What Seek Ye?
I have for my subject this afternoon a question, a command and an invitation. In the first chapter of John and the 38th verse, it is related that Christ turned to two of John the Baptist’s disciples, about four o’clock in the afternoon, who were following Him, and said to them: “What seek ye?” The first words that fell from the lips of the Son of God, as he commenced his ministry — that is John’s account of it — were:” What seek ye? n
There were all classes of people following Christ while he was upon earth. There were some that went to see Him just out of a morbid curiosity — they had no other motive. There were some who went for the fishes and the loaves. There was another class that followed Him that they might get mere temporal relief; that they might get some friend healed. Then there was another class followed Him that they might entangle him in some conversation; they were constantly putting difficult questions to Him in hopes that they might get Him to say something against the law of Moses that they might condemn Him and put Him to death. There were some that went just to see, and others that went to be seen. Here and there were some that followed Him for just what He was to them, and they always got a blessing.
Now I contend that all the men and women in Cleveland are seeking something. The question that I want to press home upon you to-day is,” What seek ye? n What brought you out here this afternoon? I venture to say if this audience could be sifted to find out who had come to get a blessing, it would be found to be a very small number; there would be vacant chairs enough; there would be no trouble about room for the people that wanted to come.
Although eighteen hundred years have rolled away since Christ put that question to those disciples, human nature has not changed. You will find the same classes dow. There are some that have come just out of curiosity — just merely to see and to be seen. Some have come because they have been persuaded by a godly mother to come. They do not come because they wanted to, but because a mother, or a wife, or a little child had persuaded them, and they have come just to please them.
One man in Philadelphia got up at the young converts’ meeting and said he did not come to hear the preaching or the singing. He said that a friend of his got there one night at the opening of the depot building, and he said he thought it was a remarkable scene to see eleven thousand chairs all vacant. JHe said he would like to see eleven thousand chairs in one building. So he went up late in the afternoon or early in the evening. He was the first one there, and the moment the doors were open he rushed in to see the empty chairs. That was what brought him there. Pretty high motive, wasn’t it? He was a drinking man. The text that night was, “Where art thou?” and he saw something else before the meeting was over. He saw himself a poor, blind, miserable, wretched sinner. I hope some one that has come here to day out of curiosity will get his eyes opened, and if you do you may get something you did not come for — something worth more than all this world to you.
When we were in London a man was going by Agricultural Hall, and it was raining pretty hard, and he dropped in just to get out of the rain, and the word reached him where he stood, and he was convicted and converted.
It is astonishing what motives bring a class of people together. You know and God knows what brought you here. What is the motive? Have you come merely to gratify curiosity. Have you come to gratify some friends? “What seek ye?”
I can imagine some of you say, “I did not come here to hear you preach. I came to hear the singing. I am very fond of music, and I would like to hear the singing, and I just wish that I was out of here; I don’t like sermons; I just hate them.” Well, I am glad you came for that motive, and I am thankful there is gospel enough in some of these hymns to save you. So if you did not come for any higher motive than to see or be seen, or hear the singing, we are glad to see you. But if you just change the motive and say, “I want a blessing. I want God to bless me. I want Him above everything else,” this will be the happiest day you ever spent on earth.
Now, let us take the question home. What brought us here? “What seek ye?” Have you come to get Jesus Christ? If you have you can find Him. You have not got to go up to bring Him down. You have not got to go down to bring Him up. He is right here.
I want to tell you another thing: It is a command for you to seek him, and I want to lay that command right across every man’s path here to-day. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else shall be added.” What man puts first God puts last; or reversed, what God puts first man puts last
If I should ask a good many of you to-day why you do not seek the kingdom of God, you would make me
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this answer, “Well, I have a good many other things to attend to. My business has got to be looked after; times are hard; times have been hard for the last five years; and don’t you know, Mr. Moody, a man is worse than an infidel if he don’t provide for his family?” So he is; no doubt about that, but then here is a command. God never makes any mistakes. He does not command us to do something that He does not give us power to do. If He commands all men now everywhere to repent, He means it. If he commands me to seek first the kingdom of God, I am to seek it first; I am to do that above everything else.
I am one of those that firmly believe that a man is just as good a business man in whom the kingdom 01 God is set up, as a man that goes on serving the world, living for the wrorld. I believe a man is not fit to live — is not qualified for business — until he has obeyed God. I believe God turns the ways of the wicked upside down, and hedges up their way. Some one will say, “I have seen some of the wickedest men in this country get very rich.” So have I. But then a man may get very rich and not be very prosperous after all. All is not gold that glitters. A man may have great wealth and not have contentment. A man may have great wealth and not have peace of mind. A man may have great wealth and be a stranger to rest. If I wanted to find a skeleton, I would go up here on your fine avenues, into some of those palaces there. You have not got to go down into your brothels and dark dens of iniquity, and your wretched homes, made dark by sin. You will find them there, I admit; but you will find them also in the homes of the fashionable, and in the palaces of the wealthy. There is hardly a family in the city that has not a skeleton in it. I believe that the reason that there is so much darkness and misery in
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this world is because men and women go contrary to what God tells them. About the last thing a man thinks of seeking is the kingdom of God. If you talk with a great many they will say they must attend to their business. They will tell you that when they get settled in life and have time, then they will attend to their soul’s interests.
Now, when we start out in life, it is better that we start right. When God tells me to run, I am to run. When He tells me to walk, I am to walk. If He tells me to believe, I am to believe. If He tells me to seek first the kingdom of God, I must do it. No man or woman is justified in going out of this hall to-day without seeking the kingdom of God. If you go out of this hall without doing it, you trample one of God’s commands under your feet. Some people think they never break a commandment. We have something besides the decalogue. This commandment is just as binding as the commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” It is a command from God, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” Man says, “I will not do it. I will seek for pleasure. I will seek for wealth. I will seek for honor, I will seek for fame. I will seek for everything else before I will seek the kingdom of God.” Is not that true? Don’t we see that all around us? They are just living in disobedience. You know if you have a child that disobeys you, you will not want that child to prosper. You do not want your child to prosper in disobedience. But when a child is obedient, then you love to see the child prosper. Now, as long as we live in disobedience to God, how can we expect to prosper? I do not believe we would have had these hard times it it had not been for sin and iniquity. Look at the money that is drank up! The money that is spent for tobacco! That is ruining men — ruining their constitutions. We live in a land flowing with milk and honey. God has olessed this nation; yet men complain of hard times. I tell you there is nothing so extravagant as sin. If a man would seek the kingdom of God first you would not be troubled much about the things of this world. You would not be troubled about your clothing and about what you would eat. That is about all we need. You may have the wealth of this world, but you can’t take a penny away with you. You hear it said that a man died worth millions. The fact is when he dies he is not worth anything. The wealth that a man may have then is not of this world. Lay up treasures in heaven, not down here. You may have millions here and enter eternity a beggar if you have not become rich toward God.
I remember, a number of years ago, I was working out in the field. It was before I left home, and I was a little wild in those days. A man told me something I did not understand; it was a mystery. We were hoeing corn, and I noticed he was weeping. Says I, “What is the trouble?” and he went on and told me. It sounded strange then. I did not understand it. He said when he left home to make his fortune it was a beautiful morning when he left his mother’s door, and she gave him this text of Scripture: “Seek first the kingdom God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” He said he paid no attention to it. He said there were no railroads in those days, and he had to walk. He walked from town to town, and the first Sunday he was away he went into a little country church, and the minister got up and preached from the text, “Seek first the kingdom of God.” He said to himself, u That is my mother’s text. I wonder if that man knows me.” He thought he was preaching it for him. But he said to himself that he was not going to seek the kingdom of God yet; that he was going to get rich, and when he got rich and was settled down in life he was going to attend to his soul’s interest — just exactly what God told him not to do. He said the sermon made a deep impression upon him, but that he had made up his mind that he would not seek God then. He could not get any work in that town, and he went to another, and another, and at last he got some work, and he went to church in the town, and he hadn’t been going there a great while before he heard a sermon from the text, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteouness.” He thought God was calling him, and the sermon and the text made a deep impression on his mind; but he calmly and deliberately said: “I will not seek the kingdom of God now, I will wait until I get rich.” He said he finally got through working in that town and he went to another, and another, and at last he got work in another town. He said he went to church — he went because his mother had taught him; he said he didn’t feel easy when he stayed away; he said he did not go to get any blessing; just wTent because he had been educated to go. What was his surprise, he said, when the minister got up in the pulpit and preached from the text, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” He said he thought surely God was calling him; and he said the Spirit strove mightily with him; but he just fought it — made up his mind that he would not become a Christian until he had become settled in life; and he said that all the sermons he heard since made no more of an impression upon him than on that stone, and he struck it with a hoe. It seemed to him as if the Spirit of God had left him. But I could not talk to him. I wras a stranger to Christ. But soon after I went off to Boston. When I was converted, almost the first man that came into my mind was that neighbor, and I made up my mind when I went home I would tall* 114 WHAT SEEK YK?
with him and tell him about the Savior. When I got home I made inquiries, and my mother said, “Why, didn’t I write you about him? “Write me wrhat?” “Why, he has gone to the insane asylum, and if any of the neighbors go up to see him he will point his finger at him and will say,” Young man seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.’” Reason had reeled and tottered from its throne, but the text was still there. God had sent that arrow down into his soul. Long years had rolled away and he could not draw it out of his soul. The next time I went home they told me he was up on his farm, that he was idiotic. I went up to his house, and found him in the rocking chair; he was rocking backwards and forwards, and as I spoke to him he gave me that idiotic look — that vacant look; and I called him by name, and said, “Don’t you know me?” He pointed his finger at me and said, “Young man, seek first the kingc om of God and his righteousness.” He did not know me — mind all gone, but the text still there. A little while after he died. He lies slumbering in the cemetery where my father is buried; and when I go to visit that cemetery, as I go by that grave, it seems as if I could hear that text coming up from that grave, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” My friends, you and I cannot afford to disobey God. We cannot afford to calmly and coolly and deliberately say, “I will not obey.” Look around us. Men are snatched away suddenly, and they just pass into eternity. Look at that accident only a few hours ago on the Michigan Central — that night train passing on with great “rapidity, and in a moment they passed into eternity.
My friend, if you sleep to-night without seeking the kingdom of God, you are disobeying God. It is a command from God Almighty to every soul here. We have
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no right to defer it; no right to say that we will seek the kingdom of God to-morrow. To-morrow does not belong to us. To-day — now — is the day of salvation.
You will find in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near.n It is not to seek feeling. It is not to seek a sentiment, nor some dogma, nor some creed, but it is to seek the Lord Himself. u Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while He is near.” That is the exhortation. God exhorts you to seek Him while He may be found.
Some one may ask, “How seek Him?” Seek Him with your heart, not with your head. The trouble with a great many is, they seek him with their head, and they never find Him. It is not a new head, but a new heart, we want. What do you mean by seeking God with your heart? I will tell you: When a man goes into a thing with his heart you can soon tell it. He will be in earnest. Go into the gold regions, and you will find that the miners down in the mines have their hearts there. They are terribly in earnest. Go learn a lesson of the world. See how men seek for wealth! Look at these politicians over the State of Ohio. They can hardly wait until the Sabbath rolls away to begin their work to-morrow. We want men to seek their soul’s salvation as they seek for wealth. There is one thing that the Lord hates, and that is half-heartedness. No man ever found God with half a heart.
I said to a man some time time ago, “I will tell you when you will be converted. I can tell you the day and the hour.” “Well, I would like to have you. I didn’t know that ydu were a prophet” “Well,” says I, “I am not a prophet, but I can tell you when you will be converted.” “I would like to have you.” u Well,” says I, “when you search for God with all your heart you will find him, and not before.” O, my friends, if God is worth having He is worth seeking for with all our hearts, and when men seek Him with all their heart they find Him.
I am tired of hearing people talk about not having any objection to being saved. I said to a man some time ago, “Are you a Christian?” “No.” “Well, wouldn’t you like to be?” “Well,” said he, “I have no objection.” “Well,” said I, “you will never find him with that spirit. God never adopts men with that spirit.” I tell you that if we are going to get into the kingdom of God we have got to be in earnest.
I read an account some time ago of a vessel being wrecked at sea, and there were not enough life boats for all on board of the vessel, and some were swimming around in the water trying to get into life boats, and one man with a great effort swam to* a boat and reached out his right hand. They said they did not dare to take any more in. They begged him to let go but he would not. You know how a drowning man will grasp at a straw. A man took a sword and cut off the man’s hand, and the man swam up a second time and he laid hold of that boat with his left hand and they cut off the left hand; and with both hands cut off he swam up to that boat stern and seized it with his teeth. It touched their hearts. They could not cut his head off and they drew him on the boat. He saved his life because he was in earnest. If it is the right hand off with it; if it is the left one off with it. The kingdom of God is worth more than all the world. O, may God wake us up to-day and show us the importance of seeking the kingdom of God with all our hearts.
Now I want to ask this audience one question: Do you believe that the Lord can be found here to-day? Do you believe that a sinner, a man that has been at enmity with God for twenty years, can come in here to-day and find the Lord precious to his soul? Do you believe that? Do you men believe that? Do you ministers believe it? If men will seek Him with all their hearts they can find Him before they go out of this building, Do you believe that? Do you believe you can get eternal life and live with God forever by just seeking for it? You profess to believe it, but you do not believe it. If you did you would seek for it. If Jehovah should send Gabriel down here to say to any one in this building that you might have any one thing you asked for, I venture to say there would be only one cry — a cry that would ring through the building. “Eternal life!” Everything else would fly into the dim past. You would not ask for money. If there was only one thing to ask for, you would ask for eternal life. It is a great thing to live forever. There is not anything to be compared with eternal life. Now, if eternal life can be found here to-day by asking for it, would you not advise every man, woman and child in this house to seek the kingdom of God? Oh! my friends, seek ye the Lord! He has been seeking for you these many years. Seek Him with your heart, and you will find him.