Turn back with me to the 7th
chapter of John. Now, this was the Feast of the
Tabernacles. You can read about it over in
the book of Leviticus, chapter 23. But the religious Jews and Israelites
came up to Jerusalem for the Feast. They came from everywhere. And the fame of the Lord Jesus
Christ had spread over the land. And these Jewish leaders who
came from other parts and those who were in Jerusalem, they were
anxious to see him. They wanted to question him.
They wanted, if they could, to entrap him or entangle him in
his talk. And so they began to look around
and inquire, where is he? Where is he? Where is he? Now, this question has been asked
before. Where is he? And this question
will be asked again. In Matthew 2, the wise men asked
this question. They came to Bethlehem or to
Jerusalem or somewhere, and they said, We've seen his star in
the Where is he? Where is he that's born King
of the Jews? Where is he? And then in the
same chapter of Matthew, Herod asked this question. He called
in his wise men, his fortune tellers and these other fellows,
and he said, Where is this child that's born King of the Jews?
Where is he? Find out where he is, that I
may go worship him. Where is he? And then I want
you to turn to Psalm 42. David asked this question. And
David was asked this question of the pagan people around him.
David running from Saul. David running from Saul. David
hunted from mountain to cave and cave to mountain. David out
there in the wilderness. Heavens were silent. God had
not spoken for a long time. And David wrote, As the heart
panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after thee,
O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? My tears have been my meat day
and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is your God? Where is your God, David? And
then verse 9, I will say unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten
me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones,
my enemies reproach me, and they daily say, where's your God?
Where's God? You ever been there? Where's
your God? And even when David was cast
out of the kingdom, out of the capital city, Absalom, took over,
David was out there wandering around. They said, where's your
God, David? Where is he? And then if you'll turn to the
book of 2 Peter, skeptics and doubters have asked and are asking
today, listen to this, 2 Peter chapter 3. Knowing this first,
that is, there shall come in the last days scoffers walking
after their own lust and saying, where, where is he? Where is the promise of his coming?
Since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of the creation. You've been saying Christ is
coming, where is he? To Apostle Paul, James and John,
Peter started 1,900 years ago saying, He's coming! John, where
is he? And the Reformers said, He's
coming! And our fathers said, He's coming! They said, Where
is he? Where is he? walking along with Elijah the
prophet, and God had miraculously blessed Elijah with some unusual
revelations of his glory. And this young man depended a
great deal on that old prophet. They were walking along, and
suddenly swishing down out of heaven was a chariot, and Elijah
stepped in the chariot, and the chariot took him away and left
that young man standing there by himself, the only prophet
in the land, surrounded by prophets of Baal and wicked, perverse
men. And he took up the mantle of
Elijah and lifted his eyes to heaven and smote the river, and
he said, Where is God? Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
Where is he? And children of God under great
trial have asked the same thing. Turn to the book of Job. Listen
to Job. And I'll tell you this. Much
of the time of Job's trial and sickness, God never said a word. God moved in on the life of Job
with that message of Satan and began to afflict him and trouble
him and put him under great trial and burden, strip him of death
and disease and desertion of friends and family and just left
him sitting there covered with boils from head to foot and his
friends sitting around him, religious friends, wanting to know what
he had done wrong. And God hadn't said a word. There was no voice
of comfort, no voice of cheer, no voice of encouragement. The
heavens were silent. Silent. Same thing true of David.
The heathen said, where's your God? You're by yourself, aren't
you? Where's God? You say he loves
you and cares for you, where is he? I thought you was the
king of Israel. I thought you was God's anointed.
I thought she was God's prophet and God's king. Where's your
God? And here's that old Job there, scraping his balls and
his friends sitting around silently staring at him. And the bad thing
was the heavens were silent too. And he said, listen, Job 23,
Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter, and my
stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might
find him, that I might come even to his throne, his seat. I would
order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
I would know the words which he would answer me and understand
what he would say unto me. Verse 8, 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, that I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take,
and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Where is
he? Where is he? I'm going to undertake
to answer that question this morning. Where is he? It's a question like a savior,
and I could go on in other places in the scripture. David one time
said, Lord, why art thou silent? The heavens are quiet, and I
pray and you don't answer me. And here Job said, oh, I wish
I could find him. If I could find him, I'd go before
his throne and I'd order my cause before my mouth would be full
of words that I have to say, but he's not there. Where is
he? Where is he? Well, I'll give you five answers.
First of all, turn to Psalm 115. Psalm 115, this is undeniably
true. Where is our God? Psalm 115, where is he? Where is he? You may be like
the inquiring wise men. You may have seen some token
of his glory and his power, and you're seeking the Lord's salvation.
You may be like some afflicted child of God, and you're seeking
the Lord's answer to some questions, his presence, answer to prayer. Maybe you're burdened or brokenhearted
or whatever. Where is he? Where is he? The
heavens are silent. Where is he? Well, in Psalm 115,
I know this. David said in verse 1, Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, Where is now their God? Our God is in the heavens. That's
where he is. Our God is in the heavens. He
has never abdicated his throne. He's in the heavens. And he hath
done whatsoever he pleased. Now, when we say our God's in
the heavens, we're saying, number one, that we're speaking, number
one, of his majesty and sovereignty. A military leader during World
War II said this, the side which controls the skies will rule
the ground. And my friend David is saying
the same thing. Our God is in the heavens, and
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did he in heaven, in earth, in the seas, and all
deep places. Our God is in the heavens. He
rules and reigns on a throne of absolute sovereignty and authority. Secondly, when we say our God
is in the heavens, we speak of his omnipresence. He dwells not
in temples made by human hands. He dwells not in shrines and
holy places dedicated to religion. He dwells not in rituals and
special holy days. He dwells not in ecclesiastical
organizations. He dwells not in traditions,
legends, and creeds. He is the ever-present, eternal,
living God. Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter
2. 1 Chronicles 2. And listen to what the Scripture
says. 1 Chronicles 2, verse 5 and 6. 1 Chronicles 2. It's 2 Chronicles
2. 2 Chronicles 2. Anyway, Solomon
and David would build a house for the Lord. It says here in
2 Chronicles 2, verse 5. And Solomon said, and the house
which I build is great, it's a great house, for great is our
God above all gods. He ought to have a temple greater
than any other temple to gods invented by men. But verse 6,
but who is able to build him a house? Seeing the heaven and
heaven of heavens cannot contain him. Who am I then that I should
build him a house save only to burn sacrifice before him? Our
God, David said, whither shall I flee from thy presence? If
I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand
shall hold me. The darkness is light unto thee.
Our God is omnipresent. He's in the heavens. Where's
your God? Our God's in the heavens. He's
an omnipotent omnipresent, majestic, ever-living, sovereign Lord. And then thirdly, this speaks
of his holiness. Our God is where? He's in the
heavens. He's holy. Look at Ecclesiastes
5. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
before him. And here in Ecclesiastes 5, God
being in the heavens, it speaks of his holiness. of his holiness. You know, David writing about
false gods, he says, their gods are likened to them who make
them. They make gods likened to themselves, and their gods
dwell among them. Our God dwells in the heavens.
He dwells in the heaven of heavens. He is sovereign, majestic, almighty. Our God is in the heavens. He
is an ever-living, ever-present, omnipresent And he's a holy God. Isaiah said, when King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, above the creation. And his train filled the temple,
and the seraphims cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And here in Ecclesiastes 5 verse
1 says, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. and
be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools,
for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy
mouth, let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God, for God is in the heaven. As the heavens are high above
the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts. As the heavens
are high above the earth, so are my thoughts far above your
ways or my ways. God is in the heaven. Our God
is in the heavens, you upon the earth. You are of the earth,
earthy. He is the Lord from heaven, holy,
holy, holy. Where is he? Where is God? Where is he? He is in the heavens,
and this speaks of his Where else would a majestic God
be, David, but in the heavens? Where else would a sovereign
God be but in the heavens? Who controls the heavens? Who
rules over the army of heaven and the inhabitants of this earth?
Our God is in the heavens. And he who controls the heavens
controls the earth, for the heavens control the earth. Even the heavens
have to do with the tide. And the heavens have to do the
heat of the earth and the life of the earth. The heavens. He was in the heavens, and this
speaks of his omnipresence. The heavens are all around, everywhere. The heaven of heavens cannot
contain him. And then this speaks of his holiness.
The heavens are high above the earth, high above our thoughts
and our ways, and high above us. He's in the heavens. The
Lord is in his holy temple. And then next of all, this speaks
of his intercession, Hebrews chapter 9. Now listen to this.
This is important, Hebrews chapter 9. Where is he? Where would you
have him be? Where would you have him be?
Your God, the Lord God. The gods of men are where they
put them. The gods of men do what they
allow them to do. Our God is in the heavens. Our
God is in the heavens. Here in Hebrews 9, verse 24,
Christ is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are figures of the true, but Christ is entered into heaven.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is entered into heaven. He is called the
forerunner who entered within the veil. I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself." He entered into the heavens now
to appear in the presence of God for us. That's where I would
have him be, Mike, in the heavens. I don't want him to be here. I don't want him to be here.
I don't want to catch a plane and go to Jerusalem to worship my
God. I want him to be in the heavens.
You see, here in Hebrews 9, we have three appearances of Christ
for us. It says in verse 26, look at
this, the last line of verse 26, "...he hath appeared to put
away sin for the sacrifice of himself." He has appeared here
on this earth temporarily, for a time, to accomplish redemption,
to put away sin. And verse 24 says, he hath entered
into heaven itself now to appear as our High Priest, as our Mediator,
as our Intercessor, to appear in the presence of God for us.
And then the last line of verse 28, he shall appear at the end
of time, in the day of our Lord, when God shall melt the heavens
and the earth with a fervent heat, and there will be a new
heaven and a new earth. He will appear the second time. without
sin unto salvation. Where is he? Where is he? You ask me where our God is?
He's in the heavens. And Charlie, that's where I would
have him. That's where I would have him. Our God's in the heavens,
always reigns in the heavens, majestic, sovereign, holy, omnipresent. And bless your heart, he's there
to appear for me. to appear in the presence of
the Father as my mediator and high priest." All right, secondly,
where is he? Turn to Acts 10.43. I'll tell you where he is. And I know where he is, and I
know where I can go and find him. Secondly, he's in his Word, right
here in the Word. That's where he is. In Acts 10.43,
it says this, Give all the prophets witness
to him. To Christ, give all the prophets
witness. Every prophet. Now, the Bible
is written by the prophets. Moses was a prophet. He wrote
the first five books of the Bible. And these Jewish people said,
well, we have Moses. He said, if you'd believe Moses,
you'd believe me. Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote of Christ. In Genesis, he wrote of him as
the woman's seed. In Exodus, he wrote of him as
the Passover lamb. In Leviticus, he wrote of him
as the atonement. In Numbers, he wrote of him as
the brazen serpent lifted up. In Deuteronomy, he wrote of him
as the city of refuge. Joshua wrote of him when he wrote
of Rahab's lion. In Judges, he is the angel of
the Lord. In Ruth, he is the kinsman-redeemer. In Job, he is my ransom. In Psalms,
he is my shepherd. In Proverbs, he's my wisdom.
Song of Solomon, he's my bridegroom. In Isaiah, he's my substitute.
In Jeremiah, he's the Lord, my righteousness. He's the branch. In Ezekiel, he's the glory of
the Lord. In Daniel, he's the beloved. In Hosea, he's the forgiving
lover. In Jonah, he's the sovereign
Savior. In Micah, he's Bethlehem's infant. In Habakkuk, he's the faithful
one. In Haggai, he's the desire of all nations. In Zechariah,
he's the foundation stone. In Malachi, he's the Lord who
never changes. He's in the Word. You want to
find Christ? Look no further than right here.
He's in the Word. When he was walking, turn, if
you will, to Luke chapter 24. He was walking with those disciples
They felt at that time a lot like we do much of the time.
They were walking along there. Their Lord had died, and they
didn't know where he was. They hadn't seen him since he
died. They had heard he was raised
from the grave, but they hadn't seen him. And they were walking
along there, and he walked along with them, and he said, verse
38 of Luke 24, Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
heart? behold my hands and my feet.' And then he got down to
verse 44, and he said to them, Now these are the words which
I spake unto you while I was with you, that all things must
be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the
prophets, and the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures." I said to a dear
fellow yesterday who was down in the dumps and down in the
valley in trouble I said as you get older and the road gets a
little rockier and more troublesome and life a little more complicated,
and it wouldn't hurt you to do this when you're young, but somehow
we just don't feel the need of it until you get old. Give yourself
to two things. Give yourself to private prayer. I'm not talking about let's get
together and have a prayer meeting. I'm talking about private prayer.
I'm talking about the Lord is in the heavens. Call on him.
Call on him. You have not because you ask
not. That's what he said. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened.
Keep knocking. Keep on asking. Give yourself
to private prayer. And secondly, give yourself to
the Word. The Word of God. That's where
Christ is. He's in the Word. That's where comfort is. That's
where faith is. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing with the Word of God. I know we've got books on our
shelves, and we've got religious literature that comes through
the mail, and we've got all these things, and that's fine. They
help you a little bit. But my friends, there's no substitute
for the Word. Christ is in the Word. I'm telling
you that. If you take this book and compress
it, You know, they tell me they can take all kind of vegetables
and put them in a blender and all this and just squeeze them
out and melt them down and dehydrate them and all these other things,
and they keep on until they get just one little old vitamin.
It contains everything that those things have in it, and you take
it and you're all right. Well, I'll tell you, you take
this 66 books, 39 and 27. And you take all these thousands
of chapters and words and verses and compress them down, and you
come out with the substance of it, the heart of it, the essence
of it, and it'll be Jesus Christ. He's in the Word. Where is He?
You want to know where He is? He's in the Book. He's in the
Book. I find Him in the Book. I find
Him in the Word. He's there. And then next, turn
to John 1, verse 10. Where is He? John 1.10, right
across the page there, it says this, he was in the world. It didn't say he's in the world,
it said he was in the world. He was in the world, and the
world, do you hear that? Do you hear what he said? He
was in the world. He whom the heavens cannot contain. He who is the living word and
the incarnate word and the written word, every expression of God
is fulfilled in him. He, do you hear that? Do you
understand that? Do you believe it? He was in
the world. Actually, believe it or not,
he actually, he who made the world was in the world. He who
made woman was made of a woman. Just as some of our girls are
sitting here who are expecting. There's a child in you, men,
to be informed. Can you imagine Mary sitting
in the synagogue on the Sabbath morning and God was in her womb? God? That's what it says. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law. That's right. He was in the world. He who made
the water said, I thirst. He who walked on clouds now walks
on the sand. He who grew that tree now hangs
on it. He who made man became a man,
man of sorrows. What a name for the Son of God
who came, ruined sinners to redeem. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Guilty,
vile, helpless we, spotless, eternal. Son of God was He, full
atonement. Can it be? Yes, sir, it can be. He was in the world. He was in
the world. He was on a cross, and he was
in a tomb. And that's what you call substitution.
That's what you call substitution. Last week, a young woman came
to me, and she said, Can I talk to you a little bit? And I said,
Why certainly. She sat down, and she said, Now,
I suppose she's in her thirties, somewhere like that. She said,
I believe I've come to know Christ. I believe I've had religion,
she said, all my life. I've raised in what's called
a Christian home. I've been in church. I've attended
church. I've read the Bible. I've been
a moral person. I've made a profession of faith. I've joined the church and all
this. But she said, lately I've been hearing you fellows preach. And she said, I believe I've
come to know Christ as my Lord and Savior, my Redeemer. And I said, well, that's good,
that's good. She said, now the question I
have for you is this. Why should I be baptized? Why
should I be baptized? And what's this public confession
of Christ? I said, well, let's see if I
can help you. I said, the scripture says If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God raised him
from the dead," got that? God raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. Our Lord said, if you are ashamed
of me in this adulterous and sinful generation, I'll be ashamed
of you. But if you confess me before
me and I'll confess you before the Father, which is ashamed
of ashamed of the gospel. Young lady, I said there are
a lot of people who are confessing Jesus by carrying a Bible. You can carry a Bible and confess
Jesus. You can confess you believe in God, you believe in the law,
you believe in Jesus, you believe all this sort of thing by just
carrying a Bible. But there are a lot of people
carrying Bibles who are not confessing the Christ of the cross. the
Christ of substitution, the Christ of death for sin and burial and
resurrection. I said, you can confess Christ
by going to church. You walk down the aisle and shake
the preacher's hand, say, I accept Jesus as my personal Savior.
But that's not confessing Christ in his redemptive work. What
is his redemptive work? Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinned must die. Christ died and was buried and
rose again. And without the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ, you don't have a Savior. A lot of
people build nativity scenes and worship Mary. That's exactly
right. They're confessing a Jesus who
was born of woman, and a lot of people are around healing
people. They're confessing a Jesus who heals, a Jesus who preaches,
a moral Jesus, all this sort of thing. But do you know where
salvation is? It's on the cross. And the confession
of Christ is a confession of substitution. Christ died for
my sins with Barrett and Rose again, and that's what I do in
the baptistry. When I stand in the baptistry
and I say to this world, Yes, I'm confessing Christ, but it's
not just a Jesus who was born of a virgin. It's not just a
Jesus who walked on the earth and went about doing good. It's
not just a Jesus that fed 5,000. It's not just a Jesus that talked
in glowing terms about eternal life. It's a Jesus who actually,
as my substitute and sin offering and sacrifice, died under the
guilt and filth of my sins. and paid for them, and took them
to the tomb, and buried them, and came forth for the power
of God without sin. That's confessing Christ. That's
confessing Christ. And I said, that's the reason
you asked me the question. Now, I wouldn't subject everybody
in the world to baptism, that's your business. But I'm simply
saying, you've asked me why, and I've told you why. It has
to do with substitution. salvation, where is he? I tell
you where your Lord better be, on a cross, in the world, in
the virgin's womb, in the world, on the cross, in the tomb. But thank God, turn to Luke 24
now and listen to this, the angel said this, where is he? Well,
he's on the cross and in the tomb, oh no, oh no, oh no, Luke
24, listen, Now, upon the first day of the week, the women came
to the sepulchre. In verse 5, they found a stone
rolled away. In verse 5, they were afraid,
and they bowed down their faces to the earth, and they said unto
them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here. He is not here. And I preached that these last
Sunday or two. He's not in the tomb. He's not
on the cross. Go home and throw away all your
crucifixes. He's not on the cross. He's not
in the tomb. He is not here. He is risen! You can visit the city, you can
visit the hill of Calvary, you can visit the tomb, but he's
not here. He's risen. Well, where is he?
Well, turn to Hebrews 1. Hebrews chapter 1, and listen
to this. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1 through 3. Listen to this. one through three. God, who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past to the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom he made
the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he hath himself, by himself, alone through his
own work, purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of
the majesty on high. Where is he? He's on God's right
hand. He's our mediator. He's our intercessor. We have an advocate with the
Father, Christ the righteous. And all of your doubts and fears
and discouragements, remember that he is the forerunner who's
entered within the veil for us. Christ is in the presence of
the Father. Where is he? Well, he said, where
two or three are met in my name, I'll be there. I'll be there. Where is he? David said, yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear
no evil, thou art with me. He's there. And then let me show
you something in closing over here in Daniel chapter 3. This
is interesting. In Daniel, the third chapter,
I won't read this whole thing, but there were three young men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were thrown into a furnace
of fire for worshiping their God. And King Nebuchadnezzar
in Daniel 3, verse 24, look at this. Verse 23, And these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst
of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished, amazed. And he rose up in haste, and
spake, and said to his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound
into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, That's true. Well, he answered and said, Lo,
I see four I see four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire,
and they have no hurt, and the former of the fourth is likened
to the Son of God. His child never goes anywhere
alone. I wish we could remember that. Even in the fiery furnace, old
Nebuchadnezzar looked, and he said, How many did we put in
there? They said three. He said, I see four. I see four. And then in Revelation 7, I've
got to read this before I let you go. Where is he? Revelation
7. Listen to this. He's on the throne. He's our everlasting object of
worship. In Revelation 7, verse 9, And
after this I beheld a great multitude, which no man could number, of
all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues. They stood
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands. And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb sitteth upon the throne." I like what Danny
prayed a while ago. He talked about salvations of
the Lord, Christ is on the throne. He redeems his sheep, and none
will be lost. And he said this in his prayer,
and we're glad it's that way. And I'm glad it's that way. Where
is he? Where is he? He's in the heavens,
and he does what he pleases. He's in his Word. Christ is in
his Word. Want to know Christ? Come to
the Word. He's in the Word. Where is Christ? He's on the
cross, in the world, on the cross, in the tomb, risen at the right
hand of God. And it says in Revelation, he's
seated on the throne, seated on the throne. And our eternal
occupation will be to adore and to worship him and to give him
the glory forever. Our Father, thank you for your
Word. What a blessing is the Word of
the living God, and it's not just It's not just the doctrine
of God. It's not just a study of the
existence of our God. But your word is the living word. Your word is a word of comfort,
and a word of peace, and a word of encouragement, and a word
of joy, and a word of rest. And we thank thee for your word.
And we thank thee for bringing us to some understanding, but
most of all an appreciation and love for thy word, because we
love him of whom it's written. Use the message this morning
for your glory, and bless us as we preach thy word tonight.
And wherever the name of Christ is magnified and exalted, Lord,
speak through thy servants. In his name and for his glory
we pray, amen.