to the Lord may it graciously
help me, I'll return your prayerful attention to the psalm that we
read, psalm number 2. And reading verse 6 of the text,
although I do want to go through this instructive and precious
psalm. Psalm 2 and verse 6. Yet have
I set my King upon my holy hill, of Zion. That's Psalm 2 and verse
6. This psalm, we know from the
New Testament because it's quoted and attributed to David. This
psalm of David, it consists of these 12 verses
and really we can see it naturally divides into four sets of three. And each time there is a different
speaker or a different aspect that is being addressed. And
really the first three verses are really the thoughts of the
ungodly world, what the heathen are doing. and how they are ganging
up and desiring to pull the Lord Jesus off his throne. Then in
the next three verses, verses 4, 5 and 6 we have the words
of God the Father. How he responds to the heathen
raging. Then in the next three verses
verses 7, 8 and 9 we have really the words of the Lord Jesus and
a lot of those words of the Lord Jesus are re-quotes of what the
Father has said to him and he is speaking them in acquiescence
of them and desiring to fulfil them and we see there that in
our lives as God has told us things we are to pray them back
to him in a desire that we just heard
spoken, Thy Kingdom come. And we are to pray that because
we desire that His Kingdom would come. He said it would come but
we pray it, Thy Kingdom come. And then in the last three verses
we have the outworking of it and the response really of the
preaching of the Gospel and the mercy and the forgiveness and
the way back to God from the dark paths of sin. You see we have a merciful God. Yes, one that is a fearful judge,
but also a merciful. You might say, well if you've
got somebody that's a fearful judge, they will not be merciful. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ is
both. And the reason he can be both
is because he has laid down his life and paid the price of his
people that were guilty, that should have received the full
judgement and in a sense did receive the full judgement by
their proxy, by their saviour who stood in their place. And
so that is why at Calvary we have justice and mercy meeting
and kissing one another as they're satisfied in what happened at
Calvary. So there is an outline of Psalm
2. So let us look through this. The first three verses then are
why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine the same
thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers
take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed
saying let us break his damns asunder and cast away their gods
from us. So this is the attitude of the
ungodly. The attitude of those outside
of the Lord at that time. In a sense it is the attitude
of all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone
to his own way. And you see this is the thinking. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? You see it is a vain thing, an
empty thing to imagine this world without God. It is foolishness,
it is empty. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed. And you see in the Acts of the
Apostles that we read together, this is quoted. This is quoted by the Apostles
in prayer, Peter and John and the others that met with them.
They pray this back to God. They pray this very prayer in
Psalm 2, back to God, and show that the fulfilment is literally
in front of their eyes. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers, this is verse 26 of Acts 4, together against
the Lord, and against, well in Psalm 2 it says against his anointed,
but in Acts 4 it says against Christ, will Christ's be anointed.
but you see here it's applied directly that the rulers are
gathering together and you see there was at the time of Jesus'
trial there was as it were a unity together in putting Christ together,
to death sorry. for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. If you like there was a harmony
among the chief priests and Herod and Pontius Pilate. We read specifically
that there was a problem, a discord between Herod and Pontius Pilate
but yet When it came to the putting of Christ to death, they became
friends. They became a unity in this awful
sinful deed. The kings of the earth set themselves,
the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
his anointed. And what do they say? Let us
break their bands of thunder. and cast away their cause from
us. You see there's a general feeling and we see it today so
much in our land of doing away with the commandments of God.
We don't need to keep his commandments. We can rid ourselves of all those
rules. The laws of God we can put them
on side we don't need to obey those anymore. Let us break their
bands of thunder and cast away their cause from us. It is the
raging power of the nations and of us by nature in rebellion
against God. Rebellion against God. We will
not have this man to reign over us. And so we see it in our day don't
we? We see the nations are ganging up together and bringing in many
things which are contrary to the word of God and encouraging
one another in their wickedness. That's the natural scene you
see. And in 2 Corinthians chapter
4 we read these words in the end,
2 Corinthians 4 verse 18, while we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are faithful, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. And so here we see that this
is as it This seems, if all we had was the first three verses
of Psalm 2 and all I had to bring to you was those first three
verses, it's very negative. It's very solemn. It seems that
there's a rejoicing and a conquering over God and his rule and his
ways. There seems to be this unity
in doing evil. Well there is. Psalm 2 doesn't
stop at the end of verse 3. We then move on in another scene
in verse 4, we now have a different scene, we have God the Father
in heaven. You think of this naturally,
if you have a kingdom, you have a king, and you have all the
subjects of that king, or many of them, riding up and saying
we won't do the laws of the king, we don't want this king to be
our king, we are in rebellion against him. If the rebellion
gets too large then the king is in danger of getting overcrowded,
isn't he? He could get toppled if all of
his subjects as it were or so many of them rise up in rebellion
against that king. The king must be in a position
of instability. Let's look at what we read in
verse 4. There is a serenity. He that
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Tremendous serenity here. All the nations are doing their
utmost to against the Lord and against His anointed, to seek
to overthrow His laws, overthrow His ways, to ruin all that that
King has done. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in division. This is not a king just about
to be toppled. This is not a king that's concerned
that if his rebellion gets too big he will be toppled. No this
is a king that is sitting on no precarious throne. And this
is a comfort to God's people tonight isn't it? We see the
heathen raging, we see more and more ungodliness as it were rearing
its ugly head in this place and that. But this is the comfort
of God's people. This is the comfort of the apostles
wasn't it? They quoted this psalm and it
was a comfort to them to know that God was in control. He that
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Oh what a stone thing
it is to be laughed at by God. The creator of the universe,
the sustainer of all breath. The infinite God to laugh at
us. To laugh at these nations, these
kings, these rulers that are all ganging up in opposition
against him. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. You see
we have here a King that is almighty and all powerful. A king that
sits on no precarious throne. A king that is not scared about
these people that are planning and scheming and doing all their
worst. A God that is almighty. And then we come to the words
of our text. What God the Father has said,
yet have I said, my king, upon my holy hill a sign. This is in direct contrast to
the first three verses isn't it? They are seeking to gather
together against the Lord and against his anointed to pull
him off and to ridicule him and to bring him to nothing to put
him to death at Calvary. That's what they sought to do,
as the apostles put together, for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Aaron and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together.
There was a unity. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. They were only doing
what God had permitted them to do, allowed them to do. Not that
he agreed with it, but he allows that and overrules it to come
together for good. Ye meant it for evil, God meant
it for good and now Lord behold their threatenings and grant
unto thy servants that with all boldness we may speak the words. And you see here then the stone
which the builders rejected. We sung of it in Psalm 118. The stone which the builders
rejected, the same, has become the head of the corner. You see
this one that they are rejecting, this rejected king. Old David
the sweet son of Israel knew what it was to be a rejected
king. He went over that book Echidron as a rejected king. So many years later, something
like a thousand years later, the Lord Jesus went across the
same brook as a rejected king. But you see, yet have I set my
king upon my holy hill of Zion. Zion was that city of David wasn't
it? That place, that stronghold of
Zion that David took in that area. And you see, yet have I
set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. They despised him, they
rejected him, they did everything they could against him, they
sought to ruin our saviour. But the words of God the Father
who sits on no precarious throne, he isn't wondering whether the
resistance is too great for him to handle. He that is seated
in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in division. He's going to make them look
foolish. And all their planning and their
scheming ultimately is going to redound to their foolishness
and show that he is king. And you see if Philippians, if
we just look at that briefly, Philippians chapter 2 says it
so beautifully. because we have the humbling
of the Saviour. Philippians chapter 2, but made
himself, this is verse 7, made himself of no reputation, took
a boy in the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This was
the worst thing that they could do to him, the most cruel death
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, yet hath I set my
King upon my holy head of Zion. Yes you despise this stone, the
stone that the builders rejected, the stain has become the head
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
is marvellous in our eyes. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him and given him a name which is above every name. that in
the name of Jesus every knee should bow. This one that they
ridiculed, this one that they hated, every knee shall bow. Ultimately every king and every
ruler and everyone that mocked him and ridiculed him ultimately
one day will bow. Either in rightful worship or
acknowledging that he is king but in judgement. You see here we have a view of
the greatness of God and we lose sight of that don't we often?
We look around us and we see ungodliness, we see it surrounding
us in so many places and we get depressed. We reverse these 1,
2 and 3 and we see it all around us and we think where is the
end going to be? Don't lose sight of who's on
the throne. yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Then in verse 7 we have the words
really of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I will declare the decree the
Lord hath sent unto me. So now the Lord Jesus is quoting
what his father had said to him. He's quoting and if you like
pray that back to his father and if the Lord has given us
those words to lay hold on we are to quote them back to him
and we have that in the bible so many times but you think of
Jacob when he had the thought of his brother coming to meet
him with 400 men he saw he prayed back what God had told him already
that was said, he prayed it back, he pleaded it. And here we have
got the son pleading what his father has said to him. I will
declare the decree, the Lord has said unto me, thou art my
son, this thou have I begotten thee. And this you see is applied
in Acts chapter 13 to his resurrection. if you look at that Acts chapter
13 Acts 13 verse 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 thou art my
son this day have I begotten thee so this day has been begotten
on a particular day that was a reference to this resurrection
day when Jesus was raised from the dead and they had taken the
prince of glory and they had taken the son and they had shamefully
treated him and the poor disciples as we looked at this morning
on the Emmaus road they were confounded they were so troubled
the one that they thought should have redeemed Israel was now
in the grave and they couldn't lay hold on the resurrection
yet and yet yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. God is going to raise that one
and did in the resurrection and so thou art my son this day have
I begotten thee. And so this is what Jesus prayed
back to his father. I will declare the decree the
Lord has said unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten
thee. And then he goes on in quoting
and pleading this, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. So here we have the promise you
see that there would be, out of these heathen, out of these
wayward people, out of these ones that were in nature's darkness,
there would be a remnant according to the election of grace that
would be brought from mocking Christ, ridiculing Him to knowing Him as their personal
Lord and Saviour. This is the prayer that Jesus
prays. God the Father gives Him this
prayer to pray and Jesus praising, ask of me, he is asking of his
father, here we are, we are encouraged aren't we, to ask. See we might think that, oh I
won't ask, I'll just wait. We might seem perhaps rude to
keep asking, but we are commanded, we are encouraged in the word
of God, ask. and ye shall receive, seek and
ye shall find. And the Lord Jesus himself is
to ask, you might say well surely he's the son, surely his father
would just give it to him. Ask of me and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance. That election according to the
purposes of grace of the heathen, those that are far off Those
which were enemies of Christ, you see, even one of those thieves
that was crucified with Jesus, we read in one of the Gospels
they cast the same in his teeth. The ridicule of Christ. And yet we know that one of them
repented. One of them said we indeed just
see for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has
done nothing of this. Lord remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom, he asked. And what hung on that ask? What
did he receive for asking? Oh eternal life. Eternal life
was in that ask wasn't it? Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom and the Lord Jesus did remember him. This
day shalt thou be with me. in paradise. Ask of me and I
shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy desertion. And then thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. So here we have a contrast, a
contrast between some of the heathen being his inheritance
in his possession and some of those thou shalt break them with
a rotten iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. The two opposite things. And that is true of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. A Saviour of life unto life and
a Saviour of death unto death. We read in the New Testament
of how that last judge, the people will be calling upon the rocks
to fall on them before the wrath of the Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ
will be a fearful judge to those that are not, haven't fled for
refuge till they hold upon the hope set before them in the Gospel.
If you think of it, in the Old Testament Joshua was that leader
that brought them into the promised land Joshua was the one and you
might say that Joshua meant saviour in the translated into the Greek
means saviour but you see for the Canaanites
the name Joshua meant death apart from Rehoboth and her household
The name Joshua would have been a fearful name. He was going
to obliterate the whole of the land of Canaan by God's command. He was going to judge them with
a rod of iron. They were going to be killed,
all of them. but Joshua saved Rahab and her
household you see they obtained mercy and they found Joshua to
be a merciful leader and yet you see so for Israel Joshua
was the one that brought them into the promised rest and also
Rahab and her family but for those outside of that he was
a fearful judge And so we have the two sides. The heathen raging,
the kings of the earth and the rulers gathering together against
the Lord and against his anointings. We have God the Father setting
the Lord Jesus Christ as King in Zion. We then have the Lord
Jesus praying for his that, as we have it perhaps in
different words, but it's the same essence as we have it in
John 17, Father I will that these also be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. These, and we know that there
was many involved in the crucifixion that later came to be beneficiaries
of the crucifixion. Beneficiaries of all the blessings
that flowed from Calvary and yet they were involved in the
instigation of it. Well then that's when we came
really to verse 10 and to the preaching of the Gospel today.
Be wise therefore O ye kings. It's interesting you see, verse
2 in this psalm focuses on the kings of the earth and the rulers
as the chief instigators of the wickedness against the Lord and
against his anointed. What do we read in verse 10?
Be wise now therefore O ye kings, be instructed ye judges of the
earth. Surely we have a display of God's
tremendous mercy. These kings, these judges, these
rulers that did their utmost against him, Saul of Tarthas,
who was yet pouring out threatenings, we read in judgement, went to
Damascus to put Christians in prison, breathing out vengeance
and hatred against this Lord Jesus. He was one of the chief rulers,
wasn't he? The chief among the Pharisees. Be wise now therefore, O you
kings. Be instructed and judges of the
earth. Turn to the Lord with fear. Isn't it gentle? Isn't there
a loving, merciful preaching of the everlasting gospel? Preaching
to the rebels, his traitors and his hosts. This man received his sinners
and ate with them. This man shall be my peace. Be wise now therefore. Surely
this is a great plea that these rulers, these judges should not
go on in their wickedness. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon. You see there's mercy to be preached. Mercy for the blackest of sinners. Mercy for those who planned his
death. And you see that was the very
message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. He preached
to those who were involved in the crucifixion. Those who had
no doubt shouted, Crucify him! Crucify him! in Acts chapter 2 verse 36 it
says Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified. They were not neutral, they were
involved. Whom ye have crucified both Lord
and Christ. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion. He sits on no precarious throne. He is not uncertain what to do. well when you have done that
to the very lord of life and glory what would you think the
punishment should be? well the people listening to
Peter's preaching didn't know what to do now when they heard
this they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do? is there any way back now? we
have put to death the Lord of life and glory the one that was
sent by the father to save his people from their sins we have
been involved in putting him to death and you see when we come to realise
that it is our sins that were involved in his sufferings at
Calvary we realise that we are not innocent bystanders we are
part of it We were part of it. We are responsible. Smelling
bread we watch, how we do. I wonder what they thought Peter
would say. Would Peter give any hope to these people? The people
that had cried crucify him, crucify him. Would he say round up, round
up these people and kill them for what they have done? Then Peter said unto them, Repent. Be baptized. every one of you,
repentance, forgiveness, mercy. This is the message of the gospel.
The gospel is for sinners. For the chief of sinners. The
chief of sinners. Saul of Tarsus considered himself
the chief of sinners because he persecuted the church. He
persecuted God's people. He was involved in the death
of Stephen. Stephen cried at his death, Lord
lay not this sin to their charge. What a gracious man he was and
God heard his prayer and Saul of Tarsus was one of those who
came to have his guilt laid on another. Indeed the Lord Jesus
Christ. Be wise now therefore O you kings,
be instructed you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear
and rejoice with trembling. God is to be feared, He is to
be known, He is to be loved. We are to come with repentance
if you confess your sin, be faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Kiss the sun. lest you be angry. I understand the imagery here
is what you did when you came to a king in those older days.
You would kiss, as it were, the fetter or something like that
to show your allegiance and to show your respect and to show
your submission to that king. Kiss the son. this king of kings
and lord of lords, this one that you have been in rebellion against,
the one that you have been part of this group, let us break his
bands of thunder and cast away his cause from us. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, let he be angry
and ye perish from the way. And when he has wrought his kindle,
dust a little, Oh you see this one who has fixed Kenyon's eye
is also a fearful judge. That is, he denies him mercy. And so here we have the preaching
of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel you
see that Peter and John had the same view of it. in Acts that
we read together, verse 29. And now Lord behold their threatenings
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word. You see they don't
cry out for vengeance against the rulers. They plead that there
may be a blessing by stretching forth thy hand to heal. the signs
and wonders may be done by the name of their holy child Jesus. They want these rebels to come
to rejoice in the gospel. You see it's a gospel sinner. The Pharisees, they didn't like
God's mercy. They didn't like the fact that
Republicans and sinners came to hear him. They wanted salvation
to be for the good people. Jesus said I came not to call
the righteous sinners to repentance, not that there is any that are
really righteous. But I believe he meant by that
the self-righteous. Some people say I'm part of the
99 sheep that don't need repentance. So there's the one that went
astray and he came back, but I'm one of the 99, I don't need
repentance. Well, as I have said it like
this, all we ladsheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way. I don't think there is 99 people
that don't need repentance. What he means is it's those that
are self-righteous and don't think they need repentance. It's
what they think, it's not the truth. The truth is that, and
you read Romans 1, 2 and 3, and the land is laid absolutely clear. The act is laid at the root of
the tree. And by the works of the law shall
no man be justified. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. There's none righteous, none
but one. and therefore you see where then is God's scheme. We
as God's people need to be so gentle don't we? What has thou
that thou hast not received? If we have received mercy and
forgiveness and love, do we deserve it? Are we worthy of that? Are we kings and rulers that
plan Jesus' death? and planned to do away with him,
were they worthy? No they were not worthy. If God shows us our own hearts
we will realise that we are not worthy. But you see then mercy becomes
our only belief. We come like the publican who
beat upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner. That was his plea. He didn't
have any good works to bring. He didn't have anything to recommend
him to God of itself. He came on one ground and that
was mercy. God be merciful to me a sinner. And that is the Gospel. That
is the way that any is saved. Every one of God's people that
is saved comes on one ground. Mercy. Mercy is undeserved. I understand
Napoleon at one time had some soldier that was that had misbehaved
and he was due to be executed and the mother of this soldier
marched all the way to visit Napoleon to plead for her son's
life and the lady said to Napoleon please have mercy on my son and
Napoleon said he doesn't deserve mercy To which she replied, if
he deserved it, it would not be mercy. Mercy is undeserved. And that's
the ground at which we come. That's the ground at which all
God's people come to Christ as unworthy sinners. Kiss the son,
lest he be angry with thee. Come with repentance. repent
and believe the gospel. Come with true confession if
you confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
Another beautiful message is come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden as these people came to realise their
sin on the day of Pentecost. Men and brethren what shall we
do? All ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. A characteristic of
Christ and a characteristic of his people. Meek and lowly in
heart. Not looking down at others. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. Kiss the let he be angry and
ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. We only have to have the beginnings
of his wrath and we are finished. But blessed are all they that
put their trust in him. You see if you trust in these
kings and rulers that are gathering together against the Lord and
against his anointing. They seem as if they are going
to gain the day. They seem as if they are the
power and they are the ones that are going to prevail. But get a glimpse of God tonight. A glimpse of the Father sitting
upon no precarious throne he who gives this pronouncement,
yes have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion no question,
no uncertainty he is Zion's king he will bring
Zion to himself father I will that these also be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory the man is all the glory
in Emmanuel's land you see We have that scene in heaven, pictured
in Revelation, so beautifully. Revelation chapter 7, Revelation 7 it says, and one
of the elders, this is verse 13, answered saying unto me what
are these which are arrayed in white robes and whence came they?
What are these that have been accepted in the beloved? What
are these that are in glory? and I said unto him sir thou
knowest and he said unto me these are they that came out of great
tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the lamb there is nobody there that is in their
unrighteousness there is no 99 just persons that need no repentance
in heaven no these are they which came out of great tribulation
and have washed their robes They were filthy, they were enemies,
they were far off from God that made them white in the blood
of the man. Therefore I may dare to call the throne of God and
serve him day and night in his temple and he that sitteth on
the throne shall dwell among them, they
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them any more, nor any meat for the lamb which
is in the midst of the flocks, shall feed them and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy heaven's eye." Well as we are surrounded with all these
voices the clamouring world with all its antagonism to God and
godliness, all the seeking to undermine the Ten Commandments,
seeking to undermine the truth of God's Word. Help us to look
up and to realise that God the Father is not on a precarious
throne. He is in control. He has set
His King. the Lord Jesus Christ upon the
holy hill of Zoran and he will conquer and he will crush all
his enemies and therefore for us the great gospel message is
be wise now therefore O you kings be instructed you judges of the
earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss
the son lest he be angry with thee come and as it were make
peace with this one by his blood as Jesus made, come and receive
that mercy that there is in Christ. For this man receiveth sinners
and eateth with them, spoken against Christ by his enemies,
the glorious truth of our Saviour, this man receiveth sinners. Yet
have I sent my King upon my holy hill.