Psalm number 8, as we were studying
through Matthew 21, I pointed out how the Lord quoted Psalm
8, verse 2, out of the mouth of Babes, and suckling hast thou
ordained, or founded, or appointed strength. It's not strength,
talking about human strength, but the power of God because
of the enemies, The enemies of the gospel would destroy us that
thou mightest steal or conquer the enemy and the avenger. And that's the verse that the
Lord quoted there in Matthew 21, 16. You see the reference
there, the center reference. I'm taking a title for the message
this evening from what is said in verse 1, O Lord, I, Lord,
how excellent is thy name. in all the earth, who has set
thy glory. His glory is above the heavens.
And then again, he repeats it down in verse nine. O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. He has a most
excellent name. Excellent? How excellent? And
that word means worthy, honorable is thy name. Worthy is the lamb
that was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessings, and
power both now and forever. This psalm is a pure gospel psalm
as all of them are from the beginning to the end. For it celebrates
the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of heaven
and earth And the Lord and Savior of His covenant people, called
His name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sin. He is the Lord of glory. God who has set thy glory above
the heavens. How high is that? How high is
the heavens? Well, He's higher than the highest.
He's the most high God, is He not? Now the business and scope
of this psalm is to rejoice in God's great mercy to sinners
through the incarnation. And you know what that word means.
God manifest in the flesh. Through his incarnation and through
his substitutionary blood sacrifice for us. The redeeming work of
the Lord Jesus Christ and his sovereign dominion. He has sovereign
dominion over all things. Over all things. It says there,
all sheep, oxen, beasts of the field, fowl of the air, fish
of the sea, and everything. He has dominion over all things. Verse 6 says, thou hast made
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Everything
he's created, and he's created all things by the word of his
power, but he has complete dominion. That means he has absolute sovereign
control over all things upon the earth, upon everything, upon
the earth and in the earth. Now this Psalm, Psalm 8, is quoted
at least three times in the New Testament. There in Matthew 21,
verse 16. Again in 1 Corinthians 15, 27. And then as we read earlier in
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 6 and 7, it's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now look at verse 1 again. Now
you know, I pointed this out before, when you see that L-O-R-D,
Lord All, in capital letters, that refers to Jehovah. Jehovah,
the everlasting, eternal, self-existent God. Oh, Jehovah, our Lord. He is God, our Savior. How excellent, David said, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory
above, above the heavens, above the heavens. Oh Lord, Jehovah,
our Lord. Jehovah is God, our sovereign
savior. How excellent, honorable, magnificent,
glorious. What other adjective could you
add to his name? It's kind of frustrating for
a puny creature of the earth to try to exalt his name. How can we do that? We try as
best we can, but we fall way short, don't we? How truly is
Jehovah, God our Savior, to be magnified in our Lord Jesus Christ
and all of his covenant-redeeming mercies given unto us? That everlasting
covenant of grace, the God of peace that brought again from
the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep,
to the blood of everlasting covenant. The glory of God, we know, shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's revealed and made
known to us in Christ. The glory of God shines in the
face of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's commanded the light to shine
in our heart that we might see the Lord Jesus Christ as he is,
as he is. He has, he has, well, I've got
my pages confused. Excuse me. I usually check that before I start, and I didn't.
Who has set the glory above the heavens. He set the glory above
the heavens. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the brightness of His glory. Remember Hebrews chapter 1? Don't
turn there, let me just read it to you. Hebrews chapter 1.
He set His glory above the heavens. Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of God's
glory, the express image of his person, upholding all things
by the word of his power, when he by himself purged our sins,
he sat down on the right hand of the majesty in the heavens,
the God-man mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ is seated in the
heavenlies ever living to intercede for us right now. In whom in
the Lord Jesus Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. And we are complete in him. The
setting of him above the heavens declares the exaltation of him
as the God-man mediator. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. God has highly exalted
him, Philippians chapter 2, and given him a name which is above
every name that at that name every knee should bow and every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. It's all about his glory, isn't
it? It was upon the exaltation of Christ to the right hand of
God that the Holy Spirit was sent down on the apostles of
Christ, giving them special gifts and powers to go preach the gospel
in all the world. He said, go and preach the gospel. Preach the Lord Jesus Christ
as everything in salvation. And that was given to the church
upon his exaltation, wasn't it? Listen to this first. Don't turn,
let me just read it to you. In Ephesians chapter 4, it says,
wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive and gave gifts unto men. Now he that ascended, what is
it but he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth, He that descended is the same
also that ascended far above all heavens, that he might fulfill
all things. And he gave some apostles, he
gave some prophets, he gave some evangelists, some pastors, and
some teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. He ascended
on high, having accomplished all salvation forth, and then
he gives gifts unto his church. to enable them to go out and
preach the message of Christ and Him crucified. As Paul said,
I'm determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Now let's notice verse 2. Thou hast set thy glory above
the heavens. You remember Psalm 19 where it
says the heavens declare the glory of God? God has set the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ above everything. Above everything. Verse two, out of the mouth of
babes and sucklings, thou hast ordained or founded or appointed
or established strength. Because of the enemies, we need
strength. Not talking about fleshly strength
here, we're talking about the power of God in the gospel. because
of thine enemies, that thou mightest steal the enemy, or defeat the
enemy, and the avenger. Out of the mouth of babes, God
has sent the gospel into this world. He hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in God's sight." The Lord's comments on this verse our best, and we
read it, don't turn because you're familiar with it, you remember
when the Lord came to his temple there in Matthew 21, when the Lord came and drove
out the money changers, And the blind and the lame came to him
in the temple to be healed, Matthew 21, 14. And when the chief priests
and scribes saw the wonderful thing that he did, and the children
crying in the temple saying, Hosanna to the son of David. Oh, save us, thou Messiah. The chief priests and scribes,
they were sore displeased. They went out, held counsel how
they might destroy him. Verse 16, he said to them, hear
us. They said to him, hear us, thou what these say? And the
Lord said unto them, have you never read? Have you never read? And he quotes this Psalm 8. Have
you never read, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected? ordained that his children should
praise the Lord? Have you never read? He was mocking
those Pharisees. Didn't you read that? Didn't
you read Psalm 8? He was mocking them, wasn't he?
Now here's the point. The Lord uses weak, frail, sinful
babes' instrument to sound forth the Gospel to declare His truth. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not
of us. This happens when God is pleased
to save and reveal himself unto us. He delivers them from the
kingdom of darkness. He delivers us from the kingdom
of darkness. and translates us in the kingdom
of God's dear son, that we might show forth the praises of him,
as Peter said, who called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light. God has ordained this, preordained
this, predestinated this, appointed
and established this, that the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation. Preaching the gospel is not in
the power of presenting the gospel in a powerful
way. It's not the oratory ability
that gives the gospel the power of God. It's the word of God
that is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.
So it's not the ability of the oratory that makes the gospel
the power of God. It's the gospel itself. He has
ordained this that babes and sucklings, frail, sinful creatures,
might declare the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he'll
bless that. It's through the gospel of Christ
that the enemies of God, the enemies of God's people, are
defeated, conquered, and overcome. by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Remember, he said, I am he that
liveth and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore.
I have the keys of hell and death. He defeated all of our enemies.
Sin is a terrible enemy. He put our sin away. Death is
a terrible enemy. He makes us alive in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He went forth conquering to conquer.
We had the victory over sin, death, hell, and the grave, over
Satan himself, because of Christ, our Redeemer. I like what it
says in Colossians 2, having spoiled principalities and powers,
he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them himself. And Paul said there, when he
closes 1 Corinthians 15, thanks be to God, who has given us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have the victory because
of Christ. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings, God has ordained, established, predestinated strength,
the strength and power of the gospel. And he has done that
because of the enemies of the gospel, our own enemies, our
sinful self. that thou mightest steal or overcome
the enemy and the avenger. Now look at verse 3 and verse
4. When I consider the heavens, I think about David, David the
sweet psalmist. You remember where he was when
he was called and ordained to be the king? He was a little
shepherd boy. When Samuel went down to the
house of Jesse, all them other seven brothers came in before
Samuel, and God rejected that one, that one, that one, and
finally Samuel said, do you have anything left? Is there anyone
left? I got one little ruddy boy out there in the field. He's a shepherd boy. And Samuel
said, go get him. Fetch him. We're not going to
eat dinner until you bring him. And when David came in, God spoke
to Samuel and said, that's my king. That's my king. But what
he was, before he was king, he was a shepherd boy. I can just
imagine, as he says here, when I consider the heavens, imagine
this shepherd boy out there on the Judean hillside, laying down
there around the sheep, and here it is a dark night, maybe there's
no moon, no clouds, and he's laying on the hillside looking
at the heavens, and seeing the heavens of heavens, and he's
thinking, when I consider the heavens, and just the work of
his fingers, his finger work, the moon and the stars which
thou hast ordained, He created all things by the word of his
power, didn't he? And then David said, as he said
in another place, who am I? Who am I? What is my house that
thou hast brought me hitherto? What is man? What am I? What
is man that thou would be mindful of him? When we consider the
vastness of the universe and the stars of the universe, how
many stars are in the Milky Way? Have you counted the stars lately?
Over 200 billion, they say. And the Milky Way is just one
of two trillion galaxies. How vast and how large is space? God created all things. He spoke
all things into existence. And David here is amazed. Who
am I? What is man? When I consider
the glory of God and the vastness of the universe, What is man
that thou art mindful of him, or any son of Adam, son of man? Now we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is called the son of man in the gospel more than he is called
the son of God. And this is referring to the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see that. But
I want you to look at this verse in the light of what David says
here. What is a man or any son of Adam that God in mercy would
visit him? We don't deserve mercy, do we?
We don't deserve anything but the wages of sin, which is death.
That God would visit us in love? That God would visit us in mercy?
That God would reveal himself unto us? Doesn't that amaze you
and astound you? That God Almighty, who created
all things, and we're just a little speck of dust on this dirt ball
we call the earth, and God has visited us in mercy and grace. Doesn't that astound you? Sovereign
mercy, sovereign grace. He'll have mercy on whom he will.
What is man? What is man? I thought about
that statement today and I wrote this out. What is man or any
son of fallen Adam? Man at his best state is vanity. All flesh is grass but a vapor
that passes away. The word declares that we are
fallen in Adam and Adam all died. The word declares that we are
totally depraved sinful, ungodly, guilty, helpless, and condemned. And yet God has visited us in
love, here in his love, not that we love God, but he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation, the mercy seat for our sin. Those who think man is great
think God is nothing. Those who know God is great know
man is nothing. May God teach us to own our nothingness
that we may look to Christ for everything. Christ is all and
in all. Do you see yourself? Can you
identify with this? What am I? Who am I? And Adam dead, guilty, shut out,
without God, without hope, and without Christ. But now in Christ
Jesus, you who are sometimes far off or made nigh, nigh by
the blood of Christ, the blood of Christ. When considering all
that God is, His power is limitless. He does all things, He can work
with all things after the counsel of His own will. Whatsoever the
Lord pleases, that's what He does. His power is limitless. His character is changeless.
He said, I'm the Lord, I change not. You remember Hebrews 13
verse 8? I'm the same yesterday, today,
and forever. His love is endless, is it not? His love is endless. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. And Paul said, nothing can separate it from the love
of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's created all
things by the word of His power. And by Him, all things consist. What keeps this? You ever notice
the exact order of the universe? Even our solar system? How everything
is right on schedule? How does that, does that just
happen? God orders all things and sustains all things. By Him
all things consist, all things are held together, held together. What great glory we behold in
His sovereign mercy to sinners in the incarnation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we consider this verse, not
only considering the first man, Adam, but also the second man,
the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast made him, verse
5, thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. In his humility, in his humanity,
has crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast made him to
have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all
things under his feet. What great glory we behold in
his sovereign mercy to sinners in the incarnation of Christ,
the Son of God. The Son of God became the Son
of Man, that sons of men, by his grace, might be called sons
of God. Did you get that? Behold what
manner of love the Father has shed upon us, put upon us, given
to us that we might be called the sons of God. What a wonder
of great infinite condescending grace in Christ manifest in the
flesh to redeem us from our sin. This is just no ordinary man. They said, this is Jesus from
Nazareth. We know his father, his mother.
We know his father. We know he was a carpenter. They
said, we know. We know who he is. They didn't
know, did they? Our Lord said, you've seen me.
You've seen the Father. I'm my Father. We're one. The
Lord Jesus Christ, as we read in Hebrews chapter 2, He passed
by the nature of fallen angels and took on him the seed of Abraham,
a great mystery of his sovereign love. As it says there, let me
read it to you again, Hebrews 2.16, for verily he took not
on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham, the elect of God. He laid hold, not of the fallen
angels, he laid hold of the elect fallen sons of Abraham. Wherefore,
in all things, it became necessary for him to be made like unto
his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the
sin of his people. Oh, what is man that thou wert
mindful of him? Let's go to verse 5. Thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with
glory and honor. For just a little while, he was
made a little lower than the angels, but now he's far above
everything. We see something of his humiliation
in his human nature. Though he was the most high God,
Yet for our sakes He became low, He became flesh, He became a
servant made under the law to redeem us from our sin. He never
stopped being God when He was manifest in the flesh. He remained
what He was, eternal holy God, and became what He was not. He
became flesh and dwelt among us. Paul, writing about that,
said, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in
the flesh. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
God in the flesh. He came to redeem his people,
and he did not fail. For those for whom he loves,
He loves them with an everlasting love for those for whom he died. They're justified by his blood.
There's no one in hell for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. There's
no one in hell for whom the Lord Jesus Christ loves. Is there?
People who say, well, he died for all the sins of all men and
he loves everybody everywhere. Then all men must be saved. What
kind of love would that be for God to love his own and then,
and just stand there watching perish? That's not love, is it?
None for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died and none for whom
He loves can perish. He saved them with an everlasting
salvation. They cannot perish because Christ
put away their sin. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God, the righteousness of God in Him. In Him. Look at verse 5 again. Thou hast
made Him a little lower than the angels, crowned Him with glory and honor.
We read a moment ago, in Hebrews 2 verse 9, we see Jesus, and
we know that means Savior, who is 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 Behold His elect."
He says, I laid down my life for the sheep. Now look at verse
6. Thou hast made Him, the exalted Lord Jesus Christ, thou
hast made Him to have dominion. Now underscore that word dominion. It has to do with His sovereign
rule. Thou hast made Him to have dominion. over the works of thy
hands, thou hast put all things under his dominion. You remember Psalm 110 verse
1? The Lord, it repeats the same
thing. The Lord has said unto my Lord,
sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Remember. Thou hast made him to have dominion
dominion over all things. That means sovereign authority.
Sovereign authority. For he has put all things in
subjection under his feet, he left nothing that is not put
under him right now. It says in Psalm 72 verse 8,
he had dominion from from sea to sea. That's universal, total,
complete, sovereign dominion. All things are subject unto Him.
All things are under His feet. All things are under His rule.
Are you under His rule? Are all men under His rule? Absolutely
everywhere. God had made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. For to this end,
to this purpose, Christ both died, rose, and revived that
He might be Lord of the dead and the living. He's every man's
Lord. Whether they acknowledge it or
not, or whether they submit to it or not, that doesn't change
the fact. He's Lord. He's Lord of all things. The Lord of glory. He's our Savior. He's accomplished salvation for
us. All things are in subjection unto him. His church, he loved
the church and gave himself for it. All angels that are ministering
spirits sent forth to minister to them who are the heirs of
salvation. All devils, all fallen angels,
they're under his dominion. You remember what they said to
him? We know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. Have
you come to torment us before our time? Even the fallen angels
and the demon spirit recognized His Lordship, didn't they? All men are under His dominion.
All creatures are under His absolute, sovereign dominion. And He gives us an example here,
verse 7 and 8. Our sheep, thou hast put all
things under His feet. That includes you. That includes
me. That includes all humanity. That
includes everything. All things are of God. All sheep,
oxen, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish
of the sea, whatsoever passeth through the
paths of the sea. How many creatures are in the
sea? How many fishes are in the sea? They're still discovering,
aren't they? Monsters of the deep that they
didn't know existed? God created all this and He controls
the seas, the waves, the tide. You ever go to the beach and
you look at that high tide, low tide, high tide, low tide? It's
always on time. Well, who controls that? God
Almighty has dominion over the sea and all the creatures in
the sea. Has dominion over all things.
And His dominion is called an everlasting dominion. One old
writer said that these things can be used in a figurative sense. In a way that they represent
different things. Has dominion over all His Look
what it says, they're all his sheep, his elect. He has dominion over all his
elect. He has dominion over the oxen, those who labor for him,
those who are his servants. They do his bidding. The beast
of the field could represent figuratively wicked enemies of
the gospel. They're under his dominion too.
The birds of the air, the fowls of the air, the angels of God,
they await to do His bidding. Someone said of the angels, if
God sent two angels to this earth, one to be a great president over
a large country, and He sent another angel, to sweep the streets
of that great country, both angels would be happy to do the will
of the Lord. The fishes of the sea, the monsters
of the deep could represent Satan, the devil, and we know the devil
is God's devil. There's not two rival forces. God controls all things, even
the every demon spirit and the devil himself, as under God's
absolute dominion. God has dominion over all. Name what you will. Name what
creature you will. God does according to his will
in the army of heaven. And among the habitants of this
earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, Lord God
Almighty, what doest thou? Now listen to these scriptures,
and I'll let you go. Numbers 24, 19. Out of Jacob shall come,
shall he come? Out of Jacob shall come he that
shall have dominion. You remember who came out of
Jacob? Judah. What came out of Judah? The line
of the tribe of David. The line of the tribe of Judah.
House of Jesse, son of David, out of Jacob shall come he that
shall have dominion and shall destroy him that remaineth. Psalm 145, thy kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endure throughout all generations. Daniel chapter 4. At the end
of the day, you remember Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven
and he said, my understanding returned to me and I blessed
the most high God and prayed and honored him that liveth forever,
whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from
generation to generation. And then he said, all that happens
to the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the habitants of his earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
In the book of Jude, verse 24 and verse 25, now unto him that
is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and power,
both now and forever. There's more. You want to hear
more? Revelation chapter 1 verse 5 and 6, Jesus Christ, who is
a faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the
prince of the kings of the earth, unto him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests,
and to our God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Look at the last verse again,
Psalm 8 verse 9, O Lord, O Lord, I, Lord, is He your Lord? By His grace, He has visited
us in mercy, and we have submitted and bound to the sovereign rule
of Christ. And we say, How excellent is
thy name! We love his name. To you who
believe, he's precious. Altogether, lovely. His name
in all the earth. David here returns where he starts,
right back to the Lord. Christ is the beginning and the
end. He's the Alpha. He's the Omega.
His name is excellent. His name is wonderful. Counselor,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name. The Lord Jesus Christ, that's
an excellent name. And we are complete. In him goes
all the fullness of Godhead body and we're complete, complete
in Christ.