How Excellent Is Thy Name

 Temple Baptist Church - 11-27-2022

Psalm 8:1-9

 

Introduction:

 

A. This is another of the Davidic Psalms.  David was a great king in Israel but also a man after God’s own heart.  David was a man of great worship!

 

B.  From his youth, David had a wonderful relationship with his LORD.  The 23^rd Psalm, which we will look at later, is a short story of the life of this great man of God. 

 

C.  From “The Lord is my shepherd” to “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever”, we find the LORD’s guidance, provision, and protection.

 

D.  In his worship, Psalm 8 shows his personal perception of the LORD.  It is the spiritual perception of the true worshipper of God. 

 

E.  The Psalm begins and ends with the same wording: “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!”  Within these two statements we find a proper biblical perspective of the LORD.

 

1.  Verse 1.  The Glory of God.  Here we find God’s glory placed above the works of His hands.  How glorious are the heavens?  A few statistics that we get from the geniuses.  They are glorious in both their:

 

a.  Magnitude; the enormity of the heavens.  Unfathomable to the human mind but spanned by His hand.  According to some astronomers (so you can take it or leave it), our galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, probably contains 100 to 400 billion stars, and is about 100,000 light-years across. That the observable Universe is 150 billion light-years in diameter and, humanly speaking, limitless beyond with at least 5,500 galaxies.

 

b.  It would take 450 million years for our modern spacecraft to just reach the center of the Milky Way.

 

c.  There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on earth.  (I am sure that they took the time to count both and compare?)  God compared these two long before the first telescope was invented.

 

Genesis 22:17  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

 

b.  God’s glory exceeds the glory above that of the heavens!

 

2.  Verse 2.  The Gentleness of God.  The Bible speaks of us as “babes and sucklings”.

 

Psalms 103:13-14  Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.  (14)  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

 

3.  Verse 3.  The Great Power of God.  “And God said” says it all.  God spoke and it was done and done perfectly.  He has never had to correct His creation.  The omniscience and omnipotence of God!

 

Psalms 19:1-3  The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  (2)  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  (3)  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.

 

4.  Verse 4.  The Grace of God.  That God should love a sinner such as I, how wonderful is love like this!

 

Job 7:17  What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

 

5.  Verse 5.  The Gift of God.  This verse is Messianic in its prophecy and speaks of the coming of Israel’s Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Philippians 2:9-11  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:  (10)  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  (11)  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 

6.  Verses 6-8.  The Governing of God.  God owns it, God guides it, God sustains it.  The heavens and the earth and all things within belong to Him.

 

Colossians 1:15-17  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:  (16)  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  (17)  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

 

7.  Verse 9.  The Great Name of God

 

a. Our powerful God. " O' Lord"

b. Our personal God. "Our, Lord"

c. Our praise to God. " Excellent is thy name"