May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
second epistle of Paul, sorry, the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews,
chapter two, and we'll read verse six. The epistle of Paul to the
Hebrews, the second chapter, and reading verse six. But one
in a certain place testified saying, what is man? that thou
art mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that thou visitest him. The Apostle Paul here is, of
course, referring to the words that we read together in the
8th Psalm, where we read virtually the same words. in the fourth
verse of the eighth psalm, what is man that thou art mindful
of him and the son of man that thou visitest him. And you might
perhaps, you young people might say, well why didn't he say David?
Well of course, remember he was writing to the Jewish people
and of course the Jewish people would have been very familiar
with the Psalms and would have known who he was referring to. Well this is a wonderful statement
and in the the verse in the 8th Psalm, we also have a view of
the greatness of God and therefore by comparison the smallness of
man. And we're told in the third verse,
David says, when I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon, and the stars which thou hast ordained.' Having considered
that, he then says, What is man, that thou art mindful of him,
and the son of man that thou visitest him?' It's good when
we have some true view of the greatness of God. We live in
a day and age when God is often considered virtually as an ordinary
person and is treated as such with disdain and not the honour
and glory which is due indeed to his great and holy name. So
we should be very thankful if we have such words like this
written by David, that man of God, to direct us to the greatness
of God, and then to have this comparison. What is man? So small, so insignificant by
comparison, and yet to think the Lord is mindful of him, and
the Son of Man that thou visitest him. And so tonight as we think
of this, may we be humble to realise We come before the great
God. Now, it's clear when we refer
to the Hebrew account that not only does this refer to man,
it also refers to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we read this chapter together,
no doubt you would have appreciated that it did speak of course of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have those two sides actually
just to consider for a few moments this evening. So first of all
let us just consider it from the human perspective of what
is man. What is man? That thou art mindful
of him. To realize that God is mindful
of everything that happens in this vast world. And he's mindful
of each one of us, all through our life. Now this
will be a comfort to those who fear God, but it won't be comfortable
or good news to those who walk contrary to God, because they'll
be concerned that they do things which are not God-glorifying,
those things which are wrong, and those things which are evil. And so when we think of this
truth, that God is mindful of us, always has been, and always
will be. It would be a good thing, wouldn't
it, if we are reminded more and more of this, to think that God
is mindful of us, And he's very conscious, even of things that
you and I think. Nothing is hidden from the all-seeing
eye of God. Sometimes we foolishly carry
on in our sinful ways as though God did not exist. And we seem to act and think
as though God did not exist. Well, it's because of our fallen
sinful nature. Now, does that cause us grief?
Does it cause us sorrow? Or are we unconcerned and we're
satisfied with our life and we're satisfied with our religion? Well, the truth is that a true
born-again child of God will never be really satisfied with
themselves. They will be wholly satisfied
with what Christ has done, but they'll never be satisfied with
what they've done. Because as they look at their
life, they will see one word written against it, and that
is failure. We have all failed. we stand
before a holy God. We've all disobeyed God's righteous
law and therefore what a good thing it is when we realise that
this great God is mindful of all that we do and think and
say. And it's a wonderful thing if
the Holy Spirit therefore causes that to have a good effect upon
us. So as the hymn writer said, the
work of the Holy Spirit is indeed, and the Word of God is, an unctuous
light to all that's right and a bar to all that's wrong. You see, the devil so often,
in the day and age in which we live, tells us, no, there's no
harm in just doing that. It won't actually affect you
and in actual fact you'll be alright doing it. That was just
what the devil said to Adam and Eve all those years ago. See
what the devil does is to contradict the Word of God. What the devil
does is to cast doubt upon the Word of God. He tries to produce
for us a loophole enables us to move aside from the great
truth of God and think we can therefore wriggle out of the
truth of God's Word. Well let us remember this statement,
the Lord is mindful of us. In every day, in every thought,
the Lord is mindful of us. And though we have this wonderful
picture of the greatness of Almighty God, yet He is so great, He looks
down upon us, small, insignificant, as we are. Well, may that be
a comfort to us, and yet also may it be a very striking consideration,
that it may really influence us in our lives. And may we desire to walk more
in conformity with the Word of God and not pleasing our flesh,
not pleasing ourselves, not walking contrary to the Word of God. Well, one in a certain place
testified saying, what is man that thou art mindful of him? To remember therefore that God
is mindful of us, And of course, it's a very great comfort to
know that. Because in our times of need, we realize the Lord
is ever at hand to hear and answer our cries to him. He's ever at
hand to strengthen us, to sustain us, to support us, and to direct
us. We're told in James, aren't we?
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to
all men liberally and upbraideth not. It's a great blessing therefore,
isn't it, to realise that this great God is mindful of us. We may come to him in those times
of need, and that of course relates not just to natural things, it
also relates to our spiritual life, because we may feel sometimes
very ignorant about the truth of God, the things of God. We may indeed seem to be so very
foolish and so very sinful. Well, the Lord is mindful of
us. And remember that Israel of old,
they were led about. As Jacob was, we're told of Jacob,
the Lord led him about. He found him, indeed, in a waste
hound in wilderness. He led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Jacob didn't have
an easy path, but God was mindful of him. And my friends, we're
not promised an easy path, but we are promised that God will
be mindful of us. And of course, David was very
much aware of it, wasn't he, in his life. again naturally
and spiritually. As you read his natural life
in Samuel and all that occurred, we see how God was so mindful
of him. We read the Psalms, we read there of his spiritual life,
and we see how very much the Lord was mindful of him. And
so may you and I today be encouraged to believe the Lord hasn't changed,
to realise the Lord is still mindful of his people and indeed
that he's mindful of us today. And so may that be a strength
to us. You can go right through the
Word of God from Genesis to Revelation and you can see again and again
the wonderful favour and blessing that God bestowed upon his people,
mindful of them in every time of need. The Lord knew about
them. He knew the path that they were
walking in. He knew what he would do. He
knew how he would deliver them. He knew how he would strengthen
them. And therefore surely with such
a word as this, realise then that the Lord is mindful of us
to be able to come and to cast all our care upon him. believing that he cares for us,
mindful of us. We have cares, don't we? Sometimes
they seem like mountains. Sometimes we think we're going
to be overcome by them. Sometimes we think there's no
escape. God is mindful. He knows the
way that we take. when he has tried us we should
come forth as gold. What a blessing it is to have
therefore a God who is mindful of us. May we be instructed by
it and blessed by it as we consider this great truth and again if
you need any encouragement turn to the Word of God, search the
Word of God and you will see again and again how the Lord
was mindful his people, mindful of the Apostle Paul, mindful
of all the Apostles, mindful of Daniel, mindful of Ruth, so
many occasions, mindful of Hezekiah, mindful of Jehoshaphat, they
all had great difficulties and trials and temptations and yet
the Lord delivered them out of them all. So may we be encouraged
tonight as we think of these words to cast our care upon the
Lord. And so, what is man? Poor, puny
man. And then, as the apostle says,
or the son of man that thou visitest him. That's a word which I suppose
is perhaps not used perhaps as much as it was at one time. And
yet there is surely that concern that the Lord would look upon
us and visit our souls. Indeed I hope the cry is, leave
not my soul destitute. And if we don't want to be left
destitute, what do we need? We need a visit from the Lord. Because when the Lord comes to
us, you see, because he's mindful of us, when he visits our soul,
he knows what we need. He knows what will encourage
us. He knows what will strengthen
us. And we have many promises in
the Word of God with regard to the Lord's promises being fulfilled.
You may remember when Joseph was dying. He confirmed that
the Lord would visit them, the Israelites in Egypt. He would
visit them and he would deliver them. And so it came to pass. After many years, many years
had to pass, but God is faithful and God did visit them. And as
we know, God visited Israel in a most amazing way. So they came out with a high
hand. God visited them in his appointed
time. Now surely by such an account
as that, we must realize that sometimes we need to be patient. may have prayed for God to visit
our souls and we may expect God to answer immediately. Well sometimes
he does and sometimes he waits to be gracious and sometimes
he delays. My friends when Lord does delay
we can be very sure that when he comes the blessing and his
visit will be So much more important. So much sweeter to realise the
Lord has been mindful of us. The Lord has visited me. He's
come to me. And if the Lord can come to us,
He can visit us wherever we are, whatever time of the day, whatever
position, at work, school, on the road, in the car, in bed,
in the house of God, the Lord can come and visit us. It's because the Lord is in every
place. He's mine for us in every place. Therefore what a mercy
to think that this God can come and He can indeed visit us. How many times you trace out
in the Word of God, so many times there were occasions when God
did come and visit his people and what a blessing it was and
what a wonderful favour it was and how important it is still
for us today to be able to plead the word of God and to plead
the promises of God and to believe that that which God has said
indeed will come to pass and in the the hundred and 106th
Psalm, we read this. Remember me, O Lord, with a favor
that thou bearest unto thy people. Oh, visit me with thy salvation. I wonder if that's been your
prayer. I wonder whether you'd really
be concerned The Lord would remember you, just like the dying thief
on the cross. Just shortly before he was to
pass out of time into eternity, what did he say? Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What did the Lord say?
This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Now, the true Church
of God, desire the Lord to visit their soul. They don't want to go on and
have no visits from the Lord, because those situations, that
case is one of barrenness, hardness. Very quickly it turns into rebellion. What a blessing, therefore, if
the Lord encourages us to hear His Word. You know the first
verse in this Psalm, 106th Psalm, we read, Praise ye the Lord,
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy
endureth forever. What a wonderful expression.
What a wonderful truth. And yet you see, the Psalm is
still desired. this favour might be his. Remember
me, O Lord, with the favour that bearest unto thy people.' And
if we think of this visit, this favour is to show us his salvation,
to show to us that we are amongst those for whom the blessed Lord
died, to take away our sins. A visit from the Lord to confirm
to us that we are one of God's chosen people. What a mercy it
is if we are amongst this little band who truly pray in this way. It's a good prayer, my friends,
it's a prayer you and I can pray every day really, isn't it? Never
gets old-fashioned, never wears out. Remember me, O Lord, with
a favour that thou bearest unto thy people. O, visit me with
thy salvation. It does go on, that I may see
the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness
of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. You see,
when we come to that position, we often have to come again,
like the psalmist does, with confession, he says, we have
sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. You won't be able to hold your
head up and say, well I'm a righteous person. You'd have to hang your
head down and say you're an unrighteous person. That's why such a cry
like this, visit your soul, is so necessary and so appropriate. Remember me. O Lord, with the
favour Thou bearest unto Thy people, O visit me with Thy salvation. A visit from the Lord. Well,
perhaps we ought to ask the question, do we know what it is to have
a visit from the Lord? Do you know, you young people,
do you know what it is to have a visit from the Lord? You may
not perhaps take the form that you might expect. But nonetheless,
when the Lord comes and visits your soul, perhaps it is to alert
you to your lost condition. And that is a visit from the
Lord. It's not something that the natural
man wants to know anything about. But it would be a wonderful blessing
if your soul has been visited by the Lord, and that visit has
shown unto you your condition, where you are, and how you need
a Saviour. Well, bless God tonight, if you
can say, thanks be to God for his goodness to me. Thanks be
to God. He's come and visited my soul.
He's caused me to consider my way. He's caused me to ponder,
perhaps, my latter end. And, of course, what is it? All
of grace, all of His favour, all of His love, if He's visited
your soul. Well, the Psalm of Asaph, the
80th Psalm, Asaph had this to say in the 80th Psalm, and come
down to the 14th verse, he says, Return we beseech thee, O God
of hosts. Again, this may be to those who
perhaps have backslidden. And by that I mean this, the
things of time, the things of the flesh. have crept in, and
that's often how it occurs, they creep in. And what do they do? They separate between us and
our God. And therefore how we need the
Lord to come in this and visit him, what is man, or the son
of man that thou visitest him? To have the evidence that God
is visiting us And to perhaps hear this word return, we beseech
thee, O God of hosts. Now, Asaph was in a great need. Because when we're in a great
need, our prayers take on a different form. And not just a traditional
few words. We beseech thee. It means we're
praying earnestly from our hearts We have a desperate need that
God will look upon us. And this is what he says, look
down from heaven and behold and visit this vine. He wanted God
to come and to visit him. He wanted God to have mercy upon
him. He didn't want God to turn away
from him. And he tells us, visit this vine
and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch
that thou madest strong for thyself. It is burned with fire. It is
cut down. They perish at the rebuke of
thy countenance. Let thy hand be upon the man
of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong
for thyself. So will not we go back from thee?
Quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us again,
O Lord of hosts. Cause thy face to shine, and
we shall be saved. When the Lord visits our soul
and shines, what happens? What shines? The glorious light
of the gospel. That's what shines. And it shines
into our heart. And it reveals to us that we
are saved. Because that light doesn't shine
into the heart unless they are saved. Unless they are amongst
those, the Lord is love and everlasting love. So tonight, may we have
the evidence of these visits and this cry for these visits. You see, may these visits be
more frequent as the hymn writer says, more frequent and let them
longer last. That really means communion with
the Lord, that he would not withdraw himself, but he'd be near to
us and he'd be with us, that we may truly feed upon the blessed
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. What is man, or the Son of Man,
that thou visitest Him? Well, let me just move on now
to the reference it has, of course, to the Saviour Himself. This, of course, is holy ground
when we think of it, because what does it show to us here?
It shows us the blessed Saviour coming right down. right down
to the lowest place, the lowest level. And the next verse applies,
of course, to man and also to the blessed Saviour. Thou madest
him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honour, and it set him over the works of thy hands. Yes,
the Lord did. The Lord God did crown His only
begotten Son, with glory and honour. I believe in the heart
of the true believer, we desire to crown Him Lord of all. The Lord indeed has come and
touched our heart and shown to us, the Lord's been mindful of
us and that He's visited our soul, surely we should desire
to crown him Lord of all. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet, for in that he put all in 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. Now surely that should be our
great desire. great concern to see this wonderful,
blessed man by faith. The Lord indeed will visit us
so that we do behold the Lamb of God, the taker of the way,
the sinner of the world. Pilate in the judgment hall said,
behold the man. By faith, my friends, you and
I need to behold the Lord Jesus Christ. Be able to come and say,
but we see Jesus. We see Jesus. And what do we
see? 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. Everyone for whom he died Everyone
whom he loved with an everlasting love when it says of course every
man here. It doesn't mean physically every
man it means people out of every nation and the Apostle says for
it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things
this blessed God who made all things who created all things
and in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of
their salvation perfect through sufferings." Again we should
desire that, as the Apostle did when he wrote to the Philippians,
he desired that he might be blessed with that fellowship with his
sufferings. And I suppose naturally we think,
well, to walk such a path of that must necessarily bring with
it a tremendous amount of natural sufferings. Well, it may not.
It may not. The Lord knows what will be involved. But it is a good and blessed
path to be found in this way and to be joined to the Saviour
the captain of their salvation, perfect through sufferings, for
both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of
one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."
It really picks up the theme that we had this morning. And
what a wonderful thing it is to think that the Saviour is
not ashamed of us. It's hard to believe, isn't it,
when we see how we are failures so often, and yet He's not ashamed
of us. But one in a certain place testifies
saying, what is man? Thou art mindful of him, or the
Son of Man, that thou visitest him. Not ashamed. call them brethren
saying i would declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst
of the church when i sing praise unto thee well to think the god
the blessed savior declares our name our unworthy name surely
that must be a wonderful indication of his work in our hearts when
we realize how utterly unworthy we are. Look into our hearts
and what do we see? Sin and sin and sin. How ever can God dwell here? And yet we have these gracious
and encouraging words. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the church. Will I sing praise unto
thee and again I will put my trust in him and again behold
I and the children which God hath given me." To think that
the Lord Jesus came to die, to atone for our sins, those whom
the Father had given to him. Not one is left behind. Not one is forgotten. We cannot
be too bad, we cannot be too vile. This gracious Saviour did
all that was necessary to redeem our souls. And so he goes on,
for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him, and had the power of death, that
is, the devil. We battle, don't we, day by day,
with the devil. But let us be thankful and let
us have faith to believe that he is defeated. He was defeated when the Lord
rose from the dead a conqueror. Death could not hold him. And
yet, you see, the blessed Saviour died to atone for our sins. He paid the price necessary that
we might indeed be redeemed. He rose from the dead a conqueror,
that he might destroy him and the power of death, that is,
the devil. And so here we have this gracious
word. Thou crownest him with glory
and honour. And it set Him over the works
of thy hands." Well, tonight do we desire to crown this blessed
Lord as our Saviour. And we crown Him as King of Kings
and Lord of Lords. Realising how great He is and
He's worthy of all acclamation and He's worthy of our praise
for what He's done. and to think He's been mindful
of us, to think that He's visited us, to think that He's died for
us, to think that He's conquered for us, to think that even today
He's seated on the Father's right hand to intercede for us. Poor, weak, sinful people of
the earth. You know, this word here, what
is man, in the original Hebrew, in the psalm, it really means
enosh, and it means a very weak man. It doesn't mean a very strong
man, it means a very weak man. And so if you and I feel to be
very weak, I feel to be very strong, I feel to be very able
to remember such a word as this should come where we are and
should meet our case and should be an encouragement to us when
is man thou mindful of him or the son of man that thou visitest
him. And so as we conclude this second
chapter in the Hebrews He says, for in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
We have a brother in the Saviour, born for adversity, a Saviour
who knows all about us, tempted in all points, like us we are
yet without sin. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.
And so tonight, if we are tempted, tempted to think perhaps we're
out of the secret, tempted to think there's no hope for us,
let us remember this word, what is man? What is man? What am
I? That thou art mindful of him,
Thou art mindful of me, or the Son of man, that thou visitest
him or visitest me. And to have that true prayer
and that true desire, the Lord will indeed remember me and visit
me with thy salvation. Oh, this is surely the great
visit that all of us must have. The Lord comes to us. He came
into this world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However bad
you may feel, you're not beyond the reach of the blessed Saviour. And to realise that he knows
all about us. There is forgiveness with God.
Yes, there is forgiveness with God, that he may be praised and
honoured and glorified. surely there is no greater praise
from our lips to the Saviour when he redeems us, when he calls
us, when he shows to us that he's visiting our soul and revealing
to us that we are one of those for whom he has died, one of
those for whom he suffered on the cross at Calvary, one of
those who endured the hiding of his father's face so that
one day By His grace, we shall be with Him in glory. Surely, we have to say, blessed
be God. Amen.