Let us turn once again to the
Word of God in that portion that we were considering this morning
in Psalm 8. The 8th Psalm and I'll read once
more. Verses 3 and 4. 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." Considering then in particular
the questions that we have here in verse 4, and this remarkable
question that is repeated in other parts, what is man? We find it, of course, in that
other psalm that we just read, the 144th psalm at verse 3, and
then we have it on those two occasions also in the book of
Job, in Job chapter 7, verses 17 and 18, and again in chapter
15 at verse 14. Four times we find this question in various contexts,
and yet basically the same question on each occasion. What is man? And we know that there is nothing
of vain repetition anywhere in God's works. As we said this
morning, Ebenezer Erskine, that great Scots minister back in
the 18th century, said it is very much a down-bringing question. or man is so insignificant a
creature and we were thinking in particular this morning of
the feebleness, the frailty and the weakness of man that weakness
as we see it in man as a creature but also when we consider him
as a sinner and then even when he is brought to faith, the believer
is one who certainly knows his weakness. It is a mark of the
child of God that he recognizes that his salvation is altogether
by the grace of God. Nothing of himself. He is all
weakness. And yet God is that one who is
mighty. And that poor sinner who can
do nothing for himself is brought to recognize the goodness of
God in His grace as He works salvation in the heart. How the Scriptures tell us constantly
of what man is, as a sinner or of sin, says the Apostle, and
comes short of the glory of God. And remember how Paul there in
Romans chapter 3 makes reference to verses that we have in two
of the Psalms. He quotes from Psalm 14 and Psalm
53 with regards to man's awful condition as a sinner. As it
is written There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that
understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way they are, together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one, and so forth. An extensive quotation there
at verse 10 following, as he makes reference to the words
of the psalmists concerning man's natural condition. as a sinner. Man is not only weak, but he
is so unworthy, so unworthy of the grace of God. And we have
it there in Job 15, in verse 16, how much more abominable
and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. Here is man, you see. He has
an insatiable appetite for those things that are so contrary to
God, to the word of God, and to the ways of God. He is not
worthy of the least of God's favours, God's blessings. And
yet, we have to recognise that although man is unworthy, it
would be wrong to say that man is worthless. Man is not worthless. look at the words of the text
what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that
thou visitest him there is that about man there is that in man
that God sees and God takes delight in God loves man in spite of
all his sin and so as I said this morning having said something
with regards to the weakness of man I want us tonight to consider
the worth of man in the words of this particular text. First
of all, we must begin with the worth that we see even in the
creation of man. Now, it is a truth that the first
man is of the earth's earthen. He was formed out of the dust
of the earth. His very name, Adam, is derived
from a word that means red earth. And when God addresses man we
quoted the words this morning in Jeremiah 22, 29 God reminds
man of his creatureliness. He says, O earth, earth, earth,
hear the word of the Lord. Man in his creation then is to
recognize his humble origin what God has made him out of and yet
we have to remember that God actually created man in his own
image because man is not just body made out of the dust of
the earth but man is also a living soul God when he comes to create
the man addresses himself. There's that council amongst
the persons in the Godhead. Let us make man, says God. When
he comes to other parts of his work of creation, God doesn't
consult with himself. He simply speaks the divine fears. He speaks everything into existence. Let there be light, and there
was light. Let the dry land appear, the
dry land appears, and so forth. But God doesn't say let there
be man. No, God enters into consultation
with himself. The three persons in the Godhead
let us make man in our image, after our likeness, he says.
Here we see something of the dignity and the worth of man. And so the Lord God formed man
out of the dust of the earth, yes, but he breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life. and he became a living soul and
it is there of course in the soul of man that the image of
God is seated. Now look at what it says here
in the Psalm concerning this man. Verse 5, Thou hast made him a
little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion
over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things under
his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beast of the field,
the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth
through the paths of the seas. When God's made man, he puts
him at the very head, of all his creation and the creature
is there to serve man thou mayest him have dominion it says over
the works of thy hands and we see that we see that there at
the beginning in the language that we find in that opening
chapter of Genesis when God says let us make men in our image
after our likeness he goes on and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth. And some of the theologians
refer to this verse in terms of what they call the cultural
mandate. The man has a mandate from God
and he is to use the resources of the world for his own good. God has given him this position.
Now he abuses it because he's a sinful man. But clearly, man
is there having that place of dominion over all the other creatures. And so when God brings the animals
to Adam, it is Adam who gives them their names. Here is Adam,
as it were, exercising his authority. In chapter 2 and verse 20 in
Genesis, Adam gave names to all cattle. and to the fowl of the
air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was
not found and help meet for him." All we see then here is something
of man's dignity. Why does he occupy such a position
at the head of the whole creation? Because he was made in God's
image. And although man has rebelled
against God, and man has sinned And we see so soon there in Genesis
how the whole earth is filled with wickedness. And God visits
a terrible judgment upon that antediluvian world, that world
before the flood. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth. Every imagination of the thought
of his heart was evil continually. And he repented God that he had
made the man, it seems. and there is a terrible judgment
when God sends a universal flood to destroy man but God preserves
Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives and then subsequently
we see how the earth is to be peopled again but it's interesting
what we have there in Genesis chapter 9 verse 6 God says, whosoever
shedeth man's blood By man shall his blood be shed, for in the
image of God's mighty man. There is the ground, the reason
why there should be capital punishment. Because to kill a man, to murder
a man, is to attack God's very image. The divine image is still
reckoned to be there. And so, whosoever sheds the man's
blood, he is forfeiting his own life. because God's made man
in his own image or the the worth of men in the sights
of God though man is weak, he's a creature a man, a fallen creature,
a rebel against God, a foul sinner and yet God takes account of
man and God visits men I said this morning how that when the
question is put concerning God, how it raises God in our admiration,
as it were. When questions are raised with
regards to God and the character of God and the ways of God and
the works of God, here in the 89th Psalm, in verse 6, 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, all thy faithfulness
round about thee. And that's most beautiful of
all portions that we find at the end of the book of the Prophet
Micah, who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity,
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage,
he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in
mercy. Or who is a pardoning God like
thee, or who has grace so rich and free. How these questions
ought to increase our admiration for this God. What a God He is.
All God is good, and God does good. But then when we think
of man as one that's been made in God's image, created after
God's likeness, or the preacher says, lo this only have I found. God made man upright. that they
have sought out many inventions the folly of man the awful depth
of his fall into sin and yet God has a delight in men, he
visits men what is man? that they weren't mindful of
him oh God remembers man the son of man that they visit us
to And how God has visited men, and how has God visited men? He's done it, of course, in the
very person of His Only Begotten Son. All that greatest of mysteries,
the mystery of godliness. That God was manifest in the
flesh, that God became a man. We referred this morning to those
words in Romans chapter 5 concerning Adam. the figure says Paul of
him that was to come. There are many types in the Old
Testament. Many types. There are characters there who
are types. I suppose one of the most obvious of all is David. Christ comes of the line of David. He is David's greatest son. David
himself is a typical character. When we think of his very name,
David, the Beloved, it reminds us of Christ, who is the Beloved
One. David's son Solomon, whose name
means peace, is also another remarkable, typical person, a
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first type we find there
in the opening chapters of Holy Scripture. Adam is the figure
of Him that was to come. The first man, Adam, was made
a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit, says the Apostle. There in 1st Corinthians 15 verse
45, again at verse 47 he says the first man is of the earth,
earthy, The second man is the Lord from heaven. Remember, in
God's sight there are just these two men. That's what the great Puritan
Thomas Goodwin says, in God's sight there are but two men.
There's the first man of the earth. There's a second man,
the Lord from heaven. That's the last Adam. And we're
either in the first Adam or in the last Adam. And we need to
ask ourselves, which of these two men are we found in tonight? Or to be in that man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Or Pontius Pilate says to those
Jews, even as the Lord is enduring that mockery of a trial, he says,
behold the man. And his human judge can find
no fault in this man. He is the faultless man, the
sinless man. And here is the worth, you see.
Sinful man's worth is seen in his union, his eternal union,
to the Lord Jesus Christ. What does Paul say in Ephesians
chapter 1? According as He hath chosen us
in Him. So there is the glory of man
in his eternal election. He is chosen in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The question that we have then
back in that seventh chapter of Job. What is man that thou
shouldest magnify him and that thou shouldest set thine heart
upon him? God has set his heart upon man
and now He has demonstrated what that heart of love is. He has
chosen men and He has chosen them in union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. A great doctrine of eternal election,
eternal union to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is in the fullness
of the time that God sends forth His Son. and He is made of a
woman, and He is made under the Lord. He comes as a real man.
We read it in that second chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.
He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him
the seed of Abraham. And how was it that He took on
the seed of Abraham for as much as the children were partakers
of flesh and blood? He likewise took part of the
same. He comes and He identifies with
men. He is made in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin. He comes where men are. He doesn't
identify with Adam in his state of innocence, when Adam comes
pristine from the hand of his Creator. He doesn't identify
with that Adam, he identifies with Adam in all the state of
his sin. Although this man, this real
man, the last man, is the sinless one. There is no taint of original
sin, no taint of any sin in him. But he is pleased to come and
identify himself with sinners. Oh, this is the man. And this
is the man that is being spoken of here in the text. And we see that so clearly from
the way in which the apostle takes up these words in that
portion that we read there in that second chapter of the epistle
to the Hebrews you will have observed we made some reference
to it this morning the text is quoted by Paul there at verse 6 in Hebrews
2 one in a certain place testified 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 angel. He quotes a whole section from
Psalm 8. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels, thou crownest him with glory and honour, and
set him over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things
in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all his objection
unto him he left nothing that he not put unto him. But now
we see not yet all things put unto him, but we see Jesus. But we see Jesus who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. It
is Christ who is the fulfilment of the words that we have as
our text. The psalm is evidently a messianic
psalm. It speaks to us of that man. And it's in union with the Lord
Jesus that we see the real worth of man, though man be a sinner. All his worth is there when we
think of creation. His worth is there when we when
we think of the Lord Jesus Christ? His worth is certainly there
when we come to consider man's conversion. How is God's image
in man renewed and restored? You see that eternal union that
we see in election must become an experimental union. If we're going to be those who
have a true understanding, a real appreciation of the great doctrine
of election, we must come to experience these things. All
our doctrine must be brought into our souls. It's not enough
to have our heads only filled with these great doctrines. There
is a great danger. I remember as a young man hearing
a minister say that on more than one occasion. A great danger,
he said, with the doctrines of free grace. that whole system
that we often give the nickname of Calvinism to. And the man
went on to say, the thing is this you see, it's the tremendous
logic of the whole system, and there is an intellectual appeal
in it, and there are certain young men and they love it, they
love to do all these mental gymnastics, they love to wrestle with all
these great doctrines, and try to fit the whole scheme together.
And that is the danger. And with some, maybe it goes
no further than that. It's just a matter of mental
gymnastics in the mind. To understand these things, to
appreciate these things, there must be an experience. Through
religions, more than notion, something must be known and felt. And that is God's image. In man,
that image that has been destroyed and lost in the fall, how is
it renewed? It is by conversion. The sinner
must be converted. We read of the new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created
him. Put on the new man which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Or there is,
you see, that that work of the Spirit of God
that must come into the soul of the man and one of the Purgeons
says the power of God is seen in the conversion of souls what
power must come into the into the sinner's soul for him to
be converted for him to become a new creation a new creature
in the Lord Jesus Now here we see that creation, which is spoken
of in the context of our text, is the work of God's fingers. Verse 3, 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? Now, God's creation of the universe
is a remarkable work. All things, the vastness of the
universe is but God employing his fingers. That's what it says. He is able to make all things
out of nothing. He works without any matter at
all. Through faith we understand that
the world were made so that things which are seen were not made
of things which do appear it says in Hebrews chapter 11 the
things that we see were made out of things which don't appear
there was nothing and God makes everything out of nothing but
he doesn't just work without matter God is able also to work
without doing any labour when he comes to creation, he spoke,
it says. In the psalm, psalm 33 and verse
9, he spoke and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. That's how God creates. How great
God is. He doesn't have to work really
with his fingers. This is what they call anthropomorphic
language that's being employed when it speaks of God creating
the heavens with his fingers. It's using human terminology,
but God just spoke the heavens into existence. He called the
sun and the moon and all the stars into being. But it's interesting
that this is the imagery with regards to that vast creation.
It's the work of God's fingers. Ah! But when it comes to the
conversion of sinners, that is the work of God's arm. That is the work of God's arm.
Again, the Puritan says, creation is the work of God's fingers,
conversion the work of His arm. What a contrast! And we see it so many times in
a multitude of texts, for example in Isaiah's book, The Lord hath
made bare His holy arm, it says. His arm brought salvation unto
Him. Not the work of His fingers.
All salvation is a mighty work, a more glorious work, conversion. Think of the opening verse of
that remarkable 53rd chapter of Isaiah. that chapter that speaks to us
so plainly of the Lord Jesus Christ and the work of redemption. And now does the chapter open,
Who hath believed thy reports? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Now we have in times past preached
on that text and those statements remember are parallel statements
for anyone to believe the reports. And the report is that that follows.
The report is the Gospel. For anyone to believe the Gospel,
for the sinner to come to true faith, saving faith, that faith
that is of the operation of God, the Lord has to make bear his
arm. That's what's being said there. Who hath believed our
reports, And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Oh, if
you're a believer, a true believer, God has made bear His arm. It's
a mighty work. It's a majestic work. Look at
the language that we have in that lovely Song of Mary that
we know as the Magnificat. There in the opening chapter of Luke's
Gospel. Look at what she says there at
verse 49 concerning her God. He that is mighty hath done to
me great things and holy is his name. So personal. He that is
mighty hath done to me He 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 hath showed strength with
His arm. He hath scattered the proud in
the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from
their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled
the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty
away. He hath holpen his servant Israel in remembrance of his
mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for
ever. Oh, he hath showed the strength
of his arm." And she's speaking of that great work of salvation
that God would accomplish in the birth of that son that was
conceived of the Holy Spirit in her womb. here is God's great
work then, the work of redemption that work of the Lord Jesus but
when that work is brought home when that work is made so real
in the soul of the sinner that great work of conversion, where
does conversion begin? conversion begins with regeneration
ye must be born again and that new birth, it's a mighty
work of God. It's an instantaneous work of
God. The sinner is born in a moment
of time, born again, born by the Spirit of God. Which were
born, it says, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. Oh, it's God's work. And now the Lord speaks of it
there in John chapter 3. It's the work of the Spirit of
God being born from above. And the Lord likens the work
of the Spirit to the circuits of the winds. The wind bloweth
where it listeth, He says, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Oh, what a work is
this! the work of God in the saving
of sinners bringing that salvation home into the soul of the sinner
when God visits a man what is man that thou art mindful of
him and the son of man that thou visitest him when God visits
our springs and all that God might visit us and visit us and
visit us and visit us over and over and over again that God
would bend the heavens and come down and manifest himself amongst
us. Ought to be those who appreciate
the great work of God even in us coming to saving faith. It's
a mighty work. Remember those words in Ephesians
chapter 1, the exceeding greatness of his power. To us all do believe. Do you believe? Well, you've
known something of the exceeding greatness of the power of God.
And it's according to the working of His mighty power which He
wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. The same power
that was there in the resurrection. What does the Lord Jesus say
in the Gospel, 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, do we believe these
things? do we really believe these things? all the great work of God then
when he comes to save the sinner it's not just the work of his
fingers when he makes the heavens the
vastness of the universe that's the work of his fingers but when the sinner is brought
to saving faith that's God's making bear his arm to whom at
the arm of the Lord being revealed all the worth of man man's worth
we have it here then in creation man made in God's
image created after God's likeness having that that mandate from
God, He stands at the head of all God's creation and He is to make use of it for
His own profit, for His own good but the real worth of man is
seen in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ and how God has
chosen sinners in His only begotten Son that they should have set
thine heart upon Him when they're chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world but then when that's brought home into the soul of the sinner in
that great work of conversion and then the fourth and final
aspect of man's worth is to be seen surely in this that God
will deal with his people and he'll deal with his people in
the way of chastisement. When God visits man does he not on occasions visit
him with his rod? Isn't that what we have there
in that seventh chapter of the book of Job that we read this
morning? verse 17, watch his man that
they shouldest magnify him and that they shouldest set thine
heart upon him and that they shouldest visit him every morning
and try him every moment you see God's visit is God's trial
when he visits many he comes to try them he tests them, he
tests the reality of their faith and Job knew it Chapter 7 is
Job speaking. Job speaks in Chapter 6 and Chapter
7. You see what he says there? In verse 4 of Chapter 6, "...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." Oh, he felt, you see, that God, God was all about
him, God was coming, God was visiting him, visiting him with
trials and troubles. Later he says, his troops come
together and raise up their way against me and encamp round about
my tabernacle. Look which way he walked. God
was pursuing him. But this is the way of God. This
is how God shows man his worth. God doesn't just leave the man
to himself. It's a great mercy. When God comes and chastens and
corrects us, The worst thing of all is for God to leave us
to ourselves and to leave us to our own spirits. Whom the
Lord loveth, he chasteneth, says Paul, and scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? It is a mark of our sonship.
If we know anything of God's dealings in that contrary way,
when he crosses us, when he goes against us, when he lays not
only his hand but his rod upon us, and causes us to see the
folly of our way, this is how God teaches. Job says non-teachers
like him, and Job certainly knew much of chastening. the whole mystery of the book
of Job what a book the dealings of God with that man so profound
but God teaches you see again we see it here in the Psalms
remember the language of the Psalmist in Psalm 94 verse 12
the blessed man we read of the blessed man many times here in
the book of Psalms and some while ago on Thursday we did consider
some of those verses in the Psalms that speak to us of that man
who is truly the happy one the blessed man and Psalm 94 and
verse 12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest
him out of thy law Oh has the Lord done that with us does he
not not always at the beginning you know teach us from his law
There must be a law work, but we're not to chalk out God and
the ways of God. He deals with his people individually,
personally. Some have more profound conviction
of sin than others. But we'll all know something
at some stage of what it is to endure a law work. That law which
is the ministration of condemnation and the ministration of death.
the blessed man you see is that man whom God teaches out of his
law and shows him his sin and there in that 94th Psalm that
teaching out of the law is equated in the parallels with God's chastening
he chastens his children he makes his people to know themselves
how we have to know ourselves we have to know what we are as
men and women before God as his creatures as those who have sinned
against him we have to know these things, we have to know ourselves
if we would know if we would truly know God himself he makes
us see what we are, where we are and what our needs are as
sinners. And as we come to the end of
this year, are we those who as we look back and say, yes, God
has taught me something concerning myself. Always taught me something concerning
myself. John Kay, one of those men who
was a seceder in the 19th century together with the likes of Philpott
and TipTot made this statement, he says, I believe no manifested
elect soul knows one hairbreadth more of Christ than he knows
of himself. I like that. I think that's a
good statement. No manifested elect soul knows
one hairbreadth more of Christ than he knows of himself. Oh
friends, what do we know of ourselves? What do we understand concerning
what man is? Man in all his frailty, man in
all his weakness, man in all his foulness as a sinner and
yet man whom God delights in and is pleased to send his only
begotten Son to be the Saviour of all. That's an amazing thing,
as I said again this morning we We have this question four
times. Four times. Here in the Old Testament. We have it twice in the Psalms.
Here in the text, Psalm 8 verse 4. Again there in the 144th Psalm
at verse 3. But then we see it also there
in Job chapter 7 and verse 17 and chapter 15 and verse 4. What
is man? That is the question. And where
do we find the answer? We find it when we come to the
New Testament, which opens, of course, with that fourfold gospel,
where we see the man Christ Jesus. Oh, there is the man. There is that man who is the
only hope of sinners, a real man. Touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, tempted in all points like as we are, says
Paul, yet without sin. And he's able, he's able to succor
us. Oh, he feels for me. He delights
in me. He sits with me and he sobs with
me. He receives sinners. Oh, that we might be those who
are brought to delight even in Him, that man Christ Jesus, the
God-man, the one who is able to save from the uttermost to
the uttermost. Oh God grant that we might be
those who have a true saving knowledge of Him as He is revealed
to us here in His Word. What is man? That thou art mindful
of Him and the Son of Man that Thou visitest him. Amen.