you I didn't know. Before we just start the prayer
meeting tonight, I'll just make a few announcements. God willing,
we have the Bible study on Friday, where James Taylor is hoping
to lead that. On Thursday, I think it is, there's
the Mombasa meeting online that pastor sent a message round about.
But then we have Peter Wilkins, God willing, is preaching on
Sunday here, morning and evening. And I'm at Attleboro, God willing.
And you may be aware, but there's an assisted suicide vote coming
up later this month. And so the Christian Institute
has encouraged people to contact their MP. And as we gather together
for prayer, that we may pray that the Lord would overrule
and undertake and stop this great wickedness coming into our country. Let us commence with prayer.
Kind and gracious Lord God, we thank thee that we can come and
gather around thy word and seek thy face for those truths which
are unchanging and that we as a country may be, Lord, not left
to bring in more and more laws which are contrary to thy laws.
And Lord, that there may be that realisation of the dignity and
the honour that thou hast placed upon the human race, being made
in the image of God. Lord, do be with us then, we
pray, and Lord, may that image be respected in our land. There
may be a realisation, Lord, that these things are so valuable. and so important and Lord that
we may care for those in weakness and not seek to end their lives. Lord have mercy upon us then
and bless us now as we gather and bless each that pray but
Lord and bless us as we look into thy word and as we sing
thy praises in all parts of the service may it be as unto the
Lord. Bless us then we pray for Christ's sake amen. Our first hymn is hymn number
726. Hymn number 726 of the tune 507. Christ whose glory fills the
skies, Christ the true, the only light, son of righteousness arise,
triumph all the shades of night, day spring from on high be near,
day star in my heart appear. Hymn 726. I still know it was a time ? Chains unwind ? ? This twinkle
of thine in me ? ? Is found in my heart ? ? Till thy master's feet I see
? ? Till thy input I declare ? ? That move my heart ? ? Blessed
Bethlehem, blessed Bethlehem ? O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free Let us read together from the
Word of God from Psalm 8. Psalm 8. It's the Psalm of David. Psalm 8. This is a psalm that's
quoted a number of times in the New Testament by the Lord Jesus and others. Psalm 8, a psalm
of David. 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 thy 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 honour. 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 beasts of the field,
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is Thy name in all the earth. So we have before us in this
psalm written by David, a psalm that shows the greatness of God. And clearly if we look at the
third verse to start with, you can see something of what was
motivating David in his meditation. As he was looking up, no doubt,
at the night sky, because we don't read of the sun on this
occasion, but the moon and the stars, obviously, which are so
visible in the night sky, a clear night. We read in verse three,
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.
Clearly here David is awed by the greatness of what he sees
and really the hugeness of the world and of
the solar system and then of the Milky Way and all those things,
they're vast. You see the speed of light will
go round the whole the circumference of the Earth seven and a half
times in one second. And yet to get from the light
from the moon to here takes about 1.3 seconds at the speed of light. That's how far the moon is away.
But he says the moon and the stars were the closest star to
us, traveling at that vast speed of light. Remember, it takes
an aeroplane 48 hours to go a circumference of the world, flying all the
time. Light goes around there seven
and a half times in one second. The speed of light is vast. Well,
the closest star to this earth is 4.2 light years away. It's a vast distance. This is
what God has created, by the work of thy fingers, the moon
and the stars, which thou hast ordained. David gets some idea of the vastness
of God, and he feels how small he is in comparison with that.
And yet, you see, this psalm shows something of the very special
place that the human race has in God's creation. In one sense
it seems so, we seem small compared to the earth, and then when you
compare the earth with the solar system and then greater apart
from that, you see, we seem very, very small. And yet, you see,
we're told in one, Genesis chapter 1, and God said,
let us make man, mankind, human beings, in our image, after our
likewise, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
this is picked up later, in that dominion that God has given,
oh, the human race, in the image of God, as a creativity that
human beings have. and let him have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image. In the image of God created he
him, male and female created he them. So we see that yes,
when we look at the vastness of creation, we realize how insignificant
we appear, and yet, You see, God has put a special place,
has a special interest in the human race. And we have in this
very word, this verse four of Psalm 8, what is man that thou
art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? You see, the Lord Jesus did not
visit Mars. He did not go to Mars. He came
to this earth. He visited this earth with a
purpose of love and mercy to restore those lost and ruined
in the fall, his people, to that first glorious position that
they had, that position of honour and how this is this great plan
of salvation. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? You see, we look at things naturally
and Ecclesiastes picks this point up. Ecclesiastes says, Ecclesiastes
1 verse 4, one generation passeth away and another generation cometh.
But the earth abided forever. You see, this was looking at
it under the sun. It seems that the earth is stable
and human beings just come and go. You think of Windsor Castle,
a thousand years, they say, of royal history, 39 monarchs living
over that period in that castle. And yet they're all passed away.
And apart from the one we have at the moment, obviously our
King, 39 have passed away. The earth abided forever, as
it says here. But you see, if you look in the
first epistle of John, chapter 2, we have a different look at
this same thing. 1 John, chapter 2, and verse
17, it says this, And the world passeth away, and the lusts thereof. But he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. So do you see that's a complete
contrast in what we have in Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes says one generation
passed away and another generation coming but the earth abided forever.
That's how it looks like. under the sun, if you exclude
God, just looking at it from a natural perspective. But actually,
the world's passing away, and the lusts thereof. But he that
doeth the will of God abideth forever, a complete change. And
you see, when we see things in God's light, therefore, we get
a completely different perspective. Instead of that our lives are
just meaningful and meaningless and vanity, we have a meaning
and purpose because we were created in the image of God to glorify
a totally different perspective. And you see here in this psalm,
there's a dignity given to the human race, which is above everything
else. The moon and the stars and the
sun, they were not made in the image of God, and they shall
pass away. But the relationship that God
has as he visits his people and works that work of grace in their
hearts and brings them into union with himself is a work that never
ends. So different, you see, as we
look at it in the natural perspective. Our lives seem small and perhaps
meaningless. And of course, we live in a day
where evolutionary thinking is taught and we're told that we
just come from millions of years of random mutations. It doesn't
give anybody any dignity or sense of purpose, does it? But you
see here, in the word of God, we're told that we were, man
was not just part of the evolutionary spectrum. They were created in
the image of God, a unique place to glorify God. And you see the
Lord Jesus came and took upon him the man Christ Jesus. And he, you see, this same Psalm,
Psalm 80 is quoted very heavily in Hebrews 2. And we have here
in Hebrews 2, it picks this up and applies it directly to Jesus. Although this, I believe, Psalm
8 is true of Adam, it was true that he was given dominion, but
of course he fell and he lost so much. He hasn't got everything
under his feet. Death certainly isn't under our
feet, is it? We're still under that with many
troubles. But you see, the Lord Jesus came
to restore that which he took not away. He didn't take it away,
but we took it away by our fallen Adam. But he came to restore
that which he took not away. And so he came to visit his people. And so we see here the dignity
that we have. And as we think of this issue
of the of the suicide, assisted suicide
bill. You see, it undermines this sense
and this truth that man is made in the image of God and thou
shalt not kill. And there is a dignity and a
purpose in our lives. And you see, this is why we have
such a, I believe, a trouble with mental, a crisis in mental
health nowadays. because we're told, you see,
there's no meaning. If you tell people that they
just come from millions of random mutations, it doesn't give them
any sense of purpose. And then there's another part
in this psalm that also is important. But just before we move on, I
want to, you see, the psalmist looked at the work of creation
and he showed how great and vast it was that God showed his power
to put those stars so far away, that's the nearest star, that
the heavens are vast. And that's what God created by
the word of his power. But all he spoke and it was done.
But you see, when we contrast that with the new creation, we
never read in the Bible that God said, let there be redemption
and there was redemption. We never read that. he came to
visit his people. He came to work out a salvation
for his people. And if you contrast what we have
in hymn 876, verse 6, when it says, let there be light and
there was light. This is what that beautiful hymn
on the brazen serpent, verse 6 says, see the Lord of glory
dying. Contrast this with, He spoke
and it was done. See the Lord of Glory dying.
See Him gasping, hear Him crying. See His burdened bosom heave. Look, ye sinners, ye that hung
Him. Look how deep your sins have
stung Him. Dying sinners, look and live.
You see, here we have the Lord, the same Lord of Glory, the same
One that said, let there be light, and there was light. He's involved
here in the new creation. And that's how much more difficult
the new creation was compared to the vastness of the first
creation, which for him was relatively easy. And yet that new creation,
to bring about a redemption, to bring about a satisfaction
between justice and mercy, he sweat great drops of blood. But
then if we look in verse two of this psalm that we've looked
at, We have a different aspect. I've spoken of how this gives
a dignity and a purpose to the human race, and it certainly
does. But there's a balance here in verse 2. 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.
So here the Lord has said you might think with all the vastness
of the creation and the wonders of the world around us, both
microscopically, but also in the vast space, you might think,
ah, it's the real clever people. It's the real, the most clever
people who are going to understand and know God. But here you see there's a humility. that comes with knowing God,
out of the mouth of babes and sucklings as they ordain strength. You see, a baby, a breastfeeding
baby that's very young, very unable to care for themselves,
they're not even able to roll over when they're very young.
They're so helpless, they're so dependent. And these are the
people that God has ordained, that they should give glory to
God. You see, this is what Jesus quoted
when he rode into Jerusalem and they were crying out Hosanna
and the high priest and they were so upset. Those who were
the religious elite, they were upset. But Jesus said, have you
never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast
ordained strength." Think about this with Gideon. Gideon had
that army and he was going to fight the Midianites, but God
said, no, your army's too big. And what was the problem with
it being too big? He said, if you gain the victory, you'll
say that you gained it by your own strength. And so you have
to gain that victory with a much smaller army. So it would be
absolutely clear where the strength has come from. The same with
David as he fought Goliath. It was no match naturally. He
was a shepherd boy against a trained warrior with all his armour.
And yet the shepherd boy gained the victory. And it was clear
then that it's the battle is the Lord's. And as we think of
the battle going on with assisted suicide and all these things,
to realize, to come back to this, the battle is the Lord's. And
God is in control. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength. Because of thine enemies,
this great king, this great one that has made the vast solar
system and then the Milky Way and then all that's out there
which is so vast. He has enemies and they want
to ridicule him. They want to bring him down,
but he tackles them in a different way than you'd imagine. There's
a need for humility. And this is a great truth you
see for us. Yes, we've been given that great
dignity of being made in the image of God and those of us
who've come to know him personally have a tremendous privilege to
have God as our father. To be able to come to him, we
have a great privilege. But verse two also teaches us
that we need to come with great humility. We're not to strut
about because of these things. We're to be clothed with humility.
Indeed, we're to be like our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He was a man who was, take my yoke upon you and learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly in heart, the lowliness of Christ. And
yet the, the great victory he gained all through his father. David, you see, he went to that
fight. He had great bravery, and yet
he had great humility. The same when he came to the
kingdom. He had been anointed to be the king, and yet he didn't
go around bragging about that. And when he could have taken
that kingdom and killed Saul, He left it in God's hands so
that God would bring him at his own time to that position. Out
of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength. And you see, so for us, in our
lives here below, to have this meaning and purpose. We live
in a world, you see, that gets it wrong both ways. First of
all, they say we're just made of millions of mutations and
that's how we've come. And then they say you've got
to go around blowing your own trumpet to get your self-esteem
We're both the opposite to what the Word of God says. We're to
realise that we've been created with dignity and honour, and
we've got a responsibility to serve the Lord. And yet, we're
not to get our honour from shouting about it. Our great privilege
is to serve. You think of Joseph when he came
to that position of authority. He didn't just go sit in basking
with all the people praising him, did he? He went throughout
all the land of Egypt building storehouses. He wasn't lazy.
He wasn't sitting there basking in the glory, was he? He was
busy. Why was he busy? Filling storehouses
so he had something to give to those that were hungry. And you
see when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came to this earth,
he wasn't lazy. He was busy. working out a righteousness
for his people. He wasn't giving praise to himself.
His glory came from God. You see, he humbled himself,
made himself of no reputation, but God exhorted him. And that's
the beautiful biblical picture that we see in Psalm 8 and we
see throughout the Word of God. And that's the opposite to the
thinking of this world. The thinking of this world that
says, promote yourself. No, Jesus didn't do that. He
humbled himself. He got on and he did his father's
will. And he ended up exhorted, given
a name which is above every name, the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God hasn't altogether happened yet. You
see, because we read in Hebrews, that not yet everything is put
under his feet. It will be. We live in that Christian
tension where Jesus is king but he's not king over, his kingship
is not complete everywhere yet. But there will be coming a time
when all his enemies, that last enemy, death, will be also destroyed
and there will be no more death. We think of those who have left
us, those who are in the grave, but there'll be no more death.
There'll be that resurrection. And then, you see, the relationship
we have with God will be the key thing. And the world and
all its vanities will be gone. And so may we have our thinking
aligned with the word of God, to see the greatness of that
relationship between us and God as we've been washed and cleansed
and he's come to this earth, he's visited us with his salvation,
with that purpose of love and mercy. and that we may see the
goodness of God, that it may lead us to repentance, lead us
to true humility, not to walk in pride like the world tells
us to, bragging about our greatness. No, to be humble servants of
Christ, whose honour comes from God, and who delights in his
ways. You think of Jesus with his disciples.
He would have got more honour from his disciples if he'd have
changed his course, that he'd have got more honour from his
disciples if he'd have not gone to the cross. They didn't want
him to do that. But he set his face as a flint towards Jerusalem. He had a baptism to be baptised
with. He had to accomplish it. And what a blessing. And the
praise ultimately, worthy is the Lamb, is the great chorus
that will be sung throughout a never-ending eternity. worthy
is the Lamb. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. May the Lord have his blessing. And next hymn is 389. Hymn 389, tune 350. Draw my soul
to thee, my God. Make me love thy precious word. Bid me seek thy smiling face,
willing to be saved by grace. Hymn 389. Let there be light at my house.
? Let this be my voice, have my
voice ? ? Now and at the end of my days ? O come, O come, O come, O come,
O come, O come, James, would you come and pray
as the Lord helps, please?