When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus wasn't there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
Never hope to be saved except by God's way of salvation. O that the Holy Ghost would enable you in your heart to say, "Now I come to thee, O Jesus; guilty as I am, I lift my eye to thee, and this is my prayer: 'Help me for thy mercy's sake; have pity upon me and cleanse me in thy blood, for I put all my trust in thee.'" Resolve, O seeker, to have no refuge of lies, no Savior but the Lamb of God. I will confess to you, dear seeker, that often and often I am myself personally driven to do what I trust you may be led to do to-day. I look back upon my past life, and while I have much to thank God for, much in which to see his Spirit's hand, yet when I feel my responsibilities and my shortcomings, my heart sinks within me. When I think of my transgressions, better known to myself than to any one else, and remember too that they are not known even to me as they are to God, I feel all hope swept away and my soul left in utter despair, until I come anew to the cross, and bethink me of who it was that died there, and why he died, and what designs of infinite mercy are answered by his death. It is so sweet to look up to the Crucified One again, and say, "I have nought but thee, my Lord, no confidence but thee. If thou be not accepted as my substitute I must perish, if God's appointed Savior be not enough I have no other, but I know thou art the Father's Wellbeloved, and I am accepted in thee. Thou art all I want, and all I have." How I desire, with intense longing, that you may do the same; it would be a blessed day for you, and for me a joyful occasion. The Jews in the present chapter asked our Savior, "What shall we do that we may work the works of God?" and he said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." The greatest of all works, the most Godlike work, is to leave off self-righteous seeking, and trust in Jesus. IV. Now I will conclude by delivering one or two DIRECTIONS TO THOSE WHO ARE "SEEKING FOR JESUS." Very brief shall these be. The first direction is  give attention, dear friend,  to the object of faith. The only way by which you can be saved is by faith. Take that to be settled. Now if a man says, "I cannot believe such a thing" what then? What is his wisest course? Suppose you find a difficulty in believing a report what do you do? why, you consider the probabilities of it. Suppose it, had been rumoured that the Emperor Napoleon had shot himself. Shall I believe the report? I will ask whence the rumor comes, what intelligence corroborates it, upon what authority it is stated, and soon; by that means I arrive at a conclusion whether it is probably true, or is a mere idle tale. Now if you earnestly desire to believe, faith is the gift of God, and a work of the Spirit, but God works according to the laws of mind, and faith in Christ will most readily come to you in conformity with those laws. "Faith cometh by hearing," how by hearing? Why, because by hearing I learn the truth concerning Christ, and what I hear commends itself to my judgment and understanding, and so I come to believe. Faith comes to us by reading which is another form of hearing. Read what the Scripture has to say about the Messiah and his work, and you will be helped to believe God's testimony, by knowing what it is and on what authority it comes to you. Let your hearing and your reading be accompanied with meditation; like the Virgin Mary, ponder these things in your heart. "Incline your ear," saith the Spirit, "and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live." Now, that inclining of the ear means a devout and diligent attention to the good news, and a weighing of it in your inmost heart. Now look at it, you have sinned, and God must punish sin. These two facts are clear enough to your conscience. Is it not a marvellous system that God should be pleased to put away sin through an atonement, by laying the sin upon another, and punishing it in the person of his Son? Do you know of any other system that would meet the case so well, that would be so suitable to you? I believe that the authenticity of Scripture is better proved by the very existence of this doctrine than by anything else, for no human mind could ever have contrived or conceived of a way so just to God, and yet so infinitely gracious. I feel sure it is true, I am certain of it. Then I find it promised over and over again by God himself, that if I trust Christ I shall have the benefit of all his work. I therefore believe the thing is reasonable, it is proclaimed by divine authority. I have God's promise for it, I know that the Almighty One cannot lie; I cheerfully accept what be provides for me, and I am saved. My dear hearer, if thou findest it hard to believe, shut thyself up this afternoon in thy room, and come not out again till thou hast pictured to thy mind's eye the everlasting God unveiling himself of his ineffable splendours, and taking upon himself the nature of man; behold that glorious one nailed to Calvary's tree, forsaken of God, crying out in anguish, and dying without a friend, and all to make an atonement to the law of God! As thou art fixing thine eyes upon this, and bowing in humble prayer, faith will come to thee, the Holy Ghost will over-shadow thee and beget it in thy soul; faith will drop in thy soul like the dew from heaven; thou wilt wonder to find the hardness of thine heart all gone, and thine unbelief all departed, and thou wilt say, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." Another direction, however, is take care, my dear friend, to  clear away as for as possible, everything that would hinder your believing. Now you may depend upon it that going into sin binders believing. You cannot continue in wilful sin and yet become a believer; sin cherished in the heart is an effectual hindrance. A man cannot be tied to a post and yet run away at the same time; if you bind yourself to your sin, you cannot escape. Withdraw at once from evil company it is a very deadly mischief to young seekers. You hear an impressive sermon, but then you go away talking with idle gossips, and you fall into frivolous chit-chat on the Sabbath afternoon; you cannot expect your soul to grow in the right direction under such influences. Get you to your knees, get you to solitude, get you to your God, get, you to Jesus Christ; this it is that will roll away the stone which blocks the door. And, once again, do  remember that till you have believed, your danger is of the most imminent kind. You are not in danger of something future only, you are in peril even now, for the wrath of God abideth on you. You are not like a city which is to be attacked by troops yet at a distance: the Judge is even at the door. You are actually besieged. The foes have encompassed you round about; they lift the scaling ladders, they will soon scale the walls. Beware, O sinner, beware, for thy present state is terrible; thy future state will be hopeless. To-day is the accepted time. Now or never it is with some of you now escape for your lives: now seek, but seek in the right way, by believing in him who is the Savior of the sons of men. How I have longed, this morning, for a tongue like the pen of a ready writer; how I have opened my mouth and panted to speak these things in passionate earnest, for I hunger for your salvation. Speak from my soul I do, but I cannot preach as I would, else would I saturate this sermon with my tears. O that the Master might bless even my weakness of speech to carry home the truth to your hearts and consciences. I do not like to let one of you go unless you have thought over these things, and have given your hearts to Jesus. I shall probably never address many of you again, certainly not all of you. You have come across the sea and you are going to the ends of the earth, some of you. I speak in God's name. O now, ere yet thou hast gone from under the sound of the word, now let the believing look be given: "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." It is the cry of the crucified Savior. Turn not away from that dear voice so full of anguish, hide not your eyes from that brow still marked with the thorn-crown, despise not those nailed hands and feet, but yield to him as again he cries in agony of love, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." O Lord, do thou turn them, and they shall be turned. Amen.