You would turn in your Bibles,
please, to the second Psalm, Psalm 2. Now at home, when I talk to the
guys that teach our Bible class and preach for me when I'm gone,
I tell them, never give out the Scripture if you're fixing to
lead in prayer. And so I made the cardinal error
this morning. Let's beg the Lord to help us. Lord, we come this morning in joy and gratitude for your
kind mercies to us. We approach now your Holy Word
that you have magnified above all your name. Oh, cause us to magnify your Word to honor you in its reading,
its exposition, its teaching, and its preaching. We are but feeble men, all of
us. Our minds by nature do not understand
the words of this book. If you do not come yourself,
taking up your own cause and prosecuting your own ends, your
kingdom will never advance. But we bless your name, that
indeed you do take up your own cause, and we pray that you would
do so in the depths of our souls this day. Thank you for this
privilege and honor. Bless our time together. Bless
my friend, Brother Walker, as he comes to preach this morning.
We beg these mercies through our dear Savior, the Lord Jesus,
who has deserved and merited everything for us. We beg in
His name. Amen. Now the second psalm is made
up of twelve verses, and if you look at it as poetry,
it is divided into four stanzas of three verses each. And it
is essential to understanding this short psalm that we understand
who is where, what is taking place in each stanza. And it
changes decidedly at the end of each of the three verses that
make up each stanza. So this is vital and important
for us. This psalm is about our Lord
Jesus Christ. All scripture is about him, but
this psalm has no understanding apart from who Christ is, what
he's done, and why he's done it. that is essential for us
to understand. Mankind in every generation has
despised God's Christ. So at the time of this writing,
whenever it was, maybe during the lifespan of David, that these
words were first put on paper. But they were as true in Genesis
as they are in the Revelation. And our generation is absolutely
no different from that. Here's man's view of God's purpose
to make Christ the King of kings and the Lord of lords. So in
the first three verses, we have men telling God that he cannot
do something that he's purposed to do. In the second set of three
verses, 4, 5, and 6, it is God the Father's reply to the entire
human race telling him that we will not have this man, Christ
Jesus, to reign over us. Then in the following verses,
the next three, let's see, that's four, five, and six, that'd be
seven, eight, and nine, is the Lord Jesus Himself explaining
God's decree concerning Himself. And the final three verses you
might look at as the Holy Spirit teaching us some things that
we desperately need to learn. So let's see if we can find this
in Psalm 2. Why do the heathen or the Gentiles
rage and the people, particularly the Jewish people, imagine a
vain thing? And that vain thing concerns
Christ and our turning thumbs down on Him. Not only the people,
Gentile as well as Jew. Let's see if we can reinforce
this lesson. The difference, dear friends,
is not in men. It's not in races. It's not in
colors. It's not in intellect. It's not
in anything but in God. That's where it is. Even in verse
2, the kings of the earth. set themselves and the rulers
take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed."
That word means Christ, God's Christ. And here's what we all
say without a single exception. Let us break their bands asunder. Notice the plural, their bands
asunder. That of God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Let us break their bands asunder
and cast away their cords from us. We'll be freethinkers." This is very disturbing to God.
You know what He does? He laughs. Not just a chuckle, a side-splitting
laugh at our puny efforts to keep Him from doing What we'll
discover in a moment, he's already done. Alright, verse 4. He that sits in the heavens shall
laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. That word means laughter, ridicule. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in
his sore displeasure. And here is what he says, I quote
from verse 6, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of
Zion. Now, men are not the only people.
Well, they're the only people, but men are not the only beings
that say God can't do this. The devil himself, in fact, without
his influence and help, we would not be quite so bold as to say
he can't do this. But even the devil himself said,
you can't do this. I won't let you. Yet, have I set my king upon
my holy hill of Zion." Now there is a change of speaker at verse
7. This is who? The Lord Jesus Himself. He says, I will declare the decree,
God's eternal decree concerning the salvation of His people by
God's grace and mercy in Christ alone. I will declare the decree. The
Lord has said unto me." And that word, Lord, is all capital letters,
which means that the word is actually Jehovah. But it is Jehovah,
Father, Jehovah, Son, and Jehovah, Holy Spirit. We do not distinguish
between the three as far as one being less than the other. That's
impossible. God cannot change, whether it's Father, Son, or
Holy Spirit. He cannot become less than He is, and He cannot
be more than He is, because when He's as God, He is absolutely,
perfectly God. He cannot improve. I will declare the decree, the Lord God Jehovah has said unto
me, you are my son, this day have I begotten you." Speaking
of that glorious incarnation of our dear Savior, the Lord
Jesus. Now, I hate to stop, but if I
don't, Marvin's going to fuss at me for being too brief. I'd like for you to see some
other scriptures that relate to these statements. Let's start
in Acts chapter 13. And this is unrecorded, right
Marvin? Unrecorded? I'll tell you, I'd like to preach
once in a while when there ain't no recorders. Acts chapter 13. Last Sunday we had service without
any electricity, and I enjoyed that pretty good. Acts 13, let's see what verse
it was. Verse 33. Acts 13, 33, God has
fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that
he has raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the
second Psalm." There can be no doubt whatsoever that those statements
we read that belong to our Lord Jesus Christ are indeed His. And here's what He said, Thou
art my Son. This day have I begotten you. Now, that can be said all the
way back to the beginning of old eternity, which you know,
of course, there is no such thing as beginning. As far back as
you can go, this was still true, and it's true now, although the
actual event itself transpired some 2,000 years ago. Thou art
my Son, this day have I begotten you, and as concerning that he
raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. So the sure mercies of David is what? Our Lord Jesus
and his absolute perfect redemption of his people. Wherefore, he said also in another
psalm, You shall not suffer your Holy One to seek corruption. Our Lord cannot be in that grave
but three days. He must be raised from the dead." Verse 36, for David, after he
had served his own generation by the will of God, and that
second quote in verse 35, people try to make that say that this
is speaking of David. But here's the answer to that.
David, after he'd served his own generation by the will of
God, fell on sleep. Now, if somebody could preach
that at my funeral and it be true, I tell you, that'd be something. I served my own generation by
the will of God and fell on death. and was laid unto his fathers,
and David, literal David, saw corruption. His body is still
in that grave. At least it's turned to dirt
by now, but it's still there. But not so our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 37, But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. None at all. Not any at all. And I'm so close to verses 38
and 39, I can't just quit reading without reading those two. Be
it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man, this God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ, through this man
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that
believe are justified from all things. from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses." Could not be justified
by the law of Moses. All right, let's go back to the
Psalms. Verse 8 continues this statement
about God's Christ being made God's King. The Father is speaking to the
Son, and the Son is quoting this for us. Ask of me, and I shall
give you the heathen, the Gentiles, for your inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. There is
no place on this globe that is not ruled and governed by our
Savior, everywhere, everybody, all the time. He continues in verse 9, You shall break them, the father
speaking of his son and the son quoting these words to us. You
shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel. Let's look up Isaiah 49, verses
5 through 7. Isaiah 49, 5, And now, says the
LORD, that form me from the womb, to be his servant, to bring Jacob
again to him. Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God
shall be my strength. And he said, it is a light thing,
a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will
also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be
my salvation unto the end of the earth, and for that matter
to the end of time. Verse 7, Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to whom man despises,
to Him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers. Kings
shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of
the Lord that is faithful and the Holy One of Israel, and He
shall choose you." Bless God, He does choose. is people. Never loses a single solitary
one. All right, let's come now to
the final three verses of Psalm 2. Be wise. The Holy Spirit is speaking. This is a gathering of all that
is preceded and teaching us the way of wisdom the way of the
gospel, the way of Christ. Be wise now, therefore, O you
kings. Be instructed, you judges of
the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. And here is the essence of that
advice. But alas, we need much more than advice We need divine
help and aid to find us, save us, keep us, and present us to
our Savior as His bride in eternity. Kiss the Son lest He be angry
and you perish from the way. Now, if I'm not mistaken, The
first three verses in this psalm is everything in the world except
kissing the sun. It's despising the sun. It's
hating the sun. Now how can you go from that
to this? By a divine miracle of sovereign, eternal grace. And that's the only way. Kiss
the sun. lest he be angry and you perish
from the way. And this is when his wrath is
kindled but a little. What are we going to do on the
day that God's wrath is poured out in its fullness? The bravest, largest man in this
whole world will melt before him when his wrath is kindled
but a little. What's a little when it comes
to God's wrath? Well, I do know how it is. It
appears just like it is in North Carolina, but I told our folks
last Sunday morning at the beginning of worship, I said, now I want
to call your attention to this. We had had 26 tornadoes the previous
afternoon and evening. and many of them were deadly
and very destructive. I said the preachers in the churches
of this state this morning will be doing their dead-level best
to distance God from what is taking place. But I said it's
all a lie. Here's the bottom line. Whatever
comes, whatever goes, God did it. When I die, God did it. When my daughter died at age
23, I found no comfort except when Brother Mahan was preaching
that funeral. He preached from 1 Corinthians.
I forget the chapter and the verses, but I'm telling you his
message to me. God did this, and it must be
right. And the burden was gone. And it's been gone ever since. That was April of 1992. Kiss the son lest he be angry. You don't want God's Christ mad
at you or me. And you perish from the way. when his wrath is kindled but
a little." But wonderful, wonderful indeed, this last sentence. Blessed
are all they that put their trust in Him. Now, where is your trust
and where is mine? Where is your faith and where
is mine? There's only one legitimate object
of faith, and that is Christ and Christ alone. Now, before
the meeting started this morning, the noise of people talking and
visiting and laughing is just about what we have at home. And
it took a little bit after Marvin got up here for it to just sort
of quieten down. But I'm glad you're not mad at
each other. I think that's a healthy sign.
We had a visitor some years ago when we'd had, snow had canceled
our services the previous Sunday, and we were, seemed like we were
meeting on a Saturday afternoon because we were supposed to get
more snow on Saturday night and Sunday morning, and we'd miss
another Sunday. So we met like at 2 o'clock on
Saturday afternoon, if I remember right, and a guy from Greenville,
South Carolina had called me about the services. He was going
to be in Fayetteville for something And so I got up with him on his
cell phone and told him a change of plans. And so he came. And
our folks were out there just visiting, you know, and just
carrying on and acting kind of crazy sometimes. And he sat there
like a knot on a log. He was emotionless, solemn. I mean, he just sat there. I
preached from John 4. Christ and the Samaritan woman.
And he rejoiced in what he heard. But when he went out that Sunday
morning, he could not resist. He said, I need to talk to you
a minute. So we stepped over the edge of the foyer, and he
proceeded to tell me that I needed to change some things around
there. I'd never met the guy in my life. He says, you can't
do this. I said, listen, buddy, I don't
know what your religion is, but you can keep it. We don't need
it. And I've never seen or heard
from him since. All right, let's look at this last sentence one
more time. First of all, blessed. Now, God has innumerable blessings,
but I remind you of this. Every last single one is found
in His Son. There is no second blessing.
There is no higher ground. If a man or a woman is in Christ,
you are as holy in God's sight as you will ever be. And it cannot change. It's not like it's true when
the sun's shining, but not when it's raining. This is forever. Ecclesiastes 3.14 says, Whatsoever
God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it or taken
from it that men may fear before Him. Blessed. There is no such thing as blessed.
outside of Christ. The Baptists can't bless you.
The Presbyterians can't bless you. The Methodists can't bless
you. Nobody can bless you. I don't
care how many times you hear it in going into this store or
the other and have a blessed day. They can't give you a blessed
day. If we're in Christ, every day
is a blessed day, whether I feel like it or not. We don't go by feelings. If we
did, we're going to be up and down like a yo-yo. Blessed. Who is blessed? All they that
put their trust in Him. Now, how does a sinner put his
trust in Christ? All right, I'm finished with Psalm
Two, I need you to go to, I don't want to get too far along here
Marvin, but I got to show this. All right, Romans chapter 10.
Romans 10. I don't believe that for a minute.
Marvin told me I was good, but I don't think so. I think y'all will beat me there.
My pages are getting to where they don't want to come apart. Romans chapter 10, blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Now how can a dead, lost, helpless
sinner put his trust in Christ? Four things. In verse 13 of Romans 10, for
whosoever, that's anybody, anywhere, whosoever, shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." But we've got four questions
beginning with the word, how, that have everything to do with
that statement in Psalm 2 and verse 12, blessed are all they
that put their trust in Him. Here's the first one, verse 14,
how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
Calling is the result of believing. Second how is also in that verse,
and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And thirdly, also in verse 14,
how shall they hear without a preacher? A person that God sends who by
His marvelous grace has come to know the truth concerning
himself, concerning God, and concerning Christ. And how shall
they preach except God visit that preaching with the power
of His Holy Spirit? Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Thank you.