You can turn with me once again to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. I know a moment ago we read the entire chapter. And so I will just read for us the text we're going to be considering in more detail today, which is verses 14 through 19. The title of the sermon today is The Creation of the Sun moon, and stars, and this happened on the fourth day. Genesis chapter 1, we'll read verses 14 through 19. Again, this is God's Word. Infallible, inerrant, it's incapable of error. Hear it. Then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens, to divide the day from the night. And let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights and the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. Then God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God abides forever. Well, this morning we come to the fourth day of the creation week. which took place on Wednesday, the first Wednesday ever. Remember that up to this point, we have learned that on the first day of the week, on the first Sunday, God created all things out of nothing. The heaven of heavens were created, the third heavens, and the earth. But at first the earth was without form, it was formless, it was empty, it was dark, a watery mass. And from that mass of stuff, the universe would be formed. And what happened throughout the rest of the period of the six days of the creation week were to answer that problem of the formlessness and the emptiness and the darkness of that place where no human being could live. Remember that the Earth is the only inhabitable place in the universe. Of the entire expanse that makes up the universe, and all the planets, and all the stars, everything that exists in the universe, only the Earth was made for mankind to live on. Not the Moon, not Mars, Earth is the only place that is capable of sustaining life. And we see in Genesis 1 just how much the Earth is the focus of attention, isn't it? In terms of all that God created, the Earth stands at the center. The focal point is the Earth. The things that are far greater and can seem more amazing to us, like the sun, moon, and stars, just receive Passing notice in one day of creation, you see. On the first day, just as a brief review, God created light to answer the problem of darkness. On the second and third days, God created the expanse and the sea and the land to answer the formlessness problem. You remember that on the second day, God divided the waters above from the waters below and created an expanse or a firmament of the space and sky. On the third day, God created the land and the seas. He separated the waters that were below from the land. The land arose from the deep and the waters dissipated and the vegetation sprouted. As we read in Psalm 24 or as we sing, In Psalm 24, and up from the seas he established the land. And as we mentioned last week, it is quite likely that at first the land was just one continent with possibly various seas surrounding it. It does say he created the seas. And you can still have multiple seas, though there's only one continent. Just as there are multiple seas around the large island of Australia. On the east side of Australia is the Pacific Ocean. On the west side is the Indian Ocean. To the south is the Southern Ocean. And so it's not an argument against the idea of multiple oceans just because there was one continent. And so after the earth had been formed on days two and three, then God said that it was good. Because you remember at the end of day two, it's the only day he doesn't say what he didn't say, or he didn't see that it was good. But once the earth was formed, it was good. And so now, in the remaining three days of creation, God will answer the emptiness problem. He answered the darkness problem, he answered the formlessness problem, now he will answer the emptiness problem. He will begin to fill the expanse and he will fill the seas and the land. And so on day four we see God filling the upper expanse, the second heavens of outer space. Remember, the three heavens that the scriptures clearly teach us. The first heavens is the sky, the second heavens is outer space, and the third heavens is the place of God's glorious throne. So on day four, God created the sun, moon, and stars. And children, there's a really easy way to remember it, mostly with just one word, these days, right? You've got the first day, light, the second day, firmament, or expanse, the third day, land, and the fourth day, if you wanted to say one word, you could say luminaries, or you could say the sun, moon, and stars. Now, I want to point out just briefly, before we get into more details of the fourth day, that most have recognized a certain correspondence between the first three days of creation and the last three days of creation. And many have seen this and affirmed this, commentators, theologians, Christian scientists. On day one, you have the creation of light. So if you have like, maybe from this, like one, two, three, four, five, six. On day one, you have the creation of light. On day four, which corresponds to day one, you have the various lights created in the firmament. On day two, you have the separation of the waters, the sky and then the water below. And on day five, you have the filling of the sky with birds and the water with fish and sea creatures. On day three, you have the creation of land, and on day six, you have the filling of the land with land animals and mankind. So I think there's something to that. I don't want to press that too strongly because it doesn't always fit nice and tightly like you would think. Like, for example, on day two, there's the creation of the expanse, but, and that's when the sun, moon, and star, you know, so the day and the sun, moon, and stars doesn't correspond to that. So it's not an exact correspondence, but I think there is something to that. Now, as we turn to day four, I will admit that this has been the hardest day for me so far. Not today, but this day we're looking at. Because in one sense, it is pretty straightforward. God made the sun, moon, and stars. We know about our solar system. We've learned about this in school. And it has been hard for me not to turn this sermon into a science lesson. In fact, that goes for a lot of these sermons. Plus, there are not as many exegetical insights into this passage that I can bring out for you as I have in the other previous texts. But nonetheless, I trust that God will bless our study of this subject this morning and we will appreciate God and be able to worship Him better as a result. And I will also have you know that I have tried to research those authors or those institutions that are more respected in Christian circles, because there can be quite a variety of opinion on these things, that at least most of us would deem trustworthy and reliable, or at least worth listening to, like Answers in Genesis or the Institute for Creation Research and places like that. I'm not a scientist or a physicist or an astronomer. And so I hope that if I make any kind of mistakes, that will not hinder you from still being blessed by the attempt at the exegetical work of this text. And so, with all that in mind, let's consider the creation of the sun, moon, and stars on day four together. To begin with, We know that God created light before he created the particular lights we see in the firmament in outer space. Psalm 74, 16 reminds us, you have prepared the light and the sun. The light first, the sun came later. The light on the first day came perhaps from the third heavens, we mentioned that before, perhaps from the glory of God himself, perhaps from the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, who would later call himself the light of the world. and who it says in Revelation that when the sun will be no more, will be the new light of the new heavens and the new earth. So we can see a similarity between the very beginning and the very end of scripture with regard to the light. But in any case, this light did shine upon the earth for the first three days and served to divide the light from the darkness on those days in place of the sun. And many are agreed, and it seems most likely, that that light, that power of light, that source of energy was then transferred on the fourth day to the lights that we now have in the firmament, and in particular, the sun. It was dispersed and solidified in those light bearers. And we don't want to forget the work of the Holy Spirit throughout this whole thing. The Spirit of God's not just hovering over the surface of the waters at the beginning. The Spirit of God is adorning creation. He is the active agent. Job 26.13 says, by His Spirit, He adorned the heavens. But the greatest concentration of light or the focal point of that light was obviously the sun itself for the purpose of Earth's benefit. It was also obviously dispersed to the stars. And as we know, the moon would only reflect that light from the sun. But we do need to realize that Moses is writing and that God is revealing these truths to us from the perspective of Earth for our benefit. It is written in a way that even the most uneducated and unlearned can understand. It's not a science textbook. And so when an atheistic evolutionist comes to Genesis and says, look, it says it's a lesser light, but Moses is so dumb, doesn't he know that the moon doesn't even display light? But see, God is giving us the revelation in a way that we can understand, in a way that people back then could have understood. And I like what Kyle and Delitzsch said in their commentary with regard to this. God himself made no direct revelation to man on this subject and what he means by that, what they mean by that is the specifics of scientific details. Because astronomy and physical science generally neither lead to godliness nor promise peace and salvation to the soul. And God's purpose of Genesis 1 is for his people to bow down before him in worship and adoration. God's given us creation as another book and he encourages us to study it. We're going to look at some of that today. The purpose is the worship of God, not to satisfy our curiosities. Now as we look at the creation of these lights, we remember that they are not the ultimate source of light. As I mentioned when we looked at the creation of light on day one, the word for light in verse three on day one, when God said, let there be light, is different from the word translated lights in Genesis 1.14, when God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens. It's not just that one is singular and the other is plural. They're different words. The word for light itself is or. And that word is not used in reference to the sun, moon, or stars at all in Genesis chapter 1. The word for lights in our text for today is mayor in verse 14, which means light bearer or light giver. Mayor refers to something that can give off light, but that is not the actual source of light. Maor, light-bearer, or even light-holder, is the same word that is used in reference to the light given off from the lampstand in the tabernacle and temple. Numbers 4, 16, for example, mentions the duty of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, to obtain and provide oil for the light. of the golden lampstand, the mayor. And so we realize that the source of light doesn't come from that lampstand. We bring light to it, and as long as we maintain it, it continues. And so just as a candle or a lamp cannot create light in themselves, there needs to be a wick and oil and so forth, so the sun cannot produce light by itself. It is only a lamp, a lamp that God has given to us as a beautiful gift to light the earth. Matthew Henry said this, no man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And what a stately golden candlestick is the firmament of heaven from which these candles give light to all that are in the house, right? The earth is man's home. This is a lamp that gives light to our house. And so God gives us this light. He gives us these lights that we might glorify him by them, that we might work and serve and worship him by the light that he has given to us. I normally don't quote Matthew Henry at length, but I'm gonna quote him one more time here because this is just a great quote. This is what he says about this. They give light upon the earth that we may walk and work according as the duty of every day requires. The lights of heaven do not shine for themselves, nor for the world of spirits above, who need them not. They shine for us, for our pleasure and advantage. How ungrateful and inexcusable then are we, if when God has set up these lights for us to work by, we sleep or play or trifle away the time of business and neglect the great work we were sent into the world about. The lights of heaven were made to serve us, and they do it faithfully, and shine in their season without fail. But we are set as lights in this world to serve God. And do we in like manner answer the end of our creation? No, we do not. Our light does not shine before God as his lights shine before us." And then he says this, we burn our master's candles. but do not mind our master's work. We burn our master's candles, but do not mind our master's work. So the sun and the moon and the stars are temporary lamps, even as the golden lampstand and the tabernacle and temple were only temporary. And so God made the greater light, the sun, to rule the day, and the lesser light, the moon, to rule the night, and to take the place of the light from day one temporarily, until Christ returns again, and he once again will be that true light. As it says in Revelation 21, 23, the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The lamb is its light. Now it's worth pointing out here that the Hebrew word for create, bara, which we see in Genesis 1, verse 1, is not used here. In fact, that word create, it's only ever used of God in that particular Hebrew form when God is doing something brand new. And so that word create is only used at the very beginning of Genesis 1, when God creates the heavens and the earth, right? And then when we get down to the creation of animals, it's used again. And then when it comes to the creation of mankind, it's used again. He's doing something brand new. But all throughout the other days, he's not using the word create, bara. He's using the word made, asah. It can also be translated as fashion or work on. So God made and fashioned and worked on these two great lights. And thus many are agreed that God was not creating anything entirely new on day four when God said that let there be lights. It wasn't something brand new when he created the luminaries. Rather, God was taking the pre-existing material, the pre-existing elements from the watery mass And in particular, hydrogen and helium predominantly, which make up almost 90% of the sun, and using them as a wick, as it were, to set the sun on fire with his glory. You can just think, too, about how God did this at the tabernacle and the temple, when there was the first giving of the fire on the altar, when the tabernacle was first built, when the temple was first built, right? Then God sent down fire and lit that altar on fire, and then the priests were to use the coals from that fire to burn the incense. They were to keep that fire going. And here we can think about the sun. We see this combination of hydrogen and helium like a wick, and the glory of God from the third heavens comes forth like a great big fire, and it sets the sun on fire. It's dispersed to all the stars in the universe. But what I want you to realize is that The reasons given for the making of the sun, moon, and stars are basically twofold, and they're obviously closely connected to one another. They were appointed to give light, obviously, but they were also appointed as time markers or indicators. One of the main reasons for the luminaries is in order to set in motion the ordering and identification of days and months and seasons and years. In fact, if anything, the luminaries were given to us first and foremost in order to tell time. First and foremost in order to tell time, and then secondarily to give light. We already have light without the sun, or the moon, or the stars. But the ordering of our solar system, with the sun and moon especially, enables us to have more exact time markers. And God has set up the sun, moon, and stars for that very reason. In fact, if you were to look up something along the lines of time in the Encyclopedia Britannica, the first words you'll read are, celestial bodies provide the basic standards for determining the periods of the calendar. Without those, we would not be able to tell time. We would not have a calendar. There would be no order or structure to our lives. Can you imagine if we had no calendar? If we had no days? That would be chaotic. Notice from our text that this whole idea of telling time is mentioned first. And the light is actually mentioned second. Look at verse 14 again. Then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. And then also let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. Now let's look at these four terms a little more carefully. Signs, seasons, days, and years. The first word is sign. And this is the typical word we find for sign throughout the Old Testament. This is the same word translated as the mark that was put on Cain, whereby everyone knew not to kill him because God had put a mark on him. It's the same word that's used with reference to the sign of the covenant of circumcision. A sign is an identifier. It always points to something greater than itself, and in the Bible, to the one who appointed and gave that sign. And thus, the first thing that the sun and moon and stars are to do is to point us to the Creator. They're a sign of His creation. And this is ironic, because of all that God has created, it is the sun and moon and stars that have been the most worshipped. especially in ancient history. Many, many cultures worshipped the sun and moon. The Egyptians, many cultures had names for them, but the Egyptians had a name for the sun god Ra and the moon god Thoth. And of course, they worshipped many other things in creation and other gods, and each of the ten plagues was a judgment on each of the gods that they worshipped. But before the death of the firstborn, before the last plague, the next to greatest judgment was on the sun god, Ra, when God created a great darkness, right, over that particular part of the land of Egypt where Pharaoh and the Egyptians were, so that they could not see a darkness so great that it could be felt. And God was, in essence, saying, where is your god now, Pharaoh? Where is Ra? Where is your worship of the sun? I wiped it out. And here in our text, did you notice that God doesn't even name the sun and moon. The cultures had names for their sun god and their moon god. But God doesn't even name the greater light and the lesser light. He named other things. He called the land earth and the water he called seas. And he does refer to the stars. But when it comes to the sun and the moon, he just says, oh, that's just the greater light and that's just the lesser light. Just lights in the sky, just little lamps, you see. But the sun and the moon, were meant to point us, of all things in the creation, to the great and awesome God who made them. But man, in his rebellion against God, chose to worship the creature, the creation, rather than the creator. But the sun, moon, and stars as signs were indicators of things. Just as we look at signs or read signs in order to understand certain things, the stars, of course, have been abused and misused by astrologers and diviners and soothsayers who've tried to determine things, including the future, by the stars. We can think of the 12 zodiac signs that some people live by. This is obviously not what is in view in Genesis 1. But it can be said that before the compass, centuries before the compass, travelers and sailors used the stars for navigation. And we know that the wise men in the East followed the sign of that one particular star to the place where Jesus was and worshiped him. Matthew 2.2, we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him. But as we will see, in some ways, the word sign here kind of encompasses the whole idea behind the time markers of days and seasons and years. That word just kind of sets us up for the other words, okay? Because they help, they're signs to us about time. How to live life. Seasons, we'll talk about that. Seasons are mentioned next. This, I believe, refers to the seasons of the year as well as to the appointed times of the worship of God's people in Israel. And these two, of course, are related to one another. The word translated season can also be translated as appointed time or appointed feast or can refer to an appointed meeting. The Jewish religious calendar in the Old Testament that God commanded to be kept and observed was largely determined by the time markers which the sun and the moon gave on particular days of the year. God's people were to worship the Lord and bring a sacrifice at the beginning of months. Numbers 28, 11 says this, at the beginnings of your months, you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord. And how are the months determined? But by the moon, by the moon's rotation around the earth. In fact, the Hebrew word for month, kodesh, means new moon. Exodus 12.2 says this, this month, kodesh, can be also referred as the new moon, shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Psalm 104 verse 19 says, he appointed the moon for seasons and the sun knows it's going down. The Old Testament Jewish religious calendar is now done away with. But we still use the light of the sun to determine the days of the week. And we have historically used the sun to tell time. Have you children ever heard of the sundial, right? By which we're able to tell time. And we still worship the Lord at appointed times, at appointed seasons, namely the first day of the week. The day that God initially created the heavens and the earth. The day that God said, let there be light. The day that Jesus rose from the dead. This day. And so the luminaries were given to us to help us set up times of worship and set times for work. But then also the location of the sun relative to the earth determines the seasons for us as well. Fall and winter and spring and summer. And the only reason we have seasons or could have those seasons is because the earth is tilted on its axis at 23.5 degrees. A little bit more, a little bit less would throw that all off. If it was not tilted such it is now, we wouldn't have the seasons that we have now. And there would be far greater extremes of temperature that would be unbearable for us. The regular recurrence of the appointed seasons allows for us to determine the seed time and harvest time on a consistent basis. Do you see how God is ordering time and everything that happens within time according to these luminaries, you see? Days are also mentioned in our text. And they hardly need more elaboration since I already spent a whole sermon on this subject. But suffice it to say that the days here referred to could only be literal 24-hour days, since it mentions the lights in the firmament dividing the daytime from the nighttime, thus making a 24-hour cycle of light and darkness, morning and evening. And notice here that it mentions the daytime first and the nighttime second over and over again in this particular section, which is normally how we think of a day. It says he divides the day from the night. He made the greater light than the lesser light. And so, as I've said to you before, throughout each day, when it mentions evening first and then morning, what that's referring to is God's done with His work. Now it's evening time. When morning comes up again, it's 24 hours. But here in this section of text, it mentions the day first and then the night, how we normally think of a day. And if the luminaries simply replace the function of the original light created on day one, which the context clearly teaches, then the days of creation could only be literal 24-hour days. It doesn't make sense to view them any other way. And the more I've studied this, the more I've grown to be impatient, I hope it's not as sinful impatience, with those who try to take a different theory by bringing in man's ideas and mixing them with the text and creating an eisegetical interpretation of the text rather than the text itself dictating to us what it says. The gap theory, the framework hypothesis, the day-age theory, I have no respect for it. None. It's a lie. It's deceitful. It's not the truth of the Word of God. And then finally, verse 14 also mentions years. And we know that the years are calculated by the Earth's rotation around the Sun, it taking 365 days to do so. Or, as some Christians do, if you happen to believe in geocentricity, then the Sun rotating around the Earth. But either way, it is by this rotation that we determine a year. And lo and behold, all the way back in Genesis 5, we see people calculating their age such that we can read that the first man, Adam, lived to be 930 years old and he died. All the way back to the very beginning, they're able to calculate the days and the months and the years. And we know that Adam lived to be 930 years old. It's not something that developed later over time. It's something God revealed to Adam. You see, all of this shows God's wonderful government and consistent rule over creation. It doesn't detract from God's glory, it enhances it. The sun, moon, and stars do not hinder a belief in God who created all things, but rather it establishes it because you see the well-ordered government that God has set up. Notice that it says in verse 16 that the sun and moon were set up to rule the day and the night. God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. This is a word that is applied to magistrates who rule. It can also be translated as govern, or to have dominion. And what a powerful dominion the sun and the moon have. Is there anybody out there who is going to dare to do anything against what the sun desires to do? Is there anybody out there who is going to lasso the moon and change its course or its position? Is there anybody who would dare defy the luminaries and stop time or turn back time? No, God has established this order, this government, this dominion, and it cannot stop and it cannot change. And you can't take one minute back. As badly as you may want to, you can't take one minute back. It's over and gone, and it keeps on going. Can you imagine the sun saying, I don't want to shine today? It obeys God perfectly. But what does that teach about us and how sinful we are? God expects us to be just like that sun. We don't shine for him like the sun shines for us. But more than this, this well-ordered government shows us the faithfulness and the consistency of our God who does not change and who will never break his promises. The luminaries in the sky are a testimony to us, a sign to his people that he will be faithful to keep his promises and his covenant. Listen to what it says in Jeremiah 31, verses 35 and 36. Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who disturbs the sea and its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before me, says the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever. Jeremiah 33 verses 19-22 says this, And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Thus says the Lord, If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that there will not be a day and night in their season, then my covenant may also be broken with David my servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on this throne. and with the Levites, the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David, my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me." You see how God is hearkening back to the covenant relationship that He has established with His people. And He's saying, the sun and moon and stars, I've made a covenant with them. Have you ever seen it broken? Have you ever seen it stop? then you can be assured that my covenant promise to you will not fail. And therefore God could say to Noah after the flood in Genesis 8, 22, while the earth remains sea time and harvests cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night shall not cease. And they never have. It's a testimony. It's a sign of God. It teaches us about God. Now, I want to take just a couple moments, and I want us to consider a little bit more about the things we know about the luminaries, or maybe that we don't know. But I want to talk about the sun, moon, and stars just for a moment. As we all know, the sun is a great big ball of fire in the sky. It's massive. You could fit over a million Earths in the sun. Over a million Earths. The sun is so big that it has 99% of the mass of the solar system. Of all the things that take up mass, the sun takes up over 99% of the mass in our solar system. It is one among many stars, but it is also unique. And it is the only star in our solar system. Though there are other stars in the universe that are bigger and brighter than the sun, our sun is up there, and secular sources didn't say anything about this, but the Christian sources did, that the sun is brighter than 90% of the stars in the galaxy. 90% brighter. One of the unique things about our sun is its amazing stability. Many of the other stars in the universe are not nearly as stable as our sun, and they emit what are called super flares quite often. Now, our sun has emitted flares as well, but they established that our sun is far more stable than many of the stars out there. So God has given us a very stable and reliable sun. The temperature of the sun at its core is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. I mean, is it any wonder that God said to Moses, you can't see me, you can't see my glory and live? God's glory, his power, his fire is greater than the sun. It set it on fire, 27 million degrees. The surface of the sun is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Earth is about 93 million miles away from the sun, and thus only receives a small fraction of the sun's energy. But without the sun's energy, life as we know it could not exist on planet Earth. The sun provides us with light, heat, energy, and it enables plants to produce chemical energy through a photosynthesis, The gravity of the sun holds everything together in our solar system. Isn't that such a wonderful picture of Christ? Christ who holds all things together. It says we'll be like Christ when we're resurrected. Jesus says this amazing thing in Matthew 13, 43. The righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. I won't say as much about the moon, but it is also important. The moon is about one-fourth the size of the earth in width. It's about a quarter of a million miles away from the earth, 250,000. The moon is largely black in reality because a lot of its surface is covered with basalt. The moon appears white at night only because it is reflecting the light of the sun, and the sun is essentially white, not yellow. That is also why clouds are white, because they are scattering the sun's white sunlight. But the moon's gravity affects the entire Earth as well, pulling at the entirety of the planet so that every bit of water in the ocean is affected. The moon's gravity is vital for life on Earth because it cleanses the oceans, keeping the ocean circulated. And thus, it has a far-reaching impact on the life on our planet. Isn't that incredible? God's design? Do you know the ridiculousness of unbelievers and what they say about the moon? They say that a great big asteroid or something hits the earth and then a chunk comes off of it and it becomes the moon. A perfect sphere that rotates around the earth, that affects the waters in our ocean. Can you give me a break? How ridiculous man is when they reject the truth. I was looking at the moon last night as I was thinking and studying about these things on my way home and the moon was coming out and I looked over and I was just like, how is that there? It's incredible. It's incredible, congregation, to think about our universe. Now I'll tell you what's incredible is the stars. The word for star in Hebrew in this text is kokab. It can refer to any small glowing heavenly object. And so I think the word here does include the other planets because they appear as small glowing objects in outer space. But for the most part, the stars mentioned refer to the stars as we think of them. And there's a large variety of them with different colors and temperatures and sizes. And they are all basically giant hot balls of gas. And as I mentioned before, some stars are bigger and brighter than our own sun, although it doesn't seem that way because they are so far away. This is what Jonathan Sarfati said in his excellent book called The Genesis Account. This guy is very solid, very conservative. It's a really good book. Jonathan Sarfati, The Genesis Account. He says this, the most massive and luminous star known has a surface nine times hotter than the sun. Nine times hotter. 265 times more massive. 265 times more massive than our sun. And 8.7 million times brighter. Now what's amazing and incredible about the stars is the vast number of them. When Galileo developed his telescope, and just to give you a reference point, he died in 1642, when he developed his telescope, he could only see about 30,000 stars. That'd be a lot to count. With the powerful telescopes we have today, we know it is utterly impossible to count them all. It is estimated that there are about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone, 100 billion. But in terms of the universe, this is where the statistics are really mind-blowing. This is Sarfati again, he says this. The observable universe is so huge, 46 billion light years radius, as far as what we can see so far or know of, The observable universe is so huge that it is estimated to contain about 10 to the 22nd power of stars. Let me put this in perspective. It's like several hundred billion trillion, whatever it is. So this number, now listen to this, listen to this. This number is so vast that even using a computer that could count a trillion stars every second. If it could count a trillion stars every second, it would take over 300 years to count that high. And what is perhaps even more incredible than that is this little phrase, and he made the stars also. He just made those also. Psalm 147 verse 4 says, he determines the number of the stars and he gives to all of them their names. Another person I read said that to count the stars is exactly like trying to count the grains of sand on the seashore. You know, I used to read Genesis 15 when God's speaking to Abraham and he says, if you can count the stars and the sand on the seashore, I'm thinking, well, there's way more sand in the seashore. No, there isn't. It's incredible. And God says to Abraham, so shall your descendants be. That many? Congregation, I think we have a lot of work to do. I don't think we're even anywhere close to that. I think that Earth could extend hundreds and thousands of years more before we'd have that many believers. This is not professing Christians. It's true believers who'll be resurrected. As many as the sand in the seashore and the stars in the sky. Do you see how creation sets forth the glory of God? Daniel 12 verse 3 says, those who are wise, I think it's referring to believers, shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. See, there's a lesson there. As many as those stars are, we will be and we will shine like them. Congregation, this is utterly incredible. But you know what is also interesting about the stars is they really don't have as vital a role as the sun and the moon do. And the question is, do we really need the stars? You know, as I thought about this, I think that, and others have said this too, I think that the main reason that God created the stars was to show us his glory. To show us who he is. The glory, the power of God. The infinitude of God, the immensity of God. The universe, especially our solar system, works like a well-ordered government. It is incredible. It is not chaotic. It is not a competing and conflicted chaos, but a well-ordered cosmos. Do you want to know how well-ordered our cosmos is? How much of an exact science it is? You can go online, and you can Google when the sunrise will be on any given day in the future, and it will tell you exactly. You know when the sun rose this morning? It was at 6.44 a.m. And you know if you Google when the sunrise will be one year from now in 2026? It'll be at 6.44 a.m. And you know if you Google 100 years from now, in the year 2125, on August 31st, when will the sun rise at 6.44? And you can pick any day of the year and it will tell you. And you see, this is something that the unbelieving atheist cannot account for. This is what Christian apologists who are defending the faith call an argument regarding the uniformity of nature, right? When you argue with those who are unbelievers and you get into their worldview and you get to see that they are depending upon the Christian view, they're depending on the Bible for the basis of their arguments. You see, the unbeliever will assume that the sun will rise tomorrow, but they have no reason for that basis. And you say to them, you're borrowing from my worldview. You're borrowing from the Bible. I know the sun will rise. You don't, because you don't believe in God, you see. And I would remind you that we are in the only location of this vast universe that can sustain life. Scientists call this the Goldilocks zone, because everything is just right. You remember that, children? The story of Goldilocks and the three bears, right? And the papa bear's porridge is too hot, and the mama bear's porridge is too cold. And then the little baby bear, or girl bear, whatever bear, the little bear, porridge is just right. And then he goes to the chairs and the beds. Well, they say, we're in the Goldilocks zone because it's just right. The planets next to us, they can't sustain life, and they never will. And people want to find so badly life in other places of the universe, life on other planets. But they never will. They never will. But you don't need to look. You don't need to look for that if you know God. If you will simply believe in the God who created it all, if you will believe in the God of the scriptures, acknowledge Him and bow down to Him and serve Him and worship Him. From the created universe, it's clear, crystal clear, that God created it all. The problem with man is not ignorance, it's rebellion against God. As we read earlier in Romans 1.20, we're almost done, we're getting close, pay attention. Romans 1.20, think about this verse in light of all that we just learned. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen. Oh, they're so clearly seen. being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and deity, so that they are without excuse. It's not that they can't see the truth. It's that they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Isaac Newton said this, This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being. Johannes Kepler said this, the undevout astronomer is mad. The undevout astronomer is mad. There's an article I read by a guy named Jason Lyle from the Institute for Creation Research. He talks about the Voyager 1 spacecraft. This is what he says. When the Voyager 1 spacecraft, this was something that didn't have people on or anything like that. When the Voyager 1 spacecraft reached the edge of our solar system in 1990, it turned its camera around and photographed Earth. From such a tremendous distance, the earth appears as a tiny bluish-white grain of sand lost in an ocean of blackness. This famous image of earth is named the Pale Blue Dot. The creation is meant to help us to see how big God is and how small and insignificant we are. You know, I've quoted from a lot of Christians, but I'm going to quote from an atheist here who you guys probably have all heard about, a physicist named Stephen Hawking. It's amazing what he says in this statement that is so true and yet so false at the same time. This is what he says. This is a person who studied these things. This is what he says, Stephen Hawking. He's dead now. We are such insignificant creatures on a minor planet of a very average star in the outer suburb of one of a hundred billion galaxies. So it is difficult to believe in a God that would care about us or even notice our existence. That's a man who knows what he's talking about, but it's so sad because he doesn't know God. Is this what the psalmist says in Psalm 8? When I consider your heavens and the work of your fingers and the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man? What is man? That you are mindful of him or the son of man that you visit him. And you know, congregation, the only reason why you and I believe in this God, it's not because of the sun or the moon or the stars. It's because God had mercy on us to see what nobody can see unless God opens their eyes. On us puny, insignificant creatures, and yet what is so incredible is that God became one of those creatures. He became like us. He took upon him human flesh so that he could be a speck of dust on a speck of a planet in the entire universe. The infinite and eternal Son of God took upon him flesh and became a man for our salvation. Congregation, We're nothing. We're nothing compared to God, and we're nothing without God. But if anything, this whole passage, what it teaches us is that God created time, and our time is so short. There are some theologians that say, like, you know, there's still time before creation and time after. See, even good theologians, they're dead wrong. There's no time before creation, and there's no time after Christ returns. In James 4, 14, we're reminded our life is but a vapor that continues a little while, and then it vanishes away. In congregation, I don't know that there is anything, any commodity that we can think of that's so as valuable as time. Because once time happens, you can't go back, and you can't change it. And you only have a small window of time. Jonathan Edwards said this, time is so short and the work is so great that we have to do in it that we have none of it to spare. The work that we have to do to prepare for eternity must be done in time or it can never be done at all. Congregation, this is the time to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in him and to live for him because our time is like that. The sun, the moon, the stars, they just keep going. And it will not change until Christ returns again. And then there will be the end of time. So congregation, let us live in worship and adoration of this God who has created all these things, who has ordered and structured time, and has given us time to believe in him. and to live for Him. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Word that You brought to us this morning. Oh, we just stand in awe of who You are, of Your greatness and of Your glory and of Your mercy upon us. Oh, thank You. Thank You that not only have You shown to us the sun and the moon and the stars, but You've shown us the Son of Righteousness who has healing in His wings that we may come to Him and be forgiven and saved and be with Him forever and shine like the stars forever and ever. O Lord, if there are any in this place who have not believed and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray, Lord, that You would cause them to bend the knee to Jesus this day, to submit themselves to the rule and government that you have ordained, to submit themselves to Christ, to believe in Him and to live for Him forevermore, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.