Sermon in Seattle 05.01.2014

Continuing our services, this afternoon we'll read one of the Psalms, Psalm 8, with this prayer that the Heavenly Father would yet bless our gathering on this day of grace. And we read this in Jesus' name.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider Thy heavens, the work 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 honor.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, 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. Amen.

It was kind of a short psalm. But it's also one of those Bible portions or texts that in some way relates to the close of a year and the beginning of a new year. And I think the psalmist also thought about God's creation, even though certainly the writer of this psalm, who most likely was David, it says it's a psalm of David. Sometimes that means it's one that David wrote or one for David. But nonetheless, the writer certainly thought about God's creation and the wonderful works that God has done.

And even when we think about the close of a year and the beginning of a new year, in some ways it's remarkable or it's good to take note of how God has ordained things so that even our lives and how we measure time are built on that which God created. A year, for example, is based on the movement of the heavens that God has established from the very beginning.

And I think it's also intended by God that there would be a time in our lives, which is a fairly regular occurrence, in this case every year, where we in some ways reflect on the year that's gone by and then also think about the year that's before us.

We also, I think, as children of God, have a, you might say, a primary prayer in our heart that whatever happens in this time as we look forward would be such that we could remain believing as a little child.

I've thought, and I think probably at least the parents and the older ones here have probably had the same thought about the close of a year and the beginning of a new year. And in this way that when we look at it, probably in the greater sense, it's probably a very good thing that we don't know what's going to happen in the next, say, year or in the future.

Sometimes we'd like to have a glimpse into the future. What's going to happen? And we can't help wondering about that. It's certainly not a bad thought. But God, being omniscient, all-knowing, all-seeing, in His great wisdom knew that it was better that we don't know.

Certainly, we can be happy in looking forward to the new year. Especially, this is a child of God, that our most heartfelt prayer, the closest prayer to the heart of a child of God is that God would protect the weary traveler on the way to heaven.

Then there's all kinds of other hopes and wishes. For example, we hope for health and happiness. And we naturally, in a normal sense, we strive to get ahead in life. And in many ways, we'd have to say that we're given a zest for life. It's part of being human. We want to live.

There aren't too many that, although there are a few, that really want life to come to a screeching halt very soon. Especially the younger, their lives are before them. They have hopes and prayers and aspirations that God will give a long life.

There's even some Christian songs where we sing about that. We think about our parents and so forth, that God would give them long life. And it's a good prayer. But we also hold this in our hearts, that we leave it in the hands of the Heavenly Father. He knows best, even though a lot of times we think we do.

We're so fortunate, especially as His children, that He does know the best. And He can guide the footsteps of a child of God.

When the psalm writer opened this psalm, he also, you probably maybe noticed, if you were listening, that he closed the psalm in the same way that he opened it. With the same phraseology we could say, it says, O Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth, who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. And the last verse, he says, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth.

There is another, I think, key point that comes through the heart of the psalm writer, which we know through faith is God's holy word. And that is that the psalm writer, in a very basic, but yet in a very clear way, describes the nature of God's kingdom on earth.

And he does it in a very simple way. What is the nature of God's kingdom on earth? Is it a powerful, earthly castle that could withstand the attacks and the onslaughts of the enemy in a temporal sense? Well, no, he doesn't describe God's kingdom that way.

Even though we know there's no kingdom that could be so powerful as God's kingdom. He describes it in a rather, in some ways would be kind of a shocking way, but yet to a child of God in a familiar and a comforting way.

He says, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings. A nursing infant is what he's talking about. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God has that ordained strength because of Thine enemies.

Why would it be such a way? Well, God certainly knows the onslaughts of the enemy of the soul. We've heard many times, been reminded many times in God's kingdom, how especially as it seems the end of time draws near, certainly nearer than ever before, how the enemy of souls himself knows that he doesn't have much time.

And one time, to give an idea about the work of the enemy of the souls, there was a certain man who often tried to take, in a sense, a kind of a positive look on everything, but he kind of teased him a little bit. He said, well, I bet you can't say anything about the devil.

He said, well, there's one thing about him. He's a diligent worker. He is. And the Bible makes clear that as the time of the end of all things approaches, he works even quicker and more diligently.

To what? Mainly to entice those to follow him and thereby lose the gift and the promise of eternal life.

David, or the psalmist here, wanted to make sure that it's not this kind of a kingdom where those that are powerful in a temporal or earthly sense dominate. But yet, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings is that word preached.

There's another portion in the Bible, this time in the New Testament, and it was written by Apostle Paul, whom you know and perhaps remember that he's often called the apostle or the one who brought the living gospel to Gentile people, to pagans.

And he had a lot of work to do in this life. But Paul, in his letter to the Romans, described about faith, and we heard about it this morning from our dear brother when he spoke about Paul's own conversion.

That it wasn't through any works or merits that Paul was called because he wasn't working in the right direction as an unbeliever. He was working completely in the wrong direction.

And it wasn't out of any powerful prayer of his own that he was called, but he was called and was able to hear the living word.

The psalm writer alludes to the same basic Christian doctrine or concept which is so elementary to living faith, and that is it is a preached word. He says, out of the mouth of babes.

What kind of a word do you suppose that the psalm writer is thinking about? He's thinking about and writing about the preached word of the living gospel and God's grace, God's mercy, and God's love.

It doesn't come through any bolt of lightning where all of a sudden one, by that physical action or by some hidden prayer, finds God's kingdom.

Jesus himself instructed, seek ye first the kingdom. Where is it? Seek it. Then all these other things will be added unto you.

And they asked Jesus, where is it? When is this kingdom going to come? And Jesus said, neither here nor there. The kingdom of God is in your midst. It was already there.

But through blinded eyes of unbelief, even the most religious of the time, couldn't see the little kingdom. Couldn't see that it was the weak and the poor who were called.

There was another time in Christ's life that also, I think, clearly shows the nature of God's kingdom and those called. And it was when Jesus, near the very end of his life, the last time that he entered the city of Jerusalem.

And perhaps you remember, he entered on the back of a little donkey in a lowly way. It wasn't with a lot of fanfare and earthly show that he entered. But it was in a lowly way.

And as he had entered the city and he'd gone toward the area of the temple, there were some kids, little kids, and they were really happy.

And I think you probably remember what they were saying. And they were singing really loud. Loud children's voices. So loud that it irritated.

It irritated the self-righteous scribes and priests. They were within earshot of the soul. They were watching Jesus as he had entered the city.

And what they were singing and saying really loud was, Hosanna, the son of David.

And of course, the priest didn't like it at all. But Jesus, if we can find that part, I think it's in Matthew where he explains about the children that were singing to him.

It says here, and he left them and went out of the city. Let's see, chapter 21, I believe.

It says here, and when Jesus went into the temple, cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple over through the tables and the money changers as his entry into Jerusalem, those that sold the doves.

It says, it is written, Jesus said to them, it's written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

And he was speaking to these self-righteous.

And then it says, who came to Jesus when they heard this? Was it the high and mighty? Well, it was actually just the opposite.

And the blind and the lame came to him to the temple. And he healed them.

And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were sore displeased.

They didn't like the voice of children singing to this man, Jesus.

And he said unto them, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus said to them, Yea, have ye never read out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.

Jesus quoted the same psalm that we read. He fulfilled at that moment even a prophecy that was made from around a thousand years earlier where those few who were believing through the ages were saved by faith.

In those days, the belief in this promise that God would send a Savior. They believed in that promised word.

And we who now travel in the time of the new covenant are also saved and saved only by faith in that fulfilled promise.

The psalmist also then wrote this part about considering the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon, the stars.

And when we think about that, how God is ordained that even the time that we live, our temporal existence is irremovably tied to God's creation of the planets and the earth, the sun, and all that one day we don't know when will come to an end.

But the psalmist thought about this and considered God's magnificent creation.

Of course, we know even more about it, far more than the psalm writer did in a technical sense. He sent missions into space and so forth and unbelievably miraculous images and so forth and the vastness of God's creation.

We have a very clear picture compared to what they did. But nonetheless, we know so very little we could say we know next to nothing about God's creation.

We don't even know how He did it other than with His word.

And the child of God in a general sense has to say that's enough for me. God has created it with His word.

We look at the creation story. What is it? A few paragraphs? About God's marvelous creation that we have documented, so to speak, in Holy Scriptures.

Not much. Why? Because God knew we didn't need much.

It's tied even to this matter of truth that we're saved by faith and by faith alone. Not works. Certainly not merits.

Because the child of God like the blind and the lame would have said they didn't have anything to offer. They knew they didn't have the kind of wisdom that would be required to take one to eternal life.

Even though when you look at virtually every civilization that's ever existed, anthropologists would remark well they've had some sort of religion created by man's consciousness or some other aspects that they may have learned from their ancestors and so on and so forth.

It's part of the human condition.

And in fact we look at what God says about man and the creature that He created what does He say? He says that man is created in God's image.

It's hard to imagine and we would have to say we can't even with our own minds begin to conceive or comprehend to any significant extent at all what that means created in God's image other than this of all the creatures who is it? Which one communicates with their creator?

God's crown of creation mankind and then in the mouth of those who believe is given that word the word of reconciliation where man who had fallen into sin and come unto death man was created as an eternal being in the garden the fallen to sin which God certainly foreknew and allowed to happen changed that to where now man became mortal and would face temporal death death but remember God created man to be an eternal being an undying soul.

God wants that man would come under repentance and He established through His Lord Jesus Christ that forgiveness of man's sin which he inherited in the fall would all be taken care of.

And in this psalm actually the writer speaks about this he says what is man that Thou—he's speaking to God—that God would even take notice of him.

Think of the marvelous creation of the heavens it's beyond our comprehension so what is man? Well the psalm writer asked that what is man that Thou art mindful of him but then he also writes about something else and he's writing about that promised savior and the son of man that Thou visited him.

Who do we know that we call the son of man? Jesus himself was persecuted because he made himself equal with God.

Well he was, he was God's son. He's the second person of the Godhead there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Well they wanted to stone Jesus for that but yet Jesus here or Jesus later on quoted also this point of scripture and he it says here the psalm writer for Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.

Now why would he write that? Well Jesus faced not only temptations in this life we know he did not just the temptation where he was in the wilderness for 40 days we know he was tempted in all things but without sin.

He knew the human condition he knew your trials and your tribulations he knew them because he lived as a human but yet he lived without sin or blemish and fulfilled the entire law.

And not only that was in some ways a little lower than the angels he faced the death of the cross suffering not for what he did he didn't do anything wrong but for you and for me dear listener.

It says Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands Thou hast put all things under his feet.

He says all power is given unto me that's what Jesus said go therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

And then he said something else which I've often found very comforting even though a lot of times we see a darkening world in some ways can kind of take up a negative view if we let us but when we think about a child of God we have much that we can say is positive that we can be joyful and happy in this life because Jesus made this promise as the last thing he said as he was ascending to heaven I am with you always even unto the end of the world.

He will protect his kingdom and his people even though we feel its onslaughts we know many of our brothers and sisters in other locations especially face onslaughts right now in our time where God's kingdom is ridiculed and it's not just in the general sense the kingdom it hits a personal level individual travelers that are ridiculed because of their faith.

But we can take great joy and comfort because in many ways that itself fulfills scripture Jesus said that if he is persecuted and he is mistreated wouldn't it be the same for those who are his followers and so it is.

But we can be happy about this he says all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O Lord our Lord how excellent.

And in many ways David King David and many of the writers of the Psalms in some ways are also called prophets.

King David was considered in some ways to be a prophet because many of the some of the things that he wrote foretold that which was going to happen did David fully understand all his prophecies certainly not but he wrote what became God's word and told that story.

An example here it says how these things obey even the voice of God and God's will the fowls of the air the fish of the sea.

Can you think of any examples maybe even the Sunday school students who were here that had to do with the fish of the sea?

Well I can think of one there was a time in Jesus' life where this experience shows that even the very nature must obey God and his word and then the case of this Jesus and his word because they came to Jesus you might say a quandary or a disagreement or a battle in their society in Israel at that time over now do we obey what we think are the priests and the Jews or do we obey Roman law.

The Romans were ruling Israel there had been a number of rebellions bloody rebellions against the Romans some were quashed by the Romans or other enemies other ones the Romans won and ultimately you know I'm sure that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans and it does not exist up to this day gone.

Well the question was there and then came to Jesus are you going to pay tribute to Caesar because on the one hand if you paid tribute to Caesar you'd have some self-righteous that were saying hey you know you're buckling to the Roman authorities we need to battle against them and on the other side there was those that said hey look if we don't go by the Roman rule law they'll totally destroy which ultimately they did.

So they came to Jesus and said do you pay taxes to Rome or not that question was asked at least twice to Christ one of them was by unbelievers who were trying to catch him in his words say well either way he answers this we can get him because if he says Rome then we can tell the self-righteous he thinks we should buckle to Rome and if he says no you shouldn't then you could say the Romans he is going against your law you need to put him to death they thought they could.

That was where Jesus took the coin and said tell me whose picture is on this coin Caesar's and he said render unto Caesar those things that are Caesar's unto God those things that are God's.

They marveled.

There was another time when one of his own followers asked him about paying taxes tribute money he started thinking should we pay taxes tribute to Caesar it was if I recall it was Peter.

What did Jesus say perhaps you remember it relates to the prophecy portion in a sense in the scripture that we read it says here that the fowls of the air the fish of the sea are under his command all nature is under his command.

What did Jesus say to Peter if it was Peter I think it was Peter that came go down to the sea no doubt it was the sea of Galilee where there was a large lake it says be a fish and in the fish mouth is a coin pay the coin for your taxes or your tribute and for money it was nothing short of a great miracle but it shows that even the very nature itself is under his command.

And so now as we face our new year and we can face it joyfully and happily because we remember that the most precious prayer in the heart of a child of God is that we can remain believing and that when life ends through the merits of Christ Jesus his sacrificial work by living faith and that promise we would be heaven acceptable.

It's easy to lose sight for us because we want life it's in us but yet we accept God's most basic promise and most loving and comforting promise is that his own people one day will be taken by God's grace and God's love to the heavenly home.

Even today here as we close services on this first Sunday of the new year you can yet believe that same word that's preached even from the mouths of little children this comforting word that all sins and shortcomings are forgiven in the name and blood of Jesus and peace freedom and joy.

That's a good way to begin the new year and to travel moment by moment in the new year and the future that God in his grace grants us and I need to hear the same gospel can you preach the gospel to me I desire to believe moment by moment with you dear fellow travelers in Jesus name Amen.

And let's close in the Lord's benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen.