Near or Far
15/4/2017
Search you hearts:
1. What do you find?
2. Who do you find?
Do you want to be close to God?
How to be close to God?
James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Who draws first? We draw first.
You determine how close you are to God. When you draw near to God, He will draw near to you.
Does God want to be close to us?
Yes, He does, even more than we think.
James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain " The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?
Yes, God wants to be close to us, but there are barriers.
What are these barriers?
1. The fear of the Lord
The Presence of the Lord is present where there is the fear of the Lord.
To be close to God, we must have the fear of the Lord in our hearts.
This fear is not referring to us as being scared of Him, because we cannot be close to someone if we are afraid of that person.
What is the fear of the Lord?
The fear of the Lord refers to our reverence of God.
Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
Proverb 8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.
2. God is Holy
Our God is a Holy God and therefore we too must be holy to be in His Presence.
Sin separates us from God.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear
1 Peter 1: 13-16
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
3. We must be humble
To be close to God, we must be humble.
Psalm 138:6
Though the Lord is on high,
Yet He regards the lowly;
But the proud He knows from afar
James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
Proverb 8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.
The Word of the Lord is this:
James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hears, you double minded.
James 4: 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Therefore, to be close to God, we need to draw near to Him with the fear of the Lord in our hearts and minds in reverence and awe, in humble submission and obedience to God, living in holiness by His grace.
