Log Out - Log Into To God

Log Out - How to Draw Near

This series has be an eye opener for me personally.

So much clutter can be in our way…

So many distractions…

Logging out can be a spiritually cleansing for many of us.

On midweek we talked about Logging into God..

I want to pick up where James Said.... Draw near to God....

James 4:8 ESV

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Draw near to God.... Let’s go deeper about why it is so important to draw near to him.

Hebrews 10:19–22 ESV

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let 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.

We have confidence "to enter the holy place," that is, the new heavenly "holy of holies"

Like that inner room in the old tabernacle of the Old Testament where the high priest met with God once a year, and where his glory descended on the ark of the covenant.

Jesus tore down the barrier between God and Man

Jesus being our great High Priest - Made an eternal sacrifice for the sins of the world

But he has now allowed us to be able to Go straight to the Father

Old Testament always needed a middle man…

High Priest Or Prophet

Ephesians 2:18 ESV

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

The writer of Hebrews great aim is that we get near God,

that we have fellowship with him

That we not settle for a Christian life at a distance from God,

That God not be a distant thought, but a near and present reality, t

That we experience communion with God.

Communion: the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.

John Piper says this...

Drawing near is not a physical act.

It's not building a tower of Babel, by your achievements, to get to heaven.

It's not necessarily going to a church building. Or walking to an altar at the front.

It is an invisible act of the heart. You can do it while standing absolutely still, or while lying in a hospital bed, or while sitting in a pew listening to a sermon.

The book of James

Draw: to go near, to come close, to approach.

It affirms the Christian’s privilege of free access to God through Christ.

#1 I have to approach God with Confidence

Hebrews 10:19 says you have confidence to enter into....

I have to be confident in knowing that Jesus wants me to have this access…

This is why I beaten

This Is why I was whipped

This is why I was pieced

This is why I endured

This is why i hung and bleed

This is why I died and rose again

So you can have full access to the Father

I didn’t die for you to live under condemnation

I didn’t die so you would be afraid to enter in....

I died so you could have an open relationship…

#2 Hebrews says let us Draw near with a true heart of full assurance

We should have a heart of full assurance of the work of Christ in our life!

I have to believe in the work of salvation

“our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

I can draw near because of the great transformation that has taken place…

I am now declared righteous

I am New creature

I was unworthy but God has made me worthy!

#3 The Benefits Of Drawing Near

Strength for life’s journey

Transparency - From Him and Me

Direction

Forgiveness

Love

Peace

Joy

Security

Innovation

Creativity

Better Father

Better Mother

Better Spouse

My Singleness looks totally different

Complete

Muture

Major attitude adjustment

My perspective is not the same!