[0:00] I want to ask you a question about your heroes who are in the Bible. Now listen, I think two years ago I spoke to you about Jonah, and I asked you who the hero of Jonah was, and some of you, caroaners, were trying to tell me that it was the worm who was the hero.
[0:15] So I don't want to hear anything about worms. I want four real heroes of the Bible who defeated their enemies. Yes. Good one.
[0:26] Stole my punchline. Okay, yes. David. Exactly. Killed Goliath, among many other enemies. Yes.
[0:38] God. Yep. Yep, that's right. How about a couple of human beings, aside from God? Yep. Joshua. Yes.
[0:50] Joshua killed many men. All right. Yes. Moses. Well done, Jack. Yep. What about one other? Who's heard of Gideon? Gideon?
[1:01] Come on, that's my favourite story. Gideon killed heaps of people with only a few people. It's like the ultimate children's story. The underdog wins in the end.
[1:13] All right. Now, what I want to tell you is, although those are the heroes that come to our minds who defeat God's enemies in the Bible, I reckon there's another group of heroes that we're going to hear about this morning that you guys, that maybe you will become your greatest heroes.
[1:29] All right. And these heroes are a bunch of little kids who run through the temple in Jesus' day shouting some very important words. And the Bible says when they shout these words, they defeat God's enemies.
[1:43] All right. So, be listening in for that. We're going to get to that in the end. But just so that you guys don't feel like this talk's going to be all about how great kids are, as if we don't hear that enough, I just need to bring you down a notch and tell you that actually, the greatest hero of the Bible, as we've said before, I'll say it again, is God.
[2:02] And so, when you come to Psalm 8, the thing that we notice, first of all, is that the first line and the last line are exactly the same. Can anyone remember from the reading what those lines are?
[2:15] You mean you haven't memorized the Bible yet? All right. Ruth's got work to do. Psalm 8. I'll read it for you. First line is, O Lord our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
[2:29] Last line, verse 9, is, O Lord our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth. So, when you read a Psalm and the first line is exactly the same as the last line, that should give you an idea that that line is really important.
[2:43] So, what he's saying is, is God is the greatest, the greatest thing we can ever worship, the most supreme being in the universe. God is Sovereign.
[2:54] He is King over all. And for me, in my walk in faith, I found I went very, well, not very quickly, but I took a great leap from being very immature in faith to growing maturity when I realized this point, that God is Sovereign over all things and that I am not the center of the creation and the universe.
[3:13] Hands up if you think you're the center of all things that are in the universe. One. Back to Sunday school next week.
[3:24] God, actually, the Bible tells us, and we see in those two verses, verse 1 and verse 9, that God is supreme over all things, even you and me. Okay? In addition to that, just to take us down another notch, I want to tell you the truth about children.
[3:39] Are you listening in? This is very important. I'd get you to write it down if you could. But here we go. Ready? The truth about children is that they are weak, that they are unknowledgeable, and that they are completely dependent on other people.
[3:53] Who's with me? A couple. A couple of you want to kill me with your tiny fists. I know. But here, I'll illustrate this point, that children are weak, they are unknowledgeable, and they are completely dependent on other people.
[4:10] All right? So, Tony, why don't you bring Alex up here and we'll do a little illustration. All right.
[4:27] First of all, I need you to arm wrestle over here on the table. So, I know you're quite adept at this. Illustration, just to see if I'm right about children being weak.
[4:39] Simple illustration. Three, two, one. Yeah, okay. Alex is weak. Does anyone else want to take a crack?
[4:54] There's no points because you're weak. All right. Do you want to just rub it in by picking him up or slamming him into the ground or something? Children are weak.
[5:10] Okay, what about one out of three proven? What about knowledgeable? Okay, what's a question that both of you could answer? First, to buzz in, who was the female prime minister of England from 1979 to 1990?
[5:31] Doesn't matter? Exactly right. Two out of two. All right, now, just for the killer punch. Alex, can I, can I get a bit more of this?
[5:43] Thanks, pal. how much, roughly, forgive me if I'm being presumptuous, but how much do you earn per annum? That's exactly right.
[5:57] Tony, do you earn more than that? A little bit. Okay, completely dependent on others. Thank you for proving my point, guys. I'd give you a lolly, but I didn't think ahead.
[6:11] All right, so, children are weak, unknowledgeable, and completely dependent on other people. That's the truth. Now, here's the thing, though. The great kind of message of this passage in the Bible, Psalm 8, is that God, even though children are all those things, God stoops down to use children to defeat his enemies.
[6:37] Do you remember that from Psalm 8? Let's get it. I should have an assistant. Ephesians 5, Ephesians 5, Ephesians 5.
[6:55] Thank you. Not bad for a child. All right, here we go. Psalm 8. This is a great truth. Given all that I've said about children, I need to win you back.
[7:06] How about this? Verse 2, Out of the mouths of babies and infants you have founded a bulwark, that is, you have made strength because of your foes to silence the enemy and the avenger.
[7:19] It's saying that God uses children to defeat his enemies. And the way they defeat God's enemies is in what they say, out of the mouths of babies and infants. Now, how would that work?
[7:30] How would children be able to defeat God's enemies with their mouths? Josiah. Good man.
[7:41] Exactly right. Children, when they say right things about God, defeat God's enemies. Do you know how we know this? We have an example of this in a reading that we heard earlier.
[7:53] It's in Matthew 21. Let me set the scene for you. Do you remember when Jesus is coming into Jerusalem? It's coming out to Easter time. He's going to die on the cross and he comes into Jerusalem in what way?
[8:06] Is it in a taxi? Is it by plane? Magic carpet? He rides on a donkey. Exactly. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey and people everywhere are saying, look at this guy.
[8:20] He is the Messiah. He is the king. He is the one that we've been waiting for. Now, that's the first thing that really ticks off the religious guys, the scribes and the religious leaders of the Jews.
[8:32] They hate that people are saying that. And then, just to further tick them off, what does Jesus do? He goes into the temple and he does something you'd get in trouble for.
[8:43] Yes, Jack. He does not pray. He has prayed, but he doesn't on this occasion. Yes. He eventually died, but before he died, he went in there and turned over the tables of the money changers, didn't he?
[9:01] Because the money changers were in the temple exploiting people and the religious guys who wore these kind of collars, they were getting extra money in their pockets because of those guys. And so, Jesus says, this place isn't about making money, it's about worshipping God.
[9:16] So, he turned those tables over and kicked them out of the temple. So, now the Jews really hate him and then something happened that completely put them over the edge.
[9:27] Do you remember? It was in the reading earlier. Who can give it to me? Yes, Philip. Have a think about it.
[9:41] That's okay. Yep. You know too much of the Bible. Okay, I need some people who don't know much who can stick with my train of thought.
[9:53] I'll give it to you. Okay, so, he's come in, people have worshipped him as the Messiah, that's made the Jews angry. He's walked into the temple, turned over the tables, that's made the Jews angry and then a bunch of kids like you guys run through the church saying, Hosanna to the son of David.
[10:11] They're saying, in other words, this guy is the Messiah that everyone's been waiting for and that really, really ticks off the Jews because they don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
[10:24] Now, what does Jesus, what happens after that? The kids have run through the church and they've said, this guy is the king and then the religious guys come to Jesus, what do they say?
[10:35] They say, can you hear what these kids are saying? You know, all the old guys with their shirt tucked in too much and they've got a red face and their ties done up too tight, they've come into Jesus and said, have you heard what these kids are saying?
[10:49] They're calling you the Messiah. Clearly, you're not the Messiah. What are you going to do about it? And Jesus says one word to begin with. One of the most important words he says in all the Gospels.
[11:01] It's the opposite of no. Yes. Yeah, he says yes. And when he says yes, what he's saying is, yes, and I agree with what they're saying.
[11:13] He agrees with what the kids are saying about him and not what the religious guys are saying. Yes, he says, and then he quotes this psalm, all right?
[11:24] We're nearly done. Stick with me. He says, where am I? Help me.
[11:36] Oh, here we go. He says, yes, have you never read out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself.
[11:48] He quotes Psalm 8 and he says, these babies, these little children, these weak, unknowledgeable, dependent children have got it right and you've got it wrong.
[12:01] Now, there's two reasons why this is absolutely astounding, what Jesus says. I'm going to finish on these two things. All right? Two reasons. Number one, Jesus is standing there in the temple hundreds of years after this psalm was written and he says, Psalm 8 is happening right now.
[12:22] Because of what you have said and because of what the kids have said, Psalm 8 is happening now. The children are defeating the enemies of God. The religious guys are the enemies of God and the children have defeated him in what they've said about him being the Messiah.
[12:38] All right? That's number one. Now, the even more astounding thing is, stick with me, I'm going to talk about Bible translation just real quick. All right? So, Jesus, when he quotes that psalm, he doesn't quote the psalm like we have it in our Bible.
[12:52] Did you notice that? You picked up on that, right? You're not looking disinterested because you're disinterested, it's because you already know what I'm saying. Yeah, excellent. Okay, so Jesus, when he quotes Psalm 8, he doesn't say you have made a bull walk because of your foes, you've made strength because of your foes.
[13:09] He quotes the Greek version of that psalm. He says, you have prepared praise for yourself. You have silenced your enemies and prepared praise for yourself.
[13:23] Now, have you done the psalm in your head? Have you figured out what he's saying? When he quoted that psalm, he was saying, children, praise God and it silences his enemies and now he's saying, these children are praising me and it silenced God's enemies.
[13:42] What he's saying is, I am God. Did you get that? Nod your heads. Yes. Jesus is saying, when little children praise God, they silence God's enemies and these little children who have just praised me, they've done the same thing because I am God.
[14:05] And you need to know this, we hear all the time that Jesus is God but for people in those days, no one would ever claim to be God. No human would ever claim to be God but Jesus has done it right now.
[14:21] It's an amazing thing. So, here's the thing for you guys. Can you give me a little rope here? I promise I won't hang myself. Alright. Here's the thing for you guys. If this is true, if little children like you defeat God's enemies by what you say, if you can make a huge impact in the world for God by what you say, then you need to be like these heroes in the book of Matthew chapter 21.
[14:48] These heroic kids who run through the temple saying, Jesus is God which silences God's enemies, the Pharisees and the scribes.
[14:58] So, the way that you can do that is not by running through the church screaming at the top of your lungs. Alright. Just be clear on that so I don't get fired. But, you can run through the school ground and talk to your friends about how Jesus is God.
[15:14] And if you start now while you're young children, God can use you now and then throughout your life if you keep telling people that Jesus is God, then the Bible says that God will use you to defeat his enemies and also to bring people to know him as their saviour.
[15:32] Is that a good thing? I'm sorry, are you asleep? I know you guys are. You guys. Is that a great thing that God uses little children to defeat his enemies and spread his message of good news to all people?
[15:49] Good. I'm glad you agree with me. And it wasn't coerced. So, why don't we pray, alright? Because, here's the thing, we can as children defeat God's enemies but we can't do it on our own.
[16:02] We need God to help us. So, I'm going to pray that God would help us in doing that. Let's assume our prayer positions. We'll close our eyes. We'll bow our heads. And I'm going to pray.
[16:13] Dear Lord, thank you that you stoop down to use little children and even men and women to achieve your great purposes on the earth.
[16:24] We thank you that though you could defeat your enemies just by killing them, you use children to defeat them. And we thank you that though you could achieve your own purposes apart from us, you stoop down to use us to achieve your gospel purposes in the world.
[16:42] So, please use these little children to defeat your enemies and to spread your good news and use us as adults as well. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.