The sermon by Jason Dohm centers on Psalm 8, highlighting the excellence and majesty of God. The speaker emphasizes that the psalm is meant for worship and to inspire a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit of God. He explains that the psalm is not about doctrinal teaching but an expression of pure praise, showcasing God as the fountainhead of all reality and existence. Dohm interprets the repeated phrase 'Oh Lord, our Lord' as a reminder of God's sovereignty and the personal relationship believers have with Him. The sermon also discusses how God uses the weak to confound the strong, as illustrated in the New Testament through Jesus' teachings and actions. The speaker reflects on the vastness of God's creation, encouraging believers to recognize their insignificance compared to God's greatness, yet marvel at His mindfulness and care for humanity. The sermon concludes with a call to pursue God more fervently and to be reconciled through Jesus Christ, emphasizing the necessity of repentance and embracing the Gospel.

The title of the sermon this morning is the excellence of God. We have before us today in Psalm 8 a psalm of pure praise. So this isn't essentially doctrinal teaching. The purpose of the Psalm is to get us to consider the majesty of the God of the Bible. And nothing would be more inappropriate than a lecture on Psalm 8.

Psalm 8 is not to be lectured upon. Psalm 8 is to be thundered from the pulpit because the God of the Bible is a God of majesty, a God of greatness, a God of excellence, to be loved and adored and seen for what he has revealed himself to be. And so the purpose of the Psalm is single-minded. It is worship. If we Don't have hearts that are enlarged to worship God better after Psalm 8 than before then I have failed so miserably and it's not the Psalms fault The Bible puts forth a God who is worthy of a lifetime of whole hearted pursuit.

In other words, if you chased hard after God for your whole life, not only would you be satisfied, you would only have gotten a glimpse of Him, and you would find that your life had been well spent. So this is what Psalm 8 does. This is what David does for us in Psalm 8. He puts before us a God who is worthy of a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit. And if you go hard for the rest of your minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, then you'll find yourself to be satisfied but you'll find yourself to have only had a glimpse of what he is.

This is the stuff of all eternity. We have eternity to do this and the sooner we start the better. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Oh God, may we be a people who know you for who you are in all of your excellence. I thank you that you've not left us wondering who you are and what you're like, but you have revealed yourself to us, at least given us a glimpse in your word.

Now God set us on a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit. Oh God, away with the halfheartedness that I find in myself, that we find in ourselves. God, please put before us a vision from Psalm eight that makes it so abundantly clear to us that you are worthy of a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit. Pray this in Jesus name, amen. I'd like to begin by just looking at verse 1.

So I'm going to read Psalm 8 verse 1 and then talk about it. Please follow along as I read. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory above the heavens." In this verse we have the thesis, The Lord is exceedingly excellent above all things. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's exceedingly excellent. The thesis, the Lord is exceedingly excellent above all things.

Now what is a thesis? A thesis is a main claim, a central claim, which the author then sets out to prove in his work. So you get the thesis right up front. If I was pursuing a master's degree or you were pursuing a doctoral degree, the conclusion of those studies would be a thesis, a really long paper. In the instance of a doctoral degree, it's really sort of a book-length work.

And in the first paragraph of your doctoral thesis You would state the main claim and then you would do all you could throughout the rest of this book length work to prove the main claim that was in your first paragraph. That's what a thesis is. David as the psalmist is giving us his thesis and then the rest of the psalm he sets out to prove the excellence of God's name and he'll actually repeat it in the last verse so that his thesis book ends the psalm it's on both ends of the psalm oh Lord our Lord how excellent is your name in all the earth. The psalm begins that way, the psalm ends that way. The first words, oh lord, all caps, our lord.

We should think of this as oh Jehovah, our sovereign master. That's what these words mean. Jehovah is the name that God uses for himself. It literally means the existing one. That's where the knowledge of God starts is that he exists and therefore all of the rest of reality exists.

He is the fountainhead of all reality. No God, no anything else. He is the I am that I am of Exodus chapter three from the burning bush. That's how he reveals himself. And so this name of God, Jehovah, is so closely associated with what God says to Moses from the burning bush.

I am that I am. That's what you need to begin knowing about me is that I exist as the fountainhead of all reality. Oh Jehovah, our Lord, our sovereign master. That's what the second Lord means in Hebrew it's a sovereign a king a ruler a master. Now notice the possessive pronoun our oh Lord our Lord It tells us that this Psalm is to be taken up on the lips of the people of God.

It is for the people of God and what a sweet word, what a sweet possessive pronoun. He's not just the Lord, not just the King, not just the Sovereign Master, He's our Lord and our King and our sovereign Master. He belongs to us and we belong to Him. Think of all the places in the Bible where God says, I will be their God and they shall be my people. That is what is communicated in this sweet possessive pronoun.

He's not just the Lord, he's our Lord. If you're among the people of God, he's your king. You have a claim on him and he has a claim on you. There are two things that are said here. First, how excellent is your name in all the earth?

Your name represents all your attributes. That's what we mean when we say John Ward. That's not just a conglomeration of letters of the alphabet, okay, when we say John Ward, you think of John Ward and you see his face in your mind and it couldn't be more connected or associated with all that you know about John Ward. This is the name of the Lord is what is in view here. So God and all of his attributes and all that he's revealed himself to be is wrapped up in his name how excellent is your name in all the earth how excellent are you and everything you've revealed yourself to be in all the earth.

This is saying who God is excels everything in all four corners of the earth. Who God is and has revealed Himself to be, excels, goes far beyond everything else in all four corners of the earth. Meaning you can't go anywhere in the world and find anything like Him. Everything that you find of beauty and goodness and majesty and power is only a shadow to God. He excels it.

He goes far beyond it. How excellent is your name in all the earth you can't go anywhere in this world and find anything that is worthy of being compared to God and all his attributes and all that his name represents. The second thing that is said is who have set your glory above the heavens." This is not about where God's glory is, it's where can we go to find God's glory, it's above the heavens. This is about how high and lifted up His glory is, How surpassingly great His glory is. It's above the heavens.

That's how surpassingly great it is. Listen to Isaiah chapter 55 verses 8 and 9. I'll be done before you get there. So just listen Isaiah chapter 55 verses 8 and 9 God says through the prophet for my thoughts are not your thoughts Nor are your ways my ways says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so far are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55 is not about the physical location of our thoughts and ways and God's thoughts and ways. It's about the gap between them.

How exalted His thoughts and His ways are compared to ours. As far as the heavens are above the earth, so far are His thoughts and ways above our thoughts and ways. The whole point of what's being said here in Psalm 8 is that God's glory has the ultimate exalted position above the heavens. It's not enough to take God's glory to the heavens. The gap's not big enough there.

It has to be above the heavens. His glory has the ultimate exalted position. It couldn't be any higher. You can't go higher than above the heavens that's it that's the best we can do who have set your glory above the heavens. So there it is.

Oh Lord, oh Jehovah, oh I am that I am, oh self-existing one, our sovereign master, our king. Our sovereign master, our king. Your name is so far beyond anything we can find in any corner of the earth. Your name excels anything we can find anywhere. Your glory is above the heavens.

We are grasping to find ways to express how exalted your glory is. Verse 2. 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. Verse 2, God exalts himself by using the weak to confound the strong if you're taking notes on the handout the blanks are weak strong God exalts himself by using the weak he God makes use of the weak to confound the strong. What genre is the book of Psalms?

A genre is a type of literature. So the Bible has different types of literature. It's not all the same type. For instance, there are books of the Bible that are historic narrative. They're accounts of the things that have happened in the history of God's people.

First and second kings, first and second chronicles, and many more, but those are pretty purely historic narrative. That's their genre, that's their type of literature. There are prophetic books in the Bible. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and so on and so forth. They contain primarily prophecies.

God telling about the future or pronouncing impending judgment. They're prophetic books. That's their genre. Well, what is the song? It's a song book.

It has Psalms that are meant to be sung. That's what a Psalm is. It's a song. But it belongs to the genre of poetical books. It's poetry set to music, it's songs, it is poetry.

And so the psalmist here in Psalm 8 and in many other places in many other Psalms is using poetical language, figurative language to powerfully teach certain truths. If you want to drive things home and really express them in an unforgettable way, it's hard to beat poetry. And that's what David is doing in Psalm 8. Thankfully, Psalm 8 is quoted by Jesus in the New Testament. And so the New Testament usage of Psalm 8 by Jesus makes it very plain what is meant here in this verse.

So I want to go to three places in considering Psalm 8 verse 2, three places in the New Testament that help us understand exactly what's being communicated here in this poetical language, in the poetry that David is using to powerfully teach a certain truth. The first one sets the table. It makes us ready to sort of understand Jesus' quoting of Psalm 8. The second is Jesus' quoting of Psalm 8, And we'll see how he quotes it and how it's used. And then the third one is really Paul's commentary on what this teaches.

So please turn to Matthew chapter 11. This will set the table for Jesus' quotation of it. It will make us ready to understand what Jesus is really doing when he quotes it. Matthew chapter 11. I'll be reading Matthew chapter 11 verses 20 through 27.

Then Jesus began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

And you Capernaum, who were exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you." At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.

Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the son wills to reveal him. What's happening here? Jesus begins by rebuking the cities in Galilee where Jesus was preaching and teaching and healing and doing his miracles. And so he calls out Corazine, a city in Galilee, Bethsaida, a city in Galilee, Capernaum, a city in Galilee where he was doing his mighty works and he says, if the mighty works that have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, these Gentile pagan cities, or had been done in Sodom, which God destroyed with fire and brimstone, they would have repented a long time ago. It is going to be better on the Day of Judgment for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, these pagan, God-hating cities, than it will be for you, because you had my preaching, teaching, and mighty works and you did nothing with them." And then he praises God for Revealing these things, revealing the Father to these babes.

Babes not being literally nursing babes or children, but babes being the weak of the world, like the disciples, right? Did Jesus choose the learned? Did he go to the chief priests and the scribes and take his disciples from there? No, he picked fishermen. This is a perfect example of what Psalm 8 is discussing.

And there were wise, there were mighty, there were rich in Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum. But most of them, even though they heard his sermons, even though they saw his works, rejected him as their Messiah. But there were some that God was pleased to reveal Jesus to, and Jesus was pleased to reveal the Father to and Jesus here in Matthew 11 calls them babes. Some of them might have been children but that's not the thrust of what's being communicated here. It's talking about the poor things of the world confounding the wise and mighty things of the world.

Now go to chapter 21. Now Matthew chapter 21. This is just after the triumphal entry so it's the last week of Jesus's life. Jesus is in the temple and this serves as the backdrop of Jesus quoting Psalm 8. So we're in Matthew chapter 21 verses 14 through 16.

Matthew 21 beginning in 14. Then the blind and the lame came to Jesus in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and The children crying out in the temple and saying hosanna to the son of David They were indignant and said to him. Do you hear what these are saying and? Jesus said to them yes have you never read out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise.

He's quoting Psalm 8 here. He's quoting Psalm 8 verse 2 here. First of all, what a slap in the face to the chief priests and the Pharisees. Have you never read Psalm 8? They probably memorized Psalm 8, but they missed that God is pleased to use the weak things of the world to confound the strong.

God reserves the glory for himself by using the weak to confound, to silence the strong. It's just what we saw in Matthew chapter 11. God has revealed to children, now these are physical children, these are real children, but they're old enough to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. Hosanna to the Son of David, this is All messianic declaration. Son of David is the universally known, acknowledged title for Messiah, the one that God had promised to send.

And the children can see it, but the chief priests and the Pharisees can't see it. And God is reserving the glory to himself by revealing Israel's Messiah to the kids in the temple. And he confounds the chief priests and the scribes. I think I've been saying Pharisees, it's the chief priests and the scribes. He literally silences them.

That's the end of the account. Now, maybe they continue to argue and it's just not recorded, but I doubt it. When you come to a debate with someone who's been healing the sick, you better bring something good. When the one who's been healing speaks, it's pretty much the end of the matter. I think that's what we have here.

The enemy and the avenger has been silenced, has been put to shame. The weak things of the world have been used by God to confound the wise and he brings glory to himself by doing this. Finally, I'd like to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I think Paul gives us an exposition on this, what Psalm 8 is saying and how Jesus uses it in both Matthew 11 and 21 and now Paul seems to be getting a discourse on it in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 26 to the end of the chapter which is 31. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 beginning in verse 26.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. 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. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God in righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord." God does this. He uses the weak things of the world, the despised things of the world, the foolish things of the world to overturn the will and the sensibilities of the mighty and the wise and the rich of the world to reserve the glory to himself, to glorify himself.

It strips from man all of the glory. Because in truth, man doesn't deserve the glory, God deserves the glory. And in this way, in doing it this way, God keeps the glory Because he's worthy of it. 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 avengers. God exalts himself by using the weak to confound the strong.

He sends the little kids in to stop the mouths of his enemies. Imagine that. And in doing that He's glorified. Now let's look at verses 3 through 8. Back to Psalm 8, 3 through 8.

Follow along as I read. When I consider your heavens a work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, 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 sea.

Here in verses three through eight we have the twofold wonder of God if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks. It's two-fold wonder. The two-fold wonder of God. God is Jehovah. We don't get to vote on what God is.

He is what He is. I am what I am. I am who I am is how He speaks to himself from the burning bush in Exodus 3 as I've already quoted. We don't vote, he just is and he reveals himself to us and whatever he is, he is. We're stuck with that.

He's God, He made us. God has already been determined what God is. And He's revealed Himself as great and as good. Surpassingly great. Great beyond compare, like verse 1.

How excellent is your name in all the earth. You can't go anywhere in the earth to find anything that God doesn't excel and go way beyond. He set his glories above the heavens and he's surpassingly good. God is great. Look again at verse 3.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained. Again, we're in a poetical book. The language of poetry is being used by David, figurative language to powerfully teach certain truths and the certain truth that is being taught here by this figurative language in verse 3 is that God is great, surpassingly great. He excels in His greatness. Now chapter 2 of our confession of God and of the Holy Trinity in article 1 or in the first paragraph of this chapter on the Trinity says that God is without body or parts and then you can track down the cross references that the confession gives.

And you'll find that the Bible teaches that without question. God doesn't have body parts. He's without a body. God is spirit. God doesn't have a body and God doesn't have a part.

And God doesn't have fingers. This is the poetical language. Poetry is being used to teach us about the greatness of God. If you want to know about God fashioning the stars, you go to Genesis 1, you go to day 4, that's where the star, the moon and the stars, the lights that govern the day and the lights that govern the night are spoken of and how are those brought into existence? He speaks.

It's not fingers at all. But What is being communicated here in the language of poetry is the greatness of God through scale. Through scale. If you go to the Templetons and you fish, you will catch a fish. That is what I've heard about fishing at the Templetons.

And if you catch a whopper, you'll want a picture. But when you take the picture, you better not just set the fish on the ground and then take a picture so that all that is in the scope of the picture is the fish because afterwards no one will know whether that's a minnow or a whale. Have you ever done that? You take a picture and there's nothing else in the picture but the thing. No one can tell after the fact.

It could be a guppy or it could be a great white shark and you would not know because there's nothing that gives it perspective. There's no scale. Okay, So if you catch a whopper, you're going to want to have a ruler in there or a yardstick depending on how big it is so that people can know when they see your picture. What are we dealing with here? You want you in the picture so they can see It's half the length of your torso.

It's a whopper. We're supposed to envision this. An artist shaping something wonderful in his fingers. That is the vision of Psalm 8. An artist, and he's at work, and he's making something wonderful, and he's using his fingers to form and fashion it.

And what is this wonderful thing being formed and shaped the universe the universe it's a picture with scale there's the universe in his hands now this gets more and more marvelous the better and better the technology that's available to us is. I Googled this morning, very early in the morning, how wide is the universe? So the scientists now are saying the universe is 93 billion light years across. Okay so the fastest thing that we know is light. We don't know anything faster.

There's nothing faster than the speed of light. If there's something faster, we don't know about it. And what scientists are saying is we think that it would take light 93 billion years to go from one edge of the universe to the other. Now I don't know if they're right about that. And I suspect they don't know if they're right about that.

How would you know? No, it's 94 billion light years. These are numbers that don't even make any sense. We don't have a billion of anything. You don't have a billion pennies.

So these are nonsensical numbers. You don't have a frame of reference for that. But just it's enough to go outside on a starry night, clear night, and just look, look, turn 360 degrees and then know that now there are telescopes that can see way beyond what you can see with your eyes. The scientists think it would take light, 93 billion years, whatever that is, to get from one edge to the other. There it is.

It's just here at the fingertips of God. It's just something wonderful he's making. It's a picture with scale to show you the greatness of God. We have this wonderful phrase here, your heavens. He's our Lord, oh Lord, our Lord, but it's his heavens.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, there it is, 93 billion light years across, but just somewhere here between your fingertips and you're forming and fashioning and shaping it. Given a picture with scale, We're being told how great God is Now listen to Psalm 91, excuse me Psalm 19 Verse 1 Psalm 19 verse 1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. That's almost exactly the same language. Psalm 19 is the Psalm of David also. So same Psalmist, same language of poetry, same thing being taught in almost the same words.

The heavens declare something. We're meant to go outside on a beautiful clear starry night and turn 360 degrees and say, wow, it declares His glory. The firmament shows his handiwork, the firmament shows that his fingers have been active, forming, shaping, fashioning something wonderful. Now listen to Romans chapter 1 verse 20. So Paul picks up on what David has said in Psalm 19, that the heavens are declaring something, the glory of God is on display in the firmament.

Now, Paul picks up on that in Romans chapter 1 verse 20, saying, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." So Psalm 19, God means for you to go outside on a clear, beautiful, starry night and turn 360 degrees and say, wow. Paul picks up on that in Romans chapter 1 and says, from that you can know much of God's eternal attributes and Godhead so that no one can say, I didn't know. Say, I didn't know. We're without excuse. Anyone who has experienced the works of his hands, seen his handiworks, even a little, all are rendered without excuse.

So the Bible teaches us that God's handiwork gives us a great obligation. When David says, when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, understand what that means. Understand what the Apostle Paul says that means, that you're now without excuse. You ought to consider His heavens and the work of His fingers. You're obligated to notice His handiwork and then when you do it renders you unexcusable all of his creatures inexcusable we are obligated to notice the greatness of God and then it means we have to acknowledge him as King God is King You might be a traitor or you might be reconciled, but whatever the case, God is the King of everything within His fingers.

93 billion light years across or whatever. He's the king of it all. So God is great. We're told that. We're taught that here in Psalm 8.

And God is good. Now David sets mankind against the backdrop of this artist and his work. So here's God, between his fingers you have the 93 billion light years and he's placing you there and me. If it's 93 billion light years across, how am I going to find me between the fingers? And He's marveling that God would even take notice of me, or you, or David, even kings.

How would God even be aware? Verse four, What is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you visit him or the NASB and the ESV and the NIV render it that you care for him You visit him or you care for him in other words Oh great God why do you even take any notice of us? There's nothing that we can detect about us that would even draw your notice. You're a great God.

Why would you even take notice of us let alone care for us. Listen to Psalm 144. Psalm 144 is another Psalm of David. So again, you have many of the same words being used by the same psalmist. Psalm 144 verses 3 and 4.

Lord, what is man that you take knowledge of him, or the son of man that you are mindful of him? Man is like a breath. His days are like a passing shadow It's the same psalmist same concept Why why do we even cross your thoughts God? Man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow in Psalm 8, it's space. Like we're a speck on a speck in space.

In Psalm 144 it's time. Man is like a breath. God stretches from all eternity past into all eternity future and then you have mankind and you might be given a hundred years. Which to God is just a nanosecond. Spurgeon says this he actually quotes Dr.

Chalmers I have no idea who Dr. Chalmers is, I just know that if he's good enough for Spurgeon, he's good enough for me. Here's what Spurgeon says, quoting Dr. Chalmers, whoever that is. We gave you but a feeble image of our comparative insignificance when we said that the glories of an extended forest would suffer no more from the fall of a single leaf than the glories of this extended universe would suffer though the globe we tread upon should dissolve.

So, Dr. Chalmers is saying, okay, we're doing our best to help you understand our comparative insignificance, meaning that we're a speck on a speck. And that it is something to be wondered at, that God, we would even cross God's mind, let alone that he would care for us. Dr. Tromberg says, envision an extended forest.

One of those forests is just as far as the eye can see. You can't see, if you're in the middle of this forest, you can't see any edge of it. It's just trees and trees and trees and trees and trees and you know beyond where you can see is just more trees and trees. Now a leaf falls. One leaf falls.

You see it fall. Now just consider how much is the forest diminished? How much is the forest diminished? Now Dr. Chalmers says If the earth were to dissolve in the next moment, it would be like that.

The universe would not be diminished by the dissolving of the earth. Now We have such tunnel vision that the earth seems big to us. You have to know with this God that is revealed in the Bible, the earth is not big. The dissolving of the earth would be like a leaf falling in this forest that you can't see any edge of just trees as far as the eye can see. Now what is the value of seeing ourselves as so small and insignificant because it makes God loom large.

That is what the psalmist is doing. First of all, being connected to reality is always a good thing. In other words, If that's true, we're better off to know it than not to know it. If it really is true that if the earth dissolved tomorrow, it would be no more crushing to the universe than one leaf falling from an extended forest that you can't see any edge of. If that's true, you're better off to know it than not know it.

So you don't think too much of yourself. Being connected to reality is always a good thing. But seeing ourselves as we really are helps us to see God as He really is. If you don't think of yourself as what you really are, a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck, then you cannot see God as being who he really is. The psalmist is grasping at all the poetical language, he's using all the poetry he knows to help you see yourself as you really are so that you can see God as who He really is, and then you can marvel that you cross His mind.

And not only do you cross His mind, He cares for you. And not only does He care for you, He has actually given you and me and us an exalted place in creation. He shouldn't even think of you once, but he does and not only that he cares for you and not only that He's given you the exalted place. We're made a little lower than the angels. That is not an insult.

If you thought, oh man, I was made a little lower than the angels, you should study the Bible on angels. They're unbelievably glorious creations. You're a little lower than the angels. They can be in the presence, right there in the presence of God. It would consume you and me.

We're made a little lower than the angels. That's a compliment, not an insult. And then as the image bearers of God, He's given us dominion over the other creations, over the other creatures, the beasts of the field, the cattle, the fish, the birds. He's given us dominion. We have an exalted and honored place in God's creation why because we bear his image and so on his behalf we're to have dominion over these other creations.

This is also quoted in the New Testament. Please turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. This is an exalted psalm isn't it? It's quoted in by Jesus in Matthew 21 and it's quoted by the author of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 2.

In Hebrews chapter 2 In Hebrews chapter 2 I'll be reading verses 5 through 9. Hebrews chapter 2 beginning in verse 5. For God has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying, What is man that you are mindful of him, or the Son of Man that you take care of Him. You have made Him a little lower than the angels.

You have crowned Him with glory and honor and set Him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that God, in that He, God put all in subjection under Him, that is mankind, God left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God might taste death for everyone. This is explaining Jesus in the incarnation, Jesus taking on humanity.

We are made a little lower than the angels. Jesus is God, but He laid aside the glory that was due him to take on the form of a servant to be not only fully God but also at the same time in a way that I can't explain fully God and fully man. In his incarnation he was made a little lower than the angels. Paul in Romans says that Jesus is the second Adam. The first Adam is the Adam that we know from Genesis.

And he plunged us, he plunged our whole race as the head of the race into sin and death and rebellion against God and separation from God. But Jesus is the second Adam who comes to redeem this race, all who would repent and believe, and reconcile this race to God. It had to be Jesus to redeem us. Jesus is the second Adam. God gave mankind dominion.

We saw that in Genesis 1 or we see that in Genesis 1 verses 26 through 28, but then comes Genesis 3 and sin enters the world and the dominion of mankind is marred. You might have noticed that mankind is not taking very good care under God's authority of God's creation. But Jesus has redeemed that and Jesus is redeeming that and Jesus will redeem that. So His work is finished and His work is advancing and His work is coming to a culmination in the future where all things are put under our feet and we reign with Christ. Even better than it was intended to be from the beginning, even better than it was in the beginning, in Genesis, we won't be tending a garden, we'll be tending the new earth.

We'll be reigning with Christ and participating in his dominion over all the works of his hands. Psalm 8 speaks of the goodness of God in giving mankind a place of honor in creation, but Hebrews further illuminates that, just throws the floodlights on that to show us the goodness of God through Jesus Christ. You cannot think about the goodness of God without thinking about the work of the cross. The other manifestations or displays of the goodness of God pale in comparison to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The ultimate manifestation, the ultimate display of the goodness of God is Jesus Christ on the cross.

Psalm 8 foreshadows that Hebrews 2 froze the floodlight on it. You get to see it in all its glory. The goodness of God on display through Jesus redeeming the second Adam, redeeming what was wrecked by the first Adam. Back to Psalm 8. Last verse, words we've already seen, oh Lord our Lord, oh Jehovah self existing God, our sovereign master.

How excellent is your name in all the earth. Where can we go on planet earth to find something like you. Nowhere, nowhere, nowhere, there's nothing like him here. He excels anything we know and can see and experience here on earth. Our Alpha and Omega, our first and our last, our beginning and ending, our starting point and ending point has to be to acknowledge this great and good God.

That's what Psalm 8 does for us. It starts this way. It is the alpha. Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And it's our omega, verse 9.

Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. It is the beginning point and the ending point to know the God who is good and great. David has proved his thesis. We'll give him his doctorate. It only took him nine verses to earn a doctorate in Godology to set before us the God of surpassing excellence.

Now that he's proven his thesis, he rejoices in it, and so should we. That's what verse 9 is. It's a rejoicing in the truth of God's exceeding greatness. We should rejoice in it. Three applications.

One, we need a vision of God that looms large. We need a vision of God that has us trying to find ourselves between the fingertips as He has fashioned and formed and shaped the universe so that we see God as who He really is. The Bible sets before us a God who is worthy of a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit. How half-hearted we are every day of the week. So we need more of the Bible's vision of God to help us pursue God more wholeheartedly.

And the Bible puts before us a vision of God that makes Him worthy of it. All we need to know is that reality or not. It's reality. Okay? He is worthy of a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit.

So when we find ourselves half-hearted, cold-hearted, dull, we need more of that vision that just shows us who He is and all of His greatness and in all of His goodness. Where do we find that? The Bible. Psalm 8 is a good start. This is what the Bible does for us.

It puts before our eyes a God who is worthy of a lifetime of wholehearted pursuit so that we won't waste our lives with trifles. Do you want to come to the end of your life and not really have tasted of this God who has the universe between his fingertips, not me. I live very half-heartedly, and probably you do too, but I don't want to live half-heartedly. I want to have a glorious vision of God, the real vision of God and who He is before my eyes so that I'll live more wholeheartedly. The Bible is where we find this vision.

You don't get it anywhere else. Two, children, here's one for children. Have you considered the work of His hands? David said, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers. Okay, have children, have you considered the work of his fingers?

Have you been outside on a clear starry night and turned all the way around and considered that God made all that, the wonderful things that we see every time we walk outside. God did that. Do you know what that means? That means you're without excuse. Because Paul says, You know enough about His eternal attributes and His Godhead, His Godness, from looking at the work of His hands that you now must worship Him and serve Him.

You must. You're without excuse. Consider the works in His hands, children, and know that this obligates you. There's only one way to be reconciled. This brings us to three.

We'll go ahead to three. Behold Jesus Christ. I don't know if that's an application, but Anyway, that's what it is in my paper. Number three, behold Jesus Christ. There's only one way to be reconciled to this great God.

Know this, until you've been reconciled, until the moment that you've been reconciled, you have made yourself at war with Him. You may never have thought about it in those terms, it's just what the Bible says. When you live loving self and serving self and having be that what dominates your life when he's so glorious and so worthy of a lifetime of pursuit you've made yourself his enemy. So all it took was self love and self serving to make you his enemy. Now what's the remedy?

Jesus Christ has died for sinners. There's only one remedy. If you hope in anything else, you will be disappointed. And being disappointed means you'll be eternally separated from Him. There is a great God who holds the 93 billion light years between his fingertips.

And he is holy. And he is all knowing. And one day You, me, everyone will stand before Him to give an account. There's only one way to be reconciled to this judge. It's through Jesus' work.

That's it. You must repent and believe the Gospel or you're his enemy. You must turn from your self-love and your self-serving and cling to his work on the cross or you'll never be reconciled to him. This great God has offered us peace. We've declared war on Him, lived at war with Him, and He's offered us terms of peace, and they're all in our favor.

Why would you not turn to Him? Why would you not repent and believe the gospel? Why would you wait another minute, hour, day? Today is the day of salvation. Be reconciled to this great God today.

God, I thank you for Christ. Thank you for the vision of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit that is put before us in the Bible. God, cause us to marvel that you're mindful of us and that you care for us. Cause us to be humbled to the dust when we get the picture of scale. It shows us who we are and who you are.

God that you would give us the honored place in creation. Father we marvel right alongside the psalmist right along with David. Thank you for the glorious truths of psalm A and I pray that you would press them on us in Jesus name. Amen