O LORD, Our Lord, How Excellent is Your Name in All the Earth

Please open your Bibles with me to psalm number eight we are considering our Walk through the psalms and it brings us today to one of my truly favorite psalms psalm number eight. Psalm 8 these are the words of God.

To the chief musician on the instrument of Gath a psalm of David. Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth? You have set your glory above the heavens. 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. When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars which you have ordained. What is man that you are mindful of him in 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. Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth? Well, let us pray Almighty eternal and merciful God.

Whose word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path open and illuminate our minds that we may purely and perfectly understand your word and That our lives may be conformed to what we have rightly understood.

That in nothing we may be displeasing to your majesty. We ask all this through the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen, you may be seated. You may remember that we had this as psalm 8 as the psalm of the month some years ago and It was the very month to which the national abortion Allowance and Roe v. Wade was overturned.

I Said at that time it was a very fitting psalm of the month for that Type of thing as we will see when we look at verse 2. But as you also remember that as we started our consideration of various psalms.

But I noted that one of the things that the psalm does for us. It gives us an accurate picture of the character of God of the majesty of God. It gives us compelling reasons To come and to worship him and this psalm is an excellent example of it.

It states what should be every believers ultimate priority to give glory to God. You may remember the question in the Westminster Sorter Catechism. The very first question. What is the chief end of man?

It is to glorify God and enjoy him forever and.

This psalm.

Properly orients are our praise and adoration to our great God. Well, we have a lot to cover today. So we might just as well start now. Let us take a look at the first verse. Oh Lord our Lord. How excellent is your name in all the earth who have set your glory above the heavens?

You first might notice what appears to be a repetition Oh Lord our Lord. But you may also notice that the first Lord is in capital. L-O-R-D. When you see that that is a tip from our translators that that word is the covenant name of our God Yahweh Jehovah, so we may properly say Oh Yahweh.

The second Lord is Adonai. Oh Yahweh our Adonai. Oh Yahweh our sovereign and majestic God. Jehovah is the covenant name of God the one and true God the Lord of all angels and men. The Lord and King of the Saints of God he is our God and we are his people.

Adonai as I have just mentioned conveys.

Sovereignty.

It literally means.

Sovereign or Master he is sovereign over all creation. We can truly say Yahweh our Adonai Jehovah our Sovereign Master. How excellent is your name in all the earth? I'd like to call it to your attention that it says how excellent is Your name in all the earth.

It does not say how excellent your name should be in all the earth. It is a straightforward Declaration of the majesty of God. It is a straightforward declaration of the facts. I Know I have said this on more than one occasion, but Christianity gives an accounting of facts.

Christianity is not pie-in-the-sky wish fulfillment religion. No, it gives an accounting of facts and Nothing may be more factual than the majesty and excellence of our God. This should call the mind almost immediately that prayer which we commonly refer to as the Lord's Prayer.

We from time to time use that as a framework for our prayers of the people. We find it in Matthew 6 and also in Luke's Gospel and It is quite familiar to us and it begins our Father who art in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name. That's the sense here. This is another straightforward declaration that the name of our Father is holy. There are many that will teach you that this is a command to make our Father's name holy that it is the first petition.

But it is a straightforward fact that God's name is Holy. In our text the word translated excellent literally means wide and large. When you study Hebrew words and see what the words actually mean it's enlightening our God's name is wide and large.

It is all encompassing. Figuratively, it means powerful Excellent as we see here famous glorious goodly noble worthy what. The name of our covenant-keeping God Jehovah is is wide and encompassing. It covers and fills everything.

It is mighty powerful excellent famous glorious and noble and worthy of all our praise.

And.

Notice it is his name. That is excellent and majestic and glorious. How we use names today is quite a bit different than how names were used in old times. Especially in the time of the Hebrews and also in in the time of of the New Testament period where the primary language was Greek names conveyed a depth of meaning.

Something that we perhaps don't see in our day except perhaps in nicknames. But in old days names conveyed something conspicuous something obvious. Something that was well known something that we could see or something that we could conjure up in our mind's eye.

We have a little bit of this today. With certain names from history or from sports or some other field when we mention the name you can conjure up What it implies? But in the old days. That's what all names did it called something to mind something that was obvious.

The name or a name can can convey by implication honor authority and character. We have some examples in Scripture. We'll take a look at a negative example in a couple of positive examples. The negative example is Nabal the husband of Abigail.

Nabal literally means fool. And it was a very accurate description of Nabal. But some positive ones we have. Abraham father of a multitude remember the promise to Abraham that His descendants would be like the stars of the sky or the sand of the seashore.

Now we are here several thousand years later and his physical descendants are in the billions. But when we take the true meaning of that promise his spiritual descendants are much much Greater. He is indeed a father of a multitude.

We see that with Israel. We also see that with his given name Jacob. But Israel says he will rule as God. We know the true Israel of God was the Lord Jesus Christ. And then of course our last example is Jesus himself his Hebrew name is Yeshua.

Yah, that is Yahweh saves in this name Jehovah the character of our God is bound up in it. We see his character. We his see his sovereignty his power and might his knowledge and wisdom. His being over all creation remember wide and large all-encompassing His holiness his love his justice his goodness his righteousness.

That is his name. When we use his name it conveys all those things. This is why we have that prohibition in the Ten Commandments against the misuse of God's name and The third commandment we have you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Far too often. We think this is using our Lord's name as a swear word. And it does mean that but that word that we translate vain.

Means.

Ascribing evil To that which is good. Misusing God's name in the case in the prohibition in the third commandment is rather than ascribing excellence and majesty to the name we describe things that are evil immoral false or Useless.

We are saying that the character of God is akin to the character of the devil. That's what happens when we misuse the name of God. It is the root of the unforgivable sin. And he will not hold us guiltless.

Is this not what the devil had done in the garden. You remember in Genesis 3 the devil called and to question the very character of God. Saying that he spoke falsely to Adam and Eve. You will not surely die.

God was afraid that if you took to the apple you would be like him. He caused cast into question the character of God and we have this name upon us as his people. We have the name of God on us. We see this in numbers 6 22 through 27 that we occasionally use as a benediction and it's very familiar to us and the Lord spoke to Moses saying Speak to Aaron and his sons saying this is the way you shall bless the children of Israel say to them.

Now this is what we're very familiar with the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and Be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Then the next verse says this. So they shall put my name on the children of Israel. And I will bless them. We have the very name of God put on us and in the new covenant. We have it in a special way. We are the adopted children of God our father.

With the new birth. It's like we get a new birth certificate. You may remember when I preached to Ephesians 1 in our identity in Christ I had made mentioned this when we are converted. We have the new birth certificate where Yahweh is in place for our father our old birth certificate had Adam there in a right way we could be called Yahweh son.

It is that name That we have on us. But we have to admit that man has a temptation to make a name for himself to make his name Excellent in all the earth. We had seen this in the garden. But I think a great example in the Old Testament Comes from the Tower of Babel.

We have this temptation to make our name Sovereign to make our names majestic in all the earth. We read this in Genesis 11. Now the whole earth had one language in one speech. This was after the flood.

Noah's descendants were fruitful and multiplied and it came to pass as they journeyed to the east. They found the plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another come let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.

They had brick for stone and they had asphalt for mortar and They said come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a Name for ourselves Lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

They wanted to make a name for themselves not a name that would all not only rival God's But surpass it. Well, there are other examples we could call Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar to mind. But in the New Testament, we have an example.

We must remember that during the New Testament period the period of our Lord and Savior's earthly ministry the period of the Apostolic Church laying the foundations of what we can now have as our apostolic tradition they were in the context of Rome and the emperors of Rome called themselves Caesar and They considered themselves gods.

We can see this but with the ascension of a man by the name of Octavian Who when he became Emperor took the name? Augustus Meaning the majestic Mighty or august one. He was also called the DV Phileas the son of the divine and When a kingdom or tribe was conquered by Rome they made a pronounce it they called it the Ilan Galleon the good news and It required a submission to Rome that said this.

There is no other name under heaven by which you make but you can be saved save for Augustus or whoever the Emperor was. This is nothing more than an absolute presumption by Caesar to be not only a God But the God and you may remember that the first century Christians got in a lot of trouble.

For their failure to say one thing their failure to say Caesar is Lord Kaiser Kyrios. They would pay their taxes. They would live peaceably with their neighbors. They would submit to the laws. But they would not say that Caesar is supreme.

Did that Ilan Galleon message of Rome sound familiar to you? It should. It's the context of what Paul what Peter rather said to the Sanhedrin or the council in Acts chapter 4 you remember Peter and John were arrested for healing in the name of Jesus and Then we have this account Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the peoples and elders of Israel if We this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man.

By what means he was made he has been made well. Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel. That by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Whom you crucified who God raised from the dead by him this man now stands before you whole.

This is the stone which you which was rejected by you builders. Which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other there is no name no other name under heaven. Given among men by which we must be saved.

Well, it's interesting that Peter would use that term. But you have to remember that the Sanhedrin were those men who said to Pilate we have no king.

But Caesar.

So this was a very challenge that the name of Christ the name of God was higher than the name.

Of.

Caesar what we see this in our own day. Do we not? We see men Constantly trying to make a name for themselves. But let us continue. Verse 1 also says you have set your glory Above the heavens. God's glory his shining greatness of his character Cannot be contained in the created order.

Although his glory fills all things his name is wide and large and it fills all things. His exceeding greatness and glory cannot be contained within the heights of creation. But there is enough there to condemn us.

This is what Paul points out in Romans 1. He said the entire created order Displays the majesty character and glory of God in Such a way that man is without excuse. Oh Lord our Lord how excellent is your name in all the earth?

There isn't one corner of this universe that we do not see the excellence of the name of our God. Well, let us continue on to 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.

This is a straightforward declaration by David about the character of God. The Lord does not use the strong and mighty of this world To further his kingdom and to defeat his enemies. He uses the weak and seemingly helpless.

This is a matter by which God's greatness is further revealed. His strength is sufficient to empower the weakness the weakest of men to overturn the mightiest of foes. And this is undeniably true. We have this from Paul in 1st Corinthians 1 27 through 29, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put the shame.

To put the shame the wise. Have you ever been called foolish. Have you ever been called a corn pone or a doofus for Christ? That you don't know what you're talking about because you believe in some weird religion.

The foolish things of this world to put the shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put the 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 our.

There are that no flesh should glory in his presence. Many commentators and many sermons preached on this verse would say that this means that the foolishness of Foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men and that the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men.

And we would say yes and amen to that. But that's not exactly what this verse says. In here is a great and glorious reality that our God and Father has established or ordained strength and We need this strength because of his enemies.

Which are our enemies and we should immediately be thinking about who is the chief enemy the devil. He is our adversary. He is the chief enemy, but remember there's an unholy Trinity the world the flesh and the devil.

That's what's in mind here. These are the enemies of God and they are our enemy. They are our enemies and God has given us the strength to deal with those enemies. More appropriately God says that he would deal with these our enemies through this Established strength and we should thank God that he has given us given us this strength.

But how does he do it? By the weakness of men, right? Yes, we could say that. By the weak things of the world, right? Yes, we could say that but let's take a closer look. Not just weak men not just weak things but literally.

Children.

David under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says that the means by which God will destroy his enemies the strength that he has ordained and established the one that will silence the enemy and the Avenger are.

Children.

But not just children infants out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants. The word translated babe means suckling or nursing infant. The word translated nursing infant means suckling or Nursing infant.

I wonder if God is trying to tell us something by this repetition. I often think that sometimes the Lord leaves clues like this because we're slow. I've said this about the creation order when we see.

That was the first day the second day and the third day and so on. It also says for those who are real slow. It was morning and evening. And I think we have another case here that out of the mouth of infants.

Nursing infants he has ordained strength. Well, what comes out of the mouth of these nursing infants? Well, the one word is praise and you'll say well, that's not actually referenced here mark. I don't see that well, this verse was quoted by our Lord and Savior during his earthly ministry and Matthew 21 verses 15 and 16.

And a lot of times and this is true. The New Testament is inspired commentary on the Old Testament and provides a greater insight on the things which we read in the Old Testament. And here's what we have in Matthew's gospel but when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple 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 quoting this very Bible verse. Now we have to remember that the Bible in Jesus's time was the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament and That's how the Greek the translators of that Greek New Testament that Greek Old Testament translated this verse and Jesus quotes it.

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise and it's not just praise. It's perfected praise the highest type of praise. That's the kind of praise that comes out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants.

That's the praise that the Lord has ordained as the strength to destroy his enemies. Well, that'll give you some clarity on why the enemies of God hate children so much. We have seen the attack on children throughout history.

Child sacrifice. Causing children to pass through the fire of Molech and our modern worship of Molech in abortion the enemies of God must destroy children because children are his chosen means of destroying them his enemies and If they cannot destroy them in the womb.

They will look to mutilate their flesh in the so-called transgender surgeries. Or they will medicate them and dope them into docility with medication or. They'll fill their heads with false philosophies about their origin and their destination.

Not being created in the image of God, but a cosmic mistake. Going nowhere and we could see this war against children spilling out in other areas. I've alluded to some already attacks on the family and attacks on education the damning influence of social media peer pressure and violence against children in our culture and in the schools and It is to our shame That the church goes along with it.

Does that surprise you that I said that? For after all do we really go along with the war on children? Are we really aiding the enemies of God? Don't we stand against abortion? Yes, we do. Don't we stand against state-sponsored education?

Yes. Don't we stand for the family and for Christian education? Yes, we can say yes and amen to all of these things. But do we deny the very words of this verse when we say that infants cannot praise God.

When we deny baptism to an infant. Stating they cannot know the things of God until they get older. Fundamentally denying that they can praise God and not only praise God but offer perfected praise. When we deny children access to the table.

Because we say although baptized They cannot know or understand the things of God and discern the body. Thus denying that they cannot only give praise to God, but which Jesus himself said was perfected praise.

Out of the mouths of infants. Yes, we do deny the very words of this verse if we hold to those views and We add aid and comfort to the enemies of God. Because we deny the very truth of Scripture we also see this when Christian men and women marry and Deny themselves from having children.

Not because the Lord has closed the womb but because they have. May this never be amongst us and the Lord would give us grace to repent of these things. If it is true, if it is amongst us. For 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 what the Avenger? Well, I'm gonna have to hustle now to get through the rest of the psalm. So let us take a look at verses 3 through 5.

When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon the stars which you have ordained. What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor.

This is a breathtaking statement. Really all of Scripture is a breathtaking statement. We're being called upon to consider the heavens the Sun the moon the stars the galaxy the immensity of the universe the power and majesty that it conveys it is glorious and awesome, but it is just the work of God's fingers as As if David to say that this is an easy thing for God to do.

I don't know if you've ever been engaged with somebody in an argument about a six-day Biblical account of creation and the millions of years nonsense. Where you feel like six days versus millions of years.

Maybe you should throw in a question I wonder what took him so long. Because these are easy for him. It is the work of his fingers. But it goes on to tell us contemplate this. You have been made a little lower than the angels when we compare ourselves to God.

We can easily say that we are weak and insignificant but when we think of angels mighty in power able to stand in the presence of God and Able to serve him perfectly we may be overwhelmed. We are weak.

We're as weak as those infants. We just talked about and even full-grown and full of strength. We have nothing to commend ourselves. And even if we tried we may be guilty of trying to make a name for ourselves.

We know we are fallen that we have sinned that we have not obeyed God. We do not love God with all of our heart our soul mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We haven't even loved ourselves the way God wanted us to but yet He is mindful of us.

And he cares for us. And not just us all of the created order. He causes the rain the fall on the just and on the unjust. He feeds the very birds of the air and the animals of the field. But he has a special care for his people.

We'll just Use the summary verse from Philippians 4 19. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Our God not only Meets our needs he supplies them all bountifully.

We were commanded not to worry about the things which we need. But seek first the kingdom of God. That is how our mindful God cares for us. But he does much more than that as we continue reading in verse 5 going through verse 8.

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 every beast. 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.

He has crowned us with glory and honor. Now you may ask yourself How could this be? Well, you may have forgotten our past. Man is the crown of creation. He is the last creature Created and we are the only part of creation that is in the image of God in Genesis 1 26.

Then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea. Over the birds of the air and over the cattle and all earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Not only do we have this great and glorious position that he has given us the crown of creation. We have dominion over all things, but this was gloriously ratified When the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The word the only begotten Son of the Father the Lord Jesus Christ. Came into the created order. Not as a star or the moon. Not as any of the animals nor as an angelic being. But he took on flesh and became man.

We live in an age with a dignity of man is under attack. We had talked about the war on children. There's also a war on man. What CS Lewis called an insane attempt to abolish man in the abolition of man.

It's a bizarre suicide cult that we see in our culture today. Where man is trying to make man? Extinct. First he does so by saying that we are equal to the animals. That we are no different than an animal or a tree.

That man is not seen as created in the image of God the crown of creation but rather a giant cosmic mistake the end results of millions of years of mistakes. There is no more dignity in man than there is in any other cosmic mistake over these supposed millions of years.

And not only that the very nature of man is under attack. He created us male and female. They say that's no more. There is no male. There is no female. There is no inherent dignity in man. Man is a cosmic loser.

And we can even see this with these nutjobs that are pushing AI. Their modern Tower of Babel project the seed machines as the crowning achievement to them. That man is the measure of all things. They say well.

This is going to be much greater than evolution because evolution had a blind Processes a bunch of mistakes that created us, but we are doing this. Intentionally he who sits in the heavens laughs the people plot in vain and imagine a Imagine a vain thing how preposterous with every birth of a child.

Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants with every praising baby in this congregation in Congregations throughout the world. God puts his enemies to flight and we have been given Dominion. Man is a Dominion taking creature.

Our first parents were given the Dominion command. Be fruitful and multiply fill the earth and subdue it have Dominion. Over the fish of the sea over the birds of the air over every living thing that moves on the earth.

We see this in our in our day. We can look at the Chinese communists. They believe in Dominion. They're taking it. We could look in the Muslim world. They believe in Dominion. They're taking it. And the secular humanists of our day believe in Dominion as well.

They're taking it. It seems that the only group that has any concerns or trepidation about taking Dominion our Bible believing evangelical Christians. They refuse to take Dominion. And it's very odd that they do.

We know that this verse these verses here are applied to the Lord Jesus Christ the writer of the book of Hebrews Writes this in Hebrews 2 5 through 10. For he has not put the world to come the world that we live in of which we speak in subjection to angels but one testified in a certain place saying What is man that you were mindful of him and 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 above the works of your hands. You have put all things under subject all things in subject in under his feet.

For in that he put all in subjection under him he led nothing that is not put under him. But we do not yet see all things put under him. The writer of Hebrews wrote this Many many years ago and we would agree.

We don't see all things put under subjection under the Lord Jesus Christ. But we know that he will reign in heaven until they all are. He continues but we do see Jesus Who is 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 death for everyone for it is fitting for him for whom all.

Things.

For whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation. Perfect through sufferings. He is the man. He is the second Adam. He is the one who has fulfilled the covenant of works.

He is the one who has earned true dominion. He is the one that brings many sons to glory that's us. He is the captain of our salvation and we should emulate him. And then he said This he's given us orders to do so.

This is another way of saying this is all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and You shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.

We have a Command to take dominion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ not an ungodly dominion in our own name but in the name of Christ for after all God has also highly exalted him and given him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of Those in heaven and of those on earth and those under the earth and That every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord To the glory of God the Father.

Well that brings us to our last verse. Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth the psalm ends where it began? The book ends of the glory of God. Oh Lord our Lord, how excellent is your name?

We have considered that the name is his character is bound up in that name. That there is only one name under heaven by which we must be saved the Lord Jesus Christ that his name implies dominion and that we should go and take dominion.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. And When we reflect on these things that we have considered May this be our constant refrain in all that we do in all that we think or say as we raise our families as we work at our jobs as we minister here in this local community or in the communities around our homes as We minister in this congregation.

That.

Everything would have this resounding in our ears to our actions. Oh Lord our Lord How excellent is your name in all the earth? Let us pray. Our gracious God and Father we thank you. Oh Lord that you have given us this name.

You have placed your name upon us and that we are called by your name. We pray father that we would emulate our elder brother in the Lord Jesus Christ and Do the works that you have given us to do as Jesus once said my father works and I work.

Lord, let us go forth in the labors that you have given us to do. Knowing that you have empowered us to do that and may us hear that joyful refrain of those babes and nursing infants. For in that you have ordained strength to defeat your enemies.

We ask you Oh Lord to give us the grace to trust in you and with our whole heart and lean not on our own. Understanding then all our ways you would direct our steps. We ask this in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.