Draw Nigh to God
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
6/2/2019 AM
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Text:
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James 4:7,8
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Psalters: |
226, 324, 366, 396 |
Confession of Faith |
- The meaning.
- This is not the nearness of God’s omnipresence, but the nearness of a conscious, living communion in fellowship.
- Adam experienced an intimacy with God in paradise at the tree of life, but he lost God’s nearness kept from the tree of life.
- God immediately gave a promise to a portion of the human race (woman’s seed).
- In the New Dispensation God’s presence with His people is in Jesus (God and man, John 1:14) and His Spirit in hearts.
- What does it mean to draw nigh to God? (James writing to converted Jews, so uses Old Dispensational language).
- It is a spiritual act of faith, not a physical act - as we are told to rend (circumcise) our hearts, not our garments (body).
- Those with but a small principle of the new obedience are not always consciously near Him so we are always to draw nigh.
- How do we draw nigh to Him?
- “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.” As the priests and Levites were required to wash themselves before entering the temple.
- “Purify your hearts, ye double minded.” This is their inner life: thoughts.
- “Submit yourselves to God.”
- “Resist the devil” who is a most formidable liar and slanderer.
- This is the means the God of our salvation efficaciously draws us to Himself.
- A victorious blessing follows.
- God promises that the devil (he) “will flee from you.”
- “And He (God) will draw nigh to you.” The prodigal son is eagerly received because our Father’s love never changes.
- God draws nigh to us first, as Sovereign Father (who draws us to Him) and as Savior in Jesus’ cross and resurrection.
- The future tense assures us that we will have the conscious experience of God’s nearness when we draw nigh to Him.