This morning we turn in our Bibles to Psalm 2. Psalm 2, if you're visiting with us this morning, we're working through the Psalms. And we come to Psalm 2 this morning. A wonderful Psalm about Christ's Kingdom. So we'll read the entirety of the Psalm. I guess if I have the right Bible here, that's found on page 568 in your pew Bibles. I think I have the right one. Let's give our attention to the Word of the Lord. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way. For His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. May the Lord bless the hearing of His Word. Well, we are bombarded today with the news, a political scene that is bustling about and hustling about trying to solve all of the world's problems. But the reality is, the reality is all of the uncertainty, all of the turmoil, all of the problems, all of the threats that are coming down our path today are worse than ever. No one seems to have any answers, do they? Everything that we do only seems to bring more confusion and seems to dig us deeper into the hole. And here we are as Christians in the middle of all this trying to process all of this and we're trying to offer a message of peace and a message of hope. And we say and we make the bold claim that Christianity brings the answer to this lost world. We teach that Jesus Christ is reigning over all. That He is the King Supreme and that He is what history is all about. He's the center of history. He has won the victory and that all the nations of the world, every single one of them, are subject to Him. That's our great proclamation as Christians. That every single life in this world, everyone will bow the knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. What's our problem? everything that we confess and that kind of confession in the Christian Gospel doesn't seem to be happening. Right? Doesn't seem to be happening. I mean, it almost feels like we're living the exact opposite of the very thing that we preach. Right? I mean, I'm sure you've all felt this and you struggle with this. We feel weak. We feel powerless. Christians? Are we really making a difference in this world? And then we look at all the goofiness in the Christian world and everyone mocks at it. And because of this struggle, Christians haven't always known what to do when the kingdoms of this world become chaotic and turbulent or deadly. What are we to think when a wicked ruler comes into power? How do we process this? We live in fear of this because we have children and our children, we're looking at the future and we wonder what are they going to have to endure and look at the escalation of wickedness and all we seem to see is idolatry and it just seems to be getting worse and worse and worse. How do we make sense of the Christian story of victory when all we seem to be experiencing is defeat. Is history really moving to an end that has to do with Jesus Christ? Who in the world scene is talking about Jesus? He's not even on the radar for people. Or is He? Lo and behold, voila, here's Psalm 2. Psalm 2 answers everything that I've just described this morning. Psalm 2 is explaining this to us. Psalm 2 is unpacking this for us. It's explaining that all of the turbulence that we are experiencing in this world, in the kingdoms of this world, has everything to do with Jesus. It's not what it seems. Here's the reality. Here's God's Word defining reality for us. Psalm 2 is giving us a picture of history from the viewpoint of heaven. And it's saying to us that that Jesus is the center of history, that everything is about Him. Everything that we proclaim, everything that's happening is about Him. Everyone will bow to Him. So Psalm 2 is given to show us the true meaning of it all. The reality. That we would not lose heart and that we would know that the Lord Jesus is reigning over all of this what appears to be chaos. If you want a different way of looking at it for the boys and girls. Everyone's wondered about the book of Revelation. What is the central meaning to the book of Revelation? No one's understood, it seems, the book of Revelation. You know what the book of Revelation, how the book of Revelation could be understood. Let me give you a very clear thesis of the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation, the thesis of the book of Revelation is Psalm 2. You know what it is, boys and girls? Really simple. Jesus is going to win. Jesus is going to win. That's the thesis to the whole book of Revelation. That's Psalm 2. Psalm 2 calls us to trust Him no matter what we see unravel in this world. Let's look at it. It's been correctly observed that Psalm 1 and 2 were so united, many thought it was one psalm at one time. But really, it should be viewed as, if you look at all the psalms as we go through, each one is going to have what we call a superscription. That's a title. You'll notice in Psalm 1 and 2, there's no titles. And the reason you don't find titles to these psalms is because they function as the title to the whole Psalter. This is the title to the whole book of the psalms. All of them. And so it's telling us this is the context to the book of the psalms. This is how we read all of the books of the psalms. And so here we are in Psalm 2. Now, what an amazing psalm coming on the heels of Psalm 1. You remember the first psalm introduced to us last week the ultimate man. It said up front, the blessed man. And remember, it was describing a man. It said, here is a man like you've never known before. Here is the blessed man. There was no if there, then you'll be. It said, let me show you a man that is totally blessed. He doesn't sin. It doesn't begin in the mind. It doesn't go in the way. He doesn't end up standing in it. And he meditates on God's law day and night. This is the ultimate man Psalm 1 presented to us. But there was a contrast. The guilty are not so. Now the second psalm is unfolding that. The second psalm is unfolding what we learned in the first psalm. It's introducing us to this blessed man of Psalm 1 and showing where the two paths lead, where they're going. So you notice in verse 12 of Psalm 2 that those who don't identify with this man, those who reject this man who was presented to us in Psalm 2 will perish in the way. So there were the two ways. And notice how it's connected. These two psalms belong together. Two ways are outlined, two different paths, Two different kinds of men. So here we are now in Psalm 2 and notice what is happening. It's not too difficult to break down if you're taking notes. I know my outline looks overwhelming. It's really simple. There's four speakers to this psalm. When they used to sing it, you could have called it a quartet. There were four singers to this psalm. And you'll notice in verses 1-3, the first singer is man taunting and rebelling against God. speaking out, lashing out against God. And in the next verses, you'll notice there, God's laughing response to this and His action to this. And then the next speaker comes out and that next speaker is the Messiah. It is Christ. And Christ declares the decree of what has been decided for Him. And then you have this surprising speaker at the end of the psalm who's a bit mysterious to us, who gives a surprising plea at the end. Let's look at the first singer. Verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and against His anointed. Now, the psalmist is in shock. He's looking at something he cannot believe is happening in the earth. He is in utter dismay that these little puny human beings on the earth, these little clay pots on the earth, these ones who were created by God, who live and move and have their being in Him, who have no right to exist, they're doing the unimaginable. The word here is really strong in the Hebrew. The first word is rage. It's a noisy tumult. It gives the sense of a restless assembly. It's a total restless assembly. A restless people who are getting together and they're plotting together. They're muttering together. And then we come to the really tragic word of the psalm is that they are all plotting together again, the Lord and His anointed. What are they saying? Let us burst. Let us shatter. Let us destroy. Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. Their view of God is that He has shackled them like a king who places great shackles over the captives. Their view is that God is a tyrant over them. Now this was never really the case, was it? I can't help but thinking of what the Lord said to Ephraim. I drew them with gentle cord. With bands of love I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. Who can forget our Lord Jesus when He called sinners to Himself? He would call and He'd say, come to Me. My yoke is easy and My burden is light. But what do we have here? Let us shatter this. Now a lot of people have tried to find a context to this psalm and they say, well, in David's day there must have been some kind of revolt. I think it ultimately is profitless to try to figure out what the context is in David's day. The psalm is not doing that ultimately. The psalm is showing us something, yes, specific, but something that also applies to everything that's ever happened in history. Everything. Have you ever thought about what we're seeing happening in our country? Have you ever thought about it? That all this is going somewhere? We all stand back. Well, where is this all going? Where is it going to go? What we are shocked at about as Christians is the sheer escalation of wickedness, isn't it? How violent things are getting. The Scriptures talked about this in the Old Testament. They talked about that societies are going in what they call a cycle of iniquity. Remember the Lord said that about the Amorites. When the cycle of iniquity was complete, He would judge them. This is a society. Societies come and gone. There's no society that has not been pummeled at some point. And every single nation of the world has come down at some point. We're not anything new, beloved. And what's happening is, is that there is a growth of rebellion. There is a growth of rebellion to the point where the Lord has to intervene and judge that society, judge that nation, unless, because, the elect are about to be crushed in the wickedness. Prove this throughout history. And what we're looking at in this second psalm is not the Lord criticizing secular government. You know, and Romans 13 will tell us, that every single governing authority was put there by God. He ordained kings and kingdoms. What this psalm is presenting to us is what's happening behind the scenes. It's presenting to us the collective rebellion that is happening against the Lord in the raging kingdoms of this world. In other words, it's taking us behind the scene to see things from a heavenly perspective. We don't get to see that. But the psalm is giving it to us. and we're taking behind the scenes to see what's going on in the kingdoms. The Bible will use the language of the mystery of lawlessness or the spirit of the Antichrist that's already in the world. Jesus testified in His day and what got Him almost... they constantly wanted to stone Him. One of the reasons was He was constantly testifying that the world's works, John 7, were what? Evil. And they hated Him for it. He's talking about the world system, that the principle of darkness that is going on in this world that makes the whole world lie under the sway of the evil one. There are spiritual things behind this. There are spiritual things happening in the kings and kingdoms of this world. Demonic influences and even demons standing behind leaders. The whole picture here in Psalm 2 is a collective human nature revolt against God. And what are they doing? What are they doing? They are casting off all morality. They are casting off all restraint. They're changing laws. They're changing times. They're enforcing laws directly contrary to the law written on the conscience and the heart. And where does it go? The kingdoms of this world move in such a way that they become more debased and more debased. And what do you see when a society has run its cycle of iniquity? They end up trying to cut off the church. It's persecution. Look at the societies doing this today. What's our greatest fear today? We are seeing something happening with Islam like we've not known. And it's spiraling into jihad with everyone, isn't it? And what is their great denial about Jesus? I know today we're seeing what's happening and people interacting with it foolishly, but we've got to be willing to say what they believe. They deny that Jesus is the Son of God and they give all glory to their prophet, Muhammad. See the zeal they have for that name? You ever wonder why? You ever thought about why? All of Europe, add to this, is completely dead to Christ. Then you travel to North America and look at our context. What is it? Everything is accepted under the sun in our context here except the very exclusive claim that Jesus Christ is Lord over all to whom everyone must bow and confess. You can believe about anything in our context today except that. You could make Jesus a philanthropist. You could make Him a moralist. you could do anything about Jesus except make the claim that you are a sinner and that you have to be saved by Him. The antithesis is there. And it's strong. In any given society, there is a movement. There is a movement. And what this psalm is showing us is that in all the wickedness we're experiencing and all the tumult of the world and all the restlessness of the nations, have you ever stopped and thought why these nations are so restless. You look on the news and look at the restlessness of the nations right now. Look at the United Nations. Look at the restlessness of the nation of Islam. The psalm just told you it has everything to do with Jesus. Amazing statement, isn't it? To set this in stone a little bit more, Diocletian in the 3rd century struck up a medal. You know what that medal said? The name of Christianity is extinguished. Thou Ecclesian, Jovian, Maximum, Hercules, for having abolished everywhere the superstition of Christ, for having extended the worship of the gods. We got rid of Him. We pummeled Him. Now here's heaven. Heaven's viewpoint, they're casting off cords. and they are explicitly setting themselves against the Lord and against His anointed. Now here's what's amazing. The psalm doesn't turn to our response to this, does it? The psalm turns directly to the Lord's response to this. And I love studying that. God the Father now responds in the psalm. God the Father sees all of this. God the Father looks down upon all of this. And God the Father responds to all of this. And what do we read? the first thing that he says in verse 4, the first thing that happens in verse 4 to all this madness. He who is in the heavens shall laugh. Now, of all the things Scripture could have recorded, it could have said, he who sits in the heavens sends out fire out of his nostrils and blows them all up. He who is in the heavens rages in fury He who is in the heavens summons up an army. These would all be good things, right things, in light of His holiness. But aren't you moved by this? He who is in the heavens shall laugh. Boys and girls, does God laugh? The Lord is helping us out by accommodating to our capacity, isn't He? What is He saying to us? God's not moved by any of this stuff. In other words, God doesn't tremble. God doesn't get up off His throne and say, oh my, what am I going to do about all these powerful nations in the world who are collectively getting together against Me? What am I going to do about that? He doesn't stand back and start calculating how He's going to deal with all this rage against Him. He sits on His throne. and he laughs. Why does the Lord want us to consider that this morning? When I was a kid, I used to watch, when I wasn't a kid, I was older, but I used to watch Avenger Holyfield fights. Remember Holyfield? This would be like when I was in high school. No one could beat this guy. And I think to myself, you know what? I'm going to go challenge Avenger Holyfield. I'm going to go down to Vegas. I'm going to crawl up on in the ring with Avenger. And I'm going to take this guy down. I'm going to give him a run for his money. There would be two sounds, wouldn't there? Him hitting me and me hitting the mat. What's Avenger going to do? Laugh! And what is he laughing at? He's laughing at the sheer arrogance of Chris Gordon who thinks he can take him on. who does this guy think he is he could take him on? Do these nations of the world think they can overcome me? These little pots of clay that I made, do they really think they can pummel me? Now, I don't know about you, but this has got to be one of the most comforting things I've ever read as a Christian, isn't it? You should stop. Every time you turn on the news and you get in all this fear and you worry about this and that, even ridiculous things like Social Security, and you should say, he who is in the heavens is laughing. All these things that cause me fear. Come on, Christians. Why are we fearing? Look at the one who is seated and powerful over all of this nonsense. And he just laughed at the matter. Now, no matter what's happening in this world, if this whole world crumbles and falls apart, guess what? He's still on His throne. He's not shaken up by this. And you see, this was given to help God's people with something, wasn't it? I see so many Christians overwhelmingly given to fear about our next president and about this and that. And we look at all of the wickedness happening, the uncertainty, the political godlessness, and I say, you know what my response is? If that were all aimed at you today, fear. because then you've got to deal with it. But you notice the psalmist leaves you out of this? It's aimed at Him. And if it's aimed at Him and His anointed, He's going to deal with it. And you see, that's why the psalm is the most consoling psalm in the Psalter. Because it's saying you have nothing to fear. You know what Luther said of this psalm? Luther said, let us console ourselves together with this psalm, for it's not just ourselves that the world is so bitterly against, but God Himself. So instead of being afraid, we should be laughing at this crazy effort of the world to think that it can fight against God. No one will deprive Christ of His throne, for God the Father has placed Him there forever. And you see, here's where this psalm overwhelms us this morning. God answers, doesn't He? He answers in His wrath. He answers in derision. He is angry. And what does He do in response to this madness? I'm going to do something. I'm going to set my King on my holy hill. And the Lord is telling the world, He's telling us this morning, here's my response to everything you're seeing happening in the world's rebellion. Here's my response. Watch out. I'm installing my son on the throne. So the son now responds to this, doesn't he? And I love the son's response to this. This is an amazing response. I'm going to tell of the decree. This is Christ. He said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. If there were a context for David for this psalm, I would like to think that David, when he was a young boy, remembered something. I would like to think that David was thinking a whole lot about an event that happened when the powerful Philistines came on up against Israel and there was a king on the throne who was weak and powerless. And then David sees their mightiest warrior step on out into the field. And this mighty, powerful warrior is wearing the armor. No one will step up to this warrior named Goliath. And remember what David did? Who is this dead dog? Who is this dog to defile the armies of the living God? And he steps on out into the field. And he wouldn't even wear the armor. He has a few stones. The Philistine looks at David and the Philistine laughs. He disdains him. He says, this is part of youth. He's ruddy, right? And what does he say? Am I a dog that you've come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David. And the Philistine said to David, come to me and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field. Now think of Psalm 2. He who is in the heavens shall laugh. David takes a little slingshot. Pegs him right in the forehead. Sinks right on in. And he dies. David takes off his head. And then what did the Lord do with David? He installed him on the throne. In all of that weakness, He defeats and installs him on the throne. That's not talking about us beating Goliaths in our lives, by the way. You know what the Lord said about His Son in the ministry? Twice. This is My Son. This is my Son. And Paul said in Romans 1, we see the Son of God through the resurrection declared with power. We see how powerful He is in the resurrection. This psalm is describing for us the glorious coronation, the glorification, the ascension, the session of the Son of God on His heavenly throne. And you see, this is how Peter applied it in Acts 2. Remember what he said in Acts 2? The sermon he preached as the Spirit had been poured out. Let it be known to you all and to the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Lord, You are God. You made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Now listen to this. What does he quote right in this context? Who by the mouth of Your servant David have said, why did the nations rage and the peoples plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ for truly, here's the application, here's the fulfillment of Psalm 2, for truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. Do you know what happened next? A great multitude believed. Because of the power, it says, of the resurrection, great grace was given to them. God sent His Son, and just when it seemed in all of His weakness that He had lost the battle, All the rulers coming together at the center point of history, plotting together and planning how to destroy God's Son, to cast off the bonds of the Lord and His Anointed. There was Herod plotting and planning to put Him to death. And guess what God did? He laughed. Because it was His purpose, but He laughed because He raised up His Son. And you know where that Son is today? He is seated far above all principalities, powers, and kings and kingdoms. And every knee is bowed. And every knee will confess that He is Lord. Now, we don't realize how deadly this is for the world. We don't realize how deadly this is for the world. How awful it's going to be for the world. That's what the psalm is saying. You kings better listen up. You guys better watch out. I put him up there. And you know what's going to happen? He's coming back. And the New Testament tells us it's going to be an awful day that nobody has ever seen anything like. And all of this wickedness, everything, everything you're seeing, everything that you grieve over, everything that you see and you just shake your head out, it's all going to have a reckoning. And the New Testament says He's going to be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might. Watch out. That's coming. But, did you notice how this psalm ends? We wouldn't expect how this psalm ends. All of a sudden, At the end of the psalm, there's a surprising voice. There's a surprising plea. I like to think it's the voice of the Holy Spirit who bears witness of the Son. And did you notice what it says in closing this morning? Verse 10. O kings, be wise. Be warned. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way. For His wrath is kindled quickly. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him. Now I don't know if I could have heard a more amazing ending to this story. There's a way to escape this doom. Stop fighting against the Lord. Stop casting away His cords. They're cords of love. They're gentle cords. And He says, come to Me and I'm going to give you peace. Stop the rebellion. It's misery. Submit yourself to Him. Kiss the Son. Come to Him. Believe in Him. And you know what? All of the doom that's going to come will not touch you. What a shocking ending. We'd never expect that. But in the heart of the Old Testament, the Lord proclaimed a day of mercy. This king is no tyrant. This king is full of compassion. This king is not like the kings and kingdoms of this world. They will destroy you. Don't put your trust in a Savior of the United States. He can't save us. This king saves. This king is compassionate. This king loves. This king forgives. and you will remain restless in your life until you've come to Him. Isn't it overwhelming in closing? The beginning of this psalm says, here's the blessed man. And now it ends by saying, you're blessed if you put your trust in that man. See it? See the connection? You are blessed when you trust and believe in Him. It's a terrifying thing to fall in the hands of the living God. But it's the greatest blessing to be found in Him. I close with this. Who overcomes the world? This is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith. Who is He who overcomes the world? But He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Amen. O Lord our God, we are so grateful that You have taken that great power and reign. And that we live in the day of that reign. What do we have to fear? You are Lord over all. And what a comfort it is. All the kings and kingdoms that You appoint are in Your hand. And that all of the chaos that we're seeing happening all around us, we can commit ourselves to You, Your gracious care and Your love for us to know that coming to your beloved Son, we have a place of refuge. We will not be touched by the judgment to come. That is the most blessed, glorious message you could ever give. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your forgiveness. May everyone today kiss the Son and enjoy the peace that surpasses all understanding that you give to those who love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.