Are You Drawing Near to God?

James 4. Now I'm going to begin reading here in v. 6. I'm wanting to deal with draw near to God in v. 8, and He will draw near to you. But I want to capture this in the immediate context here. He gives more grace, therefore it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

And you notice how He comes back to the humility thing in v. 10. Humble yourselves before the Lord. So humility is an overriding aroma here.

It says God opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble. Submission, obviously an expression of humility. Yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil. And again, I want to really emphasize that though the language be strong, such as v. 4, you adulterous people, though it be strong as far as double-minded, you sinners, I believe, and as I've said before, I looked at every commentary that I have on this and they all felt like this was indeed being spoken to Christians. Now I recognize you can probably find a commentary out there that doesn't believe that.

But the whole idea of resisting the devil is something that only Christians can do. And He will flee from you. Drawing near to God.

I'm not going to say sinners can't draw near to God in the right way, coming repentant. But this seems to be pastoral. Even though James has strong language, it seems like he's dealing with professing Christians, these twelve tribes.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. V. 8, cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

I think this is strong language driving home the humility. Be wretched, mourn, weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you. And he goes right on. Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.

And he shows it. He's speaking to the brethren here. So, draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

To say to the Christian, to say to you, there's almost something terrible about the fact that we have to call Christians to draw near. Or the fact that there would even be a command like this. There's some kind of unholy hesitancy that seems to... Brethren, the truth is that our drawing near to God is not done with a full heart all the time.

Our approach to Him is often not what it ought to be. And it reminds me, just when I was thinking about this, it reminds me of Mack Tomlinson telling me that he had recently spoken to Paul Washer. And I know I've said this before, but Paul was at a conference, I believe a pastor's conference.

And he asked the men gathered in that place, when is the last time God has come? And that's what this is about. Draw near to God. He will draw near.

He will come. There will be an approach of God to us. And Paul asked these people, men, pastors, when's the last time God came in one of your meetings? And there was silence.

Brethren, I'm afraid. I'm afraid even especially in reformed circles. I'm afraid for those who really pride themselves in having all the right doctrine.

Brethren, if we have the right doctrine and we don't have God visiting us, what are we? And how real is this? Brethren, now just stop and reflect. Ask yourself this. How real is this to you that you have actually caught wind of maybe this text? Whether it's this text specifically or not, where you've drawn near and you have noticeably had God draw near to you.

I mean, I'm asking, are you able to look at your life and see? There are times I've made advances towards God and I have an awareness that God came. Because that's the flavor of the text and it's a promise. This is a promise.

The all-seeing, ever-present, present everywhere, Almighty God can somehow be approached and it's giving me a promise about His movement as a result of that. You'll see it. And you know what it implies? It implies that you at this very moment are not as close to God as you could be.

Brethren, that is a reality that ought to come home to us. It's possible for me to get near. In fact, brethren, it's a divine invitation to get near.

God is summoning us. God is calling to us here to come. Brethren, this is a call for us to live in the divine presence.

You say, where's God? God is everywhere. God is just much over there in that corner as He's back there in that corner. So how do I get... Brethren, this reality has to do with me approaching God so that there's an awareness.

That's the idea. We talk about the manifest presence of God. Manifest.

Manifest means my senses pick it up. We have spiritual senses. Do your spiritual senses pick up some awareness of God advancing towards you, making an approach towards you as a result.

And you see the order here. It is clearly that we do something. The last half of this is contingent on the first part of it.

God is saying to us, I want you to make an advance towards Me. Hear My voice. Do that.

Now He's initiating because He's calling us. He's inviting us. But what's He inviting us to do? He's inviting us to make some sort of motion towards Him with the promise that He will in turn come to us.

But brethren, all of this suggests that my proximity to God, at least the manifest presence of God, to where God is real to me and breaks in upon my spiritual senses, it's not static. That's what this means. It means there can be progression here.

Well, brethren, it means there can be an ebb and a flow. It means it can come. There may be times where I have made an advance towards God and I have experienced this reality, but then brethren, we can fall into seasons of coldness and callousness and forgetfulness.

Have you not found it so? The reality is in 2025, some of you are going to draw near to God and know the reality of this more than others. That's just the reality. And when I encounter a promise like this, you know what occurs to me? The absolutely most pathetic response to a verse like this is contentment.

And I'm just talking about satisfied to live in our little religious sphere, little bothered by an absence of the personal experience of what James is talking about here. Content to live on the outside of the veil. Did you sing that song that was inspired by Rutherford? Brethren, we have this loving presence who walks about in the garden in the cool of the day.

And his fragrance is spreading over the whole scene there. And what do we do? We're okay to be over there with Adam and Eve, hiding in the trees, taking no part of this. Brethren, any of you want to get behind the veil? Any of you want to break out there? Brethren, we're talking about paradise regained here.

Him walking in the cool of the day and me wanting to go walk with Him. But He's calling us out of the thicket, out of the trees. He's calling us within the veil.

That veil's been rent, the way's made open. And He calls us. He beckons to us.

He summons us. That's what this is all about here. Brethren, this is a real living person.

He's present. He's real. He speaks.

He loves. He's intimate. He's soul satisfying.

He reveals Himself wherever His people take the initiative to approach Him. That's the promise. The thing is, James 4.8 ought to excite us.

It ought to cause us to jump. Brethren, there's a spiritual kingdom that lies all around us. It's just a thin veil separates us.

All within reach. What's it waiting for? It's waiting for us to recognize it. God Himself is here at this very moment.

And He's waiting our response to His presence. That's the idea. The eternal world.

More than that, the eternal one in that eternal world. He's ready to come and visit us. Come alive to us.

Approach us the moment we realize the possibilities here. And brethren, I don't know how you see it. God makes an approach to you.

Do you see there's some just cold, abstract truth? I'm telling you, if you picture in your mind just a picture of a garden and the Lord walking there in the cool of the day, this overflowing with love. Can you imagine just everywhere He goes, there's like a perfume like Rutherford talks about. And all the flowers come alive where He walks.

Everything is green. All the birds are singing. And it's like, where's His eyes? His eyes are directly pointed at you standing over there with Adam and Eve in the trees.

And He's saying, come out. Come out, the access has been granted. Those skins that Adam and Eve are wearing, they show they're just a symbol of the reality.

You can come out of there. The veils rent. The access is gained.

Brethren, do you want to see it as the most beautiful imaginable thing? Brethren, the reality is, it's like you will find Him there waiting. This is a picture of a God waiting for us to initiate something. And the moment we recognize the possibilities and we begin to take this promise for what it is and begin to advance, you're going to find Him already there once you awaken to this.

And so I'm just wanting to call you today to wake up to the realities of such a promise. So I would say this, one of the critical defining elements of what it means to be a Christian is found in all this. Brethren, do you recognize what is it at the root of our Christianity? Is it not that we're a people called to live in the divine presence? I mean, what is Christianity? What is the church? Well, the church is something we do on Sunday.

If we didn't stay up too late the night before, it's a duty, it's a tradition, it's just what we do. It's parental law. My parents make me come.

It's a social thing. Maybe I'll see my friends there. Brethren, do you recognize the reality that's being stated here in all of this? What is it at the root? This is genuine Christianity.

Man confronted by God. God is speaking. It's man being made right with God, made to experience God, to enjoy God, to know God, to live life with God.

Christianity, I mean, if we're gonna define what it is, brethren, at the root, the privilege of it, it's, what is that? Ephesians 2.18, through Him, we both have access through one's spirit to the Father. Do you recognize the privilege that we have? We have access. That's the reality.

Brethren, don't we want a church full of Christ-lovers who know what it is to ascend the hill of the Lord? Who will ascend the hill? But that's what, it's to behold the glory. People not content with the outer court. People who desperately want to get behind that veil to the inner regions, who cry out with David, how his heart, he just longed, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

Oh, when shall I fear before God? That's, brethren, we want that. And I'll tell you this, there is no greater dignity that the Christian has, no greater privilege than this. I suspect we don't feel the weight of the privilege.

Are you aware that often in Scripture, God is dangerous and unapproachable? There's a verse every single time I read through Jeremiah, just leaps off the page. Jeremiah 30, 21, who would dare of himself to approach me, declares the Lord. And I still remember as a young believer, I trembled when I came across this.

Because I, brethren, before I got saved, except for probably the 10 commandments and trying to read Revelation, little parts, I did not know my Bible. I had never heard this in my life. Now, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, you know, you're going along.

Everything looks good. Aaron, he's a high priest. Everything's good, he's got four sons.

And suddenly this account, they took their censers and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered, here's the word, unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord. Brethren, do you know about approaching the Lord in the Old Testament dispensation? When we talk about the manifest presence of God, God manifested that Shekinah glory.

You remember where it was? Above the mercy seat, on top of the Ark of the Covenant. The two cherubim with their wings extended. And there above that mercy seat, behind the veil, you had the presence of God.

God's manifest presence. But the reality is, you didn't just go in there. Listen, the high priest had to have bells on his hem or he died.

Priests had to wear the right clothing or bear their guilt and die. Had to wash with water or die. Had to make atonement for themselves first or die.

Couldn't leave before it was time or they'd die. No strong drink or wine or you die. Better have all the proper sacrifices killed, the blood in exactly the right place.

Better have the bread just right, the lamps lit just right, incense burning just right or you die. Better be a descendant of Aaron or you die. Listen, this is how God instructed the priesthood.

You approach Me exactly the way I prescribe at the exact time I prescribe with exact sacrifices I prescribe. Everything exact or you die. Nadab and Abihu tried to be creative in their approach to God.

And the thing was, they didn't go after another God. They weren't seeking to be idolaters in all of this. They just got innovative.

That's it. Two men lie in a smoldering heap. Now that says something to us about how we approach God.

Because listen, when we approach people, I could approach you, much like you approach your neighbor. We lived over here on Rosary, we approached the neighbor. Got the neighbor next door.

He comes out and walks his dogs. We can approach him. We can walk towards him.

We can begin to talk to him. Or you go visit grandma, grandpa. This is great, Papa, with the cane.

We go visit Pop. But it's not like that when you approach. I was thinking, this is more like, we've just had some thunderstorms lately.

This is more like trying to go over and touch a bolt of lightning and not die. Or I've heard somebody else liken it to trying to go to the zoo and go into the lion's cage and touch his mane and get out of there with your life spared. That's the idea.

Coming close to God. Brethren, I take two takeaways from that Old Testament account. One, you don't just lackadaisically go into God's presence in any old flippant way.

That would be one thing. You don't just run in there. Why? We've got a God who is not slow to kill people who have approached Him in a careless and reckless fashion.

And the thing about it is, look, God's not cruel. He's not savage. He's not a tyrant.

The reality is that God is the perfect pillar of virtue. Brethren, the reality is, God is so dangerous to approach is because God is who He is and we are who we are. He is of pure eyes.

And the thing He is of pure eyes then to behold is the very problem that we have. Because we have what His eyes are too pure to behold. We have sin.

And that makes, brethren, that makes this a volatile thing. So that's the first thing that jumps out at me from the Old Testament account. But do you know the second thing that jumps, the second takeaway, is that all of that that happened there with the priest and with the tabernacle, it's a shadow.

And brethren, in that shadow, it gives us a hope. Because you gotta recognize, when Aaron went all the way to the mercy seat, someone made of the same stuff as us, fallenness, made it all the way to the mercy seat. Oh, it was dangerous.

But what it tells us, that if the exact sacrifices are made in the exact right way, God was showing us that access would be possible. Oh, brethren, it might have been limited. It might have been restricted.

It might have been precise. Yet with all the proper sacrifices, he was allowed to go all the way to the mercy seat. That ought to give us hope.

I mean, God's telling us something there. So, let's just back to the text. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

See, brethren, if we have the feeling that David had, my soul longs for God, my soul thirsts for God. If you find yourself, brethren, there are deeper aches than hunger. Just at the grace group, we were talking about just in the still of the night, praying, reaching out to the Lord.

Sometimes, brethren, you get in the stillness and there's aches, there's emptiness that we can feel in our souls. Brethren, this is an answer to the ache. This is an answer to the emptiness that some unfulfilled yearning.

Brethren, there is a thirst in man that never seems to go away. And you're a man, you're a woman, you're humanity, you know this. Our longings, our desires are, brethren, a longing for something that's been lost.

Brethren, don't you, I mean, when you start to think about paradise regained and what that really is, paradise, oh, some South Pacific island. No, brethren, it's not that. Paradise is the garden with the Lord walking there and talking to us with a smile on His face.

No anger, the wrath turned away. I can commune with God. And as I walk with Him, oh, my heart just burns and it's so satisfying and it's like drinking from this gushing fountain of living waters and it's so real and so satisfying and so good.

And everything about it is beautiful. Everything about it is perfect. Everything about it is glorious.

Everything about it is ravishing. It's just, it's unbelievable. Brethren, this is the kind of thing we're talking about with God draws near to us.

He brings such fragrance. He brings such satisfaction to the soul. And that's what we're looking at.

Brethren, we have lost something. Man lost, Adam lost it all because he lost his God. He lost communion with his God.

He lost being able to walk with Him. Now there's this sin in the middle and Jesus has come to repair this thing, to repair the breach. Brethren, where does all of our unhappiness come from? We have, brethren, you know what? We just go through this life.

We have this tendency, we're trying to outmaneuver all the things that distress us, all the things that keep us down, all the things that depress us. We're just trying to move here and there and just outmaneuver all the things that get us down. And what do we do? Well, we take our water bottle and we dip it in the broken cisterns and we come up and we drink and it just leaves us emptier.

Broken cisterns. When there's a fountain of living water. And brethren, we're all guilty of it.

God takes us, did you read it in the song there? God takes us into His house of wine. We're always trying to make our own wine. But it's God who takes us into this place.

We're always trying to bless ourselves. Make this thing happen or if we can only get this or we need some fulfillment in our life. Trying to dip our cup again and again and again in the broken cisterns when the fountain of living water just is beckoning us.

That's who's beckoning us in this verse to come, come, come, make an advance towards Me. I'm the fountain of living water. Why would you not want to go there? I mean, we talk about the, you know, who was it? What was the Spaniard who was in Florida looking for the fountain of youth? Ponce de Leon.

Did anybody else know that? Well, you know it now because yeah, you're going to raise your hand, but would you have known it right off? That's good. No, I know that guy from history class. But brethren, we have it.

The fountain of living water is to a bunch of thirsty people is saying, look, make some advance towards Me and I will come. It ought to baffle us and dumbfound us that we so little utilize this reality and take advantage of this. Brethren, this is over the top.

Brethren, are we really living as we're meant to live? Man tries all these things and one thing rarely tried is right here, a return to God. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Brethren, our wanderings never make us happy.

Only misery follows. And we don't have the ability to bless ourselves. Brethren, you know what we need? To get blessed.

The greater always blesses the lesser. We need somebody greater than us. Somebody above us.

Somebody that's overflowing, like a fountain of living water that's just overflowing, overflowing, overflowing with absolute abundance that can fill us and keep filling us and keep filling us. Brethren, that's what we need. And that's what we're being promised here.

Brethren, I know some of you, if honest, you've got to admit you're miserable. I pastored long enough, I know, that taken a sampling of the church at any given time, there are people that are miserable, there's people that are empty. Some of you have mountains that are standing in your way, just obstacles.

Some of you held captive by some sin right at the moment. Some feel just the devil, very real. You got some spiritual decline.

And I know at any given moment, maybe some of you feel like you're barely hanging on. That's the kind of thing we're confronted with. And James answers our greatest need.

And brethren, you see people who just, they put so much confidence in the flesh. And listen, there's a place for pastoral visitation, and there's a place for receiving counsel. But sometimes you get people that so put their stock in man.

Well, I need a pastor, I need accountability, I need a mentor, I need this, I need that. It's just constantly men. No, you know what? If you get a visitation from God, it will solve your problems.

It really will. And so, you know what? The arm of the flesh is not where your hope is found. Your hope is found in God coming.

And here we go. Brethren, the question that I think if any of us are honest, it's like, where do we get the power from to live our Christian life? Where do we get the glory, the stamina, the joy? And don't you hear? Draw near to me, I will draw near to you. Brethren, we don't need some new gimmick or some new teaching.

All we've got to do is wake up and realize that depending on men isn't going to compensate for drawing near to God and having Him draw near to you. Brethren, the truth is, the church is famishing for want of the presence. I mean, can you imagine Paul Washer talking to all these men who are pastors of churches? When's the last time God came and actually visited you? And it's like silence, the crickets are chirping.

Brethren, when's the last time I would just narrow this down not so much to the church as a whole, but you and your life? When's the last time you know something of the reality of James 4.8, where there's a reality. I approached God and He came. There was a felt reality to this, a felt presence.

He came, He came in His holiness. He came in His cleansing power, His convicting power. He came in His encouraging power.

He's come, He's helped. Brethren, this is the kind of thing, James 4.8 implies to us a really important truth that God wants to be found. He wouldn't be summoning us this way.

And so the question is this, how do I get to the invisible God? Where do I find Him? I mean, if God's everywhere, how do I get near? And I've got to get near, that's the thrust of the text. You see it, draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Second part's conditional to the first part, that's key.

It doesn't say that God's gonna draw near to you no matter what. Now, I know God is gracious and sometimes things happen when you're not specifically looking forward or specifically making an effort. But if we take this verse for what it says, you see what it says.

God will draw near to me if a certain thing is true. Who acts first? Well, in this, I would say, again, I would emphasize, God is acting first in the fact that He's drawing us to Him. But He expects there to be some response on our part.

It's a precious truth. You know what it says? You imagine like the presence of God is over there. It's like as I make an advance towards Him, I find that He meets me in my coming.

If there's a road from me to Him, as I seek to advance down that road, I find that He doesn't just stay in His house over there, I find He meets me on the road. Why is He coming? Well, because it's much like the father in the parable of the prodigal. He's watching for us to come.

He's watching for us to need Him. He's watching that. When a soul sets out to seek God, God sets out to meet that soul.

While I'm seeking to draw near, He correspondingly is reciprocating. And brethren, what it tells us from the negative side is we really don't have any good solid feel from this verse that we have any right to expect to meet Him if we're just really happy and content being over there at a distance. Brethren, I hope you are not the kind of Christian that feels happy to be distant from God.

Just suck in the world and live over there. Brethren, I'll tell you, how do we find Him? I feel like as much as anything, it starts with an expectation. He will draw near to you.

I would just ask you this, what do you expect when you read that? Anybody have some anticipation crop up? Anybody see an opportunity to ascend to realms maybe you rarely or never have gotten to before? I mean, do you see the possibilities here? Do you have any expectations? Does it influence your expectation as to the possibilities? Brethren, what are the possibilities? Let me ask you this. If God draws near, probably all of you had these immediate ideas about what might happen. But have you thought about when God reveals Himself in Scripture? I can tell you this, two on the road to Emmaus suddenly had a revelation and their hearts burned.

Don't you love that? When your heart burns because of the truth, it burns because of the glory of God that's been revealed to your spiritual eyes. Or you get this, suddenly Isaiah is pretty near. He was a broken man.

The purity of God. But I'll tell you, brethren, that is such a healthy thing when we're devastated by the holiness of God and we really see ourselves for who we are. Brethren, the psalmist says something like, Lord, make Your face shine upon us.

What does all that look like? Do you know if God comes? If God visits? What might happen? Your spiritual gifts might be inflamed. God may suddenly use you to a degree that you haven't been used before or maybe not in a long time. Suddenly you may experience a joy just of the sense of His presence.

You may feel, brethren, sometimes you begin to seek Him because you've failed. And you find He meets you on the road and just like that parable, instead of accusing you, He sweeps you up in His arms and He kisses you. You ever found that? What's the kiss of God look like? Brethren, I've had God come before where I wanted to stop because I didn't feel like I could contain the manifestation of His presence in this human body.

Now that doesn't happen all the time, but it has happened at times. What is your expectation? I'll tell you, it'll be a personal revival. And when it happens corporately, it becomes a personal revival.

It becomes a church-wide revival. Brethren, this is what we need. And the church really does languish for an absence of the presence of God.

This is what we live on. This is what we thrive on. This is what will take us through anything.

And I would just say, confidence. Brethren, don't be so put off by the charismatics. Don't be mysticism and baptisms of the Spirit and God speaking to us.

Brethren, people get so uptight and they get afraid when they start talking about these things. But brethren, don't be put off because of such things. Brethren, don't be afraid of terminology.

And don't be afraid if you can't put these things in proper terminology. Don't be afraid if it sounds scary to certain wings of the church out there. Brethren, what you don't want to do is apply your own carnal human limits to what possibilities might exist in such language as this.

Don't limit God in your mind. Who can tell? You know what? You want confidence. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.

But again, this is drawing near to God. That we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now this is no exhortation to get close to a mere chair, but to come near to that place where the beauty and the manifest glory of God resides.

The place of God's enthronement as King, as the great Sovereign of the Universe. This is the place that Christ as a great High Priest passed through the heavens to take His seat. After having made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of His Father, the Majesty on High.

This is the place, the throne of grace. Father and Son sit there in all their beauty and all their power and all their sovereignty. And you go there for what? To receive mercy, to find grace, to find help.

Brethren, who can say all the 10,000 ways that we find help from God when we approach Him? There has to be a confidence in all of this. Don't limit. Beware of the unbelief.

But then, brethren, I just emphasize this. The context of James 4.8, it stresses humility. And you saw that.

V. 6 stresses that humility. V. 10, and I think all these things, just the cleansing of the hands, being called sinners, purifying hearts, double-minded, wretched mourn, weep. Humility.

Humility. Brethren, you get to the place where you recognize you do come to the throne of grace. It's all of grace.

I don't deserve anything. I can't make this appeal that I'm entitled to anything here. I'm no longer demanding.

I plead mercy. Why? Because brethren, we know what we deserve. Lord, please don't deal with me according to my sins.

When God finds that attitude, again, it's like the father in the parable of the prodigal. He takes off running to embrace. You remember right there in the context.

V. 99, need no repentance. But you get that one out of a hundred who they come to themselves like the prodigal did. And when you come to yourself, what do you recognize? You recognize that I'm nothing and I don't deserve anything.

And I'm just going to come back and I'm going to plead mercy with my father. All those other 99, they're okay. They're pretty good.

They have something to offer God. But brethren, what does Scripture tell us? It tells us to come without price. What bargaining power do you and I have with God? Brethren, the currency of heaven is always poverty.

It's always destitution. The destitute find an opening. The humble find an opening.

Brethren, that's the reality. It's the only thing I can bring to God. That's the currency of heaven.

Come buy and eat without money and without price. But does humility buy my way in? Does humility pay my sin debt? Brethren, the whole Gospel can be summed up in verses like these. Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near.

When we talk about drawing near to God, yes, we are to draw near. My responsibility. But as I'm drawing near, I'm also being brought near at the same time by the blood of Christ.

That's what gives me the access. That's 1 Peter 3.18. Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God. It's Christ.

Humility asks the question, who am I to draw near? I dare not unless I find something that replaces God's wrath with a smile. And only then do I have a right of entry. Humility doesn't appease God.

Blood does. The blood of Christ does. And this is where humbled, broken people turn to.

Listen to this in Hebrews, therefore, brothers, this has everything to do with drawing near. Listen to this. Since we have confidence to enter the holy places, that's entering, that's going to where God is.

You remember Moses? Don't draw near. This is holy ground. You take your shoes off.

But brethren, as we enter the holy places, that's we go to the place where that manifest glory of God is by the blood of Jesus. That's how we enter. New and living way that He opened for us through the curtain.

The curtain's open. It's torn. That is through His flesh.

Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, here it is, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Brethren, this is the key. I mean, when you feel defeated, when you feel lonely, is there any greater truth? We don't go to One who wants to keep us down.

He bids us come. Broken? No boasting in our accomplishments. Not suggesting you may not be so bad after all.

But He bids us to come by the blood. It's made a way for us. And then you get this.

Psalm 145.18, the Lord is near. So you talk about nearness here. That's the idea.

The Lord is near to all who call on Him. To all who call on Him in truth. So brethren, approaching.

We need to have an expectation. We need to have an anticipation. We need to go in confidence.

We need to go in humility. We need to go resting in the blood of Christ. But I would say this, we need to go in truth.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him in truth. Brethren, be real. When you make your approach to God and you're calling on Him, and you've come to your right mind, like the prodigal, and you recognize you've stayed away from the Father for too long.

There's too much distance between you. You want to close that distance. Talk to Him and be honest.

Be real. Be transparent. That's what it says to all who call on Him in truth.

The Lord is near. You don't know how to despise that. Bring your weakness.

Bring your failures. Lay it all out there. Tell God what you've done.

Brethren, bring your insecurities. We tend to be insecure about so many things. Bring your ignorance.

Bring your coldness. Bring your callousness. Bring your backsliding.

Bring it all there. Bring your insensitivity. Don't let the truth drive you away from Him.

Often that's what happens. You feel like, wow, I feel dirty. Well, because you've done things that make you feel dirty.

You've done things that defile your conscience. And then the devil's right there to tell you, you have no business going there. He doesn't want anything to do with you after what you've just done.

Brethren, that's not truth. Go to Him in truth and speak the truth. And you recognize He bids you come.

He bids you to make this movement towards Him. But do it in honesty. And the last thing I would say here in closing is just this, brethren, if you're going to approach the Lord, if you're going to be serious about this, especially in this generation, there is so much noise.

It's everywhere. Jesus calls us to the secret place. You've got to get away from the noise.

Brethren, solitude, prioritizing time. I'll tell you if there's anything... This is the thing with fasting. It's when I say, I want God more than food.

Brethren, you notice that? That gets the attention of God. There's a reward. When you say, I want God more than my entertainment, more than my pleasure seeking, more than my internet stuff, more than my social networking, more than Facebook, more than my hobbies, more.

I just want Him more. And you make decisions that show Him you want Him more. When there is a sincere desire... You may look at all of this and it sounds great and everything, but you're not coming to Him in truth.

You're saying, I really want You more than anything else. If you really are showing by your life that you love 20 things more than you love Him. Brethren, there's got to be a place of solitude where you just remove yourself from the distractions and from the crowd.

Brethren, you often find that it's there in the quiet place where the presence of God dwells. I have found that by myself, walking the fields, walking along the river. I have found that God meets me there.

And you know, sometimes you go and I'm seeking in the same way I have a thousand other days, but some of those days He comes in special ways. And brethren, the assurance that brings, the glory in the soul, the desire to live for the things John was talking about in the Lord's Supper. Brethren, alone.

You're just stripped of all the things that typically occupy your mind. And what happens there in that solo place, that secret place? What happens? You start to think and you're thinking about God and you begin to feel how God alone can fill that longing in your heart. You don't have the influence of other people, not like the public prayer meeting.

There's no posturing. There's no influence of others. You can just be authentic.

You're just there. You're naked before Him. Man, sometimes it's uncomfortable.

You ever find that? I mean, that's one of the things when God comes, He can make us uncomfortable. You remember how it was with Peter when all of a sudden the Lord was there and He's like, Lord, depart from me, I'm a sinful man. Sometimes when the Lord comes, you just start to feel, man, there's some dirt.

Maybe there's some things in your life that you haven't got right and sometimes it can be uncomfortable. Those times alone with Him where His presence is, it just can peel away all the superficial things. That quiet place, brethren, you can bring your doubts up to Him.

You can bring your insecurities up to Him. You can bring your uncertainties up to Him. But prayer there, it becomes more earnest.

It's not just this list of, give me this, give me this, give me this. It's actually you begin to interact with God on a very personal, intimate, communion type of level where it's actually communication back and forth. And you let Scripture pour through your mind and you find God through different... Brethren, there is a way God speaks to us where you feel these impressions, you feel these convictions.

I mean, it's very real. It's very personal. In isolation, you think, you think, you think.

Brethren, so much of coming to God happens in the mind. You're there alone with God and you know what you confront? You confront your limitations. You confront your pride.

So much, you just learn the depth of your dependency on Him. You come face-to-face with Him. It brings me face-to-face with my inability to control your own life.

You ever been there? You're communing with God and you just so recognize, I don't have control of my life. You do, Lord. I mean, I can make these plans and I can do these different things.

And brethren, He's in the quiet. And you just start to reflect. You ever been there? You'd be just reflecting on God's goodness.

And the time you think about, oh, thanksgiving just erupts because you're thinking about all the good He's done for you and all the prayers He's answered in your life. And it just gives you this confidence if you've been so faithful with me up to this point, He's not going to let me go. He's going to stay there with me.

And so many answered prayers. You're alone. You're free to sing even if it's off key or however you sing.

And you can open up and you're free to worship. No inhibition. Nobody's there to judge you or misunderstand.

I mean, just quiet contemplation, brethren. We trace out all of His guiding in our life. He whispers sometimes, just like with Elijah, there's a whisper, but it resonates in your soul.

It's something that streaks across your mind, but it's His voice. And that voice is always encouraging us to trust Him and to love and to holiness and to humility. And brethren, oftentimes it disrupts our comfort.

You ever find that? God is speaking to you, oh, we like the comfortable thing. Lord, just bring revival to my soul. And He's putting His finger on things and we're too comfortable here.

And He's putting the thorn in there. And it's like He wants us just to let go and surrender to His will and teaches us obedience. And brethren, but it is such a welcome voice.

He shows us that it's not about us. It's about Him. He's just reminding us that without Him we're nothing.

And He wants us to serve from the place of love, not from the place of pride, not from the place of getting applause, not seeking glory for ourselves and recognition for ourselves. That's solitary place. He just teaches us there the greatest priority in your life is Me.

It is to dwell with Me. It is to draw near to Me. He's everything.

You see, my worth isn't determined by my achievements or by the stuff or the applause, but by my relationship with God. That's the measuring stick. And you just recognize I don't walk alone.

I mean, brethren, every time we put forth effort to seek Him and He comes, it is the closest thing in this world to walking through that garden of paradise where His aroma just stretches across every scene and there's a beauty. There's a satisfaction. You don't want to forfeit this.

This is the heart and soul of Christianity. You just recognize you are supported by this love that just will never fail. He said, brethren, we are the most privileged people on the face of this earth.

And it's like this is where our privilege is most to be drank. And if you forfeit this because you've got some hideous contentment with being at a distance, I just say you're to be pitied and you're foolish. And brethren, I've been foolish and so have you.

We've exchanged the broken cisterns way too many times for the fountain of living water. And I'm just calling you, brethren, don't make such a stupid exchange. It's not worth it.

It doesn't help you live this life better. You just say, Lord, help us. Help us.

What a promise. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Father, we pray, help us to live in light of this reality.

We ask it in Christ's name, Amen.