Draw near to God

Thank you, Brother Ben, for this beautiful prayer. In fact, you have summarized the entire devotion in your prayer. Well, since last week, I was really traveling. I was in Tampa, and we had a big missions conference going on in a very large church. So we were part of that. And in the meantime, I had a challenge. I got this text, and I have to prepare. And so every time I had a little time, I was going through that, going through this text and trying to read commentaries and so on. And let's read that one before I say something. James chapter four and verse eight. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. That's a very strong, strong verse. It comes with the force and reminds us what we need to do. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. It's a gentle invitation to all of us to come to God. God is always open for us. His arms are fully open for us to receive us. It's an act of submission to him. when we listen to God's word and when we do it, then we are actually submitting to our God. But more than we submit to him, Look at another phrase in that same verse. Come near to God and he will come near to you. More than we draw near to him, he draws near to us. That's very important for us. Our God is great and awesome God. He's enthroned. You know, he's a creator. He's the almighty God. He knows everything. He has created all of us. You know, he sits on the throne, and yet, when we submit to him, when we come before him, when he invites us and when we come before him, what a beautiful picture of God. He's coming near to us. He's open to us. And He's willing to hear us. He's willing to come near to us. Now in another version, if you read in King James Version, it says, draw nigh to God. That's a beautiful way to put it. Why? Because He's a holy God. Our God is a holy God, and therefore he demands from us that we come before him. Now look at the picture of the Old Testament. For example, the temple, you know. Always they came before the presence of the Lord. Of course, there was a curtain, and they could not go into the most holiest place. But today, that curtain has been removed. by the act of our Lord Jesus Christ, what he has done on the cross for us. And so, everything is open for us. We don't have to go in certain place to find him out or to search him. He's available everywhere. Now, I come from a Hindu background. I was taught how to worship all these gods and goddesses. And I did whatever I could to please these gods and goddesses. But they always demanded me, everything from me. Unfortunately, everything I gave to them, I never got a return, anything from them, because they were just an idol, just idols. They would not speak to me, even though I would speak to them. I would bang my head, I would worship, I would be in tears, but I would never hear anything from them. But our God, he has given us his word, and he has given his word to us, and he speaks to us. Such a holy God is available to all of us. And sometimes we say, Lord, where are you? When we are in circumstances, when we are troubled, when we go through depressions, You know, we say, Lord, where are you? You know, some people doubt, and even they give up. Because, you know, for them, it's just nothing. It's just void. And it doesn't come to them. It doesn't, you know, they're not satisfied. But here is our God, he's asking us, come near to me, and I will come near to you. Such a holy God, he's willing to come near to us. We need to come to him. Otherwise, where will you go? Tell me. Where are we going to go? We have to come to him. We have to come to the throne of grace. Because from there only we draw our strength. From there only we have our spiritual nourishment. You know, I might be a good person to talk with you, give you good counsel. You know, some people are discouraged, and I've been counseling a lot of people, but I'm not the person to give you full satisfaction, spiritual full satisfaction. It is only God can do that. It's only God can fulfill your desire. It's only He can speak to you and guarantee you complete life. He is the only one who can say, I am the way and the truth and the life. I will direct your paths. I will help you. I will do. And he does. Because look at the Bible. We have hundreds and thousands of promises in the Word of God, in the Bible, and none of them have fallen. They are true. I have experienced in my own life how God has been gracious to me, gracious to my family, how he has been leading our paths, how he has been directing our paths, simply because we come to him in submission. Now that doesn't mean that I am a perfect person, I am a righteous person, and I deserve. No. I don't deserve anything, none of us deserve anything, but thanks to be God that he is willing to come near to us. When we are prepared, when we are ready, and when we submit to him, his invitation is beautiful. Now when we come into his presence, what happens? When we draw near to him, what happens? We see the face of God. And then we begin to feel peace in our heart. We feel secure. We feel protected. And we are glad and joyful. All that we have in this world, all that is around us, It's just amazing. It draws our attention, but that's not permanent. All those things around us, it's not permanent. I don't want to tell, but I'll just tell you. I was staying in a host family. Man, they are so well-to-do. They are so rich. Now, I'm happy because I had the opportunities to stay with them, but they are so humble. They love the Lord, and they said, Keshav, all that you see, yes, we are blessed. We have beyond what we have expected. God has given them everything. They had a beautiful mansion in Tampa, beautiful, huge house. Their garden is just a half acre long. So you can imagine all that they have, but what I could see in them, the humble, gentle spirit and willingness and submission to the Lord. I saw their commitment and said, wow, this is great. And they said, all that you see, Kishore, yes, this has been given by God, and we live here, we are happy, we are joyful, but we know these are all, what all you see is temporary. Yes, all that we see around us is temporary. It brings momentary pleasure, but it does not bring us eternal joy. So draw near to him, because there you'll find all your satisfaction, all your spiritual nourishment, and you will be glad. Then it says, wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. That's the second part of that verse. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart. And I feel like this is nothing but a total repentance to God, a total submission to God, and complete humility in his presence. Repentance comes first, of course. There's no compromise. repentance, submission, and confession, and ongoing humility in our lives. Not just with mouth, but in our hearts. Now, if you go back to the gospel, Jesus confronted with Sadducees and Pharisees. We all know them. We all know their nature, you know. They spoke outwardly, trying to please, you know, others. But their hearts were far away from God. And Jesus recognized that. He knew that. He knew that. So when Bible commences, His word commences to wash our hands, and purify our hearts. We definitely, we need to think about ourselves. Now it's not like, okay, I believed Jesus Christ, you know, 20 years back and I'm done now. I'm Christian and I'm okay. It's everyday act. It's everyday struggle. Spiritual warfare, spiritual struggle is everyday struggle. You know, we serve the Lord. I travel a lot. I preach everywhere. I share my testimonies. But in spite of that, I have spiritual struggle in me. You know, I have to come to the Lord every evening and say, Lord, please forgive me whatever I have done consciously and unconsciously. And I don't have to speak to you. You guys know all about, you know, what I'm saying. All of us, we know. But it's just a reminder for us that repentance is very important for us. We need to come and we need to submit ourselves before our holy God. And when we submit to him, not just by our words, but by our actions and from the bottom of our hearts, then there is total change in us. He brings absolute change in us, and then we begin to shine for his glory. So, what's the command? What we are asked to do? What we are reminded of is a gentle invitation from the Lord. And I would say not just a gentle, but that's a command from the Lord. Come near to me. Come near to me because I'm your God. I'm a holy God and I want that my people should be holy. Let me just quickly read a little bit what a preacher has beautifully quoted and what he said is very important. James calls us to draw near or to move closer to God. This comes with an additional promise. God will respond by moving closer to us. That's an act, that's an incredible act of mercy on God's part. That's His grace and that's His mercy. The God of the universe owes us nothing, including His closeness. What grace on His part to come to us, what grace on his part to come in our direction at all. This is especially gracious as a response to our step in his direction. Next, James calls us sinners to clean our hands. He calls us double-minded people, trying to serve both self and God. James pleads with us to purify our hearts. For Jewish readers who had grown up under the law, these commands would have called to mind ceremonial cleansing or washings. The idea here is to completely turn from our sin to resolve that we will serve God and we will be humble and we will recognize his presence ultimately is a blessing. So as the Lord commands us from his word, let's draw near to him. Let's repent, let's submit, and let's humble ourselves as the Lord's word demand. May the Lord bless us. Yeah, okay, let's pray. Let's pray. Father God, we are so grateful to you for this beautiful privilege to hear your word and to understand and take it in our hearts. Help us, Lord, that we will draw near to you, not because we deserve, but because you are gracious and you are holy God. Lord, help us to have a heart of confession. Give us the heart of confession. Help us to have a joy in our hearts when we repent. And we know, Lord, that you will accept us. Thank you for these beautiful words, reminding us how we need to conduct ourselves, how we need to come near to you, because you are a holy God, a blessed God. Thank you for each one of us here. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.