Finding Christ in the Ordinances of Grace

"Whoso findeth Me findeth life." The ordinances—meditation, Christian conference, singing praises, prayer, the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper—are trysting-places appointed by Christ Himself where sinners may be convinced, converted, and regenerated. These are the stations of grace where His people seek Him, knowing where He is to be found.

Yet people may attend ordinances and fail to find Christ. Some come with no intention of meeting Him at all; others stand indifferent to His presence or actively resist it. Still others lack the patience to wait at His gates. The remedy is sincere seeking—seeking Christ with undivided heart, honestly for Himself alone, fervently and humbly, mournfully and diligently, until you find.

When sinners experience a saving discovery of Christ and close with Him by faith, they enter into pistis (faith)—a twofold finding: initial union with Christ, followed by progressive actual communion. The soul savingly discerns Jesus Christ by a new light let into it through the gospel. Man is a seeking creature by nature; there is no satisfying the soul until it comes to God. Sinners in their natural state have lost God, yet God is in Christ and is to be found in Him only. In Christ the soul perceives transcendent excellency and fullness for the supply of every want. This is the happy effect of finding Him: life itself.