If you would, open your Bibles
to John chapter 7. As you're turning, let me tell
you what an honor it is for me to be here. I've looked forward
to this weekend. This congregation has always
been very special to me and to all the brethren in Ashland,
and even more so recently since our daughters have moved here
to Lexington. And their love for you and especially
for their pastor just makes you even more precious to me and
Janet. We're just so thankful for you. And I hope the Lord
will bless us tonight as we look at this subject. Where can I
find Christ? The title is taken from the statement
made at the end of verse 11, John 7. The Jews sought him at
the feast and said, where is he? And I don't want to just
answer this question. so that we know the geographical
location of where our Lord Jesus Christ is. You know that. I want
to answer this question so that we'll know who Christ is. If we know where he is, we'll
learn who he is. 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'll find Christ, you'll
find eternal life. Our Lord says, this is life eternal
that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou sinned. If you find Christ, you will
find forgiveness for your sins. Paul, as he was preaching in
Acts 13, he said, be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. If you find Christ, you'll find
a forgiver of sins. If you find Christ, you'll find
redemption for your soul. In whom we have redemption through
His blood. If you find Christ, you'll be
complete. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you're complete in Him. In Adam, we're
fallen, incomplete, and empty. But in Christ, we're complete. In Christ, we are everything
that God requires. So this is an important question.
Where can I find Christ? Now, there are some places that
Christ is not. If you're going to find him,
you can't look where he's not. And first, we see Christ is not
in the way of natural man, because all men by nature hate God. Verse 1 of John 7. After these
things, Jesus walked in Galilee For he would not walk in Jewry,
because the Jews sought to kill him. Now, after these things,
after our Lord has declared plainly, in plain, simple language, who
he is, the multitude left him. They said, this is a hard saying.
Who can hear it? But the 12 stayed with him. And
after the miracles that he had performed, particularly the miracle
where our Lord healed the impotent man on the Sabbath day, told
him, take up your bed and walk. After all that happened, the
Lord refused to grant His presence to the Jews. It wasn't He was
afraid of them. He refused to grant His presence to them because
they sought to kill Him. And that's what man wants to
do. As soon as we hear Christ declared
to be who He is, when we hear Him declared to be the sovereign
Savior who saves whom He will, when He will, the nature of man
wants to kill Him. We will not have that gospel. So Christ can't be found in the
way of natural man. He can't be found in the logic
of 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, has no interest in knowing Him.
Instead, man wants to kill God. I want to do away with Him. I
don't want to have to do with Him. So man can't tell you where
to find Christ or who He is. Second, Christ is not in the
way of man's religion. Now, man has religion, but it's
religion without Christ. Look at verse 2. Now, the Jews'
Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. Now, the Feast of Tabernacles
is a feast where Israel remembered the time that they lived in tents
in the wilderness. And 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 these fleshly tents and take
us to be with Him where He is eternally. all because of the
work of Christ for his people. But that's not what this feast
was now. Christ was not there. John calls the feast a Jew's
feast, just like he refers to the Passover often as a feast
of the Jews. This feast had degenerated from
being a feast where Christ was worshipped to just a Jew's feast,
a religious ceremony without Christ that celebrated the flesh.
You can't find Christ. You can't learn who he is in
man's religion for this reason. Christ is not there. And we see
a striking example of that. Look at verse 3. 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. They had the mistaken impression
Our Lord wanted to be seen of the masses. He was seeking a
following of the masses. They tell him now, if thou do
these things, show thyself to the world. Now why did they say
that? For neither did his own brethren
believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My
time is not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world
cannot hate you, but me it hateth, because I testify of it that
the works thereof are evil. And what our Lord's brethren,
his brothers and sisters in the flesh, are telling him is, why
don't you move to the center of religion? Don't be so narrow. Just join the religious in crowd
and you'll get a bigger following. You'll be more popular. You'll
go do these miracles that you do. Don't do them out here in
the country. Nobody can see you. Come here where everybody's gathering.
Do these miracles in front of a big crowd and you'll get a
bigger following. Now, I'm sure that's true. But
if our Lord did that, you know what he'd get? Just a bigger
following of goats, that's all he'd get, and it'd just make
everybody miserable. Religion has a big crowd. I mean,
just look at them. I drive through this town, I
see these enormous buildings, and they're called churches.
Religion has a big crowd, but it's a big crowd of people who
don't know Christ, and they can't tell you who he is or where to
find him. Man by nature does not know God. Even religious
people, now don't be fooled by their outward show of religion.
Even Mary's other children did not know the Lord Jesus Christ.
They didn't believe in him. Now we know some of them did,
but at least at this time, these ones who are speaking, they don't
know him yet. And this is such a clear illustration of what
our Lord taught. No man, regardless of who he
is or where he's come from or what his background is, no man
can come unto me. except my father, which has sent
me drawing. Now, I want to get right down
to brass tacks here. I want to talk about these brethren
of our Lord. I want to talk about you and
me. I want you to listen to me, especially you children, you
young people. I want you to listen to me. I
was your age sitting in Bible conferences growing up. I know
you're exhausted. I understand. I understand. I hope you listened to all the
messages in this one too. But I want you to listen right
now to me because I've got something for you. We cannot know the Lord. We can't come to a saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ because our parents know the Lord, because
our family, our friends know the Lord. Saving grace never
runs through human blood or human bloodlines, ever. Saving grace
is found in one place. in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And knowing where to find Christ,
knowing who Christ is, can't be learned through our earthly
ties because our parents, our grandparents are believers. It's
not the way it happens. We can only know Christ, we can
only know who He is by a supernatural teaching of God the Holy Spirit. You and I are completely dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We're completely dependent on
God to save us, to give us life, for Him to do for us what we
cannot do. We're completely dependent upon
Him. It cannot come to us through
our family ties. Duane, I'm telling the truth,
aren't I? That's the truth. Now where does that leave us
then? What should we do? If I'm completely dependent upon
God to do something for me I can't do for myself, what ought we
to do? Beg God for mercy. You can beg
God for mercy. Ask God to show you the Lord
Jesus Christ. Ask Him to reveal Christ to your
hearts. It'll never happen unless God
reveals Him to you. So ask Him. Now, here's a sad
but very clear picture. of man's religion. It was true
in the day of our Lord's earthly ministry, and it's true right
up to this day. Our Lord's brothers and sisters
wanted him to go to Jerusalem. A big crowd was gathering there
for this feast. And they wanted him to really
show his power to this big crowd. And they figured if he would
do that, he'd get a big following, he'd set up an earthly kingdom
there in Jerusalem, And they'd all get cushy government jobs
because, you know, they're his brethren. They'd been with him
from the beginning. See what they were doing? They were following
Christ for fleshly blessings, for blessings from what they
could get out of it, fleshly speaking. They weren't seeking
a savior from sin. And that's what man's religion
is to this day. It's seeking fleshly things. What they're trying to teach
you is a way to manipulate God to get God to give you stuff.
That's man's religion. And our Lord wouldn't go to Jerusalem
at this time. He wouldn't go with them because
the world, man by nature, hates God. And they hate God's Christ. That's what he says in verse
7, the world can't hate you, but me it hated. Because I testify
of it that the works thereof are evil. Man hates God. Whether he's wrapped in outward
rebellion or whether he's wrapped in outward religion, man hates
God. Look back at Genesis chapter
6. Both heathen man and religious man hate God because their works
are evil. The wickedness of our works is
revealed in the light of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. 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. Now that includes the activity
of heathen man and it includes the activity of religious man.
It includes the activity and sins and thoughts and nature
of man in Noah's day just as well as it does in our day. Human
nature hasn't changed one whit from Noah's time to our time. Now, you'll ask me, do you mean
to tell me that religious people, they're out there feeding the
poor, they're giving shelter to the homeless, they're building
missions, they're speaking against all the ills of society, they're
speaking against homosexuality and drugs and abortion, and they're
speaking against all that stuff. You mean to tell me those people
are evil? That's exactly what I'm telling
you. Exactly what I'm telling you. Anything they're doing is, in
their mind, contributing one whit to their salvation. There's
nothing wrong with doing those things, but it's a wicked work
if any of that in your mind is contributing to any bit of your
salvation. In Matthew 7, our Lord called
those whose hope was in their preaching, in the many wonderful
works they did in His name, what our Lord called them. workers
of iniquity, because their hope of salvation was in their preaching
and the many wonderful works that they did. Man by nature
hates Christ, because we never would have known those were evil
works, that those were wicked works, if Christ had not come
and in His light we could see who we are. Look at John chapter
3. This is why man by nature hates
Christ, because He reveals us for what we are. John chapter 3, verse 19. And this is the condemnation, that
lights come into the world. And men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved, lest they be discovered in the
light of who Christ is. That's why man by nature hates
Christ and hates God. And man proved our hatred of
God at Calvary, when for one time, God let man get their hands,
our hands, on his beloved son. And he, the man, a religious
man, teamed up together to torture and kill God's only son, who
God sent into this world to be the savior of sinners. Now, neither
of those groups, heathen man or religious man, can tell you
where to find Christ, because they don't know him. If they'd
have known him, they wouldn't have killed him. Man by nature
doesn't know who he is. And look at verse 8 in our text,
back in John chapter 7. Our Lord tells his brethren,
go ye up unto this feast. I go not up yet unto this feast,
for my time is not yet full come. And when he had said these words
unto them, he bowed still at Galilee, and they left Christ
for the feast." Now, that's just heartbreaking. They left Christ
for the feast. That just shows you they didn't
know him. They went to the feast without Christ. Claire, they're
wasting their time. Absolutely wasting their time. Religious activity without Christ
is idolatry. No one will ever be saved in
that so-called religion because it's religion without Christ,
and it's only Christ who saves. Salvation is only found in His
person and in His work. My prayer every single day, and
especially on days like today before I'm supposed to preach,
my prayer is Moses' prayer in Exodus 33. Lord, if you don't
go with me, don't let me go. Don't let me go alone, because
we're wasting our time if we go without Christ. So, where
can I find Christ then? I can't find him on my natural
understanding. He's not in man's religious activity.
Well, where is he? Well, look at verse 9. You're
not the first person to ask that question. When he had said these
words unto them, he abode still at Galilee. When his brethren
were gone up, they went to the feast without him. Then when
he also went up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in
secret, then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, Where
is he? Where is he? You know, they're
not the first people to ask this question. Where is he? Isn't
this a question of the wise men? Where is he? He's born king of
the Jews. The scoffers, the second Peter
three, where is he? Where's the promise of His coming?
You say He's coming again, but where is He? I don't see Him.
I don't see any evidence of Him. Where is He? Look at Job 23. Believers, in time of trial,
we wonder where is He? Job did. 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 can't find him. Where is he? He knows the way
I'll take, but I don't. He knows what he's doing, I don't. And I may not feel like I know
where the Lord is right now, and I don't know what he's doing,
but I know what his purpose is in all this. I know what it is.
His purpose is to conform me to the image of Christ. Luke
and Job says in verse 10, but he knoweth the way that I take.
When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. I'll come
forth conformed to the image of Christ. In time of trial,
we wonder, where is he? God's messengers asked this question,
where is he? Remember in 2 Kings 2, Elijah
had been taken to heaven. That chariot of fire and the
horses of fire, Elisha was left alone. And he picked up Elijah's
mantle, and what was his cry? Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
Todd, I cry that every week. Where is the Lord God of Elijah
in this text? Because if I find him, I got
the message. He's the message. Once you find him, The message
is simple. Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
Many people ask. Where can I find Christ? Where
is He? Well, let me give you a few places
where you can find Him. Look first in Acts chapter 10.
Where can I find Christ? You can find Him in His Word. In Acts 10 verse 43. to him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sins." Brother Don covered this this morning.
Christ is in his word. God's word is written to declare
the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation in him. The Bible is not given
to us so we have an historical account of God's dealing with
the Jews. The Bible's not given to us so
we have an historical account of man's time on this earth.
The Bible's not given so that man has a law or a rule of life. The Bible's written to declare
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every page, every word. You cannot
separate Christ the incarnate word from Christ the written
word. And if you find Christ in his
word, you'll find the Savior of sinners. You will find remission
of your sins. Second, look at Psalm 115. Where can I find Christ? He's
in heaven. Now, I didn't just tell you something
you don't know. Every person in this room knows Christ is
in heaven. But what does that mean? What
does that tell us about who He is? Psalm 115 verse 2, Wherefore
should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God
is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. If I find Christ in heaven, I'll
find this, the Lord Jesus Christ is God. It's not like He's God. He's not some strange manifestation
of God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. And He's sovereign. He is the
sovereign. Now, I want you to understand
what I mean when I make this statement. He's sovereign. This
is what this means. That I am in His hands to do
with me as He pleases. Whatever He does with me, it's
right, just because He did it. If God damns me, He's just, because
that's what my sins deserve. And if God, in mercy, saves me,
He's just and right to do it, because that's what the sacrifice
and the righteousness of Christ my substitute deserves. Now,
He's sovereign. David says the sovereign has
done whatsoever he hath pleased. Now, to natural man, we think,
I don't like that. I don't want somebody doing whatever
he can please to me. Man, this is going to turn out
bad for me. Is that so? God's done whatsoever
he has pleased. Does that turn out bad? 1 Samuel
12, 22. It hath pleased the Lord to make
you his people. It pleased God to elect a people
out of the fallen lump of Adam's race and make them like his son. It pleased God. Isaiah 53.10,
it pleased the Lord to bruise him so that he could redeem his
people through the sacrifice of his son. Paul said in Galatians
1.15, when it pleased God, he separated me from my mother's
womb, he called me by his grace and revealed his son in me. Wouldn't it be something if the
Lord would do that for somebody here tonight? Wouldn't that be
something? Where's Rick? We were talking about this before
the service. Wouldn't it be something if God would reveal his son to
someone tonight, maybe in the next weeks or whenever he's pleased? If he does, if he's pleased to
do that, I can tell you how he's going to do it. It's going to
be through the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Where is Christ? He's in the heavens. Well, who
is he? He's the Sovereign. He's done
whatsoever He's pleased. Third, where is Christ? He's
in the world. Look at John chapter 1. He's
in the world. John 1 verse 10. He was in the
world and the world was made by Him. And the world knew him
not. Verse 14. And the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The
glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Where's Christ? He's in the world. And if I find Christ in the world,
I'm going to learn this. I found the God-man. That's the
Christ who can be the savior of sinners. The God-man. The
one who existed before he came incarnate in Bethlehem's manger.
He's God. So he can satisfy God. And he
can do what only God can do. And he's a man. So he can be
the representative of, he can be the substitute for sinful
men. Now Frank, you just said he's
in heaven. That's exactly right. Christ is in the world. Now he's
in heaven. And you know what that means?
The Lord Jesus Christ is the successful Savior. He came here
and He accomplished everything the Father sent Him to do. He
redeemed His people from their sins. The Father accepted His
sacrifice. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. He accepted that sacrifice. He brought Him back on high,
seated on the throne at the right hand of majesty on high because
He's the successful Savior. Where can I find Christ? You'll
find the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Our Lord talked about
His hour here in our text, His time. My time has not yet come. Look over at John chapter 12.
What is this time our Lord's talking about? Well, it's His
hour that He referred to frequently. The hour of His suffering, the
hour of His sacrifice. In John 12 verse 20, And there were certain Greeks
among them that came up to worship at the feast. And the same came
therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and
desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Where is he? Can you tell me where he is?
Well, 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. And what's our Lord saying there?
If you're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're going
to truly see Him as He is, you're going to see the crucified Christ.
If I find Christ at Calvary, I'll see the whole of salvation
clearly revealed in Him. Calvary is where you see man's
depravity on display for everyone to see more clearly than you
see anywhere else. Our Lord talked about those who
hated Him. The Jews hated Him. They wanted
to kill Him. Here's where they did it. God
Almighty finally let man get their hand, get our hands. I'm
not talking about them like I'm not, I'm them. I'm cut from the
same cloth. I'd have been right there with
them. If it wasn't for God's grace, I'd have been right there
with them. Y'all would crucify Him. God let us get our hands
on His Son one time. And you know what we showed?
our depravity, that we kill God's only begotten son. But also,
Calvary, you can see every attribute of God clearly on display. God's holy. That's his chief
attribute. God's holy. Brandon, he must
be holy. He'll kill his only son when
sin's found on him. He's holy. God is love. Oh, how he loves his people.
Look what he'd do to his son because he loves his people and
wouldn't see him die. God's merciful. Oh, God's merciful. Bruce, he must be merciful. Look what he'd do to his son
in order to spare sinful men and women. Oh, he's merciful.
God's wise. You go to Calvary. You see God's
wisdom. He's so wise, He found a ransom
that enables Him to be just and justifier through the sacrifice
of His Son. If I find Christ at Calvary,
I find the hole of salvation. It's all there. Fifth, where
can I find Christ? Well, you'll find Him where His
people are gathered. He said, where two or three are gathered
together in My name. their mind amidst of them, right
in the midst of them. Look at Psalm 22. Psalm 22, verse 3. But thou art holy, O thou that
inhabitest the praises of Israel. God dwells in the praises of
His people. You find where His people are
gathered, they'll tell you who He is. He's the one they're praising. If I find Christ in the midst
of His people, I find the object of worship, and I find the only
one who can enable us to worship. If Christ is not here, blessing
His word, we have met together in vain. But you know why? We come together confidently,
seeking a blessing from Him, because He said, where two or
three are gathered together in my name, I'll be in the midst
of them. Christ is the sole object of our preaching. He's the sole
object of our attention. He's the sole object of our affection. And if He's not, we don't have
a religion any better than the heathen bound down to trees carved
out in the middle of Africa. But we have true religion if
Christ is the sole object of our preaching, of our attention,
and our affection. Sixth, Christ is in the hearts
of His people. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
3. Christ is in the hearts of His
people, every one of them. 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? God the
Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of His people. And if I find
Christ in the hearts of His people, I find Christ the life of His
people. Look at Galatians chapter 2. Galatians 2 verse 20, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And 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. If I find Christ in the
hearts of his people, I find Christ the life of his people. If I find Christ in the hearts
of his people, I find Christ the King. He's ruling and reigning in the
hearts of His people. If I find Christ in the hearts
of His people, I find Christ the hope of God's people. Christ
in you, that's the hope of glory. And last, where can I find Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ is in every
trial with His people. And if I find Christ with His
people in every trial, I'll find Christ the comforter of His people. Now, we may be like Job and not
be able to see Him. I look to the right, I don't
see Him. I look to the left, He's hidden.
I don't know where He is, but He's with us. Even if we may
not be able to see Him, He's with His people in every fiery
furnace and every deep water. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
They refused to bow down to that statue of Nebuchadnezzar, didn't
they? Nebuchadnezzar was going to throw them in the fiery furnace,
and they told him, we're not going to bow down to you. Our
God's able to deliver us. Whether He does or not, we don't
know, but that doesn't matter. We're not bowing down to you.
Oh, that made Nebuchadnezzar mad. He heated that furnace up
seven times hotter than it should have been and threw them in. Who did they find when they got
in there? They found Christ already there. Nebuchadnezzar looked
and he said, three fellows in there? I see four. There's a
fourth. He's like the Son of God. He's
like the Son of God because he is the Son of God in every fiery
furnace with his people. And he's in every deep water.
One more scripture, Isaiah 43. He is in every deep water with
his people. And that's the comfort. He's
the comforter. Isaiah 43, verse 2. When thou passest through the
waters, I will 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. Why? For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. He's with His people in every
fiery furnace and every deep water. And the Comforter, He
doesn't take away the pain, does He? He doesn't say, you won't
go through the fire, or you won't go through the flood. He said,
you will, but I'll be with you. And I'm telling you, His presence
gives peace to His people, which passes all understanding. Now,
how can I find Christ? You know, He's not hard to find.
Not if you really want to find him. Not if you're seeking with
all your heart. If you really want to find something, you'll
seek it with all your heart, if it's important to you. A couple
weeks ago, Janet lost a pair of earrings. Earrings her grandmother
gave her. They're important to her. She
turned that house upside down, every nook and cranny, because
those earrings meant something to her. And once she found them,
She quit looking. No need. She found what she's
looking for. She's satisfied. If you seek
the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, He said you'll find
Him. You'll find Him. It's interesting. You know where Jant found the
mirror rings? They were right where they should have been.
They were in her jewelry box all along. If you seek Christ, you
know where you'll find Him? right here. Every week your pastor
is preaching the gospel. That's where you find him. If
you want to find Christ, if you don't know him, I'll tell you
what I'd do if I was you. I'd make it my business to be
here every time those doors are open because God sent a man to
this town that knows him. He can tell you where to find
him. He can tell you who he is. I'd make it my business to be
here. Wouldn't you? Isn't that a good idea? And I can give you
this, sure evidence that you have found Christ. You're not
looking for anything different. You're satisfied, aren't you?
But you still diligently search for Him. You found Him. But at every opportunity, you
look for Him. I know Him. By God's grace, I
know Him. Andy, you want to know Him better?
Paul did. He said, oh, that I may know
Him. Paul, after all this, don't you already know him? Yeah, I
know him, but I want to know him better. I want to know him
as my righteousness because my self-righteousness keeps cropping
up. I don't care how many times I hit it in the head, I can't
get rid of it. I want to know him as my righteousness. I want
to know him and the power of his resurrection because my dead
sin nature keeps dragging me down. I want to know him. who is my life. I want to know
him better. And that person who has found
Christ, they know who Christ is. They're satisfied. Not looking for anything different. I found him. Truth be told, he
found me. He's got his hand on me. He won't
let me go. But I tell you this, I'm not
letting him go either. I found him. I'm satisfied. Won't look for anything else.
God make it so for every one of us. God make it so. God bless
you.