Job chapter 26. The message, as you can see from your handout, is entitled, The Incomprehensible God. And we're taking our message specifically from the verse of chapter 26, verse 14. It says in the English Standard Version, Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. And how small, O whisper, do we hear of him, but the thunder of his power, who can understand? This is the word of the Lord, and he'll most certainly add his abundant, gracious, and magnified blessing to the reading of his holy truth. And let us pray. We give thanks to you, Lord Jesus, we give thanks. For your name is near, we recount your wondrous deeds. Our God and Father, at the set time that you appoint, you will judge with equity. When the earth totters and all its inhabitants It is you who keeps steady its pillars. Holy Spirit, you speak to the boastful and say, do not boast, and to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. So in that we ask that you would humble us, that we may hear your word and apply your word to our lives and exalt Jesus for the Father's glory. In Christ's name and for his sake, we do pray. Amen. Now, this is Job's last discourse. After he had been attacked. three times and has responded with a defense three times. We come to this final defense before his friends in chapters 26 through 31. And I went ahead and provided you kind of an outline such as it is from chapter 26 to the end of the chapter 31, where it will not be the last time Job speaks. Job's going to speak again in the middle of his rebuke from God Almighty. He'll say something again. But after last week, as we saw Bildad's third attack upon Job, that that was the last time that his friends do speak. We recognize that Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namathite suffer from the sin of presumption. And we all have that tendency because we don't see the spiritual world as we know and recognize from the book of Job. Job chapters one and two, that Job was an upright man. He was blameless. He feared God and turned from evil. But not only did Job not see the interactions between the gathering that was in heaven and even the point that God is making with Satan who appeared. And remember that I told you that that Satan appearing before the throne of God. The demons don't appear before the throne of God. Satan did because Satan had taken what was Adam's in Adam's fall. Dominion was given to him over the earth. And that when he relinquished that, the fellowship that he had with God, Satan took that right and appeared before God. And that's something that is a blessing to be able to see because it marks the truth of what Jesus won back for us in defeating Satan. But Elphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did not have this. And finally, Bildad doesn't even know what to say. They presume that Job is guilty. The book of Job is the greatest book to put down the, what they call the prosperity doctrine, the health, wealth, name it and claim it thing that has arisen in charismatic Christianity these last 50, if you will, 100 years that has come up. Because they presume that because Job is suffering, that he must be wicked. And because they're prospering, they must have the favor of God. And this we know not to be true. Getting insights from the blessed truth of God's word. And so in the first part of chapter 26 in verses one through four, Job answers Bildad's attack as being misplaced and superfluous, which it is because all he does is he repeats things that Job has said. Well, this is what God is. This is how mighty he is. As if Job didn't know that. As if he was just hard-headed. And in fact, they were lost at this point. They were at a loss for words with Bildad's six verses in chapter 25 that so far doesn't even speak. And then in chapter 26 verses 5 through 14, Job addresses the might and majesty of God. And then finally sums it up in this 14th verse of how incomprehensible God is. And we'll cover, but this great truth that says in the King James Version in verse 14, lo, these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him. But the thunder of his power, who can understand? And so we find this first, or at least an introduction into the attributes of God by this statement, that God is incomprehensible, but he's knowable. That's evident because just from the writing of the book of Job. Job, Eov in Hebrew, a real person who probably lived, guessing by chapter 42 that he lived another 140 years, he may have been quite old. I don't, we don't know how old he is at this point. So he may have even been before Abraham who was a, possibly even in the line of Shem and a relative of Abraham. We don't know where he is and it's not, he's, we don't know, but we do know he is a real person. Because Ezekiel 14 and verses 14 and 20, he is named right alongside Noah and Daniel as being righteous. So we recognize that he is not someone who has, who is mythical or poetical alone. Though this is considered in the poetical writings, Job is. He is a real person. And I suggest that the conversations actually took place. And James also, in the New Testament, mentions him in chapter five. We recognize that Job is a prophet of God, not only by the testimony of the book of Job, but that James, the half-brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, mentions him as a prophet in Job five, verse 10, and speaks of the patience of Job in the King James Version, or the steadfastness of Job in the English Standard Version in verse 11. So with that, we begin a quote looking at the attributes of God from a book called Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer who said this quote, for while the name of God is secret and his essential nature incomprehensible, he in condescending love has by revelation declared certain things to be true of himself. These we call his attributes, end quote. And that's what we're going to look at today. I'm gonna ask you to turn just a few pages back from this to Job chapter 11. And while you're turning there, the first note on your, I'm not gonna ask you to turn to Deuteronomy, but I'm gonna quote to you Deuteronomy 29 verse 29, because it's been a very close verse to my heart, recognizing how incomprehensible God is. It says this in Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law. And I like that it is there. One of the very last things that the children of Israel are receiving from Moses about two months, two and a half months before they cross over into the Jordan River by the leadership of Joshua, representing the truth of the gospel, if you will, going into the promises of God, that you don't know everything that there is to know about God. And that is a tremendous truth for Christians to grab a hold of. Tremendous truth. Job chapter 11, this is nothing new. This incomprehensibleness of God is nothing new because we see it in chapter 11 and verses seven through nine. Can you find out the deep things of God? And keep in mind that this is Zophar speaking. trying to rebuke Job, because in his thinking, Job is wicked. But as you recall, that every one of these fellows, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, speak several truths concerning God. God, in Job 42 verse 7, says that they did not speak rightly concerning him. And I've addressed this the last three weeks, but I want to, it just came to me that I really want to emphasize this particular point. That Job spoke right about God. That shows God's grace. Because Iliu, who's going to be a type of Jesus Christ in chapter 32, rebukes Job. And rightly so. Because Job tried to justify himself. And Eliu calls him on that. But God's grace covers it because Job as a prophet received God's grace throughout. God even pronounces Job righteous in chapter one and chapter two because of Christ's righteousness. Because none are good. No, not one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That there is no one righteous. Isaiah says, that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And so it is all by God's grace. But they spoke wrongly, and here's something to consider, that they spoke correct things about God, as we see from the testimony, but God says they spoke wrongly about him. Why? Because their conclusions did not match what they were saying about his character. And they were condemning Job, which was not in their hand to do. And so by having a wrong perspective of God's character as it pertained to Job was just as guilty as if they said everything wrong about him. Now that's pretty sobering, isn't it? That is very sobering. And this is why the incomprehensible or the vastness of God beyond our imaginations, Limitless God and the infinite God beyond our finite and limited selves is a great truth in which we can rejoice in. And that's what today's message is about. We look at Zophar saying this, verse seven, can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? Which in one sense, it's the wrong terminology because if he is limitless and infinite, He cannot be confined. Verse eight, it is higher than heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Verse nine, its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. Solomon said so himself at the dedication of the temple. We built this house for you, O Lord, but the heavens of heaven cannot contain you. Which is true of his incomprehensible nature. Verse 14, speaks it specifically. Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. When Job goes through and presents at this first, from verses five to 13, and ministers unto us in the reading of scripture, the blessings of God. Verse six, Sheol is naked before God and Abaddon has no covering. He stretches out in verse seven, the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. What a great God we have just in his being the creator of all things and being the king, as in verse six, even over the grave and over the judgment in Sheol and Abaddon. Verse 12, by his power he stilled the sea. And so we see these blessings here. And Job says, it's just the outskirts. His is something we cannot understand. Turn to the right here. Keep your place in, well, I guess you can keep your place in Job. We'll turn back there, I believe, occasionally. But Psalm 40, we're gonna have a Bible drill, I guess. Psalm chapter 40, and I provided it in your handout. We're gonna turn to some of those scriptures. And they are in order, so you just keep turning to the right. Psalm chapter 40, verse five, and then we'll turn to Psalm 106, verse two. And these aren't all of the verses that speak of God's immensity, if that's another word that would come to mind, of Him being incomprehensible. In other words, young people, when I say this, He is beyond our full understanding. There are things that we can know. Remember the statement is God is incomprehensible. We can't know fully who God is, but he is knowable because he's revealed to us these truths. As it says in Deuteronomy 29, 29, that we may do all the words of this law. And Psalm 40 in verse 5. Verse 5 says, you have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us. None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. There are more than can be told. And I'm turning to the right again to Psalm 106. There are more than can be told. John says that at the end of the gospel of John. Well, close to the end of the gospel of John. He says, and much more things did Jesus do. Jesus, the son of God, the embodiment of God, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He said that, I imagine that the whole world cannot contain the books if they were written of the Lord Jesus. Now I paraphrase that, but that is an absolutely true statement because even Jesus and what we know from the written record, he goes far beyond what we could ever know because he is infinite God. He's God in human flesh. He has two natures, yet is one person. He is divine and fully human. But in his perfect humanity, since we're not perfect, we can never fully comprehend imperfection. And even in the simplest things, Mary and Joseph, sinners, descendants of Adam, Jesus Christ, perfect man. So parents, You know, thank God that your children aren't perfect. Can you imagine the stress you would be under? I hope I'm doing this right. I made the pancakes wrong today. What else is next? Or grandchildren. I'm glad Zane, I don't know, I miss the young man, but I would be so walking on eggshells if he's pointing out grandpa's imperfections. which are many. Psalm 106 verse two, I trust that you're there. Verse two, who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord or declare all his praise? I bring these to you because it starts speaking as we go verse by verse through them. And as you're going to turn to Ecclesiastes chapter eight, but Psalm 106 verse two, Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord or declare all his praise? We start looking at that truth of imputed righteousness. Christ's righteousness is applied to our account. And so since our praise is imperfect, who can declare the praises of Christ which were perfect on earth and even more glorious now that he's been restored to the glory he once knew with the Father before the world was according to his prayer. in John chapter 17 and verse five. His praise was glorious and his praise is applied to our account. The best of our praise falls short because of the corruption remaining in our mortal flesh. Ecclesiastes chapter eight, we had this in our Bible study on Sunday evenings in verse 17 says, then I saw all the work of God that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out. And when he speaks of all the work of God, that he's seen all the work of God, he's seen all that his eyes can understand of the work of God. Because he explains that he couldn't explain it. and that all the toil in seeking doesn't compare with he who is infinitely glorious. Last passage in the Old Testament I ask you to turn to is in Isaiah chapter 55. Many of you know this portion. Very well known portion of scripture, Isaiah 55 verses eight and nine. So for the sake of Brother Wyatt, who's gonna do that devotional next week on Sunday evening, and for Brother Mike, that if you ask him to turn to a portion of scripture, listen to the leaves of the Bible turning. Don't read until they get there if you want him to read it. Here we go. Isaiah 55 in verse eight says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Verse nine, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We can't conceive of how much higher the heavens. What heavens could he be talking about? We mentioned in Sunday school the third heaven, which is really a concept more than say an earthly reality. The Jews had this concept. Paul was taken up into the third heaven. He actually saw the things that were, that he would not do justice if he spoke them. He says they, in the King James Version, they were unlawful to utter. The third heaven is just a term that the Jews had for that which is the abode of God. First heaven is the sky and the second heaven is the outer space in which the sun and the stars and the planets hang upon, which Job mentions in chapter 26. He hangs them on nothing. But here, his ways are higher than that. we will chase down the infinite truth of God and Christ for all eternity and still not exhaust it. That's how incomprehensible he is. Will we ever know everything that there is to know about God? Consider the angels. The New Testament says they, to paraphrase it, they bend over heaven, so to speak, to look at grace because they cannot be recipients of God's grace in one sense as sinners because they haven't fallen. But the angels who haven't fallen look into this amazing thing that we who are made lower than the angels and though we were descendants of fallen Adam, God has loved us with an everlasting love and he has poured out his love upon us so that we might be saved to spend eternity with him. And the angels look at that and go, that's amazing. They're amazed by the incomprehensible vastness of God. And we just shrug it off as if it's something. Yeah, it's God. Oh yeah, it's Jesus. Or put up commercials, he gets us. My, every time I think of that, I think, my forehead used to be way out here for as many times as I've smacked it thinking of that thing. We'll have a New Testament reference of it and another familiar one, Romans 11 verses 33 and 34. Romans 11 verses 33 and 34. I mean, passage after passage after passage we come to this, that God is incomprehensible. He's uncomprehendable. He is beyond our full understanding. And that shows his grace because that he's knowable. As we look at this last portion, verse 33 of Romans 11. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. Or I think the King James Version, if I haven't misremembered, is his ways past finding out. Verse 34, for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? And we'll just stop right there and consider that. It's amazing that in 2,000 years of church history, there are some churches that feel that they're under obligation to tell God what to do, because obviously he doesn't know. That, if you've been on the internet for five minutes, and that seems to be the preponderance of most of how people have come to think of God anymore. They just have, they have an evangelistic zeal without knowledge. So that's been going on for a long time, because the Bible declares that. a zeal without knowledge. God's incomprehensible, but he is knowable. Again, back to the Psalms, Psalm chapter 19, which many of you know or have quoted time and again. I know Brother Mike has not only quoted it, but has pondered Psalm 19, just by his living on the bluff and looking out at Eliemna almost every, pretty much every day. Psalm 19. The Psalm of David. This is what we would call general revelation. The heavens declare the glory of God in verse one, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Verse three, there is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard. And I brought you through all three of the verses. Verse one is the most predominant and the most famous. The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky or the firmament proclaims or showeth his handiwork in the King James Version. But the sky above proclaims his handiwork. But notice that it speaks of speech. Day to day pours out speech. And there is no speech in verse three. There is no speech. nor are there words whose voice is not heard. The reason I bring that about, this is general knowledge and it is God speaking. Everything that we see on the created planet, in the created heavens that God has created, God has spoken. God has spoken. It is an echo of that which he has created. And so when we see it, we don't necessarily always put it together that way, especially as young Christians, but as we ponder it and look at it, God created the heavens and the earth by speaking them into existence. And though it doesn't say exactly those words by the details that are in Genesis chapter two, because on the sixth day, He created man and woman. He created even more animals after he created man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. But he did so when it says he formed them from the dust of the ground. He didn't do it by the Christophany of Jesus Christ who is an appearance and a manifestation of the second person of the Trinity as a man, and then putting the dust to the ground together for Adam to be born. He spoke him into existence. So all of creation is by the spoken word of God. Even the early church fathers as in the fourth century when Latin started from the Greek language. Koine Greeks started turning in the fourth century to Latin as the predominant known language. They created a word for that. It's called universe. Uni, a single, a verse, a sentence, and uni, a single sentence. God spoke the universe in a single sentence. So there was at least that understanding because of the revelation of God from the Word of God. And as they started translating it into what they call the vulgar Latin, the Latin Vulgate, the Greek scriptures. But we still have, even with the Latin Vulgate, we have 27,000 copies of the New Testament. and a myriad of copies, uncountable copies of the Old Testament in Hebrew and in Greek and in Chaldean. This general revelation we also see, and this is the point I make with this, I turn to Romans chapter one with this. In verse 18 to 20, this is still general revelation. God speaking all his creation into existence And then tying that in with seeing the sun and the moon and the stars, the mountains. It all speaks of the spoken Word of God. The power of God to speak those things. And in verse 18 of chapter one, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. And that verse tells us that men know that there is a judgment. Interestingly, there's 200. I think it's 260, 280. I don't remember the number. Zane and Rachel and I were watching a thing from Answers in Genesis again about the flood. But there are flood stories all around in every culture of the planet. But when we see that these mountains weren't always there, that there was a great deluge from Genesis chapter 6 to Genesis chapter 9 because of the wickedness of every thought and intent of a man's heart was only evil continually, that there was judgment. But why does he see this judgment? Because every one of us is creatures made of God. Even those that are unbelievers have a spark of the spokenness of God in them because he created us in his image and after his likeness according to Genesis 1 verses 27 and 28. And so in verse 19, it continues, it says, for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Verse 20, for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived. ever since the creation of the world. Even more than seeing these things out here and knowing God's judgment, that every single man, woman, and child is without excuse that there is a God. And if they have not called upon Him, the Word of God declares that they do know Him. And in fact, that's why I've said time and again, that there's really no such thing as an atheist. An atheist is someone who so vehemently denies God, in verse 18, suppresses God's truth because of unrighteousness, that he has to deny what he knows deep down does exist in order to feel good about himself. Otherwise he's condemning himself. Man is condemned already. Jesus said that in John chapter three. Because men love darkness more than they love light. And the light of the world has come. This is God's spoken word and his general revelation. In verse 20, for his invisible attributes. That's why it's not just the sun, moon, and the stars that we see at night. It's not just the mountains and the heavens that declare the glory of God. There is something that since a man has been created, even though fallen and perverse, there is enough power in the truth of God's creation that even the wicked know that there is a God. They may not have the special revelation of who that Christ is, but they deny even the essence of it in their unrighteousness. And this is where I ask you to turn with me to the right to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one, and this is the special revelation. This is what they call, they have in theology what they call the general revelation, and it's a general idea that God does exist. But God is incomprehensible but knowable and he has preserved it in a most amazing way. That the Bible is not merely one book as you all know. It's a collection of 66 writings. written by over 40 different authors over a period of 1,500 years, all pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, who in John chapter five and verse 39 said of the Old Testament, you search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they that testify of me. All the Old Testament is about Jesus, all pointing to him in some way, shape or form. And so as we look at Hebrews chapter one, it says, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. The God that speaks now through the prophets give us the written word. This is what we have. Moses was a prophet. And by Jesus' own testimony, the first five books of the Bible were penned by his hand, though it's God's word. And that speaks of a specific revelation that points to the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke through, bless you. He spoke through Moses. He spoke through Samuel. He spoke through David who penned the Psalms. He spoke through men that were born along, as Peter says, born along by the Holy Spirit. But in verses two and three, he speaks even more specifically of how we may know God. Verse two says, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. Verse three, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Verses two and three are very powerful because through the prophets, he gives us the written word, but now through his son, he had given us the living word. And when Jesus Christ came fulfilling the Old Testament, That men who were moved by the Holy Spirit because of the truth of who Christ is and what He has done, they penned the New Testament to explain what the Old Testament told us about the Messiah to come. That God would become a man. This anointed person because man is so sinful that are descendants of fallen Adam. That there's no way that they can save themselves. And so this was God's plan that Peter tells us from before the beginning in 1st Peter 1 verses 18 to 20. That he's the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. that God sent his son to walk the righteous life that you and I can't. Because the best of men, as it is said, are men at best. They're fallen descendants of Adam. And the best of what they do have enough corruption in them that it's imperfect. So God's plan was to send his son and walk that righteous life so that when he went to the cross to pay a debt that he did not owe, for a debt that we owe and cannot pay. It was a perfect sacrifice. It was the best of the best. The treasurer of heaven suffered God's wrath in our place. He died a death because he was truly a man. And then his side was pierced for the shedding of his blood for the forgiveness of sins and trusting in this Christ who proved that he was Christ by being dead for three days and three nights and then arising from the dead and then ascended into heaven with the promise of coming again. Trusting in this gospel truths, God says, that's it. That's what you must believe. He's not asking for assurance of salvation the moment that you believe and say yes to him, especially my young people who are on the verge of falling asleep even if you don't know Christ right now. He's saying this so that you could say, yes, you know what, this is, What I want, I want Christ to save me. And you may end up having doubts. There are adults that have doubts. You'll get assurance as you grow in grace, but you say yes to Him and look to Him. And that's salvation. Because you believe that He is the Son of God. And remember, it's not a false belief. If it doesn't change your life, you're just saying, eh, yeah, I'll do this so my parents get off my back. The reason why it's not that is that the devils believe and tremble. James chapter 2 verse 9. They shudder in the English Standard Version. They've seen Christ before they'd fallen. They've seen Christ after they'd fallen. They recognize who He is. And that shows us how despicable, and that shows us how we need a Savior. because we'll take this truth that God came to earth, instead of striking us all down, he came to earth and saved us so that we could spend eternity with him. And see, this is another incomprehensible truth. You take the greatest thing that you enjoy, and that will never come close to the great joy that is in the presence of Jesus Christ for all of eternity. And in fact, he is the great truth that makes everything else enjoyable. Even the smallest child can look out at the mountain and say, look how grand it is, how beautiful the snow sits on Iliumna or Redoubt or Spur on these mountains. Heaven must be like that. And you know what? That child would be right. They look up at the sun that shines and sometimes disappears behind the clouds and says, that must be heaven. The sun shining in its strength. Well, it is because for them, it truly is. Because the sun is a reflection of Jesus Christ, who's the light of the world. He said, Jesus Christ is the light of the world. And when it says in Hebrews chapter one, that with the Father, he created the worlds, with the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, he created the worlds. And so when he created the sun, shining in its strength, what is heaven like but the presence of Christ? What is heaven like but the warmth of the Lord Jesus? as we've sojourned in this cold world. What is the sun except for that which makes things grow? And you and I, whom he's saved by grace, grows us with grace. Oh, to have a childlike faith, to look at the things around us and say, that must be what heaven is like. And God has given us pictures that sometimes we adults just kind of walk by real quickly. Listen to your children sometimes, your young ones, that are learning of Christ. Listen to your grandchildren at times in their innocence. And sometimes they'll say some things that sadly, what a shame it would be if I took my little grandson and he said something like that and said, no, no, that's not it. You know, theologically, let me take you to the Greek of this and then the Hebrew. And then you'll know, as if I know, but God's incomprehensible. He's beyond that, that he puts it into childlike terms so that we can grasp this Father who loves us with an everlasting love. How can we apply this? How does understanding this truth strengthen your faith and help you grow in grace? First, it humbles us to know Christ. It's all of grace. that God would reveal his son to us, that he's incomprehensible, that even what we see of Jesus in the gospels, what is explained to us in the New Testament, and then looking back to the Old Testament and finding picture after picture after picture and saying, oh God, you're so good. But it's still, it still cannot capture everything that there is. Paul knew the Old Testament. It was much of the scriptures before, you know, he was penning the New Testament. In his third missionary journey, when he said that he'd been caught up to the third heaven, Ephesians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, they had not yet even been written. And he says, I saw things that if I tried to share them with you, you still wouldn't understand. They're beyond. what I could describe. It would be unlawful. In fact, it would not be justified. I would do it disservice. You have to be there. You have to go there. You have to let Jesus take you there. Let Jesus take you there. So it humbles us that God is so far beyond us. We see that all of that, which I know doesn't even compare with As Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians, he says that the wisdom of men is foolishness to God. That's how far away and how much disparity there is between knowing Christ in a greater fullness than we know. That's the first thing. It humbles us. It should humble us that God who is incomprehensible would look at us. He bypassed the angels to save us who are made lower than the angels. That is, I cannot tell why he, the king of heaven, should leave his robes of glory to do such a thing. Number two, it helps us to hold fast to his word. And more specifically, since Jesus Christ is the living word, the crucified word, the resurrected word of God, the fulfillment of scripture, it helps us to hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ, the living word. It helps us to stay faithful to him. It helps us to stay faithful to him, knowing that he is the incomprehensible God. Thirdly, and there's three parts to this, it hones us to honor his will, his work, and his word. It hones us. It hones us to honor his will, his work, and his word. To sharpen it. He, through God's grace, living in each one of us, every time that we gather, as iron sharpens iron, as the iron, as the Proverbs says, so does a man sharpen the countenance of his friend. And so therefore, God, through the providence of believers, in this amazing thing that Christ is building, his church, and in the local church, we will be honed to honor him, Respond in love and godly fear because He is love. And in doing so, we find that His will, His judgments are unsearchable in His ways past finding out. His ways are inscrutable. And therefore, we want His will in place of mine. My will has sometimes run off the rails. And some of you, I think, can relate to that, can't you? My will has run off the rails more times than I can count. But God is still gracious. He pulls me back in. And I'm so grateful to Him for that. So as we grow in grace, if we're honing our lives by God's grace to honor Christ, we honor Him by placing His will ahead of ours. Lord, what would you have me to do? In some areas, in some things, young people, it will become second nature that as you continue to do it little by little, by what you see in God's word, you'll go, I know that God wants me to do this. This is an easy thing. I shall not steal. That's an easy thing. And the more that you do that consciously, it'll soon become an unconscious thing. Oh, this belongs to someone else. I don't want to put it in my pocket. We want to honor God's work. This is God's work, his creation. You know, as believers, most of you probably do this, that when before you were saved, you didn't care. If you went into a rest area at a rest stop, go into the restroom where you don't do much rest, and you just leave it the way it was before you were saved. I can't go into a bathroom without wiping down the counter. leaving it in a better condition. And that's not because of, oh, Brother John has done such great stuff. That's because Christ has saved me and I want to leave his planet a little bit better than when I encountered it. You do too. I know that many of you are like that. It's not because we have a cleaning fetish. Lisa could tell you I don't. I don't. Lisa's coming around me and cleaning up after where I've been. I don't do such a great job, but I feel that way. And I know I'm not going to make the planet better with all this climate change and stuff, because the poor you'll have with you always. The planet's not going to get any better until Jesus comes. But as Christians, we want to leave it better. We want to leave a gospel witness everywhere. But more than that, it's Christ's righteous life and atoning work exceeds our imaginations. That's how we honor the work of God. We honor his work because of his incomprehensible goodness, and his incomprehensible greatness, and his incomprehensible love. How could you love someone like me? Someone like Calvary Baptist Church? We are like the wretched refuse, yet God pours out his love, that in Ephesians 3, verses 17 and 19, it says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, that's the love of Christ, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. Brother Jariah, bear me out. When you're building something, you only have three dimensions that you use, right? Had to go to the contractor to make sure. Breadth and length and depth and height. There's four dimensions there. That's incomprehensible. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. That's Christ's work. It surpasses the knowledge that I have. And that's what makes it so good. Good news. Good news that exceeds our imaginations. Even where He says that He may give us that which exceedingly abounds more than we can think or hope. That's the goodness of God too. He gives to us far beyond what we can think or imagine because He has given us more. Jesus is beyond what we can think or imagine. And finally, it hones us to honor His Word. that the scriptures, I mean, we start doing this almost in the practical too. We cherish the word. We're not throwing it about like when we grow in grace and understand that this is the revelation of God to show us who Christ is, we start looking at his word, not tossing it about like some phone book, because we don't need a phone book anymore. Everybody has a cell phone. or a magazine in the doctor's office, we start cherishing the Word. And that's just one part of it, and the small part. But what we start cherishing and honoring, it hones us to honor what the content is. We start hiding His Word in our heart that we might not sin against Him. We take it and understand John 5 and verse 39, that Jesus said that this was all about Him. And even if I don't get it, Even though my intellect says that in some way, shape or form, it's about Jesus. But I also trust that since he's incomprehensible, since he's uncomprehendable, since he's infinitely marvelous beyond what I can imagine, that I trust that if I don't see it in the word, I'm not bound up by it. I'm not over-anxious about it or even overwhelmed by it. I just say, well, I must be too young, Lord, and I'm too immature to carry it. And that's okay, because one of the most, and young people, I want you to get this, don't be in such a hurry to grow up. Be carried along by Jesus in the things that you don't know. And I don't know, you've been speaking to some of my older young people, some of you in your 50s and 60s. Be carried along by Christ in the things that you don't know. Trust in Him because He's infinite and eternal, incomprehensible in His ways, higher than we could ever scale, deeper than we'll ever dive, broader than we'll ever reach. What a good God we have. Good God indeed. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that that prayer of Paul's for the Ephesians, that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that we may be rooted and grounded in love, and we may be able to comprehend with all saints the incomprehensibleness of God in breadth and length and depth and height, the incomprehensibleness of Christ, to know the love of Christ, that we may respond in love and godly fear, a love that you have for us that surpasses knowledge, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God, overflowing. In Jesus' name and for his sake we do pray, amen.