The name of the message is The
Sovereign Controller. The Sovereign Controller. Some may wonder where I get the
names from my messages, and it's usually from the text. It's usually
from something said in the text. Now, some might say, well, I
don't see where it says Sovereign Controller in the text here.
Well, we're going to look at what the Hebrew says about that
little statement there, O Lord, our Lord. And I think, as I was,
that you will be amazed at what it says in the Hebrew. I had Brother Tom read that portion
of scripture so we could get right into our text today. In
this psalm, David sets forth the power, the wonderful power
and the wonderful glory of God. He sets it forth before us. We
see his amazing power, his wonder-working power in speaking the universe
into existence. and all that we see. And that's
just what we can see with the naked eye. There's so much more,
beloved. And the scripture says the heavens
cannot contain Him. There's so much more. that new
telescope that they put up. I do some searches on that on
the internet and take a look at some of the pictures that
thing's taken. It's absolutely amazing. I told you my son showed
me a picture and it was all this. And he said, see that star right
there, Dad? That's our galaxy. And I'll tell you what. And he
said, see all those other stars? They're all galaxies. And I was
in awe as I saw that. Our whole galaxy Not just our
solar system, but our whole galaxy, just a little star. The heavens
cannot contain our God, beloved. And you know where we are? Right
in his hand. Right in his hands. He's got
hold of us, beloved. And also by the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit of God, having David pen these words, brings before us God's infinite
goodness towards us. His infinite goodness towards
us. We see that as we read this psalm. The blood-washed, born-again
people of God, redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, have found grace and favor in
the eyes of the one true great God. When did that happen? In eternity. Is he not good to
us, beloved? Is he not merciful to us? That we found grace in his sight,
not by anything we've done or will ever do, but all because
it just pleased him to do so. My, oh my. And David proclaims
that our God, Jehovah, is the sovereign controller. You might
say, where does it say that? Well, let's read verse one here.
We see it's the Psalm of David. It says, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy
name in all the earth. Who has set thy glory above the
heavens? The heavens can't even contain
them. His glory is manifest in all the heavens, isn't it? His
power, His greatness, we just look up at the night sky. And we see His greatness, His
power manifested right before us. I remember going to Brother Neil's
house and there's not a lot of light out there. And it's so
nice at night, you look up and you see that star canopy. Just
takes your breath away. Takes your breath away. And that's
just the portion we can see, beloved. That's just the portion we can
see. Oh, how much more there is. And how great our God is. Now, see those words there? Oh, Lord, our Lord. Now, here
we go. That first word, Lord, that's
all capitalized is Jehovah, the self-existent one in the Hebrew. It's the self-existent one, the
one who has no beginning and no end. No beginning and no end,
beloved. Doesn't need anything or anybody.
He created all this just because it pleased Him to do so. He redeemed
us from our sins because it pleased Him to do so. It didn't add anything
to His glory. We don't add anything to his
glory. We praise his glory, don't we? That's manifested to us. So there
it is. He's Jehovah. Jehovah. See that second word there, Lord? I was so blessed when I found
this. That second word for Lord has a different meaning than
that which is defined in the Hebrew for Lord all-capitalized. You know what this one means?
It means sovereign, that is, controller. That's what the Hebrew says.
People deny and say, well, God's not in control. Yes, He is. Sovereign. That's what this means
in the Hebrew. Sovereign. Controller, Lord,
or Master. It's from the word Adon. Adon,
it's called. Adon. And that's what it means. Adonai is a derivative of it,
but it means Jehovah. So what David's saying here in
the Hebrew, he's saying Jehovah, our Sovereign Controller. Oh, Jehovah, our Sovereign Controller. How excellent is thy name in
all the earth, who has set thy glory above the heavens. Oh,
we look at the heavens and we see his glory, but he's so far
above the heavens. He set his glory above the heavens,
beloved. That's what this says. Oh, Jehovah,
our sovereign controller. God is sovereign. That's what
that scripture says. And God is a controller of all
things, beloved. Aren't you thankful that our
souls are in his hand? We who are the people of God,
our souls are in Jehovah, the self-existent one, the sovereign
controller's hands. I could just stop right there,
right? Oh my goodness. What a blessing. What a blessing. What peace this can bring we
who are the tried, tempted people of God. What peace this can bring
us. We turn the TV on, right? Oh,
this and that. Jehovah's my sovereign controller.
That's what the scripture says. Turn it off, right? And rest
at him or turn the channel to something else that you want
to watch. Oh my. My oh my, David is proclaiming
with these words, clearly Jehovah is our sovereign controller.
And what do we say? Hallelujah. Praise his mighty
name. What a savior, what a redeemer
is Jesus Christ my Lord. That's my God, my savior, that's
our savior, that's our Lord beloved. He's the sovereign controller.
Do you know even while he was on this earth, he's still the
sovereign controller? He knew what people were thinking. He
raised the dead. He healed the sick. He cast out
demons. God incarnate in the flesh, beloved. And even, he was still veiled
though, wasn't he? Because remember at the Mount
of Transfiguration? It was unveiled a little bit, who he really was.
Oh my. See, outside he just appeared
as a normal man, didn't he? But inside, beloved, all the
fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily." Oh my, what a Savior. The sovereign controller came
to this earth to redeem, each believer can say, my eternal
soul. What peace that can give us.
And I had nothing to do with it except being a receiver of
the grace and mercy of God. The only thing I did was to sin.
He does all the saving. Oh, what a Redeemer. What a Savior. So no matter what's occurring,
if we keep this in our minds, this will bring us peace. No
matter what's occurring. And even in that song we sang,
they can kill the body, right? But they can't kill the soul,
can they? This is just a tent. It's just
the tent we live in. The soul is really inside us,
right? Looks out through these eyes. Oh my. So let us always remember
that the self-existent one, Jehovah, our sovereign controller, is
in full charge. No matter what's happening. No
matter what's happening. So we're troubled by the things
of this world? Let's just rest in this precious truth. Let's
remind each other, Jehovah is the sovereign controller. I don't have to get stressed
out. I don't have to worry. If Jehovah is my sovereign controller,
will he take care of me? Will he take care of all my needs?
And I'm not talking like financially and all, but he does that too,
doesn't he? He gives us what we need. He gives us exactly what we need. Some are given finances, some
are given a life where they don't have a lot, but we're one in
Christ, right? And we're all rich in Christ,
aren't we? We're the wealthiest people in the world. We live
amongst people who say, oh, that man's the richest man in the
world. No, he's not. Every believer can say, I'm the
richest man in the world, in all spiritual blessings, in Christ
Jesus my Lord, I might not have much on this earth, but I got
everything in Christ. I got everything in him. And
he's the sovereign controller. That means if he's the sovereign
controller, if he's the one who speaks to the wind and it ceases,
who speaks out and the stars are, right? If he's the one who
does that, can he keep me? Can he keep me from falling?
Can he present me faultless before his throne? That's easy for him. He's already redeemed us. He
already paid the price that God demanded for our souls, didn't
he? If he can keep the stars and all those suns and galaxies
going all their way, it's sure easy to keep a little piece of
animated dust. But think of this, and he even
says, he even says, David, he writes, you're mindful of us?
You're mindful of us? We little, not even a speck,
when you blow out the whole universe and all these other universes,
we're not even a speck. And as a matter of fact, if you
got all the people in the world and put them together, and you blow
out that portion, where our galaxy is just a small little thing,
We're not even a speck, all the people in the world. And yet He knows every one of
His sheep, and He watches over every one of His sheep, because
He's the sovereign controller, right? You know, all things are
working out for our good, even though we don't understand it,
for the good of those who love Christ Jesus, of those who are
called according to His purpose. My, that's what the scripture
says. And so, who's working out? Who's working out that everything
that happens to us will happen for our good, even though sometimes
we think, well, I don't see the good in this, Lord. Right? But it's not really for us to
question, is it? That we just serve the Lord. I can't see the
good in it, but you tell me that you're working out all things
for my good and for your glory, and I believe it. Because you're
the sovereign controller. You are the sovereign controller
over all things. It's not hard for Him to keep
us, is it? We're in His hand. We're engraved in the palms of
His hands, beloved. We're ever before Him. It's glorious,
isn't it? It's absolutely wondrous. that
the one who the scriptures declare here the sovereign controller
is so invested in us that even the very hairs of our head are
numbered. I wonder if anybody's ever tried
to count the hairs on a person's head. It'd be awful hard, wouldn't
it? Oh my. I guess I could do one of them
3D map things now on your skull and see where all the hair things
come out, but that's a lot of counting. Isn't that incredible? We're so intricately made that
he seals up our hands, each with individual fingerprints. Your fingerprints aren't like
mine and mine aren't like yours. We're sealed up. My oh my. So what peace. And David here, he's unable to
express the full glory of God. He just cries out, O Jehovah,
my sovereign controller, how excellent is thy name in all
the earth. The heavens can't even contain
you, Lord. I could just see his excitement. Who has set thy glory above the
heavens? You know, no tongue can half
express the greatness of God. We proclaim the greatness of
God, and it's wonderful, right? But no human can even come close
to expressing the greatness of our God. But we're going to still
try, aren't we? Because He's great, and He's
greatly to be praised, beloved. Oh, the whole creation is full
of His glory. full of His glory, full of His
excellency, full of His power, full of His goodness, full of
His wisdom. And these are manifest on every hand, countless numbers
of earthly beings from man to creeping worm, even the things
that we can't even see in the earth, the microscopic organisms
that are working, that we can't even see, all under the control
of the sovereign controller. working all to his will and purpose. That little worm that comes out
when it rains and he ends up on the concrete. And then he slithers back to
his part in the grass, all according to the purpose of God. Never look at them critters the
same way again, will we? But it's true. Those ants that
are moving around. You see one anthill attacking
another anthill, bringing back all this stuff. You see this
huge, all happening according to the divine providence and
will of God. There's a reason why that's happening. We don't understand. We just
look and say, oh look, they're pillaging that other anthill
and bringing this stuff over here. But God has a purpose even in
that. Isn't that amazing? It's absolutely amazing. And
he's the sovereign controller. He's in full charge. He's present everywhere too.
There's nowhere that he's not present. And his name is excellent. Even though people don't say
this, his name is excellent in all the earth. His glory is manifest. There's nowhere that man can
look up in the sky and not see the glory of God. There's no
way that man can't look and see a beautiful ocean crashing against
the rocks. Or even going out to a place
where very few people have been. I've been looking at some pictures
of Switzerland. It looks beautiful. Up in the
mountains and all that. And I think, boy, look, that
just glorifies God. It's a beautiful, beautiful area.
But so is the Great Lakes here. Up north, you drive up north
and the trees are turning color. It manifests the glory of God,
doesn't it? We don't have to go to some far off country to
see God's glory manifested. It's right here all around us,
isn't it? It's right here. It's wonderful. And you know, you may be the
only person who's passed through a place, but God's there in a
thousand wonders, filling the flowers with their perfume. giving
them that odor, that beautiful odor. The birds praising him
in song. The trees waving in the wind.
Spurgeon used to say that when the trees wave in the wind, they're
waving in adoration to the Lord. He saw in all of creation, he
saw the waves crashing and hitting the rocks as the ocean praising
the Lord and clapping its hands. He saw the birds taking a drink
and then raising their heads up, is praising God for the water
they were getting. Oh my. Let us think that way too, eh?
My, it's just amazing. God's glory is manifest everywhere.
You can go to the lowest depths of the ocean. And God's glories manifest down
there. And where it's so dark and they have these fish that
are translucent when they turn the lights on. See right through
them. Absolutely incredible. There's
fish in the bottom of the ocean doing whatever God's will and
purpose is for them to clean that bottom of that ocean. A whale's carcass falls to the
bottom of the sea and there's animals that dwell, or fish that
dwell down there that just eat up that carcass. And then those bones just sink
into the sand. My oh my. Absolutely incredible. You can go to the deepest hell
and God is there. His wrath is there. His wrath
is there. He's justified in terrible vengeance
against those in hell. Everywhere, and in every place,
God dwells and is manifested. He's everywhere. There's not
a place you can go where God isn't there. My, oh my. He's omnipresent, isn't he? He's
omnipresent. And this is true in the heavens
and in the earth. Jehovah's exalted. His brightness shines forth in
the firmament above the earth. Above the earth. His glory exceeds the glory of
the starry heavens. Above the regions of the stars,
he has set fast his everlasting throne. And there he dwells in
light indescribable, beloved. Indescribable. Who alone spreadeth
out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea? Who
makes Arcturus, Orion, and Palladius in the chambers of the south?
They're speaking of stars. Who makes those? Who spoke those
into existence? Who placed the earth at a perfect
position that we don't get too much sun and burn up? and too
far away from the sun that we don't freeze to death. Who placed
it in that perfect position? God and God alone. Brother Travis
brought that up in the message that he preached when I was gone. God just set that in place, the
perfect place. He did that. Jehovah, the sovereign
controller, did that. Sovereign controller of all the
universe. He did that. He did that. His glory far exceeds
anything we can imagine. Everywhere God dwells and is
at work. Turn, if you would, to Nehemiah
chapter 9. Nehemiah chapter 9. And then put your finger in Psalm
72. Nehemiah chapter 9 and Psalm
72. We see this brought forth here. Oh my, this is our God,
beloved. This is our Savior. Remember,
Isaiah saw Him, seen it upon His throne. This is our Savior.
The sovereign controller is our Savior, beloved. He's our Redeemer. Oh my, it's wonderful. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? No. No. People say, well, He couldn't
save that sinner over there. He might be one of God's elect. Oh, and if he is, God's gonna
get him. He's gonna get him. The shepherd will get that lost
sheep if that's one of his. No. Scripture says he can save
all who come to him. We come to him. We flee to him. He's the only savior of sinners. My, look at this in Nehemiah
chapter 9 verse 6. Thou, even thou art Lord. That's
Jehovah again in the Hebrew. Thou, even thou art Jehovah alone,
Nehemiah 9, 6. Thou hast made heaven. That's
not a question, that's a statement, isn't it? He's made heaven. People say, oh no, it happened
by a big bang. He made heaven. God made heaven. He just spoke it into existence.
Look at that. with all their hosts, the heaven
of heavens with all their hosts, the earth and all things that
are therein. Everything. Everything. The seas
and all that is therein. And look at this. Now this is,
this brings joy to the child of God. And thou preservest them
all. That includes his people, right? Look at that. People say, well,
we're going to run out of trees. We're going to run out of this.
We're going to run out of that. God for 6,000 years has had this
earth providing and keep providing. Has it ever been exhausted? I lived out west. There's a ton
of trees out there. Doug fir. There's so many Doug
fir in the mountains out there. You could spend years cutting
down trees. And what do they do? They just replant more. Or the father has a seed fall,
and there's more trees coming up. Dave, you were saying that
big maple I got out here started from a seedling. A seedling. And it's the second biggest tree
in the yard now. It's huge. He goes, that little
tree started from a seedling. My oh my. God ordained that that
tree would be there, and I love that tree. It's beautiful. But think of that. Trees and
stuff on your property. Maybe you get some shade from
them. Maybe you just like looking at them. I like birds stopping
in the trees and singing songs. I love that. But that's all provided
by the sovereign controller, Jehovah. And he's ordained that
those trees would grow there. I know people say, well, come
on, Wayne. That's taking a little far, isn't it? No, he's the sovereign
controller. And if he's the sovereign controller,
then there's nothing that happens that's not outside his permissive
will. Neil was telling me the beech
trees at his property, they produce beech trees. The maple trees
there, they produce maple trees. And they're just, a lot of them
are seedlings too. They just, they just grow. You
don't have to plant no trees on your farm meal. They just
grow. They just grow. God provides. Look at that. He preserves them
all. He preserves them all. Look at this. And the hosts of
heaven worship thee. All the elect angels worship
him. Remember, a third fell, but there's
still two-thirds. And we don't even know the number
of them. And they worship Him. And in
all the saints of glory worship Him. Praise His mighty name. It's amazing. Now let's go back to Psalm 72,
and we'll see here. We see here that God's name,
it says in our text, oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy
name in all the earth, who has set thy glory above the heavens. Now, look at this in Psalm 72,
verses 17 to 19. Psalm 72, verses 17 to 19. Look at these words
about our Lord's name. His name shall endure forever.
His name shall be continued as long as the sun and man shall
be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. We who are the elect, we bless
his name, don't we? And we know that at the end that
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. what the scriptures
declare. His name is excellent. His name
is above all names. He's got the name above all names.
Look at verse 18. Blessed be the Lord God, the
God of Israel, who doeth wondrous things. Oh, has he not done wondrous
things, beloved? Spoken all this world and all
the galaxies into existence. Saved our eternal souls by the
shedding of his precious blood when he became a man to redeem
his people from their sins. Has he not done wondrous things,
beloved? My, he's done wondrous things. And then look at this, and blessed
be his glorious name forever. That's from the lips of a believer,
isn't it? Blessed be your name, Lord, forever. and let the whole earth be filled
with his glory. Amen and amen. My, those are
shouting scriptures, aren't they? That's wonderful. That's wonderful. And by faith, by faith we cry
out, Jehovah is our sovereign controller. By faith. I didn't
believe that before the Lord saved me. I didn't even have
a clue about that. I thought God just wound it up
and let it go. No, you don't do that! We'll just leave man
to their so-called free will. They'll do whatever you want. No, you won't! My, man's will is
tied to his nature, and if your nature is dead, all you can do
is sin. Now, if you're born again, you're going to want to live
your life unto God, like we saw on Sunday School this morning. My, oh my. So bless His holy
name for so great a salvation. It's fully accomplished. Fully
accomplished. Perfect salvation accomplished
by the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect obedience to
the law of God as our substitute. Perfect obedience. Redemption
by His shed blood, by the giving of His life for us. He gave Himself
for us. that we might be saved from our
sins, that we might be saved out from under the law, that
we might be with Him forever in glory, that we might be clothed
in His perfect righteousness. He done all that for us, for
His people. My, and I'll tell you what, Christ's
work on the cross is the greatest work that has ever been done
on this earth. The greatest work that has ever
been done on this earth. by our wonder-working God. You
know, creating the oceans, that's beautiful, creating all, but
that work of redemption, that's the greatest work He's ever done
on this earth. And we say, hallelujah, don't
we? Glory be to God! Now look at
what David continues to write, look at verse 2 here. He says,
out of the mouth of babes and sucklings has thou ordained strength,
because of thine enemies thou mightest still the enemy and
the avenger. See, God always avenges his people. That's why I say you don't mess
with God's people. He says, vengeance is mine, I
will repay. So someone wrongs you, what are
we told to do? Just heap coals on them, right?
Kindness. Hard thing to do, but we are
to do that. God is the avenger of his people. He's the keeper
of his people. And think of this, too. Even
newborn babes vindicate the providence of God. The tongues of infants,
even before they can pronounce a word or speak, all because of God's kindness
towards the human race. They know what to do. They know what to do. Nourishment
is already for them. When they come out of the womb,
nourishment is already for them. God wonderfully changes blood
into milk. I looked into that. The milk from a mother's breast
is made from their blood. I had no idea. Made from their blood. And the
baby has the skill to suck. before he can even speak. Who
gave him that? God. His providential wonders
are right there in a newborn babe, beloved. Even before they can speak, they
can take nourishment in. In the same, marvel at this,
the same God who provides the milk for the newborn babe has,
by a mysterious instinct, fitted their tongues to get the milk. all according to his will and
providence. Look at that. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hath thou ordained strength. All because of his providence.
All because of his will. Isn't that amazing? So David
says, although the tongues of those who arrive at manhood would
not praise God, the speechless mouths of infants give praise
to God in his wondrous work. that he's given them the ability
to receive nourishment from their mother. That's amazing! Absolutely amazing. And you know there's many instances
of children standing for the truth of God. I was looking at
Fox's Book of Martyrs. There's one man there called
Mr. Lawrence. He was to be burned. He was to be burned. The Catholics
had tormented him so that he could not even walk. They had
It was during the Inquisitions and they had tormented him so
that he couldn't even walk anymore. So they brought him out. They
brought him out in a chair to be burned. Here he's carried to the fire
in the chair and he's placed in the midst of the wood they
were going to burn in this chair. All because he believes in Christ
and Him crucified. All because he won't recant his
faith in Christ. And several young children came
and prayed as he was carried there and said, Lord, strengthen
thy servant and keep thy promise. Several children prayed that
as he was being carried to the fire. And you know what? God
answered the prayer. You know what Mr. Lawrence did?
He died calmly in the fire. Just died calmly in the fire.
And there's a Scots martyr who was told by a Catholic priest
that he had a devil. In Foxe's Book of Martyrs as
well. And a child cried out. A child cried out. A devil cannot
speak such words as yonder man speaketh. And those words he
was speaking was about Christ and him crucified. And a child
said that. Child said that. Now let's read
verses 3 to 4 of our text here. Psalm 8. David is still considering
the greatness of our God. Look at this. He says, when I
consider thy heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou has ordained. He's ordained them right where
they're at. He's placed them exactly where
He wanted to. How and why? Because He's the Sovereign Controller,
beloved. See how that all ties in? What
David's proclaiming here all ties in with the fact that He's
Jehovah, the Sovereign Controller. And those two names for Lord,
that's what they proclaim. So someone says, well, you can't
find the sovereignty of God in the Scriptures. There it is! Jehovah. our sovereign controller. It's right in the Hebrew! It's
wondrous, beloved. Absolutely wondrous. And then he goes on to say, and
so he's looking at the stars, and remember, he's out in Israel. There's no light around him.
He's probably got the sheep that he's taking care of. He's a young
shepherd, right? He's probably got all those sheep,
and he's just looking up, Oh, what a star canopy. Could you
imagine that? Take your breath away. Take your
breath away. There's no light that we have
now. Like, you know, from here, I could come out and look at
the stars, but I still got the light from across the road and
the light from my own lights. But there was no light where
he was. It's just dark. He's looking up there just going,
oh, my. Oh, my. And then he says this,
look at this, look at these two questions in light of that. What
is man that thou art mindful of? He's sitting there, he's
sitting there, he's looking up at all these stars and he says,
Lord, in light of all this, what is man that you're mindful of
us? Little wee speck of nothing.
And yet he's watching him. God's seeing him. on that mountainside
or wherever he is, in a field or a glen. He's seeing him right
there. And then he says, in the son
of man that thou visited him. Who am I that thou visited me?
Who am I that you sent your son down to die for me? Who am I? My. In a survey of the, you know
a survey of the solar system tends to promote humility. You
start looking at these pictures of the stars in the skies and
it tends to promote humility because we find out how little
we really are. How little we really are. And
it's in opposition to the pride of man. See, because we think
we're something when we're nothing. Isn't that amazing? Pride is
one of the foolish things of this world. A puny man Animated
dust, as Spurgeon said. Pride is awful. Pride is horrible. You know what causes wars? It
causes wars, beloved. It causes slavery. My. And pride is not rational,
really. Considering the situation, when
we consider what David says here, pride is really not rational,
is it? When you consider the heavens and you think, who am
I that thou art mindful to me? That don't make you proud. That
humbles you, doesn't it? That's where we're supposed to
be, beloved, in the dust. See, people nowadays, they preach
God in the dust and man up here. Because they say, well, you've
got the choice to do whatever you want. You're the controller. I could preach God up here and
us down here. Because that's our rightful place.
We come from the dust, don't we? Right? And we really don't
get that much higher than the dust, do we? Six feet, seven
feet. I don't know what the tallest
man in the world is. Let's say 12 feet. That's not
much higher than the dirt, is it? And he's far above the heavens,
beloved. So that's what David's considering.
He's considering all this. And eventually, eventually, man
must sink back into the dirt. Right? They bury us six feet
under, don't they? And what do we turn into? Dust. We turn back into dust. You know,
I've often wondered why this is just me, why they put us in
caskets, right? Because we're just going to turn
to dust anyways. But that's what man's always
done, right? Put us in caskets. And I think it's more for the
family and everything. But just stick me in the ground. I'm gone. I won't even be there
anymore. That's just my tent, man. You
know? But OK, now I'll get back to
preaching now. But man is exposed to calamities,
right? Rages, storms, devastation of
earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, famines, and diseases. And yet
they're still full of pride. Still think we're something. You know, I'm only five feet
nine inches above what I was made of. And eventually I'm going
to end up back in that dirt again. I have no reason to be proud.
I look up at the heavens and I'm just in awe. Now it wasn't
always like that. Before the Lord saved me I didn't
think that, but now I sure do. Our God is the Great One. He
is the Great One True Living God. He is the Sovereign Controller. He is Jehovah. Lord, oh Lord. Jehovah, add on. The Sovereign Controller. So
what are we? Nothing but puny worms, right? And note in verse 3, the psalmist
takes us to creation to show us what we are by comparison.
He's comparison the wonders of the heavens. And then he says,
in verse 4, who am I? Who are we? Who are we that you
would even be mindful of us? What an insignificant being I
am, David is saying here, compared to the immensity of God. And yet He cares for us. He cares
for His people every single day. He gives us grace and strength
every day to carry on. All that we need, He gives us. My, we don't need a lot, do we? We really don't. We have food
on our table and clothes on our back and a place to lay our head. We're pretty good, aren't we? But then he gives us all spiritual
blessings in Christ. Those are the riches, beloved.
Everything else is just material. It's going to disappear eventually.
It's all temporary. But those are eternal riches
in Christ. You see, those word of faith
guys, they say, name it and claim it, name it and claim it. Oh,
you give this money, you get a seat money. You get even more
money. They are looking at things that are temporal. Those people are going to die
and they're going to go to the grave and someone else is going
to get their money and everything they have. And yet they have no spiritual
blessings in Christ. And they go to an eternal hell.
My oh my. But the believer, well, we have
what we have, right, on this earth. But we have so much more
in Christ. And who are thou, Lord, to be
mindful of me? To be mindful in light of all
the creation. Who are you, Lord, to be my? Who am I? Who am I?
My, oh, my. And think of this. The Lord's
gave his blessed son to redeem multitudes of these people called
humans. A number that no man can number.
Why? So that they'd be like him and that they would dwell with
him forever. all because it pleased God to do so. This is the best
news for a born-again child of God, isn't it? And a child of God can say,
I'm one of those for whom Christ died. I'm one of those who the
Father, who is the sovereign controller of all, chose in Christ,
before the foundation of the world, based upon nothing in
me. I'm one of the ones who Christ
is now mediating for in glory. And this doesn't make us proud,
right? People say, well, you guys, you're just full of yourself. You're holier than thou. No,
we're not. This humbles us, doesn't it?
This puts us in the dust, beloved. Look, let's just go to that verse
again. With this in mind, what is man that thou art mindful
of? Put this in here as a believer. What is man that thou art mindful
of me? And the son of man that thou
visit? What am I? Who am I? I'm nothing but a worm,
a speck of animated dust. And yet you're mindful of me,
Father? Oh, my. Why? Because he's loved us from
eternity with an everlasting love. My, oh, my. Let's look at verses five to
nine here and just marvel. This week, marvel. Marvel to
yourself, beloved of God, that God is mindful of me. Just marvel
in that. Just marvel in that. Let's read
verses eight or verses five to nine now. 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, the beasts of the field,
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passes through the paths of the sea. O Lord, here it goes. He's
going to repeat that same exaltation. O Lord, O Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. So let's say it this way. Oh
Jehovah, our sovereign controller, how excellent is thy name in
all the earth. Oh my! Now man's been crowned
with glory and honor, right? God's shown us abundance of kindness.
The rain falls on the just and on the unjust, doesn't it? Oh,
he's kind. He's kind, our great God. He's
given precedent over all the inhabitants of the earth, and
he's made man a little lower than the angels. Do you know
that after the resurrection, we'll be the equal of angels?
Turn, if you would, to Luke 20, verse 36. Look at this. Look at this. Speaking of God's
people, Luke 20, verse 36. We'll have a glorified body,
beloved. Do you ever think and consider
the angels in wonder that God himself became a man? We were
talking about that, Dave. God himself became a man to redeem
sinful man. Could you imagine the angels
at first looking, what is the Lord doing? But then what did they proclaim,
right? Glory be to peace, peace on earth. The King of Kings is
here. The Lord of Lords is here. They didn't understand the plan,
but they were proclaiming him for it, weren't they? Oh, my. Look at this. Luke 20, verse
36. Neither can they die anymore.
God's people, for they are equal unto the angels and are the children
of God being the children of the resurrection. Look at that. Neither given in marriage or
married equal to the angels. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Now, this portion that we just
read, it talks about man and his dominion, but it also talks
about Christ. It also talks about Christ, and
we see that brought out here in Hebrews chapter 2. You remember
what we read there about how man's made a little lower than
the angels. Look at this, Hebrews chapter
2, verses 6 to 12. So that scripture really particularly refers to
our king, because look at this in verse 6 to 12, Hebrews chapter
2. But one in a certain place testified
saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? So he's quoting
exactly what we just looked at. Or the son of man that thou visited
him. So that's a direct quote from Psalm 8 right there by Paul. And remember, all they had was
the Old Testament to preach from, right? There was no New Testament
then. So he shows you that they preach
Christ and him crucified from the Old Testament. My, it's wonderful. And then look what he continues.
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest
him with the glory and honor, and didst set him over the works
of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in him, or for in that he
put all subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. The whole reason he
came here was to suffer and bleed and die in our place and live
a perfect life for us. That's what it says right there,
right? He came to what? Save his people from their sins.
How would he do that? By the giving of his life. My,
look at that. Look at that. We see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man, for all his people.
For it became him for whom are all things, by whom are all things
in bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. He is the captain of our salvation,
beloved. He's the author of our salvation.
He's the finisher of our salvation. And he's everything in between,
beloved. That's what he is. For both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all one. We're in Christ, beloved.
for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. God incarnate
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not ashamed to call
us brethren. My, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren.
And he has, hasn't he? We saw in John 17, he came and
spoke all the words the Father gave him to speak to his people.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of
the church will I sing praise unto thee. So the apostle here
proves the sovereign dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ both
in heaven and in earth. He shows that he is the son of
man here spoken of in his human flesh in the form of a servant.
made a little lower than the angels. He came to redeem His
people from their sins by the giving of His life on Calvary's
cross, by the shedding of His blood. And God the Father has
crowned Him with glory and honor, hasn't He? Oh, He has crowned
Him with glory and honor, beloved. All creatures are under His feet,
including man. Including man. Even if they don't
believe it, they are under His dominion. And then again, let's look at
verse nine again of Psalm eight, and we're closed with this. Look
at this. David again returns to the keynote, the keynote of
the Psalm. Jehovah, oh Jehovah, my sovereign
Lord and controller. Look at that. He adores our Lord. With this closing verse, O Lord,
our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. David
closes this psalm with the same words he started it with. Jehovah,
our sovereign controller, how excellent is thy name. In all
the earth, O beloved, let us meditate upon this precious truth
this week, that our God, our Savior, our Redeemer is the sovereign
controller over all things. And may God give us grace to
rest in He who is the way, the truth, and the life, the captain
of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.