Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3212
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8.
[Another Sermon by Mr. Spurgeon, upon the same text, is #2795, Volume 48—THE DOUBLE DRAWING NEAR.]
NOTICE the sentences immediately preceding our text—“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” Wherever we are, we must come into contact with the unseen powers either for good or evil. Go where we may, we cannot shut ourselves away from them. If we could take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, spiritual beings would still be all around us there. Doubtless there are many invisible spirits, good or evil, in our midst at this moment, and when we go forth to our homes, or tomorrow go to our business or other duties, they will still attend us—the evil spirits seeking to lead our souls astray and the holy angels carrying out their sacred commission—“to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
These spiritual beings are divided into two bands. One band is under the leadership of that great fallen spirit— great, though fallen—who, by his masterly genius, has secured control over multitudes of other spirits who do his bidding and yield to his will with unquestioning obedience. You also may surrender yourself to him if you will—he is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air—and you may, if you will, be his slave. You may be girded with his chains, you may serve in his servitude and you may earn the wage which he will pay you at the last, for, “the wages of sin is death.” But, surely, the admonition of the practical Apostle James is a wise one and we shall do well to take heed to it and revolt from our old master! Let us break his bonds asunder and cast away his cords from us! In the name of Jesus let us resist the devil and he will flee from us. Jesus has a far greater host of spirits under his leadership than Satan has and, at His command, they shall keep us in all our ways, and bear us up in their hands lest we dash our feet against a stone. His legions are far mightier than those of the black Prince of Darkness and their services shall all be at our disposal, whenever we need them—as soon as we have renounced all allegiance to our former tyrant lord!
Now, having noted the connection of our text, I am going to apply it to three classes of persons. First, to the Believer. Secondly, to the backslider. And then, last of all, to the unconverted.
I. First, then, we have here, A MESSAGE TO THE BELIEVER. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
In Scripture, drawing near has various meanings. First, it means, draw near to God in worship, in prayer and in praise. When the hen sees a hawk in the air hovering over her brood, she gives a peculiar warning cluck, calling her little ones to come to her while, at the same moment she, herself, draws near to them. In a far higher fashion, the voice of God calls you to Him, warning you of the danger that lurks all round you. And while you run to hide from peril beneath the shadow of His wings, He, on His part, runs to meet you as the forgiving father ran to meet his prodigal son. You draw near to Him in the fearfulness and feebleness of your supplication and He draws near to you in the faithfulness and al-mightiness of His everlasting love! I am afraid that we often pray as if our God were at a distance from us—this can never be prevailing prayer. I do not despise that prayer which is like shooting an arrow up to the Throne of God, but I love still better the prayer that grips the Angel of the Covenant, the prayer that stands foot to foot with Him and wrestles with Him until the breaking of the day, and even then cries, “I will not let You go, except You bless me.” If you can draw
near to your Lord in prayer like that, He will certainly draw near to you and you will be like a prince who has power to prevail with God and with men.
Let me encourage you, dear Friends, who have been backward in your private prayer, or who have cried to Him as though He were a long way off—“Draw near to Him.” There are no bounds set around this mount of Grace as there were around Mount Sinai. You may climb up to the place called Calvary and clasp to your bosom the Christ who there died upon the accursed tree, for He is your Brother, your Friend, your Savior, your All-in-All, if you are truly trusting Him! So to you I say, as Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Let us, therefore, come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need.” “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” Come near to Him and you shall soon have an answer to your prayers!
It is the same with praise, but I am afraid that often we do not really draw near to God when we are professing to praise Him. I know that, sometimes, when we are singing God’s praises in our great assemblies here, we are drawn very near to the gates of Heaven. At such times I have felt as though I were swimming in an ocean of sacred delight! It should be so with everyact of worship—it should all draw us nearer to our God. There are times when we feel more closely drawn to Him in the closet of private prayer than in the public services of the sanctuary, but still, there is a special blessing attending united prayer and praise which is not to be realized elsewhere. I remember reading of a Jew who would not open a business in a certain town because there was no synagogue in it. I wish that Christians would always be as careful to settle down, if possible, in a place where they would not lack religious privileges, for prayer and praise, like the two wheels of the chariot which carried Jacob down to Joseph, bring us near to our Beloved Lord and Master! And He, at the same time, comes to meet us and draws near to us.