Psalm chapter 8 is about the
name of the Lord. How excellent is Thy name in
all the earth. And His name is who He is. It's who He is. His name is His
character. His name is His reputation. And this is what David's looking
at as he looks up into the heavens and he looks all around. He sees
the majesty, the power, the immensity, and the deity of God as he just
looks around. He just looks up into the heavens.
And he said the whole earth is just full of glory. David here speaks of the excellency
of His name. That is, His name is more excellent
than all others. He talks about that over in Hebrews
chapter 1. He, by inheritance, has a more
excellent name than the angels. His name is excellent. And then
He tells us why. Because His glory is set above
the heavens. There are parts of His name which
can be seen by all. Undeniable declarations. Things
that transcend time and culture and age and languages. And creation
is one of these things. Listen to Psalm 33 beginning
with verse 6. By the Word of the Lord were
the heavens made. How did they come to be? By the
Word of the Lord. And all the host of them, by
the breath of His mouth, He gathered the waves of the sea." Who did? God did. He gathered the waters
of the sea together as a heap. He layeth up the depths and storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of Him. For He spake and it was done. He commanded. And it stood fast. Oh, David looked and he said,
how excellent is His name in all the earth. How excellent
is His name. In one solitary act, God established
His sovereign rule with an undeniable evidence, creation. Creation. Romans 1, verse 20,
that the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power in Godhead. How do I know there
is a God? All you have to do is walk out
here on the front porch and look around. Look around. Undeniable
evidence of God. So that all men, all men who reject the light of God are without
excuse. Without excuse. And another manifestation
of God's name was given. He put within every man a conscience. Listen to the Scriptures. For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Well, what truth? They've never
seen the Word of God. Some of these native, remote
tribes in Africa, they've never seen the Word of God. They've
never heard a preacher preach. How do they get the truth? How
do they hold the truth in unrighteousness? Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them. Romans chapter 1, verses 18 and
19. And then listen to this, Romans
chapter 2, verse 14. When the Gentiles, he's talking
about the heathen nations. At that time, nobody else had
the word of God except Israel. And some of those Jews who lived
in these different places, they had scrolls and teachers and
so on. But when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature things contained in the law,
these having not a law are a law unto themselves, which show the
work of the law written in their hearts. their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else
excusing one another. By these two things, God has
so plainly manifested His name that no man will have a justifiable
excuse before God. We believe and preach a literal
creation as it's set forth in the Word of God no matter how
many evidences and discoveries of so-called science, and no
matter how much they try to disprove it. You cannot look at the immensity
and the order and the preservation of all things and deny the living
God. You can't do it. But there is
a third source of truth, and that is the ministry of God's
church. The church is called in Scripture
the pillar and ground of the truth. What is this truth which
the church holds up like a pillar? Now, he's not talking about a...
I'm from Eastern Kentucky. We call pillows pillars. He's
not talking about a pillar. He's talking about a column like
on a temple that supports the pillar. What is this truth which
the church holds up as a pillar? It's Christ Himself. Christ Himself. He said, I am the way, the truth. The truth. He is pure truth. Would you know the truth? Study
Him. Study Him. Look to Him. It's Christ Himself. He is the
truth. The Word of God is our Lord's
name. Did you know that? That's His
name. In the beginning, John said,
was the Word. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. And the same was in the beginning
with God. And all things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that's made. And the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us." He's the Word. He is the truth. And you can't
preach the truth and not preach Christ. And then the Bible is
God's testimony of redemption in Christ to chosen sinners. By way of this man, by way of
his appointments, his appearance, his accomplishments, and his
ascension, the whole name of God is manifested in this world. And it's by way of this manifestation
of God's name in the preaching of the gospel that fallen sinners
are brought to repentance and faith and become partakers of
eternal life. John said, we know that the Son
of God has come and given to us an understanding that we may
know Him that is true and that we're in Him that's true. This
is eternal life, he said. This is eternal life. Eternal
life is to know God. It's to know God. But you can't
know God unless He manifests Himself. But He did manifest
Himself in Christ. How excellent, David said, is
thy name in all the earth. Believing God is about hearing,
considering, and being persuaded to bow to, trust in, and rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's name is fully manifest
in Him. And that is my message to you
this morning, a godly consideration. This is what David is doing.
So let me give you four things this morning from the Psalm of
David that describe kind of in general the experience of grace
that is when God begins to do a work in man. Four things will
be brought to bear upon his mind and heart. He will begin to consider
the works of God. and the works of men, and the
work of God for men, and the work of God in man. So first
of all, he tells us here in verse 3, he said, when I consider the
heavens. That's plural, isn't it? I thought
they just wanted heaven. There's no way it says. When
I consider the heavens, that is the one you see and the one
you don't see. The one you see and the one you
don't see. That which is near and that which
is far off. When I consider thy heavens,
thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars
which thou hast ordained. Have you ever just stood out
on a clear night and looked up? Just looked up and looked around?
Gazed up into the heavens? Aren't you just a little bit
in awe of how big it is? And how little you are? The immensity
of it, the expanse of it, in its arrangement, how God's arranged
in it, in its order and in its preservation. Thousands of years,
sailors went out there on a ship. They're going from this port
to that port. But it's a long way out there. And they didn't
have anything. But they had this little thing
that looked up at the stars. And those stars stay right where
God put them. And on a clear night, if they
could see those stars, they could navigate through anything, go
anywhere by those stars. The stars stay put. The revolutions
of the planets and their moons are fixed. And almost to infinity,
it's all lit up. We've sent out probes that went
way out into outer space and took those powerful telescopes
that were on them and took pictures and as far as I can tell, the
farther out they get, it looks just the same. They just look
and out there is further. You get a little further and
out there is a little bit further. Almost infinity. And it's all
lit. It's all lit. Have you ever considered creation?
How did it come to be? How old is it? What's going to
happen to it? Why was it made? The heavens
declare. This is what David said. The
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
His handiwork. And day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech
or language where their voice is not understood, not heard.
Creation speaks to all men. Speaks to all men. And what of
the heaven that we don't see? Filled with angelic beings. Filled
with the presence of God. Thrones set for dominion. What about that heaven? My friend, you may in your stubborn
rebellion deny the gospel I preach, but you cannot deny the witness
of God in creation. It's in your face. It's in your
face. It surrounds you every day of
your life. You look to those heavens, and
you look at the order of things, and you look at all these things,
and they all bear witness of His eternal Godhead and of His
dominion. And then when I look at this
great work, this great, magnificent work, how great must the reason
be for its existence? It's not the goal in itself. It's not the glory in itself.
But this is just the backdrop. You know, you go down to buy
a diamond and they bring it out on something black velvet. And
they got that diamond right here in the middle. And all that debit
there, the only reason for it being there is to highlight that
diamond in the middle. How great must be the purpose
for which God has created such an expanse? How? If this is magnificent,
if God's name is written in the stars and written in the moon
and the sun and all the things that you see, how great must
be Him for whom it was all created. And this is what Paul is telling
us over in the book, and I'll try to get it right this time,
Colossians. He's telling us that by Him was
all things created, both by Him, now listen, and for Him. This
is just a backdrop, just a backdrop of what God's doing. Oh, when we look at this great
work, this great magnificent work, how great must be the reason
for it. When we see the glory of creation,
how glorious must be the purpose for which it was created. Paul
tells us over in Romans chapter 8, listen to this statement,
he said, the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? All right, now if you will, consider
man. He said, when I behold the heavens,
when I behold God's glory in the heavens, he said, what is
man? What is man that thou art mindful
of him? In the light of creation, in
the light of its excellent testimony, Psalm 8, verse 4, what is man
that thou art mindful of him? What do we know about man? What
do we know about him? Well, Romans 5.12 said, by one
man sin entered into the world. I know that about him. I know
he's a sinner. I know he's a falling creature.
I know that death came by him. And so death passed upon all
men. So I know what man is in the
sense of his fall. He's a sinner. Man at his best
state, David said, is altogether vanity. What is man? He is a sinner. He is vanity. Where all, the prophet said,
is an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. All gone out of the way, together
become unprofitable, no fear of God before their eyes. What
is man in this vast expanse? What is he? What is he? Oh, we have the curse of sin
upon our roots and upon our head. Born with a sinful nature, a
mind which is enmity against God, not subject to the law of
God, living in a world of sin and darkness, and walking under
the influence of Satan himself, so that by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The works of man
is an abomination to God. all of his works, all of his
ungodly prayers, and pretense of worship, and self-righteous
sacrifices. Our Lord said to the Jews, they
had the law of Moses. They were commanded to do these
things, and they did these things. But they didn't do them in the
method that was commanded them to do. They didn't do them with
the right motivation. They didn't do them with the
right knowledge. They didn't do them by faith. And he tells
them to bring no more vain oblations. Incense, he said, is an abomination
to me. All these things that you're
doing. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only
evil continually. And in the light of creation,
in consideration of the Creator and the vast expanse of the universe,
and in consideration of this race with its fallen head, its
polluted spring, what is man that thou art mindful? of Him. And then consider this. God is
mindful of Him. My soul. You mean to tell me
that God who spoke this world into existence, who commanded
and it stood exactly the way He wanted it to be, who created
all things, is mindful of fallen man? You see what David is asking
here? What is man that thou art mindful
of him, but God is mindful of him? How do you know that? Because
Christ appeared in this world as a man. Isn't that what this
psalm is teaching? And the Son of Man that thou
visitest Him. Oh, my soul! Over all created
beings, God has chosen man to be the object of His love and
mercy. Listen to this in Proverbs 8.22.
It's talking about our Lord and His people. It said, The Lord
possessed me in the beginning of the way. Before His works
of old, I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever
the earth was. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. When there were no fountains,
abounding with water. before the mountains were settled,
before the hills were brought forth. While as yet he had made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens," uh-oh, when he
prepared the heavens, I was there. I was there. when He set a compass
upon the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above,
when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He gave to
the sea its decree that the water should not pass His commandment,
when He appointed the foundations of the earth. Then I was by Him
as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him." Now listen. rejoicing in the habitable part
of the earth, and my delights were with the sons of men." God is mindful of man. He is
mindful of man. He took not on Him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, the Creator of the universe. Sent forth His Son, made of a
woman. made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. God has chosen men as the object
of His love and grace. And God has made provision for
them, appointed for them a Savior, appointed for them a prophet
to teach them, a priest to save them to the uttermost who come
unto God by Him, a Savior, one to redeem them unto God, satisfy
God's justice, Provide a righteousness acceptable to God. And the angels
which left their first estate, they had no provision. They had
no provision. When they fell, they fell forever.
They fell forever. They're held in chains of darkness
reserved unto that day. And why men? Why men rather than
angels? Why certain men and not others? because of God's pure, free,
and sovereign grace. There's no other explanation
for it. I asked Brother David Pledger. He's been pastoring
for many, many, many years. And I asked him, I said, is there
any place, anything that you can find in the Scriptures for
the salvation of man or men other than the free grace of God? Can
you find any other reason? No, it's not there. Now, if Psalm 8 was our only
source of information, we might think that mankind itself is
what he's talking about here. But in Hebrews 2, he makes the
application to Christ. All of God's favor to men comes
by way of the God-man. He has the preeminence in creation,
and He has the preeminence in election. And He has the preeminence
and predestination and salvation in general, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself. God hath appointed His Son heir
of all things. By Him all things were created. All things were made by Him.
He was before all things, and by Him all things consist. He
is the brightness of the Father's glory and expressed image of
His person. And God is mindful of us as we
are in Him. 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 crownedest him with glory
and honor, and didst set him over all the works of thy hands,
and hast put all things in subjection under his feet. You know, the
folks there at Corinth, they were fighting and arguing over
this and that and disputing about what preacher they heard and
who they heard and making some kind of significance about their
faith being stronger or weaker by what man they heard, how much
gifts he had and so on. And Paul just shut them all up
and he said, listen to me, don't you know all things are yours? Don't you know that in Christ
everything here is yours? Don't you know that His angels
have been given charge over you? Don't you know that your angels
stand before the face of God ready at His command to go to
you and minister to you? Don't you know that? Don't you
know that this whole world, the whole creation of God is expecting, until His sons come into their
full adoption. Don't you understand that? We are quibbling over what preacher
we listen to. My soul. We are heirs with Christ. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. All things are ours. Oh, when I think of God's distinguishing
grace, I can't hardly take it in. I can't hardly take it in. I
was talking to Winston this morning and telling him that God has
separated us from the bulk of this world and given us such
a privilege as we can see what God's doing. And I can see in
individuals what God's doing, and I know that He's doing it.
There was a time when I saw all things and didn't see anything.
I couldn't see what God was doing. The whole thing looked like a
fairy tale to me. It looked like just another superstitious
religion to me. I couldn't see God doing anything.
What's He doing? Oh, I tell you, I see what God's
doing now. I see what God's doing. I'm not
talking about all this religious hypocrisy. I'm seeing what God's
doing in men's hearts. I see something of His glory. Oh, man is likened in his falling
condition to a maggot, to a beast, and to a bug. Job said the moon
and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man
that is a worm. I challenge you, you look it
up, that word maggot. All of the inhabitants of the
earth are as grasshoppers. Now, I don't want you to know
about grasshoppers, but I'll tell you what they are to me.
They're a bug. God chose man because of his
weakness, because of his inability, because of his insignificance
to manifest the glory of His grace. And this absolutely infuriates
natural man. Salvation all by grace. And no difference. You're just
a grasshopper. You might wear a suit and tie
and work in an office building on the 23rd floor, but you're
a grasshopper. And that's all you're ever going
to be unless God creates you. You're just going to be a bug.
Just a bug. And then the fourth work I'd
like for you to see, and I'll hurry. is the work of God in
you. All those for whom God has been
and is now mindful, He's going to call. He's going to call. Paul wrote to Timothy and said,
God has saved us. He's already saved us. He saved
us when He made appropriation for us back in Christ and when
He chose us in Him and predestinated us and determined the means,
ordained the means. He saved us. He saved us when
Christ came as our representative and lived a perfect life under
that law and died for our sin. He saved us. God hath saved us. And called us. Called us. All those He chose, all those
for whom Christ died, He's going to call. He called us. Not according to our works. My
soul, if He considered my works, He'd have never called me. It's
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. God hath from the beginning chosen
us to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. all those whom He loved
and made provision for in Christ, He will call. Call them out of
darkness, and call them to life and liberty, and call them out
of the tomb, and call to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that
fadeth not away. Calls with an effectual call.
Irresistible calling. One that arrests the sinner and
brings him to Christ. And some of you in this place
knows what it is to be called. God intervened. God arrested
you and stopped you and turned you to Christ. God has enabled
you to bow and submit and repent and believe. And that strong
man to arm who kept his goods has been taken down. And another
sits upon the throne of your heart. God has been mindful. He's been mindful. And I wonder
as I look over this congregation this morning, Is there anybody
here mindful of Him? Oh, my soul. When I think about it, who we
are, in the light of who He is, in all this vast expanse that
He's done for the salvation of our souls, am I mindful of Him? Or do I just pass by? Is it nothing
to you, all you that pass by? Is it nothing? Are we mindful
of Him? Oh God, make this sinner mindful. Mindful of His mindfulness of
me. For Christ's sake, Amen.