Go back to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. As I had said, this subject of seeking the Lord has been on my mind for a few weeks. The highest pursuit in this life is to seek the Lord. I know we seek higher education, we seek a lot of things in this life, but the highest pursuit is to seek the Lord God of heaven and earth, to seek to know Him, to be accepted of Him, to stand in His presence, You would think that God Almighty being the Creator of Heaven and Earth, that everyone would have an interest in knowing Him, knowing the Creator. He made all this. He created all this. We created none of it. And yet, Unless God gives us a man or a woman an interest in seeking Him, we won't do it. We'll seek everything else, but we will not seek Him. And it's amazing to me that the Lord condescends and in His grace calls upon sinners, because in verse 7 He calls them the unrighteous and the wicked, He says, seek Me. Search for Me. Search for Me. I'll show you in Scripture a little bit. Over in Jeremiah, He said, He that seeketh Me with all his heart shall find Me. God has promised. He has promised that the person who seeks Him with all the heart... This is not a half-hearted venture here. This is with all the heart. And God has promised that He will be found of those who seek Him with all the heart. One of the things concerning God that amazes me, which everything about God is amazing, but the longsuffering of God. To watch how this creation, to watch how humanity, the ungratefulness of it, the ingratitude of it, to see that, and yet God is so long-suffering. Long-suffering. Now it says in Isaiah 6, "...Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near." My first point is this, who should seek the Lord? Who should seek the Lord? Well, first of all, everyone ought to seek the Lord. Every person on this earth ought to seek the Lord. All of humanity ought to. He made us. Listen to Psalm 24.1. The earth is the Lord's. It's not ours. Your home is not your home. It's his. Your car is not your car. It's his. Your children are not your children. You say, oh, yes, they are. Well, I know that. But I know they're not also. They're his. When he took Job's 10 children, did he ask Job if he could? He didn't ask Job a thing. And if you go in there, whenever he does ask Job questions, when he questions Job, he doesn't question Job about Well, can I do this? Can I do that? When he began to question Job, he said, where were you when I created the heavens and the earth? Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Where were you? No, God doesn't ask us for anything. He's the Lord. Seek ye, listen, the Lord, the sovereign, the Sovereign, the Sovereign Savior. He's Lord and Savior. He is a just God and a Savior in that order. And He is a Sovereign Savior. We saw this last week in Romans 9. He has mercy on whom He will have mercy and whom He will Yardens. That's just who God is. What that is saying is that God is God. We are the subjects, not God. He's the sovereign. We are His subjects. Seek ye the Lord, He's the Lord. That's who you seek. And everyone ought to seek Him, for the earth is the Lord, the fullest thereof. That's what I said, your home is not your home. Everything's His. Everything. And the world is this... Listen. The earth is the Lord, the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein." You know, and you've heard this many times, and I've heard it several times, these televangelists, make Jesus your Lord. Forget it. God beat you to it. God beat you to it. Jesus Christ is your Lord whether you believe Him or not. Whether you like Him or not, love Him or not, He's Lord. He is Lord, it says, both of what? The dead and the living. Everything, everyone will answer to the Lord Jesus Christ. So it would be wise for every one of us to do what? Seek the Lord. To seek the Lord. He is Lord of all and He deserves our respect and our gratitude. He deserves our worship. It says in Hebrews chapter 1, Let all the angels of God worship Him. Why? Because He is God. God would not say, let the angels worship Him if He Himself were not God. He's God. He's Lord and He's God. But now listen, who should seek the Lord? More specifically, you. You and me. You. The Word is being preached to you right now, this morning. You. God is speaking to you and me this morning. And note the character here. Let's define this a little more. He gives the character of the ones He's speaking to. He says in verse 7, "...let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Who's He speaking to? The wicked, the unrighteous. Brethren, this opens the door wide open to sinners. Now, most people won't go that far and say, I don't count myself as wicked. Well, God does. I don't see myself as unrighteous. Well, God does. You know how things really are? The way God sees them. That's exactly how they are. And that's what I am by nature. And when I read that, that gives me hope. He didn't say, he doesn't say here, let the rich forsake his way. Well, that would exclude me, exclude most of us. He just says the wicked and the unrighteous. Well, boy, that just opens the door up there. That opens the door. But most won't go that far. The self-righteous will keep their self-righteousness. That's why the Pharisees were offended. They said, we'd be not sinners. We're not sinners. They were offended that the Lord was speaking to them as sinners. And they said to Him, we'd be not sinners. They said, God is our father. These are the most self-righteous people in town. These were the most moral people in town. And they said, God is our father. And the Lord said, no, the devil is your father. He gave it to him just as it is. The devil is your father. If God were your father, he said in one place, you'd believe me. If God were your father, you'd love me. You'd believe me, you'd bow to me, if God were your father. You remember that rich man? That rich man, that rich young ruler, he came to Christ and he said, all these things have I kept from my youth up. You know what's sad, is his morality became his undoing. He saw no need of Jesus Christ. He saw no need of His righteousness. I need His righteousness. I don't have any. I have zero righteousness. Self-righteousness is no righteousness. Self-righteousness is just another form of sin. It's probably the highest form of sin. It's the sin that robs God of His glory. A drunk, as I told you last week, is not going to rob God of His glory. But self-righteousness? Self-righteousness says, let me tell you what I've done. You and I haven't done anything without sin. We haven't even had a thought without sin. Not even a thought. The gospel is for sinners. It's for sinners. It's for the poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit. There is the kingdom of God. It's for the afflicted, it's for the young, it's for the old, the gospel is for sinners. Whether they be young sinners, old sinners, afflicted sinners, it's for sinners. That's why it says here back in verse 1, "...whoever thirsteth, thirsty for God, thirsty for righteousness, thirsty for forgiveness. Come to the waters, and he that has no money, come ye buy and eat, yea, come buy wine, milk, without money, without price. You know, that's a real good news to somebody that just went bankrupt. If you're absolutely bankrupt, that's good news. But if you've got a bank account that's fat, it's not good news. You'd rather go to the restaurant. But to the bankrupt sinner, that's good news. He that has no money coming by, how is that? Only God can do that. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, that which satisfies not? Why do you do that? Why do you spend your time on religion that's without Christ? A Christless religion satisfies no one. Religion in and of itself will just make you... I'll tell you what it'll make you. It'll make you self-righteous and mean. Look at history. Look at history and see some of the wars that were done in the name of God. All the murders and all the things that people do in the name of God, but Christ is not in it. Just because somebody uses God's name doesn't mean God's in it. Might be have the wrong God. Now, if you're going to talk about God, let's talk about the God of the Bible. And he has to fit the description of the God in the Bible. The gospels for sinners. And to seek, listen, he says here, seek ye the Lord. To seek implies that I'm lost. Have you ever been lost? Have you ever been lost? That's a terrible place to be, but it's a good place because Christ said He came to save the lost. He didn't come to save anybody else. He came to save the lost. Christ died for sinners. He didn't die for anybody else. He died for sinners. That's what Scripture says. He died for the ungodly. And He says here, "...let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, You know, have mercy on him. Let me give you just a couple of thoughts here on this matter of repentance, because that's what he's talking about. When he's saying, seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he's near, and let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Repentance, as I told you last week, It's to turn from sin, it's to turn from a sinful life, sinful way of life, it's to turn from that. But it's also to change your thoughts of God, the way you think of God, who He is, Jesus Christ, who He is, and yourself. And yourself, that's the hardest one to change. None good, no, not one. I put out by that verse, even me. I wrote that out by that verse, even me. It's not, no, I know my neighbor's no good. No, even me. Always apply the word of God to yourself first. Always apply it to yourself first. And then why should I seek him? Why should I seek him? There has to be a reason for us to seek Him before we will seek Him. Well, first of all, He said to. He said to, "...Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. And then seek Him, because He has what I need." He has what I need. God demands perfection. God demands righteousness to stand in His presence. This is what God demands. God has provided it in Jesus Christ. He has made unto me wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Everything I need, He has. Listen, everything I need, He is. That's what He is to me. It's not what He just gives me. This is what He is to me. He is my wisdom. He is my righteousness. He is my sanctification. He is my redemption. He is these things to me. I don't have any of these by nature. I don't have any of them. And then seek you the Lord because He is life. We don't have spiritual life apart from Jesus Christ. We don't have it. We have this natural life. We have this natural life. It's a sinful life. It's not a spiritual life. To have Christ, now listen, to have Christ is to have God in the soul. It's to have the life of God. That's what it is. To have Christ is to have the life of God. And then thirdly, when should I seek Him? When should I seek Him? Well, the Scripture says here, while He may be found, while He is near, that means now. That means right now. That doesn't mean get up out of your seat and come up here to the front. No, that's not what that means. That means from the heart, from the heart seek Him, from the heart look to Him. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Look to Him right now. Seek Him right now. Right now is the only time I have. I don't have the next second. If I do, God gives it to me, but I don't know that I'm going to have that. David said, my times are in your hands. God has measured out my time from the first second to the last second. It's that close. Some say, well, he's going to last about a week. God knows exactly how long I'm going to last. He knows exactly how long I'm going to last, right to the second. I only have right now. That's all I have. I have right now. And right now, he's near in his word. Well, I am near. The Lord said, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Are there two or three, are there at least two or three believers in here this morning that's gathered in his name? The Lord is here. That's what he says. That's his word. He's given us his word. I take him at his word. I take God at his word. And He said, where there's two or three gathered together, there am I in the midst of Him. And right now, He is near. You've got the Bible in your lap. You've got the Word of God in your lap. It can't get any more near than that. It's right there in your lap. There'll come a time, listen, there will come a time when He will not be near. He'll be far off. You remember Esau, how he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup? He said, if I'm going to die, what good is this birthright? He gave it to Jacob for a bowl of soup. And then later on, as time went by, it was time to give up the birthright for Isaac, his father. And it says that Esau sought the birthright bitterly with tears, but he found no place of repentance. Though he sought it bitterly with tears. It was too late. Isaac wouldn't change his mind. He said, I've already given it to Jacob. And Esau tried to get him to change his mind, but he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. There's a time when he won't be near. There's a time. And David wrote this, listen, I said, when should I seek him? David said, we saw this Thursday night, David said, early will I seek thee, early, early in life, youth, or that the young would seek the Lord. There is no life like a life lived for Christ's sake. No life like a life that follows after the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no life. I wouldn't go back and change a thing. The Lord brought me to a saving knowledge of Him around 22, 23 years of age. I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful. Because that is one treasure I'll never lose. I cannot lose my life in Christ. There was a man said to me one time, and he didn't believe anything. He was a rascal. He was working for me, but he was a, but I liked him. He's an under rascal, but I liked him. He and I got along real well. But he said to me once, he said, you haven't lost anything until you lost your life. I said, you don't know what you just said. I said, you don't even realize what you just said. In Colossians it says, speaking to the believer, your life is hid with Christ in God. The one thing that God told Satan he could not touch concerning Job, you know what it was? His life. His life, because Christ is my life. Christ was his life, is his life. Seek him early. Look over in Proverbs 8. Let's see if I can find this. Proverbs 8, look in verse 17. I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. She'll find me." There's a promise to every person here. He says, you seek me, you'll find me. You'll find me. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6, 2, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. You remember Agrippa? Paul preached to him. And Agrippa said, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian, almost. Well, almost only counts in horseshoes and grenades. It doesn't count in anything else. Almost. Almost, you know what almost is? It's altogether lost. And he never did, as far as we know, he never did hear of Paul again. Felix, Paul preached to Felix there in Acts 24. And he said, I'll call you again when it's a more convenient season, and we'll talk about this. He told Paul when it was a convenient season, he'd have him back. Did he ever have him back? No. Paul went on to Rome. But Paul preached a gospel to that man, to both of those men. What do you think they remember now, Doug? You were just saying that back then. What do you think they remember now? You think they don't remember that message that Paul preached to them? Oh, yes, they do. While he may be found and while he's near, we are saved on God's time and God's terms, or not saved at all. Then here's a promise to those who seek Him. He says in verse 7, Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God he will abundantly pardon. Our God, through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, can forgive and be a just God. See, God's got to be just in forgiving. He's not going to just forgive. He's got to do it in a way that's just. And He can do so through the blood and righteousness of Christ, of the vilest person that ever walked on this earth. He can do that. That's how effectual the blood of Christ is. It will wash away all our sins. And we have God's Word that He will have mercy, He will show mercy to the chief of sinners. Turn over to Jeremiah 29.13. I'll wind this down. Look at verse 12. Verse 11, verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, this is God speaking, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. He's already telling them exactly what's going to happen. And you shall seek Me and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord. and I will turn away your captivity and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whether I've driven you, saith the Lord, and I'll bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. But you seek me, he said, you seek me with all your heart and you'll find me. That's a promise of God. And then this brings me to the last two points that are short. I got this from Henry. I listened to this message, Ginger sent this to me, but I'd already listened to it. But how to seek the Lord? Well, seek Him with all your heart, with all your heart. You know, if you were hungry, I mean, if you were starving, if you were starving, and you knew there was some food in that house over somewhere, you would knock the door down and you would seek, you would tear that house apart till you found that food. That's with all your heart. And then seeking continually. You know, I started seeking the Lord as many of you many years ago. I'm still seeking Him. That's why I said this message to me, I still need Him. I need Jesus Christ more now than I did when I started. At least I feel that way anyway. I have just as much sin in me now as I've ever had. I need Him. And I seek Him. I seek Him for daily mercy, grace, and forgiveness, and guidance, Seek Him continually, and then seek Him in His Word. You're not going to find Him anywhere else. You're not going to go out there in the woods, or you're not going to get in some kind of meditative state. You're going to seek Him in His Word. He's found in His Word. And then you seek Him with a single purpose, and that's, Lord, save me. Save me. And then, if the Lord, by His grace, enables us to seek Him, How do we identify with Him? Well, the way that Scripture gives us to identify ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ is baptism. It's not the mourner's bench. Christ is our altar. Our altar is Jesus Christ. Paul said, we have an altar that they have no right to eat of. And he's speaking of Christ. He's our altar. But the way we identify with Him is baptism. Look over in Acts chapter 8. This is just one of my favorite parts or stories in the Scriptures. Philip meets this eunuch and he's reading Isaiah 53, and Philip takes the Scriptures and he preaches Christ to him from those Scriptures. In verse 35, Then Philip opened his mouth, and began as the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, Here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? Evidently, Philip had mentioned to him about baptism. And Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and he said, and here it is. He didn't mention a doctrine. He didn't mention any doctrines that he believed. He said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. I believe he's the one that Isaiah is speaking of. That one that Isaiah is speaking of is Jesus Christ. And I believe that with all my heart. And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. That is how you identify with Christ. That is a public confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. But our Lord this morning, has said, seek me, seek me, and you'll find me. And my heart, I'm telling you what, my heart says, Lord, enable me to seek you. Draw me, turn me, and I'll be turned.