A Word to Those Who Seek the Lord

My text today will be taken from
the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 13. I'm speaking on
the subject, A Word to Those Who Seek the Lord. A Word to
Those Who Seek the Lord. Jeremiah wrote, quoting our God,
and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for
me with all your heart. Now, men and women by nature
do not seek God. If you look this world over,
and I'm including the churches and the cathedrals and the tabernacles
and religion of today, and out on the streets and in the offices
and factories and stores, people do not seek the Lord. Romans
chapter 3 verse 11 says, There is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. In the book of Philippians,
chapter 2, verse 21, watch how applicable this is to our day.
Listen, for all seek their own, and not the things of the Lord.
All seek their own. Greed. Men are not seeking God,
they're not seeking the things of God, they're not seeking the
truth of God. They're seeking their own. And
then in John chapter 5, verse 40, our Lord said, You will not
come to me that you might have life. Men will come to a church,
they'll come to a program, they'll come to entertainment, they'll
even come to a doctrine, but they won't come to a person,
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They're not seeking the Lord.
And then in John chapter 3 verse 19 the scripture says, this is
condemnation, this is our condemnation, this is our judgment, that men
love darkness, they love darkness and hate light and they will
not come to the light lest their deeds be reproved. So men and
women by nature do not seek God, they do not seek God. But there
are many precious promises made in this book to those who will
seek the Lord with all their hearts. There are many precious
promises held out to all who will seek the Lord. Listen to
some of them. In the book of Psalms, chapter
22, verse 26, David said, They shall praise the Lord that seek
him. In Psalm 9, verse 10, he says,
O Lord, thou hast not forsaken them that seek thee. thou wilt
not forsake them that seek thee." Psalm 34, verse 10, "...they
that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." And then
in Psalm 40, verse 16, "...let all those that seek thee rejoice,
and be glad in thee." And then in Psalm 119, verse 2, listen,
"...blessed are they that seek the Lord with the whole heart."
And then our Lord said in Matthew 7, "...seek, and ye shall knocking
it shall be opened, asking you shall receive." In Matthew 5,
verse 6, he said, "...blessed are they that hunger and thirst
for righteousness, they shall be filled." My friends, when
we find a sinner, when we find a man or a woman who manifests
enough interest in his soul, people interested in their bodies,
if I were to conduct a healing service and had some kind of
special gift or power or mind over matter to deceive people
and trick people, I could get thousands of people out to hear
me preach. But when you just stand and preach
the gospel, when you just preach the gospel, men and women are
interested in good music, but not much in good preaching. They
are interested in their bodies, but not much interested in their
souls. But when we find somebody who's interested in his soul,
who's interested in the things of the Lord, who's interested
enough to seek God with all his heart, something blessed, something
precious is going to happen. Benefits and blessings of mercy
are coming from God. Listen to Deuteronomy 4 verse
29. If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him
If thou shalt seek the Lord thy God with all thy heart, thou
shalt find him." Oh, if somewhere we could find somebody who was
interested in his soul, who was interested in having sin forgiven,
who was interested in a living relationship with the living
God, who was interested in knowing the Savior, who was interested
in having a vital living union with Christ, a vine-branch relationship,
a sheep-shepherd relationship, a head-body relationship, if
we could find somebody who was interested in seeking the Lord,
I tell you something blessed would happen. For all of these
promises are made to those who will seek the Lord. Now I'm going
to give a word to those who seek the Lord in my message today.
I speak not to those who are satisfied with formal religion. This is no heart for God at all.
They're satisfied with a form of prayer. They're satisfied
with a form of godliness. They're satisfied with a form
of worship. Well, if you're satisfied with
nothing but the form, denying the power thereof, I have nothing
for you. And I speak not to those who
are content to live two lives, one for God and one for themselves.
That's a double heart. And the Bible says a double-minded
man, the mind and heart's the same thing. A double-minded man
is unstable in all his ways. I speak not to those who are
deceived and who deceive others. This is a false hope. They have
no real interest in Christ and no real interest in his glory. They have a dishonest religion.
They're going about to make a proselyte to their own religion, to their
own way of thinking, and after they've made him, he's twofold
more the child of hell than they are. I speak to those today who
with sincerity and with all their hearts are seeking the Lord,
like David, my soul panteth after the living God. Oh, where shall
I find the living God? Like the harlot who bathed his
feet with tears and dried them with the hair of her head, seeking
in repentance and weeping and mourning, seeking the Lord, seeking
his Like blind Bartimaeus who cried out after the Lord, even
though the people about him said, hold your peace, hold your peace,
he cried out no more, he would not be denied. I must get to
him. Like Jacob who wrestled with
the Lord, who said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless
me. Oh, if I could find somebody
who wants the Lord that badly, who is seeking the Lord that
sincerely, I've got a word for him. As the woman with the issue
of blood who cried, oh, if I can only get to him, he's my only
hope. He's my only hope. She had spent all that she had
on many physicians and was no better, but only continually
worse, and finally she came to the end of herself. She said,
if I can just get to him. Those who seek the Lord as the
leper who ran and worshiped him and fell at his feet and said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. What's that great old
Puritan who said, Lord, lead me to seek thee, to seek thee,
not to be satisfied with formal religion, not to be satisfied
with two lives, not to be satisfied with being deceived, lead me
to seek thee with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my
strength, with all my mind, and seeking thee to find thee, and
the promise is, If you seek me with all your heart, you'll find
me, God said. And finding me to love thee,
and loving thee to serve thee. Three questions we're going to
deal with today. The first question is this, why
do men seek the Lord in this fashion? In this fashion. And secondly, whom do they seek? And then thirdly, how do they
seek him? out of the seeking. Now the first
question, why do men seek the Lord? You say, Preacher, the
Bible says that none that seeketh after God. And that's true, men
by nature do not seek God. Men by nature love evil. Men
by nature love darkness, that's what Scripture says. And that's
true, we know that from experience. Men by nature do not love God. The things of God to the natural
man is foolishness, sheer nonsense. Well, why do some men seek the
Lord? There are out there some people,
men and women, young people, who are seeking the Lord with
all your heart. Who made the difference? Why
are you seeking God when your friends are not? Why are you
seeking God when your husband's not, or your wife is not? Why
are you seeking God when your family's not seeking Why are
you seeking God when the people you work with are all satisfied
to have an empty-headed profession of faith? With no peace, no rest,
no joy, no hope, no assurance. Just a mechanical religion. Why
are you seeking God? And they're not interested. You
know why? Because God hath awakened you. Let's give him glory to whom
it's due. Let's give him glory to whom
it's due. You know what Scripture says?
We love him because he first loved us. Christ said to his
disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. I chose you. We seek him because he sought
us. The lost sheep was not hunting
the shepherd, the shepherd was hunting the sheep. Psalm 110,
verse 3 says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power." Ephesians 2 verse 4 talks about how we walked according
to the course of this world, the prince of the power of the
air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the lust of the mind, the pride
of life. But God, who is rich in mercy,
or his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were in
this dead, lifeless condition, quickened us with Christ. Who
did it? But God. We were children of wrath, even
as others, but God. We were children of wrath, even
as others. It doesn't say, but I'm different, but I'm smarter,
but I'm better, but God saw something in me that he didn't see in them.
No, sir. It says, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead, hath quickened us together
with Christ." Peter, Christ said, whom do you say that I am? And
he said, Why, thou art the Christ, thou art the Son of the living
God. Peter, whom do those people out there say I am? Well, some
say you're John the Baptist, some Elijah, some Jeremiah, some
one of the, but Peter, you say I'm the Christ. That's right,
you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. Who makes it
you to differ? Peter, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven. And I'm saying
to you, my dear friend, left to yourself, you'd go the way
of all flesh. Left to yourself, you'd never
seek God. You'd seek self, personal gain,
personal glory, self-righteousness. God made the difference. And
that's why men seek the Lord, is because God seeks them first.
That's why men love Christ. Christ loved them first. That's
why men give their lives to Christ, because Christ gave his life
first for them. Put the glory where it belongs.
Put the crown on the head where it belongs. It doesn't belong
on my head or yours. Who maketh thee to differ? What do you have
that you didn't receive? Everything you've got, God gave
you. Christ said to Pilate, Pilate said, why, I have the power to
crucify you and let you go. He said, you couldn't have any
power over me at all, except it were given you from above.
God makes a difference. Why do men seek the Lord? Well,
because the Lord, because the Lord awakened them. And secondly,
they seek the Lord because they've been made to see their sins.
Now this is something the average person has never seen. his sins. He doesn't understand what sin
is, he doesn't understand where the home of sin is, where the
root of sin is, he doesn't understand it. Those who are seeking the
Lord, though they do, they've been made to see their sins,
and the fact that their sins have separated them from their
God, they've been made to see that. We're like sheep wandering
from the foal. We're like prodigal sons who
are living in the hog pen. We're like dead branches, fit
for the burning, separated from the vine. We're like the leper
who's cast out of the camp, wandering about there alone, crying, unclean,
unclean, unclean. God never clothes a man until
he first strips him. God Almighty never raises a man
until he slays him. God Almighty never saves a man
until that man, first of all, becomes lost. Grace is for the
guilty, and the guilty will seek grace. And people who seek the
Lord are people who've been made to realize that they're great
sinners. Not only in act, but in thought.
Not only in deed, but in attitude. Not only in outward expression,
but in inward imagination. They are sinners by nature, and
sinners by birth, and sinners by practice, and sinners by choice.
They realize that even their righteousnesses are filthy rags
in God's sight, that they never think a thought that is not tainted
by sin. They never make a move that is
not influenced in some way by selfishness or the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. And men who have seen that through
the Bible have cried, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean Men who have seen this throughout
the Bible have been made to cry, I hate myself. O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin, this
body of death? With my mind I serve the law
of God, but I find another law in my members, warring against
this law of the mind, warring against my righteous nature.
It is a conflict between flesh and spirit in which there is
no discharge until death shall part this righteous nature from
this unholy nature. Why do men seek God? The first
reason is because he came by the power of his Spirit, awakened
them from a dead condition, and gave them life, a holy life that
cries out for God. And because he came and convicted
them of sin and showed them their nakedness, showed them their
wretchedness, showed them their loneliness and inability, And
I'll tell you another reason why men seek the Lord, why men
genuinely seek the Lord, why they genuinely cry out for a
living relationship with the living God. You know why? Because
they are fed up, totally tired, completely weary of the phony,
phony, phony religion of this twentieth century. I tell you,
my friend, the woman with the issue of blood had tried many
positions, many positions. She'd spent everything she had,
and she wasn't any better. And then she sought the Lord,
and she sought him with all her heart. And I'll tell you, nowadays
people are trying to find salvation in the law, and the only thing
you can find there is condemnation. People are trying to find salvation
in decisionism, and the only thing you can find there is emptiness.
People are trying to find salvation down at the front of the church,
in preachers' hands and altars and all these other things, and
all you find there is just a little encouragement to live a little
better. Men try to find it in tradition. If I try to find it
in creed, if I try to find it in doctrine, but none of these
things can speak peace. One old man wrote years ago,
Lord, deny me what you will, only God ease me of my guilt. broken at my feet I lie, give
me Christ or else I die." I'll be glad when more people become
weary of all the commercialism that's in religion today, and
all of the entertainment that's going under the name of God,
and all of the Hollywood-style promotion that is going under
the name of God, and all of the shastras and crooks that are
taken from poor people and folks on Social Security and sick people,
offerings to promote their own kingdom and their own cause and
their own glory. It's evil, it's wicked, and it's
being carried on in the name of God. And rich preachers, dressed
in rich clothes, driving rich automobiles and living in palaces,
are preying on the poor and doing it in the name of God Almighty.
And hell's not hot enough for them. And someday somebody's
going to get tired of all this, all of this phony religion that's
going under the name and the banner of Jesus Christ, and it's
another Jesus. And they're going to cry out,
somebody come and preach the gospel to us. We don't want our
ears tickled, we don't want our toes tingling, dancing with music. We want to hear about Christ.
We want to hear about God. We don't want you laying your
hands on our bodies and trying to heal us, we're going to die
anyway. But we don't want to die and go to hell. Tell us about
the Lord. Tell us how we can come to a
saving knowledge of Christ, a saving relationship with Christ. Men
seek the Lord, first because God awakens them, and secondly
because they know they're sinners. And salvation is not something
they do for God, it's something God does for them, and God knows
we need something done for us. We need a new heart, and the
preacher can't give you that. And we need a new nature, and
the preacher can't give you that. And we need a new spirit, and
the church can't give you that. And we need a new birth, and
down at the front of the altar, they can't give you that. Only
God can give you that. And someday, somewhere, we're
going to find somebody that's fed up with all this stuff that's
going on in the name of religion and God. God's not a beggar. We don't beg for money on this
program because it's an abomination to God. God pays his bills. He
supplies the need if he's in something. People are going to
get tired of all this someday, and somebody's going to start
seeking the Lord. Seeking the Lord. All right,
whom do they seek? Now listen to this. He said, you shall seek
me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. Brethren, the object of an awakened
heart is to know Christ, not to know a doctrine, not to know
where Cain got his wife, not to know how long the ark was
and how wide it was and how deep the water was. It's to know Christ. Listen to Paul. I count all things
but loss for the knowledge of Christ. that I may win Christ
and be found in him. I want to know him. I don't want
to know how many you had in Sunday school Sunday. I want to know
the Lord. I don't want to know how many you're shooting for
next Sunday. I want to know Christ. The awakened heart that's seeking
the Lord, the object of his search is to know a person. The object
of the genuine heart is Christ. Listen to Paul. Oh, that I may
know him. the power of his resurrection.
The object of genuine faith is Christ. I know whom I have believed. Paul didn't say, I know in whom
I have believed. He said, I know whom. And one
of the old saints said, don't even let a preposition come between
you and the Lord. I know whom I have believed. This is where the religious world
is missing the gospel. Men are seeking an experience.
a religious experience when they ought to be seeking a person.
You can get an experience anywhere. You can inherit a thousand dollars
and it will give you an experience. You can have a toe ache and it
will get well and you will have an experience. It's not hard
to find an experience. We want a person. Salvation is
a person. And when you have him, you have
everything. Men today are seeking a feeling
rather than a person. If they could just get a feeling,
if they could feel good or feel holy or feel righteous. Brethren,
to feel saved and to be saved could be two different things.
Salvation is a person. Christ died for our sins. Christ
is ascended into glory. Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. We are chosen in him. We are
redeemed in him. We are called in him. We are
accepted in him. We are exceeded in him. And someday,
by God's power, we're going to be conformed to his image. Men
today are seeking heaven rather than seeking Christ, who is heaven. The word of God says you're complete
in him. For he of God is made unto us
wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Whom do they
seek? They seek a person, not an experience,
not a feeling. not even heaven. They're seeking
Christ. Paul said, My little children,
I prevail till Christ be formed in you. I can sit down and teach
you Baptist doctrine. It won't help you. I can sit
down and teach you about creation and about prophecy and all these
other things. I don't know a great deal about
prophecy, but I can show you what I do know, and it wouldn't
help you any till Christ be formed in your heart. When you have
him, you have the humility of Christ. When you have him, you
have the love of Christ. When you have him, you have the
grace of Christ. When you have him, you have the
spirit of Christ. When you have him, you have the prayer of Christ. When you have him, you have all
the benefits of Christ. Listen, A.B. Simpson put it this
way. Once it was the blessing, now
it is the Lord. Once it was the feeling, now
it is his word. Once his gifts I wanted, now
the giver owns. Once I sought for healing, and
now for Christ alone. I wish I could make that clear
to you. We're seeking things, we're seeking experiences, we're
seeking wonders, we're seeking signs, we're seeking confirmations,
we're seeking arguments, we're seeking doctrines, we're seeking
reformation, we're seeking entertainment, was seeking everything but the
Lord, and he said, You shall seek me and find me when you
search for me with all your heart. He's the object. How do they
seek him? Now listen carefully while I
close. You will find me when you search for me with all your
heart. Now when the Lord talks about
our seeking him with all our heart, he's not talking about
our emotions. Salvation is more than an emotional
experience. It is to seek the Lord with your
understanding. When Philip came alongside that
chariot where the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53, Philip
looked up at him and said, Do you understand what you're reading? Do you understand what you're
reading? A committal to Christ that saves is a committal involving
the understanding, understanding of sin. and its consequences,
understanding of God's righteousness and God's justice and God's gospel,
who Christ is, what he did and why he did it. Understand it. Do you understand the gospel?
At least in your head. And then secondly, it is to seek
him with your will. Christ said if a man sits down
and figures out whether or not he has enough to finish a building
before he ever starts it, and that's what I want you to do.
I want you to sit down and consider this commitment. Consider this
decision. Are you willing to make a total
commitment to Jesus Christ? Are you willing to totally surrender
to him? This seeking him with all your
heart involves your understanding, your will, and your wholehearted
energy. Give me Christ, or else I die.
Join us next Lord's Day for the broadcast. Until then, Henry
Mahan, bidding you a very pleasant good morning.

A Word to Those Who Seek the Lord

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

A Word to Those Who Seek the Lord

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book