Where is Christ?

Q: What does the Bible say about where Christ is?

Christ is present among His people where the Gospel is preached, particularly in a spiritual sense as those who seek Him gather. The Bible illustrates that Christ is with His disciples, particularly in places like Ephraim, which serves as a spiritual picture of the church. As stated in John 11:54, after the Sanhedrin's unbelief, Jesus withdrew from openly walking among the Jews and went to Ephraim, where He continued with His disciples. This signifies that Christ's presence is not found in the worldly pursuit of power or authority but among those who seek Him earnestly and desire to learn from Him—those willing to be weak for His sake. In essence, Christ is where His Gospel is faithfully preached and where His people gather in faith.

Q: How do we know that Christ is always with His people?

Christ promises to be with His followers wherever they gather in His name, especially in the preaching of the Gospel. The assurance of Christ's presence with His people is anchored in His promises throughout Scripture. For instance, He stated in Matthew 18:20, 'For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.' This underscores that the gathering of believers, especially for fellowship and hearing His Word, is where He is actively present. When Christ is preached, He is lifted up, and through the Gospel, His presence is made known to His people, ensuring that they are not left to navigate their spiritual lives in isolation. This presence is one of teaching, comfort, and assurance for those who recognize their need of Him.

Q: Why is understanding Christ's location important for Christians?

Understanding where Christ is reinforces our reliance on Him as our sole source of righteousness and salvation. Recognizing where Christ is, namely in the assembly of His disciples and the preaching of the Gospel, is crucial for Christians because it highlights the source of their faith and assurance. As the sermon elaborates, Christ does not withdraw to a secret or ascetic place; rather, He is found where His mercy and grace are proclaimed. In Ephraim, symbolically representing the church, believers learn of their need for a Savior and receive the 'double blessing' of righteousness and pardon through Christ. This understanding deepens their relationship with Him, encouraging them to seek His presence and guidance in their daily lives. Ultimately, it affirms that all spiritual blessings are found in Christ alone, making reliance on Him essential for salvation.

Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly Father, what a great joy and comfort it is to be able to sing those words to you with some understanding and Lord, with some affection, Lord, you've given us a new heart and you've given us the mind of Christ. Otherwise, we would never be able to long for that day when we would see you as you are and be made like you. Lord, we would, as we're so often reminded by our flesh, be consumed with the things of this world. Lord, we pray that in this hour that you would enable us to look up, enable us, Lord, to set our affections on Christ, who is seated at thy right hand. Thank you for for him and for the faith that you give us to look to him and trust him for our righteousness and for all of our salvation. Lord, we ask now that you would bless your words, bless my ability to speak and bless our ears that we might hear from thee.

We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Good morning. Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 11. I don't know what, there's some sound going on? Okay, I don't know what that is, but if somebody could check on it, It's distracting me, so I know it must be distracting you. I don't know, sometimes Hugo bleeds on to the speakers. Is there somebody that can? OK. All right. Can you take care of that, Jim? Okay, okay, thank you.

Several years ago, I took a verse of scripture from John chapter 12 and made a poster out of it and put it on the back wall. That's for my benefit, to remind me when I stand that I need to preach Christ and him crucified. In John chapter 12, there were some Greeks that came to the disciples, and they wanted to have a meeting with Christ. And they said, sir, we would meet Jesus. Is there any way that you can introduce us to him? And that's what that sign says. Sir, we would see Jesus.

When the disciples went to the Lord, to tell them about these men, the Lord said this, if any man serve me, let him follow me. And where I am, there also shall my servant be. There also shall my servant be. Those who have been able by God's grace to serve him, to love him, to believe on him, want to be where he is. And so the question this morning is, where is Christ? Where is he? Where I am, there also shall my servant be. In John chapter 11, The Lazarus has been raised from the dead.

The Sanhedrin is gathered together and they have determined to be rid of Christ. They said in verse eight, if we let him alone, all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation. Now that's the spirit of unbelief. The spirit of unbelief is that we don't want to be where Christ is and we don't want him around us because his presence takes away our power and our authority.

Those who have been stripped of their power and those who have bowed to the authority of Christ no longer have that problem. They're not concerned about the Romans coming in and taking away their place and their nation. The Lord's already done that for them. And they rejoice. They rejoice that they've been made weak and that they've been made nothing and that Christ is everything to them.

And now their desire is to be where he is. And in the following verses, the Lord tells us where he is. We read in verse 54, if you'll go down there with me, as a result of their unbelief and as a result of their counseling together to have the Lord put to death, the scripture says in verse 54, therefore Jesus walked no more openly among the Jews. And we know that our God is omnipresent.

He is in all places. And he reigns sovereign over all men, the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth. And no man can say unto him, what doest thou? He's Lord over the living and the dead. As our sovereign, all-powerful, almighty God, he controls all things for his own glory and for the good of his people.

But notice in our text, he walked no more openly among the Jews. He had been revealing himself, he had been Speaking to them about who he was, he had performed miracles. And now, as a result of their unbelief, he withdraws himself. And he doesn't walk openly with him anymore. Now, my need is for the Lord to walk openly with me. And My fear is that he would withdraw himself.

Jim, if you could do something, I'm sorry, it's distracting. Just have a conversation with her and explain to her. Thank you. Thank you so much. She's been coming some on Wednesday night, and this is the first time she's been here on Sunday morning. Jim, if you'll step through the doors, please. Thank you. I'm sorry.

If the Lord ever leaves us to ourselves, we will be We'll be left with our greatest enemy. We'll be left with our own opinions. We'll be left with our own understanding. And we'll be left with our own heart. We need him to walk openly among us. So he withdraws himself and walks no more openly among the Jews.

And notice the rest of verse 54. But he went thence into a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. Ephraim is spoken of many times in the scriptures. In the Old Testament, it's the only time in the New Testament Ephraim is spoken of, and the Old Testament is spoken of many times. And Ephraim is a spiritual picture of the church, the gathering of God's people. And so the answer to the question is, Where is Christ? His people gather where he is, where is he? Well, he's in Ephraim. And he continues in Ephraim with his disciples.

With those who are wanting to learn from him. That's where the Lord is. A disciple is a learner. A disciple is one who sits at the Lord's feet and listens to what he has to say. And we've come here this morning to Ephraim to do as Mary did and choose that one thing, as the Lord said to Martha, Mary has chosen that one thing that is needful The one thing that is needful is to sit at the Lord's feet as a disciple, as a learner.

Lord, I've got so much to learn and I wanna learn from you. And so the Lord tells us in Matthew chapter 11, he says, all you that labor and are heavy laden, come unto me, come to where I am. My burden is light. My yoke is easy. And then he says this, learn of me, learn of me. He's the teacher and he is the subject being taught.

And he is in Ephraim, withdrawed himself from walking openly among the Jews and went into countryside near to the wilderness a place where no man would go to look for him it was a time when the Lord said was speaking of his coming to his people and he said that there will be some who will say he is in the desert and And the Lord said, don't go there. Others will say he is in a secret place. And the Lord said, believe it not. There are those who would suggest that to be where the Lord is, is a life of self-denial.

It is a life of sacrifice. is the life of some sort of religious asceticism. Many monks have built for themselves monasteries and tried to separate themselves from this world and thinking, are there things that we ought to separate ourselves from? Absolutely. Are there things we ought to deny ourselves? Absolutely. deny ourselves especially any work that we have to do with our salvation. But do we do those things in order to earn the favor and presence of God?

Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And there are some that would say, well, he's in a secret hiding place. And the Lord said, don't believe it. Many have thought that they've discovered some deep, dark secret that's only been revealed to them. Or they've immersed themselves in the study of religion and history and theology in order to try to discover where God is. Or they've perhaps gone to the darkened graveyard of spiritual mysticism, thinking, well, that's where he is, that's where I'm gonna find him. The Lord said, don't believe it, I'm not there. I'm not there. He said, as the lightning flashes out of the east and shineth all the way to the west, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. When I come, it'll be undeniable. And where I am will be undeniable.

You won't have to try to earn favor with God by some sort of personal sacrifice. The sacrifice has already been made. The Lord is where the gospel is preached, not where some complicated religion is debated. He's not in a place where, you know, men are trying to beat themselves into some sort of place where they can be accepted by God. He's where the gospel's preached. And just as the simplicity of the lightning that the Lord said will be the evidence of my presence and the evidence of my coming, the more we learn of him, the more simple the gospel becomes in so many ways. Paul at one point said, I fear lest by any means, as Eve was beguiled by the serpent in the wilderness, so your minds should be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ.

I was talking to someone recently that had to go to a funeral, and perhaps you've had this experience, you've had to go to a funeral or to a wedding, and some preacher got up and talked, and They said to me, you know, he, he never mentioned Christ. He never read from the scriptures. There was no gospel in anything he said. And at that funeral, I was the only way that walked away weeping, even though there were a lot of other people there that were more, that were closer to the one who died. I was, I was weeping because I was grieved over the fact that these people were given no comfort by the preacher. And I was weeping because the Lord was blasphemed in everything that he said. Christ was not preached. Where is the Lord? Where is Christ?

He said, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. The simplicity of the gospel is a person. The second person of the triune Godhead, the son of God, who is also the son of man, the sovereign, successful savior of sinners, who came into this world and laid down his life for his sheep and cried in his dying breath at Calvary's cross, it is finished. It is finished. Everything that God requires for the salvation of his people, the Lord Jesus accomplished. And then he said, father into thy hands, I commend my spirit. He was confident that the father was going to accept the sacrifice that he had made of himself on behalf of his people and that they would be justified by his death on Calvary's cross.

That's the simplicity of the gospel. Christ is all. We have no righteousness. He is all our righteousness before God. God has made him to be all of our wisdom, all of our knowledge, all of our understanding as to who we are, who God is, how it is that God saves sinners is all bound up in the person and work and words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all our righteousness. We have no righteousness. He is the end of the law for righteousness.

He's the only one that satisfied the demands of God's law and stands as our righteousness before God. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We don't try to atone for our own sins by going to a desert place. We don't try to atone for our own sins by going to a secret place. We go to Christ.

We look to him. He's our righteousness. He's all of our sanctification. And he's all of our redemption. We cannot redeem ourselves. What is it to redeem? It is to purchase. We have sold ourselves into sin and we have to be bought. And there's only one thing that, there's only one price that is sufficient to purchase our souls. And that is the blood of the lamb that is without spot and without blemish.

Where is the Lord Jesus? He withdraws. He walks no more openly among the Jews. They believe not on him. He goes to Ephraim and he continues there with those who want to learn about him, about him. They haven't come just to learn some new trinket of truth that will help them to be more successful in life. They're sinners in need of a savior. That's who we've come to learn of.

That's where he is. He's nowhere else. What a blessing. What a blessing to have a place near unto the wilderness where the Lord has withdrawn himself and there he continues with his disciples. And we say, Lord, thou alone has the words of eternal life. We know and we are sure that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. This is where he is.

You know, we mind the things of the flesh so much already, don't we? We have so many, so many responsibilities and troubles in this life. But when the Bible says, they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, it's talking about the unbeliever who is just looking to God to provide some fleshly need. They're minding the things of the flesh. They're only interested in what God can give them from his hand in this life. They're looking for, you know, a more comfortable life, a better life, a happier life, a more peaceful life, whatever it might be.

And if the Lord walks no more openly among us, we will be left with just that, minding the things of the flesh. We'll be left walking after the flesh. He walked not openly with them no more. He left them to walk by themselves. And he withdraws himself to a wilderness place called Ephraim. And there he continues with his disciples, those who are interested in walking after the spirit.

And that's a work of grace that God has to do for us. Lord, I need a concern for my soul. I need an interest in you, not just in your hand, but Lord, that I might know you. That's what Paul said. He said, I've not yet apprehended that which has apprehended me, But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I press towards the mark. What is the mark? The prize of the high calling, which is Christ Jesus. He is the prize. I am your shield. I am your exceeding great reward.

We would have no interest in knowing him. We're fleshly beings. We live in a natural fleshly world. All of our interest would be just in things of this life. To know God. The Lord said in John chapter 17, this is life. Eternal. It's the one place where, I don't know about, usually it's called, the scripture calls it eternal life. But I love what the Lord said in John chapter 17, because this kind of goes along with what we're talking about right now. This is life, eternal, life now and life forever, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

Left to ourselves, we'll look for our life in our place and in our nation. That's what the Pharisee said, right? We've got to be rid of him because he's going to come, the Romans are going to come, and they're going to take away our place and our nation. They were men only minding the things of the flesh.

I mentioned that Ephraim is spoken of often in the Old Testament as a type of the church. Do you remember when Jacob had come to Egypt with his sons and he had been there now for about 18 years? Joseph's prime minister of the greatest nation in all the world. He's got the keys to the storehouse. He's a picture of Christ. And he's providing for his family. He says to his brothers, you sold me into slavery. We sold Christ into slavery. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good that I might bring about salvation to many.

And there's Joseph. And now, 18 years later, after Jacob has been in Egypt as the father of the prime minister, the Lord's about to take him home. And he calls his sons and grandchildren together, and he blesses them. And Joseph has two sons that were born in Egypt before Jacob came. The firstborn was Manasseh. And Manasseh's name means to forget. And the secondborn, the younger of the two boys, was Ephraim. And Ephraim translated means a double blessing. A double blessing.

And so Joseph brings his two boys to his father, Jacob. Jacob is blind. And Joseph puts Manasseh, the older, on Jacob's right side and puts Ephraim, the younger, on Jacob's left side. And when Jacob is about to bestow blessings on Joseph's two sons, he crosses his hands and he puts his right hand, which is a picture of God's double blessing on Ephraim and puts his left hand on Manasseh. And Joseph tries to stop him. Joseph takes his hands and says, Father, no, you've got it wrong. And Jacob said, I know, I know.

The younger received the double blessing. And it was the, well, it was God that determined that to be done, but it was Jacob's call. It wasn't Joseph's call. It wasn't Manasseh and Ephraim's call. It was Jacob's call. Jacob said, I know, son, and he left his hands where he had put them.

Where is the Lord? Where he is declared as the one who is sovereign to have mercy upon whom he will have mercy. Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated. Now oftentimes we see the Lord favoring the younger over the older. And what's the Lord telling us? Salvation's of the Lord. My disciples will learn and they will bow to the one who has mercy upon whom he will have mercy. Isaiah chapter 40, the Lord tells the prophet, to comfort the people of Israel. And he says to them, comfort ye my people, speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem and tell them that their warfare is accomplished and that their iniquity has been taken away. has been atoned for, has been purged. There's the double blessing. How are you and I gonna stand in the presence of God? There's two things we need. This is what Ephraim's name means, a double blessing.

God sovereignly chose Ephraim over Manasseh. Forget about Manasseh. By the way, if you look at a map of the land that that Joshua gave to the 12 tribes, Joseph didn't have a tribe. Joseph's tribe was divided between Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh are the two tribes of Joseph's family.

And if you look at a map, you'll see that Manasseh has the largest portion of land in all of the land that was divided up. Much, much larger than any of the other nations, any of the tribes. And Ephraim has the second, next to Benjamin, Ephraim has the second of the smallest. Very small piece of property in this world. Manasseh owns the world. Manasseh's tribe is on the east side and the west side of Jordan and takes up, well, over half of all the promised land is owned by Manasseh.

And Ephraim is stuck in this little wilderness place. Oh, my ways are not your ways. This is the way God works. The Lord said, despise not the day of small things. What am I trying to say? I believe we're in Ephraim right now. And I know from the reaction that I get from religious people and from people in the community that we are of little or no significance in this world. We have no real influence. We have no real power. We occupy such a small space.

I had a, Tricia and I had a lady ask us the other day, we were, we were actually at a place where, well, probably the most influential, largest megachurch in our, in Central Florida. I know it is. And this lady asked us, she said, now, what kind of church do y'all go to? And she was so condescending about it. What kind of church do y'all go to? And I'm not very quick on my feet. I thought about it later. I said, I wish I had, I told Tricia, I wish I had said, well, how many kinds of churches are there? How many kinds of churches are there?

What she meant was, y'all go to that, that little group over there. There's only one church. There's one Lord, there's one faith, there's one gospel, there's one baptism. And if we're not part of that church, then the Lord's not here. I've been a part of that church I was describing before. And I can tell you, he's not there. That's why I left. He's not there.

Two blessings that we need. We need God to give us a righteousness that will enable us. What did Isaiah say? Tell them that their warfare is accomplished. What do men engage in warfare to do? Is it not to gain? We're in the middle of a war right now. Is warfare not for the purpose of getting Dominance over the enemy? Is that not what warfare is? What does the Bible say that our enemy is? Sin? Satan? The death? The curse of the law?

And what do religious people do when they go to a desert place or they go to a secret place? They're engaged in a warfare. They're engaged in a warfare, trying to satisfy the demands of the law, trying to prepare themselves for the inevitable, death, trying to conquer their sin, tell them their warfare is accomplished. That's the first blessing. We don't go about anymore trying to establish our own righteousness. We don't go about trying to earn our right to get to heaven by whatever means. Going to the desert or going to a secret place. We don't do that. We look to Christ. Their warfare is accomplished. It's finished. The law's been satisfied. Sin's been put away. Satan's been defeated. God's satisfied with the offering that I've made to him. And I am your righteousness before God.

Now that's the first blessing we need. This is Ephraim. This is where the Lord is. He's in the place where these things are being preached. Because Isaiah goes on to say in that passage, tell them that their warfare is accomplished and their iniquity has been pardoned and that she received of the Lord double for her sins. This is the double blessing. This is what Ephraim represents. This is where the Lord Jesus is, where he's being preached as the one who is the righteousness of his people.

But we need more than just a righteousness that is outside of ourselves, a righteousness that will be acceptable to God, and that's Christ. We need our sins to be paid for. We need a price to be paid that will be sufficient to atone for our sins, to redeem us to God. And so the Lord Jesus has done both. When we take the Lord's table, we did that last Sunday, the bread. the righteousness of his body, the wine, the justice of his blood. Isaiah chapter, Psalm 85 verse 10 says, mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Here's the double blessing of Ephraim.

Mercy and grace. What is the difference in those two words? Mercy is God withholding from us what we deserve. And the only way that he can do that is for justice to be satisfied, for a sacrifice to be made that will please him. to atone for our sins. That's mercy. Grace is being given that which we could never deserve. We could never merit it. We could never earn it. And that's the gift of life in Christ.

Where is the Lord Jesus? Where Christ is being declared as the only hope that sinners have. Let's turn to Jeremiah chapter 31, Jeremiah 31. Verse 18, I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. I need to know where Christ is because I need a savior. I'm a sinner. I need mercy and I need grace. I need God to withdraw, withhold from me what I deserve and give to me what I don't deserve. And I can't do either of those things for myself. All I can do about myself is bemoan myself. It's just agree with God that I cannot save myself. I'm a sinner.

Thou hast chastened me. Lord, you're the one who made me to bebone myself, I would not see myself as a sinner if God didn't make it so. Thou hast chastened me and I was chastened as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented. And after that I was instructed.

I smote upon my thigh. Now when the Lord Jesus comes in the book of Revelation, we see him with his name written upon his thigh. Lord of lords and king of kings. And the thigh, I guess it's the strongest muscle in our body. Somebody correct me otherwise, but it's a picture of strength. And I smote upon my thigh. I have no strength. He turned me. He caused me to see what I am in the presence of God. But his strength, the one who has his name written upon his thigh, is made perfect in my weakness.

I smote upon my thigh, I was ashamed, yea, even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth. "'Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? "'For since I spoke against him, "'I do earnestly remember him still. "'Therefore my bowels are troubled for him. "'I will surely have mercy upon him,' saith the Lord.'" I will have mercy upon Ephraim.

The Lord walked openly not any longer among those who feared losing their place and their nation, those men who were after the flesh. But those whom the Lord had turned their hearts, Ephraim, he continued with them. I love that word. We're going back to our text now in John chapter 11. He withdrew himself to Ephraim and he continued with his disciples.

That word continued comes from a word that means a beaten path. It's a good thing to have a beaten path between me and God. And, but how, how things, sometimes I get off that path. Sometimes grass can grow up on that path. Sometimes we can lose our way off that path. But he continues on that path with his people in Ephraim. That's where he is. That's where he is. All right, let's take a break. Somebody mentioned to the folks in the back about disturbing the services. I don't know what's going on back there.

Where is Christ?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about where Christ is?

How do we know that Christ is always with His people?

Why is understanding Christ's location important for Christians?

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Where is Christ?

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about where Christ is?

How do we know that Christ is always with His people?

Why is understanding Christ's location important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Greg Elmquist

Comments

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