What a beautiful name!

Sovereignty of God

We struggle with the truth, and our pride despises the fact that God is in absolute control of everything.

Setting

Matthew 21:16, Jesus makes the claim of being the Majestic God of Psalm 8.

Hebrews 2:6-8, Christ is the Son of Man of Psalm 8, who has been given authoritative rule over all the universe.

Christ is the principle subject of Psalm 8.

Study Objectives

To realize the disaster and devastation of sin.

To relish that God loves and cares for sinners.

To rest confidently in Christ to be reconciled to God, and restored to proper standing with God.

Supposition

Psalm 8 sets before us a doctrinal discourse on the redeeming work of Christ in restoring the dignity that was lost in humanity.

I. Stateliness of Man, Psalm 8:5-8; Genesis 1:26-27.

Man is created in the image of God, assigned to be representative and manager of God’s creation, Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Fundamentally its about making us into people who glorify God and imitate Him in all things.

God imposes a moral obligation on man, Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Man is now morally responsible to his maker, and held accountable.

Man fails miserably, Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Man now is indebted to God for not fulfilling his moral obligation; man owes God.

Man has acted outside the jurisdiction of God’s defined law; man is a criminal, transgressing the law of God.

Enmity now exists between man and God, man is hostile towards God.

Sovereignty of God, Psalm 8:1-2.

God provided everything for both man and beast needed to enjoy His goodness, Genesis 1:29-30; Genesis 2:18-19.

As God’s creatures, we are absolutely and universally dependent on God; the whole entire individual, as well as all of humanity. God has absolute claim to our lives, “O LORD, our Lord…” (master; One who exercises total control).

God is the first cause of all good.

God provides for every need and mediates the proving of it.

All that is good is found in God, “How majestic is your name…”

God’s goodness is for the intent of leading people to repentance, Romans 2:4.

Man despises God’s goodness because his heart is hardened towards God, Romans 2:5 “5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,”

Man is without excuse! Romans 1:20, There is sufficient evidence to the greatness and goodness of God, Psalms 8:1-2. God is above His creation and independent of His creation. God is unknowable and unknown, and yet, at the same time, seeks to reveal Himself to His creation; this is a great paradox.

God leaves Himself a witness in the big things he does, Psalm 8:1, Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

God leaves Himself a witness in the little things, Psalm 8:2. GOD HAS HIS PEOPLE!

God is not out of reach, Psalm 8:1, His glory is higher than heavens, Psalm 8:2, but even a child can reach God, cf. Matthew 18:1-4 whosoever shall humble himself as this little child…

God uses little things, ordinary, weak, frail, insignificant little things to witness to His greatness, cf. 1 Corinthians 1:25-29.

Man intentionally commit Cosmic Treason against God, Psalm 8:2b. (“Cosmic Treason” R C Sproul entitles the “Fall of Man”)

Man is placed within the cosmic framework, God has sufficient witness to His glory and greatness, and man decides not to give any thought to God, Romans 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.

Man commits cosmic treason against a Sovereign God! Genesis 6:5-6.

Man now creates for himself a dysfunctional world. God’s name is not being glorified in all the earth, Psalm 8:1, glory has been traded for an imprisoned existence? Romans 1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, to be free to do what they want.

Man commits treason, the slightest sin violates God’s holiness, righteousness, and ultimately, His glory.

Sin is an atrocity against a Holy God, Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight.

Defiance against cosmic authority, an insult to holiness, defacing of glory turning our backs on God, we’ve turned our faces towards the culture and society, we reflect the wrong image, Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

There must be a reconciling between man and Creator. Change must happen! My attitude towards God must go from defiance to faith, God’s attitude towards me must change from wrath to mercy. But these are not the same!

I need God’s help to change, but God does not need mine; Salvation is a sovereign move of God!

My change must come from outside of myself. God’s change comes from within Himself.

God chooses to stop being against me and being for me, John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son… Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

While still moral enemies of God, God initiates change, “we were reconciled to God,” the first change is God. While we were still like that, God gave Jesus to bear the sin and guilt of humanity.

III. Seeking Savior, Psalm 8:3-4.

We tend to believe or make ourselves believe, the world revolves around me. We often view our lives disproportionately; BIG ME and little world!

Light travels 186,000 miles per second, and there are 31.5 million seconds in a year, so light travels roughly six trillion miles in a single year!

The Sun accounts for 99.9% of all the matter in our Solar System. In fact, you could fit 1.3 million Earths inside our Sun, the largest stars discovered have a radius up to 2000 times that of our sun.

The finger work of God, a seeming fairly easy project for God; child’s play, snap or point His finger, and it is done.

This first thing we must come to terms with, man is insignificant in the vast framework of creation.

God is majestic, Psalm 8:1.

His glory is above the heavens, Psalm 8:1.

Man is little, very small, punny, insignificant. How small we are in this cosmic framework, James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

God’s transcendence also involves the unapproachableness of God, He is too holy and righteous for man to come near in our sinful state.

God is left with no choice than to turn His face away from man!

God has no choice to keep Himself away from that with is unholy!

I must consider that the creating God is also a caring God. God cares more about people than planets. God cares more about souls than He does stars. God cares more about us than He does the universe.

What is man? Nothing deserving of God's, the majestic God, the God of such splendor, the God whose glory is higher than the heavens, we are nothing deserving of His attention or affection.

“Man,” enosh, we are just human beings; weak, frail, little, shallow, insignificant, punny.

“Son of man,” ben àdam, no definite article “son of Adam,” God knows I am weak, God knows that I am a sinner, Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

The creating God is a caring God, and comes to where man is, Psalm 8:4. What is man that God would come to me?

God’s love for His creation is so great that we see His immanence overshadowing His transcendence.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us… Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why hast though forsaken me?

Jesus Christ, as He breaks through the barrier of sin and separation to draw all mankind back into a close, personal relationship.

God chooses to draw near into a more intimate relationship with His creatures who have been redeemed.

“Visit” means, “to seek and to look for,” Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Not forgetting, not leaving me where I am, not passing me over; visitation on purpose. He is not coming in anger, but a visitation of grace, Mark 10:45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus comes to pay the debt we owe, the moral failure of an imposed moral obligation. Ransom from sin’s enslavement! Jesus pays us out of debt!

Definite article, “The Son of Man,” without the definite article, just weak, little, insignificant, sinful man. “The” makes all the difference, not just a man, the Man Christ Jesus! 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

We must get past the human cause of Christ’s death to the divine purpose. Who crucified Jesus? God did! Why did Jesus suffer? The central issue is not the cause, but the purpose, Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,

IV. Standing Revived, Psalm 8:5-8.

Man is not out of sight, out of mind. God sees us, knows us, cares for us, comes to us! Honor and glory, again bearing the image of God, dignity and responsibility reinstated; all in Christ Jesus!

Christ’s sovereignty as man, Hebrews 2:6-8.

Sovereignty of man reviewed, Psalm 8:5-8; Hebrews 2:5-8.

Man’s dignity and sovereignty originally intended for man, Hebrews 2:5.

Man’s destiny, to exist in close relationship to God, Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:6.

Man’s distinction representing God to the world, Psalm 8:5-8; Hebrews 2:7-8.

“Angels” is “God,” man made a little lower than God! “Angels,” is the Hebrew word, Elohim. (NASB gets it right).

Satan tempted Eve in the garden with the potential to being, not lower than God, but like God, Genesis 3:5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Honestly we have a problem with be “less”).

Sovereignty of man revoked, Hebrews 2:8c At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. Man is restricted by his own rebellion against God. Everything man tries to do in life, fails miserably. There is so much we cannot do. Man cannot even control himself.

Sovereignty of man revived, Hebrews 5:9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

In Jesus everything is restored! All is not lost!

Jesus is the second Adam, the representative of a new humanity who is saved, forgiven, reconciled, and restored to a place of dignity.

“Glory,” dignity reinstated, attribution of high status, denotes position; value, formally.

Conclusion

Psalm 8:9, what does God do? What has God already done? He has sent Christ to save us from sin and guilt. What happens? Looking to God again, by grace, our affections redirected, and the work begins once again conforming us to his likeness. David ends with the same high sound of God’s greatness. God is great in Creation, but God’s greater greatness is in the Cross of Jesus.

Galatians 1:4-5 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age (system), according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.