I don't know a verse of scripture
that more clearly expounds the gospel than, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. I've entitled this message, Where
Dwellest Thou? This was the answer to the question the
Lord asked them when he said, what seek ye? And I love their answer. Not
well, we want to get rid of life's problems and be happy and have the answer to all of our
trials and the millions of things they could have answered when
he said, what seek ye? They said, where dwellest thou? I want to ask the same question.
I want the Lord to say to me, what seek ye? I think that's very similar to
what the Lord said to Adam. Adam, where art thou? What seek ye? And oh, this answer,
where dwellest thou? This is infinitely more than
wanting to know where his residence was. Actually, he didn't have
one. The son of man had nowhere to
lay his head. You and I are going to a particular
address tonight that we call home. He didn't have that. He had nowhere to lay his head. He could have had anywhere to
lay his head, couldn't he? The earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof. The earth and they that dwell
therein, he could have laid his head anywhere. But he had nowhere
to lay his head. Now, verse 35 says, again, the
next day, after John stood and two of his disciples, he's talking
about what took place in verses 29 through 34, beginning with,
the next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, behold,
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And then in verse 34, he said,
and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? God the Son, the God-man, the
creator? Verse 35 again. The next day, after John stood
and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked,
he saith precise same thing he did the day before. Behold, the
Lamb of God. I may have a different sermon. I may have a different text.
But this better be the very substance of everything I say. Behold the
Lamb of God. If I can't get that from the
message I'm preaching, I'm preaching a message that ought not to have
ever been preached. This should be concluded from
any message that anybody ever preaches. The Lamb of God. I love thinking about Isaac and
Abraham going up the mountain and he said, Father, here's the
fire, here's the wood, but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering? And you and I ought to ask that
question with regard to every message we hear. Where's the
Lamb? Where's the Lamb? And I love Abraham's answer,
my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. This is music to my ears. Whatever
God requires, God provides. He's the one who provides. And
he provides for himself. He provides for himself so that
he can have mercy on me and you. He provides for himself. For
him to do something for me, he had to first do something for
himself to enable him to do something for me. And glorious mystery,
he himself is the lamb that he has provided. God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Verse 37, and the two disciples
heard him speak. They heard what he said, I suppose
they'd heard the day before, and they hear the same message
again. And what did they do? And they
followed Jesus. Now this is what everybody who
hears does. If I hear, This is what I'll
do. I will follow Jesus. There's so much that could be
said about that. Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny himself. Take up his cross, knowing what
you're doing, and follow me. I love that scripture in Hebrews
chapter 12, one and two, let us lay aside every weight and
the sin which death so easily beset us and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us. Now this covers everything.
Let us run with patience the race that was set before us looking
unto Jesus. You know, if by the grace of
God, that's the way I run my race, looking unto Jesus. Now to look to him, that means
you look only to him. You don't look at somebody else, you don't
look at yourself, you look to him. That's the only way you
can follow him, is by keeping your eyes on him. You look away
from him, you'll lose him. What did they do when they heard
John preach? They did what John wanted them
to do. They followed the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that's the desire of every true preacher, that
his hearers follow Christ. They were no longer disciples
of John, and John was glad. They were followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and that's what John wanted. He must increase,
and I must decrease. A false preacher wants us to
be a follower of him. A true preacher wants us to be
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 38, and Jesus turned and
saw them following. I love to picture that in my
mind. He turns around and he sees these two men following
him. He wasn't surprised because he
had ordained that these two men follow him. And he looks, I have
no doubt, in delight at those two men who he had ordained to
follow him, following him. Look in verse 48 of this same
chapter. Nathanael saith unto him, Whence
knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto
him, before that Philip called thee, when thou was under the
fig tree, I saw thee. Jesus saw them following. And he saith unto them, what seek ye? And that's a very important question
because you and I can so easily be wrong in what we're thinking. Turn to John chapter six for
just a moment. John chapter six, verse 25. And when they had found
him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, rabbi,
when camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because you saw
the miracles, not because of any true conviction with regard
to my person. You seek me not because you saw
the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were
filled. Now he says to these people,
that he knows will leave him after this message. That's very
significant. He knew these people would leave
him after this message. You remember when he watched
the multitudes leave and then he said to the 12, will you also
go away? He says to these people that
he knew would leave him, labor not for the meat which perisheth. But for that meat which it endureth
unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto
you, for him hath God the Father sealed. Now these people were
seeking him. They look for it, but the Lord
tells them, you're not seeking me for the right reason. You're seeking to get your bellies
filled. Labor not for that meat. but for that meat which endures
to life everlasting. Now, these men, after hearing
John the Baptist preach, became followers and seekers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now turn with me for a moment
to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Verse four, one thing have I desired of the
Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell, that I may continue,
that I may never leave, that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord. that I may dwell in Christ. You know what I want? I wanna
be found in Christ. I wanna stay there and I don't
ever wanna be anywhere else. To behold the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple. Now, that's why I want to be
in Christ, only in Christ. That's the only place I'll be
allowed to behold his beauty and inquire into his temple. Look in verse eight. When thou
said, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord,
will I seek. Lord, say to me, seek ye my face. Where dwellest thou? Where can
I find you? And my heart will say thy face,
O Lord, will I seek. Draw us, and we will run after
thee. What seek ye? Where dwellest
thou? Well, I would like to have health. I'd like to be delivered from
sickness. I'd like to have wealth. I'd like to be happy. I'd like
for my purposes to be fulfilled. I want all kinds of things, but
that's not what these men asked. Where dwellest thou? I love that description of Zacchaeus.
He sought to see Jesus, who he was. And that's what I am encouraged
about somebody. When they wanna know who the
Lord Jesus Christ is, because when they wanna know who he is,
they will know who he is. Nobody ever wants to know who
he is, and he turns them away. Where dwellest thou? Now I repeat, they weren't asking
for his address. Turn to John chapter eight. Look in the last verse of 53,
John chapter seven, verse 53. And every man went unto his own
house. Jesus went unto the man of olives. I believe he was sleeping outside
that night. Maybe there were many times he was sleeping outside. He had nowhere to lay his head. So I repeat, they weren't asking
for his address. I hope I'm saying I will seek
him whom my soul loveth. Where dwellest thou? And don't you love his answer?
Verse 39, he saith unto them, come and see. That's a command. They came and
saw. This speaks of his adorable,
glorious, invincible, irresistible grace. Come and see. They came and they saw. Now I got seven or eight real
brief statements I want to make with regard to where he dwells. Number one, he dwells in his
word. You will not know where he dwells
apart from, I will not know where he dwells apart from this book. The Lord said, you search the
scriptures, in them you think you have eternal life, and they
are they which testify of me. The fact of the matter is we
cannot know where he dwells apart from this book. Peter said, knowing
this first. This is what comes first. And
if we're not settled here, we can forget everything else. Knowing
this first, that no scripture comes from any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Bible is the inspired, inerrant
word of God. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Isaiah chapter eight? Isaiah chapter eight, verse 19. And when they shall say unto
you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards
that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their
God? For the living, to the dead,
to the law, and to the testimony, the scriptures. If they speak
not according to this word, it's because there is No light, no
light, no light in them. I'd like to say as clearly and
emphatically as I know how, there's no seeking him, there's no finding
him, there's no seeing where he dwells, there's no knowing
him apart from this word. Where dwellest thou? Well, according
to Psalm 123 verse one, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
I love thinking about this. This is a place me and you can't
see, you know, we can read about it, but he's dwelling in a place
that physically we cannot see, but he's physically there. He
dwells in the heavens. Psalm 115 verses two and three,
David said, wherefore should the heathen say, where is now
their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. And I know what he's doing in
heaven. Scripture says he's seated. He's seated at the right hand
of God, the place of all power, the place of all authority, seated,
having finished the work. Now this is good news. The reason
he sat down is because he completed the salvation of everybody he
died for. And that means there's nothing for me to do to be saved.
He did it all and he's seated. He's not pacing back and forth. Frustrated because his will's
not being done, he's seated in absolute sovereign splendor,
undisturbed by the stuff going on here. Everything going on
here is all according to his will. The place of absolute honor and
power, sitting as the representative and intercessor of his people.
You know what that means? That means right now, believer,
right now, he's representing you, whether you're aware of
it or not. He's representing you. And He
never slumbers, He never sleeps, He's always representing me.
And it's not like He's saying, oh, He did it again, please forgive
Him. No, He sits before the Father and that's all that has to be
said because of His great work on Calvary Street. seated at
the right hand of God. Now you can turn to this if you
want to, but I'm going to read Isaiah chapter 57 verse 15. For thus sayeth the high and
lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell. Now here's, here's where he's
at. He's telling us, I dwell in the high and holy place with
him. Also, that is of a contrite and
humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble,
to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Now, he dwells in eternity. You and I can't possibly understand
that. Time and space is not even a
drop in the bucket. He dwells in eternity. He's not
bound by time. He's not bound by space. He dwells
in eternity as the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the controller
of the universe. He dwells in eternity. And this
is so significant. Who is it that he dwells with?
This high and lofty one. I love that description of him,
high, We can't describe him high enough, can we? Lofty, who's
he dwell with? With him that's poor. Blessed, first beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now if you're poor, that means
you don't have anything to bring to the table. Right now. Right now. This is not how you
used to be. This is not how you were when
you first came to Christ. Right now. You have nothing to
bring to the table. All you have is Christ. And if
you have Christ, you have all. Contriped, crushed, blessed are
they that mourn mourn over their sin, they should be comforted.
Now this high and holy one dwells with him that's poor and of a
contrite spirit. Would that be me? To this man will I look, Isaiah
66. To this man will I look, even
to him that is poor. and of a contrite, crushed spirit
who trembles at my word. He dwells in eternity with this
poor, contrite one. Where dwellest thou? Colossians
127, Christ in you. He dwells in every believer.
Christ in you. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. when it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son, where? In me. You see, it's not enough
to have Christ revealed to me, because I'll forget. I have to
have Him revealed in me. Christ in you. The hope of glory. Now the reason
you believe, and you're the one that believes, Christ doesn't
believe for you. The reason you repent, you repent, Christ doesn't
repent for you. The reason you long and breathe
after Christ, the reason you long to be like him, Christ in
you. The hope of glory. Where does he dwell? In every
one of his people, without exception. Where does he dwell? We ask the
question, where dwellest thou? Well, he said in Matthew 18,
20, where two or three are gathered together in my name. There I am in the midst of them. Now you know who's here right
now? Jesus Christ, the Lord. He's promised where two or three
are gathered together in my name. There I am in the midst of them. He still walks in the midst of
the golden candlesticks. He is in the gathering of his
saints in church. You know, that's why I want to
be here. He's here. Somebody says, well, you can
become legalistic about coming to church. We can be legalistic
about everything, but if he's here, I want to be here. That's
the point. If he's here and he promises
he is, doesn't he? He only promises the public assembly
of God's saints. That's where he promises his
presence. And I know this, the most genuine private worship
I ever experienced is always in public worship. That's where
the Lord speaks. That's where I hear his voice.
Somebody says, well, I'm not hearing him. Well, maybe he's
not speaking to you, but he's speaking because he's always
here. He promises where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there I am in their midst. Where dwellest thou? When he was walking on the water
to come to his disciples, they cried out in fear. There he was,
scared them to death. And he said, be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. How many times does the Lord
say, be not afraid? Now, with regard to everything,
maybe you're gonna go to the doctor tomorrow and he's gonna
announce to you that you have cancer and you have two weeks
to live. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. With regard to everything, He's
there. He controls it. It's His will
being done. Be of good cheer. So with whatever
we're talking about, it's Him. He says, my counsel shall stand
and I will do all my pleasure. Now, where is He? He's in every
event, controlling it. for the good of his people and
for the glory of his holy name. Be of good cheer. It's I. Be
not afraid. Now, I like this one. Well, I
like them all, but listen to this one. Where dwellest thou? Well, Solomon tells us in 1 Kings
8, 12, he said to dwell in the thick darkness. That's awesome, isn't it? I don't
know what all to say about it, but he has said to dwell in the
thick darkness. He said in Isaiah 45 verse 7,
I form the light, I create darkness. I make peace, I create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Somebody's gonna make some kind
of objection in their heart, and all I got to say, this is
what he said. He dwells in the thick darkness. He covers himself with light
as with a garment. Now, picture that in your mind.
He takes light and robes himself in it to cover himself. He dwells
Dwelling in thick darkness, he dwells in the light that no man
can approach to nor can see. There is so much of his dwelling
place that we just can't see. Mysterious, transcendent, incomprehensible,
but we trust him in the dark, don't we? Isaiah chapter 50 verse
10 says of that servant that obeys his voice and walks in
darkness and has no light. Let him trust in the name, the
attributes of his God. He's always faithful. He's always
holy. He's always absolutely righteous.
He's always gracious. Let him trust in the name of
his God, in the name of the Lord and stay lean upon his God. In Psalm 80 verse 1, and this
is said in several other scriptures, that he dwells between the cherubims. What's between the cherubims? The mercy seat. That covering over the law of
God that was sprinkled seven times with blood. He dwells. The mercy seat, the lid of propitiation
that covered the ark. Turn with me for a moment to
Exodus 25. Verse 21. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat above upon the ark and in the ark, thou shalt put the testimony
that I shall give thee. and there, and there, and there
at the mercy seat. I will meet with thee and I will
commune with thee from above the mercy seat. from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all
things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children
of Israel." Now he's always there. He's always there. Now what is
meant by this mercy seat? When the public in the temple,
cried out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That word merciful
is propitious. Propitious. Lord, do something
about my sin. Take it away. Be propitious. As a matter of fact, in Romans
chapter three, verse 24, in whom we have redeemed. I'm not quoting
right there. Turn with me to Romans chapter
three. Verse 23, for all have sinned. And I reckon this is as good
a definition of sin as we're gonna find anywhere in the Bible.
It's to come short of the glory of God. Have you ever done anything
that did not come short of the glory of God? That's what sin
is. Anything that comes short of
the glory of God. Being justified, having been
justified freely. I mean, you didn't have a hand
in this by his grace. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. See that word propitiation? In
Hebrews chapter nine, verse five, that's translated mercy seat.
Mercy seat. Whom God has set forth to be
a mercy seat through faith in his blood. Do you have faith
in his blood? Do you have faith in his blood? Do you believe his blood actually
put away sin? To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. Now, if you come like that publican
did, I'm talking about right now. If you come right now, pleading
nothing but the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ right now,
he's there. You'll find him. You come any
other way, he won't be there. and you will not find him. He always dwells at the mercy
seat. This is where you will always
find him. Right now, you'll find him at
the mercy seat, and he'll have communion with you. Two other
scriptures, one is where he said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, make
haste, come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And that
doesn't mean just for that 24 hour period, that means from
here on out, he abides with every one of his people. And finally, Psalm 22 verse 3
tells us this. Thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. Now Israel is God's elect. That's
every true believer. And you know what they do? They
praise Him. Now, when we speak of praising
God, We're talking about, in our hearts, praising Him for
who He is. Eric back in the back said, we
thank you that you're sovereign. That's praise. You praise Him
for who He is. You praise Him in all of His
glorious attributes. You praise Him for His holiness. You praise
Him for His help. You praise Him for His grace.
You praise Him that He never changes. You praise Him for His
faithfulness. You praise Him for His power.
You praise Him for who He is. That's what praise is. It's not
just sounding the words that sound religious, it's knowing
who he is and rejoicing in who he is, and rejoicing in how he
saves sinners by the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ. It's praise,
praise God from whom all blessings flow. He inhabits, he dwells
in the praises of Israel. Where dwellest thou? In the word. In heaven, seated at the right
hand of the Father. In eternity, with him that's
poor. In you, where two or three are
gathered together in his name. In every event, in the thick
darkness, between the cherubs in every house of every son of
Abraham, and he inhabits the praises of Israel. Where dwellest thou? How gracious
are those words. Come and see. Let's pray. Lord, how We thank you that you
put it in our hearts to cry out where dwellest thou. And that
from your word, you've shown us where you dwell. And Lord, by thy grace, We come
to the mercy seat. The blood of propitiation, the
only way we can come into your presence. And Lord, we know that looking
to Christ only, believing who he is and what he did, having
faith in his blood. You receive us. And you say you've
saved us by your grace. Bless this word for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.