Have you ever had a moment in nature where you're just outside looking at creation and you're just overwhelmed by how magnificent our world is? The one that always comes to my mind is when I was in high school, my family, you know, we had our little dog and I always volunteered to take my dog out. to use the restroom late at night. And part of my reasoning was, I loved going on a walk late at night, and just looking up at the stars, and just thinking about how vast the world is, and yet how small I am. And this psalm was usually in my head when I did that. How big this universe is, Lord, how vast is your creation, how exquisite the stars, and yet how little I am, and you remember me. It's things like that, moments like that that make you say, Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Because here's the truth. If God presented himself to us as he is, we would all be destroyed. You see this in the scriptures. Whenever people come into God's presence and he's unveiled, they're always terrified, every single time. And yet in his great providence, the Lord shows us his glory in other ways, through his word. And as this psalm talks about through creation, it's as if, if you will, creation is the Lord's garment, his cloak that he puts on so that we can see him, behold how magnificent he is. Psalm 8 this morning speaks to the depth of human emotion that we all understand. It's like being filled with inexpressible words that the majesty of something that you can't quite understand or fully explain. It guides, the psalm will guide us to contemplate God's glory through creation and then contemplate his glory through humanity. And then finally, we cannot properly contemplate humanity without contemplating the truest human who ever lived, our savior, Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God. So please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 8, and we'll read it before I pray for us. Psalm 8. This is the word of the Lord. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens, out of the mouth of babies and infants. You have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you care for him, yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the seas, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gathering of your people this morning. Father, we see in this a picture of the next life, a picture of heaven, singing unceasing praise and being enraptured in the glory of Christ. And Father, I pray that you would open our eyes to behold your word. Give us ears to hear and hearts to comprehend what is written here for our benefit. And I ask this all in the name of Jesus, amen. So in the same way that I asked this last week, I'm gonna ask this every week. Why should we study the Psalms? You know, for most people, it's just that book that's in the middle, but why should you study it? Here's a quote by a man named Athanasius, who lived about 300 years after the time of Jesus. And another person wrote him a letter, basically asking that same question. He's like, what am I supposed to make of this book of the Psalms? This is what Athanasius said. He said, in all the other books of scripture, we read or hear the words of the saints as belonging only to those who spoke them. Not at all as though they were our own, but with this book, Psalms, however, it is as if our own words that we read, it is as if they are our own words that we read. Anyone who hears them with faith is pierced to the heart as though these words voiced for them his deepest thoughts. Another commentator says this, the Psalms are a mirror that reveals to us who we really are, instructing us to conform ourselves through the Spirit to the gift and example of Jesus Christ. So there's a lot of merit in the book of Psalms. If you notice in Psalm 8 in your Bibles, there's a little thing above verse one that tells us who wrote it. And this one is explicitly a Psalm of David. One of the 73, I believe. When did he write this? We have no idea. It doesn't tell us. Most likely he wrote it after he was king. And it's a personal opinion. I like to think that David was recollecting back to his days as a shepherd. Nights upon end under the starry skies, contemplating how great the Lord is. Notice you probably found out that this song begins and ends with a refrain with the same exact line Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name and all the earth and this doesn't happen all the time in poetry and it's meant to show us the the totality of understanding God's majesty that we both begin and end with looking to the Lord so look with me at verse number one where he says I And the first refrain, O Lord, our Lord. And if you look really closely, you might notice in your English versions, the first Lord is capital L, capital O-R-D. Whereas the second Lord is simply capital L, lowercase O-R-D. You might wonder, why is that? This is to distinguish within your Bible, two different names for God. The lowercase one is the word Adonai, which means Lord, Master, or Ruler. It's often used for people other than God. For instance, when Abraham buys a tomb for his wife, Sarah, in the book of Genesis, the people he's buying from call him this word. They call him Lord. It's a sign of respect. But the all-caps one, capital L, capital O-R-D, is shorthand for Yahweh. Some people know this as Jehovah. It is the covenant name for God. It literally means I am, the one who is. And no one else in the Bible is Yahweh. This word is used for no one else. And yet they're both Lord in our English versions to mirror the fact that when the New Testament cites these Old Testament passages, it uses the same word Lord in Greek to refer to them both. So this really is a clever thing in your Bibles. It helps us to keep the distinguishing mark between Adonai and Yahweh, and yet understand how the New Testament reads the Old Testament. So, I encourage you, look for this as you read through your Old Testament Bibles. It's a rather clever and helpful tool. So why this difference? Why does David use these two names right here? Even in these first few verses of the Psalm, we're gonna see something that we're gonna see through the rest of the Psalm, which is both The immensity of God as well as His nearness. The transcendence of God as well as His imminence. We see the immensity of God in His name, His covenant name, Yahweh. God always is. He never was not. He's perfect in every way. He's ever-present everywhere. He is all-knowing. All the secrets of the hearts of men are laid bare before him. He never learns anything because he can never be taught. And he never grows old or weary. He simply is. God's immensity. But also, in the second one, we see God's nearness. At the same time, God is Yahweh, but he's also Lord, Adonai. A word that was everyday language that people would understand and grasp, like master or boss. And God gives us this word to help us further understand who he is. It's almost like we find the word father for God in the Bible. It doesn't mean that God's a father in the exact way that there are many dads here, but it is meant to teach us something about him. God's immensity, God's nearness. And this causes David to shout out, how majestic is your name in all the earth? This word majesty, the only thing that could really come to my mind was the recent funeral of Queen Elizabeth. We don't live in a time where we're surrounded by royalty, but that's really where you kind of get a picture of what majesty means. This royal pomp, this grandeur. And yet, this is what David's talking about. He is in awe. He is in wonder. He is in amazement. He has, in some senses, nothing to say when he's contemplating God. And yet, this psalm begins and ends with this refrain for a reason. We all believe this. We all believe that God is majestic. But by the time that we finish walking through this psalm, we will say it again at the end in a more full way than we did at the beginning. And there's a beauty to that. So everything between these two refrains is two different contemplations by David. Two different contemplations. One between verse 1b and verse 2. And then the second one between verse 3 and verse 8. And each of these contemplations follows a progression. David starts by looking at the world and then looks at humanity in each contemplation. I encourage you to use your Home Group Helps insert as a guide as we walk through this. So let's look at David's first contemplation in verses one, B, through two, where he says, you, God, have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. Notice David starts with the world and then goes and contemplates humanity. He says, you have set your glory above the heavens. Essentially, David is saying, God, you are so glorious. Not even the entire universe can contain your majesty. King Solomon says something like this when he dedicates the temple. In first Kings chapter eight, he says this, But God, will you indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built. And we should learn from this that we don't often just sit and ponder the majesty of God. We are so distracted, but we must learn from David that everything in this world should be an object lesson to teach us about God's glory, everything in this world. My dad was a pilot, I've said that many times, and I have a couple memories of when flying around as a family growing up, we'd take off around either sunrise or sunset, and it's a cloudy day or something, and then somehow I'd get the window seat because my brother always wanted it, and we'd pass through the clouds, And then all of a sudden the dark world was illuminated with light, brilliant shades of yellow and red that are just kind of sprinkling through the clouds right as you pass the barrier. And it's moments like those that I was like, first of all, wow, dad, I'm glad you're a pilot. Second of all, God, you are so glorious, so majestic. And yet here's the truth, I don't do that very often. I don't have those moments of deep pondering, and God's glory often. We all regularly think of the Lord as helping us out of a hard spot, or the one we pray to when we're in a difficult situation and need some help. But how often do you spend time and just contemplate the unspeakable massiveness of God? I'm gonna read a few verses from Job chapter 32. If you wanna read a book that's gonna make you ponder how great God is, read Job. And this is when the character Elihu is asking Job questions rather like God. He says this. Hear this, O Job. Stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his clouds to shine? Do you know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? Can you, like God, spread out the skies? Teach us what we shall say to him. We cannot draw up our case because of darkness. Out of the north comes his splendor. God is clothed with awesome majesty. Let us learn from David, just in this one line. We are all but little school children, and this world is an endless textbook, instructing us constantly to meditate on the gloriousness of God. And yet with all his glory, with all the glory found in the world of the Lord, what does David see as greater? Let's look at verse two. Wow, the words here mean both a young child in the first word and as well as an infant. It's literally the verb of one who is nursing. You could translate this, a suckling babe, truly. To David, the very cries of a human child preach more about God's strength than all of the beauty of nature. According to this verse, the Lord shows his strength even through babies, the weakest. And David says that this cry of even the smallest child is enough to still the enemy and the avenger. Which means, if we're going to take David by what he's saying, that means that if every person who disbelieves in God, or who is a staunch atheist, or simply refuses to recognize that God is God, if they would only listen, only listen, all their warrings against the Lord would be silenced by the cooing of an infant. That's powerful. And if that is true, how much more the songs of the saints singing together in the praise of Christ, like we all are gathered this morning. And amazingly, this verse, when Jesus is entering Jerusalem on a donkey, Few days before he's crucified and all the people are shouting hosanna hosanna to god in the highest he quotes this verse Out of the mouths of babes and infants. I have ordained praise Friends god must be praised. There's no if god must be praised And david through the eyes of faith sees god's glory everywhere So I think we should take two lessons from this first contemplation of David. Two lessons. First of all, the literal meaning of this. The literal meaning is children are precious. Children are precious. And this is something I think all people understand. People love babies. I know there are a few exceptions. Overall, people love babies. There is a universal sense that when a child is born, mankind rejoices. And even as more advances are made in the scientific realm, no one is ever gonna be able to create a child from nothing. And I think as an application here, in the past few years, the Lord has blessed even our congregation with many children, and Lord willing, many to come. And that is a blessing. That establishes the strength of our God over his foes, and in particular, There are a lot of mothers in this room, mothers who have been mothers, mothers who are currently mothers. I just wanna encourage you, the time that you spend nursing, teaching, loving, caring, cherishing, holding, cleaning, kissing your children is some of the most holy work in the universe. It establishes the strength of your God. And second, this first contemplation teaches us a truth about how God works as well, how he works. Notice, the strength of God is hidden in the weakness of a baby. The glory of the heavenly one is smothered in the humility of an infant. And was this not true for the baby of Christ as well? What did we just sing? We sang, thrones for a manger, ditched surrender, sapphire paved courts for stable floor, thou who wast rich beyond all measure, all for love's sake becamest. In the time of Christmas, we remember that glory itself was veiled in an unseeming baby. With the cry of Jesus when he came into the world, the very hope of victory for God's enemies were dashed. The greatness of God veiled in the nearness of flesh and bone, something that continues all the way to the cross. And this is only our first contemplation. And I hope in your hearts you're thinking, oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Let's look on to the second contemplation, verses three through eight, three through eight. And David begins in a far more specific way in the second one. And this is the verse that was always in my mind when I was going on walks with my dog at night. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place. When David gazes up at the sky and looks at the glory and splendor of the heavens, he's just filled with overwhelming gratitude. And this one phrase, it says, the work of your fingers. It might seem funny. God doesn't have fingers. He's a spirit. So why is David doing, why is he saying this? It's imagery, it's poetic imagery to help us understand how intricately detailed the Lord adorned this universe. In the same way that a master architect designs a building with all of its details. In the same way that a quilter makes a blanket and knows where every little thread goes. The Lord has adorned each and every detail in the entire cosmos. The work of his fingers. The moon and the stars which you have set in place. And David notices that all of these things have a purpose and an order and a constancy to them. My family has a tradition growing up which is that we would always decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. It's never not the day after Thanksgiving, always the day after Thanksgiving. And at the end of the day, my mom would get out the box of ornaments and she'd hand them out to a kid, to each one of us, and we'd put them on the tree. And one beautiful thing about the tree is it was different every single time. It's kind of chaotic, but that's kind of what made it beautiful to me. And yet that's not how the Lord adorned his universe. Everything has its particular place. There is thought and there is purpose behind even the furthest star. Another passage from Job that helps me wrap my mind around what David was thinking. In Job 38, starting in verse 31, God is speaking to Job now. This is what he says. He says, can you bind the chains of the Pleiades? Speaking of constellations. Or can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth the Maseroth in their season? Or can you guide the bear, another constellation, with its children? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth? No! The Lord does this. Our God is majestic. And we must praise him for that. He is incomprehensible and yet, He gives us pictures of his glory. And notice, once again, David doesn't just gaze at the world and stay there. Because in verse four, he transitions yet again from looking at the world to looking at humanity. He is admitting that there's much glory in the heavens, but it always guides him back to consider God himself and his highest creation, humanity. Friends, the world is glorious, yes, but it does not bear God's image. The world is beautiful, yes, but God did not become the world to save the world. God did not just clothe himself in matter to save all matter. No, God became man to save men. Not even the angels know God as a redeemer. Man was not made for the world. The world, in a sense, was made for man. I had a professor in college, it was a science course, and the whole point of the science course, it was titled Science, Species, and Spirit. Kind of granola name. But it was fun because I got my science credit and we spent like almost every class period outside. I thought it was great. Point being, he talked so much about the spiritual, not just the practical, the spiritual refreshment of being outside. just something our world doesn't do as much now, especially with the advent of smartphones and endless Netflix. And he was not wrong at all. I learned a lot from that. But it can go too far. It can go too far. Because when looking at nature, we must remember that nature itself was not the crowning achievement of God's creation. Mankind was. Man has the image of God. A tree does not know God the way that a human does. A rock cannot reflect God's holiness in the way a human being can. And all of this contemplation about humanity caused David to cry out, what is man that you are mindful of him? Or the son of man that you care for him? These are two powerful verses. So first, let me comment on how God cares for people in general, all mankind. The son of man here literally means the son of Adam. We're all sons of Adam. He was our ancestor. Just consider with me all the normal everyday ways that God remembers and cares for each and every person. Your bodies work together with such incredible consistency and precision. Even when you're sick, your body, in a sense, is doing exactly what it's meant to do. That's incredible. In high school, I had to read a book by a scientist named Michael Behe titled Darwin's Black Box. It was an argument against evolution. And he had this term that he used called irreducible complexity. The idea that there's some operations in your body that can't be reduced. If you reduced them, they would stop working. They had to have been created to work. And one of the examples he gives is something as simple as blood clotting. That if all of the faculties that went into blood clotting was a little too, not as much as it needed to be, it wouldn't work at all. It actually would cause harm. Or if clotting all the intricacies that went into it was too much, it wouldn't work at all. And he's saying that is something that is irreducibly complex. And friends, that is our nature. God watches over humanity and sustains us. But even more so, these two lines apply more directly to me and you, to God's church, to God's people. The word here for mindful could also be translated as remember. If you recall when Noah was in the ark, after all the rain had been going on the earth for 40 days, it says, and the Lord remembered his promise to Noah. This word is used all over the Bible to talk about God remembering the promises he made to his people. Or think of the word care. In this second line, this could also be translated as, he pays attention to us, he visits us. And in the book of Genesis, when Joseph and Sarah are talking about the ways that they were blessed by God, they use this word, they say, God, you have visited me with blessing. It's as if David is trying to say, I am so small, I am so weak, I am so frail, I am so unworthy of love and kindness, and yet you remember your promises to me, promises to save me, to forgive me. The Lord does love all people in many ways, but he loves his church in a particular and beautiful way. He cares for and remembers us. And as an application, As Christians, we all must come to the point in our life, hopefully many times, where we recognize that God owes you nothing. God owes you nothing. He does not have to show mankind mercy. He does not have to give life and health and all things. He answers to no one. Nothing we could give him, he needs. And yet, he is kind and he remembers us and he pays attention to us. The greatness of God, the nearness of God. And David doesn't even stop here. Look at verse six. Sorry, verse five, he says, yet you have made him and kind a little lower than the heavenly beings. This is a powerful phrase, but to be honest, rather confusing. You read it, you're like, what does that mean? So some of your Bibles, if you have, say, the NASB or the NLT, might say God right here, a little lower than God. Some of your Bibles, say the ESV or the King James Version, say heavenly beings or angels. So there's some confusion, like why this ambiguity here? The word is Elohim, used all throughout the Bible to describe God of Israel, but also the same word means gods in general. So say a prophet is talking about Israel has gone off to serve idols, other gods, it'd be the same word. So kind of context has to dictate. So the question is here, what is David meaning? Is he saying that man was made a little lower than God? Or is he saying that man was made a little lower than heavenly beings or angels? It really could be both. It really could be either. There's a lot of, it wouldn't drastically change the meaning. If you had to pin me to the wall, I would say angels, because when the New Testament cites this, that's what it says. If you had to pin me to the wall. But what David is getting at is that mankind is given such greatness that in the grand scheme of things, he's only a little bit less than the heavenly beings. He's crowned with glory and honor. Who was the chief of creation, the chief work? Adam and Eve. Who bears God's image? Adam and Eve. Who rules over all the rest and names all the rest? Adam and Eve. This glory and honor is speaking about the image of God in humanity. And if you recall, this would be many weeks ago, our catechism answers this very succinctly. It says, how did God create man in question number 10? God created man, male and female, after his own image in knowledge, they know God. They know God. Righteousness, they resemble God. Holiness, and with dominion over the creatures, they rule over creation. All of these things are wrapped up in the image of God. Let me ask this question as we zoom out and think about what exactly David is saying here. Is David talking about humanity now, or is he talking about humanity before the fall? Or both? You kind of have to ask that question. Primarily, he's talking about humanity before the fall. Primarily. Because then man was perfect. He was holy. He was righteous. Never a sinful thought. Never something outside of his control. He is perfectly capable of sinning, perfectly capable of not sinning at the same time. And think of just all the things that have changed from that moment. You and I, we struggled to even think about spiritual things. We almost have to force ourselves to. That was natural for Adam and Eve. Natural. Adam and Eve were glorious and perfect, but now our bodies, even at the height of youth, waste away, hurt, need medicine, rest. It's happened a lot since I've started seminary like eight months ago that some older person in my church asked me how I'm doing. I'm like, oh, I'm tired. And then they look at me and they say, it only gets worse. I'm like, oh, thank you. So I'm told it only gets worse. And even for Adam and Eve, dominion over the world was something that was natural and easy to them. At the call of Adam, all nature bowed. But now the world is cursed. It's subjected to futility to make every manner of life from gardening to bearing a child full of pain and misery in many ways. And you and I, we can reflect God's holiness in a way, but not in the same way that Adam and Eve could. The image of God still remains in people, but it is terribly disfigured. It's horribly marred. It's like a computer that is hopelessly overrun with a virus. You feel like you might have to throw it out. It's like a brand new book that's been stained with coffee all the way through. How do you undo that? It's like a condemned home that is riddled with termites. We are broken, rebellious, and marred, and there is not a part of us that is untouched by sin. You might be thinking, Jack, why are you going into this? David's really happy right now. What is the importance of this? If we are fallen and don't ever measure up to what Adam and Eve were, because friends, every ounce of what was lost, and even more, is regained in the person of Jesus, the truest human who ever lived. And the New Testament guides us to see that these words, though speaking truly of all humanity, ultimately speak of your Savior, Christ. We're gonna go to two New Testament passages real quick. First, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting in verse 21, Paul is talking about the resurrection, when all people will be raised from the dead someday. And he says this, for as by one man came death, Adam, so by a man comes also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, So also in Christ shall all be made alive. Skip down to verse 26. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Verse 27. For God has put all things in subjection under his feet. This is quoting Psalm 8. This is Paul saying, this is talking about Jesus. All things are more truly subjected to Christ through the cross than even to Adam and Eve. Second New Testament passage. Turn to Hebrews chapter two. This elaborate argument of showing why Christ is better than all things in this world. Hebrews chapter two. Look at verse five. The author says, it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. This is Psalm 8. What is a man that you are mindful of him? For the son of man that you care for him, you have made him For a little while lower than the angels, you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. And later in chapter two, it teaches us that this is Christ. This is Jesus. So why does this all matter? Two quick implications. First, even after the fall, humanity bears enough of God's image to have dignity and worth. We need to focus on what we lost after the garden, but that can go too far. And here's why. Because all people still bear enough image of God that their life is infinitely valuable. And we know that because God says to Noah in Genesis chapter nine, he says, you shall not kill humans. Why? Because they still bear the image of God. This applies to matters like abortion. Truly we can say a person is a person no matter how small. How about the elderly? The Lord decides when life ends, not humans. How about the mentally handicapped? There have been many atrocities in this world that begin with the assumption of, well, some people are more valuable than others, and that's a terrifying assumption. No, all mankind has worth and dignity. Also, Think about how we think about the world around us. This has applications. Is harming our planet intentionally bad? Yes, it is. We are stewards. But is the harming of a living person infinitely worse? Yes. Is caring for our planet a bad thing? No, that is a good thing. But is caring for a living soul incredibly greater? Yes. We must be biblically ordered. because not all matters are yes and no. Secondly, this teaches us that Jesus Christ is the image of God, the image of the invisible God. Through faith in the gospel, the lost image is restored, and we are daily being renewed in him. Which brings us to the last refrain. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Friends, do you realize that when you hear the Gospel preached, you come face-to-face with the living Christ? The living Christ. What is this Gospel? When man was fallen, torn, destroyed by sin, marred in every way, turning away from God's commands and kindness because of Satan's deception, Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, who were only a little lower than the angels, were ruined and miserable. Their high frame, their beautiful, flawless bodies were made corruptible. Their natural understanding and love for the living God was turned to fear and trembling in his presence. Even their sweet marriage turned into strife and blame. Rebellion changed everything and each one of you shares in this natural disdain for God and for your neighbor, each one of you. And God could have left us there, but he did not, and that's the gospel. Friends, this gospel is about Jesus Christ. You and I owe an infinite debt to God. Why? Because we have not praised him as we should. None of us have, as we were created to. All of us have gone astray, together. like sheep we have wandered off. All of us fail to worship his infinite greatness as we should, and it's flying plain before us every day in the heavens, every day in the cry of a child, every day in the Bible. And yet the Father sent Jesus, God himself, to be clothed in flesh, to be made for a little while lower than the angels, to live that life of flawless praise that you lack. to die that death that you and I must die on the cross. And now he's risen in majesty and he will come back. Friends, that's the gospel. Do you believe in him? Did Jesus do that for you? Because if you don't believe that you have a debt, if you don't believe that you have offended a holy God by your lack of praise, then Christ will never be yours. He came to save sinners. He came to save sick people. not healthy people. But if you do confess your need, if you do call upon his mercy, then Christ shall never leave you. Only in the gospel, God put on flesh, can we truly say, oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that it may teach and feed our souls Lord, may we learn from David to see your glory in the world around us, to behold your splendor in the cry of a child, but most importantly, to see your image in Jesus himself. I pray that if there's anyone here who does not know the name of Christ as Savior and Lord and God, as the only hope in life and death, that they may trust in him today, in this moment. And Father, for those of us who have been transformed, who have been saved, I pray that our faith may be strengthened. And we may believe in Christ all the more this day. I ask this all in the name of our Savior. Amen.