What Is Man? Psalm 8

by Rohn Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:19 am

WHAT IS MAN
Psalm 8
Text: verse 4

(Psalms 8:4) What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (KJV)

I. MAN IN RELATIONSHIP TO GOD.
The question we read in our text is an age old question. Job asked it back in his time.
(Job 7:17) What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? (KJV)
The writer of Hebrews quotes this verse and ask the question in his day. (Hebrews 2:6)
We find that in our day the question still comes to our minds. What am I that God is mindful of me? It is more than a question, it is also a statement that God is mindful of me. Think of all the millions of people on the earth and yet God is mindful of me. In all of this world of crowds and the hustle and bustle of life and yet we never get out of the sight and mind of God. Notice that verse 4 is not only a question but it is a statement that God is mindful of us. He was mindful of man in creation. He was mindful of man when sin entered in and He is mindful of man in salvation. He is mindful of us in our daily walks of life. God is so mindful of man that he is doing all He can to get us ready for Heaven. He visits us by our conscience and His Spirit showing us our need of Him, and convincing us of our sin and He invites us to come to Him and be clean.

Now in relation to man there are three questions that trouble mankind:

1. Where did I come from? His origin.
2. Why am I here? His purpose.
3. Where do I go from here? His destiny.
The right answer to these questions hinges on man’s usefulness here and his destiny in the hereafter.

The materialist does little thinking about his purpose in relation to God. But God says,
(Mark 8:36-37) For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (KJV)
The atheist and agnostic try to discredit God and put out of their mind but again God says:
(Psalms 14:1) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. ….. (KJV)

II. WHEN WE COME TO EVALUATE OURSELVES AND THINK ABOUT OUR BEING, THE QUESTION STILL COMES, WHAT IS MAN?
Man’s description of man is, to say the least, thought provoking. Were you to listen to a crowd of “near gossipers” is would not be long until you would hear revealing phrases as certain men were mentioned.

They would be-
He is a cross old bear.
He is a horse for work.
He is a mule for stubbornness.
He is a lion for courage.
He is a fox for cunning.
He is an awkward cow.
He is a dumb ox.
He is a hound for tracking down a thing.
He is a dog in the manger.
He is a skunk.
He is a shark
He is a poor fish.
He is a mouse.
He is a wolf.
He is a snake in the grass.
He is a leach.
He is a weasel.
He is an odd duck.
He is an old buzzard.
God said that man was made in His own image. Evidently something has degraded man fearfully and given him many of the characteristics of the animal. Grace will change this inner condition and restore man to his former God-likeness. Out of depraved man grace makes saints.

Man is a moral being, possessing intelligence, a will, and a conscience, which are the principle elements of a moral nature, and which render all who possess them accountable for their conduct. Man was the effect of a holy cause - God created him.
No matter what anyone says or how they reason yet we are the creation of God. There are a lot of details I don’t know about in creation, but I do know that the Genesis account of creation is true and I am the creation of God.

Man was created in the image of God. What does that mean?
It means that God created man after the image of the Trinity – body, soul and spirit. Notice how Paul prayed for the Thessalonians:

(1 Thessalonians 5:23) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (KJV)

Ray Nicholson said that by the body man has world consciousness; by the soul self-consciousness; by the spirit God consciousness.
As God is a spirit we find that God implanted in man a spiritual nature. There is something about man that is connected to the spiritual. He either is drawn to God or he fights against the truth of God. Not everyone that is drawn to God gets in and is saved but there is something in man’s nature that recognizes and responds to God one way or another. Some attend church and believe in God while others claim that there is no God and fight against what they say doesn’t exist – God.

Man is spiritual and it comes out in relation to his action toward God.
Then being created in the image of God also means created in righteousness and true holiness. When God created Adam, Adam was righteous and holy. God said of man that he was “very good.”
Man was created holy by a holy God.

Not only was man created holy but he was created a free moral agent. He was able to choose for himself what acts he would commit and what acts he would abstain from.
We still retain this power of choice today.
We choose in regard to our duty and our moral obligation. We may try to excuse some things but in reality we choose.

A free moral agent is one who can originate moral choices freely, deliberately, voluntarily, in view of motives and enlightened by a sense of duty and obligation.

Heaven and hell necessitate a power of choice. Being free moral agents we are capable of choosing and our choices aren’t just in doing or not doing but they determine our eternal destiny – heaven or hell.

Man is a free moral agent but all too often his choices are lightly considered and not weighed in the light of God’s blessing or eternal damnation.
We are responsible for what we choose.
We are responsible for the character we form in our choices,
WE CAN HELP WHAT WE ARE. We are saved by grace but being free moral agents we decide how the grace of God will affect us. We accept God’s gracious blessing or we trample it under foot by our choices.
What is man? He is a free moral agent able to choose for himself.

III. IN RELATION TO CHOICE AND MAN’S BEING A FREE MORAL AGENT WE COME TO THE THOUGHT OF THE TEMPTATION AND FALL OF MAN.
When we look at man today it isn’t hard to realize that he isn’t like he was when God created him. We see in man today a fallen human being. Sin, disease, mental weakness. This is not what God had intended man to be.
When God created man and put him in the garden of Eden he was given dominion over all that God had created. There was just one condition and that was obedience and faithfulness to God.

As a free moral agent it would be reasonable to say that there would be temptation or there would be no choice.
There is nothing wrong in being tempted but the wrong came in the wrong choice.
There is always temptations present but we have to exercise our choice.
The same was true of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. The eating of the forbidden fruit revealed a principal of heart rebellion against God. That is the principal of all sin. Sin yielded to reveals self-will against God’s will. The littleness or the bigness of the act makes no difference. It is the obedience or the disobedience of man to God that counts.

Adam’s sin was voluntary. He chose. It was a revolt from God’s authority – (Genesis 2:16-17) And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (KJV)
It was a rebellion against God’s right to govern.
It was that act that alienated man’s heart from God.
It effected his love to God. It effected his every relation to God.
Remember he used to walk and talk with God in the cool of the day.
Now he hid from God. He dreaded God’s presence.
And this very nature of sin became a part of man.
Man is born a sinful creature. We realize that spiritual death and physical death came about by the fall of man in the garden but more than that this very nature was implanted in man and man is born with his back to God. The sin nature is present. It is easier to do wrong than it is to do right in this state.
It takes a turning around and facing God if we are to be what God wants us to be. It is a deliberate choice. It doesn’t happen by accident.
Man is born depraved. By depraved we mean the lack of original righteousness or holy affection toward God and the presence of a corrupt nature and a bent toward wrong.
This nature isn’t something we outgrow.
It grows in us and because man is sinful by nature we see the sin in our lives.
But man is also born with a conscience.
He knows right from wrong and he knows what will please God and also how he should behave toward his fellow men. God uses this to draw man back to Himself.

IV. THE PSALMIST ASKS A QUESTION - (PSALMS 8:4) WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM? AND THE SON OF MAN, THAT THOU VISITEST HIM? (KJV)
Job ask a similar question - (Job 7:17) What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? (KJV)
(Job 15:14) What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? (KJV)

We see from these questions that God has a special place for man.
He is mindful of man. He knows our weakness and our down fallings.
He is mindful of you right now whether your relationship is right with Him or not. He is doing all He can for you, all you will allow Him to do.
Man is the special object of God’s love.

You are not only God’s creation but you are God’s special concern.
That is the answer to Job’s question (Job 15:14) What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? (KJV)

Man is the special object of God’s affections.
He is the being God has set His heart on.
Man is the object of redemption.
Just stop and think, “What am I?” Am I what God planned I could be through grace? Am I what I know I should be? Am I what I will want to be when I stand before my Maker?

Then consider , “Why am I here?” Am I fulfilling my purpose in life in relation to God and God’s will. How many times I’ve read where people committed suicide or where they just gave up on life because they felt that they weren’t achieving anything in this life. God didn’t plan it that way. God has a place for you in His kingdom. It is a place where you can realize His purpose for you and His love toward you.
Ask yourself this one last question: “Where am I going when this life is over?”

We answer this question in our own minds by how we live this life. Man is an eternal being. Not born to die but born to live eternally.
I’m the object of God’s love.
I’m the object of God’s plan of redemption.
But I’m also a free moral agent.
What I do with opportunities and God’s plans for me are up to me, but I can never get away from the fact that God mane me for Himself.

TAKE ME, BREAK ME, MAKE ME!
CARRIE JUDD MONTGOMERY

Take me, O Lord, for I am but clay
That lies unused upon a dusty shelf;
I cannot move to meet Thy blessed hand,
So weak am I and powerless in myself;
I can but cry to Thee with helpless moan,
And ask Thee to work upon my soul
That I shall let my painful struggles cease
And yield my hapless life to Thy control.

Break me, O Lord, for hard hath grown the clay
Until no pliability remains;
Let Thine own fingers crumble me to dust,
Till naught of former shape the clay remains;
The vessel on the wheels was sadly marred;
Some trace of self-life spoiled the Potter’s art.
Then sift the scattered dust with searching eye,
And satisfy my broken, contrite heart.
Make me, O Lord, with Thine own bleeding hands,
And streams of grace will moisten and unite
The broken dust again to yielding clay,
No more to struggle and resist Thy might.
Then take, and break, and make, until, so formed,
The Heavenly Potter calls His work complete
And in His image fair hath fashioned me,
A vessel for the Master’s use made meet.
-Church of Christ Advocate

Are you satisfied with you? With your life?
God made provision for you to have that satisfying portion abiding in your soul.
What are you doing with the life God gave you?

by gramaki Sun Nov 17, 2013 1:16 am

Rohn, this is again very good. There is so much in what you write I am going to print it out and use as a study. I can't disagree with anything you've written.

There has been a big controversy in my denomination over the question of free will. Churches are splitting over it. I've been in online discussions with some of the church members and it's disappointing to me when I find that I agree with so much of what they write except for the issue of free will. They say that when God draws us to Himself, we have no choice in the matter. God saves who He will, and does not save others. To me, this doesn't make sense because why would we need the Gospel, or to do mission work if God is doing it all Himself? In some ways I understand their interpretation because there are those in our denomination who do not emphasize security at all, it's like we always have one step on a banana peel and if we make one wrong move we are lost. That's not right either, in my opinion. On the other hand, we don't choose Him, He chooses us. So far I have not seen anything in your writing that I would disagree with, even though I am not a very deep person and I get lost in the theological battles pretty easily. But I know this - we have a choice, if we know that God is knocking on our heart's door, we'd better answer it and not turn away. There is a time of grace and a time when it will be too late. Thank you for these sermons.

by Rohn Sun Nov 17, 2013 1:27 am

Thank you for the kind words.
You are welcome Gramaki. With every message I post I also pray that it will help someone on the way to heaven.

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