If you have a Bible, I believe there's some in the pew in front of you. If you don't, please turn to Isaiah chapter 40. It's good to be with you this morning. We came up yesterday. I have an old roommate from college, friend who lives in Boone. They just recently moved there, so we got to see their house for the first time. And we've run into them a couple of times in the past year. And Sophie, our two and a half year old girl, is starting to get to know them. So she was really excited to get to see Mr. Dan and Miss Mindy and their dogs and their house. But we had a great drive up yesterday. It was great to come, be able to spend some time with friends, and then come here this morning and spend some time with you. We're excited to be here. We're excited to be back in North Carolina. Trish and I met in Charlotte and got married in Charlotte, and then we were exiled to South Carolina for three years, all the way out at the beach, which is nice for like a week at a time, but living in a place where everyone else is on vacation is a little bit weird. So we are very happy to be back in North Carolina, back in the mountains, back in the RUF world. It's good to be with you guys this morning. We're looking at Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah is an interesting book because it's almost like it can't figure out what it wants to be, if it wants to be comforting or if it wants to be warning. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are very bleak. Things in Israel are not good. They have problems within. They have very poor leadership. They have spiritual idolatry all over the place. The poor are not taken care of. Worship is rote when it even happens and idolatrous when it doesn't. Isaiah is kind of, they're withering from the inside. Or Israel is, in the first 39 chapters of the book. And there are problems outside as well. The nations of Assyria has its sights set on Israel. Babylon is kind of the new kid on the block. They're not yet a world power, but they're about to be and they already don't like Israel. So there's these internal problems and these external problems that are facing Israel and God, through the prophet Isaiah in the first 39 chapters of the book, says these two things are related. Your circumstances, your... Your threats from outside, your crop problems, whatever it is, they're related to your spiritual decay from within. This is what God had promised them in Deuteronomy when he gives them the blessings of life in the covenant and the curses of disobedience to the covenant. And all the problems that they're facing are these curses for disobedience And so Isaiah 1 through 39 is just chapter after chapter of destruction is coming, exile is coming, famine is coming, more destruction is coming, and it just really starts to wear on the reader, and I would imagine wear on Isaiah. as well. The very end of chapter 39 is this account of Hezekiah getting the news that his children will live out their days in exile. That the Assyrians are going to come, they're going to defeat Israel, and they're going to take Hezekiah's children into exile. And Hezekiah says, well at least it's not me. at least I'll live out my days at home and in peace." This is where Israel is. Their leadership is so bad that Hezekiah can get news like, hey, your kids are going to be prisoners for the rest of their lives. He's like, well, tough to be them. That's where Israel is. And so in Isaiah chapter 40, we have a total 180. Isaiah just starts going the other way and he opens up the second half of the book with the words, comfort, comfort. And you think back on the 39 chapters that you just read of messages of destruction and exile and doom and warning, and you think, where does Isaiah get comfort from? And as you read and start reading Isaiah 40, there's this famous passage about a voice crying in the wilderness. There's a famous passage about the Word of God standing forever. God makes a great promise to Israel, starting in verse 9 of chapter 40. Isaiah says, Go up on to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young. So God gives this great promise right off the bat. He says, the Lord God Himself is coming. Israel, you've got these problems inside, you've got these problems outside. God Himself is going to come deal with them. He will bring His recompense, His justice and retribution with Him against all the injustices of the nations outside and of inside. And he will come as a shepherd, tending his flock, dealing with their heart issues. So there's this promise that God is going to deal with the issues facing Israel. But we'd understand if Israel were skeptical. Because even though these are really big promises, the problems facing Israel are really big as well. And so Israel is skeptical about God's ability to even do this. And what Isaiah does in the rest of the chapter is he peels back the curtain a little bit and he reminds Israel of who their God is. and tells them, if this is your God, He's able to keep His promises. Because your God is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, because He's all-sovereign over heaven and earth, because He's all-glorious over creation, you can trust in God. That's the message that Isaiah will give to Israel and that's the message for us as well because we face issues internal and external as well, right? We know the culture that continues to drift away from Christianity and Judeo-Christian ethics. We know the pressures that that culture exerts on us to conform or be marginalized. But at the same time, we know our own sin. We know the corruption that remains in our hearts and how easy it is for us to get angry and for us to get frustrated. and for us to lie, how quick we can get tempted and turned off course. We have problems, internal and external, and yet God has made great promises to us. He says, I will never leave you or forsake you. He says, no one can snatch you out of my hand. He says, I began a good work in you and I will complete it. These are really big promises because I know how far God has to go with me to get me to that completion point. That's a big promise. How is God able to keep this promise? We ask the same question as Israel did, where our circumstances are different, but we look at the promises of God and say, that sounds really good. Help me trust you. Help me have confidence that this is going to come to pass. And Isaiah, to both Israel and to us, will show us that because our God is the Creator of heaven and earth, we can trust in Him. So follow along with me as I read Isaiah 40, verses 9 through the end of the chapter. Or verses 12, sorry. We already did 9. Starting in verse 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, and closed the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, for what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult? Who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket. and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him. They are counted by him as less than nothing in emptiness. To whom then will you liken God? For what likeness compare with him? An idol? A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains? He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth. and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these, he who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might. Because he is strong in power, not one is missing. So why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God. the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for speaking to us and revealing yourself to us and in this passage for reminding us of who our God is. We pray, Father, that you would help us see all that you have for us in this passage and seeing that you would help us to believe and to trust and to rest in your promises. Do this, we pray, for we ask it in Christ's name. So again, this morning Isaiah is showing Israel and he's showing us that because our God is the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, we can put our trust in Him. And he shows us this in three different ways. He shows us that God is all-powerful over creation, that He's all-sovereign over creation, and that He's all-glorious over creation. So we're going to talk about God's power over creation, His rule over creation, and His glory over creation. First, God's power over creation. Look at verse 12. Isaiah asks, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span and closed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? In this verse, Isaiah is using a lot of different metaphors and shorthand. He says, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? The waters there is short for the waters of the entire world. So all the water that is currently in Houston and the water that's gotten dumped everywhere else, and the water off the coast of Myrtle Beach where your pastor is, and in the Tychocee River that's right next to where we live now, and the new river which we drove past yesterday, all the oceans, all the rivers, all the waters of the whole world, and Isaiah says, who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand? For God, all of that water fits right here. Imagine how immense our God is, how much power he has over creation, that the waters of the whole world fit right here. And Isaiah goes on and marks off the heavens with a span. A span is a unit of measurement between your thumb and your pinky finger, so this far. And the picture that Isaiah gives us is of God saying, alright, I'm going to create everything, how big should I make this? That seems right for all of existence. the immensity of our God to measure the waters in the hollow of his hand and mark off the heavens with a span. And he keeps piling it on. He measures dust together. I mean, have you ever tried to gather up dust, much less to weigh it? And God measures the dust of the whole earth and mountains in a scale as if they're nothing. The power of our God over creation. And look at his wisdom in verses 13 and 14. who has measured the spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult? Who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?" The force of Isaiah's rhetorical question here is, well, nobody. Nobody had to tell God how to do his job. God didn't have to consult with anyone to get understanding, to figure out what wisdom was, or how justice is supposed to work. God didn't have to consult with anyone, and no one gets to tell God how to do his job. This passage is very much like God's questioning of Job at the end of the book. He's got these tragedies that happen at the beginning, and he's got this interaction with his friends where he gets some decent advice and some terrible advice, and there's this back and forth. And at the end, Job finally comes to a point where he's ready to talk to God. He says, OK, God, why? What gives? Why did you do this to me? And God says to Job, actually says in the ESV, gird up your loins like a man, which in a modern translation might be put on your big boy pants and come outside. It's time to have a talk. And God brings Job outside and says, Job, where were you when I made heaven and earth? When I told the ocean that you get to come this far, but that's where you have to stop. Job, where were you when I created the beasts of the field and the birds of the air? Do you provide for them and sustain them? And the force of God's questioning of Job is to say, Job, you don't get to ask. The only reason you can ask me a question is because I made you. The only reason you can be frustrated with you is because I am your creator. Trust me. That's what Isaiah reminds us of here. The only reason we ever get to question God and say, God, are you sure you can pull through on this promise that you made? The only reason we can ask a question like that is because we were made by God. We can trust in Him. We see the power of our God over creation and His wisdom over creation in 12 through 14, but when we flip towards the end of the passage, in verse 26, we see something else. Isaiah invites us, he says, lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing." We understand this verse a lot more if we realize it happens at night time. So Isaiah says, okay, you desert dwellers where it's pretty dry, there usually aren't clouds, it's 2,000 years ago plus, so there's no light pollution. If you're at night in the desert and you look up, what do you see? Stars. Isaiah invites us to look up at the night sky, lift up your eyes on high, and see who created all these stars. We know the answer, right? God did. But that's not specifically what Isaiah says here. He doesn't give a name. He doesn't give a title. He gives a description of care. Who created all these stars? The same person who night after night star by star brings them out. He doesn't forget one of them. Our God who is powerful over creation, powerful in His immensity and powerful in His wisdom, is also intimately involved with creation. There's some philosophies that say, yes, there's a God that created everything, that started the world spinning, but He got everything going, wiped His hands and said, OK, it's up to you guys to figure out what to do with this. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that, yes, there's a God that created everything, but that God has not left us. He's not gone. He is present with us. He cares about us and about His creation. We have this picture that Isaiah gives us of a God who is all-powerful and ever-present. Which are you quicker to forget? When you're tempted, when you're struggling, when you're suffering, when doubt and uncertainty, temptation and sin start to weigh on you, which are you quicker to forget? That your God knows your situation? That your God is involved and cares about you? Are you quicker to forget the closeness of God, the intimacy of God in our world? Or are you quicker to forget that God can actually do something about your situation because He made everything? We tend to go one way or the other. Yes, there's an all-powerful God out there, but He must not notice me or care about me. Or we say, yes, there's a God who knows and notices and cares about me, but if only He could do something for me. Isaiah here gives us both. He gives us a God that is all-powerful and all-loving and all-caring. He knows what you need and He's able to give it to you. He is able to keep His promises. We would say that's enough, right? That Isaiah is showing us God's power over creation would be enough for us to think that, okay, He can keep His promises. But Isaiah wants us to see more. He wants us to see God's rule over creation, His sovereignty over creation. Look at verses 15 through 17. Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Again, the nations in this passage, and the Old Testament in general, we think about differently than Israel did. Because Israel is weak, Israel is marginalized, they're not that technologically advanced. Yeah, they've got Yahweh, but that's all they have going for them. Israel and everything else is behind the curve. And so the nations are a big deal for Israel. The nations are a source of threat. They're a source of fear. They're a source of anxiety. For us in America, the nations aren't that big of a deal, right? In the last couple years, there were 39 aircraft carriers in the world. 19 of them belong to us. The nations are not a big deal to us. But for Israel, the nations, this constant source of trouble, this lingering potential threat for God, are like a drop from a bucket. So again, Isaiah calls us to picture God walking along, carrying a bucket of water, and one little drop sloshes out. What do you do if you're walking along carrying a bucket of water and a drop sloshes out? Do you go back to the spigot for one more drop? No, because you have a whole bucket. Who cares about one little drop of water? Isaiah says, Israel, don't forget who your God is. Your God is the one who's in charge of the nation. So all those people that you fear, They can't do anything against you because God is in charge of them. And there's nothing that those nations can do to turn God against Israel. He goes on, Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are counted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. So the way religion worked in the pagan world, and still some people think it works today, is there's a God that you need to appease or that you need something from. So if I want the God of the harvest to bless me, then I need to make a sacrifice to that God. That then puts the God in my debt, and I do that at planting time and then come harvest, I'm guaranteed a good crop. It's not right, but that's the conception of how religion works. You made a sacrifice, that puts some God in your debt, and then that God was required to bless you. And so Isaiah says, okay, let's do a thought experiment. Because the bigger the sacrifice, the bigger the debt, the bigger the blessing. So Isaiah says, let's do an experiment. Let's assume that that was actually correct. Lebanon, an area renowned for its timbers, for its cedar forest. So in the Bible, when Solomon is building his temple, he gets timber from Lebanon, because that's what they're known for. When he's complimenting his young bride, he says, sweetheart, your fragrance is that of Lebanon. You smell like mulch, for lack of a better word. So this area renowned for its timber, renowned for its huge trees, and just really great industry there, Isaiah says, cut them all down. Cut down all of those trees, and we'll build an altar with them. We'll construct a giant altar, and we'll take all the animals that used to live in those forests, and that will be the burnt offering on top of it. So this great sacrifice, what does Isaiah say about it? It's nothing before Him. It's less than nothing in emptiness. Isaiah tells Israel, there is nothing that your enemies can do to turn your God against you. We need to hear this today. There is nothing that your enemies can do to turn your God against you. Your God is faithful. Your God is the one who's really in charge. There is nothing that Satan, that enemies of the church, that culture, that communities who would see the church torn down, nothing that they can do to turn your God against you. Because he's the sovereign, he's the king over all creation. And again, we would say, Isaiah, that's enough. You make a pretty good case. Our God's all-powerful overcreation, and He's all-sovereign overcreation. Great. He can take care of me. He can keep His promises. But Isaiah wants us to see more. He wants us never to forget who our God is and never to lose faith in His promises. So Isaiah shows us, finally, that God is all-glorious overcreation. Look at verses 18 through 20. To whom will you liken God? Or what likeness compare with Him? An idol? A craftsman casts it and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Isaiah, at this point in their history, and really at any point in their history, is idolatrous. They will worship anything. If it moves, if it doesn't move, if somebody else worships it, if nobody else has thought to worship it yet, Israel will worship it. Israel is extremely idolatrous, and Isaiah here calls them out on this. But I think that the way that he does it is... I love the way he does it because I understand it because I have a two-and-a-half-year-old. Which means that I get about 57 presents or art projects a week. The most recent one was yesterday. We cut down some trees at our property, and I'd spent all morning chopping them up, sectioning them off, and stacking them to dry. And so I'm at home. I'm sweaty. I'm covered in sawdust and wood clippings. And Trish and Sophie get back from the farmer's market, and Sophie hops out of the car with a paper bag and says, Daddy, I brought you a present. I'm like, sweet. I could really use a donut right now. And she brings it to me and, like, this is not a joke, it's literally a bag of rocks. Like, not even cool, interesting rocks that she got from the river, like gravel from a parking lot. She's like, I got this for you, Daddy. And I looked at her and I said, that's so sweet. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And I get art projects that I love because she's my daughter and I love her. But objectively, like one purple line through Moana does not the Mona Lisa make. But every time she gives me one, it's, sweetie, it's beautiful. Thank you so much. You worked really hard on this. And that's what Isaiah says to these people. You're making an idol. It's shiny. You worked so hard on that. Look, a goldsmith overlaid it with gold and it's got silver, you know, glittery tinsel-y chains on it. It's very pretty. Then it's as if he steps aside to somebody else and says, shouldn't that thing move? Shouldn't an idol that you spend so much time on, you put so much of your hope in, that you give so much anxiety to, that you fear, shouldn't it at least be able to move? Other places Isaiah says that it can't move, it can't see, it can't speak, it can't hear. So we have this nation that is given to putting their hopes and their fears on inanimate objects. And we look at them, we hear stories of Israel's idolatry throughout the Old Testament, and we're like, what a bunch of dummies. Why do they think this is a good idea when they've got the temple, when they saw the glory cloud come down, when some of them remember God parting the Red Sea, and then two weeks later they're worshipping a golden calf? We do the same thing. We're a little bit more subtle about it, but we still create idols. We may not worship the sun itself, but that life of health and leisure that the sun represents, we worship that. I originally preached this sermon on Hilton Head, and before I did, I did a quick Google search. There are six tanning salons on Hilton Head Island. And Hilton Head is an island. It gets lots of sun, and people go and lay out on the beach and by the pool and are playing tennis and golf all the time. You don't need a tanning salon on Hilton Head Island, but we're obsessed with that kind of health and that glow that a life of leisure in the sun provides. We probably don't worship a goddess of fertility, but we do have a cultural idol of youth, of novelty, I mean, if you were to invite me to your house this afternoon for lunch and I were to make my way into your master bathroom and peek into your medicine cabinet, I don't do this, by the way. Like, when I go to people's houses, I don't look at their medicine cabinet. But if I were, would I find projects that promise to stop or even reduce the course of aging? To change the color of your hair? Or at least take out the gray in it? Jillian Welch sings, there's got to be a song left to sing. Everybody can't have thought of everything. 21 Pilots say, I wish I found some chords in an order that is new. I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang. Our exercise routines, our diets, our obsessions with Atkins or Paleo or Whole30 or whatever it is these days. CrossFit, 14 day fix, 30 day fix, some day fix. We are obsessed with youth and I struggle with it as well. I'm preaching on this book that's Isaiah that's about 2700 years old. I so desperately want to say something original I want you to be able to say, oh, that's a new thought. No one has ever said that before. Guys, it's 2,500 plus years old, and Calvin preached through it. I'm not going to say anything new about it, but I so desperately want to be new and novel and come up with some insight that nobody has ever had before. We worship youth and fertility. We may not worship a God of the harvest per se, but so many of us, so many of our children, so many of our family members face a constant temptation to sacrifice witness, to sacrifice our marriage, to sacrifice our family on the altar of a better job or bigger paycheck. See, we're not immune to idolatry. We're just more subtle in the way we go about it. But Isaiah here peels back the futility of that, and he shows us what we're really doing, and he says, this thing that you're giving yourself to, this youth that you're seeking after, this life of health and leisure, it can't move. And that means it can't help you. So stop serving it, because it can't do anything for you. It can't move. And that means it can't hurt you. So stop being afraid of it, because it can't do anything against you. And if something can't help you and can't hurt you, why on earth would you serve it? That's what Isaiah does. He doesn't come straight out and say, look, this idolatry you're doing is wrong. He says it's foolish. He says it's just a waste of time. So why keep doing it? We are able to worship the Creator. Instead, we choose to worship the creation. Isaiah says it's a waste of time. Worship God instead. Isaiah calls Israel to behold your God, and he unpacks for them this God of creation, his power, his rule, and his glory. And then at the very end, he brings it home to them. So he showed them all these things about God, and in verse 27, he turns to the people. He says, Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God? These are questions that we all ask in times of temptation, in times of suffering, and in times of struggle. God, don't you see me? Don't you notice me? Don't you see what's happening? Why haven't you given me what I need or what I deserve? And Isaiah says, verse 28, haven't you been paying attention? Don't you know? Haven't you heard? This is your God. The ruler of heaven and earth. He's all powerful over it. He's in control over it, and He is the most glorious thing in it. He doesn't faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Unlike idols that don't move, verse 29, He gives power to the faint. To him who has no might, He increases strength. And it's not just a get-through-the-day strength. It's not a you go out, you do your work, you come home and collapse on your bed because you have nothing left. It's running and not growing weary. It's walking and not fainting. It's this picture of soaring like an eagle. It's a perpetual, super abundant strength that our God gives us, in contrast to idols that can't give us a thing. Isaiah looks at Israel and says, don't forget who your God is. And brothers and sisters, we have it better because we have the example of Christ. the Creator Himself who took on created flesh and entered the created world. And as our Lord in His ministry on earth, He showed Himself to be all these things. He showed Himself to be powerful over creation and His miracles, instilling the storm and walking on water and multiplying food and bread. He showed himself that he was the one who's truly in charge of creation. He told Pilate, my kingdom is not of this world. He said, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's with the implication and to me what is mine. And unlike idols that only demand our life, Christ provides for his people by giving his own life. He did all that in his ministry on earth and he still does all that ruling in heaven, seated in heaven. He notices and cares for us and intercedes for us before the Father Himself. He rules over creation, restraining the evil one, protecting His church, preserving His church until the full number of the elect are brought in. And He continues to provide for us. Again, something that idols can never do, Christ continues to do. He provides for us through His Spirit, through communal bread and wine, through baptismal washing, through the communion of saints, through his word, through fellowship. This is our God. This is the one who says to us, I will never leave you or forsake you. This is the one who says to us, no one can snatch you out of my hand. This is the one who says to us, I started a good work in you, and I will complete it. Behold your God. Trust in Him and rest in His promises. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, not only that You have made these promises to us, but that You are a God who can keep them. You are a God who delights to keep His promises to His people. We pray, Fathers, that as we have looked at Your power over creation, Your rule over creation, and Your glory over creation, that you would help us to see you, to truly see you, to see Christ doing all of those things as well, and seeing Him to trust, trusting to rest, especially today in the promises that you make to us, the promises that one day we will live with you forever. Do this, we pray, for we ask it in Christ's name.