Seek The Lord; Call Upon Him

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Isaiah 55:6,7
Psalters: 88, 72, 188, 289
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
  1. What is to be done?
    1. This command (not an invitation) is addressed to the O.T. church.
    2. They are commanded to “seek” and to “call.”
      1. This refers to inquiring about something so often that a path is formed by the repeated tramping.
      2. To “call” is to seek God by way of prayer.
    3. “While He may be found” and “while He is near.”
      1. Implies that there is a time when God cannot be found and is not near.
      2. The time to seek and call is now!!
  2. How do we seek Jehovah? With sincere repentance.
    1. Those seeking and calling on the God are identified as “wicked” and “unrighteous.”
      1. Such are guilty and such are troubled and wicked.
      2. The only attitude required of such people is a repentant one.
    2. Repentance is first to forsake one’s ways and thoughts.
      1. “Ways” refers to the course of one’s life, and “thoughts” are the inner cogitations behind the sinful actions.
      2. To “forsake” is to leave behind, depart from, let go, and abandon.
    3. Second, repentance is to “return unto the LORD, and ... to our God.”
      1. Jehovah our God is the One Who brought us out of the bondage of sin and established a relationship.
      2. To “return” is necessary because in sin we departed from Him.
  3. The motivation for obeying God’s command is the promise of “mercy” and “abundantly pardon.”
    1. God’s mercy is His loving deeply, His being compassionate and having tender affection.
      1. God’s mercy results in forgiveness, i.e., that He sees us as if we did nothing wrong and everything right.
      2. God’s mercy and pardon are “abundantly”, i.e., multiplied, increasing and exceedingly great.
    2. This does not imply that God’s forgiveness is conditional.
    3. In the way of forsaking our way and thoughts we subjectively taste God’s merciful forgiveness.