The Cosmic Glory of the Star Naming God

Providence Baptist Church

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Amen. In the summer of 2019 we had just gotten our new minivan and we,

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I don't remember the exact circumstances, I know I was preaching in Cherokee, Texas and so I think

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Stephanie, I think the reason we left late is because Stephanie was still working for the chip mill at that point.

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So I remember we left on a Monday like four or five on a Monday afternoon and somewhere around midnight we were deep in the heart of Texas as they say and Hadden, if you remember that point, he would have been two.

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He must have still been in diapers because I remember like we had to do a diaper change.

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But the issue was we were in the middle of nowhere Texas and it's not like we're close to a town.

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There's no town, there's no streetlights, there's nothing like that and so but but you know when a kid's diaper needs to be changed like it needed to be changed.

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And so we pull off on this dirt road in order to change his diaper and I could not help but think in my mind when

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I pulled off on this dirt road, I'm pretty sure this is how horror movies start, right?

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We're in the middle of nowhere pulling off on this dirt road to change a diaper. But I get out and I just happened to just look up.

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I can't help it. I just look up and it was one of the most amazing sights

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I've ever seen and that is in the middle of Texas, the big

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Texas sky, no lights anywhere for I mean it's not like you don't look out and you don't see lights anywhere and the sky was brilliant.

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So beautiful. It really reminds me how often we're inundated with so much artificial light that you know we just drive and ignore the sky but you could not ignore the night sky on this night.

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I looked up and I felt very very small as you could see all those stars.

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It made me think of Abraham, maybe a similar night when

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God says to Abraham, go out number the stars if you can and so will your descendants be.

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Well it would have taken us I feel like a hundred years to number all of those stars.

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Would you turn in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 147? Okay ordinarily we're preaching through books of the

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Bible here so we just finished Ephesians. We are going to start Nahum soon but actually maybe after the mission trip there's just actually you can pray for Jacob and I there's so much that we need to be getting ready in the next couple of weeks for that so be praying for us but we are going to start the book of Nahum but as we kind of wait between Ephesians and Nahum we're just looking at different texts and I want to tell you tonight this morning that the

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Bible teaches us that the stars have a bit to tell us about the glory of God and that's what we're going to consider this morning from Psalm 147 particularly verses 4 and 5 but just in way of context

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I'll go ahead and read verses 1 through 11 so would you stand with me so we read Psalm 147 verses 1 through 11 praise the

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Lord for it is good to sing praises to our God for it is pleasant and a song of praise is fitting the

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Lord builds up Jerusalem he gathers the outcasts of Israel he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds he determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names great is our

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Lord and abundant in power his understanding is beyond measure the Lord lifts up the humble but he casts the wicked to the ground sing to the

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Lord with Thanksgiving make melody to our God on the lyre he covers the heavens with clouds he prepares rain for the earth he makes grass grow on the hills he gives to the beasts their food and to the young ravens that cry his delight is not in the strength of the horse nor his pleasure in the legs of a man but the

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Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope in his steadfast love father would you help us to understand this text this morning give us grace let us see a bigger picture of you let that affect us let us understand the glorious gospel of Christ this morning let us live as a people and as a church surrender to your will in all of your holy majesty let us never again look at the night sky and not think about your cosmic glory and not think about what

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Christ has done for us we pray it all in Jesus name amen you may be seated the sermon this morning is just simply entitled the cosmic glory of the star naming

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God the cosmic glory of the star naming God now listen I just want to tell you something that the universe is not about you it's not about you and and one of the things

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I think about such a big universe is why did God make the universe so big

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I think it's to remind you that you're so small I think it's to remind you that the universe is so big so that you remember the universe is not about you it's about the glory of God I was watching a preview for a for a documentary like number of years ago and the guy says in that advertisement if you will that he says in a universe this big it's impossible that we are alone in a universe this big it's impossible that we are alone well guess what maybe not in the way he intends but he's right we are not alone in this universe because this universe is

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God's universe he spoke it into existence for the purpose of displaying his glory we know we know from the

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Bible that on day four God created the stars think about this for just a moment there were no stars and then in an instant not over the course of months or years or billions of years but in a moment

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God spoke the stars into existence as we might look at a little piece of paper and draw dots on it

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God in an instant was able to speak the stars into existence and our text says he determines the number of the stars verse four and he gives to all of them their names just a few preliminary things to preliminary things to think about he determined the number of the stars he said this is how many stars there are going to be and it was so and he gave them their names which will consider that more later in the sermon for now

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I want to consider now I've never counted so this is just this is based on research that means

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I googled I want to consider that visible from the earth with the naked eye you're looking at maybe on that night in Texas a really clear night no artificial light maybe you could be like see 5 ,000 stars or something maybe 7 ,000 and we know that stars are not just little blips in the sky they're massive objects with massive energy so just track with me for a moment if all that God had made all that he had determined and named were 5 ,000 stars it would be quite an amazing thing and we should give

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God the praise and the glory for such an amazing thing but I want to tell you this morning that the number 5 ,000 doesn't even come close it's not even comparable doesn't even scratch the surface how many stars there are so we live

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I've been told in the Milky Way galaxy and I've been told that in this galaxy no one's ever counted there's over a hundred billion stars now

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I don't really know I'm sure I mean I'm sure there's some sort of way to estimate that that's maybe accurate but we really have no way a hundred billion stars the

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Milky Way galaxy is just one galaxy in the universe so all these galaxies floating around if you will in the universe this one galaxy that we're in has a hundred billion stars now no one actually knows how many galaxies there are some people say there are 200 billion galaxies and some people say there's 10 times that many that would be 2 trillion so you have a galaxy with a hundred billion stars and how many galaxies you have

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I don't know there's a 200 billion like well like we can see this stuff and we can estimate we can look into the far reaches of the universe if you will or maybe it's not even the far reaches maybe it's just the beginning of the universe and we can see we can estimate these things but the point is simply this

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Psalm 147 for brings an even greater awe to our minds and hearts when we begin to consider the sheer number of stars in our universe he determines the number of the stars some have said there are one septillion stars that's a one with 24 zeros behind that's actually higher than our national debt which is that's a lot but the number one septillion it's really bigger than our brains can grasp so I'll throw out some illustrations if you could take every grain of sand on every beach in the world today every desert in the world today and you could number every grain of sand it would be less than one septillion do you understand there are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the earth one septillion seconds that's a long time that's longer than this sermon verse four he determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names suppose that it took

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God it were to take God now I did he didn't it took an instant but suppose that God were going to name each star per second so you know

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Bob the star I don't know but you understand each star for one second and it took one septillion seconds do you understand that a trillion so a trillion is

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I think a septillion someone correct me I know you can't you will but someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think a trillion times a trillion is a septillion

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I could be way off on that but if you just counted to a trillion one second per number that would take you 31 ,710 years for one trillion okay so a septillion is like a trillion times a trillion so anyway that's a bunch it hurts my head that's how long it would be like whatever whatever number you come up with that's how many years but again the text says that the point is he determines the number of the stars he gives all of them their names let me just introduce something to your thought process that you should think about going forward in the world that we live in today as modern science increases so should our all and majesty of God as we take a telescope and we look into the far reaches of the universe if you will and as we see well this just came into existence out of nothing the thought process should be what a glorious God we serve today we can see more stars than just a few years ago people could imagine and yet we think it's no big deal but think about what the text is saying it's it's mind -blowing you know it was difficult for me to name six children and it's difficult for me to remember their names particularly when they get in trouble you go through the roll call and then you throw a dog's name in there and maybe a grandparent's name or something but the text says that God determines the number of the stars and he gives to all of them their names now there's some things this text makes me think about God and I want to offer that to you that will be the sermon the first I think about his power the text says great is our

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Lord in verse 5 and abundant in power now I don't know the exact number but our son has enough energy for like 10 billion hydrogen bombs every second you understand every second the

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Sun in our solar system has a massive amount of power and energy and God made them and and he made one septillion of them give or take in the universe he spoke them into existence and the text says that he's great verse 5 and abundant in power the universe is so big to remind us that God is big and we are small remember the

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Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 we're gonna make this tower and we're gonna reach up to heaven and the and it's funny because the

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Bible says God had to come down to see it all right the God who made a septillion stars is not impressed with your trying to get to him on your own terms he scoffs at such foolishness because it's pathetic our little works pathetic when compared to the

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God who made a septillion stars and calls him by name it's quite amazing the arrogance of mankind toward this powerful triune

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God he breathed out galaxies how many sin against this great

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God in haughty defiance wicked man even in the month of June has dedicated a whole month to praise what

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God says is an abomination we parade our sins in front of God as though he can do nothing about it and this is the

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God who breathed galaxies out let's press on not only do I think of God's power

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I think secondly of his wisdom and knowledge and creativity just kind of put all this together his wisdom and knowledge and creativity verse 5 well we read verse 4 and 5 together he determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names and then the psalmist says great is our

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Lord and abundant in power his understanding is beyond measure now if I make a little

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Lego airplane with my boys and we don't have any parts left over I feel rather accomplished but God made a septillion stars and he put them all right where they're supposed to go and he named them now there's a bit of Hebrew wordplay that we don't pick up in the

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English it might be helpful if they were the same word in English but they're not in any translation that I came across but the word for number in verse 4 and the word for measure in verse 5 they're the same

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Hebrew word so verse 4 he determines the number of the stars and then in verse 5 his understanding is beyond measure the word their measure in the

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SV and the word number in verse 4 they're the same word so here is what's being communicated what is being communicated is the stars can be numbered but God's understanding cannot be numbered or if you use the word measure the one who is able to measure the stars cannot himself be measured do you understand that's why

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Isaiah 4028 says have you not known have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting

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God the creator of the ends of the earth he does not faint or grow weary his understanding is unsearchable or Romans 11 33 to 36 oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways for who has known the mind of the

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Lord or who can has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever amen isn't it so arrogant when people question our great

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God doesn't it bug you sometimes like as a parent doesn't like bug you when you know something and you tell your children hey this is how it's gonna be this is what you're gonna do and they're like why and you're like cuz

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I know more than you right like I know how this is gonna play out I understand how this works and you need to listen to me isn't it you just rude and arrogant for a child to look at you and like no okay well that's what we do to God when we question his wisdom when we question his understanding how can we question this great star naming

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God how can you question his providence and his wisdom and his knowledge because it cannot be measured you

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God can't take an IQ test and you put a number of what his IQ is it's unmeasurable

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I mean he tells us something in his word when the Bible says this why would we question why would we not just believe it you deal with maybe complex doctrines like the doctrine of predestination or the doctrine of regeneration or you you wrestle with these things the sovereignty of God maybe it hurts our brain maybe it's hard to wrap around but can we not just say this

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God has an understanding that is far beyond mine not just far beyond mine but that is infinite it cannot be measured and can we just trust what this

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God has spoken to us thirdly I think of his authority so the text says he determines the number of the stars and listen this he gives to all of them their names so you get a new dog who gets the name the dog you get the dog doesn't name itself the dog doesn't allow you to name it you name the dog why because you're the owner you're the one in authority

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God is named the text says the stars which we are using the number septillion the idea of the text is that God gives the stars their names as a measure of authority

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God and the stars are not negotiating here God says here's where you shall go here is what you shall be called and so it is

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I am reminded even in this psalm that the one in charge of the stars is the one in charge of the universe and all of human history look down at verse 8 he covers the heavens with clouds he prepares rain for the earth he makes grass grow on the hills no he doesn't we've we've just proved that it's the water cycle and photosynthesis who do you think stands behind those things who do you think is working in and through those things verse 9 he gives to the beasts their food and to the young ravens that cry in other words

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God is not wound up the universe and set it in motion and then set back and said well

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I really wonder how these things are going to go no he's actively and intimately involved in creation there's not a particle of dust floating around out there this summer that is not divinely ordained to go exactly where God has ordained for it to go there is not a raindrop that falls from the sky that God is not sovereignly in control of there is not a person's heart rate beat there is not a breath in anyone's lungs that God is not sovereignly in control over and involved in this is

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God's authority over this world this is God's world this is my father's world it doesn't matter who is the president though I mean it matters for us and we should vote obviously it doesn't matter what the temperature is this summer the percent humidity this is my father's world and he is in active control over it he's actively and intimately involved in creation fourthly

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I think of God's beauty he determines the number of the stars and he gives to all of them their names now for me personally maybe you have an experience you could share from your own life but I cannot think of a more awe -inspiring sight than that night in Texas I mean

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I've seen the Grand Canyon and it's quite beautiful but boy that Texas night tiny diamonds in the sky against a black canvas all preaching to us how glorious God yes you know one of your biggest problems one of the biggest issues that you have in your life

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I already know I don't have to know you that well one of the biggest issues you have in your life is that you think of yourself too much and of God too little friends let this song pull us out of such thinking we must remember the beauty of God and you need to remember that the creation that we're looking at today is groaning under the curse of sin you haven't even ever seen creation and all its beauty because creation the most beautiful sight you've ever seen in all creation is groaning under the curse of sin not only that but the best eyes in this room you may have 20 -20 vision or your eyes may even be better than 20 -20 vision and yet even your eyes are still tainted with sin

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I think of my daughter the other day a couple weeks ago she drank some sweet tea it was really sweet and then she had

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I think it was ice cream so she drank some sweet tea and then she took a bite of ice cream and she said mom this ice cream isn't sweet right well no cuz you just drank a gallon of sweet tea right your taste buds are tainted with sugar therefore the ice cream doesn't taste as sweet as what it actually is similarly your eyes are tainted with sin and even though the greatest vision of creation that you can have today is still tainted it's still not where it should be our eyes are tainted with sin and even the most beautiful created things are not as beautiful as they once were and they're not as beautiful as they will be one day but when we pause and consider the beauty that does remain in this universe think about that even in this fallen universe much beauty remains and it should remind us that the

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God we serve is beautiful he is objective beauty he is glorious his majestic beauty is infinite and unmatchable

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I'm gonna tell you today that you are far too easily satisfied with the ugliness of this world you are far too easily satisfied with sin in this world with idolatry in this world when

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God made us to behold and to enjoy his glory we exchange the glory of God for created things we exchange the beauty of the holy and wonderful triune

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God for the ugliness of sin friend I can tell you today that that's not a good trade that's something you must consider as we continue fifthly

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I think of God's kindness the text says he determines the number of stars he gives to all of them their names now there's so much more that we could be saying here but just consider that the psalmist gives us a glimpse into the heart of God he is the

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God who doesn't merely scientifically categorize the stars he is the

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God who names the stars little Johnny collects the rocks and he gives them all these names this one's

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Larry and whatever little Susie has the baby dolls and she gives them all their names well that just flows out of being made in the image of the

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God who names the stars he doesn't have to name the stars it doesn't add to his glory he's big balls of inanimate object like what is that what you don't have to name these things but he but he names of stars and it displays his glory because it shows his personable disposition the

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God of the Bible and the most reverent sense of the word is a personable God I don't want to use personal although that would be okay too because when you think of personal you think of personalized like I can just have

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God however I want he he ain't Burger King right you can't have it your way God is

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God as he's revealed himself to be but he is revealed himself to be a personable

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God he is the God who delights to be known he is the God willing to even name inanimate stars this is a reflection of and overflow of he's an eternal benevolence

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God is good he is kind and this is a glorious reality but it's also a terrifying reality what don't

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I want God to be good of course you want God to be good what would it be like if we served a

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God who is not good yes you want God to be good but it's terrifying because verse 6 says the

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Lord lifts up the humble he cast the wicked to the ground God's holy goodness means that he must be good towards sin you hear that maybe and you think ah good towards sin means he can excuse my sin no friend good towards sin means justice he must and he will be just and because he is all -powerful and has all authority he will punish sin and because he has all knowledge and wisdom he will get this right and the wicked will find no escape on the day of judgment now in your mind and heart you might say that's good preach to the wicked that's right but the

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Bible says things like in Romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so when it says he will cast the wicked to the ground one of the things that should be terrifying to us at least initially is but that's me right that's me because I've sinned against God I've fallen short of his glory for God to be good to my sin means he must punish me and yet the stars lead us to an answer for this problem of mankind there is a star in the

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New Testament now I don't know its name but God named it the Magi from the east asked

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Herod where's the king of the Jews for we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him well here we have the

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Messiah his birth announced by prophecy thousands of years before by angels at the arrival of his birth and then even here by a star here's where the power and wisdom and creativity and kindness of God all me namely

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Jesus Christ the the star naming God as it were stepped down into humanity to be born of the

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Virgin Mary can you just think through for just a moment this morning the humility of the

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Son of God the one who made and named septillion stars steps down into the womb taking on human flesh in the womb of a young Jewish girl 2 ,000 years ago this

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Jesus the Son of God the the second person of the Trinity the one who inhabits eternity

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Isaiah 57 says whose name is holy this one came to us because God named the stars and he ordered the planets and he made the mountains really tall and he made the oceans really deep and none of these things rebelled against him the stars didn't say to him we're not going where you say the mountains didn't say we're not going where you say the rivers and the oceans in the trees none of those things said we're not going to do what you tell us to do but then he makes mankind in his image he speaks these other things into existence but in his compassion and kindness and intimacy he stoops down and he makes mankind from the dust of the earth and then he makes

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Eve from from from the rib of Adam and and he makes him he breathes life into the nostrils of Adam so close so intimate made in the image of God and what does mankind do to this great and glorious God we turn our backs we sin

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God says do this and we say no we won't do it

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God says don't do this and we say we will do we trampled on his goodness all we like sheep have turned astray every one of us to his own way yet Jesus stepped into our reality the image of the invisible

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God the exact imprint of his nature truly God and truly man the one the

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Old Testament pointed to and predicted and promised the name of a septillion stars came and fulfilled all righteousness he kept the law of God he worshiped

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God perfectly and rightly and wholly and fully and truly he fulfilled all righteousness and all the ways that we have failed and sin when

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God said to do something he did it when God said not to do something he didn't do in all of the words and law of God our

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Lord Jesus succeeded in every way that we have failed Jesus succeeded the

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Bible says things like this he knew no sin but then in the kindness of God he was crushed under the wrath of God on the cross in the stead of ruined sinners stars shine against the blackness of the night and it makes him shine all the more beautiful so too does the gospel now shine forth against the black canvas of our sin our rebellion our lawbreaking our thievery all of these things are sexual immorality all of these things deserving of wrath and hell and judgment and there will be many who receive these things and perhaps even in this room there will be those who receive them those who are holding on to the

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God of self but the gospel reminds us that the son of God was slain in the stead of ruined sinners on the cross and just like the stars announced his birth so too did something happen at his death amos 8 9 said predicted and on that day declares the

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Lord God I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight and so he did

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Matthew 27 45 says now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour think about this for just a moment in broad daylight

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God showed that the glory of his son eclipses the glory of the stars all of the stars in all of their galaxies to the far reaches of the universe serve this great purpose to exalt the glory of Christ Luke 23 45 says the sun's light failed and the curtain of the temple was torn into the stars announced the birth of Christ and the stars went dark at his death as it were on the cross the sun's light is eclipsed by the glory of the son of God as his work shows us that your law keeping will not bring you access to God the the

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Mosaic covenant with all of its rituals and feasts will not bring you access to God listen it's not crunching motherhood or homesteading that's a big thing today let's go buy property and like there's nothing wrong with that but listen your crunchy motherhood your sourdough bread your homesteading your homeschooling your

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Dave Ramsey financial plans your American patriotism listen to me church none of these things will bring you into a right relationship with God it's only

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Christ it's only what Jesus has done his death on the cross for sinners and his subsequent resurrection on the third day the sun's light failed and so too will any of your attempts to gain access with God that do not hinge upon grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone

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God has all the stars in the universe he determines the number of the stars he gives to all of them their names the

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God who owns all the stars in the universe has nothing that you can offer him there's nothing that you can you can bring to this

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God that he doesn't already own that's not better right what are you gonna give him here

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God here's my here's my little whatever my house my home my my my obedience

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God owns everything and everything that you could give him it's better but this is the one the

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Bible says to whom he will look he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at his word do you know the one to whom

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God will look the one who understands himself or herself as a sinner who understands their deserving of God's wrath who sees

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Christ is the one who died for them who lived for them who died for them who rose again for them who goes to Christ appealing to him not in a haughty demanding you owe me this but it goes to him and humble penitent faith receiving him trusting him resting upon him upon Christ this is the one

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God will look the one who trembles at the Word of God and flees to Christ as his or her only suitable and all -sufficient

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Savior this is the one whom the Holy Spirit of God is working the one who cries out to Jesus in faith it doesn't matter how many toys you have what hey listen by the way let me just be clear

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I love sourdough bread and my birthday's coming up I'll give a few more potshots to sourdough bread though it doesn't matter how good of sourdough bread you can make who

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God looks to is the one looking to Christ the one who humbly receives

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Christ friends we must not let good things overshadow

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Christ it's only Christ are you looking to him today even this morning is there one here who may turn to the star naming

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God in repentance and faith it's interesting isn't it how we get a road to the cross from strange places

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I think of a Spurgeon that said every road in the Bible leads to Calvary who would have thought that a septillion stars would have driven us to a lowly wooden cross because God punished my wickedness in his own son because the maker of innumerable stars took on flesh lived a perfectly righteous life died in my place rose again

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I can have fellowship with God through faith in Jesus friends we need to take our eyes off of ourselves put them on the stars so that we could see the majesty of God this is the

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God we proclaim this is the God of the Bible infinitely holy and wonderful next time you look up at the night sky worship him as he deserves verse seven says sing to the

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Lord with Thanksgiving make melody to our God on the lyre now let me just rattle off a few more applications and then we'll pray so here's an application if God is so bothered to name a septillion stars and then give

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Christ to redeem us from our sins if God is so meticulous about every raindrop and blade of grass don't you think he has a purpose for you listen dear brother or sister

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I don't know the season well I do I do I'm one of your pastors I do know the seasons of life here

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I may not know them as intimately as you know them of course but I can look out and in our church we desire to have our pastors know our people so I know your season of life and I just want to encourage you of something will you trust

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Christ in this season some of you this is a hard season some of you maybe there it's not so hard but I'm telling you this morning

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I know the star -naming God and I know that he's doing a work for his son and I know that you're a part of that can you trust this morning in this season of life that you're in that the star -naming

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God has a purpose for you whether right now that's changing a lot of diapers whether that's walking through medical hardship with a loved one you can press on because God is for you in Christ I'm speaking to the believer secondly the

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God who delights to be known hasn't commissioned his stars to share the gospel now you just think about that for just a moment people came around I think eight people was the tally um eight people came to Perryville to see the eclipse and that's a joke and but seriously people came we met a couple in Germany from Germany that were at the park that came to see the eclipse but you know what the eclipse did not do the eclipse did not share the gospel it didn't preach

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Christ as wonderful and as beautiful and as great as the stars in the universe are do you understand that our

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God has not commissioned the stars to carry the name of his son to the nation's he has commissioned his church would you consider that this morning would you take a serious account of the incredible privilege and honor that God has bestowed upon the church would you understand that the stars are great but God ain't trusting them to declare his the glory of Christ among the nations and will you be more serious about preaching

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Christ and sharing Christ to your children and your friends and your neighbors to be serious about evangelism listen

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June 8th is in another evangelism today now you don't have to only wait for those days to do evangelism hope you don't but another evangelism day in our church is

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June 8th I understand some of you providentially you simply cannot make that day but you can pray can you not can you not pray for us some of you you don't come because you are scared and I say to you will you remember that God hasn't commissioned the stars to share his gospel but the church and then here's the last one

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I don't need everyone to really focus in on this last application and then we'll be done here's the last application you worry too much verse 11 says the

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Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope in his steadfast love you have sinful worry in your life it's just the reality how do

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I know because I know what I struggle with do you need to increase in your fear of God you need to fear the star -naming

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God and nothing else quit worry quit justifying your anxiety anxiety in our society is called a medical condition friends it's not a medical condition the

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Bible calls it sin and the remedy for anxiety is increase in the fear of God the

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Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him our crumbling society reminds us that these are the days for godly courage and humble holiness of life and the

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Word of God compels the people of God to fear God and no one and nothing else not the coming election not viruses not animals not storms the the maker of the galaxies is for us in Christ the one who determined and named a septillion stars is on our side who can be against us we must therefore give our all to him we must build our lives around his to celebrate it you have to do these things these are not the days to run to the hills and just leave everything to themselves these are the days to stand upon the

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Word of God and to say I fear God and I don't fear you we must in the words of William Carey attempt great things for God and expect great things from God and then we just relieved leave all the results to him but let us have a fixed resolution this morning on the furthering of his kingdom and this begins with actually trusting our triune

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God in every area of our lives listen when you worry when you worry about what's going on at work when you worry about the amount of money in your bank account when you worry about the next sickness coming down the line when you worry about what shenanigans the

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Democrats are going to pull next when you worry about these things you preach a different message than the stars preach you see the stars are preaching this message

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God is glorious God is worthy God is powerful God is kind but your worry says

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God is weak God is forgetful God is not in control and God doesn't care this is not the message that our lives must tell this world church repent of your worry and let us join in with the stars and proclaim the cosmic glory of the star -naming

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God father thank you for your word we pray that he would encourage us strengthen us challenge us fashion us into the image of your dear son forgive us forgive me of my worry let us press on in holy trust humble fear living for your glory according to your word let us not back down let us stand in these days