"Oh that I knew where I might find Him!”
Is that perhaps the burden of your troubled soul? You have wept as you thought of your sins, and prayed that you might be forgiven but still you have no assurance that your soul is saved—you cannot say, "I have found Him," that "My Beloved is mine, and I am His.”
Why is this? Is it because God does not love you? No, that cannot be, for "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Is it then because He will not save you? Never, for God "will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." And again, He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
These and other scriptures prove God's great love to poor sinners, and His willingness to save them. The fault then is all your own. You have been occupied with yourself and your doings, trying to improve that which God has condemned; for the sinner is corrupt, root and branch.
To prove this you need only to turn to Rom. 3:10-1910As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:10‑19), and there you will find, "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." This makes it impossible to obtain salvation by good works, for Scripture says it is "not of works, lest any man should boast." Why then seek to be saved by doing the best you can, since God declares it is "not of works"? "Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law." Rom. 9:31, 3231But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; (Romans 9:31‑32). Therefore, as long as you seek to be justified by the works of the law you will never be saved. "For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Gal. 2:1616Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16).
"How then can I be saved?" you ask. Get your Bible and turn to 1 Tim. 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15), and there you will read: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" not to help to save them, but to save them. You are a sinner, and Christ is the Savior.
Now look at 1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24): "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." In this verse we see Jesus on the cross suffering for sins, "the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” What a Savior!
"Oh, why was He there as the bearer of sin
If on Jesus thy guilt was not laid?
Oh, why from His side flowed the sin-cleansing blood,
If His dying thy debt has not paid?”
Yes, the debt is paid; sin has been atoned for and just before He died He said, "It is finished." What was finished? The work of redemption. All has been done. God is satisfied. Are you? "To Him give all the prophets. witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins.”Then why delay? Accept Him as your Savior now, and then like Philip of old you will be able to say, "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth.”