Conditions For Abiding In His Presence

A Sermon For You

A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism

Today’s Sermon Title

Conditions For Abiding In His Presence

By-Evangelist Gary Huckaby D.D.

Please read with me from the book of Psalms, chapter forty-six, and verse ten.

Psalms 46:10; "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Please keep your Bible open as we will be seeing several verses which will teach us the "Conditions For Abiding In His Presence."

(Prayer)

Father in Heaven, help us right now. Bless Your Word to our hearts, convict us of our sins that we may become more like You. Fill us with Thy Spirit, save the lost, and revive the saved. In Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, I ask. Amen!

Would you look with me at seven conditions for abiding in His presence today? Are you hungry for God’s presence upon you each and every day. Every hour, and every moment? Is it possible to know God’s presence like this? If I recognize God’s presence, what will it do for me, and to me? Will others know that God’s presence abides with me? Many questions can be asked when we speak of knowing the continual presence of the Almighty. Today, however, I am not as concerned with answering these questions in a direct way, but I believe that you will see the answers to them in our focus on conditions for abiding in His presence.

(1)

Be Pure In Heart

Matthew 5:8; "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

F.B.Meyer said; "Permitted sin encrust the windows of one’s soul with thick layers of grime, obscuring the vision of God."

You had better be pure in heart if you ever expect to know the continuing presence of God. Be honest with Him, He already knows your every deed, thought and desire, so why not be honest when you approach him? Be Pure in Heart if you expect God to reveal Himself to you. If you are exalting yourself to be something that you are not, you are not pure in heart. If you are at the place where you think you are better than others, you are not pure in heart. If you think that God loves you more than a lost sinner, you are not pure in heart. If you get to the place where you think your ministry can’t do without you, you are not pure in heart. When you think that your neighbors are not as righteous as you are, then you my friends are not pure in heart. The Word of God tells us that all are sinners, and that there is none righteous, no not one.

To be pure in heart, you have to be honest with God, and with yourself. Just because you have a higher education, or if you have no education at all does not mean that your heart is pure. Only those who are honest before the Lord will ever be of a pure heart. When we are pure in heart, we don’t need to deceive to do the right things in our lives. Just because you are prosperous in material things does not mean that you are pure in heart, nor just because you live in poverty means that you have a pure heart.. But if you have placed all at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, then is your heart pure in God’s sight. If you want to know the first condition for abiding in His presence, then it must be noted that we first have to be "Pure In Heart."

(2)

Keep His Commandments

1John 2:3; "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments."

There are many believers today that want to know the abiding presence of God outside of keeping His commandments. Many today claim that because we are not under the law of God, that it has no relevance to us anymore. Listen my friends, While it is true thatJesus fulfilled the law, and that He opened to us a better way, that in itself never does away with God’s commandments. They are set in order forever. In Heaven, God’s laws will continue to work as God set them into existence. In eternity God’s laws will go one unbroken. God’s commandments are God’s laws, and they are given to us that we might have God’s best, not just to bring judgment when they are broken. The judgment comes from our failure to keep God’s commandments, and His law is unchanging and universal to all who have, or ever will be born. Are you keeping God’s commandments? If you are to know the abiding presence of God, then you must keep His commandments. Our verse tells us here that keeping His commandments reassures that "we know Him." Not keeping His commandments is then showing that you do not know Him. How can you expect to abide in His presence unless you know Christ. For Christ is God. Verse 4 of 1 John 2, then tells us that if you say you know Him and do not keep His commandments, that you are a liar, and the truth is not in you. If we are to know the continual abiding presence of God, then we must keep His commandments.