Well, thank you to Skip for that very kind and warm welcome. Where I'm from in Belfast, if you get called by your nickname, you're having a good day. But since I've come to America, I get to call Dr. Gibson, and I get this lovely introduction of all the things that I'm supposed to have done in my life. And I've never had a greater self-esteem than when I came to America. In Northern Ireland, we knock people down before they speak, but here you build them up, so it feels good. Thank you. And thank you to Skip for mentioning my children, Ben and Leila. Skip just mentioned there he pronounced the name. So Leila, L-E-I-L-A, who's our little evangelist, who's still being, though she is dead, she still speaks. And then we have Zachary, and then baby Gibb is the one in the womb. So Lord willing, in January, we're expecting number four. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 8, or Psalm, as you say here in America, but trust me, the Hebrew is pronounced Sam. So Psalm 8, and we're gonna read this Psalm, then I'll pray, and then we'll hear God speak to us. So let us hear the word of the Lord together. To the choir master, according to the Gittith, a psalm of David. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You who have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes 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 sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Let us pray. Father, in your light we see light, and so we pray that you would come now and by your Holy Spirit illuminate our minds, conform our wills, and stir our affections for your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever praised. Amen. Surprise. Surprise. That's what's at the heart of this psalm. It's a psalm about the unexpected, the surprising. But if we miss the surprise, then we miss the point of the psalm. Because it's the element of surprise which causes David to extol God's greatness in the refrain, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. We get the hint of surprise in verse one, where we're told that the God who has set his glory in the heavens has also displayed his majesty in all the earth. The God whose glory cannot be contained by the heaven of heavens has now displayed his glorious majesty in all the earth. Now when you hear that, when you hear that God's majesty is displayed in all the earth, What do you think of? Even boys and girls, you can think with me here. What do you think of when you think of God's greatness displayed in all the earth? I think of creation. I think of Mount Everest. or Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa or the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the plains of the Serengeti teeming with majestic animals. I think of the Amazon rain forest or the Grand Canyon or a beautiful star-studded night in the Appalachian Mountains or a beautiful sunset over Malibu Beach. Isn't that what we think of when we think of God's majesty in all the earth? Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hand hath made, I see the sun, I hear the mighty thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed, then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee, how great thou art. Yet here's the unexpected thing in this psalm. Here's the big surprise. When it comes to talking about God's majesty in all the earth, David doesn't talk about creation. He talks about babies and mankind. God's name is majestic in all the earth because weak little babies defeat God's enemies, verse two. And because puny little man rules God's world, verses three to eight. That's the logic of this psalm. The catalyst for praise from David is not cute little babies, verse two. It's not creation, verse three. It's not even mankind, verse four. No, the catalyst for praise in this psalm is that weak little babies defeat God's enemies. And puny little man rules God's world. The first surprise is obvious enough in verse two. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. Now the word for infants here is literally sucklings. That is babies that are still nursing on their mother's breasts. Yet verse two says that from the mouth of babes suckling on their mother's milk, God has established strength. I mean, are you having a laugh? Boys and girls, have you ever thought of a baby establishing strength? It's strength going in the wrong direction, isn't it? Have you ever thought of a baby, strength and power coming out of a baby's mouth? No, when your little brother or sister is crying at night as a little baby, what do they want? They want power and strength put into their mouths. Yet here, David is saying, no, out of the mouth of babes and infants, God has ordained strength. God reverses the direction. The surprise continues in the purpose given for the baby's strength, to silence the foe and the avenger. The enemy, this word for silence is the same word that we've used or we've sung tonight in Psalm 46. It's the word used for causing wars to cease. But now look who's doing the ceasing. Verse two, weak little babies. The great and mighty armies and enemies of God that rise up proud and arrogant against God are defeated not by armies of men, not by chariots and horses, not by tanks and fighter planes, but by babies. Weak little babies. How humbling for God's enemies. Some Bible translations interpret this word strength here as praise, and if we had time to look at Matthew 21, we'd see how Jesus applies this verse to his own day. The strength coming out of the baby's mouth is the praise of God coming from them as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. They sing Hosanna to the son of David, and I'll return to that at the end. But I want to focus on the biggest surprise in this psalm. There's the surprise that weak little babies defeat God's enemies, verse two, but there's a bigger surprise, and that is that God's name is majestic in all the earth because puny little man rules God's world. Puny little man rules God's world, verses three to eight. Now you'll notice if you glance down at verse 3 that it's comparatively longer than verses 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8. Do you see that? There's no parallelism here like in the other verses. The verse sort of draws things out, underlining the sense of awe that creation arises. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, There's no doubt in David's mind whose heavens these are. It's not mother earth. It's not mother nature. These are God's heavens. They are the work of his fingers. But it's the mention of God's fingers which is probably the most interesting thing in the verse. God made the heavens and the moon and the stars with his fingers. Of course, it's just a way of describing God in human terms. God is a spirit. He doesn't have fingers. But the anthropomorphism, that is the way of describing God in human terms, it communicates to us that God is an artist. He's a painter. He works with his fingers. He does delicate, intricate, detailed work on the universe. But I think the metaphor suggests something else as well. How many here have been on an aeroplane? Most people. Okay, imagine yourself as the plane takes off and you get up above the clouds and you look out of the window and what do you see? You see an endless expanse of blue sky that goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. Or if you've never been in an airplane, imagine being out here in the mountains with no street lights or city lights around. And you look up, and what do you see? You just see this whole canvas above your head of stars. Astrologers say we can see about 2,500 stars visible to the human eye. But in reality, there are hundreds of billions of stars and billions of galaxies. Now, think about this metaphor. In verse three, that endless blue sky that you see out the airplane window or that star-studded night you look up at in the mountains, all of it formed by God's fingers, pushed and prodded together by the divine digits. It was just at the tips of his fingers that he made the heavens. It's as if God picked up the moon, boys and girls, and like a marble, rolled it between his thumb and first finger and then just placed it in the night sky. It's as if he picked up the stars and just stuck them on the canvas of the night sky like your school teacher puts a gold star on the top of your homework, or maybe it's your parents who do it. God made the heavens with his fingers. He's an artist, he's a painter, but he's an incredibly big artist. Because in comparison to him, the heavens, the moon, and the stars are just at the tips of his fingers. Now if you're like me, you would think the refrain of the psalm would kick in here. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. But that's not how the psalm progresses. David doesn't make an exclamation of praise to God here. He asks a question. When I consider the blue skies and the star-entrancing nights and the fact that you made them in such fine detail and that in comparison to you they are so small at the tips of your fingers, when I think of all of that, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? See, there's no exclamation of praise yet. There's only a question of puzzlement. of mind-boggling wonder. What is man that you should be mindful of him? The word for man here and the phrase son of man, they both speak of our fragility, our weakness, our humanity, our humanness. We are minuscule specks of dust on a rock revolving around one of billions of stars in one of billions of galaxies. So why would God ever bother with us? I mean, boys and girls, did you bother with the ants tonight as you walked in here? Did you know there were some ants on the pavement out there? In the car park, did you bother with them? No. How much more insignificant are we to God, this big God who has the heavens at the tips of his fingers? How much more insignificant are we to God than the ants are to us? And yet, God does care for us. That's the point of David's question. He's not doubting that God cares for us. He's dumbfounded that he cares for us. God cares for you and me. Puny little you are on the mind of the God who carefully crafted billions of stars into billions of galaxies and set them in place with his fingers. Now again, you'd expect the refrain of the psalm to kick in here, wouldn't you? 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're mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? And since you do care for him, oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. But again, it's not the logic of the psalm. The refrain is withheld until verse 9, which means that the catalyst for praise in this psalm is not creation, verse 3. It's not even God's care for man, verse 4. No, the catalyst for praise in this psalm is seen in the contrast between verses 3 and 4 and verses 5 to 8. There's a yet, a but, at the beginning of verse 5. If it's not there in your Bibles, you have my permission to write it in. There's a yet or a but. The whole psalm turns on that one word. 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. Puny little man, verses three to four, rules God's world, verses five to eight. And it's only when those two paradoxical truths are set side by side that David then bursts into praise in verse nine. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Well, let's take a look a little more closely at verses five to eight. Yet you made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. Charles Darwin said that as human beings, we bear the image of our lowly origins. He was referring to us evolving from apes and fish and dogs. Humans bear the image of their lowly origins, he said. But look again at verse five. Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, the angels. Perhaps the word could be translated God, it's Elohim in the Hebrew. But I think angels is the better translation here. It's the way Hebrews chapter two reads it. But whichever translation you take, whether it's you're made a little lower than God, a little lower than the heavenly beings, the point is that you do not bear the image of your lowly origins. We bear the image of high. and holy origins. We fall short only a little from the angels, only a little from God himself. If verse four spotlighted our humanness, our insignificance, then verse five spotlights our God-likeness, our significance. And the significance continues in verse six, you've given him dominion over the works of your hands, you've put all things under his feet. Man is not just created into a high and glorious state, he's also given a high and glorious job to do, ruler of the world. And David lists the things that we're given a rule over, all sheep. and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. Do you hear the echoes of Genesis chapter one, where God formed three realms, water, sky, and land, in that order, and then he filled each realm with fish, birds, and animals, in that order? This Psalm captures all of those realms, but in reverse order. First there are the domestic animals, the beasts of the field, then there are the birds in the sky, and then there are the fish in the sea. Genesis works from water to sky to land. Psalm 8 works from land to sky to water. Man is given dominion over every realm and over every living creature. And you'll see, boys and girls, did you notice, it's not just the pet pony and the poodle. It's also the alligator and the antelope. It's not just the goldfish in your bedroom. It's the great shark, great white shark. It's not just the budgie that you have at home, the parrot. It's the eagles and the hawks. It's not just the worm in your back garden. It's the cobra as well. Everything has been placed under our rule. All creatures in all realms are put under our feet. In fact, the phrase all things in verse six may hint at even more than just planet earth. Did you notice the phrase in verse six, the works of your hands is similar to verse three, the works of your fingers? It's just a stylistic variation. And if it is, then think about how profound this is. The very thing in verse three that made us feel so puny, so small, the works of God's fingers, is the very thing in verse six that we are now given dominion over. The stars and the moon make us feel so small, so insignificant. But haven't we been to the moon? Haven't we stuck a flag in it? Haven't we said one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind? We've done it, haven't we? We've ruled the moon. Now I know technically speaking it was you Americans. But the Irish settled America. So we've all had a part to play in it. But you get the point, don't you? We were made to rule the moon. Do you know they send probes into space now that can look at stars up close? God has placed everything under our feet. Perhaps the all things in verse six would come to include things that at the time of writing, not even David could have imagined. But in any case, what Psalm 8 gives us is a magnificent picture of mankind. There is not a sniff of Darwinian lowly origins here. Rather, we are the pinnacle of God's creation, the paragon of all creatures, commissioned to rule the world and everything in it. And it is this surprise, the surprise that a puny little man rules God's great world that causes David to burst out in praise in verse nine. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Weak little babies defeat your enemies. Puny little man rules your world. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. That's the psalm in a nutshell. Those are the two great surprises that are at the heart of this psalm. But the question is, what are we to do with it this evening? Well, I want to suggest five points of application. Number one, be amazed at what you were made to be. Be amazed at what you were made to be. What this psalm asks us this evening is, do you have a high enough view of yourself? Because what it says to you is, the world's your oyster. The world is your oyster. If I may allude to the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, there's not a square inch of this whole created universe over which God does not say to you, it's yours, it's yours. It's not a square inch, the whole of this created universe over which God does not say to us tonight, it's yours. Now, of course, there's the danger that we take this too far and we see our rule as independent from God, rulers of everything apart from God. Our culture and our secular society preaches the gospel of self-sufficiency, of autonomous living. It's a blasphemous message. The only person in the universe who has the right to the term self-sufficiency and autonomy is God. God alone is self-sufficient. God alone is autonomous. We are dependent creatures who are to live our lives under God. The attitude of the secular culture reminds me of that famous story of Muhammad Ali, the great boxer, who was flying on an airplane on one occasion. And as the plane was coming into land, the captain came on the intercom and said, would everyone please return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts and prepare for landing. And as one of the air hostesses is walking through the aisle, she noticed that Muhammad Ali didn't have a seatbelt on. And so she turned to him, she said, excuse me, sir, the captain has asked all passengers to fasten their seatbelts. And he said, Superman don't need no seatbelt. And she said, Superman don't need no aeroplane. Now put your seatbelt on. Great response, isn't it? He thought he didn't need a seatbelt. But if he didn't need an airplane, What's he doing on the airplane? He thought he didn't need a seatbelt, sorry. But he did, because he's on the airplane. He's not Superman. Superman doesn't need an airplane. But Muhammad Ali needed an airplane. See, he's a dependent creature, and he forgot that. He thought he was independent, self-sufficient, autonomous, fly without a seatbelt. But did you notice the two, who's the subject of all the verbs in verse five to six? It's God. You can't get a more clear statement of man's dependence, man's submission to God. You, God, have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings. You, God, crowned him with glory and honor. You, God, gave him dominion over the works of your hands. You, God, have put all things under his feet. Man in this psalm, man in the Bible, man in the world, whether he likes it or not, believes it or not, acts like it or not, is man dependent on God. It's man submissive to God, even atheists. who claim there is no God are dependent on God even for their worldview. The word atheism only makes sense if you put an A on the front of theism. It's like, as Cornelius Van Til said, atheists are like the little girl who wants to slap her father in the face, but in order to do so, she has to climb up onto his lap. Even atheists are dependent on God. They were made to serve under God. So, with those qualifications in mind, we are dependent on God, we serve under God. With those qualifications in mind, let's not miss the jaw-dropping point that David is making. Let's not miss the surprise. That though we are creatures dependent on our creator, our creator, made us to rule the world. It's like Badger says in Prince Caspian, it's not men's country, but it is a country for a man to be king of. It's not men's country, but it is a country for a man to be king of. It's Aslan's country. But Aslan has given it to Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy. And this world is not our world. It's God's world. But it is a world for men to be kings of. It is a world for us humans, male and female, to rule over, like Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy ruled over Narnia. And there's a sense in which this evening we need to praise God for that. Puny little man really does rule God's world. We do, we photograph stars and we determine when they'll appear and disappear. We send robots to planet Mars to take photographs and collect rock samples. We've mastered human language and written beautiful poems and great pieces of literature. We've built bridges over large impasses of water. We've blown holes in mountains to make tunnels. We've tamed the tiger. We swim with killer whales. We've created the internet so you can send a photo tonight from Pennsylvania to the Philippines in two seconds. We've developed drugs that can cure Ebola. We've done it. Puny little man rules God's world. And there's a sense in which this evening we need to say, oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Sometimes we're so quick to move to the gospel, we miss God's common grace. God is telling us there's a sense in which we should praise him for giving us this marvelous privilege of ruling his world. Now you may say, yeah, but isn't this like pre-fall creation? Isn't this Adam in the garden? Or maybe this is a future thing, it's got nothing to do with us. Well, no, take a look at verse two. It's not pre-fall Adam, it's post-fall Adam. There are enemies and foes and avengers in the world in which this psalmist lives, and yet, He says, let's praise God for giving us rule over it. So that's the first point of application this evening. Be amazed at what you were made to be. Number two, but be aware of what you have become. Be amazed at what you were made to be, but be aware of what you have become. I think if we're honest, something doesn't quite sit right with us with that first point. As I was going through that list of human achievements, how were you feeling? Any wee niggles? Yes, we've sent probes into space. We've planted a flag on the moon. But in the words of Larry Norman, I say you starved your children to do it. Yes, we've mastered human language, but we also know how to twist words to tell a lie. Yes, we've blown holes in mountains, but we've also blown holes in buildings with people inside them. Yes, we've swam with killer whales, but sometimes they turn on us and kill us. Yes, we've created the internet and can send photos to friends, but we've also used it for the exploitation of women and children. Yes, we've developed drugs that can cure deadly diseases, but we've also developed chemicals that can commit ethnic genocide. Yes, God has given us rule over all family relationships and work and university, but who of us has ever lived perfectly in any of those? I mean, let's be honest. While we were made to fall short only a little from the angels, we have fallen very far short from who God made us to be. As Paul says in Romans 3, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the reason it's happened is because we've tried to live life independently from God. We've tried to rule the world outside of God's rule. We've behaved like Muhammad Ali on that airplane, thinking we could rule the world on our own, fly without a seatbelt. But man left to himself, man in rebellion against God, man without a seatbelt is never a pretty picture. I said earlier that this psalm asks us the question, do you have a high enough view of yourself? Well, this psalm placed in the context of the whole Bible asks us the question, do you have a realistic view of yourself? Because the reality is we've all messed up badly. Because this world's a mess. Just turn your TV on. This world's a mess. G.K. Chesterton once saw a question in the editor's column of a newspaper in England that said, what is wrong with this world? And the editor said, please send in your answers. And G.K. Chesterton said, wrote in, sir, in regards to your question, what is wrong with this world, I am. You're sincerely G.K. Chesterton. What's wrong with this world? I am. You are. We all are. We're what's wrong with this world. Yet despite the mess that we've made of God's world, despite the fact that we've lived in rebellion against our maker, notice God hasn't abandoned his basic plan to rule the world through man. or, to be more precise, to rule the world through one man, which leads to my third point of application. Even though David, who writes this psalm, knows that we live in a fallen world, he still affirms God's plan, his inbuilt structure of the world, that God would rule the world through a man, through a son of man. Did you notice how this psalm is always referring to man in the singular? What is man that you are mindful of him, not men? What is the son of man that you care for him, not son of men? The singular can be used in a collective sense as I've been applying it so far. So what is man, that is, what is mankind? that you are mindful of him and son of man can be used in a collective sense. What are children of men that you are mindful of them? But it can obviously be used also in an individual sense. And that's how the New Testament picks up Psalm 8. Yes, there's an application to mankind in general. But as you read the Old Testament, you see that no one of mankind or in the race of mankind has done this. Not even David. Not even the son of David, who was to be greater than him. Solomon, do you remember Solomon? How is Solomon described? The wisest of all men. He was a botanist. He was a zoologist. He was a sage, writing beautiful poems and proverbs, and yet in the end, he was not such a great man. He was an adulterer and an idolater. He advances where David didn't, yes, but in the end, he's a total failure. Yes, he was the Prince of Peace, that's what his name means, but in the end, after him came only war. and fracture and brokenness in the kingdom of Israel. But in the New Testament, we find such a man, because this Sam is picked up and it's applied directly to Jesus. He is the true man, the true son of man, whom God crowned with glory and honor, and to whom God gave rule over his whole world. That's why this third point is called, be amazed at Jesus, the proper man. Be amazed at Jesus, the proper man, because in Christ we see the proper man. Just think about it. He calmed the storms. He walked upon the water. He brought the chaos of creation under his control. Here was a zoologist who could speak about the sparrow. Here was a botanist who had studied the lilies of the field. But he didn't just rule over those things in life, he also ruled over evil spirits, sickness, death. In Psalm 8, man is given rule over the physical world with all its realms and creatures, and I suggested earlier that that would involve also the heavens and the moon and the stars. In Jesus' ministry, we see this includes everything even in a fallen world, like sin and sickness and death, Jesus rules even all over all of those things. In Matthew 28, Jesus says, after his resurrection, that God has given him all authority in heaven and on earth. In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us that it is no longer just this physical universe that is placed under Christ's feet, but now every rule and authority, every power and dominion in the heavenly realms. And not only in this age, but also in the age to come. Hebrews 2 says something similar. God has subjected the world to come under Jesus' authority. 1 Corinthians 15 says in the future, death itself will be placed under the feet of Jesus. So do you see it? The physical world, the spiritual world, the present world, the future world, all of it placed under the feet of Jesus Christ. God has left nothing that is not subject to him. There's nothing, there's not a star, there's not a meteorite that is outside of his lordship. There's not a thought in your brain that can escape his lordship. I mean, doesn't that phrase, Jesus is Lord, now take on a whole new meaning? So be amazed at Jesus, the proper man. But there's the surprise when you look at the life of Jesus. Yes, in the end, he is Lord of everything, but that's not how his life started. Jesus had humble beginnings. He was in the beginning a puny little man. His life began in obscurity and with insignificance. He was born in Bethlehem. And apart from a few shepherds and some wise men from the east, there was no city or national celebration. Yet this was the ruler of all creation who had been born. Yet only a few shepherds came to see him. Soon after his birth, his parents had to flee to Egypt to save his life from Herod. When he returned, he lived in obscurity in the despised town of Nazareth. As he grew up, he was a carpenter's son, no significance in society. There was no beauty about him that we would take a second look at him. When he did enter public ministry, and yes, while he did draw big crowds, he was also rejected by many. and in the end died alone on a cross, even rejected by his own family. He had nowhere to lay his head. As Isaiah prophesied of him, he was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and familiar with sufferings. Like one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. He was a puny, little, Jewish man. But God made him king of the universe. But who did esteem him in his life? Little boys and little girls, babes and infants. As he came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the sign of humility, it was the children, who greeted him with songs of hosanna to the son of David. Childish chants, most of them probably not even knowing what they were saying. Yet out of the mouth of babes and infants, God has ordained strength. Notice the order of Psalm 8. First praise from the mouth of babes and infants, from the insignificant little ones. Then there is the humiliation or insignificance of man, followed by the exaltation of man. That's what the pattern is of Psalm 8. First praise, then humiliation, then exaltation. You made him a little lower, a humiliation, then you crowned him, exaltation. The pattern follows the life of Jesus. As he comes into Jerusalem, he is praised by the children. And then he is humiliated onto a cross, even the death of a cross. But then he is exalted in his resurrection and ascension. And in the end, it is this puny little Jew whom God has placed as king over all the world and over the world to come. That's the great surprise. And yet for 2,000 years, the church has been singing in response, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. How majestic is his name in all the earth. That's what this psalm would come to mean for us Christians. So be amazed at Jesus, the proper man. Be amazed at what you were made to be. Be aware of what you have become. Be amazed at Jesus, the proper man. And number four, be amazed at what is now yours in Christ. Be amazed at what is now yours in Christ. When we become Christians, we become united to the Christ who has now had all things placed under his feet. We become united to the Son of Man who rules the world, which means that in Christ, all things have become ours. all things have become ours 1 Corinthians 3 22 to 23 all things are yours says Paul whether the world or life or death of the present or the future all are yours and you are of Christ and Christ is of God See, when God saves us, he does not remove us from the realms and spheres in this world. No, he wants us to live out our lives, exercising proper rule over whatever realm he's placed us in, but to do so with a whole new worldview. Not living independently from God, but now dependently on God. Not living for self, but now living for Christ. So whatever realm or sphere God has placed you in, whatever family, whatever group of friends, whatever job or course or home or school, whatever sport, whatever study, whatever hobby, rule over it. Master it for the glory of God. You were made for it. Get this, in Christ, it was made for you. Under Christ, the world is our oyster, because it is first his oyster. All things are yours, because all things are Christ's, and you belong to Christ. So rule over them to the glory of God. That's why Paul in Colossians 3, 17, when he says, whatever you do, do it in the name of Jesus Christ. You see how that takes on a whole new significance? when you see that Jesus is Lord of all things. And then finally, be amazed at what you will become in Christ. Be amazed at what has become yours in Christ, but be amazed at what you will become in Christ. Hebrews chapter two, verse nine to 10, the writer says that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. so that he might taste death for every one of his family in order to bring many sons to glory. See, we were created in Adam into a state of innocence in Eden, but Adam was supposed to raise us to a state of glory, but he failed, so God sent a second Adam. who came in a state of innocence, proved his righteousness through his temptations, his perfect obedience, and through his death, resurrection, and ascension, takes us into a state of glory. In the words of C.S. Lewis, the Son of God became a man in order that men might become sons of God. The Son of God became a man in order that men might become sons of God, and that, brothers and sisters, is the final surprise. When Jesus restores us to a new humanity and the new heavens and the new earth, he will not just take us back to the state of Adam in Eden, a state just lower than the angels. No, in the world to come, we will be co-heirs with Christ, which means that we will be in a state just above the angels in a state of glory. Christ will take us up a level to where Adam was supposed to take us. And when he does, it will be a state above the angels. Isn't that what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? Do you not know that you will judge angels? Puny little you. Think about it, puny little you will judge angels one day. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. Let us pray. Father, you have shown us your glory this evening, a glory that is seen in insignificance, in humility, in puniness, and we pray, Father, that having seen it and therefore seen your Son even more clearly, the great Son of God who became a Son of Man so that men might become sons of God, please would you enlarge our vision of who Christ is, of who you have made us to be, and we pray that you would help us to live out our calling better than we do. Under the Lord Jesus Christ as our King of all kings and Lord of all lords. And we ask this for the glory of his name and in the hope and anticipation of what he will make us to be, co-heirs with him, even those who will one day judge angels. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. In Christ's name, amen.