However, one reason a new year is wonderful is because many are more than glad to say goodbye to last year.
• Due to some deaths in their families
• Due to the death of good friends
• Due to loss of jobs
• Sickness
• Disappointments
• Due to the economy
They are ready to say goodbye to last year and they look forward to a new year.
But we have no gurantee next year will be any better than last year.
Illus: However, Robert Garrett lists several things that if they are to happen to us it may be a bad year to come.
For example…
• You see a “60 minutes” news team waiting in your office;
• Your birthday cake collapses under the weight of all the candles;
• You wake up and find that your waterbed broke, only to realize later that you have box-springs;
• Your income tax return check bounces;
• Your twin brother or sister forgets your birthday;
• The bird singing outside your window is a buzzard!
Now, if any or all of these things were to happen to any of us we may have a right to consider this next year a bit ominous (om·i·nous).
Seriously though, as many of us considered resolutions for the New Year, did you take the time to consider what the Lord would have you to do this New Year?
In recent years as a pastor I can remember when christians would come to me and say, “Pastor pray for me, I want to have a closer walk with the Lord!
But I have not heard that prayer request lately from christians.
• I sad to say, I don’t sense that longing among God’s people today who want more of God in their life. I wish I did!
• I don’t see people at the altar crying out to God with tears running down their cheeks crying out to God they want more of God in their life.
• I don’t hear Christians asking their friends to pray for them because they want more of God in their life.
It could be the reason for some we do not see this desire for a close relationship with the Lord is because some have never experience a close relationship with the Lord. You see, how can they desire for something they do not know anything about!!!
What I do see is a complacency where Christians today are very much content with their Christian life lacking a close walk with God.
WHEN CAN A PERSON HAVE A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD?
Illus: There is an ancient tale from India about a young man who was seeking to have a close walk with the Lord. He went to a wise old minister for help and asked, “How can I have a close walk with the Lord?”
The old minister took him to a nearby river. Out they waded into the deep water. Soon the water was up just under their chins.
Suddenly the old minister seized the young man by the neck and pushed him under the water. He held the young man down until he was flailing the water in desperation. Another minute and he may well have drowned. Up out of the water the two of them came.
The young man was coughing water from his lungs and still gasping for air.
• Reaching the bank he asked the old minister, indignantly, “What did that have to do with me wanting a close walk with God?”
• The old man asked him quietly, “While you were under the water, what did you want more than anything else?”
• The young man thought for a few seconds and then answered, “I wanted air. I wanted air more than anything else!”
• The old man replied, “When you want a close walk with God as much as you wanted air, you can have a close walk with God.”
This was basically what David said in Psalm 63:1. We read, “...O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land...”
Notice, he is not thirsting for the things of the world.
There are christians who have never experience close walk with the Lord because there every desire is what this world has to offer.
But notice the prayer from David, He said, “…MY SOUL THRISTETH FOR THEE…”
Thirst brings desperation!!!
Illus: Dr. Odell BelgerI was watching a cowboy movie the other night where a group of men in the desert found gold. But they lost their horses and their water when the indians atacked them. and one of the men said, I WOULD GIVE EVERY BIT OF THIS GOLD FOR ONE CANTEEN FULL OF WATER.
Yes, thirst brings desperation. When a man is thirsty he will do anything to find water.
And David said, “…MY SOUL THRISTETH FOR THEE…”
The Bible tells us that Enoch had a close walk with the Lord.
Genesis 5:22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. Notice this about Enoch.
(1) He gave birth to Methuselah when he was three hundred years old.
(humor)When I get to heaven I want to shake his hand.
(2) Also, imagine spending 300 earthly years in close fellowship with the Lord—
• Obeying His commands,
• Learning His ways
• And caring for the things that most concern Him.
That was Enoch’s life.
But the Bible also says Enoch walk with God and one day as they were walking, God might have said to him, Enoch we are closer to my house than your house and we read in Genesis 5:24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Scripture tells us that Enoch did not experience an earthly death. According to Genesis 5:24 Instead, “he disappeared, because God took him”.
Illus: I sincerely believe that most christians want more of God in their life, but they ALSO want many things of the world in their life more!!!
God is on their list of things they want but God is not on the top of their list.
We can never have a close walk with the Lord until we THIRST FOR THE THINGS OF GOD.
I am going to assume everyone here want God in your life in a greater way than last year.
Did you know the Bible tells us how that can be accomplished?
Take a close look at our text again, James 4:8. We read, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you...”
Notice, God places the first step of responsibility on us. He tells us to draw nigh to Him, then He will draw nigh to us.
Why do we have to make the first step?
Well, actually we are not making the first step.
When the Lord Jesus stepped out of heaven onto this earth, HE MADE THE FIRST STEP.
He lived, died for our sins, and was resurrected! He can do no more than He has done to draw us to Himself.
If you are going to have a closer walk with God the ball is in your court. It is up to you!
Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. According to this scripture you are as close to God as you want to be.
Illus: An elderly couple were out on a Sunday afternoon drive, and the wife says to her husband "honey, why is it that when we were first married, we sat so close together when we were riding in the car?
The husband replied "I didn't move!”
There are many reasons we should draw “nigh,” or close to, God…
I.BECAUSE OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE.
One of the first thing we do at the beginning of a New Year is to make sure we have a calendar for the coming year.
We use this calendar to plan our:
• Meetings
• Plan our vacations
• To remind us of birtdays and anniverses
• Plan events
and a host of other things on our Calendars.
We use to use the Julian Calendar, but it was replaced because it was too inaccurate. It did not properly reflect the actual time it takes the Earth to orbit once around the Sun, known as a tropical year.
In America we use the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian Calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today.
It is a solar calendar based on a 365-day common year divided into 12 months of irregular lengths.
• 11 of the months have either 30 or 31 days,
• While the second month, February, has only 28 days during the common year.
• Every four years is a leap year, when one extra day, is added on 29 February, making the leap year in the Gregorian calendar 366 days long.
The international standard is to start the week on Monday. However, several countries, including the US and Canada, count Sunday as the first day of the week.
The Bible tells us in Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
We use the calendar to number our days.
Why is that Important?
Because we can let weeks, months and years go by and live a wasted life.
Life is short!!!
Job 7:6 Job compares the brevity of life to a weaver’s shuttle, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,”
Illus: Here Job compares the brevity of life to being as fast as a needle on a sewing machine that the needle bobs up and down so fast that it would be impossible to count the strokes that it makes.
Job says that life goes by just that fast.
Illus: Someone said:
• When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
• When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.
• When I became a full grown man, time ran.
• And later as I older grew, time flew.
• Soon I shall find while traveling on, time gone
We have all heard people say about time...TIME FLIES!
• To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
• To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a pre-mature baby.
• To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
• To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.
• To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
• To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
• To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
Treasure every moment that you have!
Did you notice, when you were growing up, it seemed that it took forever to reach the age of sixteen. But, once you reached that age, it seemed as if you had a birthday every six months?
It is amazing how fast a person can get from 16 to 70.
Job must have been impressed by this. In Job 14:1, he said, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days...”
Illus: Older folks do a lot of reminiscing. It is not uncommon to hear them talk about things that took place 50 or 60 years ago as if it had just happened yesterday.
Why? To them it seems as if it only happened a short time ago.
We often hear folks say, “If I could live my life over again, I would do a lot of things differently!”
And if they knew what they know today, they probably would!
For example:
-Some young girls who dated boys they should not have dated would not consider dating them if they had it to do over. Why? Because, they have been “thorns” in their “flesh” ever since they dated them.
-Some people made certain financial investments who would not have made those investments if they had just known then what they know now.
Probably we all would do a lot of things different if we could do them over again.
Illus: A minister’s wife was grieving at the funeral home because her husband, to whom she had been married for over 50 years had died.
God had blessed their ministry and they were responsible for starting several churches, one that had an attendance of seven hundred. She told a young man who had only been in the ministry a few years, “Whatever you and your wife plan to do, such as taking a few weeks off to go on a second honeymoon - DO IT!”
She explained to him that she and her husband had been planning for years to take some time off and go on a second honeymoon, but, she said, “NOW WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO IT!”
Listen, life is short.
• Some of you have been planning for years to dedicate your life to the Lord and do some things for Him.
• Some have planned to tell certain ones about Jesus.
• Some have planned to set aside time each day to intercede in prayer for others.
• Some have planned to give someone something, just for Jesus’ sake. I am here to tell you - YOU NEED TO DO IT. BEGIN DOING IT NOW, IN ____!
One of the reasons WE SHOULD DRAW NIGH TO GOD IS BECAUSE OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE.
Some have been here for 60, 70, and even 80 years, but have not “lived” at all.
Illus: Someone wrote:
“There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played
He never risked, he never tried
He never sang or prayed
And when he one day passed away
His insurance was denied
For since he never really lived
They claimed he never died.”
There are people like that. They have been alive, but have never lived the abundant life that Christ offers every person.
Since they have not lived the “abundant life,” they have never lived at all!
We should draw nigh to God because of the brevity of life but also…
II. BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF OF DEATH.
Illus: Harry Houdini was known as the ultimate escape artist. He was known for defying death again and again.
The Daily Mirror challenged him to escape a pair of handcuffs that took the craftsman 5 years to make them. He took the challenge and after an hour he escaped. He would be placed upside down with his feet shackled in a water tank, He would hang from tall cranes in a straightjacket, his legendary act of being buried alive almost cost him his life in 1912 and had to call for help in a panic his hand broke the surface and later he said "the weight of the earth is crushing."
On the afternoon of October 22, 1926, two University students visited Houdini's dressing room. Houdini was looking through his mail, when one of the students, J. Gordon Whitehead, asked Harry if he could indeed withstand any blow to the abdomen. Harry responded that he could, if given time to brace himself, at which point Whitehead hit Houdini four times in the abdomen, assuming that Houdini had indeed braced himself for the blows. Throughout the evening, Houdini performed in great pain. He was unable to sleep and remained in constant pain for the next two days, though he did not seek medical help. When he finally saw a doctor, Harry was found to have a fever of 102 degrees and acute appendicitis. He was advised to go to the hospital for immediate surgery. However, Harry decided to complete his show as planned that night.
By the time Harry arrived on stage, his fever had risen to 104 degrees. He was tired and in pain and his assistants often had to step in and offer help. Audience members reported that Harry missed his cues and seemed in a hurry. By the middle of the third act, Houdini asked his assistant to lower the curtain as he could not go on. When the curtain closed, Harry Houdini collapsed where he was standing and had to be carried back to his dressing room. He continued to refuse medical care until the next morning when his wife, Bess insisted he go to the hospital. Harry relented and had his appendix removed, however it had already ruptured and doctors did not have much hope for his survival. On October 31, 1926 the man who had escaped death so many times before, lying near his wife and brother, Harry Houdini died. It seems that even the great Houdini could not escape death. Death is inescapable.
He had escaped death hundreds of time but perhaps he thought he could do it once more.
That is the way sinful man lives his life thinking he can excape death many times and he can do it one more time.
But Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
Look at the word “appointed.” This is telling us that we all have an appointment with death.
Did you know that God is the One Who makes that appointment?
Illus: When we have a dental appointment, we have to know what day and what hour we are supposed to keep that appointment.
But, did you know that not a person alive knows just when they will die.
Still not a one of us will be one minute late for that appointment.
Illus: Every church has people who make a habit of showing up late. But, I can assure you that on the day when their appointment with Mr. Death comes they will not be late.
We have not been given a specific hour or day. All we are told is that we all have an appointment.
Illus: Perhaps someone is saying, “Preacher, I am not worried about death. I went to the doctor and he told me I was in perfect health.”
How many times have we heard mourners at a funeral talking about the deceased, saying, “Just the other day he went to the doctor and the doctor told him he was in excellent health. Who would ever have thought that in just one week he would be dead?”
We should draw nigh to God because of:
I. The brevity of life
II. The uncertainty of life
But also…
III. BECAUSE OF HIS IMMINENT RETURN.
The Lord’s disciples went to Him and said, Matthew 24:3, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
Sometimes you may hear a preacher preaching about those who are looking for signs of Christ’s return.
Listen, I agree with those who believe we should always be ready for His coming.
However, there is not anything wrong with watching for the signs the Bible tells us must be fulfilled before He returns.
Our “absent” Lord has given special commendation to those who not only WAIT for His return, but also earnestly WATCH for Him.
There is a big difference between WAITING and WATCHING.
Illus: The difference between these terms is illustrated by the story of a fishing vessel returning home after many days at sea. As they neared the shore, the sailors gazed eagerly toward the dock where a group of their loved ones had gathered. The skipper looked through his binoculars and identified some of them: “I see Bill’s Mary, and there is Tom’s Margaret and David’s Anne.” One man became concerned because his wife was not there. Later, he left the boat with a heavy heart and hurried up the hill to his cottage. As he opened the door, she ran to meet him, saying, “I have been waiting for you!”
He replied with a gentle rebuke, “Yes, but the other men’s wives were watching for them!”
We read in I Thess. 5:6, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us WATCH and be sober.”
Also, we read in Rev 3:3, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Illus: A tourist, driving through West Texas, stopped at a gas station and observed a piece of rope dangling from a sign labeled, “Weather Conditions.”
“How can you possibly tell what the weather is with a piece of rope,” the tourist wanted to know. “It’s simple, sonny,” was the droll answer.
-When the rope swings back and forth, its windy.
-When it is wet, it is raining.
-When it is frozen stiff, its snowing.
-And, when its gone...tornado!”
Jesus has told us there are certain things we can look for and when those things come about, we should look up because our “...redemption draweth nigh.”
Jesus has told us His return is imminent. Certainly all the signs point clearly to His soon return.
Illus: The great preacher, F. B. Meyer, once asked D. L. Moody, “What is the secret of your success?” Moody replied, “For many years I have never given an address without the consciousness that the Lord may come before I have finished.” This may well explain the intensity of his service and the zeal of his ministry for Christ.
We all should draw nigh to God because of His imminent return.
We have looked at…
I. The brevity of life
II. The uncertainty of life
III. BECAUSE OF HIS IMMINENT RETURN.
But also…
IV. BECAUSE THE BIBLE COMMANDS US TO.
God’s Word tells us to, “Draw nigh to God...” There are several things we need to consider about these four words.
First we need to realize, THIS IS A COMMAND.
Illus: The people who make up this nation’s armed forces are first taught they must obey commands. This is not for fun. This is for their good.
We need to understand this is NOT just something GOD WISHES we would do. There is a difference between a wish and a command. There have always been some who could not tell the difference.
Illus: Many parents do not know the difference between a command and a wish and everyone suffers.
When they want the child to do something they often say, “Honey, I wish you would...” Then they wonder why the child sits there as if he did not hear anything.
Even children realize “wishes” are usually things that do not come true.
The parent should state clearly the request. “Honey, take the trash out, please!” If the child does not obey, then is the proper time to take him “out behind the barn” and teach him obedience.
The Lord gives a clear command, “Draw nigh to God...”
Next, we need to realize WHAT WE ARE TO DRAW NIGH TO.
We are not told to draw close to sports, recreation, television sets, friends, pets, or savings accounts.
The command is TO DRAW NIGH TO GOD!
Conclusion:
A Christian lady was dying. She knew her time was coming. She told her daughters, “It won’t be long now and I will see my Lord.”
They assured her the doctor said she was going to be all right! She said, “No, he is wrong. I will be going to meet my Lord very soon. I want you to wash my hair, dry it and comb it. When I meet my Lord, I want to look my very best!”
If the Lord returns this year the one thing I would love to hear him say to me, “Well done thy good and faithful service.”
They reluctantly did what she told them to do, assuring her all the time she was going to be all right. They fixed her up as she requested and placed her in her nice clean night gown, with her hair freshly washed, dried, and combed in the bed. It was only a few minutes after her head hit the pillow that her eyes closed and they never opened again. SHE HAD GONE TO BE WITH HER LORD.
We do not know what ____ holds for any of us, but let me ask you something, “If this is your year, are you ready to meet Him?”
If you are not, the good news is that you can be. I want to encourage you to come now and receive Christ as your Savior.
I. BECAUSE OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE.
II. BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF TIME OF DEATH.
III. BECAUSE OF HIS IMMINENT RETURN.
IV.BECAUSE THE BIBLE COMMANDS US TO.
