It is Time to Seek Him
Isaiah 55:6-9
I am told that Napoleon's soldiers often used to sleep while they were on the march. They were moving forward, yet asleep and indifferent to everything around them. Thousands are like them in spiritual matters. They are as the old hymn says 'passing onward, quickly passing’ in the journey of life, yet indifferent to their need for a relationship with Christ and to the call and claims of God upon their lives. No sin can be more devastating to the church or more deadly to the individual than the sin of indifference.
I. The Sin of Indifference
A. What exactly is indifference. Indifference is defined as the following:
1. without interest or concern; not caring; apathetic:
2. having no bias, prejudice, or preference; impartial; disinterested
3. neither good nor bad in character or quality; average; routine
B. God charged Israel with the sin of indifference. Time and time again he spoke to them through His prophets but it was like speaking to a stone wall in their indifference to His word.
C. Concerning Israel's failure to hear and seeking God He declared through His prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45:20 “He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.”
D. Isaiah himself cried out about the cold indifference of Israel in Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
E. The reality is that we all guilty of indifference to God. Romans 3:11 “there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” In Matthew 22 we have the story of the wedding feat where the King (God) invites individuals to the wedding of His Son. In Matthew 22:5 we read “But they made light (were not concerned, ignored, paid no attention) of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.”
F. They were too busy doing their own thing, too busy with work, too busy with family, too busy with the things of their world, too busy for God.
G. When it comes to the things of God, the will of God, and the call of God, the demands of God, and the worship of God, are you guilty of the sin of indifference? Are you actively pursuing a close knowledge of and intimacy with Christ? Are you seeking the will of God for your life? How much interest do you have for the local gathering of the Body of Christ? When it comes to being active in the church and in serving God do you find it to be a dull routine, a matter of unconcern, or of little interest?
H. Jeremiah 33:31-32 “So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.”
I. In contrast to the sin of indifference listen to what the apostle Paul says in Philippians.
J. Philippians 3:8 (AMP) “Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One)
II. The danger of living a life of indifference to God
A. Israel discovered that being indifferent to the Lord and the things of God is a dangerous position in which to be. In ignoring God, profaning His Sabbaths and living lives of apathy to His commands, God brought about the conquest of Israel and their years of captivity and bondage.
B. God will not be ignored. His character, his attributes will not allow it.
C. Hebrews 10:31 “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
D. Isaiah 42:8 “I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another,”
E. As a result of indifference many have a misconception of the nature of God. Pastor Robert Bagonza has said that, “Indifferent Christians perceive God as lukewarm and don’t believe He will reward them for their diligence or punish them for their slackness.”
F. Zephaniah 1:12 “And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, 'The Lord will not do good, Nor will He do evil.'
G. Galatians 6:7 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked.”
H. Revelation 3:15-16 " I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.”
III. The Call to seek God while it is time
A. Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.”
B. There is a window of opportunity that does not remain open forever that is available for a person to respond to God’s call whether it is to be saved or to or for those who have been redeemed and have slipped back into indifference and spiritual lethargy to return.
C. Proverbs 29:1 “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
D. Isaiah admonished the people to seek the Lord while He may still be found and to call upon Him when He is near. One day it will be too late to turn to the Lord.
E. Psalm 103:9 “He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.”
F. I heard a story the other day of a man who encountered trouble while flying his small private airplane. He called the control tower and said, "Pilot to tower, I'm 300 miles from the airport, six hundred feet above the ground. I'm out of fuel, losing altitude and descending rapidly. Please advise. Over." "Tower to pilot," the dispatcher began, “Repeat after me: "Our Father Who art in heaven..." Don’t wait until your ready to crash. Seek Him while you can.
G. Someone has said, Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today if you don’t know whether or not you’ll be able to do it tomorrow.
IV. The conditions of having a relationship with God
A. Isaiah 55:7 “let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord…”
B. Stop going the way you are going (55:7)
1. “Let the wicked forsake his way”
2. Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
3. This is a call for repentance. Repentance is turning around our way - turning from our own way, turning unto God’s way.
4. Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death
5. Christ said, “Except you repent you will all likewise perish.”
6. The Bible makes it clear that God is holy and man is sinful, and that sin makes a separation between the two (Isaiah 59:1-2). Without repentance wicked people cannot have fellowship with a holy God. Repentance does not only mean to feel sorrow because of our sins, but it also means to confess our sins to God and forsake them – to agree with God that it is wrong and to turn and go in the opposite direction. - - copied
7. We must carefully bear in mind that no repentance can make atonement for sin. The blood of Christ, and nothing else, can wash away sin from man’s soul. No quantity of repentance can ever justify us in the sight of God. “We are accounted righteous before God, only for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings.” – J C Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke, Vol. 1.
8. While repentance does not save us it is part and parcel of confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and is necessary in order to maintain fellowship and communion with God as Chuck Colson said “Repentance must be a way of life for the Christian.”
C. Give up the old ways of thinking (55:7)
1. “and the evil man his thoughts”
2. Biblical Commentator David Guzik says, “Wickedness may be demonstrated by our actions (our way); but unrighteousness can be found in our very thoughts. The battleground for a righteous walk with the LORD is often found in our minds, in our thoughts.”
3. We must have an eternal mindset rather than a worldly mindset.
4. Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
5. We need a desire to live a life of obedience to Him. The psalmist asked God to give him understanding in keeping His laws and walking in His commandments so that he might “turn away...from looking at worthless things” (Ps. 119:33-37). Having any mind other than Christ’s causes us to live a life of disobedience and rebellion. – copied
D. Turn to the Lord (55:7)
1. “and let him turn to the Lord”
2. When the prodigal son returned to the father he found his father’s arms open wide.
3. God says in turning to Him we find both mercy and abundant pardon
4. We find Mercy
5. Psalm 8:5 “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
6. A mother sought the pardon of her son from the first Napoleon. The emperor said it was his second offense, and justice demanded his death. "I don't ask for justice," demanded his mother, "I plead for mercy." "But," said the emperor, "he does not deserve mercy." "Sire," cried the mother, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for." "Well, then," said the emperor, "I will have mercy." And her son was saved.—Good Company.
7. We find abundant Pardon
8. Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.
9. Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. "A pardon is a slip of paper," wrote Marshall, "the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged." For some, the pardon comes too late. For others, the pardon is not accepted. - Prokope, V. 11, #5.
10. Hebrews 2:3 asks the question, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him?”
11. It is time to seek Him.
