or in your Bible this morning, Isaiah chapter 55 and verses six through 13. Some of you are here, I think it was two weeks ago now, Father's Day, that my mom's first cousin and his wife were here. They were here for actually a week in Scotland, traveling out and about and stuff. And it was fun to see them. It's not often that we've had family come over, and so it was nice to catch up with them. But I found out something about them I didn't know, and that's that they love rocks. In fact, they told me they loved rocks before they saw our rock collection. So it's kind of maybe a family thing. But they like rocks. In fact, they took a holiday up in Lake Superior in the United States. There's a lot of agates there, and agates in particular are rocks that my family enjoys finding. By the way, there's going to be agates in heaven. You read about heaven, you actually read about agates, windows made out of agates and things like that. And agate is silicate, so it's a very clear stone. In fact, you can take what looks like a normal rock, put it up to a light, and you can actually see through it. A lot of times it has crystal and stuff inside. So, we had that in common, but he said, don't worry, or something like, I said, if you could find something, he said, not us, because they went on that holiday trying to find these agates up in Lake Superior and they never found any, all right? But as I spoke to him about that, I didn't think about it like this, but for sake of illustration, because of what we're going to look at, what I wanted him to understand as I briefly spoke with him about that, was that there are things that he could know that would help him find some. There's knowledge that I wanted to convey to him so that he could find some. There are things that he could do or places that he could go that would help him as he looked. Because it's geographical here in Scotland. There's not agates actually here in Lothian. There's some very small ones that you may find along the beach in Musselburgh. But one of the main areas is Fife, or over in Ayr, or up Montrose. There's certain areas geologically. So I wanted to know where to go to find some. And what I wanted to do was change his success so that he could actually find some. No, what I want to do is take that idea and apply it this morning, not to finding agates, as fun as that is, but to finding God. This morning, as we look at this passage, Isaiah 55, there are things that God wants us to know. He wants that understanding to be in the heart of man as they desire to know God. There's knowledge that is needed. But then there's also things that God desires them to do. Actions that help find Him. so that a change takes place in their life by the grace of God we heard about this morning in Sunday School. It's not a change that you and I facilitate, and we'll see that as we get to it. It's not something we do, it's something that God does as we come to God, okay? And so I think sometimes, and it might be this way about agates in particular, you know, somebody could get pretty discouraged trying to find agates, but if they, and certainly this way about God, They get discouraged because they've searched for God maybe in the wrong places. You know, it might be that somebody has sought to find God in religion. A lot of people think, I want to find God, so what am I going to do? I'm going to go to this church, because that's a church building, and I'm going to sit down, because I want to find God. And they go away dissatisfied and discouraged because they went to that place where they thought they'd find God, but He wasn't there. They could seek him in that religious organization. It might be Islam. You notice today there's a lot of people converting to Islam. They're seeking something. I hope they're seeking God. I hope there's a sincere desire that they want God, but they're looking in the wrong place, but they're going into these religions, maybe Catholicism or Buddhism. Have you noticed today, in this humanistic day, that people aren't turning to Christianity, but it's amazing how many people I meet, even this atheist I met on last Monday, that said to me, if I was to choose a religion, I'd choose Buddhism. And I meet a lot of Buddhists in Scotland. Because they're seeking something, but obviously they're not going to find God in Buddhism. They look for God in nature. There's people like that, that guy I mentioned, that atheist. Maybe he's agnostic, I don't know what he is. He believes in power, but he doesn't believe in God. And so, there's this seeking after God in paganism or spiritism. But they're looking again in the wrong place, and they're looking the wrong way. Or just to lump them all together, I guess, they're seeking God on their own terms, outside of His Word, without following His plan. And so this morning, I want to encourage you this morning that you can find God. It is possible that here in Isaiah 55, God has given us everything that anybody needs to know this morning to be able to find God. Let's pray and we'll ask God's Spirit to work in our hearts and that He be glorified to do a good work in our lives today. Father, I'm thankful for the grace that you give and Lord, I just pray this is your service, it's not mine. And Lord, I pray that you'd have your way. And Father, I praise you for what the Spirit of God has been doing in our ministry by His grace. And Lord, He is what we long for as far as ministry. Father, I can't, as a man, I can't convey truth to anybody to their heart or to their inner being. But Father, You can. And Father, You can use us by Your grace to do it. And so I just pray in the Spirit of God that we be this morning a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet for the Master's use. And God, that You take hold of us and use us this morning as we come to the Word of God. And Father, I pray that you give me liberty as I preach. I pray that you guard our time from distractions. You alone, again, are able to do that good and shepherding work for us today. And Father, I pray for that holy hush in our heart before God. Father, I pray that you just bring us close to yourself, that we see you in your Word this morning. And Father, we're thankful for the grace and help that you give us just now. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, so we're going to start with what to know, OK? We're going to start with what to know, then we're going to go to what to do, and then we're going to look at what will change, OK? So what to know when you seek God. Again, I'll just go back to my illustration for agates. It helps to, as you search for agates, it helps to know what to look for. If I showed you some of the agates that I've got in my case, and the inside, by the way, is beautiful. Agates that cut stone, you often see cut, made into bookends that has the circles in it. and the crystal center, they're beautiful. And if I showed you the inside of an agate, you'd look at it and go, wow, that is gorgeous. Anybody would. I mean, not just us people that love rocks, okay? It's beautiful. But if I showed you the outside of many agates, you'd look at that and say, it's just a rock. So you have to know what to look for. You're just going to give up. If I took you to the beach and I said, well, you look for agates over there. I'll look for agates over here. And I didn't tell you anything about what you're going to look for as you seek agates. You're just going to give up. You're going to walk away. And this morning, again, I just want to encourage those people that desire to seek God, and I can't do that this morning. I can't put that in anybody's heart this morning. That's something that the Spirit of God has to work in somebody's heart, and that has to be that yielding of the heart of that person to say, you know what? I will seek God. But what I want to do as pastor, and as we look at Isaiah 55, is point out what we need to know about God when we seek God. Things that will help us to find Him, because we'll better understand who He is as we're seeking after Him. So the first thing is, God is findable. God is findable. It's in verse 6 of our text, Isaiah 55, verse 6. It says, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Can I just say about finding something that when you find something, you know you found it? Okay, if the Bible says that seeking the Lord while he may be found, it means God is findable, and it also means that when I find him, I know that I found him. So if this morning in your heart you say, I've never found God, then the answer is yes, you've never found him. But can I again say, he is findable. Have you ever played hide and go seek with somebody that wanted to be found? especially playing with little kids or something. A lot of times they're not as interested in hiding as they are in being found, right? They want to be found. How hard is it to find them? It's not hard. It's easy. It's almost like they'll jump out from a corner, wave at you, and then hide again. They want to get found. Listen, God isn't, this morning, hiding from us. God isn't trying to be secretive. God isn't trying this morning to have everybody in our community and everybody in the world just walking through the world dark and not knowing who God is. God wants to be found. The only thing that makes it difficult to find God this morning is your sin and rebellion against God. That's it. The only thing that hides God is that rebellious spirit and that desire to hide, as the Word of God says, from the light. The Bible says Jesus Christ is light, but here's what it also said. It says man loves darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. But it tells us God is light. How hard is it to find a light? I mean, walk into a room, if I ask you this morning, where's the light? I mean, everybody knows where to look because it's bright. God is bright. To say, God, I can't find you because you're hiding yourself, no way to say it. He is light. He is light this morning. You know who He also is? He's Creator. It's not hard to see creation. Psalm 19, 1 and 2 says that, Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, night unto night showeth knowledge. See, I like to walk, and maybe you like to walk as well, and you're out and about, and you're looking at a brook, you're looking at a hill, you're looking at a sunset, you're looking at a sunrise. Every time you see something like that, you know what it says? It says there is a God. You look at the stars, you see how incredible the universe is. And I wish I was a scientist, because I would wow us this morning by explaining how small we are in comparison to the earth, and how small the earth is in comparison with the star, and how small the star is in comparison with the universe. And we begin to look at that and we say, wow, God is incredible. It's shouting the glory of God today. I speak again to a lot of evolutionists and stuff, and normally I just point at the grass and I'll pick up a blade of grass. And I'll say, you know, this blade of grass was alive. See, we can't create life. Life exists because God exists. And so there's life. It's dead now. But you know what? That blade of grass gives you oxygen to breathe. And if it wasn't for that, you'd die. I'll use the watch illustration. Look at my watch. I mean, would you ever believe that that just happened? But that watch is nothing compared to me. I have personality. I have individuality. I have a conscience. I can do this without thinking. But we can't even make a robotic human hand like this because it's so complex. See, in man that says, ah, there is no God. They've got their fingers in their ears, they've got their eyes closed, because the world is just screaming, there is a God. There is a God, there is a Creator, there is a Designer. His Word does that. So the idea is, seeking the Lord while He may be found. I mean, creation is crying out and saying, there is a God this morning. And then we have His Word. We have a book, an exact book, as we looked at on Thursday night in Revelation. It says, don't add to this book. It says, don't take away from this book. God has given us a book that tells us everything that he desires us to know about him today. And again, for somebody to get to heaven and to stand before God and say, God, I sought you, but I couldn't find you because you hid yourself too well. They'd have to throw away this book. They'd have to throw away creation. They'd have to close their eyes to the light because everything around them is screaming and saying, I want to be found. I want to be found. I want to be found. God desires this morning to be found. And so I would just encourage you, and somebody that's going to seek God, I would say to you, look, God is findable. Don't let Satan deceive you and think, well, I can never find God. No, wait a second. The Word of God says, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. He's findable. And then God is nearby. It says, call ye upon him while he is near. call you upon him while he is near. You know, sometimes, I'll just stay with the hide-and-seek illustration. Sometimes you're playing hide-and-seek and you have that thought, you know, did that person leave? Maybe they went to a McDonald's or something. They're going to come back and hide a little bit later and say, wow, it took you a long time to find me. Listen, God hasn't left. God is nearby. He's so close to us this morning. It's not just that God is findable, but God is very close, very close to you this morning, even though you could feel like God is far from you. Listen, though the eyes of sinful man, His glory could not see as what we just saw. It's saying that we can see today as a believer, I can see the glory of God, but there could be somebody in the same room, in the same place, and I say God is near, but they can't perceive Him. But I'll tell you from the Word of God, God is near. He's nearby this morning. In fact, the Word of God says, Romans 10 verse 6, But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we preach. See, you don't have to this morning say, well, I want to meet with God, so I've got to go to heaven. I want to meet with God, so I've got to go down to His death and what took place there. It's the fact that God is present today. He's present in His Word. God is as close today as your proximity to this book. And listen, for all of us this morning, He's right here. Every single one of us this morning, God is here because God is here in the truth of the Word of God that tells us everything that we need to know about Him. And so you might think to yourself again, how can I find God? Well listen, He is findable according to the Word of God. He's nearby, that means He's close by today. Then the Word of God tells us that Another truth that we need to know about God and finding God is that God guarantees mercy. See, a lot of people would be scared. I don't really want to find God, because if I find God, He's just going to punish me, or He's just going to hate me, or He's going to want nothing to do with me. But the Bible tells us that anybody that wants to seek God, that God is merciful. It says, and He will have mercy upon him. You know what mercy is? Mercy is you deserve judgment, yes, but I'm going to withhold judgment from you. That's mercy. Back when I was just a little boy, We had some missionaries that were at our house, and I was the pastor's family, we were out in the back playing some baseball in the United States, and we had an aluminum bat to hit the baseball with, and I took that bat back to swing, and I didn't know there was a missionary kid standing behind me, and I brained him. I just hit him in the head with the bat, and my reaction was this, Complete fear, I'm going to die because I just killed a missionary kid. And so I just took off running. And I was probably, I don't know, probably Nelson's age or something like that, I would imagine, six, seven years old. So I'm running. I run to the church. I felt like I'd run miles away. Our church was just a few doors down from the house. And there were window wells around the windows of the basement of the church. And so what that is is just a cut out area that goes down into the ground for the window in the basement. And so I jumped in there, and I'm hiding there. I'm thinking they're going to be looking for me sorrowing, and just, where's Benjamin? And that's in my mind. And I'm thinking I stayed probably, in my mind, two hours, but it was probably like, I don't know, maybe 10 minutes, because it's kind of a scary place to be in the window well. But I remember getting back to the house, and it's like nobody cared. And I said, I'm sorry, and they're like, no problem. It's mercy, right? I was expecting judgment, I was expecting rage, and there could be somebody today that just thinks, you know, if I ever go to God, I've heard people say, if I go to church, you know, watch out, because, you know, lightning is going to strike, or something like that. Listen, that's not the way God is. God is not like that. God is not somebody that is pushing people away that desire to come to Him. Those that come to God can find this morning, He's merciful. You might wonder, why didn't I come before? If I'd only known before that God was so graciously and mercifully forgive me. God is merciful. He guarantees mercy. But then He also guarantees pardon. He will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Don't you love that word, abundantly? See, God says, not only will I give you a pardon, but it's not a barely kind of pardon. It's a complete pardon. It's an eternal pardon. It's an abundant pardon that God gives. And here, I was looking online in Britain, the monarch has the right to give a pardon. A pardon is the judge has sentenced that person, they're guilty, but the monarch or that person that is able to give a pardon writes, but you are going to be set free. And I like what they call it here in Britain. The power to grant pardons and reprieves in the United Kingdom is known as the loyal prerogative of mercy. It was traditionally in the absolute power of the monarch to pardon an individual for a crime whether or not he or she had been convicted and thereby commute any penalty. Whether or not they've been convicted, the penalty is taken away. They don't have to pay for the crime that they had committed. That's a pardon. It was in the power of the monarch. Now I guess the First Minister of Scotland here in Scotland, she's the one that can suggest to the Queen that we ought to pardon this person. But you think about it. Human pardons, there's no... Necessary security in that and they could be made for iffy reasons. For instance, I read about in 1996 two drug smugglers were pardoned. Twelve years later, they were sentenced to 20 years because the reason for their pardon was called into question. Wow, can you imagine? I mean you're pardoned, but then 12 years later they go, wait a second. That wasn't right. And so we're going to judge you now. Listen, The pardon that God gives is a complete pardon. It's a pardon in full because Christ paid for your crime. It was paid for in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. I like that statement, royal prerogative of mercy. So God guarantees pardon. But then God is far above you as well. God is far above you. Verse 8 and 9 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. I don't know if you've ever read that verse and thought about, in the context, what it's speaking about. I've often just thought about the fact that God's ways are way above my ways, and so He walks where I don't walk, and He thinks in ways I don't think. But you know, in the context, that's not what it's saying. In the context, it's that God walks in holiness, God thinks in holiness. that His ways are so much higher than our ways in holiness and in purity. You know, I started running this past year, I don't know, better part of this past year I've been running, and I get, you know, you kind of get proud, you keep feeling pretty good about yourself, you know, I'm getting those miles done, and I looked online, I shouldn't have done this, but I looked to say, what is the average time for a man to run a 5K? I shouldn't have looked because the average, not the average time, but a good time or a time that would win, say, a 5K type race, you know what it is? It's sub 15 minutes. That's almost a four minute mile. It's just over, what is it, four and a half minute mile? Something like that. Sub 15 minutes. When I looked at that, all of a sudden I realized, wow, the standard's way up here. I'm way down here. I don't begin to measure up to that. You know, mankind feels pretty good about themselves. You know, I'm a pretty good person. I do good things to, you know, I help people and that sort of thing. But when you stop and you look at God and see that His ways are higher than our ways, that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, then we begin to understand this morning that we don't even begin to compare with God. And so as somebody searches for God, they need to understand He's findable. They need to understand He's nearby. They understand He's full of mercy that He'll abundantly pardon. But you know, they also have to realize this morning that God is far above them. Because that's going to affect part of the change that we're going to see take place as a person puts action to their knowledge. They have to understand, look, I'm a sinner. You know, one sin got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden. And it wasn't even that, in our minds, that big a deal. They took fruit from a tree that they weren't supposed to take fruit from. We'd say that's no big deal, but God said, death, sorrow, sickness, and the curse is all a part of that. So this morning, you might feel good about yourself, but can I tell you this, you stand before God someday with one sin, just one, that's not under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, And that one sin is enough for God to look at you and say, I'm sorry, depart from me a curse into everlasting fire, prepare for the devil and his angels. Just one. And so we understand this morning, I'm seeking God. I need God. His pardon is great. We already looked at that. He pardoned me, but my transgression is great as well, because my ways are not His ways. My thoughts are not His thoughts. And that'll be important as we come to what to do. Okay, so that's what we need to know. If you want to seek God, we need to know those things about God. But secondly, what to do when you seek God. Right now the Queen is in Scotland. I guess Wednesday she's going to open up the canal. I saw that over by the Kelpies and I know she's here right now. And she was here, she comes every year around this time. Last year, today, was Saturday. And we had to think about what to do as a family. we're driving around, and I knew that the Queen was in Edinburgh, and I'd heard that she was opening up Parliament, okay? And so I thought, well, let's go see the Queen. And we end up getting down there, we got across the road from where her car was, got stalled a couple times, and then eventually the Queen came out, and she's 15 feet from us. It was really neat to see her pass by that close. But seeing the Queen didn't happen because of what I knew. I mean, that was important that I knew that, but it was more important that I did something about what I knew so that we could have that encounter with the Queen. See, it's important this morning that we know the things that we looked at, but more importantly, what we do when we seek God. So what actions does God desires to take as we seek Him. The first is obvious, and that is to look for Him. Look for Him. Verse 6 says what? Seek ye the Lord while ye may be found. Seek. What's that mean? It means to look. You know, there's a lot of people that are going through life, and they're content. I'll ask them, I say, you know, if you died today, where would you go? And they say, I don't know, I don't care, and I'll find out when I get there. Listen, it's too late. Seek. I mean, seek the Lord. Look for Him. Where do I look? Well, what did we talk about already, and we'll see it again, is that God is found where? He's found in His Word. And so the Word of God says in Romans 10, 17, So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It's so simple, isn't it? I mean, how many people are going to someday be cast into hell that had a Bible in their home? Cast away from God for eternity, separated from God for eternity, and they had all the truth that they needed to know about God in their home. I got to write another article for the Views from the Pews column that is in the Advertiser. It's coming out in August. And I can't remember what I titled it right now, but you know what I wrote about? I wrote about that woman that found that a ring that she'd had for 30 years was extremely valuable. Did you see that? 30 years ago, at a car boot sale, she bought a ring costume jewelry for a tenor. And she wore it almost every day of her life until somebody, I guess, said to her, you know what? That might be valuable. You might want to have that checked out at a jeweler. And she did, and it just sold this past month at auction for 650,000 pounds. You don't want to be ashamed. Think about that woman. What if she died and never understood what she had? Wouldn't that be shameful to think she could have had a nice house. Maybe she went through life. Life was rough. It was hard. She didn't have enough money. But all the time, she had that priceless ring. Now, what if somebody had said to her, you're going to embarrass yourself. You go to a jeweler, they'll embarrass you. Or you go, they're just going to laugh. Or said, I don't think, how could that be real? Because it was in a car boot sale. There's no way. No way. What are the odds, right? People could have said that to this lady, and she would have never understood what she had. Right? But you know that same thing happens with the Word of God. Friends of that person will say, ah, come on, that's goofy. You go to church, people are going to make fun of you. You seek after God, they're going to laugh at you. God will never accept you. Or they'll say, how could it change lives? It's in all these people's homes in all of Britain, and look what good it's done. I could say a lot of things about this book, but listen. Somebody that seeks the Lord, they open this book and they begin to read through these pages. Eddie that was at our church last year for the football outreach, Eddie got saved because he got in the Word of God. He started to read through the book and say, what does the Word of God say? We've recently had somebody accept Christ in our church that interestingly enough took her sister's Bible and began to read it while she was seeking. So what do you do when you seek God? You look. You look. You pick up the Bible and you start to read it. then call for Him. It says, secondly, in verse 6, call ye upon Him while He is near. I encourage people as I witness to them, they may say, I don't even believe in God. I'll just say to them, look, if you ever want to seek God, first of all, read the Bible. Second, just pray. And be honest. Say to God, God, I don't even believe that You exist, but if You do, I'm asking You to open my heart to Your truth. You might think, well, that's not a very biblical prayer, but I think it has merit in the fact that God is all-powerful and that God wants to reveal Himself to us. And the Word of God speaks in a story about kind of a similar idea to that. Mark 9.3. As Jesus said to a father of a child that needed his help, He said, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. In a straight way, the father of the child cried out, and he said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou my non-believer. He's saying, I want to believe. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And the father is looking at his son and saying, I want my son to get healed. And God would look at us to say, and in your heart you might be saying, I want my life to get right with God, I have a great need, but I don't really feel like I even believe like I need to believe in God. But listen, just ask Him. Jesus said Himself, and we're going to come across this verse again and again and again. It's in our message tonight as well, but John 6, verse 44, No man can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. If you want to find God this morning, you need God's help. So ask Him. It's pretty simple, isn't it? Seek, look, call, and then thirdly here, what to do when you seek God. Forsake for Him. Verse 7 says, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Okay, now in the context whereby those verses where it says, God's ways are far above our ways. God's thoughts are far above our thoughts. So I'm a sinner, but God is holy. How can I walk with God? Let me ask it to you this way. Can a policeman walk with a known criminal? What would have to change for that to take place? I'll give you a second to think. It'll just help wake your brain up. What would have to take place for a policeman and a criminal to walk together? One would have to change. Yeah. The policeman would either have to become a criminal, right, to walk with the criminal, or the criminal would have to get right to be able to walk with the policeman. Listen, this morning, as we think about knowing God, and we can praise God for this, God isn't going to change. Malachi 3.6 says, For I am the Lord, I change not. And listen, we don't want Him to change. Everything would fall apart if God changed. God cannot lie. And God is the same forever. But the Word of God says this as well. In Amos, I think it's, I think it's in the book of Amos, I don't have the book here. But it says, can two walk together except they be agreed? It's talking about God and men. Listen, you're not going to be able to walk with God in your sin. You're not going to be able to walk with God while holding on to rubbish in your life and saying, I just want to walk with God and I want these things. God's ways are not your ways. His thoughts are not your thoughts. But to walk with Him, you've got to agree with Him. And so this morning, as you think about seeking God, what's very important to seeking God is that willingness to forsake. Forsake. Is it worth it? You know, this morning you think about, you want that close walk with God, Christian, is it worth it? This morning we heard in Sunday School about God's desire to have us as believers living in victory. Listen, in the book of Isaiah, in the context of what we're looking at, let me give it to you. Chapter 56, verse 1 and 2, Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice. For my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Happy, blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the sabbath, God's day, from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Why? Because that person walks with God. That's it. If you want that close relationship with God, it is all about forsaking that sin so that you can have that relationship with God. So important this morning that a person that would seek would forsake, because then it's possible for what the Word of God says here in our text as well, verse 9. And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Listen, this morning, again, if you want to walk close to God, you can. It's not hard. God hasn't made himself unreachable so that you would say this morning, I want to get close to God, but I just can't. No. It's that call upon God. Seek after God. Forsake so that you can return to God. And listen, you can walk with God today. You might read about somebody or you might see somebody's life and say, I respect that. That person has a close walk with God. I want that. Listen, you can have it this morning, if you'll just forsake, because then if you forsake, you'll find. This week, actually, I was cleaning out my shed, and my shed is just full of stuff, alright, in our back garden. And it was frustrating me. I say to the boys, we've got to clean this out, you know, I kept saying it to them, we've got to clean this out. Finally, what I did, I took the bikes that were in the way, I hung them up, I moved a few things, and listen, five minutes, And it was clean. And I'm thinking, why didn't I do that before? Why didn't I get that right before so that I could walk in and it's so easy? Again, this morning, in your heart, you might feel like, it's so complex. Going to God is so complex. And how is it all going to work out? Listen, if you'll just call, seek, and forsake, you'll return and your relationship with God will be restored. And you'll look at it and you'll go, it's so easy. Why didn't I do that before? Why didn't I deal with the rubbish in my life before? Why didn't I get rid of it before so that I could have fellowship with God, so that it's an open room, it's an open place, and I'm not embarrassed anymore, I'm not ashamed anymore, I'm not troubled anymore by this that's in my life. I'm rightly related to God. You know, I just encourage you this morning that you can find God. It's based on what you know. It's based on what you do. But here's... the success of it. Lastly, this morning, the success. What will change when you seek God? What's going to change in your life? If you seek God and you find God, what's going to take place because of what God does in your heart? Well, first of all, appetites will change. What your desires are will change. Verse 10 and 11. It says, for as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth in bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. This in the last two days we've had or in the last month we've had more rain than the last six months or five months of the year. But that rain is important, isn't it? The crops and everything begins to grow. I've been walking down the path and I mean the path, the rail path is just completely overgrown now because of all the nutrition that's received. But that nutrition goes also into foods that make bread. And so God sends the rain, the rain brings forth and it provides satisfaction for mankind. Listen, the word of God is like rain. It goes down into our hearts and it brings forth things in our life that satisfy, that satisfy. That's why Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 15 and 16, thy words were found and I did eat them. And that word was unto me the joy and rejoice in mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts." You might think this morning, I don't read the Bible, I don't really want to read the Bible. But you know when somebody finds God and God changes their heart, this book, I like what David O'Gorman said, when David O'Gorman got saved, before he got saved, he read this book and it was like reading a telephone directory. But when he found God, he'd open this book and it was like a personal letter, and speak to his heart. This morning, if you accept God as your Savior, you come to God, this book will become very personal and it will be something that you desire, your appetites will change, then your actions will change. The Word of God says, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. You know what God desires more than anything this morning? It's to change somebody's life so that he can be rightly related to God, so that that person has fellowship with God. And God says, My word's like that. When I put it out, it doesn't return unto me void. It accomplishes that which I please, that the actions in that person's life change so that they are rightly related to God. Proverbs 16, 7 says, When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. You may not understand this, but your actions and what you do can actually be honoring to God, and God can say, that's great, I'm pleased with that. Just like God looking at Job and saying, Job's a righteous man, he fears God, he eschews evil. That this book can change a person's life so that God looks at that and says, you know, I'm pleased with that. when my son, right now I'm thinking of Mac, does something good. It seems like, talking about the sin nature this morning. Kids are born with a sin nature, right? We know that. But it's good when they do something right and you can praise them and say, look, I'm so pleased with you. That is so good. And Daddy loves you. And I just want to give you a hug. And you begin to see sweetness in your child. Your child actually gives you a kiss. And that love begins to come out of that life of that child. It's a wonderful thing for a dad to say, that is great. That pleases me. Listen this morning, God wants to look at your life and say, that pleases me. I'm so proud of you. But it takes place as God changes us as we draw closer to God through His Word. Actions will change. Invincibility will change. It says, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Okay, it's going to prosper. Again, what's His desire? His desire is to change you. His desire is to make you godly. And God says, this word is going to do it. See, somebody before they get saved, they have zero ability to please God. They have zero ability to do anything for God. But when they see God changes their abilities to do what He wants them to do. Psalm 1 verse 3 and 4 says, He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Somebody, before they get saved, before they have God, their life is like chaff. Do you know what chaff is? We raise budgies, is that what you call them, over here? In the States, we call them parakeets. Is that right? This wee bird sound, like, whistling. Yeah? All right. They're bigger than that. They're the bigger ones. Parakeets is what we call them in the States. But anyway, when we clean out their cages, we take their seed, all right, and we blow on it. and the chaff would just blow right off there, because chaff is worthless. God says before you get saved, before you draw nigh to God, before you're rightly related to God, your life is worthless. It's of no value. But when God changes your life, the Bible says He brings you into a life that has a prosperity to it. The ability that you had to prosper is going to change by God's grace, like a tree planted by the rivers of water. Quickly, all right, just a few more things. Attitude will change. Verse 12 says, for you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. But it says about the wicked, there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. But somebody that's saved, rightly related to God, all of a sudden there's joy, all of a sudden there's peace. Where there was no peace, there was no satisfaction, there was no contentment, that life is brought to a right relationship with God and it satisfies. And so attitude will change. Applause will change. It says the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. It's that when your life changes, all of a sudden people that, they may not even be saved, but they'll look at your life and say, wow, what happened? Your life, I applaud you, I mean, you got victory in your life, things have changed in your life, that is great. Willie, a man that our church has heard about that's in Ireland, that was a drug addict for many years, Willie got saved. And Willie went to the funeral of another drug addict that died from an overdose, and it was the mayor's nephew. And the mayor of Arklow in Ireland said to Willie, said, Willie, what happened in your life? Your life is different. He said, I tried everything many times, but I tried Christ once, and it changed my life. And the mayor of Arco says, Willie, that's great. Let's get you into the schools to share that message with the schools because these young people need that. This man's not even saved, but he applauds what he sees accomplished in Willie's life. You know, it'd be a great thing if you got saved, accepted Jesus Christ your Savior, that people would look at your life and say, praise God. That's great, I'm so glad your life has changed. Two more things, very quickly. Autumn will change, if I could just put it that way. Autumn will change, harvest. Verse 13. It says, instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir tree. Instead of the briar, shall come up the myrtle tree. What's that mean? It means the harvest of sin is what? Give me some harvests of sin this morning. We'll just talk a little bit. Debt. Do you ever notice how much cigarettes cost? Do you ever notice how much alcohol costs? Do you ever notice how much drugs cost? Do you ever notice how much gambling costs? Debt. What's another harvest of sin? Cancer. Did you ever notice that cigarettes cause cancer? That alcohol causes accidents? Our friend in the United States who was hit head-on three weeks ago by a drunk driver, she's got a broken neck. Okay. Vomiting? Headaches? Sexual disease? I mean, you start listening, the hardest of sin is death. That's what the Word of God says. But you come over here, and you've got somebody's life that's right, they don't have the indebtedness, They don't have the indebtedness. They don't have the disease. They've got God's forgiveness. They've got joy. And listen, they can reach other people with the same message and bring forth life in somebody else. See, you think about it. This just leads to destruction. This just leads to problems. But this satisfies. What a contrast. Your harvest will change if you get saved. Honor will change. Honor will change. Verse 13 says, And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Okay, this person found God. Seeking the Lord while he may be found. His thoughts are not your thoughts. His ways are not your ways. So get right with God. Call upon Him. Find Him. And when you find Him, all these things will change in your life. All of a sudden there's going to be a fruitful harvest so that people look at that and they say, Glory to God. Glory to God. Listen, this is one of the saddest truths about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how few people are seeking God and finding Him. There's very few examples today testifying to the grace of God and what God did. You look at Wales, and you know what you see in Wales, and you see it here in Scotland too, but in Wales especially, you see churches everywhere. Do you know what they are? They're monuments to what God did in the past. That God changed that country to His glory. Do you know what the Lord deserves today? The Lord deserves your life to change so that it brings glory to God. And if it hasn't changed, shame on you. I'll just be real honest, shame on you. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. What God desires out of our life is to get glory. Shame on us if we rob Him of His glory because of our sin. It could be this morning, you haven't come to God because you thought, God won't accept me. Listen, God's merciful. God won't pardon me. Listen, God will pardon you. He's not findable, but He is. It's in the Word of God. It's in the truth. He's not nearby. Yes, He is. He's as close as this book. You can get as close to God today as you want to get. If you just open this book and get in this book, you can find God. What about actions? Are you calling? Did you ask God this morning, God help me, I want to know you better. I want to draw close to you. Are you looking? Are you paging again through this book? Because there's things in your life, God's ways aren't your ways, they gotta change, so you gotta say to God, God I see that, that doesn't honor you, that doesn't glorify you, your ways are not my ways, your thoughts are not my thoughts, I've been staying down here with the sin and the things that are against you, God I wanna be up there where the mercy of God is. And listen, when He saves you by His grace, we heard about in the Sunday school this morning, He'll give you victory if you'll take it. But when your life's right with God, guess what? All those changes. You've got peace and joy. You've got a life that brings glory to God. Others are patting you on the back and saying, hey, that's great. I'm so proud of you. You're doing well for God. Continue on. See, everything changes when we find God. This morning I just asked you this question. Have you found God? Because if you haven't, let me just end with this. You died today without Christ and you've never found God by salvation. You've never put your faith in Jesus Christ. you'll close your eyes in life, you'll open your eyes in hell. I witnessed the two young people last night, and I was on the Viaduct Bridge, and God gave me a great opportunity to witness the two young people. But as I spoke with them, I said, guys, if that end of the bridge down there, if that was eternity, how long would you wait before you took that final step? How hard would you think about that decision? See, I don't understand people that can go through life and never give a thought to eternity. Never think about God, never think about hell, never think about heaven. See that door right there, it's death. You're going to pass through it. And I can't believe you're going to go there without thinking about it. Why end up in hell, in the flames of hell, saying, man, I wish in life I would have sought God. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near. And God help us to forsake our ways so that we can walk with Him. May the Spirit of God speak to our hearts tonight, this morning. Let's pray. Father, I just pray that you take the truth of the Word of God now and apply it to our hearts. I know we're a bit drowsy this morning. It's warm in here this morning. And Father, I pray by the grace of God, that would in no way I take from the hearts of men the truth that He desires to get. And I just pray, please Lord, that the Spirit of God would plead with souls this morning to get saved before it's too late. Those of us that are saved, Lord, we've got to look at it too and understand. How can two walk together except they be agreed? Father, it would be a very sad thing this morning if instead of having a life that brings glory to God, we've got a life that's a stumbling block to somebody else coming to Christ because they see sin in us and they know we profess to be saved. So I pray, Spirit of God, deal with us according to your perfect will. I pray, God, give us grace in our hearts to bow before you and to get right and to be right. And Lord, I'm just thankful this morning that I can tell people from the truth of the Word of God, they can find you. and that they can know you. And to know you is to have life. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.