Exodus 19 - How To Be Close To God
Thomas S. Myers
How To Be Close With God?
Exodus Chapter 19
Two men were discussing their walk with God. "One of the men said, "I feel quite satisfied with myself and my walk with the Lord." The other man said, "Well, I want more and more of God. I want to be closer to God. When I get to Heaven, I don't want to have to pull out my wallet and show the Lord my driver's license to prove who I am. I want Him to know me by the sound of my voice." I want to share with you 4 vital principles that will help you grow closer to God. The children of Israel came to Mount Saini. The first thing that I notice in Exodus chapter 19 is that:
FIRST -- THEY HAD A __________ WHERE THEY WERE GOING TO MEET WITH GOD.
Exodus 19:1-2
1 In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt -- on the very day -- they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. (NIV)
The children of Israel had a place where they were going to meet God. If you desire to meet with God, you need to have a place where you can daily meet with God. It may be your bedroom, dining room, or the living room. But you need a place to meet with God. For the children of Israel it was the desert of Sinai. Did you know that
God actually longs to spend time with you? Do you remember when Jesus was speaking with the women at the well in John chapter 4? Look at John 4:23 and see what Jesus said to her.
John 4:23
23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
1 the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (NIV)
Jesus said, "The Father seeks" worshipers. Did you know that God has been seeking you? He is not seeking you to judge you, nor is he seeking your finances. But He is pursuing you to spend time with you. You see, when you spend time with God, you become more like God.
In Greece stands a statue of a Grecian maiden with a beautiful face, a graceful figure, and a noble expression. One day a poor little peasant girl came face to face with the statue. She stood and stared, and then went home to wash her face and comb her hair. The next day she came again to stand before the statue, and then to return home once more. This time she mended her tattered clothing. Day by day she changed, her form grew more graceful, and her face more refined, till she greatly reflected the famous statue. She was transformed in appearance! Here is the point, you become like the person you spend time with.
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (NIV)
I can still remember my 7th grade history teacher telling the class, "A students spend time with other students who get A's. And F students hang around with other students who get F's. That's true. When King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam became king over Israel, and the Bible says,
2 Chronicles 12:1
1 and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD. (NIV)
Do you know why King Rehoboam abandoned the Lord?
2 Chronicles 12:14
14 He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD. (NIV)
You see, you become what you seek? If you are always seeking ice-cream, you will evenly look like a gallon of ice-cream. Have you ever gone out to eat with a group of people and the conservation ends up with gossip and complaining? Why is that? Because they haven't made it a habit to take the time seeking the Lord. Do you know the reason you don't bring your tithe to the house of God? It's that you don't seek the Lord. How many of you make it a habit to skip lunch? But how may of you are going to skip being with God? It doesn't matter if you don't feel like being with the Lord. It is necessary to your life as a Christian. The children of Israel came to the place where they were going to meet with God.
SECOND -- THEY CAME TO THE PLACE WHERE THEY WERE WILLING TO ______ GOD.
Exodus 19:3-8
3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 `You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites." 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD. (NIV)
I want you to notice something very interesting in verses 3-8. God did not tell them what they were to obey. Did you notice that? They just signed a blank contract and handed it to God and said, "God, You write in the details. Now think about that for a moment. Could you do that for God?
You could if you were seeking God.
When you seek God, you obey God. Charles Colson told the following story. A few years ago he was on the Bill Buckley television program, talking about 'Restitution' and Criminal Justice. Bill Buckley agreed with him. Later he got a call from Jack Eckerd, the founder of the Eckerd Drug Store Chain, the second largest drug chain in America. He saw Charles Colson on television and asked him to come to Florida. Since Florida had a criminal justice crisis. He asked Charles Colson to come to Florida. Colson got the Attorney General of the state, the President of the Senate, on Jack Eckerd's Lear Jet, and they went around the State of Florida advocating criminal justice reforms. Everywhere they would go Jack Eckerd would introduce Colson to the crowds and say, "This is Chuck Colson, my friend; I met him on the Bill Buckley's television program. He's born again, I'm not." And then he'd sit down. Colson said, "We'd get on the airplane and I'd tell Jack Eckerd about Jesus. We'd get off at the next stop, he'd repeat it, we'd do the same thing again, I'd talk to him about Jesus. About a year went by and I kept pestering Jack Eckerd. And eventually one day he read some things including the story of Watergate and the Resurrection out of my book, Loving God, and decided that Jesus was, resurrected from the dead, and called me up to tell me he became a Christian. When he got through telling me what he believed I said, 'You're born again!'" The first thing he did was to walk into one of his drug stores and walked down through the book shelves and he saw Playboy and Penthouse. And he'd seen them there many times before, but it never bothered him before. But now he was spending time with God and wanted to obey God. This time he looked at his stores with new eyes. He went back to his office. He called in his President. He said, "Take Playboy and Penthouse out of my stores." The President said, "You can't mean that, Mr. Eckerd. We make three million dollars a year on those magazines." He said, "Take 'em out of my stores." And in 1700 stores across America, by one man's decision, those magazines were removed because a man had given his life to Christ. Colson called Jack Eckerd up. He said, "I want to use that story. Did you do that because of your commitment to Christ?" He said, "Why else would I give away three million dollars? The Lord wouldn't let me off the hook." And what happened after that is a wonderful sequel, and a wonderful demonstration of what happens in our culture today. Jack Eckerd wrote a letter to all the other drug store operators, all the other chains, and he said, "I've taken it out of my store. Why don't you take it out of yours?" Not a one answered him. So he wrote them some more letters. But then Eckerd's stores began to get floods of people coming in to buy things at Eckerd's because they'd taken Playboy and Penthouse out. And so People's removed the magazines from their shelves. Then Dart Drug removed them from their shelves. Then Revco removed them from their shelves. Over the period of twelve months while the pornography commission in Washington was debating over what to do about pornography, and while they're trying to come up with some recommendations for the President about what to do which will result in laws which if Congress ever passes them will be sued by the ACLU and will be tied up in the courts for 10 years -- meanwhile, across America, one by one, stores are removing them. And the 7-11 Chairman, who sits on Jack Eckerd's board, finally gave in and 5000 7-11 stores removed it. And in a period of 12 months, 11,000 retail outlets in America removed Playboy and Penthouse, not because somebody passed a law, but because God wouldn't let one of his men off the hook. That's what obedience does. The Israelites were seeking God, and as a result of seeking God, they obeyed God. And as a result of seeking God there is:
THIRD -- THERE WAS ________________________.
Exodus 19:9-10 & 14
9 The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said. 10 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 14 After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. (NIV)
Notice verse 10 and 14. They were to wash their clothes. That speaks not only that their clothes were to be clean, but their lives were to be clean. They were to get right with God by confessing their sins. When you are clean by the blood of Jesus you are ready to spend time with God and there will be a freshness about you and a fragrance about you. People can tell that there is something different about you because God is able to shine through you.
Dr. Charles Weigle, who is known for his song "No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus," was once preaching at a Bible conference in Pasadena, California. He spent one afternoon visiting some of the famous rose gardens in that city. When he returned to the Bible conference later that day, a number of people inquired how he had enjoyed the lovely gardens. Mystified by their knowledge of his leisure time, he inquired how they knew where he had been. The response was, "You have brought the fragrance of the flowers with you." That's what the Word of God says should be happening in our lives. We should be spreading beautiful fragrance of Jesus Christ. And you can do that. The bible says:
2 Corinthians 2:15
15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. (NIV)
One Sunday on their way home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon this morning confused me." The mother said, "Oh? Why is that?" The little girl replied, "Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?" The mother replied, "Yes, that's true." "And he also said that God lives in us? Is that true, mommy?" Again the mother replied, "Yes." "Well," said the little girl, "if God is bigger than us and he lives in us, wouldn't He show through?"
Is God showing through your life? Clean up your life. Quit using excusses for being in pornography, having an affair, or for stealing. We are sometimes like the young man who went to Canada in search of a job as an axeman for a lumber company. He approached the foreman, asking if
there was an opening. The foreman replied, "That depends. Let's see you fall that tree over there." The young man set his feet and skillfully felled the tree. The foreman was impressed. "Start Monday!" Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by and then Friday afternoon the foreman said, "Pick up your paycheck you're fired." "But, why," asked the young man? The foreman said, "We keep a chart on the number of trees you cut and you've dropped from first place on Monday to eighth on Wednesday to fifteenth on Thursday." "I'm not lazy," the young man responded. "I arrive first, leave last and often work through my coffee break." The foreman, sensing his honest response, reflected a minute and asked a penetrating question: "Do you sharpen your ax daily?" "I work too hard to do that! I don't have time to sharpen my ax!" That's your problem, isn't it? We don't take the time to confess our sins.
FOURTH -- THERE WAS _____________________ .
Exodus 19:12-13 & 21
12 God SAID Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, `Be careful that you do not go up the
mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. 13 He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.' Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain." 21 and the LORD said to him, "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the
LORD and many of them perish. (NIV)
If you want to be close to God, then recognize that God is holy. We live in a day when men think that they can treat the Lord Jesus Christ as a buddy. Have you ever heard somebody say, Jesus has appeared to me? Do you know how to know if that's true? If they got down on their knees and had a sense of the holiness of God and recognized how sinful they are then they saw Jesus Christ.
Daniel 10:5-9
5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. 6 His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. 8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. 9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. (NIV)
A young boy caught a bird and decided to trick a very wise old man. He was going to take the bird to the wise old man and ask him, "Is the bird in my hand dead or alive?" If the old man said "Alive," the boy was going to crush the bird. If the old man said "The bird is dead" the boy would open his hands and let the bird fly away. He told the old man, "I have a bird in my hand -- is it alive? Or is it dead?" The wise old man said, "As you wish young man!" The choice is yours, you can be close to God, or you can choose to remain distant. It is as you wish.