the altar, any
more than Israel did. You'll find that mercy in the
source of mercy, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. We seek that
mercy in Christ. No man cometh to the Father but
by me, saith the Son. He that hath the Son hath the
Father. So any man who seeks mercy in Christ as God commands
it, he'll have it. Our Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved. I'm God and there's none else.
Come unto me and I'll give you rest. If thou seek him, he'll
be found of thee." The matter is simple enough. It's our pride
that confounds it. Paul said, I do not frustrate,
I do not confuse the grace of God. If salvation or righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead and vain. The matter
is simple enough. Our pride confounds it. The way
is plain enough. It's made very plain in the scripture.
Our Lord said, I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. I'm the water of life. If any
man drinks of me, he'll never thirst. It's plain enough. Our wills refuse it. It's plain
enough. The command is clear enough.
Our sins want to add to it. We, like mailmen, stand outside
the door of the prophet's house, and when he tells us what to
do, go wash in the river Jordan, and you'll be clean. Now, I thought,
this is what I thought. Like Brother Bowie said, it ain't
like you thought it was. It's like God says it is. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. God shook
that prison with an earthquake and awakened that Philippian
jailer from his sleep. And he observed that the servants
of God were not fled. When he would have killed himself,
fearing that they had fled and he would be held responsible.
He called for light and sprang in trembling and fell at the
feet of the Apostle Paul. And he said, Sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And the Apostle Paul stated it
as clearly and plainly as it's stated right before us. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I aim at nothing tonight, but
that if someone here, this is my aim and goal. that someone
here be brought to sincerely seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. Somebody offered this prayer
one time, Lord lead me to seek thee, and seeking thee to find
thee, and finding thee to love thee, and loving thee to live
for thy glory. But it begins with seeking the
Lord. It begins with seeking the Lord. If you seek him, you'll
find him. Now, here are four things that
I want to bring out in this message. Number one, this is a promise.
This is a promise. It says if you seek him, he'll
be found to be. That's a promise. And secondly,
here's clear directions. Here are clear directions. Back
in the Old Testament, there were cities of refuge. If a man killed
a person, accidentally, the avenger would chase him. He was going
to take vengeance upon, say he killed a man's brother, and that
man would chase him and could take his life. But if he'd go
to one of the cities of refuge and get inside that city gate,
he was safe. The avenger could not touch him.
That's the type of Christ. You see, is I have broken the
law of God. The law of God cannot take vengeance
upon me if I'm in Christ. The justice of God cannot slay
me if I'm in Christ, so what I've got to do is get to Christ.
Now, there were roads that led to those cities of refuge, and
there were signs along the way pointing to the cities of refuge.
And the priests were ordered to keep those signs intact, and
to keep them clear from growing vines and from trees that may
shield them from the eye of the one who is fleeing to the city
of refuge. Keep the way clear. Keep the big boulders out of
the road. Make the road smooth and plain. Make it clear, the
directions and everything. And that's what I'm going to
do tonight. Here are clear directions set forth right here. If you
seek Him, you'll find. And then thirdly, I'm going to
deal with some objections. There are always objections.
And then I'm going to offer a conclusion. So let's see as we move along.
First of all, here's a promise. Just as clear and plain as words
can make it, if you seek Him, you'll be found of him." The
point is completed with the reading of that scripture. That's a promise.
I said, here's a promise. God said, this is God's word.
He says, if you seek him, he'll be found of thee. He that believeth
on the Son hath life. That's God's word, that's God's
promise. God who cannot lie. Coming to me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. That's the word of
God. All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." There you have
the promise of God as clear as he can state it. Romans 10, verse
13 says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. That's calling out of a need.
That's calling out of despair. That's calling out of distress.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There is not one soul in hell, not a one, never has been, is
not now, never will be. There's not one soul in hell
who will dare say, I truly sought the Lord through Christ, seeking
mercy, and didn't find him. Now that's just not so. There's
nobody in hell who can blame his condemnation on God's lack
of mercy. God delights to show mercy. Our
Lord God is plenteous in mercy. There's not one soul living,
not in this congregation, or in this town, or in this city,
or in this state, or in this world, there's not one soul living
today who dares look me in the face and say, I long for mercy,
cried for redemption, sought grace in Christ, and he wouldn't
say to me, you're a liar. That's just not so. Those who
seek him find him. That's why this is the promise
of God. If you seek him, he said, if you seek him, he'll be found
to thee. You're not seeking him. If you're
still lost, you haven't sought the Lord. You may have sought
something else, but not him. You may have longed for some
solution to your problem, but you haven't sought him. Those
who've never found mercy, never sought it. Those who never found
Christ, never sought him. Those who never found peace,
never sought it. Or they sought it in the wrong
place. There is no peace in a denomination. There is no peace in a doctrine.
There is no peace in a system of theology. There is no peace
in the ceremonies of religion. Christ is the Prince of Peace.
And where he reigns, peace reigns. He says here, look at the text
again. If you seek him, If you seek him, he'll be found with
thee. That's the only if. It has to
do with you. It doesn't have to do with him.
You see what I'm saying? The only if there has to do with
you, if you seek him. There's no if in connection with
the finding. There's no if in connection with
the mercy. There's no if in connection with
his grace. It's if you. He will. If you seek him, there is no
if in connection with the finding, there is the promise which is
as sure as the throne of God Almighty. If you seek the Lord,
you will be found of him. If you seek him out of need,
I can take so many illustrations of this. There is the woman I
mentioned a moment ago with the issue of blood, who had suffered
many things of many positions and was no better. He said, if
I can get to Him, I'll be made whole. Being made whole had nothing
to do with, there's no if in connection with that. The if
was if I could get to Him. If I can get to Him, I'll be
made whole. I'll be made whole if I can get
to Him. And that's where the if, you're seeking. If you're
seeking. Alright, secondly, here are clear
directions. There are three words I want
us to look at in these directions here. Thou seek him. Now here's the first, and this
needs to be made as clear as possible. I was talking to Brother
Jay and Margie about this Friday when I was working on this message.
The first and important word, and I asked them, am I making
this clear? And I want to make it clear. As I said, my sole
purpose tonight, my sole goal and aim is that someone here
will seek the Lord. I know if you seek Him, you'll
find Him. If you seek Him, you'll find Him. Diligently, earnestly,
in truth, you'll seek Him. You'll find Him. That's a promise.
There's no if in connection with the promise. The if is if you
seek Him. If you don't find mercy, it's
because you didn't seek Him. If you don't find saving interest
in Christ, you didn't seek Him. Here are the clear directions,
it says, if you seek him. Now, what's this? Not his benefits. Here is where I'm afraid. It
just causes me to tremble. I think most people today are
interested in eternal life, not in Christ. They're interested
in heaven. They're interested in the forgiveness
and pardon of their sins. They're interested in the cleansing
of their records. They're interested in happiness
and health and wealth and all of these benefits. But that's
not what it says here, if you seek his benefits, you'll find
them. It says if you seek him. And
a rich young ruler came to him and said, Master, good Master,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? What was he interested
in? Eternal life. He was not interested in Christ,
he was interested in eternal life. I don't know anybody that's
not, do you? And when our Lord told him, sell
what you have, take up your cross and follow me, he says, I'm not
interested in you, I want eternal life. That's as much as what
he said to you. He turned and walked off. He was confronted
with a person. That's where eternal life is.
Christ said eternal life is to know the living God and him whom
the Father had sent. Christ is eternal life. And this
young man, he was interested not in Christ, he was interested
in the benefits of Christ. What must I do that I may inherit
your benefits? He said, follow me. Well now
that's not what I'm interested in. It says if you seek Him,
Him, Him. Is that clear? Don't seek Don't
seek the mercy. Seek Him. If you have Him, you
have mercy. Don't seek the blessings. Seek Him. If you have Him, you
have the blessings. Don't seek the apples by the tree. And every
one of the apples will be yours. That's right. You ladies marry
the man. You don't marry his wealth. You
don't marry his job. You don't marry his house. You
don't marry his income. You don't marry his car. You
marry him and those things are yours. You have him, you have
everything he has. See what I'm saying? Him. He
said, don't seek faith. Oh, preacher, you ought not to
tell us that. Well, that's your problem. You don't seek faith. You seek Christ. He didn't say,
if you seek faith, you'll find it. He said, if you seek him.
Him. Oh, I wonder if I have faith.
I wonder, how do you get faith? How do you get faith? Let me
tell you something. When a person has an understanding
from the Word of God, when he has an understanding of Christ's
power and Christ's ability, he has an understanding. First of
all, he has an understanding of his need. I have an understanding
of my need. I know my need. I know who I am by birth, by
nature, by choice, by practice. I know what I am. I know my infirmities,
afflictions, and potentials. I know what I am. I know before
God's law what I am. I know before God's holiness
what I am. I know I'm a son of Adam. I'm a rebel. I'm a sinner. I know my need. I know the law
of God has a charge against me, and the justice of God has a
charge against me, and that's going to be fulfilled. I'm in
trouble. I need help. Now, through the
word of God, I've been persuaded through the message of the gospel
that Christ is my help. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my righteousness, Christ is my sufficiency, because of his power,
because of his willingness, because of his ability, because of his
depth, because of his blood, because of his obedience. When
I know that, John faced no problem. Faced no problem. The disciples
said, well to whom shall we go? I've got nowhere else to go.
You exercise faith every day without even thinking about it.
Did you know that? You exercise faith every day without even
giving faith a thought. You've got a doctor in whom you
have confidence. You've been going to him for
years. You get a severe pain right here in your chest, down
your left arm, in your back, under the shoulder blade. Uh-oh,
honey, I've got a heart attack coming up. Go to the doctor.
examines you. No, he says you don't have any
heart problems. You say well I'm sure glad. He
says tell me what to do. I'm going to write this prescription
here and you take it down to your thrift drug store and have
it filled. You take two of these a day. I think what you've got
is a little gallbladder attack. And it's not going to give you
any more trouble. Just take these pills, two of them a day. They're a
little strong now, but you take them. So you go down to the drug
dealer, you have faith in him, you go away, you've exercised
faith in him and you haven't even thought about it. You believe
in him. You believe in his credentials,
you believe in his ability, you believe in his power. You go
down to the drug store, here's a strange man you've never seen
in your life standing behind the counter. Some four-eyed fella,
you know, with big, big glasses like a Coca-Cola bottle. He looks
kind of strange and funny, you know, an egghead. And you hand
him that prescription, and he goes back there and reaches up
and gets a bunch of bottles off the shelf, a bunch of piders.
And he adjusts those glasses, and he gets down there looking
like some gargoyle or something, you know, and he makes all those
little piders and that stuff together, and you just stand
there nonchalantly and watch it. Powerful stuff. The things
that could kill a man. And he gets them all together
in a pill and puts two or three or four or five or six, eight
or ten of them in a bottle and says, there you are, it'll be
twelve and a half. You go out and throw one in your mouth and
swallow it. You don't sit around and wonder
about whether I've got faith. See what I'm saying? It all depends
on your confidence in the person. Huh? That's exactly right. I'm not looking for faith. I'm
looking to Christ. And I don't care whether I got,
Alan, you said it recently, the same kind of faith, there are
degrees of faith. I don't care if I got a little
bit of faith or a great big faith. Christ is the object of my faith. I believe because he said it.
I trust him because he did it. I rest in him because he's at
the right hand of God. I'm convinced of his power and
ability and his willingness. I'm not concerned about faith.
Let me shock you again while I'm shocking you. Might as well
go on again. But I'm not interested in assurance.
I ain't concerned about it. Somebody comes to me and says,
I just don't have much assurance. Well, join the gang. Brother
Barnard, somebody said to him one time, Brother Barnard, I
don't have any assurance. He said, well, if you find out
where you can get it, let me know. I ain't had nothing 24 years. But let me tell you something
about assurance. Now, plenty of men I've known a long time,
and I believe I could tell you to Cecil Roach tonight, I said,
Cecil, stay home tomorrow at 7 o'clock, I'm going to be over
at your house, I've got a matter I want to talk to you about. I don't need to
put that in writing for you, do I? Guarantee you he'll be
home at 7 o'clock. He believes me. He believes me. He believes the word of a man,
a man who's a liar by nature. Turn to 1 John 5. Let's see if
I can make good on this. 1 John 5. But he believes me,
he acts on it, he tells Madge, he says, I can't go with you
to the PTA meeting, the preacher's coming over. Well, how do you
know he's coming? He said so. Well, how do you know he'll come? He
said so. Well, he might not come. He said he would. See what I'm
saying? 1 John 5. If you receive the
witness of men, The witness of God is greater. And this is the
witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that
believeth not God hath made him a liar. Be careful. Be careful, because
he has not believed on the name or the record that God gave of
his Son. Sure, it's had nothing to do
with him. I believe God, sure. Sure we
wrestle with fears, and how could God love me? How could God want
me? How could God in his mercy have
anything to do with me? How could God in his holiness?
I don't know, but he said so. He said so. He said he loved
sinners. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners. So him is the word. If thou seek him. Seek. Where
do you seek the Lord? In his word. in his gospel, in
his house, among his people. The hymn writer said, I'll go
to Jesus, though my sins hath like a mountain rose, I know
his courts I'll enter in, whatever may oppose. I can but perish
if I go, I'm resolved to try, for if I stay away, I must forever
die. Now watch this. But if I die,
if I die, with mercy sought. When I, the king, have tried
that were to die, perish the thoughts, as sinner never die.
No way. Now watch this word, if thou
shalt seek him. If thou seek him. You see, here's
the direction, him. Seek, seek thou. It's a personal, individual matter.
And then thirdly, is there an objection? Well, answering sinners'
objections is endless work, somebody said. You preach the gospel and
call for faith and get ready for, but. Preach the gospel,
call on men to seek the Lord, and get ready to hear somebody
say, but. But. Well, let's deal with some
of these objections. First of all, but. Well, man,
I'm such a great sinner. You just don't know what a life
I've lived. Could I get your attention a moment? Could you
listen just a moment? There isn't any man, woman, boy
or girl here who has any understanding or the slightest conception of
just how great a sinner you are in the sight of God. That's right. No man knows sin as it really
is. He couldn't bear the revelation,
not in the flesh. There's no man who understands
sin like God sees it and understands it like God hates it. So just
do away with that objection. If you think, you say, well,
I've been such a great sinner, you don't know the half of it.
You don't know the half of it. You don't know the half of it.
And let me tell you this, there is no difference at all in sin.
And some of you here feel like you're greater sinners than somebody
else. Not so. To offend in one point of the
law is to be guilty of the whole law of God. There aren't any
greater or lesser sinners in this world. They're all sinners.
They're all ever-believers, the chief of sinners, that's what
he'll tell you. All right, here's another objection. Well, perhaps,
Preacher, if I do receive Christ and seek the Lord, I'll not be
able to hold out. I won't be able to continue faithful.
You're right, you won't, except by his grace. Left to yourself,
you'll perish. I told a story a few weeks ago
of Charles Spurgeon. A lot of people have read and
heard about his conversion. He was a 16 or 17-year-old lad. He'd been concerned about his
soul for some time. And one Sunday morning, he was
on his way to church and a snowstorm diverted his path, and he went
to a little primitive Methodist chapel, and there he heard what
they call a lay preacher, a preacher on Isaiah 45, 22, "'Look unto
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God.'"
Just a simple message, a simple call to faith. And Spurgeon said,
God opened my eyes and my heart and brought me to believe on
Christ. And I received him that morning. And he said I went home. And that night I vowed never
to sin again. Of course, that's immaturity. That's lack of knowledge of the
Word of God. I vowed never to sin again. I vowed never to offend
God again. I vowed from that moment to be
true and devoted to my living Lord. He said I woke up the next
morning and found out I still had a sinful nature. I still
had the conflict that I had before, I still had the desires I had
before, I still had the wrestlings and troublesome infirmities that
I had before, and he said it distressed me. So I determined
to go back to that church the next Sunday. And he said, where
I found the Lord, I determined to go back and find out if I
could find an explanation for this warfare within, between
the flesh and the spirit. And he said, I went back the
next Sunday and the pastor was there. But he didn't have the
same message as this dear man. He made the statement, if you
still have a conflict with sin, you're not saved. He said, I
got up and left because I knew that wasn't so. I knew that wasn't
so. My friend, we all have conflicts.
And the conflicts increase with the years. Did you know that?
Did you know that God's greatest servants had their greatest trials
in the latter years of their lives? You go back through the
Old Testament, Daniel, and you'll find that to be true. God saved David's greatest trial
until he was past 50 years of age. God saved Abraham's greatest
trial until he was 110 years old. God saved Moses' greatest
trials until he passed 80 years of age. The warfare is not hope. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of Christ. It's true. But my friend, this
old man's not dead, he's not even asleep. He's not even asleep. And he
gives great conflicts. And I'll tell you, you have conflicts
in areas where you didn't even have a thought years ago. You
have conflicts in areas that gave you no trouble prior to
this time, five, ten years ago. I'm telling you the truth. But
Christ is sufficient. He'll keep me till the river
rolls its waters at my feet. He'll never forsake me. He'll
never leave me. He said that. So that's not the
problem. If I receive Christ, I may not
be able to hold out. Well, you won't. But you're not
depending on your holding. You're depending on His holding.
We're kept by the power of God through faith. Kept by the power
of God through faith. And then somebody else says this,
here's another objection, but I've been disappointed by so
many Christians. Professing Christians, let's
add that. I've been disappointed by so many professing Christians.
Religions full of hypocrites. You never made a truer statement.
The pulpit's full of hypocrites. I'll go one step higher. I'll
go 18 inches higher. I've been disappointed in people
too. Myself, chiefly. But I've never been disappointed
in Him. Never. And I'm not the issue, and you're
not the issue. Christ is the issue. It doesn't
say if you'll see professing Christians, say if you'll see
Him. He's my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
I've never, I've been disappointed in people. Myself? Put no confidence
in the flesh. God tried to teach us that, hadn't
He? He said it over and over again. Don't put any confidence
in the flesh. Lean not to your own understanding. Trust not me and not even princes. We won't listen. But I've never
been disappointed in or by my Lord. And I guarantee you, if
your faith's in Him, not in them, they won't shake you. They'll
hurt. They'll cause you tears and grief. But they cause you
tears of sympathy and pity, not condemnation. And then here's
another objection. Well, I made a profession of
faith earlier, which proved to be false. How do I know that
this profession is not false too? Well, this is one way I'm
not calling on you to make a profession of faith. I'm calling on you
to seek a person. You see what I'm saying? You
made a profession of faith. You never came, you never were
brought by the Spirit of God into a living union with a person.
You made a false profession. He's not a false person. It all
depends on in whom you're trusting, in whom you're resting. I'm calling
upon you to look to, bow to, believe in, and receive God's
Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ. If you
seek Him, You'll be found of it. I don't care what your objection
is, if you seek him. And he's rich in mercy. He's
plenteous in redemption. Our Lord's compassionate, more
than men, more than men. And then last of all, to offer
this conclusion, it is, is it not my duty to seek the Lord?
Now think about that moment. I'm not asking you will you seek
him. Will him truly. I believe the
gospel is a command. I believe God commands men to
repent. I believe men ought to repent. I believe people ought
to believe God's word. I believe they ought to believe
the Bible, don't you? The Lady Huntington said that that first
question in the old catechism of faith years ago, what is the
chief end of man? To glorify God. That's my chief
end. My chief end is not to find personal
satisfaction or personal success or personal happiness. My chief
end is to glorify God Almighty. Isn't that right? It is my duty
to seek Him. Let me ask this in conclusion. Is not the Lord my only hope?
Where shall we go? To whom shall we go? Where is
life? It's in Christ. This is the record. God has given us eternal life.
This life's in his Son. He's your hope. And then thirdly,
if I never seek him, I die in my sins. That's what he says
here in the last part. He says, if you forsake him,
And that's if you never seek Him, if you have no interest
in Him, if your mind's not turned in His direction, He'll cast
you off forever. Christ said this, if you die
in your sins, you cannot come where I am. Where did I offer
this conclusion? It's my duty, as a creature of
God, as a subject of His kingdom, to seek the Lord. And really,
he's my only hope. It's as clear from Genesis to
Revelation as anything has ever been stated in human language.
The way is clear and the matter is plain. We've confused it and
distorted it and frustrated and diverted men's attentions to
other things. That's the reason Paul said to
the learned Corinthians, I'm determined to preach nothing
among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's the whole issue. But thank
you, Christ, whose Son is he.