To God's Glory

Friday, 15 September 2023

Sermon series 2: WORSHIP IN THE TRUTH (second sermon) John 4 :22-26

WORSHIP IN THE TRUTH (second sermon) John 4 :22-26

Intro:

Last week we saw that worship is a response of Gods revelation to us. That it is God who initiates worship by revealing who He is to us. We also saw that to worship in the truth we must reject strongholds; whether they are places, people, our ego, etc. The question I ask myself is how was worship before the time of Moses?

· First, no one needed a priest to worship God

· Secondly, there aren’t many commands about the worship that the patriarchs did

· Third, not much is said about method – the people could pour out wine or oil, totally incinerate an animal, or roast it and eat part of it.

One thing was important – probably the greatest commandment about worship: You shall worship no other gods. All allegiance and all worship go to Him alone. From our text we see that true worship must recognise the saviour.

1. True worship erupts in the soul of one who understands that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away sin. (Jn4: 26)

2. True worship comes out from a heart that repents of sins. (Jn4:16-18)

Our sinfulness becomes grossly obvious upon the recognition of Christ's holiness

Worship before the time of Moses

Before Moses we read of several forms of worship that the patriarch exercised. In Genesis 4 we here that Cain and Abel brought an offering to the Lord. We are not told why they did. Few chapters ahead we read that Noah build an altar to the Lord and sacrificed an animal on it after the flood.

Abraham made sacrifices where he built an altar in Shechem, another at Bethel, then at Hebron, and at Mount Moriah. As part of his worship, Abraham also prayed, circumcised and tithed. Isaac built an altar at Beersheba and he prayed. Jacob set up a stone pillar at Bethel and poured a drink offering on it, and he poured oil on it as some sort of worship. He built an altar at Shechem, and one at Bethel. He vowed to tithe and he prayed. What conclusions can we draw from this?

First, no one needed a priest. Everyone built their own altars, sacrificed their own animals and did their own worship. The head of the household acted as the religious leader for the family. We see that in the book of Job, too: Job made sacrifices on behalf of his children. There was no special priesthood. Each person could worship without a priest.
Second, there aren’t many commands about the worship that the patriarchs did. God sometimes told his people where to build an altar and what to offer, but for the most part, the altars and offerings seem to have been initiated by the people. There’s no mention of special times or special days or special seasons. There doesn’t seem to be any restriction on place, either. The patriarchs stayed away from Baal worship, but other than that, they worshiped the true God wherever and whenever and however they wanted. Before Moses came!
Third, not much is said about method – the people could pour out wine or oil, totally incinerate an animal, or roast it and eat part of it. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not limited by time, location or method. The key word is flexibility. The detailed rules that God gave through Moses did not apply to the patriarchs. They were not restricted by rules about special places, people, rituals and days.

One thing was important – probably the greatest commandment about worship: You shall worship no other gods.

When God dealt with Jacob, he was not concerned about how he was worshiped – his primary concern was that Jacob worship the true God and no other gods. God demands exclusive worship, 100 percent allegiance. Only that can do justice to his worth. There’s no room for loving any other gods even 1 percent. We cannot allow anything to get in the way of our worship relationship with God. We cannot let money, self-consciousness, busyness or anything else get in the way. Worship is to be our highest priority.

During the time of Moses; You just can’t walk up on God every day. You had to be a very holy person on a very holy day in order to walk into the Holy of Holies, and you had to go through special rituals in order to do it.

There was a priesthood between the people and God. For many acts of worship, the priests had to perform the actions. There were also holy animals and holy plants. Every firstborn animal was holy, dedicated to the Lord. The first-ripe fruits were holy, set apart for worship. There was a holy incense formula, too, and if anyone made the same formula, they were supposed to be expelled from the nation. It was that special. It was reserved for worship. It was holy.

There were holy times. Every week, one day was holy. Every year, some extra days were holy. Every seven years and every 50 years, a whole year was set apart for special use.

Most of those details are obsolete, but the most important principle carries over into today’s worship, too. Only God should be worshiped. It’s not that he should be worshiped more than other gods are. It’s that he is the only God worthy of worship. He is so great, nothing else is even close. There is no god like our God. Nothing can compare with him, so we give him exclusive worship. We do not divide our loyalties between him and Baal, or between him and Mammon, or between him and self. All allegiance and all worship go to him alone.

II. Recognize the Savior (John 4:26)

After Jesus exposes the false assumptions of worship, He guides the Samaritan woman into an amazing recognition of His glory and His mission to save people from their sins. True worship erupts in the soul of one who understands that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away sin. He is the living water that cleanses and quenches the deepest thirst of one's soul. Using water as the metaphor for eternal life, Jesus opens her eyes to see Him as the promised Messiah and Savior.

III. Repent of sin (4:16-18)

Another principle of true worship surfaces in Jesus' instruction for the woman to "Go tell your husband" (v.17). The Lord Jesus, who knows all things, did not assume that she was married. Jesus guides her to confess and repent of sin. Our sinfulness becomes grossly obvious upon the recognition of Christ's holiness. Once this woman recognized Jesus, she humbly acknowledges her sinful past. The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience. When he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he fell down in confession of personal and national sin (Is. 6:5).

Sermon series: WORSHIP IN THE TRUTH (First sermon) John 4 :19-24

WORSHIP IN THE TRUTH (First sermon) John 4 :19-24

In the Bible there are two major kinds of words for worship. The first means to bow down, to kneel, to put one’s face down as an act of respect and submission. Our body language is saying, I will do whatever you want me to. I am ready to listen to your instructions and I am willing to obey. The other kind of biblical word means to serve. It carries the idea of doing something for God — making a sacrifice or carrying out his instructions. There is:

worship that involves speaking
worship that involves listening
worship that involves doing

There is a worship that expresses the heart, and worship that involves the mind, and a worship that involves the body. There is a worship that is giving praise upward, a worship that is receiving instructions from above, and a worship that carries out instruction in the world around us. We need all three types of worship.

Similarly, all talk and no action does not show God the respect he deserves. Actions speak louder than words, and if our behavior isn’t changed by God, then our actions are saying that God isn’t important. Worship should affect our behavior.

Response with all our being

We can’t know God’s worth, much less declare it, unless God reveals himself to us. So God initiates worship by revealing himself to us. The more we grasp his greatness, his power, his love, his character, the more we understand his worthiness, the better we can declare his worth – the better we can worship.

Our worship is a response to what God has revealed himself to be, not only in who he is, but also in what he has done and is doing and will do in the future. Worship includes all our responses to God – including a response with our mind, such as our belief in God’s worthiness, our emotions, such as love and trust, and our actions and our words. Our heart expresses itself in words and songs; our mind is active when we want to learn what God wants us to do, and our bodies and strength are involved when we obey and when we serve.

Both Old Testament and New Testament tell us that our relationship with God should involve our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It involves all that we are. Worship involves heart, mind, soul and strength, too.

In the words we say to one another, in the prayers we say to God, in the songs we sing, we can declare that God is worth more than all other gods, worth more than all other things.

We can worship God all by ourselves. But it is also something we do together. God has revealed himself not just to me, but to many people. God puts us in a community, he reveals himself to a community and through a community, and the community together responds to him in worship, in declaring that he is worth all honor and praise.

Music is important, but worship is not just music – it involves our entire relationship with God, all our heart, mind, soul, and strength – it involves all the ways in which we can respond to God, all the ways we can praise him by what we say and do, all the ways we can demonstrate that God is worthy of all praise and honor and allegiance.

Introduction Message on sunday

What do you purchase as a gift for the person who has everything? Perhaps you have faced that dilemma and walked with frustration through stores hoping to find a special gift that communicates your love and meets a need in the life of the one receiving the gift.

Apply this situation to our attempts to offer God a gift He desires. God knows all things and possesses all the treasures of heaven and earth. He does not need anything. But, there is one commodity that God longs to receive from His followers. God desires for His children to freely, boldly, and passionately worship Him in spirit and truth. John 4 reveals that almighty God possesses an unceasing desire for true worshipers.

I. Reject strongholds (John 4:19-20)

As this insightful conversation develops between Jesus and an immoral Samaritan woman, we learn about strongholds or obstacles that often prevent individuals and churches from experiencing true worship. She struggles with the penetrating issues raised by Jesus by hiding behind the barriers of places and programs. What is that thing to which you are struggling to hide behind? Is there anyone who is your excuse from worshipping God? Or anything; your lack of Job, your husband or wife, your work or business, your children? What is that thing? Or you say in that church they don’t love me, they don’t give me the opportunity to serve God. I said one day that no one can stop me from serving God even the EP cannot stop me.

Many Christians have settled for cheap imitations of true worship. Some relegate worship to a particular event or building. Often, worship is considered to be the music in a corporate service that is followed by the preaching. An entire style of music has been labeled "praise and worship" in an attempt to distinguish music from traditional hymns.

While music is an integral part of worshiping God, we should note that Jesus does not mention singing. When the apostle Paul spoke of Christ-honoring worship in Romans 12:1, he challenged believers to become living sacrifices. True worship rejects the strongholds that prevent followers of Christ from responding to God with heart, soul, mind, and strength in loving recognition of God's glory and love.

Worship before the time of Moses

First, no one needed a priest. Everyone built their own altars, sacrificed their own animals and did their own worship. The head of the household acted as the religious leader for the family. We see that in the book of Job, too: Job made sacrifices on behalf of his children. There was no special priesthood. Each person could worship without a priest.
Second, there aren’t many commands about the worship that the patriarchs did. God sometimes told his people where to build an altar and what to offer, but for the most part, the altars and offerings seem to have been initiated by the people. There’s no mention of special times or special days or special seasons. There doesn’t seem to be any restriction on place, either. The patriarchs stayed away from Baal worship, but other than that, they worshiped the true God wherever and whenever and however they wanted. Before Moses came!
Third, not much is said about method – the people could pour out wine or oil, totally incinerate an animal, or roast it and eat part of it. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not limited by time, location or method. The key word is flexibility. The detailed rules that God gave through Moses did not apply to the patriarchs. They were not restricted by rules about special places, people, rituals and days.

One thing was important – probably the greatest commandment about worship: You shall worship no other gods.

There were holy times. Every week, one day was holy. Every year, some extra days were holy. Every seven years and every 50 years, a whole year was set apart for special use.

Wednesday, 12 October 2022

God’s Presence: Dangerous, but Essential (vital/needed) (Exodus 33:1-17)

Illustration:

Most of us rightly think of God as our loving Father. He loves us more than any earthly father ever could. But do you ever think of God as dangerous?

In our quest to know the living and true God, it’s important to know Him as He has revealed Himself in the totality of His Word. If we just pick and choose the parts about God that we like, such as His love and grace, and ignore the rest, we miss something important that we need to know about God for our spiritual growth. For example, when people say, “I don’t believe in the judgmental God of the Old Testament; I believe in the loving God of the New Testament,” they’re revealing that they don’t know much about the Bible. The God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. He is both loving and judgmental against all sin. As Paul exclaims (Rom. 11:22), “Behold then the kindness and severity of God!” So people who believe in a God of love, but not a God of judgment, are making a golden calf. They’re not submitting to God’s revelation in the Bible, but setting themselves up as judge over the Bible.

Exodus 33 is the aftermath of Israel’s terrible sin with the golden calf. In Exodus 33:1, God tells Moses to move on, along with “the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt.” He doesn’t call them “My people whom I brought up,” but “the people whom you have brought up.” He promises to send His angel with them to take them to the Promised Land, but God says that He Himself won’t go up with them so that He doesn’t destroy them on the way because of their stiff necks (Exod. 33:3). Moses, however, prays and says in effect, “God, if You don’t go with us, then let us stay right here in this barren desert.” The desert with God is better than the Promised Land without God! We learn …

God’s presence is dangerous, but essential for His people.

God is omnipresent, present everywhere at all times. But here I’m talking about His immediate presence, or experiencing His presence. His presence is dangerous, because He is holy and not to be trifled with! Uzzah found that out when he reached out to steady the ark (the symbol of God’s presence) so that it wouldn’t fall off the cart. God struck him dead on the spot (2 Sam. 6:6-7)! In the “non-judgmental” New Testament, Ananias and Sapphira found that out when they lied about a donation to the church and they both died in front of Peter (Acts 5:1-11). Don’t mess with God’s presence! He’s dangerous!

But God’s presence is essential because without Him, we’re destitute (poor, deprived of all spiritual gifts). Without Him, we can look like a thriving church with a huge church campus and programs for every age group. We can have a multimillion dollar budget that supports missionaries all over the world. We can be written up in all the church growth magazines. On the personal level, you can be successful in business, live in a mansion, send your kids to the best universities, and serve in the church. But without God’s presence, it’s all hollow and in vain.

God’s presence is dangerous, but essential.

1. The peril (danger) of God’s presence is that He is not safe if we are not submissive.

God’s refusal to go personally with Israel into the Promised Land stemmed from their persistent grumbling and their quickly turning from Him to worship the golden calf. Even though in response to Moses’ prayer God relented and agreed to go with Israel, He eventually did destroy many because of their sins. The ten spies who brought back a negative report on the land died in a plague (Num. 14:36). Those involved in Korah’s rebellion died when the earth swallowed them alive (Num. 16:31-33). Later, when the people again grumbled, God sent “fiery” serpents among them so that many died (Num. 21:5-6). Still later, when Israel joined themselves to Moab in idolatry and immorality, God killed 24,000 (Num. 25:1-9). Eventually, the entire generation that came out of Egypt died in the wilderness because of their unbelief (Num. 14:22-23).

Of course, when God kills people because of their sins, it’s not that He has an anger problem! His wrath is His settled (established) opposition to all sin. His holiness requires that He must judge all sin. Sometimes, for reasons that we cannot always know, He brings temporal judgment on sinners through war, plagues, or natural disasters. When that happens, the godly suffer along with the ungodly. At other times, in mercy He allows sinful people to continue in their ways, withholding judgment until after they die. But all sin will be judged.

This means that either you will pay for your own sins at the judgment or you trust in Jesus, who died on the cross to pay the penalty you deserve. If you trust is in Christ and His death for you, then you don’t need to fear God’s judgment. Your sins are paid in full! But, you do need to fear God’s discipline. There’s a difference between punishment and discipline. Punishment means that the sinner pays for his sins. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Sinners will incur the second death, which is eternal separation from God in hell (Rev. 20:11-15). But, discipline comes from God’s fatherly hand to train His children in righteousness (Heb. 12:5-11). It is corrective rather than punitive.

When we sin, the Lord calls us to repent. Exodus 33:4-6 records one of the few times that stiff-necked Israel repented (v. 4): “When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments.” And it was not just a momentary gesture, but ongoing (v. 6). The people’s ornaments had been the occasion for them to sin with the golden calf (Exod. 32:2). But now, in response to God’s command (Exod. 33:5), they took off their remaining ornaments. Later (Exod. 35:22), they will bring those ornaments as an offering to help build the tabernacle. That which had been the cause of their sin later was transformed into a source for their worship. Did you also see how Moses brought the second set of tablets of the law? The first one was made by God himself and the second one God said Moses, you chisel two tablets this time and bring them and I will write on them. That thing you have been using to rebel against God should be used this time for worship to God.

That’s a good description of genuine repentance. If money was your idol, turn it into good by giving it to the Lord’s work (Eph. 4:28). Philip Ryken says “When the Holy Spirit convicts us of any sin, we need to take off whatever is leading us into sin and never put it on again.”

True repentance also involves mourning over your sins (Exod. 33:4; 2 Cor. 7:10). Jesus said (Matt. 5:4), “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” God is present with us so that we can have a relationship with Him. Sin interrupts that relationship and puts distance between Him and us. That rupture in our fellowship with a loving Father should cause us to mourn over our sins and turn back to God in ongoing, heartfelt repentance. The peril of God’s presence is that He is not safe if we are not submissive.

Next time we shall look at the privilege of God’s presence. (Check the post and read)

Conclusion:

Experiencing God’s presence will help you to walk more carefully in this corrupt world. Because of the treasure you carry. When you have some bank notes in your pocket, you will be more careful the way you walk on the street. You don’t want any one to snatch what you have; time and again you’ll touch your pocket to be sure the treasure is still there. If you want God’s presence, then you must be careful that you do not loose His presence; that will guide you from sinning because you don’t want to loose that experience.

Personal Awakening: The honour of God’s presence Exodus 33:3-17

We have the danger of God’s presence is that He is not safe if we are not submissive.

A. The honour of God’s presence is that we might have fellowship with the invisible God.

In verse 3, God offered to bless the people with the Promised Land, but without His presence. That’s exactly what many people. They want God to give them whatever they need for a happy life, but they really don’t care about a daily walk in fellowship with Him.

Think about it: Could that describe you? You want happiness, inner peace, loving relationships, a fulfilling job, and a good church to attend. But as long as you have those things, life is good. You don’t really care about a daily relationship with God.

Thankfully, in this situation, it wasn’t good enough for Israel or for Moses. Israel mourned the news that God would not go with them and showed their repentance by stripping off their ornaments. Moses sought the Lord and prayed (Exod. 33:13), “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” He went on to add (Exod. 33:15), “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” God’s presence was even more cherished than the blessing of the Promised Land! What do you cherish? Many people today are running for miracles rather than for God’s presence.

Verses 7-11 seem to interrupt the flow of the narrative, but I think they’re here to show how Moses enjoyed intimate fellowship with the Lord. The tent here was not the tabernacle, which was yet to be built. The tabernacle would be placed in the center of the camp and even Moses could not enter the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle. Only Aaron, the high priest, could go in there and just once a year, to make atonement for Israel’s sins. Moses called this tent “the tent of meeting” (v. 7): “And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.” But it seems as if not everyone could enter the tent. They had to go through Moses, their mediator. When he went out to the tent, everyone would stand at the door of their own tents, watch, and worship (vv. 8, 10). The pillar of cloud would descend as Moses entered the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses (v. 9).

The people must have wondered what took place inside that tent! Verse 11 tells us: “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.” Apparently Joshua stayed there to guard the tent from any intruders. When it says that the Lord spoke with Moses “face to face,” it does not mean literally, since no man can see God’s face and live (Exod. 33:20). It means that Moses enjoyed intimate fellowship with God there. It was a sacred place where Moses met with God.

Some brief applications:

1. there are different levels of intimacy with God. Moses knew God in a way that even Aaron and their sister, Miriam, did not (Num. 12:1-8). Only Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured into His glory and they were not permitted to speak of what they saw until after Jesus was risen (Matt. 17:1-13). Paul had the unique experience of being caught up to the third heaven where he heard things that he was not permitted to speak (2 Cor. 12:4). All what the rest of us can do is read about these extraordinary experiences and let them motivate us to seek to know God more deeply than we already do.

2. those who seek the Lord must go through the Mediator. The Israelites who sought the Lord would go outside the camp to the tent and go through Moses. It involved some deliberate effort to go out there. Maybe they had to wait in line, since Moses could only handle a few requests at a time. But we have a Mediator who can handle all our requests at once! Paul says (Eph. 2:18), “for through Him we both [Jews and Gentiles] have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” Hebrews 13:13 exhorts, “So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach”.

3. it’s helpful to have a specific place and time where you meet with God. Make a designated spot where you can get alone with God to fellowship with Him through His Word and prayer. As you read His Word, ask Him to teach you His ways so that you may know Him (Exod. 33:13; Ps. 25:4). God’s ways are how He deals with people, and His ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8). He commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son, providing the ram at the last minute, as an illustration of how He would sacrifice His own Son (Gen. 22:1-14). He put Joseph in an Egyptian dungeon after he obeyed God by resisting the advances of Potiphar’s wife. His way with Joseph was puzzling at the time, but later God used him to provide for His people during a famine (Ps 105:16-19; Gen 50:20)

B. The honour of God’s presence is so that we might be distinct from all other people.

As God’s people, we are in the world, but not of the world (John 17:15-16). We saw in verses 1-3, how God distanced Himself from the people because of their sin with the golden calf. But Moses, through his prayer, sought to secure God’s presence again with His people. In verse 13, after asking to know God’s ways and find favor in His sight, Moses reminds the Lord, “Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” In verse 14, the Lord responds using a singular pronoun: “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” But Moses wasn’t content with that. So he went on (vv. 15, 16) to ask for God’s presence to lead the people from there and to go with them all. God’s presence would distinguish Israel from all the other people who were on the face of the earth (v. 16).

We should experience God’s presence not just individually, but also corporately. Paul asks (1 Cor. 3:16), “Do you not know that you [plural] are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you [plural]?” The church is now the temple where God dwells. Unbelievers who come into our church gatherings should sense that God is in our midst (1 Cor. 14:25). But for that to happen, we have to be distinct from the world. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul again states that the church is the temple of God and that God dwells in our midst. Then he commands (2 Cor. 6:17), “Therefore, ‘Come out from their midst and be separate,’ says the Lord.” Paul concludes (2 Cor. 7:1), “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

The Urgency and promise of God’s presence - Exodus 33:15-17

For more than a month, I have been trying to bring all of us to the point where we can know for sure that we need personal awakening in our lives. We saw through the life of Moses the need for an awakening. We established that an awakening is the ordinary work of the Holy Spirit creating extra-ordinary effects on those who experience His presence.

We also saw from the old and new testament that God’s presence is dangerous to those who disobey and it is essential for us to have His presence. We went further to look at the honour or privileges of having God’s presence in our lives and in our corporate body. We need that intimacy with God if we want to do extra-ordinary service to the glory of God.

Today we will be looking at the urgency, the determination, the insistence of having God’s presence.

A. The urgency of God’s presence is that we cannot function without Him.

You would think that an angel of God would have been sufficient. The angels are impressive beings with the power to strike the men of Sodom blind and then bring down brimstone on their city! But Moses was not satisfied with the angel’s presence. He prays (Exod. 33:15), “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” In other words, “Angels won’t do! Without Your presence, God, we’re finished!”

By praying that, Moses was acknowledging his own insufficiency and His need for God’s all-sufficiency.

1. We need God’s presence for joy (Ps. 16:11): “In Your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

2. We need His presence for protection (Ps. 31:20): “You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man.” See how he protected Moses even from the strife of Aaron and Miriam.

3. We need His presence to deliver us from despair (misery, anguish, depression) (Ps. 42:5): “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.”

4. We need His presence for our good (Ps. 73:28): “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good.”

But, it’s obvious that experiencing God’s presence is not automatic. With Moses, we need to seek God’s presence, both personally and as a church. Finally,

B. The promise of God’s presence is for those who find favor in His sight, whom He knows by name.

Just as God is omnipresent, so He is omniscient: He knows everything and everyone. But Moses reminds God that He has said (Exod. 33:12), “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.” The Lord affirms (v. 17), “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; fo

r you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”

For God to know you by name is a special privilege. It implies a special intimacy with God, unhindered by sin. It’s similar to Paul’s prayer (Eph. 3:16-17), “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Doesn’t Christ dwell in every believer’s heart? Yes, but there is a special sense of Christ dwelling in those who find favor in His sight, whom He knows by name. As Jesus said (John 14:23), “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” The promise of God’s presence is for those who love and obey Jesus. He knows them by name.

Conclusion

Experiencing God’s presence will help you to walk more carefully in this corrupt world. An awareness of God’s presence will keep you from sin. How can you sin if you are aware that God is present with you? You don’t want to lose the experience of His presence (Ps. 51:11). Our Lord has promised (Matt. 28:20), “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” But experiencing His presence is not automatic. We need to walk in holiness, enjoying daily fellowship with Him. His presence is dangerous, but essential!