Will you turn with me please to the eighth psalm, Psalm number eight, for our scripture reading this morning. Good to be with you again. Lovely to renew fellowship with God's people here in this little hall. So thank you, and the Lord bless you richly indeed. Psalm number eight, verse one. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength, because of thine enemies that thou mayest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is mine? That thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thy mates tend to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, all the beasts of the field, and the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. And we know that the good Lord will add a blessing to the reading of his own precious word, for his dear name's sake. Psalm 2 is a messianic psalm. Psalm 8 is next in line as a messianic psalm. And the reason we know that it's a messianic psalm is because the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews quotes it in relation to our Lord Jesus Christ. For he saith in verse five of chapter two of Hebrews, For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak? But one in a certain place testifieth, saying, What is man? That thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands. thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he hath put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see, not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. So here the psalmist is writing by inspiration of the Spirit, and he's looking down the ages to that moment when the Son of God would come into the world, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of son. And through that work of the cross, he settled the work of redemption. God raised him from the dead, set him at his own right hand as an exalted prince and saviour. For a little while, God had made his son a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. And through the work of the cross and the joy that was sent before him, he endured the cross for the glory of bringing many sons home to the Father's house." Well, what a text, what a little psalm this is, and note how it begins. It begins with a display of God's power and God's glory. It really exalts the greatness of God as creator. And he commences by saying, oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. And I want you to notice in particular how the name Lord is spelled. The first, it is spelled in the capital case, L-O-R-D, and that means Jehovah. That's the I am, not I am. The second Lord is spelled with one capital L and O-R-D in the lowercase, and that means the Sovereign One. Jehovah is sovereign Lord. And you know something? He's our Lord. And this is the glory of it. And this is the preciousness of it. That the Lord is our Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. And soon we come to see that the Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. God hath exalted his name, or his word, even above his name. But his name is excellent in all the earth. And his name is exalted above the heavens. And how expressive is that name. because the Lord is our Lord, and that makes it very personal this morning. And I just want you to take a moment and say, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation, so wonderfully free. So here's how the psalm begins. Oh Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, above the heavens. On this Lord, this great Creator Lord, He's ours. He belongs to us. He's mine. I am mine, beloved. On my beloved, as mine. But not only that, I want you to see how the psalm concludes. For it concludes how it began. In verse 9, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. And here we see the distinctiveness of God's excellence. He's the Lord. He's the I Am. He's the Sovereign One. And that makes Him the All-Powerful One. All power in heaven and on earth belongs to Him. And this is why He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think. He is the all-powerful One, and this all-powerful One, He's our God, and that's personal. But He's not only the powerful One, not only is He our personal Lord, but this makes Him worthy of our praise. He's the praiseworthy One. His name is excellent. in all the earth. There are many great names in the earth today, but there's no earthly name that can ever outshine the name of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, for God himself has given to him a name that's above every name. that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Beloved, when we think of the great names of the earth, there is not one of them that we would bow before and worship and own him as Savior and Lord, is there? Now we look above the earth on the great names of the earth and we look heavenward and we see Jesus high and lifted up and his glory fills heaven above. And we bow at his feet and we confess that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Here our faith rests in the living one. Men speak today and they say, who was Charlemagne? Who was Napoleon? Who was the great ones of the earth? But when they speak of the great ones of the earth, they speak in past tense. But when men speak of Jesus, they say, who is Jesus? He is Lord. and he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And we meekly and we humbly bow at his feet and we worship him as Lord of all. So you can see the display in verse one of God's glory and God's power and God's majesty. His name is excellent in all the earth. His glory is exalted above the heavens. His name is expressive of who He is. He's the I Am, He's the Sovereign One, He's the All-Powerful One, and He's our God. And here we stand, so help us God, we can do no other. It's Christ and Christ alone. And we see the distinctiveness of His excellence He's the Lord our God. And His excellent name is throughout the whole earth. And we bow before this powerful one, this personal God, because He is worthy of our praise. But we want to go a little bit further now. Not only do I want you to see the display of God's glory and majesty, and the distinctiveness of God's excellence. He is God, and He is God alone. Look at Psalm 66 please, just for a moment, and the first two verses. Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor of His name. Make His praise glorious. Say unto God, how terrible are thy works, and through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves to thee. All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee. They shall sing to thy name, Selah. Stop and think about that. Because of the excellence of his name, because of who he is, Let us make a joyful noise unto our God. Let us sing forth the honor of His name. Friends, never be ashamed of Jesus, not dear friend of ours. Make His name glorious. Make His praise glorious. Make known His works, and the works shows the awesomeness and the greatness of whom He is. And when He comes to rule and to reign, when His millennial reign comes, all the earth shall worship Him. They don't worship Him now because our Lord has rejected. And you and I know that in these days, the teachings of God's Word are being set to the side. As we look at our nation, what do we see among the people? Confusion. What is there coming from the pulpits of our land today? A whitewash. We no longer contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. And we're not preaching the old-fashioned gospel of the cross. My dear friend, there's confusion in our lawn. There is compromise in our pulpits. And friends, how very few are contending earnestly for the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints. O let us pin our colours to the mast, let us stand up and be counted, and let us sound forth the glory of his name, because his name is glorious and he is worthy of our praise. He is the only God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given amongst man, whereby we must be saved. And thank God He is able to save to the uttermost. All that will come unto God through faith in Him. Now I want you to think thirdly with me of the diminutiveness of sinful man. And how the psalmist brings this out. He shows forth the display of God's glory and majesty. He shows forth the distinctiveness of God's excellence and God's power and is worthy of praise. But then he turns to look at himself. The psalmist turns and he begins to look in one. And he says, when I consider the heavens, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, and thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep, yea, and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field. You see, man, when he was first created, was the crown of God's creation. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The second man is the Lord from heaven. It's the Lord of glory who humbled himself to come into this world and took upon him human nature. And he brought perfect, sinless human nature into union with his deity, that he might go to the cross, that he might reveal God to men and women and thereby redeem precious souls to himself. To the first man, dominion was given. But sadly, he sinned and he fell and he lost that dominion. And the ruler of this world is Satan. He's the God of this world. And he's going about seeking whom he may devour, leading men and women astray, leading them into the blackness and the darkness of sin, that their souls may be blighted and finally doomed and damned. But I want you to think of the diminutiveness of man. In comparison with God's heavens, what is frail on little man? What a vast universe it is that we look up and see and realize that that panorama of ponderous planets, that those far-reaching mighty creations are the works of God's fingers. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. And a believer can muse upon this. and the believer as he surveys the heavens above. It is difficult for our finite minds to grasp their immensity and their majesty. Take for example, Bethelgeuse in the constellation of Orion is so huge Now listen to this. This star, Betelgeuse, it is so huge that the orbit of the Earth around the Sun could be contained inside it. That's something of the immensity of this one star. The beauty and the grandeur The precision of the creation displays the creator's eternal power on Godhead. As we look up, we know there's a God. And we are assured of his eternal power on Godhead. And the creation is a witness. that there is a living God and we have a conscience within us that tells us that there is a God. Two witnesses, the conscience within and the creation around us testify to the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator. But the unsaved in this age This present evil age seems to have become more and more blinded by the God of this age so that they lose sight of that which speaks of the glory and the omnipotence as well as the infinite intelligence of the Creator. How few look up and consider the heavens, for Satan makes them look down to the earth, till they become like nabuchadnezzar, like the beasts of the field, grumbling in the mire and in the dust. and blamed it to their deep, dire, desperate need, and to the fact that God loves them. And He sent His Son to be the light of the world, and the light of the world is Jesus. And if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then the precious blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. O Beloved, Isn't it wonderful to be saved? The sad thing is that the first Adam was made in the image and in the likeness of God. And sadly he failed the original command or mandate that was given to him. He fell. But thank God for the second man, the last Adam. And he came to the fight. And that man that came to the fight is a wonderful man. And as Hebrews 2 says, but we see Jesus, that's who we see. Oh, lift up your eyes, beloved, for we see Jesus high and lifted up. And we are the children of God through faith in him. And positionally, you and I are seated in heavenly places in Christ, so that we can sing near, so very near to God, nearer we could not be, for in the person of God's Son, we are as near as He. Christ is seated at the right hand of the Majesty and I, and we believers are in Him, and that's how close we are to our God. And when we draw nigh to our God, we come to him in the name of Christ by that new and living way which he consecrated for us through the unveil of his flesh. Draw nigh to God, and God will draw nigh unto you. Something I want to point out here. that the first Adam failed. And sadly, his posterity hath sadly failed in him. For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is appointed unto man once to die. Friend, there's biblical proof for you. You will die and I will die. And the greatest skeptics in this world will die. Atheists and humanists, the evolutionists, who deny the great creatorial power of God, they'll all die one day and they'll face the creator that they have denied. Yes. For all men will give an account one day to Him. And God will bring them before Him to give an account. But this is what I want you to see, beloved. The first Adam failed. The second man, he's the Lord from glory. The first man, Adam, he's of the earth, he's earthy. But the second man is from heaven, he's the Lord of Glory. But I want you to notice now, he's the last Adam. And please, please, please, do not call him the second Adam. Because if you call him the second Adam, it means that there could be another Adam after him, and that will never be. He's the last Adam. The first Adam failed. The last Adam, he regained what Adam lost. The first Adam lost. He lost paradise. But the last Adam, through his death, burial and resurrection, he hath regained everything that the first Adam lost and more. He hath obtained for us the glory of God. So friend, there will never be another Adam. Jesus Christ was the last Adam. You see, there are only two creations in this world. There's the old creation, fallen creation on that Adam, and there's the new creation in Christ. And that's why you must be born again. And if any man be in Christ, in the last Adam, the second man, if any man be in Christ, he is what? He's a new creation. All things that belong to the old fallen nature are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. Beloved, as I conclude, Let me say that this is a great psalm and it is well worth a study. So precious is this psalm that even our Lord Jesus Christ himself quoted from it. In Matthew 11, On verse 25, we read this. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Beloved, listen. The unsaved man, the natural man, he doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. But Christ said that those who become as little children, who have the faith of little children, will receive the great truths of God's Word into their hearts. They will become a new creation. They will become wise and prudent. Even as the Scriptures declare, thou hast revealed these things unto babes. You see, we're all the children of God through faith in Christ. And it's only the Spirit of God can reveal these wonderful spiritual truths to our hearts. Look at chapter 25 of Matthew and verse number 11. 25 on verse 11, please. Sorry, I'll give you the, it's Matthew 21. Matthew 21 on verse number 15. And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children, now I want you to note that, the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David. They, that is the chief priests and the scribes, they were so displeased. And they said unto Jesus, Hearest thou not what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yea, have ye never read out of the eighth psalm? Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. You see, that makes it a messianic psalm. The Lord Jesus quoted from it. The writer to the Hebrews quoted from it. Paul quoted from it. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 on verse 27 from Ephesians 1 verses 20 to 22 you see Our Lord Jesus Christ, the second man, the last Adam, for a little time was made lower than the angels with a view to the suffering and death. And this speaks of the incarnation and the crucifixion of Christ. But we also see him crowned with glory and honor. And that speaks of resurrection and glorification. And that tells me that the crown that the first Adam lost is now recovered in the second man and the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, all things are under his feet. And you know what that is? That's prophecy. Because we see not yet all things under his feet. But you know the first thing that's going to happen is that the Savior is going to come to the earth and he's going to take his church out. There will be a time of great tribulation for the Jews. The time of Jacob's trouble. And what a moment it will be. Friends, I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And we read in verse number 27. For he hath put all things under his feet, But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all and in all. At this present time, our Lord is now rejected, and by the word of his own, we don't see all things put under his feet, because men are doing what they like. And the God of this world, the devil, is blinding the minds of many, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine onto them, and they should believe. But the day is coming when Christ will come back to this earth in great power and great glory. Then will he put all things under his feet. And then shall all the earth bring their praise and their worship to his feet. Look at Ephesians, please, on chapter one. Ephesians, Galatians, Ephesians, on chapter 1, verses 20 and 22. And what is the exceeding, verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and give him to be the head of all things, to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. We might well conclude with the psalmist and repeat the inscription of praise, O Lord, Our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. Let's praise and worship Him. Dear Lord, we thank Thee that Thou hast a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead. And he is Lord. Bless your dear people this morning. And Lord, as we leave the hall and we make our homeward journey, take each one there in safety. And we pray that you will separate us in the richness of thy grace, mercy, and peace for our Savior's sake. Amen. Amen.