The Glory of the Gospel Made Flesh

GLORY OF THE GOSPEL (Made Flesh) Psalm 8:1-9 1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength because of Your enemies, to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have established, 4 what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You attend to him? 5  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7  all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever travels the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord,  how excellent is Your name in all the earth! Easter/Ressurection Sunday is right around the corner. We may not have a traditional service, but WE WILL have a a service! Last week we looked at death and how it WAS our greatest adversary. WAS? Yes, past tense. Because we serve a God who won VOCTORY over death! So while things look dark and bleak, DON’T focus on the now. Focus on the past and let that past give you the victory and the hope that you need today! That Past is Jesus And the Hope is Christs VICTORY over death on the cross. Can I tell you something? You were created in the image of God, but that was marred when sin entered this world. Genesis 1:26-27 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 air, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. BUT something happened Romans 5:12 Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, so death has spread to all men, because all have sinned. Sin entered the world and along with sin came death Romans 6:23 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What does it mean to human? We can look at the world and look at what scientist say, but lets look at what matter. Lets look at the Word of God! Psalm 8:1-9 1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength because of Your enemies, to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have established, 4 what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You attend to him? 5  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, 7  all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever travels the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Lord,  how excellent is Your name in all the earth! This Psalm is referencing the Genesis account of Creation. Genesis 1:28 28  “Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Man had dominion of EVRYTHING on the earth. So why were we created? Think back w/me. You were created in the image of God And being in the image of God, humankind was given dominion over the earth. So you (my friend) were created to be GODS image bearers in and to creation! In ancient days, a ruler would setup a statue of himself to “lay claim” to a kingdom that he had recently conquered. That statue is a testament saying, “I am the RULER of his land”. We see this today. Throughout most of the world, you must be pretty prominent to have your face featured on your country’s currency — but you don’t necessarily need to be dead. For example, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has appeared on coinage in more than 35 countries, including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, and South Africa. Queen Elizabeth says, “I AM YOUR QUEEN”!!!!! Personally, I think of King Nebuchadnezzar Shadrach Meshach Abednego A commentary had this to say, It was a common practice of the Assyrian kings to erect images of themselves with laudatory inscriptions in conquered cities, or provinces, as symbols of their dominion What am I getting at? This was the task that Adam & Eve had. They were that statue, but as a living, breathing person. They were to be that TESTAMENT to the fact that GOD Rules & Reigns over the earth And also to His Justice Mercy Goodness & Righteousness When creation looks at you, they need to see the CREATOR! But lets not forget the other half of it. You were made for WORSHIP! Psalm 8:9 9 O Lord, our Lord,  how excellent is Your name in all the earth! THAT IS WORHSIP! Today we sang God, you are good! I will always worship you You are faithful You are kind My hope is found and you and you ALONE! THAT IS WORSHIP! AW TOZER What is worship? Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven. You know what I think of? Raising hands. O NO Pastor, watch out! We don’t do that. (ITS HOW SOME EXPRESS THAT AWE) How Great is our God! WARREN WEIRSBE True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don't have to shop around for man-made substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of worship: For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose -- and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin. BUT hold on a sec. Lets look at Psalms 8 again 5  For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, IS THIS HOW YOU EXPERIENCE THE WORLD? DO YOU FEEL CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR? Probably feels more like GUILT & SHAME. What happens is that we are worshippers, but we worship the wrong things. Remember what Warren Wiersbe said: True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don't have to shop around for man-made substitutes. I don’t know about you, but I want to WORSHIP… BIBLICALLY! We were created as image bearers of God, but this was marred in the fall of man back in the garden. Think of a mirror. A mirror reflects whatever is put in front of it. If were to face God, we would reflect Him When we turn away from God, we face Darkness Sin Etc.. What we reflect is the opposite of what we were created for. You look at someone who says they are a CHRSITIAN, but they don’t act or live like it. Why? They aren’t facing the CREATOR; they are probably facing away from Him. Wait, this one guy I know is kind of good. And He is a Christian. Could it be that he is in between? Half God Half world Look at Hebrews 2. Look at how it references Psalms, but then it does something different. Hebrews 2:5-18 5 For it was not to the angels that He has subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 But someone in a certain place testified, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him,     or the son of man that You care for him? 7 You made him a little lower than the angels;     You crowned him with glory and honor,     and set him over the works of Your hands. 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet.”[a] For in subjecting all things under him, He left nothing that is not subjected to him. Yet now we do not see all things subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels to suffer death, crowned with glory and honor, so that He, by the grace of God, should experience death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of One. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying:“I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise to You.”[b] 13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.”[c]And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”[d] 14 So then, as the children share in flesh and blood, He likewise took part in these, so that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver those who through fear of death were throughout their lives subject to bondage. 16 For surely He does not help the angels, but He helps the seed of Abraham. 17 Therefore, in all things it was necessary for Him to be made like His brothers, so that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in the things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself suffered while being tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. The truths which once spoke of humanity were no applied to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the truly human being He is the full image of who we are called to be. He is crowned with GLORY AND HONOR All the works of Gods hand are under His rule. He is the image bearer of the invisible God. Colossians 1:15 15 He is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of every creature. Where we have failed to represent God, Christ SUCCEEDED! The image of God in us was broken when sin entered the world. Sure we can look upon Him, but it’s difficult to look upon Him WHOLLY! Our image is in need of repair. Hebrews 2:9 has the answer: 9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; Jesus wore our crown of thorns that we deserved. Not Him! He took His crown of glory and exchanged it for our crown of shame and guilt. We can now truly represent His image because it is Him living within us. In this time of trouble and uncertainty, think about this hymn Sing it at home with your family out loud in WORSHIP to our SAVIOUR O soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There's light for a look at the Savior And life more abundant and free Turn you eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there Over us sin no more hath dominion For more than conquerors we are And turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace His word shall not fail you, He promised Believe Him and all will be well Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell And turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace