Draw Near

Date:
November 30, 2014
Songs:
Fairest Lord Jesus, Rock of Ages, I need thee every hour
Psalm:
63

Hebrews 4:14–16 14Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. ESV

Introduced

  1. The reason we are studying the book of Hebrews is because of this concept of drawing near.vs 16
    1. Hebrews presents a compelling argument that there is a thing in the Christian life that cannot be ignored. And we see it here contained in the phrase "draw near"
  2. Similarity to Hebrews 2:17-18

Questions

  1. What is it to draw near
    1. How can we know, from the scriptures, what it means to draw near to God?
    2. How do you know if you have drawn near? Have I today complied with this command or have I not? How am I to judge the answer to this question? What is the measure that we are to use?
    3. What is the result of drawing near?
    4. What is the motivation to draw near?
    5. What is the hindrance of drawing near?
    6. Who may draw near?
    7. When must we draw near?
    8. What is the consequence of not drawing near?
    9. Why is so little said about drawing near in terms of the practicalities involved in drawing near. Where is the how-to guide? Where is "Drawing Near for Dummies"
  2. What is it to draw near to God in Hebrews?
    1. What is our promised land? 4:8
    2. What is our Sabbath rest? 4:9
    3. What is the thing which, if we do not do it, God will swear in his wrath; "they shall not enter my rest?" 3:11
    4. What is the thing which, if we do not do it, God charges us with having an "an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God"? 3:12
    5. Why must we consider Jesus, and what is it to consider Jesus? 3:1
    6. What does it mean that Jesus helps us? 2:16
    7. Why must we pay closer attention to what we have heard? 2:1
    8. What is the book of Hebrews calling us towards?

Scripture

  1. How do the scriptures speak of this concept of seeking to draw near to God
    1. History
      1. Exodus 12:48 48If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ESV
      2. Exodus 16:9–12 9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” 10And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11And the LORD said to Moses, 12“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’ ” ESV
      3. Leviticus 9:5–8, 24 5And they brought what Moses commanded in front of the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before the LORD. 6And Moses said, “This is the thing that the LORD commanded you to do, that the glory of the LORD may appear to you.” 7Then Moses said to Aaron, “Draw near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and bring the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.” 8So Aaron drew near to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. ... 24And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. ESV
      4. Leviticus 10:2–5 2And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace. 4And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” 5So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. ESV
      5. Deuteronomy 4:11 11And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. ESV
      6. Deuteronomy 4:29 29But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ESV
        1. Drawing near to God is possible but we must search for him with our utmost and our universal diligence.
        2. Drawing near to God is possible when man is in the state of rebellion against God.
      7. 1 Chronicles 10:14 14He Saul did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. ESV
        1. Not drawing near to God in a way of obedience yields judgment
      8. 1 Chronicles 15:13 13Because you Uzzah did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.” ESV
        1. Drawing near to God must be done according to the rule. We may not go to God anyway we wish, but only in the way he has provided.
      9. 1 Chronicles 16:10–12 10Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! 11Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! 12Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, ESV
        1. Drawing near to God is to be our continual activity.
        2. Drawing near to God is related to glorifying God, to rejoicing, and to remembering his mighty deeds.
      10. 1 Chronicles 22:19 19Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the LORD.” ESV
        1. We must endeavor to draw near to God, by setting our minds and hearts so to do. There is fixed resolution God requires of us in this regard.
      11. 1 Chronicles 28:8–9 8Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever. 9“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, [for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought]. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. ESV
        1. Drawing near to God necessitates an observance of all his commandments.
        2. Forsaking to seek God in this manner leads to and yields being cast off forever.
      12. 2 Chronicles 11:16 16And those who had set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers. ESV
        1. We see in the time of Rehoboam and Jeroboam that the faithful will leave all to draw near to God. All allegiances break down when those allegiances keep one from drawing near to God in the manner prescribed by God. Here it appears that many left their king, rebelling against his commandment, left their country, left their families and land, land that God himself had alloted to them, because of the necessity of drawing near to God.
      13. 2 Chronicles 12:14 14And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD. ESV
        1. Not seeking God, not drawing near is evil.
      14. 2 Chronicles 14:2–4 2And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God. 3He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim 4and commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. ESV
        1. Asa as a righteous ruler saw to it that his people were seeking the presence of God.
      15. 2 Chronicles 15:2 2and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ESV
        1. The opposite of seeking God is forsaking God. You are in one of these two camps. You are seeking him or you are forsaking him, and for those who are thus forsaking him he says, I will forsake you. Just like Hebrews warns, if we do not draw near to God in confidence we are liable to the same curse of the people of old, God swearing in his wrath that we shall not enter into his rest.
      16. 2 Chronicles 15:12–13 12And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, 13but that whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ESV
        1. Again seeking God must be done with man's diligence and universal sincerity. And again, not seeking God is seen as the highest aggravation to God, and under Asa's reign it was punishable by death. Yet even Asa himself was not able to keep this edict as shown in our next verse.
      17. 2 Chronicles 16:12 12In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe. Yet even in his disease he did not seek the LORD, but sought help from physicians. ESV
        1. Asa's failure to seek God was because, as the prophet said, you "did not rely on the LORD your God"vs 7 instead he relied on the armies of Syria and later in physicians.
      18. 2 Chronicles 20:3–4 3Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 4And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD. ESV
        1. Godly fear leads men to seek God for his aid. The people sought God when they sought him for help. A seeker, helpless throws himself on God for grace and help.
        2. Is everyone who cries out to God for help considered a seeker of God?
      19. 2 Chronicles 26:5 5He King Uzziah set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. ESV
      20. 2 Chronicles 30:18–20 18For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone 19who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” 20And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. ESV
        1. A counterpoint to an earlier point, the desire to draw near to God transcends even the law on occasion.
        2. Carrying the ark of God on a cart broke the rule such that God's anger broke out against the people who were not seeking him according to the rule, here God pardons those who set their heart to seek him even though not according to the rule.
    2. Poetry
      1. Psalm 9:10 10And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. ESV
        1. God will not forsake those who seek to draw near to him.
        2. John 6:37 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ESV
      2. Psalm 14:2–3 2The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. ESV
        1. There are none who seek after God for their hearts have turned away from him.
        2. Isaiah 64:7 7There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. ESV
        3. When God turns his face away, no one can seek him. An evidence of God turning his face away is a soul that no longer rouses himself to take hold of God.
          1. Do you rouse yourself to take hold of the almighty. Do you wrestle with him as Jacob did, refusing to let go of him until he blesses you?
      3. Psalm 15:1–5 1O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. ESV
        1. Drawing near to God must be done by blameless ones.
      4. Psalm 24:3–6 3Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah ESV
        1. Again, drawing near to God, or ascending the hill of the LORD, requires clean hands, a pure heart, and so on.
        2. Drawing near to God is described as seeking the face of God.
      5. Psalm 27:8 8You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.” ESV
        1. God commands us to thus seek his face. A heart in tune with God's responds to this command.
      6. Psalm 34:10 10The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. ESV
        1. Blessings come to those who seek God.
      7. Psalm 63:1–4 1O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. ESV
        1. Seeking God is a matter of desperation akin to dying of thirst.
        2. Drawing near to God is related to enjoying his love so much that it becomes to you "better than life"
      8. Psalm 83:16 16Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek your name, O LORD. ESV
        1. God punishes the wicked in order that they may seek him.
      9. Psalm 105:4 4Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! ESV
        1. Again we are to seek to draw near to God without ceasing.
      10. Psalm 145:18 18The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. ESV
        1. Those who seek God truly will always eventually draw into his presence and be near to him.
      11. Proverbs 28:5 5Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it completely. ESV
        1. Seeking God, which remember is related to obeying his commandments, will understand justice completely.
    3. Prophets
      1. Isaiah 45:19 19I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right. ESV
        1. Seeking God is not done in vain. Those who seek will find.
      2. Isaiah 51:1 1“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. ESV
        1. Those who pursue righteousness are those who seek God.
        2. Which comes first? Is pursuing righteousness considered seeking God? Or is it that no matter how much righteousness you pursue, all your righteousness is no righteousness at all unless that righteousness be done in the pursuit of God.
          1. I think that this may well be the question of our generation.
        3. Also, seekers of God are called to be humble.
      3. Isaiah 55:1–3, 6–7 1“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. ... 6“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ESV
        1. There is much in these verses.
        2. God's presence is compared to wine, milk, and meat.
        3. The thirsty vs 1 and the wicked vs 7 are qualified to seek God.
        4. Seeking God will come to an end (while he is near)
      4. Jeremiah 29:13 13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ESV
        1. Repeats what has come before.
      5. Daniel 9:3 3Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ESV
        1. Prayer is at least one of the means of drawing near to God.
      6. Hosea 3:5 5Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. ESV
        1. The latter days will be characterized by God's people drawing near to him.
      7. Hosea 6:1–3 1“Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” ESV
      8. Hosea 10:12 12Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. ESV
      9. Amos 5:4 4For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; ESV
    4. New Testament
      1. Matthew 7:7–11 7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! ESV
      2. Ephesians 2:18 18For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ESV
      3. Hebrews 4:16 16Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. ESV
      4. Hebrews 10:22 22let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ESV
      5. Hebrews 11:6 6And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. ESV
      6. Hebrews 12:18 18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ESV
      7. Hebrews 12:22 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ESV
      8. James 4:8–10 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. ESV this drawing near containeth all the holy worship of the church, both public and private, all the ways of our access unto God by Christ

Options

  1. The way I was taught is that the center of Christianity is justification by faith alone, the way that I'm teaching is that the center of Christianity is knowing God and that through the work of Jesus Christ which is received by faith alone.
    1. Micah 6:8: He has shown thee O man what is good and what does the Lord require of thee?
      1. What should come next? What is the sum total of all that the Lord requires of thee?
        1. To know that justification is by faith alone, this is the sum total of all that the Lord requires of thee
        2. To know me, knowing God is the sum total of all that the Lord requires of thee
          1. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
  2. These are similar, in a sense they are friends to one another, they both agree to the importance of the other, but they yield very different Christian lives.
  3. In my life
    1. I have a good life. I have a good job, a good wife and children. I could settle into my life and be quite happy.
      1. Yet to live a truly happy life I need to be a seeker of God, and I intend so to be. I will seek him by inquiring of him for advice, following his laws and council, seeking his aid when I am in distress and trusting that he loves me and will see me through any situation for all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
    2. Other days, I want God as my all in all. I cannot be happy with the first life because, good as it may be, I want Jesus, he is all my portion.
  4. More like?
    1. David inquiring of the LORD when going to battle, or David when he is dancing, presumably naked, before the LORD?
    2. What is the theme book for seeking God, Song of Solomon or Solomon's Proverbs
    3. When I pray is it primarily for things or for God's presence?
  5. Resolved
    1. John 17:3 3And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ESV
    2. 2 Corinthians 3:18 18And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. ESV
    3. Matthew 11:12 12From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. ESV
    4. Philippians 3:12–14 12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ESV
    5. Revelation 2:4–5 4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ESV
    6. Luke 13:23–28 23And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. ESV
  6. One requires all, the other does not.
    1. One fits very well into the American way of life the other contradicts it absolutely.
    2. The book of Hebrews demands that we return to the Lord in the daily practice of drawing near to God such that we have experiences of his presence comparable to and exceeding the experiences the Jews had of the presence of God in the tabernacle and temple.
    3. We on the other hand have ear ticklers who would pave the road to heaven with ease and comfort, but little experienced glory when Christ paves the way with crosses and hardships but much experienced glory.
  7. These two theories live inside my brain and are lived out in my life in varying degrees, but I have no names or terms for them.
    1. Puritan view of communion with God.
    2. Modern Reformed.
      1. Because every church that is in any way tied to the reformation movement knows enough doctrine to know the difference between these two systems of thought and I have yet to find a single church that insists that its members daily experience the presence of God as a necessity to what it is to be a Christian. They have all chosen a gospel that is not the gospel that is declared in the Scriptures. And I do not know what to do about that.

Difference

  1. Allows for a heart that prefers other things than God
    1. It tries to be as similar to the gospel as possible while still affirming that there is a good enough short of the example set for us in Christ.
      1. 1 John 2:6 6whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. ESV
    2. It allows you to take Christ in one hand and the world in the other
      1. 1 John 2:15 15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ESV
    3. There are 3 things men hate about the gospel. Simplicity, mystery, and exactness
      1. This theory allows men to take the gospel without taking the exactness of life that the gospel requires, which in effect renders this new gospel no gospel at all, and if men were to uniformly and consistently live according to the dictates of this new gospel, they would be none of God's. However, many take a portion of this while still having a portion of the other and this mixedness has lead to the confused schizophrenic state of the modern church.
      2. 1 John 3:3 3And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. ESV
  2. The other strives for and yearns for a heart that is made perfectly righteous
    1. Paul having this heart or yearning for this heart led the life he led
    2. David was a man after God's own heart and this pleased God
    3. Whoever your hero in the faith is, whether it is Calvin, Owen, Spurgeon, Muller, Hudson Taylor, Carry, Elliot, or whoever, this is the heart that allowed him to live the life he led. Without this heart that is conformed and conforming to God's heart you cannot walk with God and cannot live the Christian life with strength and power, you will not have a life in you with which to live a life pleasing to God.
  3. Examples
    1. Tozer In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct "interpretations" of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water. Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found Him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. Moses used the fact that he knew God as an argument for knowing Him better. "Now, therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight"; and from there he rose to make the daring request, "I beseech thee, show me thy glory." God was frankly pleased by this display of ardor, and the next day called Moses into the mount, and there in solemn procession made all His glory pass before him. David's life was a torrent of spiritual desire, and his psalms ring with the cry of the seeker and the glad shout of the finder. Paul confessed the mainspring of his life to be his burning desire after Christ. "That I may know Him," was the goal of his heart, and to this he sacrificed everything. "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ."
    2. Owen on Heb 10:19 This is the great fundamental privilege of the gospel, that believers, in all their holy worship, have liberty, boldness, and confidence, to enter with it and by it into the gracious presence of God The nature of gospel worship consists in this, that it is an entrance with boldness into the presence of God. However men may multiply duties, of what sort or nature soever they be, if they design not in and by them to enter into the presence of God, if they have not some experience that so they do, if they are taken up with other thoughts, and rest in the outward performance of them, they belong not unto evangelical worship. The only exercise of faith in them is in an entrance into the presence of God. God set bounds unto mount Sinai, that none should pass or break through into his presence in the giving of the law. He hath set none to mount Zion, but all believers have right, title, and liberty to approach unto him, even unto his throne. There is no such order now, that he who draws nigh shall be cut off; but on the contrary, that he that doth not so do shall be destroyed.
    3. Spurgeon Some of us know at times what it is to be almost too happy to live! The love of God has been so overpoweringly experienced by us on some occasions, that we have almost had to ask for a stay of the delight because we could not endure any more. If the glory had not been veiled a little, we should have died of excess of rapture, or happiness. Beloved, God has wondrous ways of opening His people's hearts to the manifestation of His grace. He can pour in, not now and then a drop of His love, but great and mighty streams.
  4. Seeking is about finding.
    1. Are you a seeker of God's law
    2. Are you a seeker of God's face
    3. Are you a seeker of God

Application

  1. Do you regularly draw near to God through Jesus Christ.
  2. Do you do it for it's own sake or for the sake of what you are doing?
  3. There is much more to be said on the topic of drawing near to Christ. I have laid out a few ground rules. I hesitate to do much more than that however for this simple reason. Talking about how to seek God is a somewhat powerless and useless endeavor. What I've been doing is holding out the seeking of Jesus for you to see. The Scriptures do not elevate the seeking of Jesus to the highest place, the Scriptures lift up Jesus himself to the highest place. If I want to create seekers of Jesus, the way to do it is to lift up Jesus as wonderful and beautiful. To gaze at his wonder and to be enthralled therein. That is what creates seekers of Jesus.