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Fred R. Coulter—December 6, 2006
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In this world of confusion in religion:
- Where is God?
- Who is God?
- How do you find God?
And if you're seeking God:
- How do you know you're seeking the right God?
Let's look into the Bible, and it's important to understand that the way that you understand how to seek God is to find the directions in the Word of God. You need to understand that His Word is the inspired Word that He has given to mankind.
When you compare the Library of Congress to the Bible, it's really an amazing thing. I remember the first time I visited the Library of Congress and there's this great dome and all of these desks circling around. They have millions and millions of volumes. They try to get every book that's published in the Library of Congress.
I thought to myself, man, that's something! Then I looked at the Bible and God has given us—in His Word—everything we need to know about Him, Jesus Christ and salvation. Isn't that an amazing thing? The pages of the Bible will vary, depending on the size of type and the thickness of the pages. But it will vary anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 pages. Compare that with the Library of Congress. Yet, everyone wants to seek God:
- maybe He's over here
- maybe He's up in the mountains over there
- maybe he's down in the ocean under the sea
- Where is God?
- How do you find God?
- How do you seek God?
Today we're living in a world that is becoming more and more bent toward the supernatural, bent toward the occult as evidenced by all of the things that have been put out:
- by entertainment
- the way that people live
- the way they conduct their lives
There are probably more people practicing witchcraft than there are who are true Christians.
There are a lot of pagan Christians, so you need to understand something very, very important. You have got to seek the true God through His Word, which is Truth, and then you will find Him! Today, the reason we have Church At Home {churchathome.org} is because so many people are so fed up with the churches that they go to, because of the cliques, the politics, the ceremony, the control and they feel so discouraged that a lot of them—even in America—from 10-20-million Americans have forsaken the establishment churches, the big mega churches. You walk in and the 12-14 thousand and you get lost.
You look around and people get fed up with 20 minutes of swaying back and forth and singing, wondering where God is. Or they follow the bouncing ball in the songs and so forth. Then they have 'my text for today is…' and they sing some more songs and go home. Of course, that is after they collect the money.
Other people say that you need to go to séances, to diviners, to those who have 'spiritual power.' In Isa. 8 we are told and given a warning. This is way that in seeking God you must begin by searching the Bible!
I know there are a lot of translations out there, and what we're going to cover today is not going to have any of the technical things that are necessary, so almost any translation will do. However, you need to understand that if you're going to get serious, rather than curious, then you need to have a good translation. We have one: The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version. There are so many counterfeits out there, because this world that we're living in we need to understand that the power of this world resides in Satan the devil!
He has so many things going, so many different places that there is so much confusion that people don't know what to do. What we're going to do is begin the first step: How do you seek God? The best place to start is at home with your Bible!
Isaiah 8:19: "And when they shall say to you, 'Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and to wizards who peep and mutter'—but should not a people seek unto their God?…."
Of course, the answer is that sure you should seek God! But what it's telling us here is the right way! There is a right way to do it! God tells us the right way!
Verse 20: "To the Law and to the Testimony!…." He's talking about the Law that we find in the Old Testament (Gen. Exo. Lev., Num. and Deut.). the Testimony is the testimony of the Old Testament and the of the New Testament combined together. As we are going to see, as we go through some of these studies, that it combines all together beginning with the Gospels.
"…If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them" (v 20).
There's one thing you can know and understand, which is that if you hear any minister say that Jesus did away with the Law, you know that he's wrong! Jesus said, 'I did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I came to fulfill,' and that fulfilling is still going on. He didn't complete it to do away with it.
Let's see that even in the days of Jesus many had the same attitude that people have today. There's a television show that had to do with freaks, about magic, showing all the things that men can do with magic. Of course, a good deal of the magic comes from those with 'familiar spirits.' They do 'signs' and people wonder at it.
The one that they showed on the advertisement was where this man made it look like that he was cut in half, and then come back together. Everyone was all excited.
Well, Jesus does not operate by magic. He operates through His Word and through His Spirit. God's Spirit can be with you on your search if you pray and ask God to help you, and He will!
Matthew 16:1: "Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Him, tempting Him and asking Him to show them a sign from heaven."
Elijah made fire come down from heaven; what are you going to do? Later when Jesus was on the cross dying, they said, 'You come down from here and we'll believe You.' Do a sign for us!
Verse 2: "But He answered and said to them, 'When evening has come, you say, "It will be fair weather, for the sky is red." And in the morning, you say, 'Today it will storm, for the sky is red and lowering.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times'" (vs 1-3).
Verse 4 is very important, because it not only describes that generation, but this also describes our generation in which we are living today.
Verse 4: "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign…" They want magic, something special to be done!
"'…but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.' Then He left them and went away" (v 4).
Jesus said in another place that 'no sign shall be given except that Jonah was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth.'
See if you can count three whole days and three whole nights from Friday at sunset to sunrise on Sunday. You can't do that. That's another whole topic, but it also tells you Who is telling the truth.
Jesus or ministers teaching in the name of Jesus that no nothing about the truth of how and when Jesus was crucified, and the reason and meaning for His crucifixion.
Note book: The Day that Jesus the Christ Died, and you will see that Mel Gibson in The Passion of Christ had about half of it right. The other half was all Catholic tradition. We'll see later why Jesus had to die, and why it was Him and Who He was. Before we get there, we need to find out how to seek God!
We will see how the Prophet of God Azariah the son of Oded explained it to Asa. God doesn't want you out there not knowing, but you have to come to Him the right way. It's just like if someone gives you an address where they live and says, 'Come on over to my house.' I don't know how to get there. 'Let me give you directions.' In the Word of God He's given us directions on how we can find God.
2-Chronicles 15:2: "And he [Azariah] went out to meet Asa, and said to him, 'Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him.…'"
Very interesting thing because God has given us free choice. If you want to leave God, you can leave God. If you want to reject God, you can reject God. But what you're going to do is suffer the automatic difficulties and penalties that come with it! Just like the law of gravity. If you fall down, you're going to hurt yourself a little bit. If you fall down harder, you may break a leg. In each one of these cases you're breaking a law of gravity or inertia, and God created those; just like He created His commandments and His laws.
If you're in a severe auto accident and you have severe injuries, it's going to take you a greater time to recover. Likewise, as people in their lives in the world today, the way people live runs all the way from decent upstanding people all the way to criminals, hardhearted, those in prison, murderers, rapists, those who take drugs and so forth. So, the whole spectrum here is if you are with God He's with you, if you are not with God, He will leave you!
"'…And if…" (v 2). The condition is for us; there are no conditions on God. Why? Because the true God:
- is true
- does not lie
- is faithful
- is merciful
- is kind
- is just
But He's also a God
- Who executes judgment
- Who punishes the wicked
That's why there is the if!
"…if you seek Him, He will be found by you…. [you can find God if you do it His way] …But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you" (v 2).
We have a similar condition to what we have in the pagan Christianity of the western world.
Verse 3: "And for a long time Israel had been without the true God…" There are many false Jesuses, false Christs, false gods. It's even as such now that you dare not speak against Allah or Mohammad, because you may have a riot on your door.
"…and without a teaching priest…" (v 3). That's interesting, because there needs to be someone to teach, someone who will teach the faithful Word of God! And someone who will do it the way that God wants.
Too many men are out there doing it their own way to have numbers, followers and people. This is why when people go to church they get turned off! So, you can start to find God at home, but you have to seek Him, and seek Him His way!
"…and without law. And when they turned in their trouble to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him…" (vs 3-4).
This is how you start! Whatever circumstances you have had that have caused you to be totally turned off from religion, totally turned off at life, totally turned off at people and disillusioned because of the evil that people perpetrate one against the other. You just want to find God, and find out if He knows and understands what's going on.
"…when they turned in their trouble to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him He was found by them" (v 4).
Let me just state that here in America, and in Britain and Australia and western Europe, the reason that there are so many troubles facing these nations today—from a vengeful, implacable foe—is because they have turned their backs on God; yet, they have great numbers attending churches. They go to churches and they hear false gospels and things preached that are not true, because they are not following the correct roadmap to God as found in the Bible.
Now let's see some other encouragement in 1-Chron. 28, which is very instructive. This is a time when David was giving Solomon, his son, the commission, and also the plans, money and all the materials to build the temple. This was a time like none other in history.
- God was with His people
- God was with Israel
- God had given permission to build the temple and Solomon was the one to do it
When we're going through this and noting the ifs, ask yourself: Am I doing the if?
1-Chronicles 28:7: "'And I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues resolute in keeping My commandments and My ordinances, as he is today.' And now in the sight of all Israel, the congregation of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God…" (vs 7-8).
Notice what David tells them. When you understand that David was the one who wrote hundreds of Psalms in praise and worship to God. He was close to God. We will see later in the Psalms how close David was to God, because he sought Him.
"…keep and seek for all the commandments of the LORD your God…" (v 8). This is interesting and also very instructive. It's not a one-time thing that you do and it's over and done, fait accompli. It is you seek!As we will see later that you keep seeking! You keep the commandments of God and you keep keeping them, and God is with you! God's Spirit is with you and will open your mind and give you understanding, and you will surely find God.
"…so that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance for your children after you forever" (v 8).
God wants the best for everyone! But He's given choice, so we have to choose! Now, picture this, Solomon was probably about 20-years-old at this time:
Verse 9: "And you, Solomon my son, acknowledge the God of your father…"
- How do you know God?
- How do you know that you know God?
"…and serve Him with a perfect heart…" (v 9). What is a perfect heart? A sincere heart with a loving desire to do the will of God!
"…and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts…." (v 9).
The old saying is 'you can run but you cannot hide.' You may be able to hide from people, but you can never hide from God! God made and created you for a great and fantastic purpose, and to have a relationship with Him! You need to find God! You need to seek Him, and you will find Him!
"…If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Take heed now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it" (vs 9-10).
Let's see some other things about seeking God that are very important for us to realize. In seeking God, first of all, you seek the instruction in His Word. Then there are some other things you need to do. This is why we are told to use the Word of God to find God. The Word of God is like the roadmap of directions to get to God. Just like if you want to go to someone's house or someplace, you have a roadmap. You have to use the Bible yourself to get there.
Isaiah 55:6: "Seek the LORD while He may be found…"—which tells us that if circumstances get bad and you reject God and forsake Him, maybe you won't be able to find Him!
"…call upon Him while He is near…." (v 6)—rather than wait until you're so deep in trouble that you're like the man hanging down the well holding onto a piece of rope that is slowly untwining and there's no one to pull you up. You're screaming at the top of your lungs, 'Help! Someone!' Don't let your life get down that low!
Verse 7: "Let the wicked forsake his way…" Think about:
- What is your life?
- How are you living?
- Which way are you going?
There are a lot of people who think they're upstanding and righteous that are sinners, because everyone is a sinner.
"…and the unrighteous man his thoughts…" (v 7). That means:
- you're going to have to change the direction in which you're living
- you're going to have to seek God
- you're going to have to examine your life in your thoughts and mind
"…and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him…" (v 7). Think about this: regardless of your circumstances today, if you seek God, forsake your way, examine your thoughts—and repent of them—you're on the road to finding God!
Always remember that as long as there is life—as long as you are living—there is hope! All of us are sinners, and God has called us to come out of those sins.
"…and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (v 7). So, whatever it is that you have done in sinning against God, God can forgive upon repentance!
- God is more than reasonable!
- God is more than loving, kind and merciful!
God has given free moral agency, and God knows that people are going to go out and do things that they ought not do. Here's what God calls upon many of the 'religious' people today, who think they are right and so forth. Unless there is repentance, all of your 'religious' practices will do you no good.
There was a famous evangelist in Colorado get caught with a homosexual liaisons. He stood up in the pulpit, and he had thousands come every Sunday… Please know and understand that Sunday is not the day of worship that God set aside. The evangelist would prance back and forth and all of his righteousness and prayers, and spreading his hands back and forth.
Isaiah 1:15: "And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear… [because you're on the wrong roadmap; you're not using the right Word of God] …your hands are full of blood." What is the solution? Repentance!
Verse 16: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil." That's why it's important that you learn the Word of God and understand what sin is. Sin is the transgression of the Law!
Verse 17: "Learn to do good…"
- keep the commandments of God
- love God
- change your heart, mind and thoughts with God's Spirit
"…seek judgment, reprove the oppressor. Judge the orphan; plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,' says the LORD…." (vs 17-18).
This is where prayer comes. You find a quiet place, get on your knees and you pray to God. Talk to God directly:
- God, help me to find my way
- God, help me to find You
- God, help me to understand my circumstances
- God, I know I'm a sinner
- help me to repent
- give me understanding
- lead me the way that You would want
God says, "…'Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword'; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it" (vs 18-20)—meaning it is sure, true and it's going to happen, for the good and for the evil!
- you can find God
- you can turn your life around
- you can come to understand God
- His Way
- His Truth
- His Word
Psalm 119:1: "Blessed…" There are blessings that will come; not necessarily physical blessings!
- How much is peace of mind worth?
- How much of knowing that your sins are forgiven worth?
- How much is it worth knowing that you have a fresh and clean start?
Every day you can have that renewed in prayer before God!
Verse 1: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep His testimonies and who seek Him with the whole heart" (vs 1-2).
There's a great and tremendous blessing for you! Notice that if you are keeping the commandments of God, it says"
Verse 3: "They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways." It's a tremendous thing!
The whole 119th Psalm is really a great and fantastic Psalm. It's actually a prophecy of what Jesus' attitude is toward the Law of God is.
We need to understand. Yes, you need to start someplace, and this is where you need to start. But also understand that you have to keep at it. Here's a promise and always understand that the way you can overcome the difficulties and problems you're in is to ask!
Matthew 7:7: "Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find…." That is a promise; claim the promises of God.
- you start in your own home
- you start with your own Bible
- you start building your own relationship with God through prayer
"…Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it shall be opened" (vs 7-8).
There's something special in the Greek language from which this was translated, which means:
- seek and keep on seeking
- ask and keep on asking
- knock and keep on knocking
and
- God will hear!
- God will answer!
Let's see why David was a man after God's heart, and how he sought God, and how he was wholehearted with God. This is why David was blessed. This is why in the resurrection David is going to be king over all Israel!
Psalm 63:1: "O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You!…."
- not late
- not too late
- not as a second thought
But as a first thought! "…My soul thirsts for You…." (v 1).
I got a letter from a man that said, 'I'm just so hungry for the Truth.' He read the book Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? twice. He said that it just totally opened up his mind! I can tell you that that's God's Spirit working with that man to give him that hungering and thirsting. So, if you've got a hungering and thirsting in your life, it's God's Spirit working with you.
"…My flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see Your power and Your glory—as I have seen You in the sanctuary" (vs 1-2).
There was a time when David—before the temple was built—had the Ark of God in a special tent in his house. He would come and sing the Psalms and play the instrument of ten strings before God. He saw the similitude of God over the Ark of the Covenant. This is what it's referring to. That's how close David was to God. Today we can be even closer than that, because:
- God will send His Spirit to be with you
- God will send His Spirit to lead you
- God will send His Spirit to guide you
So, in your seeking of Him, you can find Him, because He promised that He would! That's how you seek God. There's much more that could be added to it, but this will give you a start for studying in your own home, and this is what Church at Home is about. Get your Bible, study the Bible and we will go through things that will help you understand it. Study on your own; read on your own in addition to it. You won't be encumbered by going to any of these Godless churches that reject Christ or have a false Jesus, or have a political program.
You can study and prove the things you need to do and this is how you start to find God! If you seek Him, He will be found of you!
Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version
Scriptural References:
- Isaiah 8:19-20
- Matthew 16:1-4
- 2 Chronicles 15:2-4
- 1 Chronicles 28:7-10
- Isaiah 55:6-7
- Isaiah 1:15-20
- Psalm 119:1-3
- Matthew 7:7-8
- Psalm 63:1-2
Also referenced: Books:
- The Day that Jesus the Christ Died by Fred R. Coulter
- Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? by Fred R. Coulter
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 4-26-19
