Infinite

We're starting a new series this evening.

So I'll just explain just for a couple of minutes what's going to happen.

So for the next 10 weeks, we'll follow a similar pattern.

We're going to be following the themes of None Like Him.

Still copies available, only £5.

Take them and pay later, should you wish.

And the reason why we're doing this, the reason why we're discussing the character of God

is firstly so that it will help us in our worship,

but also so that it will give us something with which we can help and encourage others.

Somebody said recently that in our pastoral care, in our care of others,

that the best thing that we can supply for people is a big and a true picture of who God is

so that we understand that He is trustworthy, that He is good,

that He is someone that we can rest and rely on.

So we'll have a shorter time of worship.

We'll have a sermon.

And then once the service finishes, we'll have an opportunity together

to break into small groups and to discuss, and really to discuss,

for example, today, how does the fact that God is infinite,

how does that help us to worship Him?

Why should that lead us to praise Him?

And how can that knowledge be used to help and encourage other people,

whether Christians or not Christians, as they're hurting, troubled, confused, or anxious?

I know some people don't like discussion groups, feel a bit uncomfortable, a little bit awkward.

Can I encourage you, even if you don't want to say anything, still stick around,

because as you listen to other people share their experiences,

even if you're not saying anything, you'll be encouraged.

You'll be hearing how God has been at work and continues to be at work in people's lives.

So it'd be wonderful if we could all stick around just for 15 or so minutes after the service finishes.

Time is marching.

We're going to make sure that we keep things nice and tight.

So let's read together from Isaiah chapter 40, this wonderful chapter of God's Word, page 724.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

Our first theme tonight is the God who is infinite, the God who has no limits.

So we're in Isaiah 40, on page 724, and we're going to read from verse 12 to verse 31.

Let's hear God's Word together.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales, and the hills in a balance?

Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?

Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way?

Who was it that taught him knowledge, or showed him the path of understanding?

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket.

They are regarded as dust on the scales.

He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.

Before him all the nations are as nothing.

They are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.

To whom then will you compare God?

What image will you compare him to?

As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it.

A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot.

He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers.

He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.

No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown,

no sooner do they take root in the ground than he blows on them and they wither,

and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.

To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal?

Says the Holy One.

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens.

Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name.

Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel,

My way is hidden from the Lord.

My cause is disregarded by my God.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall,

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles.

They will run and not grow weary.

They will walk and not be faint.

Amen.

Now, I want to begin with something that I'm sure we are all familiar with,

the reality that we are, as people, limited, and we can be measured.

And that's something that life teaches us in so many ways.

As we grow up, we're very interested in our height.

We are concerned for our strength.

Our age is really important to us.

We want to get older, then we reach that certain point we just wish we could get a little bit younger.

Life teaches us as well that we have limits of our capacity,

our emotional capacity, our physical capacity.

We reach max, and we can't do anything more.

We suffer from time constraints.

We have to-do lists that we, if you're like me, you probably never manage to get through.

You find yourself being double or sometimes triple booked,

and you can't be in two places at the same time.

We have diminishing abilities.

I didn't always need glasses.

Exercise wasn't always such a challenge.

Staying up late, getting up early was easy, but not so much now.

So all of us know this.

It's true.

From the day we're born until the day we die, we are limited, and we can be measured.

So the really important thing for us is how do we respond to that?

The Bible would say to us we should respond by viewing ourselves with humility,

living within those limits, recognizing that they are from God,

who created us, designed us with limitation.

However, sometimes we go wrong as people because we want to reject those limitations.

If we remind ourselves of what happened in the Garden of Eden,

we think about Adam and Eve, what happened there?

They weren't content to live under God's rule.

They wanted to become like God.

And we can do that.

We can try and take God off his rightful throne,

and we can put ourselves there instead.

We can be guilty of pride that rejects the limits that are placed on us.

Or we can do another thing.

We can put other people on a pedestal.

We can make someone else so important in our lives

that to us they then have a God-like significance.

And we place on someone else a crushing weight of expectation

because we don't understand that only God is supposed to have that ultimate position.

So the key to being fully human, biblically,

is to embrace our limits,

to live under God's good rule.

So that's a truth that we recognize.

The Bible also teaches us very clearly,

Isaiah 40 is a great example,

God is unlimited,

and he cannot be measured.

That's what we mean when we talk about God being infinite.

God has no limits.

He doesn't have the limitations that we have

because he's not human.

He's not created.

He is eternal,

and he is uncreated.

He doesn't suffer those restrictions of space and time.

He rules over them.

So, for example,

he sees all of history in a single moment.

God can be in all places at all times,

and he is infinite.

He cannot be measured by us.

God can superintend the whole of creation

at the macro level,

the movements of stars,

planets,

galaxies,

and at the micro level.

As Donald was praying,

he knows the number of hairs on our head.

We have a God who,

unlike us,

his power and his capability never diminishes.

He is not affected by age or decay.

He doesn't find that he gets pressured

and makes bad decisions.

In fact,

the only limit that there is on God

is that he cannot sin.

He must always remain true to his character,

which is good and perfect and holy.

And so,

I want us to explore these two realities

by using Isaiah 40.

I want us to see clearly the difference

between God and us

and to celebrate that as good news,

to worship him as a result,

to recognize that embracing this infinite God,

the one who has no limits,

is the key to all that we need in our lives.

This is why Isaiah 40 was written.

It was written to deliver to a people,

people of Israel,

who were being prepared for exile

because of their disobedience,

because they were rejecting life under God's rule.

Isaiah is saying to them,

even in that situation,

in turning to this God,

in turning to the God of no limits,

this is your one hope for security,

trusting in this God who keeps his promises,

this God who can be trusted absolutely.

And so,

for us this evening,

I want us to receive this God

and his good news,

to embrace our own limits

and to embrace the God without limits,

and to see how God in Jesus

has provided out of his infinite love

all that we lack.

So,

let's look at our passage.

Let's turn to Isaiah 40,

and let's see,

first of all,

the God who measures,

but cannot be measured.

There's wonderful imagery

all through this passage.

Verse 12,

we see it very clearly.

The choice of scale is deliberate.

Here is a picture

that the largest things in our universe,

they're small,

and they're controlled by God the creator.

So,

he can measure all the waters of the universe

in the hollow of his hand.

You know,

we can manage a few drops.

He can manage all the oceans.

God is so great

that he can,

as it were,

mark off the size of our universe

in handbread,

where we're still trying to grapple with its size.

He's held the dust of the earth in a basket,

weighing Mount Everest,

as it were,

on a scale.

Here is a picture of God

who is in absolute control.

He has the capacity to measure

and control the universe he created.

He is without rival in that regard.

So,

God measures all things,

but then Isaiah is quick to point out

that he cannot be measured.

That's the point of verse 13 and 14.

Who has understood the mind of the Lord

or instructed him as his counselor?

The implied answer,

of course,

is nobody.

It's impossible for us

to fathom God's creative mind.

God didn't go to anyone

for advice or direction.

God is in no need of a teacher.

He lacks no wisdom or information.

So, here in these three small verses,

we get an amazing picture

of our unlimited God

who contrasts with us as people.

Because the next thing

that we see in verses 15 to 26

is the God who has the measure of us.

You know the expression

to have the measure of someone

where you have them figured out

where in a sports context

you understand how another team plays

and you've figured out tactics

to make sure that you're going to defeat them

and deal with them.

It's clear from Isaiah 40

that God has the measure of us as people.

We are no challenge to his uniqueness.

We are no rival to him.

He is infinitely greater than us.

And Isaiah brings that out

in a number of ways.

Verse 15 to 17, first of all,

we see that the collected strength

and wisdom and intentions of humanity

are nothing compared to God.

Surely the nations

are like a drop in a bucket.

Or the islands

just like fine dust.

Nothing compared to God.

It brings to mind the story of

the Tower of Babel

in Genesis chapter 11.

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

So you have that picture of humanity

in rebellion against God.

God said,

scatter around the world

and subdue it and live as God's

vice kings on the earth.

But instead they gather together

and in human pride

they decide to build a vast tower

as if to say,

we don't need God.

Look at us.

We're great.

And there's that wonderful picture

where you've got,

on the one hand,

the people building up in pride,

trying to build this tower to heaven.

And then it says,

God came down and saw.

And the impression is,

what they're doing is so small

and so insignificant

and no threat at all to God.

He has no rivals.

Verse 16,

a different kind of imagery.

Lebanon,

famous for its cedar trees,

is not sufficient for altar fires,

nor its animals

enough for burnt orphans.

Imagine a country-sized altar

for worship.

All the forests laid out

to offer all the animals

of that country as sacrifices.

What it's saying is that

while God invites and commands worship,

He is not controlled by worshipers.

That supposing we were to make

that kind of great sacrifice,

it would not put God in our debt.

It would not say that we are

in any way comparable to God.

Our most impressive religious

and moral deeds

do not put God in our debt.

And then the imagery moves on again.

And it begins to address,

Isaiah begins to address

ways that we fight against the limits

that God has set for us.

So God created us to live under His good rule,

to be humble before Him,

but there are ways that we refuse

to submit to that.

And there are two ways

that we tend to do that as people.

The first is in verses 18 to 20,

where one of the things that we can do

is make idols for ourselves.

So reading at verse 18,

to whom then will you compare God?

What image will you compare Him to?

As for an idol,

crafts him in casks,

casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it

with gold and fashions,

silver chains.

But here's this contrast

between the Almighty God

that we've just seen

and this image

that somebody has created.

And the point really is that

no matter how fancy an idol is,

no matter how valuable an idol is,

back in those days when it was statues,

they cannot move,

they cannot think,

they have no power or influence,

they are no rival to the true God,

nor are the idols that we create for ourselves.

So it is possible we speak about idolizing money,

thinking if I just had enough money,

then I'd have security,

and I'd have joy,

and I'd have happiness.

But money has limits.

Money can be lost.

We can idolize our jobs

and find our identity

and source of happiness,

and I've made it

because I've got this job.

But again,

a job is something

that we will leave behind.

We can even idolize another person.

And when we do that,

we realize

that everyone disappoints us eventually,

and everybody dies eventually.

God is not like the idols.

And in refusing to know and accept our limits,

there's another thing that people tend to do.

They did it in Isaiah's day.

We can do it in our own day.

We can place our hopes

in the great and the good and the powerful.

That's what happens in verses 21 to 26.

We've got this deliberate choice of imagery.

For example, in verse 22,

He, that is God,

sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,

and its people are like grasshoppers.

So people are tiny.

People are grasshopper-sized

compared to the infinite God.

And he goes on in verse 23,

this God brings princes to nothing.

He reduces the rulers of this world

to nothing.

End of verse 24,

Think about petals on a cherry blossom tree.

One slight breeze,

and they're gone.

Compared to God,

that's what the great kings and rulers

and the rich and the wealthy

and the powerful are like.

So bearing all this in mind,

Isaiah brings us back

to the idea of

gaining a proper perspective,

looking up

and seeing God

as He truly is.

Verse 25,

To whom?

He said this already,

To whom will you compare me?

Or who is my equal,

says the Holy One?

Lift your eyes

and look to the heavens

who created all these.

So God's here called the Holy One.

God is separate from us.

God is in a class of His own.

And that's brought out

because He has personally created

and now personally sustains

the trillions of stars

in our galaxy.

This is the God who created us.

This is the God who has set our limits.

This is the God who knows us,

that we are no rival to.

And because of that,

we should live under His rule,

living lives of worship.

And so the key to living well,

according to the Bible,

is learning to re-measure.

And that's really where Isaiah goes

in the rest of our chapter

from verse 27 onwards.

There's a really nice quote

in chapter 1

of Jen Wilkins' book

where she says,

our limitations are by design.

Whether we spend the remainder

of our lives denying

or embracing this basic truth

makes all the difference

in how we will love God

and others.

If we put ourselves

in the center of our own universe,

we will tend to be selfish.

We will not tend to love well.

But if we are humble

and we put God at the center,

if we have His values,

then we will love Him

and we will love others.

Seeing our limits should,

on the one hand,

humble us

and it should then lead us

to worship the God

who has no limits.

To have Him as our God,

not to seek to put ourselves

or anyone else

in that place.

One of the other positive things

about seeing our limits

is it should create honesty

in us

where we can acknowledge

our weakness,

where we can acknowledge

our sin.

We don't expect ourselves

to be God-like.

We confess our sin.

We don't try and hide it.

We don't try and justify it.

We recognize that we are

limited sinful creatures

and we remember

the infinite God knows.

And so there's a freedom

for us to be honest

before God.

One of the other benefits

of seeing our limits

is surely that it will ease

our levels of stress.

When we recognize

that I can't control

everything and everyone,

that should come as freedom to us.

When we realize

that I should not try

to control everything

and everyone around us.

There is freedom in that

and instead there is

an invitation to turn

to the God

who clearly is in control.

So what does Isaiah 40

teach us about learning

to re-measure?

We need to hear verse 27

and understand what's going on.

So verse 27,

we read this.

Why do you say, O Jacob,

and complain, O Israel?

My way is hidden

from the Lord.

My cause is disregarded

by my God.

So there's a question,

perhaps even an accusation

going on here.

The people,

as we said at the beginning,

are facing exile

because they rejected

living under God's limits.

And so they've got questions

attached to that.

They're having fears

and anxieties

because of what's happening.

questioning either,

God doesn't see my difficulties

or God doesn't care

about my difficulties.

That's their response.

Things are getting bad

and so they're beginning

to doubt God.

How does the God

of no limits respond?

Well, in the language

of verses 28 to 31,

he reminds them

that he is the infinite God,

that he is the God

of no limits

and in that reality

is their hope,

is their good news,

is their chance

of renewal

and life.

And he reminds them,

yes, I am infinite,

but I am also

profoundly personal.

He's already done that

in verses 10 and 11

that Donald read for us

at the beginning,

the sovereign Lord

who is also

the shepherd

of his people.

He is not distant

and remote.

This all-powerful God

knows and sees

and is therefore

his people.

So why is understanding

our limits

and God's lack of limits

good news?

Well, hear the language

of verse 28.

Do you not know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the creator

of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired

or weary

and his understanding

no one can fathom.

And he gives strength

to the weary

and increases

the power

of the weak.

So here's the moment.

When we find ourselves

lacking strength,

when we find ourselves

in a situation

and we feel like

we don't have

the necessary wisdom,

when we feel

that we have reached

the end

of our emotional capacity,

that's when we need

to understand

who God is

because he is the God

who is willing

to provide

from his unlimited

resources of strength

and wisdom

and love.

So it's in those moments

when we are suffering

or hurting,

when we feel powerless

and weak,

that we are invited

once again

to turn and trust

in this all-powerful God.

Naturally,

there are times

when we will all suffer

loss and inability,

even youths,

as it says here.

But hoping in this God

brings a source

of strength

that is constantly

being renewed.

So embracing our limits

is to be truly human

and it's also

the place

where we find help

when we need it most

because it reminds us

again

that we are weak

and it encourages us

to look to the God

who is infinitely strong

and who is always there

for and with

his people.

For those of us

who have been Christians

for a while,

I'm sure we can testify

to that reality.

Times when life

seemed incredibly difficult

in situations

and we had no idea

what to do

and in those moments

praying,

giving it to God

and finding strength

and help

to go on.

Trusting God

to care for our families

when we send them away

and we are concerned

for them.

Turning to him

in our times of sadness

and fear

and loss,

knowing him

to be both

infinitely great

and infinitely personal

and loving.

Our greatest limit

as people,

of course,

is that one day

we will all die.

I read an article

this week

where there was

a quote

from an atheist philosopher

by the name

of Luke Ferry.

And I want to read

some of that quote

because it's really helpful

for our discussion.

He said,

as distinct

from animals,

a human being

is the only creature

that is aware

of his limits.

He knows

that he will die

and that his near ones

will also die.

And he comments

this state of affairs

is disturbing

and absurd,

almost imaginable,

unimaginable.

And I'm sure

we can identify

with that sentiment.

And then he continues,

our greatest desire

as human beings

is to be loved,

not to be alone,

and not to be separated

from our loved ones.

And again,

I'm sure that we can identify

with that sentiment

when it comes down

to what matters

most to us

is the people

that we love

and the greatest sorrow

that we have

is being separated

from them.

So how does

the God of no limits

offer hope

even at that point

where we feel

our limit

most keenly?

And I think

to answer that,

we need to remind ourselves

of the story

of the gospel,

to remind ourselves

that the God of no limits,

the infinite creator God

in Jesus,

took on human limitations.

That he knew

what it was

to be weak

and tired

and hungry

and thirsty.

And as that

truly human

man,

Jesus,

as well as being

fully God,

he went to the cross

as our

representative

and as our

redeemer

and three days

later

became our

resurrected Lord.

And there's the hope

for us.

Jesus has conquered

the greatest

of our limits,

death itself.

And the result

is that

Christianity

uniquely

offers the kind

of hope

that Luke Ferry,

our atheist philosopher,

was talking about.

In Christianity,

in Jesus,

we find

a love that lasts,

a love that remains,

a love that is

stronger

than death

itself.

And so what we find

in the gospel

is that the God

of no limits

offers something

we all wish

to be true,

whether we're

Christians

or whether

we're not.

And so the good

news of the gospel

is that the

unlimited God

in Jesus

is revealed

as the fully

personal God.

And we are

called

to look

to him

as Lord

and King.

In our

weakness,

we are called

to look

to him

and to recognize

that he is the key

to our hope.

He is the key

to all our joy.

Thank you.

Thank you.