Resist Satan and Draw Near to God

Let me ask you a question as we begin the sermon here today.

What progress did you make during the Days of Unleavened Bread? Did you spiritually make progress? Did we understand ourselves better after going through these seven days? Did we learn lessons? Well, hopefully all of us were able to take this seven-day period a week and really concentrate on ourselves, come to have a deeper relationship with Christ, understanding more fully His sacrifice, commitment that He made to us. Let's go back to 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 8. 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 8. Here we read about the spiritual implication of keeping this festival. Paul says, Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now we know according to John 1717, Thy word is truth. So if we're going to keep the Days of Unleavened Bread and by extension a reflection of that in our lives, then it should be according to the truth. It's got to be based upon God's Word and directed in that way. But also it says, according to the Unleavened Bread of sincerity. Now it's interesting that the word sincerity means spotless, purity of motives. Actually, you look at the noun in the adjective of this word. The adjective of the Greek word is a compound word. One meaning sunlight and the second meaning to test are to judge. So when it talks about sincerity, it means that what we do can be tested in the sunlight, in other words, it can be hauled out into the light of day for observation, so that we know that it's absolutely pure, that it's unmixed, that it's honest. See, the Bible says those who do evil do it when? In the broad daylight, so everybody can see it? No, they do it at night. They do it in the darkness. They try to hide their evil deeds. So this particular word implies that you and I, if our deeds were hauled out into the public, if they were displayed for everybody to take a look at, that we wouldn't be ashamed of them.

They would pass the daylight test. That's what we are striving for.

It is a symbol of the new and the pure and the authentic spiritual life, based upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that you and I should be observing.

Now, when you look at how the Apostle Paul uses the noun and the adjective of this word, you find the words in his writing, they almost always refer to his apostleship.

Let's go over to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 12. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 12.

It says, for our boasting is this, that the testimony of our conscience, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you.

Paul said his example in the world, how he treated them, how he treated the church. You might remember he did not take tithes of many of the congregations.

He received tithes from other groups or other congregations, but not from some. He wanted to prove to them that he wasn't in it for the money. And so he had godly sincerity. In chapter 2, verse 17, he said, So the Apostle Paul proclaimed that he spoke God's word in sincerity. He didn't have false motives. He wasn't out trying to get something from the people, but he wanted to share the hope of eternal life, the message about the kingdom of God, and the good news of the world tomorrow.

Now, brethren, as we face the future, in other words, these days are past now. I'm not sure how many of you have been able to run out and eat some leavening, but you probably didn't get to do that unless you went out for breakfast this morning.

But as we face the future, we begin to strive for the kingdom of God. We all have the desire to grow spiritually. We don't want to stagnate. We don't want to fall back. We don't want to just regress, but we want to mature, as the Bible says. We want to go on to perfection.

So, we want to be in the resurrection, the family of God, forever. That should be our daily goal, our daily purpose.

Now, the fundamental question we want to take a look at today is this. Where does our mind live?

Where does your mind live? What do I mean? Where does your mind live? Where is it? What do you think about all the time? What's going through your thoughts? What motivates you? What is your attitude? What drives you?

We're talking here about our thoughts, our motives, our attitude, and all of those are the springboard for action, for works, for good deeds, for things that we do. Our actions spring forth from those.

So, what fundamental approach can we use to make sure that we don't just go through seven days and then put those seven days behind us, forget about them, and then we just sort of proceed on as is without truly changing?

As I mentioned yesterday on the Last Holy Day, we need to deal with major aspects of our lives, major areas. Not that we should not think that anything we do wrong is not important, but there are a lot of areas of our lives that we need to really tackle.

And if we can get on top of those, actually a lot of the smaller things disappear because they flow out of some of the wrong attitudes or some of the wrong approaches that we might have.

We need to make sure that we don't just rely upon our own ability and talent and skills and not completely rely upon God and His Spirit.

I've known some men in the Church, and many of these were in the ministry, who were exceedingly talented, had sharp minds, could remember everything, were excellent speakers, and yet, for some reason, did not endure.

In many cases, they relied upon their own abilities, their own talents.

And I had to stop and have stopped and thought about it over the years.

What if those men had truly yielded to God in every facet of their lives? What a wonderful, powerful instrument they could have been that God could have used.

And the same thing is true, I think, of all of us.

It used to be a saying when I went to Ambassador College. It is yet to be seen what God can do with a man who completely yields to him.

We all struggle, and I don't know of any of us. We try in our minds and our hearts, but we fall short. And yet, that's a goal that we strive for.

What fundamental approach can we, as we march into the future, use to overcome so that it becomes a habit with us?

Well, look at some of the major sins that we need to look out for. Things like pride, vanity, as was mentioned yesterday by Jim, bitterness, cares of this world, our own ideas, our own doctrines. I call them little babies. We get an idea, and it's contrary to what the church teaches or the Bible teaches.

And yet, we nourish it, and it grows. And the first thing you know, you've had a baby, and you won't give it up, and it becomes your pet peeve.

Has it ever occurred to us as human beings, and I think many of us realize this, but certainly many in the world do not, that God isn't just standing out there saying, You all come. Not now. He will in the future. Right now, God is working with only a handful.

And the Bible tells us that not only is God not calling everybody today, but that God resists some people. That there are people that God says, I'm against you. And He resists those people.

He doesn't just accept us as we are. I don't know if you remember the old hymnal, just as I am.

I have a problem with the next line, because it says, Without one plea. And I always change it to one plea.

So it's just one of those things that runs through my mind. But God, who does God resist?

Well, let's go back to the book of James, James chapter 4, and begin to read in verse 6, James chapter 4 and verse 6. It says, But He gives more grace. Therefore, He says, God resists the proud. So there's a category of people that God resists.

But He gives grace to the humble. God is willing to extend mercy, forgiveness, love to those who are humble.

Now, in Proverbs 16, verse 5, there are a number of scriptures we could read along this line, but just to illustrate the point, Proverbs 16, verse 5, we read this.

Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.

An abomination is something that God dislikes. You might say an abomination is something that God hates even more than just certain attitudes.

When God abominates something, it means He doesn't like it. And so God says the proud in heart.

The ESV translates this as saying, everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured that He will not go unpunished.

So the Bible is very clear that there is a class of people that God will deal with and will resist.

So one of the things that we want to make sure of is we proceed through this coming year, and that is that we're not motivated by our pride.

Now you might say, well, I understand that. That's not something I've ever had a problem with.

But I would say you don't understand pride if you take that approach. And I don't think most of us do. Let's notice 1 Peter 5 and verse 5.

It says, likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. So again, we find humility is what God is looking for in us.

So if you wanted to begin to develop a category, on one side we have humility, on the other side we have pride.

They're the opposite of each other.

So we read, God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. So Peter quotes the same Scripture that James does here. So God resists the proud. The word resists here means He is in opposition to.

Be like two teams playing against one another.

And they're in opposition to each other. One's trying to keep the other team from scoring. The other team's trying to score. Well, God is in opposition to the proud.

Now, we're also told back here in 1 Timothy chapter 3, 1 Timothy 3, that when it comes to ordaining someone, that we need to be careful.

In verse 1, it says, This is a faithful saying, that if a man desires a position of a bishop, you'll notice the margin says, overseer or a bishop. He desires a good work. An overseer or bishop is one who has a responsibility overseeing a local congregation or church.

Then it begins to give the qualifications of this individual what to look for.

But let's drop down to verse 6.

Verse 6 says, This is not a novice. Now, a novice is one who is a new convert.

Hasn't been baptized too long.

So not a novice.

Less being puffed up.

See, the problem is, if you get too much, too soon, too fast, it is the human tendency to get puffed up and say, I've only been around three or four years.

Look, these people, they've been around 20 or 30.

I've already been ordained. I've already been given a responsibility to do this or that.

Therefore, you begin to think that you're something.

And so, he says, Not a novice. Less being puffed up with pride.

He fall into the same condemnation as the devil.

See, this was Lucifer's problem, as we discussed yesterday. Let's go back again to Isaiah 14 and verse 13.

Now, let's notice where this attitude comes from.

The attitude of pride, vanity.

Isaiah 14. And we'll begin to read here in verse 13.

It says, For you have set in your heart, this Lucifer, and you'll notice in verse 12, how he had fallen from heaven.

It says, You have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, sun of the morning, how you cut down to the ground.

For you have set in your heart, I will ascend into the heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I'm going to be above all the other angels.

I'm more beautiful, I'm wiser, more powerful, I can sing better. You know, I've got it all. I've got the complete package. I should be over all of them.

I also will sit on the Mount of the Congregation, on the furthest sides of the North.

I will ascend above the height of the cloud, and I will be like the Most High.

So he wanted to be just like God.

He doesn't say he was going to get rid of God, although that would be what would come along, but he'd be like him. They would share responsibility, and he would have just as much authority, just as much power.

Now, I want you to notice what his problem was. It says, you have said in your heart, he had a heart problem.

Somewhere, at some point, Lucifer, who was created perfect, who was created with all types of talents, and abilities, and skills, began to look at that and become envious of God, and what God had. And that God was up there, millions of angels, worshipping him around his throne, coming and going, lightning crackling, beauty, just brilliant colors, and all of this at the very throne of God. And here he was delegated down here to the earth, and his angels. I should have more than that. I'm worthy of more than that. And so he rebelled. He was not satisfied with the purpose for which he was created.

He was created for a specific purpose and job, and he became disheartened with that, and he wanted more.

Now, look at what pride does to a human being on the human level.

If a person has pride. What is pride, anyway? Well, there are all kinds of definitions you can give. Part of the problem is, we can see somebody who's arrogant, believes he's more important than somebody else, and it's very obvious to us that person's filled with pride. But you know what? One of the most difficult sins to find is one that you don't realize that you have, and pride is one of those. It is a fixation with the self. Our mind is focused, fixed, locked in on the self. And most human beings tend to be that way. It's the opposite of humility. Humility is recognizing who we are. We're just bags of dust. We're human beings. We're dirt. God has given us a mind. And realizing our worth compared to God. When we compare ourselves to God, we're nothing. And so God is all-powerful, almighty. And so it's a matter of having the proper perspective of ourselves. But humans tend to be fixated on themselves. The sin of pride manifests itself in selfish motives. And the motives begin to be all around the self. And what I want, and not thinking of others. You see, in order to have a servant attitude, which we're all supposed to have, it doesn't mean that if you see a chair out of line, you straighten it up. You know, that's part of it, maybe. Or if you see a need, you take care of it. It means you have a servant attitude. You are a servant. A man who was a slave back in the early days of this country knew he was a slave. If you were an indentured servant, you knew you were an indentured servant. And we must have the attitude and know that we truly are servants. That's a way of life, a calling that God has given to us. Pride is an exaggerated ego, a low opinion of others, a very high opinion of the self. All of that figures into pride. And it basically comes back to a lack of respect for God. Because we're not viewing things from God's perspective, how he thinks of it, what he says, but strictly from the human perspective.

It can lead to other sins against God, for example. If we are that way, very seldom will we ever give glory to God or thank God or be grateful. Occasionally we'll say, well, thank you, Father, and for whatever it is. But our prayers, if we truly are thankful, are almost always, every day, filled with that attitude of expressing that to God. So as we go through this next year, we certainly don't want God opposing us or resisting us. We want God's help. We need God's strength. We need His power. We need His assistance. How do we accomplish that? Well, let's go back to the book of James again.

James actually, in chapter 4, gives a formula that always works.

I was thinking about this this morning, and I thought, well, what kind of formula could I come up with? E equals mc square, and you try to come up with something, but I didn't come up with a mathematical formula for this.

But all of us want to make sure that we accelerate our spiritual growth and develop, and that we don't fall back. So let's begin in verse 6 here again.

James 4, verse 6, where it says, He gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, that little word, therefore, is in the Greek. And therefore ties what has gone on before with the next few verses.

Now, backing up, actually, to verse 1, he talks about wars and fighting. Where do they come from? Don't they come from wrong desires for pleasure, the war in your members?

You lust, you don't have, you don't ask, you ask amiss. He talks about spiritual adultery, friendship of this world, his enmity with God. And if one is a friend of the world, he makes himself an enemy of God.

So he says, God gives grace, therefore, he says, he will resist the proud. And all of these problems you see listed here before flow from pride. People going to war, taking from others, thinking that they want it. You got it? I want it.

Therefore, we're told that we need to do a couple of things. Submit to God. So you and I are commanded to submit to God. The word submit is a military term, and it has a literal meaning, to rank under.

If you're a private, you're under everybody. Corporal, sergeant, you name it, you go on up in the ladder, you're just under everybody. And that's what this word means, to rank under.

The verb, as it is in this verse, is in the passive voice, and it suggests that our submission here is not forced, but voluntary. God is looking for us to yield ourselves to him, to be submissive. The command here is to willingly and joyfully submit, place ourselves in the ranks of those that God is calling, and to be under his authority. Jesus Christ, you might say, is the leading general, he's the commander, he's in charge, and so we have to be under him.

Now, notice, it goes on to say, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

So we're told to submit to God, and if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. So isn't that what we're all looking for? Satan to get away from us? To flee? To get out of here? We don't want him around? So that he's not anywhere near us?

The word resist or oppose is also a military term. They describe a full army ready for battle. So, it's describing here, resist or the word resist here means to oppose again. God is in full battle against the proud, and they're already in his scope, and he has a very good aim when it comes to dealing with them. So the question is, how do you draw near to God? How do we draw near to God? Let's notice in verse 7. It says, Therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. So notice the absolute promise that is given to us. Here's God. You go over here and get close to him, and he'll get close to you. If you resist the devil over here, then he's going to turn around and tuck his tail between his legs, and he's out of here. So, that's the best scenario. Get rid of the devil, stay close to God. And so that is exactly what you and I need to be doing. So the question is, how do we draw near to God? Because as we draw near to God, he draws near to us. It's like a magnet. The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you. And finally, boom! The other two of you meet. And this is exactly what we're looking for. You resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So the question is, how do you resist the devil? So we've got two questions here. How to draw near to God, and how to resist the devil. Because how those questions are answered hinges how well we might be doing this coming year, spiritually. In 1 Peter chapter 5 again, notice in verse 8, we are commanded this. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, so he is an adversary, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith. So we are told to resist him, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Every one of us sitting here is going through the same thing. Our trials, our tests, our temptations, all of those come along, and they may differ, but we're all going through them. We're all faced with them. So we are told to resist the devil. The word there again means stand in opposition against him. To resist by actively opposing pressure or power. He puts pressure, temptation on us. We are to actively resist that. Go back to Ephesians 6 and verse 13. Ephesians 6 and verse 12. It says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Flesh and blood of the human beings aren't truly our enemies, but against principalities, against powers, against the ruler of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to withstand. The word withstand in the Greek is the same word as to resist or to oppose. So, you and I may be able to oppose him. So, what is one of the ways that we oppose the devil? I don't have time today to go through the rest of Ephesians 6, but it's very clear that we need to put on the whole armor of God.

If we're going to stand out and do battle, we need the armor of God on. So, he talks about being gird with the truth, breastplate of righteousness, our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, and helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and then praying always. So, those are the things that we're commanded to do. If we do that diligently, it wouldn't be bad to list those on a sheet of paper or on a card, stick it somewhere that you see it every day, and where you're reminded of what you need to be doing. And if we do this, the Bible says we will be able to resist, to oppose, to withstand the devil. So, let's take a look at these two approaches and discuss a little more in detail how to resist the devil, and how do we draw near to God. To submit to God, you have to submit to Him as your new master, to resist your former master, who was Satan the devil. So, the first two commands that we read, and let's go back to James again, the book of James here, chapter 4, actually work in tandem. We're told, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. So, part of Satan fleeing from us is, again, submitting ourselves to God. We submit to God, we resist the devil, and it's sort of like one fluid motion. Then, he will flee. Again, the word resist literally means to stand against, to oppose, to be in opposition. It has the same basic force as what God does with the proud. God resists the proud, so we are to withstand or resist Satan. Now, you and I are to resist the devil and his temptations. For us, for the believer, it's a matter of spiritual life and death. If we resist him, resisting the devil is really not a trivial matter. It is an extremely important matter. It has to do with our private thought life. In other words, what is going on in our mind and our personal morality and light of obedience to God's word. So, it encompasses all of that. How did Jesus Christ resist the temptations of Satan the devil? We covered that yesterday. But just as a reminder, one of the ways that he was able to resist Satan, he was close to God. He had established that relationship with God. Draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Well, there was no closer relationship in the universe than God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, when Christ walked his earth.

We read some of the scriptures that would indicate that. So, he was close to God in prayer and in Bible study. So, what happened when temptations came up? When Satan threw these temptations, he said, Look, you've fasted 40 days, 40 nights. You shouldn't have to go any longer. Turn these stones into bread. And so, Christ quoted scripture to him. That you're not to live by bread alone.

And then, you know, he tried to appeal to his vanity and his pride and all of that. So, Jesus Christ, on each occasion, was able to quote scripture back to him. What about us? When we are confronted with a temptation or a problem, and we're tempted to deviate, to go off, not to do what is right, can we quote scripture? Can we go over scriptures in our own mind and quote them to ourselves? Do we remember spiritual principles or scriptural principles and verses when a temptation or a trial comes around? Do we remind ourselves of God's promise and the values and the standards that God has set?

What if we are about to lose our temper and smack somebody? Now, hopefully nobody would do that, but it has been known to happen. What if you happen to remember some of the scriptures dealing with getting angry? If you grab a dog's ear, what's going to happen to you? You're going to be bitten. And you can have a number of scriptures. You might think, well, I can't think of, for every problem that might come up, the scriptures.

But all of us know what our own personal weaknesses are, don't we? You know what your weaknesses are. How about learning some scriptures dealing with that particular topic, that particular subject, so that when it comes up, you've got the ammunition to be able to stand against the temptation. We have to perhaps memorize scriptures. Now, here recently, we put in an order for scripture cards. And when I was out there, I was hoping to pick them up, but they had to do a second order. They did 1,200 to start with. They've had to do 800 more. So, a lot of people are getting those scripture cards.

I don't know how many of you still have some of the old scripture cards from the past. I've got two or three sets. And maybe you had the old, memorize the Bible, where the major chapters of the Bible you try to memorize, so that you would remember where they were.

Do we constantly remind ourselves of God's promises? Seek you first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added. When you're tempted not to tithe because things are going bad that month. And you say, well, God says, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So, what should I do? Should I put that second, or should I put that first? Well, scripture is very clear. So, you go ahead and do what the scripture tells you.

So, Christ quoted the scripture. It was like having ammunition to fight against the lion. If you're out in the bush and you're a lion hunting, and a lion comes around, and you say, there he is, you don't have any ammunition in your gun, you're dead. You're in trouble. So, you want to have as much ammunition ready and available to deal with that lion when he comes around. We all have some problems. And let's face it, sometimes we have some problems that are deep problems.

Are deep emotional, psychological things that we might be working on. Be assured that this is where Satan the devil will attack you. What does Satan come after? He comes after our weak points. He doesn't necessarily come after our strong points, but wherever we're weak. So, my weakness may be your strength, and your strength may be my weakness. You know, vice versa. We have to realize that we all have certain weaknesses, we all have certain strengths. A lion will go after the weak. I've seen enough of these nature programs.

Seems like almost every nature program is somebody eating somebody else. One animal killing another animal and eating it, whether it's a crocodile, alligator, or a lion, or a leopard, or cheetah, whatever it might be. You find that if there is a weak animal, they zero in on that animal. The strong are able to get away. The weak don't. So, you and I have to resist, as we read back in 1 Peter 5 and verse 9, resist the lion in the faith. The word faith there is referring to belief or scriptures, God's direction.

We have to believe the scriptures. We should be associating with those who believe the scriptures. We can never defeat Satan as the tempters if we are loners. That's another thing you find in looking at some of these shows. An animal that's out there by itself, what chance does it have with the pack of lions that begin to circle? What chance does a person have who says, Well, I'm just going to go out here and be alone.

I don't need a church. I don't need anybody else. It's you and me, Lord. It's not you and me, Lord. We're part of the body. We have a responsibility and a duty to carry out. So, for loners, an animal cut off from the herd again has very little chance of escaping a predator. There is strength in the herd. There is strength in the numbers.

And there is strength in the body of Christ. There's strength from the point of view. We might come and we're down. Others will come along and they'll encourage us. They'll build us up. We all occasionally need someone to pick up the phone, call us, ask us how we're doing, encourage us. So, that's the way the body can help one another. Another way that we give in to the tempter is if we just give in a little bit.

Not a whole lot. Just a little bit. And that's easy to do. If there's something that we know that we shouldn't do, such as looking at pornography on the internet, well, it won't hurt to look at semi-pornography. And then you begin to look at that. I didn't go over and look at anything else.

I just looked at that. So you've just looked at a little. And Satan begins to put ideas in your mind. He begins to work on you. The first thing you know, next time it's a little easier. So you go and you watch two or three, or whatever it might be.

So we begin to compromise, and just a little. Instead of tithing 10%, we give 5%. Whatever it might be, I've seen this over the years. And if we don't go all the way when a temptation is there, we think, well, I've gotten by this. And maybe we did, but any time you lower the barriers, you make it easier the next time around. Another way of defeating the tempter is we must listen to our leader. And our leader is Jesus Christ. We must follow our head.

Because he tells us how to live. He tells us what to do. Jesus Christ is in charge. And as his army marches on, he directs us. The way to conquer a temptation is to attack the cause, not just the effect. Something happens to us. See, this is the way the government works, isn't it?

All at once we find out that we're deep in debt. We borrowed $14 trillion. Now, how are we going to get out of debt? Well, wouldn't it have been better not to get into debt in the first place? So that we wouldn't have this problem to start with. It's better not to have to pay off $14.3 billion, or trillion dollars, I should say. Than to have never gotten there.

It's just much, much easier. So we need to attack the cause, not just the effect, or the result, or the penalty. Now, the penalty comes along, the result, so that we know what we've done wrong. You get slapped up the side of the head with a penalty. Well, you know, I shouldn't have done that. And God will do what we need to be able to bring us to our senses. But it's best to attack the cause. What do I mean by cause? I'll give you another example. Your paycheck comes in. You haven't been able to set aside second time.

It just seems that you can meet your bills, but you can't set aside that festival time. So, you know, well, maybe the next paycheck comes. It doesn't get set aside. And so you keep rocking on this way. Feast comes around the corner. You take your last couple of paychecks, and you go to the feast. Well, what would you do to fight that if that's a temptation, if that's a problem?

I think I would have an automatic savings account and have my employer automatically deposit into that savings account the amount of the festival time, second time. That way it's not a temptation. All you see in your paycheck is what? What you get. Not, you know, the first and second time, and you're having trouble with the second, but it's already been taken out.

So, if we know that we're going to have a problem with something, it's going to be a temptation. It's something we're going to stumble over. It's going to be a problem to us. Sit down and think about it. How can I face this and prevent it from being a temptation in this way? I'd like for all of us this coming week, you know, if your family, to discuss this very topic.

How can we resist Satan the devil? What can you do? What can I do? Okay, how do we then, as James 4 says here, verse 8, how do we draw near to God? How do you draw near to God? This isn't just a statement about your proximity to God. If it were, well, let's go find out where God is, and let's go move over there and get close to Him. Well, we know that God's in the third heaven, so that's not an option. So you and I need to get close to God, and we need to move closer to Him.

This is a statement about the orientation of our heart, the orientation of our mind. That, as Jacob was bringing out in the sermonette, that we need to saturate our thoughts, our mind, with God's Word, and do what God says in His Word.

We need to think about and meditate on His Word. Meditation, again, is simply taking a principle or read a chapter and stop and think about it. Ask yourself some key questions. How does this apply to me? How does it apply to my family if you're married? How is it going to be applied in the world tomorrow? What if every human being kept this principle? What kind of a world would it be? Is this something we'll do for all eternity? You begin to think about this, and you begin to expand it, and you begin to add depth to it.

You begin to add understanding, and you saturate your mind with it. So we think about God. We think about His Word. We think about what we have read. So I asked the question to begin with, where does your mind live? Where is it all the time? Is it with God? The Bible says to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life. So you and I need to be thinking about the spiritual.

What does the book of Philippians say? Think on these things, and then it gives you a whole list of things to think about, doesn't it? You might want to go back and read that this week. We're all influenced by the world, by society around us.

We're influenced by the Internet, by images, by temptations, the culture, the society, by other people. It's easy to begin to become envious of the rich. Say, it's not fair. We all should have the same. It's easy to do those type of things. But you and I need to take time throughout the day to pray to God. We need to be able to get down on our knees. You should never walk out of the house in the morning without having prayed. It may not be a long prayer, but you get down on your knees and you say, Help!

I need your guidance, your direction, your protection. Be with me. Stir up your spirit in me. Help me. And so you think about it. Nothing wrong if you have a Bible on CDs to pop those in your car and occasionally listen to someone reading the Bible as you're driving along. You can download booklets and listen to a booklet in the car. There are any number of things that you can begin to do.

Obviously, we all have jobs. We drive cars. You have to concentrate on what you're doing. If you are a butcher, you don't want to be your mind wandering off somewhere and you're going whack, whack, because you may butcher yourself.

So you've got to concentrate, obviously. But there are times throughout the day that you can stop. You can take a minute or two. You can think. We can all pray to God, as the Bible says, to be instant in prayer. We can be instant in praying to God. We need to start the day off by drawing near to God. Remember Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 10.

Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 10. It says to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. So what God is doing with us, in us, in our conversion, in our changing, the angelic hosts are looking and watching and observing. It says, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So Christ coming to this earth and dying and giving his life as a sacrifice was according to the eternal purpose of God, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

So, brethren, we have confidence, we have access. We can boldly come before the throne of grace and know that God hears us.

So our Father wants to hear from us. When you have children at home, do you want them to just go around throughout the day and never speak to you?

No, you want to know how their day went, what happened. You want to hear everything that they've been doing. So you have access to God. The all-powerful, almighty God waits for us. He wants to hear from us. He wants to help us.

And yet, as we read, God resists the proud, but He's anxious to give grace to the humble. Now, let's notice also, as you go on in verse 8 here, it also shows you how to draw closer to God throughout the rest of this verse. This whole section goes together. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. In other words, clean yourself up. That's talking about repenting. It's talking about using the Word of God, the Bible, to show you how to live and what to do. Purify your hearts. Have right motives, pure motives. So we cleanse our hands and we purify our hearts. It says you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. That's talking about whenever we do something that's really wrong, that we need not to rejoice, but we need to humble ourselves before God. But I want you to notice, He says, you double-minded. God does not want us to be double-minded. In the Greek, this word is, in a general sense, talking about an unstable person.

Such a person suffers from divided loyalties. That's why He's unstable. On the one hand, He wishes to be religious. He desires to be in the presence of God, to obey God. On the other hand, He's still got a foot in the world, still sort of dabbling over here.

And certain morals, principles of the world, that He still wants to hold on to. God says you can't be double-minded. You have to be single-minded. And again, Luke 14, 26, we are told that we are to love God above all, even our own lives. So we have to put God first. As 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5 tells us, 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 5, verse 4 says, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they are not physical, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, and casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought in captivity to the obedience of Christ. So God wants us to bring every thought into obedience. So we cannot be double-minded. We may stumble, we may fall, but our overall purpose must be to head for the kingdom of God for the promised land.

Let's conclude here today by turning to Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 1. Hebrews chapter 12. We read here about Christ and His example. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, talking about the men and women of faith in chapter 11, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us. It's easy to fall into sin. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. You don't want to carry around a lot of weight if you're running a race. It's an unfair advantage if you've got a 10-pound weight in each hand. Nobody else does, and you're running the race. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. See, He's the one who's going to accomplish it. He begins it, and He's the finisher of it. Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God? He knew what the kingdom of God was all about. What being a glorified spirit being was like. He had been there. And so, for the joy that was set before Him, He was willing to endure that. For consider Him who endured such hostilities from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your soul. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

So we're told not to become weary. And isn't that exactly the problem that we can find ourselves falling into? The word weary means, to literally, to become tired in spirit. You just become tired. What happens when you go out here and you work too hard to labor outside? Maybe you're not used to it, and you get tired. Well, you want to come back to it, and you're tired and you're weary. Well, we can become spiritually weary. It means to gradually lose one motivation to accomplish some goal, to become discouraged, to become tired of. And we can be running this race towards God's kingdom, and we can become weary and tired in spirit. The word discouraged is almost the same thing. It means to lose one's motivation to accomplish some valid goal, to become discouraged, to lose heart, to give up, to just give up and quit. Well, it says, we have not yet resisted the bloodshed, or not yet resisted the point of being killed. We haven't come to the point where they said, you give it up, or we're going to skin you alive, or we're going to shoot you or nail you to a stake. All of the apostles, except John, from what we understand, were martyred in that way. Christ was martyred, meaning the first century were. And it's going to occur again in the future. So we are admonished in chapter 13 and verse 5, 13 and verse 5 of the book of Hebrews, Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So that's a promise. God is not going to leave us. We can draw near to him. If we do, he will draw near to us. And when we draw near to him, we will be resisting the devil and he will flee. So, brethren, this coming year, we need to make sure that we are resisting the temptations of Satan the devil and that we are drawing near to God. And if we do, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me.