Sermon
# 135 Series: Isaiah
Title: Encouragement From What God
Has Not Said
Text: Isaiah 45:19
Scripture Reading: Luke 9:1-11
Subject: Seeking the Lord
Date: Sunday Morning – November 1, 1992
Introduction:
The
title of my message today is Encouragement From What God
Has Not Said. Read my text with me and you
will see why I have chosen this title for my message- “I have not spoken in
secret, in a dark place of the earth: I
said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”
I
have prepared this message with one specific group of people in mind. I want to minister to those poor souls who
have been deluded by satan into thinking, “There is no need for me to seek the
Lord, I cannot be saved, God will not hear my prayers,” or “There is no need
for me to seek the Lord. If God has
chosen me he will seek me. If Christ
has redeemed me he will seek me; If I am one of the elect, I will be saved, if
not I cannot be saved; so I will just wait and see what God does.”
Many
timid souls have been vexed by the imagination that there may be something in
God’s secret decree, that there may be something in the book of Divine
predestination that shuts against them the door of hope. They imagine that if they did seek the Lord
he would not be found of them. My text
this morning is a complete refutation of that idea. God says, “I have not spoken in secret,
in a dark place of the earth: I said
not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain1”
Many
false prophets, in an attempt to discredit God’s truth in an effort to deny
God’s sovereignty in election, predestination and grace, tell sinners that if
predestination is true then there is no need for them to seek the Lord. Our text completely refutes that
lie. The decrees of God were spoken in
the secret counsel chambers of eternity.
They are written, as it were, “in a dark place of the earth.” Yet, in our text God himself declares that
he has said nothing, even in his external decree of predestination, which can
be interpreted to mean “Seek ye me in vain!”
At
the very outset of this message, I want everyone here to be fully persuaded of
these three facts:
God
speaks in righteousness. He declares
things that are right. There is no
equivocation in him. He says…
Let
every need soul take heart and find Encouragement From What God
Has Not Said. He has not said, “Seek ye me
in vain.
Proposition: In our text the Lord God assures us that none shall
ever seek him in vain – You will find its counterpart in John 6:37. Where these words fall from the lips of the
Lord Jesus Christ – “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
I. What is it to Seek the Lord?
God promises that all who seek him shall find him. We are admonished, over and over again, in the Scriptures to seek the Lord. But what does that mean? What is it to seek the Lord?
I know this – To seek the Lord involves something more than a decision for Jesus, repeating the words of a prayer, or saying, “Lord Jesus, come into my heart.”
A. Those who seek the Lord Feel
their Need of Him!
Illus: The Woman with an Issue of
Blood
The Leper – The
Canaanite Woman.
No
body ever seeks Christ until they need him.
But, if ever you feel the wrath of God falling down from heaven upon
your head, feel hell rising up to meet you, if ever you feel the fire of hell
in your soul, you will seek him!
B. Those who seek the Lord Seek
Him in Truth. – (Ps. 145:18).
Our
Savior said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” He said that saved folks are those who
“worship God in Spirit and in truth.”
Maybe
you ask, like Pilate, “What is truth?”
How can a person find out the truth…
Go to
the Word! What does God say? “Let God be true and every man a liar!” I urge you to search the Scriptures with an
open heart, willing to learn the truth.
Christ is the Truth!
C. All who truly seek the Lord
seek Him with a Sincere Heart (Jer. 29:13).
“Blessed
are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.”
(Ps. 119:2).
D. Those who seek the Lord Seek
Him Continually- (I Chron. 16:10-11).
This
generation has heard little about seeking the Lord. We are in such a hurry to get people saved and on the road to
heaven as quickly, as effortlessly, and as painlessly as possible. Uncle Ben has given us instant rice, Quaker
Oats gives us instant grits. Betty Crocker give us instant potatoes. And the 20th century church has
given us instant christianity. But
instant christianity is a false christianity, a satanic delusion! Christianity is not a decision; it’s a
life! Faith in Christ is not an event
in life; it’s a way of life!
Illus: Caleb- “Faithful Dog!” (Num. 14:24).
E. Those who seek the Lord Seek
Him With a Single Purpose (Ps. 27:4, 7, 8).
No
one can have two supreme goals, two masters, or two lords! To seek the Lord is to lose your life in
Christ. It is to be absorbed with,
consumed by, devoted to knowing Jesus Christ (Phil. 3: 7-10).
Thou, O Christ, art all I
want!
More than all in Thee I find?
“Whom
have I in heaven but thee? And there is
none upon earth that I desire beside thee!”
(Ps. 73:25).
F. Those who seek the Lord Seek
Him While He May Be Found. ( Isa. 55:6).
“Today is the day of salvation!”
Illus: Bartimaeus- “Jesus of Nazareth Passeth By!”
Reach out and touch the Lord
As He passes by!
You’ll find He’s not to busy
To hear your heart’s cry.
He’s passing by this moment
Your needs to supply,
So reach out and touch the
Lord
As He goes by!
G. Those who seek the Lord Seek
Him Only In Christ (John 14:6).
Jesus
Christ is able, by his blood, his righteousness, and his intercession, to save
to the uttermost all who come to God by him- (Heb. 7:25).
II. What Encouragement Do I Have
To Seek The Lord?
This
is the encouragement given by God in our text- “I said, not unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek ye me in vain!” “Those who
seek God through Jesus Christ, in God’s own appointed way cannot, by any
possibility, seek him in vain…Earnest, penitent, prayerful hearts, though they
may be delayed for a time, can never be sent away with a final denial.”- (C. H. Spurgeon). I want you to see this – It is not possible for anyone to sincerely
seek mercy, grace and eternal life from God by faith in Jesus Christ, and not
find it. You will never seek grace from
the God of grace and be refused! Let me
demonstrate this in these six arguments drawn from Holy Scripture.
A. Suppose it were possible for men to seek the
Lord in vain – Why Then Are We Exhorted To
Pray?
Do you imagine that God, who commands men to pray and faint not, to pray without ceasing, would bid them do so, if no harvest could be gained by it? None of us would be so unmerciful as to advise a thirsty man to pump a dry well- God is more gracious than you and me (Matt. 7:7-11).
God
may require importunity, but importunity will not be ignored by him – (Lk.
11:1-13).
B. That which distinguishes
Jehovah from the gods of man’s making is the fact that He Answers Prayer (Ps. 115:5-9).
A god
who does not respond to the cries of his worshippers is “profitable for
nothing” (Isa. 44:10). One of the
standing proofs of the Deity of Jehovah is that he hears and answers the cries
of his needy people.
Illus: Elijah and The Prophets of Baal- (I Kings 18).
C. God’s Promises to Those Who
Seek Him Would Be Meaningless, worse, They would be Lies By Which He Mocked Our
Souls, If It Were Possible to Seek Him In Vain.
“The hand of God is upon all them for good that seek him” (Ezra 8:22). The veracity of God is at stake here, as well as his goodness!
John
Bunyan used to say; “Unbelief has as many lives as a cat!” Let me see if I can stay them all by the
word of God. Here are God’s own promises-
Twelve Promises!
1. “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” – (Ps. 50:15).
After
having made these twelve promises and many, many more, if God should fail to
hear and answer any who call upon him in truth, where is his truth, veracity,
and faithfulness? Certainly, in the
light of God’s promises, that are all in Christ Jesus yea and amen, we are
assured that he never said, “Seek ye me in vain!”
D. If it is possible for Sinners
to Seek the Lord in Vain, I Have No Gospel To Preach.
Following the logic of inspiration, as Paul said of Christ’s resurrection, so I say with regard to this matter- If God Almighty does not hear and answer prayer, if he does not save all who call upon him in faith, “Then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins!”
We
are sent to tell men that “though their sins be as scarlet, they shall be as
wool, though they be red like crimson, they shall be whiter than snow,” if they
turn from their evil ways and seek the Lord- If it is possible for any to turn
to God by faith in Christ and yet not be accepted, then I renounce more
commission and apologize for ever having spoken in the name of Christ, for I
have no gospel to preach!
If
prayer offered in the name of Christ is not accepted of God, then Christ is not
accepted! If a man can plead with God
“for Christ’s sake,” and not be heard, then Christ is not heard!
E. If it is possible for sinners
to seek the Lord in vain, where is the Believer’s Hope?
The happiest saint in this world, in his most blessed moment, would be as miserable and wretched as the damned in hell, if he could be convinced that God did not, would not, or could not hear and answer prayer.
F. Hear this word of grace and be
encouraged from what God has not said, to seek him- “I said unto the seed of
Jacob, Seek ye me in vain!”
God does hear prayer. God does receive sinners. “He delighteth in mercy!” He will be found of all who seek him!
If
you could look to Christ and yet perish, then Christ died in vain!
Application:
I am trying to persuade you to seek the Lord, and strip you of every imaginary excuse for not doing so.
I
know that God is free; but his promises bind him. God may do what he will; but he always wills to do what he says
he will do. We have no claim upon God;
but God makes a claim for us, and urges us to use it (Isa. 43:25-26). God cannot violate his own word of
promise. His honor as well as his
veracity bind him to his promise.
Bring
the crucified Savior to the gracious Lord God.
Point to the blood of Christ and say, “God be merciful to me!” Plead with God as a man pleading for his
life. Cling to the horns of this Altar,
and you shalt not die!
Illus: The Farmer who lost his Check!
Seek
Him, and you shall Find Him, because he has not said, “Seek ye me in vain!”