If you would, open your Bibles
again to John chapter 7. The title of the message is,
Where Can I Find Christ? I took that title from verse
11, where the Jews that sought Him at the feast said, Where
is He? Now, this is an important question. Where is He? Where
can I find Christ? And I hope to be able to answer
this question this morning. so that we'll know the geographical
location of Christ. I hope to be able to answer this
question so we'll know who Christ is. See, if I know where Christ
is, I'll know who he is. And that's why I hope we can
see this morning. You see, if I can find Christ,
I'll find the Father. Our Lord said, he that has seen
me has seen the Father. If you can find Christ, you will
find eternal life. This is life eternal, that they
may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
sent. If you will find Christ, you
will find the forgiver of sins. Paul is preaching in Acts 13,
saying, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man, this man, Christ Jesus, is preached unto
you the forgiveness of sins. If you find Christ, you will
find the forgiver of sins. If you find Christ, you find
redemption. In whom we have redemption through
His blood. If you find Christ, you'll be
complete. For in Him dwells all the fullness
that God had bodily, and you're complete in Him. Now, we're fallen,
incomplete, and empty in Adam. But if we find Christ, in Him,
we're complete. In Him, we're everything that
God requires. So you see, this is an important
question. Where can I find Christ? Because if I find him, if I know
where he is, I'll know who he is. Now, there are, unfortunately,
are some places we need to be told that Christ is not. If you're
going to find Christ, you can't look where he's not. So there's
a couple of places our text tells us that Christ is not. First,
Christ is not in the way of natural man, because all men by nature
hate God. Verse 1 in our text, After these
things Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry,
because the Jews sought to kill him. After these things, after
our Lord had declared who he is to that multitude, and the
multitude left him, but the twelve stayed with him. And after all
the miracles he performed, particularly, everything is going back to this,
the miracle where our Lord healed that impotent man on the Sabbath.
How dare he heal somebody on the Sabbath day, tell him to
take up his bed and walk? Well, after all that, the Lord
refused to grant his presence to the Jews. He didn't walk in
jury because he was afraid of them. He refused to grant his
presence to them because they sought to kill him. And that's
what man, all mankind, wants to do when we hear Christ declared
to be the sovereign Savior, who saves whom he will. when he will,
without any contribution from the sinner. Without any contribution
of the sinner keeping the law, he says who he will, when he
will. When man hears that, we want to kill him, because that
goes against our flesh. So Christ can't be found in the
mind of natural man. He can't be found in the logic
of natural man. He can't be found in the way
of man, because man by nature hates God. Man, by nature, doesn't
know God and doesn't want to know God. Instead, man wants
to kill God. So natural man can't tell you
where Christ is or who Christ is. So we can't look in the way
of natural man. Second, Christ is not in the
way of man's religion. Now, man has religion, but they
have religion without Christ. Look at verse 2. Now, the Jews'
feast of tabernacles was at hand. A Feast of Tabernacles was a
feast where Israel remembered the time that they dwelt in tents
in the wilderness. This was supposed to be a time
where they saw the picture of how the Lord will one day deliver
his people from living in the tents of this flesh. Take us
to be with him eternally. He'll deliver his people from
this flesh. And it's by the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ who has made flesh and dwelt among us. But that's
not what this feast was now. It had degenerated. to the point
that Christ was not there. John describes the Feast of Tabernacles
just like he describes the Passover. It was a Jews' Feast, the Jews'
Feast of Tabernacles. It had degenerated from a time
of worship of the Lord to just being the Jews' Feast, a religious
ceremony of the Jews, a religious ceremony without Christ. You
see, you can't find Christ or learn who Christ is in man's
religion because he's not there. He's not there, and they don't
want him there. And you see a striking example
of that in verse 3. Look here. His brethren therefore
said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples
also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that
doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known
openly. You know, they mistakenly thought our Lord wanted to be
seen by all these religious people. If thou do these things, show
thyself to the world. Now, why did they say that? For
neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto
them, My time is not yet come, but your time is already ready.
The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify
of it, that the works thereof are evil." Now, what these brethren
of our Lord are telling the Lord is, move to the center of religion. Just don't be so narrow. Join
the religious in crowd and you'll get a bigger hearing. You'll
be a lot more popular. Do these miracles. Yeah, you're
doing these miracles out here in the country. Do these miracles
in the city. Do these miracles where all the
religious people are gathered so they can hear you and see
these miracles that you do. You'll get a bigger following.
Now that's probably true. It probably is. But you know
what? If he did that, all he's getting
is a bigger following of goats. Not sheep. He'd get a bigger
following of goats and that'd just make everybody miserable.
Religion always has a big crowd. I mean, a big crowd. You know,
people try to say, well, you know, we've got this big crowd.
Look at all this big crowd. We must be telling the truth.
John Chapman says, Billy Graham's got a big crowd, too, and he
don't have the truth. So that's not necessarily an indication
of anything, is it? They've got a big crowd. But
there's a big crowd of people who don't know Christ and can't
tell you where to find Him either. Can't tell you who He is either.
Because men by nature do not know Christ, and that includes
religious men. Even Mary's other children didn't
know the Lord. Now, we know some of them did,
but at least these ones speaking here right now, they don't know
him. Not yet, they don't. And isn't this a great illustration
of what our Lord taught? No man can come to me except
my father, which has sent me, draw him. Now, I want to make
this applicable to you and me. You and I can't know the Lord
because our parents know him or our family members know him
or our friends know him. Saving grace never runs through
human blood or human bloodlines ever. Grace, saving grace is
in the blood of Christ alone. Knowing where to find Christ
and knowing who Christ is, is not learned through earthly ties.
It's not inherited through flesh. It can't be learned in earthly
ways. We only know Christ by the supernatural teaching of
God the Holy Spirit. We are completely dependent upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, upon God to save. Now here is a sad but
very clear picture of man's religion. It was true then and it's been
true ever since. It's still true today. Our Lord's
brethren wanted the Lord to go to Jerusalem and show his power,
these miracles where all these people would be gathered in front
of the big crowds. And there, it seemed likely to
them, that he would then set up an earthly kingdom and they'd
all get cushy government jobs because they were following him
all this time. They weren't following Christ for salvation or spiritual
gifts. They were following Christ for
the fleshly things that they could get out of it. That's man,
isn't it? It's still true today. That's
why people are in religion today. What they can get out of it in
the flesh. But our Lord wouldn't go to the
feast. He wouldn't go because of the world. And when we talk
about the world, it's all man by nature, mankind. Because man
by nature hates God and hates God's Christ. He said in verse
7, the world cannot hate you. Now you're just like them. But
me it hated. Man by nature hates God's Christ,
whether he's wrapped in outward religion or whether he's wrapped
in outward utter rebellion. Either way, man by nature hates
God and hates Christ. The carnal mind's enmity against
God. Both heathen man and religious man are both evil. They both
hate Christ because their works are evil. Look back at Genesis
chapter 6. Probably everybody here could
quote this, but it's good for us to read this verse often.
This is our nature. This is the nature you and I
were born with in Genesis 6, verse 5. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Not evil, we went back to work,
not evil you know, when he's all by himself, evil continually. Continually. Even in so-called
churches, their works are evil continually. This includes the
activity of the heathen man and it includes the activity of the
outwardly religious man. Both their works are evil. Now,
some of them might say, Preacher, you mean to tell me that these
religious people, they're feeding the poor, they're giving shelter
to the homeless, They're building missions for people that need
it. They're out there speaking against all the ills of society.
They're speaking against homosexuality and drug use and abortion. Those
things are wrong. You mean to tell me that their
works are evil? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. Exactly what I'm telling you. If to them, those works are contributing
anything, anything to their salvation. There's nothing wrong with giving
shelter to the homeless. Society ought to try to do that.
Absolutely nothing wrong with feeding the poor. We ought to
do that. This country is wealthy beyond imagination. There's no
excuse for people going hungry. If they are, it's probably because
of something to do with our stinginess. I don't know. Nothing wrong with
speaking against the ills of society. Society's gone to hell
in a handbasket, you know. But I'm telling you, speaking
against those things is not going to do society any good. There's
one thing that will do this society any good. It's the preaching
of Christ. Preach Christ. I'm telling you. And if doing
all these things contributes to anybody's salvation, their
works are evil. Isn't that what our Lord said
in Matthew 7? Those whose hope was in their preaching and all
the many wonderful works that they did in the name of Christ.
What did our Lord call them? Workers of iniquity. Because
their hope was in those things. See, those are the things they
began to plead. That's their hope. Then they're workers of
iniquity. That religious man hates God. They hate God's Christ. And I
tell you why men by nature hate Christ. We never would have known
our deeds were evil if Christ hadn't come and shed light on
who we are. See, we see who we are in light
of who he is. We see how evil and wicked are
works in light of who he is, in light of his works. Look back
a few pages at John chapter 3, verse 19. And this is the condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and men love darkness
rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. For everyone that doeth evil
Hated the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved." That word reproved means discovered. We
don't come to the light because if we do, the light's going to
make us discovered. It'll let everybody see who and
what we are. So we hate the light. And man proved our hatred of
God at Calvary. What happened at Calvary? Heathen
man and religious man finally got together. Here's one thing
they can agree on. They got together to torture
and kill God's Son who was sent into the world to be the Savior
of sinners. Neither of those groups, heathen man or religious
man, either one can tell you where to find Christ because
they don't know Him. Now look at verse 8 in our text.
Our Lord says, Go ye up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto
this feast, for my time is not yet full come. When He had said
these words unto them, He abodes still at Galilee. He told them
to go to the feast. What'd they do? They left Christ for the feast.
They went to the feast without Christ. Ralph, they're wasting
their time. I mean, that's an utter waste
of time. They went without Christ. Religious
activity without Christ, I don't care how good it looks to the
natural man, religious activity without Christ is idolatry. No one can ever be saved in that
so-called religion because it's religious activity without Christ
and it's Christ alone who saves. He's the only Savior. Honestly,
my prayer every day and especially on days before I preach is Moses
prayer in Exodus 33. Well, if you don't go, don't
let me go. If you don't go with me, don't
let me go. Don't let me go without him,
because if I do, and wasting my time. Now, that's where I
can't find him. Where can I find him? Where can
I find Christ? I can't find him in my natural
understanding. I can't find him in man's religious
activity. Well, where is he then? Where
is he? That's what they ask here. Where is he? You know, you're
not the first person to ask that question, and they're not either.
In verse 11, the Jews sought him at the feast and said, where
is he? They're not the first person to ask that question.
Isn't that what the wise men ask? Where is He who was born
King of the Jews? Those scoffers in 2 Peter 3,
where is He? Where's the promise of His coming?
You say He's coming. Where is He? Look over in Job
23. In the time of trial, do God's
people ask, where is He? We wonder, where is He? Job 23,
verse 8. Job says, Behold, I go forward,
but he's not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On
the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him.
He hideth himself on the right hand, but I cannot see him. Where
is he? I don't know. He knows the way
I'll take, but I don't. He knows what he's doing, but
I don't. And I may not feel like I know where the Lord is, but
I'm telling you, he does. I don't know what he's doing,
but he does. And even though I don't know
where he's at, I feel like I don't know where he's at right now.
I don't know what he's doing. I know the purpose in all this.
I know the purpose of why he's doing what he's doing so that
he can conform me to the image of Christ. Look at verse 10.
But he knoweth the way that I take. I don't. He does. And when he
hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. His purpose in this
is to conform me to the image of Christ. God's people in time
of trial ask, where is he? God's messengers ask, where is
he? In 2 Kings 2, Elijah has just
been taken to glory in that chariot of fire pulled by those horses
of fire. And there's Elijah left alone.
He picks up Elijah's mantle. What was his cry? Where is the
Lord God of Elijah? That's my cry every week as I
look into the text. Where's the Lord God of Elijah?
In this text, if I find him, I got the message. Where is he?
That's the cry of God's messengers every time we look into God's
word. Many people ask, where can I find him? Many people for
many different reasons. Where can I find the Lord Jesus
Christ? Well, if you look in Acts 10,
first, he's in his word. Christ is in His Word. Acts 10, verse 43. To Him give all the prophets
witness, all the Old Testament prophets, to Him give all the
prophets witness, that through His name, whosoever believeth
in Him shall receive remission of sins. God's Word is written
to declare the Lord Jesus Christ and to declare salvation in Him.
The Bible is not given so we have an historical account of
God's dealings with the Jews. The Bible is not written to give
us an historical account of man's history on earth. The Bible is
not given to give us a law and to give us a rule of life. The
Bible is written for this purpose, to declare the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot separate Christ the
incarnate word from Christ the written word. If we're going
to find Christ, we're going to find him in his word. And if
we find Christ in his word, we'll find the savior of sinners. Whosoever
believeth in him should receive remission of sins. If I find
Christ in his word, I'll find the savior of sinners. Now, Christ
is exactly who the scriptures declare him to be. It's not open
to interpretation. He's exactly who the Scriptures
declare him to be. And I want us to look at a few
places where Scripture describes where Christ is and who he is.
The first one is in Psalm 115. Christ is in heaven. We'll see where God's word says
he is, because if I can find out where he is, I'll know who
he is. Psalm 115, verse 2. Wherefore should the heathens
say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever if pleased." Christ is in heaven. If I find
Christ in heaven, I'll find this. The Lord Jesus Christ is God.
It's not like He's God. He is God. Christ is the Sovereign
in heaven. And that means I'm in His hands. to do with me as he pleases.
Whatever he does with me is just and right. If he damns me, he's
just and he's right, because that's what my sin deserves.
And if he saves me, that's his sovereign will, sovereign choice.
If he saves me, he's right and he's just, because that's what
the sacrifice of Christ, my substitute, deserves. Now, David says the
sovereign hath done whatsoever he's pleased. And he's still
doing the same thing today, whatever he pleases. But what did it please
him to do? 1 Samuel 12, 22. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. It pleased the Lord to choose a people out of Adam's
fallen race to redeem. It pleased him to do that. Isaiah
53, 10 says it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to bruise his
son in order to redeem those people from their sins. Galatians
1.15, Paul says, when it pleased God. When it pleased Him. He
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace. He revealed His Son in me. That
pleased God to do that. Oh, I hope. Could it be? The
Lord be pleased to do that for you and me. Could it? Well, if
it is, if it pleases the Lord to reveal His Son to us and in
us, it's going to be through the preaching of the Gospel.
Because 1 Corinthians 1.21 said, It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. It pleased God. Where is Christ? He's in heaven. Who is He? Who does that mean
He is? He's the Sovereign. He hath done whatsoever He has
pleased. Third, where is Christ? Where can I find Him? Look at
John chapter 1. He's in the world. He's in the
Word. He's in heaven. And he's in the
world. John chapter 1 verse 10. He was in the world and the world
was made by him and the world knew him not. Verse 14, the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He dwelt on this earth full
of grace and truth. Where is Christ? He's in the
world. Now, if I find Christ in the world, I find out who
He is. He's the God-Man. This One who inhabits heaven
dwells in the world. He's the God-Man. And that's
the Christ who can be the Savior of sinners. The God-Man. He must
be both. He's God. So He can satisfy God. He's God so He can do what only
God can do. Be holy, just, and righteous. And yet, He's a man. So He can
be the representative for and the substitute for sinful men. Christ in the world is the God-man,
the Savior of sinners from this world. Like I said in the Sunday
School lesson this morning, the God-man was in the world. He
never avoided contact with sinners. He came to save sinners. He's
the God-man in the world. Fourth, where can I find Christ?
Well, you'll find Him at Calvary. Verse 8 in our text. John chapter
7, our Lord says, You go up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto
this feast, for my time is not yet full come. Now this time,
this is the hour. Our Lord's always talking about
my hour's not yet come. My hour's not yet come. One day
his hour came. What was that hour? He's always
been referring to this time. He's always been referring to.
It's the time at Calvary. Look over at John chapter 12,
the time when he would be made sin. and suffer and die for the
sins of his people at Calvary. In John chapter 12, here's the man who desired to
see the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is he so I can see him?
John 12, verse 20. And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. The same came,
therefore, to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and
desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Where is he
so I can see who he is? Philip cometh and telleth Andrew,
and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them,
saying, The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified."
Now, what's our Lord telling us there? He's telling them,
if you're going to truly see Christ as He is, you're going
to see Him by seeing the crucified Christ. If I find Christ at Calvary,
I see the whole of salvation. revealed in him. You go to Calvary. That's where you see man's depravity
on display more clearly than you see it anywhere else. At
Calvary, that's where the men, religious men and heathen men,
got to do what they wanted to do. They finally got to kill
him, put him to death. Why'd they do that? They're depraved. Depraved nature hates God and
hates God's Christ. There's man's depravity on display
for all to see. But look a little further. That
one hanging on the tree, if you see who he is, you see every
attribute of God most clearly as he suffers and dies on Calvary's
tree. If you see him, if you see him,
you see God's holy. God must be holy. He'll punish
his son. when sin is found, even his son,
even his only begotten son, even the son of whom he's well pleased,
God will put him to death if sin is found on him. God's holy.
Or if you can see Christ there at Calvary, you see God's love. He is love. He must be love. Look how he
loves his people. Look what he'd do to his son
because he loves his people. God's love. If you see Christ
at Calvary, you see God's merciful. All the depths of God's mercy. Look what he did to his son in
order to have mercy on his people. God's merciful. If you see Christ
at Calvary, you see God's wise. There's God's wisdom on display
for all to see. He found a ransom that enables
God to be just and justifier of him which believeth. in Jesus. If I find Christ at Calvary,
I find the whole of God's salvation. There it is revealed at Calvary.
Fifth, where is Christ? He's where his people are gathered.
That's where he is. He said where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Right in the midst of them. Look over at Psalm 22. I was talking to Brother Todd
Nyberg Friday. And he asked me, where are you preaching from?
I said, just finished my notes. I told him where I was preaching
from. He said, oh, he said, I got one you might want to add. So
I had to go back and edit my notes. Psalm 22, verse 3. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. If you find God's people, you'll
find Christ. He's in their midst. And He's
in their praises. He's the one they're praising.
He's the one they're talking about. He's the one all their
hope is in. You find His people, you'll find
Christ. If I find Christ in the midst
of His people, I find Christ the object of worship, and I
find Christ the only one who can enable us to worship. If
Christ is not here, we've met in vain. I mean, we just absolutely
met in vain. If He's not here blessing His
Word, He enables us to worship. He's the sole object of our worship.
He's the sole of our attention. He's all of our affection. And
if He's not, we don't have any religion at all. If Christ is
not the object of our worship, the sole object of our faith,
our religion is no better than a heathen in Africa bound down
to a tree. No difference whatsoever. But
if you find Christ, you're finding with His people. He's the object
of their worship. He inhabits their praises. Sixth,
where is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's in the hearts of his people.
One of the reasons he's in our midst right now is he's in the
heart of every believer here. I'll show you that first Corinthians
chapter three. First Corinthians three, verse
16. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? He dwells in the hearts of his
people. And if I find Christ in the hearts
of his people, I'll find out who he is. He's the life of his
people. He's the hope of his people.
He's the king of his people. Look at Galatians chapter 2.
If I find Christ in the hearts of his people, I'll find out
he It's the life of His people. Galatians 2, verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ, in the hearts
of His people, is the life. of His people. Christ in the
hearts of His people is the hope of His people. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. If I find Christ in the hearts
of His people, I find Christ the King. He rules in the hearts
of His people. Sin shall no more have dominion
over you. Why? Because Christ has dominion over
you. He reigns in the hearts of His people in absolute authority.
And last, where is Christ? Christ is in every trial with
His people. If I find Christ with His people
in the time of trial, I find Christ the comforter of His people. You go through a time of trial
and think, I can't do that. Why don't you run screaming off
into the night? Why don't you just jump off the bridge? How
can you hold it all together? Christ the Comforter is with
you. We may be like Job. Now, Bill's
seen. I don't know. I can't find him.
I don't see him. He's hidden himself, seems like
to me. But, brother, he sees us. And he's with us. In every fiery furnace. In every deep water. You won't
go there alone. Christ goes with His people.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown in the fiery furnace.
They told Nebuchadnezzar, we're not going to bow down to you.
Our God is able to save us. Now whether He will or not, we
don't know. But either way, He's going to deliver us from you,
O King. Throw us in. He heated up that furnace seven
times hotter than it should have been and threw them in. When
they went in that furnace, who did they find already there?
Nebuchadnezzar, the fourth man, like unto the Son of God. Yep,
O King, He's like the Son of God because He is. the Son of
God in every fiery furnace with his people. Look back at Isaiah
43. Here's this verse I read so often. Christ is with his people in
every fiery furnace and every deep water. Verse 2, when thou
passest through the waters, I'll be with thee. And through the
rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior." It won't overflow you. I'll be
with you. If I find Christ in the heart
and with His people in the time of the trial, I'll find Christ
the comforter of His people. Now, how can I find Christ? Oh,
I'd like to find Him. Oh, I need to find Him. How can I find Him? Here's the
thing. Christ is not very hard to find,
if you really want to find Him. He said, if you seek Me with
all your heart, you'll find Me. If you need Him, you'll find
Him. If you seek Him like your life depends on it because it
does, You'll find him if it's important to you. Is it important
to you? You'll look for something if
it's important to you. You'll put energy into it. You
won't let something deter you. Earlier this week, Janet thought
she lost a pair of earrings that her grandmother gave her. Maybe
she wouldn't look for some earrings, but these are important. Her
grandmother gave them to her. She turned the house upside down
until she found it. She kept looking and she kept
looking until she found them. Now, they weren't lost to begin
with. You know where they were? They were in her jewelry box.
But, you know, there they were. And when she found them, she
quit looking. She didn't look in every drawer
and every nook and cranny anymore. Why not? She satisfied. She found what was important.
If it matters to you, If you need him, you'll search with
all your heart. You won't let something get in
the way of you and Christ. You won't let something get between
you and him. You're seeking till you find him. And when you find
him, you quit looking. You're satisfied. And I can tell
you how to know if you found him. If you found Christ, you
still search diligently for him. You seek him out at every opportunity. Oh, I know him. I want to know
him better. The Apostle Paul said, oh, though
I may know him. Well, Paul, after all this, don't
you know him? Yeah, I know him. I want to know him better. I'm
satisfied if I want to know him better. I want to know him as
my righteousness, because my self-righteousness keeps cropping
up. I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection, because
my dead sin nature keeps dragging me down. I know Him, but I want
to know Him better. And that person that's found
Christ, they know who Christ is. If you find Him, if you know
where He is, you know who He is. And if you've found Him,
you're satisfied. Not looking for anything different.
Not looking for, I found it. Not looking for anything else.
Oh, but I want to know Him better. I want to know Him better. May
God make it so for each of us. If it's going to be, it's going
to be by His grace. Alright, let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we beg of
Thee that in mercy and sovereign grace, You would reveal Yourself
to the hearts of Thy people. Father, reveal Yourself to us.
Let us know, show us where you are and who you are, that we
may worship, that we may find life and peace and salvation
and forgiveness of our sins, that we may find life for our
deadness, that we may be given righteousness for unrighteousness,
that we may be given thy beauty for ashes. Father, we beg of
thee, reveal yourself to us. through the preaching of Thy
Word, that we may find salvation, that we may find comfort, that
we may find grace to help in time of need. Make Christ our
all and in all, and we know we'll be satisfied, complete in Him. In the precious name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, we give thanks.