Our Great God (Part 2)

Sermon delivered on April 26th, 2015

By: Pastor Greg Hocson

Text: Psalm 8

 

Introduction

Here in Psalm 8, David rejoices and celebrates the amazing majesty and glory of the LORD God Jehovah. David was overwhelmed by the greatness of God. And being overwhelmed, he wrote these words ...

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

The word "excellent" means "majestic, surpassingly great, superb, and stupendous."  

David sees that excellent Name of God all around him. Wherever he turns his eyes, he sees it. When he looks up into the vast heavens, the sky, the moon and the stars which God has set in place, there, he sees the glory and greatness of God. 

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

The number, the size, the distance and the beauty of the stars. Who can look up into the skies and not be overwhelmed by the greatness of God.

When he looks at man, small and insignificant and yet greatly loved by God, he sees as well the majesty and the glory of God. When he looks to the creatures of this earth and the place where God has put them and the way in which they live and function here on this earth ...

7: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8: The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

When he sees all of these things too, he sees the glory and the majesty of God. 

Truly, David could say with the angelic beings in...

Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

And seeing all these he concludes the way he began ...

O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

Who can look at these things and not burst into praise. But there is one more place where David sees the greatness of God. And it is in the way God defeats HIs enemies!

 

I - God's enemies

2: 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.

God has enemies. He has many enemies. And leading those enemies is the great enemy - Satan. He is the Enemy or Adversary. He decided long time ago to oppose God and to oppose those who love God. His purpose is to dethrone God and to rob God of His glory. He wants the praise for himself. He opposes the Gospel. He opposes the Church. He opposes the work of God and the workers of God. He will not give up without a fight.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

He is also called the Avenger, the Revengeful. He is after revenge. He wants to get even with God. The devil wants to get back at God. He thinks something was his and that God took it from him. When God, in His justice, cast him out of heaven and threw him down from his high and lofty place as Lucifer, son of the morning, and condemned him to hell, he believes that he was done wrong. And he wants to get back at God.

But God is God. God is Almighty. Satan is no match to God. By the way, since Satan cannot get back at God, he gets at us, the Christians.

Satan is THE ENEMY and THE AVENGER but who are the ENEMIES?

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Satan rules the children of disobedience and those fallen angels whom he seduced into mutiny so that they revolted against God with him.

You are either an enemy of God by nature or you are reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

 

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

We have to know whose side are we on? Are you for us or are you for our adversaries? Are you for God and His Christ or are you still at enmity with God, alienated from God by wicked works? Do you bow before God as your Lord and as your King or do you reject the Holy Commandments as not binding on you?

Colossians 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.

 

II - God's army

Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2: The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3: Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

The LORD shall laugh at His enemies. He despises them. God knows how foolish and unreasonable, how irrational, how futile are their attempts against Him - He therefore laughs at them.

How is God going to defeat His enemies?

Psalm 8:2 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.

Through babies and nursing infants

Not literally, but figuratively. Men are like babies. There is not much difference between a baby and a full grown man . Compared to God and to the works of Creation man is nothing. Compared to God, man is extremely small and extremely weak.

That's why this statement in verse 8 is amazing not only because we are small and insignificant compared to God, but also because the enemy is strong and subtle and determined and resolved. 

Babies and nursing infants are weak, they seem to have no wisdom or knowledge. They are utterly dependent on others. They are insignificant in the world's eyes. Babies and nursing child are weaklings and unskillful. They are no match to Satan. And yet this Psalm says ...

Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still (stop, silence, destroy) the enemy and the avenger.

If I have many enemies and they are very strong and powerful enemies, I will hire strong men and army and then give them state of the art weapons to defeat the enemies. But not so with God. He will defeat His enemies by babies and nursing infants. Men and women who are in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the world, as babes and sucklings.

1 Corinthians 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world (things in the eyes of the world considers foolish) to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world (things in the eyes of the world considers weak) to confound (shame) the things which are mighty; 28: And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29: That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30: But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

God will still, stop and silence His enemies by weakest among us. The Lord uses that weakness to anger and defeat the wicked one, to overthrow the unlawful kingdom of Satan that he has unlawfully taken from the Lord.

God will conquer the giant Goliath through the little boy David.

God displays His power in human weakness. The strength of these warriors are in their weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Our power to serve God lies in our weakness. Yes, God's people suffer, they have afflictions, they lie in sickness on their bed, they have pain and yet they patiently wait upon the Lord.

He doesn't use our greatness and strength, He uses our littleness and weakness.

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26: Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

God has chosen childlike men and women who are simple hearted and honest and trustful and loving. God does not choose the wise but the foolish things. Those who do not know, those who do not pretend to know but those who submit themselves to God's instruction.

God has ordained strength out of the mouth of weak people. Those who are weak and poor cannot do much more than speak but they speak what God has given them to speak. Those are the ones that God has chosen.

 

III - God's weapon

What weapons does God use in this conflict?

Psalm 8:2 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.

The weapon that God will use are not bombs or swords or WMD. He will not conquer His enemies by violence or coercion; not by manipulation or deceit; not by wisdom of man or cleverness of man. But through the mouth of babies and nursing infants. God chooses to defeat His enemies with babies and nursing infants. And not just with babies and nursing infants, but with what comes out of their mouth, with what they say ...

Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still (stop, silence, destroy) the enemy and the avenger.

God is defeating Satan's kingdom. He is shaking its very foundations and He extends the gracious empire of the Lord Jesus Christ by the gracious words that come from the mouth of His people.

God may use the little mouth of a baby as His conquering weapon against the devil. Out of the mouth of a little child comes the great strength of God, that shall silence His enemies.

Psalm 68:11 The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. 12: Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil.

God shall use the mouth of babes and sucklings to defeat and silence the enemy and the avenger. They are opening their mouths and saying or crying something. And whatever they are saying or crying is powerful enough to still the enemy and the avenger. God is making what comes out of their mouths strong. Whatever it is that is coming out of their mouths, it is defeating the enemies of God.

 

1. With their mouth they pray to God

Prayers is one of the most effective forms of assault against the powers of darkness. Nothing can stand against the blessed power of prayer. There is nothing the devil dreads so much as prayer? 

Satan may laugh at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!

The man, the woman, and the child, who knows how to pray shall certainly prevail with God and still the enemy and the avenger.

James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

 

2. With their mouth they praise of His Name

When we praise God we are saying God is great and what He does is great. Praise glorifies God, and that is what Satan cannot bear. 

Psalm 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

As God is glorified in our praises, Satan is degraded. That's a blow to Satan and his pride, for whenever we praise God we cast down the pride of the great enemy. 

Matthew 21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. 15: 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, 16: And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

These children are praising the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God which is what Psalm 8:2 is talking about. God is defeating his enemies through the weakness of children and man.

When God's people sing something happens ...

A classic example in the Old Testament where God's people defeated the enemies of God when they began to sing and praise the LORD is in ...

2 Chronicles 20:19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. 20: And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21: And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. 22: And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

A classic example in the New Testament is in ...

Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26: And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

This is why Satan does not want God to be praised.

Psalm 22:3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

God dwells in the praise of His people. That's the place, that's the climate or environment where God manifest Himself.

Psalm 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: 15: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

 

3. With their mouth they proclaim the Gospel

The proclamation of the Gospel, the teaching of God's Words are the weapons that God uses in this great battle. God uses human tongues to proclaim His Word and this wins the victory. 

This is the sharpest blow of all. The enemy dreads nothing so much as witness-bearing to the gospel, for he knows that it pleases God ...

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18: For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19: For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20: Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21: For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

There are two things seems foolish to the world: Christ crucified and the preaching of the Cross.

Christ crucified looks foolish and weak. But all of Scripture aims to teach us that ....

1 Corinthians 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24: But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 25: Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God uses the foolishness of preaching to overthrow Satan and all of his evil devices.

So Christians, hold forth the Word of Life. Preach the Gospel! You may be small and weak like babes and sucklings but the however weak and inexperience you are, we have to understand that the power and strength does not lie on us, it lies on the Word of God that we speak. The Word of God is so strong and majestic and effective, even though the feeblest mouth speaks it.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The testimony of Jesus is strength, however feeble may be the voice which utters it.

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Whenever we proclaim the salvation of Jesus Christ with our mouth, we are weakening and smiting the enemy. When we tell "the old, old story, of Jesus and His love,again and again, then is God, out of our mouths is stilling the enemy and the avenger.

God has ordained the very weakest among people - babes and nursing infants to go forth and to proclaim His truth.

 

Closing Thoughts

What kind of God is He that He who can do this?

What kind of God is He that is able to create a universe that is so great with the word of His mouth? What kind of God is He that I spite of His great He is mindful of man and care for him? What kind of God is He that when I look at creatures there is so much beauty and complexity? What kind of God is He that He is able to defeat His enemies with the mouth if babes and sucklings?

 

I want to know Him! 

I want to know and understand who He is. I will seek Him with all my heart and He promises that every one who genuinely seeks Him shall be rewarded.

Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

We need to understand how small and weak we are but, more importantly, how great and powerful our God is. David did not stop at feeling small, he also cried out:

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Amen!

Psalm 145:1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 2: Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 3: Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

 

I want other people to know Him! 

He is worthy to be known and to be made known!

This is the purpose of our existence! To know God and make Him known!

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

 

Finally ...

Do you have people you love and concerned about that are still in darkness? Don't give up, God is able to bring them in. 

Psalm 8:1 O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2: 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.

But He will use you, through your prayers, through your praises, through your ascribing greatness ....

May God bless every little "child" here at GTBBC and still the enemy and the avenger. Amen!