James chapter four, I have a
lesson this morning that I believe will be a great comfort and encouragement
to you. I told you before I am by no
stretch of the imagination a morning person, but when the alarm went
off this morning, I thought of this lesson and was kind of excited
even that early in the morning to come and bring it to you. I think it would be a blessing
to you as it's been to me as I studied it. The title of it
is draw an eye to God. Verse eight, James four, draw
an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. Isn't that a gracious
and a loving exhortation? Draw an eye to God and God will
draw an eye to you. That's good for us to draw an
eye to God. David said in Psalm 73 verse 28, but it's good for
me to draw near to God. It is so good for my soul, so
good for my heart. to draw near to God. This is good. This is good news
for everyone. This is a word of salvation to
the lost. Draw near, draw nigh to God,
and He'll draw nigh to you. You won't be lost anymore. It's
a word of comfort for the backsliding believer. You know, from time
to time we get cold and unfeeling and lackadaisical, we'll draw
nigh to God. He'll draw nigh to you. He'll
not cast you away. This is an encouraging word for every believer.
Draw an eye to God. He'll draw an eye to you. How
is it we got so far away from God? How is it we got ourselves
in the position we need to draw an eye to God? Well, it was in
Adam, wasn't it? Adam started his whole race running
from God. But God in his mercy and his
grace says, draw near to me and I'll draw an eye to you. Now
that sounds very wonderful, doesn't it? But now how is it that I
can draw an eye to God? I'm going to give you nine ways
that a sinner draws an eye to God. And the first, we draw an
eye to God by drawing an eye to God, to God. If we would draw
an eye to God, we cannot draw an eye to the God of our imagination.
The God of our imagination is a figment of our imagination.
He's not there. He's an idol. So we're not going
to draw an eye to God that way. If we would come to God, we must
come to the true and living God, the God that has manifested himself
in his word. Look at just back a few pages,
Hebrews chapter 11, verse six. God wrote a whole book to tell
us who he is. So we'd come to him. Hebrews
11, verse six. But without faith, it is impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. Coming to God is coming to God,
believing that God is, that he is not just that he exists, but
that he is everything he says he is, that he's the creator,
that he's the sovereign, that he's holy and he's just, that
he's the God of all grace. He's the father of mercies. Now
if we come to God, we come to God because He's commanded us
to come to God. This gracious exhortation, draw
an eye to God and He'll draw an eye to you, is not God begging
men to come to Him. It's a commandment from the Sovereign.
Draw an eye to me and I will draw an eye to you. Coming to
God is knowing that we're coming to the King of Kings. We're coming
to the Sovereign. Coming to God is coming to Him,
obeying His commandment. It's to come reverently. It's
to come carefully because of who God is. We're coming to Almighty
God. God is so much greater, so much
higher than we are. So coming to God is coming to
Him full of fear and trembling and reverence because of who
He is and who we are. And if we come to Him that way,
the Father will always draw nigh to those people. that come to
him that way, come to him as he is, as he's revealed himself
in his word. Number two, we draw an eye to
God by coming to God in Christ. Now there's just one way to come
to God. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke John chapter 14. The Savior said, I am the way. He's the way of salvation. He's
the way of righteousness. He's the way of eternal life.
He's the way of forgiveness for our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only way you and I can ever come to the father. John
14 verse six, Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man cometh unto the father,
but by me. Now that's pretty clear. You
don't have to be all that smart to be understand what the Lord
said. No man comes to the father except by me. He is the only
way to come to the Father. A sinner who's never obeyed one
of God's laws can come to the holy God accepted because we're
made righteous in the obedience of Christ. Sinners who are vile
and dirty in their sin can come to God accepted because they're
cleansed in the blood of Christ. Sinners who are God's enemy by
birth, by nature, by practice, can come to God in peace, accepted
in Christ who made peace for us by the blood of his cross.
Now that's so wonderful to think sinners can come to God fully
accepted, no probationary period, no wondering, no doubts. We can come to God accepted in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul wrote about
that in the church at Ephesus. and it thrilled his soul so much. He said, Ephesians 1 verse 6,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he had made
us accepted in the beloved. That made him praise God's grace
and mercy and love. The father will always draw nigh
to his people who are found in his son. Come to God in Christ
and you'll be accepted. All right, thirdly, we draw nigh
to God by coming to God as a sinner who needs a savior. He says here,
draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners. Now God's holy. God cannot even
look on sin. So God can't accept us as we
are in our sin, can he? Well, here's the question. How
can I cleanse myself? I mean, I know I can't cleanse
myself. So how can I be cleansed? I can't
clean myself with dirty hands. So how can I be cleansed? was
in the Lord Jesus Christ. By washing in the fountain that's
open for sin, by washing in the fountain of Christ's blood, there
is cleansing and salvation in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanses us. Washes us without spot, white
as snow. Look back at Hebrews chapter
seven. Verse 25. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them. And how is it that
Christ saves his people? It was by the blood of his sacrifice
that he offered for the sin of his people. It's that blood he
offered as the sacrifice, the blood that he shed as a sacrifice.
It's the blood he offered as the high priest. Well, how does
Christ our mediator make intercession for the sin of his people? It's
by pleading that same blood, pleading the blood that was already
shed to pay for their sin and cleanse them, make them white
as snow. And the father will always draw
an eye to people who've been washed clean and white in the
blood of his son. You know, that's why the father
sent the son in the first place, wasn't it? This is a faithful
saying, Paul said, worthy of all acceptation. This is worthy
of everybody accepting, worthy to everybody believing that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. That's why the father sent the
son in the first place, to save sinners. Now you think of this,
the son of God already drew nigh to you and me. He came to this
earth incarnate, came in our flesh, came to be made what we
are, came where we are. He already drew nigh to us. And
He came to save sinners. Well, I'm a sinner who needs
a Savior. Then I'm going to draw nigh to
Him. That's why in Luke chapter 15, remember all the publicans
and sinners drew nigh to Christ. They all drew near to Him. They
all came to hear Him, to be near Him, to hear Him. And the Pharisees
looked at that, they got mad. They said, why this man receives
sinners and he eats with them. Well, those publicans and sinners
drew nigh to Christ the Savior because they needed a Savior.
They drew nigh to him and he drew nigh to them. He ate with
them and had fellowship with them. If we would draw nigh to
God, we must come to God as a sinner who needs a Savior. All right,
fourthly. We draw an eye to God by coming
to God in faith. He says here in verse eight,
purify your heart. Now my natural heart is anything
but pure. The heart is deceitful above
all things. It's desperately wicked. Who
can know it? Who can know that the depths
of the sin, who could know the vileness of its sin and who can
purify it? Just one, just one person, the
son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Acts chapter 15. He purifies
the hearts of his people by giving them a new heart, by giving them
a heart of faith. That's how we draw an eye to
God. It's in faith. Acts chapter 15 verse five, but there rose up
certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed saying that it
was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the
law of Moses. And the apostles and the elders
came together for to consider this matter. They came to consider
this matter. Now, is salvation by grace or works? If it's by
grace, do we still have to keep some of the law? They came to
consider this matter. Verse seven, and when there had
been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, men and
brethren, you know how that a good while ago, God made choice among
us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel
and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts, how? By faith. That's how we purify
our hearts, by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt ye
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that we shall be saved, even
as they. Even no matter what your background
is, we're going to be saved, even as they purifying our hearts
by faith. Now look over at first John chapter
three. We're going to come to God. We
come to him by faith, purifying our hearts by faith. First John
three verse two beloved. Now are we the sons
of God. And it does not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him for we shall see him as he is. And every man that
hath this hope in him and this faith, this hope, this confidence
in him purifies himself, even as he is pure, purified by faith
in Christ. If we would come to God accepted
is by faith in Christ, believing I'm accepted in Christ. I'm cleansed
in Christ. I'm saved in Christ, redeemed
in Christ, chosen in Christ, coming to God by faith in Christ. All right. Fifthly, we come nigh
to God by coming to God in confidence. He says at the end of verse eight,
draw nigh to God, ye double-minded. You double-minded. Now don't
be double-minded. You don't waver between grace
and works. Remember that back in James 1,
verse 5. He said, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth
not, and it should be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like
a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let
not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded
man is unstable, in all his ways. Don't be a double-minded man.
Don't waver between grace and works, between grace and all
these other doctrines that you hear preached out there. Don't
think, I'm going to ask in faith, but then I'm going to do some
good works to make myself look better before God and kind of
improve my chances of being blessed. Now that's being double-minded. That's wavering between grace
and works. Now earlier I said we come to
God full of fear and trembling because of who God is and who
we are. Now that's true, come to God reverently. But we also
come to God in Christ with complete confidence, complete confidence
that Christ is all it takes to save us and make us accepted.
I'll show you that in Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews four. Verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly
under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. How do we come? Boldly, confidently,
knowing that we're accepted in Christ. You remember that woman
with the issue of blood? All those years she spent trying
to get better. Wasted everything she had on
physicians that couldn't help her. But she heard Lord Jesus
was coming to town. And that poor woman, so sick,
hurting, lost everything. She came to Christ and she was
so confident when she came. I know she was confident. She
knew his power. If I can just touch the hem of
his garment, I'll be made whole. She was so confident of Christ's
healing power. She was willing to crawl on the
ground through a great multitude to get to him. She was willing
to come to Christ in violation of the law of Moses that she'd
be out in public. So confident was she was defiled. She was unclean, but she came
to Christ confident. If I can just touch it, I'll
be made whole. She came crawling to him confident.
And what happened? The Savior, do not hurt. Who
touched me? Daughter. Confidence in Christ. That's
how we come to God in complete confidence that Christ is all
it takes to save my sorry soul. All right, six, we draw an eye to
God by coming to God in repentance. Faith and repentance. Verse nine.
Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to heaviness. James gives us a real good description
of repentance here. It's turned from everything you
used to trust in and turn 180 degrees, turn away from it and
turn to Christ. Turn away from it as a vile thing,
as a hated thing and turn all of your trust to Christ. Turn
away from everything that used to make you spiritually happy.
Everything that used to give you spiritual joy that wasn't
Christ, turn away from it. Just turn away from it and mourn
it. Be sorry about it. Just turn
away from it as a hated thing and turn to Christ. Put all your
trust and confidence in Him. And then later on, Don't go back
and look at those things and brag about them like they were
the good old days. Know more about those things.
Let those things that used to make you happy now make you weep
and mourn. And find your happiness, find
your joy, your confidence, your trust in Christ. And God will
draw an eye to you. Now let me show you that in Luke
chapter 15. Luke 15. This is the parable that the
Lord gave the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. And you know, there's the part
of the parable that the lost sheep is lost and the good shepherd
goes out and finds it. In verse six, when he cometh
home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors saying
unto them, rejoice with me for I found my sheep, which was lost.
I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repented. More than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. There's joy in heaven over one
sinner that repents. Come to God in repentance and
He'll draw nigh to you in joy. There's joy because the shepherd
here had already drawn near to that lost sheep. The lost sheep
didn't draw near to the shepherd, did it? No, the shepherd came
where the lost sheep was. He drew nigh to that lost sheep
and he brought it home. See that? The real order of this
thing is we draw nigh to God because He already drew nigh
to us. We choose Him because He chose us first. We love Him
because He loved us first. We draw near to Him because He
drew near to us first. And we draw near to Him. There's
real rejoicing in there because He's drawn nigh to us. What rejoicing
there is to be close, to be nigh to the Savior. All right, seventh,
we come, we draw an eye to God by coming to God in humility. Verse 10, back in our text, James
four, humble yourselves, therefore, humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Now we know if we're
going to come to God, it's got to be humility. It can't be in
any pride about our flesh because verse six in the same chapter
says, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. So if we're going
to come to God, it can't be in any of our pride, can it? Because
he resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
He draws nigh to the humble. Now pride, pride takes credit
for something that I've done. Pride takes credit and rejoices
in something about me. Well, here's why God resists
the proud. The sinner doesn't have anything to be proud of.
Nothing to be proud of. All we are is sin. All we've
done is sin. So if we come to God in humility,
we're coming to God with an accurate view of ourself. And it's not
false humility. It's not just humility that's
an outward act. This is humility of heart. It's
a genuine, true feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. It's a genuine
feeling of Embarrassment, how sinful I am, how vile I am. Humility is a true sense of how
needy that I am. I'm desperately in need of God's
mercy. Look at Mark chapter 10. Here's
an example of that. Humility, an honest view of myself
will enable me to beg God for mercy. Mark 10, verse 46. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the
highway side begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. But he cried, the more a great
deal, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood
still and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind
man saying, be of good comfort, rise. He calleth thee. And he casting away his garment,
rose and came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said
unto him, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto
him, Go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately, now he's going to go his way. I'm going to go
the way I want to go. Immediately he received his sight
and followed Jesus in the way. This is one of my favorite stories. This poor, dirty beggar. useless, can't help anybody do
anything, sitting by the highway side begging, began to cry out
for mercy. And that cry for mercy stopped
the Lord of glorious tracks and commanded him to be brought.
We're drawing nigh to the sovereign who commands us to come. He commanded
him to be brought. And he came, didn't he? Begging
mercy. And God drew nigh to him. And
he'll draw nigh to you and me too. if we come to Him in humility,
begging for mercy. A cry for mercy always brings
a response of mercy from God. All right, A, we draw an eye
to God by coming to God in worship. Now, we cannot worship God until
we have a true sense of humility before God. Worship is this. I mean, I guess
there's a lot of things you could say about worship, but this is
where it's got to start. It's got to start in humility,
knowing God doesn't have to save me. God doesn't have to bless
me. He could if he wants, but he
does not have to. That's worship. We'll never worship
before anyone but a sovereign. If we think we can get somebody
to do something for us, if we can manipulate them, if we can
bribe them, we'll not worship them. Because we kind of think
we're almost equals, well, I can bribe you or I can manipulate
you. That's not worship. True worship is knowing God doesn't
have to say, He doesn't have to do anything for me, but He
might. Good, that's worship. Let me show you that. Matthew
chapter eight. If we'll draw an eye to God in
worship like that, he'll draw an eye to us. Matthew chapter
eight. Verse one. When he was come down from the
mountain, great multitudes followed him and behold, there came a
leper. Here's another man coming in
violation of the law of Moses. He's not supposed to be near
people. He's not supposed to be near this great crowd. He's supposed
to be away from them crying, unclean, unclean. But his desperate
need, he came to the Savior and worshiped him saying, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. You don't have to, but you can. And he worshiped him. before
the Lord ever did anything for him. He didn't know if the Lord
would do anything for him or not. But the heart of worship
is, you don't have to do anything for me, but if you will, you
can make me clean. He drew nigh to the Savior, didn't
he? And the Savior drew nigh to him, verse three. And Jesus
put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was
cleansed. Let me show you another place
here, Matthew chapter 15. What a great illustration this
is of worship. Matthew 15 verse 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word,
just complete silence from me. And his disciples came and besought
him saying, send her away for she crieth after us. But he answered
and said, I'm not sent but unto lost sheep of the house of Israel. I'm only come from my elect. How'd she respond to that? I'm
only come from my elect. I don't have to do anything for
you. Did she storm off and say, that's not fair? No, she admitted,
that's right. You don't have to do anything
for me. You don't have to bless me, but you can, if you will. Then came she. And she acknowledged
he does not have to do anything for me. She came and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it's
not me. It's not right for me to take the children's bread
and cast it to dogs. And she still didn't run off
and say, that's too mean. That's too hard. I'm not going
to listen. That's too hard. She said, truth, Lord. Yet the
dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Then
Jesus answered. And said unto her, O woman, great
is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Now that is the heart of worship. Lord, you don't have to do anything
for me, but I'm begging you for mercy. I'm not asking you for
what I deserve. I'm not asking you for what I
deserve. Justice is damnation. I'm not asking you for what I
deserve. I'm begging you for mercy. That's the heart of worship. The Lord drew nigh to her in
mercy, dearly. All right, here's the last one. Find the Song of
Solomon, chapter one. We draw nigh to God by coming
to God in prayer. Here it is, we're told, draw
nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Yet our Lord said in
John six, verse 44, no man can come unto me. He commands us,
draw an eye to me, but he also told us, no man can come to me
except the father which has sent me, draw him. All right, there's
those two verses of scripture, both equally true. Don't contradict
each other. Draw an eye to me and I'll draw
an eye to you. You can't come to me, except
my father draw you. I tell you, I'm not going to
argue about that. So that contradicts each other. I don't understand
that. So I'm going to, no, I'm not going to do it my way. Tell you
what I'm going to do, Lord, draw me. Draw me. That's the prayer of his people.
Draw me. Psalm 1 verse 4. Draw me. We will run after thee. Lord, if you'll draw me, I will
run after you. Lord, call me as one of your
sheep. You said my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. Then call me and I'll follow.
Call me and I'll draw an eye to you. One more scripture, John
chapter 12. And I'll tell you how this happens.
It's not through, you know, hearing an audible voice. It's not through
having a dream or a vision. This happens through the preaching
of Christ crucified. This is why we always and only
preach Christ and Him crucified, because that's how God calls
His people to come unto Him. John chapter 12, verse 32. If I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all unto me. That word man's in italics. He's
not trying to draw all the sons of Adam. He's going to draw all,
all that the father has given him, all of his elect, all of
his people. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth will draw all unto me. This, he said, signifying
what death he should die. This is what draws sinners to
Christ. It's the preaching signifying
what death he should die. How is it that he died? when
He was made sin for His people. He died as a substitute for His
people. Why did Christ die on the cross?
He died on the cross bearing the curse. He was made a curse
for us. He died bearing the sins of His
people that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
That's the best news I ever heard. And if God will give you ears
to hear, Lord, draw me. If He'll give you ears to hear
this preaching of Christ crucified, He'll draw you to Christ. and you'll come running to Him.
That's how we come to God, in prayer, saying, Lord, draw me. I'll pray that you'll draw us
too. All right, the Lord bless you.