Job 22:21-30
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
Acquaint - To become familiar or conversant with - to gain personal knowledge of.
Familiar - Thoroughly conversant - informal - unceremonious - unconstrained.
We are talking about a relationship with God that is not based on ceremony or formality, but on a personal fellowship, a personal knowledge of His mercy, His love, and His faithfulness.
Did you know that God is not looking for ceremony or formality?
A lot of people have based their Christianity on some form of ceremony or formality. They have become acquainted with religion, but God is a stranger to them.Which is not to say that ceremony and formality should be left undone, but alone they are not enough.
There was a ceremony when my wife and I got married, but the ceremony did not keep us together. Our fellowship kept us together and our love has kept us together.
Many people take communion because they love the formality of it. It is so religious. They miss the remembrance of the body that was broken for our healing and the blood that was shed for our sin.
God is calling us to be familiar with Him, to be conversant with Him, and to be at peace.
Isaiah 32:17 - And the work of righteousness shall be peace: and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
Isaiah 54:17 - And their righteousness is of me saith the Lord.
Proverbs 18:10 - The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.
Romans 5:17 says we have received the gift of righteousness by Jesus Christ. Because of the work of Jesus at Calvary, the fellowship between God and man was renewed. The vail of separation was rent in twain.
I am trying to say that the reason for redemption is so that fellowship can be restored.
When Jesus was born, the message of the angels was "On earth peace, good will toward man". Jesus came to tear down the wall between God and man so that we can come boldly to the throne of grace so that we can be acquainted and familiar with God, and so that we will have peace.
Our text tells us of the benefits of building a personal relationship with our Lord.
The first benefit is PEACE.
Psalms 29:11 - The Lord will give strength unto his people: the Lord will bless his people with peace.
Psalms 85:10 - Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.
Psalms 119:165 - Great Peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them.
The Hebrew text reads: And they shall have no stumbling block.
Proverbs 3:1-2 tells us that if we do not forget God’s laws, but keep them in our heart, it will add to us length of days, long life, and PEACE.
Romans 8:6 - To be spiritually minded is life and PEACE.
If we lack these things maybe we should ask ourselves:
Have we been conversant with God? Are we familiar with our Heavenly Father? Have we, as verse 22 of our text says, placed His Word in our heart?
God is not the source of your problem, He is the answer.
If you are in this condition, if you have drifted from fellowship, verse 23 is a call to return.
Return and God will lift you up
Let’s look at the blessing of fellowship with Him. Verse 24 says you’ll have gold, your needs met abundantly, poverty destroyed. Verse 25 says the Lord will be your defence. Verse 26 says you can lift up your face to Him and come boldly as a child to his Father.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 tells us that if we hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord, and obey, the blessing will overtake us.
Verse 28 says God will cause the words of your mouth to be established.
How many would like for God to cause the words that you have spoken today to become established? More reason we should be careful about the words of our mouth, don’t you think.
It also says the light will shine upon your way.
God is light. As long as you are in fellowship with Him, you are in the light. The instant you break that fellowship, you are in darkness.
I John 2:11 says hatred and bitterness will plunge you into darkness.
Verse 29 says God will give you words to lift up the humble. Thou shalt say, there is lifting up.
Verse 30 says He will use your hand to deliver the innocent.
Just as Jesus delivered the daughter of Abraham in Luke chapter 13 verse16 He has said in Mark 16:18 that you shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.
Sometimes Satan attacks the innocent. Most of the time he attacks the innocent, but God has sent His children to deliver the innocent, to lay hands on the sick, to cast out devils, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Fellowship is a parent of faith.
When you hear people make statements like, "I don’t know why God doesn’t help me?", or "Faith doesn’t work for me", etc., you will probably find someone whose fellowship with the Lord is weak or broken.
Broken fellowship doesn’t always mean broken relationship.
Sometimes husbands and wives have broken fellowship. The relationship isn’t broken yet. It takes a court to do that. If fellowship is not restored, then the relationship is in danger.
A lack of joy can often be traced to a lack of fellowship. In the presence of the Lord is fulness of joy.
Jesus is calling today. Come unto me. I will give you rest.
He is calling His children also to become acquainted, familiar, conversant with Him, to receive the law from His mouth.
He is calling today that one who has broken his fellowship or whose fellowship has become weak. Return to the Almighty and He will lift you up.
Come and lift your face to Him. You can’t afford to stay in the dark any longer.
