Please rise for our Scripture readings. Our Scripture readings this evening come from the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 1, and then we'll read our text for this evening, which is Psalm 8. Hebrews chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did he ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you. And again, I will be to him a father and he will be to me a son. But when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels, he says, who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire. But to the Son, He says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain. and they will all grow old like a garment, like a cloak. You will fold them up and they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will not fail. But to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?" Please turn now to Psalm 8, our text for this evening. Psalm 8, beginning at verse 1. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth. who have set Your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies that You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let us pray. Our gracious Father in heaven, you are our Lord and our God. And as we come to your word tonight, we pray that you would seal your word to our hearts, that you would help us to see something Even just a glimpse of Your glory as it shines to us in the face of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that we would see You tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Some of you may remember the year 1969. I don't. But if you were alive that year, you would have witnessed, perhaps watching on your television set, one of the most important events in human history by all accounts, the landing of the Apollo 11 lunar module on the surface of the moon. And as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited the lunar module and walked on the surface of the moon. There were millions upon millions of people who vicariously witnessed that landing. It's very interesting. They left a couple of things behind on the surface of the moon. You probably would remember that they planted a flag, flag of the United States of America, And they also left a plaque, and on that plaque were these words. Here, men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind. In one sense, what happened that day was very monumental. But in another sense, It was pretty pathetic. The most powerful nation on the face of the earth, perhaps in the history of the world, had landed a man on the moon. And as you saw the images, and even now you can see those images, perhaps looking on the internet at them, you cannot help but be astonished at the puniness of that little man in his little space suit on the moon surrounded by the stars and the galaxies and the whole universe behind him. There was something very pathetic about it. They left something else. Not very many people know this, I don't think. They left a silicon disk, a small silicon disk, perhaps the size of, double the size of a quarter. And it had messages. It had messages from the President of the United States to actually three Presidents of the United States. It had the names of administrators of the space program. And it had messages from 73 nations of the world. Messages etched very small, so small that you would need a microscope to see them. on that silicon disc. And most of those messages, as you read through, I have a PDF copy of the messages on my computer. As you read through them, they ring the same note. They glorify man and man's accomplishment. Very few of them even make mention of God. And if they do, it's in a very generic way. But one message stands out. the message that was sent by the Vatican. And that message contains, for the most part, the text of Psalm 8. That fascinated me as I learned that this week. Well, as we consider this text, we really should look at it in its context. Its context is that it begins, it's in the first book of the Psalter, the book that is full of Psalms of David. It's a creation psalm. There are several creation psalms, Psalm 19, Psalm 119. These creation psalms often are linked together with Psalms connected with the Word of God, acrostic psalms, so that the creation of the world is often put together with the psalms that have to do with the creative word. Well, this psalm begins and it ends with God. And its theme is the position and the role of man in the world. What is the position and the role of human beings? And David asks the question, And this is the central question of the text, a question that you and I need to face and get our minds around tonight. The question he asked is, what is man that you, God, the Lord, would be mindful of him? And I'm going to look at the answer that he gives to that question in two points tonight. I'm going to look at man in comparison to God. Then we're going to look at man in communion with God, man in comparison to God, man in communion with God, and then we'll have some application for the church. So what is man in comparison to God? Well, man is nothing but a speck. in the universe that God has made. We see that in verse 1. David here lifts his eyes to God. He addresses God by name. He calls Him Lord, Yahweh, Jehovah. The name that distinguishes God from everything else in His creation. God's name sets Him apart as God. It's the name that was revealed to Moses at the burning bush. It's the name that was revealed as Israel wandered in the wilderness. The name of God, the covenant God. It's the name also that God showed to His servant David in the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7 is a crucial section of Scripture if you want to understand any of the Psalms, much less this Psalm. And in 2 Samuel 7, starting at verse 25, we read this, where David says, praying to God, "'Now, O Lord God, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and conserving his house Establish it forever and do as you have said. So let your name be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of your servant David be established for you, O Lord of hosts. God of Israel have revealed this to your servant, saying, I will build you a house. The name of God. The name of God is all that He is, all that He is in Himself, all that He has done, and all that He has promised to do. All of those things are wrapped up in the name of God, and that's how David, already at the beginning of this psalm, addresses God. He speaks not here as an individual, but as a redeemed individual. and a redeemed individual in covenant with God and in fellowship with others. He calls Him our Lord, our Master, our King, our God. And what does He say about God? He says that His name is excellent in all the earth, not just in Israel. What does it mean for someone's name to be excellent? What does the word excellent mean? Well, it means that it is superior. to all that with which it could be compared." That's what it means. And a better translation of the word excellent here might be majestic, royal in dignity and power. God is king. God is king over all that He has created. God is king in Himself even if He had not created anything. The name of the Lord is majestic, and that is clear for all to see. We read in Psalm 19 that the heavens themselves declare the glory of God so that in every nation of the world, no matter what nation you live in, no matter what race you belong to, you can look up and you can see something of the dignity and the power and the glory and the royalty of God in all that He has made. And David also says that God has set His glory above the heavens. It's the greatest name. The only name, the name above all names, God is glorious in Himself. And if you remember in John chapter 17, Jesus praying to His Father, asked to be restored to that glory which He had with the Father and with the Spirit from before the beginning of time. That glory that God has in Himself. So what's the point? The point is, that God is far too great to be compared with anything in His creation, with any created glory. and with man himself. Isaiah chapter 40 verses 21-22 and then 25-26 we read this, Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers, who stretched out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. To whom then will you liken me, or to whom shall I be equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by numbers. He calls them by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power. Not one of them, not a single star is missing. So man is a speck in comparison to God and His glory. But man is not just a speck. That's another thing that we learn here in Psalm 8. Although man is just a speck, God still takes notice of him. We're already beginning to see, even as we move into verse 2, that there's something here. that God takes notice of despite His great glory. Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants, God's Word says, you have ordained strength because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. Of all things that David could think about at this point, he now takes his eyes from the heavens and looks down to the earth at the weakest and the most helpless thing imaginable, a tiny infant, a baby. And David somehow hears the power and the majesty of God in the voices of children and sees something of the power and the glory of God in infants. John Calvin calls infants witnesses and preachers of God's glory, and yes, they are. He also says that the providence of God, in order to make itself known to mankind, does not wait till men arrive at the age of maturity, but even from the dawn of infancy, shines forth so brightly as is sufficient to confute All the ungodly who through their profane contempt of God would wish to extinguish His very name." Have you ever looked at an ultrasound? I've gotten the opportunity to do that twice now as the father of two children. As you look at an ultrasound and you see that tiny little infant, perhaps moving its little fingers or its toes, and you can't help but be filled with wonder at how God knits children together in their mother's wombs. But then again, you're even more astounded as somehow over the course of nine months, God brings them safely into the world. We were reminded just the other day that we have in the past year had 10 children born into this congregation. And what Thanksgiving we ought to be lifting up for those 10 covenant children. But also that when that child is safely delivered, that God somehow feeds that child through milk made inside of its mother. And the Word of God often compares Christians to babies, does it not? The Kingdom of God is not for the weak and the powerful. The Kingdom of God is for those who will receive it as little children. Humble. Faithful. And so out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, God has ordained strength. And then he goes on to say, because of your enemies. And what we're to understand here is that God, the glorious God, the great God, the majestic God, uses the very weakest means to accomplish his purposes in history. Why does he mention his enemies here? Well, David, if you remember, had many enemies. And perhaps even as he wrote this psalm, he was thinking of those enemies, even enemies within his own family. But the majesty of God is compared here to the vanity and the futility of all those who oppose the name of God. If you remember in Psalm 2, we read of the nations raging against the Lord and against His anointed. And ultimately, the enemy, the avenger, is Satan himself. and all of his hosts, the spiritual battle that rages against us, the devil and all that exalts itself against the name of God. How comforting it is for us that we read in 1 Corinthians 1, that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. That no flesh should glory in His presence. So how is it that God uses human weakness to glorify Himself? Well, the preaching of the Word of God is the power of God unto salvation. The shame of the cross is the glory of God. If you remember, Jesus even makes mention of this very psalm in Matthew 21 after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And the people were shouting, Hosanna, glory to God. And in the temple, even children were shouting out, Hosanna to the King, to the glorious Savior who has come. And Jesus says, out of the mouth of babes and infants, God has ordained praise and strength. We see human weakness in the steadfast confession of the martyrs, even in our own lifetime, dying for what they believe to be true and what God has revealed to them in his word. We see it in the praises of the saints week by week and generation after generation, but not just in worship. The weakness of men reveals the glory of God in our witness to the world. One example of this, just one, is the beauty of biblical marriage and family in opposition to the perversion of this world. Just one example of the way that God glorifies himself in taking sinful human beings, sinful men and women, sinful boys and girls, sinful families, and causing them to shine as lights in the darkness of this world. Children. You should never think that worship is just for grownups. Never think that. Right here in Psalm 8 is God's assurance that worship is also for you. As soon as you can pray, you can also sing the praises of God. And as the people of God sing His praises, we ought to be reminded of all that God has done for us in history and for us personally. And our praises ought to cause the walls to shake because of what God has done in His glory, in His majesty. So what is man in comparison to God? Our confession says that the distance between God and man is so great that even in his original estate, even in the perfect conditions of paradise, God still had to condescend, to come down to man, to stoop down to man's level in order to be gracious and show his goodness to him. But the Bible never leaves us staggered by the infinite distance between God and man. It carries us forward and shows us how God is near to us and takes notice of us. And that's what we see in our second point tonight. Man in communion with God. Man in communion with God, verses 3 through 9. You see, the universe testifies that we were created for communion with God. All of the galaxies, all of the stars, the moon, the sun, everything that God has put into existence. Man is not just a speck. He's a speck capable of contemplating God and God's works. And David here contemplates the work of God in creation. Look with me at verse three. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained. And the Bible teaches that God's glory is clearly seen in the things that God has made. Two summers ago, my family was at the Creation Museum in Kentucky. And at that museum, there's a planetarium. And I remember watching in that planetarium as, above my head, a video of stars and planets and planets in comparison to stars and stars in comparison to other stars and the universe and galaxies swirling around. And I remember thinking, this is just the work of the fingers of my God. the fingers of a God who is far glorious than anything that He has made. And David has seen the glory of God as he looks up into the night sky. He would have had much opportunity to do that as a shepherd, sleeping under those stars night by night. He's looking up at the glory of God in the entire creation. And he's astounded. E.J. Young says that the entirety of creation, visible and invisible, speaks with voices clear and positive of the glory of the holy God. Wherever we turn our eyes, we see the marks of His majesty and should lift our hearts in praise to Him who is holy. This is His world, the wide theater in which His perfect glory is displayed. An atheist looks at that same sky, that same glorious panorama of the night sky and concludes that there is no God. And our whole civilization, it seems, with telescopes that can see to the farthest reaches of the universe, with microscopes that can look down to the tiniest things, our whole civilization seems to conclude that there is no God. This very week, a dwarf planet was discovered three times the distance from Pluto as Pluto is from the sun. And the world concludes that there is no God. The theory of evolution concludes that the complexity and order that we see all around us and in the tiniest of things is not evidence of God at all. but points to a world in which there is no God. And I would submit to you tonight that the denial of God leads necessarily to inhumanity and despair because it amounts to the denial of human dignity. It amounts to the denial of any purpose or meaning for human life. As the writer Dostoevsky says through one of his characters in one of his novels, if there is no God, then all things are permissible, and that is how our society is living, our culture around us. But David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, comes to a very different conclusion. He contemplates his own place in all of this vast expanse, and he says in verse 4, What is man that you are mindful of him and the Son of Man that you visit him?" David recognizes, first of all, that he is a creature. He recognizes the vast gulf between God and man. And implied in the order of his thoughts is that he is a creature. He calls the works of God, your works, the works of your hands, the things that you have made. There's no sense of accomplishment or pride in David's words. He recognizes that man is a creature. And not only that, he recognizes that man is a weak creature as he looks out at everything else in the universe. And he thinks, I am just a speck. in all of this. And yet he knows from Scripture, and he knows from personal experience that not only is man a creature, not only is man a weak creature, but man is a sinful, fallen creature. And in all of this, he shakes his head in astonishment, in wonder, in amazement. You see, not only is man a speck capable of contemplating God, But man is a speck capable of communion with God. God is mindful of man. The word here in the Hebrew means to remember. God remembers man. He remembers that man is but dust. He remembers the creature that He has made. He never forsakes the work of His hands. And He has remembered His covenant with Abraham. David knows this. He's also remembered His covenant with David. David, a shepherd, the weakest of all of his brothers, the one who defeated Goliath, the one who became king of Israel. But not only does God remember man, He visits him. He concerns himself with man. He cares for man. That was shown to man even in the garden, and yet man rebelled against him. God is mindful of man. He cares for man. He doesn't remain aloof or distant from us. He visits us, and ultimately, He visits us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He visits us for our salvation. So, we can conclude, just as David does, that man is much, much more than a mere speck. But Scripture also testifies that we were created communion with God. Not only a creation, the universe testifies of this, but the Word of God testifies so clearly. And that's what David turns his attention to now. He turns his attention to the Word of God beginning in verse 5. where he says, for you have made him, that is man, a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep, oxen, even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. David is astonished not only at who God is, not only what God has made, but that God has given man a place and a purpose in this world. He remembers the original purpose of God for man in creation. If you remember, that purpose is very clearly laid out in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. In chapter 1, verse 26, we read, Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Man, from the very beginning, was assigned a privileged place in the creation. A place that is described as being a little lower than the angels. And some have suggested that this really means that for a short time man is a little lower than the angels because we recognize that God has exalted man through Jesus Christ over the angels and that we are united to Christ and that our destiny as human beings somehow by God's grace and for His glory is even to rule over the angels that God has made, those powerful beings, but those beings that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that He could call twelve legions to do His bidding should He so choose. Man has a position of dignity made a little lower than angels, a position of power crowned with glory and honor. But he also has a purpose. And this is what's denied today so often. He has a purpose in the created order. He has responsibility. Verse 6, you have made him to have dominion. Dominion is a privilege, but it's also a responsibility. Man has been given stewardship over the works of God's hands, over the creation, and that's exemplified for us by His dominion over the beasts of the field, over the animals that God has made. Man is superior to the animal kingdom. Man rules over them and should do so for the glory of God and for the good of creation itself and for his own good. But also, He has assigned hope and trust. He's given hope and trust. You have put all things under His feet. Verse 6b through verse 8. All things have been put under the feet of man. And David saw a partial fulfillment of this in his lifetime. He saw the coming of the kingdom, in a sense, the kingdom that God had promised to Israel. And David was the one who conquered the enemies, who established the throne in Jerusalem. He saw a partial fulfillment of this. But we see it now even more clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has all authority and power and who is reigning over all things. And yet the fulfillment of these things is still yet to come. As we read in 1 Corinthians 15, when it will be made visible that all things are put under the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and when Satan himself shall be put under our feet. The Bible says that shall happen very shortly. But the incarnation also testifies that we were created to be in communion with God. The creation testifies, the Word of God testifies, but the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the greatest testimony of all. And we come back to where we began. Verse 9. How excellent is Your name in all the earth." The focus now really becomes the glory of God's name in all the earth. The heavens aren't mentioned in this verse as they were in verse 1. We don't yet see all things under the feet of man. We see much sin. Much sin in the world around us, even this very week we've seen great wickedness. what some have called inhumanity of man to man, where men don't recognize the dignity, the stamp of God's image on other men and treat men as if they were animals. Because of sin and death, it does not appear that man has dominion over all things. And even if all things were under man's control, this is crucial for us to understand. Even if through technology and through whatever means that we have at our disposal, we were able somehow to gain control over all things. You remember what it says in James chapter 3. Man cannot even control his own tongue. So man, though he might have control over all the universe, still yet does not have control over himself. So what's the answer to that? Well, Psalm 8 points us away from man in general to a particular man. points us away from man as man to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ's glory is the glory of God. We read that so clearly in the New Testament. Christ, the one who was with God in the beginning, the creator, the one who is the express image of the person of God, He is infinitely greater than all things that He has made. And yet, in the incarnation, The Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, stooped down to the level of a worm. You see, that's really what happened. If you think about yourself, and you think about an insect or a worm, and you think about how much greater you are, so much greater that you cannot even communicate with that tiny little insect or worm. That is the comparison between God and man, and yet God, the Creator, is able to enter into fellowship and communion with us, and the supreme way that He does that is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the degree to which God is mindful of us is seen in all its wonder, in all its fullness, in the person and work of Christ. He came down to us in our sin and misery. He united His nature to us, meaning that we now participate in His present reign at the right hand of God. In Christ, our human nature is exalted to the highest possible place because we're united to Christ. And in Hebrews chapter 2, this psalm again is quoted. And Christ is the one mentioned there who is crowned with glory and honor, the one who has all power, the one who will have all things put under his feet. Christ. The one who took upon himself the nature of men, not the nature of angels, the one who tasted death for us that we might never have to taste of the wrath of God. Christ is the one whose name is above every other name, and the name of Christ is being made known throughout all the earth right now. in the proclamation of the gospel in every Lord's Day, in the worship of God's people. And so, just a few words of application now for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, the glory of God ought to make us see our nothingness in comparison to the glory of God, in comparison to God, our nothingness. It ought to humble us in the age of telescopes and microscopes The idea of unaided reason is comical. But if no unbeliever has any excuse for boasting, how much less the believer. We have no reason for boasting. No reason for boasting in anything that we've done. No reason for boasting in ourselves. No reason for boasting in our families and how well-behaved our children might be. We have no reason for boasting at all. The excellency of God's name ought to make us feel very small because humility is central to the Christian life. It's so central that there's no reason to consider yourself a Christian if your life is not, in some measure, marked by humility. Secondly, the works of God are to fill our hearts with wonder as we come to see our privileged place in the creation. There was a book not too long ago called The Privileged Planet, and I only read excerpts from the book, but the idea is that far from thinking that because the universe is so vast that there must be alien life out there somewhere, The opposite is actually what we should conclude. The universe in all of its complexity and in the way that the universe seems so finely tuned for life on this planet ought to fill us with wonder. What is wonder? It's the ability to see the glory and beauty of God in everything. Even unbelievers have that ability because they're made in the image of God, but wonder should be the believer's daily response to the glory of God, not only in what He's done in creation, but in how He has revealed Himself as our Savior in Jesus Christ. We of all people should be filled with wonder as we see the fingerprints of God in everything. We should be able to see something of God's glory in all men even. What is your attitude towards unbelievers? Do you look at them with contempt or do you look at them as souls in need of a Savior, as those on their way to hell unless God is gracious to them? What is your attitude toward people of other races or cultures or backgrounds than yours? What is your attitude towards widows, orphans, strangers, the poor, those created in God's image? children, even with autism or people who have lost the ability to do certain things and people with Alzheimer's. What is your attitude towards those that the Lord cares about very deeply? The Word of God ought to cause us to fall on our faces in worship as we come to know the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We should worship God for giving us eyes to see Christ. We should worship Him for the forgiveness of our sins. We should worship Him for giving us the Bible. We should worship Him for sovereignly, graciously bringing us into the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you see others in the church? God sees His church as precious. He sees the individuals in His church as precious. Those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, the precious, priceless blood of the Savior who came down to us from heaven. Do you see your brothers and sisters in the church in that way, in that light? Charles Spurgeon said that when by night we lift up our eyes and behold Him who hath created all these things, when we remember that He brings out their host by number, calls them all by their names, and that by the greatness of His power not one falls. Then indeed we adore a mighty God and our soul naturally falls prostrate in reverential awe before the throne of Him who leads the host of heaven and marshals the stars in their armies. Psalm 8 declares to us the excellency of the Lord's name. It's made plain to us in two ways. First is displayed to us in the wonder of creation. But secondly, it's displayed in God's reign over all things, particularly as that reign comes to expression in man, the image-bearer, and ultimately in the man, the Lord Jesus Christ, reigning now at God's right hand. The greatness of God's name is seen in Christ alone. And that's why we can say, That His name is the name above every name, the name to which every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. So when you look up at the night sky, what do you see? Do you see a vast expanse for man to explore, perhaps to leave a plaque on some distant world? Or do you see the glory of God? Do you see His mindfulness to us, of all creatures? Not even to the angels, but to us in sending Jesus to be our Savior. When you sit in your pew morning and evening on Sunday, what do you see? What do you see in the preaching of the Word? What do you see in the administration of the sacraments? What do you see as God has given to you under shepherds to lead you who care for your soul? What do you see? Do you see the glory of God? If we understand Psalm 8, what's happening is that we have an answer to the question, what is man? That you are mindful of him. Not only do we have an answer to the question of man's role in creation generally, we have an answer to our own place in all that God has done, in all His purpose, in all His plan. We're much more than specks in the universe. We're sons and daughters of God in living communion with Him through Jesus Christ. And that has implications for how we live our lives in this world. We ought to live in amazement at the glory of God and all the things that He's made. We ought to live in even greater amazement at what He's done for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And we ought to hear His voice gladly as that voice thunders, not from Mount Sinai, but as it thunders to us through the voice of Jesus Christ. As it says to us in the words of the prophet Isaiah, for thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who has established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is no other. Let us pray. Our God and Father, how great You are. How excellent is Your name. in the highest heavens and in the earth below. How excellent is Your name as You have displayed it in the glorious work of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. How excellent is Your salvation. How excellent is Your church. How excellent is Your glory. We pray, O Lord, that You would make us instruments of salvation, instruments of Your glory, that You would reflect Your glory in us Not as we seek to take over the institutions of this world, but as we seek to proclaim Your Word and be witnesses of it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.