A Study in Psalms - Psalm 8

Let's open up it in prayer and we'll begin tonight.

Father in Heaven, we just ask tonight that you would open our eyes that we can see wonderful things in this Psalms. Father, may we leave here tonight knowing more of you, and may we give you the praise, the glory, the honor that only you deserve. So may you bless our time tonight in Jesus' name. Amen.

Welcome back. I hope many of you were here last week. We began last week our summer series of Psalms. I know summer hasn't started, but the heat has, right? So I guess Sunday officially summer starts. We're going to look at 12 different psalms, and we're going to look at different types of psalms.

If you were here with us last week, you know, we looked at Psalm 3, and we said, what kind of Psalm 3, what kind of psalm was it? A lament. A lament. Lamentations is a lament, so you're right there. A lament psalm. And you remember that David had a problem, right? His son was overthrowing the kingdom, and David had to flee. So David had a problem and he took that problem to the Lord. Then David, after taking his problem to the Lord, had confidence, trust, peace in the Lord. So David had peace in the Lord. And finally, at the end, David gave his petition. He just said, save me. Save me, and he told God to ar. So it was a lamentation psalm.

So tonight we're going to look at a praise psalm, Psalm number eight.

But before we do that, I just want to give you a little bit about Psalms each week. And tonight we'll just talk about. How long it took to get the Psalms and the authors.

So let's talk about the authors first.

There's no book in the Bible quite like Psalms because it took at least seven different men to write it. So, you know, David wrote most of them, right? David wrote at least 73 of the Psalms. As wrote 12, and we'll talk more about him when we look at one of his Psalms. Then, when we look at the sons of Korah. We'll talk more about them. They wrote 10 Psalms. And then Solomon wrote two Psalms, Psalm 72 and 12. And then Moses wrote Psalm 90. I taught Psalm 90 last year. And then Ethan wrote Psalm 89. He wrote one. And then Herman, Ethan and Herman were the wise men. Herman wrote Psalm 88. So if you total all those up, we know the authors of 100 of the Psalms. That means there's 50 of them that we don't have authors. But when you go to the New Testament, Acts 4, the apostles have been freed from prison. They go to the church, and the church prays this powerful prayer. And they're saying in there, and they quote Psalm 2, and they say, by the mouth of David. But if you go to Psalm 2, it doesn't say that David wrote it. Same thing with Psalm 95. In Hebrews 4, 7, it says David wrote it, so by the mouth of David. So we know that Psalm 2, Psalm 95. were also written by David. So at least 75 of the Psalms, and more likely that most of the 50 that we don't know the authors, were probably written by David.

The one I'd like to know who wrote, of course, is the Grand Psalm, Psalm 119. My dad would make a case that Ezekiel or Daniel would have written that. A lot of people think it. It was Samuel, but we don't know. Like the author of Hebrews, we do not know. Okay, so, but David wrote most of the Psalms, at least half of them. And we looked at one of his last night, and we'll look at one of his tonight. 2 Samuel 23, verse 1 calls David the sweet psalmist of Israel.

Let's talk about the dates. The Psalms were written over nine, it took over 900 years to complete this book, because it's basically five hymn books. Of 150 hymns. We know the earliest was by Moses, and I mentioned last week, it's kind of interesting. If Moses wrote Psalm 90, Before he wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, Psalms 90 is the oldest portion of scripture we have in the Bible. We don't know that, but we can conjecture. But Moses wrote approximately 1405 B. David's Psalms would be written about 1020 to 975 B. C. Solomon would have written Psalm 127 approximately 950 B. C. And at least two Psalms appear to be contemporary with the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century. And there's Psalm 126 and Psalm 137 appear to be about 500 B. So it took over 900 years to complete the Psalms, collect them. There's no other book in the Bible that has that many authors. There's no other book in the Bible quite like it.

Let's talk about Psalms 8.

Turn with me in your Bible to Psalms number 8, and we'll read it. Psalms 8. It has a superscription that says to the choir master, according to the gitt, a Psalm of David. 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 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, and whatever passes along the paths of the sea. O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.

Last week I began and I asked who here was ready to die and what verse you wanted to put on your tombstone, and nobody was ready to die. And put a Bible verse in their tombstone. So tonight I'll ask you a very easy question.

Who here is part of the clan of Christ Community Church stargazers? Anyone here? Tom Mason is the leader. Anybody here? Do you know about these people? Nobody knows about these people? Some of you are shy. I know some of you are part of them.

Well, I used to think these people were kind of weird, slightly off, because the first time I saw them was on a missions trip. And we're in a restaurant, I think it's Argentina. And I'm charged with money, so I'm paying the bill at the end of the restaurant. You know, in Argentina, you eat dinner at 9 o'clock at night, you're done by 11. And I come outside, and there's all the Americans from Christ to be church. There's all the interpreters, and then there's a bunch of people from church, about 30 people, and they're all looking up like this. And all these people are walking by, going, What are those weird people doing? And so they were looking at something. I can't remember what it was. Then I came home from the mission field one time and we had a missions meeting at Don Scott's house and at 8. 15 Tom Mason says stop everybody outside So we all went outside and Tom says, look at 30 degrees up there. And we waited a minute and all of a sudden the sky kind of went like a sparkler. And I guess it was the International Space Station. And it moved its solar panels and they reflected on the sun. So it was like a sparkler in the sky, and everybody went, whoa. So I never joined this clan, but I thought about joining it a couple weeks ago. Notice I said clan, not cult, okay? Clan. A couple weeks ago, we had the blood moon, remember? The blood moon? So I said, I'm going to get up at 4 a. m. So I set the clock, got up at 4 a. m. went outside, nothing but clouds. So, did anybody see the blood moon? I didn 't see it, so I still haven't joined this clan. But, you know, they go to Mount Wilson when you can, and they go to Joshua Tree, and they're always looking up in the sky at the vastness of space. So, you, if you don't know about this Klan, see Tom Mason and he'll introduce you to it.

But why do they do it? Why do they do it? Well, I think our Psalm tonight describes probably better than almost any maybe Psalm 19 would be another Psalm, but Psalms 8 would describe why they do it. You know, the moon, the stars, the galaxies show the glory of God. Now, unbelievers can look and they can say, wow, or they can say, ah, but only a Christian can look at the heavens. and ponder them and delight in them and delight in the Creator who made them. Recognizing the Source Leads a Christian to delight himself in God. Do you delight yourself in God and his creation? This psalm, David did.

So let's talk about the type of psalm. It's a praise psalm.

Some would call it a thanksgiving psalm. And then it's really also a creation psalm. There are four psalms which you would call creation psalms. Psalms 8, Psalms 19, Psalms 104, and Psalms 14. They center on praising the Lord as the Creator. And it shows you how the Jewish people felt the importance of the creation account, Genesis 1. You know, today there's some Christians that say Genesis 1 to 11 aren't important. Let's just talk about Jesus. But creation was important to the Jews. There's four Psalms about it. So, you know, I just want to throw this out. If you're a mother or father, you need to be very careful where you send your son or daughter to college. Because there's not a lot of colleges, Christian colleges, that actually believe in the Genesis account. So you could be sending your son or daughter to a Christian college where they could destroy your son and daughter's faith. Psalms 11:3 says, If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do? And there's a lot of so-called Christian professors, Bible professors, that don't believe in the Genesis account, and if they destroy that, they can destroy others.

So last week we mentioned that Psalms 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are lament Psalms. So now let's look at Psalm 7 and look at the last verse. We have a connector again. And you'll see these quite often in the Psalms. David has had five consecutive troubles, five laments, five problems. But he ends Psalm 7, and he had a problem with Cush the Benjamite. But the last verse, verse 17, says, I will give I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High. So now he's going to do that in Psalms 8. Psalms 8 introduces us to the first experience of joyful praise. And ad in the Psalms. Charles Spurgeon said this psalm should be called the Psalm of the Astronomer.

Let's talk about the superscription. I mentioned them last week: 114 of the 150 Psalms. I had a couple people tell me this week they've never read those before, but they're now going to start to read them. So first it says to the choir master. What does that mean? It means this psalm was written and given to the Tim of that day or ASAP or the sons of Korah. To make musical accompaniment to it. You understand? All 150 Psalms had music. We don't have the music anymore. But they would sing these Psalms all through the week in the temple and the tabernacle, and especially at the feasts. So, then it says, according to the Gittith, what is a Gittith? Well, we know that a Gitt is a guitar-like harp that was associated with Gath in Philista, where the Philistines were. So, it's some type of musical instrument like a harp. Then, of course, it says a Psalm of David. This is book one, of course. There are 41 Psalms. Remember, there's five books in Psalms. And this Psalm is in book one. We know that 37 of the 41, and I mentioned probably Psalms 2, maybe Psalms 1, are attributed to David. We do not know when and where. We could speculate, like Psalms 23, that David is out with the sheep. It's a dark night and the stars are out magnificent. So probably when he's younger, but we don't know exactly. There's no time given.

Your outline tonight is very simple. Point number one: God's splendor overall, verse one. God's splendor overall, verse one. God's strength overall, verse two. God's strength overall, verse 2. Then God's sovereignty overall, verse 3 to 8. God's sovereignty over all. And finally, verse 9, which you'll see is the same as verse 1. God's supremacy over all. And I will repeat those if you didn't get them all down.

Notice right away we have an inc here in this Psalm, quite common in the Psalms. What's an inc? It's like booke. Psalms 1. Sorry, verse 1 and verse 9 are the same, right? O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? This is a hymn, so they begin it with that, they end it with that. So it's called an inc in the Psalms.

David is going to use, there's two sub-points in point one: in all the earth, the first part of verse one, and over the heavens, the second part of verse one. He says, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth?

David is going to use two different names for God here. The first name is Yahweh, and it means we would say in English, Jehovah. It means the covenant God who keeps his word. That's the name of God used more than any other name in the Old Testament. The second Lord, and I'm sure your Bible, you notice the first Lord is capital L O R D. The second one is Adonai, Adonai. And Adonai literally means master, ruler, owner. It's a title given to an owner of land often, and it's applied to God here as being the ruler of the universe.

The meaning here is that David acknowledges Yahweh to be the rightful ruler, king, master of himself, and all others. He uses the word majestic. This word is translated many ways. It means excellent. It means glorious. I used it in point one. Splendor. We don't use that word splendor much, do we? It could also mean famous, mighty, noble, magnificent. It describes or attempts to describe the magnificence of God.

Man has a responsibility. To praise the name of God. And that's just what we see David doing. He says here: what are we to give thanks for? Your name, you're so majestic in all the earth.

Turn with me to Psalms 105. We won't have time to look at all the Psalms this summer, so I'm going to jump periodically to different Psalms. But Psalms 105 is a long psalm, and I'm not going to read it all, but I just wanted to touch on the first six verses in Psalms 105. Psalms 105. It begins with, oh, give thanks. What are they going to give thanks for? Well, verses 7 to 15 are giving thanks for Israel's election that God chose them. Verses 16 to 22 are going to give thanks for God's exile when they were down in Egypt. And then verses 23 to 45 are all about the Exodus. But we're not going to look at that. Just look at the first few verses tonight.

In verses 1 to 5, we have 11 imperatives. What's an imperative? It's a command. The psalmist is telling the people of Israel to give thanks. He says, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of his wondrous works, glory in his holy name, let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his presence continually. Remember the wondrous works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered. He gives 11 imperatives there in six verses. And notice what number six is in verse 3. Glory in his holy name. Glory in his holy name. Do we glory in his holy name? I think sometimes we forget about it, don't we? Because we're not under the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, in Leviticus:, a half Jew, half Egyptian, it says, he blasphemed. The name. It just says the name. The name of God, probably Yahweh. And you know what they did to him, right? They stoned him to death. God says, kill him. Thankfully, we're under grace. So I sometimes think that we don't glory in his holy name. We glory in the Los Angeles Dodgers, right? Not so much the angels, but the Dodgers. We glory in our food. We glory in our cars. We glory in our houses, right? But do we glory in the name of God?

Another great Psalm, Psalm 115, verse 1, says, and it's a chorus. Here's another chorus. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. So we need to glory in his name. The New Testament, you know, the Lord's prayer: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And then Philippians 2, 9, and 10 describes this name. It says, Therefore, God has exalted him, Jesus, and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Someday, every knee is going to bow. And they're going to give glory to God, but it'll be too late for the non-believers. But we need to honor that name. We need to glory that name. We need to treat that name as holy. Not just the name, but everything about God, His characteristics, His attributes. But we need to glory in his name. And it says that David says that we're going to glory in that majestic name in all the earth.

Not only in all the earth, sub point two, we're going to glory in over all the heavens. He says in verse 1, part B, You have set your glory above the heavens. The NESB translates it. Have displayed your splendor above the heavens. So that's why I got the outline in point one.

The praise of the Lord recognizes a glory that transcends not only earth. but also heaven. Heaven and earth can only partially express his excellence because the creator remains greater than whatever he creates. Think of the splendor of the universe.

Steve Lawson wrote this in one of his Psalms: The greatness of God is infinitely vast, his majesty far exceeds man's ability to comprehend him. Consider, for example, the size of the universe he has created. The sheer dimensions are staggering. Scientists tell us it would take 500 billion years. to journey around the perimeter, traveling at the speed of light, 1,000 miles per second. The Sun has a diameter of 8,000 miles and can hold over one million planets the size of Earth. The star Betelgeuse, yes, that's the name, I had to look it up, Betelgeuse. The star Betelgeuse has a diameter of 100 million miles larger than the Earth's orbit around the Sun. It takes sunlight traveling the speed of light about 8. 5 minutes to reach Earth. Yet that same light would take more than four years to reach the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, some 24 trillion miles from Earth. The galaxy to which the Sun belongs, the Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of stars. Astronomers estimate that there are even billions of galaxies Perhaps the number of all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. How immense must God be, who as Creator far exceeds the size of his creation. David said, You have set your glory above the heavens.

I like what Charles Spurgeon said. He said, Doth not all nature around me praise God? If I were silent, I should be an exception to the universe. Doth not the thunder praise him as it rolls like drums in the march of God on the armies? Do not the mountains praise him when the woods upon their summits wave in adoration? Doth not lightning write his name in letters of fire? Hath not the whole earth a voice? And shall I, can I? be silent.

We were adorned to give praise to our holy God. Psalms 19 and Psalms 8 I mentioned are creation Psalms. These are the Psalms that I memorized. And I love when I see something, let's say, for example, coming down the 57 freeway over at Kellogg Hill there, and you know. Mount Baldy is not exactly pretty today. It's real smog and ugly, right? But when it snows and you come down that 57 and the snow has gone down about 4,000 feet elevation, Mount Baldy looks majestic. So when I see that, or when I saw the Grand Canyon or Yosemite or the Grand Tetons or even Joshua Tree, places like that, I say Psalms 8, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? You have set your glory above the heavens. Psalms 19 says, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 71. says, My mouth is filled with your praise and your glory all day. Is your mouth filled with praise and glory all day? Maybe because we live in the city of lights. And we can't see the stars when you go out tonight. We live in this smog and we live in this cement city. But you know, COVID's over now. It's time for road trips. I guess the national parks are quite busy, but it's time for road trips. And when you get out there, Maybe you can see the glory of God in nature and especially at night.

Let's move on to verse:. God's strength. Over all, God's strength over all. And we have two sub point: in man's weakness and over man's wickedness. It says in Man's Weakness. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength. The NIV version says, through the praise of children and infants, you have established a stronghold.

Before I get into the theology of this verse, I memorized this Psalm probably 30, 35 years ago, and I never thought it would be so special to me. Because in 2011, I have a special needs daughter who was born. And we didn't know right away because the Rhett syndrome didn't kick in until about a year later, but she can't speak. She can't talk, but she can chirp, she can laugh, she can kind of sing. So every time she does that, it gives joy in my heart because I remember Psalms 8, verse 2. Out of the mouth of babes. You have established strength.

Now, Jesus, I'm going go to the quote: Jesus says, You have ordained praise in Matthew 2. We 'll go there in a minute. So I love this verse. But the thought here is that the Lord's name is so superabundant in majesty, it requires nothing greater than the praise of children.

To understand this verse, we need to go a thousand years after David wrote it to Matthew 21. So turn with me to Matthew 21. Jesus is going to quote part of Psalms 8 here, and it's a really. Not a funny story, but what Jesus does here is brilliant to the chief priests. But some have called this chorus the chorus of creation. The chorus of creation reminds us that the praise of God offered to God arises from a fallen world. God has enemies in the midst of his splendor in creation. And in Matthew 21. Jesus enters the triumphal entry, and you know, in verse, but I'll go to verse 12. Verse 12 says in Matthew 21, So he had the triumphal entry. They've laid the palm branches down. They were shouting out, Hosanna, son of David, blessed is who comes in the name of the Lord. That's Psalms 18, verse 25. So Jesus enters the temple, verse 10. The whole city is stirred. Who is this? Crowds say, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. So verse 12 says, And Jesus entered the temple. Drove out all who sold and bought in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. And the blind and the lame came to him 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 cried out in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. And they 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 infants and nursing babes, you have prepared praise.

So, what's happening here is I love it what Jesus is going to quote: Psalms 8, first part of Psalms 8, verse 2. But did you notice what they said? The chief priests, they were furious. They're saying to Jesus, tell those kids to shut up, shut them up. They say, Do you hear what they're saying? You understand what the chief priests and scribes are angry about? The children are acknowledging that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And the chief priests are furious and they're telling him, Shut them up. Do you hear what they're saying? And I just love what Jesus says. He says, yes. I hear what they're saying. He says, haven't you ever read? Quite often he says that. And then he quotes Psalm 8:2. But did you notice the difference? Psalms 8:2 in Hebrews, translated in our verse, says, out of the mouth of babies and infants you have established strength. But Jesus says here in Matthew 21, verse 16: Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes, you have prepared praise. What's the difference? Well, Jesus is not quoting the Hebrew Bible here. He's quoting the Greek translation of the Septuag, which was written about 200 years before Jesus came. I talked about that last week. So Jesus is using the paraphrase from the Greek trans of the Bible, and it means that God Establishes strength from children by preparing praise for them. God is going to use the weakest of the weak, babies, infants, children, to ordain praise.

Let's look at sub point two: over man's wickedness. Notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say the second part. You go back to Psalms 8 now, Psalms 8, 2. You notice he did not say, Because of your foes, to still the enemy and the Avenger. He only quoted the first part. out of Psalms 8. He doesn't need to because Jesus and the chief priests and the scribes all know that the second part of Psalms 8 2 that Jesus they didn't have to say it Jesus is criticizing them And they are even more furious because Jesus doesn't shut the children up. Jesus accepts the praise. These are the enemies, the chief priests and the scribes are the enemies, the avenger that Jesus is. He doesn't have to quote it, but that's what Psalms 8:2 is talking about. So the Jews were furious because Jesus vindicates the children. By showing their words were proper, he was indeed the Son of David, the Messiah. They were the enemies. These enemies were silenced by little children. God's glory is illustrated in the way he is able to use babies and infants. You know, probably kids two and three years old, the weakest of men, babies and infants, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

When Jesus accepted the praise of these children and quoted Psalms 8, 2, Psalms 8, 2 was fulfilled in two ways. First, the chief priests and the scribes were defeated. They were silenced. Psalms 8 was also fulfilled because Jesus accepted the praise of God for him. You know, it's been that way for 2,000 years, hasn't it? Christ's people have offered up praise throughout centuries, and that has drowned out the enemy's efforts. To stop his work of redemption. I watched the video with sadness on Monday night of Pastor Tim Stevenson being arrested in Canada in front of eight of his children because he's. Secretly having his church. You can't, all the authorities in Canada can arrest Pastor Stevenson, but they're not going to stop the praise that his church is. Because the church has been ordained. We have been ordained to give praise to God. God used the children here. And in 1 Corinthians 1:2, it says, God chooses the weak things of the world to put to shame the things that are mighty.

Let's move on. We looked at God's splendor overall, God's strength over all. Now let's look at point 3: God's sovereignty overall, verses 3 to 8. And we have two sub point here: creating the universe and creating all mankind. Creating the universe is verse 3, creating all mankind is verse 4 to 8.

He says, when I look at your heavens, understand here. I mentioned that we live in the city of lights, so you can't see the stars. But David here is looking up in the clear Middle Eastern sky. While watching his family's sheep, if this is when he wrote it, he sees the planets, the stars, the constellations, and the sheer number of stars is overwhelming.

About six weeks ago, I got to go up and see the Pers in Per, Nevada. And you know, it's thirty miles from Death Valley Junction where they live. And so there's not a light there in Per. And at night You could see the stars. You can't see them here. But you could, look, you know, it like it's almost that cliche, but you say you could touch them. It's magnificent. Ping and I got to live in Assam, India, and basically there was no electricity there. You would have an inverter which would charge a battery, so you might have a light at night. But we would go out at night, and perhaps Elmer Hilario and Don Scott, who visited us there, would remember, you'd go out at night, and it was pitch black, but you could just look like you could just touch and grab the stars, so magnificent. So I don't think we see that when we live here in L.

But David did not have our knowledge that the Earth is just a small planet in the universe with billions of solar systems. But David looked up at the vastness of this universe and was amazed at the glory of God and how small we are in comparison. He continues in verse 3 by saying, The work of your fingers. Now, I mentioned last week, this is an anthro. Okay, we don't know how to describe God, and the psalmist doesn't know how to describe God because God is a spirit. He doesn't have fingers, he doesn't have eyes. But the psalmist will take human characteristics, as here, fingers, and apply them to God so we can understand God. So you know, God really doesn't have fingers. The work here also isn't like our work. Remember Genesis chapter 1? It says in verse 3, How hard was the work of God? God said, Let there be light. And there was light. He just spoke it into existence. There is power in this work. In Genesis, somebody counted up, Genesis chapter 1, 10 acts. 104 actions in there. God is working. And what does God do? David says he makes the planets, the moon, and the stars. And secondly, he positions those planets. There are many, many verses in the Old Testament. I'll just give you a couple. Isaiah 40:2 says, It is he who sits above the circle of the earth. And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in. Psalms 147: says, He determines the number of stars. He gives to all of them their names. Not only did God make the stars, not only can He number them, He names them. Now we don't have time tonight to look at Job chapter 9. But in Job chapter 9, he mentions three constellations of the stars: the bear, the Orion, and the Palat. We think Job is probably maybe outside of the first five books of the Testament, maybe even older than those. But they knew the constellations. They would navigate by them. We think that 5,000 years ago, the people of Job's time knew the stars. They knew the constellations. So here, David wants everyone to acknowledge that God is the creator, the maker of heaven and earth.

Now in our Western culture, there are two views. There is a low view of man, and then there is a high view of man.

The low view of man says that we evolved from some lower life over billions and billions of years.

Now, I'm just going to put it simple. Evolution is a bunch of nonsense. I could spend hours talking about evolution, but I'm not. But it actually takes more faith to believe evolution. Imagine believing the following: Nothing produces everything. Non-life produces life. Randomness produces fine-tuning. Chaos produces information. Unconsciousness produces consciousness. Non-reason produces reason. And they ended it by saying, only a monkey would believe something so stupid.

And then I love this quote: someone said. This is talking about people who be of evolution. First, I was a fish swimming in the sea. Then I was a frog with my tail between my knees. I then became a monkey swinging in the trees. And now I'm a professor with a Ph. So they have a low view of man, but we, as Christians, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have a high view of man.

Man was created by God in the image of God for the glory of God. Psalms 115, verse 15 says, May you be blessed of the Lord who made the heaven and earth. Psalms 121:2, My help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and earth. Psalms 124. our help is in the name of the Lord, who made the heaven and the earth. Psalms 134. may the Lord bless you from Zion, who made the heaven and the earth. Psalms 146, 6, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and that's all in them. Is creation, Genesis 1, important to the Jews? Yes, and it should be important to us. In Acts 4, I mentioned the church had been released, and they're going to quote Psalms 8. So they quoted Psalms 8, and it says, Who made the apostles or the church after the apostles were released in Acts 4:2? It says, You who made the heaven and earth and the sea and all that's in them. In Acts 14, Paul has they've done this great miracle, healing the crippled man. And the people want to worship them as Zeus. And so he's talking to pagans. And Paul says that we're proclaiming the gospel to you, that you should turn away from these vain things to the living God. Who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that's in them? So he's preaching that into pagans. And then in Acts 17, preaching to philosophers and Stoics in Athens. Paul says, the God who made the world and all things in it, he is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not dwell in temples made with hands.

But I want you to look at the last. Gospel presentation in the history of the world. You know, we know it. Turn to Revelation 14. Revelation 14. This is so good. We already know what the last gospel presentation is going to be in the history of the world. The Bible tells us in Revelation 14, verses 6 to 7. In Revelation 14, verses 6. To seven, it says, Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel. I was going to, there's a MacArthur study note if you have a MacArthur study Bible to read about the eternal gospel. It's called many different things. The gospel is good news. Here he calls it the eternal gospel. And I'm going to proclaim it to you, to those who dwell on earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people. And verse 7. And he said with a loud voice, Fear God. Give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come. He's telling them: turn from the beast. And worship the one true God. It's the last evangelistic opportunity for them in the history of the world. And then he says, and worship him. Who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water? God made it, and it's important that we believe it and we obey it.

So, you know, I was thinking this week, I did a little study. Do you know that within 10 miles of Christ Community Church, there are 18 Buddhist temples or monasteries? Now, the one up in Hac Heights, remember Al Gore visited it in 2000. That used to be the largest in the United States. I think there's one in Minnesota now that's the largest. But we have 18 Buddhist temples and monasteries within 10 miles of Christ Church. And I 'll bet you that there will be more in the next five to ten years. because we have a massive influx of people from Asia who are almost all Buddhists. There is only one Hindu temple within 10 miles. Now there are a lot of Hindu temples in Southern California, but they're on the other side of L mostly. But there's one Hindu temple close by within 10. There are five Islamic mosques or Islamic centers within Christ Community, 10 miles of Christ Community Church.

So, what are you going to say to these people? Now, Islam does share some characteristics of the creation story. But Hindus and Buddhists, what are you going to say to them? God loves you and has a plan for your life. Let me tell you about Jesus. You can't do that. You're going to have to make friends with him. Because it's going to take multiple gospel presentations. It's going to take, they're not going to come to Christ Community Church if you invite them. You can give them invitations, they're probably not going to come. You need to make friends with them. If they're your neighbors, and we all have neighbors now that probably are Buddhists or Hindus, you need to strike up conversations. Try to talk to them. Make friends with them. And when you've got an opportunity to share the gospel, you start with Genesis 1 and creation. Francis Schaefer said: if you have an hour to share the gospel with somebody, take 55 minutes to talk about creation. That's what I've done mostly in Thailand and Myanmar and Laos, is I start with creation because you have to to understand The God. So let's move on to sub point two. We talked about creating the universe.

Let's talk about God creating all mankind. Verses four to eight.

The heavens are the work of God's finger. It implies God's immensity, and it shows what may be our insignificance.

Here.

So there are actually three sub point here, triple sub point. God cares for man, verse 4. God crowns man, verse 5, and God commissions man, verses 6 to 8. These are all under sub point 2 here. God cares for man, verse 4.

He says, What is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you care for him? Psalms 144. says, O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you even think of him? Job 7: says, What is man that you make much of him, and that you set your heart on him?

You know, it is amazing that God would even consider man, even less care for him, until you think about the plan of God. Man's position seems insignificant when compared to the vast galaxy that David is looking at, but man is. Important. God cares for man. Man is the crown of God's creation. God gave man glory and honor. Genesis 1: Man is the culmination of God's creative work. And only man is said to be made in the image of God. Man is the center of this psalm, verses 4 to 5, the center of this psalm, and man is the center of God's creation. Man is so important. That God sent his son to redeem him when man fell into sin. God cares for us. Psalms 100, another great praise Psalm says. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. Know that the Lord, He is God. It is He who has made us, and we are His. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Because man was created by God. He is totally dependent upon God and responsible to God. God's purpose for man continues.

Not only does God care for man, God crowns man. Verse 5. He says, You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crown him with glory and honor.

One interesting aspect of Psalms 8 is the way where it places Psalms. Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas said, Psalms 8 places man midway. Between angels which are above him and the beast that is below him. And then I got out of my father's journal, he wrote about here, my father said this: angels are spirits, but no bodies. Animals have bodies, but no spirits. Man is both spirit and body, so he comes between. The Bible teaches that man is made by God, but it also teaches that the position of man In the whole order of creation, we are slightly lower than angels, which is a whole lot better than slightly higher than apes or chimpanzees.

Man was created in God's image. That's how the Bible describes it. When it says a little lower than angels, the Hebrew word translated angels here is actually Elohim. Which is another name for God. You could actually translate it a little lower than God, but it really means in God's image.

This implies that man has personality like God. We have a mind, we have emotions, we have a will. Man is basically a spirit being. When we die I know none of you are ready to die from last week, but when we do die, our body will deteriorate, but our spirit will live on and be with God forever. Psalms 139, 14 says, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. David knew that he was made and equipped to have fellowship with God.

Man has a mind which can understand many of the things, including the immensity of God. We have a heart. To respond to what the mind grasps. We have a will that can acknowledge action with the mind grasps and the heart fills. Man is intellectually honored, emotionally unique, volitionally unique. Man is truly crowned with glory and honor.

Man was created last among the works of God. Only man is said to be made in the image of God. Only man is declared very good in Genesis 1. And there has always been. Special place for God, for man, in the heart of God. He is superior to any other parts of God's creation.

Ping and I lived in India for seven years, and they worshiped the cow. And right now, the government of India is run by fundamentalists, and you could die if you do anything to a cow or kill a cow. They worship the beast. When you get your eyes off the Creator. You start worshiping creation, and there's 1. 4 billion people in India. God has shown through the ages that He delights in man as in no other part of His creation.

If I have time tonight, at the end of this, I will answer about aliens and UFOs, but let me finish the Psalm first.

Point three, God commissions man, verses six to eight. He says, You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, beasts of the field, birds of the heaven, fish of the sea. And whatever passes in the path of the sea.

Man was created in the image of God to exercise dominion over the rest of creation. You remember Genesis 2, right? All the animals were brought to Adam in Genesis 2, verses 19 and 20, and Adam is to name them all. He has dominion over them all. There was no sin, the animals weren't wild. So man was created to exercise dominion. And he noticed here, David lists five kinds of animals: flocks and herds, those would be domesticated, beasts would be the wild animals, birds and the fish. Man had dominion over all the creatures, but he lost it when Adam sinned. But even today, most animals can be domesticated. I guess SeaWorld got rid of Shamu. When I was a kid, we'd go see Shamu. They tamed a killer whale. Now I guess it's not politically correct, so they got rid of him, but they tamed a killer whale. Man can tame almost any animal, including killer whales.

But it won't be until Christ returns and makes all things new, where we will see the perfection of Genesis 1 and 2. And we will see that. I won't turn there tonight, but Isaiah 11 talks about the wolf. It's the millennial kingdom where we'll be when we reign with Jesus Christ. The wolf shall lie down with the lamb, and there's many verses about how beautiful it will be.

So we have been talking about man being a little lower than the angels in verses 6 to 8.

Turn with me to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2. Because I don't know, probably two, three years ago, Lance was in Hebrews chapter 2, but he taught about this, right? Hebrews 2. The writer of Hebrews 2, which we don't know who he is. He's going to quote Psalms 8, verses 4 to 6, but he's not going to attribute it to man. He's going to attribute it to our Lord Jesus Christ. So in Hebrews 1, do you that Hebrews 1, the writer quotes 11 verses from Psalms? Okay, 11 verses from Psalms. But in Hebre The writer of Hebrews is trying to demonstrate the superiority of God over angels, because apparently there were some angel worship. So go to Hebrews 2, verses 5. It says, For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere. Where's the somewhere? Remember, Lance said, you don't need to, these are Hebrews, these are Jews, they know it's Psalms 8. And so he says, What is man that you're mindful of him? The son of man that you care for him. You made him a little lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have put everything under subjection. His feet. So when he says, You made him a little lower than the angels, that's not man, that's our Lord Jesus Christ. He was made a man, 100% God, but born a baby to be a man. And he died on the cross for us. And he buried and rose, and he was crowned with glory and honor, and he sits at the right hand of God.

So Hebrew Psalms chapter 8 is attributed to man being a little lower than the angels, yes, but it's also attributed by the writer of Hebrews to our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul will also quote verse 6, where it says, You put all things under his feet in 1 Corinthians 15, 27. And Paul's speaking there that when Christ returns, He's going to put all things under his feet. He's going to restore the dominion that man had.

We talked about God's splendor over all. God's strength over all, and God's sovereignty over all.

Let's close it out with verse 9: God's supremacy over all. This is the same verse as verse 1. I mentioned it's an inc. And God's name is excellent, and his majesty is everywhere. He says once again, O Lord, our Lord. Verse 9 ends the same. David again will use the two great names of God, Yahweh and Adonai. And then he will say, How majestic is your name in all the earth? His majesty is everywhere. The psalm ends with the affirmation of the majesty of our Lord. God is not a man to be praised. God alone is majestic, full of glory, and He alone deserves our worship.

You know, I mentioned the clan of stargazers at Christ Community Church. Tom Mason is their leader. They're not weird. You know, I was just kidding. They love to look up into the sky. And they love to look at creation with a fascination. And that fascination makes them give glory and praise to our Creator.

Last week we looked at a lament psalm. Tonight we looked at a praise psalm. How's your prayer life? Is it full of laments? I hope you'll learn to lament last week. But how about praise? Is it, I mentioned last week, is it just full of petitions? God, I need this, God, I need this. Heal, do this, give me this. Or do you spend time praising them? One time, I remember I came, the prayer team met, and we met on a Saturday, and we said, the leader said, we're not going to take any petitions today. We're not going to pray for any of the requests of Christ C Church. And we sat there for two, two and a half hours and just gave praise to God. It's a wonderful time. I hope you'll do that sometime. That's why I encourage you to read one Psalm a day because it forces you to stop and give praise to God. You just can't read it and speed read it. You've got to read it and give praise to God.

So, but sometimes we need to step back and look at the stars. We need to look at the clouds, the planets. The constellations, the red moon, if you can. We need to look at the mountains, the rivers, the ocean. If we had music tonight, I would have Tim come and lead How Great Thou Art. Isn't that a great song? It talks about the wonderful creation.

But, you know, we need to look at the birds. We need to look at the animals. You know, my wife loves to go on road trips. And often I'll be driving the car, and she'll, Could we stop? Can we stop? And I'm like, Oh man, I don't want to stop. I can't stop here. There's no turnoff or whatever. But I'll stop because she sees something. We went up to Per, it's right by Death Valley. It's spectacular. But often she will go over to what looks like to me a patch of weeds, but she will take a picture. What I think is, you know, okay, so I see the flower, but when she develops it, it's spectacular. She loves to look at God's creation. She finds the joy and the beauty of looking at what I think is a weed and a flower. Not only does she love God's creation, she loves the Creator who is behind that beauty.

Do you? If you're a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, your thoughts and your words should be filled with praise to God.

Now, I know we do it on Sunday. And hasn't it been special the last two weeks? We've had 300 to 400 people in here and the praise has gone up, right? The praise has gone up. I've been in the crying room with Tessa, but it's louder. So you people are praising God louder, and it sounds a lot more glorious and majestic when you have one service and more people here. But we need to keep praising God. So I encourage you to read one Psalms a day. Psalms 8 tells us to praise the Maker of heaven. I hope you'll do that.

So we looked at a lament psalm last week. We looked at a praise psalm tonight. Next week, Psalm 16, we will look at a messianic psalm.

Okay, just briefly, if you have a minute, I've been asked twice in the last month alone about all this talk about UFOs. So I thought I'd, if I had time, I'd just mention it real quickly. Because now they're saying that the Pentagon is releasing information and Air Force pilots are allowed to talk now and you're seeing some videos about UFOs. So I think we as Christians need to be prepared because I've been asked that twice now in the last month. What about all these UFOs? How do you explain them? Well You know, you got to look at it from a biblical point of view, right? Okay, so, but I thought I would address it.

There's a missionary from Australia. His name is Kin Ham from Answers in Genesis, and he came to the pagan land of USA. And he was asked, Do you believe in UFOs? And he said, I usually answer, absolutely. Any flying object that can't be identified is a UFO. But then Ken Ham continued, but do I believe UFOs are piloted by Vulcans, Klingons, or Cardassians? I had no clue what a Cardassian was because I'm not a Star Trek person, but apparently they're from Star Trek. Maybe Mandalorians would be better today. The answer is no. Sorry, Star Trek fans. And he goes on to say.

Evolutionists like the late great, not great, Carl Sagan have popularized the idea of life in space, haven't they? Because from an evolutionary perspective, it would make sense of the possibility. You believe in evolution, that billions of years and nothing came from nothing on Earth, you're going to believe that it could happen in space and the processes that evolution uses. must exist in space. So the evolutionists postulate endlessly about the possibilities of intelligent life. I guess now we have a Space Force and they're spending billions and billions of our tax dollars to try to find life on Mars. I think they're wasting their money.

But if you look at the Bible, I believe the Bible rejects that possibility. Why? Genesis 1. Genesis 1, earth was created first, right? The land, the water separated, day three, plants are put on earth. When were the sun, the moon, and the stars created? Day four. Why were the sun, moon, and stars created? They were created for earth. The scriptures say That Genesis 1:14, the moon and stars were made for signs, for the seasons, for days, and for years. So, get the point, what Ken Ham is saying: Earth is the center of God's great universe. There may be billions and billions of galaxies, but Earth is the center of God's universe. And so the sun, the moon, and stars were created after the Earth. Okay, there are many passages. Isaiah 66:1, thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, earth is my footstool. Isaiah 44, 22 talks about how special earth is in God's creation. There are many verses that imply that Earth is to be considered separate and special when compared to the rest of the universe. They suggest that the Earth alone was created for life. So far, based on man's limited exploration of space, And the solar system, this holds true.

But there's a theological reason, I believe, that rules out the possibility of intelligent life in outer space. Romans 8:2 says what? Whole creation groans. Not just the earth, all the galaxies, all the universe groans because of sin, because of Adam's sin. When Adam sinned, the whole universe fell and was affected. Not only this, but one day in the future. There's going to be a new heaven and there going be a new earth. God is going to destroy those galaxies, the only universe, and he's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah 34, 4 says, All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falls off the vine, as falling off the fig tree. So understand that Earth is the centerpiece of God's magnificent universe. But let's talk about, he goes on. I'm just going to skip it because he's got about three minutes.

That earth is the centerpiece of God's universe, and man is the centerpiece on earth. Okay? God knows that Jesus did not become God Klingon, God Vulcan, God Kardassan, He became a God-man. It would make sense theologically for there to be other intelligent physical beings. If there were other beings out there, they would suffer because of Adam's sin. But we know that God became a man, and you know, you can't be dogmatic because the Bible doesn't state whether there's life exists in other parts of the universe. But the passages in the Bible, Kinham says, heaven and earth, I strongly suspect that light does not exist everywhere.

So the next time you hear somebody talking about UFOs. Think of the scripture passages quoted, or you can Google this article by Ken Ham in Answers in Genesis out there on the internet.

So, what do I think? Are these UFOs, you know, is it some secret military hardware? I don't know. Is it demonic? Possibly. Because the Antich we just studied in 2 Thessalonians is going to come with signs and wonders. So I was thinking. That if the Antich comes, my advice would him to come in a UFO and land on Washington, on the White House lawn, or the United Nations and get out. The world would worship him, and we know they're going to worship him. So maybe these are just a precursor because there are. So remember that the earth is the centerpiece of God's great creation. And man is the centerpiece on earth. And God became a man to redeem man.

So I don't believe there are aliens out there, but you know, I can't explain it all, but I don't have to. I'm just going to. Teach Genesis, but you're going to get that from your non-Christian friends. You're going to get that from your so-called educated agnostics and evolutionists and that. And you can't argue with them, but just tell them the story of creation. So I just wanted to share that tonight to throw that out because I'm going to ask that question.

So thanks for coming tonight. You can read Psalm 16 next week.