Let us look for a short time
tonight at Psalm 8. Psalm 8. Oh, Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. who hath set thy glory above
the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I
consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? and the son of man, that thou
visitest him. For thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and 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, whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth."
The first thing I want you to notice about this psalm is that
it begins and ends with an exclamation, the same exclamation, O Lord,
our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth. In all the earth, the name Jehovah
is great. It is great to all who know him
as their Lord, to all who can call him my Lord. O Lord, my Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. It is only, we recognize, many
people in the world today, they hear the name of God, they take
the name of God in vain, they lightly and flippantly speak
about God, and they have no idea the sin that they are committing. But sins of ignorance are no
excuse for sin. God's name is holy. God's name
is reverend. And as the psalmist says here
in all God's children, all of us who know him as our Lord,
we join in with him and say the same thing. Oh, Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is thy name in all the earth. We know him in
Christ, for that's the only way to know him. He that knows the
Father knows the Son, and there's no other way to the Father except
by the Son. And we know that it was Christ
who said to the woman that day on His resurrection, I ascend
unto my Father. As God, as the eternal Son of
God, He has always been His Father. I send unto my Father and to
your Father, and to my God and to your God. It is only as the
incarnate Son of God that God became his God. He is the servant
of Jehovah. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. There are three things that I'm going
to bring out to us from this psalm. First of all, what is
meant by his name being excellent? Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent
is thy name. Is the Lord's name excellent
to you? And what is meant when we say
that his name is excellent? John Calvin made this comment. He said, the name of God, as
I explain it, is here to be understood of the knowledge of the character
and perfections of God. And so far as he makes himself
known unto us. His name, how excellent, O LORD,
is thy name. His name refers to His perfections,
or His characteristics, or as we today most commonly say, His
attributes, the attributes of God. I believe, and I've read
a number of authors over the years, but let me put this plug
in for Arthur Pink, but I believe his book on the attributes of
God is the best of all. And I say that not because He
brings out the truths about God in a greater way than other men. But for the shortness of those
chapters, for the preciseness of those chapters, you can read
one every day. It doesn't take 15, 20 minutes. Every day, a different chapter,
a different characteristic about God. How excellent is thy name,
O Lord. Those who know God as their God
through the Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only mediator between
God and man, we all exclaim the same thing. How excellent is
thy name. Thy being, the being of God,
how excellent art thou. Each and every attribute of God
shine in all his perfection. Whether we think of His omniscience,
His omnipotence, His mercy, His grace, His faithfulness, His
sovereignty, how excellent, how excellent is every characteristic,
every perfection of God. Each attribute is excellent because
all are true of Him who is excellent. I've been especially blessed
the last few weeks in thinking about God's omnipresence and thinking of the fact that
He's here, that in Him we live and move and have our being.
It's not just a doctrine, just a truth about Him that He fills
all space, but He's here wherever I am. He's here. He's at my right
hand. He's above me. He's below me. He's all around me. For we live
and move and have our being in Him. Isn't that precious? Isn't
that wonderful to think about that characteristic of God? Well,
what do we learn when we read that His name is excellent in
all the earth, but His glory, His glory is above the heavens. Doesn't that mean that our understanding,
that my understanding at least of just how excellent is the
name of the Lord at the very best is still very limited, very
limited. What He says about His ways and
His thoughts That's true of him. And this is what he says in Isaiah
55 about his ways and his thoughts. He said, for as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. And you know, in the context
there, what he's talking about is the mercy of God, the mercy
of God. We might have mercy on certain
people that we love and even those we don't know, but our
mercy, our mercy has a limit, doesn't it? I mean, after so
many times of forgiving or whatever it is, our mercy pretty much
comes to an end. And that's where God says, my
ways are not as your ways. And my thoughts are not as your
thoughts. My thoughts are higher, as high
as the heavens above the earth in comparison to your thoughts.
God's mercy and forgiveness. Forgiveness. There's forgiveness
with thee. The psalmist said that thou mightest
be feared. be reverenced, be worshipped. There's forgiveness with God
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if a person, think about
this, if a person came to the Lord with all the sins, or as
many sins as all the sins that have ever been committed, God's
mercy is still able to forgive. His mercy, it's unfathomable. And so when we read here, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth, but you have set thy
glory above the heavens. I understand that as telling
me that no matter how great my understanding may be of how excellent
his name is, it's still very, very limited as His glory is
above the heavens. I think that's what the Apostle
Paul came to in the letter of Romans after speaking about God's
sovereignty, God's grace, and his purpose of saving. Oh, the
depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.
The depths, or the depth, rather. Oh, the depth. of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways past finding out. How excellent, O Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. Those who know
Him as their Lord, His name is excellent, everything about Him.
is lovely. There's one attribute of God
in this particular psalm that seems to be the theme of the
psalm, and what is it? It is God's goodness, God's goodness
toward the children of men. Charles Spurgeon commenting on
God's goodness said, we should never ever allow ourselves to
ever think or consider that God is not good. In all of his actions,
in all of his ways, in all of his judgments, God is good and
doeth good. The second thing I wanted to
mention from this psalm is what is meant by the second verse. It almost seems strange to me,
almost seems out of place. Out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Our Lord
used this verse In fact, he interpreted this verse, he applied this verse
when he entered into Jerusalem triumphantly. Turn with me, if
you will, to Matthew. I apologize for the coughing,
but you know, sometimes your throat says cough, you just have
to cough, I'm sorry. I don't have the willpower not
to do it. Matthew chapter 21 and verse
6. And the disciples went and did
as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt
put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very
great multitude spread their garments in the way. Others cut
down branches from the trees and strawed them in the way.
And the multitudes that went before and that followed cried,
saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when
he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who
is this? Multitude said, this is Jesus,
the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. Jesus went into the temple of
God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple,
overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold
doves, and said unto them, it is written, my house shall be
called the house of prayer. but you have made it a den of
thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple,
and he healed them. And when the chief priests and
scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, children crying
in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were
sore displeased and said unto him, hearst thou what they say? And Jesus saith unto them, yea,
have you never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected praise. The Lord Jesus Christ applied
this verse here in Psalm 8 to what took place that day when
he entered into Jerusalem and the children especially were
told there were crying Hosanna to him that cometh in the name
of the Lord. That's one way that we know this
verse was intended to be used because our Lord used it in that
way. But I found that some of the
writers had other ways of explaining this. John Calvin, and he was
not alone, but others with him, they saw this as the way that
God provides for infants by their mother's milk. as being a testimony
to God's goodness toward the children of men. How that God
provides for these infants, the babies, the most helpless of
all the animals that come into this world, a baby. When you
think about it, think of the animals that come into this world
that are born, There's none as helpless as a human. And how marvelous it is that
God has provided the goodness of God to the children of men.
And these infants testified to God's goodness by being created
with the ability to nurse and the mothers with the ability
to produce milk. One writer said, Make milk from
blood. I know that's probably not exactly
right, but still the marvel of this. That's several of the commentators
believe that's what this verse is saying. John Gill thought it best to
understand this figuratively. And the babes here. according
to him, represent the apostles and first preachers of the gospel.
And in their own eyes and in the eyes of the world, that's
all they were. They were nobodies. They were
nothing. They were babes. They were sucklings. And the strength here that this
verse speaks of, thou hast ordained strength, Esau, to represent
the gospel. Again, as in Psalm 110, the rod
of thy strength speaks of the gospel. And it is the gospel
that God uses these babes, these apostles and first preachers
of the gospel. And I don't really, I don't think
there's any way that you and I can fully understand and appreciate
what happened after Pentecost in this world. how the world
lay in darkness. I mean, we, we know that's true,
but you had the, the, the Israelites alone is having any as flawed
as their understanding was, but they were the only nation that
had any light at all. The word of God and how that
God blessed and use the preaching of the gospel to turn those Temples,
and we read about this in church history, many of the temples,
the pagan temples, where they worshiped those false deities.
And there were plenty of them, plenty of those false gods. And
those very places became houses of worship where God was glorified
and the gospel was preached. We've never seen anything like
that, and it's hard for us to realize. John Gill went on to
say, the enemy here, to steal the enemy, refers to Satan. And it was through the gospel
that he lost his power and authority in the Gentile world, that he
had held captive and in darkness for those many, many centuries. But here's the third thing I
wanted to say a few words about, God's goodness God's goodness
by him being mindful of man. Notice what the psalmist said.
When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
moon and the stars which thou hast ordained. We know that David
kept his father's sheep. This meant that he spent probably
many nights out under the stars looking up into the heavens.
Do you think that it ever entered into his mind that what he saw
gazing up into the heavens was by accident, by a big bang? That what he saw was not the
work of an omnipotent God? That he did not see the wisdom
and the power of God in the stars, the moon and the stars that God
had ordained? and no doubt the planets that
they could keep track of and see how they were fixed and reliable. It's not an accidental thing
that takes place in the heavens. But David here, by the grace of God, He was able,
enabled, I should say, he was enabled to see more than God's
wisdom and power. All men can see that. The natural
man can see God in creation. And he has to hold that knowledge
down really because man, God witnesses to all men, no matter
where they are. God's word. In creation, it's
spoken throughout the world. But David was able to see more
than the wisdom and the power of God, for he also saw God's
goodness in providing the Savior. Notice the words again. When
I consider thy heavens, and as I read these words over several
times the last week, Should we not be moved as David was? Should we not be
moved when we think about God? And then what he says, what is
man? That they aren't mindful of him?
In comparison, as he looked up into the heavens and saw the
glory of God, The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament
showeth forth his handiwork." What is man? What is man that
they aren't mindful of him that you would think upon man? And we're talking about a weak
man here. This is not the word Adam. I
forget the Hebrew word that's used here, but it's a Hebrew
word that's used to man after the fall, after sin had marred
man who had been created in the image of God. But this is a weak
man here. What is man? A weak man, a frail
individual, a sickly individual. What is man that thou art mindful
of him? And the son of man that thou
visitest him. I want you to look one other
place in Hebrews chapter two. I know you are familiar with
this passage, but the writer of Hebrews applies this to the
son of man, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well,
preacher, you just said that he was weak. Yes. So Christ,
as he came into this world in the form of a servant, he was not weak morally, he was
not weak in the sense he had no power, but he was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Hebrews 2, beginning in verse
6. But one, this is David, in a
certain place, this is Psalm 8, Testified saying, 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 honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. Now,
obviously, God did give man in the beginning and even after
the flood, God did give man authority over the fish in the sea, the
birds in the air, and the animals. But this is speaking of one who
has authority over all things, over everything. Thou hast put all things, look
at verse 8, Thou hast put all things in subjection under his
feet, Who is this? You know who this is. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember those words of Peter
on the day of Pentecost. God hath made that same Jesus
whom you crucified. Crucified in weakness, the apostle
says. God hath made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. As
God, he could not die. He became man, that he might
suffer and die. As man, he could not satisfy,
could he? Simply as man. But as the God-man,
he could both, and did, suffer and die, so that that hymn we
sang just a little while ago, that blood, when God sees the
blood, I will pass over thee. 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. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, and bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. Now, notice this last verse. This is so precious. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. Who is he that sanctifies
Christ? Who are they that are sanctified?
His people. You, if you are one of his children
tonight. We are one with Christ. We're
in union with Christ. And this union, there's a federal
union. We understand that. But there
is what the old writers used to speak about a vital union. And that vital union is faith. As a branch is in the vine, so
by faith we lay hold upon Christ. And we're one with him. And as
he is, as John tells us in his first letter, as he is, so are
we in the world. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, one body. That is
the mystical body of Christ. He's the head and we are all
members of that body. For which cause? He is not ashamed
to call them brother. He's not ashamed. He's not ashamed to call one
of his children his brother. Why? Because we're one with him.
We're like him. We have the same father, and
that's his father, our father. Oh, Lord, our God, how excellent
is thy name in all the earth. May the Lord bless these thoughts,
each one of us here tonight. Kevin.