WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.799 Tonight we are going to turn to four or five different sections of scripture, but we can 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:13.080 perhaps focus our attention first of all on the passage that's identified up there, Jeremiah 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:21.280 31, 35 to 37. And I'll explain in due course as to why we're looking at these verses and 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:27.359 some of the others which we have read. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for light 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:32.759 by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:39.840 the sea so that its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:45.280 from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from being a 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:52.079 nation before me forever. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:59.560 foundations of the earth below can be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:07.480 Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord. 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:14.120 As you can see on the bulletin, our title tonight is measuring God. Now as most of you 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:20.159 will probably know before I became a minister, I used to be an engineer. And one of the things 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:27.560 that I love to do is measure stuff. I think ever since I was a child, I loved to know 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:31.959 how heavy things were, how tall they were, how old they were, how valuable they were, 00:01:31.959 --> 00:01:35.679 how powerful they were. And I'm still the same. I love to measure things. I love to 00:01:35.679 --> 00:01:42.000 know the quantities and powers that lie behind things. A couple of weeks ago, we were at 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:51.000 the Royal Highland Show, which was full of awesome tractors. Now one of the tractors 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:58.680 we saw in real life was this, which is possibly the coolest thing I've ever set eyes upon 00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:02.879 in my life. And if you don't agree with me, Derek was talking about repentance in the 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:14.280 morning so you can think that through. This tractor, 692 horsepower, 12.9 litre engine, 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:19.159 if you know anything about engines, that is enormous. Most of your cars will be something 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:28.759 pathetic like 1.6 hybrid or something hideous like that. 28 tonnes, absolutely awesome. 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:37.519 I love measuring things. I love knowing how big, powerful, heavy and strong things are. 00:02:37.519 --> 00:02:44.280 Because if you want to learn about something, you have to measure it, don't you? Particularly 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:50.479 if you're in engineering or construction or anything like that. Measurement is important. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:55.959 And it's especially important if you're going to rely on that thing. So imagine somebody 00:02:55.960 --> 00:03:00.920 had just released a new type of plane and you were on the very first flight and you 00:03:00.920 --> 00:03:04.719 were sitting next to the designer of that plane and you were chatting about how the 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:10.040 whole thing was constructed just before you were going to take off on this maiden flight. 00:03:10.040 --> 00:03:14.159 And you were sitting there and you said to the chap beside you, how do you measure the 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:21.840 correct length of wingspan? If he replied to you and said, I'll have to guess, then I think 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:29.120 you'd be feeling very uncomfortable. Measuring is really important. You can learn a huge amount 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:40.400 about something by measurement. So tonight our question is, can you measure God? Is that 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:46.800 even possible? Can you discover God's limits? Can we identify the boundaries in which God 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:56.080 exists? Can we quantify His power? If that tractor is 692 horsepower, what's God's power? 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:01.520 What's His knowledge? Can we measure His strength? Now that might seem like a silly question 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:07.480 in some ways. Surely it's impossible to measure God. But yet at the same time, if we are to 00:04:07.480 --> 00:04:14.960 have knowledge about God, surely we have to be able to measure Him somehow. And we're 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:21.120 kind of faced with a dilemma. Measuring God seems impossible because God is infinite. By 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:25.280 definition, that's immeasurable. But at the very same time, measuring God seems to be 00:04:25.280 --> 00:04:34.319 essential because we need some kind of measure if we're going to know anything about Him. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:40.280 And because of that, whether we realize it or not, we very often measure God, or perhaps 00:04:40.279 --> 00:04:46.759 to put it in different words, we often place God within measured limits that we can understand. 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:52.319 That's been true right through the history of humanity. Back in the Old Testament, one 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:57.079 of the most common ways to do that, one of the most common ways to measure and understand 00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:03.639 God was in terms of territory. So the religious mindset of the ancient Near East was very 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:09.599 much linked to geographical location. So a certain God was associated with a particular 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:16.439 area. A great example of that is in 1 Kings chapter 20. The Syrian king, Ben Haddad, had 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:22.200 come to launch an offensive against Israel. He came with a vast army expecting to win, 00:05:22.200 --> 00:05:27.480 but they engaged in battle and they were defeated. And in the aftermath, the king, Ben Haddad's 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:35.040 advisors, came to him and they said this, their gods are gods of the hills. So they 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:40.480 were stronger than we, but let us fight against them in the plain and surely we will be stronger 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.760 than they. And do this, remove the kings, each from his post and put commanders in their 00:05:44.760 --> 00:05:48.879 places and master an army like the army that you've lost, horse for horse and chariot 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:54.240 for chariot, then we will fight against them in the plain and surely we will be stronger 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:00.360 than they. And he listened to their voice and did so. There's this really strong link 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:09.560 between territory and the extent of God's power. You can read the rest of 1 Kings 20 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:15.240 when you get home to find out what happened next. But this pattern of associating God 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:22.160 with a territory has been repeated throughout history. It's not so much been with geographical 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:29.680 territories, but in other ways. So sometimes God is measured as far as the limits of the 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:36.000 territory of history. So people will think even today, well, a religious mindset is 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.360 something that belongs to the era of days gone by. It's not for now. Sometimes God is 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:47.439 just limited to the territory of morality. So faith has just about been a good person. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:53.720 The measure of moral living is as big as God gets. Sometimes God is measured by the territory 00:06:53.720 --> 00:07:01.320 of our minds. So the idea that God must fit into the limits of our understanding. That's 00:07:01.320 --> 00:07:05.280 the mindset that has kind of rejected the biblical doctrines that we struggle to get 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:09.800 our heads around. Things like the Trinity and the incarnation, people have pushed them 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:15.240 away because they think, well, God, we can only measure as far as our minds go, and that's 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:20.000 the limits in which he must operate. Sometimes God is measured by the limits of what we'd 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:26.879 call a kind of spiritual territory. So God is kind of this sort of being, sort of reality, 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:33.879 sort of something. But it's out there, and it's detached from physical life that's in 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:41.199 front of us. In all these ways, whether people realize it or not, they're measuring God. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:46.560 So God's relevance is measured up to a certain point in the past. His authority is measured 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:51.800 as far as just being a good person. His nature is measured as far as our minds can go, but 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:58.199 no further. His existence is measured as far as some kind of mystical spiritual realm. 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:06.600 People do it all the time, and maybe we do it as well. We think that we can measure God, 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:14.279 and as a result, we confine him to these territories. Things like time or morality or rational thinking 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:20.559 or spiritual mysticism. And we think that if we can keep God in these boxes measured 00:08:20.559 --> 00:08:29.399 out carefully, then we can get a workable knowledge of God. But the truth is, all of 00:08:29.399 --> 00:08:36.959 that is a wrong approach to measuring God, because it puts us above God. It's like looking 00:08:36.959 --> 00:08:42.679 down on him and saying, God should fit into that measured off boundary, which I've created 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:49.559 in my mind. It's creating our categories and forcing him into it. It's basically based 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:57.399 on the presupposition that whatever God is, we need to be able to have a handle on it. 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:08.759 But we must never forget that true knowledge of God will not fill your mind. True knowledge 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:20.439 of God will blow your mind. But we're still left with a question, can we measure God? 00:09:20.439 --> 00:09:26.639 And if we can't measure God, how are we going to learn about God? Is there a territory that 00:09:26.639 --> 00:09:31.879 we can use to measure God? And after everything I've just said, you're probably sitting there 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:35.480 thinking, well, no, there isn't. You can't measure God according to the hills, and you 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:40.279 can't measure Him just according to rational thinking. Surely there's no territory that 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:44.680 we can measure God. Is that true? Well, is there a territory that we can use to measure 00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:56.440 God? The Bible's answer is yes. There is one territory that we can use as a tool to measure 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:10.280 God. Do you know what that tool is? It's the universe. The universe is a tool that we can 00:10:10.280 --> 00:10:18.920 use to measure God. Now, I just want to mention two important points right at the beginning. 00:10:18.920 --> 00:10:25.360 I want us to note that we're not saying that the universe is God. That's pantheism, the 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:31.320 idea that everything around us is divine. That's not what we're saying. That's just another 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:37.320 example of limiting God to our own boundaries. We're not saying that God is the universe. 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:43.680 Not are we saying that the universe is as big as God. When the Bible uses the universe 00:10:43.680 --> 00:10:51.440 as a tool for measuring God, it does so by analogy, not by equivalence. So we're not 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:55.159 saying that the universe is God. We're not saying that the universe is as big as God. 00:10:55.159 --> 00:11:01.159 We are saying is that the universe is a tool that we can use to help us get some sort of 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:06.679 information in terms of measuring God. I want us to look at five passages tonight. We've 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:11.439 actually looked at all of these passages already tonight. We've either sung them or read them. 00:11:11.439 --> 00:11:19.679 Each of these passages uses the universe as a tool to try and measure an aspect of God's 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:26.879 nature and character. We'll just go through them one by one briefly. First of all, our 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:32.199 call to worship tonight. My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways 00:11:32.199 --> 00:11:36.599 declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher 00:11:36.599 --> 00:11:42.799 than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Here in Isaiah 55, we have a contrast between 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:47.679 earth and heaven. You'll remember that the Old Testament word for heaven can mean the 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:54.159 sky. It can mean the universe and it can mean the heavenly realm where God dwells. Here, 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:59.359 the emphasis is primarily on the sky because verse 10 talks about rain, but we're being 00:11:59.359 --> 00:12:07.439 pointed towards just the vast expanse that an Old Testament man or woman would see when 00:12:07.439 --> 00:12:15.599 they stood outside and looked up. From their perspective, the difference between earth and 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:24.240 the heavens above is huge. It's just way up there. There's a vast difference in height, 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:31.680 and that vast difference is an analogy for the difference between the way we think and 00:12:31.680 --> 00:12:38.200 the way God thinks, between the way we are inclined to go and the way God is inclined 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:44.920 to go. Often, we can think that God is just really quite like us, but just a little bit 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:51.519 higher. He's kind of like a super person. The truth is God is way higher than we are, 00:12:51.519 --> 00:13:00.439 way higher. When it says God's ways are higher than our ways, it's using the universe as 00:13:00.439 --> 00:13:10.159 the tool to tell you how big that difference is. God operates at a level that is just altogether 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:16.120 higher than us. That explains why we should not be remotely concerned if there are some 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:21.839 theological truths that we cannot completely grasp. Often, people are really worried when 00:13:21.839 --> 00:13:26.240 they can't fully understand something about God. Really, we should be far more worried 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:31.279 if we had a God that we can completely get our heads around. A God that a human mind 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:40.759 can fully explain is always going to be a man-made God. Second passage, we sang in 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:47.559 Psalm 147. He determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names, 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:55.639 great is their Lord and abundant in power, his understanding is beyond measure. This 00:13:55.639 --> 00:14:02.960 Psalm explicitly uses the universe as a measuring tool for God. It's talking about God's power. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:10.080 How powerful is God? How great is his understanding? Well, if you can count all the stars, then 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:17.039 that will give you some idea. Now, for the Old Testament mind, way back in the days when 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:22.480 the Psalms were being written, that was an immeasurable quantity. Today, we actually have 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:28.600 a little bit more of a grasp. But the scientific facts of today only make the analogy even 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:34.720 more amazing. I googled how many stars are there in the universe. Please allow for the 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:39.399 fact that this might not be a definitive total, but this is what Google said. There are about 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:44.960 10 billion galaxies in the observable universe. The number of stars in a galaxy varies, but 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:51.000 assuming an average of 100 billion stars per galaxy, that means there are about, I'm not 00:14:51.000 --> 00:15:01.120 even going to start trying to say that, a billion trillion stars in the observable universe. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:10.320 God has a name for every one of them. So if you want to measure God's power and understanding, 00:15:10.320 --> 00:15:20.759 you need a measuring tape that has the name of a billion trillion stars written on it. 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:25.200 One passage speaks about God's strength. It's what we read from Isaiah 40. Behold, the 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:30.840 Lord comes with might, his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and is recompensed 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:35.360 before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.480 He'll carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. Who has measured 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:44.120 the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span? Enclose the dust 00:15:44.120 --> 00:15:49.039 of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:53.480 Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him counsel? Whom did he consult 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:58.759 and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:04.079 and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket 00:16:04.079 --> 00:16:10.799 and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:15.079 dust. First 10 speaks about God's might. So this 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:21.320 passage is measuring how strong God is, and the focus primarily is on the imagery of the 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:26.320 palm of God's hand. So I want you just to look at your own hand and imagine that there's 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:31.560 a wee pool of water in it. Often if you try to pick up water, you only end up with a tiny 00:16:31.560 --> 00:16:36.520 little pool in your palm before most of it dribbles away and you just end up with a wee 00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:43.680 bit left. So we can only hold a bit of tablespoon of water in our hands. Now I want you to imagine 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:51.519 that your hand was so big that the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean 00:16:51.519 --> 00:17:01.239 and all the seas of the world were contained in that tiny pool. That's a measure of how 00:17:01.239 --> 00:17:08.559 big and strong God is. The vast imagery continues in verse 15, to God all the nations of the 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:14.559 world are like a drop in a bucket, or like the leftover dust on a set of scales. Those 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:21.000 are who bake if you put flour on a scale and then put it into your bowl. There's always 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:35.039 this kind of tiny little bit of flour just left on the scale, just leftovers. These things 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:46.000 are a picture of the nations of the world to God. The dust and the drop in a bucket 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:55.159 are like the nations. That of course is why idolatry is so utterly ridiculous. Verse 18 00:17:55.159 --> 00:17:59.039 says, to whom will you liken God? To what likeness can you compare him? The idea that 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:02.799 the God who holds the ocean in his hand and to whom the nations are like dust, the idea 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:11.200 that you can make a statue of him is just crazy. That's why the Second Commandment prohibits 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:18.359 worshiping God through images. The point being emphasized is that God's strength is immense 00:18:18.359 --> 00:18:26.159 and only the universe itself comes close to measuring that. Do you not know, do you not 00:18:26.159 --> 00:18:30.039 hear, has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:34.359 of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are 00:18:34.359 --> 00:18:40.839 like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent 00:18:40.839 --> 00:18:48.279 to dwell in. The entire universe is just like a curtain to God. If you close the curtains 00:18:48.279 --> 00:18:56.480 tonight when you go to bed, that's what the universe is to God. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:01.360 Most passage speaks about God's presence. We sang it in Psalm 139. Where shall I go 00:19:01.360 --> 00:19:05.160 from your presence, spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to 00:19:05.160 --> 00:19:08.799 heaven, you're there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:12.599 of the morning and dwell on the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:18.440 lead me and your right hand shall hold me. The imagery here is remarkable. The Psalm 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:26.039 speaks about space travel. It speaks about ascending up into the heavens, into the universe. 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.639 It speaks about underground probing, going down to the grave. That's what that word 00:19:29.639 --> 00:19:34.399 Sheol refers to. It was the grave, the place of the dead, which in the Old Testament mind 00:19:34.399 --> 00:19:39.960 was down. Heaven was up, grave was down. He speaks of ocean exploration, flying across 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:46.480 to the uttermost parts of the sea. If you could reach the limits of all of these things, 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:56.360 will you get beyond God? And the answer is no. God's presence is inescapable, and the 00:19:56.360 --> 00:20:04.839 universe is the measure of that. Can a human get out of the universe? No. Can we get beyond 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:12.680 God's presence? No. And then lastly, we come back to the passage we read from Jeremiah 00:20:12.680 --> 00:20:18.279 31, which speaks about God's commitment. Thus says the Lord, who gives the sun for 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:22.840 light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs 00:20:22.840 --> 00:20:27.680 up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:32.160 departs from before me, declares the Lord, then shall the offspring of Israel cease from 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:36.279 being a nation before me. Thus says the Lord, if the heavens above can be measured and the 00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:40.840 foundations of the earth below be explored, then I will cast off all the offspring of 00:20:40.839 --> 00:20:45.679 Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord. Now, this is a famous passage. It's 00:20:45.679 --> 00:20:49.839 speaking about God's covenant relationship with his people, and in particular, it's 00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:54.839 speaking about God's commitment to the new covenant, to the ultimate fulfillment of all 00:20:54.839 --> 00:21:04.959 his promises. And verses 36 and 37 are simply saying that if time stops and if the universe 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:12.360 can be measured, then God's commitment will fail. And of course, the whole point of that 00:21:12.360 --> 00:21:21.240 poetic language is to say that that is never going to happen. And the principle behind all 00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:28.480 of these passages is that if you want to measure God, the best tool available to humanity for 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:36.839 doing that is the universe itself. But while that gives us something to look at, while it 00:21:36.839 --> 00:21:41.319 gives us a tangible point of measurement and comparison, yet at the same time, we all know 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:48.079 that the universe is immeasurable to us. That's why it's such a good tool for measuring God. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:54.279 It's tangible, but immeasurable. It gives us a reference point for the immensity of God, 00:21:54.279 --> 00:22:02.519 but at the same time, the fullness of that is too much for us to take in. And of course, 00:22:02.519 --> 00:22:11.480 it all makes sense. The whole reason the universe is so big is because the heavens declare the 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:19.119 glory of God. Sometimes when we see the vastness of the universe and the tininess of earth, 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:27.799 it can shake our faith because we think, can God be real in all of that? But the truth is, 00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:36.399 of course, God is real in all of that. If God is God, if God is infinite, then He needs a massive 00:22:36.399 --> 00:22:46.919 universe if it's going to declare His glory. It's a great reminder that the theology of the Bible 00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:57.600 is mind-blowing. But in all of that, you might be thinking, Thomas, what on earth has any of this 00:22:57.600 --> 00:23:08.440 got to do with me? And in many ways, measuring the vastness of God can hit us with a sense of total 00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:14.279 insignificance. And if we're talking about the universe as a measuring tape, if you measure 00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:22.440 yourself against the universe, then it makes you look like absolutely nothing. And in many ways, 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:27.799 one of the great tragedies of Godless science today is that the immensity of what we discover 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:35.559 leaves us feeling more and more worthless and insignificant. You think this universe is huge, 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:43.200 a hundred billion trillion stars, I can't even begin to get my head around that. I feel so tiny 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:56.000 and so insignificant in comparison to that. And maybe you feel the same, maybe you feel lost and 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:08.120 worthless in this massive universe. Well, if you feel like that, there's something amazing that I 00:24:08.119 --> 00:24:15.119 want you to see in these five passages that we read. Because if we go back to them, we'll see that 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:22.719 they've got something else in common. Yes, on the one hand, they all use the universe as a 00:24:22.719 --> 00:24:34.479 measuring tape for God. But they all do something as well. They make a direct connection between the 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:49.079 infinite magnitude of God and his astonishing commitment and care towards you. Look at these 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:54.279 passages again. If we just go a couple of verses behind what we just read in Jeremiah, it says, 00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:59.039 this is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:03.039 I'll put my law within them, I'll write it on their hearts, I will be their God, they shall be my 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:07.839 people, no longer shall each one heach his neighbor and each his brother say, know the Lord, for they 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:13.960 shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive 00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:20.159 their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more. And then he goes on to talk about the 00:25:20.159 --> 00:25:26.680 order of the day, the light, the moon, and the stars. Psalm 139, if I ascend to heaven, you're there, 00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:30.680 if I make my bed and she'll you're there, if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the 00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:38.759 uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:47.680 Psalm 40, speaking about God's might and strength, the one who has the oceans in his hand like a pool 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:53.360 of water, the nations like the dust of the scales, it says he will tend his flock like a shepherd, 00:25:53.360 --> 00:25:59.759 he'll gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:11.039 with young. Psalm 147, numbering the stars says that he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:19.640 wounds. And then Isaiah 55, the whole reason that God's, that we've been told that God's thoughts 00:26:19.640 --> 00:26:27.119 and ways are higher than our ways is because he's telling us to return to the Lord, that he might 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:36.439 have compassion on us to our God, but he will abundantly pardon. The great truth that's been 00:26:36.439 --> 00:26:41.959 said before us is not simply the mind-blowing immeasurability of God, the great truth been 00:26:41.959 --> 00:26:52.679 said before us is that the immeasurable strength of God means that he can hold you and never let 00:26:52.680 --> 00:27:03.200 you go. The limitless power and understanding of God means that he can bind up your wounds and heal 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:14.680 you. The inescapable presence of God means that he'll always be with you and he will never leave 00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:24.360 you. The vastly superior thoughts and ways of God means that he can forgive you and pour his 00:27:24.360 --> 00:27:32.560 compassion upon you. The eternal commitment of God means that you can know him forever, 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:45.240 that you are his and he is yours. And the reality of all that is brought together in the second 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:53.720 passage that we read from Colossians chapter one. It speaks about how all the fullness of God is 00:27:53.720 --> 00:28:02.519 found in Jesus Christ. All that vastness that we've measured is seen in Jesus. He's the image of the 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:08.000 invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:13.400 earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were 00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:19.039 created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:22.720 He's the head of the body, the church, he's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:28.200 that in everything he might be preeminent, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell 00:28:28.200 --> 00:28:34.120 and through him to reconcile all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood 00:28:34.120 --> 00:28:39.640 of his cross and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he has now 00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:48.840 reconciled in the body of his flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and 00:28:48.840 --> 00:28:58.120 above reproach before him. All that vastness and greatness of God is revealed in Jesus and in 00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:05.639 him the immeasurable greatness of God's power, his strength, his understanding, his presence, 00:29:05.639 --> 00:29:15.119 his commitment is all being channeled towards God's great goal, which is to save you and to 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:22.639 have you with him. And Jesus Christ, the one through whom the whole universe was created, 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:29.480 the one in whom the whole universe is being held together, he came to die for you so that that 00:29:29.480 --> 00:29:38.880 can happen. That means that the hand that can hold the oceans and the nations and the universe, 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:54.240 that hand was nailed to a cross so that you could be saved. And this is why measuring God is so 00:29:54.240 --> 00:30:06.520 important because the more you can use the universe to measure God, the more you will discover how 00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:14.879 loved you are. And that's where we see that theology will not just blow your mind, theology will 00:30:14.879 --> 00:30:27.160 warm your heart. And I really hope you can see that. The Christian Gospel presents you with a God 00:30:27.160 --> 00:30:38.440 whose love and commitment to you is so great that the only tool that can come close to measuring 00:30:38.440 --> 00:30:49.519 it is the universe. And God grant that every one of us would respond to that by worshiping him, 00:30:49.519 --> 00:31:05.680 trusting him and following him. Amen. God our Father, we bow before you as the immeasurable God, 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:18.519 but we also run into your arms as the one who loves us so much. And we thank you so much for all 00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:29.799 that your word is teaching. And we marvel at the size of the universe, not because the universe is 00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:48.960 great, but because it just shows us how amazing you are. Amen.