Isa. 0222

Title: Sought Out

Text: Isaiah 62:12

Subject: God Seeking Out His Elect

Date: Sunday Evening - September 24, 1995

Tape # R-78

Introduction:

Here are four things which the Lord God declares shall be true of all his people. When the work of Christ is finished, when grace has completed its work, when the eternal purposes of Almighty God have all been fully accomplished, then all the hosts of God’s elect shall be saved. And this is what they shall be called - This is what we shall be called -

·  "They shall call them The Holy People!" What a name for us to wear. But it is the name we shall properly wear. The legions of hell, the angels of God, and the Triune God himself shall call us by this name - "The Holy People!" - Sanctified

·  Separated unto God, chosen to be Holy in Election (Jude 1; Eph. 1:4).

·  Declared Holy in Redemption (II Cor. 5:21).

·  Made Holy in Regeneration and Glorification

·  "The Redeemed of the Lord."

We are made holy because of and by our redemption. Our redemption, like our sanctification is threefold.

·  By the Price of Christ’s Precious Blood (I Pet. 1:18-20).

·  By the Power of God’s Sovereign, Saving Grace (Eph. 2:1-4).

·  By the Power of Christ’s Resurrection (I Thess. 4:13-18).

·  "A City Not Forsaken!"

The Lord hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Heb. 13:5).

·  He would not forsake his purpose of grace toward us - "They shall be mine!"

·  He will not forsake his work of grace in us!

·  Ecclesiastes 3:14

·  Malachi 3:6

·  "And thou shalt be called, Sought Out!"

Proposition: The Lord our God, by almighty, effectual, irresistible grace seeks his people out of the mass of fallen, ruined humanity.

Are you "Sought Out?" I know that most preachers today place great emphasis upon the sinner’s responsibility to seek the Lord. And that responsibility needs to be pressed home to every heart. You must seek the Lord. If you do not seek him, you will perish forever. But here is the great truth of Holy Scripture - Salvation is accomplished, not by the sinner seeking God, but by God seeking the sinner. The Lord himself declares, "I am found of them that sought me not." The great question then is not, "Have you sought and found the Lord?" but, "Are you sought out and found by the Lord?"

Divisions: Let me show you four things about this title which God has given to his people - Sought Out.

·  This Title Implies The Natural Condition Of All Men.

·  This Title Reveals The Marvelous Grace Of God.

·  This Title Is Fully Justified.

·  What Shall Those People Do Who Have Been Sought Out?

·  The first thing I want you to see is that THIS TITLE IMPLIES THE NATURAL CONDITION OF ALL MEN - (Eph. 2:1-4).

·  If the people of God have been "sought out", then it is abundantly clear that they were originally lost.

If we had not fallen in our father, Adam, there would never have been any need for the grace of God to seek us out. But, since by the fall of Adam we have been completely ruined and hopelessly lost, we would have all perished, if the Lord had not sought us out. Of this terrible fact there can be no doubt. You and I, who have been saved by almighty grace, know right well that we were hopelessly lost forever, had Jesus Christ not sought us out.

·  We were lost in the sin and fall of our father, Adam.

·  We were lost by birth, inheriting by natural generation Adam’s corrupt nature.

·  We were lost by our own practice, by our own deliberate choice.

·  Many of us were manifestly lost, by the accumulation of our evil habits through the force of our depraved hearts.

·  Like the prodigal, we strayed into a far country.

·  Like the poor wretch possessed with a legion of demons, the fetters of firm discipline could not bind us, and the chains of social opinion could not restrain us.

·  I doubt that we shall ever know in this life how thoroughly lost we were by nature.

Spurgeon said, "Until we can comprehend what the wrath of God means, by gazing steadfastly into the pit of hell; until we can understand the purity of God amid the perfection of heaven, and so can measure the awful distance between our depraved condition and the perfect holiness of Jehovah, we shall not know how lost we were."

But we, who have experienced the grace of God, do know enough to make us shudder. Never before, or since, have I known the terrible, soul-shaking fear, that I experienced when first I saw my lost condition before God - I saw that God is infinitely holy and that I was thoroughly corrupt. I had nothing to commend myself to God, nothing to attract his regard, and no ability to help myself. And I knew, in my inmost soul, that if God were to throw me into the lowest pit of hell, he would not be too severe!

This is the condition of all men by nature. If you are yet without faith in Christ, this is your condition now - (Eph. 2:11-12).

·  We were so completely lost that we did not and would not seek the Lord.

I know that natural men have occasional thoughts about divine things and sometimes even desire them. But they have no true hunger and thirst for Christ and his righteousness. We were wandering sheep, skilled in straying, but without any desire to return.

·  The picture of our lost condition only gets worse as we consider it. Not only were we lost, we had no thought of returning to God, and would never have willed to do so.

Left to ourselves we would only have wandered farther and farther away. Brethren, we were lost, without a wish to return, and without any possibility of ever having such a wish.

·  But our lost state was yet more desperate - Not only did we not seek the Lord, but we had no desire for the Lord to seek us.

We were so far from seeking him that when he did seek us, when he did come to bring us his salvation, we took up arms against him. We resisted his grace with every fiber of our being. Well do I remember those early strivings of the Holy Spirit with my heart. I was resolutely determined not to become one of Christ’s disciples.

·  I stood out against his grace, saying "I will not have this man to rule over me."

·  I bolted every door of my heart against the influence of his grace.

·  If God’s almighty grace had not sovereignly overpowered my will, I would never have been saved at all.

‘Twas Thy love, O God, that knew me,

Earth’s foundations long before:

That same love to Jesus drew me,

By its sweet, constraining power.

If you are a saved man, you know that what I have said is true. I remind you of it, because it will do us good to look unto the hole of the pit from which we were dug, and the rock from which we are hewn. May this remembrance of our lost state humble our hearts and fill us with praise to the God of all grace who has saved us.

Boasting excluded, pride I abase,

I’m only a sinner saved by grace.

Lift up your hearts and praise the Lord our God, this is the name he has given you - You are Sought Out!

·  Secondly, I want you to see that - THIS TITLE REVEALS THE MARVELOUS GRACE OF GOD - (Rom. 5:20).

·  The fact that Almighty God should seek out any of Adam’s race is a marvelous thing.

When I think of man, who he is and what he has done, and when I think of who God is, I am amazed that God should save any of us.

·  It would be a great condescension of Almighty God to have simply provided eternal salvation for us and invited us to receive it - Surely, no man could expect God to be more gracious than that. But he is!

·  Here is the wonder and splendor of God’s grace - when we would not heed his invitations of grace, he sought us out by his grace!

We heard the gospel and rejected it. Christ was offered, and we refused him. But grace would not be stopped. God was determined to glorify his love; so he sought out those who sought him not! He would not leave us in the bondage of our wills! (Ps. 65:4; 110:3).

·  But the grace of God is even more conspicuous, when you consider the people who are sought out.

As I look around me, I cannot see any reason why the eternal God should save anyone of you. But most of all, I cannot see any reason why he should save my soul! But he did. We are, for reasons known only to the Lord, Sought Out, and made the heirs of eternal life! All we can do is clap our hands in admiration and lift up our hearts in wonder, love, and praise to him who sought us out. There are ten thousand reasons why we should have been left out of his purpose of grace. But he was gracious to us. He sought us out.

Why was I made to hear Thy voice,

And enter while there’s room;

While thousands make a wretched choice,

And rather die than come?

Are you not amazed, my brother, my sister, that you were Sought Out?

·  You were most vile; but he sought you out.

·  You were a drunk; but he sought you out.

·  You were a whoremonger; but he sought you out.

·  You were a harlot; but he sought you out.

·  You were a thief; but he sought you out.

·  You were a blasphemer; but he sought you out.

Oh, what marvelous, wondrous, amazing, incomprehensible, irresistible grace! (I Cor. 1:26-28; 6:9-11; 4:7).

‘Tis not that I did choose Thee,

For, Lord, that could not be,

This heart would still refuse Thee,

But Thou hast chosen me:

Thou, from the sin that stained me,

Washed me and set me free,

And to this end ordained me,

That I should live to Thee.

‘Twas sovereign mercy called me,

And taught my opening mind;

The world had else enthralled me,

To heavenly glories blind.

My heart owns none before Thee;

For Thy rich grace I thirst;

This knowing, if I love Thee,

Thou must have loved me first.

·  Thirdly, let me show you that - THIS TITLE IS FULLY JUSTIFIED.

"Sought Out" is a good title for the people of God. It is well justified by all that we have experienced of Divine Grace.

·  The one who sought us out was none other than God Himself - The Good Shepherd himself goes after his sheep!

No man could seek us out. But the eternal, all-wise, all-powerful God said, "I will be their God, and they shall be my people." And he sought us out.

·  In eternal election.

·  In the incarnation, life, and death of his Son.

·  In his all-wise providence.

·  Through the ministry of the Word.

·  By his Blessed, Holy Spirit.

·  In saving our souls, the Lord our God actually sought us out.

We were lost in the sewer of fallen humanity. But our God did not forget us. He did not simply look for us. But he plunged himself into the sewer, and sought us out!

·  And, thanks be unto God, he sought us out effectually.

I know that there is a call which may be resisted. A man may contend successfully against the common strivings of the Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit puts forth the fullness of his Divine Energy, with the intention of saving a sinner, his work cannot be frustrated. When the Son of God comes to fish for the souls of men, he always makes his catch. He is always successful.

·  At the appointed time, he sought us out.

·  He charmed us into subjection.

·  He caused us to believe.

·  He made us willing to be saved by Christ - We were effectually and completely sought out.

·  In the last place, I want to briefly answer one question - WHAT SHALL THOSE PEOPLE DO WHO HAVE BEEN SOUGHT OUT?

Has God Almighty, sought us out and given unto us his rich, full, free grace in Christ? Then surely there is something for us to do.

·  We must acknowledge our utter, total indebtedness to the grace of God.

"By the grace of God, I am what I am."

·  I will ascribe to God alone all the glory of my salvation.

·  I will worship and adore the God of all grace.

·  I will surrender myself, all that I am and all that I possess, to my great, gracious God.

·  I will love him supremely who has sought me out.

·  Dear friends, if it is really true that you are sought out, then you ought to spend your whole lifetime seeking others out.

Oh, that God would make us fishers of men. Let us be constantly engaged in the holy work of seeking the Lord’s chosen ones out from among the fallen mass of humanity.

Conclusion: Has the Lord Jesus Christ this day sought you out? If he has, he has done so to show you mercy. Come to him. Do not be afraid. Come to him. Trust him. Embrace him. Fall at his feet and worship him. Come and confess him. Let us rejoice with you. The name of this family is "Sought Out." If the Lord has sought you out, you are welcome to join the family. No, if he has sought you out, you are already in the family!

 

Don Fortner