Preached Friday PM, September 20, 2019

Privilege of Intimacy

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“The church has no greater need today than to fall in love with Jesus all over again” -Vance Havner

“The most important thing is your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is first above everything else because who you are and who you will become flow out of your intimacy with Him.” -Charles Stanley

“Make your ultimate goal your own personal relationship with Him” -Oswald Chambers

Scripture: Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1-8

Supporting Passages:
James 4:8- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”
Jeremiah 29:13 – And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Intimacy Defined: Closeness, the experience of really knowing and being know by another person

Scripture teaches that it is we, not God who determines the degree of intimacy we experience with Him

Everything in our Christian life and service flows from our relationship with God

How do we know that God wants an intimate relationship with us?

• He created human beings with relationship in mind – Genesis 1:26; 3:8
• He provided a way for us to spend eternity with Him through Christ – John 3:16, 17
• He chose to make us the dwelling place of His Spirit – John 14:17; 1 Corinthians 6:19
• He encourages us to pray and read His Word – Philippians 4:6; Joshua 1:8
• He says repeatedly in scripture, “I love you” – John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Ephesians 2:4; John 17:23 “Thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me”
• His greatest commandment is for us to love Him – Matthew 22:37

1. The Privilege of Intimacy
   1. Object of our intimacy – Infinite God
      1. Self-existent – Self-caused, no origin (Exodus 3:14)
      2. Infinite – Limitless (Jeremiah 23:24; 1 Kings 8:27)
      3. Eternal – Everlasting, always was, always is, always will be (Deut. 33:27)
      4. Incomprehensible – No one can remotely understand and comprehend God (Isaiah 55:8)
      5. Immutable – Unchanging (Malachi 3:6)
      6. Omniscient – All knowing (Psalm 139:3)
      7. Omnipresent – Everywhere present (Psalm 139:7)
      8. Omnipotent – All powerful (Revelation 19:6)
      9. Holy – Separate, set-apart, absolute purity (Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:16)
      10. Glorious – Weighted down with brilliance, brightness, radiance (Psalm 8:1)
   2. Access to the Throne (access to God Himself)
      1. Hebrews 4:14-16
      2. Matthew 27:50, 51 – Veil of the Temple torn
   3. Acceptance with God
      1. Ephesians 1:6 – To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
      2. In the death of Christ, provision is made for a cleansing so deep, so radical, so continuous that a believer can walk with God in unbroken communion and deepening fellowship.
   4. Indwelling Holy Spirit
      1. While on earth, Jesus was geographically limited – Our Lord’s departure from earth made possible a deeper, more constant intimacy with Him through the Holy Spirit
      2. “The great business of the Holy Spirit is to stand behind the scenes and make Jesus real” – According to Dr. A. B. Simpson
      3. I Corinthians 6:19-20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
2. The Discipline of Intimacy
   1. Time
      1. It’s not if you have time, but will you make time?
   2. Solitude
      1. Matthew 6:6 – But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
      2. Alone with Him in His presence
   3. Drawing near – James 4:8
      1. Communion with God that is close and real
      2. Prayer
         1. “The primary point of prayer is not to get something, but to know someone.” –David Platt
      3. Scripture Reading
         1. “There is an inseparable relationship between your affection for Christ and your affection for the Scripture.”
      4. Listening and responding
   4. Focus
      1. Intimacy grows out of a deepening revelation of the divine character
   5. Moment by Moment Walk
      1. Walking in the Spirit – Galatians 5:16
         1. Walk is a term for daily living
         2. To walking in the Spirit will require a walk-in accordance with the Word the Spirit has inspired (See Colossians 3:15)
3. The Embrace of Intimacy
   1. “Be absolutely His” – Oswald Chambers
   2. Decision of the will
      1. Our wills have a responsibility of choosing
      2. The Law of Desire: “We do what we do because we want what we want.”
   3. Ordering of priorities
      1. Passion: “An intense desire that saturates every aspect of life and compels us to pursue its object”
   4. Consistent Pursuit
      1. Daily drawing near
   5. Intentional Trust
      1. Trust is the heart of intimacy
      2. Psalms 73:28 – But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
4. The Product of Intimacy
   1. Deepening knowledge of God
      1. An experience of intimacy with Christ will only feed the flames to know Him still better
   2. Heightened sensitivity to sin
      1. “The closer we are to God, the more the slightest sin will cause us deep sorrow” -R.C. Sproul
   3. Experience of His presence
   4. Radiance from His glory – Exodus 34:29
      1. Peace
      2. Joy
      3. Contentment
   5. Elevated desire to please Him
      1. “Effective ministry to people grows out of intimate experiences with God” -Jerry Bridges
5. The Obstruction of intimacy
   1. An Impure Heart
      1. A pure heart is one in which no known, conscious, unjudged sin is tolerated and entertained
      2. Psalm 24:3, 4 – Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
   2. Some thing or someone else
      1. “Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ” -Oswald Chambers
   3. Lack of Desire
      1. Ask the Lord for the desire (the thirst)
         1. Psalms 63:1-2a – 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, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory
         2. Psalms 84:2 – My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
      2. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
         1. Psalm 34:8a – “O taste and see that the LORD is good.”
      3. Lack of Relationship – Because of being in a lost condition

Invitation:
Confess lack of desire for Him
Tell the Lord that you want a desire, a thirst for Him
Begin to taste and see that the Lord is good through getting to know Him as never before

Thank Him for the privilege of intimacy with Him

Maybe you have realized tonight that you don’t desire the Lord because you are unsaved, you don’t know Him as Lord and Savior

SAVE THE DATE!

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