如何亲近神

曾有未信主的人说：“如果神显现给我看，我就会相信神。”试想：神是圣洁的，圣洁的神岂能向不洁的人显现呢？《圣经》告诉我们:“人非圣洁不能见神的面。”当年的摩西能与神面对面，与神交谈，而以色列百姓却不能像摩西一样与神相交，这是为什么呢？因为要与神相交、亲近神、面对神，就必须要预备自己。下面以“如何亲近神”来与大家分享。

一、要谦卑

古人云：“谦受益，满招损”。圣经里也有许多有关谦卑的教导:“虚心的人有福了，因为天国是他们的。”（参太5:3）“神阻挡骄傲的人，赐恩给谦卑的人。”（参彼前5:5下）。神憎恶高傲的眼，所以人若不谦卑就不能见神的面。在路18:9-14中记载：法利赛人和税吏有两种不同的祷告。法利赛人在神面前的祷告乃是骄傲地将自己所做的说给人听罢了，主不算他为义。但那税吏乃是谦卑认罪，他是远远地站着，连举目望天也不敢，只是捶着胸说“神啊，开恩可怜我这个罪人！”主称赞悦纳他的祷告。在神面前谦卑认罪就可蒙神的赦免，得称为义。

人之所以不能见神是因为自高自大、骄傲自满，总认为自己行。其实人是无力自救的罪人，若要靠自己岂能见到神？人若要亲眼见到神，首先要让神改变我们的生命，就像当年的摩西一样。民12:3中记载“摩西为人极其谦和，胜过世上的众人。”

今天，我们要亲近神，只有谦卑看到自己不过是一个罪人。现今世上许多人之所以不能认识神，不接受神，其中最大的一个原因就是骄傲。撒但将骄傲放在人的内心里，使人的心刚硬，拒绝神。人类最普遍的罪就是骄傲，它使人无法面对神。我们要明白，若要亲近神，谦卑才是蒙恩的最好条件，也是首要条件。

二、要圣洁

为何要圣洁？因为我们的神是圣洁的。“你们要圣洁，因为我耶和华你们的神是圣洁的。”(利19:2下）神既是圣洁的，他就不能与罪恶同流合污，所以要见神的面要先追求圣洁。来12:14记载“你们要追求圣洁，非圣洁没有人能见主。”从《圣经》中我们看到：大卫王因追求圣洁，常与神亲近；扫罗却因不洁以至于交鬼；但以理因圣洁，神亲自向他显现；摩西宁可与自己的百姓同受苦害，也不愿暂时享受罪中之乐，因此，摩西能见到神，神还对他说话。

亲近神是每个蒙恩儿女的权柄，神是圣洁的，只有圣洁才能面对他。太5:8记载：“清心的人有福了，因为他们必得见神。”“清心”即:无罪缠饶，内心清洁。当年以色列百姓要想见神必须自洁、洗衣服。自洁是指心里的清洁，不容许污秽的心思意念存在心里；洗衣服是指行为上的圣洁。启19:8记载“就蒙恩得穿光明洁白的细麻衣。这细麻衣就是圣徒所行的义。”今天，我们要见主，同样需要谦卑向神认罪悔改，离开罪恶归向神。耶稣基督为我们担当一切的罪孽，被钉十字架，他的宝血可洗净人一切的罪。只要接受他做生命的救主，他必赦免人的罪，使我们在他里面被更新，成为有主一样圣洁生命的人,这样，才能遇见神。

一个追求圣洁的人对罪是很敏感的，他会远离罪恶。越远离罪恶就越容易亲近神、遇见神。相反，一个对罪不敏感的人，就会常被罪恶俘虏，向罪妥协。我们从始祖身上看到，始祖与撒但妥协，违背神的命令，犯罪，最终被逐出伊甸乐园，被神弃绝，失去见神面的福份。所以，我们这些已经蒙恩的子民，应对罪非常敏感，并加以抵制，不容罪恶的侵犯。我们当保持圣洁，时刻亲近主。

三、要专一

专一，就是专心致志的意思。我们都是神的儿女，要遇见神，亲近神就要有专一的心。耶29:13记载“若专心寻求我，就必寻见。”东方的博士为寻见神、朝拜神，他们不辞辛苦，跋山涉水，千里迢迢从东方来到伯利恒，专一寻求主，俯伏拜主。迦勒有一个心志，就是要专一跟从主，神说“因他另有一个心志，专一跟从我，我就把他领进他所去过的那地；他的后裔也必得那地为业。”（参民14:24）。这是专一的结果，多么美好。然而，现实生活中，我们却看到我们的心对主常是不专一的，我们常被世界所影响，我们的心中常有嘈杂的声音。就是来到了教会，有时候，我们心里想的还是世界。圣经告诉我们心怀二意的人在他一切所行的路上都没有定见（参雅1:8）。今天有些人希望能遇见神，但因为自己内心的忙乱，不能平静，阻碍了与神的亲近、交通。雅4:8下记载:“心怀二意的人哪，要清洁你们的心。”只有专一寻求主的，才能寻见。从出19:9-11中，我们看到神要以色列百姓自洁、预备，为的是专一等候迎见神、亲近神。所以今天我们想见神面，也要有预备，专一来亲近神。

与神面对面是我们每一位基督徒的盼望与福份，但是我们要想时常与主亲近，就应当时常预备自己，用谦卑、圣洁与专一的心来面对神、亲近神，就必蒙神的喜悦。

How To Be Close To GOD

By Rev. Jiang Guiying

Bible Verse Reading: Exodus 19: 9-11

Once a non-Christian said, “If God reveals Himself to me, I will believe in Him.” But God is holy. How can the Holy God reveals to unholy humans? The Bible tells us to “live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it.” (Hebrews 12:14) Why could Moses talk to God face-to-face while the Israelites could not? Because to talk to God, to be close to Him and to face Him, we need to prepare ourselves.

1. We should be humble.

It is said that modesty benefits us while pride destroys us. There are many teachings concerning humbleness in the Bible: Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them!” (Matthew 5: 3) “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (Ref. 1 Peter 5: 5) God abhors the proud. Hence we are not able to see God without being humble. According to what is recorded in Luke 18: 9-14, there were two different kinds of prayers between the Pharisee and the tax collector. The prayers of the Pharisee was to tell others proudly about what they did. God did not take him as righteousness. But the tax collector admitted his sin humbly. He stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, “God, have pity on me, a sinner!” God was well pleased with his prayers. To be humble and to admit one’s sin, one will be forgiven by God and become righteous.

One will never see God if he is arrogant, proud and thinks that nothing he cannot do. Actually, human beings are sinners who cannot fulfill self-salvation. How can one see God on his own effort? We should beg God to change our life in order to see Him personally, just like what Moses did in those years. Numbers records that “the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.”

Today, to be close to God, we should be humble and see that we are just sinners. Many people do not know God or believe in God because of their pride. Satan put pride in the heart of human beings so that they refuse God. Pride is a most common sin among humans and it prevents us from seeing God. We must know that to be humble is the way to have grace from God.

2. We should be holy.

Why should we be holy? Because our Lord is Holy. “You should be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Since God is holy, He cannot get along with evils. We should pursue the holiness in order to see God. We read in the Bible that King David was close to God because he pursued holiness while Saul met devil because he was unholy; God revealed to Daniel because he was holy; Moses preferred suffering with his people to enjoying the pleasure of evil even momentarily, which brought him to God and the talk with God.

To be close to God is the right given by God with His grace. God is Holy and we should be holy to face Him. “Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!” (Matthew 5: 8) “The pure in heart” means that people are undisturbed by sin and clean in heart. The Israelites had to be consecrated and wash their clothes before they met God. To be consecrated refers to the holiness in heart. To wash their clothes refers to the holiness in the behavior. Revelation 19: 8 records that “‘She has been given clean shining linen to dress herself with.’ (The linen is the righteous deeds of God’s people.)” In modern times we need to be humble and admit our sin to God and to convert to God from evil. Jesus Christ bore all our sins and was crucified on the Cross. His precious blood is able to cleanse all sins of human beings. As long as we accept Him as our Savior, He forgives our sins and renews us. When we have the same holy life as the Lord, we will meet Him.

One who pursues holiness is sensitive to sin and will stay away from sin. The farther we are from sin, the easier we get close to God. On the other hand, one who is not sensitive to evil will easily be captured by sin and give oneself up to sin. We see from Adam that he compromised with Satan against God and committed sin. Finally he was driven out of Eden and deserted by God, losing blessings of meeting God. Therefore, as God’s people, we ought to be very sensitive to sin and exert our efforts to resist it.

3. We should be constant.

To be constant is to be concentrated. As God’s people, we should be constant in order to meet Him. “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) The three wise men in the east came to Bethlehem from afar, regardless of the hardship, to seek God and to worship God. They were constant in their worship. Caleb had a different spirit and had followed God wholeheartedly. God said, “Because he has a different spirit and has followed me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.” (Numbers 14:24) However, in our daily life, we see that we are not constant to God. We are often influenced by the world and we feel the noise in our heart. Sometimes even when we are in the church, we still think about the world. The Bible tells us that “the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1: 8) Some hope to meet God, but failed because of inner disturbance. “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4: 8) Only those who are constant will find God. In Exodus 19: 9-11, we see that God wanted the Israelites consecrated and to prepare for His coming. Therefore, to meet God, we should prepare and be constant to be close to God.

To be with God face-to-face is the hope and blessing of every Christian. God must be well pleased when we think of going close to Him and that we should prepare ourselves and face God with humbleness, holiness and concentrated ness. 　

（根据录音整理）