I'd like us again this morning to return to our study of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and in particular words that we have read from Isaiah chapter 40. In doing so, we have to at least take a moment to remind ourselves of the context. Although it is my chief purpose this morning to make pastoral application of the comfort of God's Word to our own souls as we reflect upon what God has been pleased to reveal to us, that we may be strengthened and encouraged and should not be deprived of those tokens of God's mercy through his Word which he has provided for our encouragement, for our strengthening, for our comfort. Isaiah has, since the beginning of the book, been warning the people of God of the judgment which is going to fall and. Eventually, of course, the judgment falls particularly as the people of God are taken off into captivity. Not only as on a previous occasion did the enemies come to the very gates of Jerusalem before, God sovereignly intervened on their behalf and turned Sennacherib away. But when Nebuchadnezzar and the hordes from Babylon lay siege to Jerusalem, not only are they brought to the very gates of the city, but they are brought through them, and the people of God are taken away into captivity. Indeed, it's not just merely that they are deprived of their homes and that which is comfortable to them. Perhaps the greater tragedy is that they are deprived of the opportunity of worshipping in the temple. God has, in a sense, hidden himself from them. Now, with that as the background, we are able to understand something of what's going through the heart and head of the people of God, as they are so sorely afflicted by their circumstances. And, if we are honest, Perhaps there have been times when we have found ourselves saying much the same sort of things that the people of God said on that occasion. It's summed up for us in verse 27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel? My way is hidden from the Lord. My cause is disregarded by my God. Now boys and girls, when we read through a portion of Scripture, sometimes the way in which it is written, and if you look at it upon the pages of your particular Bible, you find that it's not just written from one beginning of the line to the end of the line, but it's written out line by line in a particular way, which is not always in your Bibles. Well, why is it written out in this particular way for the prophets, whereas 1 Kings, for instance, is just written out and set out on the page in a different way? Well, there's a reason for that, and that's because what we have before us is an example of Hebrew poetry. And that's why it's written out, as a poem would be written out, line for line. It doesn't just put the next word at the end where one line stops. It's written out for us to see the lines of poetry. And sometimes because it's poetry, it's set out in a beautiful way, but perhaps if you're young, you may not see immediately what it's saying. Well, I make no apology for the Word of God. It's given there for us. For the benefit of our younger members, I want you to see what exactly it is it's saying. It's not a complex thought, it's not a difficult thing, even though it may not be put out in the way in which you would express it. My way is hidden from the Lord, my cause is disregarded by my God. Basically, the complaint of God's people is that God doesn't know and that God doesn't care. That's the complaint of God's people. God doesn't know and he doesn't care. Now, of course, Isaiah, in reporting this, says, why do you say that, Jacob? And indeed, what we'll be looking at in this particular portion of God's Word is why the people of God should not be saying that, where the comfort of God's Word lies for God's people. But before we do that, we do need to recognize that this is not something that is peculiarly strange to the people of God in Isaiah's day. And boys and girls, I trust that you have never known such heartache such grief and sorrow that you have found yourself saying, God doesn't know, God doesn't care. But I dare say that if you have spoken to your parents or grandparents, that they might be able to say to you, yes, that they have known times in their understanding when some great personal tragedy has overwhelmed them, when if they have not actually used these words, have at least understood how one could get to the frame of mind where these words do come to the forefront. God doesn't know. God doesn't care. Now, I am not for one moment excusing such an attitude of mine because it comes from unbelief. that our God is gracious. Because He doesn't deal with us merely in terms of this is what you ought to be like. He, as it were, because He's a gracious God, because He's a Father, He comes to where we are. Even when we are in the wrong place, He graciously takes us by the hand and leads us from where we ought not to be. to where we ought to be. Isaiah is not saying that this is a right attitude of mine, therefore. In fact, he is challenging that. But for you and for me, when the difficulties of this world, when sorrows and tragedies overwhelm us, when they crash down upon us like a tidal wave of sorrow, We feel ourselves tempted at least to ask, does God care for me? How can it be that a God who loves me, leaves me to suffer in this way? There's a question which is upon the hearts and minds of the people of God in Isaiah's day. There's a question which is often upon the hearts and minds of the people of God in every generation. I'm not excusing it. I'm not saying that it is right. But the Word of God recognizes the weakness of our souls. So first of all, they have considered the plight of the people of God, that they are distressed. Distressed to the point of weakness of faith, cast down. Where is God when I need him most? It is to that situation, therefore, that Isaiah brings the healing words of Scripture. I know not the precise circumstances of every person here present. For my own congregation I might have something of an understanding of where you are before the Lord, but for visitors that I have not even met or those who I have but passed a morning's greeting with, do not know but that perhaps the Lord has brought you to this place at this time, that you might hear the gracious words of God applying to your heart for your comfort. Now what Isaiah responds to this question, where is God when we need him most, first of all, the power of God. I want to divide that into three subheadings. First of all, the physical world. Isaiah wants to point the people of God to an understanding, this is the God with whom we have to do. And so we begin by looking at verse 12, the 40th chapter. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hands and following? Now what Isaiah is saying, boys and girls, just hold your hand out like that and think to yourself, would it be possible for me to scoop up some water and measure that water in the hollow of my hand? Well, we could do that. We could do it perhaps for a basin full of water. But Isaiah says, here's the amount that you can measure, just hold it in the hollow of your hand. Now look at the oceans that God has made. See the beauty of God. Lake Michigan is hardly an ocean. If you go down to the North Shore in Chicago and look across, you can't see the other side. The oceans are far, far greater. Can you measure out the oceans in the palm of your hand? Now Isaiah says, use that hand again, instead of having it hollow like that, use it like that, and stretch your hand out as broad as it will go, so you have the maximum distance between your thumb and your little finger. Now, go out on a starry night, look up and say, how can you measure the heavens? Can you measure the heavens with the palm of your hand? How many palms of your hand would it take to measure the heavens? when it comes to the mountains. Can you lift up a mountain and put it into a balance just to measure its weight? Or count the dust of the hills. Are you able to measure these things out? The mighty oceans, or the expanse of the heavens, or the mountain ranges. Are you able to do that? The God with whom we have to do It's the God who has made these things. He's the one who has but to say the word. Let there be light and there is light. He raises up the world and all that it contains. He sets the stars in their place. Before you tremble before your enemies, tremble before the living God. And secondly, not only is the power of God made known in the physical world, it's made known in the precision of His purposes. Who has understood the mind of the Lord? Who has instructed Him as His counsellor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten Him Who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? We might glory in God for the power of His creating abilities. But it doesn't stop there. Indeed, surely we're led to consider something of even greater significance. God's great purposes. Are you able to instruct God Has God got a path and a plan which He is treading? He's making His way through His own perfect plans and purposes. Are you going to enter into the presence of such a God and say, He's not able to deal with my situation? It's beyond help. You want to say that my particular difficulties that I am facing are beyond the knowledge of God? Or are my very set of circumstances part of God's perfect plan? Yes, even the very tragic circumstances through which I am even now passing, whatever they may be, that God is sovereign not only in His ability to create, that in all the paths of understanding. And then Isaiah makes a third observation and it's about the political world. A particular reference to the generation in which Isaiah was living. After all, their particular concern was that they had been carried away into the place of bondage. They had been taken out of the land of promise and taken to Babylon. It seemed as though the nations were the ones which were deciding what would happen to the people of God, and they were just moved here and there at the whims of the kings and princes of this world. So Isaiah has a particular point in making reference to the political authorities of this world. Don't be concerned for those who are in places of authority. They're only doing what God has purposed for them. Surely, says Isaiah, the nations are like a drop in a bucket. They are regarded as dust on the scales. He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. All these mighty nations which have brought their war not only to the very gates of Jerusalem but through its gates and removed the people from the place of worship and taken them off into captivity, these nations are as nothing. They're just like a drop in the bucket. They have no authority. And so we're not surprised when we come later on in the gospel of Christ In the way in which the acts of the apostles are unfolded before us, we see that God is sovereign. When Peter and John pray together in what is perhaps the first recorded prayer meeting of God's people, they pray to a God who is sovereign and say, Pontius Pilate, Herod, they only did what your sovereign will predestined for them to do. all the mighty power of Rome only did what God ordained for them to do. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. This really speaks to how the nations view God. God is someone to be bought off We can just do a few things and we'll get him on our side and then we can continue living our lives as we wish. If things go wrong, well, we'll offer a sacrifice, we'll get back into his good books and then continue as before. Now boys and girls, perhaps for us it's not necessarily a picture which is familiar to us, but Lebanon was noted in the time of ancient Israel as being the land of forests, the cedars, the cedars of Lebanon. Again and again you'll find that referenced in the scripture. And what the prophet is saying is here, the land which is famous for its woods, for its cedars in particular, if you were to chop down all the trees of Lebanon and make this huge, huge sacrificial altar and then gather up all the livestock that you could possibly find in all the surrounding hills and put them all together. If you could imagine, this would be a, this would be a bonfire which would cover acres and acres, entire football stadiums. And all the cedars of Lebanon, all the sacrifices, are not enough. God's not impressed by that. The idea of the nations being able to buy God, obviously, forget it. Not supposing you were to offer up all the forests of North America or the Amazonian rainforest, it would not be enough. God will not be bought off. The nations are as nothing. So what is Isaiah saying? Just take these three elements. He's saying the physical world, the precision of God's purposes, the political world. These are all the power of God. What does Isaiah say? Let me apply these things to your heart, he's saying. You're struggling because there are great difficulties facing you. You find yourself crying out to God, God have you forgotten me? Don't you know? Don't you understand? And Isaiah is saying, remember who God is. Remember that our God is the one who has formed everything by his power. Remember that God had a very detailed and precise purpose in all his ways. And that your enemies, whether it's the political enemies, and that's the context in which Isaiah is writing, but we might Draw out other parallels. Whatever your circumstances are, they're not beyond God's control. So banish from your thoughts any such unbelieving idea that God doesn't know or that God doesn't care. And thirdly, having seen the plight of Israel and the power of God, we should just finally deal with one further heading, the passion of God. The passion of God. God has a passion for his own glory. I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. I was not brought up with the Heidelberg Catechism. I came to know that in later life. But I have come to love the Heidelberg Catechism. I love it because it's so pastoral. I love the Westminster Catechism too, of course, because it's so theological. I do love the Heidelberg. Heidelberg always wants to say this, he says, what does this mean to you? What does this mean to you? Never content merely with making a statement, he says, we want to make application. Well, in doing so, they are reflecting what Isaiah is doing in chapter 40, and in particular verse 21. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? Isaiah is not content merely to give us a statement of God's awesome power. He says, have you not understood what this means? Have you not understood and felt the weight of theology pressed upon your heart to understand what significance is it that God is powerful in creation? that He has His purposes which will be worked out in my life and in the life of all men upon the earth because God is concerned with His own glory and has a passion for that glory. What does this mean to you? Have you not known? Have you not understood? Oh, the folly of idolatry! God's Word brings before us this image. What image will you compare him to? As for an idol, a craftsman casts it and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. How many times have you heard folks say, when I think of God, I like to think of Him as this. They are crafting an idol of their own imagination. They don't say, tell me of the God who reveals Himself in Scripture. What is God really like? They want to make God in their own image. golden statues. They may be beautiful to behold, but they are vain and worthless. Don't you know what he's like? Haven't you heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground. that He blows on them and they wither, the whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. Now what is Isaiah telling us? For the comfort of our souls, don't you know, don't you understand that God sustains. He sits upon the surface of the heavens. We saw that reflected too in Hebrews chapter 1 that God sustains this world. Oh, you're so troubled in heart and mind. You're perplexed by the circumstances which in God's strange providence have brought you to. Don't you understand that God sustains His people? Don't you understand that? These kings in whom you stand so much in dread God raises them up and He says, no, sooner are they planted. And then God says, I'll do away with them. He will sweep this one away and sweep that one away. He raises up nations and He brings them low. Raises up an empire and brings it down into the dust according to His sovereign purposes and pleasure. Then He goes on to say, to whom will you compare Me or who is my equal, says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens who created all these. He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Boys and girls, you might like to think about doing this tonight as the nights are drawing in and we head in towards winter and the sun goes down earlier. When it's dark out and you look up into the sky, understand that God has set every star in place. Well, look up tonight. Look up the following night. Would you miss one? Are you able to number those stars that you see spread out upon the night sky? Would you miss one? Or ten? Or twenty? God says, not only has He set them all in place, He has a name for each and every one of them. All those thousands of stars which it is impossible for you to sort out with the naked eye, one from another. You look up and you see some brighter lights, but you see all these thousands upon thousands of lesser lights, and your eye has difficulty separating, even as you are looking at them. But God has named each and every one of them. And they continue there because God has set them in place and will continue at His bidding. Now in your imagination, turn from the night sky perhaps to walk some of the quiet back streets of ancient Jerusalem. Dusty roads along which few people might pass, But then as you're walking along this dusty street in ancient Jerusalem, you see a sparrow. Well, a sparrow is probably about the most common of all birds. It doesn't seem to matter what country in the world you visit, you find these little brown birds. They're everywhere. You think to yourself, In the cages in fine homes where people keep birds, they might keep cockatiels and parakeets and parrots and brightly coloured birds. Have you ever heard of anybody keeping a sparrow in a cage? Not much value in a sparrow. Jesus himself was like two a penny. The same Jesus says, not one sparrow falls to the ground but that your Father in heaven knows about it and you are worth much, much more. So in our hearts we cry out, Lord I'm all alone. Have you forgotten me? Don't you know? Don't you care? The straight way the Word of God is applied to our hearts. That not even a sparrow in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, it didn't fall, but our Father in Heaven knew about it. The stars in the night sky. Everyone is set there by the hand of God and He's given a name to everyone. And Isaiah says, you think that you're alone. You cry out in your perplexity. Oh, has God forgotten me? Does not God understand? Doesn't He know? Doesn't He care? The Word of God says, I know and I do care. Not only because of the stars in the night sky, not only because He knows about the Spirit, but He loves us intimately and He knows our every need. So, Isaiah presses upon our hearts a pastoral lesson from looking at the night sky and says, God knows those stars by name. This remote rock at the remotest edge of the universe, cold and without any life, God knows its name. And God knows my name too. He knows me by name. Why is God so concerned about his reputation? Maybe I've stopped to ponder, or I might give a straightforward and the obvious response. The obvious thing is to say that God is not to be mocked. And just as it would be an affront to the president to insult him to his face, so it would be a much greater offense to mock God. But God will not be mocked. But brethren in the Lord, I believe there is another reason why God is so passionate for his own glory. If we have small thoughts of God, we'll be weak Christians. That's the point, isn't it? That's what Isaiah is saying to the people of God as they suffer and are perplexed. Don't you know? Don't you understand? It's your theology that is a problem here. You don't know God as He has revealed Himself. And because you don't know Him, you're asking questions which, if you stop to think about it, you should never ask. It's because your theology is not matching up to where you ought to be. So God is jealous for His reputation because we will suffer when we do not understand what God has revealed about Himself. If we bring God down from His glorious position and think small things of God, then we are prone to ask these questions. Has God forgotten me? Does not God understand? Are my ways hidden from Him? And Isaiah peels this away from us and says, no, you cannot say that. Our God is a God who sets the stars in the heavens. He raises up nations and He brings them down. These kings and princes before whom you tremble, God holds them as though they were just the dust of the earth. They are only doing what His sovereign purposes have set for them to do at no point in time. Are they ever beyond His control? It's because your theology is weak that you are weak as Christians. And God has a desire that His name should be glorified, not only because it is an offence to His divine being for us to insult Him, but because He is so concerned for our well-being. That when we are weak in our theology, we are weak as Christians. And we ask things that ought never to be asked. Don't you know? Don't you understand what the Word of God is telling you? What is being revealed to you from the very beginning? That our God is powerful. That our God is gracious. That our God holds these nations, He brings them into the history of God's people and then He drags them out again according to His own purposes. Anything that ever happens in your life is never outside of the control of God. Now it may seem in our generation The Church of Jesus Christ has moved on from that old style of worship where the people of God sang great anthems of praise. In our worship, we take the Church of Jesus Christ as a whole, so often filled with these little ditties that are inconsequential. We have our praise bands and other things which will appeal to the carnal mind. People come into church, they lead church and they think how much they have enjoyed the worship. But is it touched with a sense of awe in the presence of God? Why do we worship as we do? Let me address just a few words to our young members, those who shortly perhaps will be going off to college and worshipping in other congregations elsewhere. Is it merely a matter of preference for your parents as to how you worship? Some people worship in this way. Others worship in that way. And if you like to do it this way, well that's fine, but we like to do it another way. Is it preference? For me, for the elders of this congregation, and I trust for all the members, we say this is not preference. This is principle. The worship of the living God should be conducted with reverence, with awe in the presence of our God. Why? Because God is zealous for His reputation amongst His people. It is right for us to worship the great and glorious God who has formed all things by His power, and to do so in a way which conveys to all who might be passing by that we are engaged upon a most serious and solemn assembly to worship the living God, because we will have no small thoughts of God. Because our theology is important, not because it's a matter of pride for us, but because knowing God puts us as strong Christians. Have you not heard? Have you not known? The Word of God is applied to our hearts. Or you would say we will worship that God in reverence and in awe. so that when it comes time, as we do each Lord's Day in the evening, the one appointed to lead in worship asks the question, Christian, what do you believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty.