the book of Job, chapter 22. Job 22, and I would like to begin reading in verse 21. We'll read to the end of the chapter just to help provide some context, but we're only gonna be looking at verses 21 and 22. Again, Job chapter 22, beginning at verse 21. Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace, and 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 defense, 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 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 a 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. And again, our text this morning, verse 21 and verse 22, 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. As you can see from your outline, we're gonna look at four divisions of this verse this morning. First of all, the exhortation. Secondly, the result. Thirdly, based on the exhortation, how is it that we can acquaint ourself with God himself? And then fourthly, rather, your outline says observations and applications, rather than that, In thinking through the message again last night, I would like to replace that with just giving you one example of an individual who acquainted themselves with the Lord. I think it's a very telling and a very pertinent example. Before we begin this morning, just remind you of something I believe you already know, just by way of reinforcing. And that is to say something about this topic of the knowledge of God, the true knowledge of God, or as it says here in Job, acquainting ourself with him. God places a very high premium on the true knowledge of God. And we'll make discrimination between knowledge about God and about his ways and knowing him. You're familiar with the Lord's Prayer in the garden in John chapter 17 in verse three, when he said to his father, this is life eternal. So he's gonna describe what life eternal is. And he says that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. The Lord places the knowledge of God, the true knowledge of God, in the context of this is eternal life. And that eternal life, the context will show, is not in the by and by. It begins in our life here. And of course, that well-known passage in Hosea, where God said that he did not desire excuse me, he desired mercy, but not sacrifice. He desired the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. That that outward worship, as Tim alluded to, that outward worship that Cain had, God looks right past that, he goes to the heart. And the true knowledge of God is what he was seeking. And again, it's very subtle. we can do this substitution, this exchange, very subtle, to substitute knowledge about God, facts about God, and doctrine for the core issue, which is heart-to-heart knowledge with God, acquainting ourselves with Him on a daily basis. And even right now, you can ask yourself, you can, in your mind, set a partition, and on one side of that partition, you can imagine all of the knowledge about God that you have, doctrine and memory verses and doctrinal truths and scriptures and the nature of God and his attributes. And then on the other side of that partition, think about those times when your heart to heart knowledge of God was so strong and vital and living and vigorous that you know at those times that you were meeting with God. I mean, there was this certainty that you were in Christ. Knowledge of God. Job, we'll see shortly, did have a knowledge of God. We'll see that Eliphaz had a misunderstanding, utterly wrong as he was judging Job. We'll see that. Job knew God. Job had a vital relationship with God. Even though at the end of the book, which we talked about a while ago, you recall that God gave this revelation to Job, and Job said, I had heard of you with the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes seeth thee, therefore I abhor myself and I repent in dust. But in that particular case, that extra revelation, That's not discounting his previous knowledge of God. God was giving him a further revelation and God was bringing to closure this book of Job and what Job had gone through and documenting it in his word for several reasons. Job knew God, not just in a textbook way, but he knew God. God. If you read chapter one of Job, that comes through very clearly. All that to say, as we begin, the true knowledge of God is where we need to put a spiritual investment, right there in the true, real knowledge of God. So by introduction, let me just say something about the context of chapter 22 of Job. Chapter 22 now is the third confrontation that Job's friends are going to have with Job. And if you've read the book of Job and you've thought about his friends, you know the scope of their argument, the scope and the nature of their confrontation. They, believe they're going to humble Job so that they can bring him into the streams of God's mercy. They have diagnosed Job's problem. They are trying to convince him of his guilt, his hypocrisy. And they do err greatly in their miscalculation of what's happening to Job. And the first 20 verses of this chapter is Eliphaz's complaint against Job, trying to prove to him that he is wrong. And of course, as he does so, he makes two very glaring errors. Which I suppose the error is, by automatically assuming that because Job has fallen into this extreme situation, loss of finances, loss of his children, his own health, everything is against him. And they automatically assume he's not spiritual, he's in sin. He's done something to violate his covenant with God, so God is just here to bash him. They're limiting God and basically saying God only brings chastening or affliction into our life as a way of divine punishment because we have sinned, we've grown cold, lukewarm, whatever. And so we're reminded that we need to be very careful how we judge our brethren. There is one judge and one lawgiver God will judge on the final day, and it's not our portion. Paul said, who are thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master, he rises or he falls. But perhaps all of us have been the brunt of somebody confronting us when things are not right in our personal life relative to Job's afflictions, trials, unsaved children, go down the list. Aha, you've sinned, you're a hypocrite. God is working in a much more multifaceted way with each one of us. And he also, Eliphaz errs as he's judging Job because he basically says Job has not a single ounce of grace, and he's a hypocrite. It's almost amazing that his friend who knew him could come to such a conclusion. The second part of this chapter is an exhortation to Job. And here, Eliphaz, I think, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, preserved for us in God's word, gives forth a very precious, true, divine word by way of instruction and exhortation for all of us. And whether he was ignorant of what he was saying, whether he was like Balaam, who was ignorant and thought he was saying one thing, but was saying another thing to bless God's people. There is this profound divine counsel, so simple and yet deep, so attainable for all of us here in this room. All of us are on the same journey, are we not, to know God. to know him personally, vitally, vigorously, not knowing about him, that has its place, but knowing him. And so Eliphaz gives in the second half of this chapter this exhortation, this exhortation about knowing God. So first of all then, the exhortation, acquaint now thyself with him. And again, don't want to be too redundant, but we're not talking about knowing about God, knowing about doctrines or church history or methods of prayer or schemes, but knowing God. We're also not talking about our knowledge of God that was yesterday, things that we knew yesterday. Knowledge about God can become a trophy. It can become a test of fellowship. It can become many, many things. It can even become an idol. Knowledge about God can be elevated to be an idol. This is what John warned us about. He said, we know that the Son of God has come And he's given us an understanding that we may know him that is true. And we are in him that is true. Even his son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Three times, we know him that is true. We are in him that is true. This is the true God. And then he says, little children, keep yourself from idols. Keep yourself from idols. He's not talking about those who know the true and living God. Now we're gonna suddenly go off and worship Balaam or some, excuse, Baal or some false god. Anything that displaces the true knowledge of God can be an idol. Little children, keep yourself from idols, amen. So let me, as we think about knowing God, let me give you three words that we'll look at. Acquainting, and I'm gonna add two words to our context. We're gonna add the word experimental and the word relational. First of all, the word acquaint. Acquaint now thyself with him. We might not understand that word in its biblical sense. We all have acquaintances, do we not? We have acquaintances that we might see once or twice a year, an acquaintance that was introduced to us through a third party or a fourth party, an acquaintance that we might have one distant thing in common with that person. They're an acquaintance. Here, the word to Job is acquaint thyself with him. Here, this word, it means to be familiar with in sense of cherishing and in a sense of a treasure. And God uses this word to focus on that sense of an awareness of God's omniscience, excuse me, God's omnipresence, that God is always there. God uses this word in Psalm 139, and I think this gives us a really good idea of what he's talking about when he says acquaint yourself with God. You know Psalm 139, it's that psalm that talks about God's complete knowledge of you, that thorough knowledge of the individual. The psalmist said, oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting, mine uprising, thou understandest my thoughts afar off, thou hast compassed my paths, my lying down, thou art acquainted with all of my ways." God is acquainted with the psalmist, with all of his ways, whether he's sleeping, rising up, walking, his thoughts, his heart, God is always there. And I think what the scripture is trying to tell us when it says, acquaint now thyself with God, it's not focusing on an infinite God, and it's hopeless to know how can a mere individual, mortal like us, how can we apprehend this infinite God? How can we know this comprehensive nature of God? It's rather pointing to his omnipresence in this relational sphere. Knowledge of God that be secured by dwelling with him on familiar terms in the same house. Job's friends want him to take this step towards spiritual connection with God. with the God who really is, as the rest of a lot of the book of Job talks about, the excellency of his power, his grace and mercy, his sovereign rule. And he's saying, acquaint yourself with this God. Be mindful that God is always there. And in every situation, there's something to learn about God relative to an impact whereby we can know him on that level. If we acquaintance ourself with God as a foundation, then even those things that we know about God take on a new dimension. And we make that connection with God We're sometimes satisfied to learn about God and not go deeper and then connect with the reality of who God is, what he is thinking about, what his heart is like towards his own. So here's an example. Let me give you a deep theological question. It may not sound like it's deep, but it's a deep theological question, here it is. What does God think about relative to the animals and the birds of the world? It doesn't sound like a very deep theological question. We would think, well, what do we think about his sovereignty? Or what do we think about this minutia or that? But the question is, what does God, from our knowledge of God, what does he think about when he considers the animals or the birds. We might think in our mind, well, God created them. They're very intricate. They have, whether it's a bird with a very strange migrating pattern, or an animal that takes care of its young, whatever it might be, we might say, God has created them with wisdom, And they give glory to God, the creation gives glory to God. But those are all facts about God. That doesn't answer the question, what does God think about them? God thinks, God's thought about animals and birds is what comprises the 88 questions he asks Job at the end of the book, right? He goes through this creation thing and he uses many animals and birds to try to get Job to not just see his power and his sovereign rule over every aspect of creation, he's trying to get Job to think like he thinks. Let me say that differently. He wants to get Job to know him so that Job can think like God thinks. Let me continue this thought for just another minute. I was listening to a sermon this past week, and the pastor was trying to, with logical arguments, prove that Noah's Ark really did happen. And he talked about the dimensions, and the dimensions were such that all the animals and all the species and families and orders, or however that works out, could fit into the Ark. And it wasn't a circus elephant, it was a little baby elephant, and all these things. And then he said, but there was a little bit of a problem because they had to have food for all the animals. And he kind of fudged a little bit and showed how there could be enough room for all the food. And after the sermon, and those were just all facts and logic, right? After the sermon, a young woman came up to him and said, well, I have a different view on how God fed the animals. She said, he could have fed all those animals with a single bale of hay. And after the year of them being in the ark, there would have been 12 bales of hay left over. Right? She was thinking how God thinks on what we would say is such of a low level, how God thinks about animals and birds. And Jesus did this very same thing. Remember, he said, a sparrow, two sparrows are sold for a farthing, a penny. And not one of them falls to the ground without your heavenly father. There's the fact, that's a fact. He goes deeper. You are worth more than many sparrows. See, he went past the fact and went to the issue. So that is a deep theological question. What does God think about the animals and the birds? We could quote verses about them. I'm using that as an illustration that it's just not about God that we want to get to. Acquainting is that understanding that he is always there and everything concerns him, believe it or not. Two other words besides acquainting, the word experience or experimental. We have to have an experimental, by way of experience, knowledge of God. Classic illustration, and every preacher quotes this, it's from J.I. Packer's book, Knowing God. Remember in Genesis chapter 18, where Sodom and Gomorrah, their sin was really, really great, that it reached up into heaven? And God says this in verse 21, I will go down now and I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come up to me. And if not, I will know. God knew it came up to him, God is omniscient, God knew, but now he's speaking after the manner of men and God says, I am gonna go down there And I'm going to experience firsthand, as it were, by way of observation, what is happening. And then I will know. And as you know, that passage, it impacted him, his heart, his righteousness and holiness so much that it moved him to action. He had to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. His knowledge, was not by proxy, not by third hand. He didn't read a book by a theologian who had read a book by a theologian and copied him and read another book by a theologian. It was first hand knowledge. He had to experience, he had to know it in that way. So we must have that experimental, that experiential knowledge of God to know him. We can read books about him all day. Some of those books are good. We should have our mind filled with doctrine and facts and all that. That's just step one. We need to go farther. The third word. So there we have acquaintance, experimental. Third word, relational. Relational. The type of Knowledge of God should be based on our relation with Him. Parents know their children, children know their parents, spouses know their spouse. When I met my wife, Lori, I did not come to know her by listening to her family members who told me stories about her. or her friends who told me certain things about her. I didn't learn about her by looking at scrapbooks with pictures in it. I only began to know her when I started to date her. Don't tell Pastor Joe I used the word dating. I courted her. I didn't come to really know her until we got married and we moved in together, and I lived with her 24-7. That was the relationship, and that's how I started to really know her. It was a relational situation, 24-7. That gets back to that word acquaintance, 24-7, our knowledge of God cannot be gotten simply through books or even the Bible apart from or separated from God revealing himself to us through the scriptures, for example. So now I could sit down with Lori and look at a scrapbook or a photo album of her past before I knew her, and in person, she could point to a picture. And she could really tell me what it really meant and the backstory and her emotions that were occurring when that happened. If I just am by myself looking at those pictures, I'm going to have an idea. But that connection, that heart to heart connection won't be there. We have this relationship with God. I mean, he's given us the spirit of adoption whereby we can cry, Abba, Father, We're brothers and sisters in the Lord. That type of knowledge qualifies us to say with Paul, for in him we live and move and have our being, as also certain of your own prophets have said, we are his offspring. You know, you have certain rights and privileges and blessings, being a member of the family of God. Too often the Christian is pushed in the way of sin and guilt for past sins and imperfections and fallibility. If the Son of Man makes you free, you are free indeed. Peter said we're called to grace and virtue through the knowledge of him. That's a real living knowledge. So these are these three words, acquaintance, experimental, relational. Acquaintance, 24-7, his omnipresence. Experimental, different than head knowledge, relational. He never ceases to be God, but you are in a special standing with him as a child of God. Your heart is ripe for the revelation of God. Your heart is ripe for the true knowledge of God. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shown already into our heart to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God where in the face of Jesus Christ. Already you have been reconciled to him. He has turned away his judicial wrath and now that word atonement at one meant, at one, You are at one with this God that we want to know. So here's the exhortation. Acquaint now thyself with him. And of course, Job is in this very special condition of suffering and affliction and pain. And that leads us to the second point. What is the result of this kind of a knowledge? Thereby be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thee. there is this connection with the knowledge of God. Could this exhortation stand alone? Could it have said, acquaint now thyself with God, period? I first thought, yeah, of course, but then I thought, no, there's no way. You cannot acquaint yourself with God or know God, and it just stops there. There has to be this overflowing, this bursting. It is impossible to know God without some result in our heart, in our life, in our outlook, in all of those things. Two parts, peace. Peace, when we acquaint ourself with God, we know God. Peace comes, often there's this vagueness, this uncertainty, what's gonna happen? It's so much better, peace comes when we know what's coming to a very great degree. This peace is a very nature, I mean, he's called the God of peace. We would expect that this peace would be our portion. We, when we don't know him as we ought, we often have misconceptions about his nature, misconceptions about how he is dealing with us. We have these temporary disconnects, and that just leads to unrest all the time. When I'm working from home, and I'm working away, and all of a sudden I get a banner that says, you're disconnected from the internet, and I'm wondering what's wrong, Then 10 or 20 seconds later, I get another banner, you're connected again, so I could work again, then another, you're disconnected from the internet, off and off and on and on. I'm agitated, I'm annoyed. There's no peace when we're connected with God. That peace, God's peace, rules our day, it rules our life. Peace is the very first fruit of justification, Romans says in Romans 5. Jesus said in John 14 that his peace he was going to give us, not as the world gives us. Nobody can take it away. It's a peace that passes all understanding. It's a resident peace that should set the temper of our life. And then he says, thereby good shall come unto thee, the second part. I'm not gonna go down these eight promises, but he gives eight promises, essentially one in every verse, of a result that comes from acquainting with God. And in a nutshell, if you look at these, they're all spiritual in nature. It's where Job, or the believer who hears us, that resetting of the heart with God's heart and everything is good. We're delighting in God. We have those spiritual blessings. And if God blesses us materially or in a family way or whatever it might be, it always goes back to give God the glory and it's seen as a source of joy because God gave it, not in the thing in and of itself. Thirdly, how or where do we do this? How do we acquaint ourself with God? How do we know him? In verse 22, he says, receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. Here we see a compass pointing to the words of God, the word of God, and laying up his words in our heart, and we see that transformation of when the word of God becomes that living, spiritual word of God, as God the Holy Spirit, the author of his word, gives life, gives heat and warmth to that word. We're talking about, of course, the revelation, the apprehending, of God. God, since creation, God has been revealing himself to mankind. This doctrine called biblical theology is the study of how God, over the course of time, gives more and more and more revelation, like a door opening a dark room and a door is opening, letting light in. And by the time the door is all the way open, that room is flooded with light. And if you look at the scriptures, God has built upon revelation of himself more and more and more. God's law written upon the tables of man's heart. God giving his word from Sinai, not just the 10 commandments, but lots of his word, the historic times of the Old Testament where the prophets would explain and enforce and illustrate and amplify God's word, the poetic books highlighting the law and the lawgiver, and then of course in the fullness of time, God speaking to us by his son, Hebrews chapter one, And later in the book of Hebrews, God's saying that this is the reality of what was prophesied. He would make a new covenant and that covenant would in part be that he would put his laws in our mind and write them upon our heart. And that people would be a people of God. Obviously God uses effort we have to receive his word and we lay it up in our heart, God alone can give revelation. That connection where the word of God is not just black letters on a white page, but it's living. And like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, remember Jesus explained the scriptures and they said, did not our heart burn? within us, and they constrained the master to stay with them. They had a hunger and a love for that word. And when that word comes to us, of course, we, as humble children of God, we are in submission to that word. In other words, we're not dictating what we want God to tell us. we are yielding to that Word. The vehicle of revelation is the Word of God, Hebrews 4, verse 12. The Word, the written Word of God, the dynamic of revelation is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we receive that revelation as God would grant it, God would give it, as we give ourself to hungering and thirsting after it and searching it out, and God blessing. In 1 Corinthians chapters two, the apostle says, talking about the things of God, God has revealed them to us by his spirit, For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. And he goes on to say, for what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man that is in him? Even so the Spirit of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. He goes on to say, brethren, you've been given freely the Spirit of God. And the things which we teach, he said, are not words of men's wisdom, but the Holy Ghost has taught them, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. And there's a discernment and a judgment. And he says, and we have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. And so God writes them upon our heart. God has already shown into our heart as we saw in Corinthians, and now we have the mind of Christ. And so can we be ambivalent to the true knowledge of God if we have the mind of Christ and a heart that is ready to be written on further by God himself? Can we be bored with life? Can we give up because at first glance, as Job did not do, just give up because we don't understand what God is doing and we want an answer. With a heart that's a tablet ready to be written on and a mind of Christ and the scriptures of truth and the Holy Spirit to illuminate them to us. we can make that connection, that true knowledge of God. Jesus seemed to go the second mile as the dynamic of revelation. He kept trying to tell people things like, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. He said in Matthew, no man can know the Father except the Son and No man knows the Father saved the Son, and to whomsoever the Son would reveal Him to him. Jesus said He wanted to reveal the Father. John 1, 18. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. That's the word exegeted. Jesus has exegeted the Father in Himself. He said, I and my Father are one. Scripture says he is the image of the invisible God. Scripture says in him is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Again, Hebrews chapter one, he was the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. It's almost as though Jesus was laboring to reveal the triune God to man, and back in the day, as he was dealing with the Pharisees and the scribes, they wanted to keep not a knowledge of God or a knowledge of the Father, they wanted to keep their knowledge that they had developed, that they had learned. Religious knowledge is a very interesting thing apart from God. Religious knowledge is a way that you can like, and maybe some of us have known churches or pastors like this, to maintain control over people. I know something that you don't know. Let me tell you something and you just need to obey me because I have this direct connection to God, but you can't and you don't. And the scribes and the Pharisees, directly living in a time with Christ and he was confronting them. And they never asked the question, we have all this knowledge about God, how could we be so wrong? What are we missing? But they tenaciously held to their idol of this religious knowledge that gave them power over the Jews. Jesus said, you know, you'll compass land and sea to make a Pharisee. You'll put these burdens on them, but you won't lift them. Or that knowledge about God is held in reserve. Yeah, there's this knowledge of God. When we get to heaven, then we'll know, even as we've known. That's true, but what can we know now? somebody learns some great doctrine and they wanna get into an argument, in a debate, and you feel their fury as they try to impress upon you some doctrine, and the love of Christ, you think, man, this guy's a clanging cymbal, an empty cymbal. And we can become, the Pharisees and the scribes became detached theologians. Brains filled, I've said it before, brains so big they couldn't get through the door, and they could hold their heart in a little teacup. Sadly, it's easy to have this knowledge about God, And today the catchphrase is to walk with Jesus. It's very easy to walk with Jesus, because if you walk with him, then today I can step aside and I can do my own thing. Then I can walk with him again. Where the Bible says you are in him. Do you see yourself as in him or just with him? Our culture is very comfortable, churches are very comfortable with the idea of just being with Christ. We're with him today on Sunday. The Bible says, no, you are in him. And then we can begin to see, oh, this true knowledge of God, it's essential, it's important. That's what I want to share today. Acquaint now yourself with him. Receive the word at his mouth, lay it up in your heart. We need this revelation of him, not about him. We want to direct our hearts into the word of God, that revelation that the Holy Spirit, we need to just remember that that is the end goal when we're in the word or when we're praying. The end goal is to know Him, not just about Him. We need to understand it takes a spiritual investment. We need to be reminded God wants us to know Him. We quoted two verses, there's more. God wants you to have that true knowledge of Him. We have to remain guarded that it's the true knowledge that has to be sought after and preserved, and we have to accept no counterfeits. We have to accept no counterfeits. Let me close by giving you an example of someone who I think had a true knowledge of God and what that looks like. And don't turn there because I'm gonna be talking about four chapters in this book. I'm just gonna give you just a very brief overview. I'd just like you to listen to someone who I think exemplifies someone who had a true knowledge of God. And it's from the book of the Song of Solomon, which the Song of Solomon, as it describes this bride and bridegroom, it typifies the relationship that the believer has with their bridegroom, Jesus Christ. The bride, the church, the individual, the bridegroom, Jesus Christ. And listen to how she describes him and try to make a connection. Is that the way Are those my thoughts about Christ? In chapter three, it says that she sought him, but she did so in a very lazy way. She was on her bed. She did this very shallow searching for him, and it says she could not find him. So she determines that she has to have him. So she gets out of bed, she rises about the city, and she's searching the city. And the scripture says she finally finds him. And the scripture says, I found the one who my soul loveth, and I held him, and I would not let him go. When we find Christ in that special place, that secret place, is that the essence of our soul? And we will not let him go. In chapter four, she says this about her bridegroom. He has ravished my heart. And that's a word that means she was transported into this ecstasy of joy. There's this joy unspeakable and full of glory. We should stop using that verse until it's a reality. He's ravished my heart. Can you say Christ has ravished my heart this time or that time or yesterday or today? In chapter five, he comes to visit her and she responds, well, it's not convenient at this time. I've put off my cloak, I've taken my shoes off, I've washed my feet. It's not convenient now. But he puts his hand to the door, and she smells this fragrance. And so she's reminded about, well, this is the one whom I do love. It says, my bowels were moved for him, and so I rose up. But he had withdrawn himself. And what happens to her when he withdraws himself? She says, my soul fainted. Again, she goes about the city and she tells all these people in the city, like the watchman, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick of love. That is, I'm lovesick. When you read her descriptions about him in the scripture, Throughout this book, these eight chapters, she has a lot to say about him, but when you read that, she's describing things that she could only know by knowing him. She knows what he does, how he acts, what he thinks, what he thinks about her. She's convinced experimentally of the love that the groom has for her, the bride. And there's all these emotions and all this action and this reality of the connection that she has with him. It's life or death, basically. And she sums it up this way in chapter eight. She talks about her desire. She's telling him, set me as a seal upon thine heart and a seal upon thine arm. like tattoo my name into your arm and your heart so that you will not forget me. And then she talks about the power. Love is as strong as death. Then she talks about passion. Jealousy is as cruel as the gray. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame. I think it's a reciprocal jealousy. The groom is jealous for her, and she is jealous for him, and she says it's like a fire and you just can't put it out. And then she goes on to talk about the power again. Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it. And then she says how priceless it is if a man would give all of his substance of his house for love. he would be utterly scorned or despised or contempt. This is someone who knew the bridegroom. The bride knew by way of experience, by way of acquaintance, by way of relational, by way of revelation as he would spend time with her And she would latch on to every single, not just fact about him, but every interaction, every truth, every reality. And this is where we as a believer, despite 101 things that are against us today, even right now, this is where we need to be. And I think this is the template the scripture has for us, our warrant where we should be with him. I close with a single word. I did not talk about the word, the second word. Acquaint now. Acquaint now thyself with Him. Now. Despite past failures, despite difficulties, acquaint now thyself with Him, thereby good, shall come unto thee. If you want any good out of this world, you're not gonna find it. If you want good from your relationship with God, it's there for the taking. And it's so rich and so full, you won't be able to carry it. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this exhortation that though given under a perhaps false context or pretense, yet for every believer, It resonates with us. Help us, our Father, to keep thy word within our hearts. This exhortation, might it be our reality? Help us even today, tomorrow, this week. Father, might your gracious spirit so work this into our heart that it does become that reality, that standing order and desire of our hearts. We thank you for this assembly, this hour of worship. Bless us, Father, we pray. Help us to walk in the light, help us to glorify you, help us to love the brethren, all for thy glory and our good. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.