How We Should Draw Close To The Lord

What do people mean when they say that?

They mean that person has an attitude that is not right about some things in his life.

This was exactly what James was saying about people in our text.

For example, many think the Bible condemns people for having money. The Bible does not! HOWEVER, It does condemn some rich people’s ATTITUDE about their wealth. That is, it is wrong when their attitude is that God has blessed them with great riches to hoard up for themselves, and themselves alone.

God gives riches to a man the same way He gives other things. He also gives directions concerning what we do with whatever we are blessed with. I Cor. 10:31 tells us, “...whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

Everything we have been blessed with is to be used to bring glory to God.

Illus: Suppose God gave _____________ a wonderful singing voice. But, suppose his attitude is that God gave him that talent and he does not plan to use it for anyone except himself. Suppose every time _________ sings, he goes into a closet and sings there because he does not want to share his talent with anyone. Would you not say that he had an ATTITUDE problem?

Whatever the Lord blesses us with, He expects us to use it for the purpose of glorifying Him, not ourselves!

Those who take what God has given them and use it selfishly, are like pigs in a pig pen.

Illus: Have you ever watched pigs eat at a hog trough? As soon as the “slop” is poured into the trough, each pig in the pen makes a dash for the trough and tries to suck up all he can before any other pig gets any. Do you think that a pig would stop when the trough is half empty and say to himself, “The other pigs have not had anything yet. I need to quit eating”? No. He just keeps sucking up slop. If another pig comes to the trough, he resents his being there and he might try to run him away.

This the attitude of many rich men. If they could accumulate all the wealth in the world, and leave everyone else penniless, that would be fine with them.

In all fairness, some poor people have that same attitude. They may not have much money, but they are as greedy as some rich men are. You often hear I Timothy 6:10 misquoted so that it sounds as if it applies to only rich folks--”...money is the root of all evil...” However, that scripture applies to all people. Correctly quoted, it says, “For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil...” Again, you will find some poor people who love money as much as some rich people and their ATTITUDE is just as SELFISH.

The RICH MAN and the POOR MAN with a selfish attitude have an ATTITUDE PROBLEM! Their problem is that they are SELFISH! This is something that GOD RESISTS.

Illus: Some are convinced God created them to live selfishly. Their lives are filled with GREED. Some may lust for:

• Food and more food.

• Drink and more drink.

• Drugs and more drugs.

• Sex and more sex.

• Popularity and more popularity.

• Power and more power.

• Vengeance and more vengeance.

• Money and more money.

As you see, lust can be for almost anything, not just money. People lust for different things, but when a man wants other things more than he wants God in his life, then he will not have God. God does not push in where we do not make room for Him! HE RESISTS GOD, and GOD RESISTS HIM.

I. THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR THINGS GOD RESISTS IN PEOPLE’S LIVES.

The people who have these four things in their lives WILL NOT DRAW CLOSE TO THE LORD! What are these things?

A. Lust.

Look at James 4:1. We read, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”

The word “lust” is from the Greek word, “hedonon,” which means: “To crave pleasure and gratification that rages in our bodily members.”

Illus: The analogy here is that the human body is a WALKING CIVIL WAR. That is, within mankind is a yearning, pulling, and urging for something every day other than God.

When a man has these YEARNINGS, PULLINGS, and URGES he can not draw close to the Lord. Such a person is miserable every day.

James 4:1 tells us, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”

Illus: Perhaps you know someone who has accepted the Lord, but he is miserable because he has this spiritual civil war going on inside of him. He DESIRES THE THINGS OF GOD, but ALSO DESIRES THE THINGS OF THE WORLD.