Preaching Through the Psalms -- Psalm 8 -- The Glory of the Lord

Psalms 8:1-9 KJV  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.  [2]  Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.  [3]  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;  [4]  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  [5]  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.  [6]  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:  [7]  All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;  [8]  The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.  [9]  O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

I.                 INTRODUCTION—A “NATURE” PSALM

-This psalm is another that has been written by David.  Just to refresh your memory, from Psalm 3-41, it is noted in the superscription, “A Psalm of David.”  There are only two that do not have this notation with those being Psalm 10 and 33.    

-From Scripture there are some things that we can know about David:

·        He was skillful at playing the harp—1 Sam. 16:16-23

·        He was known as the sweet psalmist of Israel—2 Sam. 23:1

·        He was an accomplished songwriter—2 Sam. 1:17-27; 22:1-23:7

·        He had an active role in shaping the way that Israel would worship (even until this day)—1 Chron. 16:4-7; 16:37-42; 23:2-6; 25:1-7

-It is obvious that David, at the deepest level of his soul, that he was a man who was inclined to worship the Lord.  It was not a thing that he confined to one or two days of the week but his heart rested much on the things of the Lord and he gave himself to the worship of the Lord. 

-The previous Psalms that I have preached through, especially those of David have been more in the genre of a cry to the Lord.  In fact, all of the psalms leading up to this one have been prayers of David.  But with Psalm 8 there is a transition of sorts and we will see why that some have referred to the Psalms as the hymnbook of Israel. 

-Psalm 8 is a hymn that can be sung in worship to the Lord.  There are other hymns that I can see in the Psalms.

·        Hymns of Praise—They call us to worship and point us toward God’s great abilities and His ways.  Such as his kindness in Psalm 145, his power over creation in Psalm 93, and the works of his creation as in Psalm 8.

·        Hymns of Thanksgiving—They are a response back to God when he answered a prayer as in Psalm 9 and 30.

·        Hymns that Celebrate the Law of God—They are designated to encourage us to live up to the righteous standard that God desires.  The example of this would be Psalm 119. 

·        Hymns of Confidence—These psalms helps us to put our trust in the Lord in the midst of all circumstances of life.  Psalm 23 is the greatest example of this type of psalm. 

·        Hymns with Prophetic Themes—These are the psalms that closely resemble the crying calls of the prophets to be faithful.  Psalm 81 is an example of this.   

-To the chief Musician upon Gittith is the introduction that David gives.  The gittith is a harp similar to a guitar that was common to Gath, the home of Goliath, the Philistine.  There are songs that come to us in the victories of life and some scholars seem to think that David was expressing a bit of divine irony here in his worship when he was noting that he had a song to sing with an instrument that came from the home of his enemy.  There is much power that comes to the redeemed who know their way around in a spiritual battle.

-Even though the fight may be taxing, there will be instruments that are helpful in writing and singing praises to the Lord.  No battle that the redeemed walk through are going to be wasted.  Don’t lose the connection with this psalm in David’s victory over Goliath.  He took an instrument literally from the enemy’s camp and wrote a song for it!   

-Psalm 8 is drawing us in to worship the Lord because it shows us His glory in creation.  But not only do you read of the greatness of creation, especially that of our solar system, you also are drawn into the power of creation in man. 

-There is a reach of sorts by David back to the creation accounts of Genesis 1-2 where God pulled man out of the dust and then created the woman from the side of the man.  Even though there would be some who would try to pull you away from this miracle of creation, we cannot be moved off of this fact that God has created man and the earth with His hands!

-There are some other words that David notes that helps me to see that despite the glory of the Lord in creation, there are still some enemies that have attempted to wreck the world God has created.  Give your attention to Psalm 8:2 where we see words like “foes,” “enemy,” and “avenger.”  That gives the hint that there is a two-way street in this matter of serving the Lord. 

-If David wants me to see how excellent the name of the Lord is, the enemy wants me to be in a constant state of questioning everything I can about God.  Question his purpose for me, his love for me, and his desire to save me, the truth of the Word, and a host of other doubts this wicked foe wants to plant in my heart.

II.               PSALM 8

-As David has expressed the excellence of the Name of the Lord, he does so by showing us two things in this particular psalm:  the glory of the Lord and the goodness of the Lord. 

A.               Psalm 8:1-2, 9—The Lord’s Glory

Psalms 8:1-3 KJV  To the chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm of David. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.  [2]  Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.  

Psalms 8:9 KJV  O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

1.                The Lord’s Glory in Creation

-David gives us the understanding that the majestic power of the Name is great in all the earth.  Can you remember the way that David approached Goliath? 

1 Samuel 17:45-46 KJV  Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.  [46]  This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

-David never makes reference at all to the sling that he will use to defeat Goliath but rather he tells him that all of his faith is going into the name of the Lord of Hosts. 

-There is still much power that comes to us when we put an emphasis on the Name!  O Lord, Our Lord, how excellent is thy Name in all the earth!

-The New Testament directive is very clear:

Acts 2:38 KJV  Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

-We are to be baptized in the Name of Jesus.  It is not an optional matter nor is it a public affirmation or confession of faith.  To be baptized in the Name of Jesus is a response of obedience to the commands of the Word of God. 

-Some might accuse us of saying that we believe in baptismal regeneration which places faith in the act of baptism itself.  Some of the Reformers opposed this because it was considered part of the sacraments that were established by the Roman Catholic Church and fit into their system of works-based salvation.  Much of the work of the Reformers was to break away from the Roman Catholic system that controlled the lives of people in a very heretical way.    

-But when we are baptized:

·        We are doing so because it is commanded in Scripture (Acts 2:28; Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16; Acts 10:47-48; 22:16).

·        We are buried with Jesus Christ and the old man is put away (Rom. 6:3-4; Col. 2:12).

·        We are associated with the life of Christ (Gal. 3:27) which establishes His power in our lives.

·        We have the old fleshly man to be cut away which separates us from the sin we have committed in the past, cuts away the control of the sinful nature, and brings forgiveness of those sins (Col. 2:11-13).

·        We are placed in a covenant relationship with God (Col. 2:11-13) just as circumcision in the Old Testament placed Israel into a covenant relationship with God. 

-When you began to look through the New Testament, there are very powerful associations that come with the Name of Jesus:

·        Salvation is connected to the Name—John 1:12

·        If you will ask in the Name of Jesus, it will be given to you—John 16:23-24

·        Reconciliation with God comes in that Name—1 Tim. 2:5-6; 2 Cor. 5:18-19

·        Healing took place at the Name of Jesus—Acts 3:6; 4:30

·        Demons were cast out in the Name of Jesus—Acts 16:18

-Perhaps the most powerful passage expressing the power of the Name is also in Acts:

Acts 4:10-12 KJV  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.  [11]  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.  [12]  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

-We as Apostolics must engage that Name!  We must exalt that Name!

-Some years ago there was a song written about the Name of Jesus:

Verse 1:
Some may wonder where the beauty lies in the name I hold so dear
Well, it's not just in the way it sounds as it falls on my ear
And it's not just in the way it looks when it's written beautifully
But the beauty of that lovely name is in the power it gives to me

Chorus:
It's so beautiful, the name of Jesus, it's so beautiful, that precious name
If you ask in Jesus' name anything is yours just to claim
And I love that precious name

Verse 2:
At the sound of His name every demon has to flee
For to that name all power is given to set the hopeless captive free
Every sin, disease and sickness must bow down to that name
And forevermore surrender for all of time I shall proclaim

Bridge:
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name
He's master, savior, Jesus, He's like the fragrance after the rain
Oh, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms shall all pass away but there's something about that name

Tag:
If you ask in Jesus' name anything is yours just to claim
And I love, that precious name

-O Lord, Our Lord, how excellent is your Name in all the earth! 

2.                The Lord’s Glory from Children

-But David goes on even in more depth when he determines that the power and excellence of that Name actually creates strength in those who are infants.  His Name creates power over the enemies and the avengers that oppose the righteous. 

-The KJV states that the Lord will “still the enemy” and another rendering can actually be that the Lord will “silence the enemy” or that they will cease their tongues from speaking. 

-The Bible is filled with examples that there will come a day when the enemies of the Lord and His church will literally be silenced and put to judgment.  In fact one of the places in Scripture from ancient times where this took place is in Isaiah 37:20-39.  The threat was from Sennacherib and the Lord used just two angels to send 185,000 men to their graves because of the threat against the city of Jerusalem. 

-One day. . . . Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all!  The Lord will give power to the faint and to the weary. 

B.               Psalm 8:3-8—The Lord’s Goodness

Psalms 8:3-8 KJV  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;  [4]  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  [5]  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.  [6]  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:  [7]  All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;  [8]  The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

1.                David Amazed by the Lord’s Goodness—vv. 3-5

-The scope of what David is about to get into is the comparison of how great that creation is.  When I consider. . . Think for a moment what is said of the Lord in creation in Genesis 1. 

Genesis 1:16 KJV  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

-Moses just sort of puts that in as an afterthought, by the way. . . He made the stars also.  All you have to do is pick up some of the older issues of National Geographic magazine and start reading about how big the universe is and all of the stars that compose it.  It will put incredible awe in you! 

-Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.  Consider this morning that when the sun rose.  Once the beam of light started its trek toward us, it took 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach us.  That means if the sun rose at 6:00 AM, the first sunlight to reach us was at 6:08 AM.  God has set that up to take place every single morning!  New mercies come to us every morning and sadly I rarely recognize them because I have come to live in a place of just expecting it to happen.

-When the Voyager II reached Neptune and started sending back images to NASA, radio waves were traveling at 186,000 miles per second.  It took four hours to get back to them.  Give it a thought that Neptune is not even on the outer ring of the planets, Pluto is beyond it.  If the universe is that big, and I am that small. . . Then consider how big that the Lord really is:

Isaiah 66:1 KJV  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

-The heavens is where God sits, the earth is where He props His feet up. . . And we so often worry about needless things!  If God is that big and I belong to Him, there is nothing that comes in my direction that He cannot take me through!  Snares of the devil, deceit of the world, and wiles of my own flesh are under the dominion of God!

2.                Man’s Assignment by the Lord’s Goodness—vv. 6-8 

-But God was not content with just creating this world for His glory alone!  He placed man in the middle of every bit of it and crowned him with glory and honor. 

-This means that man has been placed over every aspect of creation that the Lord created.  Further when we see the connection of the word “glory” with Psalm 8:1, “He set his glory above the heavens and then David turns around and says that God has put that glory on man, which raises the value that God has put on the Redeemed church of the ages! 

-Another point to see in this passage is that the Word does not say that man is a little higher than the beasts (animals) of the earth but rather God created man to be a little lower than the angels. Animals do not have a soul but man does! 

-The mere fact of this does something to a spiritual man when he kneels down on his knees and starts to pray!  There is authority in prayer. . . Made a little lower than the angels. . .

·        John 15:7—If you abide in me, and my Words abide in you, then anything you shall ask. . .

·        2 Tim. 1:7—He has given us the power over the spirit of fear. . .

·        Heb. 4:16—We can draw near in full assurance. . . Come boldly. . .

·        Jer. 29:19—When you call, the Lord will answer. . .

·        Rom. 8:26—We can pray in the power of the Spirit when we don’t even know what to pray for. .

-Whatever we do in these days, we cannot lose sight of God.  No matter what direction our society goes or for that matter what the church of the tares do, we cannot lose sight of God and what He has empowered us with!

III.              CONCLUSION—FOR THIS I GIVE HIM PRAISE

-If ever there was a reason to praise the Lord it is for His Glory.  The glory He has passed to us when He filled us with the Spirit. 

-There is a song that the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir sings called “For Every Mountain.”  It really seems to give an answer to the question, “what is man that thou art mindful of him?”  Because the Lord is mindful of His saints and has given us dominion over sin (Rom. 6; 8), nothing that stands in the path of a saved man should shake him. 

[Verse 1:]
I've got so much to thank God for,
so many wonderful blessings,
and so many open doors,
a brand new mercy along with each new day;
that's why I praise You, and for this I give You praise.

[Verse 2:]
For waking me up this morning, (that's why I praise You),
for starting me on my way, (that's why I praise You),
for letting me see the sunshine, (that's why I praise You),
of a brand new day (oh).
A brand new mercy (that's why I praise You),
along with each new day;
(that's why I praise You, for this I give You praise).

[Verse 3:]
You're Jehovah Jireh (that's why I praise You),
You've been my provider (that's why I praise You),
so many times You met my needs (that's why I praise You),
so many times You rescued me (oh).
I wanna thank You for the blessings (that's why I praise You),
You give to me each day;
(that's why I praise You, for this I give You praise).

[Chorus:]
For every mountain You've brought me over.
For every trial You've seen me through.
For every blessing, hallelujah;
for this I give You praise

-That should be the very praise in every one of us. . . For the things He’s brought me through!!!!

September 7, 2014

Philip Harrelson