Psalm 8, as we'll sing in Jesus is the sweetest name I know, it's also the most
excellent name I know, okay, as we get from this Psalm, Psalm 8 verse 1,
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth. The title of the sermon
this morning is how excellent is thy name, how excellent is thy name, and then
it keeps going there, who has set thy glory above the heavens. So what does it
mean to be excellent? When we talk about something being excellent, it comes from
the word Excel, alright, comes from something that excels which is to
surpass or to exceed, okay, to surpass or to exceed. Now the name of God surpasses
every other name on this earth, okay, it exceeds every other name. Now when we
think about God, we think about his deity, we think about his power, we think about
the God and the creator of all things, and of course God is most powerful being
out there, okay, more powerful than his own creation, there's nothing that can
come close to him, and yet he's not just God, but he also speaks of his name being
the most excellent, okay, his name, every part of God is special, okay, every part
of God is powerful, and one thing that we learn about the name of God that it is
the most excellent, that is the most powerful, that exceeds all things, and
yet as we'll see later on there's something that exceeds his name, okay,
we'll go into that a bit later, but notice that it says at the second part
of verse number one, it says who has set thy glory above the heavens, the glory
above the heavens, so obviously when we go out soul winning, when we explain to
people, we often turn to Romans 23, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God, alright, so obviously when we speak about our righteousness, usually
when we go soul winning, we go door to door preaching the gospel, we use that verse to
show them that their efforts of good works, their efforts to keep the
commandments, their efforts to be right with God comes short of anything, the
glory of man comes short next to the glory of God, which is perfection in
heaven, obviously we use that in a spiritual sense, and yet also literally,
okay, also literally God's glory is above the heavens, okay, his throne is above the
heavens, it's above our atmosphere, it's above what we call outer space, okay, just
physically to get and reach his glory is impossible, okay, so not just spiritually
speaking, but also literally and physically, his glory is above the
heavens, okay, it is something, you know, that we can't fully take in, when we
think about the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, remember on the mounts, and his
disciples freaked out, they were afraid of what to see, right, and that's just a
part of the glory of God, okay, we, you know, in our physical bodies, this is why
God needs to give us those resurrected bodies in the future, so we can be in the
presence of God and see him face to face, okay, he's a glorious God, he's an
excellent God, now if you guys can keep your finger there, turn to Acts chapter 4,
Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4 verse 10, Acts chapter 4 verse 10, Acts chapter 4
verse 10, the Bible reads, be it known unto you all, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole, so by
what name? The name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, okay, verse 11, this is the
stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved, okay, what is the name
that people need to know today in order to be saved? The name of Jesus Christ, now
when we read some in the times of David, the name of Jesus was not yet
revealed, right, God would be going by other names, by Jehovah, by God Almighty
before Jehovah, and he revealed names as time went on, but when we finally get to
the New Testament, when God sends his only begotten Son, and gives him that
name of Jesus, it is that name that is above every other name, okay, so I know he
wasn't applicable in a sense, when this son was written, but now in 2018, this is
the name that is most excellent, this is the name that is above every other
name, this is a name whereby people must be saved, okay, it's not the name of, what
does the Hebrew roots like to use? Yeshua, okay, it's not Yeshua, that name
Yeshua is not found in your Bible, I'm not even talking about your English
Bible, it's not a name found even in the original writings, it's not found in the
Hebrew, it's not found in the Greek, the name that has gone throughout the whole
world with the gospel is the name of Jesus, okay, and in Spanish Jesus, okay,
and in all other languages that are translated, it's a similar language, okay,
what's the name in Portuguese? Jesus, yeah Jesus, does anybody else have another
translation of that name in another language? I don't know, okay, but it's the
name of Jesus, okay, Jesus' name is the name above every name, and when we go out
and knock doors and preach the gospel, okay, it's not New Life Baptist Church
that saves them, it's not Pastor Kevin that saves them, it's the name of Jesus
Christ that brings full salvation, okay, and the only salvation. Go back to Psalm
chapter 8, please, Psalm 8, verse number 2, Psalm 8 verse 2, the Bible
reads, out of the mouth of babes, okay, little babies, little children, out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings, hast thou ordained strength because of thine
enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. Now in order to
understand this verse, I believe we need to turn to Matthew 21, so again, keep
your finger there, we are going to be turning to a lot of other passages
because this Psalm does apply to many other passages, especially in the New
Testament, okay, turn to Matthew 21, Matthew 21, Matthew 21 verse 14, Matthew
21 verse 14, and what we're about to read takes shortly takes place shortly after
Christ comes into the temple, you know, turning the tables and, you know,
yelling and screaming and taking out that whip and, you know, teaching
that the house of God is not a house of merchandise, okay, but shortly after that
look at Matthew 21 verse 14, it says, and the blind and the lame came to him in
the temple and he healed them, okay, so after Christ, you know, turned those
tables and caused a big scene, okay, it's not like people were afraid of him, the
people respected him, okay, and even the lame and the blind, those that are the
weakest came to Jesus to be healed, okay, and look at this, obviously Christ heals
them, verse 15, who doesn't like it, and when the chief priests and scribes saw
the wonderful things that he did and the children crying, now crying is not
weeping, but yelling, praising out loud, the children crying in the temple and
saying, what are the children saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were
sore displeased, hey, the chief priests, the scribes were not happy that the
children were praising God, that the children were praising Jesus Christ for
his wonderful works, okay, and I want to be a church that keeps our children here,
okay, they learn to sit down and be quiet, they learn to sit down and open that
him book and sing praises, they learn to sit down and hear the Word of God being
preached, okay, why, because I want to see our children praise God, I want to see
their voices, okay, and I'm glad they sit at the front because that's the voice
that I get to hear the most when we sing, the praises of children, okay, Jesus
Christ loves children praising him, okay, I don't want our kids going to some
other room, going to some Sunday school class where I can't hear them, okay, I
want the children, I'm talking to you, I want to hear your voices nice and loud
praising our Lord God, okay, that's what Jesus loved and who didn't like it, who
didn't like the voice of kids, the chief priests and the scribe, now I hope none
of us adults are like this chief scribe, okay, these scribes and chief priests,
okay, when we hear the kids praising God, we ought to rejoice in that, now notice
this, they will saw this please, verse 16, and said unto him, the chief priest said
unto Jesus, hearest thou what these say, and Jesus saith unto them, yea, have ye
never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, thou has perfected praise, okay,
Jesus Christ points back to psalmates and says have you not read psalmates,
you're meant to be the chief priests, you're meant to be the scribes, you're
the ones that ought to know the scriptures, you ought to know the law,
but it's these kids that seem to know it more than you, okay, they're the ones that
are fulfilling this prophecy that we see in psalmates, okay, you notice that they
didn't know their Bibles, okay, and if you're ever desiring to be a leader in a
church, you desire to preach, you desire to one day be a pastor, yeah, you can
have the title of chief priests, okay, but you ought to know psalmates, okay, you ought
to know the scriptures, that's the lesson that we need to learn here, okay, but I
want you to notice how Jesus Christ quoted this psalm, okay, he quotes it
maybe a little bit differently to what we read it, look at verse 16 again, and
I'll read to you from psalm 8 verse 2, it said out of the mouth of babes and
sucklings has thou ordained strength, now how Jesus quotes it, he says out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings thou has perfected praise, okay, so what is a show
of strength, okay, what is a show of strength, what shows us to be a strong
church, what shows us to be strong believers, strong in faith, those that
perfect praise, okay, and I just want to exalt the time of praise that we give to
the Lord, okay, I want to highlight our time of singing the hymns, and again I
don't think we have a problem in this church, but I just want you to never get
to the point because I've seen this in other churches where the song service is
not important to them, okay, where it's like we can just come in late, we can
come to the preaching, they'll come in early so you don't miss the praises, okay,
that's what ordains strength, that's what shows God our
strength as a church, that's what shows the people, our community strength in
what we believe is the fact that we can lift our voices, sing praises to God, okay,
it's an important part of the Christian life, praising our Lord God, and we ought
to teach our children to praise the Lord, because Jesus Christ, the Lord loves it,
okay, he loves to hear children singing his praises, all right, now if you go
back to Psalm 8, Psalm 8 verse 2, Psalm 8 verse 2,
it says, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings has to ordain strength because
of thine enemies, God wants us to be praising him because of God's enemies as
well, okay, God has his enemies, those that hate him, those that want to destroy
his, you know, Christianity, those that want to believe that there's no God, they
believe in atheism and evolution, those that hate God, the purpose of our praise
is for them as well, okay, so they can hear the name of God being praised, that
excellent most holy name, okay, our praise serves a lot of purposes, okay, and then
it says that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger, what does that
mean, to still, it basically means to prevent them from attacking, okay,
instead of them going on the offense, instead of them going to attack us, they
remain still when they hear the praises of God, okay, that's why it'll ordain
strength, somehow spiritually singing praises to God protects us from our
enemies, protects us from the, I'm not sure who the avenger is, it could be a
reference to Satan, I don't know, okay, but somehow, spiritually speaking, our praises
to God, okay, protects us, I want you to think about this, okay, how important our
praises are individually as a family and as a church congregation, okay, so please
put a lot of effort, you know, spiritually, mentally, in your heart, in your mouth,
when we come and we sing praises to him, verse number three, and as David wrote
this, you can see that he wrote this in the nights, it's definitely a nighttime
psalm, because when he says this, he says this in verse three, when I consider thy
heavens, so David is thinking about the heavens, he's looking at the sky, right,
he says the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained,
so he's looking through, looking at the heavens, he sees the stars and the moon,
okay, so obviously it's nighttime, okay, now I love it because when David looks
at the sky, when he looks at creation, when he looks at the stars and the
planets, the solar system, and I, you know what, I love the Sunshine Coast compared
to Sydney, because at night, I look up and there's so many stars, right, in Sydney
there's so much light, is it light pollution, I think they call that, they
phrase that, light pollution, and you don't see as many stars, I come here,
there's not so much, you know, stuff going on, there's not so much, you know, shops
and houses and lights, that you can see so much more, you know, it's so
beautiful to look at the night sky that I find compared to the city, but David
can look at that, right, and just see the handiwork of God, he can glorify God in
that, and if you guys remember Romans chapter 1, I'm not going to teach on the
reprobates right now, but we see in Romans chapter 1, that when they see
creation, they choose to deny God, okay, it's just a totally different attitude to
have, but you know, God has given us his heavens, God has given us his creation,
to declare his name, to declare his work, I'll just quickly read to you from Psalm
19 verse 1, it says, the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth his handiwork, okay, everything God has created, this is a nice place of
the world, even the coastline and the beaches and the oceans, you know, we can
see the handiwork of God in his creation, all right, and I would encourage, I've
not done this, so, but I have been encouraged by one of my previous pastors
to take time with your children, and I'm going to pass this on to you guys, right,
take time to just get out there one night, just sit under the stars, you know,
get out, get out of the house, get away from the TV, get away from all the other
distractions, just get there with your family, with your children, sit under the
stars, and just look up and appreciate what God has done for us, who God is, just
to take in a bit of his creation, and then just understand how glorious he is,
all right, and his glory is in above those heavens, you know, so it just gives
the portion of who God is, okay, become acquainted, I believe it's important,
become acquainted with the stars, the constellations, the planets, all those
kind of things, you know, the pathways, the moon travels at night, the different
phases of the moon, all those kind of things, will not only give your children
education, but will help them glorify God when they look at the heavens, if you
guys go to Psalm 147, keep your finger there again, go to Psalm 147, Psalm 147
verse 4, Psalm 147 verse 4, just a quick one there, Psalm 147 verse 4, it says,
speaking of God here, he telleth the number of the stars, he calleth them all
by their names, you know, God obviously knows every star that he's created, he
knows the number, not just how many stars there are, but he knows which
number that star belongs to, right, or that, that, yeah, yeah, you know, is that
that star number one, that star number, you know, five billion and 300, whatever,
he knows each number of the stars, and he knows their names, God has given every
star its own name as well, okay, so it's just amazing to think about how God
values his own creation as well, and as we look up, we need to be thinking about
this, you know, it's not, it's pretty light, but you know, God, God loves his
creation, you know, God loves his creation, even though the names of the stars, go
back to Psalm 8, Psalm 8, and once David has taken all this in, once he's looked
at the handiwork of God, he's looked at the heavens, in verse 4, once he's
considered how big this universe is, how great the creation of God is, then he
looks at himself, you know, he compares himself to the creation of God, and
realises, boy, he's not much, you know, he's a small being, he's a small part of
creation, and he says there in verse 4, what is man, that thou art mindful of him,
and the Son of Man, that thou visitest him, and that Son of Man, yes, that's a
reference, that's a name that Jesus Christ does give to himself many times,
but it's also a reference just of humanity in general, okay, and so what is
man, he says, that thou art mindful of him, God, we're not even really worthy of
your thoughts, you know, we're not even, you know, David struggles to consider why
God would care so much for humanity, for mankind, once he sees what God is capable
of doing, okay, and yes, you know, his handiwork is there for us to see his
glory, but that should also show us just how much he loves us, okay, how much he
cares for us, how much he wants to know us, how God thinks about us, okay, why,
because we're an important part of his creation, so important that he would send
his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die a cruel death on the cross and pay
for all our sins, okay, and the Son of Man, that thou visitest him, it was Jesus
Christ that came and visited us, okay, it's Jesus Christ that came for the
purpose to die for our sins and free us from the power of sin, you know, deliver
us from hell, from eternity in hell, all those kind of things, look at verse number
five, for thou hast made him, now, this verse has a double application, in the
Psalm, it's definitely speaking of just man, mankind, okay, but the double
application, as we'll see later on, is this is also a reference to Jesus Christ,
okay, but the first application, as we see here, it is just man, okay, for thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory
and honor, speaking of just mankind in general, okay, so we have been created or
made a little lower than the angels, even though we have created in the image of
God, okay, even though we've created an image of God, we do not have the power of
the angels, okay, the angels right now are more powerful than us, okay, they're
able to achieve a lot more and serve God in a more perfect way than what we can,
okay, also the Bible tells us that one day we're going to judge the angels, okay,
but right now in our fallen state, in our natural state, we have been created a
little lower than the angels, right now we cannot enter the presence of God, we
cannot come literally before his throne, okay, in heaven, but that's something the
angels are able to achieve, the angels are able to be in the presence of God,
and so that's why we have been created a little lower, made a little lower than
the angels, okay, and yet even though we've been created lower than the angels,
God has crowned us with glory and honor, God has given man some glory and some
honor, okay, we're not just the scum of the earth, okay, and as we'll see later on,
he has given us authority over this earth, okay, he's given us authority over
this earth, we'll go into that a bit later, he has given us dominion over
animals, over all the beasts of the earth, okay, now I want you to keep your finger
there, please turn to Hebrews chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2,
because this reference is then taken and applied to Jesus Christ, and rightfully
so, because God was manifest in the flesh, okay, Jesus Christ came, he was a
hundred percent God, and a hundred percent man as well, and so yes, this
verse does apply to Jesus Christ as well, okay, Hebrews chapter 2 verse 5, look at
this, it says, for unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come,
whereof we speak, look the Bible says here that the angels will never have
authority in this earth, nor in the earth to come, okay, there is nothing that is
subject under the unto the angels, in fact the angels are servants of God, okay,
and then it builds on that and talks about the one who all things will be
subjected under, okay, verse number 6, verse number 6, and that one obviously
is Jesus Christ, which is above the angels, look at verse 6, but one in a
certain place testified saying, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the
son of man, that thou visitest him, thou made us him a little lower than the
angels, thou crowned us him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works
of thy hands, okay, so we see that this is now, as we'll see soon, this is a
reference of Jesus Christ, if you want proof of that look at verse 9, it says
but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels, okay, so when Jesus
Christ who is 100% God, okay, whose glory is above the heavens as we discovered,
okay, when he came to this earth 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem's manger, he came
in the form of a man, he came in flesh, he was 100% man, and so he was made a
little lower than the angels, okay, now he's not saying that in his deity
he's lower than the angels, but when he came in the flesh, when he came in
the form of man, he was made a little lower than the angels, okay, it was the
man Christ Jesus that was made a little lower than the angels, yet his glory is
the glory of God, okay, the glory of God Almighty, by the way we missed the verse 8
there, look at verse 8, thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet,
okay, so everything, all of creation is subjected under Jesus Christ, Jesus
Christ has all authority over all creation, okay, rightfully so, but as
we'll see in this verse, it hasn't all yet come to pass, okay, look at this, for in
that he put all subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him,
but now we see not yet all things put under him, okay, because all things will
not be put under the authority of Jesus Christ in its completion until he rules
and reigns with that rod of iron, until he comes back to this earth and sets up
his millennial kingdom, at that point all things will be put under him, okay, all
things, even death and hell, okay, every power, everything except God the Father,
and at the end of the millennium we see that Jesus Christ is also subjected
under God the Father, okay, but I just want to show you that Jesus Christ is
not just an angel, because as we saw in verse number, what was it, verse number
five, that the angels have no authority, that there's nothing subject under an
angel, and for those false religions that teach, well it's Mormonism I think, that
teaches that Jesus Christ is Michael the Archangel, do the Jehovah's Witnesses
believe that as well, is it both, the Mormons, or is it just the Jehovah's Witnesses?
Okay, definitely the Jehovah's Witnesses, they teach that Jesus Christ is Michael
the Archangel, now Michael the Archangel does have some sort of authority, okay,
he's the archangel, he's above the angels, okay, but he's an angel, okay, and yet the
Bible teaches us here that there's no authority given to any angels, that
that's part of creation, but all things will be subjected under Jesus Christ,
okay, and look at verse number nine again, why was he made a little lower than the
angels, why was he made man, why was he given flesh, who was made, but we see
Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death,
okay, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death
for every man, hey I'm not a Calvinist, okay, I don't believe in limited
atonement because Jesus Christ came and tasted death for every man, okay, he came
and paid the penalty of sin of every man, he died on behalf of every man, salvation
is available to every man, okay, we're not selective on the doors that we knock
when we go soul winning, okay, our desire and our hope that whoever answers that
door is someone that is ready to receive the gospel, because it's someone that
Jesus Christ died for, okay, and you've got a wrong spirit if you get angry, if
you get upset at the person that is not interested, okay, the person that says
they might swear at you or slam the door, and that barely happens, right, most
people are pretty polite, okay, but if you get upset at them, there's something
wrong with your spirit, because that person is someone that Jesus Christ
tasted death for, okay, and if you're saying oh they're not worth it or
whatever, then what are you saying about what Jesus Christ did for them, okay, he
died for them, all right, that's why he was made a little lower than the angels
for us, okay, what is man that they weren't mindful of him, so mindful that he
would die for us, wow, I mean this just shows us when we consider the glory of
God, it just shows us just how much he loves us, okay, and for us that have
received him as our saviour, for us that have had our sins washed by the
shedding of his blood, we ought to appreciate him, yeah, I get sometimes, I'm
sure you do, you can't just forget these things, and we just go about our day, and
we don't really consider what Christ has done for us, many times, okay, and we need
to stop and think about it, that's why God has created such an amazing universe,
is for us to stop and just consider how great our God is, okay, now I just want to
talk to you, you know our church is King James only, we only teach from the King
James Bible, we believe it's the perfect preserved Word of God in English, now I'm
just going to read to you, not all the modern Bibles have this era, but one of
the most, one of the five most popular English Bibles, the New American Standard
Bible has a major or several major heresies in this area, okay, now go back
to Psalm 8, Psalm 8 verse 5, Psalm 8 verse 5, now I'm going to read to you from the
New American Standard Bible, I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 4-7, okay, I'm
just going to show you what's okay, okay, Hebrews 4 verse 7 here, in the
New American Standard Bible it says, you have made him a little while
lower than the angels, I'm not sure why it says a little while lower than the
angels, I'm not sure what that means, but anyway the point I want to drive there
is that you can see that Hebrews does refer to the angels there, okay, a little
lower than the angels, okay, now look at Psalm 8-5 in your King James Bible and
I'm going to read to you from the New American Standard Bible, okay, and it's
supposed to be the New Testament, it's supposed to be quoting the Old Testament
here, okay, now look at this error, look at this contradiction, okay, Psalm 8
verse 5 from the New American Standard Bible, yet you have made him a little
lower than God, that's what it says in the New American Standard Bible, you have
made him a little lower than God, this creates four problems immediately, okay,
problem number one is the contradiction, okay, now does God's Word have
contradictions? No, does God's Word have errors? No, yet the New American Standard
Bible does, what does that mean, is it the Word of God? No, it's not, just
straight away, it's not the Word of God, it's a corruption of God's Word, now
that's the least of the problems that it's teaching here, okay, because
first of all if you're saying in Psalm 8-5 you have made him a little lower
than God, and remember this verse has a double application, number one it's of
general mankind, what's heresy number one? That man, you, have been created a little
lower than God, it's not like, instead of you coming short of the glory of God,
alright, instead of you being someone that is unable to achieve godhood,
rightly so, because we're not gods, it's just a little lower than God, it's
almost like, you know, first of all it damages what this Psalm is all about,
glorifying God, okay, and just, I mean look at mankind, we're so wicked, we've got
this sinful nature, okay, and we're a little lower than God, what does that say
about God? Okay, major heresy right there, okay, major heresy, it'll always be like
we can just save ourselves, it can just reach godhood, you know, we're just a
little lower than that, surely we can make it, okay, hey, we fall short big time
next to the glory of God, we are not made a little lower than God, okay, we're made
lower than the angels, the Bible says, okay, that's heresy number one, heresy
number two is because it's a double application, this is about Jesus Christ
as well, right, so if it says that Jesus has been made a little lower than God,
what's that saying? That he's not God, right, that he's not God, that's, think
about that, think about the heresy there, okay, now was he made a little lower
than the angels? Yes, because he came in the form of man, okay, but even though he
was a hundred percent man, he was still a hundred percent God, he's not a little
lower than God, he is God, major heresy, okay, and this is a popular Bible, okay,
and heresy number four, or three, but problem number four is that it basically
equates, because Hebrews 4 7 has angels correct, and then it talks about God in
Psalm 8 5, it basically equates the angels with God, you see, it's like God is
just an angel, or that the angels are just like God, and yet the angels are a
creation of God, I mean major heresies, just by changing one word, okay, every
word of God is pure, this is why we stand on the King James Bible, because it is
without error, okay, and every so-called contradiction, or so-called error in the
King James Bible has been answered easily, okay, it's perfect, it's the
perfect word of God, if there's something that you don't understand in this book,
it's not because the book is wrong, it's just that you need wisdom, okay, you need
to learn and gain knowledge, and ask God for that wisdom in that knowledge, okay,
we stand on this book, okay, this King James Bible, it's a foundation, could you
imagine if I just, we just said alright guys, we're going to the New American
Standard Bible from now on, because most people read that, and most people can
understand that simple English, that's just one verse, could you imagine if we
start to go through all the verses, and find in all the problems, and all the
heresies that it creates, boy, and this is why churches today are in such a mess,
it's because they turned away from the perfect word of God, and have gone with
these modern corruptions, Psalm 8 verse 6, Psalm 8 verse 6, so we did see this
application to Christ, that verse 6, thou made us him to have dominion over the
works of thy hands, and we saw that eventually all things will be put on the
feet of Christ, okay, but again this is a reference to man, just mankind, okay, so
we've been given dominion over his works as well, thou has put all things under
his feet, okay, so it was God's plan from the beginning for us to have dominion
over all things, like all of God's creation, look at verse 7, all sheep and
oxen, yea and the beasts of the field, God's given us dominion over the animals,
okay, the sheep and the oxen, these are animals that can be domesticated, these
are animals that, you know, you can get animal products from, you know, the wool
and the oxen, I guess, well, I guess it's the cows that you'd get milk from and
stuff like that, but also you can eat them, okay, you know, Australians love to
eat lamb, and you know, I love to have a good beef burger as well, that's where
the ox comes from I suppose, you know, we can use these animals for our enjoyment,
okay, to use what it produces, to use them to labour like the ox would be, an animal
used to labour in the field, you know, and to eat them, you know, God has given us
food as well, we'll look at that in a minute, look at verse 8, the fowl of the
air and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of
the seas, God has given us all of creation, all the animals for us to enjoy,
you know, we can take animals and keep them as pets for our house, God wants
that, that's the purpose, you know, for us to enjoy the animals, you know, I love
birds, I'm not really fond of dogs and cats too much, but some of you are, I
love birds, you know, some people like to keep fish, have an aquarium in the house
and they get enjoyment out of having aquariums, you know, I'm not against
people having animals and enjoying them, what I am against is people serving
animals, have you ever seen people love their pets so much that they treat them
as a human being, I mean, I know a family that would make barbecue, not for the
family, but to feed the dog, alright, and wherever they go, they take the dog
with them, and the dog would be dressed, and when the dog passed away, they were
weeping and mourning like they lost, you know, a person, now, I'm sure it's gonna
make you sad to lose your pet animal that you had, right, but it shouldn't make
you mourn like the death of a human being, okay, the animals have been put
under the feet of man for us to enjoy, okay, and if you want to eat them, you can
eat them, alright, nothing wrong with that as well, we'll look at this soon, go to
Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, Genesis chapter 1 verse 26,
because this is taught in multiple passages in the Bible, yes, Psalm 8 is one
of them, but obviously, Genesis 1, when God created man, what does he say to man
in Genesis 1 26, and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, so obviously, if we're
creating the image of God, there's dominion over all things, then God knows
that man will want to have dominion over things as well, I mean, this is just part
of us have been in the image of God, okay, he's given us the minion of the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, everything, every
animal, right, verse 27, so God created man in his own image, and the image of
God created he him, male and female created he them, and God blessed them, and
said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it,
hey take ownership of the earth, subdue the animals under you, okay, take
ownership, and have dominion, there's that word again, have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the sea, hey, we're not animals, okay, we're not evolved animals,
God has made man different to the animals, God has made man to have
dominion over all the critters, over all of the creation of God, okay, and you say
oh this is before the fall, this is when, you know, it was perfect, before man had
sinned against God, and that's not the case anymore, no, even after the fall of
man, go to Genesis chapter 9, Genesis chapter 9, and one of the other things
guys, vegetarians and vegans, now look, if someone wants to have a vegetarian diet,
fine, you know, if that's what they want to do for their health or whatever, for
whatever reason, it doesn't bother me, okay, but God has taught us that the
animals are also for our food, also for our meats, okay, and look at Genesis
chapter 9 verse 1, Genesis chapter 9 verse 1, this is long after the fall of
man, long after sin had entered the world, in fact the world had become so wicked
that God had to flood the whole earth, and only saved Noah and his family, okay,
and then once they get off the ark, look what God says to Noah in Genesis 9 1, and
God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, the same instructions that he
gave to Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and the
fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon the every beast of the earth, and
upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the sea, and upon all the
fishes of the sea, into your hand they are delivered, have you ever wondered why
if you go to walk up to an animal, they just run away, you know, you walk up to a
bird, they fly away, this is why, God has put fear of man into the animals, okay,
this also helps us subdue them, helps us have authority of them, especially
because there are a lot of wild animals, you know, and my wife didn't want to move
up here, Kristina, because of the snakes, alright, and soon after we moved into
aura, there was a red-bellied black snake, and it's pretty dangerous, okay, but as
soon as it heard a bit of noise, it was gone, okay, you know, even snakes, even
spiders in general, will not attack you unless they feel threatened, or unless
you like step on them by accident or something, and they just retaliate, but
most often than not, animals in general will just flee from man, okay, more often
than not, they'll just flee from man, okay, and this is part of the, part of the, you
know, after God flooded the earth, that was part of the changes that God made,
but then it says, sorry, what was I up to? Oh, verse 3, then it says this, every movie
thing, every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, that's food, okay,
even as the green herb have I given you all things, so back in the Garden of Eden,
when he created man, they were not eating any meats, they weren't eating the
animals, they were just eating the fruits and the vegetables and the herbs, and that
was sustaining man, and so I'm not against someone that just wants to have
that diet, just again, for their own personal reasons, okay, but also
understand that God has given us the animals so we can eat, it says every
moving thing, now I don't want to eat a snake, but I know there are places in the
world that eat snakes, or eat things that we would find unusual, okay, are they
wrong to do so? No, God said every moving thing can be eaten, okay, so look, don't
attack people of their diet, okay, if you're the one pointing fingers as to
what they're eating, you've got a problem, okay, you've got a problem, and I hate it
when people try to enforce their eating habits or the things they eat upon other
people, don't do that, you know, again, if someone wants to be vegetarian, go for it,
but if they're trying to force me to become vegetarian, you know, to protect
the animals, God has given us the animals so we can enjoy life, okay, now should we
look after them? Yeah, you know, we shouldn't be cruel, we shouldn't be, you
know, try to just torture animals and all, yeah, I'm against those kind of things,
okay, I'm against those kind of things, you know, we should be good stewards with
what God has given us, okay, you know, God did not create animals just to torture
them and destroy them, you know, you know, we should look after the things that God
has given us, but at the end of the day, you know, if a cat gets hit by a car,
you know, on the road, or a kangaroo gets hit by cars, I'm not really mourning for
the animal, you know, I'm probably more concerned that nobody in the car got
hurt, okay, over that incident, okay, because God has created man above these
things, okay, God has created man above these things, we are not just animals,
okay, and the schools are teaching our kids they are nothing but an animal, okay,
they're nothing but some single cell organism that came out of some
combination of chemicals, you know, billions of years ago that evolved into
a jellyfish, and then eventually into some frog, and then eventually into some
ape, and that's what they're teaching our kids today, our kids today in our schools
think they're just some sort of animal, some accident, and that God was not
involved, okay, I mean you can see that definitely our schools are against some
ape, okay, they hate some ape, okay, and yet this is the Word of God, go back to
Psalm 8 please, Psalm 8, we're wrapping up now, verse number 9, yeah verse number 9,
it finishes with the same thing that it started with, oh Lord, our Lord, how
excellent is thy name in all the earth, I just want to end by talking about the
fact that his name has gone throughout the whole earth, okay, it says in all the
earth how excellent is his name, you know what that tells me, that tells me the name of God has
gone throughout the whole earth, okay, this was written obviously in Israel, and I
guess back then when if they knew about the landmass of Australia, they
would have considered that all the earth, okay, so if there was anybody in
Australia, and some people say maybe it was Aboriginals back then, the name of
God had gone throughout the whole earth, okay, all the tribes of the earth, you
know, think of the deepest and darkest jungles, you know, the places that, you
know, weren't known by most people, if there were people living there, when this
Psalm was written, they knew about God, they knew about the God of the Bible,
even back then when Psalm 8 was written, okay, now I've lost my notes a little
bit here, I'm going to get you to turn to, where I'll get you to turn to, turn to
Colossians, Colossians chapter 1 verse 21, Colossians 1 21, I've got a few
references, I'll just get you to turn to that one, Colossians 1 21, Colossians 1 21,
because have you ever gone soul winning, have you ever tried to give the gospel
to someone, and part of their resistance to the gospel is that, well, you know, it's
not fair, you know, the reason you're a Christian is because you grew up in a
Christian family, or because you grew up in a Christian nation, a place where
churches are established, a place where Bibles are freely available, a place where
people are familiar with the name of Jesus Christ, and then they'll say, but if
you were born in some other places, say in the Muslim world, you'd probably be a
Muslim, if you were born in India, you'd probably be a Hindu, okay, there's no
excuse even for these people, okay, because the Bible tells us his name has
gone everywhere, it tells them that people have gone to every place of this
world preaching the gospel, and if the people in that place rejected God, yes, of
course, then they fall into some false religion, okay, but God has given
everybody an opportunity to know about Jesus Christ, okay, now look at Colossians
1 21, Colossians 1 21, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now have he reconciled, how did he reconcile us, in
the body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblameable and
unreproveable in his sight, if he continue in the faith, grounded and
settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard,
okay, he's talking to those in Colossi, in Greece, okay, and then he says
this, and which was preached to every creature, which is under heaven, do you
believe that, do you believe the words here that we read in the Bible, that the
gospel has been preached to every creature, which is under heaven,
everybody has had an opportunity to believe on Christ, okay, and then he says
this, where of I Paul and made a minister, okay, this tells me that generation after
generation after generation, all the way back to David, and beyond before that, all
the way to Paul, and beyond that, that God has made it fit, that his people, even as
few as we are, has gone out, and every creature has had the opportunity to hear
the gospel, to hear the name of Jesus Christ, and to have to receive salvation,
that's fair of God, to allow everybody to hear it, but most people reject it, most
people don't believe it, okay, and it's not just here, and by the way says where
of I Paul and made a minister, he goes that's my job, to go out and make sure
the gospel is getting preached everywhere, hey guys, and we're ministers of God, I
know we're not apostles, but God has entrusted us the gospel, that we would
get the gospel out here on the Sunshine Coast, that's why this church exists, okay,
the church doesn't exist just to give you a church to come to, the church
exists, so we will take the gospel of God, of Jesus Christ, and go out here, so
they don't have an excuse, okay, so people on the Sunshine Coast don't turn around
to God on Judgment Day, and say nobody ever came and gave me the gospel, it'd be
a shame if that happened, that would mean we didn't do our jobs, okay, but that's
why we're here for, we're here to be the ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
that's not just here, you might say well maybe, maybe you're not really
understanding this Kevin, you know, maybe yeah, maybe in Paul's time, but even
before that, even before David, I'll just quickly read to you from Exodus 9 13,
Exodus 9 13, this is when God would deliver Israel out of the hands of
the Egyptians, and of course Egypt was the most powerful nation on the planet
on those days, and God would bring his wrath, and his judgment, and the plagues
upon Egypt, and deliver Israel out of their hands, it says in
Exodus 9 13, you say why did he do that, why did he do it, you know, was it just
to deliver Israel, I mean God could have delivered Israel in any way, okay, and
cause them to be a nation, but it says here in Exodus 9 13, and the Lord said
unto Moses, rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto
him, so these are the words of God, okay, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews,
let my people go, that they may serve me, for I will at this time send all my
plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou
mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth, okay, and look at verse
15, and now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people
with pestilence, and thou shall be cut off from the earth, look at verse 16, and in
every, sorry, and in very deed for this cause, have I raised thee up, for to
showing thee my power, look at this, and that my name may be declared throughout
all the earth, okay, so the reason why God came and plagued them, these
miracles, delivered them, delivered Israel in such an amazing way, is so the
Egyptians would know that there's no God like him anywhere else, all the false
gods they worshipped were not gods at all compared to, you know, the God of
creation, the God of the Israelites, so for Egypt, yes, but also when all the
earth would hear what God had done, then they would know the name of the Lord as
well, okay, even before King David, okay, the name of God had gone throughout the
whole world, God was using his people, okay, now we might not fully understand
all that, I just take God at his word, I believe what God says, okay, and a lot of
people think as well, in the Old Testament days, God was only interested
in the Israelites, you know, salvation wasn't available, you know, to the other
nations, I'll quickly read to you from Jeremiah 1 4, Jeremiah 1 4, this is God
speaking to Jeremiah, okay, the prophet Jeremiah, yes, he was an Israelite, okay,
but this is what he says, then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I
formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou came us forth out of the
womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto Israel, no, a prophet
unto the nations, okay, it was Jeremiah's job as a prophet, not just to preach to
Israel, but to preach to all the nations, and I would say, wasn't just Jeremiah, I'm
sure God gave that responsibility to the other prophets that he had, okay, and if I
wanted to spend time, we could find many, many references where the word of God
was going out throughout the whole world, okay, and it should not stop, every
generation, our generation, our kids generation, the word of God, the name of
the Lord needs to be able to go out throughout the whole world, over and over
and over again, okay, now I'm going to read to you from Psalm 138 verse 2, you
don't have to turn there, Psalm 138 verse 2, we'll end on this, it says, I will worship
toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy love and kindness, and for
thy truth, now I told you there's something, even though the name of God is
to be praised, even though the name of Christ is the name above every name, yet
God has put something above that name, okay, and it says this in Psalm 138
verse 2, for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name, what has God
magnified above his name, the word of God, this book that we have in our hands has
been magnified by God above even his name, we saw how amazing, how excellent
his name is, we know the name of Christ is the name whereby we must be saved,
okay, and yet unfortunately so-called Christians, you know, they know of Jesus
but they don't know the word of God, they don't know the Scriptures, and yet
it's the Scriptures that is magnified above the name of Jesus Christ, do you
believe that, because it's the Scriptures that we learn of Jesus Christ, it's the
Scriptures that we learn of God, we know of God, okay, we know of his great love, we
know of his great judgment by his word, okay, and so if we want to see souls
saved, if we want to be a generation that gets the name of God throughout the
whole world, you can't just go door-to-door and talk with Jesus, that's
one thing, but you need to take the word of God with you, that teaches us about
Jesus Christ, okay, that teaches us about the true Jesus Christ, because Jesus
warned us that there would be Antichrist, Jesus warned us that there will be other
Christ's, other Jesus's, okay, we've been warned in the New Testament over and
over again, the only Jesus that matters, the only Jesus that can save us is Jesus
in this book, that's why God has magnified this word above his name,
because this is the one that's going to tell them about the true Jesus Christ
that can save them, okay, all right, let's pray.