Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm chapter 8. I would like to look at Psalm 8
tonight because of one verse in particular here in the Psalm.
It's verse 4. Psalm 8, verse 4, it says, What is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? What is man? What is man? Every now and then,
I try to enter into the Word every time I read it. I try to
enter into the Word every time I preach it. But every now and
then we really enter into the Word. Sometimes the Word really
reaches us. And this reached me. What is man? What is man? Man is so proud of himself and
he's so expectant of things from God. And what is man? What is man that thou art mindful
of him? And how amazing is it that you,
he, would take the time, and let's
see if that'll get us, that he would take the time to visit
with man. What is man that thou art mindful
of him and the son of man that thou visitest him or her? David, speaking to God, asking
God this question, we expound it saying, considering who you
are, Considering who you are and everything
that you control and everything that you order and
everything that you direct, considering the greatness, considering the
infinity. Let me just ask a quick question. Where does space stop? You know
all that stuff, traveling, and that's all on a flight path. Considering the boundless universe
that is governed by you, governed by Him. That's what David was
saying in verse 3. He said, when I consider the
heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars which
thou hast ordained, what is man? That thou art mindful of him
and the son of man that thou visitest him. Amazing that you
would take the time to visit him. It's amazing that you would
take the time, that he would take the time to visit. For various reasons, there are
times that I have to study from home, different reasons. And when I do, there is something
that happens that is a common occurrence. I mean, a very, very
common occurrence. We have this little dog, Ellie
Mae. And while I am sitting in my chair writing, I have a spot
at home that I like to study. And while I'm sitting in my chair
writing, she will come up to me with no hesitation. There is no hesitation in her. There is no reservation. She doesn't come cowering. I
mean, she just comes right up to me. You call that boldness.
But she comes right up to me and she doesn't jump, but she'll
stand up and put both of her paws on my leg and she'll look
at me. She does this all the time. And she'll just stand there looking
at me. And I'm sitting there writing and she'll come up, you
know, sometimes she scares me. But anyway, what she wants is
she wants me to stop what I'm doing. And she wants me to look at her.
That's what she wants. She wants me to look at her.
And she wants me to touch her head. And I do. I, like, grab her ear. You know,
she's got floppy ears. And I will. And when I do that,
she hops down and goes on about her business. She's good. She
got what she wanted. She's satisfied. The other day, I was studying and I was deep in study. You men who have had to study
know what I'm talking about. Sometimes you're just, you're
just drawn in and you're writing and you're, it's flowing and
your heart is, you're in it, you're in it. And she did that. She came up to me and did that.
So I ignored her. I was deep in study. And she wouldn't go away. I thought
she'll go away in a minute. And she wouldn't go away. So
I kept on ignoring her. So she started nudging my hand
in my arm with her nose, trying to get my attention. And when she did that, this actual
thought went through my mind. And I don't know if this is fine
or shameful, I don't know what it is, but this is the thought
that went through my mind. I thought, I'm sitting here writing
and I thought, do you not realize how important what I'm doing
is? You're a dog. All right, you're a dog. Do you
not realize, do you not see what I'm doing here? Do you really think that I ought
to take the time? Do you really think that I ought
to take the time to stop working on a message from God's Holy
Word concerning this great glorious salvation that Christ accomplished
for His people through His death? Do you really think that I ought
to take the time to stop doing that just to give you what you
need right now? Who are you? Who are you? Really, who are
you that I would stop something this important? What I'm doing
is actually important. Who are you that I would stop
something this important just to look your way and to reach
down and touch you? You're a dog. You're just a dog." Then I thought, who am I? Honestly, who am I? That God,
oh, He does important business. Just consider the heavens. He does important business, the
business of the throne. The government is upon His shoulder. Who am I that God would take
the time to look at me and to reach down and touch me? Even the dogs get the crumbs
that fall from their master's table, don't they? I stopped what I was doing, and I did unto her what I pray
my Lord and God will do unto me. In the midst, in the midst of
the great importance of His controlling the universe, He is controlling
the universe. In the midst of that, how pitiful
is it, meaning full of pity, pity in his heart, how pitiful
is it that he would take the time to be mindful of, to turn
his countenance toward the countenance of his face, to reach down his
hand for unworthy, Unworthy, unworthy, undeserving, sinful
men and women like you and me. How full of pity is that? What
is man? What is man? I tell you what
man is. Man is a sinner. What is man? Man is a sinner. That's what
man is. That's what we men and women
are. We are sinners. We are sinners
who by nature are not mindful of God. It wasn't until God said to David,
seek ye my face, that David said, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Genesis six says that our minds
are only evil continually. Is that not so? Is that not so? Our minds only dwell on evil
things. That is so. Turn, it's one page
in my Bible, turn one page to Psalm 14. Verse one, it says,
the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. That's a fool
who says that, but that's one way of reading that. The other
way is, The two words, there is, they are in italics. They
were added by the translators. If you remove them, the original
text said, the fool hath said in his heart, no God. The fool hath said, no God. There
is no God, but the fool has also said no. They are corrupt. They have done
abominable works. There is none that doeth good.
The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see
if there were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. That is man. What is man? That's me and you
and our flesh, wicked before God, not even mindful of God.
But how amazing is it to think that in spite of man, God is
mindful to him. Even though man is not mindful
of God, God is mindful of him. Go with me over to Psalm 103. Psalm 103, verse one says, bless
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his
holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities,
who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction,
who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfieth thy mouth with good, so that thy youth is renewed
like the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his
ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. The Lord
is merciful. and gracious, slow to anger and
plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither
will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the
heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him. Where is his mercy great toward
them that fear him? In the person of his son. in the person of His Son. Verse
12 says, as far as the East is from the West, so far hath He
removed our transgressions from us. How did He remove our transgressions
from us? In the person of His Son. He
laid them on His Son. Amazing. He laid them on His
Son. He dealt with them in His Son.
He shed the blood of His Son in order to remove our iniquities
from us. If I could give one true word
of good news, it's this, in Christ, you are not a sinner anymore.
How can that be? I don't know, but it's so. That's an amazing thought. Verse 13 says, Like as a father
pitieth his children. Like as a father pitieth his
children. I tell you, boy, if you want
to get your heart squeezed, have something happen to one of your
children. Pity, pity, pity. Like as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. for He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. He remembers, isn't that good
news? He is mindful of the fact that we are dust.
He knows our frame. Like that little dog, I understand
that little dog's whole world is basically wrapped up inside
our house in a little bitty fence in the backyard. And nothing important going on
in that dog's life, but it's important to that dog, you know. That's us. Our whole world is
confined to this little ball. He knows our frame. He knows
that we're just dust. From dust we came to dust we
will return. He knows that. He knows our worthlessness. He knows that. He knows we only
take and don't give. He knows our emptiness. He knows
our frailty. I love this though. Psalm 40
says, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Amazingly in Christ, we can say the Lord thinks upon me. Go with me back to Psalm 8. Verse 1 says, Oh Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is thy name in all the earth. I love how David
acknowledged, you are the Lord, but you're our Lord. The Lord
is our Lord. The God is our God. Verse one,
he said, Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name. Let me ask a question here. What
is God's name? I think that's a very important
question. I think everybody on earth ought
to be asked that question. What is God's name? Everybody talks about God. What
is God's name? Here's the answer. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. There is no other
name. There's no other name. That name
is above every name. Do you see, look at verse one,
do you see how it says, Oh, Jehovah, our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
see that? Oh, capital O, capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D. Our, capital L, lowercase O-R-D. Oh, Jehovah, our Lord Jesus Christ. How excellent is thy name. in all the earth. Call His name
Jesus, because He'll save His people. Call His name Emmanuel,
because God is with you. Who has set Thy glory above the
heavens? Look at verse 1. O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Who has set
Thy glory above the heavens? That last line is not a question,
it's a statement. Who set His glory above the heavens?
He set His own glory above the heavens. He set His own glory there because
He earned it. When He earned it, He set His
own glory there. The Father set His glory there
because Christ earned it. He was owed it. The Spirit set
His glory there because He earned it. We, His people, set His glory
there because He earned it. He earned it in the life he lived,
that beautiful, perfect life he lived. Can't imagine, we can't
imagine living a life like that. One day we will. That glorious
death he died, he earned it. Verse 1 says, Oh Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is thy name in all the earth. who has set thy
glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Out of
the mouth of babes. Our Lord said, in Matthew 11,
he said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. Why did he do that? Even so,
oh father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. That's what you
wanted to do. Verse two says, out of the mouth
of babes hast thou ordained strength. Because that's what you chose
to do. That's who you chose to ordain
to it. You chose the weak things of
the world. I am so glad to hear that. The foolish things of the world. If this Word of God said that
God chose the strong and the wise, we would seriously doubt
it was us. But when He says the weak and
the foolish, we say, that's me. He did that because that's what
He was mindful to do. Verse 3 says, When I consider
the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars
which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? Our Lord visited
man in his mind and will and purpose before the world of man
ever existed. He visited man in creation when
he made man. in the garden. He visited man
in justice when man sinned against him in the garden. He visited
man in judgment in judgment. He judged man. He visited man
in judgment when he came to redeem. man from his sin, his people,
the chosen ones of the father. He judged them in Christ on the
cross dealt with them. And our Lord, and this is glorious. Our Lord will visit man. His delights were with the sons
of man. Our Lord will visit man in communion. He will visit with His people.
Do you ever like to visit? You ever go to somebody's house
to visit? Let's just get together and visit. Our Lord will visit with His
people. Every time they need Him, every
time they need for Him to just look at them, Every time they
need him to reach down his hand and touch him, he will visit
with his people and commune with his people every time they need
it till the day that he returns for them. Honestly, if you find
yourself needing him, I know you will understand what I mean
by this, but when you realize I feel far from him, I don't
feel his presence, I don't feel When you need him, go to him
in your heart and see if he doesn't come to you. Draw not to God
and see if God doesn't draw not to you. Sometimes it takes a
little while. Sometimes it's not the first
time you ask. Sometimes it's not the very first time you lay
your paws up there. Sometimes he might ignore you
for a moment, but you just keep him there. You learn from Ellie
Mae. You just keep Him there and you
just keep looking and you just keep looking and He promises
He'll commune with you. He'll look at you. He'll reach
down and touch you. So verse one says, O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set
thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I
consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? For thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned
him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field,
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas." It is true that when
God made Adam, He gave him dominion over everything else that was
made. He did. That is true. But that's speaking
of Jesus Christ. He has all dominion. He has all power. Everything is in His hands. All
things are under His feet. All things, all sheep, all oxen,
all beast, all birds, all fish, you, me. All things are subject
to Him. And I was gonna turn to Ephesians
1, but read the end of Ephesians 1. Every time we go to Ephesians
1, we read the beginning. Go to Ephesians 1 and read the
end. It says Paul is praying for the Ephesians that God would
give them an understanding of the fact that all things are
in Christ's hands and everything is under His feet. Everything
is subject to Him, especially the glorious church that He's
brought to Himself. So verse 9 says, O Lord our Lord,
How excellent is thy name in all the earth. What privileged
people we are who can say that the Lord, the God of all things,
the God who is actually God, the Lord is our Lord. We belong to Him. He belongs
to us. And we have this promise in Psalm
115. I'll quote it to you. It says,
The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron. The Lord has been mindful to
us. Lord, be mindful again, we pray,
for Christ's sake. All right.