I want to preach tonight on the
subject, Seeking the Lord. I believe that sinners ought
to seek the Lord. If there's a man, woman, boy
or girl here tonight who's conscious of your sins, conscious of your
evil heart, conscious of the wrath of God upon the unbeliever,
conscious of the glories and the blessedness of eternal heaven,
you ought to seek the Lord. You're exhorted to seek the Lord.
You're invited to seek the Lord. That's true. You ought to seek
the Lord. You ought to seek Him with all
your heart. You ought to seek Him till you
find Him. You ought to seek Him till you're
restored to His favor. Men and women here who know Christ,
who have been redeemed by His blood, who have been the objects of
His awakening, quickening power and Spirit, But you're in a time
of indifference. You're neglecting spiritual things. You're neglecting God's Word.
You're neglecting the prayer clauses. You're neglecting the
fellowship of the people of God. You're spending more time with
evil influences than you are godly influences. And you're
just not happy. in your spiritual lives, you
ought to seek the Lord. You ought to seek the Lord with
all your heart. You ought to turn to God and
pray forgiveness, and pray that he'll be merciful to you. The
church ought to seek the Lord. Believers together ought to pray
for his power, his blessing. You ought to seek his face. You
ought to cry out unto God for a refreshing, a time of revival,
for a real visitation of his power and his spirit. I know
those things are true. I know that sinners ought to
seek the Lord. The word of God says they will
not seek the Lord. You will not come to me that
you might have life. But that doesn't change your
responsibility. You ought to seek the Lord. And
I know the church ought to seek the Lord. But you know it's a
difficult subject, and there are a lot of men who believe
in God's sovereignty who will not preach on this subject, seeking
the Lord. But I'll say this to you. I received
a letter just ten minutes before I came into the auditorium, across
my desk, about ten minutes before I came in here. A television
listener had written these words. If election is true, Why pray? Why send missionaries? If men
are predestinated to heaven, why not just go out and kill
and rob and steal? Well, let me say this to you,
and let me say it, and a letter like that breaks my heart and
troubles me. And this is the reason. There's
no doubt in my mind that election is in God's Word. It's true. It's true. Now you go clear back
before the foundations of this world. And the scripture says
that God chose a people in Christ before the world began. That's
what the scripture says. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
you didn't choose me, I chose you. Paul the Apostle said we
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
In 2 Thessalonians 2.13 he said God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the belief of the truth. So
election is true. Our Lord Jesus talked about the
elect all the way through the four gospels. He said God's going
to send his angels and gather his elect. He said when antichrist
shall arise they will deceive, if possible, the elect. It's
all the way through God's Word. What's amazing though is like
this letter A man who can't spell election evidently hadn't studied
it very long. A man who can't spell predestination
evidently hadn't looked at it too many times, Jerry. And these
great mysteries of the Word of God are not solved in five minutes.
It took longer than that to write it. It took longer than that
for God to decree His purposes. You ought to give it more than
five minutes or fifteen minutes. But this is what I'm saying.
Predestination is in the Bible. It's five times in the New Testament.
The Word is there in the New Testament. It's not mine to say
I don't believe in predestination. I might as well say I don't believe
the Bible, because it's there in front of my face. What I've
got to find out is what God says about it. What does the Scripture
say? And it says we're predestinated
to be conformed to the image of God's Son. That's what predestination
is. When somebody says we're predestinated
to heaven or predestinated to hell, you put him down right
then as an ignoramus. Because the subject hadn't got
anything to do with heaven and hell. Every time it's mentioned
in the Bible, it has to do with being like Christ. John, every
time it's mentioned, it says we're predestinated to be like
Christ. Four times it says that. So I can't deny that. I know
that God did predestinate a people. There's no doubt about it. He
chose people. Now election's not salvation.
We're elected unto salvation. We're chosen unto salvation. Election is never said to be
salvation. No man is saved because he's elected. He's saved because
Christ died for him. We're not saved by election,
we're saved by Christ, by his righteousness, by his divine
obedience, and by his precious blood. The Bible never says we're
saved by election, we're saved by faith, by grace through faith. And this is the problem, is when
men make up their minds that they're going to attack the subject,
they usually make that subject to appear ridiculous before they
attack it, that makes the attack a lot easier. But now if you
let the subject stand as God introduces it in his word, you've
got a job on your hands. If you let it stand like God
writes it. And the election is true. God chose a people. I can give you untold examples
of that to go back to the beginning, when the angels sinned. Now listen
to me. When the angels fell, the scripture
says, Christ came as the Redeemer, but He did not take on Himself
the nature of angels. There's no redemption for Lucifer.
There's no redemption for the fallen angels. There's no redemption
for those who kept not their first estate. He took not on
Himself the nature of angels. He took on Himself the seed of
Abraham. That's election. God chose men
and rejected angels. Passed them by. Now, I don't
see any battles going on over that. I don't see any radio or
television preachers attacking that. It's just so. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer. He said, Other foundation can
no man lay, nor the name unto heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. I am the door.
I am the truth. I am the life. I am the... the
water of life. There's no other way but Christ.
And when he came to this earth, he came not in the nature of
angels, but he came in the nature of Adam's seed, Abraham's seed. And that's a lecture, all right?
Go back to the book of Genesis. And God chose a nation. He chose
Israel. There's no question about that.
It's all the way through the Old Testament. There were many
nations on the earth, then. There were the Philistines, and
the Amalekites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Babylonians,
and the Medes, and the Persians, and so many nations. But God
chose Abraham, Jay. He chose Israel. And He said,
I'll bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you.
I'll raise up from you, from your seed, Isaac, a great nation. And he gave to Israel the prophets.
There were no prophets in the Philistine camp. There were no
prophets in any of these other camps. Amalek didn't have any
prophets. Israel had the prophets. Israel
had the law. Israel had the tabernacle. Israel
had the priesthood. Israel had the Sabbath day. Israel
had the atonement. Israel had the priesthood. Now
what are we going to do with that? And the very preachers that get
so red in the face about God's sovereignty and God's election
will turn right around and talk about Israel. God gave it all
to Israel. And let me tell you this. Israel
was pretty tough on Gentiles. The Gentiles were called dogs.
Your ancestors were called dogs. And Israel was not allowed to
fellowship with Gentiles, to marry Gentiles, or to move into
the camp of Gentiles. And every time they did, God
punished them. That's a lecture. Our Lord came
to this earth. Our Lord chose 12 disciples.
And then all the way through the New Testament. But now let
me say this to you. If you If you receive the doctrine
of election, predestination, particular redemption, effectual
invincible grace, and it hinders or diminishes your prayer life,
you've received it all wrong. Now, the truth is not wrong.
The truth of election is correct. But if it diminishes and brings
you to the place that this man writing the letter has come,
if this doctrine is true and you don't pray as much, then
you've misunderstood the doctrine. The doctrine's right, but you
got it wrong. If you study the doctrine of predestination, the
doctrine of effectual grace, and it keeps you from witnessing,
and keeps you from being brokenhearted over lost people, and keeps you
from sending missionaries and preachers to preach to the lost,
It's not that the doctrine is wrong or that the doctrine did
that to you. You've misunderstood the doctrine.
Because the Apostle Paul wrote about sovereignty and election
and predestination more than any other writer, and he was
the greatest missionary who ever lived. He was the greatest witness. He talked to men about going
from house to house and place to place and city to city and
country to country, making Christ known. He prayed for lost people. He said, My heart's broken for
Israel, my kindred according to the flesh. I pray for them.
My heart's desire to God is that they might be saved. He said,
I could give my very life for their salvation. I could wish
myself a curse from God for their salvation. That sound like a
man believes in election? Well, it was. He believed in
God's purpose. He believed in God's grace. He
believed in God's predestination. If the belief in any of these
doctrines keeps you from being grateful to God and praising
God, and makes you what we call a fatalist, you've misunderstood
the doctrine. You've got it all wrong. Entirely
wrong. I barely believe that the greatest
preachers who ever lived were Augustine, and he believed exactly
what I'm preaching tonight. Martin Luther, John Calvin, the
greatest missionaries, Judson, William Carey, preachers George
Whitefield, missionary David Brainard, Charles Spurgeon, all
of these men believed exactly what I'm teaching tonight. And
yet they were witnesses, they were preachers, they wept over
sinners, they prayed for the lost, they sent missionaries
out. They had a great zeal and determination
to make Christ known. So my dear friends, when we take
God's Word and read it, and we see a doctrine in here that is
contrary to human nature, human understanding, and we grab a
hold of it, it makes us hard. and pray less, and witness less,
and be less concerned for lost people. We've misunderstood it.
Totally misunderstood it. Moses. Listen to Moses. Lord,
if you don't save Israel, blot me out of the book that you've
written. That's concern. That's compassion. And yet that's
a man who knew that God reigned on a sovereign throne. I want
us to look at this subject of seeking the Lord tonight. Now,
down here in verse 13 of Jeremiah 29. You shall seek me and find
me when you shall search for me with all your heart. Now,
my friends, these words are a part of a message which the Lord God
gave by His servants to the captivities in Babylon. That's what this
is part of. I read it a moment ago. These
directions are part of a message which the Lord gave by his servant
to Israel when they were captives in Babylon. He says you'll be
there 70 years. Now you're to remain there quietly
in Babylon until the set time for your deliverance. You're
to stay right there. You're to marry, bear children, You'd have your
children marry and bear children, you'd plant crops, you'd pray
for the wicked city, you'd pray for your captors, you'd pray
for the peace of that city, for in that city having peace, you'll
have peace. But God says at the end of 70
years, there's going to come a gracious visitation from the
Lord. And this visitation from the
Lord will result in your deliverance. And this visitation of the Lord
will lead you to seek the Lord. That's what he said. I'm coming
down. I'm going to move in mercy toward you. He says, I know my
thoughts toward you. Look at verse 11. I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. My thoughts
toward you are thoughts of peace, not evil, to give you an expected
end. Then shall you call upon me. Then shall you go and pray unto
me, and I will hearken to you. Then you shall seek me and find
me. Then you shall search for me
with all your heart." In other words, here's the general principle.
Now listen to this. Here's the general principle.
It is a general principle throughout this Bible that a blessing is
about to come from God when men are moved to seek the Lord. There's
a blessing coming. You see what I'm saying? See
what this prophet is saying? God has designed their deliverance
already. God already has thoughts of kindness
and mercy toward these people, these rebels, these sinners in
captivity. God has thoughts of mercy toward
them. God has set a date for their
deliverance. God has already designed grace
for them. And he says, I'm coming. But
he said, in that time when I design mercy and grace for you, you
are going to seek me. You are going to search for me.
So I say when a man begins to seek the Lord, when a man begins
to search for the Lord, when a man begins to cry out to God,
when a man begins to pray for the presence of God, it's a general
principle that a blessing is just about to fall. That a blessing
has already been designed. When we are moved to seek God,
it's because God is seeking us. Did you know that? When we are
moved to cry out to God, it's because God has already cried
out to us. We love Him. Why? Because He
first loved us. We seek Him because He seeks
us. Let me read you some of that
throughout the Bible. Now, I say that God is not...
God Almighty is not tied down to any one way of moving or acting. He's a sovereign God. He said
when the... The people were crying Hosanna
and all that, you know, and he said if they didn't cry, the
rocks would cry out. Now, he can go contrary to human
nature, he can go contrary to the design, purpose, and will.
God can. In fact, in the birth of Isaac,
he did. Isaac's mother and daddy were old people. In the birth
of John the Baptist, he did. John the Baptist's parents were
old people past the age of bearing children. In the birth of his
divine son, a virgin brought forth a child. So God Almighty
can work with means or without means. He's God. But He's been
pleased to work through means. And I'm saying that God is able
to send a blessing before we pray. And God is able to move
toward us before we seek Him, for He's a sovereign God. But
this is the way His promises run through the Word. This is
the general way that God moves. Now listen to these verses. You
needn't look all these up. We're going to move quickly.
1 Chronicles 28, 9. If thou seek him, he'll be found of thee. In Ezra 8, 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. Proverbs 8, 17, they that
seek me early shall find me. 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 you. Seek and ye shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you. And then this verse here in Jeremiah
29.13, and ye shall seek me and find me when you search for me
with all your heart. What these verses are all saying
is this, when a man is moved to seek God, it's because God
is moved in mercy toward him. If a man is led to cry out to
God, if a man is led to seek God in mercy, it's because God
Almighty has already designed good toward him. Here are four
things that are always true. Where there's a seeking center,
These four things are always true. Where there's a seeking
center, there's always a seeking Savior. Always. Turn to John, chapter 1. Let
me give you an example of this. John, the first chapter, verse
43. In John 1, 43, I want you to
look at this. I'm saying where there's a seeking
center. I'm not talking about a man playing
at religion. I'm not talking about a man dealing
with religion as a sideline, or as a duty, or a responsibility. I'm talking about a man bowed
down with sin, troubled about his relationship with God, who
is seeking the Lord with all his heart. As David said, as
the thirsty deer panteth for the water brooks, so panteth
my soul for the living God. When shall I find him? When shall
I appear before him? I'm talking about a man like
the Apostle Paul, who said that he was so fed up with religion,
and he said, I count my heritage but dung, and I count my tradition
but rubbish, and I count all my accomplishments but nothing,
that I may win Christ and be found in him, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection, that I might gain The resurrection
of the body, that I may lay hold upon that for which I've been
laid hold on. I'm talking about a man who's
in dead earnest, with all his heart, seeking God. When there's
a seeking sinner, there's a seeking Savior. In John 1.43, listen
to this. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee and findeth Philip. and saith unto him, Follow
me. Who found whom? Christ found
Philip. That's what it says, Danny. Christ
found Philip. But now I want you to listen
to verse 45. Here's how Philip told it. Philip
found his Nathanael and said unto him, We found him. I found
him. Philip found him. He did find
him. Of whom Moses wrote. in the law, and the prophets
did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, I found him,
I found the Christ, I found the Messiah, I found the Redeemer,
I found him. Philip was acquainted with the
Old Testament, and he knew that God had promised a Redeemer,
he knew that God had promised a Messiah, a Savior, he knew
Genesis 3, 15, the seed of woman. He knew all the way through the
Old Testament, there was written that a Messiah would come, a
Redeemer would come, and he went and found Nathanael, and he said,
I found him, I found him, I found him! But I know this, the Lord
found him first. Where there is a seeking sinner,
there's always a seeking Savior. And here's the second thing,
where there's a seeking sinner, There is always a gospel preacher
or a word of promise, always, where there's a seeking center.
Now my friends, turn if you will to Romans chapter 10. Romans
chapter 10, beginning reading with verse 13, where there's
a seeking center. In other words, where there's
a sinner who's conscious of his misery and conscious of his guilt
and conscious of his sins and conscious of his needs, there's
always some light. There's always some truth. Otherwise,
he won't know who to see. He won't know what to expect.
He won't even know the direction in which to go. He won't know
the one upon whom to call. There's got to be, in other words,
this man, this eunuch, the eunuch from Ethiopia, this man was seeking
God. And he went to Jerusalem to worship. He knew that the true God was
in Israel. King Darius knew that. And the
men on Jonah's ship knew that. And the men of Nineveh knew that.
Bero found that out, that Israel worshipped the true God. And
this eunuch had been to Jerusalem. He was seeking the Lord. He was
a troubled man, a man in need. He was seeking God. And he had
been to Jerusalem to worship, and he was coming back from the
feast, and he was reading the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. And the man didn't understand
what he was reading. And God sent him a preacher.
God sent him a teacher. God sent him someone to lead
him into the understanding of the Scriptures, and Philip was
walking along beside the chariot and listening to him read. And
he looked up and said, Do you understand what you're reading?
And the eunuch said, How can I? Except some man show me. Come up here and sit down. Philip
went up and got up. Went up in the chair, sat down, and the
man sat down. And here, here is where he says
he was wounded by transgressions and bruised by iniquities and
the chastisement of our peace was upon him. Who's he talking
about here, himself? Who's the prophet talking about,
himself or some other man? And that's when Philip began
at the same scripture in which Christ stood. And I'll say where
there's a seeking sinner, God's not going to leave that man groping
in the darkness of ignorance. God's going to send him a messenger.
God's going to send him a messenger who's not afraid to tell the
truth. A messenger who's not covetous. A messenger who will
not compromise. A messenger who will deliver
the exact truth that God Almighty wrote in His Word. A messenger
who is more concerned that that man know Christ than that that
man know who he is. And here in Romans 10, 13 it
says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. But how then shall they call on him in whom they've not
believed? You can't call on an unrevealed
Savior. You can't call on an unrevealed
Savior. You can't call on one whom you
don't even know and haven't even believed. How should they believe
in him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Where there's a seeking center
There's always a seeking Savior. A Savior who moved that man to
seek Him. A Savior who designed good toward
that man. Who designed mercy toward that
man. Who designed grace toward that
man. And there's always a word of promise. There's always a
message. There's always a messenger. Alright,
thirdly, where there's a seeking center, there's always a teaching
spirit. Now brethren, I know it pleased
God to make us his people. That's what scripture says. And
it pleased God that in Christ should all fullness dwell. And
it pleased God to bruise him. And it pleased God to reveal
his Son in us. And it pleased God with the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. But it also pleased
God to make that preaching effectual by his Spirit. Turn to John chapter
16. You see, the natural man, Paul
wrote in 1 Corinthians 2, the natural man will not receive
the things of God. The foolishness to it. The natural
man will not receive the truth of God's Word. It's foolishness
to it. It's utterly ridiculous. It's sheer nonsense. Eye hath
not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered the heart
of men. The things God's prepared for them that love Him, but He
hath revealed them unto us, how? By His Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth the deep things of God. Yea, the deep things of
God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man save the Spirit that's in him? Even so, the things of
God knoweth no man but the Spirit, and God hath given us His Spirit. If our gospel is hid, it is hid
to them who are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded their minds, lest they should see into the glorious
mysteries of God's kingdom. But he hath revealed his glory
to us in the face of Christ Jesus by Spirit. And this is what our
Lord is saying in John 16, verse 13. He said, Howbeit when he,
the Spirit of truth, is come, John 16, verse 13, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
The Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak, and he'll show you things to
come. He'll glorify me, not himself. He won't speak of himself, he
won't glorify himself. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and show it to you. All things that the Father
hath of mine, therefore said I, he shall take the things of
mine and show it unto you. There's a lot of talking this
day about the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. People are always talking about
the Holy Spirit. Well, let me tell you this. The
more a fellow talks about the Holy Spirit, the more you can
be convinced that he doesn't have the Holy Spirit. That's
right. Now, we generally in our limited
understanding of Scripture, we think the more Thaler talked
about being baptized with the Holy Ghost, and filled with the
Holy Ghost, and giving the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and praising
the Holy Ghost, and blessed Holy Ghost, that he really knows the
Holy Ghost. He knows a ghost, but it's not the Holy Ghost.
He knows a spirit, but it's not the Holy Spirit. The Scripture
says, just as plainly here as it can be said in plain words,
the Holy Spirit will not speak of himself. He'll speak of Christ. If you listen to a man who preaches
and his theme is Christ, and his message is Christ, and his
gospel is Christ, and his conversation is Christ, and his urgent cry
unto you is flee to Christ, that man has the Holy Spirit. Because
he is the voice of the Holy Spirit. That's what the Holy Spirit came
to do. He shall not speak of himself. He shall take the things
of mine and show them to you. He shall not glorify himself.
He'll glorify me. He will not glorify the flesh.
He glorifies Christ. There's a teaching spirit. And
that Holy Spirit teaches me in the things of Christ. What about
Christ? He teaches me in who Christ is. That He's very God
of very God. Yes, He is a man. Yes, He is
a man. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. Took upon Himself the likeness of sinful flesh. Born
of a woman. Made under the law. Our Lord
Jesus tried and tested and tempted in all points as we are, yet
without sin. He hurt. He wearied. He wept. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew the
emotions and the conflicts and the temptation. But He's God
Almighty. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by Him, and that Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. I and my Father are one. God was in human flesh. That's who He is. He's not a
messenger of God. He's not a representative of
God. He's not just a servant of God. He's not even a son of
God. He is the Son of God. He's very
God of very God. What did he do? He came down
here born of a woman in human flesh and obeyed the law of God
perfectly in every jot and tittle. Even the Heavenly Father said,
I find no fault in him. I'm well pleased with him. Men
couldn't find no fault in him. Devils couldn't find no fault
in him. Sin couldn't defeat him. Death couldn't defeat him. The
grave couldn't hold him. Hell couldn't keep him there.
He arose. He ascended to the right hand
of the Father and sat down as our intercessor and mediator.
Why did He come down here and live in the flesh? Why did He
obey the law? Why did He go to the cross? Why
was He buried? That God Almighty might be just
and justifier of folks like me and you. That God Almighty might
be true and yet merciful. That He might be righteous and
yet gracious. That He might be truth and yet
love. You see, God Almighty wrote His
law and He can't repeal it. He can't take the edge off of
it. He can't call it back. He's got to punish sin. And God
can't punish us and save us. He can't do both. He can't send
us to hell and take us to heaven. But if he can send someone down
here, numbered with a transgressor, identified with a transgressor,
as a representative of a transgressor, and deal with that person in
our stead, and have his law honored and his justice satisfied in
our place instead, then he can take us to heaven, having been
justified in Christ. That's why he did it. And where
is he now? He's at the right hand of God.
And my friend, a man's not just saved by trusting Jesus. A man's
not saved by believing Jesus died. Because there are too many
folks named Jesus running around this world. I go to Mexico every
year and I run into a bunch of Jesus's every year. They're all
over those islands down there. The little Jesus's about 5 years
old. Jesus's 2 years old. Jesus's
20 years old. And those Jesus's can't save
anybody. Jesus Cristo can save though. The Lord Jesus Christ
can save. And how can a man trust one whom
he doesn't know? Somebody said one time, let's
quit preaching doctrine and get together around Jesus. And I
said, which one? Which Jesus? The Jesus that this
bunch preaches? Or the Jesus that that bunch
preaches? Or the Jesus some other? Jesus superstar. Is that the
one you want to get around with? He didn't know where he came
from or why he came or what he came to do or where he was going.
You want to get together around a Jesus that's wringing his hands
and crying his eyes out because folks won't let him do what he
wants to do? I'll tell you the Christ of the Bible is the one
to trust in and rest in and believe in, and He reveals Himself through
His teachings. And somebody's going to tell
us, going to have to tell us, not just to believe, but whom
to believe and what to believe. That we might have a foundation
of our faith, that we might have some confidence in what we believe. So where there's a seeking center,
there's always a seeking Savior. God's already designed good.
God's already designed mercy. Secondly, where there's a seeking
center, there's always truth preached. The gospel of truth. There's always a teaching spirit. And then in the fourth place,
there's always a forgiving father. Where there's a seeking center,
there's always a forgiving father. Always. Here's a boy. He left home. He left his parents. He asked his father for his inheritance,
and he said, I'm leaving. A young rebel. So he took off
and left home. And he spent all his money. And
he's broke. Plumb broke. He doesn't have
a dime. And he doesn't have any way of
getting any money. He's broke. And he's hungry. He's even eating
the hush in the pig pen. He's taking care of some fellow's
pigs, and he's sitting there on the pig-pen rail, and he's
eating the husk, and he doesn't like them. He's broke, and he's
hungry, and he's weary, and he's homesick. And he sits there and
looks at those pigs, and thinks about where he is, and thinks
about the end of this life, and he says, my father's house is
a wonderful place. And the servants in my father's
house are better off than I am. I'm going to go back to my father.
I'm going to go back to my father. Now then, that's going on in
his mind. But I'm telling you up yonder
at home, there's a father that wants him. There's a father waiting
to receive him. There's a father who loves him.
There's a father who's got designs. And let me tell you something,
we fathers don't have the fire the Heavenly Father does. The
ones that are the objects of the Heavenly Father's love are
going to be brought. The ones that are the object
of the Heavenly Father's grace are going to be redeemed. The
ones that are the objects of the Heavenly Father's purpose
are going to be brought. And so he says, I'll go home.
And he arises in his rags and his filth and in his unhappiness
and he starts toward home. And the Scripture says when he
was yet a great way off that his father, evidently his father,
carried on nightly or daily vigil at a window or a door out on
the porch. But Brother Herman, he's looking
for that boy. He's looking for that boy. He's
standing there in the window. When he was a great way off,
his father saw him. And his father rang, just literally
rang, and met him out there. He didn't even wait for the boy
to come home and fall on his face and go through all that.
He'd already made up his mind what he was going to say. He
thought about it in the pig pen and he thought about it all the
way home. What if he won't let me in? What if he's still mad
at me? What if he's got every right
to refuse me? He's got every right to have
nothing to do with me. He's not obligated to me. He's
already given me everything that's coming to me. What if he thought
about that all the way home? And he thought about, well, I'll
do this. I'll knock on the door. And when
he comes, I won't give him a chance to say anything. I'll just say,
Father, I'm sorry. No, that won't work. I know what
I'll do. I'll get to my mother. That's the one. I'll get to Mom
first. And I'll have her go to Dad. That's what the Catholics
do. They're going to go to Mary and get her to go to Jesus, you
know. I'll go to Mom first, and she can kind of soften up Dad
a little bit. He thought, I'm sure those things went through.
Don't you know what was going through his mind a little? I
might even see my brother. Maybe my brother will put me
up, you know. But it didn't even happen like he thought. When
he was way off there, he looked up and here came his father with
arms outstretched. Welcome home, son. He didn't
even get a chance to make his speech. And as the father hugged
him, he said, Daddy, wait a minute now. He said, I've sinned unto
heaven and against thee, and in thy sight I'm not fit to be
called your son. Welcome home, son. But that'd
just make me a servant. Welcome home, son. There's always
a forgiving father. And the father said, bring hither
the shoes and put on his feet, and a ring on his finger, and
a robe on his back. My son, come home! Get the neighbors! Call in everybody! Kill a pig!
Fatted calf. Something. Let's have a party.
And boy, I'll tell you, that's the way it always is. And you
know, I hear people say, well, The way I see it, if God's going
to save a man, He's going to save him. Why don't you tell
Bartimaeus that? Old Bartimaeus sitting by the
side of the road blind, never had seen the light of day, sitting
there with his blanket wrapped around him, begging, you know,
with a tin cup. In his filth and dirt and beggarly
garments, and somebody, he heard a commotion, and somebody, he
said, What is it? What is it? They said, Jesus
of Nazareth is passing by. And old Bartimaeus threw down
that cup and began to wave his arm, Jesus, thy son of David. You know who that is, the son
of David? That old boy knew something. The Messiah, that's who he was
saying, Jesus, Messiah, have mercy on me. And somebody told
him, hush, hush. I bet there was a Calvinist there
who said, now if he's going to heal you, he'll heal you. Now
you just sit there and just keep quiet now. And if he's got designs
on you, he'll be over here. That old boy wouldn't be quiet. He'd, Jesus! You better hear
me. I'm dead soon. I'm like old Jacob. I'm not gonna let you go till
you bless me. Jesus! And brother, I'll tell you the
scripture said the Lord stood still. The devil can't make him stand
still. Herod couldn't make him stand still. Pilate couldn't
make him stand still. The Pharisees couldn't make him
stand still. All the powers of the Roman Empire
couldn't stop him. One word from one needy sinner
stopped the Lord of glory by where he was. He stopped dead
still. That's the reason I say seek
the Lord. But you better be in earnest. You better not be playing
games. It better be with all your heart,
with a need, with an anxiety, with a broken heart, with a dedication
that if he does anything for you, he'll never hear the last
of it. And I'll tell you somebody else, that woman with the issue
of blood, I'll tell you, she crawled through a throng of people. Twelve years she'd been sick.
She'd spent everything she had on doctors. She didn't have a
dime left. She wasn't any better. She was just worse. She resolved
in her heart, I'm going to get to him. I'm going to get to Christ. If salvation is to be had, I'm
going to have it. If healing is to be had, I'm going to have
it. And I know where it is, it's in Christ. And this is the thing,
you remember this. You shall seek me and find me
when you search for me with all your heart. That's key, that
thing. Sinners who are seeking the Lord are not seeking the
benefits, they're seeking the Lord. And the benefits come with
Him. Everybody would like to go to
heaven. That's what these preachers are making a fortune on right
now on radio and television. They're getting rich. This one
just bought a $650,000 mansion down in Florida. His folks have
helped him pay for it. condominium for his whole crowd. And they're preaching health
and wealth. They're saying if you believe on Jesus, you'll
be well the rest of your life, and you'll be healthy the rest
of your life, and you'll have money the rest of your life.
But that's not what we're preaching. We're preaching a person. You
want to get to Christ, you seek me. Find me when you're searching
for me with all your heart. And this woman said if I can
touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole." And she
crawled through that crowd, and she reached out, and she touched
it. And the scripture says, she was made well, just like that.
And our Lord stopped again. He said, somebody touched me.
Somebody touched me. And the disciples said, Lord,
everybody's touched you. There's 5,000 people here. And they've all brushed against
you and bumped you and pushed you. They're all reaching out
for your hands and your arms and all pressing against you.
He said, somebody touched me. I perceive that power has gone
out of me. Somebody with a need. Somebody
with faith. Somebody seeking the Lord. And
she identified herself. And he told her, she told him,
she said, I knew if I could get to you I'd be made whole. And
not only was she made whole, but he said, you sinned.