| |
Sermon:
Convene
by Chris Cumming
printer-friendly
MP3
On the 18th of
January of this year (2020),
I presented to you the sermon, “Double-down”
which shared with you a hands-on perspective to repentance. I began
that sermon with this statement:
“Back in July and August of 2014, I gave four sermons as part of a
Holiness series.
You can see all these sermons at the
Las Vegas site.”
Today’s sermon is the tenth in the Salvation series which was born in
the Holiness series Each Salvation Series sermon is stand-alone sermon
on the same overall subject: Holiness and Salvation.”
The “Double-down” sermon is part of the
Holiness series
of four (4) sermons. From this one sermon, I have put together fourteen
(14) sermons in what I call the, “Salvation
series.” You
can see these sermon titles and subjects on the
Sermons page
of the
Las Vegas site.
Each sermon has a key verse or two you heard in “Double-down.”
Again, today’s sermon is the tenth sermon in this series.
Note:
Any scripture you see with an asterisk (*) is one found in the sermon
“Double-down.”
Let us begin.
Here is the key verse we read in the Double-Down sermon:
Job 22:21-23*
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall
come unto thee.
22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in
thine heart.
23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt
put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
Double-down
Phrases:
--Acquaint yourself with God.
--Be at peace.
--Receive the Law and words of God.
--Return or repent.
Definitions:
Acquaint:
furnish with knowledge. H5532: minister to, be serviceable to, profit
from. The commentary reads this as, "treasure up, or lay-up. Lay up or
procure an interest now with him, and be at peace. Get the Divine favor,
and then thou wilt be at peace with God, and have happiness in thy own
soul." ~Adam Clarke
The title for this sermon comes
from this concept of acquainting ourselves with God.
Convene
to come together
Convoke
to call together; summon to meet.
So the purpose of this sermon dictates itself: Acquaint yourself with
God or more appropriately, continue to acquaint yourself with God.
Acquaint yourself with God.
I can already hear you thinking: “How do I acquaint myself with God?”
“Is there a procedure?” Indeed there is. The procedure has already
been enumerated in the double-down phrases of the verse.
1] Acquaint yourself with God.
2] Be at peace.
3] Receive the Law and words of God.
4] Return or repent.
Item 1
begins when God calls us.
Item 2
is a fruit of the Spirit and denotes that God does not want any negative
elements between you and Him.
Item 3
is the key element of the process. This begins with full immersion in
the Word of God and then making every word a part of your heart, mind
and soul.
Item 4
is the element that keeps this procedure going. God knows we are human
and subject to sin, so we have repentance to keep our spiritual garment
clean. Repentance is abundantly linked to the second item: Peace. When
we repent, we remove guilt, sorrow and other negative elements that
would harm the relationship.
What I want to do now is give you scriptures linked to the three
scriptures of Job 22:21-23. We will speak to the specific phrases in
those 3 verses.
Any part of these scriptures in bright red or blue are emphasis by me.
Verse 21
Acquaint now thyself with him:
1
Chronicles 28:9
...used in our last sermon
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the
God of thy father, and serve him with a
perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all
hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts:
if thou seek him,
he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off
for ever.
John 17:3
And this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent.
2
Corinthians 4:6
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And be at
peace:
Isaiah
27:5
Or let him take hold of my strength, that
he may make peace with me; and
he shall make peace with me.
Isaiah
57:19-21
19 I create the fruit of the lips;
Peace, peace to him that is far off, and
to him that is near, saith the LORD;
and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Acts 10:36
The word which God sent unto the children of Israel,
preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus
Ephesians 2:14-17
14 For he is our peace,
who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of
commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain
one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross [stake],
having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Notice here how this peace comes directly from being acquainted with
God.
Thereby good shall come unto thee
Notice this phrase is also directly
linked to our relationship with God.
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose.
Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
James
1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning.
Daniel 2:21
And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and
setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto
the wise, and knowledge to them that
know understanding:
Proverbs
3:6
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he
shall direct thy paths.
Verse 22
Receive, I pray thee, the law from his
mouth:
Deuteronomy 4:1-2
1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto
the statutes and unto the judgments,
which I teach you, for to do them,
that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of
your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye
diminish ought from it, that ye may keep
the commandments of the LORD your God
which I command you.
Proverbs
2:1-9
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words,
and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto
wisdom, and
apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge,
and liftest up thy voice for
understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver,
and searchest for her as for hid
treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the
knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and
understanding.
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the
righteous: he is a buckler to them that
walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his
saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand
righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2
1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord
Jesus, that as ye have received of us how
ye ought to walk and to please God,
so ye would abound more and more.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
And lay up
his words in thine heart:
Notice a great distinction here. One cannot know salvation and eternal
life by just receiving the Word. That Word (the
mind of God) must bond with one’s
heart, mind, and soul.
Job 23:12
Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips;
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than
my necessary food.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
6 And these words, which I command thee this day,
shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk
of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the
way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be
as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy
gates.
Note:
Verses 7-9 are all descriptions and manifestations of God’s Word being
in one’s heart.
Psalm 119:11
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee.
Proverbs 4:4
He taught me also, and said unto me, Let
thine heart retain my words: keep my
commandments, and live.
Proverbs 4:20-22
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes;
keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their
flesh.
Jeremiah 15:16
Thy words were found, and I did eat them;
and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am
called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.
Matthew
12:35
A good man out of the good treasure of
the heart bringeth forth good things:
and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Verse 23
If thou return to the Almighty:
Job 8:5-6
5 If thou wouldest seek unto God
betimes, and
make thy supplication to the Almighty;
6 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and
make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
Note:
We have spoken many times to our
Assiduity praying or putting all things of your day into God’s
hands. Clearly, if we are doing these prayers on a daily basis, we do
these prayers in the morning. This makes abundant clear and logical
sense. If we are praying on a daily basis and putting all things of
that day into God’s hands, this prayer would take place in the morning.
I give you all this because of the word, “betimes.” This is word
H7836. It means, “to enquire early” and “to rise (diligently
seek) God early in the morning.
Word H7836 comes from a root word meaning “to dawn”, or figuratively be
up early for any task (with the
implication of earnestness). I
find it interesting that doing prayers in the morning when we wake up
shows diligence and earnestness.
So what is Job 8:5-6 saying? We could structure the answer to this
question different ways (talking sentence structure here). Keep in
mind, this is the book of Job and Job’s friends are attempting to
express reasons why all these calamities have come to Job. They make
conclusions that lack understanding on their part. Despite this,
righteous principles are being stated.
I would express Job 8:5-6 this way for firstfruits: As we walk toward
spiritual maturity and manifest righteousness, we face life one day at a
time. We diligently and earnestly seek Him early in the morning and
make supplication to Him. We put everything in His hands.
Job
11:13-14
13 If thou prepare thine heart, and
stretch out thine hands toward him;
14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness
dwell in thy tabernacles.
Isaiah
55:6-7
6
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found,
call ye upon him while he is near:
7 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.
Hosea
14:1-2
1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God;
for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all
iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our
lips.
Note:
Verse 1 shows this is about repentance and returning to God, “for thou
has fallen by thine iniquity.”
Zechariah
1:3
Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
Turn ye unto me,
saith the LORD of hosts, and I will
turn unto you, saith the LORD of
hosts.
Does this remind you of our last sermon in this series, “Proximity”?
That sermon was about James 4:8* “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw
nigh to you.”
Acts 26:20
But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout
all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles,
that they should repent and turn to God,
and do works meet for repentance.
Thou shalt
be built up:
Jeremiah
31:4 …a prophecy stating that
God will bring the tribes together in the last days. The Summarized
Bible commentary states the principle here can be applied to the
individual firstfruit who is in repentance
Again I will build thee, and thou shalt
be built, O virgin of Israel: thou
shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the
dances of them that make merry.
Note:
The whole idea of repentance and returning to God is to have God forgive
us and to build us back up to righteousness.
Colossians 2:7
Rooted and built up in him,
and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein
with thanksgiving.
Jude 1:20
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves
on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost [Spirit],
Notice that the building up is not by your hand but something manifested
in and through you by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thou shalt
put away iniquity far from thy
tabernacles:
Job 11:14
If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far
away, and
let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
Isaiah
33:15
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;
he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that
shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from
hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
2 Timothy 2:19
[see
Lesson]
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The
Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name
of Christ depart from iniquity.
So here you
have good information for each of the four double-down phrases of coming
out of Job 22:21-23:
1] Acquaint yourself with God.
2] Be at peace.
3] Receive the Law and words of God.
4] Return or repent.
So continue now in your march toward salvation and …
Acquaint yourself with God.
|
|