Acquaint Thyself with God

I invite you to turn this evening to Job, Job, and the 22nd chapter. Just before I went on vacation, we were in a series—Bible Answers for Inner Battles. I said there were a few more to cover in that series, and there’s been questions about when are you going to pick up that? Again, I’ll get to it. And so if you’re coming, hoping I would resume that study tonight, sorry to disappoint. But on occasion—quite frequently, in fact—the Lord will really strike the preacher in his own reading, and sometimes with greater influence and effect than others.

And so usually on Wednesday nights when we meet and I bring the Word, that’s something—in most instances, that’s something that I’ve been reading in my own time with the Lord. And Job 22, we have a verse that the Lord struck me with, and I trust will strike you with as we look at it this evening.

The Book of Job is one of those books that—it’s not quite Ezekiel, you know. Ezekiel’s I think probably one of the main books that believers get to and never manage to finish. It seems to be the case, and I can understand sometimes why, reading through it. But Job also can be challenging with all this back and forth between Job and his friends. And again, there’s more of a poetic bent to the language. And therefore, because of our distance from that time and period and so on, it makes it a little more difficult for us to fully appreciate all that is being said.

However, the context is well known by most believers. You have this man who loves the Lord, walking with God, seemingly with all the devotion and God’s testimony of him—that he is really the example in his generation. And then tragedy strikes, and amidst the tragedy, arises the question: what does all this mean? And Job struggles with it in his own way. And his friends who come to comfort him upon hearing of the calamities begin to show again something of what they think is going on. And if you’ve read through it, you’ll realize that many times they are well off the mark.

Well, we come to chapter 22 tonight, and this is Eliphaz, and this is the third occasion in which he is speaking. And I’m not going to read all of the chapter, but from verse 21 we’re going to read. He makes, again, all sorts of assessments with regard to Job’s life. Just some of the social things that he accuses Job of—for example, in verse 6, just for some context. He’s accusing him of social interactions that are not becoming of one who fears God. And his assessment is that you imagine God doesn’t see.

Verse 13: “And thou sayest, How doth God know?” He’s looking at Job and saying, “Job, you are acting—my assessment of you is you’re living as if God is distant and doesn’t see the way you’ve been living.”

And we come then to verse 21. We’re going to read from verse 21 through the end of the chapter. Hear God’s Word:

“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 thy hands.”

Amen. We’ll end the reading of God’s Word at the close of the chapter. And what you have heard is the inerrant Word of God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, Amen.

Let’s pray, beloved. Let’s seek the Lord together as we come to His Word.

O God, all those centuries ago Thou didst observe these interactions, and they have been recorded for our learning. We pray that as we reflect upon language found here, that Thou wilt bless our meditation. Take us from merely a study or a sermon and bring a message.

Perhaps there’s one here that’s still without grace in the heart, still unconverted. They’ve never been born again. Our concern would be peculiar and particular toward them. We desire, O God, life for them. We pray tonight that they would choose life.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on this gathering. Do damage to the kingdom of darkness. Extend the kingdom of Christ, for we pray in His name. Amen.

Peppered repeatedly throughout the Scriptures, Old and New Testament, you will find direct exhortations to sinners to respond urgently to the appeal that has been put to them of their spiritual need—repenting of their sin and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

When the forerunner to Christ, John the Baptist, comes on the scene, we’re told to summarize his message in Matthew 3 verse 2, he said, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And while that was preached mostly to Jews, or some Roman soldiers in the midst it appears as well, but mostly to Jews, Paul certainly made it clear that this message is for all, no matter where you’re from. As he stands before Gentiles in the city of Athens and he presents the message to them, he says in Acts 17 verse 30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”

And again, even in the Old Testament, the language is frequently direct and unambiguous. In Isaiah 55, the prophet records God’s message in verses 6 and 7: “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Joel also weighs in with direct language to the Lord’s people, saying, “Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart.” It’s very direct, looking for change, a sense of urgency about the language.

Ezekiel also, Ezekiel 18 verse 30: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”

Amos puts, very simply, a direct, urgent message to the people in four words—”Prepare to meet thy God.” Five words: “Prepare to meet thy God.”

It’s in that vein that we find the language of Eliphaz here in Job 22, in which, at the close where we read, he uses similar language, and I was struck particularly by verse 21: “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”

Now, Eliphaz is wrong in his application. He wrongly assumes that Job is completely estranged from God. But the language—what he speaks—has application. Well, it doesn’t have application to Job, it has application to others. And in some ways, Eliphaz wasn’t entirely misunderstanding all that was going on, because even Job felt himself to be away from God. You go into the next chapter, you find verse 3 of Job 23: “Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!” And he speaks here about not being able to find God. Verse 8: “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him.”

And he feels himself to be distant from God, but it’s different. Job knows God. Job is seeking for God, though God feels distant. But Eliphaz’s language is making the assumption that Job doesn’t know God. He’s away from God. So he calls him then in this language, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”

I want us to focus on that text. And if you’re not saved, you’ll want to hear this because the language is not being misapplied to you. It was misapplied to Job, but it wouldn’t be misapplied to you to take this language and say to yourself, “God is speaking to me tonight in these words. Acquaint now thyself with Him.”

So that’s how I’ve titled my message: “Acquaint Thyself with God. Acquaint Thyself with God.” And as we look at it, we have a number of heads that we’ll consider. Very simple.

The first one is the invitation to know God. The invitation to know God. That’s how the verse begins: “Acquaint now thyself with him.” It’s inviting. And the language is not vague. It’s a divine imperative. Eliphaz uses language of urgency and presses it upon Job.

The word translated “acquaint” in this particular form means more than a polite introduction. It’s not just we’re getting acquainted with one another in the sense that we know one another’s names and then we part ways. No, it speaks of showing harmony with, being familiar with, to know intimately, or even dwelling with.

I was meditating and reading over this, my mind was drawn to Genesis 17. You remember when God comes to Abraham and says, “I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect.” That’s the idea here. Walk before me. Be conscious that you’re in my presence. Be aware. Be acquainted. Walk with God.

That’s really the idea that was true of Abraham. Enoch and Noah, they walked with God. They were acquainted with God. Not just in the sense that they were aware of who God is, but they were familiar with God. They knew Him intimately. They dwelt with God. They had this conscious awareness that they walked in the immediate presence of God.

This is the Christian life. Let me just say to the believer, take note. Eliphaz’s words, “Acquaint thyself with him,” it shows and presses upon you what the Christian life is to look like—an acquaintance with God, a familiarity with God, the believer marked out by one who dwells with God. And it’s not just to be some truth that is abstract or stated like a systematic doctrine. It’s to be something real.

Now I have said on numerous occasions, I say again tonight: you want to fight sin? You want to gain the victory over sin? You want to know what it is to triumph over sin, your besetting sins? There’s no greater encouragement I can give to you than rather than focus on the defeating of that sin—and I’m not, that’s not always wrong—but rather than merely focus on the defeating of sin, that you focus on a conscious awareness of God’s presence.

You know as well as I do that our behavior changes often depending whose presence we’re in. Sometimes we feel very relaxed around people and we can feel somewhat more—in fact, my children observed when we were away, and we went one evening after the evening service into a particular home, and these are friends I’ve known for years, people that I got to know the first time I was converted, and the family have been a tremendous blessing to Melanie and I over the years. We esteem them highly in the Lord, both the parents as well as the children.

I’m in one of the homes of the children, and the parents are there as well, and we’re just talking and just going on for hours, as is the case in Northern Ireland. It’s a little bit like heaven. There’s no night there. You just keep going on, talking to midnight.

And in the conversation—evidently, possibly because I’m on vacation, but also who I was around and having this whole history and not feeling, as it were, maybe being in that position as pastor—they saw, they made remark as to how I interacted with them, that I seemed to be—they saw something in me they didn’t—I can’t exactly remember how they described it, but they were remarking on it.

And there are, there can be that difference in which we interact depending on who we’re around. Now here’s the point: when you’re conscious of God’s presence, it changes your behavior. And if I was to give to you a more positive way to defeat and conquer sin, it is to focus on that. Get yourself into God’s presence each day and plead for the carrying of that sense of His presence throughout the day, and by that alone you will find that sin’s power will be broken.

“Acquaint now thyself with him.” Be familiar with God. Don’t just say, “I know He exists.” But “I know Him. I spend time with Him.”

“Acquaint now thyself with him”—a number of things we can reflect on here. First, it presumes separation. The call to acquaint implies distance. And this, of course, is man’s natural position. He’s not born close to God. He’s born far off from God. You were born estranged from God.

And this is what sin does—it estranges us from God, it separates us from God. That’s the language of Isaiah 59: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God.” There can’t be the intimacy, there can’t be the acquaintance, there can’t be the familiarity, there can’t be the two walking together except you be agreed.

The carnal mind, Paul writes under inspiration in Romans 8 verse 7, “is enmity against God.” So you’re not morally neutral—that’s not how you’re born into this world. You’re born estranged from God. You need to be reconciled. You need to be acquainted.

But it also promises fellowship—not only presumes separation, it promises fellowship. “Acquaint now thyself with him.” Shows that this is no cold formality, is it? “Acquaint yourself, get to know him” implies covenant relationship where God becomes the delight of the believer, the portion of the believer.

John writes in 1 John 1 verse 3, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” Communion, fellowship—this is what’s true of the Christian. Our fellowship is with the triune God.

We can say then with the psalmist, Psalm 73, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” You get to know certain people, you find yourself drawn to them, or perhaps the opposite, moving away from them. You’ll find at times in your life meeting someone and almost from the outset sensing a kindred spirit, that David and Jonathan type feeling of the soul being knit together—there’s something there. And if it can be true of human relationships, then it ought to be even more true of our walk with God, an acquaintance with Him.

It also presses for urgency. “Acquaint now thyself.” Eliphaz is urgent here. He has come to an end of himself and is burdened for his friend. And again, while he is wrong in the one to whom he applies this language, yet he is not wrong in what he is saying in and of itself. “Acquaint now thyself,” not later. Now you must come. Now while you can, before it’s too late.

Don’t try to sort out your sins. Don’t try to make yourself better before you come to God. Get yourself to God. “Acquaint now thyself with him.”

The gospel call is one of urgency. It calls for immediate response. It calls for action today. “To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart.” As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6, “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

The day of salvation. What day can I know I can be saved? Today! Even more so, now. Now. Every moment you delay is a gamble with an unknown future. “Acquaint now thyself with him.” Get familiar with God now.

Can you imagine you’re going to go to heaven, be in the presence of God, without ever being acquainted with Him here? Rejecting Him here? Turning your back on Him here?

It’s also personal, isn’t it? “Acquaint now thyself with him.” He’s looking at Job. He’s pressing this upon Job. The preacher eyeballs the individual and says, “This is for you.” It’s not corporate. It’s not hereditary. It is personal.

Your parents—boys and girls, your parents can’t do it for you. No family member can do this for you. Certainly the pastor can’t do it for you. “Acquaint now thyself with him.” You get yourself to him. You must become familiar with him. You must get to know him.

And you can. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be acquainted with him.

It also points exclusively to Christ. “Acquaint now thyself with him.” How can man be acquainted with God, familiar with God, in fellowship with God? How is this possible? Can a sinner approach directly to God? What is a sinner to do who is enmity with God, who is at war with God? Where is your hope except in a mediator?

And while this might be the oldest book in all of the Scriptures—oldest in terms of when it was put together—it doesn’t deviate from the central message found in the New Testament and everywhere else in Scripture. Go back a few chapters to Job 19. Job 19. Job shows his hope in this chapter.

Verse 14: “My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.” There’s no answer in any one. But what does he say in verse 25? “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

“I know that my redeemer liveth.” Job, the details of his understanding of redemptive doctrine, we don’t know entirely, but there’s enough here to show that Job was expecting a deliverer, or as the language is here, a Redeemer—one who would buy him from the bondage of a slavery, a Redeemer, a living Redeemer, and one who will eternally live on, whom he will see one day.

And it’s in this hope that the sinner only can come to know God or be acquainted with God. It is through Christ. John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Whatever religion you may espouse, if it seeks to go directly to God, it will fail you. You need one to reconcile. You need one to come and make that meeting with God—who’s offended by your sin, who knows about your rebellion, who justly feels the need to punish your iniquities—and you need a mediator, one who stands in the middle and is able to bring that acquaintance to pass.

This Jesus who lived on our behalf—we considered it this morning—died on the cross, rose from the dead, who presents five—we sang of it—”Five bleeding wounds He bears, received on Calvary; they pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me.” And they plead for our reconciliation, assurance of the sinner that he is accepted in and through the beloved.

2 Corinthians 5:19, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.”

And so we look for one who can help us be acquainted with God. And tonight I say to you, you look to Christ to be acquainted with God. You run to Christ, you go through Christ, you believe on Christ to be acquainted with God. “Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself”—Colossians 1:20. By Him, through Him, because of Him, only Him. That’s how we become acquainted.

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”—1 Peter 3:18.

So how do you get acquainted? It’s not by trying harder. You come broken, you come weeping, you come believing, and you come to Christ and through Christ. This is how one is acquainted with God. It’s life—it’s life to go to the resurrection and the life, to go to Christ, the imparter of life, to go to Jesus, the very source of life. You go there and He reconciles you to the God you rebelled against.

If you come any other way, you’re going to be turned away. Christ says, “I am the door,” and it’s a narrow way—speaks of it being a narrow way. Narrow has a number of implications, but one of which is you can’t bring all your self-righteousness, you can’t bring all your religion with you. You press in to salvation by abandoning everything and seizing upon Christ alone. And that’s the beauty of it. You abandon everything else and just Jesus Christ.

So, secondly, we want to consider the consequence of knowing God. We’re seeing here the invitation to know God—”acquaint thyself with him”—the consequence of knowing God—”and be at peace,” and be at peace.

Shalom, a word that you’re familiar with whether you know Hebrew or not, but it means more than calm. It’s charged with significance. It means wholeness, restoration, covenant harmony, and many other truths are packed into that word “peace.”

“And be at peace”—when he says “be at peace,” he’s not speaking here of something that’s accomplished by an effort. It’s a promise. It’s a consequence. That’s the language. Because you’ve acquainted yourself with Him, you’re at peace. That’s the consequence.

So you can’t obtain this peace by not acquainting yourself—unless you acquaint yourself with God, basically. You acquaint yourself with God and then the peace follows as a consequence of it. You want this peace, you have to come the right way. Acquaint yourself with God.

The peace of God flows from peace with God. The peace with God must come first. Romans 5 verse 1: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” By believing. Justification by faith alone. By believing on Him. I mean, this is the beauty of it. It’s so simple. By believing on Him. It’s not something else I must do. No. No. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”

Be at peace. How do we consider this in a number of ways to help us get more, bring more benefit out of this language? “Be at peace.” First, showing that this consequence then—it provides rest. This peace provides rest. This is rest for the soul. Real rest. A rest that isn’t, again, built up by our effort. It’s not dependent upon our performance. It’s a real peace that’s felt. Despite the circumstances, despite the swirling changes of life, there is this peace that is a consequence of being acquainted with God.

It’s one of the things I marvel at most days. I read a chapter of Acts among all the other reading that I do of the Scriptures each day. And you go through the book of Acts, and the striking thing—the boldness of the apostles. There’s a fearlessness in them, a resolve, a courage. And they’re threatened with various things, but they carry on in the course that they believe is right. And so even though their life is threatened, they are at peace.

One of the scenes that regularly is so vivid in my mind, and understandably so, is that scene in Acts 16, when the apostle Paul and Silas are arrested, and they’re beaten with many stripes. Many stripes. I mean, the language doesn’t quite describe the horrors of how they must have been feeling. Bleeding, sore, left in awful surroundings. And yet, at midnight, singing praises unto God. At peace. They were at peace.

And even when they came, afterwards, realizing that Paul was a Roman, they start to—because you can’t do those kind of things with someone who’s a Roman citizen. And they realize they should have asked the question beforehand, but they didn’t. They beat him and then realized that our life is in danger. We had no right to do what we did. And they come, encouraging him to leave the prison. But just everything about that whole passage just communicates his peace.

You can’t threaten a man when he doesn’t fear your worst threat. Threaten Paul with death and he says, “Bring it on.” “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” You can’t threaten a man like that because he has such a deep peace of soul. He’s invincible to the threats of men. That’s what acquaintance with God brings.

In places of tremendous persecution—one of the sisters was praying on Wednesday night about Nigeria. I didn’t ask her. I think it was about the 200 believers that were slaughtered there recently. What do they have when they’re staring at death? The peace that is a consequence of their acquaintance with God. That’s what you need.

He provides rest. Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Rest unto your souls.

Some of you need that, but you don’t go seeking for the rest. You acquaint yourself with God.

It provides rest. It purifies the conscience. “Be at peace.” To be at peace is to have this sense of knowing, judicially, that Christ has dealt with everything that you need before God. The gospel—through the gospel, God silences the accusation of your conscience by the blood of His Son.

And you have those pangs of your past, or even your recent present, and you wonder what the answer is for you. The answer for you is the benefits of the gospel. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” The Apostle in Hebrews 9:14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Deliverance from everything else, knowing the blood of Christ is sufficient, it is enough. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”—Romans 8 verse 1. The condemnation is gone. It is lifted. The conscience finds for the first time a peace that is not imagined but real. Judicially, God has declared your sins, though there are many, are gone. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Gone, gone, gone.

So there’s peace as a consequence of acquaintance with God, reconciliation with God. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.”

It also preserves through trials, this peace—provides rest, it purifies the conscience, and it preserves through trials. “Be at peace.” This standing before God, this judicial standing of peace with God through Christ, leads into, as we indicated earlier, to the peace of God. Peace with God, the peace of God.

I deal with the fact that I’m acquainted with Him, I know Him, and now I have the peace of God. That peace of God is mentioned in Philippians 4, a familiar passage to many, I am sure. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Shall keep. The language there is often used in the military context in that first century time, meaning to guard, to fortify.

The peace of God will fortify. So there’s Paul in prison, probably with a Praetorian guard right there with him, maybe even chained to him. And he’s there in that context, he speaks of what is true in the innermost part of the believer. Peace, the peace of God that guards the heart and mind of the Christian. It fortifies.

It’s not merely an internal calm—it is God’s active, protective grace surrounding the believer’s heart and mind. And so when trials come and buffet, there’s this grace. You can’t always even articulate it. I visit people at times, and I know they have gone through something. And you talk with them and there’s just this overwhelming peace that is sensed, it is palpable. At times they’re in a position where I go away asking myself, “If I was there, would I be so calm?” But it’s there. The peace of God passes on their standing, keeps their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Your need, my friend, is to “acquaint now thyself with him.” If you want this peace, and I’ll tell you, there’s little, if anything, like it in this world. Peace. Peace. Resting your head on the pillow at night in peace. Waking up in the morning in peace. Oh, you have the swirling demands of life. You have the list of chores that need to be done. The to-do list that needs to be checked off. You have all those things, but there’s a peace because you’ve put first things first. “Acquaint now thyself with him.”

Thirdly, the promise that follows, the promise that follows: “thereby good shall come unto thee.” Good shall come unto thee.

“Good shall come unto thee,” so says Eliphaz, and he’s not entirely wrong. Now this is not to be taken as a health, wealth, prosperity-type slogan. But it can be understood in terms of gospel benefits, the favor that comes by means of reconciliation with God, acquaintance with God, the blessings of language perhaps that can’t be superseded any more than found in Romans 8:32: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

The expectation of those at peace with God—that having given a son is going to supply my need. Having given a son, He will not leave me to be destitute of the things that I require. He will give us all things. That doesn’t mean He’ll take away the sorrow, but He’ll give comfort in the sorrow. It doesn’t mean he’s going to eradicate death, but there’ll be hope in death.

Promise: “thereby good shall come unto thee.”

You think about this a few things. First, it prioritizes the soul. We must consider this as prioritizing the soul. “Good shall come unto thee.” Now Eliphaz goes on to speak about material things. Certainly previously Job had been tremendously wealthy. And when we get to the last chapter, he’s even more wealthy by the end of it all. But that’s not always the case. Men do not always, even those of God’s people, experience this.

The blessings of reconciliation with God are not counted with silver but in the value of God’s salvation. What good is worldly success if your soul perishes? But if your soul is right with God, you have something the world can never buy. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”—Jesus says.

And he lived with impeccable favor. And he had nowhere to lay his head. He had nothing. And yet he had no anxiety about it, no worries about it. Every need would be met. And he knew it. And he knew those spiritual blessings, the spiritual blessings that the apostle speaks of in Ephesians 1 verse 3.

And this, beloved, needs to be the focus. It needs to be primarily: I need to prosper in my soul. This whole nation puts heavy—it’s not the only nation, it’s the same everywhere, it’s the same everywhere. There’s materialism everywhere, but this currently is the land of opportunity, isn’t it? This is where people most desire to come because if they’re willing to put the work in and take the right path, generally it’s rewarding, generally speaking.

But we are not to fall into the trap of prioritizing that and saying that the sum of my life and its meaning is made up by what I’ve earned in terms of dollars and cents. It’s a trap. Prioritize the soul. We want to make sure our soul is in the place that it ought to be. That kind of good. Want to know that good in our souls, that good.

Wealth can come and then take wings and fly away. But this kind of good stays, remains. So, we are to prioritize the soul in reading this language.

And also, see that it prepares for glory. “Good shall come unto thee.” It gives us an idea of what’s coming, isn’t it? “Good shall come unto thee.” The acquaintance with God is the beginning, but there’s something coming. That which is promised to the believer—eternal life, “good shall come unto thee,” and the fullness of that eternal life that still awaits.

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” There’s a glory that awaits.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

We ought to think that way, again, against all the material striving. We don’t dwell enough, I think, in most cases, upon the eternal, the good of the eternal, that which awaits which is eternal. And it’s not to despise or denigrate this life, meeting the needs of this life, prospering in this life if we are so enabled. Not to say that we are to live in some ascetic fashion in which we are to try to evaluate our life by the poverty of it, that we’re more close with God because we’re poverty stricken. That’s works.

But having an eye always that the good that will come to us is to have a fullness that is still in our future. The good, the real good—here we are cumbered, here we are faced with all the trials of a fallen and cursed world. There is the ultimate good, where there’s no more crying, no more pain, no more death. The former things have passed away.

And we are to aspire to that, long for that. God made a world that was good, and through Christ everything is going to be remade so that it is good. And we are to have a heart and an eye toward it, that good that will come to us.

But the language also proves God’s character. “Good shall come unto thee.” God gives good to His people. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

Surely, goodness and mercy. Oh, it wasn’t for David—it wasn’t easy. However you define good, you say good means everything is just easy and plain sailing. Well, David was to be disappointed if that was the case. Many horrors and trials he went through, many injustices. But he knew goodness and mercy would follow him all the days of his life. Oh, the goodness of God, God in His character—He is good. I was just reading it again earlier today, Psalm 86, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”

So the goodness of God pursues us if we are acquainted with Him. We are at peace, and thereby good shall come to thee. It will come. Good is going to come. It can’t not. Good will come.

Instantly we know our sins are forgiven. That’s good. Instantly, if we know our Bibles, we know we are the children of God. We pass from death unto life. This is good. And we learn that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This is good. And will follow us all our days.

So, here, as we close, is the call. Get things in the right order. You want good to follow you. You want peace to be your portion. “Acquaint now thyself with him.”

To the child of God, make sure you are endeavoring to acquaint yourself with God. Not—I don’t mean in that justifying way. I mean in that ongoing way. That familiarization with God. That prioritization of seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness—all these things will be added unto you. That sense that my first call is God, my highest calling is to know God, that the whole purpose of Christ’s work is that we might know Thee, the only true God.

He shed His blood so that you would be acquainted with Him. He died on Calvary so that you would know him—not just know about him, not just make profession of him, but actually know him. All the suffering, everything we’re reminded of in sermons that lift up the crucified Redeemer, in the observance of the Lord’s table, every time you read in your scriptures about all that our Savior endured for you was so that you, the guilty, could be acquainted with God. And yet we live so half-heartedly. We give lip service. We try to nod the head toward God and do the things we think, “Well, He wants this of me,” and then I get to do my own thing.

Now, we may not say that, but that, if you assess your life, is that how I’m living? Does that look like, really, a proper, accurate, honest description of how I’m living? Come to church, do some things that I’m meant to do, occasionally read my Bible, sometimes offer a prayer—a 911 prayer, or cry for help in some desperate situation. But there’s no fellowship, no acquainting, no knowledge, no heart.

This is not what Christ died to grant. It’s deeper than that. And young people, learn it early. Set the course and direction of your life early. Be all out for God early in life, not later in life. Don’t live in regret. Don’t say, “There’s enough time when I have more time later,” because you won’t have more time. If you don’t chart a course early in life, the likelihood of you being devout and devoted and given to God later in life is minimal. Set the habits early. Seek God early. Be acquainted with Him early. Make priority of knowing God early in life, not later.

For someone here tonight, and you are not yet acquainted with Him, I urge you, I urge you in God’s name, this is a word—it’s for you. It’s for you tonight. “Acquaint now thyself with him.” Acquaint now, tonight, here, acquaint thyself with God through Christ. Don’t delay.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

In just a moment, the meeting will close and everyone will start to talk and make their way downstairs or to their homes. And in all of that, you might miss out on the opportunity that you have in these moments. That in these moments, you can be saved, that now you can be saved.

If there’s something that for some reason you still need to have addressed, whoever I’m talking to, whatever I’m doing, do not feel in any way you’re interrupting if you come to me and say, “I need to talk to you.” We’ll be glad to open the Scriptures, answer your questions as best we can, and help you. But seek Him now. Seek Him now.

Lord, we’re thankful that the calls to sinners in the Word of God are frequent and urgent. We thank Thee that for many of us they came on an occasion just like this, with distinct power, and we knew God is speaking to me. We plead in Christ’s name that those who feel that tonight would turn their eyes upon Jesus and give their heart and faith to Him. Give deciding grace. Spirit of God, be at work. Extend the kingdom of Christ to the glory of the triune God, we pray. Bless those who will remain for fellowship. Grant that all thy people would be empowered to live fruitfully this week. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of all the people of God now and evermore. Amen.