One more thing I would say before we look at our Bible passage together this morning, and I think this is important to understand, is that we're not meeting together today out of fear. but rather we're not meeting together out of love for our neighbor. And I would encourage you to think of, we have all these instructions on social distancing at this time, but think of those things as a form of love as you seek to preserve the health and life of those around you. Sometimes, and I've seen this with some pastors even, there's a kind of bravado that says, I don't care the health consequences or the health risks, we're going to meet together no matter what. And I understand that and I feel that myself in many ways. But there is also the need to consider love to our neighbor as we think about this. And so think of love guiding us as we don't meet together right now. And it's not fear. It's not out of fear. During the Reformation, the plague would sometimes bring waves of death through Europe. And in Calvin's Geneva in the 1540s, there would be waves of plague that would go through Geneva. And they, at one point, had to establish a plague hospital on the outskirts of town. And that left the pastors in Geneva dealing with the question, how do we minister to the spiritual needs of these people that are in the plague hospital on the outskirts of a city? and they engaged in debate about who might visit and provide care for the victims of the plague. In 1542, a minister named Pierre Blanchet, who was praised by his contemporaries for having a big heart, he volunteered to go to the plague hospital to serve these sick people and console them with God's word. John Calvin, in a letter at this time, wrote to one of his friends and he said that if anything happens to Pierre Blanchett, Calvin said, I might myself need to go. And he said, because we are debtors to one another. And you hear a sense of doing this out of love for our neighbor and going to the plague hospital that Calvin exhibited. Calvin admitted he feared infection. But to him, duty triumphed fear. Pierre Blanchet went to the plague hospital, and this would be 1542, and then it returned in 1543. He went back, and he ministered to these victims, and he himself contracted the plague, and he died. When he died, this precipitated a crisis among the other pastors in Geneva over the question, who's going to go next? He volunteered. No one else wanted to volunteer. And Calvin was forbidden from going to the hospital by the city magistrates because they felt he was too important to the cause of the Reformation. So after a week of debating who might go, The pastors ended up drawing lots to determine who would go. The men who were chosen, they refused to go when their names were called. They said God had not given them the grace of strength and constancy needed to go to the plague hospital. And then finally, a young minister volunteered. His name was Matthew DeGinniston, and he visited the sick. And he soon contracted the disease and he died. Now I share all this because this was a low point for Geneva's pastors during the Reformation because for so many of them, fear triumphed over their duty and calling to serve the people in their parishes and to love their neighbor. And I would say that we certainly hope to avoid that low point among ourselves. We're not facing the plague, of course, but we are facing a real pandemic and we are being asked to make significant sacrifices. And we are all of us, I think, facing uncertainty about the future, uncertainty about work, uncertainty about the economy. I feel uncertainty about going to the grocery store, something as simple as that. You go to the grocery store and where have all the eggs gone? I went last night and there were no eggs and people were yelling to each other about the eggs from across the, it was a weird thing, a weird experience. Probably the most significant moment of fear that I've had was Wednesday night I was driving home from the church, It was fairly late, it was maybe after 10 o'clock and the sheets down our street was closed down and taped off entirely by yellow caution tape. And I saw that and it struck me, this isn't normal. This isn't normal. And all of these thoughts started to rush through my head. If they're closing sheets down, maybe they're closing everything else down. Is there no gas to buy anymore? Do we have enough food in our house? And I experienced a fear for a few moments that evening. And well, Sheets was open the next day. I don't know why they closed it down. That was just a strange thing to see it all taped up. And I simply want to fear is in many ways understandable as we face these days. But I would encourage us as Christians that we don't operate out of fear. we operate out of a position of trust in the Lord and a calling to love our neighbor. We don't social distance out of fear, but of love to our neighbor. We don't face tomorrow out of fear, but we face tomorrow with the confidence that God is sovereign and God is good. We don't hoard toilet paper out of fear, We act responsibly, taking what we need, knowing that it is God ultimately who provides. Well, those are just some introductory comments, which typically I won't take that kind of time when we meet on Sunday mornings to do that, but at least for this morning, because of the unusual circumstances, I thought I would say a few things. Let me pray and we'll spend a few moments looking at this Bible passage from the book of Job. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we are grateful that we can call to you in a time of need such as this. We pray that in the midst of such fear and anxiety and uncertainty in this world, we pray that you would make yourself known. We pray that you would be a rock for us as we see so many of the institutions on which we rely in this world shaken. We pray that we would remember that you are never shaken. You are never moved. You are always trustworthy. You are all powerful. And we understand that even in the midst of everything that is happening now, you are absolutely in control, even of the tiniest microbes and viruses that affect us. We pray that you would be glorified in these days. We pray that many who do not yet know you as their Savior and Lord would perhaps be prompted to seek out you for salvation, you for a firm hope without which they have no other hope. We pray that you would use this present crisis to lead many to your self. We pray that hearts that have up until now been hard and rebellious, that they would be changed. We pray that hearts that have up until now been anxious and full of worry, that they also would be changed and find rest and peace in you and in you alone. We pray for wisdom for our government officials making decisions that affect everyone in drastic ways in these moments. Give them wisdom and insight in how best to care for those under their authority. And we pray that their decisions would be ultimately for the good and health of our communities. We pray for protection for all from this virus. We pray especially for those who are made most vulnerable by their age or by other physical health infirmities that they're facing. And we certainly pray for the health care workers, many of whom are in our church who go to the hospitals and care facilities every day in the face of the threats of this virus. And we pray that you would continue to protect them and enable them to care for those in need. We pray for our church. We pray for the leaders of our church. We pray that the deacons and elders would be faithful to the Lord as we seek to make decisions and provide care for our members in such a difficult time. We pray for those who are isolated and facing loneliness and fear that they would find fellowship and even joy in Christ We pray for our children, the children of our church, facing boredom, confinement at home. We pray that as they face these things, they would find the ability to find joy in Christ and perhaps connect in appropriate ways with friends, perhaps the internet, whatever ways. We pray simply for your care and provision for the children of our church during this time. We pray for wisdom and perseverance for parents who are caring for children in these moments, or for children caring for aged parents. And we pray that during the time of caring for other people in hardship, you would provide for those who are doing the caring and encourage them. We pray for our church body, pray that we would be a faithful witness to Christ in these days. We pray for opportunities to share Christ with those with whom we are in touch with and come in contact with in whatever ways. And we pray that we would continue to search out and find ways to love our neighbors and to proclaim the gospel and to serve those in need around us. We pray all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Okay. Well, let's look at Job 11, verses 7 through 9. And I thank you for putting up with me as I deal with the awkwardness of basically sitting here talking by myself. I'm in my home study. My family is downstairs because we were worried about too much commotion with the microphone here and our computer. They're downstairs watching over the internet right now. And maybe we'll bring them up to say hi if any of them want to come up at the end. Maybe they won't. But let's look at Job chapter 11 verses 7, 8, and 9. And this is a passage about the limitless nature of our God. It says this, can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. As long as we're not able to meet in worship, I'm planning on a series of Sunday morning devotions on the attributes of God. I'm going to be brief this morning because I took a bit of time with our introductory comments at the beginning here, but my aim in the weeks ahead is to turn our attention for at least a few moments away from ourselves and away from this present moment, away from the troubles and trials we're facing and toward the splendor and grandeur of God. If we are really going to live these days without fear, then we need some significant, we need to know some significant weighty things about who God is. And this morning, our lesson is this. God is infinite. God is infinite. He is unbounded, unlimited, unrestricted. And we see this in our passage in Job. These comments that I read come actually from Job's buddy, Zophar. And the thrust of Zophar's argument to Job is wrongheaded. Zophar is trying to convince Job that he's suffering because he deserves it, because he's guilty of some great sin. Zophar is not thinking rightly in his broader argument with Job. But nonetheless, what Zophar says of the Lord in these particular verses is absolutely true. We cannot find out the limits of the Almighty because He's without limits. The deep things of God really are higher than the heaven, deeper than Sheol, longer than the earth, and broader than the sea, as Zophar says. There's no Hebrew word equivalent to infinite. But that is exactly what Zophar is illustrating in our passage here in Job 11. He's saying you cannot possibly measure God. There's nothing bigger than God. There's no one greater than God. end to His beauty and glory. There's no end to His wisdom. His goodness is immeasurable. His holiness exceeds all limits. Even His love, as the Apostle Paul makes abundantly clear in Ephesians 3, surpasses human knowledge. There are no limits or boundaries or restrictions to God's perfections. As Zophar says, we cannot find out the limit of the Almighty. God is infinite. Now, when we use the word infinite, we tend to think bigger, just really, really, really big, like the ocean, and it seems to go on forever. So we might compare God to the ocean, and we might think God being infinite is just way bigger than the ocean, but it would be a mistake to think that infinite merely means bigger than everything else. God's infinitude is not merely about his size. He has no size. He can't be measured. His infinitude is about his essence. His very being is unlimited. God is not just a bigger, better version of you and me. He's, in fact, incomparable to you and me and to everything else because he has no limits. He's not bound by time. He's not bound by space. He's not bound in knowledge. Isaiah 48, 28 says his understanding is unsearchable. There's no limit to his knowledge or understanding. He's not bound in essence. One theologian says that God is a sphere whose center is everywhere, a circumference nowhere. He is as present in our midst as he is farthest from us in the universe. Yet while he is present in one place, he is never confined to any place. And if you're like me, you're probably having difficulty putting your mind around the infinite nature of God, and that's perhaps exactly the reality of infinity. We can't, in our limited minds, grasp the scope of what it means. Well, God is infinite. Zophar acknowledges that to Job. And I'm being brief this morning, so I want to make three quick applications as we consider what this means for us, the reality that God is infinite. And the first thing I would say is this, very simply, we need not live in fear of anything because we serve an infinite God. Think about yourself and you are bound and defined by limitations in every way imaginable. God is not. I am always dealing with my own personal limitations. behind our bookshelf of books. I don't even know if you can see it. I can't really even see myself here, but you see some books behind that. That's my to read shelf. That's one of my to read shelf. I have other shelves over here. Books that I have, but I've not yet read yet and I want to read and I can't read them because I am bound in finite ways by time and energy. In work, we feel our limitations. We feel the limitations of time and space. You go to work and your boss has a list of things for you to do, and you just can't do everything your boss wants you to do. You can't do everything you would like to do, everything that needs to be done, and you can't be everywhere you would like to be. We are bound by limits in making decisions. We have to make a decision, and we don't know everything we'd like to know before we make a decision. With the coronavirus, we are limited and restricted in all kinds of new ways, confined for the most part to us. We're facing a virus that we can't see, and we just don't know what's going on. I'm going to go to pump gas. I'm not trying to instill fear or anything, but I feel like I don't know what's on that pump handle as I grab it. And I feel my limitations in knowing that. Our hospitals are limited as we're learning. They don't have an infinite amount of space or personnel or resources. We've learned we don't have the testing that we need. We face all of these limitations in all kinds of different ways. It is of the essence of being a creature that we are limited, finite, restricted, bound by our very humanity. But while we are limited, the God whom we serve is unlimited. He's not bound by any restrictions whatsoever. He proclaims in Jeremiah 32, 27, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me? And the answer, of course, is no. Nothing is too hard for a God without limits. in any way from accomplishing His purposes by any of these things we face. That brings the question, what is God's purpose? And we know many of them from Scripture. One of His grandest purposes for you and me as He musters His infinite resources on our behalf is to conform us to the image of Christ, it's to sanctify us, to foster and develop hearts of love among us, it's to make us more like Jesus, and ultimately, it's to bring us home to be with Jesus. In Ephesians 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul uses the word immeasurable twice. He uses it to refer to God's power, and then he uses it to refer to God's trace. Immeasurable is another word in many ways for infinite. Listen to these verses as I read them and ask yourself, to whom are God's immeasurable power and grace directed? For whom does he bring his infinite power to work? Think about where God is directing his infinite resources. Ephesians 1, verses 19 and 20, Paul speaks of the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Ephesians 2, verses 6 and 7, the Apostle Paul says that God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. I don't know if you heard that, I don't know if you have your Bibles with you, if you're looking at that yourself, but it is an incredible thing that the Apostle Paul is stating here. Paul is saying that God's immeasurable greatness of power and the immeasurable riches of his grace are being directed toward us, toward you and me in Christ. Infinite power. infinite grace mustered by God toward you to bless you. You do not need to fear anything today because the God you serve is infinite. The second point of application would be that there can be no end to the joy of knowing God because he is infinite. There are always new truths, new glories, new wonders to learn about the triune God. I hope you take some of this time, extra time with your family or whoever you're confined with to get to know even better the people around you, even your family, even your spouse. You can always be getting to know them better and better. But I hope especially you take the time that we're given during these days of being isolated from so much of what we're typically spending our time doing. I hope you spend this time exploring the wonders of our infinitely great God in learning new things about Him, maybe in ways that you haven't done for a long time. I think of a three or a four-year-old always asking a question, why, why, why? And they're just pestering you with that question, why, why, why? That's the question they love to ask. And why do they ask those questions? It's not because they're skeptical about the world around them or because they're bored and have nothing else to do. They're asking why all the time, because for them, the world around them is filled with all kinds of new wonders and joys and delights and their little brains and their little souls are trying to soak it all in and they can never get enough of asking that question, why? Because they can never get enough of learning about this world around them. Now, when we become adults, we lose some of that. We know when we learn the answer to so many of those why questions. The wonder that we once had at the very existence of this world tends to pass as we get older. But dear friends, our God is infinite. And there are always wonders and things to stand in awe and amazement at in view of who he is. And as we think about who God is, there should never be boredom or routine in knowing him more and more. I wonder if maybe one of the intentions when Jesus said, We must have faith like a child to enter his kingdom. I wonder if in part he's referring to that kind of wonder and awe that children exhibit at the world around them. They exhibit as knowing God as they come to know him for the first time, always asking why, why, why? What's this about? What's going on here? I wonder if Jesus is in part urging us to continue to have that wonder and awe like a child at the infinite grandeur of our God as we know him more and more. Yes, social distancing, being stuck at home can be boring, but it's also a blessed opportunity to continue to grow in wonder and awe as we seek to know our God without limits. Stephen Charnick, an old theologian, Puritan, I believe, says this, he says, whatever God is, he is infinitely so. Conceive of him as excellent without any imperfection. a spirit without parts, great without quantity, perfect without quality, everywhere without place, powerful without members, understanding without ignorance, wise without reasoning, light without darkness, infinitely more excelling the beauty of all creatures, And when you have risen to the highest, conceive him yet infinitely above all you can conceive and acknowledge the infirmity of your own minds. And whatsoever conception comes into your mind, say, this is not God. God is more than this. Dear friends, now that we have so much more time to sit quietly, let's devote some of that time God has given us to recover a childlike wonder at his infinite greatness. The third thing I would say, and this very quickly, is I would say God's infinity is crucial to the gospel. It's crucial to the gospel. When we sin, whether we consider our sin great or small, it is sin nonetheless against an infinitely great God, and therefore the guilt of all sin is enormous because it is an infinitely majestic and holy God against whom we sin. And if our guilt is so great, it begs the question, what can possibly, who can possibly satisfy the justice that must be done? And the answer is only one who, like God, is infinitely great. And that one, of course, is Jesus. Jesus satisfies God's justice. because He is God, God the Son, infinitely great in His divinity and made to be like us in His humanity. The person who died on the cross was no less than the infinite God, and He, Jesus alone, can save, and He has saved. Because Jesus is infinite God, He atones for the guilt of our sin, Their gospel hangs on the doctrine of God's infinity. And of course the gospel shows us the unbounded nature of God's love for us sinners though we are. After expounding the essence of the gospel through the book of Romans, chapter after chapter, the apostle Paul finally exclaims in Romans 11 verse 33, oh the depths of the riches and wisdom of God's, I'm sorry, oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways. Well, thank you for your time this morning. That's all I want to share for now. We did send out a little bit of a outline for this morning. And there is a confession of faith that perhaps we can say together in our own homes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. And maybe if any of my kids are willing to come up and join me, they're probably not. but I'll see, let me just ask. Anybody wanna come up and join me? I'm hearing nothing, I'm hearing nothing, silence. All right, so I'll do this by myself. I'll ask the question and then together at home, if you have it with you, you can read the answer. This is Westminster Confession of Faith, Shortercat is in question four. What is God? The answer is God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness.