Beloved, our call to worship this morning is from Psalm 115, verses one through nine. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not. Neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Continue reading in the Old Testament from the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. We'll read verses 12 to the end. The opening verses are those familiar verses of comfort. to God's people, to the exiles in Babylon. Pick up at verse 12. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord? Or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and show to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto him? The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Have ye not heard? Hath it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. That bringeth the princes to nothing, he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither in the whirlwind, shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high. And behold, who has created these things, that bringeth out their host by number, he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Thus far the reading of God's holy, precious, and infallible word. Beloved, our text for this morning is from Isaiah 40, the section that we read. We'll look at those verses. I'll just read verse 18 for us this morning. To whom then will ye liken God, or what likeness will ye compare unto him? Together with that, we'll consider Lord's Day 34 of the Heidelberg Catechism. You can find that on page 69 and 70 in the back of the Psalter. Question 92 deals with the law of God, and we read that already this morning, so I'm not going to belabor that point. Question 93 asks this question, how are these commandments divided into two tables? The first of which teaches us how we must behave towards God. The second, what duties we owe to our neighbor. Question 94. What does God enjoin in the First Commandment? That I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints, or any other creatures. and learn rightly to know the only true God. Trust in Him alone. With humility and patience, submit to Him. Expect all good things from Him only. Love, fear, and glorify Him with my whole heart, so that I renounce and forsake all creatures, rather than commit even the least thing contrary to His will." Question 95, what is idolatry? Idolatry is instead of or besides that one true God who has manifested himself in his word to contrive or have any other object in which men place their trust. Well, as you probably are well aware, each of the Ten Commandments is stated in the negative, thou shalt not. Thou shalt have no other gods before me is the first commandment. But in order to understand and keep this commandment rightly, we need to understand not only the negative part of it, but also the positive part of it. So even though the commandment is stated in the negative, thou shalt not, there is also the corresponding positive part of it, which states thou shalt. If we are to have no other gods that we worship, who is the God that we are called to worship? Question and Answer 94 picks up on this negative-positive distinction. When it asks this question, what does God require in the first commandment? It's first stated in the negative. that I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints, or any other creatures." In short, if we would summarize that, we would say we are not supposed to have anything else that we have in the place of God in our lives. Nothing else. Only God is to be there. If we go back to Lord's Day 33 and we looked at what conversion is, it's mortification, it's putting to death sin, and it's putting on the things that are right and good and holy, pursuing holiness, pursuing the positive side of things when it comes to the life of sanctification. So here the negative part is the mortification, it's the putting off all of these things, it's putting away anything that would tempt us to take the place of God in our lives. But if we only keep that part of the commandment, we'd become lopsided, wouldn't we? If we lived only in the world of the thou shalt nots, we have not really kept the commandment at all. The absence of idols does not indicate the presence of God in our lives. Remember that. The absence of idols does not indicate the presence of the true God who reveals himself to us this morning. And so question and answer 94 picks up here as well, points out the positive, that which we are to put on rightly to know the only true God, trust in Him alone, with humility and patience submit to Him, expect all good things from Him only, love, fear, and glorify Him with my whole heart so that I renounce and forsake all creatures rather than commit even the least thing contrary to His will. So we need to keep these things in balance, don't we? The negative and the positive. The negative and the positive. It was my argument this morning. It's the argument from Scripture this morning. That when we fill our minds and our hearts with who God is, that will starve the oxygen for any idols to thrive and to grow in our lives. That when our minds and hearts are captivated with who God is, we will have no place for these idols. Not that it becomes automatic, but when we fill ourselves with who God is, when we teach and preach God to our lives and to our hearts, it leaves very little room for these idols to grow. The question comes then, where do we come to rightly know the only true God? It's from His Word, isn't it? And that's where we turn this morning as Isaiah instructs the exiles of Israel as to who their God is. Here are these people in exile. They're surrounded by pagan idols. Perhaps the temptation, actually the temptation very, very really is that they are tempted to say that God has forsaken them. Verse 27, the chapter that we read, why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God. The fact that they were in exile tempted them to think that God had forsaken them, that God is ignoring them now. And the temptation then is to go to other gods, the gods of the heathen lands, the gods of the culture around them. And that temptation is real for us as well. The temptation to think that God has forsaken us, that God is ignoring us, that God isn't really who He says He is. And the temptation then is to turn to the idols of our culture. But the prophet, God wants the exiles and He wants us this morning to be captivated with who He is. Not a God of our own imagination, the God that we think of, but the God of revelation. And so let's pay attention as we come to the Word of God this morning, as we ask these questions about God and look for answers from His Word as to who this God is. Because even as we ask these questions, we immediately see who God is. Our theme then is questions about God. The first question, who can actually measure God? The second question, who can accurately represent God? And third, who can fully understand God? Who can actually measure God? In order to rightly know God, we need to understand something of what theologians call the immensity of God. Immensity of God. Immensity simply means that God fills all and is in all. It's more than just His omnipresence. It speaks to God's being and who He is in Himself. It means that God cannot be measured. God cannot be reduced to a mere measurement. God cannot be reduced to a mere created thing. God is so great and so large as it were. He cannot be measured. And how do we know that? Well, Isaiah begins with a point of comparison. He asks several questions in verse 12. compares God and us, who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." Think about this for a moment. Maybe you travel down to Florida during the winter, or you're going to travel down to Florida. You stand on the seashore and you look out at the vast ocean. You ask yourself this question, who has measured the water of the ocean in his hand? Can I do that? Certainly not. Only God. When you look at the night sky with all the stars stretched out there, when you look at the blue expanse of sky, you look at the clouds. You say, who can measure that with just the span of His hand, with your thumb and your pinky? Who can measure the skies with just the span of His hand? Certainly not you or I. Only God. Who can count all the particles of dust in one glance? It's hard enough, isn't it? When you open the curtains in the morning, the sun shines through. What do you see? Dust. Millions of particles of dust. We can't even count those, much less the dust of the earth. Who can comprehend that? Who can measure that? Not you or me, only God. Who can weigh the mountains on a scale and the hills in a balance? When you stand before the Rockies, or you go to the Grand Canyon, who can weigh these vast mountains on a scale? Not you or I, but God knows. Let's use a comparison here. the immensity, the vastness, the greatness of creation. We can't measure that. We are puny and tiny compared to these things. But God is greater than even all of these things. God can do all of these things. What is immeasurable here in nature only points to the great immeasurableness of God, the immensity of God, a small way to begin to comprehend who God is, the vastness of the created order. leads us to consider who God is. God is immeasurable. Indeed, these elements of nature are only a small thing to Him, as we'll see in a moment. So who has done all these things? Only God. Isaiah asks another question. In verse 13 and 14, Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counselor, hath taught Him Who can measure God and tell God what to do? Who can dictate to God the path of judgment, the way of wisdom? Who can teach God knowledge? Who did God consult when He created all those things that we just considered? Did He consult man? When we go back to Genesis 1, what do we read? And God said, let us create man in our image. God consulted with Himself. He didn't need human beings to consult with. He didn't need a cabinet around Him to tell Him and to give Him wisdom. Who of us can teach God? Not one of us. That's the expected answer, isn't it? God has consulted with no one, and no one can teach Him. This speaks not just to the immensity of God, that God cannot be measured, but to the aseity of God. That's something we don't often hear about. Let me spell it for you. Aseity. A-S-E-I-T-Y. Aseity. The aseity of God refers to His independence from all creatures. That God doesn't need any other creature to tell Him what to do or to consult with Him or to teach Him wisdom because God is the source. God is the fount of all wisdom and knowledge. So what does that teach us this morning? You and I are students. God is the teacher. You and I are students. God is the teacher. God is independent. God doesn't need us to teach Him anything. But we need to be taught, don't we? That's why we need instruction from the Word of God on a daily and a weekly basis. That's why fathers are given the great responsibility of teaching their children about God. Transmitting, transferring that knowledge to their children, to the next generation, so that our children will know who the God of the Bible is, whom the God is that we serve. That's why we need to be taught at home, at church, at school. Wherever we go, we need to be taught about God. We are learners. God is the teacher. God is the source of all knowledge. And if God is immense and immeasurable, and if God is independent from man, how does God view us? How does God view man? Well, in light of who God is, Isaiah points out God's view of the nations of the world and the people within them. It's really God's view of us this morning as well. In verses 15 through 17, we read these words. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, are counted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, they take us up the aisles as a very little thing. Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the Bistra sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing in vanity. Counted to him less than nothing in vanity. That's not a very flattering picture, is it? The dust of the balance. After the substance has been weighed, the sack of flour put on the balance on the scale, When you put that sack of flour on the scale, sometimes there's a puff of dust that comes out of the bag. It settles down on the scale. The big bag is lifted off the scale, and what's left? It's just that powder on the scale. That's all. The sack moved the scale, but what does that dust do? It just doesn't move the needle at all, does it? That's what we are before the immensity and the independence of God. Dust. Dust on the scale. The nations of the earth. A puff of wind. Emptiness. In some sense, that's encouraging, isn't it? In the day in which we live. When nations are posturing for war, nations like to think that they are the substance on the scale. Nations that are demanding their citizens submit to them. What are they? Empty. A puff of wind. That's how God views them. That's encouraging for us as we consider the world in which we live. Even though the picture is not exactly flattering of us either because we are part of those nations, we are part of those people. As we rightly learn to know God, we also rightly learn to know ourselves. We too are counted as dust in the scales before who God is. So often we like to think of ourselves as something that we are substantial. We want to throw our weight around. We want to influence people. We think we're big stuff. We see that reflected in And children from a young age, children, don't you have that on the playground or at school sometimes? Or in the family? You think you're strong? You think you can throw your weight around? You strut around the playground or around the house? Adults do the same thing, don't they? We try to throw our weight around, influence people, What does God say to that this morning? He's saying, consider this for a moment. Consider that I am weighty and you are dust. You are light. God is all in all and we are but a puff of wind here one moment and gone the next. We are but dust, the leftover particles on the scale that doesn't move a needle at all before God. So who can actually measure God? Who can teach God? No one. God is immeasurable. God is the teacher. So what should our response be in light of who God is? Humility. Humility. Humility. Speaking with someone last week Sunday after the service, the word pride came up. Sin stems from pride. Idolatry stems from pride, doesn't it? thinking that we can find something to replace God, this God who is immeasurable, this God who is independent, this God who doesn't need anyone. And we think we're so foolish and proud that we can find something to replace this God. But in light of who God is, we should fade into the background. We should humble ourselves before God and say, Lord, you are the teacher. Lord, you are immeasurable. You have weighed me in the balance this morning and I have been found wanting, O God. I have replaced You in my life by something that is far less real and valuable. We should fade into the background and our thoughts should be filled with who God is, this God of whom Isaiah speaks. We need to remember the context in which Isaiah spoke this message. It was to the exiles, those who were beset by their enemies. A perfect word for us. Don't let your enemies take the place of God. Don't let your exile let you lose sight of who God is. Don't let your circumstances cause you to replace God with idols or other gods that supposedly can help you. Our response should be one of humility and worship informed by the knowledge of who God is. What were your thoughts of God this morning as you came to church? Was your mind filled with anxiety and fear because of what's happening around you and within you? That can be a reality sometimes. But what is that anxiety and that fear saying? The God who is immeasurable, the God who doesn't need any creature, can't help me. He can't turn my situation around. That's, in reality, what we're saying. Maybe our minds were filled with other things, thoughts about our children, thoughts about our country and its leaders, thoughts about what's happening north of the border. Thoughts about our enemies and those who want to malign us. Where did we fill our minds with revelation? Did we think God's thoughts after Him? Did we construct a God of our own imagination or did we turn to revelation? How are we turning to revelation this morning? Saying, Lord, this is who you are. This is who I need this morning. I will lay aside my pride. I will bow before you in humility because you are immeasurable. You are independent. You don't need me. But yet you take thought of me." You see, God is worthy of our trust. He is worthy of our worship. You see how close the first and second commandments are related to each other. is dealing with who God is. The second is how we worship God. And so, who can actually measure God? No one. That brings us to the second question, who can accurately represent God? Verse 18. To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness will you compare with Him?" Isaiah builds off the previous question. If God is immeasurable, how can we represent this immeasurable God? Can we take something from the created order and say, this is God? The creation, that's such a small thing, and God who is so vast and immeasurable, can we take God and reduce Him to something that is so small? and something we create according to our own imagination actually be God. Again, we're brought back to Revelation. The God whom we serve cannot be compressed into a piece of wood or stone. That's the point of the prophet as he speaks to the children of Israel in exile. It's a warning to them as they see the pagan gods around them. It's as if He's saying, don't be fooled by these idols that the heathen bow down to and worship. Don't be tempted to think that God has forsaken you, that His judgment has passed over you, that He no longer thinks about you. Isaiah knows the tendency of the Israelites. This temptation ran throughout their history. And children, you know that story, don't you? The story of the golden calf. Why did Israel make the golden calf? They complained to Aaron. They said, the God whom you claim has brought us out of Egypt, we can't see him. Where is he now? Make us a golden calf that we can see and that we can worship. So Aaron made the golden calf and he said, behold your gods that brought you out of Egypt. Israel foolishly thought they could reduce God to a golden calf. The golden calves of King Jeroboam brought Israel into trouble. But it's not just an Israel problem, is it? It's a human problem. God knows a tendency of our hearts to create something that we put in the place of God. Whether it's in our minds, whether it's something that we actually worship, power, influence, money, car, toys, other people, sports teams, I don't need to mention the Super Bowl today, do I? That's something as well. The attempt to take the God who cannot be measured and create Him in our image rather than remembering that we are created in His image. Verses 19 and 20 Isaiah shows the futility of such a venture of trying to to take the immeasurable God To take a piece of wood to take gold and silver and to represent God. The workman melteth a graven image. The goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished, even the poor man who has no offering, chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image that shall not be moved. Is this an accurate representation of God? A golden image? A wooden image? A carved image? You see, the hope here is that something that is precious can be an accurate representation of God. As long as we make it out of gold, it's something valuable and we can rely on that. The hope is that something permanent can be an accurate representation of God. We'll just take wood that won't rot. We'll look for the most durable things in this life and we'll put our stock in them. No, that can't accurately represent God either. We cannot take the internal, immeasurable God and reduce Him to a mute idol of wood or stone or gold, or even an idol of flesh. The apostle Paul buttresses the foolishness of such a venture in Romans 1, 21 through 23. He says, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. Think about that for a moment. Because that when they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations. These were people who knew God. but who suppressed the truth of God in unrighteousness. They glorified Him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations. Their foolish heart was darkened. This is the path to idolatry, beloved. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things." Idolatry. The journey into idolatry takes the knowledge of God and suppresses it. It says, I can do better. I can do better in my own imagination. How often don't we hear that expression, I'd like to think of God as? That's constructing God in our own image, in our own imaginations. It's vain. It's vanity. It's emptiness. But who is God in light of this idolatry? Isaiah continues in verses 22 through 24 to point out that God is the sovereign who has created all things. He cannot be represented even in the most imaginative way. In verse 22, the prophet emphasizes that God is far above all creatures and cannot be measured. He sits on the circle of the earth. The inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. Those who trust in such imaginations and inventions think that they provide permanence and stability, but they themselves will be will be uprooted. In fact, they cannot put down roots as Isaiah points out in verse 24, they shall not be planted, they shall not be sown, their stalks shall not take root in the earth. He shall blow upon them, they shall wither, the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. Last Sunday morning we considered something of the judgment of God. Idols and those who serve them. will be blown away like chaff in the winds of the judgment of God. God will not be reduced to something that we can contrive. Listen to what the Lord says in verse 26. It's with intentionality that he says, lift up your eyes on high and behold who has created these things. The Creator cannot be reduced to the created because He is uncreated. He is independent, remember. He is immeasurable. He cannot be taken to something that has dimensions. He cannot be reduced to something that is shiny. He cannot be reduced to something that is flesh. Lift up your eyes on high. Take your eyes off the created order and stop thinking that you can take something of creation and worship God through that and put that in the place of God. Behold who hath created these things that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power not one faileth. Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord. and my judgment is passed over from my God." God is saying this morning, don't be distracted by the things of this world. Let the stars be evidence of my great power and might. Those who are tempted to think of God on their own terms are dictated by their own circumstances. God says, listen, I've not forsaken you. God is there. He knows your way. He is everywhere. He is immense, remember. No mute idol can know about your situation. No mute idol can speak into your situation. They have hands, but they can't help you. God knows your way. That's why we need to rest this morning. God knows my way. God knows my way. I don't need an idol to help me. I don't need an idol in the place of God. I need God to come and help me. Look up. Lift up your eyes on high, believer. Don't be tempted by the idolatry of this world. God cannot be accurately represented by a fading and temporary object. But He is represented, isn't He? In the eternal Word of God, as Isaiah points out in Isaiah 40 verse 8, the grass withers, the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. That, my friends, is where we need to be this morning. Not looking at the corruptible things of this world, but looking to the incorruptible God who is glorious in Himself. An idol only presents a temporary distraction from God. An idol is an object in which men place their trust instead of or besides that one true God who has manifested Himself in His Word. We want to see God. It's right here this morning. He's revealing himself through his word saying, I'm immeasurable. I'm independent. I'm so great in power that I cannot be reduced to something inanimate or even something animate. And so what should our response be this morning? Trust in the living God whom we cannot see with our eyes, but whom we can see with the eye of faith. That's the message of salvation this morning. God rescues us from our idolatry and brings us to Himself. To trust in the One who knows the plight of His people. To bring us to the One whom we can know through His Word this morning. That raises the third question. Who can fully understand God? So who can fully understand God? Isaiah introduces this question in verse 28. Has thou not known? Has thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is weary. There is no searching. of his understanding. So who can fully understand God? Not you or I. In this final question, we see the extent of God's power and strength. But not only that, but how that power and strength is given to His people. How something of God enters into our lives and encourages us and helps us in our daily walk, pursuing God. Knowing God. You see, this question appeals to what we know. Hast thou not known? It appeals to what we have heard. Hast thou not heard? Similar reasoning to Paul in Romans 10. Isaiah calls God's people back to revelation. They hear. And because they have heard, they know. And they are called to trust and to worship the God whom they know, who has been revealed to them. And they cannot fully understand God. because there is no searching of His understanding. It doesn't mean that we can't know God at all. It doesn't mean that we can begin to understand who God is. Sure, we can only scrape the surface of who God is. We cannot fully plumb the depths as to who God is. We can't measure Him. We can't represent Him. We can't fully understand Him. But the amazing reality is that we can know Him in a personal way through Jesus Christ. We begin to understand who God is. John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to God but by me. Do you want to know who God is? Then we need to know him through his word, through the living written word and through the living incarnate word. And so often we stand before this mystery of who God is and we say, how do I know God? I need to understand who he is before I know him. And so we go and we start to try to understand who God is. And we fail. We become discouraged. We say, I can't fully understand who God... Of course you can't. Of course you can't. Because God is immeasurable. Because God is infinite. Because God cannot be represented. But the reality is that God has revealed Himself so that we can know Him and we can begin to understand Him. It's like a marriage, isn't it? For those of you who are dating, you think you know your future spouse. You might even think you understand them. But you get to know them better as you get married. You get to understand them just a little bit more. Twenty years later, you're still getting to know them. And sometimes you ask yourself the question, do I really understand my spouse? There are still conflicts. There are still misunderstandings. You know them, even though you don't fully understand them at times. There are layers of personality and character that are still hidden that the years of living together bring out. But it doesn't mean that you don't know your spouse at all. You know them even if you don't fully understand them and you grow in that knowledge of who they are. And you grow in your attempt to understand them even if you can't understand them fully. And if we can't understand our spouse fully, if we can't understand people around us fully, how is it that we think we can expect to know God fully? The God who is immeasurable, who is greater than any person. We can know God even if we can't fully understand Him. That's the beauty of the gospel. We can't fully understand who He is because He is God. He's wholly other than us. He is opposite of who we are. God is holy. We are sinful. God is infinite. We are finite. And so we can continue to build the contrast. God is wise. We are foolish. God is the teacher. We are the student. God is immeasurable. We are measurable. He is holy other than us, but we can begin to know Him. based on what He's revealed about Himself. And so we can rightly know God based on His revelation. We're called to mortify our imagination and live by God's revelation. But what does what we know about God do for us and to us? When we know God and we begin to know Him, it changes. It begins to change who we are and how we live. You see, our theology is not just abstract knowledge. Our theology, what we know, should be translated in how we think and how we speak and how we live. That's the reality. So what practical effects should the doctrine of God's power and strength and immeasurability have on us this morning? On those who are weak and weary and faint and living a life of exile in this world, just as Israel was in a foreign land of Babylon. It should have the effect of dependence and trust in the power and strength of God. Listen to verse 29, He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Can an idol do that? Can an idol give you strength in the inner man? We might worship someone in our lives. We might worship our spouse or our children. They might be able to encourage us. They might be able to motivate us. But they can't instill strength in us. They can't do what God can do for us in taking our hearts and strengthening them. Our money can't do that. Our power can't do that. Our social media influence can't do that. Do you ever wonder why there are so many discontented people in the world? Because they're looking for satisfaction and strength and might in created things rather than in God. Notice what the text says, those who have no strength. Have you learned that in light of who God is? He gives strength. He is the source of spiritual strength this morning for the heart that has no strength at all. That's the good news of who God is for impotent sinners. Illustrated most powerfully when Jesus walked in this world and He saw the man with the withered hand. And what did He say to that man? Stretch forth your hand. The muscles were withered. There was no connection with the nerves. There was nothing there. And Jesus spoke with authority and with power. And what happened? The man stretched forth his hand. He was impotent. I recently heard a sermon. The widow from Nain carrying her dead son. Jesus came with authority and spoke. Life came into that man again. That's who God is. No strength, but God gives strength. The impotence of idols and our own impotence should bring us to God and His omnipotence to preserve us, to strengthen us, to help us in this walk of holiness for those who are the children of God. calls us to dependence on God as a response to his strength that he supplies for those who are weak. Verses 30 and 31, even the youths shall faint and be weary. The young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Even those who have a strong spiritual constitution and grow weak and discouraged and faint. That's the imagery here. A young man who is vibrant and strong, even that young man will utterly fall. He's running in his own strength. With a strength that is sourced in God, he renews his strength and makes them run and walk again. They that wait upon the Lord, That brings us full circle to what we're considering this morning. Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. This waiting is not just sitting back until God does something extraordinary and we move on in the Christian life. No, this waiting of God is an activity. an activity of dependence, of resting in God, of going to God as a source of strength and drawing down that strength for ourselves so that we can live out of the strength of who God is. And so we need to put off, but we also need to put on. So who can fully understand God? No one but God Himself. But in light of who God is and the fact that we cannot fully understand Him, we can know Him. And we're called to dependence upon Him, to wait, to lean, to trust. as we'll see next Lord's Day, to worship Him alone. We need to rightly know the only true God. Trust in Him alone. With humility and patience submit to Him. Expect all good things from Him only. Love, fear, and glorify Him with my whole heart. that I renounce and forsake all creatures rather than commit even the least thing contrary to His will. What thoughts about God will you carry away from the message this morning? Thoughts that fill your mind and heart in worship for who God is? Or will you still rely on idols of your own imagination. Amen. Lord, we pray that Thou wilt bless this message to our minds, to our hearts, and to our lives. Lord, there is none like Thee in wisdom, in power, in might, immeasurable, not able to be represented in any way except according to thy word, not able to be fully understood, but able to be known according to thy word. Lord, we pray that thou will teach us that we would always assume the position of student, never thinking that we've arrived and that we can instruct thee or dictate to thee what should be done. that we would humbly and patiently submit to Thee, expecting all good from Thee only. Lord, we need Thee. We cry out for Thee. Help us to see that the absence of idols does not necessarily mean that we have the presence of God. But Lord, we need both this morning. We pray that Thou will do that through Thy Word We ask all this now in the forgiveness of our sins, for Jesus' sake. Amen.