Let us turn again to God's Word,
to the verse that we were considering earlier in the morning service,
the book of Psalms, Psalm 8 and verse 4. What is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? Psalm 8 verse 4 what is man that
thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest
him Ebenezer Erskine says of this
verse and the questions that are being put in the verse that
these are down bringing questions in the context of course we see
something of the insignificance of the man. Thou hast made him
a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou mayest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field,
the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
through the paths of the seas. Strange, this man made lower
than angels and yet in many ways he stands at the head of all
that God has created and yet again in so many ways we have
to acknowledge that Erskine is right when he says that the questions
are down bringing. O man we thought of him this
morning in his weakness, in his weakness as a creature, in his
weakness compounded when we consider the fact that he has rebelled
against God, he has sinned, he's fallen short of the glory of
God, he's weak as a sinner, and even when God in his great mercy
is pleased to grant salvation to that sinner, he is still weak.
He has no stock in hand. He has to live by faith. He has
to draw daily upon that grace of God that is laid up in the
person of another, even the Lord Jesus Christ. He is so weak. Remember how we don't only have
the question here in the Psalms, in Psalm 8 and Psalm 144 where
we read, but we also have that question in the book of Job,
and we have it there in the 15th chapter. Job chapter 15. Look at the language
that we find. Verse 14, What is man, that he
should be clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints, yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How
much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity
like water. Oh, this man, he is a poor creature
really. God speaks of him here in his
Word as abominable, filthy, drinking iniquity like water. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And remember how in that third
chapter of Romans the Apostle takes up the language of the
Psalmist, the words that we find in Psalm 14 and again in in Psalm
53 are repeated in that solemn third chapter of the Epistles
to the Romans. And there in the passage at verse
10 and the following verses, as it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God, They are all gone out of the
way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that
do us good, no not one. And so Paul emphasizes that language
that I say we already have on two separate occasions here in
the Psalms, in Psalm 14 and again in Psalm 53. That's a threefold setting forth then of all that
man is as a sinner or what is man that thou art mindful of
him or the son of man that thou visitest him however although
we are to recognize that man is not worthy of the least of
God's fathoms yet there is a sense in which it would be wrong to
say that man is worthless man is not worthless And tonight
I really want to counter what we were saying earlier today
by saying something with regards to the worth of man. And there
are some four areas really in which we can discern man's worth. And so I want us to look at each
of these. To see man's worth in creation and then to consider
his worth in the Lord Jesus Christ that is so important and then
thirdly his worth when God comes and converts the man and then
finally his worth when God takes him in hand and chastises him
and corrects him that's how he deals with his people and in
all of these areas I trust we we do see something of what can
only be described as man's worth You see, it would be wrong to
go away and to imagine that man is nothing but weakness as creature,
as sinner and believer. That is a truth, but that is
not all of the truth. And so, thinking for a while
of the other side of the coin, as it were, and the worth of
man, first of all, in creation. Now, of course, we know that
his origins are very humble. The first man, we're told, is
of the earth, earthly. And we said this morning that
God creates him out of the dust of the earth. Creates his body,
forms his body, fashions his body out of that dust upon which
the man is going to walk. And the very name that God gives
him, Adam, means red earth. reminds him, you see, of his
origin, his body, formed, fashioned out of the dust of the ground. And we draw your attention to
those remarkable words of the prophet in Jeremiah 22-29, where
God, through his servant, addresses the people and says, O earth,
earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. And The words are not
being addressed to the earth upon which we walk. The words
are being addressed to man. Man is so humble, really, when we think
of what he is in his origin. And yet, at the same time, we
remember that he is one made in the image of God. is created
after the likeness of God. Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness. There in Genesis 1.26 there's
that consultation, we might say, between
the persons of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Let us make
man. When it comes to the other part
of creation, there's no conferring between the persons in the Godhead. God simply utters his voice and
creates. As we said this morning, God
said, let there be light, and there was light. Let the dry
land appear. The dry land appears by the word
of the Lord, where the heavens made all the host of them by
the breath of his mouth. They're different. God takes
a particular interest in the creation of the man and so as
we have that general account of creation in the opening chapter
of Genesis when we come to the second chapter we have a little
more detail concerning the creation of the man and the woman. And
here we see the importance of these creatures. The Lord formed
man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils
a breath of life and he became a living soul. And then he creates the woman. He sends the man into a deep
sleep, takes the man's rib and forms Eve and brings the woman
to the man. We have the detail then concerning
the origins of man and the importance of man. And in that second chapter
we see how man is, as it were, to be God's vicegerent. He is to be in the place of God,
as it were, over creation. We have that passage that some
refer to as the cultural mandate. God has set the man over all
the works of his hand. in Genesis chapter 2 there at
verse 5 and the following verses there was not a man to till the
ground he went up a mist out of the I've got the wrong passage
here Just bear, bear with me. It's that passage that they referred
to as the cultural mandate where man is set over all the works
of God's hands. It's in chapter 1 isn't it Cliff? Yeah, there's that verse, God
bless the man and said unto him, Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of
the sea, over the fowl of the air, over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth. And then subsequently, in the
second chapter, we see how God brings all the animals before
the man, and Adam gives names to all cattle. and to the fowl
of the air, and to every beast of the field. And there was not
found a help meet for him. And so God creates the woman,
but it's the man who is in that position where he actually names
the creatures and he set over the creatures. And that there
to serve the man, it's so significant. And really we see something of
it here in the psalm in that passage that we've all already
referred to the verses that follow. Verse 6, 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, and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea,
and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. Man is
in this position where the earth is there to serve him. and it's
true of course that as a sinful creature man abuses that position
and misuses all that God has given him but now we we seem
to live in a day when men want to worship the creature rather
than the creator where there's a sort of pantheism and man is
put under the earth, the earth is over the man and the earth
is to be respected more than the man everything turned upside
down because of the folly of men but how different it is,
in creation man is set there as such a noble creature because
he is God's image bearer and we see the dignity of man of
course ultimately in what is said later in Genesis chapter
9, where we really have that verse
that teaches us the significance of capital punishment. All man is created in God's image,
therefore it says, whosoever shedeth man's blood, by man shall
his blood be shed. because he made man in the image
of God. There's the reason. If a man
murders another man he is assaulting the very image of God. Although
that image has been defaced and we might say lost really in the
fall and yet he was created in the image of God. There's a certain
nobility about man. As I said this morning when these
questions are put in regard to God himself rather than man,
they're uplifting questions. We see it, don't we, later in
the 89th Psalm and the words that we have there at verse 6
and then at verse 8. Who in the heaven can be compared
unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty
can be likened unto the Lord? O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord, like unto Thee, or to Thy faithfulness round
about Thee? Well, there is a certain glory
in God, and when the questions are put then in relation to God,
who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and
free? And man has been made in the
image of that God, the great God. And so we're to recognize
that there is a certain nobility in this creature. There is some
worth here. But sadly, man is a fallen creature. Lo, this only have I found, says
the preacher in Ecclesiastes. God made man upright, but they
have sought out many inventions. But man's nobility is to be recognized
even when we come to consider him as God created him. But then,
more especially, we see the significance of the man when we think in terms
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we remarked this morning,
this 8th Psalm is really speaking of the Lord Jesus. It is a prophetic
psalm, it's a messianic psalm. The text that we're considering
again tonight directs us clearly to the Lord Jesus. And we see
it in that portion that we were reading in Hebrews. There in that second chapter,
verse 6, one in a certain place testified. What is the Apostle
doing? He's referring back to Psalm
8, one in a certain place. It's what David had said. What is man, that thou art mindful
of him, or the Son of Man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest
him a little lower than the angels, thou crownest him with glory
and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands,
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
unto him, but now we see not yet all things put unto him,
but 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. Oh, Paul
is so clear here. What is man? He then directs
us to the Lord Jesus. We see Jesus. He is the one made
a little lower than the angels. He is truly that one who is the
man and as we said this morning the first man Adam is the figure
of him that was to come. Romans 5.14 Adam is the figure
of him that was to come. There are many in the Old Testament
who are types. David, of course, the very author
of this 8th Psalm, is a type of the Lord Jesus. But Adam is
a type of the Lord Jesus. Again, the words of Paul in 1
Corinthians 15, the first man Adam was made a living soul,
the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. There's the first Adam
and there's the last Adam. Who is the apostle speaking of?
They're two different men, two distinct men. And the first Adam
is a type of the last Adam. the first man is of the earth,
earthly as we see God made him out of the dust of the earth
now the second man is the Lord from heaven who was conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary all that holy
thing that was to be called the Son
of God that is the Lord from heaven Now in God's sight there
are but these two men, the first Adam and the last Adam. We said
this morning, which of these two men are we found in? By nature
we're all in the first Adam, of course we are. We've all descended
from Adam. There ought to be those who know
by the grace of God that we're no more in that Adam, we're in
the last Adam. And with those who are looking
to him and trusting in him, and seeing in Him all our salvation. Oh, we want to behold this man.
We want to understand something of the wonder of who this man
is. We referred, didn't we, again
in the morning sermon to the language of John 19, 5, where
the Lord is brought forth in that mockery of a trial. Then
came Jesus forth crowns, with the crown of thorns, the purple
robe upon him, and Pilate says, Behold the man! Behold the man! But we remark now that the name
Pilate is in italics, and as I say, that indicates to us how
it's been introduced by the translators, it's not there in the original,
it's been brought in to bring out the sense as I understand
it, but we we could omit that word it's not one of the inspired
words that's there in the original and Dr. Robert Hawker as I said
is one who says we should omit that word who was it who said
behold a man not so much Pilate it's Christ himself then came
Jesus forth crowned with the crown of thorns clothed in the
purple robe and said Behold the man, or he proclaims himself. This is the man, even the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, do we not have to recognize
the worth of men when we see them in Christ? Or
to be in the Lord Jesus Christ? There is an eternal union with
the Lord Jesus You remember Ephesians chapter
1 where Paul is speaking of God's great salvation and that salvation
that was purposed from all eternity. We see the electing love of the
Father as he makes choice of a people and then they're committed
into the hands of his son and it's a son who comes in the fullness
of the time and makes the great sin-atoning sacrifice. and accomplishes
that salvation. And then how the Spirit is the
one who comes and He fills that salvation in the souls of sinners. That great opening chapter of
Ephesians. And how does God make choice
of His people? Well, we're told, according as
He has chosen us in Him. that is in Christ, chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world. Our man has been
magnified. Again, that language that we
have in Job, where the question is put in chapter 7. We read
the portion this morning. What is man that thou shouldest
magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine
heart upon it. What a statement is that there! How God magnified man. This is the great purpose of
God. He's going to save sinners. And
He has purpose to save sinners from before the foundation of
the world. Before there was any creature,
before there was any sin. God's eternal purpose. He's chosen
sinners in Christ. He's magnified them in making
that choice. He has set His sovereign love
upon them. All the wonder of it. And so
when Christ comes, in the fullness of the time, He doesn't take
on Him the nature of angels, He takes upon Him the seed of
Abraham. He identifies with a particular
people and they're referred to as the seed of Abraham. We read of that seed first of
all, of course, in Genesis chapter 3, the words that are spoken
by the Lord God to the serpent after he attempted the woman
and the woman had transgressed and rejected God's truth and
embraced the devil's lie and that curse that God pronounces. upon the serpent in terms of the seed of the woman
who will come and crush the serpent's head even as the serpent bruises
his heel the seed of the woman and then that seed is the seed
of Abraham and then that seed is the seed of David It's that people that God in
His goodness, His mercy and His grace has set His love upon. And so Christ comes and takes
it on, not upon Him the nature of angels, but He takes upon
Him the seed of Abram. And for as much as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He likewise takes part of the
same. He becomes a real man. Our God's contracted to us incomprehensibly
made man. All the worth of man then, when
we think of man and that place that he must occupy in God's
great work of salvation. As we said this morning, there
was no provision of salvation for fallen angels. There were
elect angels who never sinned. But there were those angels that
did sin, who rebelled against God, who disobeyed God, Satan,
and the host of demons, but no provision of salvation. But when
man sins, God had a purpose to fulfill in the salvation of sinful
men. And we see man's worth in that.
And we see man's worth in the way in which God affects that
salvation in the experiences of men. How does God do it? He does it in the great work
of conversion. He converts the sinner to himself. God's image that was so disfigured
and marred and lost in the fall of Adam and Eve, that image is
renewed in conversion. There's that eternal union when
they're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world,
but it must be a union that becomes experimental. They experience
something. They're changed. They're changed. They're made new creatures in
Christ Jesus. They're born again of the Spirit
of God. The new man. which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Paul
to the Ephesians says, put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. There's the restoration,
you see, of that image that was lost. And so man is a new creature. When he's born again, he receives
a new nature. And he knows it because he feels
the conflict between the old man and the new man. And how
Paul recognized that in his own experience as he cries out in
Romans 7, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? That's his whole nature, bearing
down upon him. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? The good that I would I do, not
the evil that I would, not that I do. O wretched man! Now the
flesh is lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh. Now these are contrary one to
the other, and ye cannot do the thing that ye would. Who shall
deliver me? I thank God, through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Oh, what a work is it that God
performs when He converts the sinner.
Creation is a great work of God. the first creation. It is the
work of God's fingers. We see it here. In the previous verse, verse
3 of the psalm, When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy
fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, the
vastness of the universe, what a great work it is, And what
did God have to employ? I know they're all figures because
God doesn't have a body and God doesn't have parts to a body.
But he tells us something, doesn't he? This great God, what he does
in the universe, in the multitude of the stars, he works with his
fingers and creates everything. When you look into the sky, that
remarkable work. And then he works without any
matter at all. There's nothing there. Through
faith. We understand that the worlds
were made so that things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear. You know that text in Hebrews
11.3. God makes everything out of nothing. And then, how does God make everything
out of nothing? Well, he works without any labour
at all, really. I know we have this anthropomorphic
language, as they call it. That's a technical term. It means
that God is spoken of as if he were a man, and works like men
work, because God is a spirit. The language is used to help
us to understand something of the wonder of God and the ways
and the works of God. But God simply spoke, as we said
this morning, as we've said this evening. He creates by a fiat,
He says, and it is done. He just speaks the words, and
there's creation. He spoke and it was done. He
commanded, and it stood fast. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made, all the host of them, by the breath of his
mouth. Ah! But conversion is a greater work.
That new creation that comes into the soul of the sinner,
that's a greater work. It's the work, not of God's fingers,
it's the work of God's arm. You know that the book of Isaiah
is full of gospel and if I was to ask you tonight can you name
me a chapter in Isaiah in which you have plain straightforward
statements of gospel truth? I reckon I could tell you what
every one of you would say, you'd say Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, what
a remarkable chapter. The suffering servant of God
and so remarkable in its detail and so remarkable when we think
it was written nearly 700 years before the birth of Christ. But
how does that chapter open? Isaiah 53.1, "...who hath believed
our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed." For
us to believe that report, for anyone to believe that report
truly, to believe it, to embrace it, and to trust in that suffering
servant of the Lord, God has to make bare His arm. "...who
hath believed our report, For those who believe, why the Lord
has revealed His arm. He's done a mighty work in that
soul. Later, Isaiah 59, 16, His arm
brought salvation onto Him. Well, that's how salvation comes.
God has to make bare His arm. And God has to stretch forth
His hand. And God has to do a great work in the soul of the sinner. Oh Mary, Mary the Mother of Christ
was so aware of it, wasn't she? That the Incarnation, the words,
the lovely words of the Magnificat as we call it. In Luke chapter 1 verse 46, Mary said, My soul
doth magnify the Lord. and my spirit hath rejoiced in
God, my Saviour." Oh, she was a sinner, you see. Don't believe
the nonsense of the Romish church. She was a sinner saved by grace. My spirit hath rejoiced in God,
my Saviour, you see. Verse 49. He that is mighty hath
done to me great things, and holy is his name. And His mercy
is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He
has showed strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts. Oh, He has showed the strength
of His arm. In that great work that He is
about to accomplish there we have the incarnation. And remember, and I know I refer
to these verses time and time and time and time again, but
I find them so remarkable, those words that we have in Ephesians
1.19, "...the exceeding greatness of His power to us all who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought
in Christ when He rose Him from the dead." Oh, the exceeding
greatness of His power in believers! What a work is that to bring
a sinner, that man, that woman, dead in trespasses and sins to
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a mighty work of God. Exceeding,
great. And it's compared to what was
there when Christ himself was raised again from the dead. That's the wonder of it. Or doesn't
the Lord say, I am the resurrection and the life? He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Do we believe that? Or do we
believe that? Has the arm of the Lord been
revealed in us and brought us to believe that wondrous truth? Or conversion, you see. It's
a great work. Where does conversion begin?
Well, it begins, doesn't it, with regeneration. It must begin
there. By nature we're dead in trespasses
and sins. We're in that state of alienation,
enemies of God. The sinner must be born again.
And that's an instantaneous work. in the soul of the sinner. They're
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man. They're born of God. They're born from above. The
winds, Christ says, bloweth where it listeth, thou hearest the
sound thereof. Canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither
it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. It's the sovereign work of the
Spirit of God bringing life into the soul of the sinner. Oh, what
is man that thou art mindful of him and the Son of Man that
thou visitest him? That God should come and do this
work in your soul and in my soul. Isn't this a noble creature then
that God is dealing with because God is displaying in the soul
of this sinner something of the greatness of his glory and the
wonder of his grace. We see then the nobility of man
really in the work of creation. We see it certainly when we consider
him in the Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that this psalm,
this 8th psalm, is to be understood ultimately concerning Christ
as he's made so clear there in Hebrews chapter 2. And then finally
we see the worth of man when we think
of God's chastenings. God's chastenings. What is man
that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou
visitest him? Think again of the language that
we have back in that seventh chapter of Job and the words
that we read this morning. Job 7,17 What is man that thou
shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest set thine heart
upon him, and that thou shouldest visit him? every morning and
try him every moment. How long wilt thou not depart
from me? says Job. Nor let me alone till
I swallow down my spit. Will I have sinned? What shall
I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Why hast thou set me
as a mark against so that I am a burden to myself, the mystery
of this book of Job and this poor man. And what is the Lord
doing with him? The Lord seems to be so set against him. He cries out in the previous
sixth chapter, verse 4, The arrows of the Almighty are within me,
the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. The terrors of God
do set themselves in array against me. It's God's dealings, and
there's a mystery. I don't pretend to be able to
explain, but you know the opening chapters, how the devil receives
leave of God to come and trouble this man, and how he troubles
him. How he loses everything. All his possessions. He's one
of the great men of the East. He loses everything. Everything's
gone. Not only his possessions, all his children. All his children
taken away from him. Calamity upon calamity. His wife
turns and says, curse God and die! But he can't do it, he won't
do it. And then God permits him to be
afflicted even in his own person and he's smothered from head
to toe in bruises and putrefying sores. His troops come together,
he says, and raise up their way against me and then camp round
about my tabernacle, his poor body, his poor tabernacle. wherever
he turns, troubles, troubles upon troubles. And yet, God is
taking account of him. That's the wonder. Psalm 94 and
verse 12, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord,
and teachest him out of thy law. Isn't that what God was doing
with Job And doesn't Job have to learn
that lesson? But the Lord is dealing with
him. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he delivereth. No chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, says Paul. Nevertheless afterward
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who
are exercised. thereby or there's prophet you
see God will have his children know themselves He will have
them know their needs as sinners and so we have this this question
and as we said this morning it's it's a fourfold question we don't
only have it in the Psalms as we say here in the 8th Psalm
again in the 144th Psalm we have it there in Job chapter 7 and verse 17 and also in chapter
15 and verse 4 the fourfold question what is man? what is man that thou art mindful
of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? but then in
his goodness his mercy we have a fourfold gospel We have a fourfold
gospel. And what is the great subject
matter of the gospel? It all really concerns a man.
All it concerns is the man Christ Jesus. It concerns his birth,
the miracle of the incarnation, his being conceived in the womb
of a virgin by the Holy Ghost, all that great mystery of God
being manifest in the flesh, and the Gospel concerns all that
detail concerning His life, and His ministry, and His death,
and His resurrection, and His ascension on high. And where
is there salvation? It's in that man. Oh, it's in
that man the Lord Jesus Christ beholds. the man, this man, and
ought to be those who are found in that blessed man, looking
to Him, trusting in Him, leaning upon Him, finding in Him all
our salvation. Oh God grant that we might be
those who know Him. To know Him is life eternal. As the Lord Himself says in His
high priestly prayer, this is life eternal to know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. May the
Lord be pleased to bless us with such faith. Amen.