How Do I Get Close To God?

Introduction

Good morning. What a wonderful day the Lord has made. Amen. If you open your Bibles to Second Chronicles chapter 33, the book of Second Chronicles, Chapter 33, you will find it in your Bibles after 1 Chronicles and before Third Chronicles. I’m glad people actually left at that, otherwise we had had some issues. Second Chronicles Chapter 3. I’ll go with the sermon I had planned this morning. Second Chronicles chapter 33, beginning in verse 1. Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down, and he erected altars to the Baals, and made Ashureth, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them.

And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven and the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the Son of Hinnam, and used fortune telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. And the carved image of the idol that he had made, he said in the house of God, of which God had said to David, and to Solomon his son, in this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, and I will no more remove the foot of Israel from from the land that I appointed for your fathers.

If only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the rules given through Moses. Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. Nothing warms my heart like a nice Bible story on a Sunday morning, right? What we have here is one of the most wicked kings that Israel had. And that’s a pretty distinct title. That’s pretty poor. That’s a pretty low bar. But what’s fascinating about this story is you see an evil man who also took down the nation that he ruled. His influence spread so much that the people of Israel started, continued, worshipping more and more false idols.

In fact, he even profaned the very temple of the Lord. He profaned the holy place. He profaned God’s chosen city. But if you notice what God had promised was he will not pluck them from the land if they would do what he said. Manasseh clearly did not do what he said. But what I what I have to think about sometimes is in my walk. Is it as easy as pointing at Manasseh and saying, wicked, evil? Looking at Ahab and Jezebel and saying, wrong, horrible, sinners. You see, I think they suffered from the same problem. I think it’s a problem that we sometimes face this morning, and it’s that they don’t know the answer to the question or don’t care about how do I get close to God.

1. You Are Never Too Far Gone

And what you’ll see throughout the story is this very wicked king Manasseh found a way. He laid the blueprint for us. We can all do it. And that’s the first point this morning is that we must know you are never too far gone. Read with me again, starting in verse 4, some of what King Manasseh had done. Excuse me, verse 3. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had broken down. He erected altars and veils, made Ashra, worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them. He built altars in the house of the Lord. Verse 5, and he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And even verse 6. I hope you get this is not a joke.

This is not hyperbole. Verse 6, and he burned his sons as an offering in the valley of the sun of Hina. Now, ignoring how it continues to talk about fortune telling and omens and sorcery, what I read is sufficient to make this man an evil, wicked person, right? Look at verse 10. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. When he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him. And God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. You see, that story took a bit of a twist, didn’t it, from what you might be familiar with. In fact, in the parallel account in the book of 2 Kings, Manasseh is very wicked, and we don’t have this redeeming story of him. But notice what starts after the list of all those terrible things that he did, all of those horrible, unimaginable flaws. Verse 10 says, The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people. You know what? He speaks to us today. He does. You can look at the world and you can say, the world is evil. People are robbing, people are murdering. People just take what they want. People ignore the government. They do this, they do that.

But you know what? God still speaks to us today. God still seeks that all men be saved. But they paid no attention. Therefore, the Lord kept his promise. He brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon. But you know what I want to focus on this morning? Is that despite his wickedness, despite his cruelty, and in fact his murder of his very sons, he was not too far gone for God.

There is not a single act you can commit. There is not a state of mind that you can be in that if you truly seek God, if you turn to him humbly, and you pray to him, and you turn your life around as we’ll see Manasseh did, there is nothing that God cannot spare you from. There is no evil, there is no wickedness, there is no past problem that you cannot be pulled up from. Because after all, God wants you to be saved. And so the key, and when we think about this morning, how can I be close to God? It’s recognize that God wants to be close to you. He has offered us to be his children. Have you ever thought about what a blessing it is to be called the sons of God?

I was told one time by a preacher I respect that when we call, we should call Jesus the beloved Son of God. Because after all, we are all can be called children of God if we seek him, if we listen to what he says. Verse 10 is so critical in the second chronicles chapter 33 account. The Lord spoke to Manasseh. The word was out there. The commands were there. The question was, would they take them? And so this morning, as you think about your life and how do I get close to God, or how do I get closer each and every day? Realize it’s a struggle, but you can come through it. Look with me in Acts chapter 22. I want you to put yourself in the situation of this man.

In Acts chapter 22. In Acts chapter 22, beginning in verse 6. Follow with me in your New Testament. Acts chapter 22 and verse 6. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.

I don’t know about you, I’ve done some pretty sinful things in my lifetime. But I am tempted to stick out my chest sometimes and say, I don’t think I was like Paul. I don’t think I persecuted the church of God. I wasn’t like Manasseh. I didn’t, I don’t have sons, but even if I did, I’m I can say with some assurance, I wouldn’t pass them through a fire and a sacrifice to a foreign God. So that makes me pretty good, right? Consider what would happen to you if Jesus, perhaps, spoke to you. And he said, Eric, Eric, why are you what? Greg. Greg, why do you continue to? Why do you sin against me? Why do you make the very sacrifice? Why do you make the shedding of my blood in vain?

Why do you trample it underfoot? Accepting it and saying that Jesus is Lord and then living a completely different life. You see, the two are in not, they are inseparable. If you exalt Jesus as Christ and you confess him as Lord, you will do what he says. You will take the call that is made. And you’ll recognize that Jesus can save you from anything because he’s done the work. He shed the blood. You can have the forgiveness of your sins. After all, God planned it that way. Look with me at 2 Timothy. Excuse me, 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Please read with me. There’s a very powerful passage here. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Beginning in verse 3. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God. And there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. God desires that all men will be saved. Read verse 5 again. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who did what? Gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. And what that means is God knows you, God loves you, and God wants you to be saved. And it doesn’t matter where you come from, because our mediator is the greatest. We have the utmost high priest, we have the very beloved Son of God who died for us.

There is no background that can pull you away. It doesn’t matter if you’ve lived 50 years in unfaithfulness, if you turn to God, he seeks you. It doesn’t matter if you’ve worshiped God your whole life, he seeks you to continue finding him and growing closer to him. But there is nothing that can pull you away if you will just reach out to the loving Heavenly Father.

Amen. If we believe that, we will live it. And we will know that if that God who is so great, who is so almighty, who spoke this world into existence, loves us, we will know that we can do it. So there is no getting down. Because that’s what this world is full of, isn’t it? Not only is it full of wickedness, it’s full of personal tribulations. It’s full of grief, sadness, anxiety, isn’t it? What do you do about that? You get closer to God. How do you do that? You look at what Manasseh did. And look in contrast to him. Look with me back in 2 Chronicles in chapter 28. We will all face tough situations. Manasseh answered the call by humbling himself and entreating the Lord.

But look at 2 Chronicles chapter 28 and verse 22. In the time of his distress, he became yet more faithless to the Lord, this same King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. You see, we’re all going to face those times of distress. The question is, where will you turn? Who will you turn to? Ahaz had the bright idea of, well, it worked for them as he saw it, the gods delivered them. And so he said, I’m going to sacrifice to them. I’m going to turn my back away from serving the one true living God alone, and I’m going to serve these gods.

2. We Should Listen

What is it in your life that you serve instead? It doesn’t matter what it is. The point is, be like Manasseh. You can change. Just do it. And so the point, the second point of getting closer to him is we should listen. Look, turn over a couple more chapters to back to 2 Chronicles 33. And if you notice, the end of verse 10, they paid no attention. Where was the problem with Manasseh? Why, verse 11 was it, therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Syria, Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon? Because the Lord spoke to them and they did not listen. If you ignore the word of God, if you ignore God, it doesn’t matter how much he wants you to be saved.

It’s just like a dad who consistently and constantly yells at his son, don’t touch the burning stove. Okay? Some dads might find it funny, but for those of you who don’t want their child to burn, they’re going to keep telling them, Don’t do that. Don’t do that. You may even find him getting closer and yell, stop, stop, don’t do that. You will burn from that. But guess what? A couple people. A lot of sons, probably, are going to go. And they’re going to scream with how much it hurts. It doesn’t matter how much someone warns you. It matters, do you listen to the warning? And the beauty of the God wanting all people to be saved is that you should listen to him. Because he knows the way.

You can’t go wrong with God. If God says it, do it. Doesn’t that seem simple? But it gets kind of difficult. In the case of Manasseh and Israel, what was the problem? Well, there was an abundance of problems. But I think it starts with a misunderstanding of God. That misunderstanding of God is that he’s just one of the others. Or perhaps a more modern day application for us is that God’s okay with it. As long as I kind of do this, as long as I show up for worship, as long as I take the Lord’s Supper on Sunday, I’m all good. That’s not what serving God’s about. As a parent, would you enjoy it if your child did well at school but not at home? Would that be okay with you if they were perfectly fine at school and they came home and they disrespected you, they talked back to you, they lost their temper with you.

Would that be okay? No. It’s a consistent pattern of respect, of submission. And that’s what God expects. If we want to be close to him, we should listen to him. Because if he is that great God, that means that that God knows what he’s talking about. And if God tells us to do something, there is a reason for it. And in the case of listening to him, it’s for your eternal salvation. Doesn’t that he so desires us to be saved, we just need to realize that he is just. That’s a wonderful offer, isn’t it? He will reach out to us, and we can be saved if we turn to him. For God so loved the world that gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

3. We Should Actually Turn to Him

That promise is to you this morning. But we need to recognize that God is the one making the promise. And just like we listened to that, we need to listen to the other facets of what he has to say. And so another point in getting close to God this morning is consider that we should actually turn to him. And this is why I really love King Manasseh in this story. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter 33. Tell me if you can put yourself in these shoes. Beginning in verse 12. And when he was in distress, remember King Ahaz was in distress, and what did he do? He turned to the other gods. And when he was in distress, verse 12, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.

He humbled himself. He entreated the favor of the Lord his God. There are a lot of people here who are willing to help you out with anything, whether it be moving or getting along in a new place, getting direction somewhere. But they’re not going to just come up and tell you, hey, were you wondering about quite uh where the new Olive Garden is? Because I have directions for him in case you want them. You have to ask. You have to seek it out. And that’s all that the Lord asks. He wants us to do what he says. And in verse 12, Manasseh finally got it. He entreated. He earnestly sought after the favor of the Lord His God and humbled himself greatly before the God of His fathers.

He prayed to Him. And here’s the best part. He prayed to Him, and God was moved by His entreaty and heard His plea. And brought him again to Jerusalem into His kingdom. See, God just didn’t hear and discard and go, have you seen your track record, Manasseh? I don’t know if I can let this one slide. God heard Manasseh. But what Manasseh did, it was so important, is that he humbled himself. He prayed to God. Look with me in James chapter 4. Go back to your New Testament. In James chapter 4, let’s get a better understanding, perhaps, of some of Manasseh’s mindset, some of his attitude adjustment. And in James chapter 4, beginning in verse 4. Notice the admonition, you adulterous people.

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is of is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. What is this humility?

Is this calling us to be miserable? Is it calling us to be so unhappy that we’re crying, we’re wretchedly miserable every day of our lives? No. It’s the same thing that King Manasseh did. He realized he had nowhere else to turn. He was stuck. In fact, he was punished by the same God that would hear his entreaty and bring him back. When we’re stuck, when we’re in distress, how will you live out that moment? Because there are two examples I presented just this morning. But if we go back to Paul a little bit in Acts chapter 22, what did he how did he respond? He went with the man who appointed to teach him, and he did what he was taught. Manasseh humbled himself. He said, You know what?

As great a king as I am, as fantastic a leader as I am, as glorious as my palace probably is, I know I can’t do it. Only God can. And if we seek that God and we approach him as the holy, the exalted God, who we claim he is, then our submission and our humility will come naturally. I’m a terrible artist. And one of the things about that is I try not to draw if I can get away with it. Because my circles don’t look very circular. I can kind of get away with squares, maybe. Rectangles are probably the best because they don’t have to exactly be all four equal. But when I’m around someone who is a very talented artist, it’s easy for me to look at them and to say, you do it.

Or can I learn from you? You really know what you’re talking about. What can I do? How can I make my circle more even? Because we we recognize their talent, their ability at that skill. But the thing with God is we say, well, if he created the heavens and the earth with just his mouth, just his words. Whoa. And yet when it comes to piloting our lives, I know how to do that one, God. I got that one. See, we wouldn’t say that because that’s silly. And that sounds ludicrous. But how do you live? Do you trust God? Do you do what he says? Do you know get where Manasseh got and say, you know what? I have to turn it over to you, Lord. And if I find you, if I pray to you, you will deliver me.

Because you want me to be saved, because I can never be too far gone. God, give your grace to me. Help me be who I ought to be. See, that’s the beauty of the God we serve. He loves us and he desires that all men be saved. We just have to come to him. All we have to do is acknowledge him as Lord and live accordingly. It’s a really great deal. But we have to have the humility to do it. And notice he didn’t just think to himself, I hope God gets me out of this one, whichever God of the heavens it is. I hope someone bails me out here. No, he entreated the Lord. He prayed to him. He knew who it was, and he sought God’s guidance, and God delivered him.

4. If You Are Close to God, It Will Show

And so one final point this morning is recognize. If you are close to God, it will show. Go back to 2 Corinthians, or excuse me, 2 Chronicles chapter 33. I want to read, as is commonly said, the rest of the story. In 2 Chronicles chapter 33, we’ll begin with verse 13. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. Afterwards he built an outer wall for the city of David, west of Gihon, in the valley and for the entrance into the fish gate, and carried around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.

Look at verse 15. And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city. He changed. He found God and he lived it. Verse 16. He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving. And he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God. Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to his God and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, behold, they are in the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

And his prayer and how God was moved by his entreaty and all his sin and his faithlessness, and the sites on which he built high places and set up the ashram and the images. Before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the chronicles of the seers. So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house, and Ammon his son reigned in his place. This is a wonderful story. Because it shows that it doesn’t matter what your background is. This man was a murderer.

That’s corrupt. That’s twisted. And yet God loved him anyway. It didn’t matter what he did because God’s love is greater. It didn’t matter where he had been, because God can pull you through. God desires that all men be saved, not just the ones who come to church on Sunday and wear a tie and a jacket and look very sweet and swell. God loves all people, and that means accepting them for who they are. And it means in my personal walk with God, if I want to be close to him, I need to realize I can come back. And if I do, I am guided by his words. And if I’m guided by his words, I will turn to him, and if I am with God, it will show.

There is no mistaking this. In any principle outside of religion, if we believed in God, we would change. If I’m a gator fan, I root for the gators. It’s been a tough year, but I still root for them. Because I’m a fan. I, in a sense, believe in the team. I root for them. How much more about loving your family? My nana’s visiting with us this morning. I love her so dearly. She’s right over there, by the way. She’ll appreciate that. Because of my love for her, I would do almost anything for her. I love her. And it shows. And if not, if you love someone and they don’t show love to you, how does it feel? Does it feel nice? Does it make you feel loved back?

Conclusion

It’s awful. It’s terrible. God has shown love to us. What kind of love are we showing in our relationship with Him? We often pray, God be closer to me, God guide me. God find me. God deliver me. Are we seeking to be delivered? Are you seeking to find God? Because the best way to get close to God is to allow Him to draw near to you by drawing near to Him. Listen to His words. Treasure them. Exemplify them. Love the one living God. Please pray with me. Our dear God and most gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you for your greatness. You are the one true and living God. Thank you so much for blessing us the way you have. We recognize that your grace and your mercy is so expansive and infinite that we frankly can’t even wrap our minds around it.

You can do far more abundantly than all that we ask or even think. And we praise you, and we thank you for those attributes and for using them to help us. We are nothing, and you have elevated us to be able to be called children of you. Help us to find you, O God. Help us to read your word and to apply it to our lives. Forgive us, O Lord, when we stumble. Help us to know that you are God, and in you we can do all things. We can have our sin washed away if we seek you. Thank you for those blessings. Please forgive us of all of our past sins and help us to learn more about you and to worship you in spirit and truth this very morning.

We ask all these things in your Son, the mediator’s name. Amen. We are now dismissed to Bible class.