The Need of Seeking God - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace!

This is Lacerre Bradley Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. I will call upon the Lord, who is ready to be praised. Who shall I be saved?

Shall I be saved from my enemies? The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

Who is God except the Lord, Lord of Peace, our God, the higher praise he may give me? The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. I will call upon the Lord, who is ready to be praised. Who shall I be saved?

Shall I be saved from my enemies? The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. So will I give thanks to thee, and sing praises to thy name. The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Well, I hope that Thanksgiving Day was a special day for you. It is a good time for families to get together and express their thanksgiving to God for his abundant mercies. I know this has been a challenging year for many of us, but surely we have many things for which to give thanks. In all times, seasons, and circumstances, we can give thanks that God is on the throne, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. The apostle Paul said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. And so, as we said in the message last week, Thanksgiving is forever. It's not just a day, it's not just a season, it's every day.

And it will go on forever when the saints of God praise Jesus Christ in eternity. I hope that you'll take time to write us this week and let us know that you've listened to the broadcast. We depend on our listeners for support. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. You can also go to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org and make a donation there, or you can also hear other messages and read articles at the website.

Thank you. Up to the hills where Christ is gone, to plead for all his face, Presenting God, presenting God, whose songs and our complaints, our songs and our complaints. Presenting God, presenting God, whose songs and our complaints, O may thy spirit guide my feet in ways of righteousness. O may thy spirit guide my feet in ways of righteousness. O may thy spirit guide my feet in ways of righteousness. Most everybody is seeking for something.

People seek for pleasure, entertainment, security, money, prestige, all kinds of things. Well, there is a seeking that we ought to be greatly interested in and participating in because God himself calls on us to seek. We look at Psalm 27 verse 8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Can you say with David today, Thy face, Lord, will I seek? Have you been seeking him this week?

Are you seeking him today? The fact that you're here for this public worship service would certainly indicate that you have come here to seek him, to seek his blessing, worshipping, adoring him, seeking to please him. Now this call to seek the Lord is one that's often given.

God's people in olden times were frequently spoken to in this vein. First Chronicles 22 verse 19 says, Now set your hearts and your soul to seek the Lord your God, and therefore build ye the sanctuary of the Lord your God. Set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord.

This is not a casual thing that you just look lightly upon. This is something that requires intensity. Seek your heart and soul to seek the Lord. Psalm 105 verse 4, Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face evermore. It's something that needs to be done perpetually, not just on special occasions, not just on Sunday when we come to meet together for the preaching of the gospel to worship him. Seek him on a daily basis, seek him evermore. Isaiah 55 verse 6 says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is near. This certainly indicates that there is a timely reason for seeking him, seeking him while he may be found. Not only do we find that there are many calls in the Old Testament for God's people to seek him, but we come to the New Testament and see the Apostle Paul in the message at Mars Hill calling upon those that were worshipping idols to turn by repentance and seek God. Acts 17, 24, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing that he giveth to all life and breath and all things.

And that's a significant statement. God gives to all life and breath and all things. Wherever human beings are found, no matter what their lineage may be, no matter what their background, no matter how isolated they are from other peoples, God gives them all life and breath and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation, that they might seek the Lord, and if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not very far from every one of us. So he's saying that there is a certain revelation in nature.

A person looks at the earth upon which they live, the skies above them. There's clear evidence that there is a creator, a sovereign God who put these things into place. So having reminded these people that it is God who gives us life and breath and all things, he's saying that it would be appropriate for them to seek the Lord. Now I understand the fact that the book of Romans tells us that there's none that understand that there's none that seeketh after God. So man in his natural state, and because he's dead in sin, is not going to seek God. And yet this passage is telling us that even those who have not been moved upon, affectionately with the Spirit of God, have great evidence in nature seeing what God has done, and that they might feel after him and find him, seeking after him, and that he is not very far from every one of us. Verse 30 says, In the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. So God's Word says that all men everywhere ought to turn from their sin, repent of their sin, and while they have basically attempted to ignore God, some saying there is no God, that they are required to call upon him.

But then we come to the New Testament and we find many examples of that call to seek the face of God for those professing to be Christians today. Colossians chapter 3 verse 1, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. What does it mean, set your affection on things above? Well, you have an inheritance there, your Heavenly Father is there, the saints and glory are continually giving praise to him, and it's your expectation someday to be there.

Set your affection on those things, not on things on the earth. How each it is to be distracted by the things of this life, by the things on this earth, by worldly things, but we're admonished to seek those things that are above. And then we come to the book of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 and it says, But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and he is a rewarder of them that what?

Diligently seek him. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. So the question should be asked in our own hearts today, not just am I seeking him, but am I diligently seeking him? Am I earnest about it?

Am I consistent with it? Am I continuing to seek the Lord? Well, let's think about not only the fact that a command has been given which should be enough in itself, but to consider the great need for seeking God. Well, we certainly need to seek him especially in times of confusion. I think we'd have to say that in the day in which we're living there is a lot of confusion, a lot of different ideas, a lot of different opinions about the coronavirus, about how to deal with it, about various political issues, differences among Christians, and so there obviously is confusion in many circles of life. Now the book of Daniel chapter 9, Daniel is confessing the failings of the people of his day and says, O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces. We're suffering because we have sinned as a people. We have not been diligent in seeking the face of God.

We've been distracted. Some of our people have been worshipping false gods and idols. So, Lord, righteousness belongs unto you, but as a result of our sin, confusion of face to us. Verse 9, to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness as though we have rebelled against him. That's an encouraging word, isn't it? And in spite of the fact we have rebelled, we have sinned, with the Lord there belongs great mercies and forgivenesses in the plural. How good to know that he is a God of mercy and when we turn to him, we can find forgiveness. David said, Psalm 119 24, thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. So when we feel to be confused, we're at a point that we are having difficulty knowing which way to turn.

What position to adopt, what to believe, what do I do here, where do we go for the counsel? If you listen to the prevailing ideas in our culture today, you're going to be deceived. You're going to be led down the wrong path. But let us go, even as David did long ago, to God's word. Thy testimonies are my delight. I don't just go to thy testimonies. I don't just go to the word of God because I know it's my duty. I go there because I delight to do it. I find joy in it. I find blessing and benefit in it.

They are my counselors. So God's word is the final test for what we are to believe, how we are to make important decisions in life, how we are to live from day to day. In verse 130 of the same Psalm, it says, the entrance of thy words giveth light.

It giveth understanding to the simple. So if we're turning to the word of God, we may feel to be in the dark about some things, but here's where we find light. Verse 133, order my steps in thy word and let not iniquity have dominion over me. Do you pray that? Lord, I want you to order my steps in your word. I want to walk in harmony with your commandments. I admit I'm weak.

I fail. I'm sometimes stumbling along the way. But let us pray that our steps are right, our thinking is right, our attitude is right. Makes a big difference about how we view the things that we encounter in life.

In times of confusion, certainly vital that we seek the face of God. And in times of fear. Many things can cause fear. Certainly the coronavirus has caused many to have great fear. The loss of a job, serious illness, even concern about the future of our country.

We already knew that the educational system was permeated with new age thinking. But some of the things that have now been promoted and advocated to become a part of the public school system, it's appalling. And sometimes we talk to young people who are disheartened by it all. What's my future going to be like? I fear to think about it, that things continue on the path that they're now traveling.

What's it going to be like in a few years? So there are many things that can cause fear. In this very Psalm from which our text is taken, Psalm 27 verse 9, David says, Hide not thy face far from me, put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help, leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

That could be a fear that troubles someone. Lord, don't put your servant away. I know I'm not what I ought to be, but don't leave me. Don't forsake me. You're the God of my salvation.

And then he consoles himself with this fact in verse 10. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. And we might say, yes, there are friends that will forsake us. There are neighbors, there are other brothers and sisters in Christ who under certain circumstances will forsake us.

But we think surely the last one to forsake anybody would be their parents. But David says if that should occur, when my mother and father forsake me, here's my hope, then the Lord will take me up. So here's a remedy for our fears. If we have confidence that the Lord will take us up, then when those fears come that we might be deserted, we can overcome them. And you've heard me quote this one many times.

It's a favorite of mine. Psalm 56, verse 3, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Here's David, a courageous young man, a bold leader, but he admits there are times he's afraid.

And when those times come, what's he going to do? What time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. In God, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

So when we struggle with fear, where do we find the remedy? The Lord says, seek ye my face. And then there are times of doubt. There was a man that brought his son to Jesus who had an evil spirit. And he asked Jesus to heal his son. In Mark chapter 9, verse 23, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.

Do we not find ourselves in that position so many times? Lord, I believe. I hear your word preached. I say, amen. I know that's the truth.

I believe it. But then some difficulty comes along and we have a challenge to be able to draw the comfort from God's word that we know really we should be able to receive. We preached recently about the promises of God being yea and amen, yes and yes.

And you can acknowledge it. I read God's promises. I believe God cannot lie. I believe what He says. But sometimes it's difficult. How many times we've looked at Romans chapter 8, verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. This is God's word.

I believe it means just what it says. But then you come to some of those all things that are painful and difficult. You can't understand. You say, Lord, why the seriousness of this trial?

Why the difficulty that we're encountering? I go back to your word. I believe what it says. That all things work together for good. That somehow while the trial itself is not good, the pain encountered is not good, that ultimately good is brought out of it by your sovereignty.

So what do we have to say? Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Help me to lay hold of your promises with absolute confidence. And then sometimes the doubts and the fears reach such a level that it would be described as depression. I know there's all kinds of depression, but we'll look at some things related by the psalmist in times when he was certain in what we would call a depressed state. Psalm 55, verse 4, my heart is sore pained within me and the tears of death are falling upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and horror overwhelm me. That's a dark scene, isn't it? Now maybe you've never been in that predicament, but maybe some of you have, where your heart was pained.

You were in great trouble. Verse 16, as for me, I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon will I cry aloud and He shall hear my voice. Look at the consistency of his prayer. At evening, in the morning and at noon, I'm going to be praying. Sometimes we have a very heavy burden and we're continually taking it to the Lord.

You may recall where Jesus said, you're not heard for your much speaking. But when that comes to mind, I also go to the passage that says, pray without ceasing. And the one that says, ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. So we are to be persistent in our prayer and this certainly indicates the psalmist was, in the evening and morning and noon, I will cry aloud and his confidence was the Lord would hear his voice. He goes on in verse 22 to say, cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee, He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Cast your burden upon the Lord.

Loving me ere I knew Him, calling with voice so sweet. Burdens of life I brought Him, knelt at His wounded feet. Not from that love can sever, wonderful chains I scream. Master, I'll serve Thee ever, never a friend like Thee. I trust we've been able to see today in this wonderful psalm the need and the importance of seeking God. Oh, how much we need Him and then to be diligent in our prayer life, acknowledging our weakness, our unworthiness and our desperate need of His mercy, blessing and help.

I encourage you to write and let us know that you've listened to the broadcast till next week. At this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Master, we sing thy story, never was one like Thee. Some light of gladness giving, filling my heart with cheer. Therein is light I'm living, ever I know Him near.

Master in Thee abiding, shadows of earth must flee. Ever thy children guiding, never a life like Thee. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder Lissayer Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Blessings that day are new, King of the heavenly glory, Holy of earth was He. Master, we sing thy story, never was one like Thee.