With all that in mind, Romans 1 verse number 23. I will read verse 22 with it because it does give you a little bit of extra context. It says, "...professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things." All right, let us pray. Father, we thank you and praise you, God, for what you do. Thank you, Lord, for your blessings, your goodness. I pray, God, that you'd just use this message to speak to the heart of each person here. I pray, God, that you'd use this in a very mighty way, that, God, you would help the people here in our church to see the foolishness of what's being spoken of in this verse, and that maybe some people will come across this message who don't know you and see the need to put their trust in you. We ask it in your son Jesus' name, amen. So I'm not going to do the big recap and that'll cut out 20 minutes of the message today. No, it may be that bad, but I'm not going to go back and recap the verses before this as I am getting in a habit of doing because it is a train of thought. Like there's a chain of connecting events here. So it's a little bit hard to jump into the message without that background. But I'm going to trust that you have listened online or have most of the background to understand what he's discussing here of how you get to the point of all the sins that are listed in the latter part of the chapter. And of course that begins with the rejecting of God and goes through all the steps we've talked about. The step we're talking about today is he says they reach a point The way the man can go from knowing in his heart there's a God to all these abominable sins listed is, he says, it happens because they reach a point in their life where they exchange or they change the glory of the uncorruptible God for the glory of men. That's the part of the verse we're talking about today. Next week we'll talk about everything else in the verse. idols and, you know, making images of four-footed beasts and creeping things and all this kind of stuff. Because I do feel like there's enough information here to make two different messages for it. In fact, what we're going to talk about today is the foolishness. We talked about last week the foolishness of atheism, the just sheer denial that there is a God when all the evidence says otherwise. The foolishness of that, but we also primarily spoke about how once someone decides that I refuse to believe there's a God, that that is going to produce foolishness within their heart. Today I want to look at the foolishness of humanism. And if you don't know what humanism is, I don't use a lot of philosophical terms because I don't want to give any credence to them, but it's a term that pretty much describes exactly what is being mentioned in this verse. that you have men who know there is a God, they can see the evidence, it's very clear and in front of their faces, and for whatever reason they say, no, we don't need that. My intellect and my wisdom, my understanding is sufficient enough, I don't need God to tell me anything. Humanism is essentially the idea of rejecting anything divine, anything supernatural, rejecting anything that could possibly be taken as God for the exchange of my logic, my reason, my way of thinking being sufficient enough. is literally somebody saying, I don't need the incorruptible God because corruptible man is smart enough for me. That's why I say I don't think there's a better way to express what the verse is talking about than using the term. So that's why we're going to talk about the foolishness of humanism because that's what the verse is saying. And in the context, if you think about how foolish this is, just consider for a moment that he's speaking about people who know that there's a God deep down inside of their hearts, but have chosen consciously and willfully to reject that, to not be thankful to Him, to not recognize Him, to not give Him glory. And instead of having this glorious, almighty, perfect God who's perfect in wisdom and power and knowledge and in everything, they say, well, you know, you say you were there when the world was created. You say that you did it. But I think it was done this way. I know my wife should be able to relate to this, of anybody. I imagine most people's wives probably should be able to relate to this. There's many, many times in my life where I tell her something that I know for a fact is correct. I was there, I did it, I wrote it, I said it. Whatever it is, I know for a fact, 100% is correct. And her answer will be to look at me with a very straight face and say, yeah, maybe it's like that. And I have over the years come to find out that she just does not want to say that you're right. So that's the closest she'll ever get. She doesn't actually mean like, I don't believe you. It's just that I don't want to say, yeah, you're right. So she'll say, maybe it's like that. Or maybe it was this or something else. But it'll be things where like, I'm the author of it. It has to be this because I made it. And she'll still look at me and tell me, yeah, maybe. And it drives me insane. It really does. And this is my opportunity to express all of that to you. But the reason I use that as the illustration is because we can laugh at that. We can laugh at the idea of somebody coming to the author of something, to the one who I heard it with my own ears, I said it myself, I know it to be a fact, and saying, eh, maybe. But I think maybe it also could be this way. We understand that doesn't really make sense from a logical standpoint. And yet the people who claim that they are running on human logic, and they are the rational thinkers, and they are much smarter than you are because they run on that, are the ones who are looking at the God who created the entire universe, and when He says, I created it in six days, I spoke it into existence, by my power it exists, by my wisdom it was created, and saying, yeah, maybe, but I think it actually went like this. Yeah, I think this is actually the way that it happened. That I know you say you did it, but obviously, you know, I must be smarter than you, so I think it happened this way. And when you see it in those terms, I can't think of anything more foolish than that. I can't think of anything more foolish than somebody looking at God Himself and saying, I know you think this is how it happened, but you need to take some notes from me. This is how it actually happened. This is what it actually is. And so when we talk about what's being discussed in this verse, that's what's happening. It's people who God has told them, this is the way the universe works. This is how it all came to be. This is the answer to every question. This is it. And they look him straight in the face and say, yeah, maybe. But I think, honestly, you say that this is a sin. I don't think it's so bad. I think it's okay if people do that. You say that I should live this way, but I don't think it's so bad. Maybe this other way is also a good way to live. You say that you created the world this way. Maybe, but I think it makes more sense if you tell me it's billions of years old and it came about by chance. That's what this is talking about. They are changing the glory of the uncorruptible God. When He says uncorruptible, you understand, most of the time when the Bible uses the word uncorruptible, it's not talking about it in a sense like it can't sin. There's plenty of verses that tell you God can't sin, but normally when it says uncorruptible versus corruptible, what it's talking about is immortal versus mortal. It's talking about that which can decay, that which can die, that which can break down versus that which cannot. So, we're talking about God who inhabits eternity. God who was there before the foundation of the world. God who, in His wisdom, spoke the world into existence. versus man, who at best is a vapor that appears for a season and vanishes away, and we're gonna straighten him out and correct him and demand that he answer our questions because we don't understand this universe. Now, I picked on Lori, so I'll pick on myself now, that I am very guilty. I stopped making this joke because I found out that apparently some of her family thought I was being serious when I would say this, but when I would get tired or frustrated because I have a hard time. If I'm focused on something, you come ask me a question about something else, you mess up my train of thought, and my train of thought, and I need to defenestrate somebody, I mean, there you got the window, because you messed me up. But I have the problem that, like yesterday, for example, I was telling everybody where to go, putting them on the routes, and I won't say who it was, but it's somebody who's notorious for coming, instead of listening to instruction, asking 15 more questions, came up to me, and it's not JP, came up to me, I'm just saying that, because his wife seems to think it's him, it's not him. Somebody came up to me and began asking me questions about, what about this? What about this? And it's like, your route is over there. But what about this? Your route is over there. You're the support to help your partner. I'm trying to think about these other 10 people who need me to help them with getting to their routes. And I'm that kind of person, so a lot of times when I don't want to answer the questions of my family and they're asking me to explain myself and I just can't afford the processing power to stop what I'm doing and explain it to them, I will say it like this, don't worry about it, you wouldn't understand anyways, my plan is much too big to fit in your small little head, so just don't worry about it. And I used to say that as a joke, but some of her family takes it serious and thinks that I really mean it when I say that. It's actually just me not being able to stop and process and answer you and still keep my train of thought. So it's a joke. I don't mean it. But my point is... If I say that to you, it's very arrogant, and I have no right to mean it if I say it. God can actually say that to you. When God says His ways are higher than our ways, that's what He is saying. He is saying that I give you answers, like I give you a whole book full of answers, but if you think I actually can stop and explain it to you in such detail that you would understand it the way I do, my big plan is not going to fit in your tiny brain. He gives you enough that you can understand what you need to know. Don't get me wrong, it's not like the Bible doesn't have an answer to every question you have, it does. But if you're asking to understand it on the plane and the level that God does, you're not going to do that because you're not God and you don't have that capacity for understanding. You will understand it as best as you can as a person, which should be enough because He gives you sufficient answers. God gives you answers that are proper for every question you have. There's never a question you'll come to the Bible with that it doesn't have a good answer to it. It's just that if you want to try to see it from God's perspective and fully understand and appreciate everything He's trying to do, you're temporal. He is eternal. You are a finite being with a limited amount of knowledge, a limited amount of processing power, a limited ability to understand and learn all the vast things of this universe. God doesn't have those limits. God is all-knowing to the point that He knows the very thoughts and intents of your heart. He is not limited by what you are limited by. So, for you and I as Christians, it's easy for us to look at that and realize, like, it's strange for me to even think that I could understand everything that God says or does. Like, I can understand what He gives me. I can understand the Bible. I can understand the basics. I can learn and grow for the rest of my life and learn more and more about Him every day and understand more and more every day, but I'm not God, so I'm not going to see everything as well as He does. My perspective is not the same as His. It's like Jonas, you know, he knows what the tops of your heads look like. I don't. He's sold the top of all of your heads. He's big enough for that, except maybe Macha. I don't know. It's a fine deal. But his perspective is different, and I can't expect to see everything exactly the way that he does, and neither can you. It's like my children asking me to explain concepts of them that are way beyond them. I give it to them in a way where they can get the basics of it, but if you want them to fully understand and appreciate everything that I know, they're not going to do it because they don't have enough time on this earth yet. And here's the difference between me, them, and God. Assuming they live long lives, they'll have enough time to know everything that I know. Assuming I do a good job as a parent, they'll know more than I know because I'll pass on as much of what I know as I can. The difference between me, them, and God is this. If they have as much time as me or more or less or whatever, it's all the same that we're just a vapor that appears and vanish for a season. God is the eternal God, the everlasting Father, the one who inhabits eternity, the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator, and you will never fully know nor understand all that He does. You will know as much as you can, and that's about it. So when we see that and we appreciate the glory of God that's being discussed in this verse, how amazing God is to think that His own creation, the thing that He made, is somehow going to look at Him and say, I think my own understanding is more powerful than yours. I think my intellect is more sufficient than your word. My understanding of the universe is much more in-depth and detailed than what yours is. We begin to see a new level of foolishness which cannot hardly be comprehended. The idea that I would ever come to the Bible and God tell me, this is the way it is, and I say, I don't know about that. My feelings are that it's this way. I think it's this way. This makes more sense to me is insanity, to say the least. So when we talk about this idea that I'm going to trust my logic over God, there's quite a few warnings against that in the Bible. One of those we touched on last week, that's why I said I was getting overlapping into the next message a little bit and I need to slow down, is honestly the last part of last week's message you could say that. But one of the things I mentioned is in Proverbs chapter number 28 and verse number 26, where he tells us that he that trusts in his own heart is a fool, or he is a fool who trusts in his own heart. What God is telling you in that moment is that you cannot possibly trust your heart and be wise because your heart, as we saw a few weeks ago, is desperately wicked. It is deceitful above all things. Who can know it other than God? Your heart tries to deceive you. We know that from other verses we looked at when we talked about the heart, that your heart is not reliable. If your heart is not correct, your heart does not have understanding adequate or sufficient enough to deal with these things, your heart will not possibly be able to lead you in the right way all the time. I'm not saying it'll never make the right decision. Your heart can make the right decision from time to time. But it's not going to make it that often because your heart is going to be fueled by your emotions. It's going to go by the feelings, the philosophy, if it feels good, it must be good. It's going to go by this way of thinking, this type of wisdom that if I enjoy it, it must be good for me and not the reality that there's some things you enjoy that are not good for you. And so your heart is a very deceitful thing. It's sinful. It's wicked by nature without Christ working in it. It is a sinful thing. and you cannot follow your heart and follow wisdom. They will not go together. How can two walk together lest they agree? And you cannot follow wisdom and follow your heart because they don't walk together because they don't agree with one another. Wisdom pursues the truth no matter what the consequences. Your heart will not do that. Your heart very simply will follow after what makes it feel good and what sin or things may be drawing it, but it will not necessarily follow the truth. So God says that you are a foolish person if you trust your heart. Humanism as a philosophy is trusting your heart, is trusting your logic, your reason, your way of thinking, your beliefs, all of that stuff, as opposed to anything that might be taken as supernatural or divine in any way. So God warns us there. He also tells us in Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5 through 8 or so, He tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. So you understand, if you want God's wisdom to be guiding you, you cannot lean to your own understanding. When you start leaning on your understanding and your ability to grasp the vastness of this universe, you are not going to be led by God, you're going to be led by your understanding. And your understanding, like your heart, is limited. It is not infinite. It is very much limited. And while you may be smarter than me, it's still limited. You may be the smartest person in this room, in this country, in this world. It doesn't matter. It's limited. You want proof that being the smartest person in the world doesn't mean you're going to do what's right? Just read Solomon's life. Read it through the Bible. Go to Kings, go read Ecclesiastes, see what Solomon tells you about how this man who was gifted with wisdom above that of any man who had lived before him, and any man who came after him other than Christ Himself, that this man had wisdom unlike anything natural to a person, who then decided that he was going to go against every bit of wisdom and advice that was given to him when he was told not to marry women coming from other countries, worshiping other gods who would bring stuff into Israel that God did not approve of, that would bring in their idolatry. And then it seems like very well sacrificed his children because he didn't listen to that wisdom. In fact, not only that, let's see it this way. It's not just that Solomon ignored the advice that was given to him by people like his mother or his father. Solomon ignored the very laws that God gave him. The law given to the king, if you go back to the commandments, forbade them from going and marrying women from most of the countries that Solomon married women from. It sounds strange, but Solomon was forbidden, for example, as a king, to accumulate a great wealth of certain things, and one of those included stuff like horses, and yet Solomon is praised because of the great multitude of horses that he owned. You understand, like, there's many, many things that if you go look at the laws for the king, Solomon went against every one of them and just did whatever he wanted to because in his infinite wisdom, he became proud. And at some point, he came to the idea that I must be smarter than God and I will know what's best for me. Because in reality, his wisdom was not infinite. It was finite. And unlike God, he cannot know everything. And over time, he let his pride overtake his wisdom. And when you follow your own understanding, that's what's going to happen. Your understanding is not perfect like God's is. And so, little by little, you'll come to something where the Bible says, go right, and your understanding or your heart or whatever else you might be tempted to follow will say, go left. And if you go left, you're not following God anymore. You're not following what's right anymore. You're not following the truth. You're following your own heart and your own understanding. And that's why this is such a foolish thing, because you have the truth in front of you. You have the very word of God. You have a book given to you by the creator of the universe who knows all things. And for whatever reason, whenever it contradicts whatever I feel like doing, we have a struggle of whether I should listen to the perfect Word of the perfect God, or should I listen to my own flawed understanding in my wicked heart? That should never be a debate. It should never be a discussion. How foolish of a question is that? Do I listen to God who does all things well, who is good and perfect in every way and knows all things? Or do I listen to my heart, which has gotten me in trouble so many times it is impossible to count them all? My heart that I know is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. My heart that constantly makes me say or do things that I regret later on because I got carried away or did something I shouldn't. So should I listen to that heart that's always a troublemaker, or should I listen to God, who I know is perfect in all that He does? It should not be a question. It's foolish that it even has to be one. But he's describing here exactly that, that when men go down this path, the next step is going to be that once they go into this atheistic belief that there is no God. And this is why what I'm saying to you, you see the logic of what I'm telling you. To them, they cannot see it because they're already past the step where they say there is no God. And that atheist has said in his heart, there's no God. It doesn't matter what evidence there is that there's a God. I will not believe it. You want a good question you can ask somebody to see if there's any hope that they're actually going to listen to the gospel, if they're interested at all? Ask them to be honest with themselves. And if you were to ask them, this is what you would ask, ask them, if I were to ask you to sign an agreement with me, that if I could give you definitive proof that there is a God, that that is the clear answer that the universe says, that there is a God, would you believe it? And you will find that there's quite a few men in this world who, if you put them in that situation where they have to say, if all the evidence said there is a God, would I believe it or not? There's quite a lot of men in this world who ultimately will say, no, I'm not going to do that. Like, I mean, you say, I want the truth. You say, I believe the truth. And yet you are not willing to commit and sign your name saying that if the truth says there's a God, I'll follow the truth and believe in God. If you're being honest with yourself, the reason is because you don't care what the truth is, you just don't want to believe in God, and you will not follow the truth if it believes in God. So there is a great many of people in this world, and I'm telling you, you can use that question. I've known some great evangelists of the past. That's what they would do is they would ask a man directly, will you, you know, standing on your principles and your words, commit and promise to me that if God shows you, if He reveals Himself to you and shows you that there is a God, that you'll put your faith in Him? And you know what I found listening to those stories of men who use that tactic? It's almost every person who ever said, yes, of course I would do that. Like, I mean, why would I deny the truth? If the truth is there's a God, then I'll believe that. Every man who would say yes to that almost always gets saved. Every man who says, no, I'm not really sure I want to do something like that. never puts their trust in Christ. Why? Because they're not interested in the truth. That's why they can't commit to the truth and say, yes, if the truth says there's a God, I believe in God, is because they're not interested in the truth. And the problem we have right now in this verse is we're talking about people who've already passed that point. That was verse 22. In verse 22, they already said, I don't care if the truth says there's a God. In verse 22, they already said, I don't care if everything in the universe tells me there's a God. I don't want to believe in Him. So by the time you get to verse 23, once you understand that, it makes a lot more sense why they would say, I don't care what God says, I'm smarter than Him." He's already said, I don't care if He exists, I'm not going to believe in Him, so it's not unreasonable that the next step is, I don't care what He says, I'm smarter than Him. You and I see that as the ultimate level of foolishness is to look at God in all His perfection and say, I'm smarter than Him. but they don't believe He exists, and they don't care if He exists, and they don't want to hear any of that, so of course they're going to worship themselves. It's a natural step for them. So God warns us to not be spoiled by philosophies and traditions and men and the rudiments of this world in Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8 because of the fact these kind of things are going to come. He warns us all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 when the serpent came to tempt Eve, and He was speaking to her. What did He tempt her with? That if you eat through this tree, you'll become like a God, knowing the difference between good and evil. That you will know what God knows. You'll be just as smart as God is. That's the whole temptation that he was putting before her, is that you won't need a God to tell you what to do because you'll be smart enough to figure it all out on yourself, all by yourself. Your wisdom, your intellect, your knowledge will be good enough. You don't need a Bible. You don't need commandments. You don't need a God to tell you what to do. That's what the devil tempted man with in the beginning, and you see that his temptations have never changed. But there is one passage where God directly answers this. He goes directly in attack of this, it's not passages, it's chapters that I feel like we as a church need to look at. And I'll be honest, my message, I may get through it short because I may just spend some time in this and not go into the other part of what I have to say. But I want you to go with me to Job, Job chapter number 38. Job chapter number 38 and verse number 18. This is after you've been through the whole book of Job, where his friends are arguing back and forth, trying to prove who's smarter. This is my philosophy. This is your philosophy. This is my reason. This is your reason. And they're going back and forth, back and forth, Job defending that they're wrong and that God is doing right and that he's right and that they're wrong. And if you understand why I say it like that, it's because Job spends a lot of his time arguing for his own righteousness as opposed to spending it defending God. And that's the one major criticism that Job gets at the end of the book. When it comes to the friends, the rebuke is a lot greater for them. But when it comes to Elihu, the friend who comes in before God comes to speak and mentions to them, you know, I've been here this whole time listening to you. That's also his rebuke of Job is to tell Job that, like, you should have spent more time defending God and less time defending yourself. But, ultimately, God does answer for Himself beginning in chapter number 38. And so, I'm going to read to you the first... I don't normally read a long passage in the middle of a sermon, but I'm going to read to you the first 18 verses of this chapter. We could read the next chapters all the way to the end, and it would all speak to exactly what we're talking about, but I'll just do the first 18. So, Job chapter number 38 and verse number 1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" If you know what that means, he's saying who is the person who's twisting the truth, who's hiding the truth, darkening it, who's hiding it by using words without knowledge, meaning they're saying stuff that they don't know what it really means. They don't really know what they're talking about, but they're saying a lot of things. "'Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measure thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone thereof? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, or who shut up the sea with doors when it break forth as it as if it had issued out of the womb. When I made the cloud, the garment thereof and the thick darkness, a swaddling band for it and break up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors and said, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. And here shall my proud waves be stayed. Has thou commanded the morning since thy days, and calls the day spring to know his place, that it may take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal, and they stand as a garment. And from the wicked their light is withholding, and the high arms shall be broken. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea, or hast thou walked in the search of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? Hast thou perceived the breath of the earth? Declare if thou knowest it all. So this is after all the time of God being questioned. You've got 36 chapters of God being questioned up until now, of how could a holy God let this happen? You must have been a sinner. It must be this. And all these people saying stuff that they don't know. That's what he means about darkening by using words without knowledge. They're saying all this stuff, but they don't know the truth. None of these men know what they're talking about. That's why I always liked what Elihu says to him when he says to Job's three other friends, he says, you are the proof that gray hair doesn't mean wisdom. And if you don't get what that means, just think about it a little while. He's telling them that we always have the idea if somebody has gray hair, they must be old, so they must be wise. So he's saying that these three men are the proof that being old doesn't mean you're wise. And I always like that. I've sadly used that on a couple of older guys who decided that they wanted to come argue with me that they must be right and I must be wrong, regardless of what the Bible says, because they were older than me. And I do regret a little bit answering them with that, but not a lot, only a little bit. But, saying that, when God finally responds, His answer is to look at Job and say, Job, where were you when I created the earth? You think you're smart enough to really understand all that I'm doing. You're here asking to see the Redeemer, you want to plead your case with God, because that's what He keeps saying, if only my Redeemer was here and I could plead my case with Him. You think you're smart enough to stand before me and plead your case like I'm a jury or a judge and you have to come before me and convince me that you're right and I'm wrong, that whatever you want is best and what I've done is not correct. If you think that's the case, then, Job, tell me something. Where were you when I created the world? Where were you at when I brought the earth up out of the sea and I set it on its foundations and I made the decree that the water would not pass over the land? Did I come and consult with you, Job, and ask you how to do that? Did I come and ask your advice on that? Did I need it? You and I, we have grasped across thousands of years to understand this world. Human knowledge has been accumulating and accumulating, so thousands of years of knowledge has been taken for you and I to get to where we are to still barely understand the world we live in. We have the accumulation of everything man can come up with for thousands of years, and we're finally just now getting to the place where we can answer a few of the questions God asked Job. When you ask him, do you know how big the earth is? We're finally getting to the place where we can answer that. The problem is half the people are now getting to the place where they don't even remember what shape it is anymore. So now we're getting where we can't answer the question again because we're arguing about everything that makes no sense to argue about. But that's where we are. So you understand what he's saying here. It takes you thousands of years to answer these questions that God is putting out as simple things to him. It takes you thousands of years as humankind working together using all the knowledge and technology and everything you can come up with, and God literally just knows it. He doesn't have to get the tape measure and pull it out and check and see how big the earth is. He knows exactly what size it is. He knows the distance from it to every star in the universe. He knows exactly how long it's going to take for the light to reach this earth from each of those stars. He knows every single detail. He knows every grain of sand upon the seashore. He knows everything there is to know. He knows the number of the hairs upon your head. And I understand for women that's a lot harder than it is for men, or at least most of us men. But He knows every one of those things about you. There are things that it is impossible for us as human beings to ever calculate or quantify. For us, honestly, to try to number the stars is impossible. You would not have enough time to sit down and do it. If you had the ability, like if you had technology that would allow you to see them, you would not be able to in a lifetime count them all. He knows them by name. He doesn't just count them. He has a name for each and every one of them. How are you going to rival that kind of wisdom to say that I know better than he does? He made you. He is the author of who you are as a person. He knows the thoughts and intents of your heart. When he says your heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things, who can know it? He immediately follows it up by saying, I can. He's asking you, can you really know what your heart is capable of? No, but He can. He knows exactly what you are capable of. He knows exactly who you are. He knows the deepest, darkest corners of your heart, and there's nothing in this universe that is hid from Him. When David's talking about where could I go to flee from the presence of the Lord? Could I go to hell? No, you're there. If I go to heaven, no, you're there. If I go to the sea, you're there. If I go to the mountain, you're there. Wherever I go, you're there. You understand that the context of that is just talking about God's infinite knowledge is not just his presence. He's talking about in that he's talking about the fact that God already knows everything. There's nothing he could hide from him, that when David was formed in his the womb of his mother, he already knew who David was and knew exactly what kind of man he would be. You don't even know who you are right now. You don't even understand why you did whatever you did this morning. Every man who come to church and you're running late and you got grumpy with your wife or your kids and said something, you don't even fully understand why you said whatever you said. Every wife who you were in a bad mood yesterday, so you decided to try to, well yesterday you were in my house, so the day before. Every wife who was in a bad mood on Friday and you decided that, I just need to take this out on my husband. You don't even know why you did that. You don't understand why you did whatever you did five minutes ago probably. And yet you think that you could ever rival with God. You could ever come to His Word and say, I think I know more about this subject than you do. Essentially what He's saying to Job in the verses we just read is, Job, pick a subject. Pick a subject and tell me which one you know better than I do. You're scientific, you're a very smart man, then you tell me how the world was created. You tell me how it was founded. Tell me how big it is. Tell me the shape and size and all this kind of stuff about it. Explain to me why the waters can't overtake the land or how the clouds clothe the earth as a garment. Explain all of this stuff to me. Do you understand that so much of the knowledge we have about these things that's correct, the stuff that's actually right, that we don't have to go back and correct it every few years, We got it directly from the Bible. We looked at the Bible, said, God said that there's channels in the water, so there must be channels in the water. Hey, look, there's ocean currents. He's right about that. You understand that we get our information from him so many times. The shape, all this stuff of the earth, the fact that the earth hangs freely in space, it's not hung upon anything, all that kind of stuff, God already said it in the Bible, and somebody who believed the Bible said, oh, he said it's a circle, it must be round. It's not a disc, of course, it's something round like a sphere. And God talks about having it like this. He describes it being so that you have this crystal chandelier with New Jerusalem setting outside of it and it's rotating around it. So it must be that the earth is moving. When He says it's fixed in its place, He doesn't mean literally fixed. He means that it's not going to roll off in space somewhere. You understand? Like He describes all that stuff to you so that You, if you're scientific, have all the answers in front of you. Yet so many people say, well, I watched a video on YouTube, so I think I got this figured out. I don't need to see what the Bible says about it. But God describes a planet that's hung freely in space, that's moving around the sun, that has night and day, and will continue to have night and day even when the sun's gone because God Himself will come and be the light of it. And He says, if you think you're smarter than me, you can understand all of that, then you try explaining something to me that I don't know. Try teaching me something that I don't already know and I haven't already figured out." That's the thing that he's saying to Job in this passage. Verse number 21, he adds to that, "'Knowest thou it because thou wast then born, or because the number of thy days is great?' This goes back to our central thought of how foolish it is to exchange the glory, to change the glory of Almighty God, the God who knows all things, who is eternal, who inhabits eternity for man who, if you make it 70, 80 years, you're doing quite well. You understand how foolish it is? He's getting to that same point. He's saying, Job, you think you know the answers to my questions? Do you know it because you lived that long, you're just old enough, you got it all figured out, or do you know it because you were there, you were born the day of creation, and you were there to see it all happen? How do you know, is what he's saying to him. You think you're smarter than God, but God was the eyewitness. You do have an eyewitness to creation. You talk about people who believe in a big bang. You have no eyewitness to that. You have no evidence of it. You have no eyewitness. You have no one who can speak to you and say that I was there. I saw it. I know that it happened. I found some evidence or proof of it or any of that kind of stuff. But you do have an eyewitness who tells you, I was there the day the world was created. And I was there when the morning star and the angels were singing there in his glory, proclaiming how great God was on that day of creation. He said, I was there for all of that. Were you there, Job? Were you born that day? Were you there to see it? Have you lived since then and you just had all these years to figure it all out and understand everything? Then why would you question God and what He says about it? Why wouldn't you just take Him at His word? Why wouldn't you just believe the One who has proven to you that He's always right, He's never been wrong, and He understands the answer to every question you have. He knows it. So he goes through this, Joe, again, the rest of the chapters are all building on this. So that by the time you get into chapter number 39 and verse number 26, he brings this up again. He says, doth the hawk fly by wisdom and stretch forth her wings toward the south? He's saying, is it the wisdom of the animals that allow them to do this, or did I figure out how to do it? Did they have to evolve over time and figure out how to be aerodynamic, or did I design them that way in the first place? Which one figured it out, me or the animal, is what he's saying to Job. And then in chapter 40, verse 1 through 5, I had more verses, but I'm going to cut it here. In chapter 40, verse 1 through 5, it says, Moreover, the Lord answered Job and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer. Yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man. I will demand of thee and declare unto thee. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God, or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency. Array thyself with glory and beauty. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath, and behold every one that is proud, and abase him. Look on every one that is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in secret. Then I will confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee." What did he just say to Job and all of that is very simple. He told Job that, are you going to instruct me? Like you're going to teach me and you're going to correct me? You're going to tell me what I'm wrong about and what you know better than I do? Then help yourself. Tell me, Job, what am I wrong about?" And Job says, God, I'm sorry. I know I answered you once. I'm not going to do it again. And then he realizes he answered, and he's like, I've done it twice. I'm not going to do it no more. And he puts his hand over his mouth. He says, I'm vile. I'm nothing. I am a worm before you. Me answering you is lower than the lowest insect upon this earth trying to respond back to me with an answer. I am nothing before you, God. And he puts his hand over his mouth, and God says, Job, one more time, I'm going to ask you to stand before me like a man and answer me. And he says, gird up your loins, as women even said, gird up your loins like a man. He says, put on your pants and stand up here and answer me. He says, if you're smart enough to tell me what to do, do you have an arm that's strong enough to save you? Do you have the power within yourself to know how to fix all of this? Do you have the strength to change anything about the world that you live in? Is anything in your life there that you have the power by your own might and strength to just take hold of it and be the master of your own destiny like you want to be? He says, when you can do that, then you come talk to me and I'll admit that you're strong enough to save yourself. When you're able to actually change the world around you with whatever knowledge it is you think you have, you have the ability to make a difference that actually impacts this world beyond just your lifetime, then come talk to me and we'll have a conversation about this and I'll say, I'm sorry, you were right. You're much more powerful than I thought you were. That's what God's saying to Job. That's why I ended the last message saying, like, what person their atheism has ever made their life better? What person their atheism has ever brought true peace and understanding? What person their atheism ever got them off of their addiction to drugs and all this kind of stuff? He's saying, you think your logic, your reason, your way of thinking in this world, your own heart is capable of delivering you? Then go ahead and do it, and then you come back to me and we'll see what I have to say then. You go ahead and change the world. You blame me because there's evil in the world and there's suffering. You say it's all my fault, that God, you can't be a holy God, you can't be just and right and good because there's evil in the world. You get rid of the evil in the world and then come talk to me. You make a world where there's no evil, there's no sin, there's no suffering, and then you come talk to me and I'll say, I'm sorry, you're right, I could have done better. Once you fix it, then we'll talk." Because he's telling Job that you have to understand that what God can see, you will never fully be able to see and appreciate. What God understands, you'll never fully be able to appreciate on the level He does. He has given you the answers you need. He's given you enough, but you're not God. And enough is for you as a human, He's given you enough. But you're not God to understand or compete with Him, and you're not the parent that He's the child who has to answer you. It's the other way around. You're the one who's accountable to Him. He is the holy, righteous God of heaven who knows all things, who is perfect in His wisdom, And He'll give you far more answers than He has ever owed you. He's given you far more help than He has ever owed you. He's given you far more of everything than He has ever owed you. We need to stop coming to Him thinking we know better and He owes us an explanation like one of my children coming to me and demanding that I explain myself to them and start coming to Him as the God of all the heaven and earth like He is and submitting to Him knowing that His way is better than our way, that His wisdom is better than ours. And then if we'll trust Him little by little, we might actually start to understand what He's doing. But if you're going to come demanding stuff, you're going to enter into this foolishness of thinking your heart is wiser than the wisdom of God. Father, we thank you and praise you, God, for what you do. We pray that you watch over us, help us to serve you. Thank you for your blessings, your goodness. Pray that you just speak to us in all these things and help us to put our trust in you. We ask it all in your son, Jesus' name.